Tagged: Blake
BBQ anyone?
It’s a holiday weekend and I’m guessing most people will be attending some sort of BBQ over the next few days. So have some fun this weekend and watch some Dodger baseball…
Tonight at 6:10 at COL on KCAL
Tomorrow at 5:10 at COL on KCAL
Sunday at 12:10 at COL on PRIME
And then back home for the longest homestand of the year. In fact, it’s probably been several years since we had a 13-game stretch at home, so it’s a chance to play well in front of the home crowd. By the time that stretch of games is over, the team will have played 62 with 100 left to go.
Lots going on at the stadium…Manny Ramirez’s BP jersey for kids, Kemp’s action figure, Loney and Blake’s poster (check out the behind-the scenes video from the hilarious shoot), Broxton’s bobblehead and then the ThinkCure Weekend. It’s going to be busy…
Meanwhile, back at the Ranch…
Been waiting all spring to use that line. We are, in fact, back at the Ranch for the next four days with home games in three of them (plus a “road” game against the Sox tomorrow.
We’ll be hosting some of the Dodger bloggers here for tomorrow’s game and showing them the our new digs and hopefully starting to shore up some of the final roster decisions to be made. Well, I guess we won’t be doing that but our baseball ops staff will be.
Here’s the lineup for today’s game against the Royals…no Casey Blake, as he and his wife are getting ready to have their third kid so congrats to the Blake family.
Furcal, SS
Hudson, 2B
Manny, LF
Ethier, RF
Martin, C
Loney, 1B
Kemp, CF
DeWitt, 3B
Kuroda, P
Casey and Camelback
It’s official. As of just a few moments ago, Casey Blake is officially signed to a three-year deal, the first piece of the offseason puzzle. As has been reported, we’re still working on local boy Mark Loretta as a utility player, we’ve met with Furcal’s reps while we’ve been here, and we met with Boras last night regarding Manny for the first time in quite some time. Plus, of course, the news from yesterday about CC. As you can tell, the baseball ops folks are staying busy, that’s for sure.
We also held a news conference here in Vegas with Joe Torre, Ned Colletti, and the White Sox GM Ken Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen to talk about Camelback Ranch – Glendale. It was a nice chance for the entire baseball media world to hear about this state-of-the-art facility and here’s one story from dodgers.com.
Plus, we had more PR meetings throughout the morning and plenty of other stuff to keep us away from the blackjack and craps tables. At least for now…
Actually, a lot of the talk among PR people is about the different forms of media now available, including Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. I’m planning to start an official Inside Dodgertown Facebook page when we get back in town, so be on the lookout for info along those lines. It only makes sense, as the media landscape continues to change on a daily basis, that we find direct lines of communications to you all, the most important part of Dodger baseball.
Finally, I’ll go ahead and post the transcript from Joe Torre’s meeting with the media today. It covered a huge array of topics and lasted nearly an hour, so happy reading.
J. Torre – 12.09.08.doc
Deadline dealing…
It’s official…Casey Blake is en route to Los Angeles, hopefully in time for tonight’s game. We acquired him early this morning for two minor leaguers…Jonathan Meloan, who pitched in five games for us last year and Carlos Santana, a Single-A catcher who is having a very nice year for Inland Empire.
The move obviously helps the big league club immediately without having to trade anyone from the team, which is pretty much every contender’s goal around this time of the year. Blake’s offensive numbers are .289-11-58 with a .365 on-base percentage and .465 slugging percentage, most of which would pretty much be leading our current team.
If he can get to Los Angeles in time for tonight’s game (he’s currently in the air so the chances are pretty good), we’ll obviously have a corresponding move but I don’t know what it is (nor could I really say even if I did, as it’s always important to let the player know before the rest of the world, right?)
Will post more later today.
Sweeping feeling
Now that was a pretty solid series all around…I’m sure there are naysayers who will point out that the Reds’ record is four games under .500, but it’s important to remember that they were the hottest team in baseball when they arrived, winners of six in a row.
In any event, I also wanted to make sure that all of you knew about this weekend’s luncheon where you can meet and get autographs from the Dodgers’ stars of the 1960s. You can purchase online, if you’re interested, but for more information, visit this page.
And finally, as we head out tomorrow for the Dodgers Dream Foundation Golf tournament, I’ll leave you all to ponder this thought, which I’ve been wondering the last 24 hours or so.
Given how well Blake DeWitt is playing (.325, 4 HR, 23 RBI), he’s on pace for 14 homers and 81 RBI, not to mention the fact that he’s yet to make an out with the bases loaded (6-for-6). The question is, what is your reasonable expectation of him for the season, given all that you know. Is it fair to think he’s going to hit .325 all year? If not, what is fair for a guy who has never played over Double-A and wasn’t even on the 40-man entering Spring Training. And do you think he’s going to hit more than 14 homers and drive in more than 80 runs, or is it more likely in your mind that he’ll experience some growing pains this season?
Just some food for thought on an off day…no right answers and I certainly hope he can keep up the incredible offense and defensive contributions. Curious to see what you all think.
Inside the Dodgers 