The 2007 Dodgers are a fun group. After the closed door meeting (lecture) with the manager, Takashi Saito made a trip over to Little Tokyo and bought a costume. The next night, he walked into the clubhouse wearing a Samurai outfit, complete with crossed swords. Everybody cracked up and this seems to be a trend on a team where everybody speaks different languages. I hope they're still laughing in October...
We're very sorry to see the Mets leave town. The Dodger Kiddie-Corps swept them down and laughed them outta town... Dodgers 9 Mets 1 Matt Kemp, who is batting .464, went 3 for 4, James Loney hit a HR, so did Wilson Betemit, Rafael Furcal hit two triples and Brad Penny breezed to his 8th win. Penny's ERA is now down to 2.18, which is second in the NL to Jake Peavey's 1.82 and Peavey is the one who gets to sit next to Maddux in the dugout down there in San Diego... A day off today, then the Angels visit Dodgertown...
I see they canned HOFer Eddie Murray as hitting coach and appointed Bill Mueller to the position on an interim basis. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2904249
re: "The Dodgers led the NL with a .276 batting average and a .348 on-base percentage last year -- Murray's first as their hitting coach -- and reached the playoffs as the NL wild-card team. " I don't understand some of the maneuvers that the Dodgers make, and I get confused easily, so riddle me this, Batmen... If the Dodgers currently have the most wins in the entire National League and if they were the top hitting team in the league last year when they won their division...just what was the batting coach doing wrong? I'm no fan of Eddie Murray. He was the most unpopular player to ever play here, this side of Darryl Strawberry. My father-in-law dropped his Dodger Stadium season tickets, because he couldn't stand paying good money to watch Murray stand around and go through the motions. BUT...I've been analyzing this team for you guys, almost on a daily basis from Opening Day, and hitting is not the problem. These guys can hit; despite being made up of young kids and old vets, these guys hit everybody. That's not the problem. The problem is scoring runs. The Dodgers lead the league in runners left on base. With one or two exceptions like Russell Martin and Nomar, they strand more runners in scoring position than any team in either league. That's not the hitting coach. That's the General Manager (Colletti) who didn't hire any HR or RBI guys. I've been whining about it like a whipped puppy since Day #1. In the great orchestra of baseball talent, the Dodgers have more banjos than a minstrel show... GMs never fire themselves, so it sounds like Murray is the sacrifical lamb for not running away with the West before the 4th of July. There must be something else that we don't know. Colletti sounds like there's been a long-term problem brewing. How? They've been hitting and winning under Murray as hitting coach. As much as I don't like Murray, this story has a smell to it...
First, I would like to offer my congratz to all Red Sox fans on their abuse of Barry Bonds. The friendly, faithful of Fenway booed him for a timed 45 seconds when he was introduced and razzed him constantly for the rest of the game, which the Sox won easily. I also liked all the shirts with asterisks on them. We're not that clever out here. We just scream obscenities at him... re: Eddie Murray Today's LA Times gave some clues as to why Murray was let go. Just three years ago, he was the batting coach of the Cleveland Indians and they were dead last in batting and runs scored in the American League when he was fired at mid-year. The Indians wound up finishing 4th in batting and runs scored after they let him go... He doesn't talk to anyone; he just ignores them...which is what he did as a player. He feels that if the players have any questions about hitting, they should come to him. He refuses to go to them. He was generally hated by everyone on the team (as he was at Cleveland) and it reached the point where no player would go to him at all. There was no hitting coach... re: Dodgers vs. Anaheim AngelDucks Great game tonight finished in 2 hours 10 minutes: Dodgers 2 AnDucks 1 Derek Lowe was superb, with his sinker dropping off the table, he set a personal best with 11 Ks in 7 innings. Broxton and Saito finished them off for the Dodgers 96th consecutive win at home with a lead after 7... Both of these teams have super bullpens. The first team with a lead in this series is going to be hard to beat... Matt Kemp continues to pound the ball... It was a World Series atmosphere tonight, with an announced crowd of 56,000. That's the 5th crowd of exactly 56,000 this year. When they go over capacity and sell the open handicapped spaces that weren't used and other standing areas, they stop counting and just call the crowd 56,000, which is the official number of seats... Schmidt vs. Little Weaver tonight...
I appreciate and enjoy your updates, Jim. It's one of those things I look forward to as a way to keep me close to the game. Another way I keep close is listening to MLB.com on XM whenever I have the chance. It's pure baseball, nothing else.
