The Process Was Good, Even If the Results Weren’t
April 14, 2011 at 7:39 am | Posted in Casey Blake, Don Mattingly | 38 Comments
The Dodgers, as you probably noticed, did not win last night, dropping them down to .500. That’s not all that unexpected based on what we thought coming into the season, because this team just isn’t built to withstand a poor performance by the starter (and Ted Lilly and his declining velocity is about one more lousy start from getting his own post on whether I should have been harder on his contract than I already was) and an oh-fer by Matt Kemp. Without Rafael Furcal, and with Juan Uribe and James Loney sucking in a fashion not generally seen outside of the darkest corners of the internet, it’s going to take more than the occasional Rod Barajas homer and a few lucky hits by Aaron Miles to help this team score runs.
That’s not the point of today’s post, however. I have always been of the mindset that the process is more important than the results, because if you make wise decisions in your process, the results will come. For example, if Ned Colletti traded Jerry Sands for Jose Lopez tomorrow, and Sands immediately suffered a career-ending injury while Lopez hit a few dingers for the rest of the year, the end result may be that the Dodgers got more value, but the process would have been so horribly flawed that there’s no defending it.
It’s with that in mind that Don Mattingly should be commended for his lineup choices last night, even though they didn’t, you know, work. For months – years, maybe – I’ve been dying to both take Loney out of the lineup against lefties and have Casey Blake play first base in his stead. Blake, I’ve long argued, should not be an everyday third baseman, and would be much better served as a utility player who steps in against lefty pitching. Not only did Mattingly do that, he also then shifted Blake to left field in 8th inning as part of a double switch, showing that he’s willing to move Blake around if needed. Blake may have only went 1-4, but the process in terms of getting him in over Loney against a lefty was sound.
Also serving as a positive for Mattingly was that he placed Jamey Carroll atop the lineup with Miles hitting 8th, exactly the way it should be. (Well, the way it should be is that Miles would be unemployed, but still.) Again, the results weren’t there, but that’s more because Mattingly is saddled with a largely underperforming roster than anything. For once, the thought process was sound, and it’s part of the reason I already like Mattingly about 10000x more than Joe Torre.
******
Christopher Jackson of the Albuquerque Examiner has been a wealth of information lately, both in comments here and on the newspaper’s site. I’ll be doing an interview with him near the end of the month on life following the Isotopes. Check out his recap of the mess that happened in last night’s game:
Second baseman Justin Sellers was hit by a pitch on his right hand in the fourth inning, forcing him to leave the game.
Three batters later, Juan Castro fouled off the first pitch from Austin Bibens-Dirkx, only to suddenly double over in pain, clutching his left side. He had to leave the game as well.
In the seventh inning, J.D. Closser, who had moved from catcher to third base to replace Castro, stumbled while trying to field a grounder. The ball bounced up and struck Closser under his left eye, leaving him with a visible bruise and forcing him out.
At that point, Jerry Sands had to move from right field to third, and with no position players available on the bench, pitcher Tim Redding trotted out to right field.
“The big question is with J.D., if he’s available or not (to catch),” Bundy said. “I guess Jerry Sands would be my backup catcher.”
First things first: is “Austin Bibens-Dirkx” a great name, or the greatest name? Sellers and Closser sound like they’ll be fine in a few days. Castro, well, I will never celebrate someone getting hurt. Let’s just say, we won’t have to worry about seeing him in the big leagues any time soon. And before you ask: no, Sands is not going to be a third baseman in the bigs. Besides, he didn’t even homer last night. What a bust! (Trent Oeltjen had two.)
Speaking of the Isotopes, you probably noticed that Ramon Troncoso was never called up yesterday despite my claim that he would be. Jackson notes that it was announced in ABQ that he’d be going up, and Troncoso was told to get moving, but then the move was canceled with no explanation. Bizarre.
38 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a Reply
How Many McCourt Sins?
MSTI on the web
MSTI Library
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
Can’t argue with your proposals. At this point, with this roster, you could pull names out of a hat. There is no lead-off guy, and like I have said before, other than E.L.K. this is a team of 7 and 8 hitters. Here’s an idea, we did this in a beer league I played in years ago. Whoever gets to the park first, bats last. So, the last guy to arrive leads off. OK, maybe that won’t work. Back to the pulling names from a hat idea.
It is my hope that this organization realizes it just might be time to punt. Please don’t knee jerk a trade for a declining veteran and defer the money.
Comment by Rory— April 14, 2011 #
Even I can’t say let’s punt before Tax Day, but yeah, I can definitely see being in that position as the season progresses. I’m terrified of the team being 7 games out on July 31 and Ned making more ‘go for it!’ moves.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— April 14, 2011 #
You know if we are close Mike, we will have an Octavio Blake type move made. I share your terror my friend. I don’t want to lose Sands or Gordon, or Rubby or Janson – just to come up short again.
It is my humble opinion that this team is more than one player away from being a legit contender. If it ain’t there, please don’t force it.
