Blog Kiosk: 6/3/2016 - Dodgers Links - Clayton Kershaw and Julio Urias

Julio Urias was better.  Unfortunately, better was not good enough.

Yesterday afternoon the Dodgers sent the 19-year old phenom out against the Cubs, and lost again.  This time, however, Urias lasted a full five innings.  Via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider:

“I felt good,” Urias told reporters after the game (via SportsNet LA). “My pitches were there. Overall I felt good, but those pitches I missed, those were the ones they were able to capitalize on. … Those pitches lacked control, and they connected on them.”

Overall, he threw 79 pitches, recorded four strike outs, walked one and coughed up five earned runs.  Glaringly, Urias also gave up three homers; including a towering drive by Kris Bryant that hit the left field video board.

“He left a few balls up, and they made him pay,” Dave Roberts said. “Julio is continuing to learn. I thought he threw the ball well early on.

“I thought the game was a lot slower for him. I think he might have been a bit frustrated by some of those flares, but I really believe that he handled himself well, with great composure and great mound presence.”

Listen to Julio speak about his second start here.  Photo at the top via @Dodgers on twitter.  Below are more links to check:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1989 the Dodgers played an 22 inning game at the Astrodome that lasted seven hours and fourteen minutes.  BTW, the Dodgers lost the game 5-4, John Shelby went a remarkable 0 for 10 at the plate, Fernando Valenzuela played first base and infielder Jeff Hamilton was the losing pitcher. 
• Via Doug Padilla at ESPN, "Dodgers to meet before deciding next move with Julio Urias."

“We’re going to talk about that, but I think that we haven’t made that decision yet,” Roberts said. “After this I’ll get together with the guys and we’ll figure out what is best for us.”

While Urias had his issues in two starts, it could be decided that he deserves a home start at the very least. He was up against it in a high-profile Friday night start at New York against the Mets, and then at Wrigley Field with the Cubs looking to wrap up another series victory.

“Julio did fine -- he kept us in the game,” said Trayce Thompson, who hit his eighth home run and was quick to come to the defense of his young teammate. “It was just a big home run by [Jason] Heyward and another one by [Kris] Bryant.

• Via August Fagerstrom at FanGraphs, "Let’s Overanalyze Two Julio Urias Starts." 

What have we seen from Julio Urias? We’ve seen a 19-year-old face the best team in baseball and the defending National League champions. We’ve seen the delivery, deception and raw stuff that scouts have raved over for years. We’ve seen soft contact go for costly hits. We’ve seen big league hitters hit good pitches, and we’ve seen big league hitters hit bad pitches. We’ve seen Urias have a short outing, and we’ve seen Urias demoted. We’ve seen Urias walk too many batters and give up a whole bunch of runs. We’ve seen what we were all going to see eventually. We’ve seen a kid with a really bright future.

• Via Grant Bisbee at SB Nation; "Clayton Kershaw has 5 walks, so we need to study them."
• BTW, Clayton Kershaw was also named the National League Pitcher of the Month for May, via Cash Kruth at MLB.com.

Kershaw went 5-0 with a 0.91 ERA in six May starts, striking out 65 batters and walking only two in 49 2/3 innings. He also held opposing batters to a .145/.155/.109 batting line.

Kershaw led all Major League starters in innings, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP (0.52) on the month.

• Harold Uhlman at Think Blue LA pens a nice piece on, "Clem Labine – King of the Bullpen."
• Check out this forum thread at Blowout Cards (link here).  A user shares some pics of the Topps Baseball card printing facility in Duryea, PA, circa 1991.
• I guess we should call this progress.  Via Brett Anderson's twitter:

Day 1: I made it through an infant level game of catch without anything on my body imploding/exploding.

— Brett Anderson (@BrettAnderson35) June 2, 2016

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *