CBS Sports is running a series of features on the best and worst events in each baseball franchise’s history, and it was the Dodgers’ turn on Monday. As Dayn Perry (the author) says in his opening paragraph, “it’s impossible to hit it all.” He did a reasonable job, I’d say. He picks two best teams, one for Brooklyn (’53) and one for LA (’63). He picks best and worst trades (guess what’s worst). Anyway, it’s food for discussion.
Between the top and bottom of the 2nd inning tonight the Dodgers put this video on Dodgervision in centerfield:
Even had the Dodgers lost, this would have taken the edge off. Winning their fourth game in a row for the first time all season made it even better.
A runner and writer named Rachel Toor has written a remembrance of a summer she spent in Missoula, Montana where she met Bob Welch in a fork of the Columbia River. Over that summer he and she dated a little and he taught her to pitch.
It’s a nice piece of writing about a guy we oldsters remember pretty well.
Even though he’s nearly three years older than I, freakin’ Ron Cey has more hair than I do. This is not right.
Rockies at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA
It’s a battle of lefties this afternoon. Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-1, 2.12 ERA) is on the bump (I keep hearing that term for the mound from our local TV sportscasters, who must have gotten it from somewhere) for the Dodgers against the Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (1-3, 6.38 ERA).
For an added attraction,
A victory would be the 10,000th in Dodgers franchise history, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Only the Giants, Cubs and Braves have reached that plateau.
The Yankees haven’t? Really? Not quite. They’ve got 39 wins to go. As Dodgers Insider has pointed out, the Dodgers’ records and Elias’s differ by 13 wins.
Lineup:
#Dodgers lineup vs. Rockies:
Gordon 2B
Puig RF
Kemp CF
Gonzalez 1B
Uribe 3B
Van Slyke LF
Turner SS
Federowicz C
Ryu P
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 27, 2014
Check out this list of new baseball books (principally Dodgers content, but not all) compiled by Howard Cole over at LA Weekly. I see a couple I’d like to own and more I’d like to read.
Matt Snyder at CBS Sports’s Eye on Baseball blog has picked his all-time lineup of Dodgers based on the best single-season performance he could find at each position. Here’s his lineup:
1. 1949 Jackie Robinson, 2B
2. 2011 Matt Kemp, CF
3. 2004 Adrian Beltre, 3B
4. 1997 Mike Piazza, C
5. 1985 Pedro Guerrero, LF
6. 1930 Babe Herman, RF
7. 1941 Dolph Camilli, 1B
8. 1949 Pee Wee Reese, SS
With Starting Pitchers:
1966 Sandy Koufax,
1928 Dazzy Vance,
1964 Don Drysdale,
1988 Orel Hershisher,
2013 Clayton Kershaw
Before the Koufax purists freak out, the rules of the game say only the best season the player had can be included, otherwise you might have Sandy starting every game of the hypothetical season.
Relievers:
2003 Eric Gagne,
1974 Mike Marshall,
2013 Kenley Jansen
He backs up his choices with his reasoning at the link.
Promoted from the comments to the last post: Dodgers’ Aviation! As in so many other things, the Dodgers and Walter O’Malley were the first to travel via airplane on road trips.
This is a wonderfully well-researched story with beautiful pictures, so go read it!
Update: Some very sad news today from San Diego: Jerry Coleman passed away at the age of 89. Coleman was a Yankee second baseman, a US Marine in both World War II and Korea, and a broadcaster for the Yankees and then the Padres. In 1980 he even managed the Padres for a season. He received the Ford C. Frick Award in 2005.
One hopes that he greeted St. Peter at the Pearly Gates with his pet phrase “Oh Doctor!” and that Peter in turn said “You can hang a star on that one, baby!”