LOS ANGELES DODGERS CLIPS
SUNDAY, MAY 27, 2012
LA TIMES
A.J. Ellis delivers a Dodgers win with homer in ninth inning
His three-run home run ends a dramatic night with a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros that snaps a three-game losing streak.
By Baxter Holmes
May 27, 2012, 12:44 a.m.
The game crept along like a snail in slow motion late into Saturday night, and the Dodger Stadium crowd, which was announced at
36,581, thinned as the hours passed.
But those that remained when the fourth hour neared rose from their seats to track the fly ball walloped by A.J. Ellis in the ninth
inning with two runners aboard and the score tied.
"My only thought was, drive the ball into the outfield," Ellis said.
The catcher hit it square and drove it far. The Dodgers fans –- those that stayed –- stood and roared when it landed in the left-field
pavilion, giving their team a wild 6-3 win.
It was the third career walk-off hit and first walk-off home run for Ellis, who’s now in his fifth major league season.
"It’s just a credit to him, honestly," Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said. "He’s one of those guys you root for."
The Dodgers (31-15) were the only team in Major League Baseball that hadn’t lost three consecutive games.
Ellis’ three-run shot, which came on a 1-1 count against Wilton Lopez, allowed the Dodgers, who have won 11 of their last 15 overall,
to keep that distinction.
The Dodgers improved to a major league-best 20-5 at home and increased their divisional lead against the rival San Francisco Giants to
7 1/2 games in the National League West after a game that was their longest nine-inning game so far this season: 3 hours 50 minutes
“That was a weird game,” Mattingly said.
Each team’s starter didn’t last that long –- not because they were pitching poorly, but because they were pitching a lot.
Houston started Bud Norris and he threw 116 pitches in only 4 2/3 innings. He gave up eight hits, three runs and four walks.
Chad Billingsley took the mound for the Dodgers and he left it five innings later with a pitch count of 86. He gave up five hits and two
runs while striking out eight.
They were two of the 11 pitchers used in the game. The final for the Dodgers was Kenley Jansen, who pitched 1 1/3 innings and
improved to 4-0.
The final hurler for Houston, which fell to 22-24, was Wesley Wright (0-1).
And with the score tied, 3-3, Wright opened the ninth inning by hitting Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier with an 0-2 pitch. Scott Van
Slyke then advanced Ethier to second base with a sacrifice bunt.
The Astros replaced Wright with Lopez, who intentionally walked James Loney to face Ellis.
"That’s the right thing to do, that’s the right baseball move," Ellis said. "You’ve got a sinkerballer on the mound. You’ve got myself: I’m
not the fastest guy in the world. I’m a double-play candidate."
But Ellis had faced Lopez before and Ellis knew he would be swinging at sinkers, so he wanted to find an elevated pitch because, he
said, anything low would end up a ground ball.
Ellis got the pitch he wanted, a sinker clocked at 91 mph, and he turned it into his fifth home run of the season, three more than he
managed during parts of his previous four seasons in the majors.
"He's just been working," Mattingly said of Ellis' extra batting practice regimen. "He’s worked and worked and worked on his swing. I
can’t even tell you the hours this guy puts in. There was a couple years ago when he was getting called up at the end of the season at
different times and he would just wear you out in the cage. And really wore (former Dodgers pitching coach) Jeff Pentland out. I would
be down there to a point, and it was so much that Pentland started coming in at 1 o’clock so (Ellis) could get hit. He’d be an hour and a
half, working on stuff to keep working on his swing.”
The Dodgers had 12 hits but that was the only one for Ellis in four at-bats. Ethier had two hits and knocked in the Dodgers’ first run of
the night with a double in the third inning, which cut Houston’s two-run lead in half.
In the fourth inning –- and by then the game was already two hours old –- Tony Gwynn Jr. singled down the right-field line to score
Loney, who tied a season-high with three hits, from third base and Dee Gordon from second, giving the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
In the eighth, Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisairo issued a pair of two-out walks before being replaced by Jansen. But the Astros
capitalized with an RBI double that tied the score.
With the game headed for extra innings and four-plus hours, Ellis’ shot sent everyone home, finally, and soon after his name was
trending worldwide on Twitter.
In all, it marked another night when the Dodgers were able to squeeze out a win with a lineup filled by no-name players and a
disabled list bloated because of a tsunami of injuries.
Notes
Matt Kemp and Juan Rivera were each scheduled to leave Saturday for Albuquerque, where they’re expected to play in rehab
appearances for the Dodgers’ triple-A club, the Isotopes, on Sunday and Monday. Both outfielders are nursing strained left
hamstrings.
Kemp is expected to return to the Dodgers by Tuesday, when they play Milwaukee. "I’ll be back, yes sir," Kemp said when asked if he’d
be return by then. Mattingly said he expects Rivera’s rehab will take longer and that he might not return until later in the week.
"I feel good," Rivera said. "I feel a little weak in my leg, but doctors say that’s normal."
Short hops
Mike Richards and Jeff Carter of the Stanley Cup Final-bound L.A. Kings were also in attendance, and they received a loud ovation
when shown on the video board. … More than 700 dogs occupied the right field pavilion for the Dodgers’ third "Bark in the Park"
night, in which fans were invited to bring their canines to the game.
Dodgers and the laws of improbability
Dodgers' amazing start is being compared to 1988, their last title season. Vin Scully, whose 'improbable' call of Kirk Gibson's World
Series homer is a classic, says current run is even more unlikely.
By Bill Shaikin
May 26, 2012, 6:37 p.m.
The true Dodgers fan has these words committed to memory: "In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened."
Those were the words Vin Scully used to describe Kirk Gibson's home run in the 1988 World Series. Gibson was hobbled, Orel
Hershiser was blessed, and the Dodgers were champions.
The Dodgers might not have remained at the top of their game, but Scully has. Oh, he might miss a name now and then, but keep
listening and you're bound to hear one of those impromptu lines that only Scully can deliver.
And so it was on Tuesday, when the Dodgers erased a five-run deficit in the seventh inning, and when Ivan De Jesus doubled his career
total of runs batted in as he doubled home the tying and winning runs in the ninth.
"This wonder team has now won six in a row, and we're using unusual names," Scully said.
Fans rushed to share that line on Twitter. The Dodgers' public relations staff used "Wonder Team" to headline its media notes
Wednesday.
When emergency minor league fill-ins — De Jesus, Elian Herrera, Scott Van Slyke — emerge as sudden stars, why not?
The Dodgers boast the best record in baseball, even with a crowded disabled list that starts with Matt Kemp, perhaps the best player
in baseball. It all seems so, well, improbable.
When we caught up with Scully the next day, he still was marveling over that De Jesus double. In 36 previous major league at-bats, De
Jesus had zero extra-base hits. Chris Young, the center fielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks, was well aware of the scouting report.
"I could see where Chris Young was," Scully said. "He was playing for De Jesus to get a base hit, so he could make a play at the plate.
Nobody expects De Jesus to hit it over his head, not that far.
"And you say, 'Well, there you go again.'"
This is improbable, right? Shades of '88, no?
"Yes, Gibson with the bad leg, but he was a veteran," Scully said. "He had hit 25 home runs that year. So, yes, it was improbable
because he was on one leg and couldn't play, but that's not some kid from Albuquerque like Scott Van Slyke — and they let him swing
3-and-0.
"All of that is really fun."
That would be Van Slyke getting a green light and hitting his first major league home run — a game-winning, pinch-hit home three-run
shot. That would be like Mike Scioscia hitting a ninth-inning home run off Dwight Gooden in the 1988 National League championship
series, right?
Try the "improbable" story line again, and Scully still isn't buying.
"If these were veteran players, proven major leaguers who were suddenly given a chance to play, then, yeah," Scully said. "I can think
of Mickey Hatcher doing something in '88, or Scoiscia hitting the home run against Dwight Gooden. There were rather remarkable
moments. But they were players who played.
"Here, I'm sitting there looking at a 10-year minor league player like Elian Herrera, and a kid like De Jesus — I never knew if he would
ever make it when he broke his leg.
"It's a lot of fun to see. I think that's the biggest thing. Now, sure, they might somehow stop. But, right now, it's just golden."
Scully has been the beloved voice of the Dodgers since 1950. Truth be told, he isn't sure 1988 is the most improbable of all those
years.
He was there in 1958, the first season after the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn.
"When they came out to California, they had to make a decision," Scully said. "The decision was, do we bring the older players with
the famous names, or the kids?
"They opted to go for the older players with the famous names, which helped them draw a lot of people. But it was a seventh-place
team. So 'highly improbable' was 1959, when they went from seventh to world champions.
"That was the height of improbability."
That happened three times in baseball history — the New York Giants in 1932-33, the Dodgers in 1958-59, and the Minnesota Twins in
1990-91. No longer can a team finish as low as seventh place.
These Dodgers are playing so well that we shuddered at one thought. If the Dodgers somehow got back to the World Series for the
first time since 1988, would that influence Scully's decision on whether to retire?
"Oh, I don't think so," Scully said. "I don't think the outcome will."
He remains year-to-year. He will sit down with his wife later in the season, see how he feels, see how she feels.
"Right now, like everybody else, I'm just enjoying the fun," Scully said. "I don't expect them to keep playing like this. Realistically, I
don't.
"They're in first place, everything is going well, and all that without Kemp and [Juan] Rivera. But, when everybody comes back, it
would be fun to compare: how are they doing against the Albuquerque Isotopes?"
Motivation helped the Dodgers' Scott Van Slyke turn the corner
After going through the motions early in his pro career, the 25-year-old outfielder started taking the advise of his father, Andy, a
former major league outfielder and things started to click. Oh, and he got married.
By Dylan Hernandez
May 26, 2012, 7:45 p.m.
Scott Van Slyke had always been told by his father that he had this in him. He had long been told he was capable of producing the kind
of moment he produced a week ago Sunday, when he became the latest of the Dodgers' unlikely heroes by launching a gamedeciding, pinch-hit, three-run home run in front of a national television audience.
His father knew what he was talking about. Andy Van Slyke played 13 seasons in the major leagues, including eight with the Pittsburgh
Pirates. He played in three All-Star games and a World Series. He was later a coach with the Detroit Tigers.
"I heard him talk about how quick my hands were, the leverage I had," Scott said. "But it was in and out."
That could be why the 25-year-old rookie outfielder was late to develop. Growing up in St. Louis, the sport was something Van Slyke
enjoyed playing, nothing more. He never took what his father said too seriously.
"In high school, I kind of went to practice, came home, ate, did my homework," Van Slyke said. "I didn't really put in any time into it."
That wasn't because he was unaware of the perks.
He and his brothers spent their summers in major league clubhouses. He recalled how his father was once pulled over by a police
officer for a traffic violation. The officer asked for an autograph and didn't issue a citation.
His father never forced baseball on him. One of Van Slyke's brothers was a minor league player in theSt. Louis Cardinalssystem.
Another brother played football at the University of Michigan.
Van Slyke, who is listed at 6 feet 5, thought his future might be in basketball. He was part of the same St. Louis-based AAU basketball
program that produced Tyler Hansbrough, the former University of North Carolina star who now plays for the NBA's Indiana Pacers.
Van Slyke was selected by the Dodgers in the 14th round of the 2005 draft and turned professional out of high school. But that didn't
change his approach to the game.
"It was go to the ballpark, do what everybody else does, go out and play," he said.
The results reflected his attitude. In his first four years of professional baseball, from 2005 to 2008, he never hit more than five home
runs in a season.
Late in 2008, Van Slyke's life changed: he got married.
"Having to think about someone other than myself, I got more serious about it," he said.
He started working with his father in the off-season and taking his advice. The next season, he hit 23 home runs and drove in 100 runs.
"When I had a little success, it helped spark my desire," he said. "I would have two or three good games a week. Then it became three
and four. It felt good to be on base. It felt good hitting balls hard. I liked the feeling. I wanted to get better at it so I could have success
more often."
In 2011, he was selected the Dodgers' minor league player of the year after hitting .348 with 20 home runs and 92 runs batted in for
double-A Chattanooga.
Van Slyke is expected to be sent to triple A in the coming week, as Matt Kemp and Juan Rivera are scheduled to be activated from the
disabled list. Manager Don Mattingly said Van Slyke will benefit from the time he has spent in the majors.
"I think this is going to be good for him," Mattingly said. "I think it's going to show him some of the differences between triple A and
here."
Van Slyke will head back to Albuquerque with added motivation. His wife, Audrey, is pregnant with their first child, a boy. She is due to
give birth June 20.
Tommy Lasorda, Pete Rose take in their first Indy 500
By Jim Peltz
May 27, 2012, 9:10 a.m.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Dodgers' Tommy Lasorda and all-time hits leader Pete Rose were among those attending their first Indianapolis
500 on Sunday.
"When I drive down the freeway, I'm scared, let alone go 220 mph," Lasorda, the former Dodgers' manager and now a team adviser,
said of the Indy drivers' speeds. "That's unbelievable."
