Superstitions and stuff…
Well, I certainly didn’t intend to start a holy war with yesterday’s post, nor do I hope to quell the dissenting opinions on this blog, as that is definitely what makes this site worthwhile. Debating the lineups, moves, players and more is the main reason people leave comments here, which is good and I’m sure it’ll continue. I was simply saddened that a group of Dodger fans that regularly visit the site were actually looking to split off for another blog because of too much negativity so I passed along their thoughts with the hope that at least the criticism might be a little more constructive (which at times, it certainly is). Anyway, that’s really the last I’ll add on this issue and I’ll leave the rest up to you all to sort out.
As for Charley Steiner jinxing the no-hitter, I have to say that I’m just not that superstitious. If you want to blame anyone, blame me because after six innings of no-hit ball, I called Jason Repko to talk about a few things for the upcoming community program that he’s launching and I asked if he was watching the game. When he said he wasn’t near a TV, I told him about the no-no and he assured me that I had jinxed it. About five minutes after we hung up, the first hit came and I got a text message from him blaming me for the loss of the no-hitter.
However, in my first year as an intern at the team, I was in the press box when Ramon Martinez was throwing a no-hitter and I made a comment about it to Robert Schweppe, who worked in Baseball Operations for many years. When I told him I was worried that I might have jinxed it, he said, "Josh, if you have that much control over what goes on down on the field, you’re a lot more valuable to us than I realized." It was then that I decided that Charley, me or you don’t really affect what is happening on the field. We’re just supposed to enjoy it. I don’t believe in jinxes and I can tell you that it’s generally accepted within the baseball industry that broadcasters are the only ones who are allowed to talk about no-hitters without jinxing them. If my memory serves me correctly, Vin does it pretty regularly and I don’t think we ever blame him for that.
The lineup is below and I hope everyone enjoys Schmidt’s start tonight. It would be a huge boost to the team if he’s able to pitch the way we all hoped before the shoulder injury.
Pierre, CF
Furcal, SS
Nomar, 1B
Kent, 2B
Gonzo, LF
Martin, C
Ethier, RF
Abreu, 3B
Schmidt, P
Inside the Dodgers 
looks good for tonight,
but i think martin should be 5th not 6th.
Or 3rd. but whatever.
Are you at Chico now? I am a Chico Alum!! I don’t want to date myself, but what the heck..I was there from 1991 to 1995. I miss college so much! Have fun when there. Go to Joes and have a bloody Joe for me. The head to Panamas and have an Orange Crush…And then hang at La Salles. Are all those places still there?
Lineup does look good.
But I don’t know if moving up Marting would be a good idea. Wouldn’t that put some preasure on him to produce. He already is in a grove where he is at. If they move him up im afraid he wont’ do so good. It would be to much presure. I say keep him were he is at. Its up to Nomar,Kent,and Gonzo to drive them in.
But i really like Pierre at the top.
Let’s go Dodgers!
Let’s go out and get the first one!
I have high hopes coming into this series. I know this is where the teams proves what they can really do. Padres are coming off of a slightly easy road trip and had a day off on Monday. As for the Dodgers are coming into San Diego from a continuing 7-game road trip with no break since May 28th.
I hope Jason pitches a great game, we need that from him more than ever right now.
Line up looks great, but i still would like to see Martin hit in the 5th spot or even in the 6th spot. But maybe he feels comfortable in that part of the line up? We want to see others move up or down in the line up, but we don’t know what the players comfort zone is in the line up.
Good Luck Jason
and GO DODGERS!!!
carcyn… you read my mind on moving Russell around in the line up
Doesn’t there have to be a roster move to activate Schmidt. I am assuming that poor Eric Hull, who never even got into a game, will be sent back to Las Vegas, but something’s got to give, right?
Carcyn, yeah as a guy who has been saying get Martin in the third spot for a month you make a really good point. Let the kid mash where he is.
Ya know i have been thinking the same thing about Martin. I think he has expressed he likes to hit in that 6th spot maybe he feels he comes up more in bigger situations in thst slot! I dont know all i can hope for is a great game and i think tonite i will be granted that wish.
I think Abreu is gonna have a good game the kid has been hitting the ball hard just right at people. He has had a couple of strike-outs but i think he will have a good game none the less!
Lets get one tonite boys!!!
GO DOGDERS!!!
GO ABREU!!!!!
VOTE 4 MARTIN!!!!
enjoyable read Josh, i for one think it’s kind of neat to think we have some type of voodoo thing going for the Dodgers. i’m pumped for this series by the way.
Go Dodgers!
Leek they announced it earlier that they optioned Eric back to AAA. Yeah kind of disappointed he didnt even get to play but hey thats baseball!
Thanks dahustlasbac. I had not been able to find that, but it had been my working assumption.
I’ve been a fan for 26 years, but if there is something I have learned over the last 1 1/3 seasons, it’s that this team will win with its 40-man roster, not the 25-man roster. So, if he does well, Hull will be back (and hopefully Loney and Kemp too).
Martin hit great batting 2nd this year and I have sure he would hit well in any slot in the lineup.
Chris Young is the worst pitcher in baseball holding runners on. Martin should hit third vs. Young, that way you have three threats to run at the top of the lineup.
Do not forget that Nomar, has little value to the team except with runners in scoring position. Putting those three plust Kent in fron of him would most likely net Nomar some nice opportunities to drive in runs.
Just my three cents…
I think we need to be very careful not to over use Martin. This is a kid that will give it his all and then some and we’ve already seen what happens to others like Repko that have done the same. FYI, for what it’s worth, I think Repko is the guy for CF !!
Go Dodgers !!!
BEAT SD – BEAT SD – BEAT SD
Yes, it’s too bad what happened to Repko. He probably would have made it in center.
gary – i said that about repko last year and no one listened.
I don’t get this line-up at all. I think I’d go with Schmidt in the #9 spot (although he has as many homers as our #2 and #3 hitter combined) but there isn’t much else I’d keep the same. Maybe Kent in the clean-up spot too.
I guess I would make a real cruddy manager.
Who will close tonight? Broxton threw 23 pitches last night and 15 the day before so I’m assuming he’s not available tonight.
I would like to see CBill close the door on the Pads tonight. Any thoughts?
Nice lineup tonight!
Furcal
Abreu
Martin
Kent
Gonzo
Nomar
Ethier
Pierre
Repko is not the answer… Matt Kemp is the answer this year. If he wouldn’t have worked out, here are some possible answers for next year and beyond: Andruw Jones, Ichiro, Torii, Eric Byrnes. All Free Agents to be.
Yes. I agree.
Repko should be our guy at center. He just needs a little time to develope and get use to the bigs. He is an exciting player to watch. He covered alot of ground at center. He is an animal. He is a good hitter too. I like those guys who give it their best. And he is the type that would do that. He always hustles.
Enough is enough….Mitch Jones has 18 freaking homers. Let’s get him on the club, I don’t care if he’s 30
Next year. Kemp in LF, Pierre in CF and AE in RF. Get a power hitting 3B.
Im not a big fan of moving Nomar to 3b.
Repko career .232 batting average. .302 OBP .382 SLG 11 HR 46 RBI 15 SB 4 CS in 406 career at bats.
hey you know what? those numbers are close to the production Pierre puts up. more homers, lower BA, but the OBP and SLG are the same.(SLG actually slightly better for Repko) Repko has a rocket arm too. Still kemp over repko.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7519
Mitch Jones? I don’t think so.
60 Ks in 185 ABs in Triple-A says disaster in the big leagues.
I am only sorta kidding when I say I will kill myself if Pierre starts in CF next year.
I have heard Vinny talk about no hitters before. Stiener and all are reporters and the Reporters & Announcers job is to report per Vinny. The only ones, it is unwritern, are on the bench who don’t say anything. The other teams reminds you of what you are doing anyway. On another subject, Martin is certainly very talented and a very good developing hitter. There is a thing called pressure in the 3-4-5 hole that is not there in 6 down. He has just a little over a year in the bigs and is handling a vetrean pitching staff and that is very tough. My point is to let him grow into it, just as others have done. He has enough to do without worring about HAVING to produce at the plate. I recall Piazza didn’t start in the 4 hole. Just ask Broxton the difference between 8th and 9th inning, same concept. It is a thing called pressure on every at bat or pitch. Just like a player who homers in the 8th with a 10-1 lead, where was the pressure? Martin will be in one of those holes soon but let him take his stokes now in a little more relaxed way and handle the pitchers. Anyone who has caught will tell you that the worst thing a pitcher can generally do is to start thinking, although there are the exceptions like Maddux. Martin has got the pitchers confidence so he has got tremendous amount pressure just in that. He will be there as he matures as a hitter. They say that you need to put players in places where they can regularly succeed and he does. Just some thoughts about letting the kid grow.
LOL @ Repko being our answer in center field. Thats almost as funny as watching Pierre play every day.
Seriously though, Matt Kemp should be our center fielder. Offensively he would easily outproduce Pierre and defensively he would be a huge upgrade.
Kemp doesn’t look like a CF. If I remember correctly when he played it last year he took bad routes and looked uncomfortable.
scrutis…so does Pierre.
true. But Pierre isn’t fit to play left or right like MK is.
I agree about putting less pressure on martin. If he’s producing where he is I would just leave him there.
scrutis…Pierre isn’t fit to play anywhere.
Piere doesn’t look like a CF. If I remember correctly when he played it this year he took bad routes and looked uncomfortable.
Would you trade a prospect such as LaRoche or Loney to get rid of Juan Pierre? I wouldnt get rid of Kemp, Broxton, Billz, Elbert, Josh Bell, or Kershaw but I would probably give up any 1 of the others to get rid of his contract (not so much him as a person) but I think we would be fine without him. Also, considering SOOO many teams are pining for bullpen help and we have a surplus of both SP and RP we could probably get rid of a contract along with a few. I’m thinking specifically of Tomko moreso than Hendrickson.
Id like to get rid of Tomko and Lurch.
Pierre should be in left field… thats generally the place to put your worst defensive outfielder. For ex. Manny Ramirez. You need to put your best outfielder in center because the CF is involved in more plays that any other outfielder.
Here we go again Max, move on to something else please !! Ok to disagree but lets move on OK
Go Dodgers !!
garysmith… hold on… we did not bring up Pierre’s name today. Look at the posts before u give us guff.
My money is on Martin putting another one out of the park tonight.
Go Dodgers !!
Schmidt’s fastball better be in the 90’s tonight. I hope it hits from 88-92 all night. Probably on a pitch count around 90 right?
I did Dude, you read them OK
scrutis…Pierre isn’t fit to play anywhere.
Posted by: max_power_05@yahoo.com | June 5, 2007 05:02 PM
Piere doesn’t look like a CF. If I remember correctly when he played it this year he took bad routes and looked uncomfortable.
Posted by: jungar@wsgcorp.com | June 5, 2007 05:03 PM
gary you try way to hard man…
especially when you said…
“I think Repko is the guy for CF !!”
Posted by: garysmith@glsmith.com | June 5, 2007 04:20 PM
37 minutes i even posted your comment insinuated that you’d rather have Repko in center instead of Pierre. Therefore you technically brought up Pierre without saying his name.
37 minutes before*
scurtis1999–you’re right about next year’s starting three in the OF, but I think you put Kemp in right and Ethier in left. Realizing that Ethier is a “natural” right fielder, and that it usually makes more sense to put the left hander in right and the right-hander in left, I think that Kemp has the rocket arm that you want in a right-fielder. Ethier’s arm is fine (certainly the best in the current OF), but Kemp has a cannon out there. And Pierre will be in center. We can debate it, but it’s going to happen.
As for closer for tonight, hopefully the Dodgers win big and we can let Tomko or Hendrickson get some work. If it’s close in the Ninth, Broxton goes. You have to be able to count on Broxton on three consecutive days. Tomorrow might be another question, as anyone on four consecutive days is tough (they used Gagne 5 in a row before, but that may not be the best model), but Broxton is the closer tonight.
If you say so Max.
Martin still produces from the #6 hole and it saves his body plus having Ethier behind him makes for a potent combination.
Go Dodgers !!!
53 – Thanks so much. The Brad Penny batting practice ball arrived today. Great day here with a bit of the Dodgers arriving in my mail box. Will put it with my Duke Snider autographed ball, Tommy Lasorda autographed ball and Willie Mays homerun ball. (Gotten by my Dad at old Jarry Park in Montreal but not autographed) Thanks again 53- this is special.
Now on to A-Rod. See the Yanks and Red Sox play quite a bit. A-Rod looks disinterested- missed pop up, picked off second, etc. Now he has the issue of being photographed with a women, not his wife, leaving a strip club in Toronto. Now that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be acquired. But for me watching A Rod he seems distracted and now is a distraction. His stints with the Mariners, Rangers and Yankees have yielded no WS championships. He has not been the missing piece and won’t be with the Dodgers, especially with his salary than can bring in 3-4 good players.
Gary, I agree, a healthy Repko is a CF player with some enthusiasm. The question is if he will ever get to play. Right now we have Pierre. There is no use beating on that fact guys. Make your final assessment at the end of the year as we do with all players. Day by day is often discouraging. As my all time favorite Duke Snider said, “What a wonderful game. I failed 70% of the time and was considered to be an all- star.” Now there was a center fielder. GO DODGERS!!
i don’t know what the big deal is. we are all pretty much resigned to the fact that JP will be in a Dodger uniform for at least the next few years. If he performs better or as we’d like then that’s just icing on the cake. Other than that we just like thinking of alternatives and/or thinking out loud. that’s all.
Leekfink,
True. AE in LF, JP in CF and MK in RF. Kemp would be a lot better in right then left. Hopefully he won’t run into the wall like that again.
haha come on guys. REpko wouldn’t even a regular on the nationals. I thought this was a baseball blog not a comedy one. hahaha Repko hahahaha.
Repko is a fine pinch runner and defensive replacement in late innings but a starter he is not.
And, by the way, while we’re talking about future outfielders and the need for power in the line-up, guess who’s hitting .458 over his last 10 games, and hit one out in Memphis today? It rhymes with “Hemp.”
Actually, in looking at the Las Vegas Box Score, I just noticed another name I had not paid attention to. Anyone know what the deal is with Mitch Jones? He’s 29, so probably not a great prospect (guys usually make it to the bigs by 25, or not at all), but he has 19 home runs in Las Vegas.
BOOOORRRRRIIINNNNGGGG
Remember last time the Dodgers faced Young, and totally owned him? Let’s look for at least 5 steals off of him tonight. Personally, I like the two speedy guys up top and Martin hitting toward the middle/bottom so that we have speed throughout the order. That way, any inning that the Ds can put guys on base, they are a threat to steal.
Kent could steal on Young…maybe even Schmidt if he gets on base.
Padres lineup ***** tonight. I see Bocachica is in it!!!
leekfink – I agree, Kemp is as ready for LF now as he will ever be. I would bet he’ll be up after the All-Star break, if not sooner, and will be with the club for good. He’ll probably start in LF next year if he does close to as well as he’s doing in AAA now.
Ugh, only 3 HR’s for Kemp at Vegas. Where has his power gone?
I just checked out the Pads’ website…their blog’s last thread was from May 27, and there’s not one post under it.
I’m glad to be a Dodger fan. To be a fan of a team that has REAL fans. And for all of those who hate me because I’m a ******* on the blog occasionally, I even like being a fan alongside each of you.
That collection must really be a site Harold, I’d like to see it some time.
Baseball is not a science, it’s not a chess match, it’s a game of mistakes and opportunities played by real people. It’s not life and death or world politics, it’s just a kids game played by men. You have to Love the Game to understand the true meaning. It’s meant to be fun and enjoyed by all.
GO Dodgers !!!
Hard to blog from jail I guess in San Diego! HA
i would be weary of underestimating Young. He’s a good pitcher, he just had a bad game against us.
leekfink – not sure how it happens with Mitch Jones. His K’s -60 Ks in 185, one in every 3 at bats are worse than Andruw Jones – one in every four at bats. Some guys are career minor leaguer. Delwyn Young also. Leads in several offensive categories at Las Vegas and second in others. Will probably never get a shot with the Dodgers although he is on the 40 man roster. Hopefully he will be a Reed Johnson or Dave Roberts and catch on somewhere as an older player.
Not sure where Russell Martin should hit but we do have to protect him by not overworking him. I don’t know much about contracts but wonder when is the time to tie Russell up for 5-7 years. The Indians did that with their good young players a few years ago. I will say I would prefer that Russell not jump around in the batting order – 3,4,5,6. I know he is a gamer and would lead off if asked but I think he should be slotted and kept there. GO DODGERS!!
Dodgers are +160 underdogs tonight. I love it! I wish I was still betting on baseball
scurtis1999 – maybe Pete Rose still is. Just kidding. Pete should be in the HOF.
Thanks for the thoughts euhlman. And apologies to randyisrad and momoracci who discussed Mitch Jones before. It sure does look like he whiffs a lot, and since he’s 29 and not even on the 40-man roster, there are clearly people who know a lot more about baseball than I do who don’t think he has what it takes.
But I was checking the 51s box score (as I often do, to check up on Kemp and Loney, and some other guys to a lesser extent) and Jones hit his 19th HR today, while Kemp hit his fourth. And while admittedly Kemp was spending time on Los Angeles and on the DL, that 19 home runs really stands out. When you have twice the number of home runs of anyone else in the organization, it just really stands out. That’s like 19 times the number of Home Runs that Nomar has.
His ’06 numbers in the Yankees organization are not very impressive, and he’s pretty old for a prospect, so the best bet is that his slgging this year is an aberration. And I still value Kemp and Loney as our top 2 guys in AAA, but 19 home runs is enough to make me curious as to how he landed in the Dodgers organization.
Post if you know.
Hi HAROLD, Good to hear from you.
DUKE #4 was also my favorite player. I have his picture as a screen saver on my computor. If my memory is correct, your will remember that from 1953 to 1957, THE DUKE hit more home runs than Mantle and Mays did each year.
GO BLUE
Hi 51 – Great trivia – Who hit the most homers in the entire decade in the 1950’s? Most guess Mickey or Willie but it was the Duke. GO DODGERS!!
leekfink – not sure how Jones got in the Dodger system. Was a four time all star in Yankee system. Was drafted twice before finishing his education. LoDuca was 29 or so when he was called up I believe.
leekfink – here it is.Most professional baseball players would love to wear the pinstripes of the New York Yankees. But 51s slugger Mitch Jones was glad when he got released by the Bronx Bombers at the end of last season.
“I was happy to get out of there and get some new looks,” said Jones, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in December after seven seasons in New York’s farm system. “I don’t really have hard feelings toward the Yankees, but I’m glad to get an opportunity with someone else.
“I never really got an opportunity at the big league level, and I wasn’t going to get considerable playing time there.”
Jones, a four-time minor league All-Star who hit 48 home runs and had 157 RBIs for Triple-A Columbus the last two seasons, was called up to the Yankees last May 20 but was sent down the next day without seeing any action.
I can’t wait for this game for some reason. 1st place is ours to keep!
I agree that Jones K ratio is high but you will also note that he has 29 BB and his OBP. is over .400 and his has an rbi for every K he has.Not that would translate into production on the big club but there are definatly some Good numbers to look at there and if he gets an rbi for every K I’d Love to see him strikeout 120-150 times a year. One thing also to note is that all those walks and strikeout translates into a very patient hitter who sees alot of pitches which is one of the big problems with this team.I hate the comparison but he looks like a Nancy Drew type of hitter.Ya never know if we do make a move and trade a couple spots off the 40 man roster for 1 Big Name player he could make it to the show this year in a late callup.
his-he
We have just witnessed why Martin should be hitting earlier in our lineup !!!
I lived in SD for 6 years before moving to Denver…I remember every game I went to between LA and SD had almost as many LA fans there. Listen to the cheers when something good happens for LA…it’s a good environment for our players, I think. Even as a pitcher’s park, our guys don’t hit HRs anyway, so I think they’ll do OK in this serious.
*series, not serious.
Here comes the “good” part of our lineup…who coined that phrase around here? 😉
Nice. Stolen base by Martin!
Lot’s of Dodger fans out in SD tonight.
yep…martin is pretty much perfect
I think Kent has just been plain bad the last two weeks. It doesn’t help to have Nomar and Kent back to back when neither is performing.
I like the Dodgers’ approach so far against Young. He’s already at 41 pitches.
It’s great to see Schmidt delivering in the 90’s again.
Is it me or does Jason Schmidt where a different cap then the rest of the team? It looks like a a “low-profile” model cap.
Puppyhead – it’s up to you. Bed time for bears in Nova Scotia. Keep up the good work. GO DODGERS!!
Here we go Schmidty… u got the pitcher up… get out of it
10-4 good buddy
phew…nice play by raffy
atta boy Raffy!
I heart Furcal. That guy was great for the team last year, and I see him getting better as he goes on this year.
atta boy Raffy!
Don’t blame the bat Pierre.
K the approach wasn’t so hot that inning.
Well, that inning took care of the idea that we might wear Young out.
So I am watching the game on MLB.TV, and they are showing the SD broadcast of the game, so I am deprived of hearing Vinny…
Yeah dodgerdude, I always hated watching games when I lived in SD…I hated the old SD announcers…at least they replaced one of them with Gwynn. He’s pretty awesome.
Beautiful recovery from the previous inning, Schmidtty! I think he’s on target to go six innings and about 90 pitches. I hope we score a couple of runs for him.
Gwynn has gotta be the absolute laziest college baseball manager that their is. I saw his team play vs. UC Irvine last year and the dude got off the bench once the whole game. He’s the size of a blimp too. The fatty could sure hit though.
OK what has changed since the 1st time through the lineup? The Dodgers are hacking early instead of working a great pitcher…boo…
Well, at least Gonzo had a great AB, or that inning would have been way to easy for the Pads.
Anyone have an update on the all-star voting? where’s russ at?
Injury update: Relievers Yhency Brazoban and Chin-hui Tsao had their injured shoulders examined at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Los Angeles and no major problems were discovered. Both are expected to resume throwing next week.
#3 dodgerdude…100k behind Lo Duca, though.
looking good schmidty
way to jinx it DD17
way to go schmidty
euhlman–Thanks for the information on Mitch Jones. You’re right about LoDuca–he got his first taste at 26, but did not get his 150th MLB at-bat until he was 28, and was not a real factor until he was 29. It’s still unusual, but you never know.
Those of you who don’t think Mitch Jones would be a plus to the team, he hit his 19th home run tonight. He now has 19 HR’s in 185 ab’s. Last year he hit 21 HR’s in 441 ab’s. He already has 60 rbi’s compared to 78 last year. He may strike out once in every three ab’s but I can’t get past the run production. I would give him a chance to assist in the OF or at 3b.
Really great game so far, yes Martin is in third place in the N.L Catcher voting 93,000 behind Lo Duca, but he’s only 4,000 behind Estrada for 2nd place and he made up substantial ground from the first vote count. So it can definitely be done! Also, Nomar made a big leap in the first base voting which was interesting.
Vote for Martin!
Go Dodgers!
In comparison to M Jones, Kemp hit is 4th HR in 158 ab’s and has 20 rbi’s.
stop hitting the ball in the air! thats 3rd time tonight.
In comparison, Pierre has popped out 3 times. His game is to hit the ball on the ground and leg it out. I will try not to be too negative but we will never get our money’s worth out of Pierre.
no one else is doing much better…good ole fashioned pitchers duel.
Schmidt sures looks good so far…
He looks like the pitcher everbody expected him to be…
Hope this is an omen of good or even better things to come…
It is surprising that he was able to come back so soon & be this effective..
Is this ump squeezing Schmidt and giving Young some questionable calls?
Schimdt’s back!
Let’s hope Hendy can regain his form in the ‘pen…this staff is stacked.
The HEART of our lineup is due up ………
must say, i did not expect schmidt to go 6 scoreless. this is great to see. an already strong pitching staff just got a top-flight addition…now them bats gotta come alive
way to start it off Russ…lets keep it goin guys
puppy, i coined the bottom 3 as our “good” part of the lineup. I think it fits perfectly considering they pretty much were our offense this road trip.
Schmidt looked good. Impressive actually. The real test though is his next start.
How often will you see a team pitchout when a catcher is on 1st base ?????
Those of you who are watching on MLB.TV and want to hear the KFWB broadcast instead of the boring San Diego broadcasters can always copy the link for the radio in another window and turn the sound down on the TV window. I know Vinny’s on LA TV, but at least this way you have a choice to hear our radio team instead.
the padres have the ugliest uniform’s known to man.
“How often will you see a team pitchout when a catcher is on 1st base ?????”
Sombody tell that to Joe Morgan.
Hey Harold! I see you’re out and about today… that was cool of Ron to send you that ball. I’m jealous! : )
Lol Martin has stolen this base about 12 times…
That hurts deep inside…really badly…
Toe pick! : )
Martin has so much DESIRE & HEART….
Can’t help but fire up his teamates…
I told you that this is the Heart of the lineup…
great. now pierre the rally killer is up.
Great job by Schmidt tonight… too bad we made Chris Young look like the second coming of Nolan Ryan…
Sigh…
That hurt also.
That looked like an intentional walk to Betemit in order to pitch to Pierre – with predictable results.
Yup, and down goes Pierre.
Well done to Schmidt, though! Very well done.
*bows to Martin* He plays the game, he doesn’t just coast on his contract.
Man… if Jason Schmidt can pitch like this from here on out… we’ll do pretty good. I’d like to see Bills get the nod for the next fifth day slot.
Martin plays is GUTS out — Pierre swings on 1st pitch and dribbles to 1st base for his fourth out of the game ….
Very difficult to watch sometimes…
rudy pitching against the pods…is some kind of reverse karma in order?
“*bows to Martin* He plays the game, he doesn’t just coast on his contract.”
What contract? He’s in the ML minimum territory. He wants the big payday… and his character and play will get him the bucks one day soon. He’s the real deal.
ksspark…seeing bills in the 5 slot would be just as great as seeing pierre in the 8 slot and russ in the 5 spot.
Just not sure they’ll come around to doing that anytime soon
Pierre seems to get worse when we need him the most…
bases empty .293 BA
runners on .248 BA
RISP .224 BA
RISP W/ 2 out .161 BA
bases loaded .100 BA
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6550/situational;_ylt=ApNKLI9f0PskukgfDv8xI7.FCLcF
Makes you sick just looking at those stats dodgerdude…
Nevermind griffon… I understand your post and it’s reference to the man who will remain un-named.
although with saito in the bullpen, i think the best move is to have bills at setup
saito out of the bullpen*
wow…seems like seanez has turned things around
Who is this Rudy Seanez guy? Man… I was ready to throw in the towel with this guy a month ago. He’s really come around of late… and not to soon either with Sammy going down. Bravo Rudy…
Way to go Seanez!!!
Is it my imagination? Or is he is getting better with each outing??
dodgerdude…those are some gut wrenching stats.
Seanez has been very, very solid for over a month now. I don’t dread it when he comes in at all anymore 🙂
seanez is a great chip to toss in in a trade
Offensive explosion in SD tonight. Good god! I bet a homer doesn’t win this game!
I like having Hendy in the ‘pen for extra innings if it goes that far.
i liked Hendy when he played for Tampa.
9th inning, Russell, Andre, Tony. They can make something happen.
I don’t like this bottom of the 8th!
Oh man… that curveball was absolutely wiked! Where did THAT come from?
wicked
will hoffman pitch the 9th?
Its a slider! He throws a fastball, slider and changeup.
No way that pitch was a slider scurtis… the break was easily two feet or more. Like I said… where did that come from? : )
I fear thats ballgame
****! why wasn’t billingsley out there
karmic payback..im telling you. get rudy outta there.
game over! seanez is awesome
and i fear hoffman will indeed pitch the 9th…he’s been doing it with smoke and mirrors this year though.
its not over. We’ve got our best three hitters coming up. Too bad they are batting 6-7-8
The center fielder normally makes a strong throw on a play like that… especially with Branyon running… a strong arm would have given Russell a shot at tagging him out.
im surprised rudy was summoned for a second inning.
at the risk at sounding “negative,” I don’t think it made much sense to keep seanez in for two innings in a game this tight. Grady should have taken his 1 good inning and brought someone else in
KSSparkhul,
I work at a stats company and we do pitch type, velocity and speed for every mlb game. It is an easy slider. He gets a 3 for it and the break is easily more of a slider then a 12-6 curveball.
Don’t forget “Trevor Hoffman Day” when he blew a save. He isn’t as automatic as he used to be.
Go Blue!!!
In his second inning of work, Grady should be thinking pitching change if anyone gets on. This is typical for Seanez and for Grady. Very questionable managing.
Where is BILLS?!?!!?
Bad luck for Seanez… The pitch was down…
Padre announcer said that Pierre was playing way to deep….
Have a little faith in Russel Martin. Career Trevor Hoffman= 2 for 5 (.400)with 3 RBI, a double, and a HR.
Well, the good news is, the best hitters on the team are coming up this inning…
Whats wrong with this picture…
rally caps!
Max… I don’t know about you, but looking at Bills last three appearances, it makes me wonder if they’re not setting him up to start a game here soon. Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part… but it looks awfully suspcious to me.
“Whats wrong with this picture…”
Trevor Freaking Hoffman… that’s what’s wrong with this picture.
Have I mentioned that I hate Trevor Hoffman?
if they were setting up bills to start i’d imagine they would have sent him down when schmidt came up to get a start under his belt.
i hate hoffman too!
but the way Grady thinks i wouldn’t be surprised by anything now.
lets get it goin fellas
Go Andre!!!
we should really consider pinch hitting for pierre should his turn come up
i hate those bells, i hate that team, i hate that crowd
Let’s do this, Olmedo!!!!
The book on Seanz… no fastballs.
And he ain’t gonna see one here… that’s for sure.
we needed marlon tonight.
losing to this team really blows
I hate the Pads announcer.
I can’t believe they won on 2 hits.
And Seanz pops up… again… on… you guessed it… a fastball.
2 measly hits boys, thats all they got. Chalk this one up to bad luck. Good to see Schmidt looking strong tonight though. Turn the page.
You give up 2 hits and lose the game…
SAD, very, very SAD…
It was a fun game to watch though.. To bad it didn’t turn out differently…
I hate that I have so many friends in SD that will send me an e-mail within the hour.
I hope the Dodgers take the next two somehow. Even just one. Please God don’t let the Ds get swept.
What I hate most is having to root for the Giants so that the Dodgers don’t fall to third place (admittedly, it would still only be by a half a game, but I don’t like being in second place, so third place would be three times as bad).
WE’LL GET THEM TOMORROW. HOW ABOUT MARTIN IN THE 7th INNING. AIN’T HE SOMETHING? EVEN THOUGH HE FELL? A GREAT START FOR JASON SCHMIDT.
Two big turning points in the game:
Martin’s “toe pick” rounding second base… an error of hustle after having attempted stealing of second base at least a half dozen times it seemed.
And the Martin’s throw down getting away from Furcal when Branyon stole second in the eighth. He should have been out and Seanez would have gotten out of the inning.
Tough luck. Get ’em tomorrow night. I’m really starting to hate the Padres more and more. The “Hells Bells” is getting tired… and I hate Trevor Hoffman.
The top three things I hate as a Dodger Fan:
1) The Yankees
2) The Giants
3) The Padres
Go Blue!!! We’ll excommunicate the Padres tomorrow. It’s late… bye-bye all.
Wow, it just wasn’t meant to be we lost on a hit batter, stolen base and a single (which doubled their total for the WHOLE game) It’s a crazy game, but that was a really really good one and it just didn’t happen to go our way. Tomorrow is another day…
Vote for Martin!
Go Dodgers!
A strong performance and an entertaining game. Well played, Dodgers.
I don’t want to be negative after such a great effort from the Dodgers, but ouch! The Padres won on TWO hits. We left nine.
Good luck tomorrow, guys!
How bout that… we’re in 3rd place… there go all the “how can so much negativity for a 1st place team” arguments.
thanks to chris young…hmmm i could have sworn we had a young, power hitting CF around here somewhere… 😦
This was a game that could’ve gone either way, that luck played the biggest role. That was the only edge they had on us. MARTIN tripped around second and Seanez was 0-2 on Branyan and he didn’t even know, he was hit. That’s the breaks. Too bad on the Throw to second and Giles got his hit just at the right time.
the pads messed with the infield in between 2nd and 3rd. if martin doesn’t fall game might be ours. though loss… now i have too shave. at least my girlfriend will be happy now, she’s been rooting for the dodgers to fall out of 1st place for a while now. i like wolf tomorrow. we should be able to run against maddux again tomorrow.
pads grounds keepers = conspiracy?
tough loss
I just got a chance to read your blog tonight about jinx & no-hitters, Ya,Know it’s funny we always worry about jinxing our teams no-hitters but no matter how we try, it seems impossible to jinx the opponents no-hitters. I once tried to bunt to break up a no hitter in a game my team was losing, I think the score was 12-0, I was told it was a good bunt(where I played they didn’t have video tape), all I did was run as hard as I could to first base, I was out, If I had normal speed I could’ve beat it out. I was very suprised that a lot of people, including my own teammates, thought it was “unsportsmanlike”. That happened in 1960, and if I could still do it, I would. It ended up a 3-hitter.
Padres fans are so WEAK.
you guys should take a look at the blogs on their MLB website.
I couldn’t find a thread written this month or one that had more than 7 comments on it.
SO SO WEAK. Which is why I think i hate losing to them so much.
Lets Get’em tomorrow boys!!!
I’m really glad Juan Pierre is on this team. He brings hustle and character; stuff you cannot teach.
Don’t worry about him popping up all the time. Remember, he gets on base a lot, plays every game, gets 200 hits and steals 50 some odd bases. He’s one of the most consistent players in the big leagues and we should all be excited that he’ll be here for the next 5 years.
I think momoracci is off his meds.
Oh, I must’ve missed the compliance meeting where they told us we couldn’t praise Juan Pierre.
The guy is awesome; open your eyes.
lol
I think momoracci is typing in his sleep…
Let’s see: For starters we have, PENNY, LOWE, SCHMIDT & WOLF For fill ins we have KUO, Billingley, Hendrickson, just in case. We end up with……BROXTON… & when he’s ready….SAITO. We have lefty Joe Beimel and the rest? Seanez… he can pitch every night…Tomko’s still around……We’re O.K.
Best MLB Blog by far.
Man. Going to bed last night I couldn’t stop thinking about how heartbreaking that loss was. The Ds had way more opportunities to score runs than did the Pads, but just couldn’t get it done.
I kid you guys not – I dreamt the 9th inning over last night, and it went way differently. Somehow we were down by 1, with guys at 2b and 3b with 2 outs. Up comes a pinch hitter named “Eric Gonzales” (apparently between Adrian and Luis, that last name was in my head. Also, I went to school in 7th grade with an Eric Gonzales). He was a young, inexperienced bench player. He swings at the 1st pitch (surprise) which to me looks like a broken-bat flare to dead center. My heart sinks. But Mike Cameron thought the ball was very well hit and broke back before coming in, which allowed the ball to drop in front of him and the Ds to score the winning runs. I rejoiced inside as the Ds had caused the hated Hoffman to blow another save. Then, before Bills could pitch the bottom of the 9th, my wife woke me up. And I realized that Hoffman had really gained another save, and the Ds had lost.
I’m thinking about going back to sleep. That alternate reality was much more enjoyable.
Hoffman has longevity on his side. He’s a functional closer, whose secondary pitch is very, very hittable these days. But I’d take Saito over him for the next season or two in a heartbeat.
Since i started posting up comments 3 days ago i have been trying to stay positive about Pierre. But as each game goes by when we need the guy the most he just cant make things happen. I am not giving up on the guy but Grady Little needs to do something to give him a reality check. They gave Betimen a reality check by bringing up La Roche and Betimen has step up in a pinch hitting role.
Lets just say they bring up Matt Kemp and Start him and Center Field for a few games. Give Kemp some playing time at center.
Or they can move up Abreu up in the lineup and bring down Pierre. Abreu is really swinging a good bat. Even when he doesn’t get a basehit he is hitting the ball well. he has pretty good power too.
I was reading a stat from last nights game and Pierre went 0-4 and he only saw a total of 7 pitches. That is not good at all for someone who has been a leadoff hitter for most of his career.
Other then that it was a great game; it came down to however made a mistake.
haha puppyhead, i also dreamt of an alternate 9th inning last night and we won, but then my alarm clock woke me up and i was forced to face the painful reality 😦
hope we win tonight
Let me say I like the job Ned has done. No GM makes only good trades and good signings. In my opinion what separates the really good GMs from the others is the ability to admit and correct their mistakes. Ned has done that with Baez and Seo. Now he has to do that with our Center-fielder the munchkin. Our only other hope is that Pierre gets lost in his helmet. Nomar is also a problem , but that one is easily corrected if he wants to do so. For the benefit of this team , I hope Ned does the right thing. This will show me what kind of a GM we really have.
lol momoracci. I have a feeling we are going to see another ” pitcher’s duel” tonight. were bound to see alot more of those if JP keeps hitting balls in the air. that was so pathetic last night how they completely pitched around betemit to get to JP. wow that sure was a headscratcher for bud black.
Tough thing though fliegel. Because of the $ on Pierre’s contract, I doubt Ned can/will trade him. So, the choice is probably up to Grady. Because Pierre is so far under his career numbers, I would bet that Grady will start him in the 1 and 2 holes until around/after the All-Star break to give him a chance to prove himself (he is historically better as the season goes on, I believe). But if he keeps up this kind of play, I believe Grady will do what is necessary and drop him to 8th in the order. It won’t happen any time soon, unfortunately – probably not until mid-July, maybe later. Regardless, the long, expensive contract puts both Ned and Grady in a bind. It was definitely a poor signing, but you’re right, we’ll have to see how it is handled later in the season and in future years.
graffiti, sadder than pitching around Betemit was the number of Dodgers left on base last night. Pierre was sad, for sure, but everyone failed to produce in the clutch.
That said, I really liked all of Gonzo’s ABs last night. He took a very patient approach, worked the pitchers, and even got a hit on a low-hitting night.
true puppyhead. martin slipping running to third also cost us. pierre is costing us BIG time at the top of our lineup. im positive this wont last more than half a season.
The Martin slip made me want to cry. I’ll admit it. He’d worked so hard to get a SB with about 20 attempts, then he can’t make it 1st-to-3rd.
fliegel – my husband once remarked that he hopes Pierre falls down a gopher hole as he jogs out to center, and your comment made me think of that again!
Anyway – Ned has been admirably willing to correct mistakes last year. I thought it was awesome, the way he responded to build and improve the team on the fly. We have a pretty neat bullpen and starting pitching now, thanks to that. One can only hope he will be working on the lineup, too, or else this team will slowly sink to the bottom.
Read analysis of the team and people say the Dodgers’ strength is their depth. We don’t use that strength, we loose.
I don’t really have beef with any of the lineup players. Even Pierre I pity. He’s in way over his head, trying to live up to a contract he does not really deserve and failing miserably, like most people who try to be something they’re not. I think it would be great if he could have a reality check – bumped from the lineup, Kemp in in his place. That way, he’d get a badly needed reality check. You gotta hit rock bottom before you can recover, sometimes, and that may be just the jolt he needs to revert back to .300 .300 .300 form – which I think is the best you can ever ask if him.
As for Nomar – sad as it is, veterans are exempt from being dropped from the lineup. Only young guys have that happen to them. Baseball is a business when young guys and popular players are traded and free agents leave for a few dollars more, but it is not a business when it comes to swapping out an underproducing veteran to see if a younger player can do the job better. The delightful sport is just a two-faced double standard when it comes to that.
Gonzalez has been acceptable, and Ethier is the only strong arm in the outfield.
Furcal is still bothered by that ankle ( Repko really hurt the team there with what was probably uncalled for hustle; it was spring training man! ) but he’s doing well despite that – he’s playing the game with a lot of fire and that’s great to see.
Kent has occasional great plays in the field as well as occasional groaners, and he’s in a terrible slump at the plate right now. We can only hope he breaks out, because he is another player that’s not going away. The Dodgers are his retirement policy for these last few years.
Martin and the pitchers are solid gold right now, if it wasn’t for them we’d be slotting in below the Rockies in the NL West standings. That’s how fragile I think our currently good record is.
With all that said, I still look forward to seeing the team play, even as I struggle to escape the feeling that we’re probably doomed, and that we’ll be gently sliding down towards .500 in the weeks to come because we have a lineup that seldom fires on more than 3 cylinders at a time.
gonzo has been a pleasant surprise you could say. hes definitely got some decent stats. id like to see him and ethier swapped but we all know thats not happening.
Ichiro’s agent talks to Dodgers GM
Posted: Wednesday June 06, 2007 09:57AM ET
Before last night’s game, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti and Tony Attanasio, the agent for Ichiro Suzuki, chatted for more than an hour. Suzuki, the Mariners’ leadoff man and center fielder, is eligible for free agency in November. The Padres are among the teams that covet him.
San Diego Union-Tribune
Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t it the 7th inning were Marting was at first and Either followed but failed to do anything? He was not able to advance the runner. Then came Abreu and got that basehit were Marting trip rounding second base.
That was a bunting situation for Either. That late in a game, Either should be bunting to get his man in scoring position. Marting would of scored on Abreu’s hit.
I still don’t understand why they don’t make Either sacrifice more often. I have seen many situations like that one last night.
griffon i think our pitching will most definitely keep us in it, i dont think we wil ever be in prolonged slides with that staff. schmidt was nasty last night. when management wakes up and realizes plan b isnt working, this is a scary team with schmidt pitching like that.
ichiro would be a sweet although I still think we need a little more pop. is ned just sticking to his two fast guys at the top of the lineup guns? and possibly conceding JP is a complete bust?
Hey did anyone see the article in the LA Times about the teams plane trip from Pitt. ??
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodrep6jun06,1,5571714.story?coll=la-headlines-sports
I’ll bet they had a tough time getting to sleep after that !!!
Lets face it the Pads are rated the best pitching staff in baseball !!! and last night they proved it !! All in All it was a great game that just barely went against us. Having Schmidt back long term makes it a lot easier to swallow !!
Go Dodgers !!
I must say last nights game was both exciting and heartbreaking at the same time.
DD17 i really liked some of your post last nite. Even the one about Pierre stats, that is definately hard to take, but even me as a avid Pierre supporter i did not see anything i liked about him last nite. You can call me negative for saying it but hey im speaking the facts on this one. I mean come on his first AB a pop out bunt, that went all the way down to 3rd base mind you, that was just terrible fundamentals! I wish they would hold some bunting sessions for Pierre and some of our pitchers, Lowe is one that i dont like to see bunting, i mean if your in a situation to bunt over a runner you have to make the bunt, you just have to no excusses but time and time again we see it not happen. (Although Schmidt had a good one last night) But hey we lost last night because we could not hit in the clutch, and it was kind of shocking to see so many situations came up with Gonzo up and 2 outs with runners on, kinda wish martin was in the 5 spot last night but hey it happens.
Now its time to get back to positive! Schmidttty, look at this guy off a 7 week layoff to come back and pitch 1 hit baseball for 6 innings, that was plain awesome im glad to see he is now becoming what he payed him for! Can’t wait till his next start. How about the situation on leaving Seanez in the game?! Now some have said why leave him in? well im not Grady or anything but hey Saito is gone and we needed Broxton in the 9th the game was scorless they only had 1 hit at the time and he just came off a great first inning of relief. The guy pitched well and got unlucky when he hit Branyon on the toe (didnt make much off an effort to not get hit i might add!) he gave up a hit and that was the game. We still didnt come up with a run in situations where we had RISP so it was a great and tough game to lose and we need to focus now on tonite!
Hopefully our boys got some good (definately needed) rest and they come back out tonite with an attitude that we can take the next 2 games! LETS GO BOYS!!!!
GO DODGERS!!!!!
VOTE 4 MARTIN!!!
CHICO STATE!! I’m a Chico alum myslef jungar. Was there from 2000-05. I witnessed the downfall of the Halloween scene. I bet you were there for the good ole Pioneer days. Had a ******* blast. I sure do miss the cheap beers though.
Greatest part about last night was seeing Schmidty pitch so well. His velocity is still way down but his command is as good as ever. Nice game to watch. Please move Pierre to the 8th spot. Please, I’m begging now.
My own opinion of Colletti is considerably less than what is expressed above. I would have much preferred a GM with Dodger roots rather than the Giants’ #2 man, and that, of course, would have changed our selection of a field manager and his staff, particularly including Murray, who doesn’t seem to have a clue about improving anybody’s hitting performance. All that aside, we do have an excellent pitching staff that will give us a competitive chance the rest of the way. If Colletti is in fact aware of the shortcomings of his Pierre deal, I would be very glad to see him correct it in a meaningful way. In the meantime, management might want to admit that Pierre is not really performing up to their expectations and at least do something to change the batting order where he can’t damage our chances so often.
