When the Dodgers traded Matt Kemp and his lofty eight-year / $160 million contract to the San Diego Padres after the 2014 season for (then) 26-year-old highly-touted catcher Yasmani Grandal, they were hoping to get a defensive and even more so a switch-hitting offensive upgrade from (then) 35-year-old / seven-year MLB veteran catcher A.J. Ellis and his career .240 […]
(Read More)Archive for 2016
Posted in 
So goes AGon, so go the Dodgers
May 12th, 2016 at 1:23 pm 
by Ron Cervenka It is impossible to deny that Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is mired in a horrible slump – perhaps the worst of his 13-year MLB career. Over the past two weeks and prior to Tuesday night’s game against the New York Mets, Gonzales was 9 for 50 (.180) with zero extra base hits, zero RBIs and struck […]
(Read More)
Sometimes you just have to tip your hat
May 12th, 2016 at 6:00 am by Ron Cervenka Baseball is a funny game. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something else happens that leaves you speechless. But baseball is also a cruel game. Sometimes things happen that shouldn’t or, in your wildest dreams, couldn’t possibly happen, but they do – such as a guy who hasn’t had a hit all season who hits […]
(Read More)
In other news, Quakes’ Tim Locastro hits for the cycle
May 11th, 2016 at 6:46 am by Ron Cervenka It’s hard to argue that Tuesday night’s dramatic bottom-of-the ninth, down-to-their-final-strike, pinch-hit home run by Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson wasn’t the most exciting event within the Dodgers organization, if not in all of baseball. But Thompson’s walk-off home run to give the Dodgers a 3-2 win over the New York Mets and sole possession of first place […]
(Read More)
Kiké Hernandez and Trayce Thompson heading in opposite directions
May 10th, 2016 at 12:54 pm by Ron Cervenka Remember when Kiké Hernandez hit two home runs off of Giants ace Madison Bumgarner on Jackie Robinson Day? It was great … epic even. It was also almost a month ago and the extremely popular right-handed-hitting San Juan, Puerto Rico native hasn’t hit a home run since. In fact, the perception that he hits lefties far […]
(Read More)
Kazmir head shaking not sitting well with Dodger fans
May 10th, 2016 at 6:00 am by Ron Cervenka In the grand scheme of things, Monday night’s 4-2 loss to the New York Mets was just one of the one-third of the games that Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda says every team will lose over the course of a 162-game season; this to accompany the one-third of the games every team will win. But if it ends […]
(Read More)
Fans wanting to see Kyle Garlick better do so real soon
May 9th, 2016 at 8:32 am by Ron Cervenka While most Dodger fans primarily focus on… well… the Dodgers, there is a very strong group of loyal Dodger fans who also follow the team’s Advanced Single-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, and with good cause – Rancho Cucamonga is relatively close to Dodger Stadium and, even more so, the Quakes are a really good team. So good, […]
(Read More)
This homestand could be tougher than last one for Dodgers
May 9th, 2016 at 6:00 am by Ron Cervenka If you would have told me that the Dodgers would go 1-6 at Dodger Stadium against two of the weakest teams in the National League, I would have said you were nuts – especially with three-time Cy Young award winner and 2014 NL MVP Clayton Kershaw pitching two of those seven games and with the […]
(Read More)
Bartolo Colon becomes baseball’s (and life’s) new mantra
May 8th, 2016 at 6:28 am by Ron Cervenka Anyone who has ever seen Bartolo Colon pitch has witnessed one of the game’s fiercest competitors – this in spite of his age. But on Saturday afternoon at Petco Park in San Diego, the 5′-11″ – 285-pound 2005 AL Cy Young award winner etched his name into baseball immortality when he slugged the first home run of his […]
(Read More)
An interview with Dodgers Sr. Manager of Player Development Jeremy Zoll
May 8th, 2016 at 6:00 am by Harold Uhlman On Thursday evening as I prepared to gear up for the Loons game at Dow Diamond against the Cedar Rapid Kernels of the Midwest League, I picked up MiLB.TV a bit early so I could tune in to the pre-game interview with Chris Vosters and his guest. Vosters had mentioned earlier, just before his broadcast […]
(Read More)
