2009 April « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

Get Ready For a Show Tonight!

April 10, 2009 at 10:09 am | Posted in Jon Garland | 2 Comments

Hey, remember Jon Garland, and how completely mediocre I found him when there were rumors about him signing with the Dodgers this offseason? What, are rapidly declining strikeout rates a good thing now? Well, as you’ve probably heard, Garland ended up signing with the division rival Diamondbacks – and he’s making his sedona/maroon/whatever it is debut tonight against our very own boys in Blue.

And boy, does this look like it’s going to be ugly. Seven Dodgers have had the pleasure of facing Garland, and six have done pretty well for themselves. The 7th is Brad Ausmus, who’s 0-4 with a walk, and while I was going to say “great, why is tonight the night he’s playing”, really, Ausmus isn’t going to hit any pitcher at any time, so it’s irrelevant.

Thanks to our friends at baseball-reference, here’s Garland’s history against current Dodger hitters:

Just in case it didn’t jump out at you, Manny’s hitting .520 in 25 at-bats. And even Casey Blake’s had success, so hopefully he’ll snap out of the suckfest that’s been his 2008, one homer off a mid-80s fastball from a Mexican League refugee aside. Plus, even though James Loney and Matt Kemp aren’t on this list, they’re hitting everything right now.

If there’s any time to snap out of a hitting slump, tonight’s the night. Plus, you know, that whole “first game against your biggest competitor” thing. Just a side benefit, though, right?

No Baseball Today

April 9, 2009 at 9:08 am | Posted in Nick Adenhart | Leave a comment

I’m no Angels fan, but it doesn’t make this any less horrible:

Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was among the three people killed in a crash in Fullerton when a driver ran a red light, an associate of the rookie player said this morning. The crash occurred hours after the 22-year-old appeared in Wednesday night’s Angels game.

I wanted to talk about the nice win last night and Clayton Kershaw’s first appearance of the year today (don’t forget, it’s a 12:30pm game), but really, none of that seems all that important right now, so this will be all for today.

Check with Rob over @ 6-4-2 for more updates.

It Doesn’t Get Much Less Fair Than This

April 8, 2009 at 4:33 pm | Posted in Chad Billingsley, Walter Silva | 7 Comments

Tonight, for the Dodgers! 24-year-old future megastar Chad Billingsley! Already one of the top young starters in baseball, Billingsley improved for the third year in a row in 2008, cementing his position as the ace of the Dodgers. (Seriously, dig that 2.75 ERA in 28 starts from April 30 to the end of the season.) Billingsley’s good enough to take down just about any lineup in the game, but in 13 career games against San Diego (9 starts) he’s got a 2.37 ERA with 61 K in 57 IP. And some of those Padre games may have even come against major league hitters, which San Diego is clearly in short supply of this year.

Chad Billingsley: awesome.

Tonight, for the Padres! 32-year-old future waiter Walter Silva! Hey, 32 isn’t too late to throw your first professional pitch in America, is it? Not when you didn’t start pitching until 27! That’s right, Silva’s a four-year Mexican League veteran who, if I didn’t make this clear enough, didn’t start pitching until 27. In 21 Mexican starts last year, he was 7-8 with a 4.21 ERA and a 1.448 WHIP, striking out just 3.7 per 9. That’s hardly tearing up the Mexican League, so what’s that going to look like in the bigs? Well, Baseball Prospectus took a guess, and they’re saying a 5.85 ERA with a -12.1 VORP.

Walter Silva: giving me hope that since I’m 27, I could start pitching today and still make the big leagues.

Oh, and just to add on, Billingsley gets to face guys like David Eckstein, Luis Rodriguez, and Edgar Gonzalez, while Silva gets Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, and Rafael Furcal. Because that’s fair. Seriously, what a mismatch. I can’t remember anything as egregious as this since DJ Houlton vs Roger Clemens, back during that catastrof*ck of 2005.

