Blog Kiosk: 5/11/2016 - Dodgers Links - Maeda, Puig and Trayce Thompson

Exciting!  Thrilling!  The crowd jumped out of their seats and roared.

Locked into a tie, Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson, the youngest son of former Laker star Mychal Thompson, came up to the plate with two out and proceeded to knock a 2-2 pitch into the left field pavilion for a walk-off home run.  (Watch it here)  Via Jack Baer and Anthony DiComo at MLB.com:

"It was a fastball," Thompson said. "Their whole entire bullpen, their whole entire pitching staff has amazing stuff. I just try to keep it simple against them. Just look for a heater, keep it simple and square it up. It was a fastball over the plate that I was able to handle."

Per Doug Padilla at ESPN:

“I don’t know how he did it,” Seager said. “He took two heaters and still battled back and ended up swinging at the first thing that doesn’t bounce. That’s awesome. It’s an awesome moment.

“He’s calm as hell. It’s unbelievable. He didn’t even have any jitters after the game. It was like as if nothing happened right there. It was special. A lot of people, their motors are going fast. His just wasn’t. No heartbeat at all.”

The Dodgers really needed this win.  Best yet, starter Alex Wood put in a great performance.  Wood went 6.1 innings in the no-decision; giving up four hits, two runs (one of which was unearned) and striking out nine.  On Wood, Mets manager Terry Collins said this:

"That's the best I've seen Alex Wood pitch," Mets manager Terry Collins said.

Photo above via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2016.  Go here to check out more pics from Jon from yesterdays game.  Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1963 Sandy Koufax would throw his second no-hitter of his career against the Giants.  He had a perfect game going into the eight inning when he walked Ed Bailey on a 3-2 pitch.
• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Jose De Leon rests with arm soreness for Oklahoma City."
• Via Brad Lefton at the Wall Street Journal, "Sixty Years Ago, the Dodgers Toured Japan and Changed Baseball Forever."

“Up until then, defensively, Japanese baseball was reactionary, not anticipatory,” (Sadaharu) Oh said. “For example, the Dodgers preached to anticipate the bunt and charge in with the pitch. That kind of thing was unheard of in Japan. They taught the infielders how to move in tandem with the pitcher and play a more team-oriented defense. It completely changed the way we defended.”

• AGon's favorite boxer, Canelo Alvarez, had cards available in Upper Deck's 2014 Goodwin Champions set; including the autographed card seen on the right.  Go here to see his other cards, via Upper Deck's blog.
• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Alex Guerrero begins minor league rehab assignment with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga." 
• Via Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA, "In other news, Quakes’ Tim Locastro hits for the cycle."
• Via Sung-Min Kim at Beyond the Boxscore, "Kenta Maeda's transition to MLB has been seamless."

It would be foolish to call the Dodgers' move a total success just based on the first month, but Maeda has shown a lot of promise so far. Looking at his numbers, besides the amount of runs he has allowed, Maeda has basically pitched just as he did in Japan. 

• Via Doug Padilla at ESPN, "Yasiel Puig for Gold Glove? Let's look at the numbers."

“From the eye test to the metrics or whatever, he’s playing Gold Glove defense,” Roberts said before Tuesday’s game against the New York Mets. “That’s the respect he has for his teammates. What he is not doing with the bat right now, he’s certainly doing with the glove.”
...
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Puig has seven defensive runs saved this season, which is not only second among right fielders, but also fourth among all players.

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