Attempting to decipher the mysterious black hole that is the Dodgers and left field

It's quantum physics meets Rep. Anthony Weiner meets "Ulysses" meets Charley Steiner.

Are some things really not meant to be understood?

I am referring, naturally, to the Dodgers and left field. Somebody has to play it, it just seems like figuring it out is as challenging as understanding Sarah Palin on the ride of Paul Revere.

The Dodgers have started six different players in left, but be patient, it's still early June.

The Times' Dylan Hernandez asked Manager Don Mattingly about the left-field situation and he said: "It hasn't really panned out."

Sort of like Charlie Haeger and his knuckleball.

Hernandez said the Dodgers entered Thursday's game with their six-headed left-field combo having combined to hit .216 with two home runs and 16 RBIs. And then Tony Gwynn Jr. went zero for four.

This for a position that normally provides power, on a team in dire need of some extra pop.

Gwynn is apparently the starting left fielder against right-handers, though, hold on, because these things tend to change by the day.

The original master plan was for Jay Gibbons and Marcus Thames to platoon in left, but Gibbons missed the start of his season with vision problems and then Thames went on the disabled list with a strained quadriceps.

When the left-handed Gibbons returned, he never could get it going and on Monday was designated for assignment to make room for the return of Thames. Which was curious, because on Thursday prospect Jerry Sands was sent back to triple-A Albuquerque and left-handed Trent Oeltjen was called up.

The Dodgers could have demoted Sands on Monday and kept Gibbons. Asked why they didn't do that, Mattingly said, "I don't know, really."

Yeah, it's been that kind of season in left.

So currently the main platoon in left is Gwynn, hitting .217, and Thames, hitting .143.

Which means, really, that nine months since last season ended with the Dodgers knowing they had a major hole in left, they still don't know how to fill it.

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-- Steve Dilbeck

Photo: Left fielder Jerry Sands dives, but can't make a catch on a hit by San Diego's Jason Bartlett during a game on April 30. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Dred Head Manny]

Miss me yet?

[Silversun]

this was an an easily foreseeable--glaring, in fact-- problem even last winter, and ned c. & company did nothing sensible to address it. expecting jay gibbons to take the bulk of the playing time in LF, are you kidding? in 2007 gibbons sucked so badly at the age of thirty that he was released by the last-place orioles, and that was when he was juicing; no thinking person would have projected him as a quality major-leaguer four years later, when he was off roids and already past retirement age. marcus thames can hit lefties, but he can't do anything else, and he's another old man; guess what--old players decline & get hurt a lot. tony gwynn jr. has a career ops of .629, which would be substandard if he were a gold-glove shortstop; he would not be a useful corner outfielder in A ball. that this collection of has-beens & never-wases can't do the job should surprise absolutely no one.

[AP]

TRAYVON ROBINSON!!!!!! AND LEAVE HIM ON THE LINEUP EVEN IF HE GOES 0-300 THE REST OF THE YEAR!!!! SICK AND TIRED OF THE DODGERS WASTTING THEIR PROSPECTS!!! HOW IS PLAYING THEM FOR ONE GAME AND SITTING THEM FOR THE NEXT 5 SUPPOSED TO DEVELOOP THEM!!! GET RID OF THE VETERANS!! I RATHER US NOT WIN A GAME THE REST OF THE YEAR THAN TO SEE US USE VETERANS THAT WONT BE HERE NEXT YEAR ON THE TEAM!!!!

[HI Dodger Fan]

This is all Ned's fault. He "built" this team. The home grown talent is all there, as we have seen recently, but Ned shunned them all to sign players who were literally kicked off their prior team (Navarro), blackballed by baseball (Gibbons), not wanted by anyone else (Thames, Castro, Miles, Cormier, etc...) and damaged goods (Garland, Padilla). Frank is paying millions for these guys and millions more for others Ned has signed but then dumped because of he couldn't get rid of them. The Gibbons-Oeltjen fiasco is just par for the course. And Ned the idiot can't even give his own manager an explanation. Thanks to Ned, Frank is paying for two ML contracts for one bench spot. Gibbons is still owed his full salary and Oeltjen now has a ML contract. Frank can ill afford this kind of idiocy.

[16blows]

Maybe slappy 'e' can play left field (we already know he can't play right.) Then move chest-thumping / sky-pointing prima donna 'k'emp to right (he can't play center any better than slappy plays right).

Problem solved.

Sorta.

Much better D in RF than before, merely mediocre D in LF compared to the sieve it has been to now, and upgraded D in center with gwynn.

What about the hitting?

One nightmare at a time.

