Things We Learned from Today's Game (8/7/11)

Overview:  Ransom costs Dodgers/Kershaw win.  Diamondbacks 4 Dodgers 3

Pros:  Clayton Kershaw's overall numbers might not look all that great, pitching 6 and 1/3 innings and surrendering four runs while walking three.  This only tells half the story though.  Kershaw struggled out of the gate, walking Ryan Roberts on four pitches then giving up a two run blast to Kelly Johnson on a 3-2 pitch.  Kershaw would go on to walk another in the first, throwing 31 pitches in the inning.  After that, though, he cruised for the next five innings, allowing only two hits.  He looked virtually unbeatable until the seventh when he gave up another two run homer to Cody Ransom, of all people.  Those four runs he gave up were insurmountable for the Dodgers, but Kershaw, for the most part, pitched much better than his line suggests.  He did strike out 7, raising his season total to 184 in 167 and 2/3 innings, and continues to lead the league in that category. 
Other positives that came from today was James Loney homering in the fifth (fun note: I was complaining during his at-bat that he never turned on balls anymore and always seems to pop the ball up to the left side, then immediately after he drove the ball over the right field fence).
Lindblom also looked good, pitching a scoreless inning and 2/3 to finish the game and lower his season ERA to 1.80.
Finally, Aaron Miles scoring from first on a double by Ethier was one of the funniest images I've seen in a long time.  He is a small, hobbit-like man.  

Cons:  As mentioned earlier, Kershaw gave up a homerun to Cody Ransom.  And it was no cheap shot either.  It was gone the second it touched his bat.  Ransom hadn't hit a homerun all year, and in parts of 9seasons in the majors, he has hit a total of 9.  So, of course he hit a homerun against the Dodgers best pitcher.  Why wouldn't he?
Meanwhile, Navarro went hitless, dropping his season average back below .200, while Eugenio Velez, who is not very good, continues to look for his first hit of the season.   Look, I know Gordon is hurting, Furcal's been traded and their aren't a lot of great middle infield options for the Dodgers right now, but can't Ivan DeJesus Jr or Justin Sellers at least get a look?  At least there's some upside in those two.  Eugenio Velez, who is not very good, has zero upside and contributes nothing to this team  now, or the future.  Did I mention he's not very good?  I do hear he's fast, but I have trouble verifying that because I've never seen him on the basepaths before. 
It's not often that we mention negatives about Matt Kemp (much less about Kershaw and Kemp) but I'm not sure what he could've been thinking trying to bunt for a hit.  A guy having an MVP caliber season like he is should pretty much under no circumstances be laying down a bunt.  Even if he had beat it out, it would've been a bad idea.  The Dodgers need his power more than his ability to show off his awesome bunting ability.  By the way, that was sarcasm, because it was a horrible bunt.  We love you, Matt.  We just disagree with this particular decision of yours.  (We don't want to anger him too much, because we'd really like him to sign with the Dodgers long term).

What we learned:  That trotting out an infield of Aaron Miles, Jamey Carroll (nothing against him, he's been very good for this team for two years now, but he still should be a utility player on a better team), Eugenio Velez and James Loney (yes, I remember he homered today, but remember it's just  his fifth of the season), with Dioner Navarro catching, is not going to win many games.  I know some of us were getting excited about the Dodgers playing well of late, but a team that trots those guys out on a regular basis is not a playoff team.  We here at Proven Veteran Leaders don't want to be complete downers, we're just frightened of Ned Colletti getting excited about the "playoff hunt" and trading prospects not on the 40 man roster for, well, Proven Veteran Leaders.  

Things we learned from Yesterday's Game (7/20)

Clayton Kershaw can't believe Dioner Navarro just hit a homerun either.

Overview:  Clayton Kershaw is good at throwing baseballs.  Dodgers 1, Giants 0.

Pros:  Aside from Kershaw's continued dominance over the Giants?  Well, not much.  Dioner Navarro hit a homerun in the seventh to break a scoreless tie and Javy Guerra picked up his 6th save of the season in a perfect ninth.  But Kershaw was definitely the star of this show, pitching 8 scoreless innings, striking out 12 while walking just one.  We seem to remember the old days when people said as soon as Kershaw figured out his control issues he'd be one of the best in the game.  Well, with a 4.29 SO/BB ratio, we think it's safe to say that time is now.  Kershaw is, quite simply, among the elite in baseball right now.


Cons:  Again, the offense didn't show up, but that's nothing really new anymore.  Navarro, despite his homerun, made two errors behind the plate, once again questioning his ability to defend adequately.  Juan Uribe went 0-4, with a couple of strikeouts, but that's hardly worth reporting anymore.


What we learned:  That the only time my friend, who happens to be a Giants fan, doesn't talk shit to me during a Dodgers-Giants series, is when Kershaw pitches.  He respectfully keeps his mouth shut, because he knows that's the one game the Giants are likely to lose.

Dioner never a goner

Apparently, when the Dodgers demoted Ellis to AAA they released JD Closser.  This is not a big deal for the most part.  Closser is not very good and despite good numbers in AAA this year (.297/.378/.864) he was never more than organizational depth.  What it does mean though, is that Dioner Navarro is most likely a Dodger for the remainder of the season.  Unless anybody seriously thinks Hector Gimenez will be given another chance.

In other news, I (Danny) am going to the game today so I will post some pictures and thoughts of my trip to Chase Field.  Maybe I'll get an action shot of Ted Lilly giving up a homerun. 

Things we learned from last night's game (7/15/11)

Dioner Navarro reminds Don Mattingly about the pictures he has from their lost weekend in Tijuana.
Photo Credit: Jon Soo Hoo

Overview: Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw are good at the baseball. Juan Uribe is not. Welcome to LA, Juan Rivera!

Pros: Kemp and Kershaw come out of the All-Star break swinging, both literally and figuratively. Kemp's 2 run home run was crushed, and he just missed another in his first at bat, sending one all the way to the center field wall. Kershaw's line was somewhat marred by Juan Uribe's 7th inning error (more on that in a minute), but all 4 runs were unearned and he tacked 8 more strikeouts onto his league leading total. Those kids in Africa are going to get the greatest orphanage EVER.  Juan Rivera also had a great start to his Dodgers career, golfing a solo home run into the left field bleachers on the first pitch he saw, and later adding an RBI single before being pulled for defensive replacement Tony Gwynn Jr.- a nice move from Mattingly, who has been making more good moves than bad as of late.  Even Dioner Navarro counts as a plus this game, contributing 2 hits to raise his average to a robust .195.

Cons: Juan Uribe.

What we learned:  Not much, all things considered.  The two best players on the team dominated the opposition, and the rest of the team performed well enough to win.  We learned that Mattingly, at least in the early going, isn't afraid to pull new acquisition Juan Rivera when the match up isn't in his favor.  Unfortunately, we also learned that he thinks batting Juan Uribe second might help "jump start" his bat, which 1) isn't working and 2) hurts the 3-4-5 hitters' chances to produce runs by not having anyone on base to drive in.

Danny was lucky enough to go to the game (the only good thing to come out of living in Phoenix, from my estimation), so he'll post some pictures from last night sometime soon.  In the meantime, we'll all prepare to see Hiroki Kuroda continue to audition for opposing team's scouts starting at 5:10 tonight.

Dioner, not a goner.

To be honest, we didn’t totally hate the Dioner Navarro signing when it happened. Of course, we didn’t have a blog then, so you have no way of knowing if that’s true or not. You’ll have to take our word for it. The team had no immediate future at catcher with the departure of Russell Martin, and Navarro was young enough where there was some hope for a rebound. Maybe all he needed was a change of pace, and a fresh start away from the situation in Tampa Bay? The contract wasn’t even excessive, considering it was from Ned Colletti.

That dream is over. Navarro- with the exception of a couple dramatic walk-off hits, and his magical two pickoff/two caught stealing game- has been bad. Like really, exceptionally bad. His slash line (.183/.234/.287) is so awful that if a younger “unproven” player were performing at that level he would be given a one way ticket to Albuquerque or DFA’d. It’s clear by now that Navarro is not going to rediscover his 2008 form. It’s time to move on.

So tell me why, oh why, was AJ Ellis sent back to AAA to make room for Rod Barajas instead of Navarro being cut? Ellis, with his .364 OBP (part of a total .222/.364/.222 line) has been more productive, not to mention (purely anecdotal evidence) he seems to handle the pitchers better. His biggest strength, getting on base, is something that this team desperately needs, and something neither Navarro nor Rod Barajas can provide.

Look, we’re not saying AJ Ellis is a savior for the Dodgers. Keeping him over Navarro is probably only a marginal improvement, but Ned Colletti still seems to think the Dodgers have a chance at making a run, so why not keep the more productive player? In addition, assuming the Dodgers don’t suddenly start playing like the 1927 Yankees and go on a miracle run, it’s probably a good idea to give Ellis a good amount of at-bats as he’s the only Dodger catcher under team control next year. Giving him a significant amount of playing time would allow management a fair evaluation and possibly save the team from having to spend a couple million dollars on a backup catcher in the offseason.

The other argument, I suppose, is if the Dodgers cut Navarro and Barajas gets hurt again, the team is so thin at the position that JD Closser would be the next option. Our counter argument to that is this: we’re pretty sure even JD Closser can be as bad as Dioner Navarro.