Kuroda Pitches a Gem, Dodgers 5.5 Back
Hiroki Kuroda had a no-hitter into the 8th inning but it was broken up by Dodger killer San Victorino. Then, instead of allowing Kuroda to finish the game, as at that point he only had 102 pitches, Joe Torre took Kuroda out for Hong-Chih Kuo against rookied left handed hitting Domonic Brown, who has 17 strikeouts in only 49 at-bats and a .224 batting average, no real threat, but of course Torre must go by the book and bring in a lefty against a lefty, even though that lefty is your closer.Kuo retired 4 straight without getting anyone on base and the game was over, Los Angeles Dodgers 3, Philadelphia Phillies 0.
Rod Bajaras continued his hitting streak since he’s returned home to his native Southern California. Barjas grew up a Dodger fan, so playing for the Dodgers has been a line long dream of his and at the age of 34, that dream has finally come true.
“To wear those all-white uniforms with Dodgers across the chest, that is going to be great,” Barajas said. “The road uniforms are great, but the home one is the one I remember growing up. That is the uniform I always wanted to put on.”
Barjas is hitting .438, with 3 home-runs, including one today against the Phillies, with 2 2B’s and 6 RBI’s since joining the Dodgers. It’s been sweet for Barjas, who was relegated to the bench while playing for the Mets, when the Dodgers obtained him, he hadn’t played for nearly a month, despite having 12 home-runs for them this season.
Every win against the Phillies will bring the Dodgers 1 game closer to the Wild Card lead but of course it also puts the teams in front of the Dodgers closer as well, so I guess the season isn’t totally lost, especially since the Phillies are 31-32 away from Philadelphia so the Dodgers have a chance but who knows how well we’ll do with no Manny, even though he didn’t want to play in the field anymore and wouldn’t have been much help anyway.
We now await Furcal’s return, who is now off the 15 day DL but hasn’t been officially added to the active roster and isn’t ready to play. With Podsednick and Theriot hitting well in the 1 and 2 holes and Ethier finding his swing again batting 3rd, I don’t know what Torre will do with Furcal once he does return. Before he was hurt, he put him 3rd behind Podsednik and Theriot but didn’t do well, his place is batting lead off even if he has the bat to hit 3rd. I guess we’ll see what Torre will do, although I’m not sure if I have the faith that he’ll do the right thing.
Dodgers Lose 2 of 3, Manny a White Sox
The Los Angeles Dodgers on the hinge of a 4 game winning streak, lost the final two games versus the Colorado Rockies all but securing that this season is over. With the loss, we hear after the game that the Dodgers will ship Manny Ramirez to the White Sox for what the Dodgers hope is nothing but the White Sox want them to at least take a mid-level prospect and hope that the Dodgers, who have been stingy with money since Frank McCourt has taken over the team, will take at least some of the 3.8 million owed on his contract.
I for one am pissed, it seems obvious to me that the Dodgers, hoping to be rid of Manny, didn’t play him for five straight days, with a pinch hit appearnce somewhere in between. They cared more about saving some money, over making the playoffs, thus showing the fans where the heart of the ownership lies.
This season is over, finito and don’t be surprised to see other Dodgers players leave this season, some of them for practically nothing as Frank McCourt tries to save every dime he can, even though he’s got extra money from charging rent to his own team, more on that another time.
I won’t say there’s no chance at all that we can’t make the playoffs but it’s really dim and I’ve lost all faith in this team, this ownership and the General Manager Ned Colletti. I can’t see us being a good team at all in the near future with who we’ve got in place, and the Dodgers need a regime change badly, as stressful as the Fox era was, it’s no where near as bad at the McCourt era. Back then we could just chalk up the issues with the new owners not knowing anything about running a baseball team but at least they tried their best to put a winning team out there, but McCourt, especially recently, has shown that he’s a crook and he should’ve never been allowed to buy the Dodgers with the money that he didn’t have.
So, here it is Dodger fans, your 2010 Los Angeles Dodgers are done, no playoffs this year, it’s real sad because we actually have a dangerous pitching staff and good hitting but bad management and coaching have derailed the potential of this team and I hope it gets rectified in the future but I just can’t see it.
The Beard Returns!
