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

I think some of you may misunderstand why I said Chad Billingsley “has deep-seated psychological problems.”  First, you need to know that I have been a Chad Billingsley fan way back to the beginning of his career.  I am still a big proponent of Chad Billingsley and… I’ll say it:  I think he should be in [...]

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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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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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Doug Mientkiewicz will be one of our first call-up on September 1st.  We can use his LH bat as a pinch hitter.  Tony Abreu’s bat will be nice too. With the Rockies 4th straight loss, the Dodgers are now 5.0 games in the driver’s seat! Cliff Lee Yesterday - 5 IP/10 Hits/6 R – See that [...]

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Joe Torre doesn’t have it “in” for Charlie Haeger and said Haeger will continue to be in the mix of the rotation as the team moves toward the  postseason.  Here’s what Joe said (Steve Gartner of mlb.com) “He’s a hot hand.  He’s pitched well two times in a row now. I trust him at this [...]

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In the ebb and flow of a baseball season, the Dodgers are certainly in the ebb, having lost 14 of our last 22 games.  These things happen and past performance is not indicative of future prospects.  I think this team is still poised to turn it around and win it all.  Even after ragging on Jon Broxton, I [...]

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It’s good that we have a nice lead, because we might stumble a little down the stretch, but did it ever occur to you, that with the extra days of rest in the playoffs,  this team is built for just such an occasion?  As it stands right now, Clayton Kershaw would probably start game #1 of [...]

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Most Dodger fans want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  “Everybody sucks, get a new team.  We should have traded for Lee and Halladay.  I knew this would happen, blah, blah, blah.”  Eric Stephen of TrueBlueLa.com puts it all in perspective: Before you go throwing dirt on a club with a 5½ game [...]

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It’s official.  As reported here 4 days ago, Jason Schmidt will start Mondays’ game for the Dodgers, according to Ken Gurnick of Dodgers.com. Today is Joe Torre’s birthday.  Let’s get a win for him, Clayton. It’s up to Clayton to keep the Dodgers from losing 3 in a row for the first time this season.

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Torre’s Game Notes: Pierre starts in CF Beliasrio is throwing Kuo will pitch tomorrow in San Bernardino Broxton is available tonight Cory Wade may go back on the DL They are deciding who will be the 5th Starter for Monday (I predict it will be Schmidt)

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With 88 games completed the Dodgers have 56 wins, which is the best in baseball.  The last Dodger team to do this well was the 1977 Dodgers who had 57 wins at the same juncture, and went on to win 98 games.  If  we just play .500 ball the rest of the way, we will [...]

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Here’s a quote from Andre Ethier: “I’m here competing for a job next year any way I can.  I’m not sure if it’s going to be here or with another team, so I have to go out there and perform well. Minus one guy or not, I still have to go out there and play [...]

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This is really simple – call me names, say I’m an Ethier hater, say I am biased.  Say what you want.  Make yourself feel good.  Cite some obscure stat.  Say he has a great swing.  Say I’m not objective.  Say I don’t know what I am talking about.  Say something (make it up) that will [...]

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The Blue  Jays have hung a FOR SALE sign on Roy Halliday, and Dodger fans are clamoring for a trade to be made.  Let me suggest that it’s not that simple, and the price we would have to pay would be the blood of our first-born, Clayton Kershaw!  I will say right off that I [...]

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… which is why it’s a good thing we don’t have to play any “perfect teams.”  Yes, we have flaws, and so does everyone else, but I am going to suggest that while we have a pretty good group of players, the sum of our parts is greater than any other team, and our record happens [...]

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That Manny Ramirez would be 8th on the Dodgers in RBI? That Raffy would be hitting .239 (you would have never believed that one either – you might have believed .439 easier)? That Andre Ethier would be hitting .268? That Russ Martin would be hitting .250? That Casey Blake would be our cleanup hitter? That [...]

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The bottom of the fifth inning last night was a defining moment for Clayton Kershaw and showed why he really belongs in the majors.  After being solid for the first four innings, Clayton suddenly lost his command in the 5th and in a blink of an eye, the bases were loaded with no outs.  Leading 1-0, that [...]

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For the past few days, people have been speculating as to what is wrong with Russell Martin, whether he is finished,  why is he so bad, etc., and so I am going weigh in with a couple of things: Some say it is overuse.  PLEASE!  This guy is in great shape and has played 122, 129, [...]

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Literally!  He threw 67 pitches in 5 innings and was on his way to his best outing of the year and was so “lights out” that a bank of lights literally went out (or didn’t come one) which resulted in a nearly 2 hour “light delay” and ended his night.   The pen held on after [...]

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