Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

Because on Friday, if my calculations are correct – you’re going to see some serious shit.

We’ll look ahead at the big series against Arizona on Friday, but for now, let’s bask in the warm glowing warmth of a three-game sweep against Adrian Gonzalez, Jake Peavy, and 23 other guys who snuck into the clubhouse to steal San Diego uniforms. Just 1.5 games out of the lead, folks.

* Do we really have to stop making fun of Angel Berroa? Just as Nomar went into a 3-28 death spiral, Berroa took advantage and stepped up. In 10 games (8 starts) over the last two weeks, Berroa’s put up a .345/.424/.517 line. That’s… and I can’t believe I’m even saying this… good. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way on the bandwagon. He’s still got a 61 OPS+ on the season. But hey, credit where credit is due. Even better, he’s been entertaining. First you’ve got the grounder getting lost in his shirt on Tuesday night, and then last night you’ve got a fantastic post-game interview where he has Manny be his translator and, well, watch for yourself. (Hat-tip to LarryBrownSports for the video).

That’s right, Manny’s serving as Berroa’s translator… until Berroa blows the whole charade by speaking English.

* Speaking of Manny, he won the National League Most Valuable Player award for the month of August, thanks to his completely insane line of .415/.508/.736. That’s a 1.244 OPS, folks. It’s too bad he’s been slacking so far in the first few games of September by only posting a 1.131 OPS. Shape up, Manny!

* Another trade rumor regarding the depleted middle infield: Via MLBtraderumors, we see that Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times has a mention of the Dodgers’ interest in Tadahito Iguchi. No, really, that’s basically all the information he has:

The Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies have expressed interest in second baseman Tadahito Iguchi, according to his agent, Rocky Hall. Iguchi was released by the San Diego Padres this week.

Since September 1st has passed, Iguchi wouldn’t even be elgible for the playoffs should that become a consideration, but I still say: pass. He was pretty terrible in San Diego this year (64 OPS+) before being cut, and Blake DeWitt’s starting to show signs of life with two homers in the last few days. Plus, you’ve still got Chin-Lung Hu sitting on the bench and all indications are that Jeff Kent will be back in another two weeks or so. I don’t see the need here.

* If you’re a regular reader, you know how much we love the guys at FireJoeMorgan around here, especially when we’re completely ripping them off to bag on guys like Ken Rosenthal and Tracy Ringolsby. But you’ll also have noticed that we very rarely do that to T.J. Simers, because it’s well-known that he’s a total clown – and a clown who’s not even all that funny, at that. So when Simers came up with this “Ned Colletti is baseball’s best GM” piece, I barely even gave it a second look, because it seemed so obvious that it was just a (completely unfunny) way to take backhanded swipes at Colletti. But it seems that FJM took it seriously (although they admittedly mention more than once that they’re unsure, but they did go through with it in the end). T.J. Simers should never be taken seriously. If I were in a room with him and he yelled “fire!” I’d ask him what his real ulterior motive was before I took a step.

* Finally, this is neither here nor there, but I couldn’t help but chuckle when I read it on Baseball Prospectus:

Left-hander Mark Hendrickson won’t be back with the Marlins next season, but he has significantly increased his free-agent stock by showing he can pitch effectively out of the bullpen since being dropped from the rotation.

Hmm… this sounds familiar somehow. Yet, I can’t place it. Oh! That’s right. It’s because I said the exact same thing on December 15th of last year:

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.

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.

But that’s not even the most entertaining thing from the BP article, and to be fair, this is from an unnamed major league scout, not from the BP staff:

Dodgers outfielder Juan Pierre: “I know he doesn’t draw walks and he’s a low on-base percentage guy, but he is an energy guy. I just think the Dodgers miss him not being on the field. They lack that spark he provides.”

Priority number one of the offseason: find out what club this guy scouts for! Sounds like a good trading partner to me.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness