Puig and Kemp dominate Fangraphs May wRC+ leaderboard for NL outfielders
Given the Dodgers struggles to win in May it is a big surprise that the Dodgers have three players in the top ten of wRC+ for National League outfielders in the month of May.
It is no surprise the Yasiel Puig is number one on the leaderboard with his 214 wRC+ as he is as hot as any hitter in baseball. Last night Puig showed off his best stuff, drawing a walk in a fantastic at-bat with the bases loaded, and slamming a big home run later in the game, his fifth of the month.
Much was made about how the Dodgers needed the return of Justin Turner, but it has really been the return of Yasiel Puig that has reignited the offense.
Matt Kemp struggled early in May but is back in a groove and is also in the May top ten wRC+ NL outfielder leaderboard. Matt Kemp has only hit one home run this month but is collecting lots of doubles and big hits.
I was shocked to see Chris Taylor on the list. His big game last night propelled into the top ten. Granted he is no longer an outfielder but Fangraphs considers him one for now.
On the downside, the center-field platoon of Joc/Kiké is not going well in May and is why Max Muncy is now playing 1st base against right-hand pitching with Cody Bellinger taking over duties in center-field. Joc has an ISO in May of .113 with zero home runs.
All stats in the table below are from the Fangraphs split tool. The criteria were the month of May, National League Outfielders, at least 40 plate appearances sorted by wRC+.
| Name | Team | wOBA | wRC+ | PA | HR | ISO |
| Yasiel Puig | Dodgers | 0.479 | 214 | 40 | 5 | 0.471 |
| Ian Happ | Cubs | 0.468 | 201 | 60 | 5 | 0.457 |
| Odubel Herrera | Phillies | 0.435 | 180 | 78 | 4 | 0.246 |
| Starling Marte | Pirates | 0.421 | 172 | 49 | 3 | 0.277 |
| Nick Markakis | Braves | 0.419 | 169 | 86 | 3 | 0.171 |
| Matt Adams | Nationals | 0.416 | 166 | 66 | 7 | 0.404 |
| Travis Jankowski | Padres | 0.387 | 151 | 71 | 1 | 0.111 |
| Chris Taylor | Dodgers | 0.378 | 145 | 81 | 2 | 0.185 |
| Matt Kemp | Dodgers | 0.376 | 143 | 77 | 1 | 0.151 |
| Not so good | ||||||
| Enrique Hernandez | Dodgers | 0.269 | 70 | 43 | 3 | 0.231 |
| Joc Pederson | Dodgers | 0.257 | 63 | 60 | 0 | 0.113 |
Max Muncy doesn’t take Buehlers day off
but the rest of the Dodger offense did. Once again Max Muncy led the Dodger offense just as he has done most of May. Before Justin Turner returned last week and Puig got hot most of the May damage had come from the unlikely source of Max Muncy.
It isn’t just an illusion as you can tell from the leaderboard below. I did have to cherry pick because Max has played mostly 3rd base so these are the top 3rd baseman in baseball with at least 15 games at 3rd base.
Muncy is basically the left-handed version of Christian Villanueva. Both failed in previous major league gigs, both are having breakout seasons in 2018, and while the Padres have found that Villanueva can’t hit right-hand pitching he can crush left-handed pitching, and opposite might be the case for Muncy who has an OPS of .921 against right-hand pitching so far this year.
Muncy is doing so well that to get his bat into the lineup against right-hand pitching, Cody Bellinger is now playing CF so Muncy can play 1st base. This means that either Kemp or Puig needs to sit if Dave feels the need to start Joc Pederson. On Monday that left Puig on the bench even though he has been the best hitter on the team in May purely based on his beasting last week. Joc started and went hitless and the Dodgers lost 2 – 1. You can do the math.
Player OPS+ PA Age Tm Kris Bryant 169 185 26 CHC Jose Ramirez 156 198 25 CLE Nolan Arenado 148 186 27 COL Max Muncy 148 86 27 LAD Eugenio Suarez 144 132 26 CIN Christian Villanueva 140 150 27 SDP Eduardo Escobar 140 170 29 MIN Jedd Gyorko 137 86 29 STL Mike Moustakas 132 199 29 KCR Matt Chapman 129 194 25 OAK
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/22/2018.
