Today's lineup
Pierre, LF
Furcal, SS
Loney, 1B
Martin, C
Ethier, RF
Young, 2B
Repko, CF
DeWitt, 3B
Lowe, P
We’re all running about getting ready for our 2 p.m. departure, first to Orlando, then Beijing. I hope to post one more time before we fly…
Thanks Josh. Have a safe trip there and back.
Thanks Josh, enjoy the trip.
Looks like a very interesting outfield for today’s game
Yes, Pierre’s in the lineup again! woop dee doo.
Do any of you guys here think that the Dodgers are trying to show case Juan Pierre?
Its the Pinto vs. the Corvair!!
Only in our dreams thunderbolt, only in our dreams.
We can’t ask for much more than Pierre playing next to Repko. He almost took out Furcal again over the weekend.
Sorry to beat this horse to death, but it’s sad that Colletti would rather waste talent on the bench rather than swallow his pride and dump Pierre. His job is to put the eight position players on the field that give you the best chance of winning. Doing otherwise is just inexcusable.
If Ethier doesn’t get enough AB’s this year because of Pierre, he may never reach his potential. As nice of a guy as Pierre is, you really have to feel for Ethier.
Why scott, that’s EEEvilll. lol
Why do you suppose that once they do get Ethier in the lineup it’s in right field? Wouldnt you think he’d be in left? Unless you were planning on him platooning or being the sub outfielder
just kidding enchanted…or am I?
heh heh heh heh heh…
brandon,
If Kemp platoons at all with Ethier while JP stays happily in LF, the fans will burn down the stadium.
scott, I will lead the way.
Here is the link to Kershaw’s curveball in case you haven’t seen it yet: http://youtube.com/watch?v=T2M0c6DxCMY
WARNING: It may buckle you from your desk!!!
Pierre’s “throws” barely or should i say, rarely reach the cutoff man. I can’t believe Ned and Joe don’t see that hot dog of an arm Pierre has will cost us close games.
charris,
Saw it. Kershaw is awesome. He was already half way off the mound before the ball got there. The man has major confidence in his stuff.
Come on Wrecko!!!!
that’s what it is isn’t it, then …
1. Playing the wrong player due to contracts etc. Not playing our best team on purpose, forget the names.
or
2. not smart enough (Ned) to play the best guy.
or
3. not trusting enough (still) in Kemp and Ethier’s ability to play daily.
or (hopefully)
4. He knows but can’t say and he is trying to trade Juan(no takers).
In meantime he will leave it to Torre. Torre likewise will give vet first shot, platoon Kemp/Ethier(much more of Kemp)..start to play Ethier over Pierre if needed..or just stick w/ juan.
I love the look of disbelief on Casey’s face after that pitch.
jungar,
I know it man. I just can’t imagine that Ned or Joe actually values JP over Ethier or Kemp. It’s got to be #1 or #4. If it’s #2 or #3, then we’ve got the wrong guy at GM.
If Pierre’s OBP is below .320(very likely)in May, I think Joe will be forced to do the right thing because we will be in 3rd or 4th place.
Question to Ned.
First, I would like thank you for taking the time to address the fans directly. I assume that you’ve seen about as much negative stuff here on the ITD as you can take regarding Pierre. My question to you is how do you keep it together when you constantly hear this type of behavior ?? And as a follow up, How does it effect the hardest working players in baseball like JP and Nomar from producing when they hear all of this from so called fans ??
If they continue to play and leadoff Pierre and his low OBP/poor defense all year, we definately have the wrong guys running the show.
In the first, Lowe gave up a solo HR to Uggla, two strikeouts to Ramirez and Hermida and a ground out by Willingham.
Pierre basically said it in that interview a week or so ago. My game isn’t pretty, some like it, some don’t(count me here). At the end of the day I’m making 9M a year and my family is taken care of. He doesn’t give a **** about the fans or the team just his vanity.
He won’t just hear it here, he’ll hear it at the stadium. I have said in the past if Pierre is in a Dodger uniform I will cheer for the name on the jersey. That doesn’t mean other people will. It would be a real shame for Pierre to get Kwame’d when most of his home crowd boos him, maybe then they’ll figure it out. This isn’t about being a person, it’s about being a player. Pierre is our 4th best outfielder…maybe.
whats up scott, yeah Kershaw’s deuce looks ridiculously good, with a 97 MPH heater to boot, he’s on his way to big league dominance.
jungar, here’s to hoping that it’s 4 and not 3, 2 or 1. My biggest problem with Pierre right now isn’t so much the fact that he’ll be starting over Ethier as much as Ethier taking ABs away from Kemp as a consequence to Pierre starting. Don’t get me wrong I think Ethier is good, real good (should obviously be our LF) but Kemp has superstar potential and hit a ridiculous .342 .373 .521 last season in 292 ABs. How can anybody justify not giving this man a full time shot in in ’08?
I actually think the little bad word here thinks he deserves to play over Ethier and Kemp. Dillusions of grandeur for sure.
Gary – I hope that Juan and Nomar get all the motivation they need from their paycheck and not from yahoo’s expressing an opinion on a board.
Gary, I love the team we have other than Piere, Nomar and Loaiza. So, of the 40 players we have in our roster, there are only 3 that I don’t like. Am I a one of these “so called-fans” you are referring to?
from the desk of ned coletti..
Thanks for asking Gary. I don’t keep it together. I almost take a bottle of sleeping pills and some jack nightly. The winning/loosing, fielding a product worthy of sellin out to 50k fans a night, the stress of contracts, the managing of 100s of personell many in various parts of the world is nothing compared to some bloggers.
That Kershaw curve is INSANE! On another note… is anyone concerned at all with Lowe? He was not that great last time out, and has already given up a shot today
Pierre was hit by the pitch, Furcal singled, Loney walked, Martin GIDP’d, Pierre scored, Ethier singled to score Furcal, Young walked and Repko flew out. End of 1 2-1 Dodgers.
thunderbolt, you may not like Nomar but in reality (if he’s healthy) he has to be our best option to open the season at 3rd. Hopefully he can stay healthy enough to fill in the 10 week void that LaRoche’s injury caused. I still think Nomar played banged up last season and if he truly is healthy, he should produce decently enough to keep that position productive for us.
Lowe is working on a high pitch that he would throw to low ball hitting clubs, so that’s why he’s been giving up some shots. It’s just work and practice to him in the spring, I have no worries.
nice, thanks Alex, other than Martin dp with bases loaded and noone out, that could have been a much better inning. I don’t know that I see Martin ever batting clean up, another good ab from Ethier though
Lowe got three ground balls in the 2nd, end of 1 1/2 2-1 Dodgers.
brandon, I wouldn’t put too much stock into ST #s, often times proven pitchers like Lowe treat their ST outings as bullpens, if Lowe keeps his pitches down, he’ll be a good pitcher this season.
I’ve always liked him in the regular season, but it just seemed like he was getting a lot of balls up. But what Alex said makes sense. Three ground balls sounds a whole lot better
Most people here can agree that the drop off between Nomar and LaRoche is not as great as the LF battle, and with LaRoche hurt we have little choice unless someone learns a new position. Nomar is capable of either playing great or completely going into the tank for weeks at a time, so let’s hope he’s got a good run in him for the start of the season.
For those who aren’t watching this game (and how could you be), Tommy just got into a heated argument with the home plate umpire and the sellout crowd here went bananas. What a treat to see that again!
Alex, any idea how Dewitt scored?
Lowe coming back with 3 k’s looks good. Raffy looking good too.
What I miss? What I miss? Dang work’s getting in the way of a good ballgame.
I don’t know enchanted, it’s like everyone dissapeared… but it looks like Lowe just gave up another homer? maybe?
looks like 3-3 after a couple of hits from by the fish…
I would guess DeWitt walked, Lowe sacrificed him to second, Pierre failed in plating him and Furcal single him in
enchanted,
Let me take your prediction that Loney will hit .350-.360 someday up a notch. As I’ve predicted before, sometime within the next eight years, Loney will make a strong run at .400. I’m not sure he’ll end above .400, but I think he’ll flirt with it until at least the end of August. Maybe more than once.
With a shoutout to my co-writer and brother leekfink:
My Loney has a first name
It’s J-A-M-E-S
My Loney has a second name
It’s L-O-N-E-Y
I love to watch him every day
And if you ask me “Why”? I’ll say
‘Cause James Loney has a way
With H-I-T-T-I-N-G
Kuo comes in and has two strikeouts and a flyout. End of 4 1/2 3-3 Tie, I stepped out for a bit and missed how the fish scored those two runs.
Thanks martin – this one goes out to you, jhall, scott, jungar and all the gang…
P is for the many pops you’ve hit me.
I is for the me before the team.
E is for the extra base you give teams.
R is for the running you do so well.
R is for the runs that you let score.
E is for the excruciating taps.
Put them all together they spell PIERRE. In left field for me you’ll always be.
Looks like Loaiza will be the #5, and Kershaw returns to the minors for the time being. Hope Chan Ho accepts a minor league deal as insurance. He’ll also get a chance in the majors before too long as well. We may need trade one of these guys (not Kershaw, of course) if #rd base becomes a problem. I think Nomar will handle it, though.
I hope we don’t use Kuo out of the pen, he’s had a few chances out of there and it has not worked out. He’s a much better starter.
Kuo would be a nice pinch hitting option for Pierre as well.
I see JP’s got that avg up to .206 now. Add in that one wild pitch walk he got and that OBP sky rockets!
Man, Raffy is on fire!!
Good one enchanted.
I had some time on my hands 🙂
Corvair vs Pinto. Classic. Looks like the Pinto went up in flames. LOL
way to go Raffy. As Ned says, Pierre is nothing without you!
hahaha, nice Scott. Raffy does look good in the 2 spot though.
So JP got on once with a HBP, what about the 2nd run – how’d he get on? Error? FC? Must be the irreplaceable speed…
I think it was an error
I’ll try:
P is for your POOP OBA
I is for for the INDIGESTION you give me
E is for the EXCUSES given to play you
RR is for your RIDICULOUS RAINBOW arm
E is for EVERYTHING else that I’ve missed here because unfortunately your name isn’t 50 letters long!
Brad Penny pinch hitting?
DeWitt is looking good. I hope he is our backup 3b. No to Crede, Inge, Belliard, German
Who besides Pierre would be our best lead off hitter? Other than Raffy, he looks great in the 2 spot. Just curious what everyone thinks.
Raffy would have to go back to his customary lead-off with Ethier or Martin #2.
Braz is getting lit up
Raffy has done fine in the lead-off spot his whole career.
Man does anybody want to be the swingman in the BP? Rugged outing for Brazoban.
Maybe Jones could be a possability, he’s been great so far.
My left fielder has a rag arm,
I rarely hits its mark,
My leftfielder has a pop bat,
It never goes to far,
Oh, I hate to watch him play,
And if you ask me why I’ll say,
He takes away at bats from Andre.
In 4 inn. he’s got a strikeout, no walks, and no runs allowed.
Wow, Pierre has an outfield assist, that oughta seal him as the everyday left fielder… Nevermind his .200 average. Furcal batting .357 with a few walks thrown in there, definitely lead off material. Good to see Proctor have a good inning. Brazoban not so much.
Probably one of those deals where the guy goes to 3b to draw a throw so the runner can score easily.
Raffy to lead off, of course. Martin in the 2-hole. I don’t see why Ethier would go there. If we want to put a guy with no speed batting second, Loney is the clear choice — a la Kevin Youkillis.
We’ve left 17 guys on base today, we really need to do a better job with runner on. Hopefully that doesnt haunt us too many times this year.
