Don't get carried away now

Yes 4 in a row is nice but it was against the NATIONALS. Yes, one of the worst teams in all of baseball. AND we were losing in 2 of the games by a margin we do not usually overcome.

On a good note, to follow up the Boomer Wells signing, Dead Head Ned plucked Esteban Loaiza for free off the A's roster. I guess I shouldn't say "free" because we do have to pay him 8.5 million over the next season and a 1/4. Oh well, hopefully he'll be better than Tomko and Hendrickson.

On to San Diego now. The Pads are presently about to sweep AZ out of first place. We also play like shit in SD and SD seems to own us in any big game/series. (Except for the tail end of last year! 4 HRs in a row!) Wells goes Friday vs. some kid with a 7.30 ERA. This should favor us but the kid could easily shut out the Dodgers while the Pads feast on Wells. Saturday is a no-chancer. Peavy vs. Lowe. Victory to Padres. Sunday is Billingstudly vs Germano. I like our chances. Here's hoping for a clutch 2 out of 3 because we head out to play the Cubs in CHI next.

Oh yeah, bet on Milton Bradley to bat .750 with 3 HRs and about 10 RBIs this weekend regardless of how his team plays.

A Day that will live in Infamy

Some would sight to the 4th of July, D-Day, V-Day, Super Bowl Sunday, Opening Day for baseball and Christmas as great dates. Yeah, those are all well and good but you know what day goes down as better than all those?

SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2007!

The day the Dodgers cut loose that sack of crap, Brett Tomko!!!!!!! Two years OVERDUE! OH HAPPY DAY ANYWAY! Ding done the wicked witch is gone! May he bring his lack of skills, heart and guts to another NL West team so that we can begin to get back all that he has cost us in 1.5 years!

Loser Re-treads

Afraid to win? Afraid to not be like every other team? Come on Dodgers, what is this David Wells crap? Really, he's going to be our 4th starter and get us to the playoffs?

Why is it that so many teams, Dodgers included, would rather keep running out a bum like Tomko, Hendrickson or Wells, when you know what they are going to give you, instead of taking a chance on a kid with upside? Someone please explain this to me.

Wells in 22 games for SD, pitching at home in PETCO PARK (!!!????!!!!??!!) on a 2nd place team was 5-8 with a 5.54 ERA. This is an upgrade?

Down on the farm LA has 1 guy that has been here before and 3 high level, high ceiling prospects, all ready to give it a go. D.J. Houlton, while not an ace, pitched well for us a couple years ago and is currently 6-4 with a 3.87 ERA at AAA. First Round Sandwich pick from a couple years ago, Justin Orenduff is 8-4 with a 3.86 ERA between AA and AAA. Stud lefty Clayton Kershaw and local Long Beach product James McDonald are both tearing through the system.

I'm sorry, when did winning a minor league game, division or title become a higher priority than winning the World Series. Does anyone remember Fernando Valenzuela? Or Ramon Martinez? Or heck, Pedro Martinez? All kids when they were brought up and all turned out pretty well. My point is, you know what kind of crap Wells and Tomko will give you. 5 Innings, probably give up anywhere from 4-6 runs and the pressure will be on a still weak offense. Go out on a limb, use the kids, see what happens. Who cares if you start their "free agency clock" a year sooner. If they are good, you'll pay them, if they aren't, no loss. Quit throwing the same old shit against the wall hoping it will stick and then be surprised when it slides right off, again.

M.I.A.

Where have I been the last month you ask? Well, much like the Dodgers, I took the last 4 weeks off. Took the CA Bar Exam, had a vacation, ignored the slumping jackasses and now am back to reality. Ugh!

We suck. What other words can describe this joke job. I feel like the Angels circa their title. End of July, we're in first place, now we're in 4th with seemingly no hope to crawl out. How fast it can go wrong on you.