Comment by Rory— April 14, 2011 #
Colorado only has 2 losses…they can’t keep up that pace forever. Problem is…how long can the Dodgers keep up their pace of running hard on the basepaths to win games? They’ve already lost Raffy for 4-6 weeks as a result of it. The offense is nothing without that and I think guys are gonna wear down as the long season progresses. Kemp can only do so much on his own and right now he’s about all we got. I share your same terror and think Ned needs to be fired before he can do any more damage. The current state of the team lies directly on his and McCourt’s shoulders and Frank ain’t gonna fire himself. So someone needs to go.
Comment by Wil— April 15, 2011 #
Scary to think if Ethier and/or Kemp go into a slump…………
Comment by DodgersKings323— April 15, 2011 #
As bummed as I am about the two loses, there’s the silver lining of the fact that the Dodgers weren’t blown-out in the loses. Going toe-to-toe with the World Champion San Francisco Giants (that felt weird typing that) and playing tough against them is better than them getting their asses kicked all over the Bay.
Comment by omer333— April 14, 2011 #
I was at the game last night, right in back of the plate (if you watched the game, you saw me), with virtually the same view as the plate umpire. I can say that this was one of the worst games I’ve ever seen called, with pitches six to twelve inches above the ground being called strikes. Granted, the Giants were able to overcome things, but I blame the ump far more than the Dodgers. Poor Kuo kept throwing strikes, but, since they were a foot above the batter’s ankles, were called balls.
Comment by Bill Grabarkewitz— April 14, 2011 #
One pitch called strike two on Ethier was at his ankles.
Comment by SamAdams— April 14, 2011 #
Characterizing Miles’ hits as “lucky” is probably unfair. He may be a weak link but you should give him credit when its due. If he hit the ball hard and made four outs would you say that he went unluckily 0-fer?
Comment by Neeebs— April 14, 2011 #
I’ll never deny that I am biased against Miles, but that’s only because of his long and established history of being terrible. The three hits he picked up last night won’t outweigh the additional two months of suck that probably bought him.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— April 14, 2011 #
Believe me, I’m not a fan of Miles. But fair is fair. So when he sucks, call a spade a spade. When he performs, he should get some props. That’s all I’m saying.
Comment by neeebs— April 14, 2011 #
because he decided not to suck, despite all the statistical evidence to the contrary going in. And he still is exceeding expectations, including my own.
Comment by David Sheridan— April 16, 2011 #
OOPS! My title was “Remember Jamie Carroll”.
Comment by David Sheridan— April 16, 2011 #
In Lilly defense he has poor career numbers against the giants
Comment by ramo— April 14, 2011 #
Great article! Just when you think the Dodgers are totally clueless, a thinking man’s lineup out of nowhere! There is hope. Now, about the owner…
Comment by Scott— April 14, 2011 #
I thought Watson said he wanted Sands to get time at 3b?
Comment by Patrick— April 14, 2011 #
There was some talk about it before the Fall League, but nothing materialized. I doubt we’ll see Sands at the hot corner much unless it’s an insane situation like last night.
Injury updates: Castro is on the DL and out up to six weeks. Sellers and Closser are day-to-day.
The full story as of pregame (matinee contest here): http://www.examiner.com/baseball-in-albuquerque/isotopes-notebook-roster-left-scrambled-after-injuries
Comment by Chris Jackson— April 14, 2011 #
Sands?? Who would want that guy? He didn’t even hit a home run today. 3-5 with a triple? Pshhh… Terrible.
Comment by dave— April 14, 2011 #
Note to Matt Kemp – don’t get frustrated and try to hit anything close. If they want to pitch around you, let them. It will be up to Loney and Uribe to make them pay.
Miles is what he is – a utility player. The fact that he is getting so many at bats this early tells me how fragile our geezers are. I wish we were deeper, but, it is what it is.
Lilly needs about 2-3 mph on that fastball or he is going to get shelled. 88? I think I might could still hit that one if I look for it – and I am 63.
OK, maybe not. But you get the point.
Comment by Rory— April 14, 2011 #
Here’s what I think Mattingly should have done.
First, I expected Lilly to be pulled after we took the lead and he was due up with an insurance run on third and two out. Of course, I thought we had Tron in the pen and he could pitch the sixth, Jansen the seventh, Kuo the eighth, and Broxton the ninth, with Guerrier and Hawksworth available.
Secondly, since Tron didn’t get the call up, why not give Hoffman a start against the lefty and sit Ethier, who looked lost versus Sanchez?
Comment by SamAdams— April 14, 2011 #
Sheesh, I nearly forgot about Hoffmann. I’d have loved to see him in there against a lefty.
That said, since Ethier and Kemp are basically the only two Dodgers performing, I can see why Mattingly would want to avoid sitting him, lefty or not.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— April 14, 2011 #
Given today’s big story if you need a title for your next post I think “Say It Ain’t Kuo” should do the trick.
