2008 August « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

There’s a Lot of Good Info Here That No One’s Going to See Because It’s a Holiday Weekend

August 31, 2008 at 11:59 am | Posted in Chad Billingsley, Chan Ho Park, David Eckstein, Edwin Jackson, Hong-Chih Kuo, Manny Ramirez | 5 Comments

After ten days or so in which it became really, really difficult to write this blog every day due to the overwhelming depression at watching the Dodgers flail around on the field… there is a lot going on today. So let’s get to it.

Don’t forget, tonight’s game is a nationally-televised affair on ESPN.

* Manny Ramirez is a beast. No better way to help your team out of an eight-game losing streak than putting two balls out of the yard yourself. Over the last week, Manny is hitting an even .500 (15-30) with 7 extra base hits, including three homers. But Bill Shaikin still isn’t happy. After his article a few days ago that seemed to imply that Juan Pierre should be back in the starting lineup (and kudos to Torre for saying that wasn’t going to happen), Shaikin goes back to Boston to dredge up bad feelings about Manny’s unhappy divorce with the Red Sox. Didn’t we get enough of these stories when the trade happened? And aren’t there more important things to be focusing on right now like, oh, I don’t know, a huge series against the division leaders?

* Is anyone still saying Chad Billingsley isn’t an ace? After blowing it on Friday, this was a game the Dodgers absolutely had to have. Billingsley simply out-dueled Dan Haren, giving up just 2 runs in 7 innings. Fortunately Manny and the bats showed up, because lately 2 runs over 7 innings has still been good for a loss. Let’s not forget to mention Hong-Chih Kuo, as well, who blew away the D-Backs to the tune of 5 strikeouts in 6 batters. The man has simply been dominating all year long, and he really helped keep the rest of the bullpen fresh for tonight’s rubber game.

* Enjoy being the 4th starter in Kansas City, Chan Ho. Chan Ho Park tells Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times that he’d prefer to be a starter next year than a reliever and would leave LA if that were the only way he could start – although he does add that he would relieve in Los Angeles next year, saying “I’m willing to sacrifice for this team.” Is there a team out there desperate enough to sign him to be a part of their rotation? Before this year, he hadn’t even been league-average (and I’m being charitiable by not saying “dreadfully horrible”) since 2001, which not so coincidentally is the last season he was with the Dodgers. Hey, Chan Ho? You’ve had 11 seasons in which you’ve gotten into more than 10 games. In 6 of those, your ERA+ has been over 100, and all 6 have been with the Dodgers. Why leave just to be a starter?

* Get ready to see the dugout get crowded. Tony Jackson has the likely callups once rosters expand. No real surprises here, but we’ll get into this further once they actually happen.

The list of players the Dodgers plan to activate or call up from the minors on Monday just keeps getting longer. It now includes Jones, Scott Proctor, Chin-lung Hu, A.J. Ellis, Delwyn Young, James McDonald, Eric Stults and Clayton Kershaw. There could be others.

* Neither Danys Baez nor Lance Carter have thrown a pitch this season anywhere. Want a real depressing read? ESPN.com’s Buster Olney has the story of Edwin Jackson and how he’s blossomed into an effective starter for Tampa Bay this season. So, you’re saying it’s a bad idea to give up on a 22-year old with talent? The hell you say! Here’s the takehome quote that will make you want to claw your eyes out:

Now Jackson and the Rays have been rewarded, with a solid starter who will likely be a weapon in the postseason.

On the list of comparables on Jackson’s baseball-reference.com page, by the way? Roy Halladay. Fantastic.

* Fun from Gotham! Over at MLBtraderumors, they’re already talking about the Yankees’ offseason plans. Why do we care? Because one of the articles linked to is that of Joel Sherman’s from the New York Post – and you might be interested in this paragraph:

ROBINSON CANO - If he is the second baseman next year, fine, he still has the capability to be both a batting champ and Gold Glove. But the Yanks should investigate his market in the way Tampa did in turning a high-end young hitter (Delmon Young) into a young front-of-the-rotation starter (Matt Garza) last offseason. Cano for Zach Greinke, Chad Billingsley or Matt Cain anyone?

