Dodgers Retrospective - Week 10

So ... that was an odd week.

If I were to tell you at the beginning of the week that the Dodgers would go 3-3 in three games sets versus the Cardinals and Angels, would you guess a sweep of the Cardinals and then a sweep by the Angels? Would you?! I think not. The results this week were not necessarily odd, just unexpected.

No, no. The odd this week seemed to come more from off the field than on it.


Draft Dodgers (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!)

The annual amateur draft was held this week, and the Dodgers made a couple picks that might be considered odd.

First, they drafted an 18 year old pitcher who almost everyone feels is "unsignable." You can read my thoughts here ... as if you didn't already.

But, here's just a couple other things I noticed.

Logan White seems to have something against the coaches at LSU because he's trying to steal all their players.

First he drafts Zach Lee in the 1st round, who has a strong commitment to LSU.

Later, in the sixth round, White drafted Kevin Gausman, another high schooler with who seems committed to LSU.

But White didn't stop there. Before he drafted Gausman, he drafted LSU's center fielder Leon Landry in the 3rd round, and after, in the 8th round, he drafted LSU's 1st baseman Blake Dean.

In an ideal world, the Dodgers would take both of LSU's top pitching recruits, their center fielder, and their first baseman.

Lucky for LSU, the Dodgers will probably sign neither Lee nor Gausman, so at least their rotation will be ok next year.

The second thing I noticed was the Dodgers drafted (and signed) someone who already has my support because of his facial hair.

"What?" you ask. I'll tell you.

In the 28th round, the Dodgers drafted Mike Drowne out of Sacred Heart University. Now, I like to look up a little bit of info on the players the Dodgers draft so I went to Sacred Heart U's website and navigated my way to the athletics page and then to Drowne's page, where I found this amazing profile pic.

They look like vertical parenthesis for his mouth!

Immediately, I was intrigued. I mean, it's fantastic! He looks like a villain from the 1800s. A train magnate who wants to demolish a small town to build his railroad empire ... and yes, he's wearing a tophat in this scenario.

However ... I was disappointed when I visited the website a few days later to see an article talking about Drowne being drafted. Accompanying said story was this picture of Drowne.

Suddenly, heart-breakingly mustache-less.

Admittedly, this soured me on Drowne just a bit.

I later realized, though, it does take a certain kind of bravado (or stupidity) to take a profile picture of yourself with a crazy set of fake facial hair and allow it to go up on a website that's going to be visited by a good amount of people.

So, Mike Drowne, if you are reading this, and I'm sure you are, I'm not mad at you for the fake facial hair, and I'm telling you this: if you grow back that facial hair and keep it through your trip in the minors, and you have my full support.


The McCourts Did Something Crazy, Though Really, Not Totally Surprising

Ok, seriously, at this point, is there anyone left in the McCourt camp?

I mean, is there any Dodger fan who's been following the events of the past year or so who still fully supports either of the McCourts as owner of this team?

If so, this one is for you...

The McCourts hired and paid a six figure salary to an old Russian to send positive vibes, or "V Energy" to the Dodgers.

This has already been sufficiently discussed/made fun of on various blogs (like MSTI, MoKM, and SoSG) so I'll just add one thing, the thing that makes me most sad about all this.

Yes, this whole thing is impossibly stupid/incredibly insane/a tremendous waste of money ... pick your choice.

The real sad thing about all this is this question: were you really shocked? To be honest, I wasn't.

Sure, I was surprised. It's hard to see something like this coming. But at this point, did anyone read this article and react with disbelief. "Noooo ... the McCourts couldn't have done something so irrational ... they wouldn't have paid all this money to some crazy Russian guy who knows nothing about baseball! Impossible!"

I think, at least for Dodgers fans, the McCourts have entered the Tyson Zone. For those who don't know, the Tyson Zone (described here) was created by Bill Simmons as a way to describe an athlete (or in this case, team owner) whose behavior is so odd that any story you ready about them, no matter how bizarre, is believable.

For example, if you were to read tomorrow that the McCourts spent a million dollars two seasons ago to uproot the grass in the outfield and replant it with special Australian fertilizer that would bring good fortunes to the team, would you blink an eye? Oh, and by the way, to pay off the dirt, parking is being raised to $25 a car.

Or, say you read tomorrow that the McCourts were fighting for custody of Reed Johnson. Would you faint from surprise?

It's really unfortunate that it has come to this. The Dodgers are one of the most historic franchises in baseball, and right now the McCourts are making them a laughing stock. I mean, how many pre-season predictions did you read this Spring Training that had the Dodgers not finishing in first in the NL West because of distractions with ownership?

Luckily, at least so far, the Dodgers have been able to avoid front office issues. I mean, hey, they were in first place at one point this week before finishing the week a game behind the Padres.

But that's not to say the Dodgers haven't been affected. Just this week, the Dodgers most likely forfeited a first round pick on a player that was always going to be too expensive to sign. And this comes after they forfeited two other early picks when they didn't offer arbitration to Randy Wolf and Orlando Hudson this offseason.

... What do you believe an owner's role should be with a team? I see it as this: First, the Owner should pony up the money. The Owner should never be afraid to put money into their team. If they don't want to spend, then they shouldn't be an Owner. Two, the Owner shouldn't embarrass the team. That doesn't mean they necessarily need to be the face of the team (see Arte Moreno), but if you aren't going to put on a good front, then just disappear into your Owner's box. Be a silent owner. Show up to hold up the Championship Trophy and then go away. The last thing you should be doing is filling newspaper headlines with your divorce hearings or doing things like hiring Rasputin for a six figure sum to send brain waves and advise you on team decisions.

Mike Drowne: this facial hair is also acceptable...

Look, McCourts, if you guys are fans of the game like you've always purported to be, then you should understand that you are making a mockery of one of the storied franchises.

If you were really fans of baseball, you'd sell the Dodgers or step down as owners.

Because at this point, you are not just embarrassing yourselves, you are embarrassing all of us.

Another Week, Another Dollar

So, another week has gone by without any substantial Dodger news taking place, at the GM winter meetings, no less. Well, I suppose that's not necessarily true. We did lose Randy Wolf to the Brewers for three years and about 9.25 million a year.

Now, you can debate whether giving that contract to Wolf to keep him would have been in our best interest or not, but what's become pretty clear is that, at the very least, arbitration should have been offered. Milwaukee was the 14th worst team in the league last year, so we would have been given their 2nd round pick, as well as a sandwich pick in between the 1st and 2nd round of next year's draft. There's a lot of quality to be found in those picks, especially when Logan White is running the draft.

But alas, no arbitration offered, no picks gained, and the farm system becomes harder to replenish. It's kind of amazing how this whole McCourts' divorce thing is not only finding ways to screw up the Dodgers in the present but the future as well.

Really, though, I feel like the worst part about all this is that there never was any real intention of bringing Wolf back. There were some reports about Wolf being open to returning to the Dodgers at two years for around 8 million a year. Whether these claims were valid or not, I don't know, but ultimately, I don't think it matters. I think the key to the claims is that Wolf wanted to remain a Dodger. And why not? We've had success (at least more so than Milwaukee). We've got a good young core. And, probably most important to Wolf, we're his home town team. He had reason to stay, and yes, he probably would have given us a home town discount. But again, I just get the feeling that we weren't having any of it.

So, that's where we stand. No Wolf. No draft picks. Nothing but memories of one of our best pitchers last year. Sigh.

...and even worse: no more "Hungry like the Wolf" jokes.

Meanwhile, in lesser news: Jamie Hoffmann was taken in the Rule 5 draft by the Yankees. The key here is that Hoffmann has to stay on the Yankees roster the whole season otherwise he is offered back to us. The Yankees have Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher on the roster for next season, as well as Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner, who serve as reserve outfielders and pinch runners. If the Yankees don't add a free agent outfielder, I could see Hoffman making it as the 5th outfielder. But let's be honest. They have a field of Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui to choose from... The Yankees will buy one of them. Maybe two. Unless they ship off Cabrera or Gardner (or both), Hoffmann probably doesn't make it the whole season. Of course, then the question becomes: how willing are we to take on the added payroll of a Jamie Hoffmann?

Hoffmann is likely to demand a salary of at least six figures.

Elsewhere, the Dodgers tendered contracts to all nine players who were contract tender-able. Eight of those players pretty much compose the young core of the team, and there's also Jason Repko. What? Yeah, he's still with the team. Some people are upset we are still paying him, I don't care. He's like a remnant of the Dan Evans era. Keep him around. Meanwhile, the other eight players are in line for a big raise through arbitration. So, look for that to be one of the reasons given for our lack of free agent spending at the end of the offseason.

And finally!

The Dodgers signed Josh Towers to a minor league contract this week. Now, when I heard this news, I was happy for some reason. For a while, I couldn't remember why. Towers has had minimal success in the majors, and none really since 2005. He spent all of 2008 in the minors, and he made a couple appearances last year for the Yankees and was ok. Apparently he was pretty good in AAA for most of the year.

Basically, what I'm saying is, it's not a fantastic signing. Towers might make it as the swingman/long relief guy, but more likely, he'll probably come up from AAA to make a few spot starts sometime during the season a la Eric Milton. I mean, this is not a bad signing, but it's not lighting the Dodger world on fire.

But for some reason, I like Josh Towers. I looked him up, he's from Port Hueneme. That's round here. So, he's a local boy. I always like when we bring back local players. But that wasn't the reason I knew Josh Towers. I mean, there are a lot of players from the Los Angeles area. I don't know them all.

So, I kept thinking about it, and finally, it hit me.

Josh Towers was a very valuable part of the 2005 World Champion Dodgers... on my copy of MVP Baseball 2005. I won't delve too deeply into how good a game MVP Baseball 2005 was, but I will say that it was, and still is, the only baseball video game that I've been able to go a full season in. Most games, I'll start a season, make 30-40 games in and eventually lose interest. Not with MVP Baseball 2005. 162 games... and I'm pretty sure I went 162-0 over that span, too. And then I swept my way through the playoffs and won the World Series in 4 games. And Josh Towers was my number five starter that year. He probably won 20-something games that year. I don't remember how or why I traded for him, but I do know that he provided 30+ quality starts for an improbable championship team.

Josh Towers, Starting Pitcher, 2005 World Champion Dodgers

If that's not enough of a reason for me to be happy we signed him five years later, then I don't know what is...

Offseason Awards: MVP

So, it's come to this. The final award. MVP.

This is a tough one, let's take a look at the options.

The nominees are:


Randy Wolf
-A nominee for the "J's Dodger Blog Cy Young Award," even though Randy didn't win, one could arguably say he meant more to the team. He delivered quality start after quality start down the stretch for the Dodgers, and there is a lot of value in that.


Matt Kemp
-Gold Glove? Check. Silver Slugger? Check. 26 homeruns and 101 RBIs? Yeah. 34 stolen bases, too? Uh-huh. A breakout season for Matt Kemp as he slowly becomes a top tier player in this league. He's got five tools, and he uses them all. If this season is just a sign of things to come, Kemp is going to have a monster career.


Clayton Kershaw
-He did win the "J's Dodger Blog Cy Young Award." Have I mentioned yet that he's 21 and very good?


Andre Ethier
-A Silver Slugger, too? Yeah. Andre Ethier notched 31 homeruns and drove in 106 RBIs this season. I think most people felt Ethier could be a good player, but I don't know how many people thought Ethier was a 30-100 guy. He not only met expectations, he passed them easily. Oh, and by the way, when the playoffs came around, Ethier only got better: a .355 average, three homers, six RBIs, and a 1.235 OPS.


...and the winner is...

Andre Ethier.

This was a close call for me. Kemp was so good this year, but I can't deny what Ethier did. On top of how good his numbers were, you have to also factor in his six walk off hits.

Six walk off hits... including four homeruns. That, my friends, is a clutch performer.

Ethier was the team leader in homeruns, doubles, RBIs, walks, and walk off hits.

And for all that, Andre Ethier is your "J's Dodger Blog 2009 MVP."

Offseason Awards: Cy Young

Alright, moving on to the heavy hitters of the awards. First up: Cy Young. There are three big candidates for this, let's jump in.

The nominees are:


Randy Wolf
-When Randy Wolf is healthy, he can be one of the most effective pitchers in the game. Wolf set new career highs with 34 starts and 214.1 innings worth of pitching this year. And he posted a 3.23 ERA over that span (in his career: second only to his 3.20 ERA in 2002). Maybe Wolf wasn't always lights out, but he was consistent. And over a long season, that means a lot. In fact, in only one start this year did Wolf not go a full 5.0 innings. And in 29 of his 34 starts, Wolf went 6.0 or more innings. All in all, a pretty good year for Wolf.


Clayton Kershaw
-30 starts, 185 Ks, and a 2.79 ERA is a nice line of stats. When you consider that those numbers were put up by a 21 year old kid in his first real full season, they look so much better. The future is bright for Kershaw.


Jonathan Broxton
-He's the "J's Dodger Blog 2009 Reliever of the Year." Isn't that good enough?!



...and the winner is...


Clayton Kershaw.

Randy Wolf had a career year, and I want to take nothing away from him, but just check some of the stats Clayton Kershaw has:

8th in all of baseball in ERA. 7th in all of baseball in strikeouts per 9 innings. 2nd in all of baseball in fewest homeruns per 9 innings. 1st in all of baseball in fewest hits per 9 innings.

Not to mention his ERA at home this year was 1.83.

I mean, this kid is good.

And he's 21.

Here's to the bright future. Clayton Kershaw is the winner of "J's Dodger Blog 2009 Cy Young Award."

*Deep Breath*

I was going to go with "Huuuu huuuuhhhh," but I'm not sure entirely how to spell out a deep breath. And I only do this because that's one of the few ways I can express my feelings on tonight's game.

And believe me, I had a lot of feelings. First, stunned silence. Then anger. Sadness. Denial. And now it's just deep breaths. In a way, they're kinda deep breaths of acceptance. We are down 3-1 in the NLCS. Our season is on the brink of ending, and our prospects don't look good.

I'd recap what happened for you, but chances are you've already seen it, and if you haven't, you probably don't want to know. Trust me, if you didn't see it, all you want to know is that we lost.

So, let's move on. Let's look ahead. It's easy to call it a season. It's easy to say we have no chance to come back. And in all honesty, it's probably the wise and correct route to go, so I don't blame anyone who wants to feel that way.

But here's how I'm going to look at it.

I am going to remain cheerfully (possibly ignorantly) optimistic.

And why not? I've, for a long time, believed in the idea of hoping for the best and expecting the worst. So... what is the absolute worst that happens? We lose Game 5 on Wednesday and go out in the NLCS. Ok.

And what's the best? Well, consider this. Coming into these three games in Philadelphia, would you be content with winning just one game out of three and bringing the series back to Los Angeles? No, it's not the ideal situation, but if I knew coming in we'd be able to bring the series back home, I would be content. Frankly, it's kind of what I was expecting anyway. I wasn't expecting a blowout and a heartbreaking loss in the span of two nights, but ultimately, how you lose doesn't matter in the end.

Look, all I'm saying is this: wait for Game 5. As crushing as this game was, and as bad as Game 3 was, we are still not eliminated yet. Again: We're not eliminated yet. Take it one game at a time. If we win Wednesday, then we've gone 1-2 in Philadelphia, and we're only down one game. Then we take it home. Then, who knows?

Right, Randy Wolf (via Dodgers.com)?

"All we have to do is win three in a row," said Dodgers Game 4 starter Randy Wolf, who was one out away from picking up a win against his former team.

"No matter how you spin it, when you're that close, it hurts. You feel stunned. It's not a good feeling and you've just got to move on. It's always tough to swallow. Now we have the opportunity to make something magical happen."

Don't give up hope. We've played underdog all year. We've come from behind all year. We've done some magical stuff already this year. Why not do some more?

3-1 is not impossible.

Why can't we do this?

Week Recap: 08/31/09 - 09/06/09

Hey, remember last week when I said: "...we still need to beat up on the teams we should be beating up on, starting tonight against Arizona."

NO ONE IS LISTENING TO ME!!!

The Dodgers went 3-4 this week against the fourth and fifth place teams in our division. That's just ugly.

Let's just do Round 18 of COLD, HOT, or ROOM TEMPERATURE:

COLD:

• Russell Martin - .217 (5-23), 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BBs, 3 Ks - Interesting week for Martin, who found himself leading off at the beginning of it. He was quickly moved back into the bottom third of the lineup. Nothing seemed to matter. Another bad week in what is a pretty bad year.

• Orlando Hudson - .214 (3-14), 1 2B, 1 BB, 3 Ks - Hudson only made it into four games this week. Why? Ronnie Belliard started taking starts away from him. Maybe for good reason. Hudson is struggling at the plate, and if he doesn't start turning it around, he might find himself losing more starts.

• Matt Kemp - .160 (4-25), 2 HR, 3 RBIs, 1 BB, 4 Ks - Tough week for Kemp, who still came through with a couple homeruns, but not much else. Though not for lack of trying. Only four strikeouts in the week. He's just not hitting them where they ain't.

ROOM TEMPERATURE:

• Clayton Kershaw - 0-1 (1 start), 1.50 ERA (1 ER, 2 R, 6.0 IP) - Statistically, it was not a bad week for Kershaw. But, oh, what's this? "Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw will miss his next start after bruising his right shoulder when he ran into the outfield wall during batting practice." Now this is an important thing to note, and I can't stress this enough, especially for young pitchers: DO NOT RUN INTO WALLS! Again, I cannot stress this enough. You may think running into a wall might have some added benefit, or hey, maybe it even looks fun. I can assure you, it's not. So please, for the sake of the children, do not run into walls.

HOT:

• Ronnie Belliard - .304 (7-23), 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 1 BB, 6 Ks - Yeah, I could probably do with less strikeouts, but Belliard was actually one of the few guys in the lineup who was coming up with some big hits this week, including smacking a homerun in his very first at-bat in Dodger blue.

• Jonathan Broxton - 0-0, 3 SVs (4 games), 0.00 ERA (4 IP), 7 Ks - Good week for Broxton. He gave up just a few hits here and there, but mostly, he's been effective. Keeping the pitch count low, getting some strikeouts, and probably, most importantly, not walking anyone this week.

• Randy Wolf - 1-0 (2 starts), 2.77 ERA (4 ER in 13.0 IP), 12 Ks - Wolf continues to be one of the more solid, reliable starters in our rotation. Not much more to say about Wolf that hasn't already been said. Just, keep up the good work, I guess.

• Jon Garland - 1-0 (1 start), 2.57 ERA (2 ER in 7.0 IP), 6 Ks - A nice homecoming for the kid from Valencia. He started out kind of slow, but settled in and really delivered an excellent start. Plus, he made himself a strong contender for the number four spot in the playoffs.

Another series with Arizona? I'm so tired of them. Then this weekend, we'll take on San Francisco in a pretty big series. This would be a good time for our hitting to start kicking it into gear.

Week Recap: 08/24/09 - 08/30/09

Wow. I haven't written an article (non-week recap) in a while. I guess, for right now at least, I'm just going with the flow. The Dodgers are up, they're down, they're up again.

Let's look at this week, for example.

The Dodgers lost the first game in Colorado, and had their division lead cut down to two. Everyone starts to get worried (me included).

We then win the next two games, and leave Colorado on a series win, with a bigger lead in the division race than we came in with.

We go into Cincinnati, take two out of three, and finish the weekend with a division lead of six games on both the Giants and Rockies. Which means, as up and down as we've been in the last month and a half, we've really only lost two or three games on our division rivals. So, with all the run around, and all the drama, we're really back where we started.

In any case, the Dodgers went 4-2 on the trip. ...and look at that, our second week in a row of over .500 baseball.

And that brings us to Round 18 of HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE:

COLD:

• Casey Blake - .158 (3-19), 1 HR, 1 RBI, 4 BBs, 4 Ks - The homerun is nice. Drawing some walks is nice. Most of the rest of his stat line isn't so nice. Come on Blake, pick it up.

• Charlie Haeger - 0-0 (1 start), 15.43 ERA (4 ER in 2.1 IP), 2 HR - Haeger had only one start this week, and got roughed up a little bit during it. It's ok. Knuckleballers are susceptible to getting rocked every now and then. Just rebound in your next start, please.

ROOM TEMPERATURE:

• Rafael Furcal - .250 (7-28), 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, 4 Ks, 2 GiDP - Come on, Furcal, you're supposed to be fast! How do you ground into double plays? Two of them! Still, at least you're hitting the ball a little. .250 isn't pretty, but it's better than .167.

• Andre Ethier - .333 (8-24), 3 2Bs, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs, 7 Ks - Those are nice numbers, I'm not going to lie. However, it's all in context (as I've said too many times before). Ethier had two excellent games to start the week in Colorado (6-8, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs) but went on to finish the road trip in weak fashion (2-16, 6 Ks).

• Vicente Padilla - 1-0 (1 start), 3.60 ERA (2 ER in 5.0 IP), 4 Ks - The start was solid enough. Ideally, you'd like to get a few more innings out of your starter, but he did keep us in the game through five innings. Not great, but solid.

HOT:

• Clayton Kershaw - 0-0 (2 starts), 2.70 ERA (4 ER in 13.1 IP), 17 Ks - Two nice starts for Kershaw this week, after struggling a bit during August. Plus, 17 Ks in 13.1 IP? That's good stuff.

• Randy Wolf - 1-0 (1 start), 1.23 ERA (1 ER in 7.1 IP), 5 Ks - Another quality start for Wolf, who's really adopted the title of staff ace in the last month or so. Nice stat: Wolf has won his last four starts. I guess that's karma for not getting any decisions in the first half.

• Matt Kemp - .360 (9-25), 1 2B, 3 HRs, 8 RBIs, 2-3 SBs - Kemp really put on a show this week, the high point coming in the form of a monster homerun in Cincinnati on Sunday. He also later added a game winning sac-fly. Plus, he's set new career highs in homeruns and RBIs this week. And he's got another month to go. If he keeps this up, he'll have some really, really nice numbers by season's end.

Here comes September, and frankly, it should be easier from this point on. Only six games in all of September against an above .500 team (the Giants). But, we still need to beat up on the teams we should be beating up on, starting tonight against Arizona.

Week Recap: 08/17/09 - 08/23/09

We're back, for another week recap.

Dodgers started the week splitting two games with the Cardinals, before losing the third game and the series.

They started the next series by taking three straight from the Cubs, before the Cubs won the fourth game, avoiding the sweep.

They went 4-3 during the week, going over .500 in a week for the first time in the last month. All things considered, not a terrible week.

Which brings us to Round 17 of HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE:

COLD:

• Rafael Furcal - .167 (5-30), 2 RBIs, 5 Ks - Furcal's season long slump continues. Which begs the question, how long does a slump go in a season before you just declare the season a waste? Furcal's shown some flashes of brilliance recently, but this week was a regression.

• Manny Ramírez - .200 (5-25), 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 BBs, 5 Ks - Talk about slumping. Manny's been pretty punchless recently (.240 slg this week) but now he's not even getting the regular base hits.

ROOM TEMPERATURE:

• Casey Blake - .250 (6-24), 2 HRs, 4 RBIs, 6 Ks - Not too many hits this week for Blake, but he did drive in some runs, including two on solo homeruns. It's good to see Blake flashing a little power again after hitting only one homerun in 34 games from June 27th to August 6th. He's hit three since then (obviously two in the last week).

HOT:

• Matt Kemp - .333 (7-21), 2 2Bs, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 5 Ks, 1-2 SBs, .905 OPS - A nice week for Kemp, despite blowing his bobblehead night (0-4).

• George Sherrill - 0-0, 1 SV, 2 HLDs (3 games), 0.00 ERA (3.1 IP), 2 Ks - Sherrill collected his first save as a Dodger this week, but this "HOT" is just to acknowledge that Sherrill has been excellent since arriving in L.A. He's appeared in 11 games so far, going 11.2 scoreless innings while holding opponents to a .195 BAA. He's also picked up six holds over that time, plus the save this week.

