I am sorry to report that legendary scout Mel Didier has past away, per a tweet from Bob Nightengale. He was 90. As you may know, Mel was the man who wrote the scouting report that Kirk Gibson depended on during the Dodgers thrilling Game 1 walk-off victory. You can check out an excerpt of that report in the photo at the very top, made available via Josh Suchon on twitter. It says, pertinently:*Like to "backdoor" slider to LH hitters with 3-2 count.Below are more links to checkout:
- This Day in Dodgers History: In 1998 Kevin Malone is named the Dodgers GM, replacing Tommy Lasorda. In 1983 RJ Reynolds squeezed home Pedro Guerrero in the ninth for an improbably walk-off victory against the Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers scored four runs in the ninth to win. Tommy Lasorda called his decision to call for the squeeze his most "daring" of his career.
- Happy Birthday, Con Daily, Frank Kitson & Eddie Miksis!
- Video: Hear from Dave Roberts after the Dodgers drop series finale to the Colorado Rockies and extend their losing streak to 10. (video link)
- Per Joshua Thirnton at MLB.com; "Kershaw's next start moved up to Tuesday."
- Via Matthew Moreno at Dodger Blue; "Dodgers News: Fernando Valenzuela Receives 1st Ever Sports Legend Award From National Hispanic Media Coalition."
- Via Dave Cameron at FanGraphs; "The Dodgers Look Beyond Terrible Right Now."
At this point, comforting posts about how every good team has bad streaks aren’t particularly relevant. No one else has had a streak like this in 2017. You have to really dig through the history books to find other examples of contenders who have lost 15 of 16. The Dodgers were something like we’ve never seen over the first four months of the season; for the last few weeks, they’ve been like something else entirely that we’ve also never seen.This is one of the strangest seasons in baseball history. We don’t really have data points that can tell us what a struggle like this might mean for the team going forward. The fact that they were nearly unbeatable until they were nearly incapable of winning should tell us something about how fickle trends can be, but even if we don’t know what losing 15 of 16 means on a grander scale, this skid has created some very legitimate concerns as the Dodgers head towards October.
- Per Craig Minami at True Blue LA; "Devin Smeltzer delivers encouraging message about his life with cancer."
“Early on in my sickness, I was pretty angry kid, pitiful and why me,” Smeltzer said, “you know, one day I woke up and I realized I didn’t have it as bad as some of other kids in there and from then on I’ve been just trying to help other people get through it.”“It put life in perspective at a young age for me, I grew up very fast and being faced with death like that, I mean its life or death, you are either going to beat it or you are not. So being faced with that, its tough.”
- Per Barry Lewis at Tulsa World; "Santana pitches Drillers into Texas League finals."
“He grew up tonight, right in front of our eyes,” Tulsa manager Scott Hennessey said while being sprayed with champagne as the Drillers celebrated on the field. “We knew he had that in him, and sometimes guys just rise to the occasion and grow up, and he did that. I couldn’t be more proud of him.“He threw three pitches for strikes, got ahead and he was great.”
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| (pic via MiLB.com on twitter) |
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