Final Home Game - Taking Out the Gnats!

Hiroki Kuroda, in what may be his final outing ever at Dodger Stadium, was able to come up victorious as the Dodgers took their second game out of three from the Giants in the final home series of 2011.  He did it with ease, awesome stuff and looked very comfortable pitching with a lead for practically the entire night.  He kept the Giants off-balanced the entire night.

Kuroda won his 13th game of the season, in a year where he easily would have won 17-18 games had he had any semblance of run support earlier in the year.  For a guy that is ailing with a neck problem, he showed no signs of being an injured pitcher tonight.  It would really be in the Dodgers best interest to dangle a decent one-year deal out there again for Kuroda for 2012.  He has been a stable force in the L.A. rotation in this troubling season.  The fact that he leads the league in losses with 16 is evidence at how unfair the "win" stat is when you look at the big picture.  Kuroda is one of the top starters in the National League this year.

What more can be said about Matt Kemp?  He blistered the ball 5 times.  Twice he just missed hitting it out.   Then, in his last AB, he got it all.  Granted, it was off Zito, but it still counts.  A homer, three doubles, three runs scored and 2 RBI.  Kemp is now hitting .326 and the triple crown is seriously within reach.  His level of concentration has reached career high focus levels.  The man is simply in a zone and determined to win the MVP.  I just think he may do it.  Krukow and Kuiper were actually singing their praises of him on the Giant telecast and that is not something often heard by them.

Speaking of the Giant broadcasters.  It was interesting to hear Krukow comment on the Dodger youth.  Namely, Dee Gordon.

Immediately after Gordon ripped a line drive into left field for a base hit:

Mike Krukow on Gordon: 

“He’ll need to be able to take lefthanders to left field if he’s going to succeed in this league.” 

In the top of the fourth inning, when Sandoval was forced at second and slid in late to take out Gordon and break up the double play.

“That would not be a pretty picture, Sandoval colliding with Gordon at second.  Sandoval is capable of knocking him into the left field bleachers...the Dodgers would like to see Gordon put on a good 10-15 pounds in the off-season.

After Gordon singled in a run in the bottom of the 4th:

Silence

2011, The Season of “What Ifs”

All the Dodger related blogs have made their points, (See blogroll to the right).  Kershaw is amazing, there’s no doubt about it.  He’ll most likely take home the Cy Young hardware, and that is very special.  But I wonder, was his 2011 performance a tragic waste of phenominal performances to this lifeless team?  

What if Kershaw and Kemp had simply had a few more pieces around them? What if the kids had been allowed to play earlier on in the season?  What if the Dodgers had received a power bat to accompany Kemp in the middle of the order?  What if the McCourt ownership problems were not an issue and the Dodgers could have spent money like the large market team that they are?

2011 will be remembered by me as the season of “what ifs.”

I hate to throw negativity into the mix, especially considering that last night’s win was possibly the most satisfying of the year, but man, this could have been an incredible year for the Dodgers had they been able to mix some more solid contributions in with the Kemp and Kershaw seasons.  I get some relief seeing that they have a good chance of finishing over .500.  Now a sweep of the Giants to close off their home schedule is next on the agenda.

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Interesting  to note, without the Giants in the league who are the worst offensive club in baseball, Kershaw’s numbers wouldn’t be under consideration for the Cy Young Award.  Let’s put things into consideration here.  The Giants had Mark DeRosa batting clean-up last night.  They have scored on 542 runs and their Pythagorean record puts them at 78-76, a full five games less than their current win total.  They are last in runs scored, last in OBP,  second to last in OPS and batting average.  This is a bad offensive team and Kershaw was able to take advantage of their awful assemblage of talent.  

As a legitmate Giant hater and one that revels in their misery, I must say that I enjoy their ineptitude and am happy to see them fall on their faces.  Kershaw will forever be a Dodger favorite to me because he absolutely owns them.  Just as former Dodgers that owned the Gnats in the past are favorites.  Ron Cey, Bob Welch, Jerry Reuss, and Paul LoDuca come to mind. 

Here’s to the Giants being eliminated from post season play by Thursday at Dodger Stadium. 

The Kershaw-Lincecum Matchups are Becoming Legendary

March 31, 2011

Dodgers 1, Giants 0

Kershaw 

IP H R ER BB SO

7  4   0   0   1   9

Lincecum

IP H R ER BB SO

7  5   1   0   3   5

July 20, 2011

Dodgers 1, Giants 0

Kershaw 

IP H R ER BB SO

8  3   0   0   1   12

Lincecum

IP H R ER BB SO 

7  5   1   1   4   7

September 9, 2011

Dodgers 2, Giants 1

Kershaw 

IP H R ER BB SO

8  3   1   0   1   9

Lincecum

IP H R ER BB SO

8  6   1   1   2   6

Such are the basic stat lines for Kershaw and Lincecum in head to head matchups this season, with Clayton coming out on top in all three games.  Tomorrow night we are treated to the fourth of the year.  Amazing that the stars lined up as they did and the two aces faced each other so frequently.

To my surprise, the Giants have gathered themselves and made a last ditch effort to remain alive in the playoff hunt, with an 8 game winning streak and resurgent offense that is scoring runs.  They looked dead when the Dodgers faced them in San Francisco 9 or 10 days ago.

The G men are playing for their playoff lives and doing well.  Tomorrow they confront their biggest challenge as the opponent on the mound has owned them all season.  Additionally, Kershaw has the extra motivation as he goes for his 20th win of the season and the Cy Young Award.

Tomorrow night’s game is for all the marbles and something will have to give.

What Next?

First it is finishing with a record over .500.  That means the Dodgers need six victories in their final 10 games since this year they’ll end up playing a 161 game schedule, with the rainout in Washington not being made up.  I think it is doable with the following games left: 1 at home vs. Pittsburgh, 3 at home vs. San Francisco, 3 at San Diego and 3 at Arizona.  I'd like to see them finish 7-3 with a 82-79 record.  It just looks so much better than 6-4, and 81-80.

Second, eliminate the Giants from the playoffs.  Also, it is very likely that they play spoilers.  At present, the San Francisco magic "elimination" number is 6 for the division and 6 for the wild card.  By the time they arrive to town on Tuesday for the Lincecum/Kershaw matchup, those numbers may have trickled down a few notches.  I don’t get too excited about eliminating Frisco from post season play, like they do when they eliminate us, but I’ll take it if that is what we have in front of us.  As long as we don’t play the highlights of it on the jumbotron year after year as it was an accomplishment like the Giants do with the 1982 Morgan homer.

Third, get Kershaw that 20th victory and soon.  We don’t want to be in the position that Mattingly is tempted to bring back Kershaw on short rest to pitch the final game of the season in order to get him that 20th win.  You know if he has 19 at the end, he’ll be asking for that last start.  I would hope that the organization shuts him down and thinks of his long term health rather than the individual milestone.  A win on Tuesday night will solve that dilemma.

Fourth, see Matt Kemp go on a tear in the final 10 games to run away with the MVP award.  From what I see, that is what he’ll need to do to outright win it. Ryan Braun reaching the 30 homer milestone has improved his chances.  If Matt were to put up player of the week numbers, the trophy is his.  It’ll be  a tough chore having to go against Lincecum, Bumgarner, Vogelsong and playing 3 in San Diego’s cavernous ballpark.  Let’s hope that he is focused enough to step it up a notch.  Regardless, it has been an amazing comeback for Matt.

Victor Decolongon/Getty Images

Fifth, watch the kids play.  Federowitz, Sands, Sellers, Gordon, and Lindblom.  Lots of playing time and significant playing time on each part, sort of gives them all an audition for next year’s starting spots.  A 10 game sprint to the end is a small sample size, but it’s still an opportunity to observe the kids at the highest level.

Sixth, will Eugenio Velez get a hit this season?  Poor guy.  This has to be the end of his career.

My Opinion: MLB Ordered the Ejection

Mattingly, Barajas an Kershaw argue with plate umpire Bill Welke

There’s a Giant fan friend of mine named Bob that lives and dies baseball.  He is knowledgeable about the game and holds strong opinions about how it should be run.  Like me, he prefers the National League style of ball, and he’s partial to clubs that build through the infrastructure of their minor league system.  He hates trading deadline moves and particularly those involving the movement of numerous prospects for 2 month rentals.  Those topics could be discussed at length, but that isn’t where I’m going with this posting.

Bob and I strongly disagree on one topic.  That is the gamesmanship that has been developed throughout the history of baseball with the “brush back” pitch, retaliation, and ejections surrounding what are perceived by umpires as “bean balls.”  Bob thinks there is no place in the game for purposefully throwing at or near a hitter.  I think he’s dead wrong.

My new "favorite" player, Gerardo Parra

Gerardo Parra in my opinion is a punk.  I don’t know the guy from Adam, but his actions on the field the past two nights were “punkish” in my opinion.  Yet, he did more to impact the game in the last two nights than any other player on the field.  His head games he worked to his and the Arizona Diamondbacks advantage, and as a result, he almost stole two games from the Dodgers in the process with what I considered to be unprofessional and unethical behavior that merited punishment by MLB.  Instead, he got in the Dodgers heads and almost pulled it off. 

Here is what I think happened.  After Tuesday night’s Kuo “brushback” or “wildness,” whatever you perceived it to be,  Parra, showboated in offending style.  We’ve seen it before.  The Barry Bonds pirouette, the Sammy Sosa hop, heck, even Hong Chih-Kuo did it with his only major league homer with his bat toss.  It is showing up the opponent, and for years, baseball had it’s way of rectifying those situations with a little minuet called “Chin Music.”  But for some reason, Bud Selig and his minions have got it in their heads that there is no place for it in the game.

Though they glorify the history of the game by honoring such head hunters as Marichal, Gibson, Drysdale, and others with hall of fame inductions.  Those same players would have had the intimidation factor removed from their arsenals if they were pitching today.  I’m about 99% convinced that last night’s umpiring crew was instructed to toss Kershaw if he plunked Parra last night.  How else can you explain his immediate ejection after that irritant was struck on the elbow last night?  The decision was made before game time and it had been directed from above.  I’m convinced of it. 

St. Louis Cardinal Hall of Famer, Bob Gibson

Rhubarbs are so discouraged nowadays that baseball is suffering from what I call the “wussification” of the sport.  Disputes used to be settled with one brushback pitch by each side.  Now, the constant ejections have caused these disputes to linger on for game after game, because they rarely get settled as they should.  Do you think that this matter between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks was settled last night when Kershaw was ejected?  No way.  In fact, I foresee more fireworks in the future.  Perhaps in the meaningless 3 game series in Arizona to close out the season, but most likely it’ll be sometime next year, when MLB officials memories start to fade on the issue.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are ticked.  Kershaw may face a suspension which could impact his Cy Young award chances and Gerardo Parra?  Nothing is going to happen to him.  He is allowed to make obscene gestures, mouth off and instigate the whole thing.  In the end he gets rewarded for it.  Kershaw, who did the honorable thing by sticking up for his teammate is the one that gets punished, and the fans that were there to watch his mastery on the mound were punished too.

In the 60’s, Parra would have been hit and that would have been the end of it.  They understood back then that his showboating wouldn’t be tolerated and that there would be payback for that behavior, but today, with MLB’s protection of this abhorrent behavior, they have exacerbated the problem and encouraged other showboats to engage in their offensive and unsportsmanlike behavior.

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Josh Lindblom gets the game MVP for last night.  Turning what could have been a disaster into calm as he shut down the D-Backs for his two innings of work.  Striking out 5 of the 7 hitters he faced, Josh was instrumental in keeping the Dodgers focused on victory and not the fiasco of the two unjustified ejections.  That was incredible poise for the youngster who I hope has solidified his roster spot for next year. 

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Who would you want sitting beside you in the foxhole?

Last night’s good old fashioned rhubarb reminded me of what a @%$# Kirk Gibson can actually be and how it’s good to have a @%$# on your side.  Wow, that man is intense and he still has that fire in his belly, all these years after his playing career has ended.

What few people are mentioning were the gestures from Gerardo Parra after the inside pitch that he took so much offense to.  Here is the sequence that I photographed from my TV that showed the Arizona Fox telecast.

Parra squares to bunt and a wild Kuo comes up an in on him.

Now, first off.  Kuo was wild.  Even the Diamondback announcers (Sutton and Grace) acknowledged that Kuo wasn't throwing at Parra on that first pitch.  It got away from him as so many pitches have this season.  Parra overreacted and should have realized that Kuo didn't want to lose him with 2 out and none on in the 7th inning.  Perhaps that was the fuel Parra needed to get his juices going.

Then Parra proceeds to initiate these two gestures.  1st, he licks his lips and then.

He does the Michael Jackson crotch grab.

