Extra Innings

Obviously, the big news today comes out of Boston, in the form of Manny Ramirez.  What had originally started with rumors about Ethier or Kemp has turned into a cheap deal where we only lost Andy Laroche. All teams in the trade came out as winners. The Pirates got their prospects, the Sox got an all-star caliber outfielder, and the Dodgers got Manny. I expect Manny to be a 3-month rental, as there is no way that McCourt is paying for his contract. Instead the Dodgers will let him walk and get 2 draft picks for him. Not only do the Dodgers get to replace the two prospects that they sent away, but the Sox also pick up the tab on the rest of Manny’s contract. What a steal.

I called it when I saw the Giants put up 7 runs in the first game of the series. There was no way they were going to be able to score anymore runs with that type of pitiful lineup. Billingsley could have just had half of his stuff today and could have got a quality start and a win. But turns out that Chad is the Dodgers’ ace these days, as he turned out a complete game shutout. Definitely his best stuff as he didn’t walk a single batter today. Of course, none of this would have been possible without Andre Ethier. What a sweet throw by him. It was right in front of Martin, but it didn’t short-hop him. Perfect bounce up to Martin but low enough so all Martin had to do was turn a bit and touch Castillo. Speaking of Ethier, it looks like the BoSox wanted Kemp and Jones instead, and ultimately the deal fell through. My initial reaction about Man-Ram was excitement, but I think its all for the best. The Dodgers will probably not be good enough to win this year, and a rental of Manny isn’t enough to sacrifice the futures of Ethier and Kemp. Both players have shown incredible flashes of talent and I don’t think another old veteran is the way to go. I read somewhere that Colletti is the retirement plan of declining veterans who are prone to injury. Judging from Kent, Nomar, Jones, and Schmidt; I wonder what the age limit is?

The MVP:  Chad.

The good: Defense was great today. Great throw by Bengie Molina to nail Martin on a stolen base attempt. It was right where Martin was sliding into.  Same great placement by the Ethier throw also.

The bad: Looks like any Dodger trading activity is over. Maybe that’s not so bad after all.

Great game by the Dodger pitching staff today. Although I find that the Giants have probably exhausted their entire supply of runs for the series yesterday, it was still a very good effort by a no name starter and two very solid bullpen arms.  To make things more impressive, Jim Johnson had to go up against the promising Matt Cain, who would be the Giants ace of the future if not for Lincecum.  Kemp continues to amaze us with his potential, and speaking up Kemp there have been trade rumors involving Man-Ram. Amazingly, many of these rumors have also focused on Andre Ethier. If we could get Man-Ram for Ethier, I would go for it. It would put us over the top in the NL West and with a streaky bat such as his in the playoffs, you never know.

Speaking of trades, the big one involved the Angels today. Great move by them as they are no longer “Stonewalled” by their GM. They are definitely the World Series favorties now. Their lineup is very solid all the way around and their pitching is amazing. Lackey nearly no-hit the BoSox tonight. The Angels also aided the Dodgers in stealing Tex from the D’backs, making this deal a win-win for SoCal.

The good: Man-Ram Rumors.

The bad: Did anything bad happen in SoCal today?

The ugly: O yea, there was this thing called an earthquake.

Kershaw was excellent today as he got his first major league win. He had great control and only gave up 1 walk. He also pitched to contact today and only struck out 5 guys over 6 innings. Granted, this was the same Washington Nationals that were 1 hit by Lowe yesterday. In fact, the Nats only scratched twice throughout the 3 game series. But the Dodgers took care of business in beating up a bad team. The Hated Ones and the D’backs come in next week, so next week may as well decide who wins the NL West. Next week is also is the end of the trade deadline, so how well each team does will determine how active they will be.  Rumors have it that the Dodgers are interested in Sherrill, but I doubt the Dodgers really will pay up for a career year closer when the Blue bullpen is intact has looked very solid without Saito.  They will probably look for a shortstop, especially since Nomar left the game today. I sure hope they don’t overpay. Many people said they overpaided for Meloan (the young pitching prospect) and Santatna (a catching prospect) to get Blake. I like Blake alot and we really don’t need a catcher for a long time so I think the deal works fine. However, they better not overpay for a Jack Wilson and I think Orlando Cabrera is past his prime. The Dodgers are better served to just hold serve.

The good: Kershaw was solid and he ignites the Blue Crew.

The bad: Nomar injured again?

Great effort all around by the Blue today. To start it off, we had a great pitching performance by Lowe. He was classic Derek Lowe,  inducing 15 groundball outs. Obviously, without a solid Dodger defense, those groundballs would be ‘Bucknered, so kudos to the fielders. Kemp had a nice play on one of the few flyballs that were hit. Finally, the Dodger offense looks pretty awesome doesn’t it? We got ridiculous potential from Kemp, a rebirth from Nomar, and timely hitting by Casey Blake. Speaking of Blake, I think that was an amazing pickup. He is one of those solid veteran hitters that always floats under the radar. To me he looks a little like Kevin Youkilis, without the vaunlted lineup and hitters park to aid him. He is by far Colletti’s best move in terms of quality and cost.

The MVP: Lowe was amazing again. Those trade rumors surrounding him are now squashed.

The good: Dodgers made a solid move and are looking very sweet without doing any boneheaded moves. They are not a World Series team by any means, but are now a playoff team. And when you get into the playoffs, anything can happen.

The bad: Nothing?

Those Halos continue to roll don’t they? They are a Major League best 62-39, and with a 10 game lead in the AL West are the only locks for the playoffs in all of the divisions. Every other division is incredibly competitive with the second place team at least 2.5 games behind the leader. The success of the Angels proves a couple of things. First off, the AL West is just as pitiful as the NL West. Texas, Oakland, and Seattle are all horribly run ball clubs. Second off, does it help the Angels that they play in a division that is only made up of 4 teams? Last and not least, it just proves that the Angels are a very great team that can scrap their way to the the top of the hill. Sosh is their heart and soul and he brings it game in and game out. The Angels have a complete team with very solid starters that are led by Lackey. They have a sweet bullpen highlighted by K-rod. And they have a superstar in the middle of the lineup in Vlad. Yes, they do seem like they don’t have enough pop, but its been shown that pitching wins playoff games. They can do without the hitting.

The Rockies are showing how formidable they can be in the NL West. They definitely have a talented lineup and what seems to be a very solid bullpen. The only question is whether their starting pitching can hold up. With the NL West as pitiful as last year, it is by no mean impossible for the Rockies to reach the playoffs again. If all their bats can catch on fire again, they can be a monster. I am a huge fan of their lineup, as they have some very complete hitters in Holiday and Atkins, some major pop in Hawpe and some solid young hitters in Tulo and Stewart.

The good:  Kemp continues to hit. He’s got a 13 game hitting streak going.

The bad: Kuroda seems to have lost his touch. We are going to need him to win the division.

The ugly: I guess the Human Strikeout can’t run from 1st to 3rd either.

Nothing went right for the Blue today. Kershaw was bad, the Dodger defense was pitiful, and no one could solve Jimenez.  But kudos to the young pitcher today, although I expected the Dodger offense to suffer a letdown after yesterday’s offensive machine. It is just the law of averages. Jimenez has some pretty sweet stuff, and may actually become a successful pitcher in Coors field.   We also got to see Kershaw again, even if he is still too young to be pitching in the big leagues. The thing about Kershaw is he brings an excitement to the Dodger team that is sometimes in need of a jolt of energy. I don’t think the trade route is the best to go this year, not with some of the asking prices out there.

The good:  Kemp is showing a lot of promise. Another homer today.

The bad: The young pitchers, Kershaw and Truncoso, struggled today.

The ugly: No focus on defense again.

Wow what an offensive fireworks show. And amazingly the only homer accounted for only 1 of the 26 runs scored.  Probably one of the most frenzied games I have ever seen. I mean you had hit after hit by the Dodgers in the 1st inning. And from the 3rd inning onward, the Rockies scored in every inning. I guess we can just chalk this one up to Coors Field.

In other news, the Dodgers called up Kershaw to start tomorrow.  I assuming everyone will be tired of hitting by tomorrow and we’ll probably have a pitchers duel by the two youngsters Kershaw and Jimenez.

The good:  My all-Dodger fantasy hitting lineup really raked it in today.

The bad: My all-Dodger fantasy pitching staff got lit up.

The ugly: Kip Wells recorded only one out today.

The uglier: Guess who made that out by striking out?

Wow, i guess that D’back bullpen is in disarray now. Brandon Lyon has been horribly shaky over the past 2 days. And I think he’s on the hot seat. Lyon has never had the stuff of say, Jon Broxton, but he was efficient as a closer. The Dodgers worked him over the past 2 days, and he wasn’t really fooling anybody with his pitches. The best at bat of the day goes to Matt Kemp. You have 2 outs, a runner on first, 2 strikes on you. The young Matt Kemp most likely strikes out in this situation, especially after going 0-fer already in the game. However, he battled Lyon and ended up doubling to drive in  the game tying run. Kudos Kemp.

The good: Matt Kemp’s maturation at the plate. If he can keep up his development, hes going to be a star.

The bad: The second head of the double headed D’back was downright nasty today. Webb and Haren may have to battle it out for the Cy.

The ugly: Some poor defense by Stephen Drew didn’t help out Lyon much. I guess all Drews are prone to choking for their team.