Dodgers Being No-Hit Twice Sets Record, But World Series Precedent Amazingly Exists

Andrew Simon over at Dodgers.com had some good stats about the Dodgers' embarrassing second "effort" getting no-hit, which doesn't bode well for the team's future, though one other team in history has been no-hit twice and still gone on to win the World Series:

Only two teams since at least 1900 have made the playoffs while also suffering multiple no-hitters: the 1917 White Sox and the 2010 Rays. [...]

As for the company the Dodgers could join, Tampa Bay went 96-66 in '10, taking the American League East by a game over the Yankees before falling to the Rangers in the AL Division Series. Yet on May 9 of that year, A's left-hander Dallas Braden twirled a perfect game against them in Oakland. Less than two months later, on June 25, they drew eight walks against the D-backs' Edwin Jackson, who labored through 149 pitches for one of baseball's more unusual no-nos.

Back in 1917, there was no such thing as a division winner, as both leagues had only eight teams apiece. The White Sox went 100-54 that year, winning the AL by nine games over the Red Sox and then defeating the New York Giants in the World Series. But before that, Ernie Koob and Bob Groom of the St. Louis Browns no-hit Chicago on May 5 and 6.

Those back-to-back performances also set the record for least time between no-hitters pitched against the same team. However, the Dodgers have set a new NL record in that department, taking over for the 1971 Reds, who were no-hit on June 3 and 23 by the Cubs' Ken Holtzman and the Phillies' Rick Wise, respectively.

So there's hope for even our offensively incompetent team! Mark McGwire must be thrilled at the prospect of a happy ending here (no matter how slight).

Game 107 Thread: July 29 vs Barves, 7p

Kung Fu Panda

Josh Beckett (6-5, 2.52) vs. Aaron Harang (9-6, 3.31)

If there's anything that SoSG has done over the years, it's beat a dead horse using memes and superstition. You wouldn't have it any other way. Thus, we'll look to continue the burger-themed GT what brung us on our current successful run.

By way of getting shellacked by the Pie Rats yesterday, Gnats are 2 games back and looking like they're fading fast, having lost five games in a row, with little hope to ketchup. They mustard been crazy to think Dan Uggla was the person to solve their defensive problems.

The pitching from the front three Dodger starters has been nothing short of epic, but the Noffense is always a threat to rear its head, so this home stand will be an important test. We're counting on Big Mac to help the Dodger hitters with the second part of that.

Either way, landing in Dodger fans' Happy Meals tonight will be a classic give-away:

Spring Training 2014 Trip

Hey there, two days in the middle of the week.  What's that?  You have nothing to do?  Not working?  I know.  Lets drive 6 hours to Arizona to watch the Dodgers!  How about we wake up at 4 am in order to make the opening day of Spring Training.  ROAD TRIP!

At an Arizona rest stop.  Be careful where you pee.

So this probably wasn't the best for my sleep wake cycle, but what the heck.  Mrs. Cora was on board, so there is no turning back.  We packed up the car and headed out to Glendale Arizona.  Since I was so late to make plans, all of the good hotels around Glendale were booked, so we stayed in Peoria, which actually wasn't that bad and only a 10 min drive from Glendale.

We made it to Salt River Field in Talking Stick Arizona (home of the Dbacks and Rockies) right before game time.  The traffic into the stadium reminded me of Dodger Stadium. It was really crowded and not well organized.  Plus parking was 5 bucks (free at Camelback).  But we made it to the gate and bought some lawn tickets.

It was kind of overcast, which was good, because it is damn hot in Arizona.  I have never sat in the lawn section (the only tickets available), but it was great.  Especially after that long drive, it was nice to lay back and stretch out the legs.  The stadium is nice and apparently configured by the same architectural firm as Camelback Ranch.  However the hot dog and fries were DISGUSTING.  Nonetheless, I had a great time watching the first game of the season, despite the loss.  After the game, Steve Yeager was down in the bullpen and he kindly autographed a baseball for me.

Disgusting food. Fries where horrible.

Man Child

Warming up

Free Sunscreen!

Is this where he got hurt?

The next day, we woke up bright and early to get to Camelback Ranch just after it opened.  Of course there were a whole bunch of people there already, especially autograph seekers.  It was nice to be surrounded by a bunch of loyal Dodger fans.  In fact, SOSG reader "Chad Beardingsly" recognized my SOSG shirt and kindly stopped to say hello.  The players and coaches hit the practice fields early.  My impressions on watching the players was that Josh Beckett had some real zip on the ball during the bullpen sessions.  Paul Maholm on the other had didn't, but could have been working on off speed stuff.  I actually thought Alex Guerrero looked pretty strong at second base.  Like everyone else, I am excited to see what comes out of the competition during spring training and the rest of the year.  The second game of the season against the DBacks at Camelback Ranch was a little slow, but at least we won.  It also might have been more palatable because we bought seats in the shade behind home plate.  I didn't think that Juan Uribe's home run was going to go over the fence.  I was only imagining Charley Steiner's crazy call in my head.  It was also neat to see Guerrero go 2 for 4 and see him collect his first major league hit and RBI.  The other highlight was seeing Team Killeen in the house, BJ armed with pen and paper and Scott armed with a humongous camera lens.

Justin Turner

Tim Wallach

Andre and Matt

Hanley

Because of the impending rain and the fact that I had to work really early on Saturday, we decided to stop by Camelback Ranch for only a couple of hours before heading home.  There seemed to be less people in the morning, but started to get crowded by the time we left at 10 am.  We did sneak over to the White Sox fields where there were far less fans there.  We seemed to get closer to the field and actually sat down and watched them train.  Also, you can snag a foul or home run ball when they take batting practice.  Alas, we had to leave Blue Heaven in Arizona, and jumped in the car for the long drive back.  The drive back was pretty bad too since there were so many accidents due to the rain.  It took us about 8 hours to get back because of all of the detours we had to make.  But we made it and it was a fun trip to cram into the week.  Below are some more pictures I took.  Enjoy!  GO BLUE!

Donnie mobbed by reporters.  Where are you BJ?

Bills and Elbert

Elbert and Bills

Go get 'em boys.

Davey and Wally

Big Mac Attack!

Steve Yeager

Shawn Green

Donnie with the high fives down the line

Matt Kemp Swinging Sweetly (Never Mind It's Off Of Brandon League)

Buster Olney of ESPN.com has a nice feature about Matt Kemp, and how (despite him not being ready for real games yet) Kemp's sweet stroke may finally be back:

Mark McGwire joined the Dodgers as hitting coach more than a year after Matt Kemp nearly won the Most Valuable Player Award in 2011, and the swing McGwire saw last year was very different from the powerful and unusually high finish McGwire recalled from the past.

McGwire explains it this way: A right-handed hitter drives with his left arm -- his lead arm – and steers with his right. When Kemp was at his best, he had been able to lift and drive the ball to right-center field. But last year, Kemp still seemed to be recovering from the shoulder surgery he had in the fall of 2012, and McGwire never really saw that classic Kemp finish. Rather, his front arm was noticeably lower in his follow-through, and, instead of lifting the ball, he tended to hit looping liners without much carry, a lingering sign that his repaired shoulder was not yet operating at 100 percent.

On Friday morning, before the Dodgers’ exhibition against the White Sox, McGwire saw that old swing again.

It appeared on a nearly empty practice field behind the Dodgers’ facility here. Kemp hit the ball hard in regular batting practice, and then, when some pitchers arrived to throw live batting practice, including Brandon League, Kemp continued to wreck the ball, mashing drive after drive to right-center field. Blasts from the past.

As Kemp finished his session and began collecting his bats, John Valentin -- the Dodgers’ assistant hitting coach -- walked over to where McGwire stood with a reporter and lifted his eyebrows as if to communicate “wow.”

“That was great,” Valentin said.

“Best I’ve seen,” McGwire responded.

Kemp, carrying his equipment, strolled over, smiling broadly. “That,” McGwire said to Kemp, “was awesome.”

“I told you, I’m a beast,” Kemp said. He looked at the reporter and pointed a finger -- like a good-natured reminder -- and said, “Don’t forget that.”

His swing has reappeared, but, because of his troublesome left ankle, there is still the not-so-small matter of the center fielder getting clearance to run outside. Kemp was scheduled to have an MRI Friday, as a checkup, and the Dodgers’ hope is that Kemp will be OK to run soon, to begin the process of rebuilding his legs -- in the way that he is seemingly rebuilding a devastating swing.

Don’t forget that.

Glad that Kemp has his swagger back, but I'd like to see him mash a bit more, off of real pitchers, before trumpeting the return of Beast Mode.

photo: Norm Hall / Getty Images

Puig Claims He'll Dial It Back Some in 2014

Per a piece from LA Times' Dylan Hernandez, who took precious moments away from bagging on fellow baseball writer Hank Schulman, to note:

PHOENIX — From the time he was called up to the major leagues last year, Yasiel Puig has viewed himself as an entertainer.

"The fans go to the stadium to enjoy themselves," Puig said in Spanish. "After work, they spend their free time watching us play. We have to do our best to entertain them."

Puig did that last season with a hair-raising style of play, electrifying crowds in becoming one of baseball's top draws as a rookie.

However, Puig also acknowledges he has to be more restrained on the field, admitting he has to be smarter on the bases and learn when to hit the cutoff man rather than throw directly to the plate from right field.

With the Dodgers holding their first full-squad workout Friday, the 23-year-old Cuban outfielder and his coaches restarted the process of adding a degree of caution to his risk-taking mentality.

"To me, in order to be a bona fide superstar, you have to learn to slow the game down," hitting coach Mark McGwire said.

So what will Puig do? Only go at 178%? This was always going to be part of the natural maturing process for Puig, so glad he's moving that direction. But hopefully he will be able to make this adjustment without taking what's best away from his game. And hopefully Mark McGwire won't dial back one bit on throttling Matt Williams in bench-clearing brawls this season.

At-Game Photos: Beating The Phillies (June 27, 2013)

Photos and commentary by Scott Killeen. Thanks as always, Scott!

"Same level as Vin."

"Puig thanked Big Mac after the game, obviously for teaching him how to hit a down and out slider."

Post-Game 64 Thread: Hit by Bitch

"Hey girl, don't touch Puig."

DODGERS 5, D'BAGS 3

Carlos who? The Dodgers actually won a game, but tonight's game was about fighting.

In the fifth inning, Zack Greinke — it had to be him — nicked Cody Ross with a pitch that was slightly inside. Jason Kubel followed with a homer.

In the sixth, Ian Kennedy came high and inside to Yasiel Puig, who leaned back and got hit in the nose. Amazingly, he stayed in the game, and Andre Ethier followed with a homer.

In the top of the seventh, Greinke hit Miguel Montero on the back. The benches cleared but no punches where thrown.

In the bottom of the seventh, Kennedy came in high and inside to Greinke, who got hit on the shoulder. And it was on. Mattingly took down D'bag bench coach Alan Trammell. Ronald Belisario went apeshit on no one in particular.

In the eighth, reliever Joe Paterson hit Mark Ellis on the leg, but I think everybody was tired of fighting at that point.

In the end, D'bags Kennedy, Kirk Gibson and coach Turner Ward were ejected, and Mark McGwire and Puig were gone for the Dodgers. UPDATE: And Beli!

Oh, and the Dodgers took the lead on Tim Federowicz's bases-clearing double in the eighth. I've never seen Juan Uribe run that fast! And newly minted closer Kenley Jansen pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close it. It was...different.

Caption Contest!

This Day in Getting Our Asses Kicked

From "40th anniversary: Stargell hits one out of Dodger Stadium" by Chris Jaffe at The Hardball Times:

Forty years ago today, Willie Stargell did something that no one else had ever done before and no one else had ever done since. He smacked a ball completely out of Dodger Stadium. Not just out of the playing field, but out into the parking lot itself.

On May 8, 1973, the Dodgers hosted Stargell’s Pirates in a night game at Chavez Ravine. In the top of the fourth inning, Stargell came up with a runner on against Dodger hurler Andy Messersmith when he hit his historic moonshot.[...]

Oh, I should note that today isn’t the 40th anniversary of the first time a ball left Dodger Stadium. Wait, what? Yeah, you see, while Stargell is the only person to do it, that doesn't mean he did it only once. Stargell first accomplished the feat in 1969, and today is the 40th anniversary of his second parking-lot shot. We’re still waiting for a third occasion.

UPDATE: Chris chimes in with a correction:

Apparently Piazza did - sort of. He hit one that hit the roof and bounced out. So did McGwire, apparently. A commenter noted this at THT.

McGwire Waits For Dodgers Bats To Magically Erupt

Okay, I kid. I admit that I agree with Dodgers hitting coach Mark McGwire that it's just a matter of time before the Dodgers start hitting:

Long drives home and sleepless nights have become a part of Mark McGwire's life now that the former home run champion is the Dodgers' hitting coach.

But McGwire said his job is everything he hoped it would be when he left the St. Louis Cardinals to accept it.

His off-season home in Irvine has become his year-round home, which allowed him to catch his two sons' recent Little League game. The Dodgers' training facilities might be the best in baseball.

As for the Dodgers' low-scoring offense, McGwire believes it's only a matter of time before it is "devastating."

"There's so much talent in that clubhouse," McGwire said. "I know it's going to be all put together."

Over the previous six seasons, the Dodgers have had six hitting coaches. Each of them said something similar. None of them could actualize their visions, except Don Mattingly, who as hitting coach in 2008 had a chemically enhanced Manny Ramirez fall into his lap.

The Dodgers will head into their series opener against the San Francisco Giants on Friday averaging 3.37 runs per game. Only the Miami Marlins were scoring fewer runs per game through Wednesday, at 2.82.

"Underachieving," McGwire said. "Very much underachieving."

But McGwire, who is working with assistant hitting coach John Valentin, sees reasons for optimism.

"We've worked the count very well," McGwire said.

Dodgers hitters have seen an average of 4.00 pitches per plate appearance, which ranked second in the National League and fourth in the major leagues entering Thursday. The teams that ranked ahead of them are all high-scoring teams: the Oakland Athletics (5.59 runs per game), the New York Mets (4.85 runs per game) and the Boston Red Sox (4.02 runs per game).

If those teams are scoring, why aren't the Dodgers?

"I think we can be better being ready to hit the ball in certain counts," McGwire said.

Let's go to the numbers. The Dodgers' team matting average, at .250, ranks 29th in the majors. Our OBP, at .327, ranks eighth in the majors; so maybe there is something to McGwire's claims of worked counts.

But the other contributing factor is, the Dodgers aren't hitting for power. Add in our 28th-best .362 slugging average, and it's obvious that we're getting smoked here: our team OPS is 23rd in the majors, at .688.

The Dodgers have 20 HR on the season, which ranks 27th in the majors; our AB/HR ratio is 25th in MLB at 44.3. (What's keeping us from not being even more completely blown out here is that the Giants' AB/HR ratio is 26th, and San Diego's is 27th.)

We rank 29th in doubles with 37. We rank 29th in triples, with one. We rank 28th in Total Bases, with 320 (Colorado is first, with 457--almost 43% more bases).

We need to find a way to put some sock into our bats, quickly.

Oh, wait. Maybe giving McGwire that notion isn't such a good idea...

photo: Lenny Ignelzi / AP

Post-Game 15 Thread: Kitty Gets Fleeced, All Right

PADRES 7, DODGERS 2

So riddle me this, Donnie Baseball. If resting Matt Kemp, owner of a .185 average with no HR and 4 RBI in the first 14 games, makes so much sense, then why bring him in down 6-1 in the seventh inning? Sure, the bases were loaded with one out, and Kemp's replacement of Skip Schumaker was an improvement from a .118 batting average. But even a grand slam, as unlikely as that might be, wouldn't tie the game. What the hell?

