Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

…well, you won’t even get an analysis here. You’ll just get the .gif of the head-exploding guy from Scanners posted here about 40 times, and then no more MSTI posts ever since I’ll have broken my laptop by bashing my face into it. Be happy I just presented you with the still, because the motion one is way more gross, and that’s what you’re going to get if this deal goes down. Anyway, this story’s popped up everywhere, but I can’t help but comment on this one section of it. Let’s go with 6-4-2 for the link, originally from Ken Rosenthal:

To get Wilson, the Dodgers would need to trade the Pirates some of the same players that the Indians want for Sabathia, leaving Los Angeles with a choice of one deal or the other.

Please tell me that I didn’t just read that the asking price for a mediocre - at best - shortstop is going to have anything in common with the asking price for the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner. Jack Wilson is 30 and has a career OPS+ of 79. C.C. Sabathia is 27 and has never once in his career (and for all the hype over Clayton Kershaw, don’t forget that when C.C. was age 20, he was going 17-5 in 33 starts) had an ERA+ of below 100. So please, tell me, on what planet are we trading the same guys for these two players?

If we needed a pitcher - which we don’t - then yes, by all means, Sabathia is worth some top-shelf talent. Jack Wilson should be a player the Pirates are dying to give away. He’s not all that good, and he’s still got some sizable cash left on his deal ($7.25 million next year, plus a $0.6 million buyout of an $8.4 million team option for 2010). The Pirates should be begging the Dodgers to take him off their hands, no?

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

…you’ll be busy. You’ll have a family barbeque to get to, a local fireworks celebration - whatever it is you do to enjoy a national holiday. Really, if you’re actually reading this post right now, I’m a little disappointed in you. But I implore you, make some time in your day to catch the Dodger game (1pm PST). Because as you should already know, both Nomar Garciaparra and Andruw Jones have sped up their rehab in order to be available today. Tell me you’re not interested in seeing Nomar playing shortstop for the first time since 2005! Especially now that it’s been another year and nine more injuries since “he’s too fragile to play third base” was offered as a reason that he couldn’t be shifted across the infield from first base to make room for James Loney. And you know you want to see if Jones is going to offer any glimpse of the player he once was, especially since his rehab was originally supposed to end a full two weeks from now on July 18th. I know it’s only 3 minor league games, but he did go 4-8 with a homer and a stolen base in Vegas - and zero strikeouts. Is it possible that the knee really was the source of his problems? I guess we’ll have to see. But if he can come back and be even half of his former self, that would still help this power-starved team and be a massive improvement on the guy who was approximately 1/100000th of his old self earlier this year.

Of course, bringing both of these guys back will require some roster moves, especially for Nomar because, having been placed on the 60 day DL, he’s no longer on the 40-man roster. Ken Gurnick of Dodgers.com says:

The Dodgers will need to make two roster moves to make room for the veterans. Newly arrived outfielder Jason Repko is one likely candidate. The other could come from a group of bench players, including Angel Berroa, Andy LaRoche and Mark Sweeney.

Repko, fine. Yeah, it’s only been seven at-bats, but the four K’s and zero hits haven’t exactly made much of an impression. Get an OF back in Jones, send one down in Repko. But here’s the thing, Ken. There’s a bunch of guys that could get the axe for Nomar. Angel Berroa’s got an OPS+ of 27, to the surprise of absolutely no one except Ned Colletti. With Nomar around, Berroa and Luis Maza seem a little redundant - and Maza’s OPS+ is 44, which is still bad, but at least he can play second as well. Mark Sweeney may be the most useless player the Dodgers have ever had, and yes, I do remember Jason Grabowski. He’s hitting .094, for chrissakes. There’s even a case to be made for sending down Blake DeWitt, now that he’s down to hitting .169 over the last month. The point is, there’s a lot of filler on the roster right now. However, in no way should Andy LaRoche be considered among them. I know, he’s not really lit the league on fire yet. But unlike Berroa, Maza, and Sweeney, he’s actually got a future. 30 big league at-bats is hardly enough to decide what it is. If Andy LaRoche is the one sent down for Nomar… well, that might be the end of this blog entirely, because I don’t know if I could ever rationally write about this team again.

On to trade rumor news, because that’s always a topic I find endlessly fascinating. First, the shortstop problem. We’ve discussed the possibility of David Eckstein before, and although I wasn’t really for it, I understood why he might be in the conversation. Well, hopefully this juxtaposition from the Toronto Sun can put an end to that right here and now:

It’s no surprise that the Blue Jays are shopping right-hander A.J. Burnett.

But what they’re looking for in return certainly is.

The Jays are looking to obtain a shortstop in talks with other teams.

Wait, the Jays have two shortstops, Eckstein and John McDonald. Why would they want another?

“They’re offering Burnett to any team that needs pitching,” said an American League general manager. “They’ve told us they’re not happy with either David Eckstein or John McDonald.”

McDonald signed a two-year contract for $3.8 million last fall and before spring training the Jays signed Eckstein to a one-year deal worth $4.5 million. Eckstein has had problems in the field while McDonald is hitting .163 in 29 games.

Manager Cito Gaston has given as much playing time at short to Marco Scutaro, who was signed as an utility infielder.

Fantastic. The Jays are in last place and even they can’t stomach Eckstein. I especially like the “has had problems in the field” part of this. I know the Dodgers are desperate at SS… but not that desperate, right?

Finally, C.C. Sabathia, also known as “an expensive starting pitcher the Dodgers simply do not need, yet the media seems to insist that they do”. I can’t find the video, unfortunately, but my eyes nearly fell out of my head watching Tim Kurkjian on ESPN last night saying that the Dodgers “desperately need a starting pitcher”. Yes, the fact that the Dodgers have the #1 pitching staff in the NL (by ERA), a bonafide young ace in Chad Billingsley, and a lousy offense shouts “more pitching!” Well, Ken Rosenthal is reporting the Brewers are jumping into this with both feet, saying:

The Brewers’ offer for Sabathia includes Class AA left fielder Matt LaPorta, according to sources with two other clubs that are interested in acquiring the pitcher.

Class AA shortstop Alcides Escobar also may be in the Brewers’ proposed deal, one of the sources says.

To put this into Dodgers terms, consider sending Matt Kemp and Chin-Lung Hu - plus likely more since LaPorta is considered an even better hitting prospect than Kemp. How many times can I say “pass”?

Have a happy holiday, folks.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Diamond Leung, take it away:

Shortstop and leadoff hitter Rafael Furcal will undergo back surgery tomorrow and miss about another eight weeks. The microdiscectomy operation will involve removing a part of a bulging disk in his lower left back in order to reliever pressure. “It’s a blow, but it’s reality,” Manager Joe Torre said. “We anticipate this will solve everything.” Nomar Garciaparra is expected to be activated from the DL by the end of the week to play shortstop, but Torre conceded he won’t be able to go everyday. Class AA Jacksonville shortstop Ivan DeJesus Jr. is also being considered.

Fantastic. I’m no doctor, but I would absolutely love to know how something that was supposed to keep him out just a few days in early May has now mushroomed into a four month absence. From Furcal’s perspective, this is costing him millions; the hot start to his walk year probably had him lined up for a nice raise on his current $39 million deal, but now - who knows what he’ll get? Actually, now that he’s going to spend just about 2/3 of his Dodgers career injured (if not on the DL), he sounds exactly like the kind of player Ned Colletti will give a 4 year $60 million deal to.

Anyway, it’s become more obvious than ever that it’s time to get a shortstop, because after Hiroki Kuroda’s excellent return tonight, this team is somehow astoundingly just 1.5 games out of first. Sure, that’s almost entirely because the Diamondbacks have been terrible for two months (for example, the Blue would be ten games out in the NL Central and dead last at twelve games out in the AL East), but since they’re being dealt such a favorable hand here in terms of competition, they might as well run with it. When I looked at the shortstop market a few weeks ago, I came up with the following names: Christian Guzman, Jeff Keppinger, Jack Wilson, and David Eckstein. Guzman sounds like he’s about to re-sign with Washington, so maybe he’s out. Diamond mentioned Ivan DeJesus Jr. (more on him in a second), and Rotoworld says:

This puts the Dodgers very much in the market for a shortstop. It’s doubtful that Nomar Garciaparra is the answer, and none of the internal options have been close to adequate. A trade for Juan Uribe or David Eckstein could be a possibility, though Eckstein probably isn’t available just yet. Perhaps Edgar Renteria could also become an option later this month.

I can’t even tell you how much Juan Uribe scares me. He had one pretty good year (111 OPS+ in 2004) and since then has been trapped in a solid vortex of suck, with OPS+ scores since of 85, 73, 74, and finally 61 this season. I want to be incredibly clear about this: in exactly the same way I said Angel Berroa is not the answer, Juan Uribe is also not the answer. Uribe got only 19 plate appearances in all of June, which should tell you how much the White Sox value him. And if that doesn’t, the fact that he’s been a DFA candidate for weeks - after being placed on waivers in spring training - should.

