It was on this day in 1964 that Sandy Koufax threw the third no-hitter of his legendary career, blanking the Phillies in a 3-0 result. A fourth-inning walk to Dick Allen was the only blemish on Koufax's record in the game, though that was quickly remedied when Allen was caught stealing. Koufax finished his career with four no-hit games, second only to Nolan Ryan's seven no-nos in baseball history.
Here's the latest on the modern-day Dodgers…
- Three rival general managers tell CBS Sports' Jon Heyman that the Dodgers would have to eat at least half of Andre Ethier's contract in order to trade the outfielder, or take on a bad contract in return. Ethier is a little over two months into a five-year, $85MM contract extension with the team but he has struggled this season and fallen out of favor with manager Don Mattingly.
- As reported in January, the Mariners contacted the Dodgers about Ethier though "that never got past a couple-minutes chat," according to Heyman.
- Yasiel Puig made an impressive Major League debut on Monday but he could've debuted on Opening Day had the Dodgers' outfield not already been full, GM Ned Colletti tells Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times. Colletti didn't mind sending Puig to the minors since he felt the 22-year-old still needed seasoning after receiving just 95 minor league PAs in 2012 and spending more than a year away from organized ball. “It really came down to him having to play the game,” Colletti said. “He needed repetition, game repetition, situational repetition.”
- Josh Beckett is battling "some kind of nerve thing" but won't require surgery, Mattingly tells reporters. Beckett's possible return didn't "feel like it's around the corner," according to the Dodgers manager (links are to Dylan Hernandez's Twitter account). Beckett has battled numbness in his pitching hand and was considering retirement due to the problem.
