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

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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It’s all in the perspective, unless you want to look at it some other way. “Chad Billingsley is a bum, because he has been horrible and has a 4.05 ERA!”  Did you know that Cole Hamels has a 4.07 ERA and the guy who some want to take Bills place in the roattaion has a 4.02 [...]

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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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… to beat the Dodgers.  It was nice to have a “laugh-er” for once.   I need to re-interate that I am a prophet!  Last month, I predicted that Loney would be “white hot” in September and yesterday I wrote that this was the time for Ethier, Kemp, Loney and Martin to step-up and show this [...]

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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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Would Manny jilt the Dodgers for someone who will pay him more money?  Manny would! Would Manny dog it in the outfield chasing a double and playing it into a triple?  Manny would! Would Manny take an illegal drug in order the get an unfair advantage?  Manny would! Would Manny ditch his teammates if he [...]

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