61 posts
The last Dodger no-hitter was a combined effort by Buehler, Tony Cingrani, Yimi Garcia and Adam Liberatore against the Padres in Mexico City, Mexico on May 4, 2018. It was the first combined no hitter in team history, and it was also the first no hitter thrown outside of the…
With Mark on the 10-day inactive list to attend to family business in Las Vegas (ever notice how these trips are never to Des Moines, Iowa or Wichita, Kansas?), Jeff (AC) was desperate for some assistance on the LADT writers roster. With his options limited, he had to resort to adding someone from the alternate training site, and had no choice but to call on me, the Zack Reks/Edwin Uceta
Bill Veeck, Charlie Finley, George Steinbrenner were examples of owners that were bigger than life and wanted nothing more than to win (and put on a show). Walter O’Malley was cut from the same cloth. Peter was more of a pragmatic businessman who knew he could not spend to stay in the game, and got out. None of those early owners would let MLB tell them how to spend their
I do not think any Dodger fan can possibly disagree about the disappointment over the last three years. I use three, because realistically that has been the span where the Dodgers were in a position to win it all. Certainly Doc has had a problem of thinking too much in the playoffs. It was never more evident as it was in Game 5 of the NLDS. But the players have
Mark and I don’t always agree on everything Blue, although I think we are pretty consistent from a Macro view. But when it comes to the bullpen, Mark and I just do not see eye to eye. I have been a relief pitcher wonk since 1959 and Larry Sherry. Clem Labine would have been my favorite Dodger in the mid 50’s. I am not going to go through the history
First, I want to say how appreciative my wife and I were with the kind words, thoughts, and prayers that were written last week. I say my wife, because she read them all to me while I was waiting for the next doctor to poke and prod. Suffice to say, I had a scare that has dissipated since my Tuesday ER visit. I had my last follow ups on Thursday
On a number of occasions Mark has advised that the game is evolving and we should get used to it. It is difficult to argue with either point. The game has evolved out of necessity to offer a sense of fairness in competition and to, as they say, level the playing field with a standard set of enforceable rules. Actually, if you Google it, there are ample sources following the
I have not been shy about stating how I feel about the bullpen. And I do understand that recognizing that there may be a problem and doing something about it can be and often is two different things. Maybe with the way the starting pitching is performing, this will become less of an issue, but I prefer to plan rather than to react. I have never disagreed with Mark about
Here were, about 25% of the season gone the Dodgers still are the Class of MLB with the best record in baseball. They have problems juts like every other MLB team, but they are pretty dad gum good. Let me rant and rave about a few things: It turns out that Scott Alexander was missing his targets and was high in the zone because he has a hip problem and
Interesting topic on who goes and who stays when Cingrani comes back. Cingrani has pitched in three rehab games (1 with RC, and 2 with OKC). He had three days between his first game and second and dropped it down to 2 games between games 2 and 3. He still needs to show he can go back to back. May 4 – 16 pitches/10 strikes May 7 – 20 pitches/11
As the game started last night, my wife walked by my office (that s where I watch the games) and asked who was pitching for the Dodgers, I told her that I was watching Rich Hill and the Dodgers get shutout by Patrick Corbin. She said, Well that s negative, think positive. To which I replied, OK, I m positive Corbin is going to shutout the Dodgers. If you look at the stats,
If the Dodgers had beat the Padres on Sunday, that would have likely crushed the Padres maybe even ruined their season and the win was within reach until Kenley Jansen snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. If you are a Padre fan, it was like Kirk Gibson hitting the home run in the 1988 World Series, but if you are a Dodger fan it was worse than death itself! That
I drove down to LA this weekend to visit a very close family friend and sharing in his surprise 75th birthday. At the hotel, I turned on the TV only to see SportsNet LA and watched Access Dodgers. I do miss LA for Dodger TV and Dodger Talk Radio. One comment I heard from Pedro Moura was that the Dodgers are not flashy and have a ton of depth but
Ron Porterfield was named the Tampa Bay Rays Head Baseball trainer in 2006 by Andrew Friedman and served in that capacity until 2017 when Friedman lured him to Camelback Ranch with the title of Director of Pitching Health or Medical Director, depending upon which article you believe. Throwing a baseball is not a natural act. It puts lots of stress on the human arm and sometimes creates extreme damage. Andrew
STARTING ROTATION? There is a lot of talk on who should be the opening day pitcher. It does not appear that Clayton is going to be ready anytime soon, and Buehler seems headed to the #5 slot in the rotation to begin the season. Mark had a half serious idea on using an Opener for the opening game. Nyet on the half serious part that thinks they should. But
Last weekend Mark posed the hypothetical…”OK, the deal with the Devil is this: Dodgers win in 2019, but have a losing record and are like KC, TB or MIAMI for the next 10 years… big time suck!” I apologize, but I just could not let it go. So please ignore if you so desire. I do not accept that as a plausible hypothetical. There is no way the Dodgers are
In 1984, a man named Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted of the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl and sentenced to death—an outcome that rested largely on the testimony of five eyewitnesses. After Bloodsworth served nine years in prison, DNA testing proved him to be innocent. Such devastating mistakes by eyewitnesses are not rare, according to a report by the Innocence Project, which is an organization affiliated with the Benjamin N .
