Matt Kemp was a day late and a dollar short all night long – at bat and in the field! The 3 runs we spotted them should have never been scored and while we were also sloppy at the end, that 3-runs lead we spotted them was the difference. Kemp should have caught the pop-up and Rowands’ triple (yeah, it would have been a good catch, but he HAS to make it). No excuses, Matt – get better! Bell-a-Sorry-O pitched well enough to win (or not). I am not much of a second-guesser, but from now on, if I were Joe Torre, Ronnie Belsario would be a one-inning pitcher. I know that Kuo is not to be trusted right now, so maybe he needs to go on the DL and on a rehab assignment. Ronnie is a one-inning pitcher - write that down, Joe. Is Kuo a seat-holder or a pitcher? You gotta use him or move him.
RANTS & RAVES
- I can’t say enough about Casey Blake – he is a very solid presence for us. 5 HR from the #8 spot?
- Randy Wolf has also been solid for us all year. So far,, he has been a nice pickup.
- We will have to call Eric Milton up this week or lose him. He has an “opt-out” clause and if we don’t take him, someone else will. I think we should give him a try – we have little to lose!
- Hiroki Kuroda is probably a month away. Count on it.
- C-Bill has top stop the losing streak again. It’s up to our Ace tonight!
Monday’s Boxscore
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| WP: Belisario, Zito. Balk: Zito. IBB: Sandoval, P (by Belisario). HBP: Ethier (by Zito). Pitches-strikes: Wolf 83-63, Belisario 51-32, Zito 109-65, Valdez, M 31-18, Wilson 16-9. Groundouts-flyouts: Wolf 7-7, Belisario 2-1, Zito 9-8, Valdez, M 5-0, Wilson 0-0. Batters faced: Wolf 24, Belisario 10, Zito 27, Valdez, M 7, Wilson 3. Inherited runners-scored: Valdez, M 1-1. Umpires: HP: Greg Gibson. 1B: Andy Fletcher. 2B: Tim McClelland. 3B: Ted Barrett. Weather: 52 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 20 mph, Out to CF. T: 2:42. Att: 30,091. April 27, 2009Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner |
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Minor League Report
The Great Lakes Loons lost 15-8 and all the pitchers had grocery bags over their heads after the game. Gordon and Gallagher both had 3 hits and Kyle Russell had 2, including a triple.
The Inland Empire 66′ers did not play.
The Chatanooga Lookouts won 6-3 as Josh Lindblom went 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, 1 ER, 0 BB and 4 K’s for his 2nd win! Bell was 2-4 with a triple and Lucas May hit a HR (his 2nd of the year).
The Albuquerque Isotopes game was cancelled due to weather.
The Times headline for the game – “Giants Exploit L.A.’s Blunders” – not much else needs to be said.
But, we did get the lead. Once again couldn’t hold it. Bellasario’s line looks strange. 3 K’s, only 2 hits in two IP and yet 2 runs? Did he deserve better?
Yeah, Blake in the 8 hole. What a lineup that allows you to put your third baseman there. He is currently rated 22nd among MLB third baseman, actually went up a couple of notches last night. He is ahead of LaRoche, that should make a few people happy. I too am glad to see someone out there at third who can hit the occasional HR. We are going to need it.
Gosh Windblown looks like he is getting is act together at AA. How long before we see him?
With Blake, the stats don’t tell the story.
Andy LaRoche – .263
Badger,
I think we will see Lindblom by July.
Stats don’t tell the story? Of course they do. e.g., if someone is making an error on 10% of balls hit to him, and hits .220 he sucks. If someone hits 40 home runs and drives in 120, he doesn’t suck. Manny Ramirez is what he is, and is as important to an offense as he is because of the numbers he puts up.
I accept Blake for what he is – a 36 year old average fielding third baseman who bats 8th, hits .250, strikes out 25% of the time, connects occasionally and will make $6 million a year until he is 39 years old. I wish we had a better option for that position, but until we do, Blake is the guy. I am a Dodger fan and I am pulling for him. But I also recognize that he is toward the bottom of the rankings of 3rd baseman in MLB.
We may need Lindlbom before July.
I am sure Jed is on the phones trying to dig up some pitching. If I can see it, hopefully he can too.
Brian Mazone, who made a stunning run at the situational lefty relief job until the last week of the exhibition season, then pretty much disappeared, is throwing again. Mazone developed an abcess on his right buttock that became badly infected. The treatment required a wound to be left open to prevent a recurring infection, but it also prevented Mazone from pitching. It’s now healed enough that he’s back on a mound in extended Spring Training. He had the best stats of any reliever in camp – 10 appearances, eight innings, one earned run on three hits. And he put together the best Spring under the worst circumstances, with his mother hospitalized with a serious infection. The 32-year-old Mazone has spent 11 years in professional baseball, but not one official day in the Major Leagues. — Ken Gurnick
Managerial allegory?
i agree that belsario is good for one inn..then he loose it.., we need to fine some one for the 8 th inning…that is were we have lost the games we have lost.. we fight back just to loose it in the 8th. mybe if we could have last yrs..corey wade..
I wondered what happened to Mazone. Thanks for the info Ken.
Bellasario evidently contributed to his own failure last night. His ERA is still respectable, maybe he is still an option.
I have to admit that our pitching has fared better than I thought it would. It has been a long time since I had much confidence in our defense. For some time now I have watched as numerous bad habits are manifested. I believe it is not given the importance it was in the past. My high school coach drilled it into us – “keep them from scoring and they will give you enough runs to win”. And it stuck with me. Take the outs they give you, and steal one when you get a chance and you will play with at least one more inning than your opponent. Over the course of a season, that adds up to more wins. Last night was an example of sloppy play, and sloppy teams lose more than they win. I am not saying this is a sloppy team, but they are obviously capable of it. We used to be an organization that prided itself on pitching and defense. It’s different now.
Way to go Torre!
Sit our HOTTEST hitter in lieu of a utility guy?
“Manager Joe Torre went with the percentage matchups and sat down Loney, who against San Francisco left-handed starter Barry Zito is an amazing 1-for-20 (.050) with six strikeouts.
So Loney sat, even though he has a five-game hitting streak in which he’s 9-for-19 with five doubles.Torre started veteran Mark Loretta at first base. Loretta is only 4-for-19 (.211) against Zito.”
.211??? REALLY?
Oh yeah, and Loretta went 0fer with 3 LOB. Way to play the percentage matchups and not go with your instincts. Manage for cying out loud and quit relying on stats!
Sorry but, man I hate the Giants!
Mark
I agree. You been reading my posts? HaHa. I wish Torre read, and understood, our posts!
Send Elbert, a 2 inning pitcher, back to the minors and call up Milton, a 4 inning pitcher. When you have a starting pitcher like McDonald, who is right handed, you should use a left handed long reliever to replace him. Designate Milton to be McDonald’s long reliever until McDonald either is successful or Milton proves to be better than McDonald. Save the bull pen. These 2 pitchers should be able to last 8 innings and if the Dodgers lose on the road that is the entire game Torre.
Opposite – Assign Troncoso, who is right handed, to be Stults, who is left handed, designated long reliever.
Save the bullpen and groom some replacement starters simultaneously. Torre that means at the same time.
Send Kuo to the minors or DL when Wade is ready.
Put Eyechart on the 60 day, trade Mota and bring up Weaver to be the designated long reliever for the other 3 starters as needed. Torre that means when one of them periodically gets shelled.
In the last 3 weeks I have learned why the Yankess did not want Torre any longer.
Great hiiting can usually overcome sophmoric coaching.
That game was played like a game from the old days of Candlestick, nasty weather. Nasty weather produces sloppy play, so don’t panic everyone, it was a strange night that started out strange beginning with the first Giants’ batter and continued on thru the night. Shake it off, the Dodgers will dominate the Giants tonight, mark it down in your book, 2:46 PST
Ken,
Milton will be called up within the next two days.
Elbert will be sent down.
Wade will be called up on Friday or Saturday if all is well tonight.
Kuo may go on the DL at that time.
However, McDonald will go to the pen and we will have 3 LH’ers as starters.
Mark
Thank you.
Do you mean 4?
Kershaw, Wolf, Milton, Stults?
Or who is the new right handed starter?
I do understand your theory Ken, but I think it really depends on who you are bringing in.
Case in point, Broxton. Doesn’t matter who he follows. And remember RH pitcher Antonio Osuna? When he was here with the Dodgers, in the three year period ’96-’98 left handed hitters were 49 for 229, a .210 BAA. RH fared about the same. The lefty righty follow up combination is less important than how and what a pitcher delivers. If we have good pitchers, they can get anyone out.
Good point Haze. Not many teams really like playing in San Francisco. Miserable place for baseball at night. Though China Basin is better than the Stick, it still sucks.
Milton huh? Oh joy.
Broxton Closer 9.33
Ohman LF Specialist
Belisario
Mota
Kuo
Troncoso
Elbert
WadeMcDonald
6.67
14.67
6.33
4.33
11.67
4.00
3.67
1.00
Edit Key?
Why is the set up guy pitching more innings than the long relievers?
Broxton – Closer – 9.33
Ohman – LF Specialist – 6.67
Belisario – Set Up – 14.66
Mota – Mop up Guy – 6.33
Kuo – DL Guy – 4.33
Troncoso – Long Relief – 11.66
Elbert – Long Relief – 4.00
Wade – 2 innnings guy – 3.67
McDonald – long relief? – 1.00
To put it another way:
Last year there were 206 pitchers in the NL who did not start a single game. Of them only 6 pitched between 80 and 88 innings, which is just one inning every other day.
