he was guillermo both times

i didn't plan to do another 'double dipper' post so soon after the last one, but monday kind of snuck up on me.  the first person i ever knew of that was named guillermo was willie hernandez.  if i recall correctly, he decided he wanted to be known as guillermo after winning the cy young award in 1984.  about twenty years later, the dodgers had a pitcher named guillermo.  to my knowledge, no one called him willie.

[this is the forty-eighth 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, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, and elmer dessens.]

the dodgers acquired guillermo mota and wilkin ruan from the expos in march of 2002 in a deal that cost them matt herges and a minor leaguer.  i don't know when i would ever do a post about ruan, so here is what i believe to be the only card of his that i own - a 2002 select rookies & prospects auto that shows him as a dodger in name only

now back to mota.  after a 1-3 2002 season that saw mota post an era of 4.15 in 43 games, he settled into the setup role nicely.  mota appeared in 76 games during the 2003 season, going 6-3 with a save and a 1.97 era, while compiling 13 holds in front of dodger closer eric gagne.  that performance earned him a 2004 topps card

speaking of which, 2004 was shaping up to be a similar season (mota was 8-4 with a 2.14 era in 52 appearances for the dodgers) when mota was traded to the marlins in the 'heart and soul' deal that also included paul loduca.

mota pitched for the marlins through the 2005 season, and then made stops in cleveland, new york (as a met), and milwaukee before returning to the dodgers as a free agent prior to the 2009 season.  here's his 2008 topps update & highlights card

mota pitched in 61 games for the dodgers in 2009, posting a 3-4 record with a 3.44 era and just a couple of holds.  he did strike out the side in his final appearance as a dodger, which came on the last day of the season against the rockies.  i was glad to see him return, even if it wasn't quite the same seeing him pitch in front of takashi saito.  here's a 2009 goose joak original that i made at the time

since middle relievers don't seem to need cards of their own anymore.  even though the dodgers advanced to the nlcs that year, mota did not pitch in the postseason.  since then, however, he has been to two postseasons and has won them both as a member of the giants (although he did not pitch in the 2012 series).

mota is currently looking for work, and thankfully the dodgers' bullpen looks to be full at this point.  there was a chance a couple of years ago that mota might return to la instead of re-signing with the giants.  had he done so, he would have joined juan castro as the only (to my knowledge) triple dippers in dodger history. 
here's to you, guillermo mota!