There's Two Kinda Angels - Those In Heaven & Those Who Trade Cards

Hey everybody,

How about a quick Sunday night trade post?   Fellow blogger, trade partner and good guy Tom from The Angels, In Order sent a fistful of Dodger cards over to me recently.  There was some very nice cardboard in there.  

Leading off is the skipper...

 

Tommy doesn't care there's no logo on his uni.  Just look at him.  He's casually whistling "Take me out to the ballgame", because he knows we all know whom he's "root-root-rootin'" for. 

I'm not a big fan of DP-with-RISP-Kemp these days, but I'm a major fan of these refractory Chasing History Goldies....
 

How about a shot of the Bulldog in all his glory with a  Blue Heaven Dodger Stadium background...
 

RYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....
 

Insert Style!

I respectfully hold my nose for the next card...
 

Piazza here is making the same face I did while posting Mattingly's card.

Ryuuuuuu in an awesome blue framed commemorative.

Did somebody just say "Awesome"?  
 The Sweet Opening Day bunting and a blue 3D vibe make this card awesome-cubed and then some.  

And now a fantastic joint Ryu - Koufax card that I didn't even know I wanted till I pulled it out of the envelope! 

99.9% of cards featuring a Dodger pitcher with Koufax give us Kershaw.  This Ryu card has a great simple design and puts a welcome new spin on things...

Finally tonight, another brilliant Dodger pitcher awash in blue cardboard...
 

Grienke is tearing it up on the mound this season and has my vote for the Cy Young award so far. 

THANKS for the absolutely fantastic cards you sent my way, Tom.  I'll be sure to get some cool Angels cardboard out to you later this coming week. 

Dodgers Bullpen Flawed? Try Looking Inside The Dugout

 I've said it before and I'm gonna say it again, a smart manager will win 5 to 10 games for a team every season, while a bonehead manager will lose 5 to 10 games.  Last night the Dodgers lost to the Diamondbacks precisely because of Damn Mattingly's dopey handling of the Dodgers in the final innings of a tough, tied game.

Granted, the Dodgers had no business being in that situation in the first place, as their batting lineup looks like gangbusters on paper.  However, they just can't seem to hit their way out of a wet paper bag these days.

I keep reading bloggers and the L.A. Times sportswriters running headlines that declare "Dodgers Bullpen Fails Again".  Is every night supposed to be a shutout?  The bullpen is being blamed when we lose 2-1 and 3-2?  Really?

I've said this one before too - if a team scores three runs per game, they are going to win far more games than they'll lose.  Particularly if that team has a pitching staff as good as the Dodgers. If those anemic Dodger bats had scored three, we never would have been in a position of having to rely on Mattingly's "strategy".  But this game did come down to how Mattingly (mis)handles a batting order.

Cue the bottom of the eighth, and we're tied 1-1 with the Snakes. Yasiel Puig started off the inning with a walk. Everything looked good. With Puig at first, the Dodgers could have went with a sac bunt or play for a base hit because Puig's got the wheels to go to third on a single or steal at any time during the at bat.  That probably was a good time for a smart manager to make a smart move. But our manager is Damn Mattingly.

Justin Turner (BA .185) was due up.  Turner had started in place of Dee Gordon and had already struck out twice.  Gordon waited on the bench.  The same Dee Gordon of the .365 batting average, who can bunt and has the speed to possibly be safe giving us two rabbits on base, who has shown he can hit legitimate singles, has shown surprising power, AND can remain in the game at second base when he pinch hits for Justin Turner.  But Flash Gordon Jr. remained on the bench.  Result: Turner struck out for the third time.

Hanley advanced Puig to second, but was the second out on a close play. We needed an RBI and now had one sitting on second base, waiting to be driven home.  Next up was Matt Kemp.  I know most Dodger fans love Kemp unconditionally, and I'm not anti-Kemp by any means, but the Snake's pitcher at the time, Brad Zeigler, absolutely owns Kemp. 

We also had the guy who has the second most RBI's on the team, one of the Dodger's best situational hitters this season, and can replace Kemp in CF, sitting on the bench.  It would have set up a lefty hitter against a RH pitcher.  Andre Ethier sat, Kemp stayed in.  Result: Kemp hits into a puny force out.  Momentum gone, ownage continued.

