Daily Clips

September 28, 2016

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

DAILY CLIPS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

OC REGISTER: Hunter Renfroe drives in all seven as Padres beat Dodgers, 7-1- Bill Plunkett

On deck: Dodgers at Padres, Wednesday, 7 p.m.- Bill Plunkett

Dodgers lineups: 'We're going to try to catch the Nationals,' Dave Roberts says- Bill Plunkett

DODGERS.COM: Dodgers derailed by Padres rookie Renfroe- Carlos Collazo and Ken Gurnick

Dodgers using final stretch for roster tryouts- Ken Gurnick

5 days that set the course for the Dodgers' season- Ken Gurnick

Dodgers set rotation for Games 1-3 of NLDS- Ken Gurnick

Urias may have inside track on NLDS Game 4- Ken Gurnick

DYK: Scully has seen it all during his tenure- Matt Kelly

Dodgers' play reminiscent of Roberts- Richard Justice

Dodgers call on rookie De Leon in San Diego- Carlos Collazo

Puig will be on postseason roster- Ken Gurnick

Dodgers announce simulcast of Scully's final game- Cash Kruth

O'Malley: Vin was Dodgers' greatest asset in LA- Ken Gurnick

Whiff kings: Dodgers' arms setting strikeout records- Mike Petriello

LA TIMES: Dodgers' NL West title celebration cut short in 7-1 loss to Padres- Andy McCullough

Dodgers rookie Julio Urias is in the mix for playoff rotation- Andy McCullough

DODGER INSIDER:

The Legends’ Legend: Vin Appreciation Day- Jon Weisman

Dodgers done in by big-game Hunter- Cary Osborne

Dodgers revise rotation to include Julio Urías- Jon Weisman

TRUEBLUELA.COM: Clayton Kershaw to start Game 1 of NLDS for Dodgers- Eric Stephen

Hunter Renfroe overpowers Dodgers- Eric Stephen

Julio Urias to start Thursday for Dodgers- Eric Stephen

Dodgers try to end divisional road woes in final week- Eric Stephen

Dodgers vs. Padres probable pitchers- Eric Stephen

ESPN LA: NLDS debate: Will Dodgers' dominance of Nationals continue?- ESPN.com

Free Agent value watch: Rich Hill up, Jose Bautista drops- Jim Bowden

Dodgers stumble as post-clinch balancing act begins- Doug Padilla

Rookie Renfroe hits slam, 3-run HR; Padres beat Dodgers, 7-1- Associated Press

Dodgers' Charlie Culberson on a ride to remember- Doug Padilla

Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Kenta Maeda to start Games 1-3 of NLDS- Doug Padilla

Vin Scully's single lands on iTunes- ESPN.com

USA TODAY:

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: Yasiel Puig 'earned the right to be a major league player'- Jorge Ortiz

NBC SPORTS:

Still Hungover? Dodgers Drop Opener to Padres, 7-1, Two Days After Clinching NL West- Michael Duarte

FANGRAPHS:

We Have a Pop-Up Controversy- Jeff Sullivan

FOX SPORTS:

Corey Seager vs. Kris Bryant -- who is the new face of the National League?- Dieter Kurtenbach

DAILY BREEZE:

Vin Scully: an example in human decency for all of us- Richard Nemec

CSN MID-ATLANTIC:

IN A COUNTRY WHERE NO ONE AGREES ABOUT ANYTHING, EVERYONE LOVES VIN SCULLY- Rich Dubroff

THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Beyond Baseball, Vin Scully Leaves Behind an Archive of Oddities- Richard Sandomir

TAMPA BAY TIMES:

Bob Costas on Vin Scully: 'You can probably connect Vin to Abner Doubleday in three moves'- Martin Fennelly

LOS ANGELES DODGERS DAILY CLIPS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

OC REGISTER

Hunter Renfroe drives in all seven as Padres beat Dodgers, 7-1 By Bill Plunkett SAN DIEGO – The Dodgers might have something to play for this week. But they definitely have something to plan for next week. Before Hunter Renfroe hit two home runs to drive in all of the runs in a 7-1 San Diego Padres’ victory Tuesday night at Petco Park, the Dodgers shuffled and set their pitching plans for their National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals. Clayton Kershaw will start the series opener on Friday Oct. 7, followed by Rich Hill in Game 2 and Kenta Maeda in Game 3, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. There are no surprises in that, even though Hill will precede Kershaw this weekend and pitch Friday in San Francisco with Kershaw scheduled for Saturday. But Roberts also said rookie left-hander Julio Urias will start Thursday against the Padres and is an option to start a game during the postseason – something Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman indicated was unlikely last month. The 20-year-old Urias has thrown 119 innings this season (74 in the big leagues), a big jump from his 80 innings a year ago or the career-high 87-1/3 innings he pitched in Class-A two years ago. But Roberts said Urias’ light usage in September (11 innings) makes a postseason start possible. “It’s still on the table,” Roberts said. “When you get into the postseason you have to go with your best. … We obviously do a lot of research and studying on matchups so if at the end of the day Julio is our best matchup that makes sense then, yeah, it’s worth a discussion.” The more intense discussion will likely center on whether the Dodgers dare start Kershaw on three days’ rest in a potential Game 4 after a season that saw him spend 75 days on the DL with a herniated disc in his back. MAEDA MONEY The Dodgers also waited until Tuesday morning to announce that Maeda would start Tuesday’s game in San Diego, swapping spots with rookie right-hander Jose De Leon who will start Wednesday. Roberts said the original plan was for Maeda to pitch Wednesday and then throw a simulated game next week in order to stay sharp for a Game 3 start that won’t come until Oct. 10. But Roberts said Maeda expressed a preference for two regular-season starts instead – Tuesday against the Padres and the regular-season finale in San Francisco on Sunday.

“I felt like pitching in live situations in a live game would prepare me better than pitching in a simulated game next week,” Maeda said through his interpreter. Maeda had another reason to prefer that schedule. Sunday will be his 32nd start of the season, qualifying him for another $1.5 million bonus in his pay-for-play contract. Maeda has already added $8.4 million in bonuses to his $3 million base salary. The right-hander went just four innings Tuesday as the Dodgers limited him to 60 pitches. He gave up a three-run home run to Renfroe in the first inning. Roberts said Maeda’s start Sunday would be “more of a normal outing.” HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE With the Dodgers’ loss in San Diego and the Nationals’ 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers (90-67) fell two games behind the Nationals (92-65) for home-field advantage in their NLDS. Roberts indicated the advantage is worth playing for this week – then proceeded to pull Maeda and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez after just four innings Tuesday night. Roberts said Gonzalez was bothered by a sinus infection. He also swapped Andrew Toles and Andre Ethier in left field midway through the game, looking “to get Andre some at-bats.” “Considering the way we’ve played at home this year, we’ve put a lot of value on it (home-field advantage),” he said before the game. “It’s not the end-all, be-all. But where we are right now in the won-loss, we’re going to try to catch the Nationals.” The chance to wrest home-field away from the Nationals “incentivizes us” this week, Roberts said. But the Dodgers were held to five hits by six Padres pitchers Tuesday, scoring only on Chase Utley’s solo home run in the third inning. POSTSEASON PUIG Demoted and nearly traded away less than two months ago, Yasiel Puig didn’t seem to fit into the Dodgers’ plans anymore. Now, Roberts says Puig is very much in their postseason plans after Puig’s month-long Triple-A reboot and big-league return. “Yasiel has self-admitted he’s grown,” Roberts said Tuesday. “It’s tough to humble yourself and check your ego and go to Oklahoma City and be a minor-league player. But he did that and he learned from it and he earned the right to be a major-league player. We talk a lot about it being a privilege to be a major-league player. To his credit, I think he really understands what that means. “He’s done a lot to help us win baseball games. He’ll be on the postseason roster. He’s earned it.” Playing almost exclusively against left-handed pitching since his return, Puig has gone 10 for 41 (.244) in September with four home runs and 10 RBI in 18 games. On deck: Dodgers at Padres, Wednesday, 7 p.m. By Bill Plunkett

Where: Petco Park TV: SNLA (where available) Did you know? Dodgers pitchers lead the majors in strikeouts and have set a new single-season record, topping the mark of 1,450 set by the Cleveland Indians in 2014. THE PITCHERS DODGERS RHP JOSE DE LEON (2-0, 5.52 ERA) Vs. Padres: 1-0, 4.50 ERA At Petco Park: Has never pitched there before. Hates to face: Yangervis Solarte, 2 for 2, 1 home run Loves to face: Ryan Schimpf, 0 for 3, 3 strikeouts PADRES RHP LUIS PERDOMO (8-10, 5.59 ERA) Vs. Dodgers: 0-3, 8.53 ERA At Petco Park: 3-5, 6.08 ERA Hates to face: Josh Reddick, 3 for 3, 1 home run Loves to face: Joc Pederson, 1 for 5 (.200), 2 strikeouts UPCOMING MATCHUPS Thursday: Dodgers LHP Julio Urias (5-2, 3.53 ERA) at Padres LHP Christian Friedrich (5-11, 4.66 ERA), 6:10 p.m. SNLA Dodgers lineups: 'We're going to try to catch the Nationals,' Dave Roberts says By Bill Plunkett SAN DIEGO -- With their fourth consecutive NL West title clinched, the Dodgers have a decision to make -- spend this week resting and preparing for the first round of the playoffs or keep pushing in hopes of landing homefield advantage in that NL Division Series against the Washington Nationals. Going into Tuesday's games, the Dodgers (90-66) were just one game behind the Nationals (91-65) and won the season series (5-1) so they only have to match the Nats' final record to game homefield in their best-of-five series. "I think considering the way we've played at home this year, we've put a lot of value on it (homefield advantage)," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "It's not the end-all, be-all. But where we are right now in the won-loss, we're going to try to catch the Nationals." Things are lining up their favor. The Nationals lost their starting catcher and one of their best hitters, Wilson Ramos, to a season-ending knee injury over the weekend. Two other key players, last year's NL MVP Bryce Harper and NLDS 2015 thorn in the Dodgers' side Daniel Murphy, are playing hurt. And right-hander Stephen Strasburg has been declared "unlikely" for the NLDS by Nats GM Mike Rizzo. "I think regardless of their injuries we still had that mindset to go after them," Roberts said. "It does have us looking at them in the sense of how we're going to prepare and field the best team possible with respect to their injuries. It changes the landscape of their club. "But they're still a very good club."

The fact that the Dodgers have something to shoot for this week rather than just playing out the string is a good thing, Roberts also said. "I think for us it's about playing good baseball and remaining sharp and not to get complacent and lose that edge," Roberts said. "I've been on teams where teams continued to keep that momentum and teams that went the other way. I think knowing we have something really important to play for incentivizes us."

DODGERS.COM

Dodgers derailed by Padres rookie Renfroe By Carlos Collazo and Ken Gurnick SAN DIEGO -- The National League West-champion Dodgers resumed play Tuesday night and ran into Padres rookie Hunter Renfroe, who homered twice and drove in all the runs in a 7-1 loss that diminished the Dodgers' chances of securing the home-field advantage over the Nationals in the NL Division Series. "[Renfroe] was going against matchups that didn't really favor him today," said Padres manager Andy Green, who talked about how Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda would be a challenge for Renfroe before the game. "He hit two home runs and drove in seven, so it was a pretty spectacular day." Dodgers manager Dave Roberts before the game said he wanted his club to remain sharp this week, not get complacent or lose the edge after clinching on Sunday. But the momentum swung to the Padres in the first inning on Renfroe's three-run homer. "I've known Hunter from when I was over here," said Roberts, who was San Diego's bench coach before joining the Dodgers this year. "He's got big power, a toolsy player, and we left balls over the plate elevated. Do that to a guy with power and it's going to happen, and he had a big night." Maeda went four innings, allowing the three runs on Renfroe's first homer, and fell to 16-10. "After the first inning, Kenta was good. He was missing with the breaking ball a little bit, left a breaking ball up to Renfroe, and he hit a homer. After that, he had strikeouts and soft contact. I told him it was a positive outing." Maeda was removed after four innings, having reached a 60-pitch limit, and will start on Sunday in San Francisco with no pitch limitations in a final tuneup for Game 3 of the NL Division Series. Chase Utley homered and doubled off Padres starter Paul Clemens (4-5), who went five innings to pick up the win. Washington beat Arizona on Tuesday night, increasing their lead over the Dodgers to two games with five to play. The Dodgers hold the tiebreaker. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Hunter's high homer: Padres fans have heard more about Renfroe's power than they've seen so far, but they're likely impressed after seeing his display on Tuesday. San Diego's No. 3 prospect got the Friars on the board with a three-run homer in the first that traveled a Statcast-estimated 380 feet with a steep 41-degree launch angle. Among Padres, only Ryan Schimpf and Alex Dickerson have also hit homers with launch angles that high this season.

"He can hit anything," said Green. "He just has to get them over the plate, and when he does that, he does as much damage as anybody we have." Take me along: Dodgers lefty Alex Wood, making a late run for an October roster spot as a reliever after missing most of the season with elbow surgery, pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning with two strikeouts in relief of Maeda. "After having surgery and coming back with two clean innings, the velocity is good and the offspeed is good, he's getting righties and lefties out," said Roberts. "Alex worked really hard to come back. To be in the mix says a lot about Alex." Lost the battle: The Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth against reliever Jose Torres, but Yasmani Grandal flied out to right field and Josh Reddick popped up to end a 10-pitch at-bat. The Dodgers went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10 runners. Emotional start for Clemens: Clemens was pulled after just five innings and 64 pitches, despite holding the Dodgers to one run on three hits. Green was happy with Clemens' outing, but wanted to be safe with the young pitcher who is expected to start the final game of the season. For his part, Clemens said this was the most difficult outing of the year. "I've had [Jose Fernandez] on my mind a lot the last couple days," Clemens said. "You know, my wife just kept putting him in my face, putting him in my face until I couldn't take it any more. I cried yesterday, but it's just tough. So this was probably the toughest start by far, just thinking about him." QUOTABLE "Considering the way we played at home, I put a lot on it. It's not the end all and be all, but we're going to try to catch the Nationals. For us, it's about playing good baseball and remaining sharp and not to get complacent and lose that edge." -- Roberts, on trying to beat the Nationals for the home-field advantage in the NL Division Series SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS After his eighth-inning grand slam, Renfroe became one of 10 Padres batters to have seven or more RBIs in one game, and he is the only rookie to do it. He was one RBI shy of tying the franchise record held by Ken Caminiti (1995) and Nate Colbert (1972). The most recent seven-RBI game from a San Diego hitter was from Brian Giles, in 2006. WHAT'S NEXT Dodgers: Jose De Leon gets the start in Wednesday's 7:10 p.m. PT matchup. De Leon beat the Padres on Sept. 4 in Los Angeles in his Major League debut, allowing four runs (three earned) in six innings with nine strikeouts. His most recent start was in Arizona on Sept. 18, when he allowed six runs (four earned) in 3 2/3 innings. Padres: San Diego Rule 5 pick Luis Perdomo makes his final start of his rookie season on Tuesday. The 23-year-old has become one of the Padres' most consistent starters after being stashed in the bullpen at the start of the year. His 61.3 percent ground-ball rate is the highest in baseball among starters with at least 50 innings pitched.

