|
Except that it was taken in 2003. Donny and the Dodgers. Just sounds good, doesn’t it?
Happy New Year, folks. Here’s to an uber-successful 2008, both for the Dodgers and MSTI.
Can’t it be Opening Day.. tomorrow?
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness 
So I’m already breaking the holiday cease-fire, but I’ve been struck by inspiration, in the form of a 20-year-old t-shirt. Oh, and booze. Plenty of that, too. (Caution: may contain actual feelings and little sarcasm. Proceed at own risk.)
This, friends, is what awaited me, hung on the back of a closet door, as I visited the parents for the holidays. This is the actual t-shirt that changed my life in 1987 or so. For you see, unlike many of you I am not a native Left Coaster, and I did not grow up with any sort of Dodger family tradition, as I imagine so many of you have.
No, I grew up in New Jersey in the 80s, and when I became aware of baseball, the Yankees were completely and totally unwatchable, Don Mattingly aside. Think Ed Whitson, Alvaro Espinoza, and Mike Pagliarulo, and you’ll know what I mean. The Mets? Well, the Mets were good, but I just had no connection with them.
So there I was, a baseball fan, with no team. But when I was 6 years old, I was able to sign up for tee-ball. And as luck would have it, I was assigned to the “Dodgers” – by which I mean, my royal blue screen-printed shirt just happened to say “Dodgers” on it. (Sidenote: what’s with all the kids leagues now having legit, MLB-replica uniforms? At 26, I shouldn’t sound like a grumpy old man just yet. But still. Back in my day, we had screen-printed t-shirts, mesh caps, and that’s how we liked it! P.S., stay off my lawn.) In my second year, once again – a Dodger.
Of course, my second year just so happened to be 1988. Which, as you may remember, was a relatively decent year for the Dodgers, as far as seasons go. Being a 7 year old, wearing the same shirt as the team that just won it all – and really, not knowing any better, for in retrospect I suppose I was just being what I despise the most (a frontrunner) – I was hooked. Somehow I ended up with an Orel Hershiser poster on my wall, and that was that. I vividly remember the next year, 1989, reading the sports page on the living room floor and running up to my dad being all excited that the Dodgers had moved up from 5th to 4th place near the end of the year. At which point I imagine my dad laughed at me, because, well, I know I would have. I also avidly remember collecting Dodger baseball cards – sure, there were the Hershisers, Scioscias (pre-illness), and Hatchers, but I mainly remember the Jeff Hamiltons, Mike Davises, Tracy Woodsons, and Brian Traxlers. (Geez, did that 89-90 group suck.)
Finally, three years later, the Dodgers called up another kid from the East, also named Mike, who also had a last name which started with a P and ended with “is Italian”, and was all but unwanted at first until he had to force his way onto teams (hey, I know that feeling! ow, my pride!). For an 11-year-old, that’s pretty much the pinnacle of life. And there you go. Dodger fan for good.
So there you have it – not that you asked for it. It’s amazing to me that something that means so much to me (mostly likely, far too much) was brought about largely by a blue t-shirt that could have just as easily read Cubs, Mets, or Braves. Or, god help us all, a black one reading Giants.
Just think – I could be writing Kirt Manwaring’s Tragic Illness right now. The horror… the horror.
We now return to our regularly scheduled holiday hangover.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
Or Happy Festivus, if you prefer.
As you may – or, far more likely, may have not – noticed, the Illness has been a little slow lately. I choose to blame that on the unholy marriage of one too many holiday parties with open bars and the utter lack of Dodger news since Kuroda-san came on board. Not to mention, most front offices completely shut down for the week between Xmas and New Year’s, so it’s not like we’re going to be seeing a huge influx of Dodger news in the next few days.
So I’m just going to go ahead and make it official – thanks to having to visit far too many relatives over the next few days, the Illness is taking a holiday break. Seeing as how infrequently we’ve been posting anyway lately, this may not actually lead to less posting than usual. But we promise to improve that or your money back! We’ll be back next week.
In the meantime, my holiday wishes for the Dodgers, now that Jones and Kuroda are in the fold:
1) Trade Juan Pierre.
That is all.
Happy holidays. Smell ya later.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
DODGERS SIGN BENNETT TO ONE-YEAR DEAL
Veteran Catcher to backup Russell Martin in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers announced today that they have signed free agent catcher Gary Bennett to a one-year contract, according to Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti.
“Gary provides us with a veteran catcher who can spell Russell from time to time,” said Colletti. “ He has been a member of some very good teams and the fact that he has spent his entire Major League career in the National League is also something we found to be beneficial.”Bennett, 35, spent the last two seasons as the primary backup catcher to Yadier Molina in St. Louis and hit .252 with two homers and 17 RBI in 2007. Over his 12-year career, Bennett has 21 home runs, 188 RBI, 73 doubles and a .242 career average. The Illinois native was drafted in 1990 by Philadelphia and has spent his entire career in the National League, playing for the Phillies, Mets, Rockies, Padres, Brewers, Nationals and Cardinals.
Last year, Bennett hit .314 following the All-Star break, including .400 (8-for-20) in the month of September and closed the season on a 7-for-11 tear (.636). The veteran also batted .313 with runners on base, .333 with runners in scoring position and two out and .383 from the seventh inning on.
In 2002, Bennett turned in his best season, batting .265 with four homers and 26 RBI while playing in 90 games. The next year, he established career highs with 96 games played, 307 at-bats and 42 RBI. The six-foot, right-handed backstop matched his career high with four home runs during the 2006 campaign.
Bennett has appeared in two playoff series, seeing action in the 2006 National League Division and League Championship Series, during the Cardinals’ march to a World Series title that season.
Well. He’s not much of a hitter. And I’d really have preferred Mike Lieberthal back. However, he’s Russell Martin’s backup – so whether that’s Bennett, Lieberthal, or 65 year old Johnny Bench, if he’s playing more than once a week we’re screwed either way.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
Cats and dogs, living together! (Yeah, I’m really expecting only the SoSG guys to find that title funny.) We have reached the endtimes – because I’m advocating that I wish the Dodgers had been able to keep Mark Hendrickson around. Trust me – as much as you can’t believe you’re reading this post, I can’t believe I’m writing it about 200 times more.
That’s right, I’m saying the Dodgers should have kept Mark Hendrickson around. As a pitcher, even!
Tony Jackson explains,
The Dodgers might have severed ties with left-handed reliever Mark Hendrickson, declining to offer him a contract before the deadline and thus rendering him a free agent. But the club still can re-sign him, and the move was made simply to avoid going through the arbitration process with Hendrickson, who went 4-8 with a 5.21 ERA this season while making $2.925 million.
As a five-plus player, Hendrickson stood to make between $3.5 million and $4 million through arbitration.
“We discussed with his agent (Joe Urbon) bringing him back at a different rate of pay, and he declined,” Colletti said. “We can still bring him back if the situation lends itself to both of us.”
Now, at first, I completely agree with Colletti; the idea of giving Lurch a $1.5-$2 million raise is a pretty distasteful one. Especially because most Dodger fans remember him being “dreadful”, “awful”, and “terrible”, in no particular order. And they’re right: a 5.21 ERA last year, following a 4.68 ERA after being traded to LA in 2006 aren’t exactly stats to hang your hat upon. Plus, with Penny, Lowe, Billingsley, Kuroda (we hope! what’s the holdup?), Schmidt, Loaiza, and the 7-headed minor league monster of McDonald/Kuo/Elbert/Kershaw/Stults/Houlton/CH Park, it’s not like there’s a starting spot open anyway for an overpaid, ineffective pitcher.
I agree with all of this. 
Yet I still want to pay Mark Hendrickson millions to be an employee of the Los Angeles Dodgers. You know why? Because even though he’s a terrible, terrible starting pitcher.. he’s a surprisingly effective relief pitcher. Check it out:
Mark Hendrickson, 2006
As a SP: 4.44 ERA. .276 BA against.
As a RP: 0.84 ERA. .158 BA against.
As a starter in 2006, he was mediocre at best. Those numbers as a starter would actually be worse if they were only from his time in LA, as after being traded his ERA jumped nearly a full run from what it was in Tampa Bay (3.81 to 4.68), but I couldn’t find splits that had starting and relieving from only in LA. He only pitched 10.2 innings in relief after finally losing his starting spot, but he was sparkling. Small sample size or not, giving up 1 ER in 10.2 innings, and striking out more than a batter per inning (12 in 10.2) after just getting just more than half a batter per inning starting (87 in 154 IP) is a pretty dramatic turnaround. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen a guy do dramatically better when he knows he only has to exert himself for an inning or two rather than trying to pace himself, right?
Did we see the same thing in 2007?
Mark Hendrickson, 2007
As a SP: 6.13 ERA. .321 BA against.
As a RP: 3.69 ERA. .240 BA against.
Ugh, I’d forgotten just how brutal he was when pressed into service as a starter this past season. But once again, definite improvement when used as a reliever. This time the IP were closer (76.1 as a starter compared to 46.1 as a reliever), and yet again, the K rate improved markedly. Nearly a batter per inning as a reliever (41 in 46.1 IP) compared to quite a bit less as a starter (51 in 76.1).
As long as we never, ever, even in case of emergency, allow him to start again, that’s a lot of value there. He seems like a fantastic long reliever, who can give you 2-3 effective innings when your starter can’t make it past 5, and behind a pen that’s so fantastic in the late innings with Saito/Broxton/Beimel, that’s a pretty nice chip to have.
Is it worth $4 million? Well, that remains to be seen. But with the state of pitching out there right now, don’t be the least bit surprised if some GM with an itchy trigger finger is dumb enough to give him a $10 million contract over 2 years to come in and be a (terrible) starter.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness
