Wilson fitting in nicely in LA bullpen, clubhouse

Wilson fitting in nicely in LA bullpen, clubhouse

By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com 

LOS ANGELES -- It seemed pretty normal, the Dodgers using their setup man in the eighth inning of Games 1 and 2 of the National League Division Series. That's what setup men do.

But there's nothing normal about the Dodgers' setup man, or haven't you ever seen Brian Wilson? He's the guy with the famous jet-black beard and mohawk, sometimes pulled back in a ponytail, wearing the dark glasses in the clubhouse, the ones with the built-in stereo earbuds.

He's showing up so early on game days for conditioning drills that Clayton Kershaw now has company. And when batting practice is over, he'll usually have huge grass stains all over his uniform from diving catches no pitcher should attempt.

Oh, and have you seen his green sequined dress shoes?

That's Wilson. It's no costume.

"He's real," said fellow Dodgers reliever J.P. Howell. "It's not a facade, it's really him. He's an animal, you know? He wants to do anything he can to win. You know what he looks like to me? A winner."

At 31, he also looks healthy enough for that rebuilt ligament to throw 96 mph on consecutive nights, which is probably a surprise to most clubs, especially the San Francisco Giants. Wilson was still recovering from his second Tommy John elbow operation last winter when they non-tendered their World Series closer.

"He wouldn't say this, but I'm sure a lot of people didn't think he'd be doing what he's doing after all he's been through," said veteran reliever Peter Moylan. "He took extra time off, rehabbed at [Triple-A] Albuquerque like it was Spring Training, and I feel he's just hitting his stride."

While some Tommy John patients rush back in a year or less, Wilson rehabilitated the injury for 17 long months, held a workout for interested clubs when he was good and ready, then signed with the Dodgers for $1 million July 30 because he wanted to help a club get to October and beyond.

"I had surgery and I had fear when I came back. He had zero," said Howell. "Just his makeup. He didn't even have a question that he'd be healthy. Just how he is."

Wilson was activated Aug. 19, made 18 regular-season appearances and allowed one earned run, with 13 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings. When he pitched scoreless innings Thursday and Friday, it marked the fifth time he's pitched on consecutive days.

"When he got here, he didn't have a defined role and we found in the Cincinnati series [in early September] that the one thing we didn't want to do anymore was get him up and down," said pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. "Now we try to be definitive: This is your inning. He warms up and we get him in. And he's pitched his way into this role."

The role is setup to young closer Kenley Jansen, which had been filled by Ronald Belisario against the toughest right-handed hitters and Paco Rodriguez against lefties. But for a World Series closer who obviously loves the spotlight, he's made sure not to step on toes.

"I'm not doing anything special," he said. "I'm getting outs, what I'm supposed to do, what I'm paid to do."

While Wilson has been dominating since his arrival, Rodriguez had a 5.68 ERA in September (his problems continued in Game 2) and Belisario had a 7.94 ERA in September.

"Lefty, righty, he's getting basically everybody out when he pitches," manager Don Mattingly said of Wilson. "He's solidified that inning for us and enabled us to shorten the game. We were mixing and matching to get to Kenley; now we're mixing and matching to get to Wilson and you're getting those last two innings off."

His new teammates, once they got to know Wilson, were pleasantly surprised to learn there's a lot under that getup.

"He doesn't let anything rattle him," said Jansen. "When we get late in the game, he gets locked in. I watch him. He's a good teammate. He looked mean, serious on the other side and you don't know what to expect. But he tells some crazy jokes. He's a cool guy to be around."

"I didn't know he was that smart and witty," said Howell. "He pays attention and picks up on things. I think he's got a photographic memory. When he got here, he gave everybody some space. He handled it well, coming to a new team in the middle of the season."

"I knew he was talented, but I never thought he was that knowledgeable about the game until I talked and hung out with him and learned that on the mental side, he's extremely strong," said Rodriguez. "He's one of the brightest people I've played with. He's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. There's a lot of things you don't think about, but he does."

