Justin Turner wins Roy Campanella Award for 3rd time in 4 years

For the third time in four years, Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner won the Roy Campanella Award, given annually to the player who “best exemplifies the spirit and leadership” of the Hall of Fame catcher.

The award carries special weight since it is voted on by the team and coaching staff.

“Your peers, and your respect from them is really important, and that’s what players take away when they’re done playing,” manager Dave Roberts said Saturday.

Turner is also the Dodgers’ nominee for the 2020 Roberto Clemente Award, which honors players for performance both on the field and off.

In the 15-year history of the Campanella Award, Turner is the only player to win it three times, having also done so in 2017 and 2019. The other two-time winners are Clayton Kershaw (2013-14) and Chase Utley (2016, 2018).

Kershaw presented Turner with the award on the field at Dodger Stadium before Saturday night’s game against the Angels, and was presented on video by Joni Campanella Roan, Roy’s daughter.

“Justin just understands what it means not only to be a professional athlete and baseball player, to have a platform and do things the right way, but also what it means to be a Dodger,” Roberts said. “When you’re talking about how you go about your day-to-day preparing, making people better, playing the game the right way, he just encompasses all of it.”

Links & notes

The Dodgers will play the No. 8 seed in the wild card round. Heading into Sunday, four teams could potentially end up in that spot — Brewers, Cardinals, Giants, and even the Phillies. Andrew Simon of MLB.com breaks down the scenarios.

The Dodgers, at 42-17, will do no worse than tie their best 60-game start since moving to Los Angeles. The 1974 team began 42-18. Only four Brooklyn teams had better 60-game starts: 1899 (45-15), 1955 (45-15), 1952 (44-16), and 1942 (43-17).

Edwin Ríos could be an X-factor for the Dodgers in the postseason, Jon Weisman writes at Dodger Thoughts. Ríos added a home run on Saturday after this was written.

Turner wore cleats on Saturday night honoring Kobe and Gigi Bryant:

Here are some photos from Saturday night’s power outage in between the sixth and seventh innings: