USA Today
In case you missed it, there’s an awesome feature in today’s USA Today about all the rookies on the Dodgers right now. Matt Kemp’s picture is actually on the front of the entire newspaper and why shouldn’t it be – he leads all Major Leaguers with six homers this month! And speaking of rookies, the L.A. Times speculates that we could see Billingsley sooner rather than later.
A tough loss for the U.S. soccer team today. Nomar, who’s a huge soccer fan (he actually was before he met his wife, too), is probably pretty bummed. At least Mexico won yesterday (it was on in the clubhouse before the game in Colorado).
We’re back in LA for the day and head to San Diego tomorrow. We’ll know more about Gagne tomorrow. Jeff Kent should come off the DL then and J.D. Drew should be back in the lineup, barring a setback.
Enjoy the off day.
Inside the Dodgers 
I noticed the article in the Times about Billingsley. For me, it’s a bad news-good news scenario. The bad news is he doesn’t get to finish a year at AAA to get things like location ironed out. Edwin Jackson is still in my short term memory. The good news is it must mean he will not be included in a trade package. It seems unlikely he would be called up to showcase and then traded. Maybe with other position players but not talented young starting pitchers. That is a good article in USA today re: Dodger rookies.
Matt Kemp … a surefire superstar if he keeps his head on straight!
I have caught 3 balls that he has hit during BP! He is definitely a guy that I like!
http://theballhawk.mlblogs.com
Thanks for the heads up on the USA Today article. That was an enjoyable read. One suggestion for you, Josh. Since you work closely with the media, do you think you can talk them into NOT bringing up Pedro Martinez and Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS every single time Grady Little is mentioned in an article?
Don’t forget to vote for Nomar, He just creeped up to 3rd place as of right now (I just recieved an Email saying so from mlb.com) were L.A. So come on people!! if you have multiple emails even better.
The big difference with Billingsley though is that he will have more familiarity with they players he’s playing with, most notably his catcher.
Grady will likely be stuck with that legacy for a little while, but I think he can get out of it on his own. It would be useful to these reporters though to mention his years of experience in the minors and consulting work in “Bull Durham.” But his legacy can still change; Barry Bonds is remembered for other things besides failing to throw out Sid Bream.
“…do you think you can talk them into NOT bringing up Pedro Martinez and Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS every single time Grady Little is mentioned in an article?”
I completely agree with that statement. The whole mess was more an issue of the east-coast media blowing it way out of proportion than anything else. Sadly for him at the time, I think it contributed to the feeling the locals had for Grady when they were eliminated and ultimately led to his dismissal. Fortunately for us, we have him now. But please let the past go its way. Pedro made some great pitches to Posada, and his hit was ultimately a “seeing eye” lame duck between three fielders… another lucky Yankee hit and the rest was history. Why isn’t anyone talking about how good the Yankees were or the fact that the Yankees as a team created that win rather than stating that “Grady Little gave the game away” which clearly is not a true accounting of the facts at hand.
i posted this yesturday, but i wanted to posted again so people would read it…
odalis perez is worthless. before, i was disgusted with his performance, but now i’m just disgusted with him… odalis perez had a program called o’s 45’s. its a program that gives inner city school children 45 tickets for games when he starts.. well since odalis was relegated to the bullpen, he decided to stop doing it, even after being put back in the rotation, he said he wasnt gonna do his program anymore because he got no credit… are you serious odalis?, he went on to say “When you spend your own money, you want to be recognized for that,”… he later added, “I don’t want to be a hero, but just pay more attention to what I’m doing. People don’t want to give me the recognition for it.” … odalis is worthless, and if the dodger organization had any guts, they would send this mud-slinger packing… i’m sick and tired of this imbecill.. i hope all you dodger fans feel the same way… thank you dodgerblues.com
BELIEVE IN THE RELEASE!
heres the link so you guys can see it for yourself…
http://www.pe.com/sports/baseball/dodgers/stories/PE_Sports_Local_D_dodgers_notes
http://www.pe.com/sports/baseball/dodgers/stories/PE_Sports_Local_D_dodgers_notes_10.39dc01b.html
just read the questions article on the website. the first question and answer talk about Martin, Billingsley and kemp for soriano. Please Please Please Please Please Mr. Colletti, Dont ruin this team that way. sure he might help short term but kemp and martin have already proved that they belong. everyone says great things about billingsley too. we are finally getting a team that we can root for, please don’t destroy it!!!!!
I refuse to take that article seriously.
LaRoche went deep in his first at bat with the 51’s tonight.
Soriano would not fit in with this club, period.
Funny thing, I just looked up the word “me” and found Odalis Perez’s picture next to it.
Ooooo that one fits well with my impressions of Mr Me over the last 2 1/2 seasons very well.Here’s a trade Idea Perez,Carter,and Seo plus 2 mil to the fish for Josh Johnson a bucket of New Balls and a Bucket of sunflower seeds with a player to be named later.
i like that trade. you could probably trade perez for the sunflower seeds.
Please release Odalis already his poor attitude doesn’t need to be with this great team in the making. Colletti is a genius and has baseball knowledge there is no way way he trades any of our prized prospects. All we need is one more pitcher lets give Billingsley a shot!!
I just read the O. Perez article on the L.A. Times, wow that’s a new low.