Dodgers '11

Dodgers Offseason Moves

mark248 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:07:44 +0000

Dodgers GM Ned Colletti said he would go into this offseason looking to fill the Dodgers basic needs. He has largely followed the same formula he has in previous offseasons, staying away from the elite, top-tier free agents, but doing a fantastic job of snatching up the next best available players. Above all else, Colletti took care of the Dodgers most pressing offseason issue, signing Matt Kemp to a multi-year extension. Kemp, who finished 2nd in NL MVP voting, inked an 8-year, $160 million contract back on November 19. Other than Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols and Brewers 1B Prince Fielder, this year’s free agent class is not the most loaded. And even the perennial big spenders, the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies, won’t be bidding on Pujols and Fielder because they are already committed long-term to their respective 1B. Thus, locking up Kemp long-term was the best possible move the Dodgers could have made. Kemp plays a premium position, and is a true, five-tool player. Not only that, Kemp has the makeup and personality to be a true superstar here in L.A. Kemp is only 27, and if the Dodgers didn’t pay him this year, all 29 other teams would have been lining up to pay him after next year. The first signing of the offseason Colletti made was to resign LF Juan Rivera. The Dodgers became a different team after Rivera arrived last August. Not only did he fill the glaring void in left field, he finally gave the Dodgers some right-handed protection in the lineup. With James Loney slumping for most of the year and Andre Ethier battling knee issues, it was easy enough for opposing teams to pitch around Kemp, that changed with Rivera in the lineup. With Kemp, Ethier, Rivera, and Loney, the Dodgers have a solid and consistent middle of the order that will drive in runs next year. Next, Colletti shored up the infield defense by signing, veteran 2B Mark Ellis to a 2-year deal. Ellis is a solid, versatile defender, who can get on base and move runners over. Ellis essentially replaces Jamey Carroll, who departed to join the Minnesota Twins, and gain the playing time he deserves. Veteran C Rod Barajas left for Pittsburgh, so the Dodgers will roll with long-time farmhand A.J. Ellis behind the plate, but Colletti signed veteran C Matt Treanor as a capable backup and mentor for Ellis. Neither has the pop that Barajas has, but at the end of the day, Rod Barajas is 36 and is a career .238 hitter. The Dodgers also signed utilityman, and SoCal native and Cal State Northridge alum Adam Kennedy to shore up the bench. Although it appears unlikely the Dodgers will re-sign Hiroki Kuroda, they will continue to have one of the deeper starting rotations in all of baseball. Clayton Kershaw is coming off a Cy Young season, and shows absolutely no signs of letting up. Kershaw is under club control for the next two years, so he will probably get a big money extension following next season. Colletti inked former Mets lefty Chris Capuano to a 2 year, $10 million deal, and former Padre Aaron Harang to a similar 2-year $12 million dearl. Although losing Kuroda would hurt, the additions of Capuano and Harang will certainly help to offset that. Throw Ted Lilly and Chad Billingsley in there, and the Dodgers have one of the most solid rotations around. One would assume Colletti will look to add to the bullpen at this point. However, the way the Dodgers are set up, they appear poised to build on the turnaround of the last two months of the season that saw them go from 15-games under .500, to finishing the season above .500. The NL West continues to be a winnable division. Arizona will return to defend their crown. They have added former Oakland A’s pitcher Trevor Cahill to their rotation, coming off a rough year that saw him post a 4.16 ERA. The Giants continue to be built around pitching, but their lineup does not match the Dodgers. The Padres will continue to do the same, building on pitching, but fielding a lineup that will struggle to score runs. The Rockies have some promising pitching prospects, but they do not appear to be ready to make an impact at the major league level yet.