My first Brother in Arms game
Reading Jon Weisman’s Brother in Arms was like reading my own history with the Dodgers. It took a few chapters to get there but once Jon reached Don Sutton I was with the man who started my Dodger chapter at Dodger Stadium.
When I came to Los Angeles in the spring of 1970, Don Sutton had yet to turn into the HOF he would become. Entering 1970 he had been eclipsed by 1969 20 game winner Bill Singer and yet to show he was even better than Claude Osteen. Don Drysdale had retired in 1969 leaving only Little D to carry on the D tradition. As Jon notes:
Sutton began the 1970s with more sparkling moments in an otherwise disappointing year.
Luckily for me, I was able to witness one of those sparkling moments in 1970. Not the one Jon would write about on July 17th when Don struck out twelve Mets but an earlier incandescent moment in the middle of June.
We arrived in Los Angles in late May but with my Dad and brothers taking care of business back in Virginia I had to wait until June 16th to see my first Dodger game. My Dad had taken me to several games at Robert Kennedy Stadium in Washington DC to see the Senators and Frank Howard (bat day was something else) but I’d never been to Dodger Stadium when he took me for my first game on June 16th. I was eleven years old and the Dodgers consumed me. The Dodgers were playing the Pirates and Don Sutton was going against Bob Veale. Bob was a big left-handed pitcher for the Pirates and a formidable foe. Veale would pitcher over 200 innings seven straight years from 1964 – 1970. These Pirates had the great Pirates names of HOF Willie Stargell, HOF Roberto Clemente, HOF Bill Mazeroski, Matty Alou, Richie Hebner, Manny Sanguillan and future Dodger Al Oliver. One quick link. If you have never read the Josh Wilker Baseball Gods story on Richie Hebner, you need to click on this. You will thank me, it is one of the best things ever written on the web.
Sadly I didn’t get to see Roberto Clemente, looking at his game logs from 1970 he must have had a minor injury because he didn’t play from June 15th – June 21st. Luckily for Don Sutton, he also missed Robert Clemente, because Roberto had one of his greatest offensive seasons in 1970 putting up an OPS+ of 160. That was the 3rd highest OPS+ of his great career. I remember the tickets being on the right field side so my Dad probably got those tickets hoping to see Roberto Clemente play right field.
I don’t remember what I thought when I first saw Dodger Stadium but given that my only other experience was Robert F Kennedy Stadium I’m sure I was impressed. Dodger Stadium was only nine years old and you still paid the same price for a ticket on the Field Level no matter if you sat behind home plate or by the foul pole. Even then, I didn’t understand baseball ticketing practices. I’m sure we were either in the Loge or Reserved section. I think my Dad got these tickets but it could have been part of the Danny Goodman club where for a certain price you got all sorts of goodies including tickets to multiple Dodger games.
I had three distinct memories of this game.
- Don Sutton threw a shutout
- My favorite Dodger at the time Billy Grabarkewitz hit a home run for the only run in the game.
- Bob Veale started for the Pirates
These memories stayed with me my whole adult life but it wasn’t until Baseball Reference showed up that I could check the box score to see if my memory was correct. By that time I was used to finding out the memories don’t always match the facts as player and fan were corrected time and time again when someone double checked the game they were talking about. It was either a thread on Dodger Thoughts or TrueBlueLA where the community was talking about their first game. Before joining in the conversation I thought I’d better check baseball reference to make sure my memory would stand up to the scrutiny of Bob Timmermann or Eric Stephen the resident fact checkers for both blogs. This was about forty years after the actual game and with over a five hundred games at Dodger Stadium under my belt it could easily have become more of a myth than a memory so it was with apprehension that I looked at the game logs for Don Sutton in 1970. There it was. I didn’t know it was June 16th but Baseball Reference did.
The Dodgers did win 1 – 0. Don Sutton did throw the shutout. Billy Grabarkewitz did hit the home run, and Bob Veale was indeed the opposing pitcher. I was elated to find out my childhood memories were intact and not as fuzzy as most of my other memories.
It was because of this game that I was a huge Don Sutton fan. And that will take me to tomorrow as I try to put to words the impact the career of Don Sutton had on me.
Kenta Maeda lights up the game score leaderboard
Late Wednesday Night the Dodgers had just lost to the Marlins again and the pit of despair was looming large three thousand miles away in Los Angeles. The tunnel was dark and fans couldn’t see any glimmer of light as they tried to make their way into positive energy. Just as the last rays of light were about to be snuffed out, Kenta Maeda of all people lit the torch that blinded the negative fans and gave the Dodgers the light they needed to find their way from Miami to Washington.
I was wondering in my previous article if this was the best game score that Kenta ever had, and here is the answer.
Yes, and it is not very close. Kenta has only had four game scores of 75 or better and only two game scores of eighty or better. Personally, I liked the 13 strikeout game better but he only went seven innings.
With the Dodgers reeling, Kenta Maeda could not have picked a better time to pitch his best game as a Dodger. A few more games like this and Kenta might even have his own moment in the sun in the next version of Jon Weisman’s’ Brother in Arms.
Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc IR 2018-05-17 MIA W 7-0 8.0 2 0 0 8 86 2016-07-10 SDP W 3-1 7.0 2 1 0 13 82 2017-08-01 ATL W 3-2 7.0 2 0 1 6 78 2017-06-27 LAA W 4-0 7.0 4 0 0 6 75
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/21/2018.
This was also one of the ten best games ever pitched by a Dodger against the Marlins in Miami. Quite the international flavor to this list. Ramon Martinez is the leader at 94, Clayton gets in the way at 92, but he followed by Nomo at 91, Ramon again at 88, Nomo again at 87, and then Kenta with his 86.
Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Ramon Martinez 1995-07-14 FLA W 7-0 9.0 0 0 1 8 94 Clayton Kershaw 2011-05-29 FLA W 8-0 9.0 2 0 1 10 92 Hideo Nomo 1996-04-13 FLA W 3-1 9.0 3 1 3 17 91 Ramon Martinez 1994-06-07 FLA W 2-0 9.0 3 0 0 7 88 Hideo Nomo 1995-07-15 FLA W 3-1 9.0 3 1 0 10 87 Kenta Maeda 2018-05-17 MIA W 7-0 8.0 2 0 0 8 86 Rich Hill 2016-09-10 MIA W 5-0 7.0 0 0 0 9 86 Kevin Brown 2001-05-07 FLA W 1-0 8.0 2 0 2 10 86 Chris Capuano 2012-08-12 MIA W 5-0 8.0 2 0 3 10 85 Pedro Astacio 1993-09-12 FLA W 1-0 9.0 5 0 2 7 82 Brad Penny 2007-05-07 FLA W 6-1 7.0 5 0 0 14 81 Kevin Brown 2002-05-11 FLA W 3-0 7.0 3 0 1 10 80
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/21/2018.
Dodger pitching finds the footing just in time
The Dodgers went into the weekend against the Nationals without Clayton Kershaw and came away with three victories as Ross Stripling saved the rotation and the bullpen saved the rotation when Rich Hill ripped off a blister and didn’t record one out in his start.
Kenta Maeda got the pitching rolling with a fantastic getaway game on Thursday in which he recorded a game score of 86 and in a minute I’ll know if that was the best game score of his career.
Ross Stripling and Alex Wood bookended the crazy bullpen game in game two of the doubleheader on Saturday with excellent starts.
Last year when I did the monthly stats Kenley Jansen was always number one in SO9 (strikeouts per 9 innings) but even as he has found his footing the strikeout is still elusive for him. His SO9 rate is a paltry 6.3 which is normally Ross Stripling territory. Ross, however now has a 12.1 SO9 in May, just a tick behind the team leader Walker Buehler at 12.2. Ross also leads the team in SO/W ( strikeouts per walk) with a Clayton Kershaw type number of 11 to 1.
We are twenty days into May and I think Ross Stripling would be the Dodger pitcher of the month if the month ended last night. Even with all due respect to Walker. Normally losing Hill for a month might be a concern but with the way Ross has been pitching, frankly, I’d rather have Ross Stripling than Rich Hill. At least I know Ross isn’t going to say his blister if fine before it tears off one batter into a start.
When I felt the Dodgers had plenty of rotation depth at the start of the year, I wasn’t really considering Ross Stripling as part of that depth. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Right now the Dodgers are missing 3/5 of their opening day rotation but Clayton is looming on the horizon, Walker Buehler has filled the big shoes of Ryu, and Ross might be able to fill the shoes of Hill. It does get dicey after that. I think the Dodgers are going to give Brock Stewart a start on Wednesday, and hopefully, he can provide them with a quality start.
Who knows, we might see Dennis Santana sometime this month.
Eric Goeddel made his Dodger debut this week and picked up a win in that debut. Scott Alexander came back from AAA and has been fantastic giving the Dodgers a stronger bridge to Jansen. I can’t keep track of who is here and who is not but the key guys remain Fields, Baez, Alexander, Cingrani, Hudson, and Chargois.
| Name | IP | ERA | WHIP | SO9 | SO/W |
| Alex Wood | 22 | 2.05 | 1.227 | 8.6 | 3.5 |
| Kenta Maeda | 17.2 | 4.08 | 1.019 | 10.2 | 6.67 |
| Walker Buehler | 17 | 3.18 | 1 | 12.2 | 4.6 |
| Ross Stripling | 16.1 | 1.65 | 0.98 | 12.1 | 11 |
| Kenley Jansen | 10 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 6.3 | 3.5 |
| Pedro Baez | 9.2 | 2.79 | 1.552 | 10.2 | 2.75 |
| Daniel Hudson | 9.2 | 2.79 | 1.241 | 6.5 | 1.75 |
| Rich Hill | 9.2 | 6.52 | 1.966 | 8.4 | 1.5 |
| Josh Fields | 8.1 | 2.16 | 0.96 | 5.4 | 1.67 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 6 | 3 | 1.167 | 9 | 6 |
| JT Chargois | 5.2 | 9.53 | 2.824 | 9.5 | 1 |
| Tony Cingrani | 5.1 | 8.44 | 1.688 | 11.8 | 2.33 |
| Scott Alexander | 4.2 | 0 | 0.429 | 11.6 | 3 |
| Yimi Garcia | 4.2 | 7.71 | 1.5 | 5.8 | 3 |
| Brock Stewart | 4 | 2.25 | 1 | 4.5 | 1 |
| Adam Liberatore | 3 | 9 | 2.333 | 12 | 2 |
| Pat Venditte | 2.2 | 6.75 | 1.125 | 6.8 | |
| Erik Goeddel | 1.2 | 0 | 1.8 | 10.8 | 1 |
Kenley leads the team with nine games in May, but the real problem is that Clayton Kershaw has only been in one game in May. Lots of pitchers have been used in May, I didn’t even include everyone.
| Name | G | GS | H | ER | BB | SO |
| Kenley Jansen | 9 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Josh Fields | 8 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Pedro Baez | 7 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| Daniel Hudson | 7 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| JT Chargois | 7 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Tony Cingrani | 6 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 7 |
| Adam Liberatore | 6 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Yimi Garcia | 5 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Alex Wood | 4 | 4 | 21 | 5 | 6 | 21 |
| Ross Stripling | 4 | 3 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 22 |
| Scott Alexander | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Kenta Maeda | 3 | 3 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 20 |
| Walker Buehler | 3 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 23 |
| Rich Hill | 3 | 2 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 9 |
| Pat Venditte | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Brock Stewart | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Erik Goeddel | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
Dodgers make offensive progress with sweep of Nationals
Things looked very grim for the Dodgers as they headed into a key three-game series against the hottest team in the National League after winning just two of the previous eleven games against mostly sub five hundred win percentage teams.
The Dodgers got a rainout on Friday and whatever they did on that off day they should try to emulate because they bounced back Saturday to sweep a doubleheader, and completed a three-game sweep of the Nationals with another win on Sunday.
With the Diamondbacks losing every time they take the field, the Dodgers are only five games back of first place even with an 8 – 10 record in May.
One thing I noticed headed into the weekend was how many pundits and fans were saying the Dodgers were a bad team. Playing poorly during a given time frame does not equate to being a bad team. Fans should really remember this. There is no doubt that without Corey Seager this is not the 2017 team, but it is far from a bad team.
I think.
Yasiel Puig had a big week and surpassed Max Muncy as the Dodgers best hitter so far in May with a massive OPS of 1.018. Max Muncy didn’t falter having another good week and giving the Dodgers a valid reason to keep him in the lineup by using Bellinger in CF.
Kemp is getting plenty of rest as Dave Roberts now has a Puig/Joc/Kemp/Kiké/Bellinger all getting starts in the outfield. Joc doesn’t have good numbers for the month but he had a nice weekend batting near the top of the lineup.
Justin Turner and Logan Forsythe returned. Turner made an impact, Logan not so much but he did look better this weekend.
The two catchers are having a nice month, and that is probably what Barnes is going to be going forward now that Forsythe is back. No more three catcher lineups with Farmer in AAA and Barnes now the backup catcher.
For a team struggling to win, the offensive stats don’t look so bad. Only Chase is really scuffling. The key problem was the lack of home runs with runners on base, something they took care of this weekend.
Dodgers hit their first homer with a man on base since May 1!
— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) May 20, 2018
May Offensive stats:
| Name | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | BB | SO |
| Yasiel Puig | 0.273 | 0.351 | 0.667 | 1.018 | 4 | 9 |
| Max Muncy | 0.275 | 0.4 | 0.525 | 0.925 | 8 | 10 |
| Matt Kemp | 0.323 | 0.362 | 0.477 | 0.839 | 4 | 11 |
| Justin Turner | 0.333 | 0.391 | 0.429 | 0.82 | 1 | 2 |
| Austin Barnes | 0.276 | 0.432 | 0.379 | 0.812 | 7 | 9 |
| Chris Taylor | 0.262 | 0.392 | 0.41 | 0.802 | 10 | 19 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 0.188 | 0.317 | 0.438 | 0.754 | 10 | 15 |
| Cody Bellinger | 0.203 | 0.273 | 0.449 | 0.722 | 6 | 22 |
| Logan Forsythe | 0.235 | 0.316 | 0.353 | 0.669 | 2 | 3 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 0.158 | 0.238 | 0.395 | 0.633 | 4 | 14 |
| Joc Pederson | 0.204 | 0.304 | 0.327 | 0.63 | 6 | 8 |
| Chase Utley | 0.171 | 0.227 | 0.244 | 0.471 | 3 | 9 |
More May offensive stats:
Matt Kemp leads the team in May with twenty-one hits and seven doubles but only one home run. Max Muncy is tied with Cody Bellinger for the team lead in RBI with 10.
Turner, Joc, Logan, and Chase have yet to go yard this month. Of course, JT and Logan just returned but Joc has had 56 plate appearances without a home run.
| Name | PA | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI |
| Yasiel Puig | 37 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Max Muncy | 50 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Matt Kemp | 69 | 3 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Justin Turner | 23 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Austin Barnes | 37 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Chris Taylor | 74 | 10 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 60 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| Cody Bellinger | 77 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| Logan Forsythe | 19 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 42 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Joc Pederson | 56 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Chase Utley | 44 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
All stats in this article were courtesy of Baseball Ref split tool.
Dennis Santana wins the May 14 – May 20th Farm Factory Award
I’m not sure any Dodger prospect has had a better AAA debut than Dennis Santana had on May 19th when he struck out eleven with zero walks in his six innings. I may have to check that out just for fun.
