The Dodgers have finally found a suitable fifth starter.
Despite a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the Cubs earlier today, rookie John Ely has pitched his way into the Dodgers' starting rotation. Since his shaky debut against the Mets in New York, Ely has been brilliant for a team in desperate need of consistent starting pitching. He has arguably been the Dodgers' most consistent starter over the past three weeks - up until today's start, he had won three straight decisions and now has not allowed more than two runs in his last five starts. His ERA sits at a cool 3.00, and his presence has stabilized the starting rotation for the Dodgers. With Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw (who also lost a heartbreaker Tuesday night) pitching at a high level as well, the Dodgers will be around to stay in the NL West. An important series with the Rockies takes place this weekend before the Dodgers return home for their longest homestand of the season.
But a few more observations on this series with the Cubs - sticking with pitching, Jeff Weaver has been very good out of the bullpen this year. He's certainly one of the more reliable arms in that pen. Hopefully the addition of Justin Miller today will give Joe Torre another viable option in the late innings (he is Ramon Ortiz's replacement, sianara!). Meanwhile, on the hitting side, Casey Blake has really been turning it up lately. It's nice to see him and James Loney contributing in the lineup. Blake has hit four home runs in the last two weeks, which is big for the Dodgers, especially with Manny not hitting them like he used to, Ethier out, and Kemp slouching a bit. But the Dodgers really miss Ethier's bat. Before this series, they were averaging about 4 runs a game without him, whereas with him they were averaging over 5. After the two shutouts courtesy of the Cubs, that first average surely decreased. A return on Monday is the hope at this point, and that's going to be huge for the Dodgers. They're still only two games behind San Diego, assuming San Diego loses tonight, which is certainly no guarantee, and probably not even likely. Still, the Dodgers have to think they're right where they want to be as we wrap up the first two months of this 2010 season.
May 27, 2010
May 20, 2010
Streaking Dodgers Finally Fall
I didn't want to jinx the Dodgers' recent winning streak by writing about it in this blog. After a 10-5 loss to Adrian Gonzalez and the San Diego Padres last night, I can take up my keyboard once again.
In my last entry I wrote about the Padres and how they have survived on pitching thus far, using it as a means to climb to the top of the NL West and stay there for most of the season. The Dodgers' nine-game win streak further proves that winning baseball games is all about pitching. The Dodger ERA during the streak was a mere 1.72, certainly the best stretch of pitching the Dodgers have had all season. John Ely, in his best Padre imitation, has come out of nowhere to do his part, and has been spectacular in three starts since his major-league debut. I got to see him pitch on Monday against the Houston Astros, where he struck out a career-high eight batters in seven innings of work. The Dodgers can't send Ely down again after the numbers he's putting up - he's been their most consistent starter over the past two weeks. Hiroki Kuroda is still head of the pack with five wins. But when you have to resort to giving the ball to Ramon Ortiz to keep a win streak alive, you're in trouble, and Ortiz was awful again last night. The bullpen also struggled in last night's game, as they had been on a hot streak of their own but allowed five runs in the late innings Wednesday. George Sherrill continues to struggle, which would be a lot worse if Hong-Chih Kuo wasn't pitching so well. Still, the Dodgers have made up three games in the standings since my last post, which was a week ago. A win over the Padres tonight with Clayton Kershaw on the mound would put the Dodgers within one game of the division lead, and after the rough start the team experienced to open the season, including a few days in last place, that would be quite an accomplishment.
In my last entry I wrote about the Padres and how they have survived on pitching thus far, using it as a means to climb to the top of the NL West and stay there for most of the season. The Dodgers' nine-game win streak further proves that winning baseball games is all about pitching. The Dodger ERA during the streak was a mere 1.72, certainly the best stretch of pitching the Dodgers have had all season. John Ely, in his best Padre imitation, has come out of nowhere to do his part, and has been spectacular in three starts since his major-league debut. I got to see him pitch on Monday against the Houston Astros, where he struck out a career-high eight batters in seven innings of work. The Dodgers can't send Ely down again after the numbers he's putting up - he's been their most consistent starter over the past two weeks. Hiroki Kuroda is still head of the pack with five wins. But when you have to resort to giving the ball to Ramon Ortiz to keep a win streak alive, you're in trouble, and Ortiz was awful again last night. The bullpen also struggled in last night's game, as they had been on a hot streak of their own but allowed five runs in the late innings Wednesday. George Sherrill continues to struggle, which would be a lot worse if Hong-Chih Kuo wasn't pitching so well. Still, the Dodgers have made up three games in the standings since my last post, which was a week ago. A win over the Padres tonight with Clayton Kershaw on the mound would put the Dodgers within one game of the division lead, and after the rough start the team experienced to open the season, including a few days in last place, that would be quite an accomplishment.
May 13, 2010
Padre Prowess
I think its safe to say the San Diego Padres aren't going anywhere, at least for now.