[OldBrooklynFan]

All they can do is try. Remember a few years ago it was 3B? Some day the Dodgers will have 3 starting outfielders and all 3 can hit. I just hope I live to see it. I was fortunate to watch Pafko, Snider and Furillo.

[FormerLifelongDodgerFan]

FIRE NED NOW

[First Baseman]

Willie Davis use to platoon left and center fields while Dusty Baker used to platoon left field. Why is the [explicit, explicit, explicit] can't the Dodgers find a left fielder?

[Blueeyedgal]

The hole in left field is a Dodger tradition stretching back how many years now?

Even when there was an artificially enhanced bat, there was substellar defense.

All in all, Juan Pierre and his noodle arm was the best player to occupy the spot, and he wasn't the answer either.

[16blowstobrianwilsonsbeard/muff]

@16blows - if you call ethier slappy what do you call the entire giants team? for the record ethier has a higher slugging pct than every single giant this yr except ur kung fu panda(all 80+ of his ab's). it's just funny to me that of all the dodgers you can go at u choose ethier. especially considering ethier has a better avg, more runs, hits, total bases, and doubles than EVERY SINGLE GIANT. his hr total isnt big but its as good or better than every giant except huff(whose hitting .223) and his rbi total is better than every giant except huff who he's tied with at 32. i know u like to read ur own posts and that u think ur clever and witty(which ill admit i do find u mildly amusing at times) but this slappy nonsense just makes u look silly. not mad....just saying.

[LF? We're Talkin' About LF? More Like Swiss Cheese?]

Left Field
Short Stop
First Base
Second Base
Catcher
Relief Pitching

McOwner (The Joker)

Other than that, no problems with this team!

[HI Dodger Fan]

LF? you forgot GM. the Dodgers' GM is the buffoon that got us into this whole mess.

[Labeldude]

Let Paul go to keep Gibbons. Let Gibbons go to keep Thames. Send Sands down to bring up Oeltjen. Why? "I don't know, really."
.
Little Joe's statement in a nutshell, describes precisely managements grasp of just about every situation from money management to player personel, to peanut vending.
.
It also makes the play on the field a little more understandable. Why should the players have a clue when no one else does?

[16blows]

"@16blows - if you call ethier slappy what do you call the entire giants team?"

- WORLD CHAMPIONS

: )

[Nor Cal True Blue]

Just throw a tent over dodger stadium and call it the circus that it is!

[mti312]

FIRE NED NOW

Posted by: FormerLifelongDodgerFan | 06/10/2011 at 03:45 PM

===============================================

Who will fire him "now"?

[NorCal Dodger]

My preference would still be to see Sands play every day and to get to hit in a decent slot (like 6th) to see better pitches and hit with more runners on base. But if the Dodgers are dead set on platooning in left field look at these numbers. Take Sands and Gwynn as the platoon. Double their combined stats and the at bats would be 234 compared to Kemp's 237. They would be batting a respectable .248 (about middle of the pack in baseball) and would have:

24 runs (4th on the team and 15th of NL left fielders behind Johnny Gomes)
58 hits (4th on the team and 6th of NL left fielders behind Carlos Gonzales)
18 doubles (1st on the team and 2nd of NL left fielders behind Chris Coughlan)
2 triples (1st on the team and 4th of NL left fielders behind Ryan Braun)
4 home runs (4th on the team and 20th of NL left fielders behind Carlos Lee)
28 RBI (3rd on the team and 11th of NL left fielders behind Alfonso Soriano)
42 walks (1st on the team and 1st of NL left fielders)
12 stolen bases (2nd on the team and 3rd of NL left fielders behind Braun)

And this with both batting in the dreaded 8th slot most frequently.

Wake up Dodgers.

[alanw19]

LF dilemma was known when Manny went on the 50-gamer in the final year of his contract. Or arguably in spring training 2010.

Emphasis provided when Manny exited.

Honestly, this thing has been like the train light in the tunnel - you knew it was coming post-Manny. And an entire organization failed - scores of players who could have seized it, front office who could have rectified it.

[Donny Boy]

Rather than sit Jamey Carroll now that Dee Gordon is up and Donny Ballgame insists on playing Juan Uribe, why not play Carroll in left? He can move back to the infield on days we sit Loney, with Blake playing at first. Overall, this roster is as poor as the early 90's when we finished last in what was a Mild, Mild West.

[Robby2theRescue]

down in AAA 'Topes-land, OF Robby has recently been shifted to LF (from CF), & since he already on "duds" 40-man roster, time to bring him up, & see what he'll do, as he does have some "pop" in his bat????

(then, AA player VanSlyke can be promoted to AAA, as he's deserving of a promo!)

[ed duboce]

But Bills in left, he's the best option.