As for Ivan DeJesus, Jr., I’m a little surprised to hear his name. But I imagine Leung wouldn’t have said he “was being considered” if there wasn’t some truth to it, so let’s look at him. As a 21-year-old in AA right now, he’s put up a pretty decent line of .300/.412/.378. That’s very little power, but the OBP and 39/37 BB/K rate seems to show that he’s a patient hitter. I’ll admit I don’t know a whole lot about DeJesus’ game, so let’s go back to the offseason and look at Baseball Prospectus’ capsule on him, where they ranked him the #9 prospect in the LA system, between Jon Meloan and Blake DeWitt:

Year In Review: Another excellent defender at short in the organization, DeJesus also had solid year with the bat at High-A.
The Good: DeJesus has a unique sense of his strengths and weaknesses at the plate, and knows that his greatest value comes from working the count and using a contact-oriented swing to lash line drives to all fields. He’s a very good defensive player with good range and smooth action, and as the son of 15-year big-league veteran Ivan DeJesus, it’s no surprise that his makeup is strong.
The Bad: DeJesus has little power, nor any projection for it, so he’ll need to maintain his high on-base percentages as he moves up. He’s no more than an average runner, and an inefficient basestealer. He needs to better measure which plays he can make and which he can’t, as many of his errors came on throws he shouldn’t have tried to attempt.
Fun Fact: In 21 games batting ninth for Inland Empire, DeJesus hit .354/.442/.492.
Perfect World Projection: An everyday big-league shortstop.
Timetable: DeJesus will face a big test with a Double-A assignment in 2008, beginning the season three weeks short of his 21^st birthday.

To be honest? He sounds like he’ll be just fine down the road, but he’s hardly dominating at AA, and he’s still pretty young. As much as I’ve been on the pro-kids, anti-washed up vets bandwagon over the years, I really think we might be better off just looking to acquire one of the mediocre veterans we’ve already discussed - depending on the price, of course. Either way, this is going to get interesting.

In completely unrelated ex-Dodger news, I attended the Rangers at Yankees game in the Bronx tonight, and when former Dodger Wilson Betemit came to bat, the song played on the PA system was Pearl Jam’s “Better Man“. The section of the song that was played? I shit you not, it was the chorus, which if you’re unfamiliar with the song goes as follows: “can’t find a better man… can’t find a better man…” How’s that for instilling confidence in your players?

Finally, as I’m reading the paper this morning, an insert falls out for the All-Star game at Yankee Stadium. Apparently they’re doing this promotion in which all around New York City, 42 eight-foot-tall Statues of Liberty painted in the colors of all 30 teams (plus 12 others for AL, NL, defunct teams, etc.) are planted to drum up publicity. Some of them are in appropriate locations (Padres in front of a PETCO, Mariners in front of the Nintendo store), some are unintentionally hilarious (Rays in front of Champs!) and some are just randomly placed on the street. I couldn’t help but go track down the Dodgers statue (in front of Niketown on 57th and 5th, if you happen to be in the area) and snap a shot:

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

He just couldn’t lay off the booze, so back to AA for him… oh wait, double A.

According to Tony Jackson, phenom Clayton Kershaw has been sent back down to the Dodgers AA affiliate, Jacksonville, to make room for Hiroki Kuroda, who makes his first start off the DL in about an hour. According to Jackson, Kershaw was most surprised:

I was as surprised as you undoubtedly are, but no one was more surprised that Kershaw himself. Joe Torre stressed, both to Clayton and to the media, that the move was more about needing a roster spot for Hiroki Kuroda, who is coming off the DL and starting tonight, than it was about the way Clayton has pitched. But as Clayton himself said, “Any way you spin it, I’m getting sent down. They can say they didn’t have enough room, but they (brought) me up when they didn’t have enough room, because all those (pitchers) were healthy then.”

I would make an assessment of his time in L.A., but my partner in crime, MSTI, did a very good job of that on the post below and Jon from Dodger Thoughts also has a good read on it.  In short, Kershaw has a lot to be proud of and should no doubt hold his head up high.  He could have easily embarrassed himself, but he proved to be a capable pitcher.  For a person who just turned 20 years old right before the season started, that’s extremely impressive and once he works on the things such as his location and the like… watch out.  The kid is for real.

See ya back in a couple of months, kid.

- Vin

I’m completely kidding, of course. But thanks to the bullpen blowing his lead tonight - and yes, Brian Falkenborg, even though two of those three runs got charged to Kershaw, it was you who gave up that three run bomb - Kershaw has now gone almost 11 months since his last professional win, on August 20, 2007, for AA Jacksonville. I know, I know; wins are a terrible way to evaluate a pitcher, and for much of that time his pitch count has been so regulated that he’s been unable to go the five innings required to get the victory. Throw in the fact that the Dodgers simply cannot score, and there’s plenty of extenuating circumstances. I get it. But still… it’s been nearly a year since the kid’s last victory.

It’s with this in mind that I say I hope that Kershaw is sent down once Brad Penny and Hiroki Kuroda return to the rotation. No, it’s not that he’s been all that bad. He’s been almost exactly what we thought he’d be - very inconsistent with flashes of greatness. For a 20 year old kid coming straight out of AA, the fact that he’s been almost exactly league average (4.42 ERA vs. the 4.38 average NL ERA) is actually very impressive, as are the 33 K’s in 38.2 innings. Kershaw has come up in a situation where most pitchers would embarrass themselves, and he’s shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s got the talent to dominate once he harnesses his control and learns to be a pitcher.

But the fact is very simple: is he one of the five best starting pitchers the Dodgers have right now? I’d say no. Chad Billingsley is already one of the top young pitchers in the NL, and after a rough stretch Derek Lowe has been excellent (3.21 ERA over the last month). Penny and Kuroda are obviously guaranteed slots once they return, and you’ve still got both Chan Ho Park and Eric Stults for the 5th spot, each of whom have been surprisingly effective.

This is why I didn’t want Kershaw to be called up in the first place - not because I thought he’d be overmatched, but because I simply didn’t see the need to rush him. Perhaps if he’d been called up when Penny and Kuroda went down within days of each other, I would have felt differently, but the fact is that the Dodgers already have too many good starting pitchers for too few slots, and it’s certainly not as though Kershaw has nothing left to master. Send the kid down for the next two months while he feels good about proving that he can hang with the big guys. Let him work on his weaknesses, especially his command and ability to work deeper into ballgames. Give him another start or two in September once the rosters expand, and hope that he’s learned enough to be counted on for 2009 out of the gate.

In other much more disappointing news, Dodger announcer Charley Steiner reported during tonight’s broadcast that Rafael Furcal was returning to Los Angeles for another exam after waking up in Las Vegas with back pain after his very first rehab game last night. Considering that Furcal was expected to rejoin the Dodgers as soon as this weekend vs. San Francisco, it’s becoming more and more clear that we simply cannot count on him at all. Even if he’s able to make it back to the big club at some point, it’s entirely too much of a risk to assume that he won’t get hurt again. And since this team absolutely positively cannot continue to go with Angel Berroa at shortstop, it’s really time to start looking into acquiring a shortstop. As bad as we all knew Berroa would be, he’s actually been worse. A line of .183/.246/.217 is an absolute joke, and he’s been so bad that he’s been benched for Luis Maza the last two nights in search of “offense”, even though Maza’s only putting up a 54 OPS+ himself. Although I know it sounds like I’m just tooting my own horn here, it’s not as though we didn’t all know this is what was going to happen from the moment Ned Colletti acquired him. 

I looked into what we could do at shortstop recently, and it’s time to really amp this up. Contrary to what I wrote yesterday (that Nomar was useless since he wouldn’t beat Furcal back), it now seems that we’re really going to see Nomar as the starting SS on this team, and that’s pretty much unacceptable too. Ned, forget about C.C. Sabathia. Find this team a competent shortstop. Do it now. We’re begging you, here.

Finally - and I know this is starting to drag on, but hey, what fun would writing a blog while drinking be otherwise? - old pal Ken Rosenthal checks in with a new rumor, this time that the Dodgers are interested in Toronto DH/1B Matt Stairs. I know what you’re thinking; “MSTI thinks Rosenthal is a joker, and he especially couldn’t handle Colletti acquiring yet another old veteran part.” Well think again, because I actually don’t hate this idea, presuming that it lives under the following conditions:

1. That it means the end of the Mark Sweeney era
2. That it wouldn’t require sending much of value back to Toronto

Yes, Stairs is old. But unlike Sweeney, he can hit. The last time he didn’t get double-digit homers in a season was 1995, and he only got 88 at-bats that year. Just a year ago he put up 21 homers and a 138 OPS+. This year he hasn’t been as good, but still slightly better than average for an AL player and his 8 HRs would instantly make him tied for the club lead. Plus, he can fill in at 1B and the OF corners. I’m not saying I’m dying for this to happen, but if the above two conditions are met (and really, I can’t imagine that Sweeney would stick if Stairs came, they’re the exact same player, except that Stairs isn’t dead), I could live with it.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

