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

See, what the Robots don’t understand is that 25 men with passion can defeat a great army of trained soldiers. There is no stat for passion, desire, “want-to” or “can-do.” Ted Lilly, Juan Uribe, Jon Garland, Hiroki Kuroda and Rod Barajas wanted to be in LA for various reasons. They had a passion to play in 2011 for the Dodgers – never minimize that! Give me some guys who want to play together, who have a passion for being where they are and for the game and I’ll deliver you a winner!

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Trade Chad Billingsley and Trayvon Robinson for Carlos Quentin? Trade Jon Broxton and  Ivan DeJesus, Jr.  for Martin Prado? Would you sign Vicente Padilla to be a closer? If the Dodgers did that, this could be the lineup: Furcal  SS Prado  2B Kemp  CF Ethier  RF Quentin  LF Loney  1B Uribe  3B Barajas/Ellis  C Bench: [...]

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I have a hunch that James McDonald and Andrew Lambo for Octavio “Don’t Tell Me” Dotel and Tony Jackson, the Sportswriter from Arkansas, could go down as Ned’s biggest blunder.  I’m just sayin’ Jerry Sands is putting it together.  He was sent to the AFL to work on his batting eye and he has delivered [...]

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OK,  I know that this is going to be just like the Jon Broxton thing (“I have an irrational hatred of Broxton because I can see in his eyes”), but I still have to say it:   The object of the Dodgers affection should be Adrian Beltre.  I can see it already:  “Timmons has an [...]

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Think how different the Dodgers might have been this year without the contracts of Broxton and Sherrill. They could have afforded another big bat or top-of-the-rotation starter. I begged them to trade Brox for two years and Sherrill after last season. Some people think that I am just a “Broxton Hater” and that there is no way that I can tell he is not a guy who thrives under pressure, Think what you want – don’t judge me by what you can do – but I have been saying that Broxton chokes under pressure for three years and that the Dodgers should have traded him.

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The Dodgers are 15th in Batting Average (.235) and tied for last in Runs Scored with the Mets at 183. That’s an average of less than 3.3 Runs Per Game. That is a total breakdown and it is worse than pitiful! It is unacceptable and heads must roll! Torre, Mattingly and Pentland must face the Guillotine!

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Most Rants – Few Raves… First the Raves: Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Ted Lilly – that would be a nice rotation 1-4, but the last two are most likely out of the picture.  Raves to Kershaw and Billingley.  Clayton has shown that he can be the Ace and Bills has righted his ship [...]

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Look, Joe Torre is nor a cerebral manager. He is a Hall-Of-Famer, but sometimes being a Hall-of-Famer is just being in the right place at the right time. Maybe Joe Torre was the perfect manager for the Yankees and their big contracts and big egos and the bigger pressures of playing in NY. I am not going to take away his HOF status, but this team has quit on him.

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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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I think there comes a time when you have to assess what you have and what you could have if you are willing to roll the dice. Sure, the hitters have been slumping lately, but that’s only temporary.  This is a very good hitting team, especially when all the parts are in place.  I think [...]

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Several months ago, I was already sick of hearing how the Dodgers would not spend any money, the divorce was crippling the Dodgers, the Dodgers need a new owner and blah, blah, blah.  I was on-board with all their off-season moves – the non-tenders of Wolf and Hudson, the trade of Juan Pierre for Link [...]

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How sweet it is! It took the Dodgers exactly 59 games to take first place in what is, so far, the second toughest division in baseball. The National League West has 4 teams with 30 or more wins and better than a .500 records.  The teams of the NL West have more wins than any [...]

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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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Want an Ace? Would you trade Manny Ramirez, James McDonald and Chris Withrow for Cliff Lee? Let’s not stop there.  Seattle sucks.  Their re-building is dead. How about Manny Ramirez, James McDonald, Vicente Padilla, Dee Gordon, Chris Withrow,  Casey Blake, Xavier Paul and Jon Broxton for Cliff Lee and Ichiro Suzuki? Eight for two! Then [...]

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Earth time – 5/18/2010, 9:00 AM EDT – After winning 8 straight games, and going 13-3 in their last 16 games, the Dodgers are long gone from the “outhouse” (currently occupied by the vastly overrated D’Backs – I told you in Spring Training that they would be horrid), and just 2.0 games from the Penthouse. [...]

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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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Due to yesterday’s rain-out, the Mets and Dodgers will allegedly play two, meteorologists willing… Kuroda and Haeger will pitch for the Dodgers.  Kuroda goes against Santana in Game 1, this afternoon.  1:10 PDT or 4:10 EDT John Ely looks like the odds-on-favorite to replace Padilla, at least THIS week.  He’s on the 40-Man is why! [...]

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That number 42 was all over the field last night, making silly errors and then turning around and making fabulous plays to rob someone of extra bases, pitching well or hardly at all and then the best part of all – the Walk Off win.  Come to think of it, I think I’ve seen #42 [...]

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Tonight’s Dodger Lineup: Furcal, SS Johnson, Re, RF Loney, 1B Ramirez, M, LF Kemp, CF Blake, 3B DeWitt, 2B Martin, C Kuroda, P Andre Ethier is still out of the lineup with a sore ankle. Let the chatter begin…

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