Monday, February 24, 2014

Dodgers Notes from Spring Training: Full-Squad Workout #11


Throughout Spring Training the Dodgers PR department sends out helpful daily notes from Camelback Ranch, and I am happy to pass them along.  See what they've written below.
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(When Puig took over Jon SooHoo's camera, via Yasiel Puig/LA Dodgers 2014)

CASE OF THE MONDAYS: The Dodgers completed their 11th full-squad workout today with the club’s Cactus League opener just two days away! Los Angeles will kick off its 25-game exhibition slate on Wednesday against the D-backs at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Reigning Cy Young Award-winner Clayton Kershaw will make his first Cactus League start for the Dodgers.
  • Zack Greinke, Chris Withrow, Pedro Baez, Jarret Martin, Red Patterson, Carlos Frias and Zack Lee all tossed normal bullpens sessions this morning.
  • Don Mattingly announced today that following Kershaw’s start on Wednesday, pitchers Zack Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dan Haren will take the mound in order for games on Thursday through Saturday.
(An intra-squad win, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014)

DON’T BEAT YOURSELF UP: After a 3-1 win by “Team Wills” over “Team Koufax” yesterday, the Dodgers played to a 0-0 tie in the three-inning finale of a two-game intra-squad series today. The contest was highlighted by a quartet of pitchers, as Dan Haren (2.0 IP), Paco Rodriguez (1.0 IP), Chris Reed (2.0 IP) and Jamey Wright (1.0 IP) all tossed scoreless baseball. Each team was held to just two hits on the day with Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Buss notching hits for “Team Wills,” while Joc Pederson and J.C. Boscan (2B) recorded the only hits for “Team Koufax.”

WELCOME TO THE RANCH: Among familiar faces to show up to camp for the first time were broadcasters Jaime Jarrin and Rick Monday. Jarrin, a 1998 Hall of Fame inductee, will begin his 56th season in the radio booth for the Dodgers, while Monday embarks on his 22nd season as a Dodger broadcaster.
(Adrian Gonzalez relaxing during intra-squad game, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014)

ALL DODGERS, ALL THE TIME: The new 24-hour-a-day network of the Dodgers, SportsNet LA, will premier tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. PT with original programming. This spring, SNLA will televise all of this year’s Dodger Cactus League games, with the exception of two split-squad games, giving fans more Spring Training coverage than ever before.
  • SportsNet LA will be available to Time Warner Cable’s customers in the Los Angeles area with Standard TV service or above in high definition (HD) on channel 431 and in standard definition (SD) on digital channel 249.
  • The network has announced its full launch night programming schedule, led by the live studio show “Access SportsNet: Dodgers,” the inaugural episode of “Backstage: Dodgers,” back-to-back “Connected With…” interview shows featuring Clayton Kershaw and Don Mattingly and a one-hour retrospective special about last year’s season.
  • SNLA’s programming lineup will include shows “Backstage: Dodgers,” “Access SportsNet: Dodgers,” “Leadoff LA,” “Dodgers Clubhouse,” “Connected With,” “Talkin’ Blue,” “Dodgermentary,” “Timeless Dodgers” and “Dodgers Squeeze Play,” all set to air starting Feb. 25. For more information, please visit www.ineedmydodgers.com.
  • It has also just been announced that Bright House Networks in Bakersfield has also signed an agreement with TWC, via a tweet from Eric Stephen.


BASEBALL THIS MORNING: The ESPN “Baseball Tonight” bus rolled into Camelback Ranch – Glendale early this morning for its annual spring trip. Karl Ravech, John Kruk and Tim Kurkjian were on hand as the show taped and went live near the Field 1 third base side. Don Mattingly and Clayton Kershaw each were interviewed for live segments on “SportsCenter” this morning.

PING-PONG RALLY’S ON: The Dodgers’ second annual double-elimination doubles ping-pong tournament continues in the Dodger clubhouse, as the semifinals for the winner’s bracket is set. On the winner’s side, Daniel Moskos and Chris Withrow will face Ross Stripling and Drew Butera. The loser of the semifinal match will face off against the winner of the two teams still alive in the loser’s bracket, defending champion Clayton Kershaw and teammate Chad Billingsley or Seth Rosin and Miguel Rojas, who face off in a loser-goes-home battle.
(Yasiel Puig and Alexander Guerrero, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014)

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Looking at the 1990 Dodgers Unocal Pin Set

Following up on my posts from the past couple of weeks featuring pinbacks from the Dodgers Unocal pin set, I now share with you the pins from the 1990 set.  Go here to check out my previous post on these sets.

The 1990 Dodgers' pin set celebrates the 100 year anniversary of the Dodgers in the National League. 

Pin #1 - Official Logo - One hundred years of great moments and great memories are commemorated in the official logo for the Dodgers' Centennial Celebration in the National League

Pin #2 -1st Game in NL 1890 - The Dodgers' first National League game was played on April 19,1890, versus the Boston Beaneaters.  Final score: Boston 15, Dodgers 9.

Pin #3 - World Series Titles - The Dodgers have won six World Series Titles: 1955 vs. Yankees, 1959 vs. White Sox, 1963 vs. Yankees, 1965 vs. Twins, 1981 vs. Yankees, 1988 vs. A;s.

Pin #4 - Retired Uniforms - #1 Pee Wee Reese, #4 Duke Snider, #19 Jim Gilliam, #24 Walter Alston, #32 Sandy Koufax, #39 Roy Campanella, #42 Jackie Robinson, #53 Don Drysdale.

Pin #5 - 1st Game in LA - The Dodgers played their first game in Los Angeles on April18, 1958, versus the San Francisco Giants in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.  Final score Dodgers 6, Giants 5.

Pin #6 - NL Pennants - The Dodgers winning tradition includes twenty-one pennants in their one-hundred year history: 1890, 1899, 1900, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1988.

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2014 Topps Turkey Red Baseball - All the Dodgers' Cards


Last week, Topps released their newest Baseball card set.  It is called 2014 Turkey Red, and it was an internet only offering -  meaning, you could only purchase packs/boxes directly from Topps, via their website.  Each box cost $19.99 and you received 10 cards, plus an autographed card.

There are 7 Dodger players in the 100-card base set, and just 2 Dodger autographed cards available.  Check them all out below.

For those who do not know, Turkey Red is in reference to a early-20th Century card set popular with vintage collectors.  The original cards are commonly known as T-3, and are the size of your typical cabinet card from the era (roughly 5 3/8" x 8").  They were lithograph cards with bright color backgrounds.  A group of boxing cards are also available, and are known as T-9's.  I do not have any of the vintage Baseball T-3's in my collection, but I do have a handful of Boxing T-9's.

#31 Clayton Kershaw

#72 Zack Greinke                                 #73 Hyun-Jin Ryu


#74 Hanley Ramirez                                    #75 Matt Kemp

#76 Yasiel Puig

#100 Adrian Gonzalez

Autographs

#TRA-3 Onelki Garcia #/699

#TRA-4 Matt Magill #/499

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Blog Kiosk: 2/24/2014 - Dodgers Links - Wallach, Colletti and Kershaw Joking with Ellis


These three Kings.  Congrats to Canada for winning the gold medal in hockey; especially to the 3 Kings on the team: Jeff Carter, team equipment manager Darren Granger (no, he did not get an actual medal) and Drew Doughty.
Will the Dodgers’ bunt-heavy approach change now that Tim Wallach is the bench coach? The Dodgers’ front office clearly thought some change in the dugout decision-making chain was needed because it declined to renew the contract of Mattingly’s bench coach, Trey Hillman, and decided to move Wallach from the third-base coach’s box to the dugout. That was the only change in the coaching staff. 
For all of those out there who think the Dodgers spent too much signing Juan Uribe 3 years ago and then shouldn’t have invested a 2nd year in his contract this year he has a simple answer, “Who did he block then and who is he blocking now?” 
"I would say there is absolutely zero excitement for it," Greinke told ESPNLosAngeles.com. "There just isn't any excitement to it. I can't think of one reason to be excited for it."
  • GCRL shares some Bob Lemke fantasy Baseball cards he just received.  See one of them on the right.
  • Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times notes that the newest Dodger, Erisbel Arruebarrena, is a boyhood friend of Yasiel Puig.
Puig and Arruebarrena met as 9-year-olds in Cienfuegos. They played together on various youth teams. Eventually, they became standouts on the Elefantes, their hometown club in Cuba's top baseball league.

"He was a good friend of mine," Puig said Saturday. "We were always together."
  • Comedic hijinks continues between Kershaw and Ellis, via twitter:

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