Today's lineup
Here’s the lineup for today and as you’ll note, there’s not much different from before except that Furcal, Kent and LaRoche are back in the lineup, which is pretty significant:
Furcal, SS
Pierre, CF
Nomar, 1B
Kent, 2B
Gonzalez, LF
Martin, C
Ethier, RF
LaRoche, 3B
Wolf, P
Inside the Dodgers 
Curious how the best part of the lineup is the bottom third…hmmmm….
Plug Kemp and Loney in there instead of Garciaparra and Gonzo and you’ve got yourself a stew! — Carl Weathers
Why is LuGo playing, he hasn’t hit in weeks.
I wish LaRoche was hitting higher than 8th. HE wont see too many good pitches there and I really think we need this kid to do well. BEtemit is pure garbage.
THANKS AGAIN FOR EVERYTHING JOSH. I FEEL REAL GOOD ABOUT TONIGHT! THINK BLUE BABY!
Actually Gonzo’s OBP is .364, which isn’t bad at all. Sure he could be hitting better but so could everybody in the lineup from 1 through 5 and even Ethier. I wouldn’t get too upset over no change on the roster quite yet. If this team doesn’t put up runs against the Reds pitching then I can definitely see changes being made. But, if the team starts hitting like it should be able to do then there’s no need for a shake up. We’ll see, regardless I do think Kemp should be back on the team to spell Gonzo not Ethier really soon.
Go Dodgers!
Dodger Leaders so far this month:
times on base: Furcal, Ethier (14)
RBI: Ethier (4)
Runs: Martin (8)
Hits: Martin (11)
Homers: Betemit (2)
Pitches seen: Martin (136)
Stolen Bases: Pierre (2)
BB: Furcal, LaRoche (5)
This doesn’t tell you a whole lot really, because these are counting stats; they are influenced by the playing time, lineup position, etc. They give you some idea though of who’s doing what for the offense, and most significantly, the 3-5 guys in the lineup are missing.
Maybe we’ll find them in LA.
Hope Andy hits his first one out in the bigs.
without bouncing 🙂
Funny how nothing has been posted yet about McCourt stepping up and Donating 100K to Help Griffith park get back in shape after the burn.Not a huge amount of Money by baseball standards but a signicant gesture for the community and maybe a spark for others to get one of the most beautiful areas of LA back to that stature.
so is plugging in the regular starters the “big shakup” Grittle has been talking about?
the fact that gonzo is still hitting higher than martin is very disturbing…what is the point of doing that?
well, it looks like (thankfully) a glaus trade might be out for now…just left the blue jays game with a leg injury.
Agreed, the only basis I see in why they continue to do that is Gonzo’s OBP of .364 which is not bad and Martin can give him protection. But, that’s a stretch to find a reason. Also a scary stat is Nomar has an awful OBP of .315 perhaps moving Nomar to 5th for the time being would not be a bad move. With Martin 3rd, Kent batting 4th, Gonzo 6th. Just a thought…
Yeah and here’s a link to the piece that Fisher mentions:
http://batanga.sportsya.com/noticia.php?id=144783&id_estruc=1
I’m sure Josh will be on that soon 😉
A better bet would be Furcal 1st and then Martin 2nd, and then Pierre 8th. Never mind the middle of the order right now (though having Kemp to mix in there would help too)
Given yesterday’s success by Pierre in the lead-off position, I would keep him batting lead-off for a couple of days and see if that continues. Raffy could try batting second or even third to see if that combination clicks better.
Like the introductionary sentence there.
But – no shakeup! Guess we have to lose some more first.
I’d have liked to see them bat as follows, just to see what happens:
Pierre
Furcal
Martin
Kent
Ethier
Gonzalez
LaRoche
Nomar
Wolf
Furcal is more patient at the plate than Pierre – Pierre has a better chance to steal second with him at the plate than Furcal has to steal seccond with Pierre at the plate.
Martin’s been shiny money of late, he should bat higher!
Kent is a good stalwart at 4.
I put Nomar down at 8 because he often goes first-pitch swinging anyways and he’s an agressive hitter. Stashing away ( what appears to be OK ) plate discipline like LaRoche down at 8 seems a little wasteful. Getting the odd walk from the Nomar spot would be handy, Wolf is an OK hitter anyway.
Anyway, aren’t you glad I don’t make out lineup cards? 😉
Actually I like that lineup very well, griffon. Might mix LaRoche between Ethier and Nomar just in order to mix up the righty/lefty combinations, but I definitely think that reversing Pierre and Raffy has merit for just the reason that you mention.
