32 Years of Waiting & 14 Years of SoSG

1988: birth year of Clayton Kershaw and Ghosts of a Championship Past.

When the Dodgers won the World Series in 1988, I was but a boy with hopes and dreams. 32 years later, that boy is older and heavier, his hopes and dreams having become wishes and adjusted expectations.

32 years is enough time to get an education and a job and realize how different they are from experience and a career. It's enough time to start a family, who will learn to tolerate your irrational Dodgers fandom.

Is it the Cubs' 108 years? Of course not. Is it still a fucking long time? Yes it is.

It's also enough time to figure out winning the World Series takes talent, discipline...and some je ne sais quoi.

Talent: The Dodgers were always rich enough to afford it (and sometimes stupid enough to give it away).

Discipline: Levels of hard work and common sense seemed to vary with the revolving door of managers that followed Tommy Lasorda's 20-year tenure, as well as the whims of whoever was keeping the GM chair warm (Kevin Malone? DePo?).

Intangibles: We never seemed to possess the inevitability of the Yankees, the devil magic of the Cardinals and Giants, the scrappiness (later entitlement) of the Red Sox. We endured 31 years of postseason drought and disappointment, never even getting within a victory of reaching the World Series. The Astros' cheating scandal of 2017 and the Red Sox cheating in 2018 were just the cherries on top of the cowpie.

So what changed? It was as slow as turning a battleship, but here's the summary:

1. Fuck off, Fox.
2. Go to hell, Frank & Jamie.
3. Hello, Guggenbros and Andrew Friedman (assist: Ned Colletti).

The result? A steady stream of talent (not just the occasional Manny Ramirez-esque splurge) resulting in 8 straight division titles. An organizational philosophy of discipline. Remember how frustrating the swing-for-the-fences approach was just a few years ago? Then this year, cavernous Globe Life Field became our "home" park and talk started about how the Dodgers' homer-happy approach could fall flat there.

Globe Death Field

— Sons of Steve Garvey (@sosgsosg) October 7, 2020

Instead the Dodgers made adjustments and nailed the balance of situational hitting and bashing dingers. Discipline! Lots of credit to hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc for that.

And the intangibles! Finally luck was a lady, the cookie didn't crumble, the ball bounced our way:

NLDS Game 1. 5th inning: Padres 1, Dodgers 0. Dodger-killer Jake Cronenworth makes a throwing error, allowing us to tie the score. We score 4 runs the next inning.

Something about that 5th inning pic.twitter.com/Bp7xCo6Bgh

— Sons of Steve Garvey (@sosgsosg) October 7, 2020

NLDS Game 2. 7th inning: Dodgers 4, Padres 3. Cody's catch! It sets the stage for a one-run squeaker of a victory (thanks Kenley):

I thought we were toast after going down 3-1 to the Barves in the NLCS. Indeed we were losing in the 6th inning of Game 7, but there was a crucial momentum shift two innings earlier:

NLCS Game 7. 4th inning: Barves 3, Dodgers 2. The inexplicable Barves double brain-fart:

What if Swanson pulls a Pierzynski and touches home after JT's tag? Maybe a replay situation. What if Riley doesn't double back like ZZ Top in Back to the Future III? Maybe he's safe at third. More maybes than in an Arrested Development marathon!

NLCS Games 5-7. One word: Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooookie.

And the coup de grâce:

World Series Game 5. 4th inning: Dodgers 3, Rays 2. Manuel Margot decides he's the man:

Silly rabbit, Kershaw's the man.

(And for anyone questioning the legitmacy of a COVID-shortened season: The two best teams met after a regular season that was mentally and emotionally more taxing than a 162-game season, plus every playoff team had to play an extra round. Take your asterisks back to 2017 where they belong.)

32 years is a generation! Thanks to the Guggenbros for investing the scratch, to Friedman for his roster wizardry and to Doc for keeping the egos in check. Best of all, their sustainable approach means we should be competitive for the forseeable future.

And when we win the World Series again, I still won't be done celebrating this one.

♦

The nadir of the Dodgers' 31 years of postseason futility came in the 2006 NLDS against the Mets. Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew were thrown out at home on the same play — by an all-former-Dodgers relay of Shawn Green to José Valentín to Paul "Fuck the Dodgers" Lo Duca. Naturally the Dodgers went on to lose that game by 1 run and get swept out of the series.

The collective outrage from group e-mails within our circle of Dodger fans must have been overheating our Intel Celeron microprocessors because days later, we decided to take our talents to Blogger. The Dodgers' streak of futility was at a mere 18 years — what babies we were! — when Sax made our first post.

It was three years B.T. (Before Twitter) and we were getting started during the golden age of sports blogging. It was thrilling to see the blog gain readership and recognition by the Dodgers organization itself (shoutout to Josh Rawitch!).

A glance at the sidebar shows our "attendance" at over 3.5 million views, which still blows my mind. A big hug to my friends and fellow Sons — the rest of the O.G. 6 — AC, EK, Lasorda, Pedro & Sax — and the "newcomers" — Delino, Dusty, Gnomes & Stubbs (and honorary DoSG Karina!).

But 14 years of blogging? Also a long time. At times it's felt like a crying baby that needs to be fed (damn GTs!). And the 31 years of falling short didn't help.

