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

A good team has a killer instinct.  It seizes the moment and puts their opponent away.  Michael Jordan had a killer instinct when he played for the Chicago Bulls.  The Dodgers need that killer instinct.  They need to stomp on the Cardinals on Saturday and make sure they put them down!  The Dodgers cannot afford for that “two-headed snake” [...]

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Mark Loretta?  That bum is a waste of roster space!Ronnie Belliard?  Why should he start over Hudson.  Jeff Weaver?  Keep McDonald on the playoff roster for crying out loud!   Jim Thome?  Forget it, he’s shot! Juan Castro?  Why waste a spot for him when he won’t play? It was Joe Torre who decided which [...]

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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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Joe Torre Has Spoken:   Pitchers (11) Ronald Belisario, RHP                         Chad Billingsley,RHP                           Jonathan Broxton, RHP                        Jon Garland, RHP                                Clayton Kershaw, LHP                        Hong-Chih Kuo, LHP                          Vicente Padilla. RHP                           George Sherrill, LHP                            Ramon Troncoso, RHP Jeff Weaver, RHP Randy Wolf, LHP Infielders (8): Ronnie Belliard Casey Blake Juan Castro Rafael Furcal  (S) Orlando Hudson (S) James Loney  [...]

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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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Ken’s Favorite Manager…

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I have read extensive analysis of which match-ups are the best for the Dodgers in the NLDS, which is a lot like all the baseball pre-season predictions.  I read all those magazines (and save them, which shows how stupid I am) and then go back and see how the prognosticators fared.  A monkey throwing darts [...]

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This too shall pass!  It’s October – the Season starts TODAY!  Relax – it’s going to be OK! Here’s the FULL Transcript of the TV Q & A with Buck Martinez (of TBS Hot Corner and MLB Postseason on TBS) – they used most of the questions I submitted to them, although they didn’t use [...]

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Just when we need to step up and win some games, we don’t get any effort.   The Dodgers are human and I think they are so focused on the playoffs they have forgotten about the last 7 games.  They are looking ahead and plan to make up for last year, but they need to finish [...]

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It’s a rare and shameful occurrence when the Jolly Roger is hoisted at PNC Park, especially when it is hoisted on the NL West Division Leading Dodgers.  That should be the last we see the skull and crossbones all weekend.  Let’s make sure of it!  I think last night was just a simple case of the young [...]

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When should the Dodgers decide?  What if Chad pitches well today?  What if he pitches badly?  Should the Dodgers keep Chad dangling?  Should they just put him in the pen?   What should they do?  I DON’T KNOW!  But, I do know that 3 months ago he was regarded as one of the best starters in [...]

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…whether tis nobler to replace him on the playoff roster or use him as a DH.  Yes, that is the question.  You can cuss and discuss this, but I think  the answer is simple – you can’t use Thome if he’s not ready to hit.  In order for him to be ready, he’s going to [...]

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It turns out that Chad Billingsley’s pitching problems are the fault of the guys who work on his car.  Mr. GoodWrench is at fault!  Boy, that really makes me mad and I know that he’s bent  out of shape about it as well.   Joe Torre informed us of the situation and Ken Gurnick of Dodgers.com [...]

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I believe that to be true.  We cannot win the Pennant, let alone the World Series, without Chad Billingsley.  Personally,I don’t understand why Joe Torre pitched him last night.  He should have been just shut down until his next start.   His velocity is down a bit (especially for relief), as he was topping out at [...]

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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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Of course they do.  I know and you know it.  How else do you explain the following: Earlier in the season, I trashed Andre Ethier and call him Mr. Softee – presto, he’s an MVP Candidate. In the middle of August, I said we couldn’t win with Broxton as our closer after some blown games – [...]

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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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and I don’t mean that Joe needs to pop a cold one after the game.  THESE GUYS NEED THEIR BUTTS KICKED!  Figuratively!  If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.   You can put a lot of this offensive malaise on Manny, but not all of it.  If I were Joe, I’d start [...]

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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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