Dodgers Baseball News

Literally. Rafeal Furcal hit a pinch hit single down the right field line last night to score Russel Martin from second base. Brad Ausmus played the entire game in place of Martin and singled to lead off the 8th inning. He was then bunted over to first by Juan Castro who was playing in place of Furcal. The two starters were getting some deserved rest but ended up coming in and helping the team secure the victory. Martin came in to pinch run after Ausmus was sacrificed to second, and Furcal was a pinch hitter.

The RBI gave the Dodgers the win and the series agains teh Colorado Rockies. The Dodgers had lost two series in a row so it was important to stop that streak. The vicotry also gave the club its 50th win on the season, making the Dodgers the first team in all of baseball to reach that number.

I feel like it was even more important to win that series becuase it was the last game before Manny comes back. And I feel its important for the team and the fans to feel like they do not have to lean on Manny’s talent so much and it exemplifies the idea that this is a team effort!

The media was already flooding Torre and the rest of the team with Manny questions after the game. The team seems prepared to deal with the circus that will follow Manny the rest of the season. We shall see.

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The Dodgers took the lead 4 times last night! That is 4 rally’s! This was a big game, a division game against the Padres who are in second place. The Dodgers maintained their perfect record at home this season, 7-0.

THE BISON

Kemp looked brilliant in the 7th! He stayed back on the first pitch, a good slider, to stroke it the opposite way. Then once on base commanded the pitcher’s attention and on a single to right by Blake he baited Brian Giles into thinking he was staying at second base. Then he really turned on the burners and flew to third. This was a huge play since he scored on a bloop single to right by Loretta. Had he not been at third he would not have scored on that hit.

THE UGLY

I have never seen a worse at bat than I did from Furcal following Loretta’s bloop RBI single. There were runners at first and second with no outs. Furcal squared up twice to bunt the runners over and promptly had two strikes. Not this is a lead off man, his entire career and one who has mastered the art of the bunt single and he could not get the bunt down. Wait, it gets worse. He then proceeds to swing at a slider coming in on his hands, whiffs on the pitch for the third strike, and then the pitch hits him in the rear hip! It was surely and odd occurrence. Sorry Raffy, I still love ya!

UNCLE CHARLIE

Jonathan Broxton had it working last night. You could tell that at times he was having control problems with his 97 mph fastball. Although he tossed a few nasty ones at the knees. So he went to a VERY nasty slider and curve. I saw more buckles than a rodeo in that inning. It was just wrong to have to face that nasty breaker just knowing that he had 97-100mph of heat he could come at you with too. Everyone pretty much HAD to sit dead heat and that made them look flat out silly with the curve and slider Broxton had going. Whew, nasty!

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Well, we were thrashed last night by Lincecum the great and Bengie Molina and crew. Many are starting to feel like we NEED another starter right away as our pitching has been exposed the past week or so. Even though we are handily in first place, too many Dodgers fans remember other seasons that blew up on us so they are holding their breath, and turning Blue! We were decimated by injuries the past 3 seasons (cough, hang Stan Conte) and that is the worst way to lose.



So I understand the fear that everyone has, the constant nagging about the batting order and who should hit in front of or behind Manny. The calls for Pedro, the most overpriced and geriatric pitcher available. The roasting of Russell Martin, Rafael Furcal, and our young, and not so young pitchers. I understand the constant second guessing of every move Torre is making (guilty as charged).

But we need to just chill out a little and let things unfold a bit more first. I am starting to feel that Dodgers fans are slowly, and unknowingly, becoming as bitchy at Red Sox fans. That they all have their microscopes out, examining each game, each play, scrutinizing each move. And I am just as guilty of falling into this category. I have to remind myself more often that I never want to become like them. I want to enjoy the game and back my team no matter what! I want to be proud, even when we lose. And have faith, yes faith, when things look their worst. After all, remember our run at the end of last season??? We had all but written that team off and then one of the most epic runs unfolded.

So relax, sit back and have a drink, a cigar, a soda, or whatever it is you enjoy and let’s watch our boys battle with the confidence that we should all have. Because we do have a great team of talented individuals and one hell of a manager and staff.

DODGERS TRIVIA TIME:

Whose National Baseball Hall of Fame plaque was the first to sport a cap with a Brooklyn “B” insignia?

(Comment with your answer, winner get’s to make their own “guest” post/rant here at Dodgers Baseball News)

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Ahhh, finally some respite from the season. Wait, what is that you say, “Miguel, it’s only been two weeks!” Well, its my first season blogging and I also took the reigns over at LADodgerTalk.com last week so that the owner could take a vacation. I also moved my family from an apartment to a house this last weekend. So needless to say, I am BEAT! Did I mention that I have a day job with alot of responsibility? Oh yeah, and then there are the 3 side projects I am currently working on. And I almost forgot that I try to represent our Dodgers at Bleacher Report, and I write for RBI Magazine sometimes. And I also have some other blogs on Internet marketing that I maintain.

