Today's game
Prior to today’s game, we designated Jose Cruz Jr. for assignment to make room on the roster for Maddux and Lugo. In regards to all the questions about whether or not Kent or Nomar are hurt more seriously than previously thought, the answer is no. While we can’t predict when they will come back, it’s certainly our hope that Nomar will be activated when he’s eligible on 8/9 while Jeff has started swinging a bat lightly and probably isn’t that far off, either. But, as I think most people would agree, during this time of year we can’t afford to wait a week or 10 days or we might fall farther behind the pack. And as Ned said yesterday, there’s no guarantees that someone else won’t get hurt while these guys are getting healthy. We’ve certainly had that kind of bad luck to date.
Anyway, here’s today’s lineup with trade analysis in the post below it:
Furcal, SS
Lofton, CF
Lugo, 2B
Drew, RF
Ethier, LF
Betemit, 3B
Martin, C
Loney, 1B
Sele, P
Inside the Dodgers 
i still dont like the deals, but i hope it helps us… but i really wanted to see andy laroche, but i guess his road is blocked a little now..and another depodesta move has come to an end as cruz is gone (finally).. well, lets home the blue keep the streak, and gain some ground.
BELIEVE IN THE PONCHO!
Any word on what number Maddux will wear since Brad Penny already has #31?
GO DODGERS!!!!!4 games in a row today.
The deals improved the club for today, that’s all anyone can ask of any GM. What happens in the future is anyones guess ,and is open to debate. At least Ned tried to improve the club and tried to go for the division title unlike that idiot GM of last year who said the players we had coming back from injury, were better than anyone he could have gotten. Who was he talking about Valentin?
RHB .204 avg VS Arroyo LHB .294 avg- its nice that we can put 6 lefties in the lineup.
Lugo batting 2nd would have been nice, but he is our power hitter now with 12 dingers.
I’m not going to dance or make a big fuss, Cruz going is the right decision. Good luck Cruz where ever you end up and I wish you the best.
chivas4life@aol.com
are you my cousin Beto?? :o)
I got a good chuckle out of that one.
I wish Jose Cruz luck too – I hope he ends up somewhere cool (and I hope the Dodgers can get a decent minor leaguer in exchange for him).
Why no Repko in the line-up? I really want him starting over Lofton at this point. Makes me gnash my teeth a little bit.
Also, when is Maddux due to start, and will it ultimately be in place of Billingsley or Sele? (I hope the latter tho I wish him luck tonight.)
thanks!
CP
Thinking about Cruz just shows how fleeting and sometimes short a major league career can be, not to mention all of the prospects who never make it to the majors. Just a couple of years ago Cruz was a major power hitter, and he is not that old. Somehow his ability just went away. I do appreciate all of the effort that he gave us, expecially during the time we were so short of outfield help. I wish him the best and hope he can still find a slot somewhere to pursue his dream. It must be hard to hang it up when your abilities start to fail you.
I guess Grady wanted to load up on lefties tonight but Repko needs to be our regular centerfielder for the rest of the season…
Robert, looks like Maddux will wear #36
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/roster_active.jsp?c_id=la
You mean to tell me that Penny isn’t going to give up #31 to Maddux. What a disrespectful punk!
WIIIILLLLSOOOOONNN!!!!
Doesn’t matter how many good players you get or how they perform, if you have Grady to give the game away. He just can’t take a starting pitcher out until it’s too late.
If we got a petition going how many signatures do you think we would need so we would never have to listen to Steiner do another Dodgers game?
Great game guys, 4 in a row, awesome!!! I do have to ask though, anyone know why Broxton is pitching the 9th? That kid comes into A LOT of ballgames, isn’t this mop-up time? i.e. not where you use your set-up man/substitute closer? I dont get that at all.
Maybe we can designate Steiner for assignment.
Josh-
Here’s the problem. In your other post from today, with all the Maddux/Lugo trade coverage, you included a link to the baseball-reference.com page about the 1983 Dodgers. You know what happened? I got addicted to that site and, in particular, the “transactions” section, where I started going through the Dodgers’ transactions, year by year.
I can’t even imagine all the different names I’d forgotten from the mid-1980’s! Do you remember Tracy Woodson and Shawn Hillegas?
Thanks for making my Internet addiction that much stronger. 🙂
Nice win tonight…..getting to love Bettimet more and more!! Can anyone who watched the game tell me how Lugo looked tonight? He didn’t have a huge game at the plate. Also, looks like Izzy had a good game tonight for the Cubbies: 2 for 4 w/ a double. Anything on Lugo’s atitude about where he’ll play? If Raffy keeps swinging the stick like he’s been, no one will supplant him from SS.
