1992 ROY Eric Karros was more than just great hair
When Eric Karros won the 1992 Rookie of the Year award he was the first and only LAD first baseman to win the award. The only other rookie LAD 1st baseman to ever get any votes were Greg Brock in 1983 and James Loney in 2007. Brock came in 7th place and James Loney came in 6th place.
Cody Bellinger will be changing that dynamic in a few weeks when he wins the 2017 National League Rookie of the Year award.
I remember Eric bashing home runs in the minor leagues but not getting much respect from the prospect touting world. Much like Mike Piazza in 1993 he would have to prove he deserved to be a starting major league player. Pre 1990 he was ranked 84th, and was dropped to 94th in pre-1991, and had dropped off the lists by 1992.
Dodger Historian Mark Langill gives us the scoop on how Eric Karros won the starting job in 1992.
On May 23, the Dodgers trailed the Pirates 4–1 in the bottom of the ninth when Benzinger started a rally with a leadoff single. After a wild pitch, an RBI single by Mike Scioscia made it 4–2. Karros eventually came off the bench to face Pittsburgh closer Stan Belinda with one out and runners on second and third. When Karros hit a three-run home run into the Left Field Pavilion, it touched off more than a celebration after the 5–4 victory.
Lasorda returned Karros to the starting lineup and moved Benzinger to right field. Daniels, the Opening Day starter at first base, hit .231 in 35 games before he was traded to the Chicago Cubs on June 27. Benzinger spent only one season with the Dodgers, batting .239 in 121 games with four home runs and 31 RBI.
When you review the vote in 1992 it does not look like Karros deserved to win the Rookie of the Year award. Eric won easily but Moises Alou and Reggie Sanders had much better seasons. Eric won because he hit 20 home runs and drove in 88 runs. The baseball card stats won the day for Karros.
Voti Voti Voti Name Tm Vote Pts 1st Place Share WAR Eric Karros LAD 116.0 22.0 97% 0.4 Moises Alou MON 30.0 0.0 25% 2.5 Tim Wakefield PIT 29.0 2.0 24% 2.1 Reggie Sanders CIN 23.0 0.0 19% 2.5 Donovan Osborne STL 12.0 0.0 10% -0.2 Mike Perez STL 2.0 0.0 2% 2.2 Ben Rivera TOT 1.0 0.0 1% 2.6 Frank Seminara SDP 1.0 0.0 1% 0.2 Brian Williams HOU 1.0 0.0 1% 0.3 Mark Wohlers ATL 1.0 0.0 1% 0.6
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/19/2017.
While Karros may not have deserved the ROY in 1992 he ended up having a very lengthy Dodger career and currently holds the record for most home runs. Only three LAD have hit at least 200 home runs.
Player HR From To Age PA OPS Eric Karros 270 1991 2002 23-34 6624 .782 Ron Cey 228 1971 1982 23-34 6108 .804 Steve Garvey 211 1969 1982 20-33 7027 .796
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Generated 9/19/2017.
He is also 2nd in runs batted in.
Player RBI From To Age PA OPS Steve Garvey 992 1969 1982 20-33 7027 .796 Eric Karros 976 1991 2002 23-34 6624 .782 Willie Davis 849 1960 1973 20-33 8035 .725 Ron Cey 842 1971 1982 23-34 6108 .804
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Generated 9/19/2017.
Karros was also 4th in doubles in 302, and fifth in hits with 1608, and sixth in runs scored with 752. Yup, Eric Karros dominates the LAD cumulative leaderboards in the baseball card categories.
He does not fare so well in modern bWAR. His 11.4 bWAR ranks 39th all-time for the LAD.
