Future Dodger?

Several months ago, I was already sick of hearing how the Dodgers would not spend any money, the divorce was crippling the Dodgers, the Dodgers need a new owner and blah, blah, blah.  I was on-board with all their off-season moves – the non-tenders of Wolf and Hudson, the trade of Juan Pierre for Link and Ely and the signings of Jamey Carroll and Ronnie Belisario (OK, I hated the Garrett Anderson signing).  I knew what was happening – the Dodgers knew they couldn’t get Roy Halliday, and Cliff Lee wasn’t available.  They weren’t going to settle for chumps.  Many (strike that, most) of you thought that the Dodgers were just cheap and would not spend any money.  There was even some cowardly idiot named McCheapness who came on this board and make fun of what I said and made an ass of himself in the process.  Come to think of it MOST,  YES MOST, of you argued with me about the same thing.

Well, the fact of the matter is that the Dodgers are a very good team, are in the thick of the pennant race, and have as good or better chance of going to the World Series as any other NL team. The fact that Ned stood pat over the winter and didn’t sign a chump like John Lackey, means that the Dodgers have enough cash to trade for a high-profile pitcher.  Ken Gurnick reported today that the Dodgers were pursing starting pitching. That’s not news, I told you that a month ago! Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, Zach Greinke and some others may be available and the Dodgers are players.  They won’t “gut” the farm, but they will be aggressive.  I guarantee it!  My preference is Cliff Lee – he’s a rent-a-player who the Dodgers could re-sign next season (or not), who would give them a legitimate ace.  He’s not going to command a lot of top prospects, but the Dodgers may have to give up Martin and Withrow along with someone like Ely.

Look, we have three (count ‘em 3) good starters:  Kershaw (near Ace), Kuroda (strong #2 or #3) and Billingsley (#2 -#4, depending upon a lot of factors).  Vicente Padilla or John Ely may be our #4, but Ely’s star is setting.  I am not writing him off, but he’s going to have to change what he’s been  doing lately.  I like the kid.  I like his moxie, but the league has “caught up to him” and he has to figure it out or go back to AAA.   Monasterios needs to pitch out of the pen – too young, too inexperienced.  He can be effective in middle relief.

Of as much concern is Ramon Troncoso who was Lights Out in Cincy and Lite Up in Boston.  He didn’t look like the same pitcher.   It appears to me that some days he has absolutely NO CONTROL of his curve-ball. Maybe he should abandon it altogether!  His velocity is fine.  It’s the curve that is doing him in.

Rants & Raves

• It hurts to have Raffy out of the lineup – a lot!
• Travis Schlichting has been a godsend!
• Adrian Beltre would look good in the middle of the Dodger order right about now.  He is leading the Red Sox in RBI (48), Hits (87) and is hitting .339 with 10 HR and 18 Doubles.  He is OPSing .908 and playing Gold Glove Defense.   And, And… he generally doesn’t really hit until the second half.  I hate to say it, but I told you so!  ;)   Of course, I told you so about Andy LaRoche too, but .500 would win a batting championship …
• James Loney – Dodger RBI Leader – an argument could be made he should hit 3rd!
• Andre Ethier – Struggles on the Road Continue
• The way Loney is hitting, I like this lineup:

1. Raffy  SS
2. Kemp  CF
3. Loney  1B
4. Ethier  RF
5. Manny  LF
6. Blake  3B
7. DeWitt 2B
8. Martin  C

I like Martin at #8 – DeWitt will see more pitches.

An Ace:  While no one on the Dodgers will say it publicly, Clayton Kershaw is morphing into that Ace the Dodger fans covet, probably sooner that most expected.  As Tony Jackson of ESPN/LosAngeles points out, he is 6-1 with a 1.83 ERA in his last 8 starts and is pitching much deeper into games.  He has allowed only 4 HR in 85 innings pitched – just one in the past six weeks.  He did get off to a poor start this year and walked a lot of batters early in the season, but last night he showed how much better his command has become.  Clayton threw 110 pitches last night, 79 of which were strikes.  When you are actually at a game, you can see what the other hitters think about the guy on the mound – when the Reds hitters walked to the plate, they looked like a death-row inmate going to the execution chamber, and when they walked back to the dugout, they were muttering under their breath.   The thing is, I have seen Clayton with a much better curve-ball than last night, but he has learned to work with what he has and he trusts whatever stuff he has.    I still would like to see the Dodgers get another Ace, but the fact is, they already have one.

The Chip: This has to be the thing on Manny’s shoulder.  He played last night with a vigor and a zeal I haven’t seen from him in quite a spell.  Forget the laser shot to right center field that got out of Great American ballpark in about 3 nanoseconds – he can still do that.  What impressed me is that he played a double off the wall into a single, and then threw the runner out at the plate when he tried to score from 2B on a slow single.  Manny caught the ball and threw in one quick motion, unleashing a laser-like throw which probably never got more than 20 feet off the ground.  I mean, I have watched Manny throw those “moon balls” back to the infield so many times that I had no clue he had a throw like that in him.  Maybe it was the last one, but it was a good one.

Rants & Raves

• Ronald Belisario’s stuff is not nearly as devastating as last season.  Kuo?  His ball “pops” and moves like crazy.
• Raffy is playing like a much younger man.
• Travis Schlichting was recalled last night and probably could see action this afternoon if needed.
• Print the tickets:  Claudio Vargas was re-signed by the Dodgers to a minor league deal.
• Andre Ethier gets all the ink, but James Loney is tied with him for the team RBI lead.
• The Reds are first in the NL in hitting, but the Dodgers are 2nd and they don’t play in a bandbox.
• The Dodgers are now 8th in the NL in pitching, and have moved from 15th to 12th in fielding.
• Even with DeWitt’s error last night, he is playing much better defense at 2B and looks very comfortable there.  If he’d just show some power…
• Don’t look now, but Kyle Russell is making adjustments.  See Jarod’s Minor League Report
• First Place!  Some of you don’t know what to do – there’s nobody to bash today!

Squeak Up, Bud!

Jim Joyce manned up and admitted that he blew the call and cost Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers a perfect game.

After the game, with tears in his eyes Joyce said ”I just cost that kid a perfect game.”  Jim Joyce felt so bad that he came to the Tigers clubhouse and apologized in person.  Joyce is human.  He made a mistake.  He admitted it and is genuinely sorry.  I don’t feel like beating him up for it.  He made a bad mistake, but not on purpose.  That part is over, but this is a situation which can be set right by non other than the commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig.

A few years ago, my company received a check in the mail for $254,000.00 from a fortune 500 company.  The problem was that the check was supposed to be for $254.00!  A mistake had been made in accounting and we called and it was corrected.  A $254,000.00 check was nicer than a $254 check, but it was the right thing to do.  In this case, Jim Joyce made a mistake on the final out of a perfect game.  The end result of the game would be the same.

A perfect game is rare.  Less than 25 times in the history of the game have the baseball gods aligned the stars for one to occur.  They were aligned yesterday.  It happened.  It’s a lie to say otherwise.  Will Bud let the lie stand?  He has the power to make things right.  Just like we returned that erroneous check, he can overrule that erroneous call.  Armando Galarraga’s name was taken out of the record books by a lie.

Bud Selig, are you a man or a mouse?  Come on, squeak up!

Dodger Lore:

• I think there is a good chance that Travis Schlichting will go back to AAA today.  The Dodgers need fresh arms after yesterdays game.  Jon Link is the obvious choice and he’s been pitching well of late.  Travis will be back.  He was impressive.
• Carlos Monasterios alleged developed a blister which prevented him from going 6.  I wonder if he’ll be OK for his next start?
• The Dodgers team ERA now sits at 3.99!
• The Atlanta Braves are the hottest team in baseball – This is a real test!
• Where are the Jamey Carroll bashers now?  This guy has been simply outstanding!  The lunatics who blasted Ned for this deal are simply what I just called them.
• Garrett Anderson’s hit wasn’t much of a hit, but it won the game.  That’s the long and short of it!
• What a bullpen!!!!!
• Of all the people who bad-mouthed me for saying the Dodgers were going to be a very good team this year, only Lawdog has manned up and apologized!
• It looks like Jared may have been abducted by aliens.  If he doesn’t get the minor league report up, I’ll do it later.

The Top 10 - In No Particular Order

I have no clue where this “Debacle in the Ravine will take us, but I’d say Jamie does not have the upper hand.   No, I’m not going to speculate on who we will sign and who we won’t or who we should trade.  Today, I just want to do some “farming.”  Let’s take a look at the Dodgers top prospects. Read the full story

•  The ball looked like it was gone, but suddenly Spiderman aka/Andre Ethier, shot out his net, scaled the wall and brought it back into the
  

  The Real Spiderman

  park, all this after walking to deliver the winning run for the Dodgers.  It was the Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp show.  Get used to it.  

• After a rough start, Padilla looked pretty good, hitting 97 MPH on the stadium gun (Gameday had him at 94, which is what I believe).
• Repko, Elbert and Ellis were recalled.  I wonder why they kept Repko over Hoffman – there has to be some reason – Repko is out of options and Hoffman wasn’t.  Travis Schlichting was moved to the 60-day DL to make room for Garland.  If that looks fishy to you, it’s not.  He’s been in Arizona for a couple of weeks getting treatment for a back problem that has bothered him all year.  He hasn’t pitched in AAA for a while.
• It looks like Kuroda will be back Sunday.
• Cole Hamels pitched a 1-0 shutout last night and now has three good starts in a row under his belt.  Il we want to win this thing, HoneyBunchesOfOats needs to get Billingasley “FIXED” like now!  Get it done TONIGHT!
• Garland pitches against his old team Thursday.  How wierd is that?
• Kensai at Memories of Kevin Malone rates the Dodgers top prospects.
• Did you see Russell Martin flying around the bases and sliding into home?  He was flat-out moving.
• Keep Repko in RF and away from our SS. Read the full story