Jon Weisman – Page 254 – Dodger Thoughts

On April 7, 2012

In a sense, too much is being asked of A.J. Ellis and Dee Gordon this year. Neither has held a full-time job in baseball before this year, and yet one is the team’s leadoff hitter and infield anchor, the other is quite possibly expected to deliver the team’s best on-base percentage.

But each player had a whale of a game in tonight’s 6-5 Dodger victory that elevated the team to 3-0. Ellis homered, walked twice and singled in the 11th before scoring a go-ahead run that was driven in by Gordon, who recovered from his slow offensive start in the Dodgers’ first two games to go 3 for 4 with two walks and three steals.

The heroics lifted the Dodgers on a night that they surrendered a 5-0 lead to a five-run Padres fifth inning that featured two singles, a hit batter, a wild pitch and five walks, including four in a row with two out. Chris Capuano, who had been pitching decently to that point, faltered by walking three after a one-out single. Jamey Wright relieved and threw eight straight balls for two more runs, and then Scott Elbert wild-pitched a fourth run in, hit a batter and gave up the game-tying single.

However, Mike MacDougal, Matt Guerrier, Kenley Jansen (pitching two innings), Todd Coffey and closer Javy Guerra held San Diego scoreless on four baserunners over the final six innings, enough time for Ellis and Gordon to deliver once more.

The Dodgers had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Matt Kemp drove in Gordon with a sacrifice fly, boosted it to 4-0 when the Roadrunner crossed the plate on Kemp’s RBI single and Andre Ethier doubled in Mark Ellis and Kemp, and then made it 5-0 on Ellis’ fourth-inning home run.

Early season OPS: A.J. Ellis 1.205, Kemp 1.198, Ethier 1.021, Juan Rivera .955, Gordon .732, Mark Ellis .670, James Loney .111, Juan Uribe .111.

Game 3 chat

On April 7, 2012

Dodgers at Padres, 5:35 p.m.
Dee Gordon, SS
Mark Ellis, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
James Loney, 1B
Adam Kennedy, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Tony Gwynn Jr., LF
Chris Capuano, P

Billingsley hurls Dodgers to victory

On April 6, 2012

Chad Billingsley gave the critics a rest in his first start of 2012, striking 11 in a dominant 8 1/3 innings while allowing only three hits and one walk in a 6-0 Dodger victory.

Billingsley was only in trouble in the second inning, when he gave up a leadoff double and a one-out walk. But Orlando Hudson grounded into a double play, the Dodgers boosted their lead to 4-0 in the third and Billingsley never looked back.

He struck out his first three batters, retired the side in order in six different innings and set down 16 batters in a row between Will Venable’s leadoff double in the fourth inning and Cameron Maybin’s one-out single in the ninth. That came on Billingsley’s 108th pitch, more than enough with the Dodgers up by half a dozen runs. Jamey Wright relieved Billingsley and used two ground balls to end the game.

Mark Ellis, Matt Kemp, Juan Rivera and Andre Ethier each had two hits, going 8 for 16 with a walk. Ellis had a double, while Ethier had a double and triple that each drove in two runs. Jerry Hairston Jr. also went 1 for 3 with a walk, starting in left field while Rivera played first base and James Loney sat against 27-year-old Padres lefty Cory Luebke, who allowed five earned runs and 10 baserunners (striking out six) in 4 2/3 innings of his first start since signing a four-year, $12 million contract extension in March.

Dee Gordon got his first hit of the season but was called out – incorrectly, according to replays – trying to steal. He is 1 for 10 so far in 2012. Juan Uribe went 0 for 4, while A.J. Ellis was 0 for 3 with a walk.

This was the fifth time Billingsley has struck out 11 in a game. He also has one game of 12 and two career-high games of 13. It was also the second time in less than a year he has thrown at least eight shutout innings against San Diego, including nine months ago in a 1-0 victory over the Padres. Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. notes that Billingsley achieved a career-high Game Score of 87.

