Milwaukee, WI
Alexander: A Dodgers’ crisis, or just a small sample size?
LOS ANGELES – Too soon to panic, Dodger fans?
It’s probably fair to suggest that the past week, when the Dodgers were 3-4, lost two games off an 8½-game division lead and had their starting pitchers compile a 9.00 ERA in those seven games, represented a short sample size in a long season rather than a troubling trend.
Calm down, folks. Crisis averted. For now.
James Paxton made it through five innings Saturday, reinventing himself as he goes. And some late inning thunder and a managerial move that almost backfired but didn’t – we’ll explain – gave the Dodgers a 5-3 win over Milwaukee, the NL Central leader, and cinched their first series win in over a week.
If you’re seeking a reason why spirits have been so down – or at least up and down – among certain segments of the fan base, here’s a hint: The first 12 questions manager Dave Roberts fielded in his pre-game briefing Saturday involved injury updates. Among the revelations: Max Muncy has stopped swinging the bat in his rehab process, because the oblique injury that has kept him out of the Dodgers’ lineup since May 15 just won’t allow him to do so freely.
“Everything he does, turning and rotating, is good except swinging the bat,” Roberts said.
Given that swinging the bat is what Muncy does best, and is not only his best contribution to a Dodgers lineup but creates a giant chasm when he’s not in it, that’s a problem.
Go down the list. Clayton Kershaw has another simulated game lined up Sunday, as he tries to regain momentum after a slight rehab setback of his own. Joe Kelly is getting hitters out for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes but is probably still at least a couple more outings away from returning. MVP candidate Mookie Betts, recovering from a broken left hand, is doing some baseball-type activities but is still a few weeks away – and he, too, can’t swing a bat yet. (But his appearance in the Dodgers’ TV booth Wednesday night suggested he could have a post-career future in the booth if he wants it).
Meanwhile, relievers Brusdar Graterol and Ryan Brasier are still working out at Camelback Ranch, Michael Grove and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are in various stages of their rehabs … and the list goes on. The upshot: A team that still has a healthy division lead also has plenty of needs as the July 30 trading deadline approaches. Clearly, $1.1 billion doesn’t guarantee health.
Layered over all of this is the realization, within the organization as well as among its fan base, that the only achievement that means anything has to come in October.
So on social media, our current bastion of learned discourse, Dodger fans are chill, nobody’s suggesting any outlandish trades and Roberts isn’t getting hammered for his in-game decisions, right?
Right??
Hey, if you allow it to, following baseball can be a nightly nervous breakdown.
To be sure, Roberts gave the wannabe managers more ammunition Saturday. Nursing a 3-2 lead, he used Daniel Hudson in the sixth, Blake Treinen in the seventh and normal closer Evan Phillips in the eighth, guessing that Phillips could handle the middle of the order in that inning and Alex Vesia could pitch the ninth for the save. Roberts had done so at the start of the last road trip against the woeful White Sox and got away with it.
This time, Christian Yelich sent a 2-2 pitch into the net above the kids’ play area in dead center field off Phillips to tie the game 3-3.
But Roberts ultimately got away with it again. Miguel Vargas pinch-hit for Gavin Lux leading off the bottom of the eighth and hit a paint-scraper that just cleared the left field fence to break the tie. Two hitters later Shohei Ohtani left no doubt with his 28th homer of the year, a 430-foot cannon blast (one estimated foot longer than Yelich’s). And Vesia retired the Brewers in order in the ninth, so what could the critics say?
“It was a right, left, right” situation, Roberts said afterward, given that righties William Contreras and Willy Adames bookended the left-handed Yelich. You could make the counter argument that the dominant hitter in the eighth, Yelich, was left-handed, while right-handed Rhys Hoskins – who had already homered in the fourth Saturday, after hitting a grand slam Friday night – was likely due up in the ninth.
“I feel confident with Alex versus either, but I think that for me, just having the righty on Contreras and Adames, I like that,” Roberts said. “And, you know, (Phillips) had count leverage on Yelich (it was 2-2) and left a sweeper middle, middle. But if I had to do it over again, I’d do the same thing.”
Footnote: Vesia struck out Hoskins on a 2-2 slider to start the ninth.
Meanwhile, maybe Paxton provided a sliver of hope by battling his way through five innings and 83 pitches and leaving with a 3-2 lead.
He acknowledged he’s not the same pitcher he was before Tommy John surgery in 2021, and Saturday he was working with a four-seam fastball that topped out at 93.9 mph and averaged 92.8, a couple of ticks below his 93.3 average for the year. He’s thrown mostly four-seamers and knuckle curves this season, with a few changeups and very few cutters (Saturday he threw two). Three years ago he was throwing the cutter nearly 30 percent of the time according to Baseball Savant; this year, less than four percent.
“I think I’m just evolving as a pitcher,” he said. “You know, my stuff isn’t what it used to be, but I’m pitching differently, pitching to weak contact, and still trying to give us a chance to win.
“I kind of figure it out as I go.”
That’s sort of the way baseball works in general. In this case, they’ll be figuring it out not only on the field and in the dugout but in the executive suite as July 30 approaches.
Meanwhile, after this series the Dodgers head to Philadelphia to play the team with baseball’s best record. So if your daily mood depends on the previous night’s results, you might want to hold on tight for a while.
jalexander@scng.com
MILWAUKEE — As Venezuela continues to recover from devastating earthquakes, support from Milwaukee’s “United for Venezuela Emergency Relief Campaign” is soon heading to the disaster-stricken country.
The basement of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church is filled to the brim with donations ticketed for Venezuela, the culmunation of a week of community generosity.
From food to clothing and toys, the outpouring has been remarkable said Father Norberto Sandoval, who is from Venezuela and serves as associate pastor of Blessed Sacrament.
“This [has been] overwhelming,” said Sandoval. “I mean, if you can see [the basement], you were able to get in on Monday. Now we [are not] able to walk.”
(Spectrum News 1/Blake Dietz)
Aura Escobar, who is also from Venezuela, has been doing whatever she can to help her home country, including packing donations. She described the support from friends, coworkers, and strangers as something special to witness.
“In my Venmo, I had three thousand dollars in less than 24 hours,” Escobar said. “And I was able to buy stuff to donate. It’s been amazing. It’s very heartwarming to have so many people that care about Venezuela.”
Due to limited storage capacity and the logistical planning required to transport the supplies to those who need them most, organizers have decided to stop accepting donations after Friday afternoon.
“We have more than a thousand boxes right now. We are expecting two semi-trucks either to move [Friday] in the afternoon or tomorrow,” Sandoval said.
(Spectrum News 1/Blake Dietz)
He acknowledged that corruption in times of trauma is a long-standing concern in Venezuela. For that reason, the trucks will take the local donations to Miami, where a Venezuelan organization he fully trusts will handle the final distribution.
“We have already the person and it’s going to be [done] free. It’s going to be directly to a group of religious groups in Venezuela. So, in that way people will get the donations,” he said.
Sandoval and other organizers are putting out one final plea for volunteers to help load the semi-trucks on Friday and Saturday.
Video circulating this week shows masked federal agents in Milwaukee arresting people. City leaders say the face coverings violate a city ordinance — but whether federal agents are required to follow local ordinances is a legal question that may ultimately be decided by a federal judge.
RELATED | Father with no criminal record detained by ICE on Milwaukee’s south side, family says
Local attorney Russell Jones said the answer depends on the specific ordinance and what federal authorities are doing.
“The issue becomes whether or not the local ordinances interfere with the operations of the federal officers acting under federal law. If it does, federal law will supersede it. Right, it’s the supremacy clause of the Constitution. If it doesn’t interfere with their operations, then typically they will follow those ordinances. So that’s really the question: do the ordinances interfere with the legitimate operations of the federal agency?” Jones explained.
For the past week, masked federal agents have been seen in Wisconsin arresting people they say are in the country illegally.
Watch: Do federal agents have to follow Milwaukee’s face covering and park ordinances?
Do federal agents have to follow Milwaukee’s face covering and park ordinances?
Galo Suarez described one encounter.
“They broke our side window, and they told us that if we didn’t comply, we would face several heavy consequences,” Suarez said.
Images have also surfaced of what appear to be federal agents in Milwaukee County parks.
Federal agents wearing masks and being in county parks, according to city and county leaders, are against local ordinances.
Milwaukee’s city ordinance prohibits law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings. A Milwaukee County ordinance prohibits any law enforcement agency from using a park as a staging area without a permit.
When asked whether a resolution to the legal question was possible now, Jones said it likely falls to the courts.
“That’s a question that eventually probably some federal judge will answer,” Jones said.
Before the city’s face covering ordinance was passed, City Attorney Evan Goyke wrote in a memo that “it is legal and enforceable.”
