Kiké Hernandez Answered Fans Questions on the Tweet Seat

Yesterday Kiké Hernandez jumped onto the tweet seat for sunglass manufacturer Kaenon and answered a bunch of fan questions.  Check out some of my favorite responses below.

BTW, there have been numerous "Tweet Seat" session over the past few years with either a player or someone from behind the scenes.  Go here to check out my past post about them.  Previous guest include Farhan Zaidi, Vin Scully and Corey Seager.

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Of course, it stars off with some banana talk.

@brianacabrera_ that spot is taken by @kenjeong and I don't think that'll ever change!

— KAENON (@Kaenon) October 8, 2015

Here are the Dodgers and Mets Rosters for NLDS

Just announced, here are the Dodgers and Mets NLDS postseason roster.  There are no real surprises for the Dodgers.  We had already found out in the days leading up to today that Peralta, Puig and Ruggiano would be on the team.  Notable exclusions include Scott Van Slyke (hampered by a sore wrist), Alex Guerrero, Carlos Frias and Juan Nicasio.  Notable excluded Mets include Eric Campbell, Dilson Herrera and reliever Sean Gilmartin.

DODGERS:	METS:
Starting Pitching:
RHP Zack Greinke	RHP Jacob deGrom
LHP Clayton Kershaw	RHP Noah Syndergaard
LHP Brett Anderson	RHP Matt Harvey
LHP Alex Wood	LHP Steven Matz
Relievers:
LHP Luis Avilan	LHP Jonathon Niese
LHP J.P. Howell	RHP Tyler Clippard
RHP Pedro Baez	RHP Addison Reed
RHP Yimi Garcia	RHP Hansel Robles
RHP Chris Hatcher	RHP Erik Goeddel
RHP Kenley Jansen	RHP Bartolo Colon
RHP Joel Peralta	RHP Jeurys Familia
Catchers:
C A.J. Ellis	C Kevin Plawecki
C Yasmani Grandal (S)	C Travis d'Arnaud
Infielders:
1B Adrian Gonzalez (L)	1B Lucas Duda (L)
2B Howie Kendrick	SS Wilmer Flores
SS Jimmy Rollins (S)	3B David Wright
IF Corey Seager (L)	2B Daniel Murphy (L)
IF Justin Turner	IF Ruben Tejada
IF Chase Utley (L)
Super Utility:
OF/IF Kiké Hernandez	OF/IF Kelly Johnson (L)
Outfielders:
OF Carl Crawford (L)	OF Yoenis Cespedes
OF Andre Ethier (L)	OF Michael Conforto (L)
OF Joc Pederson (L)	OF Michael Cuddyer
OF Yasiel Puig	OF Curtis Granderson (L)
OF Justin Ruggiano	OF Juan Lagares
	OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis (L)

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A Tommy Lasorda High School Yearbook

When I saw this on eBay I knew I had to share it here.

Above is a team photo of a Baseball team from Norristown High School in Pennsylvania, and featured within the egg-shaped blue circle is a youthful Tommy Lasorda.  It is from 1944, and Tommy was probably 16 or 17 at the time. 

As you may know, Lasorda originally signed as an amateur free agent just prior to the start of the 1945 season with the Philadelphia Phillies.  He was then taken by the Dodgers in the 1948 minor league draft.

Over the past several years I've highlighted school yearbooks for a number of former Dodgers; including Clayton Kershaw, Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson and sports cartoonist Willard Mullin.  Go here to check out those past blog post.

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Original Brooklyn Dodger Portraits by Susan Rini

I knew I recognized these from somewhere.

The other day I ran into these gouache on cardboard paintings at an Clean Sweep auction and couldn't help but think that they looked familiar.  Then it hit me.

These are some of the original drawings for those postcard and cachet sets made in the 1980's to early 1990's.  Collectors especially liked to have them autographed by these old timers - much like the Perez Steele postcards from the same time period.  Check out what a couple of the Rini postcards look like on the right. 

