Matt Kemp is the Hero, But James Loney Is the Conundrum
August 27, 2011 at 6:00 pm | Posted in James Loney | 31 Comments
Hey, remember earlier today, when I said that James Loney had hit six of his last eight homers against Colorado? Well, let’s make that seven of nine after his game-tying blast with one out in the ninth against Rockie righty Rafael Betancourt.
Back to Loney in a second, because let’s not skip how we got to that point: Chad Billingsley staked the Rockies to a 4-0 lead, allowing 10 hits in six innings (including a Troy Tulowitzki dinger) in his continuing quest to confound us by throwing out starts that don’t seem to be effective yet add up to one of the better pitchers in the league. The Dodgers fought back to take the lead with five runs in the sixth, partially on five hits but also in part due to errors by catcher Chris Iannetta and third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. (By the way, since Andre Ethier was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Casey Blake‘s double, that meant that both hitting outs were made by Trent Oeltjen, who popped out starting the inning hitting for Billingsley, and struck out to end it.) Hong-Chih Kuo gave the lead back by allowing Tulowitzki’s second homer of the day, a two-run job in the seventh, and that’s how the Dodgers found themselves down 6-5 headed into the 9th, where Loney tied the game.
Thanks to 4.1 scoreless innings from Matt Guerrier, Scott Elbert, Javy Guerra, and Mike MacDougal (who got the win, because of course he did), 6-6 was the score through the bottom of the 11th. Loney was unable to single-handedly make the earth cave in upon itself by hitting a walkoff, but it didn’t matter: Matt Kemp took up the slack by crushing a Jason Hammel pitch into the nearly empty bleachers for his 31st homer of the year and 100th RBI. MVP? MVP.
But back to Loney. I’ve been making jokes about his performance against the Rockies for some time now, chalking most of it up to the Coors Field effect. Clearly, that doesn’t hold water anymore; the last two have come at home. He’s now hit just two homers in the last 362 days that didn’t come against Colorado. The Dodgers finish off the series against the Rockies with Nathan Eovaldi against Jhoulys Chacin tomorrow, before welcoming San Diego into town. Has Loney really turned some kind of corner? Or will he turn back into a pumpkin as soon as Jim Tracy and crew leave town? More importantly, is this going to convince Ned Colletti to tender him a contract after the season? I still think it’s unlikely at the price he’d get in arbitration, but the last week or two has thrown some doubt into the conversation…
31 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.
Well today we were able to win despite another failure by Kuo and twice Carroll failing with men on base.
Comment by DAVID S— August 27, 2011 #
to me it looks like he did something to change his swing. he’s not moving around in the batters box as much as he did, and he’s doing this thing where as the pitch comes in he’s crouching down to get power. seems like he’s trying to get more uppercut in his swing? maybe I’m wrong but those home run swings from the last couple of days don’t look like typical Loney swings.
Comment by format— August 27, 2011 #
Loney is fine. Don Mattingly has been the cause of his crappy season, no doubt.
Comment by Brandon— August 27, 2011 #
Thanks Brandon I’ve missed you buddy. have a great day!
Comment by format— August 27, 2011 #
Is there some kind of bad blood between Kemp and the Rockies? He held onto his bat an awfully long time, and it looked like he gave the dugout a look as he got to first.
Comment by Bill Grabarkewitz— August 27, 2011 #
He was looking at Davey Lopes.
Comment by Brandon— August 27, 2011 #
Unless a miracle happens (new, rich owner) and the Dodgers are able to bid for Fielder, here are the realistic choices for next year:
1. Loney 1B, Rivera LF
2. Sands 1B, Rivera LF
3. Loney 1B, Sands LF
If you could get Loney and Rivera on the cheap (one year deals), I’d say sign them both and work a three man rotation (Loney sitting against lefties). If not, do not sign either one to a long term deal. Rivera will regress and Loney is still Loney.
Comment by Deuce— August 27, 2011 #
I give the gig to Sands and try to find a cheap FA as well.
Comment by DodgersKings323— August 27, 2011 #
Can Mike post a discussion topic: Would we even want Colletti bidding on Fielder?
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— August 28, 2011 #
yep. that’ll be an offseason kind of thing.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— August 28, 2011 #
It’s simple Mike. Someone lit a fire under James’ ass. I think he’s finally realized he’s in serious danger of losing not only his job with the Dodgers, but maybe his career. I don’t know if he’s done enough but I think if he continues his superior play over the last month, he’ll be wearing Dodger blue in 2012.
Whether that’s a good thing or not, I’ not certain….
I think we can all say with certainty that Justin Sellers has figured it out. He knows the strike zone and has shown some pop. He’s a pleasant offensive surprise that I didn’t see coming.
Comment by Gordon— August 27, 2011 #
Very skeptical of any explanation that involves a major league player all of a sudden trying to play better. James Loney has always tried to play hard. He has just mostly sucked at it. Except against the Rockies, for some reason.
Comment by David— August 28, 2011 #
I’m also skeptical that Sellers has just “figured it out.” He’s had very few big league PAs.
Comment by Bip— August 28, 2011 #
I had two response, but each if the last two posters brought them up. If that was the case, why did they wait until the team is out of it to light that “fire.” “Knowing the zone a displaying pop” ish .741 OPS? No dig…
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— August 28, 2011 #
Excuse the typos. I’m writing in on my phone.
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— August 28, 2011 #
He changed the mechanics in his swing, see look he is doing this now and before he did that, yada yada big bopper…
He’s a true leader in the clubhouse now that’s why, he listened to his coaches, he let the game come to him, he went back to fundamentals…..and anything else you will hear some sportswriter spewing in a few days.
It’s an aberration, no one is bound to suck that bad for a whole year, he will go back to form in time. Can’t believe they pitched to Kemp again…….let’s go 40/40!
Comment by DodgersKings323— August 27, 2011 #
Without overstating the case, I would say Macdougal did indeed deserve the win. Sure, it may have been a statistical anomaly that he would retire the top of the order, in order, but he’s been a decent (if utterly replaceable) middle reliever. His ball has good movement, but he has no command.
Comment by WBB— August 27, 2011 #
I have been a Loney fan, but it is going to take several more big hits from James before I can hope for anything special to happen when he is at the plate. He has been so small in big situations for a long time.
Comment by dodgers66— August 27, 2011 #
Trust me, James Loney will be the Dodgers first baseman next season. He is the best option we have in our system and the money will be no big deal.
Comment by Ned Colletti— August 27, 2011 #
You’re right, as usual, Ned. Having a sub .400 SLG first baseman is no problem because you put together a lineup of sluggers around him. Thanks for your wisdom. Good gloves and emergency pitchers at 1B are not easy to find.
Comment by Deuce— August 27, 2011 #
Starting to look like September 2007 for Loney….guess we’ll see.
Comment by Jon#7#22— August 27, 2011 #
How much does hitting in front of Matt Kemp explain his recent hot streak. For the first time this year he is not batting in front of Uribe, Navarro, Barajas, Gwynn, Sands, Thames, Sands, or Miles. I am pretty certain today, the last thing Benacourt wanted to do was walk Looney in the ninth and be forced to pitch to kemp as the winning run.
Comment by bradius— August 27, 2011 #
Good call. Ethier certainly didn’t take advantage in that spot. Kemp, amazingly, has had no protection all season. Uribe, Loney or Blake were the big bats in the 5 hole.
Comment by bt310— August 28, 2011 #
So, Agent Ned, in public interviews over the past two seasons, has implied that Matt Kemp was dogging it because of his new contract, hinted that a number of nameless veterans on the DL were faking it, and now he implies that Ethier’s bad knee, scheduled for surgery in the off-season, is all in his head. Might as well go all in and say that Kershaw is a pussy and a prima donna.
Comment by The Dude Abides— August 27, 2011 #
Said that Paul should work on being a major leaguer, and I think he’s said that players are getting sent down before the player is told personally. I always forget about that, but that somehow makes me hate Ned even more. Calling out Matt Kemp behind his back when he is not even part of the clubhouse was despicable. Please, just leave, Ned.
Comment by Bip— August 28, 2011 #
Jackie Treehorn, your caucasian sucks. MK27 and Kershaw are all we have to watch. If he thinks Dre is digging it, I’d believe him. I have no basis to guess one way or the other. Barf is around him all the time, not me or you.
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— August 28, 2011 #
You know I can’t say the “P” word in public but those are my thoughts exactly. We pay Kershaw to pitch not be a public speaker.
Comment by Ned Colletti— August 28, 2011 #
At the end of the year Loney will likely have the same numbers that landed him an increase of 50% in arbitration last year. That could pay him up around 7 million. Not that much by today’s standards but for a corner infielder, in his prime, with rather pedestrian sabermetrics, that’s a lot of cabbage. Who out there will be willing to pay that much for a guy, who on any other team, hit’s 7th in the lineup?
.
It’s another guess, but I see Loney here again next year, with a raise, and the team looking to move him in July. It’s also a guess that the Dodgers are going nowhere as long as McCourt owns the team, so whoever sits in the GM chair is going to have to seriously consider the rebuild that Jed has avoided.
Comment by Rory— August 28, 2011 #
Comparing Loney’s last decent year 2009 to now and I’m trying to find what’s changed. He’s getting less fastballs, many more cutters, less curveballs, and more changeups. He hits the cutter better, so why is he getting so many more of them? I’d need some help with the analysis of this, but Loney is swinging at many more pitches outside of the strike zone than he used to. In general he’s just swinging more than he used to. So because of that, Loney is getting less balls pitched to him in the strike zone because they know he’s reaching. He’s making more contact on pitches in and out of the strike zone, but I think his problem is that he’s being to aggressive. The good player is in there, but if he wants good pitches to hit, then he needs to start swinging less. The percent of pitches he’s seen in the strike zone has gone way down every year since 2008. If he becomes more selective his numbers would go way up.
Comment by Tony Fernandez— August 28, 2011 #
[...] August 27: But back to Loney. I’ve been making jokes about his performance against the Rockies for some time now, chalking most of it up to the Coors Field effect. Clearly, that doesn’t hold water anymore; the last two have come at home. He’s now hit just two homers in the last 362 days that didn’t come against Colorado. The Dodgers finish off the series against the Rockies with Nathan Eovaldi against Jhoulys Chacin tomorrow, before welcoming San Diego into town. Has Loney really turned some kind of corner? Or will he turn back into a pumpkin as soon as Jim Tracy and crew leave town? More importantly, is this going to convince Ned Colletti to tender him a contract after the season? I still think it’s unlikely at the price he’d get in arbitration, but the last week or two has thrown some doubt into the conversation… [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2011 in Review: First Base « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— October 5, 2011 #
[...] cleanup (.322/.394/.569), he was even better at #3 (.331/.418/.647). His heroics continued in late August, as he picked up his 100th RBI on his 31st dinger of the year, and on into September, which was [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2011 in Review: Center Field « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— October 20, 2011 #