For 7 innings, it was anything but a Rocky Mountain High game, only one home-run and it was an opposite field shot that would’ve went out in most parks, Clayton Kershaw and Ubaldo Jimenez pitched brilliantly then after Jimenez got pulled in the 8th after giving up one run, all heck broke lose. Casey Blake took a pitch into deep left center field, more center than left, that pretty much put the game away 5-1. Broxton and Kuo both come in and close it out.
This game leaves the Los Angeles Dodgers 67-62 and the Colorado Rockies, 66-61 putting them in a tie for 4th in the Wild Card race and with the Giants losing, both teams are now 4.5 games back.
Personally, I was in someways shocked the Dodgers pulled it out, I had gotten so used to them faltering when down against good pitching, it was 1-0 Rockies when I left and the whole time I contemplated coming back to a 1-0 game or at best 2-1 but it looks like this team really thinks they can win and with Ethier’s bat coming in, Blake hot, Kemp more consistent, and with the way we’ve been pitching, we look like a team that will be hard to be for the foreseeable future.
Dodgers looking for a Rocky Mountain High
It’s difficult to put into words how important this series is to the Dodgers this season. We are now 5 and a half games back with the Rockies dead in front of us. If we lose this series, we go 2 back of the rockies and a possible 7-8 games back of the Wild Card lead and don’t even think about the division, that will be a foregone conclusion.
To emphasize how important the brass deems this series, let’s look at who they put on waivers. Manny Ramirez, arguably our best hitter, Hiroki Kuroda, our most consistent starter, Scott Podsednik, uh our starting left fielder and Jay Gibbons, another player who would play left field and has been a stellar pinch hitter since he’s been called up and Casey Blake, the guy who we traded Carlos Santana for and who would have made the possibility of letting Martin hit the free agent market this off season a lot easier but now we have no chance at anyone else except Barajas and do we really want to keep him.
Next, we have the 3 pitchers who the Dodgers have worked to start these three games. Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsly and Ted Lilly, three pithers who have been pitching the best for the Dodgers since the All Star Break.
The Rockies also know how big this series is throwing out Jimenez for the first game against Kershaw, this is going to be a knock out drag down fight and I’m going to try to catch all 3 games. Go Dodgers!
Manny Could Be Headed Back to the American League
The Chicago White Sox have been awarded exclusive rights to negotiate with Manny Ramirez until 1:30pm ET (10:30 PST) to work out a deal that would give their team a definitely boost to try and make a run into the playoffs.
The other two teams were the Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers, who because they had higher winning percentages than the White Sox, lost the bid for Manny’s services.
I on the other hand am surprised that neither the Red Sox or Yankees thought that they could use Manny in the playoffs. Its my opinion though, that they knew they wouldn’t have a chance and that the White Sox would surely claim him before anyone else could get the chance to, so they decided not to waste their time.
The Los Angeles Dodgers scouting staff has been taking a look at the White Sox minor league system ever since they announced that they would put in a claim for Manny if and when the Dodgers put him on waivers. No word on who the Dodgers were looking at specifically but it could be assumed that the Dodgers will be looking at pitching with Kuroda not expected to resign with the team, and with Padilla and Lily being free agents. The only two for sure rotation guys for the Dodgers will be Billingsly and Kershaw.
Of the major league ready arms that the White Sox have in their system, the most intriguing is 23 year old Daniel Hudson, who has a 2.90 ERA in 3 seasons in the minors and has a 3.47 ERA with a 11-4 record on their AAA team. There is also 21 year old 3B/1B, Dayan Viciedo, who has 17 HR’s in only 75 games at the AAA level and with Loney not really showcasing any power and Casey Blake showing his age, I would love to see his bat on the Dodgers next season, although I doubt that they Dodgers could snag him, because he’s been in their line up this year already and I doubt they see Omar Vizquel as a long term option at 3B.
I get the feeling that the Dodgers will wait and see what happens in Colorado to see what they’ll do with Manny. They will most likely chat with the White Sox about what they could get, all the while, watching the team for signs of life, and if they could take 2 out of 3 or even better sweep the Rockies, I really doubt Manny will be leaving us and with Furcal looming on the horizon, there’s definitely a chance that the Dodgers could be making a run for the playoff door.
Note: There are other Dodgers players placed on waivers. Scott Podsednik, Casey Blake, and Jay Gibbons along with Manny Ramirez and Hiroki Kuroda.
