It’s one thing to lose your Mr. Softee moniker, but this is crazy! Andre Ethier is now the Dodgers Mr. Clutch!
When you need a run, he’s the Dodger hitter who will drive it in. Andre has proven that he is now a middle-of-the-order hitter – I like him better at #3, but I certainly can’t argue with how well he has done at #4. Ethier IS a cleanaup hitter and he cleaned-up last night by driving in Furcal from 3B with the bases juiced in the bottom of the 10th inning for his 4th career walk-off hit! As it stands right now, the Dodgers #3 & #4 hitter combo may be the best in all of baseball! The fact of the matter is that his hit (which went as a single) was off the wall, and if it hadn’t been the bottom of the 10th inning, Andre would have driven in 3 runs with that blast! Andre Ethier: Mr. Clutch and hard as nails!
The difference is his attitude. Andre has changed his approach at bthe plate and the results are evident. Rich Hammond of The Daily News writes:
“The pressure is on (the pitcher) in that situation,” Ethier said. “You don’t force the issue. Sometimes you have a tendency to try to do too much, rather than just focusing on the task, which is just to get the ball to the outfield.”
RANTS & RAVES
- Russ Martin broke out of his slump and is now hitting a lofty .225 with 3 hits of the “seeing-eye” variety, but in baseball that’s how slumps are often busted.
- People criticize Joe Torre’s (over) use of Cory Wade, but I think the number of innings he pitches does not tell the tale. Cory is the most efficient Dodger pitcher and throws the fewest number of pitches per inning. I would like to see a stat that tracks total pitches for each pitcher per year. I think that would supply is a lot of interesting info. I think we should worry more about number of pitches than number of innings.
- Randy Wolfs’ ERA now sits at 3.93.
- While the Dodgers are 5th in NL in ERA (2nd in Runs Scored), they are 1st in WHIP, Runners Allowed Per 9 Innings and have the Lowest OB% Allowed.
- The Dodgers also lead the league in walks, thus it is appropriate that we have had 2 “walk-offs.”
- The bullpen was again stellar last night with Troncoso setting the bar high and Wade and Mota continuing the mastry of the Padres.
- We have seen 2 excellent pitching duels in the first 2 games of this series. Good pitching always stops good hitting.
SATURDAY’S BOXSCORE
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| Gregerson pitched to 4 batters in the 10th.WP: Meredith, Wolf. IBB: Ramirez, M (by Gregerson), Giles (by Mota). Pitches-strikes: Young 94-63, Moreno, E 14-7, Meredith 25-14, Gregerson 18-7, Wolf 103-63, Troncoso 12-8, Wade 17-12, Mota 22-11. Groundouts-flyouts: Young 8-7, Moreno, E 1-1, Meredith 2-0, Gregerson 0-0, Wolf 5-6, Troncoso 4-1, Wade 4-1, Mota 2-1. Batters faced: Young 28, Moreno, E 3, Meredith 5, Gregerson 4, Wolf 22, Troncoso 4, Wade 6, Mota 5. Inherited runners-scored: Troncoso 3-0. Umpires: HP: Tim Timmons. 1B: Jeff Kellogg. 2B: Mark Wegner. 3B: Rob Drake. Weather: 66 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 8 mph, Out to CF. T: 3:18. Att: 47,680. May 2, 2009Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner |
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MINOR LEAGUE REPORT
The Great Lakes Loons won 18-6 and had 25 hits in the process. Devaris Gordon was 3-7 with 3 RBI, a HR and a triple. Jamie Pedroza was 3-6, Austin Gallagher was 3-4 with 3 BB, Tony Delmonico was 4-6 and Kyle Russell was 3-5 with a HR and 4 RBI and is now hitting .342.
The Inland Empire 66′ers lost 5-3, but Trayvon Robinson went 3-5 (he’ll be moved to Chatanooga soon) and Justin Orenduff is taking well to the pen with another 1.2 IP as he now has a 2.31 ERA. He also should move up as well.
The Chatanooga Lookouts lost 3-2 in 14 innings, but Andrew Lambo went 2-6 and Josh Lindblom started and pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits, walking zero and striking out only 1.
The Albuquerque Isotopes lost 5-0 as Hu went 2-3 from the #2 spot and Brian Mazone was sighted throwing a shutout inning!
Andre Ethier had a “softee” label by just some folks. He was hitting well and the circumstances had to change for him to become a clutch guy. That is, Manny, but moreso maturity and not beating himself up. How long do you think they will continue to walk Manny to get at Andre? Don’t you just love that stuff?
I am really glad to see Wade back and throwing well. You are right Mark about his pitch efficiency. Only four in one inning last night I think. Troncoso seems to have righted his ship. Those two guys flew under the radar last year. Hopefully we will soon have a couple of more low flyers. Mota pitched well but seems to be very inconsistent. Walks have been a problem for him, compared to K’s. Hopefully Belisario will be solid as a one inning guy.
Russell’s three hits look good in the boxscore. They cancel the balls that were hit harder but right at someone.
Austin Gallagher has been moved to 1B. Could it be Lambo is slated to stay in the OF and Gallagher to move to 1B one day as James approaches free agency.
GO DODGERS!!
Baseball is now into the second month of the season and some of the anomalies are disappearing. SF is climing out of a hole, AZ is trying to also. Dodgers have beaten the “Smoke and Mirrors” Padres 3 in a row as they slide into the abyss. FL’s young pitching is faltering, and PHI bats have awaken.
12 of the 30 MLB teams are actually 5-5 over the last 10 games. Is parity returning to MLB?
With all of the problems that we can easily identify with some the individal Dodger players the overall Team is still the best in baseball! Imagine how good they would be if Furcal, Martin, Kershaw, Mota, Kuo, Stults, MacDonald, Elbert and Kuroda were consistently performing at their best.
Wolf’s ERA would be 3.16 if that wind blown drop had been called an error.
My prediction is that they only have to win at a .540 pace for the rest of the season to make the playoffs.
Will we see Uncle Miltie and Ester before the month is over? Yes, I will continue to argue the entire season that this unique Dodger pitching staff needs 3 long relievers.
I obviously agreed with Steve Lyon’s criticism of Martin last night after the game regarding his being unable to do anything other than pull the outside pitches and that his 3 hits were lucky.
Not only do we support the best team but we get to discuss them on the best blog!
Law Dog. Possibly 3 starters resting today. If so then Billingsley needs to be the Man today.
It’s an exciting time to be a Dodger fan. 9 in a row at home. The bull pen was lights out and Martin is hitting the ball hard even if he’s pulling everything according to Mr Lyons. We are winning and still not playing our best baseball.
We took out two of the top pitchers in our Division in Peavy and Young. Wolf has been consistant, Billinsley has pitched like an Ace and Broxton has looked like the guy we’ve been waiting for. We at atop the division and Kuroda hasn’t even been around to help the staff.
Furcal hasn’t shown any signs of back problems, Hudson has been injury free. In fact Hudson saved the game with his defensive stop last night and continues to prove why he was the best signing of the winter. The one two punch of Furcal and Hudson will do special things at the top of the order all year. Furcal to me just looks way better then the .250 average he currently has. We all know he will improve that average and has the deadlyest arm in the league.
The biggest question mark (?) so far has been the starting staff and who is the best 4 and 5 starters in the system with Kuroda on the sidelines. So far Stults has been an average replacement but may not work into a full time solution. Schmidt is still in extended spring training and may never resurface except to watch from the bench. McDonald has a case of the jutters and Elbert isn’t ready for prime time. Kuo’s career may be over and Milton and Estes are both fairing well in the minors.
Dream Weaver is now going to get the call until we find a better solution. I hope the Southern Califoria surfer boy can return to the pitcher he was several years ago. Therefore the name Dream Weaver is appropriate.
I just have to close by saying in was a crime that Blake got a hit taken away from him on that horrible call by the UMP last night. The play wasn’t even that close. What was the umpire looking at? The Foundation is continuing to be a solid player on the team and someone to help keep the youngsters anchored. He’s now sporting a trimmed fussy face.
Love the Blake
EDIT in = it
BRuss you are right again about “The Foundation” the guy is solid. And that is what we need there..nothing flashy…just solid.
I had a thought last night: Anybody notice how David Ortiz was just an average guy in Minnesota then went to Boston , paired up with Manny and became a stud! Then Manny leaves and he is struggling. Ethier could be our Big Papi. I know that is a big statement but it is proving to be somewhat true. Other teams wont pitch to Manny then are forced to pitch to Andre and he is making them pay! I love it. Mr. Clutch does it again!!
Peace guys!
Hey, listen up!
I have recently found some good posts that were trapped by “spam.” Usually, the filter identifies it as spam if it is long or has some links. If you make a post that doesn’t show up, just make another one that says “FREE MY SPAM” and I’ll get it out. I sometimes forget to check…
Amen! Preach it Mark!
King James Bible
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
Ops. Did you say no religion. Is Sunday an exception?
Mark
You erased your sermon
That’s not religion, Ken. That’s fine.
I just decided not to stoop to his level…
I was ignoring his presence for a while and he’s just too (you supply word) to know to keep a low profile.
Shutteth his lips? King James?
I prefer this translation:
Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. (Mark Twain.) I would trust Mr. Twain more than I would the King of a country who would burn anyone who did not buy the translation. And, there were many who did not.
That’s not a religious post as I know better than to do that here. It’s more an opinion of Mark Twain.
The Foundation! .225 and a .312 OBP. HE DA MAN! I have to believe DeWitt could do that, for about $5 million less. Maybe Loretta should be first string and Blake the back-up.
Thanks Ken, Now I don’t have to attend this morning. I told my wife I’ve already been saved by my Dodger father today. The walls would fall down if I entered a church anyway…….
Badger, Great words from Mark Twain, just practice them on the Blake subject. lol
peace brothers Go Blue
Mark Twain was obviously a Plagiarizer…
I don’t call you guys fools for thinking a .225 hitting third baseman with a .312 OBP is “solid”. That is perilously close to the proverbial Mendoza line. Last I looked he was ranked 22nd but he was hitting .245 then. SOLID!
He could get all the way up to .250 by the end of the year, and he will swing wildly and hit maybe 15 dingers, but I really thought we would do better.
Just my humble opinion.
I was thinking the same thing MM. Funny how the source either means everything to some people or nothing, when in reality the message is what is absolutely what needs to be heeded. Okay, that could be political or religious, or then again just a statement about mankind.
Still waiting on Martin to get back to his rookie year form, just not seeing it (Damn he is living a charmed night in the box score last night.
Can Ned coax Maddux out of retirement, I hear the Clemens is still waiting for a call (first he will need to get back on his roid cycle).
SD’s YOung always gives us a very difficult time, we are fortunate to have won the last two games against the mighty Padres.
Amen Hallelujah.
Thank you for bringing up that call again at first. That was one of the WORST calls I have seen in years. Good thing it did not cost us the game. I heard that records of poor calls are kept as a rating system on umps. I hope that is true! Would not want a guy like that calling a playoff game!
Our pitching was the story of the game though guys. Yes Ethier got all the glory at the end but man oh man our pitching was stingy last night. I mean three hits in 10 innings is superior no matter what team you are playing.
I don’t think that any of us are particularly used to having 2-4 starters sat in any game. Because, well, we have never had the offensive talent both starting and off the bench that we do this year. I don’t like the idea of sitting so many starters at once still though. I know that we have very capable bench guys in Loretta, Pierre, and Ausmus so that makes it a bit easier to swallow, but still it scares me.
I feel like Torre is almost testing his team today. Everyone knows about the record and that this team could break it today. And yet Torre says, you guys will have to do it without your full fire power, so if you really want it then go get it! Let’s see if we can rise to the occasion in just about an hour and a half.
The strange thing about this lineup today is that stats wise, too small of a sample size to really mean anything, it is actually better than the regular starting lineup!
.318, .404, .479 including Bills.
Look at the BAs! They might put fear in the heart of an opposing pitcher that did not know that he could cut some of them in half in one game.
An old article regrading pitches per AB from a batters perspective
http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2006/02/swinging_taking.php
Here is a new but limited article re pitches per batter faced. Kershaw has a bad stat there. There must be some additional data behind this article somewhere that the writer found or has accumulated.
http://nuggetpalooza.weei.com/sports/boston/general/may-day-nuggetpalooza/
Good points, Miguel.
That play last night just emphasizes that we need instant replay in baseball, not for every play but for some.
We also need a time limit between pitches…
Dodger outfield OPS .987 – The best in MLB!!!
Chowderheads bragging in the above article
Sox outfielders have a combined .868 OPS (.388 OBP/.480 SLG), tied with the Yankees for the best in the AL. Boston’s OF are also tied )with Cleveland) for the AL lead in SB with 11 (thanks Jacoby). The Red Sox infielders have combined for an .858 OPS this season (.370 OBP/.488 SLG), 3rd in the AL (Toronto .872; Tampa .861). That leaves the DH, where the Sox are the only AL team without a HR from their DH this season.
Today’s Lineup:
1. Pierre, LF
2. Hudson, 2B
3. Ethier, RF
4. Loney, 1B
5. Kemp, CF
6. Loretta, 3B
7. Ausmus, C
8. Castro, SS
9. Billingsley, P
We sit three regulars and still put a pretty good team on the field!
Mover, that’s four regulars sitting. Is that lineup correct? If so, Torre must expect Bills to pitch a no-hitter today (and hope he doesn’t get payback for winning that one against the Angels last year).
The Pads are fading, and Phil Rogers in the Chicago Tribune suggests today that they may cash out on Adrian Gonzales in order to rebuild (but that it may be too unpopular to do so). I have a better idea:
Peavy
Wolf
Bills
Kershaw
Kuroda
Yes, it would cost a ton of prospects to get Peavy, but how long would it take Logan White to restock the shelves?
Voldy, either yesterday or the day before, I listed a bunch of players in the Dodger system to trade for Peavy.
Put him at the top of the rotation, and other teams will be scared.
Hey, we got Loretta at third! And yes, that is still a darn good lineup. I don’t know why Torre does it this way, but, I yield to his experience.
I got it Haze, I was just bustin’ Ken’s tomatoes.
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
No need to quote me as I am sure somebody else said it.
Yeah, some replay would be good. The Snakes won a game a couple of days ago on a ball that was clearly foul. Even the homie play by play guys saw it as it was.
And I can give you several million reasons the Dodgers won’t get Peavy:
1. it would take too many prospects
2. see above
3. 2009…..$11 million
2010…..$15 million
2011…..$16 million
2012…..$17 million
2013*….$22 million
Badger
I cited the King James version because King James is close to the Law Dog approved Shakespearean language.
Are you quoting Eccesiasties or the Byrds?
Actually, in the picture above Kemp looks like Mr. Clutch.
Martin now officially, temporarily, has the lowest OPS of any of the 12 active position players. Hopefully he is taking batting practice under the supervision of a coach.
I think the reasons we won’t get Peavy are fourfold:
1. You don’t trade with a disvision rival;
2. You don’t trade with Kevin Towers;
3. Kevin Towers would want Lindblom and Lambo in the deal – you won’t get him for anyone else. Elbert, Hu and the others are “throw-ins;” and
4. Peavy has a lot of innings on his arm.
I think that if Towers would take Elbert, Hu, DeWitt, Abreu, Withrow, Stults, and any other number of fringe prospects, the salary requirement would be NOTHING for the Dodgers. They would pull the trigger in a split-second. However, how would you like to face Lambo and Linblom 18 times a year for the next 5 or 6 years?
No thank you!
Vold, Yeah, I can’t count!
Bad Penny got his 1st loss today. He pitched 6 innings and gave up 3 runs but Carl Crawford stole 6 bases on him. Part of the reason Martin looked so bad last year was guys like Penny, Lowe and even C-Bill and Kershaw. Penny’s ERA is down to 7.61.
The Dodger’s bench has not been this good in 20, dare say 21, years.
Didn’t direct anything at ya, Badger, just making an observation about how people seem to welcome some messages from one source and disregard the message from another source, even though the message is identical, mind set means everything and it colors the messages we accept and reject. Don’t worry, I ain’t looking to give you a jab, I got better things to do, as do you. So, no worries, but if you gained some insight from my post, then great, if not, well it wasn’t intended for you in the first place, so no harm, no foul.
Kemp has returned to earth and is back to his customary wave of the bat for an off-speed pitch down and away, out of the strike zone. When he is hot, he is great, all other times he looks just flat out lost. I think my earlier observation of his lack of production was and is valid.
Is this not fun, beating up on the Padres!!!
But, let us not forget, we are not facing the Cardinals with Lohse or Wainwright.
We are not facing Seattle with Hernandez or Bedard or Washburn.
We are not facing the Metd with Santana.
We are not facing the Giants with Linceum or Cain.
We are not facing the Cubs with Lilly.
