Getting back in the swing of things. I'm glad I got back to town just in time to see the Dodgers start playing .500 baseball again.
They went 3-3 this week ... although, silver lining: they did it in such a nice pattern - L, W, L, W, L, W.
Alright, so, what happened this week?
Clayton Kershaw Continues To Regress
Admittedly, he looked shaky at times this week, but he made two starts and the final box score shows:
-6.0 IP, 0 ER (1 Run), 4 Ks
-5.0 IP, 2 ER, 9 Ks
So, you can obviously see his future is bleak.
Ryan Dempster Practices Voodoo
... It's the only way to explain how he can shut down the Dodgers so consistently. In 22 career games (12 starts) spanning 93.2 innings against the Dodgers, Dempster's ERA is 2.31. I mean ... seriously.
Notorious Dodger slayer Jake Peavy has a 2.27 career ERA against the Dodgers in 158.1 innings. Tim Lincecum's career ERA against the Dodgers is 2.96 in 48.2 innings.
Dempster is a guy, by the way, who has a career ERA of 4.39. His 2.31 mark against the Dodgers is 2nd lowest amongst all NL teams (Dempster has a 2.00 ERA against Florida, in 27 IP) and the lowest in his career against any team he's pitched over 30 innings against.
I know a pitcher's ERA versus a team over their career is a skewed stat because of all the variables (changes in lineup, changes with the pitcher himself) ... all I'm getting at is this: why in the world can't the Dodgers beat Ryan Dempster?
Ryan Dempster, seen here owning the Dodgers.
Andre Ethier Is Almost Back
... and I'm giddy like a school girl.
After being shutout twice by the Cubs (Tuesday vs. Dempster and Thursday vs. Ted *cough* cheater *cough* Lilly ... I kid. But seriously ... cheater.) the Dodgers could use him back in the lineup.
Whatever The Opposite Of A Gold Glove Is, Rafael Furcal Wins It For This Week
Furcal came off the DL this week, and apparently forgot how to play defense while he was away.
Here's a quick list of the days this week in which Rafael Furcal started a game and did not commit an error: Friday.
Seriously. This was his week:
Two errors Tuesday, one error Wednesday, pinch hit on Thursday and didn't play the field, error-less Friday, one error Saturday, and one error Sunday.
At this point, you start to wonder if it's a mental thing. Doubt that he can't make a simple play might have gotten in his head and it's screwing with him.
Or maybe it's just rust and maybe he just shakes it off. I guess we'll see...
...and finally:
The Dodgers Can't Win When Vin Scully Doesn't Call The Game
The Dodgers record in all games in Denver or West of Denver: 23-9
The Dodgers record in all games East of Denver: 5-13
I mean, it's good to be able to win at home (15-8), and it's definitely good to be able to beat up on the other NL West teams (15-5), but at some point you have to be able to get past the fact the Steve Lyons is announcing and win in a foreign land (The Dodgers play another 24 games east of Denver, plus more if we get to the playoffs).
Alright! I'm back! I was in Argentina for the last week or so. The timeline was something like this: I left when the Dodgers swept Arizona and they proceeded to lose only one game while I was gone.
I got back early Sunday morning, just in time to learn Jose Lima died and then watch the Dodgers lose ... so, sadness...
Either way, I won't do a full week review because I had limited access to information ... Still, here are a few things I was able gather, even while on another continent.
#JonHeymanIsBadAtHisJob
Clayton Kershaw's three games since then:
-8.0 IP, 0 R, 9 Ks
-7.0 IP, 1 R, 7 Ks
-7.1 IP, 1 R, 7 Ks
Chad Billingsley's four games since then:
-6.0 IP, 4 R, 3 Ks
-5.1 IP, 2 R, 7 Ks
-7.1 IP, 0 R, 6 Ks
-7.0 IP, 1 R, 5 Ks
...
Bran Penny's four games since then:
-6.0 IP, 3 R
-7.0 IP, 4 R
-5.0 IP, 7 R
-3.0 IP, 4 R (+ a trip to the DL)
#HowIsItYouGetPaidToDoThis?
Oh, and by the way, this isn't related to anything, but I gotta love this tweet.
So, wait ... are you proud of yourself for doing this? Come on...
#SeverePettiness
EDIT: Credit to MikeSciosciasTragicIllness and nineteen84 on Twitter who found out that Heyman's definition of regressing isn't "the act of trending or shifting toward a lower state" but rather "had a bad start." I guess that's good news because horrible regression turned into progression in less than a month.
Gotta love how he plays it off not like he was wrong, but that he can just make bold declarations with no substance whenever he wants, then change his mind depending on circumstances. Bravo for journalism!
Broken Pinkies Suck
Probably doesn't need much more explanation, but seriously: Ethier is having a Triple Crown season and a broken pinkie derails him (at least temporarily). Suckage.
Ramon Ortiz Continues To Prove Me Right
I wrote way back in my thoughts on Opening Day I was not a fan of Ramon Ortiz, nor Russ Ortiz.
Now, some people who shall remain unnamed jumped all over me for this, calling me such things as "nimrod." Granted, I didn't give a whole lot of evidence to prove either Ortiz was a bad pitcher, I was just acting on a baseball hunch.
I'll admit I'm not always right, or probably not even mostly right. I've said stupid things on this blog. But guess what ... I nailed this.
Russ Ortiz had a 10.29 ERA when he was Designated for Assignment less than three weeks after I wrote that post. Not long after that he retired so he could spend more time BEING A HORRIBLE PITCHER WITH HIS FAMILY!
Meanwhile, Ramon Ortiz continues to defy odds and common sense by taking up a roster spot. He's sporting a nice 6.30 ERA in 30 innings. 30. That's not a: "Oh, I gave up two runs in three innings" six ERA. It's a: "I've been in 16 of the 44 games this season and made two starts" six ERA. What I'm saying is, it's not a small sample size. Ortiz is bad. Ortiz needs to be replaced.
I was right all along.
So that was odd. It was a week that ultimately saw the Dodgers go .500, but I can't remember a week that had more highs and lows. And not just highs and lows, but highs that were really high, and lows that were really low.
I mean, look at these games. Dodgers get blown out on Tuesday after the Brewers score 9 runs in the second inning. Then on Wednesday, the Dodgers blew a close game late when the bullpen gave up 7 runs in the 8th and 9th innings. And on Saturday, the Rockies scored six runs in the first and shut the Dodgers out the rest of the way. Three games ... three ugly losses.
But the three wins? A walk-off Grand Slam on Thursday, a close back and forth game the Dodgers pulled a win out of on Friday, and on Sunday, the Dodgers won a pitchers' duel against arguably the best pitcher in the league. Three games ... three really nice wins.
And so, with that, let's take a look at the players who made it the week that was. It's going to be a little shortened because it's late and I'm coming off a Mother's Day high.
Andre Ethier - Ethier had another fantastic week, going 10-22 with a walk, two doubles, and a walk-off Grand Slam. Oh, and by the way, he's either in the lead (BA and RBIs) or tied for the lead (HRs) in all three of the Triple Crown categories.
John Ely - One start for Ely this week, and a pretty good one. 6.2 innings, one run, seven strikeouts. He was a stopper when the Dodgers needed one. And his reward? A demotion to AAA. Yep, Ely was sent back to AAA while Ramon Ortiz remains on the roster. A demotion for a young player in favor of a broken down veteran. On Joe Torre's watch? What?! But more on that later.
Clayton Kershaw - Kershaw's week mirrored the Dodgers' week in general. His low was probably the lowest of his career. 1.1 innings, 7 runs. Just an ugly, ugly, terrible, ugly start. But his high mark, 8.0 innings, no runs, 9 strikeouts, was arguably the best of his career. Two starts, one awful, one brilliant = two stars for the week.
Charlie Haeger - What's going to be forgotten in Haeger's week is that he did provide 4.0 innings of quality relief on Tuesday. Still, it's impossible to overlook his start on Saturday. He wasn't able to record an out and ended up credited with five runs. He most likely lost his spot in the rotation if not on the roster as a whole.
Garret Anderson - Anderson is my new Mark Sweeney. Especially because Anderson has now committed a similar crime to what Mark Sweeney did in 2008. He's unbelievably, impossibly bad, yet somehow manages to take up a roster spot that should belong to a younger player who deserves it better.
In Anderson's case, he's now occupies a roster spot that rightfully belongs to Xavier Paul. Now look, I'm not mad at Anderson personally. He's a baseball player just trying to keep his job and he didn't make the decision to send Xavier Paul back to AAA. But seriously, is there one thing Anderson does better than Paul? One single thing? Fielding? No. Throwing? No. Running? No. And at this point, not even hitting.
Admittedly, this is a small sample size, but in 29 at-bats for Paul, he hit .276, had a .323 OBP, and slugged .483 (that's a .805 OPS in case you were wondering). Anderson, on the other hand, went 1-6 this week, bring his season total (in 48 at-bats) to 6 hits. That brings his average for the season to ... .125. His OBP is .157! His slugging is .208! In case you are too lazy to do the math, that's a .365 OPS.
So ... yeah, there's absolutely no reason to keep Anderson over Paul unless, of course, the managerial staff has a thing for keeping around useless veterans at the end of the careers while sending down better younger players at the cost of making the team worse as a whole ... but that would be ... that would be just crazy...
The Dodgers head back on the road this week, where they are 4-11. It is, however, against two NL West teams (the Diamondbacks and Padres) and the Dodgers are 6-3 against NL West teams this season. Something has got to give, let's hope it's the horrible road record.
Week 4 was like two weeks in one. There was the really ugly part of the week where the Dodgers were swept by the Mets in New York before coming home and losing the series opener to the Pirates 2-0 on Thursday.
And then there was the second part of the week ... suddenly: Pitching! Hitting! Winning! The Dodgers suddenly turned it on and took the last three games from the Pirates.
Ultimately, though, the Dodgers still went under .500 on the week. The Dodgers are 4-11 on the road this season. On the bright side, they are 7-3 at home, so there's that.
Hiroki Kuroda - Kuroda had two good starts this week. In the first game of the doubleheader against the Mets, Kuroda surrendered just two runs in 6.0 innings. Then on Sunday, Kuroda went 8.0 strong innings against the Pirates allowing just one run. 14.0 innings, three runs. Kuroda has a 2.08 ERA on the season.
Andre Ethier - Andre went 9-26 this week with three walks, two doubles, and four homeruns.
Clayton Kershaw - Kershaw had one start this week, and like last week, it was pretty solid. 6.2 innings, two runs, and seven strikeouts.
Chad Billingsley - Billingsley had a similar week. In his one start, he went 6.0 innings, gave up two runs as well, though Billingsley only struck out four.
Carlos Monasterios - Monasterios had a start this week, too, the first of his major league career, and though he only went four innings, they were quality (just one run on a solo homerun). Plus, add to that the two innings of scoreless relief he pitched Tuesday, and his final line for the week comes to 6.0 innings, one run.
James Loney - Loney's hitting this week kind of paralleled the performance of the Dodgers in general. Loney during the four losses: 1-14 with four strikeouts. Loney during the three wins: 8-11, three doubles, a walk, and a homer. I know that ultimately makes Loney 9-25 on the week, but I'm giving him two stars for a half good week and a half bad week ... because I can.
The two faces of James Loney this week.
Garret Anderson - Another week, another step closer to a DFA for Anderson. 0-7 with four strikeouts. He's now on a 1-26 tear since April 14th. Now, I know I advocated for putting Anderson on the roster when we signed him in Spring Training and I stand by that because the alternative was Doug Mientkiewicz and it seemed we were destined to have an old guy on the roster. However, Mientkiewicz is gone (somewhere) so we don't need to worry about him, and Xavier Paul has looked pretty good in the last week, so here's to hoping we keep Paul over Anderson when the next roster move comes.
Russell Martin - Martin started the year strong but has since seen his numbers starting to dip. He went 3-24 with a homerun and a couple walks.
Martin scoring on one of his hits this week ... because they don't take pictures of people not getting hits.
Casey Blake - Blake had an even worse week than Martin. 1-20 with a couple walks. Maybe it's time to start letting the beard grow again.
The Dodgers went 3-4 on the week, but it still feels like a win because you start to feel like the momentum has shifted.
Of course, it could just be because we played the Pirates, but I'd like to look on the positive side and say we've turned a corner.
Six games coming up at home this week against the Brewers and the Rockies, two teams that should be good but have gotten off to slow starts.
Is this the week? Is this finally the week we get over .500? A guy can hope, right?
Ryan Dempster, seen here owning the Dodgers.
