Torre, Ramirez and Loney headline team of Dodger players on international goodwill trip

PHOENIX – The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced the expected roster for the upcoming three-game series in Taiwan. Additional players may be added or changed prior to the March 10 departure.

The Dodgers will bring 33 players, including 17 with Major League experience, in their first team trip to Taiwan since the 1993 Friendship Series. Manager Joe Torre, left fielder Manny Ramirez and first baseman James Loney will be joined by Taiwan natives Hong-Chih Kuo and Chin-lung Hu, Japan native Robert Boothe and South Korea native Hyang-Nam Choi.

Six players on the roster also made the Dodgers’ historic trip to Beijing, China in 2008 for the first-ever games in that country. They are Kuo, Hu, John Lindsey, Lucas May, Xavier Paul and Eric Stults as well as Torre and coaches Lorenzo Bundy and John Shoemaker.

Lindsey registered the first hit, a single to left field, during the two-game series against the Padres in China.

A complete roster is below, subject to change.

Pitchers (15): RHP Mario Alvarez, LHP Alberto Bastardo, RHP Robert Boothe, RHP Jesus Castillo, RHP Hyang-Nam Choi, RHP John Ely, RHP Francisco Felix, RHP Charlie Haeger, RHP Kenley Jansen, LHP Hong-Chih Kuo, RHP Josh Lindblom, RHP Jon Link, LHP Juan Perez, LHP Eric Stults and RHP Josh Towers.

Catchers (4): J.D. Closser, Gabriel Gutierrez, Lucas May, Jesse Mier

Infielders (8): Ronnie Belliard, Angel Berroa, Jamey Carroll, Chin-lung Hu, John Lindsey, James Loney, Russ Mitchell and Ramon Nivar

Outfielders (6): Brian Barton, Xavier Paul, Manny Ramirez, Prentice Redman, Michael Restovich, Trayvon Robinson

Coaches: Manager Joe Torre, first base coach John Shoemaker, third base coach Lorenzo Bundy, pitching coach Jim Slaton, hitting coach/bench coach Tim Wallach and bullpen catcher Mike Borzello.

THE Chin

Green, Berroa, Carroll, Belliard, Johnson, Repko, Paul,  Hu, DeWitt, Mientkiewicz and Amezaga are all in the running to be “stuntmen.”  

The reality of the matter is that the majority of them will end up at AAA waiting for a call…  If you look at the stats of each (and I shall not bore you), not much jumps out. 

Maybe you can ascertain that Reed Johnson is a professional hitter (if healthy), and maybe you can even say the same about Carroll and Belliard, but Green, Berroa and Amezaga have never been known as hitters.  Missers, maybe.  Hitters?  Hardly!  Barring injury, I think it’s safe to assume that Johnson, Carroll and Belly will make the team.  So will Brad Ausmus. 

That leaves Green, Berroa, Repko, Paul, DeWitt, Hu, Mientkiewicz and Amezaga to fight for one spot.  May the best man win.  For the record, I think Amezaga will prevail (if healthy).

Oh, and sometimes guys like him have an unexplained “career year” only to fade into oblivion the next. 

You never know…

Have you seen “The Chin?”  When Casey Blake stands at 3B, his chin is on the mound.

If the reports are true, and Reed Johnson is going to sign with the Dodgers, I would think that Jason Rekpo is the “odd man out.”  While I like Jason Repko, he has not “seized the day” and shown that he can hit major league pitching.   Johnson is the not the equal of Repko on defense, but he probably won’t run over the shortstop either. 

Reed can play all three outfield positions and while he isn’t a standout, he is solid as a defender.  Average speed, average arm, but experienced, and he is a professional hitter with a .282 career BA and .344 OB%.  He’s a very solid #4 outfielder.  Teams who aren’t trying to win would just go with a guy like Repko.  Experience counts more than skill.  Johnson will be an excellent addition for the Dodgers.  Now, there are two questions:

1. Does Repko get traded or released? and
2. Will X. Paul make the team too?

With Johnson and Paul, we would have an excellent L-R Duo of subs who can play all 3 outfield positions.   That would take up two of the five utility spots we have.  Ausmus has the 3rd spot and Carroll has the 4th spot.  With Belliard almost assured of a spot, that mean that DeWitt and Hu are headed to AAA unless Paul is demoted.  There are lots of options…

In case you haven’t read it, Tony Jackson has an article with a lot of quotes from Logan White and Ned Colletti.  Check it out…

With the Dodgers pitching rotation settled (1-4 and #5 from a plethora of in-house candidates), Ned has now turned his attention to 2B and the utility players.  At last glance, we had Blake DeWitt and Jamey Carroll at 2B, and I am fine with that, but I doubt that Ned is.  Felipe Lopez and Ronnie Belliard are still out there, last time I checked. 

Carroll  and Belliard are not shortstops, and while Lopez has not played SS for a couple of years, he could play the position in a pinch.  The only real SS we have other than Raffy is Hu, and we may or may not be able to keep him because of his bat.  Lopez made $3.5 mil last year and no one is busting down his door.   He might be a bargain, and might be perfect as a #2 hitter for us.  Since he played for St. Louis the last half of 2008, his OB% has been over .400.  He has good speed and can steal a base, although he hasn’t been asked to lately.  I am intrigued with the possibility of Felipe playing 2B for us.  He’s a switch-hitter and sometimes as a guy nears 30, “it’s right place, right time. ”

Our infield would be set with him at 2B and DeWitt able to spell Blake at 3B against tough right-handers.   Carroll becomes a pinch-hitter and relief at 2B  or 3B.  Hu would probably not make the team under that scenario.  We payed about $9 mil last year for a second baseman who is arguably not an upgrade over Lopez.

In the outfield we have Jason Repko and Xavier Paul and while I am fine with both of them, Ned probably isn’t.  Stay tuned!

I made my plans and got my tickets yesterday for Camelback Ranch.  I will be there on March 20th through March 27th.  My wife and son will be flying in on the 25th to see the last 3 games with me.  I haven’t gotten the away game tickets, but I’ll work on that next week.  It’s going to be a great Spring Training.   Like Roger mentioned last week, there seems to be gloom and doom by lots of commenters on this board, but that is not a concept shared by most of the national media (which worries me). 

Ride Manny Ride

There is a Mini-Camp in late January at Camelback and I was going to have Rory (Badger) cover it, but after talking with Josh Rawitch, it looks like there will be no media.  Maybe Badger can rent a helicoptor and fly around taking pictures for us. 

Voldomer will be there from March 8-13 and has said that he will provide updates and photos as well.  Badger lives near there, so hopefully he can do the same.

I plan to have LA LodgerTalk T-Shirts available by the End of January – stay tuned, because they will be VERY COOL!   At a very good price I might add….

Some fans have asked which young players have the best chance of making the team.  Here’s my list (in no particular order):

• Josh Lindblom (middle relief)
• Xavier Paul  (4th OF) – This guy has a bat with a lot of pop (great “gap” power) and the best arm in the organization. 
• Carlos Monasterios  (5th Starter) – He has looked good in the Winter League
• Armando Zerpa (middle relief) – Just because he’s LH and they have to keep him or lose him.
• Brent Leach (middle relief) – We have already seen that he has good stuff… and he’s LH
• Travis Schlichting (middle relief) – See Brent Leach, but he’s not LH

Jon Link, Chin-lung Hu, Scott Elbert (who may not be rookies), Jason Repko and AJ Ellis also have a crack at making the team.

Several sources have reported that Jason Repko signed a $500,000.00 deal with the Dodgers to avaoid arbitration.   Just a few weeks ago, most bloggers were saying that he would be “non-tendered.” 

Below is the Spring Training Schedule

Here’s a great analysis about Jason Repko from Phil Gurnee of TrueBlueLa:

Based on what Ned Colletti is saying, Jason Repko appears to be staying around for the moment. With the Dodgers trying very hard to trade Juan Pierre and his contract for either a starting pitcher or a 2nd baseman the battle for who becomes the Dodger fourth outfielder looks to come down to Jason Repko or Xavier Paul.  It would seem a given that Paul is the better candidate to be the fourth outfielder but is he?

Xavier Paul does everything as well as Repko in the field. Repko is faster on bases. What Paul does not  do well is hit LHP.  He hits RHP as well as Repko hits LHP but my argument is that this team needs someone to caddy for Andre.  If Manny was to get hurt, then I’d bring up Paul to be the everyday LF not Repko, but for a guy off the bench Repko might be that guy.

Jason Repko does many things well that you would look for in a backup outfielder. The thing he does best however is mash LHP.  His slug% against LHP over the last three minor league season has been greater then .585 every year and twice it has topped .600.  The Dodgers have a need for guy who can hit LHP and play RF. Repko can be that guy. What he can’t do is hit RHP, so the Dodgers will need to have a guy like Minky on the bench who can handle that role.

The Dodgers starting outfield is Manny, Kemp, and Andre. Of those three only one has a serious chink in their armor. That chink is that Andre does not hit left handed pitching very well. For his career Andre has a 200 point split in his OPS between facing RHP and LHP. Last year that split widened to .926 compared to .629. Part of the problem the Dodgers had last year with Pierre on the bench was that we could not use Pierre in RF to sit Andre against some LHP. The gain in moving Kemp to RF and Pierre to CF,with the left handed Pierre facing left handed pitching just wasn’t worth it.

They both can play all the positions of the outfield, they both have plus speed, and they both have guns for arms. So that is how they are the same. How they are different is probably why I think that Repko might be the better fit for a fourth outfielder role.

Keeping Repko is a bsaeball decision, obviously not a $$$$ decision

Dylan Hernandez reports that the Dodger have decided not to sell Eric Stults to Japan.  Another baseball decision.

I think that Pierre will be gone soon and Repko and Paul will be our extra outfielders.

Coming up soon:

Logan White and De Jon Watson discuss the Dodgers Minor Leagues and players like Lambo and Gordon.  Watch for it on Friday right here on LAdodgertalk.com

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 be sure, but do you really want 3 years of Randy Wolf?  I mean, two years ago and even last year, many of you didn’t want him back. 

Yeah, the Randy Wolf of 2009 was pretty nice, so nice that he earned the Type A Free Agent Rating, but what are the odds that he stays healthy or continues his level of success in 2010, 2011 and 2012?  I would say the odds are not good.  That’s just my opinion, but I don’t see him as a workhorse.  I do see a guy who could say that he was a Type A Free Agent who had better stats that D-Lowe, and D-Lowe makes $15 mil a year.  That was the most that Wolf stood to make – $15 mil a year, but if he would have asked for, say $13 million a year, he would have had a decent shot at it, especially if the Dodgers offered less than $10 million. 

You might say that the Brewers offered him about $30 mil over 3 years, but what makes you so sure they would have offered the contract if they had to give up compensation?  You don’t know, and there is no way to ever know, but it’s circular thinking to think it would have happened the same way.   I think the Dodgers decided (change that – I know that the Dodgers decided that they did not want to give Randy Wolf a multi-year deal in the $10 mil per year range and they felt he would accept arbitration because (1) he knew he could get $11-15 mil in arbitration ($15 mil is probably too high, but maybe not); and (2) they did not want to commit to a multi-year deal with him.  This is all conjecture, but offering arbitration would have changed the whole dynamic. 

For similar reasons, Orlando Hudson, who did not want to come back to LA, would have jumped at a chance for a $10 million payday.  He was an All-Star and Gold Glove 2B on multiple occasions, and again – a case could be made that he could command up to $10 million a year.  Likely?  MAYBE NOT, BUT POSSIBLE!   It is an extreme example, but it’s possible that the Dodgers could have had 25% of their $100 million payroll tied up with two players.  Again, it may not have been likely, but it was a scenario that the Dodgers had to consider as possible.  If that had happened it would have crippled the Dodgers ability give raises to their youngsters.

Randy Wolf and Orlando Hudson made us better in 2009, but I have reason to believe that one of our youngsters can step in and fill their shoes.   McDonald, Troncoso, Elbert, Lindblom and Haeger are in the mix for the first 2 spots behind Billingsley, Kershaw and Kuroda.  Again, come July, more arms will be on the market at a cheaper price.  I see nothing wrong with trying the youngsters and then shopping in July, if necessary.  Should Ned tell you that?  Why play your cards?  This team is going to be very good next year, if only because our players are another year older and more mature.  Blake DeWitt is a “Ballplayer” at 2B, and I would not even sniff at Belliard or Carroll, unless it’s as a utility-man.

Manny Ramirez will also be playing for a new contract and I think he will return with a vengeance.  I also don’t see the Dodgers buying-down Pierre’s contract.  They will keep him or trade him for a pitcher with a “bad contract.”  I still hope for Harang (because I think he has a higher upside than Arroyo), but who knows?  The Dodgers still need bench help, but we already have Xavier Paul, Jason Repko, Juan Pierre and Chin-lung Hu.  Brad Ausmus is a strong possibility again,  and so all we need is another RH infield bat – not Craig Counsell who is LH.

So, back to the question first propounded – would things be any different if the McCourts were a couple?  I can’t answer that, but I will ask, should things be any different if the McCourts were a couple?  This is a business and is it prudent to sign players like Jason Schmidt, Andruw Jones or, for that matter, Manny Ramirez?  I say no.  I am on record this time last year as saying the Dodgers should not sign Manny (something for which I was castigated), but Manny was mostly a “non-factor.”  Go after “Blue Chip” Players, not “cow chip” players.  If we had went after C.C. Sabathia instead of Manny, we would be talking right now about Hudson or Wolf, and we might have won the Series last year. 

I say that when it comes to Free Agents – Go BIG or Stay Home!  Think about it!  There are no “BIG” ones this year, so we should stay home.  Quit trying to “make a silk purse out of a sows ear.”  So, if you are one of the naysayers who say “The Dodgers Won’t Win With The Pitchers They Have,”  You are probably the same ones who told me the Dodgers wouldn’t win without Manny. They didn’t win WITH him.

… of hitters!  I mean, think about it – who do the Dodgers really have that is a major league hitting prospect who looks like  Gordon, maybe Lambo – that’s it.    Gordon has a crazy huge upside, and while I still like Lambo, this is his “make or break” year.  He has to start raking.  He regressed last year, but looked better in the AFL.   It’s wake up-time for him.

• Ivan DeJesus, Jr.?  Not enough pop to justify his lack of speed.  Forget him as a starter at 2B, and he’s certainly not a starting SS.  Utilityman is the best he will be.
• Trayvon Robinson?  4th Outfielder, although he could possibly play LF, if we needed a leadoff hitter, but Gordon should fill that role in two years, so Robinson looks like a 4th outfielder to me.
• Xavier Paul?  This guy could surprise – if there’s a sleeper here, it is the X-Man!
• Lucas May?  He’s not that good as a Catcher and his bat is probably less than Martins.  That doesn’t bode well for him.
• Kyle Russell?  He’ll need at least three more years.  He’s too far away to project anything, although he has crazy power.
• Pedro Baez?  He’ll be on the mound before the season is over!  He can’t hit, but he has a cannon on his shoulder.
• Scott Van Slyke?  He had a nice year, but let’s see him do it at a higher level, then I might say he’s a prospect, but right now, he’s not!
• Brian Cavazos-Galvez?  Jonathan Garcia?  Steven Caseres?   Gorman Erickson?  Too early.  Way too early to even predict, but I lean towards NO!  Don’t get excited.
• Jerry Sands?  Career AA Player!
• Tony Delmonico?  Not as a Catcher, well he doesn’t look like a Catcher.  He has a bat that could be good.  Can he play 2B?
• Austin Gallagher?  Ha!
• Nick Buss?  Probably not!  No, NOT!
• Preston Mattingly?  Please!
• AJ Ellis?  Sub, probably a #3
• Jamie Hoffman?  5th or 7th OF.

The cupboard is bare right about now, which is precisely why the Dodgers need to offer arbitration to Wolf and Hudson.  We should find out very soon.  They need to start drafting some hitters.  Fortunately, the Dodgers are stocked with good young arms, which I shall address in my next column.

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,

Hu's on the team

 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 what the amount of the decline is to me, but I estimate it at around $15 to $20 million a year.  Couple that with MLB Apparel and Memorabilia sales declines and the Dodgers could be losing as much as $20 to $25 million a year in revenue as a result of the recession.  It may get better next year.  It may not.  Some teams (can you say Cincinnati Reds?) are looking to dump payroll.  The Dodgers are looking to stay level or even drop payroll.  I have an idea:

How about Juan Pierre, James McDonald, Ivan DeJesus, Jr., and Blake DeWitt to the Reds for either Aaron Harang or Bronson Arroyo and Brandon Phillips?  Up-shoot:  The Reds save $10 mil a year and get some prospects (along with a  leadoff hitter – Dusty Baker loves Pierre) and the Dodgers spend only an extra $10 mil to get an “inning eater” pitcher and a 2B.  Next, the Dodgers should offer Hudson and Wolf arbitration, making it clear to Hudson that Phillips is the 2B, and if he won his arbitration case he’d be a backup.  Hudson would decline arbitration, but Wolf could accept.  That’s fine!

Dole out the raises to the youngsters and the Dodgers are done!  Our rotation would look something like this:

1. Kershaw
2. Billingsley
3. Kuroda
4. Arroyo/Harang
5. Wolf or Heager

Lineup:

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

I could live with that!  Harang makes $11.5 mil next year and Arroyo makes $11 mil, so pick ‘em.  You never know – they could be a dud or they could be a Godsend!  Sometimes you have to roll the dice.  Castro is headed to Philly and Hu is the logical backup infielder.  Xavier Paul, Jason Repko and Jamie Hoffman are candidates for two outfield spots.  Ausmus may or may not play for a million next year, but if he doesn’t Ellis or another bargain Free Agent will be available. 

The Dodgers should be able to field an excellent team for under (or around) $100 million.  Harang and Arroyo’s average years are not what I expect.  I would hope for a “carrer year” for whichever one come to LA.  You gotta’ believe!  The “kids” will be year better next and Martin and Loney will “breakout.”  Believe it!

GoodNews/BadNews:

• Bud Selig will be commissioner at least 3 more seasons.
• The Marlins are shopping Josh Johnson… Hummmmmm, I may have to revise my thinking…

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 the Dodgers.  Like the Dodgers, the Phillies have a former ace who needs to come back and I believe both will.  It would not surprise me to see either one win a Cy Young Award in the future, even as easly as next year.  I fully expect Hamels and Billingsley to both win 16-18 games next year.  Both pitchers have too much talent.

Manny will return as Manny, because he’s playingfor Manny,  and the Dodgers should benefit from his quest for a new contract, in what will certainly be his last year as a Dodger.  Look for Manny to hit .320+ with 35 HR and 130 RBI.  I look for more growth by Kemp and Ethier as both become perennialAll-Stars.   Russ Martin?  He’ll be back with a vengeance!  Count on it!    I do see two areas in which the Dodgers need to improve:  They need more power from 3B and 1B and they will get it from James Loney at 1B, who I believe will hit around 25 dingers.  He has shown he is capable.  3B is another issue.  Casey Blake had a better year than I expected, but he’s still a journeyman at best.   We need a big HR bat at 3B and will will get robbed if we try and trade or one.  Here’s what we do:  Sign Adrian Beltre!  Sign Adrian Beltre.   He loves LA and is a cinch to hit 30 for the Dodgers.  Yeah, I know you don’t believe me, but he will!    If you want to look at stats, then I’ll use the year he hit 48 HR as a stat!  He’s young enough that we can sign him to a 5 year deal.   That means we need to dump Blake, and we can do that in a deal for Roy Halliday. I purpose that we trade Jon Broxton, Casey Blake, James McDonald, Ethan Martin,  and Chris Withrow to Toronto for Roy Halliday (pay a lot, get a lot).  I am not a Blake hater, but we need to get younger and better at 3B! Read the full story

 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

Must Be A Padre Fan...

 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 sorry that they signed Raul Ibanez, but right about now, that move is looking pretty good.    They added Shane Victorino and Jason Werth in 2005 and 2007 as key pieces to the puzzle.  How did they get them?  No Big Blockbuster Deals, just incidental signings, which turned out to be pretty good.    I don’t think we need to rebuild – the core of the team is in place, but re-tool, we must!

I have taken the 40-Man Roster, plus some others who are technically not on it and divided them into three (3) groups:

1. Core players who we need to keep – in BLUE;
2. Players who we needs to keep under the right conditions – in BLACK; and
3. Players we need to try and lose, trade, release or not sign – in RED.

It’s not hard to see that our core is young and will get even better.  I have Jon Broxton on the BLUE list (even though I have serious doubts about him), because we don’t currently have better options (that too could change).  Now, I am not saying that I wouldn’t trade Broxton or some of the others, but it would have to be a trade that we would make from a point of strength.  Read the full story

Juan Pierre - 3rd Place in Dodger MVP Race?

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 year they go by the moniker “Bomb Squad.”

It’s appropriate to start with Brad Ausmus, who has appeared in 35 games and sports a .301 Batting average, which is the highest of his career for the defensive specialist.  However, the veteran presence and clubhouse camaraderie fostered by Brad (who, by the way is a REAL smart guy) is hard to quantify.  Ned got his money’s worth on Ausmus play, but his clubhouse presence is priceless.  Ditto on Doug Mientkiewicz, Mark Loretta (who swooned mid-season, but seems to be heating-up again), and Juan Castro, who has hit a solid .288, filled in defensively for Raffy and has been an all-round stabilizing influence on this team. Blake DeWitt has to get a hand for bouncing up and down like a yo-yo between AAA and the big club.  He certainly didn’t have the offensive year we expected, but he played 3B, SS and 2B and never complained.  His stock hasn’t dropped in my eyes.  Blake DeWitt is a ballplayer.  Others made some contribution, such as Xavier Paul, AJ Ellis, and Jim Thome who delivered in the clutch last night.  Let’s not forget the late season heroic of Ronnie Belliard, who has hit as many HR in a few weeks for the Dodgers as he did all year for the Nats.

