Series Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers Fun Wikipedia Facts

MILWAUKEE BREWERS @ LOS ANGELES DODGERS

Tuesday, May 4, 2010, @ 9:10 p.m. (CDT)

Chris Narveson (1-0, 6.60) vs. Clayton Kershaw (1-1, 3.07)

 

Wednesday, May 5, 2010, @ 9:10 p.m. (CDT)

Doug Davis (0-3, 8.87) vs. Chad Billingsley
(2-1, 4.85)

 

Thursday, May 6, 2010, @ 9:10 p.m. (CDT)

     Dave Bush (1-2, 4.60) vs. John Ely (0-1, 7.50)

Good news for the Brewers as Manny Ramirez is on the DL and won't play against Milwaukee this series.

Here are some quick, basic stats on the Dodgers thus far this year:
Current Record: 11-14
Runs Scored: 131
Runs Allowed: 133
Best Batting Average: Manny Ramirez (.415)
Best OBP: Manny Ramirez (.500)
Best SLG: Andre Ethier (.729)
Most HR: Andre Ethier (9)
Most RBI: Andre Ethier (26)
Most Strikeouts (Hitter): Matt Kemp (26)
Most Strikeouts (Pitcher): Clayton Kershaw (33)
Most Walks (Pitcher): Clayton Kershaw (22)
Best ERA: Jonathon Broxton (0.00)
Best ERA+: Carlos Monasterios (224)

Wikipedia facts following the jump

These are all the fun facts about the Dodgers that I found reading their wikipedia pages.

• Former Brewer Ronnie Belliard once had a man try to extort him for $150,000 for supposedly impregnating the mans daughter
• Reed Johnson is the bastard who broke our precious Yovani in 2008 and you should boo him mercilessly for that.  Also, he participated in gymnastics when he was a youth. 
  
• For being so long tenured and fairly successful, there's not a lot about the 37 year old Garrett Anderson on his wikipedia page.  He was a three sport athlete in high school--baseball, football, and basketball.
  
• Andre Ethier writes a food blog at Dining with 'Dre. He was also traded to the Dodgers from the Athletics for Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez which, in hindsight, was a steal for LA.
• Clayton Kershaw is the great-nephew of astronomer Clyde Tombaugh.  Tombaugh is credited as the person who discovered Pluto, which isn't a planet.  I have never liked Pluto.
• Similar to me, Casey Blake says that he grows a beard "simply because he does not like to shave."  Blake was also names a top ten athlete in the history of Indiana, where he was a four sport star in high school--baseball, football, basketball, and track.
• Oh.  Also, Blake's beard "also helps camouflage him while participating in one of his favorite hobbies, duck hunting." 
  
• Matt Kemp was high school teammates in basketball with current Celtics forward Shelden Williams.  They won state for their Oklahoma High School their junior year. 
  
• Kemp is nicknamed The Bison after announcer Don Sutton said he looked "like a big buffalo running the bases" after Kemp had stolen second.
• Kemp is also dating pop star Rihanna.
• Ramon Troncoso also goes by the first name of Landestoy because his mothers favorite baseball player was former Dodger Rafael Landestoy.
• George Sherrill "is noted for wearing his hat flat-billed as a statement of independence".  This has led to him gaining some interesting nicknames such as "The Brim Reaper", "Duckbill", "Flat Breezy", and my favorite, "The Gangsta-Redneck".
• Russell Martins dad used to play saxophone in subways in Montreal to help pay for Martins baseball training.  I'd also like to mention, since we had a discussion about mouth pieces the other day, Martin wears one as an aid to quitting smokeless tobacco.
• Chin-lung Hu has the shortest surname in MLB history.
• Brad Ausmus is really old.  He has also been elected into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and is ninth all time in home runs by Jewish players, just behind our very own Ryan Braun.
• Don Mattingly has been mentioned in both The Simpsons and Seinfeld.