• Randy Wolf - 1-0 (1 start), 1.29 ERA (1 ER in 7.0 IP), 5 Ks - Only one start this week for Wolf, but another quality one, holding the Cubs to one hit over seven innings. Good stuff.

• Jonathan Broxton - 0-1, 2 SVs, 1 HLD (5 games), 0.00 ERA (1 unearned run in 5.1 IP), 9 Ks - A nice bounce back week for Broxton, the only black mark being the loss he took against the Cardinals, though that could be attributed as much to Russell Martin as to Broxton. Either way, I guess he doesn't need time off like I suggested last week.

• Charlie Haeger - 1-1 (2 starts), 1.93 ERA (3 ER in 14.0 IP), 9 Ks - Haeger had to face the Cardinals' and Cubs' lineups this week, and came out pretty unscathed. In fact, Haeger was probably only two bad pitches away from shutting down both teams this week. For a guy who was just supposed to come up and eat some innings, he's done a lot more than that for the Dodgers. Whether this keeps up or not is yet to be seen, but for now, I'm just going to enjoy watching that knuckleball dance.

Alright, big time series coming up now. Three games in Colorado. The Rockies play later tonight, and depending on how that goes, they could be either 3 or 4 games behind by the end of the night. Looking at the pitching matchups, they seem to favor us, but with the way the Dodgers have been hitting, who knows?

Week Recap: 08/10/09 - 08/16/09

Hey peeps. Another week, another week recap. Let's do it.

The Dodgers started the week strong enough, taking two out of three from the Giants, in San Francisco.

This, however, was followed up by a poor showing in Arizona, where the Dodgers lost their first two games, before beating down the D-Backs in the third game to avoid the sweep.

And with that, let's do Round 16 of HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE:

COLD:

• Casey Blake - .095 (2-21), 1 3B, 5 BBs, 11 Ks - Oh Casey. What happened? Striking out in more than half of your at-bats? That's poor form, Mr. Blake. Poor form, indeed.

• Russell Martin - .091 (2-22), 2 Ks - Russell Martin was moved into the 2nd spot in the lineup at the beginning of the week and responded by not hitting. Not to say he's not trying. Only two strikeouts. He's just not hitting it where they ain't. One of his hits came on Sunday, after he was moved back into the 7 spot. And he also missed another two on good plays by Stephen Drew. Hey, who knows? Maybe this week he'll find a few holes.

• Jonathan Broxton - 13.50 ERA (3 ER in 2.0 IP) 1-2 SVs (2 games), 3 HRs - Broxton is struggling. There's been a lot of talk this week in the blogosphere over what to do with Broxton. Some say promote George Sherrill to closer. Others say leave Broxton alone. Others say, put him on the DL. Frankly, each side has valid arguments. I'm still riding the fence on this, but I'm starting to think that maybe Broxton needs a DL trip. Sherrill has proven himself to be reliable, he can take over the closer role for a few weeks. Broxton has given up a run in four of his last seven outings. He gave up three homeruns this week after giving up only one this entire season. And watch some video of the homeruns. They are bad pitches. Really mis-located fastballs and flat sliders. He's become hittable. So, I propose we give him a couple weeks off now, let him regroup, let him keep off his feet (I know he says his toe isn't a problem, I'm not convinced it isn't the source of all this). Let Broxton relax for a couple weeks, then, bring him back and make him the closer again.

ROOM TEMPERATURE:

• Hiroki Kuroda - 1-0 (2 starts), 1.59 ERA (2 ER in 11.1 IP) - I wasn't entirely sure what to do with Kuroda's week. Statistically, it was an excellent week. In actuality, it was a pretty bad week for Kuroda. You've probably seen it, but just in case, in Kuroda's start against Arizona, he was hit in the head with a comebacker and had to be taken to the hospital. Though, and this also led to my confusion, maybe he should be looking on the bright side. He's not seriously injured, or worse. The x-rays and scans came back negative, so he'll live to fight another day. When that day will be is yet to be seen, but above all, his recovery is the most important thing. So, good for his stats, bad that he got hit, good that he wasn't seriously hurt. (P.S. SoSG takes an interesting look at Kuroda's pitching mechanics. It's easy to see how what happened was probable.)

• Manny Ramírez - .348 (8-23), 2 2Bs, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, 3 BBs, 7 Ks - Yeah, Manny hit .348 this week, but like I warned last week, it's all in context. Manny had three good games this week (2-4, 2-3, 3-4), and three bad games (0-3, 1-5, 0-4). He's riding a weird roller coaster, showing up and looking good in one game, then coming back the very next day, going 0-3 and striking out twice. Just odd.

HOT:

• Andre Ethier - .440 (11-25), 3 2Bs, 1 HR, 7 RBIs, 1.180 OPS - Ethier continues to hit extra base hits, and drive in runs, but after being pretty good for the last month and a half or so, he's finally starting to see that average rise again (up to .281 as of today). Also, he continues to be clutch, adding a huge game-tying base hit in game three of the San Francisco series (that was lost in extra innings by the bullpen) to his series of late-inning hits this season.
  
  

• Randy Wolf - 2-0 (2 starts), 2.30 ERA (4 ER in 15.2 IP), 13 Ks - And the stats don't tell the whole story. When you look at the box score for Sunday's game, you see Wolf went 7.2 IP, giving up three earned runs. And while that's nice, the final line is almost a slap to the face of the game Wolf actually pitched, holding the D-Backs to 1 hit over seven innings, retiring 20 in a row, striking out 10. And on top of that, Wolf went 4-8 at the plate this week, with a double, a homerun, and three RBIs. Overall, not too bad a week.

Tough couple of series coming up. Cardinals and Cubs. I'm going to the game tonight. I'll get to see a knuckleballer! Charlier Haeger is going against the Cardinals. It might not be pretty, but it should be interesting.

First Half Recap - Pitchers

Alright folks, there's your first half. No week recap this week. Instead, we'll take a look back at the first half.

And what better way to do that than with a little HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE?

