His arm is solid gold 
His curve will surprise
His hands are never cold
You’ve been Lincecumized!
He’ll turn the heat on you
You won’t have to think twice
He’s pure as New York snow
You’ve been Lincecumized!
And he’ll tease you
He’ll unease you
All the better just to freeze you
He’s precocious and he knows just what it takes to make a pro blush
His fastball will give you stand-off sighs
You’ve been Lincecumized!
He’ll let you stand at home (it whets his appetite)
He’ll strike you out alone
You’ve been Lincecumized!
He’ll throw a curve on you
Roll you like you were dice …until you come up blue
You’ve been Lincecumized!
He’ll expose you when he snows you off your feet with the fastballs he throws you
He’s ferocious and he knows just what it takes to make a pro blush
All the Dodgers think he’s a spy
You’ve been Lincecumized!
And he’ll tease you
He’ll unease you
All the better just to freeze you
He’s precocious and he knows just what it takes to make a pro blush
All the Dodgers think he’s a spy
You’ve been Lincecumized!
Well, at least he was slightly human in that we did finally score a few runs. Lincecum is tough. He reminds me of Pedro in his prime. A lot of teams are going to lose when facing Timmy-boy. Move on!
RANTS & RAVES
- You will see games like this from Stults, but I would not be surprised to see him pitch a shutout either. With him, sometimes it’s just totally out of whack, and it was last night.
- It’s obvious that we need another starter, but it’s going to cost us. Be prepared to trade James Loney or Andrew Lambo and Josh Lindblom or Ethan Martin, among others.
- Andrew Lambo was 3-4 with a HR and a double last night. This kid is 20 and has already proven he can handle AA pitching easily. James Loney hit .238 at age 20 in the same league and hit .284 the next year in that league, at about .300 lower OPS. Look, I do like Loney, but Lambo is going to be special and that makes Loney expendable. If we can put together a package of Loney, Dewitt and others for a #3 starter, I would do it in a heartbeat. Lambo may be ready later this year, but if not, we could always move Blake to 1B and Martin to 3B. Lineup:
- Furcal SS
- Hudson 2B
- Manny LF
- Ethier RF
- Kemp CF
- Blake 1B
- Martin 3B
- Ausmus/Ellis C
Suggestions on what pitcher we could obtain?
NO MINOR LEAGUE REPORT TODAY.
Wednesday’s Boxscore
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| Lincecum pitched to 4 batters in the 8th.WP: Mota. IBB: Schierholtz (by Mota). HBP: Rowand (by Mota). Pitches-strikes: Stults 67-38, Troncoso 16-12, Kuo 9-5, Elbert 44-31, Mota 26-16, Lincecum 103-65, Affeldt 11-6, Wilson 22-14. Groundouts-flyouts: Stults 4-3, Troncoso 1-2, Kuo 1-1, Elbert 1-2, Mota 1-0, Lincecum 6-7, Affeldt 2-0, Wilson 3-1. Batters faced: Stults 17, Troncoso 5, Kuo 3, Elbert 12, Mota 7, Lincecum 30, Affeldt 3, Wilson 6. Inherited runners-scored: Troncoso 1-0, Affeldt 3-2, Wilson 2-0. Umpires: HP: Tim McClelland. 1B: Ted Barrett. 2B: Greg Gibson. 3B: Andy Fletcher. Weather: 57 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 18 mph, Out to CF. T: 2:58. Att: 37,717. April 29, 2009 Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner |
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Just look at those ERA’s in the Dodger column. It’s getting worse gang.
Yeah, it’s going to cost us if we want what we need, and that is a starter that will eat up innings and keep his ERA around 4. But if we don’t do something, I fear this thing is going to blow up. We are still in first place, but it would appear we have been beating up some average teams to get our 14 wins.
Lambo is an outfielder. And, are you thinking he is ready to take over now? If you are, that in my opinion is risky. Loney is a lifetime .300 Major League hitter and Lambo is 20 year old AA player.
OK Jed, time to do some of that GM stuff.
Badger,
Lambo is really a 1B, but has been playing the OF. I have heard from scouts and people closer to the situation that he is a GOLD GLOVE CALIBER 1B. He may not be ready this year (or he may), but he is going to be good. He’ll be the equl of Loney in BA with 30+ HR power. He has a lot more power right now than Loney and he’s only 20! In a year or two, he’ll be a monster. We have to give up something good to get something good. Loney is GOOD – make no mistake about it, but who else can we give up to get a really, really good pitcher?
Martin can play 3B. Blake can play 1B and if we keep DeWitt, he can platoon with Martin at 3B, with Ausmus Catching when Martin plays 3B. With our hitting, we can afford that.
How about a trade with Houston (who is going nowhere)? We trade James Loney (a Texan), Blake DeWitt (from close to Texas), Scott Elbert and Ethan Martin for Roy Oswalt. If they wanted Kyle Russell instead of Martin, I’d do that. Give them Milton or Estes too so that they could have another starter.
Rotation:
Billingsley
Oswalt
Kuroda
Kershaw
Wolf
Pen:
Troncoso
McDonald
Belasario
Kuo
Wade
Weaver or Estes
Broxton
Roy Freakin’ Oswalt!
Here’s the other thing I can see happening:
Clayton Kershaw may go to the pen if he keeps struggling. I’m not down on him at all, but maybe he just needs to pitch in relief for a while like C-Bill did and like McDonald will probably do. So, we may need Milton or Weave in the rotation.
Weaver has been called up. Elbert sent down…to AA? Maybe because AlbeQuacky is a launching pad? But I see more shake up coming. The pitching staff we have with the rotation of Stultz,McD, and Kershaw in consecutive nights isn’t a good idea. Something has to change here. We need help!!
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090429&content_id=4491598&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=la
Some here (like myself all winter and Spring Training and up till now) feel and know that Dodger pitching is weak.
Lost both Lowe and Penny for good or for bad — but we have a rotation of: Billingsley, Wolf, Kershaw, McDonald, and Stults. With Kuroda on the shelf.
Face it, Stults and McDonald are not starters for a first place team trying to win it all this year.
I would rather see Kershaw as a #4 or #5, to take off pressure from his starts.
The pen is a mess. I will not even name names there.
So far, the 2009 Dodgers have pitching problems like the 2008 Yankees. No balance or strength.
[ Read read the last sentence again, three more times. ]
I read this moring that since April 15, Billingsley and Wolf are the only Dodger starters to pitch past the 5th inning. This is not the making of a championship team. Rather, a team that has to struggle to win games and that can cause deep depression of the players, coaches, and fans.
Best to sign someone out there (hint) or consider a trade soon. If a trade, forget who you are trading, and fill the major gap that it present.
With the Giants pitching, if the Dodgers do not make a more, the Giants just might finish above the Dodgers. And Venice would never lets us forget it.
The Draft is around the corner.
It is not our hitting that concerns us now, it is pitching, and Ned better close that gap.
OK, things is hapnin and that is good.
Not sure about your trade idea. Oswalt has been outstanding for a number of years, all with Houston. He is 31, not old, but not young, and makes $14,000,000, which tells me the Dogs won’t be interested in him. Isn’t there a guy on his way up we can get? If we are going to give that much up, how about we go after guys like Dallas Braden from Oakland, Aaron Laffey from Cleveland, Gil Meche from K.C., Kevin Slowey or Glen Perkins from Minnesota – you know, younger strong armed guys on teams that aren’t going to compete this year – teams that are always looking to add more talent. It’s how Florida, Minnesota, Oakland and Tampa do what they do.
Maybe a guy like Oswalt would actually come here and have a typical year. I just fear a guy like him would come here and go to Schmidt on us.
I believe that the decision whom to call up has not been made yet.
Dodgers should call up Schilting if that is what is needed to put him om the 60-Day DL. He is still not on a ML roster.
Then put Eyechart on the 60-Day
Then call up Weaver.
Then recall Wade
Milton may walk within the week so figure out who else to send to AAA
I would send DeWitt to AAA and call up Milton. If Furcal or Hudson gets hurt within the next 5-10 days then Hu can be called up.
And look for another starter. Peter Martin?
It was only a manner of time for the thinness at pitching to reveal itself, most have been anticipating this happening.
Unless the Dodgers want to move a key youth from our ranks,we won’t be seeing any substantive changes, but I have been told these are Destiny’s Dodgers so it really doesn’t matter, now does it?
Book it!
The season is young.
The sky is not falling.
We will be fine.
We may make a trade, but I think they want to see what happens with Schmidt too.
Wade will be back tomorrow. Weaver may make it soon.
Kuo looked fine last night.
The key word is DON’T PANIC!
I don’t think it is panicing to look this pitching staff in the face and say “This isn’t going to work!”
It is very early, but you have to know that if we are depending on Schmidt to be healthy to determine how we go foward that is crazy. Wade will be up for about a week until his arm falls off again. Seriously we need to at least start exploring pitching options!
I do want tto point out that we are coming home to play the Padres, D-Backs, then the Nats. So we should do well…BUT… We should not be fooled by our success against these bottom dwelling teams. Stultz, McD, & Kershaw could look like Cy Young against these guys. Let’s just remember how these guys looked against good hitters!
One more thing: The Roy Oswalt talk? Do you guys realize how much time he spends on the DL every year? We have to do better than that!
I don’t believe we are panicking mover, I think we all now know that this pitching staff is fragile and are trying to figure out what to do about it. The team ERA is inflating and we already have one starter hurt. What’s next? We are counting on young guys coming of the DL, old guys who are getting minor leaguers out….. not exactly filling me with confidence.
As for the idea of trading for a frontline starter, I think that won’t happen until the deadline. Just a feeling.
Per Weisman
“Unlike Stults, McDonald would probably head to the bullpen rather than the minor leagues if he drops out of the front five. If that happens, in just a few days we might see the Dodger bullpen become a strength. Consider:
1) Jonathan Broxton
2) Hong-Chih Kuo — showing his 2008 form with a 1-2-3 inning last night.
3) A healthy Cory Wade
4) Will Ohman — solid all year
5) Ramon Troncoso — ditto
6) Ronald Belisario — as long as he’s not overused
7) James McDonald
Honestly, I really feel that if you accept the occasional failing, that’s a bullpen you can have faith in. And Guillermo Mota can mop up …
Ideally, though, McDonald will hold his own tonight and continue the Dodgers’ undefeated work at home.”
Mota and Belisario appear to be redundant. I would trade Mota. The Dodgers still need at least 2 long relievers who can each go 4 innings every 4th day.
Mark please provide an update regarding who has options and who will be DFA’d if sent to AAA. I thought Stults was out of options?
Well I never believed Stults was going to be the answer, and I still say McDonald should be in the minors starting every 5th day, but if he is headed for the bullpen – ok. If Wade and Kuo are 100% I agree that could be a strong pen. Troncoso looks good (BTW, what happened to him starting? He did in winter and I heard he looked good) Ohman can get an out here and there, and I just don’t know about Bellisario. I still have question marks about many of these guys.
And we have Bills and Wolf starting every 5th day. Who are the 3 after them? Kershaw? Yeah, I suppose, but, well at the risk of sounding redundant, again, I would prefer a 21 year old starter was blowing people away in the minors until summer. Looks like it won’t happen that way, so, we have to live with his youth out there.
Still a lot of uncertainty on that staff.
Bad Penny’s Stats:
17 IP
24 Hits
11 BB
6 K’s
8.66 ERA
Do we miss him?
Ken,
We can send Stults down as much as we want THIS year. He’s out of options next year.
Where for out thou pitching? http://tinyurl.com/cnt4s7
I may need a little help from you guys on my Shakespearean language usage. But we need more than a little help with our pitching. Ken, that quote from Weisman makes sense and puts be at ease again about our pen situation. Plus every please remember that we are packed with good arms and experienced major league pitching in AAAA.
But our starters need to go deeper. It seems to me like the first month and half or so of the season is always a bit tumultuous, like many people are still working into form. Martin is always a slow starter and pitching always seems to take a few starts to really get going.
I’ll be patient for now, or at least I will fake like I am patient, and hope that Torre does not bat Martin in the 4 hole again anytime soon or sit 3-4 starters in any games soon.
Oh, and why is nobody talking about THE REAL news from last night’s game???!!! That Torre hit Pierre 9th! FINALLY some sense. It seems to have paid off as Pierre went 2-4 with a run and an RBI. I have been calling for this since before spring training. If you are going to have Pierre in the lineup, which he plans to do at least once a week, put him in the 9 hole.
Kudos to you Torre.
And Pierre is of course handling everything in his usual selfless, professional manner.
“I’ll bat 11th if that’s the way to get in the lineup,” said Pierre. “I ain’t never done it [bat behind the pitcher], but I’m happy to play today and that’s it.” – Pierre
Badger
Troncoso hurt his pitching hand Jan/Feb? and had to start from scratch when he got to camp. I think that he is still a possibility to be moved from long reliever to starter some time this year. Most of the kids might be ready next year so I hope he gets a chance to start this year.
Miguel,
I heard that Pierre also shoots his free throws under-handed. That should really make you feel great.
I would bat Juan Pierre Cleanup!
Haze,
I heard Pierre had a squirt gun surgically implanted where his throwing arm used to be so that he now has more distance with it.
At the end of the season Pierre should learn how to throw right handed so he can play second base. It is all in the elbow when learning to throw later in life with the other arm. By spring training he should be able to throw around 70 mph which is close to what Eckstein throws. Serious!
Trade Loney and play Pierre at 1B. Make perfect sense:
1. In the event of an overthrow, he can run it down faster than anyone;
2. In the case of a double play ball, he can outrun the runner to 2B, throw it to 1B and be there to catch it himself!
Mark, you seem to be carving out the near future Dodgers with Lambo playing 1B, no matter who goes.
So, in this senerao, Loney goes. Even though he is left handed, and .300 type hitter, with a golden glove. (yah, I know, folks told you that Lambo at 19 was a golden glove.)
My concern is if looking to mid-2010 to 2011, will the Dodgers be foreced to trade Kemp or Ethier because of not wanting to pay big bucks for both. I guess this mean not having toooo many starters about the same age, perfomring at top level all wanting over $10 million a year.
Make all the jokes about Pierre you want, but he is hitting .400, is by far the best base-stealer on this team and is a career .300 hitter who shows up every day.
We can afford all our young guys for a couple of more years. Manny is likely to be gone, but who knows, maybe one of the young guys will step in and hit .360 with a .600 slg. % and we won’t miss a step.
I said it realy Spring and I am saying it again, this team is set up strangely. We are relying on unproven and shaky arms to go along with the best offense we have had in years.
P.S. trading Loney is goofy unless – 1. we have someone to replace him and B. we get an outstanding starting pitcher in return that will be with us for years.
I am betting that Juan Pierre can out run his throwing arm.
Ken, I have been reading this eyechart stuff on and off for a few weeks and can’t pin point who eye chart is? Can you make it clear for the slow folks? I haven’t been able to read all the posts for a while now and I’m just lost.
We are getting some home cooking now for awhile and I bet the panic button won’t get used as much over the next few days. I agree with most that we could use some pitching but until we get to the playoffs it’s not a major concern in my book. We will win this very very weak division hands down. In the process of winning this very weak divison, I’m hoping Clayton and McDonald will mature gaining much needed experience.
Mark, Oswalt is not the answer.
I like Badgers suggestions of Perkins from Minnesota. His stock is raising but he could still be had cheap. I sure like his stats this year, still picked him up on my fantasy team. Or Meche from KC although he’s injured now or aleast day to day. We need someone with similar stuff as the two fore mentioned pitchers.
One veteran starter that’s a #2 for Loney? I can see that happening for some reason. I like Loney and feel he’s the real deal but you have to give something to get something. If Mark says Lambo is Rambo then bring him up and lets see.
I hate having to work for a living…. I must go
Peace
EDIT
just replaces still and at least……
I SUCK at editing before the post……….
Hey! It’s only May!–Karros
Badger is right everyone, leave Pierre alone. He has never claimed to have a rocket arm. But he hits .300 steals 40-60 bases a season and is a solid veteran presence with an unselfish attitude that many on our team could learn from. Pierre has some great tangibles and some phenomenal intangibles. I think that everyone is super bitter over the big contract Ned gave him. But you cannot fault him for that. We just happen to now be stocked with superior outfield talent, it was hard to see that coming.
Plus, who knows what Pierre might net us in a trade later this season? Keep Loney. WIN-WIN
Bill
The most popular nickname for Mientkaweitz appears to be Eyechart. I generally prefer to call him Scrabble.
Dodger’s record is 14-8 which extrapolates to 103 wins for the year. Home 6-0, Road 8-8. This is pretty good, although it possibly was against a weak schedule. Hopefully with a few stubbornness and roster fixes the Dodger’s record will be at least 13 – 10 over the next 23 games; 17 Home and 6 road.
Either and Hudson need a rest soon. Pierre should play more often.
I am sure glad the Dodgers did not keep Penny or trade for Peavy. Still wish they had signed Juan Cruz instead of Mota.
There will be fireworks tonight! Hopefully from the Dodger offense too.
New Series. “According to the Chicago Tribune, the following statistic was given in the press notes for the June 7 Chicago-Oakland game:
The Oakland Athletics are 32-0 in games in which they have scored more runs than their opponents.”
Come on Pierre is an very (damn) good major league player, he is an offensive threat every at bat, he is a pretty good defensive OF with a very below average arm, he is what he is, but in the end he is damn good. If we lose an OF to injury we are going to be damn glad we’ve got him. (Just for good measure, I am adding one more “damn” to my post, so there).
For you stats guys: the Dodgers are on pace to win 81 games at home this year.
Damn right Haze.
Roger was mad when the Dodgers had 12 pitchers. With the addition of Wade and Weaver, we now have 13. I can feel his blood pressure rising…
It is rumored that Ned will call up 6 more pitchers, bringing the toral to 19, so that Joe can use a pitcher for just one inning.
Lineup:
Furcal, SS
Hudson, 2B
Manny, LF
Ethier, RF
Loney, 1B
Martin, C
Kemp, CF
Blake, 3B
McDonald, P
Too bad for Blake DeWitt…
McDonald looked pretty good in the 1st.
That Andre Ethier looks excellent! What a roll!
I concur.
2nd inning, McDonald sux
There’s your big Mac starter. 1.2 innings and he is gone. Nice.
I feel bad for McDonald. Vinny said tonight that he was pitching like a minor league pitcher.
I disagree. McDonald was named twice, the Dodger minor league pitcher of the year in both 2007 and 2008. HE IS A MINOR LEAGUE PITCHER.
That is the point. At this point in his career, he just seems that he cannot make the switch from the minor leagues to the major leagues. Not everyone can. Maybe it is the crowd. Maybe it is not a confidence in his ability — and is afraid of those major league hitter. Some folks are.
He was not just missing the plate walk those hitters. He was all over the place.
That is control and command. That was pitching scared. Heck James knows how to pitch. So far, he just cannot focus and deliever.
So I do feel sorry for him. He probably had family and or friends in the stands. He certainly had them watching on TV. And he had to emotionally crawl back to the bench.
13 pitchers . . . wow.
There is our guy Weaver, called, “Fly ball to the warning track Weaver.”
That was sad. Very sad!
Sometimes, it is a game like this — when a young pitcher crawls off the mound — that a team finds its soul.
They begin to catch the ball. Bring an old pitcher from the depths of the minor leagues.
Maybe, just maybe, this game is a hinge for the season . . . to turn the guys into doing the extra.
Martin definitely needs to take a few days off, beginning immediately.
Dodgers still on track for 81 home wins this season.
McDonald needs to take a seat and let Weaver have a shot at his spot.
Broxton has re-awakened.
Furcal needs to move down in the batting order.
Damn it must be nice to not be playing in the god-forsaken SF freezin’ ass weather.
Damn it!
The foundation was on again tonight. He’ll be the reason that Badger grows some redwoods in October.
Broxton looked very good tonight. Torre needs to limit him to the 9th only.
Hudson was the best deal of the off season. The man can ball.
Pitching was a problem again tonight. One bright spot was Weaver who actully bailed us out and sucked up some big innings tonight.
Ned may want to give Pedro a call tomorrow if he hasn’t already. Or as Mark says, Bring up Rambo and trade Loney for pitching.
Martin needs some rest. Sit him down for two straight games.
Last comment is to leave Furcal and Hudson at the top. Furcal will hit because he’s a gamer. He will breakout starting tomorrow.
Sign Pedro… Making a trade right now is dumb….
Thank god Ned doesn’t read this site….
Nice win tonight, though it took six pitchers. Mark, at this rate, the 19 you suggest above may not be enough! At least Broxton only pitched one inning.
We know Loney used to pitch. I bet Furcal could go a few innings too, followed by Pierre to keep the opponents from locking in at one speed. Bring Fernando down from the radio booth. At this rate, they may even need Vin.
I’m worried about McDonald. Like, Ankiel worried.
Weaver looked good, and it is a shame he did not get the win. I’m going on record with a prediction that he will be comeback player of the year.
If I’m wrong, I wonder what Greg Maddux and David Wells are up to these days?
Maybe McDonald is pitching with a sprained Ankiel.