Rk Player WAR/pos From To Age PA 1 Willie Davis 54.4 1960 1973 20-33 8035 2 Ron Cey 47.5 1971 1982 23-34 6108 3 Steve Garvey 36.4 1969 1982 20-33 7027 4 Pedro Guerrero 32.8 1978 1988 22-32 4089 5 Davey Lopes 32.1 1972 1981 27-36 5308 6 Mike Piazza 31.9 1992 1998 23-29 3017 7 Maury Wills 31.9 1959 1972 26-39 6745 8 Bill Russell 31.5 1969 1986 20-37 8021 9 Mike Scioscia 26.2 1980 1992 21-33 5057 10 Adrian Beltre 23.4 1998 2004 19-25 3818 11 Jim Gilliam 23.4 1958 1966 29-37 4894 12 Wes Parker 22.9 1964 1972 24-32 4835 13 John Roseboro 22.3 1958 1967 25-34 4505 14 Andre Ethier 21.8 2006 2017 24-35 5409 15 Raul Mondesi 21.4 1993 1999 22-28 3765 16 Matt Kemp 21.1 2006 2014 21-29 4496 17 Shawn Green 20.8 2000 2004 27-31 3462 18 Dusty Baker 19.9 1976 1983 27-34 4552 19 Willie Crawford 19.9 1964 1975 17-28 3199 20 Reggie Smith 19.3 1976 1981 31-36 2055 21 Justin Turner 18.6 2014 2017 29-32 1898 22 Steve Yeager 17.8 1972 1985 23-36 3869 23 Jim Lefebvre 17.2 1965 1972 23-30 3417 24 Gary Sheffield 17.1 1998 2001 29-32 2276 25 Yasiel Puig 16.3 2013 2017 22-26 2291 26 Tommy Davis 16.3 1959 1966 20-27 3216 27 Russell Martin 15.9 2006 2010 23-27 2713 28 Steve Sax 15.9 1981 1988 21-28 4745 29 Rafael Furcal 15.4 2006 2011 28-33 2803 30 Brett Butler 15.0 1991 1997 34-40 3342 31 Joe Ferguson 14.2 1970 1981 23-34 2525 32 Paul Lo Duca 13.8 1998 2004 26-32 2361 33 Adrian Gonzalez 13.1 2012 2017 30-35 2980 34 Corey Seager 12.9 2015 2017 21-23 1368 35 Ron Fairly 12.9 1958 1969 19-30 4529 36 Wally Moon 12.7 1959 1965 29-35 2657 37 Jim Wynn 12.4 1974 1975 32-33 1185 38 Manny Mota 11.6 1969 1982 31-44 2187 39 Eric Karros 11.4 1991 2002 23-34 6624 40 Frank Howard 10.8 1958 1964 21-27 2321 41 Tom Haller 10.2 1968 1971 31-34 1637 42 Mike Marshall 10.1 1981 1989 21-29 3546
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Generated 9/19/2017.
Ryu makes case for postseason
by pitching another scoreless game on Sunday Night TV. Granted he only got 14 outs, and he needed help from Ross Stripling to get out of a jam in the 5th, but he looked good during the time he was on the mound.
As much as I’d like a Dodger like Orel to hold the scoreless streak I did think it was bullshit that an error was not called on the play by Michael Taylor and that run should have been unearned. It hit the heal of his glove, the heal, that is a big deal.
Walker Buehler continues to flash his great stuff but also continues to get hit and has now given up at least one run in each of his last three appearances after the brilliant two-inning debut.
Dave Roberts keeps saying that whoever is not going to be part of the postseason rotation will start to pitch out of the bullpen to get them ready for that role. With two weeks left in the season isn’t it time he starts putting that plan into action?
I actually think Ryu can be just as effective as Wood out of the bullpen so I would not automatically put Wood in the bullpen just because he’s done it before. I don’t trust Wood as much as I trust Ryu for an October game so I’d probably go with Ryu. It will be interesting what they decide.
Bellinger should leave Philadelphia with at least forty home runs.
It was nice to hear the ESPN crew fawning over the defense of Puig. He deserves it.
The Dodgers could have left Segedin/Dickson/Culberson off the Sept roster and no one would have noticed.
I’m just as uneasy about the middle relief in 2017 headed into October as I’ve been each of the past four seasons but I’m very comfortable with Morrow / KJ for the 8th and 9th. I’m almost there with Cingrani.
Dennis Santana can’t do it all
The Tulsa Drillers lost postseason games in a row and the championship but you can’t blame Dennis Santana who threw six innings, giving up just one unearned run as the Drillers lost 1 – 0. This game capped an outstanding season by Santana who came into the season as a sleeper prospect but completely outpitched the number one prospect Yadier Alvarez at both levels all season long. Yadier wilted in the postseason, Santana excelled.
League MVP Matt Beaty had three hits but no one could bring him home. DJ Peters and Keibert Ruiz were brought up from Rancho to help the offense but the two combined to go hitless in six at-bats.
Craig Minami has the breakdown of the final day of minor league play for Dodgers affiliates.
2017 has been the year of the rookie 1st baseman
Dodger fans know all about Cody Bellinger hitting 38 home runs and tying the NL rookie record for home runs but there have been a plethora of 1st baseman in 2017 who are hitting home runs at a staggering pace.
Rhys Hoskins is much like Cody Bellinger in that he’s a 1st baseman who has played a lot of outfield in 2017. He is also hitting a home run every 8.83 plate appearances. That would extrapolate to 63 home runs if he kept up the pace for a whole year. Cody was on his own crazy pace of a home run every ten plate appearances but as the season wears on adjustments happen and he now sits at 13.05. I would expect the same to happen to Hoskins if was to get 500 plate appearances.
The one name that has really popped up in the last month is Matt Olson. The A’s traded Yonder Alonso and Olson stepped right into the breach and seems to be hitting a home run every night. Matt has only 192 plate appearances but already has 21 home runs. Oakland 1st baseman have hit 44 home runs this year, Alonso with 25 and Olson with 18, not sure who hit the other home run but not going to research it because it is not important.
In a normal year, Josh Bell would be a rookie of the year candidate, as he has been the starting 1st baseman for the Pirates all year long and has produced all year long.
Trey Mancini is another rookie who goes under the radar but has put up solid to great numbers all year for the Orioles.
| Player | Age | Year | HR | PA | HR/PA | OPS | Tm |
| Cody Bellinger | 21 | 2017 | 38 | 496 | 13.05 | 0.962 | LAD |
| Josh Bell | 24 | 2017 | 24 | 576 | 24.00 | 0.806 | PIT |
| Trey Mancini | 25 | 2017 | 24 | 535 | 22.29 | 0.841 | BAL |
| Matt Olson | 23 | 2017 | 21 | 192 | 9.14 | 1.005 | OAK |
| Rhys Hoskins | 24 | 2017 | 18 | 159 | 8.83 | 1.152 | PHI |
| Yuli Gurriel | 33 | 2017 | 17 | 520 | 30.59 | 0.801 | HOU |
| Jesus Aguilar | 27 | 2017 | 14 | 293 | 20.93 | 0.829 | MIL |
| Jose Martinez | 28 | 2017 | 13 | 274 | 21.08 | 0.9 | STL |
In 2017 eight rookie 1st basemen hit 169 home runs who played at least 10% of their games at 1st base.
In 2016 only four players using the same criteria hit more than 10 home runs totaling only 62 home runs.
Player HR Year Age Tm PA OPS Pos Tommy Joseph 21 2016 24 PHI 347 .813 *3H Jefry Marte 15 2016 25 LAA 284 .790 375H/D Dae-ho Lee 14 2016 34 SEA 317 .740 *3H/D ByungHo Park 12 2016 29 MIN 244 .684 *D3/H
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/18/2017.
In 2015 it was 84.
Three game set with Nationals not really a preview of NLCS
While the Dodgers have been throwing two of the pitchers expected to start in the postseason, Alex Wood and Rich Hill, the Nationals were not so accommodating throwing Edwin Jackson and Alex Cole, neither of whom will be pitching in the National rotation come October.
The Nationals are also missing possibly the best player in the NL in Bryce Harper. Still, it is always good to win two games on the road against the team trying to catch you for the best record in baseball. With those two victories against the Nationals, the Dodgers have put some extra length between them and the Nationals making it virtually impossible to blow the best record in the NL with so few games remaining.
Tonight the Dodgers get to see the hottest pitcher in baseball in Steven Strasburg. Strasburg came off the DL on August 19th and gave up two runs in six innings. Both those runs came in his first inning of work, and those were the last runs he has given up in his last 34 innings.
