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!