Phillies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Jerry Hairston Jr., 3B
Mark Ellis, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
Juan Rivera, LF
James Loney, 1B
Luis Cruz, SS
A.J. Ellis, C
Nathan Eovaldi, P
Word spread among the Dodger beat writers that Chad Billingsley’s MRI went about as positively as it could have gone, to the point that he was still in the running this afternoon to make a start Tuesday. The alternative appears to be a callup for Stephen Fife, the righthander who came to the Dodgers as part of the Tim Federowicz deal.
Fife is already on the 40-man roster, which makes him easy pickins. The Dodgers could make room for John Ely, but if it’s only a short-term move, they might not want to bother.
* * *
Since the Dodgers swept the Phillies in Philadelphia, writes Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A., the Phillies are 11-20 and the Dodgers are 11-21.
foul tip
Blue Jay fan catches foul ball between his legs–while not spilling concessions in both hands.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Dude has some serious reflexes and coordination in addition to ability to think fast–VERY fast.
May have to watch video more than once since the actual catch (trap?) is not a close-up.
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/hands-full-concession-items-blue-jays-fan-creatively-114511796–mlb.html
Linkmeister
The results are optimistic or the readers of the results are optimistic? ;)
Never mind. My inner pedant emerged. He’s waiting for biopsy results of his own.
Yolanda
What a novel idea,,,, using your best available player at each position….
Way to go coach….
I wonder how long this will last…
Anonymous
That’s a good question.
Anonymous
While your comment is quite funny, Abreu is a better LF’er than Rivera in both hitting and fielding.
I think the line-up was arrived at the way Mattingly’s line-ups are always arrived at by the opposing pitcher’s splits and Dodger hitters history vs the opposing pitcher. In this case, Abreu BA 143, Rivera 417.
Anonymous
While your comment is quite funny, Abreu is a better LF’er than Rivera in both hitting and fielding.I think the line-up was arrived at the way Mattingly’s line-ups are always arrived at by the opposing pitcher’s splits and Dodger hitters history vs the opposing pitcher. In this case, Abreu BA 143, Rivera 417.
Anonymous
I worry that Hairston at third is a real defensive liability.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=144&position=2B/OF#fieldingadvanced
My ability to process defensive stats is very limited, but I’d guess that the fact that 3b is his only negative UZR/150 isn’t a good sign. Nor is the fact that he’s spent maybe 10% of his career there.
foul tip
CBS Sports says Dodgers interested in Jimmy Rollins, FWIW.
Reality is the Dodgers have so many needs that the team is likely to be mentioned in, oh, 1500 or so trade possibilities.
Line from story pretty well sums up the situation:
“The Dodgers, who are short on prospects but long on both money and needs….,”
Also notes Lopes is a big Rollins fan.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/danny-knobler/19596632/dodgers-wide-search-for-help-could-include-jimmy-rollins
Adam Luther
Wow just saw the replay for the call on the overthrow to A.J. Ellis – ump verbally “calls” out – shouldn’t that call have stood?
Anonymous
Nope. Umpires can change their minds. Nothing prevents it.
Adam Luther
yep you’re right and similar to the weird “foul”/ “fair” triple play earlier this season.
KT
Good Play James
KT
Come on DP
KT
Yes…Nice turn Mark
Anonymous
Cruz makes an ugly error, but then starts a nice DP (with great pivot by Mellis).
Anonymous
Blanton looks to have absolutely nothing.
KT
yea but he has 3 k’s in a row now
Anonymous
Sadly, it takes less than nothing to strike out the heart of our still-cold team.
Anonymous
Pierre is painful.
Anonymous
My goodness. Took a look at the lineup and found more excitement than I have in quite a while. Somebody needs to go tell Blanton that we’ve got our good guys playing..
KT
Nice catch by the fan
Anonymous
Rollins…..nice, short, compact, efficient swing…..
….
And, a very nice result for him.
KT
Didn’t he run out of the baseline
Anonymous
That’s what I though – for a second I thought Ellis just didn’t bother to make the throw to second because of that.
Anonymous
Dodgers recently….. “Circus” ….
…
Way to handle the run-down fellas….
We’ve only been doing it since 5th grade. :-)
Anonymous
Very poorly played.
KT
giving these extra outs is not good for EO’s pitch count
KT
Good of Victorino to give us the out back
Anonymous
How “neighborly” of him….
KT
wonder if they will show the highlights for Link
Anonymous
How come he wasn’t cryin’ about the call?
Anonymous
Starting with the 9th inning Saturday night and continuing through the first inning tonight, the Dodgers made seven errors in 11 innings.
Adam Luther
Yikes-need to shore up the D.
Anonymous
Way to pull the bat back on a “perfect strike” Nate….
Anonymous
No….. I am not going to just give line after line of negative commentary tonight to detract from your DT experience…. :-)
Anonymous
Uribe should be a short. Despite the fact that it made 6 errors, Donnie had the right defensive lineup yesterday. I say keep trotting him out there while Gordon’s out and hope his bat wakes up.
Anonymous
Wow—-EO– is already a pretty proffesional pitcher! He prefers to make an out at bat to any other sacrifice or other artifice.
Anonymous
I try to look at it this way–if you’re gonna have a meltdown, better to go through it now than in September.
Anonymous
Is this a meltdown or a truer indication than early this season of what kind of team the Dodgers are?
Christopher Jones
The latter.
Jason Ungar
Yah I picked .500 in my preseason prediction. Were no better than the last two seasons. 162 game seasons show you who you are.
Anonymous
I just try to keep in mind that 85 wins could be enough to win the west. The G’s still aren’t that far from setting themselves up for a long cold streak themselves.
Anonymous
The Gnats will be lucky to win 85, and to beat out the Snakes for the second wild card.
Anonymous
I think both cards are going to come out of the east in the NL (assuming that’s possible with the new rules).
Anonymous
Wow, that ball was clubbed!! Way Out!!
Anonymous
Ok…. Just havin’ some fun here with this one….
…
Perhaps Nate Eovaldi should have pitched to Kemp in the Home Run Derby…
It might have helped Matty’s HR totals for the competition…. :-)
Anonymous
Donnie really should just let Eovaldi swing away if he’s really this useless in bunt attempts. He only had one successful sac bunt in almost 30 PAs last year.
KT
Come on DP
KT
Nice catch Dre
KT
Yes there it is again..nice turn Luis
Jon Weisman
Man, Pierre really ripped that ball.
KT
yea he did…thought it was going to score a couple of runs
Anonymous
Notwithstanding what you’ve just described, looking at those words together reminds me of the expression “cognitive dissonance”
Jeffrey Thomas III
At least they’ve gotten a couple of nice DP’s tonight. Last night they were throwing those all over the park.
Anonymous
Gotta hand it to ‘Dre…
That ball was stung by Pierre…
Andre: Nice jump, nice route, nice play…. on a tough ball.
Anonymous
PS – If Pierre had sacrificed, no DP.
Jon Weisman
Matt Kemp hit that ball just as hard in the fourth inning as Juan Pierre did. All that working out has paid off!
Anonymous
Even watching Juan for 3 yrs. with the Dodgers…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him hit a ball that hard….
Perhaps it’s just me….but, he really seemed to “lay into it”
Anonymous
I really wish I could have heard what the blue was saying to Loney at home plate there…
Seems like I could read a few “expletives” from his mouth (and rightly so….) as he pointed down at James’ bat….
…
James… have a seat.
KT
Hairston catches that ball he’s out
Anonymous
Ok… On Shane’s ball to LF….
….
Little to no range when you have Rivera out there…. (T-Gwynn gets it with ease)
Followed by Hairston waiting for the ‘long hop’ on the play at 3B… (needed to shuffle his feet out in front of the bag to get the lower part of that hop and then apply the tag in a ‘sweep’)
….
Summary: A player in LF, who is best suited to be an AL designated hitter can’t run down a ball which would have been caught by most other LF’s….throws the ball in to a ‘journeyman utility player’ playing 3B who can’t make the ‘fine’ dig of a refined, everyday 3B….
….
Now, let’s get back to this one….
Anonymous
I love the Dodgers….
And, the players who wear our beloved Dodger Blue constitute the “Who”….
We like them…
We root for them…
They’re … well, Dodgers!
…
But, objectively….there’s also a “what” component as well….
And, that’s what I described in my statement above…
…
When this club can get the “who” to resemble a better “what” … we’ll be rollin’ …. :-)
Anonymous
There’s really no mystery to it at all…
…
Just our hearts trying to ‘over-rule’ our common sense (brains) as we watch this club play to level of it’s talent…. (well, maybe a bit below… but, the Yanks…they’re not)
…
Why do we let this happen?
1. We love our Dodgers and always want them to win.
2. This team got off to such a good start, it just doesn’t seem right to see then collapse…
3. Crazier things have happened in this crazy game of baseball
…
So, hang in there.