Facing him will be Hyun-Jin Ryu who can’t compete with Strasburg on stuff but given that this is a Sunday Night matchup can match him on domination. Ryu has pitched twice on Sunday Night TV and both times was excellent. He has yet to give up a run on Sunday Night TV and his two best games scores of the year were by far on Sunday Night.
Ryu will try to make his case to be the fourth starter in the October rotation, and you can’t ask for a better audition than against the team you might be facing in October. Whatever happens tonight Ryu has come a long way from the pitcher that no one was counting on April 1st, 2017. Among a season of surprises, his production has to rank at least 3rd behind Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor.
| Date | DayofWeek | Opp | Rslt | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | GSc |
| 7/30/2017 | Sunday Night | SFG | W,3-2 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 73 |
| 8/6/2017 | Sunday Night | NYM | W,8-0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 83 |
Chase Utley joins the 400/200/100 club for 2nd baseman
With his two doubles today, Chase Utley now has 400 doubles in his career. Many second baseman have had 400 doubles, but not many have had
400 doubles
200 home runs
100 stolen bases
who have played at least 75% of their games at second base.
Player WAR/pos HR 2B SB From To PA OPS Pos Joe Morgan 100.4 268 449 689 1963 1984 11329 .819 *4H/7D58 Lou Whitaker 74.8 244 420 143 1977 1995 9967 .789 *4H/D Ryne Sandberg 67.7 282 403 344 1981 1997 9282 .795 *45/H6D Roberto Alomar 66.7 210 504 474 1988 2004 10400 .814 *4/HD6 Chase Utley 65.3 258 400 150 2003 2017 7651 .828 *4H/3D5
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Generated 9/16/2017.
All HOF except Sweet Lou Whitaker and Chase who is still adding to his numbers. You can see why Sweet Lou is one of my favorites when people ask who is the best player not in the HOF?
Each of those players also has a world series ring except Ryne Sandberg.
If we lower the percentage threshold to 65% the great Roger Hornsby and Craig Biggio join the list.
Even at 50% nothing changes, which is far as I’ll go.
Catching Piazza, Catching Frank Robinson
A few minutes ago Cody Bellinger hit his 38th home run to catch Frank Robinson for the NL rookie record for home runs. Frank Robinson hit his 38th home run on Sept 11th and would not hit another home run the rest of the year. Hopefully, the same fate does not await Cody Bellinger. This record has stood for over 1/2 a century with some of the greatest home run hitters in baseball history taking a swing at it and coming up empty.
Next up, 40 and beyond
Player HR Year Age Tm Lg PA OPS Cody Bellinger 38 2017 21 LAD NL 489 .960 Frank Robinson (RoY-1st) 38 1956 20 CIN NL 667 .936 Wally Berger 38 1930 24 BSN NL 628 .990 Albert Pujols (RoY-1st) 37 2001 21 STL NL 676 1.013 Mike Piazza (RoY-1st) 35 1993 24 LAD NL 602 .932 Ryan Braun (RoY-1st) 34 2007 23 MIL NL 492 1.004 Earl Williams (RoY-1st) 33 1971 22 ATL NL 550 .815 Chris Young (RoY-4th) 32 2007 23 ARI NL 624 .763 Jim Ray Hart (RoY-2nd) 31 1964 22 SFG NL 625 .840 Willie Montanez (RoY-2nd) 30 1971 23 PHI NL 683 .798
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Generated 9/16/2017.
Good thing the Phillies waited until August 10th to bring up Rhys Hoskins who has hit an astounding 18 home runs in his first 150 plate appearances. Cody had twelve after his first 150 plate appearances.
What a long strange trip it has been for Edwin Jackson
Once upon a time in Sept of 2003, Edwin Jackson shocked the baseball world by outpitching prime Randy Johnson on his 20th birthday. I started this article with the headline once I saw that Edwin Jackson was pitching tonight and was ready to research a fun story.
My first search was the big game just mentioned, and to my surprise, Edwin Jackson has already had a few articles written about him. I guess I should not have been surprised since he is pitching for the Washington Nationals these days and not the San Diego Padres. What made me laugh was that one article had the headline.
“If he stays healthy, he’s going to pitch up here a long time,” Brown said.
