Picture Day!

I was going to do a post today about Yhency Brazoban getting released, which in a way, negates my last post. I suggested that those players were good at one point, a year or two ago, so they could be helpful now. I guess the same could be said for Brazoban. Although his good year was 2004.

I was also going to talk about Josh Lindblom being promoted less than a year after being picked in the draft. I would've talked about his exciting potential and when he could possibly help out the club (probably not til 2010).

Anyway, I would have talked about these things had the Dodgers not taken new pictures for the 2009 season. Now, instead, I will make fun of the pictures. (P.S. MLB.com actually refers to these files as "mugshots," that seems about accurate.)

Let's start with the person who's probably taken the least amount of professional pictures, Clayton Kershaw:

"I'm just happy to be here."

Wow. If someone told him to take a picture so that he would look like a goofy, fresh faced, 21-year-old kid just breaking into the majors he couldn't have taken a better picture.

Now, I'd like to present the Mr. Personality Award to:

Jason Schmidt. Yay.

Someone told Rafael Furcal a dirty joke.

Is it weird that Guillermo Mota kinda frightens me with this picture? Is he snarling?

Danny Ardoin has a dirty little secret (He's hiding a body in the trunk of his car).

This is the look of a man who can't find a team that will take his contract and allow him to start. This is the look of a man who's on the fast track to being a 4th outfielder. This is the look of a man who didn't think he'd be taking this picture. It is the look of defeat.

Brian Mazone, a.k.a. the Lizard Man. I can't figure out where Brian Mazone's neck ends and Brian Mazone begins.

Edgar Martinez looks like he's about to pop.

"No, I'm not a coach! I'm going to be 35 in May! I can still pitch! I swear, I'm not 55! Why does everyone keep asking me that?" -Stephen Randolph

And... hold on a second... oh... my... God. Seriously?

What is Tanyon Sturtze still doing here? He's not retired? What the hell?!?

Player Profiles: Catcher - A.J. Ellis

Player: A.J. Ellis

2008 Stats: 0-3, one run scored

2008 Analysis: A.J. Ellis came up as a September call-up and made it into four games, getting his only at-bats in the final game of the season. They weren't too impressive, but, of course, were hardly enough to judge him by. He did bat .321 during the season with Triple-A Las Vegas.

2009 Outlook: A.J. Ellis's minor league career has, for the most part, consisted of backing up Russell Martin. If Danny Ardoin, or a similar type backup catcher, can't be signed for relatively cheap, then I wouldn't mind giving Ellis a shot to back up Martin in the season.

Player Profiles: Catcher - Gary Bennett

Player: Gary Bennett

2008 Stats: .190, one homerun, four RBIs

2008 Analysis: Bennett had a bit of an odd year. He had one excellent game offensively, coming May 15th against Milwaukee when he collected his one homerun and all four of his RBIs for the year. The rest of his year, though, was noted by his inability to throw the ball directly back to the pitcher. He was placed on the 15-day DL on May 21st with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. I have no idea what that is, but it must have been bad, because Bennett was not seen from during the rest of the year.

2009 Outlook: The Dodgers had a $900,000 club option on Bennett for the 2009 season, with a $50,000 buyout, which the Dodgers have exercised to make Bennett a free agent. I definitely think Danny Ardoin would be a much cheaper alternative, and one who would probably put up better numbers anyway. I don't doubt that Bennett will be able to find a job with another team, but I don't think it'll be with the Dodgers.

Player Profiles: Catcher - Danny Ardoin

In my last post, I covered starting catcher Russell Martin. In these next posts, I'll cover everyone else who played catcher this year.

Player: Danny Ardoin

2008 Stats: .235, one homerun, four RBIs

2008 Analysis: After starting the season in the minor leagues, Ardoin came up to replace an injured Gary Bennett and did an adequate job. He didn't hit that well, but he was better than Bennett. He also provided adequate defense, though again, he was better than Bennett. Still, I start to wonder what it is that we really require from a backup catcher. What kind of stats we would have to get from a backup catcher that would make me want to have him back the next year?

2009 Outlook: If Ardoin can be brought back for cheap (and I mean cheap), then he wouldn't be a bad option as a back up catcher. Ideally though, I would like to get a better hitting catcher so that we could give Russell Martin more days off without having to worry about a black hole of offense coming from the #8 spot.

Rockies 4, Dodgers 3

The Dodgers fall again to the Rockies to guarantee a series loss.

Taylor Buchholz got the win, he's 6-3. Jonathan Broxton took the loss, he's 3-5. Brian Fuentes picked up his 24th save.

Chad Billingsley made a good start, but threw far too many pitches. He went six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks, while striking out six. He did this, however, on 114 pitches, only 68 of which were strikes. The bullpen did not fare much better. Chan Ho Park went two innings and gave up an unearned run, and Jonathan Broxton gave up the go-ahead run in the 9th.

The Dodger offense collected a handful of hits but failed, again, to collect enough runs from those hits. Jeff Kent went 2-4. Russell Martin went 2-4, as well, collecting a double and a run. Matt Kemp went 1-4 with the only Dodger RBI on the day.

The Diamondbacks beat the Padres again, and so the Dodgers will fall to two games back in the NL West. They'll try to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Rockies tomorrow at 12:10 L.A. time.

Also: Danny Ardoin, starting at catcher today, stole a base. It was only his second career stolen base. His last stolen base was over three years ago (June 7th, 2005)... Every position player in the starting lineup except Casey Blake collected a hit today... The Dodgers were not able to draw a walk in the game... The Dodgers had four errors in the game (from Martin playing at 3rd base, one from Blake playing at 1st, and one from Ardoin).

Opinion: Well, these have been two ugly losses against a team we need to, and should be beating. Again, like last night, we collected a bunch of hits, and hardly any runs. Two runs today came on an error. So, we really only had one run today on nine hits. If you don't count the three "gimme" runs the last two games, the Dodgers have collected only three real runs from 20 hits (six doubles) and two walks. And that's not good... Also, the bullpen again today looked a little shaky. Jonathan Broxton has given up a run in three of his last five outings. You start to question if Broxton should be our solution at closer, and then you realize we don't have any other real options. And that's also not good... I'm not so sure if this whole "Give Russell Martin the day off, play him at 3rd" thing is working out. Martin plays in a spot where he doesn't get to play often and looks uncomfortable, Blake is moved around, and the only person who really gets the day off is James Loney, who probably needs it least of all. How about, if we want to give Martin the day off, give him the day off... So, we find ourselves back at two games behind Arizona. We really need to stop doing this. If we want to get to the playoffs, we can't keep playing this cat and mouse game. It's like riding a roller coaster that never really goes over the peak. We get near the peak, or even settle on the peak, then we roll back down. Then we start climbing again, we get to the peak, sit there for a few games, and start rolling back again. Except, there's one problem. Other than being increasingly frustrating, the ride is going to be over in 36 games, and if we haven't gotten over that peak by then, well... Oh, and finally, good ole' Mark Sweeney was at it again. He came in to pinch hit in the 6th inning and grounded out. I gave him an ultimatum: get a 10th hit by your 75th at-bat. He couldn't do it. He's 9-75 (.120), and as such, will suffer the consequence of continuous mocking from a random no-name blogger. I have something more about Sweeney, but I'll save it for the next post, along with some other assorted thoughts about the recent trade. See you then...