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

There are a variety of reasons for this, but the not the least of which is the disconnect between the coaches and the players. Joe Torre and Company are not known for being brilliant strategists, and that issue was readily exposed this season. In my opinion, none of the coaching staff should be back. There needs to be a clean sweep. I would give Ned Colletti one more year. I think he has learned a lot, but I still think giving up James McDonald for Dotel was a bonehead move. I believe that James McDonald IS BETTER RIGHT NOW than Octavio Dotel.

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It pains me greatly to say this.  I never raise the white flag, but Ned tried and it was too little, too late.   Podsednik, Theriot, Lilly and Dotel arrived at the fort after the troops had already been massacred. This year is done.  It’s time to hop on the Bus Gus, we don’t need [...]

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Jon Broxton again has demonstrated that the bigger the stage, the smaller he is.  I am tired of people making excuses for him.    I have heard that “He hasn’t pitched enough and that’s why he blew the game“ and now I hear “he has pitched too much which is why he blew the game.”  As [...]

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It looked for a while that the Dodgers might have squandered a 3-0 lead through 4 innings in Cincinnati last night, so after a 2-1/2 hour rain delay, the Dodgers took batting practice and tacked on 9 more runs to spank the Reds 12-0.  That score in itself, doesn’t mean much.  What means the most [...]

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Everyone seems to use the W.I.N. philosophy in business, in sales and motivation, but I don’t see that acronym much applied in sports. What’s Important Now is something the Dodgers need to focus on.  Their hitting (actually the lack thereof) is the direct result of ignoring the Don Mattingly Plan which is to work the count, [...]

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John Ely is simply amazing!  Who knew?  I wonder if his bubble will burst, but here’s the thing – he IS a PITCHER!  Dude flat out knows how to pitch. Matt Kemp is not a Bison.  He’s more like a Puma.  Pooommmm!    Was it me who predicted 40 HR for him (and Walkoff Ethier)? [...]

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The Knucklehead:  Getting shot in the leg is enough to cause you to get branded as a knucklehead, but there’s a lot more to it than that.  Vicente Padilla arguably has some one thebest stuff you will ever see, but it’s his “knuckle-headedness”  which has kept him from achieving his potential.  Obviously, something happened in [...]

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The Dodger blogosphere was white hot with who was going to be sent down to make room for Rafael Furcal.  Would it be Ramon Ortiz, Nick Green, or (God forbid) Blake DeWitt?  In the end, it was George “Cheryl” Sherrill who went on the DL with a strained ego, ‘er back.  Yeah, that’s the ticket! [...]

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I think James McDonald and Josh Lindblom will both play a big role with the 2010 Dodgers. If Hiroki Kuroda can continue to hit 95 MPH on his fastball and mix up his pitches like he has, he will be an All-Star this year. The Kiddie Corps of Chad and Clayton are starting to hit [...]

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It seems to me that many Dodger fans are hyperventilating after seeing their beloved Dodgers start 2-4.  It doesn’t make me happy either, but lets’ not forget that it’s not how you start – it’s how you finish, and the Dodgers stumbled at the finish line last year.  They had a stretch where they went [...]

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Now that it’s all over, we can look back and say that Joe Torre should have brought Jon Broxton in and we would have won right? Broxton has never been known to blow a game right.  Broxton breezed last night, right?  Now, if he had brought in Brox and he had lost the game, you [...]

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You just have to realize that some people see the glass “half full.” some see it “half empty” and we have a few who see it as parched and barren.  They have been doing that for years – you can figure it out.  They like to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  This is especially [...]

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Rants & Raves A few days ago when Joe Torre named Vicente Padilla the Opening Day Starter, eyebrows were raised because the guy who is arguably the #4, maybe the #5 starter on the team was picked.  That is troubling, especially in light of the fact that some of the writers who regularly cover the [...]

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REALITY CHECK Reality Baseball:  Blake DeWitt has won the second base job – Hands Down! Fantasy Baseball:  Are the Dodgers stupid enough to send him down to solve “roster issues?” Reality Baseball: Charlie Haeger is the best Option for the Fifth Starter and absolutely proved it yesterday. Fantasy Baseball:  Does anyone really believe that Russ [...]

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The Dodgers lost to the Kansas City Royals today 8-4.  I truly believe that many of the players are focused upon Opening Day and are just bored with what is going on.  The coaches are just going through the motions, the writers are just going through the motions, so why not the players as well?  [...]

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Just a laundry list of a few things I expect to see this year (actually my wish list along with predictions): A healthy Rafael Furcal who is 100% physically and (most importantly) mentally (it takes a while to recover mentally from a surgery) regains his form and is again one of the elite short stops [...]

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By actual count, the Dodgers have 32 pitchers in Spring Training Camp who are vying for 12 spots.  I cannot see any way that Joe Torre decides to go with 13 pitchers.  With the off days and all, I think he will break camp with 12 pitchers.  That means that 20 have to go. There [...]

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Well, if you ask me… and you didn’t (but I’m going to tell you anyway), it’s Young Clayton.  Maybe it’s a rush job, but maybe it’s not.  Maybe he’s ready.  Not “maybe” – he ISready!   I think it’s likely that Clayton Kershaw will be even better this year.  His ERA might not reflect that, but he [...]

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The Dodger roster is finally coming together and now the discussions are changing from where is the rest of the team to why did they sign these slugs.  For the 2010 season the Dodger management, more than ever, must attempt to simultaneously win the NL West, delay the major league start dates of the future [...]

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What are the odds that Padilla has a better year than Wolf? Pretty good, I predict! Padilla has every reason in the world to act right, train hard, pitch good and step up. If he wins 12-15 games with a sub 4.00 ERA, he’ll be in line for a bigger payoff next year. It is in situtaions such as this that starters like Padilla can put up their “career year.”

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