Brian Wilson Will Officially Wear Dodger Blue Tonight

Word came down early this morning that the Dodgers will officially activate Brian Wilson.  For the first time, he will join the team in Miami as an official Dodger.

Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports provided an early notice on twitter.

Source: #Dodgers to activate Brian Wilson today.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 19, 2013

Going back down to Albuquerque will be Scott Van Slyke.  With the MLB roster expanding to 40 players on September 1st, I suspect he''ll be back in a couple of weeks.

Per a @Dodgers tweet:

#Dodgers today reinstated reliever Brian Wilson from the 15-day disabled list and optioned Scott Van Slyke to @AbqTopes. #GotHeem
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 19, 2013

The Dodgers will be going with 13 pitchers on the roster, for the time being.  This will hopefully alleviate any concern the club has about overusing the bullpen.

Pic above via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2013.

Per a Dodgers Press Release:

The Los Angeles Dodgers today reinstated right-handed reliever Brian Wilson from the 15-day disabled list and optioned outfielder/first baseman Scott Van Slyke to Triple-A Albuquerque.

Wilson, who will wear jersey number 00, did not allow a run in four rehab appearances between Triple-A Albuquerque (3) and Single-A Rancho Cucamonga (1), striking out three, while allowing only one hit in 4.1 scoreless frames. The 31-year-old was signed by the Dodgers on July 30 and was placed on the 15-day disabled list as he continued his recovery from 2012 Tommy John surgery.

In 315 career games with the Giants from 2006-12, Wilson was 20-20 with 171 saves. The New Hampshire native has limited opposing hitters to a .238 batting average during the course of his career with 340 strikeouts in 320.0 innings. He last appeared in a Major League game on April 12, 2012.

Van Slyke, who appeared in his fourth stint with the club this season, is batting .252 (26-for-103) with six home runs, seven doubles and 16 RBI in 38 games for Los Angeles.

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2013 Topps MLB Chipz - The Dodgers

Topps recently released their newest Baseball product.  It is called MLB Chipz, and as the name suggest they are poker chip sized disc featuring a photo of a player on the front.  They are supposed to used for some sort of game, but I have no idea how it's palyed.  At the very bottom of this post is a pic of the game board.

Only two Dodgers are in the set:  Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw.  See them both below.  There are several different parallel Chipz's available; including "glow in the dark" Chipz's.

Matt Kemp

Clayton Kershaw

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Blog Kiosk: 8/19/2013 - Dodgers Links - Greinke, Nolasco, and Wilson to be Activated Soon

Ryu and Puig greet a couple of kids in the visitors clubroom in Philadelphia.  Pic via Jon SooHoo/ LA Dodgers 2013.  See more pics from yesterday here.

• ICYMI: "Are Skunks the Dodgers Good Luck Charm"
• "Zack Greinke Getting By Without His Best Pitch," via Mike Petriello at Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness.
• Dodgers on Rampage through West," via Murray Chass.

“We had guys who started slowly,” Kasten said. “We also had injuries. That’s not an excuse; everyone has injuries. But we had a carousel of injuries. Every week we had a guy injured and we lost him for a week or two. Once we hit a rhythm with most of our guys on the field we played the way we thought we could play. We finally had a steady, stable lineup on the field.”

• Josh Suchon writes on his blog (Out of Ink) about the PCL realignment and how it affects the Isotopes and Dodgers.
• Ken Gurnick at MLB.com tells us that Ricky Nolasco was named after Rick Monday.

"So when I got traded to the Dodgers, my dad got all crazy," said Nolasco, who starts for Los Angeles on Sunday. "It was kind of surreal. And cool. My first day with the team, I got interviewed by Rick, and I sent my dad pictures. He was excited. My dad always talked about Rick Monday."

• "Brian Wilson will be activated “in a day or two”, via Drew Silva at Harball Talk.
• Left Field Pavilion shares a bunch of pics he took while attending a Dodgers/Phillies game in Philadephia.
• Dodger Penguin had a very busy Saturday.  He travelled all over the Southland to get some Baseball autographs.  Here he gets Jose Altulve, then Dennis Martinez, and finally Steve Yeager at the Sports Authority. 
• Via Bill Plaschke at the LA Times, "The setup men for a gimpy Gibson’s immortal World Series homer: A grown batboy, a lost slugger and an old scout remember their roles in Kirk Gibson’s game-winning homer in the 1988 World Series."
• "Panini America Previews the On-Card Autos Coming to 2013 Hometown Heroes Baseball," via Tracy Hackler at The Knights Lance (Panini's blog).  Check out the Davey Lopes card below.

• Via Maury Brown at the Daily Gammons, "The Blame for PEDs in Baseball Begins with You".

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