Brett Myers Dominates Dodgers
June 17, 2011 at 9:51 pm | Posted in Ted Lilly | 18 CommentsThe problem tonight was not that the Dodgers lost to the Houston Astros, the worst team in baseball by both record and run differential. Even a lousy team like this year’s Astros will win something like 65 games. It happens.
It’s not even that they got completely overwhelmed by by Brett Myers, who set down 17 in a row at one point despite entering the game with a 5.03 ERA and a league-leading 18 homers allowed. It’s also not just that Ted Lilly‘s final line (five earned runs on eight hits) was ugly, because he was doing fine until allowing five hits in the sixth inning.
The problem is that they were boring. This was almost an utterly unwatchable game from the beginning to nearly the end, not that there were a lot of people in the park to witness it anyway, judging by the empty seats masquerading as the announced 35,000+ in attendance. After scoring in the first inning on a Dee Gordon walk (his first) and hits by Aaron Miles & James Loney, the Dodgers… well, that was it, really. Loney singled again in the seventh, and was immediately wiped out by a Juan Uribe double play. Gordon reached again in the ninth on a Brett Wallace error, and came home on an Andre Ethier homer (his first in 19 games) to make the final 7-3. Myers finished his complete game on 97 pitches, which as Eric Stephen reports, is the first time the Dodgers have suffered a complete game loss at home on less than 100 pitches since the immortal Jason Marquis did it in 2009.
After four losses in a row, the Dodgers are now nine games under .500, the most they’ve been since ending the 2005 season at 71-91. At right: the 2011 season.
******
I didn’t really weigh in on the McCourt case much today, but I think it’s largely much ado about nothing. The settlement explicitly says that it only takes effect if Bud Selig approves the FOX contract, which he’s almost certainly not going to do, so this “settlement” could mean little. All that business about an August 4th court date to decide if the team is Frank’s or split 50/50? It’s almost certainly not going to take place. If anything, this just unites the McCourts in what’s an almost inevitable lawsuit against MLB; Frank McCourt, by all accounts, cannot make the June 30th payroll without the cash influx from the contract, and with the issue of Jamie objecting to the deal no longer a concern, Frank will contend that Selig is actively hurting the team. Then he’ll sue MLB, and this will be tied up in the courts for decades to come.
For more, Bill Shaikin has a great Q&A, and don’t miss Steve Dilbeck pointing out that Frank’s assertion that none of the FOX money would go towards his divorce is basically a blatant lie.
18 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.
If I remember correctly, McCourt has chosen his words extremely carefully when discussing the FOX contract. I seem to remember him saying, none of the initial $300 million will go to the divorce. That isn’t to say that a majority of the remaining billions doesn’t get split between the two McA-Holes. Seems like a major smokescreen to me. Make the fans think he’s dedicated to the team while doing the deal to 100% serve his own needs, as usual. I don’t recall once reading anyone questioning McCourt on where the remaining $$ would go.
Comment by Wil— June 17, 2011 #
He and Jamie are going to take 10 mil off the top for legal fees. And also take a further 10 mil to “use as each party desires.”
Comment by johnmano12— June 18, 2011 #
>> I don’t recall once reading anyone questioning McCourt on where the remaining $$ would go.
.
Sounds like you didn’t read the last link in Mike’s column above, the one to Steve Dilbeck’s article.
Comment by nsxtasy— June 18, 2011 #
Ahh yes, you were right. I missed that link. Wow, that’s pretty ridiculous.
Comment by Wil— June 18, 2011 #
this team provides no exictement on far to many occasions, but even more of a concern is that the owner and his fight with mlb is more entertaining than the team he owns play on the field.
Comment by dodgers66— June 17, 2011 #
Much to do about nothing, just like the updates on the NFL lockout, 24 hour news cycles you have to talk about something, even if nothing pretty much happened. They already shift to “draft countdown” mode and “combines” snooze..
Comment by DodgersKings323— June 18, 2011 #
This team makes a boycott humane.
Comment by jWerthFan— June 18, 2011 #
I get frustrated during my personal boycott when I see M.Cuban on TV and then have to wonder why the Dodgers are still in the hands of a scum bag like McCourt. Hurry up MLB.
Comment by Mark— June 18, 2011 #
I think it’s time to change the photo on every column. Instead of “Has Ronald Belisario reported yet?”, it should say, “Has Frank McCourt sold the Dodgers yet?”
Comment by nsxtasy— June 18, 2011 #
Does anyone know when Juan Uribe comes off the DL?
Comment by john— June 18, 2011 #
If you just look at it from a business stand point I don’t see how McCourt thinks he will turn the attendance issue around. Unless he becomes a free spending owner I don’t think the LA market ever support him as an owner. This situation is spoiling any hope of retaining the stars currently on the MLB roster. Kershaw, Kemp, Ethier will all want to go to a more stable franchise that has more focus on winning and fan attendance.
Comment by west coast ram— June 18, 2011 #
Some days, I wonder why I went back to watching baseball and the Dodgers. I hate McCourt for screwing up everything that’s Dodger Blue, Chavez Ravine, Vin Scully, Tommy Lasorda, Fernandomania, Lopes-Cey-Garvey-Russell, Kirk Gibson, Orel Hirshiser, number 42, and what those things mean to all of us.
Comment by Omer— June 18, 2011 #
Most people, including those writing on the subject, believe McCourt cannot survive this. But, there are a few out there who believe he will. And if that is the case, how can anything good come of it?
The only answer is a fan boycott. I keep seeing empty seats by the thousands, but announced attendance at over 35,000. Season tickets? That many people bought tickets to this circus? Amazing.
Please, all L.A. fans, even if you are a season ticket holder, just don’t show up. It’s the only thing we have. It’s our “vote” on what happens with the Dodgers.
Comment by Rory— June 18, 2011 #
That is the answer: freeze McCourt out. Nothing speaks louder to these guys than empty seats and shrinking dollars. And now is the time to really put the pressure on. MLB is watching very closely.
Comment by Year of the SuperMidget— June 19, 2011 #
Don’t look now, but Rubby has thrown 9 balls in 4 innings so far. Yes, it’s the Astros. But this is nice to see.
Comment by Real Tom— June 18, 2011 #
Then his teammates (Thames, Blake and Barajas) decided to show up. If this team’s number one desire is to get the number one pick in the 2012 Draft, they are going about it the right way. I am beginning to think that I will suffer less anxiety if I just go with that idea, also. One nice thing, the stadium was a tomb and that can’t be doing Frank’s balance sheet any favors.
Comment by grabarkewitz— June 19, 2011 #
[...] news, but it’s also not really “news”; this is exactly what we knew would happen. Here’s what I said a few days ago, after news of the sham “divorce settlement” had come out: I didn’t really weigh in [...]
Pingback by Bud Selig Is Actually Being Useful For Once « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— June 20, 2011 #
[...] his profit.” Remember, this isn’t the first time they reportedly came to an agreement, since we were talking about this in June, too. Of course, that agreement was worthless from the start, since it assumed that Selig would [...]
Pingback by McCourts Settle Divorce, and That’s Not As Exciting As We Once Thought It Would Be « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— October 17, 2011 #