• On Wednesday my brother and I made the trek to Greenville, Ohio to bury another uncle.  This is the third time in about 6 months that we have been there to bury our aunts and uncles – all were over 94 years old.   My bother and I are the last of the Mohicians.
• In February, my right hip started hurting all the time.  Last Friday, I was on crutches.  June 23rd I am having my right hip replaced.  I am in constant pain and I look forward to it, but I am scared to death!  I hate blood. Read the full story

June 7, 2009 – Tony Jackson’s Blog – OK, that guy some of you are so fond of calling Mr. Softee, or whatever, came up big again, his second walkoff hit in less than 24 hours. But Ethier’s heroics aside, don’t overlook Cory Wade. He might have been the real hero of this one. He went six-up, six-downa against the Phillies in the 11th and 12th, all with his characteristic attacking of the strike zone, a trademark of Cory’s since he was in the low minors. Chad Durbin also went six-up, six-down after entering with two outs in the 10th, but Ethier was the seventh batter he faced. Wade never had to face a seventh batter. Read the full story

June 6, 2009 – Tony Jackson’s Blog –  Missed most of the game tonight because I was at the gym — when you’re unemployed, you have time to do things like that — and I caught up with it just as James Loney was drawing that critical, seven-pitch walk in the ninth inning, which I would like to say was the key to that whole rally. But it wasn’t. The key to the whole rally, quite obviously, was the boot by Pedro Feliz, because the game would have ended right there if he had made that play.
   This was exactly the kind of rally I was talking about a couple of nights ago here, when I likened these Dodgers to Joe Torre’s early years with the New York Yankees — although it’s tough to imagine anybody talking about the ghosts of Dodger Stadium, given that most of the guys who starred there back in the day are all still alive. Anyway, there were two outs and nobody on against Brad Lidge, who had sliced through Rafael Furcal and Orlando Hudson like butter, and it appeared that all hope was lost. But a single here, a walk there, an error, and the boys were in business. Read the full story

June 5, 2009 -Tony Jackson’s Blog – The boys got taken to school tonight by Cole Hamels, a complete-game shutout in 97 pitches. Ordinarily, I might say shake it off, it’s a complete-game shutout by Cole Hamels, it happens. But has anyone noticed that on this homestand, the Dodgers have scored runs in four of the 34 innings in which they have batted? They have scored a TOTAL of nine runs in the four games, with five of those coming IN ONE INNING. It’s certainly not panic time, not with an 8 1/2-game lead in the division — the Giants gained a game by virtue of Randy Johnson winning his 300th tonight — but it’s a disturbing trend, to say the least. My buddy Kevin Baxter pointed out in today’s L.A. Times that the Dodgers averaged 5.6 runs a game before Manny got suspended and that they are still averaging 5.3 runs a game without him. But lately, they have really hit the skids. And don’t forget that before they exploded for eight runs in the series finale at Chicago last weekend, they scored a total of three runs in the first three games of that series. They have now been shut out twice in the past six days. Read the full story

Will the extra rest help Clayton Kershaw pitch better or make him want to throw every pitch 150 MPH?   We shall find out soon.

Tonight’s Lineup:

1. Pierre, LF
2. Furcal, SS
3. Hudson, 2B
4. Blake, 3B
5. Loney, 1B
6. Martin, C
7. Ethier, RF
8. Kemp, CF
9. Kershaw, P Read the full story

June 3, 2009 – Tony Jackson’s Blog  - He made his first rehab appearance for high Single-A Inland Empire last night (that’s in San Bernardino, by the way). He pitched one scoreless inning and struck out one batter. There you have it. Read the full story

Bulletin: Orlando Hudson not starting tonight – That would be for the first time this season. The O-Dog started every single game through the one-third mark, which was last night. Not sure of the reason yet, but I don’t think he has any kind of injury. It definitely isn’t a matchup thing, as he is hitting .348 (8 for 23) with two HR and six RBI for his career against Jon Garland, so it’s probably simply about giving him a night off. At this point, the guy could probably use one. Read the full story

