Yankee Series

The New York Yankees were hosted by our Dodgers for a 3 game series this last week end. Each game was a sell out with an announced crowd of 56,000. Each game was competitive but on balance the Dodger performance was disappointing.

Game 1 was a 2-1 Yankee win, Game 2 was a 9-5 Dodger win and the series finale was an 8-6 Yankee win.

What made the Dodger performance disappointing was the fact that they blew a 6-2 lead in the 9th inning of Game 3 with their closer Broxton on the mound. That inning I suspect will haunt the Dodgers for the balance of the season. To their credit they rallied Monday night to a 4-2 win over the Giants in San Francisco.

The Sunday game should have been a triumph in every sense of the word. Kershaw pitched a masterful 7 innings; until the 9th the Dodger played perfect defense & had timely execution on offense. In fact, until the 9th, they badly out played & out-classed the Bronx Bombers.

With their closer starting the 9th with a 4 run lead everyone (including the ESPN crew) had conceded the win to the Dodgers. In fact, after Broxton struck out Teixera to open the 9th the ESPN bunch named Kershaw the player of the game.

Then the wheels fell off - it may have been because Broxton pitched 1 1/3 innings the day before, it might have been nerves or it might have been over-confidence - or all of the above - but what followed was an absolute collapse.

The Yankees won the game in the 10th when Sherrill surrendered a 2 run Home Run to Robinson Cano. At that point the Dodgers lost their composure with both Garrett Anderson and Russell Martin being ejected in the bottom of the 10th.

The entire incident exposed some fundamental flaws in these 2010 Dodgers. First & foremost the bullpen has proven to be untrustworthy. Torre has relied far too much on Broxton as he now clearly only trusts Big Jon, Bellasario and Kuo (but he can't use him 2 days in a row) at the end of the game. They are getting a credible performance from Weaver in middle relief but after that zilch. Especially troublesome has been the performance of Troncoso and Sherrill - they are not the same guys that were the bridge to Broxton last year.

Also exposed (in my opinion) was a lack of confidence that these Dodgers can play with the big guys. Through the entire melt down the Dodgers looked as if they were expecting this to happen all along. Then once the game was tied they did not show any fight as they went quietly in the 9th & 10th as Mariano Rivera had his way with them.

Lastly, it is now becoming apparent that Kemp is in trouble and that Martin isn't the player we all thought he could be. Loney & Ethier continue to be serviceable but it doesn't look like they are super star material. Also Broxton has the ability to lose it in a hurry - not only this game but we must remember the Pirate game at the end of last season when he blew a significant lead to that last place bunch when the Dodgers had a chance to clinch. Is it possible that Broxton isn't as strong mentally as we hoped - he seems to struggle big time in non-save situations. It appears that there is a big let down.

The Series showed (as well as the recent Red Sox & Angel series) that the Dodgers are not yet in the elite level of those teams. In fact, they seem to be regressing. They will be hard pressed to catch the Padres; in fact, they are going to find it difficult to stay ahead of the Giants and the Rockies.

Kobe & Lakers Repeat

A few months ago I wrote about the disappointing late season swoon by the Lakers - they seemingly lost any hope of home court advantage and seemed uninterested in their 1st round efforts.

Well I am thrilled to say I was 100% wrong. Phil Jackson did a masterful job piloting these guys to another NBA Championship and sweetest of all they bested the hated Boston Celtics in 7 games in the Finals. They managed to erase a 3-2 deficit by winning 2 very tough games at the Staples Center with defensive efforts for the ages.

This was truly a team effort with Kobe getting help from everyone - from Pau's everything, to Sasha's free throws at the end of Game #7, to Fisher's clutch 3's and Artest's 3's & his defense and more. This was a victory they all could enjoy and know they were responsible for significant contributions. Bynum fighting through injury to contribute; Odom playing solid ball all around; great bench efforts from Farmar, Brown & Walton - these were all wonderful.

But, the guy that made this happen so that Kobe (and Fish) could get #5 was Pau Gasol. The 7 footer was amazing - he scored, he defended, he was a force on the boards, he blocked shots & distributed assists. I concur with the commentators that are calling him the best big man in the game right now - I can't imagine anyone else doing so much so well.

Kobe was fantastic all through the playoffs and richly deserved the MVP trophy. In a few short months we have gone from talking about the best in the game being LeBron to unanimously saying that it is still Kobe. Game 7 was tough - he hung in there, 15 rebounds, great defense, good energy - the rest of the guys pulled together so that Kobe's average (maybe below average) performance was good enough. Up to that point he was averaging nearly 30 points per game, was defending the toughest guys, distributing the ball - and, as we found out after the Finals were over, he was hurting big time. Probably 2 surgeries will be required before next season - knee & finger on shooting hand.

