3

and a congratulations to my Titans for executing the win against the Texans, which combined with the frustrations for Indianapolis lowers the magic number in Tennessee to 12.

Dodgers with significant playoff experience? Off the top of my head there's Lowe and Manny who have rings, oh, don't forget Juan Pierre in the ring category. Brad Penny became mister irrelevant though he has a ring as well. But seriously, guys on our everyday roster with serious playoff experience, pretty much Lowe and Manny. I believe Saito pitched for Yokohama which hasn't had a whiff of October glory for a very long time if ever. Same goes for Kuroda's former Hiroshima Carp. Ishii on the other hand is already on a guaranteed playoff team here in Japan, for those who are interested. But back to the Dodgers. Here's a quick projection of what we look like

D. Lowe (04 ring)
C. Billingsley
H. Kuroda
C. Kershaw
G. Maddux (95 ring, too many playoffs to remember)

R. Martin
J. Loney
B. DeWitt (I feel like he has the presence of a veteran)
Angel Berroa
Casey Blake (Indians what, maybe two playoff years?)
A. Ethier
M. Kemp
Manny Ramirez (04, 07 rings, 07 WSMVP)

Dodgers Lose, doesn't matter

Magic Number drops to 6. Tennessee plays some crap team on Sunday. And by that I mean the Texans. Little story about the Texans. My parents went to Houston about 4 years ago for a funeral, I was about 6 months out of college and spent the week babysitting 5 of my 6 younger siblings (youngest was 6 at the time). Whenever I work a job that involves children (like my stint at the Y) I wear that hat, I figure the bullhorns are a symbol of authority. I have recently stopped wearing it in such cases because the kids are ruthless and rip it off my head any chance they get, little monsters. I have since switched to a Lions hat (Dice-K and Kaz Matsui's old team, Kaz Ishii's new team). Man, I almost envy the D-Backs, it feels good losing and not losing ground, doesn't it? I didn't even check the scores of todays game (played in the morning since I live in Tokyo) until after 11pm. Well, I would like to carry a little momentum and confidence into the playoffs, looks like we'll play anyone but the Brewers at this point, but I'm going to say most likely the Mets, as they'll choke but not as hard as the Crew, though I like the Crew a lot better.

Magic Numbers and award predictions, for what it's worth

Dodgers magic Number is down to 7, before the game I figured to myself if we won 5 of our last 10 we would be fine. I counted on the D-Backs to go no better than 7-3 the rest of the way. After today that means we need to go 4-5 while the Snakes can't do better than 6-3, as both teams won. Also of note, though unpardonably late, my Titans won again lowering their magic number to 14 over the second place Colts. Go K. Collins.

Award predictions: starting with the Junior circuit, I go Cliff Lee for Cy Young, Evan Longoria (3 hrs today?!) for ROY, Joe Maddon for Manager of the year, Justin Morneau for MVP (I had to look at stats for that one), and Comeback player of the year...Oh, Cliff Lee again. Now for the stuff that matters the NL awards... Cy Young, I hate to say it but has anyone pitched better over the course of the season than Brandon Webb? Though I expect big Z to get a few votes. Oh, ok so I checked, and the answer is yes, Tim Lincecum has pitched better over the course of the season, and I therefore give him my vote. Darn Giants, I'm glad they suck this year and it doesn't matter how good Lincecum was. ROY...Geovany Soto, though I personally have been impressed with Jair Jurrgens, is he even a rookie? No, ok forget it. Sorry Blake DeWitt. Manager of the year: I read someone say you have to give it to Charlie Manuel, do you? I'm tempted to go Lou Piniella in spite of the deeply talented roster he has. Joe Torre? I honestly don't like the guy, I think he's overrated and I think his success comes from managing a team with Manny Ramirez on it rather than his own genius, but the fact is we're running away with the West, right? Final say...Charlie Manuel, since Manny Ramirez is ineligible. Comeback player of the year? Carlos Delgado. I had to think about it but come on is there really any question here? Of course guys like Chan Ho Park have made very nice comebacks, but 7th inning pitcher > slugging first baseman is a tough sell. MVP: Albert Pujols. Also unpopular to go with a guy not in a pennant race, but don't Wright and Delgado take votes from each other? Manny would need more time to really be considered, even in a week year. None of the Cubs stand out as a single force, and Ryan Howard strikes out too much and hits too close to the Mendoza line.

11

Magic Number for the Dodgers, 11. Magic number for the Titans, still 15. Tennessee are 1 point underdogs at Cincy (Troy, we both want Tennessee to win after that whole Cincinnati incident).

Andruw Jones is done for the year. Ned even trashed him a bit it seems (rightfully so, though I don't see it improving his possible performance for next year, which I'm more optimistic than most about).

Saito is back, with the 4.5 game lead I'd give him a chance to find his groove as closer again before getting to the playoffs.

Grats to Andre, come back soon. Juan Pierre, you get trashed more than you deserve, but you handle it like a professional. Of course, I don't believe you should be starting over Andre, Manny, or Kemp, you have done nothing less than expected of you when you signed, and any and all frustration aimed at you should be taken out on Ned. I hope for your sake you are traded because you deserve to start on a smaller market and you don't deserve to be trashed for delivering less than what you were advertised to do. But for now, please do well in Andre's absence.

16

Thanks Tony Jackson for setting me straight on this one.

I hate losing. But after the weekend series and the Diamondbacks loss all today means to the Dodgers is that our magic number drops one thanks to Lincecum. I think that makes it unofficially like 17? Good enough, better than 18.

Losses and Wins

Hey gang,

I like this 5 game win streak, don't you? It's nice. I'm still mad about the 8 game losing streak, but hey, we're in a playoff race. If we were the Yankees, Astros, Cardinals, or Blue Jays we wouldn't be. But we're the Dodgers, and we are. Remember the 06 Cards only won 83 games before winning the choke artist Tigers for a championship. I really want to say this series means everything, but let's face it, as long as we don't get swept the drama will continue. None of us particularly wants drama as much as we want security, like women who date rich, older men, but isn't this more exciting? Besides, they're the Dodgers, if you want security shouldn't you be a Yankees fan? No, we're Dodger fans because we love the Dodgers, thanks to Dodgerdugout for reminding me of that.

Having said that, I was thinking about the NL West, and which players really are the faces of their franchises. Peavy seems to embody the overperforming Padres (most years) with his grit, Helton seems to be the wise scraggly chief of the Rockies, with Matt Holliday the clan champion, for now. Do we as the Dodgers say that Russell Martin is our icon? Or has it actually been veteran Jeff Kent's prickliness and mustache that have defined us in the McCourt era? Has Barry Zito stolen the hearts of San Francisco the way Barry stole the hearts of every other city in America? But most importantly, concerning this year's race, I'm sad to see so little of Eric Byrnes. While Byrnes isn't the MVP of his club by a long shot he talks a lot. He brings his dog to the all-star game while kayaking in McCovey Cove, and he gets grass stains on his cheekbones. I think it's safe to say the most talented D'Back right now is Brandon Webb, who we get the privilege of facing again this weekend, but he's anything but the most colorful. Well, here's to September, and the final 20 some odd games we have left. Go blue!

