The season is already 1/16 over and the Dodgers are: 5-5 -- Last year at the 10 game mark the Dodgers were: 8-2 +6 George in Ct.
Before the season, Grady Little said that his goal was to be 7-7. There are so many newcomers, that they're not a "team" yet. Many of the players had never met each other before... So far, it looks like the Dodgers have - outstanding defense. - solid, but unspectacular starters - poor middle relief - two great closers (Baez, Gagne) - great leadoff hitters (Furcal, Lofton, Repko) - zero power (where's the beef?) - a good manager who doesn't know how to handle pitchers. - great depth and more at Las Vegas This should be enough to win the West IMHO
:? The bad news just keeps on coming. The Dodgers announced last night that fireballing setup man Yhency Brazoban will miss all of this season and next season with Tommy John surgery to repair a torn elbow... Keep in mind that the Dodgers are absolutely loaded with young outfield prospects, as well as first basemen, catchers and starting pitchers in the minors. If these injuries keep piling up, they're going to have to unload some of this wealth to obtain real, major league replacements. An example of what they have happened two days ago in Pittsburgh. Young outfielder Cody Ross was told that he was playing his final game. When it was over, they were placing him on the waiver wire. So all he did was hit a grand slam and a three-run homer in consecutive at-bats, giving him 7 RBIs in two innings. They decided to keep him, but this means other kids are staying down in the minors even longer. At some point, the Dodgers are going to have to deal... Barry Bonds received a well-earned reception from the locals last night. The leftfield bleacher creatures ignored the game and stayed on his butt all night long, with sing-song cheers of "Steroids...steroids!" and "Barry Sucks!, "Barry Sucks!" and "What do we know about Barry? He's a BUM!" It will be this way as long as he is in the league... :twisted: ..........DD
Do the Dodgers really only have one homegrown player in their starting lineup? That's what I read in the Sporting News. Meanwhile, the poster boys of free agency, the Yankees, have four ( Jeter, Williams, Posada and Cano) plus Rivera. If so I guess you can't always judge a book by its cover.
:!: That's a good point, George and it shows the importance of having consistant ownership. In recent years, the Dodgers have gone from the O'Malley's, to Rupert Murdock, to the Parking Lot Attendant and each one has hired his own team of managers, coaches, players, GMs, scouts etc. The only constant has been Tommy Lasorda in the background and he didn't always have much power. The current Dodger structure looks OK if they just give everyone a chance to do their jobs. I like the GM, Colletti. ........DD
8) Tonight's Dodgers-Giants game almost got out of hand and the season just started. The Giants brought up a pitcher named Hennessy from Triple-A and he did a great job, shutting out the locals 2-0. Unfortunately, he also beaned Jeff Kent and forced him to retire from the game... I couldn't believe (broadcaster) Joe Morgan criticizing Dodger fans for chanting Barry Bonds name as Kent lay in the dirt. What a loser. He just hates the Dodgers. He knew damn well that Dodger Dogs were chanting Bonds name, because it was our way of telling San Francisco that Bonds would be hit in retaliation. Morgan knew that, but he was playing dumb... The first batter for the Giants in the next inning was... Bonds. As the crowd went berzerk, Hamalach accidently hit him and the Blue tossed him out of the game! Can you believe that? Its a good thing that we had another lefthanded pitcher warmed up to go in. That was a lucky coincidence... After the game, Grady Little explained it this way to reporters: He and the other coaches teach the kid to work in and then out. That's what the kid was trying to do! Bonds always leans over the plate. That's why he wears that pad on his elbow. He wants to get hit! The umpire just doesn't know baseball... I think our manager is right. Bonds is probably suicidal at the thought of going to prison over this steroid business and he dived into the pitch trying to end it all. The bum can't even do that right... .................DD
That protection that Bonds wears on his elbow looks bigger than before. Don't they have rule about the size of those things? PJ in Jersey
:idea: Actually, they do; but Bonds gets away with it as a protective device for a previous injury. A guy with as many enemies as that needs some body armor...
The season is already 1/8 over and the Dodgers are: 5-5 -- 10-10 5-5 -- Last year at the 20 game mark the Dodgers were: 13-7 +6 George in Ct.
except last night in Houston (sorry Terry) Thank God for JD and Nomar,,, it was a sweet hit on a stupid pitch....
The season is now 3/16 over and the Dodgers are: 5-5 -- 10-10 5-5 -- 13-17 3-7 -4 Last year at the 30 game mark the Dodgers were: 19-11 +8 Time to start winning some games! George in Ct.
8) Nomar is home. He's a Mexican-American guy from St. John Bosco High School. On Cinco de Mayo, he wore a Dodger serapi before and after the game and he knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. He did that last night too and they may extend his one-year contract. He's popular and having fun batting ahead of JD Drew, who is the guy nobody wants to pitch to. Nomar can probably make more money here than anywhere else, so he just may stay here for awhile... The Dodgers have several problems that are in the process of being worked out. They had a huge hole at catcher that Dioner Navarro wasn't filling. Opposing baserunners were 24/25 against him and he had numerous passed balls. He was even dropping throws to the plate from the fielders and at age 22, it was obvious that he was not ready for prime time. Canadian Russell Martin looks more like it, having knocked in several runs in his first few games and even throwing out baserunners who attempt to steal. He may be around for awhile. He's 23... Odalis Perez has finally worn out his welcome. They're seriously considering giving him his release and eating the remaining $21 million on his contract. He doesn't want to play, he just wants to get paid. He's already gone home to his ailing mother, just as he's done every year since he got here. Meanwhile, his replacement, Aaron Sele has retired 13 batters in a row and the Dodgers have a 5-1 lead in the game on TV. Down at Las Vegas, they also have a whiz kid named Chad Billingsley who is cruising through Triple-A and may be ready right now. They said they want him to have 5-8 more minor league starts, but they may just bring him up now and chase or trade Perez. They don't need him for anything... The bullpen has been a disaster, Three years ago, the Dodgers had the greatest bullpen in baseball history. Now its a train wreck. The last time I looked, Dodger relief pitchers had a combined record of 2-12 with an ERA like a lottery number. This situation will change too. Gagne is throwing in the pen and should return to action next month. Some of the clowns have already been sent down and more may be following them or will be traded. Dodger minor league pitchers are looking great and it may be time to bring up several of them. So far, the kids they've brought up are better than the pitchers they were using and there are several genuine flame-throwers at Las Vegas, including young DJ Houlton who was one of their starters last year.... The Dodgers have been less-than-average so far, but one-by-one the problems are being solved...
8) Dodgers crush the Lastros again. They are undefeated (4-0) since Russell Martin became the starting catcher. Dioner Navarro is beginning to look like Wally Pipp... Nomar's average is up to .300 and he's starting to look scary/good out there. The heart of the order, Nomar, Drew and Kent is now functional... Bad news: Odalis Perez is back. We Dodger Dogs have no faith in this guy. His mother didn't die again, so he'll leave again, when his courage is questioned again, as it surely will be. On a team with Nomar, Kent, Lofton, Gagne, and Penny there is no lack of criticism for lazy shirkers... Manager Grady Little and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt don't seem to know what they're doing when it comes to handling pitchers. Tonight they fed Lastro cleanup hitter Morgan Ensberg a belt high fastball on a 3-0 count... Exqueeze me, but what's wrong with that picture? The Houston coaches were laughing at them (Dodger coaches) as the ball sailed toward the police academy... They KNEW what was coming. They know how stupid Little and Honeycutt are about pitching. I've never heard of grooving the ball to anybody's cleanup hitter on any level of ball. Its just not done, but they expected the Dodger coaches to do it and they did. :x
Jim, you should have your own show on XM radio so I could listen to your commentary every day.....much more insightful than the talking heads on ESPN. I fel like I'm in the locker room or at least in the stadium. Speaking of XM radio, I listened to the Orioles-Red Sox game last Saturday night on Red Sox radio. Last night, while on the road back home, I listened to the Red Sox-Yankees on the Yankee network. I'm enjoying this newfangled radio thingy.
We should move him to WVA and he and Tod could team up, the Jim and Tod show would be pretty interesting! Astro's...our 2 best pitchers got bombed on this road trip...not good.
Dodgers bombing the Stros again tonight. They began substituting in the 7th when the score hit 9-zip. Kent, Furcal and Nomar all homered and another super rookie, Willie Aybar, batting .358 with 7 dingers at Las Vegas was brought up to replace Repko who sprained his ankle... Dodgers now 5-0 with Russell Martin at catcher. They had lost 4 straight before he joined the team... I have no idea what's wrong with Houston. They got wiped out in Colorado before they came here and this entire western trip has been a disaster for them. I haven't really analyzed them, but they look great on paper, with pitching, power and a good coaching staff. They look like a good team that's just in a slump... re: baseball reports Hopefully, we can give you guys a two-for-one report this weekend. BDR and meself are going to meet down at Anaheim for the Angels-Mariners game on Sunday. Since we hate both teams, we'll try not to get our arses kicked. I plan to wear the Grumpy hat I bought at Disneyland and root against everybody, while goading Rick into publicly giving his oft repeated opinion of Angels fans... .................DD