Now that we've arrived at the promised land...I don't know? In this fucked-up year, Vin Scully's truism holds even more true: "If you want to make God smile, tell him your plans."

Go Blue!

Crawdaddy: An Appreciation

Crawdaddy is dead; long live Crawdaddy. Thanks to loyal SoSGer Johnny Blanchard for this in-depth take on Carl Crawford's meaning to the Dodgers:

Carl Crawford is gone, long live Carl Crawford. Here was something that happened some time ago. Per baseballreference.com:

August 25, 2012: [Carl Crawford] traded by the Boston Red Sox with Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez, Nick Punto and cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers for players to be named later, Ivan De Jesus, James Loney and Allen Webster. The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Rubby De La Rosa (October 4, 2012) and Jerry Sands (October 4, 2012) to the Boston Red Sox to complete the trade.

This is part and parcel of our new era, Dodgers fans. This was basically the big move that the new ownership (AKA Magic!) gave us, as a sign of our commitment to winning. The sign that the Dodgers were going to be the behemoth that we were supposed to be all along. Look at that trade right there again. Even before opening up the stats pages, you already know that this trade has been an unqualified success. They swung for the fences — our Dodgers — and we crushed it.

The Dodgers from 1986 to 2006 stunk. Oh sure, we got the World Championship in '88, but let’s face it, that team sucked. Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson were it, with a bunch of crap otherwise. Past Kirk and O, our next biggest contributors per WAR were Tim Leary and Tim Belcher and John Shelby. Tim Leary had no track record; Belcher was a rookie; Shelby was acquired in a good trade to get rid of Niedenfuer, although there was really no indication Shelby would be a great player, and really he wasn’t in 1988. It’s really a joke to look back on how poorly the Dodgers were run back then. After the '70s and early '80s, the Dodgers were good but not great, and certainly not performing like the elite top 3 team they should’ve been. And then came the '90s, which were fine I guess, but I knew when we made the playoffs in the mid-'90s we were the inferior team to whomever we played. AND THEN we traded a Hall of Fame player ("Mike Piazza") that our galactically stupid fans booed before he left because he had the gall to ask for money commensurate with his talent. Then came the early 2000s and basically mediocrity until the wonderful McCourts showed up.

Frank McCourt tried to do what was right. This is true, amazingly enough. He didn’t know anything about baseball (other than the Red Sox were wicked awesome), so he went out, and you’ve gotta give it to the Bostonian jerk, he hired the smartest guy around, one Paul DePodesta. Now, despite your opinion, typical Dodger fan, Mr. DePodesta was our best upper management type since I would assume the '80s, judging on the stupidity of our moves during those years. You may hate math and calculators and spreadsheets and numbers, but those sorts of things are the things that typically entail what is called "a plan." So DePodesta put together a plan, wherein we signed good players that were actually worth the money and got rid of pieces of garbage that were overvalued and/or aging steroid freaks (see Encarnacion, Juan — the man who ranked in the top 10 in outs made in 2002 and 2003 and LoDuca, Paul who was 32 when we traded him and about to be a free agent after magically having a 25 home run season in 2001, when he turned 29, after hitting 35 in his entire professional career prior to that), and in return we got a great pitcher (see Penny, Brad) who was 26 years old. Those are the sorts of things someone does when he has a plan.

But, alas, Paul DePodesta was fired the next year, essentially because Bill Plaschke had it out for him, and Bill Plaschke had it out for him because he was a nerd. No sources are needed for this assertion because everyone is aware of this that follows the Dodgers and Plaschke wrote a column acknowledging it, for Pete's sake. So, the dumb fans booed away because they traded away Paul Lo Duca, a non-Hall of Fame catcher, and the Dodgers lost a smart general manager with a plan, back when those general managers were not as prevalent as now, 2005.

OK, fast forward, we had old Ned Colletti, and whatever, he was fine, but not exactly on the forefront of the sabermetric revolution. He played along with McCourt's desires to suck money out of the Dodgers and they did OK, mostly because of our great farm system of the 2000s. Blah, blah, blah, it wasn’t actually that bad and Manny Ramirez dropped into our laps, and they had a great late 2000s, being a lot closer to the World Series than most fans realize. In any case, they were starting to have a plan, which was to build a farm system, essentially because it was cheaper than acquiring old talent, thanks to Frank McCourt. Amazingly enough.

And then "Magic" bought the Dodgers in May 2012, and the Dodgers finally had someone with a plan. Does anyone out there realize this is the golden era? Do you people know we are in the good old days? Who cares if we have tons of money but the guys who run the team are idiots? We had idiots running our team from 1986 until 2006, give or take. And starting in 2012 until this moment, we have a plan. And the first big move was to use our financial power to get a great player (see Gonzalez, Adrian), along with useful, good Major League players (see Punto, Beckett, and Crawford) that helped our team.

Carl Crawford hit .278/.320/.400 for us from 2012-2016. He even stole 48 out of 61 bases, which is a good rate. I am unaware that he was a clubhouse cancer. He was not a great outfielder, but not horrible. He had a bad arm. Having a bad arm is the least important thing for a left fielder. (As a side note, as regards winning, having a great arm in the outfield, especially left field, is spectacularly overrated. This is one of those things that stupid fans think is important but it is really just a very obvious thing when a guy can’t throw well. Meanwhile, ask those stupid fans what exactly makes Carl Crawford a vastly superior player to Juan Pierre. I guarantee you those fans find it hilarious to say that Crawford has a noodle arm. So did Pierre. Pierre had less than half of Crawford’s career WAR in about the same number of years.) Carl Crawford hit .353/.421/.882 in the 2013 NLDS, which kinda helped us win that series.

So, I don’t know, maybe I'm fighting a straw man here, and everyone appreciated Carl Crawford’s contributions. I guess what I'm saying is that Y'ALL need to know that the Dodgers being "forced" to take Carl Crawford’s contract is exactly why it’s awesome to be a Dodgers fan right now.

Photoshop by @EephusBlue

Dodgers Shave Beard, Take $10M Chance

• Brian Wilson designated for assignment by Dodgers (Eric Stephen, True Blue LA)
  
• Source: Dodgers land lefty Anderson with $10 million deal (Ken Gurnick, Dodgers.com)
  

It's official: 2015 is Andrew Friedman's "Undo Colletti's Terrible Deals" Year. And Friedman/Zaidi may not be done: Rumor has it that Brandon League is on the trading block. Talk about cleaning house!

From Colletti to Zaidi: Front Office Gets Brainier

Dodgers will name Oakland's Farhan Zaidi the new general manager later this week, according to baseball source.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) November 5, 2014

Source: #Dodgers will name Farhan Zaidi their new GM this week. Josh Byrnes will be a senior executive.

— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) November 5, 2014

New #Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi went to MIT, has doctorate from UC Berkeley. Read this by @susanslusser. http://t.co/UjpabkQ8Ru

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 5, 2014

Farhan Zaidi is incredibly smart, someone who listens and works well in collaborative environments, and is Canadian. Dodgers did well.

— Jonah Keri (@jonahkeri) November 5, 2014

With Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi and Josh Byrnes, the Dodgers have a front office with brains and audacity. A force to be reckoned with.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 5, 2014

The Walking Ned

Well, holy crap.

The Dodgers will name former Tampa Bay Rays general manager Andrew Friedman as their new president of baseball operations (which I believe is a newly-created position just for him), sources told ESPN

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) October 14, 2014

Ramona's got the full scoop HERE.

To recap: Andrew Friedman is the new President of Baseball Operations. He can hire a new GM. Ned falls up, to become Stan's...something. Donnie likely staying.

More later, after our heads are done exploding.

Post NLDS Game 4 Thread: There Is No God

CARDINALS 3, DODGERS 2

There is no god. Because even the most psychotically perverse deity would not have allowed what befell Clayton Kershaw in the seventh inning in Game 4. Stoked by a lead again (2-0), and cruising to a one-hitter over the Cardinals, Kershaw inexplicably gave up a three-run HR to unlikely rotund hero Matt Adams. This time, unlike in Game 1, Kershaw wasn't just trying to overpower the Cardinals with fastballs. But this time, it was a hanging curveball which unraveled the Dodgers, and ultimately eliminated us from the 2014 postseason.

Brutal.

How inexplicable was this? So crazy, that ESPN's statistics department couldn't even add correctly:

Clearly, in giving 108%, Kershaw was short 2%.

Kershaw, obviously crestfallen and befuddled, admirably faced stupid questions from an insipid St. Louis press corps, and soldiered through post-game interviews with class and dignity that I suppose could only be expected from The Best Pitcher In Baseball:

"The season ended and I'm a big part of the reason why," Kershaw said. "It doesn't matter how I pitched. It's bad deja vu all over again. I felt we had a really good chance to win. I'm thankful we got here and hope to be back."

Looking at the photos of Kershaw walking off the mound in the seventh inning, my heart aches. He doesn't deserve this. And we Dodger fans don't deserve this either, what with the NL West-winning Dodgers going home, while the second-place retread Giants advancing to the NLCS, in a series where I don't want either team to win (in fact, I hope it goes seven games of 99 innings each, all of which with microscopic television ratings).

Manager Don Mattingly? Yeah, he deserves the vitriol, again doing a fine job managing the team through six innings, but finding himself at a loss beyond that. Mattingly also spent the morning getting crucified on Twitter for benching Yasiel Puig in favor of Andre Ethier (who went 0-for-2 with two walks, but was picked off third base to end the sixth inning in Puigian fashion, failing to dive back to the bag after considering coming home on a shallow passed ball). Ethier's performance was not worth the substitution. And Mattingly did end up putting Puig in later in Game 4, as a pinch runner of all things, which also makes no sense.

Dan Haren never entered the NLDS, even in relief. Not sure why we were saving him.

Ned Colletti sure as heck should be under consideration for blame, being allowed to play with the highest payroll in baseball, but neglecting to fortify a bullpen beyond a closer.

And there are fingers to be pointed at some of the members of the team. Hanley Ramirez, if he had any defensive skills, could have leapt for that second single that preceded the Adams HR. It would have been a double play had he caught it. Dee Gordon and Juan Uribe, both of whom were impressive this regular season, neglected to show up at the plate for most of this series.

But Kershaw, at the center of the storm? I've lost faith in everything at this point. But not him.

We'll get 'em next year, Clayton. We just have to clean some house around you first.

Now please excuse me, as I go get my Orioles and Royals gear on.

Colletti's Investments Give Positive (Very) Early Returns

Shockingly, after standing pat at the July 31 trade deadline, Ned Colletti's snags of Roberto Hernandez and Kevin Correia seem...actually pretty good. So far. I mean, it's only one start for each new acquisition. But these early results bring fine praise from ESPN.com's Mark Saxon:

So far, Colletti’s two post-deadline moves, fine-print transactions though they were, have achieved exactly what he was looking to do: They’ve made everybody less freaked out about the Nos. 4 and 5 spots in the rotation. Correia pitched six strong innings in the Dodgers' 6-2 win over the Atlanta Braves Monday night, three days after Colletti's other acquisition, Roberto Hernandez, pitched six strong innings in a loss at Milwaukee.

And don't think the people in the Dodgers clubhouse didn’t notice when the trade deadline came and went without any action. Getting a couple of veterans in the ensuing week was, to quote manager Don Mattingly, a "shot in the arm," particularly when both performed well, suggesting a change in scenery to a winning team could suit both players. Hernandez played on another last-place team, the Philadelphia Phillies. Colletti also added utility infielder Darwin Barney, who made his Dodgers debut Monday as a pinch hitter, rapping a sharply hit grounder to the left side that was gobbled up nicely by Chris Johnson for an out.

"Right now, we'll take whatever comes our way and roll with it," Carl Crawford said.

The plan is to leave Hernandez in the rotation as the fill-in for injured Josh Beckett, but Mattingly said Correia, once he recovers from Monday's start, will pitch out of the bullpen moving forward. That is a vote of confidence in veteran Dan Haren, who had one of his finest outings of the year last week in Anaheim, California. But Correia hasn't made a relief appearance in two years, and, while the Dodgers won't say it publicly, he's their safety net if Haren reverts to the form of his previous five starts, in which he had a 10.03 ERA.

Together, Hernandez and Correia will cost the Dodgers about $3 million for the remainder of this season. Both are free agents in November. For a team that spends as lavishly as the Dodgers, that seems a reasonable sum to fix what was clearly the team's most glaring hole.

Also, given they are both waiver wire moves, it's odd that the San Francisco Giants haven't blocked either one of the Dodgers' waiver wire acquisitions. The Giants' big deadline push for Jake Peavy has yet to yield returns; he's 0-3 so far as a Giant, with his next start Wednesday against the White Sox, vs. Jose Quintana.

Colletti's Lack Of Trade Deadline Movement Earns Him Passing Grade

Now that Jim Bowden has had time to digest all the trade deadline moves, he ranked Dodgers GM Ned Colletti down the list, at a "C" grade (link insider only):

Ned Colletti, Los Angeles Dodgers / Grade: C

Trades: Traded Jonathan Martinez to Cubs for second baseman Darwin Barney.

Analysis: Sometimes the best trades you make are the ones you don't make, and that was the case here. The Dodgers were able to keep all of their elite prospects, and in staying quiet at the deadline (other than the minor trade for Barney, who has been assigned to Triple-A) , the management showed its players that it has confidence they can win a World Series with what they have.

The Tigers' Dave Dombrowski led all GMs with his move for David Price, and an A grade. The Giants' Brian Sabean picked up a B for snagging Jake Peavy.

Colletti Takes Two Slots of Top 10 "Worst MLB Contracts"

To be fair, the Rangers (Prince Fielder #1, and Shin-Soo Choo #5) and the Yankees (Alex Rodriguez #8, and CC Sabathia #9) also have two slots on the list. But the Dodgers are called out on two of Ned Colletti's deals: Matt Kemp (#7) and Carl Crawford (#10) (link insider only):

7. Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers (minus-$63 million)

We talked a lot about Kemp last week, so there's no need to rehash the tale of Kemp's decline from superstar center fielder to Josh Willingham. Kemp can still contribute to a major league team, but if the Dodgers are expecting anything in return, they will have to eat a serious chunk of his remaining deal. 10. Carl Crawford, Los Angeles Dodgers (minus-$57 million)

There might be a team willing to pay $60 million or so for an injury-prone fourth outfielder. Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Dodgers, that team is most likely the Los Angeles Dodgers. Although there's at least a chance that another team is highly optimistic on Matt Kemp's remaining upside and gives him an aggressive valuation, it's very unlikely that anyone would do the same for Crawford.

Good times.

Speaking Of Burgers: Dodgers Apparently "Have Chips" To Deal

See, we've been talking about burgers a lot lately, right? And places like the UK and Australia, for example, call french fries "chips". Get it?

Anyway, the Dodgers say that we're open to dealing at the trade deadline, but we "won't be forced":

The priority area of concern for general manager Ned Colletti isn't trading an outfielder but acquiring a starter and reliever, and no deal is imminent. Of course, no deal was imminent three days before the July 31 Deadline of 2008. So if Manny Ramirez can fall into your lap and turn around a season, anything is possible.

But supply and demand indicates that the Dodgers might do nothing more in the next few days than add to their bench depth. Infielder Darwin Barney, for instance, is available.

"We may not do anything," Colletti said on Saturday. "I think we have the players here that can win."

That would explain why manager Don Mattingly, earlier in the week, seemed to lower the bar on expectations when asked about the need for an acquisition.

"For me, I'll take my club right now," Mattingly said. "Sometimes you make a move to show you're trying to win. We know we're trying to win. I can't sit here and say I have to have anything."

Mattingly gets briefed on the trade talks that, for now, have the Dodgers convinced there are too many teams looking for pitching and too few teams selling it. And three confirmed sellers are division neighbors San Diego, Colorado and Arizona. There's no better way for an executive to get dismissed than to help the Dodgers beat them, so any deal with those clubs would extract a heavy price.

The price the Dodgers still aren't willing to pay is any of their top three prospects -- Joc Pederson, Corey Seager or Julio Urias. To land a difference-maker like David Price, Jon Lester or Cole Hamels, it would take two of them. That's even less likely, considering ownership's commitment to restoring in-house development.

"Based on what I know of who can be acquired, I don't see us doing anything that's going to tear apart our farm system," Colletti said.

That's right, we won't be forced by another club to make a stupid trade-deadlilne move. No sir, Ned Colletti can make unimpactful trade deadline deals for starters like Octavio Dotel all by himself.

Olney Suggests Dodgers Shake Up Lineup, Strengthen Defense

In saying the Dodgers have a star-driven lineup, but with many parts that don't fit, ESPN.com's Buster Olney says the Dodgers need to shake things up (link insider only):

Mattingly's current Dodgers team should be better than that because they have much better pitching, with Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Josh Beckett, etc., etc. They also have one of the best young players in the sport in the ever-improving Yasiel Puig.

But they don't fit. They don't have a true center fielder on their major league roster, now that they've determined Matt Kemp cannot play that position adequately. (Scott Van Slyke probably never dreamed he would start in center field in the big leagues, as he did the other day.) Andre Ethier could get a lot of starts at the spot, as he did last year, but he's a corner outfielder.

And they really don't have a shortstop, either; Hanley Ramirez ranks as the worst middle infielder in baseball in some defensive metrics, numbers that match the eye test of a number of rival evaluators, many of whom believe that Ramirez is not good enough to hold down the position unless he's killing the ball at the plate. So far, he's not.

So the Dodgers, just like some of Steinbrenner's 1980s teams, have the highest payroll and a whole lot of stars but little to no glove help at shortstop and center field. It's hard to win without a defensive backbone.

And now Mattingly is concerned about the team's chemistry, about the players pulling together, and after Wednesday's loss, he told reporters that he was sick of talking about the team's failures and suggested they go ask the players.

The Dodgers didn't play Thursday, and yet they managed to lose more ground in the standings because the Giants never seem to lose. As of this morning, the Dodgers are 8½ games out of first in the NL West and their situation is reaching critical mass, as it did last June. that was when general manager Ned Colletti met with the staff on a road trip and encouraged Mattingly to simply stop worrying about the feelings of individuals and play the best players.

Mattingly did this, and the Dodgers proceeded to go on a 42-8 run and reach the National League Championship Series.

Might they head down the same path?

The Dodgers certainly have the options to try. They have a legitimate center fielder in Triple-A who is killing the ball in Joc Pederson (1.071 OPS). They could call him up, start him in center and move Ethier to left field. But there would be fallout: Kemp, whom the Dodgers owe almost $130 million, would have even less opportunity for playing time. He, Ethier, Carl Crawford and Van Slyke would be left to battle over at-bats. The "intrigue meter" would climb again.

The Dodgers also have an outstanding defensive shortstop available to them in Erisbel Arruebarrena. He was sent down by the team Friday, but he has greatly impressed the staff with how he moves, with his range and athleticism. There is no indication the Dodgers are thinking about moving Ramirez to third base in the summer before he becomes a free agent, and they might be concerned with how he would react to such a suggestion.

Dee Gordon's offense has been slipping of late, Arruebarrena is not regarded as a good offensive player, and Pederson would probably go through the inevitable rookie slump as the league makes its adjustments to him, attacking him with lefty pitchers, his kryptonite last year.

But the point is, given their strong rotation, the Dodgers might be better off focusing on fielding the best possible defensive group, and given how they're performing now, what do they have to lose?

As high as our payroll is, the two places where we seem to have a lot of holes is middle infield (Hanley Ramirez is always cited as being horrible defensively, and his frequent double-clutches and missed plays this season seem to underline the point; when HanRam isn't hitting well, there is nothing to compensate for this gap; meanwhile, Dee Gordon has been a pleasant surprise on offense this year to date, but his defense still needs some work as well), and the outfield, whose irony in carrying four starters without a solid center fielder underscores the absurdity of Ned Colletti's Frankenstein-like monstrosity of a lineup. Why money can't solve these two holes, I'm not sure; but we sure have a lot of money caught up in these two areas as it is.

Time for a shake-up? Well, we're certainly running out of time for anything else.

LAT's Hernandez Covers Mattingly, But Zings Colletti

I was cracking up reading Dylan Hernandez' recap of the awkward Don Mattingly press conference earlier this week, not so much because he laid out the stakes that Mattingly had put forth, but also because he summed up Ned Colletti's appearance at the conference quite cleanly:

In the division series, Mattingly had to field a question about whether his uncertain job status factored into him starting Clayton Kershaw on three days’ rest. In light of the revelation Monday about why Mattingly’s option vested, the questioned turned out to be a very valid one. But rather than offer Mattingly any public assurances, team President Stan Kasten called the inquiring reporter something that can’t printed in a family newspaper.

All of this could have been avoided had Kasten budged from his stance of refusing to comment on Mattingly's situation.

Kasten operated under the mistaken assumption that if he didn't address it, it wouldn't be written or talked about. The tactic might have worked in smaller cities in which Kasten previously ran teams but backfired spectacularly in America's second-largest media market.

Not wanting to cause any distractions for his team, Mattingly played along with Kasten during the season, according to a person familiar with the manager's thinking. But Mattingly became upset in the days that followed the Dodgers' elimination, as no one reached out to him to address his or his coaching staff's future.

Kasten usually loves talking in front of television cameras but conveniently excused himself from the Monday news conference. Later, he declined an additional opportunity to defend his handling of the matter. As such, Colletti was left in the uncomfortable position of answering questions on his behalf.

Colletti wants Mattingly back and it makes sense he would. Mattingly's departure would place him next in line to be fired. But Colletti also couldn't back Mattingly completely, as doing so would amount to him questioning Kasten's policies.

Colletti drew on the political savvy that helped him survive for eight seasons, simultaneously walking a tightrope and tap-dancing around land mines.

Colletti first complimented Mattingly, reminding everyone he hired Mattingly and saying he thought Mattingly has demonstrated he is capable of managing in the majors.

But asked if he understood Mattingly's concerns about being a lame duck, Colletti offered this non-answer: "It's a personal taste. There's a lot of guys that have won on one-year contracts — not one-year contracts, but the end of a contract. There's people that have won the World Series in that situation and there's people that haven't. There's people that have had three-year contracts and didn't survive the first two weeks of it."

Colletti then resorted to the ever-popular blame-the-media gambit.

"Certainly in the month of May, a lot of people that do what you do for a living had it all figured out, down to the very day it was going to happen," Colletti said. "It never happened. It's like when you hear the world's going to end, you know? That's the same type of deal. The world's still here and we're still here."

Basically, Colletti had nothing substantive to say.

And there you have it. This is more awkward than having my drunk uncle's inappropriate comments at the Christmas dinner table (followed by more unsubstantive conversation, in kind). Good times!

image swiped from here

Juan and Ned's Excellent Adventure

What a long, strange journey it's been from this image, which quickly became fodder for jokes...

...to this image of pure elation:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Juan Uribe's "zero to hero" redemption arc has been my favorite story of this baseball season. I never would have suspected in 2011 that he'd end up one of my favorite players to watch.

I can't wait to see how this ends.*

*I mean, OTHER than him getting re-signed for 2014, since that seems like a given at this point.

At-Game Recap: Sept. 27 vs. Rockies, Blogger Night 2013

It almost goes without saying at this point that the Dodgers are very good to bloggers. We get invited to cool events. We get press box access. (Some of us get it full time.) And, of course, we get a whole night all about us once a year.

This year, the Dodgers scheduled the 6th annual Blogger Night on the first night of the final homestand. (We thought they might not have it this year, and hey, they're not obligated to, so we've very appreciative when they do manage it.) It turns out this was a great time to have it, as the whole night felt like a victory party of sorts to conclude this crazy regular season.

One of the most fun parts of Blogger Night is sharing a suite with folks from other blogs and finally getting a chance to put some faces to the screen names (or Twitter handles). Blogs in attendance this year were Vin Scully Is My Homeboy, Lasorda's Lair, True Blue L.A. (represented by Craig and Brandon...Eric was busy, of course), Dodgers Nation, DodgerDiamond, Think Blue L.A., New Grass on The Field, West Coast Bias Sports, and Paint The Corners. (Paint the Corners is run by talented artist and Twitter snark master EephusBlue.) I joked at one point that I was surprised that Tony Jackson wasn't banished to the suite with us lowly uncredentialed bloggers after his peegate post.

The Dodgers are also great about providing guest speakers for this event. This year (as with last year), Stan Kasten and Ned Colletti spent some time with us. Keep in mind, this is an organization prepping for a playoff run. They could have easily skimped on the guests, claiming everyone is busy. Instead, we got the president and GM. Not too shabby.

Stan spoke first, mentioning how he's never quite sure how teams should handle bloggers (We're not quite press, but we're more than fans, essentially.), but that everything he was going to say would be on the record. He spoke briefly about renovation plans for the offseason (implying that he'd love to be forced to wait until November to start). There won't be any major demolition this offseason, but look for more bars, restaurants, and walk-up eating areas. He did say, if time allows, that the visitors clubhouse could get an upgrade this season. (Not sure how that fits with "no major demolition.")

I asked him about the wi-fi and cellular improvements. He said he was embarrassed that they were unable to deliver them when promised. The good news is, he received word shortly before seeing us that that there will be at least "some" wi-fi access in place for the Postseason. (A wi-fi newtork labeled "Public Access" was up and running during the game, and most of us were using it. Not sure if this is what will be available starting Sunday.) No definitive date or details on the cellular improvements were given, but Stan did mention that Sprint had opted out of the plan.

