Tag: dodgers

Kershaw Can’t Survive Wild Stretch

Cardinals Dodgers BaseballTo say the opening game between the Dodgers and Phillies last night was exciting, would be a stretch, it was a close game, ending at 8-6 Philadelphia, but it was over four hours long.  LA hurlers walked seven batters, coincidentally they were the only Dodger pitchers that were scored upon.

James Loney took Cole Hamels deep to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead.  Surprisingly Clayton Kershaw was rolling along, pitching almost exclusively from the windup.  Shane Victorino picked up a first inning single, Chase Utley lined out hard to CF, but then Kershaw picked off Victorino with Ryan Howard at the plate, SHANE, where were you going?  With one out in the 3rd Carlos Ruiz walks, then is bunted to 2nd by Hamels, allowing Clayton to return to the windup, from which he got the third out of the inning.  In the 4th the young Dodger lefty walks Howard after retiring the first two hitters on popups, Jayson Werth hits the ball on the nose, but it’s hauled in by Manny Ramirez.  A sign of things to come.

Then comes the 5th inning, Raul Ibanez (or as Craig Segar would call him E-BEENEZ) rips a line drive single to left, Kershaw can’t find the strike zone with his curve out of the stretch, bounces a wild pitch, and ends up walking Pedro Feliz.  Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt comes out to talk to Kershaw, I don’t know what he told Clayton, but almost before Rick was back in the dugout after delivering his sage advice, Carlos Ruiz sat on a fastball and rode it over the leftfield wall for a three run jack.  But the inning wasn’t over, in fact nobody was out.  Still the announcers babbled on about how this was a tough decision for Joe Torre because Kershaw was due to bat 2nd in the bottom of the inning, I didn’t get it, did he have to get tattooed a little more before being lifted from the game?  The pitcher Cole Hamels walks, this kid was done with a capital D, but then he induced Jimmy Rollins to hit into a fielder’s choice, struckout Victorino on a wild pitch sending JRoll to 2nd, threw his 3rd wild pitch of the inning (all on breaking balls) sending Rollins to 3rd, and walking Utley.

Here is where it gets REALLY crazy!  The announcers say, this is a growing up moment, as Joe Torre is leaves Kershaw in the game to face Howard.  He was done after he walked Hamels!  After Ryan lines a two run double into the corner, Ramon Troncoso is brought in to get Werth.  The Dodgers were down 5-1 heading into the home half of the fifth and it looked like the game might be over.

LA had runners at the corners with one out when Andre Ethier hit a tailor made double play grounder to short, Utley threw the relay throw away after Rollins gave him a late feed when he couldn’t get the ball out of his glove.  So instead of an inning ending DP, with Manny leading off for the Dodgers in the 6th, Ramirez would bat in the 5th with 2 outs, a run in, and a runner on secondbase.  Pitcher Cole Hamels was visibly upset, the Phillies sent a coach to the mound to settle him down.  I don’t know what the coaches tell their pitchers, but you guessed it, MANNY BEING MANNY turned on one, putting LA back into the game.

Dodger relievers Ronald Bellisario & Hong-Chih Kuo held the Phillies in check in the 6th & 7th, while Chad Durbin & J.A. Happ (a rookie of the year candidate, but not quite ready as a prime time pitcher) each worked one third of an inning to close out a very shaky 6th, Durbin came on to get the Russell Martin for the 2nd out of the inning, after Loney & Ronnie Belliard had singled off Hamels, to send Cole to the showers.  Happ lost pinch hitter Jim Thome on ball four to fill the bases, it’s a good thing a pitching coach didn’t go out there to talk with J.A.  Then a bizarre incident occurred in which Joe Torre wanted to send in a pinch runner for Thome, however we all had to wait while Randy Wolf got on his shoes, thus freezing Happ.  Rafael Furcal grounded out to Utley to end the threat.

In the bottom of the 7th Antanio Bastardo (what a Bastard-Oh) allows a leadoff double to Andre Ethier (what was Antonio even doing in the game, on the roster?) and is replaced by veteran Chan Ho Park.  Chan Ho gets Ramirez, Matt Kemp, & Casey Blake to earn a well deserved hold.

Former closer, lefthander, George Sherrill was brought on to face the Phils in the top of the 8th in a one run game, sometimes closers do better in save situations.  Rick Honeycutt again comes out to talk with his pitcher after Sherrill walks the first two batters he’s faced, you guessed it, on the very first pitch to Raul Ibanez, he launches a three run blast, again seemingly putting this game on ice.

Ryan Madson, alot of the talking heads thought he should be the team’s closer, was brought on to throw a little batting practice in the 8th inning, and make the game a little interesting.  There was a coaching visit to the mound after Loney & Belliard opened with base knocks, but Martin only produced a run scoring single, rather than a three run dinger, what a bum!  Pinch hitter Juan Pierre hits a comebacker, which Madson fires to Utley to get the first out of the inning, leaving runners at 1st & 3rd.  After Furcal’s sac fly to Werth in right, Ethier kept the inning alive with a single to right, Ryan got Manny on a grounder to third to end the inning.  Phillies fans let out a huge sigh of relief.

But before Philadelphia fans could relax too much, it was the 9th inning, and Brad Lidge time.  I remember Lidge fondly from the 2005 World Series, where the White Sox beat him twice, no saves, with a 4.91 ERA, he was even worse for the Astros in the LCS versus the Cardinals, although he did save three games, he had a loss, and a 7.20 ERA.  Last season was magical for Brad & the Phillies, as he was a perfect 41 for 41 in saves during the regular season, with a 1.95 ERA, earning 7 more postseason saves in 2008.  What a difference a year makes, as he struggled all season long, a 7.21 ERA to go along with an 0-8 record, while converting only 31 of 42 save opportunities.  The ship seemed to have been righted in the LDS against the Rockies as he converted his only two save chances.

Kemp greeted Lidge with a hard basehit to left, then Blake tore the cover off the ball, but hit it right at Utley on the ground for an easy (once Chase fielded the hardhit ball) DP.  Loney walks, but Brad gets Belliard to pop to short to end the game with Loney on 2nd.

The Dodgers outhit the Phillies 14 to 8, but lost the game mainly because of wildness, maybe if they had started somebody else.  Everybody seems to be talking about Chad Billingsley, but he may be hurt, as he has not been throwing well.  Still what about Hiroki Kuroda or Vicente Padilla, or why was Jon Garland left off the playoff roster, out of the mix?  Veteran righthander Garland was 3-2 with a very nice 2.72 ERA for LA this season in six starts and was 1-0 in two starts for the White Sox in postseason play in 2005 with a 2.25 ERA over 16 innings pitched.  You might call it hindsight, but you are not going to win very many ballgames walking seven, Jon has walked under two batters per start for his career.

Dunno which was worse, this long drawn out game or listening to the three jackasses in the booth, headed by Chip Caray, fill airtime, talking nonsense.  Never thought I would say this, but were Tim McCarver & Hawk Harrelson busy?  Just kidding, but these guys are brutal, no insight at all!

Dodgers beat the Yankees!… in attendance

2009 can be known as the year that the Dodgers toppled the Yankees… at least in attendance figures. 

For the first time in six years, the Yankees didn’t lead the majors in total yearly attendance.  They came in second.  The top honor goes to the Los Angeles Dodgers who had 3,761,661 go through the turnstiles at Dodger Stadium.

Number 3 shouldn’t be a big surprise.  Given their World Championship status and relatively large market, the Philadelphia Phillies grabbed that spot.

As for Chicago teams. the Cubs ranked sixth and the White Sox came in sixteenth in 2009.

Overall, Major League Baseball had a slight downturn in attendance from 2008 (6.6% less according to MLB.com) but with an attendance of 73,418,479, MLB is spinning it that this year is the fifth most attended year all time.  Yay, Baseball.

For those attendance stat geeks, The Biz of Baseball does a good job of breaking it all down for us.  Their pdf looking back at this past decade of MLB attendance team-by-team is quite detailed.

9/28/09 Linescore of the Day: Andy LaRoche

Pirates Cubs BaseballAndy LaRoche had a career day against his old mates, the LA Dodgers, in the last game in Pittsburgh for 2009.  LaRoche was 5 for 5, with six runs batted in, 2 doubles, 2 homers, & 1 single, were among his hits.  LaRoche said, he knew he was seeing the ball well when he singled his first time up against Hiroki Kuroda.  Truth be told Andy has been seeing the ball well lately, hitting .368 over his past 14 starts, in that span he’s gone deep five times, driving in 13, while hitting safely in each game.  His five home runs are more than he hit in the first half of the season.  He finished his most reason series against the Dodgers going 10 for 18.