Enforcement of the ordinance would fall to Milwaukee Police, who earlier this week said they have “requested a formal written legal opinion from the city attorney’s office regarding the ordinance’s applicability and enforceability.” TMJ4 News reached out to Goyke on this and is waiting to hear back.
ICE has already stated it “will not abide by unconstitutional bans,” noting that “ICE officers wear face coverings for one reason: to protect themselves and their families from real-world threats including agitators.”
Jones said the practical challenge of enforcing a local ordinance against federal officers adds another layer of complexity.
“Enforcing a local ordinance right is typically done with an arrest or issuing a ticket, and certainly arresting ICE officers would interfere with their operations,” Jones added. “Ultimately, a federal judge will decide if these ordinances interfere with federal operations, and if they do, they will be superseded by federal law, and if they don’t, then ICE would likely have to follow them.”
This story was reported on-air by Jenna Rae and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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A hospital bed. That was the only thing that could stop Dominique Paul Noth from doing a review.
An ice storm tried a couple of years ago, coming to Milwaukee the same night as a dance recital. It failed. When he could no longer drive and gave up his license, one of his children would take him, or he’d Uber to a performance. That was his level of dedication.
Then, one month before his passing, Noth, stuck in a hospital bed and hooked up to an oxygen tank, acquiesced, calling his editor to inform him he would not be able to review Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None.” For the first time in his 60 years as an arts critic in Milwaukee, the show would go on without him.
“He was not happy about it,” his son Vincent said.
“It’s something I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do before,” added Paul, the third oldest Noth’s nine children.
Noth, who influenced Milwaukee’s discussion of culture and the arts for close to six decades, died on June 26 at 84 years old. He had advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated by heart failure.
Conceived while his parents were escaping the Nazis in France, Noth was born in New York in 1942. He moved to Milwaukee as a teenager and went to Marquette University, where he fell in love with the arts.
Noth graduated in 1963, and worked in New York for three years before being hired by the Milwaukee Journal, where he worked in a variety of positions for three decades. Starting as a copy editor, he soon made a switch to news writing before becoming a film and drama critic.
He kept rising, becoming an arts and senior features editor, working on the publication’s beloved Green Sheet in the 1970’s. Noth stayed at the newspaper long enough to serve as the first online news producer for the merged Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In the 1970’s and 80’s, he also taught a film course at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After leaving the Journal Sentinel, he served as editor-in-chief of The Milwaukee Labor Press for a decade before becoming a contributing theater and culture critic for Urban Milwaukee.
Noth’s writing earned numerous honors, including nine gold medals from The Milwaukee Press Club for Best Critic. Never afraid to ruffle feathers with searing reviews, Noth said “the force fizzled” in “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.” He even briefly got himself banned from reviewing a Skylight Theater show in 1974 because of past rhetoric.
“He approached Milwaukee as if it was New York, L.A., Chicago,” said Jeannie Gaffigan, Noth’s oldest daughter. “He really always believed in Milwaukee, and always believed in the arts in Milwaukee.”
His access to subjects often set him apart. Once, when Cary Grant was getting into a taxi to go to the airport, Noth followed the actor into the cab to secure an exclusive interview. He also got a one-on-one with Steven Spielberg by talking his way past security after the filmmaker spurned other media.
Noth juggled working tirelessly with raising a family, and often involved them in his jobs. He would take his children to exclusive, private screenings and even more exclusive interviews. His kids attended his UWM classes, and sat in the Milwaukee Journal offices while he typed his reviews.
He also loved to cook and bake, making everything from scratch.
“I have no idea how he did as much as he did,” son Paul said. “He was able to accomplish a lot.”
Even though his body was not fit to leave the hospital, Noth was able to give his family one final gift before he died. Surrounded by all his kids and many grandkids, Noth went around the room and gave a personalized goodbye to everybody.
“It’s a great blessing,” Paul said, “but it’s also a very emotional, devastating time.”
Noth told them even though he could no longer continue to make the world a better place, he trusted each and every one of them to carry on that legacy.
In that vein, his family established the Dominique Paul Noth Memorial Fund, which is now accepting donations. The fund, according to its website, will be used to support charitable causes that enrich the greater Milwaukee community, foster creativity and education, and strengthen civic life.
A celebration of life for Noth will begin at 2 p.m. on August 2 at Turner Hall, followed by a memorial tribute at 4 p.m.
Jack Albright can be reached at JAlbright@usatodayco.com.
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