Three great off-day features in today’s localpapers:
One on Matt Kemp by Steve Henson in the L.A. Times and another on Terry Collins by Tony Jackson in the Daily News.
Also, a very nice piece on Kemp by Amanda Branam of dodgers.com, though I think that’s been up for a day or so.
More to come from the park later today…
No, it’s not a Mile High salute to my favorite football team, the Broncos. Just a weak title for our arrival in Colorado.
The plane ride in was a bit bumpy and it was raining here when we landed, but we’re no worse for the wear. With several hours left in the evening, everyone is about to scatter for some good dinner. The hot spot seems to be Rodizio, a Brazilian churrascaria (steakhouse) down the street from the ballpark. Hopefully the day off will help, as the team is 5-1 in games after an off day.
People talk about Grady being a player’s manager and it’s the little things that continue to impress me. As is the case with most baseball teams, when we travel, we’re all required to wear sport coats or suits so that we look like a professional organization. I think that’s a great rule and it is important that we project ourselves in a professional manner. But for this one trip, Grady relaxed the dress code and allowed guys to pack a little less than normal because we’ll only be gone for three days.
I know, it seems like a meaningless change to most people, but it just shows that Grady is thinking of ways to mix it up a little and show his players that he cares. Of course anyone would be more comfortable in nice jeans or khakis (and in Brad Penny’s case, a cowboy hat), but I think the gesture meant more than the actual ability to pack lighter for Denver. Anyway, just one of those little things that people seem to enjoy reading about on this blog.
I haven’t forgotten about the draft day contest. We had eight winners and all of them will be getting the baseline seats, as we decided it’s not fair to penalize those that got in late (as long as they got their picks in before the draft). An email will be coming your way shortly if you picked Clayton Kershaw and Bryan Morris.
And for you history buffs, here’s an interesting note. It was on this day in 1955 that a young left-hander named Tommy Lasorda was optioned to Montreal to make room for another young southpaw named Sandy Koufax, who had been on the injured list.
A quick update on Eric Gagne for you all. He did have some discomfort in his elbow last night after the game, so we got a precautionary MRI on him today and it showed no structural damage. There was some swelling though, which they hope they can control in 2-3 days. He won’t pitch tonight and will be reevaluated on Friday.
Today’s lineup:
Furcal, SS
Lofton, CF
Nomar, 1B
Kemp, RF
Guzman, 3B
Cruz, LF
Martinez, 2B
Martin, C
Perez, P
A very busy day around here. We had the draft and just got back from the Boys & Girls Club with Brad Penny and Matt Kemp. Matt didn’t promise any sick kids that he’d homer for them, but he did hit one off a young kid in the Playstation video game. We’ll see if he can duplicate it again tonight on the field…
Furcal, SS
Lofton, CF
Nomar, 1B
Drew, RF
Kemp, LF
Aybar, 3B
Martinez, 2B
Martin, C
Lowe, P
Our first three picks were Clayton Kershaw, Bryan Morris and Preston Mattingly, the son of Don Mattingly. Incredibly, several people got the first two right, but no one had Mattingly in the mix. We’ll sort out the winners shortly.
In the meantime, a quick word from Logan White on our new Dodger draftees:
Overall, we got two power arms with the first two picks and we wanted a high ceiling overall athlete with the third pick.
Kershaw: He’s a big, strong power pitcher with a power arm. He reminds me a bit of Dave Righetti. He’s got an excellent delivery and great makeup.
Morris: He’s a great competitor with a plus fastball and a late power curveball. He reminds me of John Smoltz.
Mattingly: Obviously he comes from a great bloodlines but he is his own person. He’s a fantastic athlete with a chance to be a great all-around Major League player.
The main area of the Dodgers’ "war room" was empty 90 minutes prior to Major League Baseball’s annual First-Year Player Draft. Huddled behind closed doors on the eighth floor at Dodger Stadium this morning were scouting director Logan White and his staff, armed with cell phones for down-to-the-wire strategy sessions.
Baseball America magazine predicted the Dodgers would choose pitcher Texas high school pitcher Clayton Kershaw with the No. 7 overall pick. But it’s nearly impossible to predict the exact order of selections, as other teams use different methods of evaluation, such as need by position and signability.
After the first six picks, Kershaw was still on the board and White selected Kershaw, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound left-hander. With the No. 26 pick, the Dodgers selected Tennessee community college pitcher Bryan Morris.
Fans will have an opportunity to see the final list of team-by-team selections on MLB.com. But the real drama is watching the emotions felt by White and the other scouts as other teams make their respective selections. Despite tracking and identifying blue-chip prospects during the year, there’s a feeling of helplessness and worry when waiting for the team ahead of you to make their selection. And your supposed "sleeper" prospect might be rated higher on another team’s list.
As White and his scouts sit around a conference table, there is a gallery area for other executives to watch, including Dodger Chairman Frank McCourt. The amateur prospects’ names, placed on individual tags on a magnetic board in various categories, are removed by scout Artie Harris as the draft progresses for the 50 rounds. Every scout also has a laptop computer, along with other printouts and information.
The draft is finally upon us. More than 65 people have entered the online contest for baseline seats to a future Dodger game. There’s only about an hour left before you can get your picks in, so do it ASAP. Any picks posted after 10:00 a.m. PT won’t count.
I haven’t looked through the entries, but I’m going to cap the winners at three just in case you all picked the same three guys. That means, the first three people who listed our guys correctly will get the seats. If no one picks all three right, which is very possible, we’ll go to the one(s) who picked two out of three. If a ton of people get two out of three right, the higher up your correct picks, the better. So for example, if you picked #7 and #26 right and someone else got #7 and #31 right, the first person would win. Make sense? I hope so, because this isn’t an exact science as you can tell.
It’s great to see so many people getting interested in the draft. If you want to talk about our picks tomorrow with Amateur Scouting Director Logan White, you can do that in tomorrow’s live chat at 3 p.m. PT. You’ll excuse him, I hope, if he’s tired. He told me yesterday that it’s a ritual that he not sleep the night before the draft, so he’s been up since yesterday morning.
Furcal, SS
Lofton, CF
Garciaparra, 1B
Drew, RF
Aybar, 3B
Ethier, LF
Martinez, 2B
Martin, C
Tomko, P
A couple names you should know, if you don’t already, are Delwyn Young, an infielder/outfielder for Triple-A Las Vegas who went 3-for-5 last night to raise his average to .301 on the season. He also logged his 18th double of the year.
Also in that game, Chad Billingsley, one of our top pitching prospects, pitched six innings and allowed three hits and one run to earn his fifth win for the 51s. He lowered his ERA to 3.97, which is very good in the Pacific Coast League, but he also walked six batters.
Another name you already know is Nomar Garciaparra, who should be creeping up the leaderboard for voting in the online All-Star balloting at first base. After coming in at fifth in the early returns last week, we’re hoping he’ll move up with the injury to Albert Pujols. He has a very good shot to get up to second place and start the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh.
Updated at 2:52 pm PT with today’s NL leaderboard at first base:
1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals 1,041,466
2. Carlos Delgado, Mets 304,287
3. Lance Berkman, Astros 228,465
4. Nomar Garciaparra, Dodgers 203,239
5. Ryan Howard, Phillies 187,202
Some of you remember the big push for Cesar Izturis last year, who was very deserving of the nod at shortstop. Dodger fans did an incredible job of taking him from sixth place to first in a very short amount of time and now we have an equally deserving player who just isn’t getting his due. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that he was injured early on, but he’s come back and been one of the top offensive players in the Majors since returning.
We’re the second-largest city in the country, with fans all around the world and yet somehow, it seems that other teams do a better job of voting for their home team’s players. We can change that. Fans can vote up to 25 times at MLB.com and it’s up to you guys, the die-hards, to help get that word out.
Maybe you all have a different theory on why we’re always trailing in the voting, but I’m hoping that it won’t be the case forever.
Here’s today’s lineup. Just a routine day off for Furcal and Nomar to keep them fresh. And in case you missed it yesterday, we announced that Hong-Chih Kuo was recalled and Hamulack sent back to Vegas.
Lofton, CF
Martinez, SS
Kemp, LF
Drew, RF
Saenz, 1B
Aybar, 2B
Guzman, 3B
Martin, C (Great article on Russ in today’s L.A. Times)
Sele, P
SUPER SUB – Ramon Martinez has filled in nicely around the diamond for the Dodgers, as Los Angeles is 7-2 in his nine starts this season. His .352 average is fifth best among all National Leaguers with 50 or more plate appearances behind Moises Alou (.378), Jeff Cirillo (.375), Nomar Garciaparra (.369) and Miguel Cabrera (.355). Martinez is also hitting .455 (10-for-22) in day games this season.
SOME LIKE IT HOT – Olmedo Saenz has enjoyed tremendous success during day games through the first two months of this season, as he’s batting .394 (13-for-33) with four homers and 16 RBI under the sun. Willy Aybar (.310), Nomar Garciaparra (.417) and Kenny Lofton (.364) have also played their best baseball in natural daylight.
Last chance is tomorrow to put in your picks for the first three draft choices in Tuesday’s draft. The person who’s closest gets four baseline seats to an upcoming Dodger game.
Inside the Dodgers 