Daily Clips

July 19, 2015

LOS ANGELES DODGERS CLIPS SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2015

LA TIMES: Suite rental companies make premium sports experiences more attainable- Greg Hadley Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw gets best of Bryce Harper, and rest of Nationals- Dylan Hernandez Clayton Kershaw strikes out season-high 14 as Dodgers down Nationals- Dylan Hernandez Dodgers call up former first-round draft pick Zach Lee- Dylan Hernandez Dodgers complete suspended game with Nationals, a 5-3 loss- Dylan Hernandez Faulty circuit breaker responsible for power outage at Dodgers game- Dylan Hernandez DODGERS.COM: All-Stars Scherzer, Greinke to duel in DC- Jacob Emert Kershaw puts 3-pitch arsenal on full display- Jacob Emert 14-K gold: Kershaw dazzles in DC- Jacob Emert and Bill Ladson Late HR sinks Dodgers in suspended game- Jacob Emert and Bill Ladson Time machine: Adrian homers twice, 18 hours apart- Jacob Emert Shoemaker named 'Captain' of development- Ken Gurnick OC REGISTER: Kershaw shuts down Nationals after Dekker's pinch-hit home run leads Washington to victory in suspended game- Bill Plunkett Final: Dodgers lose suspended game to Nationals, 5-3- Bill Plunkett Zach Lee's stay with Dodgers lasts but a day- Bill Plunkett On deck: Dodgers at Nationals, Sunday, 10:35 a.m., SNLA- Bill Plunkett LA DAILY NEWS: Clayton Kershaw leads Dodgers to Saturday split against Washington Nationals- JP Hoornstra Former L.A. Dodger Glenn Burke was a trailblazer for gay athletes- Mark Whicker Dodgers pitcher Brandon Beachy braces for an unemotional return to Atlanta- JP Hoornstra ESPN LA: Saturday's Top 5: Clayton Kershaw kicking into high gear- Christina Kahrl Clayton Kershaw was nearly at his finest- Mark Saxon Kershaw fans 14, Dodgers split the day with Nationals- Associated Press Rapid Reaction: Dodgers 4, Nationals 2- Mark Saxon Zach Lee takes odd path to the majors- Mark Saxon Rapid Reaction: Nationals 5, Dodgers 3- Mark Saxon TRUEBLUELA.COM: Alex Verdugo stays hot in Loons win- Brandon Lennox Clayton Kershaw dominant in 14-strikeout win over Nationals- Eric Stephen Dodgers recall Zach Lee as 26th man vs. Nationals- Eric Stephen The video session that saved Joc Pederson's career- Catherine Slonksnis Dodgers vs. Nationals series snapshot- Eric Stephen Matt den Dekker powers Nationals over Dodgers- Eric Stephen Dodgers, Nationals pick up where they left off Friday- Eric Stephen DODGER INSIDER: Behold 14-K Clayton Kershaw at the top of his game- Jon Weisman Zach Lee gets first MLB taste as 26th man- Jon Weisman Suspended game returns memories of Chicago 1982- Jon Weisman The night the lights went out in Georgetown- Jon Weisman

USA TODAY: Clayton Kershaw keeps rolling in win over Bryce Harper, Nationals- Jacob B Lourim CBS SPORTS: With 14-K performance, Clayton Kershaw shows he's still dominant-Dayn Perry FOX SPORTS: The Seager Sibling Rivalry- Zachary Levine NY TIMES: The Dodgers Departed Long Before Brooklyn Bounced Back- Michael Beschloss CBS LA: Top 5 Most Dominant Pitching Seasons In Dodger History- CBS LA

LOS ANGELES DODGERS CLIPS SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2015

LA TIMES

Suite rental companies make premium sports experiences more attainable By Greg Hadley For most sports fans, there is a measure of discomfort in attending a game. Crowded bleachers, public restrooms, long concession lines and exposure to the elements can be unavoidable parts of the experience. There is, however, a group that does not have to deal with such inconveniences: suite holders, whose experience can seem far different from that of the average fan. They enjoy air conditioning, padded seats, high-definition big-screen televisions, granite counters and bars, paintings and memorabilia along the walls, refrigerators fully stocked with soda and beer and, if that doesn't suit them, wait staff to bring snacks and drinks. Such luxuries have long been the domain of the famous and wealthy. But it is not exclusive to them anymore. Owning a suite may still be an unattainable goal for the average fan, but opportunities to occasionally splurge and enjoy fine comforts are growing, as a thriving secondhand rental market has emerged in recent years. For example, if you wanted to see the Dodgers play the Oakland Athletics on July 28, the Dodgers' next home game, you could buy a preferred field seat in the lower bowl online for $48, plus a convenience fee of $7. General parking, beer, hot dogs and ice cream cost $35, and all told, you spend about $90. Or, you and 19 friends could pony up a total of $3,000 for an evening in a luxury suite. On the Dodgers' website, single-game suite rentals are priced from $4,500 to $6,500 — and that's about the only game in town that publicly shares that information with fans. The Angels, Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Ducks all require a request to receive pricing for their suites. However, by using one of a handful of companies that act as the StubHub of luxury suites, fans can secure a suite for less. Suite Experience Group, one of those companies, listed a suite for that Dodgers-A's game for $3,000. For years, luxury seating could be acquired only by paying premium prices and signing long-term leases. Stadium suites were largely the realm of big business, which used the facilities to entertain well-heeled clients and reward high-producing employees.

Once they were rented, the suites rarely became available again — and then usually at a price far steeper than what they originally went for, based on catering options, location and other terms, of course. Suites at Dodger Stadium start at $245,000 per season. The Angels' start at about $200,000 per year. The Ducks' lowest price is $175,000, and Staples Center, which hosts the Kings, Lakers and Clippers, starts at $300,000, an arena spokesperson said. In recent years, availability has improved as the economy weakened. In some instances, companies that signed deals before the recession were liable for millions of dollars. In 2010, the Dallas Cowboys sued 10 area businesses for not paying for their suites. According to the lawsuit, the companies owed the Cowboys $82.3 million in rent. That's when brokers such as SEG entered the picture. Founded in 2010, the company connects suite holders looking to recoup some of their investment with fans who want a premium seating experience without a long-term commitment. Even as the economy recovers, more companies are choosing to use their suites more efficiently, said Scott Spencer, founder and chief executive of SEG. Few companies fill their suites for every game or event at a stadium. Making them available for certain occasions makes financial sense. The Angels offer 12-person suites located midfield starting at $2,700 per game. On SEG, the price is $1,815. Suites located between the dugouts with access to an exclusive lounge area, in-seat catering and a private entrance go for $2,960. Staples Center suites start as low as $2,800 and go up to $6,000, depending on the opponent and day of the week. Ducks suites range from $1,900 to $4,000. Although fans often reserve suites with SEG up to seven weeks in advance, Spencer said his company can arrange rentals with only three or four days' notice. "The rich individuals and the companies who want this premium tier of access, they understand that there's a better way to get this than signing up for these long-term commitments or purchasing the asset themselves," Spencer said. "That's the model we're trying to bring to luxury suites. … The goal is to be disruptive in the way that you can access premium inventory." SEG is one of only a few companies tapping into what Spencer calls a growth market. Exchange sites for general admission tickets have been online a decade or more, but the availability of suites was slower to develop. Teams have not changed their practice of trying to get long-term leases on as many suites as possible, but more fans are seeking high-quality experiences at sporting events to compete with the comforts of home and the accessibility of high-definition TVs. The typical suite package now includes not only HD televisions, but also snacks and drinks, concierge service, reserved parking, private entrances and merchandise discounts. The Dodgers offer early entrance into the stadium, and the Angels include access to exclusive areas such as the teams' batting tunnels. For long-term lease holders, teams also offer priority access to tickets for playoff games and concerts.

But let's say you and your friends don't want 20, or even 12 tickets. The Dodgers offer the "Ketel One Baseline Club," a group of seats down each foul line with tables in front of them and in-seat food service. The Angels have a Diamond Club 20 rows behind home plate that features a patio and lounge area for which you can buy individual tickets. Staples Center offers a limited number of premier tables and lounges that can host four to six people. They sell for $165,000 to $175,000 per year. The Rose Bowl, which was recently renovated to add 54 luxury suites, now also has almost as many loge boxes — 48 — and 1,200 premium "club seats." StubHub Center, home to the Galaxy soccer team, has four-person "cabanas" — private, open-air tents located next to the Stadium Club. The Galaxy has also opened another club underneath the stands that allows fans to interact with players as they leave and enter the locker room. Across the board, these premium seating options are on the rise, according to Tracy Tapp, an interior designer for Populous, an architecture firm that has worked on NFL, Major League Baseball and college stadiums throughout the country. "If there are some suites that aren't moving in teams' inventory as fast as they would like, sometimes we take those spaces and turn them into a club," Tapp said. "Or we can turn those into loges, which have continued to be a very popular premium amenity because they're a good midlevel price point in the hierarchy of the premium inventory." A market such as Los Angeles is ideal for premium seating options, Tapp said. The high concentration of celebrities means there will always be demand for luxury at sporting events. And with the possibility of an NFL franchise or two relocating to the Southland, there could be as many as 12 college and professional teams vying to sell their suites in the next few years. All of this is good for the consumer, said Todd Lindenbaum, CEO of the luxury suite rental website SuiteHop. He expects the cost of suite rentals to continue to drop as competition arises for the limited number of corporate dollars in Southern California. So let's go back to you and your friends at that Dodgers game. For about $90 per person, you get a general admission seat with a few beers and hot dogs. For $108 per person, you get a spot in a loge box, with a countertop area, HD televisions and a dedicated wait staff providing food and beverage service. Or, for about $150 per person, you can pamper yourself for a place in a luxury suite with all of its amenities. Your choice Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw gets best of Bryce Harper, and rest of Nationals By Dylan Hernandez

The anticipation at Nationals Park was audible when Bryce Harper stepped into the batter's box Saturday. Only 60 feet 6 inches separated Clayton Kershaw from the player who could succeed him as the most valuable player in the National League. The dramatic showdown turned into a wipeout, as each of their three encounters ended with Harper striking out. Kershaw went on to strike out a season-high 14 batters over eight scoreless innings in the Dodgers' 4-2 victory over the Washington Nationals. He allowed only three hits and walked none. "It's probably as close as I can remember his stuff being to his no-hitter day last June," Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said. The performance followed the completion of a game that had been suspended the previous night. The Nationals won that game, 5-3. Kershaw's dominance reduced the long-awaited promotion of former first-round pick Zach Lee to a side note, as Lee was sent back to the minor leagues without delivering a single pitch. The Nationals' only runs in the second game came on a two-run home run in the ninth inning by Harper, who launched an offering from closer Kenley Jansen into the upper deck behind the right-field wall. The home run was Harper's 27th of the season. Kershaw, who improved to 7-6 and lowered his earned-run average to 2.68, downplayed his mastery of Harper. "He's the guy in their lineup, obviously," Kershaw said. "You saw up there in the ninth inning, it takes one swing for him. I was just trying not to give up a hit." Harper conceded Kershaw got the better of him. "He put on a clinic today, really went out there and pitched like the MVP he is," Harper said. "When he's on like that, you better get lucky. Sometimes you just gotta tip your cap and laugh because it was pretty impressive by him today." Kershaw struck out two batters in each of the first seven innings. "I think more than anything, I was just able to throw three pitches," Kershaw said. "I threw probably the best slider I've had all year. I've had good ones here and there, but I felt really consistent with it today. I felt like I could throw it how I wanted every single time." Kershaw struck out 13 batters in his previous start, a 5-0 shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies. Kershaw's latest triumph deprived Lee of the opportunity to make his major league debut.

Lee's first-ever call-up to the major leagues came under unusual circumstances. Because the Dodgers and Nationals also had to play the last four innings of the game that began Friday night — it was suspended because of problems with the stadium lights — the teams were allowed by the league to expand their rosters to 26 players for the second game. The Dodgers promoted Lee in case they needed a long reliever, a role Kershaw made obsolete. When the game ended, the 23-year-old right-hander was on his way back to triple-A Oklahoma City. "It was a little bit of a surprise, the way it happened," Lee said. "But any way you get the call is a good way to have it. I got to come up here, experience something very few people get to do and you get to cherish that moment for the rest of your life." Lee is five years removed from becoming the most expensive draft pick in franchise history. He was a highly rated quarterback and the Dodgers paid him a $5.25-million bonus to forfeit his football scholarship at LSU. "It was one of those things where I've worked really hard to get here and it's really satisfying," he said. "I have desire to do more than what I did today, but in time." Lee has spent the majority of this season with Oklahoma City, going 6-3 with a 2.34 ERA for the Dodgers' top farm club. He had a minor health scare in June, a circulatory issue that caused numbness in the middle finger of his throwing hand. He said the problem is behind him. Considering he didn't pitch Saturday, did he feel as if he had "made it"? "Yes and no," he said. "It's halfway checked, I guess." Clayton Kershaw strikes out season-high 14 as Dodgers down Nationals By Dylan Hernandez This looks familiar, doesn’t it? Clayton Kershaw looked like the Clayton Kershaw of old Saturday, striking out a season-high 14 batters in the Dodgers’ 4-2 victory over the Washington Nationals. Kershaw gave up only three hits over eight shutout innings. He walked none. Shortly before Kershaw took the mound at Nationals Park, the two teams completed the game that was suspended the previous night. The Nationals won that contest, 5-3. Kershaw was downright dominant, striking out two batters in each of the first seven innings. Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper, a leading candidate to claim the league’s most valuable player award, struck out in all three of his at-bats against Kershaw. Harper hit a two-run home run in his final at-bat, which was against closer Kenley Jansen.

Kershaw also didn’t walk any batters in his last start, when he pitched a shutout against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers went ahead, 1-0, in the first inning when an infield single by Yasiel Puig scored Adrian Gonzalez from third base. The Dodgers scored three more runs in the fifth inning to increase their lead to 4-0. That last of those runs was driven in by Puig, who singled to left field. Gonzalez and Justin Turner each finished the game with three hits. Dodgers call up former first-round draft pick Zach Lee By Dylan Hernandez Five years after the Dodgers made him their most expensive draft pick in franchise history, Zach Lee has reached the major leagues. Lee’s promotion from triple-A Oklahoma City came under unusual circumstances, as the Dodgers and Washington Nationals were permitted by the league to expand their rosters to 26 players for their second game Saturday. Earlier in the day, the teams completed a game that was suspended the previous night because of problems with the stadium lights. The Nationals won that game, 5-3. Lee, a 23-year-old right-hander, will be part of the Dodgers’ bullpen for the second game, which was scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m. Pacific. Clayton Kershaw was to start for the Dodgers. Lee is expected to return to Oklahoma City after the game. Lee was selected by the Dodgers with the 28th overall pick of the 2010 draft. The Dodgers paid him a franchise-record bonus of $5.25 million to buy him out of a football scholarship at LSU. Lee was a highly rated quarterback in high school. Lee has spent the majority of this season in Oklahoma City, for which he is 6-3 with a 2.34 earned-run average. He has pitched in 11 games for Oklahoma City, all of them starts. Lee was shut down last month because of tingling in his fingers. He has pitched in three games at three different levels since then. His most recent game was on July 11, when he pitched five innings for Oklahoma City and limited Colorado Springs to a run and six hits. The Dodgers' lineup for the second game: Joc Pederson CF

Howie Kendrick 2B Justin Turner 3B Adrian Gonzalez 1B Andre Ethier LF Yasiel Puig RF A.J. Ellis C Jimmy Rollins SS Clayton Kershaw P Dodgers complete suspended game with Nationals, a 5-3 loss By Dylan Hernandez The Dodgers and Washington Nationals traded home runs Saturday in the final four innings of a game that started the previous night. The end result was a 5-3 victory for the Nationals, who went ahead on Matt den Dekker’s two-run, pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning off right-hander Pedro Baez. The game was suspended after five innings Friday night because a bank of lights down the left-field line malfunctioned. The Nationals said a faulty circuit breaker was to blame. Play resumed Saturday with the Dodgers trailing, 3-2, in the top of the sixth inning. Two batters into the inning, Adrian Gonzalez blasted a solo home run that tied the score, 3-3. The home run was the second of the game for Gonzalez, who also hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning the previous night. The Dodgers and Nationals will play again Saturday, this time at 1:05 p.m. PDT. Clayton Kershaw will start for the Dodgers. Doug Fister will pitch for the Nationals. The league will permit both teams to expand their rosters to 26 players for the second game. Faulty circuit breaker responsible for power outage at Dodgers game By Dylan Hernandez A faulty circuit breaker was responsible for the lighting problems at Nationals Park on Friday night, the Washington Nationals said in a statement.

A bank of lights down the third-base line turned off three times, resulting in the suspension of the opening game of the Dodgers’ three-game road series against the Nationals. The game will resumed at 11:05 a.m. Pacific time Saturday, with the Dodgers trailing in the bottom of the sixth inning, 3-2. Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said the umpires informed him of the problem during one of the two delays that preceded the suspension. “They were having some talks about breakers and things and computer glitches,” Mattingly said. “It was over my head.” The Nationals that said the faulty circuit breaker was replaced shortly after midnight and that the problematic lights were tested throughout the night. “While we believe we have identified and corrected the issue, additional tests are being conducted by the manufacturer of the field lighting system,” the Nationals said.

DODGERS.COM

All-Stars Scherzer, Greinke to duel in DC By Jacob Emert Seven days after his last start, when he fell one out shy of his fourth complete game this season, Max Scherzer will take the mound against Zack Greinke in Sunday's series finale between the Nationals and Dodgers. The two All-Stars rank in the top three in a host of pitching categories in the National League, including ERA, innings pitched, WHIP and batting average against. Greinke, who started for the NL in Tuesday night's All-Star Game, has pitched at least six innings in all 18 starts this season and has given up more than three runs in one of them. He also has a scoreless innings streak of 35 2/3. Things to know about this game: • Adrian Gonzalez continues to mash. In the series opener, which started Friday and picked up on Saturday, he hit his 19th and 20th home runs. Since he joined the Dodgers in August 2012, no NL player has knocked in more runners than Los Angeles' first baseman (296). • Over the past two seasons, the Dodgers and Nationals have been two of baseball's best teams after the All-Star break. In 2013 and '14, the Dodgers were a league-best 85-48 (.639) from the Midsummer Classic forward. The Nationals were 83-53 (.610), third-best.

• A banged up Nationals team has reason to believe the immediate future is bright. Outfielder Jayson Werth (wrist) and infielder Anthony Rendon (quad), both starters when healthy, have missed most of the season due to injury. Both are in the process of participating in rehab games with Class A Advanced Potomac and are expected to be back with the big league club in the near future Kershaw puts 3-pitch arsenal on full display By Jacob Emert WASHINGTON -- With an exploding fastball and a vanishing curveball, Clayton Kershaw's toolbox already contained the weapons to dominate. Add to it the best slider the National League MVP thinks he has had all season and it became an unfair fight on Saturday in the Dodgers' 4-2 win against the Nationals. "It's probably as close as I can remember his stuff being to his no-hitter day back last June," catcher A.J. Ellis said. Kershaw struck out a season-high 14 over eight scoreless innings without allowing a walk, and, in an act of nearly perfect symmetry, he fanned two batters in every inning except for the eighth. During that frame, he settled for three groundouts. "I think more than anything, I was just able to throw all three pitches," Kershaw said. "The curveball has felt pretty good all year. Today was no different." Kershaw allowed three hits and generated 30 swings and misses, tied for the most in a single game by any pitcher in the last seven seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Info. "The way both breaking balls were working, either weapon I wanted based on how we pitched [the batter] earlier in the at-bat or earlier in the game, we were just trying to make the right choice," Ellis said. "About the fourth, fifth inning, you realized there was no wrong choice with the way he was throwing the ball." The big, sweeping curveball was on prominent display all game, but never more so than against All-Star Bryce Harper. Harper struck out swinging three times in as many at-bats, either as a direct result of the 12-6 knee buckler or after being set up by it. In his career, Harper is 1-for-9 with six strikeouts and a home run against Kershaw. "He went out there like the MVP that he is," Harper said. "He was pretty devastating. We tried to go in there and did what we could. I think he is the best pitcher in baseball." Over his last four starts, Kershaw has struck out 43 batters in 31 innings while walking two. He's allowed two earned runs in that time, good for a 0.58 ERA. "We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do," Ellis said, "And then he went out and threw [101] amazingly executed pitches." 14-K gold: Kershaw dazzles in DC

By Jacob Emert and Bill Ladson WASHINGTON -- Dominant is the best way to describe Clayton Kershaw's performance in Game 2 on Saturday in a 4-2 victory over the Nationals at Nationals Park. The Nats won Friday's suspended game, 5-3, earlier in the day. Kershaw was in the zone, allowing three hits and striking out a season-high 14 batters with no walks over eight innings. The Nationals had runners in scoring position only once when Kershaw was on the hill, and that occurred in the sixth inning when Danny Espinosa reached on an infield single and went to second on an error by third baseman Justin Turner. "He went out there like the MVP that he is," Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper said about Kershaw. "He was pretty devastating. We tried to go in there and did what we could. I think he is the best pitcher in baseball. He is pretty tough." Nationals starter Doug Fister was handed his fifth loss of the season. He threw 91 pitches and was out of the game after five innings. Yasiel Puig drove in two of the four runs against Fister with singles. Harper got the Nats on the board with a two-run homer off Kenley Jansen in the ninth. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Mr. MVP: In his first start since the All-Star break, Kershaw picked up right where he left off. He struck out two Nationals in every inning he pitched except the eighth. Over his last four starts, Kershaw has thrown 31 innings, striking out 43 and walking two while allowing two earned runs. "It looked like he had good location," manager Don Mattingly said. "Obviously, all of his stuff was good. We've seen that he likes the heat a little bit. Just kind of continuing on what he's been doing his last 10, 12 [starts]." More than enough: The Dodgers extended their lead to four runs with a three-run fifth. Joc Pederson was hit by a pitch and scored on Turner's RBI single, Howie Kendrick singled and crossed home on Andre Ethier's sacrifice fly and Puig's two-out single capped the damage and scored Turner. "If we get 13 hits a day, I think we'll be all right," Mattingly said. Helpless against Kershaw: The top three hitters -- Michael Taylor, Espinosa and Harper -- in the batting order struck out a combined seven times against Kershaw. Espinosa was the only one out of the three to get a hit off the lefty -- an infield single in the sixth inning. "He's the guy in their lineup, obviously," Kershaw said about Harper. "You saw it out there in the ninth inning. It takes one swing for him. I was just trying not to give up a hit." Not in the cards for Fister: The last time Fister pitched was July 6, and the long layoff came back to haunt him against the Dodgers. He allowed four runs on nine hits, with his worst inning coming in the fifth, when he allowed three runs. "[The long layoff] doesn't help, but I can't use that as an excuse at all," Fister said. "I stayed sharp throwing bullpens and playing catch, but it is what it is."

QUOTABLE "Two of the three hits were against lefties, so this guy doesn't have a future as a lefty specialist. We figured that out today." -- catcher A.J. Ellis, on Kershaw SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Kershaw is the ninth pitcher to have a scoreless start of no walks and 14 or more strikeouts on the road. UNDER FURTHER REVIEW In the top of the ninth with the Dodgers ahead, 4-0, Ethier grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Mattingly challenged that Ethier beat shortstop Ian Desmond's throw to first, and after a review, the call was overturned. WHAT'S NEXT Dodgers: All-Star Game starter Zack Greinke (8-2, 1.39 ERA) will head to the mound on Sunday at 10:35 a.m. PT as Los Angeles looks to take the last two games of the series and open the second half with a series win. Nationals: Right-hander Max Scherzer (10-7, 2.11 ERA) has gone five starts without walking a batter, with his last free pass coming on June 14 against the Brewers. Scherzer will face the Dodgers for the 10th time in his career on Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET. He is 2-3 with a 3.51 ERA against Los Angeles. Late HR sinks Dodgers in suspended game By Jacob Emert and Bill Ladson WASHINGTON -- After Friday's series opener was suspended at the end of the fifth inning because of a faulty circuit breaker, the Nationals defeated the Dodgers, 5-3, as the game was completed on Saturday at Nationals Park. Once play resumed at 2:05 p.m. ET, the Nationals couldn't hold on to their 3-2 lead. In the top of the sixth inning, Adrian Gonzalez hit his second home run of the game, this time a solo shot over the left-field wall. He had hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning on Friday. The Nationals and Dodgers ended up using a combined 10 pitchers. The ninth pitcher used in the game, right-hander Pedro Baez, allowed the game-winning hit in the bottom of the eighth inning, when pinch-hitter Matt den Dekker hit a two-run homer. It was the first pinch-hit homer of his career. "It was a first-pitch fastball. I was just ready to be aggressive early," den Dekker said. "Coming off the bench, you have to be ready to go. I just got a pitch over the plate and got the barrel on it." Drew Storen escaped a jam to pick up his 28th save of the season with a scoreless ninth. It looked like Joc Pederson hit a three-run homer over the left-field wall with two outs, but at the last second, the ball curved foul. Storen then struck out Pederson to end the game. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Escobar and den Dekker come through: Yunel Escobar went 3-for-5 in the game. It was his 27th multihit game of the year. His biggest hit came in the fifth inning against Chin-hui Tsao, when Escobar blasted a two-run homer to give Washington a 3-2 lead. "We'll hit him all over the lineup. It doesn't matter to him. He'll just continue to play baseball," manager Matt Williams said. But it was den Dekker who came through with the winning hit by swinging at the first pitch he saw in the eighth for his second homer of the year. Stay with me here: Gonzalez homered in the same game but on different days, accounting for all of the Dodgers' runs in the series opener. In the fourth inning (Friday night), Gonzalez's 19th home run of the season entered the right-field deck and put the Dodgers ahead 2-1. Two innings -- but 18 hours later -- Gonzalez managed to sneak one over the left-field wall for the 19th multihomer game of his career. "Adrian kind of takes [the pressure] off of us right away," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "He gets that home run and ties the game for us, so now it's just a game that you're tied in the sixth. From there, we're back to square quick." You stay there: Six Nationals batted in the seventh inning and it took a trio of Dodgers pitchers to record three outs, but they did so without breaking the 3-3 tie. Joel Peralta started the inning. He recorded two outs but allowed two baserunners -- Escobar reached on a double that Howie Kendrick lost in the lights and Bryce Harper was intentionally walked. J.P. Howell faced only Clint Robinson, who walked to load the bases. Then the bullpen phone rang for Baez, who struck out Wilson Ramos to end the threat. Quality innings by the Nats: The Nationals needed five pitchers to beat the Dodgers because of the suspended game. Casey Janssen ended up with the victory, pitching one shutout inning and striking out two batters. QUOTABLE "It's a humdinger of a game if you win it. If you don't, it doesn't feel as good. It doesn't get any easier with the next two guys we have to face. We'll see what we can do." -- Williams SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS The Nationals are 30-3 when Escobar scores at least one run in a game. LEE AVAILABLE OUT OF BULLPEN The Dodgers called up right-handed pitcher Zach Lee to be their 26th man for the regularly scheduled game on Saturday. When asked about the strategy behind the move, Mattingly replied, "He's a pitcher." Lee, a starter in the Minor Leagues, will serve in long relief. The 23-year-old has not appeared in a Major League game in his career. Time machine: Adrian homers twice, 18 hours apart

By Jacob Emert WASHINGTON -- Eighteen hours after Adrian Gonzalez pounded his first home run in Friday's suspended series opener between the Dodgers and Nationals, Los Angeles' first baseman smashed a solo shot that just cleared the left-field wall to tie the game at 3 on Saturday. The Dodgers went on to lose, 5-3, after Matt den Dekker's eighth-inning home run off Pedro Baez. Friday night's game was suspended after the fifth inning as a result of issues with the lighting system at Nationals Park. The game resumed in the top of the sixth inning and Gonzalez, batting second, hit his 20th home run of the year. It marked the 19th multi-home run game of his career and the second this season -- the first was a three-blast showing on April 8 against the Padres. "Adrian kind of takes [the pressure] off of us right away," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "He gets that home run and ties the game for us, so now it's just a game that you're tied in the sixth. From there, we're back to square quick." The last time a player homered in both segments of a suspended game was Joe Carter on May 3-4, 1996, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Gonzalez leads the National League in RBIs (296) since he joined the Dodgers on Aug. 25, 2012. Shoemaker named 'Captain' of development By Ken Gurnick LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers, who haven't had a captain on the Major League team since Davey Lopes in 1979, now have a "Captain" of player development. John Shoemaker, the dean of the organization's Minor League system, was given the appointment by director of player development Gabe Kapler. Shoemaker, currently manager of the Rookie League Ogden Raptors, has been in the organization for 39 years. "Shoe is the epitome of what we, as the Dodgers, search for in our staff members," said Kapler. "He deserves this honor based on his continual demonstration of superior teammate behavior over the course of his 39 years with our organization. He brings infectious positivity and professionalism on a daily basis. I can say with certainty that this appointment will be disputed by no soul who regularly comes into contact with Shoe." Since Shoemaker, 58, was selected by the Dodgers in the 35th round of the 1977 Draft, the Dodgers have had nine general managers, eight Major League field managers and four owners.

But Shoemaker has soldiered on as a player, manager, coach and coordinator. He played for four seasons, coached for six, then managed up and down throughout the system. He has compiled a 1,320-1,295 (.505) managerial record in 21 seasons. Shoemaker was a two-sport star at the University of Miami (Ohio) and was drafted in the sixth round of the 1978 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. Shoemaker will be recognized with a "C" on his jersey to acknowledge this accolade.

OC REGISTER

Kershaw shuts down Nationals after Dekker's pinch-hit home run leads Washington to victory in suspended game By Bill Plunkett WASHINGTON – It was lights out again at Nationals Park on Saturday. This time, Clayton Kershaw was the circuit breaker. In his first start since taking the loss in the All-Star Game, Kershaw was dominant, striking out 14 in eight scoreless innings as the Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals, 4-2, in the regularly scheduled game. Earlier in the day, the game that was suspended Friday night because of a malfunctioning bank of lights was picked up in the sixth inning. Matt den Dekker’s pinch-hit home run in the eighth gave the Nationals a 5-3 victory over the Dodgers in that one. Because of the resumed game, Kershaw had to shave seven minutes off his strictly regimented 45-minute pregame routine. Once he got to the mound, he was ruthlessly efficient, as if he wanted to make the Nationals pay for their crime against his nature. He struck out two in each of the first seven innings while throwing no more than 14 pitches in any of his eight innings. He didn't walk a batter, the second consecutive start in which Kershaw struck out more than a dozen without walking a batter. According to ESPN Stats and Info, Kershaw is the first pitcher in 100 years to have back-to-back starts with 10 or more strikeouts, no walks and no runs allowed. “That’s probably as close as I can remember his stuff being to his no-hitter day back last June,” Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said. “Both breaking balls were so dominant. Any time I asked for them on demand they were going to be executed and located extremely well. “When he got two strikes on guys, the way both breaking balls were working, it was either weapon based on how he’d pitched them earlier in the at-bat or earlier in the game. You’re just trying to make the right choice and about the fourth or fifth inning you realize there is no bad choice.” The 4 p.m. start locally didn’t hurt as shadows across the infield made Kershaw’s breaking pitches even more lethal. But he delivered them with precision. Of his 101 pitches Saturday, only 28 missed the strike zone.

The Nationals managed three hits off Kershaw – singles by Clint Robinson in the second inning and Doug Fister in the third then an infield single by Danny Espinosa in the sixth inning. Only Espinosa advanced past first base, thanks to a wild throw by third baseman Justin Turner. “Two of the three hits were against lefties (Robinson and Fister),” Ellis said. “So this guy doesn’t have a future as a lefty specialist. We figured that out today.” Head-to-head with Bryce Harper – “you’re talking about the premier hitter and the premier pitcher in our sport,” Ellis said – Kershaw was at his best, striking Harper out three times. “He’s the guy in their lineup, obviously,” Kershaw said. “You saw up there in the ninth inning. It takes one swing for him.” That swing came against Kenley Jansen. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly opted to give Jansen the ball for the ninth inning and Harper broke up the shutout with a two-run home run before Jansen could close it out. That was Harper’s 28th home run, breaking a tie for the major-league lead with Mike Trout and Giancarlo Stanton. Den Dekker’s two-run home run earlier in the day came off Dodgers reliever Pedro Baez and gave the Nationals the win. They led 3-2 when play was suspended Friday night but two batters into the resumption of play, Adrian Gonzalez tied the score with a solo home run. It was Gonzalez's second home run of the game – though it followed the first by about 16 hours. It was the first time since Joe Carter on May 3-4, 1996 that a player had hit home runs in both parts of a suspended game. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the eighth. Baez gave up a one-out single to Tyler Moore. Two batters later, Mattingly elected to stay with Baez rather than go to left-hander Adam Liberatore against the left-handed den Dekker. “Pedro’s one of our late-inning guys,” Mattingly said of sticking with Baez. “I’m not really concerned at that point. Obviously, maybe I should have been.” There was barely time to question that decision before den Dekker turned on Baez’s first-pitch fastball and sent it into the upper deck down the right-field line. Final: Dodgers lose suspended game to Nationals, 5-3 By Bill Plunkett WASHINTON, D.C. -- Matt den Dekker's pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the eighth inning broke a tie and gave the Washington Nationals a 5-3 victory in the completion of their suspended game Saturday afternoon. The game was suspended after five innings Friday night due to a malfunctioning bank of lights.

The Dodgers were trailing 3-2 at the time of the suspension. Two batters into the resumption of play, Adrian Gonzalez tied the score with a solo home run. It was Gonzalez's second home run of the game -- though it followed the first by about 16 hours. It was the first time since Joe Carter on May 3-4, 1996 that a player had hit home runs in both parts of a suspended game. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the eighth. Dodgers reliever Pedro Baez gave up a one-out single to Tyler Moore. Two batters later, den Dekker pinch-hit and jumped on Baez's first pitch, a 96 mph fastball, and lined it into the upper deck down the right field line. The Dodgers threatened in the ninth inning against Nationals closer Drew Storen, putting the tying runs on base with no outs when Yasiel Puig walked and Andre Ethier singled. Storen retired the next two batters on fly outs before a near miss -- Joc Pederson hit a foul ball into the seats just a few feet wide of the foul pole down the left field line. Pederson then struck out on a checked-swing call to end the game. Saturday's scheduled game will begin at 1 p.m. PT with Clayton Kershaw scheduled to start for the Dodgers. Zach Lee's stay with Dodgers lasts but a day By Bill Plunkett WASHINGTON – Ever since the Dodgers made him their first-round draft pick in 2010 and gave him the biggest signing bonus in franchise history ($5.25 million) in order to keep him from playing quarterback at LSU, Zach Lee has been dreaming about his first day in the big leagues. This was probably not what he had in mind. “Yes and no. It’s halfway checked you may say,” Lee said with a smile Saturday in the visitors’ clubhouse at Nationals Park. “I mean, it was one of those things where I worked really hard to get here and it’s really great and satisfying to get here. But obviously I have more desire to do more than I did today. But – in time.” When Friday’s game was suspended because of a malfunctioning bank of lights and scheduled to resume on Saturday before the regularly scheduled Dodgers-Nationals game, both teams were given permission to add a 26th player to their roster for the second game (a rule that usually applies to postponed games rescheduled as part of a doubleheader within 48 hours). The Dodgers made the odd choice of promoting Lee from Triple-A Oklahoma City as their 26th man. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told Lee before the game that he was there only to pitch in long relief should something go awry. With Clayton Kershaw scheduled to start, Lee knew the odds were not good of him getting into the game.

“Yeah, I was questioning that,” Lee acknowledged. “It was a little bit of a surprise with the way it happened. But any way you get the call is a great way to get it.” Lee has been waiting a while to get that call. He has spent the past two years in Triple-A. During that time, 21 pitchers have started games for the Dodgers. Some were accomplished (Kershaw, Zack Greinke, etc). Some were on the way out (Josh Beckett, Paul Maholm, Kevin Correia, etc.). Some were nondescript (remember Red Patterson? Stephen Fife? David Huff?). None was Lee. But Lee said he has never wondered why not. “No, they’re very smart people,” he said of the Dodgers’ front office. “They have ways (to evaluate players) that I’m sure me and you could never fully understand. It’s one of those things where they know what they’re doing and you just have to trust the system.” Lee’s trust might have faltered for a while this summer. Improvements that he attributes to changes in elevation – of his pitches and the location of the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate (from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City) – led to a good season for Lee. Through the end of May with the OKC Dodgers, he was 5-3 with a 2.38 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. But Lee was experiencing numbness and tingling in the middle finger on his pitching hand. The Dodgers shut him down for a month and sent him to the training complex in Arizona. “For some reason, circulation wasn’t making its way to my finger very well and somehow it made its way back there so we’re all good,” Lee said. “There was a couple different theories (about the cause) but there was never any one definitive one. The only symptoms I had were really just in one finger. If it would have gotten worse, we would have done something. But being that there were no other symptoms, we just let time play out.” Though similar symptoms have been associated with thoracic outlet syndrome – a condition that can lead to surgery – Lee said the circulation returned on its own. “Just time, really,” Lee said. “Just time to let the blood vessels find different ways. Luckily they did.” Lee returned to the mound at the start of July and made one start each in the Arizona Summer League, Class-A and Triple-A before joining the Dodgers in Washington. Immediately after Saturday’s game, he was sent back to Oklahoma City where he will have to patiently wait for another call – and a more satisfying one. “I’m pretty patient,” he said. “It’s one of those things where you can only control what you can control, not worry and fret over and try to put more pressure on yourself. Everyone in here has had to wait. They had to pay their dues like every young player coming up.” NOTES Veteran RHP Trevor Cahill made his first start for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday night and allowed one run on two hits in 42/3 innings. Cahill has made three appearances since signing with the Dodgers, one each in the Arizona Summer League, Class-A and now Triple-A. He has allowed one run on five hits

while striking out 15 in 101/3 innings. The 27-year-old Cahill was released by the Atlanta Braves in June. … OF Carl Crawford was 2 for 4 with a home run while playing left field for the OKC Dodgers Saturday. He is expected to complete his rehab assignment Sunday before joining the Dodgers in Atlanta on Monday. Crawford has batted .367 (11 for 30) with two doubles, a triple and that home run in eight games with Oklahoma City. On deck: Dodgers at Nationals, Sunday, 10:35 a.m., SNLA By Bill Plunkett Where: Nationals Park Did you know: Since he joined the Dodgers on Aug. 25, 2012, Adrian Gonzalez has driven in 296 runs. No one in the National League has more RBI in that time. THE PITCHERS RHP ZACK GREINKE (8-2, 1.39 ERA) Greinke emerges from his All-Star Game starting assignment with his 352/3 scoreless innings streak intact (despite that Mike Trout leadoff home run). During his scoreless streak, Greinke has held opposing batters to a .132 batting average (16 for 121) with 31 strikeouts and only three walks. But, July is the only month in his career during which Greinke has a losing record (16-23). Vs. Nationals: 3-1, 2.22 ERA Nationals Park: 0-1, 3.00 ERA Hates to face: Wilson Ramos, 2 for 4 (.500), 1 double Loves to face: Ian Desmond, 0 for 10, 2 strikeouts RHP MAX SCHERZER (10-7, 2.11 ERA) While Greinke has his scoreless streak, Scherzer will take a streak of his own into this start. He has not walked a batter since June 14 against the Milwaukee Brewers, a stretch of 392/3 innings over five starts. Scherzer leads the National League in innings pitched (132) so the Nationals opted to give him a full week off over the All-Star break despite the fact that he did not pitch in the All-Star Game. He also leads the majors in WHIP (0.78), strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.7), and has allowed the fewest hits per nine innings (6.1). Vs. Dodgers: 2-3, 3.51 ERA At Nationals Park: 4-4, 2.83 ERA Hates to face: Yasiel Puig, 2 for 3 (.667), 1 double, 1 triple Loves to face: Jimmy Rollins, 0 for 2

LA DAILY NEWS

Clayton Kershaw leads Dodgers to Saturday split against Washington Nationals By JP Hoornstra WASHINGTON, D.C. >> The Dodgers started one game and finished two Saturday at Nationals Park. They won the game started by Clayton Kershaw and lost the game that began Friday night, was suspended after five innings due to poor lighting, and resumed about 15 hours later. The only thing that was lights-out Saturday was Kershaw. Making his first start since he pitched an inning Tuesday in the All-Star Game — and lost — Kershaw scattered three hits over eight scoreless innings, didn’t walk a batter and struck out 14 in a 4-2 Dodgers win. The 14 strikeouts were one shy of his career high. “It’s probably as close as I can remember his stuff being to his no-hitter day last June,” Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said. “Both breaking balls (slider and curveball) were just so dominant. Any time I asked for them, they were well-executed and located extremely well.” Kershaw threw 101 pitches before Kenley Jansen took over in the ninth inning. The two teams will close out their three-game series Sunday. In a matchup of two Cy Young Award front-runners, Zack Greinke will start for the Dodgers and Max Scherzer will start for the Nationals. Kershaw showed there’s still time to elbow his way into this awards race. After a subpar start to the season, the reigning National League MVP has a 1.36 earned-run average over his last 10 starts. He hasn’t allowed a run in his last 24 innings and seemed to thrive on a hot and humid day in Washington. “I think I threw probably the best slider I’ve had all year,” Kershaw said. “That was encouraging. I felt I could throw it how I wanted to every single time.” Bryce Harper, the Nationals’ star oufielder, struck out in all three of his plate appearances against Kershaw. When he finally saw Jansen in the ninth inning, Harper exploded for a two-run home run that spoiled the Dodgers’ shutout bid. The Dodgers jumped on Washington right-hander Doug Fister for four runs in five innings, using nine singles. Their 13 hits in the game were a welcome departure for a team that has often lived and died by the home-run ball.

The game began less than 45 minutes after the Dodgers lost 5-3 to the Nationals in the completion of the suspended game. Matt den Dekker’s two-run home run off Pedro Baez in the eighth inning made the difference. The Nationals were leading that game 3-2 on Friday night when a faulty circuit breaker blacked out several banks of lights for a third time in the middle of the game. The game resumed in the top of the sixth inning when the two teams returned to the park early Saturday, joined by a sparse crowd. Adrian Gonzalez quickly tied the game 3-3 with a solo home run. The Dodgers put two runners on base against Nationals closer Drew Storen in the ninth inning but could not score. Joc Pederson hit a foul ball a couple feet left of the left-field foul pole, barely missing a three-run home run that would have given the Dodgers a 6-5 lead, before striking out to end the game. Kershaw immediately popped out of the dugout to begin his famously regimented pregame routine. “We were able to be pretty much on schedule,” Ellis said. “I think we had 38 minutes as opposed to the usual 45. He did his normal throwing program, his normal bullpen work, to get ready.” It worked for Kershaw on Saturday, just like everything else. Former L.A. Dodger Glenn Burke was a trailblazer for gay athletes By Mark Whicker The party was only born when Glenn Burke got there. The clubhouse only felt like home when Glenn Burke walked in. He was a needler, a performer, a teammate. His only enemy was silence. “He was Richard Pryor before there was a Richard Pryor,” said Sidney Burke, his brother. Glenn Burke was also a homosexual, back when secrets could almost be kept. Most of the Dodgers knew. The public didn’t, not until Burke retired at the absurd age of 27. The books and the witnesses replaced the whispers. Today, Burke wouldn’t be able to control his news. But would it be news? Michael Sam and Jason Collins walked into the sunshine and wound up on magazine covers, got standing ovations and stood on podiums. It is tempting to say Burke was born way too early. In the legal sense, that’s true. Thanks to the Supreme Court, he could get married today in any state. His civil rights would be protected. Are we ready for a prominent major league ballplayer to get behind that microphone, to announce himself to the world? Probably, but it hasn’t happened yet. Burke said the gay community knew that two prominent MVPs from the 1970s were gay and unannounced.

He might have had the defiance, the humor and certainly the ability to lead that parade. At least we would like to think so. On Sunday he joins the Shrine of the Eternals, sponsored by the Baseball Reliquary at the Pasadena Public Library. The Shrine is sort of a populist Cooperstown. It welcomes those who have contributed to the game by being themselves, not by stacking numbers. Its inaugural class of 1999 was Dock Ellis, Bill Veeck and Curt Flood. Marvin Miller, Pete Rose, Roger Maris, Fernando Valenzuela, Dr. Frank Jobe, Jim Abbott and Jim Bouton left a more vivid impression on baseball than a majority of those in the real Hall of Fame. They are not in that shrine, and likely never will be, but they’re here Sunday. Burke hit .237 with two home runs for his career. He was better than that. He grew up in the Dodgers’ loaded farm system and chafed at how long the line was. Jim Gilliam, the longtime infielder and coach, said Burke could be “the next Willie Mays.” “There was nothing he couldn’t do on a baseball field,” said Joe Simpson, a Dodger teammate and now the TV analyst for the Atlanta Braves. “He was that five-tool player you hear about. But this was pre-free agency. The Dodgers had a lot of outfielders, and a lot of us in the minor leagues were just blocked. Glenn played with a chip on his shoulder. Sometimes that chip would weigh him down.” The Dodgers traded Burke to Oakland for Billy North, which stung Davey Lopes, Dusty Baker and other clubhouse friends. “The ironic thing,” Sidney Burke said, “was that the A’s basically replaced him with Rickey Henderson, whom we all know from growing up in Oakland. Most people thought Glenn was at least as good a player.” Eventually, Oakland hired manager Billy Martin, who often used the “f word” to Burke’s face and to his teammates. Burke retired soon afterward. “I felt I was depriving myself of my homosexual life by living a double life,” he wrote in his autobiography, “Out of Home,” a book that he finished while he was dying of AIDS. That was 36 years ago. Players are powerful now. One presumes that teammates would rebel against a bigoted manager. Twenty-five Twitter accounts can’t be silent forever. Burke always found ways to avoid dealing with all the women who wanted to deal with him. He waited for his Dodger friends to leave the hotel before he would visit his own places. He pulled his coat over his face when hailing cabs. Simpson said he never knew about Burke’s sexual orientation until later. But when general manager Al Campanis offered him a bonus to get married, Burke wasn’t fooled or surprised. Later, Burke won two sprint gold medals in the Gay Games, and was a prominent basketball and softball player. “He was the man,” Sidney said.

He was also hit by a car, developed a drug habit, and lived on the San Francisco streets for a time. He was 42 when he died, in 1995. Today there are gay senators, gay mayors, gay afternoon talk-show hosts, gay Oscar MCs and gay tech moguls, all of them as unapologetic as Abby Wambach when she kissed her wife in Vancouver during the Women’s World Cup. And today we remember Glenn Burke’s generation and its refusal to change, and the way it led to a day when everything could. Dodgers pitcher Brandon Beachy braces for an unemotional return to Atlanta By JP Hoornstra WASHINGTON, D.C. >> Brandon Beachy will start for the Dodgers on Monday in Atlanta, the city where his career began five years ago. The 28-year-old pitcher tried downplaying the significance of his return, maybe not so much because he wanted to but because he feels he must. “It has to be another start, you know?” Beachy said. “And it’s different because there’s really only a few guys left over there that I played with, so it’s not what you might think it would be for me.” True, a lot has happened in Atlanta since Beachy’s last regular-season game in a Braves uniform in August 2013. Stars like Justin Upton, Jason Heyward and Brian McCann, not to mention nearly the entire bullpen and four-fifths of the starting rotation, are employed somewhere else now. That’s what can happen in the time it takes to recover from Tommy John surgery. Now there’s a good debate: What has been rebuilt more the last two years, the Braves’ roster or Beachy’s right elbow? But emotions are a tricky thing. Just ask Chad Billingsley, who found himself in the same position when he visited Dodger Stadium in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform earlier this month. Billingsley rode a wave of emotions that ultimately landed on excitement — and resulted in a win for the former Dodgers pitcher. “I’m going to see some familiar faces, and that’s going to be great,” Beachy said, “but it’s not going to affect what happens on the field.” In his first start of the season on July 11, Beachy allowed five hits, walked three batters, and allowed three runs in four innings against the Milwaukee Brewers. It was hardly enough of a showing for the Dodgers to determine if Beachy was ready for a long-term place in their starting rotation. Until Monday however, it’s all the Dodgers have. “It’s my second start in almost two years,” Beachy said. “That in itself is a big deal. Lock some things up, hone in and get better. That’s what I plan to do.” Why so much confidence?

“The same thing kind of happened after my first (Tommy John) surgery” in 2013, he said. “I had the worst start of my career, then I settled in. I don’t know what it is about that. Maybe I just need to get that one out of my way.” ZACH LEE GETS THE NOD The Dodgers couldn’t have found a less stressful situation in which to give Zach Lee his first day on a major league roster. His debut is yet to come — Lee didn’t pitch in the Dodgers’ game against the Washington Nationals on Saturday — but at least his first call-up is out of the way. The 23-year-old pitcher became the Dodgers’ extra player when MLB allowed both teams to expand their rosters for Saturday’s game. Under the circumstances, Lee was a curious choice. A starter during his professional career, Lee was the Dodgers’ emergency long reliever in case Clayton Kershaw had a short start. Kershaw rarely has short starts. Still, it was a big moment. “It was a little bit of a surprise with the way it happened,” Lee said, “but any way you get the call is a good way.” Lee was 6-3 with a 2.34 earned-run average in 11 starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City. He’s made three minor-league starts since missing a month due to poor circulation in his right middle finger. Lee said that circulation in the finger improved over time and didn’t require any special treatment. ALSO ... Because Friday night’s game was suspended until Saturday, A.J. Ellis caught Clayton Kershaw instead of Yasmani Grandal. Mattingly said Grandal would have started all three games this weekend had the game not been suspended. ... According to ESPN Stats and Info, Adrian Gonzalez is the first player since Joe Carter in May 1996 to hit a home run in both ends of a suspended game.

ESPNLA.COM Saturday's Top 5: Clayton Kershaw kicking into high gear By Christina Kahrl 1. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers: Whiffing 14 Nationals in eight shutout innings was a reminder that things should be back to normal for the Dodgers ace after a weird week or so in which he was nearly left out of the All-Star Game, then earned the dubious honor of losing it for the National League. Now that we're back to meaningful action, including Saturday's dominating spin, Kershaw has thrown 10 straight quality starts (six or more innings pitched, three or fewer earned runs allowed), posted a 1.36 ERA while reaching double digits in whiffs in six turns and totaled 101 strikeouts against just 11 walks in 72 2/3 innings.

Saturday's start was sweet for a couple reasons. It ranked as his fourth-best start ever, with a Game Score of 90, and was tied for his second-highest whiff total in a single start. You can geek out on all of those numbers, but perhaps the most impressive thing about Kershaw's dominating day was how handily he put away the Nationals. He racked up those 14 whiffs with just 101 pitches, with 30 of his strikes coming on swings that came up empty. In the past 20 years, just three pitchers have whiffed as many or more while throwing fewer pitches: Javier Vazquez on April 9, 2003, against the Cubs (96 pitches, 14 K's), Stephen Strasburg on June 8, 2010, against the Pirates (96 pitches, 14 K's) and Felix Hernandez on June 8, 2014, against the Rays (100 pitches, 15 K's). 2. Robinson Cano, Seattle Mariners: Talk about a trip down memory lane. With a two-homer day in Yankee Stadium to power a 4-3 Mariners win, you could be forgiven if you thought this meant Cano got his second half off on the right foot. Both home runs came on fastballs, the first in the first on a first-pitch fastball middle-in and the second pulled into the right-field bleachers in the sixth on an 0-1 inside fastball that wasn't inside enough, after Michael Pineda tried to follow an inside strike with another. As great as that might be if you're a Mariners fan worried about Cano's first-half .660 OPS, the big question is whether he's going to do anything in the second half to improve on a dismal first three months, in which he delivered a career-worst strikeout rate while demonstrating an increasing tendency to swing and miss at breaking stuff. If attacking early-count fastballs can cure what ails him, there's hope the next eight seasons Cano is under contract won't already be cause for regret. 3. Chris Tillman, Baltimore Orioles: The Orioles' rotation depth is both a feature and a bug, as far as their shot at contending goes; they might lack a true ace, but they have a decent front four and worthwhile options for their fifth slot. But if you want to tab one guy to change that and give Baltimore a strong second-half kick, you'd be forgiven for picking Tillman on the strength of the previous season's strong finish, in which he posted a 2.38 ERA while holding hitters to a .605 OPS in his last 21 starts. Saturday's dominating spin was certainly encouraging, as he threw eight hitless innings after allowing a leadoff single to beat the Tigers 3-0. From Pitch-F/X data, that coincides with his throwing more cutters and sinkers and fewer four-seam fastballs. Perhaps most importantly, this was his fifth straight start with one or zero walks -- a big improvement after he walked almost 12 percent of opposing hitters in his first 13 turns. If he's this sharp with a slightly broader mix of stuff, he'll be a big factor for Baltimore down the stretch. 4. Garrett Richards, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: A complete-game shutout of the Red Sox provided another reason to believe Richards is the Angel to watch in the second half. If he earns back his ace cred, he'll give the Angels a lot more of what they got Saturday: a win without much from either Albert Pujols or Mike Trout. 5. Lorenzo Cain, Kansas City Royals: In case you were wondering if Cain is going to keep up the newly minted star act in the second half, his game-winning home run in the 13th against the White Sox answers that question. It was his fourth homer of the year on a slider -- just another indication he has adapted to the diet of breaking and off-speed stuff the league has tried to throw at him as he blossoms into a premium player. Clayton Kershaw was nearly at his finest By Mark Saxon

WASHINGTON, D.C. – By the fourth or fifth inning, A.J. Ellis realized all his pregame preparation -- he spends hours on it -- was pretty much a waste of time. Because Clayton Kershaw’s general plan of attack is both straightforward and unvarying, Ellis has to make one important choice for every hitter. Presuming Kershaw is throwing his fastball where he intends it and getting ahead in counts, Ellis needs to know whether the hitter’s poison is the curveball or the slider. Is it Public Enemy No. 1 -- as Vin Scully once called Kershaw’s big, overhand curveball – or Public Enemy No. 2? Ellis also needs to know how that hitter might have reacted to either pitch earlier in the game, and he needs to know how Kershaw is executing the pitches on that particular day or, maybe, at that particular moment. Then there are the rare days such as Saturday, when all three pitches are so good, Ellis can put down whichever finger is handy. Whatever Ellis put down Saturday turned out to be the right choice, as Kershaw dominated over eight innings, struck out a season-high 14 batters and walked none in the Dodgers' 4-2 win over the Nationals. “That’s probably as close as I can remember his stuff being to his no-hitter day back last June,” Ellis said. “Both breaking balls were just so dominant. Any time I asked for one on demand, they were going to be executed and located really well. It was just a fun day.” Maybe not so fun for the Nationals, who had to deal with Kershaw in sunny, muggy conditions, while he was throwing 95 mph fastballs to tricky locations, tumbling curveballs off tables and darting his slider into the nether reaches of the strike zone. He struck out the league’s best left-handed hitter, Bryce Harper, three times. Only three Nationals managed hits, and one of them could have been ruled an error. The Harper at-bats were intriguing matchups. Harper isn’t just a brilliant talent; he has also been locked in since Opening Day. You could see that Saturday because the minute Kershaw left the game, he launched a massive home run off a fastball from Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, who is no schlub himself. That was Harper’s 27th home run. He is batting .336. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is a former American League batting champion, and he sees things most of us don’t when he watches those moments. He noted that Kershaw attacked Harper’s weaknesses by elevating hard fastballs just enough to get him to swing and getting into counts in which he could use either breaking ball to devastating effect. That’s what they mean when they say good pitching beats good hitting. Kershaw doesn’t usually like to discuss his approach to individual hitters, but he admitted he was aware of Harper at all times. “He’s the guy in their lineup, obviously,” Kershaw said. “You saw that in the ninth inning. It only takes one swing for him. I don’t know. I was just trying not to give up a hit.” Given the strange trajectory of the day, you might have predicted Kershaw would struggle -- relatively speaking -- Saturday. He is a slave to his pregame routine and, according to Ellis, he had to shave about seven minutes off it because the teams had to finish the final four innings of their suspended game from the night before, which the Dodgers lost 5-3.

“It was an adjustment, for sure,” Kershaw said. Lately, a lot of teams have faced Kershaw at his most dominant. He might have given up a couple runs in the All-Star game, but in his past 11 starts, he has a 1.68 ERA, 108 strikeouts and 13 walks. Those are the things he did the past season en route to the MVP award. The Dodgers think Kershaw gets better as the season goes along, and they’re right. His career ERA is a half-run lower after the All-Star break (2.20) than before it (2.74). That might have to do more with hitters wearing down in the heat and grind than Kershaw’s conditioning, but it might have a little to do with both. Kershaw fans 14, Dodgers split the day with Nationals By Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Clayton Kershaw struck out a season-high 14 in eight shutout innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Washington Nationals 4-2 to earn a split of the two games decided Saturday. Hours earlier, pinch-hitter Matt den Dekker lined a two-run homer in the eighth inning that lifted the Nationals over the Dodgers 5-3 in the completion of a game suspended a day earlier after the fifth because of a lighting malfunction. Kershaw (7-6), coming off a shutout of the Phillies, scattered three singles and didn't walk a batter. The lefty has won six straight starts against Washington, fashioning an 0.96 ERA in the process. Bryce Harper struck three times against Kershaw, but hit a two-run homer in the ninth off reliever Kenley Jansen. It was Harper's 27th of the season. Doug Fister (3-5) allowed four runs on nine hits over five innings. Rapid Reaction: Dodgers 4, Nationals 2 By Mark Saxon WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Clayton Kershaw cleaned up the mess. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace did what he sets out to do every time he pitches -- give the bullpen a rest -- while dominating the Washington Nationals in a 4-2 win at Nationals Park on Saturday. The timing was opportune: The Dodgers had churned through five pitchers in the previous game, with four of them pitching Saturday after the first game resumed. Friday’s game was suspended due to malfunctioning lights. Kershaw (7-6) struck out a season high 14 batters and allowed just three hits and no runs in his eight innings. For the third time in his last four starts, Kershaw did not walk a batter.

How it happened: The Dodgers weren’t taking advantage of opportunities early. They managed to squeeze just one run out of six hits off Doug Fister in the first four innings, but they started bunching them in the fifth and took a 4-0 lead. Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig had RBI singles. All the while, Kershaw was simply overmatching the Nationals. He reached his season high for strikeouts by the seventh inning. The Nationals scarcely hit a ball hard against him. One of their three hits was a dribbler that Turner threw into the runner. It was ruled an infield hit and an error but could have been a straight error. Kershaw neutralized the best hitters in Washington’s lineup, with seven of his strikeouts coming at the expense of Washington’s first three hitters. Bryce Harper, the likeliest MVP candidate in the National League, struck out all three times he faced Kershaw. That makes Harper 1-for-9 in his career against the Dodgers’ ace. The one hit was a home run. Harper got back to mashing when Kershaw left the game, hitting a long two-run home run to right off Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. It was Harper's 27th home run. What it means: The Dodgers haven’t proven they can beat quality teams consistently and Saturday would have been a serious downer after they lost the resumption of their suspended game. Kershaw changed the narrative, which is what he’s supposed to do. Notable: Rookie Joc Pederson has looked, at times, like he is willing to cut down on his massive swing to get out of the batting slump he’s in. Pederson hit a couple of balls to the opposite field in the first game and managed to get on base three times in the second, including on a solid single to right. Pederson still has more extra-base hits (36) than singles (34) this season. … Kershaw was charging hard after a Jose Lobaton dribbler up the line when Turner, smartly, yelled at him to let it go. Kershaw pulled back his hand mid-slide and the ball did, indeed, roll foul. … Adrian Gonzalez has continued his hot hitting through the All-Star break. He had two home runs in the first game and had three hits, including a double, in the second. … The game was played in low-90s temperatures and oppressive humidity. The forecast calls for 98-degree temperatures for Sunday’s day game. The National Weather Service put out a heat advisory for Sunday. Up next: The Dodgers could win their first series against a winning team since April if they can take Sunday’s game. Zack Greinke (8-2, 1.39 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers, who will have to face Max Scherzer (10-7, 2.11 ERA). Zach Lee takes odd path to the majors By Mark Saxon WASHINGTON -- This was probably not the way Zach Lee envisioned his arrival in the major leagues. The Los Angeles Dodgers took Lee in the first round of the 2010 draft and had to pay him $5.25 million to ensure he wouldn’t bolt to LSU to play both quarterback and pitcher. His career was generally on track until he reached Triple-A last season, at age 22, and put up a 5.39 ERA at high-altitude Albuquerque.

On Saturday, the Dodgers called him up to serve as their 26th man for the second game of their one-and-a-half-header with the Washington Nationals. That means that Lee probably won’t pitch unless Clayton Kershaw has an extremely short start, which doesn’t happen often. It also means he figures to be headed back to join Oklahoma City when it’s over. And what did Dodgers manager Don Mattingly say to the pitcher who was once the organization’s top prospect? Nothing, Mattingly said, other than how the team would use him if he were to pitch. Any appearance would be the first relief appearance of Lee’s career. “Obviously, in spring training guys come into games and things like that, but he’s still a starter,” Mattingly said. Lee has had a solid season now that the Dodgers’ Triple-A team is in Oklahoma City. He pitched through an injury scare that involved some numbness in his right fingertips and is 8-3 with a 2.26 ERA. He last pitched Sunday, giving up a run on six hits in five innings. Rapid Reaction: Nationals 5, Dodgers 3 By Mark Saxon WASHINGTON -- Los Angeles Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt visited reliever Pedro Baez in the eighth inning Saturday and nobody other than those two knows exactly what was said, but it probably wasn’t, “Throw a fastball right down the middle on the next pitch.” Yet that’s just what Baez did and the pinch hitter, Matt den Dekker, hit it a long way. That two-run home run gave the Dodgers a 5-3 loss to the Washington Nationals in a game that had been suspended the night before due to faulty lights. How it happened: The Dodgers started to rally in the ninth, getting the first two batters on against Washington closer Drew Storen. But Storen got out of the jam by getting a couple of harmless pop-ups from Jimmy Rollins and Alberto Callaspo. Joc Pederson came within three feet of hitting the go-ahead home run, but it sliced just left of the left-field foul pole. He struck out on a checked swing to end it. Presumably, this was the first time in Adrian Gonzalez’s career in which he hit two home runs in one game separated by a night’s sleep. He had hit the two-run home run that briefly gave the Dodgers a lead before the lights went out for the final time Friday night. On Saturday, he sliced a drive to left field off Tanner Roark and it barely got over the fence for his 21st home run of the season. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly wasn’t terribly cautious with his bullpen, probably because he has reinforcements on the way for the second game. He used four pitchers -- three in one inning -- to get through the first two innings after play resumed. What it means: The Dodgers lost both portions of the game, but it only counts as one in the loss column. Notable: Howie Kendrick had a rough couple of days at the plate, though it only added up to one 0-for-4. He also would have been better off trying to catch Yunel Escobar’s seventh-inning pop-up the night before, even while the lights were out. He lost it in the bright sun and it went for a double. Baez struck out Wilson Ramos to strand Escobar at second. … Chin-Hui Tsao and Roark both pitched Friday night and

continued as the pitchers of record on Saturday. Tsao, who had allowed an Escobar two-run home run the night before, pitched a strong sixth inning Saturday. Nevertheless, he could be headed back to Triple-A if the Dodgers choose to activate two extra relievers for the second game, given the heavy bullpen usage. There were thunderstorms and rain in the morning and the game was played in extremely humid conditions. Up next: The Dodgers play their regularly scheduled game starting at 1:05 p.m. PT. Clayton Kershaw (6-6, 2.85 ERA) makes his first start after the All-Star Game, and Doug Fister (3-4, 4.08 ERA) goes for the Nationals.

TRUEBLUELA.COM

Alex Verdugo stays hot in Loons win By Brandon Lennox Player of the day Alex Verdugo went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer on Saturday to lead the Loons to a victory. Verdugo is now hitting .287 for the season despite batting .243 in April and .191 in May. Triple-A Oklahoma City Carl Crawford went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI's in his final rehab game as the Dodgers used a nine-run seventh inning to defeat the Express (Rangers) 11 to 5 on Saturday. As Eric reminded us, Scott Schebler also had a big game at the plate as he went 3-for-4 with his 11th homer and two runs scored, as did Austin Barnes who doubled twice and drove in three. On the mound Eric Surkamp had a quality start as he allowed six hits and three runs over six frames, but it was Grant Dayton who picked up the win his Dodger debut with a perfect seventh inning. [Recap] Double-A Tulsa The Drillers' pitching staff allowed just five hits on Saturday, but they still lost to the Travelers (Angels) 5 to 4. Starter Jairo Heredia permitted just three hits over 4⅔, but two runs scored against him and took the loss. The Tulsa bullpen gave up just two additional hits the rest of the way, but they walked seven which resulted in three runs. The mostly forgotten Jeremy Rathjen hit his fifth homer of the year in this game, but he is batting just .176 for the season. Lars Anderson was a perfect 2-for-2 at the dish with a double and two walks, while Kyle Farmer knocked in a pair thanks to a couple of hits. [Recap] Class-A Rancho Cucamonga

Rancho Cucamonga managed just one late run on Saturday as they lost to the Rawhide (Dbacks) 3 to 1. The Quakes had just two extra base hits in this game as Dillon Moyer and Travis Witherspoon both doubled. Rancho didn't even push across their run until the bottom of the ninth thanks to a Josmar Cordero RBI single. In terms of pitching, starter Brock Stewart allowed eight hits and two runs over five innings, while Kyle Hooper permitted the final run in the seventh. Low Class-A Great Lakes Great Lakes crushed a trio of homers during their 10 - 2 win over the Lugnuts (Blue Jays). Three batters into the bottom of the first the Loons already had a three run lead after the club's hottest hitter, Verdugo, connected on a three-run bomb. He would have two other hits on the night to increase his average to .287 for the season. Alex Santana followed with a solo shot later in the frame, while Kyle Garlick lofted a three-run jack of his own later in the game. On the mound starter Tommy Bergjans gave up two runs over four innings in his Great Lakes debut, and the 2015 8th round pick also struck out five. Jose Alberto Molina picked up the long save with 2⅔ scoreless frames. [Recap] Rookie-level Ogden The Raptors were doubled up on Saturday as they fell to the Osprey (Dbacks) 10 to 5. Most of the Missoula scoring came late in the game as Ogden starter Michael Boyle gave up just three hits and one run over four frames. Lenix Osuna and Bernardo Reyes combined to give up five runs in relief, then Andrew Istler got hit even harder over the final few innings as he allowed four runs. The Ogden offense was led by Scott De Jong who went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple. Lead-off man Gage Green had the only other multi-hit game as he was 2-for 5 with a triple and a RBI. [Recap] Rookie-level Arizona The Arizona Dodgers did not have an extra base hit on Saturday and made seven errors as they fell to the Royals 6 to 3. The Dodgers managed just six singles in total, with two of them coming from 19 year old Ariel Sandoval who drove in one of the runs. Starter Angel German allowed four runs over 3⅓ innings, but only one was earned thanks to the miscues. Jose Santos, recently promoted from the Dominican Summer League, was impressive in relief as he struck out three over two hitless frames. Transactions Triple-A: Zach Lee got the call to join the Dodgers as their 26th man.

Class-A Advanced: Delvis Morales was sent to Ogden on a rehab assignment Saturday box scores Oklahoma City 11, Round Rock 5 Arkansas 5, Tulsa 4 Visalia 3, Rancho Cucamonga 1 Great Lakes 10, Lansing 2 Missoula 10, Ogden 5 AZL Royals 6, AZL Dodgers 3 Sunday schedule 11:05 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Trevor Oaks) vs. Lansing (Justin Shafer) 3 p.m.: Ogden (IvanVieitez) vs. Missoula (Scott Schultz) 4:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Eric Stults) vs. Round Rock (Jerad Eickoff) 4:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Jeremy Kehrt) vs. Arkansas (Luke Farrell) 5:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (John Richy) vs. Visalia (Ryan Doran) 7 p.m.: AZL Dodgers (TBD) at AZL Cubs (TBD) Clayton Kershaw dominant in 14-strikeout win over Nationals By Eric Stephen Clayton Kershaw painted an absolute masterpiece, striking out a season-high 14 to lead the Dodgers to a 4-2 win over the Nationals on Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. Kershaw allowed just three singles in his eight innings, with only one runner allowed in scoring position, and that was thanks to a throwing error in the sixth inning. He threw just 101 pitches. Kershaw extended his scoreless streak to 20 innings, and has allowed just one run in his last 29 innings. He struck out exactly two batters in each of the first seven innings, then got three ground outs in the eighth. That snapped a string of eight straight innings with exactly two strikeouts and a streak of 18 straight innings with at least one strikeout.

Manager Don Mattingly chose to get closer Kenley Jansen an inning of work with a 4-0 lead in the ninth. Jansen allowed two hits, including a home run by Bryce Harper, his 27th home run of the season. Jansen did strike out three of his own to finish the game. Harper was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts against Kershaw. Kershaw has 34 strikeouts since his last walk, which came in the first inning on July 3. Kershaw's only game with more strikeouts was during his no-hitter against the Rockies on June 18, 2015, when he strick out 15. The Dodgers franchise record for strikeouts in a game is 18, held by Sandy Koufax (twice) and Ramon Martinez, who last turned the trick on June 4, 1990. Kershaw is the first Dodgers pitcher with at least 13 strikeouts in back-to-back games since Chan Ho Park from Sept. 24-29 2000. The only Dodgers pitcher since 1914 with back-to-back starts of double-digit strikeouts and no walks was Vance on Sept. 11-16, 1930. Kershaw has the fifth game in baseball this season with at least 14 strikeouts and no walks, joining Corey Kluber (18 strikeouts), Michael Pineda (16), Chris Archer (15) and Chris Sale. The Dodgers backed Kershaw with three straight hits for a run in the second, then a three-run rally in the fifth, with Yasiel Puig delivering an RBI single in each frame. Adrian Gonzalez didn't homer, but he did have three hits including a double. Justin Turner added three hits of his own, and Howie Kendrick had two singles and scored a run. Up next Yet another scoreless streak is on the line on Sunday, with Zack Greinke getting the start for the Dodgers in the series finale, in a fantastic pitching matchup against Max Scherzer of the Nationals. Saturday particulars Home runs: Bryce Harper (27) WP - Clayton Kershaw (7-6): 8 IP, 3 hits, 14 strikeouts LP - Doug Fister (3-5): 5 IP, 9 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout Dodgers recall Zach Lee as 26th man vs. Nationals By Eric Stephen LOS ANGELES -- It took nearly four months into his first season on the Dodgers' 40-man roster, but Zach Lee finally got the call to the big leagues. It just happens to be for a game he probably won't even pitch in.

The Dodgers called up Lee as their 26th man for their pseudo doubleheader, available as an extra pitcher in Saturday's regularly scheduled 1:05 p.m. PT game. Lee is the long man, in Washington D.C. as insurance just in case. Clayton Kershaw just happens to be starting for the Dodgers, who has lasted at least seven innings in each of his last four starts and in eight of his last 10 outings. Lee was 6-3 with a 2.34 ERA in 11 starts this season for Triple-A Oklahoma City, with 45 strikeouts and 13 walks in 61⅔ innings. He was sidelined for all of June after experiencing tingling in the fingers of his right hand, and has made only one start for Oklahoma City since returning to Triple-A after two rehab starts. If Lee pitches on Saturday, he will be the 27th pitcher used by the Dodgers this season, tying 2013 for the franchise record. Lee will wear No. 51. The Nationals recalled right-handed pitcher Taylor Jordan as their 26th man. The video session that saved Joc Pederson's career By Catherine Slonksnis CINCINNATI -- First-time MLB All-Star. Selected for the 2015 Home Run Derby. Ranked in the top five for power hitters 24 years old and under. Rookie. This is the Dodgers' center fielder, Joc Pederson, today. But five years ago, it was a completely different story. One that had Pederson going nowhere fast. Pederson had a commitment to the University of Southern California, but the 19-year-old chose the draft instead. Picked by the Dodgers in the 11th round in the 2010 MLB Draft, Pederson had no power. His father, Stu Pederson, who played a handful of games with the Dodgers in 1985, didn't see Pederson as having real-game potential, even in high school. "In high school I got overlooked a lot because I was a great BP hitter," Pederson said. "Even my dad, he says, 'You're a 5 o'clock hitter, you'll only hit in batting practice.' And I didn't make the team out of spring training." De Jon Watson, then-Dodgers Director of Player Development, wanted Pederson to drive the ball more. Pederson thought his swing was fine. Johnny Washington, a young minor league coach just getting his start with his new job, tried to give Pederson advice on improving his swing to become more of a power hitter. The young hot head wanted none of it. It was frustrating for Pederson. Even talking again about his struggles now, it shows on his face. The emotion it drew out of him, what he remembered about what he dealt with, and especially what he put himself through because of his own stubbornness. "In baseball, you get out seven out of 10 times, you're doing really good, and you still get frustrated a lot," Pederson said. "So, when you're getting out nine out of 10 times, hitting .150, you're mad as --

you're really mad. And to know that I was causing that, because I thought 'this' was right, and it was wrong. So I was doing it right but I was doing it wrong, it just really frustrated me." Pederson languished in extended spring training in 2011, and after he was finally assigned to the Low-A Great Lakes Loons, his situation didn't improve at all. He lasted just three weeks, when he had just eight hits in 60 plate appearances, no extra-base hits to speak of, and one RBI. So, the Dodgers reassigned him to Rookie ball with the Raptors in Ogden, Utah. The demotion worked, but not simply because of the level. Washington was there. But Pederson and Washington got into it on the very first day. Pederson was adamant that his way was correct. Washington didn't bother fighting with Pederson. The youngster needed proof. Washington took Pederson into the video room and broke everything down. Then he asked Pederson to find what worked for successful power hitters, and find the similarities in his own swing. He couldn't find many, if any. "It was honestly a career-changing day," Pederson said. "It made me become so much more open and see what I was doing wrong and why I was only hitting in batting practice, and why I didn't translate it. I'm still learning a lot about hitting and stuff like that, but it was special." Pederson took off. That season he hit .353/.429/.568 with 64 RBI, 20 doubles, and 11 home runs in 68 games. In 2012 he was promoted to Advanced-A where he hit .313/.396/.516 with 26 doubles and 18 homers. He stole 26 bases and walked 51 times. Pederson earned Pioneer League and Rookie League All-Star honors in 2011, was named the Dodgers' Minor League Player of the Year in 2012, and played with the Israel national baseball team during the qualifying rounds of the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He continued to impress in 2013 and 2014, and when rosters expanded on Sept. 1, 2014 for the last month of regular-season baseball, Pederson was called up to the big leagues. And that would be where Pederson would stay. He made the Opening Day roster as the starting center fielder, finishing that day 1-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored. Getting there, though, wasn't easy. And it took a tough luck mentality from Washington to snap Pederson out of it, to change the course of his career. Without that, Pederson might not be in the majors, having just finished his first derby and All-Star game. "I don't know, I really don't know," Pederson said, his hands running over his forehead. "I've never really been a home run hitter, I didn't hit them in high school. I didn't hit my first home run until I was a junior in high school. None in little league, so I didn't really hit for power or drive the ball, even for doubles." Washington, though, didn't just see the possibility for a decent major league hitter sometime in the future. He saw the power hitter that the Dodgers now have in center field, and one that most teams would have to trade several pieces of their farm system and a pretty penny to get him. Of those players ages 24 and under, Pederson's isolated power -- slugging percentage minus batting average -- is .257, fourth-highest in that category. Only Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and Kris Bryant are higher.

During the Home Run Derby on Monday, Pederson beat out the Orioles' Manny Machado in the first round, before besting Angels veteran Albert Pujols in the semifinals to face the eventual champion, Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds. Pederson's batting practice pitcher? Johnny Washington, who, Pederson said, always told Pederson he would take part in Home Run Derbies and become the prolific hitter he is today. "(Washington is) still in shock," Pederson laughed. "He didn't think everything would happen as fast as it did. But I still hit with him every offseason. Just cause I'm here doesn't mean I'm satisfied. I still have a ton of work to do. I need to grow as a hitter and as an overall player. It's a long process but I'm thankful for everything that he did back in the day, kind of made me into a hitter that I'm still evolving into." Pederson may not be hitting for average this season, and he needs to work on striking out less -- he has struck out an NL-high 107 times in 89 games -- but that power is there. Had Washington given up, or if the Dodgers had simply released him when he didn't produce for power, Pederson's career might have been short-lived. Instead, he's now one of the best young hitters in the NL with unlimited potential for more. Dodgers vs. Nationals series snapshot By Eric Stephen LOS ANGELES -- Now that the All-Star break is over, the Dodgers are back at it with a first-place showdown against the Nationals. Here is a look at both teams heading into the weekend series in Washington D.C. Teams: Dodgers (51-39) at Nationals (48-39) Split records: Dodgers on road (18-22), Nationals at home (25-16) Run differential: Dodgers (+62, third in NL), Nationals (+36, fourth in NL) Runs scored: Dodgers 4.18 per game (fifth), Nationals 4.28 (third) OPS+: Dodgers 110 (first), Nationals 99 (third) Runs allowed: Dodgers 3.49 (third), Nationals 3.86 (sixth) ERA+: Dodgers 112 (fifth), Nationals 106 (sixth) Last 10 games: Dodgers 6-4, Nationals 5-5 2015 head-to-head record: 0-0 2014 head-to-head: 4-2 Nationals Nationals SB Nation site: Federal Baseball Series Schedule

Friday, 4:05 p.m.: Mike Bolsinger vs. Jordan Zimmermann (SportsNet LA, MLB Network) Saturday, 1:05 p.m.: Clayton Kershaw vs. Doug Fister (SportsNet LA, Fox Sports 1) Sunday, 10:35 a.m.: Zack Greinke vs. Max Scherzer (SportsNet LA, TBS) Matt den Dekker powers Nationals over Dodgers By Eric Stephen Matt den Dekker crushed a fastball from Pedro Baez for a two-run home run in the eighth inning, giving the Nationals a 5-3 win over the Dodgers in the resumption of Friday night's suspended game on Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. With Tyler Moore on first base and two outs in the eighth inning, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt made a trip to the mound, presumably to give Baez info on the pinch-hitter den Dekker, with two career home runs in 263 plate appearances coming into Saturday. Make it three in 264 PA, as den Dekker hit the first pitch into the seats in right field to break a 3-3 tie. He lived up to his Twitter handle (@UpperDekker), at least. Adrian Gonzalez accomplished the rare feat of hitting two home runs in two days, in the same game. His two-run shot to right field in the fourth inning on Friday gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Then, down 3-2 in the sixth inning on Saturday, Gonzalez took Tanner Roark out to left field to tie the game. Gonzalez has seven home runs in his last 11 games, and 20 on the season, tying Joc Pederson for the team lead. Gonzalez reached 20 home runs this year in the Dodgers' 91st game, the quickest he has reached 20 home runs since 2010 with the Padres, when he hit his 20th homer in San Diego's 90th game. Gonzalez hit 31 home runs that season. What a difference a day made for Chin-hui Tsao, who got ready to pitch on Friday then had to wait out a 40-minute light delay. He allowed a double and a home run on Friday night, but was still on the mound when the game was suspended. He started on the mound in the sixth inning when the game resumed and this time, rested and uninterrupted, pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout. Both teams got a gift runner in scoring position in the seventh - the Dodgers with Pederson reaching on an error by shortstop Ian Desmond with two outs, then hustling to second base; the Nationals with a one-out pop fly by Yunel Escobar to very shallow right field that Howie Kendrick lost in the sun for a "double." Neither team could cash it in, though the Nationals came closest. The Nationals in the seventh loaded the bases with two outs against Joel Peralta and J.P. Howell, which brought in Baez to face the right-handed Wilson Ramos. a Baez struck out Ramos on four pitches, meaning 19 of his 22 inherited runners this season have been stranded. Batters with the bases loaded this season against Baez are 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and a sacrifice fly.

But the bases weren't loaded against den Dekker. Casey Janssen struck out two in a scoreless eighth inning to earn the win for Washington. The Dodgers put the tying runs on base to open the ninth inning against closer Drew Storen, but he was able to wiggle out of the jam to close out the game. Pederson hit a ball a couple feet foul down the left field line that was amazingly close to a go-ahead three-run home run (I didn't think it had a chance off the bat; it was that far foul), but then was called out on strikes on a check swing to end the game. Up next In a few short minutes, the Dodgers and Nationals are back at it again, with Clayton Kershaw and Doug Fister on the mound. Friday/Saturday particulars Home runs: Adrian Gonzalez 2 (20); Yunel Escobar (6), Matt den Dekker (2) WP - Casey Janssen (1-2): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts LP - Pedro Baez (2-2): 1⅓ IP, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 strikeout Sv - Drew Storen (28): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout Dodgers, Nationals pick up where they left off Friday By Eric Stephen The Dodgers conclude their suspended game against the Nationals on Saturday, and the the two teams will face off in their regularly scheduled matchup, with Clayton Kershaw and Doug Fister on the mound in the second game. The Nationals issued a statement regarding the suspension of Friday's game, that the problem has been fixed for Saturday: "Our initial investigation indicates the power failure at Nationals Park last night was caused by a faulty circuit breaker. It was replaced shortly after midnight and the lights were tested throughout the night with no additional outages," a team spokesman said. "While we believe we have identified and corrected the issue, additional tests are being conducted by the manufacturer of the field lighting system." The two teams will each get a 26th man today for the second game. I always assume an extra pitcher for this spot, which for the Dodgers would likely mean Daniel Coulombe or Preston Guilmet, depending on whether the club wanted to go left-handed or right-handed with the extra arm. But it could be a position player, someone like Austin Barnes, which would give Don Mattingly more freedom to use Yasmani Grandal as a pinch hitter in the nightcap.

