Andre Ethier Wins MLB Fan Vote

As the 2009 "Most Clutch Player".

Proper English be damned.

Gay For 'Dre.

2009 WAR Leader - Relievers

Jonathan Broxton led the way with a WAR of 2.9, a full 2 wins better than the next Dodger reliever. Broxton's WAR not only led all Dodger relievers, but was a Major League Baseball best this year for relievers by about half a win.

2009 WAR Leader - Starting Pitchers

Clayton Kershaw led the way with a WAR of 4.2, over a full win above the next Dodger pitcher, Chad Billingsley. Yeah, that's right, Chad Billingsley was still a damn valuable pitcher for the team this year.

2009 WAR Leader - Batters

Matt Kemp led the way with a WAR of 5.1, almost a full win above the next Dodger.

Mark Timmons Is As Intimidating As He Is Knowledgeable About Dodgers Baseball

Which is to say not at all.

I am truly honored to have been labeled a troll by you, Mark Timmons.

Though I think it's safe to say The Big Dodger In The Sky would be siding with kensai, stat lovers, people who believe in logic, and myself on this one.

He's like a slightly more annoying Bill Plaschke. -------->


Wow, never did I think I would hear myself utter those words.

Kudos to you.

Mark Timmons, now with 50%* more annoying than Bill Plaschke.

This concludes another installment of "Write Like Bill Plaschke Day".




*Math may be incorrect, because as we all know, "statistics....WILL NEVER capture the power of the human spirit!" - Mark Timmons*

Lambo Leap

Andrew Lambo has been tearing it up in the Arizona Fall League.

Jamie McCourt's Termination Letter (UPDATE)

Via 6-4-2 and TMZ (Christ I hate TMZ).

"However, your actions, including, but not limited to, your insubordination, non-responsiveness, failure to follow procedures, and inappropriate behavior with regard to a direct subordinate, have made this decision necessary."

UPDATE: H/T to reader Daniel Ha for passing along this link that may indicate who Jamie McCourt was seeing that led to the line "inappropriate behavior with regard to a direct subordinate" being included in the termination letter linked to at the top of the post.

Links On A Friday Night

Matt Kemp was named an All-Star by the Sporting News. How in the hell does Ryan Franklin beat out Jonathan Broxton? [The Sporting News 2009 NL All-Stars]

Keith Law's latest chat over at ESPN. Some Dodger Talk included. [Chat With Keith Law]

Ryan (madison,wi)

Who says no: Fielder for Kemp?

Klaw

(1:35 PM)

Dodgers. With howls of derisive laughter.

Ryan (Andover)

MSM sentiment seems to be that the Dodgers weren't "tough enough" to beat the Phillies. I say having to start Vincente Padilla in an LCS elimination game is more likely the problem.

Klaw

(1:49 PM)

I'm with you. And how much money did Padilla cost himself by returning to form in last night's game? That whole "he's a new man" meme just took a bullet to the heart when he walked off the field.

Craig (Bethesda, MD)

Really...How bad of a tactical manager is Torre? I knew he was terrible, and was against his hiring from the beginning- but Game 1 was an absolute disaster, and his decisions on Starting Pitchers was a farce. One thing I will never understand is why when Kuo blows hitters away in the 7th, he has to switch to Sherrill in the 8th. Is Kuo's fragility the basis on that switch or is he a manager who just follows a pattern?

Klaw

(2:04 PM)

I didn't get that either. It's October. If you blow Kuo out and win the World Series ... I love Kuo, but he's probably going to blow out anyway, whether it's pitching or signing an autograph. The one thing for which Torre has been criticized unfairly, in my opinion, was starting Kershaw in game one. He has the best stuff of anyone on their staff and his command has been improving for a year now. Who was the alternative? Padilla?

This Should Be A Fun Divorce

CEO Jamie McCourt has been fired by soon-to-be ex-husband Frank McCourt.

Please guys, just think of the children*.





