2009 May « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

I Think Things Are Going To Be Okay

May 8, 2009 at 6:20 am | Posted in Manny Ramirez | 12 Comments

Amazing how different this article looks now than it did when I was writing it with a 6-0 lead last night, before dozing off with the team still up 6-4. Look, we’ve spent approximately eighty billion words on all the bad news of Manny-gate in the last twenty-four hours, so let’s try to focus on the bright side of this situation.

1. Dear national media, last night’s loss had nothing to do with Manny…

…even though we all know that’s how it’s going to be portrayed. By which I mean, from the ESPN.com game recap:

The team with the worst record in baseball handed the Los Angeles Dodgers their first home loss of the season. Manny Ramirez had nothing to do with it — or maybe everything.

Or… maybe nothing, since the offense sure didn’t look to be missing a beat in putting up nine runs. Juan Pierre even had two hits, so I can’t put much blame on him. Look, last night’s loss was both a devastating collapse to the worst team in baseball and an epic case of lousy timing, but really, can we avoid the sensationalism and not pretend that Manny’s absense had a profound effect on Ramon Troncoso, Cory Wade, and Brent Leach completely imploding? If the bullpen has issues – which it might – they have nothing to do with a certain slugging outfielder. It’d be one thing if the team put up 2 hits and got shutout, but no. That’s not what happened, and don’t make it out that it was. Besides…

2. The Dodgers don’t need Manny to win the NL West.

Offense is not exactly this team’s problem, wouldn’t you say? The Dodgers are leading the NL in batting average, on-base percentage, runs, and hits, so while swapping out Manny for Pierre obviously doesn’t help, it’s hardly as though this offensive attack was only about Manny – which I think was proven last night.

I was going to run the stats to figure out exactly how much Manny->Pierre will cost us, but I’ve already found two much more talented guys who’ve done it, so let’s go with them.

Aaron Gleeman:

Of course, while the move from Ramirez to Pierre is a massive downgrade offensively it’s also likely a sizable upgrade defensively. My conservative estimate is that the difference between Ramirez and Pierre in left field for 50 games would be worth at least five runs, which takes a chunk out of the runs lost offensively. Add it all up and losing Ramirez for 50 games while replacing him with Pierre figures to cost the Dodgers around 20 runs.

Throughout baseball history 10 runs gained or lost has generally been worth one win, which means Ramirez’s suspension projects to knock two wins off the Dodgers’ total. That may not seem like a tremendous amount, but they won the division by exactly two games last season and that’s a six- or seven-win pace over the course of an entire season.

Over at Baseball Prospectus, Jay Jaffe suggests a few different options (#1 Juan Pierre, #2 Xavier Paul, #3 adding Blake DeWitt at 3B while pushing Casey Blake to LF, all of whom would cost the Dodgers between 15-18 runs), and comes up with much the same result:

Via this method, using the standard sabermetric exchange rate of 10 runs equaling one win, Ramirez’ absence should cost the Dodgers somewhere between 1 ½ and two games over the course of his suspension–enough to dent their chances slightly, but hardly the end of their post-season hopes.

So it’s going to cost the Dodgers about two wins. Anyone think that’s enough to let anyone else catch up? Remember: the Dodgers didn’t get Manny to win the division; they got him to win in the playoffs, and he’ll be back in plenty of time for that.

Okay, I can’t help myself – also from Jaffe’s article, good to see I’m not the only one who misses him…

Ironically, the Dodgers actually had a better in-house alternative as recently as four weeks ago in Delwyn Young (projected to .256/.320/.429, .262 EqA, -0.46 MLVr); playing him in Manny’s place would have cost the Dodgers 14.4 runs. Alas, the 27-year-old was out of options, and the Dodgers designated him for assignment when they added futilityman Juan Castro to the 40-man roster, trading him to the Pirates a few days later in a horrific bit of roster mismanagement.

No, I’m never going to be over that. Anyway, back to players who are still in town, this whole incident actually has the potential to be beneficial in some ways…

3. Defense and baserunning will improve greatly.

It’s no secret how I feel about Pierre, but there’s little doubt that he’s a huge improvement over Manny in the field and on the bases. Plus, who knows how much playing time Paul actually gets, but he’s both fast and a good fielder with a strong arm, so any upgrade over the 0% he was getting with Manny around is helpful. The Dodgers were already one of the better fielding clubs in the league, so upgrading the weakest link – even if it is only left field – can only help a pitching staff that obviously needs every advantage it can get.

4. This could save the Dodgers money, possibly allowing them to invest in a pitcher.

Forget Bill Plaschke’s idiotic ramblings about how this is going to “put a huge dent in the Dodgers’ finances.” He doesn’t know where he is half the time, and someone really should walk him home. Manny’s absense shouldn’t impact ticket sales too much, since the season packages are already paid for and the team is still rolling out a young, exciting, first-place club. I’ll acknowledge that you’ll see somewhat of a downturn in $299 “99 Ramirez” jerseys and silly dreadlock hats, but since this is an unpaid suspension, the Dodgers save about $7.7 million in salary over the next two months. That’s almost certainly more than the club will lose in tickets and merchandise, so this may come out as a net savings. With another starter almost imperative at some point, this is extra money that may yet come in handy.

5. The time off might be good for Manny.

In much the same way that you wonder if the time off for Hiroki Kuroda will pay off in a rested arm down the stretch, you can’t forget that Manny is a 37-year-old outfielder who really ought to be a DH. Is having him rest those legs over a stretch of time where you probably don’t really need him really an awful thing? Besides, you better believe that he’s going to be beyond motivated when he comes back; Manny in the second half may be a rested, focused, machine.

So don’t panic, friends – this team is going to be just fine, between the lines at least. The only thing to worry about is ESPN and the local media acting as though Manny murdered adorable kittens in the dugout and then mailed their corpses back to cancer-stricken children. Just remember: this team has to lose sometime (…right?) and despite what the writers say, it’s probably not because of Manny.

Hey, At Least Bill Plaschke’s Not Overreacting

May 7, 2009 at 2:39 pm | Posted in Bill Plaschke, Manny Ramirez | 12 Comments

By which I mean, old Bill’s even more of a lunatic than we thought he was. (Thanks to J in the comments for mentioning this). No, I’m not focusing on Bill here to deflect some of the glare off the Manny situation – Manny is clearly an idiot, and we’ve already talked about that and will clearly do so again. The thing is, Bill Plaschke is supposed to be a professional journalist. Just remember that as you listen to this.

Let’s start where it gets good….

We knew, I knew coming in, that this guy was a knucklehead, I warned the Dodgers that you’ve got to give him a one- or two-year deal tops, and the Dodgers only gave him, they were smart about that.

Yes, Bill – congratulations! You were the only one who hoped for a short contract for a 37-year-old poor defender with a questionable personal history. It’s a good thing the Dodgers listened to you… and not everyone else who was saying the exact same thing. Well done.

I had no idea the guy was a druggie, I had no idea the guy was a cheat.

Hey, good to see impartial journalists not jumping to conclusions! First of all, calling him “a druggie” makes it sound like he’s blowing lines in the bathroom, no? And while it may very well come out that he was taking whatever he was taking was to mask cheating, but the point is that we just don’t know yet. As things stand right now, this is where we are, from Baseball Prospectus:

FINAL UPDATE: Spoke with several sources with knowledge of the tests and it appears that Ramirez is both guilty of offense and of some poor judgement. His doctor checked the list, but apparently the old list — HCG was added to baseball’s banned list this off-season. That said, HCG is a big testosterone booster (up to 100% according to Millard Baker, a steroids expert) and is often used to “kick start” the body’s natural production of testosterone after a cycle of steroids.

Clearly, there’s a lot left to learn about this story. The point is, you just don’t know yet, and maybe – just maybe – as a ”professional journalist” you should figure out what you’re talking about before you start blustering. Ah, who am I kidding. It’s Bill Plaschke – you can only expect so much.

And believe me, to get suspended by baseball – the most lax league of all – and get suspended by baseball fifty games, you gotta be really doing something.

Bill. Oh, Bill. Maybe you should read your own paper sometimes. Tim Brown, reporting on the most recent steroid rules in baseball being implemented in 2005:

Facing federal legislation that could have instituted sterner penalties, baseball and the Players’ Assn. agreed on a 50-game suspension for first-time violators, 100 games for a second offense and a lifetime ban for a third. An expelled player could seek reinstatement after two years.

The new policy, which must be ratified by owners and players, is the toughest among the major North American pro sports leagues, banning first-time violators for nearly one-third of a 162-game season. The National Football League and National Hockey League suspend first offenders for the equivalent of a quarter of a season, the National Basketball Assn. for about one-eighth.

So, if by “most lax league of all”, you really mean “toughest among major North America pro sports leagues” then sure, got it. Oh, and about “if you get suspended for fifty games, you gotta really be doing something”? Hmm, why does that ring a bell?

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher J.C. Romero, suspended for the first 50 games of this season after testing positive for steroids last year, filed a civil lawsuit Monday against a nutritional supplement manufacturer whose owner previously served prison time for distributing steroids.

In each case, Romero was assured by the salesperson that the supplements would not cause him to test positive for steroids, according to the lawsuit. Also, Romero claims he did research on 6-OXO, 6-OXO Extreme and ErgoPharm’s other products. Romero “satisfied himself through his research that neither contained any substances that were banned and/or prohibited from use by Major League Baseball,” the suit states.

Romero’s suit is still pending, and I offer no opinion on whether he’s being truthful or not. But it’s at least a reasonable explanation for a fifty game suspension other than “really doing something”. Obviously, that’s a totally different case than Manny’s, but it does serve to show that, as usual, Plaschke doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Clemens was never suspended. A-Rod was never suspended. Barry Bonds was never suspended.

Despite various legal difficulties and Mitchell Report appearances, none of these guys ever failed drug tests. Which is the one thing you really have to do to get suspended. And really, what exactly is his point here? Is he saying that none of those guys never really did anything? Or is he just calling Manny stupid because he was dumb enough to get caught? Either way, neither options pertains to “Manny is bad because he may have done steroids.” Don’t forget that “may have”, because remember – we still don’t know the whole truth.

The bottom line is, this guy has let down the entire city of LA, he has cost the Dodgers millions of dollars, because they set up a whole Mannywood section for him, I’m driving past billboards right now that trumpet Manny Ramirez, so he has put a huge dent in the Dodgers’ finances.

Can someone please buy Bill a subscription to his own paper? Please? Bill Shaikin, from January:

Still, he said, the Dodgers probably could sell another 2,000 season seats if they do sign Ramirez. At the average ticket price of $29.66, according to Team Marketing Report, plus the roughly $17 that each fan spends on food, drink and parking, those additional 2,000 seats would translate into about $7.5 million in gross revenue.

That’s obviously not exactly accurate, because I have no idea if the “could sell another 2,000 seats” came to fruition. The point is, though, that the season ticket plans have already been paid for and a first-place team that traditionally draws well isn’t going to suddenly be playing in front of 8,000 people a night. Besides – this is a suspension, which means Manny doesn’t get paid, which means the Dodgers save approximately $7.7 million of his salary. I don’t doubt that they’ll lose out on some day-of sales over the next two months without Manny, but really, a huge dent? They might even make money on this.

A huge dent in the clubhouse psyche, because all these kids that are playing so well, they have come to believe, because all the media out here, they say “Well, Andre Ethier’s only a great player because he bats around Manny”, “Matt Kemp is becoming a great player because he plays around Manny.” These guys believe they have to have Manny, the fans believe they have to have Manny.

Oh, you mean, all those great kids that you’ve been dying to get rid of for years? Those kids? Guess what, Bill: you are the media that says those things. So no, I don’t think they believe they have to have Manny, and I know the fans don’t think that. Not that you’d be in touch with the fans, or anything.

He just, he suckered everybody, and shame on him.

Bill Plaschke: a paragon of impartial journalism.

I don’t think - I’m going to trumpet – I’m going to write a column that says, the Dodgers have got somehow to figure out a way to fire this guy. This guy can’t come back here. Because you can’t do this to these fans again, because this is devastating to this city’s baseball culture. Absolutely devastating.

Bill, I think you’re going to be in the minority here. First of all: there’s no way they could get rid of him even if they wanted to. Second: will he help the team win? Yes, he will. Therefore, most fans would want him back. Simple as that. Third: “you can’t do this to these fans again”. Again? What? Are you already planning on breaking a second Manny drugs story in July?

ESPN anchor: Bill, Scott Boras has had a conversation with our Peter Gammons, and he says that this positive test has been triggered by something prescribed by a doctor for a personal medical issue. Your reaction?

(Plaschke laughs like a gibbon, the laugh of the soulless damned, the laugh of righteous indignation from someone who of all people, has no leg to stand on in terms of fair and accurate judgement). Now wait a minute, was there a Dominican cousin in there anywhere? Come on! Who in their right mind would believe that?

Let’s ignore the subtle racism for a second and just point out that I’ve yet to see anything that suggests this isn’t the case. So, your answer is, “everyone”. Yes, Manny got busted because his doctor prescribed him HCG, which – as the Baseball Prospectus clip above shows – is banned by baseball. There seems to be absolutely no question that this is how the positive test came down, so: Bill Plaschke, wrong again.

Come on. Manny appealed this, and you don’t think they gave him every chance, the Dodgers are a marquee franchise, you don’t think they, (*snip*), there’s no way that’s correct! There’s absolutely no way that’s correct, that’s a joke.

Fact: Manny did not appeal this, says FOXsports.com:

Ramirez’s people and the union say they considered an appeal but chose not to pursue it because Ramirez doesn’t want to miss a significant portion of the second half of the season.

So that’s yet another inaccuracy by Bill. Awesome interview, great job! Again: when you say “there’s no way that’s correct”, it turns out that it was “entirely correct.”

How many times are we going to keep believing players who say, “I don’t know what it was, my cousin slipped it to me”, and again, I’m just waiting for the Domincan cousin to show up here, this whole thing’s ridiculous.

Well, you finally got one thing right: this is ridiculous. Bill, were you even paying attention? At no point did Manny say he didn’t know what it was. He said he thought that it wasn’t on the banned substances list. He never denied taking it. Huge difference! The fact is, even if he was taking this while coming off a steroid cycle, today’s story would still be true: he took a drug from his doctor, not knowing it was on the banned list. Whether he took the drug after steroids, to fix sexual problems, or because he liked the color, it doesn’t change the accuracy of that one claim.

Get the guy out of a Dodger uniform, get him out of baseball, because what he has done to this town, he has suckered everybody in, because I’m telling you, this is as bad as any suspension of anybody, because their whole franchise was based around Manny Ramirez.

“Get him out of baseball?” Look, if it turns out that Manny in fact was juicing, then I’ll be right on board with the anger, but this is coming dangerously close to “personal vendetta” territory here, Bill. You realize that other players have been caught with steroids, right? And not a single one has been kicked out of baseball. So let’s go ahead and change the rules, just for Manny. Brilliant idea.

Oh, and while I understand where he’s going by saying the franchise was “based around Manny”, I like to think it’s based around winning (and yeah, making money.) They can still do that.

So Bill, please. Take a deep breath, try not to hurt yourself (*sigh*… I guess) and relax. Try to remember that you’re a reporter, and if you can’t keep your bluster in check, at least try to get the facts right? Okay? Thanks.

“Manny Being Manny” Jokes Still Aren’t Funny

May 7, 2009 at 11:10 am | Posted in Manny Ramirez | 14 Comments

How quickly things change, right? Just a few short hours ago, I was in the middle of working on a post about how Giants fans, bloggers, and columnists are less angry at their team’s horrific offense than they are at the Dodgers for simply being good. I was all set up to display the hilarious response to the FanGraphs prediction by the McCovey Chronicles and the almost-but-not-quite-factually-true suggestion by San Francisco Chronicle writer Ray Ratto that the Dodger fans aren’t supporting the team.

Oh, what fun we would have had.

Let’s delve into the suck.