Brown was right. Jackson has pitched in the major leagues for a long time. Only one other player who appeared in his debut is still in the majors—that would be Adrian Beltre—and four players who appeared in that game have since gotten jobs as big league managers. But Jackson’s career has not necessarily gone the way his teammates might have expected after that auspicious debut. He has been traded six times. He has pitched for twelve teams. On Tuesday, he will start for the Washington Nationals in Anaheim. This will be his second stint with the Nationals and his second team of the 2017 season.
Don’t forget about the World Champions
From May – August 26th the season has been about the Dodgers with the Cubs barely keeping in contact of the postseason. The Dodgers are trying to fight off the Nationals for the best record in the NL but the team that no one should be sleeping on are the Cubs.
The offense is in high gear and it wasn’t just the Mets they beat up on.
39 runs in the past three games against the Met pitching but five times they have scored at least 14 runs since August 26th.
Kyle Schwarber is now doing what we expected him to do. He is not just a Sept darling he’s has been mashing since he came back from the minor leagues. Note to Joc, that is what you are supposed to do when you are a major league hitter and go back to AAA. Find your swing, return, and mash.
They are doing this with their two best hitters Rizzo and Bryant just paddling along, not quite doing their share of the rowing.
Player Split Year OPS PA HR BA OBP SLG Rene Rivera Sept/Oct 2017 1.084 21 1 .368 .400 .684 Albert Almora Sept/Oct 2017 1.042 24 2 .333 .333 .708 Kyle Schwarber Sept/Oct 2017 1.029 29 2 .346 .414 .615 Javier Baez Sept/Oct 2017 .896 43 2 .308 .357 .538 Ben Zobrist Sept/Oct 2017 .889 45 0 .333 .444 .444 Anthony Rizzo Sept/Oct 2017 .845 51 1 .286 .392 .452 Kris Bryant Sept/Oct 2017 .792 56 1 .239 .357 .435 Jason Heyward Sept/Oct 2017 .769 47 2 .262 .340 .429 Ian Happ Sept/Oct 2017 .731 44 2 .231 .295 .436 Alex Avila Sept/Oct 2017 .693 21 0 .188 .381 .313 Jon Jay Sept/Oct 2017 .536 36 0 .219 .286 .250 Victor Caratini Sept/Oct 2017 .425 10 0 .125 .300 .125 Tommy La Stella Sept/Oct 2017 .259 16 0 .071 .188 .071
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Generated 9/15/2017.
Dodgers need the return of the four horsemen
Sure, this is obvious.
One of the horsemen was back but hardly anyone noticed because the team kept losing. The second one joined him this week and it directly resulted in two victories for the Dodgers. If they hope to have any chance in October it would behoove the other two horsemen to join Bellinger/Turner and make a charge to break through the thorny walls of October that have eluded many other stacked Dodger teams in the 21st century.
For most of this summer, the Dodgers had four qualified MVP candidates. They were so good it was ridiculous out productive the first four hitters were night after night. That all ended on August 27th, but for the Dodgers to have a shot in October they need the four horsemen to provide something close to the kind of production they had provided from April 1st – August 27th.
This is what the four have done in Sept.
Player Split Year HR PA BA OBP SLG OPS Cody Bellinger Sept/Oct 2017 3 56 .286 .375 .612 .987 Justin Turner Sept/Oct 2017 2 51 .318 .412 .591 1.003 Chris Taylor Sept/Oct 2017 1 53 .226 .226 .321 .547 Corey Seager Sept/Oct 2017 0 31 .222 .290 .296 .587
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Generated 9/15/2017.
Turner has been quietly hitting, and I say quietly because he was doing this while the team was losing, while the Bellinger break out this week resulted in the only two wins since the Dreamers were put on a see-saw.
The Dodgers can probably beat bad teams with just two of the horsemen making hay, but to beat the October teams, I think they will need the Chris Taylor engine to reignite and Corey Seager to overcome his elbow issues and provide the production he has provided for most of his major league career.
We should be legitimately worried about Chris Taylor, not because he’s hitting .226 in Sept but because his OBP is also .226 which means he still hasn’t taken a walk in Sept. Maybe my wishing for Lorenzo Cain wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 