0-1 in games where Manny Ramirez makes his Dodger debut
The good news, of course, is that particular sample size can no longer be repeated, meaning games like last night's 2-1 loss to the D-Backs can't happen again. Well, scratch that. They can't happen again within the specific parameters of Manny Ramirez donning Dodger blue for the first time. The 2-1 result not only can happen again, it's the second straight 2-1 loss suffered. On a night pegged to be all about Manny (and from the media's and the fan's perspective, it certainly was), the hoopla quickly gave way to a low scoring pitcher's duel between one of the all-time greats (Randy Johnson) and a youngster pegged for similar success (Clayton Kershaw). The Kid held his opponent to six scoreless frames, with Kershaw set to nab a win after Matt Kemp's double scored Juan Pierre (on base through a series of Orlando Hudson fielding gaffes) from second and forge a slim 1-0 advantage.
The lead quickly evaporated, however, upon Chan Ho's seventh frame
relief stint featuring an immediate homer to Tony Clark, then two more
men reaching base with just an out recorded. Joe Beimel was brought in
to face lefty Stephen Drew and saw his only pitch tap just inside the
right field foul line for a double, giving Arizona their next run.
Cory Wade got them out of the inning and when the ninth rolled around, Ramirez found himself with the chance to be Manny of the Hour with Russell Martin on first and no outs. Unfortunately, a story book ending was perhaps prevented by nerves. Double play grounder. Losing box score.
Manny's Tinseltown arrival was nonetheless a night to remember (and an occasion to purchase tix), which suits the star fine, since he's looking to forget everything that happened on his way out of Boston. The proverbial clean slate, clean break, if you will. Of course, he's not the only Dodger adapting to new circumstances. Ramirez's arrival created an outfield question (as in, "Who gets to play?") now answered. He'll often be alongside Juan Pierre in center and Matt Kemp in right. For Andruw Jones, it's not necessarily a huge deal, since he'd already been relegated to bench status, save the occasional opposing lefty starter (like last night).
But for Andre Ethier, a brief hold an everyday player status has gone to the wayside, a development he's trying to handle in a professional manner. It's a decision that your humble Blue Notes hosts have said many times they don't support (most recently yesterday upon the announcement). Dodgerthoughts' Jon Weisman didn't concur, either. Today, SportsHubLA.com's Kevin Arnowitz gives his take on why it's not the right call.
It's always tempting, but don't blame Scott Boras for playing puppet master. After all, Manny was apparently willing to remain in Beantown.
Now three games behind Arizona, the Dodgers desperately need a win tonight. Which works out great, because Dodger starter Hiroki Kuroda desperately needs a good outing.
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A message to the commisioner of baseball.
Given that a team only gets 27 outs per game,when the Dodgers are starting A Jones they are, for all intents and purposes, throwing the game!
(Jones =gauranteed 4+ outs,depending on # of double plays he hits into).
No racing commision on earth would allow a broken down claimer to enter a $1,000,000 stakes race and no boxing commision would (or should) sanction a championship fight with one of the opponents a washed-up punch-drunk opponent, for a simple reason.
The integrity of the game would be at stake! Should baseball be different?
Posted by: dencard | August 02, 2008 at 12:58 PM
"After all, Manny was apparently willing to remain in Beantown." Revising history a bit? Especially with how long Manny's been itching to leave Boston, that sounds like so much spin, and I ain't buying it.
I have to love how his replacement in Boston won the game in extra innings. I bet people here in Boston are already saying, "Manny who?"
Damn. I wish I could say that too. :(
Posted by: BostonPeng | August 02, 2008 at 01:20 PM
Boy, that double play in the 9th really took the shine off the snazzy new sports car. The down payment's been cashed (LaRoche), but I'm still wondering about our financing plan (3B next year)...
I wonder if I can make a Manny metaphor every day...
Posted by: VA Blueblood | August 02, 2008 at 01:36 PM
I'm from Boston, and I say MANNY WHO? Just make sure you keep him, and Nomar apart.. and don't let any Senior citizens around Manny.. as he thinks it's ok to slap them around, and not apoligize publicly. Now that he doesn't have Ortiz in front of him, and Lowell behind him ... lets see how long it takes Manny to be Manny, and poision the Dodgers organization..
Posted by: Al | August 02, 2008 at 02:00 PM
Well, I was at the game last night, and it was exciting to say the least. - he went 2-4 in his first game!!
Give it one more day to make a determination on how this is going to go.
But the dude can hit...and should help the dodgers run production...I was hoping Manny would bat behind Kemp, that would help Kemp see more pitches maybe...
this is going to be fun!! thanks Boston!
Posted by: ADRIAN | August 02, 2008 at 02:26 PM
VA Blueblood -- our financing plan for 3B next year is a young chap named Blake DeWitt. You might have noticed him carrying the team for parts of April and stunning everyone by making the jump from AA to the bigs better than LaRoche did from AAA... not perfectly, but with enough maturity to make many fans ask, " LaRoche who?"
Not that Andy was chopped liver, but with DeWitt in the wings this wasn't a very costly gamble, unlike some others (Jones).
Posted by: Blueeyedgal | August 02, 2008 at 02:34 PM
ADRIAN--
God bless your excitement. We need more fans like you. In fact, I feel bad for doing this... yet I am strangely compelled to do so: Manny's 2-4 was four ground balls. His first hit probably should been called an error, and his second came on the pitcher not really hustling to first base. Also, we scored how many runs? Right, the same as the night before...
I am such a jerk. Manny still holds a .927 OPS this year. I was against the trade, but I've been wearing my Manny t-shirt for three straight days now. My heart wants to be excited, it really does. But my head keeps tamping it down...
Posted by: VA Blueblood | August 02, 2008 at 02:50 PM
I'm sure Sox fans won't be saying Manny Who? in October when they are watching the Post Season from home. Its highly unlikely they are going to keep pace with th Yanks at this point.
-T
Posted by: Tom Andrews | August 02, 2008 at 02:58 PM
AK, Thanks for passing along the link to Arnowitz's piece. Masterful job of exposing the lunacy of Torre's latest comments regarding his starting outfielders.
I know he's won 4 rings and made 12 straight trips to the play-offs, but it's also clear that he is in "don't confuse me with the facts" mode when it comes to Pierre vs Ethier.
It's a wonder how well Ethier will do when he can develop the elusive "professional approach" that JP has.
I truthfully have nothing against Pierre. I like the dude. He just isn't as good as Ethier. As Arnowitz points out, Ethier takes more pitches, draws more walks, gets on base more often, hits for more power and throws out more runners.
There's also another "old school" reason to play him - he provides some balance to this now very right hand heavy line-up. By insisting on batting Pierre lead-off ( a scenario which has resulted in a 25-31 Dodger record by the way), he is left with 6 right handed bats to fill out the other 7 spots in front of the pitcher. Not much balance there.
Posted by: OhioVic | August 02, 2008 at 03:08 PM
It`s all good!
One month after JD Drew gets his second straight WS ring, Manny will give the Dodgers the "finger" and enter free agency.
Posted by: Red {Sox} Love Child | August 02, 2008 at 03:09 PM
This is from Keith Law at ESPN.com. It's a free Insider posting, so you probably don't need a subscription to read it.
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/
columns/story?columnist=law_keith&id=3516012
Wouldn't it be nice if the Dodgers could trade Jones (maybe even Pierre) after they clear waivers. Well, at least we can dream.
Posted by: Brooklyn Dodger | August 02, 2008 at 03:23 PM
OhioVic,
"I truthfully have nothing against Pierre. I like the dude. He just isn't as good as Ethier. As Arnowitz points out, Ethier takes more pitches, draws more walks, gets on base more often, hits for more power and throws out more runners."
That sums the issue up very well.. When it comes to taking his gig seriously, prepping himself and playing hard, Juan Pierre is aces. The guy really cares and busts his ass. For that matter, he's not even "hurting" the team in a way Andruw Jones is. But the issue isn't Pierre playing "poorly." It's that Andre Ethier is simply a better option, especially defensively. I've felt that way since the beginning of the season and I don't think anything has really changed since.
AK
Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | August 02, 2008 at 03:33 PM
Torre needs to play the most productive players in the outfield- Manny, Kemp, and Either. Pierre should be the 4th outfielder, and the player formerly known as Andrew Jones (who will henceforth be named Fatso) should ride the bench. Any other outfield configuration is hurting the team. Putting Pierre in center with Manny in left is a horrible idea- they may be the worst center fielder/left fielder combination in baseball history. Ethier is a far better all around player than Pierre, and Ethier is much more productive than Fatso. Which of course means that Torre feels compelled to bench Either. Fans should start bringing "Free Andre Either" signs to the park!
For all the Kemp haters out there a word of advice: stop reading TJ Plashke's columns. They are either secret Angels fans who want to campaign for the Dodgers to do stupid things, they are showing early signs of senility, or both. I'll take Matt Kemp's all around performance any day over the highly paid, often injured, often unproductive veterans that Ned Colletti keeps signing every off season. Manny trade or no, McCourt would be wise to fire Colletti and promote Logan White to GM at the end of the year. We need someone in charge who resists the urge to sign stiffs like Mike Sweeney, trade for stiffs like Estaban Loiza, and sign injured players like Jason Schmidt. Its time for Colletti to lose the keys to the family car.
Posted by: Santa Rosa Dodger | August 02, 2008 at 03:57 PM
AK, I know we are on the same page as are most of the folks on this blog. JP is what he is - a singles hitter who steals bases - and he does it well. I also agree that up until now he has not hurt the team (like Andruw has).
The biggest issue now, as you point out, is defense. Pierre has been playing LF all season. He will now move to CF and the Ramirez/Pierre alignment is not good and while I hope the offensive trade-off of Manny vs Ethier will more than offset that - it's not as big a benefit as I thought they'd have when they made the trade, that;s for sure.
Posted by: OhioVic | August 02, 2008 at 04:37 PM
Here's some ideas:
Starting OF-
LF- Manny of course
CF- Matt Kemp
RF- Andre Ethier
Put Fatso(see previous comments made) on waivers
Have JP be your go to pinch hitter and your 4th OF
Get rid of unproductive Mark Sweeney
Posted by: chris | August 02, 2008 at 05:59 PM
red sux love child,
you're kidding right? j.d. drew won't be getting a second ring this year and all the thinking red sux fans know it. jason bay's a nice player. nice like lowell and youkilis and drew. he's not manny. and when papi gets walked or pitched around and j.d. drew returns to being j.d. who when he actually has to carry the load and not bat in front/behind of the likes of manny and papi (pujols, edmonds and rolen in st. louis, chipper and andrew in atlanta) you'll come to realize what dodger fans have known for two years. j.d. drew just ain't worth it. red sux fans can talk all they want about a better clubhouse, better chemistry, no more distractions (all true) but they're not the same team anymore. a good team, not a great team. good enough to miss the playoffs and watch the rays, yanks, other colored sox and halos battle for the world series. you can root for the cubbies, america's new darlings of a team now that the red sux are no longer the david to the a yankees goliath anymore. the yankees are happy about the manny trade. the rays are happy about the manny trade. and the angels are happy about the manny trade. when the best team in baseball joins you as the only two teams to have won two world series this decade, the red sux can't even delude themselves with thoughts of a dynasty. manny turned the lights on that possiblility out thursday night. thinking red, angel red, instead.
~cmh
Posted by: christopher marc | August 02, 2008 at 08:55 PM
keep dreaming brooklyn, there's no way any team would trade for andrew or juan pierre. the dodgers are stuck with their $28 million dollars plus in salary. more parking and beer price increases next year will help pay for it.
~cmh
Posted by: christopher marc | August 02, 2008 at 08:57 PM
Maybe it's just me, but I think the Dodgers have problems producing and it's not improving, even with Manny on the roster. Swinging at bad pitches so many times from all the guys. Bad base-running. Losing games we shouldn't lose because of non-production. Home runs? Very scarce, makes the Dodger games boring. Missing opportunities over and over. The Dodgers have lost their greatness,. Jones in the lineup, can he even SEE the ball? I'm disappointed. I hope Manny can help this team, but the rest of them have to step up. Otherwise, it's over.
Posted by: Patricia Marte' | August 06, 2008 at 10:49 AM