Mets' Daniel Murphy Steals 3rd Base, Sucking the Life Out of Dodgers' World Series Hopes (VIDEO)

I frankly didn't know what the heck happened.

But the Dodgers pulled the defense to the right and nobody covered third base after Zack Greinke walked left-hander Lucas Duda.

The play-by-play announcers noted how the crowd at Dodger Stadium was shocked silent. It was a definite turning point and the Dodgers never recovered.

The New York Times' headline captures it perfectly, "Daniel Murphy's Steal Caps Another Lost Dodgers Season."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Did the Dodgers outsmart themselves right out of a title?"

Expectation of Payback Ratchets Up Mets-Dodgers Tension

Well, sensational New York Times stories also "ratchet up" tensions.

Here.

And ICYMI, "Chase Utley's Borderline Legal Slide Might Save Dodgers' Season (VIDEO)."

Chase Utley's Borderline Legal Slide Might Save Dodgers' Season (VIDEO)

Following-up from last night, "Mets' Ruben Tejada Broken Leg on Chase Utley Dirty Slide in 7th Inning — #MetsVsDodgers."

From Bill Plaschke, at LAT, "Chase Utley's slide was late, high and arguably dirty":

The slide was late. The slide was high. The slide was questionably legal and arguably dirty.

Even if you were watching it through blue-colored glasses, you had to admit that the slide was recklessly dangerous, so much that it broke another man's leg.

But after 27 years of frustration, the Dodgers will accept reckless, embrace dangerous, and so on Saturday night they uncomfortably celebrated a slide that won a game, altered a series and may have saved a season.

Eight outs from essentially being knocked out of a National League division series, the Dodgers were desperate for a hit, and so 36-year-old Chase Utley put one on New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada that changed everything.

With one out in the seventh inning, running into second base to break up a double play, Utley threw a late body block into the legs of Tejada, knocking him on his back and breaking his right lower leg.

It was awful, it was ugly, but the Dodgers scored the tying run on the play, and later scored three more runs in the ensuing emotional chaos to take a 5-2 victory to tie the best-of-five series at one game apiece.

The team that has forever fought the reputation for being soft got tough, probably too tough, perhaps cheaply tough, and now they're going to have to fly cross country and defend themselves. The Mets are mad, their fans will be furious, and it's going to be ugly at New York's Citi Field on Monday when the teams meet for Game 3.

It was a costly loss for the Mets, but could wind up being an equally costly victory for the Dodgers....

The slide occurred in the seventh inning with the Dodgers trailing, 2-1. There was one out with Enrique Hernandez on third base and Utley on first after his pinch-hit single.

Out went starter Noah Syndergaard, in came reliever Bartolo Colon, up stepped Howie Kendrick, and here came the fireworks.

Kendrick hit a grounder up the middle that Daniel Murphy flipped to Tejada to start a potential double play. It appeared that Tejada had touched the bag and was preparing to spin to throw to first base even though there was no way he could have thrown out Kendrick. But it turns out, there was no way Utley was going to let him even try.

Utley came into second base sliding high, so high that he essentially threw a block on Tejada's lower body. Utley's head smashed into Tejada's legs. Tejada flipped into the air and landed on his back.

Hernandez scored from third base to tie the score, but the drama wasn't finished. Tejada remained on his back, holding the ball but also unable to move with what was later diagnosed as a broken leg. While a cart was rolling him from the field, the play was reviewed to confirm that Tejada had actually touched second base before the collision. He did not, and Utley remained on second, from where he later scored along with Kendrick on a double by Adrian Gonzalez.

Did Utley's slide cause Tejada's foot to miss the bag? Probably not. But did Utley's hustle force Tejada to rush things? Probably.

"I have a problem with the play on a number of different levels," Mets third baseman David Wright said. "He's running to second base with Ruben's back turned, I don't know what his intent is."

The only thing for certain is that it cost the Mets their starting shortstop and threw a calm Mets ride toward a second consecutive victory into the chaos of a late-inning Dodgers victory.

Mets' Ruben Tejada Broken Leg on Chase Utley Dirty Slide in 7th Inning — #MetsVsDodgers

Harsh.

At SB Nation, "Mets' Ruben Tejada breaks leg on vicious Chase Utley takeout slide."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Mets' Ruben Tejada carted off field after controversial slide," and "Dodgers beat Mets, 5-2, to even the NLDS series after controversial play."

Chase Utley should have been called out, and Howie Kendrick as well. No runs should have scored. Rule 6.01 (6) pic.twitter.com/jS2MUOdJo2

— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) October 11, 2015

Dirty slides have been happening all season, all postseason, really throughout time. Rule against them is hardly ever enforced.

— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) October 11, 2015

Here's Pedro Martinez, speaking on TBS about Chase Utley's takeout slide Saturday. pic.twitter.com/HJwhvwgM19

— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) October 11, 2015

Chase Utley's dirty take-out slide dooms Mets as Dodgers even series http://t.co/y0yKWPJPYs pic.twitter.com/6OgtNeLr7H

— New York Post (@nypost) October 11, 2015

Hey #Mets fans, there's no crying in baseball. Quit yer bitchin'. #MetsVsDodgers

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) October 11, 2015

Freakin' Jacob deGrom Smokes Dodgers in Game 1 of NLDS (VIDEO)

From Bill Shaiken last night on Twitter, "Jacob deGrom's 97th pitch was 97 mph."

I tweeted this morning, "My gosh did you see the Mets' pitcher deGrom? That dude smoked the #Dodgers."

And now at the New York Times, "Straight Out of Hollywood: The New Guy Outpitches the Ace":

LOS ANGELES — Rawboned and gangling, he peered peek-a-boo over his glove, rocked and curled the ball behind his head. Sucking his lips hard against his teeth, he spun toward the plate, his right leg kicking up behind him, his hair a whirling dervish mop of locks.

All evening Friday, Jacob deGrom executed this delivery, tossing that most intriguing pitch: the seemingly effortless 97-98 miles per hour fastball. Some skidded sideways, others slithered downward. When for punctuation he tossed a couple of 3-2 changeups, the effect on the batters was almost unfair.

He completed seven innings, striking out 13 and walking just one. He gave up five hits. The Mets won, 3-1.

This was movie-set baseball playoffs on Friday evening. Fringed by palm trees and hills, Dodger Stadium sits against the backdrop of the San Gabriels, which turn red-hued as the sun sets. Add an autumnal heat wave, and the baseball crackled.

The Mets’ prospects did not look promising. The Dodgers started Clayton Kershaw, who is the arch deacon of National League pitchers. Zack Greinke will follow Saturday evening. Together they form the most fearsome pitching duo in the league.

The Mets’ young arms are formidable; their pitchers throw with microwave-dialed-high intensity. But Kershaw had been near unhittable of late. His style is sui generis. He stares samurai style into space somewhere over first base. Then he stretches his arms high over his head, like a cat in full stretch, and turns to the plate and unfolds a halting delivery. He has perhaps eight pitches, which arrive at speeds of between 97 and 74 miles per hour.

If you sit on his fastball, Kershaw’s changeup or sweeping curve can all but pull your shoulders out of sockets.

The Mets’ center fielder, Yoenis Cespedes, looking fashionable in his radioactive lime-green hitting sleeve, settled into the batter’s box in the first inning. Kershaw gave him a 96 m.p.h. hello. Two more strikes followed and Cespedes took a seat back in the dugout.

In his home stadium and throwing well, Kershaw should have been the story of the night.

But deGrom offered his own flip of that script. Friday’s matchup played as The Kid against the Ace; in fact, deGrom, 27, is just three months younger than Kershaw. His path to the majors had been as winding and tangled as Kershaw’s was straightforward.

DeGrom’s career plays as an improbable dice roll of chance, and a study in the tenuous nature of success for a pitcher. He played shortstop in college and only then turned to pitching. His statistics offered no hint of dominance.

The Mets drafted him in the ninth round. “We liked his attitude, and he was an athlete,” the Mets’ former general manager Omar Minaya said recently. “But you take a kid in the ninth round of the draft, you can’t claim you saw it all play out.”

The Mets’ staff is thick with golden boys. Their blond giant Noah Syndergaard got a signing bonus of $600,000 from the Toronto Blue Jays. Matt Harvey, the erstwhile Dark Knight, signed for a cool $2.5 million. (The Dodgers signed Kershaw to a bonus of $2.3 million.)

DeGrom signed for $95,000. The Mets packed him off to rural Tennessee and after six not-terribly-impressive starts he tore his ulnar collateral ligament. He embarked on a year of anonymous rehabilitation.

Somehow, improbably, his fastball gained a foot of hop. The kid who threw 93 now touches 98 m.p.h.. And he became a more polished pitcher; Johan Santana, who was rehabbing his shoulder, taught him to throw a changeup. He also broke a finger castrating a calf, which set him back. He finally made it to the majors last year, at age 26. Kershaw pitched his first season at age 20.

DeGrom throws with an insistent urgency, as if intent on wasting no more time...

Keep reading.

And see Bill Plaschke, at LAT, "Dodgers' Don Mattingly makes right call to pull Clayton Kershaw."

Vin Scully to Return for 67th Season as Dodgers' Announcer

Wow.

He's getting up there too, at about 87 years.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Dodgers' Vin Scully to return in 2016."

Cubs Fan Holding His Baby Catches Foul Ball, Interference Called

Heh.

Adrian Gonzales had a sure out.

At the Chicago Tribune, "Cubs fan nabs foul while bottle-feeding his infant son."

Also at MLB, "Video: Dodgers challenge ball in play."

Well, if you are going to rob a player of a catch, at least do it with style. (via @Dodgers) pic.twitter.com/Yw6D9FNV4i

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 24, 2015

With Collapse of Comcast-Time Warner Deal, Dodgers Fans Still Shutout

It's becoming a protest movement.

At LAT, "For Dodgers fans, the TV shutout continues":

For Dodgers fans, the long wait to see games televised again may be headed into extra innings.

An estimated 70% of Los Angeles-area households don't get the SportsNet LA channel that carries Dodgers games. That situation was expected to be corrected if Comcast Corp.'s planned $45-billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable had succeeded.

With that merger officially pronounced dead Friday, the prospects of a deal to carry the games on other cable and satellite providers were as murky as ever.

"There's no end in sight," said David Carter, executive director of the USC Marshall Sports Business Institute. "There does not appear to be an easy workaround to get this thing done."

With few exceptions, televised Dodgers games can be seen only by customers of Time Warner Cable, which agreed to pay $8.35 billion over 25 years for the rights to distribute the Dodgers-owned SportsNet LA.

Its rivals, including DirecTV and Charter Communications, have refused to pay what they say are excessive fees to carry the games. The standoff began last season and has carried over into the current one.

On Friday, Time Warner Cable chief Robert D. Marcus said he would like to resume talks with other providers.

"It takes willing parties in order to make a deal, and we haven't had much luck getting any of the major distributors to the negotiating table so that we can have productive conversations," Marcus said. "But we are ready, willing and able to have those discussions. We'd love to have the games in front of Dodger fans as soon as we can."

But any kind of resolution is still out of reach as long as pay-TV operators that also include Verizon FiOS, AT&T and Cox Communications continue to bristle at the cost of the channel. Time Warner Cable has asked other cable and satellite TV companies to pay as much as $4.90 a month per subscriber for SportsNet LA, according to industry consulting firm SNL Kagan.

Time Warner Cable and Guggenheim Baseball Management, which owns the Dodgers, overestimated consumer interest and underestimated resistance from other pay-TV operators.

If Comcast had succeeded in acquiring Time Warner Cable, it was expected to cut the price and swallow any losses — partly to curry customer goodwill, and partly because its greater financial clout and assets would have made it easier to horse-trade with DirecTV, the nation's second-largest pay-TV provider.

That could still happen if a new potential buyer, such as Charter, succeeded in acquiring Time Warner Cable...

More.

And for the workaround, "Dodgers fans find ways around local blackout."

Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez Hits Three Home Runs Against Padres

Sweet.

At LAT, "Adrian Gonzalez is riding a home-run wave as Dodgers head to Arizona," and "Believe it or not: Adrian Gonzalez says he's no home run hitter."

Dodgers Failures Go Right to the Top

From Bill Plaschke, at the Los Angeles Times, "There's enough blame to go around for this Dodgers debacle":

From ownership on down, the Dodgers failed their fans and themselves...changes, big changes, are surely coming...

— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) October 8, 2014

For the 26th consecutive Dodgers season, the World Series won't be coming to town, and something needs to be said, and those words need to intially be about Walter and the ownership group, for this massive failure begins with them.

Guggenheim [Baseball Management] shamelessly hid the Dodgers from their fans this summer with a money grab from Time Warner Cable that prevented the team from being on television in 70% of Los Angeles households. Yet, for all the riches of that $8.35-billion contract, they refused to allow the trading of prospects for one simple arm that could have saved the Dodgers in October.

