Category Archives: Daily Distractions

Daily Distractions: Vin Scully tackles a new medium; Manny Ramirez; links.

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Vin Scully

Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully will be “tweetcasting” during the second Dodgers-Yankees game today. (photo by J.P. Hoornstra)

Vin Scully didn’t make the trip to New York with the Dodgers. A shame, really.

Scully teased us last year with the idea of being behind the mic for a Dodgers-Yankees interleague series in the Bronx. Indeed, he’ll be broadcasting to us this afternoon. Just not from behind a microphone.

Scully will take over the Dodgers’ Twitter account during the second game of today’s doubleheader against the Yankees. They’re calling it a “Tweetcast,” whatever that means.

I personally find the 140-character limit to be a challenge sometimes. Scully, who once had aspirations of being a sportswriter, might master the medium quicker than most of us who Tweet every day. Should be interesting either way.

I can’t remember ever having to rush these through just to beat first pitch. Game 1 (Hyun-Jin Ryu vs. Hiroki Kuroda) of today’s doubleheader is on Channel 9 (KCAL). Game 2 (Chris Capuano vs. Phil Hughes) on Prime Ticket at 4 p.m.

Some bullet points for a hump day:
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Daily Distractions: Contemplating Kershaw contracts; Dodgers-Yankees; Yasiel Puig.

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Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw is looking for a lot of money in his contract extension. But we knew that already, right? (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers are talking about a contract extension. One side or both might be getting antsy.

At least, that’s often the case when the terms of a deal are leaked to the media: To achieve something that negotiation cannot.

Kershaw said the leak came from the Dodgers’ camp, not his. Regardless, there’s not a whole lot we can read into the reports on CBSsports.com and FoxSports.com, mainly because the two stories differ on the dollar amounts being discussed and the likelihood of a deal happening in the near future.

If — and this is a fairly big if — Kershaw is seeking “about $225 million,” as CBSsports.com reports, he probably wouldn’t prefer the 10-year or 12-year contract structures mentioned on FoxSports.com, which would almost certainly lock in Kershaw to a longer term than he’s seeking. Those terms were more likely to have been proposed by the Dodgers. Again, this assumes the two reports are both drawing their separate information from reliable sources.

Is it wise to invest 12 years in a 25-year-old pitcher who has already thrown more than 1,000 major-league innings? In any player?

These are legitimate questions here. The Dodgers have probably asked them internally. At some point, we might discover what conclusion they reach. Does Kershaw think he’s worth 12 years and $300 million? Ask him yourself in about an hour.

Some bullet points for an Autistic Pride Day:

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Daily Distractions: More Yasiel Puig; all-star balloting; the weekend in Twitter.

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Yasiel Puig, Andre Ethier

It’s worth pointing out that Andre Ethier and Yasiel Puig both play right field. Finding playing time for both in a healthy lineup could become an issue. (Andy Holzman/Staff photographer)

Google “Puig will be a superstar” and click on the first result that comes up.

Go ahead, it’ll only take a second. I’ll wait.

That article came out shortly after Yasiel Puig signed with the Dodgers, but still less than a year ago. Either it took a while for those words to sink in or people tend to believe something when they see it. Or both. Danny Knobler of CBSsports.com caught up with Puig’s first manager in the United States, Matt Martin:

He was skeptical, until he saw Puig play. Then he tried to describe to everyone else what he was seeing — what we’ve all seen this week.

He told his bosses that Puig had better raw five-tool talent than Matt Kemp. They didn’t want to believe him. He searched his past and baseball’s present for other comparables, but he couldn’t find one that told the story.

“I always preface this by saying I don’t know how his career is going to turn out,” said Martin, who has since left the Dodgers and taken a job with the Orioles. “But on God-given ability going in, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

Martin kept thinking, and finally he hit on it.

“I said, ‘He’s Adrian Peterson.’ That’s how much God-given ability this guy has,” Martin said. “That’s the comparison I had to give. He’s Adrian Peterson.”

A numerical analysis of Puig arrived today from FanGraphs. The conclusion:

Seven days in, Yasiel Puig looks like a star in the making. Maybe his approach will eventually become a problem, but it took opposing pitchers seven years to figure out how to get Josh Hamilton out. He might not walk much, but he looks like a guy who could be so good at everything else that it won’t matter.

Update: Puig was named the National League Player of the Week on Monday.

