These Are Your New Dodgers
April 11, 2010 at 4:26 pm | Posted in Charlie Haeger | 11 Comments
Yes, Charlie Haeger gave up 4 (3 earned) of the 6 Florida runs today by walking two and then giving up a three-run blast to Jorge Cantu. But if you think I’m going to say a single bad word about a 5th starter who struck out 12 in 6 innings, you’re absolutely wrong. In just the fifth start of his career, Haeger tied Tim Wakefield’s career high for strikeouts – and Wakefield’s had 422 starts to get that many.
Haeger’s knuckler was dancing so much that two of those strikeouts actually ended up with a man on first, as A.J. Ellis couldn’t hold onto the ball. This guy’s been a big favorite around here for quite a while now, and with Joe Torre’s propensity for yanking 5th starters at the first sign of trouble, Haeger probably needed a good first start more than any other member of the rotation.
But of course, despite 11 hits, 5 more runs, and some outstanding glovework by Ronnie Belliard, it wasn’t enough. Once again, the bullpen and defense grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. For the pen, at least today it wasn’t “insert an Ortiz here”, or George Sherrill’s mysterious implosion, or even Torre’s total mismanagement. No, today it was the usually reliable Jeff Weaver who allowed a single, stolen base, walk and a two-run double to Cantu yet again.
Even that might not have been so bad if Matt Kemp hadn’t dropped the third out of the sixth inning, with Haeger still in the game. One base hit later, Ronny Paulino scored the 4th Marlin run.
So now the team is 2-4 headed back to Los Angeles, and while the big-time offense is a nice change, the Dodgers are looking at some serious questions. Remember when this team was built around pitching and defense, but couldn’t really hit? Yeah, me neither.
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Actually the 4th Marlin run was driven by the dreaded Cody Ross, who had coughed up a run to the Dodgers earlier with an even worse drop.
Comment by Bob Timmermann— April 11, 2010 #
Paulino scored, is what I meant to say. Thanks, Bob.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— April 11, 2010 #
So, including the final week of last season’s playoffs, we’ve put together the most disappointing two weeks of baseball I can remember.
Comment by johnclevenger— April 11, 2010 #
BP blew it again, but let’s not forget this is the second time in a week that we’ve failed to sac in the tying run 90 feet away with 1 out.
Comment by brooklyndoyer— April 11, 2010 #
Somebody please explain to me why Broxton needs rest after two games and two innings, but a man seven years his senior (Weaver) can pitch in five of the first six games. Oh yeah, it must be that burly build of Weaver compared to that frail, wimpy body of BrOXton.
Torre sucks!
Comment by SamAdams— April 11, 2010 #
Broxton is only 25 years old and throws close to 100 mph which gives him a very, very small margin for error with his mechanics. If he tires, (especially early in the season, leaving him unavailable during the crucial stretch run games) and you keep running him out there, you’re risking serious injury and/or ineffectiveness to someone who could be our shut-down closer for years to come.
Also, nobody cares if we break Weaver’s arm, he’s pitching on borrowed time anyways as far as I’m concerned.
Comment by Trevor— April 11, 2010 #
The Bullpen was really unbelievable last year – we got spoiled.
If we stop making errors we win – simple as that….
Comment by BotFot— April 12, 2010 #
Still trying to figure out Dylan Hernandez’ tone in regard to Haeger. It sounded like he laid all the blame on his doorstep, despite the twelve k’s and six innings of work. Nothing was said about Torre’s mismanagement of the pen or sitting Manny again. Hell, I am still waiting for a good explanation on why Padilla has not been discovered to have a mystery ailment and will be going on the dl for a couple weeks to get his head or arm together. We could do worse than Elbert.
Comment by grabarkewitz— April 12, 2010 #
[...] So what you need is an arm who can be used to eat up a good deal of innings in order to avoid totally destroying a bullpen which may already be stretched, and the Dodgers just so happen to have the man to do it: Charlie Haeger, who (also via Jon) threw six shutout innings today for Albuquerque. I know, I know; he hasn’t done much to engender confidence either. Still, he does have a few things running in his favor, even besides today’s quality start. First, he’s already on the 40-man roster, which is more than you can say for the other inferior options being tossed around like Claudio Vargas and Seth Etherton, so you wouldn’t have to risk losing someone like Justin Miller to get him on the roster. And unlike Vargas, who was cut by Milwaukee just a few weeks ago, and Etherton, who hasn’t seen the bigs since 2006, Haeger has at least had some success this season. I know it seems like eons ago, but we were all in love with him when his dancing knuckler struck out 12 Marlins in his season debut. [...]
Pingback by We’re Going to Need Charlie Haeger « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— June 20, 2010 #
[...] April 11: So now the team is 2-4 headed back to Los Angeles, and while the big-time offense is a nice change, the Dodgers are looking at some serious questions. Remember when this team was built around pitching and defense, but couldn’t really hit? Yeah, me neither. [...]
Pingback by The Bizarro Dodgers « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— August 10, 2010 #
[...] failing about as badly as he possibly could have, but the funny thing is, it started out so well. Remember his first start of the season? But if you think I’m going to say a single bad word about a 5th starter who struck out 12 in 6 [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2010 in Review: Starting Pitchers, Part 3 « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— November 5, 2010 #