Kemp recalled
Last night stunk, there’s just no way around it. You always here baseball people say that things tend to even out, so I guess this was the evening out of the four-homer game last year. Crazy to think two of the last 10 games between these two teams featured four-run bottom-of-the-ninth comebacks, but they did. So, we move on. A year ago today, we had virtually the same record and same spot in the division and we still ended up in the postseason with people thinking we had a chance to do some damage.
Matt Kemp will join the team tonight and Ramon Martinez, who has been battling back problems, is going on the disabled list.
On another note, the second day of this year’s draft is going on and among the local products selected by the Dodgers were UC Riverside shortstop Jaime Pedroza (ninth round), USC right-hander Paul Koss (11th round) and Cal State Fullerton catcher Matt Wallach (22nd round), the son of former Dodger Tim Wallach. The team also drafted an outfielder named Joris Bert from France in the 19th round. Bert began his career in MLB International’s game development initiative in Europe.
MLB’s draft tracker with all the Dodgers’ picks is here.
Inside the Dodgers 
Please use Kemp!!!
Hooray! Thanks Josh, best news I’ve heard all day. I’m sorry for Ramon’s back, but maybe he’s just “taking one for the team.” 😉 I hope they can find a way to keep him up this time.
Dodgers have made some good picks in the later rounds of the draft. They won’t sign ’em all, but some good players there.
Let’s put the nightmare of last night behind us and move on to some positive vibes. Kemp’s a great start.
Well it’s abot *******’ time. Better late than never, I guess.
woooooooooooooo!
Finally,*****.
of course this means Ethier will probably sit alot…boo
This suddenly made my day after the horrific game last night. KEMP RULES!!!
yesssss it’s about time…and suddenly my day seems a little brighter 🙂
Furcal
Nomar
Martin
Kent
Ethier
Kemp
Gonzo
Abreu
This shoul be our line up! Lets beat up on the Jays!
Go Dodgers!!!
It’s about time!!!! Finally!!
Go Dodgers 2007!!
Whoo-jippie-hoo!
Get the kid’s feet wet. Put him in center tonight 😀 I’m going to be there, I want to see him play ( and I don’t want to see Pierre play, of course 😛 )
The most realistic choice I can come up with is this:
Furcal
Martin
Gonzalez
Kent
Nomar
Kemp
Ethier
Abreu
I don’t see Little moving Nomar out of the middle, but I think he should be slid down to #5 (although he could always use some rest too).
Oh **** yeah.
Out of the Middle? One freakin HR take his *** out of the middle already!!!!!!!
patriot,
Furcal
Abreu
Martin
Kent
Gonzo
Nomar
Kemp
Ethier
I like this one better, only because of Abreu’s speed at #2 and Martin being the team’s best hitter at #3.
i’ll play
Furcal
Nomar
Martin
Kent
Gonzo
Kemp
Ethier
Abreu
puppy and jungar,
As much as we all want those lineups, I think we all know that Pierre will be back in tonight. I just wish we would keep Abreu at 2 and move Pierre to 8
Onething for sure Nomar is a clutch singles hitter that hits with runners on 2 hole is ideal. As for Martin what team doesn’t have their best hitter 3rd?
Nomar in the 2 spot won’t work. He’s not patient enough.
Furcal
Abreu
Martin
Kent
Nomar
Kemp
Gonzo
Ethier
Kemp’s callup is probably prompted by interleague this month, I assume gonzo will DH a fair amount. In case I hope he’s up for good.
diehard,
I like your concept, its never crossed my mind to move Nomar into the 2 hole.
All right UC Riverside! 2006 grad here. 😀
I’m so excited to see Matt Kemp!
-luxx80
Start Kemp in CF…. Lets just give Pierre the next 4 and 1/2 seasons off.
max nomar 2nd won’t work but putting him in a power position in the line up will? Nomar can hit with runners on with Martin hitting behind him they can hit & run all day you don’t need speed at two if you have someone there that can hit!!