None of these 206 pitched over 90 innings.
Belisario is still on pace for 120 innngs.
Call the Doctor, Torre has picked another Procter.
To put it another way:
Billingsly is the only starting pitcher who started only one game that pitched more innings than Belisario last week. Kershaw and Wolf both started twice. No other reliver pitched as many innings as Belisario. not even Troncoso who pitched in long relief twice.
Yea, he pitched more innings that McDonald and Stults.
Time to name my horse Torre so I can beat it to death, figuratively.
Nice line up tonight. I bet the Dodgers have the only clean up hitter with a SLG % under .300
Badger
My point is actually limited to the Starter – Long Reliever combination.
If the Left Right combination are at least average pitchers and have different pitches and strategies, etc., then I think that the L/R works for the Starter & Long Reliever combination when each of them will pitch to all of the batters in the order at least once. Yes, LRLRLRLR batters for the sake LRLRLRLR the way Torre does not impress me. If he is dogmatic on the point for batters why not for long relievers?
To put it another way – yep.
All good points. And all reasons why I wonder if the staff, as it is currently constructed, is going to survive into August.
I feel a change coming. Maybe this is Torre’s way of saying “HELP” to Fred.
Interesting lineup. Come on Bills. Time to do your Ace thing.
Yeah, I got your point and I think for the most part I get it. I also think you can follow certain pitchers with other pitchers whose approach is decidedly different. A soft tosser like Jamie Moyer followed by a guy like Kuo would be an example of what I mean. A sinker ball pitcher like Lowe, followed by a hard thrower like Broxton is another. Personally, I like guys like Osuna, who can go get batters from either side of the plate by throwing sliders and sinkers. His BAA was very impressive and he could follow anybody.
Man I just have to remember to look at what it is I am posting. This is the only place I visit that I cannot edit. I hate it when I am redundant. This is the only place I visit that I cannot edit.
Tonight’s Lineup:
Furcal, SS
Hudson, 2B,
Manny, LF
Martin, C
Ethier, RF
Kemp, CF
Loney, 1B
Blake, 3B
Billingsley, P
Been super busy all day, research, hospital, etc. So have not been able to post.
The game last night. Nasty. Wolf seems to have 1st innings i-tess.
To be honest, I am a “24″ freak, and had to watch that, then, finish some research — so I saw just parts of the game.
But it is Belisario I want to talk about. This guy is just like Antonio Osuna was back about 10 years ago. The catcher sets up on the inside corner, low — and both of them throw it to the outside corner, high. Set up on the outside, low — they almost hit the batter in the arm.
Then the wild pitch. Unreal. And Joe keeps putting this guy in. Belisario is not ready for prime time. He needs to go down and work on his game. I agree his ball has some snap and movement on it. But he does not know where it is going.
Even the Giant announcers said, Martin was having a very difficult time catching him.
Then that swinging bunt. He flips the ball in Martin’s direction. Heck, he could have flipped it into the stands.
I would rather see another Dodger pitcher out there, giving up 3 solid hits and the Giants beating us, than what this guy does.
I know, maybe he is just a couple of mound appearnces away from gaining command and control.
Last year at this time, we win that game, with our then 8th inning guy, and our 9th inning guy.
Belisario, he reminds me of another Dodger pitches back in the early 1990s. Mike Hartley.
There were a couple of games, he came in on relief.
Walk the first guy, hit a batter, wild pitch, walk another batter. Bases loaded — then a double off the wall . . . 3 runners score. No outs, and out he comes.
Okay, our stopper, out #1 guy, the only la-jit pitcher the Dodger have — will stop ‘em tonight.
Mover told me he would.
I believe.
Think maybe the Dodgers should have signed I-Rod to catch part of the year? And used Martin at 3B or 2B?
Another possiblity in a month or so, if Martin does not come around with his game — because maybe the league has caught up to him — is play Asums catcher four times a week, and Martin two or three times.
Roger,
That may happen… in about 4 months!
I hate my Dodgers. Why would Torre bat Martin 4th? It just doesn’t make sense.
I am getting frustrated that they can’t hit with runners in scoring position. Are they choke artists?
Bills did his job tonight. Torre should have left him in.
In addition to overusing Belisario, he is going to kill Broxton with all of these five-out save opps. Tonight it didn’t work, and Bills will not be 5-0.
Hopefully someone can drive in Manny and Brox can hold that lead in the 9th.
Ohman with the save, and he made it look easy.
MLB needs new scoring rules–if your team is winning, and you blow the game but your team pulls back ahead, you can’t be credited the win.
In the 9th, with Kemp on third, one out, and Blake at the plate, I though Torre might squeeze. He didn’t, and Blake hit into a DP.