• Anonymous

    Are the Dodgers showcasing Uribe for a trade, or is this a swan song for Juan?  Or did Mattingly promise him one more start?  Here’s hoping he gets at least two hits and drives in three or more runs.

    • Anonymous

       I too have fantasies, but they’re not that surreal.

      • Anonymous

        When I dream, I like to dream big.

  • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

    It’s been raining in Pittsburgh but the tweets indicate they will get the game in. 

  • Anonymous

    Is this Cruz’s first game at 2B?

    • Anonymous

      Second

  • Anonymous

    For those of us bereft of radio or TV coverage, any sense of how long a rain delay this may be?

    • Anonymous

      30-60 minutes

      • Anonymous

        Thanks.

    • Anonymous

      No earlier than 5PM PST, according to Dodgers Twitter.

      • Anonymous

        Thank you.

  • Anonymous

    Uribe being slotted there in the lineup seems to be from the Torre school of thought in terms of trying to get someone going by throwing them into thick of it.

    • Anonymous

      Hard to argue.  Someone also raised the point that he may see better pitches batting in front of Kemp.  Then again, anyone would.

    • Anonymous

       He could slot me in the No. 2 spot, and I’d guarantee you I’d see as many pitches.

      • Anonymous

        I recall when Kemp was out for a couple of days (suspension, problem with contacts?) and Repko was called up.  Fresh off the bus Torre decided to have him bat leadoff in Houston against Oswalt.  Kid saw some great pitches alright and IIRC got a platinum sobrero out of it.

  • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

    Juan Uribe batting second.  It happens.  The guy hasn’t started in three weeks.  Mattingly thinks he has a matchup that might work out, and is giving him pitches ahead of Kemp to swing at.  I get that Uribe is not a good player, but my god, the amount of commenting devoted to this subject is serious overload. 

    Bench players start sometimes. The Dodgers have a weak bench. Life goes on.

    • Anonymous

      It’s true you need to use your bench sometimes, but you don’t need to bat your worst hitter No. 2, and you also have a better option in Herrera.

      • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

         I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m just tired of reading about Uribe’s failings day after day, hour after hour, as it it were a news flash. 

  • http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/ Linkmeister

    Has Uribe reached Juan Pierre levels of angst yet?

    I’m with Jon. I’m bored with all the complaining about him. He is what he is, and we’ve got him under contract for at least one more year barring a trade. ‘Nuff already, please.

  • Anonymous

    I’m astonished that Urineddy actually saw six pitches.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry-Pruett/1707390003 Terry Pruett

    If he’s on the roster, you have to use him and, hopefully, put him in a position where he can be successful. That’s the manager’s job, at the end of the day. And…I understand putting him second as well…maybe he’ll get a cripple with men on base.

  • http://farinella.com/ David Farinella

    I’m going to look at the positive and say that it show tremendous confidence in Bills.

  • KT

    Great assist Billz

  • Anonymous

    In spite of the small sample problem, Mattingly puts a lot of stock in hitter/pitcher histories. I believe this is fairly common and I assume his bench coach does as well. Uribe is 471/500/706 against Correia (better than that if you look at just 2009-2012) and is 2 for 2 this year (singles)( on April 10 Uribe started at third hitting 7th and went 3 for 3 in the game; the other hit off Juan Cruz). Mark Ellis is 1 for 10 with a walk and is the team’s worst hitter vs RHP. If he doesn’t start (which I agree with) then 2 out of Uribe, Cruz, Herrera, and Kennedy must. Kennedy leads this group of 4 in all 3 parts of the slash line against RHP but is 0 for 7 with 2 strike outs against Correia so no way Mattingly starts him. I would have chosen Cruz at third and Herrera at second but if you only look at 2012 ML stats vs RHP there is not much difference plus Uribe is a better third baseman. As far as batting second, if you refuse to hit AJ second (the best choice against RHP every day) and want Hanley 5th then it might as well be Uribe since Loney and Cruz are the other choices.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry-Pruett/1707390003 Terry Pruett

      Excellent points.

  • Anonymous

    Collins called Loney’s ball “another shot up the middle.”

  • KT

    Ok that sets up the DP

    • Anonymous

       Barajas rarely hits ground balls, Lyons to the contrary.

      • KT

        I’m not listening to KCAL

    • KT

      Not the way I was looking for but I’ll take it

  • KT

    Billz @ 34 pitches

  • Anonymous

    A plus for Colletti:  Not keeping Barjas and clearing the way for AJ to be the starting catcher.

    • Anonymous

      Colletti offered a contract, Barajas wanted more money. To me, Colletti gets more credit if he didn’t offer the contract.

      • Anonymous

        Yes, but presumably Colletti didn’t increase his offer much (if at all), and Barajas moved on. At the time, I was unconvinced that AJ could handle the job, but I have been proven wrong.

  • KT

    Nice Luis

  • KT

    Come on AJ

  • KT

    Good Eye AJ
     
    Come on Billz do your job

  • KT

    Good job Billz
     
    Come on Shane bring them in

  • KT

    If the pirates were smart they would IBB Shane

  • KT

    Good job Shane
     
    Come on Juan prove your existence to all of us doubters

  • Anonymous

    Cruz — Four straight hits, now batting .261.

  • Anonymous

    Gueriere,Coffey, Choate, League and others.
    I see but don’t quite understand Neds insatiable desire to acquire middle relievers.
    I think the resources and energy to acquire to acquire 4 relievers might net 2 position players or one prime starter. Then rely on system for relief and be ahead of the game.

    • Anonymous

      Especially injury-prone ones like Guerrier and Coffey, though League is the worst of the bunch.

  • KT

    Time to turn the DP

    The Pirates announcer kept calling Hanley Uribe along with other gafts…Made me yell at the TV

  • KT

    They turned 2…whats up

    • KT

      my mistake he was safe….sorry blue

  • Anonymous

    Kuroda interesting tonight

    • Anonymous

       Not any more.

  • Anonymous

    Either Cruz or Loney had a brain freeze on that.

  • KT

    Way to get out of it Billz but unless you start getting easy innings you won’t be long for this game
     
    Billz @ 52

  • KT

    Come on Matty start it off

  • KT

    We’ll take it

    Come on Dre

  • KT

    We’ll take that one too

    Come on Hanley

  • KT

    We’ll take that one also…Good hit Hanley ^_^
     
    Come on James

  • KT

    Nice James way to get the run
     
    Come on Luis

  • Anonymous

    Don’t tell me, bases loaded for James again!!

  • Anonymous

    better than a double play I guess

  • KT

    LUIS!!

    • Anonymous

      21 RBI’s in such a short time is very impressive

      • KT

        Yes…I like him a lot…He’s clutch

        • Anonymous

          He is our second half version of how Herrera started out during the first half

          • KT

            ^_^

  • KT

    Come on AJ

  • T.M. Brown

    I can’t imagine how heated Correia is at this point. 

  • Anonymous

    Cruz — Five straight hits, now batting .268.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry-Pruett/1707390003 Terry Pruett

    I’ll remember this inning the next time the Dodgers hit 3 line drives right at people for outs

    • KT

      ^_^

  • KT

    Good inning

  • KT

    Way to have a good inning…Billz @ 64 after 4nned to have a couple more easy ones

  • KT

    Come on Shane start it off

  • KT

    Wow…Hope this doesn’t extend his pitch count too much

    • KT

      not much…Billz @ 73

  • KT

    Come on Dre start it off

  • KT

    Good hit Hanley
     
    Come on James

  • KT

    Good hit James
     
    Come on Luis
    LUIS AGAIN!!

  • KT

    Come on AJ

  • KT

    Nice SAC AJ
     
    Good hustle by James just in case they threw out Luis

  • KT

    Nice Inning
    Go Billz

  • Anonymous

    Cruz — Six straight hits, now batting .274.

    • KT

      Batting average skyrocketing like his RBI total

    • Anonymous

       Well, yeah, but Urinnedy hasn’t struck out tonight.

      • KT

        which actually is a very good sign from him

  • KT

    Much better Chad only 82 after 6

  • KT

    Come on Shane…Lets get some more

  • Anonymous

    Puig batting 3rd for RC tonight, DH. Lilly starting.

    • Anonymous

      You  wouldn’t happen to have a gameday link would you? Do they even have it for this game?

  • http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/ Linkmeister

    The automated Scout feature on Gameday is a hoot. When Billz hit 73 pitches it came up and said his fastball was dropping to as low as 83 so he might be running out of gas. When he hit 86 pitches it said he had plenty left, because his fastball was in the low 90s.

    Algorithms — not always trustworthy.

    • KT

      ^_^

  • KT

    Real good Chad 92 pitches after 7
     
    Start it off Dre

  • Anonymous

    Can you feel the excitement?

    Juan is knocking on the door of the elite bottom 5 in hitters with at least 150 PAs!

    http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/order/false/minpa/150

    Focus, determination, persistence = success.

  • KT

    Come on Luis keep it going

    • KT

      no one in scoring position I guess

  • KT

    Billz frustrating Andrew tonight ^_^

  • KT

    Billz gone after 8…Another fine game

  • KT

    Nit hit Shane

    Come on juan

  • KT

    good no chance for the groundout DP…well almost no chance

  • KT

    Wow good at bat Juan
     
    Come on Matty

  • KT

    Good hit Matty we’ll take
     
     Come on Dre

  • KT

    Good Hit Dre!!
     
    We’ll take Matty getting to 3rd and Juan scoring..Juan was dead meat if they let the throw go throw and so was matty if the throw was to the right guy…Double “error” by Qualls

    • http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/ Linkmeister

      Gameday’s frozen. Where did Ethier’s hit go?

      Never mind. It got unstuck.

      • KT

        About 10-15 feet off the left field line…one bounce to Marte who made an excellent throw home which for some reason was cut by Qualls who then threw it to the SS instead of the 3rd baseman

  • Anonymous

    This is a long overdue laugher. Now if the Nats can just follow suit over the Gnats again.

  • KT

    Hanley!! with 2 more 11-0

  • Anonymous

    Snakes down 5-2 in the 8th

    • KT

      Good news ^_^

      too bad ATL won

      • Anonymous

        Make that 8-2

  • KT

    Come on Luis

    • KT

      drilled but right at the 1st baseman
       
      11 runs on 13 hits…nice

  • Anonymous

    Do you remember when the 20-year-old Clint Hurdle was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in March 1978 as “This Year’s Phenom”?

    • KT

      Never been a SI fan

      • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

        Never?  I mean, there was a time when SI was greatness. 

        • KT

          Nope I was always a The Sporting News fan I had a subscription from the 70′s through about 2008.. I didn’t like the style or the writers of SI…The only time I would pick up their magazine was if I forgot all reading material and I was in a doctors office and that rarely happened

  • KT

    1 down two to go

  • KT

    Good catch Dre 1 more

  • KT

    Ball Game
     
    Great road trip so far
     
    I sure glad this was a blow out or it would have been really rough listening to these Pirate announcers

    Here’s hoping we do it again tomorrow since I have their feed again

  • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

    NPUT

  • Anonymous

    How about that!