Dodgers Dugout: What have we learned after six games?

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and what have we learned after six games? Not much really, but it’s better to be 4-2 than 2-4.

Some random thoughts after six games.

—It’s way too early to make any determinations on how the new rules have changed things. We are going to need at least 4-6 weeks before we really can make any determinations.

—I take that back, there is one thing we have learned: The pitch clock rule has made games much, much faster so far.

Here are the game times for the six Dodger games so far:

Thursday: 2:35
Friday: 2:41
Saturday: 2:14
Sunday: 2:32
Monday: 2:47
Tuesday: 2:25

That’s an average of 2 hours, 32 minutes. Last season, games averaged 3:04. Quite a difference.

—If you are watching on TV, the pitch clock is great. No batters stepping out and adjusting everything after each pitch. No pitchers taking a leisurely stroll around the mound after each pitch. If you are in the stadium, the pace is so fast that if you leave in the first inning to get some food and drinks, the lines are so long you could miss four innings by the time you return. And, not as many people are leaving early, so getting out of the parking lot is worse than ever.

—You have to figure shorter games are leading to fewer food and concession sales. There are no official figures, it’s pure guesswork. But if those numbers are down significantly, will the owners complain? Something to watch.

—The 2023 Dodgers look a lot like the Dodgers of the previous few seasons. They score runs in bunches, but have games where the offense disappears. They have scored 38 runs in three games. 36 in their wins, and two in their losses.

—Jason Heyward had one home run in 151 plate appearances with the Cubs last season. He already has two with the Dodgers.

—Chris Taylor (one for 14, five strikeouts) and Max Muncy (three for 20, 11 strikeouts) continue to be question marks.

—The pitching staff has a 2.17 ERA. Of course, one bad outing this early in the season, and that goes way up.

—Will Smith already has three home runs. Orel Hershiser, after Smith homered Tuesday, said “The ball sounds different coming off of his bat this year.”

—Miguel Vargas has been to the plate 18 times and has drawn nine walks.

—Since the start of the 2021 season, Julio Urías has a 2.54 ERA and has walked fewer than two batters every nine innings. He is going to get a massive contract after this season, unfortunately probably not with the Dodgers.

—Urías has a new pitch this season, a cutter. “I spent this offseason working on it,” Urías said in Spanish after Tuesday’s game. “I didn’t throw it in the World Baseball Classic. I wanted to save it for the regular season and I feel good with it. I feel confident throwing it in any count and now we just need to keep improving it.”

—Ryan Pepiot did not make the opening-day roster after injuring an oblique muscle, which is basically an abdominal/ribcage muscle. I stopped having oblique muscles years ago. Michael Grove took Pepiot’s spot on the roster.

—Received a handful of emails after the Dodgers lost the second game of the season, 2-1. “See, this offense isn’t going to score any runs.” It must be tough giving up after game two of 162.

—Like I said at the start, it is too soon to draw any conclusions about anything. Smith and Trayce Thompson are on pace to hit 81 homers. The Dodgers are on pace to win 108 games. They are 4-2, but played the two worst teams in the NL West. If Taylor goes four for four in his next game, he is suddenly hitting .278. If Muncy does, he’s hitting .292. Unless the Dodgers somehow lose their next 16 or so in a row, we won’t know anything until May.

What Vin Scully meant to me

Last season, after Vin Scully died, I asked readers to send in what he meant to them. I ran them the rest of the season, but wanted to circle back and run the rest, which will take a few weeks at least. If you wish to contribute (if you sent it to me last season, I still have it, so no need to send again, please email it to houston.mitchell@latimes.com and put Vin Scully in the subject line.

From Dave Andrade of San Marcos: I went to San Diego State, majored in broadcasting. My dream was to someday follow in Vin’s footsteps as the Dodgers announcer.

It’s a good thing I pursued other opportunities because I retired before Vin did.

I became a sportscaster at a television station in Northern California and had the opportunity to interview Vin prior to a Dodgers-Giants game at Candlestick Park. I wish I still had that interview, but the one thing I remember him telling me was the importance of preparation.

I was one of those kids who went to bed with a transistor radio. To keep from falling asleep I used to buy “JuJuBees” (a hard candy) that I would suck on to keep me awake while lying in bed listening to Vin.

I was 13 or 14 and had been sent to bed on the night that Sandy Koufax struck out 18 batters to tie the record at the time for most strikeouts in a game. When Koufax struck out the 18th batter I let out a big scream of jubilation. My mom came running into my room. “What’s wrong?”, she asked. I just told her I was having a bad dream.

As a kid I used to knock on doors selling subscriptions to the L.A. Times. I always brought my transistor radio along to listen to Vin as I was walking from house to house, apartment building to apartment building.

Then when I moved to Northern California I always had my radio by my side so that I could listen through the static on whatever station I could pull in that carried Dodgers games. Sometimes I could get them on KABC but more likely I found them on a radio station out of Bakersfield or Reno.

The static was annoying, it was frustrating at times to have the broadcast fade in the night air, but it didn’t matter. Listening to Vin made it all worth it.

Somebody once asked on Twitter: What five people would you like to sit down and have dinner with? My five: Jesus, Mother Teresa, my son, my wife and Vin Scully.

From John D. Wodarz: I was a kid in the 70s. I grew up in Torrance. Little League. I always fetched the L.A. Times in the morning for my father. The sports page was most important. He taught me to read box scores. When the Dodgers had a game on TV, Vin would call the game every other inning from radio to television. My dad would turn the TV down and turn up the radio. It was amazing how Vin could paint a picture on radio that nobody could see.

From Brock Murdoch: My Vinnie story occurred at the airport in Atlanta. My wife, 2-year old daughter, and I were standing there when Vin came into the airport. I needed to use the bathroom and left for the men’s room. After I left, my red-headed daughter ran up to Vin. He picked her up and said, “You have red hair, just like me.” My wife told me about it when I returned. Vin was such a classy guy.

Up next

Thursday: Dodgers (Dustin May) at Arizona (Merrill Kelly), 7 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Friday: Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw) at Arizona (*Madison Bumgarner), 6:30 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Dodgers (Noah Syndergaard) at Arizona (Zach Davies), 5 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Dodgers (Michael Grove) at Arizona (TBD), 1 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Hernández: Will Smith too ‘vanilla’? Dodgers don’t care because he’s on a superstar path

Michael Grove overcomes illness as Dodgers’ young pitching experiment begins

Dodgers display talented promise, but also potential volatility, in opening series

Trayce Thompson’s three-homer game rekindles a confidence he never lost

Plaschke: Falling in love with the pitch clock is easy. Embrace baseball’s new reality

Dodgers apologize to Diamondbacks for stadium lights blunders during season opener

Shaikin: How much will the Dodgers lose if Julio Urías leaves? Scott Boras weighs in

James Outman sees his ‘dream come true’ during a rocking start for Dodgers

And finally

Tommy Lasorda talks about facing Mickey Mantle. Watch and listen here.