It’s time for me to recap five of my favorite moments from the first half of the season. Let’s see if any match up with yours. Here we go, in no particular order.
April 25 Dodgers vs Giants The day Cody Bellinger got called up.
At this early point in the season the Dodgers were already showing signs of not being able to score many runs. Cody Bellinger was brought up to provide a spark to the offense. Brett Eibner was sent down.
Bellinger started in left field. He went 1 for 3, with a single and an intentional walk. Cody wasn’t the story, however, as Clayton Kershaw dominated the Giants over 7 innings and 7 Ks on his way to picking up his fourth win.
Here’s Cody’s first major league hit:
June 3 Dodgers vs Brewers Chris Taylor Wins the Battle of the Grand Slams
The Dodgers home run bats were starting to hit their stride at this point, but nobody predicted the amount of grand slams these guys had inside their bats.
Both starting pitchers struggled that day, and it was a bullpen battle by the fifth inning, with the Brewers up 3-2. The Dodgers took the lead 4-3, but the Brewers hit a grand slam plus another home run to go up 8-4. The Dodgers didn’t give up and chipped away. They also started their run of bases loaded walks in this game. Cody Bellinger walked to bring in a run and tighten the score to 8-6. Up stepped Chris Taylor:
It was Taylor’s second grand salami. There would be more – and from other Dodgers as well.
May 21 Dieter Rhuele plays the Rolling Stones for me !
It was a sleepy Sunday game against the Marlins. The Dodgers were winning, and I sent out a tweet mentioning that although I was saddened when Nacy Bea Hefley retired, new Dodger Stadium organist, Dieter Rhuele, had stepped in admirably, and he was making his own mark with a new generation by blending snippets of rock and roll alongside the traditional sounds of the baseball organ.
Remarkably, Dieter saw my tweet. Even more remarkably, he sent a “thank you” tweet to me. We sent each other a couple more tweets and I said my season would be made if he could sneak in some Rolling Stones.
A half inning later, I heard the unmistakable melody of Paint It Black. I was floored!
The organ in my life’s baseball cathedral was playing music from my favorite band…just for little ol’ me! It lasted only seconds, but it will remain one of the most vivid and happy Dodger experiences of my life.
June 11 Dodgers vs Rockies Kíke with a 13 pitch walk
Just as we saw ealrier in the month, the Dodgers mounted another late inning rally to win the game with walks and dramatic grand slams.
In the bottom of the eighth, Cody Bellinger hit a solo home run to make the score Rockies 7, Dodgers 4. Yasmani Grandal Singles and Yasiel Puig walked. Up came Enrique Hernandez with the greatest at bat of the first half. He worked a 13-pitch walk, which included 8 foul balls, to load the bases (the most pitches in a PA of the season at that point). That was followed by Chase Utley walking in a run. Then Corey Seager came up:
Last, but no way least, is:
June 30 vs Padres Dodgers bats slam 3 HRs to make it a 53 home run month.
Austin Barnes hit two (one was a grand slam) and Justin Turner hit one.
Dodgers 53 HR count in June:
Bellinger 13
Turner, Puig, Joc 6
Seager, Grandal 5
Kiké 4
Taylor 3
Barnes, Utley 2
Thompson, Forsythe 1
Wow! What a team! And what an exciting first half this has been. I think Part Two will be even better.
What about your favorite moments?
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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I have been loving the organ at the ballpark. Love to hear rock and roll played on the organ, cracks me up every time.
Rock on an organ should be played on an old Fender Rhodes organ. Same instrument the Doors used on their tunes.
My favorite moment….watching Bellinger hit his first HR. I always love to see a new player come up and have some success instead of struggling to even hit the ball, or in the case of a pitcher find the strike zone. You know the adrenaline is flowing and they are excited just to be there. Bellinger has been a revelation and a breath of fresh air. Saddest moment has been watching the obvious decline of Adrian Gonzalez. Adrian is a true pro. He has since he arrived provided fans with some exciting moments including hitting 3 HR’s on opening day. Watching him struggle to hit the ball with any authority was painful.
Michael
Agone is not only a good player, he is a good guy!
Not all veteran players, would handle the situation, like Agone has done.
Gonzo is a pro’s pro. He has had nothing but praise for Bellinger and has not complained at all about the possibility that his career is close to being over. He even said that if his back does not respond, retirement is an option. Latest I have heard is that it will be late August if he gets back at all. He is just now hitting off a tee.
Well other than Kenley Jansen the players all star game performances certainly were not all that. All our hitters went ofer. Jansen K’d 3 in the 9th and Wood gave up the first run in a 2-1 loss. We all knew Kersh was not going to pitch. The guys have plenty of rest since they do not play until Friday. Everybody should be fresh and swamp the fish.
