Photo Day
The players and coaches will be heading to the field in about 20 minutes for the annual photo day. Here’s today’s lineup:
Furcal, SS
Pierre, CF
Martin, C
Kent, 2B
Saenz, 1B
Gonzo, LF
LaRoche, 3B
Clark, RF
Wolf, P
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Inside the Dodgers 
So,Olmedo, The Tomato, The pride of Panama,Gets a start. That’s good because Nomar gets a chance to rest up. And he can go into the club house and maybe find his homerun swing.
Smart lineup with the lefty pitching for the Cubs. With this very long stretch of games with no days off after Monday this gives Nomar effectively 72 hours off to maybe recharge. It would be interesting based off what Martin can do in the three spot whether or not Grady would play around with Martin staying there and dropping Nomar to fifth at least in the short term. The general feeling around where I was yesterday was to pinch hit Gonzo for Kent at that moment in time, it didn’t work out. Anytime you make a move and it doesn’t work out you’re open for criticism, but at the same time if the option to make a move is there and you don’t take it and you fail anyway you’re open for criticism. In the end the responsibilty lies on the man swinging the bat, the manager is in charge of handing out the opportunity but it’s up to the players to deliver on it. Zambrano was pretty incredible yesterday, Rich Hill is prone to the HR so when we get our chances we have to capitalize.
Go Dodgers!
great to see Russell hitting in the 3 spot! Now all we have to do is wait for the magic to happen.
http://altdodgerthinking.blogspot.com/
1) Happy to see Nomar getting the off day before the travel day – I thought we were going to see him on a JD Drew like rest schedule this year. It couldn’t hurt, as he’s prone to injury, and we’ve got the option of either inserting Olmedo or sliding Kent to first and plugging in Abreu.
2) Sarah Morris rightfully declared that Russell Martin is awesome. I’m just really glad that the Dodgers have a player come up through their system that is legitimately that good.
3) Jeff Kent is having a good year, too, although it’s not quite as blaring as it is with other players. Maybe it’s because he’s really just doing what he usually does.
4) The relevance of the home run ball can be seen here: the Dodgers are third in the NL in runs scored with runners in scoring position, which is pretty good, but they’re 8th overall. With just a runner on first, they have the highest average and 4th highest OBP, but the fewest runs scored. The other way to score with a runner on first is, of course, to have a speedy guy on first who can score on a double. Of course, that would require for the speedy guy to get on base and for someone hitting not too far behind him to hit a double.
5) I never would have guessed Randy Wolf would be as good as he is, but he’s really quite a find. For the performance he’s giving, he’s worth what he’s paid, so kudos to Colletti on that signing. More importantly, kudos to Wolf for pitching really well this season.
Drew is at .227, Sorry to bring that up, But I’m still
not able to accept that Boras/Drew fiasco. Although it
was Depo’s fault, also.Please
forgive me…..
Then u shouldn’t accept that we were in the playoffs last year Pat cause without that “fiasco” we would have never been there. When we needed every game in September to make it to the playoffs JD led us in HR, RBI, while hitting 362 with a 415 on base. I am not a Drew fan, but lets stick with the facts. And since I can tell your No Depo fan, were not in the playoffs if he didnt sign kent, penny and lowe either. I am not a Depo fan, but the problems with this team are self made wheras when Depo and Evans inheritied the team they were up against alot of bad contracts. Now Ned has issues but they are self made. (Pierre, nomar, gonzo, schmidt)
good lineup although i would have liked to see kent at first and abreu at second. but i can live with it.
though i doubt it could or would happen we should trade hendrickson, tompko and bigbie to the yanks for bobby abreu. that would give us our bat.
Very well said JUNGAR
You make a very good point… Our problems are certainly of our own making..
Jungar,
I’m glad to see you draw the disctinction between Depo’s and Colletti’s signings. I’ve thought that too much blame seems to be attached to the Depo era. He probably also had merit in wanting a manager who best knew the Dodger minor league talent. That seems to be lost in the current regime, although to their credit they have not gotten rid of the top prospects as of yet.
again, well said jungar.
Used to post alot last year…good to be back and see this place jumping. Love the passion around here. I’m the Dodger fan in San Francisco, and d*mn is it nice to wear my Dodger New Era every where I go up here…
Let me just say that I love all the micro-GM’ing going on around here but somethings are just a little too whacky…
China Man – You can’t be serious with your trade proposition..We’d be much better off just bringing up Bigbie to the Majors than trading a valuable piece like Hendrickson to New York for Bobby Abreu (.235 BA, .316 OBP…and…wait for it….299 Slugging! Now thats a big bat. He’s so washed up.)
Im in the same boat as most of you. Hate the Juan Pierre signing as much as I hate Lima Beans. Wish we’d play Kemp in left not Gonzo etc. etc…Great to see Russ in the 3-hole lets hope this is the beginning of a new trend.
That said, its obvious whats going on here. Ned has about 2 months to pull the trigger on a trade and lets be happy he’s being patient for once. Especially with the Dodgers at the top of the division — There is no rush. He brought up LaRoche and Abreu to get them more exposure for trades. Everyone knows about Kemp and Loney and honestly I think those guys are more in our long-term plans than Andy and especially Tony. Between Betemit and LaRoche one of those has to be expendable in a trade, we’d be stupid not to think that b/c we cant have two young guys who play the same position when we have other more obvious needs.
Lets go out and take the series from the Cubs. Love Randy Wolff…probably the best off-season signing in all of baseball.
And one quick cool story – I ran into Dave Roberts at a Sushi restaurant up here in SF. Great guy, the complete class act you expect him to be. He clearly thinks very highly of LA and I told him I enjoy watching him play the game. He was eating with Randy Winn and another player I did not recognize…and I was really tempted to ask..”Hey, why didn’t you guys invite Barry…”
Think Blue
If Depo was the GM right now Juan Pierre wouldn’t be on the team.
Great story charlie, Dave Roberts is one of my favorite players in the game, which makes it extra hard to see him in the orange and black. In a game that gets a lot of bad press lately (while Shawn Merriman gets the media’s powder puff for what he did, and even is considered for NFL end of the year awards ?!!), I’m glad there’s people like Roberts, Luis Gonzalez and Nomar (just to name a few) to put a good face on the game.
I still feel like Boston hasn’t given him the respect he deserves for getting them to the Series in ’04. Not that he slugged 12 homers in a game or anything, but his stolen base paved the way for a Pinstripe Meltdown of historic proportions (have they literally “reversed the curse” onto the Yanks?).
Plus, in a game where anything can happen at anytime, Roberts made the right move at the right time to make sure no Bartmans, Buckners or Billy Goats wedged their foot in the door.
C’mon Dodgers, let’s slap the ketchup on those Chicago Dogs, and take this series for the “good guys”
Furcal gets picked off – Pierre pops out – Matin hits 1st pitch & grounds out…
Wow – what a start…
Come on guys — we can do much, much better…
thanks guys, I felt bad for writing that. Pat I didn’t meant to call you out specifically. I just get angry when people bring up Depodesta/drew like they are/were the anti christ. Again without getting Finley that 04 team wont make the playoffs either. He had his problems too but did what Ned did (made the playoffs) before having 05 truly decimated by injury. It seems that everyone loves Ned and as a guy he is probably way more fun to eat pizza and drink beers with than depo ever will be, but he seems to be above criticism. Yesterday and today we are resting our middle of the line up hitters due to age and brittleness, our 39 year old 5 hole hitter has to be pinch hit for. We have no corner player with an OPS over .800 And our two big off season signings have been **** cause one can’t get on base and the other cant even pitch. Ned did not inherit one truly bad contract. By truly bad I mean someone like shawn green or kevin brown’s contract, or driefort etc…the slate was clean AND our farm is producing and our owner is shelling out 120 million so thats why I am hard on Coletti.
