Farewell Farmer John, beloved maker of Dodger meat sticks

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art wrapped warmly and worthy of wait.

Rough swings do shake the aspiring bats of May,

And summer’s delights become victims of fate.

Dodger Dogs will never be the same.

Farmer John hot dogs are no longer being served at Dodger Stadium. They have been replaced. This will not end well.

When the Dodgers decided to limit making grilled hot dogs, boiling them instead at all but two locations in the stadium, Dodger fans did not respond kindly. 

It took three innings of waiting in line for a grilled hot dog. Fans did it. They were in no mood to settle for a boiled Dodger Dog and it took years for fans to relent and accept the Dodgers were not changing their minds on this.

It didn’t take long for fans to realize that Dodger Dogs in 2021 are not the same. After being away from Dodger Stadium for more than a year, fans were welcomed back without a familiar friend waiting for them at the concession stands.

Farmer John was out.

The backlash was swift. It is being received as well as the Pedro Martinez trade. It is a bigger loss than when Jackie Robinson retired. It is sadder than Sandy Koufax’s last start. It leaves a void bigger than Vin Scully's voice calling Dodger games.

Dodger fans have fond memories of Dodger Dogs. 

None of them are warranted. Dodger Dogs are the most overrated hot dog in baseball. The Fenway Frank is in the running for the worst hot dog in baseball. But there are none that come close.

However, baseball stadiums have offered some interesting and creative hot dogs over the years. Here are some of worst:

The Everything Dog (Braves)

This hot dog is a foot long and has popcorn on it. Popcorn. It has cheese, jalapenos and tortilla chips too. But popcorn?

Cracker Jack and Mac Dog (Pirates)

Everything in the song Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and then some, is on this hot dog. In addition to Cracker Jack, it has mac and cheese, fried pickle jalapenos, and caramel sauce. I don’t care if I ever get one. 

Most Valuable Tamale (Rangers)

This is a hot dog stuffed in a tamale. Why does Texas hate hot dogs and tamales? Why ruin two delicious foods with one monstrosity?

Chicken Enchilada Dog (Diamondbacks) 

It wasn’t enough that the Rangers ruined tamales. The Diamondbacks attacked enchiladas with the same energy. Black olives, sour cream and pico de gallo have no business being on a hot dog.

Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs (Rockies)

No one wants to know what’s in a hot dog. It is the most disgusting parts of pigs and cows. But the Rockies decided to make hot dogs with reindeer, bear, rattlesnake and pheasant. TMI. Hot dogs are meant to be enjoyed without this much detail.

Cincinnati Cheese Coney Dog (Astros)

Talk about an identity crisis. Houston serves its fans food from another bad baseball city. Astros fans can choose a Georgia Dog and a New York Dog too. Houston sounds like it’s such a horrible city, Astro fans need to vicariously live in other places through their hot dogs.

Sunrise Dog (Royals)

This is brunch in a bun. It has eggs, bacon, cheese and sausage gravy. Sounds great for a PTA meeting, not a baseball game. 

Halo Dog (Angels)

It has bacon, charro beans, Jack cheese and pico de gallo and might be the only thing the Angels do better than the Dodgers.

The Dodger Dog is fondly embraced by Dodger fans. But it is by no means the best hot dog in baseball. They are simple, nonthreatening, warm and friendly. They are everything Los Angeles isn’t. Maybe that’s why Dodger Dogs are so well-liked. They filled fans with feelings that are hard to find in some parts of L.A.

Let’s hope the new Dodger Dogs stir up those same feelings and don't jinx a team that just won its first World Series in 32 years.

There are no words to explain what happened to the Dodgers this weekend

It’s hard to put into words what happened to the Dodgers last week. Here are some that might help.

The Dodgers blew a 7-1 lead on Sunday night against the visiting San Diego Padres, in what is being billed as the next best rivalry in baseball, in sports some might say, and lost in extra innings, 8-7. It was a bigger surprise than Anthony Hopkins winning the Oscar for best actor.

The Academy put Chadwick Boseman on second base before the Oscars started and Hopkins scored the award for best actor. Talk about a ghost runner. No one saw that coming.

The Dodgers took a six-run lead after scoring five runs in the sixth inning against the Padres on Sunday night, then fell apart.

The Padres scored six runs in the next three innings to tie the score and won the game in the 11th inning on a sacrifice fly that scored Fernando Tatis Jr.

More on Tatis in a moment.

The Dodgers bullpen collapsed.

The Dodger kids collapsed.

The Dodger fans collapsed, from exhaustion -- the game lasted five hours -- from embarrassment -- the Dodgers never lose this way to the Padres -- and from entitlement -- who do the Padres think they are anyway?

The only thing that didn’t collapse was the Dodgers lead in the National League West standings. Even after going 2-4 last week, the Dodgers are still in first place, a game ahead of the San Francisco Giants, and still have the best record in baseball at 15-7. 

None of that makes losing to the Padres after blowing a six-run lead any easier.

Who’s to blame?

The bullpen takes a big share of this. David Price was not sharp again. He opened the floodgates, giving the Padres hope in the seventh inning.