* Everything we know this far suggests that this was NOT a steroid. Yes, much of the mainstream media will frame this in the same way as admitted users like Alex Rodriguez and Jose Canseco, off in the corners of the training room injecting people’s asses with needles. But know this – based on what we know, that is entirely untrue. Manny visited a doctor for a legal prescription, not on the banned list, and it still came up as a positive on the tests. As his official statement says,

“Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons.

You can make any personal “he should have known” judgements about Manny that you want, but if this is the truth – that his doctor gave him a legal medication - then you can feel free to laugh in the face of those who say that Manny is just as bad as A-Rod, Canseco, Bonds, and the rest. I’m fully aware of how much of a homer apologist I sound like right now, but regardless of how much guilt you place on Manny, it’s important to note the difference between this and your standard “steroid” cases.

So what was Manny taking a prescription for? Yahoo’s Tim Brown says:

LOS ANGELES – A source close to Manny Ramirez said Thursday that the illegal substance for which the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger tested positive was not “an agent customarily used for performance enhancing.”

At least not on the baseball diamond. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the substance is supposed to boost sex drive. It is not Viagra, but a substance that treats the cause rather providing a temporary boost in sexual performance, the source said.

* Wait, did that just say what I think it did? Uh… jesus. I sure hope not. Manny’s statement did mention a “personal health issue”. This sort of brings to mind NHL goalie Jose Theodore’s suspension for failing a drug test, due to his use of hair-growth drug Propecia, which can be used as a masking agent. Of course, as embarrassed as Theodore must have been, this would be even… you know what? I’m not even prepared to talk about this right now. Let’s move on.

* So, is there any good news to come out of this? Well, the suspension is unpaid, so the Dodgers are off the hook for $7.7 million of his $25 million salary. That’s a nice chunk of unexpected change to come back your way, especially for a team that’s likely going to be in the market for a starting pitcher in the next few months. And there’s the possibility that a 37-year-old outfielder could benefit from two months off and have strong legs down the stretch and into the playoffs. Finally, even without Manny, the Dodgers should still be strong enough to hold off the NL West. I mean, when the other two-thirds of your outfield is Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, you could throw in the worst player in baseball to fill that void and still have a decent outfield.

Oh… wait…

* Your new starting left fielder is… Man, there’s not much more of a dropoff you can get than “Manny Ramirez to Juan Pierre” – though I suppose “Alex Rodriguez to Cody Ransom and Angel Berroa” is pretty close. Yeah, that’s right – looks like Juan Pierre’s back in the lineup again. You hope that the rest of the lineup can overcome this hit, especially with Russell Martin hopefully heating up, but there are some things that Joe Torre can do to make this work. Like…

* Do NOT hit Pierre high in the order. Torre’s actually shown some admirable out-of-the-box thinking by hitting Pierre 9th a few times, and that needs to keep up. If Torre wants to go 9th with Pierre full-time, that’s fine by me, but if not that, then Pierre at least needs to hit 8th, with everyone else moving up. The offense is going to take a massive hit as it is in going from Manny to Pierre; no sense in making it any worse by giving Pierre any more at-bats than is absolutely neccessary. Finally…

* Give Xavier Paul a chance! Look, if it were me, I’d be playing the kid every day over Pierre, but we all know that’s not going to happen. However, it doesn’t help anyone to plant the kid on the bench, because after 3 years in a row of improving OPS marks in the minors and a hot spring, he’s been killing the ball to start off the year in AAA – how’s a .344/.385/.542 line strike you? He’s also got a strong arm and good speed (8 SB already), and at 25, he’s not some unprepared rookie. He’s ready now, and though I know he won’t get a shot to be a starter, he at least needs to be Pierre’s defensive replacement and get a start or two a week all over the outfield.

Look, friends, this isn’t good – far from it, and the charmed life this team was leading just 12 hours ago is over. But it’s not time to panic. This team is good enough to win without Manny, and the division is bad enough to give them a cushion until Manny returns for the second half. Just remember, unless new information comes out, Manny did not use steroids – and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

MANNNY NOOOOO!

May 7, 2009 at 8:54 am | Posted in Manny Ramirez | 5 Comments

Whenever I get 4 instant messages and 3 emails in the space of 30 seconds asking if I’ve died yet, it CAN’T be good.

And… it’s not.

Jesus.

From ESPN:

Major League Baseball is expected to announce Thursday that Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and will be suspended for 50 games, The Los Angeles Times is reporting.

Ramirez’s suspension is expected to be announced Thursday, The Times said.

Triple-A outfielder Xavier Paul has been told by the Dodgers that he will be promoted later today, according to The Times.

It’s Not A Jinx If You Know It’s a Jinx

May 6, 2009 at 1:10 pm | Posted in 2009 rules so far | 3 Comments

What the hell, I already jinxed Jeff Weaver by handing out his 2009 award after one start, so why stop there? We’ve all been thinking it, but only FanGraphs has the balls to go ahead and say it: this team is headed to October:

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers for clinching the first playoff spot of the 2009 season.

Okay, fine, it’s only May 6th. The Dogers have another 134 games to play. Things could go wrong. The whole team might get the swine flu. Short of that, however, this division race is over.

Heading into the season, the Dodgers and Diamondbacks were the two leading contenders for the division, with the Giants kind of lurking as an interesting team if they can find a couple of hitters. The Rockies and Padres were also-rans. The Dodgers looked like a better team than Arizona, but injuries to guys like Hiroki Kuroda threatened to potentially leave the door open for the D’Backs if they could get some production from their young hitters and All-Star seasons from Webb/Haren/Scherzer.

