Toles now 15 – 3 in games started
and 8 – 1 since being recalled on August 21st. The only time the LAD have lost when Andrew Toles has started since August 21st was the brilliant performance by Jose Fernandez at his home field in Miami.
Toles showed off one his many tools last night when he threw out Tomas from left field with a perfect peg. This is what Josh Reddick thought of the throw:
“That little guy has got all kinds of fire, and stuff you don’t really expect out of him,” Reddick said. “And now he showcased an arm that can throw about 100 mph to throw a guy out by 10 feet. That was pretty impressive.”
The LAD outfield made many contributions, Josh Reddick collected three hits, and Joc Pederson hit a home run so hard so far so fast that even Charlie Steiner had no problem making the call.
Joc Pederson continues to attack the snakes like a Mongoose. He is second to only that crazy rookie Ryan Schimpf in San Diego in OPS against the snakes this season. Cory Seager makes the top 12 with his 1.029 OPS.
| Player | | | OPS | | | PA |
| Ryan Schimpf | | | 1.454 | | | 31 |
| Joc Pederson | | | 1.452 | | | 42 |
| Stephen Piscotty | | | 1.242 | | | 33 |
| Charlie Blackmon | | | 1.142 | | | 79 |
| Yangervis Solarte | | | 1.132 | | | 45 |
| Freddie Freeman | | | 1.124 | | | 35 |
| Hunter Pence | | | 1.123 | | | 55 |
| Trevor Story | | | 1.097 | | | 59 |
| Gerardo Parra | | | 1.048 | | | 50 |
| Nolan Arenado | | | 1.04 | | | 87 |
| Corey Seager | | | 1.029 | | | 83 |
| Nick Hundley | | | 1.002 | | | 44 |
Oh, and Brock Stewart won the game, giving him a 2 – 2 record. Since giving up nine runs in Colorado, Stewart has made four appearances, pitched eighteen innings, given up only four runs, and struck out seventeen.
Chase Utley hit another double, giving him four doubles in three games, along with seven total hits in those three games.
Cory Seager did stuff, but he gets his own post.
Sean Reader is still in our thoughts
With September being Child Cancer Awareness Month, I’m remembering the children who have passed away from Cancer/Leukemia that had an impact on my life.
On Opening Day in 2007, the Dodgers presented Sean’s mother and father with seats from Dodger stadium. On the pair of seats is a plate that reads “In Memory of Sean Reader Born 9-18-93, passed 8-14-06 # 1 Dodger Fan “. The seats are located at Field Level, Section 43, Row A, Seat # 5 & 6.”
As the 10th anniversary of the 4+1 game approaches, I and several others will be thinking more of Sean Reader than of the actual game.
I first wrote about Sean Reader nine years ago on August 7th, 2007. I followed that up with a story on Sept 16th, 2010. This will be my 3rd story about Sean and hopefully not my last.
I write about Sean because Jay Stalling makes us remember him by running the Sean Fund.
Sean’s Fund works with California Chess League (CYCL) to provide financial aid to those who need it to pay for chess classes and tournaments. Additionally, Sean’s Fund provides for private lessons for children in the Santa Clarita Valley who suffer from cancer and brings chess to the patients at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles who suffer from cancer and other serious ailments.
Maybe that sounds trivial compared to donating money to the massive money machines who are trying to defeat cancer. Maybe? Maybe not so trivial after you read why Jay does this.
When I send money to the Sean Fund I know exactly what Jay Stalling and his staff will do with that donation. Sean had two passions, the Dodgers, and Chess. Sean wasn’t just some kid who played Chess, Sean was the Cory Seager of his Chess peers, and this is his story. The Sean Fund was created to extend Sean’s passion to those who may not have been fortunate enough due to economic situations to fully learn about the game that has such a beneficial impact on those who play it.
How does Sean Reader play into the 4+1 game?
From the day he was diagnosed, Sean, his family, Jay, and his family all expected a long fight, but a happy ending. They had strength, confidence, prayer, the best doctors, the bes tcaregivers , and still it was not enough. It was not to be, just like William; Sean was unable to beat the disease and passed away on Aug 17th 2006.
On Sept 18th with Sean’s birthday approaching, Chan was rightfully depressed. Jay was worried about Chan spending his recently deceased sons birthday alone, so he went over to help him get through the day. I’m just guessing but I think Jay needed to be there just as much as Chan needed him. They would get through this day together and lean on each other for support. They had loved Sean as a father loves his son and as a best man takes that family into his heart. I don’t know what they did that day except for one thing, and that was to watch the Dodger game.