So, with all that in mind, be prepared for something incredibly ugly tonight:

Padres 5, Dodgers 1. Yeah, you heard me – this always happens. The goggles! They do nothing!

(Other news: Greg Miller’s back! Score! And Andy LaRoche is benched after 0-6 and 3 errors in two games! Yeah, I regret that trade.)

Vote Vin, Vote Often

April 7, 2009 at 4:49 pm | Posted in Vin Scully | 3 Comments

LAmag.com is holding a contest for “Mr. LA”, and are we really going to allow the almighty Vin Scully to lose this? Just look at this crew of jokers! Even the website knew to put Vin up front:

To be honest, I’ve never even heard of five of these other eleven contestants. Vin better win this by about two million votes. Vote Vin!

This Is Why This Team Might Be So Dangerous

April 6, 2009 at 6:06 pm | Posted in Cory Wade, Jake Peavy loves goats, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Kemp, we beat the Padres! | 13 Comments

Future Hall of Famer Manny Ramirez and All-Star Russell Martin, arguably the team’s two most potent hitters, combined to go 0-6 with two walks. How many Dodger teams would have seen their chances of victory completely disappear if their top two hitters didn’t contribute, especially with Dodger-killer Jake Peavy on the mound? Just the thought of lineups that included Cesar Izturis, Dave Roberts, and Juan Pierre every day makes my eyes bleed.

But not this team, on this night, and one has to hope that this is a sign for the rest of the season. Tonight, we saw how strong this lineup is going to be 1-8 – there’s no weak links here. Well, except for Casey Blake, who struck out three times in going 0-4. But that can’t keep up, right? Right?

Tonight’s not a night for focusing on the bad, so let’s look at the good:

Matt Kemp is going to be a monster. What’s more impressive? The blast he hit out to dead center vs. Peavy, or the diving catch in the 6th inning that prevented the ensuing rally from getting any worse? For some reason, people seem to think that Kemp can’t handle center, but we’ve always said that his inexperience was the cause of any issues out there. Besides for the homer, Kemp only struck out once against one of the best pitchers in baseball – and drew a walk, too. Remember when we had Pierre or Andruw Jones in center? Yeah, me neither.

Cory Wade has balls of steel. After Kuroda began to falter in the 6th, Wade entered with the bases loaded and a two-run lead, with Kevin Kouzmanoff at the plate. If the Padres were going to have a prayer, this was going to be it, and after rumors of arm soreness this spring, it wasn’t hard to question Wade here. Kouzmanoff grounded weakly back to Wade, and that was really that for the Padres offense. That’s exactly the kind of situation that could have spiraled out of control for the Dodgers in previous years, and Wade locking it down may have been the biggest moment of the game.

James Loney is going to be better than last year. Not that he was bad last year, but somewhat underwhelming. 2009′s looking better already! In addition to some nice defensive plays, Loney led the way with three hits, the most important of which was his first. With the bases loaded and two outs, Loney came up with Peavy on the ropes. You don’t get a whole lot of opportunities against a guy like that, and you can’t squander them when they happen – especially with the history of TOTAL FAIL LA’s had against Peavy. Loney pokes a 2-RBI single to left field, and the Dodgers never trailed.

No more questioning Jonathan Broxton as closer. Did you see that 9th inning? I almost felt bad for the Padres. Well, almost, because screw them. But Broxton comes in throwing absolute gas. I know you can’t ever trust the TV gun, but when that’s saying 99s and 100s, then he’s still throwing at least 96 or 97, and that’s plenty good enough. Strikeout, popout, strikeout, and the game was done. I think we’re all going to enjoy watching the Bull this year.

One down, 161 to go!

2009: Game 1 of 162

April 6, 2009 at 8:36 am | Posted in 2009 preview | 8 Comments

No, I’m not going to get into the habit of starting daily game threads. Dodger Thoughts and SonsOfSteveGarvey each have that market cornered, and they do a great job of it. But today’s a special day, because after the longest offseason in years both literally (thanks, WBC) and figuratively (anyone miss listening to Boras and McCourt snipe at each other every day?) the season is finally here. It’s like Christmas combined with your birthday, combined into a burrito that’s stuffed with lobster and drenched in secret sauce. BASEBALL, aka “the only think that makes your miserable life worth getting out of bed for in the morning,” is finally, mercifully back.

