No Need For a Dustpan......

Well Alright, Then. We beat the birds!!! We are BACK ON TOP. Yesterday we shared the best record in baseball with the Yanks (booooo) but today, we're back holding our title!! This team sure is resilient. What other team in baseball can come back from 3 straight losses (one in which they SHOULDN'T have lost) and win? Only a team with a lot of heart and one that comes in with a good attitude ready to get the job done. I'm also going to have to go ahead and thank Wellemeyer for being one of the worst pitchers in baseball. Not only did that aid in our win, but allowed our pitching staff to for once be showcased in a good light.

Our pitching is getting some much needed help. Even though the only "new" person we brought in is Sherrill (I knew Neddy boy would get us someone...is it possible we still might get Doc?) but we're starting to put ourselves back together. We have never lost one of the best era's in baseball, but our pitchers haven't been able to go that deep leaving it on the shoulders of the bull pen many a night. This is also due to the lack of offense we've seen of late (Manny, what is wrong, buddy?...it doesnt have to be a Grand Slam into Mannywood EVERY time!). Our pitching really needs back up from our offense......Blake and Kemp did their job tonight. We need to shake up the lineup, maybe Ethier NOT batting cleanup behind Manny?
I'd put Kershaw up against anyone's ace. This kid, as I've said before, has really got it. Since he's added his slider to his repetoire of pitches, he's really gotten a better handle. It will also be interesting to see what Joe does when there's a bevy of leftys in the lineup...like when we play the Phillies. Will he use Sherrill or big John? What I do know is you NEVER know with Joe. That's what I love about him. Sure, sometimes he makes bad choices (why didnt you leave Kershaw IN joe?) but it all works out in the end. Hello, what a CRAZY move to load up the bases with 2 Big Card batters (Pujols/Holliday). But go big or go home. You either lose by a little or you lose by a lot. At least in the "a lot" category you know you did everything you could (usually).

Kuo is beginning to exhibit signs of being his "pre-surgery" self and if that stays true our bullpen just got infinetly stronger. We just need to get Mota back on track and we've got Leach out of the mix for a minute. That kid needs to settle down and take some lessons from J-Mac about the nerves. Even though we lost 3 out of 4, I think weve still got a chance against the cards. Minus this series it hasn't been all bad...right??

Things are only looking up when our new reliever's at the plate song is Blood Milk and Sky by White Zombie. Although, maybe Ned's not done yet.......could the Doc be in a Dodgers uniform soon?? or is that just too much wishful thinking.

Just put me in, Coach!!!

Woah. Did I just see Loretta pitch in a major league game?? We're talking a utility infielder, here. Man would I have wanted to be a fly on the wall in the Dodger dugout last night. Maybe something like this:
Joe: who should we put in?
Bowa: Well, Troncoso is warming up in the bull pen, Joe. Let's bring him in. Even though he's pretty worn out.
Loretta: Hey guys, I couldn't help but overhear you talking about bringing in a new pitcher. Listen, Troncoso is tired, we're already down by 10. It's been about 8 years...but i think I can do it!!
Joe: Hey, you know what? Let's do it. There's no need to bring in an actual reliever at this point.

The best part? Loretta hit Holliday and then got the out that he had promised he would. Man, I love the Dodgers.

The last few games could be a glimpse into what we're facing in October (cuz we're gonna make it). If we don't play the Cards then we're gonna have to play the Phillies and they still have an incredible pitching staff. I'm not down on the dodgers. So what that we've lost 3 in a row now? Hellllo, it's the 1st time in 100 games we've lost more than two. Shouldn't we commending our boys on a job well done? I'm not too worried about our pitching staff either, but we need to find a kid that can go deep into the game. Bills would be a GREAT Cy young candidate if games were only 5 innings long. What also needs to happen is our offense needs to back up our pitching. But can we really expect that from our team when they're playing a team who's pitching staff have a collective ERA's of less than 2?

Enter: Kershaw. He is our light at the end of the tunnel with an ERA of what, .95 in the last 8 starts. Hopefully he can go deep into tonights game. Our boys in blue really need it. I can't believe that ANYONE thought that Ned would trade this pride and joy even if it was for veteran Lee. What the Dodgers are getting back to are their roots of growing their own team. Even if we don't win the world series this year, we will and soon. These kids are gooooooooood.

My opinion: We need to let Leach rest it out a little bit and bring Elbert back up when he passes his "has to be in the minors for 10 days" stint. I can't believe we put him back down there to make room for Schmidt. Ok, so Schimidt should get the perserverance award but if he doesn't figure out how to throw with his "new" arm, then he better kiss the rotation goodbye. He's had one good(ish) outing and one not so good. So far as it seems at the moment, he'll be pitching on Friday. Do or Die time Schmidty. Let us remember why we're excited we brought on board 10 years ago. :)

I'm anxious about the trade deadline. I don't always understand or agree with Coletti's picks and moves, but I do admire his ballsyness (is that a word?) and I'm sure that this Friday won't disappoint. For a ball club that needs some help in the bull pen so much, it's been awfully quiet on the forefront. But, really...that's my boy Ned's style. And then......all of the sudden....BAM!! and something awesome happens. For now, we know it's not longer Lee. Sherill perhaps? Only time will tell......fortunately it's a short time!

Where an adult can be a kid....ASG

Sometimes when we become adults, we can lose that zest for life that we survived on as a child. It's easy to get caught up in the mundane ins and outs of life and forget our passions that used to keep us going. We try to look for the deeper meaning behind anything that happens to us rather than just allowing ourselves to fall head first into the giddyness that we once would allow ourselves to feel. I allow myself to fall, lighting speed head first, into the giddyness I feel when watching the ALL STAR GAME.

Sure, the national league tends to lose often and the game often stirs up controversy as to who should have made the team and how certain players didn't deserve to be an all star. Sure, inevitably something goes wrong and we lose sight of why we're all there to watch: the game of baseball. But if we step back for a moment and look through those rose colored glasses we used to wear as a kid, we can watch the ASG for what it REALLY is: the uniting of all the rock stars of baseball in ONE place at ONE time playing with each other. It's enough to knock any true baseball fan off their feet. Who cares if this may have happened during interleague play..... It's a chance to watch the best of the best in baseball play for hours. I mean Lincecum vs Derek Jeter? I'll take it!

We should be proud of our boys and how they did in the ASG. Well, sure, Bills allowed a run and Broxton didnt even actually play but O-Dawg was on fire. The only thing missing? Matt Kemp. I AM disappointed with the NL and the fact that they didn't win. In my opinion, it wasn't so much that the AL won but more than the NL lost it for themselves. It's ok Howard, we'll only blame you until there's a new bandwagon to jump on.

The ASG is coming to Anaheim next year and I'll find a way to be there. You hear that Selig? put me on the roster!

AN ODE TO WILLIE

Sandoval and Vicotrino who??? Can someone please explain to me why Matt Kemp is not on the All Star team this year? I would like to believe his AMAZING game tonight was just to rub it in everyone's faces. Like, ok, fine.....I don't need to be on the all star team to play great baseball. But really, Matty, you ARE an all star. Look at his stats of late and his offense? Incredible. He consistently makes great plays in the outfield and leads with outfield assists. Tonight it seemed like Matt was channeling the great Willie Mays with that incredible basket catch he made to end the game. And this right after his long shot grand slam (his 3rd of the year!!) Wow. What a night for him, and what a night for the Dodgers. I have to say, games like this one that are back and forth, back and forth, are more fun to watch but man are they anxiety driven!! Tonight I was told by my friends I am no longer allowed to be facing big screen t.v.'s when out to eat while the Dodgers are playing. I admit, I'm not a great conversationalist when the Dodgers are playing. But sorry friends, tonight was DEFINETLY a game worth watching!

I'll say again how much affection I have for the great Joe Torre. Man his managing is unlike anything I've ever seen with the Dodgers for a looooong time. He really does manage this ball club well, especially when he makes moves such as having Kemp bat 8th in the order. Naysayers have a problem with this and think he should be behind Manny and that on many other teams he'd be batting cleanup. But Joe oh Joe is a thinker. He doesn't put Kemp there, oh no...he bats him 8th so that he can contribute some RBIs to the bottom of the order. And that's why I like Joe. He isn't afraid to look at things from a different standpoint. And, hey, it seems to be working out right? Still the Best Record in Baseball. Now if we compare stats the 2009 Dodgers are still inferior in many aspects to the 1955 Dodgers, but this team (as it stands now) is my generations BOYS OF SUMMER.

I'm kind of tired of everyone talking about the lack of stuff our pitching staff has. I mean, I'm not going to lie and say that oh yeah we'd be a heck of a matchup but our pen and our starters are still having solid years. Wolf, although shakey at times, as been pretty dominant all year but you'd never know it looking at his record. Bills has been having some off nights (could it be something with where his toe is pointing?) He has just lost a little control and demand of the ball, but it will be interesting to see the changes he makes after the break.....but ALL players have their ups and downs. Let's not forget his consistent he has been to have it all blown in the save. Kuroda has just come back but he's proved himself in the playoffs and I still think he's a pretty solid pitcher. and KERSHAW. wow what pitcher this kid is turning out to be. I would venture to say that Kershaw is a Lincecum in the making. For the last 30 innings, Kershaw has only allowed 2 ER and HE'S ONLY 21!!!!! We DO need a starter that can go a little deeper....(can we do 7 innings at least, people?) and I don't think Kershaw is steady enough to be able to count on for that......yet. We'll see how he does on Sunday.

I think it's funny that our bullpen is actually dominating by Mota right now. (and weaver has been excelling coming out of the bullpen and taking the 5th spot) Tonight, Mota got 3 outs on 6 pitches but still ended up with the blown save. AM i back in that parallel universe? Where are all those haters that wanted to kick Ned Colletti's butt for bringing back Weaver and Mota? I bet they're hiding somewhere....although I'm sure they'll pop right back up if these guys start to flounder again. It's not that we have bad pitching, it's that the rest of our awesome defense is overshadowing that of our pitching. I do think we need another pitcher before the deadline, but I am dead set against trading J. Mac or Dewitt and I think those are two of our most valuable people to make a trade. We'll see.

Giants fans need to make sure they don't fall of their bandwagon too fast after last nights game. I'll give it up to Sanchez (as a baseball fan) for his no hitter but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. It was ONE game and um, oh yeah, it was against the Padres.....are they even still playing?? The Giants DO Have an incredible pitching staff but they're not unbeatable. They have ONE guy as the title holder of the Cy Young award (Lincecum) but Cain isnt gonna get it this year and the two other guys on the team that are previous Cy Young award winners (Zito/Johnson) are in the second half of their careers. Now don't get me wrong, I think it be awesome to see a match up in NLCS between the Giants and the Dodgers but its JULY people. and you're still 7 games back. and Jim Tracy is doing something he apparently never chose to do with the Dodgers with those Rockies, so I wouldn't get too confident just yet. Remember, pitching does win championships but bad defense loses games. :)

Weaver takes the mound tonight and I'm confident our boys in blue will dominate again tonight. In the last 4 games we've scored what like 40 runs and the pitching hasn't been that great. It gets more difficult to score when there's nothing to hit but we're even putting up the double digits.

Interesting that now the ESPN dudes are talking about the NL West and how maybe it isn't a "soft division". ha, yeah. Thanks guys...read my earlier blog...I knew that long ago!! Too bad they're still not gonna give us any air time. That's ok...pretty soon we'll give them no choice.

The Sultan of Swat....How much do you LOVE baseball?

Please notice that The Great Bambino is sitting in a DODGERS uniform in this legitimate photo. No you don't need a new set of spectacles or to refresh your browser. This famous Yank sported a Dodgers jersey (the year after the green jerseys) for half a year. Who knows why the King of Clout is wearing Dodger blue? No fair looking it up! and Bonus points for knowing why the Dodgers were Dodger green for a season!!

Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave

Am I in some sort of weird parallel universe? or did Jonathan Broxton actually give up 5 runs to catapult us into extra innings today? Did Jeff Weaver actually come out and SAVE the day? and did Billingsley REALLY not get his 10th win after almost pitching a complete game? I'm not a half empty type of girl, so I don't really care HOW my boys won today, they won. BUT I would have (and I'm sure they would have too) preferred a simple game, a simple flight, and a ready to sweep the Mets attitude. Something I know: we don't need to keep stress levels high with all these close games.





Joe Torre, a question for you (and you know I love you). You leave Bills in almost the ENTIRE game...going into the 9th inning I think he only had about 90 pitches. You decided to bring in Big John....for this I'm still wondering because it, at this point, was not a save position. You bring in Broxton at the first sign that Billingsley is showing signs of getting tired, but then you let Broxton get behind in the count and load up the bases (more than once) before you pull him out. You didn't even pull him out, over running third base, Kemp's arm, and Blake's tag got Broxton out of the innning. What was the reasoning behind this? I know Troncoso had been used a lot recently so he couldn't come in but when Big John goes 3-0 he clearly doesn't have his stuff. Next time let's pull him out and get ir done in 9, ok?



Weaver, wow aren't we relieved (haha) to have him in our bull pen this year. Well, at least the Weaver that has been making appearances lately. He is a long reliever and we can really thank him for helping the shakey bull pen tonight. After 3 other relievers and the game changing Veneable pop up, Loney and Weaver should be given the bulk of the credit for the win.



Today was true Dodger baseball and showcased what an incredible team we really do have on our hands. Most teams when they blow their huge lead in the 9th inning also blow their momentum and their mind loses focus on the game. Not our boys. Oh no. They are never finished until they game is truly over. A win is a win no matter how you slice it. Petco park is supposedly a "pitcher's park" where homeruns are hard to come by. Our boys in blue knocked it out of the park 4 times tonight alone.





