Dodgers hitting coach Mark McGwire, right, confronted Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson, left, in yesterday’s brawl. (Getty Images)
Any fines and suspensions that Major League Baseball plans to levy on the participants in Tuesday’s brawl between the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks will have to wait until tomorrow.
That doesn’t mean that players and coaches on both sides weren’t anticipating it Wednesday.
Continue reading
The Sydney Morning Herald published this image of what the 40,000-plus seat Sydney Cricket Ground might look like if converted for baseball.
The Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks confirmed Wednesday that they will begin the 2014 season with a pair of games in Sydney, Australia. The news was first reported last October by the Sydney Morning Herald.
The games will be played Saturday, March 22 and 23, 2014 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Dodgers president Stan Kasten said that his team will play a spring training game in Arizona on Sunday, March 16 and fly from Phoenix to Sydney that night. After a day off Tuesday, the Dodgers will work out Wednesday, then play an exhibition game against an Australian team on Thursday. There may be a second exhibition game Friday — Kasten said “I don’t think we need it” — and leave for Los Angeles at the conclusion of Sunday’s game.
“It’ll be a long trip but we hope well worth it,” Kasten said.
Continue reading
Yasiel Puig is restrained during the benches-clearing brawl in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s game between the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks. (Getty Images)
The Dodgers and Diamondbacks will decide if any further action is needed tonight, 24 hours after Tuesday’s massive brawl.
So will Major League Baseball.
A spokesperson for the league said that Joe Garagiola Jr., MLB’s senior vice president of standards and on-field operations, will review video of the incident to determine if fines or suspensions are warranted. Even though six participants — Kirk Gibson, Ian Kennedy, Turner Ward, Mark McGwire, Yasiel Puig and Ronald Belisario — were ejected, others could face supplemental discipline.
The crew chief, first-base umpire Brian Gorman, told pool reporter Ken Rosenthal that Puig and McGwire were ejected for being instigators, while Belisario was “out of control.”
Gibson and Kennedy were automatically ejected and precedent holds that both could be suspended. Then-Dodgers manager Joe Torre and pitcher Clayton Kershaw were suspended in July 2010 for throwing at Aaron Rowand of the San Francisco Giants. Torre was suspended one game, Kershaw five.
Some of the 15 Dodgers players on the disabled list went on the field, including Chris Capuano and Josh Beckett. That hasn’t historically resulted in suspensions, though Garagiola may choose to fine the two pitchers.
Coincidentally, Garagiola was the Diamondbacks’ first general manager, from 1997-2005.
Some more bullet points that didn’t make my game story last night:
Continue reading
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly tackles Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach Alan Trammell to the ground during Tuesday’s seventh-inning brawl. (Getty Images)
If you haven’t seen the brawl between the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks, the most thorough video is up on MLB.com.
As you can see, a number of Dodgers players and coaches look upset. Angry, even. Enraged, boiling mad, fuming …
A few hours after the game the adrenaline had died down but the sentiment had not. What were the Dodgers so upset about?
Continue reading
All quotes courtesy of the Associated Press …
Continue reading
Is infielder Nick Punto part of the Dodgers’ solution or part of the problem? (Getty Images)
What has been the least productive position for the Dodgers this season? Third base? Shortstop?
Guess again.
FanGraphs.com recently calculated the WAR (wins above replacement) for every team by position. (For an explanation of the frequently misunderstood statistic, which is calculated differently by FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference.com and has gained popularity in recent years, click here.) According to FanGraphs’ WAR, second base has been the least productive position for the Dodgers this year.
In fact, only five teams have gotten less out of the position than the Dodgers, in terms of offense, baserunning and defense. Mark Ellis (17), Nick Punto (10) and Skip Schumaker (6) are the only three Dodgers who have started games at second base this season.
The Dodgers’ best position, relatively speaking, is first base. Only the Reds and Tigers have gotten more WAR out of the position this season.
The chart has its limits. Take the Angels, for example. Add up their position-by-position WAR, and they should have the fourth-best team in baseball. In reality the Angels are 10 games under .500. The Baltimore Orioles are tied for first place in the American League East, yet their combined WAR ranks 21st in the majors.
This is why you play the games.
More bullet points for a Thursday morning:
Continue reading
Paul Goldschmidt’s home run off Brandon League in the ninth inning Tuesday makes him 9 for 20 with two homers against the Dodgers this season. (John McCoy/Staff Photographer)
You get the feeling that the Dodgers will have a new closer soon.
Tomorrow, perhaps.
Brandon League didn’t blow a save Tuesday, but he added another shaky performance to a long list of them in 2013. League allowed a pair of runs in the ninth inning, both on a Paul Goldschmidt home run that lifted the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 5-3 win at Dodger Stadium.
The Goldschmidt home run came on a belt-high sinker over the middle of the plate, the last of 11 pitches that included five foul balls after the count went full.
“My plan was to get Goldschmidt to ground into a double play,” League said. “That’s an example of what happens when you throw a good hitter a (feces-infused) pitch.”
Mark Lowe is, in many ways, a typical spring training reclamation project. The 29-year-old’s fastball was once clocked at 101 mph, but now sits in the low 90s. He is a veteran of parts of seven major-league seasons and two surgeries: Elbow microfracture (2006) and back microdisectomy (2010). He’s also a Type 1 diabetic.
Now, Lowe is the newest Dodger courtesy of a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick first reported the deal, which would pay $1.5 million in base salary if Lowe makes the team.
Unlike most reclamation projects, Lowe was pitching effectively at the major-league level last season. He allowed only eight runs in his first 31 appearances for the Rangers but faded in September, allowing earned runs in four of five appearances (18.90 ERA). He was sidelined for six weeks at midseason with a strained intercostal muscle in his ribcage after throwing a career-high three innings in one game.
The right-hander is not a complete longshot to make the team, but he’ll have to prove he belongs in a crowded Dodgers bullpen. More on that later.
Some links to send you into the weekend:
Jackie Robinson was born 94 years ago today in Cairo, Georgia. To commemorate the occasion, Google baked a birthday cake with 94 candles on top made Robinson the “doodle” on its home page today.
We’ll be writing a lot about Robinson this year. The 66th anniversary of his major-league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers is April 15. Three days earlier is the planned release date of “42,” the biopic starring Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey. You can view the trailer here.
In light of this week’s news about a Miami-based PED lab that claimed several major-leaguers as clients, I’ll take this space to point out that Robinson was neither a drinker nor a smoker – let alone a juicer.
An often-overlooked local landmark is the plaque commemorating Robinson’s boyhood home at 121 Pepper Street in Pasadena. (There’s no home there now, just a plaque, as the home was torn down in the early 1970s.) Feel free to leave a present there today. Or a doodle.
Lots of links today:
If you’re Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson — who among us hasn’t had that thought, if not since 1988 — your 2013 lineup just took an interesting turn.
Justin Upton is out. Martin Prado is in. There’s room for Adam Eaton, whose arm and foot speed and ability to hit for average brings the promise of being the team’s everyday center fielder for years to come.
But something’s undeniably missing. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports identifies it toward the end of today’s eye-opening column, which was heavy on quotes from anonymous players slamming the D-Backs’ seven-player trade with the Braves: “Who is the most feared hitter in the Arizona lineup now,” Rosenthal asks. “Prado? [Cody] Ross? Jason Kubel? Miguel Montero? Not good enough.”