Blog Kiosk: 5/22/2019 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

Clayton Kershaw may not exactly be the pitcher he was, but he sure looks good as the pitcher he is becoming. Last night he was throwing darts and crusing along against the Rays until the seventh inning arrived -- where he yielded a couple of hits and ended up giving up two runs. Nevertheless, last nights efforts continues his streak of 19 consecutive unbeaten starts -- going back to July 27, 2018. Per Dawn Klemish at MLB.com:

“I thought Clayton was really good,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought all night long, just mixing his pitches, changing locations, pitches, sequencing, everything was great.”
...
“I felt good,” Kershaw said. “I think other than that last inning, I felt everything went pretty well. Not a whole lot of hard contact; it was all right.” 

“All right” for Kershaw is certainly a pretty high bar.

Photo above via Ricky Bowden/MLB.com 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 1949 Don Newcombe made his first major league start, firing a five-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. He would go on to have a 17-8 record with 19 complete games, five shut outs and an 3.17 ERA -- winning both the Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young awards. In 1987 the Dodgers traded reliever Tom Niedenfuer to the Orioles for John Shelby and Brad Havens. Shelby would go on to have a very impactful season for the World Series Champion Dodgers the next year.
• Happy Birthday, Bill Lohrman & Tommy John!
• Via Daniel Preciado at Dodgers Nation -- "Dodgers Add to Front Office, Hire Jim Hickey."
• More from Jeff Passan at ESPN on the Urias situation -- "Dodgers' Urias reinstated; investigation continues."

"They run an extremely thorough process, and after going through it, they made the decision to reinstate,'' Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. "It's tough for us to elaborate much right now, but one thing we do know is it's not standard for them to reinstate after just the seven days, so that says something to us. We hopefully will know more in the next couple of weeks.''

Urías addressed his teammates for about five minutes in the clubhouse before Tuesday's series opener at Tampa Bay. Manager Dave Roberts and Friedman also were present.

#Dodgers Julio Urias thru interpreter: "I'm cooperating with Major League Baseball. They're the ones in charge of the investigation. I'm just happy to be back in here and grateful my teammates welcomed me back in the clubhouse."
Addressed team privately when he arrived in Tampa

— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) May 21, 2019

• Pedro Baez is fine, via a tweet from Alanna Rizzo:

Dave Roberts said Pedro Baez’s x-rays were negative.

— Alanna Rizzo (@alannarizzo) May 22, 2019

• This mornings Baseball America Prospect Report makes note of Dodger catcher Will Smith: 

Smith collected three hits in four at-bats for Triple-A Oklahoma City. The backstop drove in three runs and came around to score twice. Smith cranked a solo home run in the third inning, followed by a two-run shot in the fifth inning. The Dodgers’ No. 5 prospect has seen a spike in his power during the month of May, where he has blasted five of his six home runs thus far.

• Per KFI AM640 -- "Longtime Dodger Usher Sues Team, Boss For Alleged Sexual Harassment."

Ariane later assigned Gutierrez to an entrance gate near right field and told her to meet him in his office, where he repeatedly kissed her on the lips and fondled her, the suit alleges.

Ariane also applied sunscreen to Gutierrez as a pretext to sexually touch her, the suit states. She was “terrified” of Ariane because of his powerful position and felt unable to defend herself, according to the suit.

• Via Richard Justice at MLB.com -- "1st Rookie of Year Poll results are in." Alex Verdugo is making his mark.
• Via Tim Newcomb at Forbes -- "Levy's E15 Division Embraces Technology In Baseball Concessions."

Dodger Stadium has a robot manning fryer station. Dubbed Flippy, it made a debut during the 2018 World Series when concession stand demand soared 70 percent. Now Flippy represents a mainstay in in Los Angeles, frying up tater tots and chicken tenders, and expect more than one additional MLB team to have their own version of Flippy up and running after the All-Star break.

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