Opinion of Kingman's Performance

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Day Off # 2, Post-Season Notes

My apologies for always talking about San Francisco, but that is where I reside and when news related to the Dodgers is in the media here, I always have my eyes and ears open.

San Francisco talk radio interviewed Giants beat writer Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday.  The topic of Brian Wilson came up.  Specifically he was asked about his opinion regarding Wilson's very public rant with Giants CEO Larry Baer over his World Series ring.  Schulman, who knows Wilson and likes him a lot, had this to say.

"I worry about Brian Wilson's mental health, and I hope that he gets some help and talks to someone about it."

The Wilson/Baer episode received a lot of play in the media in the Bay Area with a lot of Brian's fans turning on him for what their perceived as improper etiquette and a slight of the the Giants owner.  Schulman simply thinks that Wilson simply isn't right and that there's something off kilter with him.  All of this stemming from the fact that he failed to speak to the San Francisco media.

My take on the whole situation:  Wilson didn't want to disrespect his teammates and his new team, the one that gave him the opportunity to return to the majors and play in a pennant race.  By getting chummy with his old San Francisco friends he didn't see that as a wise proposition.  It could be seen as a distraction to his new team.  Additionally there probably is some bad blood between Wilson and Giants management, who didn't invite him back to play for them.  

I'll give this to Wilson though.  All year last season he stayed with his former team and was in uniform on the bench, even though he was a year away from recovery from TJ surgery.  He was the consummate teammate, cheering them on all season.  It wasn't a situation like the Dodgers have had this season with the likes of Chad Billingsley or Josh Beckett, who have been away from the team rehabbing, and I'm not saying there is anything wrong with Bills or Beckett and how they've handled their injury and rehab, only that Wilson remained with his teammates from start to finish.  In the end, the Giants paid off his option to released him at the end of the season.  Wilson was probably hurt by that.

It was a baseball decision and probably a wise one for the Giants, but Wilson probably saw things differently.  So add those facts to the one that the Giants still hadn't got him his World Series ring, and that the Dodgers had just finished their final game against the Giants, and still no ring had arrived.   Wilson was a bit torqued by the situation.  It probably should have been done in private, but maybe Wilson thought this would be his only opportunity to address the issue.

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I must admit that the Cincinnati Reds were one team that had me a bit worried.  That three game series sweep of the Dodgers from a few weeks ago was in the back of my mind.  The fact that Kershaw and Greinke came into Cincinnati in the heat of the pennant race and failed to get a "W" was something that I figured might be something that the Dodgers would be thinking about.

Now that Pittsburgh has eliminated the Reds, that's one less obstacle in the way of a World Series championship for the Dodgers.

Good for the Pirates and their fans.  The Pittsburgh faithful are deserving of a fine season.  Even if the Pirates fail to get past St. Louis in this coming round, their fans will be more than satisfied with the team's season.  All the more reason to be glad Pittsburgh won.  If by chance the Dodgers nad Pirates advance to the NLCS, I really like the Los Angeles' chances.

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Reports out of Atlanta are saying that Dan Uggla will be left off of the Braves 25 man roster for this series.  Uggla has been downright awful this season, batting .179 this season, though he has hit 22 homers this year.  A horrible final month of the season has convinced the Braves to go with Elliot Johnson at second base.  In 102 plate appearances, Johnson batted .261with no homers and ten runs batted in.  A lifetime .223 hitter, Johnson has been DFA'd twice in the past eight months.

I think the Braves just did the Dodgers a huge favor by deciding to go with Johnson over Uggla.  As bad as the Swedish owl has been, at least he provides some pop.




                                   

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