Comments on: Free Danny Ardoin!

By: The Best Defense is a Good… DEFENSE! « Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:04:59 +0000

[...] sometimes timing works out great, right? No, I’m not going to completely rehash yesterday’s post. But this can’t be ignored. Russell Martin, playing out of position at third base, made two [...]

By: Dodger fan

Dodger fan — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:17:31 +0000

Martin just shouldn’t be playing 3rd base, period. He should be sitting on the bench. This poor guy didn’t even get to rest during the All-Star break, he was the only Dodger still working! And he’s struggling to make the plays from 3rd to 1st, something that should be a given. Sigh.

By: Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:15:44 +0000

Two errors on Martin at 3B tonight and one on Blake at 1B… GREAT IDEA.

By: Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:01:51 +0000

I suppose if Torre really wants to get Loney a break against lefthanders, this is preferable to letting Berroa play SS with Nomar at 1B.

I still don’t like the “Martin at 3B” idea, though. This had better not count as his “offday”, especially with a cross country road trip coming up.

By: Clay

Clay — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:51:22 +0000

And Martin hits a double as if to personally invalidate this entire post.

By: Erin

Erin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:49:49 +0000

Scully just said that Torre said Russell is not tired, because his bat speed is not missing a beat. Torre just thinks Martin is “overanxious.”

By: Erin

Erin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:00:57 +0000

Check out tonight’s lineup…

Pierre, CF
Kemp, RF
Kent, 2B
Manny, LF
Nomar, SS
Blake, 1B
Martin, 3B
Ardoin, C
Billingsley, P

By: Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:00:59 +0000

Well said, Erich – there’s been plenty of points over the last 2+ seasons where Martin was not only our best offensive weapon, he was our ONLY effective weapon. Now’s a great time to say “you don’t have to carry this offense on your shoulders anymore.”

By: Erich

Erich — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:30:12 +0000

I think his next day off will probably be the Thursday day game (was the last mid-week game, I think against the White Sox, was his last day off?) before the road trip. I can’t see him sitting during the critical Phillies series, but after that I bet he’ll get a few days off.

Simply put, we didn’t have the bats before to make benching Martin a decent possibility. Now we do, and Torre should take care of business.

By: Gibbys Limp

Gibbys Limp — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:46:26 +0000

Before the season started, Torre admitted that he heard what a workhorse Martin is & repeated several times that Russell would sit more games this year than he did last, despite how much resistance Martin gave him.

The first time he sat, we read about how unhappy Martin was about it, but Joe reiterated how important it was to keep his STUD fresh for the entire year.

Once Torre tried his hand at throwing Russ out at 3B, he defended it with a statement that “It’s still a day off mentally for a player.”

A mental day off at 3B may be all fine and dandy, but what about the physical aspect of playing in every single game but 3 this year? It’s one thing for a guy like Loney to play nearly every game (he’s played in all but, what, 1 game?), but Martin’s job is just a bit more strenuous – mind, body (& soul) to trot him out onto the field, be it behind the plate or at third, day-in & day-out, regardless of whether he’s getting a mental day off here or there.

With the upcoming schedule against sub-.500 teams (apparently) to our advantage for a playoff push, we can afford to sit Martin one ENTIRE game a week every other week, and still succeed, can’t we??