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?
Week 3 was a step back from Week 2.
2-4, losing two straight series on the road, just like Week 1. So for those of you keeping score at home, Dodgers are 4-2 in games at home against the NL West ... and they are 4-8 in games on the road against the rest of the league.
This week was particularly infuriating as the Dodgers were able to find new ways to lose, utilizing both slugfests (11-9 to the Reds on Tuesday) and pitchers' duels (1-0 to the Nationals on Sunday) to fall two games under .500 on the season.
At least a turn around can't be too far away, right? Alright, enough of that, it's time to hand out some stars.
Matt Kemp - Kemp went 7-24 on the week, with a two homeruns and a couple walks. He did go 0-4 on Friday, though, bringing the total amount of games this year in which Kemp has not collected a base hit to: 2.
Andre Ethier - Ethier went 7-23 this week, with three walks and a couple homeruns.
James Loney - Loney went 9-27 on the week with a walk and three doubles.
Rafael Furcal - Furcal went 8-28 this week with a double, two triples, two walks, and four stolen bases.
Carlos Monasterios - Monasterios pitched 4.1 scoreless innings this week in two appearances and collected his first career win.
Quality-Relief-High-Five!
Clayton Kershaw - Kershaw had a solid start this week. One start, nothing Earth-shattering, but he held the Nationals to two runs in 6.0 innings on Saturday.
Chad Billingsley - Chad Billingsley had two starts this week. One was of high quality, one was of suck quality. Billingsley went 6.0 strong innings against Washington Sunday, allowing just one run while striking out five ... and if that was his only start this week, he would've walked away with three stars. Except that on Tuesday he went just 3.0 innings and gave up 7 runs. Yeah, only four we're earned, but Billingsley's own error led to the other three, so really ... they count. Ironically, Billingsley took the loss in Sunday's start, but walked away with a no-decision on Tuesday. Either way, one bad start, one good start equals something like two stars.
Garret Anderson - First the positive: Anderson hit a pinch hit homerun this week. Now the negative: he went 1-12 this week, the one hit being, of course, the homerun. Anderson started the season 2-5, and has since gone 3-30. He's sporting a .441 OPS right now, which is just ... nifty.
Anderson, collecting a hit on April 11th, after which he's gone 1-19.
Week 1 = Bad. Week 2 = Good. Week 3 = Bad. Week 4 = ? It has to be good, right? Maybe this is the week we finally get above the .500 mark. Maybe.
Week 2 in the books for the Dodgers, and we witnessed a nice improvement.
The Dodgers went 4-2 on the week, beating both the D-backs and the Giants in three game sets.
But, like always, there were ups and downs, and luckily, I have a 4 Star system to deal with just that!
Clayton Kershaw - Two good starts for Kershaw this week. On Tuesday, he went 5.1 innings against Arizona surrendering only two runs, and followed that up by going 7.0 strong against the Giants, giving up just one solo homerun while striking out nine.
Andre Ethier - Ethier went 11-26 this week, with three homeruns, and nine RBIs. He had a multi-homer game and a walk-off hit.
Matt Kemp - Kemp went 8-25, with a double and four homeruns, which came on four consectutive days. Meanwhile, Kemp is also riding a eight game hitting streak and has collected a base hit in all but one game this season.
Jonathan Broxton - Broxton threw four scoreless innings of relief this week, bring his season total to 5.2 scoreless innings. He hasn't gotten a lot of work, but he's looked solid when he's gotten it.
Vicente Padilla - How nice of Vicente to show up in his third start of the year: 7.0 innings, 7 Ks, three runs. Solid. He lowered his ERA from 11.42 to a sparkling ... 8.04. Good start, but I'd like to see that just a little bit lower. Little bit.
Hiroki Kuroda - Speaking of solid, Kuroda's one outing this week: 3 runs (2 earned) in 7.0 innings against Arizona.
Chad Billingsley - Chad Billingsley had three good scoreless innings, and then fell apart. He surrendered six runs in his next three innings.