Unbelievable!

mark248 — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:03:15 +0000

If you didn’t watch it last night, you’ve probably heard about. Last night’s Game 6 between the Cardinals and the Rangers was without question one of the greatest baseball games of all time. It looked like the St. Louis Cardinals were trying to give the game away by committing 3 errors, allowing 2 runs to score. The St. Louis bullpen exploded, giving up back-to-back homeruns to Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz in the 7th inning. Ian Kinsler drove in another run to give Texas a 7-4 heading to the bottom of the 7th. It looked like the wheels had finally come off for St. Louis and their taxed bullpen. The Cardinals threatened in the bottom of the 8th, Allen Craig blasted a solo homerun to make it 7-5. Rafael Furcal came up with the go-ahead run on base, but grounded out to end the threat. Again, it looked like Texas was about to clinch the Series, Texas’s all-star closer Neftali Feliz was in for the ninth. Albert Pujols got the rally started for the Cardinals with a one-out double, Lance Berkman walked, Allen Craig struck out. It all came down to David Freese with 2 on and 2 out. The Rangers were a strike away from winning the World Series, but Freese lined a Feliz fastball (the second straight fastball from Feliz) deep into right. Nelson Cruz appeared to have a read on the ball, but wary of the wall, he misplayed the ball, allowing the tying runs to score. The Cardinals had mounted an improbable comeback. Heading into extra innings it could be anybody’s game, but just as soon as the 10th inning had started, Josh Hamilton had absolutely drilled a Jason Motte fastball deep into the right field stands, a no-doubt about it home run. Just as quickly as the Cardinals had come back from 2-down, they were down two again. This time for the Rangers, Darren Oliver and Scott Feldman would try to close out the bottom of the Cardinals order. But it was the bottom of the order that started the rally, Daniel Descalso started it off with a single, followed by a Jon Jay single. Jay had been hitless in the World Series going into last night. After intentionally walking Pujols, Lance Berkman came up with two out. Berkman has been the Cardinals hottest hitter in the World Series, hitting .389 going into last night, and he had already homered earlier in the game to give the Cardinals a short-lived 2-1 lead. Berkman delivered again, drilling Feldman’s pitch into the gap in right-center allowing Descalso and Jay to score, tying up the game. Again, when it looked like it was over, the Cardinals fought back. After getting a scoreless inning from Jake Westbrook, it would again be David Freese up to bat in the bottom of the 11th. Freese worked the count and crushed Mark Lowe’s pitch deep into center field, capping off a day that saw Freese drive in the game tying, and game winning runs. Now the scene shifts to Game 7 and the Cardinals will send Chris Carpenter to the mound on short rest. The Rangers will counter with Matt Harrison, but Ron Washington completely emptied the Rangers bullpen last night. If he has to go to the bullpen, he will be going to his starters C.J. Wilson and Derek Holland. The Rangers also have huge questio.n marks with both Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz sustaining injuries last night, both are expected to play. The Cardinals will be without Matt Holliday, who re-aggravated a hand injury while being picked off third base last night. Holliday has struggled in the World Series, however, and although his presence in the lineup will be missed, the Cardinals probably get a defensive upgrade in the outfield. Game 7 is where anything can happen, and this improbable and amazing offseason is coming to an end. Who would have thought at the beginning of April that we’d be watching the Cardinals and the Rangers in Game 7. I had picked the Cardinals, largely because they have Carpenter going tonight at home, now is their chance to cap off another improbable comeback.

Rangers Bounce Back

mark248 — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:48:11 +0000

The Texas Rangers rebounded from a crushing defeat in Game 3 with 4-0 shutout of the St. Louis Cardinals last night. The Rangers finally received the starting pitching performance they needed from an unlikely source. Derek Holland pitched 8 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out 7, and allowing only 2 hits, both to Lance Berkman. Holland delivered the best start of his young career, and it was totally unexpected, Holland was sporting a 5.27 postseason ERA coming into last night. All of course after the Cardinals 16 run, 15 hit outburst the previous night. Holland attacked the Cardinals lineup by attacking the inside part of the plate, and feeding them a steady diet of low breaking balls. Edwin Jackson kept the Cardinals close, despite walking 7 batters. But after Jackson was lifted for Mitchell Boggs, Mike Napoli drilled the first pitch he saw from Boggs deep into the left field stands for a 3-run home run. Other than Napoli’s blast, the game was literally all Derek Holland. Now the series is evened up again 2-2. The Cardinals will look to bounce back by sending Chris Carpenter back to the hill. Carpenter is looking for his 9th postseason win, which would be the most among active pitchers. The Rangers C.J. Wilson will be going for his first win of this postseason. He has struggled in the playoffs, but pitched considerably better in Game 1, lowering his postseason ERA from 8.04 to 7.17. If the Rangers win tonight, they would have a very nice one game cushion heading back to St. Louis. If the Cardinals win tonight, they will be completely in the driver’s seat for the series, heading back home. Pivotal Game 5 starts soon.

Stroke of Greatness

mark248 — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:00:57 +0000

Albert Pujols spent much of Friday dealing with criticism from the media, for the fact that he did not stick around in the clubhouse for interviews following Game 2. He silenced all of his critics last night with quite possibly the single greatest hitting performance in a World Weries game. Pujols went 5-6, hitting three home runs, driving in six runs, and scoring four runs. Pujols joins Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only players to ever hit three home runs in a world series game. Pujols finished with 14 total bases, setting a World Series record. Not only did the Cardinals re-take home field advantage, they stopped any momentum Texas had gained from their ninth inning rally Thursday night. The Rangers will have to find a way to rebound from a crushing 16-7 loss. They will send 25-year old lefty Derek Holland to the mound against journeyman right-hander Edwin Jackson of the Cardinals. This game has to be seen as a must win for the Rangers, if they were go down 3-1, the series would surely be over with two of the next three games back in St. Louis. The Rangers bullpen got taxed for 10 earned runs in 5 1/3 innings of work last night. Hit especially hard was Alexi Ogando who threw 35 pitches, allowed 3 hits and 3 earned runs, and recorded only one out. The Rangers need a good start from Holland tonight, if the Cardinals can get to the Texas bullpen, there’s no reason to think they won’t do what they did last night again. And if the Cardinals win tonight, Chris Carpenter will be coming back to pitch in a closeout game, last time that happened, he outpitched Roy Halladay. We’re heading to the third inning and the Rangers are up 1-0.

Split Decision

mark248 — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:08:20 +0000

After two games in St. Louis, the World Series is tied 1-1. The Cardinals took game 1, 3-2, an Allen Craig pinch-hit single drove in the deciding run. It looked like deja vu last night when Craig had another pinch-hit single in the 7th inning to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. But, for the first time this postseason, Tony LaRussa’s moves didn’t pay off. After Jason Motte allowed singles to Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus, La Russa lifted his closer, who had previously allowed only one baserunner in 9 innings this postseason. With Josh Hamilton at bat, La Russa inserted veteran lefty Arthur Rhodes. Hamilton pulled Rhodes pitch deep enough into right field to allow Kinsler plenty of time to score from third. Michael Young followed with a deep sac-fly of his own, giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead, that would hold up for the final. Both teams received surprising, dominant starts from Colby Lewis and Jaime Garcia. There were a multitude of events that took place during the pivotal 9th inning. The gutsiest move, was the first one, a stolen base by Ian Kinsler. Kinsler beat the tag by a fraction of a second, but all of Fox’s replays showed Kinsler was in safe, and it was the right call. The other event that will be highly examined, is Albert Pujols, a gold-glove first baseman, grazing the throw to the plate with his glove, essentially allowing Elvis Andrus to reach second base on a single. This sets up LaRussa removing the flame-throwing Motte for the soft-tossing, veteran Rhodes. Obviously, the numbers say go lefty-on-lefty, but Josh Hamilton is a former MVP, and among the best hitters in the game. On top of that, he is clearly injured. Hamilton’s groin has been bothering him and he has been unable to get his lower body into his swing. Instead of challenging Hamilton with pure heat from Motte, LaRussa opted for lefty-lefty, but all Hamilton had to do against Rhodes was get the bat on the ball and make contact, exactly what he did. Now the series heads to Arlington, where the Rangers scored more runs than any other team at their home ballpark. Kyle Lohse will take the mound for the Cardinals tomorrow, and he has done nothing but struggle this postseason, going 0-2 with a 7.45 ERA, giving up a .310 batting average to opponents. It could spell doom if the Cardinals were to fall behind early on the road, especially in Arlington, where the crowds have been fired up. The Rangers will send lefty Matt Harrison to the hill. Harrison has very good, but somewhat inconsistent stuff. Tomorrow is definitely a chance for the bats to break out and for some runs to be scored. I’m picking Texas to win tomorrow’s game, but the Cardinals only need 1 of 3 to send it back to St. Louis, and although I don’t think it will be tomorrow, I do think the series will return to St. Louis.

World Series Preview

mark248 — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:07:06 +0000

The World Series is finally here! After 162 regular season games, and two rounds of the playoffs, we’re finally down to two teams left, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers. Both teams have been offensive powerhouses all year long, and both teams were surprisingly, carried by their bullpens in their respective LCS’s. The Rangers led all of MLB during the regular season with a .283 batting average, and were second only to the Yankees with 210 HRs on the year. The Cardinals led the National League during the regular season with a .273 batting average and were the NL’s highest scoring team at 4.7 runs per game. By virtue of the National League winning the All-Star Game, the Cardinals will have home field. Of course, the question always asked about AL teams going to NL cities, is what will happen without the DH. The Rangers lineup is stacked and they should be able to put runs on the board, but Ron Washington might want to tinker with his lineup. The Rangers best hitter, Nelson Cruz, has been hitting out of the 7th spot. With the pitcher’s spot now batting 9th, it will be much easier for teams to pitch around Cruz. Instead of being protected by both David Murphy and Mitch Moreland, he now only has Murphy behind him. On the other side, Tony LaRussa has been making all the right moves and pressing all the right-buttons this postseason. When it comes to switching role-players in and out of the lineup, no one does it better than LaRussa. Chris Carpeneter and C.J. Wilson will start tonight’s game. Carpenter is the only elite pitcher in the series, and he’s going in games 1, 4, and 7 (if necessary). If the series gets drawn out, one certainly would like the Cardinals chances with Carpenter on the mound. Carpenter is 2-0 with a 3.71 ERA this postseason and opponents are hitting only .230 against him. On the other side, Wilson, who had a teriffic regular season (16-7, 2.94 ERA , 223 1/3 IP) including his first all-star appearance, has struggled mightily in the postseason going 0-2 with an 8.04 ERA, all while allowing 29 baserunners in just over 15 innings of work. Although the Rangers bullpen has been lights out in the postseason, they will need more from Wilson, and the rest of their starters in order to beat the Carpenter and the Cardinals pitching staff. The Cardinals have home field, the better, more experienced pitching staff, and the guy at the helm is a Hall of Famer. I’m predicting Cardinals in 6 games. Unfortunately, I didn’t do a whole lot of writing this season, so I’m looking forward to writing some game recaps, as the World Series goes along. The Rangers are in the World Series for a second straight year, any time a team is in the championship back-to-back, it is to be commended. The Cardinals are one of the classic franchises in baseball, and anytime one of the original teams is in it, it’s always a good thing.

There’s No Place Like Home

mark248 — Wed, 05 May 2010 01:49:27 +0000

After a disastrous 2-7 road trip to end April, the Dodgers are back on track. They returned home last week to take three of four from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Andre Ethier has four homeruns in the last three games, and James Loney has 6 RBI in those three games, as well.
The pitching staff allowed only 8 runs in the four games (after giving up 21 in three games in New York), the Dodgers saw continued improvement from the bullpen, Carlos Monasterios made his first start, and Xavier Paul has also broken out scoring 4 runs in 2 starts leading off in place of Rafael Furcal. In really the only bad news for the Dodgers, Furcal has been put on the disabled list with a strained hamstring. Jamey Carroll has been filling in at short. The Dodgers continue the homestand this week with the Milwaukee Brewers today through Thursday, and the Colorado Rockies over the weekend. The Brewers have struggled out of the gate to a 10-15 record. They lost 3 of 4 over the weekend in San Diego, getting shutout three times. The Brewers also lost 2of 3 at home to the Pirates, prior to that getting swept by the Chicago Cubs at home. The Brewers were outscored in that series 25-4. So the Brewers are reeling right now. The Rockies have the Cy Young winner for the month of April, Ubaldo Jimenez who went 5-0 with a 0.79 ERA for April. He has 6 wins overall, but that’s almost half of the Rockies 13 wins as a team. The Dodgers are 1 1/2 games back of the Rockies for the 3rd spot in the division. Will the Dodgers streak continue?
Clayton Kershaw will take the mound tonight looking for his 2nd win of the season. He took the loss in the first game of the Pittsburgh series despite giving up only 2 runs in 6 1/3. He’s given up only 5 runs overall in his last 19 1/3, but has an 0-1 record during that span. But the Dodgers bats have come to life, and with some run support Kershaw should be just fine.

Down and Out on the Road…Again

mark248 — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:52:01 +0000

The Dodgers struggles on the road have continued over the past week. They dropped 2 of 3 to the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals, lost the first-game of a doubleheader against the Mets today, Manny Ramirez, Vicente Padilla, and Jeff Weaver have been placed on the disabled list, and the Dodgers’ offense has gone into a slump, as evidenced by back-to-back shutouts, 1-0 in Washington on Sunday, and 4-0 earlier today in New York.

But once again, there are positives to build on in the trip. Chad Billingsley appeared to have found himself (at least for one game) in Sunday’s loss to Washington. Carlos Monasterios had a breakout performance in Saturday’s extra-inning victory over the Nationals. And George Sherrill continues to get batters out as well. In the 3-game series against the Reds, the Dodgers offense, was there, it was their pitching that let them down. The Dodgers scored 30 runs in that series, but somehow managed to lose two of the games. The offense went dormant in DC scoring only 5 runs in the three games. A rainout yesterday forced today’s double-header, the Dodgers were held scoreless in the first game, losing 4-0, despite a strong effort from Hiroki Kuroda. They are currently tied 3-3 in the second game. The Dodgers will play their third game in 24 hours tomorrow at 10am West Coast Time. After that, the Dodgers will finally return home for four games with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Dodgers offensive woes will end soon enough, the lineup is too deep to struggle for long. Hong-Chih Kuo and Ronald Bellisario have returned to the bullpen, and both struggled in Washington, but their mere presence is a big help to the overworked bullpen.
The other question facing the Dodgers is who will start in place of Vicente Padilla. It sounds as though recently called-up and demoted Jon Link will most likely get the start. Despite all of this, at this early point in the season, the Dodgers remain only three games back of the first place San Diego Padres.

The First Two Weeks

mark248 — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:40:19 +0000

It’s two weeks into the season and the Dodgers are sitting at .500 with a 6-6 record. Of course they lost four of six on the road in Pittsburgh and Florida. Two of the losses in Florida painfully tough one-run losses. The Dodgers turned around to win four of six in their first homestand, thanks in no small part to some late inning heroics from Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez. The biggest problem of the season thus far has been the ineffectiveness of the bullpen. The Dodgers have the second worst bullpen ERA in the National League at 5.93. A large part of that has been George Sherrill who checks in today with an 11.57 ERA in seven appearances.
He has shown improvement, though, with 1 1/3 inning scoreless in his last two games. The next biggest culprit was Spring Training re-tread Russ Ortiz, who had a 10.29 ERA in 6 appearances. He has been designated for assignment, so he will either be sent to the minors or retire. The Dodgers have called up Jon Link in the meantime, but he should only be on the roster temporarily as Hong-Chih Kuo is set to be activated from the disabled list and Ronald Bellisario should be called up from his extended spring training. Kuo and Bellisario were key components of last year’s bullpen and their arrival should greatly benefit the team.
The other major problem facing the Dodgers is the inability of the starters to pitch late into games. However, Clayton Kershaw and Vicente Padilla each pitched seven strong innings in their last starts. Hiroki Kuroda has pitched seven and eight innings respectively in his two starts this season. Kershaw and Chad Billingsley have had the most trouble keeping their pitch count low and not walking batters. While Billingsley has struck out 12 batters in 11 innnings, he has walked seven. Kershaw has 20 strikeouts in 17 innings, but has an astounding 15 walks as well. That is the most in all of baseball. That being said, there are still 156 games to go in this major league season. and if the Dodgers can solve those two main issues. There are plenty of positives to build on.