Well, I was going to continue with my analysis of the NL West competition, but I thought that I would comment on the this past week and what the future may hold. Most Dodger fans got caught up in all of the Bryce Harper sweepstakes (including me), but as many of us said at the beginning of the Hot Stove League, a long term deal for Bryce Harper is not
As I mentioned yesterday, the Dodgers have been #1 in MLB in ERA and WHIP over the past two years. I see no reason why that trend won t continue. In fact, I agree with Rick Honeycutt that the pitching can get even better in 2019. First of all, the Dodgers have a glut of starting pitchers, but two of them will likely be gone after this season, namely Rich Hill
Well now that the Dodgers have signed AJ Pollock, what comes next? Maybe something. Maybe nothing. Is JT Realmuto on the horizon. Apparently, the Pads are very much in on JTR, but they are insisting on extension talks before they consummate the deal. Obviously, either Francisco Mejia or Austin Hedges will be going back in a package. The Pads have ML OF’s available as well a bucket load of high-level
I have no idea what is in the plans for the Dodgers over the next 6 weeks before pitchers and catchers report, if anything. I know it seems logical that the Dodgers would do something, but everybody is waiting to see where Machado and Harper are going to go. The Dodgers do not appear to be the leading team for any of the major FA (except for Grandal). But that
Since I wasn t sure if Mark had wifi access or not, on behalf of LADT, let me wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR. 2018 was not my finest year for positive sports results. Not only did the Dodgers fail to win a WS for the 30th consecutive year, but my Trojans had a less than .500 winning percentage and missed a bowl game (and still retained their head coach????), and
Yesterday Mark wrote, “this Dodger Team, right here, right now, is better than the 2018 version.” I will stipulate that the Dodgers may be better just for the loss of Farhan Zaidi and Turner Ward. That may be cruel, and they may do wonderful things for their new respective clubs, but they were a disconnect for this team. Friedman wants more of his fingerprints on the roster and approach, and
Many people blame Andrew Friedman and/or Farhan Zaidi for the demise of the Dodgers bullpen in 2018. They surmise that they failed to adequately equip the pen with the requisite number and quality of arms. Actually, demise is a pretty harsh word. The Dodgers and the Red Sox, the two World Series teams, both finished the regular sesaon with identical 3.72 Bullpen ERA s. The Dodgers did have the better WHIP
I love this site. Without a lot going on in this so-called hot-stove league period, it is difficult to come up with topics that generate any interest. But then Dodgerrick provides an article that piqued my interest anyway. I have been harping that the Dodgers are in a cost control mode, meaning keeping payroll below the CBT threshold for reasons outside of the Dodgers operations. The article may give fans
What are the Dodgers needs going into the 2019 season? We know they need a catcher. I discussed that in great length yesterday. I think they need a 2B other than CT3 or Kike’, but I know I am in the minority. I think the Dodgers need a leadoff batter. That is really not what Alex Verdugo does, but he seems the most logical…if he makes the squad, and there
There are currently 38 Dodgers on the 40-man roster without consideration of either Yasmani Grandal or Hyun-jin Ryu accepting their respective QO. With the current makeup, the Dodgers will have a salary total of nearly $179MM or approximately $27MM under the 2019 competitive balance tax threshold. We will all know no later than Monday, November 8 at 2:00 PM PT if either accept. Assuming they do not accept, below is
Yesterday I looked at what might the team be looking at/for in 2019 with pitching (starting and relief) and catchers. Today I am looking at the infielders and outfielders. Infielders: Much of this will be determined by how Corey Seager rehabs. Will he be able to play SS as well…
I hope you all bear with me. I would like to somewhat continue the FAZ discussion from yesterday. And then to give one last autopsy report on the 2018 WS. As Mark indicated, FAZ took over a team that had a payroll in excess of $250MM. One would think that a team with that…
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