As I dug around a bit I found out they were created by artist Suan Rini as a part of a commission for Historic Limited Editions.  Check out the auction here.  They did not sell.

Featured original paintings include Rex Barney, Joe Black, Ralph Branca, Roger Craig, Carl Erskine, Al Gionfriddo, Gene Hermanski, Spider Jorgensen, Clyde King (2 diff.), Billy Loes, Podres/Throneberry, George Shuba and Chris Van Cuyk. 

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Blog Kiosk: 10/9/2015 - Dodger Links - Hernandez, Lasorda and Vin Scully

It is finally playoff day for the Dodgers.  Are you excited?  I sure am.  

And I know for sure that the field at Dodger Stadium is raring to go.  Just look at the NLDS logo in the photo above, via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2015.  Doesn't it look great on the field?  Heck the only thing that could possible look better is a World Series logo.  Am I right?

Go here to check out a bunch of pics from the Dodgers workout yesterday by Jon.  You can also find out information about all the events and pregame activities for Game 1 and Game 2 here.  Below are more links to check out:

• As you have surely read by now, Vin Scully will be missing the playoffs due to a recent medical procedure that requires some rest.  He will sorely be missed.  I look forward to seeing him again next season.  
• This is a great read.  Via Jacob Silverman at the NY Times, "Letter of Recommendation: Vin Scully."

You can listen to Scully for hours and never hear a familiar platitude or a half-­baked thought. His technique, however, is rather simple. He describes the action in front of him just as he encounters it. His demeanor is jovial, neighborly — Mr. Rogers goes to Chavez Ravine. He quotes Dylan Thomas and offers old-­fashioned homilies about the weather (Scully still refers to a breeze as a ‘‘zephyr’’). He coos over children and leads viewers, his ‘‘friends,’’ through stories about everything from the time he went ice-­skating with Jackie Robinson to the time he dreamed of being chased by a giant clam (he had just shared an Italian dinner with Tommy Lasorda, you see). In his voice, you can hear traces of radio plays, New York’s prewar slums, Broadway — a lifetime of experience spent in what, in its more romantic era, was called show business.

• BTW, Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider passes along the game times for the remainder of the series.  Game 3 at 5:07 p.m. (if there are four MLB playoff games that day) or 5:37 p.m., Game 4 at 5:07 p.m. and Game 5 at 5:07 p.m.
• Via Mike Petriello at MLB.com, "Surging Ellis worthy of more reps in October."
• Via Mark Saxon at ESPN, "Dodgers' Enrique Hernandez is ready for his close-up."

“I’m really excited, not anxious or nervous or anything,” Hernandez said. “As a little kid, you’re always dreaming of playing in the seventh game of the World Series, either pitching or hitting. To play in the World Series, you’ve got to make the playoffs.”

• You earned this Justin!  Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Justin Ruggiano makes Dodgers NLDS roster."
  

  "How would I have seen this coming? I'm in Tacoma, I have the worst travel schedule that I've ever had in my whole life. My back hurt on the buses, my back hurt on the plane," Ruggiano said, smiling. "There's no way I could have ever seen this happening. It's kind of been a dream month."

• Via Arash Markazi at ESPN, "Tommy Lasorda's Dodger Stadium office is a shrine to his life."

"This is my life," Lasorda said as he stretched his arms out and looked around. "It's all right here in this room. It's all my friends and family. It's like a museum."

• Via Jordan Schwartz at Sports Quotient, "Stock Up for Prospects: NL West."  He talks a bit about pitcher Jose De Leon.
• Via Lyle Spencer at MLB.com, "Collins returns to LA with Dodgers roots."

"When you talk about what I learned -- I learned baseball, Dodger baseball," Collins said. "And at a time when you can walk out on the field in Spring Training and you had [Don] Drysdale and [Sandy] Koufax. And Maury Wills, Wes Parker. And Roy Campanella was talking after dinner at night. You talk about learning baseball and learning the history of the game ..."

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