What's wrong in LA? Well for starters our pitchers crapped the bed, Grady is an idiot and Ned makes terrible moves. The fact that Tomko and Hendrickson keep making starts just BOGGLES the mind. Penny is fine, Lowe pitches well but his teammates hate his girlfriend so they tank for him and Billingsly looks great. The rest suck. Will Wolf bounce back? Who knows. I am ready to start the Clayton Kershaw era NOW! (He's our uber pitching prospect in AA that can deal.) Will we see him though? Doubtful because Ned has a chubby for Tomsuck and Hendricksuck.

The hitting also seemed to quit too. I was ready to anoint Bill Mueller the Leo Mazzone of hitting coaches because we were doing so good but now it feels like we haven't scored since July. (Well actually, considering 4 shutouts or whatever in a week, we really haven't scored much!)

Where the hell did Russell Martin go? Just as I was about to start his MVP campaign, the guy went AWOL. Is banging Alyssa Milano that tiring? If so, give her back to Penny. Now Nomar goes on the DL for pulling a tongue while arguing with an ump. We sign Hillencancer and trade for another Giant (Sweeney), uck! I'm hating this team!

Dump the old guys, bring up the kids so if we're going to suck, at least we suck and see how they respond. Is it football season yet?

GIANTS PITCHING, a San Francisco treat

Fresh off the All Star break the Boys in Blue headed up to the dump by the bay for 3 games with everyone's favorite team of AARP losers, the SF Giants and Barroid Bonds. I was certain Bonds would get all 5 HRs he needed to pass Aaron off us this weekend because we are usually dumb enough to pitch him, he rapes teams that pitch to him and he hates LA. What really happened? Bonds went 0 for the series!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (He played in all 3 games too!)

Man he looked old and crappy. Go get some of the new "clear" if you are ever going to get those next 5. Another guy that is starting to show his age, Kent. Outside of the bomb he crushed on Saturday, he looks like he is approaching 50 and fast. No more range in the field, a slow bat, this does not bode well.

As for the series, we exploded for 6 runs in the 9th on Friday to beat SF. On Saturday, we had a nice lead until Randy Winn did a Gibson impersonation by getting nailed in the leg, hobbling around, then blasting a Grand Slam to get SF within 1. In the 9th Bonds walked to get on and eventually scored. In extras though, LA prevailed and Rudy Gascaneaez nailed down a save (I thought I was high - no way did this happen). Finally on Sunday we had Brett Tomkrapp on the mound which meant me, my brother and every other Dodger fan expected a loss. It even prompted my brother to state that if, "Tomko gets a win today, I'll say nothing but positive things about the team for the next month."

Sure enough, we lead 1-0, only to have the WORST infield defense in baseball this year help Tomko give back 2 and give SF hope. In the 4th and 6th we added 2 runs an inning and hung on to win 5-3 meaning a SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP, 11 in a row for us in SF, an ANGRY Barry, 1st Place all to ourselves and one month of my brother being pleasant!!!! OUTSTANDING!

Next up, we get a chance to give Philly losses 10,001, 10,002, and 10,003!

FIRST HALF GRADES

Its that time of year when every yahoo comes out and ranks how teams faired pre-All Star break in the first half of the season. Why should I be any different.

I'd give the Dodgers a solid B+ so far.

I was all ready to go off on them, complain about a bunch of stuff but then I looked at our record, we're 49-40, 1 game back of San Diego and all is well, I guess.

My main complaints are a 1-5 vs. Anaheim and losing 4 in a row this last week to ATL/FLA. We had several opportunities to take back 1st and let them go by.

Team MVP = Russell Martin. Flat out stud. I'd give him a 6 year extension TODAY! (Penny's been close but he did this last year and then had an epic collapse that almost left him off the playoff roster. He's got to earn that trust back!)

Team DUD = Geeez, this is hard because Furcal, Kent, Nomar and Schmidt have all performed WELL BELOW expectations. I'd have to go with Schmidt though. Pay a guy big bucks to be your 1-2 and he sucks then goes on the DL for the season. NICE! Could you imagine if he was healthy? Schmidt, Lowe, Penny, Wolf and Billingsly? That would be outstanding. Instead we get some NASTY combo of Hendricksucksen, Tomkrap, and Oh No Kuo. GRRRREAT.

INF = C: Nomar looks like a high school kid now and lost any and all power. Kent looks about 49 and outside of a good week here and there, plays like he's 49. Furcal has been a total failure coming off a great season. No power, no speed, no hits. And 3B has been a revolving door at the Chicken Ranch. Nomar is there now so that Loney can play which is fine with me.

OF = B: Kemp/Ethier have been solid out there. Gonzo is Opposite Kent and looking like he's 29, not 39. Pierre has been a huge pain in the ass. Sure he's 2nd in MLB in steals and his Hit #s look good but every throw he makes bounces 3 times before reaching the cut-off guy and he's choked in the clutch countless times. PLUS Ichiro has made it known he'd be interested in LA (or T.Hunter or A.Jones) yet we're stuck with this glorified Dave Roberts for 5 years. NICE ONE NED!

SP = B+: Penny, Wolf (pre-mid June), and Lowe have been solid. Billingsly is also looking good. The rest, see above.

RP = A: Saito and Broxton (and Billingsly when there) have been stoppers. Rudy Gascaneaz is hanging around and Drunko Beimel seems to be on the wagon for now. Sadly, Tomko gets to sit out there and sometimes pitch which usually ends badly. Plus we have Tsao, Stults, Houton and a bunch of other AAA arms filling roster space.

Outlook = Playoffs are likely at this pace. Whoopee though. Win a series in the playoffs and not just 1 game since 1988 and I'll feel better. A minor move and this team could easily take the NL but I don't see us winning the World Series unless someone goes Gibson for us.

All Stars but Big Yawns

So, who's excited for the All Star game up in SF this year??? Waiting........ Still waiting........ But hey, it decides who gets home field advantage in the World Series!?!?! Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Yeah, that's what I thought.

CONGRATS to Russell Martin (Very deserving), T.Saito (also deserving) and Brad Penny (uh oh - the hex is back) on being reps for the Dodgers up in that game no one cares about by the city on a bay. Penny started the game last year, after a very similar first half as he's had this year and then went Rudy Seangascanez on the rest of the season for us. Here's hoping Peavy has that luck this year instead of Penny. Props to Russell the most though. Dude is in his 2nd year, catches about 95% of the games (Lieberthal has to be LOVING life - greatest job in the world, backup C to an All Star), calls great games, throws out runners and brings a big stick (as well as wheels) to a position and team greatly in need of it. He's not only an All Star, he'd get my vote for NL MVP today, either him or Prince Fielder.

I think the All Star Game is just a giant mess of confusion. Do we want lineups of "Stars," you know, guys you want to see play or do we want lineups of players having the best 1st halves this season? When I was younger I always got pissed off when Ozzie Smith or Cal Ripken, even in their off years, made the team by a landslide. I thought you should reward those "hot" players for a good start, not anymore. I want to see the elite players playing, the shoe guys, the Boras clients, the big money, big headed warriors. I AM GLAD BONDS IS ON THE NL TEAM. I hate him more than any athlete in any sport yet he belongs in this game. Its in SF and he's about to break Aaron's HR record. Dude belongs!

I'm also ok with making each team send one guy but if you're going to do that, expand the rosters even more. Gil Meche and Brian Fuentes can be on the team but there should also be room for Randy, Rocket, Oswalt, Howard and Rollins. Bud needs to fix this problem. Look at the NL OF - Bonds, Beltran and Griffey, does that not drip All Star? Yet we have D.Young instead of young masher Ryan Howard?? If baseball wants to approach the NFL in terms of popularity again, you need to MARKET the stars. Especially in a year that we celebrate Jackie Robinson, how can you not try to include some of the games bright, Black players. How else will the game grow in the inner cities again? Of course if you ask Gary Sheffield, MLB prefers Dominicans over Blacks anyway. Regardless, put more of the Super Stars in and find a way to raise the stakes, more so than HFA, to bring this back to the exciting times of Rose running over a catcher or Bo going yard!

Congrats again and good luck to our Dodgers in the game!