That’s out the window, though. Brandon Webb is on the DL, the D’Backs offense is a mess, and they are now 8.5 games behind the surging Dodgers, who are playing like the best team in baseball despite using Eric Stults and Jeff Weaver in the rotation. The Giants stand as the only team within seven games of LA in the division, and they’re struggling to stay above .500 because they have the worst offense in the National League.

Quite simply, there just aren’t any challengers to the Dodgers throne. At 20-8, they could play .500 ball the rest of the year and finish with 87 wins. The Giants would have to play .548 baseball (75-62) to finish with 88 wins and nip LA by a game. The Diamondbacks would have to play .570 baseball (77-58) to finish with 88 wins and squeak past the Dodgers. And that’s assuming that the LA falls apart and plays .500 baseball the rest of the year.

In reality, we should probably expect the Dodgers to play something like .550 baseball for the remainder of the season. They aren’t 20-8 good, but they’re an above average baseball team, and their +48 run differential is easily the best in baseball. If the Dodgers play .550 ball the rest of the way, they’ll win 94 games. I’m not sure anyone else in the rest of the division will win 84 games, much less 94.

It’s early, yes. Baseball is a crazy sport where all kinds of unexpected things can happen. The D’backs went 20-7 last year to start the year and didn’t win the division. That’s okay – I’m still more than willing to say that the NL West race is over and done with. Thanks for playing, everyone. We’ll see you in October, Dodger fans.

Obviously, some of this is tongue in cheek – it’s still only May 6th! – but those numbers really stand out. .500 ball the rest of the way gets you 87 wins. Does anyone really think the Dodgers will be worse than .500 from here on out or that any other NL West team is beating 87 wins?

I may not have been ready to make this post for at least a few more weeks, but I can’t really say I’m disagreeing with much that I see here…

Hell, Let’s Just Give Him the Award Right Now

May 6, 2009 at 7:34 am | Posted in Jeff Weaver | 4 Comments

But first, a look back at the past award winners… dim the lights, roll the music, and…

2008 - Chan Ho Park. After six injury-prone and unproductive seasons, including an age-34 season spent putting up a 5.57 ERA in AAA, Park returned to the scene of his former glory, putting up four outstanding months for the Dodgers in 2008 and becoming a vital spot starter/swingman, before faltering at the end of the year. To no one’s surprise, he’s rocking an 8.57 ERA with the Phillies right now.

2007 – Rudy Seanez. Like Park, Seanez returned to LA after years of bouncing around with limited success, yet at age 38 put up a fantastic year, setting career highs in games and innings pitched. Actually, he was pretty decent in Philadelphia last year too, and last I heard he’d still like to pitch. Give the man a tryout!

2006 – Aaron Sele. Coming in on a tryout at age 36 after four solidly below-average years (including three in a row with ERA’s over 5), Sele ended up making the fourth-most starts on the team, contributing 103 innings of league-average performance. It’s actually better than it looks, because at the All-Star break he was 6-2 with a 2.91 ERA, before nosediving down the stretch.

2005 - No award given in protest that the best candidate may have been Scott Erickson.

Which brings us to the 2009 recipient of the “I’m Not Dead Yet, Dammit!” Award, given annually to the over-30 Dodger pitcher plucked off the scrap heap in hopes of recapturing some glimmer of his past glory, even if that “past glory” was never all that great to begin with. Oh, I know it’s just May 6 and it’s only been 9 innings, but A) hey, it’s been a great 9 innings and B) if we award this now, we can avoid having to consider Eric Milton or Shawn Estes for it later.

So ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present to you, Jeff Weaver. Mr. Weaver is more than qualified for this award, having not had a league-average season since 2004, and bottoming out last season by toiling away in the minors all year long – and even failing at that, putting up a 6.17 ERA for two AAA teams. While it’s not a requirement that the recipient be a former Dodger, it does seem to be tradition, which Weaver fulfilled by pitching in Blue in 2004-05. It’s also a requirement that the idea of his signing seems so ridiculous that it’s all we can do to not laugh out loud, as evidenced here:

I’m not going to get too worked up over a minor-league invite, because there’s really no risk involved, but holy jesus was Jeff Weaver awful in 2008. If you saw a pitcher who put up ERAs of 6.07 and 6.22, with WHIPs of 1.62 and 1.53, for his two teams last year, you’d say something like, “Woof. That guy got eaten alive. What the hell is he doing in the bigs?” – and you’d be well within reason to do so. Now, what do you say when you find out that those numbers came in stops for Buffalo and Nashville in AAA?

His qualifications are impeccible, to be sure. But it takes a special breed to be considered for this award – after all, anyone can be a terrible pitcher, and you don’t see us rushing to recognize Brett Tomko and Mark Hendrickson, do you? No, in order to get your name engraved on this fine trophy, you need to rise from the dead and squeeze that last bit of talent out to serve the team when it’s in need, and after a few lousy performances by James McDonald and Eric Stults, yeah, you could say the team’s in need.

Making his first start last night, well, Ken Gurnick, take it away:

Makes sense to Jeff Weaver, who took another step on his comeback-of-the-year journey with a triumphant return to the Dodgers’ starting rotation. Making his first Major League start since 2007 and first for the Dodgers since 2005, he allowed one run on a wild pitch, lasted five innings while striking out six and walking only one.