Yes, i am sure Colletti chose Murray and Little because he used to be in Giants organization.. definately…
he was with the cubs for 12 years before the Giants, and i think it really says something that the Dodgers will only be the third team he has worked for in his baseball career.
Ichiro is another singles hitter. At least he hits them more often than the two singles hitters we have on the team currently!
graffitigenius – yes, the pitching staff may keep us in it somehow, but you still have to score runs to win! 6.0 IP and no runs given up means nothing unless you can get at least one run yourself 😛
Despite his suprisingly low ERA, I’m perplexed as to how the Dodgers continually use Seanez in key relief appearances. He seems to find a way to give the other team a lead. If it wasn’t for some clutch hitting on our squad his record would be far worse than it currently is. I know Bills probably wasn’t available but I would feel much more comfortable with anybody else (with the exception of Tomko) coming into a 0-0 game. Every time the guy takes the bump I just get the feeling that we’re fighting an uphill battle (even in a tied game or with a small lead). He should be nothing more than a mop up pitcher coming into 10-2 ball games.
yeah seanez pitching two innigs was wierd. it looked like he was pissed at martin when he walked off. he looked at him and said something. i wonder if it was because martin didnt throw out russel branyan stealing 2nd.
If Seanez is getting mad at anybody it should be himself, I know his ERA doesn’t show it but doesn’t it seem like he chokes 2 out of 3 times he takes the mound?
I wonder how many inherited runs he’s given up this year?
I think the record will show that Seanez does well in the first inning when he comes on, but fades if he’s required to go further. That was only typical again last night – not necessarily his fault, because he’s known to be a one inning pitcher.
Seanez did well. To bad he hit that batter. And the stolen base shoud be off Seanez, he got a big jump off him. Not Martins fault.
We came up a little short!
Pierre to #8th spot!
messagebear,
Do you honestly feel comfortable with him ever coming into a game like last night’s?
I cant seem to get what you guys are talking about. He had one bad pitch that hit the guy in the toe, i mean come on the toe! He has been very good for us this season so far. With out that hit bats man and at worst we get away with just a hit, it could have gone either way. Giles made a nice stroke on a decent pitch, the only thing that i saw, and i think he was frustrated that he let it happen more than being mad at Martin, was he let Branyon steal second with a tremendous jump. I think with a better throw they may have had him but Rudy didnt even give Martin a chance! He was left in another inning to eat up innings without using Biemel or Bills or even tomko or Hendy because it was such a close game with extras in mind and already taxed bullpen from the last couple games. I dont fault anyone for the lost just didnt get it done! Turn the page and onto tonite!
griffon:
I think that your summary of where our team is at is Right On. I wish we would bring up a couple of our young guys and then use them to spell some of the veterans that are not performing. It is just possible that Kemp and Loney could prove themselves to be major leaguers yet before the season is over, but only if we don’t worry about treading on a few veteran egos and give them some chances to play some games.
Charris i do feel comforatable with him going into the game he has done it more than a couple times for us this year already! Plus the whole thing about him being a 1 inning pitcher look at his stats:
on pitches 1-15: 24 hits,7 ER, 3HR, 4BB, 14 K’s & ERA 3.57
on pitches 16-30: 7 hits, 3ER, 0HR, 3BB, 14K’s & ERA 2.53
on pitches 31-45: 1 hit, 0ER, 0HR, 1BB, 1K & ERA 0.00
out of the 24 games he has pitched 2+ innings in 19 of them. His ERA is only 3.03 in 24 games i think that is pretty good for Mid Relief pitcher!
It’s kind of weird watching us in 3rd place half a game away. I’m sure we’ll be back in 1st place were we belong but it’s not fun watching us in 3rd place right now.
carcyn, I agree with you on the sacrifice, small ball team has to play small ball smart when situation calls for it
“Despite his suprisingly low ERA, I’m perplexed as to how the Dodgers continually use Seanez in key relief appearances. He seems to find a way to give the other team a lead.”
Charris, I believe last night was Seanez’ 1st loss…that means he’s only given the opponent one lead that the Dodgers haven’t recaptured.
I think many of us, myself included until recently, have been biased against Seanez as a “washed-up veteran.” He’s performing extremely well; in 1 2/3, he gave up one hit and a hit batsman, if I remember right. That’s a great appearance by most standards; if Broxton had done the same we wouldn’t be calling for his head.
hustla,
I like the numbers, maybe I’m wrong
puppyhead,
Maybe I’m being biased too but just because he hasn’t taken losses doesn’t mean he hasn’t contributed to them, you are usually pretty good with stats, can you find his inherited runs allowed?
Nah I **** with stats. Ask dahustla 🙂
charris your right man. thats one of those instances, where grady wanted to play with fire grady got burned. rudy seanez is not a long reliever. i want no part of rudy seanez in close games.
graffiti did you even read dahustlas’ stats he posted?
Thanks graffiti, I was beginning to think that I was the only one that felt that way.
hustla, I’ve been trying to find his inherited runs allowed, can you find them?
I have absolutely no problem with Rudy Seanez he’s been very good this season. Last night was last night it’s over and done with. They had a flight landing from ****, they’re in the stretch run of a road trip., they’re facing the best pitching in the majors and we still should of won last night. So, yes it’s always bad to see yourself in third place but we can right that ship tonight and the night after that and the night after that, long long way to go. Last year when we were 7 1/2 out with only a few months left we all felt the season was lost. A few of us were screaming “SELL NED SELL” and the team overcame that to take the wild card. All that matters is we’re on top in the end of this marathon in this ridiculously good division where 10 games over .500 in early June only gets you to third place! If Schmidt can pitch anything like he did last night (obviously not THAT great, not that I would complain at all if he did) and combine them with Penny, Lowe and Wolf. That’s probably the best rotation in the N.L. That was only our third shutout of the season so it’s not likely to happen again anytime soon. Also, once Saito comes back and puts this bullpen back in place things could get really fun this summer! And I will say this when you’re in first place you don’t make too many changes because you’re obviously doing something right…however when you fall out first and you’re looking up you’re whole perspective of things change. I would not be surprised to see some lineup changes, maybe not today, but soon.
Vote for Martin! (and if you’re reading this now you might as well)
Go Dodgers!
*however when you fall out of first and you’re looking up your whole perspective of things change.
puppyhead lets not act like were talking about scot shields or something. we are talking about our least used mop up reliever. he is the guy that got the last bullpen spot. yes hes pitched well, but a 2nd inning against a divisoin rival for what. for once you guys came with stats, but the situation your sticking up for may have been statistically safe it seems, but it was a bad move. against the rockies maybe, against the padres i wouldnt have. i just cant believe branyan stole 2nd he has some wheels for his size.
Thanks, Alex. Good perspective.
i agree alex…on DT there is an interesting thread that shows nomar and pierre approaching all time 1st and CF lows. ned wont let that happen too long with the pitching we have. how long you guys think before bills is our 5? i say 2 weeks.
It is amazing how the whole Dodger empire, the owner’s money, the fans’ money, the sponsors’ money, the GM and manager’s job, everything, is allowed to pivot on an under-performing veteran or a bust signing stubbornly staying the lineup. I thought baseball was a business, but that’s a stupid way to do business! My mental image is of this huge cone of fans, dollar notes, concessions, merchandise, TV deals – everything that make up the Dodgers brand – being allowed to totter on a tiny little point, the under-performing players being kept in the lineup on what seems to be a free pass – no matter how badly you do, we’re lovin’ you and you are staying put. You get lots more chances, anyway.
My theory is that it is easier to get rid of bust pitchers because you see them lose the game right before your eyes. Baez and Seo and Carter and Hamulack gave up runs and turned leads into deficits and generated losses. Those are easy to spot and get rid of. A lineup player under-performing is harder to convince yourself about. It is somehow easier to be blind to the hurt a bad offensive player lays on the team’s production. You don’t see them lose the game “right there” as often. They sneak by with 0-5 performances, runners left on, 1-pitch at bats at crucial times, they can pad their numbers in easier situations, and unless they’re a youngster, they get their free pass.
Ouch.
( Of course, this is all fan hyperbole, but still! ;-P )
i got curious and did some research and apparently seanez leads the bullpen in IRA with 6 this year
http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/teams/stats/LA/regularseason/PIT-EXT/yearly?&_1:col_1=17&_1:col_2=17
Something interesting to think about…………
Before last night’s game, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti and Tony Attanasio, the agent for Ichiro Suzuki, chatted for more than an hour. Suzuki, the Mariners’ leadoff man and center fielder, is eligible for free agency in November. The Padres are among the teams that covet him.
The last two years, the Dodgers seemingly have started a newly promoted young player every series they faced the Padres, which partly reflects the drafting prowess of Logan White, a former Padres West Coast scouting supervisor whose term coincided with the Padres’ selection of West Coast athletes Derrek Lee and Gary Matthews Jr. Dominican infielder Tony Abreu, filling in at third, is one of the recent newcomers. Little said that Abreu, who is a second baseman, will ultimately be joined by Triple-A third baseman Andy LaRoche, a former Padres draft pick, to comprise 50 percent of future Dodgers infields. “They’ll be here for a long time,” Little said.
apperently there is a Pierre, Loney and Greg Miller for Ichiro rumor floating around…if that happened I’d make sweet man love to Ned. I don’t care if we have to pick up 80% of Pierre salary. Get him out of HERE!!
ugh. guys, we DONT need or want ichiro. He’s getting up there in age and he’s another guy who doesn’t hit homeruns and he’s looking for a huge contract. The only way I’d go after him is if we rid ourselves of pierre, and thats unrealistic. What the heck do people want ichiro for? Do we need a third leadoff hitter? If we’re going to trade for an outfielder, it better be a power hitter, and one which we’re extending.
If that were to happen, I’d cheer also, but I think the owner should make that come out of Ned’s salary.
and i doubt the M’s want Miller, considering he can’t even find the plate lately…
Charris you may not believe this but Rudy has come into 22 out of 24 games with the base pads empty! That means he has only come into 2 games with inherited runners! I did not think it was that low but hey they are the stats!!!!
Wow giving up Loney bothers me a little bit but i can’t blame them for doing it to get Ichiro! But what happens when Nomar finally realizes he is actually hurt and we have noone to play 1st for us besides marlon and olmedo! Also Loney i think deserves a shot at the bigs wether it be with us or another club!
if nomar was DLed and Loney was traded Kent would play 1st.
I guess that would make sense but what do we do about Abreu we would either have to move abreu over to 2nd and play either LaRouche at 3rd or Wilson there (i just got chills on my neck)! hahaha
or keep Abreu at 3rd and bring in Martinez to play 2nd?! that would be a shift!
well yea considering abreu should be playing 2nd anyways it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch. Kent would just have to deal with it. But again, if we trade loney that’s the risk you take. I’d rather not.
honestly i don’t care if we traded for barry bonds and it allowed us to get rid of Pierre. Pierre is so horrible it’s hard to comprehend how a major leaguer could be this horrible. I would take anyone over Juan Pierre. I’d rather throw an elephant in center and strap a glove to his trunk then have Pierre out there.
Juan Pierre is the worst starter in baseball. PERIOD.
Ichiro over Pierre would be a welcome upgrade, even if the Ds couldn’t extend Ichiro’s contract. They’d get another great speedster for the rest of the year, and there would be an open OF spot for a free agent signing in the offseason. Which would be ideal, since the offseason OF crop will be fairly deep.
If Loney were traded, think Laroche could play 1st to back up Nomar in case of injury?
also this would lead me to belive that Ichiro trade has some what of a chance. Bill Bavasi, the Mariners GM, is easily the worst GM in baseball. Plus say if we do trade Loney and nomar got hurt this would be the lineup…
CF Ichiro
SS Furcal
C Martin
1B Kent
LF Gonzo
RF Ethier
3B LaRoche
2B Abreu
The thing that I like about a deal for Ichiro is his defense. Since we are playing small ball we can’t afford to give up cheap runs with poor fielding, you know that Ichiro will get on base, swipe some bags and play great D. I would pull the trigger on that deal, although I would keep Loney and deal LaRoche.
Where did this Ichiro rumor originate? Website/link please max?
**Not the conversation between Ned and Ichiro’s agent, but the details about Loney, Miller, Pierre for Ichiro.
well last night Ned and Ichiro’s agent talked for about an hour before the game and according to my cousin who lives in LA he was listening to a radio show and heard the proposed trade as a rumour…
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070606/news_1s6padnotes.html
thats the link to the Ned Ichiro meeting.
ah the trade was heard on a radio show so there probably goes to credibility but still wouldn’t it be nice!
In other words Puppyhead the trade rumor is pure BS. I would really like to see what Abreu can do the 2 hole.
Actually, this could be a stroke of genius by Ned:
Giants want Pierre.
Coletti signs Pierre.
Padres want Ichiro.
Coletti trades Pierre out of the division and trades for (and maybe keeps) Ichiro.
Could he be hoarding all the game’s leadoff men just to keep them away from division rivals? It’s fine with me if it works out that way, and we wind up with Ichiro…
i really think this would be a mistake. even if you include pierre in a deal for ichiro, which is hugely unrealistic, you’ll have to give up plenty of prospects too, and ichiro will still be a free agent next year and any huge contract given to him will become an albatross at some point too. Isn’t he already like 34 or so? Look I want to get rid of pierre but I have no desire to add another huge contract. And ichiro will do nothing to adress our power needs. If we’re looking for an upgrad over pierre the answer is simple: kemp.
Yes!! That’s brilliant. Just sign or trade for every player that has any shread of skill to keep them from the competition! Brilliant. That way they’ll be the Revolving Door Dodgers. Brilliant!
Forget Ichiro. Pierre ain’t going nowhere, who’s gonna take him? Seattle ain’t that dumb.
Teixeira. Teixeira. Teixeira.
There are only three ways to bring Kemp up realistically barring a DL trip to Gonzo, Pierre, Ethier or Clark
1) Trade Brady Clark
2) Release Ramon Martinez
3) Trade Hendrickson or Tomko and go back to 11 pitchers once Saito comes back.
There is nobody on the 25 man roster who will be optioned:
Bills, Brox, Kuo (unless he bombs as 5th starter), Abreu, and Ethier aren’t going anywhere unless DL’d so those are the three ways Kemp can be brought up. Loney is just not going to happen unless Nomar goes to the DL.
i wouldn’t say that. anyone who can be optioned has a chance to be optioned. while ramon martinez remains inexplicably intrenched in his role.
I’d trade Pierre for anybody dead or alive. He is absolutely the worst. I can’t think of anything he does good ,other than he’s fast. I really belive he’s ******* the life out of this club. Think how good we would have been had Ned signed even Matthews Jr instead.
I said realistically I really don’t want to have to go into detail, but I will:
If Abreu is optioned it’s for LaRoche and for that to happen he’d have to fall into a bottomless pit and go 0 for his next 40.
Ethier will not be optioned he’s the starting right fielder
Bills not a chance unless it’s for two weeks to stretch him out which remains for now highly unlikely
Kuo only if he bombs as 5th starter but even so they wouldn’t option him for Kemp just for the sake of bringing Kemp up
Broxton never will be optioned
The best option is to sever ties with Ramon Martinez but the ability to play anywhere at anytime makes it difficult to release such a player. The next option is to trade Tomko or Hendrickson for some prospects and promote Kemp. Or the less likely would be to trade Brady Clark for a prospect and promote Kemp. So believe me Coletti has thought 100 different times if he should bring Kemp up. It’s just not that easy sometimes.
It’s easy to sit here and say “Make this move” “do this…do that” but the process is much more difficult than that and I think a lot of us forget that.
i agree, but i was thinking along the lines of Kemp pretty much overtook Ethier for the RF job at the beginning of the year when Ethier was slumping and Kemp was hitting. Remember that? It isn’t impossible that it could happen again.
Do you want Kemp coming back and taking Ethier’s job? Kemp outplayed Ethier for one week and then threw himself into the right field wall on Opening Day. Ethier has earned that right field job and Kemp would only be brought up to spell Gonzo. Which is not a full time job, which is probably why Kemp isn’t on the team, same with Loney. If they platoon Kemp and Ethier that’s a waste of both of their talents. And Ethier has proven he can play here with the big boys last season and this season, take away Kemp’s 7 HR in 10 games. He really hasn’t done much since the opposing pitchers figured him out. So like I said they’re not going to option Ethier with the strict purpose of bringing up Kemp. That’s the point of my earlier post, someone needs to lose a spot for Kemp to gain one and that person is not Ethier.
Kemp is at AAA to learn how to track down flyballs. He is worse than JP from last years performance. Jp will be our CF until at least 2009, when he may be gone on a salary dump.
Get use to him or become a Giant fan and continue bashing the Dodgers.
Juan Pierre Statistics: Avg, OBP, SLG, OPS
Career:
April: .288 .340 .347 .687
May: .282 .329 .349 .678
June: .270 .320 .337 .657
July: .336 .383 .418 .801
August: .290 .335 .369 .704
September: .334 .375 .418 .793
2006:
April: .258 .289 .333 .622
May: .226 .267 .290 .558
June: .283 .352 .381 .733
July: .345 .380 .496 .876
August: .304 .346 .424 .770
September: .323 .333 .394 .727
2007:
April: .274 .303 .319 .621
May: .277 .311 .339 .650
June: ?
July: ?
August: ?
September: ?
He is a career 2nd half player, the Pierre comments need to really be placed on hold until the season is over and then you can make comments. But the constant day to day is just so boring and unnecessary. Throughout the course of his career he’s always done poorly April through June and he heats up considerably in July and it carries through September.
Max – quit beating around the bush.. Tell us how you really feel about Pierre….
Griffon – I, like MessageBear, really enjoy reading your post… You are very insightful.. I’m betting that your an athlete – I would bet that you are probably a softball player… Either that, or your husband has made you watch the Dodgers over the years…
Anyway, I totally agree when you say, “that even though we have great pitching, we are destined for failure unless our hitting comes around” It seems obvious to me also…
i agree with you alex, but kemp did make the 25 man roster and did get more starts than Ethier at the beginning of the year. And he seems to be a favorite of Grady. Again, Im going by what the D’s seem to think of him, not even my own personal preference. And they were high enough on him to give him a shot to begin the year.
I agree with bigblue on Kemp not being to good defensively.
I have seen the way he goes after flyballs. I don’t like him defensively but he might bring a little bit more power in the lineup!
Just like the play were he got hurt, he went full on onto the wall. Aren’t you suppose to stick your arm out to see where the wall is, thats why the dirt is their near the warning track, to warn you that the fence is near.
Hopefully we pick up Texixera!
Or Miguel Cabrera!
I heard a rumor that Dodgers wanted Troy Glaus or Scott Rolen.
Scott Rolen *****!
Troy Glaus was doing well, but his average is going down.
I was trying to stay away…..but I will be Gary before Gary is Gary.
“I’d trade Pierre for anybody dead or alive”.
“I’d rather throw an elephant in center”
“Pierre ain’t going nowhere, who’s gonna take him?”
Be easy guys, Pierre works hard. Imagine if he didn’t.
wow do you have some kind of inside info big blue48? and jspelk if that silly rumor were true, ichiro would actually be a nice upgrade because he can actually take a walk and hit a homer. and hes faster with a stronger arm, but we all know how credible talk radio is..i would like to see any of the following players come to the ravine, miggy, crawford, ichiro, tex seem to come to mind right off the bat.
Ok, so I missed you guys (and gal) and I just couldn’t stay away (Thanks Kevin and Steve).
Harold – You are very welcome. I only wish that I could have gotten Brad Penny to sign the ball for you.
Some observations about last night’s game, which was one of the best games I have seen this season:
Jason Schmidt was awesome! Like most of you (probably) were, I was watching his velocity very closely during the first two innings. Once he hit 91 consistently (and occasionally 92), I knew that he was back. His pitch selection and location was outstanding (thank you Russell Martin!).
I give all of the credit in the world to Chris Young, who also pitched outstanding and who deserved the win, not Scott Linebrink. As for Trevor Hoffman – Phooey! It was Hoffman who gave up the third and fourth home runs on Miracle Monday. He is also the guy who blew the All-Star game for us last year. He collected his 499th career save against us last night. PLEASE do not let him get number 500 at our expense. He is VERY hittable and, should a save situation arise tonight or tomorrow, we need to trash him!
As for Seanez, he has been nothing short of outstanding this year. How a guy his age can still throw 94 is beyond me. If you watched closely, you could clearly see Russell Martin setting up WAY inside and low during the Branyan at bat and Seanez kept hitting the target very well. The pitch that hit Branyan on the toe was actually a very good pitch that missed Russell’s target by a fraction of an inch. It was truly nothing more than a bit of bad luck, as Seanez was “On” last night (again).
Ok, here goes; the negativity. In my opinion, this game was lost on Chris Young’s 117th and final pitch of the night. In the top of the 7th inning with two outs, Young had just walked Wilson Betemit on a 3-1 count. This put Tony Abreu on second base and in scoring position, having singled ahead of Betemit. Young was clearly struggling and having difficulty finding the strike zone. Up steps Juan Pierre, who promptly swings at the very first pitch and grounds out weakly to Adrian Gonzalez for the third out, thus stranding Tony Abreu in scoring position and Wilson Betemit at first. This is Little League 101 here. Pierre should have taken TWO strikes (if Chris Young could have even managed to throw two strikes) before even thinking of swinging. I have (for the most part) reserved in my thoughts on Juan Pierre, but with all due respect, he is NOT a very smart baseball player – regardless of his past numbers.
Also, Marcus Giles reaching second base on his 8th inning single MEANT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Juan Pierre should have at least ATTEMPTED a throw to the plate. Who knows? Miracles happen. But to allow the likely (and ultimate) game-winning run to waltz across the plate without so much as an attempt is just plain dumb. By the way – Have you guys noticed that Juan Pierre ALWAYS seems to bobble the ball on critical plays? (Let’s see; Five years times 162 games minus 58 games = 752 more games for Pierre – UGGGGH!). Ok, I’m done with the negativity.
Branyan clearly stole second base on Rudy Seanez, not on Russell Martin. It appeared to me that Rudy Seanez was angry at himself (not anyone else) for leaving his 1-2 pitch to Marcus Giles right over the middle of the plate. I do not believe that he was angry at Martin or even Pierre. One thing that I have noticed about this Dodger team is that they win as a team or lose as a team. They do not rag on each other for making a bad play or after a bad at bat. This is yet another reason why I love these guys (but not in a man-crush way – LOL) and a big reason why this is a winning team.
COME ON WOLFMAN! – JUST WIN BABY!
GO DODGERS!
yeah fansince53 that JP at bat really chapped my hide as well. hes stinking at almost an all time level right now. i would like to see him dropped in the order yo spark some kind of offense, it is obvious JP is not sparking anything at the top of our lineup.
Pierre may be a hard worker and a great human being. That said I’d rather have any other center-fielder in the majors in center over him.
53, I am with you on everything you just said and welcome back (don’t leave again, I always enjoy your posts). The only thing is nobody would have thrown out Branyan in that situation, there were two outs and he left on contact and if Pierre lollipoped that throw home Giles would have gone to second base. So I didn’t have a problem with Pierre not making a throw home because it kept Giles at first. Didn’t matter in the end but it was the right throw.
GAH it’s only 3:25…tick tick tick I want the game already!
i don’t know if it’s the optimistic side of me or what but i really feel Wolfy is gonna give us a chance to win today. I just hope the Dodger players did there homework on how to approach Maddux.
miggy, miggy, miggy. Thats a dream that could come true
Seriously I wouldn’t mind Carl (he is so **** good and young) or Ichiro but they seem redundant at least for this year. Tex is awesome but I fear his stats are a bit inflated in Texas. But certainly wouldn’t complain.
Last night’s loss was tough to take, but I’d take it over a blowout in a second. Schmidt was back to form, and even though we didn’t do well offensively, we know we have the Schmidt we all hoped to get when Colletti pulled the trigger on the deal. I know when the semester starts again, I’ll be proudly wearing a Schmidt T-shirt at
CHICO STATE. Wow, I didn’t know we had so many students and alums here, except for nkirby who talked with me about it once. I’m still going (hoping to graduate this coming year) but I’m a commuter, so I’m definitely missing the Bear and Celestino’s right now, but there’s no greater feeling than wearing your blue on campus and seeing people in the orange and black giving you dirty looks after you sweep them at the Phone Booth (or nothing worse than the same thing reversed when the Blue are swept at the Ravine).
Being a So Cal sports fan in NorCal can be fun sometimes, as I’m near Sacramento, and the Shaq and Kobe years were fun when I had Kings fans telling me the back-to-back champs *******” as they took pride in Kobe’s poisoned hamburger. Horry shut their mouths, though.
Plus it was funny when that minor league team down the I-5 came back and took the series from the Giants. I told my friend “See the names on the backs of the manager’s and coaches jerseys? Scioscia, Hatcher, Griffin… sound familar?” She wasn’t very happy after realizing that.
To rid ourselves of our problems, I wouldn.t even mind if Ned made a deal with the Devil (Rays). 🙂
OOP Nevermind there was one out, still he would of gone to second with one out and another runner in scoring position…whatever that was yesterday…
LETS GO WOLF!
VOTE FOR MARTIN
GO DODGERS!
Yeah definately 53, lets not do that again! hahaha but i do agree with you on the whole Pierre thing like i said in my one of my last post there was nothing good i liked about Pierre last night his AB were definately not pretty and his D was kinda shaky except for a couple good paths to some line-drives but for the most part ugly. I wished things were different last night but they werent so we move on to today. Wolfman has to come out throwing and we need to jump on old man Maddux! Let’s get some bats going! GO DODGERS!!!!
fliegel
like gary Matthews jr?
37 runs, 20 extra base hit, 8 bombs, 38 rbi, 9 steals .292/.352//812 and from what I understand he can catch and throw.
Drinkin…totally man on this. It was so Rad for me cause I was there in 93. If anyone can recall that year, the Giants won 100 games and did not make the playoffs because the strongest man in so cal wouldn’t let em on the very last day of the year. or maybe it was 91. I don’t know, I went to CHICO. lol
—
Being a So Cal sports fan in NorCal can be fun sometimes
rwbjr0 & MessageBear – thank you for your kind comments 🙂
I am, in fact, a quite recent fan of the Dodgers, having only hopped on in about June 2005. Before that, I knew very little about baseball – mainly because I lived in a different country at the time! I have played sport – cricket – for quite a few years, and it does help you gain a some interesting perspective if you’ve competed in a similar sport over a five year or so period. I used to follow the Dodgers on Gameday in the dead of the night, and in winter too, being on the other side of earth as I was then. This was the latter-season 2005 Dodgers, too. After that, anything the Dodgers can produce seems neat by comparison ;0)
fansince53 – good to see that you are back!
jungar, EXACTLY!
Did somebody turn back the clock to 2006??? Stop it already!! I wan’t off this time machine!! I lived it once and I don’t want to live it again!!!
Dang it!! I hate the Padres!!!
I want off