2006 Media Game
I can’t believe I’m actually taking the time to write about this. It’s really too bad that Derek Lowe had to take his family to the airport, because otherwise he was going to "cover" this event. While it would have given him a chance for some payback in ink, it would have been an error on his part and would have brought the total number of errors on the day to more than 20, I believe. The box score only has 15, but those were the ones I could find on the scoresheet. Needless to say, it wasn’t pretty.
In the end, the Electronic Media, led by Dodger bullpen coach Dan Warthen on the mound, walked away with an easy victory, 22-9 against the Print Media.
On the print side, half the guys had more errors than hits, but Diamond Leung of the Riverside Press Enterprise paced the "offense" with a 2-for-4, 3 RBI performance.
On the electronic side, there were many offensive heroes, but among those whose names you’d recognize were Dodger broadcaster Pepe Yniguez (3-for-4, 3 runs) and FSN Prime Ticket’s Jim Watson (2-for-4, 3 RBI). A lot of that team was made up of behind-the-scenes guys who cover us on a regular basis at the stadium.
Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register was the only regular beat writer to play and would have been D-Lowe’s prime target for hazing, as the two Michigan natives beat each other up on a daily basis. But Plunk was respectable, going 2-for-3 with his family in the stands. Tony Jackson of the Daily News didn’t play, but he was kind enough to blog about it before the game. Steve Henson gets a free pass, as he was celebrating his wedding anniversary off site.
Several local columnists turned out, including Kevin Modesti, Randy Youngman and Greg Patton and I must give props to MLB.com’s Amanda Branam for being the only woman brave enough to battle this out-of-shape, testosterone-filled bunch. Patton looked impressive at shortstop but the rest of the writers could have used some fielding tips from Cesar Izturis…
Mariano Duncan and Dan Warthen were kind enough to stick around and throw BP the whole time, mixing in some changeups and eephus pitches with their 40 mph batting-practice fastballs.
I wish I could come up with some more descriptive play-by-play, but let’s face it, it’s not worth my time writing it or yours reading it. What matters is that these guys (and gal) had a great time, or so it seemed, and an annual tradition that had stopped for a couple of years seems to have been revived.
Inside the Dodgers 
I’ve noticed many posts about Charlie Steiner and feel that I should put in my two cents worth here as well: I’ve listened to many baseball announcers in my life and I simply do not care for Charlie Steiner in the least bit. I’m horrified that he may be the one to replace Vin Scully, if/when Vinny retires.
Here’s to hoping that Dodger brass actually pays attention to this blog, because it would appear the general consensus is a total dislike of Steiner or his approach to calling a game. It’s not working… please get rid of him and find someone with class that can work into the next few years as replacement for Vin when his time comes to move on from baseball.
It will be a sad day indeed when Vin Scully can no longer call games for the Dodgers. I have many fond memories growing up and listening to his calls. He’s a true Baseball legend and can never be replaced… but at least the organization can find someone that has a similar love of the game. Someone that announces with the same objectivity that Vinny is known for. It’s this objectivity that I believe has endeared many LA listeners to the style that Vinny brings to his trade. Let’s not ruin Scully’s legacy with Steiner at the microphone… please.
Mariano Duncan with 3 strikeouts. I like that competitiveness.
I enjoy Steiner just fine. He’s not a “number one” announcer in the Vinny mode, but he’s fine as a number two guy.
There are 30 teams, but there may not be 30 “number one” guys out there.
Maybe Steiner would be less annoying if he was just announcing the game by himself. Teamed with a “color guy”, he tends to engage in banter trying to be cute or clever. Maybe he should just stick to play by play and add a few baseball related stories instead of pontificating on the minutia of the setting in a feeble attempt to be entertaining.
the printing media got spanked badly.
PLEASE DONT TRADE AWAY OUR FUTURE FOR ALFONSO SORIANO!
I wouldn’t mind Guzman being delt, but who knows.
Deadline is two minutes away and nothing from the Dodgers??
They needed something.
Fox says we just got Maddux…but waiting for approval because cubs sending cash.
r u sure?.. wat did we give up?
I just read Izzy was the price for Maddux.
Ouch…
wow! we should have gotten more for him…
We just got Lugo for Joel Guzman.
WHY???
Josh, so did we do Maddux for Izzy? How’d Izturis take it?
My thougts exactly…why Lugo for Guzman?
ned collettic is a *******!.. wat the **** is he thinking?.. joel guzman is a top prospect in baseball! y are we giving him away?.. retarded! i guess he HAS been getting advice from tommy, this has paul konerko written all over it, wat a shame
So I guess …we traded Guzman and Izzy for Maddux with an upgrade to Lugo’s bat.
