Practice? We're talking about practice??
Yes, we are.
Today is a day off (actually, the workout is optional) for the team from Florida, while the team that was in China has a mandatory workout (a practice!) at Papago Park here in Phoenix.
Meanwhile, the first home game is tomorrow here at Phoenix Municipal Stadium and on behalf of the organization, we’d like to thank the A’s for their hospitality. The stadium is actually more than 50 years old, but it’s been renovated and is quite nice, so we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s battle with the White Sox and Saturday’s game against the Angels, the lone "home" games of the Cactus League schedule.
Meanwhile, we’re also focused on the Coliseum Game, Opening Day, the 50th anniversary, etc. There’s quite a bit going on these days, but it’s all great stuff.
Speaking of the Coliseum, keep in mind that there’s a FREE all-day festival that you can attend that will help alleviate many parking issues. Please spread the word, as the more people who come early, the better off you’ll be and the less frustrated you’ll be as 100,000 fans all come to the park at the same time. You can also park at Dodger Stadium and take a free shuttle to the Coliseum starting at noon, so tell your friends, your family, and anyone else who you know that is going to the game.
On the field, Nomar is back in LA today to get his hand checked, as it’s still not feeling 100 percent. Hopefully we’ll have more news on that later today.
Inside the Dodgers 
First post ******.
Let me be first to say “rabblerabblePIERRErabblerabbleEGOrabblerabbleMANAGEMENTrabblerabble”
12 more days until opening day. Norma needs to get better ASAP
As I look at the spring training stats, one thing troubles me deeply. Furcal has 14 hits, with 2 HR, 5 triples, and NO DOUBLES!
He must be antisocial towards the other SS, not wanting casual conversation with them. I mean, what are the other middle infielders going to think? How is he going to catch up about their kids, etc?
More to the point of baseball, how is he going to steal any bases if he is always on 3rd? I think he must be terribly lazy if he has to bypass 2nd base all of the time. 5 triples and no doubles, unheard of! Deeply troubling.
It is great to see Raffy back to his speedy self with surprising power. Now, perhaps the Ds can score some runs.
Also great to see that his throwing arm is still strong. It is a pleasure to watch him play.
thinkblue1955, I know that was a typo, but it’s HILARIOUS. Forget “Nomore” — my new nickname for when he plays terribly is “Norma.”
I don’t know if I can make a link on this blog but I would appreciate it if someone would go to http://www.nydailynews.com and go to SPORTS to link a New York version of, “A Farewell TO Dodgertown” by David Hinkley.***** I THANK YOU VERY MUCH . I know It’s in the past now but I think some people especially our East coast fans may not be able to do it either. I believe all Brooklyn fans would want to read it.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2008/03/17/2008-03-17_a_farewell_to_dodgertown.html
PierreEMW, although I’m not a Brooklyn fan, I think that was a marvelous article. The part where Mr Hinkley was playing ball against his garage along with the game on the radio brought back a great but painful memory for me. I used to do the same thing against my garage with the radio hanging from a tree. It was the late 60’s and we were going through the post-Koufax funk. I knocked a bunch of the stucco off the side of the garage with that old rubber-coated baseball and my dad paddled my hide but good.
I came to appreciate how you people in Brooklyn felt when Georgia took my Rams to St Louis.
First off I would like to wish PierreEMW a happy birthday, some great Dodger fans were born on that same day. Next it’s just my opinion but I think that the team should have stayed together in Fla this spring and tried to concentrate on playing winning ball this year instead of trotting around the globe. Also I hope Ned has a back up plan for 3rd base because everyone knows you can’t count on Nomar staying healthy ,and even if he did he’s not the Nomar of years ago.
Heaven forbid, I don’t want that backup plan to include a panic trade for Inge or Crede, or someone like that outside of the system. Let’s first try even DeWitt or Abreu. Remember that last season we went for a long time with Betemit and his very low productivity and still were competitive in the division. I know that DeWitt might be a real longshot, but he was a first round draft pick and he’s acquitted himself quite well this Spring Training without even being expected to be with the major club.
ericmonson,
2 things:
#1 I used to play baseball using my garage door as backstop with tennis balls as a kid and nothing beats the sound of Vinny’s voice echoing through the neighborhood as someone would have the radio on for sure.
#2 **** that Georgia! I knew every player was on the Rams teams of the 70s and 80’s. I miss the days of blocked field goals and punts by the Vikings in the playoffs!
Scott,
#1 AMEN! to Vinny’s voice.
#2 I remember finally getting the Vikings here in LA for a playoff game one year only to have it rain like an SOB to make them feel right at home and watch the Rams go down again. And listening to **** Enberg doing the Rams on the radio. Oh, my!
Weren’t the games blacked out on TV in LA then because the Coliseum couldn’t sell out?
in the case for dewitt, he has a better batting average than pierre, then again everyone has a better batting average than him… even if dewitt struggles, andy will be back within no time. blake can hold the fort for a while and may surprise us… ned better not trade ethier for a third baseman, I would go nuts is that happens…
I think they were only showing the road games on TV in those days. I could be wrong. I just know I listened to a lot of radio in LA and got totally spoiled by Enberg, Scully and Chickie-Baby.
eric, the Lakers will never be the same without Chick. Joel Myers has to go though – what a depressing guy he is.
Right now the Dodgers are scheming behind closed doors trying to figure out some kind of David Copperfield magic play to get Pierre in LF unnoticed without the whole city of LA burning down the stadium.
If Joe and Ned don’t have the sense and nads to bench Phew, I think it could create alot of animosity. For one, if I’m Ethier, I would be pissed. Also, Ferk knows he should be leading off and probably is not going to be a happy camper when Pierre is leading off and butchering it. And, if I’m a pitcher and I go out there and know that management is not putting the best 8 guys behind me consistantly to give me the best chance for success, I would not be very happy.
I think they’re going to need Professor X……
We will have to eat at least half of Phew’s salary to move him and it will be a sunk cost. However, I would rather have a sunk cost than a sunk season.
Oooooh Oooooh that smell,
Cantcha’ smell that smell.
Gotta monkey on our back.
One heck of a price for Ned to get his kicks.
As I wrote in one of the last posts on yesterday’s thread, if they get out of the box fast, they might top 4 million this year. They should be able to afford to eat some of his salary to be able to field the best players. I know it’s not my money to eat, but C’MON!!!!!
If we start Pierre in left everyday and lead him off, I predict that we will be mired in 4th place in mid May. That may wake up management and resolve the situation.
Maybe we should pose the question to Ned on this blog of WHO is the one deciding whether Pierre or Ethier gets the nod?
We have to know who to fire, right?
Add me to the tennis-ball pitching, Vin (and Jerry) – **** Enberg – Chick Hearn listening, Rams / Dodgers / Lakers fans. My memories go back to the late 60s – post-Koufax, but in the days of the Fearsome Foursome, Roman Gabriel et al., Jerry West and Elgin Baylor the players and the big trade for a big guy known by his first name alone was for Wilt.
You got me by a couple years old_fogey!
Hey, we have a darn metal garage door now which has pretty much put an end to driveway baseball, somewhat of a shame.
Uh-oh. Medicore 3B vet here we come?? From Tony Jackson’s blog:
“Nomar has an MRI
Doesn’t appear he’s going to play tomorrow, which was goal. It showed a microfracture in a small bone of his right wrist, which trainer Stan Conte likened to a small bone bruise. Nomar got a cortisone shot in the soft tissue to avoid swelling and will be re-examined in a couple of days. It is beginning to look like Ned is going to have to go get a 3B somewhere”
Of all the crummy 3B vets out there – and they are crummy – Crede may be that makes me gag the least. 1 Yr. / $5.1M contract – should be FA eligible for next year; good riddance. Most likely to hurt himself when LaRoche is ready.
(The quoted part is Tony – the rest is me.)
Give DeWitt a shot till LaRoche is back. He has played well so far this spring. Abreau can also hold the fort for awhile. We don’t need to trade for a 3B unless they will take Phew.
I wouldn’t mind seeing if Blake could handle third for awhile, but in case Ned makes a deal for Crede I hope he peddles Pierre for him. When Andy gets back let them fight it out for this year, and if Andy plays well 3rd is his from then on and Crede is history.
