2010 May « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

You Can’t Win Em All…

May 30, 2010 at 8:14 am | Posted in Charlie Haeger, Garret Anderson, Hiroki Kuroda, Scott Elbert | 7 Comments

…but you especially can’t win any when Garret Anderson is batting second in the lineup. I get that he has to get a start every now and then if he’s going to be here, and circumstances don’t get much more favorable than against a junkballer righty in Coors Field. But hitting him second? Well, why wouldn’t you want to make sure that he gets more at-bats then Kemp and Manny? Predictably, he struck out twice without getting a hit.

It’s time for the Steve Dilbeck response lightning round!

1) No, I’m not worried about Hiroki Kuroda. Not yet. He was so solid to start the season – and really, whenever he’s been healthy since arriving in LA – that I won’t panic over a few lesser starts. Especially not when this one was in Colorado, where he’s never been successful.

2) I get questioning the Charlie Haeger decision, but not for the same reasons. Joe Torre’s insistence that John Ely needs an extra day of rest means that you’re using the 5th starter sooner than you need to, regardless of who that is. I haven’t seen anything in Ely that suggests he’s tiring already, so shouldn’t the goal here be to use offdays to minimize the use of starter #5 until Vicente Padilla returns in a few weeks?

As for Haeger himself, you know I’ve always been a big fan, though I do wonder why they’re showing him such dedication this year when he hasn’t been great after not giving him any rope last year when he was killing it. So I’m happy to see him get a shot on the off-chance his foot “injury” was legit, because this team still badly needs a viable starter option out of then pen when Padilla returns, and as nicely as Carlos Monasterios filled in, I’m not sure I’m ready to put that on him yet.

That said, I do wonder if Haeger isn’t being set up to fail. Who brings an injured pitcher off the DL to start on TWO days rest?

******

Ugly outing by Scott Elbert last night. Then again, he couldn’t get the ball over the plate in AAA, so I’m not sure what made anyone think that’d magically change in Coors Field. I bet he doesn’t get a chance to redeem himself before getting shipped out, and we don’t see him again until September.

******

I’ve seen some suggestions that the Dodgers ought to go after Dontrelle Willis, who clearly could use a change of scenery after getting DFA’d by Detroit. He hasn’t shown anything in about three years, so I can’t really see the interest. That said, the AAA rotation has Tim Corcoran & Seth Etherton in it (plus whomever is temporarily filling in with Elbert in the bigs and James McDonald on the DL), so it’s not like giving him a crack would bump anyone important. If he really wanted to try to make it back home to California, and was willing to sign a minor-league deal at the minimum, I don’t see the harm. I’d just consider it extremely unlikely.

Nick Green Heads to the Great Beyond

May 28, 2010 at 8:42 pm | Posted in Nick Green, Scott Elbert | 13 Comments

Per everyone, Scott Elbert was recalled and Nick Green was DFA’d. With James McDonald tweaking a hammy in ABQ, Elbert was the obvious choice. His control has been iffy at best, but he’s done a good job at keeping runners off the board.

With Ramon Ortiz getting shipped off yesterday, that’s 66% of the deadwood getting chopped off the roster in just over 24 days, so no complaints here.

It’s a great start to the holiday weekend, anyway. And as I’m writing this on my phone in a bar, I’m going to get back to celebrating – and I’ll be sure to tip an extra one back in honor of Green’s departure. Discuss.

I Like This Problem a Whole Lot Better

May 27, 2010 at 7:00 pm | Posted in John Ely | 15 Comments

John Ely was outstanding yet again today, allowing just one run while pitching into the eighth, yet he was saddled with the loss thanks to the punchless Dodger offense. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Clayton Kershaw threw six scoreless in the first game of this series, and he came away with a loss as well, because the offense has been shut out twice in three games.

Yet as depressing as it is to see such great pitching performances going to waste, I feel a whole lot better about these losses than the ones we saw in April. Remember early in the season, when the Dodger offense was kicking ass and taking names – yet it didn’t really matter, since the pitching was so terrible? At the time, I said…

Okay, so maybe this team can’t pitch. Maybe they can’t field. Almost certainly, those weaknesses are going to come back to bite them in a big, stinking, painful way. There’s going to be plenty of time to discuss that, but tonight we’re going to focus on what just might be the most high-powered offense any of us have ever seen wearing the Dodger blue. It’s getting to absurd levels, and I mean that in the best way possible. Look at the lineup, and realize that 7 of the 8 regulars are carrying batting averages over .300. 7! And the one who isn’t – Blake DeWitt – merely has a .404 OBP.

And what did all of that fantastic offense get us? A 9-14 April record. At the time, you knew that the offense would eventually come back to earth a bit, but you couldn’t be equally sure that the pitching would turn it around.

Now, we’re seeing pitching that’s not only improved, but seems to be a good bet to keep it going. Chad Billingsley and Kershaw have found their grooves, Ely’s been a revelation, and both Ortizes are gone. Meanwhile, the offensive failure of the last few days can be seen as a bump in the road for a still-dangerous group – especially when Andre Ethier‘s return is imminent.

Anyway, as lousy as it is to lose a game 1-0, I just can’t say enough about John Ely, really. Each time out, you expect the other side to unlock the secret to his underwhelming stuff, and every time out he just keeps on humming along. A few more starts like this, and it’s not unreasonable to wonder about him being the MVP of the 2010 Dodgers. I mean, right?

This Team Is Ortiz-Free

May 27, 2010 at 1:23 pm | Posted in Justin Miller, Ramon Ortiz | 23 Comments

Dylan Hernandez with the news that’s made my day:

Justin Miller called up from triple-A Albuquerque; Ramon Ortiz DFA’d

Finally! That’s two lousy Ortizii gone in two months. Way to get the holiday weekend off on the right foot! Sure, Ortiz hadn’t pitched since last Wednesday anyway, so it makes me wonder why they let him eat up the roster spot for that long, but who cares: so long, Ramon. Don’t come back now, you hear?

As for Justin Miller, he’s a 32-year-old veteran of parts of six seasons with Toronto, Florida, and San Francisco, with 197 MLB games to his credit. Don’t let his shiny 3.18 ERA from last year with the Giants fool you too much, as his FIP was 4.91 thanks to a mediocre 36/27 K/BB rate and a surprisingly low .244 BABIP.

Still, if there’s one thing Miller’s got going for him, it’s that he’s not Ramon Ortiz, and he has been very productive in AAA in 2010. In 18 games for the Isotopes, he’s allowed just six earned runs with a nice 25/8 K/BB rate and a 1.027 WHIP. Miller is what he is, and that’s a mediocre, somewhat-usable veteran righty reliever, with a fastball that barely tops 90 and a heavy reliance on his slider. His career ERA of 4.84 fits nicely with his 4.90 FIP, which sounds exactly right. But again: he’s not Ramon Ortiz.

Now, not to let anything get in the way of this joyous occasion, but… wasn’t it just yesterday that Joe Torre said that Ortiz would be backing up Carlos Monasterios on Friday? And didn’t Tony Jackson say, also yesterday, that Jon Link was the front-runner for the promotion? Lesson learned: trust no one.

Looks like it’s time to update the Old Guy DFA-o-Meter to all Anderson, all the time. The bell tolls for thee, Garret…

Lights Out in Chicago

May 26, 2010 at 9:31 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Five Dodger runs in the first two innings, three innings of increasing difficulty for Chad Billingsley, and yet another Rafael Furcal error: looks like Wrigley Field couldn’t stand to watch either, since the power just went out in the top of the fourth inning.

How this camera stayed on despite the power being out, I have no idea. But it’s creepy and beautiful at the same time, right?

Clayton Kershaw Gets Let Down

May 25, 2010 at 10:42 pm | Posted in Clayton Kershaw, James Loney, Joe Torre, Rafael Furcal | 12 Comments

Clayton Kershaw continued his streak of solid starts today by not allowing an earned run over six innings. Since his 1.1 inning, seven-run disaster against Milwaukee, he’s now allowed zero, one, one, and zero earned runs, getting his ERA down under three. He even did it without his top strikeout stuff, as his four K’s were the fewest he’s had (Milwaukee game aside) since Opening Day. Not only that, he only walked two, a great sign for a pitcher with occasionally questionable control.

Yet when you look at the boxscore, you’re going to see an L next to Kershaw’s name, his third of the season. In much the same way I think wins are useless for pitchers, losses can be as well – because this was a complete team failure, in every facet of the game. Like…

The defense. I cannot wait to see the slew of “scrappy fighter Jamey Carroll” stories tomorrow, because Rafael Furcal was brutal in his long-awaited return. His first error, on a Ryan Theriot grounder, was quickly followed by a Theriot steal on a pitch that Russell Martin couldn’t handle. That led to the Cubs’ first run on Derrek Lee‘s single, dooming Kershaw to the loss. As bad as that was, the defense really started to boil over in the 8th, as Furcal’s second error put a man on who came around on Lee’s homer, and then Blake DeWitt‘s bobble nearly got James Loney‘s arm broken. (Speaking of which, should anything happen to Loney, there’s really no backup plan. Are you really going to start Ronnie Belliard every day? Call up John Lindsey from AAA? Yikes). I’ll give Furcal a pass in that it was his first game in nearly a month, but still: ugly.

The offense. Three hits. One walk. That’s it. Ryan Dempster‘s a solid starter, but he’s not exactly Tim Lincecum, either. Not a lot Kershaw can do when that’s the “support” he’s getting. But hey, at least Garret Anderson hit the crap out of the ball… all the way back to the mound.

The manager. Hey, Joe. Why are you bringing Ramon Troncoso in A) when the team is losing, B) in a tight game when he’s coming off three homers in his last two outings, and C) when he’s on pace for approximately 180 games this season? Sure, Troncoso is claiming that he’s found “a flaw in his delivery”, but is absolutely anyone going to be surprised when he ends up on the disabled list by the end of the week? Anyone?

Still, it’s just one game, though it does drop them 1.5 behind the Padres, who are facing Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals tonight.

******

Last week, I said that when the time came for a 5th starter, it couldn’t be Ramon Ortiz under any circumstances, and that the only choice would be between Carlos Monasterios and Charlie Haeger. Commenter “JayHowell” points out to me that it won’t be Haeger:

The Dodgers declined to reveal Friday’s starter but did say knuckleballer Charlie Haeger is not in the running.

Torre said Haeger – already on the disabled list with plantar fasciitis – stubbed a toe Monday during his rehab start for Class A Inland Empire and will remain with the 66ers through the weekend. Haeger struck out five and allowed two runs on four hits in six innings against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.

Torre said the decision on who will start should come Wednesday.

Dodgers DFA Useless Veteran (Update: Or Not)

May 25, 2010 at 4:29 pm | Posted in George Sherrill, Nick Green, Ramon Ortiz | 12 Comments

Whether that’s Nick Green or Ramon Ortiz, I do not know. But take a look at tonight’s starting lineup from the official Dodger Twitter…

#Dodgers lineup: Furcal 6 Martin 2 Kemp 8 Ramirez 7 Loney 3 Blake 5 Paul 9 DeWitt 4 Kershaw 1

…and you’ll see Rafael Furcal is back, and Blake DeWitt is starting. So our fears that DeWitt may be getting shipped out from earlier this week can be relieved.

My guess?

Green phantom injury: 3-1
Green DFA: 4-1
Ortiz DFA: 10-1

I suppose we’ll find out soon.

Update: I couldn’t have held onto the publish button for 30 more seconds, could I? Jon Weisman with the answer:

George Sherrill to the DL with “mid-back tightness”

Well, I did say that “phantom injury” was the most likely option, so I’ll still take it as a win.

Buster Olney Contemplates the Unthinkable

May 24, 2010 at 1:16 pm | Posted in Bill Plaschke, Buster Olney | 9 Comments

Unlike most of you, I think, I actually like ESPN’s Buster Olney a lot. Not only did he grow up a Dodger fan in Vermont, his daily link collection is immensely useful, and he’s even promising a feature on John Ely tomorrow.

All that said, I think he may have gone off the deep end today:

The Dodgers’ payroll has been on lockdown, however, diminished by about 40 percent in recent seasons, and with the McCourts’ divorce proceedings in the slash and hack phase, ownership might not approve a significant midseason expenditure, such as Oswalt.

The truth is that maybe the best chance for the Dodgers to get some money freed up by midseason would come if the leading columnists in L.A. were to generate a daily drumbeat of sentiment for the team to spend some money. In other words: T.J. Simers and Bill Plaschke, the eyes of Dodger Nation might be turning to you in the Roy Oswalt sweepstakes.

I don’t care if it resulted in the Dodgers picking up Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, Albert Pujols, and Joe Mauer – I don’t ever want to be in a position where we have to look to Bill Plaschke, of all people, to be our voice in the community. Besides, as best as I can tell, Plaschke hasn’t even been bothered to write about the Dodgers since April 17, when it was – surprise, surprise – a negative article about the team’s slow start. Before that, it was April 5, complaining about Ronald Belisario‘s late arrival to camp. Typical Plaschke, isn’t it? He pops up to whine, but when the team surges into first place, he hasn’t been heard from in over a month. Sure, he’ll use the excuse “I’m on the Lakers beat,” but that’s all too convenient, isn’t it?

So thanks, Buster, but no thanks. If you’d like to help hammer the McCourts on the damage they’ve done, by all means, we’ll welcome you. But Plaschke pretending he represents the Dodger fan? Pass.

In Defense of Blake DeWitt

May 23, 2010 at 1:02 pm | Posted in Blake DeWitt, Jamey Carroll, Jose Lima, Nick Green, NO | 14 Comments

I don’t really believe this is going to happen, but…

To create room on the roster for Furcal, an infielder will have to go. The obvious move is to designate Nick Green for assignment, but Torre noted the club has two choices: Green, or optioning Blake DeWitt. When asked if it would be tough to send down the club’s opening day second baseman, Torre said, “It’s always tough to be sent down,” but also said a decision has not yet been made. (via TBLA)

Again: I don’t really think they’d actually do something that stupid, so this is probably a bit premature. Still, you’d have to think the fact that Torre even acknowledged there’s a possibility it could be DeWitt got back to Blake eventually, which is exactly what he doesn’t need.

I’m not even going to bother explaining why Nick Green is useless. I’ve done so many, many times, and while I won’t pretend that nine plate appearances is a substantial sample size, it’s also not like he’s done anything to distinguish himself with the one single he’s accumulated. If this happens, the issue here wouldn’t even be “DeWitt or Green”, as they’re making it sound.

No, the issue would be “Blake DeWitt vs. overvaluing Jamey Carroll“. As you probably remember, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Carroll signing this offseason. Yet, even I’ll admit that Carroll’s been a nice surprise, playing nearly every single inning at shortstop since Furcal went down in the first place. As expected, he’s provided little range and zero power, but he’s been solid on the balls he can get to, and his .377 OBP overall is nice. Besides that, he’s really stepped it up since he took over the job, with a .396 OBP in the 25 games that Furcal has missed.

Coming from an emergency backup, Carroll’s been all you could expect, and considering what a disaster shortstop was in 2008 when Furcal was down, he’s really done nicely. I approve. Yet, let’s not confuse this with Carroll being a plus player, or someone who ought to be a starter, because he’s not. If DeWitt did go down, the team would essentially be saying that they prefer Carroll in the lineup everyday rather than DeWitt, since Carroll would presumably slide over to be the starting 2B.

DeWitt may still be waiting for his first home run, but that’s really the only blemish on his season so far. His 106 OPS+ means he’s been an above-average hitter this year, as compared to Carroll’s below-average 88 OPS+, and DeWitt has also really started to heat up. Since the calendar turned to May, he’s got a .288/.333/.492 line, with nine extra-base hits (as compared to Carroll’s three in the entire season). That’s an .825 OPS, which is fine by me.

On defense, he’s clearly been a work in progress, but he’s improving there too. Obviously, defensive stats are more prone to small sample size worries than anything else, but even all of the accepted metrics have him at near average or just slightly below it, which is also better than Carroll’s marks.

Again, I don’t think this will happen, and I’m fine with Carroll’s play thus far. But if the unthinkable occurs – if DeWitt is sent down just as he’s heating up, in order to play Carroll more and hold onto Green – it would be a massive mistake. Personally, I’m fine with just DFA’ing Green when Furcal returns, because I consider him to be of no value whatsoever, but knowing how the Dodgers roll, it’ll probably be a Haeger-esque phantom DL stint. As if anyone would really claim him on waivers, anyway.

******

In far sadder news, Jose Lima has apparently died of a heart attack today in Los Angeles. Lima was a Dodger for only one of his thirteen seasons, but that didn’t stop him from earning a place in team history. After a 13-5 2004 season which he described as “Lima Time” and had his wife become a minor internet celebrity thanks to her infamous picture while he sang the national anthem, he tossed a complete game shutout at the Cardinals in the NLDS – the first playoff game the Dodgers had won since 1988, and the only won they’d win until 2008. After his one season in LA, he had a horrible 2005 in Kansas City, a short stint with the Mets in 2006, and that was the end of his career. He played in Korea and independent ball in Canada and California trying to get back – that is, when he wasn’t popping up in bizarre Deadspin stories about his ex-wife trying to track him down.

An email from the Dodgers included the news that he’d actually been at the game on Friday night, and received a standing ovation from the crowd when introduced (the picture at right). RIP, Lima Time.

Don’t Tell Me The Beard Doesn’t Matter

May 22, 2010 at 7:58 pm | Posted in Casey Blake | 6 Comments

It was on May 16 when I examined Casey Blake’s subpar year and jokingly suggested that he grow back the beard, which he immediately did. In the five games (plus two innings of today) since then, he’s 9 for 22 with 3 homers, including his shot off the Tigers just now.