June 7, 2009 – Tony Jackson’s Blog – OK, that guy some of you are so fond of calling Mr. Softee, or whatever, came up big again, his second walkoff hit in less than 24 hours. But Ethier’s heroics aside, don’t overlook Cory Wade. He might have been the real hero of this one. He went six-up, six-downa against the Phillies in the 11th and 12th, all with his characteristic attacking of the strike zone, a trademark of Cory’s since he was in the low minors. Chad Durbin also went six-up, six-down after entering with two outs in the 10th, but Ethier was the seventh batter he faced. Wade never had to face a seventh batter. Read the full story

June 6, 2009 – Tony Jackson’s Blog –  Missed most of the game tonight because I was at the gym — when you’re unemployed, you have time to do things like that — and I caught up with it just as James Loney was drawing that critical, seven-pitch walk in the ninth inning, which I would like to say was the key to that whole rally. But it wasn’t. The key to the whole rally, quite obviously, was the boot by Pedro Feliz, because the game would have ended right there if he had made that play.
   This was exactly the kind of rally I was talking about a couple of nights ago here, when I likened these Dodgers to Joe Torre’s early years with the New York Yankees — although it’s tough to imagine anybody talking about the ghosts of Dodger Stadium, given that most of the guys who starred there back in the day are all still alive. Anyway, there were two outs and nobody on against Brad Lidge, who had sliced through Rafael Furcal and Orlando Hudson like butter, and it appeared that all hope was lost. But a single here, a walk there, an error, and the boys were in business. Read the full story

June 5, 2009 -Tony Jackson’s Blog – The boys got taken to school tonight by Cole Hamels, a complete-game shutout in 97 pitches. Ordinarily, I might say shake it off, it’s a complete-game shutout by Cole Hamels, it happens. But has anyone noticed that on this homestand, the Dodgers have scored runs in four of the 34 innings in which they have batted? They have scored a TOTAL of nine runs in the four games, with five of those coming IN ONE INNING. It’s certainly not panic time, not with an 8 1/2-game lead in the division — the Giants gained a game by virtue of Randy Johnson winning his 300th tonight — but it’s a disturbing trend, to say the least. My buddy Kevin Baxter pointed out in today’s L.A. Times that the Dodgers averaged 5.6 runs a game before Manny got suspended and that they are still averaging 5.3 runs a game without him. But lately, they have really hit the skids. And don’t forget that before they exploded for eight runs in the series finale at Chicago last weekend, they scored a total of three runs in the first three games of that series. They have now been shut out twice in the past six days. Read the full story

June 4, 2009 – Tony Jackson’s Blog -  Chad Billingsley walked four batters, constantly flirted with danger and threw 111 pitches through six innings. He was good — good enough to get the win, anyway — but it is that tendency to nibble that has plagued him since the day he arrived in the major leagues, and it is that tendency that is still keeping him from joining the truly elite pitchers in the National League, guys like Jake Peavy, Johan Santana, Tim Lincecum, etc. Read the full story

June 3, 2009 – Tony Jackson’s Blog - This is what Torre said in his pregame:

“Hudson’s beat up. We talked after the game, and we decided to take a day or two. He’s just beat up. We’ll take it a day at a time with him.” Read the full story

June 3, 2009 – Tony Jackson’s Blog  - He made his first rehab appearance for high Single-A Inland Empire last night (that’s in San Bernardino, by the way). He pitched one scoreless inning and struck out one batter. There you have it. Read the full story

Bulletin: Orlando Hudson not starting tonight – That would be for the first time this season. The O-Dog started every single game through the one-third mark, which was last night. Not sure of the reason yet, but I don’t think he has any kind of injury. It definitely isn’t a matchup thing, as he is hitting .348 (8 for 23) with two HR and six RBI for his career against Jon Garland, so it’s probably simply about giving him a night off. At this point, the guy could probably use one. Read the full story

June 3, 2009 – Tony Jackson’s Blog  – Watching the Dodgers these days reminds me an awful lot of watching those New York Yankees teams that Joe Torre used to manage. Granted, the Dodgers don’t have four World Series rings, or even one (yet) for that matter. But they approach the game almost exactly the same, that methodical hitting approach that can be absolutely maddening to opposing pitchers because they have to work so hard for each out — and because no matter what the score, it seems like the Dodgers are just never, ever out of a game.
   Tonight was a perfect case in point. Living as I do in Phoenix, I caught the game on the Diamondbacks TV affiliate. Darin Sutton and Mark Grace were practically foaming at the mouth over the performance of Dan Haren, and well they should have been. Haren absolutely dominated the Dodgers, made them look silly through those first seven innings, while the Diamondbacks built what they apparently thought was a comfortable, 5-1 lead

Read the full story

Dodgers head home with a series split and a 5-2 trip – Oh, and an opposing manager’s stuffed head to hang above the fireplace. The Dodgers swept Clint Hurdle right out of a job. Sorry about the inconsistency of posts the past few days. Figured I would let Mark take center stage while he was in  Chicago, and I hope he enjoyed the trip. Tonight was a pretty typical Dodgers win, a whole bunch of singles in the first inning to put them out to a 5-0 lead. Matt Kemp later homered to make it 6-0, just the 36th home run of the season for the boys, who began the day 25th in the majors in that category. So how do they have the runaway best record in baseball, and an 8 1/2-game lead in the division, while hitting so few dingers? It’s all about the OBP. Dodgers entered the day at .370, best in the majors. At the risk of sounding too Moneyball-ish, this might be the single most important offensive statistic in baseball, because every time a batter gets on base, it means he DOESN’T make an out. And as long as you don’t make three outs, you can keep scoring runs all night. Read the full story

If you’re reading this, it must have worked. This will be an integral part of this blog, the ability to post quickly when I’m not near the laptop (i.e., from the field or the clubhouse).

Finding the negative in a three-game sweep – A Dodgers PR intern from a few years back — and she knows who she is — bestowed upon me the title of Captain of the Negativity Squad. I believe that arose right around the time the Dodgers were going 1-14 coming out of the 2006 All-Star break, all while I was certain their season was circling the drain even as she insisted they would turn things around. Well, wouldn’t you know, right after they went 1-14, they went 17-1, and they ended up in the playoffs that year. But even after they just swept the Rockies and ran the runaway best record in the majors to 33-15, I, the aforementioned COTNS, have happened upon a major cause for concern: Read the full story

Oh, and I forgot to mention …

… that Jason Schmidt’s rehab has been shut down because of “discomfort” he felt in his shoulder. This is to the point where you have to assume this guy is never going to pitch again until he surprises you and actually DOES pitch again. Read the full story

Get out those brooms again ….

.. because if the Dodgers can win tomorrow’s getaway matinee at Coors, they will have swept a series of at least three games for the fifth time this season. Throw in that two-game blanking of the Snakes a few weeks ago, and they’re actually going for their sixth series sweep.

Did anyone notice that Matt Kemp has now gone 10 consecutive plate appearances without striking out? I mean, I realize he went 0 for 5 tonight, technically without a ball leaving the infield (his ninth-inning popup, when he was robbed of a bloop single on a nice play by Omar Quintanilla, sort of left the infield). But the fact he put five balls in play has to count as some degree of moral victory, does it not? Read the full story

A long day’s journey into early evening  – Greetings from the beautiful Ozark Mountains. Finally arrived at my parents’ home in Fayetteville, Ark., at about 2:30 a.m. on Monday morning, slept til noon, then spent the rest of the day relaxing, visiting and NOT watching the Dodgers on mlb.tv. By the time I finally did get around to logging onto Gameday so I c0uld update the scorebook, I came across what had to have been the boys’ most hideous victory of the season, although I’m sure some of you who did see it can either vouch for that fact or shoot it down. Funny thing about victories, though, the ugly ones count the same, and the Dodgers maintained a comfortable, 7 1/2-game lead over the surging Pods, who have now won 10 in a row. Read the full story

The trip continues, but not at the expense of Dodgers commentary

Mom, Aunt Paula, Cousin Carla and I are all holed up at a Holiday Inn Express in a place called Shamrock, Texas, tonight, as we leisurely work our way from my daughter’s graduation in Colorado two days ago to a few days of R&R at my parents’ house in Fayetteville, Ark., but I did manage to keep up with the Dodgers’ doings, thanks to that wonder of modern technology known as the iPhone (no, I wasn’t watching pitch-by-pitch while I was driving). For those who didn’t realize it, this was the boys’ third walkoff walk of the season.

Anyway, Ethier’s injury doesn’t appear serious, and neither does Jason Schmidt’s — he was knocked out of his first rehab start at ABQ (third overall) 27 pitches in when he got hit in the Read the full story

Wasted opportunities, intentional and otherwise

Just read Dylan Hernandez’s game story on the L.A. Times website, which included the following bit of wisdom from Orlando Hudson:

“We had 50 guys in scoring position,” Orlando Hudson muttered as he raced past reporters on his way to the showers. Read the full story

Another (yawn) Dodgers-Angels series is upon us

As a newspaper beat writer, I used to dread these crosstown matchups. First of all, I have pretty much hated interleague play since its inception in 1997, and now that the novelty has worn off, I pretty much hate it even more now. Second of all, whenever the Dodgers and Angels meet head to head, a beat writer who has spent all of spring training and all of the season thus far writing every story from either the Dodgers angle or the Angels angle (try typing THAT quickly, Angels angle) is suddenly asked to write a neutral, down-the-middle game story (it’s harder than it sounds, take my word for it).

Read the full story

Guess they decided Eric Stults’ bad thumb was still too bad for him to pitch, even though he reported improvement in it yesterday after he played long toss. He ended up skipping his regular bullpen altogether because of the injury. The Dodgers still haven’t sent out the usual transcript of Joe Torre’s pregame media session, so I don’ t have anything else on it at this point, other than a brief email they just sent out saying Weaver would start in place of Stults tomorrow. Read the full story

 I think you can all relax now. These Dodgers are for real.

Yes, they still have their stiffest challenge so far in the week to come. It starts with a three-game date with the New York Mets, who probably are the best team the Dodgers will have faced to this point, and it continues with a three-game series with the Angels, and I don’t have to remind you how the Dodgers generally fare in interleague play.

Still, there is considerable cachet in taking four of six on this week’s trip, including two of three in each stop, one of which was at the world champion Phillies. To me, the defining moment came in the final game of the Philly series, after Jonathan Broxton blew a two-run lead after retiring the first two batters in the ninth.

In years past, the Dodgers would have crumbled after such a development. Their frustration would have gotten the better of them, and if the Phillies hadn’t won right there and then in the ninth, they inevitably would have won it in some subsequent inning after the Dodgers went quietly in the top half.

Not anymore, apparently. Read the full story

I’m baaaaaa-aaaaaaack.

And unlike the last Dodgers-related person who famously uttered those two words, I don’t plan on being suspended for 50 games. Yes, it’s true, I have joined LADodgertalk.com, and I’m in it full-bore. Many of you are familiar with me from my work as the Dodgers beat writer for the Daily News and on the Daily News Dodgers blog.

First of all, let me say this: I never got the chance to say goodbye to my loyal readers after I was unceremoniously dumped by the increasingly cost-conscious Daily News on April 30. But I did read almost every comment that was posted, and the outpouring of support is something I will never forget. I knew that blog had a loyal following, but I never dreamed that so many people would be so supportive of me, and I want all of you to know how deeply I appreciated all the kinds words that were passed on to me through direct emails and through comments posted on not only that blog but several others around town.

In short, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all of you. Read the full story