Chan had purchased season seats for his son because aside from Chess, the Dodgers were his biggest passion. Sean loved the Dodgers and coveted the giveaways as young kids do. Besides the bobble heads, his favorite was the Fleece blanket, and this year the Dodgers were doing the fleece blanket on his birthday. When Sean was too sick to go to any more games, Chan had given away all the tickets except for the Sept 18th game. He had hoped that Sean would be healthy enough by then to make the trip for the game. It was not to be for Sean, and Chan still had the unused tickets sitting at home when Jay came over. Neither one could bring themselves to go to the game so they settled in and watched history unfold. It was just a baseball game, but nothing else could have provided the respite that Jay and Chan needed, then the game the Dodgers played. They toasted Nomar rounding the bases and thought of the boy who would have loved that game probably more than anyone else.
Sean Reader passed away from leukemia over tens years ago now on August 14, 2006. He was twelve when he passed away, and the Dodgers started their ThinkCure! campaign one year later. ThinkCure! is now nine years old and still going strong. In July of 2005 Sean was undergoing his 4th round of chemo when a Dodger group consisting of Ethier, Furcal, Martin, and Frank McCourt, visited Children’s Hospital. Sean had been looking forward to this visit for several weeks, as he was the biggest twelve-year-old Dodger fan in the world. Frank met with Sean that day, and I’m sure he made an impression on him. Sean was just weeks away from leaving us as he had fought a valiant battle, but the current knowledge was not going to be enough to save him. Yet, even in his last weeks, all he wanted to talk about was his Dodgers. That could not have been lost on Frank. Frank has referred to Sean in inspirational speeches he has made since then, so we know Frank’s thought about him. How much that played into the Dodgers starting ThinkCure!, I’ll never know, but I expect it helped facilitate the process.
Sean’s family had season tickets and they sat in the first row of the old section, about halfway between the 3rd base and the foul pole. When Sean was able to, they would manage to go to the games. However, if you’ve ever sat in those seats after the stadium’s modifications, you’d know that the new sight lines are tough on short people. It’s also hard to get a good view of the infield if anyone to your right leans forward in their seats. The ushers, however, would always spot Sean, and wave him into the new section, so he could watch the action. These simple gestures meant a lot to Sean and his father. I’m sure the ushers looked forward to the games Sean could attend, and cried silently when they realized he couldn’t make them any longer.
Sean would never leave the hospital after the Dodgers’ visit. He lost the battle with leukemia, and the fourth round of chemo had broken his body down. Still, he watched the games from his hospital bed. Whenever family and friends visited, and saw his body show animation, they knew immediately that something in the game had happened. They would glance up at the TV, and more times than not, a Dodger player would have just hit a home run.
Sean wasn’t just a Dodger fan, he was a brilliant boy. In February 2005, less than two months before his diagnosis, Sean won the title of Western States Chess Champion for the 6th Grade. Three days after he learned he had leukemia, Sean headed for Tennessee where he led his elementary school team to second place standings, in the nation. That’s like being runners-up at the Little League World Series (and Sean being the team’s best player).
And above all, he was a great son and person.
Leukemia is what ended Sean’s and many other children and adults’ lives prematurely. Doctors will say that with their new protocols, the ability to survive now, is better than ever before. The survival rate, however, needs to get better, because people are still dying at a greater rate than is acceptable.
The Dodgers do what they can on a large scale with ThinkCure!, Jay Stalling does what he can on a local level, not to fight cancer but to carry on the memory of one of the victims by helping to keep his passion for Chess alive for others.
Both are doing the good fight.
William Christopher Caldwell
“I hope your child never has cancer” are tough advertisements for me to watch over and over during the Dodger games. Children’s Hospital has become one of the more prominent Dodger sponsors on SportsNetLA. The children in the photos are all too familiar to me and every time I see the commercials it just reminds of the children who didn’t survive.
A few weeks ago I went to a game with David Young and Jay Stalling. Dave and I got there early enough they were doing the first pitch ceremony. The ball was going to be thrown out by a child with Leukemia. They tried to put on a good face, but eventually, the mother simply started crying. Unknown to David I was dying inside. I don’t pray, it seems like a useless endeavor, but I do hope, and I hoped that mother would have a better ending for her son than my best friends son.
I first wrote about William for TrueBlueLA back on Sept 05, 2007. It was one of the first things I ever wrote about. No one read TBLA at the time, and no one reads this blog so it seems like a perfect time to write about him today because those commercials and that game have put him back into my mind.
