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.