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This week on the podcast we grapple with the dueling facts that the Dodgers lead the majors — or at least did through Tuesday night — in runs scored per game but also have a handful of players who haven’t “clicked yet.”
There’s also the deadened baseball and depressed offensive numbers across the league, which makes some slash lines that might look ghastly in any other recent season, more solidly above average in 2022.
We also talked about the promotion of Ryan Pepiot, as we recorded shortly before his major league debut on Wednesday morning.
With two series and seven games against the Phillies over the next two weekends, there is lots of Dodgers-Phillies trivia in this week’s questions from Craig.
Thanks as always to producer extraordinaire Brian Salvatore for running the ones and twos.
Related reading
- Dodgers sweep Cubs at Wrigley Field.
- LA ties doubles record against Pirates.
- Dodgers offense clicking Tuesday in Pittsburgh, from Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
- Ryan Pepiot’s wild yet scoreless major league debut, from Estevão Maximo.
- David Hood’s profile of Pepiot, from April.
- Other Dodgers starting pitchers to make major league debut in 2000s.
- Anthony Rendon’s home run hitting left-handed, from Rhett Bollinger at MLB.com.
- Game recap of Derek Thompson’s major league debut in 2005, from the Los Angeles Times.
Dodgers rewind
With Pepiot making his major league debut this week, we look back at another pitching debut this century. Left-hander Derek Thompson held his own against the Diamondbacks on May 28, 2005, allowing two runs in five innings, but got a no-decision.
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Thompson was drafted in the first round by Cleveland in 2000 as a supplemental pick for reliever Mike Jackson signing with the Phillies. The Dodgers got Thompson in the 2002 Rule 5 Draft, sending cash to the Cubs for the left-hander. He spent his entire first season with the Dodgers on the injured list after elbow surgery, but then recovered to make the Southern League All-Star team with Double-A Jacksonville in 2004.
With Odalis Pérez and Elmer Dessens injured in May 2005, the Dodgers called up Thompson for his major league debut at age 24. Buddy Carlyle was sent to Triple-A as the corresponding roster move.
Thompson made three starts with the Dodgers, pitching five innings in each game, allowing a total of seven runs. He left two games with a chance to earn a win, but both leads were blown by the bullpen. After a relief appearance of three scoreless innings, Thompson’s season was over, needing Tommy John surgery.
He would never pitch in the majors nor minors again. Thompson’s 3.50 ERA was second-best among the 20 pitchers who appeared in a game for the 2005 Dodgers.
Podcast links
Episode link (time: 55:08)
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