Jon Weisman – Page 300 – Dodger Thoughts

Jamey Carroll, SS
Aaron Miles, 2B
Andre Ethier, RF
Matt Kemp, CF
Casey Blake, 3B
Jerry Sands, LF
Rod Barajas, C
James Loney, 1B
Chad Billingsley, P

Where Matt Kemp ranks among National Leaguers, according to Baseball-Reference.com:

1. – offensive wins above replacement (2.9)
1. – power-speed number (14.5)
1t – RBI (46)
1t – total bases (125)
2. – games played (59)
2. – home runs (15)
2. – slugging percentage (.576)
3. – runs created (49)
3. – win probability added (2.6)
4. – at-bats per home run (14.5)
4t – adjusted OPS (170)
4t – intentional walks (6)
4t – times on base (98)
4t – wins above replacement (2.9)
5. – offensive win percentage (.759)
5. – OPS (.971)
5t – stolen bases (14)
6t – strikeouts (55)
7t – hits (69)
8. – on-base percentage (.395)
8t – extra-base hits (26)
9. – batting average (.318)

Kemp is fifth in the NL in total average (.341), according to Baseball Prospectus. Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness has more on what Kemp could achieve this year.

* * *

Fasten your seat belts. Here are the scheduled pitching matchups for the upcoming Philadelphia series:
Monday – Ted Lilly vs. Cliff Lee
Tuesday – Rubby De La Rosa vs. Roy Oswalt
Wednesday – Hiroki Kuroda vs. Cole Hamels

The Phillies have lost four straight games, two each to Washington and Pittsburgh.
Via Baseball Think Factory comes this March 1957 Sports Illustrated piece that is said to be the first mention of “Chavez Ravine” in the magazine. It acknowledges that Walter O’Malley’s primary desire was to stay in Brooklyn, but here’s my favorite line: “It was even suggested that with the coming of the jet age, when the Atlantic and Pacific coasts will be only three or four hours apart, New Yorkers could get to a Dodger game in Chavez Ravine in less time than it now takes to reach Ebbets Field.”
Conclusion: “The next chapter in the serial will now have to be written by the City of New York some time before next October. Should they fail to get busy, O’Malley and his Dodgers will almost surely head west like so many other overcrowded, ill-housed Easterners. In that event, major league baseball will be a coast-to-coast reality no later than 1960.”
Orel Hershiser has joined Steve Garvey’s group that’s interested in purchasing the Dodgers, reports Jill Painter of the Daily News. It’s still not clear what kind of financing the Garvey-Hershiser group would have, because initial reports linking it to billionaire Ron Burkle have been disputed.
Red-hot Dodger minor-league reliever Shawn Tolleson (0.63 ERA, 52 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings this year) and Dodger ace Clayton Kershaw were groomsmen at each other’s weddings this offseason, notes Inside the Dodgers, which passes on a link to an upcoming Dodgers Magazine feature on the pair.
Dennys Reyes, who made his major-league debut with the Dodgers in 1997, is one of 21 players to steal a base in his first game and then never do so again in his career, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Reyes has by far the most appearances of anyone on the list. On July 13, 1997, Reyes walked, went to second on a single, stole third and scored on an error. He pitched six innings that game and got the win, one of 10 in his career as a starting pitcher.
Oakland has designated former Dodger Andy LaRoche (.654 OPS) for assignment.
Not a Dodger note, but I thought it was cool: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Jose Reyes is only the second player since 1926 to have 10 triples by June 4. Willie Wilson in 1985 was the other.

The Los Angeles DLers roster

By Jon Weisman

On June 4, 2011

In Health/injuries

Jeff Gross/Getty ImagesRafael Furcal has reached base 17 times this season while missing 42 games and counting.

The roster of the Los Angeles DLers, day by day this season:

23 Casey Blake
21 Jon Garland
31 Jay Gibbons
30 Dioner Navarro
44 Vicente Padilla
9 Hector Gimenez
15 Rafael Furcal
56 Hong-Chih Kuo
33 Marcus Thames
51 Jonathan Broxton
36 Blake Hawksworth
5 Juan Uribe
74 Kenley Jansen


Date/Uniform No.	23	21	31	30	44	9	15	56	33	51	36	5	74	Total players
3/31	x	x	x	x	x									5
4/1	x	x	x	x	x									5
4/2	x	x	x	x	x									5
4/3	x	x	x	x	x									5
4/4	x	x	x	x	x									5
4/5	x	x	x	x	x									5
4/6	x	x	x	x	x									5
4/7	x	x	x	x	x									5
4/8	x	x	x	x	x									5
4/9	x	x	x	x	x									5
4/10	x	x	x	x	x	x								6
4/11	x	x	x	x	x	x								6
4/12	x	x	x	x	x	x	x							7
4/13	x	x	x	x	x	x	x							7
4/14	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x						8
4/15	x		x	x	x	x	x	x						7
4/16	x		x	x	x	x	x	x						7
4/17	x		x	x	x	x	x	x						7
4/18	x		x	x	x	x	x	x						7
4/19	x		x	x	x	x	x	x						7
4/20	x		x	x	x	x	x	x						7
4/21	x		x	x	x	x	x	x						7
4/22			x	x		x	x	x						5
4/23			x	x		x	x	x						5
4/24			x	x		x	x	x						5
4/25	x		x			x	x	x						5
4/26	x		x			x	x	x						5
4/27	x		x			x	x	x						5
4/28	x		x			x	x	x						5
4/29	x		x			x	x	x						5
4/30	x		x			x	x	x						5
Date/Uniform No.	23	21	31	30	44	9	15	56	33	51	36	5	74	Total players
5/1	x		x			x	x							4
5/2	x		x			x	x							4
5/3	x					x	x		x					4
5/4	x					x	x		x	x				5
5/5	x					x	x		x	x				5
5/6	x					x	x		x	x				5
5/7	x					x	x		x	x				5
5/8	x					x	x		x	x				5
5/9	x					x	x		x	x				5
5/10	x					x	x	x	x	x				6
5/11	x					x	x	x	x	x	x			7
5/12	x					x	x	x	x	x	x			7
5/13	x					x	x	x	x	x	x			7
5/14	x				x	x	x	x	x	x	x			8
5/15	x				x	x	x	x	x	x	x			8
5/16	x				x	x	x	x	x	x	x			8
5/17	x				x	x	x	x	x	x	x			8
5/18	x				x	x	x	x	x	x	x			8
5/19	x				x	x	x	x	x	x	x			8
5/20	x				x	x	x	x	x	x	x			8
5/21	x				x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		9
5/22	x				x	x		x	x	x	x	x		8
5/23	x				x	x		x	x	x	x	x		8
5/24	x				x	x		x	x	x	x	x		8
5/25	x				x	x		x	x	x	x	x		8
5/26	x				x	x		x	x	x	x	x		8
5/27					x	x		x	x	x	x	x		7
5/28					x	x		x	x	x	x	x		7
5/29					x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	8
5/30					x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	8
5/31					x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	8
Date/Uniform No.	23	21	31	30	44	9	15	56	33	51	36	5	74	Total players
6/1					x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	8
6/2					x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	8
6/3					x	x		x	x	x	x	x	x	8
6/4		x			x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	10
Total days	54	16	34	25	44	56	41	43	33	32	25	15	7	425

23 Casey Blake
21 Jon Garland
31 Jay Gibbons
30 Dioner Navarro
44 Vicente Padilla
9 Hector Gimenez
15 Rafael Furcal
56 Hong-Chih Kuo
33 Marcus Thames
51 Jonathan Broxton
36 Blake Hawksworth
5 Juan Uribe
74 Kenley Jansen

Majestic Bison and the Bisonettes rescue Dodgers, 11-8

By Jon Weisman

On June 4, 2011

In Game wrap, History

Al Behrman/APFly away, ball. Fly away.

Al Behrman/APClayton Kershaw struck out nine of the first 15 batters he faced, but then the game got crazy.

Clayton Kershaw worked the Reds over for the first five innings today like Ali worked the ring. The fifth inning in particular was just athletic poetry, Kershaw striking out the side, and I was in thrall.

Leading 1-0, Kershaw had faced the minimum number of batters in taking a one-hitter heading into the sixth inning, and then things just went haywire. Ramon Hernandez singled, and two outs later, Drew Stubbs walked. Brandon Phillips then fisted a 1-1 pitch to right field, just over the head of second baseman Aaron Miles, a them’s-the-breaks hit to tie the game.

And then Joey Votto blasted a three-run home run.

And before he was out of the game in the seventh, Kershaw had given up six runs, and Mike MacDougal had allowed another, and I was bereft.

So of course, you know what happened next. No, not that. No, not that either. No, keep going down the list.

First, Matt Kemp went bananas. Bananas, I say! A solo homer and a grand slam in back-to-back innings to tie the game at 7.

The slam followed an out-of-the-blue rally started with one out in the top of the eighth on a pinch-hit single by Tony Gwynn, Jr., his first hit to the outfield in a full month. Jamey Carroll and Aaron Miles followed with singles to make the score 7-3, and then Andre Ethier (who threw a runner out at home minutes before) drew a walk off Reds lefty reliever Bill Bray. The Bison came up, and on a 1-0 pitch from Logan Ondrusek, who had allowed two homers in 32 innings this season, sent one over the left-center-field fence to tie the game.

The home runs, Kemp’s 14th and 15th of the season, gave him more home runs than steals for the first time this year and put him on a pace for 41 homers and 38 steals this season. According to the Dodgers, he is the team’s first player to hit 15 homers in his first 59 games since Shawn Green in 2001. Green finished that season with a club-record 49.

That put the Dodgers in position for quite an event. According to Fox, the Dodgers’ last win after trailing by 5+ in the eighth inning was May 9, 1994, and Los Angeles has won only three such games since 1958. (Of course, Reds manager Dusty Baker has seen a five-run lead disappear painfully in the past.)

But there was still the matter of pushing across the winning run. Scott Elbert held off the Reds with a 1-2-3 eighth, and Matt Guerrier pitched a shutout ninth. Javy Guerra retired Scott Rolen and Jay Bruce with two on to survive the 10th.

Finally, in the 11th, the Dodgers busted through with Scrub-ball, scoring two runs on singles by … Juan Castro … Gwynn … Carroll (4 for 5) … and Miles (3 for 5, 3 RBI). Reds pitcher Carlos Fisher, the losing pitcher in Cincinnati’s 19-inning epic against the Phillies on May 25, then threw away an Ethier double-play grounder, opening the door for the Dodgers to score two more runs, Kemp getting his sixth RBI of the game on a fielder’s choice.

In only 27 of their previous 58 games had the Dodgers scored more runs than they scored in today’s 11th inning.

Guerra, who last pitched two innings May 4 in Chattanooga, was left to start the bottom of the 11th despite his hard-working 23 pitches in the 10th. (He actually walked in his first major-league plate appearance.) He gave up a leadoff single to Ryan Hanigan and one out later was replaced by Ramon Troncoso. A groundout by Paul Janish drove in a run charged to Guerra (his first since May 22), but the Dodgers were one out away.

Then, Chris Heisey singled. Then, Stubbs singled. That meant that the Reds would in fact get the tying run to the plate in Phillips, with Votto on deck and Rolen in the hole.

Strike. Ball. Strike. Ball.

Just as he did to drive in the first run against Kershaw hours before, Phillips went to right field. It looked very much like a potential hit off his bat. But this one went a little deeper, and Ethier was able to come in and catch it.

Dodgers 11, Reds 8. Wow, and whew.

Dodgers call up Ely, De Jesus

By Jon Weisman

On June 4, 2011

In Game chat, Health/injuries, Transactions

Dodgers at Reds, 1:10 p.m.
Kershaw XCVI: Kershawft

Jamey Carroll, SS
Aaron Miles, 2B
Andre Ethier, RF
Matt Kemp, CF
Casey Blake, 3B
James Loney, 1B
Jerry Sands, LF
Dioner Navarro, C
Clayton Kershaw, P

Rafael Furcal and Jon Garland are officially on the disabled list, replaced for the time being by Ivan De Jesus Jr. and John Ely. Vicente Padilla has had a setback, which is why he’s not being activated. Juan Uribe and Blake Hawksworth could displace the Ely and De Jesus within days, however.

Ely will pitch out of the bullpen – Rubby De La Rosa is still scheduled to start Tuesday.

‘You Can Look But You Better Not Touch: The Rafael Furcal Story’

By Jon Weisman

On June 3, 2011

In Game wrap, Health/injuries

In his 10th game since returning from the disabled list and 17th game of the season, Rafael Furcal went kablooey again, leaving tonight’s 2-1 Dodger loss to Cincinnati in the top of the third inning with an injury to his left side. He is day-to-day, although keep in mind that Furcal’s body measures days based on Mercury time.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ offensive surge of earlier this week proved itself to be the fluke we all assumed it would be. Los Angeles has scored one run in its past 21 innings, despite playing today’s nine in one of the healthier hitting environments in the National League. Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp had six of the Dodgers nine times on base, with Kemp erasing one of his successes by being doubled off second after Ethier scored the team’s only run via James Loney’s sacrifice fly.

Hiroki Kuroda pitched six innings, several of them rough ones, but escaped unscathed (thanks in part to Jay Bruce being thrown out on the bases in the second inning – the play that might have caused Furcal’s injury) until the bottom of the fifth, when Scott Rolen drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single. The Dodger bullpen pitched two shutout innings, highlighted by Scott Elbert relieving Mike MacDougal with a runner on second and one out in the seventh and retiring Joey Votto and Bruce. But pinch-hitter Rod Barajas flied out with Kemp and Ethier on base to end the Dodgers’ last threat in the eighth.

The Dodgers put the ball in play tonight, striking out only four times in 31 at-bats, but they just could not make anything happen outside of the trainer’s room. Aaron Miles, slated to be the 25th man on the roster, remains on pace to combine with backup infielder Jamey Carroll for 1,000 plate appearances this year.

Garland injury opens path for De La Rosa to starting rotation

By Jon Weisman

On June 3, 2011

In Game chat, Health/injuries, Transactions

Dodgers at Reds, 4:10 p.m.

Rafael Furcal, SS
Casey Blake, 3B
Andre Ethier, RF
Matt Kemp, CF
Jay Gibbons, LF
James Loney, 1B
Dioner Navarro, C
Aaron Miles, 2B
Hiroki Kuroda, P

We’re still waiting for the official word, but Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com is reporting that Jon Garland will be placed on the disabled list (for the second time this season) with a right shoulder problem.

The immediate roster replacement would be Vicente Padilla, who will be activated from the disabled list, but more significantly, it could mean Rubby De La Rosa will make his first major-league start Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Update: Whatever’s going to happen is apparently not happening before today’s game, according to this note from the Dodgers.

On-day links

By Jon Weisman

On June 3, 2011

In Uncategorized

Linky-dinky doo …

Though everyone knows the Dodgers need to add bats to their farm system, this year’s draft might not offer many immediate solutions: “For us, there isn’t a hitter at 16 that we can insert into left field or the lineup,” Dodger assistant general manager Logan White told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. “This draft is thin at catcher and thin up the middle infield, two areas I’d like to put in the organization.”
San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean says the Giants will “have a long memory” about the way Scott Cousins took at Buster Posey at home plate last month, saying that “if I never hear from Cousins again or he never plays another game in the big leagues, I think we’ll all be happy,” according to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. But Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospectus suggests Sabean has a short memory about similar incidents at home caused by members of his own team.
Meanwhile, who remembers the details of a collision at San Francisco in 2009 between Eugenio Velez and Russell Martin? I was at the game:

… And so we went scoreless into the bottom of the fifth inning, when the first of six Dodger relievers, James McDonald, surrendered a double off the glove of Andre Ethier and then a run-scoring single. Coming around to score, Eugenio Velez undressed Dodger catcher Russell Martin like he was a line drive at Charlie Brown. It took Martin a couple of minutes to get himself together. The next batter, Pablo Sandoval, handed Martin his catcher’s mask, and I thought, “Oh, what a nice guy.”