Before you freak out, remember, this is just a reporter speculating, and there’s nothing from either side to back this idea up. But let’s just bite this one in the ass right here and say, there is absolutely no way on earth that Chad Billingsley ought to be dealt for anyone who’s not Albert Pujols. Don’t get me wrong, the Dodgers are going to have a gaping hole at 2B this offseason and I would love to fill it with Robinson Cano, as I said the last time his name came up around here. But absolutely not for a 23-year-old who’s already among the best pitchers in baseball. If not for his rough start to the year (thanks, crazy rain delay decisions!), his ERA would be under 3.00, which would be absolutely fantastic. So, Joel? Yeah, thanks but… well, get a clue.

* And the most horrifying thing for last… I had every intention of making fun of Arizona for this story from Ken Rosenthal:

The Diamondbacks are the favorites to acquire Blue Jays shortstop David Eckstein, forcing the Angels to consider other options, major-league sources say.

Eckstein, 33, is almost certain to be traded before the deadline for setting postseason rosters at midnight Sunday. While talks are fluid, the Jays currently are more inclined to trade with the D-backs, sources say.

Trust me, it was going to be good. There were going to plenty of references to “magical pixie” David Eckstein, and I was certainly going to reference this post we made a few months ago on him, where I said, amongst other things,

For a GM who loves veterans like Colletti does, you don’t think he’d love to add his “grittiness” or “hustle” or whatever euphemism you want to use for “short, modestly talented white guy”? Of course he would.

Yeah, it was going to be good. Arizona adding David Eckstein – there’s your answer! Except that then I saw this from Baseball Prospectus…

The Red Sox, Dodgers, and Rays also reportedly have interest in Eckstein.

Sweet Jesus. The end times may truly be upon us.

(Update: The D-Backs have indeed acquired Eckstein today. Crisis averted. I now expect to see him hit 9 home runs in 9 at-bats against LA the rest of the year.)

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Eight Is Enough

August 30, 2008 at 10:25 am | Posted in Blake DeWitt, Jeff Kent, Nomar's done | 2 Comments

There will be no more talk about “the playoffs” around here until the Dodgers actually, you know, win another game. Assuming that ever happens. Other than Manny Ramirez getting on base all 5 times he was up, you’ve just got another game in which there was nothing positive to take away. The offense, other than Manny, was stagnant as usual. The usually strong pitching gave up nine runs, led by Chan Ho Park immolating on the mound to the tune of 4 runs in 1/3 of an inning – although he was greatly helped by Nomar throwing away a double play ball into right field. Nomar’s now hitting .236 and made a second error last night as well. Someone explain to me again why he’s playing when he can’t hit or field, and why Chin-Lung Hu is still down in Las Vegas? He might not be a hitting improvement, but at least he can play shortstop.

At right: the Dodgers season.

Oh, and then there’s this:

Jeff Kent said he has played with pain in his left knee for the last month.

Friday, he said he couldn’t continue — not even with his team in the midst of a crisis that could push them out of contention.

Seven innings into a 9-3 loss to the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field that extended the Dodgers’ season-long losing streak to eight games, the 40-year-old second baseman who has endured a wide range of physical problems this season had to be replaced by pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt.

The Dodgers are 4 1/2 games out of first place, they’re eight for 69 with runners in scoring position during their eight-game skid, but Kent said he probably wouldn’t play today. Kent, who will undergo an MRI exam, said he probably wouldn’t play Sunday, either.

Here’s the interesting thing, though. You would think that a knee injury so painful that he’s missing the biggest series of the year would explain why Kent’s having the worst season of his entire career, right? But Kent says that he’s been playing with pain for a month – a month in which he’s been excellent, hitting .357/.394/.439. Whether that’s Manny-aided or not, that’s impressive, but who gets hurt and then has their performance improve? It’s possible that Kent is just offhandedly saying “a month” when it’s in reality been more recent, and the numbers back that up since he’s got a .412 OPS over the last week. It’s hard to draw that conclusion when the entire team has been so bad at the plate over that time, though.

So I suppose we’re going to get to see what Blake DeWitt learned in Las Vegas about playing second base. With the season rapidly spiraling down the tubes, at least we’ll learn a bit more about what we have from DeWitt for next year.

One more thing… I’m still looking forward to tonight’s game. I know I’ve been a little negative around here lately; how could you not be? But playoffs or not, Chad Billingsley vs. Dan Haren is still a pretty marquee matchup, and if the Dodgers can touch Haren, who knows what could happen from there? That’s possible, right? Now if you’ll excuse me, Jessica Alba’s waiting outside for me in her Ferrari to drive me down to the lottery office to pick up my winnings.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Have a Lot of Coffee on Hand For This Weekend

August 29, 2008 at 10:46 am | Posted in Chad Billingsley, Derek Lowe, Hiroki Kuroda | 3 Comments

So look, here’s the deal. The Dodgers have been awful the last week in getting swept in Philadelphia and Washington. They suck right now, and they don’t deserve to make the playoffs. I know it. You know it. By all rights, they ought to be 12 games back of the division lead and making October vacation plans. I don’t think any of us disagree with that.

But what I think has been somewhat lost in the depression over how foul the Dodgers are is the fact that Arizona isn’t really any good, either. Sure, the Dodgers just got swept by the worst team in baseball. But Arizona just got swept by a team with only two more wins than Washington, the Padres – so it’s not like the Blue are exactly walking into a buzzsaw this weekend. You think the Dodgers offense is weak right now? Arizona scored in just three of the twenty-seven innings they played in San Diego. Not only can neither team hit, they both have excellent pitching, so expect to see a total of about 8 runs combined over the three games.

Let’s not kid ourselves, though – this is the entire season right here. The Dodgers don’t neccessarily have to sweep (not with another series at home vs. the D-Backs in September), but they simply cannot lose any more ground. That means that if they don’t take two out of three in this series… we can all pack up and go home. With that in mind…

Friday: Hiroki Kuroda vs Doug Davis
Advantage: Dodgers. Davis has been pretty lousy over the last month, putting up a 7.50 ERA in 5 starts, while Kuroda’s been outstanding, posting a 2.50 ERA and a superb 25/5 K/BB ratio. I hate to say it, but this is the single most important game of the entire season right here, because it’s the only one where the Dodgers have a good advantage on the mound. If they blow this, they face the nearly impossible task of having to take down both Dan Haren and Brandon Webb. Basically, win tonight, or kiss 2008 goodbye. Is that too much pressure?

Saturday: Chad Billingsley vs Dan Haren
Advantage: Push. Talk about a marquee pitching matchup! We’re talking about two of the best young pitchers in baseball here, and they’ve nearly got the same ERA (3.16 to 3.10). However, Haren’s been lousy over the last month (5.29 ERA). But who are we kidding. This game, by every standard, should be 0-0 in the 10th inning. That said, my money’s on a 12-10 slugfest.

Sunday: Derek Lowe vs Brandon Webb.
Advantage: D-Backs. Yeah, this is where it gets a little difficult. Webb is almost certainly going to win the NL Cy Young Award this year, and if he gets the win on Sunday that’d be his 20th against only 5 losses. Really, the only hope the Dodgers have here is that Webb was bombed in his last start out (6 ER in 4.2 IP) against the Padres, who have an offense nearly as bad as LA does. As for Lowe, he’s been his typical Lowe self. His ERA’s in his 4 years in LA are 3.61, 3.63, 3.88, and 3.81 so far this season. Talk about consistency, but there’s no way he matches up with Webb.

So there it is. Win tonight. There’s no bigger game on the schedule.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Scott Elbert, Please Pick Up the White Courtesy Phone

August 29, 2008 at 3:40 am | Posted in Ramon Troncoso, Scott Elbert | 7 Comments

First DeWitt recalled and now this – another move I did not see coming. From Tony Jackson (who I seem to quote here just about every other day, keep up the good work, TJ) via Rob @ 6-4-2:

The Dodgers are expected to purchase the contract of the left-hander and former first-round draft pick from Double-A Jacksonville. Corresponding move will be announced at that time. Once one of the organization’s top pitching prospects, Elbert missed most of last season with a shoulder injury that effectively turned him into a reliever, at least for now. At Jacksonville this season, he has made one start and 24 relief appearances and gone 4-1 with a 2.40 ERA. He has allowed just 22 hits in 41 1/3 innings, struck out 46 and walked 20.

Now that is interesting on a couple of levels. First off, September 1st will only be three days away. By waiting, you could call up Elbert without having to drop someone else off of the active roster. My other initial reaction was, “Elbert and not James McDonald? That’s surprising!” But that was with me still thinking of Elbert as a starter, which he had been before this season. He’s been almost strictly a reliever this year (one start), so he and McDonald don’t really fill the same roles. Anyway, about Elbert, here’s the writeup Baseball Prospectus had on him before the season in ranking him #4 in the system behind Kershaw, LaRoche, and Hu:

Year In Review: The outstanding lefty was blowing away Southern League batters before walking seven in his third start of the year and missing the rest of the season after surgery to clean up his labrum.
The Good: In terms of size, stuff, and projectability, Elbert ranks just a tick below Kershaw across the board, and that’s a strong compliment. His fastball sits in the low 90s and can touch 95 with late, explosive life, while his curveball is a spiraling plus-plus power breaker that is just as effective. He’s an outstanding athlete who fields his position well, and can contribute at times with the bat.
The Bad: Elbert has consistently struggled with his control, and his somewhat-complicated mechanics contribute to that, with the shoulder surgery creating even more concern about his delivery. He’s yet to really need much of a changeup, and the pitch still lags well behind his primary two offerings.
Fun Fact: During his far-too-brief 2007 season, batters facing Elbert with the bases empty went 1-for-32 with 18 strikeouts.
Perfect World Projection: An upper-echelon big-league starter.
Timetable: Elbert’s shoulder was not ready for the Dodgers’ instructional camp, but he was throwing off the mound as we expected to be ready for spring training. Assuming all goes as expected, he’ll return to Double-A in 2008. The Dodgers have no timetable for him until they see how his arm holds up.

He’s been pretty impressive in 2008: in 25 games at Jacksonville, he’s 4-1 with a 2.40 ERA. He’s struck out 46 in 41.1 innings, and opponents are only hitting .158 against him.
The other question, then, is who goes down for him? Rob suggested Angel Berroa, but I think that’s unlikely since the Dodgers already are carrying 12 pitchers, and with Ozuna gone, there’s no backup for Nomar at short until Hu (most likely) gets recalled next week. No, it’s got to be a pitcher, and that leaves three options, barring a late-breaking injury we don’t know about.
1) Ramon Troncoso. Has to be the most likely option for a few reasons. First of all, he can be sent down without having to be exposed to waivers, which is always a consideration. But also, he got bombed tonight, giving up three runs and five hits in just three innings. Considering that going three innings probably puts him out for a few days anyway and that he hasn’t been all that great, I’m betting on him. 85%.
2) Jason Johnson. The definition of a veteran retread, he’s been awful in August, giving up 11 earned runs in 12.2 innings entering tonight. Losing him really wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but the fact that he can’t be outrighted to Las Vegas probably saves him. 10%.
3) Clayton Kershaw. Almost certainly won’t be him, but there are factors that make him worth mentioning. He’s now had two pretty awful starts in a row, and he’s getting extremely close to his innings limit. It might not be a terrible idea to start getting him off of the regular rotation schedule, although I doubt this is how they’ll do it. 5%.
Update: okay, Diamond Leung’s got the details and it is in fact Kershaw going down. One of the reasons I didn’t think it would be him because of the rule that once sent down, you can’t be recalled for ten days. But I didn’t realize that, as Leung says, that rule doesn’t apply once minor league seasons end. So this move makes a lot a sense, then.

After the game, it was announced the Dodgers would purchase the contract of former first-round draft pick Scott Elbert to make his major league debut. Clayton Kershaw was optioned to Class AAA Las Vegas, but it was more of a procedural move, and he is expected to make his next start. This way, the Dodgers get an extra arm in their bullpen while Kershaw can spend the next few days working on some things in Las Vegas. He doesn’t have to stay in the minors 10 days because the minor league season will be over by then.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

It’s About Time

August 28, 2008 at 3:18 pm | Posted in Cory Wade, Russell Martin, Tanyon Sturtze | 2 Comments

Looks like Joe’s finally wising up because believe it or not, Russell Martin’s getting a day off tonight. Not playing third, but a real live day off! We’ll see how late in the game Torre can hold off putting him in, but still, it’s a step in the right direction. Would you believe that Martin hasn’t had a full day off that wasn’t a scheduled team off day since August 7? That’s three weeks ago. I have to take issue with Tony Jackson’s comment on the day off, though:

Martin isn’t slumping, but he needs a day off, and the Dodgers don’t have any day games after night games coming up.

Not slumping? Martin’s put up a .577 OPS over the last week and a .660 mark over the last month. That’s not so much “good” as it is “lousy”, or as we like to put it, “in a slump because Torre’s trying to kill him!”

Oh, and there’s the whole thing about not getting swept by the worst team in baseball. Let’s get on that, too. Like the poster says, I want to believe this team can still overtake Arizona, who’s pretty lousy themselves. I want to. But if you go into Arizona coming off of two consecutive sweeps, including one by the hideously bad Nationals? They’re not making it easy on me.

Also, as of just five minutes ago, per Diamond:

Cory Wade was activated from the disabled list, and Tanyon Sturtze was designated for assignment. The 60-man roster spots Sturtze and Pablo Ozuna free up are earmarked for Scott Proctor and A.J. Ellis.

No surprise here, but I’m still not sure why this had to be put off another day, and why they told Sturtze and then changed their minds. It just put Sturtze in a really awkward position for another day, which sounds a little rotten. Oh well. Thanks for stopping by, Tanyon. Welcome back, Cory.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

I Can’t Wait Until Vin Confuses the Blake Third Basemen

August 27, 2008 at 1:30 pm | Posted in Blake DeWitt, Cory Wade, Pablo Ozuna, Tanyon Sturtze | 2 Comments

Tony Jackson with the scoop:

Blake DeWitt recalled, Pablo Ozuna DFA’d

Didn’t see this one coming. Guess is has something to do with the team’s sagging offense. DeWitt was batting .500 (11 for 22) over a four-game stretch that ended on Saturday, but according to his day-by-day stats on milb.com, he hasn’t played since. Not sure why, but I’ll try to find out. … Ozuna had become nothing more than a late-inning defensive replacement and pinch runner, but I would imagine if he clears waivers, he’ll be back next week. … A few minutes ago, the club also announced that Cory Wade was coming off the DL and that Tanyon Sturtze had been DFA’d, but they quickly retracted that. Not sure why, unless they decided to wait a couple of days because Cory is still sore.

The first move is a win all around, even though I had wanted DeWitt replaced for quite some time before he actually was. Forget DeWitt’s recent hot streak in the minors, because Pablo Ozuna is completely useless, and even a slumping DeWitt has more value than Ozuna does. Also, DeWitt is a superior fielder to Casey Blake, which has the dual value of A) improving the Dodger defense in the late innings and especially B) giving Joe Torre a viable alternative other than Russell Martin at third base. Plus, DeWitt’s been playing a lot of second in the minors, so perhaps we’ll get a chance to see if he can handle the spot and toss his hat into consideration for replacing Jeff Kent next year.

As for the almost move? Well, I have to say I’m impressed that it actually was going to be Sturtze rather than Ramon Troncoso or Jason Johnson. But the fact that they changed their minds worries me. Is Wade still hurt? Everything we had heard pointed to his stay on the DL being the absolute minimum. And if so, why was it announced and then retracted? There’s obviously a lot more to this story, so we’ll have to see.

Bottom line, Blake DeWitt > Pablo Ozuna, and I can’t imagine any argument to the contrary. Good to see the kid back.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

This Would Be Funny If It Weren’t So Excruciating

August 27, 2008 at 12:04 am | Posted in Cory Wade, Crapulence, ineptitude, Joe Torre, Russell Martin, Tanyon Sturtze | 2 Comments

Man, it’s one thing to watch your offense struggle… and it’s another thing to watch it struggle like that. You figure you’ve got a perfect opportunity to break out of your offensive malaise, because you’re up against the worst team in baseball, and not only that, the 22-year-old opposing moundsman is something called “Collin Balester“, who I’m not afraid to admit I had never once heard of in my life before tonight. But what do we end up with? One run on seven hits, plus another wasted outstanding pitching performance (Derek Lowe the victim tonight, as it seems he so often is.)

Make no mistake, though. Regardless of what the scoreboard said, the Dodgers were shut out tonight. Their one run came after loading the bases on zero hits – back-to-back hit batters and a walk - and only came around when Nationals catcher Jesus Flores had a brainfart in not tagging Nomar at the plate on Matt Kemp’s fielder’s choice grounder to third.

Really, I can’t describe this any better than Dodgers.com reporter Michael Schwartz put it:

The Dodgers’ run of offensive futility has gotten so bad, they’re inventing new ways not to score runs.

And against the worst team in baseball no less.

Tuesday’s episode included four double plays, 10 runners left on base and a lineout double play with the bases loaded, as the Dodgers dropped their season-high-tying fifth straight game, 2-1, to the Nationals at Nationals Park.

It’s unbelievable. It’s not outright futility, the matching 0-5′s turned in by Kemp and Andre Ethier aside. It’s the complete lack of situational hitting that’s destroying this team right now. Four for thirty-nine with runners in scoring position over the last three games is completely unacceptable. Another opportunity lost, with Arizona on their way to defeat against San Diego. I’m still not ready to jump ship, not when you still have six more games left with the team you’re three games behind. But clearly, this needs to get fixed now. And yeah, I do feel like I’ve written the same post four days in a row.

So what now? Obviously, just hoping guys turn it around isn’t enough, although you can’t really replace the entire lineup, either. Look for some lineup changes for game two, although this quote from Torre seems to say that it’s more about rest than performance:

Torre still hopes to give Kent, catcher Russell Martin and possibly third baseman Casey Blake a breather in Los Angeles’ series against the last-place Nationals to keep them fresh in advance of this weekend’s showdown in Phoenix against the first-place D-backs, who entered Tuesday leading the Dodgers by three games in the National League West.

Kent could use a break, although he is 4-9 lifetime off of Nationals starter Tim Redding. If you’ve read this site at all lately, you know I want to see Martin get a break. Here’s what worries me, though: if Blake takes a seat, is Torre going to put Martin there again? Because we’ve been through this. That’s NOT a break for Martin. Put Nomar at third and Angel Berroa at short, or don’t rest Blake at all. I cannot stress this enough. I also have zero faith that it’s actually going to happen.

Finally, expect to see a roster move before the game, as Cory Wade is expected to be activated off of the disabled list. No word on who leaves town for him… but it has to be Tanyon Sturtze, right? The Dodgers are already carrying 12 pitchers on the roster, so it has to be an arm that goes down. I suppose it could be Ramon Troncoso too, optioned to Vegas until rosters expand, but Sturtze is barely…

Who am I kidding. Of course it won’t be Sturtze.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

27-5

August 26, 2008 at 8:42 am | Posted in Crapulence, ineptitude | 9 Comments

That would be the total in which the Dodgers were outscored in Philadelphia this weekend. What an embarrassment. This team doesn’t really deserve to make the playoffs – not that it ever really did – but Arizona did their best to help us out. If there was a half decent team in this division like all the others, by all rights the Dodgers would be 11 games out of first place and we wouldn’t have traded excellent prospects for guys like Casey Blake. There’s really nothing good you can take away from this series at all. The pitchers didn’t pitch (decent starts from Kuroda and Billingsley aside), the defense looked terrible at best and lazy at worst, and the offense.. my god, the offense. Who goes into Citizens Bank Park and has the offense disappear?

I can’t even talk about this debacle, so I’ll just leave you with some fun stats over the last 7 days, and while I’m not ready to say the season’s over just yet (not with two more series against Arizona), I will say that if the Blue don’t go into Washington and take at least two out of three, it’s time to pack it in.