I don’t need a class in cross cultural communications to understand the message he was sending to Kuo, who if he had noticed, would now at least have a reason to REALLY put a pitch in his ear.

So four pitches later, we all know that Parra deposits a pitch in the right field pavilion.  He admired the homer from home plate for about 2 1/2 minutes, before starting his home run trot.  A.J. Ellis takes offense and has a few choice words for Parra.

Tonight's starter Clayton Kershaw takes offense and goes ape in the dugout.

Manager Kirk Gibson was not happy and he responded.

Now my question is, who would you want coming to your defense?  Gibby? Kershaw? Ellis?  The whole episode made good theatre last night, even though the Dodgers were on the losing end when the game finsihed.  I can't help but wish we had that fierce Gibson displaying that intense personality in the Dodger dugout.

I can't wait for tonight's story to unfold.  It should be very interesting.

This Loss to the Dodger Front Office Really Hurts

Josh Rawitch leaving the Dodgers is a big loss.

I attended bloggers night back in July, incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be in the presence of fellow bloggers that were much more experienced and savvy that I.  I had the chance to converse with Al Ferrara, Ron Cey, Mark Langill, Ben Platt Josh Suchon, Dylan Hernandez and the entire public relations staff of the Dodgers, led of course by Public Relations Department pioneer Josh Rawitch.  I call him a P.R. pioneer for a number of reasons that will follow in this posting.

Josh is awake to the technology of today.  He understands marketing in the 2010‘s. While many other organizations are slow to embrace the internet and social media,  Rawitch has his staff fully engaged in it.  While I conversed with Adam Chodzko, a sharp young man hired by Josh away from the Angels this past off-season, I was told that Rawitch is an outside the box thinker.  His daily staff meetings would encourage his P.R. department to come up innovative marketing ideas to activate the Dodger fan base.  

That particular day in July, someone on his staff came up with the idea to have the first five fans that responded on twitter or facebook to be placed in a Dodger Stadium Club suite to vote over and over again for Andre Ethier on the All-Star game ballot.  It was  an interesting idea and received by everyone positively.  Such are the types of innovative creations of the Josh Rawitch staff.  Josh understood the value of social media, Facebook, Twitter, message boards, email and blogs.

In an age where anyone with a laptop and internet connection can create a blog and run off on a rampage with inaccurate and irresponsible postings, Rawitch recognized the value of bloggers and the audience they reach.  It was a risky move on his part to embrace us, and I’m sure that there are some of us out there that he would prefer not to have to interact with.  But I think that Josh believes that Dodger blogger positive traits outweigh the negative.    

He started out blogger’s night asking us how we got ideas for our postings and the latest news.  He wanted to also know how we reached our maximum audience.  He wanted ideas.  He wanted opinions.  He was interested in what we thought worked and what didn’t.  He mentioned how Roberto Baly at Vin Scully is my Homeboy had reached a popularity level that rivaled anything out there and specifically brought up how Roberto’s blog was influential in getting the Dodgers to agree to repair Vin Scully’s Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

So as the night wore on and Josh spent some time visiting with bloggers, we couldn’t help but notice the sparce crowd.  It was the only time that I had a hard time agreeing with what he was saying.  He spoke of the Dodger injuries and the hard luck the team was having in that area.  He primarily blamed the low Dodger attendance on the horrible misfortunes they were having in the injury department.  I had a hard time buying it and I’m pretty sure that others were thinking the same as I.  But was was he to do?  Frank McCourt was his employer.  It was a tough spot to be in.  And here we were, enjoying a night on the Dodgers, thanks to Mr. Rawitch.  I wasn’t about to tell him that I thought he was way off base and that the ownership was the real reason for the dwindling attendance.

I guess now, once the season ends, Mr. Rawitch will finally be free of the nightmare ownership that is the Dodgers of today.  He can join the likes of Derrick Hall over in Arizona, where he can deal with trying to market a team that is dedicated 100% to putting a winning product on the field.  Rawitch will no longer have to make excuses for ownership that is borrowing money, battling MLB, trying to make payroll and dealing with a disenchanted fan base that feels betrayed and angered.

The Dodgers have lost a class act and loyal employee.  This is another sad day for the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.  I can’t blame Josh Rawitch though for moving on to somewhere where he won’t have to deal with the circus that has become the volatile ownership situation.