Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

September 12 game chat

Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m.
Mark Ellis, 2B
Shane Victorino, LF
Matt Kemp, CF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Andre Ethier, RF
Luis Cruz, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Aaron Harang, P

Boring ol’ no-introduction game chat – I’m back, baby!

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Back in the U.S. of A.

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Sorry: Not even mostly dead

99 Comments

  1. KT

    Gonzo and Ethier need to be switched in the lineup until Gonzo’s bat wakes up

    • Anonymous

      Sounds reasonable, and you still get the right, left, right, left.

    • Craig Jenkins

      Gordon SS
      Victorino LF
      Kemp CF
      Gonzalez 1B
      Ramirez SS
      Ethier RF
      Cruz 2B
      A.J. Ellis.

      We need someone to wake us up let it be Gordon.  Use to love watching Eric Young get on base and take over the show.  Gordon’s got the same ability to wake up a team.

  2. KT

    Nice Shane…now make it a double

  3. Anonymous

    The Brewers have scored 7 times in the 5th against the Braves to take a 7-2 lead. If they win, they would stay tied with the Phillies, 3 games out of WC2. 

    And the Pirates are trailing, so the Phillies and Brewers would just be a 1/2 game behind them.

  4. Anonymous

    A 2 in the linescore!

  5. Anonymous

    Vin: “…and he will score unmolested.”

    I’ve never heard this, but it works.  

  6. Anonymous

    Woah, that felt weird.

  7. Anonymous

    Wait, Wait, Wait…….. Were aloud to score in the first inning?????

  8. KT

    Nice inning

  9. KT

    way to track it down Shane

  10. KT

    wow a complete good inning…Let’s keep it up
     
    Come on Luis start it off

  11. Anonymous

    BTW, hope btim wasn’t referring to me when he mentions others here breaking rule 1.
    To be clear, is *arse* considered profanity here? Sure hope not.
    Have always liked the word ever since William Wallace in “Braveheart”, while adressing the Scottish army and referring to himself, uttered the line :
    “Yes, I’ve heard. Kills men by the hundreds. And if HE were here, he’d consume the English with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse.”

  12. KT

    There you go Luis

  13. KT

    Come on AJ

  14. KT

    Come on Mark

  15. Anonymous

    The effort by AJ to block that ball in the dirt was lacking – he can do better. 

  16. KT

    Nice Catch Shane!!!!!

  17. Anonymous

    The sad/funny thing is we can still very easily waltz into the playoffs with a hold of this lead and a win in the series vs STL.

    Great, because I’m a dodger fan, sad, because I’m a baseball fan that hates to see the playoffs ever-closer to NBA/NHL style cheapening.

  18. Anonymous

    That’s more like it.

  19. KT

    Come on DP

  20. KT

    Throw strikes Aaron

  21. KT

    Much better Aaron

  22. KT

    Come on Hanley start it off

  23. KT

    hitting machine…way to go Luis…He should be batting 2nd

  24. KT

    Would love to have a few more runs here

  25. T.M. Brown

    Soooo not to be “that guy” but Cruz is hitting .304 but his OBP is only .338 with a BB rate of 4.1% which, well, isn’t that great—actually it’s pretty bad. He’d be spectacularly more effective if he had a better idea of the strike zone, although this could be the sort of Juan Pierre Syndrome where pitchers throw you strikes because you’re not going to hit it over anyone’s head (Cruz’s ISO: .130; ’09 Pierre’s ISO: 0.84). But we’ve seen Cruz lace doubles to the gaps and hit the occasional bomb, I just think he’s going to benefit a lot from an offseason spent with a hitting coach (Wallach or otherwise) teaching him how to take more walks like Kemp was doing before the various injuries. 

    • Anonymous

      I often hear about the Juan Pierre Syndrome, especially when I used to put down Juan Pierre on a regular basis.  But I don’t buy the theory, mainly because of the career of Brett Butler, who had a similar lack of power (.376 career SLG to Pierre’s .363) yet walked a ton (career OBP of .377 with a few seasons above .400).

      • T.M. Brown

        It doesn’t pass the sniff test right? They’re still professional athletes and they’re still much, much stronger than the average Joe so it’s not as if a pitcher can simply look at a batter like Pierre and say “here’s a bunch of strikes, bet you can’t hit ’em.” I mean JP’s walk rate was around 5.7% in the 3 years he was here while a guy like Bourn is walking near 10% of the time (ISO: .120). This has to be more a plate discipline thing than anything else and Cruz would be a much more effective player by simply taking ball 4 instead of trying to smash it into a power alley.

    • Anonymous

      40% of Cruz’s swings are at balls outside the zone, so I don’t think pitchers are giving him strikes all the time.

  26. Anonymous

    I think we will need more than 2 runs to win tonight.   But will we get more than 2?

  27. KT

    Come on Aaron

  28. I didn’t even have time to look away.

  29. Anonymous

    What on earth was Cruz thinking? The inning should be over.

  30. Anonymous

    Randy Choake.

