Your Dodger Home Companion

When TV coverage of the Dodgers' game in Beijing last night fell through, I found myself getting ready to fall asleep with a Dodger game on the radio, and what a nostalgic sensation it was.

These days of universal TV coverage of the Dodgers have removed me from that experience of my youth, of Dodger bedtime stories. Admittedly, it was Charley Steiner instead of Vin Scully, and admittedly I also had the Stanford basketball game muted on the TV, and admittedly I also had a seriously pregnant gal lying next to me, but still, it took me straight back to my bedroom in Woodland Hills, when I would hear the play-by-play and imagine the rest as I lay me down to sleep.

Maybe next week I'll wonder if the disruption to the preparation for the team's 2008 season was all worth it, but when I picture these guys, many of whom are Dodgers this weekend by fluke, in a once-in-a-lifetime situation, I get excited. I get as excited thinking about them joking with locals on the Great Wall as I do about them hitting a home run over the wall. Those who played in Florida on Friday will forget about that day in short order. Those who played in China (today, technically) will remember it forever.

From Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

"Major League Baseball has opened an opportunity for China, but it's also opened an opportunity to Major League ballplayers like me," catcher Danny Ardoin said before batting practice Saturday. "I've been playing 14 seasons and I've never seen anything like this. The people work hard and the place is spotless. It's a different way of life here."

Despite the compressed schedule, it's been an unforgettable experience.

"On the bus back from the Great Wall, I was saying to Xavier [Paul], I'm from Mississippi and he's from Louisiana and I wish the boys back home could see us now," said John Lindsey, in his 13th professional season and still looking for his first Major League at-bat. "I'm sure my parents are proud that their baby is in China."

"Yeah, I'm from the country," said Paul, who hails from Slidell, La. "A lot of people from my hometown think this is Mars. You can't beat it. I really didn't expect Beijing to be so modernized. It's like New York or something."

Most of the players chalked up the few inconveniences to a unique life experience.

"The bus ride back from the Wall was an eye-opener," said reliever Mike Koplove. "Seeing how many cars, bicycles, horse-drawn carts, taxis, busses, everything," he said. "To see how big this city is and how old it is. I just wish I could have seen it from outside the bus. It's been amazing. I really wish there was more down time to experience what Beijing has to offer."

Anyway, the Dodgers played to a 3-3 tie in Beijing: Gurnick, Stephen Wade of The Associated Press and Dylan Hernandez of the Times recount the pomp and circumstance.

Chan Ho Park, who actually was prevented from signing autographs to his heart's content after the game, continued to make an unlikely impression on the Dodger brass, and though Esteban Loaiza continues to hold the inside track to be the No. 5 starter, health questions about Yhency Brazoban (see Tony Jackson in the Daily News) could conceivably open up a spot for Park as a long reliever.

Hong-Chih Kuo's two scoreless innings also pleased Joe Torre, who seemed inclined to forgive Chin-Lung Hu for his shaky offensive and defensive game. In the end, every Dodger starter reached base.

Another game tonight. Alas, I'll be watching it on television.

Comments

[Aug C]

1.  Chan Ho is going nuts!! What should we do... keep him and put him into the bullpen?

[Jon Weisman]

2.  1 - Park doing well is nicer than the alternative, but keep in mind the level of competition he's doing it against.

[gpellamjr]

3.  2 The competition isn't great, you're right. But last night Chan Ho looked really impressive. He had great control and great movement. He looked better than he has in a long time.

[Xeifrank]

4.  wow, great the country boys and rest of the Dodgers loved Beijing. Yes, it is very modern in places. I'd say more modern than anywhere in the US. And it's also ancient, much more ancient than anywhere in the US. China is also full of ancient and very old history. You don't see lazy people anywhere, everyone is on the go. I would sometimes like to just stand and watch as it seemed everyone had a place to go and an important job to do, even if it was carrying a stack of vegetables on their back.
Great place, Great memories, glad half the team got a chance to go.

vr, Xei

[dkminnick]

5.  Where is the best place to find the Los Angeles area Dodger radio and TV schedules online?

[Gen3Blue]

6.  You have to be wary of the significance of any and all ST performances, but the amount of control shown by Park and Loiaza has me impressed. Will their stuff play as well far into the regular season?--hard to say. But realistically a team gets most of their starts from 7 or 8 guys, sometimes more. Both should be on the roster. If either keep this level consistantly our #5 could be a nice surprise.

[MC Safety]

7.  Sounds like Nate had a good time last night. Trainwreck.. not so much.

[CanuckDodger]

8.  4 -- "...more modern than anywhere in the US." Could you explain that, please?

[tjshere]

9.  5

http://preview.tinyurl.com/ysparc

[Xeifrank]

10.  8. I found the archeticture to be more modern. New buildings and new infrastructure. Probably a bit of a generalization on my part, but just a truthful honest observation. Of course, once you get out of the big modern cities it's another story. I will go to Shanghai this coming October, while the rest of you are rooting the Dodgers on in the divisional playoffs, and I am sure that Shanghai is even more modern than Beijing.

vr, Xei

[MC Safety]

11.  10 Is that the Chinese who love huge skyscrapers, and crazy, technical dams? Or am I thinking of the Japanese?

[Bob Timmermann]

12.  11
The Chinese build all sorts of stuff. The Japanese not so much. The latter tend to worry about earthquakes more.

[Bob Timmermann]

13.  I don't think Karl Ravech meant to use the adverb in this sentence.

"A tornado allegedly rolled through Atlanta last night ..."

[dkminnick]

14.  9 - Thanks!

[MC Safety]

15.  12 Thanks, Bob. That's what I thought.

[Bob Timmermann]

16.  My DVR schedule isn't indicating a Dodgers game on tonight and usually that schedule gets updated fairly quickly.

[berkowit28]

17.  16 Mine is. FSN PT. Cox Cable here in Santa Barbara. My previously scheduled taping still refers to the old programming for 10 PM, but the current guide now says "MLB Preseason Baseball" Dodgers vs. SD, Beijing.

[Bob Timmermann]

18.  17
And mine is now updated too!

[regfairfield]

19.  6 Chan Ho's problem last year wasn't control, it was giving up two home runs per nine to AAA players. He had a higher ERA than all but three players in the Dodger organization last year.

[berkowit28]

20.  The Nats announcers are OK. Aside from telling us what's going on as it happens, rather than idle gossip ignoring play as so many announcers seem to do, they seem genuinely interested in and respectful of the opposing team's players.

[gpellamjr]

21.  The Battle for Right Field update:

Andre Ethier- 1-1 with a single.

Matt Kemp- not even in the country.

[LAT]

22.  *"Instead of babying it, we're going to push it," he said. "It's a weird thing. I'm the same as I was a few days ago. I can't quite get to the next level."

Despite Schmidt's frustration, the Dodgers appear unconcerned and say his comeback is progressing normally.*

I'm no doctor. I don't even play one on TV. But I'm pretty sure in Med School they don't tell the patient push harder if your in pain and then tell the patient's family "Don't worry its normal progression." Does anyone else think this is all very silly.

[Gen3Blue]

23.  19 Of course at the moment Parks stuff is playing better, but time will tell.
I also realize I hate the pitcher with a high walk rate more than some. I don't know what irks me most, the guy who's just wild or the guy who seems to shy from the plate like he's afraid of getting hit.

[gpellamjr]

24.  22 Am I misunderstanding the thinking here? Schmidt realizes he's not going to get another contract. This is it for him. The Dodgers don't want Schmidt to be a totally sunk cost, but don't have much faith in him. He's not going to get better, so they say, "Play as you are and we'll see what happens."

That's how I've been interpreting this.

[berkowit28]

25.  24 Sounds right to me. I suppose there's a 1 in 100 chance that someone recovering from surgery would feel stiff and some pain after a year of resting and might benefit from exercising in the hope things start easing up. About 1 in 100 chance. What the hell, worth the try for one or two days to see what happens.

[old dodger fan]

26.  8 China is a land of incredible contrasts. In the big modern cities like Beijing you can see the 21st century co-existing with the Industrial Revolution as there are people with the most modern of conveniences alongside people using work animals and crude tools.

Move to the countryside and, except for the cell phones, it looks like the 18th or 19th centuries in America.

What I loved about it is how friendly people were to me. If I looked lost someone would ask if they could help me. Once my wife and I found an old courtyard with some very old buidlings. We were walking around, clueless as to what we were seeing. A young couple walked up, asked us (in English) if they could help us and then took an hour of their time to explain what the site was. They then got on their bicycles and left. BTW, he was a physician on his day off.

[berkowit28]

27.  Ethier just got another HR. 2-0 Dodgers.

[DodgerGrl22]

28.  http://www.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/y2007/gd.html?2008_03_15_lanmlb_wasmlb_1

Here is a game day link. If interested.

[Bob Timmermann]

29.  Georgia and Kentucky are playing this morning and the winner plays again tonight.

And their game has gone into overtime.

[Gen3Blue]

30.  Real problem. How good is Andre going to get? If they don't play him they won't get what he is worth.

[bigcpa]

31.  Lackey shut down 3-4 weeks with tricep strain. http://tinyurl.com/37wqml

[silverwidow]

32.  27 It makes me physically ill every time Ethier hits a HR because I know he won't start in LF.

[gpellamjr]

33.  32 Cheer up. They can just put him in RF.

[silverwidow]

34.  33 RF belongs to Kemp. So that doesn't work.

[Aug C]

35.  2 - I understand and appreciate the idea that the competition is weaker in spring training, but I don't buy it as a solid argument to write off good performances. After all, Billinsley's spring ERA is what now, 6? I'm not going to assume that his ERA would be 8 if he were facing only major league hitters. (Although he does face a higher proportion of major league hitters because he starts all the spring games he pitches in.)

I do, however, think the sample size issue is a valid reason to discount good spring performances. And so I am by no means sold on Park's current abilities. But I gotta root for a guy who starts arguing with security about wanting to sign autographs.

[bagg4]

36.  I remember falling asleep to Jerry Doggett and Vin listening to the game on KFI on my SONY pocket transistor radio. In the morning, Chuck Cecil would wake me up reading the news.

The trip to China must be quite an experience for everyone. I'd love to get one of those MLB in China sweatshirts I've seen in photos.

[Jon Weisman]

37.  35 - Makes perfect sense to me that if Billingsley has a 6.00 ERA right now, it would be worse in the regular season if he were pitching the same way. But of course, Spring Training means we shouldn't take his 6 seriously.

Don't write off Park's performance entirely, but don't take it too seriously. There have just been too many instances of fringe players performing well in Spring Training against poor competition, then being unable to sustain it when the season starts.

That has nothing to do with rooting for him.

[Gen3Blue]

38.  Thanks Dgrl22!

[Eric Enders]

39.  Park's statistical line from last night may have come against inferior competition, but his stuff was so unbelievably impressive that I find it hard to believe that even the most fearsome lineup would have scored against him. His breaking ball was better than I've ever seen it, better even than his Dodger glory days. He looked almost as impressive as a certain mythical creature did on YouTube.

That said, it's one game, and I very much doubt that Park has the ability to consistently repeat this sort of performance. If he does, though, we've really got something.

[berkowit28]

40.  Another hit, 3rd today, from Ethier, driving in Martin (walk) and Loney (who got a double). 4 RBI so far for Ethier today. (He just fell down and got thrown out at first, next play.)

[berkowit28]

41.  Saito's in. That probably means crud pitchers again for the last few innings. But they're leading 6-0 this time, so maybe they can win anyway. Penny did great - 1 hit in 5 innings.

[Johnson]

42.  40 (He just fell down and got thrown out at first, next play.)

That's it! Trade him for a middle reliever!

[Daniel Zappala]

43.  31 Awful news.

[berkowit28]

44.  Meanwhile, Pierre's out again. 4 times up, 4 down, no hits, no walks. If he keeps this up in Arizona, he can't be given a very long leash when the season begins. Saito did fine, with a little help from his friends - no runs, no hits, no walks, no errors. Proctor's on now.

[bigcpa]

45.  In all seriousness, when Torre faces the beat writers next week he should be barraged with Ethier vs. Pierre questions. Colletti says the best 3 guys will play- Ethier now leads the team with 4 spring HR's, he's hitting .308, he's playing plus defense. Tony Jackson is our only hope. We must convert him and send him on the crusade!

[berkowit28]

46.  Nat's 3rd base coach signaled to hold up Dmitri Young at 3rd, so Ethier threw to Furcal at 2nd, and Young scored before Furcal could get it home. Ethier's mistake. Still, after 4 RBI, I guess he's entitled to the odd mistake.

[Gen3Blue]

47.  Holy Cow! They suckered a runner by Pierre tossing it to Furcal who through the runner out at home.

[Bob Timmermann]

48.  El Lay Dave and I will get to work on changing the rest of the blogosphere.

[fanerman]

49.  Tommy Lasorda will show Ethier some DAP in the front office.

[MC Safety]

50.  How could a sane person choose Pierre over Ethier?

[DXMachina]

51.  And Tommy finally gets a win.

[berkowit28]

52.  47 Yup. Same play (using Furcal as relay to home plate) worked for Pierre's arm where it didn't work for Ethier's. ;-) Not really. What happened was that this time the Nats runner didn't see the 3rd base coach telling him to hold up at 3rd.

[regfairfield]

53.  50 Pierre makes more money.

As a further sign that Spring means nothing Pierre leads the team in isolated patience.

[trainwreck]

54.  Pierre needs to play some basketball with Vlad Radmanovic or Davon Jefferson.

[underdog]

55.  Speaking of Tony Jackson -- from his latest post:
>>I'll save admitting I was wrong for sometime during the regular season. This is, after all, SPRING TRAINING. But yes, for now, Andre Ethier, having just gone 3 for 4 with an opposite-field HR and four RBI, is hitting .300 to Juan Pierre's .186 (he went 0 for 4, one ball hit out of the infield). Kemp is hitting .308 after going 1 for 5 as the DH in the People's Republic.
This is Bob Schaefer after the game on the fact the club now APPEARS to have three OFs competing for two spots:
``It's better than having two. It's a good problem to have. It's going to be tough to make out the lineup, and Joe realizes that. We have four solid outfielders. But Joe will work it out. We're always going to have a good guy on the bench, put it that way. You're better off with too many that not enough.''<<

[bhsportsguy]

56.  48 If you are still on, I'll come up to your area before the game.

[bhsportsguy]

57.  54 Its amazing how North Carolina and Tennessee can have close games and come out smelling like a rose (against teams that have never been ranked all season) and UCLA gets grief for its games.

[trainwreck]

58.  57
Yeah and they are given so much credit for winning terrible conferences.

[Bob Timmermann]

59.  56
I'm still on. I'm going to leave pretty soon. I'm going to drive down and park by Staples.

[Bob Timmermann]

60.  57
But Billy Packer, idol of Greg Brock, has spoken! And Billy Packer always speaks the truth! He is the kindest, smartest, gentlest college basketball analyst ever.

[trainwreck]

61.  I am sure the fact that Billy calls games for the ACC makes him very impartial when it comes to that conference.

[Eric Enders]

62.  Also the fact that he played in the ACC.

[madmac]

63.  22 having had an ACL reconstruction and several other knee surgeries I can say that it's quite common for docs or phys therapists to say you need to push through the pain. It's part of the therapy/recovery. You don't just wait till you don't feel pain anymore. If he's healed enough to the point that working it isn't undoing the fix then he just needs to keep building it up. Really, what do either the Dodgers or Schmidt have to lose at this point.

[John Hale]

64.  Dick Vitale just mentioned that he thinks Dean Smith and Bob Knight (amongst others) are being suppressed from sharing their knowledge to the general public.

I hope someone like ESPN gives these former coaches a forum to speak...

But Packer is still worse

[Eric Enders]

65.  I just heard John Saunders say the name "Darren Collison" on College GameDay and I was taken aback. It was genuinely shocking to hear a Pac-10 player's name actually mentioned on the Worldwide Leader in East Coast Sports.

[Bob Timmermann]

66.  You are looking live at Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles!

At least I am.

There is an added prize in the Griddle NCAA Tournament contest!

[underdog]

67.  {Snap!} You GO Rotworld!

>>Andre Ethier went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and four RBI in the Dodgers' 6-1 victory over the Nationals on Saturday.
Ethier is hitting .300/.429/.600 in 40 at-bats, while Juan Pierre is at .186/.271/.209. Ethier has, of course, posted better on-base percentages and slugging percentages than Pierre in both of his years in the league, and while he might not have quite as much range as Pierre in left field, he is an above average defender. It's a good thing for Pierre that the Dodgers care more about fame and salary than performance when it comes to handing out playing time. Mar. 15 - 4:37 pm et<<

[Ken Noe]

68.  67 Ethier's won the LF job in any reasonable universe, period. Whether that describes Torre's universe remains to be seen, but I am strangely hopeful even after Tyler Hansbrough broke my Hokie heart. You don't need to understand modern metrics to interpret a .186 average.

[Bob Timmermann]

69.  Surprisingly a lot of empty seats here at Staples.

[Eric Enders]

70.  Clemson just beat Duke. That clears the way for a #1 seed for the Longhorns if the Cardinal can beat UCLA tonight.

[Bob Timmermann]

71.  But it's only 3:21!

[trainwreck]

72.  Worst nightmare!

[Bob Timmermann]

73.  My worst nightmare involves being stranded on a desert island where Billy Joel is worshiped as a god.

[Bob Timmermann]

74.  Am I missing Gus Johnson because I'm at the game?

[trainwreck]

75.  74
Yes, you are!!!

[trainwreck]

76.  Coach, we need you to bench Kevin Love.

[Andrew Shimmin]

77.  Dodger trainers, evidently, start out as UCLA basketball trainers.

[Andrew Shimmin]

78.  Somebody get the man a banana.

[trainwreck]

79.  Not again! Keep Love out of the game.

[Andrew Shimmin]

80.  Lorenzo Mata-Lama-Ding-Dong-Real and Kevin Love:two great tastes that taste great together.

[Retire 55]

81.  Zero chance Tony is "converted to the cause." Like the rest of the Dodger press corps, he's greasing potential sources by defending the team's worst signing.

[Bob Timmermann]

82.  I'm assuming from my lofty perch that Love has back spasms or something like that.

[Andrew Shimmin]

83.  82- That's what the announcers are saying. I think it may be alien gestation pains; but that's just a guess.

[trainwreck]

84.  I don't think these falls are helping Love's back.

[Bob Timmermann]

85.  Kevin Love falls over as often as Lonnie Smith did playing the outfield.

[skybluestoday]

86.  Re: 73

College girlfriend music. Necessary at the time in order to get face-time, but not timeless.

[Bob Timmermann]

87.  That half proved nothing!

[trainwreck]

88.  Great job by UCLA so far. To be tied with Standford with Luc and Love hurt is quite an accomplishment.

[trainwreck]

89.  Of course, be leading if the free-throw shooting was not so horrible.

[Eric Enders]

90.  Stanford is so bad at transition defense. No way Collison should have been able to make that shot at the buzzer.

[berkowit28]

91.  81 Actually, he's not doing so any more. You're out of date - check his blog, or just read this thread we're on. So it could never have been zero chance. Your speculation as to his motivation seems a little farfetched anyway.

[Jon Weisman]

92.  88 - You know, Stanford doesn't have Luc or Love either. :)

I know the Lopezes don't do it by themselves, but it sure seems that way a lot.

[Bob Timmermann]

93.  The Bruins made just one free throw in the first half! And it was by Mata-Real!

[berkowit28]

94.  While you're all commenting on a basketball game, I'm following a play-by-play blog of a Test cricket match between England and New Zealand in Wellington. Just saying so in case someone else here knows what I'm talking about and would like to start a second non-baseball dialog to confuse everyone. (We would certainly outlast the basketball game...)

[Bob Timmermann]

95.  How many days is this Test?

[Dodgers49]

96.  23 . I don't know what irks me most, the guy who's just wild or the guy who seems to shy from the plate like he's afraid of getting hit.

I prefer the wild ones. :-) With them at least there is always the chance they may improve their control (See Koufax, Sandy :-) ). Guys who shy away from throwing strikes usually have a valid reason for doing so. They know that if they put their "stuff" in the strike zone it's going to be hammered (See Tomko, Brett :-) ).

[Dodgers49]

97.  No question about Loaiza

http://tinyurl.com/3xeuyv

[Bob Timmermann]

98.  Brook Lopez has been given a grant of immunity from Pac-10 refs in exchange for having more fouls called on his brother Robin as well as Taj Finger.

[trainwreck]

99.  How come Brook Lopez does not get talked about as a top 3 pick?

[berkowit28]

100.  It's the 4th day of a 5-day Test. England actually have a chance of winning, probably tomorrow. (Only International matches between the national teams of "first class" cricket nations - the top 8 or so - can be called Test matches. And they're always 5 days. Though other types of "first class" matches of this sort can be 3 or 4 days.)

Because of the time zones and the length of this type of cricket - typically starting at 10 or 11 AM local time and going on for some 7 or 8 hours with short breaks - I'm whiling away the time between the two Dodger games today almost exactly. Today's play started at 2 PM Pacific time, less than an hour after the Florida game ended, and will finish at just about the same time that the Beijing game starts.