In Andrew Friedman’s first year as Predident for Baseball Operations, the Dodgers were bounced in the National League Division Series. The next year they went a round further before losing to the Cubs in the National Lgeague Championship Series. Right here, right about today, they are ahead of the Cubs 3-0 and on the cusp of being in the World Series for the first time in 29 years. Since the…
The Dodgers are up 2-0 on the Cubs but it has been a tough series. Except for 2 or 3 key plays it could just as easily be 0-2. But that is the difference in this team… they are better, deeper and more experienced. Think about this, last year the Dodgers relied on Adrian Gonzalez, Andrew Toles, Josh Reddick, Yasmani Grandal and Chase Utley to step up in the playoffs. …
Let me remind you that the Dodgers only HAVE TO play three more games without Corey Seager. Think about that one. See, this is a team game. When Kershaw went down last year and again this year, they didn’t miss a beat. They are just a very talented team of Junkyard Dogs. Kershaw wasn’t himself, but he was OK. The bullpen minus el Gasolino was outstanding! They had to get…
If you didn’t know that quote was from Louis Pasteur, you would have no difficulty in believing that Clayton Kershaw said that. Clayton’s tenacity is his greatest strength – it also might be his greatest weakness. I know! I am wired the same way! While I was never a professional athlete, my best games came when I was under the weather or sick. I think that sometimes when healthy, I…
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…
A few weeks ago, I predicted that other teams would raid the Dodgers front office in an effort to emulate the Dodgers’ success. I listed possible candidates, but never mentioned the first Dodger employee who would be hired away from the organization, and even though you may not know a lot about him, the Dodgers lost a very important part of their organization. Jeremy Zoll, whom many of you have…
Rant & Rave Sunday Saturday morning I was listening to MLB Radio and the announcers were saying that the Dodgers 1-4 hitters had to have a good series, because their 5-8 hitters were “almost irrelevant.” Yeah right! Conventional wisdom is often wrong and never were they so wrong as last night when the Dodgers 5-8 hitters scored 7 of their 8 runs. It appears that Roberts and the front office…
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,…
I was stuck on the tarmac in Houston for three and a half hours Monday evening so I pulled out my Kindle and re-read “The Best Team Money Can Buy” by Molly Knight, and a few things really jumped out at me. But the biggest one is that Clayton Kershaw is a creature of habit… maybe borderline OCD. On the days of the games he pitches, he has a very precise…
As we await to find out who the Dodgers play in the first round of the playoffs, I think it’s appropriate that we look ahead and see what types of changes could be on the horizon for the Dodgers in 2018. Changes in Players Of course, we do know that Andre Ethier’s contract us up and unless he wants to sign a “Chase Utley” type contract, his Dodgers career is…