Only 2.5 Games Back?

(This is a sure-fire Jinx!)

So I look at the standings today to see LA is only 2.5 back of AZ. How and when did that happen? I don't know about you and maybe it is just Lakers-mania, but I barely noticed or was that happy with the Dodgers SWEEEEEEEP of Cincy and the Wristband. I guess AZ managed to lose 3 in a row at the same time and presto, here we are.

It can't last though, right? St. Louis comes into town and outside of Atlanta and the American League, is there a team that owns us more? Not really. It always seems like they kick our ass. Well, this is at home so lets hope for the best.

Also, did anyone else notice that ANAHEIM got the 2010 All Star Game? Not "Los Angeles" where the Halos think they play, but Anaheim! This is still one of the dumbest moves in sports. OC is big and supports the Halos, so why are you dissing the OC and trying to be LA? Lame. Nice to see MLB call it correctly.

Blake DeWonderful

Ok, so that hack Nomar Garciaparra is close to healthy. That kid that has never proven himself in the majors is also just about back (Andy LaRoche). What are the Dodgers to do? Well dummy, KEEP PLAYING DEWITT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a 22 year old rookie he's batting .322 with 4 HRs and 23 RBIs and he's 6 for 6 with bases loaded in his short career!!!!

I know one guy gets paid more, the other is a highly thought of prospect, but DeWitt is just producing, period. He carries himself well, plays good defense and has been a clutch hitter. What more can we ask for? So memo to Dead Head Ned and Torre, don't screw this up!!!

Furcal = NL MVP

Is there any question at this point that Furcal is/should be the front runner for the NL MVP award? With him leading off, the Dodgers rattled off 12 wins in 15 games, then Furcal goes out and LA drops 5 of our next 6. His .366 average is extremely missed!

To compound the problem, Brad Peso thinks it post All Star break already and has begun his annual choke job. Hey Penny, its only May! You owe us two more good to great months, lets go! We just can't buy any luck right now. Kuroda throws a 1 hitter and we're cruising, only to have Broxton make like Seanez and give up 12 runs on Mother's Day in a come from ahead loss. Lowe looks like crap but Billingsly is finally starting to pitch well. Can we just get it all rolling at the same time?

Now to Andruw Jones...this hurts me. I'm a big fan and always have been of Jones. I liked his game, liked his attitude, liked his love of Hooters and the Gold Club and liked our signing of him. Is it working? HECK NO! He's batting .170 with 1 dong and 5 RBIs. Joey Votto had like 5 RBIs in ONE GAME. Who? Exactly! Joey freaking Votto! Yet one of the 5 highest paid players in baseball cannot hit water falling out of a boat? Give me a break. You can't cut him, you can't really send him to the minors, but maybe we should just bench his ass for a solid week, make him get back to basics (and for gods sake, hit a treadmill Tubbo) and see if we can salvage this like SF did with Zito (so far). He's just killing us.

Mike Piazza used to have the perfect "quitters swing" for pitches he had no chance at and at bats he didn't want to be up for. It was a one handed choke job, pirouette followed by a walk back to the dugout. Why is this important? Because this is how Andruw ends ALMOST every at bat. He just swings at anything and looks so terrible. To his credit though, he did work Gagne for a walk last night only to have Juan Pierre pop up a first pitch with 2 on, down by 2, to end the game. Thanks you dick!

Anyway, we're back to .500 while AZ is surging again. I really thought this team was going to take a step foward but it looks impossible without Furcal. Hence the MVP status. Get well soon Rafy!!!

Much like the Dodgers, I'm taking April off!

With a trip to Italy and moving houses and hopefully changing jobs, I have been swamped this month. Its not like I have missed any Dodger highlights. A quick recap and then I'll be back in May with a vengeance!

1. Andruw Jones is a fat Tubbo that isn't anywhere close to earning his paycheck. I almost want to root for Pierre to play with Kemp and Ethier! Almost.....

2. Its Brad Penny and .................. Where did the pitching go? Billingsly is sucking, Loseriaza has always sucked. Kuo is not very good. Lowe has been just ok, at best. Kuroda looks ok but gets no support. Nice job!

3. We can't hit water if we fell out of a boat. No bats? Russell, Loney, etc. all struggling. Thank god for Furcal. Of course he's playing for $$$ so expect a great year.

4. We can't beat ATL (what is new there) and we're fighting SF for last place. Completely unacceptable. The West is a joke. COL was overrated but LA and SD sucking too? Hey Hoffman, try making saves and not blowing them! HA!

This Post Brought to you by THINK CURE!

Ok, props to McCourt for coming up with the idea of copying the Jimmy Fund, calling it Think Cure and holding a 50th reunion at the Coliseum on Saturday night. It was a good time and a good cause.

I could go on and on and rip McCourt and the Dodgers for the parking/tram issues but who needs it, really? I blame the caltrans idiot for posting on the electronic signs that the Coliseum was full and to park at Dodger Stadium. That was a lie. We got to Dodger Stadium at 5pm, saw the 3 hour line for a bus, got back in our cars, drove the 10 minutes to the Coliseum, found FREE street parking and walked to the game by the first pitch. Plenty of other people did the same thing.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Had everyone that wanted to park at Dodger Stadium called, made a reservation and stuck to it, it probably would have better organized but I bet most of you did not!

Now to the game. It was rough. Our tickets were basically on top of the torch. If you did not have binoculars, you were not seeing anything. It was far too great of a distance to enjoy the game. That and giving up 5 runs early. Anyway, it was cool to see the place and be part of the largest crowd to ever see a baseball game. My stub will be on Ebay shortly....ha ha

One complaint, the only thing missing was Jerry and Kids. Having a sponsor for a first pitch EVERY inning slowed the game down a TON. Outside of Kareem two-hopping his pitch and then firing a hook shot instead, it was lame. Glad it raised it a lot of money and hopefully it helps cancer research!

Try the Dim Sum

The Dodgers head to China for two games vs. San Diego. Does MLB really need to screw with the spring routine by scheduling this crap in March? Teams are trying to get ready for the games that count but instead they have to travel the globe, with a bunch of AAA players, to play in China? Why not do this in Oct. (with two teams far out of playoffs) or right after the World Series? I'm just glad most of the starters aren't going. If Torre is jet-lagged, Bowa can call the shots. If Penny is jet-lagged, we're screwed.

On the plus side, this does allow Tommy Lasorda to manage a few games for the team. Much like Scully, Tommy is a cornerstone of the franchise and should be respected and cherished by all. Here's hoping Andruw Jones stays away from the Beijing Hooters and focuses on baseball.

Public Enemy No. 1

The great Vin Scully labeled 19 year old wunderkid, Clayton Kershaw's curveball as "Public Enemy No. 1." Dodger fans everywhere are jumping on this and I'm sure shirts will be made soon. These same people are the ones proclaiming Kershaw as the next Gooden or Fernando. A teen sensation that will take the NL by storm.

Easy there people. It was one inning and one of the batters was gutless loser, JD Drew. It was not a September start vs the Mets, putting down Reyes, Wright and Delgado. Does his future look bright, hell yeah! But didn't we get the same hype for Billingsly and Greg Miller? Chad is looking good but Miller got hurt and hasn't rebounded yet. Scott Elbert anyone?

Trust me, I HATE ESTEBAN LOAIZA. I'd take Chan Ho Park over Loaiza but I'm not ready to rush Clayton to the Big Show. Get him a taste this month then send him to AA or AAA and make him earn it. Show us some dominating starts there and then be ready for the next injury and come on up for good. We don't want to ruin him by shuttling him back and forth.

Oh, and is there anything better than hearing Vin's voice on TV again? Ah baseball.

Please FEED the Manager

Normally Dodgers managers never have a hard time filling out a uniform but I saw this in the paper yesterday and was HORRIFIED!!!

Joe, are you on the Prince Fielder, Boca Burger diet? I know you're pushing 100 but do you really need to wear the waist of your pants up around your chest? And if you are going to go vegan, can the Dodgers not at least TAILOR your uniform so that it doesn't look like you're wearing Olmedo Saenz's uniform? Come on people!

Juan Pierre Regrets Having a Girl's Throwing Arm

So, Pitchers and Catchers have reported as have some position players! YES!!!!!! Finally! Something other than news from Congress about HGH and Clemens. (By the way Congress, figure out the budget, get a better national healthcare plan, figure out the mortgage crisis and bring the troops home instead of using OUR MONEY TO ASK CLEMENS WHAT HAT HE'S WEARING TO THE HALL OF FAME!!!!! He won't be in there at this pace!)

I digress.

Big Dodgers news this week, Juan Pierre might be open to being traded if he loses his starting OF job to Ethier. Well, ah, ok. Would the phrase "don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out" be appropriate? I honestly was ok with Pierre's signing, except for the money we gave him. He's fast and LA has a lot of room in CF to cover. He steals bases so Furcal and Pierre should be havoc on the basepaths. None of this really came to fruition though. He did steal a lot of bases but that old adage, "you can't steal first" applies well. As a leadoff man he sucked! He never takes a walk and hits FAR TOO MANY fly balls. This guy should be slapping the ball over the INF or laying down bunts and beating out the throw. Alas, he doesn't. AND his arm is worse than the love child of Dave Roberts and Brett Butler. I mean seriously, how can you not even hit the cutoff guy without a hop??? WEAK WEAK WEAKASS ARM! Cost us several runs there alone.

So, if he doesn't get PT, he wants out. FINE! Not sure what we can get for him, especially with that contract but I'd offer him around. Maybe we could get Matt Herges, Brett Tomko or Mark Hendrickson for him. Or at least a case of sunflower seeds and maybe some line chalk. Odds are, Torre sticks him in LF, benches and ruins either Kemp or Ethier and Pierre matches his 07 numbers. Oh well. I'm a Dodger fan, I'm used to it.

DOWN ON THE FARM

Most baseball publications are releasing their "Top Prospect" issues, ranking the kids for each team. The Dodgers future continues to look bright with Clayton Kershaw, Andy LaRoche and Jonathan Meloan on verge of full time duty in LA.

Here is how Baseball America ranks the Dodgers' kids.
1. Kershaw SP, 2. LaRoche 3B, 3. Hu SS, 4. Elbert SP, 5. DeWitt 3B, 6. Withrow SP, 7. McDonald SP, 8. Meloan RP, 9. D.Young OF, and 10. Baez 3B.

Another respected Prospect Guru, John Sickels ranks the Dodgers like this:
1. Kershaw SP, 2. LaRoche 3B, 3. McDonald SP, 4. Hu SS, 5. Meloan RP, 6. D.Young OF, 7. Withrow SP, 8. Elbert SP, 9. DeWitt 3B and 10. Lambo 1B.

So basically, outside of each person's #10 guy, they both agree on the best 9, just in different orders. Clayton Kershaw is widely regarded as the best pitching prospect in baseball. James McDonald was actually LA's Minor League Pitcher of the Year and had a great year. Scott Elbert was the same level as Kershaw before arm troubles cost him all of last season but hopes to rebound this season. Hu played a lot in September and hit several HRs which was unexpected. Young has quite a bat but his glove moved him from 2B to the OF now and he's looking more like a utility type player. Regardless, the system looks to still be fairly stocked and in good hands to allow an infusion of young talent or important trading chips later in the season. GO BLUE!

BLACK FEBRUARY IS HERE

Sure those beautiful words, "Pitchers and Catchers Report" will occur in less than 2 weeks but we are still too far away from any meaningful baseball action in a world now without football (for like 6 months).

To ease this misery, the Dodgers got an early jump on things by putting their spring training game tickets on sale this past weekend. Why is that big news you ask, well for starters this is SADLY the last season in Vero Beach. Home to the Dodgers for 60 years now in some capacity or another (10 years more than LA has been home to the Dodgers), the team is scheduled to move to a shiny new home in Arizona next year. While this makes them closer to those of us in LA and increases the odds that LA fans get out to support the team in March, it is sad to lose such a historical part of the team. Sandy and Don used to walk those same roads and play on those fields. Cey, Garvey, Russell and Lopes learned to play along side of each other here. Mike Piazza got his start as a catcher here and Eric Gagne became GAME OVER on these fields. Yeah Vero is a sleepy town, not conveniently located and all the way across the country but Florida is SPRING TRAINING. Not Arizona. Most spring games in Arizona have box scores of football games, 14-7, 13-10, 10-7, not the pitching and defense duels you get in Florida. Oh well, its just more of Frank McCourt killing team history.

On the plus side, is that on March 29th, the Dodgers will host McCourt's favorite team, the Boston Red Sox (rumor has it they are the defending champs too), at the LA COLISEUM. This is a throwback to the first season in LA when the Dodgers played at the Coliseum and this 2008 version sold out in less than an hour. I'll be there with several of my buddies. I wasn't alive for the first tour in the Coliseum so the chance to see this in person, could not be missed. Proceeds from this game are slated to go to the Jimmy Fund, I mean Think Cure. McCourt's version of the Jimmy Fund (BOS Charity). In all seriousness, it is a good cause, going to support cancer research, it is just funny how he tries to make the Dodgers the Red Sox West. (Of course by hiring Torre, who knows what is going on now....)

In other news, the METS got Johan and it still boggles my mind that LA was not a player. Sure the Mets had to give Johan a 6 year deal, averaging 23 million a year, but come on, drawing 4 million fans, LA could afford that. You cannot tell me that a package of Kershaw (or a lesser P), LaRoche, maybe Ethier or Kemp was not 1000% more attractive than Gomez, Humber, Guerra and Mulvey???? Why did we not at least throw in an offer? Would the greatest pitcher in the game today NOT BE a welcome addition to this team? HELLO! It is still early enough that I do retain some optimism for this season. I like LA to fight for first with the D-Backs and either take the west or win the wild card. COL, SD, and SF do not scare or worry me at all. Until next time.....

Happy New Season

Well, 2008 is finally here and we're only about a month out until "Pitchers and Catchers Report." I love those words. The offseason has been pretty slow. LA signed Andruw Jones and before the holidays also added the new Japanese pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda. I'm not sure if we should be excited about this because he's the next Nomo or is he just an Asian Brett Tomko?

Speaking of Tomko, he signed with San Diego, as did Wolf and other Dodger rejects. What is up with the Padres? Trading for Jim Edmonds too? Do they want the oldest, most fragile team in MLB? Good luck with that crap.

Anyway, back to Kuroda, he was not a superstar in Japan but he was solid and had some good years. Hopefully he has a tricky delivery that will fool teams for a while and by then he'll figure it out and be fine. If Schmidt comes back, we won't need Kuroda to be much more than a 5th starter since we have Penny, Lowe, Billingsly and hopefully Schmidt.

My biggest concern this year will be Arizona. The trade they made for Dan Haren was brutal for the NL West. Haren, Webb and maybe Randy Johnson as your top 3?!?!?! That will be tough. Their offense does not scare me and they do have a Drew on the team, which is never a good thing, but that starting rotation looks killer. Colorado will probably be a .500 team but not a playoff contender. The Giants will be terrible (the Rowand contract is one of the WORST EVER) and SD does not look good to me. You never know though.

The other big thing this offseason, is the roid talk and Mitchell's report. Clemens is now making a jerk out of himself on TV, lying and trying to convince us it was just B-12 shots. SURRRRRE BUDDY. Pettitte admitted it. Almost everyone else in that report admitted it or at least have not gone public about it being wrong. If you're going to lie to us, at least tell us something like you had no idea what he was giving you and you just trusted him to do his job. It would be a lot better for you if we were just allowed to think you were stupid and not a lying scumbag.

Regardless, I'm one of the people that doesn't care and do not think it should affect these players HOF status. Big Mac, Bonds, Clemens, etc. should all be in the HOF. It was not like they were the only 3 doing it. The whole era is tainted and for that reason, their records should be taken in context with that era and judged against the other cheaters of the era, still making them HOFs. Lets get off our moral soap box. There are plenty of other bad guys in the HOF. Drug abusers, wife beaters, racists, tax cheats, etc., what is wrong with some roid heads joining them?

Anyway, I'll pick up the pace as season gets closer and eventually starts, but Happy New Year. Maybe this will be a good one for the Dodgers!