On the positive, Ned has not traded our best young players and dosen’t seem to want to. I think he has done a outstanding job on the pitching staff although Bills should either start or go back down and start.
I am just afraid that if something dosen’t change soon on offense it’s gonna be 2003 all over again minus the stellar defense.
Go Blue, let’s take the series!!!
Does this team act lost/asleep today or what…
Nobody can count to 3…
Come on guys – get it together…
1st place is on the line…
Drinkin – I totally agree with your assessment of Dave Roberts. I do, however, remember reading an interview with him in a sports mag where he said not a day goes by that someone doesn’t come up to him and comment about that stolen base. So while I agree the media doesn’t give guys like him much press, but the die-hard’s are still out there recognizing his worth. Hey, I even told him while I hated to see him leave L.A. I was happy he got his ring.
While Coletti still has his Brian Sabean “sign the old guys” hangover, I think he’s done a pretty good job. Mind you I hate alot of the moves he’s made – Trading Sanchez for Seo…The Cruz Jr. and Baez signings…But he’s done alot of good. Raffy Furcal was a great signing, look how far Izturis has fallen – who he used to get Maddux for our playoff run last year. He signed Nomar, the comeback player of the year in 06. And Randy Wolff, what a deal. Glad he gave us the hometown discout.
Its amazing how horrible our defense is this year, and with everyone criticizing our offense for a lack of pop — we’re still in first place in the West.
aflac=wills??
I think it would have been nice if Ned would have resigned Maddux…
He didn’t want to deal with Scott Boras after the J D Drew debacle..
That was too bad because Maddux could have helped us this year… Plus a great influence in the clubhouse…
Maddux is my all time favorite player. It would have been more then nice for him to be resigned.
This first pitch swinging garbage has to go.
BTW Kemp went 4 for 5 yesterday and his average is up to .300
Pathetic Pierre pops up again… What a great #2 hitter he is…
I’m perfectly happy with Wolf over Maddux.
Kemp has 2 more hits today.
momo, no argument there but MAddux > Schimidt? I’d take that knowing what i know now.
As am I….Maddux can unravel awful quick.
I would much rather have Maddux over Tomko or Hendy & it would have been nice if Ned would have spent the $$$ on a power bat rather than a big contract for Schmidt..
I think the Schmidt contract will haunt us for a long time to come…
Way to get out of that mess!!! 2nd and 3rd with no outs and they get nothing. Sweet Lou must be going nuts.
Go Blue!!
Come on Team – Lets turn this game around – Get something going – Put some runs on the board…
Give Wolf some help…
Please !!!
WHAT? LaRoche has 15 walks and 4 strikeouts. Where was Vin getting that info from?
I wouldn’t have thought he had that many walks.
Nice play Izzy…
Another old Dodger comes back to hurt us…
BTW Shaun Green broke is foot on a foul tip – will be out for a couple of months.. He had been hitting the ball well – Average way over .300
Nice easy inning for Wolf…
He needed that..
Another nice save by Izzy. Time for Raffy to do something.
Don’t get picked off this time. Let’s go Dodgers!!!
Another fly ball from JP. sigh….
Listen to Vin —
Hit the nail on the head —
Pierre is useless when he keeps hitting the ball in the air…
isn’t he supposed to get punished for hitting the ball in the air with pushups or something?
If it wasn’t for Martinez and Clark, Pierre could be the most useless on this team.
momoracci
I was curious about that stat too but for some reason Vin read of Kent’s numbers. Kent had 20 walks and 21 strikeouts. If Laroche had struck out 21 times in 34 AB’s he’d be back in Vegas for sure haha
Russ Martin for President. What a catch!!! Please make sure you all vote for the All-Star game and send him in to start.
DID YOU GUYS JUST SEE THAT PLAY BY MARTIN? If he’s not a All-Star, then something is definitely amiss with MLB.
Way to go Russell…
What a great play…
What a great player…
Bring in Beimel against the lefty
No words can describe Russell Martin so I won’t even try. Look up every synonym for the words: Amazing, great, stupendous, godly, and ALL-STAR!
VOTE FOR MARTIN!
I have a man crush on Russ Martin.
Kent saves the inning. Let’s get some runs now Dodgers.
Martin and Kent save the inning…who knows what happens if Martin doesn’t make that gem! Now lets stretch and GET SOME RUNS!
GO DODGERS!
This is why I love National League baseball. The Cubs have a pitcher that is doing great, 60ish pitches through 6 innings but you have to decide to keep him in or try to manufacture a run or two with a PH. You have to be able to manage in this league.
If I were Lou I would have left him in. 60 pitches? And with their bullpen?!? Advantage Dodgers.
Hopefully we take advantage…
The risk/reward wasn’t worth it. Now let’s score some runs.
well i can’t say im surprised…
Why is Saenz still pitching???
What are you thinking Grady??
Your in the late innings – bring in you best…
Can we DFA Rudy Saenz already…
charlie beat me to it. I was JUST going to say that Seanez should be DFA’d.
Is anyone warming up?
Seanez & your
It’s about time Beimel came in to pitch. Let’s get out of this mess.
Seanez, much like Carrara before him last year, should be good for only one inning, and actually he was. Anything that happens after that is on Grady’s head.
1 pitch, inning over. Now we need to hit like we did Friday night and win this rubber game.
that was too close.
Wat to go Andre. We’re in this thing….
THAT’S RIGHT PITCH A LEFTY TO ETHIER! BOOM *******!
GO DODGERS!
ETHIER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nice andre.
ok grady now stop sitting andre against lefties.
I love watching the replay of Sweet Lou coming out to give Eyre the hook.
Andre Ethier hasn’t had a day off since April 23rd, so it wasn’t because of a lefty…
Excuse me April 22nd and he still had 2 at bats in a double switch.
Same thing on May 9th, so even when he sits he always finds himself in the game.
And we can give Grady credit for pinch hitting Ethier for LaRoche, a lot of people fault Grady when he makes a mistake but he let Ethier hit against the lefty and Ethier delivered! So if you’re gonna complain when he ‘makes a mistake’ you must give him his due when he makes a great decision.
Thanks to Andre we’re still in it! It’s no secret that we don’t have an offense. I would bring up Kemp for our upcoming trip to play the Nationals. Ideally we should let either Martinez or Clark go to provide the spot on our club for Kemp. If Grady won’t do that, then I’d send LaRoche back down to create that opening.
If Pinella did his home work, he would know Either hits left handers as well or better than he does right handers…
Grady made the right move, but it was just dumb luck that Lou didn’t know about Either…
I say let Martinez AND Clark go and bring up Kemp and Loney.
this isn’t the only time etheir has sat for clark this year against a leftie, that’s all im saying.
bringing up kemp is an option…bringing up loney is pipe dream, guys. he’s not hitting and he has no where to play.
Go figure, JP flies out. Let’s go Russ!!!
Now if only he had power…Pierre doesn’t and 4 flyouts should be an immediate benching for Tuesday nights game. It’s unacceptable for Pierre to do that. I can accept 4 groundouts, but flyouts are not his job.
Pop out Pierre —
Like Vinny says – Pierre is pretty much worthless when he consistently hits the ball in the air..
What a Wonderful #2 hitter…
Martin & Kent not much help today either….
When speed is your entire game you can’t put it in the air. I know that the Loney idea won’t happen, but I can dream….
I think the use by stamp on Seanez expired about 2 years ago. Using your worst pitcher in a tie game in late innings is not the recommended use for that type of pitcher.
I’m not trying to criticize Little because I’m guessing he put Seanez in there because he had to due to a tired bullpen. This is just an example of why the starting pitching needs get past the 6th inning more.
Too bad Greg Miller is having problems with his control because we could use some fresh arms in the bullpen while guys are transitioning to different roles like Tomko, Kuo, and maybe Hendrickson
Including today, Loney is hitting .359 in his last 10 games. He may have nowhere to play, but he is starting to hit.
Broxton’s stuff is pigfarm filthy right now.
Gameday clocked him at 100 mph on that 5th pitch against Lee. Sit down!!!
Big boy Broxton is making these guys look foolish at the plate..Way to go…
Now, score a run please…
1-2-3 now let’s score and finish this up.
Nice catch from JP!!!
Great play by Pierre …
Way to go …
Happy to see JP make a great play on the fly ball. Afterall, he more than anyone should know a thing or two about fly balls…
That’s Funny Charlie
Padres are on fire…We need this one. 1st and 2nd and our hottest hitter coming up. Lets go Raffy.
why do the cubs think guzman is good?
1st and 3rd, no one out. Let’s go Dodgers!!! Sweet Lou to the mound. Someone get that man an antacid.
Js- why do the Dodgers think Rudy Saenz is good?
no idea…but guzman looks like he’s worse.
You sure have to feel sorry for poor Lou P.
He looks so frustrated all the time – mostly because of poor play by his team..
He acts like his favorite dog just died…
Bases loaded for JP, maybe a sac fly?
How IRONIC that Pierre can with the game with one of his flyballs…
Whatever it takes. We’re still in 1st place, glad we took it today.
GO BLUE!!! Martin to the All-Star game.
What a way to win the game..
I sure didn’t have much confidence that Pierre would do anything to win it…
Pinella needs more than just an antacid…Poor Guy – better him than us though..
As Vinny just said….
Happy Memorial Day everbody!!!
Have a Great rest of the weekend…
Hope the Dodgers have a good road trip…
Way to take one for the team, Pierre!
I’ll take it.
Best Memorial Day present would be to find Kemp in the lineup on Tuesday.
The Dodger offense would stink out an iceberg and if you send it to **** it would freeeeeze it over. Add that to it’s marvelous pitching staff and I bet more Dodger Fans die of heart failure then anybody else. Beimel pitched so well & so fast that MLBTV missed it. Why doesn’t somebody tell Pierre to swing down? How much could it hurt? He only has warning track power and everything in the air is an out. Great catch for Martin. The Dodgers are leading the Cubs 1,007-1,006. Tell me, Why does Lou Piniella always look shocked when the Dodgers Do Something Good?
Beacuse it has usually been a direct result of the cubs doing something absolutely terrible– could you believe that play by david barret? In a tie game in extras– so high school.
Another thing about Loney that i have been noticing as of late (since he has started hitting decently)– a lot of 2 out rbi’s = a very good sign. I pray we dont trade him.
By high school? Barrett should have known that play from little league. I can’t remember screaming and yelling for a wild pitch. And actually getting one.(although it was actually a hit batsmen). In case anyone miss it Barry Bonds hit his 746TH, The good news is he did it in a losing cause.
Good things happen when Pierre DOESN’T SWING THE BAT!
we should sweep the Nats and the Pirates. Its gonna be a good road trip.
jungar; Sorry, I took so long to answer. I could NOT find the Kleenex, I was crying , that much……
Charlie… welcome back friend. It’s good to see you post again. I, like you, do also have a serious man-crush on Russell Martin! The man is incredible and plays like a ten-year veteran already. I hope he stays in the sweet spot of the lineup for years to come… but Grady always seems to have better ideas on an almost daily basis of late.
If Russell Martin isn’t voted to the All-Star team as the starting catcher, then Tony LaRussa should be getting wine and roses from Ned Colletti about the time the starting nine are announced. But I remain hopeful that the rest of the nation is taking note of the talent this kid posesses and will vote him directly as a starting player. Russell Martin has the world by the “you-know-what’s”. What a catch he made today… I missed it, but I’ve seen the pictures on the home page. Can’t wait to see it on Sports-Center tonight.
Way to go Andre Ethier! Coming off the bench to crush a left-handed batter! I hope Grady paid good attention to that swing of his… very reminicint of last years’ power and hopefully a sign of better things to come for Andre.
And would someone please let Juan”more warning track fly ball” Pierre know that he’ll never get to be Barry Bonds when he grows up. With all that speed being wasted with each swing, it’s a wonder he wasn’t booed in his last at bat. Vinny said it best: “With all the speed in the world, when he hits a fly ball, it’s like a Rolls Royce not being able to get out of first gear.” Classic Vinny…
And to think Juan could’ve won the game with a sacrifice fly. With his luck, had he hit the ball, it might have been a triple-play! Good for Juan in taking one for the team.
Randy Wolf is by far the sweetest deal that Ned has made thus far. Not too expensive and a quality arm for the rotation. And with Randy’s roots to the southland, he should be happy for years to come… and he’ll be well paid if and when his next contract comes up… but will still take less to be a Dodger. Let’s hope his arm stays sound from here on out.
Interesting Win, but we’ll take it!!
Go Dodgers!!
Let’s Rock the East!!
Russell Martin for President and All-Star!!
hahahaha seriously if you don’t have a manly or girly crush on martin, then you must be from another planet
I was just thinking of our 3-headed monster. Of the three,I’ll put them in this order last to first: Tony Abreu I haven’t seen too much of him and wouldn’t judge him on his first two chances, The first one, his throw over Nomars head, then on his next chance he threw it in the dirt and thanks to Nomar, who scoped it up, he would have been famous, in not such a good way. I’m glad that didn’t happen. Other then that he’ll proberbly make it since he’s in a baseball family, his brother, a fine outfielder who plays over here with the Yankees. Andy La Roche, He reminds me of David Wright, not playingwise but expressionwise, He’s the same sort of character. I can say one thing about him and that is he’s a very,very patient hitter, of course I know we all know that. I didn’t think much of David, but he turned out all W right. Now we come to Mr. Betemit, Wilson Betemit: If the Dodgers want to trade somebody, he would be the best choice. BUT I think it’s better they DON’T, I did mention him in the same breath with Adrian Beltre, I said he is the closes thing to Beltre. BUT I hope he isn’t exactly like him, I hope he doesn’t wait until his last season before free agency To blossom. But he’s my man.
What a great way to end a great day at the Ravine!
My son and I got there early for Photo Day and we got some outstanding shots. We were way over at the very end of the line and when Russell Martin finally got to us; he said “Man, you guys got the best spot in the house”. With that, I took a photo of Russell with his arm around my son, and without a bunch of people in the background. It is an outstanding photograph! (I’d post it here if I could). My son also took a photo of Grady Little and me standing together. People are always commenting that I look like him. My son also took a photo of the four Dominicans standing together (Betemit, Brazoban, Furcal, and Abreu). It, too, is a great photo.
When Ethier walked by, I said “Hey Andre, how about hitting number four today. We really need it”. He smiled and nodded. (Wow! I must have ESPN! – LOL).
Wolf, Beimel, Broxton, and Billingsley were outstanding today (as usual). In all honesty, even Seanez wasn’t all that bad. But the three highlights of the game were Russell’s incredible catch, Kent’s line drive catch, and Pierre’s diving catch. Without any one of these great plays, who knows what would have happened.
It wasn’t a pretty win, but it was a win none the less!
Enjoy your day off tomorrow boys, and come out swinging on this, the longest road trip of the season.
GO DODGERS!
Ok, I think I may have figured it out. Here are a couple of our photos from Photo Day
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b341/socalteams/07PhotoDay32b.jpg
My son Tim (fansince94) with Russell Martin.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b341/socalteams/07PhotoDay25b.jpg
The Dominicans – Betemit, Brazoban, Furcal, and Abreu.
What do you guy got against Rudy Seanez, aside from the bad inning today? Overall he’s 2-0, with a 2.88 ERA. Nobody satified? What do you want perfection? The whole crew is got us in first. Tie yeah. Lowe,Wolf,Penny,Henrickson, Alright, I give you Tomko. He’s pretty good in the bull pen,though. Now the bull pen, when their on, their on, Now you gotta expect nights like Friday night— once in a while—-(not too often) but hey man, Ya Know, Their only human. Guys like Bellingsley, Brazoban, Beimel(as long as he keeps away from the bar—- and keeps away from glass) Tsao,when he feels better, Big bad Jon Broxton, The next mo Saito, now lets see OH Kuo, the #5 man. Ya Know? this is the miracle. Guys have been coming and going but, ya know? But they’ve all been good ones. I don’t Know how it happens, They get traded, but it stays the same and carried this team to the Mets. Yeah I know— they ate us up, But I tell you, maybe this year they won’t.
I agree with you pierreseastmeetswest. Seanez has been pitching well of late and, as I noted above, he didn’t look all that bad today. He only gave up one run, but, unfortunately at the time, it was the only run of the game.
Our bullpen is golden and I can put up with a meltdown like Friday night every once in a while – especially when we come back and win!
GO DODGERS!
Fansince53
Those are GREAT pictures!!!
Good looing young man – I’ll bet he had fun today…
Sorry —- I meant he is a good LOOKING young man…
“You done good, 53!”, as they say out here in the sticks. At this stage in my life, though, they all look young. Which one was Martin?
I don’t really agree with all the Pierre bashing going on. I’ll support anyone wearing the uniform, except Milton Bradley.
That said,one thing I really don’t understand is Juan’s fly ball swing: he swings up. Adjusting your swing mid-season is not the easiest thing to do, but Little-Murray-Pierre should be devoting a lot of time to that one.
Agreed that anybody wearing the Dodger uniform needs to be supported, and I certainly root for them all with each at bat. You can still wish that one or two of them had not been signed, or that several of them will be traded or let go in order to improve the team overall. As to your comment about coaching, I don’t really see any evidence that Murray is helping. You can look at Pierre, Betemit and a number of others. It may be that the player cannot make the necessary adaptation, but it could also be that Murray, in spite of having been an outstanding hitter himself, cannot impart those skills to somebody else. Not to downgrade Murray, but he did not accomplish much with the Clevelad organization, who let him go, and Cleveland can now hit pretty well throughout its lineup.
just a few thoughts…I’m with most of you on my distaste for the job done by Depodesta (he brought in Milton Bradley, who never, ever should of been a Dodger, many thanks to Coletti for getting rid of him first thing, getting Ethier for him was a major plus) however, I never hear much said about Dan Evans who I thought did a great job, wish he would have been given a chance rather the Depo….also am sick of hearing about “a man crush” on Martin, let the girls have their crush….Go Dodgers,Boo giants (forever)
I cannot believe, that the Brewers, with that lineup would TANK, against the Padres
Baseball is a funny game. I thought that the Bums would get a break…Oh well…
Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is a member of the Free James Loney Society.
“He shouldn’t be in Triple-A,” Gonzalez said. “He should be traded or called up and given a chance to play every day.”
Nomar should be on the DL. I think he’s hurt, tired or something.
Adrian Gonzalez can blow me. Who the **** is he to be talking anyway?? A fellow first baseman ?– give me a break….
He’s right though. Loney shouldn’t be in triple A. He should be in the big leagues. Imagine if you hit .380 in triple A and then got sent back there for another year. He has nothing to prove. If we had a smart manager and general manager Loney would be on the big club getting 3-4 starts a week. Giving Nomar a day off as well as Gonzo.
I really don’t understand the anti depo hate. I just see it simply as he took a team that hadn’t made the playoffs since 1996 to the playoffs. He purged the roster of huge contracts and helped move Dan Evans plan forward by rebulilding the farm team. In 2005 our team got really hurt and then we missed the playoffs and he was let go. He made mistakes but again he signed kent, drew, penny and lowe all key contributers to the dodgers making the playoffs last year. I am not trying to defend him but i just don’t really get it. I guess he could have not traded loduca, offered him an extension and we would not have man crushes on Martin cause he would be in the minors.
I agree with Max. The message sent by our team is the bigger issue.
Say you are the top sales guy among jr sales guys at your company. You do everything asked of you, by hitting a sales quota of .380. You get promoted to Sr. Sales and at the very end of the year in late September you have a career sales day. In fact, it was the best day by any sales person on the team in over 59 years (9rbi vs colorado)
Now you are also a first round sales pick meaning you are more highly valued than other sales people, guys in single A look up to you.
How are you rewarded? The company goes out and signs a brittle sales guy and pays him 10 times as much as you. Then you see the guy with 1 closed sale (Hr)and a low on sales percentage and a really low sales slugging percentage.
Then he has to be rested between cold calls so he wont be tired.
Would that make you want to work for that company?
I can’t wait for Billingsley to get into the Rotation.
And then you look at your own stats in the little leagues, realize you arent cutting it, dont throw in the towel but show some fighting spirit and get your sales numbers back to where they once were. All in all though, terrible analogy jungar.
That “brittle” guy is a key veteran leader to our ballclub– someone everyone looks up to as a person and player, second in RBIs, and hits great w/ RISP so why dont you show a little respect. How many HR’s does Loney have in TRIPLE A?
woah! where did that AGon quote come from? Its funny because Loney and AGon are very similar… they both have beautiful line drive swings. AGon only started developing power recently, which is the reason he was given up on by Texas. Oh yeah, and they already had Tex. But I could see Loney following a similar progression. AGon probably sees the similarity too.
Kuo gave up 4 runs in 4 1/3 innings today.
There is still a chance that Bills could get the start on Saturday.
Make that 4 2/3 innings for Kuo.
jungar, jungar, why didn’t you jump all over the others.
Mellowing ???????
I’m sure that jungar doesn’t need any help to express his points, but I agree with him in a number of ways. Given what Loney had shown in the minors and in a limited way with the Dodgers, there was no baseball related reason to sign up Nomar the way that Colletti did. That decision had business reasons behind it – not baseball logic. The reason was that Nomar has a big fan following, a large segment of LA following by the Mexican Latino community, and that was not to be ignored, regardless of who was in the wings with ability to replace him on the team. Unfortunately Nomar is steadily declining in his performance and his power in particular. He may very well be ailing, which we all know that he will not disclose voluntarily. I root for him with every at bat of his because I’m a Dodger fan, but I do believe this team would be better off with Loney in his place.
This would not be the first time when business decisions supercede baseball when it comes to the Dodgers, or major league baseball for that matter. The Dodgers will still draw over 3 million, no matter where we finish in the race, and the personality charisma of Nomar is part of the strategy that this management and ownership is riding.
I hope everybody is enjoying this memorial day, observing it in your own traditional way. As good a time as any to reflex on the team, that will take on the ex-Expos, now known as the Nationals, You know, they’re the first NL team to change their name after moving to another city. Sometimes I wish the Dodgers would have done that. That way, I think it would have been easier for some of us, who were left in Brooklyn to break all ties. But, they didn’t. I broke all ties with them when I got the official news, in 1957. That lasted all the way to spring training, in 1958. I remember when they broadcasted their games back to Brooklyn. This lasted for some time, thereby nullerfying my breakoff. They sounded the same to me from L.A. as they did from Brooklyn. Vin Scully’s voice is like part of my family. Of course, in those days when you had a contenting team, the 1956 team was not much different from the 1959 team. the two NL & World championship teams. Oh Well, that was 50 years ago. By the way is a mancrush on Russell Martin the same as a womancrush on Danica Patrick?
pierreseastmeetswest, i don’t really have a woman crush on danica patrick but i can see your logic. a man crush is basically when a straight man has a “crush” on another man but is not physically attracted to this man…it’s more like he idolizes or admires him.
I happened to read your comment, messagebear, as I passed by, the business angle aside, I don’t want to get into that. But I feel the same way about the Loney/Nomar situation, I thought after last season ended that Loney would at least be on the Major League Squad. I think when J.D. Drew left, Colletti, had to make sure that he held unto some experience, and also Nomar was a big factor ,along with Drew, last year. Another situation, lets call it the center field situation, was you suprised about the signing of Juan Pierre? I was looking forward to a dual between Matt Kemp & The one I call, the Re-encarnation of Pete Reiser, Jason Repko, I call him that because, I like his hustle, this kid, not unlike Drew, would run through an iron wall.Only thing, you know what happens, when you try to do that. With Kemp ,last year, after the, what was it 7 hrs?, in no time, it seemed like they got his number and they knew how to get him out. And they did. But ,he seems to have a lot of power and the potential to hit a lot of homeruns. That’s what a real center fielder is to me. Are those women, with the mancrushes?
sorry pat didnt mean to leave you out, lol. yep, mellowing. no i don’t mean to be the pain in the *** here, just trying to make different points.
I don’t care what loney does or if he plays over nomar, i just want to win. My point is that it’s not the best message to send to the rest of the orginzation. How loney takes the news as one person suggested is his issue. I agree and understand that Nomar is a fan favorite(heck i really like nomar too, not bashing nomar), but darnit lets win some world series!!!! In general that 20 million on Nomar could be spent elswhere and i do belive in the bottom of my heart that loney could hit .281 with 1 HR 28rbi | OBP .332/SLG .351 in the three hole for 300k instead of 10 miillion.
I have no objection to the signing of Nomar or Gonzo for that matter, but it should not have been done with the assurances that they would have starting positions on the team. I think that should have been determined in Spring Training and based on what our team’s longer term prospects should be. Since we had Loney, who, in addition to his performance last year, also performed as well as could be expected in ST, he should have been the starting 1st baseman with Nomar to back him up in more of a utility position. If Loney did not prove himself, then Nomar would have been available as the backup. The same with Gonzo. If we wanted to try and develop Kemp, or Bigbie, who also outperformed practically everybody else in ST, Gonzo should have been kept in a similar backup position. Unfortunately it is evident that assurances were given to the veterans that they would be starting – let’s say as part of their “ego package” in addition to the salaries – thus, they are blocking a couple of people that could be on their way to being productive present and future major leaguers. That is not good future planning in my opinion.
I only need to point to Adrian Gonzalez with the Padres and Quentin with Arizona to show developing youngsters that are an integral part of their respective teams, which are currently producing the same results in the standings that we are with our veterans that are not producing as expected. I don’t think that we would be in any worse place in the standings had we opted for Loney and Kemp in the front lines.
To zobeida,torres: I’m sorry about joking about the mancrush thing. I’m a little more use to Idolize & Admire.
Messagebear, your point is well taken.
agreed. i can’t necessarily fault manangement for making the veteran signings, but we can fault them for the loney situation. Everyone in baseball knows he should be in the major leagues, mediocre performance at AAA or not. Here we have a situation where we have bunch of talented young guys, some ready for the big leagues and some not, and a bunch of veteran guys who are there to bridge the gap. But those veteran guys aren’t going to be enough for a championship, so management is forced to make a decision, to leverage some of the future for a big bat now. No one is saying the team was constructed poorly, but its frustrating when we were told the youth movement was coming, only to have it stalled, and then further to be warned that in order to win now we must get rid of that youth because we coudln’t sign the right people in the first place. And the desire to win now is furthered by expensive free agent signings that bring hype and expectations. Its foolish to think we were going to field a team of all homegrown talent and just let them mature, but other teams have done it, and I believe in time they will be better for it. And I agree, management has sent the message to Loney that being ready isn’t good enough, you must also have to have the opportunity, which is out of your control. That’s true for a lot of young guys and a lot of teams, but the opportunity should have been there when we had no 1b going into ’07. It was time to turn at least one of the jobs over.
jason schimdt first rehab start is wednesday in IE.
It would indeed be great to get Schmidt back in anything like his usual form. I do think that Bills has earned a start the next time that the fifth starting slot is due in our rotation. What happens after that should then be up to how he is able to perform.
Do you think Loney would be hitting over .400 with RISP?? And also, it is common baseball logic that it can hinder a young player significantly more if you give him the chance and he fails. It is in fact a much wiser strategy when it comes to young talented players to allow the vets to fail first and then put them in the limelight with no expectations.
(if you give him the chance/starting job right out of the gate)*****
Kemp is really heating up in triple-A….
I don’t if my dept chart is not up to date but–no Tony Abreu. maybe, they did’nt like what I said. Ha Ha.
A while back I mention some low hr hitting recent Dodger CF. I left out Kenny Lofton our latest former. So It’s Brett Butler, Dave Roberts, Kenny Lofton & now Juan Pierre. Thank God we have Jeff Kent 2B. He sort of makes up for the outfield shortage. It’s strange Nomar has 28RBI,the most inportant stat. but only 1HR. da Gonz has 5HRS & only 16RBI. Another odditty Betemit has a bowling average of, off hand, I think of .190 but he sort of matches da Gonz with 5HRS & 15RBI.
Like everyone else, I would love to see Matt Kemp and James Loney up with the big club. We all know that they are (for the most part) MLB ready. The problem is a simple one – the 25-man roster. We need a minimum of 11 pitchers (although Grady wants 12). We currently have 8 infielders (including utility players and pinch hitters) which will probably drop to 7 once the 3B situation is resolved (if ever), and we obviously need a back-up catcher. I actually believe that Tsao’s sore shoulder suddenly appeared to make room for Abreu and believe that he will be sent to Las Vegas once he comes off of the DL. The bottom line is that all of the roster spots are taken.
When Schmidt is ready to come back, I believe that Ramon Martinez will be DFA’d, or LaRoche or Abreu will be sent back down. If the latter happens, I’m betting it will be Abreu because of LaRoche’s ability to play the OF and because of his outstanding plate discipline.
All of that said, I do not see Kemp or Loney joining the big club anytime soon – absent injuries to Nomar, Gonzalez, Pierre, or Clark. And speaking of Clark, he is the guy (in my opinion) blocking Kemp’s return to the big club, not Pierre or Gonzalez.
With the outstanding success that Billingsley has enjoyed these past two weeks, I see him getting the nod ahead of Kuo (unless Schmidt comes back sooner than expected, that is). With Hendrickson becoming the Hendrickson that we all know so well, I believe that he will be out of the rotation after his next start (like none of us knew THAT would happen).
Regardless, as long as we can keep winning most of the series, I am good with what we’ve got (for now).
Maybe it’s a generation thing, but all of this “man-crush” stuff is a bit much for me. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Russell Martin and all that, but I’ll stick with admire and respect. He is truly a gifted athlete and is experienced well beyond his years. He is, by far, the best young catcher I have EVER seen (even over LoDuca, Piazza, and Scioscia). I sure hope that Frank McCourt has a special interest bearing savings account earmarked for him so that we can afford him when he becomes a free agent. We CANNOT let this catcher get away.
GO DODGERS!
Ron… those were a couple of real nice photos. Your son looks like he’s ready to take Martin’s job from him!… man crush or not! And yes, it’s an odd type of phrasology… but I agree with you… I really do admire and respect the man… which is basically the definition of the term… so it’s no homophobe thing at all.
