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Loney’s teammates talk about how his indecisiveness on some defensive plays — break to the ball or to the bag? — can result in awkward movements that make them chuckle.
“We joke that there should be a James Loney cam,” Martin says. “Just on him, all the time.”
“Crazy legs and crazy eyes,” Wolf says. “He’s like a baby giraffe.”
That led to Loney being nicknamed “Geoffrey” after the Toys R Us mascot.
Come on guys, you can’t set us up like that:
Loney = Geoffrey, from now on. DONE.
So, what’d you do this weekend? Because, short of Sandy Koufax in a Giants jersey giving Vin Scully an atomic wedgie, you probably didn’t cause Dodger fans to hate you as much as Andruw Jones the last three days. Not, of course, that Jones wasn’t already despised in Los Angeles, but man – way to pile on, fatty:
Jones said he started to get the sense that he was on his way out of Los Angeles when he met with McCourt before undergoing knee surgery last May.“It was disrespect,” Jones said of the way McCourt spoke to him.
Jones said he was upset when his agent, Scott Boras, told him in the off-season that McCourt was looking into ways to void his contract.
While acknowledging that McCourt paid him a hefty salary, Jones said the owner had no right to complain about a deal that was mutually agreed upon.
Sunday: Jones homers off Chad Billingsley in a 6-3 Dodger win; following game, Jones takes candy from a baby. Literally.
Sure, the Dodgers went into Arlington and took two out of three, and that’s what’s most important. But it’s hard to ignore that we saw Jones hit 66% as many homers this weekend as he did all last season for the Dodgers.
God, I hate him.
…Juan Pierre.
That’s right, after last night’s game, Pierre finally has the required number of plate of appearances to qualify for the batting title, and his .348 mark places him second in the league behind David Wright’s .365. Really, of all the unexpected parts of the 2009 season – Manny’s suspension, Martin & Furcal’s horrificness, the nearly uncontested division race – could anything be more surprising than that?
Sorry to say, Juan’s deal with the devil may be running out, though: after hitting .407 on May 28, he’s at just .233/.270/.250 in the 14 games since. Of course, the entire offense has sputtered lately, so there’s no attempt to single out Pierre here – but if he doesn’t turn it around, there’s not going to be much of a controversy about sending him back to the bench when Manny returns on July 3, will there?
(Yes, I know that giant fat sack of crap Andruw Jones homered yesterday. I didn’t miss it. No, I can’t bring myself to even speak about him or his idiotic comments about Frank McCourt. He’s a thief. That’s all there is to it.)
Ted Keith over at SI.com with an interesting point for the best team in baseball:
I think the Dodgers’ success is starting to bore people. How else to explain the fact that baseball’s best team, with the most commanding division lead, doesn’t have a single player on pace to start in the All-Star Game? Obviously, Manny Ramirez‘s sampling of female fertility drugs could be a factor, but other than that, it’s hard to look at the Dodgers roster and see a deserving starter for the Midsummer Classic. That’s not to say they don’t have any popular players. Orlando Hudson, James Loney and Matt Kemp all have a well-deserved following among Dodgers fans. But only one Dodger is the Jared of his homeland.
I don’t know if I’d go with “boring”, but he’s right: it’s likely that no Dodger is going to be voted into the All-Star game as a starter. I don’t see any way that Jonathan Broxton doesn’t get a spot, and Chad Billingsley is more than worth as well, but fans don’t vote for pitchers. I mean, look at the lineup:
Catcher: Usually the best bet for All-Star glory over the last few years, in no small part to positional scarcity, Russell Martin’s been brutal this year. Start the All-Star game? How about, “is 17th in the NL in VORP among catchers.” That’s no typo. In a 16 team league, Martin is the 17th most valuable catcher. Where’s the macro for “shakes head, sadly”?
First base: James Loney hasn’t been bad, but when the competition consists of guys like Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Adrian Gonzalez, & Prince Fielder, you need to be a hell of a lot better than that. First base in the NL is just stacked, and Loney’s got no prayer here.
Second base: Arguably the first-half Dodger MVP, Orlando Hudson has been outstanding. Unfortunately, even in what appears to be a career year, he’s still not even within sniffing distance of Chase Utley’s monster stats. This might be the best chance for a Dodger hitter to get named as a backup, but seeing as how the next two best 2B (Brandon Phillips & Freddy Sanchez) are both from lousy teams that might need to fill the “one player per team” requirement, Hudson may get squeezed out here.
Shortstop: Anyone want to write in “Juan Castro”?
Third Base: Like James Loney at first base, Casey Blake’s having a solid season, but nowhere near solid enough to overcome names like David Wright, Ryan Zimmerman, and Chipper Jones. While his VORP is only 5th in the NL for 3B… his VORB (Value Over Replacement Beard) is at levels the Dodgers haven’t seen in decades.
Left Field: If Manny was still playing, he’d be almost a no-doubt choice here; hell, he’s disgraced and not playing and he’s still almost winning. Amazingly, the Dodgers somehow have two of the top six NL left fielders in terms of VORP, thanks to Juan Pierre. However, neither of them are getting chosen over Raul Ibanez and Ryan Braun. (Yes, I know the ballots don’t differentiate between outfield positions. I do.)
Center Field: Matt Kemp currently ranks 12th on the balloting, but that’s just because the general population is ignorant: by VORP, he’s the second most valuable center fielder in the league. However, since the man he’s behind, Carlos Beltran, is a bigger name, having a better season, and playing for a bigger market, Kemp’s got no shot to make it here. There’s a small chance he gets named as a backup, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Right Field: RF’s actually a total mess; Andre Ethier is 13th in the outfield balloting, and 4th in RF VORP. However, none of the four guys ahead of him in VORP – Justin Upton, Hunter Pence, or Brad Hawpe – are even on the balloting rankings. What’s that mean? Probably that no true right fielder makes it, and that we get to see Ryan Braun or Adam Dunn trying to stagger around right field.
So you might be saying to yourself, “damn, I thought we had a good team. How is it that none of our guys are going to get picked?” Just remember the extenuating circumstances: first of all, the All-Star Game is a total crock. It’s a popularity contest. It has no bearing on winning teams. Second, our best player got suspended, effectively taking him out of the running. Thirdly, this just goes to show that this is such a strong team all around. Only at two positions – C and SS – are the Dodgers completely outgunned, and oddly enough, those were two positions we expected to be strong at.
Why do I feel like no one but me is going to know what an “Aggro Crag” is?
Here’s the best part about being in first place, a million games up: even though Clayton Kershaw didn’t even make it through three innings last night – getting yanked in the middle of an at-bat against the pitcher, no less – I can still spend the off-day bringing you such whimsical joy as cranky old grandpa Jeff Kent appearing in ABC’s revival of “Superstars”. Events for the esteemed “superstars” include boating, kayaking, reminiscing about lost glory, and sadly reaching for one last bite of the spotlight. By which I mean, “a low-rated summer series, ripe for ridicule.”
Good luck, Jeff… I think?