Andy LaRoche 5 for 5, 2 2Bs, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs, 4 runs

Guest Blogger: Baseball Musings’ David Pinto predicts the National League postseason

Each day this week, The Baseball Zealot has been featuring special guest bloggers who have been giving their predictions on the 2009 MLB end-of year-awards and postseason matchups.  To wrap up the series, we are fortunate to have David Pinto bring out his crystal ball and post his thoughts on how the National League postseason is shaping up.

david David Pinto, for those who few baseball fans who haven’t heard of him, is the god-blogger of baseball updates.  For 10 years, Pinto served as chief researcher for ESPN’s Baseball Tonight.  Now, he spends his time editing his very popular Baseball Musings blog.  Baseball Musings was one of the very first baseball blogs I followed on a regular basis (and still do to this day). 

You’ll also find Pinto’s analysis in his Sporting News weekly column. 

NL Predictions

The National League playoff picture looks set.  The Cardinals hold a huge lead in the NL Central.  The Phillies lead the Marlins and Braves by a healthy amount, but as the last two years taught us, there is no such thing as a safe lead in the NL East.  While the Dodgers are looking stronger for an NL West win, and the Rockies built a big enough lead in the Wild Card race that they probably make the playoffs.

The seeding then becomes important in determining which team eventually wins the NL pennant.  Right now, the Dodgers own the best record in the National League.  Their remaining schedule points to the team staying at the top of the league.  Los Angeles plays teams still competing for the playoffs six times, while the rest of their games are against the weakest teams in the league, including the Pirates and the Nationals.

The Cardinals and Phillies are very close (the Phillies hold the tie breaker).  The Cardinals schedule is a little easier than the Phillies, as they play the Marlins and Braves, who are still trying to chase them down.  It looks to me like the Cardinals should sneak by the Phillies for the second seed in the NL playoffs.  That would give us the Dodgers hosting the Phillies, since they can’t play a wild card from their own division, and the Cardinals hosting the Rockies.

 

Rockies vs. Cardinals

This really looks like a pitching series.  The Rockies lead the majors in quality starts, but the Cardinals on average produce better results from their starters.  That’s due to a quality of the St. Louis staff versus the quantity of the Rockies starters.  With Carpenter and Wainwright, the Cardinals throw two pitchers who rank in the top five in the National League.  Joel Pineiro comes in as one of the better third starters in the league.  There’s a fall off in pitching after that.

The Rockies have a fine ace in Ubaldo Jimenez, but their 2-5 starters are interchangeable.  Unless there are injuries, however, starting pitching depth doesn’t count for much in the playoffs, especially with two off days in the series allowing the possibility of using just three starters.  The edge in pitching goes to the Cardinals.

The quality versus quantity argument shifts when examining the offense.  Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday both hit better than anyone on the Rockies.  There is a fairly wide gap between those two and the rest of the hitters on the team.  With the Rockies, they send out four high quality hitters; Helton, Smith, Hawpe and Tulowitzki.  All four get on base and hit for power, but not at the level of Pujols and Holliday.  In a way, the Rockies pitchers will have an easier time.  They need to get around two batters, and any of the Rockies starters are good enough to handle the rest of the lineup.  Without facing Holliday, the Rockies posted a 2.25 ERA against the Cardinals in four games this year, the team going 4-0.  The offense favors the Rockies.

Colorado does not play as well on the road, as so three games in St. Louis might make the difference.  The offense just doesn’t hit as well out of the thin air and the big outfield.  I suspect Carpenter and Wainwright will take full advantage of that in games 1 & 2, and one of them can try to do it again in game five if needed.  I believe it will be a close series, but better front line pitching and home field wins out for St. Louis.

Phillies vs. Dodgers

This is one series that is tough to call due to the state of flux in the two starting staffs.  The Phillies added Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez and both came on like gangbusters (although Lee slowed down lately).  The Dodgers staff struggled with injuries, causing them to add Jon Garland and Vicente Padilla, both of whom improved ERAs compared to the time spent with their former teams.  With Kershaw hurt and Billingsley pitching like the Verducci effect is catching up to him, the Phillies come into this series with a better starting staff.  Hamels is pitching well again, Happ has time to recover from his injury and Lee and Martinez showed great control since joining the team.

Offensively, this series pits the Dodgers ability to get on base against the Phillies superior power. The Dodgers hold the best OBP in the National League, the Phillies the best slugging percentage.  The Dodgers score runs by keeping the bases full of batters.  The Phillies strike with big blows. This may be Philadelphia’s great advantage.  The Phillies pitching staff, especially the starters likely to pitch in the series, walks few batters.  Take away the Dodgers walks, and they’re going to need to hit a lot of singles to score runs.  The Dodgers pitchers do a good job of limiting home runs, but the Phillies may only need to hit one mistake out of the park to make the difference in the game.

I like the Phillies power against the Dodgers ability to get on base in this series.  Los Angeles will need to keep the games close so their superior bullpen might win out, but I favor the Phillies to go on to the NLCS.

 

Phillies vs. Cardinals

This should be an exciting series.  The starting staffs for both teams are excellent, with the Cardinals better at the top of the rotation, the Phillies better at the back.  The offenses are more evenly matched that it seems at first glance, since Busch Stadium depresses offense, while Citizen’s Bank Park helps offense.

The Phillies own two advantages, however.  The Cardinals hit poorly against left-handed pitching, and with Hamels and Lee Philadelphia can throw two good ones against St. Louis.  The other is depth of offense.  Pujols and Holliday are as good if not better than anyone on the Phillies.  Backing up Utley and Howard, however, are Victorino, Werth and Ibanez.  The two through five slots in the Philadelphia lineup give the Cardinals starters little respite.  The top talent on the Cardinals is close enough to the front line talent of the Phillies that the Phillies depth should win out.

Much thanks to David Pinto for his great insight! 

That wraps up The Baseball Zealot’s week of special guests analyzing the end-of-year awards and postseason races.  I hope you have enjoyed them. 

I want to thank all of the good folks who have taken the time to write some fantastic articles for TBZ this week.  They all have been really excellent.  If you haven’t already, take some time to read the others:

Enjoy!

Scully to retire after 2010 season

Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully has given his notice

"God willing, I will probably come back for one more year," Scully said in a phone interview. "At this moment, my health is excellent, and I’m leaning toward one more year."

And then retire?

"Yes, that makes sense," he said.. 

The last of a dying breed.  A broadcaster who can call a game by himself and not sound boring.  His secret, in my opinion?  He doesn’t feel it necessary to fill up every second with inane blather. 

The Dodgers have a year and half with him.  Enjoy these last few months and when he leaves, send him off the right way.  He is a treasure to the sport of baseball.

Manny, PEDs and the media

It’s interesting to me, in light of Manny Ramirez’ suspension for performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), how certain media elements are handling the story.  While some like ESPN or Sports Illustrated are taking a more hard line approach, MLB.com not surprisingly is towing the company line and taking a more conciliatory approach. 

Compare these two articles that came out the day the suspension was announced, one from Sports Illustrated and the other from MLB.com.

Both are factual and to my knowledge, accurate.   However, the SI makes some clear or at least implied allegations that go beyond Mr Ramirez:

Ramirez is the first major star to be suspended under baseball’s stricter drug-testing rules that went into effect in 2003. Until now, baseball and the players union have portrayed drug use as having been nearly eradicated in the past few years, pointing out that the major drug-related stories — involving Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez and the revelations in the Mitchell Report — involved drug use prior to the 2003 tightening of the program.

It’s also interesting to note the tone of the headlines of “Related Articles” from SI.  Manny saga no longer funny, the sarcastic Didn’t see this one coming and Do you buy Ramirez’ excuse?

MLB.com’s initial article, predictably and I guess blamelessly, has a very official and almost apologetic tone to it.  There are quotes from Ramirez about his “doctor’s excuse “ and his statement of apology to the owner of the Dodgers; Joe Torre, his teammates and of course, the fans. 

We also read the requisite statements from other baseball officials on how “saddened” they are. 

