Ballgame Over!

The Baseball America High School Player of the Year was started in 1992 and since then a few of the players to win that award were:  Preston Wilson. Josh Hamilton, Joe Mauer, Scott Kazmir and Justin Upton.  This years winner was Ethan Martin, the Dodger’s first round pick.  In 1999, the All-Star Futures Game MVP Award was first given to Alfonso Soriano.  Subsequent winners have been Joes Reyes, Grady Sizemore, Billy Butler and Chin-Lung Hu of the Dodgers.  Now, winning one of those awards is no guarantee of stardom, let alone making the major leagues (other guys have flopped), but it does suggest that you have the tools to do so.  It’s nice to have Martin, who in his last High School game as a pitcher was throwing 93 MPH in the 9th inning and he’s only 18!  Add this years draft crop (and it was a good one) to the past few years and we are getting loaded again.  I’m not going to list them all now, but our future is very bright.  A lot of you have wondered why Torre has put Kemp in the #1 or #2 spots so much and the answer is obvious:  It is forcing him to change his approach to hitting and is making him a much more selective hitter - he got two walks last night!  He has struck out onlt 3 times in his alst 20 AB’s!  His OB% is up to .352 and I am certain that this is a learning experinece he won’t soon forget!

Read the rest of this entry »

NO, I’m not giving Ned  a free pass for his prior boneheaded moves, but what you are seeing is that he doesn’t need to do anything as it is just a maturation process which will take us to another level.  Case in point, look at the at-bats by Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and James Loney which led to the Dodgers first run.  Kemp worked Cain until he got a pitch he could hit, singled and proceeded to steal 2B.  Ethier worked the count for about 10 pitches and then moved Kemp to 3B with a sacrifice to the Right Side.  Even though he didn’t get a hit, that was a key piece of hitting to move the runner over.  Loney then scored Kemp with an opposite field hit.  Take what they give you has been Torre’s nmantra... and they did.  Jeff Kent went 2-4 and scalded the ball, even whe he made an out, but Jason Johnson was the story, combining with Park and Broxton for the shutout.  The Dodgers lead the NL with 9 shutouts.  It’s ain’t over until it’s over! Note:  Blake DeWitt was 3-4 at Las Vegas and LaRoche has not reported as far as I can tell.

Jeff Kent is struggling mightly right now.  His BA sits at .248.  He’s either done or in a slump.  I can say for a certainty that he leaves it all on the field everyday.  You can’t ask for more than that!  He doesn’t have the range he used to, but he’ll dive for a ball any time he needs to.  He doesn’t always get it but he’s not afraid to get his uniform dirty.  He’s not “one of the guys.”  Never has been, but he has always been a hitter.  If Jeff Kent has one last hot streak left in him, a hot streak of at least 6-weeks, he’s just the guy who can carry us to a pennant, or he may just ride off into the sunset.  Like it or not, we need him to carry us for a while.  Let’s hope he wakes up soon - we could have won last night if he had delivered just once.  In his defense, over the past 9 or 10 games he has had some very hard shots… hit right at a defensive player.  I think that might even out soon.  We are a Jeff Kent hot streat out of first place!

Read the rest of this entry »

We have as good a chance as any team to win the NL West and if that happens, after that, anything is truly possible.  Our former ace, Brad Penny appears to be progressing in his recovery and will probably be back in a couple of weeks.  He could be a huge factor down the stretch.  I don’t think he was right all year and should be now after treatment and rehab.  Lowe, C-Bill, Penny, Kuroda and the Kershaw we saw yesterday could easily be the best 5 starters in baseball.  Couple that with the fact that Kent has not really gotten hot, Nomar is playing like it’s 1999 (unless his knee injury is something substantial), but the Wild Card is Raffy!  If he could come back, even in September, that would be WILD!  It’s probably too much to expect Saito to be back (one never knows), but a healthy Scott Proctor out of the pen sure is a big help!  This team can win it all.  I guess that I am also OK with the trade for Casey Blake and subsequent demotion of LaRoche as long as Logan White didn’t think that Carlos Santana was a “stud.”  I guess he didn’t…  However, I am always thinking ahead.  After watching Loney make  a bullet throw to 3B to double off Lastings Milledge, I think Loney could have a future in LF, especially if we could sign Mark Teixiera to play 1B and re-sign Casey Blake. 

Read the rest of this entry »