Dodgers Blue Heaven: Blog Kiosk: 10/5/2017 - Dodgers Links

Thursday, October 05, 2017

Blog Kiosk: 10/5/2017 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

Yu Darvish, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, Pedro Baez and Josh Fields threw simulated games yesterday as they prepare to take on the Diamondbacks tomorrow evening. Hyun-Jin Ryu and Brock Stewart are scheduled to hit the mound later today. BTW, Ken Gurnick passed along some news, via twitter:

Roberts said he'll have active 25-man roster, group of taxi guys traveling with team and "stay hot" camp in Az. on stand-by for NLCS.

Followed by:

Segedin, Thompson, Verdugo, Paredes, Font sent to stay hot camp in Az. Dickson (injured).

Photo above of Darvish, via @Dodgers on twitter. Below are more links to check out:

This Day in Dodgers History: In 1941 usually dependable Dodgers catcher Mickey Owen dropped a two-out third-strike to Tommy Henrich in the ninth inning of Game Four of the World Series to give the Yanks an opportunity to come-from-behind. New York would then immediately rally to win the game, 7-4, and take a 3-1 World Series lead. In 1947 Dodger outfielder Al Gionfriddo robbed Joe Dimaggio of an extra base hit and several RBI's when he made a leaping grab near the left field bullpen during Game 6 of the World Series. Go here to watch a highlight reel of the play. In 1980 the Dodgers came back to defeat the Astros, 4-3, to sweep a season-ending, three-game series and force a one-game playoff with the Astros for the National League Western Division title. Ron Cey had hit a two-run stunner in the 8th inning to help win the game. Unfortunately, the Dodgers would lose that one-game playoff, 7-1, the next day.
Happy Birthday, Fred Claire, Bill Steele, Andy Kosco & Tracy Woodson!
Tom Hoffarth at Farther off the Wall provides a helpful reminder:

Thus, when TBS slots the Cubs-Nationals NLCS Game 1 and 2 on Friday and Saturday in the window ahead of the Dodgers’ series planning, be prepared.

If/when those games run long, the start to the Dodgers-D’backs will be pushed over to sister station TNT, even though that network currently plans to have viewers invested in a Star Wars-related moving playing at the time.

Congrats! The Dodgers Double-A club Tulsa Driller have been named the 2017 Texas League Organization of the Year. Per an MiLB story:

For the third time in five years, the Tulsa Drillers franchise has been named the Organization of the Year by the Texas League. The Drillers also received the honor after the 2013 and 2014 seasons. The award is presented annually to recognize a franchise for its successful operation, and this year's winner was determined by a vote from the directors of all the league's teams.

Per Lindsay Berra at MLB.com; "Family ties help set Barnes on baseball path: Uncle played in the big leagues for the A's, Cards and Yanks."

Barnes fondly recalls visiting Gallego's house, going through his chest of baseball gloves and leaving with a Mizuno or a Rawlings glove.

"Those were the best days, when he would give me and my brothers a couple of gloves," Barnes says. "I remember how much he cared about his gloves. He taught me how to break them in. He would put them under his mattress."

Via Mark Whicker at the OC Register; "Dodgers’ opponents have to wrestle with Chris Taylor."

Chris’ son Chris Jr. wrestled, too. He was Virginia Beach’s middle school champion.

“He was good, but he was nervous,” said his grandmother, Myra.
Then he chose baseball.

“I have fun in competition,” he told his grandma, “but with baseball I have fun all the time.”

This is the right attitude. Per Austin Laymance at MLB.com; "Ethier: LA must end World Series drought."

"It's a thing where it doesn't matter how many games you win," Ethier said of the Dodgers' 104 regular-season victories. "It's getting to the playoffs and winning the World Series. There's no banners hanging up that say we're the NL West champions five years in a row. The only banners you see out there are World Series championships. One hundred and four-win seasons, a 90-win season, they don't mean anything unless you're winning. No one is going to remember in five years that this team won 104 games [if it] didn't win the World Series."

Topps On-Demand's newest online exclusive set focuses on Postseason Heroes & Current Stars. It consist of 25 cards in the set and it appears that both autograph and dual inserts will be randomly inserted. Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, Clayton Kershaw, Jackie Robinson and Sandy Koufax are available in the base set. Also, a Koufax signature is also available. Go here to check it out and order. Below are examples of cards of both Kershaw and Koufax.