Padres look to prolong win streak, play the Pirates
San Diego Padres (20-11, second in the NL West) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (12-21, fifth in the NL Central)
Pittsburgh; Saturday, 4:05 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Padres: Randy Vasquez (1-3, 4.28 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 10 strikeouts); Pirates: Bailey Falter (1-3, 5.93 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 22 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Padres -119, Pirates +100; over/under is 9 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The San Diego Padres look to keep a three-game win streak alive when they play the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Pittsburgh is 12-21 overall and 7-10 in home games. The Pirates are 1-4 in games when they hit at least two home runs.
San Diego has gone 6-7 in road games and 20-11 overall. Padres hitters have a collective .395 slugging percentage to rank 10th in the majors.
The teams play Saturday for the second time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Andrew McCutchen has six doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI while hitting .264 for the Pirates. Oneil Cruz is 11-for-40 with three doubles and three home runs over the last 10 games.
Manny Machado has 10 doubles, two home runs and 13 RBI while hitting .278 for the Padres. Luis Arraez is 14-for-33 with two doubles, a triple and two home runs over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pirates: 4-6, .263 batting average, 5.07 ERA, outscored by 18 runs
Padres: 5-5, .237 batting average, 3.17 ERA, outscored by one run
INJURIES: Pirates: Justin Lawrence: 15-Day IL (elbow), Timothy Mayza: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Endy Rodriguez: 10-Day IL (finger), Jared Jones: 60-Day IL (elbow), Nick Gonzales: 10-Day IL (ankle), Spencer Horwitz: 10-Day IL (wrist), Johan Oviedo: 60-Day IL (elbow), Dauri Moreta: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Padres: Fernando Tatis Jr.: day-to-day (forearm), Mason McCoy: 10-Day IL (finger), Bryan Hoeing: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Logan Gillaspie: 15-Day IL (oblique ), Jake Cronenworth: 10-Day IL (rib), Matt Waldron: 60-Day IL (oblique), Jackson Merrill: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Jhony Brito: 60-Day IL (forearm), Yu Darvish: 15-Day IL (elbow), Sean Reynolds: 15-Day IL (foot), Joe Musgrove: 60-Day IL (elbow)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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Gold Gloves are also listed, but keep in mind Gold Gloves were first awarded in 1957. Click on the player name to be taken to his full stat page at 1. Pee Wee Reese (1940-42, 1946-58, .269/.366/.377, 68.4 WAR, 99 OPS+, 10-time All Star) Reese is the clear No. 1 shortstop in Dodgers history and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He also finished ninth the last time we did reader voting for the greatest Dodgers of all time. Harold Henry Reese was born on July 23, 1918, in Meade County, Ky. When he turned 21, he was 5 feet 6 and 160 pounds, but he was called 'Pee Wee' long before that. Not because of his size, because of his other hobby other than baseball: marbles. He won a couple of pee wee marbles competitions in Kentucky, so people started calling him Pee Wee. After graduating from high school, Reese, who played in only five baseball games in his senior year, didn't seem headed for Major League fame. He took a job as a cable splicer for a telephone company. He often said that climbing all those poles made him much stronger physically and helped him reach the majors. Reese led his semipro team to the Louisville city championship in 1937 and signed with the minor league Louisville Colonels. He did so well there that Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey bought the Colonels in 1938 in order to secure the rights to Reese. One problem: the Red Sox were led by Joe Cronin, one of the best shortstops around. Cronin did not want to move from short to make room for Reese, so Yawkey decided midway through the 1939 season to sell Reese's contract to the Brooklyn Dodgers for $35,000 and two players, Red Evans and Art Parks, neither of whom ever played for the Red Sox, so it was quite a good deal for the Dodgers. Reese made it to the majors in 1940 and was a great fielder, but only an average hitter for three seasons before he spent three years in the Navy with the construction battalion. He returned to the Dodgers for the 1946 season and was a much better hitter, batting .284 with 87 walks. In spring training of 1947, a few Dodgers signed a petition that threatened a players' boycott if Jackie Robinson joined the team. When it came time for Reese to sign, he refused, later saying, 'If he's man enough to take my job, I'm not gonna like it, but, Black or white, he deserves it.' Reese died on Aug. 14, 1999. He was 81. At his funeral, Joe Black, one of the first Black pitchers in the majors and a former teammate of Reese, said: 'Pee Wee helped make my boyhood dream come true to play in the majors, the World Series. When Pee Wee reached out to Jackie, all of us in the Negro League smiled and said it was the first time that a white guy had accepted us. When I finally got up to Brooklyn, I went to Pee Wee and said, 'Black people love you. When you touched Jackie, you touched all of us.' With Pee Wee, it was No. 1 on his uniform and No. 1 in our hearts.' 2. Maury Wills (1959-66, 1969-72, .281/.330/.331, 32.1 WAR, 87 OPS+, 1 MVP award, 2 Gold Gloves, 6-time All Star). Wills made the stolen base popular again. In 1960, his first full season as the Dodgers' shortstop, Wills led the league with 50 stolen bases, becoming the first National League player to steal 50 since Max Carey stole 51 in 1923. Wills stole more bases by himself than three NL teams did. 1961 was a bit of a down year as he stole only 35, which was still more than the entire Pittsburgh Pirates team (29). 1962 was his year though. Wills broke Ty Cobb's 47-year-old record by stealing 104 bases and was named NL most valuable player. He stole more bases than every other NL team. In 1965, he stole 94 bases, more than every other team except the St. Louis Cardinals, who stole 100. So you could say that Wills is the Babe Ruth of base stealing. He definitely should be in the Hall of Fame. By the way, in the year Wills stole 104 bases, he was caught only 13 times. After the season, Wills said, 'Do I think I'll ever steal 104 bases again? No, I can't believe I did it now. I don't see how I can ever come close again. The physical beating I took is more than I want to endure.' Wills died on Sept. 19, 2022, surrounded by family. He was 89. A year before he died, Wills answered question from readers of this newsletter. You can read that here. Wills finished 11th in the 'all-time greatest Dodgers' voting. You can read that here. 3. Bill Russell (1969-86, .263/.310/.338, 31.3 WAR, 83 OPS+, 3-time All Star) Russell was an outfielder his first three seasons before moving to short to replace Wills. Russell was the shortstop on four Dodgers World Series teams, winning one (1981). He played more games than anyone in L.A. history and, though Russell was often criticized for his fielding, Tommy John said Russell was the best shortstop he ever played with. Russell wasn't flashy and seldom drew headlines. He was considered one of the best clutch hitters on the team, a reputation cemented during the 1978 postseason, when he hit .412 in the NLCS, including the walk-off hit in the pennant-clinching game against the Phillies (you can watch that here) and .423 in the World Series. 4. Corey Seager (2015-21, .297/.367/.504, 20.9 WAR, 131 OPS+, Rookie of the Year, 2-time All Star) Russell beats out Seager because of his longevity with the Dodgers, but if you want to move Seager up to third, you could. He was selected in the first round of the 2012 draft and made the Dodgers in September 2015. He hit .337 in 27 games and was the starting shortstop in the postseason, winning the job from Jimmy Rollins. In 2016, he was named Rookie of the Year and finished third in MVP voting. He had another solid year in 2017, which was also the last time he made the All-Star team as a Dodger. He missed almost all of the 2018 season after having Tommy John surgery (yes, sometimes non-pitchers need it). He led the NL in doubles in 2019 with 44. 2020 was a great year, as he hit .307/.358/.585 in the COVID-shortened season, then was named MVP of the NLCS and World Series. He left the Dodgers as a free agent after 2021, rejecting the Dodgers' eight-year, $250-million offer for a 10-year, $325-million offer from Texas. 5. Rafael Furcal (2006-11, .283/.351/.406, 15.7 WAR, 100 OPS+, 1-time All Star) Furcal was signed as a free agent before the 2006 season and helped the Dodgers improve from 71-91 in 2005 to 88-74 and a postseason berth in 2006, finishing 14th in MVP voting. He was a significant upgrade offensively from César Izturis, who remained as his backup. He had a serious back injury that sidelined him for most of the 2008 season, but returned for the postseason. He may have regretted that after setting a dubious record: most errors in one inning in an NLCS game, in the fifth inning of Game 5. He had an off season in 2009, but hit .300 and made the All-Star team in 2010 before injuries limited him to 37 games in 2011. He left as a free agent after that season. 6. Bill Dahlen (1900-03, 1910-11, .266/.354/.357, 20.6 WAR, 123 OPS+) The further back you go, the harder it is to judge players. But Dahlen belongs in the top 10 somewhere, and I'm placing him sixth. William Frederick Dahlen was born in Nelliston, N.Y. on Jan. 5, 1870. He played for the National League's Chicago Colts from 1891-98, where he became one of the best players of the fledgling league, but was also known for his temper. He was ejected from 10 games in 1898 and was arrested in the offseason for killing a mule that belonged to a farmer. That was enough for the Colts, who traded him to Baltimore, which also owned the team in Brooklyn. He was transferred from Baltimore to Brooklyn, as the ownership group wanted to congregate their best players on one team (one of the reasons you can't own more than one team now). What he did for the then-Brooklyn Superbas was make them consistent winners. They had a winning record each season he was with the team, the first time they had a winning record for four seasons in a row. He was a big RBI man, probably would have won four Gold Gloves and stole bases. But, he continued to get thrown out of games and broke curfew constantly. Team owner Charles Ebbets had enough and traded him to the New York Giants. 'In the first place, Dahlen, while a great player, never was an observer of discipline. He looked upon rules from the standpoint that they were made only to be broken, and while this has in no way affected his playing ability, still the injury to the team in a disciplinary way has been great.' That was his pattern as a player. The team owners and managers recognized his greatness on the field, but didn't care for him much off the field. He died in Brooklyn in 1950 and lies in an unmarked grave in Brooklyn's Cemetery of the Evergreens. He fell one vote shy of making the Hall of Fame in a Veterans Committee vote in 2013, and hasn't come close since. You can read more about Dahlen here. 7. Hanley Ramirez (2012-14, .299/.368/.506, 9.7 WAR, 144 OPS+) Ramirez was the best pure hitter the Dodgers have had at short. The Dodgers acquired Ramirez from Miami on July 25, 2012 for Nathan Eovaldi and Scott McGough. He tripled in his first at bat. He had double-digit homers each season with the team and in 2013 hit .345/.402/.638 with 20 homers in 86 games. Which points to his big drawback: injuries. He played in the World Baseball Classic before the 2013 season and tore a ligament in his thumb diving for a ball. He started playing for the Dodgers on April 29, and three days later strained a hamstring while running. He came off the IL on June 4, and, probably not coincidentally, the Dodgers went on a 46-10 run and ended up winning the division. He finished eighth in MVP voting despite playing in barely half the games. Then came the pitch many Dodgers fans won't forget. The Dodgers were one of the favorites to win the 2013 World Series, and defeated Atlanta in four games in the NLDS. In Game 1 of the NLCS, Ramirez was drilled in the ribs with a fastball thrown by..... future fan favorite Joe Kelly. Two ribs were broken. Ramirez wore a protective vest the rest of the series and went two for 15 as the Dodgers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in six games. Did Kelly throw at Ramirez on purpose? In an interview for this newsletter, Kelly said 'Hanley Ramirez probably should have gotten out of the way or turned inside a little more.' More injuries hampered Ramirez in 2014 and he became more of a defensive liability at short. He left as a free agent, signing with Boston, which moved him to left field. 8. Ivy Olson (1915-24, .261/.295/.325. 4/5 WAR, 74 OPS+) Why is Olson on the list? Brooklyn made the World Series its first two times with Olson at short, and he was a big reason why. Ivan Massie Olson was born Oct. 14, 1885, in Kansas City, Mo. He went to the same school as Casey Stengel, who described Olson in Robert Creamer's book 'Stengel,' as a bully in school. His toughness was a big reason he made it to the majors, as he hit only .225 in the minors, but the game was much different then. Players slid into second with their spikes high (and sometimes even sharpened). You needed a middle infielder who could retaliate, and word quickly spread that if you slid in spikes high on Olson, he'd tag you hard, with the ball, right on your nose. Or, as the New York Times wrote in a game recap (as recounted on Rabbit Maranville tried to knock the ball out of Olson's glove in a play at third, but Olson resented this, and promptly began to bang Maranville on the shins with the ball. This was the signal for the real fun, Maranville's punch for the head missing its mark but striking Ivan on the knee. Then Ivan's return sweep whizzed past the Rabbit's head. Umpire Cy Rigler, who had followed the play to third, then jumped after Olson, grabbing him about the neck and pulling him away, while half a dozen ball players made a circle around Maranville. Both men wanted to continue, but Rigler evidently figured out that the gate was too small and that the 800 fans had had enough for their money.' He played for Cleveland, then the Reds, who released him in the 1915 season. He was picked up by the Dodgers and hit .077 in 18 games. The Robins made the World Series for the first time in 1916, and manager Wilbert Robinson gave much of the credit to Olson, saying he brought much-needed toughness and togetherness to the team. They made the World Series again in 2020. He was the Kirk Gibson of his day. One hundred years from now, someone writing the Dodgers newsletter will look at Gibson's numbers in 1988 and wonder how he won MVP. Occasionally, there are players who transcend their numbers. For the Brooklyn Robins, Ivy Olson was that player. You can read more about Olson here. 9. César Izturis (2002-06, .260/.296/.336, 3.7 WAR, 65 OPS+, 1 Gold Glove, 1-time All Star) The best fielding Dodger shortstop, by far, since Maury Wills. Izturis was acquired along with pitcher Paul Quantrill from Toronto for Luke Prokopec and Chad Ricketts before the 2002 season. Izturis' big problem was he couldn't hit, drew almost no walks and had little power. But his glove made up for a lot of that. His best season was easily 2004, when he hit .288 with 32 doubles, 62 RBIs and 25 steals, He also won the Gold Glove award that year, the last Dodger shortstop to win a Gold Glove. He got off to a hot start in 2005, hitting .348 through the end of May and remained hot enough to earn his only All-Star berth. But he injured his elbow and had season-ending Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers acquired Rafael Furcal in the offseason, and when Izturis returned in 2006, he was a backup. He was traded July 31, 2006 to the Chicago Cubs for Greg Maddux. He remained in the majors until 2013, almost entirely because he was such a great fielder. If you saw Izturis play at Dodger Stadium, he seemed to make at least one play every game that was superhuman. Going deep into the hole and throwing a missile to first. A diving stop behind second. He was always positioned perfectly. He was a wonder to watch. Izturis is currently the bench coach for the Tijuana Toros in the Mexican League. His son, Cesar Daniel Izturis, was in the Seattle organization for a while and currently plays for Durango in the Mexican League. 10. Don Zimmer (1954-59, 1963, .228/.286/.366, -0.1 WAR, 69 OPS+) Really, once you get past Nos. 5 or 6 on this list, the rankings become interchangeable. There are a few guys I considered for the final spot, but settled on Zimmer, a member of the 1955 and 1959 World Series champion Dodgers. Zimmer became much more famous as a manager and as the guy Pedro Martinez tossed to the ground during a Yankees-Red Sox on-field melee. Zimmer was signed for $2,500 out of Cincinnati's Western Hills High in 1949. He slowly moved up the minors before his career, and life, almost came to an end on July 7, 1953. Playing for triple-A St. Paul at Columbus, he was hit in the head by a fastball thrown by Jim Kirk. His skull was fractured and he laid unconscious in a hospital for 10 days. Three holes were drilled in his skull to reduce the pressure on his brain (those holes were later filled with titanium plugs). He recovered and returned home after spending a month in the hospital. He returned to St. Paul for the start of the 1954 season, as his path to the majors was blocked by Pee Wee Reese. He hit .291 with 17 homers at St. Paul and was called up to the Dodgers when Reese was injured in July. He played OK for a couple of weeks and, when Reese returned, was given the option of riding the bench in Brooklyn or returning to St. Paul. He chose Brooklyn, but rarely played the rest of the season. Zimmer remained the backup to Reese during the 1955 season after having a great spring training. Manager Walter Alston wanted to find a way to keep Zimmer's bat in the lineup, so he asked if he had any experience playing second base. Zimmer, who had never played second base before, said 'Yes.' So Zimmer became the backup at short and second, playing enough to hit 15 homers with 50 RBIs in 88 games. He appeared in four of the seven World Series games as the Dodgers won the title for the first time. In 1956, Zimmer was again Reese's backup, with his season ending when he suffered a broken cheekbone when hit in the face with a pitch by Hal Jeffcoat. It took until 1958, the year the Dodgers started playing in L.A., for Zimmer to win the starting shortstop job. Reese, who had aged out of the shortstop role, moved to third base. Zimmer had his best season, hitting .262 with 17 homers and 60 RBIs. But it was just one season of glory, as he lost the job to a newcomer named Maury Wills in 1959. Zimmer hit .169 in the season and appeared in only one World Series game as the Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox. Zimmer was traded to the Chicago Cubs before the 1960 season for Johnny Goryl, Lee Handley and Ron Perranoski. He eventually made his way to the Reds, who traded him on Jan. 24, 1963 to the Dodgers in order to make room for a promising rookie to make the team: Pete Rose. He spent a few weeks with the Dodgers before he was traded to the Washington Senators. Zimmer died on June 4, 2014 in Dunedin, Fla. He was 83. Honorable mention: Dave Anderson, Mariano Duncan, Leo Durocher, Lonny Frey, Alfredo Griffin, Miguel Rojas, Trea Turner, Glenn Wright. Note: Players will be listed at the position where they played the most games. The results from the top 10 shortstops lists that you sent in. I assigned points based on where a person was ranked. First place got 12 points, second place nine, all the way down to one point for 10th place. There were 572 ballots. 1. Pee Wee Reese, 423 first-place votes, 5,982 points 2. Maury Wills, 115 first-place votes, 4,857 points 3. Bill Russell, 3,670 points 4. Corey Seager, 33 first-place votes, 3,579 points 5. Rafael Furcal, 1,901 points 6. Hanley Ramirez, 767 points 7. Trea Turner, 1 first-place vote, 713 points 8. César Izturis, 689 points 9. Bill Dahlen, 674 points 10. Alfredo Griffin, 571 points. In all, 30 players received votes, not counting votes given to players who didn't play short, such as Ron Fairly and Ron Cey. Up next: Catcher. 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