It was a slam dunk to give Dennis Santana the weekly Farm Factory Award which goes to the player I subjectively decided had the best week among the Dodger prospects. With Walker now a permanent part of the Dodger rotation (assuming he stays healthy) Dennis Santana is probably the best pitching prospect in the system. I’m hearing the Dodgers don’t really consider Brock Stewart an option for the rotation, so it may very well be possible that Dennis Santana might get some starts for the Dodgers at some point this year.
Other notable weekly players:
Starling Heredia has had a horrible start to his season with the Loons but maybe his bat is waking up as spring starts to make way for summer. Starling played in seven games and got twenty-seven at-bats. He had eight hits, including four home runs. He’s still striking out at a ridiculous clip but at least he’s starting to make things happen when he does make contact.
Jake Peter had a nice week going eight for sixteen with two home runs. Jake started out slow but now has an .880 OPS for May.
Keibert Ruiz has a nine-game hitting streak after hitting in every game last week that he played in. Overall, Keibert went six for nineteen with two home runs. Over his last ten games, Keibert is hitting .333 with only two strikeouts in thirty-nine at-bats.
Alex Verdugo only played in three games last week but did collect a hit in every game.
Jeren Kendall now has fifty-three strikeouts in only one hundred twenty-eight at-bats but he did hit in five of the six games he played in this week.
Connor Wongs’ bat has woken up again after a brief lull. Wong has an eight-game hitting streak including hits in all four games this week. Wong now has ten home runs but relinquished the California League home run lead to Jared Walsh who has hit eight home runs in May for a total of thirteen.
Bizarro day finds Dodgers only six back
The odds were already stacked against the Dodgers in the second game of a doubleheader having to face the best pitcher in the National League in his park, but they looked even worse after Rich Hill left the game with a torn blister without retiring a single batter. This meant the bullpen would have to get 27 outs for a win, and in one of the more improbable games of 2018, the bullpen did just that. For five innings the combined trio of Scott Alexander, Pedro Baez, and Yimi Garcia not only shut down the Nationals they didn’t give up a hit. All that changed in the sixth inning when the Nationals broke through for four runs to give Max Scherzer a two-run lead. That seemed like more than enough given that the Dodgers would have to face Scherzer in the 7th, the vaunted National bullpen, and the Dodgers inability to come back late in games.
But it wasn’t enough. Cody Bellinger hit a home run against the left-handed Solis in the 8th, and Matt Kemp came through with a huge two-run game-winning double against Doolittle in the 9th. The bullpen did their job by shutting down the Nationals in the 7th, 8th, and 9th giving the Dodgers a doubleheader sweep against the hottest team in the National League.
The Dodgers got a sweep because Ross Stripling continues to pitch better and better with each start. I was not a fan of the Dodgers going with Ross Stripling as the newest member of the rotation feeling that Brock Stewart was the better man for the job since he was already stretched out as a starter, but it is clear that Dodger management had their finger on the pulse as Ross Stripling has been dynamite. Ross in three May starts has now thrown 15 1/3 innings, giving up just fourteen hits, three earned runs, only two walks, and a staggering twenty-one strikeouts. It was easy for me to poo poo the first two starts given they were against the Padres at Petco and the Reds at home, but this game was against the hottest team in the National League on the road, and he shut them down for six innings.
Other notes from the doubleheader:
- The latest Dodger acquisition Erik Goeddel made his Dodger debut in the 8th inning of the second game and got the victory when the Dodgers scored twice in the 9th. I’m not sure who the last Dodger was to get a victory in relief in their first game with the Dodgers. Or even how to find out, but it was cool.
- Kenley Jansen got two saves in one day, the first time he ever did that. He is looking more and more like our Jansen.
- The Dodgers picked up a game and a half on the Diamondbacks who lost again. Even though the Dodgers are only 4 – 6 in their last ten games, the Diamondbacks are 1 – 9 and the Dodgers are actually gaining ground.
- Scott Alexander rejoined the team on May 9th and has looked fantastic in his four appearances with today being the best. In four May appearances, Scott has gotten fourteen outs, zero hits, two walks, and six strikeouts. This is the guy the Dodgers traded for.
- Max Muncy had another big game including a home run off Max Scherzer. Max now has a .968 OPS in May in thirty-seven at-bats.
Brother in Arms by Jon Weisman
When Jon Weisman announced his new project last year I was excited to see what kind of prose he could put together about the pitchers of my youth and the pitchers I read about in my youth. His book is called Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition and is now available in both hardcover and kindle versions.
Even though his book had dropped over a month ago, the Kindle version didn’t drop until this past week on May 15th. I could have bought the hardcover but I’m waiting to buy some of those from Jon himself when he does a book signing at the Brewery on June 3rd.
Book Signing with Jon Weisman – June 3 at Common Space Brewery
Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne, opened up earlier this year by Brent Knapp, is hosting a book signing and Dodger game viewing on June 3. For those of you that enjoy beer and/or the Dodgers, which hopefully is most of you, this should be right up your alley. Jon Weisman will be signing copies of his recently released second book – Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition. The event starts at 12:10 with the Dodgers first pitch, and around 2 or 3 Jon will read parts of his book and be available to sign copies of the book or chat.
The brewery will have a food truck on-site and also offer non-alcoholic beverages for those that don’t drink beer. Hopefully some of the DTW crew can make it, as it should be a really fun afternoon and good chance to meet and hear from Jon.
Common Space Brewery is located at 3411 W. El Segundo Blvd., Hawthorne. For anymore information feel free to reach out to Brent directly at 310.666.2825.
I was also given an advance copy of the PDF, but I’ve found that I’m quite addicted to reading now on my kindle so I waited for my kindle version.
I liked that Jon started it off with a full chapter devoted to the type of stats he was going to use. Many of us already understand these stats but for those fans who have never touched a sabermetric stat, and don’t get to listen to Joe Davis explain these modern-day statistics because they don’t have the Spectrum option, it was a good idea to start the book with an explanation of these stats. To be sure Jon does talk about wins a lot, which might seem foreign to someone who just read Keith Law’s Smart Baseball, but in the context of the era that most of these hurlers pitched in, it made perfect sense to use the antiquated Win stat.
Jon starts us off with the legends of the early Brooklyn pitchers, and while it was interesting, he didn’t really grab my attention until he got to Ralph Branca. The Boys of Summer. I had read all about these hurlers back when I was 10 – 15 and knew every name quite well but a boy of 10 didn’t know jack about innings pitched, and as I read how each of these hurlers were slogged by their respective managers, I will have to admit that admiration and anger were the emotions that played around in my mind. I know now, that all pitchers of that generation were used and discarded at the whim of management, but to see the numbers they put up still staggered me. Jon made a great point to show that for every infamous defeat, you could almost always point to how the pitcher was pitching on guts alone.
Jon hits almost all the pitchers I was interested in reading about. One problem with being a Dodger fan as long as I have, you don’t get surprised but for those fans who are new to baseball, or simply were Dodger fans but not crazy fans, these chapters should enlighten anyone about the arms who build the great Dodger pitching legacy. As much as I already knew about these pitchers, Jon found new information that was always a pleasant surprise. It was also cool to see Jon use sources such as Eric Enders who once said something about me that kept me writing when I figured no one was reading. Heck I expected to see Bob Timmermann used as a source and sure enough, he was mentioned in the acknowledgments.
Even the casual fan knows about Koufax, Drysdale, Sutton, Fernando, Orel, and Kershaw, but if they were just learning about Johnny Podres, Claude Osteen, Bill Singer, Burt Hooton and Jerry Ruess there is no better guide than Jon Weisman.
I’m not a proper book reviewer as I’m sure those who do this for a living have a certain way of reviewing a book. I consider Jon a friend so even if I didn’t like the book I would never say that, but since Jon is one of the best writers in the world of baseball that was never going to be an issue. My last several baseball books, I will admit to getting bored and not finishing. Keith Law’s Smart Baseball and Molly Knight’s “The Best Team Money can Buy” both still sit unfinished with the kindle bookmarks ready to start me up again when I feel the urge to jump into it.
