The flowering of the Dodger blogosphere

How is it possible that the Dodgers generate so much copy that I can read Dodger blog after Dodger blog and see interesting, well-written stories that aren't duplicates of each other? Though I don't link to all of them each day, I do hope that by now you're regularly checking out the other Dodger sites listed on the Dodger Thoughts sidebar.

Diamondbacks at Dodgers,
7:10 p.m.
Today's lineup

Juan Pierre, LF Mark Loretta, 3B Orlando Hudson, 2B James Loney, 1B Russell Martin, C Andre Ethier, RF Matt Kemp, CF Juan Castro, SS Hiroki Kuroda, P

This year will remembered as the year the Dodgers opened the press box to bloggers, but I think 2009 has also become a watershed in terms of how deep the Dodger blog lineup has become, regardless of where the blogger sits.

* * * 

I hope expectations are in check for Hiroki Kuroda's return tonight. As we've seen from the Angels' John Lackey and Ervin Santana, mere activation doesn't guarantee domination. Kuroda could still be a work in progress. 

• A.J. Ellis went back to Albuquerque to make room for the return of Kuroda. The Dodgers are back to 13 pitchers on the roster.
• Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal are out of the starting lineup and back in the recovery dugout.
• The bottom floor of a Chattanooga, Tenn., house might hold the greatest private collection of Dodger memorabilia -- at least if you ask Dodger team historian Mark Langill. David Paschall of the Chattanooga Times Free Press checks it out (link via Blue Heaven).

  It all started for Sal LaRocca as a boy attending his first Brooklyn Dodgers game at Ebbets Field in the summer of 1944.

  “My very first game was a night game,” he said. “It was dark outside the ballpark, but it was daylight inside. As a 7-year-old kid, it was an unusual kind of thing, and it fascinated me.”

  So LaRocca went back repeatedly, and he began assembling a collection of Dodgers memorabilia that has grown so large it consumes four rooms on the bottom floor of his Chattanooga residence. The 72-year-old has obtained items as old as an 1883 Brooklyn game ticket and two scorecards from the 1884 season and as recent as a Manny Ramirez autographed baseball and a Chattanooga Lookouts batting helmet.

  The Lookouts are in their first season as Class AA affiliates of the Dodgers, and LaRocca has season tickets behind the home dugout.

  His memorabilia rooms are filled with signed items from former Dodgers pitchers such as Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Don Sutton, Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser, as well as such position players as Leo Durocher, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Steve Garvey and Eric Karros. He has World Series programs from 1916 and 1920; seats from Ebbets Field; uniforms worn by Koufax, Durocher and Robinson; and a ball from Valenzuela’s no-hitter in 1990.

  Mark Langill, the Dodgers team historian, flew out to take a three-day tour of LaRocca’s memorabilia last September and believes no individual sports collection rivals it.

  “After a while, it just doesn’t seem real,” Langill said. “Normally, if you’re in a museum setting, you look at things through a glass case. When you’ve got a 1916 World Series baseball in your hand, and then he hands you one from 1920, it’s like one of those ‘Night at the Museum’ things where all of a sudden Teddy Roosevelt comes to life. ...

• Blake DeWitt's stint in the minors this season has, among other things, postponed his salary arbitration eligibility for an extra year, notes Brendan Scolari at True Blue L.A.
• Thanks to Sons of Steve Garvey for the nice review of "100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." Don't forget about the June 28 book signing at Dodger Stadium.

Comments

[GoBears]

LATd:

GoBears my friend - I personally would not put Manny Ramirez in RF at any time or at any level including (but not limited to) MLB, AAA, AA, A and Jon's T-Ball team...

LF? - Yes (absolute least damage)

Posted by: Craig88USC | June 01, 2009 at 05:48 PM

But why? Everyone agrees that MR can play LF but not RF, but nobody offers a reason. Or, to put it another way, if he's awful in LF, why would he be any more awful in RF?

If the only reason the RF is more important or harder than LF is the throw to 3b, and if Manny's arm is not a problem, why the insistence that he'd be even worse in RF (and, more to the point, worse than putting Pierre in CF in order to move Kemp to RF)?

I'll stop asking now.

[Bluebleeder]

Glad to see Kuroda back. Expections definitely in check.

[natepurcell]

Is Casey Blake's injury serious? How about Furcal's? Sorry, I've been pretty busy lately.

[Marty Leadman (LAT)]

I can pretty much guarantee that Kuroda lasts longer than Lackey did in his first game back.

[Marty Leadman (LAT)]

Yeah, busy in Vegas.

[Craig88USC]

(Kinda got LAT'd but my fault for being so slow.)

Don't look now but Arizona & Colorado (oh what a difference a couple of years make) are in danger of falling behind the DODGERS 13 1/2 & 14 1/2 games should they not win tonight.

Not that I care about our little ol' lead on June 1st. ; )

GoBears my friend - I personally would not put Manny Ramirez in RF at any time or at any level including (but not limited to) MLB, AAA, AA, A and Jon's T-Ball team...

LF? - Yes (Absolute least damage can & will most likely occur.)

[Craig88USC]

Right Field is just more demanding throwing-wise overall than Left. And it seems to get more action with balls hit there. (Studies/proof? Anyone?) That's all.

[Alex41592]

Edinson Volquez who came off the DL today lasted one inning when he left after experiencing numbness in two fingers on his pitching hand.

[DBrim]

Hey Jon, any ideas if there will be a book signing in mid/late August? Random question, I know, but I really enjoyed your book and that's when I'll be able to go to my first Dodgers game in over two years.

[GoBears]

Yeah, I get the throwing - and don't believe that Manny's weaknesses including throwing. As for the amount of action - I don't believe that either.

The only Manny-specific argument I can think of to preclude an occasional start in RF (if it means resting Ethier without putting Pierre in CF) is that it would make Manny feel disoriented and even more Manny-like than usual. I can't discount that of course.

[Jon Weisman]

June 28 will be the only book signing at Dodger Stadium.

[Jon Weisman]

I'm trying to see if it's possible to get a Barnes and Noble signing before the season ends.

[Bluebleeder]

from Ken Gurnik Dodgers dot com: "Tidbits
James Loney had two RBIs Sunday for a team-high 38, tied for sixth in the league. ... ERAs of the four Dodgers pitchers used Sunday -- Eric Milton, 3.14; Ronald Belisario, 2.30; Ramon Troncoso, 1.89; Jonathan Broxton, 1.44. ... The Dodgers wree 5-for-16 with runners in scoring position after going 1-for-16 in the first three games. ... Matt Kemp slugged his sixth home run and stole his 12th base."

i'm reminded of Josh Wilker's great post about how "typos are born" every time I see one.

[TheRealPaul]

Going back to some remarks in the prior thread, well, pparently, in my prior postings re fielding, I've been talking to the wall. Well, I talked with Tom and the wall. You need to know where the fielder was positioned and the trajectory and speed of the ball before any UZR type scheme can have any merit whatsoever. As Reg noted, when Mr. Murphy is a positive, something is horribly wrong. And, no, the right scheme would not allow that error.

Try thinking of the matter this way. A train leaves the station at 85 mph while the other train leaves at 86 mph. If both are traveling for 2 seconds, what is the distance between the trains following the 2 seconds? The math is:

85mph x 5280 ft/m x 1/60 hr/min x 1/60 min/sec x 2 sec = 249.33 feet

86 mph x 5280 ft/m x 1/60 hr/min x 1/60 min/sec x 2 sec = 252.666 feet

So, 1 mph in a straight line means 3+ feet after 2 seconds. You think the 3+ feet might make a difference as to whether or not the ball is caught?

So don't tell me that he caught x number of balls in a, b, c, d, etc. zones, tell me instead that he was standing here when the ball was struck, the ball left the bat at an angle of - degrees, at -- mph, etc. And tell me that for no reason other than that I'm not about to downgrade someone in the fielding scheme for not catching a ball that no human would have caught if positioned where he was when the ball was struck. And like it or not, understood or not, that's the way that the current scheme works, since you make the catch in your zone(s) or you don't, and no one ever asks whether his more immediate peers or any of the other part of our vast humanity could have made the play. And going to back to Tom's favorite word, "variance", please don't assume that all else is equal, as it usually isn't.

Lastly, when some of you use the word, "luck", what do you mean? I ask because some always say, we were "unlucky", when in a tie game, we hit three hard liners right at people and the other team scores the 1 run to win on a bloop double followed by the bloop single. Going back to my one comment and Hollywood Joe's rejoinder, physics does rule the day here, as physics could care less about batter and pitcher intent, and the very construct of the game dictates that hard hit balls will be on occasion be caught and recorded as outs while some bloopers will surely fall in. So in that sense, there is no "luck". So by "luck", do you mean the timing of it? By the way, this is the single reason why baseball is the least skill based of all the major sports, at least as far as results, as there's a far lesser chance of the bloop goal, the bloop touchdown, and the bloop made basket being outcome determinative.

Sorry, one more, but a while ago, can't recall who long ago exactly, but some posted here re things like astronomy being enjoyable and fun until the math came. Not intending any insult, but it wasn't the math. It was the failure to understand the construct in one's own head. Here, think of the new Star Trek and Future Spock displaying to Scotty his equation for transwarp beaming. What did Scotty say on looking at the equation? It never occurred to me to think of space as the thing moving.

And so it wasn't mere variable that we plug in with estimated and/or measured values, but an idea in someone's head, reduced to a more precise form by use of a symbolic representation no different than English. This is what I tell the kids I sometimes tutor when they say that they can't and will never get it. If you can get a picture of him moving from left to right on the screen when I use the word "across" then you can get the picture that space is the thing that is moving and see it in the symbolic representation that is the equation.

Sorry, for one more, this is also why they have those word problems in math. They want to see if you've simply memorized the formula and are mechanically plugging in the values, or whether you've instead truly understood the construct. And sorry that some of you lost interest and/or the enjoyment when the math came, and pity that professors aren't all that they're cracked up to be [since it was likely a teaching and not a learning failure].

[Linkmeister]

"I'm trying to see if it's possible to get a Barnes and Noble signing before the season ends."

There are several branches of that store on Oahu, in case the LA ones can't fit you in.

[underdog]

Hey Casey, you can stop hugging Shawn Johnson now!

[Bluebleeder]

i'll make a prediction:

6 innings
4 hits
3 K's
2 runs allowed for Kuroda

[Bluebleeder]

you gotta wonder if Kuroda has butterflies, I mean the dude hasn't pitched since opening day, plus this is only his 2nd year in the bigs...

[Bob Hendley]

Paul,

Not sure that I understood everything you said, but would you consider positioning to be part of good defense? This is what they always said about Cal that while he lost his "range" he made up for with superior positioning.

[Craig88USC]

Oh the sound of Vin Scully again - "2 down in the 1st inning..." & "Kuroda kicks and deals..."

[DBrim]

Anybody else having mlb.tv issues? Feed pausing every minute or so?

[Phenomenal Smith]

"A Stanford boy...."
"What do they call you back in Stanford, boy?"

They call me Mr. Hinch!

[underdog]

He looked better that inning than I expected. Maybe less butterflies than we thought!

[Alex41592]

13 pitches. 7 strikes and 6 balls. 2 ground outs and a K looking for Kuroda. Lets see how he does after some rest. Nice start.

[Bluebleeder]

lovely.

the only knock on Kuroda (for me) is that he leaves his off-speed stuff a bit to high for my taste. I'm just glad he is back though.

[Craig88USC]

Vinny - "Strike 3 called...Welcome back Hiroki Kuroda..." Sweet music to the ears.

[underdog]

Billy Buckner looks like he has more butterflies than Hiro. (Not as far as stuff, just his demeanor to start.)

He also looks to be about 14 years old.

[Bob Hendley]

If you switch to standard it may solve the problem. It also gets rid of the delay, but, or course, the pitcure is not as nice.

[OhioVic]

I don't know how the rest of you feel, but has there been a more worthless debate than this - "Should Manny play in the All-Star Game ?" debate ?

I find it annoying - mostly because there is no way it was ever going to happen. He's not going to get voted in, he's not going to be selected and he's not going to play in it.

All the hand wringing over it is pure silliness. There are often some odd early vote totals in these things. Manny., no doubt, racked up a bunch of votes before his suspension. His totals will not keep up over the next couple weeks when he's not playing and others are. It's the same way every year.

Yet, this has become the main story when discussing the Dodgers this week and that's even more annoying than the hand wringing.

[underdog]

But who looks younger, AJ Hinch or Billy Buckner? Which one of them played the The Schofield Kid in Unforgiven?

[Bob Hendley]

Even with that, I am still getting the pause in the picture every 30 seconds.

[underdog]

Oh well, Kuroda's bound to throw a few mistakes tonight.

[Alex41592]

And make up for it with a slick pickoff!

[Bluebleeder]

oh man, perfect.

[underdog]

On the other hand! His pickoff move ain't rusty.

[Craig88USC]

Hoffmann would of had that........just kidding.

Great pick Off move!

[TheRealPaul]

BobHendley: If Cal Ripken was responsible for his own positioning, then, yes, to his defensive credit that he was able to read batter and pitch/pitch-location to his fielding advantage.

[Craig88USC]

Duck!!!

[chex]

Anyone else getting a Tom Hanks vibe from AJ Hinch?

[underdog]

Ominous word of caution from Vin: "Dodgers have not had a winning record in June since 2003."

[OhioVic]

Kuroda's having trouble throwing strikes.

[Bluebleeder]

a pitch that can induce a DP would be nice here.

[underdog]

He is, Vic, though not at all unexpected. Also looked like he got squeezed on a few close pitches. But I expected some rust.

[OhioVic]

Agreed, Underdog. Seems like he's missing with the offspeed stuff more than his fastball, but I hope they give him some rope tonight even if he gives up a few runs to knock off the rust a bit and find his rythym.

[Bluebleeder]

speeded up his bat, I'd throw an off-speed here.

[Bluebleeder]

speeded up his bat, I'd throw an off-speed here.

[underdog]

Atta boy!

[Craig88USC]

2nd K for HK : )

[underdog]

Yah. And this early high pitch count isn't good in that he's got a count limit today of 80-85. Be nice if he can pitch 5, 6 would be even more of a bonus.

[underdog]

Well that's not good.

Nice slide tackle by Ethier in the OF though! (Didn't matter, was just humorous.)

Who knows, this could be a surprisingly high scoring game.

[Alex41592]

Kuroda threw a lot of sliders in that at bat. He hung that one and Whitesell hit it well.

[Bluebleeder]

that thing was on a T. Kuroda is lucky it didn't end up in the seats.

[underdog]

I miss Chad Tracy playing 1st.

[Craig88USC]

Hiroki is soaked and down 2 early.

He's going 4 innings tops.

[Bluebleeder]

I've never seen Buckner pitch but hopefully it's just a matter of the Dodger hitters figuring him out.

[underdog]

Funny comment from a film blogger I know who is also a big Mets fan, via Twitter:

"JJ Putz looked lost tonight. There was a distant look in his eyes. You know the eye of the tiger? This was the eye of the rented mule."

[Alex41592]

Buckner faced the Dodgers in Arizona earlier this season in relief. He was pounded for five runs in 2/3rd's of an inning.

[Craig88USC]

Start us off Jamesy...

[baseballfan]

Hey guys,

I found an interesting debate on Manny's situation. Should he play in the All-Star game?

Check it out!

www.thesportsdebates.wordpress.com

[underdog]

That was a great play by Reynolds. But I'm surprised it wasn't even that close at 1st.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the Dodgers don't do anything against Buckner... until the 2nd time through the line-up.

[Craig88USC]

Put it in the Pavillion 'Dre...

[underdog]

Ugh.

Sigh.

I miss saying "Squee-thier!"

[Craig88USC]

Don't swing at THOSE.

[Bluebleeder]

I also wouldn't be surprised if the Dodgers don't do anything against Buckner... until the 2nd time through the line-up.

I think so too UnderDog. If Kuroda settles in & keeps us in the ball game...

[DBrim]

I know Andre isn't exactly a speedster, but it certainly didn't look like he was hustling down the line there...

[Phenomenal Smith]

I took a Sporcle quiz on the top 30 single season RBI guys.

I got all but one.

I missed Manny Ramirez's 165 RBI season in 1999.

I don't know what to make of that.

[underdog]

Oh, Vin pulls out the "Felipe Lopez's father used to beat him when he made errors" tale of caution.

Oddly, that apparently didn't help his defense as a pro all that much.

[Bob Hendley]

He has a toe issue, no?

[DBrim]

Bob, you're correct. I forgot. I withdraw my comment.

[underdog]

Stop squeezing Hiro, ump! He's struggling enough.

[underdog]

Well that worked out nicely!

[OhioVic]

That helps

[Bluebleeder]

Kuroda needed an easy inning like this, let's hope the bats wake up in an inning or two, right UnderDog!

[Craig88USC]

Hiroki!

Yoku gambattemasu ne. (You're doing a good job.)

[Craig88USC]

Matttty

[underdog]

Yep, bleeder, right about here with the Bison according to my calendar.

Yep, right on schedule!

;-)

[Alex41592]

Matt is turning on things now. This is scary.

[underdog]

Actually a little earlier than I planned.

[Phenomenal Smith]

But is Matt loved at an appropriate level?

[ucladodger]

We are seeing the evolution of Matt Kemp as a hitter. As Alex said, he is now turning on fastballs. And he is turning on them with power. This is very exciting.

[fanerman]

Bison Awesome!

[underdog]

That was worthless, Sr. Castro.

Oh well.

[miketink]

It amused me to notice, the Marlins put their first 8 batters on base in the bottom of the 6th advancing them all one base at a time on 3 singles, 2 HBP, 2 walks and an error. then with 5 runs in and the bases loaded the next 3 hitters struck out.

[underdog]

A Pierre Special.
Just the kinda break they needed.

Now let's go MarkLo!

[Craig88USC]

Nice way to start June Monsieur Pierre. Speeed baby.

[Phenomenal Smith]

At first I thought the throw beat Pierre, but I guess since Whitesell dropped the throw, that doesn't matter.

[Alex41592]

Million dollar BALL pitch.

[Craig88USC]

TIE it up now Mark!

[Alex41592]

Ah, the frustration.

[Craig88USC]

Ahhh - Good try.

[Bluebleeder]

I admit, I was shocked when I heard the Dodgers rapped up what was the best May in 47 years!

[Craig88USC]

Hiroki's only got about 20 or so more pitches to get these 3 outs in the 4th... (Per Joe's 85 limit.)

[underdog]

That was a nifty pitch from Hiro.

[Craig88USC]

C'mon - Double Play now...

[Bluebleeder]

fly ball into the thick L.A. night sky...

[Craig88USC]

1 more KUR!

[Marty Leadman (LAT)]

TheRealPaul's prose is too prolix for me

/Wintergreen

[Bluebleeder]

o.k. boys, this time it's for real.

a bird just flew away & told me J. Martin was gonna hit his first dinger of many.

today!!!

[underdog]

That'll do, Hiro! Just give us one more shutout inning and I'll take that.

[Craig88USC]

Yay! Hiro did it on 74...could go 1 more maybe.