The Trolley Dodger

Vote Early! Vote Often! Vote Russell!

Jason Schmidt’s start today at Inland Empire went quite well, as mentioned in various stories around the web. Kevin Pearson’s story over at the Press-Enterprise caught my eye, “Schmidt cruises in rehab start”, for this passage:

On Wednesday, Colletti said Schmidt was routinely hitting 88 on the radar gun and at one point hit 91. He was hitting 88-89 out of the stretch in the sixth inning.

“I wasn’t thinking about it,” said Schmidt, who purchased a post-game spread from Claim Jumper for the entire 66ers roster. “I was thinking more about getting life on the fastball and trying to locate it. That was the biggest thing for me, that, and pitching pain free, and we accomplished that today.”

Nice guy! :)

Thanks to an email contact for forwarding me this article in Parade Magazine, “Goodbye Again, Dear Bums”, by Alfred F. Kelly, Sr. in which the author shares memories of the Brooklyn Dodger era. An anniversary of the move to Los Angeles is coming up this year.

Oct. 8, 2007, will mark the 50th anniversary of Walter O’Malley’s crushing news that our Bums, our team, our heart and soul, would be moving to Los Angeles. What subway line do you take from Bedford Avenue to Los Angeles?

Kelly’s father was the long-time New York Times sports editor, Raymond J. Kelly, and they would attend games at Ebbets Field. Alfred Kelly also went to Fordham, where he knew a certain young broadcaster:

I was attending Fordham College then and would meet Vin Scully from time to time as we watched one of their teams practice. Scully was a prince of a man and a keen observer of sports. Red Barber recognized his talent, and he was hired to bring the Dodgers to us via radio. He, of course, went on to TV and to Los Angeles, where he calls Dodger games to this day.

I can’t imagine the loss that Brooklyn fans felt, considering how integral a part of the borough the Dodgers were back then. I think it’s impossible for 21st Century folks with a bazillion entertainment options, both sports and otherwise, to relate to having your heart ripped out as they did.

Their loss was our gain in Los Angeles, so there’s a pronounced bittersweet quality to reading the reminiscences of original Dodger fans like Mr. Kelly. With the Dodgers leaving Dodgertown in Vero Beach after next year, the last historical connection on the East Coast will be severed.

But if you’re like me and a lover of both baseball and history, it is more than worth your while to learn where your team came from — the ups and downs, the heroes and villains — and listen to the people who were in the stands back then, cheering just as hard as you do now.

Rob over at 6-4-2 was good enough to link to the reasons to breathe post (via SoSG, thanks guys) and takes some offense to at least the first 5 items.

That’s a preemptive blockade of front office criticism, and quite frankly, wrongheaded. Do we flinch recognizing that Luis Gonzalez was a late-career wonder, that his regression will be just as fast and hard, and that Matt Kemp would be a better choice over the duration of Gonzo’s contract? Was there any justification whatsoever for the Juan Pierre signing?

All of these are answered by #6, which he left off his post:

If our outfield on opening day was, say, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Jason Repko, we’d be one injury or slump away from the 2005 season. You remember 2005, right?

Of course Gonzo will most likely regress over the course of this season, and might very well do so at really inopportune times as the season wears on. As will Juan Pierre[1], whom I referred to obliquely as being dependably mediocre. This is not necessarily the worst possible thing to happen.

From the perspective of the front office, having that insurance policy at the beginning of the season was worth whatever fall off there will be due to regression, injury, or bad juju later in the season.

What I didn’t add into the Top 9 reasons was that the insurance policy works in reverse as well — those kids are available to step in when all the crap goes down. That is the key: it’s all about depth.

Do I personally think Gonzo and Juan Pierre were the best choices for those roles? Probably not, but they were the best the front office could or felt they could get.

Finally, as far as this being a “blockade,” my post wasn’t called the “Top 9 Reasons To STFU”: breathing, relaxation, and quietude was the goal, not stifling of dissent, criticism, or other folderol.

Anyhow, thanks for the link, Rob! I enjoy your blog on a daily basis.

[1] The hysteria about the Pierre signing presumes that he will be on the Dodgers for the length of his contract. This is not necessarily the case, particularly since the front office has shown a willingness to both turn over personnel and correct its mistakes in the past.

I know better than to wade through hysterical posters on Dodger discussion forums and blog comment sections, but I always wind up doing it and feeling something akin to heartburn afterwards, especially when the posters want to blow up the team after a week of bad games.

The futile weekend series versus the Angels and then last night’s loss against the Brewers have shot panic levels to epic proportions. Oy! The stress you would not believe.

With that in mind, here are the official Top 9 Trolley Dodger Reasons Why You Should Remember To Breathe.