*And by children, I mean the young core of the team that should have been given long-term contracts 3 days before the day after tomorrow.*

Phillies 10, Dodgers 4: NLCS Game 5 Recap: Notes From Wednesday's Game

1. Vicente "Hot Hand" Padilla was the Vicente Padilla of old, and by old I mean his entire career before the last couple of months with the Dodgers. His line on Wednesday was quite unimpressive (3 IP, 6 ER, 4 Hits, 3 K, 2 BB, 2 HR Allowed, 55 pitches - 34 for strikes). He had a good run, and hopefully runs somewhere else for next season.
2. Bullpen: 5 IP, 4 Runs, 4 Hits, 7 K, 2 BB, 3 HBP, 1 WP, 2 HR Allowed.
3. Andre Ethier, James Loney, and Orlando Hudson each hit solo home runs. Ethier's HR was his 3rd this postseason, Loney's was his 2nd, and Hudson's was his first career postseason HR, and the first pinch-hit HR for the Dodgers in postseason play since Gibson in '88.
4. Ethier (HR, Single), Manny (Single, BB), Loney (HR, BB), and Ronnie Belliard (Single, BB) each reached base twice.
   
5. The offense struck out 7 times while drawing just 3 walks.
   

Game Log.


Next year is just around the corner, and this team can without question make it back to this point, and beyond, with the talented core of players it has.

Happenings In Blue

Ned Colletti was given a multi-year extension by the team on Tuesday. This was pretty much going to happen, though I wish they would have let him go and gone with Kim Ng as GM.

-------------------------------------------------------

Vicente Padilla will start Game 5 on Wednesday, bumping Clayton Kershaw to a possible Game 6.

-------------------------------------------------------

Don Mattingly interviewed for the vacant Cleveland Indians managerial gig on Tuesday over the phone.

Phillies 5, Dodgers 4: NLCS Game 4 Recap: Notes From Monday's Game

1. Randy Wolf went 5.1 innings (3 ER, 4 Hits, 2 K, 2 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 88 pitches - 51 for strikes).
2. Bullpen: 3.1 IP, 2 Runs, 1 Hit, 2 K, 2 BB, 1 WP, 2 HBP.
3. Jonathan Broxton had his first poor outing of the postseason (1 IP, 2 ER, 1 Hit, 1 BB, 1 HBP), and it came at the worst time. A badly located fastball sealed the deal tonight. Shit happens. And sometimes it's bad shit. Shit you don't want to happen. That's life.
   
4. A bad pitch, two when you include the one in game 4 of the NLCS last year, does not mean "Broxton sucks" or "he should be traded" or "George Sherrill is better". Those are knee-jerk, and factually incorrect, reactions.
   
5. Matt Kemp hit his 2nd postseason HR, and first since Game 1 of the NLDS.
6. Kemp (HR, BB), Russell Martin (Single, BB), James Loney (2 Singles), and Ronnie Belliard (Single, BB) each reached base twice.
7. The offense struck out 7 times while drawing 4 walks.
   
8. The Dodgers stole 3 bases.

Game Log.

Phillies 11, Dodgers 0: NLCS Game 3 Recap: Notes From Sunday's Game

Well, that was interesting.

1. Hiroki Kuroda was awful, atrocious, and horrifyingly bad all rolled into one (1.1 IP, 6 ER, 6 Hits, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 4 XBH Allowed, 39 pitches - 20 for strikes). Blame the layoff, blame the neck injury, blame whatever you want, but he was bad. Plain and simple.
2. Bullpen: 6.2 IP, 5 Runs, 5 Hits, 6 K, 7 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 1 WP. 4 relievers.
3. Chad Billingsley made his first appearance since September 29th, and considering the long layoff, I thought he pitched well (3.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 Hits, 3 K, 2 BB). He didn't run into trouble until his last inning of work, Feliz's triple would have been caught at Dodger Stadium, and he threw somewhere between 5-10 pitches that made the Phillies hitters look foolish. Shane Victorino's bat in the stands would attest to that. I'm already on record as saying I would have started him, and my opinion hasn't changed. I wonder, has Torre's?
4. I would have left Billingsley in to pitch, probably until the end of the game. At least through the end of the 6th inning, and probably the 7th inning. Saving the bullpen was clearly a priority tonight.
   
