Starting Another Series Strong
The Dodgers would love to sweep their third consecutive home series, so tonight's 7-2 win over the Phillies got things off on the right foot. Save a ninth inning struggle by Tim Hamulack (and at this point, the lefty's struggles are becoming more sickly amusing than upsetting), there was little to frown about this evening. Fans love six innings of scoreless chucking from Derek Lowe (who's always grateful for anything resembling run support, much less the serious cushion he received). And tonight he needed a little help.
Despite the goose eggs in the Philly run column, Lowe described the night as "a struggle from the first inning on," an outing where he "never got into a rhythm." But it's hard for Lowe to be overly critical, especially after collecting his second hit of the season (raising his average to a smokin' .077). I asked if it felt like he was rolling when it comes to swinging the stick.
"I don't think you can say you're on a roll until you're hitting over .100," he responded with a smile. He also noted that his next plate appearance will come against "my good friend Pedro Martinez," so he's not expecting to reach the triple digit clip on that particular day.
Recent AA transplant Matt Kemp had one heck of a Dodger Stadium debut, smacking himself a three-run homer over the left field wall. As one might imagine, he was grinning in the clubhouse after the game. "Glad I did it my opening day in Los Angeles," Kemp said, noting he had some cousins in the house, L.A. locals undoubtedly stoked to have a famous relative donning Dodger blue.
If it appeared like Kemp was rounding the bases a little faster than your average grizzled vet, that's only because he was. "I was sprinting," Kemp sheepishly admitted. "I'm not in a situation where I can pimp home runs."
Of course, there's a lot rookies aren't supposed to do, such as play in a cool, calm and collected fashion. But the Dodgers' young pups apparently skipped class the day they taught "wide eyed and intimidated" in baseball school. Perhaps no rook better exemplifies this attitude more than catcher Russell Martin, himself a member of tonight's home run club. Lowe poured praise all over his plate protector. "He's got balls.... He'll take a game over."
Even the vet hurler/World Series winner's eyebrows are constantly raised by Martin's confidence while sticking to his guns. You can shake off the signal, but not the guy calling them. "He won't let you throw anything but that pitch." This would be a problem, were Martin's judgment not overwhelmingly on point. For a guy with relatively little catching experience and even less big league time, Martin isn't intimidated by the idea of standing up to a seasoned pitcher. "I go out there and I see myself as an equal. We're a team and it doesn't matter what age you are."
Given how this mix of young and old is kicking ass at the moment, it's hard to argue with his philosophy.
More on the game later.
—AK
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Why is this kid Hamulack still on the team? I thought that for sure when Gagne came back, Hamulack would be the first to go to Vegas. Not that I'm qualified at all to make any real-world baseball decisions, but Giovanni Carrara is pitching great for the 51's. In ten appearances, he's got a 1-0 record and a 1.42 ERA. This combined with past history will tell you that this guy is lights out out of the bullpen in a long relief role.
There's also Eric Hull, who has an amazing 1.08 ERA in 25 innings with 34 K's. Of course that's against AAA batters, but I think he needs a chance to prove himself before the September callups. If I were the king of the Dodgers, Hamulack and Perez would be out off the team, and replaced by Hull and Carrara, until those two prove that they don't belong.
Posted by: Makoto Ueno | June 02, 2006 at 01:02 AM
Oh, and I hate to play the devil's advocate, but I really do hope that Gagne can still be an effective closer in the majors. He was a pretty mediocre starter back in the day, and only got better in 2002 after showing up to camp with much more velocity on his fastball. I think I remember Jim Tracy saying that his newly born child helped him relax and throw at least 5 mph more on his 4 seamer than the year before.
I have no doubt that in the early going, he probably will be a light's out closer, in part because of the intimidation factor, and because his off speed stuff really is nasty. But after a few appearances, teams will begin to figure him out (like they did Randy Johnson this year), if he doesn't hit his spots and mix his pitches well.
So, undoubtedly he's a smarter pitcher now than he ever was, but did he get crafty enough in the past four years to still be an effective pitcher even without his best stuff, or will he revert back to his 5 ERA starter days?
At the very least, will he be better than some of the guys who were on the opening day roster? I hope so.
Posted by: Makoto Ueno | June 02, 2006 at 01:26 AM
Makoto is right!!! What the heck is Hamulack still doing here? Why do we still have 12 pitchers on the roster when we are calling up kids from AA to fill holes? I was fairly certain we would go back to an 11-man pitching staff (Hello Gagne, Baez, Saito, Beimel, Broxton, and Odalis in the pen. What more do we need?) I know it’s “nice” to have a left-handed reliever in the pen, but Hamulack blows big time! Send his sorry behind anywhere but here.
We saw “Game Over” tonight alright. Yeah, courtesy of J.D. Drew and his 3-run HR. I swear, that guy can’t do anything right! Thanks a lot, J.D.
So they brought Guzman up so that Robles can get a break? Poor guy has racked up more frequent flyer miles going from L.A. to Vegas than I do flying on business, and that’s saying a lot!!
Here’s another “luxury” question. Kemp is batting .385. Hypothetically speaking, if he keeps hitting like this, or even slows down to an Ethier-like .320, does management have the guts to tell the kid “sorry, you’re heading back down to Jacksonville/Vegas”?? Let me see….Lofton; check. Ethier; check. Drew; check. Cruz; I guess, check. Kemp; at .320, heck yes it’s a check. Repko; umm. Ledee; umm. Werth; umm. So there’s another “luxury” decision that has to be made. Only 5 OFs can stay.