Before the race, Lasorda spent time with Indy driver Charlie Kimball, a Camarillo native and Dodgers fan who was starting 14th in the
33-car field.
"I have been to Indianapolis a lot of times but never to this event, and I am so impressed," Lasorda said.
Rose, the former Cincinnati Reds star with 4,256 career hits, said that despite being from Cincinnati, about 90 miles from Indianapolis,
"I was in baseball for 29 years and you don't get many Memorial Days off."
Rose, 71, also said that these days "I probably watch more baseball than anybody you know" on television, including the Dodgers, and
said of Dodgers' slugger Matt Kemp: "He's great. He's one of the top five players in baseball."
A.J. Ellis' three-run homer in ninth inning keeps Dodgers rolling
Catcher helps snap a three-game losing streak with his fifth home run of the year in a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros.
By Steve Dilbeck
May 26, 2012, 11:10 p.m.
One is the loneliest number, with six you get egg roll, two is better than one. Not sure what you get with three, but the Dodgers have
no interest in finding out.
For the fourth time this season, the Dodgers were faced with a three-game losing streak. And for the fourth time, they batted it away.
Of course, they had the legend of A.J. Ellis on their side.
Ellis, a growing story this spring, hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory over the
Astros on Saturday before an announced crowd of 36,561.
For Ellis, it marked his fifth home run of the season, or three more than he managed during parts of his previous four seasons.
But this is the first time the Dodgers have turned over their everyday catching duties to the 31 year old, and he has responded beyond
their wildest dreams. He is hitting .317 and becoming an emerging leader on the club.
Ellis enabled the Dodgers to remain the only team in the major leagues yet to lose three consecutive games. In the three previous
times the Dodgers were faced with a three-game losing streak, they won to start at least a three-game winning streak.
Their victory Saturday pushed their baseball-best record to 31-16 and their lead in the National League West to a season-high 7½
games over the Giants.
And they managed it against arguably the hottest pitcher in the majors. Houston right-hander Bud Norris was 4-0 in May with a 0.35
earned-run average.
The Astros started his night well enough when they scored single runs for Norris in the first and second innings off Chad Billingsley.
They opened the game with another double from Jose Altuve, his third in two nights, and a run-scoring single from Carlos Lee.
Billingsley got into serious trouble in the second when the Astros loaded the bases with no outs and he issued a one-out walk to
Jordan Schafer to force in a run. Still, he avoided further damage by striking out Altuve and getting J.D. Martinez to line out to Andre
Ethier in right field.
Billingsley pitched out of some two-out trouble in the third inning before settling down. He retired his last seven batters before leaving
after five innings.
By then Dodgers had a 3-2 lead. Ethier extended his NL-leading RBI total to 41 with a run-scoring single in the third, then the Dodgers
took a 3-2 lead in the fourth on Tony Gwynn Jr.’s two-run single off Norris in the fourth.
The Dodgers thought they were headed for a 3-2 victory when the Astros pushed across a tying run in the eighth inning. Ronald
Belisario, who had not allowed a run in nine outings this season, issued a pair of two-out walks and Manager Don Mattingly called on
closer Kenley Jansen to get the four-out save.
But catcher Jason Castro doubled off the glove of a diving Jerry Hairston Jr. at third to score the tying run.
Don Mattingly says he's now willing to tell Matt Kemp when to sit
By Steve Dilbeck
May 26, 2012, 6:45 p.m.
Don Mattingly knows his battles with Matt Kemp loom, and soon too.
Kemp is expected to be activated from the 15-day disabled list Tuesday, and Mattingly is confident that if his center fielder is ready to
play, he’ll be ready to play every day.
Only there’s the rub. Kemp likes to play every game, but that is no longer part of Mattingly’s plans.
When Kemp sat out the May 14 game with his sore hamstring, it snapped a streak of having played in 399 consecutive games.
The streak was apparently important to Kemp, and transversely, to Mattingly. Even in those very rare games that Kemp did not start,
Mattingly was careful to get him a pinch-hit appearance.
But from now on, Mattingly said Kemp has to be prepared to sit out an occasional game. No streak means no pressure to play him
every day.
“I think it makes it easier to say, 'Matt, we need to give you a day. It’s the right day. We’re going to take care of you,'" Mattingly said.
"At that point, I know he’ll fight me, but at that point I’ll probably play my manager card."
That actually works?
"He probably has more juice than me," Mattingly said, laughing.
No Dodger has played every game this season. Andre Ethier started the first 43 games until finally getting a full day off Wednesday in
Arizona. James Loney has also appeared in 44 of the Dodgers’ first 45 games, but started only 35.
Kemp, of course, took some personal pride in being willing and able to play every game. Which was probably one of the reasons why
he wasn’t placed on the DL when he originally injured his hamstring.
"He doesn’t like coming out; he doesn’t like sitting," Mattingly said.
Last year, Kemp appeared in every game, though he did not start in 12.
Say what? Peter O'Malley one of three approved to pursue Padres
By Steve Dilbeck
May 26, 2012, 9:25 a.m.
So you’ve had some time now, getting used to the idea that Peter O’Malley wants to buy the Padres?
I thought not.
But O’Malley is apparently very serious about this Padres business. MLB’s Barry Bloom reported he is one of three potential ownership
groups that have been approved to review the financial records of the Padres.
This, of course, was Frank McCourt’s gift to the Padres and the rest of baseball. He sold the Dodgers for an unheard of price of $2.15
billion, almost tripling the previous record for an MLB team.
Now the Padres have been caught in the upward tide, and even better, some of those who bid and lost out on the Dodgers have
simply reset their sights down south.
Padres majority owner John Moores had sold the team for $530 million to partner Jeff Moorad in 2009. Moorad, however, could not
get MLB approval and the team was put back on the market earlier this year. In the interim, the Padres signed a $1.2-billion
broadcasting deal with Fox.
Now Moores is planning on getting plenty more than that $530 million.
"I have a [price] range in my head, but I don't think I want to share that right now," Moores told Bloom. "Let's just say that with the
new TV deal and the price that was paid for the Dodgers, it's considerably north of where it once was."
Roses can be sent to McCourt at the Montage Beverly Hills.
In addition to O’Malley, MLB has thus far approved Steve Cohen, the multibillionaire who was one of three finalists for the Dodgers,
and motion picture mogul Thomas Tull.
Tull’s Legendary Pictures has produced such box-office successes as "Batman Begins," "The Hangover," "300," "The Dark Night" and
"Inception." He has partnered up with Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn.
Gwynn, of course, spent 20 years with the Padres and makes perfect sense. O’Malley lived and breathed the Dodgers his entire life
until mistakenly selling them to News Corp. in 1998.
He was an early bidder for the Dodgers when the team was put up for sale while in bankruptcy, but withdrew, apparently -- and
understandably -- convinced he could not win even if he had the highest offer. O’Malley had been publicly critical of McCourt’s
stewardship.
And now as a consolation prize, the Padres? Really? Coming soon, Mitt Romney asks Hillary Clinton to be his running mate.
O’Malley is the Dodgers. If Tommy Lasorda bleeds Dodger Blue, O’Malley is the Dodger blood bank. The Dodgers have won six World
Series, all under the O’Malley family banner. He’s lived in Los Angeles his entire adult life.
He’s L.A. and the Dodgers, and there’s no way I could ever get used to him owning the … Padres?
DODGERS.COM
Ellis' three-run walk-off blast boosts Dodgers
Dramatic win helps LA avoid first three-game skid of season
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com | 5/27/2012 3:20 AM ET
LOS ANGELES -- In nine professional seasons, A.J. Ellis never hit more than eight home runs at any level, but he already has five this
year in the Major Leagues, including Saturday night's dramatic three-run walk-off blast in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the
Dodgers a 6-3 win over the Astros.
"It was probably the best feeling of my baseball life," said the 31-year-old Ellis. "It was pretty awesome and pretty cool to run around
the bases and hear the crowd and cheering. I've gotten to see Andre [Ethier] and Matt [Kemp] do that a lot and it was pretty cool to
feel it myself."
Also pretty cool is a 7 1/2-game lead the Dodgers now have over the Giants. With the win, the Dodgers avoided their first three-game
losing streak of the season.
A big -- and unexpected -- part of the best record in baseball has been the play of Ellis on both sides of the plate. He's hitting .317, but
he's also third on the club with 23 RBIs.
"It is a little surprising," said manager Don Mattingly. "The whole package, he's been great. I can't say I expected five [homers] and 20
[RBIs], but we'll take it. It's just a credit to him. It's good to see, it's a good story, he's one of the guys you root for, a guy that's worked
so hard you want him to have success."
The sudden power surge, Ellis said, should be credited to the Triple-A hitting coach of the Seattle Mariners, Jeff Pentland, who was
dismissed as the Dodgers hitting coach last summer.
"It's 100 percent Jeff Pentland and what he did with my swing path," Ellis said. "This year Dave Hansen has worked with my lower
body and the combination turned me into a Major League hitter."
Ellis' game-winner capped what even Mattingly called "a weird game." In the prelim pitchers duel, Chad Billingsley was all-out to get
through five innings in 99 pitches, but that was more efficient than Houston's Bud Norris, who racked up 116 pitches and didn't finish
the fifth inning. Billingsley struck out eight and retired the last seven batters, pretty good considering six of the first 10 he faced
reached base.
"Both guys had about 85 pitches in the fourth inning," said Mattingly. "The game seemed like a snail's pace, then it was like nobody
scored."
Billingsley spotted the Astros a 2-0 lead, the Dodgers halved it on Ethier's RBI double in the third and took the lead on Tony Gwynn's
two-run single with two out in the fourth. Houston tied the game in the eighth when Ronald Belisario issued a pair of two-out walks.
Kenley Jansen, brought on for a four-out save, blew the chance before getting any outs as Jason Castro doubled off the glove of third
baseman Jerry Hairston.
The winning rally started when Ethier led off the inning getting hit on the shoulder by an 0-2 fastball from former Dodgers farmhand
Wesley Wright. Houston manager Brad Mills brought Wilton Lopez in to face pinch-hitter Scott Van Slyke, who bunted Ethier to
second. James Loney, who already had three hits, was walked intentionally to bring up Ellis.
"With [Lopez], how good he's been all year especially with right-handed hitters, I think that was it," said Mills of his decision. "We
wanted to set up a double play. There's everything right there. He just put a nice swing on it, there's no doubt about it."
Ellis launched his fifth home run into the left-field seats and now has a slugging percentage of .517.
"The hours 'Pent' spent, nobody else would have believed in me," said Ellis. "He redid my swing. The changes he made paid dividends.
To have somebody work like that, he deserves a ton of credit."
Mattingly, while also crediting the work Pentland and Hansen have done with Ellis, gave the catcher some credit too.
"He had been up and down and up and down, and last year he spoke up for himself," said Mattingly. "He finally said we were sending
the wrong guy down [when the Dodgers kept Dioner Navarro over Ellis early in the season]. I think that was huge. I kind of felt that
way myself, but he had options. I couldn't sit here and argue with him. I think he said the same thing to Ned [Colletti, general
manager]. There comes a point in your career when you say, 'I can play and you guys don't believe it.'"
Dodgers could call up Eovaldi from Double-A
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com
LOS ANGELES -- Double-A Chattanooga pitcher Nathan Eovaldi was scratched from a start Saturday night and instead made a oneinning relief appearance, fueling speculation that he's about to be called up to the Dodgers.
Manager Don Mattingly was noncommittal when asked about Eovaldi after the Dodgers' win Saturday night over the Astros.
"Not ready to talk about it," he said.
Eovaldi has pitched in relief earlier this year, part of a planned innings reduction the Dodgers give all of their young starters.
But this one-inning appearance -- Eovaldi struck out all three batters he faced -- was a late change and could serve the purpose of a
between-starts bullpen session, putting him on track to make a start Tuesday, when Ted Lilly is scheduled to start for the Dodgers
against Milwaukee.
Lilly is coming off his worst start and first loss of the year, when he allowed eight runs on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings in Arizona. Lilly
opened the season on the disabled list because of a chronic neck problem.
Hairston receives apology from umpire
LOS ANGELES -- When Jerry Hairston reached home plate for his first-inning at-bat Friday night, he received an apology from umpire
Tim Welke.
It was the first meeting of the pair since a May 2 game in Colorado where Welke incorrectly called Hairston out at first base on a play
ridiculed nationwide, as Rockies first baseman Todd Helton had come three feet off first base to take a throw from third baseman
Chris Nelson.
"He said he was sorry," Hairston said. "He's been a really good umpire for a long time and, you know what, obviously because of the
angle he didn't see it. It's over and done with. But I told him if I get stuck on 2,999 [hits], I'm calling him. He got a kick out of that."
It was Welke who did the kicking after that play, ejecting Dodgers manager Don Mattingly for arguing the obviously mistaken call,
along with the fact that Welke did not ask for or receive help from any of his umpire crewmates. Hairston said the apology showed
him what he already knew about Welke.
"It shows character, but he always had the highest character," Hairston said. "I've been dealing with him for 14 years. People lose sight
of the fact that one play doesn't change that. It's amazing, we as players make errors and, obviously, umpires do too. It's the human
element of the game.
"People don't realize how fast the game moves. Everybody else has the benefit of watching the replay on TV. The umpires don't have
that. It was just one of those freaky plays."
Kemp, Rivera set for two-game rehab trip
LOS ANGELES -- Disabled Dodgers outfielders Matt Kemp and Juan Rivera head out for two-game Minor League rehab assignments
with Triple-A Albuquerque on Sunday.
Both are expected to return to Los Angeles on Tuesday, when the Isotopes go on the road. Kemp is expected to be activated from the
disabled list for Tuesday night's game, while Rivera likely will require additional games at Class A Rancho Cucamonga before his swing
is ready. Both players have been out with strained left hamstrings, but Rivera has been sidelined longer.
"You know it's on the horizon to get guys back," said manager Don Mattingly. "We'll get one, and a couple days after that we'll get
another guy back. But it's tough coming back. Jerry [Hairston, who returned Friday night] is back, but you know it takes a couple days
to get the rhythm back. It's hard to say Matt will come off and be on fire again."
Kemp's injury snapped his streak of consecutive games played at 399. Mattingly said he expects Kemp to be completely healthy when
activated, but he also plans to slip in occasional days off to keep him that way.
"It will probably be easier to give him a break because there's not a streak involved," Mattingly said. "He won't want to come out of
the lineup. He doesn't like watching. But it makes it easier to give him a day. I can always pull the manager card."
Disabled third baseman Juan Uribe had his resumption of hitting delayed because of continued soreness in his arthritic left wrist. He's
been out since May 14 and is doing everything but hitting.
Herrera in mix to take on leadoff role
LOS ANGELES -- When Matt Kemp returns to center field and Tony Gwynn returns to the bench, Don Mattingly's leadoff dilemma
returns, too.
The hope coming into the season was Dee Gordon would disrupt opposing pitchers with his running speed, but Gordon struggled to
bat .200, was benched, and now has returned in the No. 8 spot and is showing signs of life with his bat.
But that doesn't mean Mattingly is ready to return Gordon to the pressure spot.
"We still need to find a guy at the top when Matt comes back," Mattingly said. "We have choices."
The first name Mattingly mentioned Saturday was Elian Herrera, a nine-year Minor Leaguer who has become the primary second
baseman with the left leg injury to Mark Ellis, who is not expected back for two months. Other names floated for leadoff include
Bobby Abreu and Jerry Hairston.
"Elian has been swinging the bat good," Mattingly said. "We've gotten a little [contribution] from everybody [called in as injury
replacements]. He's been the most consistent. He plays second, third and center. His swing is decent from both sides of the plate. He's
got speed and shows awareness. He's been solid."
Herrera is batting .355 overall, .333 right-handed and .368 left-handed. He has an on-base percentage of .394. Abreu's on-base
percentage is .435 and Hairston's is .409. Gordon's is .250.
Mattingly said Casey Blake is a "great comparison" to Herrera, because Blake also spent the better part of a decade in the Minor
Leagues before finally breaking through.
"They got a ton of baseball drills, and Herrera played winter ball, too," said Mattingly. "He's kind of a veteran rookie, older, more
mature, and he appreciates where he's at because he had to fight his way here."
Capuano seeks seventh win in finale with Astros
Fellow lefty Happ tabbed to take mound for Houston
By Evan Drellich / MLB.com | 5/27/2012 4:15 AM ET
The Dodgers are just trying to hold things together until Juan Rivera and Matt Kemp can return from injuries, possibly as soon as
Tuesday. Of course, for the Majors' only 30-win team, holding things together doesn't quite mean what it does for most other clubs.
Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis hit a walk-off three-run home run in a 6-3 victory over Houston (22-24) on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium,
and Los Angeles (31-15) can take the three-game set Sunday in a 1:10 p.m. PT start.
"It was probably the best feeling of my baseball life," Ellis said after the game. "It was pretty awesome and pretty cool to run around
the bases and hear the crowd and cheering. I've gotten to see Andre [Ethier] and Matt do that a lot and it was pretty cool to feel it
myself."
Manager Don Mattingly said before the game that despite the injury situation and the different faces, winning remains the
expectation: "We're throwing a lot of different people out there, but I still expect to win some games."
There are seven starting pitchers in the National League with a better ERA than Dodgers lefty Chris Capuano, and one of them
happens to be his teammate and the defending NL Cy Young Award winner, Clayton Kershaw. Capuano might not be the staff ace, but
he's sure pitched like one.
Capuano is tied for second in the Majors with six wins, and his 2.25 ERA is eighth best in the NL. In his last outing on Monday in a 6-1
over the D-backs, Capuano tossed six innings of one-run ball, striking out five and walking one.
"I couldn't be having more fun playing the game," Capuano said. "Since coming back from my second Tommy John surgery, both last
year in New York and this year in L.A., I appreciate all of this, no doubt about it."
For the Astros, who had a four-game win streak snapped Saturday night, left-hander J.A. Happ gets the start, and he's been on a roll.
Happ has given up just one run in his last 12 innings after giving up 25 in his first 39 1/3 innings, although pitching long into games
remains a hurdle for him. Happ's taken wins in his last two starts after losing two in a row, but he has not recorded an out in the
seventh inning this season.
Happ pitched admirably his last time out, in a 2-1 win over the Cubs on Tuesday.
"Happ threw the ball great," teammate Brett Myers said. "That's back-to-back [good] starts for him, and I think he's back. He and
[catcher Chris] Snyder worked fast, and that keeps Happ's rhythm going and being able to locate pitches. He's throwing the ball really
well for us."
Astros: Bozo shoes and all, Schafer returns
Center fielder Jordan Schafer returned to the lineup on Saturday and went 1-for-4 with an RBI, a walk and two strikeouts after a foul
ball off his right big toe earlier in the week kept him out when the toe became infected.
Schafer had to wear some out-of-the-ordinary kicks on Saturday.
"It doesn't feel real comfortable to run because it kind of feels like I have bozo shoes on," Schafer said. "But the bigger shoes give me
more room just because my toe is so swollen."
• The Astros on Saturday traded 30-year-old outfielder Justin Ruggiano to Miami for 20-year-old catcher Jobduan Morales.
Dodgers: Leadoff decision looming
While Dee Gordon has shown positive signs at the plate, Mattingly isn't ready to commit to Gordon at the top of the lineup.
"We still need to find a guy at the top when Matt [Kemp] comes back," Mattingly said. "We have choices."
Elian Herrera, who's played nine years in the Minors and become the primary second baseman with Mark Ellis (left leg) out, is in the
picture. So too are Bobby Abreu and Jerry Hairston.
"Elian has been swinging the bat good," Mattingly said. "We've gotten a little [contribution] from everybody [called in as injury
replacements]. He's been the most consistent. He plays second, third and center. His swing is decent from both sides of the plate. He's
got speed and shows awareness. He's been solid."
Worth noting
Sunday is one of the Viva Los Dodgers Days at Dodger Stadium. Events start in Lot 6 at 11:10 a.m. PT and feature live performances by
Latin Grammy-nominated indie music star Ceci Bastida and Latin-Grammy nominated Latin pop fusion band La Santa Cecilia. Former
WBC Welterweight Champion "Vicious" Victor Ortiz will sign autographs for fans at Viva Los Dodgers from 11:30 a.m. to noon in
promotion of his June 23 fight at Staples Center against Joselito Lopez. Dodger alumnus Al "The Bull" Ferrara will also sign, from 11:40
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Radio DJ Andres Maldonado "El Feo" will emcee the event.
ESPN.COM
A.J. Ellis' walk-off blast lifts Dodgers over Astros
LOS ANGELES -- The way Chad Billingsley started out, it never looked as though batterymate A.J. Ellis would get an opportunity to end
things the way he did.
Ellis hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.
"This is the greatest moment of my personal baseball career," Ellis said. "It's really humbling, just to be a part of where this team is
headed right now. It feels real special."
Wesley Wright (0-1) opened the ninth by hitting Andre Ethier with an 0-2 pitch. Scott Van Slyke batted for reliever Kenley Jansen (4-0)
and advanced Ethier with a sacrifice bunt. Wilton Lopez intentionally walked James Loney, and Ellis drove a 1-1 pitch into the left-field
pavilion for his fifth homer.
"I faced that guy a few times in Houston, and he likes to work the sinker," Ellis said. "He's a tough pitcher, so you've just got to find a
pitch up in the zone. I was just kind of looking for something elevated, and I was able to find a fastball to hit. I tried to put a good
aggressive swing on it and drive it to the outfield."
Billingsley threw 73 of his 99 pitches during the first three innings and retired only eight of his first 16 batters, but all the Astros could
scrape across was two runs.
The missed opportunities eventually came back to haunt the Astros, who squandered a chance to get back to the .500 mark for the
first time since April 14, when they were 4-4.
"I was locating pretty well and had pretty good off-speed stuff, which helped me escape with just a minimum amount of damage and
keep the team in the game," Billingsley said. "It was a great team win. What's great about this team is that it's somebody different
every day and everybody's stepping up when their time comes. A.J.'s been stepping up a lot this year in big situations."
The Dodgers' 11th victory in 15 games improved the best record in the majors to 31-15 and extended their NL West lead over San
Francisco to a season-high 7 1-2 games -- the largest margin in any division.
Jansen pitched 1 1/3 innings for the victory. The right-hander came in with two-out in the eighth, trying to protect a 3-2 lead for
Billingsley after Ronald Belisario issued a pair of two-out walks.
Brian Bogusevic scored the tying run when Jason Castro slapped a ground single off the glove of third baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. and
into foul territory, but Jansen retired Jordan Schafer on a flyball with the bases loaded.
Billingsley allowed two runs and five hits in five innings, striking out eight and walking three. He is 0-3 with a 5.01 ERA in eight starts
since beating San Diego and Pittsburgh in his first two outings this season.
"He grinded and battled," Ellis said. "His pitch count really ran up high, but the way he settled down in the fourth and fifth innings
helped restore order -- especially when we got the lead back. One thing you can say about Chad is that he always competes. He gives
you everything he has out there and never lets anything really bother him on the mound. And he has the ability to pitch himself out of
tough jams, which he did again tonight."
Billingsley had three strikeouts in the first, but in between them were Jose Altuve's double and Carlos Lee's run-scoring single. A basesloaded walk to Schafer forced in another run in the second. But Billingsley came back to strike out Altuve, and Ethier -- who won his
first Gold Glove last season -- helped minimize the damage with an inning-ending diving catch of J.D. Martinez's sinking line drive to
right field. Houston stranded two more in the third when Castro took a called third strike.
"I felt like we had him for sure, especially in that inning when we had the bases loaded," Martinez said. "The ball that I hit to Ethier
that he made a nice play on -- if that falls or gets by him, it's probably a different outcome to the game. Billingsley got away with one
there. He was able to work through it and get out of jams."
Houston's Bud Norris threw 116 pitches over 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs, eight hits and four walks. The right-hander's early
departure snapped a string of 38 consecutive games by the Astros in which their starters lasted at least five innings. Norris ended May
4-0 in five starts with a 1.17 ERA.
Ethier got the Dodgers on the board in the third with a two-out run-scoring double that raised his NL-leading RBIs total to 41.
One inning later, left fielder Martinez robbed Ellis of a potential RBI double with a running catch in the alley before slamming into the
fence. Dee Gordon followed with a double that sent Loney to third, and Tony Gwynn Jr. put Los Angeles ahead 3-2 with a two-run,
two-out single through the right side.
Ethier had a chance to break open the game later that inning, but lined out to center with the bases loaded.
Game notes
Los Angeles Kings centers Mike Richards and Jeff Carter attended the game in front-row seats adjacent to the owners' box while
awaiting Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals next Wednesday at New Jersey. ... The previous time an Astros starter didn't go at least five
innings was April 13, when Lucas Harrell was removed after four in a no-decision at Miami. ... Loney had three hits -- two of them
against Norris, making Loney 7 for 14 career against him.
3 up, 3 down: Dodgers 6, Astros 3
By Tony Jackson | ESPNLosAngeles.com
LOS ANGELES -- A.J. Ellis hit his first career walkoff home run, a three-run shot to left field off Houston Astros reliever Wilton Lopez
with one out in the ninth, to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-3 victory before 36,561 on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, helping
the Dodgers avoid what would have been their first three-game losing streak of the season.
The Dodgers improved baseball's best record to 31-15 and pushed their lead in the National League West to a season-high 7 1/2
games over the second-place San Francisco Giants.
THE GOOD
Streaking. Andre Ethier ran his current hitting streak to a season-high six games with a well-placed ground ball that just eluded diving
Astros second baseman Jose Altuve in the first inning, then laced a double to the wall in left-center in the third. And then, in the
eighth, Elian Herrera dropped a bloop single into shallow center, extending his hitting streak to eight games -- a feat made all the
more remarkable by the fact Herrera was playing in his 10th major league game.
Working it. In the fourth -- an inning in which, coincidentally or otherwise, the Dodgers scored twice to take their first lead -- Dodgers
catcher A.J. Ellis, second baseman Elian Herrera and left fielder Bobby Abreu combined to work Astros pitcher Bud Norris for 23
pitches in what became a 39-pitch frame for the Astros ace, pushing his pitch count to 106 by the end of that inning.
Bouncing back. Javy Guerra continued to shine since being removed from the closer role, pitching around a one-out double by Logan
Schafer to complete a scoreless seventh inning. Since that fateful blown save on May 6 at Chicago, Guerra has now pitched nine
scoreless innings, allowing six hits.
THE BAD
Hearing footsteps. Chad Billingsley continued a struggle that has been going on for, basically, all of May, most notably in a second
inning in which he threw 31 pitches and issued a bases-loaded walk. That slump, which in typical Billingsley fashion has resulted from
too many deep counts and too many pitches, has coincided with Nathan Eovaldi -- the de facto sixth starter in the Dodgers' pecking
order -- pitching well at Double-A Chattanooga. It could be that team officials will start considering their options soon, although there
really isn't an obvious opening for Billingsley in the bullpen. By the way, Billingsley eventually settled down and retired the final seven
batters, but it marked the third time in his past four starts that he failed to go longer than five innings.
Rotten luck. After one of his typical at-bats in which he worked Norris for nine pitches and fouled off three of them on a full count,
Ellis hit what appeared to be at least a game-tying double in the fourth. But Astros left fielder J.D. Martinez ran it down in spectacular
fashion in left-center, basket-catching it just shy of the warning track. Martinez's momentum carried him hard into the wall, bringing
out manager Brad Mills and a trainer, but Martinez ultimately stayed in the game.
Try, try again. For the second night in a row, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly called upon Ivan De Jesus -- who entered the game with
a lifetime major league average of .214 and exactly one career extra-base hit -- to pinch hit at a critical point in the game with both
Jerry Sands and Scott Van Slyke were available off the bench. For the second night in a row, De Jesus failed to come through, this time
grounding into an inning-ending force play. Go figure.
Elian Herrera era off to sizzling start
May, 26, 2012
LOS ANGELES -- The decision by the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 14 to purchase the contract of little-known utility man Elian Herrera
from Triple-A Albuquerque came as something of a surprise, given that he wasn't on the 40-man roster and had never even been
invited to major league spring training during his 10 seasons in the organization.
Looking back now, maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise at all. It certainly has paid off, in ways perhaps even the front office
couldn't have envisioned.
Herrera has essentially become the primary second baseman with Mark Ellis expected to miss about eight weeks, although Herrera
also has made one start at third and one in center field. He also has batted, coming into Saturday night's game with the Houston
Astros, a cool .355, including a reasonably balanced .368 from the left side and .333 from the right. He has a .394 on-base percentage,
three doubles, a couple of RBI, a couple of walks, and he routinely takes really good at-bats.
And it appears he is going to be here for a while.
DAILY NEWS
DODGERS: Ellis' long ball ends long night
By J.P. Hoornstra Staff Writer
Posted: 05/26/2012 11:28:58 PM PDT
Saturday was "Bark in the Park" day at Dodger Stadium. For $26, dogs could walk around the periphery of the field before the game,
then watch from the right-field bleachers. So could humans.
The difference: A dog never wonders how to pass the time between pitches.
After 3 hours and 50 minutes of marathon baseball, a walk-off three-run home run by A.J. Ellis lifted the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory over
the Houston Astros in front of an announced crowd of 36,561.
Ellis belted a 1-1 pitch from Astros reliever Wilton Lopez into the left-field bleachers for his third career walk-off hit.
Andre Ethier led off the bottom of the ninth inning by absorbing a pitch in his back from Wesley Wright (1-1).
Lopez relieved Wright and pinch-hitter Scott Van Slyke bunted Ethier to second base. James Loney was intentionally walked, setting
the stage for Ellis' dramatic homer.
The Dodgers avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season against the Astros, who entered the game on a four-game
winning streak.
A two-run fourth inning put the Dodgers ahead 3-2, but the Astros tied the score with a run in the eighth off reliever Ronald Belisario the first he's allowed all season.
With two outs, Belisario issued consecutive walks to Brian Bogusevic and Chris Johnson. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly called on
closer Kenley Jansen (4-0) for, presumably, a rare four-out save. But Jansen promptly issued a fluke double to Jason Castro, whose
sharp groundball down the third-base line went off the glove of a diving Jerry Hairston Jr., and strayed into foul territory long enough
for Bogusevic to score from second base.
The first four innings alone lasted 2 hours, 5 minutes as starters Chad Billingsley and Bud Norris were the antithesis of efficient. But for
Billingsley, a slow-paced game was nothing new.
In four May starts entering play Saturday, the right-hander was averaging 18.5 pitches per inning.
By itself, throwing too many pitches doesn't predict failure, though it's rarely a sign of success. Billingsley is no exception: His 5.85 ERA
and 0-2 record in the month have given fans little reason to be patient.
Billingsley didn't have his best command against the Astros.
But neither did his right-handed counterpart, Norris, who lasted 4 2/3 innings and threw 116 pitches.
The Dodgers and Astros were both patient at the plate, planting one souvenir after another in the foul-territory seats, working counts
in their favor, getting on base via walk (Norris walked four, Billingsley three) and via hit (Norris allowed eight hits, Billingsley five).
In spite of his inefficiency, Billingsley turned in his best start of the month.
The right-hander allowed single runs in the first two innings, but settled down to retire the final seven batters he faced. He allowed
two runs on five hits, while striking out eight in five innings.
With one out in the first inning, Astros second baseman Jose Altuve doubled and scored on an RBI single by Carlos Lee. Houston
loaded the bases against Billingsley in the second inning, whereupon Jordan Schafer drew a five-pitch walk and forced in Bogusevic
with Houston's second run.
That brought up Altuve. Billingsley struck him out on three straight fastballs, then retired J.D. Martinez - who homered a day earlier
against Clayton Kershaw - on a sinking line drive to right field that Ethier snagged with a shoestring catch.
It was Billingsley's finest moment in a short-lived, if not especially efficient, performance. He saw his ERA go down for the first time all
month - from 3.91 to 3.88.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, finally got to Norris in the third inning.
With one out, Elian Herrera drew a walk, then advanced to second base on a groundout by Bobby Abreu. With two outs, Ethier
doubled to score Herrera with his National League-leading 41st RBI.
Down 2-1 in the fourth inning, the Dodgers put runners on second and third thanks to a leadoff single by James Loney and a one-out
double by Dee Gordon.
With two outs, Tony Gwynn Jr. poked a single into right field that scored both runners to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
Herrera's single extended his hitting streak to seven games.
DODGERS NOTEBOOK: Gwynn seems to be in the lead, at least for now
By J.P. Hoornstra, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/26/2012 10:13:25 PM PDT
The Dodgers, for the moment, have formulated a consistent plan for the leadoff position in the batting order.
The only question is how long they'll stick with it.
Two weeks ago, manager Don Mattingly pledged to stick with second-year shortstop Dee Gordon, but scrapped that vow when
Gordon's on-base percentage fell to .239, lowest among Dodgers regulars.
Tony Gwynn Jr. has led off all but one game since. His .336 on-base percentage (.280 since moving to the leadoff slot) entering play
Saturday is nothing special, but he's at least brought some stability to the position - plus above-average range in center field with Matt
Kemp on the disabled list.
"I know I can hit (Gwynn) anywhere in the order and it doesn't really bother him," Mattingly said. "He's not going to change. He's just
going to hit. With `T', you get that."
For Gwynn, slotted as a fourth outfielder/pinch-hitter when the season began, it's the most leading off he's done since 2009, when he
played for the San Diego Padres.
"Playing is a lot of fun," he said. "It doesn't have to be in the leadoff slot. Anytime you're contributing, baseball's a lot of fun."
But Gwynn appears to be a temporary fix.
Kemp is slated to return from a two-day rehab assignment with Triple-A Albuquerque on Tuesday. He'll go back to center field, leaving
Gwynn out of a regular position and re-opening the question of who bats first.
There are a few candidates. "Elian (Herrera) has been pretty good," Mattingly said. "Jerry (Hairston Jr.) has hit leadoff before, he could
be good at it. I do have some choices, I think.
"Bobby (Abreu) is pretty good in the middle. Let's see what he does in the middle of the order. He's on base all the time."
As for Gordon, he returned to form (4 for 12 in three games prior to Saturday) while batting out of the No. 8 hole. But he insists that
moving down in the lineup has nothing to do with his resurgence.
"I got my rhythm back," he said. "That's it. I just needed to slow the game down. That's what I've been doing."
Rivera to Rancho?
Kemp and Juan Rivera, both on the disabled list with left hamstring injuries, were set to fly to Albuquerque on Saturday night for their
rehab assignments. The Isotopes have home games today and Monday before leaving for New Orleans on Tuesday.
While Kemp is expected to re-join the Dodgers at that point - the earliest he can come off the 15-day disabled list - the same isn't true
for Rivera. Mattingly said Rivera, who hasn't played since May 8, may need some extra at-bats to regain his timing.
"I might go to Rancho (Cucamonga)," Rivera said. "They don't want me to go on the road Tuesday with Albuquerque. It depends on
how I feel. It's my option."
Also ...
Former World Boxing Council welterweight champion and Ventura resident Victor Ortiz will sign autographs for fans at the Viva Los
Dodgers fan fest from 11:30 a.m. to noon today in Lot 6. Andre Ethier's third-inning RBI double extended his hitting streak to six
games.
WRITING ON AND OF THE WALL with TOM HOFFARTH: Former Dodgers pitcher Hershiser won't let go of this
By Tom Hoffarth, Staff Columnist
Posted: 05/27/2012 01:17:44 AM PDT
If Orel Hershiser could dig through his socks drawer and find the baseball used to record the final out of his record-breaking 59consecutive scoreless inning streak in 1988, what would it be worth on the open market?
We might have known this week, but it's not to be.
By mistake, the Dodgers' Cy Young Award winner had that ball slip into a personal collection of uniforms, bats and other things
commissioned to Grey Flannel Auctions to sell off to the highest bidder. That sale ends Wednesday.
When Hershiser realized what happened, he talked the company into having it retracted. Even though it was already in their catalog,
and bidders were already salivating.
But then again, is that really the genuine article?
Didn't the ball that fell into the glove of Dodgers right fielder Jose Gonzalez in the 10th inning at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego
disappear into the stands?
We checked in with Hershiser, a serious sports memorabilia collector since he was a kid, to find out what's really going on here:
QUESTION: What's behind having the 59th scoreless inning ball pulled back from auction? Was it because you had mixed emotions
about letting it go?
ANSWER: What happened was, I wanted to go through all my stuff and put some of it up for auction, not leave it all for my kids
someday to look it over and say, `What do we have here?' So I started to say, `I can part with this, I can part with that.' But when they
came and went through all my storage units, they ran into a ton of stuff. I didn't know exactly what they had. I didn't know what I even
had. They took it back to organize it, and I forgot that the 59th scoreless ball was in there.
Q: You didn't see it in the list of things they gave you to approve?
A: They sent me 75 letters to authenticate, and I just ran through and signed them all without reading through each letter. So then I
heard the ball was not only up for auction, but already in the catalog. I should have known. I just wasn't keeping detailed records
because I was selling so much stuff.
I'm keeping the Cy Young Award. My World Series ring. All these key things I've kept for my kids - including the 59th inning ball. If I'd
have known it was in the lot and really paid attention, it would have never made it there.
They went through the expense of itemizing it and authenticating it, and I'm like, `No, no, no, no ...'
Q: If we remember correctly, (Dodgers manager) Tommy Lasorda tells the story about how Jose Gonzalez, the right fielder who caught
the last out at San Diego, actually tossed that ball into the stands. Lasorda uses that as an example of how careless someone can be
with a piece of history. Is that true?
A: He's wrong. The game he's remembering is when Fernando Valenzuela got his 20th win (in 1986) in Houston. There's a fly ball to
center field. Gonzalez caught it. Game over. He runs in, but a kid in center field says, `Throw me the ball!' He turns and throws the ball
into the stands at the Astrodome. So Fernando is now standing on the mound thinking, `Oh, my God.'
So I know the story about Gonzalez and Fernando's 20thwin ball. Two years later, Gonzalez catches that last out for the scoreless
innings record. All that I'm doing when I am on my knees on the mound, smiling and looking at him, is thinking: `Bring the ball in ...
bring the ball in!' And he did. I have the ball. He did not turn and throw that one.