Thanks for that link underdog had not read anything anywhere yet just heard it on KFWB.
Going on what I’ve seen this year I can’t help but think JP needs to go to the leadoff spot and let Furcal hit #2 martin sure did well last sat. in the 3 spot with Kent Nomar and Ethier in any 456 order with LaRoche and Gonzo to fill it out.With Furcal having more power just seems to be a No brainer to hit him with runners on more often.The 1-2 punch isn’t working this way and JP at #8 seems to be a waste to me.
Now if Kemp comes back then he brings speed with power and has to be in the 456 area. If we have all the fastest run scoring guys lined up with power to back em we have to scare pitchers into throwing fastballs to the power hitters.
wow I was typing that up and obviously we are all on the same page today(Thats wierd)
patriotacts425 “Hope Andy hits his first one out in the bigs.”
with the roar of a friday night crowd & his Dodger Stadium debut his adrenaline will be at peak conditions.
blue crew!
Brand new day, time for another Dodger win!!!!
Jp was robbed….
Gary,thanks for the welcome.I too share your positive attitude.Any one thats been a long time Dodger fan knows that Dodgers never do it the easy way.It’s not in our make-up.Considering we’re only firing on a few cylinders at the moment, I think were in great shape with the best yet to come.As for that elusive power hitter,what team doesn’t want one or really has a surplus.Just look down the freeway.
Chris
what happened to “tie goes to the runner”?
poor Andy he’s gonna get a steady diet of Curveballs with the pitcher hitting behind me.
wow, nomar sure is struggling tonight…maybe we had better bring Loney up quick….
nomar and JP 5 for 7 with a walk and the only 2 runs so far.
seriously…how much longer will Gonzo be in the lineup or at least the 5th spot.
Personally I think the experiment should end JP #1 hole Furcal # 2 works better and JP is hitting better….
adam dunn bunting—wow. wolf was on tonight.
Fantastic Job by Wolf!
2 run lead bullpen better be the guys we all know thaey are!
ment they
Man I’m Liking this Kid LaRoche But I think he needs to go have those burns trimmed My Friend down on PCH in Redondo @ Shear Madness(Annette)Could fix him up and wouldn’t know him from just another guy.
Shut em Down Shut em Down Buddy We gonna shut you Down!!!!!!!GO SAITO!!!!!
on this Blog we hear a lot of comments on the line ups, but little about the pitching, and when we do, most of it is about putting Bills in the rotation. This is what the Dodgers starting pitchers have done in the past 7 starts, including tonight.
innings 46; more than 6 innings a start
hits 33
earned runs 9; for a 1.76 ERA
bb 13
so 54
not to shabby
uh oh….come on sammy…
oh boy…
whew…good job Saito
In case anyone’s wondering how JD Drew is doing over on the East…
AVG .255 | HR 2 | RBI 11 | OBP .360 | SLG .368
Great posts today Josh! We really enjoy having this place to gather…
So I’m scratching my head from yesterday’s cryptic threat to do something about the lineup tonight. Maybe I missed it…
“We’ll do something different,” Grady said. “It may start as early as tomorrow (today). I’m not really sure exactly what it needs to be, but we need to change the scenery a little bit.”
Well then… that’ll teach ’em Grady. Really though… was he speaking of the pitcher? Even WE knew THAT change was inevitable. I’d really like to know what will happen when he really means it.
Hey Grady Gump!! Where are all the changes you keep talking about?? Oh, I forgot, you did change the pitcher.. Nice move!!
This team has great pitching.. Thank God.. If it weren’t for them we would really be in a pickle.. I’ll bet that some of those pitchers get sick & tired of watching our hitters leave men on base inning after inning, game after game.. I know I certainly do..
Most people think, that since we won, we should just be thankful.. I think it would be nice if our hitters quit making it so difficult for the pitching staff.. After all, this is supposed to be a team game.. Right?? Ask D Lowe what he thinks.. I’ll bet he would really appreciate the help..
Oh Well, We Won, Be Happy, blah, blah, blah…
Grady did what he said he made em Get em early….First inning stead of 10th oops…Score some Runs early or I’ll sing country western in Boston tone…..That’ll shake em up… Ya Don’t know what ya can’t hear and we are in first place playing a last place team…. Go with the flow and Sammy Shut em Down!
Gotta be cool now Power shift here we Come!!!!
Go Blue!!!
so according to the latimes ned still has his little shopping cart out and is trolling for a 3b. They didn’t mention anyone specific but offered a few names. The only ones that excite me are atkins and crede. I doubt rolen is going anywhere. Glaus (thankfully) is out of the running after getting injured today. But I don’t see anyone we could get as a difference maker.
WOW what world do you live on rwbjr0?Ya think everyteam on the planet scores 10 runs a game? D Lowe knows perfectly well that great teams don’t always Hit well everynight and great pitching teams don’t always pitch well… What are you NEW? Jump in line 7-11 sells em 5 for $100 or $20 each Season ***** seats for free…. Get Onboard or get lost!
GO BLUE!!!2007
Yes elk we Know ;o)
and is there nobody who wants to cry about JP tonight??? Or Grady??? or Wolf??? or Nomar??? Wow these have all been whining topics as of late but nobody can cry on this win!! It was solid everyone did a great job!!!Rah Rah SIS BOOM BAH!!! I’ll Lead the cheer
GO BLUE!!!! 2007
so according to the latimes ned still has his little shopping cart out and is trolling for a 3b. They didn’t mention anyone specific but offered a few names. The only ones that excite me are atkins and crede. I doubt rolen is going anywhere. Glaus (thankfully) is out of the running after getting injured today. But I don’t see anyone we could get as a difference maker.
Posted by: jspelk2@uic.edu | May 11, 2007 11:32 PM
I respect your insight and this blogs insight alot more then paper writers facts/opinions.They have a job to do …WE have an obsession to Win…
Fisher928
Like I said before — Oh well, We won, Be happy, Blah, blah, blah…
The Blah, Blah, Blah, Diatribe seems to fit you just perfectly..
By the way, every night & on board are two words, not one..
Your obviously as STUPID as you sound !!
yikes….becareful about calling someone stupid when you use YOUR instead of YOU’RE in a post…..
i hope to God Ned doesn’t trade anyone body for anything.
NO TRADES!
KEEP THE KIDS!
PLAY THEM NOW!
Terrific clutch performance by Randy last night, and as usual Martin with a key hit. Looks like the opposition will concentrate on LaRoche with the curve ball, and he’ll have to show that he can handle it or Abreu may be next in line, since he’s now playing 3rd at Vegas. I think that Raffy should now be moved out of the lead-off spot, at least temporarily until he can get his stroke back. I believe he is really hurting the team at this point and should be relegated either to batting second or someplace much lower in the lineup until he can heat up. I can’t believe that ego could be that much of an issue that Grady won’t change out the lineup in that respect. After all Raffy’s got a great contract and could claim the leadoff again as soon as he proves himself ready. What’s the big deal about that? Do we actually have to start losing games before Grady will consider that?
good points messagebear i also feel like they were throwing him allot of away pitches so i’m hoping he just takes what they give him & go with the pitch.
Recipe for ‘diatribe’
Take 1 Home win after a tough split roadtrip and add a ton of pointless whining then add more pointless whining after a home win mix in a few Rum n cokes and stir in 1 computer.
We lost 4 of 7 on the road trip.. That is not a split where I’m from… But, Hey, whats one more loss? Right..
Plus, I’m certain that all the players on the team would agree that they could have & should have won 3 of the games that were lost..
But, Hey, whats a few more wasted opportunities??
We shall overcome..Blah, Blah, Blah, BS
I like what Brady is doing with the line up. Always error on the side of experience. Guys like Martin and LaRoche do well because the pressure isn’t on them where they bat and when 6th-8th in the order are tough outs the opposing pitcher cannot relax. In time they will move up in the order but they must earn it with consistency. The consistency that Nomar and Kent have shown throughout their careers. However, we really need a power hitter. We can’t win the world series without a power threat in out lineup.
Being that we’re stuck with a few people that we’re unlikely to trade(gonzo,nomar,pierre) I propose moving Nomar to 3B where he played 30+ games for the Cubs, and bring up Loney to play 1B. Acquiring a power 3B through trade would improve the lineup dramatically as both nomar and kent would both see better pitches. Pierre shouldn’t bat 2nd as his hitting ability(soft grounders to the infield) often leads to Furcal being thrown out at second. I’ve only seen both get aboard 3-4 times so the srategy isn’t working.
I am hoping that when today’s lineup comes out Pierre will be leading off with Raffy second to see if that combination will work better. Actually Martin would be even better in the 2nd slot, but then again we need Martin to drive in the runs after Gonzo fails.