Kobe is now clearly solidified as one of the best ever - in my time I have been blessed to watch Jerry West (still my all time favorite), Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor, Pistol Pete Maravich and the big men Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Bill Walton, Kareem (the best of them all) and, (yes) Shaq. Kobe deserves to be included in the conversation with each & every one of them.

We should enjoy this run as with all things they will pass - Phil Jackson is seriously considering leaving coaching due to health issues, Fisher isn't getting any younger, Farmar & Brown might want to try & get starting gigs elsewhere and worst of all Kobe will be another year older next season.

Vin Scully on John Wooden

We lost one the greatest sports icons of all time this past month when John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach of the UCLA Bruins passed away at age 99. Perhaps the greatest sports figure in Southern California, Vin Scully, announced Coach Wooden's passing between innings of the Dodger game that night.

The announcement is embedded here; watch it and bear in mind that this wasn't rehearsed, Vin had just heard the news of the passing of one of his dearest friends, there wasn't time to prepare something formal so he just spoke extemporaneously while at the same time announcing this news to approximately 50,000 people at the Ravine as well as countless others watching the game on TV.

Having said all of that Vin Scully, who himself is 82 years of age, is such an excellent wordsmith that you would think that the announcement was prepared by Presidential speechwriters with the words placed on a teleprompter. He is a genius - everything, including the Shakespeare quotation came from him alone, communicated with his matchless talent.

We have been blessed to have lived in a time and at a place where we are privileged to be exposed to people such as John Wooden & Vin Scully.

Lakers & Kings

Is it bad that I can't get excited by the Lakers this year? Their late season swoon seemed indicative of a bunch of guys that really have no pride in their performance. Let's hope they were just cruising and can turn it on for the playoffs. Game #1 against Oklahoma City was a solid win with Ron Artest being a force on defense. Yet something just doesn't feel right about this year's bunch. I hope I am wrong.

The Kings made the NHL playoffs - go figure. They look pretty good as well - a nice nucleus of young players - especially Doughty on defense. They evened the series with an overtime win after coming back from a 2 goal deficit. I don't think there is a dominant team in the NHL this year so .... why shouldn't the Kings pull it off.

I would have preferred it if the Ducks had made the playoffs but they were just too inconsistent at the start of the season and right after the Olympic break. They are getting a little long in the tooth - Selanne & Niedermeyer continue to be front line players though.

Are the Clippers still in the NBA?

Dodger Homestand

The Dodgers won both series with Division rivals during this recent homestand. They took 2 of 3 from both the Diamondbacks and the Giants. Having said that they really didn't play well until the last game Sunday against the Giants. The pitching was very inconsistent and the defense was shoddy; fortunately the offense carried the team throughout.

Matt Kemp homered in 4 consecutive games and Andre Ethier homered twice including a grand slam in the opening game of the Giants series. Manny Ramirez hit a pinch hit 2 run homer in the bottom of the 8th to win the finale of the Giants series 2-1.

They lost the middle game in each series - 9-7 to the D'Backs in 11 innings after blowing 2 leads and 9-0 on national TV to the Giants on Saturday.

They won the final game of the D'Back series in dramatic fashion by taking advantage of a miscue by D'Back shortstop Drew in the 9th. Ethier stroked the game winning walk off hit bringing back memories of his clutch hitting of 2009. Ethier continued his heroics with the 2 dingers in his 1st 2 AB's in the Giants opener including the Granny. The bullpen was unimpressive in all of those games but the offense was good enough to keep the Boys in Blue in the game. Saturday was bad on all fronts - no pitching, no defense & Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum made sure there was no offense.

My earlier comments about the offense carrying the team this year have been borne out - the wins prior to Sunday have been: 10-2, 7-3, 9-5, 6-5 and 10-8. Even in the losses the team has been scoring runs (except for the Lincecum game) losing: 5-11, 3-4, 6-7, 5-6 & 7-9. We currently rank 1st in the National League in overall offense with a .303 team average & 2nd to the Phillies in runs scored. Yet we rank 13th in pitching with a team ERA of 5.30 (although we do lead the League in K's) and most concerning we are 15th in fielding percentage (only Florida is worse) with the 2nd most errors - 12.

Sunday's game was either an aberration or a sign of things to come. The 2-1 victory displayed Clayton Kershaw at his best; the bullpen was solid - Big Jon earned his 1st save; and, of course, Manny provided the dramatic pinch hit HR. Charlie Steiner commented several times that this was the 1st time all season he saw the team looking like the 2009 Dodgers.

Help is on the way - Russ Ortiz was sent packing, Kuo may be back Tuesday and Belisario isn't far off. This will allow changes to be made in the bullpen and may cover up the starting pitching failure to get into the late innings. If there was a way for the Dodgers to replace Haeger with a true #1 Starter then the rotation would look like championship quality. This will have to wait until the trading deadline so we can only hope that we hang close until then - it isn't often that an upgrade from one's 5th starter is a frontline guy.

On a better note - Vin Scully celebrated his 60th Anniversary announcing Dodger games this week end. He is still the best by a long shot. I am going to miss hearing him as the Dodgers hit the road to play the Reds, Nationals and Mets. Steiner is my 2nd choice so I will be watching the games on MLB TV on "mute" and listening to him on radio.

Dodgers Home Opener

What a thrill to hear Vin Scully announce the Dodgers' 2010 home opener. There has been no one better at his craft and as the years fly by we must treasure what time remains in this remarkable man's career. The Dodger season didn't start until Vinny took the microphone.

The game was well played by the Dodgers as they prevailed 9-5. Clayton Kershaw started and went 5 1/3 good innings. His penchant for throwing too many pitches hasn't gone away as he threw 110 before leaving the game with 2 base runners that benefited from his wildness. Jeff Weaver gave up a run scoring single but otherwise worked out of the jam. Unfortunately the rest of the bull pen leading up to Big Jon in the 9th didn't fare as well. Ramon Ortiz got "lit up" thus confirming my opinion about the Ortiz Duo - they aren't the answer nor are they long for the Big Leagues. As soon as Belisario, Kuo and Corey Wade are healthy & ready I am sure these 2 Ortiz Boys will be history.

The bats were hot - Loney a couple of doubles, dingers from Manny, Matt Kemp, Casey Blake and Andre Ethier. But - we can't expect that kind of offensive production every day. We are going to need to win some 3-2 & 2-1 games and right now the pitching and defense are too suspect for that to happen.

Yet - for today; we celebrate a Dodger win and the return of Mr. Vin Scully. That makes it a good day all by itself.

Dodgers 2010

Well we are off to a stumbling start to 2010 - losing 2 of 3 to the Pirates. After the first 2 games of the season the Dodgers were further out of first place (2 1/2 games behind the Giants) than they had been at any point last year.

Matt Kemp appears to be the real deal; Andre Ethier should be a solid player for a long time to come; Casey Blake is a professional ballplayer but other than that we have a lot of question marks.

Will James Loney have any power this year; can Russell Martin rebound or has the wear & tear been too much; is Raffy Furcal too far past his prime; is Blake DeWitt the answer for 2nd base; and, what about Manny Ramirez - was last years 50 game suspension & what followed the future Manny, can he recover his form?

My opinion about those concerns: Loney will be fine & he will have a nice big league career; Martin returned too heavy, bat is too slow, defense has become suspect - we should have included him in a package to Toronto last year for Roy Halliday; Furcal might have only 1 good year left - let's hope it's this year; DeWitt has an attractive bat, great attitude but he's not a second baseman - we should keep him for when Blake calls it a day; and, in my opinion, Manny is finished - he will never be a force again, the best we can hope is that he fights hard this year for respectability & other teams treat him like the Manny of old so that we sneak some production from his spot in the line up.

A more delicate issue is the pitching staff. We have future stars in Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton and Clayton Kershaw. We have solid members of the bullpen like Troncoso and Jeff Weaver. We have Kuo who can be great when healthy but he is just one pitch away from from a career ending injury. The we have a bunch of journeymen filling the uniforms that were once worn by the likes of Koufax, Drysdale, Valenzuela, Sutton, Podres, Osteen, Sherry, etc etc. It looks like Sherrill is going to be a huge disappointment; Padilla is imploding, Kuroda is in his last year, the Ortizs (Ramon & Russ) should both be retired. The others Haeger and the Rule 5 guy - the jury is still out on them but we can't rely on them to be our saviors.

All in all - I think we are in trouble this year. Colorado looks very good & the Giants have improved significantly. I see us fighting for 3rd place with the D'Backs and winning no more than 85 games.

I have been a died in the blue wool Dodger fan since they moved to LA & it pains me to write this pessimistically. I am willing to be proven wrong.

On a sobering note - it looks like this might be Vin Scully's last year. His schedule has him broadcasting home games and games in the western part of the country (San Diego, San Francisco, Arizona, Colorado etc.). After watching the games from Pittsburgh this week I am really reminded of how much we are going to miss Vinny. We best enjoy him for as long as we can because the next Vin Scully isn't here yet & may never arrive.

I was able to get to Camelback Ranch for a Spring Training game against Texas. It is a beautiful facility and will only get better. We had a tribute posted on the scoreboard for Dad who passed away Christmas Eve and was a huge Dodger fan. The Dodger staff could not have been nicer or more professional. It is a great organization & I am proud to be a die hard Dodger fan.