Dodgers using final stretch for roster tryouts By Ken Gurnick SAN DIEGO -- If the 157th game of the season for the Dodgers on Tuesday night looked more like a late Spring Training tryout for roster spots, well, it was. Even though the Dodgers are alive for the home-field advantage in the National League Division Series against Washington, Dave Roberts managed the Dodgers' 7-1 loss to the Padres in a way that put certain players who are on the bubble in the kind of situations they might see in October. Consider the contrasting plights of pitchers Alex Wood and Louis Coleman. Rough times for Coleman continued, as he walked Wil Myers and Yangervis Solarte in the eighth inning before serving up a grand slam to Hunter Renfroe, who had already slugged a three-run homer off Kenta Maeda in the first. "We've seen Coleman in spots be very good, at other times, not so good," said Roberts. "In that situation, as we see what we have with guys going forward, I wanted to see him get out a middle of the order bat, but he walks Myers and Solarte and gets to the No. 5 hitter and he gives up a home run. It comes down to Louis has got to make pitches." The middle innings that Coleman had been given earlier in the year now seem to be going to right-handers Josh Fields, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning, or Jesse Chavez. Roberts also tested starter Brock Stewart in relief in this game, getting a scoreless sixth inning. From the left side, while Grant Dayton struck out two of the three batters he faced, a late entrant into the fray for a bullpen spot is Wood, primarily a starting pitcher who is coming off May elbow surgery and has accepted a relief role because his comeback timetable didn't allow for enough innings to rebuild back into a starter. In two relief appearances since returning from arthroscopic clean-up surgery, Wood has two scoreless innings, striking out two in a perfect inning against San Diego. Roberts said Wood is in the mix to make the postseason bullpen. "That's what I'm trying to do," said Wood. "When I got hurt, I was in as good a place as I've been in a while commanding the ball where I wanted to. Today it was like before I got hurt. I felt then like I figured it out, made an adjustment in my mechanics so I can repeat them and I've been sharp so far. "I haven't thrown back to back yet. That's probably the last hurdle. I'm just trying to do my part. I told them last week, I'm ready to come back and help in whatever way they see fit and want to use me." Roberts also made some unconventional moves with position players during the game, lifting first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and left fielder Andrew Toles in the fifth inning. Gonzalez came out with a sinus infection, said Roberts, who replaced him with Howie Kendrick. Toles gave way because Roberts wanted to get at-bats for Andre Ethier, trying to fight his way back into relevance after missing most of the year with a broken leg. "As you saw tonight, normally wouldn't have taken Toles out as early as did, but l wanted to get Andre at-bats and it nice to see him get a walk and be competitive," Roberts said.

5 days that set the course for the Dodgers' season By Ken Gurnick The Dodgers overcame an unprecedented wave of injuries, and an eight-game deficit in late June, to win their fourth consecutive National League West division title with a fourth consecutive 90-plus-win season, all under the direction of first-year manager Dave Roberts. Here are five key days in the club's improbable journey. 1. June 26: Clayton Kershaw lost in Pittsburgh, suffered a back injury that would sideline him for 2 1/2 months and the Dodgers fell eight games out of first place. But instead of folding, the Dodgers won seven of the next eight games and embraced the theme of a resilient squad determined to overcome any obstacle. 2. April 6: Kenta Maeda failed his physical, coming out of Japan and into the season an unknown. Throwing six scoreless innings and adding a home run in his debut set a reassuring tone that continued throughout the season as Maeda proved to be the rotation workhorse, making a smooth and consistent transition to the Major Leagues. 3. June 16: Justin Turner called out Yasmani Grandal in the dugout for a baserunning mistake, a carryover from a spontaneous postgame meeting with Roberts after a series loss in San Francisco four days earlier. The Dodgers lost the night of the argument, but then reeled off a six-game win streak that seemed to signal an awakening. 4. Aug. 2: Polarizing focal point Yasiel Puig was demoted to the Minor Leagues. The goal was to deliver a wake-up call to the talented but undisciplined Puig. A side benefit was the statement to the clubhouse that no player was bigger than the team. Josh Reddick, acquired to replace Puig, struggled early, creating playing time for rookie Andrew Toles, whose dramatic game-winning grand slam in the ninth inning of the nightcap of a Colorado doubleheader prevented a series sweep when the race was still close. 5. Sept. 25: It was a Hollywood ending for Vin Scully's Dodger Stadium farewell, an extra-inning walkoff homer to clinch. The hero was journeyman Charlie Culberson, beating one of his former clubs, Colorado, and eliminating another, San Francisco, from NL West title contention. The ending symbolized that on any given day, virtually any of the 40 active players could step up and win a game. Dodgers set rotation for Games 1-3 of NLDS By Ken Gurnick SAN DIEGO -- Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda will start the first three games of the National League Division Series against Washington, manager Dave Roberts announced on Tuesday. Kershaw will pitch Game 1 on Oct. 7, Hill Game 2 on Oct. 8 and Maeda Game 3 on Oct. 10. Roberts would not name a Game 4 starter but said 20-year-old rookie Julio Urias is "on the table." Urias makes his third start of September on Thursday night in San Diego.

Kershaw, whose scheduled start on Saturday in San Francisco is his fifth since returning from 2 1/2 months on the disabled list (herniated disk), will have six days until he opens the series with the Nationals. Kershaw said he was given the choice of pitching Friday or Saturday and chose Saturday because he didn't want to go a full week between starts. Hill is scheduled to start on Friday in San Francisco, giving him eight days until Game 2 of the series, allowing his finger blisters extra time to rebound. Hill is starting Friday on nine days' rest. The lefty has made five starts for the Dodgers. His ERA in three starts with at least six days off is 0.00. His ERA in two starts with four days off is 4.35. Maeda, originally scheduled to pitch Wednesday night in San Diego, was moved up a day by Roberts so he could also start Sunday's regular-season finale. Roberts said that was Maeda's preference, to minimize the down time before his NLDS start. Coincidentally, squeezing in another start will give Maeda 32 this season, earning him a $1.5 million performance bonus that would bring his 2016 salary, which had a base of $3 million, to $12.9 million. "What Kenta's done for us, in the spirit of the contract, if he performs and he posts, he's going to be compensated," said Roberts. "I applaud our organization. He's taking care of his family and he deserves it." While it now appears Urias is the front-runner as fourth starter in the postseason, the Dodgers could also consider Brett Anderson, Brandon McCarthy, Jose De Leon, Brock Stewart or Ross Stripling. Urias may have inside track on NLDS Game 4 By Ken Gurnick SAN DIEGO -- Julio Urias is a starting pitcher again. For the past month, Dodgers management had insisted that heavy usage on the 20-year-old's left arm required him to be a reliever for the rest of the season. But manager Dave Roberts did a reversal on Tuesday, naming Urias to start Thursday night in San Diego and saying he was "still on the table" to be the fourth starter in the postseason. "We've monitored his innings the second half of the season, and that's allowed him to get the start Thursday," said Roberts. "From that point on, we'll decide what makes sense for the postseason." The Dodgers on Tuesday named Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda, in that order, for Games 1-3 of the National League Division Series. Urias is 5-2 with a 3.53 ERA in 14 starts and three relief appearances. He has 74 innings with the Dodgers this year and 45 at Triple-A for a total of 119, with an unconfirmed target of around 125 for the season. But he's thrown only 11 innings since Aug. 27, with his last start Sept. 13 at Yankee Stadium for 3 2/3 scoreless innings. "You get into the postseason, you've got to go with your best," said Roberts. "Because we've been so mindful of his usage, we do a lot of studying of matchups, and if at the end of the day it's the best matchup and it makes sense, it's worth a discussion.

"What kept Julio in play, there were times we felt we could have pushed his innings more, but because we didn't and had other guys step up in that role, it's given us this flexibility. To see him take the mound as a starter is a good thing for us." Brett Anderson, Brandon McCarthy, Brock Stewart, Ross Stripling and Jose De Leon (Wednesday night's starter) have all made September starts that could have gone to Urias. DYK: Scully has seen it all during his tenure By Matt Kelly Sunday afternoon will mark one of baseball's most heartfelt goodbyes and the end of an era when legendary broadcaster Vin Scully will call his final game. As the voice of the Dodgers for 67 consecutive years -- a run unmatched in baseball as well as any professional sport -- Scully's consistency, grace and, most of all, talent leaves behind a legacy that will likely go unchallenged in the broadcasting ranks for generations to come. The sheer amount of time and games (which surely number in the tens of thousands) that Scully has seen and spent in baseball can boggle the mind -- especially when you consider that the luminaries he first watched and spoke to when he debuted on WMGM radio back in 1950 likely leaves him (and, through his stories, all of us) perhaps only one or two degrees separated from the very origins of professional baseball. For an idea of just how much change Scully has seen in the game and, indeed, the world, since we first heard his voice on the air, consider the following (all stats through Monday's games): • The Major Leagues featured just 16 teams in Scully's debut 1950 season. Six of those clubs (Athletics, Braves, Browns, Dodgers Giants, Senators) would eventually move to new cities during Scully's tenure. Two of them (Browns, Senators) went on to change their name completely, and another two (Athletics, Braves) would actually move twice during the time Scully called games. Of the 14 ballparks that hosted big league games in 1950, only two remain standing and still host their teams: Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. • Scully began as a radio voice, of course, well before he began calling World Series games for NBC in the 1980s and manning Dodgers games on regional television, as he does now. The first televised Major League game was broadcast in 1939 -- 11 years before Scully's debut -- with his mentor Red Barber making the call. The World Series would not receive its first coast-to-coast television treatment until 1951, setting the stage for Scully to call a record 25 Fall Classics. • In 1950, the Brooklyn Dodgers placed sixth in Major League attendance, drawing a total of nearly 1,186,000 fans -- about one-third of the team's projected attendance in 2016, which finished at 3,703,312. • A meteoric rise in player salary has accompanied those expanded gate receipts and television revenues. According to the Society for Baseball Research (SABR), the highest paid player in Scully's debut 1950 season was the Yankees' Joe DiMaggio, who earned a cool $100,000. While that figure would place DiMaggio among the social elite in his day, it equals just 0.3 percent of the $34 million salary paid to 2016's highest-grossing player, Clayton Kershaw, who has made each of his home starts beneath Scully's broadcast booth. • The 1950 Dodgers ballclub with which Scully began his broadcasting career was a deeply talented squad that featured four future Hall of Fame players (Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider) along with Hall of Fame executives Walter O'Malley and Branch Rickey. The actual National

Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., had been dedicated just 11 years before Scully's debut. The year 1950 featured the first Baseball Writers' Association of America vote in which no one was selected for induction to the Hall of Fame. That left the Hall's fraternity at that time steady at 50 members -- just a fraction of the 312 members that it consists of now. An even more exclusive club in the Hall of Fame includes winners of the Ford C. Frick Award, which recognizes excellence in baseball broadcasting. That award would not be established for another 28 years after Scully's debut. • Beginning with Robinson courageously breaking the color barrier in 1947, Major League Baseball was in a state of transition in Scully's debut season as clubs began to open up roster spots for African-American players. Still, by the end of 1950, just five of the 16 big league clubs had integrated -- signaling the mammoth change in the game that occurred during Scully's first decades behind the mic. • To picture how much batters' approaches have changed through the years, consider this: Only two batters struck out at least 100 times in Scully's inaugural 1950 season, while there are already 126 batters with at least 100 strikeouts in 2016. The Orioles' Chris Davis, who leads the big leagues with 210 punchouts, has an outside chance to double the total of 1950 strikeout leader Roy Smalley of the Cubs. Smalley finished the '50 campaign with just strikeouts. • One thing that has certainly changed for Scully is how many pitching changes he's had to keep track of. Big league relief pitchers have combined to make 14,708 appearances this year, more than five times the amount of appearances relievers made in 1950 (2,769). Starting pitchers are averaging 5 2/3 innings per game in 2016, a full inning less than when Scully started. Major League pitchers also combined to toss 997 complete games in 1950, while pitchers in 2016 have combined for only 81 complete games and will likely not reach a total of 100 for the first time in modern baseball history. • Scully is also getting many more chances to perfect his home run calls in 2016 than he did in 1950. Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner paced the Major Leagues with 47 homers that season, which at the time was just the 19th time in modern baseball history in which a player had hit at least 45 home runs. In the past 20 years alone, the 45-homer plateau has been surpassed 70 times, and a handful of players have a chance to pass it again by the end of this season. When Scully began calling Dodgers games, Babe Herman held the franchise's single-season record for home runs with 35 in 1930. That figure has been equaled or surpassed by a Dodgers player 17 times in the 67 seasons that Scully has broadcast their games. Major League teams hit an average of 0.84 home runs per game in 1950, while this season we're seeing teams club an average of 1.16 roundtrippers per game -- a rate that would finish just behind the 2000 campaign (1.17) for the highest in history. • A perfect game was just about the rarest event in baseball when Scully began his career. There had been just five perfect games recorded through the history of baseball -- and none since Charlie Robertson's in 1922 -- when Scully called his first game. Scully would be behind the mic, of course, when the Yankees' Don Larsen broke the drought with the only perfect game in World Series history against the Dodgers on Oct. 8, 1956 -- a performance that the Brooklyn broadcaster dubbed "the greatest game ever pitched in history" live on the air as catcher Yogi Berra ran to hug the pitcher. Scully went on to call a total of 20 no-hitters and two more perfect games: the first by Sandy Koufax in 1965, a call by Scully that many consider to be their favorite, and again for Expos pitcher Dennis Martinez's perfecto in '91. • The average age of the Dodgers' 25-man roster on Opening Day was 28.6 years old, which would date back to an average birth date of September 1987. The last player on a Dodgers roster who was alive

when Scully made his broadcast debut was catcher Rick Dempsey, who was born on Sept. 13, 1949, and he played his last game in a Dodgers uniform on Sept. 28, 1990. Dodgers' play reminiscent of Roberts By Richard Justice Dave Roberts played for five teams during a 10-year Major League career. He was a full-time player for just three of those seasons. Here's the point: Nothing came easy for Roberts. To stay on a roster, he had to sweat the small stuff: defense, baserunning, etc. Roberts understood that baseball games typically are won by the team that makes the fewest mistakes. And maybe that's the larger story of these Los Angeles Dodgers, who on Sunday clinched their fourth straight National League West championship. This time, the Dodgers did it under a rookie manager, Roberts, who somehow got his team to see and play the game the way he played it. "Don't they say a team takes on the personality of its manager?" third baseman Justin Turner said. That's exactly what they say. "Everything we do starts with Doc," Turner said, referring to Roberts' nickname. That Los Angeles entered this week's series in San Diego 90-66 is remarkable considering that its roster has been a revolving door. The club placed 28 players on the disabled list, the most in the Majors since at least 1987. The Dodgers have used 55 players, tying a franchise record, and 31 pitchers, also a record. Roberts gave at least 10 starts to five left fielders and at least 20 to three right fielders. Los Angeles used 15 starting pitchers. Clayton Kershaw, the best pitcher on earth, spent 76 days on the DL. In the second half of the season, the Dodgers had five relievers and six starting pitchers on the DL at a time. Somehow, the Dodgers rolled to another division championship. They did it because president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman assembled an extraordinarily deep staff. Roberts started a rookie pitcher 66 times and got 30 victories, the most since 1952. But … The Dodgers played the game the way their manager played it. First, they didn't allow themselves to be discouraged by the injuries. "No one was going to feel sorry for us," Roberts said, "and we certainly weren't going to feel sorry for ourselves."

The Dodgers showed up each day and figured they always had enough in their clubhouse to win. They had long, competitive at-bats. They made just 74 errors, the fourth fewest in the Majors. Only the Cubs had a better Defensive Efficiency Ratio, according to MLB.com. Los Angeles may not have a single Gold Glove winner, but everyone on its infield was above average. Offensively, the Dodgers did that a different way, too. Only this was by design. Only four position players got 500 at-bats -- shortstop Corey Seager, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, second baseman Chase Utley and Turner. Otherwise, Roberts mixed and matched his lineups to find advantageous matchups. Sure, some players would have preferred more playing time. On the other hand, it's impossible to argue with success. The Dodgers averaged five runs per game after the All-Star break, the third most in the Majors. On June 26, the Dodgers trailed the Giants by eight games. Since then, Los Angeles is 49-30, the third-best record in the Majors. (San Francisco has gone 33-46 during that stretch.) Dodgers pitchers have a solid 3.80 ERA in these 79 games. Offensively, they've watched rookie Seager put MVP-caliber numbers on the board (.313 batting average, 26 home runs, 72 RBIs). Catcher Yasmani Grandal has 21 home runs in his past 67 games. Turner (16), Gonzalez (11), center fielder Joc Pederson (11) and Seager (10) have all hit double-digit home runs in this stretch. Kershaw returned in time to get four playoff tuneup starts in September, and he was as good as ever: 0.86 ERA with one walk, 23 strikeouts in 21 innings. Roberts said Tuesday that Los Angeles will line up veteran left-hander Rich Hill, acquired from Oakland at the Trade Deadline, and rookie Kenta Maeda behind Kershaw in the NL Division Series. The Cubs are consensus favorites to win the NL, and the Dodgers might not even be favored to get by the Nationals in the NLDS. Through all the injuries and the sprint to the NL West championship, the Dodgers have developed both toughness and resiliency. There's also a quiet confidence. "It's unbelievable how many guys have contributed to get where we are," Roberts said. "Those guys love each other. They love the city, the organization, especially they love the fans." Dodgers call on rookie De Leon in San Diego By Carlos Collazo With the Dodgers still vying for home-field advantage in the National League Division Series vs. the Nationals, Jose De Leon starts against Padres Rule 5 Draft pick Luis Perdomo in a matchup of rookie pitchers on Wednesday night.

Los Angeles is two games behind Washington with five games to play. De Leon was originally scheduled to start the opener on Tuesday, but was pushed back to get an extra day of rest. The 24-year-old was solid during his first two career starts, but took a bit of a step backwards in his most recent, when he allowed six runs over 3 2/3 innings vs. the D-backs. Perdomo is making his final start of the season, after becoming arguably the biggest surprise of the San Diego pitching staff this season. Since the start of August, the 23-year-old has posted a 3.79 ERA, while being one of the most consistent arms on the team. "They way I thought of it was: If they're going to give me that chance, I'm going to make the most of it," Perdomo said. Things to know about this game • De Leon could be pitching for an opportunity to be in the postseason rotation. Fellow options Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson have made just one start this month, while Scott Kazmir left his latest start after one inning with intercostal spasms. Thursday's starter Julio Urias, however, may have the inside track on the open fourth spot. • Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has faced Perdomo eight times and is hitting .714 (5-for-7) with a triple, four runs and three RBIs. • Padres third baseman Yangervis Solarte extended his hitting streak to 12 games on Tuesday night after singling in the first inning against Kenta Maeda. Puig will be on postseason roster By Ken Gurnick SAN DIEGO -- Yasiel Puig will be on the Dodgers' postseason roster, manager Dave Roberts said on Tuesday. Roberts said the depth of the club's roster will present some difficult decisions, but the call has already been made that Puig, who was demoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City for most of August, will be on the 25-man roster for the National League Division Series that starts Oct. 7 against Washington. "Yasiel has self-admitted he's grown," said Roberts. "It's tough to humble yourself and check your ego and go to Oklahoma City and be a Minor League player, but he did that and he learned from it and earned the right to be a Major League player. We talk about it being a privilege to be a Major League player. I think to his credit, he really understands what that means. He's done a lot to help us win a lot of baseball games. He'll be on the postseason roster, and he's earned it." Puig was sent to the Minors on Aug. 2 after the acquisition of Josh Reddick, and recalled Sept. 2. He has been primarily a platoon player this month, starting against left-handed pitching. Since his return, he has four home runs in 17 games. Dodgers announce simulcast of Scully's final game By Cash Kruth

Vin Scully's final broadcast on Sunday will be simulcast in its entirety on SPECTRUM SportsNetLA, KTLA and AM 570 LA Sports. Scully, whose 67 years of consecutive service with the Dodgers' organization is the longest of any sports broadcaster with one team, will broadcast his final game Sunday in San Francisco. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. PT. "We wanted to make sure that all of Vin's fans are able to share in his final Dodgers broadcast of an incredible 67-year Hall of Fame career," Dodgers executive vice president and chief marketing officer Lon Rosen said. "We want to thank our partner, IHEART Media, Charley Steiner, Rick Monday and Vin for making this possible for all our viewers and listeners." "The Dodgers, IHEART Media and KLAC all came together and thought it would be only fitting that we simulcast Vin Scully's final broadcast to the Dodgers Network on Sunday from San Francisco," said Don Martin, IHEART Media Los Angeles senior vice president, sports. "We also want to thank Dodgers broadcasters Charley Steiner and Rick Monday, who also felt strongly that our listeners should be able to hear Vin's final call of his unbelievable 67-year career." The Giants also have a tribute planned for Scully at AT&T Park on Sunday, and they will simulcast his call of the third inning on KNBR 680 radio and on CSN Bay Area. O'Malley: Vin was Dodgers' greatest asset in LA By Ken Gurnick LOS ANGELES -- He has known Vin Scully for the legendary broadcaster's entire 67-year career, was Scully's employer for three decades, and they were roommates on a goodwill trip to Japan when Dwight Eisenhower was president. So Peter O'Malley knows the man as well as anyone, and he explained why Scully became the voice of the franchise and an icon in this city. "In a word, Vin is genuine; that's the perfect word," said O'Malley, who was in the front row of dignitaries during the stirring pregame ceremony on Scully Appreciation Night. "Genuine, that is Vin, through and through. It's the way he is with work and the way he is with fans. "There's no baloney there. He's very sincere, very thoughtful, and I think that's one of the reasons he's so popular. It's not just his talent behind the microphone, but it's the person that he is. He's a genuine good guy. I can't think of anyone more genuine, and that comes through in his work, or if you just met him in the elevator. That's him, and people see that and know that." And O'Malley, having been president for nearly three decades of the club his family owned for nearly a half-century, credits Scully for helping make the Dodgers what they became. "Having Vin communicate to the public for 200 days or 100 days or whatever -- he was the most important piece to the Dodgers' puzzle, ever since we came to L.A.," said O'Malley. "He was our spokesperson, even more than managers Walter Alston or Tommy Lasorda. No one was more important to our acceptance when we arrived, and no one has been more important since, than Vin."

If a man is judged by the company he keeps, consider the company Scully keeps. "The thing I treasure most is that I call him friend," said Sandy Koufax, whose first game called by Scully was in 1955. Former Dodgers manager Joe Torre remembers being a visiting player at Dodger Stadium in the 1960s. "You'd be in the batter's box, and you would hear him on all of the transistor radios," Torre recalled. "It was the strangest thing -- hearing the broadcast of your own at-bat while it was happening. It only happened at Dodger Stadium, because of Vin. And in a way, it would sort of take the sting out of a strikeout. He sounded so nice." Scully was at the mic for the Dodgers' World Series titles in 1981 and '88, his description of Kirk Gibson's "impossible" home run being voted by fans as the greatest call of his career. Gibson participated in Scully's Appreciation Night via a video, crediting the announcer for getting him off the training table to make history. "I had Ernie Harwell [in Detroit] and Vin Scully, who are both Hall of Famers, and they became great friends and they gave me great wisdom and advice, even if I didn't deserve it," said Gibson. "Thanks for helping inspire me to put on this uniform that night, and thanks for telling the story of our sport for so many years. It's an honor for me to have your voice attached to the soundtrack of my career. Vinny, congratulations on your career -- you're the best." Carl Erskine, in a written tribute to Scully, said the familiar comfort of Scully's voice made the move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles easier for the transplanted players. Maury Wills said Scully helped inspire him to be aggressive on the bases when he would call Wills "The mouse that roared." Ron Cey said he's still amazed how Scully could handle broadcasts as a "one-man show" 40 years ago, as well as today. Like so many fans of so many generations, Scully always reminds Eric Karros of his father. "For me, growing up in San Diego, my dad was a Dodgers fan, and he would listen to Scully on the radio every night," said Karros, whol played with the Dodgers from 1991-2002. "He'd be in his office, and I would come in and lay on the floor every night and we'd listen to Vin broadcast the games. That represents the relationship with my dad. It will always be an important part of my life." Remember how Shawn Green, a Dodgers outfielder from 2000-04, would throw his batting gloves to kids in the stands after hitting a home run? Thank Scully for that one. "My first month as a Dodger, and one day I noticed a rip in a batting glove and I hit a home run, and when I came back to the dugout, I threw the glove to a kid," said Green. "When Vin saw me do that, he said, 'Well, that must be something Shawn Green does when he hits a home run.' I mean, I was new to the team and he didn't know. He's watching and trying to understand who I was. "It got to the point where I would hit a home run and immediately kids would come running down the aisles to get a batting glove. That was a really cool aspect to my career. It one of those little connection points between me and the fans that are really meaningful. In fact, it's probably at the top of the list. I've had 30-year-olds come up to me and thank me for throwing them a glove."

You've probably heard stories about kids with transistor radios tucked under their pillows listening to Scully until they fell asleep. Here's one about an active player. "I used to come home every night and watched the replays late at night, and his voice literally put me to sleep every night," said Eric Gagne, the 2003 National League Cy Young Award-winning closer who pitched for the Dodgers from 1999-2006. "It was like a soothing voice, relaxing -- almost like warm milk does to babies. "He was the Dodgers and will always be the biggest name in Dodger history. Riding the bus to the fields or to airports after a game, I would listen to all the amazing stories he had. It was an honor to have him say, 'Bienvenue Monsieur Gagne.' That's what my kids remember from when I pitched. They don't remember me pitching, they only remember Vin." One of Scully's inimitable skills is his timing, right down to his retirement, even if fans find it bittersweet. "There is nothing bitter; It's all happy," said O'Malley. "He's stepping aside at the right time. Everybody wants one more year. It's the right time to say goodbye, with his health good. A perfect time. I think the club has put together a great tribute to him -- well deserved -- and he's enjoying it." Whiff kings: Dodgers' arms setting strikeout records By Mike Petriello With just a handful of games remaining in the season, the Dodgers are on track to set a pair of all-time strikeout records. Somehow, that's both extremely impressive and far less impressive than you'd think. Given how much baseball has changed over the decades, it's always complicated to make comparisons between today's teams and those that played a generation or two before the American flag even had 50 stars. Still, let's run down the top-line facts before we get into some explanations. This year's Dodgers have indeed done better than any pitching staff ever at two important strikeout numbers: 1. The 2016 Dodgers have struck out 25.2 percent of the hitters they've faced, the best mark of the 2,196 team seasons dating back to 1916, when reliable records were first kept. (Strikeout percentage is a far more reliable metric than strikeouts per nine inning, though the Dodgers have that record, too.) 2. The 2016 Dodgers have struck out 1,459 hitters, also the most of any team in the past century, breaking the record of 1,450 by the Indians in 2014. Those are big numbers, and they're even more impressive when you realize that Clayton Kershaw missed more than two months, and that due to a record-setting number of trips to the disabled list, they've used 31 pitchers and 15 starters -- both also team records. Of the 46 other teams in the divisional play era (since 1969) to use at least 15 starters, 45 failed to make the playoffs, with the only exception being last year's Dodgers. By all rights, this staff should have collapsed in a sea of Nick Tepesches and Brock Stewarts. Instead, they set a strikeout record and won the National League West for the fourth straight year. Now, for the obvious caveat here: Everyone is striking out more. You already knew this, of course, but it's an important point. Major League Baseball set a record by striking out 17.5 percent of the time in 2008, and it's gone up (or stayed steady) every year since, to this year's high of 21.1 percent. At some point it seems like there has to be a tipping point, but we haven't reached it yet.

So the 2016 Dodgers have struck out more hitters more often than any pitching staff ever, but they're also pitching in an extremely strikeout-friendly climate. If we really want to see what they've done compared to their historic peers, we need to see how their whiff performance rates compared to the MLB average for that season. That is, their 25.2 percent strikeout rate looks a lot different compared to 2016's overall average of 21.1 percent than it does compared to 1946's 9.3 percent. That being the case, let's look back at all of those 2,196 seasons and see which teams had the largest differences, in percentage points, over the MLB average for that year. Compared to the MLB average strikeout rate for that season, the 2016 Dodgers are one of the 20 top teams of the last century. (For simplicity, we're treating the American League and the NL as the same, despite the presence of the designated hitter. Both leagues had pitchers batting through 1972, and daily Interleague Play has smoothed out some of the differences between the leagues, so we'll live with that minor flaw for now.) A huge majority of teams, just over 82 percent, fall within two percentage points either way of the Major League strikeout average for that season. The lowest team was the 2012 Twins, who had a 15.2 percent strikeout rate in a season where the bigs whiffed 19.8 percent of batters, and that makes sense given Minnesota's annual issues finding pitchers who can miss bats. As for this year's Dodgers, that ranking of 20th may not be as exciting as "first," but it's still in the top one percent of every team for more than a century, and some of those other clubs on the list are extremely impressive company. Those 2001-'04 Cubs, for example, had at various points some of the the best years that Kerry Wood and Mark Prior ever put up, along with underrated great relief seasons from Tom Gordon and Kyle Farnsworth. The 2002-03 D-backs had Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, plus better bullpens than you remember. Some of the other Dodgers teams on this list prominently featured Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, or Eric Gagne's historic 2003. It's all the more impressive considering the doom-and-gloom atmosphere that seemed to surround the rotation last offseason when Zack Greinke departed for Arizona, David Price landed in Boston rather than Los Angeles, and Hisashi Iwakuma's deal was voided after he failed a physical. Then Brett Anderson hurt his back, Alex Wood hurt his elbow, Hyun-Jin Ryu never really made it back, Brandon McCarthy is still struggling to do so, Kershaw missed so much time, and… well, you know the litany of issues by now. Julio Urias strikeout All of which is to say, it's been a team effort. There have been 24 Dodgers pitchers to throw at least 10 innings, headed into Tuesday night's game, and 19 of them have a strikeout rate that's above the 21.1 percent Major League average. There's Kershaw, of course, but also Kenley Jansen (41.6 percent), having the best season of an already great career, and whiffing more hitters than even Aroldis Chapman (39.7 percent). There's rookie Grant Dayton (38.3 percent), acquired from Miami in a little-noticed trade for Chris Reed last July, who has whiffed 36 in 24 2/3 innings, and Adam Liberatore (27.1 percent), acquired himself as what looked like a small part of 2014's Joel Peralta / Jose Dominguez trade. There's Joe Blanton (25.7 percent), who had actually retired in 2014. And of course there's Rich Hill (33.8 percent), Pedro Baez (28.3), Kenta Maeda (25.1), Julio Urias (24.4) and others too. Without context, the Dodgers have the all-time strikeout record. With it, they're still in the top one percent of teams over the past century. It might not sound as exciting; it still matters, a lot. Even among a strikeout-friendly climate, this team racks up the whiffs.

LA TIMES

Dodgers' NL West title celebration cut short in 7-1 loss to Padres By Andy McCullough The last week of Dave Roberts’ first regular season as Dodgers manager presents a logistical puzzle and a philosophical quandary. The puzzle involves the paring of his 40-man roster down to the 25-man unit allowed during the playoffs. And the quandary revolves around determining the relative importance of resting his players for October and hunting for home-field advantage. The Dodgers arrived in San Diego, the site of a 7-1 loss on Tuesday, fresh off a Sunday afternoon fiesta to celebrate a fourth-consecutive division title. Their opponent for a National League division series is already set. A date with Washington awaits Oct. 7. All that’s left to be determined is which club hosts the series. Washington holds a two-game advantage in the standings, although the Dodgers own the tiebreaker. “For us, it’s about playing good baseball and remaining sharp,” Roberts said. “And not to get complacent, and lose that edge. I’ve been on teams where teams continue to keep that momentum, and teams that go the other way. I think that for us, knowing that we have something really important to play for incentivizes us.” Even so, Roberts made maneuvers Tuesday in deference to his team’s position of strength. He removed Kenta Maeda after four innings. He fiddled with his lineup to spread around at-bats midway through the game. Adrian Gonzalez left after two at-bats due to a sinus infection. Alex Wood impressed Roberts with his second scoreless inning in relief since returning from the disabled list. The Dodgers trailed from the first inning onward, felled by a pair of homers from outfielder Hunter Renfroe. The rookie hit a three-run shot off Maeda in the first inning and a grand slam off Louis Coleman in the eighth. The Dodgers vanquished San Francisco in the race for the National League West on Sunday. After a day spent nursing his hangover — “I was exhausted,” Roberts said of his level of activity Monday. “I was good to no one,” — Roberts found a new opponent to monitor from afar. Roberts kept his eye on Washington’s game with Arizona in the hours before the Dodgers took the field. The prospect of home-field advantage appeals to Roberts. His team entered Tuesday with a 53-28 record at home and a 37-38 record on the road. “Considering the way we’ve played this year at home, we put a lot of value on it,” Roberts said. “It’s not the end-all, be-all, but with where we’re at right now in the win-loss, we’re going to try to catch the Nationals.” The first inning Tuesday was lucrative for Maeda and painful for the Dodgers. By recording three outs, he reached 170 innings, which netted him a $250,000 bonus. He has now earned $11.4 million in 2016, building on a $3-million base salary.

But in the process, Maeda put his team in an early hole. After allowing a pair of singles, Maeda faced Renfroe, playing in the sixth game of his career. Maeda pumped a slider. Renfroe responded with a homer over the fence in left. “In the beginning of the game, I didn’t really have my stuff,” Maeda said. “I was trying to find my pitches.” Maeda would not allow any more damage, but he would not last long. Roberts removed him from the game after four innings, with the team indicating Maeda was working under a strict pitch count. The Dodgers’ initial schedule called for Maeda to start on Wednesday and throw a simulated game next week to prepare for Game 3 of the NLDS. Maeda implored the team to let him throw on Tuesday and in Sunday’s season finale instead. The Dodgers acquiesced, and moved Jose De Leon to Wednesday. The switch came with financial allure for Maeda. His outing Sunday will be his 32nd start, providing him with a $1.5-million bonus. Roberts sounded thrilled about Maeda hitting his incentives. “In the spirit of his contract, if he performs and he posts, he’s going to be compensated,” Roberts said. “I applaud our organization for acknowledging that and putting Kenta in a position to continue to get compensated, and take care of his family. Because he deserves it.” Maeda was still in the game when the Dodgers scored. In the third inning, Chase Utley turned on a belt-high, 90-mph fastball from Paul Clemens for his 13th home run. The Dodgers had a chance to break through in the sixth. Utley led off with a walk against reliever Jose Torres. Corey Seager hit a single. Gonzalez took a one-out walk. But the bases were left loaded after popups by Yasmani Grandal and Josh Reddick. “We just really couldn’t get anything going,” Roberts said. Dodgers rookie Julio Urias is in the mix for playoff rotation By Andy McCullough After keeping rookie pitcher Julio Urias on ice for a couple of weeks, the Dodgers have brought him back into the starting rotation for Thursday’s game against the San Diego Padres, and Manager Dave Roberts listed Urias as a candidate to start in the playoffs. “It’s still on the table,” Roberts said. “When you get into the postseason, you’ve got to go with your best.” Hours before a game at Petco Park, Roberts unveiled his initial rotation for the first three games of a National League division series, which starts Oct. 7 against Washington. Clayton Kershaw will pitch Game 1, Rich Hill Game 2 and Kenta Maeda Game 3. Game 4 remains unsettled, although Urias, who has a record of 5-2 with a 3.53 earned-run average, is the most likely candidate. The Dodgers could also choose to use Kershaw on three days’ rest, but there is uncertainty about how his back would respond.

The Dodgers view Urias, a 20-year-old left-hander, as the fourth-most talented starting pitcher on the roster. On multiple occasions during the last two months, both Roberts and President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman indicated Urias would likely contribute as a reliever in October. The team is monitoring his innings in fear of overuse. But Urias threw only 11 innings in September, pushing him to 119 this season. The Dodgers feel Urias has enough room to potentially make starts in the NLDS, the NL Championship Series and the World Series. Roberts would not commit to utilizing Urias in any of those three rounds, but Urias’ return shows his availability for the assignment. “There were times when we felt we could have used his innings a little bit more, given where we were at in the rotation,” Roberts said. “But because we didn’t, and we had other guys step up in that role, it’s given us flexibility.” Rotation is set for San Francisco Hill will start Friday in San Francisco, with Kershaw following him. Kershaw preferred a shorter layoff in between his final start of the season and Game 1. The Dodgers also wanted to give Hill extra time to monitor the blisters on his left hand before Game 2.

DODGER INSIDER

The Legends’ Legend: Vin Appreciation Day By Jon Weisman Carl Erskine. Don Newcombe. Jamie Jarrín. And more, and more — all talking about Vin. For our Dodger Insider tribute to Vin Scully, we presented numerous remembrances and tributes, offered in two different collections in the magazine. The Legends’ Legend Vin Appreciation Day Please go to http://dodgers.mlblogs.com/ to read the full stories. Dodgers done in by big-game Hunter By Cary Osborne In the game after, a 7-1 loss to the Padres in San Diego on Tuesday, it’s the little things we choose to look at. Away from the fact that the Dodgers struggled with runners in scoring position and rookie Hunter Renfroe, in his sixth career game, became the second player this century to knock in at least seven runs against the Dodgers (the other being another Hunter — Pence — on September 14, 2013), Dodger relievers ignited final week competition for playoff roster spots.

Alex Wood, who had pitched just once since coming off the disabled list on September 20 (he retired the three batters he faced on September 21), retired the side in the fifth inning on Tuesday with two strikeouts. Brock Stewart allowed a hit and nothing else in the sixth. Stewart has a 1.89 ERA in his last 19 innings (five appearances). Josh Fields retired all three batters he faced. Fields has allowed one earned run in nine September appearances. Grant Dayton struck out the first two batters he faced before Jon Jay got on on a bunt single. Dayton was charged with an earned run after Louis Coleman came in and walked back-to-back batters before surrendering a grand slam to Renfroe. Dayton has allowed two earned runs in his last 14 1/3 innings (1.26 ERA) and has struck out 23 batters. Renfroe also hit a three-run homer off Kenta Maeda in the first inning. After that, Maeda settled and pitched scoreless second, third and fourth innings. The Dodgers were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position. They loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning, but Yasmani Grandal and Josh Reddick each popped up. Their lone run came from Chase Utley’s third-inning solo homer off San Diego starter Paul Clemens. Utley reached base four times, adding a pair of walks and a double. The Dodgers now trail Washington by two games for home-field advantage for the National League Division Series. Washington beat Arizona 4-2. Dodgers revise rotation to include Julio Urías By Jon Weisman The Dodgers have announced their starting pitchers for the regular season’s remaining six games, and while it is (as always) subject to change, there are some interesting tea leaves to read. Fresh off a recent conversation with Sandy Koufax (above), Julio Urías has been pegged to start Thursday for the Dodgers, following — in a switch — Kenta Maeda tonight and Jose De León on Wednesday. With Rich Hill, Clayton Kershaw and Maeda slated for the final series against the Giants, that means veterans Brett Anderson, Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy would appear to be all but out of consideration for the National League Division Series. In their only appearances of the month, Anderson threw five innings September 22, Kazmir a single inning September 23 and McCarthy — most encouragingly — six innings of two-run ball September 25. There’s never been any shortage of surprises with these Dodgers, but you’d be asking any of those pitchers to start on 2 1/2 weeks of rest, simulated innings aside. Game 4 of the NLDS would be played October 11.

Aside from the implications for finalizing the NLDS roster, the main question now is whether Urías, who has a 3.53 ERA this season but has thrown only two innings since September 13, is in a competition with De León to be positioned as No. 4 starter in the playoffs, or whether this is all a backup plan. Based on Dodger playoff history from 2013-15, Clayton Kershaw would come back on three days’ rest to pitch in Game 4. His recovery from a disk herniation has mostly tabled that concept, but if Kershaw is feeling 100 percent, would you count him out? Essentially, the Dodgers can start Kershaw in Game 4, turn to one of the rookies, or treat it as a glorified bullpen game, with Urías or De León combining with Ross Stripling to take the starter innings. We’ll find out soon enough, won’t we? Meanwhile, Hill pitching before Kershaw this weekend in San Francisco shouldn’t necessarily be interpreted as a change in the pecking order. It’s far more likely to give Hill an extra day of rest before he takes the mound in the playoffs. By pitching Saturday, Kershaw would open the NLDS on five days’ rest, with Hill on seven days’ rest. However, if you want to mull something off the wall, consider this: There are three days’ rest between NLDS Game 1 (October 7) and Game 4, but four days’ rest between NLDS Games 2 (October 8) and Game 5 (October 13). So if you wanted Kershaw to pitch on normal rest for two games, a Game 2 start would be the way to go. In that case, though, you’re guaranteeing the need for a fourth starter in the series. Update: Dave Roberts confirmed tonight that it would be Kershaw, Hill and Maeda to begin the playoffs, in that order.

TRUEBLUELA.COM

Clayton Kershaw to start Game 1 of NLDS for Dodgers By Eric Stephen In a move that was not in the least bit surprising on Tuesday, Clayton Kershaw was named the Game 1 starter for the Dodgers in the National League Division Series against the Nationals as manager Dave Roberts set the bulk of his postseason rotation. Rich Hill will follow in Game 2, then Kenta Maeda will start Game 3 against Washington. The Game 4 starter is still to be determined but Julio Urias, who was tabbed to start Thursday against the Padres, remains a possibility to fill that fourth starter role in October. The NLDS will begin on Friday, Oct. 7 at a site yet to be determined. The Nationals are now two games ahead of the Dodgers with five left to play, after beating the Diamondbacks 4-2 on Tuesday night. Washington only had three hits, but one was a three-run home run by Anthony Rendon in a four-run sixth inning that gave the Nationals the win. Nationals 92-65 (.586)

Dodgers 90-67 (.573) 2 GB Los Angeles owns the tiebreaker, and needs 7 of the 10 remaining games for the two teams to fall their way to clinch home field advantage in the NLDS. Washington got bad news off the field on Tuesday, with MRI results confirming a torn ACL for catcher Wilson Ramos, who will miss the rest of the season. In addition, a strained flexor mass that has sidelined pitcher Stephen Strasburg will likely keep him out of the NLDS, too. Per Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post: “I think it would be kind of pushing it,” General Manager Mike Rizzo said. “I think that’s fair to say. Again, I haven’t seen him after his throwing program today, but just the calendar, it’s unlikely that he’d contribute in that first series.” Strasburg last pitched on Sept. 7. Tuesday scores Nationals 4, Diamondbacks 2 Padres 7, Dodgers 1 Wednesday schedule 4:05 p.m.: Diamondbacks (Shelby Miller) vs. Nationals (Gio Gonzalez) 7:10 p.m.: Dodgers (Jose De Leon) at Padres (Luis Perdomo) Hunter Renfroe overpowers Dodgers By Eric Stephen Padres rookie Hunter Renfroe hit a three-run home run and a grand slam, sending the Dodgers to a 7-1 defeat on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series. The loss snapped the Dodgers’ five-game winning streak. The seven RBI for Renfroe are the most by a player against the Dodgers since Hunter Pence on Sept. 14, 2013. The Dodgers only scored one run against Padres starter Paul Clemens in five innings, but down a pair they loaded the bases against let-handed reliever Jose Torres with two outs in the sixth. That rally bore no fruit, however, as both Yasmani Grandal and Josh Reddick popped out to end the inning, the latter the culmination of a 10-pitch at-bat. In what was a close game until the eighth, the Dodgers had a runner on third base with one out in both the second and sixth innings and failed to score. Kenta Maeda was on a pitch limit on Tuesday, after moving him up so he could make one more regular season start on Sunday to get ready for the postseason. He was pulled after four innings and 60 pitches, allowing three runs.

Maeda allowed the three-run home run to Renfroe in the first inning, then walked the next batter. But Maeda rebounded to retire 10 of his final 11 batters faced, and on the night struck out five and walked one. He ends his year against the Padres with a 3.27 ERA in four starts, with 27 strikeouts and two walks in 22 innings. Tryout week It was the Dodgers’ first game after clinching the division, but the lineup was filled with regulars, thanks in large part to Monday’s off day. There was a mix of both trying to win and also giving regulars rest, while also providing opportunities for others to stake their claim to a postseason roster spot. In addition to Maeda’s shortened outing, Adrian Gonzalez got two plate appearances but came out after the fourth inning. Though Gonzalez was sick.

Bill Plunkett ✔ @billplunkettocr #Dodgers Adrian Gonzalez has a sinus infection. Dave Roberts said that's why he came out of game early Yasiel Puig played the final two innings in center field, his second game at the position since returning from Triple-A Oklahoma City this month, and his fourth game there in 2016. On the pitching side, Alex Wood made his second appearance since returning from the disabled list, and his first in six days. He pitched a perfect fifth inning with two strikeouts, trying to make the playoff roster as a reliever. Same goes for Brock Stewart, who allowed a hit but pitched a scoreless sixth. Traditional relievers Josh Fields and Grant Dayton held the Padres at bay until a bunt single with two outs in the eighth against Dayton ended his night. Louis Coleman came in and walked two before serving up the grand slam to Renfroe, the ball taking whatever hopes Coleman had of making the NLDS roster with it. Road killer Chase Utley doubled in the first inning to start the game, but was stranded. He took matters into his own hands in the third inning, homering to right field for the Dodgers’ first run of the game. He also walked twice. Utley this season is hitting .287/.350/.467 on the road, with 16 doubles, nine home runs and three triples in 67 games. In his last four starts away from home, Utley has at least two hits and at least one extra-base hit. Jack of all trades Howie Kendrick entered the game as a reserve in the fifth inning, taking over for Adrian Gonzalez at first base. It was the 10th game of the season for Kendrick at first base, where he has started six times. Kendrick is the first Dodger ever with at least 10 games at first base, second base, third base and left field in the same season. The only other Dodger to play 10 games at those three infield positions plus any outfield position was Hi Myers with his 63 games in center field in 1917 (thanks to Ryan M. Spaeder for that extra nugget).

Kendrick also walked in the sixth inning, his 49th of the season to set a new career high. He walked 48 times with the Angels in 2014. Kendrick’s walk rate in 2016 (9.33%) is nearly double his walk rate for the first 10 years of his career (4.84%) Up next Jose De Leon gets the call on Wednesday in what will be an all-rookie starting rotation in this series in San Diego. Luis Perdomo starts for the Padres in the second game of the series, another 7:10 p.m. PT start. Tuesday particulars Home runs: Chase Utley (13); Hunter Renfroe 2 (3) WP - Paul Clemens (4-5): 5 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 2 strikeouts LP - Kenta Maeda (16-10): 4 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts Julio Urias to start Thursday for Dodgers By Eric Stephen Every time the Dodgers say they will move Julio Urias to the bullpen, he pulls them back in. The 20-year-old left-hander will start the series finale for the Dodgers on Thursday against the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego, manager Dave Roberts said on Tuesday at Petco Park. This move fits conveniently just before the playoffs, when the Dodgers will most likely need a Game 4 starter. Urias last started on Sept. 13 against the Yankees in New York, and his trip to the bullpen saw him pitch in just one game in the last two weeks, throwing two innings against the Yankees last Wednesday. The concern with Urias is his workload, especially at such a young age. After throwing 80⅓ innings in the minors in 2015, he is already at 119 innings between the majors and minors this year. The Dodgers have mentioned at multiple times that they have a limit for Urias in 2016, but what that exact limit is has never been publicly revealed, and wisely so. Urias has pitched 11 innings in September. On performance, Urias would be absolutely deserving of a playoff spot, posting a 3.53 ERA and 3.22 FIP in his first 74 major league innings, with 79 strikeouts and 29 walks. In his last five starts he has allowed six runs (four earned), putting up a 1.38 ERA with 24 strikeouts and eight walks in 26 innings. Roberts also confirmed the starters for the weekend in San Francisco, with Rich Hill, Clayton Kershaw and Kenta Maeda starting the final three games of the regular season, which explains the earlier move of Maeda from Wednesday to Tuesday, with Jose De Leon starting Wednesday.

Ken Gurnick ✔ @kengurnick Roberts said Maeda preferred to make two starts before playoffs to stay sharp, so he was moved to tonight.

Andy McCullough ✔ @McCulloughTimes

Kenta Maeda will earn a $1.5 million bonus by making 32 starts this year (tonight and Sunday). Dave Roberts said he was happy for Maeda. Having Hill start before Kershaw is a little curious, though with four off days in between the regular season and NLDS there is plenty of time to configure the order for the playoffs however the Dodgers want it. UPDATE: In fact, the order for the NLDS has been set, at least for the first three games, with Urias an option for Game 4.

Ken Gurnick ✔ @kengurnick Kershaw, Hill and Maeda start first three playoff games, Roberts said. David Vassegh @THEREAL_DV Dave Roberts said Julio Urias starting a game in postseason is "Still on the table" #Dodgers

Andy McCullough ✔ @McCulloughTimes Julio Urias will be in the mix to pitch in both the NLCS and the World Series. (If the Dodgers get there)

Ken Gurnick ✔ @kengurnick Urias back in rotation because of light use in September. Dodgers try to end divisional road woes in final week By Eric Stephen The Dodgers made their climb to the top of the National League West thanks in part to a strong record within their own division, though the bulk of that success has come at home. At 42-28 against NL West foes in 2016, the Dodgers have the third-best record against their own division in the National League, trailing only the Cubs (47-23) and Nationals (49-24). The Dodgers were 27-11 (.711) against NL West foes at home this season, but just 15-17 (.469) on the road, including just 1-5-1 in their last seven road series within the division. LA’s final week including NL West road games in both San Diego and San Francisco. The Dodgers are 4-2 at Petco Park this season and have outscored the Padres on the road, 42-15. The bulk of that work came in the opening series of the season, when the Dodgers swept the Padres without allowing a run, outscoring San Diego 25-0 in the first thee games of 2016. The Dodgers are 37-38 overall on the road this season, and need a 4-2 week to avoid finishing with a losing road record for a second consecutive season.

