Starting today, I’m making periodic contributions to the CityThink blog at Los Angeles Magazine. My first piece looks at the state of the Dodgers from a War Games perspective. Check it out …
Good teams have bad weeks, and one bad week like the Dodgers are having (with four losses in a row, including Friday’s 8-5 come-from-ahead defeat against the Angels) doesn’t ruin a season. At the same time, people have feared all along that the Dodgers are a team living on the brink of destruction in a dangerous baseball world.
In the spirit of War Games, here’s a snapshot of which Dodger problems are tic-tac-toe and which are global thermonuclear war …
Howard Kulzer
I loved reading that article Jon. No matter how this season ends, for this Iowan (and former Californian) I am enjoying the ride!
Anonymous
Loved that article Jon….
….
So…. How ’bout a little Dodgers/WarGames multiple choice…
….
– In an effort to fix this mess, will Ned Colletti….
A. “Piss on a spark plug?” – (ala the General)
B. Set “WOPR” to full power and see what it comes up with
C. Call Professor Falken
D. After all his efforts have landed us nothing more than another “past-his-prime” arm like Dotel or
Sherrill….. throw his hand up in the air and exclaim..”The only way to win is…..not to play..”
:-)
bcmaiden
LOL, fun article and oh so true. I cosign on the idea of sending Dee down and giving Luis Cruz a shot. What do we have to lose? Who knows, we could catch lightning in a bottle twice.
foul tip
A DT comment after a recent game that ended in a loss said that after such a game, Lasorda would have turned over the buffet table. Reminded me of this, from after his recent heart attack–
“People asked me if they told me to lose weight,” said the portly former Dodgers manager known for his love of Italian food. “I knew that before anybody told me, just when I put my pants on. I’d be really mad if I died thin, I’d miss all that great spaghetti.
” I don’t want to lose too much weight or my nose would look too big.”
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/06/13/lasorda.dodgers.ap/index.html#ixzz1xpqRfgiV
Anonymous
Clever line on Cruz; I’ve been thinking about him but only know him from stats.
AJ disturbs me more than he does you, I think. He is K’ing far more than I expected. In the minors his highest yearly K/PA ratio was 17% and his minor league career K/PA was 13%. With the Dodgers during 2009-2011 he K’ed in 14.5% of his PA. this season up to May 19 which is his high point for BA his K% was 17.2% but since then it’s 28.3% which is higher than Kemp’s in the full 2010 season.
foul tip
Speaking of Tommy, isn’t he the one usually credited with saying that over the course of a season, every team will win a third of its games, lose a third, and the other third decides playoff spots?
foul tip
To complete my early-innings triple, it’s probably fitting that a foul tip would link a piece about foul and fair balls.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/frank_deford/06/13/language-of-baseball/index.html?sct=mlb_bf3_a6
Writer Frank Deford doesn’t write much for SI these days. But in his heyday he was one of their all-timers, IMO.
Linkmeister
He absolutely was. He’s written a memoir, now out in hardcover.
Anonymous
The various negative commenters, who have turned DT game chats into torture for the first time in the 50 months since I’ve been reading here, were full of praise for the Angels management for drafting Trout. Permit me to make cautionary remarks. Trout was drafted 25th in 2009 in a compensation pick. They also had pick 24 in compensation which was used on Randal Grichuck. Now , they might have liked Trout better because they had 2 picks in a row but I doubt that. Grichuck’s swing was described as flawless with incredible bat speed. He is in high A Inland Empire hitting 259
underdog
Don’t let facts get in the way of a good rant. ;) Yeah, true, and obviously 23 other picks missed Trout as well. I have more bitterness about Dodgers not drafting Mike/Giancarlo Stanton, who was a local guy and would’ve worked out a tad better than the person they drafted in that round instead…
underdog
I love the War Games analogies Jon. :) Just rewatched that on cable and much of it still holds up.
Btw, I like Youk but we all deserve to be skeptical that he”d help in LA very much. Still, if he doesn’t cost much…
Anonymous
Thank God. I was thinking you were going to create some sort of player report using the WAR stat and declaring a course of action as a result. Whew. Good idea. Good read.
underdog
Very sad:
Scott Miller @ScottMCBS Prayers for Max Scherzer & his family. Scherzer pitching for #Tigerstoday at #Pirates after brother committed suicide. Can’t even imagine.
Anonymous
beautifully broken down Jon, love it.
Anonymous
“In fact, according to the True Average stat at Baseball Prospectus (which incorporates baserunning), Uribe and Gordon are virtually identical on offense.”
My goodness Gordon is worse than I thought :(
Anonymous
“Even if Chad Billingsley has slipped to de facto No. 5 starter”
If that is true (and I’m not saying that it isn’t) then Bills has basically gotten worse over time.
Jon Weisman
NPUT
Anonymous
Too hard on Loney.