Comment by Justin— April 16, 2011 #
Yeah, I think wanting more than an occasional rest sit down for Ethier is unrealistic. Our wagon is a bit hitched to him being able to get back to 07 or at least 08 levels against lefties. Also- I doubt it would be Hoffman at any rate. If M Thames or Blake has a good run going, maybe. Ethier is the #3 hitter on this team. …That being said, his rest days should always be against lefties, health permitting.
Comment by David Sheridan— April 16, 2011 #
Hey Mike what do tou think… DODGERS should start with the following Lineup VRS RHP : 1. Gwynn – CF 2. Loney – 1B 3. Barajas – C 4. Kemp – LF 5. Ethier – RF 6. Uribe – 3B 7. Carroll – SS 8. De Jesus – 2B 9. – P…..VRS LHP 1. Carroll – SS 2. Uribe – 3B 3. Barajas – C 4. Kemp – CF 5. Thames – LF 6. Miles – 2B 7. Ethier – RF 8. Blake – 1B…I know lineups doesn´t matter as much as we would like to think…but I really think this TEAM needs a couple of friendly battles…
Comment by D. OMEANY— April 14, 2011 #
Putting Barajas at number 3 basically defeats the purpose of having a lineup. Plus, Kemp and Ethier will surely get on base more than Barajas does, and will surely slug more than him too. Pretty much you’re putting a mediocre hitter after what are supposed to be the speedy, high on-base guys, putting a low on-base guy in front of our best hitters, and putting our best on-base guys in front of the dregs of the lineup.
Comment by Bip— April 14, 2011 #
I think you are focusing too closely on the 3 homers Barajas has hit and not closely enough on the fact that besides the homers he has reached base only 7 other times this season. If there is such a thing Barajas would be the very definition of a Two True Outcomes player.
Comment by Justin— April 14, 2011 #
He doesn’t strike out enough for that to be true really.
Comment by Bip— April 14, 2011 #
He doesn’t homer enough for it to be true either, I just thought “Two True Outcomes player” sounded less harsh than “Major League organizational player.”
Comment by Justin— April 15, 2011 #
Trent Oeltjen.
Just sayin’…
Comment by Dale— April 14, 2011 #
The worst thing in the Albuquerque article is the manager saying that Sands would be his emergency catcher. Sorry, but if Jerry Sands dons the tools of ignorance, then that manager needs to be demoted to the December and January Alaskan League.
Comment by The Dude Abides— April 14, 2011 #
In Bundy’s defense, he might have been joking about Sands catching (hard to tell from the interview; he was a little dazed after that game). The emergency catcher is usually Russ Mitchell, but he’s been hurt, too.
But don’t worry, today the Isotopes just had two players leave the game. So another pitcher had to play RF.
http://www.examiner.com/baseball-in-albuquerque/isotopes
Comment by Chris Jackson— April 14, 2011 #
Curious — since they talked of Casey Blake as a possibility in LF, during the offseason — what are the chances he can play there while Thames is relegated to 1B (both instances v. a LHP starter, of course)
Or is it an instance of “Thames is just not a 1B”/”Blake’s just not a C-OF”?
Keep up the good work
– Michael (a Giants fan)
Comment by Michael— April 14, 2011 #
Thames is a Uribe type hitter. Give him 450 ab’s, and he will hit .250 with a .300 OBP, 28 home runs and about 75 ribbies. His liability appears to be defense.
Talk of Casey Blake in the outfield is an admission that we have a real problem out there. If Gwynn could learn how to hit, he is the answer to a couple of questions – who plays lf and who hits in the two hole. I fear he is not the answer to either question. Neither is Blake. Neither is Gibbons.
Loney with two hits last night. Maybe he is finding his stroke? Kemp with another good night, including a 9th inning solo home run in a 9-4 game. Hey, he hit it, so credit where credit is due.
Below .500. Is it safe to say “it’s still early”?
Comment by Rory— April 15, 2011 #
Need to give XPaul a real shot, if our kids don’t come through we are doomed for years to come.
Comment by DodgersKings323— April 15, 2011 #
I had a dream of this lineup for 2013:
SS – Gordon
LF – Kemp
RF – Ethier
1B – Sands
CF – Robinson
3B – Uribe
2B – (someone…)
C – Ellis
P – either Kershaw, Billingsley, Z. Lee, or De La Rosa
With Sands and Robinson in the system, I don’t think our future is going to hinge on XPaul. I think the bigger question is if in the next two seasons Ned will trade away our future for players that are decent but don’t make us a playoff team. Also, we have to hope the combination of Gordon, Sands and Robinson can be the next Ethier, Kemp and Martin, and that we’ll have held onto our stars. The lineup above may not have Pujols/Holliday star quality, but that is definitely a solid, upper third lineup, if everything goes as planned.
Comment by Bip— April 16, 2011 #
I meant RF – Kemp and LF – Ethier
Comment by Bip— April 16, 2011 #
so how does big broxton look this season thus far? good bet to regain form??
Comment by brett butler— April 16, 2011 #
[...] the time, that seemed in no way unreasonable, and things didn’t look any better on April 14, when I noted that he was “sucking in a fashion not generally seen outside of the darkest [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2011 in Review: First Base « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— October 5, 2011 #