Dodger Thoughts

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

Tag: Russ Ortiz

Kershaw LIV: Kershaw the Frog


Mark J. Terrill/AP
Manny’s calf is still mooing.

Russ Ortiz has been designated for assignment by the Dodgers, who have called up righty Jon Link to replace him for the time being. Link has been hit pretty hard at Albuquerque this season – 10 baserunners against 13 outs – so at this point he might just be a different sort of mop-up man until Hong-Chih Kuo is activated.

  • Today marks the 60th anniverary of Vin Scully’s Dodger debut.
  • Saturday’s 20-inning Mets-Cardinals game was scoreless for the first 18 innings, the longest a game had been scoreless since Rick Dempsey’s 22nd-inning home run gave the Dodgers a 1-0 victory over Montreal in 1989.
  • Josh Towers pitched six innings of one-run, seven-baserunner ball for Albuquerque on Saturday, but the Isotopes suffered a 2-0 defeat.
  • Jerry Sands had two doubles and a triple in Great Lakes’ 4-2 loss Saturday. The 22-year-old is on-basing .465 and slugging .763 in 10 games this season, with seven extra-base hits in that time.
  • Babe Ruth was in a near-fatal car accident in 1938, when he was a Brooklyn Dodgers coach. Blue Heaven passes along photos of Ruth and a description of the wreck.
  • Video of Lefty Grove has been posted at Minor League Ball. Grove was held captive in the minors well past the point that he was major-league ready.
  • Nice recap of Ubaldo Jimenez’s no-hitter for Colorado – the first in Rockies history – from Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post.
  • According to the Dodger press notes, DodgerTalk with Ken Levine and Josh Suchon on KABC AM 710 will be soliciting callers for their best nicknames for Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp. Somebody better stick up for the Bison.

Death Valley Days

Russ Ortiz came into pitch in the top of the 11th, and Matt Kemp misplayed a ball in center field. You can fill in the rest.

Russell Martin has caught 407 pitches in the past 35 hours. Vin Scully has called 795 of them – slop-free, I might add, unlike the way most of the Dodgers are pitching.

Russ Ortiz might shine briefly but won’t endure


Mark Duncan/AP
Russ Ortiz

Last year, Russ Ortiz had as many as four consecutive good starts. When he’s hot, he’s hot. When he’s not … well, that’s most of the time.

Here’s a chart of every start he has made since 2005.

Date IP ER   Date IP ER   Date IP ER
4/5/05 6 3   9/11/05 3 5   8/10/07 5 2
4/10/05 5 1   9/18/05 5 2   8/15/07 5 3
4/16/05 6 4   9/24/05 4 5   8/20/07 4 4
4/21/05 7 2   4/7/06 6 3   4/16/09 4 2/3 3
4/26/05 6 2   4/13/06 4 1/3 4   4/21/09 5 3
5/2/05 3 2/3 7   4/18/06 2 1/3 0   4/26/09 5 2
5/7/05 4 1/3 3   4/23/06 1 2/3 4   5/7/09 2 1/3 3
5/12/05 6 2   6/6/06 5 3   6/11/09 5 1/3 0
5/18/05 5 1/3 4   6/11/06 3 1/3 7   6/17/09 6 3
5/24/05 6 4   7/1/06 4 1/3 3   6/23/09 7 2
5/29/05 3 1/3 5   7/6/06 5 6   6/28/09 7 1/3 2
6/4/05 7 4   7/18/06 2 2/3 3   7/4/09 5 2/3 8
6/10/05 7 3   7/21/06 0 6   7/9/09 3 4
6/15/05 5 1/3 7   8/7/06 3 6   7/19/09 6 2
8/13/05 6 5   4/7/07 5 3   7/25/09 4 1/3 6
8/19/05 2 2/3 6   4/13/07 8 2/3 5   7/30/09 2 1/3 9
8/24/05 4 8   4/20/07 7 2        
8/29/05 5 2/3 3   4/26/07 5 1/3 3   Total 260 210
9/4/05 6 2/3 3   5/1/07 3 1/3 8   Average 4.8 3.9

Russ Ortiz continues to vex with his good spring

Goodness, could it really be Russ Ortiz?

The name that is anathema to a rational choice for the Dodgers’ pitching staff, Ortiz produced the coveted four-inning save today in the Dodgers’ 8-4 split-squad victory over Milwaukee, allowing one run on four baserunners while striking out three.

He did so on a day that Carlos Monasterios faltered, giving up three runs in the first two of his four innings today in the other split-squad game, a 4-2 loss to the Angels.

Paul Connors/AP
Clayton being Clayton: Kershaw had the same number of hits allowed and wild pitches Monday.

Monasterios still doesn’t look like a pitcher the Dodgers want to let go of, but Ortiz again asserted himself in a battle for a roster spot. And since Monasterios is much more likely to be a reliever than a starter, it remains possible that Ortiz could be in the rotation despite his poor performance in recent years.

The contenders for the final three or four spots on the Dodger pitching staff: Monasterios, Ramon Ortiz, Russ Ortiz, Eric Stults, Charlie Haeger, Jeff Weaver and Josh Towers. Monasterios, Stults and Haeger are the three who cannot be sent to the minors, meaning that the others are probably battling for a single slot.

Meanwhile, poor fielding helped sabotage Clayton Kershaw’s first inning against Milwaukee, but the young lefty ended up going a solid five innings, striking out six while allowing one earned run.

For the first time since July 18, there was a W next to Kershaw’s name in a boxscore. And an S (not to be confused with Superman’s) emblazoned on Ortiz.

Jamey Carroll went 3 for 4 with a walk, raising his Spring Training on-base percentage to .474.

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