Dodgers Diaries

The Dodgers are featuring six bobblehead giveaways this season, and half of the figures (manager Don Mattingly, broadcaster Fernando Valenzuela and the late Hall of Famer Duke Snider) feature players whose careers ended more than a decade ago. A fourth, Hong-Chih Kuo, scheduled for 6/14, may never play baseball again after two Frank Jobe surgeries and a serious bout of the yips.

That leaves Clayton Kershaw (Tuesday night, above) and Andre Ethier (July 7), two of the only bright spots on the 2011 roster. Matt Kemp should be the third head on this triumvirate of Knights who say “Ni,” but he’s been featured on bobbleheads the past two years. No Dodger has been featured more than twice.

To that, I say, why not? How about an annual Matt Kemp bobblehead for as long as he’s a fixture in the Dodger lineup? Ditto for Ethier and the Claw, and Chad Billingsley too, who’s never been bobbleheaded. Joe Beimel, sure, but not Chad Billingsley!

It was less than a year ago that I thought the two bobbleheads I had so far collected might be the core of a strong Dodger lineup some day. Now, Russell Martin is a Yankee and Jonathan Broxton is a head case. Maybe I’ll see what that Beimel doll is fetching on eBay.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

When players execute and produce proficiently, they make managers look like geniuses. Don Mattingly gets my props for leaving Chad Billingsley in to finish Wednesday night’s 2-0 shutout of the Giants. But there would be equal numbers of people jumping all over him had Billingsley not gotten the last three outs. Maybe not as many as there might have been three weeks ago, when Broxton was a little more reliable. But enough for there to be an argument.

Mattingly was also aided by the fact that it became a 2-0 game, rather than 1-0. In that situation, the textbook move is to call on your closer. From the sight of Hong-Chih Kuo warming up in the pen rather than Broxton, I have to assume that Big Jon was unavailable, which is odd, since he only threw 1/3 of an inning Tuesday, whereas Kuo threw 1.2 innings. Luckily, Billz got three easy outs and the entire pen got a night off in preparation for the series against the Mets.

We can only hope Joe Torre learned something from watching his protégé: Leave the guys in when they’re going great. With the way the bullpen looks right now, the best option is probably a slightly tired Kuroda, Kershaw, Padilla or Billingsley.

Big win for the Dodgers at a time when they really needed one. It was also good to see Casey Blake using a bat for something other than grounding out weakly. If the Dodgers are going to do anything this fall, they’ll need contributions from him and everyone else on the roster.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

I tend not to get too worked up about All-Star snubs. For one, the game is only slightly less meaningless than all other sports’ all-star games. Sure, baseball contends “This one counts,” and even assigns home-field advantage to the league that wins. But the players still aren’t going to get hurt in a game that only benefits the ultimate winner of their league. Hence the rule forbidding use of pitchers who threw Sunday.

For another, just about anybody who’s deserving of an All-Star spot gets one in the end. There’s fan voting for the final spot, even if it is Yankee-dominated. There are players replaced because of injuries. And because Sunday starters are allowed to attend even if they don’t play, the final roster includes close to 40 players on each side.

That’s true of this year’s game, where Rafael Furcal and Hong-Chih Kuo deservedly joined the NL squad and Anaheim’s Jered Weaver got the last-minute nod to the AL team even though everyone knew he was pitching Sunday. Paul Konerko finally got picked when Joe Mauer begged off with injuries. Joey Votto won the fan vote, righting the wrong by NL Manager Charlie Manuel, who chose his own Ryan Howard over Votto even though Votto’s stats were far superior to Howard’s.

Any time 40 guys get chosen, it’s hard to say somebody got snubbed. You might say Omar Infante doesn’t deserve to be there, but there isn’t anybody who was overlooked at this point.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

In case you missed it, check the excellent LA Times story on the author of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” . Jack Norworth, who penned the song back in 1908, is buried in a cemetery not far from Anaheim. That’s reason enough for the Angels to claim his as their own. After all, they claim Los Angeles as their home town, even though they play in another county. So why not give the man his props and celebrate his contribution to the game?

Better yet, why don’t the Dodgers claim him as their own. They honored Norworth at the Coliseum in 1958 to celebrate the song’s 50th anniversary. The 100th passed barely noticed. These days, the Dodgers do Norworth a disservice by preceding his ballpark favorite with the dreadful God Bless America. It would be a fitting tribute to make Norworth’s song the only one played during the seventh-inning stretch.

The Dodgers head into the break on a high note, taking three out of four from the Cubs. Sunday’s 7-0 shutout was arguably the best game of Vicente Padilla’s entire career (save maybe the Game 3 win over St. Louis in the 2009 NLDS. “He knows how to pitch,” said Joe Torre after the game. “Everything he throws, he throws for strikes.”

Hong-Chih Kuo becomes the first Taiwanese player to be named to an All-Star game. We’ll see if he becomes the first to appear in a game as well. I’m not saying Kuo didn’t deserve to go, but I don’t really see All-Star managers turning to setup men when they’ve got multiple closers and multiple aces in their bullpens. If you’ve got a one-run lead in the seventh, are you going to turn to Kuo or to Heath Bell/Brian Wilson/Jonathan Broxton/or even Josh Johnson? Arthur Rhodes and Kuo will probably compete to appear as situational lefties some time in the sixth or seventh inning.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

Managers always take the fall when a team plays badly. But you have to wonder what Arizona’s owners were thinking when they fired both their GM and field manager A.J. Hinch. If the weekend’s series between the Dodgers and D-backs is any indication, they haven’t seen their team play.

Sure, the Diamondbacks exploded for 12 runs against an unusually permissive Hiroki Kuroda on Friday. But they also gave up five runs in that loss. The D-Backs’ performances Saturday and Sunday were more indicative of a team that has lost 50 games at the halfway point of the season.

On Saturday, Arizona’s defense made six errors, allowing eight unearned runs in a 14-1 drubbing. Tony Abreu, whom the Dodgers traded for Jon Garland last season, made three subbing for shortstop Stephen Drew. Many lamented the loss of a top prospect, but Abreu’s fielding clinic demonstrated his shortcomings as an infielder. Were he still with Los Angeles, Abreu would be looking for a position to play.

On Sunday, 16 Diamondbacks failed to put the ball in play against a trio of Dodger pitchers. Chad Billingsley led the way with 8 Ks, and Hong Chih Kuo got all six of his outs via the whiff. Jonathan Broxton, appearing in an actual save situation for the first time since June 9 (seriously!) got two more strikeouts and his 17th save.

Let’s give credit to the Dodgers for throwing the 48 pitches that prevented the Arizona hitters from putting the ball in play. Billingsley shows signs that he is retuning to the form he demonstrated just before going on the DL (and thankfully not the woes he experienced the first month of the season). Kuo has been the Dodgers’ most reliable reliever, and his omission from the All-Star roster has only to do with the fact that he’s not a starter or closer. Broxton is once again Broxton.

But let’s not blame A.J. Hinch. He’s still 36, younger than many active ballplayers. He should get another chance to manage, and with luck, it will be with a team that has some talent, and with an ownership that will give him longer than 14 months to turn things around.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

The Dodgers' success can be attributed almost precisely to the day John Ely arrived. Removing Vicente Padilla and Charlie Haeger from the rotation and replacing them with Ely and Carlos Monasterios has not only given the Dodgers a shot in the games those pitchers pitch; it has relieved the bullpen of having to eat innings. That has made the bullpen better.

In Haeger's last five starts, he pitched 3, 5.1, 4, 4, and 0 innings. That makes 28.2 innings the bullpen had to throw.

Padilla was better, throwing 4.1, 4.1, 7, and 6 innings in his four appearances this year. But he’s no John Ely, who has yet to go fewer than 6 innings in any of his six starts. The bullpen has had an easy time picking up his slack. It’s easy to go to your formula of Troncoso, Belisario, Kuo, and Broxton when you only need four pitchers for three innings. You can even mix and match and LaRussa a three-pitcher inning if necessary.

I see no reason to dislodge either of the two Dodger rookies until they falter. Even Monasterios has delivered five strong innings in each of his last two starts, despite not being a starter all year. When Padilla and Haeger return, they need to earn their way back into the rotation.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

Andre Ethier did it again. No, not just help propel the Dodgers to a win with his offense. Although he did do that, with two home runs in the first two innings, the second a grand slam, to put the Dodgers ahead 7-0. What his offense did a second night in a row is mask a serious pitching problem.

Vicente Padilla did his part, throwing seven strong innings of 4-hit ball, surrendering just 3 runs to the Lilliputian offense. And if ever there were an occasion to bring in Russ Ortiz, a 10-3 game in the 8th inning would be the prime example. He even pitched a 1-2-3 8th. But with the game just three outs away, Ortiz got himself into the kind of trouble that has been all too familiar to Dodger fans in just 11 games. Before it was all over, the Giants had climbed back within two runs, and what was supposed to be a laugher became a tense night, if only for a few pitches.

No, Ortiz didn’t give up the three-run homer to lucky-guess hitter Eugenio Velez. That was Ramon Troncoso’s fault. But Ortiz allowed two runs to score before the blast, and put the two runners on base in front of him. His ERA is now an even 12, with no signs that he can get out major league hitters on a regular basis. The Dodgers have to have somebody better than this in their minor league system, be it James McDonald, Scott Elbert, Josh Lindblom, or a name we haven’t heard yet. I’m sure they’re simply waiting until Hong-Chih Kuo and/or Ronald Belisario are ready to return to the roster.

But why wait. You won’t have many seven-run leads to protect. And I can’t see that Joe Torre will ever feel comfortable trusting in Ortiz again in anything more taxing. Pitching will be at a premium in today’s game against Tim Lincecum. We’ll see whether Charlie Haeger is up to the task, or was simply lucky against Florida last Sunday.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

What does Blake DeWitt have to do to win a roster spot with the Dodgers? Fill in admirably at third base when both Nomar and LaRoche go down with injuries in 2008? Check.

Fill in admirably at second base when Jeff Kent goes down with an injury? Check.

Shuttle back and forth between Albuquerque and L.A. without a word of dissent throughout 2009? Check.

Hit the tar out of the ball in spring training 2010? Check.

So when Joe Torre says the fact that the team is only going to carry 11 pitchers at the beginning of the year is what allows them to keep DeWitt on the big league roster, it’s quite a backhanded compliment. The unspoken assumption, therefore, is that as soon as Hong-Chih Kuo or Ronald Belisario is ready to return to the team, Dewitt could be optioned back to AAA.

I’m not sure I see how this helps a young player’s development, something the Dodgers are going to be doing a lot of as the team scrimps and saves in the wake of the McCourts’ divorce.

DeWitt is the victim of a numbers game. Unlike pitchers Charlie Haeger or Carlos Monasterios, he can be returned to the minors without penalty. Unlike Ronnie Belliard or Jamey Carroll, he does not have a guaranteed major league contract. He may be better than either of these two utility infielders, but he has the least amount of leverage to contest a roster move. Why the Dodgers signed two utility infielders, neither of whom can play shortstop, is beyond me.

If it were up to me, I’d throw DeWitt into the starting job at 2B and let the other chips fall where they may. If that means cutting Ronnie Belliard and eating his $800,000 salary, so be it. With his weight issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if Belly ate some of it himself. If it means keeping 11 pitchers instead of 12 or 13, that’s fine too. I’ve always thought Torre overuses his bullpen. If you can’t win a pennant with a six-man bullpen, you’re doing it wrong.

If it means the team has to cut Nick Green and go without a true backup shortstop, then Rafael Furcal will have to man up a bit more and play all nine innings. He’s only 32. If he gets injured to the point where he has to go on the DL, Chin-Lung Hu is a phone call away. The harder call will be if Furcal has to miss 5-7 games -- too short a time to open up a roster spot.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

Included on the list of players who will accompany the Dodgers on their March 10 trip to Taiwan is Ronnie Belliard. Yes, the same Ronnie Belliard who showed up to camp a couple of pounds over the 209 his contract requires. It’s a pretty lenient contract, however. All he has to do is be 209 or under at any point during spring training. A long flight across the Pacific might be enough to dehydrate the last two pounds out of him.

Others on the Taiwan excursion include James Loney, Manny Ramirez (the optimist says it’s so the Dodgers can keep an eye on him; the pessimist says it’s so he can restock his supply of performance-enhancing herbs), Eric Stults, Xavier Paul, Lucas May, and of course Taiwan natives Chin Lung Hu and Hong Chih Kuo.

On a separate note, Dodger Stadium looked a little bedraggled on Sunday for the college tournament. The signs on the outfield wall looked like they hadn’t been changed since October; there was still a “Postseason on TBS” banner in centerfield.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

It’s not as if the final result of the Dodgers’ 2009 season wasn’t predictable. For as much as Dodger fans hoped this team could win it all, the truth was there from the start. The same team that lost in five games to the Phils in 2008 never got any better in 2009.

Sure, the record was better. The 2009 version won 11 more games than the previous year. But the finish was the same, and the first-round playoff result was the same: A 3-0 sweep over the highly favored Central Division champs (Chicago in 2008, St. Louis in 2009). When we look back on 2008, however, we see a team that peaked in late August and continued an unlikely run through the NLDS before falling back to earth.

When we look back on 2009, we will see a team that peaked in late April, played .500 the rest of the way, and stole three from the Cardinals before reverting to the putrid form that defined them in the last month of the season, when they couldn’t beat the Nationals, Padres or Pirates to clinch the division. That team was the one that showed up against the Phils.

When the 2008 season ended, the decisions to let go of Derek Lowe, Takashi Saito, Chan Ho Park, Joe Beimel and Brad Penny meant the team was going to have to find a way to get another 500 innings of sub 4.00 pitching. Yet one free agent pitcher after the next signed — elsewhere. The Dodgers began the season without an ace, convinced that Chad Billingsley was ready to shoulder that responsibility even though he had been terrible in two starts against Philadelphia and broke his leg in the offseason. Hmm.

The lack of a No. 1 starter plagued this team all year. The Opening Day starter, Hiroki Kuroda, made three trips to the disabled list. Billingsley faltered so hard down the stretch that Joe Torre didn’t even name him a starter in either playoff series. Randy Wolf became the de facto No. 1 based on a strong September, then failed to get through five innings in his Game 1 start in the NLDS. Clayton Kershaw fared even worse in Game 1 of the NLCS.

Even as the season went along, they refused to bid on Pedro Martinez, a free agent. Failed to land Roy Halladay. Failed to trade for Cliff Lee. As they go into 2010, Billingsley has to be considered a question mark, and the Dodgers are fools if they want to slap the No. 1 tag on Kershaw as early in his career as they did with Bills. Now, as then, they have no No. 1. No guy who goes deep into ballgames and saves the bullpen. No guy who stops losing streaks every five days.

Bullpens are great, but for them to work, everybody has to be on his game. They’re only as strong as the weakest link. If Troncoso or Sherrill or Kuo is off his game, it can ruin a great night by everyone who preceded him. Or it can turn a game one out away from evening the NLCS into another Broxton nightmare.

--- JOHN ROSENTHAL

I can’t recall a game with so many defensive gems, from slick double plays on both sides of the ball to Andrew McCutchen running down deep flies to the capper: Randy Wolf’s no-look throw on Lastings Milledge’s swinging bunt and Mark Loretta’s “done it like I play here all the time” scoop of said throw at first base.

Too bad the Dodgers couldn’t get their act together with the bats until Wolf, their sudden star, left the game. The Dodgers led 3-1 when Wolf gave way to Hong-Chih Kuo in the seventh, only to see Kuo and George Sherrill throw gasoline on the fire. By the time the smoke cleared, the Pirates had come back to take a 4-3 lead.

The Dodgers, who ended up rallying for the 8-4, could only blame themselves for failing to score more earlier. They led off the game with three straight sharp hits but managed only one run. Rafael Furcal got thrown out stretching a single -- his speed has completely evaporated, don’t you think -- and Manny Ramirez was stranded at second when Matt Kemp’s fly ball landed in McCutchen’s glove and Ronnie Belliard flied out.

Does Russell Martin feel dissed after Joe Torre pinch-hit for him in the top of the eighth? Maybe, but you could feel Torre’s urgency to win the game right there and then, and he clearly wasn’t going to worry about bruised feelings. A loss would have started a whole lot of harder questions than “what’s wrong with Russell Martin.” Martin has been pretty consistent at .254. The Dodgers have shown they can win with those kinds of contributions from their backstop.

In fact, with last night’s win, they’ve guaranteed themselves a playoff spot. With another win today, they’ll clinch the division. Not bad for a bunch of guys who have trouble beating the Pirates.

--- JOHN ROSENTHAL.

Chad Billingsley went a long way toward answering concerns about whether he is a No. 1 starting pitcher Sunday night. But then an injury only raised more questions about the Dodgers putative ace.

Billingsley was electric for five innings, limiting the Atlanta offense to two hits and a walk while striking out nine. He left the game in the top of the sixth, when Joe Torre pinch-hit for him rather than risk his stalwart in what was then a 4-0 game. The Dodgers’ offense made the strategy look not only cautious but brilliant, as pinch-hitter Jason Schmidt (yes, Schmidt) scored a valuable insurance run on a James Loney double.

The Dodgers are calling it a cramp, and we won’t know if that’s the truth until Billz’ next start Friday against these same Braves here in Los Angeles.

Guillermo Mota, George Sherrill, and Ramon Troncoso all pitched, because what’s a Joe Torre baseball game without four relievers. The guy must get frequent flier miles for trips to the mound. Scott Elbert had one of his more extensive outings, throwing 2.2 innings in relief of Billz. He’s looking more and more like the lefty specialist the Dodgers have been seeking since Will Ohman went down.

The strength of the Dodger bullpen makes me think Ned Colletti is indulging Torre’s relieverophilia. Eight relievers in the pen is too many, but come playoff time, let’s say it’s whittled down to six: Broxton, Troncoso and Mota from the right side; Sherrill, Kuo and Elbert from the left side. That’s a frightening arsenal, to say nothing of Belisario and Wade (should they return from injury), and James McDonald and whichever starter (Wolf, Kuo, Schmidt) doesn’t make the playoff rotation. --- John Rosenthal.