Some more bullet points for a Monday morning:
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Daily Distractions: More Yasiel Puig historical footnotes, Biogenesis, etc.

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Yasiel Puig

Yasiel Puig signs for fans Monday at Dodger Stadium. (Andy Holzman/Staff photographer)

In case you missed it, Yasiel Puig went 3-for-4 with a double, two home runs and five RBI in his second major-league game last night.

To measure Puig’s first two days with the Dodgers against history took longer than the one hour I had on deadline. So here’s a more comprehensive rundown, courtesy of the Dodgers, the Elias Sports Bureau, ESPN and others:

• Puig had the fourth multi-homer game by a Dodger this season (last: Scott Van Slyke, May 17) and his five RBI were the most for a Dodger since Jerry Hairston Jr.’s five RBI on June 9, 2012 at Seattle.

• Puig is the first Dodger player to have a multi-homer game within his first two career games.

• Puig is the first Dodger player to post five or more RBI within his first two career games since Spider Jorgensen knocked in six in his second career game on April 17, 1947 for Brooklyn against the Boston Braves.

• Puig also doubled, joining Jorgensen as the only Dodgers since 1916 to have a three extra-base hit-game within his first two games.

• Puig is the first Dodger player to post multi-hit games in the first two games of his career since Larry Miller on June 21, 1964 (second game of double-header) and June 29, 1964.

• The last MLB player with five or more RBI in one of his first two games was the Chicago Cubs’ Starlin Castro (six RBI, May 7, 2010 in debut) and the last player with two or more homers through two career games was Baltimore’s Manny Machado with two homers in his second career game (Aug. 10, 2012).

• He is the second player in major league history to have a two-homer, five-RBI game within the first two games of his career, joining Dino Restelli of the 1949 Pittsburgh Pirates.

• He is the second Dodgers player ever to have a two-homer, five-RBI game from the leadoff spot, joining Tommy Brown, who did so in 1950.

• Puig’s first home run landed 443 feet away in left field, the longest home run hit by a Dodger this season.

Tater Trot Tracker confirmed that Puig’s two home run trots were among the fastest all year. I asked Puig if he knew each would go out of the park, or if he was hustling because he thought they wouldn’t. His answer: “I play hard all the time.”

And the beat goes on. Some bullet points for a World Environment Day:

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Daily Distractions: All-Star voting unkind to the Dodgers, and more on Yasiel Puig.

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Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw might be the Dodgers’ only hope for having an All-Star starter. (Associated Press photo)

How many Dodgers are worthy of playing in the 2013 All-Star Game in New York next month?

Clayton Kershaw, sure. And then?

It seems Kershaw is the Dodgers’ only hope for an All-Star starter after the first round of voting results were announced Tuesday. Adrian Gonzalez led all Dodgers with 464,845 votes, fourth among all National League first basemen. No other Dodger placed in the top five at his position. Matt Kemp ranked 14th among all outfielders (389,372).

Fans can’t vote for pitchers or designated hitters, though these are possible avenues for a Dodger to start the game.

Kemp was a fan selection each of the last two years and was joined in each game by Kershaw. Andre Ethier (2010, 2011) is the only other Dodger on the current roster who’s appeared in the game in a Dodgers uniform.

Some more bullet points for an International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression:

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Daily Distractions: Let #Puigapalooza begin.

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Yasiel Puig has arrived, literally:

I wrote last night about what it really means for Puig and for the Dodgers; in short, it means that the plan changed. The Dodgers didn’t plan on having Puig in the majors this soon. Maybe Puig isn’t here if Carl Crawford, the Dodgers’ only outfielder who presents a stolen base threat, is healthy. Power-hitting Alex Castellanos is in Triple-A and he’s the only logical alternative — in fact, he’s the only other natural outfielder on the 40-man roster available for recall.

Puig was hitting well in Double-A Chattanooga, but will he still be as rough around the edges as he was in spring training? Should be fun to find out.

Some bullet points for an Opium Suppression Movement day:
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Daily Distractions: Will Matt Kemp’s MRI results determine the Dodgers’ future?

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Matt Kemp

Matt Kemp leaves the field with athletic trainer Nancy Pattersonon Wednesday night after straining his right hamstring in a 4-3 loss to the Angels (Associated Press)

Matt Kemp will have an MRI on his aching right hamstring today, which could be the biggest news the Dodgers receive all month.

Or not.

The Dodgers are averaging more than four runs a game the past week, despite benching Kemp once, then dropping him to fifth in the batting order, and watching him go 3 for 21 (.143) while he was in the lineup. The Dodgers were able to tread water for about a month while Kemp recuperated from his hamstring strains in May and June of last year. It wasn’t until mid-June that the Dodgers went into a tailspin — and that was with a lineup featuring Dee Gordon, Tony Gwynn Jr., Elian Herrera and Bobby Abreu among others on a nightly basis. With Hanley Ramirez due to return soon, there’s reason for optimism even if Kemp does need time on the DL.

He probably won’t need much time, if any.

“It’s not as bad as last year, but when you feel it grabbing you got to take it easy and make sure you take care of it cause it can get worse,” Kemp told colleague Clay Fowler after the Dodgers’ 4-3 loss to the Angels on Wednesday. “Probably about two years ago, I probably would have stayed in the game.”

Some more bullet points for a Canary Islands Day:

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Daily Distractions: Hanley Ramirez announces another rehab assignment on Twitter.

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Hanley Ramirez

Hanley Ramirez will be in a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes uniform again Thursday (Photo courtesy of MILB.com)

To be fair, Hanley Ramirez warned us.

“I think it’s soon. I’m going to tweet it for my fans,” Ramirez said five days ago, asked when and where his rehabilitation assignment would begin.

“You can just tell us,” I replied.

“No,” he said.

So here was the “official” word Wednesday morning:

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes play the Bakersfield Blaze Thursday through Sunday before returning home Monday.

Ramirez has played four major-league games since Opening Day, the last coming May 3. His assignment with the Dodgers’ Single-A affiliate is good news, however it’s delivered, and it means Ramirez could be back with the Dodgers next week if his hamstring holds up.

Some bullet points for a Nigerian Democracy Day:

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Daily Distractions: A game that broke the mold.

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Nick Punto

Nick Punto went flying in this collision with Angels runner Erick Aybar last night. It was a wacky game. (Associated Press photo)

The Dodgers’ 7-6 win last night broke the mold in many ways. Lost amid the doubles, the Matt Kemp boos and the blown call at first base, here are some factoids that I couldn’t fit in my game story:

- The Dodgers’ comeback matched their largest of the season; they beat the Diamondbacks on May 22 after trailing by five.

- Previously, the Dodgers were 0-15 when allowing six runs or more.

- The ninth inning remains a virtual all-or-nothing proposition. Say what you want about Brandon League as closer, but the Dodgers are 20-1 when leading at the start of the ninth inning. They are 0-23 when trailing to start the ninth.

- Adrian Gonzalez‘s six errors lead all major-league first baseman. Next is the New York Mets’ Ike Davis, with four. Gonzalez, who has won three Gold Glove awards, had a busy day. He also failed to pick a ball out of the dirt and pulled his foot off the bag on a throw from catcher Ramon Hernandez in the first inning. Yet he kept his foot on the bag despite a poor throw from Luis Cruz in the ninth inning, completing a double play.

- The Dodgers’ six doubles were a season high.

More bullet points for a Tuesday morning:

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Daily Distractions: Debating Don Mattingly’s future.

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Don Mattingly

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is on the hot seat in the public eye. (Getty Images)

If you woke up today and read anything about the Dodgers, you might have noticed that one question sits on many lips: Will Don Mattingly be fired?

“Convinced,” writes one.

“I have swung to the side that thinks he will,” writes another.

There was also the more nuanced “it seems very unlikely that Mattingly will make it through the entire season at the helm though, but my prediction here is that he survives another seven days.”

We also had our choice this morning of “I don’t care” and “I do care.” Having options is nice.

Some even believe that the pitching matchups for the Dodgers’ three-game series in Milwaukee (Kershaw-Gallardo tonight; Greinke-Burgos on Tuesday and Ryu-Peralta on Wednesday) have something to do with this debate. Then again, as Baseball Prospectus notes on its daily podcast, “the idea that ‘we’ll give him one more series and see if he turns things around’ – either he’s the right guy or he isn’t! How much new information does that give you about whether he’s the guy that you want for the rest of the season?”

All we know is that it’s too late for the old cliché of “I don’t want it to become a distraction.” It’s become a distraction – if not inside the clubhouse, certainly outside the clubhouse – and acknowledging distractions is what we do every morning.

Some bullet points for a Monday:
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