Who cares? It’s a show not a game. Shows don’t have winners or losers, they have characters playing roles. Don’t sweat it Michael, it is meaningless. Let’s get back to real baseball that counts.
Was in no way sweating it as you say, just an observation. I could care less who wins the damn thing anymore. Just nice when you see a homer or something like that from a home town hero……Miller got the best of Bellinger this time.
Not sure what the rating was last night but for several years the viewing audience, and obviously the share, has been dwindling. I didn’t see most of it, just checked in in occasion. It is a show, but not one I care to watch anymore.
Badger
That is what I did.
I looked at the feed and it said that Wood give up a run, on a pop up to Zimmerman the first base man.
Was there a misplay or just one of those bloopers, just in between the first basemen, and the right fielder?
Henry Ramos, y’all remember him from spring training? He went down with an injury but was really impressive before that. Guy is hitting .559 at Tulsa. Has 4 homers already among his 19 hits. Former Red Sox outfielder who hits left handed. Might be a nice bench piece down the road.
Michael
He had to be blocked in the outfield, on the Red Sox, because they are complete set, in there outfield, for years to come.
He was a minor league free agent and the team signed him this winter. He was hitting real well in spring with the Dodgers then got hurt. Just came off the DL about 10 days ago.
“Y’all remember him?”
Nope.
Interesting looking guy:
http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=592656#/career/R/hitting/2017/ALL
Says he’s a switch hitter.
Thing about Ramos, I thought he was older, but he is only 25. Same as Joc and Kike, and a year younger than Puig. next 2 days will drag….waiting for the next game.
Michael
That was what I was thinking last night.
I sure hope the time flies, so we can get to the next game!
You just never knew how a team will do after the Allstar break, remember what happened with the Giants last year.
But I think we will be fine, because our starting pitching is starting to really come around, with Hill starting to pitch like he did, last year.
Well, I’m being moderated again. Post from 3 hours ago in limbo. This issue is one I’ve never had in years of participating in chat rooms.
A lot of news regarding minor league happenings. You can read it by moving around.
Posting a link is one thing that will get your comments held up in the Pending file until the Moderator approves it. The problem is there isn’t a Moderator on duty at all times. Timmons was one of the guys who used to do that job, along with Scott, Oscar and James Moya (I assume). Scott should authorize one or two more of the posters here to fulfil that important job. I would suggest Badger himself or MJ but both of them do their things on Cell Phones, honest to God. I don’t think the Moderation function could be accomplished without a computer. And I am most certainly not suggesting myself, I am too likely to drift away soon… Perhaps a volunteer…
Maybe I’m being sent to my corner for suggesting these guys weren’t trying that hard.
And you mentioned Timmons again. No comment. Especially on his moderating techniques.
I’m not interested in working here. Just the conversation, thank you.
Sorry, the spam filter has a mind of it’s own when it comes to outside links. I’ve been at work all day and came home and passed out without looking at the chat room over here. Perhaps I’ll do what Jonah suggests and let someone moderate the boards over here. Would you like to do that Badger? It would be a great help as neither me or the rest of the guys over here have the time to do that with our work schedules.
So is Archer still the focus? Or is it the right handed version of Rich Hill?
Artie, I think they are more interested in BP help from the left side. If someone were to come available that would not break the bank prospect wise they might go for it. But there was a story today in Dodger Blue that Zaidi could not see a scenario where he trades Verdugo and that’s the piece most teams want from the Dodgers.
I think it will be a bullpen piece. So much still depends on who remains standing from August 1st to October. No way of knowing but I anticipate further manipulation of the 10 Day all the way to the finish line. If the playoffs started this week, we look ready to go. But with our history of injury, I wouldn’t count on all these guys being 100% come playoff time. Once again I would like to see some real depth added that rotation. I’m still of the belief we will win, or lose, with our pitching.
Actually, the keyboard player for the Doors, Ray Manzarek, played a Vox Continental Combo Organ. Since the Doors had no bass player, he played bass parts on a Fender Rhodes Bass Keyboard
I stand corrected…but that’s cool. It was a unique sound and I really enjoyed their music. I think Riders on the Storm is still one of my favorites.
Does anyone know if Rosenthal got fired from FOX? I saw a tweet that he was looking for a new home to write from. If they fired him, that to me is a huge surprise, the guy is one of their best writers. I do know ESPN fired a bunch of guys. I watched Vinny get his award on the ESPY’s last night. Manning was pretty amusing, but he pissed Kevin Durant off with a joke aimed at him.
Fox sports.com has moved to an all video online forum.
Rosenthal will still appear on TV and online video for Fox.
From MLBTR: (With FOXsports.com evidently morphing into a vlog, Rosenthal is writing from his Facebook page during what is sure to be a short-lived foray into free agency.)
Hey, Michael Norris. No problem. No disrespect. I agree with you that the organ sound made the Doors.
Cheers