I’m not a deeply emotional person, very surface oriented, nothing really hit me in my heart over my lifetime until I was 46 when my best friend’s son died of Leukemia at the age of four. Byron and I had done many things together since we first met at work when he became my boss around 1987. Softball, old man basketball, scuba diving, river rafting, skiing, two-man beach volleyball, you name the sport we did it together. He was the best man at my wedding, I was the best man at his wedding. We did most of that before he got married, but after that, it was pretty much just weekly softball. Byron got married late in life but with a younger wife was able to start a family just about from the get go. We don’t have children and for whatever reasons, we didn’t really bond with Byron’s family. I would see the children when he brought them to the softball games, but that was about the extent of our interaction. Not having children of our own, his wife being much younger than my wife, it just didn’t happen.
That all changed the spring of 2004. Byron called to tell me that his oldest son William had been diagnosed with Leukemia and as you’d expect was very shaken up about it. His wife worked at Cedars-Sinai as a nurse so William was going to get the best care and treatment. We talked for a long time, and he asked me if would get tested to see if I could donate platelets for William. I eagerly agreed because I’d have done anything to help. At this point, my rare interactions with William were when Byron brought him to the softball games or the occasional social gathering. We had never bonded as sometimes friends do with their best friends children. Given what Byron had told me I was very confident at the time that William would beat this and live a long life. I got tested and was lucky enough to be a perfect match for donating platelets to William. I don’t remember why, but neither his parents nor sisters were able to do so. They have strict requirements for being able to donate and evidently the chaste life I lived had helped me. No sex outside of marriage, no tattoos, no drugs, no smoking. Hey, I was finally going to get rewarded for being Mr. Boring.
As he started his chemo treatments I marched to Cedars-Sinai to do my bit. They had wasted no time, as soon as he been diagnosed he was undergoing chemo. I was lucky enough at the time to be working at home as a consultant and go could to the hospital whenever they needed me. Turns out they needed me a lot. Each time I went I’d visit William in the cancer center and at first, the meeting was awkward. The first few times I just sat there with him. He didn’t say anything I didn’t offer much small talk. I had talked Byron into letting him watch the Pixar movie Monsters. At first being only four they felt it was too much for him but they relented and on my second visit I popped it in the DVD and watched it with him. He laughed and laughed and laughed and once it was over we were best friends. We watched that video just about every day I visited and then we’d play with his toys on his bed, take a walk around the cancer center. They were both the best and worst days of my life. Byron had just started a new job the exact same day his son had been diagnosed so he’d do the night visits and I’d do the day visits. With his mom working at the hospital and her numerous sisters he rarely went without someone being with him. Once the first chemo round was done, he got to go home, and this time, we made sure we were part of their family. I had fallen for the boy and I wasn’t about to lose that connection.
Months passed and more rounds of chemo kept coming at him. I had built up this image in my mind that I was helping save him with my super platelets cause each time he got my platelets they said his cell count improved. One day in December they declared him in remission and he had been approved for a bone marrow transplant. He and his sister came to our softball game and after the game, we took this photo after we had been playing in the playground for a long while after the game.
That photo was the happiest day of my life. Shortly after that, leukemia came back harder than the first time. They couldn’t’ do the bone marrow transplant therapy unless he was in remission. Things went from optimistic to hopeless so fast my head was spinning.
Make a Wish came through and took William and his family up to the snow at Big Bear. With all his extended family around and adult family friends we romped in the snow, but he was simply too sick to do anything but watch. At one point Byron needed to put him down and several sisters reached for him, but he reached out for me. I held him so tenderly because I knew his whole body was wracked with pain. I’ve never felt so deeply as I felt at that moment.
The ride home with my wife was the saddest two hours I’d had. Within a few weeks of that event, William passed away. I wrote this to everyone I knew who had known Bryon.
William Christopher Caldwell passed away last night at
09:21. His bravery the last nine months will never be
forgotten and he will be greatly missed by family and
friends. William’s candle only burned for 4 1/2 years
but it was a bright flame and the world will be a
sadder place without him in it. I only hope his smile
and laughter will stay in my memory and not be taken
away by time.
Time has taken it away. I can barely remember what we did when I visited. That time was such a blur, my mind was rarely focused. It stayed that way for several years. Byron was able to undo a Vasectomy that he’d gotten after his 2nd child. Amazingly they quickly conceived and even before William had passed away we had gotten news that Carmen was pregnant again. Eventually, they would have two more children which certainly helped them with their loss. They moved away from Los Angeles, away from the memories and started a new life in Kansas City, Kansas where Byron was from. We don’t stay in touch but maybe once a year but we were so close that it is as though no times has passed at all.
It turns out for me that was a once in a lifetime bonding and I’m much richer and sadder for it.
I echo the mantra of the CHS commercials. “I hope your child never has cancer”. I also hope any child you are close too never has cancer. I hope that mother I saw that day at the game can cry tears of joy when she finds out her son’s remission is complete and she can hold him again without fear of it being the last time she ever gets to hold him.
Giants widen Wild Card lead
Behind Johnny Cueto the Giants widened their wild card lead by defeating the Cardinals, one of the teams chasing them 6 – 2. Cueto did what he’s being paid to do, and the Giant offense woke up against Adam Wainwright.
Combine that with the Mets having an off day, the Giants now have a one-game lead over the Mets and more importantly a two-game lead over the Cardinals.
The Mets gained a game on the Cardinals with that off day, which for them is much more important than chasing down the Giants.
Toles takes starting record to 14 – 3
Even when Andrew Toles does nothing, the team is so comfortable with him starting they win anyway. For the second start in a row, Andrew Toles didn’t do much to help the team win, going hitless in three at-bats in the 2 – 0 victory. On Monday Toles at least got a hit and scored a run in the 8 – 2 victory.
It is going to be very interesting when the Dodgers brain trust decides who will be on the NLDS roster and who won’t be. It could come down to Toles and Andre for one of those spots. Andre has yet to get a hit since coming back but has plenty of time to shake off the rust after missing 90% of the season. Toles offers speed and the ability to play all three OF positions. They both bat left-handed which is why it is possible only one will get chosen.
And ho hum Clayton Kershaw is still special and has a few more starts to get ready for his command performance in Washington.
Pending Dodger free agents Justin Turner and Kenley Jansen put on a nice show today. Turner knocking in the go-ahead run in the 9th inning, and gave Dodger fans a scare when he slid head first into the back of Starlin Castro’s leg clearly jamming his neck. Given all the things that can go wrong with a headfirst slide, players still do it over and over. KJ put the finishing touches on the Yankee series by striking out the side for his 44th save.
Corey Seager didn’t put on the show I was hoping for in NY, but the Dodgers did win the series and thanks to the ineptitude of the Giants put two games back on the lead making it five again and reducing the magic number significantly.
Giants try to give Wild card away but Mets and Cardinals refuse the gift
Once again all the main players in the NL Wild Card race lost leaving everything status quo. The three teams combined to score one run with the Mets and Cardinals getting shut out.
The Giants were swept by the Padres when Luis Perdomo beat Madson Bumgarner 3 – 1. The Padres have swept two series this year, and both times, the Giants were the team being swept. Dodgers should send some flowers to San Diego for making their job that much easier. Giants are still 1/2 game up on the Mets.
The Mets lost 1 – 0 to Tanner Roark and the Nationals. The rookie Robert Gsellman pitched five shutout innings for the Mets but when you don’t score you can’t win. Eventually, the relief gave up the deciding run when Wilson Ramos hit his 21st home run. Mets are still 1/2 game up on the Cardinals.
Cubs gave the Cardinals a hard time beating them two out of three and shut them out in the final game of the series. Jon Lester kept pace with teammate Kyle Hendricks for CYA consideration by throwing eight shutout innings of three-hit ball. Combined the two of them held the Cardinals to one run, and four hits in sixteen innings. Rizzo hit two home runs for the offense.
Maybe Miami can back into this, they won today 7 – 5 for the second win in a row and are now only four games back of the Mets. Jose Fernandez proved once again he’s a mere mortal when pitching on the road but the offense picked him and delivered the victory.
Wild, Wild Card Night leaves Giants being Schimpf’d
All the main NL Wild card teams were leading in the 9th inning last night. Only one of them was unable to bring home the victory. The Giants were Schimpf’d in the 9th inning when Schimpf blasted a three-run home run after Bochy pulled right-hander Hunter Strickland for left-hander Steven Okert to face the lefty hitting Schimpf. The Giants were leading 4 – 1 entering the 9th and left it trailing 6 – 4. Schimpf has now hit a ridiculous 19 home runs in only 236 at bats. If Corey Seager, Story, and Diaz weren’t rookie shortstops, Schimpf might have gotten a few ROY votes himself.
The Mets had their own heroics, but they did it the hard way. The Mets led going into the bottom of the 9th but the Nationals scored two runs to tie the game. The Mets needed to score in the 10th to bring home the victory and close within a 1/ 2 game of the Giants. T.J. Rivera to rescue as made his first major league home run a memorable one, taking National ace closer Mark Melancon deep to give the Mets a 4 – 3 lead and eventual victory. It was the 3rd hit of the night for the rookie Rivera who is only playing because Todd Walker is out for the season.
The Cardinals won 4 – 2 behind a wild Al Reyes who threw four shutout inning in relief of Jamie Garcia. Reyes walked six in those four innings but managed to keep the Cubs off the scoreboard. Brandon Moss broke out of a slump to hit his 26th home run which provided the winning margin. A Diaz fresh off the DL hit a home run in his first at-bat.
The Marlins and Pirates also won but they need a lot more victories to get much space here. The Pirates scored three runs in the top of the 9th to secure their unlikely victory but last gasps won’t do much for a team who has lost seven of their last ten.
Jim Frenchy Lefebvre – 1965 NL ROY
Jim Lefebvre did it all, major league baseball player, Japanese League baseball player, major league coach, major league three team manager, Chinese National team Manager but before he did all that, he was the second LAD to win the NL ROY award, with the first being Frank Howard.
Jim Lefebvre was a local kid who went to Morningside High School in Inglewood. His father was an American Legion coach and is credited with creating the hitting tee. Jim was used as a LAD batboy in 1961 and must of have been to sign with his local team in 1962. He clubbed 39 home runs in his first season in the minors and by 1964 was already in AAA and ready to start his major league career.
“Our defense was horrible last year, but John Kennedy and Jim Lefebvre will help to correct that situation,” he said. “If Lefebvre doesn’t stay with the club, shame on us. There was a rumor he might be farmed out for another year of experience.”
Lefebvre not only made the team he ended up playing in 157 games and led the team in home runs with a measly twelve. Jim Lefebvre probably didn’t deserve to win the 1965 NL ROY over Joe Morgan but he did win the award and became the second LAD to win the NL ROY award.
Lefebvre and Morgan were both 2nd baseman, but one guy played on the best team in the NL and the other played on the worst team in the NL. One guy looked like a baseball player, the other guy looked like he should be riding horses for a living. One guy was a cool switch hitter (forming the first all switch hitting infield in baseball history), the other guy flapped his arm like a chicken from the left side. One guy one played on a team behind Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, the other guy walked stole bases and scored runs. One guy had a bWAR of 4.6. the other guy had a bWAR of 5.6.
Hmmm, not as big a difference as I would have expected. What does fWAR think? Jimmy clocked in at 4.0 and Joe at 5.1. Joe is still clearly the leader but I have to admit I always thought the margin was larger. Jim Lefebvre had some sweet defensive numbers in 1965 and Joe Morgan, not so much. This makes me sad because by the time I saw Lefebvre play it was 1970 and I don’t remember him dazzling on defense. I guess the back injuries had taken their toll.
One final 1965 note about Frenchy and his 12 home runs in 1965. Frenchy tied with Lou Johnson to lead the Dodgers team in home runs with those 12. Let that sink in. The Dodgers won the World Series in 1965 and the top two home run hitters had 12 each. Willie Mays hit 52 by himself that year. Let’s try that again for dramatic effect. The 1965 World Champion LAD hit 78 home runs as a team. Willie Mays hit 52 by himself.
Lefebvre not only won the ROY award he even got 7 MVP voter points. 7 Dodgers received MVP voter points in 1965, which makes sense for a team that won the World Series.
Frenchy followed up his ROY season by being even better in 1966. He rocked 24 home runs while playing half his games at Dodger Stadium in 1966. Fifty years later that does not seem like a big deal, but back in 1966, it was a very big deal. Very few 2nd baseman had ever hit 24 home runs in a season and that short list was filled with HOF 2nd baseman.
- Roger Hornsby who did it five times
- Bobby Doer who did it twice
- Joe Gordon who did it six times
and in 1966, Jim Lefebvre joined that select group. Granted there wasn’t much else that equated Lefebvre to those three HOF 2nd baseman, but just wanted to show at age 24 Jimmy Lefebvre looked to be on a solid career path. After two years in the majors and just 24 years old, Jimmy had hit more home runs by the age of 24, than any NL 2nd baseman in baseball history except HOF Bill Mazeroski , even if that total was just 36.