It will be interesting to see Mannymania when he heads to New Yawk. The fans there are going to be nothing like what the Dodgers saw at Petco Park. To his credit, I think Manny did a great job diffusing the media on his first appearance when he held press conferences and talked about his stamina and his joy with being able to play again. Clearly we're not going to get any answers from him. Now, I'm not saying that I agree with anything he did, but I am proud of how he unlike many other (ahem, Barry Bonds) didn't deny it. He took his punishment, served it, and now he's back. Besides, roids don't enhance half of the things that make Manny a great player. Back off you haters. I really am crossing my fingers that Manny won't be headed to the D.L. anytime soon for his hammy's. Although, to be honest, it is really nice to see Blake Dewitt back on the roster. I like that kid. a lot. I think the threat of Manny is good enough now and, really, we just want to make sure he's in top shape for October baseball. This hasn't been the smoothest year in regards to practice and playing for him.



Thank goodness for a day off. We've got some tough ball clubs to beat in front of us. The Mets haven't been doing as well lately, but that doesn't mean they're going to be easy to beat. And let's be honest, if the bull pen that showed up tonight shows up with the Mets.....well.....I'll let you finish the thought.



As long as this parallel universe in which Billingsley gets a no-decision (his 4th of his last 4 outings) after pitching a 9 inning 2 hitter, Broxton blows a lead, Weaver saves the day, and Matt Kemp isn't an all star yet continues with the Dodgers WINNING...I'm ok with it.



Oh and, for those of you keeping tabs.......Billingsley and Martin are now TIED for homeruns....with both having ONE!! :) Parallel Universe I'm telling you...Parallel.

Dun nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh M-A-N-N-Y-W-O-O-D

Today is the day. Today is the day we have all been waiting for. Well, today is the day that people who only know what baseball is because of Manny Ramirez have been waiting for. I was mad at Manny, I didnt think they would do as well without Manny. I admit that in the beginning I wasn't sure what was going to happen without this slugger's bat. But as hindsight is 20/20 we can look back and say what a great thing it was that Manny was gone. But now, oh now, he's back. Tonight will be a time for baseball. People who don't follow the sport, will be following tonight. Well, at least for his first at bat. :)


People said we couldnt win without Manny and his bat. Well, on a dark day in May of this year, Manny gave the ball club no other choice but to figure out HOW to win without him. With a 50 game suspension, there would be no way for the Dodgers to wait for Manny's return to kick their butt's into high gear. Last year when we acquired Manny, the dodgers NEEDED his bat. There is no mistaking that they probably would not have made it to the playoffs without Manny last year and that he really was a one man show. However, the dodgers have proved that this is no longer the case and that Manny is now just icing on an already delicious and powerful cake.

Last year Manny was the wild card that took us to the playoffs. This year, Manny is the hidden ace in our already revealed 5 card flush. Coming back in to the game at this point, Manny is a bonus. Our boys in blue already know they can do it without him, but are obviously anxiously awaiting his return. The Dodgers have not given up their top spot in the National League or in Baseball since Manny has gone. We haven't turned up as many runs without Manny, and he going to be an obivous breath of fresh air to our offense.


There has been a lot of talk about Ethier, Kemp, Pierre, and the rest of the ball club and the way they have come together as a team. We need to remember the most important part of the defense, the pitching. We have some of the best pitching in baseball and that's why we've been able to secure our spot on top of the division. Even with Wolf's no decisions and Billingsley having shaking moments, we can't dismiss the consistency of their stuff. No one individually is having the year of their career numbers wise, but they are doing it...together. A good bulk of the team are still newbies to the sport, and have yet to create themselves a name based on longevity. At this point, they're still creating themselves a name on potential. Manny brings the name, but looking back at this years from now, we're going to understand just why this particular ball club did so well.


Once again, I think L.A. fans have been waiting quite a while for a ball club like this. Not since the combination of Garvey, Cey, Lopes, and Russell have we seen chemistry this magical. The dodgers are just going to get better. It's almost as if we just participated in a fantasy trade where we didn't really (sorry Pierre) have to get rid of anyone, and we didnt have to shell out any money and we got someone that hey, wants to play again.


It will be interesting to see what happens tonight when Manny goes back out to command his left field spot. I'm also eager to see what Torre will do with the lineup as last year he really spread out the offense around Manny. Now, his boys know they don't really need to do that. Manny's presence is a force to be reckoned with both for the opponents and for his own team. Manny has been in the tough spots before, he walks up to the plate everytime like it's his first time. No matter if it's the bottom of the 9th or the top of the 1st. And even if Manny slumps at the beginning, each pitcher and ball club know that at ANY moment, he's going to kick it in again and they'll be in trouble.


Manny's return could not have come at a better time for baseball. Let's get the hoopla out of the way and see what Manny is going to do when he comes back. He'll be back for a tiny bit and then we'll hit the all star break. Once we come back from the all-star break the excitement of his return will hopefully have died down and we can focus on what's really important: the game and getting us to October baseball.

plus, I'm excited to sit in Mannywood for the first time :) Welcome back!