With Manny Ramirez sidelined, the Dodgers have had to rely on unlikely heroes in their mission to stay atop the NL West. And every day, it seems that a new one emerges.
Brent Leach worked out of an eighth-inning jam to record his first major league victory on Wednesday as the Dodgers beat the Mets 2-1 to complete a three-game sweep at home. The Dodgers have now begun the 2009 season with a 17-3 record at Chavez Ravine, tying the all-time record for best home mark to start the season with the 1998 Yankees.
With the game tied 1-1 entering the eighth, Ronald Belisario came in and immediately walked Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran. David Wright then flew out to deep center, advancing the runners to second and third. Leach (1-0) then came in to face the lefthanded David Murphy, and got him to ground out with the infield drawn in. The Dodger rookie then induced an inning-ending groundout from pinch hitter Fernando Tatis to preserve the tie.
In the bottom of the eighth, another unlikely hero stepped up for the Dodgers.
After Rafael Furcal struck out to lead off the inning, Orlando Hudson singled and Andre Ethier walked to bring up Russell Martin, who had gone 0-for-10 in the series to that point. Martin picked a perfect time for his first hit, as he grounded a single to left off J.J. Putz (1-3) that scored Hudson with the go-ahead run.
The Mets got a runner in scoring position against Jonathon Broxton in the ninth, as Angel Pagan singled with one out and stole second, but Broxton got Ramon Martinez to ground out to end the game. The Dodger closer earned his 11th save in 13 chances.
Martinez had entered the game in the bottom of the third, taking over for Jose Reyes. In the top of the inning, Reyes had strained his hamstring running out a grounder and had to leave. He is listed as day-to-day.
Continuing a trend, the Dodgers struck first in the game, scoring their major-league-leading 44th first-inning run to take an early lead. Juan Pierre and Rafael Furcal led with singles off Met starter Livan Hernandez, and after an Orlando Hudson groundout moved both runners up, Andre Ethier hit a sacrifice fly to give LA a 1-0 lead. That was the highlight of Ethier's day, though, as he went 0-for-2 to finish off a hitless series.
The Mets tied the game in the third off Dodger starter Jeff Weaver, as Luis Castillo stroked a one-out single and came around on an RBI double by Carlos Beltran. The Mets then had a golden opportunity to take the lead when Weaver walked Wright to put runners on first and second with one out, but David Murphy grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Weaver, who didn't even join the Dodgers until April 30th, continued his resurgence, going five innings and allowing just one run to lower his ERA to 3.00. Weaver had been demoted to the bullpen on Saturday when Los Angeles called up Eric Milton from AAA, but got the start on Wednesday when Eric Stults was scratched due to a thumb injury. He will go back to the bullpen when Stults returns to the rotation on Monday.
It's been rumored among the Mets' brass that Livan Hernandez could also be a candidate for a bullpen demotion, but his start against the Dodgers may have ended those talks. Hernandez went seven innings and allowed just a run on seven hits and a walk while throwing 93 pitches. However, he could only earn a no-decision for his effort. Hernandez dropped his ERA to 4.93 on the season.
The Dodger victory, coupled with the Giants' 2-1 loss to San Diego, pushed their lead in the West to 8 1/2 games. The Mets' deficit in the NL East stayed at one game, as Philadelphia lost to Cincinnati 5-1.
Both teams are off Thursday, with the Dodgers then hosting the Angels over the weekend and the Mets traveling to Boston to play the Red Sox.
Game notes: Juan Pierre kept up his torrid hitting pace with two hits in four atbats, to keep his season average at .405. He's 23 for 53 (.434) since Manny Ramirez was suspended on May 7...Ramon Martinez went 0-for-3 after taking over for Jose Reyes and is still looking for his first hit of 2009 (he's 0 for 12)...David Wright went 4 for 7 in the series against the Dodgers, continuing his hot streak against them...Dodger pitcher Randy Wolf pinch-hit for Jeff Weaver in the bottom of the fifth inning, his second pinch-hitting appearance of the season. He grounded out.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
5/19: Mets make four fewer errors, but lose anyway
It would have been nearly impossible for the Mets to play any worse on Tuesday than they did on Monday. As it turned out, they played much better, but couldn't overcome yet another strong start from Chad Billingsley.
Billingsley went 6 1/3 innings and retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced, and the Dodger bullpen backed him up with 2 2/3 scoreless innings to preserve the 5-3 LA win. It was the third straight win for the first-place Dodgers, who moved to 7.5 games ahead of San Francisco with the Giants' loss to San Diego.
Billingsley (6-1) not only helped himself on the mound, but also at the plate, going 2-for-2 with a walk, a single, and an RBI double that came with two outs in the fourth after a Casey Blake single. Blake later hit a three-run homer in the game, his team-leading ninth of the season, to give the Dodgers a two-run lead that they would never relinquish.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets led 3-2 when James Loney and Matt Kemp both singled with one out to bring up Blake. John Maine threw an inside fastball and the Dodgers' veteran leader powered it into the leftfield bleachers. Chad Billingsley then singled to chase Maine from the game.
For a while, it looked like Maine (3-3) was going to be the double-threat victor in the game. In the top of the second inning, Billingsley walked the bases loaded to bring up the Met pitcher with two outs. On an 0-1 pitch, Maine lined a two-run single up the middle to give New York the lead. They would add another run in the third when David Wright singled in Carlos Beltran, who reached base on a Rafael Furcal throwing error.
The Dodgers started the scoring in the first inning, tacking on their major-league-leading 43rd first-inning run. Juan Pierre led off with a line drive to left field that glanced off David Murphy's glove for a two-base error. After a Rafael Furcal walk, Orlando Hudson brought in Pierre with a single to center to give LA a 1-0 lead.
Hudson would leave the game in the 7th with a bruised shoulder after diving for and missing a soft line drive hit by Jose Reyes. He is day-to-day.
Reyes' single put two runners on with two outs for the Mets in the seventh. Gary Sheffield then pinch-hit for David Murphy, but Ronald Belisario induced an inning-ending groundout from him.
The Mets would rally one last time in the top of the eighth, as Carlos Beltran greeted Cory Wade with a single and David Wright drew a walk to put runners on first and second with nobody out. But then Ryan Church flied out to left, and Ramon Martinez bounced into a double play to end the inning.
Jonathon Broxton pitched a perfect ninth, striking out one, to collect his 10th save in 12 chances.
The Mets' loss, coupled with a 4-3 Philadelphia win, dropped them into second place in the NL East. They are currently one game behind the Phillies, despite having a +22 run differential to Philadelphia's +13. The Dodgers currently have the best run differential in the majors at +73.
On Wednesday night, the Dodgers will send Jeff Weaver to the mound in search of a sweep, while the Mets will counter with veteran workhorse Livan Hernandez. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT.
Game notes: Jose Reyes returned to game action for the first time since May 15th. He went 1-for-4 with a single and made several good plays in the field...Eric Stults was slated to start on Wednesday, but has been scratched with a sore thumb. There is no word on whether he will be placed on the DL...Carlos Delgado had hip surgery on Tuesday and is expected to return around the All-Star Break...Hiroki Kuroda is expected to make a rehab start at High-A Inland Empire on Friday...David Wright boosted his career line against the Dodgers to .426/.510/.656...The Dodgers are 7-5 without Manny Ramirez.
Billingsley went 6 1/3 innings and retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced, and the Dodger bullpen backed him up with 2 2/3 scoreless innings to preserve the 5-3 LA win. It was the third straight win for the first-place Dodgers, who moved to 7.5 games ahead of San Francisco with the Giants' loss to San Diego.
Billingsley (6-1) not only helped himself on the mound, but also at the plate, going 2-for-2 with a walk, a single, and an RBI double that came with two outs in the fourth after a Casey Blake single. Blake later hit a three-run homer in the game, his team-leading ninth of the season, to give the Dodgers a two-run lead that they would never relinquish.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets led 3-2 when James Loney and Matt Kemp both singled with one out to bring up Blake. John Maine threw an inside fastball and the Dodgers' veteran leader powered it into the leftfield bleachers. Chad Billingsley then singled to chase Maine from the game.
For a while, it looked like Maine (3-3) was going to be the double-threat victor in the game. In the top of the second inning, Billingsley walked the bases loaded to bring up the Met pitcher with two outs. On an 0-1 pitch, Maine lined a two-run single up the middle to give New York the lead. They would add another run in the third when David Wright singled in Carlos Beltran, who reached base on a Rafael Furcal throwing error.
The Dodgers started the scoring in the first inning, tacking on their major-league-leading 43rd first-inning run. Juan Pierre led off with a line drive to left field that glanced off David Murphy's glove for a two-base error. After a Rafael Furcal walk, Orlando Hudson brought in Pierre with a single to center to give LA a 1-0 lead.
Hudson would leave the game in the 7th with a bruised shoulder after diving for and missing a soft line drive hit by Jose Reyes. He is day-to-day.
Reyes' single put two runners on with two outs for the Mets in the seventh. Gary Sheffield then pinch-hit for David Murphy, but Ronald Belisario induced an inning-ending groundout from him.
The Mets would rally one last time in the top of the eighth, as Carlos Beltran greeted Cory Wade with a single and David Wright drew a walk to put runners on first and second with nobody out. But then Ryan Church flied out to left, and Ramon Martinez bounced into a double play to end the inning.
Jonathon Broxton pitched a perfect ninth, striking out one, to collect his 10th save in 12 chances.
The Mets' loss, coupled with a 4-3 Philadelphia win, dropped them into second place in the NL East. They are currently one game behind the Phillies, despite having a +22 run differential to Philadelphia's +13. The Dodgers currently have the best run differential in the majors at +73.
On Wednesday night, the Dodgers will send Jeff Weaver to the mound in search of a sweep, while the Mets will counter with veteran workhorse Livan Hernandez. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT.
Game notes: Jose Reyes returned to game action for the first time since May 15th. He went 1-for-4 with a single and made several good plays in the field...Eric Stults was slated to start on Wednesday, but has been scratched with a sore thumb. There is no word on whether he will be placed on the DL...Carlos Delgado had hip surgery on Tuesday and is expected to return around the All-Star Break...Hiroki Kuroda is expected to make a rehab start at High-A Inland Empire on Friday...David Wright boosted his career line against the Dodgers to .426/.510/.656...The Dodgers are 7-5 without Manny Ramirez.
Monday, May 18, 2009
The last week of freshman year of college is the easiest time of your life
I'm serious! For 167 of the 168 hours during the last week, I was laying in a hammock in front of my TV on the beach in my dorm room, reminiscent of those Corona beer commercials. I had all of my food brought to me on a silver platter, slept fourteen hours a day, and downed an average of five beers an hour (giving me a VORD (Value Over Replacement Drinker) of 47.2, which easily exceeds the previous record of 29.4 held by J.J. Reddick and Guillermo Mota). I think I might have eased myself out of my beer/relaxation coma for like 20 minutes to study for my final exams and unpack my room, but I don't really even remember that.
But anyway. The relaxation is over, and I'm set to return to my regularly scheduled posting. Look forward to many Juan Pierre and Eric Milton posts in the near future.
But anyway. The relaxation is over, and I'm set to return to my regularly scheduled posting. Look forward to many Juan Pierre and Eric Milton posts in the near future.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
A little game for you readers
The following are events that have taken place since May 7, 2009. Rank them in order of "most believable" to "least believable." Go!
1. Manny Ramirez fails a drug test and is banned for 50 games.
2. Dodgers lead the Nationals 6-0 in the sixth and go on to lose.
3. Juan Pierre and Juan Castro combine for six hits in a game.
4. Pierre and Castro also combine for four extra-base hits and five RBIs in said game.
5. Eric Stults throws a four-hit shutout.
Yes, it's a very challenging task. But keep at it!
(It's been a WEIRD few days for Dodger fans.)
1. Manny Ramirez fails a drug test and is banned for 50 games.
2. Dodgers lead the Nationals 6-0 in the sixth and go on to lose.
3. Juan Pierre and Juan Castro combine for six hits in a game.
4. Pierre and Castro also combine for four extra-base hits and five RBIs in said game.
5. Eric Stults throws a four-hit shutout.
Yes, it's a very challenging task. But keep at it!
(It's been a WEIRD few days for Dodger fans.)
Thursday, May 7, 2009
This Dodger fan's perspective
Well, everyone in the world knows it, and just thinking about it makes me want to repeatedly bang my head against a giant block of ice, but I guess I have to lead this post with the big Dodger news from today: Manny Ramirez has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and will be suspended for 50 games.
He apparently was taking something called hGC, which is a female fertility drug used to combat erectile dysfunction by increasing testosterone production in the body. First off, if you actually believe that Manny was only using that shit because he couldn't get a fucking erection, then I'd like to sell you some New York Times stock. The drug he tested positive for is commonly used by PED users as either a testosterone trigger after a steroid cycle or as a masking agent for a worse drug, and it's like 99.9% certain that Manny used it for one of those two reasons. The sooner you can just accept that, the sooner we can all move on and see what has to happen from here. Ready to accept it yet? Yes? Good.
This is what I posted on dodgerblues.com's message board right after hearing the news: "I'm never rooting for Manny again. Never. He could hit a walkoff grand slam to win the World Series and I wouldn't care. He just destroyed his legacy and our season. Fuck him. I'll still root for the Dodgers, but I'm never rooting for Manny again." Is that an overreaction? Hell fucking no. Manny ruined my entire winter with his "Will we or won't we sign him?" shit by turning down like 20 offers that would have made him one of the richest people on the planet before eventually "settling" for one (in fucking March) simply so that he could rake for a year and then leave for more money from another team. He was already on shaky ground with me entering the season, and now that this news has broke, he's dead to me. Even on the 0.01% chance that he really hasn't been using steroids and this is just a one-time usage for a personal medical problem, he still knowingly risked the Dodgers' entire season by taking it. I can't root for a guy who puts himself before the team as much as he has. And therefore, what I didn't want to believe since July 31st, 2008 has finally and truly registered with me: Manny is all about Manny. He did quit on the Red Sox, not because he disliked living in Boston but because he wanted a fat paycheck. He concentrated and played hard for the Dodgers for the last half of 2008 not because he wanted to win a championship but because he wanted a fat paycheck. And in 2009, he took steroids not because he wanted his team to do well, but because he himself wanted to do well so that he could get a fat paycheck. Everything that I've continually denied about him for the last 9 months has turned out to be true. I feel completely betrayed by somebody that I'd undyingly supported and respected. It's a heartbreaking feeling.
It's also heartbreaking on another personal level. Before Manny became a Dodger on July 31st, 2008, my Dodger fan experience had been pretty "blah." They'd made the playoffs in a breathtakingly exciting 2004 season featuring 53 come-from-behind wins (ironically, a season also now marred by the realization that Eric Gagne, Paul Lo Duca, and Guillermo Mota are noted steroid users) and had had a similar run at the end of the 2006 season to also reach the playoffs, but for the most part, they were a bunch of clueless underacheiving losers during the time that I followed them. They had no identity and were usually pretty boring to watch. My frustration came to a head in the first half of 2008, when high-priced black holes Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre, Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent, and Jason Schmidt were all clogging the payroll and embarrassing every Dodger fan that had committed themselves to following the team. Here was a franchise that had the most money and the most power of any team in the NL West, and they were wasting it all on these over-the-hill schmucks when they could have been spending it wisely and ruling the division? It made me feel ashamed to simply wear my Dodger cap regularly. But then when Manny came aboard, everything changed. The Dodgers had a leader, a slugger, an identity, and a true team. I witnessed Manny's first three games as a Dodger and saw him spray line drives and home runs all over the park, and also witnessed the Dodgers actually win when I saw them in person (after seeing them lose the previous 11 games I went to). I watched nearly every second of every Dodger game from then on out; I saw them rally in September to overtake the Diamondbacks for the division title and then get the "postseason series monkey" off their backs by sweeping the Cubs in three of the most enjoyable Dodger games I've ever watched. And of course, this season, I saw them jump out to a 21-8 start, win their first 13 games at home to set a major league record, and lead the NL West by 6.5 games before school even got out. From July 31st, 2008 to May 6th, 2009, you couldn't ask for many better teams to be a fan of than the Dodgers. It was one of the greatest sports fan experiences of my life.
Now? All that is stained, tainted. I'm not sure if Manny was doping during the 2008 season, but you can't rule anything out, and if we cheated to win our first postseason series in 20 years then I don't know if I'll ever remember it the same way. I certainly won't remember this magical 21-8 start the same way ever again. And that's all Manny's fault. He's soiled every good Dodger fan memory I have from the last 9 months. And here's the absolute worst thing: all throughout today, I've been thinking things like, "Man, I really wish Andruw Jones had just done what everyone thought he would in 2008," and "What if we'd signed Torii Hunter in the 2007 offseason?" The point of these thoughts was, of course, to wish that the Dodgers could have had all this recent success without Manny ever needing to be involved. But the same thing always came back to me: how can you be sure of anyone anymore? For all I know, Torii and Andruw and fucking everyone else in the entire sport is on some kind of drug cycle, and I'll never feel completely safe about anyone again. My favorite player of all time is Ken Griffey Jr., and over the last 6 hours I've gone from feeling 100% sure that he never took steroids to maybe like 10% sure. My favorite Dodger is Andre Ethier, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if news broke tomorrow that he was caught with steroids too. Most fans my age lost their baseball innocence once news broke that Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire's home run chase was illegitimate, but I didn't really care because neither guy played for my favorite team. It's much, much, much different when the news comes out about someone from the team that you devote so much of your time and energy to, because you just feel like they stabbed you in the back. And Manny did.
So where do we all go from here? Well, as for tonight, I'd bet everything I own that the Dodgers' home winning streak comes to a quick and decisive end; Juan Pierre will probably be the only one on the team who gets a hit, and I could see like four or five errors being made in a 2-0 or 3-0 Washington shutout. I can see the Dodgers struggling to achieve a .500 mark in the next 50 games without Manny, because I mean...without him, they're a decent offensive team with a mediocre pitching staff, and maybe like 1% better than the rest of the NL West instead of their current 500%. I can see Manny returning from his suspension on July 3rd (again, in a weird twist of fate, I'll be at that game in San Diego) and deservedly getting booed lustily for a couple of weeks before his return to Dodger Stadium on July 16th, when the clueless Dodger fans will give him a standing ovation before his first atbat and act like nothing happened. I can definitely see the Dodgers still getting to the playoffs (I mean, come on; barring a big trade, who in the NL West besides the Dodgers has the chops to finish with more than 83 wins?), at which point I'll be faced with the unenviable dilemma of how I can root for my own team without rooting for Manny. I can see Ned and Frank doing all they can to keep Manny from exercising his player option for 2010 because they'll want him gone due to all the bad PR...but Manny will exercise it anyway, because he'll know that nobody will want to pay more than $20 million to a steroid user. And then I can see myself agonizing over the same dilemma for the entire 2010 season, trying to find a way to root for the Dodgers without rooting for Manny.