An effective starting pitcher would have prevented Kershaw from throwing Tuesday on three days' rest in a game in which he wearily gave up Matt Adams' three-run home run on his 102nd pitch.

An effective middle reliever would have allowed Manager Don Mattingly to relieve Kershaw not only before Adam's home run, but also before Matt Carpenter's three-run double sank Kershaw in the seventh inning of the series opener.

The team with the richest payroll in baseball history turned out to be a beautifully detailed Cadillac without any tires, a $240-million clunker that couldn't even finish the first October lap.

The failure continues with the baseball people, and that means General Manager Ned Colletti, who sat on a couch in the clubhouse early Friday evening and winced.

"It's always hard when you don't win,'' he said. "It tears me up.''

Colletti will take most of the heat here for failure to work within his bosses' philosophical constraints to somehow put together a group of decent relief pitchers. He is the one who rested the bullpen's future in the veteran arms of former All-Star closers Brian Wilson, Brandon League and Chris Perez, yet only two of the three even made the postseason roster, and neither Wilson nor League were trustworthy enough to use.

"It wasn't our bullpen that cost us this series," Colletti said. "Could they have been better? Sure, but when you have left-handed Cardinal hitters doing what they do, that's unreal.''

More.

VIDEO: Dodgers-Cards Benches Clear After Yasiel Puig Hit by Pitch in 3rd Inning of #NLDS Game 1

A rough outing for the Dodgers yesterday.

At LAT, "Clayton Kershaw shanks it again for Dodgers in 10-9 loss to Cardinals."

And at USA Today, "Yasiel Puig hit by Adam Wainwright, benches clear."

So, I Was Able to Find Fox Sports 1 for the #NLDS

I couldn't find it at first, which would have been a bummer, especially since the Dodgers had been blocked out of basic cable all season.

I checked the Fox Sports website, "Find FOX Sports 1 on your TV."

And see LAT, "TV schedule for rest of Dodgers-Cardinals division series announced."

Dispute Over #Dodgers Games Could Be Defining Moment in Sports Programming

I've been bummed about this all season, as regular readers will recall, but what are you going to do? I get Cox Communications, and they're not budging in negotiations.

I blame the Dodgers personally, and I know they're taking a lot of heat from the fans. The owners aren't pleased, for sure, but the gods of corporate profit must be appeased. No baseball at all otherwise.

A great piece, at the Los Angeles Times, "Dodgers remain off most TVs in L.A. as dispute continues":

The Dodgers are in first place in their division and gunning for a berth in the World Series in October. But as the second half of the season begins Friday, most local fans aren't able to watch any of it on television.

Off the field no progress has been made in the standoff between Time Warner Cable, which is distributing the new Dodgers-owned channel SportsNet LA, and area pay-TV providers including DirecTV, Dish Network, Charter Communications and Cox Communications.

"It is unlikely that we are going to get a deal done," David Rone, president of Time Warner Cable Sports, acknowledged for the first time this week.

Dodgers President Stan Kasten called the situation "extremely troubling" and urged everyone to "return to the table to continue to work to try to make a deal as quickly as possible."

Before the start of the 162-game season, many observers expected that pressure from fans would force the pay-TV providers to the negotiating table, or face mass defections. That's what usually has happened in the past. But not this time.

Instead, Time Warner Cable and the providers are deadlocked in what could become a definitive moment for the world of sports programming, as the industry realizes that exorbitantly priced television deals can backfire...

Keep reading.

Indians at #Dodgers

I'm heading out to Chavez Ravine with my youngest boy for tonight's game.

Blogging should resume late night or in the morning, depending how beat I am.

The #Dodgers welcome Cleveland to Chavez Ravine at 7:10 PT. Preview: http://t.co/OSCNOvjmAG pic.twitter.com/dvuHR3Obc3

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 30, 2014

#Dodgers lineup vs. Indians: Gordon 2B Puig RF Gonzalez 1B Kemp LF Ethier CF Uribe 3B Ellis C Rojas SS Haren P

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 30, 2014

Clayton #Kershaw's No-Hitter Was MLB's All-Time Best

At LAT, "NO ONE BETTER: Why Clayton Kershaw's no-hitter was MLB's all-time best":

Belly up and plant a flag, because there's no way of settling this debate. Still, it doesn't mean that an argument can't be made that Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday provided baseball with its greatest pitching performance.

