The Trolley Dodger

Thanks to Ken Levine and Josh Suchon for having me on as blogger of the week on their KABC AM 790 Dodger Talk show this afternoon. It went by in a flash, so I hope I was making sense. :)

Thanks to the USA Today folks for the interview, which you can read here: “These days, Dodgers blog is also Manny watch”

UPDATE: Thanks to the following for linking to the interview:

• Jon Weisman: “Express Lane News: 10 items or less”
• Sons of Steve Garvey: “Trolley Dodger Goes National”
• Dodgerfan.net: “USA Today Turns to Local Dodgers Blogger”

Eric Stults pitches a beauty of a complete game today, a mere four hits away from a perfect game. Juan Pierre steps in and offers some hope for left field. Matt Kemp continues to show the faith in his future abilities is both well founded and no longer in the future.

All that, and what does Bill Plaschke carriage-return about today?

He uses his page-one pulpit to complain about Dodgers fans getting on with life sans Manny.

He berates them for being supportive of a beloved player who made a stupid mistake, one for which he is paying both a literal and figurative price.

He insults an entire fanbase, millions of people, for choosing sanity not insanity.

I mean, there aren’t very many worse insults than to say Los Angeles citizens are sullen San Francisco denizens, that supporting Manny is the moral equivalent of cheering Barry Bonds. Or kicking puppies.

The problem is, Plaschke has missed the point. Again. Check this out:

Fully two-thirds of the approximately 750 e-mails I have received about Manny Ramirez have ripped me for criticizing him.

No, they are ripping you for saying the rules should be broken to prove your crusading point. The owners and the players union (finally) agreed to severe penalties in case of pharmaceutical infractions. Manny is paying the penalty right now.

Bill, you want to throw all that away. You’re saying the rules should be broken because Manny broke the rules. That he should be kicked off the Dodgers (which can’t happen anyhow) for making a mistake. That he should be banned from baseball.

The fact is that if a big name like Manny Ramirez gets caught and suspended for 50 games, the system is working. If you destroy the system, which is what you are apoplectically advocating right now, then you will destroy baseball.

Bill, you are acting like a self-serving, sanctimonious jerk right now who is more concerned with driving web traffic to your articles and eyeballs to Around the Horn than with what’s best for the Dodgers, Los Angeles, or the fans. I am not going to provide a live link to your current article because of that attitude.

You are better than this. You are a good writer. You don’t need to act this way.

Please stop.

Congratulations to Eric Stults and the Dodger defense on the complete-game, four-hit shutout today. Just what the doctor ordered!*

It was very nice to see the Dodger offense wake up, not to mention the great contributions from the two Juans, Pierre and Castro.

But perhaps most importantly, this was a nationally broadcasted game, pitched by our fifth starter, won sans Manny. To reiterate Vin’s statement a couple of days ago, “No one man stops baseball.”

Tomorrow’s game will be interesting, for sure, with Lincecum going up against the reborn Jeff Weaver.

* Pun not intended. Ahem.

As this picture from the first inning yesterday suggests, we’ll be fine.