Last, but not least – I saved the best for last is Juan Pierre, who is some respects has been one of the most valuable Dodgers.  Behind Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, Juan Pierre has to be somewhere around 3rd in Dodger MVP votingfor what he did while Manny was suspended and how he has played all year.  He just shows up (early), shuts up (no complaints) and steps up (in 360 AB’s he has hit .311 with a .371 OB%, stole 27 bases and scored 56 runs).   Juan Pierre is the Captain of the Bomb Squad! Read the full story

It’s tempting to only write about Chad Billingsley’s meltdown in the 5th inning, but really, what lost the game for us was again a lack of hitting.   Andre Ethier had 3 hits and the rest of the team didn’t show up.  We do have a new LH pinch hitter: Doug Mientkiewicz.  With Jim Thome on the roster is it possible that we will keep both for postseason play?  I doubt it!   The Dodgers have been in a malaise for a while, except for and occasional outburst.  I am not panicking at this point because I would rather get hot LATE!  The Cards are white hot -it’s doubtful they can stay that way.  The same thing happened to the Rox.  Hopefully we will get HOT at the right time.

Which brings me back to C-Bill.  He was pitching a perfect game through four innings, then a one-out double (it broke up his perfect game), and then he pitches out of the stretch – BANG first pitch HR!  Is that the inside book on C-Bill?  When he goes to the stretch does he automatically come in with a fastball strike?  Maybe he shouldn’t pitch out of the stretch and maybe he shouldn’t throw a fastball strike on the first pitch after a base-runner gets on.  Of the first 12 batters he faced, he had 9 first pitch strikes (8 were fastballs).  They were sitting on that pitch and that was the game.  The other two runs were of the ticky-tack variety.  If Blake were at 3B, both might not have scored.  Belliard is not a Read the full story

After James Loney doubles up Andre Ethier in the bottom of the 8thinning with the score tied 3-3, Matt Kemp patiently worked the count to 3-2 and waited for his pitch.  Patiently!  Easy…  Then BOOM!   HR by the Bison who is becoming an Animal.  The Bison scored all 4 Dodger runs to dis-mantle the Astros single-handedly.  Kemp is now hittng.321 witha.385 OB% and if he were to really heat up could be pushing 30 HR by year-end.  He is figuring it out and is getting better every month.  After hitting .292 in May, he hit .305 in June Read the full story

… 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 to prove that.  For that matter, we may not have even played our best baseball yet.  We are due to get one of the best players in the game back next week, after a 50 game absence, and we have the best record in baseball despite that fact that three of our stars (Martin, Furcal and Ethier) have “all but disappeared” for extended periods this year.  There is still hope that all three can rebound with a vengence.  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

A few days ago, Miguel Salcido wrote about the Dodgers’ bench and how productive it has been this year.  As I was re-reading it, suddenly the moniker that Mickey Hatcher hung on the 1988 Dodger reserves jumped into my mind – The Stuntmen!  In 1988 we had  Dave Anderson, Mike Davis, Pedero Guerrero, Rick Dempsey, Tracy Wooden, Danny Heap and the head stuntman, Mickey Hatcher.   This year it’s Juan Pierre, Juan Castro, Xavier Paul, Doug Mientkiewicz, Mark Loretta and Brad Ausmus.  They currently go by the name “Bomb Squad,” but I think that “The Stuntmen” are back.   Bomb Squad may be more 2009, but The Stuntmen are timeless.   Read the full story

I was looking at my fantasy baseball gameday for today’s game at Florida when I noticed something shocking. What is out of place in the image below?

.344, .381, .500, .438!!! Those are the batting averages of our bench players so far this season. INSANE! Excuse me for my enthusiasm but that is just freakish, and the incredible thing about that is that Xavier Paul hit a pinch home run in today’s game, currently rain delayed in top of the ninth.

Speaking of rain delays, my wife commented when passing by my laptop and seeing the torrential downpour going on at the game, “why don’t the Marlins have a roof?” Even someone that does not know that a foul ball is counted as a strike (with less than 2 strikes) can understand that a baseball team in Florida needs a roof! Oh well, all 1000 fans in attendance tonight had to scurry for cover.

How many games do you think our bench will win us this season?