I can’t remember the last time I saw a debut as completely lousy in every way as that - and if you didn’t catch the game, it’s actually worse than the box score makes it appear. “He went 0-5 with 4 strikeouts,” you say. “How could it be worse than that?” Well, that’d be because he really struck out all five times, and was saved on the last one only because a balk was called on Astros closer Jose Valverde as Repko was whiffing again. Given another chance, he “redeemed” himself by flying out to right field. Say what you will about Juan Pierre, but in just one night Repko managed to come nearly a quarter of the way to Pierre’s season total of 17 strikeouts. Take a good look at the image to the right - Repko walking slowly back to the dugout, bat in hand. After last night, it really should be immortalized in statue form and placed outside Repko’s home. Repko’s likely to get another shot tonight, as Matt Kemp has an eye infection and probably won’t start, so hey, Jason - try to get the bat on the ball at least once or twice, okay? And Joe Torre… I know Repko can run, but there’s no need to be batting him leadoff again. Put Martin there, put LaRoche there, I don’t care. But not a guy who embarrassed himself as thoroughly as Repko did last night.

The most frustrating thing is that the Dodgers actually did put up eleven hits last night, which is pretty good, but as usual they couldn’t string a few together to get some of those guys in. Even the one run they did put up was mostly thanks to Houston starter Roy Oswalt plunking both Russell Martin and Jeff Kent, followed by a James Loney sacrifice fly. The Blue left an astounding 21 men on base last night, with Repko, Ethier, and Delwyn Young all leaving 4 on. As usual, it all comes back to the lack of power. With runners in scoring position, LA is 8th in the NL in batting average, and 6th in on-base percentage, which isn’t that bad out of 16 teams. But they are 15th in slugging in those situations, with a brutal .358, only ahead of the woeful Nationals. That’s also good for 28th in MLB, beating only Toronto and Washington.

Sure, help might be on the way. In what was probably the most entertaining game in Las Vegas history, Andruw Jones went deep and Rafael Furcal doubled. Yeah, Nomar was there as well, going 0-2 while playing third base. But Nomar was only going to be useful if he beat Furcal back and took shortstop away from Angel “Playing even worse than MSTI predicted he would” Berroa. Now? Maybe he’ll just take Mark Sweeney’s spot on the roster at best, but even that’s a pretty big victory.

Also, be sure to check out the latest installment of Cardboard Gods, in which the author takes a random baseball card (usually from the 1970s or 80s) and relates the player, team, or picture contained within to the events of his life at the time. The latest version attempts to rank the all-time Dodgers at each position. If you guessed who the starting corner outfielders on that team were going to be before you read it, well, you’re just lying to yourself.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Which can, of course, only be followed by more injured Dodgers once Repko runs them down. Just in from Dodger HQ:

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today placed outfielder Juan Pierre on the 15-day disabled list with sprained medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his left knee and recalled outfielder Jason Repko from Triple-A Las Vegas.  General Manager Ned Colletti made the announcement.
 
Repko, who will wear No. 17, is available for tonight’s series opener at Houston.

This ought to get interesting.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

So I’m gone for all of four days. Unlike most other trips I’ve been on in the past, I’m completely cut off this time - no TV, no internet (save for what I can glean from my phone), no newspapers. But hey, what could happen, right? The Dodgers are going to play the Angels, and they’ll lose - because they always do when they play Anaheim - and I’ll come back not having missed much, while leaving the site in the capable hands of my cohort, Vin.

Boy, was I ever mistaken. Chan Ho Park continuing to find the fountain of youth, except somehow he’s not even 2000 Chan Ho Park, he’s 1965 Sandy Koufax? Getting no-hit - and winning? Mark Sweeney trying to place the blame for his crapulence on the team? And, of course, the incredible twists in the Juan Pierre saga over the last 24 hours?

Let’s work backwards on this one. Yesterday, Pierre hurt his left knee stealing second base, when Angels SS Erick Aybar fell onto him. This in itself is news if only because of Pierre’s incredible durability; he’s never been on the DL in his career despite nearly always playing every single day. He’s got an MRI scheduled for tomorrow, but there’s no word on how much - if any, other than tomorrow - time he might miss. Now, I want to be very clear on this: I’m not happy that Pierre got injured. As much as we whip on him around here, I’ve never rooted for any player, especially a Dodger, to get hurt. That’s just not right.

But that being said… who’s not a little happy that Joe Torre might have to start filling out lineups without his binky in them? Who’s not excited at the possibility of seeing Young/Kemp/Ethier on a regular basis, with perhaps Jason Repko or Xavier Paul called up in reserve? Because, sorry to say… Joe Torre cannot be trusted with Juan Pierre: (clearly written before JP hurt his knee)

When the center fielder returns after the All-Star break, Torre said Jones will take back his starting spot in center and Juan Pierre will stay in left field, leaving Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier for right field.

Torre said the right-field situation will not be a straight platoon between the righty Kemp and lefty Ethier.

“More likely, it would be who’s playing well or who has a hot bat or who seems to have more life in their body, or something like that,” Torre said. “It’s going to be more a feel thing than just a platoon thing.” 

Ah, geez. Here we go again. “Who seems to have more life in their body”? Really? This is what we’re basing lineup decisions on now? Do you realize that of the Dodgers who have enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title, Kemp and Ethier rank 3rd and 4th on the team in OPS? Juan Pierre, meanwhile, has a .653 OPS. How many ways are there to explain how lousy a .653 OPS is? Let’s count!

1. 120 points lower than both Kemp and Ethier
2. 45 points behind Jeff Kent, who as you may remember, is currently battling to be the worst cleanup hitter of the last half-century
3. Just 9 points higher than Gary Bennett, who nearly every fan despised when he was playing
4. 169th in all of MLB, behind such luminaries as Jack Hannahan (hitting .224 with 3 HR) and Felipe Lopez (hitting .243 with 2 HR)
5. Worse than two LA pitchers, Kuo and ex-Dodger Loaiza (small sample size be damned. Two pitchers!)
6. Most importantly, the worst number Pierre has ever put up in his entire career.

Not to mention how superior Kemp and Ethier each are defensively. Now look, I can understand giving Andruw Jones back his center field job, despite how bad he was earlier in the season. As you surely don’t need me to tell you, this team is desperate for a power bat, and while Jones was most definitely not that bat before his knee surgery, it’s certainly worth the risk to see if his problems really were health-related. I mean, can you imagine how different this lineup would look if Jones could get anywhere near back to his 2005-06 self? But someone, please, explain to me how Juan Pierre in his worst season, is worth pushing guys who are already better (and should still have room to improve) to the bench is good for this team.

Although the Dodgers have struggled to a 20-28 mark entering Sunday without Furcal after starting 18-14 with him, Torre said that has not been Pierre’s fault.

“He’s certainly been a player through this whole thing who’s been a consistent guy, every day refuses to acknowledge bumps and bruises that he’s nursing,” Torre said. “He’s been great, he really has. I can’t think of any way to explain it.”

Torre’s right here, in a wrong sort of way. As we’ve discussed before, the struggles of the Dodger offense can’t be blamed only on Pierre. It’s hard to blame any one player on a team that’s put up three hits over the last two games. Clearly, everyone’s to blame. But when he says that Pierre has been “a consistent guy”, it shouldn’t be taken in the way that Torre means it. Has Pierre been consistent? Sure! Consistently mediocre. I mean, Jeffrey Dahmer “consistently” ate people. Certainly it’s a little unfair of me to compare a baseball player I don’t particularly like to a serial killer, but the point is that the word Joe Torre is using as a compliment isn’t exactly that. As for “he’s been great, he really has”… I’m just going to sadly sigh and move on.

Although Pierre did not even start on Opening Day and started just 16 of 32 games before Furcal’s injury forced him into the leadoff spot, Torre said his play has earned him that starting job.

Pierre’s 22 multihit games entering Sunday are tied with James Loney for the team lead, and he has stolen 13 bases in his past 19 games, getting caught just once. He’s even knocked in a few runs, driving in runs in five of six games from June 14-20.

“About half the month of April and right through the month of June he’s been really great, and I can’t ignore what a difference he’s made,” Torre said.

Joe. Come on, Joe. I don’t like reiterating this kind of thing any more than I’m sure everyone likes to keep having to read it, but if he’s going to keep making comments like this, how am I supposed to ignore it? “His play has earned him the starting job”? How?! By every single measure, Pierre is having the lousiest season of his career. And considering he was hardly Mickey Mantle before this year, that’s saying a lot. Having a lot of multihit games isn’t really all that impressive when you play every single day and bat leadoff every single day. As I said the last time I had to try to convince people about Pierre, counting stats just aren’t that great when you get more opportunities than everyone else to accumulate them. No one’s questioned his prowess on the basepaths, so the steals are great, but let’s not pretend a guy with 24 RBI is some sort of run producer now.

Of course, this might all be moot, depending on the severity of Pierre’s injury. But it just goes to show that for all the fanfare surrounding Joe Torre’s arrival this season, he’s showing more and more signs that he just doesn’t ‘get it’. Like I’ve been saying since the day Pierre signed, my problem has never really been with him. Give or take, you pretty much know exactly what you’re going to get from Juan Pierre - a decent batting average, zero power, lousy on-base skills, great speed with lots of steals, and a poor outfield arm. That’s the player he is, and that’s fine. The problem is with management types like Ned Colletti and Joe Torre deciding, respectively, that a player like that is worth $44 million and playing ahead of clearly more talented teammates.

Let’s give Rotoworld the last word:

Juan Pierre left Sunday’s game because of a left leg injury sustained sliding into second base.

With Andruw Jones set to return this week, the Dodgers would benefit if Pierre landed on the disabled list. As is, he’s set to remain the regular left fielder, leaving superior players Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier to battle for at-bats.

Glad it’s not just us Dodger die-hards who see this.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

From this morning’s L.A. Daily News, Mark Sweeney explains the reasons of his struggles this year:

I never make excuses, but

Yet here comes the excuse…

The situations I have been in haven’t been ideal for pinch-hitting and putting your piece into a team, because offensively we have struggled. There are times when you feel like you’re in the flow of the game and you want to put your piece in, whether it’s advancing a runner or putting a ball in play.

O.K., I am now convinced that Sweeney is on crack.  What the hell does this mean?  For starters, what is an ideal pinch hitting situation and non-ideal pinch hitting situation?  I’m guessing that he means one where he’s able to come up with runners on, as opposed to the bases empty and, because he feels he’s getting more of the latter, that’s why he has struggled.

So, basically, the reason he is now hitting .098 is because of the fact that his team cannot give him “ideal situations” to come in and do his job.

O.K., let’s look a little more in depth into this.

In his 61 at-bats this season, only 29 of them (less than half) have been with the bases empty.  In these 29 at-bats, he is 2 for 29 (which is a third of the amount of hits he has all season, by the way), which amounts of to .069/.100/.103 line.

O.K., fine, so, you’re right, Sweeney Poo (poo?).  Discounting the fact that some of these at-bats also count the starts that you’ve had this year, we get it; you’re not great with the bases empty.  You’re a lean, mean, pinch hitting machine when it matters… that’s right, with runners in scoring position!

Sweeney with RISP: 1 for 17, .059/.227/.059

Err… O.K.  They can’t be in scoring position.  Just on base.

Sweeney with runners on first and second: 0 for 3: .000/.000/.000

O.K., so you mean second and third?

Sweeney with runners on second and third:  0 for 3: .000/.000/.000

Bases loaded?

Sweeney with bases loaded: 0 for 1: .000/.500/.000

No…?  How about leading off an inning?

Sweeney leading off an inning: 0 for 8: .000/.000/.000

Close and late?

Sweeney close and late: 2 for 19: .105/.250/.158

How about scoring position with two outs?

Sweeney with RISP with 2 outs:  0 for 10:  .000/.167/.000

Oh, forget it, you just suck.  And for that matter, quit your whining, Mark.  Guess what?  You decided to spend your career specializing in a role that is one of the hardest in the game.  What the hell do you expect, to step into the game with bases loaded, 0 outs every night?  To blame your failures on the rest of the team for not giving you “ideal situations” is ludicrous, especially when you have completely sucked in every which possible situation.  I’m sure our starting rotation also doesn’t like our offense and it’s a freaking rarity when they get “ideal situations.”  That hasn’t stopped most of them from doing their part.  Your job is to hit the ball… regardless of who’s on base.  A bases empty situation doesn’t exempt you from doing your job.

There’s your veteran leadership…

- Vin

Take that, Rory Markas!  Seeing eye grounders might be Angels baseball, but winning while getting no-hit is Dodger Baseball, sucka!

O.K., now that I’ve finished doing cartwheels around the house (check!) and have laid off tormenting my trash talking, Angel loving cousin (check! and P.S.: incase you haven’t noticed, I REALLY love beating the Angels)… for now, let us examine this game a bit further. 