Brusdar Graterol did the real damage, giving up two runs in a third of an inning. 

Jimmy Nelson delivered the fatal blow, allowing two runs on four hits in the ninth inning, enough for the Padres to tie the score and send the game into extra innings.

Garrett Cleavinger, making his first appearance of the season, ended up taking the loss, allowing the winning run to score in the 11th inning.

The bullpen was brutal.

Playing without Cody Bellinger is worse.

Gavin Lux has missed some games too because of injuries. Sheldon Neuse, Luke Raley, DJ Peters and Edwin Rios have been filling in for Bellinger and Lux lately. And while they have shown flashes of talent, they are clearly not ready for the big leagues yet.

The Dodgers finish their worst week of the season splitting two with the Seattle Mariners and losing three of four to the Padres.

Tatis made this presence felt in this series. He hit five home runs. He has six home runs in seven games against the Dodgers this season. He also has more errors, nine, than home runs, seven.

Corey Seager deserves some of the blame for the Dodgers woes of the past week. He is 6-for-28 in his past seven games, a .214 batting average over that stretch. Ugh!

Here are the Dodgers starting pitcher power rankings:

1. Julio Urias
2. Trevor Bauer
3. Clayton Kershaw
4. Dustin May
5. Walker Buehler

The Dodgers start a three-game series against the last-place Cincinnati Reds today, then head to Milwaukee for a four-game weekend series against the first-place Brewers.

New rules, new rivals add new wrinkles to Dodgers season

There’s nothing like a leadoff two-run home run to win a baseball game in extra innings.

One of the new rules in baseball, a result of the coronavirus-shortened season of a year ago, is putting a runner on second base to start extra innings. 

It happened Friday night in the game between the Dodgers and the Padres. The score was tied 6-6 after nine innings. The game went into the 12th inning before the Dodgers broke the tie. 

Corey Seager hit a lead-off two-run home run with Mookie Betts on second base. The Dodgers went on to score five runs in the inning and win the first game of the weekend series, 11-6.

The ghost runner rule on second base is meant to end games quicker when they go into extra innings. The game on Friday night dragged on for three more nerve wracking innings. The Padres loaded the bases in the 10th inning and didn’t score. The Padres had runners on second and third with one out in the 11th inning and didn’t score.

The Dodgers meanwhile harmlessly went down in order in the 10th and 11th innings. 

Then in the top of the 12th, the Dodgers exploded. Seager hit his second home run of the season. Zach McKinstry added a two-run single. Luke Raley drove in a run with an infield single. David Price joined the fun with a sacrifice fly.

Price pitched the final two innings of the game to earn the win.

Of all the new rules, which included seven-inning doubleheaders and a universal designated hitter, that MLB tried in the coronavirus-shortened season, the ghost runner on second base in extra innings might be the worst. It was a painful exercise for the Padres, who had two golden opportunities to win the game Friday night and blew both of them. But it’s nothing new for the Dodgers to take advantage of another underachieving Padres team. 

MLB scrapped the universal DH and kept the extra inning rule for the 2021 season. If MLB swapped those two rules, there probably wouldn’t be too many complaints. 

There was a lot of talk and a lot of stories written about how the Dodgers and Padres are the new great rivalry in sports.

The Dodgers and Padres rivalry isn’t much of a thing. It never has been. Of all the rivals the Dodgers have, the Padres are not even in the top 10.

Here are the Dodgers rival power rankings:

1. San Francisco Giants

2. New York Yankees

3. St. Louis Cardinals

4. Los Angeles Angels

5. Atlanta Braves

6. Houston Astros

7. Montreal Expos

8. Philadelphia Phillies

9. Oakland A’s

10. Boston Red Sox

The Tampa Rays and Washington Nationals are probably in line for biggest rivals to the Dodgers before the Padres. The Expos, who don’t even exist anymore, stood in the way of the Dodgers in playoffs pasts more often than the Padres. 

The weekend series against the Padres was touted as a rivalry for the ages. It was a series that lived up to the hype, but as far as rivalries go, it’s a silly notion. This is a rivalry in the same sense a stick has a rivalry with a pinata. Sure, both are at odds, but the pinata, in this case the Padres, doesn’t stand a chance against the stick, AKA the Dodgers, especially when Seager, Betts, Justin Turner and Max Muncy are swinging it. Even Price, who spent most of his baseball career pitching in the American League, made the Padres look bad when he picked up a stick. This rivalry is historically one-sided and will continue to be one-sided unless the pinata starts hitting back.

Clayton Kershaw won the second game of the series against the Padres and pitched six shutout innings to win this third game of the season. He struck out eight, walked two, gave up two hits and lowered his ERA to 2.19. The Dodgers won the game, 2-0. 

Here are the Dodgers pitcher power rankings through Week 3 of the season:

1. Kershaw

2. Trevor Bauer

3. Walker Buehler

4. Dustin May

5. Julio Urias

The Dodgers are 13-3 after Sunday’s loss to the Padres. The Dodgers are on pace to win 131 games.

