Blog Kiosk: 6/27/2018 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

I'm not going to focus on yesterday's loss. It's water under the bridge.

The most important item of the day is how South Korea helped out Mexico in World Cup play this morning. Wow! What an upset.

Photo of Julio Urias and Hyun-Jin Ryu via Urias on Twitter this morning. Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Baseball History: In 1939 the Dodgers and Boston Braves/Bees play a 23 inning game that ends in a 2-2 tie. In 1980 Jerry Reuss throws a no-hitter against the Giants at Cadelstick Park, 8-0. He faces just 28 batters, and missed a perfect game due to an error by Bill Russell in the first inning. In 2011 the Dodgers file for bankruptcy following the leagues refusal to approve a multibillion-dollar TV deal with FoxSports.
• Happy Birthday, Jackie Hayes, Bull Durham, Hank Behrman, Wayne Terwilliger, Daryl Ward & Jim Johnson!
• Check out pics from yesterday's game from Cat Loves the Dodgers, here. Pics from Dodger Insider can be found here.
• Dodger Talk: David Vassegh caught up with Walker Buehler over the weekend to discuss his recent injury, and when he could return to action. They also talk about how his stint on the DL could avoid an innings restriction late in the season (Dodger Talk Link).
• Podcast: ‘Dugout Blues’ episode 236 – Dingers, good pitching, prospects (Podcast Link).
• I'm gonna take this as an omen. This isn't our Dodgers, but it's close enough. Via Jess Weston at the Ukiah Daily Journal; "Dodgers win Ukiah Babe Ruth league championship."
• An old friend alert. Via Jeff Todd at MLB Trade Rumors; "Doosan Bears Sign Scott Van Slyke."
• My fantasy team needs him right now! Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com; "Buehler pain-free, expected back next week."

"Really good intensity, used the whole mix. I was pretty impressed with the way he was throwing. The ball was coming out really well," said Roberts. "A rehab game makes more sense, but that's certainly not set in stone. We'll have that conversation."

• Via Dustin Nosler at Dodgers Digest; "Dodgers have 6 of their first 10 picks signed as deadline approaches."
• Per Daniel Starkand at Dodger Blue; Inside Look At Journey Of A Minor Leaguer, Featuring Dodgers Prospect Jacob Scavuzzo."

“There’s nothing like the Minor League life grind,” Scavuzzo said. “You’re going from apartment to apartment, so guys are on air mattresses, some guys live in living rooms, you’re showing up into cities at four or five in the morning and playing that night.

“When I was in OKC for a little bit we would fly at about five or six in the morning, so you get three hours of sleep the night before, get into the town at about 10 a.m. and take a nap, then you get ready for the game at six or seven at night. It’s definitely a little stressful just based off the travel.”

• Per Sheryl Ring at FanGraphs; "The Story of Hanley Ramirez, the Drug Kingpin Who Never Was."

Ultimately, this story is about a suspect attempting to use whatever cachet he could to avoid arrest. One could make the case that Ramirez, whose recent work wasn’t likely to have gained him any support in New England, might not have been ideal choice. Whatever his shortcomings on the field, though, Ramirez’s greatest error in this case was simply answering a FaceTime call. Hanley, it turns out, after all that, was nothing but a victim of circumstance.

And that matters, because “Hanley Ramirez, drug kingpin” was a story which gained traction. And not nearly as many news outlets as published the original story made its correction as top of a priority.

• Per Brad Doolittle at ESPN; "Wait ... Matt Kemp is a star again?"

It's not as if the current Dodgers front office was attached to Kemp. One of the early moves of the Farhan Zaidi-Andrew Friedman braintrust was to ship Kemp to the San Diego Padres in a deal that brought back catcher Yasmani Grandal. This time, instead of pushing for a buyout, when unsurprisingly no taker emerged for Kemp's contract, the Dodgers offered Kemp a chance.

"We were candid with Matt that we made the trade for financial reasons," Zaidi, the team's general manager, told me during spring training. "But what he told us was that all he wanted was an opportunity. He loved being with the Dodgers before and he just wanted a chance to earn a spot on the team and earn playing time."

• Here's a fun little graphic showing the location of every Kershaw strike out, via a tweet from Daren Willman:

Clayton Kershaw has a career 2177 strikeouts.... Here's a time lapse of all of them pic.twitter.com/n2govbCLD3

— Daren Willman (@darenw) June 25, 2018

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *