Pedro is pitching
Yes, I mean that Pedro but no, the Mets didn’t switch their starter. Right now, as I type this lineup, the Mets postseason hopes are being played out before their very eyes, as Pedro Martinez is throwing a simulated game down on the field. I’ve never seen so many people watching a simulated game in my life. Even when Eric Gagne was coming back from his injuries, there were tons of media, coaches and front office types down on the field holding their collective breath, but there’s got to be 100 people downstairs watching this right now. And I’ve got a bird’s eye view of it from the press box. And I can hear the national anthem, too, as the singer is practicing it while Pedro throws. It’s a little strange, actually, watching this all take place.
Getting to watch Pedro and then Maddux on the same day is quite a treat. If only Clemens hadn’t hurt his groin, we might get to see the best three pitchers of this era all on the same day.
Of course, you can’t mention Pedro without thinking of Delino Deshields and where he is today. Or Grady Little and where he is today. Well, I guess we know what the latter is doing. The former – not so much.
Still, for every Pedro for Delino deal that doesn’t quite work out (okay, that’s an understatement), there’s an Ethier deal that could change the course of the franchise. Just think where we’d be this year if we didn’t have him. Will he be a Hall of Famer? We’ll have to wait to find that out, but he’s certainly got talent and drive to go a long way.
I’ve got to head downstairs for a press conference we’re holding for Hong-Chih Kuo, who has throngs of Taiwanese media coming out today to talk to him. Anytime I can use throngs in a post, it’s a plus. Kuomania…somehow it doesn’t quite a ring to it yet.
Here’s the lineup for today:
Furcal, SS
Lofton, CF
Nomar, 1B
Drew, RF
Kent, 2B
Ethier, LF
Betemit, 3B
Martin, C
Maddux, P
Inside the Dodgers 
you wanted to keep bradley, i mean come on i don’t think so talent yes, but it’s not worth it if the whole team is in disarray, and that is exactly what would of happened with him and kent on the same team. also how can you not want nomar, look at his numbers, and than you still want the bad numbers, logically what is going on, in that crazy lil head of yours, it almost seems like you need to be in a mental instituion. I am not saying it wouldn’t be cheaper, but that team wouldn’t even be in 3rd or 4th, that would be dead last
hard to believe dept –
that the dodgers have one more win than the red sox.
that demetrius young got released by the tigers and javy lopez by the red sox. how about we shake things up and release
hendrickson or lugo.
lugo is not going to be here next year. he can’t hit. never plays his natural position and is keeping r. martinez on the bench.
oh yeah, and he apparently doesn’t like the lack of playing time in LA anyway.
plus it just might send a message to the team – play and perform OR sit and support and the team….
Bradley .265 10hr
Choi-AAA
Perez-.105(wow)he’s not even a defensive player he can’t play SS
Giles-.266 10HR
Aybar-.255 3HR
nice lineup pathetic
Nomar-.309 16HR
Lofton-.306 25SB
Ethier- .327 more HR than Bradley
Betemit- 17HR .276
not even close there’s a reason why we lead the league in hitting!joeyP please do us all a favor and stop posting messages Depo bl*ws!
Nice to see the lineup stability for a change. Thank you Grady. Now it’s time to start another winning streak.
Simply the best possible Dodgers lineup.
Mets fans: watch this Pedro sim-game closely, that’s the only joy you can expect for today.
Great to see a somewhat stable lineup 2 days in a row.
The Ethier trade was definitely a good one for us, but I hardly think it is near as lopsided as P. Martinez for Deshields. Lets also consider the many seeminly useless trades so far this year (Seo, Baez, Lugo, Hendrickson). Ned has a mixed record in my book with some of the younger players we traded away not likely to be big leaguers for a while (especially that trade for Marlon Anderson….wasn’t our infield crowded enough already?….and we had some young lefthanded hitters inbound after the rosters expanded).
I’m looking forward to a big win this afternoon!
nice to see Ethier back & Betemit playing today
Choi was a bad joke played on us by an incompetant GM. He’s now hitting around 200 in the minors AAA ball. Loney hit 380 there and true it’s only the minors,but Loney has yet been given a chance to show what he can do. Besides that Choi didn’t even know when to get out of the way during a play he wasn’t involved in. If he was so great how come 3 differant clubs gave up on him?, and nobody even wanted to trade for him?
nice start from Furcal.
This is THE A-Team line-up for the Dodgers and the one that Grady needs to stay with for the remainder of the season if he wants to make it into the post season.
Sorry oldbear, but I’ll take Nomar’s .319 (twelve-year) career batting average over Choi’s .207 Triple-A Pawtucket batting average any day. You really made me laugh with that one; ALMOST as much as joeyp’s post did.
Bradley is one of the best switch hitters I have ever seen, but his behavior (both on and off the field) will inevitably make him the best switch hitter in the California penal system. I congratulate the A’s for their (apparent) AL West title (although they have a history off falling flat on their face during the month of September), but Bradley has had very little to do with their success this season (it has been their excellent pitching and a great third baseman named Eric Chavez).
GO DODGERS!
Has Drew ever heard of “protecting the strike zone”? I’ve never seen anybody take as many 3rd strikes as this guy on close pitches particularly with men in scoring position. You would at least think he could swing more aggresively when a runner is in scoring position. This has been going on the whole season – like he’s frozen in place.
BLASPHEMY!..i just woke up, and i’m checking the lineup, and yout talking about a certain trad? how dare u mention a certain second baseman josh?.. i guess since the dodgers won last night, joey is back on suicide watch… i’m looking for a big game out of maddux today, mad dog has to do something big today..
BELIEVE IN BLUE!
Maddux is throwing a nice game to this point. Our right handed hitters need to layoff that slider that drifts off the plate, and JD Drew needs to hit the ball hard once in a while. All those days of “rest” haven’t done him much good.
Just got home a tight one. C’mon guys, we need someone to match that Delgado homer.
I think the cubs may have shaky development people. Secondarily, the Dusty Baker philosophy on hitting may also contribute to ruining their hitting prospects. Whichever it is, I dont think its a coincidence that the cubs have had multiple hitting prospects post insane stats in the minors and then fail at the mlb level in terms of plate discipline. Felix Pie is yet another prospect poised to flail away at major league pitching a la Patterson and Choi.
I do not understand how you figure Chois minor league numbers are better than Loneys…
1 Loney outslugged Choi at AAA.
2 Loney out avgd Choi at AAA.
3. Loney out OPSd Choi at AAA
4. Loney out OBPd Choi at AAA
5. Choi repeated AAA–neither year did he outhit Loney in any category…the second year he was a year older than Loney is currently.
6. AAA is harder and more indicative of MLB performance than AA.
7 Loney was a year younger than Choi was in his first season at AA. In Loneys second year at AA he was the same age Choi was in his single year at that level.
8 Choi outproduced Loney in his AA season as a 21 year old
9 go to 6.
THATS why i love jd drew.
Oh man. Get those runs back.
The Mets announcers are ridiculing Grady Little’s decision making…..and I honestly cannot disagree. What is he thinking? If I was Maddux I would be more than P$*&d off.
whats going on with the hitting?.. “el duque” is throwing junk out ther, its not like sidd finch is out there, c’mon guys get some runs!
BELIEVE IN BLUE!
Maddux has to wait for #331 😦
Why did Little take him out ? Maddux could have finished that inning, right ?
I’ve resisted criticizing Grittle to this point…..but he is really a terrible manager. From his topsy turvy lineups, to his crazy “rest” strategy, to his indifference to lack of hutle, I mean where does it end? His choices today are almost indefensible. He may have cost us this game.
Grady must take the blame for this one!
I’m so disappointed, i’m just gonna flush myself down the toilet.
Disdappointed too but happy we were able to play with the Mets. For me the issue is the offense, the horses, someone to carry us. If we only give up three runs, the offense has to help secure a win. Chances of a split are now diminished.Go Stults. Go Dodgers.
look i love the dodgers more than life (at least between april and oct) but lets face it – there are really an 85 win team.
yes, i really want them to win the west. but
the dodgers don’t scare anyone. their pitching is average to just above when lowe is on and penny is not ticked off at the world.
the lineup is average with no sock or any come from behind power…look at the mets lineup 1-8 and they are scary good and seemingly can score from any slot in the batting order
true, last night was a great win and today was a winable game but how many fans out there knew it was trouble when the dodgers didn’t score in the first inning.
also, why not kent in three hole followed by bettimit, nomar and drew. drew is just so freakin’ passive to bat cleanup. i live in philly at pat burrell is the same way.
he takes so many called third strikes and he was batting fourth the entire year until
abreu was traded. now ryan howard has 28 homers in 56 games since the all star break.
Little blew that game. Why walk Beltran and put the go-ahead run on base? Why pitch to Wright when Green and Floyd are hitting behind him?
In all honesty, it was a pretty good game today. If I had to pick the point where the game was lost, it would be the 2-2 curveball that Tomko threw to David Wright that appeared to be strike three, but was called a ball. Tomko should have thrown it again but, instead, opted for a 3-2 fast ball right down Broadway (against one of the best fast ball hitters in the league) and Pow! – Wright gets the game winning 2-run single up the middle.
I agree with euhlman, if our offense can’t score more than two runs, we are in bad shape. We didn’t miss by much, though, Betemit missed a homerun by two feet with his long foul ball and Lofton’s long ball probably would have hit the top of the wall for a homerun, had Green not caught it. (Man, I wish we had low walls like that at the Ravine!).
We’ll get ’em tomorrow.
GO DODGERS!
I will lay the loss of this game right on G Little. Every time this man “thinks” his way in the game, we come up losers. It would make sense to walk Beltran if he was followed by some slouch, but to put him on as the go ahead run with Delgado and Wright coming up does not make any sense, especially with just one out. Besides, with the low pitch count that Maddux had accumulated and pitching quite effectively, would you want Maddux pitching to Delgado and Wright, or would you have Hamulack and Tomko? Besides the constantly switching lineups, Grady for my money does not have any managing sense when it comes to pitchers PERIOD. This is not a one game reaction – I have not liked him as a manager for practically the entire season. I know he’s joined at the hip with Colletti, but I wish we had left the man in his retirement. He doesn’t belong managing a major league ballclub anymore, and Boston knew what they were doing when he was fired. I’m sure that had other issues behid it besides the Martinez decision in the World Series. I do not like the man, do not like the manager. Can’t wait until his time is over.
Would everyone please remember why the Dodgers traded Pedro for Delino? Remember the idiot Jody Reed who turned down a big contract with the Dodgers? With no second baseman the Dodgers looked to Delino DeShields who was a pretty good player. Unfortunately, things did not work out as Delino got hurt and really was never happy in L.A. Did the Dodgers know Pedro was going to become a future Hall of Famer? It is easy to look back but not so easy to look forward. While it is interesting to think of what might have been, we need to deal with what we have now. Sometimes trades work and sometimes they don’t.
Kristof believe me Maddux is po. He’s probably took him out because of fatigue yeah right like I believe that. Bring in Hamulack to face Delgado and the Mets can’t hit lefty good wasn’t a bad choice. I still don’t know why Grady didn’t IBB Wright with runners on 2nd and 3rd and face Green another left hand bat. We need our offense to score before and not these 2 to 3 runs game or get shutout twice the last 5 games. Grady take full blame for this lose. Beltran was IBB because their was a runner on 2nd bases. Bring in Hamulack wasn’t really a bad idea, he wanted the lefty vs lefty matchup and probably would got a grounded ball dp, but it backfire. Since he didn’t get that dp he should had IBB Wright and let him face Green. Like I said before this is Grady fault. That’s 2-2 curve ball by Tomko was strike 3’s. Hamulack vs Green enough said and Wright should had gotten that IBB with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs and we’re up by 1 run.
I was at the game today. You just have to wonder about some of Grady’s decisions. We’re playing so conservative, it’s frustrating to watch. Why is Lofton bunting Furcal over to third with nobody out in the first inning? Same inning, why is Furcal not testing Green’s arm on Nomar’s fly ball to right center? Conservative play is not going to take us to the playoffs.
I saw some of the guys after the game, from the smiles and hugging going on in the parking lot you would of thought that the Dodgers won today. It still annoys me that the fans take these tough losses much harder than the players.
I just got home today and forgot to set my TiVo to record the game. Man, am I glad I didn’t!
“Why is Lofton bunting Furcal over to third with nobody out in the first inning?”
In the first freakin’ inning??? You’ve got to be kidding me?!! Roll over and play dead in the first inning!! Grady Little, you’re a freakin’ ***** to be playing that way in the first inning… and this isn’t the first time you’ve played this ****! Is a one run lead REALLY that important in the first inning?? Oh, but wait… you looked into your crystal ball and saw that Lofton wasn’t going to get a hit anyway… so why not bunt Furcal over? Wake up man! The team is nearing the playoffs, and you can’t be managing the team so passively during this time of the season. Now if this was the seventh inning of a close game, I’d say GO FOR IT!! But this was the first inning of a scoreless tie! The game wasn’t even five minutes old and you’re already acting like you’re brain-dead and conceding the loss.
This is horrible! What kind of messages do actions like those send to the rest of the league??? “Watch out! We’re the Dodgers! The best hitting team in the NL!! Get ready, ’cause we’re gonna change pace and small-ball you to death in the FIRST FREAKIN’ INNING!!!”
Funny… this forum edits out the word mor-on.
Grittle is making this team laid back like he is. In someways that’s good but in the light the offense on fire way it’s very bad. I don’t like his in game decisions and his resting guys every other day. What we need is a guy who can manage with some fire in him and translate that to the team.
still mad with Grady’s decisions today… Just saw the highlight of Tomko’s 2-2 pitch to Wright, are you kidding???? Both teams had issues with the home plate ump today. Thank you Giants for another victory. Love you Bonds….
jonweisman@dodgerthougts.com
i’ve shaken hands & met Jon, you ain’t Jon dude!
Change of scenero, if furcal and lofton was on base, you guys would be dying for Lugo to bunt since he **** coming here. When was the last time both of them stole a base together and if I’m not mistaken we’re like the 4th best team in the major in steals now we’re 6th. We never seem to steal a base no more. Someone on the GT said Lofton was bunting on his own when he was hitting. I really don’t think Lofton was ask to bunt and he did it on his own. This is not the first time this happen. Yes that 2-2 curve ball was a strike even the Mets fans said they got a break.
dodgers **** san fran is getting closer u blue ********