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.