And how’s this for a blast from the past? I just came across this old photo on Airliners.net:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0541818/L/
Big clubs don’t own these anymore, due mostly because it’s more cost effective to charter them from the airline companies. These were the good ‘ol days for sure.
Sad, but here’s the plane in today’s condition:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0029088/L/
Go Dodgers!!
When the Dodgers were in Brooklyn and they had the bases loaded we use to say that the bases were FOB. Most likely, meaning full of B’klyns or full of Bums. How come nobody say it now to mean FULL OF BLUE? While we’re on the subject Tex Rickert, the Ebbets Field anouncer once said “Will the fans in the Right Field Pavilion please remove your clothing–and then hesitated for a few seconds before finishing with—-from the railing” The last thing he said was “use the last exit leading to the Chavas Revine” And that was before we really knew they was Goin’.
In the spirit of Jeff Foxworthy-isms… and to take up some time until tomorrow’s post… how about taking your best shot at cotributing to…
“You just might have a man-crush!”
So here goes my feeble attempt at humor:
If Russell Martin has the habit of making you sream and giggle like a little-girl, you just might have a man-crush!
I don’t know what will happen to Russel Martin when the time comes, but I sincerly hope some big days come from him before that time. This club has a reputation of keeping a player until it’s time to pay him.
Fansince’53, Mike Scioscia, He was a Rock when he blocked home plate wasn’t he. Also maybe he should be in Little’s chair right now. We always had good catchers. The first one I remember was Bruce Edwards I think Gil Hodges was his back up. Who could forget Roy Campanella.I remember reading in the paper, the next day, after he had the accident, I cried and I was’nt even a shame he never had a chance to play in LA. when Juan Marichal hit Johnny Roseboro with a bat, I think he said that he was telling Koufax to throw at him. Yeager, not a hitter but great defensive. I still can’t believe they let Piazza go. And you’d think after that, Lo Duca, was here to stay. That’s why I say MARTIN NOW’S THE TIME. Hustle, Hit that ball hard, and you’re the only catcher of them all that could run. COME ON WE NEED YOU NOW.
Ya know that is one of the things that I most admired about LoDuca and he said it several times is that he did not care about the Money he just wanted to play ball and at the time for the Dodgers.That is why we all Hate Depo sooo Much! Lo Duca was content to take what was offered in a fair manner and I respected that beyond ANY stat eventhough her had really good stats. Martin is Paul Lo Duca a couple years younger with maybe more a bit more on the intelligence and alot more in the wheels. I don’t see him busting our Budget when it comes time but if he doesn’t get a heartfeld TY Bone thrown his way for a job well done for next year then its just bad juju a 5 year Contract would be a nice start also.I Admire Martins abilty I don’t crush on Men ….
Kemp’s Bat has Smoke rolling off it again… went 3-4 with 2 doubles and a triple,Valdez 1st day back went 3-5 in leadoff spot….I Know it falls on Deaf Ears but I really think the R Martinez is not eventhough ‘Career’ numbers show that he is’ Is not the utility guy we should have this year for this team.Valdez has all of the tools that are important to a pinch hitter/runner and utility infielder.Speed bunting ability for a hit and versitility SS 3b/2B.About the only thing Marinez is showing this year is that his heart is still beating.
One last note. I know everyone wants martin hitting in the 2-3 hole but his last 2 days 3-4 hole went for a big 0 He looks really Good in the 5 hole and Gonzo looks good behind him. So its the 3 Hole Nomar that needs the upgrade/Movement.This Roster is SOOOO CROWDED!!!!!Brady Clark eventhough that is my lastname…Clark… Needs to Go Kemp Earned it and is Kickin butt He has to come back and like NOW!Not that Brady is Bad but we Need Kemp tp Spark a lil competition and some hitting.Loney is putting Wood on the ball again and sorry but either Abreu whom we should keed for 2nd base or LaRoche needs to go back down for 3rd base next year.Kemp can play cf and thats why Clark was signed because Repko was our all OF/CF backup.Brady for a player to be named or DFA while on that same for Martinez…Not gonna happen because of Depth reasons but the 25 man Roster would be better.
How bout this Kevin if ya scream like a girl … ya might be one…
As Far as I know Zo is the only one on here to be able to claim that catagory.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a man-crush, it’s actually a sign of respect and/or admiration which has pretty much been discussed above. They discuss man-crushes on Pardon the Interruption all the time and they admit to them as well. A lot of journalists have man-crushes and a LOT of employees who work for a little company I like to call ESPN have man-crushes on a lot of east coast baseball players and not nearly enough over here on the west. But, that’s a whole other issue I have concerning ESPN and their blatant east coast bias. And anybody growing up in New York in the 50’s and if you’re out there let me know and tell me you didn’t have a man-crush on Mickey Mantle (and I’m not comparing Martin to Mantle, just a for instance). Just listen to Charley Steiner say the name Mickey Mantle and you know he had a big one. I just hope this is the beginning of a very long man-crush for one Russell Martin. Time to get fat on Washington and Pittsburgh before a showdown in San Diego. Padres get Pittsburgh and Washington this next week as well.
Go Dodgers!
I don’t get all the homophobic responses to the term… as if one is less of a man to say such a thing. Get over yourselves already… we’re having fun here…
And it would seem some of us are having fun at the expense of others. Not cool for Dodger fans to be hating on one another with personal insults. Yeah… fisher… I’m speaking of your idiotic retort… no matter how funny you think that might have been.
I never said a single thing about your MA hood Kevin you Brought the whole Jeff Foxworthey thing yourself and as is goes if yo you might be goes I just expanded the strikezone and said if ya scream like a girl ya might be one…
You have to refer back to the whole talking about Rednecks and I are one point of the whole comedy routine there. You of all people should know that you Cannot open yourself up to that on a day off we all have wayyyy too much time on our hands with no game… but open yourself up and Say I’m game you are gonna get shot …. Smile Kevin we are in the same spot but better then last year!
Oh and I don’t Hate ******* Kevin But I won’t say that they are not differant in point of view then me.Its all a preferance thing and we all have our own.. You have yours.
Shooting fish in a barrel this is like playing KC……
While Resect your views and your time it might be spent better elsewhere then ‘mancrushes’ cause its just so flagrantly easy of a target and the more ‘Guys’defend it the more ‘Why do you have to defend yourself?’I get and I really don’t care but Sitting ducks are fair game….and my whole post was about the team with a little Twist on the whole ‘I’m not *** But I love Russel Martin’ guy crush thing….
oops while I respect
Yeah… well I shouldn’t have taken it personally… you’re right. I don’t “roll” like that either, but having some fun with the term ain’t gonna hurt…
…bottom line: Martin is a huge member of this team… and one could argue that he is the heart and soul of the Dodgers. Kind of cool to say that about a guy who’s only in his second major league year. I can only imagine what he’ll be like in another five or six years… especially if he keeps improving on what talent he already has. Experience is about all he needs and will continue to grow from it. Yeah… he’s admired alright…
Go Martin!!
Go Dodgers!!
p.s. just delete the email in your yahoo account. what can I say… it’s late and it’s been a weekend.
I don’t Hate you Kevin You’re a bud You read too much into what I say…Can’t I make fun of it sometimes? Geeze You have read my posts… All 2AM post are half witted and mostly drunk but never without alot of thought but nontheless Half thoughts.You have a feel for what is up with the team maybe a lil over the top at times but you are a fellow blogger. People like my Blogs and tell me so and People think I’m Whacked and tell me so its no big thing….If you write it people will agree and disagree…C’est la vie…
***** I gotta see this….
Think god Martin don’t have 6 yrs service are else he’ll would been a fa.
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/los-angeles-dodgers.html
oops thank
How does that work? He doesn’t have a contract going by that link.