After Matt Latos one-hit the San Francisco Giants today, the Padres moved 3 1/2 games ahead of the Giants in the NL West standings, completing their second sweep of the Giants this season and surpassing the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in the National League.
No, you did not read or hear that incorrectly.
By wins and losses, the Padres are the best team in the National League. Paper rosters tell a different story, but the scoreboard says all at the end of the day. And the Padres have been on the right end of it much more often than not this season, to the tune of a .647 winning percentage. Twelve of their 22 wins have come against division opponents. This was a team that started 3-6, only to turn around and win 12 out of 14, including eight in a row. Now they have won five out of six, and, if the season ended today, would be the #1 seed in the NL playoffs.
How is this possible for a team that has nobody? NOBODY? Adrian Gonzalez, sure. He's hitting .265. Chase Headley's batting .311 with nine stolen bases, out of nowhere. But this is a roster otherwise filled with no-names and rejects and journeymen. Somehow, the pitching staff has an MLB-best 2.69 team ERA through 34 games. With no one. Jon Garland must have remembered what he ate for breakfast during the 2005 season. Wade LeBlanc must feel like he's always pitching against the Dodgers in spring training. What is it with this team? Is this really going to last?
It just goes to show the importance of pitching in baseball, as it always has been and always will be. The Padres are the poster child for pitching's cause. They defy any preseason predictions that placed them in the cellar of the division with their young (and old) arms which have flat-out dealt so far. If you look at team ERA's across the league, you will see the top six in this order:
1. San Diego Padres - 2.69
2. St. Louis Cardinals - 2.70
3. Tampa Bay Rays - 2.78
4. San Francisco Giants - 3.10
5. New York Yankees - 3.46
6. Minnesota Twins - 3.51
Notice that each of these teams is a division leader at present, except for the Giants and Yankees, who are in second place in their respective divisions. The other two division leaders (Texas Rangers, #8 and Philadelphia Phillies, #9) are still in the top ten. Pitching is everything in a post-steroid dynamic that doesn't allow teams to rely on the 3-run homer any longer. You manufacture. You scrape by. You win wars of attrition. That's what the Padres have done, and that's why they've been so successful through the first fifth of the 2010 season - its the Padre prowess.
After Matt Latos one-hit the San Francisco Giants today, the Padres moved 3 1/2 games ahead of the Giants in the NL West standings, completing their second sweep of the Giants this season and surpassing the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in the National League.
No, you did not read or hear that incorrectly.
By wins and losses, the Padres are the best team in the National League. Paper rosters tell a different story, but the scoreboard says all at the end of the day. And the Padres have been on the right end of it much more often than not this season, to the tune of a .647 winning percentage. Twelve of their 22 wins have come against division opponents. This was a team that started 3-6, only to turn around and win 12 out of 14, including eight in a row. Now they have won five out of six, and, if the season ended today, would be the #1 seed in the NL playoffs.
How is this possible for a team that has nobody? NOBODY? Adrian Gonzalez, sure. He's hitting .265. Chase Headley's batting .311 with nine stolen bases, out of nowhere. But this is a roster otherwise filled with no-names and rejects and journeymen. Somehow, the pitching staff has an MLB-best 2.69 team ERA through 34 games. With no one. Jon Garland must have remembered what he ate for breakfast during the 2005 season. Wade LeBlanc must feel like he's always pitching against the Dodgers in spring training. What is it with this team? Is this really going to last?
It just goes to show the importance of pitching in baseball, as it always has been and always will be. The Padres are the poster child for pitching's cause. They defy any preseason predictions that placed them in the cellar of the division with their young (and old) arms which have flat-out dealt so far. If you look at team ERA's across the league, you will see the top six in this order:
1. San Diego Padres - 2.69
2. St. Louis Cardinals - 2.70
3. Tampa Bay Rays - 2.78
4. San Francisco Giants - 3.10
5. New York Yankees - 3.46
6. Minnesota Twins - 3.51
Notice that each of these teams is a division leader at present, except for the Giants and Yankees, who are in second place in their respective divisions. The other two division leaders (Texas Rangers, #8 and Philadelphia Phillies, #9) are still in the top ten. Pitching is everything in a post-steroid dynamic that doesn't allow teams to rely on the 3-run homer any longer. You manufacture. You scrape by. You win wars of attrition. That's what the Padres have done, and that's why they've been so successful through the first fifth of the 2010 season - its the Padre prowess.
May 10, 2010
Perfection for Braden
It was some kind of Mother's Day for Oakland A's pitcher Dallas Braden, who threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday, only the 19th perfect game in baseball's long history. Appropriately, his grandmother was there to witness it, and the achievement made for a great story in that his mother was a cancer victim and baseball was taking Mother's Day as an opportunity to promote cancer awareness.