I have to say that running LADodgerTalk.com for a week allowed me to learn a ton about different writing styles and also about what it takes to do good posts each and every day. There are a ton of great commentors over there so I wanted to really make sure that I gave them something good. Some days were better than others and I noticed that some of the regulars were not as active in commenting. I need to get better at engaging my readers and motivating them to comment without them knowing it, its a difficult art to master.

• There was a great piece today from the LA Times about Joe Torre and his exit strategy from baseball. Looks like the Dodgers have it right and are allowing Torre to enjoy the game again. Let’s see if they get Mattingly to replace him once he retires after next season or if the Yanks steal him after Girardi blows another season for them!

• Russell Martin tied for the league lead with four grounded-into-double plays and two caught stealing (Borrowed from Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts).

• Anyone else notice that we are keeping pace with the Padres? No one expects them to finish well and after our disaster in 2005 Dodgers fans should be weary. As the cliche goes, its a marathon not a sprint.

• We start a 9 game road trip tomorrow. And we play 20 consecutive games starting tomorrow. That means no off day until May 11th! I think we will all have a better idea of the team after we come out of this marathon stretch of consecutive games.

• Andre Ethier was named the NL Player of the Week with 12 RBIs, going 9 for 23. Looks like the award also gets you an engraved Swiss watch from Torneau?

• Ethier hosting Carne Asada Sunday on May 3 after the Dodgers play the Padres at 1:10 p.m. PT at Dodger Stadium. Dining with Dre, and a few thousand of his closest friends sounds good to me!

• Vin Scully to be inducted into National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame tomorrow. Who didn’t see that coming?

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One can do so many cool things with that name, Kershawshankredemption! Everything except own the domain which has been wisely snatched up by my friend Mark Timmons of LA Dodger Talk. Actually, I am still gust posting over there till Mark gets back from his cruise, yeah life is rough. And I am quite proud of the catchy title I came up with for today’s post there, “Cain and a Very Able Kershawshankrepemption.”



Its been a rough past few weeks with my life pretty much speeding around me. Work has me super busy, trying to help a friends with some stuff for his business, friend has a baby, cousin had a baby, Easter, fantasy baseball, getting ready to move this weekend into a house finally (renting but will buy in a year), and of course trying to spend time with the wife and kids (and the Dodgers!)

I want to start doing live twitter feeds during games so that people can follow the game play-by-play/commentary style via twitter. I have my Twitter feed plugged into this site in the right sidebar and moved it to the top of the page yesterday. But first I have to find time to watch an entire game. I will most likely be packing the next few days so fat chance on that. But I will be attempting to do this soon, maybe after Mark gets back and takes LA Dodger Talk back over.

I think that this will be VERY cool new twist on game broadcasts and that people will really take to it. I will do a more detailed post on it later and explain to everyone what exactly Twitter is.

The Dodgers are squaring off against the HATED giants with Kershaw taking on Matt Cain at Chavez Ravine tonight. Cain is 0-6 lifetime against the Dodgers in 11 starts. So our guys have some high averages against Cain and I will be looking for some offensive displays tonight, in between boxing up stuff that is!

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Inspired…… that is how the team feels and that is how the fans feel. As today’s game drifts away into history I can’t help but feel inspired by the potential of the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers team. We saw what this team truly has and hopefully will display all season.

An explosive offensive display combined with excellent pitching. A record crowd of 57,099 watched history be made right before their eyes. Orlando Hudson hit for the cycle today, only the 2nd Dodger in history to accomplish the rare feat. Wes Parker last did it for the Dodgers in 1970.



Andre Ethier burst out with his first 2 home runs of the season, and everyone in the starting lineup got a hit today. Chad Billingsley pitched 7 strong innings striking out 11 while walking none and allowing just one run. And the bullpen held it from there.

A fitting 11-1 victory over our arch rivals the San Francisco Giants capped a beautiful southern California day. A wise man named Roger reminded me today that the memories of today’s game will be carried through generations of Dodgers fans who attended today’s home opener.

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Well, not necssarily gone fishin but I will be holding court over at LADodgersTalk.com for the rest of this week while the owner, Mark Timmons is away on vacation.

Please drop by there and check it out. It’s my favorite Dodgers blog out there with some great commentors and fans. I’m a bit nervouse but hey, we all put out Dodgers jerseys on one sleeve at a time.

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So its not even one week into the season and it appears that its already over! The sky is falling, our season is over, our pitching is in shambles!!! Before yesterday’s game it was announced that Hiroki Kuroda has already been disabled and will not make his next start!

JAMES McDONALD to the rescue!



Not!

McDonald unraveled in the third inning losing all control. He could not even get the fastball over for a strike! Before that he looked sharp, allowing no hits, with 2 Ks, over two. Then a homer by Young, who had a career night, followed by a bunch of walks. I had never seen the kid lose it like that.