So, in the end, I guess this steroid news has made me question my love of baseball, my love of the Dodgers, and my love of Manny, while basically ensuring that it's going to be a tough time for me to be a Dodger fan until the year 2011. America's pastime, indeed. May Juan Pierre bat .500 in Manny's absence, may Ethier/Kemp/Loney/Martin step up in their team's time of need and all collectively realize their full potential, may Manny return and rake while I cheer for the team's success instead of his, and may Ned and Frank have the balls to get rid of him any way they can once this season is through. For today, I still say Go Dodgers...albeit with much, much, much less enthusiasm than I did yesterday.
He apparently was taking something called hGC, which is a female fertility drug used to combat erectile dysfunction by increasing testosterone production in the body. First off, if you actually believe that Manny was only using that shit because he couldn't get a fucking erection, then I'd like to sell you some New York Times stock. The drug he tested positive for is commonly used by PED users as either a testosterone trigger after a steroid cycle or as a masking agent for a worse drug, and it's like 99.9% certain that Manny used it for one of those two reasons. The sooner you can just accept that, the sooner we can all move on and see what has to happen from here. Ready to accept it yet? Yes? Good.
This is what I posted on dodgerblues.com's message board right after hearing the news: "I'm never rooting for Manny again. Never. He could hit a walkoff grand slam to win the World Series and I wouldn't care. He just destroyed his legacy and our season. Fuck him. I'll still root for the Dodgers, but I'm never rooting for Manny again." Is that an overreaction? Hell fucking no. Manny ruined my entire winter with his "Will we or won't we sign him?" shit by turning down like 20 offers that would have made him one of the richest people on the planet before eventually "settling" for one (in fucking March) simply so that he could rake for a year and then leave for more money from another team. He was already on shaky ground with me entering the season, and now that this news has broke, he's dead to me. Even on the 0.01% chance that he really hasn't been using steroids and this is just a one-time usage for a personal medical problem, he still knowingly risked the Dodgers' entire season by taking it. I can't root for a guy who puts himself before the team as much as he has. And therefore, what I didn't want to believe since July 31st, 2008 has finally and truly registered with me: Manny is all about Manny. He did quit on the Red Sox, not because he disliked living in Boston but because he wanted a fat paycheck. He concentrated and played hard for the Dodgers for the last half of 2008 not because he wanted to win a championship but because he wanted a fat paycheck. And in 2009, he took steroids not because he wanted his team to do well, but because he himself wanted to do well so that he could get a fat paycheck. Everything that I've continually denied about him for the last 9 months has turned out to be true. I feel completely betrayed by somebody that I'd undyingly supported and respected. It's a heartbreaking feeling.
It's also heartbreaking on another personal level. Before Manny became a Dodger on July 31st, 2008, my Dodger fan experience had been pretty "blah." They'd made the playoffs in a breathtakingly exciting 2004 season featuring 53 come-from-behind wins (ironically, a season also now marred by the realization that Eric Gagne, Paul Lo Duca, and Guillermo Mota are noted steroid users) and had had a similar run at the end of the 2006 season to also reach the playoffs, but for the most part, they were a bunch of clueless underacheiving losers during the time that I followed them. They had no identity and were usually pretty boring to watch. My frustration came to a head in the first half of 2008, when high-priced black holes Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre, Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent, and Jason Schmidt were all clogging the payroll and embarrassing every Dodger fan that had committed themselves to following the team. Here was a franchise that had the most money and the most power of any team in the NL West, and they were wasting it all on these over-the-hill schmucks when they could have been spending it wisely and ruling the division? It made me feel ashamed to simply wear my Dodger cap regularly. But then when Manny came aboard, everything changed. The Dodgers had a leader, a slugger, an identity, and a true team. I witnessed Manny's first three games as a Dodger and saw him spray line drives and home runs all over the park, and also witnessed the Dodgers actually win when I saw them in person (after seeing them lose the previous 11 games I went to). I watched nearly every second of every Dodger game from then on out; I saw them rally in September to overtake the Diamondbacks for the division title and then get the "postseason series monkey" off their backs by sweeping the Cubs in three of the most enjoyable Dodger games I've ever watched. And of course, this season, I saw them jump out to a 21-8 start, win their first 13 games at home to set a major league record, and lead the NL West by 6.5 games before school even got out. From July 31st, 2008 to May 6th, 2009, you couldn't ask for many better teams to be a fan of than the Dodgers. It was one of the greatest sports fan experiences of my life.
Now? All that is stained, tainted. I'm not sure if Manny was doping during the 2008 season, but you can't rule anything out, and if we cheated to win our first postseason series in 20 years then I don't know if I'll ever remember it the same way. I certainly won't remember this magical 21-8 start the same way ever again. And that's all Manny's fault. He's soiled every good Dodger fan memory I have from the last 9 months. And here's the absolute worst thing: all throughout today, I've been thinking things like, "Man, I really wish Andruw Jones had just done what everyone thought he would in 2008," and "What if we'd signed Torii Hunter in the 2007 offseason?" The point of these thoughts was, of course, to wish that the Dodgers could have had all this recent success without Manny ever needing to be involved. But the same thing always came back to me: how can you be sure of anyone anymore? For all I know, Torii and Andruw and fucking everyone else in the entire sport is on some kind of drug cycle, and I'll never feel completely safe about anyone again. My favorite player of all time is Ken Griffey Jr., and over the last 6 hours I've gone from feeling 100% sure that he never took steroids to maybe like 10% sure. My favorite Dodger is Andre Ethier, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if news broke tomorrow that he was caught with steroids too. Most fans my age lost their baseball innocence once news broke that Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire's home run chase was illegitimate, but I didn't really care because neither guy played for my favorite team. It's much, much, much different when the news comes out about someone from the team that you devote so much of your time and energy to, because you just feel like they stabbed you in the back. And Manny did.
So where do we all go from here? Well, as for tonight, I'd bet everything I own that the Dodgers' home winning streak comes to a quick and decisive end; Juan Pierre will probably be the only one on the team who gets a hit, and I could see like four or five errors being made in a 2-0 or 3-0 Washington shutout. I can see the Dodgers struggling to achieve a .500 mark in the next 50 games without Manny, because I mean...without him, they're a decent offensive team with a mediocre pitching staff, and maybe like 1% better than the rest of the NL West instead of their current 500%. I can see Manny returning from his suspension on July 3rd (again, in a weird twist of fate, I'll be at that game in San Diego) and deservedly getting booed lustily for a couple of weeks before his return to Dodger Stadium on July 16th, when the clueless Dodger fans will give him a standing ovation before his first atbat and act like nothing happened. I can definitely see the Dodgers still getting to the playoffs (I mean, come on; barring a big trade, who in the NL West besides the Dodgers has the chops to finish with more than 83 wins?), at which point I'll be faced with the unenviable dilemma of how I can root for my own team without rooting for Manny. I can see Ned and Frank doing all they can to keep Manny from exercising his player option for 2010 because they'll want him gone due to all the bad PR...but Manny will exercise it anyway, because he'll know that nobody will want to pay more than $20 million to a steroid user. And then I can see myself agonizing over the same dilemma for the entire 2010 season, trying to find a way to root for the Dodgers without rooting for Manny.
So, in the end, I guess this steroid news has made me question my love of baseball, my love of the Dodgers, and my love of Manny, while basically ensuring that it's going to be a tough time for me to be a Dodger fan until the year 2011. America's pastime, indeed. May Juan Pierre bat .500 in Manny's absence, may Ethier/Kemp/Loney/Martin step up in their team's time of need and all collectively realize their full potential, may Manny return and rake while I cheer for the team's success instead of his, and may Ned and Frank have the balls to get rid of him any way they can once this season is through. For today, I still say Go Dodgers...albeit with much, much, much less enthusiasm than I did yesterday.
Somewhere, Ty Cobb and Squanto Wilson are turning in their graves
Why? Because thanks to the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers, the 1911 Detroit Tigers lost the last shred of meaningfulness they ever had, as their record 12-game home winning streak to begin the season was broken last night with the Dodgers' 10-3 win over Washington. It's inexplicable what causes the Dodgers to play not just better but crazy better at home compared to the road, but whatever they're doing is undoubtedly working. Fortunately for ESPN, the Dodgers start a six-game road trip next week at Philadelphia and Florida, so John Kruk is already preparing his "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA THE DODGERS CAN'T BEAT GOOD TEAMS" rant. Oh well, at least the Dodgers should still be undefeated at home by then.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Well, they still can't get themselves into the opening highlight montage of "Baseball Tonight"
But the Dodgers have done it (well, tied it): they won their twelfth straight home game to start the season to equal the ML record set by the 1911 Tigers. Andre Ethier broke out of a 0-game slump with two hits, and the rest of the offense...well, they didn't do that much, but thanks to Jeff Weaver's five solid innings they didn't need to. Yep, Jeff Weaver's five solid innings.