Next up for the Dodgers are the Seattle Mariners for two games before returning home to start a four-game weekend series with the Padres again.

Seager and Turner are hot, Jansen’s not in Week 2 of the Dodgers season

The Dodgers won five games in a row after losing to the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day. The Dodgers were on their way to winning six in a row and sweeping the Oakland A’s when this happened.

With the Dodgers leading 3-2 in the ninth inning, Kenley Jansen gave up the tying run on a sacrifice fly after letting the first two batters reach base on a single and a walk. The game went into extra innings and the A’s won on an RBI single by Mitch Moreland off JImmy Nelson in the 10th inning.

It was the first blown save of the season for Jansen.

It wasted a strong start by Trevor Bauer, who pitched into the seventh inning and struck out 10.

It showed once again that the Achilles heel of this Dodgers team is the closer.

Corey Seager started the season 8-for-12 for a .667 batting average after four games. After hitting a three-run double in his first at-bat against the A’s, he was hitting .692.

He has since cooled off. After going 1-for-4 with a double on Sunday against the Nationals, Seager is hitting .342.

After hitting only two home runs in a four-game series at Coors Field in Colorado, the Dodgers hit five against the A’s. Justin Turner and WIll Smith each have two home runs to lead the Dodgers. Seager has yet to hit a home run.

It’s safe to say Zack McKinstry is the leader in the clubhouse for National League Rookie of the Year.

The Dodgers won their home opener on Friday over the Washington Nationals, 1-0. Walker Buehler pitched six shutout innings, struck out four and lowered his ERA to 1.50. Turner hit a solo home run in the sixth inning for the game’s only run.

Corey Knebel pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out all three batters he faced, for his second save. Knebel, instead of Jansen, was called in the ninth inning despite the Dodgers coming off a day off. This begs the question: Is this the dawn of a new era in the Dodgers bullpen? Or maybe it’s the start of a closer by committee?

On the field, the Dodgers performed as smoothly in their home opener as anyone could expect. In the stands, it was a different story.

The Dodgers introduced a new way to order food at the stadium through an app. It takes orders and lets people pay contactlessly. But it didn’t work on Opening Day at Dodger Stadium. It was shut down and people had to buy Dodger Dogs and peanuts the old-fashioned way.

At least people were in the stands to watch the Dodgers receive their World Series rings before the game. There were enough of them to complain about waiting in line for food so long, they missed the ring ceremony.

Dodgers starting pitched power rankings:

1. Dustin May
2. Clayton Kershaw
3. Walker Buehler
4. Julio Urias
5. Trevor Bauer

In traditional Bauer fashion, he says: Bring it on. It’s yet to be determined if he is cheating, but his attitude is admirable. #jointheresistance

Joe Musgrove pitched a no-hitter for the San Diego Padres on Friday night against the Texas Rangers. It was the first no-hitter of the season. It was the first no-hitter in franchise history for the Padres. They were the last team in the majors without a no-hitter.

The Padres still need three more no-hitters to catch Sandy Koufax.

The Dodgers start a three-game series against the Rockies on Tuesday before facing the Padres over the weekend. 

First-place Dodgers have eventful first week

In four games at Coors Field in the Mile High city of Denver, the Dodgers scored 26 runs, 6.5 runs per game. They hit two home runs, the first an inside-the-park home run by Zach McKinstry. Will Smith hit the second home run for the Dodgers on Sunday, the final game of the opening four-game series against the Rockies. 

Cody Bellinger hit the ball out of Coors Field on opening day, but Justin Turner, who was on first base, thought Rockies outfielder Raimel Tapia caught it. Turner ran back to first base, passed Bellinger on the way, and was called out. Bellinger ended up with a single and the Dodgers lost the game, 8-5.

That was the bad news. 

The Dodgers won the next three games of the season and are tied for first place in the National League West standings with the San Diego Padres at 3-1.

Speaking of those pesky Padres, Fernando Tatis has more errors, three, than home runs, one, after four games.

Who cares if Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels takes his team to the playoffs? Shohei Ohtani is the player to watch when the playoffs start.

The season isn't a week old and playoffs are already in the conversation. That's what happens when there is a 60-game season played in the middle of a pandemic.

After the first four games, here are the Dodger pitcher power rankings:

1. Julio Urias

2. Trevor Bauer

3. Walker Buehler

4. Clayton Kershaw

Are the Dodgers possibly pondering a closer by committee? Corey Knebel picked up the save pitching a perfect ninth inning against the Rockies on Sunday.

Kenley Jansen earned the save on Saturday, a five-out effort to cap a 6-5 win.

Maybe Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was giving Jansen a rest. Maybe Roberts wasn't taking any chances. Maybe it's a sign of things to come.

The Dodgers start a three-game series against the Oakland A's on Monday. Dustin May makes his first start of the season for the Dodgers. 

And if you're keeping score at home, COVID is 4-0 in 2021. The four-game series between the New York Mets and Washington Nationals was postponed because players tested positive for COVID. The Nationals are scheduled to play the Dodgers in their home opener on Friday.