2010 April 16 « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

Tonight Could Be Interesting, Folks

April 16, 2010 at 1:25 pm | Posted in Eric Stults, Vicente Padilla | 28 Comments

I touched on this briefly this morning, and Jon at Dodger Thoughts just posted a timely and informative pitch count chart, but suffice to say: the Dodger pitching staff is in shambles for tonight, as it currently stands.

Think about it: the Dodgers have 12 men on the pitching staff currently – so 11, behind tonight’s starter Vicente Padilla. Five of them are completely unavailable tonight (assuming that unlike with Charlie Haeger, Joe Torre won’t risk Chad Billingsley or Clayton Kershaw in between starts):

Definitely unavailable (5):
Hiroki Kuroda (started Thurs.)
Chad Billingsley (started Wed.)
Clayton Kershaw (started Tues.)
Jonathan Broxton (pitched three days in a row)
Ramon Ortiz (pitched three days in a row)

Almost certainly unavailable (2):
George Sherrill (pitched two days in a row, and poorly)
Charlie Haeger (Saturday’s starter)

Available tonight (4):
Ramon Troncoso (probable closer)
Russ Ortiz
Carlos Monasterios
Jeff Weaver

So among your four-man, all-righty bullpen, that’s one good pitcher who was still your 4th or 5th best option entering the season (Troncoso), 2 non-roster veterans, and a Rule 5 pick – and that’s keeping in mind that Weaver pitched last night and on six of the previous nine days, and that Russ Ortiz is Russ Ortiz.

What this means, if Padilla can’t put together a decent and lengthy start tonight, is a possible disaster. Sure, Jon jokingly included James Loney on his pitch count chart, but how far away are we from actually seeing that? Unfortunately, even if they wanted to bring in help from AAA, the pickings are sparse from there as well. James McDonald, Scott Elbert, and Josh Lindblom started in each of the last three games, so you’d assume they’re not available tonight (or even for tomorrow, should Haeger forgo his start to help tonight). Brent Leach pitched two innings last night, as well. Plus, Hong-Chih Kuo started his rehab stint last night, and there’s no news on Ronald Belisario, so consider them out too. So if they’re bringing someone up, we’re looking at… Luis Ayala? Travis Schlichting? Justin Miller? Jon Link? Hey, why not Nick Green – he pitched two scoreless innings last year! Some of those guys would need to be put on the 40-man roster, though that’s not a huge issue since either Cory Wade or Brad Ausmus could be put on the 60-day DL.

The point is, keep a close eye on the game tonight. If Padilla’s not up for the challenge, you might see some interesting faces on the mound.

By the way, this could have partially been avoided, you know. I don’t want to cry over spilled milk too much… so I’ll let commenter matt do it for me:

This seams like a good time to have Eric Stults around…

Sigh… yes. Yes it does. Not like we could have predicted this though, right?

Feels Like We’ve Been Here Before

April 16, 2010 at 8:31 am | Posted in Andre Ethier, Jonathan Broxton | 10 Comments

An Andre Ethier walkoff? Well, that’s out of the ordinary. Also, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Matt Kemp has homers in 4 of the last 5 games. That’s, uh, sorta good.

More on this game later, but just something I need to point out for tonight’s game. Since Jonathan Broxton came in to get the win last night, exactly what I feared the other day has come true:

Yet Ramon Ortiz came in and was predictably horrible, allowing three runs on three hits (including a Mark Reynolds blast) and a walk. As you can see, this has spawned the birth of the “Ortiz DFA-O-Meter” to the top right, as they battle to see which one gets dumped first. So what was once a blowout became a situation in which the top two relievers (Ramon Troncoso and Jonathan Broxton) had to contribute 2.1 innings.

That may not seem like a big deal today, but we saw this exact thing happen last week. Just wait until one of the next two games when it’s a tight situation, and now one might not be available, simply because Ramon Ortiz can’t hold a 7-run lead. So then you’re left with counting on George Sherrill again, and we’ve seen how that turns out.

So now Broxton has pitched three days in a row (as has Ramon Ortiz) and is almost certainly not available tonight, and even Sherrill has pitched two days in a row (walking two and giving up a hit and a run in just 0.1 inning last night). So that means your closer tonight is… Ramon Troncoso? Which is fine, I suppose, but that makes the bullpen group in front of him terrifying at best, because you’re down to Russ Ortiz, Jeff Weaver, and Carlos Monasterios. But hey, at least it’s Vicente Padilla starting, so there’s absolutely no chance the starter will only last 4.1 innings. Hooray?

Frankly, I’d be surprised if we don’t see a pitching move made before the game starts, because someone has to be around to help after the extra inning games and bullpen ineptitude.