Other topics Stan touched on were the new Dodgers network (On schedule. We should hear more in January.), facing the Braves in the playoffs ("I have mixed emotions."), the Vin Scully Way plan ("I'm for honoring Vin Scully even if it means opposing Vin himself."), and the Jonathan Denver tragedy. Stan said no firm tribute had been planned for Denver, but there was a moment of silence before the game.

Up next was Ned Colletti, and the first thing I noticed was how much more jovial he was compared to last year's Blogger Night. I suppose winning the division does wonders for his mood. We shared a laugh about the idea of having a sitcom focused on Uribe/Hanley/Puig/Ryu on the new network. On the topic of Uribe, Ned strongly hinted that he'd be back in 2014. ("The guy you're seeing now is the guy we signed in 2010. I don't have an explanation for it.") Though, he was firm with us that there would be no talk of 2014 signings (Nolasco, Wilson, etc.) until 2013's run was over.

Some other highlights of Ned's talk: When he acquires a big-name player, he always thinks about who that player will be blocking. He wants prospects to get their first taste of failure in Single-A or Double-A, not in the majors. There are no Kershaw contract talks going on right now. Mattingly's job is not in danger if he doesn't win in the Postseason. (Interesting.) And, perhaps most obviously, this is the best team he's had in his term as GM.

After Ned wrapped up, we got a brief visit from Jon Chapper from Dodgers PR and Josh Tucker from Dodgers Social Media. Strange as it may sound, meeting Josh was the highlight of my night. He runs the Dodgers Twitter account, and as you might know, I spend a fair amount of time on Twitter. It was nice to get some behind-the-scenes info about how social media impacts the team. ("Juan Uribe was born for social media.") We talked about the Vin Scully Tweetcast ("Highlight of my career"), the "Stay Classy, San Diego" tweet (He thought it was harmless at the time.) and the George Lopez Twitter takeover (more popular among the general fan population than the Twitter-savvy crowd). Josh even had praise for those of us that use Twitter to both bring the funny and maintain a sense of community during games.

And then there was the game itself. To be honest, it's now just a blur of free Dodger Dogs and offensive explosions. I mentioned on Twitter that night that the game felt like a victory lap. Everything about the night reminded me of how crazy and fun this season has been, and it definitely got us all hyped for the upcoming October run. Some of us stayed in the suite until we were kicked out, unable to stop talking about matchups, rosters, rotations, and generally just nerding out completely.

A tremendous thank you to Garrett Thomas, Jon Chapper, Josh Tucker, Yvonne Carrasco, Stan Kasten, Ned Colletti (and a few more front office folks who came by but whose names I missed), and my fellow bloggers in attendance for making Blogger Night a truly special evening.

Game 158 Thread: Sept. 25 @ Giants, 7p

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Ricky Nolasco (13-10, 3.55) vs. Barry Zito (4-11, 5.91).

General consensus is that Ryu locked up the number-three position in the Dodgers' playoff pitching rotation with yesterday's impressive performance, but we'll see what Nolasco, who's coming off two rough starts, has to say about that. Meanwhile, this is likely Zito's last start with the Giants. Look for Ned in the visiting dugout, checkbook in hand.

Dodgers tickets

Thanks to Gnomes for the caption.

Buster Olney Likes Colletti's Dumpster Diving

Image likely not of Ned Colletti

Whatever Ned Colletti has been selling lately, it appears ESPN.com's Buster Olney has been buying (link insider only):

The postseason often comes down to bullpen and bench, as some managers will argue, so in that context, think about what Dodgers GM Ned Colletti has done in recent weeks:

1. Added Carlos Marmol, a plus arm with a wipeout slider, in a salary dump by the Cubs. Look, Cubs fans may never forgive him for all of his blown saves, but while with the Dodgers, he’s thrived pitching in low-leverage spots. He hasn’t allowed a run in his past 11 outings for L.A., allowing just five hits in 11 innings. He costs the Dodgers $500,000 for this year. (In that deal, the Dodgers also acquired $200,000 in international-signing cap space.)

2. Signed Brian Wilson, who threw in the 93 mph range in his first three appearances. The Dodgers are paying him $1 million.

3. Signed Edinson Volquez. For $82,000, the Dodgers have somebody to compete with Chris Capuano for the No. 5 spot in the rotation who also gives them some fall-back in case they're hit by a series of injuries.

4. Traded for Michael Young. The Dodgers really didn’t have anybody to step in at first base in the event that Adrian Gonzalez went down. Now they add a proven veteran hitter who can not only play first base, if needed, but could also play third or the two middle-infield positions, or pinch-hit. He’ll cost the Dodgers $810,000.

Juan Uribe figures to hold on to the everyday job at third base, but Young’s presence will continue to push him -- and throughout the roster, there will be a lot of internal competition. Once Matt Kemp comes back, the four outfielders -- Yasiel Puig, Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier and Kemp -- will be battling for three spots. Nick Punto, Skip Schumaker, Jerry Hairston and Young are all available if Uribe struggles or if Mark Ellis gets hurt.

Are you looking for experienced depth? Well, Young has played in the World Series twice, Schumaker has won two championship rings, Hairston was part of the Yankees’ championship team in 2009, Punto has played in the postseason three times and Wilson got the final out of the 2010 World Series.

The Dodgers can do a lot of stuff because they have a big payroll, but a lot of these moves were done on the cheap -- Marmol, Young, Wilson and Volquez cost L.A. about $2.4 million altogether.

Without a doubt, we have incredible versatility in the discarded players we have to use. Will any of them step up to be a factor for us in the playoffs (amidst reduced roster sizes)? We'll see.

photo swiped from here

Game 135 Thread: August 31 vs. Padres, 6p

Chris Capuano (4-7, 4.74 ERA) vs. Andrew Cashner (8-8, 3.55 ERA)

Capuano goes tonight to try to prove he should remain the fifth starter over recently-acquired Edinson Volquez. But really, doesn't it just come down to who is the lesser to two evils? The fact that we're even having a fifth starter competition at this point in a season where we're 10.5 games up with only 28 games to play seems absurd. They're both crap; Cap as a starter (however oddly symmetrical his pitching stats above may be) and Edinson out of the pen. I guess we have to have something to complain about in an otherwise positive stretch run. We keep this winning up, and the Stat Lickers will start in again complaining when we get a reliever warmed up in the pen but don't use him.

Today is the last day before September call-ups. Ned says he expects to bring up 5-7 guys from the minors, but not make any more acquisitions. Also in the mix is the return of Matt Kemp. With roster expansion and a comfortable lead in the division, this should allow Mattingly to give guys some needed days off so they're rested for the post season. The day off and the off day seemed to be just what Adrian Gonzalez needed, and it showed last night.

Yes, I said it. Post season. Better get ready.

Check Out The Big Brain On Ned

Not sure how I missed this before the weekend, but Dodgers GM Ned Colletti snagged an "A" grade from ESPN.com's Jim Bowden, grading the GMs at the trade deadline (link insider only)

Ned Colletti, Los Angeles Dodgers Grade: A

The Dodgers gave up a bunch of second-tier prospects to get Ricky Nolasco while keeping all of their top guys. Their willingness to take on the rest of Nolasco's 2013 salary was key, and that's a luxury they enjoy. They also took a flier by signing Brian Wilson, and he could end up being their closer by the end of the year.

Kevin Towers of the Diamondbacks got a B-, Dan O'Dowd of the Rockies got a C+, Josh Byrnes of the Padres got a B (for picking up Ian Kennedy), and Brian Sabean of the Giants got a C+ for not doing anything at the deadline, in the hopes of re-signing Hunter Pence, Javier Lopez, and possibly Tim Lincecum.

Other GMs to get an A grade included the Orioles' Dan Duquette, the Red Sox' Ben Cherington, the Cubs' Jed Hoyer, and the Rangers' Jon Daniels. No one got an A+.

Determined To Fill Team With Washed-Up Giants, Colletti Signs Scourge Brian Wilson

My father used to tell me, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. So here you go.

Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports: "Brian Wilson to sign with Dodgers":

Brian Wilson is bringing his game – and his beard – to Hollywood.

The erstwhile closer for the San Francisco Giants has agreed to a contract to finish the season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Yahoo! sources said Tuesday.

The free-agent right-hander had spent more than a year recovering from Tommy John surgery, the second of his career. Wilson is likely to report to the Dodgers’ facility in Arizona, and in about two weeks be major-league ready. Initially, he will set up Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen.

His signature facial hair and quirky personality had become favorites among Giants fans, who with homemade signs and T-shirts warned opposing teams to “Fear the Beard.” He’d been a Giant since draft day 2003, became their fulltime closer in 2008, and was a key figure in the club’s 2010 World Series championship.

ESPN.com: "Brian Wilson has deal with Dodgers"

The Dodgers were one of several teams to scout Wilson's throwing session last Thursday at UCLA.

In an interview with 710 ESPNLA the following day, Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti called the possibility of signing Wilson "intriguing."

Once he joins the Dodgers, Wilson likely will be used in a setup role. Colletti has been searching for another right-handed reliever to go with closer Kenley Jansen and setup men Ronald Belisario and Paco Rodriguez.

Dodgers.com: "Former All-Star Pitcher Brian Wilson expected to sign with Dodgers"

Wilson, 31, is another in a long line of former Giants acquired by Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti, a former Giants exec.

(cries)

UPDATE (10:53p): Deal is for $1M plus performance bonuses.

Wild Guesses As To Whom Colletti Might Be Chasing

Jim Bowden of ESPN.com thinks the Dodgers might be looking for a right-handed reliever at the trade deadline (link insider only):

Right-handed relievers

Luke Gregerson | San Diego Padres | Odds: 50 percent

Gregerson is one of the best setup relievers in baseball and would be a huge difference-maker for teams like the Oakland Athletics, Tigers, Cincinnati Reds or Los Angeles Dodgers. The asking price is high; the Padres won’t give him away, so someone will have to overpay, but this is one reliever who’s worth it.

Kevin Gregg | Chicago Cubs | Odds: 90 percent

The Cubs have been the clear winners among the sellers so far at this trade deadline, so they might as well complete the task by dealing Gregg, who’s done his part in pitching himself onto a contender. His 22 saves and 2.68 ERA this year have been impressive, although he should expect to return to a setup role in any trade in which he’s involved. The Dodgers would be a good landing spot for him.

Kevin Gregg is 35 so that one would make sense for Colletti to covet. Gregerson is only 29, however...