Lasorda is mixing up stories. And he's told so many stories, are you going to tell him he's wrong?
Me neither.
Q: What eventually leads to you, or other players, to sell items that would seem to be something you'd never want to part with? Are
you worried about security?
A: First, it's sitting in a storage unit and it's not out in my house. Second, it has a significant value that can go to use to other people in
my family. It can be invested properly, given to charity. And I don't want to leave my kids any headaches, either. I'm 53 - I know it
probably seems a little early - but I collected a lot. I'm not trying to make money, I'm trying to make my estate a little more nimble. So
(my kids) can have the Cy Young Award, the last-out jersey, the rings ... and they can say, `Dad cleaned all this up, and I can have five
items, and he can have five items ...' And it's nice. My idea is: Let's make it tidy.
Q: That 59th-inning ball ball was originally listed as having a $2,500 opening bid. There are other things in the auction - your glove, a
Sport Magazine World Series MVP trophy, a game-used home jersey from the '88 World Series ... Were you tempted to pull anything
else back?
A: There is one ball in the auction that was used in the (59scoreless-inning) game (starting at $500). I pulled balls from the bag that
game that I had used, and that is one of them. During the game, I'd tell the clubbie: `I don't know what's going to happen at the end of
the game, but make sure during the game you're pulling six balls that I've thrown in case something happens.' I've always been into
memorabilia and collecting. I'd never tell my teammates I was doing that (pulling balls). All the clubbies know the inside stories.
TRUE BLUE LA
Dodgers 5/26/12 Minor League Report - Quakes Crush Five Solo Homers in Win
by Brandon Lennox on May 27, 2012 8:40 AM PDT in Los Angeles Dodgers Minor League Report
Minor League Player of the Day – Travis Denker - 4 for 5, 1 HR, 2 2B's, 2 RBI's, 4 Runs. Denker was upstaged by the Suns Kyle Skipworth
who hit for the cycle, but Travis still had an outstanding game. The former big leaguer has gotten off to a slow start in 2012, but thanks
to his big game he now has a 1.044 OPS over his last 10 games.
AAA – Alex Castellanos returned to the Isotopes lineup on Friday and helped lead Albuquerque to a 7 - 4 win over the RedHawks
(Astros). Castellanos doubled twice and drove in a run, although he seemed a bit rusty at 2nd base as he committed two errors. Tim
Federowicz also had a pair of doubles and also singled, while Trent Oeltjen was the 3rd member of the "two-double" club as went 3
for 5 with 2 RBI's. Jeff Baisley hit the only homer in the game and added a double for good measure. John Ely was solid for 6 innings as
he allowed just 2 earned runs and struck out 7. Shawn Tolleson struck out 2 in a perfect 8th, then Josh Wall saved his 11th game of the
season with a 7 pitch 9th.
AA – The Lookouts came out on the short end of a slug-fest against the Suns (Marlins), 13 to 10, despite a big game from Travis
Denker. The 26 year old infielder went 4 for 5 with two doubles and a homer, driving in 2 and scoring 4 runs. Pedro Baez connected on
his 3rd homer of the season and had 3 RBI's, while Matt Wallach's bases loaded double also plated 3. On the mound it was supposed
to be Nathan Eovaldi who got the start, but he ended up throwing an inning of relief instead and struck out the side. It has been
speculated that he could be getting a call up soon. Luis Vasquez started the game and got torched for 5 runs in just 2 innings, while AA
newbies Eammon Portice and Bret Montgomery also got crushed for the rest of the game's runs. The good news is that Red Patterson
and Steve Ames continued to impress with their relief efforts.
HiA – The Quakes smacked 5 solo homers on Saturday in route to a 7 - 1 win over the Storm (Padres). C.J. Retherford, Jonathan Garcia,
Leon Landry, and Alexis Aguilar all took turns going deep in each of the first four innings, then Michael Pericht got into the action with
a bomb in the 6th. Scott Wingo also had a big game as he went 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, while Austin Gallagher also had 2 hits including
a double. Jon Michael Redding had by far his best outing of the season as he allowed just 2 hits over 6 innings and struck out 8.
Freddie Cabrera worked around a hit and 2 walks in the 7th, then Scott McGough fired two innings of one-hit ball to finish off the win.
LoA – The Loons managed just 4 hits on Saturday and lost to the Silver Hawks (Dbacks) 5 to 3 in the battle of the birds. O'Koyea
Dickson had two of those hits including his 5th homer of the season, while James Baldwin had a double and another stolen base.
Starter Gustavo Gomez allowed all 5 runs in his 5.1 innings of work on 6 hits and 4 walks. Joel Lima was excellent in relief as he gave
up just 1 hit over the game's final 3.2 frames.
Coming up – Ethan Martin will be the pitching highlight on Sunday as he'll go for his 6th win of the season. Michael Antonini will throw
for the Isotopes, Brandon Martinez will get the ball for the Quakes, and Arismendy Ozoria will take the mound for the Loons.
Minor League Transactions –
Albuquerque Isotopes Box Score (AAA)
Chattanooga Lookouts Box Score (AA)
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Box Score (HiA)
Great Lakes Loons Box Score (LoA)
http://firstinning.com/daily/la
Patience Pays Off For A.J. Ellis, Dodgers
by Eric Stephen on May 27, 2012 12:31 AM PDT in Dodgers Postgame Reaction
For a nine-inning game that took three hours and 50 minutes to complete, it seemed only right that the Dodgers' most patient hitter
was at the plate with the game on the line. A.J. Ellis came through for the Dodgers - again - with a three-run home run for a 6-3 win
over the Houston Astros, and the second walk-off RBI for Ellis in nine days.
After the 6'5", 249-pound Scott Van Slyke was sent up as a pinch-hitter to sacrifice, Houston manager Brad Mills opted not to bring in
left-hander Fernando Abad to face James Loney, who had three line-drive hits on the night, but rather chose to walk Loney
intentionally to leave his right-hander Wilton Lopez in to face Ellis, who was hitting .319/.444/.500 entering the night, a move Ellis saw
coming.
"It's the right thing to do, it's the right baseball move. You have a sinkerballer on the mound, and I'm not the fastest guy in the world
so I'm a double play candidate," Ellis said. "After the bunt got put down I assumed that would be the situation."
Lopez struck out Ellis twice earlier this season in Houston, and those at-bats were fresh in the mind of Ellis.
"He's a tough tough pitcher who you have to just narrow your focus and find a pitch up in the zone. Luckily I was able to find one and
was able to elevate," Ellis said. "I was just trying to put a good aggressive swing on it, and drive the ball into the outfield."
He got it into the outfield alright. Ellis is third on the Dodgers with five home runs.
"The offense he has given us, with the power and RBI, has been huge. With the on-base, and the whole package has been great,"
manager Don Mattingly said. "It's a credit to him. You like to see guys that work that hard have success.
"He's worked and worked and worked on his swing. I can't even tell you the amount of hours this guy puts in. A couple years ago, he
was getting called up he would just wear you out in the cage. He wore Jeff Pentland out. It got to the point where Pent would come in
at 1 o'clock so he could hit. He'd be in there an hour and a half working on his swing, and he's continued to work. That's why I say it's
such a good story."
Waiting Out Norris
Both starting pitchers struggled on Saturday night, with Chad Billingsley throwing 99 pitches in his five innings and Bud Norris throwing
116 pitches in 4 2/3 innings. For Billingsley, who was at 88 pitches through four innings, it could have been a shorter night. He was due
up with runners on second and third base and one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, down 2-1, and having already thrown 88
pitches. Mattingly considered pinch hitting for Billingsley, as he did three starts ago against Tim Lincecum and the Giants in a similar
situation, also in the fourth.
"I considered it. It was different from the standpoint that Lincecum was really rolling on us last night," Mattingly said. "Tonight I had a
better pitch count in my favor, and I thought we'd be able to run [Norris] out of there."
That strategy worked to perfection, as the Dodgers made Norris throw 43 pitches in the fourth inning alone and grabbed the lead.
"We have a lot of professional hitters on this team. With Bobby Abreu joining this team, his at-bats rub off on everyone else," Ellis
said. "One thing [Mattingly] preaches is to try to get that starter out of the game as quick as you can, and get his pitch count up."
As for Billingsley, he was able to avoid the fate of an early exit, retiring the final seven hitters he faced to complete five innings,
something that didn't seem possible early on.
"The way he settled down through the fourth and fifth inning helped restore order, especially when we got the lead back. One thing
you can always say about Chad is that he always competes and gives everything he's got out there," Ellis said. "He's got the ability to
pitch out of tough jams."
Up Next
The Dodgers look to capture the series with a win on Sunday, with Chris Capuano on the hill looking to join Cole Hamels and Lance
Lynn as the only seven-game winners in the National League. Left-hander J.A. Happ gets the call for Houston.
Patient Dodgers Rewarded By Most Patient Dodger
by Eric Stephen on May 26, 2012 11:06 PM PDT in Dodgers Game Recaps
After nearly four hours and well over 300 pitches, the Dodgers managed a 6-3 win over the Houston Astros thanks to a walk-off home
run by A.J. Ellis Saturday night at Dodger Stadium. Ellis slammed a pitch into the left field pavilion for the Dodgers' 20th home win in
25 games.
After a pair of laborious starts by Chad Billingsley and Bud Norris, there was no way this game was going to end in a nice, easy fashion.
After Ronald Belisario allowed a pair of walks in the eighth inning, closer Kenley Jansen entered the game for a four-out save attempt
with the Dodgers leading 3-2. But catcher Jason Castro foiled those plans by squirting a double past a diving Jerry Hairston Jr. at third
base to tie the score.
Jansen finished the ninth inning and ended up with his fourth win of the season.
The Astros scored a run off Billingsley in the first inning thanks to a double by Jose Altuve and an RBI single by Carlos Lee. Then in the
second they looked to add even more. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out, but Billingsley struck out his
counterpart Norris. Billingsley followed with a walk to Jordan Schafer, giving the Astros a 2-0 lead, but he then struck out Altuve for
the second out. J.D. Martinez hit a line drive to right field that looked like it might have broken the game wide open, but Andre Ethier
was there to make a sliding catch to end the threat.
The Astros put two more runners on base in the third inning, but Billingsley retired the final seven batters he faced to end his night
after five innings. Billingsley threw 99 pitches in his five innings but by comparison he was Mr. Efficiency.
Norris got through two innings without much damage, but the Dodgers broke through in the third inning with an RBI double by Ethier,
cutting the Astros' lead in half. Through three innings Norris had thrown 64 pitches, but the fourth inning was an eternity.
Eight Dodgers came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning, and they saw a total of 43 pitches, including 15 foul balls in the
fourth inning alone. The Dodgers plated two runs in the inning, on Tony Gwynn Jr.'s single, and may have struck for more had
Martinez not made a great running catch of a ball hit to the wall in left center field by A.J. Ellis early in the inning. The game was
already well over two hours old when Ethier flied out with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Gwynn is 10-for-21 with five walks with runners in scoring position this season.
Norris ended up throwing 116 pitches in 4 2/3 innings, the second most pitches thrown this season by a starter who didn't last five
innings. Max Scherzer of the Detroit Tigers threw 119 pitches in 4 2/3 innings against the New York Yankees on April 29.
Elian Herrera Finds A Home At Top Of Dodgers Lineup
by Eric Stephen on May 26, 2012 6:31 PM PDT in Dodgers Pregame Notes
With eight players currently on the disabled list, the Dodgers have had to adjust on the fly with their roster, especially this month. In
May alone, four players who started the month in Triple A Albuquerque have totaled 82 plate appearances with the Dodgers. Chief
among them is Elian Herrera, who has stepped right in and has become a fixture in the Dodger lineup.
"The guy who has been the most consistent has been Elian. He's been able to play second, he's been able to play third, and he played
center that one day in Arizona," said manager Don Mattingly. "He has swung the bat decently from both sides of the plate. He's got
some speed, and he's shown some awareness. He's been solid."
Herrera tonight is starting at second base, the seventh straight game he has started. He has taken over the second spot in the lineup
from the injured Mark Ellis, starting six of seven games batting second. In the other game, Herrera batted lead off and played center
field.
It is a far cry from the catcher who was signed by the Dodgers out of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic in 2003.
"I was really slow and skinny, but I had a good arm. My dad was a big guy, and they assumed I would grow into the position," Herrera
said. "I had to work hard on my legs, because I want to be behind the plate for nine innings, then I gained speed."
Herrera said he would run on the beach every day, and after running in all that sand eventually he felt like he was flying on a baseball
field. In the Dominican Summer League in 2004, the Dodgers moved Herrera to second base, which began a journey of nine seasons in
the minor leagues before getting the call on May 14 when Juan Uribe was placed on the disabled list.
Mattingly likened Herrera's journey to that of Casey Blake, who debuted at age 25 but didn't have more than a cup of coffee in the
majors until age 29.
