Sergio Santos held right-handed hitters to a .152 batting average, with 12 strikeouts in 33 at-bats. (Associated Press photo)
This is Part 41 of a series in which every member of the 2015 Dodgers has his season juxtaposed with an episode of the greatest sitcom of all-time. Don’t take it too seriously.
Sergio Santos, RP
Key stats: 0-0, 4.73 ERA in 12 games
Seinfeld episode: “The Merv Griffin Show” (Season 9, Episode 6)
Key quote: “They must be throwing it out. This stuff belongs in the Smithsonian!”
Santos was pulled off the scrap heap, a non-roster invitee to spring training following a down year in Toronto. After a strong spring training, the Dodgers sent Santos to Triple-A to begin the regular season, with a May 1 opt-out clause in his contract if he wasn’t in the majors by then.
When he got called up a few days prior to the deadline, Santos was merely the next pitcher through a revolving door — one that would continue revolving until the end of the season.
“All I was looking for was an opportunity,” Santos said upon arrival in the clubhouse.
The 31-year-old Hacienda Heights native got an opportunity — until his elbow acted up. Santos didn’t allow a run in nine of his 12 appearances with the Dodgers from April 25 to May 26. Only one of the six runners he inherited came around to score.
Santos had actually put together three consecutive scoreless outings when he was designated for assignment May 27. By then though, he was already pitching through discomfort in his right elbow. Santos passed through waivers, signed with the Yankees on June 9, made two more appearances, then was shut down for the season with a torn UCL. Tommy John surgery followed on July 1.
Santos worked out pretty well when healthy, but some things are better left on the scrap heap.
In “The Merv Griffin Show,” Kramer finds the stage props from the eponymous show in a dumpster. (Serious question: Does that happen? Do stage sets ever just get tossed into public dumpster bins?) Kramer takes the props upstairs and makes over his living room into a talk-show set. Like the Dodgers with Santos, at least Kramer got some mileage out of this thing:
