We all know that life isn’t fair and it especially is not fair that Joc has to sit against four straight lefties simply because he can’t hit them. However, it’s unfair to the rest of the team to have Joc hitting against the lefty. So, Joc loses… while the team wins. Simple math… It’s way too early to pronounce that Robert Van Socyoc’s new age hitting direction a resounding success,…
I wrote about the possibility of a slow start for the Dodgers but did not predict one. I know Mark liked to chide me with that after the first two series. But 5-2 against arguably two of the worst 3 teams in the NL was nothing to brag about. The Padres played the same two teams and went 4-3. And now LAD gets to face the Rockies without having to…
I watched OKC last night and while Clayton Kershaw was obviously a little rusty, he was throwing free and easy. While they don’t show the radar gun in AAA, it looked to me that Clayton was around 90 MPH. He’s ready and I think he will be pitching for the LA Dodgers in 5 days. If Edwin Rios can hit at the Major League level (I am not convinced he…
I would venture that they could give anyone on this board 10 strikes against a MLB pitcher, and they would strike out every time. Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things for a human to do. Puig could not hit LHP, although it was not always that way. Andre Ethier could not hit lefties very well. Joc has proven he cannot hit lefties. These things don’t go away…
Ernest Hemmingway once said “Critics are men who watch a battle from a high place then come down and shoot the survivors.” I scanned several Dodger blogs today after the game and the silence was deafening! If the Dodgers had gotten smoked yesterday, man, the critics would have been cranking out the text! But, as it is, the critics did not have much to say. Well, I did read this:…
Dodger fans complained that the Dodger’s platooned too much last season, so Andrew Friedman got rid of the logjam in the outfield and announced that there would be less platooning. Of course many fans lost their minds because the Dodgers “gave away” Puig, Kemp and Wood and Kyle Farmer is a “Freaking All-Star! They conveniently forget about the two highly rated prospects the Dodgers got back… both Downs and Gray…
None of this counts. Idaho Al was wondering why 31 year-old Ezequiel Carrera was playing LF yesterday. Here’s the answer: I don’t know! However, since Taylor, Pederson or Verdugo did not play and Miller opted out, I would suspect that yesterday was a scheduled off day for the three players mentioned or maybe they had a little tweek… like Rich Hill. If it were the regular season one of the…
We all look at the stats and sometimes believe that the stats tell you “you are what your stats say you are,” and while that is sometimes true, players can grow in their skill set or regress. However, the progression (or regression) is not always linear. Witness one Enrique “Kike” Hernandez. About this time last year (March 15, 2018, to be exact) I wrote this, while referring back to a…
As usual, the sharks are circling the USS Dodger as they have been since the Andrew Friedman Era started. They are hoping, wishing and praying that the hull has cracks in it and sinks so that they can devour the man for whom they have developed an irrational hatred. The sad part is that the sharks are Dodger fans and Andrew Friedman has done nothing but make the team better….
First of all, Happy St. Patrick’s Day. We are down to 10 ST games with one week to go in Arizona followed by 3 against LAA. Two games in Anaheim and one game at Dodger Stadium. Thus far the Dodgers are 12-8-2, as if that means anything. Who have been the surprises? Offensively, Kike’ Hernandez and Austin Barnes have been red hot and IMO have established themselves as starters. Kike’…