How about this line-up for interleague
Furcal
Gonzo (DH)
Martin
Kent
Kemp
Nomar (behind Kemp so the kid sees more fastballs)
Ethier
Abreu
Pierre
With this line-up we get 3 speedsters in a row before Gonzo, Martin, Kent
That’s great news. Now all Ned has to do is bring up Loney to play first and they should be better. By the way Pierre looks injured also!
Well not only that but Abreu isnt exactly patient. 1 walk in 49Ab’s which. But yep who we fooling it will be JP and Furcal at the top tonight.
We only play 6 games the rest of the year in which a DH is required, and those are still 2 weeks away, so I doubt those are what prompted Kemp’s callup.
moving Nomar to the 2nd spot would hamper our running game even more. Of course it can’t get any worse. Pierre can’t get on base. He swings too early in the count. so does Nomar, Kent and Gonzo. So when we do get Furcal and Pierre on base they never get a good count to run on.
We’d be better off with Nomar out of hte lineup but if he’s going to be in it at least bat him 5th or 6th.
With Abreu batting 2nd we have a better chance at co0ntinuing a rally. Also is it just possible that Raffy would hit better with a better hitter behind him? Last year he had Lofton who wasn’t great but compared to Pierre was Babe Ruth.
Pierre is not injured and he’s not in a slump. This is Juan Pierre baseball. Swing away, make a lot of outs and get hits.
YOU MUST READ THIS :::
http://www.dodgerblues.com/content/news.html
Very funny in a satirical way… Also, some surprising insight about Saito and last nites game….
Josh, minor point, but we owe the Padres one in the get-even department. Last year on April 30, the Dodgers took a 5-0 lead into the 9th at Petco and Lance Carter and Baez gave up 5 runs and the Dodgers lost in the 10th. The 4+1 game merely evened that up for last year.
bout **** time now grady better not let him rot on the bench.
a couple of points real quick:
this has been a team struggle lately. we all like who we like, and hate who we hate, but lets be fair about it eh?
Furcal – .732 O.P.S. vs-
NL SS Avg – .742 O.P.S.
Ethier – .736 O.P.S vs-
NL RF Avg – .783 O.P.S.
those Avg’s are for players who qualify for the batting title with enough ab’s. lets make sure we are spreading the blame around? the only 2 players with O.P.S. above the avg players at their position are Kent and martin i believe.
second, the dodgers have had the 7th toughest SOS (strength of schedule) in baseball, and only 4 of the top 10 teams have winning records, including us. the padres have had the 13th toughest, and the D-Backs the 19th. Heck, the D-Backs have yet to face the Brewers or Braves.
The Padres are the best, that’s all I can say.
God, I hate that team.
Hopefully we can get some help from Seattle tonight and we take care of the Jays!
I love it when Grady says we don’t repeat what’s not working. Yet he puts the little guy in center every day and bats him where it can hurt us the most, what bull. Same thing with Nomar. This team is not playing good ball and unless these and other issues are addressed it could get ugly.
I agree that the Padres are the best team right now…
Great Pitching — But I honestly feel ours could be better with some small changes…
They don’t Hit as well as the Dodgers, but they do have more timely hitting… We are very poor with RISP…
They are far superior on defense…. Not only do we make an absurd amount of errors, but we also make a lot of dumb mistakes that are not counted as errors… We all know who the culprits are in that area..
I do want to say a big THANK:YOU for bringing up Kemp… Please use him, but not in place of Ethier…
Please don’t put Pierre back in the front of the lineup….Pleeeeease…
rwbjr0 i agree Dodger Blues is very funny, there quote section is an absolute must read.
what a nice treat, i just picked up my Dodger Ticks for tonights game come back & i hear Matt Kemp was called up. It’s gonna be the first time i see Brad Penny pitch live at Dodger Stadium so it should be a fun night.
Let’s Go Dodgers!.
Josh, I think we’re all thrilled to see Matt Kemp back, and hoping he gets some playing time (though not at too much expense to Ethier–and Gonzo’s been playing well too . . . )
But, we’re only one game better from where we stood last season at this point. Admittedly, last season turned out well (until the NLDS) and I think we’re far less likely to have a post-All Star Break collapse, but we’re hoping to be much better–and this team should be better than last year’s version (and we need to be–we were in first place at this point last year, so our divisional rivals are much tougher).
Not meaning to sound negative–losing three to the Padres can get everyone down. But I think we have the talent in the organization (without a lot of trade talk) to win not just the division this year, but many championships for the next decade, and we want it to start now. We’re all sick of the Gibson clock at DodgerBlues. So, while we’re doing alright this year, we still expect more. Sorry–it’s the burden of having a fan base that grew up with the winning traditions and still believes that we should be winning. We have high expectations, and I think the management does too. So, through 1/3rd of the season with one win better than a team that made an early exit from the playoffs after securing the wild card spot just is not enough to get me going.
But I don’t think we’re too hard to please. If Nomar could smack a couple of pitches into the left field pavillion (and maybe a couple for Kemp, too) and the Dodgers rattled off a modest five game winning streak, then we’ll all feel better.
Ok, phase one complete and thank you Ramon for doing this for the team. Kemp’s role is simple and it SHOULD NOT be to spell Ethier. It’s to spell Gonzo on day after night games and as a late inning replacement (for Pierre’s arm). I do not expect him to start regularly (maybe 2-3 times a week) but this is where he belongs and if he performs well you know he’ll get more starts. Would be great to see him start tonight!
Go Dodgers!
Don’t mean to be MAXish but something funny is up. After Graf so blaitantly brushed my tiraid aside about Mitch Jones and let me Clairfy MLB ready that hasn’t had an MLB AB yet. So anyways went to look at his Home/Away Hitting and he is not on the Roster…Kemp is still on the Roster and i can’t find any news on him if the Tranaction releases dl’ed or outwise he isn’t on any of our other minor teams rosters either.Kemp is still on the Vegas Roster though.There might be more going on then just Kemp coming up. Anyone else notice anything funny goin on?
outwise….=otherwise
I do agree that Kemp should be in the line up tonite but we all know there is still no place for him at the moment! The onlt logical thing i can see is Kemp in for Ethier (which i dont want to see happen) Unless there is a report that Pierre is hampering an injury (not likely) Kemp wont see much of the line up unless its because he has taken over for Ethier! Gonzo made some good swings last night and crushed one out so i dont forsee him coming out. I say if Pierre doesnt whip it into shape (atleast a couple base hits here and there then the CF belongs to Kemp!) which is not to much to ask i might add! See you guys at the game!
GO DODGERS!!!!!
GO KEMP!!!!!!
GO BRAD!!!! (he needs a pick me up game after finally giving up those homers!)
kemp should be spelling JP the rest of the season. ahh the wrench that is juan pierre, thrown perfectly by ned colletti. and all grady wants to do is throw around little cliche’s. hey grady start backing up your word, the first time he said we are gonna see major changes , i believe he pulled the same old day off routine.
Kemp will get A LOT of playing time. Ethier, for better or worse, was just keeping Kemp’s position warm.
Make no mistake: Kemp’s a future stud. Ethier will just be a very good player.
How about bringing up their best player in the spring? Or is Loney dead?
I bet Kemp doesn’t start tonight.
A righty going for Toronto. I bet the outfield is Gonzo in Left, JP in Center and AE in Right
What I love about Kemp is that he’s the fastest guy on the team, but is 6’4″ 220 lbs.
He’s our Calvin Johnson — a freak of nature.
Im kind of nervous about the line up being posted! lol Kind of the same feeling when Adrian came up last nite with the bases juiced!
and btw Graf Jones has 11 hr in 93 ab away from cashman and 8/91 there so by saying that he is hitting because he is in a hitting park doeesn’t fly as well as the stikeouts go his .400+obp and 30 walks to go with 34 extra base hits all within 184ab’s suggest you should’t badmouth my points before actually looking at all of the numbers.
dahustlasbac i just hope Kemp starts or at least is a late inning (7 or 8th inning) replacement.
DodgerThoughts “Update: According to Inside the Dodgers, Kemp is not starting tonight.”