Anyway, the non-rest PH move backfired. Kemp not only struck out (the Dodgers ended up leaving the bases loaded), he remained in the game on defense. He sacrificed in a run in the ninth, down 7-1, but by then, who the hell cares anyway? Clayton Kershaw had an uncommon start, lasting only 5.1 IP and giving up 3 ER. Nick Punto, 0-for-4, sucks. His game-changing foul pop error in the fourth led to three Padre runs and started the death spiral for Kershaw. Not like we were going to do much on offense anyway: 2-for-9 with RISP, 14 LOB.

We have fewer wins than the Royals.

The Padres scored in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. We scored one run only when Padres LF Jesus Guzman wasn't thinking and grabbed a deep Adrian Gonzalez pop foul, allowing Carl Crawford to score from third on the sacrifice. The Padres outscored us 22-7 in this series.

If Gonzalez wasn't batting .407, and Crawford wasn't batting .375, we'd have nothing.

Tim Wallach is once again on track to have the easiest job in the majors. He may as well hang out with hitting coach Mark McGwire, who also doesn't seem to be doing much of anything.

Post-Game 12 Thread: Dave Hansen Laughs

DIAMONDBACKS 1, DODGERS 0

Greinke may be down, but other starters are stepping it up: Kershaw allowed 3 ER (two walked in by his buddy Tolleson) over 7.1 IP in Game 1, Ryu allowed 3 ER (two on Beli hits) in 6 IP yesterday, and Josh Beckett pitched 8.1 innings of 1-run ball today.

Sadly, that was the winning run for the Snakes, as the Dodger bats left another five men on base today. Clearly Mark McGwire's mojo is not rubbing off on the Dodger offense, which continues to display levels of ineptitude not seen since 2003, or last year.

It doesn't get easier, as the Dodgers enter what is sure to be a tetchy three-game series with the Padres tomorrow. It's enough to make you want to slap something with a hockey stick.

What The Dodgers Were Thinking When Kershaw Went Yard

(Click on image for larger version)

Danny from L.A. Interviews McGwire, Ryu

Spring Training Pre Game Day 3

Getting out of the car at 9am, my wife was looking down when she heard a voice.  Not just any voice, but the Dodger voice.  She said, hey that sounds like Vin Scully.  And looking up, there he was, getting out of his car. There was a golf cart waiting to take him inside.  My wife was about to snap some pictures of him and in unison with mama Cora, say "Good Morning, Mr Scully".  It sounded like a classroom of kids when the school teacher walks into a room.  Of course, Vin said "Good Morning" right back.  That right there was the highlight of the day - and it was only 9 am.

This last day was a lot warmer and a lot less crowded, being the weekday.  Now that I knew what the schedule was like, I was able to meet some of the players and get some autographs.  One guy was yelling for Kershaw to sign his jersey.  He yelled out "Clayton, I'll give you 20 bucks if you sign my jersey!"  Kershaw went over to him, took the twenty dollars and signed his jersey.  Then he turn around to the other side and gave the twenty dollars to a little girl.  It was hilarious.   

OMG, its Vin. 

Made our day.

Good Morning Mr. Scully!

I think JP Howell going through some drills.

Ronald Bellisario

Brandon League going through the drill.

Matt Magill signing autographs.  He pitched the day before and was really sharp.

League signing autographs.  Does he or Sellers have more tattoos?

Ted Lilly walking by.

Carl Crawford signing autographs. Dont injury that wrist doing so! 

Mark McGwire signs a lot of stuff.

Up close with a bundled up Mark McGwire.

Davy Lopes

Don Mattingly getting to work.  Didn't stop before practice, but put his hands out to high five people as he ran by.  However, after practice he signed a lot and was really nice. 

Manny Mota and his bike.  He says to drop stuff in his basket and he will sign it when he gets back.  Pretty funny.

Tommy Lasorda set up a table to sign autographs. 

Mota returning with the signed goods in the basket.

JP Howell.

Clayton Kershaw getting mobbed.