Blog Kiosk: 8/20/2019 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

The elation on their faces is palpable.

Featured above is an October 2, 1963 AP press photo of Sandy Koufax with old friend Carl Erskine within the Yankee Stadium clubhouse following Game 1 of the World Series (eBay auction link). As you know, Sandy recorded a six-hit complete game to defeat the Bronx Bombers, 5-2 (boxscore). He struck out an unbelievable 15 batters and walked only three. BTW, the Dodgers ended up sweeping the Yankees to take the crown.

UPDATE: Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts passes along some info I had failed to realize. Per a tweet from him:

The significance of Erskine being in that pic with Koufax is that Koufax broke the World Series strikeout record that Erskine set 10 years earlier to the day. And Erskine was there to see it. #brothersinarms https://t.co/iRWOPm8hgi

— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) August 20, 2019

Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1945 seventeen year old Dodger shortstop Tommy Brown became the youngest player in Major League history to hit a home run. He hit it off of Pirates hurler Preacher Roe in the seventh inning, and it would be the only run the Dodgers would score in a losing effort, 11-1. In 1978 Steve Garvey and Don Sutton have a scuffle in the clubhouse before their game against the Mets at Shea Stadium. Sutton had been critical of Garvey in a Washington Post story (here's a followup story) -- saying that he was more interested in his off-field persona than his play, and that Reggie Smith was the teams real MVP.

"All you hear about on our team is Steve Garvey the All-American boy. But Reggie Smith was the real MVP. We all know it . . . (Smith) has carried us the last two years. He is not a facade. He does not have the Madison Avenue image."

• Happy Birthday, Frank Bonner, Ed McLane, Bill Crouch, Al Lopez, Fred Norman, Lance Rautzhan, Kal Daniels, Jamie Hoffman & Blake DeWitt!
• Here's a MVP race update. Per Richard Justice at MLB.com -- "MVP Poll: Can anyone catch the current leaders?: Trout, Bellinger have huge leads in race for Award."
• This is funny stuff. Per Clint Evans at Dodgers Blue Pen -- "Cody Bellinger Teased by Yasiel Puig."
• You should be expecting some roster moves soon. Per Michael Whittman at Dodgers Way -- "Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernandez likely back on Tuesday."
• Another prospect promotion! Via Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA -- "(Jeter) Downs heading to Double-A Tulsa."
• Via David Laurila at FanGaphs -- "Sunday Notes: Dodgers Prospect Jack Little is Stanford Smart."

His ability to learn is beyond reproach. Little majored in Management, Science, and Engineering at Stanford, and the possibility of one day working in a front office has crossed his mind. A term project he did with a few of his Cardinal teammates is proof in the pudding.

“We tried to predict the Average Annual Value of free agents signing contracts this past offseason,” Little explained. “We put in a linear regression model, and scraped a bunch of online data from places like Baseball-reference. We used a bunch of inputs, including age, years played, and WAR. We used FanGraphs to do research on what kind of predictors to use. There are a lot of great articles on FanGraphs.”

• Via Brian Brown at Beyond the Bricks -- "Checking in with Gavin Lux."

BB: I’ve read about you retooling your swing. What is retooling and what’s that process?

GL: Going into 2018, I wasn’t too happy about my performance in 2017. I did a complete overhaul in my swing. Basically, it is a lot of trying to get the ball in the air more with my bat path and being able to adjust to different pitch locations and speeds on the fly and giving myself a better room for error. A new bat path really gave me a chance to do that. That was the main thing I really worked on going into 2018.

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *