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The Times Is So Wrong

April 3, 2013 //
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sportsLook at that headline. It’s beyond ridiculous, as is the article by Dylan Hernandez.

As I wrote in my post-game recap last night, Justin Sellers’ errors had nothing do to with why the Dodgers lost. Hernandez pins the entire debacle on Sellers, and that is just so unfair.

The Dodgers lost because they couldn’t hit Madison Bumgarner. End of story. The Giants had no trouble hitting our new Korean phenom, Hyun-Jin Ryu. Luckily, a bunch of double plays saved his ass over and over. But all the Giants needed was the one run they managed to score in the fourth. So the game was essentially over before the seventh inning, when Sellers made two errors, one of which resulted in a run. Even Don Mattingly, in a quote from Hernandez’s story, says, “Nothing happened in that inning that changed anything.”

I have long regarded Bill Plaschke as a fair-weather Dodger fan. And I suspect there are elements on the Times’ editorial staff (other than the obvious, T.J. Simers) who hate the Dodgers too. (Nine times out of 10, the team will only get a photo in the paper if it is an image of them failing.) But I always thought before that Hernandez was fairly accurate. This was a low blow.

Shame on you, Dylan Hernandez, for kicking a scrappy fill-in shortstop when he’s down!

Tonight
We’ll see the pitching matchup of Dodger Josh Beckett and Giant Tim Lincecum. Beckett hasn’t done anything particularly special since donning the Blue, but I guess he once had a hint of greatness in him. Maybe it will rear its head tonight. Lincecum, once the darling of every sports writer in the world, has lost a lot of his effectiveness the past two seasons. These right-handers seem a pretty even match. We’ll see.

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Categories 2013

The Diff’rence a Day Makes: Giants 3, Dodgers 0

April 3, 2013 //
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Dodger pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu got knocked around.

Dodger pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu got knocked around.

It could have been a lot worse. The Dodgers’ $36-million man, pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu, gave up hits to the first two batters in more innings than he didn’t. In fact, after the first inning, and the Dodger’s spectacular double-play that got Ryu out of his first jam, I wondered out loud — while watching the first two Giants get hits in the second inning — “How many double-plays do you think the Dodgers have in them?” Then, BAM! The second double-play bailed Ryu out again. Turns out the answer to my query was, “Four.” The Cruz-Sellers-Ellis-Gonzalez infield turned four, count ’em 4, double plays. As it was, Ryu stayed in the game for 6-1/3, giving up 10 hits and leaving while it was only 1-0 in favor of the Giants. (He ended up being charged for the other two runs, unearned though they might be.)

But, as was so often the case last season, the Dodgers bats were nowhere to be found. (I will admit that San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner pitched a great game, allowing only two hits.)

Now I know that Justin Sellers, whose praises I sang earlier today, was responsible for two costly errors, but that’s not what lost the game, so I won’t hold it against him.

So yesterday we were headed straight for the World Series, the remaining 161 games were just a formality. Billions of dollars had bought a new outcome, and all would be roses and sunshine in the Ravine. Today? Well, today was like a lot of games last season, when the payroll was 1/3 what it is now. It’s a real Jekyll and Hyde kind of thing. We just have to wait and see which of the team’s split personalities will prove to be dominant.

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Categories 2013

Familiarity Breeds Content

April 2, 2013 //
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The Dodgers looked real good yesterday, but did you notice how they also looked almost exactly like the same team as last year? Of the starting (and staying) lineup, only Carl Crawford didn’t play with the Dodgers last year, and that was because he was hurt.

Catcher A.J. Ellis

Catcher A.J. Ellis

This is not a complaint. I loved that lineup. You got your home-grown heros, Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp; your longtime fan fave, Andre Ethier; the two guys bought midseason last year, Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez (who, I have to admit, can hit and play first very well); the first great second baseman we’ve had in a long time, Mark Ellis; and then your three Cinderella stories, Luis Cruz, Justin Sellers and A.J. Ellis, whose combined salaries probably equal less than the team’s Gatorade budget.

Shortstop Justin Sellers

Shortstop Justin Sellers

Who could not love those three guys, who are so happy and grateful to be part of a Major League squad? Especially A.J. Ellis. That guy is a phenomenal catcher. Kershaw laid credit for his four-hit shutout yesterday squarely at A.J.’s door. He stays so calm under pressure and knows the game better than the umps. Remember last year when he directed the triple-play from the plate after a bunt that rolled back onto the field? Even Vin Scully didn’t know what was going on. Sellers is just a balls-out dynamo, playing shortstop like his life depended on it. He knows he’s only there until Hanley Ramirez gets better, so he’s making the most of it.

Third baseman Luis Cruz

Third baseman Luis Cruz

And then there is Luis CRUUUUUZZZ!!! In the paper yesterday, Matt Kemp was quoted as saying he wished he had a name like that, one that fans can intone in unison every time he comes to bat. After 11 years playing baseball everywhere BUT in the majors, this is his chance, and so far he has taken full advantage. He hits in the clutch and makes dazzlingly fleet plays wherever he is stationed on the field. And people love him.

These are the types of players who make the Dodgers so special. I know they can go far if the fatheads in charge don’t tinker until there’s nothing but bored bazillionaires on the field. “Let’s go Dodgers!” I’ll be watching with a cold one.

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Categories 2013
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