92 posts
My Dodger Fan Granddaughter says “Peace!” 162 in a row baby! I heard from a reliable source last October that Striker Buehler was hitting 95 MPH, but they shut him down so as not to rush him. Now, Dave Roberts says he is hitting 92 MPH in bullpen sessions. That worries me as for…
In 2004, the first season under new owner Frank McCourt, the Dodgers won their first division title in 8 years. The 1995 Dodgers won the division after the strike was over in a shortened season. But they were ousted out of the playoffs in the NLDS. The new GM was Paul DePodesta…
Well for the first time in six weeks, the MLBPA and MLB met in a zoom type meeting where MLB brought its latest proposals to the table. The MLBPA was not impressed according to Jeff Passan and the chances spring training is delayed just escalated. Of course, we do not know at…
Okay, do not confuse these streaks with the stuff pulled in the ’70s by drunken idiots. These are the best streaks in Dodger history. I love this kind of stuff. Scoreless Innings 59 innings: Orel Hershiser, 1988. In the midst of his best season as a major leaguer, the Bulldog…
Then in early April in San Diego, Malone went after a fan who was verbally abusing Gary Sheffield. He resigned a few days later, and Dave Wallace, former pitching coach was named interim GM. They traded for outfielder McKay Christenson in July. In July they also traded for Mike Twombley, Terry Mullholland, and James Baldwin in separate deals Usually for minor leaguers.
Last week, Joc Pederson left the Dodgers as a free agent to join the Chicago Cubs, and prior to that, Kike’ Hernandez signed with the Red Sox. Both were very popular with Dodger fans. Kike’, the Banana Man to many, and a versatile player, had enthralled fans with his energy, and his sometimes flair for the dramatic. His best day as a Dodger was in game 5 of the 2017
If you want a sure fire way to start an argument, just pick the best players ever for your team. Everyone has their own ideas of who are the greatest players in a team s history. And the Dodgers have a long and colorful past. 67 years in Brooklyn as a part of MLB, and 62 in LA. So, choosing the best ever is a hard task. In this case, I
May 14, 1998 started as a very special day in my household. It was my oldest son’s 18th birthday. We had some special plans to celebrate his birthday, once he finished with his school day. The big news of the day was that Frank Sinatra had died. Sad news certainly, but not anything that affected our family in any significant way. That afternoon, by the time I went to my
Much has been said and written about the Dodgers depth and how that makes them a very dangerous team. I do not think that there is a question (at least not for me), that the premier builder of the 40 man roster is Andrew Friedman. During his tenure, over the last five years in a 162 game season, the Dodgers have 485 wins, more than any other team in MLB.
Since I started blogging, I have used this as a forum to give my own personal views about certain prospects. I think I have an eye for talent and I have not been shy about picking out certain players and predicting greatness for them. Right around the time I first started posting on Dodger blogs, I was in Vero Beach and became enamored with an 18-year-old prospect who played 3B .
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
WELCOME TO THE FALL CLASSIC 2018!! By the time the Dodgers and Red Sox square off in Game 1 of the 2018 World Series, it will have been 356 days since the Dodgers went down in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series. It will be 30 year s this month since the last Dodgers WS victory. This year’s WS can make all of those bad memories go away (at least
Yesterday’s game was fun and to be appreciated. What a fan appreciation day!!! The Dodgers score 14 and collect 16 hits. Ryu pitched AND hit superbly. He allows 4 hits and collects 8 strikeouts, and ZERO walks, and gets THREE hits. Josh Fields and Julio Urias come in and shutdown the Padres for the final three innings. It is hard to get too excited about shutting down the Padres, but
I understand the frustration in losing last night to the Padres. But I am not going to blame this on Doc or the lineup. The two questions I did have before the game were Kike’ and Freese in the lineup and Bellinger not. But Kike’ and Freese were fine last night and certainly not the problem. Kemp has been getting key hits lately, so I am not going to blame
I frequently hear this: This is the same Dodger Team as Last Year. The Dodgers are standing pat. I guess some people think that if they say it enough, it will become true. If that s the case, keep repeating over-and-over that you are Brad Pitt. Poof, it will happen! READ THIS SLOWLY: This is not the SAME team as last year. Is it better? I don t know . MAYBE. Maybe not,
Figures don t lie, but liars figure and sometimes they are not even liars they are just using unreliable figures. There are several websites that keep track of teams salaries. In this instant case, I am speaking about the salary obligations of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2018 season. You would think stuff like this would be cut and dried, but it s evidently not. Let s look at a couple
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. In the case of Matt Kemp, it is interesting to see the progression or degradation of his game as his body increased in size, his production decreased in direct proportion. 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yXQekcdhxU 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF2LFHJkgYQ I can t get link to work Most Dodger fans have strong opinions about Kemp and many are not good. I have witnessed
There is a lot to unpackaged on the trade of Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy and Charlie Culberson for former Dodger darling, Matt Kemp. Whether Matt Kemp ever plays for the Dodgers again is in question. He could be flipped to an AL team in need of a DH. I think he has some value and I cannot just see him being released unless his clubhouse demeanor is worse
Just because other teams make dope-fiend moves, doesn t mean the Dodger have to. Look, they have been paying the luxury tax for too long and have paid about $300 million in penalties. It started with foolish, long-term deals to Kemp and Ethier and then came THE TRADE (Beckett, Gonzalez and Crawdad). The Dodgers owe Kemp $5.5 million over the next two year, but after next season, most of the obligations
Yes, some GM s have made dope fiend moves in the past the recent past, but they eventually figure it out (or get fired), which is why I think the Free Agent Signing Market has been non-existent so far. The signings of Cueto, Samardzija, Price, Greinke and may others to idiotic, dope-fiend contracts has not been the pathway to success for major league teams. Houston won the World Series this year
Lest we forget, the Dodgers were so close, so very close to winning the World Series last year and they were (for the most part) a very young team. The CF, SS and 1B were all under 24. The RF was 26 and the catcher was 27. Next year, they will be even younger after Chase Utley, Andre Ethier and Adrian Gonzalez are gone, but that’s not to say they
OK, that headline brands me as crazy, right? Well, that s old news! Everyone knows that Gioncarlo Stanton is going to cost almost $30 million a year right? Maybe over the life of the contract, but next year, he might be FREE. Here s a really important fact: The Dodgers don t need to do anything, but if they do, it should be significant and it should reduce payroll. I think the Dodgers can
One of the positives about getting to the WS and extending it to 7 games, is that there is only 5 weeks before the Winter Meetings in Orlando. We are going to have to pack in a lot of thought and suggestions about the restructuring of a 104 win team into a WS champion. We are all so much smarter than Friedman and Zaidi sitting in front of a computer
I hate saying that! It was a bitter loss one that I am not likely to get over ever! Early in Game 7 I blamed Roberts for leaving Yu Momma in for more than 3 seconds, and maybe that had an effect on the Dodgers psyche, but when you only score 1 run and are 1-13 with RISP, you can t win. End of story! Justin Turner hit .160 in the
Last night s comeback victory was typical of how the Dodgers have came back to win all year, but this one was different in that Dave Roberts did not try and exploit the usual matchups. It was not an analytic driven win. As much as some may dislike, it was a win that was made on gut feelings as much as analytics. I thought Dave should have left Rich Hill in
Some of you oldtimers will remember this: They don t make em like that anymore, but I digress. The Dodgers are in Houston hopefully for a sweep, but I ll take 2 out of 3 and close it in LA. Really, this has the look of a seven game series. Tonight is a very critical game. The winning team will have momentum and that is important. Tonight, Yu Darvish faces the
Well, Clayton Kershaw did not go 9 innings last night, but he was very dominant over 7 innings and he likely could have went at least another innng or two, but that is not how this new version of the Dodgers works. It was obvious before the game and during the game, that Clayton was intense, but not overly amped up. He said he treated it like any other start
Early in the year, Chase Utley was mired in a horrible slump and fans started calling for him to retire. Dave Roberts had faith in him and after hitting .122 in April, he bounced back by hitting .314 in May, and he has been serviceable since then. He plays great defense, is a wonderful teammate and at 39 years of age, he just looks to be over-matched at the plate
It was only a month ago that many fans and national pundits said the Dodgers were the biggest choke artists in the game The Diamondbacks and the Indians were the hottest teams in baseball and were everyone s darlings, while the Nationals had the best 1-2 starting punch in baseball which should play well in a short series. The Dodgers dropped to 4th or 5th in the power polls, even though
I am not sure if Al Davis coined that phrase, but he sure used it a lot! Clayton didn t have his best stuff last night as he struggled with his command. But, he continues to ignore my advice. I tried to tell him. These guys are jumping on his first pitch. All he has to do is change that up a little. Don t make every first pitch a strike. But,
