Masterful.
Kenta Maeda struck out 12 Padres (a team season high), walked none and scattered three hits to stifle San Diego and record his fifth win of the season. Best yet, he provided all the offense the Dodgers would need. With two on he hit an 'excuse me' bloop single that drove in the pair in the second inning. Per Rowan Kavner at Dodger Insider:
“It’s hard to imagine him being any better, really, especially when you just saw a team less than 10 days ago,” said manager Dave Roberts. “To go out there, play that cat-and-mouse game, execute the fastball like he did tonight, the slider down below, the split-change…it was really, really fun to watch.”
...Photo above via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2019. Go here to check out more pics from yesterdays game. Below are more links to check out:
“You see what happens when you put the ball in play,” Verdugo said. “Good things happen.”
- This Day in Dodgers History: In 1970 a fourteen year old fan named Alan Fish was struck by a batted baseball at Dodger Stadium and would unfortunately die four days later. This marked the first fatality of a fan from a batted ball in a Major League game. In 2000 was the infamous fight at Wrigley Field that started when Dodgers catcher Chad Kreuter, sitting in the Wrigley exposed bullpen, was hit in the back of the head and had his hat stolen by a unruly fan. Several players and coaches jumped into the stands during the ensuing melee.
- Happy Birthday, Watty Clark, Rube Walker, Rick Rhoden, Mitch Webster & Eugenio Vélez!
- This was a nice moment from last nights game, via a tweet from the Dodgers. Dodger fans serenaded Alex Verdugo on his birthday:
Sound ON.— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 16, 2019
The best fans in baseball just sang Happy Birthday to Alex Verdugo...during the game. pic.twitter.com/6CKMZGyc5F
- Via Howard Bryant at ESPN -- "How Dodgers great Jackie Robinson and disgraced exec Al Campanis changed the game."
Call it shame, exposure or both, but the pressure Campanis' racism placed on the industry produced more direct action in terms of hiring than the long-winded tributes to Jackie ever did. Even though their eyes should have told them everything they needed to know, it was easy for baseball executives at the time -- as it was for mainstream whites during the civil rights struggle of the 1960s -- to act as if society were moving at an organic, appropriate speed in terms of minority hiring. But Campanis gave voice to a conspiracy, a deliberate institutional thinking that, once voiced, couldn't be massaged or spun or explained away.
- He's a gamer. Via Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA -- "Verdugo gets hit by pitch … and loved it."
“No, he [Padres right-hander Matt Strahm] was just trying to come in. I love seeing that,” Verdugo said, when asked if Strahm’s 91-mph fastball that hit him if the right shoulder in the bottom of the fifth inning was a purpose pitch. “As a hitter, at least the pitcher is attempting to go inside and really, you know, you’re going to get hit sometimes. I think that was the first time I’ve gotten hit in the big leagues. It happens, and good thing it hit me in a good spot … didn’t hurt.”
- TMZ provides more info regarding the recent Julio Urias imbroglio -- "Julio Urias Investigation 'No Intent to Injure'" Check out the famed "Jump to Conclusions" mat from the movie Office Space on the right, and you can watch it here.
Multiple law enforcement sources tell TMZ Sports ... the domestic violence case against Dodgers star pitcher Julio Urias is "weak" based on the evidence.We're told the video of the incident does show Urias making physical contact with the woman during the March 13 altercation in the Beverly Center parking lot -- but as one source puts it, "It doesn't appear there's criminal intent to injure her."
One source says it appears Urias used his hands in an attempt to stop her from leaving the area during a heated argument.
In other words, it seems as though he was trying to restrain her, not strike her ... though the woman DID go to the ground at some point during the argument.
- This is fun. Via Paul Lukas at UniWatch -- "I’ve Been Everywhere, Man: The Many Caps of Edwin Jackson."
- This mornings Baseball America Report makes note of shortstop Jeter Downs:
Downs had a four-hit game for high Class A Rancho Cucamonga, driving in four runs and scoring three times as well. He was a triple short of the cycle, as the Dodgers’ No. 13 prospect hit a single, double and a three-run bomb in the fifth inning. Downs is starting to heat up after a slow start in April in which he hit just .213/.276/.371 with eight extra-base hits in 89 at-bats. He did manage to string together multi-hit performances in four of his last five games. Downs has always shown an above-average hit tool, so it should come as no surprise that he is beginning to adjust at this level as well.
- John Kenley, via a tweet from Jansen:
Join me and my wife Gianni as we support seriously ill children & their families by pledging to donate for every strikeout I make this season. Matching your pledges up to $50K. ➡️ https://t.co/NwBEB9YBSY Thank you and God bless. 🙏🏾 @kenleyjansenFDN pic.twitter.com/SNBP50ZuZj— Kenley Jansen (@kenleyjansen74) May 15, 2019
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