Even better, while you know we’d still be watching this team even if they lost 91 games and played Mike Edwards and Jason Phillips every day (god, how long ago does 2005 seem now? Hell, even the 2006 Opening Day lineup included Jason Repko, Sandy Alomar Jr., Jose Cruz Jr., Bill Mueller and Olmedo Saenz), this crew actually looks to be good. So good, in fact, that Baseball Prospectus has the Blue ranked as the 4th best team in MLB to start the season, outranking both of last year’s pennant winners and the Cubs:

#4: Los Angeles Dodgers (92-70, 819 RS, 711 RA)
I’m no Casey Blake fan, but if he’s the worst hitter you’ve got, then you’re on to something. The Dodgers’ signings of Orlando Hudson and Manny Ramirez upgraded them from a fringe contender to one of the best teams in baseball in the waning days of the offseason. The decision to use James McDonald in the rotation will be worth a few wins as well, and while the back of the rotation is still a weakness, there’s enough bullpen here–Cory Wade and Hung-Chih Kuo could own the seventh and eighth innings–to make up for it.

Oh, sure – there’s questions. What happens with the back end of the rotation? Will Joe Torre drive Russell Martin into the ground again? Will Manny hit .750, or merely just .600? How screwed is this team if Chad Billingsley gets hurt? No team, including the three ranked above LA (Red Sox/Yankees/Mets, natch) doesn’t have similar questions.

So let’s get this thing started. We finally have news on the roster questions, as Doug Mientkiewicz, Will Ohman, and Ronald Belisario have officially been added to the roster, while Claudio Vargas is added to the 60-day DL and Greg Miller has been released. It’s a sad day for Miller, who was the Clayton Kershaw of 2003, but according to Tony Jackson, there’s still hope he’ll return on a minor league deal. I sure hope so!

Hiroki Kuroda. Jake Peavy. Game on.

Andruw Jones’ Historically Bad 2008, Explained

April 5, 2009 at 2:36 pm | Posted in Andruw Jones | 2 Comments

Too much time spent with Bud Heavy, not enough time spent working out!

The story:

We weren’t aware that Andruw Jones was in camp with the Texas Rangers. For those of you who don’t know Jones, he was once one of the premiere players in baseball, but almost overnight dissolved into a catastrophically awful hitter. He just couldn’t hit the ball, which is a hell of a problem to have when a team is paying you about 18 million dollars expressly for that purpose. He is a hulking individual covered in tattoos who wears a determined, vaguely menacing air about him. Around 11 am one morning he was getting ready to play in a AA practice game against the Royals.

I walked up to him, remembering all the times I had booed him at the top of my lungs from the upper deck of Dodger Stadium last season, and held out one of the full, cold cans of Budweiser that I had been carrying around for him to sign. The look on his face at this moment was cold and indifferent, but for a flash there I saw in his eyes a burning desire to ask me what the hell I was doing making a 10-time Gold Glover sign a beer can at 11 in the morning… but years of experience kicked in and he realized that the quickest, easiest way to dispense of me was just to sign the damn can and let me be on my way. The disdain he wore for me as a shoeless, gangly morning beer drinker was more than apparent.

“Thanks Andruw,” I said. I then went over to the Royals’ side of the field to watch the practice game. Andruw was the first batter up and I wanted to wait for a quiet moment during the at bat where I could crack the can and he would be sure to hear it being opened. He didn’t hear it and fouled out down the right field line.