Actually Wes Helms comes cheaper, $2.85M commitment, $2.15 this year, plus $0.75M buyout for ’09.
If Abreu is healthy, jhall is right that he can “hold the fort” at 3B as Nomar heals – he played there last year.
I think rushing DeWitt is a mistake – he didn’t really handle AA last year, and some of his spring success was against scrubs, plus that’s a small sample size. Might destroy his confidence if major-league pitchers exploit holes in his swing now.
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080319&content_id=2444997&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=la
Gurnick’s take. He’s pretty spot-on this time. Although this bothers me:
“General manager Ned Colletti said he would likely watch DeWitt play for a week before deciding if he needs to acquire an infielder from another organization.”
Abreu’s doctor cleared him to play – he might show a lot in the next week. Hu is farther along than DeWitt; how about trying him at third? He’s an SS, probably can handle it.
Question for Ned: LaRoche and Nomar injuries aside, would you trade Betemit for Proctor again?
BTW, the idea of “sunk costs” means that you make the decision now based on facts now, without regard to previous investments. Pierre’s contract is a sunk cost. Make the right decision now. It doesn’t do any good to say, “We have already invested so much. We can’t change now. It would cause all of those previous efforts to have been wasted in vain.”
Sorry to get political. 😦
I remember the mud game with the Vikings.Bud Grant knew the field would go to he** fast, so Chuck Foreman and the Mud Turtles (that’s what I called them after that) pounded out a small lead and then held on for three quarters.
My daughter was learning to talk about then, and she would shout “No! No!” at the start of every play. She learned that from me as I watched those blocked field goals and punts. and lets not forget the Cowboys.
I still hate the Vikings. Its hard to believe we couldn’t get by those bad word here. I still have a vivid picture in my mind of Joe Kapp in the air leaping over one of our players in one of the championship games.
Thank JHALL for the link. I figured there might be some who might want to read it.
I threw many of balls against many of walls JHALL. That was an interesting part of the column. It was simular to my story, although I was 19 at the time the Dodgers flew the coop, so to speak. One sad part was that they didn’t realize that I believe Scully did transmit games coast to coast. I don’t know if those games were live or recorded earlier. But I know they were from Los Angeles from the 1958 season. It was eventually stopped. You see Hinckley tells the story from our point of view(1948), which I feel is a little different from the western point of view which focuses mostly since 1958.
To clear something up if it needs clarification. The games were on the radio not televised.
hey guys just found an interesting artical on Nomar according to foxsports.com Nomar has a broken bone in his hand and might miss opening day but I don’t know why at the dodgers.com home page it says that it is not serious and he will be ready by the weekend? that is puzzleing..
heres the article
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7900252/Nomar-has-broken-bone-in-right-hand
MESSAGEBEARER I hate to disturb your present thoughts, which I’m also comsumed with but can you recall the Dodgers broadcasting from L.A. back to New York or it’s Metropolitan area?
So how many of the regualrs here are going to the game at the Coliseum? Besides the traffic nightmare, I think it should be pretty fun.
BTW, does anyone know if they will be serving beer in the Coliseum that day?
Chris
Yep Pierre, I remember throwing the ball up against a wall and practicing fielding ground balls many a day. Not listening to the Brooklyn Dodgers but still simulating my heroes and baseball. Those were great times.
Pierres,
I moved away from the New York area during the fifties and had to listen to whatever station I might be able to pick up late at night to catch the Dodger games – like from Pittsburgh and St. Louis – those were the easiest for me early on after the Dodgers moved west. I missed out on most of them until I moved to the west coast and then could zero in on a station in Las Vegas that I could pick up from Oregon and WA state. The internet has, of course, made that all easier now.
Thanks BEAR, Wow It’s been a fast 50 years. I recall sitting on a friends stoop and listening to a Dodger game as they drove for the pennant in 1959 and remarking that it sounded the same as it did coming from somewhere in 1956 as they headed for the pennant.
It’s another night of waiting as we hope Nomar is alright or we hang our hopes on a kid from Double A ball who is under watchful eyes.
I created this account just to make sure I vote Kemp Jones Ethier.