After the game Ausmus noted that he thought the game just sped up on McDonald and threw him off. James noted that the game did seem to speed up on him and that he learned his lessons, throw strikes (duh) and slow the game down if it starts to get out of control. I guess people say that even though the game seems slow that when you are on the field your mind is racing so fast and your adrenaline that things go by alot quicker.

McDonald showed maturity by trying to learn from his mistakes and not getting too down on himself. He went to the locker room to change his shirt and then back out to the bench to sit with his team and support them! Many guys would have hit the showers and sulked all night. McDonald was not a coward, he was able to face and sit with his teammates for a grueling game that only got worse after. I can’t imagine how tough that is to sit there and watch it. I couldn’t even finish watching it from home. And another positive is that he is healthy which is more than we can say for the rest of our pitching.

Now back to Kuroda. It appears as though its a mild left oblique strain but the staff is being cautious to avoid it getting worse. If it was August or September he would still pitch. But since obliques are bad news for pitchers and can sideline them for 2-3 months they want to be cautious and they feel that they caught it early enough to knock it out. Kuroda was lobbying very hard to make the start but Torre shut him down.

Eric Stults is being called up for the start. Although Stults had a whopping 9.49 ERA in spring he is game ready and has proven that he can handle the role. He has a post season victory under his belt and a 3.49 ERA last season with some mop up innings and a couple spot starts.

Today’s game starts at 5:10 PDT at Chase Field in Arizona. Yusmeiro Petit faces Eric Stults and all starters should be in tonight’s lineup again. Let’s see if Torre mixes up the batting order tonight to get something going. Because our offense has been……. well, offensive. And I feel that our pitchers could use some support and some weight taken off of their shoulders.

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The season starts today with a game between Atlanta and Philadelphia tonight, the rest of the league starts tomorrow. Checkout my new Spring Training Photos Page for some shots from last weekend.

Torre “Managing” The Youngsters

Torre has FINALLY announced James McDonald as the fifth starter even though he has been in line for the spot for the past two weeks. Boy, Torre sure knows how to make a rookie worry about it! Because that is exactly why he did not announce it earlier. I think it had something to do with McDonald beating out proven veteran pitchers with World Series rings and the fact that he did not want McDonald basking in the wonderment for too long. He wants him focused and sharp.



These are the managerial things that most people do not see or realize. Lasorda was great at these types of things and Torre has always been touted for the way he handles players young and old. Thank God we have him on the Dodgers because he is exactly what this team needs!

Chin-lung Hu, pitcher Eric Stults, catcher A.J. Ellis and outfielders Jason Repko and Xavier Paul were all optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque. They also surprisingly assigned non-roster invitee Jeff Weaver to AAA as well.

“We’ve asked him to extend a little bit. We want him to become a long man or a spot starter. He was obviously disappointed. He was worthy of making this club, but again, we’re on the limited side in terms of 40-man spots,”

said Torre.

Delwyn Young and pitchers Jason Schmidt and Claudio Vargas are expected to begin the season on the disabled list. Wow, big surprise. But Loretta is ready to go and so is Ohman!

The team, minus Manny, Furcal, Hudson, and Martin all head to the dreaded Bay Area to face the Gigantes today at 1:05pm PST. Booooooooooo Giants!

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Well another uneventful offensive display by the Dodgers today losing 6-1 to the White Sox. And another day where Manny out shined the rest of the lineup going 2 for 3 with a walk and two more singles. Furcal also had two hits. Casey Blake was again absent tending to the birth of his third child.

Once again, the pitching performance from our starter Randy Wolf was unspectacular. But he got his work in going five and a third innings and allowing four runs on on six hits and two walks.

I noticed the Dodgers being very aggresive on the bases. It seemed as though they all had green lights. Unfortunately A.J. Pierzynski was on his “A” game and threw out two runners on the day. Gavin Floyd looked great for the Sox and seemed ready to start the season. There were a few called strikes too, the first to end the first inning.

I saw Mark Loretta working out before the game with trainers in left field. He looked good and I couldn’t tell that anything was wrong with him. He did sprints at about 60% it looked like. He was in a great mood and joking with the fans in left field about his “speed.” Looks like the Manny humor is rubbing off on the team, making fun of your weaknesses.

Speaking of Manny, he looks ready to, batting .533 this spring. That’s one homer and seven singles. He jokes, “I’m Dave Roberts….. without the speed.” But seriously, he is swinging free and smooth and tracking the ball well. Torre has praised his talent and approach and definitely feels that Manny is ready for the season, at the plate anyways and that is apparently good enough for him!

On the family note, today was much better as we have figured out how to use the stadium. We found seating on the grass in left center under a small tree so we had some level of shade and protection. Plus there is more of a breeze out there than down the left field foul line grass.

We toured the entire grounds, got a balloon animal from a clown on stilts walking around the park, found the garlic fries stand from Gordon Biersch, and found the fans that spray cool water on you. Again, beautiful facilities and the shade will come with time as the tress grow and they maybe add more coverings per fan feedback, or at least more of those misting fans.

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