Kenta Maeda was brilliant enough to help the Dodgers defeat the Diamondbacks, 3-2. Uncharacteristically wild, he went five arduous innings, recording six strike outs, three walks and one earned run with 94 pitches. It was enough, though, to help him earn his fifteenth victory of the season. It also dropped the clubs "Magic Number" to just twelve games. Via Doug Padilla at ESPN:
"He started to get a little better with his command, but he was just on the edges too much and missing with his fastball," manager Dave Roberts said. "With Kenta, you can tell. When he is getting ahead of guys with the fastball and then throwing the slider and is around the zone you know he has good rhythm. And he didn't have it [Friday] until the fourth inning. It was a grind for him."Maeda added more, via Ken Gurnick and Jake Rill at MLB.com:
...
"He still found a way, like he seemingly always does, to give us a chance to win a baseball game," Roberts said. "That's a sign of a great competitor, which Kenta is, and a winning pitcher. I don't know the win-loss, but Kenta, every single time he takes the mound he gives us a chance to win."
"My command was off in general today and I wasn't able to get into a groove and put a lot of pressure on the other players to pick up the slack," said Maeda. "I felt okay overall, just didn't have my fastball command. Our team scored early in the game and that helped me."Photo above via @Dodgers on twitter. Below are more links to check out:
- This Day in Dodgers History: In 1912 Brooklyn outfielder and future Hall of Famer Casey Stengel made his Major League debut. He collects four hits, drives in two runs and swipes a pair of stolen bases. In 1979 Dodger catcher Joe Ferguson hit his 20th homer of the season against the Atlanta Braves, which gave the team their fifth player with at least 20 homers on the year for the first time in franchise history. In 1981 Fernando Valenzuela ties a Major League record for shutouts at eight when he defeated the Atlanta Braves, 2-0. In 1996 Hideo Nomo threw the Dodgers 20th no-hitter in franchise history. He defeated the Colorado Rockies, 9-0. Watch the last out of this game here.
- With Vin Scully's retirement around the corner I thought I would briefly point to a fantastic website that honors his accomplishments behind the mic. Check out: "Vin Scully: The Master's Touch." (Link Here)
- Via Eduardo Gonzalez at the LA Times; "Vin Scully shares his most embarrassing moment as the voice of the Dodgers."
“The most, and I think you'll get the picture immediately, back about my third year, about 1952 the Dodgers were playing Cincinnati and Cincinnati had an outfielder named Lloyd Merriman, I'll never forget it, and Lloyd had a ball foul and my mind told me to say ‘hot shot hit foul’ and it never came out that way,” Scully said. “Everybody in the booth fell down and I was absolutely mortified.”
- Via Ron Cervenka at True Blue LA; "The Pantone 294 – Who are these guys?"
But who are these guys? And what the heck is a Pantone 294 anyway? The answer to that is one of pure genius and the brainchild of 28-year-old Huntington Park resident Alex Soto, a lifelong Dodger fan and longtime season ticket holder out in the Left Field Pavilion at Dodger Stadium.
“Pantone 294 is the official color tone of the Dodgers,” Soto said, ” “If you go into Home Depot and you want to paint your room Dodgers Blue, there’s a color chart. You can’t just say ‘royal blue,’ they’re going to say ‘Which blue? Baby blue? Hot blue? Blue? Light blue?’ There’s different shades of blue. Every color has a number. The official Dodger color is listed as Pantone 294.”
- Via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider; "(Brett) Anderson thrives, Oklahoma City stays alive in PCL."
Anderson, who has been beset by blister problems recently, giving up 10 baserunners in two innings for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on September 3, needed only 54 pitches to complete his five innings, allowing three hits — including a solo home run in the second — walking none and striking out five.
His efforts help the the Oklahoma City Dodgers to defeat the El Paso Chihuahuas, 4-2, in their "Best of Five" PCL Championships Series. El Paso now leads the series two games to one. Game four is tonight.
- RIP, W. P. Kinsella. Via Big League Stew; "W.P. Kinsella, author of timeless novel 'Shoeless Joe,' dies at 81."
- If you are like me, wondering what happened to this weeks Topps Baseball release, 2016 Triple Threads, then be ready to be disappointed. Apparently, the product, originally slated to be released this past Wednesday, has been delayed until further notice. According to Cardboard Connection:
Based on issues with the shrink wrap on box packaging, 2016 Topps Triple Threads Baseball has been recalled and delayed until further notice. The release date was initially scheduled for 9/14 before being pushed to 9/16 and then postponed. Check back for further updates.
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