Blog Kiosk: 10/18/2016 - Dodgers Links - Kuroda to Retire, Urias in Game 4, and Game 3 Tonight

Dodger Stadium sure looks ready for today's Game 3.  It all begins at 5:08 PM tonight.  BTW, both the auto and stadium gates open at 2:08 PM.

The photo at the very top via Petros & Money on twitter.  Graphic above via @Dodgers on twitter. Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History:  This is one of the worst days in Dodger history.  In 1977 Reggie Jackson slammed three home runs against the Dodgers in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium to win the World Series. 
• Happy Birthday, Alex Cora and former manager Burt Shotton!
• Wise words from Joc Pederson this morning, via his twitter:

Win the day

— Joc Pederson (@yungjoc650) October 18, 2016

• BTW, Ken Gurnick on twitter reports that Tommy Lasorda was released from the hospital yesterday and might make an appearance at today's game. 
• Video: Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts talks to the media about starting Julio Urias in Game 4, Kenta Maeda lined up for Game 5 and more ahead of Game 3 of the NLCS. (Link Here) 
• Video: Rich Hill addresses the media ahead of Tuesday's Game 3 of the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs.  (Link Here)
• Audio: Listen to AJ Ellis with the Petros & Money show from yesterday. (Link Here)
• Via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider; "Julio Urías to start NLCS Game 4 — youngest postseason starting pitcher ever."

“It’s the playoffs, so I have to be ready,” Urías said this afternoon, shortly before the announcement was made official by his manager, Dave Roberts. “If before, I knew I had to give my best, I know that now I have to give even more, because whatever I do, if I make a mistake it could cost us a big game.

“You just have to be prepared when you’re called upon. Yeah, you feel anxious and sometimes you feel the pressure, but that’s something you have to learn how to deal with.”

• Via Jesse Rogers at ESPN; "Cubs' Ben Zobrist laughs off sign-stealing accusations from Dodgers."

"I think it's hilarious," Zobrist said Monday afternoon. "No, I was not stealing signs. But I appreciate him thinking my baseball IQ is that high. ... I don't know what he was looking at or what he thought he saw. But really, from second base at Wrigley, it's very tough to even see the signs. It's so dark. All the lights are behind the hitter. ... But I think all catchers are probably a little paranoid about that."

• Giovanni Balistreri at When Topps Had (Base) Balls shares a fantastic fantasy Baseball card of former Dodger first baseman Wes Parker on a 1972 TOpps "In -Action" design.  Check it out here.
• Via Andrea Canales at ESPN; "Los Angeles Dodgers have earned strong standing with the Latino community."

"The Dodgers have been able to overcome a complicated relationship with Latinos in L.A.," explained Priscilla Leiva, an assistant professor of Chicano Studies at Cal State Los Angeles. "Chavez Ravine is a site of displacement for Latinos because, after WWII, the city used eminent domain to remove the predominantly Mexican-American community for the construction of public housing. That project was canceled and the Brooklyn Dodgers secured a sweetheart deal for the land that once housed nearly 1,100 families."

• Via Paul Lukas at UniWatch; "Under Armour, Fanatics Ink MLB Uniform Deal for 2020." 
• UniWatch also points to an interesting letter recently shared by Todd Radom that tells the story of the Dodgers' interlocking LA logo designed in 1957.  Check it out here.
• Via Buster Olney at ESPN; "MLB wants international draft in new CBA with players."

Major League Baseball is pushing for an international draft as a centerpiece of change in the next collective bargaining agreement with the players' association, according to sources familiar with the proposal.

The current agreement expires in December, and the two sides have been in negotiations.

• Thank you for the memories, old friend.  Per Kyodo News; "(Hiroki) Kuroda to retire at end of season."

"Winning the league championship and advancing to the Japan Series is one big reason for this," Kuroda told a press conference at a Hiroshima hotel. "Because I'm going out after the ultimate season, I have no regrets."

"This had been constantly in my mind the past two to three years. It became tangible in September when we won the pennant. I had thought about announcing it after the Japan Series. But that next game might be my last, and I felt I had to tell my teammates and the fans who have cheered me on before that."

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