5. Manny Ramirez (2 Singles) and Ronnie Belliard (Single) were the only Dodgers to reach base. That's right, 3 baserunners.
6. The perfect recipe to not score runs: the offense struck out 10 times and drew 0 walks.
7. One disconcerting note is that the offense has been progressively worse in each game of the NLCS.
8. There's always tomorrow though.
   

Game Log.

Dodgers and Phillies Have One Drive-By, Premeditated Murder Each So Far

Because this series is the Bloods vs the Crips.

What did you think I was getting at?




One quote from Stu Bykofsky, columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, just to whet your appetite:

Are we going to lose to these nitwits?

Dodgers 2, Phillies 1: NLCS Game 2 Recap: Notes From Friday's Game

1. Vicente Padilla was very good over 7.1 IP (1 ER, 4 Hits, 6 K, 1 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 95 pitches - 69 for strikes).
2. Bullpen: 1.2 IP, 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 K, 0 BB.
3. Jonathan Broxton has pitched in all 5 postseason games thus far in 2009 (5.2 IP, 5 K, 0 BB, 0 HR Allowed), going 1 inning to close out today's win. He induced 2 ground outs and 1 line out, and has allowed only one ER thus far, which came on a poor defensive play and fielder's indifference.
   
4. Once again, patience is key, as is drawing walks. The offense struck out only 4 times, but only drew 2 walks. That needs to change.
5. Of course, one of those 2 walks was the game-winning, bases-loaded walk from Andre Ethier.
6. Jim Thome had a huge pinch-hit single in the 8th inning.
7. Russell Martin (Single, HBP) reached base twice, the only Dodger to reach base more than once.
8. The win is the 44th comeback win of the season, postseason included.
   

Game Log.

A much different Tommy than last night.

Phillies 8, Dodgers 6: NLCS Game 1 Recap: Notes From Thursday's Game

1. Clayton Kershaw's one bad inning should not overshadow the rest of his outing, but it will (4.2 IP, 5 ER, 4 Hits, 3 K, 5 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 3 WP, 92 pitches - 48 for strikes). He couldn't find the plate for much of the 5th inning, and he missed badly on Carlos Ruiz's HR. Again though, he's 21. 21.
2. Bullpen: 4.1 IP, 3 Runs, 4 Hits, 3 K, 2 BB, 1 HR Allowed.
3. George Sherrill hung a pitch to Raul Ibanez, who didn't miss.
4. Manny and James Loney each hit their 1st HR of the postseason. Road Loney coming up big at home, hopefully a trend that continues.
5. James Loney (HR, 2 Singles, BB) reached base 4 times, Andre Ethier (HR, Double, 2 Singles -- H/T to katebrianj5 for catching my error) reached base 3 times, and Matt Kemp (2 Singles), Russell Martin (Double, Single), and Ronnie Belliard (2 Singles) each reached base twice.
6. Patience is a virtue, as is drawing walks. The offense drew 3 walks while striking out 5 times.
   

Game Log.

All Is Not Lost

Because of one game.

And because Tommy Lasorda got to take a cat nap in the 8th inning. Aww, doesn't he look precious? So cute, I could just eat him up!

Scott Elbert Added To NLCS Roster

Jeff Weaver has been dropped.

Good move. You can't have to many lefties when facing the Phillies.

Previous NLCS Roster moves here.

Kershaw To Start NLCS Game 1, NLCS Roster Revealed

The right choice. He's our best pitcher.

---------------------------------------------------

NLCS Roster and Roster Moves:

• Chad Billingsley will pitch out of the bullpen. I disagree. I hope Ned (I assume he gets extended in the offseason) doesn't do anything rash and trade him. I'm holding my breath and hoping to exhale.
• Vicente Padilla starts Game 2.
  
• Hiroki Kuroda returns from a neck injury. He'll start Game 3.
• Randy Wolf goes in Game 4.
  
• Jon Garland is off of the NLCS roster.
  

Part Deux

Dodgers-Phillies NLCS Announcers Announced

Via Awful Announcing:

Chip Caray, Ron Darling, Buck Martinez and Craig Sager

I Wonder

Why would someone dressed as Batman make me want to learn more about global warming?

For reference, the guy on the right plus a clipboard is about right.

Caption This Photo: Alex Rodriguez Is A Hall Of Fame Hide and Go Seeker

It's A Celebration Bitches! Part 2

Dodgers win the NLDS.

Photo slideshow via Big League Stew.

Dodgers 5, Cardinals 1: NLDS Game 3 Recap: Notes From Saturday's Game

1. The Dodgers swept the Cardinals, the second consecutive year they have swept their NLDS opponent.
2. Vicente Padilla was pretty darn good in his first postseason start (7 IP, 0 Runs, 4 Hits, 4 K, 1 BB, 97 pitches - 69 for strikes).
3. I made my feelings known about my preference of starting Chad Billingsley instead of Padilla, and this start changes nothing. I'm thrilled Padilla pitched well, but I still believe it was the wrong decision to pick him ahead of Chad. Results, good or bad, don't justify the logic used to come to a decision. Batting A-Rod 8th in a playoff game isn't intelligent, even if you win the game. I just hope Chad is given the opportunity to start at some point this postseason.
   
4. Bullpen: 2 IP, 1 Run, 2 Hits, 2 K, 1 BB.
5. Andre Ethier hit a huge 2-run HR in the 3rd inning, a 400+ foot shot. It was his 2nd HR of the postseason, and his second in as many games.
6. Jonathan Broxton has earned himself a rest, pitching in all three games. He threw 3.2 IP total over the 3 games, including 2 stints where he recorded 4 outs. Albert Pujols was the first batter he faced in each game, and Big Jon retired him 2 of the 3 times, with the third being a single. He struck out 4 and walked none in the series, and the one run charged to him was aided by fielder's indifference and a horrible defensive play by Matt Kemp in Game 1, which probably would have led to the run being unearned had they correctly charged Kemp with an error.
7. Ethier (HR, Triple, Double) and Manny (2 Doubles, Single) reached base 3 times each, while Rafael Furcal (2 Singles) reached base twice.
8. The offense needs to exhibit more patience, like in Game 1, as they struck out 11 times while drawing no walks in the clincher.
9. The Dodgers begin the NLCS Thursday against the Rockies or Phillies, barring anymore snow-related postponements.

Game Log.

Dodgers-Diamondbacks Complete Jon Garland Trade

The Dodgers and D-Backs have completed the August 31st Jon Garland trade, sending the man rumored all along to be the PTBNL, Tony Abreu, out to the desert.

As I stated when this trade was first consummated, it's an overpayment for a mediocre pitcher in Garland who, yes, we could have done without. Did Garland pitch well, sure (3.82 xFIP, 3.73 FIP, 2.72 ERA, 6.4 SO/9 IP in 36.1 IP), but he also had the great fortune to face Arizona, Arizona, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and San Diego in his 6 starts in Dodger Blue. When those are the 6 teams you're facing, the story would be not pitching well.

Ned Colletti doesn't understand value, especially the value of prospects, a point I've mentioned once or twice:

Ned has a history of selling top prospects short and not getting anywhere near sufficient value back for them, and it would shock no one if he did it again.

Oops, he did it again.

Links On A Friday Afternoon

Orlando Hudson will most likely not be starting anytime soon. Ronnie Belliard, swing away. Not that he needs anyone to tell him that. [Hudson Supports Belliard]

The Washington Post jumped the gun just a bit on who won last night. [Washington Post]

The real reason why Matt Holliday dropped James Loney's sinking liner in Game 2. [Ninth-Inning Nightmare]

Footage of Babe Ruth in the outfield. [A Ruthian Mystery]

Dodgers 3, Cardinals 2: NLDS Game 2 Recap: Notes From Thursday's Game

1. Clayton Kershaw, 21 years old and making his first career postseason start, was very good over 6.2 IP (2 ER, 9 Hits, 4 K, 1 IBB [to A-Pu], 1 HR Allowed, 1 WP, 107 pitches - 67 for strikes).
2. Bullpen: 2.1 IP, 0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 K, 0 BB.
3. Andre Ethier hit his 1st career postseason HR, off of Adam Wainwright, to tie the score at 1 in the 4th inning.
4. Jonathan Broxton pitched a scoreless 8th inning, retiring Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, and Ryan Ludwick. Smart move by Joe Torre to use his best reliever against the opponent's best hitters, regardless of the inning. Broxton kept the score at 2-1 Cardinals.
5. Ronnie Belliard and Mark Loretta singled in runs in the 9th inning to complete the Dodgers' 43rd come-from-behind victory of the season.
   
6. Russell Martin (Single, BB) and Rafael Furcal (Single, BB) were the only Dodgers to reach base more than once.
7. Matt Kemp started a great relay to get Colby Rasmus at third after his run-scoring double in the 7th inning. James Loney's great cutoff of Furcal's throw home ended Rasmus's attempt at a triple.
   
8. The offense was less patient than in Game One, striking out 7 times while only drawing 3 walks.
9. Slash played the national anthem on his guitar, and George Lopez threw out the first pitch. I only caught a glimpse of it, but I saw him throw a perfect strike back on September 16th at the Manny Curtain Call Bobblehead Giveaway Day. This one, not so much.
   

Game Log.

Dodgers 5, Cardinals 3: NLDS Game 1 Recap: Notes From Wednesday's Game

The Bison attacks its prey with unmitigated force.

1. Randy Wolf was wild and in a baserunner-giving mood (3.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 2 K, 5 BB [2 IBB to A-Pu], 1 HBP, 82 pitches- 46 for strikes). 13 12 baserunners in 3.2 IP. Damn.
2. Bullpen: 5.1 IP, 1 Run, 5 Hits, 5 K, 0 BB, 1 HBP.
3. Matt Kemp had a huge 2-run HR in the 1st inning, his first career postseason HR. A fielding miscue in the 9th and a couple poor at-bats as well, but those can be corrected.
   
4. Jonathan Broxton went 1.1 innings and struck out 2.
5. Andre Ethier (Double, Single, BB), Rafael Furcal (Triple, 2 Singles), James Loney (2 Singles, BB), Casey Blake (2 Singles, BB), and Ronnie Belliard (Single, 2 BB) each reached base 3 times, while Manny (Double, BB) and Russell Martin (2 BB) each reached base twice.
   
6. The offense drew 8 walks while striking out just 6 times (only 3 of those Ks coming against Chris Carpenter).
7. Eric Gagne was in attendance.
   

Game Log.

Joe Schmo

Padilla over Billingsley for Game 3?

Shit.

Somehow Joe will probably skip Chad for Game 4 if it is necessary. The man is so damn lucky he had great players every year with the Yankees.

Matt Kemp in ESPN The Magazine

Happy to see Matty get some well-earned recognition.

Forgot to mention this when I read the article. It's a very recent issue, maybe even the last one.

I'm too lazy to check.

Out In The World

And I see a girl holding a "Free Hugs" sign.

I saw her get 1 taker.

I decided against a free hug from a stranger.

Maybe next time.





*This concludes our "Writing Like Bill Plaschke Seminar".




*And yes, my cell phone is not a great alternative for a camera.*