The chief agitator for the Dodgers at Petco Park this season is Yasiel Puig, who is 11-for-25 (.440) with two triples, two home runs, two walks, eight RBI and eight runs scored in six games this season. Since returning from the minors, Puig has started all eight games against left-handed pitchers and started just once in 15 games against right-handers, so his role is pretty well established. The Dodgers face one southpaw starter in this series — Christian Friedrich in Thursday night’s series finale. On Tuesday, Kenta Maeda makes his fourth start against the Padres in 2016. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA against San Diego, with 22 strikeouts and one walk in 18 innings. Paul Clemens starts for the Padres, the rare pitcher who has fared much better on the road (2.91 ERA in eight games, including four starts, since joining the Padres) than the pitchers’ paradise of Petco Park (5.02 ERA in six starts). Dodgers vs. Padres probable pitchers By Eric Stephen The National League West champion Dodgers start their final road trip of the 2016 season on Tuesday night with a series in San Diego against the Padres, their first visit to Petco Park since seeing 10 straight balls from starter Ginny Baker last week. Here is a look at the schedule and probable starting pitchers for this three-game series down south. It includes a change from the original plan, with Kenta Maeda now starting Tuesday, and Jose De Leon pitching Wednesday instead of the other way around. Tuesday, 7:10 p.m. PT (SportsNet LA) Kenta Maeda will make his 31st start of the 2016 regular season in the opener in San Diego. Currently at 169 innings, he will earn $250,000 for pitching one inning on Wednesday, putting him at $7.4 million of a possible $10.15 million in bonuses earned this year, and when adding his $3 million base salary and $1 million signing bonus a total of $11.4 million made in his rookie season. The Dodgers haven’t announced their specific weekend plans but moving Maeda up to Tuesday from Wednesday, allows Maeda to potentially start Sunday in San Francisco, which would earn him another $1.5 million for his 32nd start. Paul Clemens, claimed off waivers from the Marlins in June, has made 12 starts in 2016 but has lasted past five innings just twice, recording three total outs in the sixth inning. He has a 4.76 ERA as a starter, and his 6.21 FIP ranks 174th among 177 major league starters with at least 50 innings. Wednesday, 7:10 p.m. (SportsNet LA) Jose De Leon makes his first start since Sept. 18, another audition of sorts for a potential Game 4 start in October. This is De Leon’s second shot at the Padres, against whom he made his major league debut on Sept. 4. The right-hander struck out nine with no walks in that game, allowing four runs (thee earned) in six innings for the win.

The starts of Maeda and De Leon will give the Dodgers 68 starts by rookie pitchers in 2016, trailing only 1903 (77 starts) and 1952 (69) in franchise history. Luis Perdomo has a 5.59 ERA in his 141⅔ innings, including 4.46 in his 19 starts, but the Rule 5 pick has improved as the season wore on. The 23-year-old right-hander has lasted at least six innings in each of his last six starts, averaging seven innings with a 3.00 ERA during that span, with 24 strikeouts and five walks. Thursday, 6:10 p.m. (SportsNet LA) This spot is still TBA for the Dodgers, though perhaps Brett Anderson makes sense after his five innings last Thursday against Colorado. Christian Friedrich has a 2.84 ERA with 21 strikeouts and six walks in 19 innings in his last three starts. He is also a left-hander who serves as someone to make the Dodgers feel better about themselves against southpaws. The Dodgers have scored nine runs on 19 hits in 12⅔ innings in his three starts against Friedrich in 2016, hitting .339/.422/.518 against them.

ESPN LA

NLDS debate: Will Dodgers' dominance of Nationals continue? By ESPN.com There's a ton of uncertainty surrounding this final week of the 2016 regular season. But we do know this about the playoffs: The Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals will meet in the NLDS. So who will win? During the regular season, L.A. took five of six from D.C. That was then, though. Now, team reporters -- Doug Padilla (Dodgers) and Eddie Matz (Nationals) -- duke it out over what will happen when the two teams meet in October. Read each of their cases, followed by "Judge" David Schoenfield's ruling, then cast your vote below. Padilla: Could it actually be that the Dodgers will get past the Nationals in the National League Division Series because they are the healthier team? For a Dodgers squad that has placed a record 28 players on the disabled list this season, having a health advantage over anybody is an uncommon and unexpected turn of events. But Clayton Kershaw looks to be back in form, Rich Hill is giving the club about six innings at a time and the position players are all feeling good, outside of Andre Ethier, who hasn't really been available all season. The Nationals, meanwhile, are without Stephen Strasburg. Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper, and even if they can get back for the postseason (Strasburg is "unlikely" to pitch in the NLDS, according to the Nats), they will be stuck rounding into form instead of being in full stride. And All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos was just lost for the year, too. The Dodgers' major weakness of hitting against left-handed pitching is well known, but the Nationals might not be able to expose it. Their main left-hander, Gio Gonzalez, has a 7.45 ERA in four September

starts, and opponents are batting .321 against him this month with a .457 slugging percentage. And the Dodgers have been slightly improved against lefties of late. Even without Strasburg, the Nationals' right-handed duo of Max Scherzer and Tanner Roark is formidable, but the Dodgers will go to work with their lefty-swinging lineup of Chase Utley, Corey Seager, Adrian Gonzalez, Joc Pederson, Josh Reddick and Yasmani Grandal, who is a switch-hitter but is far better from the left side. And then there is the right-handed hitting Justin Turner, whose reverse splits show that he is far more productive against right-handed pitching. And none of these potential Dodgers advantages consider the fact that the club was 5-1 against the Nationals in the regular season, going 2-1 at Nationals Park in July without Kershaw, who was injured; Hill, who was with the A's at the time; and Kenta Maeda, who was not lined up for the series. Those three pitchers will pick up a bulk of the Dodgers' postseason starts. Dodger Domination The Dodgers took five of six from the Nationals during the regular season. DATE RESULT WINNING PITCHER LOSING PITCHER June 20 Dodgers 4, Nationals 1 Clayton Kershaw Yusmeiro Petit June 21 Dodgers 3, Nationals 2 Louis Coleman Tanner Roark June 22 Dodgers 4, Nationals 3 Chris Hatcher Shawn Kelley July 19 Dodgers 8, Nationals 4 Scott Kazmir Reynaldo Lopez July 20 Nationals 8, Dodgers 1 Gio Gonzalez Bud Norris July 21 Dodgers 6, Nationals 3 Adam Liberatore Stephen Strasburg Matz: If we learned anything from the 2015 NLDS between the Mets and Cubs, it's that what happens in the regular season stays in the regular season. Sure, Washington's 1-5 record against L.A. suggests the NL East champs -- who lost as LDS favorites in 2012 and 2014 -- are primed for yet another early exit (Wilson Ramos' ACL doesn't help any). But take a closer look, and the Dodgers aren't quite the kryptonite they seem. In the June series out west, Dusty Baker's club dropped all three. In the first loss, reliever Yusmeiro Petit started in place of Stephen Strasburg. The following day, Washington fell when workhorse Tanner Roark, who took a 2-0 lead into the eighth, gave up a three-run homer. The last "L" was about fluky as fluky gets: Shawn Kelley, subbing for injured closer Jonathan Papelbon, allowed a single that center fielder Michael Taylor turned into a walk-off Little League homer when the ball rolled under his glove. During the July series in the District, it was more of the same. Rookie starter Reynaldo Lopez, making his big league debut in place of injured hurler Joe Ross, got rocked and was hung with the loss. Although the other defeat came with Strasburg on the hill, hindsight tells us that Washington's righty (6.15 ERA since the break) probably wasn't whole then. To recap, of Washington's five losses to L.A., you can write off three to five of them, depending on your preferred scoring technique. Yes, Strasburg is still out, but Petit won't be the guy covering for him. Instead, it'll be lefty Gio Gonzalez, who dominated the Dodgers in July, which should come as a surprise to no one considering that L.A. hits southpaws about as much as a Vegas dealer hits on 17.

And I haven't even mentioned Washington's two most important players -- Max Scherzer and Trea Turner -- because neither of them faced L.A. this year. Actually, that's not true. Turner, the electric rookie who completely changed the Nats' lineup, was present for the July series but hadn't yet morphed into the Trea Turner we've been marveling at over the past couple months. As for Scherzer, a Cy Young front-runner, he really and truly hasn't faced L.A. This matters because A) he's the Nats' ace and B) he has been as good as any pitcher in baseball since the break. Tossing him into the mix for a start or two (if Baker decides to go the MadBum route with Scherzer) changes everything. That snoring sound you hear? That's my case, which I hereby rest. "Judge" Schoenfield: As an appellate court judge, I'd prefer to pass this one on to a higher court since it's too close to call. But my ruling: I'll go with Padilla's case. The Dodgers' clear weakness is hitting left-handed pitchers -- they have a .771 OPS against righties, .631 against lefties -- and the Nationals don't have a reliable lefty in the rotation or in the bullpen. And this court believes Clayton Kershaw is finally going to have that signature postseason game (or games) we've all been waiting for. Free Agent value watch: Rich Hill up, Jose Bautista drops By Jim Bowden Players are like stocks on the stock market. Their value fluctuates on a day-to-day, month-to-month and mostly year-to-year basis. This year, for several players there were significant swings in value changes from 2015 positive and negative. Here are my lists of the most value gained and most value lost in 2016 based on actual performances. As in previous years, I will be predicting actual years and values for all of the top free agents later in October. For now, here are the players whose values have changed the most. Most Value Gained 1. Rich Hill, LHS, Los Angeles Dodgers Hill was impressive in his four starts in September 2015 for the Red Sox, going 2-1 with a 1.55 ERA. However, because it was a small sample size, teams didn’t buy into the performance, and he had to settle for a one-year, $6 million deal with the Athletics. In 2016, he has started 19 games with a combined ERA of 2.05 between Oakland (14 games started) and Los Angeles (five). He’s the real deal. He is going to be the highest paid free-agent starter in this year’s market place. 2. Edwin Encarnacion, 1B/DH, Toronto Blue Jays It’s hard to believe that his value could go any higher after belting 34 or more home runs in five consecutive years, but that’s going to be the case after a career high in home runs (42) and RBIs (126) in 2016. He plays every day and is showing no signs of decline. His Average Annual Value for position players could be a record high, with the only question that remains being how many years he gets.

3. Justin Turner, 3B, Los Angeles Dodgers Turner had his breakout year last season, when he hit .294 with 16 home runs and 60 RBIs after enjoying his first opportunity to be an everyday player. However, he followed his good 2015 with a stellar 2016, registering career highs in doubles (33), home runs (27) and RBIs (89) and an OPS of .834. With so many teams looking for an upgrade at third base and his bat going to the next level, his value has skyrocketed. 4. Ian Desmond, CF, Texas Rangers Desmond’s value plunged a season ago, after a disappointing slash line of .233/.390/.394. However, it only took him a year to get his value back close to where it was. A move to center field helped him defensively -- and indirectly on offense, as well. His .285/.335/.449 slash line resembles his best years (2012-13). For the fourth time in his career, he hit at least 20 home runs and stole at least 20 bases. His clubhouse leadership and presence has been felt in Texas -- and his wallet could feel the difference in the winter. 5. Wilson Ramos, C, Washington Nationals A year ago, Ramos was coming off a dismal slash line of .229/.258/.358, with 15 home runs and 68 RBIs. After an offseason during which he got his family settled in the United States and had Lasik eye surgery, Wilson has put up a career-best slash line of .307/.354/.497, with 22 home runs and 80 RBIs. However, his recent ACL tear will drastically reduce the years and dollars he actually gets this offseason. 6. Yoenis Cespedes, OF, New York Mets For whatever reasons, Cespedes didn’t get the long-term offers he expected last season. So instead he signed a creative three-year $75 million dollar deal with an opt out. He is expected to exercise that opt-out clause, which means he’ll have been paid $27 million on a one-year deal by the Mets. He’s going to get paid this time and get the years to go along with it. The only question is: Will the Mets pony up? 7. Michael Saunders, LF, Toronto Blue Jays Saunders has always had the tools scouts love, but he has never been able to stay healthy long enough to live up to the expectations. However, this was the year he did -- hitting 32 doubles and 24 home runs for his best season to date. He made only $2.9 million last season. Expect that figure to at least triple this offseason. 8. Mark Trumbo, RF, Baltimore Orioles The Orioles acquired Trumbo from the Mariners in the offseason, along with C.J. Riefenhauser, in a deal for backup catcher Steve Clevenger. It was the most lopsided trade of the offseason, as Trumbo went on to lead the majors in home runs with 45 and make the second All-Star Game of his career. As the motto goes, “Power pays.” He’s going to get paid. 9. Jeremy Hellickson, RHS, Philadelphia Phillies Hellickson's value went up significantly this season, as he has a 12-10 record with a 3.78 ERA in 31 starts, while pitching half of his games at Citizens Bank Park. Before the season, no one would believe that the Phillies would make him a qualifying offer of $16.7 million. Now it’s a foregone conclusion that they will

make an offer, with the strong possibility he turns it down for a more lucrative multiyear deal on the open market. 10. Ivan Nova, RHS, Pittsburgh Pirates If you’re a failed starting pitcher and want to see your value go up the next year, just sign with the Pirates. Don’t believe me? Ask J.A. Happ, A.J. Burnett and Edinson Volquez. And after this offseason, ask Nova. Nova started the year with the Yankees; in 15 starts and 21 appearances, he had an ERA that nearly kissed 5.00. Then he goes to the Pirates, starts throwing first-pitch strikes at the knees, fills up the strike zone -- as evidenced by only three walks in 59.1 innings -- and has a 3.49 ERA in 10 starts. Don’t believe the adjustments he has made? A lot of baseball people didn’t believe in Happ or Hill last season. Nova's value is going way up. Most Value Lost After stumbling in Houston, Carlos Gomez has found his footing in Texas. Still, his free agent value has plummeted. Matt Brown/Angels Baseball LP/Getty Images 1. Carlos Gomez, LF, Texas Rangers Gomez was so bad this year for the Astros that they released him and allowed him to sign with the AL West-leading Rangers. He has played much better for the Rangers and has brought some of his value back. However, he’s not close to the player he was in 2013-14, and he’ll feel it in free agency. 2. Jose Bautista, RF, Toronto Blue Jays Bautista was looking for a long-term deal last offseason with hopes of a five- to six-year deal. However, a season of injuries and decline in numbers will lead to a smaller contract in both Average Annual Value and years. A strong postseason could help him though. 3. Matt Holliday, LF, St. Louis Cardinals Holliday’s seven-year, $120 million dollar deal is about to expire with the team holding a 2017 option of $17 million or a $1 million buyout. It was borderline whether the Cardinals would pick the option, but after a year of injuries, it’s likely the Cards will buy out the option year and Holliday will need to sign a new deal for significantly less money. 4. Angel Pagan, LF, San Francisco Giants Pagan, 35, has had a solid year with a .326 on-base percentage, 11 home runs and 53 RBIs. However, his expiring contract that paid him $11.25 million this year remains inflated, and he’ll need to take a pay cut and a shorter-term deal than his previous four-year, $40 million dollar contract. 5. Colby Rasmus, LF, Houston Astros The Astros shocked the baseball world last winter when they offered Rasmus the qualifying offer of $15.8 million. They won’t make that same mistake again this offseason after his .206/.286/.355 slash line and his decrease in home runs from 25 to 15.

6. Santiago Casilla, closer, San Francisco Giants A career-high nine blown saves and the highest ERA since 2009 will make his value plummet on the free-agent market. 7. Edinson Volquez, RHS, Kansas City Royals Volquez had a respectable ERA of 3.04 in 2014 and then 3.55 in 2015. This season, his ERA ballooned to 5.37. That will ultimately result in a pay cut. 8. Jered Weaver, RHS, Los Angeles Angels Weaver’s five-year, $85 million dollar contract expires this offseason. This season, he led the league in home runs allowed and had career highs in ERA (5.06) and FIP (5.61). What kind of pay cut should we expect? “Big,” as Julia Roberts said in “Pretty Woman.” “Huge.” 9. Jonathon Niese, LHS, New York Mets Niese was traded to the Pirates in the offseason for former Silver Slugger winner Neil Walker. He was so bad for the Pirates -- as proved by an ERA of 4.91 -- he was shipped back to the Mets on Aug. 1 for reliever Antonio Bastardo. In New York, Niese had an ERA of 11.45. He is now on the 60-day disabled list. Value: gone. Now he has to be someone’s reclamation project. 10. Drew Storen, RHR, Seattle Mariners Storen saved 95 games for the Nationals from 2010-2015 and had an impressive 1.12 ERA in 2014 in 65 appearances. He was traded in 2016 to Toronto, where he had a 6.21 ERA and was so poor that the Blue Jays dealt him to the Mariners at midseason. He has brought his value back some with a 3.63 ERA in 17 appearances in the Pacific Northwest, but he won't get close to the $8.375 million he made this year. Top 3 Closers (Who will soar) Based on the top prospect packages it took to acquire them, the trade deadline made it clear how much the value of impact closers are to teams. Now this offseason, their true value will be measured in dollars and years rather than prospect talent. These three closers will be the beneficiary of that changing market: 1. Aroldis Chapman, closer, Chicago Cubs 2. Kenley Jansen, closer, Los Angeles Dodgers 3. Mark Melancon, closer, Washington Nationals. Dodgers stumble as post-clinch balancing act begins By Doug Padilla SAN DIEGO -- The first day of the Los Angeles Dodgers' pursuit of the Washington Nationals appeared far different from their previous race against the San Francisco Giants.

With the division title in hand, the Dodgers played a game Tuesday with the chase for home-field advantage in the National League Division Series in mind, and it was not exactly a win-at-all-costs type of attitude. Manager Dave Roberts did start nearly all of his regulars in the first game after clinching the National League West on Sunday, but starter Kenta Maeda only went four innings, as did left fielder Andrew Toles and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. By the time the changes were made, the San Diego Padres held a lead they would not relinquish in an eventual 7-1 victory. Padres rookie Hunter Renfroe had a three-run home run and a grand slam to account for all of the Padres' RBIs. In the process, the Dodgers fell two games behind the Nationals in the battle for home-field advantage in their postseason series which starts Oct. 7. "As you saw tonight, I normally wouldn't have taken Toles out as early as I did, but I want to get Andre [Ethier] some at-bats, and it was nice to see him get that last at-bat and get a walk and have a competitive three at-bats," Roberts said. "Toles will start tomorrow, and we'll see how the game plays out. And Adrian had a sinus infection, so that's why he came out of the game." It's not as if the Dodgers do not care about playing host to the Nationals for the opening two games of the NLDS, plus a potential deciding Game 5. But post-clinch baseball is usually different from the version that preceded it. So Roberts walked that fine line between winning games to gain an advantage moving forward and giving some of his regulars much-needed rest before the playoffs. Even though it might not have looked like it, Roberts insisted that home-field advantage for the division series is not an afterthought. "I think considering the way we have played this year at home, we have put a lot of value on it," Roberts insisted. "It's not the end all, be all, but kind of where we are right now, with the win-loss [record], we're going to try to catch the Nationals." At the start of play around the league Tuesday, the Dodgers were just a game behind the Nationals, knowing that they own the tiebreaker by virtue of their 5-1 mark in the season series. But the Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, meaning the Dodgers' defeat to the Padres knocked them two games back with five to play for both clubs. In addition to walking that line between rest and catching the Nationals, the Dodgers are also in a delicate situation with Maeda. The Dodgers have agreed to give their rookie right-hander one more start Sunday, his 32nd, which will trigger another $1.5 million bonus. But Tuesday's short outing could prevent him from hitting the 180-innings mark, which will trigger another $250,000 bonus. He did get a $250,000 bonus Tuesday when he passed the 170 innings mark. Asked about his desire to pitch in two more regular-season games, as opposed to a regular-season game and then a simulated game, Maeda said he was not thinking about the financial impact. "I felt like pitching in a live situation against live hitters in the regular season would prepare me better than pitching in a simulated game after the season ended," Maeda said through an interpreter.

Surely he must have reminded the Dodgers about the $1.5 million bonus. "Well, I mean, what I always thought, that pitching in a live situation was better than a simulated situation," Maeda said. Maeda certainly has earned his bonus this season, and the club has validated that goal by giving the right-hander another start. And it will come in a game that could possibly have nothing at stake if home field for the NLDS is wrapped up. But Roberts insisted that home field or not, Maeda's final start will matter. "I think on Sunday [at San Francisco] it will be a normal start, so depending on how well he throws the baseball, that will dictate how long he is out there," Roberts said. In that case, maybe Maeda not only gets the $1.5 million bonus for making the start, but an additional $250,000 if he can pitch seven innings. It's not like rest will matter, since his playoff start will come eight days after the regular-season finale. If Maeda does collect his final bonus, the Dodgers could have a motivated pitcher on their hands. "After the first inning, Kenta was good," Roberts said. "He was missing with the breaking ball a little bit, missing with the fastball a little bit and left a breaking ball up to Renfroe, who hit a homer, but Kenta was good at getting strikeouts, getting soft contact. After he came out, I told him it was a positive outing, so he will be ready on Sunday." Rookie Renfroe hits slam, 3-run HR; Padres beat Dodgers, 7-1 By Associated Press SAN DIEGO -- It appears Petco Park is going to have a hard time holding Hunter Renfroe. The rookie hit his first career grand slam and also had a three-run shot to drive in all the runs for the San Diego Padres in their 7-1 victory against the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. The Dodgers fell two games behind the NL East champion Washington Nationals for home-field advantage in their Division Series matchup. Renfroe says he's felt comfortable at the big downtown ballyard since his first big league plate appearance Wednesday night, when he was intentionally walked. Since then he's hit three impressive home runs, including his first one off San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner on Friday night. "I'm very comfortable," said Renfroe, San Diego's first-round pick in the 2013 draft and this year's Pacific Coast League MVP.

He hit a high, arcing three-run homer to left field off Kenta Maeda with two outs in the first inning. Renfroe's grand slam to straightaway center came on a full-count pitch from Louis Coleman with two outs in the eighth. Renfroe has three homers in six games. Padres manager Andy Green said Renfroe's grand slam, which came on a fastball after he fouled off several sliders, "was about as hard as I've seen a baseball hit all year. "Hunter Renfroe is going to be a dynamic player at this level when he stays in the strike zone," Green said. "There's really no other message for him or about him. He can hit anything. He just has to get him over the plate. When he does that, it's as much damage as anybody would have." Renfroe's seven RBI were one shy of the team record. The rookie said he's keeping things in perspective. "One of the big things is you can't think of it as more than what it is," he said. "It's a game. You've been playing it since you're 4 years old or what have you. You can't think of it more than that. It's just on a bigger stage and more fans and everything is kind of magnified. You can't think too much in it. You can't be afraid to fail." Dodgers rookie manager Dave Roberts was on the Padres staff the last several years, so he knows about Renfroe "He's got big power," Roberts said. "We left some balls out over the plate and elevated to him, and do that with a power hitter and that can happen. He had a big day." Maeda had faced the Padres three times earlier this year, but they have a lot of new players since his last start against San Diego on July 10. "It wasn't miscommunication as much as it was facing these new hitters and I wasn't familiar with them," he said through a translator. Maeda (16-10), who beat the Padres 7-0 at Petco Park in his big league debut on April 6, had his start moved up one day so he'll get another one before the playoffs begin. Paul Clemens (4-5) held the Dodgers to one run and three hits in five innings. He struck out two and walked one. Chase Utley homered for the Dodgers in the third, his 13th. TV SURPRISE Some Padres fans were surprised when a spokesman for the San Diego Chargers was interviewed on the Fox Sports San Diego broadcast early in the game. Fox executive Henry Ford said the Chargers spokesman, Fred Maas, was a guest of the network. "His appearance in no way reflects a position or endorsement by the Padres, nor FOX Sports," Ford said in an email. "Padres management was not given advance notice of his appearance, and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused." While the Padres have said they want to see the Chargers stay in San Diego, they say they haven't been given adequate answers to several questions about how a new downtown stadium would affect Petco Park.

The Chargers will ask voters on Nov. 8 to approve a hotel tax increase to help pay for a new stadium and convention center annex that would be close to Petco Park. TRAINER'S ROOM Dodgers: 1B Adrian Gonzalez left the game with a sinus infection. Roberts said he doesn't think it's serious. UP NEXT Dodgers: Rookie RHP Jose De Leon (2-0, 5.52 ERA) had his start pushed back from Tuesday to Wednesday. He beat the Padres 7-4 in his major league debut on Sept. 4 at Dodger Stadium. Padres: Rookie RHP Luis Perdomo (8-10, 5.59) is scheduled to make his 20th start for the Padres. Dodgers' Charlie Culberson on a ride to remember By Doug Padilla SAN DIEGO -- A day after he was the toast of Los Angeles, Charlie Culberson rewarded himself with a quiet train ride along the Pacific coastline on Monday. Culberson clinched the National League West for the Los Angeles Dodgers when he crushed a home run into the left-field seats to beat the Colorado Rockies in the 10th inning on Sunday. The part-time player, who shuttled back and forth between Los Angeles and Triple-A Oklahoma City this season, authored his dramatics on his first major league home run of the season and just the sixth of his career. On Tuesday afternoon, the spotlight was back on Culberson, as he did a live television interview before batting practice and fielded some questions from the media. It was in contrast to a little bit of the personal time he got Monday. Instead of taking the team bus to San Diego on Monday, Culberson rode the train with infield coach Juan Castro. And he made good use of the opportunity. “I took the time to text everybody back that sent me a text,” Culberson said. “Sometimes you don’t have the time or the chance to, but I had the time and my family wasn’t here with me, so I took the time to text people back, because they went out of their way to congratulate me.” The former San Francisco Giants first-round draft pick said he sent over 100 responses during the two-hour-plus train ride. Two days later, the magnitude of his home run was not lost on him. “Yeah, it was a big deal,” he said. “It was the biggest hit, the biggest deal of my baseball career, and I’m definitely happy to have had that chance to be there.” But reality can be harsh, and on Tuesday, Culberson was back on the bench to open a three-game series against the Padres, cheering on his teammates and waiting for another chance.

And while Culberson might have made the Opening Day roster in April, he will be in wait mode until the National League Division Series roster is submitted next week. The Dodgers will have to cut their current 40-man roster to a 25-man group for the series against the Washington Nationals. “Honestly, I don’t think about it,” Culberson said. “I just try to take it one day at a time. That happened, and today’s a new day. Whatever they are going to do, they’re going to do it. I’m just going to enjoy the ride, whatever happens.” Maybe Culberson will wait for the playoff roster, by using the same strategy he did when waiting for the pitch from the Rockies’ Boone Logan that he pulled down the left-field line. “I was just trying to be relaxed to see if something good happens,” he said. Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Kenta Maeda to start Games 1-3 of NLDS By Doug Padilla SAN DIEGO -- Two days after clinching a fourth consecutive division title, the Los Angeles Dodgers have set three spots of a potential four-man rotation for the National League Division Series and have locked in an outfielder as well. Manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday that left-hander Clayton Kershaw will start Game 1 and left-hander Rich Hill will take the mound in Game 2 of the series against the Washington Nationals. When the series shifts cities, the Dodgers will come back with right-hander Kenta Maeda for Game 3. Providing support for those pitchers will be outfielder Yasiel Puig, who has made it back from an early August demotion to the minor leagues to secure a spot on the postseason roster. "He's earned it," Roberts said. After the Dodgers work their way through their first three starters in the NLDS, they can come back to Kershaw on short rest for Game 4 or add a fourth starter. Roberts said he is keeping his options open that deep into the best-of-five series. While Kershaw has come back on short rest in previous NLDS matchups, his missing 75 days this season with a lower-back injury could have the Dodgers taking a more cautious approach. Then again, if the club is facing elimination, Kershaw could be pressed into duty for an elimination game. After team president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said last month that Julio Urias would not start if the team made the postseason, that plan has now changed. Urias will start Thursday at San Diego, and the 20-year-old rookie could be the rotation's fourth man in October. "I think it's still on the table," Roberts said. "I think when you get to the postseason you have to go with your best, and we've been so mindful of his usage. We obviously do a lot of research and studying with matchups. So at the end of the day, Julio is our best matchup, and it makes sense, then yeah it's worth the discussion. So it's still on the table."

Urias is 5-2 this season with a 3.53 ERA and has made huge strides since struggling in his major league debut against the Mets at Citi Field on May 27, when he gave up three runs on five hits and four walks in 2⅔ innings. Taking his first two major league appearances out of the mix, Urias is 5-1 with a 2.85 ERA in 15 games, 12 of them starts. And he has made just three appearances in September, throwing only 11 innings. "That is exactly what kept Julio in play moving forward because there were times where we felt that we could have pushed his innings a little more considering where he was at in the rotation," Roberts said. "But because we didn't and had other guys step up in that role, it has given us this flexibility." Kershaw will make his final appearance of the regular season Saturday at San Francisco and then be pointed toward his Oct. 7 start against the Nationals. He will go into the postseason with five starts since returning from the disabled list Sept. 9. He is 1-1 with a 0.86 ERA in 21 innings since returning, giving him a 1.65 ERA this season. Hill, who missed six weeks with blisters on two fingers of his left (pitching) hand, is 2-2 with a 1.93 ERA in four starts since returning from the disabled list. Maeda was the starter in Tuesday night's 7-1 loss at San Diego and will start the season finale at San Francisco. By making these two starts, he will receive a $1.5 million bonus on his incentive-laden contract. He already has made more than $8 million in bonuses on top of his $3 million base pay. "Obviously what Kenta has done for us, and I don't know all the specifics of his contract, but I know in the spirit of his contract if he performs and he posts, he's going to be compensated," Roberts said. "I applaud our organization for acknowledging that and putting Kenta in a position to continue to be compensated and take care of his family because he has deserved it." Both on-field and off-field factors led to Puig's demotion in August, after the Dodgers acquired outfielder Josh Reddick from the Oakland A's. But since his return when rosters expanded in September, Puig has helped the Dodgers with run production against left-handed pitching, their biggest weakness this season. "It's tough to humble yourself and check your ego and go to [Triple-A] Oklahoma City and be a minor league player, but he did that and learned from it and he earned the right to be a major league player," Roberts said. "We talk a lot about it being a privilege to be a major league player, and to his credit, he really understands what that means. And he has done a lot to help us win a lot of baseball games." Vin Scully's single lands on iTunes By ESPN.com Vin Scully is retiring after this season, but you'll still be able to hear the longtime Dodgers broadcaster's voice -- albeit in song form. On Monday, iTunes released Scully's version of "Wind Beneath My Wings," a four-minute rendition of the 1988 Bette Midler classic.

Scully originally recorded the song as a birthday present to his wife, Sandra. The Dodgers honored Scully, who has called games for the franchise for 67 years, last weekend. The team played the song after Sunday's home game, with Scully addressing the crowd. He will call his final game on the air in San Francisco on Sunday, when the Dodgers take on the Giants.

USA TODAY

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: Yasiel Puig 'earned the right to be a major league player' By Jorge Ortiz Tuesday’s results provided little clarity in the playoff picture, as all three contenders for the NL wild card won, the Toronto Blue Jays remained atop that race in the AL, and the Boston Red Sox came up short in their attempt to clinch the AL East crown. Still, there were plenty of developments with postseason implications, most of them coming off the field. The Los Angeles Dodgers not only announced Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda will start the first three games of the Division Series against the Washington Nationals – only the home-field advantage is left to be decided – they also officially welcomed enfant terrible Yasiel Puig back into their good graces by saying he’ll be on the postseason roster. Puig, demoted to the minors on Aug. 2, has been on his best behavior since being recalled a month later (he was not the instigator in the dustup with Madison Bumgarner). Just as important, Puig has provided right-handed punch to a lineup that’s notoriously feeble against lefties, hitting four homers in part-time duty this month. “It’s tough to humble yourself and check your ego and go to Oklahoma City and be a minor league player,’’ manager Dave Roberts said, “but he did that and he learned from it and earned the right to be a major league player. … He's done a lot to help us win a lot of baseball games.’’ Roberts also left open the possibility of using rookie Julio Urias to start a possible Game 4 against the Nationals, who have to address a major void at catcher after Wilson Ramos was declared out for the year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. In their first game with Jose Lobaton as the new starter, he caught Max Scherzer’s six innings of two-run ball in a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, but his catching abilities are not really in doubt. It’s the offensive downgrade the Nationals are worried about. Ramos, who ranks second on the team with an .850 OPS, is batting .330 with nine homers and a 1.008 OPS against left-handers. Kershaw, Hill and Urias are all lefties. “There’s never an opportune time,’’ manager Dusty Baker said of Ramos’ injury. “This was the most inopportune time.’’ Especially in light of the news on Stephen Strasburg’s availability for the first round of the playoffs.

Jorge Castillo ✔ @jorgeccastillo Mike Rizzo confirms what has become the obvious: It's "unlikely" Strasburg will be ready for NLDS. In the American League, the Blue Jays got two shutout innings from reliever Joe Biagini in their 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, which could be heartening in light of the news that setup man Joaquin Benoit is likely out for the season after tearing a calf muscle in Monday’s brawl with the New York Yankees. Benoit had been sensational since joining Toronto in a July trade, registering an ERA of 0.38 and striking out 24 in 23 2/3 innings. And the Central Division champion Cleveland Indians learned they may get staff ace Corey Kluber back for the Division Series, even if he’s a bit rusty. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner is expected to be out 7-10 days with a mild quadriceps strain, which could still put him on schedule to start Game 1 of the ALDS on Oct. 6 if he’s a relatively quick healer. Just in case, the Indians are making contingency plans.

paul hoynes ✔ @hoynsie Trevor Bauer moved back to Sat. vs. KC. He could start Game 1 in ALDS if Kluber can't go.

NBC SPORTS

Still Hungover? Dodgers Drop Opener to Padres, 7-1, Two Days After Clinching NL West By Michael Duarte It must have been the hair of the dog that bit me. Hunter Renfroe bit Kenta Maeda in the first and then Louis Coleman in the eighth as the San Diegp Padres defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-1, on Tuesday night at Petco Park. Renfroe hit a three-run home run off the Japanese right-hander with two outs in the bottom of the first frame as the Padres pitching staff silenced the Dodgers the remainder of the way. "I've known Hunter for a long time," Dodgers manger Dave Roberts said. "He's got big power. We left some balls over the plate and when you do that to guys with power, they'll hit it out. He had a big night." For an encore, Renfroe hit a grand slam—the first of his career—off right-handed relief pitcher Louis Coleman in the bottom of the eighth to crush any chance of a comeback for the boys in blue. Maeda (16-10) allowed three runs on three hits with five strikeouts in four innings pitched as he left the game for a pinch-hitter in the top of the fifth. "After the first inning he was good," Roberts said of Maeda. "He was missing with the breaking ball and fastball in the first inning. Outside of that inning he was good."

Maeda was not injured, nor was performance an issue. Dave Roberts simply did not want to push his NLDS Game 3 starter past 60 pitches with the postseason on the horizon. "I felt that it was better for me to face live hitters in a regular game situation rather than pitching in a simulated game after the season ended," Maeda said of pitching today and next Sunday in the season finale. Maeda's one mistake—a slider to Renfroe—was the difference in the game as the only offense the Dodgers could muster was a solo home run by Chase Utley in the top of the third inning. Challenge Fans of the Week: Sept. 25 "In the beginning of the game I really didn't have my best stuff," Maeda said. "I threw him a slider that didn't really break and he took advantage of a mislocated pitch." Paul Clemens (4-5) picked up the victory for the Padres, allowing one run on three hits with two strikeouts in five innings. The final call of legendary broadcaster Vin Scully's hall of fame career as he announces the walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning by Charlie Culberson as the Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL West Title for the fourth straight season. (Published Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016) Renfroe provided all the offense for San Diego, knocking in all seven runs, the most RBI for the rookie in his career, and one shy of the franchise record of eight (Ken Caminiti). Two days after winning the NL West Division for the fourth consecutive year, Los Angeles left eight men on base and was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. "I thought the day off did us well, and that we came in ready to go," Roberts said when asked if his team was ready to play after celebrating on Sunday. "We got behind the eight-ball and weren't able to capitalize after that." The Dodgers fell 2.5 games behind the Washington Nationals for home field advantage in the NLDS which starts on Friday, October 7. Players of the Game: Hunter Renfroe: 2-for-4, two home runs, grand slam and 7 RBI. Chase Utley: 2-for-2 with a double, home run and two walks. Three Takeaways: 1. Shuffle Up and Deal: The Los Angeles Dodgers rearranged their rotation for the final six games of the season with Kenta Maeda starting on Tuesday on normal rest and Jose De Len was pushed back to Wednesday. Surprisingly, Julio Urias will start on Thursday. Rich Hill will get one final tune up on Friday, Clayton Kershaw the same on Saturday and Maeda again next Sunday. Kershaw was named the NLDS Game One starter, followed by Rich Hill and Maeda. 2. Dayton Flyer: Relief pitcher Grant Dayton struck out two batters before he was lifted for the right-hander, Louis Coleman, in the bottom of the eighth inning on Tuesday. Dayton has 23 strikeouts in his last 14 innings and an ERA of 0.63 in his last 16 games.

3. HK47: Howie Kendrick, the semi-automatic, super-utility player is the first ever Dodger to start 10+ games at four different positions (LF, 3B, 2B, 1B) in the same season. Up Next: Dodgers (90-67): Jose De Leon will look to deliver for the Dodgers on Wednesday in what is likely his final start of the season. Padres (67-90): San Diego sends Luis Perdomo to the mound in the middle game at 7:10 PM PST.

FANGRAPHS

We Have a Pop-Up Controversy By Jeff Sullivan Think about what you know about hitters and pop-ups. Pop-ups, for all hitters, are bad. They might as well be one-pitch strikeouts. And, you know who doesn’t hit them? Joey Votto. You know that Joey Votto pretty much never hits a pop-up. It’s among the many things that make him extraordinary. Joe Mauer also doesn’t really hit pop-ups. Christian Yelich. Ryan Howard. Shin-Soo Choo. On and on. And there’s Howie Kendrick. Kendrick doesn’t hit pop-ups. But: Santiago Padilla @SantiPadillaR @based_ball ICYMI: Howie Kendrick hit a pop-up today. (leading off the 7-th inning). That was tweeted at me yesterday. And when I checked the live statistics on FanGraphs, Kendrick had an infield fly. Yet when I check those same statistics today: nothing. It’s as if it’s been erased. Here is the batted ball in question: Fielded comfortably by the second baseman. We’d all identify that as a pop-up, right? In one sense, then, Kendrick did pop up yesterday. You could say it’s the most important sense. Yet, here’s the leaderboard, when I look at everyone who’s batted at least 500 times over the past three calendar years. This is why this matters. (It doesn’t matter-matter, but, you know.) Kendrick is the only guy with double zeros. Everyone else has hit at least one infield fly. So, what are we supposed to do, here? In truth, it’s not that much of a mystery. We get batted-ball data from Baseball Info Solutions, and they have a specific definition of what makes an infield fly. Yesterday, when I checked the live stats, those were getting fed in by MLB Gameday, and that has a different, looser definition. So Kendrick’s fly ball was a pop-up by one definition, but not by both. If you take the BIS data as gospel, Kendrick objectively remains without such a blemish. But you can’t really say Kendrick hasn’t hit a pop-up. He just hasn’t hit one particular kind of pop-up. Heck, this was just a matter of weeks ago: The last time I checked, the BIS cutoff was 140 feet. That is, any fly ball hit more than 140 feet wouldn’t count as an infield fly. Kendrick still hasn’t popped up within the infield. But these flies flew only a little beyond 140. And now that we have Statcast, we can try to run some numbers ourselves. We’re still

going to have to define things arbitrarily, and Statcast sometimes has trouble picking up batted balls hit at extreme angles, but let’s just see what we can do for 2016. Why don’t we set a cutoff at a launch angle of 60 degrees? Joey Votto has zero such batted balls. Christian Yelich, zero. Joe Mauer, one. Howie Kendrick, one. Starling Marte, one. I don’t know how many batted balls are missing from the sample, so it’s not authoritative. But, it’s something. No definition of a pop-up is going to be the definition of a pop-up. This is the issue with bucketing. But Howie Kendrick either has a pop-up or two, or he doesn’t. According to the numbers we have here, Kendrick hasn’t popped up once in three years. That’s amazing! It still, no matter what, reflects a legitimate ability of his, but his is a soft zero. There’s no arriving at a one true answer. Howie Kendrick most certainly doesn’t hit pop-ups. Except for the rare occasions when he does. Welp?

FOX SPORTS

Corey Seager vs. Kris Bryant -- who is the new face of the National League? By Dieter Kurtenbach When Bryce Harper went off in 2015, posting monster numbers for the Washington Nationals, it was easy to presume that he would be the best player in the National League for the better part of the next decade. What else could anyone have believed? Harper won the MVP in unanimous fashion last season after posting a preposterous slash line of .330/.460/.649, hitting 42 home runs and scoring 118 runs. It’s was one of the greatest seasons in baseball history. Harper was 22 years old. There’s nothing to say that Harper cannot reclaim the crown, but the throne has been abdicated this season. No one quite knows what happened to Harper, and he’s not having a poor year by traditional standards, but he’s nowhere near the performer he was last season. In 2016, his OPS is 290 points lower, his batting average is down 86 points and he’s hit 24 homers. Again, those numbers aren’t poor — but they’re well below the benchmark of last season. The poor year — no matter the reasons behind it — has logically re-opened the debate over who is the best position player in the National League. There are some exciting new entries into the conversation. Kris Bryant is 24 years old. Last year he won the National League Rookie of the Year Award (yes, the Rookie of the Year was older than the MVP.) This year, for the best team in baseball, Bryant is going bonkers — he’s hit 39 homers, with a .295 batting average and a .953 OPS. They’re not Harper 2015 numbers, but they’re probably good enough to win Bryant the National League MVP Award this year. Corey Seager is going to follow Bryant’s lead and win National League Rookie of the Year in November. The Dodgers' 22-year-old shortstop has arguably sparked the team to the National League West title

with tremendous defense and a steady, refined and productive approach at the plate. He’s hitting .312 this season, with 26 home runs and an .890 slugging percentage. There are a lot of similarities. They’re both young and they both saw almost immediate major-league success. The numbers dictate that if any player was going to take the title from Harper, it would be Bryant. The Cubs third baseman's and outfielder’s production at the plate is markedly better than Seager’s, even though they have different hitting styles (Bryant is unbridled power, similar to Harper, where Seager is a spray hitter looking to find the gaps.) But Seager has two big things going for him -- he’s a much better defender than Bryant and he is unquestionably the position-player face of the Dodgers. Bryant might be the best player on his team, but there isn’t much of a gap between him and first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who will also get MVP votes this year. As a duo, the two are unmatched, but you can make the argument that Bryant isn’t the best player on his own team (you’d lose, but the argument could be made.) The Dodgers have some excellent players, but no one doubts that Seager is the man in L.A. Both candidates have strong cases — and we can’t totally count Harper out of the conversation yet. So who wins? That’s a difficult question. Bryant is definitely in the lead -- as the face of Adidas baseball, he’s featured in the company’s ubiquitous ad, he’s on the Cubs, who have never had higher mainstream appeal, and he’s going to win the MVP Award. If only there was some sort of postseason tournament to figure all this out... What’s that you say, there is? And it starts next week? We can venture a guess now, but the answers will probably be determined this postseason. As if they weren’t already intriguing enough.

DAILY BREEZE

Vin Scully: an example in human decency for all of us By Richard Nemec Vin Scully, as usual, got the last word. He got the best of all the myriad dignitaries and celebrities paying homage to him, his career and his humanity at Dodger Stadium on Friday night. Scully simply was himself and found a way to honor the people who came to honor him. A man with grace, fame, charisma and humility all rolled into an 88-year-old role model, Scully was nothing short of spectacular in accepting all the accolades and still finding a way to give back more than he received.

While the well-deserved praise was equally emotional and relevant, Scully had to leave us with a poignant thought as he skillfully turned the spotlight from himself to the baseball fans he has enriched for nearly seven decades. He thanked the fans generally with words of love, spoken effortlessly and sincerely. “When I was 8 years old, I fell in love with the roar of a football crowd coming out of a speaker on an old, four-legged radio,” he said simply. “When you (the fans) roar, when you cheer, when you are thrilled, for a brief moment, I am 8 years old again.” Say no more. Wrap it up. The party is over. ROLE MODEL FOR EVERYONE I hope many of the young people seeking fame and celebrity among today’s social media-laced world will read or hear Scully’s words and take them to heart. It is not all about you, millennials. Take a look around and find others you can praise and learn from. Young athletes and entertainers and politicians should emulate Scully’s example. The man is a poet and a storyteller, weaving all of us into his sphere whenever we tune him in. But beyond that, he holds a spiritual outlook that has been tested in his own life with the tragic deaths of his first wife in 1972 and one of his adult sons in 1994. Characteristically, in responding to the adulation and deep-felt praise from everyone who has been touched by him, Scully chose to cite all of the God-given blessings he has had bestowed upon him as a professional in baseball, an industry with which carries on a lifetime love affair. There are a few more games left in this baseball season, so we will have an opportunity to view more of Scully and hear more of his wonderfully timed and delivered stories, but he will never be more relevant or graceful than he was at his fan appreciation event at the ballpark. Following all the pomp and ceremony there was still a baseball game to be played, and — true to his 67-year career — Scully was there to bring us the game in the fashion we have been so comfortable with for so long. His only reference to the pregame activities was the fact that they delayed the starting time for the game and caused it to continue after 11 p.m., cutting into the normal Friday night post-game fireworks. SO MANY MEMORIES Having grown up in Southern California and originally rooted for the Dodgers in 1953 while they played in Brooklyn, I have a treasure chest of Scully memories, starting with his radio description of the 90,000-plus crowd in the Coliseum in 1958 for an exhibition game with the New York Yankees to honor wheelchair-bound former all-star catcher Roy Campanella. In his understated eloquence, Scully described the sight of all those people lighting a match or cigarette lighter in a darkened stadium as Campy was wheeled out to the center of the infield by his friend and former teammate Pee Wee Reese. Scully urged his listeners to light a flame for the stricken ballplayer and offer a prayer for his well-being.

By the next year — 1959 — we were all carrying transistor radios to the Coliseum and you could sit high up behind the left field screen and hear Scully and Jerry Doggett’s call of the baseball game. The collective sound track of everyone’s little radios was louder than the public address system. TURNED DOWN THE YANKS As Dodger Stadium opened and we went through years of successful teams in the 1960s, Scully’s status and role deepened with both the Dodgers and the city. Once offered the announcing job with the Yankees in the mid-1960s, Scully turned it down and never looked back. It was about this time that Scully was becoming a part of everyone’s family in Southern California. If you followed the Dodgers, you had to know and appreciate the man, and with each ensuing season the love affair deepened. The bond was secured. While Los Angeles will miss him dearly, as Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw said, “We will always have his voice.” And, more importantly, we’ll have his example of human decency that he has set for millions and millions of his listeners.

CSN MID-ATLANTIC

IN A COUNTRY WHERE NO ONE AGREES ABOUT ANYTHING, EVERYONE LOVES VIN SCULLY By Rich Dubroff As soon as I sat in my press box seat in Dodger Stadium, I heard the voice. “Dave,” he kept calling to the field until the Orioles pitching coach finally responded. “I’ll come up and see you, Vin,” Dave Wallace yelled back. It had been 25 years since I had been in Dodger Stadium, and 14 years since I had seen Vin Scully in person, and I knew I wanted to thank him for all he’s meant to baseball and the hours of enjoyment he’d brought to me. I was hardly alone. A minute later, I heard another familiar voice in back of me in the press box. It was Adam Jones, and he had come to say hello, goodbye and thank you to Scully, too. This year, players, managers, coaches and umpires have trekked to the Dodger Stadium broadcast booth to pay their respects to the living legend who’ll cap his 67-year career on Sunday in San Francisco. Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon has visited. So has New York Mets skipper Terry Collins, and when the Nationals were in L.A., Dusty Baker and Bryce Harper went up, too. Wallace came the day after Jones did. The longtime Dodgers pitching coach adores Scully. “A finer man you’ll never meet,” he said.

Wallace brought bullpen coach Dom Chiti, and after Jones visited, he told Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop about it, and they went two days later. Even David Ortiz went to visit the great man, and the attention humbles Scully. “I'm deeply touched and overwhelmed with gratitude that they would take the time,” Scully said in a conference call last week. “It's just one of the loveliest things that's ever occurred in my life.” The umpires salute Scully, too. “All of them, when they come in, after the exchange of lineups, they take their hats off, they look up, some bow kiddingly and I wave or bow or do whatever I do. It's just a wonderful emotional bridge. And now they're coming up to say hello and goodbye,” Scully said. At 88, Scully is still doing marvelous work. Not long after the Dodgers visited Baltimore in 2002, he decided to drastically reduce his travel, and other than Opening Day in San Diego and the Freeway Series in Anaheim, this weekend’s games will be his only trip of the season. It’s funny that in a country that seemingly can no longer agree about anything that everyone loves Scully. I first heard about him as a small boy in Brooklyn. My father, a casual baseball fan, told me about Scully whose Dodgers had broken Brooklyn’s heart when they left in 1957. I had been born the year before, so I knew only the Los Angeles Dodgers. Scully never went back to Brooklyn after the Dodgers’ final game there 59 years ago. “I had no reason, really, to go back,” Scully told Sports Illustrated in 2014. “There wasn’t anything there for me.” He became a legend in Los Angeles, but has admitted he was tempted to return to New York in 1964 when there was an opportunity to replace Mel Allen with the Yankees and reunite with his mentor, Red Barber. Of course Scully didn’t, and like Harry Caray became a national legend late in life. For years, the only time viewers outside Southern California got to hear Scully was when the Dodgers won the pennant and NBC, in a charming custom, allowed the local announcers to work the home telecasts. Later, Scully worked on CBS football and golf. While NBC had baseball in the 1980’s, he called those games, too. For years afterward, his national exposure was severely limited. Then along came satellite radio where Scully simulcasts the first three innings on TV and radio. Baseball packages online and on the air helped a new audience discover him. After Orioles games, I’ll sometimes watch an inning of Scully when I get home, savoring this year because I know it’s his last.

Twenty years ago, he called the Braves-Yankees World Series on radio, and talked about Joe Torre yelling from a distance to the home plate umpire. “The dugouts are so far away here, he might as well be a guy in the balcony winking at a showgirl,” Scully said. He can even get away with a political crack. A few months ago, in referring to a Venezuelan catcher, Scully talked about the disaster of that country’s economy. “Socialism failing to work as it always does,” Scully said. “Who’s the richest person in Venezuela? The daughter of Hugo Chavez. Hello.” This weekend’s games will likely be an anticlimax after he called the Dodgers’ division winning 10th inning home run, but they’ll be unforgettable, too. As Buck Showalter might say, take a good look at him, he’ll never pass your way again.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Beyond Baseball, Vin Scully Leaves Behind an Archive of Oddities By Richard Sandomir In 2005, a pizza-size recording disc was discovered in the archives of WFUV, the Fordham University radio station. With no equipment old enough to play it, the disc had to be transferred to a CD or a cassette tape to yield what lay within its old grooves. It was the voice of Vin Scully, then a 21-year-old senior and sportscaster at the college in the Bronx, narrating a 15-minute Easter play that was performed by a group of campus actors. “It was obviously Vin, very young, and about halfway through this thing, I realize the role he’s playing,” said Bob Ahrens, the executive sports producer of WFUV. “He’s playing the voice of God. How prophetic! He was never identified as God, but you realized who he was playing.” For now, what might be the oldest known recording of Scully will remain in Ahrens’s memory. He has not seen or heard it for four or five years and has been searching for it in anticipation of Scully’s retirement Sunday after 67 seasons as the voice of the Dodgers, in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. “I put it in a safe place,” Ahrens said. “And it’s still in that safe place.” The last days and weeks of Scully’s unmatched tenure in sports broadcasting have brought him wide acclaim as the greatest baseball announcer ever, with many of his famous calls replayed. But he will also leave behind an archive of oddities — some of them cataloged and preserved, or only a few clicks away on the internet, and some of them desperately sought — that reflect an era when no job seemed too small and a lyrical, rhythmic voice honed for radio was really something. He read a grocery list on air. He hosted a game show. He sang and, by most accounts, sang pretty well.

Of course, an effort is underway to find and preserve the recordings of ballgames, too, with a number of them missing from the early 1950s and 1960s, when preservation was not paramount and it was not clear Scully would become revered. But some of the other jewels are just as coveted, and the missing ones are wistfully recalled by those who heard them or once had them. Andy Strasberg, a former Padres marketing executive, had an idea that had probably occurred to others: that Scully’s distinctive delivery would make the most mundane material compelling. So one day in 1982, while with Scully in the visitors’ broadcast booth at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, he asked, Would you read this grocery list for me? Vin Scully in the visitors’ broadcast booth at Jack Murphy Stadium in 1982. “Sure, Andy, I’d be happy to,” Scully said into the microphone, and he spent the next 48 seconds moving through 31 items, pacing himself as if he had rehearsed, never stumbling, and pausing ever so dramatically when he said, “Pickles — kosher, that is.” And if you were familiar with Scully’s commercials for Farmer John hot dogs, as Strasberg was, you heard a hint of jauntiness when Scully said, “Bologna.” Strasberg played the Scully grocery list on his radio show soon after and reintroduced it to the internet this year. Asked if he had cajoled the accommodating Scully to record anything else, he admitted that he had: Scully read off the label of an aspirin bottle. “I’m looking at that cassette tape right now,” Strasberg said during a telephone interview last week. But when he played it, he found that the recording was no longer there, lost like a radio broadcast from the 1950s. “I recorded over the aspirin bottle with a Tim Lollar interview,” Strasberg said. “I’m heartbroken.” On YouTube, where many of Scully’s classic baseball calls reside, you can also find remnants of a short-term job from the 1969-70 television season, when he hosted “It Takes Two,” a game show that featured celebrity couples answering questions like “how old was the oldest dog?” Scully was not the only sportscaster to turn quizmaster — Dick Enberg, Joe Garagiola, Chick Hearn and Bill Mazer did it, too. But Scully’s baseball storytelling was so ingrained in listeners’ minds that it took time to adjust to his playing a cheerful master of ceremonies kneeling beside a black Labrador named Duke or excitedly telling a contestant in New Orleans that she had just won a trip to Hawaii. “This morning,” he said to open an episode of “It Takes Two” with the television actress Meredith MacRae, “she boarded a train and traveled all the way from ‘Petticoat Junction.’” To lead into a question to the celebrities about the ratio of men to barbers in the United States, Scully asked a barber in the studio if the “longhaired fad we have nowadays has affected your business at all.” After Fatal Boat Crash, Baseballs Apparently Signed by Jose Fernandez Wash Ashore SEPT. 27, 2016 To start another episode, he walked onto the stage wearing a red satin bathrobe and wide-striped pajamas with the other celebrities behind him also in their bedclothes — all acting as if they had overslept.

In 1963, Scully provided play-by-play for an episode of “Mr. Ed.” Three years later, for the sitcom “Occasional Wife,” he spoke over the opening credits about a swinging bachelor whose boss demanded that his executives be married. So, as Scully said, a friendly hatcheck girl “went on salary as his occasional wife.” He continued: “And they set up housekeeping — Peter in his apartment on the seventh floor and Greta in her apartment on the ninth floor, to the lasting confusion of the fellow in between.” Then there is the singing. In 1998, Scully sang a very credible version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at Wrigley Field in honor of Harry Caray, the Chicago Cubs’ idiosyncratic announcer, who had died that year. “His voice is beautiful,” Scully’s wife, Sandi, said by telephone. “Vin would be Gene Kelly if he could be anybody reincarnated.” Scully sang in a barbershop quartet at Fordham and has always loved Broadway musicals. On Sunday, after his final home game at Dodger Stadium, his rendition of “Wind Beneath My Wings,” a family-only treasure since he recorded it as a Christmas gift to his wife in the 1990s, was played on the public-address system as a thank-you to the fans. Another family heirloom, a recording of Scully singing “If I Were a Rich Man” on a karaoke machine, remains unreleased. As there are for all announcers of his vintage, there is a trove of missing baseball calls, too. Little of his work from the 1950s and 1960s has been preserved; much of it was erased, discarded or never recorded. Scully spoke with reporters on Saturday, one of the final days before his coming retirement after 67 seasons as the voice of the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Credit Reed Saxon/Associated Press Tom Villante, the producer of Dodgers broadcasts from 1952 to 1958, said the absence of so many early recordings was a great loss because of Scully’s vivid sense of drama and history. Villante wished to hear again Scully’s call of a catch by center fielder Duke Snider in 1954 against the Philadelphia Phillies’ Willie Jones, who was known as Puddin’ Head. “It was like a 2-iron golf shot to left-center,” he said. “Snider ran over to the track, put his spike in the cement, got traction and made the catch.” In a vault on the third floor of Dodger Stadium, the team maintains an archive of the franchise’s radio and TV broadcasts, with a fair amount from the 1960s. But some fragile footage rests in film canisters that have not been opened while they await their expensive digital transfer. “We have Vin’s original welcoming call from the Los Angeles Coliseum,” Erik Braverman, the Dodgers’ vice president for marketing and broadcasting, said, referring to the Dodgers’ temporary home from 1958 to 1961. “We’re pretty robust in terms of audio.”

Still, the collection needs people like Jim Governale, whose uncle taped Sandy Koufax’s no-hitter against the Mets in 1962 — the first of Koufax’s four no-hitters — from the bottom of the eighth inning until the end. At one point in the broadcast, Scully said: “Kanehl, waiting at the plate. Koufax rubbing up the ball. Sandy straddles the rubber, leans on his right knee, stares in at Roseboro.” Governale, who hosts a radio show on KKLA in Los Angeles, found the reel-to-reel tape in a box in 1990. “I saw a clipping on the box that said it was a Koufax no-hitter, but it didn’t dawn on me that it was a rarity that the Dodgers wouldn’t have,” he said in a telephone interview. “I just thought it was cool.” Get the big sports news, highlights and analysis from Times journalists, with distinctive takes on games and some behind-the-scenes surprises, delivered to your inbox every week. Governale did not do anything with the recording for a long while — “As each season started,” he said, “I found myself thinking I’ve got to send a copy of this to Vin Scully” — until he digitally saved it and donated it to the Dodgers in 2006. Soon after, his father introduced him to more tapes, including the full broadcast of the first game at Dodger Stadium, on April 10, 1962, with a pregame interview with Dodgers General Manager Buzzie Bavasi. On the second pitch of the game from the Dodgers left-hander Johnny Podres to Cincinnati Reds shortstop Eddie Kasko, Scully said: “There’s a drive to deep left-center field. Back goes Moon — a-way back. It’s off the wall, caroming into left-center. Willie Davis after the ball, and Kasko has a long double. And the ballpark has been christened.” In the booth or out, Scully’s voice will always be associated with baseball. This year, he recited the speech from “Field of Dreams” for the Hall of Fame tour that made its first stop at the film’s original cornfield location in Dyersville, Iowa. Performing a cover version of James Earl Jones’s oration enabled Scully to deliver words that may have felt poignant to him and his fans as he approached his final game: “The memories will be so thick,” he said, “they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.”

TAMPA BAY TIMES

Bob Costas on Vin Scully: 'You can probably connect Vin to Abner Doubleday in three moves' By Martin Fennelly Hall of Fame Dodgers announcer Vin Scully is retiring after 67 years of broadcasting. Bob Costas of NBC Sports, a devoted fan of all things Scully, shared some thoughts. "I think of the one guy, perhaps, in baseball history, who is connected, either directly or indirectly, to virtually every important personage in the history of the game. Branch Rickey broke into the majors leagues in 1905. He was born before the turn of the century. Vin, some of the baseball he knows, it came from Branch Rickey.

"There's a game in entertainment circles, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where in six moves or fewer, you can connect everyone who has ever appeared on TV or in film to Kevin Bacon. You can probably connect Vin to Abner Doubleday in three moves. "Here's the thing. A rookie breaking in this year might have a 15-year career. Or a 20-year career. So someone playing in 2036 will be connected in some way to Vin Scully. How about this: Vin broke in in 1950. I guarantee you there were people playing in the major leagues who'd broken in in the 1930s. So Vin will have called players separated by a century. Think about that. "Vin's broadcasts are simultaneously past and present. It's tonight's game, but it's also every game you ever listened to, or every game you ever watched, even if he didn't call it, because in some sense his voice transports you to whatever time in your life you wanted to go. Vin has been around all of our baseball lives. His broadcasts are flashback and news bulletin at the same time, the present and nostalgic. "It speaks to the importance of continuity, especially in baseball. Now All-Stars are traded at midseason. Hall of Famers play for multiple teams. There used to be continuity. Now, often the greatest source of continuity is the local announcer. Ernie Harwell with the Tigers, Jack Buck for a long time with the Cardinals. … But who personifies that more than Vin does, where he's been doing it for 67 consecutive seasons, well more than half the modern history of baseball? It might be three quarters of the whole history of the broadcasting of baseball. "The longevity and continuity alone are remarkable. Then couple it with the circumstances that can never be duplicated, even if another Vin Scully were to come along. That person couldn't have the impact. For one thing, for much of Vin's career, baseball was the unquestioned national pastime. Radio was more important than television. And the Dodgers were one of the most important franchises in the history of baseball, be it in Brooklyn or Los Angeles. All the circumstances are unique, but they intersect with a unique, distinctive talent. "There's another point of incredible circumstance. Yes, he's been the voice of the Dodgers for 67 years, but in the middle of that, he had a run of being the national voice for NBC, when World Series games would get ratings in the 30s, more than double of what they get today. And two of the most memorable World Series and World Series moments came when Vin was calling them, the ball going through Buckner's legs, the Gibson home run. So he's introduced to a national audience. He's well known on both coasts. And then in the sunset, along comes XM radio and the TV packages, that allow a guy who lives in Tacoma, Washington or in Portland, Maine, to watch the game. And a lot of people watching Dodgers-Padres are doing it to listen to Scully more than to watch the game. "The distinctive voice is very important. You can have someone who is technically an excellent singer. That doesn't mean they sound like Sinatra or Tony Bennett. They hit all the notes flawlessly, but there was something that separated an excellent signer from a completely unique and distinctive signer. So the voice is very important. His command of the language is second to none. But the voice and the delivery made whatever he sang more appealing. Then the other thing is yes, he is a terrific storyteller, but when he goes, so, too does that way of producing and directing a baseball game. "You don't see any baseball game produced or directed anywhere as Dodgers games are, because they're centered around Vin's storytelling ability. It would be hard to tell the kind of stories he tells. Some of us try to weave a story in … but you can't do it as often where there are drop-ins, constant

replays, pitch sequences and stat casts, and you're working with someone else in the booth. All of those things, Vin does not have to maneuver around. The canvas is basically clean for him and he knows how to fill it. None of those advantages would matter much without someone with the talent and the style and the trust of the audience to know what to do with it. "I first made that observation jokingly 30 years. He's obviously not going to start a story with the cleanup hitter at the plate, bases loaded, two outs. Even he could get caught in that situation. But it does seem that Vin has a sense, an internal sense, of the pace and rhythm of the game. If something occurs with two outs, he has a shorter version of the story. If there's one out, pitcher traipsing around the mound, it never does seem that Vin's story is truncated by the game. The game does not have the audacity to intrude on Vin. "The best call? I think it's the entire ninth inning of Koufax's perfect game. There are many, many great announcers whose calls of plays, of home runs, or great catches or the last out of a no-hitter are right up there. What Vin does extraordinarily well is frame things over a long period of time. To appreciate the Gibson home run, it isn't just 'High fly ball, deep right field, she … is … gone!' Then he waits. … 'In the year that's been improbable, the impossible has happened.' "But it's the whole narrative. First Gibson shows up in the dugout; he hadn't even been in uniform. Now he's coming up, and it's a long at-bat, because the counts goes to 3-2 and there are foul balls. It's all that build-up. Even if he struck out, it's still a framing of the drama. "Even if Harvey Kuenn had gotten a hit and broken up the Koufax perfect game, the build-up still would have been there, so that the payoff was all the more dramatic and resonant. If I had to pick one, that would be it, because it was radio. There's that whole theater of the mind, engaging the audience. It was also a meeting of two extraordinary talents. There have been guys who've been pretty good pitchers who've somehow thrown perfect games. This was Sandy Koufax. This was a meeting of Sandy Koufax and Vin Scully, each delivering their most perfect performance. Again, the intersection of the two."