The Trolley Dodger

One of the most polarizing Dodgers since Gary Sheffield has been traded to the Chicago White Sox for a couple of Players to Be Named Later (reportedly two minor league pitchers). The Juan Pierre Era in LA has come to a close.

The problem with Juan was pretty simple: despite constant early arrivals for practice, an inspirational work ethic, and a speedy set of legs, his offensive output and defensive liabilities made the amount of money the Dodgers were paying for him unfathomable.

With the arrival of Manny Ramirez, Juan was left out in the cold, and despite a stellar month and a half of substitution last season, he still wasn’t worth how much the Dodgers were paying.

You can be a totally nice guy, a team player, and a paragon of community involvement … and still be totally over-payed during a stretch of financial inflexibility.

So, what more can we say than thanks for the help and good luck?

Not much else.

Maybe Jason Repko will finally get another chance at being the Dodgers’ 4th outfielder. He has (along with a couple of other players) the skills to equal or surpass Juan Pierre’s contribution, at several million fewer dollars. Just keep him away from Rafael Furcal. ;)

More in depth after game, as ipod touchscreen makes lengthy writing hard. Lineup for tonight:

• Pierre
• Furcal
• Hudson
• Blake
• Loney
• Martin
• Ethier
• Kemp
• Kershaw

6:11p

Smell of cooking Dodger Dogs wafting in from below. Mustn’t cheer. ;)

Phillies taking BP. Was on field for Dodger BP earlier — a wonderfully surreal experience. Ken Levine of Dodger Talk radio show told me going on the field never gets old. I believe him.

6:17 pm

Phillies lineup:

• Rollins
• Utley
• Werth
• Howard
• Ibanez
• Feliz
• Bruntlett
• Ruiz
• Hamels

Next time I’m bringing a laptop. ;)

6:27 pm

Scuttlebutt saying Glavine not in Dodgers immediate plans. Anonymous sources!

6:35

When Fernando Valenzuela walks by in wraparound shades and snappy shirt, it’s hard not to start doing a happy dance.

6:42

During BP earlier James Loney hit a bomb off Don Mattingly into the back of the visitors bullpen. This drew appreciative hoots and hollers from the rest of the team.

He was in a group with Orlando Hudson and Mark Loretta.

6:47

Nancy Bea on the organ. They should have an occasional all-organ game, with nothing but Nancy. :)

7:00

The anthem never knew what hit it.

Vin Scully sighting by entrance to media dining room! I picked a good time to refill my diet coke. ;)

Big heartfelt cheer from crowd for Juan Pierre and his player of the month award.

First pitch 7:10. 67 degrees. They announce it in press box.

7:15

Kershaw a wee bit off but infield takes care of it.

7:21

Fair number of Phillie fans here based on cheers after that double play.

7:35

Graphic on board showing 7 Dodgers 25 and under.

And a nice hit for hustling Loney. Hamels couldn’t get over in time.

…for naught as Russ hits into double play.

7:44

Montage of Fernando highlights to the tune of ABBA’s “Fernando”. Then a huge cheer as they showed him in booth. Great moment.

7:49

No replay here, but I thought for sure Kershaw was safe. Close play. Shame, that was a nice solid hit.

Boy it’s hard not to react too much on big plays. Have to maintain decorum.

8:03

Huge cheer for Lakers score at end of 3rd quarter.

Chase Utley run on towering Sac Fly by towering Ryan Howard.

8:20

Phew! Escaped the top of the 5th with no damage done.

I keep thinking there’s cheering and clapping in the pressbox behind me, but it’s the fans in the seats right above us. :)

8:29

Nice run down of that fly ball by Pierre. Big cheer. Crowd loves Juan.

Furcal leaping just missed that liner.

8:33

Belisario up in bullpen.

8:39

Kershaw out. Time for a Dodger Dog. Or two.

8:49

Lakers final just announced. Another big cheer.

Dodgers threaten in 6th but nada.

Cory Wade into pitch.

8:57

A few fireworks went off prematurely over in direction of Think Blue sign. Happens to stadiums all the time, so don’t feel bad. ;)

The second base ump is missing a good game.

Phillies score again 3-0. Leach coming in to pitch, hopefully not belly itch.

9:03

Battery level warning just now but I’ll keep going as long as possible.

9:09

Hamels pitches thru 7th: 22 balls, 50 strikes, 72 total. Yikes.

After final out I’m headed to locker room.

9:15

G. Mota replacing Leach.

9:18

Don’t Stop Believing, sings Journey.

Crowd sings along, alternating with booing Phillie phans.

9:22

Man, thought that first Russ foul was out for sure.

Attendance 33,839.

9:26

One thing this season has taught us is to never give up, but Hamels has been pitching like a fiend. Has a CG shutout in hand if the bottom of the 9th goes as quietly as the rest of the game.

9:43

Oof. 97 pitches.

Thanks for following tonight. Back later.

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.

The Dodgers and Cubs played seven games versus each other this season, three at Wrigley Field. All seven took place within the span of two weeks, May 26-28 and June 5-8. Here’s the breakdown (links to boxscores):

1. May 26 @CHC L 1-3 Billingsley vs Dempster
2. May 27 @CHC L 1-3 Kuroda vs Gallagher
3. May 28 @CHC L 1-2 Lowe vs Zambrano
4. Jun 05 @LAD L 4-5 Dempster vs Billingsley
5. Jun 06 @LAD W 3-0 Gallagher vs Kuroda
6. Jun 07 @LAD W 7-3 Zambrano vs Lowe
7. Jun 08 @LAD L 1-3 Marquis vs Penny

This NLDS is a best-of-five series. So far, the announced pitching matchups are:

1. Game 1 @CHC: Lowe vs Dempster
2. Game 2 @CHC: Billingsley vs Zambrano
3. Game 3 @LAD: Harden vs Kuroda

It goes without saying that the Dodger team of late May early June is not the same one going into the playoffs. Juan Pierre led off all seven games. A mix of Hu and Maza played SS. Blake DeWitt was playing 3rd, but the league had adjusted to him by then (although he would stay up in the bigs until the end of July).

All of the pitchers back then either won or kept it close — even Brad Penny, who went 6 IP and only gave up 3 ER. June 6th was a complete game shutout for Kuroda, with 11 Ks.

Chan Ho Park and Clayton Kershaw coming out of the pen? Takashi Saito back?

Our starting pitching, backed by one of the best bullpens in baseball, can beat the Cubs.

And look at a possible NLDS starting lineup for the Dodgers:

SS Rafael Furcal
CF Matt Kemp
LF Manny Ramirez
RF Andre Ethier
1B James Loney
3B Casey Blake
C Russell Martin
2B Blake DeWitt
P

We can take them.