a trio of gio

[this is the thirty-third installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, and lee lacy.]

giovanni carrara not only double dipped as a dodger, but became the first dodger triple dipper that i am aware of (but  not the last, thanks to juan castro).  remember, i define a double dipper as a player who appeared in a big league game for the dodgers, left the organization, and then returned to the dodgers and appeared in a game for them.  that means that carrara left the dodgers twice and pitched for them thrice.

now, is there a card that better depicts the dejection of being pulled mid-inning than this 2003 mlb showdown card?

i think not.  that's giovanni carrara leaving the mound with his head down while pitching coach jim colborn waits for the next reliever.  carrara was released by the dodgers during spring training in 2003 following back-to-back 6 win seasons for the blue.  he moved on to seattle,

where he got a card of his own and appeared in 23 games.  he was 2-0 despite an era of 6.83 and left as a free agent after the season ended.  he was signed by cleveland and then by the cubs, but didn't make his return to the big leagues until later in the 2004 season when he returned to the dodgers.  unfortunately for carrara, he was back to sharing space on baseball cards, like this 2005 topps total card he shared with duaner sanchez

carrara's second time around in la resulted in a 12-6 record and 2 saves in 114 appearances over the next two seasons.  after the 2005 campaign, carrara became a free agent and signed with the pirates.  pittsburgh, however, released him on the eve of the 2006 season, and he signed with the dodgers a couple of months later.  in his third and final turn in a dodger uniform, carrara was 0-1 with a save in 25 games.

here's to you giovanni carrara, a dodger triple dipper!