DeWitt – HR!
nice day
Team LOB was 7, but individual was 18. They did score 6 runs. One day closer to opening day. Nice pitching by Broxton, 2 K’s and a grounder.
Just check out Pierre’s updated stats. Even Martin who has a crappy avg this spring has walked 7 times to give himself a decent OBP.
Let’s hope real “competition” wins out.
DY is hitting .120, but laughably is still getting on base more than JP.
It’s getting to be more and more difficult to see Ethier contribute, knowing full well that he will not be in the lineup when he should be!!!
Checkout the faces on the kids in the last photo of the current gallery – man that’s awesome.
Brad Penny pinch hit – maybe Lasorda is still able to think outside the box a little – why not try JP #9 for a few games Tommy? If we’ve got to play him, we need to find a spot where he won’t kill the offense and ****-up ABs from the better hitters.
The word above was s/u/c/k BTW.
I hope Ethier knows how much we are pulling for him. It’s getting really depressing seeing Andre play so well only to get benched.
If JP keeps this up, maybe even Joe and Ned will see the light.
Not to mention Andre’s good play.
I completely forgot Tommy was managaing today, that’s awesome!!
How can you ignore an obp and an avg. like that… for both Pierre and Ethier? Numbers speak for themselves
Then, if you take into account defense….
I wonder how long into the season they will continue to go with Pierre should the trends continue.
hopefully not long
Fair enough, it is just a trend, but everyone (including players)was told that things would be “sorted out” in the spring with guys “competing” for spots.
Maybe Tommy will get the fire back, and be the next Jack Mckeon, with Joe Torre as his bench coach. Honestly, I’m just excited for the season, and hopefully it ends well this year. Nothing stinks more than to go through an entire year of competing to come up lame at the end like last year. I think I’d rather have them be terrible all year, than to have what happened last year to happen again.
Brandon, it IS agonizing to be so close. That’s why we can’t screw around with the LF job when we can take the division by the horns playing the best 8 we have.
Why win 4-3 or lose 3-4 when we can dominate with real run producers up and down the lineup? Not to mention holding runners to 1 base at a time.
Yeah, I don’t know that at any point last year we were really all that close. This year though, I’ve just got a feeling that this is it. The blend will be perfect, and if our pitching can stay healthy, we’ll be in great shape.
Well if just one pitcher doesn’t stay healthy, we’ve got Kershaw waiting in the wings!
Well, we’ve got a lot of depth if we keep Chan Ho too, so, yeah, we should be ok. I saw that curve he threw the other day, and it was just sick!
I love March because of Spring Training, but I hate it because it’s so **** long before the season starts.
I’d say the big news is Furcal. I personally feel that I want him to have a very good year. IMO we need at least one experienced middle infielder next year and Raffy is the man. I hope he is back with us. *****Good to see Kuo’s rolling along fine. *****Hope Brazo just had a bad outting. *****I read that Chad Moeller was picked up by the Yankees. Good luck to him. *****I see the kid Dewitt went 2 for 3, LR look out. *****Lets see, a couple of Ks Koufax & Kershaw, sounds good*****WOW Tony Abreu dancing and doing other activities at Dodgertown Elementary School, that’s a very good sign.*****And last but by no means lease I see by the boxscore that Juanpy had another hitless day.
pierres,
Who do you see at 2B next year?
Hu?
Young?
Abreu?
Free Agent?
Scott here’s my wish-list lineup for next season:
C Martin
1B Loney
2B Young
SS Hu
3B LaRoche
LF Ethier
CF Jones
RF Kemp
SP Penny
SP Billingsley
SP Kuroda
SP Schmidt (hopefully fully recovered)
SP Kershaw
Call me crazy for wanting the young’uns out there but by next season guys like Billingsley, Martin, Ethier, Loney and Kemp should be considered veterans with Young, Hu, LaRoche and Kershaw all having some big league experience.