Chapter 12: 2013, Send Uribe, Puig, and money
The Dodgers exit the McCourt Era and they have money, but they can't buy everything
The 2010, 2011, and 2012 seasons were bad times for Dodgers fans. The team’s poor financial status was laid out by the messiness of the McCourt divorce. Fans had to pay attention to Bankruptcy Court proceedings in Delaware. And during this time, the team’s hated rivals, the San Francisco Giants won the World Series not once, but TWICE!
But midway in the 2012 season, the Guggenheim Partners bought the team from Frank McCourt and Mark Walter became the public head of the company. Walter and his insanely wealthy partners kept a fairly low profile and let minority stake owners like Magic Johnson do more of the publicity work.
The 2013 Dodgers added two new pitchers, former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke and Korean lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu. Combined with Clayton Kerhsaw, who would win his second Cy Young Award that year, the Dodgers had a formidale rotation. Kenley Jansen finallly managed to wrest the closer role away from Brandon League, whom manager Don Mattingly had a strange fixation with.
On June 3, the Dodgers were in last place in the NL West and 7 ½ games. out of first. The organization called up 22-year old Cuban outfielder Yasiel Puig. The Dodgers won that day 2-1 with Puig going 2 for 4. The next night, Puig was 3 for 4 with a double and a homer and 5 RBI. The Dodgers won 9-7.
The Dodgers started to get hot. From June 22 through August 17, the Dodgers had the best 50-game stretch in MLB history, going 42-8. They were leading the divsion by 8 ½ games when that stretch ended. They ended up winning the division by 11 games. The Dodgers were the only team in the NL West record with a winning record at 92-70.
Atlanta was the Dodgers first round opponent in the playoffs. The Dodgers led the series 2-1 and Mattingly brough back Kershaw on short rest to close out the series in Game 4. But the ace was not quite as sharp and could only last six innings. Atlanta led 3-2 in the eighth after scoring. a run off of Ronald Belisario. Shutdown closer Craig Kimbrel was readying for a two-inning save.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez decided against bringing Kimbrel in early and used set up man David Carpenter. Puig led off with a double. That brought up third baseman Juan Uribe, who had a good year after struggling badly in his first two. Mattingly called on Uribe to bunt. He fouled off his first two attempts. The count went to 2-2 and Uribe sent the fifth pitch of the at bat deep into left field. The Dodgers won the game 4-3 to close out the series.
The Cardinals were the NLCS opponent. The series trajectory changed in the first inning when Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly1 drilled shortstop Hanley Ramirez in the rib cage with a pitch. This would later turn out to be a rib fracture and Ramriez was hampered for the rest of the series.
The Dogers lost the first two games in agonizingly close fashion: 3-2 in 13 innings and 1-0. They won 2 of 3 at Dodger Stadium and had Kershaw ready for Game 6 on full rest.
However, Kershaw was battered for 7 runs in 4 innings of work, while the Dodgers could manage just two hits off Michael Wacha and two relievers. The Cardinals won 9-0.
Tbe Narrative now stated that it was a given that Clayton Kershaw could not pitch well in the postseason. And the Dodgers were a set of mismatched parts that could never be as successful as the finely crafted Cardinals, who could seemingly develop pitchers at will.
2013 also was the start of the Dodgers ongoing domination of the National League West. With the exception of 2021 (when the Dodgers would lose the division by one game to the Giants), the Dodgers have treated the National League West as mostly just a warmup act for the playoffs. But every year has still been a saga.
The 2013-14 seasons have an excellent book written about them, The Best Team That Money Can Buy by Molly Knight. You can read her current work at the Long Game.
For resaons that have little to do with his performance, Joe Kelly has become one of the most popular Dodgers.
I haven't been to a lot of playoff games but I was lucky enough to attend both 2013 NLDS games and the Uribe homer is the greatest moment I've ever witnessed in person. To this day I can still feel the stadium shaking.
Is each Dodgers game like a novella, while every season is like a saga?