Daily Archives: August 10, 2010

Dodgers Slam Phillies; Furcal Heads to DL

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Offensive slump be damned, because this one was a much-needed circus: the Dodgers put up 15 runs on 18 hits, and where do I start? Sure, a park where even Ross  Gload can go deep twice on a humid night might take some of the air out of the sails, but at this point, I don’t even care. It’s been so long since the Dodgers had output like this (they hadn’t scored 15 since putting up 17 against the Brewers last August) that any ballpark-aided assistance doesn’t even bother me at this point.

Andre  Ethier led the way by getting on base six times on four hits, a walk, and getting hit. Ethier was just the 11th player to get on base six or more times in 2010, and the first Dodger to do so in a nine-inning game since Shawn  Green‘s famous four-homer outburst in 2002. (Russell  Martin got on bases six times in a 2008 game, but it went 13 innings.)

Even whipping boys Scott  Podsednik and Ryan  Theriot combined to get on base five times, and James  Loney, Casey  Blake, and Matt  Kemp (coming off the bench) all chipped in multiple RBI, with Loney making several nice defensive plays as well.

And then there was Jay  Gibbons, who was really going to lead this post until all of the other shenanigans occurred. After contributing a pinch-hit RBI single in his debut on Sunday, Gibbons was a highlight of the night while contributing three hits and four RBI, including his first MLB home run in over three years. What did he get for his trouble? Being double-switched out in the 6th inning. Ha!

Fun aside, Gibbons is what he is, and that’s not the second coming. Of course not, and he looked bad in striking out against lefty Antonio  Bastardo. He’s clearly a guy who ought to be facing righties nearly exclusively. But by comparison, it took Garret  Anderson 20 at-bats to get his last three Dodger hits, and it had been 60 since his last home run. It’s almost like this was a move that shouldhave happened long ago, right?

And Joe Torre, to his credit, almost managed this one perfectly. Vicente  Padilla threw just 83 pitches, but clearly struggled to get through the 4th and 5th. Ronald  Belisario returned to action, giving up Domonic  Brown‘s first MLB homer in the 6th, and Carlos  Monasterios was allowed just enough rope to hang himself with in 1 2/3 mediocre innings. George  Sherrill was finally used properly, entering to face a lefty the Phillies couldn’t replace with two outs in the 8th, and continued his streak of usefulness by retiring Brian  Schneider.

Sherrill then got his first big-league at-bat, and somehow drew a walk off J.C.Romero. In the bottom of the 9th, Sherrill does what he does – allowed righties Jimmy  Rollins and Raul  Ibanez to reach, while retiring lefties Greg  Dobbs and Gload. (Edit: My mistake, Ibanez bats lefty. Still, the point stands that Sherrill is a LOOGY guy right now, decent against lefties and horrendous against righties.) Now you’d think, with two outs and an eight-run lead, Torre would just leave Sherrill out to get that last out, but no: he had to go get Octavio  Dotel. Still, avoiding Hong-Chih  Kuo and Jonathan  Broxton in a game like this was a must.

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I had some comments on a recent post trying to use ERA and wins to make an argument, showing that whenever I think explaining why stats like those are useless get repetitive, there’s always people who are new to our world. Tonight’s game offered an excellent education in both. Sherrill did his job in the 8th, coming into a situation with two men on and getting out of the inning. After allowing two singles and getting two outs in the 9th, Dotel allowed a walk and a double, letting both runners score. Those runs are charged towards Sherrill’s ERA, not Dotel’s. What was basically a positive night for Sherrill now looks bad on his line, because ERA – especially for relievers – is generally unreliable.

As for wins, Padilla gets the W for allowing four runs in five innings, hardly his best performance. Yet he didn’t get the win when he threw six scoreless innings on July 18, and he actually got the loss for allowing one earned run over seven innings on July 23. That’s why wins don’t matter for pitchers.

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Of course, the big news postgame – and as I said on Twitter, we couldn’t have THREE MINUTES to enjoy this romp before this came down? – Dylan Hernandez is reporting that Rafael  Furcal is headed to the DL. Good get on that, because Charlie Steiner on the postgame show still hasn’t mentioned it. No word on who’s coming up… but we all know it’s Juan  Castro, right?

Hernandez adds:

Asked if Hu would be called up, Torre said, “Probably not.” Asked if Castro would be, he said, “I can’t tell you that.”

Hu hasn’t played since June 29, and I believe he’s still on the DL with a hand injury. Hey, if not Castro, the Mets just released Alex  Cora…

Update: I just looked it up, and Castro was yanked after one at-bat for the Isotopes tonight. Yeah, no matter what Torre says, Castro’s coming up.

The Bizarro Dodgers

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Anyone remember the prognosis for the Dodgers headed into 2010? Tons of offense, especially from the completely stacked outfield, and a terrifyingly thin starting rotation. That’s pretty much exactly what happened, too…

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.

April 21:

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.

May 9:

Has there ever been a worse week of starting pitching in Dodger history? I’m not even sure how I’d go about researching something like that, but in the last week we’ve seen Clayton Kershaw not get out of the 2nd, Chad Billingsley allowing four runs in the 1st, Hiroki Kuroda allowing 14 baserunners in 5.1 IP, and then last night Charlie Haeger got as many Rockies out as I did – zero. If not for John Ely’s sparkling turn on Thursday, this trip through the rotation would have been a complete wash, and yet Ely was rewarded for that with a trip to AAA.

All of that, though early in the season, reflected exactly what we expected the 2010 team would look like. Yet as the starting pitching has stopped being “horrendous”, moved on past “acceptable” and right into “pretty damn good” territory, the offense has sunk further and further into mediocrity. Actually, I don’t think we’re giving the offense or the rotation enough credit…

Last 30 days
Dodger offense: .272 wOBA (ahead of only the historically woeful Mariners)
Dodger rotation: 3.41 FIP (4th in MLB)

The fivesome of Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Vicente Padilla, and Ted Lilly have been just outstanding, though the offense is holding them back.

You’ll notice that I didn’t include the relievers in that number, as they rank near the bottom of the stats, in large part due to issuing a unbelievable 5.86 BB/9 over the last month. (I believe much of that is thanks to Joe Torre; only three teams have given more than nine intentional walks in the last 30 days. Only one team has more than 14, and that team is the Dodgers, with 21.)

But even the bullpen has brighter days ahead. Kenley Jansen‘s career is off to an excellent start, and Jack Taschner is gone. Ronald Belisario is coming back starting tonight, and even George Sherrill has shown a glimmer of hope, allowing 4 hits and 0 walks in his last 17 batters. A bullen with Jonathan Broxton and Hong-Chih Kuo at the back, Octavio Dotel, Belisario, and Jansen as setup men, Sherrill as a LOOGY, and Carlos Monasterios as the long man could be pretty formidable.

Of course, none of it matters unless the bats start to get moving, and Dylan Hernandez notes that Matt Kemp & Rafael Furcal are each out of the lineup for tonight’s series opener in Philadelphia. Kemp is probably a slump-related day off after his 0-4, 4 K disaster on Sunday, but Furcal was supposed to come back from his back woes tonight. He’s still reporting pain, so I don’t think a DL trip is out of the question. Jay Gibbons gets his first start as a Dodger, hitting 6th and playing left field as Podsednik slides to center.

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Minor news and rumormongering: the Dodgers have signed former Phillie and Astro Geoff Geary to a minor-league deal and sent him to AAA. Geary allowed 83 hits in 58.2 innings for Oklahoma City before being cut by Texas last month, so you can imagine how that’s going to play in Albuquerque. Completely predictably, he allowed four runs on four hits and a walk in his Isoptope debut.

In addition, there’s rumors that the Dodgers are interested in ex-Royal (ex-everyone, really) outfielder Jose Guillen, who was DFA’d by Kansas City a few days ago. At first glance, there doesn’t really seem to be a fit; with Scott Podsednik acquired to play left field, Manny Ramirez in theory coming back at some point, Reed Johnson healthy, and Jay Gibbons just recalled, the outfield doesn’t need any more bodies. Not that Guillen’s an outfielder anyway; he’s a pretty terrible defender, and really fits only as a DH.

On top of all that, a big reason that Guillen has been on so many different teams in his career is that he’s never been seen as much of a clubhouse guy, which is exactly the sort of dude you want to add to a clubhouse that has Manny, Vicente Padilla, and rumblings about Matt Kemp.

Still… if the price was zero, and Guillen was okay with a bench role, I might not hate this as much as you think. Guillen does have 16 homers this year, and one of the biggest problems the Dodgers have is the absolute lack of power on the bench. I still probably wouldn’t do it, but I understand the interest.