Charlie Haeger - Haegar was put in the Arizona game for relief on Wednesday, despite making 117 pitches on Sunday. Now, I know the idea is that knuckleballers can pretty much pitch any day because they aren't straining themselves that much, but 117 pitches is still 117 pitches, whether he was throwing knuckleballs or not. I'm not saying it necessarily affected him, but he did then proceed to give up seven runs (five earned) in 3.0 innings against San Francisco on Saturday. The knuckleball wasn't working and tired or not, Haeger still got lit up.
Russ Ortiz - Tough week for Russ Ortiz. Six earned runs in 3.2 innings. I was never a big fan of Russ Ortiz ... and apparently, neither was the front office. They designated Russ for assignment on Sunday, recalling pitcher Jon Link. He leaves the Dodgers with an 0-1 record, and a 10.29 ERA in six games. So long, Russ.
So, overall, nice turnaround for the Dodgers, but a 4-2 week still only puts the Dodgers at .500.
And here's the bad news: the Dodgers head back East for a nine game road trip. You know what that means? More Steve Lyons. Sigh.
Well, one week in the books for the Dodgers and they are off to a 2-4 start, which is a bit unexpected. I mean, when you looked at the schedule and saw the Dodgers were starting the season against Pittsburgh and Florida, you thought that we'd at least finish this week 4-2, right? Sure you did. And no one blamed you for it.
But here we are, several bullpen implosions later, and the Dodgers finish a road trip that they could have hypothetically gone 5-1 on, with a record of 2-4.
Anyway, enough of what could have been. Let's look at what really was. Last season, on my weekly reviews, you might remember I had a "HOT" "COLD" and "ROOM TEMPERATURE" system. Well, I'm tired of that. I now introduce my new system: a Four Star rating! With real stars!
What's the difference? Now there's four tiers instead of three!
Does it change much? No!
Does it mean anything? No!
Am I having flashbacks of Jim Tracy interviews right now? Yes!
Enough of that, let's do this!
Hiroki Kuroda - Kuroda only had one start this week, but went 8.0 innings and surrendered only one unearned run while striking out seven.
Matt Kemp - Painful error in Sunday's game aside, Kemp went 9-28 this week, with three doubles and a (monster) homerun. A side note: maybe it's just me, but does it seem like Kemp is chasing more bad breaking balls this year? He was definitely showing improvement on that aspect of his game last season, but so far this week, he's taken some bad hacks at sliders he'll never get to. Chalk it up to Opening Week nerves?
Ronnie Belliard - Belliard made the most of his playing time this week, going 6-12. He went 3-5 on Thursday with a double, a triple, and a homerun, just missing out on the cycle. If he keeps this up, he might make a case for more playing time.
Charlie Haeger - Haeger went 6.0 solid innings in his start, striking out 12 ... 12 (!) Marlins. He did surrender a pretty ugly three run homerun to Jorge Cantú and allowed a fourth unearned run (see aforementioned painful Matt Kemp error) but I won't hold that against him. Six innings, three runs is almost exactly what you'd hope for from a 5th starter.
Chad Billingsley - Billingsley went 5.1 innings in his only start this week, and was solid. He only gave up one run while striking out seven. Still, he gave up five hits and four walks in just those 5.1 innings, and saw his pitch count over 100 by the 6th inning, and that my friends, is not pitching effectively.
Russ Ortiz - Ortiz had two good outings (three innings) to start the season before imploding on Friday. Ortiz came into the game in the 9th inning, with a 7-1 lead, gave up a single, retired one batter, and gave up two walks to load the bases, bringing Joe Torre out of the dugout to pull him.
Ramon Ortiz - The other half of the Ortiz power hour, Ramon had almost the opposite week of Russ. Ramon went two scoreless innings in his third outing on Saturday. This, unfortunately, was only after his first outing, when he allowed three inherited runners to score before giving up a run of his own, and his second outing, in which he allowed the Pirates to score the winning run in the 10th inning on Wednesday.
Clayton Kershaw - Kershaw struggled a lot in his first start. A LOT. He only made it 4.2 innings while giving up five hits and walking six. By the time Kershaw was pulled with two outs in the 5th inning, he had made 109 pitches and left with the bases loaded. Jeff Weaver came in and got out of the inning without any more damage. It was not a good start to the season for Kershaw. On the other hand, he still managed to only give up three runs, so I can't bump him down to 1 STAR.
Vicente Padilla - Padilla made two starts this week in which he only made it 4.1 innings into the game. In his first start, he was charged with seven runs (three given up by Ramon Ortiz). In his second start, he gave up four runs and left with two runners on in the 5th before Weaver came in to bail him out.
George Sherrill - Sherrill gave up two runs in 27.2 innings of work last year for us. In three games this year (two innings), Sherrill has given up five runs. On Monday, he gave up a big three run homerun that basically closed the door on any hope of a comeback in that game. On Saturday, he blew a save and gave the Marlins a win by surrendering two runs in the bottom of the 9th.
Ok, there you have it. The Stars and lesser Stars of the first week that was. 2-4. Sigh.
So... that happened. 11-5 to the Pirates.
Look, Opening Day is just another game, and an Opening Day loss is just one of many that will happen this season. There's really not a whole lot that should be made of what happened today.
... That being said, I have some notes.
1. This isn't just reactionary as I've felt this way for a little while. I don't like Vicente Padilla. I've not really ever been a fan of his, even during the good times, for a couple reasons. One, I just straight up don't like the guy. He's a hothead, his ex-teammates tend to not like him, and (though this one is just something I feel and I have no plausible way of proving) he seems to carry a bad air around him, in that, he's the kind of guy who spends an off-season recovering from a bullet wound. Two, he's not that good a pitcher. We gave him a contract this offseason pretty much based on the 8 games he played for us at the end of last season, and the one good start he made in the playoffs, and we did this completely ignoring the fact he had a near five ERA in Texas before we picked him up. In fact, Padilla hasn't had a sub-4.00 ERA for a season since 2003. He hasn't been a good pitcher for a long time. Anyway, long story short, I'm not a Vicente Padilla fan.
But he probably doesn't like me much either, so it's ok.
Now, here's the other problem. People are going to look at this game, see Padilla got shelled and claim the Dodgers don't have an ace. First off, "aces" aren't real things. You are either a good pitcher, or you aren't. "Aces" are just good pitchers dressed up by color commentators and newspaper columnists as mythical creatures. Second, just because Padilla started today, does not make him the Dodgers' "Ace" and frankly, if people we hinging their hopes for the season on the Vicente Padilla wagon, they deserve to be scared into thinking the season is already over.
2. I also don't like Ramon Ortiz and Russ Ortiz. This isn't too reactionary either as I didn't care for either when they were signed this offseason. Ramon had a bad game. Russ was better. I don't think either is a good fit for a major league team. Yes, both had good Springs, but that doesn't necessarily translate to regular season success.
...which brings me to:
3. Carlos Monasterios, who also had a good spring, and is someone I'm genuinely glad to see we kept on the roster. Monasterios had a good outing today, but again, I'm trying not to take too much from one game, so we'll have to see if he can keep up his success.
4. George Sherrill game up more runs in one inning today than he did in all 30 appearances combined that he made for us at the end of last season. Something is seriously up with Sherrill, and I'm thinking he might have a DL trip soon, if only just to work out his mechanical issues and not necessarily for an injury.
5. The hitting was ok today, but my God do we have to cut down on leaving all these runners in scoring position. The Dodgers went 2-13 with runners in scoring position today, and giving up 11 runs aside, that's no way to win a game.
6. ...and finally, I've come to a conclusion about all non-Vin Scully Dodger announcers. The Rick Monday - Charlie Steiner comedy hour is nearly impossible to listen to. If these two take over the booth when Vin hangs it up, I will watch games with a sharpened spoon jabbed in each ear.
Eric Collins is bearable when he doesn't say things that are stupid, which he's ok at, half of the time.
Steve Lyons is bearable when he doesn't say things that are stupid, which is a two-minute window that occurs only once a week. I was trying to think if I've heard Steve Lyons say something [interesting/meaningful/insightful/different/all of the above] in the four (five?) years he's been calling Dodger games. I can't think of an instance where I said to myself: "Thank God Steve Lyons was here to clear things up for me." ... Seriously, do we even need Steve Lyons anymore, or can we just stick someone in the booth with a Steve Lyons soundboard? Would anyone know the difference?
Alright, enough of that.
The game, like I said, is just one game, and there are 161 to go. They can't get much worse, right?
Although, I guess they can never get too much better.
Clayton Kershaw's three games since then:
