He was a member of “The Infield”. They formed the Dodger infield for eight and a half years. Though not the most talented of the four, he would have the longest tenure with the Dodgers. William Ellis Russell was born in Pittsburg Kansas on October 21st, 1948. Russell was taken in the 1966 draft in the 9th round of the June draft. He was drafted out of Pittsburg High School. At the time of his draft, he was an outfielder. He made it to the Dodgers in 1969 as a 20-year-old outfielder.
Maury Wills had returned to the Dodgers in 1969 and was the starting SS. Russell came up to the team, playing in 86 games, all in the outfield and mostly in right. He hit .226 with five homers and fifteen runs batted in. In 1970 it was more of the same with Russell again playing all the outfield positions and appearing in just 81 games. During spring training in 1971, he began working as an infielder with infield coach, Monty Basgall. That season Russell played primarily at second base, and the outfield, usually right. 
Again, with Basgall in the spring of 72, Russell was working on his infield play, this time getting some time at shortstop. Maury Wills started the season in a prolonged slump. On April 29th, Russell made his first start at short for the Dodgers. He would stay there for the next 11 years. Never a power threat, Russell hit double figures in home runs just once, A ball in 1968 at Bakersfield. He was more of a contact hitter. His first full year as a regular in the lineup, Bill hit .272.
In 1973, he was joined in the infield by converted outfielder, Davey Lopes at second, and Ron Cey at third. Both graduates of the vaunted 1968 draft class. The primary first baseman was Bill Buckner. A utility player on that team was Steve Garvey, who because of his bat, the Dodgers were trying to find a position for. He had flopped as a third baseman because his throws to first were an adventure. They used to say the fans behind first base were in danger of an injury when Garvey played third. Russell played all 162 games in 73 batting .263.
In the spring of 1974, LA solved the position problem with Garvey by moving him to first base and moving Bill Buckner to left. They had traded CF Willie Davis for pitcher Mike Marshall and added slugger Jimmy ” The Toy Cannon ” Wynn to play center field. Steve Yeager moved to #1 catcher allowing slugging Joe Ferguson to be the 4th outfielder at times with veteran Willie Crawford playing right. It was “The Infield’s” first season as a unit.
Russell batted .269 that year with 5 homers and he drove in a career high, 65 runs. He hit .389 in the four games of the NLCS win over the Pirates. In the World Series against the A’s, he hit just .222 going 4-18. The Dodgers as a team hit just .228 against the powerful A’s. Their pitching kept them in all five games. Three were decided by the same 3-2 score with only game 5, 5-2, having the winner with more than 3 runs. LA won game 2, 3-2 behind Don Sutton. 
The Dodgers were no match in the NL West with the Big Red Machine in 75-76. They finished second both years, a cumulative 30 games back. Walter Alston retired at the end of 1976 and Tommy Lasorda replaced him. Dodger baseball was forever changed by the enthusiastic Lasorda. Russell was injured for part of 75 and never got untracked, he batted just .206. He rebounded in 76 and hit .274, a career high. He again hit 5 homers and tied his career high of 65 driven in.
With Tommy at the helm, the 77 team was led by the power hitting quartet of Garvey, Smith, Baker and Cey. They became the first quartet in baseball history to slug 30 or more homers apiece. Garvey, 33, Smith, 32, Cey, 30 and Baker, 30. Baker joined the club on the last day of the season against hard throwing J.R. Richard of the Astros in a 6-3 loss. Conversely, Manny Mota and Glenn Burke, hit their only homers of the year in the same game. They beat Steve Carlton and the Phillies, 3-1 in the LCS. Russell delivered a clutch 2 out single to drive in a run in game four.
The World Series featured the Dodgers and the Yankees for the first time since 1963. Bill had a bad World Series hitting just .154 in the six-game loss to New York. Russell batted 278 in 1977. In 78, the Dodgers won the West again and again faced the Phillies in the LCS. Bill had done hit part hitting a career high .286. Russell had a much better series against the Phils hitting .412 with 2 runs driven in. The Dodgers won the first two games against the Yankees in the World Series, but the fates conspired against them, and they lost the next four games. It wasn’t Bill’s fault. He batted .423 for the series with 11 hits, which led all Dodger batters. Lopes was second with 8 hits. 
Offense was not the problem for the 79 team. The hit 183 homers, first in the league, batted .263 and scored 739 runs. Rick Sutcliffe won the ROY, but he was the only starting pitcher with a winning record. Russell hit .271 and had a career high 7 homers. The team finished in 3rd place with a 79-83 record. 1980 saw Bill play in 130 games. His lowest total since 1975 when he played in only 84 games. His BA dipped a little to .261. The team would finish in second place after losing a one game playoff with the Astros. Russell had been hit in the hand in September by Mike LaCoss of the Reds. It shattered his right forefinger. Although it was surgically repaired, he was never really the same player.
The infield was nearing the end of their run. The Dodgers had seven starting position players over 30, with Smith and Lopes, each 35 being the oldest. 1981 was “The Infield’s” swan song. It was also a strike year, and the beginning of Fernandomania. The Dodgers would win what became the first half. They would play the winner of the second half, which turned out to be the Astros. The team with the most wins in the NL that season, the Reds, did not make the playoffs. Russell played in 82 of the teams 110 games. He hit just .222, with no homers. He was backed up by Derrell Thomas and Pepe Frias.
LA beat the Astros 3-2 in the LDS. Russell went 4-16 and drove in 3 runs. In the LCS against Montreal, he was 5-16 and drove in 1 run. In the World Series win over the Yankees, Bill went 6-25, drove in 2 runs and stole a base. Yeager, Guererro, and Cey were Co-MVP’s of the series. That winter the infield was broken up as Davey Lopes was traded to the A’s for Lance Hudson. Bill’s new keystone partner was Steve Sax.
Sax would earn the ROY in 82, fourth in a row for the team. Sutcliffe, Howe and Valenzuela preceded him. The team slipped to second place in 82. But the lost to the Braves by just one game. They got a little younger with Sax, Scioscia, Guererro and Landreaux now in the starting 8. Russell was more himself that season. He played in 152 games batting .274. He hit 3 homers and drove in 46 runs.
The 1983 brought more change to the team. Russell was the last man standing. Garvey left for the Padres in free agency; Cey was traded to the Cubs for Dan Cataline, a minor leaguer, and P Vance Lovelace. Greg Brock was the new first baseman and Guererro took over at third. LA won the West by 3 games over the Braves but were taken out of the playoffs in four games by the Phillies. Russell, in what would be his last year as the starting SS, hit .246 in 131 games. He was 4-14 against the Phillies in the four games. 
After 1983, Russell became a reserve. Playing the outfield and second base. Those final three seasons, he rarely played SS. Dave Anderson was the # 1 SS in 1984. Mariano Duncan was # 1 Russell’s last two seasons. Bill played all 18 of his major league seasons with the Dodgers, tying Zack Wheat as the longest tenured Dodger. He is second to Wheat in games played as a Dodger with 2181. He is sixth on the Dodgers all-time hit list. Bill finished his career in 1986. His career line, .263/46/627. He had 167 stolen bases and scored 627 runs. Tommy John once said that Russell was the best SS who he ever played with.
In 1987, Bill joined Lasorda’s coaching staff. In 1992, he was assigned to manage the Albuquerque Dukes, LA’s AAA franchise. He managed them for two years, posting a losing record both years. He rejoined the staff in 1994, and was considered by Peter O’Malley and Fred Claire, to be Lasorda’s heir apparent for the manager’s job. In June of 1996, Lasorda suffered a mild heart attack. Russell was named the acting manager. Although Lasorda recovered completely, management decided to make him manager permanently and Lasorda announced his retirement on July 29th. Russell thus became just the 3rd Dodger manager in 43 years. How times have changed.
Bill led LA to a 49-37 record to finish the season, with the team earning second place and a wild-card berth. They were quickly swept out of the playoffs by the Braves. In 97 he led LA to another second-place finish, but no playoff berth. They were 88-74. In 1998, things for the Dodgers would change drastically. First, the team was sold to Fox News Corp. Then the execs traded Piazza and Zeile. The team started badly and when their record was 36-38 start, he and Claire were fired in a general house-cleaning. Neither he nor Claire had any knowledge that the Piazza trade was being made. Claire talked about it in his book, My 30 Years in Dodger Blue.
So ended Bill’s 30 years with the Dodgers. His final managerial record, 173-149 .537. He would coach for the Tampa Bay Rays and manage farm teams for the Rays and the Giants. His Wikipedia page says he worked for MLB’s umpiring division. He has attended some functions at Dodger Stadium. He was a steady but unspectacular SS.
MiLB GAME SUMMARIES
OKC Comets 8 – Salt Lake City Bees (LAA) 7
Ryan Ward’s two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning gave the Oklahoma City Comets their first lead of the day in an 8-7 comeback win against the Salt Lake Bees. The Comets scored seven runs over the final four innings as they overcame a five-run deficit to win the series finale.
A solo homer by OKC’s James Outman in the fourth inning had cut the Salt Lake lead to 2-1 before the Bees scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning for a 6-1 advantage. Dalton Rushing connected on a RBI double in the sixth inning and Justin Dean belted a three-run homer in the seventh inning to trim the Bees’ lead to 6-5.
Salt Lake tacked on a run via a solo homer before OKC brought in a run on a Bees error in the eighth inning. Following Ward’s go-ahead home run in the ninth inning, OKC pitcher Jack Little stranded the Bees’ potential game-tying and winning runs on base in the bottom of the ninth inning to secure his league-leading sixth save.
Justin Wrobleski started for OKC but it did not go well. He completed 3.2 IP before he reached 86 pitches (53 strikes). His pitching line was 6 runs (all earned), 8 hits, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 HR.
Ryan Ward homered in a second consecutive game as well as for the third time in five games in Salt Lake, going 2-for-5. The homer was Ward’s fifth of the season and the 59th of his Oklahoma City career. He is now tied with Edwin Ríos (2017-19; 2022) for second place on OKC’s Bricktown-era (since 1998) career home runs list and is one home run away from tying Jason Hart’s (2002-03; 2006) team record of 60 homers…Ward is now up to 214 RBI in his OKC career, tying Ríos for third place on OKC’s Bricktown-era list.
Esteury Ruiz went 2-for-5, scored a run and stole three bases. He became the first Oklahoma City player with three stolen bases in a game since Tim Locastro had three stolen bases Aug. 15, 2017 in Omaha…He has now reached base in all 16 games he has played with the Comets, as well as in all 18 Triple-A games he has played this season…Ruiz now has 13 stolen bases in 2025, including 12 with OKC.
James Outman went 2-for-5 for his sixth multi-hit game of the season and fourth in five games. He hit his sixth homer of the season to move him into a tie with Michael Chavis for the team lead.
Justin Dean hit his first home run of the season and finished with a season-best and game-high three RBI.
OKC pitchers issued nine walks in the game, marking the fifth time this season OKC pitchers have allowed nine or more walks.
NW Arkansas Naturals (KC) 5 – Tulsa Drillers 3
The Tulsa Drillers took late leads in both games with Northwest Arkansas Sunday afternoon at Arvest Ballpark, but both disappeared in a pair of close losses to the Naturals.
In the resumption of Saturday’s suspended game, Tulsa carried a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Naturals erased their deficit with two runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth to record a 5-3 win. In the regularly scheduled game, a three-run fifth gave the Drillers another lead, but the Naturals responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to rally for a 5-4 victory in game that lasted seven innings.
It was a tough ending for the Drillers in a series that started promisingly with two wins in the first three games, but the Naturals won the final three games to take the series 4 games to 2. Tulsa held leads in all three of those defeats.
Saturday night’s game was suspended by rain in the bottom of the fourth inning with Northwest Arkansas leading 1-0 and resumed Sunday afternoon prior to the regularly scheduled game.
When play restarted, the Naturals upped their lead to 2-0 before Chris Newell put Tulsa in front with one swing of the bat in the sixth inning. Taylor Young singled, and Sean McLain walked in front of Newell before the centerfielder delivered his third homer of the season to give the Drillers a 3-2 lead.
Jackson Ferris, who normally starts, relieved Saturday’s starter Jacob Meador when play resumed on Sunday. Ferris gave up a run in the fifth before setting the Naturals down in order in the sixth.
Two singles off the lefthander, and a hit batter loaded the bases for the Naturals in the seventh. Javier Vaz followed with a two-run single to give Northwest Arkansas a lead it would not relinquish.
Naturals’ relievers set down the final 12 Tulsa batters in the game to close out the nine-inning win.
NW Arkansas Naturals (KC) 5 – Tulsa Drillers 4
In Sunday’s regularly scheduled game, the first three batters of the game reached safely for the Drillers on two walks and a hit batter. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Damon Keith produced the game’s first run.
Northwest Arkansas answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first off Tulsa starter Peter Heubeck.
The Naturals added another run in the fourth to increase the lead to 3-1 before Keith struck again in the top of the fifth. After Yeiner Fernandez’s run-scoring single cut the margin to one run, Keith grounded a ball sharply down the left field line that turned into a two-run double that put Tulsa in front 4-3.
Once again, Northwest Arkansas had a quick response. Jac Caglianone doubled and Kale Emshoff walked to set up two-run single from eighth-place hitter Sam Ruta. Ruta dropped a soft single into left field off reliever Ronan Kopp.
The Drillers put a runner on base in both the sixth and seventh innings, but they could not push across a tying run as the Naturals completed the two-game sweep.
Jose Ramos was held without a hit in game one to end his nine-game hitting streak. The hitless game also ended Ramos’ streak of homering in three straight games. The nine-game streak matches John Rhodes for the longest hitting streak by a Tulsa batter this season.
Reliever Christian Suarez gave up the third run by the Naturals in game two. It is the first run the lefthander has surrendered this season who now has a 0.73 ERA.
Brandon Neeck got the final four outs in game two and has still not given up an earned run this season over 7.2 innings of work out of the bullpen.
Ferris was charged with the loss in game one, his second of the series. Ferris gave up four runs on six hits and two walks in 4.0 innings while striking out six. Ferris relieved Clayton Kershaw in the series opener and picked up his first defeat of the season. They are the only two relief outings in his professional career.
Great Lakes Loons 12 – Lake County Captains (Cleveland) 11
The Loons scored 7 runs in the 6th inning thru the 8th. They took a 12-5 lead into the 9th, and then had to hold on for dear life as the Captains scored 6 in the 9th off three Loons pitchers.
In the first inning, the Loons first five batters reached first and three runs scored. Logan Wagner opened with a double (8), Josue De Paula followed with a single putting runners on the corners. Zyhir Hope singled home Wagner with a single. Jordan Thompson drew a BB to load the bases. Joe Vetrano hit a 2-run scoring double (5). The Loons scored another on a strike three passed ball for a 4-0 lead.
Vetrano hit a HR (1) to lead off the 3rd
Joe Vetrano had a career day. The 22-year-old drove in five runs, off four hits, three for extra bases including his first homer of 2025. Vetrano delivered a solo blast in the third, started his day with a two-run double in the first, added an RBI double in the seventh and an RBI single in the ninth.
Zyhir Hope tallied four hits, with two runs batted in, and now has 21 RBI, in 21 games. Hope is the third Loon all-time to drive in 20 runs in the month of April. Jerry Sands secured 22 RBI in April 2010, the best mark by a Loon.
Logan Wagner had two doubles accounting for two runs. Wagner now has nine doubles, tied with Lake County’s Jose Devers for the most in the Midwest League. Wagner’s two-run double in the sixth, was the start of three straight multi-run innings.
The trio of Vetrano, Hope, and Wagner delivered nine of the 12 runs.
Lake County totaled four runs in the third. Devers tripled home a run and an error brought him home. Alfonsin Rosario, with the inning extended, belted a two-run homer to left. Loon starter Luke Fox struck out four over four innings, with two earned runs.
The Captains down seven runs entering the bottom of the ninth, left the potential tying run on second base. Two doubles started the frame scoring a run followed by a walk and a flyout eventually pushing out Christian Romero. Ralphy Velazquez facing Christian Ruebeck smashed a ball to right field that was interfered with by a fan reaching over the wall, it was ruled an RBI double.
- Joe Vetrano – 4-5, 1 BB, 2 runs, 5 RBI, 2 doubles (7), HR (1)
- Zyhir Hope – 4-6, 3 runs, double (7)
- Logan Wagner – 2-5, 1 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 2 doubles (9)
- Josue De Paula – 2-5, 1 BB, 2 runs
- Jordan Thompson – 2-5, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI, double (5)
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 10 – Inland Empire 66ers (LAA) 3
The Quakes won their fifth straight game on Sunday afternoon, taking a 10-3 victory over the 66ers to improve their lead in the South to eight games over Inland Empire.
Victor Rodrigues and Eduardo Guerrero each knocked in two runs, while Jose Meza scored a team-high three runs, as Rancho took advantage of 12 walks and four Inland Empire errors, helping to offset a seven-hit performance offensively.
On the hill, Hyun-Seok Jang pitched three scoreless innings, while Jholbran Herder allowed just one run over four innings to nail down the win.
- Jaron Elkins – 2-4, 1 run, 1RBI
Good dude but boring-ass manager.
Well consider who he was following, anyone with his type of personality would have seemed really laid back compared to Lasorda. Russell was more in the vein of Alston. But there were some tense moments when he was managing. He was constantly being second guessed by Lasorda, who had moved into the front office. Lasorda also caused some tension and a falling out with Russell because he wasn’t absolutely sure Russell was the best choice for manager. He thought it might be Scioscia or Reggie Smith. To top it all off there was the trade of Piazza and the sale of the team. Even under Lasorda, the team was accused of under achieving. In 97 he had some arguments with Astacio and Valdez, when he came to take them out of ballgames, on TV too. Not a good thing. Some talk about the Dodgers of today’s lack of urgency, back then the talk was about the team not having any fire in their belly.
Very true about the post-Lasorda personality void. Hell, Jim was similarly challenged in his ability to talk to media.
Jim Tracy? I don’t remember that guy ever talking to anybody.
Bill Russell. 18 years of offensive mediocrity. In no year did he have an OPS over .700. No Gold Gloves, but was a decent fielder. He did manage to make the All Star team 3 times, how I don’t know. And his .537 wining % as manager ironically was better than Lasorda’s.
No, he never was a star offensively, but what he was was consistently around the same numbers. And he played in an era when very few shortstops were offensive monsters.
John Denver innit
Does not sound good about Glasnow’s shoulder. Could see IL time.
I will be surprised if he does not go in the IL.
Again, I think some of us saw this coming. Just not this soon.
So, who’s next in the IL pool?
Fait accompli. Good news is we have Gonsolin coming up, and Casparius already up, Knack and Frasso at AAA, Miller with experience, Wroblox ready for another look and Kershaw/Ohtani/Sheehan potentially down the line.
I do not trust Miller until he finds some control and gets the walks way down.
The other day, I scoffed when it was suggested that the Dodgers would trade for Sandy Alcantara…
Now I’m dreaming up trade packages.
May on Monday. Bullpen game Tuesday. Gonsolin Wednesday
Per Plunkett:
Tyler Glasnow: “I just don’t really have an answer right now, and I think that’s the most frustrating thing. It’s not a lack of trying. It’s just kind of getting exhausting at this point. I know it’s probably exhausting for a lot of people.”
Per Royer:
Dave Roberts said he’s more worried about short-term rather than the long-term for Tyler Glasnow. Still TBD on if Glasnow will get imaging on his shoulder — Roberts said he’ll let the training staff decide.
On if he’ll head to the IL: “Certainly a possibility.”
Of course he is going to get imaging. Geez. Why wouldn’t they?
when I first heard that they were screwing with Glasnow’s delivery I had a bad feeling that he was going to injure his arm, in fact, I might of posted something about that in here but I can’t remember. It seems that any major adjustments to a pitcher’s mechanics can often times lead to real arm trouble.
Delivery mechanics changes were made to see if they could help the man get through a season without injury.
Nope.
In 9+ years he’s put up 8.9 WAR. So much promise, so little delivery. He’s 32 in August. I’m betting he spends his birthday this year in a rehab jacuzzi.
Every jacuzzi is a rehab jacuzzi if you’re banged up enough.
He’s so brittle, like a piece of glass…..talk about Glass….NOW.
you know, he kinda goes against every organizational tenet we have about what makes a good delivery: clean, athletic, natural, repeatable.
Pepiot and Buehler looking real good right about now.
AF can stop signing fragile pitchers any time.
All pitchers are fragile. Name one on most any roster who hasn’t spent time on the IL. You can never anticipate injuries.
Not any better than:
Knack, wrobocop, frasso, gonsolin or Miller.
Pepiot has a 4.24 era.
Buehler’s ERA is 4.28 and his WHIP is 1.218. It means the Sox are scoring runs when he wins. 33.2 innings in 6 starts?
Buehler’s a stud. I wish him well and always will. Maybe he’ll come back some day.
Buehler is 30 years old; he has had 2 TJ operations; he missed the better part of one and a half seasons. Last year the guy sucked almost the entire year, his ERA was over 5. There was nothing studly about him. What Walker has been is very good in big games. But he is as brittle as they come. LA did not sign him simply because they were out to get Sasaki. And to tell the truth, they really did not need him with their depth.
Flaherty wanted to come back too….
I certainly trusted AF’s judgment in not keeping Buehler or Flaherty. But I also expected a better bounce-back from Miller.
Anyway, mighty fine and timely outing from May today. Looking forward to Gonsolin’s return. And Kershaw could be available in late May.
Whoops… wrote too soon.
May kinda blew up in the 6th, and Banda had trouble too….
From cruising at 5-0 to 5-5 tussle…. Darn.
I appreciate these Dodgers MiLB updates, always look forward to them.
Most helium in the system belongs to Linan.
Ain’t that true. The guy’s numbers are crazy.
And he’s not throwing 99. He’s a pitcher. Impressed by his command. Last outing 11 K’s 1 walk.
6’ 185lb Low-A League pitcher. Every year there’s somebody like this making noise. Let him pitch against better hitters and see if he can get them out.
In the mean time, we’ll likely be seeing a few bullpen games coming up.
Good. Kansas kid. In high school he was a great basketball player and lead his team to a State championship. Thanks for the article Bear.
It’s amazing how you can keep an opponent run production down when you don’t walk a bunch of them.
On MLBCT yesterday. A common Dodger fan question.
Dodger Fan9:39How much longer will we put up with Muncy at 3B? He was pretty terrible on offense last year, and this year is even worse. Plus his defense at 3B is atrocious.
Mark P9:41Muncy is one of the unluckier hitters in baseball so far, as he’s making a ton of hard contact with nothing to show for it. That said, while his xwOBA is far outpacing his wOBA, even his xwOBA is still only around league average, and he is striking out even more than before.
The underlying metrics are overall good enough that I wouldn’t worry too much about Muncy just yet, but surely the Dodgers are keeping an eye.
What is MLBCT?
https://www.google.com/search?q=mlbct&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari&sei=gJYPaMvHCPbAkPIPi4yVmA4
Aluminum Angle Connectors?
Thats what I got. Maybe you can explain it.
MLBTradeRumors.com. Their weekly chat room
Muncy. Just look at his career stat sheet at BR and tell me what you see.
I’ll answer it.
Imminent decline.
I’m worried
It’s funny, I allowed myself a strange, hindsight-fueled loop this morning imagining what would’ve happened if we didn’t sign Conforto. In it, Lux stayed at 2B, Edman moved to CF, Teo stayed in LF and Pages moved to RF. Kim could still have been added as a utility piece [he was rather cheap and helps establish some South Korean ties so no worries].
Your welcome John. I always liked Russell, and he did have some big hits for the team even though he wasn’t the brightest star on the team.
*It’s incredibly satisfying to watch Andy Pages right now. You can see what the Dodgers like about this kid at the plate. What a difference some success brings with confidence. He is so aggressive at the plate. His balance, right now, jumps out at me. He can swing hard yet stay on pitches. He can look fastball and adjust. He’s selective, fouling off pitcher’s pitches until he gets something to handle. 2 weeks ago he was destined for the minors, maybe never seen again, and now he’s making headlines. I couldn’t be happier for the kid’s recent success.
*Muncy, behind him, is the exact opposite. He is tardy on everything. He’s missing pitches he should barrel up. I wonder what happened to his Happy Feet Scotty Scheffler Shuffle at the plate? While not usually recommended, he seemed to use it for timing and a trigger. And it worked. Now his lower body is stagnant and the ball is past him. Maybe he should try the left-right shuffle again.
*Casparius is looking like a starting pitcher. We may need him if our China Doll pitchers can’t put together more then 7 starts before breaking down at the tune of $56 million a year. I don’t wish Glasnow or Snell any ill-will but I have some compassion fatigue with our annual starting pitcher’s breakdowns. Unlucky, or something else? Same shit, different day.
*Big start for May tonight. He needs to rebound with a better performance.
*Nice feature Bear on Bill Russell. He was on the best AAA team I ever saw, the 1970 Spokane Indians where he and Lopes player outfield, Cey was in AA in Albuquerque and Bobby Valentine looked like the heir apparent to Wills at SS. Funny how he and Lopes became anchors of the infield for years.
Thanks Phil, credit Monty Basgall for their transformation. He couldn’t do anything for Garvey’s scatter arm at third, but they loved that bat, so they moved him to first. Joe and Orel opined last night on how the Dodgers as a team, are not hitting the fastball like they did last year. So, it is more than just Muncy missing them. Although he is hitting .300, I watched Will Smith be way late on a couple lately.
Bear, I listened to John Kruk last week on a telecast and he brought up an interesting point. He contends that all of the information available to a hitter now, turns him into a “guess hitter”.
Hitters will sit on a pitch in a certain count based on the statistics of what the pitcher is likely to throw in that situation. So if the hitter is sitting slider or change, he will be tardy on a fastball, even fooled.
Instead of sitting fastball and adjusting to other pitches, the hitter now is making an “educated guess” as to what’s coming.
Too much information may not necessarily be a good thing to a hitter.
Interesting opinion.
Yeah? Tell me what they are sitting on when a first pitch tubed fastball is taken for strike 1.
I question that every time I see it, Badger. And taking center cut fastballs on 2 and 1 and 3 and 1.
Who came up with the idea that if you are not guessing the correct pitch, you can’t hit it???
Sit fastball and adjust.
I totally agree with that. Muncy frustrates me sometimes because he takes so many pitches. When it is a borderline strike or ball, I get it. But Max letting strike three go by when it is right down the pipe, maddening. Ohtani chasing those low and away pitches remind me of when Bellinger was doing that all the time. Trying to hit those inside sweepers is maddening too.
It is maddening whenever a hitter allows a center cut pitch to go by them.
I forgot to mention how beautiful the photo is of Russell up in the air on his double play to avoid the “take-out slide”. It was a ballet of self-preservation around the base, in those days. Something you never get to see anymore. I loved that play.
Yeah, there are a lot of baseball moments we will never see again: collision at the plate, pitcher sacrifice bunt, endless throwing over of pickoffs, catchers flashing signs, managers not cupping their ears, and most importantly: the wild pitch on an intentional walk.
I think my favorite of the new rules is the relief-pitcher-three-batters-faced one. It really was getting ridiculous when you would see three pitchers in an inning to face three guys, with all the concomitant breaks included.
One is on his baseball card, the other is on the cover of a magazine. I remember the days when you would see runners trying to take out the infielders.
I’m also seeing the same thing with Pages at the plate. He’s “fouling off pitcher’s pitches until he gets something to handle” ..which he wasn’t doing (or couldn’t do) last year.
‘China Doll’ pitchers? Really, Phil?
Eddie Rosario signed with Atlanta. Jared Kelenic optioned by Atlanta to open a spot for Rosario.
Eddie R. Back where he belongs!
Yes, of course you are right. He is probably going to go off on the Dodgers this weekend. I would much rather have faced Jarred Kelenic. But with and all RHSP for LAD, the Dodgers will probably get a lot of Alex Verdugo this weekend.
Of the 4 LAD infielders, Bill Russell was always my favorite. Lopes was #25 favorite on the LAD 25 man roster.
I liked Lopes’ ability to hit leadoff homers at a time when that was a relative rarity [pre-Ricky].
# 25 for me was Sutton. I just never really liked the guy even though I thought he was an excellent pitcher.
Jeff Hamilton has always been my least favorite Dodger.
Hamilton wasn’t around long enough to form an opinion of him. My least favorite Dodger of all time is Yasmani Grandal. Never liked the guy.
I hear that, Grandal could barely catch a ball, not good when your position is “catcher”.
He led the league in passed balls a couple of times, but what I really disliked was the fact that he absolutely sucked in clutch situations.
I was in the airport and came across Don Sutton. I told next time he gets into a fight with Garvey to blacken his other eye for me.
Cey was my favorite. Liked Lopes. Neutral on Russell. Disliked Garvey’s “Mr Perfect” personality but admired his baseball ability.
I’m not a psychologist but I feel it’s possible Jeff is threatened by Lopes’ pron-like mustache.
Now that’s funny!!! My dislike for Davey Lopes is not for the way he played, but because he took my favorite players spot…Lee Lacy. Lacy became my new Junior Gilliam and when Lopes tookover 2B in 1973 I was p*****. My wife is that way with Andy Pages. He took over for her favorite player…James Outman.
My wife’s favorite Dodger all time is Ron Cey. She got to play raquetball with him at Mid-Valley Racquetball club while I got Jerry Reuss. Later, my son, Andy, and Cey’s son, Dan, became very close friends. So the Cey name will always be prominent in our household.
Haha fair play. It always blows my Giants friends’ minds when I tell them that Dusty Baker was legitimately my first favorite Dodger before Piazza.
Mine was Duke Snider then Koufax. I try not to have favorites now, too many leave via free agency
My Mother worked for a nail salon in the late 70’s, doing nails for a bunch of different clientele. 2 of those were the wives of Ron Cey and Steve Garvey.
small world
Russell and Cey my co-favorites.
Eddie Rosario has found a home; he was signed to a major league deal by the Braves. The Braves then optioned Jared Kelenic to AAA to open a roster spot. Two exe Dodgers now on the Braves roster, Rosario and Verdugo.
Prospect talk. Here are five names to keep track of as the season progresses and the trade deadline approaches:
I am not nearly as gung-ho on Heubeck as others are. I agree that Eriq Swan has the ability to become mid-rotation starter, but his changeup gives him extreme relief risk. I think organizations will like Swan in a package if it comes to that.
Patrick Copen is a favorite of mine, but as you stated, LAD has 113 RHP prospects and he does not stand out as being elite.
Campos is a little on the small side, and while he is pitching well in Tulsa, I am not sure where he fits in the LAD organization ladder.
I would not include Edgardo Henriquez in any trade. He has a chance to establish himself as a legit closer, and at the least a very high leverage late inning reliever.
I can see your first four being included in a trade package, but none of them as a headliner.
I can see why you’d want to hang on to Henriquez for a while, but if he never becomes that guy we can maybe trade him to the Rams who are always looking for a good kicker.
Welcome back STB
Thanks for your feedback. I can’t bring myself to trade Rushing.
In the right deal…..
Skubal
Yeah, that’s one.
$476 million vs $69 million.
Who you got?
Fish don’t fry in the kitchen.
Line up is out. Rojas batting 9th and playing second base. Conforto back in the lineup. Edman gets a day off. Max again at third hitting 8th. I recognize two players on the Marlins, and one of them is the pitcher. Same guy who started Ohtani’s three homer 10 RBI game last September.
Kind of disappointed that Phil or Badger didn’t respond to my team rules concerning walking leadoff hitters and such. I coached high school baseball for three years, there was more money at that level umpiring which I did for 15 years. I had the rules about walking leadoff hitters, getting the guy home from third with less than two outs. Another rule I had which seems out dated, was if we had first and second with nobody out, those runners had to be moved up. Of course in high school baseball we didn’t fine with money instead each penalty was foul line to foul line near the fence. They would ask me how I wanted the runners move? I told them”I basically don’t give a shit, get them moved!! I suggested hitting behind the runners or bunting or if your feeling chipper put a ball in the gap. I wanted the player to figure out his strengths and when and how to utilize them. We had a real nice team, when your winning the running doesn’t seem so bad. The player who didn’t get his job taken care of would catch crap from his teammates when he got back to the bench. That wouldn’t play well if we weren’t winning. I thought it helped us stay loose and focused. I didn’t tolerate a lot of walks. After the second one in an inning I usually had someone warming up. Again I was blessed with good players. In high school you play with what you have. In college if you didn’t have the players you needed to look in a mirror
Kind of disappointed you didn’t want me to respond to your team rules.
I’ll take anyone’s thoughts on those golden rules. 🙂
I must have missed it. Sorry.
I had few rules. Hustle. Don’t miss a sign. Everybody has something to do on every ball in play. Don’t look at strike three. Wasn’t really a rule, but I frowned on it. Every team I was on and coached could bunt. We worked hard at barreling any pitch to the opposite side. Count management You know, all those things you don’t see in MLB.
I’m neither Phil nor Badger, the rules are fine, but the idea of kangaroo court style monetary penalties are silly and, more importantly, illegal.
They also drive towards a style of play which is sadly out of date. The goal is to not make outs. So sacrifices to move the players up is frowned upon more times than naught.
I would like to see more bunting for a base-hit, but that wasn’t part of it. Was it?
The player moved the runners up in a way the player wanted. This gives the player some say so. I just finished a book about Earl Weaver. They had a kangaroo court and he felt it helped team unity. Frank Robinson was the judge. Weaver was probably fined more than any of the players.
We had the bases full with our 2-3-4 hitter coming up and got one run. That is troubling.
What I read is that giving up an out to move a runner is not more effective than having the player hit. The smart guys with the numbers say giving up an out to move a runner will not get you as many runs. Personally I think it depends who the hitter is batting. Rojas or Taylor in my mind should be bunting while hitters like Freeman or Smith should swing.
Kangaroo courts are not illegal unless they cross some lines that would be difficult to cross. Not sure how many teams you have coached but sometimes the simplest things helps bring a team closer. In my experience the players themselves set up the court and run it. I rather enjoyed it. It help preach fundamentals without a coach in their face or a player in their face. It was a fun way to remind a player that not only the coaches but your teammates expect you to play the game the right way.
Any supplemental payment system is illegal, or at least not allowed given the CBA.
I mean think about it, what would stop Steven Cohen from offering a million dollars for advancing a runner?
That would be a difficult line to cross and would have nothing to do with a Kangaroo court
I believe they’re illegal in Australia. That’s about it.
Dodgers Place Tyler Glasnow On Injured List
Well I think we all knew this was coming.
So Glasnow is now on IL. Perhaps nothing is more predictable.
After Glasnow was signed, there were reports that surgery had fixed the root cause of his chronic injury troubles. Oh well. A lot of issues, it seems.
And now I’ve read suggestions that the Dodgers could be in the market for a new starting pitcher. Sandy Alcantara, perhaps?
With all the pitching depth the Dodgers have, this would have seemed unthinkable. But with Glasnow and Snell out, and with uncertainty regarding the returns of Shohei and Kershaw, maybe Alcantara or ??? makes sense.
As I’m writing this, Mookie is coming up with the bases loaded….
Carry on.
He has never had shoulder issues before. The surgery was elsewhere.
So Edman gets the day off….
And hits the game-winner.
Whew.
Nice, how about Kike with a sac bunt? They rarely do that and Miggy had a bunt single.
I’d like to see this become more of a trend.