Bill Plaschke: Clayton Kershaw's actions were Cy Young-worthy

The first perfect game in American League history was thrown by a pitcher who ended it with a taunt, defending his teammates against an insult, screaming at the final batter, "How do you like that, you hayseed?"

The year was 1904, and the pitcher was Cy Young.

On Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, imitating that long-ago barb with an inside fastball, a battling Clayton Kershaw proved worthy of winning the award that carries Cy Young’s name.

Although Kershaw will never admit it, his pitch that plunked the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Gerardo Parra in the elbow in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ eventual 3-2 victory appeared to be a retaliation for Parra’s crotch-grabbing, home-run posing insult of the Dodgers on Tuesday night.

Kershaw was immediately ejected, and some might think his Cy Young bid was derailed, but I propose that it was cemented. At a moment where he would have been excused the greatest of selfishness, he threw one for the team. By hitting Parra, he had everything to lose but his teammates' respect, yet clearly decided he would rather have that respect.

"I’m not disappointed at all," Kershaw told reporters after the game. "We got a win."

At the time of that inside pitch, Kershaw was throwing a one-hitter with five strikeouts. He had retired the previous seven batters. He might have been headed toward his third shutout. All this was happening while his top Cy Young competitor, Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies, was completing a six-hitter against the Houston Astros.

Kershaw could have played it safe and finished the game and nobody would have blamed him. But Kershaw obviously couldn’t forget the previous night, when Parra was angered by an inside pitch from Hong-Chih Kuo in the seventh inning, and then taunted the Dodgers with gestures both before and after his ensuing home run.

Manny Ramirez out of jail, ordered to have no contact with wife

Manny Ramirez was released from Broward County Jail on $2,500 bail Tuesday, a day after being arrested on a domestic-battery charge and accused of slapping his wife at their South Florida home.

The former Dodgers star was ordered by Broward Circuit Judge Jon Hurley to have no direct contact with his wife, Juliana.

Ramirez was met by several family members when he left jail just before noon EDT and had little to say to reporters while getting into a white Cadillac Escalade. "Let me see, where's my family?" he said in response to questions from the gathered media.

One reporter pressed him, saying, "You have to give us something." Ramirez responded, "Not my problem."

He did speak to another TV reporter in Spanish and put his arm around two of the female reporters.

A woman who refused to give her name spoke briefly before rolling up the car window: "He's my brother, we love him no matter what. He's an amazing guy, and we love him no matter what."

Broward County sheriff's officials say the former World Series MVP with the Boston Red Sox slapped his wife's face during an argument Monday, causing her to hit her head on a headboard. Ramirez has denied hitting his wife, authorities say.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo: Manny Ramirez leaves the Broward County Jail. Credit: Joe Cavaretta / South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Bill Plaschke: Kindness backstopped Jim Thome's run to 600 homers

The former Dodger with 600 career home runs hit exactly zero as a Dodger, yet his presence left the yard.

The biggest man in baseball today had exactly five singles in 20 at-bats as a Dodger, yet his impact covered all the bases.

He never scored a run. He never played an inning in the field. He never even wore a glove, and barely wore a Dodger uniform, hanging around only for the final month and playoffs of that nutty 2009 season.

Yet Jim Thome smiled like he led the Dodgers in hitting and fielding and had played here forever. There may have never been a truly nicer guy to grace a clubhouse in more difficult circumstances.

Thome arrived here in an odd last-gasp trade with the Chicago White Sox. He was a designated hitter who had not played in the field in two years. He was immediately marginalized as a strictly a pinch hitter. He was quickly teased for being a left-handed hitting statue with little value.

Yet he never stopped smiling, never stopped shaking hands, never stopping reminding everyone how lucky he felt to be here.

Magic Johnson on ownership of the Dodgers and an NFL team

Magic Johnson, the Lakers' Hall of Famer and an entrepreneur, sat down with Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke for a one-on-one conversation about things past and present.

Without further adieu, take a listen to what the legendary playmaker had to say about the Dodgers' current ownership situation (above) and about his interest in an NFL team playing in Los Angeles (below).

Magic's biggest prediction? An NFL team for L.A. within two years. And he'd be interested in owning a piece of the Dodgers.

-- Dan Loumena

Dodger Stadium beating victim undergoes emergency surgery

Bryan Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan who was severely beaten at the Dodgers home opener, underwent emergency surgery this week after he suffered a 30-second seizure, his family said.

Shelby Grad writes on The Times' L.A. Now blog:

Doctors believe the seizure was caused by buildup of fluids in his brain, the family said on its website.

Stow's doctor "removed the bone flap that was put in on Friday and he found some sort of growth he had never seen before," the family said. "The growth was removed and a filter put in to help drain the fluid from his head."

Read "Giants fan Bryan Stow undergoes emergency surgery."

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Photo: An image of Bryan Stow with his children is shown on the scoreboard before an April 8 game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals in San Francisco. Credit: Reuters

Tucson shooting victims remembered at All-Star Game

A moment of silence was observed in honor of Christina Taylor-Green, the 9-year-old daughter of Dodgers scout John Green who was slain, along with five others, in the Tucson shooting that wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in January.

The names of the six who died scrolled down the scoreboard and before the playing of the national anthem, John Green, wife Roxanna and Christina's brother Dallas walked to home plate with All-Star managers Ron Washington and Bruce Bochy to present the umpires with the official lineups.

Daniel Hernandez, the Congressional aide credited with saving Giffords' life that day, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Survivors of the shooting, along with the families of some of those who were slain, were seated behind the third-base dugout.

-- Kevin Baxter in Phoenix

Photo: A large American flag covers the field prior to the start of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game on Tuesday. Credit: Jerry Lai / U.S. Presswire

Kemp an All-Star starter; Kendrick, Kershaw, Weaver will also go

Angel right-hander Jered Weaver and infielder Howie Kendrick and the Dodger duo of left-hander Clayton Kershaw and outfielder Matt Kemp were all selected Sunday to play in next week's All-Star Game in Arizona.

Weaver, who led the major leagues in strikeouts last season, tops the American League with a 1.92 ERA this season and is second in wins with 10. This is his second All-Star selection.

Kershaw, a first-time All-Star, is the current major league strikeout leader with 138 to go with eight wins. If he and Weaver continue to pitch on their normal schedule, they would be in line to start the July 12 game in Phoenix.

Kemp, a triple crown candidate who leads the National League with 22 home runs to go with a .327 average and 64 runs batted in, was voted into the league's starting outfield alongside Ryan Braun of Milwaukee and the Cardinals' Lance Berkman. This is his first All-Star Game.

Some sympathy for Dodgers fans -- from Boston?

Should anyone outside of Los Angeles feel sorry for Dodgers fans who've had to go through the McCourt ownership-divorce-bankruptcy saga?

Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan thinks so.

Despite the bad blood that often exists between Los Angeles and Boston sports fans thanks to the heated Lakers-Celtics rivalry, Ryan says Bostonians should feel some sympathy for Dodgers fans. After all, the McCourts could have been Boston's problem if MLB Commissioner Bud Selig didn't prevent Frank from buying the Red Sox a decade ago.

It's worth a read if you're looking for some outside perspective on what's happening with the team. And it also makes you question (once again) why did Selig allow McCourt to buy the Dodgers in a leveraged deal financed mostly by debt?

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Photo: Dodgers fans watch batting practice at Target Field in Minneapolis prior to the start of Monday's interleague game between the Dodgers and Twins. Credit: Eric Miller / Reuters

Question of the Day: Should Major League Baseball seize the Dodgers? [Poll]

Writers from around the Tribune Co. discuss the turmoil surrounding the Dodgers. Check back for more responses throughout the day. And let us know what you think -- weigh in by voting in the poll and leaving a comment of your own.

Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune

Please, Bud Selig, don’t step in.

For the good of the sport, Major League Baseball will probably step in to seize control of the Dodgers from Frank McCourt. That will be their right as of the end of the month, when McCourt can no longer pay the players. It’s the right thing to do for this one-time flagship franchise and its loyal fans, who never deserved McCourt, but watching from a distance there’s something entertaining about the whole fiasco.

What will Frank do next? Will he hire himself as the third-base coach, paid $10 million a year? Will he sack Ned Colletti and hire his son as general manager, at $20 million a year? Oh, the spectacle this could become.

MLB should stop trying its tough love with McCourt and start playing hardball. That is, doing nothing and just watching to see what happens next. There’s a radical idea, although MLB probably doesn’t want to be a 29-team operation.

Bud Selig rejects deal between Dodgers and Fox Sports

 

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig on Monday rejected a proposed television contract between the Dodgers and Fox Sports, invalidating a divorce settlement between Frank and Jamie McCourt and all but challenging Frank McCourt to surrender the team or sue.

Selig rejected the contract on the first business day after the McCourts announced a settlement contingent upon approval of that contract.

Selig did not strip Frank McCourt of ownership of the Dodgers. But McCourt has said for months that approval of the Fox contract was critical for the Dodgers' financial health.

 You can read the entire story here.

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Photo: Bud Selig. Credit: Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press.

All seemed calm after Dodgers' loss to the Giants

The Times' Baxter Holmes checked out the Dodger Stadium parking lots for signs of friction between Dodgers and Giants fans after the Dodgers' 8-5 loss to the Giants on Wednesday night. The Giants are visiting Los Angeles for the first time since Giants fan Bryan Stow was brutally beaten in a parking lot after the season opener March 31.

Here's Holmes' report:

Beneath a nearly full moon on a chilly Wednesday night, dozens of black-and-white Los Angeles Police Department cruisers weaved through the Dodger Stadium parking lot with their red-and-blue lights blazing following the Giants' 8-5 win over the Dodgers. 

But they were met by a sparse gathering because most of the announced crowd of 30,421 had left earlier. The lots were mostly empty nearly 30 minutes after the game had ended. The cops stayed to keep the peace, but it was already well in place.

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-- Baxter Holmes and Helene Elliott

Photo: Dodger Stadium. Credit: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times.