The season is now 5/8 over and the Dodgers are: 5-5 -- 10-10 5-5 -- 13-17 3-7 -4 20-20 7-3 -- 28-22 8-2 +6 33-27 5-5 +6 36-34 3-7 +2 41-39 5-5 +2 46-44 5-5 +2 47-53 1-9 -6 Last year at the 100 game mark the Dodgers were: 46-54 -8 What a disasterous segment! George in Ct.
The season is now 11/16 over and the Dodgers are: 5-5 -- 10-10 5-5 -- 13-17 3-7 -4 20-20 7-3 -- 28-22 8-2 +6 33-27 5-5 +6 36-34 3-7 +2 41-39 5-5 +2 46-44 5-5 +2 47-53 1-9 -6 55-55 8-2 -- Last year at the 110 game mark the Dodgers were: 49-61 -12 George in Ct.
8) Dodgers have won 9 in-a-row as the Giants have lost 10 of 11. Life is good... The Dodgers have not lost a game since the trade for 3rd baseman Wilson Betemit. They swept the entire 9-game road trip and now head home to take on the NL West... The Team batted .313 on the road trip... Rookie Andre Ethier is currently batting .352. At his current pace, he will have enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title, which (I believe) would make him the first National League rookie to win a batting title since Frank Robinson in the 1950's... The turn-around was made without Jeff Kent or Nomar Garciaparra who will come off the DL starting tomorrow...
re: Marlins The Marlins have bad ownership that stabs its fans in the back. They also are forced to play in a football stadium. They've shown an ability to come up with great young players, but their current player payroll of $15 million is ridiculous. They'll get more money than that just from the payroll tax on the Yankees. What's the owner going to do, just stick that money in his pocket? I think they need a new owner... ..............DD
Make it 11, wow and to think everyone thought they were down for the count after losing so many games in a row
Count me as impressed with the Dodgers...they are seriously hot and I now expect them to win the West. Dodger Dog will be dancing in the moonlight!
Question for the Dodger Dog. I heard that Paul LoDucca and the Mrs are getting a divorce and that one of the reasons she says is that he has a terrible drinking and gambling problem. Do you think that the Dodgers knew that a couple of years ago and that is why they mysteriously up and dumped him on the Marlins when he seemed so promising?
8) re: trading catchers The explanation that the Dodgers front office always give us is, "We have information that you don't have." The two most controversial Dodger trades of recent years were the trades of catchers Mike Piazza and Paul Loduca. Both players were local icons and team leaders who were dumped suddenly, with virtually no hint that the brass was unhappy with them. It was only after they were gone that the rumors surfaced. Piazza is a homosexual, which isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world, except that he began wearing makeup and plucking his eyebrows causing his teammates to avoid him. (The same was true of relief pitcher Duaner Sanchez, who was injured in a car accident last week.) His lifestyle had become a distraction and he was a tough sell for the franchise that invented family oriented marketing strategies. I hadn't heard this rumor about Paul Loduca, but it would explain a lot. Despite his great talent, the Dodgers kept him in the minors for years after he was ready. After he became their All-Star regular, they suddenly dumped him in the middle of a pennant race without ever declaring their intention to trade him. Even he was stunned. Nobody trades starting catchers or left-handed pitchers in the middle of a pennant race, but the Dodgers did it twice in ten years. If what Loduca's wife says is true...and its not just her divorce lawyer talking...then this would explain a lot... re: Dodger win streak The Dodgers still haven't lost since aquiring Wilson Betemit from Atlanta. Vin Scully claimed again last night that baseball insiders are still stunned by this trade and can't imagine what the Braves were thinking. Betemit is regarded as a budding super-star who was the logical replacement for Chipper Jones. He gives the Dodgers a power corner player for the next ten years... The Dodgers now have a completely different team from the one that they began the season with. They often have .300 hitters in the batting order all the way down to the pitcher's spot. They're also one of the youngest teams in baseball: Andre Ethier, LF, age 24 Russell Martin, C, age 23 Wilson Betemit, 3B, age 25 Rafael Furcal, SS, age 28 James Loney, 1B, age 21 Jason Repko, CF, age 25 Chad Billingsley, P, age 21 Jonathon Broxton, P, age 22 All of these guys are now regular starters and the Dodgers have been forced to release quality players like Jose Cruz Jr. and Ricky Ledee to make room for them on the roster. The combination of these kids with veteran stars like Jeff Kent, JD Drew, Nomar Garciaparra, Takashi Saito and Greg Maddux is a good one that should be able to win the West, but whether it will be good enough to win any playoffs is yet to be seen. The kids are untested in those situations... ............DD PS. Maddux has been coaching Russell Martin all week. He told the kid to "set up early" meaning that he should give the location of the next pitch right away and not attempt to disguise it. When Martin objected that this would tip off the batter, Maddux patiently explained that it didn't matter if the batter knew what was coming, because they weren't going to hit it anyway. The kid is in awe...
Can you imagine being Martin in that conversation and hearing one of the three greatest pitchers of this generation saying that? Awesome!
I heard the LoDucca stuff on the sports radio, said that the New Yawk Post or some rag there had it. They said she's a former Playboy model. hubba hubba!
:idea: Dodger win streak stopped at 11. They left the bases loaded twice...oh well. Garciaparra's back... There was a TV interview with Russell Martin before the game. He described how it was to catch Greg Maddux. He said that Maddux has his own game plan for every lineup and he sticks to it. He doesn't really listen to advice from his catcher. It doesn't matter how many fingers the catcher puts down, Maddux just throws whatever he wants to anyway. The interviewer then asked, "Doesn't that cross you up sometimes?" Martin replied, "No. When I put down one finger, it doesn't matter if he throws a fastball, change-up or curve: as long as I don't move the mitt, the ball will hit the mitt." Amazing... :shock:
I watched Maddux for a long time with the Braves. Worst decision they made since I was a boy was to let this guy get away from them. I never could get over one issue with him. Look at his facial expressions as he is getting ready to pitch. He may be the smartest man in baseball but he looks like the biggest goober of them all before he throws the ball. I equate these expressions to that of Bill Murray’s character in Caddy Shack... dumb as a brick and couldn't add 2 + 2 if his life depended on it. :roll:
8) There's nothing about Maddux to identify him as a great player on or off the field. In street clothes he looks like an insurance salesman. He even used to wear old-fashioned horn-rim glasses. He's under six feet tall and his fastball travels around 83-85 mph, which is UNDER the MLB minimum (88mph) for right-handed pitchers. Most of the high school pitchers in this valley throw harder than that. Corey threw harder than that and so did I... How does he do it? Amazing control is the key. Control of the direction of the ball and control of his emotions as he works. He's like a surgeon out there: totally immersed in his craft. The Mr. Peeper's disguise is an act. He's one of the greatest of all-time and he knows it. Among his many awards, he's won an incredible 15 Gold Gloves and he put on a demonstration of his fielding ability in his last start against the Rockies. There was a no-reaction-time, line drive right back at him. In one motion, he turned his head and half-turned his body and caught the damn thing no-look behind his back. Then he just stood there with that blank look on his face, as if nothing had happened, peering in to see the signals from the catcher that he ignores anyway... I was wrong about Maddux being washed up. As effortlessly as he plays this game, he'll probably still be around 4-5 years from now. This is my first time seeing him play every day and I'm as blown away as you guys were when he pitched for your teams. Wowza... :shock: BTW- Dodgers dramatic 9th inning walk-off win tonight put them in first place in the West and tied for the wild card lead with Cincinnati... ................DD
The Dodgers are beginning to pull away in the West, as they beat the Giants while Terry OK's Stros are getting well against the Padres... After going 1-13 after the All-Star break, the Dodgers are now 13-1 since then... :wink: Vinnie and everyone still amazed that the Oakland A's gave us Andre Ethier in a trade straight across for Milton Bradley. Ethier had two more hits tonight and is batting .348. He's a five-tool player who should be a regular feature of National League All-Star teams for a long, long time...
8) 14 out of 15. The Giants are fading like red paint on an old Buick... - Barry Bonds is fading too, without his joy juice. His HR total has fallen in every month this season and he is at zero HRs in August... - More hits for Andre Ethier. His current hitting streak is at 16 games... - The Dodgers are literally a different team from the one that began the season after Spring Training. On the 24-man roster, only 9 players remain from Opening Day, with 15 new faces... - Brad Penny is now the first 13-game winner in the National League. - The turn-around of the Dodger bullpen has been amazing. They were horrible (as I reported here) early in the season. They've settled in on a very effective formula that is winning all the close games: Brett Tomko is the early setup man, with Big Jon Broxton and Takashi Saito taking turns closing and setting each other up. Today it went Tomko, Broxton, Saito after the 6th... - The Dodgers will have difficult decisions to make at the end of the year, because of the super kids. As an example, Garciaparra is batting .331, but he's 33 years-old, he misses a lot of games on the DL and he'll want a guaranteed contract for $25 million. His replacement, 6'3", defensive whiz, 22 year-old James Loney is hitting .380 since his recall from Las Vegas, where he was batting .372 and he makes the MLB minimum. Nomar will want to stay, but there might not be any room for him... .......DD
Go Dodgers!! As you know from previous posts, Loney is a local kid who went to high school with my nephews. He was also a very good high school pitcher.
I was listening to the MLB channel on XM, the Kevin Kennedy/Rob Dibble show. Both of them praised Tomko as being a great guy and an ultimate team player, who will do whatever he is asked to do to help the team win. They cited his move to middle relief from the starting rotation.