Results tagged ‘ Dodgers ’
The Exception?
Alright…with Manny Ramirez retiring suddenly this past week to avoid a second suspension for failing a drug test, it begs the question: HOF?
Taking steroids out of the equation, this guy is a first-ballot HOF-er. I would argue that he was the greatest righthander hitter in baseball from 1995-2008, and one of the greatest pure hitters in baseball history. Sure, he was a complete spaz and couldn’t field a lick, but when you hit like that it doesn’t really matter. During the mid-1990s he and Jim Thome provided potency to the Cleveland Indians, then he and David Ortiz teamed up as perhaps the most dominant 3-4 combination since Ruth-Gehrig. Even his stint with the Dodgers (before the first suspension that signaled the end of his career) was incredible.
Some of the career stats: .312 BA, .411 OBP, .585 SLG, .996 OPS, 2,574 H, 555 HR, 1,831 RBI.
He was always a favorite player of mine (when not tormenting Twins pitching, of course) for just his pure hitting ability. The guy didn’t give a lick about anything, but he was blessed with the ability to hit a baseball really, really hard with surprising frequency.
Of course, much like Andy Pettitte, the steroid issue will cloud Manny’s candidacy. Like Pettitte and, say, A-Rod, Manny is a confirmed steroid user. That being said, he didn’t make up ridiculous stories in his defense (e.g. Barry Bonds), didn’t become a jerk about it (e.g. Roger Clemens), didn’t refuse to speak about the past (e.g. Mark McGwire), didn’t blatently deny his usage (e.g. Rafael Palmeiro), and didn’t forget how to speak English when questioned (e.g. Sammy Sosa). Basically, he just got caught and served his time.
My feeling on the matter right now is that I would put Manny in the Hall, but not after a few years of “punishment waiting” sitting on the ballot. Perhaps I am being too sentimental and should be harder on the guy, but at least he didn’t deny, deny, deny and make baseball look like a bunch of guys trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
Time will tell.
Down To Willie
Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, and A-Rod dominated SS in the American League for quite a few seasons. I was always partially to “Nomah”, but you couldn’t go wrong with any of them.
The G-Man Goeth
“Our” Matty Guerrier is now a Los Angeles Dodger.
On the practical side of things, the Twins’ bullpen will miss Matty’s arm tremendously. On the numerous occasions that our entire bullpen seemed to be collapsing all at once, Guerrier was one guy who could usually stem the tide and at least get the defense off the field when no one else could.
However, there’s another part of me that thinks the Dodgers are getting Guerrier’s “last years” as a major leaguer. For most of his Twins tenure, he would get overused terribly during the first half of the season, and thus lose his effectiveness come September. Last year, he wasn’t even overused all that much and he STILL tired down the stretch.
I soemtimes just wonder if middle relievers have a short shelf life…period. I mean, what is a middle reliever but a guy without closer’s stuff, and without the stamina of a starter. So, they often have to rely on trickery, arm angles, or pitching to contact to succeed, all things that batters tend to figure out easier than pure heat or pinpoint location.
Thus, while I wish all the best for Matty in LA, I wonder if this isn’t a smart move (financially speaking, of course) for the Twins…dumping a guy BEFORE he loses it, not AFTER.
2010 MLB Picks
My “official” predictions for the 2010 MLB season (before the season gets too far along and starts to affect my judgement!):
AL East
New York
Boston (Wild Card)
Tampa Bay
Baltimore
Toronto
AL Central
Minnesota
Chicago
Kansas City
Detroit
Cleveland
AL West
Los Angeles
Oakland
Texas
Seattle
NL East
Philadelphia
Atlanta (Wild Card)
New York
Florida
Washington
NL Central
St. Louis
Chicago
Milwaukee
Cincinnati
Houston
Pittsburgh
NL West
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Arizona
Colorado
San Diego
AL Champ: New York
NL Champ: Atlanta
World Series Champ: Atlanta Braves
Questions, comments, rants, profanity-laced tirades?!
Blame It (On The T-T-T-T-T-T-T-Twins)
Last night, as the Chicago White Sox opened their last three-game series at their personal house of horrors, the Metrodome, the team was essentially playing for the rest of the season in one night. With the post-season roster deadline kicking in at midnight, it represented teams’ last chance to improve their club for the stretch run. The Pale Hose were the epitomy of a bubble team, quickly fading from the AL Central race and needing to win this series to have any realistic hopes of remaining in the conversation.
Good thing that the Twins showed up to play then, huh?! Nick Blackburn (7 IP, 1 ER, 7K) continued his mastery of the Sox, while both Jo-Mo and Kubel went deep for most of the home boys’ offense. Can you believe that Mauer (now at 26 dingers) has a shot at 30?! If Albert Pujols is the undisputed king of NL hitters, than Joe Mauer obviously holds that position in the junior circuit.
After the loss, then, the Pale Hosers decided to cut bait, trading Jim Thome and Jon Garland to the LA Dodgers and sending Jose Contreras to the Colorado Rockies. So even if the Twins don’t game another game on the Tigers all season, at least we have the satisfaction of knowing that he did our part to knock our fiercest rivals out of it (sounds crass, yes, but I cannot and will not sympathize with a team coached by a nutjob like Ozzie Guillen).
Notes:
-Wild prediction of the day: The Tampa Bay Rays will win the Wild Card in the AL.
-Speaking of the Rays, their big slugger Carlos Pena, quite remarkably, has more home runs than singles this season. Baseball Tonight continues to chart his progress, and it would be funny to see him finish that way. I believe Mark McGwire did that in his 70-homer season, if I’m not mistaken (or at least was close).
Preview (66-65, 2nd, 3.5 GB DET): John Danks (12-8, 3.82) vs. Jeff Manship (0-0, 5.14). Manship starting a game scares me a bit, but at least he won’t have Big Thome to deal with anymore!
Leo The Lip Gets It Right
Today, baseball celebrated the anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier back in 1947. I wanted to quickly recount my favorite story of that entire experience:
When Jackie Robinson first came up to the then-Brooklyn Dodgers, their manager was Leo “The Lip” Durocher. Of course, there was fallout just within the clubhouse walls as to whether Jackie should be allowed to wear Dodger blue, and a petition was passed around on which a signature declared a person’s opposition to Robinson. I believe it was during Spring Training of 1947 when this issue came to a head, and the petition (including at least half the clubhouse) was given to Durocher. As legend has it, he studied the paper document for a moment, then proceeded to give a heartfelt speech as to how HIS club would feature the best baseball players based on talent, not skin pigmentation. He concluded by telling the players exactly where they could stick that petition.
So thank you, Leo, for combating the bigotry/racism that permeated the game of baseball at that time.
MLB Predictions: 2009
Each year, usually after receiving the Sports Illustrated Baseball Preview issue, I make a complete set of MLB picks. It’s always fun to look back at them and see how right/wrong (wrong far outnumbering the right!) I was at the end of the season. Here they are for ’09:
AL East:
Boston
Tampa Bay (Wild Card)
New York
Toronto
Baltimore
AL Central:
Minnesota
Chicago
Kansas City
Cleveland
Detroit
AL West:
Los Angeles
Texas
Seattle
Oakland
NL East:
Philadelphia
New York (Wild Card)
Florida
Atlanta
Washington
NL Central:
Chicago
Milwaukee
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Houston
Pittsburgh
NL West:
Los Angeles
Arizona
San Francisco
Colorado
San Diego
AL Champion: Boston
NL Champion: Chicago
World Series Champion: Chicago
So, after 100 long seasons of waiting, I think this is the year that the Cubbies will finally win the big one. I just think that their pitching is too good not to make a deep playoff run.
Manny’s Feeling Blue
I just HAD to report today that Manny Ramirez agreed to a 2-year, $45 million contract with the LA Dodgers. Besides my Twins, Manny is my current favorite baseball player. While he’s probably the biggest jerk on the planet, he is also the greatest natural hitter of our generation. Steroids for Manny?! Pah!! He was born strong, mean, and with lightning-fast batting reflexes!
World Series Failing? Let Rivalries Develop
This week, while reading an article in Sports Illustrated magazine, I came across a rather lengthy article (although I cannot recall by whom) discussing how the World Series needs to re-establish its place as the crown-jewel of the baseball season, as in recent seasons (most dramatically this year) the event has lost huge viewership numbers, even losing to the NBA Finals in some seasons. The author of the article layed out a few solutions to the problem, such as starting games earlier (so kids and working adults can watch them), speeding up pitching changes, and doing something to take bad weather out of the equation (like mandating that all new parks be built with a retractable roof). However, I had a much different response to that article that I wanted to share on this blog…
To me, the drop in World Series luster in the recent years has, ironically, been caused by baseball’s biggest accomplishment…parity (eight different teams have played in the World Series the past four years). Think back to when the World Series was a premiere event…it was because the New York Yankees were dominating and everyone either loved them or loved to hate them. Realistically, the Yankees’ last playoff hurrah was in 2004 (when the Red Sox made their improbable comeback)…since then, the World Series just hasn’t been the same in terms of viewership (the Sox got a boost from beating the Yanks, of course).
So, at least in my mind, the best way to return to a star-studded World Series again is to let a big-market team dominate the playing field again. However, I am terribly opposed to that sort of economic structure (despite the excitement it brings to the playoffs, as who didn’t have a rooting interest in the Yankees either way over the past decade?!), so here is what I think is the next best solution…let the natural MLB rivalries develop.
Historically, the ALCS and NLCS series’ have often been more dramatic as the World Series just due to the fact that both teams (being in the same league) know each other so well. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, such rivalries as Cardinals-Astros, Braves-Mets, Yankees-Red Sox, and even Yankees-Rangers (for Texas’ first-round futility against the Bombers) really fueled the postseason structure, creating steam for a big World Series matchup. Because, even though the WS does not, by definition, precipitate geographic rivalries, it can be made more exciting by teams that just came off a thrilling victory. Growing up, I was always very anti-Yankees and anti-Braves (because I despised the advantages of large market teams over “my” Twins), but that “hatred” of those teams made me watch them all the more just to see them get beat! I think the same principle could apply to MLB today, but we just have to let a few rivalries play out.
For example, Red Sox-Rays (as pictured above) could be big for years to come, while White Sox-Twins also has potential In the NL, the Phillies and Dodgers may “get up” for each other after that spirited NLCS, while the Cubs and Cardinals are always at each other’s throats. Plus, who knows where new rivalries will emerge. Just last year, no one would have ever thought Sox-Rays would turn interesting, but look what happened. From my experience with the AL Central, the Twins and Royals have quite a rivalry, but it will only gain attention if the Royals win a few more games (Yikes!).
Thus, I don’t think that there is a “quick fix” to restoring luster to the World Series. I would love to see games start earlier and pitching changes go a bit quicker, but that alone will not restore interest…only teams, players, and the rivalries between them.
The Golden Boy
Yes, this is a bit of a late update (deer hunting opening weekend can do that to Twins fans!), but last Thursday it was announced that Twins catcher Joe Mauer received his first-ever AL Gold Glove award for his excellence at the catcher position. Anyone who has watched Mauer catch for the Twins in recent years knows that this award is very deserving, and actually long overdue. However, Gold Glove awards seem to run in bunches (Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez” had a lock on the award in recent seasons), so Mauer could very easily be beginning a long streak of taking home that specific gold hardware.
Next year, besides Mauer, I think Denard Span (if he sees everyday playing time) could very much be a Gold Glove candidate. Wouldn’t it be something to see Torii Hunter and his protege (Span) win the award in the same season?!
Twins Notes:
-A few rumors have been going around that Twins RF Michael Cuddyer has been mentioned in trade talks with the Colorado Rockies for their 3B Garrett Atkins. Don’t believe a word of it! With the kind of contract we gave Cuddyer prior to this season, he will be a Twin for a LONG time. Barring injury, he is a great right fielder with a cannon arm and good power…he’ll be sticking around.
-Also, the Twins have expressed interest in Dodgers 3B Casey Blake. However, Blake will ultimately have much too high of a price tag for the Twins’ budget. Plus, the platoon of Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris wasn’t all that bad last year, and Buscher has the potential to be an everyday player. My guess is that this rumor started up when Twins GM Bill Smith made one simple phone call to the Dodgers inquiring about Blake (likely at a bargain-basement price) like most other teams in the MLB right now that could use a third baseman. We had our shot at Blake earlier, but we went with Corey Koskie instead.
zkonedog
Recent Comments