Thanks Sid. I enjoy writing these Dodger reports, because the very act of writing helps me to organize my thoughts. That can be difficult when you follow the Dodgers, because sometimes their front office goes off the deep end. Vinny was telling a story last night during game #1 of the current series. He pointed out that during Kevin Malone's brief reign of terror as general manager, he informed Mike Scioscia that he "had no future in the Dodger organization." Two years later, Scioscia was World Series Champion as manager of the lowly Angels, while Kevin "Call me Dodgerboy" Malone was unemployed after doling out more than $100 million worth of ironclad contracts to the likes of Kevin Brown and Darren Dreifort. If I didn't write about some of these things, I wouldn't believe them myself... Today's game followed the script that I set out for you yesterday. The AngelDucks scored 3 with two out in the 5th inning and their bullpen made it stand up: AnDucks 3 Dodgers 0 It was the 128th game in-a-row that Anaheim had won with a lead after the 6th inning. The two clowns they have on the end, Shields and K-Rod, are as good as anyone out there. Yankee fans should be especially interested in Rodriquez, because he's Mariano Rivera's replacement starting next year. He's going to be a free agent at the end of the season and he's made no secret of his lust for Yankee gold. He's a kid who grew up on the street in Caracas, Venezuela and used to dance for tourists and beg for food. He has no mercy; throws 98mph; and covets as much money as he can get his hands on. Fate is bringing him into King George's grasp. He's a born Yankee...
Well... I told you that this series would tell us a lot and it did. I'm not sure I like the answers though; can we take this test again? AnDucks 10 Dodgers 4 It wasn't even that close. Anaheim has now beaten my Dodgers 5 out of 6: they swept us in Orange County and won 2 of 3 in LA. I'm becoming convinced of their (temporary) invincibility... Before the season, Anaheim bragged of being the best team in baseball, and going to the World Series with the best pitcher in baseball: John Lackey. Well, here we are in mid-June and they have the best record in MLB and Lackey is the only 10-game winner in MLB. Rats! I hate it when that happens. Furthermore, the Dodgers are a pretty good team. This series exposed exactly what the very best teams have that we don't have; and they didn't even have to use John Lackey to show us. Oucheee! The natives are restless in Los Angeles. The villagers have assembled in the square with their torches and pitchforks for an assault on the castle. We want the monster to be on our side or we're marching up the hill to replace everybody. This isn't the Effing Lakers. We can do science too... James Loney batted .383 in the minors last year; .280 with the Dodgers and he was the Minor League Player of the Year. Then he batted over .400 in Spring training, but was cut back to Triple-A. Why? We don't know. Since his recall, he's batting over .350 with as many HRs as Nomar in only one week with the team and tonight...he got hurt. He got hurt, because Grady Little put him in rightfield to showcase him as tradebait. He ran head first into the RF wall, because he's not an outfielder. That experiment failed in spring training and it failed in the minors. His natural positions are 1B and pitcher, but he almost got killed chasing a flyball into the wall. It was sickening and Dodger Dogs have had it. Play these kids or trade them before the showcases and experiments destroy the future of the team... Time may have run out on Jason Schmidt. He signed a $47 million contract when he knew his arm was toast, so its time to admit that he got away with it. Like poker, its no game for a blind man. If our hotshot GM gave out that kind of money without having the Dodger doctors (MLB's best) check him out, then who's fault is that? Eat the contract, cut him and start Billingsley... An off day today as the team flys to Toronto. The rumor is that the plan was for the Dodgers to make a trade there and come back with local favorite Troy Glaus to play 3rd base. Unfortunately, part of that trade just hit the wall...literally...so I have no idea how expensive this is going to get. All I know is: God help Colletti if he trades minor league pitcher Clayton Kershaw. He's lefthanded, with control of three pitches and he's clocked at a Lefty Grove-like, Koufax-like 98mph... http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060606&content_id=1491152&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la
As a Yankee fan, there is no team in baseball I fear more than the Angels. No disrespect against the Red Sox, but we know how to beat them and they us. The Yankees have no answer for the Angels.
George.. <t>Agree the Angels with a combo of doing a good job in their farm system and all the money the "sign" man has are stout.</t>
The Angels are being mentioned as a prominent candidate for the services of A-Rod when he becomes available.
Sid... <t>I wonder if they thinking of trading him or letting him opt out after the year. The Angels can afford him and his great year to date.</t>
Astros at Angels....Astros are hot, just destroyed the Mariners. Maybe we've turned the corner. :roll:
The long road trip through American League cities began on a good note: Dodgers 10 BJs 1 Russell Martin had a nice homecoming for his first trip to his native Canada as a MLB player with a couple of hits, including a HR. TV crews hounded his dad in the stands and both father and son are mobbed wherever they go... Jason Schmidt will have shoulder surgery and he's gone for the year; maybe for good. Can you say, "split-finger fastball" boys and girls? When you throw a forkie 95mph, your shoulder will pay for it... Schmidt's spot on the roster will be taken by pinch hitter Marlon Anderson who had been stashed on the DL and his spot in the starting rotation will go to 22 year-old whiz kid Chad Billingsley, who has given up only 3 runs in his last 25 innings out of the bullpen. Billingsley still has his 95mph fastball and he doesn't throw a splitter... No Troy Glaus. The BJs called him "untouchable." Those losers have been watching too many old movies. Their GM claims that they're still in the race for the wildcard. Say what? Who do they plan on catching in the east? The Red Sox or the Yankees? The latest rumor has the Dodgers going after Mark Teixeira of the Texas Rangers when he comes off the DL next week...
BJs 12 Dodgers 1 Hong Chih-Kuo never got out of the 2nd inning. Russell Martin had to leap up to catch some high pitches and dive into the other batter's box to smother others...and those were the ones that didn't get roped for doubles or parked for grand slams... The upside of all this, was that I got to watch a fascinating presentation on the History Channel about the story of fertilizer throughout the ages... re: Hunter Pence I also snuck a peek at the Angels game with Houston and Hunter Pence of the Stros is interesting to watch. He's very young and very awkward; even clumsy looking, but boy can he hit. This isn't luck and the pitchers aren't going to figure him out. He's not even hitting strikes: he's hitting the pitcher's pitches. He's reached into the other batter's box and golfed one to rightfield. He went up the ladder to hit a ball above his letters for a HR. He hits everything in the neighborhood. He's the real deal. I wish we had him...
Hunter so far has been a terrific young player. He, as you said, is sort of awkard looking. He even runs and throws sort of oddly. But he's been great in CF and runs the bases very well. What Astros fans like is his energy and enthusiasm which he brings to the ballpark. Now about our relief pitching....
Re: Hunter Pence. I saw his stats early and took a flyer on him for my fantasy league team. It's paid off nicely.
re: Jason Schmidt Schmidt's shoulder worse than thought Pitcher out for rest of season after surgery repairs three areas By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com Cartilage damage wasn't expected in Jason Schmidt's shoulder, but it was one of three problems corrected in Wednesday's surgery. TORONTO -- Dodgers right-hander Jason Schmidt is out for the season after surgery Wednesday to repair three separate areas of damage in his right shoulder. Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic, in an arthroscopic procedure, repaired a labral tear, a frayed bicep tendon and cleaned up scarring in the bursa sac, according to trainer Stan Conte, who said he's hopeful Schmidt will be pitching by next Spring Training. Although the club had said it did not know what to expect going into the exploratory surgery, Conte said the labral tear was not anticipated and was the most severe of the three injuries. "It must grow back to the bone, so the rehab process slows down," he said. "We anticipated that the labrum did not need to be reattached, but it did." The labrum is cartilage that forms a cup in the ball-and-socket shoulder joint, allowing the head of the upper arm a wide range of motion. The tear, common among pitchers, is at the posterior rim of the shoulder socket. The bicep tendon attaches into the shoulder socket and the bursa decreases friction between tendon and bone. Conte said the bursa inflammation is the only one of the injuries that showed up conclusively on an MRI done in April, but the belief is that the combination caused Schmidt's dramatic loss of velocity from last year. "We'd like to think so," he said. "When you take your arm back and cock it, the labrum is not allowing him to get all the way back. The bursa [inflammation] is another reason that causes pain." Conte said the club "anticipates Schmidt will be throwing in Spring Training," although he has a challenging rehabilitation ahead of him and won't begin throwing "for three to four months." "We'll have to see how the rehab process goes," said Conte. "It will start pretty quickly, in the next few days. We can't put stress on it because the labrum must grow back to the bone, so the rehab won't be as extensive or quick." Schmidt had surgery in 2000 to repair torn labrum and rotator cuff fraying, but Conte said Wednesday's operation was "more extensive."
Dodgers 8 BJs 4 This was a nice comeback win against the best bullpen in the American League. Hometown hero (born in Toronto) Russell Martin doubled with the bases loaded in the 8th to put the Dodgers ahead, then they proceeded to break the game open. It was the worst the Toronto pen has been cobbered all year and it was a rare comeback win for the Dodgers who win most of their games by holding a lead with their own great bullpen... Matt Kemp continues to pound the ball. He should be out there all the time instead of Juan Pierre, IMHO. Pierre finally threw a ball to the infield today in an attempt to get a runner who had tagged up. He missed the cutoff man... Chad Billingsley looked good in his first start. They pulled him out at 70 pitches as they try to build his pitch count in the transition from mid-relief to starter... Jeff Kent was carrying the team today (again)... I see the A's have released Milton Bradley. Oakland GM Billy Beane reasoned that the only role for him is part time and Uncle Miltie has a slight tendency to scream and dismantle the clubhouse when he doesn't get his way. That's three teams now in four years, Cleveland, LA and Oakland that have gotten rid of him. I can't imagine any team that would want him now... With the Rockies now the hottest team in baseball, the NL Wild West looks even crazier. The team that makes the best trades may win it... Idiots on ESPN are calling for Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and all the steroid boys to be elected to the Hall of Fame, because "There's no proof that they're guilty" and "you're innocent until proven guilty" blah...blah...blah. Aren't they forgetting something? Do the names Shoeless Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte and Buck Weaver ring a bell? They're forgetting that ALL of the Black Sox were found "not guilty" in a court of law. If they allow those cheaters in, then they have to open the door for everyone: Shoeless Joe, Pete Rose, everybody... Watch for the White Sox to hold a fire sale for their underperforming team. Sometimes the chemistry just isn't there, so Mark Buehrle and Jermaine Dye should be on the block for prospects to rebuild with... Cincinnati is toast, so Junior Griffey is being shopped around... Texas Rangers are asking for the moon in exchange for Teixeira... Dodgers are on to Tampa Bay with a tired Russell Martin. He hardly slept in three days at Toronto where he is probably the biggest non-hockey sports story ever...