“He gave us everything we could have expected or wanted,” manager Joe Torre said. “We gave them a couple extra outs and he pitched around that. He couldn’t have been better than he was.”

Combine that with his relief stint last week, and you get a pretty impressive stat line: 9 innings, 1 run allowed (1.00 ERA), and most important: 10 K vs. 2 BB. That’s right, Jeff Weaver is striking out more than a man per inning.

So here’s to you, Jeff, for your small part in helping the Dodgers to the best record in baseball, and enjoy your award. Now keep it up and don’t make us look foolish.

Vin Scully Voted Mr. L.A.!

May 5, 2009 at 12:29 pm | Posted in Vin Scully | Leave a comment

A little bit of old news, so I’m sure others have reported it, but we didn’t, and since it’s a relatively slow day, I thought I’d update you on a contest. Last month, we here at MSTI tried to do our part and get you to vote often and, most importantly, to vote Vin for the recent Mr. L.A. contest that was being held by L.A. Magazine.

Well, a week or so ago, the results came in and…

Congratulations, Vin!

- Vin

Walter Alston Sure Looks Different

May 5, 2009 at 8:11 am | Posted in Walter Alston | 1 Comment

He’s a little hairier… a little darker… and a little less “dead for twenty-five years”. Actually, that’s Anil Kapoor from Slumdog Millionaire throwing out the first pitch last night… either that, or the Dodgers are going to solve their rotation problems by following in the footsteps of the Pirates by signing Indians off game shows.

You know, I sat here for a few minutes trying to figure out why in the hell they’d have given him a Walter Alston jersey to wear while throwing out the first pitch, and then it hit me: that’s not an Alston jersey at all. It’s the beauty of corporate marketing. You see, Kapoor has signed on to be in the next season of “24″. So I suppose that makes sense. Though, if they’d really wanted to promote it right, they could have just kept Rick Bauer when he was kicking around the system in 2007 and given him Alston’s number.

Anyway, as you should know by now, the Dodgers have reeled off 11 wins in a row at home to start the year (hey, only 70 more to go!), but TrueBlueLA beat me to my preferred “eleven” joke. I’m sure I would be more upset if I weren’t so heavily sedated, but while pondering another way to make a cheap numerically-based joke, I realized: I don’t really care. Oh sure, I care that the team is doing well, and I love that Dodger Stadium is quickly becoming the most difficult place in the league to enter for everyone else. But really, home wins don’t count any more than road wins, do they? (Wait, do they? I’ll have to check in on that). It’s cliche, but a win is a win, and I’ll happily take it no matter whether it happens in Los Angeles, Paris, or on Tatooine.

MSTI on KABC’s Dodger Talk

May 3, 2009 at 6:52 pm | Posted in MSTI media takeover | 16 Comments

So, as I mentioned a few times, Ken Levine & Josh Suchon from KABC’s DodgerTalk invited me to be a guest on their show tonight as part of their weekly “Better Know a Blogger” series. Despite my starting every other question with “well, you know, it’s a funny story”, I think it went pretty well – and it was fun, either way. Many thanks to Ken & Josh not only for asking me, but for the idea of having bloggers on at all – it’s very cool, and it makes all the time I spend on this blog from deep within the confines of my mom’s basement worth it.

If you’re interested, below is the transcript of our chat. If I’d known how much of a pain it was going to be to write out, I may have skipped it, but there it is. I was also able to grab an audio recording through some gray market means, thanks to KABC.com blocking the listen live function because it thought the Dodgers game was still on.

Ken: Welcome back to the Sunday Sports Final, live from Dodger Stadium. Ken Levine and Josh Suchon, still basking in the afterglow of the Dodgers’ 7-3 victory over the Padres. The Dodgers have now won the first 10 home games of the year, which is the greatest home start for the Dodgers in 126 years, when Julio Franco was only 9. Anyway, if you’re on the line, stay on the line, because we are going to get to you, but now we want to take a couple of moments and talk to somebody in the blogging community; as you know, one of the many great features that you have come to love and expect here on the Sunday Sports Final is a look at the different Dodger blogs that are out there. If you’re a Dodgers fan, you really should be introduced to some of these guys, because they spend an awful lot of time, do a great job, and have interesting voices, and have interesting takes on Dodger baseball. And today we are talking with Mike, who is the blogmeister of Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness dot com, one of the great names for a blog.

Mike, thanks for spending some time with us, and first of all, you even said so on your blog that this was going to be the first question, how does a guy in Boston write a blog about the Dodgers and keep up with the Dodgers every day?

MSTI: First of all guys, thanks for having me. You know it’s funny, I’m not actually in Boston, it’s my phone number that’s from Boston, I went to college there. I’m actually speaking to you right now from New York City, about 10 minutes from Times Square.

Ken: Oh, that’s so much different.

MSTI: Yeah, I know – it’s much better. I’ve been asked this question a lot, I’m actually from New Jersey, and it’s kind of a silly story, I’ll keep it short. When I was growing up, you play T-ball, first year I played T-ball I happened to be issued a blue shirt that said “Dodgers” on it, which could have easily said “Cubs” or “Mets” or whatever, second year I also got the same shirt, just so happened I was 7 years old and a stupid kid who didn’t know any better, and 7 years old was 1988, they win the World Series, I get hooked, and it just kind of goes on from there.

