LADodgerTalk.com – Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Vin Scully, Andre Ethier and the Dodgers

Don’t throw your stats at me.  This is just a gut feeling.  The stats say Adrian Beltre is a good (not great) 3B, but I think he could be a  Great 3B for us at age 30!  Just a gut feeling.  I want Adrian Beltre back, but first we have to move Casey Blake.  Blake’s [...]

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If you have a home which is worth $400,000 or $400,000,000 and you are served divorce papers by your spouse,  what do you do?  It’s obvious that a great part of the parties’ net worth is that asset.  Some people are idiots about this – some have even burned-down the house rather than split the [...]

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The Dodgers have improved over 2008.   They won more games, but they still couldn’t get past the Phillies, and the Phillies will still be good next year.  I suspect that Raul Ibanez had his career year and will slip back to reality next year and the Phillies will have some holes to fill, just like [...]

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 This team is far from needing rebuilding, but any good team needs to ”retool” every year.  Last year, the Phillies won the World Series with Pat Burrell in LF.  They evidently decided  that he wasn’t the answer this year, so they signed a guy even older who ended up having his career year.   The Phillies may yet be [...]

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Look, several (many) players let us down, but that’s the nature of playoff baseball.  Look at A-Rod, and how he failed his first few years in the playoffs.  Players handle the situation differently.  Some step up (Loney, Martin) and others struggle (Kemp, Ethier), while some vets disapear (Blake, Furcal), which is very, very disappointing.  Casey [...]

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No matter how bleak it looks, and being down 3-1 is bleak, especially after a loss was snatched from the jaws of victory, we have to hope for a miracle.  It’s a big blow, but the Dodgers have to recover and realize that victory is still attainable.  Therefore, I will be watching every pitch in game [...]

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I’m talking baseball – not football.  The Dodgers have one win down and ten more to go to win the World Series.  You have to play them one at a time, but we need ten more wins in order to call this season a complete success.  Again, conventional wisdom was wrong – we beat Carpenter [...]

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Some people have said that you have to get Carpenter early or you don’t get him.  Not true – for the past three years, the league is hitting .305 against Carpenter after 61 pitches. The Dodgers need to be patient… and then NAIL Carpenter.  POUND him!  HAMMER him!  SAW him off!  SCREW him!  If that doesn’t [...]

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It was a story that the Dodgers scored some runs, let alone 5 (count ‘em 5) runs in one inning.  It was a story that gimpy Casey Blake made plays at 3B no one else would have made, and got key hits and doubled in the clutch.  It was a story that Juan Pierre starts [...]

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This is it!  These last three games determine home-field advantage as well as the division championship.  I say “Captain Insano Shows No Mercy!”  We have beat the Rockies like rented mules all year.  No reason to show mercy now.  Just beat them down!  Ubaldo Jimenez is 0-3 with a 7.77 earned-run average in four starts [...]

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Now that we have clinched a playoff spot and are within two games of  clinching the NL West Championship, I think it is time to shift the emphasis from our starters, namely Russell Martin, James Loney, Orlando Hudson, Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake, Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, and recognize the Stuntmen.  Actually, this [...]

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The Great Lakes Loons were the last Dodger team to be eliminated from the playoffs, losing to the Ft. Wayne Tin Caps last night 4-3 in 10 innings.  Dee Gordon was 1-5 with a stolen base, Kyle Russell was 1-2 with a BB and an RBI, Silverio hit a HR and Aaron Miller pitched a [...]

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… to beat the Dodgers.  It was nice to have a “laugh-er” for once.   I need to re-interate that I am a prophet!  Last month, I predicted that Loney would be “white hot” in September and yesterday I wrote that this was the time for Ethier, Kemp, Loney and Martin to step-up and show this [...]

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“We know we are a good team.”- Andre Ethier “The one thing I found out about them, is every time they’ve been tested they’ve done all right.” – Joe Torre “We’re just going through a bad stretch right now.”  – Russell Martin “We’re all right.  We’ll come back tomorrow and have a better game.” – [...]

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Will Joe change or not?  That’s the question.  Insanity is doing the same thing and thinking you will get different results.   Here’s the Dodger’s insanity:  for whatever reason, Rafael Furcal is not the same offensive player he used to be.  He is 6 for 11 in stolen bases and he rarely attempts a steal anymore (two [...]

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Stirring the pot?  Me?  I resemble that statement!  However, this I believe: Manny Ramirez has become a liability – he’ll get better, but he’s still a liability; Russ Martin will regain his post-2009 form (maybe this month, maybe next year); I like Orlando Hudson, but he will probably be too expensive.  I think the Dodgers would [...]

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It’s tempting to only write about Chad Billingsley’s meltdown in the 5th inning, but really, what lost the game for us was again a lack of hitting.   Andre Ethier had 3 hits and the rest of the team didn’t show up.  We do have a new LH pinch hitter: Doug Mientkiewicz.  With Jim Thome on [...]

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But, they might just help us win the World Series.  I love Juan Pierre, but would you rather have him or Jim Thome as DH in the World Series?  Well, we now have a choice.  Thome says that he is not physically able to play 1B (although I suspect we will see him there from [...]

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I know that we are in the midst of a pennant race, but it always is important to look ahead, and plan ahead.  I have a few ideas as to how the team will look next year and I’m sure Ned has some of the same thoughts, but first:  Ronnie Belliard for Minor League pitcher Luis [...]

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I have heard that the newest Dodger, Vicente Padillais a really bad guy.  His teammates allegedly hate him and he’s a cancer in the clubhouse.  Hey, it’s starting to sound like he’ll be right at home with Manny Ramirez who has fought with teammates, punched a 65 year-old traveling secretary, failed to hustle on every play and [...]

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