Dodgers head home with a series split and a 5-2 trip – Oh, and an opposing manager’s stuffed head to hang above the fireplace. The Dodgers swept Clint Hurdle right out of a job. Sorry about the inconsistency of posts the past few days. Figured I would let Mark take center stage while he was in  Chicago, and I hope he enjoyed the trip. Tonight was a pretty typical Dodgers win, a whole bunch of singles in the first inning to put them out to a 5-0 lead. Matt Kemp later homered to make it 6-0, just the 36th home run of the season for the boys, who began the day 25th in the majors in that category. So how do they have the runaway best record in baseball, and an 8 1/2-game lead in the division, while hitting so few dingers? It’s all about the OBP. Dodgers entered the day at .370, best in the majors. At the risk of sounding too Moneyball-ish, this might be the single most important offensive statistic in baseball, because every time a batter gets on base, it means he DOESN’T make an out. And as long as you don’t make three outs, you can keep scoring runs all night. Read the full story

Finding the negative in a three-game sweep – A Dodgers PR intern from a few years back — and she knows who she is — bestowed upon me the title of Captain of the Negativity Squad. I believe that arose right around the time the Dodgers were going 1-14 coming out of the 2006 All-Star break, all while I was certain their season was circling the drain even as she insisted they would turn things around. Well, wouldn’t you know, right after they went 1-14, they went 17-1, and they ended up in the playoffs that year. But even after they just swept the Rockies and ran the runaway best record in the majors to 33-15, I, the aforementioned COTNS, have happened upon a major cause for concern: Read the full story

A long day’s journey into early evening  – Greetings from the beautiful Ozark Mountains. Finally arrived at my parents’ home in Fayetteville, Ark., at about 2:30 a.m. on Monday morning, slept til noon, then spent the rest of the day relaxing, visiting and NOT watching the Dodgers on mlb.tv. By the time I finally did get around to logging onto Gameday so I c0uld update the scorebook, I came across what had to have been the boys’ most hideous victory of the season, although I’m sure some of you who did see it can either vouch for that fact or shoot it down. Funny thing about victories, though, the ugly ones count the same, and the Dodgers maintained a comfortable, 7 1/2-game lead over the surging Pods, who have now won 10 in a row. Read the full story

Wasted opportunities, intentional and otherwise

Just read Dylan Hernandez’s game story on the L.A. Times website, which included the following bit of wisdom from Orlando Hudson:

“We had 50 guys in scoring position,” Orlando Hudson muttered as he raced past reporters on his way to the showers. Read the full story

Guess they decided Eric Stults’ bad thumb was still too bad for him to pitch, even though he reported improvement in it yesterday after he played long toss. He ended up skipping his regular bullpen altogether because of the injury. The Dodgers still haven’t sent out the usual transcript of Joe Torre’s pregame media session, so I don’ t have anything else on it at this point, other than a brief email they just sent out saying Weaver would start in place of Stults tomorrow. Read the full story

I’m not just talking about what the Dodgers will do – I believe that the Dodgers will surprise a lot of people.  We have already seen certain players raise their games and I sometimes things that appear bad on the surface can galvanize a team into becoming even better.  I think something of that sort will happen.  I am not so naive as to believe that we will keep up the same winning percentage as when Manny was playing, but I do think we will prevail.  What I really want to know is the following:

1. How can I believe this was just a one time thing?    How can I belive this was an isolated incident?  Are all baseball players cheaters?
2. To some extent I feel violated.  I feel that some stole something from me.  Manny had that “happy-go-lucky” attitude which seemed to infect the entire team.  Why do I feel that we will never have that same feeling again?
3. And finally,   what do I tell my 9 year-old son who idolizes Manny.  How do I explain that  steroids are not OK?

The Dodgers have a problem.  Baseball has a problem.  Society has a problem.  How do we fix it?  I don’t have  clue, but I can tell you this – some of the joy just left the game for me.  I am not going to say “I told you so,” but there have always been issues surrounding Manny.  This latest one may be his legacy.  Dodger fans hated Bonds for perceived “jucing,” but Bonds never flunked a steroid test.  Manny has.  Do you have a double standard?  Are you going to give Manny a free pass while denouncing Barry?  Think about it. Read the full story