Other notable items from that 1966 season per baseball savvy
- First LAD to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same game on May 7th, 1966
- Hit a home run off of Dave McNally in the World Series. It would be only one of two runs the Dodgers would score in the whole series
Much like Bill Grabarkewitz, his career would be sidelined by injury after injury and as his playing time diminished the Dodgers released him in 1972. What had once been a very promising Dodger career had come to an end. He would never come close to reaching the height of 1966 again.
Frenchy went to Japan to continue his playing career and had quite a run while in Japan.When you read his story you almost wonder if the Tom Sellick movie Mr. Baseball wasn’t based on his time there. He had one great season but that was it and after four seasons he retired to start an odyssey that eventually had him coaching and managing for three different teams. In 2004 he was approached by Sandy Alderson to help the Chinese National team prepare for the Olympics. That three-month project turned into five years. This link has a plethora of Jim Lefebvre information if your interested in reading more about one of the more fascinating Los Angeles Dodgers.
NL Wild Card race – Everyone lost and Mat Latos hit a home run
The top three teams in the NL Wild Card race all lost last night. The two fringe teams also lost.
The Giants/Mets/Cardinals combined to score two runs last night and lost by a combined score of 16 – 2.
- Giants were shutout by six Padre pitchers and lost 4 – 0
- The Cardinals were almost no-hit by the front runner for the NL CYA and lost 4 -1. To no one’s surprise, the Cardinals hit a home run to break up the no-hitter. To everyone’s surprise, it was Jeremy Hazelbaker who hit the home run.
- Even the Mets couldn’t figure out Mat Latos who showed up out of nowhere to start for the Nationals. Mat’s last start was back in June for the White Sox, Mat was so glad to be back in the NL he slugged a home run. The Mets started youngster Rafael Montero, who was crushed and gone by the 2nd inning.
To be fair to the Mets and Cardinals they were playing the top two teams in the NL. The Giants had no such excuse.
This is insane!!! De Leon / Urias / Kershaw
Pitching in Yankee Stadium in the middle of September, in the middle of a pennant race. Sure, we all envisioned this could happen in 2018, optimistic folk might have felt it could happen in 2017. Yet, this is 2016.
The future is already here and it came blazingly fast
On the mound last night was the rookie Jose De Leon making his 2nd start. Rookies making starts in Sept is nothing new in baseball, rookies making starts for a team in the pennant race is a little more unusual. It happens, but not like this. The Dodgers have won three straight NL Western conference titles and how many rookies made starts for those teams in September before they clinched the pennant? Over that three-year period, four rookies
- Joe Wieland last Sept, 9th
- Carlos Frias 9/17/2014 and 9/3/2014
- Stephen Fife 09/18/2013
- Hyun-Jin Ryu made four starts but Ryu like Maeda is not your typical rookie and not really what we are talking about here.
The Dodgers have used a rookie non-Kenta Maeda five times already this month, with Urias set to make it six times tonight. If we include Kenta, rookies have made seven starts this month, with Urias about to make it eight. With Maeda the Dodgers have used rookie starters in seven of the ten games played in Sept. Urias will make it eight of eleven games when he pitches tonight.
- Jose De Leon – 2 times
- Brock Stewart – 1 time
- Ross Stripling – 1 time (and also on Aug 31st)
- Julio Urias – 1 time ( and tonight will make it 2 times)
- Kenta Maeda – 2 times
The non – rookies to make starts for the Dodgers this month? Rich Hill & Clayton Kershaw
And by the way, the Dodgers are 7 – 3 so far this month.
One final note, the likes of Weiland, Frias, and Fife were strictly filler and no one expected any of them to have a future beyond those spot starts. The starts were much appreciated at the time but not surprisingly none of them had a future with the Dodgers. Frias maybe, but most considered him a relief pitcher, and probably still should. No, these guys are quite different, and if in a year from now the rotation was Kershaw, Hill, Maeda, Urias, De Leon or one of Stewart or Stripling, it would not shock me in the slightest.
Second final note, if Urias was not knocking on his innings limit he’d be a slam dunk as the Dodgers choice for 4th starter in the postseason. With limited options that might end up being Jose De Leon. The last rookie to start in the postseason for the Dodgers that was not a Japanese or Korean international signing looks to be Ismael Valdez in 1995. Before that, you’d have to go back to Fernando in 1981.
Updated
@meercatjohn Hong-Chih Kuo started Game 2 of the 2006 NLDS
— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) September 13, 2016
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 