Blog Kiosk: 8/2/2019 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

Will Smith! Per Rowan Kavner at Dodger Insider:

“Everyone wants to be in that situation,” Smith said. “I’ve been in that quite a bit lately, and I’ve made the most of it. I’ve got confidence in that situation. It’s encouraging. You know you can do it. You’ve been there before.”
...
“I’m cautious to make this comparison,” Roberts prefaced with a grin, “but (Yasiel) Puig was like this when he came up. That’s the only time I’ll compare Will Smith and Yasiel Puig, but yeah, he’s coming up and that excitement — when he comes up, guys want to watch him.”

Smith hit a game deciding grand slam in the sixth inning to lead the Dodgers towards an 8-2 (boxscore) victory over the Padres.

Photo above via Juan Ocampo/2019 LA Dodgers at Dodger Insider. Go here to check out more pics from yesterdays game. Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1938 Dodgers President Larry MacPhail introduced the yellow baseball. It was used during the first game of a doubleheader at Ebbets Field against the Cardinals. The Dodgers won that game, 6-2. The yellow baseball would only be used three more times this season. In 1982 the United States Postal Service unveiled a new 20-cent stamp commemorating Jackie Robinson at a ceremony in Cooperstown, NY. Robinson becomes the first ballplayer to be depicted on the US postage stamp. Check it out on the right.
• Happy Birthday, Bill Hill, Jim Holmes, Bill Posedel, Mike Venafro, Matt Guerrier & Onelki García!
• Memorabilia Watch: Goldin Auctions has a 1957 Duke Snider Game Used Brooklyn Dodgers Cap (link here). They also have three different Clayton Kershaw gamers for sale (here, here and here). Lastly, you should check out this painting by Arthur Miller of a 1948 Leaf fantasy baseball card of Sandy Koufax (link here). 
• ICYMI: The Dodgers added lefty Adam Kolarek to the bullpen, and they optioned lefty Caleb Fuguson to Tiple-A Oklahoma City.
• Gingergaard is a keeper! Via Josh Herzenberg at FanGraphs -- "Called Up: Dustin May."

(Pic via Dodgers on twitter)

Beyond being a part of May’s signing process, I also served as one of his coaches – first during Fall Instructional League in 2016, and then again at the end of the 2017 season in his brief but impressive stint in the Cal League. I vividly remember having a conversation with him during instructs after a two-inning outing. He was told to only throw fastballs and changeups during his second inning of work in order to gain reps throwing the changeup, which was developmentally behind his breaking ball. May threw a total of 24 pitches in his two innings – 12 fastballs, 12 changeups. After the outing, he was asked if he intentionally threw the exact same number of each pitch, and if he was aware he could have utilized his breaking ball in his first inning of work. His response was succinct. He explained that he didn’t know it was an exact 50-50 usage split, but that he’d known he could use the breaking ball and decided not to. When asked for his rationale, he said he knew he needed a changeup to get big league hitters out. The coaches who observed this discussion nodded in approval. It’s rare for a teenager to possess the sort of foresight and maturity present in May’s response, one that suggests not only an awareness of what the exercise is intended to achieve in the moment, but also of the purpose it is meant to serve years down the road. It was then that I fully realized that May’s mental makeup would be a strength as his professional career continued.

• On his glorious red mane. Per Tim Brown at Yahoo Sports -- "'Gingergaard' Dustin May auditioning for postseason job with the Dodgers."

“I didn’t actually start growing it until my senior year in high school,” said May, a third-round draft pick in 2016 from Northwest High School outside Fort Worth, Texas. “I didn’t really have any plans for it. Before my senior year, I was like, just not gonna cut it. It just stuck and I like it.”

...
May laughed and said, yes, he’d heard the nickname. 

“I have, a few times,” he said. “As long as it’s being said in a good way, doesn’t matter to me.”

(Pic via Dodgers on twitter)

• Per Ken Gurnick at MLB.com -- "Kershaw proud to pass Koufax on Dodgers' K list: Only righties Sutton, Drysdale are ahead of left-hander."

“I heard the crowd, but I was a little bit frustrated with myself at the time,” said Kershaw, who walked a season-high five.

“I have the ball right here. It’s really cool, any time you get mentioned in the same breath as Sandy. He wouldn’t be proud of this one, though. Thankful I got through six. Can’t even talk about it, I was so bad.”

• It's over. Per Jorge Castillo at The LA Times -- "Dodgers end Joc Pederson’s error-plagued experiment at first base."

“We’ve given him an opportunity, and this is something that Joc was asking for,” Roberts said. “So for us to oblige and give him that runway . . . to give him an opportunity to see how he looks.”

...
“He’s worked his tail off to get better over there,” Roberts said. “So I really applaud him.”

• The National Sports Card Collectors Convention is currently ongoing in Chicago. Here are some links you should check out, from Sports Collectors Daily. First, here's a Daily Live Twitter Feed (link here). Go here to check out their photo gallery (link here). 

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