days into career, Dodgers' Yasiel Puig named NL player of week

7 days into career, Dodgers' Yasiel Puig named NL player of week

For what he did in his first week in the major leagues, Yasiel Puig on Monday was named the National League player of the week.

Puig batted .464 with four home runs and 10 runs batted in in his first seven games.

Perhaps more impressive than the numbers was how he looked doing it. Even to the untrained eye, it was obvious the ball came off his bat or out of his hand with extraordinary force.

The 22-year-old Cuban defector was called up on June 3 and made an immediate impact, as he was two for four and doubled off a runner at first base from the warning track to record the final out of a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres.

The next day, he hit two home runs in another win over the Padres, one that sailed halfway up the left-field pavilion and the other a line drive that scraped the top of the right-field wall.

Puig was hitless in four at-bats on Wednesday. Some radio and television reporters, evidently unaware of how the game of baseball works, were in such shock that they asked Manager Don Mattingly several questions about Puig’s struggles.

“He’s going to have nights when he makes outs,” Mattingly had to remind them.

Puig rebounded on Thursday with another home run, this one a grand slam in a 5-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves. Thankfully, no one asked Mattingly why Puig failed to get hits in two of his four at-bats that day.

Puig hit yet another home run on Friday, his fourth. The RBI was Puig’s 10th, which tied the record for the most in the first five games of a career. The others to drive in 10 runs as quickly were Danny Espinosa of the Washington Nationals in 2010 and Jack Merson of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1951.

Puig also became only the second player in the modern era to hit four home runs in his first five games. The only other player to do it was Mike Jacobs of the New York Mets in 2005.

Puig was a combined five for nine in his last two games.

With Puig in the lineup, the last-place Dodgers were 4-3.

OC REGISTER

Dodgers still searching for a savior after loss

By BILL PLUNKETT / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES – Well, Yasiel Puig can't solve all of the Dodgers' problems by himself.

Dodgers closer Brandon League couldn't protect a two-run lead as the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied for four runs in the ninth and handed the Dodgers a 5-4 defeat Monday night.

The Dodgers have now been outscored 32-14 in the ninth inning or later this season.

"Story of the year right there, it feels like," League said after his fourth blown save in 17 save situations this year (after converting nine of his first 10). "Get the first hitter out then – a base hit, a double, bases loaded, a ground ball just inches from being an out.

"I didn't do my job in the ninth and I got the 'L' for it."

There have been a lot of those scarlet letters to go around in the Dodgers' bullpen this year.

The blown save is the 13th by a Dodgers reliever this season, tying the Chicago Cubs for the major-league lead. The loss is the 15th charged to a Dodgers reliever, also tied (with the Houston Astros) for the most in the majors this season.

"If I could say there's been one dominant guy, that'd be a different story. But there hasn't been one dominant guy. Kenley (Jansen) has been the best," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said, surveying the wreckage of the latest bullpen breakdown.

Mattingly turned to Jansen in the eighth, playing the percentages. He gave Jansen the matchups that looked best on paper (Willie Bloomquist, Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Ross) and Jansen retired the side on 13 pitches.

Jansen's history against the Diamondbacks' next hitters – Miguel Montero (2 for 6) and Martin Prado (3 for 3, two home runs) – were not as good so Mattingly left them for League.

"If you want to play SABR-metrics there ... the guys Kenley got are the guys he gets better than Brandon," Mattingly said. "We even talked about it before the game. The eighth and ninth (innings) were up in the air depending on who was up."

The closer role has been seemingly up in the air for weeks with Mattingly sticking with League despite his 6.00 ERA and 28 hits in 24 innings and Jansen having just enough pratfalls not to look like a ninth-inning must. As he has before, Mattingly wouldn't discuss a potential change "12 minutes after the game."

"For the most part, Brandon's been saving games," Mattingly said. "Tonight's numbers say go with Brandon (in the ninth)."

Mattingly's decisions would have been easier to make if the offense had given starter Clayton Kershaw more than minimal support – or Kershaw had been able to go deeper than seven innings. But, for the 11th time in his 14 starts, the Dodgers gave him no more than three runs in support.

They had chances for more. Kershaw bounced into a double play with the bases loaded in the fourth inning and Jerry Hairston Jr. did the same in the eighth – though replays showed Hairston clearly beating the throw to first base.

"Not being able to tack on there hurts us," Mattingly said. "I don't know how he (first-base umpire Clint Fagan) misses that."

Kershaw (5-4) made the three runs stand up through seven innings, allowing just one run on six hits and two walks while striking out five. But Mattingly opted to pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the seventh despite the fact that Kershaw had thrown only 99 pitches.

"It's hard, really, to take him out," Mattingly said. "But when he's feeling good, he's got that, 'I got it. I got it. I got it' to him. ... Tonight, it wasn't that."

League let the lead slip away with a one-out single by Prado then a double off the wall in left-center by Gerardo Parra. An infield single brought in a run and made it a one-run game and a walk loaded the bases.

League got A.J. Pollock to pop out but Bloomquist hit a ground ball up the middle that shorstop Nick Punto dove and tried to smother. Punto couldn't make a play and two runs scored. Another scored when Paul Goldschmidt singled off reliever Peter Moylan who replaced League.

That run became critical when Juan Uribe led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer run off Diamondbacks closer Heath Bell. The Dodgers then stranded the tying run at third on a pop out to shallow left by Punto, a strikeout of Mark Ellis and a grounder back to the mound by Adrian Gonzalez – with Puig standing on deck.

Batting cleanup for the first time after seven starts as the Dodgers leadoff hitter, Puig was 3 for 4, his sixth multi-hit game in his first eight major-league games and third three-hit game. Puig is batting .500 (16 for 32) and his 16 hits are the most ever by a Dodgers rookie in his first eight career games.

Ramirez, Kemp still hamstrung by injuries

By BILL PLUNKETT / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES – Much like Bigfoot, a healthy Dodgers roster has been talked about a lot. But no one has ever actually seen one.

"A couple (injuries), you see that. That's just part of the deal. Guys are going to get hurt," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "This has to be close to record-breaking. Seriously. I've never been around a team that's had as many.

"We just have to try to hold on and try to keep fighting until the cavalry comes."

Some of the cavalry spent Sunday in MRI tubes. Shortstop Hanley Ramirez had an MRI to determine the cause of continued discomfort near his injured left hamstring. Ramirez returned from the DL on Tuesday and started one game then was limited to pinch-hitting duty when his leg became a problem again.

"It's just a little bit of fluid built up from my hamstring going down behind my knee," Ramirez said Monday afternoon. "It's right behind my knee. But the hamstring is good. I just have to get the swelling to go down."

Ramirez said he expected to be ready to play again in "a couple days" – a diagnosis Mattingly playfully dismissed.

"We're learning not to listen to Hanley," he said of Ramirez's constantly optimistic, low-end estimates of his own recovery time. "We're listening to our medical people on this one."

Mattingly said a more likely estimate is that "this is not another 15 days," requiring a return trip to the DL. But Ramirez will need "maybe four or five days" to let his leg recover. In the meantime, the Dodgers sent right-hander Matt Magill back to Triple-A Monday and recalled infielder Justin Sellers. The Dodgers' opening-day shortstop, Sellers hit .337 in 24 games since being sent down to Triple-A.

Sellers' addition is likely to be a short-term move. With off days Thursday and next Monday, the Dodgers will not need a fifth starter until next week when left-hander Chris Capuano is likely to come off the DL.

Meanwhile, outfielder Matt Kemp also underwent an MRI on Sunday on his injured hamstring. Mattingly told reporters Sunday that Kemp had "hit a little bit of a snag" while working out in anticipation of going on a minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment this week. Mattingly tempered that Monday after a fresh MRI showed no new issues with Kemp's hamstring.

Kemp is "getting close," Mattingly said Monday and could go on a rehab assignment when the Dodgers leave on a trip to Pittsburgh and New York which begins Friday. That could put Kemp back in the Dodgers' lineup early next week.

Rookie Yasiel Puig was named the NL Player of the Week for his first week in the big leagues. Puig was 13 for 28 with five multi-hit games in his first seven major-league starts, 10 RBI and four home runs. He led the majors with 27 total bases and the National League with a .964 slugging percentage.

He is the first Dodgers rookie to be named NL Player of the Week since Andre Ethier in July 2006. His 13 hits are the most for a Dodgers rookie through his first seven big-league games.

Puig did all that damage as the leadoff hitter. Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Mattingly moved him to cleanup.

"He's possibly one of the greatest players who ever lived so I figure he can handle the four-hole," Mattingly joked, needling reporters about the weeklong hype that has accompanied Puig's big-league arrival.

"Hitting is hitting," Mattingly said of the move. "I think we make a big deal of all these things. I would prefer to bat him lower, honestly, to let him run and do some things. With what's going on with our team, we're just trying to put together the best lineup we can to give ourselves the best chance to score runs, the best chance to win.

"We've got Nick (Punto) and Mark Ellis out there (at the top of the lineup). Somebody's got to drive in runs. Hopefully, these guys have a chance to get on base ahead of Adrian (Gonzalez, batting third) and Yasiel and we've got a chance to score some runs."

Mattingly said he didn't see the move to the middle of the lineup as a permanent situation for Puig at this point in his career.

"Not really," he said. "I feel like we're going to get Hanley back. We're going to get Matt (Kemp) back. We're going to have guys who are supposed to shoulder that load."

NOTES

Catcher A.J. Ellis (on the DL because of an oblique injury) and Capuano could each go on minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignments in the next few days. Ellis has been taking batting practice and is on track to return when he is eligible Friday. Capuano (latissimus strain) is on schedule to pitch in a minor-league game later this week then rejoin the Dodgers rotation next week.

After struggling in three consecutive starts, Greinke seemed to find himself in his most recent outing. He allowed just four hits while striking out seven in seven scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves on Thursday. He has not fared well in five career starts against the Diamondbacks, though. Most recently, he didn't make it out of the third inning in a start at Chase Field for the Milwaukee Brewers in May 2012. The Diamondbacks are the only team Greinke has faced more than twice without recording a win.

• 
  vs. Diamondbacks: 0-3, 7.90 ERA
  
• 
  at Dodger Stadium: 4-0, 1.88 ERA
  
• 
  Loves to face: Cliff Pennington, 0 for 9, 2 strikeouts
  
• 
  Hates to face: Miguel Montero, 4 for 9 (.444), 1 double, 1 HR
  

The La Quinta High grad is looking to bounce back from the worst start of his major league career. He was battered for career-highs of 10 runs on 13 hits in only four innings Thursday at St. Louis. Kennedy had been unbeaten in his previous four starts, holding opposing batters to a .215 average over 25 innings. He has a 1.19 WHIP in five career starts at Dodger Stadium.

• 
  vs. Dodgers: 5-3, 3.88 ERA
  
• 
  at Dodger Stadium: 2-2, 4.08 ERA
  
• 
  Loves to face: Juan Uribe, 0 for 8, 2 strikeouts
  
• 
  Hates to face: Skip Schumaker, 6 for 14 (.429)
  

By MARK COOPER

Yasiel Puig stretched two pieces of tape on the carpet of the Dodgers clubhouse to form a line between his and Luis Cruz's lockers and the media. He pulled out a blue Sharpie and wrote a clear message to those standing adjacent to his locker.

"No more entrevistas." No more interviews. Puig, the 22-year-old phenom, and Cruz, his clubhouse neighbor, joked and prodded with the tape some more before heading to the field to warm up.

The hype and expectations continue to swell for Puig, who went 3 for 5 on Sunday to close out his first week in the big leagues. Puig was named National League Player of the Week Monday after hitting 13 for 28 (.464) with four home runs and 10 RBI in his first seven games.

Despite Puig's accomplishments, though, the Dodgers offense sputtered over the weekend, scoring just four runs in its last three games against the Atlanta Braves. In hopes of creating more offense, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly moved Puig to the cleanup spot in the lineup as the Dodgers begin a three-game series with the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.

Puig will bat behind Adrian Gonzalez, as Nick Punto moves into the leadoff role.

"I really like him 1, 2, that area, because I think he's exciting up there and he changes the game," Mattingly said. "But I think maybe just for today or for a few games until we get some guys back this may be a spot that gives us the best chance to win."

After Sunday's loss to the Braves, Puig said he did not like batting cleanup. He hit fourth in 10 of his final 11 games for Double-A Chattanooga, batting 9 for 32 (.281) with two home runs and 14 RBI.

Mattingly said this was not a long-term move to cleanup. When Hanley Ramirez and Matt Kemp are both healthy, he can see Puig moving back up to hit ahead of them at the top of the order.

Ramirez is out for the fourth consecutive game, but it looks like he will avoid a return to the disabled list. Mattingly said he's available as a pinch-hitter Monday night, though he would prefer not to use him.

Infielder Justin Sellers was recalled from Triple-A to provide insurance off the bench. Pitcher Matt Magill, who took the loss as the starter Sunday was optioned back to the minors.

Here are the lineups for tonight's game, with first pitch at 7:10 p.m.:

DIAMONDBACKS (35-28)

CF A.J. Pollock

2B Willie Bloomquist

1B Paul Goldschmidt

LF Cody Ross

C Miguel Montero

3B Martin Prado

RF Gerardo Parra

SS Cliff Pennington

P Wade Miley (4-5, 4.92 ERA)

SS Nick Punto

2B Mark Ellis

1B Adrian Gonzalez

RF Yasiel Puig

LF Jerry Hairston Jr.

CF Andre Ethier

3B Juan Uribe

C Tim Federowicz

P Clayton Kershaw (5-4, 1.93 ERA)