1. Your failure to understand the logic of or not knowing the full story behind Dodger front office decisions does not mean there is no logic or reason behind those decisions.
2. It doesn’t matter if you have a subscription to Baseball America, obsessively monitor the news feeds, refresh the forums every 5 minutes, and Read Every Blog: you don’t know everything, and there is always more to the story than the public knows.
3. Does this mean the Dodger front office is always right? Absolutely not. But then, neither are you.
4. The Dodgers are hovering in first place in a dogfight division. We are likely to fall out of first place. If we do, we are likely to get back into first place. Jumping off a cliff in the interim is a bad idea — what are you, Cub fans?
5. Choosing dependable vets (yes, even dependably mediocre) over untested kids at the beginning of the season is insurance, not veteran deference, and definitely not willful obstinacy.
6. If our outfield on opening day was, say, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Jason Repko, we’d be one injury or slump away from the 2005 season. You remember 2005, right?
7. The Dodgers do not, as one poster opined today, have the second worst front office in baseball behind only the Rockies. Ask a Colorado fan how it is with a really bad front office and get back to me.
8. The Yankees will not trade A-Rod for Brett Tomko, Wilson Betemit, and every other Dodger player you hate.
9. It’s May 22nd, and it’s a beautiful day outside.

From the Boston Globe, a blurb at the end of this article caught my attention straight away. Looks like a certain former Dodgers pitcher might be looking to pull a Clemens:

Hideo Nomo and Mac Suzuki are eyeing a return to the major leagues. Nomo has been rehabilitating from elbow surgery in the Los Angeles area. According to his agent, Don Nomura, Nomo definitely wants to pitch again. “He’s a little bit away from a return, but not too far away,” said Nomura, who is also trying to get Suzuki a minor league deal. Suzuki, 31, last pitched for the Royals in 2002. Nomo, 38, last pitched for the Devil Rays in 2005.

So what do you think? Offer him a minor league deal? ;)

(And yes, the title is channeling Phil Collins.)

From Florida Today comes this article on a bittersweet transition taking place in Vero Beach: “Devil Rays try to follow Dodgers’ tradition”.

At least a half-dozen times this season, Joe Sanchez, the melodious voice of Holman Stadium, has mistakenly slipped in the word “Dodgers” as he describes the action in front of the blue seats below him.

“Which isn’t too bad after 27 years,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t think the fans listen to me anyway, half the time.”

Most likely, they’re still stunned that their once-beloved Vero Beach Dodgers, a franchise which once groomed major league stars such as Steve Sax, Mike Piazza and Paul LoDuca, have been replaced by the Vero Beach Devil Rays, a Tampa Bay Class-A team.

Having the Dodgers High-A affiliate in SoCal is a great thing for me and other local Dodger fans, but I still can’t help but regret what’s being left behind.

In Buster Olney’s latest blog entry on ESPN Insider, he has this about the Scott Rolen to the Dodgers rumors:

There is some speculation, within GM circles, that the Cardinals will look to trade Scott Rolen as soon as the team raises the white flag on their season, and Rolen would make sense for the Dodgers, in some respects. He would give L.A. a strong defensive presence at third base, plus some experience, and he could hit in the last four spots in the lineup and not be expected to be one of the main guys. The Cardinals clearly would have to eat a huge chunk of the salary owed to Rolen in the future — he will make $12 million a year for each of the next three years — but they could get a decent (but not great) prospect from the Dodgers.

To me, if the Dodgers wanted Rolen, he would almost have to be somewhere in the 3-5 range, most likely 4th where Kent is currently, just due to his power potential. Thinking back to what Grady has been doing this year, I would imagine something like this:

1. Furcal
2. Pierre
3. Nomar
4. Rolen
5. Kent
6. Gonzo
7. Martin
8. Ethier
9. (pitcher)

What about this?

1. Pierre
2. Martin or Furcal
3. Furcal or Martin
4. Rolen
5. Kent
6. Nomar or Gonzo
7. Gonzo or Nomar
8. Ethier
9. (pitcher)

Plus I’m not that convinced the Cards would be willing to eat salary if they weren’t getting some value in return, i.e. multiple prospects.

Previously on Trolley Dodger: “Rolen to the Dodgers?”

Vaguely related idle speculation: do Troy Glaus’s injury issues have to do with playing on artificial turf?

The inevitable player movement up and down the minors hierarchy is starting to take place. One of the Great Lakes Loons (Low A) pitchers is heading up to the IE 66ers (High A). I’ll have to keep an eye out for his next start in San Berdoo, because he sounds awesome:

Francisco Felix, the Midwest League’s leader in Earned Run Average (0.76), has been promoted by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ to the club’s High-A affiliate, the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino, CA. Felix becomes the first member of the Loons to receive a promotion by the Dodgers.

With his dizzying array of off-speed pitches and multiple arm angles, Felix allowed just three earned runs in 35 1/3 innings and did not allow any earned runs in 20 1/3 innings as a reliever. He struck out 35 batters during his time with Great Lakes and limited opponents to a .158 average. Felix, along with Loons left-hander Clayton Kershaw, was named the Dodgers’ Minor League Co-Pitcher of the Month for April.

This is one of those travel ideas that always sounds idyllic to me, but is probably a nightmare to plan and execute. :)

The blog Baseball Cities Tour is in the middle of a “30 stadiums in a single summer” road trip, and their 10th was at Dodger Stadium. For each game, there’s a brief blurb in the main blog, and then a fuller description on a game page.

• “Game 10 - Dodgers Stadium” blog post
• “May 15, 2007 — Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA” game description

This was last Tuesday’s victory over the Cardinals. Game 9 was with the Padres at PetCo, while Game 11 will be tonight at Los Angeles Stadium of Anaheim.

Definitely worth a subscription in your RSS reader.