Posted by: LoLo | June 02, 2006 at 06:02 AM
Was I the only one that wanted Gagne to come out in the 9th even though it was not a save situation???? When I saw him get up in the bullpen & warm up I sat up in bed quick!....
I thought maybe Little would want to get him in there for 3 outs kinda to ease him to his 9th inning role. ::sigh::
Kent landed on the DL. From what I heard here at work the inflammation is what is most likely causing pain when he swings a bat. The sprain is minor & if Kent had not tried to swing a bat right after the injury, & right after the cortisone shot, he might be a little better. Oh well.... Kent saw the same Dr. that has been treating Werth AND that even though Werth has gotten 2nd opinions its brought him right back to this same doctor.
Werth's injury was nothing short of FREAK!
Werth also has a knee that's been giving him problems also.
I'd get in more detail of the injuries but probably shouldn't.
great game last night!
nice watching those HRs especially from the rooks.
good day everybody
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Posted by: Walter | June 02, 2006 at 08:07 AM
Wow, AK/BK!! Moving up in the world, I see!
I guess that resemblance to Hall & Oates didn’t quite work out for you two (hey, I didn’t say it, some other blogger did. I don’t think you two look like them but I thought it was funny none-the-less), haha!!
Oh__Oh There they go…
Watch out boy they’ll throw them down
Oh__Oh There they go
They’re Dog eaters. (Dodger-type)
Posted by: LoLo | June 02, 2006 at 08:21 AM
BTW,
Ledee is making our future personnel decisions easy on us. Ledee has been diagnosed with “Complicus Werthitis”, the chronic condition of finding the knack to suffer setbacks during rehabilitation stints.
Kent has some minor wrist pains and comes out of the hospital on the 15-day DL. Werth breaks his wrist and after 16-months of rehab has loss the ability to use Charmin toilet paper. Mueller gets knee surgery and has to crawls for another month or so. Repko sprains his ankle and leaves the hospital attached to an EKG. If I ever get hurt, please don’t take me to the hospital where MrsThinkBlue works. Haha!! (J/K girl, you know I love ya!!! You can still be our “Bond Girl”.)
Posted by: LoLo | June 02, 2006 at 08:39 AM
AK/BK
Any news/update on Penny's anger management?
And how are Loney and LaRoche doing in the minors?
Thanks!
Posted by: Ben C. | June 02, 2006 at 08:44 AM
Ben C-
Hey. As far as I know, Penny is back in everyone's good graces, and "the incident" is behind them. He's met with Little, he met with Colletti, he met with Dr. Phil (made the last one up), and it seems to be a done deal. Rick Honeycutt has supposedly detected a mechanical flaw in his delivery that they think could help the shoulder pain, too. So all is well....
As for the kids, funny you should ask. We just got our Dodger minor league update from the PR Dept. last night. It included this nugget on LaRoche:
"BLAZING SUN: Jacksonville third baseman Andy LaRoche has picked it up for the first-place Suns, closing out the month of May hitting .336 (36-for-107) including seven doubles, four home runs and 23 RBI. LaRoche, selected by Baseball America as the Dodgers’ second-best organizational prospect entering the 2006 season, enjoyed a seven-game hitting streak from May 18-25 in which he hit .481 (13-for-27) including the May 18 contest in which he went 4-for-4 to start the streak. LaRoche currently leads the Southern League in RBI, collecting 37 so far this season."
As for Loney, he's hitting a tidy .353, with 1 HR and 19 RBI in 34 games. Plus, he's got a .418 OBP. Not a ton of pop, but still pretty good.
BK
Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | June 02, 2006 at 08:55 AM
RE: luxury questions
Repko and Ledee are in my view both guys that need to stay with the big club. Repko was playing great before he went on the DL so you can't penalize the guy for getting hurt. As far as Ledee goes he plays an important role being a veteran and a situational guy. I was never that high on Werth to begin with, and besides, it doesn't look like they are going to have to worry about what to do with him for a while.
While Ethier looks like he has earned his spot, unless he absolutely sets the world on fire Kemp is headed to Vegas once guys start coming of the DL. That still leaves my outfield scenario with 6 guys (Lofton, Drew, Cruz, Repko, Ethier, and Ledee). Cruz and Ledee are not the most exciting players in the world but with the youth movement on this team their presence plays an important role!
The real question for me is what to do with Odalis Perez? I guess he is the long-man as of today and that they are holding onto him in case one of the starters falters or continues to (in the case of Tomko and Seo). It's tough to deal his big contract and understandably too early to rush to judgment regarding his role on the team.
Go Blue!!
Posted by: SantaMonica4Ever | June 02, 2006 at 08:56 AM
Lowe was hilarious last night in the post-game interview trying to get Lindsay Soto to ask him about his almost home run. :)
Oh, and there's gotta be a way to package up Odalis somehow and steal Greg Maddux away from the Cubbies.
Posted by: Celsius1414 | June 02, 2006 at 09:23 AM
Hey look, according to the MLB headlines, the Dodgers sent Gavin Floyd back to AAA! (Actually, the Phils optioned him back to Scranton, but I think it sounds cooler my way)
Posted by: Makoto Ueno | June 02, 2006 at 02:11 PM