Author Archive: Phil Gurnee
Streaky catchers – Zunino on fire
Gary Sanchez may be smoking hot in NY, but Mariner Mike Zunino is not far behind and his story is even more unlikely. Gary Sanches is just starting his career, but last year it looked like Zunino was ending his. Zunino was the 3rd pick in the 2012 draft and was in the majors by …
Gary Sanchez doing things never done in pinstripes before
No one can deny that the Yankee’s are baseball’s royalty with a long successful storied history that began when Babe Ruth first donned those pinstripes. Yet in that long history, no Yankee has ever done what Gary Sanchez has done this month. Last night Sanchez slugged his 9th home in only his 18th game thus …
After the Rich Hill debut, which column will he fall into, Greg Maddux or Brad Penny?
When it comes to tradeline debuts Brad Penny is the one that always comes to my mind for several reasons. When DePodesta traded for Penny in 2004 it was a huge gamble as he traded the most popular player on the Dodgers (Paul LoDuca) without securing a proper backup catcher when Charles Johnson decided he didn’t …
That was worth waiting for
Rich Hill’s long-delayed debut for the Dodgers turned out to be an exceptional debut, as Hill blanked the Giants for six innings. That is not a misprint, a Dodger pitcher got 18 outs that was not a rookie. Very impressive for a guy who hadn’t pitched an inning in any game since July 7th. Justin Turner …
Dodgers go at Giants with short bench
Rich Hill needed to be activated and they conveniently used Rob Segedin paternity leave as the lever for getting Hill onto the rotation. In so doing they have shorted their bench which now consists of four players and one of those is the backup catcher who rarely gets used outside of catching. This leaves the …
Adrian Gonzalez on a RBI mission
Gonzalez has driven in 11 runs over the last two games. Going into tonight’s game he’ll be trying to become the 7th LAD player to drive in at least three runs in three straight games. Strangely enough Andrew Toles will be trying to accomplish the same thing even though Toles has only driven in three …
Add Walker Buehler near the top of the plethora of Dodger pitching prospects
The Dodgers number one pick of 2015 pitched his first professional game last night and everyone came away raving about his stuff. He only pitched two innings but his stuff showed why the Dodgers didn’t shy away from making him their top selection last year even with the arm concerns. Baseball America checks in on …
Corey Seager is no top five MVP candidate
A few weeks ago I was wondering if Corey Seager could pull off a Fred Lynn and win not only the Rookie of the Year but also the MVP. He had a compelling case at the time but I don’t think many were taking the idea seriously, at best he was considered a top-five candidate. …
Rookies r Us
Dodger rookies continue to pound the baseball helping the Dodgers route Madison Bumgarner and the Giants. Segedin hit a home run in his first at-bat against Madison Bumgarner, giving him two home runs in two games. Segedin isn’t doing it against the lousy lefties either. Two weeks ago when he collected his first hit it was …
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 