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

Here it is January already and with Spring Training right around the corner, there is very little to talk about it in Dodgerland. As we wait to see if there will be a starting pitcher fall out of a tree before Spring Training, what do we do with our Dodger time? We read what other fans are saying. [...]

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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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ESPN Los Angeles has a good interview with Clayton Kershaw today.  Here’s the transcript: ESPN Los Angeles By the way, this is Tony Jackson’s new home: http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/columns/archive?name=tony-jackson It’s good to see him back on the beat! ESPN Los Angeles has lots of good stuff – I’ll have a link to it on the home page [...]

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Los Angeles, CA- Going into the 2010 season, who knew that Clayton Kershaw would have his breakout season in 2010?  The unassuming, mild-mannered Texas kid is a solid condidate for the Cy Young Award with his 21-8 record and 3.09 ERA.  Chad Billingsley figures to get a few votes along with Jon Broxton.  Billingsley with [...]

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Over the past several weeks, I have seen the McCourt Saga gather momentum, like a rock rolling down a hill.  While the divorce is nasty and ugly, a lot of mis-information exists.  It starts with “McCourt might have to sell the team” (a possibility) to “McCourt has to sell the team” to “we want a [...]

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It’s no secret that the McCourts are in the midst of a messy divorce, but would things be any different if Frank and Jamie were still together? Would that have caused the Dodgers to offer arbitration to Randy Wolf and/or Orlando Hudson?  Would that have caused the Dodgers to sign Wolf?  Well, no one can [...]

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The Baseball Winter Meetings are being held in Indianapolis beginning on Monday, December 7th thru Thursday, December 10th.  While MLB would not issue me a credential, I will be there and hopefully get lucky.   The only thing that credentials really do is get you inside the interview room when there are news conferences. I can [...]

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Answer:  One is a bottom-dwelling garbage-eater and the other is a fish! Get used to it.  The Dodgers are now officially bottom-dwelling, garbage-eaters.  They love to eat up cheap, journeyman-like players who may not have much upside but are cheap, cheap, cheap.  Warm bodies to stock AAA… and maybe, if a Randy Wolf or Adrian [...]

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Just in case you haven’t figured it out, attendance at Dodger Stadium is not the only source of income for the Dodgers.  While their have attendance has been stellar,  most other teams  have seen substantial declines in attendance, which means that the Dodgers get a smaller cut of the gate and concessions.  It is not clear [...]

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It turns out that the Dodgers have 34 minor league free agents, which is more than any other team.  What does that mean?  Does it mean that our farm system is depleted?  Well, we did trade away a few prospects (Santana, Bell, Johnson, Young, LaRoche, Meloan, et al), but the biggest culprit of why we have [...]

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If you have a home which is worth $400,000 or $400,000,000 and you are served divorce papers by your spouse,  what do you do?  It’s obvious that a great part of the parties’ net worth is that asset.  Some people are idiots about this – some have even burned-down the house rather than split the [...]

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The Dodgers have improved over 2008.   They won more games, but they still couldn’t get past the Phillies, and the Phillies will still be good next year.  I suspect that Raul Ibanez had his career year and will slip back to reality next year and the Phillies will have some holes to fill, just like [...]

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 This team is far from needing rebuilding, but any good team needs to ”retool” every year.  Last year, the Phillies won the World Series with Pat Burrell in LF.  They evidently decided  that he wasn’t the answer this year, so they signed a guy even older who ended up having his career year.   The Phillies may yet be [...]

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In the celebration last night, I sensed that the boys still know this is only one step to get where they want to be.  They have traveled this path before only to have their dreams shattered by a team they might have to play again.  I sensed that, while happy, they will really celebrate when [...]

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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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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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It was a story that the Dodgers scored some runs, let alone 5 (count ‘em 5) runs in one inning.  It was a story that gimpy Casey Blake made plays at 3B no one else would have made, and got key hits and doubled in the clutch.  It was a story that Juan Pierre starts [...]

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Now that we have clinched a playoff spot and are within two games of  clinching the NL West Championship, I think it is time to shift the emphasis from our starters, namely Russell Martin, James Loney, Orlando Hudson, Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake, Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, and recognize the Stuntmen.  Actually, this [...]

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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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