The Trolley Dodger

The Dodgers’ marketing campaign this year plays on Vin Scully’s famous phrase to start games, “It’s time for Dodger baseball!” I still get chills every time I hear it, and the version they use in the TV commercials is especially exciting.

There’s a natural disconnect in baseball between the front office and the locker room, and depending on the team this can be a pretty wide gulf. In the case of the 2011 Dodgers, it’s as if two different movies are playing. One up in the Dodger executive offices, and one on the field. And while they’re out of sync, they’re each having an effect on the other.

Reports came out earlier today (in the midst of yet another media blitz by Frank McCourt, this time on local radio) that the Dodgers are not able to meet payroll for May. Another report says the team will be insolvent by July. If Major League Baseball hadn’t already taken over team operations, they surely would now.

Meanwhile, there’s a baseball game being played tonight. As I write this, a struggling Jonathan Broxton has just undone Chad Billingsley’s hard-fought 1-1 pitcher’s duel versus Ryan Dempster. Earlier, Andre Ethier blooped a hit to up his streak to 29 games. Jay Gibbons put together a stellar 10-pitch first at bat back.

The juxtaposition between a desperate Frank McCourt PRing all over himself on the radio today and the Dodger team fighting for a win was striking for me. An ESPN columnist last week pointed out how McCourt never mentioned the team’s performance, Andre Ethier’s streak, the fans, or anything that didn’t have to do with how MLB was supposedly stealing the team from him.

The continuing fan boycott (as evidenced by the great swaths of empty seats at Dodger Stadium), whether organized or spontaneous, shows what people believe about that.

I feel most sorry for Vin Scully, soldiering on in the press box as controversy swirls in the news media.

It’s time for a change. It’s time for truth and transparency.

It’s time for Dodger baseball. On the field, and in the executive offices.

On September 18th this year, it will be the 5th anniversary of the famous 4+1 game, in which the Dodgers tied the score with four consecutive home runs, then beat the Padres in extra innings with a walk-off homer.

With Russell Martin no longer with the Dodgers, that means the five players (six if you count Kenny Lofton’s walk that represented one of the two runs in the 10th) involved in the 4+1 are gone.

1. Jeff Kent
2. JD Drew
3. Russell Martin
4. Marlon Anderson

and then Nomar Garciaparra. In fact, looking at the boxscore for that night, only Rafael Furcal, Jonathan Broxton, and Andre Ethier are still on the team.

Starting catcher for the Padres? Mike Piazza.

Comparison articles are usually rife this time of year, wherein the harried sportswriter “compares” special new players to older ones. It’s one item in their bag of tricks — like writing a “Top 5 Reasons Yadda Yadda” article — used to fill up the insane amount of words they have to write. (Really, I don’t blame them.)

The last few years, the comparison has been Clayton Kershaw and Sandy Koufax. Of course, as a Dodger fan it’s hard not to wish for Kid K to rise to the lofty heights of famous Dodger lefties of the past. (Not many Fernando comparisons for some reason.)

A new comparison, and an intriguing one, is this from Ken Gurnick today, “Jansen’s fastball cut from same cloth as idol”, in which we find out Kenley Jansen has the makings of a crazy cutter.

So the closer of the future — sooner or later — is Kenley Jansen, who is already drawing comparisons to his idol and the best closer ever, the 11-time All-Star [Mariano] Rivera, because of something that can’t be taught, explained or intentionally duplicated.

“My ball naturally cuts,” Jansen said of the darting sideways movement of his fastball that makes it difficult for hitters to square the bat barrel on the ball. “It just has life on it. I throw a four-seam fastball, and when I want to throw a cutter, I spin the ball around and spread the fingers just a little and press with my middle finger and I know it’s going to cut.[...]“

That would be interesting enough, but he has been picking the brains of catchers Dioner Navarro and Mike Borzello, both of whom have caught Rivera.

“The similarities start and stop with what his ball does naturally,” said Borzello. “Kenley throws a four-seamer and tries to throw it straight and it has late cutting action that you just don’t see often. I don’t think he even realizes what it does, he’s so new to pitching.

“Mariano can pinpoint that pitch now, but not at the beginning. Kenley’s pitch has the same action. Where he goes from here will be fun to see. He asks me about Mariano. I told him everything — how he prepares, his routine during a game, his demeanor. I gave him a video of Mariano that he’s watched a lot. I’ll say this — there isn’t a better person to mold himself after.”

With that cutter, a “loopy” slider, and a burning desire to keep improving, the catcher-turned-reliever might have Dodgers fans loopy very soon. “Sooner versus later” if Jonathan Broxton’s season starts out like his second half last year. And if not, we have two devastatingly talented relievers to shut down the end of games.

Navarro said he’ll get Rivera’s cell number and set up a conversation between the 11-time All-Star and the closer-in-training that idolizes him.

“I hope to meet him one day,” said Jansen. “I’d just sit with him and talk and pick his brain.”

Yes, I know. Yes, I understand this is completely not going to happen. Yes, I know the innumerable reasons why this could never take place. Yes, I realize it would require creating a rift in the space-time continuum (or at least doing some horse-trading in the MLB 2011 video game). I get all that.

But a man can dream.

2011 Dodgers (daydream edition)

Starting lineup

• SS Furcal (S)
• CF Kemp (R)
• RF Ethier (L)
• 1B Konerko (R)
• LF Werth (R)
• 3B Beltre (R)
• C Martin* (R)
• 2B Theriot (R)

* or C Santana (S) if Martin is done.

Bench

• C Barajas (R)
• IF Casey Blake (R)
• IF Jamey Carroll (R)
• OF Gibbons (L)
• OF Podsednik (L)

Starting Rotation

1. Cliff Lee (L)
2. Kershaw (L)
3. Billingsley (R)
4. Padilla (R)
5. Lilly (L)

Relief

• Closer: Broxton (R)
• Setup: Kuo (L)
• RP Jansen (R)
• RP Troncoso (R)
• Long Reliever (R)
• Reliever (L)
• Reliever (R)

What if the rumored Adrian Gonzalez/Heath Bell to the Dodgers trade was only Part 1? What if Part 2 is the Blue Jays wanting Broxton as part of a Roy Halladay deal? Might explain the George Sherrill deal as a backup plan. Or flipping Bell to Toronto in a 3-team deal?

Yikes. This last hour of the trade deadline is always nerve-wracking.

UPDATE: Well, much ado about nothing, as usual. :) Barring some August waiver-wire deals, this is it.