Kyle Blanks Bobblehead & Picture-Filled Game Recap

Here's the bobble they gave out back in June. Yeah, I'm running late. That's the life of a lazy man.

(*click any of the below images to embiggen*)

I believe the Padres modeled this after the 12-year-old version of Kyle Blanks. Or

Miguel Cabrera. Or a baby-faced Ronnie Belliard. One of the three.

The base:

The bottom:

The card that came with the bobble and goes right behind it:

Here's the bobble with the card in place:

Photos of the bobblehead box:

Program from the game:

Some pictures from the game:

Former Dodger Mark Hendrickson

Mat Latos

Mat Latos Part Deux

Broken Bobble Chucked Onto The Field

Dodgers Notes From Wednesday's Game 6/30/2010

Dodgers 8, San Francisco 2.........SWEEP!

Box Score.

• Vicente Padilla, coming off of an excellent performance against the Yankees, went another 7 excellent innings (1 ER, 3 Hits, 5 K, 1 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 98 pitches - 66 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 WP.
• Matt Kemp hit his 13th HR, and Rafael Furcal hit his 3rd HR.
• Kemp (HR, 2 Singles, BB), Furcal (HR, 3 Singles), and Jamey Carroll (2 Doubles, 2 BB) each reached base 4 times. Russell Martin (Single, BB) and Ronnie Belliard (2 BB) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 10 times, drew 6 walks, and had 4 extra-base hits.
• Manny is day-to-day with his strained right hamstring suffered Tuesday. An MRI has been scheduled.

"It's hard to tell right now," trainer Stan Conte said. "He was walking normally when he left here. We'll take a look at him before the day game tomorrow and see how he recovers. With pulls, it's kind of hard to tell until the next day. We'll know a lot more tomorrow. I'm not thinking DL right now."

"He didn't feel it pop, so hopefully he's OK," said manager Joe Torre.

[Photos via Getty Images]

Dodgers Notes From Sunday's Game 6/27/2010

JOE TORRE SHOULD BE FIRED. IMMEDIATELY.

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

New York Yankees 8, Dodgers 6

Box Score.

• Clayton Kershaw went 7 innings (2 ER, 4 Hits, 5 K, 0 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 1 Hit Batter, 101 pitches - 63 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 3 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 1 K, 2 BB [1 IBB], 1 HR Allowed.
• Ronnie Belliard hit his 2nd HR of the season.
• Rafael Furcal reached base 4 times via a double, single, and 2 BB.
• The offense struck out 9 times, drew 5 walks, and had 4 extra-base hits.

Joe Torre has now used Jonathan Broxton on 5 consecutive days: 4 of them in an actual game, and the 5th warming up. That is unacceptable. Broxton should have never been in this game, and now we have to worry about an increased risk of injury. Damn I'm pissed off.

[Image via nomass.org]

Dodgers Notes From Friday's Game 6/18/2010

Boston 10, Dodgers 6

Ronnie Belliard appears to be having a conniption.

Box Score.

• Carlos Monasterios went 4 innings (6 ER, 8 Hits, 2 K, 2 BB, 2 HR Allowed, 72 pitches - 45 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 4 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 3 K, 2 BB [1 IBB], 1 HR Allowed, 1 WP, 1 Hit Batter.
• Garret Anderson hit his 2nd HR of the season. I would still cut him. NOW.
• Matt Kemp (Triple, Single), Russell Martin (Single, BB), and Ronnie Belliard (Double, BB) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 9 times, drew just 2 walks, and had 4 extra-base hits.
• In his return to Boston, Manny Ramirez singled in 5 plate appearances as the DH.
• Former Dodgers Adrian Beltre and J.D. Drew hit HRs.
• Nick Green signed with the Blue Jays.

Manny learned this next move from Clayton Kershaw:

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Hall Of Famer Roger Clemens shares his thoughts:

[Photos via AP and Getty Images]

Dodgers Notes From Monday's Game 6/7/2010

Dodgers 12, St. Louis 4

Box Score.

• Carlos Monasterios went 6 innings (3 ER, 4 Hits, 0 K, 3 BB, 2 HR Allowed, 86 pitches - 52 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 3 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 K, 0 BB.
• Blake DeWitt hit his 1st HR of the season.
• Rafael Furcal stole his 9th base of the season, while Ronnie Belliard stole his 1st base.
• Matt Kemp (2 Singles, BB), James Loney (3 BB), and Belliard (2 Singles, BB) each reached base 3 times, while Andre Ethier (Single, BB), Furcal (Double, Single), DeWitt (HR, Single), and Reed Johnson (2 Singles) each reached base twice.
  
• The offense struck out 6 times, drew 6 walks, and had 4 extra-base hits.

[Photo: Getty Images, via True Blue LA]

Dodgers Notes From Wednesday's Game 6/2/2010

Dodgers 1, Arizona 0

Box Score.

