Busy day at Camelback
There’s a ton of national media here today…MLB Network for the 30 teams in 30 days; Peter Gammons, Ken Rosenthal (FOX Sports), Bob Nightengale (USA Today), Tim Kurkjian (ESPN), and the local guys from KCAL (Gary Miller) and lots of others. Coincidentally, Manny is in left field today for the first time this spring, so that’s got a lot of interest…but I think most of the media lucked into this storyline, but that’s a good thing.
For those who want to flip channels from March Madness, the game is on PRIME TICKET back in LA. Here’s the lineup:
Furcal, SS
Kemp, CF
Ethier, RF
Manny, LF
Loney, 1B
Blake, 3B
DeWitt, 2B
Ausmus, C
Billingsley, P
Joe said he expects to announce an Opening Day starter this week and that Manny will play left field for about four innings today.
Regarding Blake DeWitt, here’s what he had to say:
“He hasn’t had the opportunity to turn a double play all spring. I’d like to see that happen. He seems to be fine, he’s swinging the bat real well. He’s not going to play second defensively as well as Hudson or Belliard, but he’s not shy about going after the ball. He’s a good kid and has a good feel for the game. I haven’t anointed it (Opening Day starter) at this point in time, but I haven’t been disappointed.”
Inside the Dodgers 
If DeWitt isn’t as good defensively as Belliard at second, then this team’s in trouble at 2B all year.
Media. Manny in left. Coincidence? I think not.
I have to agree with Bear from the last thread about Carroll Channing. Another nice call by Ned. Why is it we always seem to just HAVE TO HAVE a Loretta or Sweeney type taking up space and valuable ABs on this team?
Also, I’d much rather have Weaver as swingman than Hagar The Horrible. Nothing against knuckleballers, but I can’t see him holding a game close and giving our boys a chance to comeback like I do Weaver, despite his horrid pitching so far.
I like DeWitt and hope Joe keeps him.
Loretta is just taking up space? The guy came up with clutch pinch hits all year, did a good job when he spot started and got the game winning RBI in the game against St. Louis.
Belliard is now a defensive second base paragon?
Why is it that I have much more respect for you, Joe when you keep your mouth shut?
In the meantime, let’s not forget to
SELL THE TEAM!!!
On another note, I keep coming back to the notion that Jamie might have aspired to the title of POTUS (laugh, laugh, laugh). A better title would be COITUS!
Hi everybody
We need some runs.
LETS GO BILLS.
Sorry regan, after April IMO Loretta was just another Ned PVL. April PH 7H-10AB, rest of the year 7-50 (.140) . Thru April 9H-19AB. Rest of the year 33-162 (.203). As dodgereric would say, even a blind squirrel will find an acorn now and then. I remember the St.Louis game, and I remember him early in the season noticing someone didn’t touch third base that ended up getting us a win. Nice call on that. But he “slugged” .276 (even JP’s was .379), his OBP was .309. He only plated 17% of the runners that were on base when he came to bat. And much to the team’s detriment late in the year, Joe kept trotting him out there to take critical PH ABs just like he did Sweeney, despite his Sweeneyesque PH avg. after April.
I love this, I can get the audio portion of the game but the video says that the game will start shortly.
I seem to be having trouble with the Audio too, it keeps going high and very low.
Good to “hear” Manny slug one.
So, who should be filling the pinch hitter role on the team? Stats like OBP, etc are not that helpful when it comes to pinch hitting. As far as your complaint that he only drove in 17% of the runners on base…. that puts him on par with Dustin Pedroia.
Well MLB.TV told me the problem was on their end and now the took away the Watch icon.
Eric Collins, has a lot to be desired when it comes to listen to his play by play on the audio feed.
I love Spring! The sound of Vinny’s voice.. We are going to be hearing it this year aren’t we ?????? Can’t wait for the season to start…
Oh my gosh so DeWitt isn’t as good on defense as the Belly according to Torre?
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I am not sure what’s worse..
If it’s true
or if just Torre thinks it’s true
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In any case I like Dewitt etc but the Belly is a better hitter. I just assumed DeWitt was a better fielder than that guy. I mean the belly cant field too good, no?
Good to see Reed showing some power.
Good to see that the TV is back.
I just happened to notice.
They should at least notify their customers
However, I don’t think anyone’s going to confuse Mark Loretta with Dustin Pedroia…
Nothing really against Loretta, I know he did his best. What I am against is Ned constantly bringing in these dubious PVLs, and Joe for constantly playing them when they can’t produce. This organization should be better than that. Its really an indictment of management, not the player.
Collins is O.K. as a television announcer.
Could be that he’s unaware that some people were listening in without seeing it on TV.
I agree with that assesment totally, E. The players no doubt do all that they’re capable of at that stage in their careers. It’s that Ned and even Joe tend to pick their vets long after they’ve declined from their peaks. That’s what bottom fishing in the baseball market will most often get you – bottom performance.
Glad to see DeWitt smoking the ball, because between Casey Blake and Ronnie Belliard, the Dodgers are probably looking at a minimum 3 DLs between the two, if not more. That means DeWitt will play a lot, depending on who’s dinged, whether at 3B or 2B. And they’ll still have Blake’s greatest asset, his “clubhouse presence.”
lbirken, with UCLA home for the big dance, I’ve lost interest in March Madness.
Hello gang!! Still chuckling about the Beav and Bear posts. Ned is the Tidi-Bowl Man, hanging around the baseball toilet and hoping to turn the waste into a nice Blue!!!! LOL!!!
Hey everybody! Take a look at today’s Bleacher Report on their 10 emerging 2010 aces. It’s exciting to see both Bills and Kersh on the list.
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I thought Bills pitched well today – his motion was smooth and he wasn’t falling all over himself or the mound after delivering his pitches.
The pitching has been the highlight of ST up to this point. The starters that we need to count on for this season have done well so far. Let’s hope it continues….Is DeWitt better than Hudson? No, and he shouldn’t be expected to be at this stage. Is he better than Belliard? If he’s not, then, granted, we are in trouble at 2nd this year. I was never under the impression that Belliard’s stock in trade was his defense. DeWitt will grow into the job and do fine, both offensively and defensively. JoJo should have just made his comments re: DeWitt and just left it there…backups are….well…..backups. If they were younger and had more talent, they’d be starters. Could we have done better than Carroll? Probably. In any case, you don’t give a backup a guaranteed 2-year deal. Unless you’re Ned, of course!!!
Sparkleplenty – I read that this morning!! It was good to see both of them on that list of only 10.
This DeWitt issue seems to be alot like Ethier a couple seasons ago, where Joe was convinced JP was the better outfielder by the pure fact he was a pvl and not really going by any other measure. From my very strong recollection, Andre hit the crap out of the ball too, but it wasn’t quite good enough to match the defensive skills of JP š
Hey Jhall!!! It was good to see enchanted and messagebear doing what they do best!!
Wally started it!! I just had a good sense of what he was thinking š
BTW, I didn’t mean to imply earlier that its also MY opinion that DeWitt is indeed worse than Belliard defensively. It was a tongue-in-cheek comment aimed at Torre’s assessment.
And perhaps Ned signed Carrol for two years knowing that that’s how long it took JoJo to figure out Dre was better than JP.
“…It was good to see enchanted and messagebear doing what they do best!!”
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By nellyjune on March 18, 2010 10:07 PM
What’s that Nells – stir up trouble?
Enchanted ~ Apparently I can read your mind tonight too š
Then again, maybe not – lol!!!!
I knew it leave it to an ex Giants to get smoke by Jones of all people.
I don’t think Loretta was a waste should’ve gotten some occasional start and signing Hudson last year was a surprise. I would give up around 50 starts at 2nd base and let Dewitt back him up. I really think Loretta did more than Sweeney has done in 2 years. Loretta is really not a PH specialist even though he did go 11/30 for the Astros before we signed him. I still think Loretta could’ve had a good year if he started some game at 2nd base twice a week.
Good evening all…………
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North ~ Your time spent on that recent post was well spent and appreciated…Good Work!!!
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I am going back to biting my lip now!!!
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Enjoy your Sunday evening everyone……………
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It was nice to see Repko get a hit….. I do like him allot.
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GO DODGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!