Rubby serves me a Plate of Crow and Suchon on the Giant Morning Show

Rubby De La Rosa dominated last night,  is he the "Pedro Martinez" that we won't let get away this time?

It was nice to see Rubby De La Rosa make me look like a fool with my comments from yesterday’s post in which I said I didn’t see any “can’t miss” prospects coming out of the farm system.  I should have known better, because I saw De La Rosa pitch well in Arizona a week ago and he was impressive.

Last night’s 5 2/3 inning stint against Seattle was absolutely masterful.  I was watching the Seattle Mariner feed and they couldn’t stop raving about Rubby.  In fact, in the 4th inning, a visitor to the booth was Mariner General Manager Jack Zduriencik.  He was immediately asked about his club and he started raving about De La Rosa, the fact that the Dodgers snatched him up for only $15,000 and that he was hitting 99 on the radar gun.

I can't get this song out of my mind with the Rubby name.  (Yeah, I know the original song is about a girl named Ruby).  It doesn't matter though, Donald Fagen's 1982 recording of this Dion classic is great.

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Dodger Talk Co-host Josh Suchon

So I got up this morning to listen to Giant flagship radio (KNBR), the Murph and Mac Show, interviewing Josh Suchon.  The smack talking began, bright and early.  Suchon was introduced as the “former northern California kid, turned Dodger Superstar.”  Host Brian Murphy then started in stating that “flying over Dodger Stadium today will be World Championship gloating.”

Suchon didnt miss a beat stating, “You guys are still talking about the World Series?  Act like you’ve won one already.”  He added that a phone call woke him up this morning and when he saw that it was from the 415 area code, he knew “it was on.”

They asked Suchon about the Dodgers and what is going on with them.  Suchon’s responses were that it has been relatively quiet spring.  He mentioned the group of 5 on the D.L., the transition to Mattingly and then they started talking about Kershaw.

For five minutes the hosts and Suchon spoke of Kershaw’s potential, his demeanor, the nasty aresenal of pitches, his lack of run support, his Cy Young potential, the 1-0 shutout he pitched against the Giants in the midst of their Pennant run last September.  Suchon also mentioned what a good person he is, his philanthropy, the trip to Africa, the $100/strikeout donation to African homeless children.  It was a good segment and showed the Giant listenership the type of person that Clayton is.

He was asked about Uribe and how he thought he’d be received in San Francisco.  Suchon turned it around and said that Dodger fans have questioned the acquisition and will forever question acquisitions of former Giant players after the Jason Schmidt debacle.  He added that Uribe was convinced to move to L.A. by Dodger coach Manny Mota due to their close connection.

Brian Murphy started talking smack about Matt Kemp, saying that he seemed “disinterested” in attempting to catch a fly ball in a spring training game against the Giants in Scottsdale.  Suchon was immediately defensive of Kemp and said “he is poised to have a Monster season.”  THe S.F. hosts were surprised, and Suchon continued stating that Kemp is the kind of player that “needs to be playing with a smile on his face.”  He added that the departure of Bowa and Schaeffer from the coaching staff and replacing them with Lopes, his agent’s best friend (Dave Stewart), was something that has made “his smile return.”  He further added that Kemp is in shape, that he lost weight and gained muscle and he’s hungry to succeed this season.

Ethier’s comments were discussed next and Suchon stated that Ethier is a “strange guy” that always has to play with a chip on his shoulder, dating back to his days at Arizona State.  He added that Andre isn’t due for free agency for two years and that there is no way that he will be non-tendered after this season.   He said that each season, Andre feels he needs to prove himself because the Dodgers have brought in other outfielders (i.e. Jose Cruz Jr., Luis Gonzales, Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre) and that these internal issues have seemed to drive him to perform well. 

So the conversation came back to the Giants again.  The hosts starting gloating about the Giants swagger, their new first baseman, Brandon Belt, who they described as “Will Clarkesque.”  (It should be noted that the Giants announced that Belt will be starting at First Base and that Travis Ishikawa was designated for assignment).   They also mentioned that the Panda has arrived in shape and skinny, the pitching staff is set for years and that the Giants are set for a run for years to come that will lead them into dynasty type status.   I loved Josh’s response:

“Giant fans this spring have gained a reputation of obnoxiousness that surpasses Boston Red Sox fans.  Word around all the Arizona spring training venues, be it Surpise, Mesa, Glendale, Peoria was that their fan base was extremely arrogant.  Don’t start printing the 2015 World Series Tickets before the 2011 season is played.”

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Interesting and "spot on" perspective of the Giant-Dodgers rivalry by Jon Weisman over at Dodger Thoughts:


http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/dodger-thoughts/post/_/id/11939/giants-dodgers