That didn’t last long. McDonald’s next pitch was a bit inside and from our sideways vantage point appeared to hit Sandoval. Nonetheless, it wasn’t much of a brushback and it certainly didn’t seem intentional, given how tight the game was. But Sandoval immediately reacted angrily, walking out toward the mound, and suddenly a donnybrook was dawning. I couldn’t believe it. That being said, almost everyone else in the ballpark seemed to be itching for a Giants-Dodgers fight, including Martin, and it took some time to restore order. The fans around me actually thought Martin and McDonald should have been ejected, as if they started it – though to my mind they were wearing orange-colored sunglasses. …

Joe Torre plans to have a talk with Sabean.
Jim McLennan of AZ Snakepit offers this look at the state of the National League West.
The World Baseball Classic is expanding to 28 teams for its 2013 edition, with 16 of them playing in a fall 2012 qualifying round.
In a guest piece for Baseball Prospectus, Sam Miller of the Orange County Register takes a long look at myths and realities with Mike Scioscia.
Ernest Reyes of Blue Heaven posts a collection of 1981 Vero Beach Dodgers cards. R.J. Reynolds!
Vin Scully’s Hollywood star has been liberated, reports Tom Hoffarth of the Daily News.

Update: Granillo found the Velez-Martin play: That’s the first time I’ve seen the replay. Velez slid, which makes it more harmless than I remembered. Martin was definitely vulnerable, and I think Velez could have avoided upending him, but it wasn’t something to get in an uproar about.

Off-day links

By Jon Weisman

On June 2, 2011

In History, Uncategorized

The next edition of Dodger Cogs and Dogs will be June 16. In the meantime …

MLB’s Dodger hall monitor, Tom Schieffer, was interviewed by Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com.

… “I don’t think there is any question there is a strain between the franchise and the community right now,” Schieffer said. “And that isn’t the community’s fault.” …

“Have you been approached by anyone in support of Frank?” I asked.

Schieffer laughed, then gave me the answer I fully expected.

“I’m not going to go there,” he said. …
Steve Henson of Yahoo! Sports has a wonderful personal remembrance of Sparky Anderson.
The saga of Vin Scully’s covered-up star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, first uncovered (the story, not the star) by Roberto Baly of Vin Scully Is My Homeboy, has only gotten crazier, writes Tom Hoffarth of the Daily News.
Chris Jaffe of the Hardball Times writes about the 50th anniversary of what he calls “baseball’s most surreal bottom of the ninth,” and (insert Vin Scully’s voice here) it had to be the Giants and the Dodgers.
Brandon Lennox of True Blue L.A. has capsules on seemingly every 2011 MLB draft-eligible player who is related to a past or present Dodger. You’ll love looking at the names.

Despite loss, kids continue to carry Dodger bullpen

By Jon Weisman

On June 1, 2011

In Bullpen, Game wrap

Icon SMI/US PresswireRubby De La Rosa and Scott Elbert brought relief from the minors.

The kids have come to the rescue of the Dodger bullpen, and not nearly enough has been said about it.

Jonathan Broxton went on the disabled list May 6, followed within 10 days by Hong-Chih Kuo, Vicente Padilla and Blake Hawksworth. To replace them, the Dodgers brought up Kenley Jansen (who had temporarily gone down to Chattanooga), Scott Elbert, Javy Guerra and Ramon Troncoso.

Another week later, the Dodgers dispatched mop-up man Lance Cormier and replaced him with Rubby De La Rosa. Then in the past week, Jansen went on the disabled list and was replaced by Josh Lindblom, who made his major-league debut with an inning in the finale of the Colorado series Wednesday.

Of the replacements, Troncoso was the veteran with all of 177 1/3 career innings. The combined career experience of Jansen, Elbert, Guerra, De La Rosa and Lindblom was 39 2/3 innings. Their average age: 23 1/2. Think about it – more than half of the bullpen handed over to runts.

Here’s how they’ve done, including the 3-0 Dodger loss to Colorado, in which the bullpen followed Jon Garland’s six-inning, three-run start with shutout ball:

Jansen: 7 2/3 innings, 13 baserunners, four earned runs (4.69 ERA), 13 strikeouts, 0 of 5 inherited runners scored
Troncoso: six innings, six baserunners, no earned runs (0.00 ERA), two strikeouts, 2 of 5 inherited runners scored
Guerra: seven innings, nine baserunners, two earned runs (2.57 ERA), five strikeouts, 0 of 0 inherited runners scored
De La Rosa: five innings, four baserunners, one earned run (1.80 ERA), five strikeouts, 0 of 0 inherited runners scored
Elbert: 4 2/3 innings, six baserunners, no earned runs (0.00 ERA), seven strikeouts, 1 of 6 inherited runners scored
Lindblom: one inning, two baserunners, no earned runs (0.00 ERA), no strikeouts, 0 of 0 inherited runners scored

Total: 31 1/3 innings, 40 baserunners, seven earned runs, 32 strikeouts, 2.01 ERA, 3 of 16 inherited runners scored

That’s remarkable, especially considering we can assume that we can possibly attribute three of the seven runs allowed to the shoulder inflammation that sent Jansen to the disabled list.

The news that Padilla is expected to return to active duty Friday will, barring injury, start pushing the runts back to the minor leagues, but each has made the case to stay with the big club. Considered a weakness less than a month ago, the Dodger bullpen will in less than 48 hours have eight effective relievers to choose from, with more to come as Broxton, Kuo, Hawksworth and Jansen get back on their feet.

The other noteworthy thing is that with all the injuries, Dodger manager Don Mattingly has basically been forced to throw the idea of a designated closer out the window, instead bringing in pitchers simply based on the situation rather than their title or status. Unshackled from a pecking order, the Dodger kids haven’t suffered – they’ve thrived. Jansen, Guerra and De La Rosa have all finished close games, while Elbert and now even Lindblom have pitched in situations where giving up a single run could be a killer. De La Rosa, whose destiny remains starting pitcher, could be a circa-1992 Pedro Martinez-like smokejumper, giving you a couple innings at a time as long as there’s sufficient rest in between.

Message to Mattingly: Do yourself a favor. As the veterans return to the pen, don’t get caught up in who your closer is. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Manage according to the situation, not according to resume.

Streaks on the line

By Jon Weisman

On June 1, 2011

In Game chat, Uncategorized

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

Rafael Furcal, SS
Casey Blake, 3B
Andre Ethier, RF
Matt Kemp, CF
Jay Gibbons, LF
James Loney, 1B
Rod Barajas, C
Jamey Carroll, 2B
Jon Garland, P

The Dodgers are going for their first four-game winning streak since August 24-27.

The last time the Dodgers scored at least seven runs in four consecutive games was May 24-27, 2009. The last three of those games were in Colorado.

Finally, Matt Kemp has the longest active consecutive games played streak in baseball and is almost 1/10th of the way to Cal Ripken Jr.’s all-time record of 2,632. Kemp is on target to pass Ripken in late September 2025, on or about his 41st birthday. Get your tickets now!

Dads do the funniest things

By Jon Weisman

On June 1, 2011

In Kids, Life

Regarding the dad who dropped his daughter when trying to catch a foul ball the other night at Dodger Stadium … all I have to say is that I’m glad there were no cameras on me when I lifted my then 1-year-old oldest son above my shoulders head-first into a ceiling fan.

Whap whap whap whap. Still makes me shudder. We all do bonehead things to our kids, sometimes literally – if we can laugh about them afterward, we’re lucky.

Tony Gwynn (the pop, not the pup) talked to Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com about his encouraging progress in his battle with cancer, as well as his son’s hitting struggles and fellow Hall of Famer Gary Carter’s cancer illness.
Evan Bladh Sr. writes about his fond memories of Ken McMullen at Opinion of Kingman’s Performance.
A new Jackie Robinson biopic is in the works, and Rachel Robinson is collaborating with Legendary Pictures on the project, reports Dave McNary of Variety.
Steve Garvey’s son Ryan and the rest of the Palm Desert High baseball team will be playing at Dodger Stadium on Friday for the Southern Section Division 4 baseball title, reports Dan Arritt of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Garvey and friends ousted Oaks Christian and Wayne Gretzky fils Trevor.

Darkness and light

By Jon Weisman

On May 31, 2011

In Family, Game wrap, Kids, Life

In the middle of Memorial Day, my wife and I punished my two oldest children. We love them more than life itself and have the highest hopes for them, but of course that doesn’t eliminate the paths to frustration with them.