The last mailbag shows all the information you will need to know about how management is highlu leaning towards a 162 game season people! from a fan perspective yes it is easy to say start ethier in LF over pierre or maybe even saying let kershaw pitch at the start of the season!>>>….? maybe on this one a split between if gets sent down or not but neverthelss the bottomline is that torre is gonna use his attributes wisely. meaning that torre is gonna go with a fan perspective in which he knows whos the best and not but also a baseball 162 season world champion mananager type of perspective too. finally in the article that spoke about nomars injury it states that park and loiaza will gun it out for the 5th spot which doesnt look to bad from the stats we have seen from both pitchers but, also keep in mind that we have schmidty and he can be a valuable assett on a team with tremendous potential. moveover, and more importantly from joe torres mind he is leaning and preparing what he will utilize the maximum potential from the total amount of all the players is why the dodgers will go deep into the playoff race and maybe even push for the title in a showdown vs boston and la maybe this will a more inesified story if in the summer the lake show takes on the celt in the finals and lakers go on winning 4-3. nevertheless torre is keeping his players out of the potential to be injured. yes laroches case is a sad story but its not the end its only his thumb more importantly this can be even better for laroche who will play a shortened season along with other players in with a better shot and preparing for the later 40 manr oaster along the roads. but THIS ISSS THE PLANNNN torre goes with park and loaiza if they dont work out go to schmidt which is indicating that he will increasingly ignore his setback and attempt to pitch without restrictions. and thennnn if that doesnt work outt you cannnnnn always use kuo which most likely will stay with the club as a long reliever but then ultimately if all cases go wrong then the dodger will bring in kershaw which will give the dodgers the final push and knockout the mlb for the WS. think of kershaw like this…………boston- papelbon
anaheim-krod
dodgers-keyshaw this is the reliving them in baseball a young gunner giving the need for some young guns cough cough legends fernando, great koufax. on the other side…dodgers do not worry about the D’s offensive…they have a solid 1-7 even 1-8 when ehtier plays our 3rd base maybe below what league expectations but you got to look at the total team SS furcal will have a great year kent will have a solid usual year
loney is going to breakout
kemp will break out
jones will do what he does solid 25 100
martin uhhh do i need to say more that is 5 solid players hitting potentially 20 and most definately hitting 15 or more. now the remaing holes are 3rd and a fan hole in lf. we start with pierre because he is the veteran and this is baseball and the vets always get the call on opening day. then gradually as the season goes ethier will get more and more playing time to mamimixe his potential and path to stardom by going in a south to north type of PT within a 162 game season compared to the north to south (giving more pt to ethier in the start as opposed to the south north idea) and as far as 3rd who cares whatever produces in the 8th holes we know nomar will be useful being a 8TH HITTERremember only the EIGHT hitter the dodgers offense will go bananas this year if furcal is healthy much like the 06 dodgers. finanly we see the comparison on both sides of the ball both gradual and maximizing the potential to its full in a free-injury way that are required in the pedigree to wint he WS is what the dodgers will set on the the table to be marked as the team to beat this year!!!
Joe… don’t you ever sleep? LOL!
I’m not suggesting anything here, but does anyone know where Betemit is now?
messagebear – Yankee’s, and not a very good line:
W Betemit
NYY SS 15 33 4 5 1 0 2 5 12 4 10 0 0 .237 .364 .152
Evidently been playing short.
Betemit is still with the Yankees.
The real reason Ned is waiting a week is to see which who gets cut as spring training draws to a close, then he might pick up a cheap, not very good 3B for next-to-nothing (maybe Morgan Ensberg) that he can jettison once Nomar is healthy.
I’m glad to hear Torre express an inclination to see what DeWitt can do in the remaining time of Spring Training. I don’t think that DeWitt would be so badly shown up at the major league level as to damage his self-confidence – I think the experience would be a big boost for him, and I’m rooting for him to make the team.
Dodger fans need to boo if Pierre is leading off in the remaining ST games at the Coliseum and cheer when/if Andre is in the game. Nothing personal to Juan, but Torre needs to hear it loud and clear.
MESSAGEBEAR FOR DEWITT!!!
DeWitt is my man for third. I hope he gets his big chance.
If Nomar comes back, I hope it is to fill a utility role. When LaRoche comes back, I hope he has a real fight for the job with DeWitt.
I’m just for DeWitt!!!
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