* * *

Bill Shaikin of the Times notes the salient details available from the Dodger sale agreement filed in court today. The official price was $1.588 billion, with $412 million going to retire the Dodgers’ debt.

* * *

Haven’t really been publicizing these, but the fourth episode of Young Justice that I was the writer for is scheduled to air Saturday morning.

Game 2 chat

On April 6, 2012

Dodgers at Padres, 7:05 p.m.
Dee Gordon, SS
Mark Ellis, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Juan Rivera, 1B
Andre Ethier, RF
Jerry Hairston Jr., LF
Juan Uribe, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Chad Billingsley, P

In theory, the live Win Probability Graph from Fangraphs should update from Thursday once tonight’s game starts. We shall see …

Source: FanGraphs

Looking ahead at 2012

On April 6, 2012

In Dodgers, Ownership

Before Thursday’s Dodger opener, Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness and I reunited for a season-preview chat that you can see above.

* * *

“Major League Baseball officials have expressed concern that Guggenheim Baseball Management, the winning bidders for the Los Angeles Dodgers, has been slow to produce the details of the bid and the structure of its management team, according to several sources familiar with the sale process,” writes Tom Verducci of SI.com today.

Several individual owners have joined baseball officials in questioning why the Guggenheim group, led by Mark Walter, Stan Kasten and Magic Johnson, has not filed a more detailed Purchase and Sale Agreement more than a week after the group was selected from among three finalists by Frank McCourt, the outgoing owner who is selling the club through U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The group was expected to file a Purchase and Sale Agreement with MLB earlier this week, but postponed the filing for two days before submitting a short form agreement that lacked what MLB regards as most of the necessary details. Of particular interest to MLB is a breakdown of where the money is coming from to cover the $2.15 billion sale price and what role McCourt has in the ownership, control and profit-sharing of the Dodger Stadium parking lots.

Until MLB knows and reviews those details, according to sources, concern mounts about how the deal is financed and especially if McCourt stands to continue to profit from Dodger-related operations under the new ownership.

Some answers may be forthcoming as soon as Friday, when terms of the sale are expected to be filed in bankruptcy court. The court is expected to approve the sale on April 13 in advance of a final closing April 30, when McCourt must pay his wife, Jamie, $131 million as a condition of their divorce settlement.

Said one owner after speaking with commissioner Bud Selig, “Not having a purchase and sale agreement is scary, but I personally think they will close [the deal].”

The sale, according to sources, has been complicated by the bitter relationship between McCourt and MLB, by the Guggenheim group being caught between trying to satisfy both warring parties, by a bankruptcy court, not MLB, controlling the speed of the sale, and by the lingering contentiousness of the bidding process, which one bidder said was characterized by “brutal fighting.” …

Elsewhere this morning …

Mike Ozanian of Forbes chronicles the tax breaks that will come to the new Dodger owners following their purchase of the team.
The Dodgers have no switch-hitters on their roster for the first time since 1986, notes Dustin Nosler of Feelin’ Kinda Blue.
Blake DeWitt, whom the Cubs designated for assignment this winter, ended up making their Opening Day roster after all and flied out as a pinch-hitter Thursday.
The Texas Rangers unveiled a statue depicting Shannon Stone, who died after falling trying to catch a ball last year, and his son Cooper. Kevin Kaduk of Big League Stew has details. Tears me up each time I look.

Jenny and Cooper Stone look at the 'Rangers Fans' statue on Thursday as Nolan Ryan looks on. (AP)

Kershaw hurls. Dodgers to victory

On April 5, 2012

It’s not the best sign for Opening Day when Vin Scully starts the game talking about diarrhea.

The starting pitcher of the team Scully is broadcasting for the 63rd season, Clayton Kershaw, was putting on a private performance of the New Flu Revue. Even so, everything came out okay for the Dodgers, who launched their bid for an undefeated season with a 5-3 victory over San Diego.

