Dan Connolly

Around The Beat: OCR’s Plunkett on Dodgers, Kershaw, Bud Norris and the ultimate Mexican shopping trip

By Dan Connolly

Posted on July 4, 2016

The Orioles haven’t played at Dodger Stadium since 2004, when they were swept in three games. The only other time the two clubs met in Los Angeles was in the 1966 World Series. That one turned out OK for the Orioles.

These teams haven’t faced each other at all since 2013, when the Orioles won two of three at Camden Yards.

This Dodgers club is a little different than that one, but it still has the highest payroll in baseball. About a third of it, though, is on the disabled list.

The biggest name on the shelf is Clayton Kershaw, arguably baseball’s best pitcher, who was placed on the disabled list Friday with a mild disk herniation in his back. The Orioles won’t have to face him, but they have an interesting trio to battle of starting pitchers in the three-game series that begins Monday night: 19-year-old sensation Julio Urias, Japanese import Kenta Maeda and former Oriole Bud Norris, who was acquired last week from Atlanta.

In this week’s “Around The Beat,” I preview the Orioles-Dodgers series with longtime baseball writer Bill Plunkett, who covers the Dodgers for the Orange County Register.

Plunkett explains what the primary sentiment is in LA regarding the solid but unspectacular Dodgers. He breaks down the importance of Kershaw’s health to the Dodgers’ playoff chances and what the team needs to do at the trade deadline.

He also gives some insight into the Dodgers’ two young phenoms, Urias and shortstop Corey Seager – be prepared to hear the name of an Orioles’ legend in that part of the conversation – and what the expectations are for Norris in Los Angeles.

Plunkett leaves us with a story about one of the greatest Mexican shopping trips ever – certainly one in which Tequila was not part of the equation. So give it a whirl.