Josh: That’s fantastic, that’s actually a pretty cool story – I like that. So, do you find there’s many other Dodger fans from where you’ve gone, do you always feel like you’re the only man on an island out on the East Coast rooting for the Dodgers.

MSTI: You know, it’s amazing, I went to Vero Beach a couple years ago for the first time, and I saw thousands of people with Dodger hats on, and it just blew me away – I’ve spent my entire life surrounded by Red Sox fans, Yankee fans, and it’s like, “wow, there’s actually other Dodger fans out here, how about that?”

Ken: Have you ever come out to Dodger Stadium?

MSTI: You know, I have, it’s been somewhat of an embarrassingly long time, but I’m planning on doing so again this year, for the first time in quite a number of years, at the end of the summer.

Ken: If we gave you two tickets for Thursday night’s game, would you – we can’t pay for the airfare – but would you fly out here? I mean, we’ll give you a couple of tickets for Thursday night’s game.

MSTI: Oh, that is so unfair. If you want to say, maybe the Cubs series at the end of August, I’d take you up that.

Josh: We’ll work on that Mike, we’ll see how the rest of this interview goes. I do want to ask, I mean, we love the name Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness, how did you come up with it, give us the history of the name of your blog.

MSTI: Sure, I mean it’s kind of a silly name, obviously my name is also Mike so that fits, and you know, Mike Scioscia, great Dodger, but as Ken, as you probably know, it’s a reference to probably the best Simpsons episode of all time – no offense to “Dancin’ Homer” – the softball episode, they do a parody of the “Centerfield” song, not “Centerfield”, whatever song that was, [post-mortem note: god, I suck. It was "Talkin' Baseball". Ugh.] One of the lines is “Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness”, in the episode, Mike Scioscia works at the power plant, so I thought that was a pretty catchy name – Simpsons reference, baseball reference, Dodgers reference.

Ken: We’re talking with Mike, who has a great Dodgers blog, “Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness“. How much time do you spend a day on this, because you have charts, you have pictures, you have diagrams, you have all kinds of stuff up there.

MSTI: I try to keep it to no more than half an hour or so a day, I spend a couple hours a night watching the game, so I try to multitask, think about what I’m going to write about, and it’s nice to also have a job where I can kind of goof off on the internet.

Josh: That’s always helpful. We’ve been talking about this a lot on the show, because one of our favorite beat writers – well, we’re running out of beat writers to pick favorites – Tony Jackson was laid off this week by the Daily News, and we’re seeing fewer and fewer reporters who cover the Dodgers, so Mike, I’m wondering, your thoughts as a blogger, the importance of bloggers as fewer and fewer reporters exist, but also how much more difficult it might be to do your job because you basically rely on the reporters to get you the news so then you can then analyze it, and sort of make fun of it.

MSTI: Yeah, I think it’s awful, with Tony, and Diamond Leung a couple of months ago, those guys were reporters, but they had blogs of their own, especially Tony, he would always be the first one that would come out with breaking news, with roster updates, with the lineups, with pretty much everything. I mean, we’re down to just two beat writers, and Ken Gurnick’s good, but he’s pretty much employed by the team, and there’s Dylan Hernandez. Bloggers like myself, we don’t have access, and a lot of us wouldn’t want it if it we were even offered it, so we’re not going to be the ones breaking the news, we like to comment on the news, to second-guess the manager, so we need the actual media on the inside of the locker room to break the actual stories.

Ken: And do you read other Dodger blogs? Do you compare stories, do you compare snarkiness, are you looking to scoop guys, are you looking to have takes before the other guys do.

MSTI: Sometimes I try not to read the blogs before I write, just because a lot of times we’ll end up with the same opinion and I don’t want to say the same thing they did, but I definitely read Sons of Steve Garvey, FireNedCollettiNow, Dodger Thoughts, those are probably the big couple I read. They all, everyone’s a little different, for example, Dodger Thoughts, maybe not as humorous as the others, but Jon is an actual writer, so he probably comes off a little more polished than the rest of us. But I think everybody brings something unique to the table and I definitely read them all.

Josh: And you bring a good humor, a good snarkiness – and that’s one of my favorite words – and I love the post you had a few days ago about ”well, that’s one way to hit the DL” talking about Hong-Chih Kuo, and you have like a map of Dodger Stadium and there’s his face from where he’s warming up, and then an X mark for where the ball ended up. That was a great idea, give us how long you put that one together.

MSTI: Well, in terms of putting it together it only took about 30 seconds, but I remember watching the game and Vin Scully mentioned a couple of times that they had to stop the game because of a ball and he didn’t know at first where it had come from. And later they said that Hong-Chih Kuo was launching them out of the bullpen, and I wake up the next morning to find out he’s on the DL. I think they said he’d had 15 warm-up tosses and the bullpen catcher could only catch maybe 4 of them, so instead of tossing it about 60 feet away, he tossed it about 300 feet away, so you knew nothing good was going to come of that.

Ken: How many hits a day do you get on your blog?

MSTI: You know, it varies, I don’t know about per day, but I would say, over the course of a month, it’s about 15,000, I believe. [post-mortem note: oops, undershot this by a decent amount. oh well.]

Ken: That’s pretty sizable.

Josh: That’s very impressive. Alright, let’s talk a little Dodger baseball, get your opinion on some of the stuff going on with the team, Mike. If it was up to you, if you were Ned Colletti or Joe Torre’s brain, what would your five-man rotation be right now for the Dodgers?

MSTI: I’d probably go find Sandy Koufax because he’s probably as good as anyone else they’ve got going for the fifth spot right now. Obviously Billingsley, Kershaw, Wolf aren’t going anywhere as the top three, it looks like they’ve settled on Jeff Weaver for number four, and you know, Eric Stults looked pretty awful the other day, but when your best alternatives are Shawn Estes and Eric Milton down in Albuquerque, you’ve got to give Stults at least another shot or two. I mean, I don’t want to act like the division title is wrapped up, because it’s certainly not, but the competition doesn’t seem so tight that you couldn’t give him another shot or two just to see what he’s got left.

Ken: Yeah, and of course with this lineup, Eric Stults could give up 6 runs and the Dodgers could score 9, so, we’re not like the Mariners where they keep coming back time and time again, but the Dodger offense is pretty potent. So, do you get a chance to see the boys when they’re in New York, playing the Mets, or when they go to Philadelphia.

MSTI: You know, it’s funny, I’ve only been out to Dodger Stadium once or twice but I’ve seen them in, I believe, nine other major league and spring training sites, so I always make it out to New York and Philly when they come, but I’ve seen them at a bunch of other places around the country as well.

Josh: Excellent, excellent. I’m going to throw another pitching question at you: in case the Dodgers were to go outside the organization to try and get some help, would you be interested in A) Mark Mulder, B) Pedro Martinez, C) Paul Byrd, or D) none of the above?

MSTI: I don’t know that any of the options are appealing, but if I had to choose one I would probably go with Mark Mulder. I don’t know if he’s got anything left, but I’m assuming he’s not going to be as expensive as Pedro Martinez is, and I’m pretty positive Pedro Martinez has nothing left. I don’t know that Paul Byrd ever had anything in the first place, so I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing – for the right price, of course – if Mark Mulder can recapture some of that magic he used to have, seeing if it was really just the injuries that took that away.

Ken: Okay, if you’re coming out here at the end of August, you let us know, and we’ll set you up with some tickets, Mike.

MSTI: Thanks, I appreciate that, guys.

Ken: As long as I don’t log onto your blog and there’s like fifteen people just ripping us and you don’t defend us, okay?

MSTI: No, I think that just happens on the other blogs [post-mortem note: does this even happen on other blogs? I kind of have no idea why I even said that.] I try to keep that off of mine.

Ken: Thanks very much.

Josh: Well, if he’s on the East Coast, he can’t even hear us anyways, unless he’s listening online.

MSTI: I am listening online, actually, I had to come up with a little workaround, KABC still thinks the Dodger game is on, so it’s blacked out, so I had to come up with a little bit of a “semi-legal” workaround to listen.

Josh: Okay. Thanks for your time, Mike, keep up the great work.

MSTI: I appreciate it guys, thanks a lot.

Ken: The blog is Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness dot com. When we come back, we’ll take more of your phone calls.

Thanks again, guys – made my night.

Hey, Who Needs Manny… or Furcal… or J.Martin… or Blake?

May 3, 2009 at 4:04 pm | Posted in Chad Billingsley, we beat the Padres! | 8 Comments

I have to say, when I saw the lineup that Joe Torre was rolling with today, I had a flashback to the dark days of Jim Tracy. Sure, I’m very pleased that Torre’s sticking with his pledge to get Russel Martin and Rafael Furcal regular rest, and aa day game after a night game is the obvious time to do it - but I had to wonder why today had to be the day that Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez (later revealed to have asked out to rest a sore hamstring) were taking a seat as well. It’s amazing how different this vaunted lineup looks when you see a fivesome of Loretta/Ausmus/Castro/pitcher/Pierre, doesn’t it?

Of course, after looking at the pitching rotation, it makes a lot more sense: who needs more offense, Chad Billingsley against the woeful Padres, or Eric Stults & Jeff Weaver the next two nights against the Diamondbacks? To Torre’s credit, believe it or not, the Dodgers took this one partially in thanks to the scrubs, as opposed to in spite of them. Ausmus, Castro, and Pierre combined for five hits and four runs, including all three of them singling (with Billingsley also getting one in between) with two outs in the sixth inning, which chased Chad Gaudin and really took the air out of the Padres.

As Vin mentioned several times, the Dodgers have now tied the NL record for most wins at home to start a season with 10, but it was two other stats that Vin had for us that really caught my attention:

1) This was the first time the Dodgers have ever swept a four-game series against San Diego. God, I hate the Padres. I’m really surprised to see that, though; the Padres have had a ton of lousy teams since they entered the league in 1969, especially in the early years, and the Dodgers have of course had some pretty talented teams since then. The lesson here, of course, is that I will be thrilled to watch them lose 106 games this year. Look, I know that the Giants are the traditional rivals of the Dodgers, but for the last few years, I just haven’t been able to muster up the vitriol towards them that I do against San Diego. Must be the ugly uniforms.

and

2) Billingsley is now second behind only Roy Halladay for most wins in the last calendar year. I know, I know, I’ve been railing against using wins for pitchers as any sort of metric for a while here, and that hasn’t changed. I’m not saying that Billingsley is the second best pitcher in baseball, and I’m not ignoring the fact that if Tim Lincecum was on any sort of team last year he’d have won 27 games; I’m just saying, that if anyone out there still had any doubt that Chad Billingsley is a bona fide ace, it’s time to wake up. This kid? He’s good.

Carrying on the streak against Arizona tomorrow…