Stories like these are what make sports such an alluring part of our culture. Braden threw a perfect game, but he threw it under the perfect circumstances. The story would not be the same if Braden throws the perfect game two months from now. It happened Sunday, when he happened to be pitching on Mother's Day, at home, against the right opponent (the Rays were perfected last year too by White Sox hurler Mark Buehrle). It was not only a perfect game, but a perfect moment. The scene following the last out of the game will probably end up being more memorable than the game itself. And that's the beauty of baseball, or all sports for that matter - you have the physical accomplishments, the wins and losses, the statistics - and at the end of the day, people remember storylines like Braden's. There's more to baseball than just numbers, and moments like this one prove that it's also not just a game.
It's a perfect game.
Stories like these are what make sports such an alluring part of our culture. Braden threw a perfect game, but he threw it under the perfect circumstances. The story would not be the same if Braden throws the perfect game two months from now. It happened Sunday, when he happened to be pitching on Mother's Day, at home, against the right opponent (the Rays were perfected last year too by White Sox hurler Mark Buehrle). It was not only a perfect game, but a perfect moment. The scene following the last out of the game will probably end up being more memorable than the game itself. And that's the beauty of baseball, or all sports for that matter - you have the physical accomplishments, the wins and losses, the statistics - and at the end of the day, people remember storylines like Braden's. There's more to baseball than just numbers, and moments like this one prove that it's also not just a game.
It's a perfect game.
May 7, 2010
Do You Believe in Ethier? Yes!
Andre Ethier's walk-off grand slam last night to beat the pesky Milwaukee Brewers in the bottom of the ninth is merely an extension of his greatness in the late innings. It was his eleventh career walk-off hit, and his second this season, lending credence to the idea that Ethier defines "clutch." If there was ever such a thing as on offensive closer in baseball, Ethier would have to be considered the best in the league. He certainly picked up the slack for Jonathan Broxton last night.
In all fairness, Broxton just got unlucky. Those last two singles with two outs by Greg Zaun and Craig Counsell were very weakly hit, and lucky to be base hits. Zaun's was a little blooper (he did that earlier too against John Ely) and Counsell's ground ball found the only possible spot where it could avoid the glove of diving shortstop Jamey Carroll.
But back to Ethier. Los Angeles is very fortunate to have two top-notch closers in two major sports: Kobe Bryant and Andre Ethier in basketball and baseball, respectively. Andre Ethier is the Kobe Bryant of baseball. When Kobe gets the ball in the waning seconds, with the game on the line, he delivers, as consistently if not more so than anyone could expect or imagine in such a situation. Ethier is the same way. When he steps to the plate in a walk-off situation, his opponent might as well just start walking back to the dugout. As I watched Ethier step to the plate last night in the ninth from my seat behind first base, I knew the game was over. You just get that feeling when he bats under do-or-die circumstances.
The amazing difference between Kobe and Ethier, however, is that the Lakers can choose to give Kobe the ball when they need a big shot down the stretch. The Dodgers, due to the beautiful nature of baseball, cannot make the same choice for Ethier. They can hope, but they cannot choose. Imagine if they could choose. Given all we've seen from him in the past three seasons, imagine if they could choose. It's mind-blowing, and yet it might be even more mind-blowing that, despite the Dodgers' inability to force him to the plate late in games, he still gets his opportunities time and time again. And when he does, he gives you very little reason to believe he won't win the game right then. He's Andre Ethier, and his heroic magic continues to dazzle spectators with stunning frequency.
In all fairness, Broxton just got unlucky. Those last two singles with two outs by Greg Zaun and Craig Counsell were very weakly hit, and lucky to be base hits. Zaun's was a little blooper (he did that earlier too against John Ely) and Counsell's ground ball found the only possible spot where it could avoid the glove of diving shortstop Jamey Carroll.
But back to Ethier. Los Angeles is very fortunate to have two top-notch closers in two major sports: Kobe Bryant and Andre Ethier in basketball and baseball, respectively. Andre Ethier is the Kobe Bryant of baseball. When Kobe gets the ball in the waning seconds, with the game on the line, he delivers, as consistently if not more so than anyone could expect or imagine in such a situation. Ethier is the same way. When he steps to the plate in a walk-off situation, his opponent might as well just start walking back to the dugout. As I watched Ethier step to the plate last night in the ninth from my seat behind first base, I knew the game was over. You just get that feeling when he bats under do-or-die circumstances.
The amazing difference between Kobe and Ethier, however, is that the Lakers can choose to give Kobe the ball when they need a big shot down the stretch. The Dodgers, due to the beautiful nature of baseball, cannot make the same choice for Ethier. They can hope, but they cannot choose. Imagine if they could choose. Given all we've seen from him in the past three seasons, imagine if they could choose. It's mind-blowing, and yet it might be even more mind-blowing that, despite the Dodgers' inability to force him to the plate late in games, he still gets his opportunities time and time again. And when he does, he gives you very little reason to believe he won't win the game right then. He's Andre Ethier, and his heroic magic continues to dazzle spectators with stunning frequency.
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