Jon had the massive task of trying to fit every notable Dodger hurler into this book and for the most part he succeeded. He did a nice trick called “Moment in the Sun” where if you didn’t make the cut for a full chapter you at least got several notes on why you were part of the Dodger pitching legacy. I would have liked to have seen a few more hurlers have their moment in the sun such as Joe Moeller, Erv Palica, Jose Lima, and Vincente Padilla and I’m anxious to ask him how he decided who got a Moment and who didn’t. Doug Rau got a moment in the sun, I would have liked a full chapter and I expect he wrote one but it didn’t make the editors cut. Chad Billingsley got his moment in the sun, and again, I would have liked a chapter.
Which is a good thing when you want more and not less. I’ll be using this book for reference over and over which is where I hope the kindle search function comes in handy.
This is a stat-filled book as Jon uses these stats to show why these pitchers got their own chapter but within each chapter is beautiful writing. Each paragraph that starts a chapter can be savored. Ah, to write such lead-ins. I’m not going to put any of those in this review. Read the book, find them for yourselves and meet me at the Common Space Brewery on June 3rd where we can talk to Jon and tell him our favorite lines.
Okay, I’ll leave you with one. Jon starts the Bob Welch chapter with this:
Bob Welch is the greatest starting pitcher in Dodger history who is remembered for basically nothing he did as a Dodger starting pitcher. Because he did so much more.
I’m not done with this writing about this book. I have my own thoughts on most of the Dodger pitchers he wrote about, and I hope to put some notes to their names with the memories of having watched them pitch along with the information that Jon provided on them.
There were so many games mentioned in the book that I have actual personal connections with that at times I felt I was reading about my own journey as a Dodger fan. It started with Don Sutton/Bill Singer and is right now in the throes of Clayton Kershaw and Jon hit all the right notes in this symphony to the Dodger hurlers that have touched all of us.
Baseball gravity pulls sophomore slugging 1st baseman back to earth
Last year witnessed not one, not two, but three first baseman who broke all sorts of home runs records even though none of them started the season in the major leagues. The first up was Dodger phenom Cody Bellinger who started his first game on April 25th and proceeded to light up the NL and helped turn around the moribund 2017 Dodgers into a contender for the World Championship with his prodigious home run display in his first fifty games. Next up was Matt Olson whose first game was actually April 223rd but it was only for one game. Olson didn’t come up for good until June 4th. Matt Olson did not get fifty starts in 2017 so I went with his full-season numbers which included quite a few pinch hits. Rhys Hoskins didn’t get started until Aug 10th and finished the season with exactly fifty starts. As you can tell from the 2017 table below, these slugging first baseman all averaged a home run in 10 plate appearances or less.
This is what they did last year in their first 50 games:
| Name | 1st Game | Games Started | PlateAppearances | Home Runs | HR/PA |
| Cody Bellinger | 4/28/2017 | 50 | 188 | 19 | 9.89 |
| Matt Olson | 04/23/2017 | 48 | 208 | 24 | 8.67 |
| Rhys Hoskins | 8/10/2017 | 50 | 170 | 18 | 9.44 |
This is what they are doing this year so far in 2018. They haven’t quite hit the same threshold of fifty starts in 2018 but it is close enough to take a look, and the look isn’t pretty.
| Name | PlateAppearances | Home Runs | HR/PA |
| Cody Bellinger | 172 | 6 | 28.67 |
| Matt Olson | 147 | 5 | 29.40 |
| Rhys Hoskins | 127 | 5 | 25.40 |
Does any of this mean anything? No, I just wanted to create a table showing how the big three are all struggling to hit home runs at anything close to the historic pace they were on last year. Pitchers have found weaknesses, it will be curious to see who makes the first adjustments and if any of the three can get back to being the home run machines they were in 2018. Bellinger was the only one who played what could be called a full season so pitchers were already making adjustments against him as the season wore on. They had a bigger book on Cody than they did on Olson and Hoskins. Right now the pitchers are all on the same page regarding the big three.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 