The Disabled List Piles Up

The Disabled List is already adding victims before the season "officially" starts. Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw are the biggest names on the list as Kershaw's name was just added yesterday. He should be eligible to come off the Disabled List on April 7th but no one in the Dodgers front office knows exactly when he will be ready to pitch again. Kemp and Kershaw represent almost $50 million in Dodgers on the Disabled List. Add Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett and you have more in payroll on the Disabled List than some teams payroll for their entire roster. This is not exactly the start I envisioned for the Dodgers this year.

Play Ball!

It has been over five months since my last blog about the Los Angeles Dodgers and losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the playoffs last year left a bad taste in my mouth. I never felt the Dodgers were at full strength last year with all of the injuries that piled up and Don Mattingly did an amazing job with a bunch of rookies, has beens, and never were's. I was calling for his job after they fell about 10 games under .500 around the middle part of the season, but he proved me wrong and made all of the right moves to get them the National league West crown and into the playoffs. Some managers can do more with less talent than other managers and that may be Don Mattingly's strength. The Dodgers didn't make too big of a splash in the off season with Dan Haren probably being the biggest acquisition. They added second baseman Justin Turner, a former utility man with the New York Mets, late in Spring Training to get some time at second base until either Erisbel Arruebarrena or Alex Guerrero is ready to go. The Dodgers are picked to finish forst in the National League West but I believe injuries will once again be the key. Getting a healthy Matt Kemp back will do wonders for the offense and keeping Hanley Ramirez on the filed will be key as well.

Yasiel Puig Versus Baseball Tradition

Yasiel Puig showed off his youthful exuberance for the game of baseball last night when he hit a triple off the top of the right field wall last night by flipping his bat while he was still at the plate (because he probably thought he had hit it out) but he still had the speed to make it to third base. He played up to a home crowd when he reached third base as well. Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran was very outspoken about Puig's actions after the game. Puig had been 0 for 11 with 7 strikeouts before he hit the triple. Is it because Puig is a Rookie and hasn't earned the respect of the veteran's in baseball? When Adrian Gonzalez hit the double down the right field line to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, he showed some emotion after he slid into second base. No one has said a word about that. I remember back in the late '70's when Reggie Jackson "earned" the moniker "Mr. October", he thrived on controversy. He showboated, he demanded to be the center of attention, and he thrived in the spotlight whether it was good or bad. I remember the World Series in which Reggie hit the three homeruns and on the last homerun it took him about an hour to round the bases. The play in which he stuck his hip out and deflected the ball when he was caught in the rundown was more controversy. Reggie was revered by the fans and the press alike. It's a good thing ESPN wasn't around back then. Jackson was a 10 year veteran by this time and I think his actions were much worse than Puig's show of enthusiasm. I guess that is the difference between a 10 year veteran and a Rookie.

A Calculated Risk

Pitching Clayton Kershaw on three days was a calculated risk by the Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly. Kershaw had thrown 124 pitches in his Game One win. He did not want the series to go back to Atlanta and Kershaw wanted the ball. He pitched well enough to win (2 unearned runs in six innings with six strikeouts) but he got them deep into the game without having to go too deep into their bullpen. Kershaw only gave up one earned run in 13 innings with 18 strikeouts against the Braves with an ERA of 0.69. The comparisons to Sandy Koufax have been inevitable throughout Kershaw's young career and their is a great pic of Kershaw and koufax embracing in the locker room after the game. Koufax has become a mentor to Kershaw over the past couple of seasons and the friendship has really paid off for the Dodgers.

The Longest Bunt In Dodgers History

Juan Uribe's failure to get a bunt down in the bottom of the eighth inning worked out pretty well for the Dodgers. Uribe's two-run homerun to deep Left Field gave the Dodgers a 4-3. Kenley Jansen closed the door in the top of the ninth inning to clinch the Dodgers 3-1 series win over the Atlanta Braves. Carl Crawford hit two homeruns, giving him three in the four game series, to provide the rest of the Dodgers offense. Clayton Kershaw pitched 6 innings, giving up 2 unearned runs, on only three days rest. Ronald Belisario gave up a run to leave the Dodgers trailing 3-2. Brian Wilson, the Beard, Mohawk and all, got credit for the victory. Yasiel Puig's hustle double on a hard roller down the first base line to lead off the eighth set up Uribe's heroics. Say what you want about Puig but he didn' even slow down on that hit to Right Field. For most anyone else, that would have been a leadoff single or a 9-3 putout at Second Base. The Dodgers take on the Cardinals-pirates winner in the NLCS.

Kershaw Rolls On

The Clayton Kershaw train rolled on in the first game of the NLDS last night in the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves last night. He struck out 12 in 7 innings giving up only one run. Brian Wilson and kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless inning a piece to finish it out for the Dodgers. The Dodgers scored the first 5 runs of the game in the first four innings before the Braves could get on the board. The big blow was a two run bomb to Centerfield by Adrian Gonzalez off Braves starter Kris Medlen in the third inning. Catcher A.J. Ellis had two doubles and a RBI and Hanley Ramirez, Mark Ellis, and Skip Schumaker also drove in runs. There was an article in the USA Today about the electric but sometimes erratic play of Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig yesterday but last night it was all electric. He hustled from first to third on a single to center and he doubled off Braves baserunner Gattis with a catch and throw from Right Field. You cannot doubt Puig's natural ability or his enthusiasm for the game.

A Nice Day For A Swim

The Dodgers locked up the National League West yesterday with a 7-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The celebration started on the field when Skip Schumaker secured the last out in Left Field in the bottom of the ninth inning, continued in the Dodgers locker room with the popping of champagne and some dance moves by Yasiel Puig, and then carried over to the swimming pool that sits beyond the right Center Field fence in the Diamondbacks park. Some of the Dodgers were jumping into the pool (fully clothed)and splashing around and jumping back out. Evidently the Diamondbacks had asked them not to do this before the game and the Dodgers probably would not have even thought about it until the Diamondbacks asked them not to. The big story should be the Dodgers won the National League West not that they went swimming. Some of the Diamondbacks took exception to the swim, most notably Willie Bloomquist, and referred to it as a "classless" act. Reliever Brandon McCarthy responded on Twitter that the Diamondbacks needed to work on what would win them the National League West next season rather than what the Dodgers did after the Dodgers won the West this season. William L. Marcy, a Senator from New York, first said in 1832 "to the victor belongs the spoils." The Dodgers won and can celebrate however they would like to and at least they did it with style. I hope Willie Bloomquist enjoys watching the Dodgers in the playoffs.