The Dodgers are hitting .303 as a team which is the best in baseball, and they’ve scored the third most runs in all of baseball. Jonathan Broxton has been lights out, allowing only two baserunners in six appearances while striking out nine! The Dodgers head to Cincinnati, Washington, and New York on this road trip, they have a great opportunity to improve on that 2-4 road record.

Season Preview

mark248 — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:35:09 +0000

Good day all! It’s been a while since we last saw each other, we’re less than a week away from the start of the new baseball season, and I’m planning on writing as much as I can about it. As the Dodgers wind up spring training, what do we have to look forward to?

The National League West is going to be a competitive division for sure this year, the Dodgers are the defending division champs, and many expect them to repeat that feat this year. The Colorado Rockies are a strong, young team on the rise that should hang with the Dodgers all year long. Many are also picking the Rockies to win the division. The San Francisco Giants with their vaunted pitching staff should also contend in the division. The Arizona Diamondbacks are another young team making strides, that improved in the off-season. The only team in the division that doesn’t figure to be competitive is the San Diego Padres. There have been many questions about the Dodgers starting rotation and their lack of an “ace” pitcher. Many feel that will prevent them from taking the next step and moving on to the World Series. While the Dodgers do lack a dominant, #1 starter. They are deep and solid one-through-four, and have several strong candidates to fill the #5 hole. While watching ESPN over the past few days as they’ve been previewing the upcoming season, one notices how many teams don’t even have pitching spots #3 and #4 wrapped up!! How many teams have a great #1 and possibly #2 guy, and from there on out, they’re using the bullpen from the 4th inning on.
The Dodgers have guys who can go out and give six strong innings everyday, and then hand it over to their lights-out bullpen. Hitting-wise the Dodgers don’t really have any question-marks, the strong and consistent lineup from last year is back and virtually unchanged. The only departure on offense being Orlando Hudson at second base who will be replaced by either Blake DeWitt, who fits in perfectly with the core group of guys, or Ronnie Belliard, who also slides into the Dodgers packed lineup very nicely. So what about the other teams in the division. The biggest threat to the Dodgers would have to be the Colorado Rockies who also have a loaded everyday lineup, and have the starting pitching and bullpen to carry them through the season. Much like the Dodgers, the Rockies do not have an “ace” #1 starter, and their closer Huston Street is experiencing shoulder problems right now, so I feel it would be premature to dethrone the Dodgers in favor of the Rockies. The Giants certainly have the most dominant starting pitching the division with defending Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. The Giants are also solid one-through-four, but are you really telling me you’d take Barry Zito over any of the Dodgers starters. And the Giants struggle to score runs, and I don’t think adding Mark DeRosa to the mix is going to put them over the top. The Diamondbacks also have a young, potent offense, and have made improvements to the pitching staff, but not enough to overtake the other three teams in the division. The Padres are fielding what would appear to be a minor-leauge team for a second straight year, and their opening day starter is Jon Garland…enough said. As far as the rest of the National League, it looks to be the usual suspects. The St. Louis Cardinals are still the team to beat in the Central.
The Cubs and Brewers should contend, but St. Louis has dominant pitching. The defending National League champion Phillies should finish atop the East. The Mets have made improvements, but they’re on of those teams that after their #1 “ace” starter, they’re not very deep. The Braves also should contend, but not enough improvements to dethrone the Phillies. All things being equal, the Dodgers stand a great chance to advance to the postseason for the third straight year. Opening Day is just around the corner, how will the Dodgers do? I’ll be watching all season long, hope you will be too!