, Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 71st, 72nd and 73rd home runs and the scoreless-inning streaks’ of Dodger greats Don Drysdale and Orel Hershiser.
When Scully first began broadcasting, the Dodgers had yet to win a single World Series. Three years later, at the age of 25, he became the youngest person to ever broadcast a World Series game and in 1955, he had his most memorable moment behind the microphone, as he called the Dodgers' first and only championship in Brooklyn.
The following season, Scully once again found himself in the enviable position of calling what he would later say was the greatest individual performance he had seen -- Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series.
We have just received the best news of the year.
I hate to say it, but I think I’m starting to think like a Giants fan.
You see, for years I never understood Jint fan fascination and total glee in watching the Dodgers lose. I always viewed it as more proof of them suffering from an acute inferiority complex. I never really got excited about Giant losses, nor did I pay too much attention to them unless we were in a pennant race with them.
Sure, I’d joke and say that I rooted for two teams each night. “The Dodgers and whoever was playing the Giants,” I’d say, but that wasn’t serious talk. I really didn’t pay much attention to the halloween colored foes. But something changed.
The Giants won it all. With that World Series victory, their fan base not only has gotten cocky, they are downright obnoxious. Obnoxious in a Yankee/Red Sox vein. Something I never experienced before up here. The Dodgers are scoffed at with an attitude. Their hatred for the Dodgers still exists, but I have actually heard some of their fans pity the Dodgers and their troubles. There is nothing worse than getting pity from a Giants fan. That has irked me.
So what has resulted this year for me is unprecedented disdain for the Giants. I REALLY root for them to lose and I get almost as much joy out of their losses as I do Dodger wins. In fact, at this moment I’m watching the Giants trail 3-1 in the 8th inning against the Double A Houston Astros and I’m really enjoying it.
A Giant loss tonight puts them a mere 7 ahead of the Dodgers. With two series left against them, I say they’re catchable. That my friends, would make September a real enjoyable month of baseball to watch.
Is this Giant fan kid upset about the score? Nah, he dropped a foul ball and the smiling lady in front of him got it.
There's a very interesting article on McCourt and the Bryan Stow fallback in Sports Illustrated.
I'm not sure who was more excited, my 22 year old son who gave me this late birthday gift today, or me, the recipient. This is one sweet leather jacket.
The two series this year between the Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals essentially closed out this season’s hopes of each team. Though it was as early as April this year, the Cardinals domination of the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium took the wind out of their sails as the Cards won 3 of 4 from April 14-17. It was during that first St. Louis series that the Dodgers dipped below.500, a harbinger of things to come. Though the Dodgers won the finale of that series on a dramatic Matt Kemp walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth, we all saw that this Dodger team had serious weaknesses following those four games.
I chronicled the first two games of that series in the post linked below.
I find it interesting to see my thought process at the time. Yes, I was still hopeful on the season, but I saw the warning signs and could see things slipping away.
Fast forward to August, 22-24th. With the Dodgers essentially out of the running. They plunged the dagger in the Cardinal post season hopes with this three game sweep in St. Louis. The last time a Dodger club swept the Cardinals in St. Louis was 18 years ago.
Now both teams are on equal footing in the standings. Yes, the Cardinals have a winning record at 67-63, but they are 10 games out of first place in their division, the same as the Dodgers.
The three game sweep has made things a bit interesting. With 33 games to play, the Dodgers are 10 games out. But what if they caught lightning in a bottle during this Cardinal series and they were to roll out 10-11 games in a row? The NL West is weak enough that a comeback of epoch proportions could occur if the Dodgers were to get real hot.
Yes, I’m dreaming, I know that. But that’s what makes the grand old game so special. Magic occurs almost every year with somebody. Why not us? This year has been so bad so far. How about a little luck turning our way for once?
The thirteen run drubbing of the St. Louis Cardinals was another step in the Dodgers trek to have Clayton Kershaw win the Cy Young and Matt Kemp the MVP. Both players moved a few paces forward in pursuit of those goals. I expect the Dodger P.R. department to go on a full court press to stress each player as being deserving of each award.
With 7 starts remaining, Kershaw needs 4 more wins to become the 1st Dodger pitcher to win 20 games in the past 20 years. As lame a statistic as the “win” is, I can’t help but be lured in by the magic of 20 wins. 20 game winners just don’t seem be as common these days. Kershaw as a 23 year old is creeping up the ladder as a leader in other statistical categories as well.
He now is 3rd in the ERA race.
He continues to lead the league in strikeouts, now with 207.
He is the youngest pitcher to have back to back 200 strikeout seasons since Doc Gooden in 1985.
He is tied for the league lead with 16 wins.
The Cardinals are as good as any team against Kershaw, always working him deep in counts. Today’s game was no different, with Clayton tossing 108 pitches through 6 innings. This time however, Kershaw was coasting with more run support than he ever dreamed of.
That run support started three hitters into the game when NL MVP favorite Matt Kemp blasted a 420 foot, 3 run shot, deep into the left-center field stands. It was a mammoth no-doubter and put Kemp within one homer of reaching the 30-30 plateau.
Kemp still remains in the running for the triple crown, something that hasn’t happened in the National League in since Joe Medwick did it in the year before The Wizard of Oz hit the movie theaters for the first time.
He is 4th in home runs with 29, two behind league leader Albert Pujols who has 31.
Additionally Kemp ranks third in hits, stolen bases, slugging %, and fourth in OPS.
If Kemp is able to kick things up a notch in the final month, September may be a rather interesting month, despite the Dodgers being out of the pennant race.
The Kershaw and Kemp performances have made the 2011 season the strangest Dodger season I can recall ever following. Do the Dodgers dare have two players win the most prestigious awards in the league while the club is in the cellar?
21 years ago today was as painful a Dodger loss as I ever experienced.
I was living in San Diego, but I had full access to the Dodgers home telecasts because my local cable package had the LA stations on it. In this pre-internet era, I also had a subscription to the L.A. Times delivered to the front door of my home, keeping me fully functional with the L.A. Sports scene.
I had a nice meal and sat down to watch the Dodger game, an 11-3 schalacking of the Phillies when I fell asleep in the 8th inning. It was a Tuesday night, and I needed to get up early to do that 40 mile commute to my work site. The Dodgers were battling for the Division title, with a 63-59 record, six games behind the eventual World Champion, Cincinnati Reds.
They were playing a 4th place Philadelphia club, led by sparkplug Lenny Dykstra, first baseman John Kruk and outfielder Von Hayes. Even Dale Murphy in his final days as a player was on that roster.
Dale Murphy was traded to the Phillies a few weeks before this game. Murph had a key ninth inning hit in this debacle.
The Dodgers had Mike Hartley on the mound. With Eddie Murray at first, Lenny Harris at second, Alfredo Griffin at short, Mike Sharperson at third and Mike Scioscia behind the plate. The outfield was made up of Hubie Brooks, Kirk Gibson (in center field) and Kal Daniels. With such an enormous lead, Lasorda put in Stan Javier in left, Jose Gonzalez in center and rookie Jose Offerman at shortsop.
If you look at the baseball reference box score of the game, you’ll find the Dodgers win probability chart showed the Dodgers at 100% from the bottom of the 5th inning until the top of the 9th inning when Offerman kicked his first ground ball. Then the graph line slowly starts to creep upward in Philadelphia’s favor. L.A. win probability moves from 97 to 95, 90, 56, 50, 44, 18, 10, and then to 0.
In this grainy you tube