Links to other articles on MLB.com point to official documents such as Major League’s official drug policy and the official statements by Ramirez and the player’s union and the MLB. And more articles about how others are sad about this…. but not angry. 

Where am I going with this?  Do I think MLB is evil because they don’t tell the whole story or because they sugar coat the issue?  Not really.  Do I think ESPN, USA Today Sports and others are the bastions of sports freedom because the speak the truth?  HARDLY. 

Just this and maybe it’s painfully obvious, baseball fans need to diversify their sports news input.  Since MLB.com obviously has direct access to the information, it’s a great place to go for the hard facts like stats, boxscores, game wrapups etc.  But for good analysis, I’ll read the columnists on the more independent (but not as independent as I’d like) media outlets. 

But for straight out-and-out opinions, I’ll read the blogs.

4-15-09 L-O-T-D: James Loney

James Loney  2 AB, 0 H, 3 RBI

DonS emails:

Guys,
 
  Last night, James Loney got 3 rbis without getting a hit.
 
  I wonder when’s the last time THAT happened.
 
  LSOTD on the Baseball Zealot?
DonS.
 
Well, as rare as it is, it’s not as rare as I thought it would be.  The last person to have 3 or more rbis with no hits in a game was Hideki Matsui on July 29, 2007 when the Yankees played the Orioles.
 
It’s happened nine times in this decade.  The strange thing is that it happened FOUR times in 2000.  Ben Petrick of Colorado (remember him?) did it by driving in four runs without the benefit of a hit.
 
 
.  

4/13/09: L-O-T-D – Orlando Hudson

orlando-hudson O-Dog became the first Dodger to hit for the cycle at Dodger Stadium, and the first since Wes Parker did so on May 7, 1970 in New York against the Mets.

Orlando Hudson 4 for 5, 1B, 2B, 3B, HR, 2 RBIs, 3 runs, 1 SO, 1 CYCLE

Orlando reached base on an infield single in the first inning. He homered in the third to put the Dodgers ahead, 1-0, and doubled in the Dodgers’ six-run rally in the fourth.

Hudson hit a ball down the right-field line in the sixth, stretching a double into a triple with a head-first slide to beat the throw.

Hudson said he knew he would go for the triple when he saw Giants right fielder Randy Winn turn his back — but said he wasn’t even aware of the cycle.

He claimed that he learned what he had done when he returned to the dugout after scoring a run.

“I was like, ‘Congratulations for what?’ ” Hudson said. “I had no idea what was going on.”

Matt Kemp didn’t believe him.

“He was trying to act like he didn’t know,” Kemp said.

“I’m not sure about that. Everyone in the stadium knew he needed the triple for a cycle.”

Whatever the case, the record crowd at Dodger Stadium — 57,099 fans, according to the team — responded with what might have been a record ovation when Hudson’s feat was noted on the video board as he was warming up at second base before the seventh inning.

The fans rose to their feet.

Hudson said that at that moment, he looked into the dugout and tried to lock eyes with Torre.

“I was just looking down at the dugout at Mr. Torre to see if he’d give me a little look, so I could tip my cap,” Hudson said.

“I didn’t want to make it all about me, you know, but I didn’t want the fans to think I was a jerk.”

BTW, The LA Dodgers won their home opener 11-1 over the SF Giants.

Rafael: Live & Die in LA

furcal Deja vu all over again, as Rafael Furcal once again is the center of controversy regarding signing with a team as a free agent. This time it’s Furcal choosing the Dodgers over the Braves, last time he snubbed the Cubs when he signed with LA in 2005.

Here’s what Braves president John Schuerholz had to say about Furcal signing with the Dodgers. “Having been in this business for 40-some years, I’ve never seen anybody treated like that. The Atlanta Braves will no longer do business with that company — ever. I told agent Arn Tellem that we can’t trust them to be honest and forthright. I told him that in all my years, I’ve never seen any agency act in such a despicable manner”. It seems as though the Furcal team had a verbal agreement with Atlanta, then went with LA.

I remember a similar thing happened with the Cubs in 2005. Aramis Ramirez, Neifi Perez, & Greg Maddux had all talked with Rafael, telling him to sign with Chicago, his name was already penciled in as the leadoff hitter, but then he signed with the Dodgers.