Yeah I can tell you how lugo looked tonight… Wirey… he has NO body fat. You can see muscles on top of muscles. On his neck, on his forehead, etc.. Dude needs to mix in a cheeseburger!!
Seriously, he reminds me of Hiram Boccachica.. One at bat tonight he looked bad, another he slapped a base hit.. One game is too early to tell…
Good work, team. Still need to win about 5 more just to claw back what we lost after the All-Star break 😉
There’s no time left to slack up anymore – every game must count and must be play hardest and fullest.
Thanks to the Reds defense for giving us this win. No time to get complacent yet!
Gained a game on everyone…gotta keep rollin’
I think Lugo looked great at 2nd and the infield as a whole was very Tight Loney Looked Awesome!I was Really worried about losing Izzy’s Glove work but this infield Rocks! on the Offense Martin Stuck another SB in his Pocket and everyone did a great job of moving the runners except in the first inn… What was cool about that is that they adjusted and didn’t leave runners stranded for multiple outs again.Lotsa 2 out rbi’s. I still can’t believe how much Better Loney looked at first base and at the plate.WoW! I hope at this Pace Kent and Nomar take all the time they need to get back to the level that they can play at. Its only a 4 game streak thus far and Lugo has only had 1 day and betemit only 2 but I like these guys so far. Furcal is Finally living up to his record and is making his throws.I hope the wheels stay on the wagon.
Everyone is talking about the rotation losing Sele or Chad but why isn’t Hendricksons name coming into the comments?
Sele pitched his usual 6.0 era road game but Had run support for a change. He is Top 3 pitchers at home.Is it the options game where sele and Chad are the only 2 that have options back to the Minors open? If thats the case and to make room for Kent or Nomar on the 25 Roster i’d Have to Choose to send Chad back down til the Roster opens up. Sele really wants to be here and Chad is still getting his feet wet. He can take what he has learned reapply it in AAA and come back more confident I think. The Bullpen is Looking Great and Tomko Get the Attaboy for Going in and taking this as a great opportunity and Throwing Smoke!Go Blue Keep the Runs acoming while they are giving us the chance.
1) The greatest injustice about the number 31 is hardly that Brad Penny did not surrender it to Greg Maddux, but that it was even available to Penny in the first place. Its rightful owner, as a result of the worst Dodger transaction in the last 10 (but not last 15) years will likely wear a Mets cap on his Hall of Fame plaque. Useful perspective in evaluating trades.
2) An injustice that can be addressed, though, is in juggling the pitching rotation. Chad Billingsley’s father has a health condition that prevents him from traveling far from home, but Cincinnatti is within reach of his home. Unfortunately, Grady decided that he wanted to start Maddux on Thursday, meaning that Mr. Billingsley will not get to see his boy Chad pitch at the Great American Ballpark. I would think that Greg Maddux would be able to understand these circumstances and would be fine if Grady juggled the rotation to accomodate this. In fact, I think Maddux has even said he likes pitching in Miami because of the humidity. I’m not just saying this for the Billingsleys; the Dodgers went 1-12 when Matt Kemp’s parents showed up in St. Louis only to find out that he had been optioned down to AAA.
3) Wilson Betemit has had two nice games, while Lugo got off to a slow start. It is too late to pass judgement on the quality of the deals, but there are a couple things that can easily be decided. Julio Lugo should be batting second, not third. JD Drew should bat third until Nomar is back. Jason Repko, then, should start at centerfield, batting wherever Grady thinks he should go in the lineup.
4) Rafael Furcal has emerged as a much better player than he was at the beginning of the year. This is not just his offense; he has improved defensively. Part of this, certainly, can be attributed to him getting better from nagging injuries, and his work with Mariano Duncan (and willingness to do so) seemed to help a bit too. Maybe Izturis’ return helped him relax a bit. Nonetheless, he’s a good ballplayer.
5) Brad Penny has not won a game since the All-Star Break, and he’s kept up the high heat routine. While it’s nice to see 98 mph on the radar gun, it’s also nice to see good pitching. Posting one decent start and two awful ones should be a wakeup call to Penny: take a little off the fastball. Ask Greg for a tip on getting a bit of movement. Get your split-finger going. Whatever. But remember, Sandy Koufax didn’t really emerge until 1962, when given some useful advice: don’t throw so **** hard.
I love the win and all the new faces contributing… including some new/old faces (Loney).
I have to agree: why isn’t Hendrickson’s name being mentioned when it comes to being sent to the bullpen? Is Little trying to save face for Colletti? Hendrickson’s not shown me a thing since he was traded. He’s got an average fastball with little or no movement. His curveball is very predictable with no snap on the ball and one can easily read its arc every time he throws it. I’m just not impressed with his work.
Billingsly is getting better and he should not be the one to sit.
wow cool the jets Patriot…I’m not saying that your are wrong on any of your points, However I think Grady and the whole organization are trying to win Ball games and you have to respect the pitching order and Maddux is due up Thursday on his cycle.As bad as we beat them today they still have a Very potent offense that can crush our streak on the slightest screwup as we did to them today.
I don’t think Izzy nor Lugo has relaxed Furcal at all but made him step up as to defend his job or get pummeled by words and people who could take his job.He Keeps doing that job like he’s doing now I’ll embrace his as a dodger forever.
Repko as much as I Really Like him still needs to refine himself. He is all out all the time and reminds me of Alex Cora in that repect but has more tools then Cora. I think he has been mis played for the past 2 years and is always Fighting to get the job where he should be Put into that job as I know he will deliver the desired results.Tracy played him late for defence but his offense has not really been tested in the right manner and i too think Grady is making that same bad call on him But I don’t think his ankle is 100% yet and when he gets in he is still trying to over perform.Big Dogs Don’t Climb fences for pitchers mistakes.Repko can play shallower then K Lofton and still make the play at the wall and deeper he runs through or over the wall.Hope Brad Gets his Head back seems everytime we send a player the the Big showcase they **** when we get them back.Make it 5 and secure 3rd tomorrow Go Blue.
Literally taking the shirt off your best pitchers back to giving it to a 2 month rental (even is he is named Maddux) is a ridiculous notion. It shouldn’t even be brought up.
drj884 I agree. Ilike Greg Maddux, admire his achievements and his humility, wish he had always been a Dodger but he is a 2 month Dodger and at best one year 2 month Dodger. There is no reason why Penny should give up his number. It would be a nice gesture but we shouldn’t think anything less of Brad because he choses to keep his number.
Keep your number, Penny. In no way are you obligated to give it up.
If he chooses to give it up, then cool deal but no one should think less of him for not. He is in no way obligated to do so.
So I am clear, we dealt Joel Guzman for two weeks of Julio Lugo starting at 2B?
If Kent and Nomar are coming back soon, then Lugo goes to the bench. This has got to be one of the crappiest trades I have ever heard about.
Except for the fact that that “if” kent and nomar return is just an “if” that Ned has seen continues throughout the season.
You would prefer to replace Kent or Nomar’s bat with Izzy’s? Maybe you don’t fully realize the offense that Lugo brings. The Dodger offense (until this winning streak) was dormant and Guzman was not going to make the club anytime soon.
I guess it would look like the crapiest trade you have heard about if you only look at it through limited angles.
hack,
Kent and Nomar are not exactly Cal Ripkens or anything. I think it’s pretty reasonable to assume even if they are back next week having an extra infielder who can rake is a pretty nice luxury. Man- that guy is skinny though. Watching him walk off the filed next to Broxton was flat out weird.
“Man- that guy is skinny though. Watching him walk off the filed next to Broxton was flat out weird.”
The dude reminds me of a whippet. Lean, muscular, skinny, and so skittish that he’d make coffee nervous. He’s a good player in my book.
I’d like Bills to stay here, he’s pitching better & better each time out, just let him stay here.
Talking about Lugo here – actually it may be a good thing to look at a player for a couple of months on your own ballclub and see how he fits and contributes before you decide whether to offer him a longer term contract as a free agent. How many examples can you think off where someone got away with a multi-year contract (a big one) and didn’t pan out for his new ballclub. Besides, Lugo doesn’t have Boros as an agent, which these days often seems to assure you of an overpaid situation. If Lugo makes the grade over the rest of this season, he may be well satisfied to negotiate with us as a 2nd baseman.
messagebear@yahoo.com
that’s the thing though, we have old man Kent there.
Yes, but we don’t know how much playing time Kent will be able to manage next year (health wise) or how effective he will be, so I wouldn’t mind having a quality 2nd baseman available. Besides, not sure that we’ll be able or willing to resign Nomar, and the natural inclination might be to move Kent to 1st base. Lugo could just give us that option.