(Sweet Merciful Crap, via Deadspin)

“25″ Man “Roster” Announced

April 5, 2009 at 12:39 pm | Posted in Claudio Vargas, Delwyn Young | Leave a comment

So, this is the third time I’ve re-written this paragraph. Here’s what we know, now: this is the 25-man roster, but it’s clearly changing a ton. Claudio Vargas and Delwyn Young are almost certainly going to go to the DL, and Will Ohman and Eyechart are both likely going to be added before the first game. Plus, there’s only 24 names here. I guess I’m just not sure why Vargas and Young didn’t get announced as being added to the DL, when Jason Schmidt did. More to come on this, for sure.

The good news? Tanyon Sturtze gets sent down to the minors. YES.

Anyway, the roster that was just sent out:

Pitchers (11):
Chad Billingsley
Jonathan Broxton
Clayton Kershaw (L)
Hiroki Kuroda
Hong-Chih Kuo (L)
James McDonald
Guillermo Mota
Ramon Troncoso
Claudio Vargas
Cory Wade
Randy Wolf (L)

Catchers (2):
Brad Ausmus
Russell Martin

Infielders (6):
Casey Blake
Blake DeWitt
Rafael Furcal
Orlando Hudson
James Loney
Mark Loretta

Outfielders (5):
Andre Ethier
Matt Kemp
Juan Pierre
Manny Ramirez
Delwyn Young

Who, Exactly, Is Ronald Belisario?

April 4, 2009 at 10:12 am | Posted in Ronald Belisario | 12 Comments

When he’s not leaping through time, trying to set right what once went wrong, (yeah, dig that reference), Ronald Belisario is apparently a 26-year-old career minor leaguer who’s probably not going to make the Opening Day roster. If this sounds like an unlikely topic to write about,
you’re not wrong. But the thing about Ronald Belisario is, I’ve never heard of him. And while I’m hardly the end-all, be-all of Dodger knowledge, as a fan and a blogger it’s rare that a player comes along who might contribute to the team that I know nothing about. So this is going to be just as much for me as it is for you.

Though he’d apparently signed with the Dodgers as a minor-league free agent back in January, Belisario has spent most of his spring in minor league camp, where he remains today. Upon noting the signing, Pirates blog Bucs Dugout stated:

Ronald Belisario, the pitcher formerly known as “No, nobody knows why he’s on the Pirates’ 40-man,” has signed a minor-league deal with the Dodgers, Baseball America reports.

And… we’re off to a good start here. If even Pirates fans don’t think this guy is worthy of a 40-man roster spot, I’m not going into this with high hopes. Have you looked at the Pirates pitching staff lately? This is the same staff which was just described by Baseball Prospectus with such endearing terms as “the Pirates rotation is terrible” and “the bullpen will likely be among the worst in the game.” Fantastic. Really, the first time I even noticed him was during my roster preview the other day, when Dodgers.com noted:

In fact, there will be as many as 16 non-roster players making the trip west with the team at least through the weekend, some of them still contending for jobs, including pitchers Tanyon Sturtze, 21-year-old Josh Lindblom and even Ronald Belisario, on almost nobody’s radar until his two scoreless innings Monday.

Ugh – every time someone says the name “Tanyon Sturtze”, a chill runs down my spine. I think if you say his name three times in a row, he’ll appear like the “Candyman” and lop your head off. By which I mean, “come into a pressure situation and toss 84 MPH fastballs until the game is lost.” Anyway, back to Belisario, I didn’t think much of that mention, because who the hell is Ronald Belisario? Is this team so desperate for pitching that two scoreless innings in a spring training game can win a job?

Wait, don’t answer that.

