Saturday, March 07, 2015

Blog Kiosk: 3/7/2015 - Dodger Links - Colletti, Pederson and Rollins Impact on Puig


It looks like rookie Joc Pederson is one of the guys.  As evidenced in Jon SooHoo's photo above, Joc goofs around with Andre Ethier before yesterday's split squad game.  I wonder if Joc did the ol' "what's in your ear" joke and pulled out a Baseball to the wonder of everyone within view.  Check out more pics by Jon from yesterday here.

Below are some more links to check out:
"At first, when it happened," Colletti says, "my feelings were a little bit hurt. But I've always been clear on one thing. I'm far from perfect. I'm more human than perfect.

"When pride and ego become your individual culture, you have some rough roads ahead."
"I've had four at-bats," Pederson said Friday morning before adding an RBI single against the Brewers in Phoenix as part of a Dodgers split squad. "Yeah, some things have went my way to start, but I still have a lot of work to do to get comfortable in the box."
“My thing is, if teams are going to look at just analytics, Paul Goldschmidt and Miguel Cabrera should be hitting first because they’re going to get on base the most,” Gonzalez said. “But teams want them to drive in runs. That’s why those guys hit third or fourth.” 
"I like Jimmy," Puig said. "He's a good teammate. Every day he talks to me: 'What do you need? What can I help you with today?' He talks to me about hitting the ball to right field, center field. He always wants to help me get better."
  • Panini releases their 2015 Donruss Baseball set this coming week.  Below are some preview images to gaze at.  Go here to check out even more.

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Dodgers Notes from Spring Training: Spring Game 5 / Road Game 3


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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Los Angeles Dodgers (3-1) vs. Cleveland Indians (2-2)
Saturday, March 7, 2015 – 12:05 PM PST | Goodyear Ballpark

RHP Mike Bolsinger (0-0) vs. RHP Corey Kluber (0-0)
TV: SNLA Radio: AM 570 (Eng.), KTNQ 1020 AM (Span.)


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(Mattingly & Puig, pic via @MLB on twitter)

CLEVELAND ROCKS: The Dodgers hit the road today to take on reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber and the Cleveland Indians. Los Angeles knocked off Kluber on June 30, 2014 at Dodger Stadium - when he was outdueled by Dan Haren in a 1-0 Dodger win - but the Tribe took two of three in the series and holds a 5-4 advantage in the all-time series between the clubs.
  • Opening Day is less than a month away, April 6 vs. San Diego at Dodger Stadium!

(Two outs, via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2015)
TAKE TWO: Los Angeles won both split-squad games yesterday at home against the Mariners and on the road against the Brewers, combining for 17 runs on 25 hits in the victories:
  • In Maryvale, the Dodgers held the Brewers hitless through six innings and blasted three homers (Ellis, Guerrero, Sweeney) to cruise to a 10-1 victory. Joc Pederson (2-for-3, 2B) and Alex Guerrero (2-for-3, HR, 2 RBI) continued their hot starts to the spring and produced two of the Dodgers’ five multi-hit games, along with Scott Schebler (2-for-2, 2B), Kyle Jensen (2-for-3, RBI) and Darnell Sweeney (2-for-2, HR). On the mound, Zach Lee (2.0 IP), Julio Urias (1.2 IP) and Yimi Garcia (1.1 IP) combined for 6.0 hitless innings, while Mike Thomas and Steve Smith each tossed an inning of scoreless relief.
  • In Glendale, Los Angeles took advantage of three Mariners errors to pull out the 7-4 victory. David Huff allowed just one hit and struck out two in 2.0 scoreless innings and Chris Anderson picked up the win in relief, tossing 2.0 scoreless, hitless frames. O’Koyea Dickson hit his second homer of the spring with a solo shot in the seventh inning.
  • Through four games, the Dodgers have a .285 team batting average, a .356 on-base percentage and a .472 slugging percentage.

(Bag of balls, via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2015)
ON THE MOUND: Right-hander Mike Bolsinger will make his first start of the spring and his Dodger debut today against the Indians. Bolsinger was acquired in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Nov. 22, 2014 after seeing his first Major League action last year. In his five minor league seasons, he has gone 33-21 with a 3.49 ERA in 104 games (74 starts) and posted a 2.58 strikeout-to-walk ratio, striking out 426 against only 165 walks in 464.2 innings. With the Diamondbacks last season, he struck out nearly three times as many batters as he walked (48 strikeouts/17 walks).
  • Veteran RHP Chad Gaudin is also expected to make his first appearance of the spring today and will appear in a game for the first time since the 2013 season, when he went 5-2 with a 3.06 ERA in 30 games (12 starts) with San Francisco. Gaudin has a career 1.76 strikeout-to-walk ratio, striking out 673 and walking just 382 batters in 836.1 innings. He has limited right-handed hitters to a .244 batting average during the course of his career.
  • A slew of hurlers from the minor league side will be joining the Dodger staff today: RHP Matt Shelton (#89), RHP Jeremy Horst (#97), RHP Chin-Hui Tsao (#91), RHP Blake Smith (#88) and LHP Dustin Richardson (#98).
  • Earlier today, Hyun-Jin Ryu tossed his first live BP of the spring against minor leaguers at Camelback Ranch. Ryu is scheduled to make his Cactus League debut on Thursday against the Padres.
(The fish was this big, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2015)

COLLEGE BALL: The two most recent College World Series champions will be on display in the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic tomorrow, when 2013 titlist UCLA meets USC and defending champion Vanderbilt faces TCU. The TCU-Vanderbilt game is slated to begin at 11:45 a.m. and the USC-UCLA matchup is at 3:30 p.m. Tickets priced at $25 for Dugout Club seats, $20 for Baseline Club seats and $10 for Field level seats are available at Dodgers.com/classic, uclabruins.com and gettrojantix.com. Tickets for USC and UCLA students and children under 14 are $5 and also are available in advance only at the UCLA and USC box offices or at Dodger Stadium on the day of the event. Parking is $10 and is available only at the gate. Parking and stadium gates will open at 11:30 a.m.
(Dugout at Camelback Ranch, pic via Scott Killeen on twitter)

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