Especially since Grandal was going to catch all three games this weekend until the suspension-indued doubleheader changed those plans. For the second game, originally scheduled at 1:05 p.m. PT (it will either be played then, or 30 minutes after the completion of the first game, whichever is later), Kershaw brings a 12-inning scoreless streak of his own into the game. Kershaw has allowed one run in his last 21 innings. But first things first. Chin-hui Tsao and Tanner Roark, each of whom pitched the fifth inning on Friday night in relief, will begin again on the mound on Saturday for the resumption of the suspended game. Game(s) info Time: 11:05 a.m. PT / 1:05 p.m. PT TV: SportsNet LA (Game 1); SportsNet LA, Fox Sports 1 (Game 2)

DODGER INSIDER

Behold 14-K Clayton Kershaw at the top of his game By Jon Weisman In a glorious performance that was the humidity-soaked version of last year’s crisp and cool no-hitter, Clayton Kershaw phenomenalized the Washington Nationals this afternoon, striking out 14 batters without a walk in eight shutout innings of a 4-2 Dodger victory. Making his 228th start in his seventh Major League season, Kershaw marched with the mercenary drumbeat of two strikeouts every inning for the first seven innings, and was a serious threat to the franchise record of 18 strikeouts in a game (held by Sandy Koufax and Ramon Martinez) until a perfect eighth inning that featured three groundouts. With a pitch count (101) approximating the heat index, Kershaw then called it a day, backed by a lead that was the product of an Adrian Gonzalez double and 12 singles. Kershaw’s 14 strikeouts, one shy of the career-high 15 he had in the no-hitter, included three of leading National League Most Valuable Player candidate Bryce Harper each time they squared off. (Harper later hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Kenley Jansen, who otherwise struck out the side himself.) Each Dodger outfielder had exactly one putout behind Kershaw today (14 strikeouts, seven groundouts, three flyouts). According to Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A., Kershaw is the first Dodgers pitcher with at least 13 strikeouts in consecutive games since Chan Ho Park from Sept. 24-29 2000, and the first with back-to-back starts of double-digit strikeouts and no walks since Dazzy Vance, Sept. 11-16, 1930. It remains astonishing but true: Since May 26, with a 1.36 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings, Kershaw is outperforming his 2014 NL Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award numbers. Here are Kershaw’s totals for July: three starts, 24 innings, 16 hits, two walks, 34 strikeouts, 0.42 ERA.

On July 3, the MLB leader in fielding-independent pitching and strikeouts walked New York Met outfielders Curtis Granderson and John Mayberry Jr. in the top of the first inning. Since then, he has struck out 34 batters without walking anyone. His strikeout rate for the season is the highest since a couple of guys named Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez were at the top of their game. Paired with Zack Greinke’s 35 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, Kershaw now has 20 consecutive scoreless innings of his own, putting him just about halfway to his 2014 streak of 41 consecutive shutout frames. (Greinke faces Washington ace Max Scherzer on Sunday.) I’ve given up on the idea that the “What’s wrong with Kershaw?” questions will ever stop, because they will come every time he doesn’t do this. It’s maddening. Zach Lee gets first MLB taste as 26th man By Jon Weisman Following their 5-3 loss in the completion of Friday’s suspended game, the Dodgers recalled former first-round draft choice Zach Lee as the special dispensation 26th man for today’s regularly scheduled game. It is Lee’s first official moment as a Major Leaguer. Adrian Gonzalez hit home runs on different days of the calendar in the same game for the Dodgers, and Joc Pederson nearly had a game-winning three-run shot in the ninth inning, but it was all for naught. Suspended game returns memories of Chicago 1982 By Jon Weisman In every issue of Dodger Insider magazine, we run a boxscore of the month, and the one for August happens to tie in with what’s happening in Washington right now. Dodgers 2, Cubs 1 August 17-18, 1982 It began innocuously enough one afternoon in Chicago. Ex-Dodger Bill Buckner drove in a run for the Cubs with a groundout in the bottom of the first. Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia tied the game in the top of the second with an RBI single. But no more runs would cross the plate that day, all the way into the top of the 18th, when darkness at the lightless Wrigley Field forced the game to be suspended until after the next sunrise. When the teams reunited, the Dodgers’ scheduled starting pitcher for Tuesday, Jerry Reuss, took the mound in relief. By the time it was over, after the Dodgers pushed across a run in the top of the 21st inning on Dusty Baker’s sacrifice fly, pitchers Fernando Valenzuela and Bob Welch had both played outfield. Reuss got the win – and then another when he pitched five innings that afternoon in a 7-4 Dodger victory that was over in 2:21.

I bring this up because I can’t help imagining Clayton Kershaw repeating the Reuss ruse of getting all his innings out of the way at first by starting the day in relief. Putting that aside, we’ll hope for the best for today. The Nationals have replaced the faulty circuit breaker that has been determined the culprit for Friday’s light comedy. Now the Dodgers and Nationals have to fight through the weather. The Dodgers and Nationals have each been given permission to add 26th men to their rosters for the second part of today’s pseudo doubleheader. But first, to complete Friday’s game, the teams go back on the field at 11:05 a.m. Pacific. The night the lights went out in Georgetown By Jon Weisman It wasn’t too long ago that you would never have found a Major League team playing baseball in the nation’s capital at any time of day. So I guess we shouldn’t complain. But on a night that began the night with bright sobriety, before a bar crawl to the darkly ridiculous, the Dodgers and Nationals found themselves going to bed five innings into a suspended game, with the Nationals leading, 3-2. The third power outage in the stadium lights, coming shortly before 10:45 p.m. at Nationals Park, proved one too many — although it left the Dodgers disconcertingly on the short end of a game they had led during the first two delays. The Dodgers have won their past two rain-shortened games, in 2014 and 2015 in Colorado, but this one is scheduled to be resumed at 11 a.m. Saturday, before the regularly scheduled game with starters Clayton Kershaw and Doug Fister. Even before the electrical hijinx, the night was peculiar enough for Dodger starter Mike Bolsinger, who did just about everything right except balls grounded slowly to his left by Danny Espinosa. In the first inning, he cleanly picked up a Espinosa bunt but alley-oopsed the throw above Adrian Gonzalez’s head at first for a two-base error. Not messing around, the Dodgers had Bolsinger walked Bryce Harper intentionally then and there, and Bolsinger followed through by striking out former-Dodger-turned-Nationals-cleanup-hitter Clint Robinson, and then none-of-those-things Wilson Ramos. In the third, Bolsinger tumbled to the ground trying to corral Espinosa’s slow roller, which set up a first-and-third situation with one out. Despite concerns about his left knee, Bolsinger stayed in to escape the damage reasonably well, holding Harper after a tense seven pitches to an RBI groundout that broke the scoreless tie. Moments later, after Justin Turner was hit by a pitch, Gonzalez blasted a homer to right, and suddenly Bolsinger and the Dodgers had replaced the metaphorical darkness with light.

Then things got literal. One out into the bottom of the fourth inning, banks of lights shut down overhead, and the first of the delays hit. Unlike what happened with the Dodgers in Chicago last month, the players were immediately pulled from the field. remaining sidelined for 82 minutes. Bolsinger actually came back after the delay to finish retiring the side, before calling it a night. Delay No. 2 began just as Dodger relief pitcher Chin-hui Tsao took the mound in the bottom of the fifth, and when that ended, Tsao gave up a double to Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark and a homer to Yunel Escobar. In between the fifth and the sixth inning came the third and final delay, and that’s how we were left, looking for explanations, in suspended aggravation.

USA TODAY

Clayton Kershaw keeps rolling in win over Bryce Harper, Nationals By Jacob B Lourim WASHINGTON -- Clayton Kershaw has been on a special roll the past two months, and nothing this week could stop it. Not a loss in the All-Star Game, not a changed routine before Saturday’s start at Washington, not even the leading candidate to succeed him as National League MVP. “He put on a clinic today,” Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper said. “Really went out there and pitched like the MVP he is, and it was pretty devastating because we tried to go in there and do what we could, but he’s the best pitcher in baseball, so it’s pretty tough.” Kershaw struck out Harper three times in three trips, and the rest of the Washington lineup didn’t fare much better, as the Dodgers’ left-hander turned in his strongest start of the season in a 4-2 win. He scattered three singles over eight shutout innings, striking out 14 with no walks. He threw 101 pitches, 73 of which were strikes. The strikeouts were a season high — surpassing his previous best of 13 in his last outing against Philadelphia — and the hits were his second-least of the season. “Unfortunately I’ve seen that way too much,” Nationals manager Matt Williams said. (Kershaw is now 8-2 with a 2.31 earned-run average against Washington.) “He establishes strikes and then goes down out of the zone. I don’t know how many curveballs he threw today. Probably 15 of them. He may have thrown one for a ball.” Indeed, his biting curveball was at its best, but all three of his pitches were strong — his fastball sat in the mid-90s, and his slider was a swing-and-miss pitch as well. “I think I threw probably the best slider I’ve had all year,” Kershaw said. “That’s definitely encouraging. I’ve had good ones here and there, but I felt really consistent with it today. Felt like I could throw it kind of how I wanted to every single time. So that was huge for me.”

Of the Nationals’ three base runners, only one reached scoring position — and it was on an error by Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner. With the runner at second and two out in the sixth, Kershaw fanned Harper, and then retired the next six hitters to end his outing. “When he’s on like that, you’d better get lucky, because he’s pretty impressive,” Harper said. “Sometimes you just gotta tip your cap and laugh, because it was pretty impressive by him today.” Kershaw has been impressive for the better part of the past two months. After starting the season with a subpar 4.32 earned-run average, he has now pitched 10 straight quality starts dating back to May 26. In that span, his ERA is 1.81, and he has struck out 87 hitters over 54.2 innings. He slowed a bit Tuesday at the All-Star Game, allowing two runs in one inning and taking the loss for the NL. But he picked back up Saturday, despite having to alter his pregame routine. A power outage during Friday’s game forced the Nationals and Dodgers to finish the game Saturday afternoon, before Kershaw’s start. That contest didn’t finish until almost 3:30 p.m., forcing Kershaw to do some of his preparation inside before his 4:05 start. Once he toed the rubber, he was sharp right away. He struck out two Nationals in each of the first seven innings and let just five balls out of the infield. In the ninth inning of a 4-0 game, manager Don Mattingly replaced him with closer Kenley Jansen, who allowed a two-run home run to Harper, extending his on-base streak to 15 games. That was the only chance the Nationals had to get back in the game, and it wasn’t enough. “(Kershaw) just didn’t afford us any,” Williams said. “The good ones don’t give you much.”

CBS SPORTS

With 14-K performance, Clayton Kershaw shows he's still dominant By Dayn Perry Somewhere along the way in 2015, some of us came to the conclusion that Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw had slipped a bit. Maybe it was the somewhat-elevated-by-his-standards ERA. Whatever the case, Kershaw had to take the service entrance into the All-Star Game, and he's been largely absent in any mid-point awards discussions. Well, on Saturday against the Nationals, Kershaw served notice ... For those who prefer line-score format ... That's just the second time in 228 career starts that Kershaw has struck out 14 or more without walking a batter (the first time was last year against the Rockies in June, when he sat down 15). He also induced 30 swings-and-misses on the day (!), and of his 101 pitches, 73 went for strikes. The outing dropped Kershaw's 2015 ERA from 2.85 to 2.68.

As noted, any misapprehensions about Kershaw's present level of excellence tend to flow from that ERA, which, while still very good, is higher than his career mark and almost a full run higher than what he registered in 2014. That said, there's a lot that's beyond the pitcher's control baked into ERA -- fielding range of the defense behind him and batted-ball luck, for instance. Drill a little deeper and you find that Kershaw, like last season, is still inducing ground balls a majority of the time, and he's also struck out 33.7 percent of opposing hitters, which is a career high (yes, better than his mark last season). He's also running a career-high mark when it comes to his percentage of swinging strikes. Now let's turn to FIP. In general terms, FIP, which stands for fielding-independent pitching, is what a pitcher's ERA should be if you emphasize what's most under the pitcher's control (i.e., strikeouts and walks) and correct for things like luck, defense and sequencing. It's a good indicator of a pitcher's underlying basic skills on the mound. After Saturday's gem, Kershaw's FIP for the season stands at 2.21. Just Max Scherzer (2.19) and Chris Sale (2.20) have lower figures this year. Velocity? Nothing awry on that front when it comes to Kershaw's 2015 ... So if you think Kershaw is somehow disappointing this season, then that says more about your unrealistic standards than it does his performance. No, he's not as good as he was last season, but few have ever been as good as Kershaw was last season. Even as great as Kershaw has been throughout his career, 2014 stands as a likely outlier. Of course, if after all that you still disagree with the notion that Kershaw remains an ace of the uppermost tier, then the Nationals' hitters would perhaps like a word with you.

FOX SPORTS

The Seager Sibling Rivalry By Zachary Levine Corey Seager is the No. 1 prospect left in all of minor-league baseball according to Baseball Prospectus'۪ Midseason Top 50. The word "left"ۥ almost has to be in that sentence given that his ranking is due in some part to the cavalcade of call-ups who enlivened the first half of the season. But he'۪s not just a default guy. As a 21-year-old and predominantly as a shortstop, Corey is hitting .308/.356/.520 between 20 games in Double-A and 63 at Triple-A, making him a top prospect candidate in even the strongest classes and a candidate to form the best brother-brother duo of our era. Since the decline of Melvin Upton and phasing out of the various B-list Molinas, the top spot on baseball'۪s brotherly duos list has been there for the taking. So the question is now: Who'۪s Hank and who'۪s Tommie? OK, too extreme. Who'۪s Jason and who'۪s Jeremy? Fine. Who'۪s Roberto and who'۪s Sandy? In other words, what are the chances that Corey Seager eclipses his older brother and has the better career? As the older of two sons, here'۪s where I'۪m supposed to say that the chances the little brother will ever be better are zero, but let'۪s aim for something at least a little bit more methodical.

Big brother Kyle is halfway through his age-27 season, and adjusting his stats for the difficulty of his home park, he'€™s amassed 18.4 wins above replacement player. The PECOTA projection system pegs him for 1.7 WARP in the Mariners'€™ remaining 73 games, so let'€™s say for this exercise that Kyle has 20.1 WARP at the conclusion of his age-27 season. He'€™s not a super-duper-star, but that'€™s still a difficult plateau to reach for anybody. And let's begin right there: with just anybody. Starting the probabilities at their simplest level, we can find the chances that any player to debut in the big leagues --€“ which we assume Corey will at worst by roster expansion day in September --€“ reaches 20.1 WARP by the end of his age-27 season. Since 1950 --€“ the beginning of the era in which WARP has been calculated (or retro-calculated) --€“ there have been more than 5,000 position player debuts. Removing players who have not finished their age-27 season and have been active in the last two years (a rough proxy for "€œstill having a chance"• to add to their total), there are 4,789, and of those, only 161 have reached 20.1 WARP by Kyle'€™s age. So the extremely rough baseline here is 3.4 percent. Little brother has a little head start, though. (Don't they always?) While Kyle got four years and a partial to amass his age-27 cumulative stats, Corey could get as many as six and a partial if he comes up this year and doesn'€™t get injured or long-term demoted. Start to parse debut years/months, and you'€™re making for small sample sizes and mixing in a confounding but important variable of prospect status that we'€™ll get to later. But taking a longer-term view will be important. The difference between the four years and the six years is vital, but if we look at a more complete career, the effect of different debut ages is tempered a bit. PECOTA projects Kyle Seager'€™s performance all the way out to 2024 --€“ three years after his Mariners contract ends --€“ and he'€™s projected for 39.2 WARP. Out of 4,403 eligible position players since 1950, 162 have reached that WARP number by age 36. (It's comforting to see in a projection system that it'€™s almost the exact same number reaching Kyle Seager'€™s real stats by his real age and his projected stats by his projected age.) Corey Seager, though, isn'€™t just any player and thus isn'€™t a 162-in-4,403 (3.7 percent) shot to eclipse his brother by his mid-30s. He'€™s a top prospect in baseball, and in that fact alone, there is additional information. For a longer history of prospect rankings to give us some more data, we turned to our friends at Baseball America, who have compiled their preseason top-100 lists since 1990. After scrubbing the repeats, the pitchers and those who are still compiling, even looking at the top 10 prospects makes this look like far from a sure thing. Top position prospects, age 36+ or retired, who beat Kyle Seager'€™s age-36 projection: Kyle Seager was never a top-100 prospect, but just by actualizing what he has done in his first four seasons, he'€™s turned the average top-10 prospect -- Corey was No. 5 preseason at BA and No. 7 at BP --€“ into about a 1-in-4 shot to beat what he'€™s projected to do.

For what it'€™s worth, PECOTA has Corey Seager reaching 9.2 WARP by age 27 based on comparable minor leaguers, but there is a ton of variance in a projection off zero major-league at-bats. What'€™s more important for the Dodgers, who enter the season's second half 4.5 games clear of the Giants in the National League West, is not 15 years compared to Kyle Seager, but 11 weeks compared to Jimmy Rollins. As the BP Visual Year-to-Date stats show, not only is shortstop the position at which the Dodgers have the lowest production this year at 0.2 WARP, but that figure is also the lowest for any National League team'€™s shortstops. Rollins has started 79 of the Dodgers'€™ 90 games and entered the All-Star break with his first 18-starts-in-19-games stretch. PECOTA prefers Seager on offense, but the two have essentially the same median forecast for the rest of the season --€“ both 0.6-win players. Seager'€™s forecast, as you would expect with a rookie vs. an established veteran, has a much wider range, and maybe that'€™s not what a team that'€™s trying to protect a lead needs to be going for. Seager should get his chance soon enough, even if it'€™s not to replace Rollins but to take some at-bats at shortstop and third base down the stretch with expanded rosters. And then the brotherly conquering --€“ and competition --€“ can begin.

NY TIMES

The Dodgers Departed Long Before Brooklyn Bounced Back By Michael Beschloss In October 1955, facing the Yankees, the Brooklyn Dodgers — the fabled squad of Jackie Robinson, Johnny Podres, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax and Pee Wee Reese — won the World Series for the first (and only) time. Handmade signs on Brooklyn light poles proclaimed “Supermen of the World!” and “This Is Next Year!” “We kind of like that title, world champions,” the Dodgers’ president, Walter O’Malley, told reporters. “It took us a long time to make it. Now that we’ve got it, we’d like to hold onto it for a while.” Few of the Brooklynites exalting the Dodgers that fall could have imagined that within two years, O’Malley would take their baseball franchise to Los Angeles. That time was very different from our modern day, when urban governments routinely do somersaults to keep professional sports teams happy, and when a resurgent Brooklyn is pronounced cool. Previously the Dodgers’ lawyer and a minority shareholder, O’Malley in 1950 became controlling owner of the team (which had formed in 1883 and was soon nicknamed the Trolley Dodgers). The Dodgers were sufficiently profitable that the financier Joseph P. Kennedy had made an overture about buying a piece of the organization. According to Michael D’Antonio’s biography of O’Malley, “Forever Blue” (Riverhead, 2009), Kennedy raised the possibility that his son Jack, then a congressman from Massachusetts, might leave politics to serve as the Dodgers’ president. (The younger Kennedy was

planning to run for governor or United States senator in 1952; his father may have envisaged the Dodgers as a landing pad in case he lost.) But O’Malley felt increasingly anxious about the nimbus above the Dodgers’ horizon — declining attendance at the team’s Ebbets Field. Opened in 1913, the park was relatively small and aging fast, with limited parking. In 1952, when the Dodgers won the National League pennant, they sold about 200,000 fewer tickets than the previous year (amid an overall decline in baseball attendance in that period). Even during Game 6 of that October’s World Series, several thousand seats at Ebbets, whose seating capacity was estimated to be only about 32,000 spectators, were vacant. The Sporting News wondered whether the Dodger fan had “lost his zip.” As Andy McCue describes in “Mover and Shaker,” his 2014 study of O’Malley (University of Nebraska), Brooklyn itself seemed to be in decay, with vanishing factories and department stores and many families leaving for the suburbs. After the 1954 season, O’Malley reminded the press that during the previous eight seasons, the Dodgers had won four pennants. He said, “We have given the fans the finest baseball possible” but “still our attendance declines,” adding, “I don’t know what the solution is.” The most obvious remedy seemed to be a new ballpark. As early as 1952, O’Malley had talked to Collier’s Magazine about a futuristic indoor stadium (much like Houston’s Astrodome of 1965, although with a retractable roof) that might feature artificial grass, easy parking and no view-obstructing columns. But New York City’s powerful planning chief, Robert Moses, scoffed at O’Malley’s appeal to “keep our franchise in Brooklyn.” O’Malley wanted the city to help him clear suitable land for a privately funded new stadium in the borough. When O’Malley focused on one particular site, he found that Moses was already working with the real estate mogul Fred Trump (father of the current 2016 presidential aspirant). During their cat-and-mouse game, which lasted for years, Moses suggested that the Dodgers build a ballpark in Flushing Meadows, Queens (near where Citi Field now stands). At one point, Moses angered O’Malley by counseling him to simply fix up Ebbets Field. New York’s mayor, Robert Wagner, shared Moses’ lack of urgency about finding a Brooklyn site for a new Dodger stadium. Asked in 1955 about the possibility that O’Malley’s organization might lose patience and leave town, Wagner said, “I don’t get emotional about it.” In 1956, showing his unwillingness to accept the status quo, O’Malley moved the Dodgers for seven games to a more accessible park in Jersey City. That fall, he sold Ebbets Field (while retaining the right to use it, if necessary, for several more years). While O’Malley was still wrangling with Moses and other New York officials, a group of business and public figures in Los Angeles, which lacked a major league team, opened its arms. As various details of O’Malley’s closed-door talks appeared in the newspapers, Arthur Daley warned in The New York Times, “The game has reached the put-up-or-shut-up stage.” Mayor Wagner vowed that his city “will not be blackjacked into anything.” Nelson Rockefeller, hoping to boost his chances to be elected governor of New York, explored a last-ditch plan to buy 12 acres of land that might keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn, but to no avail. In October 1957, O’Malley arrived in Los Angeles on his team’s Convair 440 (now repainted “Los Angeles Dodgers”) and was greeted like a conquering hero. The following year, Los Angeles voters narrowly

endorsed a referendum providing the Dodgers with a substantial parcel of land, as well as new roads and grading services, enabling O’Malley to build a 56,000-seat Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962 and is still in use today. Back in Brooklyn — although the New York Giants were simultaneously departing for San Francisco — O’Malley was widely regarded as a traitor. In The New York Times Magazine, the sportswriter William Barry Furlong called O’Malley the Dodgers’ “cordial kidnapper.” Some sentimental Brooklynites sadly recall the demolition of Ebbets Field, in the winter of 1960; someone had misguidedly repainted a wrecking ball to make it look like a baseball. Instead they might do better to focus on the Barclays Center, opened in 2012, which symbolizes Brooklyn’s current economic rebound and its reacquisition of major league sports. Barclays Center happens to stand near one of those parcels of land that Walter O’Malley tried to acquire 60 years ago, when he was imagining that modernistic domed stadium that might keep the Dodgers once and for all in Brooklyn.

CBS LA

Top 5 Most Dominant Pitching Seasons In Dodger History By CBS LA LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Here are the top-five most dominant pitching seasons by a Dodger of all time. 5. Clayton Kershaw, 2014 Kershaw won the National League Cy Young Award as well as the NL’s Most Valuable Player Award during his impressive 2014 campaign, as he compiled a major league leading 21 wins. Kershaw also only lost a meager three games on his way to one of the best seasons for a pitcher in Dodgers history. His 1.77 ERA, .875 Winning Percentage, .857 WHIP, 6 Complete Games and 10.8 strikeout to walk ratio all led the National League. Kershaw became the 10th player in the history of the MLB to win both the MVP and Cy Young Award in the same season, joining Sandy Koufax and Don Newcombe as the only Dodger pitchers to complete that feat. Kershaw struck out 239 batters and walked just 31 in 198 1/3 innings pitched during the 2014 season. 4. Fernando Valenzuela, 1986 Fernando-Mania began in 1981 when the 20-year old phenom led the Dodgers as they won the World Series, while Valenzuela himself took home the NL Rookie of the Year Award and the NL Cy Young Award. However, his best season, statistically, came in 1986, when he won an NL-leading 21 games and threw an amazing 20 Complete Games. Fernando had three shutouts in 269 1/2 innings pitched, while he struck out a career-high 242 batters while walking 85.

Valenzuela won 2 World Series titles with the Dodgers, and is one of the best left-handers to pitch for the Dodgers of all-time. 3. Don Newcombe, 1956 Don Newcombe won 27 games in 1956 for the Dodgers while only losing seven. His ERA was an impressive 3.06 which ranked fourth in the NL, while his .989 WHIP ranked first in the senior circuit. Newcombe started 36 games, and pitched 268 innings, both good for 4th in the NL that year. When the Cy Young Award was created in 1956, Newcombe was named the Award’s first-ever winner for his remarkable season he had compiled. Newcombe won the World Series with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955, but pitched the best season of his career a year later, in 1956. Newcombe was a four-time All-Star and he won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1949. 2. Don Drysdale, 1962 Drysdale was an imposing figure on the mound, standing at 6-foot-5, and terrified hitters with his fastball. He would throw over 90 mph, which in 1962 was not even as close to as common as it is today. Drysdale won an NL-leading 25 games on his way to winning the 1962 Cy Young Award. He only tallied 9 losses in an NL-leading 41 games started and 314 1/3 innings pitched. “Big D” was a 9-time All-Star, three-time World Series Champion, and led the MLB in strikeouts three separate times during his career. He also set a record for the most batters hit by pitch of all time, striking 154 batters during his 14-year career. He led the league in HBP five different seasons, so needless to say he was not afraid to challenge hitters inside. Drysdale finished his Hall of Fame career with 209 wins, a 2.95 career ERA and 2,486 strikeouts in 14 seasons. 1. Sandy Koufax, 1966 Koufax’s 1963, 1965, and 1966 seasons could all have been on this list. However, 1966 was his most impressive season because just one-year earlier, he was told his arm could not take the stress of pitching another season, when he was diagnosed with severe arthritis in this throwing arm. Koufax did not listen to the team doctor’s advice, as he would pitch every four days for the Dodgers during the 1966 season, and put together a 27-9 record. He also posted an absurd 1.73 ERA that season, in 323 innings pitched and 41 games started. He went on to strike out 317 batters, and led the Dodgers to the World Series. Koufax won the World Series with the Dodgers in 1963 when he went 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA, and in 1965 when he went 26-8 with a 2.04 ERA. He led the NL with 27 complete games in both the 1965 and 1966 season. He struck out over 300 batters three separate occasions during his injury-shortened career, and was selected to seven All-Star teams in his 12 big league seasons. He won the Cy Young in 1963, 1965, and his last season, in 1966. He won the pitching triple crown in each of those three seasons as well (Led NL in Wins, ERA, and K).

Koufax threw four no-hitters and one perfect game in 1965, and was named to the MLB’s All-Century team. He led the Dodgers to two World Series championships in 1963 and 1965, winning the World Series MVP Award in both years as well. After the Dodgers lost the World Series in 1966, he announced his retirement due to his arm ailments. His 1963, 1965, and 1966 seasons still remain some of the best pitching performances by a Dodger of all-time. He finished his career with a record of 165-87, with a career 2.76 ERA and a remarkable 2,396 strikeouts in just 12 seasons. HONORABLE MENTION: Orel Hershiser, 1988