Dodgers notes: Carl Erskine honored at the Hall of Fame this weekend

Longtime Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine will be honored at the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday, as this year’s recipient of the Buck O’Neil Award, an honor that started in 2007 “to honor an individual whose efforts broadened the game’s appeal and whose character, integrity and dignity is comparable to the late O’Neil.”

After Roger Craig’s death on June 4 this year, Erskine is the last remaining living member of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers who played in the World Series that year. Sandy Koufax, who was a rookie that regular season, is the only other member of that team still alive.

Erskine, who pitched in five World Series with the Dodgers, threw two no-hitters for Brooklyn, and threw the first major league pitch in Los Angeles at the Coliseum in 1958, was visited at his home in Anderson, Indiana by Tyler Kepner, who wrote a wonderful profile of Erskine for the New York Times:

There has always been something inviting about Erskine, a welcoming look that draws you in warmly and melts away the decades.

“He’s a 96-year-old guy,” Green says, “with 12-year-old eyes.”

Batters are hitting .286/.390/.514 in 41 plate appearances when Bobby Miller faces a lineup the third time through the order. He faced only one batter a third time through the Mets lineup Sunday — Brandon Nimmo, whose fifth-inning comebacker hit off Miller’s glove, preventing a potential inning-ending double play, instead scoring the game’s first run and knocking Miller out of the game.

Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic wrote about the balance between letting Miller pitch deeper into games while also trying to win games in a tight playoff race. Including this from Dave Roberts:

“This is still in its infancy,” the manager said. “I’m still trying to manage every game. I’m not about development all the time. But as we look out and he continues to throw the ball well and earn opportunities to get deeper in games, he’ll get those chances.”

Mookie Betts on his weekly podcast On Base with Mookie Betts at Bleacher Report talked about his Home Run Derby performance, in which he was eliminated with the lowest score in the first round.