Momma told me there’d be days like this

Kershaw started today’s game and Bauer picked up after him. The two of them went the full nine innings and gave up 11 hits and seven runs.

The game was notable only in that it occasioned Bellinger’s first start of Spring Training, a test of his surgically-repaired shoulder.

Oh by the way, Seager had hit 5 HRs in his last six games before going 1 for 3 today.

50 thoughts on “Momma told me there’d be days like this

  1. Seager over his last 100 or so ABs (post season plus ST) is at an 80 dinger pace over 162 games.

  2. So, are we doing that thing of predicting wins? Think 110 is doable, but don’t think that they will be pressed enough by the Friars, so may coast to 104. (In 2019 they were on a 116 pace as late as August 25).

  3. With pitchers limited to two pickoff attempts, how many bases would Maury have stolen in 1962? Enough that the Dodgers would’ve won the NL pennant easily, I would guess.

    • That would then allow a runner to take as big a lead as he desires after two pickoff attempts, but the catcher could could still make a snap throw to the bag. Nonetheless, even Carl Sawatski would steal plenty of bases. Sawatski, a 5-10, 210-pound catcher, had two stolen bases in an 11-year, 633-game career that ended in 1963 and only five triples. However, he was never caught stealing.

      • By the time the catcher made his snap throw, Maury would be standing on second base.

  4. Dodgers starting pitching — something to worry about or simply a minor aberration?

  5. Players continue to show signs of social consciousness and willingness to take action, this time about the All Star Game in Atlanta this summer:

    with less than a week to go until Opening Day, the MLB Players Association appears open to discussing whether or not the event should be relocated in response to recent legislative developments in the state.

      • He and West were an incredible pair whom I watched countless times while I was growing up in L.A., but the Lakers never had a center capable of dealing with Russell. But what team did?

        • Seemed like Lakers could be the better team for 44 minutes of the game but the 4 minutes Boston owned was full of fast breaks that would produce several 10 to 0 runs.

          • Yes, but only after Russell had retired. His last season was 1968-1969. The first Lakers’ title was in the 1971-1972 season, with Wilt. And it came against the Knicks, not the Celtics. They wouldn’t beat Boston in the Finals until the 1984-1985 season after losing to them seven times, including once as the Minneapolis Lakers in 1958-1959. Overall, the Lakers and Boston have played 12 times for the title with the Celtics winning nine of those matchups.

    • My idol growing up. All 5’6” of me as a young teen tried to mimic the way he played.

  6. FYI, I’ve concluded this is just too mucked-up a year to even try to play the NCAA bracket game, so I’m not going to run the group unless you all push me into it.

    • I’ve long thought that ostensible educational institutions should not serve as farm teams for professional handegg and the NBA (which has also become boring).

    • I entered a contest and my bracket is doing poorly. I can’t recall a college basketball season during which I paid less attention. I probably should have saved my money.

  7. SI’s Tom Verducci on baseball’s pace -of-play problem. He cites Game Six of last year’s WS as an example.

    Over the final 26 minutes of play, viewers saw only two balls put into play. Over the three hours, 28 minutes it took to play the 8 ½-inning game, they saw 32 balls in play, or one every 6 ½ minutes. They saw more pitchers (12) than hits (10). They saw 27 batters strike out, or 42% of all plate appearances. That is, if they saw anything at all.

    It was the least-watched World Series Game 6 (ditto for Games 1-5) and the least-watched clincher. Even allowing for the pandemic and presidential election that grabbed attention, and the rise of streaming as a viewing option, all of which cut sports ratings in 2020, the ratings could be more canaries in a darkening coal mine.

    Baseball has slow-played itself into an existential crisis.

  8. So Link, you are saying we shouldn’t sound the panic alarm for Dodger pitching based off a Spring Training game? (Very solid advice!)

    My level of excitement is muted this year. It will be an amazing team but after getting to the top of the mountain last year, it feels nice to be relaxed and less manic about the Dodgers than I have been for the last… several decades?

    Still – Go Dodgers.

    • I also feel less manic because of what the team accomplished last year. But given that it was such a short regular season, and the fact that the team I have rooted for since 1955 won the World Series last year, I am more excited about this season than I have been in decades. I get my second COVID-19 shot on March 31. So, if I am too fatigued or otherwise not feeling well the next day, I guess I will have to curl up on the couch and watch some or all of the four Opening Day games that ESPN will broadcast, including the Dodgers’ afternoon opener at Colorado.

      • The Dodgers play in Oakland April 5-6-7 but, although fully vaccinated, I will refrain from in-person attendance at any games this season.