In particular, they have developed some sort of simultaneous mental block to saying hello to people they know. They resist a friendly greeting like some sort of evil bacteria. I understand shyness – I was the shyest one in my family as a kid and it still crops up from time to time today. But these kids got to the point Monday where their grandparents, who have been very good to them, said hello and the kids didn’t so much as look up. It wasn’t shy – it was dismissive.

That ain’t right. It’s damn vexing, and it only seems to be getting worse. To be sure, my wife and I are wondering what we’ve done wrong to cause this and what we should or shouldn’t do to solve it. But in the meantime, taking away some of the kids’ Nintendo DS privileges seemed a logical stopover en route to the next parenting solution station.

Over the next couple of hours, the kids hardly snapped out of their funk.

At the end of the afternoon, we went to see my 101-year-old grandmother, who is deteriorating rapidly now in a manner that is difficult to take, especially for my father. It was not an easy place for any of us, including single-digit age children who, for the first time in their lives, are face to face with someone whose mind and body are failing.

But when we had all but given up hope on the kids salvaging the day, they came alive. They were not only friendly, but they went and put their piano lessons to tremendous use, playing an impromptu mini-concert for Grandma Sue and a few others at the assisted living home, something so wonderful that thinking about it now does something to my head that I can’t find the words to describe. They did something for this woman, who whom they essentially can no longer communicate with through words because of her hearing and speech decline, that I could never do.

I hope I’ll never forget that moment. I know I won’t forget, at least until my mind goes, the look on my grandmother’s face as we were leaving, a look of direct melancholy but also of one that had been engaged in the world at least one more time.

Anyway, I started writing this tonight after the Dodgers took a 5-1 lead against Colorado and reached this final paragraph with the scorer 8-2, on the way to what hopefully for them and their fans will be their third straight authoritative victory, with the plan of drawing a connection of how quickly simmering frustration can turn to elation. That seems a bit forced now that I’ve gotten to this point, so all I’ll say now is that I’ll never cease to be surprised by how often I can be surprised, much less blown away.

Don’t look in the mirror – you’ll break it

By Jon Weisman

On May 31, 2011

In Game chat, Ownership

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

Jamey Carroll, SS
Casey Blake, 3B
Andre Ethier, RF
Matt Kemp, CF
James Loney, 1B
Jerry Sands, LF
Dioner Navarro, C
Aaron Miles, 3B
Ted Lilly, P

To make the Dodgers’ end-of-May payroll, Frank McCourt once again borrowed from Peter Future to pay Paul Present. From Molly Knight of ESPN The Magazine:

… McCourt was able to meet the team’s payroll Tuesday with cash advances drawn on the team’s corporate sponsorship deals, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Since McCourt has been unable to secure traditional loans to fund the cash-strapped Dodgers, front office executives in charge of revenue were charged with finding more creative ways to help float the troubled franchise for two more weeks.

Current team sponsors were contacted and offered discounts on their annual bills and luxury box stadium seats in exchange for cash up front, according to two sources. It is not known which sponsors took the offer, or the depth of discount they were given.

McCourt is still searching for the funding to make the team’s next payroll on June 15, according to two people with knowledge of the Dodgers finances who were not authorized to speak publicly. Should the beleaguered owner fail to make payroll, Major League Baseball would cover it for him and likely formally seize the team.

Based on an Opening Day payroll of $103.8 million, the Dodgers’ payroll for its major league roster in the second half of May was about $8.25 million. The figure includes 16 days’ salary, but not any signing bonus payments that happen to fall due.

The Times, citing anonymous sources, reported last week that McCourt needed roughly $9.8 million to meet Tuesday’s payroll. His financial woes will increase in June because the Dodgers owe Manny Ramirez more than $6 million in deferred compensation, the paper said. …

Junk mail saved my life

By Jon Weisman

On May 31, 2011

In Uncategorized

Here are some items for your mailbox:

Since the wild-card era began in 1996, only five of 126 teams that were, as the Dodgers are, at least five games under .500 and five games out of a playoff spot on May 31 have made the postseason, according to Tom Verducci of SI.com.
Amid all the bullpen injuries, Dodger manager Don Mattingly resisted naming one of his veteran relievers as a primary closer, preferring to keep them for middle-relief situations and showing a willingness to use youth at the end of the game, writes Dylan Hernandez of the Times.
My friend and former Variety colleague Laura Clark offers at L.A. Story a perspective on going to Dodger Stadium from a non-regular.
Make your All-Star picks here in this fun format at ESPN.com.