Nor, we are not facing the Royals with Greinke who has an ERA of 0.50 and is 5 and 0 and 2 complete games.
This new Dodger team will be tested soon.
In May, 3 with the Phillies, 3 with Florida, 3 with the Mets, 3 with the Angels, and 3 with the Cubs. Add to that, 2 with Washington, 3 with the Giants, 3 with the Rockies, and 2 with Arizona.
We will find out if they can hit against all teams and pitching.
Ohman was a surprise. First pitch, HR — Torre only let him pitch 8 pitches an yanked him.
Pierre is something. For his sake, I hope some team works out a deal and makes him a starter.
For the Dodgers protection, I hope he stays a Dodger, because he can be very handy doing what he did today.
No sweat Ken, I just thought holdeth his peace and shutteth his lips was funny stuff. I had to bring Twain in with home spun language. I threw the King James jab in for Mover. He loves it when I go off on religious and political tangents.
I agree Roger, we are playing .690 ball against the hamburger squads. We won’t win 111 games this year, but this is a great way to start.
Pierre got game. Loretta was 0-fer, but, Blake would have been too probably. BTW, Andy now has two out five. Putting the pressure on.
If Kemp is indeed chasing again, the league will know it and force him to get disciplined. He is down to .289 with 3 K’s today. Not good. All he has to do to become great is swing at strikes. How hard is that?
No problemo Haze. We’re good.
looks to me that martin as lost weight..and maybe there is something wrong. he look thin. mybe to thin.
Nice sweep…..
Is somebody backpedaling on Andre Ethier???
Figures…..
Everybody loves everyone else when we’re 10-0 at home. It’s a veritable love fest complete with scripture reading from the King James version of the Bible from the Supplement 6:43.
I’ve got an important scripture for us all as well from the Lasorda version of “The Big Dodger in the Sky 1:1-3
“Verily, verily I saith unto you: God createth Man in His own Image;
and, ‘ere long after, man being a gentleman,
returneth the favor.”
(Marketh Twain said that actually. Tomasco Lasorda useth it in his Vegas routine to capture the biggeth bucks.)
I have to disagree with Miguel about Torre’s motivation to sit half of his starting 8 today when he has his ace pitching. Billingsly could conceivably win 20 this year but it won’t happen if Torre makes him start some games with huge handicaps. Sitting 4 regulars was like making him pitch while sporting 50 pound weights strapped to his arms between the shoulder and elbow. I don’t think he wanted to give the 4 scrubs who got to start today motivation to break that record for wins with only half their starting offense. That only happens in little league with nothing on the line to either make the scrubs better or make them quit in frustration so the coach doesn’t lose games down the road because he has to let everybody play–even the fat kid who can’t catch the ball and closes both eyes before swinging the bat.
I think Torre did it for one or more of the following reasons:
1. He’s dumber than a bag of hammers–felony stupid.
2. He’s from a different planet where winning isn’t nearly as important as being well rested.
3. He placed a dozen c-notes on the Pods to beat the Dogs through his good friend Pete Rose.
4. He felt sorry for Bud Black and wanted to toss him a bone.
5. He hats Bills.
6. He’s a brick short of a full load and thought he was managing a girls slow pitch soft ball game at his local BPOE Elks Club and drank too much from his own bottle before making out the lineup card.
Seriously folks. Torre isn’t any smarter than Tracy was.
err. that’s: 5. He hates Bills–not he hats Bills.
HOwever, Torre makes less stupid statements and observations to the press than DEL.
I presume that New Guy is referring to me and accusing me of backpedeling on Andre which leads me to believe that he’s (a) either Mario; or (b) related to Mario.
See, what makes somebody look really stupid is when they make some little snide remark without any support, so here’s your chance to prove your point. Prove your accusation as to how I am backpedeling!
State your point – support your position. That means: Put up, or shut up!
I’m going to track your IP address tomorrow, and if it is who I think it is, I will really call you out.
Look, feel free to disagree with me. Harold, Ken, Badger, Roger, Miguel and others do so all the time, but when they do they have a good argument to support their position. It’s not always clear cut, because a lot of this is amatter of opinion, but as Jim Rome says “Have a Take, Don’t Suck!” Comments like that suck. If you can articulate a cogent argument, I would love to hear it.
Well, I didn’t have to wait for my Webmaster to track the IP address. I did it myself, and to no ones surprise, it is Mario!
Look Moron, if I am so stupid, don’t read what I write. Un-bookmark this site and have a nice life. Leave and never come back. My 9-year old could out debate you anyway! I’m done!
Mark, I agree that a trade with the Pods for Peavy is not likely, but I wouldn’t say never. SD needs to dump that contract, and Towers did deal with Ned in 2008 with Maddux (in a VERY different kind of deal, admittedly). Peavy’s contract is too big and too long, so perhaps Ned wouldn’t want the deal anyway.
It will be interesting to see if they can move Peavy and for what. I’d hate to see the Cubs get him.
With this contract, is Peavy the next Kevin Brown?
On another note, if the All-Star game were this Tuesday, the team would include the following Dodgers:
definitely: Billingsley (starter), Hudson, Ethier
likely: Manny, Broxton
O.K…
Last year Ethier was Mr. Softee to you
A month ago you wanted to trade him
Now he is the best clean up hitter in baseball…
I call that back pedaling….
Now that’s all I’m gonna say cause 2 weeks ago I said that Salcido did a better job than you on your own site, you booted me….
Peace…..
1. Ethier was soft – he stepped up last September and I removed the moniker from him.
2. This year he has nearly 1/3 the RBI in just one month than he has had in any other season. So he has stepped up.
3. It is false that I wanted to trade him a month ago. I don’t WANT to trade anyone. I like them all, but if anyone gets traded I think it will be Loney.
4. If I call a guy out for being soft and then he steps up and I praise him for it, how is that backpeddling? If he stayed the same and I praised him, that would be backpeddling!
5. Before the season started, I predicted that Ethier would hit .300 with 30 HR and 120 RBI. I stand by that.
6. I used to say Martin was clutch, but lately he has been soft and I call him out too.
7. Miguel Salcido is a better writer than me and probably smarter than me, so it’s no great surprise that he did a better job than me. Miguel thanks you for the compliment!
8. Oh, and thank me for picking him!
9. And, I didn’t boot you for saying he did a better job. I don’t remember that, but if you said it, I am OK with it. He probably does do a better job.
But I can still whip him!
“With this contract, is Peavy the next Kevin Brown?”
Now there’s a take and it doesn’t suck. I think there is good possibility Peavy will flame out long before that contract does. He is only 27, but he has been around a while. I just don’t see the Dodgers doing it. That is a lot of money for a pitcher. Those kind of contracts for pitchers hasn’t worked out all that well for us, or others really. There have been a lot of bad pitching contracts over the last several years. And, like was mentioned, we would really have to bowl them over for San Diego to trade him to us.
Miguel did a good job, but this site is Mark’s baby and he has done a remarkable job. (But ‘cept for that edit thingy.) Mark has his opinions, two of which I have strongly opposed – his ongoing love affair with Adrian Freakin’ Beltre and his “soft” position on Ethier. He has come around on Ethier, but this man love thing he has for Beltre has had me worried for years.
I don’t know who Mario/New Guy is, but if he wants to stir up the pot, it’s fine with me. If he sucks, we can all just ignore him or expose him.
Quit wasting the space debating with Mario, he’s been banished. What is funny is how desperately he must need this site. Just can’t stay away and thus is putting in way too much effort to post here. Dude needs a life, MM, you should actually feel sorry for the pathetic fool.
I hate to say it, but as far as offense at the C position, Ausmus gets in the lineup for one game and out produces a weeks worth of Martin production. When Martin is good, he is very good, however he ain’t too good right now. Hopefully he comes to life in the second half of the season, difficult to do from the catcher position.
Looking forward to seeing what WEaver will do in the rotation, it can’t be worse than what the guy did he is replacing.
MM, I think that 17th round pick that we gave up to get Hudson was worth it. I hope he stays healthy.
Does anyone else think that maybe Furcal needs to be moved from #1 and Hudson take over those duties?
Despite all of the problems the bullpen ERA is now 2nd in the NL! 10 games above .500 this early in the season is great.
Kemp and Hudson need to rest.
When else would you bring in Leach but with a 5 run lead in the 7th??????????? Now there are not enough long relievers for the Stults, Weaver, Kershaw weekly dog days.
I’d have given up the 16th pick for him.
I never thought he would be this good.
I thought that his wrist would be an issue (as did you).