Oh Boy Kevin that was really a HUGE E-mail all the way from BOYS ID ….LOL chill dude LOL
Man I have to keep that one just for Blackmail purposes….you are just too easy to rile…why are you a Dodger fan again?
sl He is still concidered a rookie and can be sent back to the minor league team without any chance of being lost and is not allowed any raise except from within the organization without 5 years service in the min/majors since signing.Anything more is a Raise for + performance and a Contract prior is A HUGE commitment by any team anywhere.
I think I know about that part but I was wondering what would have happen if we didn’t resigned him. I guess you answer that part for me.
lol I think I should made myself clear on that one.
I grew up in Los Angeles… lived there most of my life through 1999… been going to the Ravine since I was knee-high. I’ve seen a lot there… from the days of Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey… Bill Buckner… Tommy John… Don Sutton… Doug Rau… Andy Messersmith… Steve Yeager… Joe Ferguson… etc. I’ve been to one World Series Game… Game 3 in 1977… Linda Ronstadt sang the National Anthem that day. If I had to put a number on it, I’d say I’ve probably been to around 100 Dodger games in my life. Not the season ticket holder type of numbers, but not bad for a local. My last game was three years ago… which happened to be Paul LoDuca’s first game back as a Florida Marlin… it also happened to be Darren Driefort’s last game in the majors.
This is one of the best renditions of the National Anthem ever! Linda Ronstadt was hot… I had 15 year old crush on her at the time! LOL…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DxYYwE_ezE
I’m not sure where he stands as far as that part is concerned if we have to offer him a contract after this year or not But I think he is definatly the Catcher we want for atleast the next 5 years. So If I were Coletti and Mc Court I’d Offer a 30 Mil 5 year to start with a buyout after 4 years of 1m and 3457 for the first 4 8 on the buyout year maybe with an option for 10 on #6 but as catchers Go and I know how good he is Production and stamina might be overcome in future propects even with nothing on the radar yet.But 5 years with a 6th opt would be smart.
OK Linda Rondstadt Is Hot always has been always will be Ever hear her do the Rock lullibies?We Will Rock You has Never Been That Sultry………
I hope we locked him up for good. I would hate to see another catcher go to the Mets. This one we have to keep for a long time.
Wow Very cool Kev!Notice How far they kept her out in CF… Yes She is That Hot….
Naw Sl They gonna trade him for a hot bat SS…
Joking…
It still truly amazes me How a slight woman without a great body can captivate me just with her voice….She can still do it and for the life of me doesn’t try to do popular music….Not wasted ability but I guess she does want she wants to and that makes her happy.
If there is someone out there, using this Website that is making an offer, to me, via e-mail, you don’t think I should refuse. I want you to know that I am refusing it. I am very happy, with my life. Please give it to some charity. Or just give it to somebody else. I don’t want it. Thank You.
Please disregard my last comment, I was a little worried this morning and couldn’t sleep. I was under the impression someone might have used two e-mail address, one just to use the Website and one for other business, but now I realize, that that’s stupid of me, I should’ve send the complaint back to the e-mail address on the e-mails, that were sent to me. I will continue what I was doing. Just delete them, in hopes they will stop. If not I’ll get in touch with the authorities and give them the e-mail. I’m afraid to respond to them because I am new at this and I don’t know what will happen electronically. I sent it in to you because I don’t use any other Website for comments.
i Admire the Man the Crushes the ball
that
Hey Kevin – I remember the Dodgers’ 707 jet liner very well. It used to land at Burbank Airport all of the time. The Dodgers used Burbank Airport to avoid the traffic and crowds at LAX. It is sad to see that the old jet has been scrapped out now, but financially, I can certainly understand why they stopped using it.
pierreseastmeetswest – Great stuff about the “the bases are FOB” and about Mike Scioscia. Can you imagine if he had become the Dodgers manager? He is definitely the guy I would like to see replace Grady Little, but Arte Moreno will NEVER let him go. My recollection of Roy Campanella is very vague. I learned about him from my father and was sad that he never played in L.A. after his accident. The more that I learn about Campy, the more I see similarities between he and Russell Martin. And yes, I remember Johnny Roseboro getting hit in the head by Juan Marichal. What’s most ironic about that is that Marichal ended his career with the Dodgers. And Steve Yeager “invented” the snap throw to first. I watched him pick off a dozen guys doing that. Whenever I see Pudge Rodriguez or Bengie Molina do it, it reminds me of Yeager. (Did you know that Steve Yeager is a nephew of test pilot Chuck Yeager?).
fisher928 – I will NEVER forget the look on LoDuca’s face when he was informed that he had been traded by the Dodgers. He was devastated and actually had tears in his eyes. That was the day that I came to hate Paul DePodesta.
sl7180 – Thanks for the link to the contract website. I had been using this one, but yours is much easier to read: http://www.mlb4u.com/profile
I didn’t mean to start a ruckus about the man crush thing, and yes, it was all in fun. It is just not a term that I choose to use – that’s all. If you guys want to use it, go right ahead.
chjones – “The man that crushes the ball”. I’m good with that type of man crush! (LOL!)
Now, to the business at hand, today’s game – JUST WIN BABY!
GO DODGERS!
I have been a huge fan since 77. I don’t want anyone thinking that while Nomar (or whoever) is hitting that I am not 110 percent rooting for him to get a hit. I don’t sit there going, gosh Loney could be playing.I write stuff online but thats a different thought process for me. I try to be logical. While being a fan, its all emotion.
But guys, I want to know why everyone loves LoDuca so much. I think he is the most overrated player in dodger history.
-led us to no playoffs. (people talk about him being a leader, but leader of what an overpriced, underachieving team?)
-had only 1 truly good year(2001)
-good first half hitter, bad 2nd half hitter
-not a great defensive catcher (15 errors in 02, as reference martin had 6 last year and guys ran all over paulie)
-not that much power (25 hr in 01, 27hr in 02, 03 and 04)
-not a high OBP for a contact hitter (around .340)
He was a team spoksman and was the first guy to get his face on TV for interviews and he bled dodger blue, but were not talking Mike Piazza here. I have nothing against the guy or any dodger or ex dodger. Just trying to figure out the logic behind the emotion.
(not part of the conversation but i’d much rather have Brad Penny than Paulie. Even thought Penny got hurt at the time (sorta flukey) he was 26 and beat the yanks twice in the WS the prior year to get them a WS title and has been pretty good for us since at a good price. Our best starter in the 04 playoffs (best game i ever went to) was Lima for petes sake, so a healthy penny was needed )
I’d like to understand why the love for Paulie, I am not criticizing anyones opinion.
i don’t understand why Grady has to choose between Kuo and Billingsley for the 5th spot. I think its a no brainier. Billingsley should get it. They wanted him to get his control back and he has a K/BB ratio of almost 3-1.
O.K. My fellow Dodgers Fans, I’ve just had an education, which I shoud’ve gotten before hand, I panicked and my nerves got in front of my brains, but everything is O.K. now.
Because Bills was still throwing too many pitches per batter and Grady wants him to be able to get 7 inns in 5 just wasn’t cutting it.I like the way he been pitching though and fully agree that he should get the next opportunity.Still don’t expect him to get past 6inns yet because he hasn’t been throwing more then 3 inns or so since ST.5 is probably more realistic.
I’m very conflicted on this 5th starter situation, everybody knows Bills deserves the start. And I want to make this clear I do not want Tomko starting ever again. However, here’s a for instance: Tomko starts a game and gives up 5 runs in 4 innings. Billingsley comes in and restores order for 3 innings.
