Monthly Archives: August 2013

Daily Distractions: Are you ready for some ping pong?

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Clayton Kershaw ping pong

Clayton Kershaw and Neil Patrick Harris once stood on opposite sides of a ping-pong table. (courtesy the Jimmy Kimmel show)


The Dodgers’ best pitcher has already used his prowess on the mound to raise awareness and considerable money for charity. Since he’s the best table tennis player on the Dodgers too, why not keep a good thing going?

Tomorrow night, Dodger Stadium will morph into the most star-studded, expensive, baseball-park-turned-ping-pong venue we’ve heard of. For $1,000, you can watch Kershaw, his manager, and some of his Hollywood pals and Dodger teammates whack around some small white balls for charity. For $2,000 (individual) or $10,000 (group), you can join in.

“Modern Family” actor Eric Stonestreet will emcee the event and DJ Skee will control the music. Dodgers co-owner Magic Johnson is scheduled to participate, as is Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. (We’re hoping for some NBA-related smack talk between the two.) Among those also scheduled to participate: Jason Bateman, Adrian Gonzalez, Ken Jeong, Alyssa Milano, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Larry King, Tony La Russa, Maria Menounos, Lamorne Morris, Christopher “Drama” Pfaff, Ben Lyons, Willie McGinest, Tim Federowicz, Matthew Perry, George Lopez, Andre Ethier, Josh Henderson, J.P. Howell, Mardy Fish, Rick Honeycutt, Jerry Hairston Jr., Drew Kenney, and A.J. Ellis.

The tournament is scheduled to take place from 6 to 10 p.m. Here’s some more information.

Kershaw pitched well last night and today is Don Denkinger‘s birthday. On that note:
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Clayton Kershaw’s unusually bad start wasn’t all that bad.

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Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw is visited on the mound by teammates and Dodgers assistant athletic trainer Greg Harrel after being struck by a line drive in the sixth inning. (John McCoy/Staff Photographer)

Clayton Kershaw dispatched the old “didn’t have my best stuff” line tonight, which is almost plausible.

The 25-year-old left-hander, in the midst of perhaps the best season ever by a Dodgers pitcher, did something he hadn’t done since April: He was pulled before he could complete six innings.

Some other Kershaw streaks of note ended in the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs:
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Corey Seager among eight Dodgers listed on preliminary Arizona Fall League rosters.

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Corey Seager

Dodgers prospect Corey Seager will play in the Arizona Fall League. (Associated Press photo)

Corey Seager was among eight Dodgers listed on the preliminary rosters for the Arizona Fall League, an off-season development circuit for the majors’ top prospects.

Seager, the Dodgers’ first-round draft pick in 2012, will play for the Glendale Desert Dogs, based out of Camelback Ranch. He’ll be joined by catchers Pratt Maynard and Chris O’Brien (Rancho Cucamonga), outfielder Brian Cavazos-Galvez (Chattanooga), and four Dodgers pitchers to be named later.

Seager, 19, was promoted from low-A Great Lakes to high-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga at midseason and batted .165 with four home runs in 21 games after the promotion. With Great Lakes, the shortstop batted .309 with 12 homers in 74 games.

Minnesota Twins outfield prospect Byron Buxton, who was chosen the number one prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America, is also on the Desert Dogs’ roster.

Jeff Smith, a coach in the Twins’ organization, will manage the squad. The AFL begins play on October 8.

Matt Kemp runs the bases, ready for minor-league rehabilitation assignment.

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Matt Kemp

Matt Kemp confers with the Dodgers’ medical staff and manager Don Mattingly on the infield after running the bases Tuesday afternoon. (J.P. Hoornstra via Instagram)


Matt Kemp is at least two days away from beginning a minor-league rehabilitation assignment after running the bases at close to full speed Tuesday.

“I was a little skeptical. It turned out to be really, really good,” Kemp said. “It was pretty fun to go out there and run. It’s been a while.”

Kemp has been on the disabled list since sustaining what is believed to be a severe Grade 2 ankle sprain on July 21. Running the bases at game speed was the most significant milestone Kemp needed to clear before he could be sent out.

There was some question as to when and where Kemp’s rehab stint would begin, but that was cleared up with his positive prognosis Tuesday.

(View our video interview with Kemp on Tout here and here)

“I’m not going to the spring training complex,” Kemp said. “I’ll go to Rancho (Cucamonga) or wherever they send me, but I’ll be around here in Cali somewhere.”
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Daily Distractions: What Matt Harvey’s injury really means for Clayton Kershaw.

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Matt Harvey‘s 2013 season is over. His 2014 season will almost certainly be shortened, if he has one at all.

In case you missed yesterday’s big news, Harvey, the electric New York Mets right-hander, has a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He will try to avoid Tommy John surgery by receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection instead.

Chad Billingsley found himself in a similar position around this time last year. We don’t know how Harvey’s ligament tear compares to Billingsley’s, but we do know how that course of treatment worked out for Billingsley.

Harvey is the latest pitcher to face the dreaded torn UCL but he certainly won’t be the last. So once you’ve accepted that the National League Cy Young award is essentially Clayton Kershaw‘s to lose, here’s a more important long-term question presented by Harvey’s injury: Is Kershaw likely to suffer the same injury anytime soon?

One-third of all major-league pitchers have had Tommy John surgery, according to a recent study by Bleacher Report. So there’s that. There’s also this analysis today via FanGraphs that concludes “it was all but impossible to know this injury was coming.”

Delving into the specifics, author Jeff Zimmerman a small drop in Harvey’s fastball velocity in his past six games. This is not a problem for Kershaw at the moment. Check out Zimmerman’s other possible red-flags. Kershaw should have nothing to worry about.

Of course, neither did Harvey.

A few more links for a Tuesday morning:
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