Annual September Slump comes early

Well, I was pretty pleased with progress after the Brewers series, as I think we all were. Most of the hard games were over record wise, and a lot of away games notwithstanding things looked hopeful. And that's about when the hopefulness went down.
I'm sure this team will put another winning streak together, we're streaky like that, but I don't have the confidence that we'll be playing significant games into the final week of the season, maybe mathematically significant games, but not truly, realistically hopeful significant games. And who's to blame? Well, blame doesn't get us anywhere, now does it? I blame Frank McCourt. I just don't like the guy, don't think I ever will. But this time I blame him for firing Paul DePodesta. Was never a huge DP fan, but what are his two biggest acquisitions? Probably Penny and Ethier. Ned's? Schmidt and Andruw. The thing is Schmidt and Andruw both looked like good acquisions before any games were played. That's some tough luck in addition to whatever else it might be.
Barring an unlikely run I don't expect us to be playing in October this year. Sigh. And what do we need to be playing in October next year? Well, I think we need to shore up the bullpen. I think we need to groom a true 9th inning guy to replace Saito, not rushing Saito out the door, but we just can't expect him to play forever. I think we ought to stick with Ethier and Kemp in the outfield, and try to trade Pierre for possibly another bad contract that won't cripple us further, maybe a bullpen guy? Loney and Martin are the only sure things in the infield, which is scary, but we have DeWitt, who will likely play Second or Third next year. I'd like Furcal back, but I'd feel better about the idea if Hu proved he could play everyday if called upon. What was with his eye or something? Starting pitching is the bright spot. We lose Lowe (sad) and possibly even Penny (sad but not as sad), but we have Kershaw, and quite a few capable swingmen sitting around AAA at this point.
While I love what Logan has done, I'm dissapointed that we don't sign more sluggers in the earlygoing. Is it a great wonder that Jeff Kent has been leading the team in Homers? Not this year of course, but how many Rangers have more homeruns than any Dodger? Of course, when it comes to sluggers first round doesn't do as much as top 10, which we haven't had for some time. Heck, if we keep losing we may land one this year.

My Predictions on next year's team

As a preface I must say I'm happy that we've been beating the Phillies lately. I used to be a Phillie when I was 9 years old in Little League, we were sponsored by a local pottery shop called 'El Peon' and it was on the back of our shirts. I think we went 5-13 on the year, but it was fun. But I digress, here are my predictions on what our team looks like next year. Feel free to comment and give your own predictions.

Catcher: Russel Martin
First Base: James Loney
Second Base: Blake DeWitt
Third Base: Casey Blake
Short Stop: Rafael Furcal
Left Field: Manny Ramirez
Center Field: Andruw Jones
Right Field: Matt Kemp
Opening Day Starter: Chad Billingsley
2 SP: Hiroki Kuroda
3 SP: Clayton Kershaw
4 SP: Brad Penny
5 SP: James McDonald
7th inning guy: Joe Beimel!
8th inning guy: Jonathan Broxton
9th inning guy: Hong Chih Kuo
Manager: Joe Torre
General Manager: Kim Ng

A few questionable decisions, I know. Let's start with second base. I don't think any of us want to pay Kent again next year, and as most of us know DeWitt used to be a second baseman. If we don't resign Blake I expect DeWitt to be our third baseman, who is the better defender, but doesn't have the developed offensive game that Blake does, and we're not likely to get more from the second baseman free agent market.

Rafael Furcal. Again, the best name on the free agent market is Orlando Cabrera, getting Furcal back on an incentive laden one year deal would be ideal. If that doesn't work we can take another look at an improved Chin Lung Hu or possibly Ivan DeJesus Jr. I just can't imagine Cabrera being $6 or $7 mil better than either of those guys.

Casey Blake. I pick up the option, unless I like what I see on the second base market, which I don't. You pick, do you want Blake for $6 or the O-Dog (Orlando Hudson) for a multiyear deal? Me too.

Manny Ramirez. I see Manny getting shopped around by Boras, but aging attitude players aren't popular these days, so we will see Frank McCourt swoop in again and get him on a 3 or 4 year deal under Ned's pseudonym again, right before firing Ned, promoting Kim Ng and making her deal with the outfield mess.

Andruw Jones. Let's face it, the guy is still better than this. We may not see 50 homeruns in a year, but if he comes into next season with two knees we shouldn't see any Bob Ueker references.

Matt Kemp. With a funcional Man Ram and A-Jones Kemp will only get better as the sort of Batgirl of the outfield. Don't worry, I remember the time when Man Ram was Batgirl to Albert Belle and Kenny Lofton back in the day, his day will come. Or was Lofton Batgirl? I guess it doesn't matter now. Stupid Braves.

Chad Billingsley. With Lowe's Departure sweetened by a few draft picks and Penny's awful year it'll be Chad Billingley's time.

Hiroki Kuroda. His talent comes from his confidence and nastiness, that will only get better as he's more comfortable and most importantly more consistent.

Clayton Kershaw. Again, only getting better and here to stay.

Brad Penny. Although we may trade him by the deadline, he's still worth the lowball contract extension we have on him. Why let him go when his value is the lowest. We can never have too much pitching. You get the idea.

James McDonald. I have a question in with our pal Ken Gurnick about James' stuff this year. But it's obviously good, he struck out 10 in his AAA debut and I expect we'll see him in September.

Joe Beimel! Is this a guy we really want to let go?

Jonny Broxton. Let's face it, he doesn't have what it takes to be the 9th inning guy.

Hong Chih Kuo. I saw this guy in LA's China town back in 2003, Chinese new year parade, and I swear I was the only person who knew who he was, and only then because he was wearing his jersey. Welcome aboard Hong Chih. Or whatever it is that we call you for short. Note: I'd love to write Saito in for this, and I'd love to have him around for next year, but I just don't think he can close forever.

Kim Ng. It's only fair to Paul DePodesta that we fire Ned. Though I'd really rather fire Frank McCourt. No Jamie McCourt, THEN Frank McCourt.

Back from weekend camp

I tried my best to keep up with the Giants series over the weekend, although it seems like it was a good series to miss. Regardless of how crappy it was we're still only a game out. Of course, had I experienced the crappiness I may feel differently. Still, beating the phillies is a good thing, as they look like a playoff team. To be perfectly honest I'm more concerned about how we fare against the Phillies, Cubs, and Brewers than any team not called the D'Backs, since those teams are most likely to get in our way to a world series. Having said that, we still have to get there, and winning easy games certainly would help. Next 5 against the Phillies and Brew Crew are gonna be big. D'Backs get the Rockies, who can't really be in much worse shape than they were this time last year, followed by the Astros, who seem unwilling to consider themselves out of this no matter what the odds. here's hoping.

Manny before he was being Manny

Congratulations to the boys in blue for digging in and salvaging that series against the D'Backs. Let's keep it up. It looks like the Cubs will be the 1 seed going in to the playoffs, with the NL West spot going 4, meaning we would need to beat the Cubs to do it. I think that on days in which we are swinging the bats we can beat anyone, but we can't expect Manny to continue hitting .615.

Speaking of Manny, as most of us are these days, I believe I owe you all a story. A few posts back I let you all in on the fact that I once met Manny, thinking that he would end up in Boston or possibly Miami I didn't think the story would be relevant, but it is. So here goes. When I was a kid I would go to Angels games, in fact the earliest game I remember ever going to I was being paid by relatives to cheer against the Angels, no doubt a precursur to the fact that I became a die-hard dodger fan not long after, but I digress. After the games were over my dad would wait with me, my brother and friends outside gate 6 of Anaheim Stadium until players like Jim Abbott and Mark Langston would come out and sign balls and cards on the way to the parking lot. Jim Abbott was always fun, one time Chili Davis walked out, meandered around, walked back in, came out 20 minutes later and sat on a concrete divider with us while we waited for his ride. We offered him a ride home but he politely turned us down. Occasionally we would run over to the visitors gate, and one time, back in '93 or '94, we ran into a pair of Indians, Dennis Martinez and Manny Ramirez. I was only 11or 12 at the time, and Manny didn't say a word, though he signed a ball and shook my hand. I think the thing closest to our minds at the time was whether or not Albert Belle was coming back out. Rumor had it he came out and did a few handsprings for autograph seekers before heading back to the clubhouse. Manny had short hair at the time, he himself was shorter than I expected, probably judging him against some of the taller, less talented Angel players, and didn't seem to focus much. Looking back I can't help but think there was a bit of a language barrier, but then, he was still Manny Ramirez. I've always had a bit of a fondness for him as a player since then, I mean, he was waiting outside the stadium after an away game to sign balls for the 30 or so people who came and went while the bus was getting ready. His 23 teammates not named Dennis Martinez weren't doing that. And a lot of players don't even sign stuff on the way to their cars. So there you go. Manny being Manny being a good thing.