If Billingsley starts and hypothetically gives up 5 runs in 4 innings, Tomko becomes our long reliever, he’ll come in and we can all pretty much guarantee Tomko will not restore order 9 times out of 10. It’s a really tough decision because Bills can be effective out of the bullpen and out of the rotation. Kuo obviously can only start, which is why I chose Kuo over Bills in spring training before Kuo’s injury. I would give Bills this first start on June 2nd because he’s deserves it AND it delays sending LaRoche or Abreu back to Vegas for at least 5 more days because there won’t be a roster move.
i think maybe some of the loduca love has to do with he was ‘one of our own.’ dodger fans love that and always will. which is why we sometimes have an easier time rooting for our own prospects than imported players, or at least i do.
You still all spun up on your e-mail?Delete everything from everyone you don’t know then delete most of what is left as its still mostly junkmail…
also agreed on kuo/bills issued. ideally, bills and tomko would swap roles, but tomko cannot be trusted to be good long man right now. Bills does deserve the start. And I don’t think you’ll be getting 7 innings out of kuo anymore than you would out of Bills. The one thing I don’t want is for Bills to stay in the pen all year long out of convenience. That just shouldn’t happen and I don’t think it will.
That and he had a great story attached to him in that he spent so much time down on the farm before he finally got a shot.Not to mention the garbage we had to go thru to finally get back to a productive catcher.That was the hardest part for me.
Billingsley can go 7. Kuo hasn’t gone past 5 innings in any of his starts this year and has never gone past 6. Billingsley is stronger,has better stuff and has better control. You guys seems to forget he was the #1 pitching prospect in all of baseball at the beginning of last year. Plus he’s gone 7 innings before.
todays lineup is a joke…
CF Pierre — .343 lifetime avg. vs. Nats
SS Furcal — 14gm hit streak
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin — one of six ML catchers batting .300 or better
RF Ethier
3B Abreu
RH Penny
Tonight’s Lineup: And they moved Martin back to sixth…this will not go over well
CF Pierre
SS Furcal
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
RF Ethier
3B Abreu
RH Penny
Yes Max but he has been in the Pen he came up after starting in Vegas.You can’t honestly think that he has that much stamina without working a reg schedule.
Talk about encouraging!! (Bills below)
Max, I agree with you, no brainer, but Grady probably dosen’t want to mess with something that’s working? I would start Kuo for Tomko and Bills for Henderickson right now. Counting on Schmidt is not a good idea.
April
13.2ip
5.93era
1.76whip
.309baa
May
13.1ip
2.03era
0.98whip
.184baa
does Grady realize that ‘platooning’ the leadoff spot is the silliest thing ever? Does anyone agree with this?
It’s temporary because he’s waiting for Abreu to explode so he can put him at #2. If it doesn’t happen this is what we’re gonna get. If you go with the numbers (lefty vs. righty) sure why not switch them around based on the pitcher. I think personally Pierre should leadoff against righties and bat eighth against lefties. But that’s me…
In Billingsley’s last 10 games he has thrown 15 innings. On the 26th he threw 3 innings and then the next day threw another inning. That takes alot of arm strength to do that. Billingsley’s arm is still there. Stamina isn’t not a problem for him. Most starters don’t even throw 15 innings in 10 days.
Pierre should be nowhere near the top of the lineup EVER!
I don’t see why Grady is waiting for Abreu to explode to move him up. That show no confidence in Abreu. Specially sticking him in the 8th spot. It’s sad that Grady only has confidence in veterans.
Martin
.368 .435 .579 1.014 5 hole
.312 .395 .473 .868 6 hole
Gonzo
.258 .359 .394 .753 5 hole
.381 .435 .619 1.054 6 hole
Guys, I feel like that duck in the yogi aflac commercial. “And they give you cash, which is just as good as money.”
Grady Little has been hired to manage the team, Let him do his job. Apparently he has decided to go back to the old lineup and no matter who he picks for the 5th slot, Kuo or Billingsley, If he blunders, the other will replace him. I can’t see the difference whether Martin bats 3rd or 6th right now. What we need is hits, walks, steals and most of all R U N S.
is pierre moving to the 8th spot an eventuality or someting that will happen only if he continues to ‘hit’ the way he’s been hitting?
hahahahaha jungar, for some reason your aflac comment just made my day and yeah i definitely prefer martin batting 5th
this is classic too. “The one you really need to have. If you don’t have it, that’s why you need it.”
Grady Little: “…we trust Joe against anybody. His numbers against righties are just as good as lefties in the last two years…”
2006 and 2007
VS LH: .156/.243/.219/.462
VS LH: .234/.265/.351/.616
VS RH: .295/.365/.386/.752
VS RH: .277/.332/.445/.777
in 139 plate appearances against lefties in t two years Beimel allowed zero runs.
In 245 plate appearances against righties, Beimel allowed 34 runs (not all of them earned).
Everyone eventually earns their spot in the lineup and ‘IF” Abreu earns his spot then absolutely he should be moved up to #2. But, like I said in a previous post, veterans always get the benefit of the doubt because they’re proven players. Abreu hasn’t proven squat yet so just like Martin last year he’s gonna have to make management move him up. And that’s EXACTLY what they want. They want Abreu to GRAB HOLD of his spot and make the absolute most of it. Same holds true to LaRoche. That’s one of the reasons I love baseball because rookies have to earn it in the big leagues.
now we have proof that grady has no use for statistics. awesome.
yeah alex, but having two rooks compete against eachother for a spot is a little much.
I’ve been moving over the weekend, which is why I’ve been absent from the blog. But I just spent a solid hour catching up on everything on here…maybe that’s why my wife calls me obsessed.
I was happy to see series wins against Milwaukee and Chicago – these were much-needed wins, and whether they were ugly or pretty I don’t know, but I’m glad the Dodgers got them.
I think all of the activity going on with the roster, lineup, and rotation is a good sign that there is a trade in the works. I think one of the most beneficial things that could happen in a trade would be for Ned to package Clark and/or Martinez with whatever pitchers are traded – this could open roster spots for Kemp, Loney, or Valdez. With veteran role-players like Martinez and Clark, I don’t think Ned will be forced to trade many of the prospects – between all our “extra” pitching and veterans taking up roster spots, we could put together a decent trade package without them.
thanks man..laughing helps!
Pierre don’t worry man, I doubt anyone is gonna be allowed to jump in the dugoiut and not let grady do his job! If so, jspelk would not allow and platoons and leadoff!! It’s all fun to second guess, live and die with each pitch. Think our guy ***** until he gets a hit maybe 2-3 times out of 10. Thats why we love baseball. To second guess and thats why I love this blog, it’s like being at the stadium but at home. I’ll be high fiving you (metaphorically) when our team scores a runs or turns a great double play along with Max or Alex and everyone else no matter what side of our silly debates we are on.
Just as long as one of them grabs the job that’s all that matters. It’s an extended tryout on the main stage…all they want is one of them to just take the job and run with it. Nobody has done that yet, Betemit/Abreu/LaRoche have all failed so far to grasp third base and never let it go. If one of them takes hold of it they have potential to hold on to it for several years. They have to make the best of the opportunity they’re lucky to have been given and so far they have not.
The Nats’ Dmitri Young was injured Sunday…could be good news for the Dodgers if he’s not 100%. He’s probably their best offensive player, and if he’s not feeling well, the Dodgers’ great pitching should have an even nicer time shutting them down.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2884471
Not to wish anything bad on the guy, but as an LA fan I can always hope that Young is hurt maybe for 3 games…can’t I?
The present temperature in Washington D.C. 85 degrees and clear. At 7:05PM ET 4:05PM PT, Penny takes on RHP Jason Simontacchi, Let’s hope they don’t let Simontacchi, look like the greatest pitcher on earth. Com’ on boys you can do it. Good Luck.