Sure, Mattingly would have been crucified if he PH Ethier for Kemp and Ethier didn't succeed, but it was the kind of gutsy (and percentage) move that I believe the situation called for.

The Dodgers gifted a run to the Snakes in the top of the ninth, so they went ahead 2-1. 

Bottom of the ninth and the Dodgers needed a run just to tie and stay alive.  Scott Van Slyke had already smashed one home run in the game and maybe can catch lightning in the bottle again.....but wait....Mattingly Von Stengel decided to make a move.  A bonehead move. 

Van Slyke, the guy who just gets better with more at bats, the guy with the awesome momentum-producing Led Zeppelin walk up music, the guy who's bat still smells like the burnt wood of an earlier home run, is benched.  Mattingly replaces him with Carl "I forgot how to hit" Crawford.  *sigh*   Result: Lazy fly out.

Juan Uribe followed Crawford with a heroic home run blast to tie the game.  Who knows what the significance of Uribe's homer would have been if hot hitter Van Slyke had been allowed to bat?

Instead the game was only tied, we eventually lost in 12, and everyone wants to blame the bullpen.

Who Pitches For The Blue Tonight? My Pick...

Who gets the ball from the skipper tonight?

The great mystery this morning is "Who will pitch tonight for the Dodgers?"

Will it be Ricky Nolasco - who hasn't pitched in  nearly a month??!!!

Will it be Zack Greinke on short rest - who's never done that before in his career?

Will it be a cute chick?????

I gotta call for Ricky Nolasco.  No hesitation.  Why?  Four reasons for Game Four:

1. The momentum is on our side and Nolasco has shown he can pitch well at home.

2. Nolasco's gotta pitch sometime.  If he doesn't pitch in this series, by the time his turn in the rotation for the World Series rolls around, his beard will be longer than Brian Wilson's.

3. We got here as a team, we play it out as a team.  Especially if the guy in question isn't choking and he might even be getting rusty.  If he gets into trouble, we can always go to plan Volquez.  He's also proven he can pitch well at Dodger Stadium.  When these guys are on, they are on.

4. If we pitch Greinke, it smells a bit of desperation, and I aint about feeling that right now.  

First pitch 5:07 p.m. LA time.

Go Nolasco, Go Dodgers, and of course, Go Cute Chicks!!


*************************************************************
UPDATE:  12:57 p.m. Nolasco officially announced by Dodgers as the starter. 

"How To Lose In The Playoffs" By Damn Mattingly

If I only had a sawbuck for every time Damn Mattingly made a dopey baseball decision.

Today was a gritty game for the Dodgers. The teams and the game were evenly matched, and that's the circumstance where a manager can make a difference and steal or lose a game.  The guy managing the Braves isn't exactly the second coming of Connie Mack, but today he was smarter than Mattingly. 

Dodger Ace Number 2, Zack Greinke pitched well enough.  He left after six, losing, but only behind 2-1.  This was still anyone's ballgame.  Enter the Decisions of Don.

The game was close and tense for both sides, but Mattingly suddenly made himself a huge factor in the game.  He brought in Chris Withrow to replace Zack Greinke.  Withrow, in his first postseason appearance, withered, immediately giving up a single and a walk.  Not on Don.  The kid just didn't get the job done.

In comes Paco Rodriguez and the madness that is Mattingly baseball took full effect.  He had Paco intentionally walk Reed Johnson.  Yup, Don took out one pitcher, and brought in another pitcher and asked him to throw four wide ones to his first batter.  In order to load the bases for Jason Heyward.  

It's one thing to ask a pitcher midgame to walk a guy, but it's absolutely ridiculous to bring in a pitcher, straight from warm ups, and head psyching himself into game mode, to immediately chill out and toss an easy four balls.  And then, to immediately return to game face for the next guy.  

After Reed was walked, Jason Heyward stepped in.  Paco did his best, but of course his first two pitches to Heyward missed the strike zone. (High and wide. Hmmm...)   Paco, in his first-ever playoff appearance, must have felt compelled to force a pitch into the strike zone.  He sure didn't want to go 3-0 to the batter, with two Braves standing on bases behind him.   Heyward was sitting on that hitter's count and nailed a two-run single right up the middle.

A 2-1 score was now 4-1 and the game shifted permanently in Atlanta's favor. The Dodgers didn't go quietly, however.  Hanley Ramirez was money all day, and he hit a 2-run home run in the 8th to get us to within one.  The Dodgers even got a couple of runners on in the ninth - albeit, not both at the same time - but all of that wasn't enough to overcome Mattingly baseball.  Not tonight. 

Have You Heard The News Today...Oh Boy!!!

 First of all: 

YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

The Dodgers clinched the NL West title this afternoon, and although it was frustrating for a bit there, I've gotta admit - I'm a bit glad it happened the way it did.

For those of you who missed it, here's what happened, and why I'm happy about it.  The Dodgers drew first blood with a Hanley Ramirez 3-run homer that suggested we were tired of  pussy-footing around and we were claiming that Western division crown TO - DAY!

That feeling didn't last very long however, because as Vin Scully said, before the Dodgers were finished celebrating their lead, it disappeared.  Dodger starter Rickey Nolasco immediately gave the 3 runs back, and a couple of innings later, the Snakes had built it into a 6-3 lead.

Enter the frustration.  I'm sure at that point plenty of Dodger fans were feeling like tossing a beach chair out the window, or at least tossing back a few stiff ones to numb the pain, but I saw it as a chance for the Dodgers to prove (to themselves) that they really deserve the division - and they have what it takes to win all the marbles in The World Series.

We just needed the bullpen to hold the Snakes, and we definitely needed the Dodger bats to wake the heck up!! When runs are scarce, a team needs the pitchers to step up and win 2-1.  By the same token, when pitching isn't getting the job done, the bats have to prove they can score 6 or 7 runs when needed.  THAT'S what championship teams do, and that's EXACTLY what the Dodgers did today. 

The bullpen stopped the bleeding, Hanley Ramirez blasted his second homer of the day, and A.J. Ellis reminded us all of his power when he hit the go-ahead home run.  The Dodgers fought for that win - and earned it!  Nice work, boys.

But the frosting on the cake wasn't the locker room celebration - although it was sweet to enjoy.  No, the best part of the celebration for me was to see how the Boys in Blue reacted to Arizona's insistence that they not celebrate on the Diamondback field.  They of throwing at Puig and Greinke's heads!

They wanted us to serenely and calmly clelebrate - and by gum, stay off their field!

This was the Western Division Champion Dodgers' answer to that (I love the fact that The Jaguar is the first in with an awesome pool bomb)

From me to Night Owl, GCRL, Speigel, Petethan, Zawkin and all my fellow members of Dodger Nation ....

YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Hope I Won't Be Waiting Til Next Year For Our Next Trade

Hey there, beloved readers and trade partners,

The Boys in Blue have the day off today, so we can all - friends and foes alike - take a breath and reflect for a moment upon that awesome, unbelievable, magical run the Dodgers have been on.

Whew! It's been grand!  

With no game today - it's time to get up a trade post.  This was my first trade with P-Town Tom over at Waiting Til Next Year, and as the title suggests, I'm looking forward to more without waiting for a year to pass.

This time I focused on acquiring a few 2013 Dodger heroes. 

 First, the Dodgers got Hanley, a great player in a great trade; then I got this, a great Hanley card in a great trade.

There was some question about whether or not Ramirez would be effective at shortstop, but he's been quite steady over there.  Besides that, Hanley's fantastic resurgence as a batting leader has become his most valuable contribution to the team.

As far as the card goes, I totally dig the "zoom" feeling of the photo, drawing my eye into the dynamics of Hanley making a play.  We also get a nice shot of his eyes focused on the ball coming off the bat.  Play Hard, indeed. 

Next up is a new addition to this year's squad, good ol' Zack.  Here we get another look at a determined and focused athlete captured mid-play.  Snap off strike three, Greinke!

This Kemp is a beautiful Blue gem.  It's shiny and sparkly - unlike Kemp's 2013 campaign up til now.  But Dodger fans expect Bison to be healthy just in time for the playoffs, and in no way is that a bad thing.
Get well soon, Matty!

This great Pay- Dro card wasn't part of our original trade talks.  Tom mentioned he won this as part of a Listia lot, and would I be interested?  Heck yes, I would!  Bang! One more card to add to my Pedro World Series M.V.P. collection.  It's great seeing Guerrero catch some love in a 2013 set - but not as great as those old time forearm sweat bands.

Finally, P-Town Tom tossed in a "just because"  extra for me...

 Kid K - how kool is that?

 Thanks a bunch for a great trade, Tom.  Here's hoping I come across some new cards of the Cubbies soon, and we'll do it all again.

Season Broken? I Definitley Know What Is.

Hey everybody,

Forget about that Dodgers - giants feud that only the fans and the media seem to feel these days...

You want rivaly? I've got a gen-yoo-wine west coast blood feud for ya.   It's been developing for the past 5 years or so, albeit quietly.  At first, just like the L.A. - Frisco feud, only the fans felt it.

Even if you only watched Dodgers vs. Padres games on t.v. -  if you were paying attention, you could hear what at times sounded like an LA. home game, even though the Dodgers were 100 miles south in Diego!  During every game it was possible to hear LOUD chants of, "Here we go Dodgers, here we go! ", just as loudly as if the boys were at home in Chavez Ravine.  How much do you think Padres fans loved that?

Tonight the rift between the two cities doubled in width and intensity as it reached the dugouts of both teams.  And boy, did it ever...

Everything was under control (more or less) for one of the newest and most expensive Dodgers, starting pitcher, Zack Grienke.

It was a tight game, but Greinke was winning 2-1 in the 6th.  He was pitching well enough to win - if only Matt Kemp would live up to one tenth of his hype.  More on that in a later post.

6th inning, Dodgers winning 2-1.  Padres are up.  Enter the jerk...

Remember when everyone was calling for Luis Cruz's head following the WBC brawl?  All Cruz did was request his pitcher drill the opposing batter in the ribs.  Writers of every ilk were frothing over Cruz and blaming him for the fight, even though he didn't throw the pitches that set off that donnybrook. I argued against the "Down With Cruz" crowd, insisting that it was the pitcher who threw the actual PURPOSE pitches, not Cruz.

In tonight's game, the score was close, it was a 3-2 count, and that was hardly the time that a pitcher would purposefully hit a batter.  Mr. Quentin, the proud wearer of many a pitch, the record holder of being hit by more pitches than anyone else over the past 5 seasons, crowded the plate with his entire left arm, and proceeded to not make ANY attempt to get out of the way of a pitched ball, and whattyaknow - was hit by a pitch.

Just like Cruz's WBC pitcher, Quentin had a choice.  He could have taken his base, since the weak umpire was going to let a guy who doesn't try to get out of the way of a pitch have a free base.

But instead he chose to charge the mound.

Greinke tossed his glove to the ground and Quentin charged like a bull.  Greinke got low like they teach in football, so did Quentin.  Quentin absolutely rocked into Zack.  Our $147 million, no. 2 ace pitcher, thus had his collarbone broken by some jerk who doesn't have the sense to even TRY to get out of the way of a baseball. 

 What followed was a pretty awesome bench clearing basebrawl...

 Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Quentin weighs about 50 punds more than Greinke and he had a full head of steam when he hit him.  Zack ended up with a broken collarbone and he'll end up missing about 6 to 8 weeks of the season. 

Although he wasn't hit by a pitch, or charged by a rhino, I don't think there was anyone hotter than this guy...

Kemp is so frustrated about becoming an easy out in the Dodger's line up, that he really let all of his frustrations fly and he added plenty of fuel to tonight's brouhaha. 

The real story that smart reporters oughtta be chasing is what exactly was Kemp saying when he was forcefully poking his fingers into fellow Dodger Andre Ethier's chest and barking at him like Ethier was the enemy?  Andre quietly walked away and Kemp then turned his anger at some nearby umps.   That's the inside Dodger's scoop right there.

Meanwhile, this guy...

...is slowly starting to become a force to be reckoned with.  He blasted another homer tonight.

 After the game, reporters asked Greinke if the Dodgers and Padres have a history of bad blood. Greinke said he doesn't know if any existed before, but it seems as though there is now.

The season is just starting - the Dodgers and Padres hate each other, and we won tonight!

I love baseball!