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

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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Never mind that Vicente Padilla started on Opening Day.  That was just (you choose):  (a) a senior moment by Joe Torre; (b) a passive-aggressive shot by Torre to Dodger management that” if you don’t get me better pitchers, I’ll start a guy like this;” or (c) just a dumbass move. Here’s the deal.  Vicente Padilla [...]

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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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During my 8-day trip to Camelback Ranch last week, on Thursday, March 25th, I sat down with Logan White in his office for a twenty-minute  interview which lasted about an hour an a half. While it is impossible to present it all, I have selected certain aspects of the interview which I think you will [...]

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The Dodgers and A’s tied after nine innings last night 3-3. Hiroki Kuroda pitched 5.1 strong innings allowing just 1 Hit and 2 BB to go with 2 Strikeouts.  In addition to the two strikeouts, he had 8 fly outs and 6 ground outs.  With Joe Torre set to name the 5th Starter today, it [...]

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Arguments can be made who should hit where, but I do think Joe Torre has a definite plan of hitting Kemp right behind Furcal (who has looked re-juvenated this Spring) and ahead of Ethier with Manny at Cleanup.  This is all subject to change, but that lineup followed by Loney and Blake would give excellent [...]

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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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Torre, Ramirez and Loney headline team of Dodger players on international goodwill trip PHOENIX – The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced the expected roster for the upcoming three-game series in Taiwan. Additional players may be added or changed prior to the March 10 departure. The Dodgers will bring 33 players, including 17 with Major League [...]

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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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Pitchers and Catchers report on February 2o, 2010 and the first workout is February 21, 2010, so I am going to take a few days off.  I’ll be back on the 20th or 21st.  I’ll leave you with a few things to cuss and discuss: Is it possible that the Combination of Reed Johnson and [...]

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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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Some people are saying that the Dodgers are a .500 team (when I say “some people” I don’t mean “informed baseball people”), which I think is just plain delusional.  I think sometimes Dodger fans fail to take into consideration that change is inevitable, and often, it is good.  Will everything be OK?  Seth Godin summed [...]

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Los Angeles – In what has to be somewhat of a surprise, the Dodgers made two major announcements today.  The first announcement has to do with the divorce proceedings of Frank and Jamie McCourt who agreed to a continuance of their May hearing: The McCourt’s announced that they have resolved their personal issues and that [...]

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I made my plans and got my tickets yesterday for Camelback Ranch.  I will be there on March 20th through March 27th.  My wife and son will be flying in on the 25th to see the last 3 games with me.  I haven’t gotten the away game tickets, but I’ll work on that next week.  [...]

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Last off-season, I predicted that it would not be Manny who made the team better, but rather “the kids.”  Little did I know what would happen to Manny and how he would later struggle.  If the Manny Ramirez of 2008 had played in 2009, the Dodgers might still be shaking the confetti out of their shoes, [...]

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