Dodgers vs Giants- September 11, 2009

Live in-game tweeting Dodgers versus Giants.

Top 1st-

7:18 Andre Ethier hits a single off of Matt Cain. Career average for Ethier against Cain is .567.

7:19 Cain strikes out Manny. Ramirez's timing is completely off. In April, a pitcher falling behind 3-1 to Manny Ramirez usually turns out devastating for the pitcher. As of late, this hasn't been the case.

7:23 Kemp singles to left center field. He has one of the prettier swings in baseball

7:25 James Loney doubles into center field to score Ethier and Kemp. Loney has a better hitting average (over .300) on the road than at home (.270). He has 11 HRs on the road and none at home.

7:28 Matt Cain has thrown 30 pitches so far this first inning.

...where all are welcome.

This was taken on May 23, 2009, when Jared and I decided on a whim to drive to Los Angeles and catch the Dodgers play the Angels. We drove back to Sacramento that night. 6 hours, each way, just to catch a silly little game of ball.

It was my first trip to Chavez Ravine this year, and I remember the excitement as we drove through the parking lot and saw the ever famous "THINK BLUE" sign. I felt like a child, nervous and anxious to be in the presence of my team.

I hope posting this picture reminds me of that hope I felt :) As of late that hasn't been the case...

Love is Blind

I don't care what all you naysayers think.

THE DODGERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES THIS YEAR.

Yeah, I might be talking out of my ass right now, and yeah, there's a BIG part of me that thinks what I just wrote is bullshit but damn it, I've invested so much of my year loving this team, and there's no way I'm going to let a 2 game lead get me down.

In July I had butterflies whenever Casey Blake or Juan Pierre walked to the plate. I wore my team colors with pride and found any reason to wear my LA baseball hat. I remember jumping up and down when Andre Ethier hit back to back walk off hits against the mighty Phillies back in May. I remember sitting in Dodger Stadium a few months back, looking around, getting chills thinking, wow, this could really happen in the Fall.

The Colorado Rockies are the hottest team in baseball, working their way to the top of the NL West when at one point they were at the bottom. And the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were the hottest team in baseball, have gotten worse since the All-Star Break and are now fighting to keep their 2 game lead in the division. The Rockies have all the numbers in their favor. The statistics are there.

But when you're at a point where it's plain to see the stats aren't in your favor, it's when you turn away from numbers and just rely on blind faith.

Mid-Summer Doldrums

August is the hardest month for a baseball fan. Either your team is doing a stand-up job, and you're just bursting with excitement but dying of boredom waiting for the post-season. Or your team is in a heated battle for the penant race and suffering the fatigue of a long season in the heat of the August summer.

As for me? I'm consoling myself by being a drama queen.

The Dodgers suffered yet another loss Monday night, making them 3 games below .500 since the All-Star Break. When Casey Blake was 5 feet away from a homerun in the ninth inning which would have tied the game, in dramatic fashion I collapsed on my living room floor and mumbled to the carpet, "That's it. Let the Rockies have it. It's theirs to take."

Before going to bed I remember asking myself, why have I spent the last four months distressingly obsessed with a game that covers the entire emotional spectrum? Why have I allowed myself to become horribly enveloped with a team that was so exciting and wonderful to watch in April, May, and June, and is now breaking my heart in August?

With the buzz of football around the corner, it made me realize that it's almost September, which means post-season for the MLB is not too far away. And then comes the holidays, which means no baseball at all- only talks of trade rumors and contract deals. At that point, I thought, I'd rather go through the rigorous highs and lows of baseball, rather than to have no baseball at all. I'd rather watch a Giants game on television because I live in the San Francisco media market, rather than to watch no baseball at all. I'd rather fall in love and have my team break my heart time and time again, than to have never felt the harmonious dichotomy of quiet peace and unrelenting hunger while sitting in a baseball park.

August is the hardest month for a baseball fan. But come the end of October, the celebrating will begin for the team that took it to the end. And for the ones that didn't? Spring is only five months away.

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. ~A. Bartlett Giamatti, "The Green Fields of the Mind," Yale Alumni Magazine, November 1977

Letter to Ned Colletti

Dear Ned Colletti,

I've been curious about the front office's lack of movement in trying to build our pitching staff. It's not that I don't have faith in our current roster...it's just well...

Let me take a step back.

We don't have a Chris Carpenter. We don't have a Roy Halladay. We don't have a Tim Lincecum, Cliff Lee, or Josh Beckett. We don't have an ace.

That isn't a bad thing. We have a compelation of talent that is collectively effective. We have Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw, young guns who are still finding their groove. When they're on, they're on. We have Hiroki Kuroda and Randy Wolf, who will consistently keep the team in the game. We have Ramon Troncoso, James MacDonald, Guillermo Mota, Ronald Bellisario, Brent Leach and Hong Chi Kuo- a great but overused bullpen we can rely on. We have George Sherrill and Jonathan Broxton, lights-out closers who we use in our final innings.

But Kuroda will miss his next start due to a line drive to the head. Who knows what he’ll give us when he goes back out on the mound? Billingsley’s been out because of his hamstring, and how sure are we he’ll be back at 100%? Kershaw is young. I think fans forget this kid is only 21 years old, and this is his first full season as a starter. Sure he’s on when he’s on, but he’s still young and figuring out his arm.

Where does that leave us? Randy Wolf? He’s been pitching very consistently lately, but he’s a 6-7 innings guy. And we haven’t had a fifth starter since the beginning of the season! Because of this, our bullpen is overworked and overused, increasing their collective ERA from around 2.5 in June to over 4 now in August. And our closer, Jonathan Broxton, has eight wins. A closer shouldn’t have that many wins, and that was 8 in the beginning of July. Broxton’s been slumping lately, and he’s still working through it.

Mr. Coletti, the last time I checked, we’re here for a pennant race. We’ve been to the NLDS. We’ve been to the NLCS. We’ve tasted victory and went home with defeat. The last time the Dodgers held a World Series title was in 1988. It’s been 21 years, and if there’s a year where the players and fans could see it, this is the year.

But we need pitching. Our offense can only take us so far.

Ok, so you didn’t jump after Roy Halladay. That’s ok, no one else did, and he’s still in Toronto. I still think that was a mistake, seeing as the Blue Jays were ok with not trading for Billingsley and Kershaw. Yeah, we would have had to give up our top prospects, but we would’ve gotten Halladay for two years, and when he’s a free agent, we would have gotten top draft picks. Ok, so you didn’t jump after Cliff Lee, the Phillies did. That’s not ok. He’s 3-0 as a Philly with a 1.13 ERA. To get to the World Series we have to get through the Phillies. Sure, we took the season series against them, but that was without Lee, without a hot J.A. Happ, and with a slumping Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.

The Red Sox just released John Smoltz. I know the Dodgers are considering him, but are worried about his shoulder. Here’s my take: just sign him. The Red Sox are required to pay the rest of his contract, it would only cost LA $500,000 to sign him right away. It wouldn’t cost us anything, seeing as we saved money from Manny Ramirez’s suspension.

The Dodgers can afford to be patient with Smoltz. The Red Sox couldn’t. The Sox are involved in a very heated Wild Card race, and had no room to let an old dog rest his arm. The Dodgers, on the other hand, just need help to maintain the lead in the NL West until our pitching staff regains its composure. Throw Smoltz in the bullpen. What’s the worse that could happen?

Ok, so our starting rotation can only give us 6 innings. Throw Smoltz in the 7th, Sherril in the 8th, and then Broxton if you need to in the 9th. What do you have to lose right now? Give Kuo, Troncoso and the guys some rest. Smoltz is a veteran player, so even if he doesn’t throw lights out, he can teach the young guys a thing or two about how it’s like in the post season.

And we can’t forget the human element.

John Smoltz will have something to prove. He’s said he’s not ready to retire. He’s said he’s not done throwing. Sign him, and see what he can do.

Until then, Mr. Coletti, whether you decide to move or not, I and countless other Dodger fans are crossing our fingers and holding our breath until October.

-Jamie

Ramblings, Baseball, Etc.

What I'm looking forward to this week:

-Dodgers v.s. Cardinals. I should be worried, but I'm not. As long as we don't get swept, I'll be happy. With 44 games left in the season, we need to play .500 ball in order to get to 90 wins. If we get to 90, we'll be ok.

Tonight, it'll be Chris Carpenter against Charlie Haeger, whose debut with the Dodgers will be...tonight. He was promoted from the Isotopes last week. He's 11-6 with a 3.55 ERA and has pitched four complete games. Hopefully he'll be able to keep us in the game today, and that our offense has enough punch to get us the W. Tomorrow Billingsley starts after being on the DL with his hammie, and Kershaw gets Wednesday's start against Adam Wainwright. I think it'll be a true test for the Dodgers if they can handle a first place team like the Cards who have been playing very good baseball lately.

-Giants v.s. Rockies. I love watching wildcard rivalries because they're the only games around August where teams play like it's October. The Giants and Rockies have been sharing the first place spot for the wildcard, so it'll be interesting to watch these two teams go head to head. They'll be playing 4 games against each other in Colorado. With the Rockie's explosive offense (especially in Coors Field) and the Giant's shutout pitching, who knows what to expect from this series. One thing is for sure, I am going to be rooting for both teams to split.

Many people are saying the NL Wildcard is going to come from the West. Although it's safe to say it's too soon, it looks likely. The Marlins have been struggling, so have the Brewers and Cubs. The Marlins are the closest behind the Giants and Rockies by 5 games. Unless the Central or East comes up with a string of wins in September, there's no way any of the teams can get through the Giants or Rockies.

Needless to say, as a Dodger fan, I'm hoping this tug of war for Wildcard continues with SF and COL. The last thing the Dodgers want is to have to contend for the division because SF or Colorado picked up momentum from a sweep in this series.

Re-cap of Weekend; Mid-Summer Classic

Today marks a great day for me. It’s the first time I’m going to watch an MLB All-Star Game. I know, it sounds silly, being ridiculously excited to watch a game on television that’s more for show than anything else. But to me, it’s a day in my baseball-loving history. Whatever happens tonight, I’ll take with me through the years to come when I watch future All-Star Games.

Leading up to this day has been a very eventful weekend. Last Friday night, the San Francisco Giant’s Jonathan Sanchez pitched the team’s first no-hitter since 1976. Watching him put his hands up in triumph after the last strikeout was amazing. Watching him hug his father immediately afterwards was incredibly touching. Yes, I am a true-Blue Dodger fan, but ultimately I am a true Baseball fan, and watching history unfold in front of my eyes is something I’ll always keep close to heart.

Also over the weekend, the Angels were able to sweep the red hot New York Yankees, quietly showing the world that the Halos are going to make the entire AL fight for October.

I saw that a 38 year old, 3 time Cy Young Award winner and an 8 time selected All Star Game player who quietly exited the world of baseball in 2008 was not ready to leave it for good. Although analysts and scouts understand that this is not the same Pedro Martinez who consistently threw high-90 fastballs who won the AL Triple Crown in 1999, there’s still something in this old dog that even the defending World Champions need.

I watched the Dodgers continue to lead the league in wins. They’ve consistently struggled with pitching and manufacturing runs, but they’ve consistently compensated. After fighting through inter-league play and losing back to back series against the White Sox and Mariners, I said that the Dodgers had to win in July to prove they can make it to October. In July they were to face the red hot Rockies, the Mets who were behind the Phillies in the NL East, the Brewers who were right behind the Cards in the NL Central. So far, they’ve taken 2 out of 3 of each series they’ve faced.

It was great to see the Dodgers win over the Brewers, who have been playing very well and are playing tug-of-war with the Cardinals for first place in the NL Central. Clayton Kershaw got his groove in the rubber match, going scoreless until the 7th. Brad Ausmus, the back up catcher, in the same game going yard to help with the win. Orlando Hudson, slumping in the month of June and into July with a less than stellar batting average, hitting the ball out of the park twice.

Another great highlight of the weekend was Matt Kemp’s grand slam in the 10th inning against the Brewers to take the W in extra innings. Equally impressive was Pablo Sandoval’s 3-run homerun against the Padres (the same night Sanchez got the nono). Both plays were on the same day Jayson Werth was chosen to replace Carlos Beltran in the All-Star Game, when both players were rumored to take Beltran’s place. I wasn’t upset about it, as my brothers were (who are big fans of Panda). I knew that sometime in the future, both Matt Kemp and Pablo Sandoval would make it to an All-Star Game on their own merits, not as substitutions. Both are so young (Kemp, 24 and Sandoval, 22) and if they stay healthy, will undoubtedly make it on their own.

So the talk all of yesterday was the Home Run Derby. I was at the gym catching some of the highlights in between sets. I thought it was amazing how it definitely was Pujol’s stadium. Everyone wearing a Cardinals shirt was there for him. My favorite quote of the night:

“And Albert Pujols hits it into the St. Louis night.”

Moments like that are the reason I’m in love with baseball. It’s more than a hobby, it’s more than obsession, it’s love. I still tear up when I’m listening to XM Radio and they have a clip of Harry Kalas calling the World Series. It’s got to be love, I’m a Dodger fan willing to root for Tim Lincecum, killer of Dodgers (next to Cole Hamels) so that the NL (who ever it may be) secures home field advantage because since 1997, they just haven’t been able to do it.

And so it’s 2 hours until my first All Star Game. I’m as giddy as a little kid waiting for their favorite afternoon television show. So here’s the end of my rant, I apologize for the lack of any kind of structure in this entry. But that’s the nice thing about blogs, it’s whatever you want it to be.