The Trolley Dodger

Analysis of the 2010 Dodgers season can get pretty snarky, fatalist, and needlessly complex. The truth of the matter is all-too simple: just check the standings.

NL WEST STANDINGS Through 8/15/10

    W   L    PCT  GB  RS  RA  DIFF
----------------------------------
SD  69  47  .595    - 508 395 +113
SF  67  52  .563  3.5 518 440  +78
COL 61  56  .521  8.5 558 517  +41
LAD 60  58  .508 10.0 516 517   -1
ARI 47  72  .395 23.5 540 648 -108

Colorado and Arizona have been scoring (RS) like crazy compared to the other teams — in the Rockies’ case, they’re keeping their opponents from scoring (RA) too many in return, while the Dbacks have a woeful -108 run deficit (DIFF).

Meanwhile on the top of the division, San Diego and San Francisco aren’t scoring very many runs, but their pitching and defense are keeping the opposition down — the Padres with a phenomenal +113 to the positive.

And then there’s the Dodgers. They have kept their opponents to a tepid 517 runs…and have scored one less than that themselves. This is a recipe for malaise.

Whether viewed from an NL (8th out of 16 teams) or overall NL+AL perspective (15th out of 30 teams), the Dodgers are in the middle of the pack. They are 6.5 games out of the wild card, 10 games away from the NL West pennant.

What can they do to save the 2010 season?

Score more runs. It’s not too complicated.

The “classy” and “sheer awesomeness” factor of MLB Network will go up tremendously for tomorrow night’s Dodger home opener, with the rest of the nation getting to hear what we in Southern California are blessed to have for yet another season — Vin Scully.

MLB Network will simulcast Vin Scully’s call of the Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers (the Dodgers’ 2010 home opener) on FSN Prime tomorrow, Tuesday, April 13 at 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT. MLB Network’s carriage of the game, part of its “30 Games, 30 Clubs, 30 Days” live game schedule, will be blacked out in the Dodgers’ and Diamondbacks’ home television markets.

Speaking of openers, the Inland Empire 66ers (High A affiliate of the Dodgers) have their home opener tonight against the High Desert Mavericks, and although the weather is looking dicey, the rest of the day’s forecast seems good after 1 PM. The team tweeted this earlier:

Even though it is currently raining, WE ARE SCHEDULED to start at 7:05 and tickets are still available!!

A couple of years ago, we had tickets for the same game, which wound up being canceled due to field conditions after heavy rains — we were able to exchange for tickets any time later in the season (apart from big events like the 4th of July).

As I’m observing my 40th birthday this week, I thought I’d have a look see at the 1969 Dodgers season. This was the 7th year in Dodger Stadium and 11th in California.

100th anniversary celebrations for MLB saw the addition of four expansion teams in 1969: the KC Royals and Seattle Pilots in the AL, and the Padres and Montreal Expos in the NL.

Not a great finish for the Dodgers in 1969: 4th place in the newly formed National League West division. The teams in the NL West from 1969-1992:

• Atlanta Braves
• Cincinnati Reds
• Houston Astros
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• San Diego Padres
• San Francisco Giants

(Colorado was added in 1993, while the Braves, Reds, and Astros moved away in 1994. Arizona came in 1998.)

The Dodgers finished 85-77, eight games back from the division-winning Braves. The opening day Dodger starters:

• CF Willie Crawford
• RF Len Gabrielson
• 3B Bill Sudakis
• 1B Ron Fairly
• LF Andy Kosco
• C Tom Haller
• 2B Jim Lefebvre
• SS Ted Sizemore
• P Don Drysdale

That was April 7, 1969, at Cincy. LA won, 3-2. Don Drysdale won, with Bill Singer getting the save — the first official save in baseball history.

While the 4th-place finish wasn’t great, it was a bit of an improvement over their awful 76-86 and 73-89 performances the previous two years. One step closer to the glory years of the mid-to-late 1970s.

Two highlights from 1969:

• On January 21st, Roy Campanella was elected to the Hall of Fame.
• On August 11th, Don Drysdale retired. He was the last active Dodger who had also played in Brooklyn.

Transactions that year (from Wikipedia):

• March 30: Acquired Jimmie Schaffer from the Cincinnati Reds for Ted Savage
• April 17: Acquired Al McBean from the San Diego Padres for Tommy Dean and Leon Everitt
• June 5: Bob Randall was drafted by the Dodgers in the 2nd round of the 1969 Major League Baseball Draft (Secondary Phase).
• June 11: Acquired Maury Wills and Manny Mota from the Montreal Expos for Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich
• August 15: Acquired Jim Bunning from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Ron Mitchell, Chuck Coggin and cash
• September 1: Acquired Jack Jenkins from the Washington Senators for cash

More info:

• 1969 Dodgers at Wikipedia
• 1969 Dodgers at Retrosheet
• 1969 Dodgers at Baseball Reference
• 1969 Dodgers at Baseball Almanac
• 1969 MLB season at Wikipedia

You don’t want to get your hopes up, but you refuse to wallow in pessimism. You feel your heart leap with every bit of good news, and your stomach fall with every thing bad. You suffer from uncontrolled smiling and from random shivering. You declare you can’t watch the games, then wind up doing it anyway.

Yep, must be September.

It’s the 23rd today. The Autumnal Equinox has just passed, and we’re standing at the precipice of not only the playoffs but within hailing distance of winter. Being a baseball fan is like having some form of seasonal affective disorder, with irrational glee every spring, then (most years) glum resignation as the 162-game countdown finally runs out.

If your team is lucky, you get to play more games after that.

If your team is really lucky, you play in the last game of the playoffs.

If your team is astoundingly lucky, you win that last game.

See, there goes that shivering again.

The Dodgers have six more games to determine if they get to play more. They must cobble together some combination of five wins or Diamondback losses between tonight and Sunday to keep playing in October. They play three games against the Padres and three against the Giants, both of whom would simply adore destroying Dodger hopes and dreams this year.

There are wars and rumors of wars. The American economy is doing its best impression of a beached whale. Plagues of locusts and frogs are raining down across the land, and there’s probably some giant meteoroid headed our way.

Never mind all that. This is important.

You don’t want to watch.

But you will.