It certainly will be a Shame if we don’t win it all.
But,…we got to root, root for the Home Team…
It sounds like Ned was trying to prevent some of our other rivals from getting talent. We we gave away to much.
Lugo can really hit, (hes now leading the Dodgers in HRs….with a 0.308 avg) interesting. Guzman, I think, was now our 3rd best OF “prospect” (including Ethier). Time will tell, but the team just got alot better for August and Sept.
I personally love both deals, Guzman may pan out in time but in Tampa Bay it won’t matter. Lugo is a spitfire that now holds the team lead in HR’s! He hits the ball for average and has pop in the bat as well as he can steal bases. He’s by far a better offensive upgrade over Izturis. Defensively obviously he’s no Izzy, but not many are. Maddux coming to Dodger Stadium seems like a nice match and he should do well here. Penny, Lowe, Maddux! Um, be happy people! Lugo in the 7 spot over Izzy is OBVIOUSLY BETTER! I think we did a great job!
i’d have to say ned did a darn good job. i really wanted to see izturis go for whatever we could get for him. maddux could be a nice veteran addition. he should pitch better than he has this year since he’ll be pitching in games that matter.
at least lugo can hit way better than izturis and we need lugo now more than guzman later. our outfield is set.
a lot of us wanted ned to be active at the deadline and he was.
They better resign Lugo. He’s a free agent at the end of the year.
I believe we have sent some shock waves over the Nat West.
I thought Guzman had fallen behind some of our other minor league players. I think it is going to take him a couple of years to figure out how to play at the major league level.
I love the Maddux for Izzy trade…….don’t have a good feeling about the Guzman for 2 months of Julio Lugo thrade though…..classic Ned, does one good thing, then does one not so good thing.
The decent prospects for middle of the road vet trades (ie all three trades Ned has made with Tampa and the Perez trade to a degree) really just don’t sit well with me. Yeah the prospects could turn out to bomb, but it just doesn’t sit well…..can’t explain it.
These deals are good. They can only help the Dodgers. I’m sorry to see Guzman go, but he had no position and there is no saying if he’ll ever be a major league ballplayer. Izturis was an easy out and we didn’t need another easy out in the lineup.
On Guzman, Pedroza for Lugo and Izturis for Maddux
1) We traded a gold glover for another gold glover in Greg Maddux. He’s someone that will help himself out there, which is always nice. Maddux has also won more gold gloves that Izturis, so hopefully this means we can still keep our gold glove quota while releasing Jose Cruz.
2) Julio Lugo is a sign that the Dodgers have no intention of making Ramon Martinez more than a backup, which is what he is. Lugo is riding a contract year, and the Dodgers will get draft picks when he signs elsewhere. This is excellent news for Delwyn Young, though, and I expect him to see a lot more playing time in AAA back at second base.
3) Guzman’s attitude was not impressive. When Matt Kemp was sent down, he said he knew what he had to work on and that he would be back. Guzman, though, said “I have nothing to say.” I can understand trading him, and Soriano would have been stuck at second if he were traded over, and would you really want to see that? Lugo will provide adequate defense, draft picks, and still decent bat and decent speed.
4) Where does Maddux go in the rotation? Jon Weisman says he replaces Aaron Sele, which might make sense given Sele is historically better in the first half of the season and Maddux is better in the second half. Sele will still start tomorrow, but his starting job may depend on how well he can handle the Reds’ bats tomorrow. I’d expect Maddux to have his first start in blue Saturday against Florida. I’ve heard he likes pitching in humidity because of the movement he gets out of it.
5) The Lineup for tomorrow, I predict, will look like this:
Furcal – SS
Lugo – 2B
Drew – RF
Ethier – LF
Betemit – 3B
Martin – C
Loney – 1B
Repko/Lofton – CF
And the rotation order, from here on out will be
Sele
Penny
Billingsley
Lowe
Maddux
Sele/Hendrickson
6) Finally, I want to express some sympathy to Duaner Sanchez, who separated his right shoulder in a car accident. He’ll be out for the rest of the season, and that’s just gotta be rough to have that happen to you right then.