Not this season, but ever. As in the history of the game. Impossible to prove? Sure, but not to argue. It's all subjective, especially when you mix eras and different ballparks.

But consider this: Kershaw no-hit the Rockies while striking out 15 and not walking a single batter.

There have been 283 no-hitters in baseball history, but Kershaw is the only one to have at least 15 strikeouts and no walks.

Only one other pitcher has even thrown a no-hitter with at least 15 strikeouts. Nolan Ryan managed it in three of his record seven no-hitters, but accompanied them with walks of four, eight and two.

Kershaw was a model of precision Wednesday. He needed only 107 pitches. He averaged less than four pitches per batter. Only one batter made it to a three-ball count...

Keep reading.

And be sure to watch the clip, which splices together Vin Scully's comments on Kershaw's no-hitter.

Plus, more on the bugaboo of the season, the cable blackout, from Chris Erskine, "Dodgers blackout should be lifted for Clayton Kershaw's no-hit replay."

Dodgers, #Angels Have Mixed Reaction to Tobacco After Death of Tony Gwynn

I guess Tony Gwynn attributed his cancer to smokeless tobacco.

I thought "What the heck?" when I heard he'd passed. He was only 54.

In any case, at the Los Angeles Times:

For many players, the use of smokeless tobacco becomes entwined with playing the game. It becomes difficult to imagine baseball without it.

I can see that. But times are changing.

In any case, read it all at that link.

Los Angeles @Dodgers: Out of Sight Is Out of Mind

The Dodgers have never been my favorite home team, but they had a very enjoyable season last year and I was looking forward to 2014. And then along came that cursed Time-Warner cable contract. Now 70 percent of the greater L.A. market can't get the Dodgers on their cable box. It's definitely hurting the team.

Here's Jim Peltz, at the Los Angeles Times, "Dodgers have faded from view on TV; will they fade from fans' hearts?"

And from Bill Plaschke, there's plenty of blame to go around, "Dodgers are out of sight, could become out of mind":

This is the worst season to be a Dodgers fan thanks to Time Warner #SportsNetFaiLA

— Taryn L (@InTransit74) May 12, 2014

The issue has been well-documented and there is clearly enough blame for everyone, greed by some, gluttony by others, villains everywhere.

The Dodgers are the biggest bad guys because, by taking $8.35 billion from Time Warner Cable and insisting on starting their own channel — SportsNet LA — they made it nearly impossible for that channel to find distribution at a price that Time Warner Cable could accept. The Dodgers could have signed a new deal with Prime Ticket for slightly less money but with a much higher probability that pay-TV operators would have continued carrying the existing channel. They would not have had their own channel, but at least that channel would have been seen.

The next villain is Time Warner Cable, which seriously overpaid, perhaps because it seriously misjudged the Los Angeles fan culture and thought this transition would be similar to the quick implementation of the Lakers channel a couple of years ago. Wrong. The Dodgers are not as big as the Lakers, and the Dodgers fans are not the Lakers fans, who lost their minds and used their wallets and essentially forced the pay-TV operators to carry the channel after only a few missed games. There is no such mass fleeing from the likes of DirecTV. The onus is now on Time Warner Cable to sell what is essentially an overpriced product.

"We sold the rights to a gigantic corporation, it's their job to market the rights and get the distribution," Guber said in the recent interview. "We are not happy that they haven't been able to get the full distribution in our own market that they promised. That's their job. They made the bet."

The final villains are the pay-TV operators who have shunned the Dodgers, if only because they are still charging consumers the same prices as last season when they carried the Dodgers. The contracts are surely murky and complicated but, bottom line, I no longer receive the Dodgers on my television yet my pay-TV operator has yet to give me a refund.

"It's unfortunate most providers have not yet decided to give it to our fans even though they're still charging them for last year's Dodgers coverage," said Stan Kasten, Dodgers president, in an interview Saturday.

It's all unfortunate, such that during the last month I heard several respected local sports authorities wonder whether the Clippers had actually become bigger than the Dodgers. It sounds crazy. It will never happen. But right now, which team has more buzz? There was also fallout felt when Magic Johnson surfaced as a possible new owner of the Clippers. A year ago, the support for his Guggenheim group would have been unquestioned. Now, not so much, with people wondering if that would mean the Clippers would also soon disappear.

If you own a sports team in Southern California, you can refurbish a lineup and a stadium and championship hopes, but none of that matters if that team is not on television. Period.

Or so it would seem.

Time-Warner's 'Dodgers Network' Leaves Most L.A. Fans Out in the Cold

I'm still shaking my head over the decision by the Dodgers' owners to enter into a stupid television deal that's so far been universally panned as unnecessary and fan-unfriendly.

At LAT, "Dodgers channel still not available to much of Los Angeles":

Good news for Dodgers fans. This Sunday's regular-season game against the San Diego Padres is on ESPN, which means everyone with a pay-TV service will be able to see it.

The bad news for Dodgers fans is that Tuesday's game against the Padres is on SportsNet Los Angeles, the team's new channel that is being distributed by Time Warner Cable. Unless there is some last-minute deal-making, subscribers of DirecTV, Charter, Dish, FiOS, Cox and AT&T U-Verse will have to whip out their AM radios to keep up with the action.

Time Warner Cable, which shelled out billions to handle carriage of SportsNet LA, has been unsuccessful at closing deals with other area distributors. Such tense negotiations over sports channels has become commonplace. A few years ago Time Warner Cable didn't complete its distribution deals for SportsNet, the home of the Lakers, until after the regular season started.

DirecTV is the key for the Dodgers and Time Warner Cable. With more than 25% of the market, DirecTV is the second-largest distributor in the area after Time Warner Cable, which has over 30% reach here.

Not everyone can get Time Warner Cable but anyone can subscribe to DirecTV. That's why a deal with the satellite broadcaster would help Time Warner Cable and the Dodgers put pressure on other distributors to sign deals.

Conversely, if all the other distributors agreed to carry the channel, DirecTV would have to sign on or risk a mass desertion.
On Thursday, Dodgers President Stan Kasten said he was not pleased with the SportsNet LA situation.

"I am disappointed that deals haven't been closed yet," Kasten said. "And I have to tell you with the first regular-season game coming on Tuesday, I am now concerned that some fans at the start will not be able to see games. And that's disappointing and it shouldn't be happening."

Also, "For Dodger fans, new channel is a rude awakening," and "Most Dodger fans to be shut out from viewing games on opening day."

Added: WSJ has a big background report, "Pay TV Balks at Price of the Dodgers" (via Google).

Major League Baseball Players Leave Autograph Collectors Scratching Their Heads

I have a 1969 Dodgers autographed baseball in my closet. It's signed by Manager Walt Alston, and pitchers Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen and Don Sutton, and Jim Brewer and Bill Singer; and outfielder Andy Kosco as well --- not to mention some other names I don't recognize. Some of the other signatures are faded or pretty much illegible. A great collector's item, in any case. My dad got it for me. I'll take a couple of pictures of it later.

Meanwhile, here's this at the New York Times, "In an Era of Squiggles, You Can’t Tell the Players Without a Handwriting Analyst":

The walls of the steakhouse at Yankee Stadium are decorated with signatures of past Yankee greats. David Robertson, the team’s young closer, marvels at the fact that he can read the names.

“All the old-time autographs are really neat,” Robertson said. “It’s a lost art.”

Robertson, 28, is the heir to the retired Mariano Rivera, who leaves behind a legacy of brilliance in the bullpen and precision with a pen. Rivera may have spent more time on his signature than any of his peers, meticulously crafting his M’s and R’s and all the lowercase letters that followed.

Few modern players take similar care. In the last generation or so, the classic script of Babe Ruth, Harmon Killebrew and Rivera has largely deteriorated into a mess of squiggles and personal branding.

It is not just baseball, of course. The legible signature, once an indelible mark of personal identity, is increasingly rare in modern life. From President Obama, who sometimes uses an autopen, to patrons at a restaurant, few take the time to carefully sign their names...

Keep reading. Lots of photos of players' signature, mostly illegible. Heh.

2014 Major League Baseball Opens in Sydney, Australia

The Dodgers and the Diamondbacks opened the 2014 today at the Sydney Cricket Grounds, which was transformed for major league baseball.

At SI, "Watch: MLB reinvents historic Sydney Cricket Ground for Opening Day baseball." And, "Dodgers, Diamondbacks go down under for Opening Day in Australia."

And at LAT, "Baseball is a change-up for Sydney Cricket Ground." Plus, "Scott Van Slyke leads Dodgers past Arizona, 3-1, in season opener."