The Trolley Dodger

As I mentioned last year at this time, it’s a good time to take a step back and remember what’s really important.

In other words, pitchers and catchers. ;D

Happy new year everybody! Here’s to a good 2008 for the Dodgers and all their fans!

Congrats and many happy returns on the day to the Sons of Steve Garvey, who turned 1 year old today. I think that’s 22 in blog years.

Collectively, the seven Sons have been one of the brightest spots on the Dodger blogging scene for the last 12 months — I’ve consistently appreciated their writing and wit, and even if I haven’t always agreed with them, I’ve always enjoyed myself. To put it succinctly, they rock.

And I’m not just saying that because they gave me a T-shirt.

The Trolley Dodger’s own 1-year anniversary is coming up next month, so perhaps we can put our feet up en masse this next 30 days or so and look back fondly on the year. Lord knows it’s hard to find any enjoyment in Dodger land these dark days of, uh, Autumn. ;)

So, again, congrats to the Sons. Long may you rave.

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’m performing an upgrade on the trolleydodger.com server software, so apologies if you experience more weirdness than usual. :)

Yesterday marked eight weeks since my bike accident. I celebrated the occasion with my first ride since then and wrote it up at my outdoors site, End Pavement.

Part I: “Eight weeks: back in the saddle”

Part II: “Eight weeks: uphill”

That I’m posting here means either I didn’t get run over by another car, or this is an elaborate, posthumous April Fools joke in really, really bad taste. ;)

As a side note, I highly recommend the beer and Ibuprofen painkilling method.

Today is also Opening Day, our unofficial National Holy Day. I’ve already had some peanuts, and will be tracking down some Cracker Jack when I hit the grocery story later. ;)

PLAY BALL!!!