"Elian's been nine years in the minor leagues. I think Casey was eight. Those guys get a ton of baseball," Mattingly said. "When you've
been through that many minor league seasons, that means you've been to a lot of spring training. You've heard a lot of talks about
defense, baserunning, outfield drills, infield drills. They're going to drill you.
"You get a guy like that, this is almost a veteran that has played a ton of baseball. He's an older guy, more mature, who probably
appreciates where he's at. He's had to fight his way to get here."
That's exactly how Herrera, now 27, feels.
"It's great. It was something that was always on my mind when I was young," Herrera said. "This year I knew I was not in spring
training, but I was happy every time I was sent to the big league side, to be around all the players, it was amazing."
Herrera played in four games with the Dodgers in spring training, and was 3-for-6. With Triple A Albuquerque he was hitting .358 with
a .381 on-base percentage when he got the call to the big leagues. Herrera has seen a big difference in quality between major and
minor league pitchers.
"They command every pitch. When they want to throw in, it's in. When they want to throw out, it's out. They throw a lot of strikes. I
just have to know my strike zone, because I know no matter what pitch they will be around the plate, and I just try to make contact,"
Herrera said. "I try to use my legs, and my god-given speed. I try to do the little things and not try to do too much."
Herrera has done well so far, hitting .355/.394/.452 in 11 games, including at least one hit in each of his seven starts. He has picked up
where Ellis left off, as Dodgers second basemen lead MLB with a .385 on-base percentage and 35 runs scored.
If Herrera needs a role model, for a 27-year old rookie who played second base and the outfield in the minors, he can look no further
than his first base coach, Davey Lopes, who debuted with the Dodgers in 1972.
"You're just happy to be there. The age factor doesn't come up until people talk about it. You already know that you're older than
most rookies at the time, so you kind of downplay it," Lopes said. "My attitude is, what does age have to do with it if you are doing the
job?"
Lopes likes what he sees in Herrera.
"He appears to be a good talent, he's got really good speed. However we've used him, he's done well at second, third, and center
field," Lopes said. "Just watch his body style and how he runs. He plays younger than he is chronologically. His body is strong and he's
quick. He's not going to lose that right away."
Herrera, meanwhile, is enjoying his time in the big leagues, no matter how long it lasts.
"I don't worry about what will happen when the other guys come back. I just go out and have fun, relax, and play the game," Herrera
said. "You can't have a lot of things on your mind and play this game. This is a game with a lot of pressure no matter what, and all you
can do is go out and do the best you can."
Billingsley Looks To Turn Things Around Against Astros
by Eric Stephen on May 26, 2012 12:46 PM PDT in Dodgers Game Previews
If the Dodgers are to snap their two-game losing streak tonight, they will likely need a solid start from Chad Billingsley, against a team
that has given him trouble through the years.
Billingsley pitched his first major league complete game in Houston in 2007, but even with that win Billingsley has allowed 32 runs in
45 1/3 innings in eight career starts against the Astros. At Dodger Stadium it has been even worse, with three losses in three starts and
15 runs allowed in 11 2/3 innings, though Billingsley hasn't faced the Astros at Dodger Stadium since 2009. Carlos Lee is the only Astro
remaining from that game.
He gave up nine runs, including two home runs, on April 22 in Houston, and couldn't get out of the fifth inning. Beginning with that
start, Billingsley is 0-3 in his last six starts with a 5.64 ERA.
Billingsley will be opposed on the mound Saturday night by Bud Norris, who is having himself quite a month. Norris has made four
starts in May and has four wins, thanks to allowing all of two runs, one earned, in 26 innings, with nine walks and 29 strikeouts. His
0.35 ERA is the best in baseball in May by nearly a run over Zack Greinke, who the Dodgers will face on Thursday.
Notes
 The Dodgers have won the last five games in which they have scored first, and are a National League-best 24-6 when
scoring first this season.
 The Dodgers have outscored their opponents 34-15 in the first inning this season.
 The Dodgers are 7-0 this season on Saturdays and have won 12 of their last 13 Saturday games. They have also won
seven straight Saturday home games.
FOX SPORTS
Say hello to baseball’s unsung heroes
Ken Rosenthal – May 26, 2012
ELIAN HERRERA, DODGERS
Until May 14, Herrera had never been on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster, never even been invited to major-league spring training in
seven professional seasons.
Then the Dodgers placed infielder Juan Uribe on the disabled list and were one day away from doing the same with center fielder Matt
Kemp.
They needed a super-utility type, someone who could play all over the field.
Enter Herrera, a switch-hitter whom the team had signed out of the Dominican Republic as an amateur free agent in 2003.
Vance Lovelace, the Dodgers’ director of pro scouting, had just seen Herrera play at Triple A. He told general manager Ned Colletti,
“This kid is interesting.”
Herrera, 27, plays — in order of expertise — second, third, center, shortstop, left and right. Colletti described him as a “late bloomer”
who started to figure things out during the last two seasons. Herrera shows a good feel for all aspects of the game, and twice has
drawn walks to spark decisive ninth-inning rallies.
In 38 plate appearances, his slash line is .353/.421/.441.
Maybe next season he will get invited to major-league camp.
OC REGISTER
Dodgers' Ellis finally catches on
By MARK WHICKER
LOS ANGELES - His major league dreams kept fading into the mirrors of a thousand minor league hotel rooms.
Then A.J. Ellis would shake those dreams out of his head. He had gotten this far without them.
He was an 18th-round draft pick out of Austin Peay, a first baseman/catcher who was the final player the Governors recruited in 1999,
a guy who wouldn't have gotten that far if his high school gym teacher hadn't called the college coach.
By the spring of 2003 he had become the school's first player to make All-Ohio Valley Conference four consecutive years. And no
major league club called him until two days before the draft.
“I really didn't have huge expectations,” Ellis said Saturday. “I was going to treat it like baseball graduate school. Learn as much about
it as I could, meet people and then move on to the next phase. I was going to coach baseball, somewhere.”
He still can. Later.
For now Ellis is the brightest revelation on the team with the best record in baseball. He came into Saturday hitting .317, with an onbase percentage of .444 that ranked fourth in the National League.
In the bottom of the ninth he powered a three-run home run into the left-field pavilion, and the Dodgers beat Houston, 6-3, to raise
their record to 31-15.
He won his first starting job in the majors just before his 31st birthday (April 9). He has been here all along, just below the place where
the picture is cropped.
He was Russell Martin's backup catcher at Class-A Vero Beach. Since then, Dioner Navarro, Mike Lieberthal, Sandy Alomar Jr., Brad
Ausmus and Toby Hall are among those who got backup catching gigs with the big club.
Last year Ellis was dumped in favor of Navarro, who was spiraling his way out of the big leagues.
“We had a lot of conversations about it,” General Manager Ned Colletti said. “A lot of them were along the lines of, how come I've got
to be the one to go down? He didn't like it, but he accepted it.
“Whether it's right or wrong, I think you need three guys who can catch in your organization. We had Rod (Barajas, now with the
Pirates), who was 35. We looked for a good young Triple-A type guy and we couldn't find that guy. So we signed Navarro and that
meant A.J. had to go down. But we always trusted his defense and his work ethic. His offense, this year, has been a plus.”
Late in July the Dodgers picked up Tim Federowicz, who was expected to be their catcher of the future. Ellis came to Glendale this
spring determined to capture the now.
“I'd heard murmurs and rumblings that I could be the every-day guy,” Ellis said. “But I wanted to let them know I was serious and
could handle the load. They could just as easily have said no.”
Ellis has five home runs already. He had zero in two tours of duty for Triple-A Albuquerque, where current Dodgers coach Tim Wallach
managed him. But he learned to hit for high average and he always had that knack of frowning at the borderline pitch. Ellis had 336
walks and 283 strikeouts in the minors and has 25 and 26 this year.
“In Little League my dad would yell at me for not swinging the bat,” Ellis said. “But I was particular and patient. I wanted that extraspecial pitch.”
Ellis played only 97 games, total, in '04 and '05 at Vero. Martin was being converted from third base. Ellis showed him the
fundamentals and later told him he hoped to be his wingman in the majors, too. Again, he'll have to postpone that.
But there was no indication Ellis would hit competently until he went to the Arizona Fall League after the '06 season, and Bill
Robinson, then the Dodgers' minor league hitting instructor, met with him. Robinson, who has since passed away, showed Ellis how to
activate his hands and discover the joys of pulling line drives.
“I hit .350 that fall,” Ellis said. “When the offense came around, I thought, for the first time, that this could definitely happen.”
But Ellis was such an organizational loyalist that the club might have taken him for granted.
“In a way I think I could almost be accused of being overcoachable,” he said. “In the past I've tried to please people. I had to learn to
do things the way I do that and be comfortable with my identity. I guess I've gotten here at my own pace.”
“I don't think you'll find a coach in our entire organization who has anything bad to say about him,” Colletti said. “But this year, it was
time for A.J.”
It's hard to be late when you never had a schedule.
ESPN DEPORTES
De Jesús, aprovecha las oportunidades
Por Noel Piñeiro-Planas
ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com
LOS ÁNGELES -- El talento no es todo lo que se necesita en el béisbol para poder llegar a ser un jugador establecido en las Grandes
Ligas.
Esto lo puede decir el segunda base puertorriqueño Iván de Jesús Jr., quien a los 26 años todavía anda esperando la oportunidad de
adueñarse de una posición en el róster ligamayorista de Los Angeles Dodgers.
Bateador de .300 en partes de tres temporadas en Triple A, De Jesús se ha quedado los últimos años esperando que los Dodgers le
den la oportunidad de ser el segunda base de la novena mayor, pero ha tenido que seguir en liga menor mientras la tropa de Don
Mattingly le otorga la defensa de ese predio a veteranos como Jamey Carroll y Aaron Miles el año pasado y Mark Ellis y Adam Kennedy
este año.
Sus oportunidades de demonstrar que puede ser regular en las Grandes Ligas no han llegado todavía de buena manera. Aunque ha
estado en parte de las últimas dos temporadas arriba, sus apariciones defensivas u ofensivas muchas veces llegan cada tres o cuatro
días.
Pese a eso, De Jesús no pierde la fe de lograr establecerse en las mayores como lo hizo entre la década del 1970 y 1980 su padre del
mismo nombre y hoy en día coach en liga menor con los Houston Astros.
Por tal razón cuando el pasado 19 de mayo fue activado por los Dodgers para reemplazar en el róster al lesionado Mark Ellis, quien
podría perderse de ocho a 10 semanas debido a una lesión en la rodilla, De Jesús acudió a su nueva cita ligamayorista con un nuevo
espíritu.
"Vengo tranquilo a trabajar duro y tratar de aprovechar la oportunidad que ellos me dan y el Señor me da. A tratar de hacer lo que yo
se hacer que es jugar pelota tranquilo y meter manos todos los días", dijo De Jesús.
Lejos de quejarse por la falta de buenas oportunidades, De Jesús destaca que este año su mente está puesta en sacar ventaja al
mínimo de chances que le den. Tal y como lo hizo el pasado martes en Arizona cuando conectó un doblete remolcador de dos carreras
en la novena entrada y en total tuvo tres RBI para guiar a los Dodgers a una victoria ante sus rivales de división los Diamondbacks.
"La oportunidad está ahora y tengo que aprovecharla. Este momento es la oportunidad y tengo que dar lo mejor de mí y sin ninguna
presión, disfrutándola como lo he hecho toda mi vida", destacó De Jesús, quien en cinco juegos y con diez turnos al bate tiene .300 de
promedia, en tanto que a nivel defensivo está en 1.000 en cuatro partidos.
Consultado sobre qué cree que le ha faltado para recibir la oportunidad de reclamar el segundo cojín de los Dodgers, De Jesús dice
que no sabe pero si tiene claro lo que debe hacer.
"La verdad que no sé que ha faltado, pero lo que tengo que jugar duro todos los días y hacer algo extra para ver si ven algo. Lo
importante es jugar duro todos los días", dijo De Jesús.
También será importante cuidar su salud. El isleño inició la temporada con una lesión en un oblicuo y en el 2009 casi perdió toda la
temporada debido a una fractura en una pierna por una jugada en el plato en un juego de la primavera en la Liga del Cactus.
De Jesús dijo que esa fractura de la pierna en el 2009 quizás le aguantó el buen camino que llevaba dentro de los Dodgers en liga
menor, y que le había visto terminar la Doble A a los 21 años y con promedio de .324 con siete jonrones, 58 RBI y 91 carreras
anotadas.
Pero el boricua tampoco quiere mirar hacia atrás para quejarse.
"Lo importante es que ahora me siento al 100%. No me molesta nada de la lesión que tuve en la pierna ni el oblicuo. Eso son cosas
que pasan y que uno no puede controlar. Estoy listo para trabajar duro como lo he hecho siempre", dijo De Jesús.
Sencillamente este está listo para aprovechar la oportunidad aun cuando tenga que alternar chances de juego con Elian Herrera,
Kennedy y Jerry Hairston Jr..
El destino ha favorecido a Abreu
El cambio a los Dodgers ha rejuvenecido al veterano jardinero venezolano
Por Noel Piñeiro-Planas
LOS ANGELES -- Cuando Bobby Abreu fue licenciado por los Angelinos de Los Angeles el 27 de abril, con menos de un mes de la
temporada 2012 de las Grandes Ligas jugada, muchos fueron los expertos que consideraban que el veterano guardabosque
venezolano sería una buena firma algún equipo de la Liga Americana que pudiera sacarle provecho a un ocasional bateador
designado, defensor de los campos exteriores de esquinas o como sencillamente un pelotero que sirviera de garantía de vida.
Posiblemente nadie le veía grandes opciones de juego en la Liga Nacional. Menos le veían el chance de ser nuevamente un peloteo de
todos los días.
Por suerte Abreu nunca presta atención a los comentarios de los expertos.
"Los comentarios a mí ni me van ni me vienen", aseguró Abreu a ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com.
"Saber tus cualidades y condiciones, y saber que todavía puedes, eso lo mantengo yo conmigo mismo".
Y Abreu está muy claro de lo que habla. Activo con Dodgers de Los Angeles desde el 4 de mayo, tras firmar un contrato por un año con
esta novena desde el status de agente libre que recibió cuando fue licenciado por los Angelinos, el bateador zurdo castiga la pelota
con promedio de .327 gracias a 17 inatrapables en 52 turnos al bate consumidos en 19 juegos jugados hasta el viernes 25 de mayo. La
producción incluye cinco dobletes, un triple y seis carreras remolcadas. Su entrada a los Dodgers ha ayudado a esta novena a no
decaer en su hábito ganador de esta temporada a pesar de múltiples bajas que han tenido por lesión y que incluyen visitas a la lista de
incapacitados de Matt Kemp y Juan Rivera, entre otros jugadores.
"Definitivamente llegar a un sitio y comenzar a hacer las cosas bien es algo que uno quiere. Uno no quiere llegar a un sitio y que las
cosas no caminen. Pero gracias al Señor todo está bien", indicó un Abreu que se nota relajado, contento y aliviado de la tensa
experiencia que comenzó a vivir este año en Anaheim.
La situación en su antiguo equipo es harta conocida. El equipo que más agresivas firmas hizo en el tiempo muerto arrancó el año de
manera decepcionante a nivel ofensivo. Y en la búsqueda de soluciones la primera alternativa ejercida fue el licenciamiento de un
Abreu que no estaba jugando todos los días para poder abrir un espacio en el róster para traer al cotizado y veloz prospecto Mike
Trout. El venezolano jugaba allá el último año de un contrato por un valor de $9 millones. Pero por la abundancia de guardabosques y
candidatos para el puesto de bateador designado, él lucía ser el canastero más fácil de sacar considerando su edad y las supuestas
capacidades que ya iban en descenso.
Y así le llegó, a los 38 años, el primer recorte de un equipo en su carrera profesional. Y Abreu no niega que todo lo tomó por sorpresa.
"Me sorprendió, me sorprendió, me sorprendió", admitió Abreu sobre el corte que le fue anunciado tras un partido en Cleveland en el
que los Angelinos vieron su récord caer a 6-14. "Primera vez que pasaba por algo así. Pero uno sigue adelante. Hay que mirar hacia al
frente. Las cosas a veces pasan por una razón".
Y si la razón fue para que Abreu tuviera la oportunidad de demonstrar que todavía no está acabo, a la verdad que el corte valió mucho
la pena. Esto tanto en el aspecto de como ha ayudado a los Dodgers y como sigue acumulando estadísticas personales para su
histórica carrera.
Uno de solo cuatro jugadores en la historia del béisbol con mínimas de 500 dobles, 250 jonrones y 350 bases robadas -- los otros son
Barry Bonds, Ricky Henderson y Craig Biggio --, Abreu ha sumado en los Dodgers cinco dobles para colocar su producción de batazos
de dos bases a 562 y colocarse a 10 de empatar con el puertorriqueño Iván Rodríguez en el puesto número 21 de todos los tiempos en
ese departamento.
Activo en su temporada número 17 en las mayores, Abreu además está a 16 jonrones de llegar a los 300 y a siete bases de su estafa
número 400. Si logra esos dos número este sería apenas el tercer pelotero en la historia del béisbol con esas mínimas, siendo los otros
dos Bobby y Barry Bonds.
Abreu tiene claro sus objetivos y como lograrlos.
"(Lo que tengo que hacer) es seguir produciendo y cada vez que tenga oportunidades hacerlo todo bien", dijo Abreu.
Por ese asunto de oportunidades, de hecho, fue que firmó en los Dodgers. Éste aseguró que su elección del equipo blanco y azul de
Los Angeles no tuvo nada que ver con quedarse viviendo en el mismo lugar donde lo hacía jugando para los Angelinos o para evitar el
proceso de una mudanza o demás.
Abreu dijo que eligió los Dodgers porque fue un lugar que evaluó le proveería mucho tiempo de juego y porque la novena se ve muy
sólida y por tal razón está posicionada en la primera posición de juegos ganados y perdidos de todo el béisbol.
La transición de vuelta a la Liga Nacional y a un nuevo equipo aseguró ha sido cómoda.
"Todo ha sido bueno. Me gusta estar aquí entre gente joven que saben jugar la pelota muy bien. Ha sido una experiencia muy bonita y
grata. Y por lo que veo aquí las cosas andan muy bien. No estuve aquí el año pasado para saber si habían muchas distracciones por el
tema administrativo pero ahora mismo todo se ve muy bien", dijo Abreu.
De manera inversa, en Anaheim las cosas no estaban así cuando Abreu recibió el corte.
"Definitivamente era algo difícil (lo que tenía que atender la gerencia)", dijo Abreu recordando que la confección del equipo tenía
exceso de peloteros para unas pocas posiciones. "Pero para mí lo pasado es pasado. Siempre miro al presente y miro hacia adelante.
Le deseo todo lo mejor y que hagan todas sus cosas muy bien".
Abreu no guarda molestias. Lo negativo lo ha convertido en positivo. En menos de un mes ha pasado a ser de un jugador licenciado a
uno que batea .327.
"Así es este juego", agregó.
Dodgers no se amilanan por las lesiones
Por Noel Piñeiro Planas
ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com
LOS ÁNGELES -- Si usted todavía es una de esas personas que se pregunta si los actuales Dodgers de Los Angeles son tan buenos como
lo dice su récord, quizás debería echar un vistazo a su lista de jugadores lesionados y a la cantidad de partidos que han perdido estos
peloteros para profundizar en la búsqueda de una respuesta.
La misma es encabezada por el jardinero central y líder jonronero del equipo, Matt Kemp, quien el viernes cumplió su undécimo día
fuera de la alineación de los Dodgers debido a un apretón en el tendón de la corva izquierda. Le siguen el jardinero derecho, primera
base y tradicionalmente quinto bate del equipo, Juan Rivera, con 15 días fuera por la misma lesión de Kemp; el tercera base Juan
Uribe, fuera 11 días por una lesión en la muñeca izquierda; el jugador de utilidad Jerry Hairston Jr., quien estuvo fuera de juego por 16
días debido a la misma lastimadura de Kemp y Rivera; el segunda base Mark Ellis, fuera hace seis días por una doble lesión de trauma
en su rodilla izquierda; y el relevista Matt Guerrier, separado hace 33 días del juego por problemas de tendinitis en su codo derecho.
En total, ese grupo acumula un total de 89 días fuera por lesión. Y la contabilidad no toma en consideración que el lanzador Ted Lilly
perdió ocho juegos al inicio de la temporada debido a un apretón en el cuello.
Increíblemente, los Dodgers no se han visto mal pese a todas esas lesiones. Y ello ni aún cuando por lo menos en dos ocasiones en el
año han tenido que iniciar una alineación con tan solo uno de sus jugadores regulares en el día inaugural de la campaña apuntado en
la misma. A pesar de todos esos infortunios, los Dodgers entraron al juego del viernes ante los Astros de Houston con la mejor marca
de todo el béisbol en 30-15. Su récord local de 19-4 camino al partido del viernes tenía a la novena buscando establecer con un
posible 20-4 su mejor arrancada local en la historia de la franquicia, cosa que no lograron al caer derrotados ante los Houston Astros
por 3-1.
El año pasado, una acumulación de lesiones de ese tipo hubiera empujado al equipo casi a la eliminación. De hecho, así lo hizo antes
que con mejor salud lograran un poderoso final de temporada que les ayudó a poder terminar la campaña con un récord de tres
triunfos por arriba del promedio de .500.
Pero eso fue el año pasado. Este año todo es diferente.
"Creo que lo que hemos podido hacer para mantenernos en la pelea es que nuestro pitcheo ha estado saludable y muy estable en su
trabajo", dijo Mattingly.
"Y lo otro es que no importa a quien haya tenido que poner haya afuera, todos han hecho el trabajo. Nos hemos mantenido estable
con la defensa. Y aunque perdimos a jugadores como Matt y Juan, los demás jugadores como que han elevado su nivel. Hemos tenido
grandes actuaciones en el clutch", agregó recordando entre otras el jonrón decisivo que conectó la pasada semana Scott Van Slyke y el
doble remolcador de dos anotaciones decisivas que proveyó Iván de Jesús Jr.
Como dirían por ahí, ciertamente los Dodgers se han crecido muy bien ante la prueba. Como equipo entraron al juego del viernes con
el segundo mejor promedio ofensivo a nivel colectivo de la Liga Nacional con .270. Presentaban también el segundo mejor pitcheo
iniciador con ERA de 3.23. Y su fildeo es el octavo mejor con .983.
En una estadística más avanzada, por su parte, el pitcheo iniciador de los Dodgers es el segundo mejor de la liga con un ERA de 3.06 al
tiempo que han sido responsables de 20 victorias y solo ocho derrotas. Por su parte, el relevo anda por la séptima mejor posición de
16 novenas de la Liga Nacional con efectividad de 3.60 aunque su marca de 10-6 es la segunda mejor de la liga en términos de
victorias y la duodécima en el análisis de las derrotas.
Para Mattingly el éxito es producto del esfuerzo y la preparación de cada pelotero. Pero él éxito en medio de tantas bajas es muestra
que su novena es algo especial este año. Y para varios integrantes del equipo eso no tiene del todo que ver con la paz que se respira
por la estabilización de la situación administrativa. Aunque eso también ayuda.
"Este año solo se está hablando de béisbol aquí. El año pasado constantemente las preguntas giraban en torno a si el pobre
rendimiento tenía algo que ver con las distracciones que generaban los problemas administrativos", indicó uno de los empleados de
Dodgers en conversación con ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com.
Y de lo que se habla constantemente es de victorias, sólidas demonstraciones y valerosas actuaciones.
Aún habiéndose perdido 10 partidos, Kemp sigue entre los líderes ofensivos de la Liga Nacional con el cuarto mejor promedio de
bateo en .359, la segunda mayor cantidad de jonrones con 12 y la 13ra de carreras remolcadas con 28.
Andre Ethier, por su parte, entró al juego del viernes bateando .321 con nueve jonrones y el liderato de carreras remolcadas de la liga
con 40. Mientras, el más reciente nuevo integrante de los Dodgers, Bobby Abreu, ha retornado con éxito a la Liga Nacional tras casi
seis años en la Liga Americana. El pelotero que ha cubierto la baja de su compatriota venezolano Juan Rivera en el bosque izquierdo
entró al juego del viernes bateando .314 con cinco dobletes, un jonrón y seis RBI en 18 partidos jugados con los blancos y azules de
Los Angeles.
En cuanto al pitcheo, el zurdo Kershaw entró al juego del viernes con una racha de 22 entradas corridas sin permitir carreras limpias
pero permitió dos esa noche y cargó con la derrota de su equipo ante los Astros para poner su marca de la campaña en 4-2 y ERA de
1.97. Tan impresionantes como él también han lanzado Chris Capuano (6-1, 2.25) y Ted Lilly (5-1, 3.14). Y los otros dos miembros de la
rotación de abridores también lo han hecho de forma satisfactoria con Chad Billingsley amasando 2-3 con 3.91 y Aaron Harang con 3-2
y 4.36.
De otra parte, el relevo de los Dodgers ha contado con un muy efectivo Ronald Bellisario, quien en nueve juegos y 8.2 entradas
lanzadas no ha permitido carreras y solo ha tolerado cinco hits de 31 hombres enfrentados. Igual también ha rebotado bastante bien
Javy Guerra, quien luego de perder su rol como taponero ha permitido solo una carrera en sus más recientes nueve juegos y nueve
entradas lanzadas.
"La realidad es que hemos logrado contribuciones de muchas jugadores tanto a nivel ofensivo como defensivo y eso nos ha dado
mucha confianza y estamos tratando de mantenernos agarrados a ella", dijo Mattingly.
Ahora quizás lo único que falta es que quienes todavía no confían en los Dodgers comiencen a hacerlo. Ya la arrancada no parece
suerte.
Ellis impulsa victoria sobre los Astros
domingo, 27 de mayo de 2012
por Rigo Cervantez
ImprimirEnviar a un amigo
LOS ÁNGELES -- Los Dodgers de Los Angeles son el único equipo de todo el beisbol de ligas mayores que no ha perdido tres juegos
consecutivos en lo que va de la temporada y la noche del sábado, en Chávez Ravine, la tropilla de Don Mattingly de verdad quqe tuvo
que batallar y sufrir, para evitar la caída frente a los correosos Astros de Houston.
Al final, la pizarra indicaba un marcador de 6-3 a favor de los de casa, que tuvieron que esperar hasta su último turno al bate para
definir un duelo que los de Houston habían igualado 3-3 en la octava entrada y aquello olía extra innings.
Pero vino ese dramático tablazo de cuatro esquinas, el quinto en la campaña para el receptor A.J. Ellis, con Andre Ethier y James Loney
a bordo, para producir las tres anotaciones que significaron la diferencia en el juego.
"Es algo muy especial el sentimiento que me invade, por la forma en que sentí cómo la bola salía despedida de mi bate, hasta verla
desaparecer y eso me hace sentir realmente feliz de ser parte de este equipo," dijo un emocionadísimo Ellis, sobre su batazo al
pabellón del jardín izquierdo.
"Es un estudioso, un jugador que trabaja todos los días y durísimo y se merece lo que está viviendo," lo elogió Mattingly, quien tuvo
que recurrir a cinco lanzadores, para contener a los agresivos Astros, incluyendo al texano Javy Guerra, quien hizo los tres outs en el
séptimo acto.
"Estoy muy orgullosos del equipo, porque cada noche hay un nuevo jugador que quiere ser el héroe, que sale dispuesto a hacer algo
grande y espectacular para ganar y así queremos seguir toda la temporada," dijo Guerra.
Kenley Jansen (4-0), en relevo, fue el ganador, mientras que los lanzadores abridores, Chad Billingsley (2-3), por los Dodgers y Bud
Norris (5-1), de Houston, nada tuvieron qué ver en la decisión. La derrota fue para Wesley Wright (0-1).
LA HISTORIA
En el primer acto, José Altuve anota la primera de Houston, tras su batazo de dos bases, lo manda hasta el plato un sencillo a la
pradera izquierda del panameño Carlos Lee.
En la segunda, los texanos hacen el 2-0 gracias a una carrera "a caballito." Con la casa llena, Billingsley concede pasaporte a Jordan
Schafer y todo mundo avanza 90 pies, incluyendo a Brian Bogusevic, desde tercera.
Pero vino el inicio de la reacción azul, en la tercera, cuando Andre Ethier impulsa a Elian Herrera desde la intermedia con un doble al
jardín central izquierdo.
En el cuarto acto, un imparable a la derecha de Tonny Gwynn Jr., acarrea hasta la registradora a James Loney y a Dee Gordon.
Enseguida, con las bases llenas, Ethier fue el tercer out con una línea al jardín central.
NOCHE DE PERROS
Los Dodgers celebraron este sábado la Noche de los Perros, pobrísimo intento de traducción para Bark in the Park, evento a beneficio
de la Sociedad Protectora de Animales, en que miles de aficionados, con sus respectivas mascotas, además de desfilar por el terreno
de juego, antes del inicio de las hostilidades, se adueñaron del pabellón del jardín derecho, para disfrutar del juego.
DESPEDIDA
Los Astros de Houston juegan por última vez en Dodger Stadium, como miembros del Viejo Circuito, ya que a partir del 2013 pasan a
integrar la Liga Americana.
La despedida es este domingo, a partir de 1:10 de la tarde, con una contienda que tendrá como protagonistas principales a los
serpentineros Chris Capuano (6-1), el derecho que sube a la loma por los Dodgers, mientras que por la novena texana lo hará el zurdo
J.A. Happ (3-3).
LAist
The (Not So) Secret to the Dodgers Success...
The Dodgers keep doing it. Thanks to A.J. Ellis' walk-off homer the Dodgers beat the Houston Astros 6-3.
Just when they seemed to plummet back to the ground losing two consecutive games, they went back to defying the odds. The lineup
that helped this one along:
1. Tony Gwynn, Jr. - CF
2. Elian Herrera - 2B
3. Bobby Abreu - LF
4. Andre Ethier - RF
5. Adam Kennedy - 3B
6. James Loney - 1B
7. A.J. Ellis - C
8. Dee Gordon - SS
9. Chad Billingsley - P
It's easy to be lazy and fall back to mysticism and religion to explain things we cannot understand. It's fate that the Dodgers are doing
so well. The Dodgers are having a magical season. The new ownership group is restoring the karma of the team.
All of the romanticism aside, one of the big reasons the Dodgers have a Major League-best 31-15 record is the discipline at the plate
for the hitters.
Manager Don Mattingly preaches to his team to try and get the starting pitcher out of the game as quickly as possible.
"You'd like to take your chances if you can get into their bullpen for four or five innings," Mattingly said. "You feel like you'll be able to
put some runs up there somewhere. We really didn't, but we hung around there until the end."
And they did it against quite a formidable opponent in Bud Norris who had only given up one earned run over 26 innings in his four
starts in May. If you do the math that is a 0.35 earned run average in that span.
Between Bobby Abreu, Elian Herrera and Ellis, they worked the count full seven of their nine plate appearances in the first four
innings. And the persistence paid off.
In the third inning after Elian Herrera walked, Andre Ethier doubled him home to cut into the Astro's lead 2-1.
And then there was the fourth inning that seemed like it would never end. James Loney led off with a single and A.J. Ellis saw eight
pitches before flying out on the ninth. After Dee Gordon doubled sending Loney to third base and Billingsley struck out for the second
out, things got really interesting.
Tony Gwynn, Jr. singled to right-centerfield giving the Dodgers the 3-2 lead. 43 pitches and the damage was done.
"This guy has been pitching pretty good," Mattingly noted. "He works quick. We tried to slow him down a little bit. The first part of the
game was a little weird — guys kept having at-bats. We saw his pitch count building, and we were hoping to run him out of there."
A two-out walk to Ellis and a single to Dee Gordon in the fifth inning forced Astros' manager Brad Mills' hand and went into his
bullpen.
The Dodgers gave up the tying run in the eighth inning when the strike zone seemed to have went AWOL, three walks sandwiching
Jason Castro's RBI double. But that only set the stage for the heroics.
After Ethier was hit by Wesley Wright's pitch, Scott Van Slyke laid down a sacrifice bunt on Wilton Lopez's pitch getting Ethier to
second base. Lopez intentionally walked Loney to get to Ellis.
After a ball, a foul and three hours, 50 minutes, Ellis found the pitch he wanted.
"I was just trying to put a good aggressive swing on it and drive the ball into the outfield," Ellis said.
With Ellis being the hero tonight, Van Slyke another, Gwynn another, and so forth, Ellis pinpointed one person in particular as the
source of this astonishing run.
"One thing that's huge was having Bobby Abreu joining this team. His at-bats rub off on everybody else, the way he works the count,
works the pitcher and then his ability to put a good solid swing on it. I think that's rubbing off on all of the guys."
Whatever it is, it's working more often than not. While I brought up a question Friday night wondering if the Dodgers stroke of good
fortune was over, they are continuing to prove that luck has nothing to do with it. They preach about having good at-bats, getting the
starting pitcher out of the game and staying disciplined.
That's a pretty good formula for winning games.
CBS LA
Dodgers Host ‘Bark In The Park’ Saturday
May 26, 2012 1:18 PM
ELYSIAN PARK (CBS) — The Los Angeles Dodgers are hosting their first of two “Bark in the Park” promotions during Saturday night’s
game against the Houston Astros.
The fun begins with a Pup Rally at 5:10 p.m. in Parking Lot G between the right and left pavilions.
A lot of goodies and contests are planned, as well as, an appearance by Tillman, a skateboarding bulldog and star of television
commercials.
A portion of Saturday night’s proceeds are expected to be donated to the Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Los Angeles.
Because tickets for the “Bark in the Park” section have sold out, the team has added a second night. It will be held Sept. 1, when team
will face the Arizona Diamondbacks.
NBC SPORTS
A.J. Ellis: All-Star?
Drew Silva
May 27, 2012, 10:48 AM EDT
The Dodgers picked up their MLB-best 31st victory on Saturday when catcher A.J. Ellis hit a walkoff three-run shot against the Astros’
Wesley Wright.
The heroics are nothing new this year for Ellis.
A 31-year-old former 18th-round pick, he’s batting .317/.442/.517 with five home runs, seven doubles and 23 RBI through 149 plate
appearances. And here’s the current leaderboard for FanGraphs’ version of WAR (Wins Above Replacement):
A.J. Ellis – 2.5
Carlos Ruiz – 2.4
Yadier Molina – 1.9
Jonathan Lucroy – 1.9
A.J. Pierzynski – 1.8
Joe Mauer – 1.5
Matt Wieters – 1.4
Buster Posey – 1.2
Carlos Santana – 1.2
Brian McCann – 0.9
Ellis isn’t as consistently great on defense as Ruiz or Molina, but he’s thrown out 16 of 35 would-be base stealers and certainly seems
deserving of his first National League All-Star nod. ”This is the greatest moment of my personal baseball career,” Ellis told the
Associated Press shortly after Saturday’s walkoff. “It’s really humbling, just to be a part of where this team is headed right now. It feels
real special.”
SI.COM
Record heat takes aim at Indy 500 fans, drivers
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Tens of thousands of fans glistening with sunscreen and toting coolers filled with ice and water descended on the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday for what could be the hottest Indianapolis 500 on record.
Temperatures were forecast to climb into the mid-90s during the afternoon's race, and track officials spent much of the week urging
fans to take precautions against the heat. The track brought in portable misting stations and cooling stations, but spokesman Doug
Boles said track medical personnel expected to treat more than 1,000 fans before the race's conclusion.
The hottest race day on record was in 1937, when the National Weather Service said the temperature hit 92 degrees.
Even before the start of the race, those in attendance were feeling the heat. Pace car driver Guy Fieri, host of the Food Network's
show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,'' said Sunday was hotter than when he was practicing in the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 pace car the
last few days.
Fieri said he thought heat will be a factor in the race but that the drivers could handle it.
"I don't think I could do it -- I've got air conditioning in the ZR1,'' Fieri said.
Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda said he was glad he was going to be in the air conditioning for his first Indy 500
- and felt for the race drivers.
"With the equipment they wear, it's going to be tough. It's going to be really tough,'' Lasorda said. "I feel sorry that they have to do it
when it's this hot, too.''
Laurie Smith, 47, of Fishers, Ind., and her 14-year-old son, C.J., weren't fazed.
Smith packed hats, bottles equipped with fans and misters and collapsible coolers that included plastic bags containing a damp
washcloth and ice to cool down their necks. She also had a secret weapon: a black umbrella.
Smith said she's taken the umbrella on outings to amusement parks and other places to provide shade on hot days, but this was the
first time in her four trips to the 500 that she'd brought it to the track.
"It brings (the temperature) down maybe five, six degrees,'' she said. "It makes it just a little cooler.''
Smith planned to use the umbrella while walking around but said she wouldn't open it during the race unless they move to a higher
vantage point where she wouldn't obstruct anyone's view.
"If I need to scoot up to the back couple of rows with my umbrella, that's an option,'' she said.
If that's not possible, she has a backup plan.
"If it gets a little warm, we'll just have to go underneath the stands and do a little shopping,'' she said.
Some fans, though, opted to sit this one out.
Paula Jarrett, 52, of New Palestine, Ind., just east of Indianapolis, has attended nearly every race for the last decade, and her husband,
David Hill, has been going for about 20 years. They've sat through unseasonably cold days, heat waves and even severe thunderstorms
in 2004 that spawned tornadoes in the city.
"We usually never miss a race,'' Jarrett said. "We've been at the track before when it's 55 and rainy and you're freezing your rear off
and drinking hot chocolate and wishing the sun would come out, and we've been out there and fried in the sun.''
This year, though, they decided to sell their tickets high in the third turn after seeing the forecast of record temperatures and heat
indexes of 100 degrees.
Even on a cooler day, Jarrett said, the sun is "in your face all afternoon long. It's just hot as Hades up there. You're packed in with all
those people up there. You can't keep sunscreen on.''
The couple found takers for all four of their tickets. Jarrett said her husband had some "seller's remorse'' and acknowledged they
would miss seeing the action in person, Still, she said sitting this one out wasn't all bad.
"There's something to be said for staying at home and listening to it on the radio,'' she said.