KT
Connie Mack
Anonymous
…would be reminded of his late 1930s teams by these guys tonight?
Anonymous
Too bad we don’t use golf scoring, we’d be the best team in the league, hands down.
Anonymous
If Uribe must make an appearance, that was probably the least worst option.
Anonymous
I keep muttering under my breath “law of numbers, law of averages…” every time that guy comes up. Nothin doin.
Anonymous
You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But you know better.
Anonymous
I feel like Charlie Brown goin to kick the football. Donnie B has to be somewhere close, ya?
KT
good conference…got the call right
Anonymous
A sensible consultation by Bell, for which he deserves credit. Howard never had control of the ball.
KT
Come on Matty
Anonymous
Nice…”blues” …
Anonymous
Once again, getting minimal results out of maximal opportunity.
Anonymous
A break, and we let em off the hook.
-Dennis Green
Anonymous
“They are who we THOUGHT they were….”
…
I like it. Ki.
Anonymous
I’ve accepted this is indeed who they are. Maybe we can sneak a top 10 pick out this season, that would be a nice consolation prize.
Anonymous
I wonder how long Dodger management will wait before attempting to remedy the situations at first and third and in left field. I hope at least one of those situations is revolved before we are a half-dozen games out of first place. But I realize that there may not be any easy or satisfactory fixes.
Anonymous
The decision to let Blanton bat was shockingly bad, and yet another example of the rapid decline of Charlie’s mental powers. I really hope they don’t let this guy legally drive anymore.
Anonymous
Elbert works out of it nicely.
Anonymous
“Dual – Screens” goin’ full force right now as I lean up to type this….
…
Screen #1 – Dodgers trying to make a come-back.
Screen #2 – Baby monitor… My daughter totally “fighting it” as she tries to fall asleep…
Ever see that black and white footage of Elvis dancing? … (only this sure ain’t Elvis) …
Cute, though… :-)
Anonymous
AJ has fanned 14 times in his last 35 ABs. That’s 40 percent. I wonder if he’s wearing down.
Jason Ungar
wearing down and the book on him is much bigger now. I also think when no one is hitting everyone tries to do to much.
Anonymous
Pence appears to have been taking pointers from Uribe.
Anonymous
Funny thing this game … Especially when you look at the whole 162-game body…..
…
The highs, the lows, the mundane, the strange, the surprising, the funny, the sad, the miraculous….
…
Same team…same fan…But, such different sentiments at different times of the season…
Gotta love it.
…
PS – I think this posting was a “haiku” … Ha.
Anonymous
Using Kennedy as a pinch-hitter with the game on the line epitomizes where things are with this club now. The result was utterly predictable.
Anonymous
A 1-6 pitcher with no business anywhere above AA and zero RBIs from the previous 30 or so batters might have had a little more to do with it than old man Adam.
underdog
Yeah, to be fair, Kennedy’s actually be fairly decent lately. Still should be a desperation pinch hitter only but that’s about where they were at that point. He’s been contributing more than Uribe at least. Blame can be spread around but as has often been the case in this horrible past month, pitching all told is not the culprit as much as generally futile hitting. Hoping that with Kemp and Ethier starting to get back in the swing of things it’ll pick up but this has certainly been a frustrating run.
Jason Ungar
Kennedy just missed getting all of that and flying out to the outfield.
underdog
I’m assuming Colletti knows that if the Dodgers miss the playoffs he’ll be losing his job. Probably does.
The good news is, at least in some eyes, that’s a win-win scenario for fans!
Jason Ungar
promise? :)
Anonymous
Most realistic and probably best outcome for the future of the franchise. Keep the young pieces in the farm (we only have a few quality ones anyways), admit this year is a rebuild and spend big in FA and make a run in 2013.
Anonymous
“admit this year is a rebuild”…
We’re only 2 out with almost 80 to play. Once Kemp and Dre get back in the groove, we can easily take the lead back.
I’m hoping for a playoff spot, even if hoping for Donnie B to get his very first pennant is a bit over-the-top.
Anonymous
This is not a rebuild year. This is a year to win the division and then see what happens.
Jason Ungar
plus rebuild how?
Anonymous
It’s not necessarily “rebuild” as much as I don’t want to see another Dotel incident. Our chances of getting an impact bat or star pitcher at the deadline are slim, in free agency they are much, much better.
Jason Ungar
I agree.
Jon Weisman
NPUT