Wilson, who resumed domino games with former Giants teammate Juan Uribe, said there is one easy comparison to make between his current club and his former one.

"It's a similar clubhouse in that everyone gets along," Wilson said. "A lot of big names, a lot of superstars. That said, as long as we play our game, it's really fun to be part of this club."

Hanley, Simmons bring NLDS spotlight to shortstop

By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com 

LOS ANGELES -- No longer do shortstops dominate Major League Baseball. Gone are the days of superstars supercharging the position, giving way to an era in which many teams -- good teams -- make do with mediocrity up the middle.

Not the Braves and Dodgers, though. Not in this National League Division Series, tied at one-all heading into Game 3 Sunday, scheduled for 8 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium and will air on TBS.

Not as long as Andrelton Simmons and Hanley Ramirez have anything to say about it.

"Their guy is young, tremendous -- some of the plays their guy makes is off the charts," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said, comparing Simmons to Ramirez. "But looking at our guy, I think he's off the charts from the standpoint of what he does offensively. I don't care what position he's playing, he's got to be one of the top guys out there."

This isn't exactly an October-exclusive thing. As calculated by FanGraphs, Ramirez and Simmons finished one-two this season among playoff-bound shortstops in Wins Above Replacement, a catch-all statistic designed to determine a player's overall worth. Ramirez, somewhat incredibly, ranked second among all shortstops despite not having enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title.

They may have derived their value in different ways, with Ramirez doing his best work at the plate and Simmons in the field. But each played well enough to enter into his respective team's regular-season MVP discussion, and each has already revved his engine in October.

In Game 2, for example, Simmons tied things with a second-inning RBI double and participated in three double plays on defense, including reliever Luis Avilan's critical turn in the seventh. Ramirez's answer? A two-run homer that gave the Braves new life one inning later.

In Game 1, Simmons was one of only three Braves hitters to record a hit against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. Ramirez, meanwhile, was the last of five Dodgers to drive in a run, also robbing Evan Gattis of a hit with a diving stop late in the game.

"I keep everything the same," Ramirez said in explanation of his early postseason success. "I don't really get too emotional."

So it goes in the NLDS, for a pair of shortstops one-upping each other in their respective styles. For the Braves, who constructed their starting rotation out of ground-ball pitchers, Simmons has established himself as a critical cog. The advanced metric Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) rates his regular-season performance the best of any player in the statistic's 11-year history. Though Simmons was a below-average offensive performer, he made up for it on defense. And then some. And then some more.

For the Dodgers, Ramirez's value is even more obvious. Los Angeles was 51-26 this season when Ramirez started, 41-44 when he did not. When thumb, hamstring, shoulder and back injuries forced Ramirez to the sideline for more than half the summer, it only underscored his value to a team lost without him.

"Hanley's a different animal, really, from the standpoint of most of the time, you don't look at a shortstop as the offensive player that he is," Mattingly said. "He's more of a total middle-of-the-order guy with power. You always talk about being solid up the middle. I think the better clubs, you talk about being solid through the middle defensively. Hanley just brings a different dimension."

Fredi Gonzalez, who managed Ramirez for four seasons in Miami, recalled him as a shortstop who, "on any given day, might have been the best player on the field."

"I think he's still that same guy," the Braves manager continued. "He's scary when he comes to the plate because he can split a gap or he can run you out of the ballpark. He can steal you a base. He's a very talented player."

So is Simmons, who manifests his talent in different ways. Simmons may not possess the star power of Ramirez -- nor of Troy Tulowitzki, Ian Desmond or any of the league's other top shortstops. But like Ramirez, he has transformed himself into a postseason cog at one of the diamond's most valuable positions.

"I haven't really thought about it," Simmons said of his early success. "I'm just going out there doing my best. Every once in a while I hear some positive comments about positive things. It's nice. But I still feel like it's just my job I'm doing."