• Carlos Monasterios went 5 innings (0 Runs, 2 Hits, 3 K, 0 BB, 81 pitches - 52 for strikes). He appeared to have an injured finger after coming out of the game, holding a bandage on his right (?) hand. Blister perhaps? Maybe a cut? He looked to be in some discomfort.
• Bullpen: 9 IP, 0 Runs, 6 Hits, 3 K, 1 BB, 2 Hit Batters. 5 Relievers.
• Jamey Carroll stole his 3rd base of the season.
• Carroll (3 Singles, BB) reached base 4 times, while Matt Kemp (Single, BB) and Ronnie Belliard (2 BB) each reached base twice.
• Travis Schlichting made his season debut, hurling 4 scoreless innings of relief (O runs, 3 Hits, 1 K, 1 BB).
  
• The offense struck out 11 times, drew 5 walks, and had 1 extra-base hits.

Dodgers Notes From Tuesday's Game 5/11/2010

Dodgers 13, Arizona 3

Box Score.

• John Ely, in his first start since being recalled, went 6 innings (2 ER, 6 Hits, 6 K, 0 BB, 105 pitches - 65 for strikes). He has 13 K and 0 BB over his last 2 starts.
• Bullpen: 3 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 2 K, 0 BB.
• Russell Martin hit his 4th HR of the season.
• Matt Kemp stole his 5th base of the season, and hit two long fly balls that would have been HRs in just about any park other than Chase Field. When he came back to the dugout after stealing second and soon thereafter scoring, a teammate could be heard saying something along the lines of "good job staying on the base", a reference to when he slid past the second base bag in a recent game (though he made it back and was erroneously called out).
• Manny Ramirez (2 Singles, 2 BB) and James Loney (2 Doubles, 2 Singles) reached base 4 times, Martin (HR, Single, HBP) and Ronnie Belliard (Double, Single, BB) reached base 3 times, while Kemp (Single, BB), Andre Ethier (2 Doubles), Casey Blake (Double, BB), and Jamey Carroll (2 Singles) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 10 times, drew 5 walks, and belted 7 extra-base hits.
• My road trip top Arizona last summer taught me that there are a lot of Circle K's in the state (their answer to 7-11), and Dan Haren's first 3 innings were certainly emblematic of the love of K's in Arizona: 9 outs, 9 strikeouts.

Dodgers Notes From Wednesday's Game 5/5/2010

Milwaukee 11, Dodgers 3

Box Score.

• Chad Billingsley went 6 innings (4 ER, 7 Hits, 3 K, 2 BB, 1 Hit Batter, 91 pitches - 58 for strikes). He really settled down after a rough first (about half of which I missed) in which he was charged with all 4 runs on 5 hits. He also took a shot off of the leg, but appeared no worse for wear.
• Bullpen: 3 IP, 7 ER, 6 Hits, 2 K, 4 BB [1 IBB].
• James Loney (2 Singles, 2 BB [1 IBB]) reached base 4 times, Andre Ethier (2 Singles, HBP) and Ronnie Belliard (2 Singles, BB) reached base 3 times, while Russell Martin (2 Singles) reached base twice.
• I realize Garret Anderson got a base hit, but letting him pinch-hit instead of Blake DeWitt is a monumentally stupid decision.
• Casey Blake committed 2 errors.
• The offense struck out 9 times while drawing just 4 walks.
• All 12 Dodger hits were singles.

Dodgers Notes From Wednesday's Game 4/28/2010

New York Mets 7, Dodgers 3

Box Score.

• John Ely, in his big league debut, went 6 innings (5 ER, 6 Hits, 4 K, 3 BB [1 IBB], 1 WP, 1 Hit Batter, 117 pitches - 69 for strikes).

His 2nd inning looks like this: 4 ER, 4 Hits, 1 Hit Batter, 0 K, 0 BB.
Innings 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 show a different story: 1 ER, 2 Hits, 4 K, 3 BB [1 IBB], 1 WP.

I would give Ely another start, but we'll just have to wait and see if management is impressed. Ely's not an elite prospect, never was, and doesn't have overpowering stuff, but he looked good at times and is a fresh arm.

• Bullpen: 2 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 1 K, 0 BB.
• Russell Martin hit his 2nd HR of the season, a 2-run shot to left.
  
• Matt Kemp stole his 3rd base of the season.
• Jamey Carroll (Single, 2 BB) reached base 3 times, while Ronnie Belliard (2 BB) reached base twice.
  
• Andre Ethier: 0-4, 3 K.
  
• Rafael Furcal missed the game due to a tight hamstring. Jamey Carroll started in his place.
• Blake DeWitt sat today, even with a righty on the mound. I guess a .377 OBP doesn't mean much to some people.
  
