Have to Win Tonight…

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

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Yes, the bullpen had some trouble, but after they squandered 13 LOB and then no outs, bases loaded in the 10th?? Come on!! They didn’t deserve to win that game after that. I was glad to see that home run by the Phillies win it. I was afraid they were going to walk in the winning run.

Comment by Dodger fan— August 25, 2008 #

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I have a feeling this site is in love with Broxton regardless of how bad he really is. I remember how much heat Torre took when he didn’t bring in Broxton in one extra-innings game. Broxton was complained about just as much as Casey Blake in this post when Blake didn’t loose the game for us, Broxton did, but I am surprised Torre isn’t blamed more for this loss

Comment by Clay— August 25, 2008 #

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Clay, I don’t understand. You say we’re in love with Broxton, but I said more than once that Broxton was the main cause of the loss. I’m not sure how it was Torre’s fault that the offense didn’t hit and that Broxton didn’t convert.

Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— August 25, 2008 #

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Unfortunately, Casey Blake is simply reverting to the consistent form throughout his career. His production always falls off the last six or seven weeks of the season. We gave up a stellar minor league reliever and one of the two or three best minor league catching prospects in all of baseball in order to get a two-month rental of an average third baseman. Let’s hope he’s at least productive enough in the final weeks so that he can be classified as a Type A free agent and get us two high draft picks.

Comment by The Dude Abides— August 25, 2008 #

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[...] August 25th: Have to Win Tonight: 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. [...]

Pingback by The Awful People on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” Are Accurate Representations of Real People In That Cursed Town « Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness— October 6, 2008 #

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Mike Scioscia's tragic illness