We'll start with pitchers:

COLD:

• Will Ohman - 1-0, 5 HLDs (21 games), 5.84 ERA (8 ER in 12.1 IP), 4 HRs - I was totally for the Ohman signing when it happened near the end of Spring Training. I thought he could be a helpful lefty out of the pen, I thought he could eat a few innings. I thought wrong. Ohman stunk. He gave almost a hit per inning, and more walks than strikeouts. And way too many homeruns per innings pitched. In any case, Ohman now sits on the DL and it's unknown when he'll be back. Though frankly, it's become a moot point anyway.

• Hiroki Kuroda - 3-5 (10 games, 9 starts), 4.67 ERA (28 ER in 54.0 IP) - Yeah, this was the guy that started Opening Day for us. Well, unfortunatly, that's all he started for us until June. And since that return in June, he's been sub-par. He did have two quality starts, peaking with a 8.2 IP, 2 ER, 9 K performance against the White Sox on June 23rd. But, since that point, his starts have gotten progressively shorter, and his ERA continues to rise. His stats aren't too bad (less hits than innings pitched, and a better than 3:1 K to BB ratio) but he's just giving up runs. Here's to hoping for a better second half for a guy who's supposed to be our 2nd or 3rd starter.

• Cory Wade - 2-3, 7 HLDs(27 games), 5.53 ERA (17 ER in 27.2 IP) - Talk about a fall from grace. Cory Wade was going to be our setup guy for our setup guy this year. Simply put, he hasn't been. He's in a bad position for a guy who throws the way he does. He relies on movement of pitches and placement of pitches. The pitches aren't finding the zone enough (less than 2:1 K to BB) and when they do, he's getting hit too often (28 hits in 27.2 IP). Luckily for the Dodgers, other pitchers have stepped up and filled Troncoso's role (more on that later).

ROOM TEMPERATURE:

• Guillermo Mota - 3-2 (38 games), 3.51 ERA (16 ER in 41.0 IP) - Mota has had two seasons in one. Before May 18th Season: 15 games, 9.00 ERA. After May 18th Season: 23 games, 0.35 ERA. Yeah. What In The World?! I've always been indifferent to Mota, and I still am. I won't deny how excellent he's been these last two months, but do I trust him? No. Do I want him in, in big pressure sitations? No. But if I can have it so the 12th guy out of the bullpen for the Dodgers has a mid-3.00 ERA then I'll be a happy man.

• Randy Wolf - 4-3 (19 starts), 3.45 ERA (44 ER in 114.2 IP) - Well, Wolf's been consistent to say the least. Over his 19 starts, he's averaging 6.0 IP a start, about 2.5 ER, and about 4.5 Ks. And really, if you take a look at his game log, most of his starts are around that area. Some are better, a few are worse, but really, most are about the same. It's ok, not great, though I suppose it's what you want out of your number four starter. And consistancy is nice in many ways.

HOT:

• Ronald Belisario - 1-3, 10 HLDs, (43 games), 2.42 ERA (13 ER in 48.1 IP) - Belisario has been solid as the 7th inning guy a good portion of this year. Unfortunately, he might have been used too much, too fast. He's on the DL now, indefinitely, and that could spell some trouble for us in the near future.

• Ramon Troncoso - 3-0, 5 SVs, 8 HLDs (41 games), 1.75 ERA (11 ER in 56.2 IP) - For a guy who was pretty much an afterthought last year, he's really established himself as an excellent setup man this year. And honestly, it's surprising how he does it. He gives up a lot of hits and a lot of walks. But he's been getting the well timed strikeout or double play, and as long as he keeps it up, he'll keep his ERA low.

• Clayton Kershaw - 7-5 (18 starts), 3.16 ERA (35 ER in 99.2 IP), 99 Ks - Kershaw actually leads the starting staff in ERA, and that's due to a recent streak where he has really been locked in. Since June 16th, Kershaw is 4-0 in 6 starts with a 0.76 ERA. Not bad for a 21 year old.

• Jonathan Broxton - 6-0, 20-22 SVs (38 games), 3.10 ERA (14 ER in 40.2 IP), 65 Ks - Broxton has been crazy good this year as the Dodger closer. 65 Ks in 40.2 IP? Crazy. Good. Unfortunately, he's hurting a little bit right now. His toe could be causing him problems, and now there is some talk it could be a year long problem. With Belisario out, and Broxton maybe not at 100%, the bullpen could be in a little trouble.

• Chad Billingsley - 9-4 (19 starts), 3.38 ERA (47 ER in 125.1 IP), 119 Ks - Billingsley has really taken over as ace of the staff. He's been a little up and down recently, but his body of work over the whole year has been fantastic. He's near the top in many of the major statistics in the National League, and for it, he was rewarded with a trip to the All-Star game.

Ok, there's the pitchers. Home Run Derby is tonight.

First Half Recap for Hitters is tomorrow. See you then.

Week Recap: 06/29/09 - 07/05/09

Hey people, welcome back. Let's talk about the week.

Compared to last week, this one was a considerably better.

The Dodgers started the week by splitting the first two games against Colorado, before shutting them out in the third game to take the series.

They followed this with the return of the Dreadlocked one on Friday, a game in which they beat the Padres. The bullpen blew a lead Saturday to allow the Padres to even up the series. Sunday could have ended worse than Saturday, with the bullpen blowing an even bigger lead, but the Dodgers pulled it out in extra innings to secure the game and the series.

They went 4-2 on the week.

Ok, that's settled, let's get to the meat. Round 12 of HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE:

COLD:

• Orlando Hudson - .000 (0-16), 6 Ks - Now, admittedly, Hudson's had a pretty weak month as it is, but this week was of Russell Martin-esque proportions. Hudson isn't making solid contact, if he's even making contact at all. Interestingly enough, he was named to the All-Star team just in time for Joe Torre to bench him for several games. If I could offer some advice to Hudson, look for that silver lining.

ROOM TEMPERATURE:

• Russell Martin - .263 (5-19), 2 BBs, 2 RBIs, 5 Ks - Week 2 of the Martin Leg Lift Watch. He was actually benched earlier in the week, a la Hudson, in an attempt to, I don't know, wake his bat up? It almost worked. He went 4-8 in his first two games back, before going 0-6 in Sunday's game. Yew.

• Rafael Furcal - .364 (9-26), 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB, 4 R - How do I label a guy who batted .364 "ROOM TEMPERATURE"? Watch me. Well, honestly, I do this because Furcal has had two weeks in one. The first three games of the week? Furcal went 1-10. The last three games of the week Furcal hit .500 (8-16). Which Furcal will show up next week? Who the hell knows?

• Jonathan Broxton - 0-0, 2-3 save opportunities (4 games), 6.75 ERA (3 ER in 4.0 IP), 8 Ks - Guess who else had an up-and-down week? No, not Brad Ausmus. Broxton started the week going three scoreless innings, striking out seven out of nine batters, collecting two saves. Then Sunday? Broxton. What was that? One inning pitched, three walks, two hits, three earned runs, and one very blown save. It's weird, it's like he and Hudson both had negative reactions to being named to the All-Star team.

HOT:

• Chad Billingsley - 0-1 (2 starts), 3.45 ERA (6 ER in 15.2 IP), 16 Ks / .333 (2-6), 1 2B, 1 HR - You know who didn't have a negative reaction to being named to the All-Star team? Stop guessing Brad Ausmus, he's not in this week's article. Billingsley had two nice, quality starts this week, but really became a victim of his circumstance. He went 7.2 innings against Colorado in his first start of the week, allowing only three runs over that span. Unfortunately for Chad, his counterpart Jason Marquis was dominating the Dodgers that game, and Chad ended up taking the loss. Then, in Billingsley's second start, he held the Padres to one run for eight innings, before allowing a homerun to start the 9th. He followed that up by allowing a double before getting pulled. Who was he pulled for? Ausmus? No. Broxton, who proceeded to allow not only Billingsley's runner to score, but three more runners after that, to effectively cancel out almost everything Billingsley did that game. Everything, that is, except for Billingsley's first career homerun, which gave the Dodgers an extra run that was, ultimately, pretty important.

• Brent Leach - 0-0 (5 games), 0.00 ERA (0 ER in 2.1 IP), 1 HLD, 1 K - Talk about being a workhorse. Oh, you weren't talking about being a workhorse? Well, start talking about it so I can interject with this point: Brent Leach appeared in five of the Dodgers' six games this week. And he did well. And he's been doing well. And I'd like to acknowledge that. After struggling when first being called up, Leach has settled into his role, and since the beginning of June, has posted a 1.80 ERA. He's the left handed reliever we were actually looking for.

• Jeff Weaver - 1-0 (2 games), 0.00 ERA (0 ER in 4.0 IP), 5 Ks - A nice week for Weaver. He had a Rocky inning against Colorado (see what I did there? Yeah, I'm ashamed of it, too) but battled out a jam by striking out the side. He then went three scoreless innings on Sunday to hold the Padres at bay while the Dodgers took a 13th inning lead. This was especially important, because it would have been a bad game to lose. It was the difference between winning or losing a series to the lowly Padres. The difference between finishing the week over .500, or just at .500. It was big, and Weaver came up big for us.

• James Loney - .304 (7-23), 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBIs, 3 BB, 1 SB - You know who else came up big for us Sunday? Aus... never mind. Loney did. A big 13th inning homerun to put the Dodgers up for good. Loney also collected a hit in every game this week, so there's also that.

• Randy Wolf - 0-0 (2 starts), 2.25 ERA (3 ER in 12.0 IP), 12 Ks - Wolf bounced back from an ugly week to put up two quality starts this week. Not much else to say other than good work.

• Juan Pierre - .381 (8-21), 1 BB, 1 RBI, 5-7 SBs - This is not just for Juan Pierre's week. It's for the last 50 games. Listen, Juan, I really appreciate you filling in admirably during the suspension. I'll ignore the fact that after your nice May, you batted .264 during June (.319 OBP). You were put in a bad position. This is the second year you thought you'd be a starter and the Dodgers have brought someone in to replace you. And for the most part, you've handled it in a classy way. Yeah, there was some trade demanding and a little complaining, but you never stopped showing up to play. And yes, your reward is a trip back to the bench with the occasional start. It's tough, I can imagine. So this is just to say: Thanks. Thanks for doing what you do. And who knows, maybe we'll find you a nice home somewhere else, where you can start and be free to run where you please. But for now, please quietly return to the bench and readjust to your role. I know you will, that's what you do.

Ok then folks. That's it. One last road trip this week before the All-Star break. Here's to finishing the first half strong.

Week Recap: 06/22/09 - 06/28/09

Wow. That was pretty bad.

Seriously, can we all agree this has been the worst week for the Dodgers this entire season?

They started the week pretty good, taking the first game from the White Sox. They then went on to lose the next two games. And with that, they lost their first series in a month.

But they bounced back, by beating the Mariners in their first game on Friday. They then, again, went on to lose their next two games.

And with that, they've lost two series in a row, the first time that has happened this season.

The Dodgers went 2-4 on the week.

Let's do Round 11 of HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE:

COLD:

• Randy Wolf - 0-1 (1 start), 13.50 ERA (5 ER in 3.1 IP), 3 HR - Wolf's start this week was not so much a start as batting practice. He got lit up. Homeruns left and right. Not pretty for a guy who's become our 2nd starter.

• Cory Wade - 0-0 (1 game), 36.00 ERA (4 ER in 1.0 IP), 2 HR - Continuing to build on Wolf's start, Wade came into the game to give even more homeruns. And if getting lit up in a Wolf-like way wasn't bad enough, Wade got demoted to AAA later in the week. I don't know what it is, but there is definitely something missing in Wade's game, and unless he can get it back, there are going to be issues in Wade's immediate future.

• Ronald Belisario - No stats for Belisario this week, just a finger wag. Belisario got picked up early Saturday morning on suspicion of DUI. That is definitely a no-no. Joe Torre has apparently given Belisario a good talking to which I'm glad happened. Drinking and driving is probably one of the stupidest things you can do, and Belisario needs to know that something like this happening again won't be tolerated, regardless of how good he's been this year. I'd hope for some sort of apology from Belisario, but I'll be ok with just a quiet promise to never do anything like this again.

ROOM TEMPERATURE:

• Eric Milton - 0-1 (1 start), 7.20 ERA (4 ER in 5.0 IP), 7 Ks - What are you supposed to make of Milton's start? I was at the game, and frankly, Milton just looked hitable. He'd get two strikes, then leave one over the plate to be whacked. But as bad as that is, Milton settled down and retired the last 8 batters he faced in order. I just can't quite figure out how a guy who got racked in his first trip and a half through the lineup, pitched so well his 2nd and 3rd time through. Just odd.

• Andre Ethier - .167 (3-18), 3 HR, 7 RBIs, 4 BBs, 5 Ks - Yeah, given the lack of hits Ethier has had this week, he should be "COLD" but how can I bring myself to label a man "COLD" who had a 3-homerun game this week? Answer: I can't.

• Russell Martin - .238 (5-21) 1 2B, 3 BBs, 4 Ks - How's the first week been for the post-leg lift Martin? Eh. Better than some of his recent 1-hit weeks, but still not as good as you'd like to see out of your All-Star catcher.

• Hiroki Kuroda - 1-1 (2 games), 3.60 ERA (6 ER in 15.0 IP), 14 Ks, 0 BBs - Kuroda is in the same boat as Milton. What do you make of his starts this week? Here's a look at the lines: at CHW - 8.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 hits 9 Ks / vs SEA - 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 hits, 5 Ks. That same Chicago offense that ripped up Wolf and Wade was rocked to sleep by Kuroda. His game was even better than his line shows, with one of those runs being some-what of a gimme-run late in the 9th. The Seattle game was ok, but Kuroda had more than a couple innings of shakiness in it with an offense less potent than the White Sox. Again, just odd.

HOT:

• Clayton Kershaw - 1-0 (1 start), 3.00 ERA (2 ER in 6.0 IP), 8 Ks - Kershaw turned in his third straight quality performance, and he's doing it at just the right time. Who'd have thought that at this point, the rest of the starters on the pitching staff would be question marks, and the 21 year old half-rookie would be the most solid starter? As long as he keeps it up, I'm ok.

There we go. Like I said, not a great week for the Dodgers. In fact, a horrible week, with the only real bright side being Kuroda's first start, and Kershaw's start halting our small two-game losing streak. However, that's been followed up with another two-game losing streak.

And now Jim Tracy's red-hot Rockies are coming into town, looking to make up some ground in the NL West race.

If things weren't interesting enough, guess who's coming back at the end of this week just as our offense is dying.

Yeah, things are REALLY going to get interesting.

Week Recap: 06/01/09 - 06/07/09

Woo... busy day, sorry for the late post. Let's do this:

Dodgers started the week losing the first game to Arizona before coming back to take the next two and the series.

They followed that up by splitting a four game set against Philadelphia.

They went 4-3 on the week.

And now, I'm going to hit you with Round 8 of HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE. Get ready:

COLD:

• Orlando Hudson - .143 (3-21), 1 2B, 2 RBIs, 1 run, 3 BBs, 3 Ks - Oh, Orlando, what has happened to you? You haven't really stood out much in the last couple weeks, but you've still been solid this whole year, and then... this week? Come on, Hudson. 3 for 21? Sheesh...

• Russell Martin - .056 (1-18), 1 BB, 6 Ks, 1 GIDP - A bad start to the month of June for Martin, who was "HOT" just a couple weeks ago. Last week, he cooled down to "ROOM TEMPERATURE." Now, just plain "COLD." One hit this week. One.

• Randy Wolf - 0-1 (2 starts), 8.03 ERA (11 ER in 12.1 innings), 3 BBs, 5 Ks, 3 HRs - Talk about cooling down. Wolf was "HOT" last week? What happened? He had his two worst starts of the season this week. He's been hitable this week, 15 hits in 12.1 innings.

ROOM TEMPERATURE:

• Matt Kemp - .292 (7-24), 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 7 Ks, 1 SB, 1 GIDP - Just one "ROOM TEMPERATURE" guy this week: Kemp. He had a hitting streak snapped this week and struck out almost as many times as he got on base. Still gotta give him some credit though for the .292. 'Tis ok.

HOT:

• Hiroki Kuroda - 0-1 (2 starts), 1.64 ERA (2 ER in 11.0 innings), 11 Ks, 6 BBs - Not a bad return for Kuroda, even with the loss. He hasn't thrown too many innings in either of his starts (5.0 and 6.0) because of early high pitch counts. The three walks per start didn't help. I'll chalk that up to rustiness coming back from injury, and so long as he's keeping that ERA low, I'll be happy.

• Guillermo Mota - 0-0 (4 games), 0.00 ERA (0 ER in 5.1 innings), 3 Ks - I don't want to take too much credit for this, but Guillermo Mota hasn't given up a run since I labeled him "COLD" three weeks ago (a week after called him "replaceable.") I'm going to go ahead and say that lit a fire under him. So, now the question becomes: What to do with him? I mean, I feel like we all know he has more than a couple bad outings left in that arm of his, and they are bound to show up sooner or later. But how do you get rid of a man who's pitched 9.1 scoreless innings in his last 8 games? I just hope when the inevitable melt-down occurs, it's not in a big game. Who knows, though? Maybe he's turned the corner... (Nah...)

• Jonathan Broxton - 1-0 (4 games), 2 saves, 0.00 ERA (0 ER in 4.0 innings), 1 hit, 8 Ks - Broxton just continues to be lights out. 8 of the 12 outs he got this week we're by strikeout. And guess how many of those were swinging? ...All 8. Broxton has nasty stuff, and he's figured out how to locate it. Hitters are in trouble.

• Andre Ethier - .370 (10-27), 3 2Bs, 3 HRs, 5 RBIs, 5 runs - How do you not label a man "HOT" who won two games in a row with walk-off hits? It's no secret to anyone that Ethier has struggled in the last month or so. But here's to hoping this week was a sign of good things to come. Ethier was significantly involved in three of the Dodgers' four wins this week. He's got some power going, he's hitting for high average, he's scoring runs. He was just doing things right this week. Please keep it up. Please.

Alright. Weird week coming up. Just five games? I'm going to need to find my sports fix elsewhere I guess.

Maybe in the loving arms of a basketball team heading for a championship? Sounds pretty good.