The biggest thing that everyone is going to notice and remember years down the road is the fact that the Dodgers got no-hit and still won the game.  And, for the record, whether or not it’s official is irrelevant (it’s not, by the way, because the Dodgers only came up to bat for 8 innings, instead of the official 9).  The Dodgers played an entire game without getting a hit; therefore, they were no-hit.  Perhaps it won’t be recognized by MLB, but they still went an entire game without getting a hit. However, while all of this will be talked about, let’s not forget the man who is mostly responsible for transforming this game into a strange celebration, instead of it easily becoming a potential horrific, and monumental embarrassment.

That is, of course, none other than Thunder Thighs, a.k.a. Chad Billingsley.

Thunder Thighs, in 111 pitches, threw 7 brilliant scoreless innings, while giving up 3 hits, walking 3, and striking out 7.  That’s pretty good and it was probably his best start of the year.  Total domination.

I think that with kids like Martin, Loney, Kemp usually being the focus of attention, and with the hype surrounding Clayton Kershaw, it seems as if Billingsley is slightly forgotten.  That’s not to say that people won’t recognize his talent, but I think we can sometimes forget just how good he’s been or at least how he continues to get better and better.  The kid is only 23 and he’s no longer just putting up good numbers for a 23 year old, he’s putting up great numbers, period.  He got off to a bit of an erratic start, which began by Joe Torre dictating his first start by Yahoo! Weather or something, but, even despite that, look at his numbers:

ERA: 3.29 (1st on Dodgers, T-13th in NL)

K: 102 (1st on Dodgers, 5th in NL)

K/9: 9.56 (1st on Dodgers, 2nd in NL)

WPA: 1.22 (1st on Dodgers, 12th in NL)

pLI: 1.05 (5th on Dodgers, 9th in NL)

This isn’t to make Thunder Thighs out to be perfect.  He still has some areas to improve on.  He still needs to be more efficient with his pitch count, needs to harness his control a bit better, but a lot of this is expected from a young kid.  He is just doing really well and he continues to get better and that’s while already currently being our ace.  He’s my favorite starter to watch pitch and he’s only going to get better.

Another person who deserves some credit is Matt Kemp.  My God, I have never seen a ground ball with that much english in my life.  The ball just completely turned the opposite direction to throw off Weaver.  He was able to steal second and get home.  Way to manufacture a run and not get thrown into a rundown in the process.

Also, credit to Andre Ethier, who gunned down Erick Aybar on a double in the 6th inning.  Considering a walk and a horrific fielding error by Jeff Kent followed that, you also saved our ass.

I suppose that’s not bad for a few of the kids who don’t really “get it” and don’t give constant fellatio to old, crusty veterans.

Finally, for as much flack as our offense gets, and rightfully so, while our offense might be sucking, our pitching sure hasn’t.  In the past week:

6-28-08: W: 1-0

6-27-08: W: 6-0

6-26-08: L: 2-0

6-25-08: W: 5-0

Dodgers’ pitching overall this season ranks 2nd in the NL in ERA (3.77) while ranking in the top 5 in K’s, WHIP, and in the fewest amount of walks.  Not bad, considering the fact that our “ace” is on the DL and, before that, he and our #2 had sucked for the first two months.

So, let’s see: a team with great pitching, but horrific hitting.  Can you say 2003?

Finally, here are words that I never thought I’d ever utter and probably won’t again: but props to Luis Maza.  He made an absolutely insane play in the ninth inning to rob Casey Kotchman of what looked like a sure hit.  While it didn’t seem all that important at first, and just merely the second out, that play saved the game.  With the eventual double by Kendrick and walk to Napoli, if Maza doesn’t make that play, they at least tie it.  So… right on, Luis!

Overall, this game pretty much sums up in a strange way why I love baseball.  Yes, while we still need to remember that our struggling offense got no-hit, which is not good no matter how you slice it, the fact that we won reminds me that whether you’ve been watching for years and post constantly on your blog or even if you’ve been calling games for 60 years, you might run into something that you’ve never seen before, as the real Vin said, tonight.  And leave it to the Dodgers to pull this off: the masters of the utterly insane, wacky and zany.  I mean, really, think about the twisted irony of this whole situation: for a team that has had mostly a non-existent offense the entire year, an offense with no power that constantly loses games for its pitchers and gives them no support, they might have completely turned their season around and have gotten the sparkplug they needed…

By getting no-hit.

Absolutely crazy.

Savor it, folks.  Chances are, you’ll never see it again.

- Vin