Good times find Dodgers, 7-1

By Jon Weisman

On May 30, 2011

In Game wrap

Stephen Dunn/Getty ImagesMatt Kemp’s throw to Rod Barajas nailed Carlos Gonzalez at home in the first inning.

The Dodgers were up by six when it happened, so it wasn’t the biggest moment in the game (see above for the answer). But …

Chad Billingsley had already thrown 99 pitches and scattered a career-high 11 hits, including allowing the leadoff man for Colorado to reach base in six consecutive innings, when he followed a visit to the mound from pitching coach Rick Honeycutt by walking Carlos Gonzalez to load the bases with one out in the top of the seventh. I’m one of Billingsley’s biggest fans, but with Troy Tulowitzki coming to bat, I was almost sure it was time to go to a Dodger bullpen that was rested from Clayton Kershaw’s complete game Sunday. Despite the loss of five relievers to the disabled list and a sixth to the restricted list, it seemed obvious that Don Mattingly should go for a fresh arm to protect the 7-1 lead and protect Billingsley’s eight-strikeout outing.

Billingsley stayed in, and four pitches later, Tulowitzki grounded into an easy Rafael Furcal-to-James Loney double play. I love when feeling wrong feels so right.

And despite my misgivings about this team – and keep in mind, even with this 7-1 Dodgers victory tonight, Los Angeles is only 8-10 since I voiced my big fear that this is the worst Dodger team since 1992 – this whiff of hope that has come from the past two games is a tasty amuse bouche of crow.

If nothing else, thank goodness for the respite from negativity that the last two games have provided. A day after Kershaw’s two-hit shutout, the Dodgers gave up 14 knocks – and still allowed only one run. Los Angeles went 4 for 4 with runners in scoring position; Colorado went 1 for 12. Rafael Furcal has entered the Rafael Furcal Zone, going 2 for 4 to reach 7 for 13 over his past three games. Andre Ethier is 9 for 15 with five walks (that’s a .700 on-base percentage, friends) since he banged into the wall in Chicago and got four days of rest from regular play.

And are you ready for a hot, or semi-hot, James Loney? Two homers in his past four games, including a two-run shot tonight, and 26 for 84 with seven walks and only four strikeouts since May 3 – a .370 on-base percentage and .440 slugging percentage. It’s not Gil Hodges, but a .810 OPS for this offense will cure some amount of ills.

Those who wanted to start the rebuild on Juneday, the National League West and the Dodgers’ recent show of extreme competence have conspired against them. Say hi to the hottest 25-30 team in baseball.

* * *

Tommy Lasorda, 83, is resting at home in recovery from a bacterial infection that sent him to the hospital for four days last week.
There was a second, smaller fire this morning in the same spot of Dodger Stadium as the bigger fire during Saturday’s game.

Dodger Thoughts

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

Author: Jon Weisman (Page 300 of 379)

Where’s Kempo

Dodgers at Reds, 10:10 a.m.

The Los Angeles DLers roster

Majestic Bison and the Bisonettes rescue Dodgers, 11-8

Dodgers call up Ely, De Jesus

Dodgers at Reds, 1:10 p.m.
Kershaw XCVI: Kershawft

‘You Can Look But You Better Not Touch: The Rafael Furcal Story’

Garland injury opens path for De La Rosa to starting rotation

Dodgers at Reds, 4:10 p.m.

On-day links

Off-day links

Despite loss, kids continue to carry Dodger bullpen

Streaks on the line

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

Dads do the funniest things

Darkness and light

Don’t look in the mirror – you’ll break it

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

Junk mail saved my life

Good times find Dodgers, 7-1

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

Author: Jon Weisman (Page 300 of 379)

Dodgers at Reds, 1:10 p.m. Kershaw XCVI: Kershawft

Buy ‘The Catch: A novel’

Buy ‘Brothers in Arms’

‘Brothers in Arms’ coverage

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Recent posts

Other writing by Jon

Archives

Commenting guidelines

Attendance

Dodgers at Reds, 1:10 p.m.
Kershaw XCVI: Kershawft