Kershaw stomached three innings, surviving a bases-loaded scenario in the second, before his day ended. The Associated Press provided this summary:

… Mattingly said he saw Kershaw lying down in the tunnel behind the dugout after the third.

“It’s not a real good sign when your starting pitcher was laying down,” Mattingly said.

Mattingly said he and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt discussed holding out Kershaw.

“He wanted to go,” the manager said. “He wasn’t dizzy or didn’t have a fever or any of that kind of stuff, so it was one of those situations where he wanted to go. …

Kershaw struck out three, while also producing the Dodgers’ first hit of the season. It was a game effort. But it was up to his teammates to pick up the slack.

And so they did, with a little help from Padres starting pitcher Edinson Volquez. The offseason acquisition from Cincinnati struck out five batters in his first three innings, but gave up two singles and four walks in the fourth inning. Two of the walks came with the bases loaded, to James Loney and A.J. Ellis, allowing the Dodgers to take a 2-0 lead that would have been more had Andre Ethier not been incorrectly ruled out at home on an ostensible wild pitch. (Ellis also had a single in three at-bats on the day and saw 28 pitches in his four plate appearances.)

While Josh Lindblom was holding San Diego scoreless in the fourth and fifth innings, the Dodgers tacked on another run thanks to a three-base error by San Diego centerfielder Cameron Maybin, who was too shocked that Gordon hit one over his head to make the catch after he went back and reached it. One out later, Matt Kemp himself reached base on an infield error to bring Gordon home. Although Gordon went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts, he made his presence felt not only on the bases but with a spectacular dive and throw-out in the fourth.

Mike MacDougal gave up a run in the sixth, but Matt Guerrier pitched a shutout seventh and Kemp seemed to put the game away in the eighth with a home run that was straight out of the Mike Piazza repetoire, a towering shot to right-center field to make the score 5-1.

Kenley Jansen echoed his poor first outing in 2011 by allowing a two-run home run to Maybin in the bottom of the eighth. That meant Javy Guerra would get a save opportunity in his 2012 debut after all, and Guerra retired the side in order on 14 pitches.

Juan Rivera had two singles for the Dodgers, and perhaps most amazingly, Juan Uribe had a walk.

This Dodger win came on a day that Detroit wasted eight innings of two-hit ball by Justin Verlander before edging Boston, a day that Cleveland blew a 4-1 ninth-inning lead and then lost in 16 innings (the longest Opening Day ever) and a day that eight of the 12 other teams playing were held to two runs or less. It was a day that could have easily given the Dodgers and their fans the heaves, but instead, they’ll go to sleep tonight with a nice victory to digest.

Welcome to Opening Day 2012

On April 5, 2012

Dodgers at Padres, 4:05 p.m.
Kershaw CXVII: Kerhsawrfegnugen
Dee Gordon, SS
Mark Ellis, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
Juan Rivera, LF
James Loney, 1B
Juan Uribe, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Clayton Kershaw, P

On an Opening Day for many teams that has had runs at a distinct premium, it will take some swift work by the Irony Committee for a dusky game at Petco Park to generate any offensive fireworks. But the folk on that Committee are known for their around-the-clock efforts, so we’ll see …

I’m enjoying these last few moments before we enter the blender. But I’m also ready to suffer with every pitch and be reborn with the next. To shake my head at the disappointments and revel in the celebrations. To accept my lot in life, which is to be a follower of the confounding team that is the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Source: FanGraphs

Morning becomes …

On April 5, 2012

Getting to be about that time …

On April 4, 2012

Spring Training Closing Day

On April 4, 2012

Angels at Dodgers, 12:10 p.m.
Tony Gwynn Jr., LF
Justin Sellers, SS
Andre Ethier, RF
Juan Rivera, 1B
Adam Kennedy, 3B
Tim Federowicz, C
Luis Cruz, 2B
Matt Angle, CF
Nathan Eovaldi, P

Good comments in Tuesday’s thread taking the pulse of your feelings toward the Dodgers this year. Even if you don’t normally venture into the comments, I recommend you make an exception for these.

Some early pregame tidbits for the final day of Spring Training.

Jill Painter of the Daily News has a feature on lefthanded pitcher Scott Rice, whose dream of a major-league debut has been delayed once again.
Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus puts the dilution of baseball’s traditional Opening Day in perspective.
Friend of Dodger Thoughts Neal Pollack has a new book, Jewball. Here’s the description:

1937. The gears of world war have begun to grind, but Inky Lautman, star point guard for the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association, America’s greatest basketball team, is dealing with his own problems.

His coach has unwittingly incurred a massive gambling debt to the Bund, a group of American Nazis. His main basketball rival is self-righteously leading public protests against homegrown American fascism. And his girlfriend wants him to join a Jewish student organization that’s all talk and no action. It’s more than Inky can deliver. He just wants to play ball and occasionally beat people up for money.

When the Bund comes calling for what it’s owed, Inky has to make a stand for his ragtag bunch of teammates and the coach that got them into this mess. With the Bund closing in, Inky’s game isn’t just basketball anymore. It becomes a battle that pits Jewish pride against Nazi fascism.

The tides of history are flowing against a guy like Inky. Can he make his free throws and still make it through the season alive? Get ready. This…is Jewball.

Lindblom, Sellers make Opening Day roster

In Status report

The Dodger beat writers have reported that Josh Lindblom and Justin Sellers will fill the final spots on the team’s Opening Day roster. So barring any mishaps between now and Thursday at 4:05 p.m., here are the jockeys at the starting line.

Starting pitchers (4): Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Chris Capuano, Aaron Harang.
Relief pitchers (8): Kenley Jansen, Javy Guerra, Todd Coffey, Scott Elbert, Mike MacDougal, Matt Guerrier, Jamey Wright, Josh Lindblom
Starting lineup (8): Dee Gordon, Mark Ellis, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Juan Rivera, James Loney, Juan Uribe, A.J. Ellis
Bench (5): Matt Treanor, Adam Kennedy, Jerry Hairston Jr., Tony Gwynn Jr., Justin Sellers

Gentlemen, start your horses!

Will you be happier in ’12 even if the Dodgers are worse?

Angels at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

Dodger fans, by and large, spent 2011 in the kind of pre-apocalyptic nightmare depicted in the fine 2011 film Take Shelter, starring Michael Shannon.

The deepest, darkest hours of the McCourt ownership bled into the Bryan Stow tragedy. The Dodgers’ shaky start bled into nearly their worst first-half performance ever in Los Angeles. The sky over Chavez Ravine ripped apart.

Fans ran and hid, dragging in-game attendance and team goodwill down to its lowest level in decades.

And then the Dodgers ended up playing .600 ball over the final two months of the season.

It’s a new April. The McCourt fog is mostly clearing. But the team’s near-term future on the field is mixed, the stadium security and renovation issues awaiting further action, and there are even lingering questions about whether the new ownership will be good for the franchise.

Last season was painful in so many ways. Has that better prepared you to handle any challenges during the 2012 season? Will you be happier this year, even if the Dodgers lose more games than last year, if the team’s problems are confined to what’s happening on the field? As you emerge from your storm shelter, what color is your sky?

Car Talk’s baseball-themed puzzler

An episode of NPR’s Car Talk never fails to bring smiles to my face, not because I have any interest in or understanding of cars, but because the hosts (“Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers”) are just so much fun. The first time I ever listened to it was the hot August 1993 morning I drove away from Washington D.C. for good to move back to Los Angeles, in a sad state of mind over the girl I was leaving behind. Those guys were just the right medicine for the road.

Anyway, each week they have a puzzler for listeners to solve, and just in time for Opening Day, they have a baseball-themed riddle. I imagine you baseball experts out there can figure out the answer.

Hoops hail-stones