  31. KT

    Letting that 1st throw go all the way to the plate made that go ahead run much easier

  32. Anonymous

    If he cuts off the throw they have the runner out at 3B by 10 feet. And its only a tie. And now the mistake is cashed in.

    • KT

      you are right but whose responsibility is it to tell him to cut the ball?
       
      That would be AJ

      • Anonymous

        There I have to blame Cruz because there are two outs and the play is in front of him. Too late now :(

  33. overkill94

    Gotta love when your situational lefty all of a sudden can’t get lefties out.  Choate was virtually unhittable on the Marlins for the last year and a half and now that he’s on the Dodgers he’s given up 17 baserunners in 10 IP.

  34. Anonymous

    If the Dodgers lose to the D-Backs, I’m afraid they’ll be more likely to fall into 3rd than climb into 1st.

  35. Anonymous

    Maybe things will improve, perhaps even tonight, and maybe we’ll even make the playoffs, but right now we are the sorriest excuse for a team that I can remember in years.

    • You must have forgotten the first half of 2011, which was dreadful. 

      • Anonymous

        Unfortunately, as a fan since 1955 — a wonderful year for a little boy born in Brooklyn to become a Dodger fan — I remember many, many bad months and years.  But what makes this stretch so painful is that the pieces all seemed lined up for a strong August and September.  Over time, we have had bad hitting teams with mediocre and bad hitters; there are too many to recount.  But rarely have we had such a bad hitting team with such solid hitters.  (And I don’t want to ignore all the great teams and wonderful seasons that the Dodgers have had.)

  36. KT

    got an early morning and am hoping turning off the game will help the team..I’ll try anything to turn this thing around

  37. Ahwww…cheer up fans. You still have four head to head games with the wild card position you’re chasing and they aren’t playing well right now. If, after that series you don’t have the position, I am afraid you’re doom and gloom will be justified. Carry on…

  38. Anonymous

    Twice through the order – one hit.  Blech.

  39.  9 hits in 2 games. 4 of them Cruz who makes the least on the team I imagine. 

  40. RALLY CAPS ON, FOLKS. Because, why not?
    I mean, they probably won’t win, but these are the guys you’d want coming up…. if the team was, you know, hitting and stuff. 

    Enough worms have been murdered tonight. No more worm murdering!

  41. T.M. Brown

    Sigh, I miss seeing players take pitches and earn a BB. 

  42. Anonymous

    Not again!

  43. overkill94

    Sorry if it’s been discussed since I haven’t commented much lately, but A-Gon seems to be fouling off A LOT of very hittable fastballs.  Where’s that gap power we used to groan about when he was in SD?

    •  His numbers as a dodger are almost as good as Loney’s numbers as a dodger in 2012. almost.

    • Anonymous

      It’s pretty ridiculous how no one can square up the ball or heaven forbid be patient and draw walks.

      • Anonymous

        It’s ridiculous with this lineup how we often manage less than 5 hits per game (Scooplew summed it up nicely about half hour ago)

        • Anonymous

          Thanks.  You know, it’s funny, but if we beat the Cardinals tomorrow night to gain a tie for WC2, this world of Dodger loyalists will feel considerably better and much of this anguish will be forgotten.  Hall of Fame football coach John Madden frequently says, “Winning is the best deodorant.”  May we all smell much better some 24 hours from now.

          • Anonymous

            It won’t feel much better, because the wild card is hardly even a consolation prize now.  Instead of fighting the teams in our division for a title, we’re scrapping with all the teams in the league now for, well, scraps.

  44. Anonymous

    I feel like Charlie freakin’ Brown trying to kick that football every time the ninth inning rolls around.

    And if Adrian looks at another called third with a one run deficit this week, I’m turnin the tv off.

  45. Straining to find positives here….but this collapse will be worth it if it costs Ned and Donnie their jobs. I dont think they’ve done enough here to warrant being back.

    • Anonymous

       It would have to happen quickly, before free agency.

    • bcmaiden

      I read that Kasten is already working on an extension for Ned. Don’t ask for a link because I can’t remember where I read it online. 

    • Anonymous

      Really?  The big trade’s on Kasten, IMO.  All because he (and the rest of the ownership group) reeeeeally really wanted to prove a point to the fans.  

  46. Anonymous

    Odd thought – how mad must Luis Cruz be?  Lifetime minor league player comes up to a winning team, hits like crazy, fields like crazy, and apart from the 32 year old lifetime minor league catcher he is the only consistent player on the team…  if it wasn’t your team the situation would be laughable.  Heck, it almost is anyway.

    • Anonymous

      Probably about as far from mad as a baseball player can be. I imagine he is having the time of his life, and he should be.

      • Anonymous

        Argumentative for the sake of argument?  Way to make an attempt to understand what I was getting at there..

  47. Anonymous

    It’s going to take a more complete cleansing that what we’ve had with the new ownership. Let the owners bring in their own GM. Unfortunately, our big spending has not come to fruition, much to the delight of the rest of MLB. It’s staring to look like the adage about big money taking away the hunger (except in special cases) is going to lead to this collapse. Let’s hope A-Gon doesn’t have some kind of hidden Jason Schmidt ailment going on . . .

  48. Just for kicks and giggles, I looked up how our old first base person was doing over the last 10 games (http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=425766)… 5 hits, .147 average, 1 RBI, 7 SO and 0 walks.

    So, you know, there’s that.

    • James Loney with Red Sox – 269/283/365
      Adrian Gonzalez with Dodgers- 229/286/357

      This is horrible.

  49. Anonymous

    Should I do it? 
    Should I post?

    Lately, it goes like so…
    ….
    Jonny posts….. ( within 5 minutes) ….. NPUT!

  50. Anonymous

    Ned and Donnie haven’t done enough?
    That’s hilarious.
    Try Kemp, and Gonzo, and Ethier, and Ramirez, and Victorino, and Ellis – both of them, and….
    you know the guys who went down 16 in a row to end the game – the guys that bring bats to the plate but fail miserably time and time again. Ned brought the players any other GM would love to have been able to bring in, Donnie plays those players – and they are stinking up the joint – c’mon put the blame where it belongs. It’s on the players.

    • Donnie’s lineup construction leaves alot to be desired…he hasnt attempted to convince Ethier he’s a platoon player yet…Overall I dont think he’s done a bad job but he certainly isnt getting all that he can get out of his players.

      As for Ned, the guy put all his marbles in Adrian Gonzalez (who was having a bad season with the Red Sox and has seen his power/patience/ISO decline steadily)…giving up a couple of big time arms in the process and taking back a huge sunk cost in Carl Crawford.  

      Ned bought some names, some guys that used to be good in oh say in 2009….but this is now 3yrs later.  Its hard to think you can compete when you build a rotation around Harang, Capuano, Blanton, Lilly…none of those guys are even close to top of the rotation starters and when the Dodgers finally develop a guy that could be that (Rubby)..he deals him.  Its been a disaster.

      • Anonymous

        I’m not going to argue that it has not been a disaster, but you have to admit that looking at that lineup at the top of this post, you would think that they could do a LITTLE better than 3 for 30 with RISP on the just completed 1-4 roadtrip. The blame is on the players, plain and simple.

  51. Anonymous

    Ok….
    I’ll go with the “Hurry-Up” Posting here…

    I can sum up this one by quoting Adrian Gonzalez…

    “Get some glasses!… Get some glasses, dude!”
     (yelling at the umpire as Ramirez grounded out to end the game)

    This was pretty easy to read from his lips on tv as the game ended….

    Adrian! from me to you….
    “YOU get some glasses, dude!”

    .232 avg with a single dinger?  K’s looking for the second night in a row in the 9th?
    Pathetic…………..

    • Anonymous

       PS – Adrian….Pros use expletives…… and plenty of ’em.

      Get with the program … :-)

      • Anonymous

         Somebody needs to introduce this guy to Tommy Lasorda….
        He can teach this young man more than a few expletives…

    • overkill94

       My girlfriend became very frightened (all the way from my room to the living room) when I was yelling at Adrian to swing the stinkin’ bat.

      • Anonymous

         I’d figure that with the way this club has been playing, that you’d be yelling a lot this week.

    • Anonymous

      Maybe he was yelling at Ramirez to hit it out so Ramirez would do that stupid “I see you” thing with his hands to his eyes (glasses).

  52. Anonymous

    Save the comments on bad calls….
    Save the comments on the guys needing “to gel” ….
    ….
    This club acquired a handful of extremely high priced, underachieving players with questionable attitudes …. with the hope of making them “reclamation projects” based on their ‘physical’ talent alone. 
    ….
    This is the gamble you take….period.
    ….
    The excuses need to stop.
    The whining needs to stop.
    With this kind of talent… the wins and losses are absolutely 100 percent on these players.
    It’s not Mattingly ‘mis-managing’ things….
    It’s the players….period.

    • Anonymous

      I wish white space was extremely expensive.

      • Anonymous

         Actually …. there were 3 likes…. :-)   And, I greatly appreciate them.

        I was just talking in general at those who like to pile on the manager when it’s the players who are failing to get it done.  I hear it on the radio…I read it on DT and in the paper…..

        All these guys who are under-performing are veterans… (not rookies)
        They should be able to diagnose their own issues…and, work on them.
        Managers and coaches can be of great help, but, these players have all the experience and tools to get things fixed.
        To me, blaming others is generally unprofessional.
        These guys need to look at themselves, figure it out….and, turn things around, themselves.
        In a word:  Accountability.

  53. Anonymous

    I think the guys on MLB Network nailed it last night during their live look in at the Ds last a bat.
    H. Reynolds talked about how the big guns are all looking to knock it out of the park instead of stringing a few hits together. This might be true – still AGon’s last two nights late ABs have been just plain horrible – esp at $20 mil a year.

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