Frankly, it was still a little jarring to see Weaver actually making a start for the Dodgers four years after his last one. Sure, the guy pitched pretty okay in blue for two years (with an ERA+ just around 100 in 444 innings), but he was always generally known more for his shitty attitude on the mound and his likeness to an escaped mental patient than his actual pitching. And of course, Weaver's career went straight to hell after he left Chavez Ravine following the 2005 season, as he combined to go 15-27 with a 5.96 ERA from 2006-2007 and then not pitch at all in the majors in 2008. It's a damn shame that a guy who was once thought of as one of the best young pitchers in all of baseball is now barely hanging onto the fifth starter spot in one of baseball's shakiest rotations, but he's definitely got staying power if he keeps pitching like this. He must have used thirty different arm angles on his delivery throughout the game, and somehow that worked as the Dbacks managed just five hits off him.
Ramon Troncoso, Will Ohman, Ronald Belisario, and Jonathon Broxton combined to pitch four scoreless innings in relief of Weaver to preserve the 3-1 win, while Olmedo Saenz hit a pinch-hit home run and Hee Seop Choi struck out six times. Tomorrow, with the Dodgers going for the all-time home winning streak record, Wilson Alvarez will get the start with Cesar Izturis leading off and J.D. Drew batting cleanup. I just hope Jim Tracy doesn't leave Alvarez in 3 innings after it's clear that he's done.
Frankly, it was still a little jarring to see Weaver actually making a start for the Dodgers four years after his last one. Sure, the guy pitched pretty okay in blue for two years (with an ERA+ just around 100 in 444 innings), but he was always generally known more for his shitty attitude on the mound and his likeness to an escaped mental patient than his actual pitching. And of course, Weaver's career went straight to hell after he left Chavez Ravine following the 2005 season, as he combined to go 15-27 with a 5.96 ERA from 2006-2007 and then not pitch at all in the majors in 2008. It's a damn shame that a guy who was once thought of as one of the best young pitchers in all of baseball is now barely hanging onto the fifth starter spot in one of baseball's shakiest rotations, but he's definitely got staying power if he keeps pitching like this. He must have used thirty different arm angles on his delivery throughout the game, and somehow that worked as the Dbacks managed just five hits off him.
Ramon Troncoso, Will Ohman, Ronald Belisario, and Jonathon Broxton combined to pitch four scoreless innings in relief of Weaver to preserve the 3-1 win, while Olmedo Saenz hit a pinch-hit home run and Hee Seop Choi struck out six times. Tomorrow, with the Dodgers going for the all-time home winning streak record, Wilson Alvarez will get the start with Cesar Izturis leading off and J.D. Drew batting cleanup. I just hope Jim Tracy doesn't leave Alvarez in 3 innings after it's clear that he's done.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Live-blogging Dodgers-Snakes tonight
With the Dodgers about to go for the National League record for home wins to start a season, I thought this would be the perfect time to try blogging the entire game live. Unfortunately, I also have two loads of laundry going downstairs, so if there's a crucial fair/foul or ball/strike call in the game that goes undescribed because I had to attempt to shove a week's worth of wet and dirty clothes into a tiny dryer, know that I was suffering just as much as you from missing it.
Anyway, on with the proceedings! (This entire thing will be in Mountain Time. Deal with it.)
7:35 pm: We're about a half hour away from the first pitch, with the Dodgers sadly conceding the game before it even begins by benching Juan Pierre, Mark Loretta, Brad Ausmus, and Juan Castro (combined batting average of .392, as noted in yesterday's blog entry). Manny Ramirez, Casey Blake, Russell Martin, and Rafael Furcal will have to make do in their absence. The "second-team" Dodger lineup:
SS Furcal
2B Hudson
LF Ramirez
RF Ethier
1B Loney
C Martin
CF Kemp
3B Blake
P Stults
I know that lineup order doesn't really matter, but...why are Ethier and Loney back to back? In a critical late-game situation, couldn't the Dodger offense be seriously neutralized by a manager ordering an intentional walk of Manny and then bringing in his lefty specialist? Martin's shown signs of busting through as of late; what would be so wrong with switching him and Loney today? Especially against a tough lefty starter? Should a Hall of Fame manager making $4 million a year really have to be questioned this many times before the game even starts? No? I didn't think so.
7:48 pm: The Red Sox-Yankee game is currently showing on ESPN; it's the second inning, at Yankee Stadium, and Phil Hughes is pitching. Anyone want to guess if there's been a home run hit yet? (The answer's yes.)
7:52 pm: I'm now perusing the Dodger minor league system for game updates. The most talented team is either Low-A Great Lakes (SS Devaris Gordon, OF Kyle Russell, C Anthony Delmonico, and P Ethan Martin are all potential top 100 prospects for 2010) or Double-A Chattanooga (featuring 1B/OF Andrew Lambo, easily the best position prospect in the system). Of course, Great Lakes lost 5-1 and Lambo isn't playing today. Go figure.
7:58 pm: Orel Hershiser relates a funny anecdote about Nolan Ryan during the Yankee game. Orel's insightful, intelligent, and funny...so naturally, they bump him to the Monday night games while Joe Morgan continues to give rambling non-analysis for the much-more-hyped Sunday night broadcasts. Gotta love ESPN.
8:01 pm: On a side note, I think Steve Phillips gets a bad rap. My dad's hated him ever since he led those "fake press conferences" for Baseball Tonight a few years ago (which is really much more a reflection on Baseball Tonight than him), and he's definitely not as smart as he thinks he is (ask any Met fan about the "Steve Phillips, General Manager" era and there's a 100% chance that a twelve-letter expletive will be involved)...but he at least knows the game, does research, and gives thoughtful analysis at times. I'll take him over Morgan 100 times out of 100, and I'll take him over Tim McCarver infinity times out of 100.
8:05 pm: Gotta check the laundry. I'll probably miss the first pitch. Hey, I warned you.
8:11 pm: Nope! I got back in time! Felipe Lopez flies out to start the game! More exclamation points!
8:12 pm: You know, I think I could listen to Vin Scully say "it's a lovely 68 degrees" for a solid 200 straight hours. You think I'm lying.
8:15 pm: Conor Jackson doubles down the left-field line with two outs. Manny moves to field the ball like he's wading through pond water. Whatever, he's hitting .349.
8:16 pm: Mark Reynolds hits a grounder to Casey Blake (or Casey "Baker," as Vin Scully calls him; hey, shut up, nobody's perfect), who makes a nice play for the out. Not a bad inning for Stults. That's probably the last time you'll read that sentence tonight.
8:19 pm: Doug Davis has a career 3.04 ERA against the Dodgers; I would have thought the 0 and the 3 would have been switched.
8:20 pm: The most notable thing about Davis, of course, is that he heroically came back from cancer to pitch well at the major-league level. But Vin reminds us of a fact about Davis that only Vin would know: he had four consecutive seasons with a .500 record as a starter. I'd like to hire Vin to narrate my life for a day. No, really.
8:22 pm: Furcal and Hudson ground out, bringing up tonight's feature attraction:
"MAN-NY! MAN-NY! MAN-NY!"
(I'm still not sure if there are any players on the team besides him.)
8:24 pm: Nope. Manny whacks a 3-2 fastball into the seats. 1-0, Dodgers. Of course.
8:25 pm: Wait, there IS another player on the Dodgers??????? Apparently! Andre Ethier drills one into the rightfield bleachers. 2-0 now, as Andre continues to make that one Tampa writer look foolish for proposing an "Andy Sonnanstine for Ethier" trade in the offseason. That article will get 100% funnier every year.
8:26 pm: James Loney is known around Dodger cyberspace (meaning exclusively dodgerblues.com) as "James Pierre" because of his power outage over the last 7 months and counting. Also, for his habit of softly grounding out to end innings, as he just did. 2-0 Dodgers into the second.
8:30 pm: Stults walks Justin Upton leading off the second, bringing up my dad's least favorite player ever, Eric Byrnes. It's a combination of his hair and his idiotic performance at the 2007 All-Star Game that really did him in in my dad's eyes.
8:32 pm: Classic Byrnes play: hits a grounder up the middle that should be an easy double play, only it bounces off Stults' leg and Orlando Hudson can only get one. Byrnes is really David Eckstein with talent, isn't he?
8:35 pm: Hit and runs are stupid, and even when the Dodgers execute them well I'll shake my head and consider myself lucky that something horrible didn't happen. And when another team perfectly executes one against the Dodgers, I feel like whipping my remote out the window. In a related story, the Dbacks now have runners at first and third with one out.
8:37 pm: Some guy named Josh Wilson singles through the left side. 2-1 Dodgers. Oh well, the Stults shutout never had much chance anyway.
8:38 pm: Russell Martin is batting like .111 right now, but you've got to love him for plays like this: Davis drops a bunt down about 2 inches in front of the plate, Martin grabs it and whips it over to third for one, Blake throws it on to first to get Davis by 10 feet. How many times do you see a 2-5-3 double play? About as many times as you hear Joe Morgan say something useful. 2-1 Dodgers going to the bottom of the second.
8:40 pm: Russ leads off in the second. I'll bet anything that he gets on base here. Anything.
8:42 pm: And he walked. Hey, maybe I should broadcast for ESPN. (During the Monday night games, of course.)
8:49 pm: After the Dback shortstop drops an easy double play ball from Matt Kemp, the Dodgers hit and run--and Casey Blake lines into a triple play. No. Really. He did. My remote is now falling from a four-story dorm window.
8:52 pm: Still reeling. The last triple play turned against the Dodgers happened 18 years ago. I'm not sure what to do with that. Also, Eric Stults wouldn't be Eric Stults if he didn't put the first batter on base in the 3rd.
8:55 pm: ESPN breaks into the Sox game with Dodger highlights, showing the first-inning back-to-back homers but strangely not showing the triple play. I'm sure that when Orlando Hudson and Manny both get thrown out at home on a double later on that that'll be all over the Worldwide Leader.
9:00 pm: After hitting the first batter of the inning, Stults gets a pop-up and two grounders to retire the side. The pessimistic Dback fan on dodgerblues' live chat is now on suicide watch.
9:03 pm: Classic Dodger Stadium moment: Stults, leading off the third, connects solidly as the crowd goes wild...followed by the ball being easily caught in medium center field as Charlie Steiner changes his pants.
9:08 pm: Furcal singles to left, followed by Davis being sufficiently rattled that he throws to first three straight times before throwing a wild pitch. Hey, nobody said speed isn't important from a leadoff man. It's just like the 6th or 7th most important thing.
9:10 pm: Orlando Hudson walks, bringing Manny up with two on as Vin describes him as "full of frijoles." Hey, I was just thinking that.
9:13 pm: 3-2 count, crowd in full "MAN-NY! MAN-NY!" mode...and he hits into a double play. Was that GITP really a full-scale momentum killer?
9:16 pm: Scully: "We have some more facts about the triple play, in case you care." Vin, you could talk for 45 minutes about Juan Castro's bowel movements and we would still care. Don't be apologetic.
9:20 pm: Long shot by Byrnes, deep to right center...and Kemp makes a running catch while leaving a giant body imprint in the centerfield wall. If he hadn't single-handedly lost that Giant game last week with two first-inning misplays, I'd be a lot more impressed with his improved fielding this year.
9:22 pm: Random Sox-Yankees Tangent: Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira both connect for medium-range pop-ups that somehow reach the Yankee Stadium bleachers. That place makes Coors Field seem like Dodger Stadium in 1963. Meanwhile, Stults picks off Justin Upton for the second out before getting a strikeout to end the inning. Maybe I'm being too hard on the guy.
(The Dbacks will now score 16 runs in the fifth.)
9:31 pm: Seemingly everyone on dodgerblues.com is falling over themselves to trade Russell Martin, apparently unaware of the dark days in 2005 when Jason Phillips (!!!!!!!!!) was getting four atbats a game for the big club. The best way I can describe his baserunning is "a thin guy imitating a fat guy's running style." It was pretty embarrassing.
9:32 pm: Of course, Russell strikes out to end the inning. 2-1 Dodgers to the fifth.
9:35 pm: MLB.TV's doing some weird shit where the broadcast is fading in and out, making Vin sound eerily similar to Dick Clark. If that's a joke, Dodger radio team, it's not funny. It's pretty fucking far from funny, actually. Meanwhile, Kemp chases down another long fly ball for the first out in the fifth.
9:38 pm: Stults gets a strikeout and a weak fly ball to end the inning. Through 5 innings, he's only at 72 pitches, which is a decent third-inning total for Clayton Kershaw.
9:40 pm: Vin goes on a weird rant about thumb sucking as the camera pans to several small children in the crowd and every Dodger fan listening to the game nervously clears their throat. You know what? I don't give a shit. Vin, you could talk about thumb sucking for the next four innings and you'll still be a million times more interesting than...well, anybody, really.
9:43 pm: Kemp lines a single to left. I feel like that's his first hit in about six years.
9:44 pm: Blake grounds a single to left that somehow eludes Mark Reynolds, putting runners at first and second for the first time since the triple play. Cue 'Nam-like flashbacks.
9:46 pm: Kemp pulls off a delayed steal of third with Blake holding at first. Now I know that hasn't happened in six years...back when I did it for the Beaverton American Legion District 2A "Bombers." Oh, the glory days.
9:48 pm: Torre stupidly lets Stults swing and miss on 2-1 instead of having him bunt, and then gets bailed out on the next pitch when Stults connects on a medium-range fly ball for a sacrifice fly. 3-1, Dodgers. Guess that's why he's the manager and I'm the blogger.
9:52 pm: Davis wild-pitches Blake to second before walking Rafael Furcal. The Dodgers have been throwing jab after jab all night...they can finally go for the knockout here...they can smell blood...and they have Hudson and Manny due up...and those guys are like .950 career hitters at Dodger Stadium...and the Dbacks are on the ropes...
(So you just know a hit-and-run's coming.)
9:55 pm: I have no idea how you throw Orlando Hudson four straight balls with two runners on and Manny on deck. But it happened. Bases juiced, one out, Manny coming up, Doug Davis going out, Jon Rauch coming in, and the Dodgers T-minus one pitch away from either breaking the game open or fucking up the best opportunity they've had all night. And of course, the radio team screws up and forces the "Dick Clark Scully" voice on me.
9:57 pm: "High fly ball, deep to center field, back goes Young, a way back..."
9:57 pm: "...with room at the wall."
9:59 pm: But seriously...if that ball hits 1/900th of an inch closer to the fat part of Manny's bat, it's gone. And I love you ManRam, but please only preen at the plate when you're absolutely sure that you hit a home run. Damn it all. Oh well, 4-1 Dodgers on the sac fly.
10:03 pm: Ethier works a walk, followed by Loney striking out to end the inning. Can we get Juan Pierre a first baseman's glove, please?
10:04 pm: Checking on the laundry. If I miss anything, know that it was so I have clean socks to wear tomorrow. Noble cause, I know.
10:14 pm: Figures that I would return to find the lead cut to 4-2 (on a Mark Reynolds homer) with a runner on first (via a single by Justin Upton, chasing Stults) and with Ronald Belisario coming in (a virtual certainty to give up a 450-foot laser beam to Eric Byrnes). Laundry breaks suck.
10:16 pm: Belisario somehow induces an inning-ending groundout from Byrnes. 4-2 Dodgers headed to the sixth, with me wondering how a quadruple play would be possible.
10:22 pm: After a Martin single, the Dodgers hit and run with Kemp fouling the ball off at the plate. Will Joe Torre ever learn that hit and runs are very, very, very risky and therefore incredibly dumb? No? Didn't think so.
10:25 pm: I'm still reeling from my trip to the laundry room, mainly the elevator portion of it. There's so much dried piss, vomit, spit, and God knows what else on the floors of dorm elevators that any direct contact with them would probably make your skin melt. Well, this time, there was an actual pool of liquid taking up half of the elevator floor. It looked like plain water, but knowing that it was a dorm elevator, I couldn't help but think about all the, um, "other possibilites." Needless to say, I jumped off the elevator as soon as humanly possible.
10:26 pm: Kemp doubles to left, bringing home Martin. I wonder how you say "Slump busted" in Bison talk. 5-2 Dodgers, as Rauch leaves along with 35,000 of the Dodger fans in attendance.
10:32 pm: Casey Blake strikes out (after being ahead in the count 3-0 at one point), but on the third strike, Kemp steals third for the second time this game. He's baaaaaaaaaaaack.....
10:34 pm: Finally, a real hitter! Mark Loretta comes up, pinch hitting for Belisario. A base hit is imminent.
10:35 pm: The Arizona pitcher moves Loretta's bat with his mind and forces him to offer at a 1-2 pitch a foot off the plate. That wasn't Mark's fault. No way, no how. As far as I know, he's still hitting .391.
10:37 pm: I really hope that, 50 years from now, the only thing Josh Wilson will remember about this game is the fantastic play he made to start a triple play. I say this because he just rushed a throw from shortstop to first, resulting in Tony Clark having to come off the bag and Rafael Furcal being safe at first. Kemp scores from third, and it's 6-2. The remaining 10,000 fans in attendance take off to beat the traffic as 10,000 new ones arrive late to take their place.
10:39 pm: The O Dog flies out to center. Nine outs to go, and history will be made at the Ravine. Hopefully, Guillermo Mota won't be involved in any way. 6-2 Dodgers to the seventh.
10:42 pm: Torre brings in Mota. Unbelievably believable.
10:47 pm: With one out, the Dbacks' #8 hitter ropes a double off the wall. Try to contain your surprise.
10:49 pm: Mota actually strikes someone out. Sure, it was Tony Clark, but I'll take it. And on that, after Mota's most successful outing in like 3 years, Torre decides to pull him with two outs in the inning to bring in Wade. Your guess is as good as mine.
10:54 pm: Yet Another Random Red Sox-Yankees Tangent: Do you think Jonathon Papelbon's buddies ever give him shit for that ridiculous "intense look" thing he does right before he throws a pitch? You know, when they're not sleeping in his mansion or riding in his Porsche?
10:55 pm: Wade gets a strikeout to end the inning. Again, be glad I'm not managing the Dodgers. Bottom of the seventh coming up, as I'm about to go against everything I believe about broadcasters by muting Vin for a bit to listen to the rest of the Yankees-Sox game. Vin, if we ever meet, suffice it to say that I'm never telling you this story.
10:59 pm: 6-4 Sox, two guys on, one out, bottom of the ninth, Mark Teixeira up. Steve Phillips: "If Teixeira hits one out here, he will be well on his way to becoming a Yankee." If I'm not mistaken, that event already occurred in late December, but hell, I don't work for ESPN, so I guess I don't know shit. (Can I take back what I said earlier about Phillips, by the way?)
11:02 pm: Tex K's, bringing up Swisher as the Yankees' last hope. Can you hear that? It's the sound of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry finally, officially turning toward Boston after like 1,000 years of New York ruling. Sucks to be a pinstriper these days.
11:07 pm: Huge brain lapse by the Sox: the two Yankee runners on base steal to put the tying runs in scoring position, and Varitek is caught so far off guard that he can't even make a throw. That's followed by Swisher hitting a monstrous drive to right that goes foul, and then working Papelbon for a walk to load the bases. Drama!
11:09 pm: A dodgerblues member characterizes Papelbon's intense look as his "rape face." I'm pretty sure that's funny somehow. Meanwhile, Papelbon blows away Robby Cano to end the game as the entire population of Boston prepares their taunting emails. Great game.
11:11 pm: Back to the Dodger game. Right now, the bases are loaded with one out. According to Yahoo!, Manny Ramirez led off with a hit-by-pitch, followed by an Ethier single, a Loney flyout with Manny moving to third, and a Martin walk. And according to the dodgerblues chat, Manny got hit by the ball square on the ass. Bet anyone $50 that Juan Pierre is in left at the start of the eighth.
11:13 pm: Anyone surprised that the Dodgers battled and rallied while my attention was on the Yankees-Sox game, and then immediately went dead (via a Matt Kemp double-play grounder) when I turned back? If you are, you shouldn't be. 6-2 Dodgers, going to the eighth.
11:19 pm: Three quick outs for Wade in the eighth, who's looked simply dominant since his return from the DL. Still, until the Dodgers trade for Jonathon Papelbon, the mass media will keep saying that their bullpen is full of can't-hack-it-pantywastes. (A Sandlot reference! Ha!)
11:20 pm: Bottom of the eighth at Dodger Stadium. And you know what that means...
11:21 pm: "STRAAAAANGERS.....WAAAAAAAAITIN.....UP AND DOWN THE BOULLLLLLLLLLLLEVARD.....THERE'S SHAAAAAAAAAAADOWS.....SEAAAAAAAAAAAARCHIN.....IN THE NIIIIIIIIIIGHT.....STREEEEEEETLIGHT.....PEEEEEEEEEEOPLE.....LIVIN JUST TO FIND EMOTION.....HIDIN.....SOOOOOMEWHERE IN THE NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT....."
11:25 pm: After Casey Blake leads with a walk, Juan Pierre comes up. I wonder how many times he's dreamnt of murdering Andre Ethier this year.
11:26 pm: Beast Mode flies out to center, bringing up Rafael Furcal. If somebody would have told me back in March that Martin, Furcal, and Blake would all be batting under .260 in early May, I'd ask them how much Giant fans were ejaculating over being in first place for the first time in 20 years. Yet somehow, the Dodgers are three outs away from moving to 19-8 and setting the National League record for consecutive home victories to open a season. Just Manny being Manny, I guess (remember, him and Nomar are the only two guys on the Dodgers).
11:30 pm: Vin takes a slight shot at LA fans, pointing out that many of them are likely to leave after this inning because there'll probably be no chance of seeing Manny again. Even Vin knows that his team's fanbase is a joke. Is there anything we can do about this?
11:33 pm: Hudson singles to right, as thousands of parents in the crowd huff and puff over having to stay an extra two minutes to watch Manny's atbat with their kids.
11:35 pm: Manny ices the game with a double down the line. 7-2 Dodgers, as Manny looks up from second base to find the stands completely empty with tumbleweeds rolling down the aisles.
11:36 pm: Jonathon Broxton and rookie Brent Leach are both warming in the pen. I'd like to see Leach make his first major-league appearance here, but then again 100% of my hunches in this game have been wrong, so...bring on Broxton?
11:39 pm: Broxton comes in. Naturally.
11:43 pm: Well, I was wrong (right?): Broxton absolutely freezes Upton on an unhittable slider for the first out of the inning. That'll probably make the Top 500 on Baseball Tonight's "That's Nasty" later on in the evening.
11:45 pm: Thanks in great part to ESPN, probably 4 baseball fans outside of the greater Los Angeles area know who Jonathon Broxton is. In a related story, he just blew away some dude named Ryan Roberts on a high 98-mph heater. You get the feeling that he'll have to save 85 consecutive games before ESPN starts wondering to themselves, "Hey, what's the name of that fat dude who pitches for the Lakers?"
11:46 pm: Miguel Montero is the Dbacks' final hope, and he's extinguished quickly, grounding to second to end the game. Final score: Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks 2.
And just like that, a new (National League) record is set, for consecutive home victories to start a season. On Tuesday, the Dodgers will try to break the modern-day MLB record of 11 straight home wins to open a season set by the 2003 Royals. On Wednesday, assuming they win Tuesday, the Dodgers will try to break the all-time record of 12 straight home wins to open a season set by the 1911 Detroit Tigers (ironically, the first team that Joe Torre managed). And on Thursday, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier will combine for 8 home runs and still not get mentioned by name during the first half hour of Baseball Tonight. Good times all around!
Anyway, on with the proceedings! (This entire thing will be in Mountain Time. Deal with it.)
7:35 pm: We're about a half hour away from the first pitch, with the Dodgers sadly conceding the game before it even begins by benching Juan Pierre, Mark Loretta, Brad Ausmus, and Juan Castro (combined batting average of .392, as noted in yesterday's blog entry). Manny Ramirez, Casey Blake, Russell Martin, and Rafael Furcal will have to make do in their absence. The "second-team" Dodger lineup:
SS Furcal
2B Hudson
LF Ramirez
RF Ethier
1B Loney
C Martin
CF Kemp
3B Blake
P Stults
I know that lineup order doesn't really matter, but...why are Ethier and Loney back to back? In a critical late-game situation, couldn't the Dodger offense be seriously neutralized by a manager ordering an intentional walk of Manny and then bringing in his lefty specialist? Martin's shown signs of busting through as of late; what would be so wrong with switching him and Loney today? Especially against a tough lefty starter? Should a Hall of Fame manager making $4 million a year really have to be questioned this many times before the game even starts? No? I didn't think so.
7:48 pm: The Red Sox-Yankee game is currently showing on ESPN; it's the second inning, at Yankee Stadium, and Phil Hughes is pitching. Anyone want to guess if there's been a home run hit yet? (The answer's yes.)
7:52 pm: I'm now perusing the Dodger minor league system for game updates. The most talented team is either Low-A Great Lakes (SS Devaris Gordon, OF Kyle Russell, C Anthony Delmonico, and P Ethan Martin are all potential top 100 prospects for 2010) or Double-A Chattanooga (featuring 1B/OF Andrew Lambo, easily the best position prospect in the system). Of course, Great Lakes lost 5-1 and Lambo isn't playing today. Go figure.
7:58 pm: Orel Hershiser relates a funny anecdote about Nolan Ryan during the Yankee game. Orel's insightful, intelligent, and funny...so naturally, they bump him to the Monday night games while Joe Morgan continues to give rambling non-analysis for the much-more-hyped Sunday night broadcasts. Gotta love ESPN.
8:01 pm: On a side note, I think Steve Phillips gets a bad rap. My dad's hated him ever since he led those "fake press conferences" for Baseball Tonight a few years ago (which is really much more a reflection on Baseball Tonight than him), and he's definitely not as smart as he thinks he is (ask any Met fan about the "Steve Phillips, General Manager" era and there's a 100% chance that a twelve-letter expletive will be involved)...but he at least knows the game, does research, and gives thoughtful analysis at times. I'll take him over Morgan 100 times out of 100, and I'll take him over Tim McCarver infinity times out of 100.
8:05 pm: Gotta check the laundry. I'll probably miss the first pitch. Hey, I warned you.
8:11 pm: Nope! I got back in time! Felipe Lopez flies out to start the game! More exclamation points!
8:12 pm: You know, I think I could listen to Vin Scully say "it's a lovely 68 degrees" for a solid 200 straight hours. You think I'm lying.
8:15 pm: Conor Jackson doubles down the left-field line with two outs. Manny moves to field the ball like he's wading through pond water. Whatever, he's hitting .349.
8:16 pm: Mark Reynolds hits a grounder to Casey Blake (or Casey "Baker," as Vin Scully calls him; hey, shut up, nobody's perfect), who makes a nice play for the out. Not a bad inning for Stults. That's probably the last time you'll read that sentence tonight.
8:19 pm: Doug Davis has a career 3.04 ERA against the Dodgers; I would have thought the 0 and the 3 would have been switched.
8:20 pm: The most notable thing about Davis, of course, is that he heroically came back from cancer to pitch well at the major-league level. But Vin reminds us of a fact about Davis that only Vin would know: he had four consecutive seasons with a .500 record as a starter. I'd like to hire Vin to narrate my life for a day. No, really.
8:22 pm: Furcal and Hudson ground out, bringing up tonight's feature attraction:
"MAN-NY! MAN-NY! MAN-NY!"
(I'm still not sure if there are any players on the team besides him.)
8:24 pm: Nope. Manny whacks a 3-2 fastball into the seats. 1-0, Dodgers. Of course.
8:25 pm: Wait, there IS another player on the Dodgers??????? Apparently! Andre Ethier drills one into the rightfield bleachers. 2-0 now, as Andre continues to make that one Tampa writer look foolish for proposing an "Andy Sonnanstine for Ethier" trade in the offseason. That article will get 100% funnier every year.
8:26 pm: James Loney is known around Dodger cyberspace (meaning exclusively dodgerblues.com) as "James Pierre" because of his power outage over the last 7 months and counting. Also, for his habit of softly grounding out to end innings, as he just did. 2-0 Dodgers into the second.
8:30 pm: Stults walks Justin Upton leading off the second, bringing up my dad's least favorite player ever, Eric Byrnes. It's a combination of his hair and his idiotic performance at the 2007 All-Star Game that really did him in in my dad's eyes.
8:32 pm: Classic Byrnes play: hits a grounder up the middle that should be an easy double play, only it bounces off Stults' leg and Orlando Hudson can only get one. Byrnes is really David Eckstein with talent, isn't he?
8:35 pm: Hit and runs are stupid, and even when the Dodgers execute them well I'll shake my head and consider myself lucky that something horrible didn't happen. And when another team perfectly executes one against the Dodgers, I feel like whipping my remote out the window. In a related story, the Dbacks now have runners at first and third with one out.
8:37 pm: Some guy named Josh Wilson singles through the left side. 2-1 Dodgers. Oh well, the Stults shutout never had much chance anyway.
8:38 pm: Russell Martin is batting like .111 right now, but you've got to love him for plays like this: Davis drops a bunt down about 2 inches in front of the plate, Martin grabs it and whips it over to third for one, Blake throws it on to first to get Davis by 10 feet. How many times do you see a 2-5-3 double play? About as many times as you hear Joe Morgan say something useful. 2-1 Dodgers going to the bottom of the second.
8:40 pm: Russ leads off in the second. I'll bet anything that he gets on base here. Anything.
8:42 pm: And he walked. Hey, maybe I should broadcast for ESPN. (During the Monday night games, of course.)
8:49 pm: After the Dback shortstop drops an easy double play ball from Matt Kemp, the Dodgers hit and run--and Casey Blake lines into a triple play. No. Really. He did. My remote is now falling from a four-story dorm window.
8:52 pm: Still reeling. The last triple play turned against the Dodgers happened 18 years ago. I'm not sure what to do with that. Also, Eric Stults wouldn't be Eric Stults if he didn't put the first batter on base in the 3rd.
8:55 pm: ESPN breaks into the Sox game with Dodger highlights, showing the first-inning back-to-back homers but strangely not showing the triple play. I'm sure that when Orlando Hudson and Manny both get thrown out at home on a double later on that that'll be all over the Worldwide Leader.
9:00 pm: After hitting the first batter of the inning, Stults gets a pop-up and two grounders to retire the side. The pessimistic Dback fan on dodgerblues' live chat is now on suicide watch.
9:03 pm: Classic Dodger Stadium moment: Stults, leading off the third, connects solidly as the crowd goes wild...followed by the ball being easily caught in medium center field as Charlie Steiner changes his pants.
9:08 pm: Furcal singles to left, followed by Davis being sufficiently rattled that he throws to first three straight times before throwing a wild pitch. Hey, nobody said speed isn't important from a leadoff man. It's just like the 6th or 7th most important thing.
9:10 pm: Orlando Hudson walks, bringing Manny up with two on as Vin describes him as "full of frijoles." Hey, I was just thinking that.
9:13 pm: 3-2 count, crowd in full "MAN-NY! MAN-NY!" mode...and he hits into a double play. Was that GITP really a full-scale momentum killer?
9:16 pm: Scully: "We have some more facts about the triple play, in case you care." Vin, you could talk for 45 minutes about Juan Castro's bowel movements and we would still care. Don't be apologetic.
9:20 pm: Long shot by Byrnes, deep to right center...and Kemp makes a running catch while leaving a giant body imprint in the centerfield wall. If he hadn't single-handedly lost that Giant game last week with two first-inning misplays, I'd be a lot more impressed with his improved fielding this year.
9:22 pm: Random Sox-Yankees Tangent: Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira both connect for medium-range pop-ups that somehow reach the Yankee Stadium bleachers. That place makes Coors Field seem like Dodger Stadium in 1963. Meanwhile, Stults picks off Justin Upton for the second out before getting a strikeout to end the inning. Maybe I'm being too hard on the guy.
(The Dbacks will now score 16 runs in the fifth.)
9:31 pm: Seemingly everyone on dodgerblues.com is falling over themselves to trade Russell Martin, apparently unaware of the dark days in 2005 when Jason Phillips (!!!!!!!!!) was getting four atbats a game for the big club. The best way I can describe his baserunning is "a thin guy imitating a fat guy's running style." It was pretty embarrassing.
9:32 pm: Of course, Russell strikes out to end the inning. 2-1 Dodgers to the fifth.
9:35 pm: MLB.TV's doing some weird shit where the broadcast is fading in and out, making Vin sound eerily similar to Dick Clark. If that's a joke, Dodger radio team, it's not funny. It's pretty fucking far from funny, actually. Meanwhile, Kemp chases down another long fly ball for the first out in the fifth.
9:38 pm: Stults gets a strikeout and a weak fly ball to end the inning. Through 5 innings, he's only at 72 pitches, which is a decent third-inning total for Clayton Kershaw.
9:40 pm: Vin goes on a weird rant about thumb sucking as the camera pans to several small children in the crowd and every Dodger fan listening to the game nervously clears their throat. You know what? I don't give a shit. Vin, you could talk about thumb sucking for the next four innings and you'll still be a million times more interesting than...well, anybody, really.
9:43 pm: Kemp lines a single to left. I feel like that's his first hit in about six years.
9:44 pm: Blake grounds a single to left that somehow eludes Mark Reynolds, putting runners at first and second for the first time since the triple play. Cue 'Nam-like flashbacks.
9:46 pm: Kemp pulls off a delayed steal of third with Blake holding at first. Now I know that hasn't happened in six years...back when I did it for the Beaverton American Legion District 2A "Bombers." Oh, the glory days.
9:48 pm: Torre stupidly lets Stults swing and miss on 2-1 instead of having him bunt, and then gets bailed out on the next pitch when Stults connects on a medium-range fly ball for a sacrifice fly. 3-1, Dodgers. Guess that's why he's the manager and I'm the blogger.
9:52 pm: Davis wild-pitches Blake to second before walking Rafael Furcal. The Dodgers have been throwing jab after jab all night...they can finally go for the knockout here...they can smell blood...and they have Hudson and Manny due up...and those guys are like .950 career hitters at Dodger Stadium...and the Dbacks are on the ropes...
(So you just know a hit-and-run's coming.)
9:55 pm: I have no idea how you throw Orlando Hudson four straight balls with two runners on and Manny on deck. But it happened. Bases juiced, one out, Manny coming up, Doug Davis going out, Jon Rauch coming in, and the Dodgers T-minus one pitch away from either breaking the game open or fucking up the best opportunity they've had all night. And of course, the radio team screws up and forces the "Dick Clark Scully" voice on me.
9:57 pm: "High fly ball, deep to center field, back goes Young, a way back..."
9:57 pm: "...with room at the wall."
9:59 pm: But seriously...if that ball hits 1/900th of an inch closer to the fat part of Manny's bat, it's gone. And I love you ManRam, but please only preen at the plate when you're absolutely sure that you hit a home run. Damn it all. Oh well, 4-1 Dodgers on the sac fly.
10:03 pm: Ethier works a walk, followed by Loney striking out to end the inning. Can we get Juan Pierre a first baseman's glove, please?
10:04 pm: Checking on the laundry. If I miss anything, know that it was so I have clean socks to wear tomorrow. Noble cause, I know.
10:14 pm: Figures that I would return to find the lead cut to 4-2 (on a Mark Reynolds homer) with a runner on first (via a single by Justin Upton, chasing Stults) and with Ronald Belisario coming in (a virtual certainty to give up a 450-foot laser beam to Eric Byrnes). Laundry breaks suck.
10:16 pm: Belisario somehow induces an inning-ending groundout from Byrnes. 4-2 Dodgers headed to the sixth, with me wondering how a quadruple play would be possible.
10:22 pm: After a Martin single, the Dodgers hit and run with Kemp fouling the ball off at the plate. Will Joe Torre ever learn that hit and runs are very, very, very risky and therefore incredibly dumb? No? Didn't think so.
10:25 pm: I'm still reeling from my trip to the laundry room, mainly the elevator portion of it. There's so much dried piss, vomit, spit, and God knows what else on the floors of dorm elevators that any direct contact with them would probably make your skin melt. Well, this time, there was an actual pool of liquid taking up half of the elevator floor. It looked like plain water, but knowing that it was a dorm elevator, I couldn't help but think about all the, um, "other possibilites." Needless to say, I jumped off the elevator as soon as humanly possible.
10:26 pm: Kemp doubles to left, bringing home Martin. I wonder how you say "Slump busted" in Bison talk. 5-2 Dodgers, as Rauch leaves along with 35,000 of the Dodger fans in attendance.
10:32 pm: Casey Blake strikes out (after being ahead in the count 3-0 at one point), but on the third strike, Kemp steals third for the second time this game. He's baaaaaaaaaaaack.....
10:34 pm: Finally, a real hitter! Mark Loretta comes up, pinch hitting for Belisario. A base hit is imminent.
10:35 pm: The Arizona pitcher moves Loretta's bat with his mind and forces him to offer at a 1-2 pitch a foot off the plate. That wasn't Mark's fault. No way, no how. As far as I know, he's still hitting .391.
10:37 pm: I really hope that, 50 years from now, the only thing Josh Wilson will remember about this game is the fantastic play he made to start a triple play. I say this because he just rushed a throw from shortstop to first, resulting in Tony Clark having to come off the bag and Rafael Furcal being safe at first. Kemp scores from third, and it's 6-2. The remaining 10,000 fans in attendance take off to beat the traffic as 10,000 new ones arrive late to take their place.
10:39 pm: The O Dog flies out to center. Nine outs to go, and history will be made at the Ravine. Hopefully, Guillermo Mota won't be involved in any way. 6-2 Dodgers to the seventh.
10:42 pm: Torre brings in Mota. Unbelievably believable.
10:47 pm: With one out, the Dbacks' #8 hitter ropes a double off the wall. Try to contain your surprise.
10:49 pm: Mota actually strikes someone out. Sure, it was Tony Clark, but I'll take it. And on that, after Mota's most successful outing in like 3 years, Torre decides to pull him with two outs in the inning to bring in Wade. Your guess is as good as mine.
10:54 pm: Yet Another Random Red Sox-Yankees Tangent: Do you think Jonathon Papelbon's buddies ever give him shit for that ridiculous "intense look" thing he does right before he throws a pitch? You know, when they're not sleeping in his mansion or riding in his Porsche?
10:55 pm: Wade gets a strikeout to end the inning. Again, be glad I'm not managing the Dodgers. Bottom of the seventh coming up, as I'm about to go against everything I believe about broadcasters by muting Vin for a bit to listen to the rest of the Yankees-Sox game. Vin, if we ever meet, suffice it to say that I'm never telling you this story.
10:59 pm: 6-4 Sox, two guys on, one out, bottom of the ninth, Mark Teixeira up. Steve Phillips: "If Teixeira hits one out here, he will be well on his way to becoming a Yankee." If I'm not mistaken, that event already occurred in late December, but hell, I don't work for ESPN, so I guess I don't know shit. (Can I take back what I said earlier about Phillips, by the way?)
11:02 pm: Tex K's, bringing up Swisher as the Yankees' last hope. Can you hear that? It's the sound of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry finally, officially turning toward Boston after like 1,000 years of New York ruling. Sucks to be a pinstriper these days.
11:07 pm: Huge brain lapse by the Sox: the two Yankee runners on base steal to put the tying runs in scoring position, and Varitek is caught so far off guard that he can't even make a throw. That's followed by Swisher hitting a monstrous drive to right that goes foul, and then working Papelbon for a walk to load the bases. Drama!
11:09 pm: A dodgerblues member characterizes Papelbon's intense look as his "rape face." I'm pretty sure that's funny somehow. Meanwhile, Papelbon blows away Robby Cano to end the game as the entire population of Boston prepares their taunting emails. Great game.
11:11 pm: Back to the Dodger game. Right now, the bases are loaded with one out. According to Yahoo!, Manny Ramirez led off with a hit-by-pitch, followed by an Ethier single, a Loney flyout with Manny moving to third, and a Martin walk. And according to the dodgerblues chat, Manny got hit by the ball square on the ass. Bet anyone $50 that Juan Pierre is in left at the start of the eighth.
11:13 pm: Anyone surprised that the Dodgers battled and rallied while my attention was on the Yankees-Sox game, and then immediately went dead (via a Matt Kemp double-play grounder) when I turned back? If you are, you shouldn't be. 6-2 Dodgers, going to the eighth.
11:19 pm: Three quick outs for Wade in the eighth, who's looked simply dominant since his return from the DL. Still, until the Dodgers trade for Jonathon Papelbon, the mass media will keep saying that their bullpen is full of can't-hack-it-pantywastes. (A Sandlot reference! Ha!)
11:20 pm: Bottom of the eighth at Dodger Stadium. And you know what that means...
11:21 pm: "STRAAAAANGERS.....WAAAAAAAAITIN.....UP AND DOWN THE BOULLLLLLLLLLLLEVARD.....THERE'S SHAAAAAAAAAAADOWS.....SEAAAAAAAAAAAARCHIN.....IN THE NIIIIIIIIIIGHT.....STREEEEEEETLIGHT.....PEEEEEEEEEEOPLE.....LIVIN JUST TO FIND EMOTION.....HIDIN.....SOOOOOMEWHERE IN THE NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT....."
11:25 pm: After Casey Blake leads with a walk, Juan Pierre comes up. I wonder how many times he's dreamnt of murdering Andre Ethier this year.
11:26 pm: Beast Mode flies out to center, bringing up Rafael Furcal. If somebody would have told me back in March that Martin, Furcal, and Blake would all be batting under .260 in early May, I'd ask them how much Giant fans were ejaculating over being in first place for the first time in 20 years. Yet somehow, the Dodgers are three outs away from moving to 19-8 and setting the National League record for consecutive home victories to open a season. Just Manny being Manny, I guess (remember, him and Nomar are the only two guys on the Dodgers).
11:30 pm: Vin takes a slight shot at LA fans, pointing out that many of them are likely to leave after this inning because there'll probably be no chance of seeing Manny again. Even Vin knows that his team's fanbase is a joke. Is there anything we can do about this?
11:33 pm: Hudson singles to right, as thousands of parents in the crowd huff and puff over having to stay an extra two minutes to watch Manny's atbat with their kids.
11:35 pm: Manny ices the game with a double down the line. 7-2 Dodgers, as Manny looks up from second base to find the stands completely empty with tumbleweeds rolling down the aisles.
11:36 pm: Jonathon Broxton and rookie Brent Leach are both warming in the pen. I'd like to see Leach make his first major-league appearance here, but then again 100% of my hunches in this game have been wrong, so...bring on Broxton?
11:39 pm: Broxton comes in. Naturally.
11:43 pm: Well, I was wrong (right?): Broxton absolutely freezes Upton on an unhittable slider for the first out of the inning. That'll probably make the Top 500 on Baseball Tonight's "That's Nasty" later on in the evening.
11:45 pm: Thanks in great part to ESPN, probably 4 baseball fans outside of the greater Los Angeles area know who Jonathon Broxton is. In a related story, he just blew away some dude named Ryan Roberts on a high 98-mph heater. You get the feeling that he'll have to save 85 consecutive games before ESPN starts wondering to themselves, "Hey, what's the name of that fat dude who pitches for the Lakers?"
11:46 pm: Miguel Montero is the Dbacks' final hope, and he's extinguished quickly, grounding to second to end the game. Final score: Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks 2.
And just like that, a new (National League) record is set, for consecutive home victories to start a season. On Tuesday, the Dodgers will try to break the modern-day MLB record of 11 straight home wins to open a season set by the 2003 Royals. On Wednesday, assuming they win Tuesday, the Dodgers will try to break the all-time record of 12 straight home wins to open a season set by the 1911 Detroit Tigers (ironically, the first team that Joe Torre managed). And on Thursday, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier will combine for 8 home runs and still not get mentioned by name during the first half hour of Baseball Tonight. Good times all around!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
The Dodgers don't not have a win-loss record that isn't not the best in the majors
That's right; a quadruple-negative. Take that, grammar police!
Also: Brad Ausmus, Juan Pierre, Mark Loretta, and Juan Castro have thus far combined for a .392 batting average in 79 atbats. I know that BA is very misleading and not a very good stat to measure hitters by, but...Brad Ausmus, Juan Pierre, Mark Loretta, Juan Castro: .392. Three. Ninety. Two. From four replacement-level hitters, two of which (Ausmus and Castro) are probably only still in the majors because of their defensive abilities. With all four of them in the lineup today, the Dodgers scored 7 runs after combining for 3 in the previous two games, when they used all of their "good" hitters.
I guess what I'm saying is, I am thoroughly convinced that Pierre and Castro will combine for 5 home runs in a game sometime this year, so make sure to watch every Dodger game to keep from missing it.
Also: Brad Ausmus, Juan Pierre, Mark Loretta, and Juan Castro have thus far combined for a .392 batting average in 79 atbats. I know that BA is very misleading and not a very good stat to measure hitters by, but...Brad Ausmus, Juan Pierre, Mark Loretta, Juan Castro: .392. Three. Ninety. Two. From four replacement-level hitters, two of which (Ausmus and Castro) are probably only still in the majors because of their defensive abilities. With all four of them in the lineup today, the Dodgers scored 7 runs after combining for 3 in the previous two games, when they used all of their "good" hitters.
I guess what I'm saying is, I am thoroughly convinced that Pierre and Castro will combine for 5 home runs in a game sometime this year, so make sure to watch every Dodger game to keep from missing it.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
July 2007: I advocate trading Andre Ethier for Joe Blanton
Whoops!
(This was Ethier's fourth walkoff hit since May 25 of last year.)
(This was Ethier's fourth walkoff hit since May 25 of last year.)
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