Don’t feel good about the trend. Ned has moved on Navarro Johnson, Pedroza, Guzman, Tiffany, Jackson, Aybar, Pimental. Maybe none will be big time players but we don’t have a lot in exchange. It’s the trend. When will it stop? I really don’t like bringing in older players for a short period of time. Maddux maybe OK. Certainly not a big time pitcher this year. No doubt less so next year at 41. Izzy had to have a place to play. He deserves that. However, Lugo. How does that work? – Betemit, Lugo, Furcal, Kent. Ned loves moddle infielders. Lugo is a free agent at end of season and turned down $8M a year contract offer with Tampa. Wants $10M. Let’s get real. His agent is Scott Boros. Don’t think he fits into future plans. At that salary, hope not. Not impressed with the Lugo move. Tend to look long term instead of to 2 month rented players. On the positive side, moves mean delwyn Young moved up OF cepth chart if he doesn’t get traded.
I’m all right with this trade. Izy’s easy out bat needed to be removed from the lineup – can’t have two pitchers’ spots next to each other! Will miss his defense big-time, of course.
Guzman – his attitude tells me he will have some years yet before he adds real value. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m not sorry to see him shift. All in all, trades that are neutral to good on my radar.
We need Maddux to step up, since we can’t carry Sele and Hendrickson. Hope this works out well for the Dodgers. Thanks to Ned for preserving the farm.
Decent trades all around and I’m really happy we didn’t get Soriano… the epitome of a “rent-a-player” if I ever saw one. Lugo on the other hand is still young enough to commit some money to, and may be interested in his $8 Million now that he is playing for a non-Tampa Bay organization. After all, these guys want to win, don’t they? Or is it really all about the money? Call me naive. lol
Guzman may or may not pan out. His attitude certainly didn’t attract any sympathy when he was sent down earlier in the year. He’s got some growing up to do… obviously. And really, it’s a selfish gesture for him to think that he was better than AAA when his stats went south. Time will tell.
Cesar Izturis… we’ll miss you. Too bad your arm blew up when it did, otherwise you’d still be the man at short. Good luck to you in your new digs. Chicago is a great baseball town, and will become and even better baseball town when Dusty Baker moves on. Sorry Dusty. You were a great player.
Greg Maddux… here’s to hoping you can dominate once again. We need your leadership and experience for our younger pitchers and hope that it also rubs off on our veteran pitchers that need a lift these days. Show them what a REAL professional is all about.
Go Dodger Blue!! The second half is yours if you want it bad enough.
The other thing about Maddux is, he also counsels the young pitchers. This is better than Honeycutt talking to Bills.
“The other thing about Maddux is, he also counsels the young pitchers.”
Not just young pitchers. I think he might help Derek Lowe get his sinker back and then some.
Agreed on both… Maddux will be a huge benefit to the entire pitching staff, both with his talent and the ability to coach from his own example. His professionalism will go a long way to helping all on the staff. So consider it an addition to the coaching staff as well, and it makes it an even better acquisition.
Bottom line is that the Dodgers are a better team today than they were yesterday. All the Maddux haters need to realize that we just got a Hall of Famer for a career .260 hitter. Besides we needed to trade Izzy, he deserves better treatment than he got from the organization after getting hurt last season. Also remember Maddux will be getting 5-7 starts in pitcher freindly Dodger Stadium over the next 2 months. If he wins those games that could be the difference in the division. Also, if we do manage to make the playoffs, you’ll all be glad he’s pitching for us instead of against us.
The Lugo deal is a little confusing to me but it does give us more depth. All of you know that we have had our fair shair of injuries this season. Could it be that Kent’s injury is more serious than we are being told? Only time will tell how good Guzman will but when you get the chance to pick up a proven Major League hitter for two guys who have’nt proven anything, you make the deal. Unfortunately, we are’nt going to be able to hold on to all of our prospects. Besides you have to have a mixture of pressure tested veterans and young players to contend year in and year out.
Finally, I have to agree with most of the Steiner comments. However he’s not alone. Lyons is just as bad and both of them together is enough to make your ears bleed! They both spend to much time “homing” for the Dodgers. They certainly do not fall into the category with Scully, Doggett, Porter, Drysdale and Monday. Personally , I think the team should bring back Ross. I know that sometimes his broadcasts were a little to “stat driven” but as a true baseball fan I enjoyed his approach.
I can understand change and I can see that management is still going for it this year. With that said the Izzy for Maddux makes sense. The Lugo for Guzman also makes sense for this year. Guzman was losing ground in the system and quickly became expendable. All in all you have to like the moves for this year, we’re better then we were this morning. I still think next year will be our true coming out when the kids really start to produce. Now Grady has to produce and make smart decisions with the upgades he’s been given.
Nice work Ned, now lets do what we’re suppose to do and take the division !!!
Go Dodgers !!!
Just think, we could have to listen to Physioc & Hudler
When I watch Angel Games I Mute the T.V. and listen to the Radio. Steve and Rex make Charlie look Good.