But, it sounds like we might need to start taking this seriously, because Tony Jackson thinks this kid’s got a shot:

Don’t count out Ronald Belisario

He isn’t just the guy who reported late to camp due to visa problems in Venezuela. He is now a guy with a real shot of being on this club when the roster is finalized late tomorrow night. He has made three relief appearances, two of them AFTER he was reassigned to minor-league camp on March 6. He mowed down seven batters in a row in the eighth and ninth innings against Oakland on Monday, although Nomar reached on a two-out error in the eighth to prevent it from being two perfect innings. Then, last night against the Angels, Belisario pitched the fifth and sixth, and although he gave up a couple of hits and a walk, he still struck out three, including Chone Figgins, Howie Kendrick and Vladimir Guerrero. This guy has great stuff, and the Dodgers don’t have a great bullpen. He is 26, and he has never pitched above Double-A, but he did well pitching in the Venezuelan Winter League this year for Leones de Caracas. That team was managed by Caracas native Carlos Subera, the new manager of the Dodgers high Single-A Inland Empire affiliate. Belisario is TECHNICALLY still in minor-league camp, but while he was never officially promoted back to the big-league side, he is here in Los Angeles with the club, so that should tell you something.

I still don’t think that he’s going to make the Opening Day roster, in large part due to the 40-man issues this team looks to have, as I mentioned in the preview. But we all know that the Opening Day 25 will hardly be the only 25 players you see this year, so if he’s that impressive he’ll likely have a chance to make his mark later in the season.

So getting back to the point: who the hell is Ronald Belisario? The Venezualan native signed with the Marlins as a 16-year-old amateur free agent in 1999, and made his American pro debut in rookie league ball in 2001. He spent four years, mostly as a starter, with various Florida farm clubs, topping out with an absolutely brutal season spent primarily in AA ball in 2004 – if a 5.55 ERA in 15 starts doesn’t catch your eye, the 1.616 WHIP and the 5.3 BB/9 should.

But wait! It gets better. Belisario missed all of 2005 with Tommy John surgery, and then all of 2006 with an undisclosed suspension (seriously, I can’t find any details on this. Steroids? Crime? I have absolutely no idea.) After missing two full seasons, he resurfaced as a reliever in the Pirates system, putting up a 4.74 ERA and a 1.544 WHIP in 38 AA games last season. Somehow, as the Bucs Dugout blog mentioned, he was taking up a 40-man roster spot while doing so.

Granted, Belisario has thrown five scoreless innings in big league camp, and that’s not to be ignored. But it’s also all of five spring innings from a guy who’s never even seen AAA and hasn’t exactly been lighting up the world down in AA. Surprisingly, Baseball Prospectus has a 2009 PECOTA prediction for him, but it’s not exactly pretty: they’d expect a 5.85 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP if he were in the majors this year. Based on his okay-at-best stats two levels down, that sounds about right – and maybe even optimistic.

So what have we learned about Ronald Belisario? Well, nothing that we want to hear. It’s not unexpected to see a guy take 2-3 years off of Tommy John surgery to regain his confidence, and if that’s the case: great. Who knows, maybe he’s one of those guys who raises his game once the competition is greater (see: Blake DeWitt, 2008). But I think we’ve learned more about the Dodgers than Belisario, in that the real take-home lesson here is let’s hope we don’t actually have to need Ronald Belisario.

Frank Catalanotto is the Worst Player in Baseball

April 2, 2009 at 2:37 pm | Posted in Andruw Jones, Frank Catalanotto | 11 Comments

…because he just lost his job to our favorite money-stealing fat tub of goo, Andruw Jones:

The Rangers set their 25-man roster for Opening Day on Wednesday when they released outfielder Frank Catalanotto and told Andruw Jones that he was on the team. Jones gives the Rangers a right-handed designated hitter who will likely bat fourth in the lineup.

Catalanotto, who hit .317 this spring, was told by general manager Jon Daniels in a meeting after the Rangers 5-4 victory over the Angels at the end of a very busy day of roster moves.

Sorry, Frank. I don’t care that you’ve had a good spring, that you have a career 109 OPS+, that your release was mainly due to the $6 million still owed you by Texas, or that you’ll likely catch on somewhere else and help a team. You’ve just lost your job to a man coming off what is in many ways the worst season in major league history, and that makes you, at least for today, the worst player in baseball.

(Don’t forget, this does slightly help the Dodgers, since they make half of whatever Jones makes this year. Not that it’s going to be more than a drop in the bucket, but still. God, I hate him.)