Oh, and keep in mind with the stats below, the Dodgers played 7 games this week (some teams only played 5) and they were home against Colorado and in Philadelphia, not generally time you’ll see the offense fizzle. If they’d played against good pitching, they might somehow have scored negative runs.

Dodgers, Last 7 Days (MLB Rank):
Runs: 14 (30th of 30th)
BA: .250 (22nd)
OBP: .296 (25th)
SLG: .336 (29th)
OPS: .632 (29th)
RBI: 11 (30th)
ERA: 5.69 (25th)
Wins: 1 (tied, 30th)

If this team misses the playoffs and finishes at or below .500, there’s no way Ned Colletti can retain his job, right?

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Have to Win Tonight…

August 25, 2008 at 9:40 am | Posted in Jonathan Broxton, Casey Blake, Crapulence, Jason Johnson | 5 Comments

…and even then, it might be too late.

I’m sure you’re expecting MSTI to blame Jason Johnson for giving up the game-winning homer to Pedro Feliz, but I can’t really do that. First of all, at least Joe Torre put in Johnson in the role he really should be filling – that of “extra inning long man after all the good guys have been used”. Johnson is what he is, and that’s a mediocre pitcher. You let him pitch in a field like Citizens Bank Park against a lineup like the Phillies’, and he’s going to give up some homers. You can’t expect anything else.

But Johnson is hardly the fall guy for this latest debacle. Look, there’s plenty of blame to go around here. I could question Torre being too conservative in taking out both Park and Kuo after just one effective inning each, but that’s pretty low on the list. Mostly, I have no defense for Jonathan Broxton on this one. Yeah, he can blame bad mechanics, but that’s not good enough. The leadoff hit to Shane Victorino was a killer, and the lack of control – especially the four-pitch walk to Andy Tracy – was brutal. Actually, that brings up the worst performance of last night, that of ESPN’s Joe Morgan, who insisted that Broxton was pitching around Andy Tracy. Who hadn’t seen the big leagues since 2004. In order to get to Pedro Feliz, who may be a mediocre hitter but does have a good bit of pop in his bat (6 consecutive double-digit homer seasons). Of course that was the plan, Joe!

No, I’m not going to excuse Broxton on this one. How could you? He blew it. But the bigger problem right now is the offense. 12 runs over the last 6 games just isn’t going to cut it. And it’s not like you can just point the finger at one or two guys, because other than James Loney and Jeff Kent, everyone has been awful.

Last 7 days:
Manny: .250/.375/.250 .625 OPS
Blake: .200/.304/.300 .604 OPS
Kemp: .192/.222/.346 .568 OPS
Ethier: .143/.217/.286 .503 OPS
Martin: .136/.136/.318 .455 OPS
Nomar: .167/.167/.167 .333 OPS

That, friends, is just a cavalcade of awful. Special bonus points of suck awarded to Casey Blake for doing just about the worst possible thing you could do with a bases loaded, no outs situation in the top of the 10th: grounding into a 5-2 double play. It’s not even that he didn’t do anything positive, it’s that he did the worst kind of negative action he could have, short of a triple play. A sac fly gets a run home. A double play to short or second probably gets a run home. A strikeout or a popup doesn’t get a run home, but it doesn’t accrue two outs and lose the lead runner, too.

And yeah, that picture above is kind of old. But I can’t think of anything more appropriate than seeing a Dodger get kicked in the chest after last night.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Let’s Not Get Swept on National TV, Okay?

August 24, 2008 at 11:07 am | Posted in A.J. Ellis, Andruw Jones, Angel Berroa, Blake DeWitt, Casey Blake, Chin-Lung Hu, Eric Stults, Greg Miller, Pablo Ozuna, Tanyon Sturtze | 3 Comments

Since the less said about the Dodgers at the moment the better, there’s definitely a few things of note to mention from last night’s Las Vegas game (thanks to Torgy for pointing most of this out).

* Andruw Jones… played first base? Jones has played in 1835 games in the majors, 325 in the minors, and this is the first time he’s ever played the infield. Now, he had missed the previous four games with a sore knee, so this very well may have been a way to get him some at-bats without asking him to run in the outfield in a non-DH game. But who knows. Maybe with the outfield logjam, they might be interested in getting him some time as a right-handed option to James Loney at first base in September? That would be a sight to see. How weird does that picture to the right look, too?

* Why again did Tanyon Sturtze stick while Eric Stults went down? We questioned this at the time, and Stults was very good last night for Vegas in the high altitude of Colorado Springs, allowing just 2 hits and a single run over 6 innings, striking out 6. Stults is never going to be an All-Star, but he’s proven he belongs in the big leagues, especially with that complete game shutout of the White Sox. Besides, when you’ve got innings-limited guys like Kershaw and Maddux back-to-back in your rotation, wouldn’t you prefer having a guy who can go multiple innings like Stults rather than someone who’s basically useless in Sturtze – not to mention how annoying it is for poor bloggers to keep the names straight?

* It’s probably time to give up on Greg Miller, right? If you’re unfamiliar with Miller’s story, he was basically Clayton Kershaw before Clayton Kershaw was. He made it to AA in 2003 as an 18 year old, and was completely dominating in his 4 starts, putting up a 40/7 K/BB ratio. In Double A. At 18. He blew out his arm soon after that and hasn’t been the same since (a more indepth profile can be found over at FireNedCollettiNow from a few days ago). Anyway, after one of the weirdest lines you’ll ever see last night (in one inning, he didn’t give up a hit – yet allowed 4 runs thanks to 3 walks and some lousy defense), he’s now up to a 7.21 ERA and is walking more than a man per inning. I hate to give up on a guy who’s only 23, but with control like that, he’s barely an AAA pitcher right now, and he’s using up a valuable 40-man spot. This is definitely a situation that will need to be reviewed in the offseason.

Speaking of the 40 man roster, Tony Jackson discusses who might be called up when rosters expand on September 1st:

With apparently none of the Dodgers’ minor-league affiliates looking like they’ll be playoff bound, the team’s September callups should start arriving on Sept. 2, the second day of the upcoming homestand. It looks like A.J. Ellis will be coming up from Vegas to be the third catcher. He is hitting .309 this year, so he’ll edge out Lucas May, who is hitting .228 at Jacksonville, even though May is on the 40-man roster and Ellis isn’t. Although I have long been under the impression that James McDonald was a lock for a callup, that apparently is still being discussed and is far from assured. But it looks like Ellis will be the only guy not presently on the roster who will be called up. Dodgers don’t have a lot of flexibility. The 40-man is full, and there aren’t a lot of guys on it whom you can look at and say, “He’s expendable.”

When you’ve still got guys like Sturtze and Mark Sweeney on the roster, I don’t think it’s that hard to find guys to dump, but Jackson isn’t wrong about the tight roster situation, especially with all of the guys on the DL. But just to get Ellis on the 40-man, here’s an idea. You figure that Chin-Lung Hu or Blake DeWitt or both will likely be called up to add infield depth (DeWitt’s been playing mostly 2B in the minors lately), plus you hope to get back Rafael Furcal at some point. Once you get Hu and DeWitt up, there’s absolutely no need for both Angel Berroa and Pablo Ozuna, not that there’s really much of a need for either one right now. Hell, bring up both Hu and DeWitt, and DFA both Berroa and Ozuna. You keep the same amount of bodies in the middle infield, you immeasurably improve your infield defense, hopefully improve the offense too, and free up two roster spots on the 40-man. Makes sense, right?

Finally, I hate to get nit-picky and point out mistakes for the sake of it, but come on, Bill Shaikin:

Blake, who turned 35 Saturday, has stabilized third base for the Dodgers and said he had not ruled out returning to Los Angeles. When the Indians traded him, he said, they told him they hoped to offer him a contract this winter, to return to what was the only major league club he had known.

“The only major league club he had known”? I knew off the top of my head that Blake came up with Toronto and also saw some time in Minnesota; upon looking it up, I found that he played in Baltimore too. It may have been only 112 at-bats over 4 seasons, but still, you’re the Los Angeles Times. Do a little research, would you? He’d played for three other MLB clubs, so that makes you look pretty bad.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness