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For Dodgers fan Dan Clements, a World Series title is in the cards
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For Dodgers fan Dan Clements, a World Series title is in the cardsBy Bill Shaikin Dan Clements reached into his bag for a roll of a blue duct tape. Dodger blue. Then he pulled out a pack of baseball cards, so shiny that the glare blinded you for a moment. He flipped through the cards, one Dodgers star after another. He had room for only one card, so it needed to be just right. Mike Piazza? Never won a postseason game with the Dodgers. Eric Karros? Same thing. Jackie Robinson? On the one hand, who can go wrong with Jackie Robinson? On the other hand, he never knew of something called a "postseason." In his day, the Dodgers would win the National League and advance directly to the World Series. So Robinson went back into the pack. Fernando Valenzuela? This would be the card. "Pitching," Clements said, "is what wins in the World Series." Clements tore off two pieces of duct tape, one for the top of the Valenzuela card, the other for the bottom. He affixed the card to a vase, then tenderly and lovingly lifted the vase into the air, and toward his father. His father's final resting place is here, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills. For the playoffs, the Ralph Clements memorial plaque will be graced with the Fernando Valenzuela baseball card. As the Dodgers head into the playoffs, a city heads there with them. These are our hopes, born from a distinguished legacy that has given way to a quarter-century of frustration. These are our dreams, from the fans who listened to Vin Scully on a transistor radio to the ones who send out his quips on Twitter. "The players," Scully said, "they don't relate to the past." It's not their fault. Yasiel Puig was not alive when Kirk Gibson homered. Clayton Kershaw was 6 months old. No one on the Dodgers' roster was alive when Wally Moon hit moon shots at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, when Sandy Koufax completed his perfect game at 9:46 p.m. in the City of the Angels, when the long-running quartet of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey made its debut. These are the blue bonds that bind generations, from the mother who lighted a match at the Roy Campanella tribute game at the Coliseum, to the kid who sat in the top deck with a scorebook in his lap, pretending to announce the game and wishing he could grow up to be Scully. I was that kid, and that was my mom. The headlines go to the investments the teams make, millions upon millions in player salaries. None of that would be possible without the investments the fans make — not only in dollars, but in faith and loyalty. There is only one way for a team to truly repay its fans. That is with a parade, and the Dodgers are 11 victories from staging one. Dare to dream. "Oh, it's marvelous," Scully said. "It's the best feeling in the world if you love baseball. "I was a fan once. I grew up in New York, as a rabid fan, so I think I can relate to the emotional part of it. They're patient, but they argue among themselves. They get into fierce debates sometimes. To finally win — to finally reach that goal — it's a most satisfying feature." There are 3 million fan stories in this big city. Dan Clements shared one. He is 58. He lives in Sherman Oaks. He grew up at Dodger Stadium with his father, and with Koufax and Don Drysdale. Ralph Clements did not have a lot of money in those days. As the decades passed, he did well in finance, and in real estate. He bought season tickets at Dodger Stadium — Aisle 121, Row C, Seats 1-3. Dan had three boys; Ralph took his grandsons to the games. On Memorial Day, Dan Clements went to visit his father at Forest Lawn. His father had been gone for five years. Ralph's favorite player was Orel Hershiser, so Dan brought along a Hershiser card. "Flowers for graves was foreign to him," said Dan's wife, Mary Ann. "Baseball was his way of connecting with his dad." Dan taped the Hershiser card to a vase and hoisted it high. The season was not even 2 months old and the Dodgers were seven games out of first place, with the most expensive collection of players in baseball history. It wouldn't hurt to ask his father if he could help. "He lived and died with the Dodgers," Dan said. "We said a little prayer." Two hours later, Mary Ann got a text message, with an offer of tickets for the Dodgers game the following night. The Dodgers won that night. Dan and Mary Ann got Magic Johnson T-shirts, the ones they wore to Forest Lawn when they went back to put up the Valenzuela card last week. There is some kind of magic in the air. Dare to dream. Hanley Ramirez puts bad rep behind him to do good things for DodgersBy Kevin Baxter The Dodgers had heard the stories. Everyone in baseball had. Stories that said Hanley Ramirez was a diva. Or a malcontent. How he could play brilliantly one day then just go through the motions the next. The Dodgers thought they knew one other thing: that Ramirez could flat-out hit. So 14 months ago they rolled the dice, sending two top pitching prospects to the Miami Marlins to acquire Ramirez, who had $38 million left on his contract. Their faith will be rewarded Thursday when the Dodgers begin postseason play for the first time in four seasons. He has done more than play well. In the clubhouse, where Ramirez was once thought to be a cancer, he's now being hailed as a team leader. "Without him we probably wouldn't be in this position," says outfielder Carl Crawford. Manager Don Mattingly says Ramirez is one of the smartest players on the team and adds, "This guy is a special player. He can do some things that not a lot of guys can do." The numbers bear that out. Despite having been limited by injury to a career-low 85 games entering Saturday's start against Colorado, Ramirez was hitting a career-high .346 with 20 homers in 301 at-bats. If he maintains that average, he'll become the first shortstop since Nomar Garciaparra in 2000 to hit better than .345 with at least 20 home runs in the same season. His OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 1.042 was the third-highest in history by a shortstop with at least 300 plate appearances. When Ramirez is in the lineup the Dodgers were 51-25 before Saturday. They were 41-43 without him. Another telling number: zero. "We've had zero problems," Mattingly says. "There's been zero issues of Hanley not wanting to play or anything." That wasn't always the case in Miami, where Ramirez, for all his talent, was moody and frequently accused of loafing, leading to feuds with managers and teammates. It was an uncomfortable time despite his winning a rookie-of-the-year award and a batting title in his seven years with the Marlins. "I don't want to talk about the past," says Ramirez, who grows angry and agitated whenever a conversation turns toward his days in Miami. Circumstances with the Marlins had become toxic, his friends say — a no-win situation. Ramirez was criticized for not being a team player, but then, when he tried to fight through a painful shoulder that eventually required surgery, he was criticized for his lack of production. He was expected to be a team leader and the face of the franchise one day, then was asked to move from shortstop to third base to accommodate Jose Reyes the next. With the Dodgers, Ramirez has found a comfort zone, and taken his game to a new level. "Everything right now is going good because everything's natural," says Joey Cora, the Marlins' bench coach last season. "Playing shortstop. He's hitting fourth. He's only playing baseball, he doesn't have to worry about anything else. You put that all together with the ability that that guy has — he's a top-five player in my book when he's fully healthy. "You talk about a guy that can do it all? Not only he can do it all, he can do it all well." Escaping Miami didn't just make Ramirez a better player, though; it also made him better in other ways, according to Dodgers pitcher Ricky Nolasco, a teammate for seven years in Miami. "Sometimes people need a change of scenery," says Nolasco, who broke in with the Marlins in 2006, the same year Ramirez did, and was traded to the Dodgers on July 6 this year. "And for Hanley it worked wonders, and he's a completely different person. He's just a better person. He's overall happier." Up next for Ramirez is something he's never experienced. For all his individual achievements, the three-time All-Star and 2009 NL batting champion has never played in the postseason. That, he says, makes this season the best of his career despite two extended stays on the disabled list. "Definitely," he says with a laugh. "You're here for one thing: just get a ring. Win the championship. And everything starts right there in the playoffs." Well, not really. For Ramirez and the Dodgers, everything started the day General Manager Ned Colletti decided to believe his eyes and not his ears and bring Ramirez to Los Angeles. "If you listen to what everybody else always says about everybody else, you'll make a lot of mistakes," Colletti says. "I evaluate relationships on how people act and how they perform and all that stuff. What I see and what I know. "We had Manny [Ramirez] here and everybody said Manny was going to be trouble. Manny was fine. We had Vicente Padilla here. And people said he was going to be difficult. He was fine. Everybody deserves the opportunity to start fresh if they have to. "He's done nothing but fulfill everything we've asked. He's been a great Dodger." Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw deserves all votes for NL Cy Young award By Bill Shaikin Blue legacy Sandy Koufax won three Cy Young awards, all unanimously. When Orel Hershiser won in 1988, the vote was unanimous. When Clayton Kershaw wins the National League Cy Young award this year, the vote ought to be unanimous too. He led the major leagues in earned-run average for the third consecutive season, this time with a 1.83 mark that was the lowest since 2000, when Pedro Martinez put up a 1.74 — and won unanimously. Kershaw led the NL with 232 strikeouts. He finished second in innings, with a career-high 236. He started 33 games and gave up zero or one earned run 19 times. He won 16 games, but only two NL pitchers won more. "If he's not the best, you're going to have to sell me on who's better," said Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly. Baseball's next big arm comes and goes, but baseball's best pitcher plays at Dodger Stadium. "This year, it was [the New York Mets' Matt] Harvey was the best," Mattingly said. "Last year, it was [the Washington Nationals' Stephen] Strasburg. Every year, Kersh is right there." Our award picks: Most valuable player — NL: Andrew McCutchen, Pirates; AL: Miguel Cabrera, Tigers. Cy Young — NL: Kershaw; AL: Max Scherzer, Tigers. Rookie — NL: Yasiel Puig, Dodgers; AL: Wil Myers, Rays. Manager — NL: Clint Hurdle, Pirates; AL: Terry Francona, Indians.
This might be the most awkward story line of the postseason: The Oakland Athletics have no place to play next year. Their Oakland Coliseum lease expires after the season. As of now, the A's have no lease for next season and no contingency agreement to play elsewhere. The A's and Coliseum officials are negotiating a five-year extension, with three one-year options. Neither the team nor the league appears concerned the deal might collapse, although we can imagine how heartily the San Francisco Giants would laugh if the A's asked to share AT&T Park. The Giants have succeeded in keeping the A's out of San Jose, at least so far. If the A's get that Coliseum extension, the San Jose move they announced in 2009 would not take place until 2019 — at the earliest. The never-say-quit Bartolo Colon would turn 46 that year. Power down When Bud Selig retires as commissioner in 16 months, his successor will not be granted the same powers of office. That is not hyperbole. Under the Major League Constitution, the authority granted to Selig to penalize clubs and players with whatever sanction "the Commissioner may deem appropriate" expires "at such time as the current Commissioner ceases to hold office." The erosion in power could become alarming based on two events this week. On Monday, the Alex Rodriguez arbitration hearing starts. On Friday, MLB and the city of San Jose face off in federal court over the potential move of the A's. The commissioner's office intends to assert its authority over drug suspensions and franchise relocation. To lose in either case — or both — could reduce the commissioner's power so dramatically that some potential Selig successors might wonder whether the job would be worth it. Directory: documents documents -> Concept stage documents -> Concept stage documents -> The great global switch-off documents -> Nonprofit grant application documents -> The Truth about the Rwandan Genocide documents -> Annual InStructional unit plan documents -> Chaos equipment included Download 276.95 Kb. Share with your friends:
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