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

Lineups Dodgers Tony Gwynn LF Justin Sellers SS Aaron Miles 3B Matt Kemp CF Juan Rivera RF James Loney 1B Rod Barajas C Jamey Carroll 2B Hiroki Kuroda P Rockies Dexter Fowler CF Chris Nelson 3B Carlos Gonzalez RF Troy Tulowitzki SS Todd Helton 1B Seth Smith LF Eliezer Alfonzo C Mark Ellis 2B Jason [...]

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Before we get to the interview, let me bring up a few things that are on my mind. The PCL Factor:  Travyon Robinson hit 32 HR in about 1,100 AB’s at Inland Empire which is known as a “hitter’s league.”  Then, last season he hit 9 HR at Chattanooga (523 AB’s) which is a “pitcher’s league.”  [...]

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No, I don’t mean that Frank McCourt should sell Ned Colletti (wait, maybe that’s not such a bad idea… but I doubt there’s a buyer). What I mean is that it is time to trade Hiroki Kuroda, Aaron Miles (yes, there are teams who want him), Jamey Carroll, Rod Barajas, Dionaro Navarro (maybe there’s one [...]

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If you were grading the Dodgers first-half performance the team would have to get a D -. There’s no way to sugar-coat it – the Dodgers sucked big time in the first half.  There were a few bright spots including Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Jamey Carroll and even Aaron Miles.  At the end [...]

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A few years ago, I was repeatedly berated for calling Andre Ethier “soft.”  I backed off for a while when he had some clutch hits, but let’s face the truth:  He is soft.  He’s a singles hitter who can’t hit lefties.  It is what it is.  You can’t pay a soft player what he is [...]

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I feel more confidence in the Dodgers 2011 starting rotation than any other Dodger starting rotation in the past several years.  Barring injury or alien possession, the Starting Five should be very good.  While not the best in all of baseball (at least not now, not on paper), this group has to be in the [...]

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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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