I don't envy the work Ned has cut out for himself in trying to keep his job with this outfield situation, but at the very least I really hope having a guy of this talent around the last two months brings the best to the surface on some of the younger guys we'll have around for a few years. We'll here's hoping. Go blue!

Billingsley FTW

4 shutouts in the past 5 days? Are you kidding me? Anybody else comfortable with that rotation? Let's see, it was Lowe going 8 scoreless against the Nats with Bullpen help in the 9th, followed by Kershaw and the bullpen the following day. Kuroda got lit up against the Giants, but we all know what he's capable of if he could only be a little more consistent. Yesterday was Jason Johnson and the pen, and today Billingsley took it himself. Now, before I get ahead of myself, lets remember those shutouts came against the Nationals and the Giants, and there are few Major league offenses sorrier than those. This next series against Arizona ought to be a test, but we will only see half of the Haren Webb tandem. At least it's sure we won't see that tandem in the playoffs, because it'll be us or them. This ought to be a good test of where we're going as of the beginning of August.

Just a small bit of info, we all know how long we're on the hook with Andruw (0-3 with a walk last night), and Pierre who didn't play but is under contract for 3 more years. Ethier is under team control through 2011 (if I understand correctly) and Kemp through 2012. Unless Kemp/Ethier develops into a 25+ homer a year guy, I doubt we'll keep all of those guys through their expiration dates. But here's hoping. Unless something better comes along.

Not .500

Isn't it interesting what you get with Kuroda, Billingsley and Lowe? Over the past month and a half or so they've pretty much been brilliant or terrible every time out. Cheers to the bullpen who gave us almost a chance on that one.

Not digging this Angel Berroa thing. Is Hu still our AAA SS? And then there's the Teixeira to Arizona rumors.

On the other hand Andruw and Sweeney got hits, I suppose it's just a matter of percentages, statistically they can't get out everytime. Well, again I think the case is different for Andruw. Andruw sucked because he was hurt and fat. He's now not hurt and fat, but hasn't had a real spring training. Add to that the fact that he's been booed (rightfully) all season and has tried to hard and developed bad habits by trying to do too much. He's still a talented player, but we happened to get him on his worst year ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. Unless he tries to play hurt again next year.

.500! But not fixed yet.

I must say, I'm proud of Ned. Ned works hard, he is squeezed by his bosses, he's had his heart broken time and again by free agents who turn out to be injured and he's still in there making deals. As a result the Dodgers made it back to .500.

The Diamondbacks meanwhile are starting to get more quality starts out of Randy Johnson. Match that with Dan Haren and Brandon Webb, and it doesn't really matter how many strikeouts their offense succumbs to, they're going to be hard to catch.

The Rockies, however, don't seem to mind, having outscored the Reds 23-3 in a sweep, rolling to 9-1 since the break.

So here we are, with all 3 NL West teams (sorry Padres and Giants, you just don't count this year anymore) on 3 game winning streaks. That's good, the division deserves more respectability than it has shown this year. But I'm worried. The Dodgers scored 11 runs in their 3 game sweep of the Nationals. True, we ran into a good pitcher the first day, even so, we left no reasonable room for error on our pitching staff, and that's what worries me. What happens when we play a team with pitching? But, what do you do? Sign Barry Bonds? Trade for Manny Ramirez? By the way I met Manny Ramirez once, but I'll save that story for a bit later. No, we're all in this together, and while the odds don't look good, well, they didn't look good in '88 either. Or '89, or '90...interpret that however you want. I really hope we beat the Giants this week.

The Andruw Jones Problem

You all know the problem better than I can explain it. We signed a guy who was coming off a bad year and got a time discount though not a price one. It seems like the guy probably lied about his knee being jacked up, which meant he came to camp way overweight and sucked for the first half of his first year on the $18million contract. I think that basically means he legally ripped us off for $9million while hurting our team for playing him under his sorry circumstances. It also appears that while his leg is better, he's still out of shape and not ready to play ball at the major level. I know, not rocket science, so why do they keep playing him?

I was reading Matt Kemp's chat manuscript in which I learned that Kemp is buddies with Delwyn Young, and also that Kemp thinks we should all go easy on Andruw because he works so very hard. I get that, if your Kemp you are in a fraternity of professional ballplayers, not to mention that of the Los Angeles Dodgers. You don't criticize your fellow players. Kemp pointed to Jones' work ethic, but here's the thing, none of us are stupid. We can see with our eyes that Jones is overweight. We all see the divots in the outfield grass when he dives for balls. And the worst part is, he's screwing us over worse than Jason Schmidt, because at least Schmidt is giving his roster spot to more capable players.

Then there's Joe Torre. I'm not here to pretend to tell him his job. I'm guessing that while Joe is less inclined to take orders from the top than he was at his last job, common sense says you don't call your direct boss an idiot by sitting his newest superstar, even if he can't hit .200. Torre doesn't think the Dodgers can reach their goals without Jones' presence in the lineup. I'll be honest with you, neither do I. But after that knee stunt we owe Jones nothing. So here's what we do. We send Jones to AAA until he drops the weight and learns how to hit, because we CAN get to the playoffs without him, though we probably can't win. Jones comes back like he was, we're good. Jones doesn't, we're better off than we are now. But I don't think we can afford to let him continue to work it out at the big league level. Man this was supposed to be a Juan Pierre post.

BTW, I'm against a trade for a relief pitcher. I liked the idea of getting Maddux, but would be careful about trading a prospect within the division. It would be nice to have the professor working with our kid pitchers again.

Dodgers pick up Casey Blake, Don't sell the Farm

A good trade overall, though I'm sure you've all heard about it. We give up Meloan, who used to close, and will be sent back to the 'pen at the Indians AAA affiliate. We also gave Carlos Santana, an impressive A ball switch hitting catching slugger, but we have Russell Martin and Lucas May at AA, so we're good. And the Indians pay the rest of Blake's contract.

Seems like Frank, Logan, Ned, and Joe should all be happy about this one. I'm happy, we still have Jon McDonald and Blake DeWitt can still potentially play 2nd next year, although Casey Blake is a free agent in the offseason. We could offer Arb, but he could accept it and be a little overpaid, but with the probably departure of Jeff Kent we could use a guy like Blake around a little longer. More later.

Clarifying the Dodgers Trade options

I think most of you are at least as frustrated as I am with this trading situation. Torre wants some additions, Frank, Logan, and Ned can't agree on anything, and the best news we've had all week is the return of Juan Pierre, who is a topic for another post. But from MLBTR, Tony Jackson and dodger dugout, as well as a few e-mails with Ken Gurnick himself, this is what I'm coming up with.

The Dodgers need a leftside of the infield bat.

Frank won't allow payroll to go up via trade.

Logan seems reluctant to trade off his dodgers.

Ned needs to get something done, but has said it's not about saving his job.

Joe expects help by the deadline.

The Diamondbacks already strengthened their weak bullpen, and are said to be the frontrunners in a possible Teixeira trade should the braves decide to be sellers, which hinges on the next two series. They are beating the Phillies in the 9th as I write this.

Blogs have mentioned the Dodgers are trying to acquire...

Hank Blalock - Shot down by Tony Jackson.

Christian Guzman - signed an extension with the Nats.

Adrian Beltre - MLBTR points to Beltre's blocking of a return to the dodgers, which he is contractually within his rights to do.

Orlando Cabrera for Derek Lowe. This makes sense for Frank McCourt, as both will be free agents at year's end, Lowe is being paid $10mil on the year Cabrera $9mil. Also, we don't give up any of Logan's guys, but this doesn't make sense to me as Lowe has been consistently good and Cabrera is hitting .265 in 100 games with the Sox. He'd be an improvement at short, and while we're deeper with starting pitchers, it's not a fair trade, just a desperate one.

Casey Blake - I can't seem to get a read on this one, except that we tried to get him with a Sabathia deal, but that was said to have been shot down by Frank for payroll reasons. I don't see why we couldn't have salary dumped Lowe after we acquired Sabathia, I'd imagine we could net a few prospects without eating salary since Lowe is bargain for anyone not playing their home games in Florida. Blake seems to be highly sought after, and thus we may have to slightly overpay.

Dallas McPherson - Marlins prospect, formerly an Angels prospect. He's mashing again...in AAA. Not really great hopes of him helping the club this year. And We've got two good young players at the hot corner anyway, although I personally think McPherson has more upside than either, if less consistency.

David Eckstein - Ugh, I've always hated this guy for crowhopping his throws from short. Lets just buy Juan Pierre an infielder's glove.

Jack Wilson - They all said the Bucs are asking way too much for any of their guys, but they just gave up Nady AND Marte for a couple of Yankees minor leaguers with only one centerpiece guy, and he not being Kennedy/Hughes. With that being the case, Wilson might be more affordable than previously thought, even if he isn't more talented than previously thought.

Edgar Renteria - I get it. I get that Angel Berroa isn't going to hit .235 this year for the Dodgers, so these kinds of guys who have been mentioned will be an upgrade. But seriously, can't we just ride Nomar till the wheels fall off and keep our prospects for a real trade?

I think we all agree that the current roster is a longshot at doing anything in September, but with the stalemate in the front office we don't have a lot of options other than speculating and watching the wires.

Somewhat unrelated, my hope is that Blake DeWitt sticks around as a 2nd baseman next year (his old position), as he plays the game the right way, I'm fairly confident his numbers will come around, and that would leave 3rd base to someone with more power. At any rate, it should be an intersting week. Here's hoping we keep James McDonald!

The Beginning

This is the beginning.

Otaku - Japanese for a person who does not know limits, an otaku is not a fan, an otaku is a maniac. While the word is most commonly attached with anime/manga/gamer types, it can be used for anything, trains, chinese characters, or in my case, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Not quite sure how I'm gonna get any sort of readership on this, but I'm tired of feeling like I have something to say and not being able to fit in in the comment boxes on the Dodger sites I like to visit. Plus I'm tired of avoiding getting a blogger account because all the helps show up in Japanese due to my living in Tokyo.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jon. I am a Dodger Otaku. I visit mlbtraderumors.com, espn.com, mlb.com, and dodgers.com multiple times daily. I also regularly visit my favorite blogs the East Windup Chronicle, Sons of Steve Garvey, Dodger Dugout, Diamond Leung, and Tony Jackson of the Daily News. I've listened to Dodger games on the radio since I was a little kid (26 now), and still catch the gameday audio since Mlb.tv is regularly blacked out here in Japan (troy from West Virginia I feel your pain.) I voted for the Joe Beimel bobblehead a few months back, as well as the Rickrolling of the Mets (Rick Astley being another young childhood memory, mind you not as high on the list as Vin Scully and Orel Hershiser, or even Tom Candiotti). And I will make short paragraphs, even if I haven't completed a previous thought.

I have lived in Tokyo for the past year, have become an official fan club member of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, since I couldn't stomach the other local team, the Yomiuri Giants, and you can guess why (I also couldn't bring myself to cheer on the other local team the Seibu Lions, since they play in the equivalent of the American League, DH and all). The Swallows, by the way boast well known former Dodgers such as Adam Riggs, Wilson Valdez, Masao Kida, and until this season Kaz Ishii.

I have my opinions on where the Dodgers have been, are, are going, and should be going. I have opinions on the front office, on the field, the importance of certain statistics and leadership roles, etc., and how good Juan Pierre is. I debated in High School, which makes me surprisingly open to seeing the other side of an argument, assuming it's a logical one and I'm not pissed off about yesterday's sumo outcomes or seeing Frank McCourt on the frontpage of Dodgers.com, again (better owner than Fox Sports, but why do we have to see him so much?).

But enough about me, lets talk about the Dodgers! We're a game out of first place, but 3 games under .500, and I doubt 81 wins will be enough to get in the playoffs this year. And man, I really hope I can navigate all these Japanese instructions well enough to add things like pictures and such. Go blue!