• The offense struck out 13 times while drawing just 4 walks.
• Why does Garret Anderson get to pinch-hit over Blake DeWitt. Even if DeWitt were injured, his .377 OBP belongs in that situation.
  

Dodgers Notes From Friday's Game 4/23/2010

Washington 5, Dodgers 1

Box Score.

• Charlie Haeger went 5.1 IP (4 Runs [3 ER], 5 Hits, 3 K, 2 BB, 2 HR Allowed, 110 pitches - 67 for strikes). Two HRs from Adam Dunn did him in, but there's no shame in being taken yard by Dunn. Dunn's first long-ball was truly a majestic shot.
• Bullpen: 2.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 Hit, O K, 4 BB. All Ramon Ortiz, still hanging on to that valuable roster spot.
  
• Ronnie Belliard (2 Singles, BB) reached base 3 times, while Blake DeWitt (Double, IBB) reached twice.
• Matt Kemp did not reach base, the first time all season he has failed to reach base in a game.
• Manny Ramirez hit the 15-day DL due to his right calf injury, and is replaced on the roster by Xavier Paul.
• Russell Martin and Casey Blake had the day off. Both made appearances late in the contest as pinch-hitters.
• The offense drew just 2 walks, one of which was intentional.
  

Notes From Saturday's Game 4/17/2010

San Francisco 9, Dodgers 0

Box Score.

• Charlie Haeger went 3 innings and struggled with his command of the knuckleball (7 Runs [5 ER], 7 Hits, 3 K, 5 BB, 1 Hit Batter, 97 pitches - 49 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 6 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 4 K, 1 BB, 1 WP.
• 4 regulars had the day off due to injury and today being a day game after a night game, including Manny, out with a tight right calf.
• A.J. Ellis (Double, Single, BB) reached base 3 times while Jamey Carroll (2 Singles) reached base twice.
• BAD DODGER DEFENSE: Ellis and Carroll each committed an error, while Ronnie Belliard also misplayed a ball and Andre Ethier couldn't hold on to a shallow pop-up, sliding and coming up empty.
  
• The offense struck out 8 times and drew only 2 walks.
  

Manny To Miss Game Today

Manny will miss today's game after leaving last night's contest early with right calf tightness. He's replaced by Garret Anderson.

Rafael Furcal and Casey Blake also get the game off, with Jamey Carroll and Ronnie Belliard slotted in to replace them, respectively.

A.J. Ellis will once again catch Charlie Haeger, giving Russ Martin a much needed day off.

Carroll SS
Loney 1B
Ethier RF
Kemp CF
Anderson LF
Belliard 3B
DeWitt 2B
Ellis C
Haeger P

Blake DeWitt should be leading off, no doubt about it:

DeWitt-Loney-Ethier-Kemp-Belliard-Anderson-Ellis-Carroll-Pitcher

Notes From Sunday's Game 4/11/2010

Florida 6, Dodgers 5

Box Score.

• Charlie Haeger, making his first start of the season, went 6 very effective innings (4 Runs [3 ER], 3 Hits, 12 K, 4 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 3 WP, 117 pitches - 67 for strikes). The knuckle ball was dancing all game long, and A.J. Ellis had his problems holding onto it, but Haeger did what he's asked to do out of the 5th spot in the rotation: keep the team in the game and eat innings.
• Haeger struck out 7 of the first 10 batters he faced, struck out the side in the 3rd inning, and had at least 2 Ks in each of the first 5 innings.
  
• Bullpen: 2 IP, 2 ER, 2 Hits, 1 K, 1 BB.
• Manny, Russell Martin, Casey Blake, and Andre Ethier all started the game on the bench, with Dre pinch-hitting and Russell catching an inning and drawing a BB. Andre is expected back in the lineup for Tuesday's home opener.
• Ronnie Belliard (3 Singles) reached base 3 times, while Matt Kemp (2 Singles), James Loney (2 Singles), and Reed Johnson (Triple, Single) each reached base twice.
• Johnson stole his first base of the season, while Matty was caught for the first time.
  
• Blake DeWitt did not reach base at least 2 times for the first time this season.
• A.J. Ellis, in his first start of the season: 0-0, 2 RBIs, 1 BB, 1 sacrifice fly, 1 sac bunt. New Three True Outcomes, perhaps?
  
• The offense drew just 2 walks while striking out 9 times.
  

Notes From Thursday's Game 4/8/2010

Dodgers 10, Pittsburgh 2

Box Score.

The first win of the year is in the books, and I was unable to watch a single second of it. Sigh. All observations today will be made having only looked at the box score.

• Chad Billingsley had an impressive debut, going 5.1 innings (1 ER, 5 Hits, 7 K, 4 BB, 107 pitches - 66 for strikes). He struck out the side in the 4th inning, and perusing the Yahoo box score, I see almost every hit he gave up being listed as "shallow". All in all, an impressive debut for Bills.
• Bullpen: 3.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 K, 1 BB.
• Jonathan Broxton made his first appearance of the young season (though he should have been in at some point in yesterday's game) and threw a scoreless 9th inning, walking one and getting one Pirate down on strikes swinging. He threw 11 pitches, 5 for strikes.
• Manny, Andre Ethier, Blake DeWitt, Russell Martin, and Casey Blake all had the day off. Manny pinch-hit and grounded out in the 8th inning.
• The re-tooled bench was quite impressive today. It went a combined 9-21 with a HR, Triple, 3 Doubles, 6 RBI, 1 BB, a sacrifice fly, and a sacrifice bunt.
• James Loney (3 Singles), Ronnie Belliard (HR, Triple, Double), and Reed Johnson (Double, 2 Singles) each reached base 3 times, while Matt Kemp (Double, Single), Rafael Furcal (Double, Single) and Garret Anderson (Single, BB) each reached base twice.
• Belliard made 2 fielding errors at third base. They didn't bring him back for his defense, that's for sure.
  

DeWitt To Start At Second

Continuing with the good news, Blake DeWitt has been named the starting second baseman, sending Ronnie Belliard and Jamey Carroll to the bench, right where they belong.

Again Joe, wise move. Kudos.

DeWitt was originally told he'd been sent down to the minors, but it was just an April Fools' joke. The reasoning given in that joke really sounded legit though, considering the recent history of the Dodgers and all. I can see why Blake believed them:

They'd be sending the second baseman [DeWitt] down to Triple-A Albuquerque to get more at-bats with veterans Ronnie Belliard and Jamey Carroll handling second-base duties for the Dodgers.

When told that he actually would be starting in the bigs:

"I was pretty excited because I went from a real low to a real high," a grinning DeWitt said. "They played it off real good. I was not expecting it at all. Once they told me I couldn't even hardly laugh."

"It's good," DeWitt said. "I worked hard this offseason. I knew what I needed to improve in and I still know what I need to improve on. But I feel good where I'm at and I feel I can contribute to this team."

More of Torre's surprisingly sound reasoning:

"This is based on the fact that if there's a regular player out there it's Blake DeWitt," Torre said. "Dewitt is a young guy who needs to play every day. Jamey Carroll and Belliard are two guys that can play against left-handers, so we have flexibility in that regard."

DeWitt, for the record, has hit better against lefties in his career than righties. Much, much better in fact. Via Baseball-Reference:

Against Lefties: .281/.393/.449/.842, 135 OPS+, 17/19 BB/SO
Against Righties: .250/.316/.366/.682, 90 OPS+, 31/56 BB/SO

So a platoon doesn't make sense really. Belliard gets a start a week, perhaps a start at another position (1st, 3rd), and Carroll is strictly a bench player who never should have been signed in the first place (that one's on you, Ned Colletti).

Oh, and my favorite Blake DeWitt picture must make an appearance:


The excitement on his face is palpable.

Links On A Saturday Morning

Some guy I've never heard of asks who you would rather keep, Matt Kemp or Andre Ethier. I can't believe this guy was serious when he wrote this article. Of course he never gives an answer, sidestepping it at the end by calling it a tough decision that would make him pull his hair out. In what world is this a tough decision? It's Kemp every day of the week and three times on Sunday. [If You Had To Choose: Kemp or Ethier]

Hong Chih-Kuo has been shut down with elbow pain. [Dodgers Shut Down Kuo]

Ken Gurnick reports that Ronnie Belliard made weight (209 pounds) to guarantee his contract. When it takes that much motivation to lose some weight, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside that he'll be taking at-bats away, along with Jamey Carroll, from Blake DeWitt. [Belliard Contract Guaranteed]

Dodgers Add To Already Full Bench

The team re-signed Ronnie Belliard and Brad Ausmus to 1-year deals. Contract details are included in the link. Both deals are at least affordable, not surprising considering neither player is that good or consistent, and Ausmus is, to put it nicely, nearing retirement.

This effectively sends A.J. Ellis back to AAA. I find it hard to imagine he can't do what Brad Ausmus can do, with the possibility of some upside. Minimal, minimal upside, yes, but upside nevertheless.


Belliard's re-signing makes me think more and more that the club is trying to find some way to get rid of Blake DeWitt as a starting possibility at second base, which baffles me, but hey, lots of things baffle me. Lots and lots of things, unfortunately. Especially lately.

Dodgers Decide Not To Offer Arbitration....To Anyone

What an idiotic decision, punting picks galore for what comes down to paying the money for the picks, or paying the money if any of the players offered arbitration accepted and returned to the Dodgers.

Picks for Randy Wolf? Gone.

Picks for Orlando Hudson? Gone.

Pick for Ronnie Belliard? Gone.


I fear more stupid decisions are ahead.

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.