End of an Era

We are watching the end of an era with the dismantling of the Lakers today in Dallas. The Mavericks have swept the Lakers out of the 2011 playoffs and we are saying so long to Phil Jackson as our coach. Already the networks are speculating about his replacement.

A new coach should result in some personnel changes. Kobe Bryant will be back, of course, and he should be a star player for a few more years. I suspect that he will be picking his spots a little more carefully as he seems unable to sustain his normal high level of excellence for a full season plus playoffs. Pau Gasol has transformed from the most athletic big man in the NBA to a liability in this playoff season. Derek Fisher has shown that he can't handle the top level point guards in the league and may have to be considered a spot player next season. Ron Artest is a serviceable player but unreliable and unstable at times. Andrew Bynum is a star in the making & could be a dominant player as he develops. Lamar Odom is a keeper and an asset going forward.

The bench is fine; Shannon Brown probably needs to be considered as a starter next season and the rest fulfill their roles just fine. We have probably seen the last of Luke Walton unless a new coach sees an expanded role for him on this team.

The Lakers need to be at a Championship level. They were there until the last 10 games of the season and throughout the playoffs. They were the best team in the NBA for the 20 games following the All Star break. Yet, they collapsed. Was it age? Was it team chemistry? Are there trust issues as expressed by Drew?

The choice of Phil's replacement will give us some idea of where the franchise will be going as it starts a new post-Jackson era.

Did the Lakers quit? Are the Mavericks that much better than the Lakers?

This off season will have many questions and we hope that Mitch Kupchak has the answers. Los Angeles needs a boost - the Dodgers are in a down turn; the Kings continue to disappoint; UCLA football & basketball is middle of the road or worse; and, USC football is a long way from where it once was during their championship runs. The Angels are re-built and competing for a division title at this point in the season. They look like they are for real and may be the only team in the area that has a reasonable chance of on-field success.

The swift fall of the Lakers this season was unexpected and very disappointing. Optimism may be a rare commodity in Southern California sports for the next while.

Dodgers 2011

A new baseball season is starting & hope springs eternal for Dodger fans everywhere. Firstly, let's give thanks for the return of our favorite Dodger, Vin Scully. I am thinking that he will be the Dodger MVP for 2011.

As of the date of this post we are 6-6 which is an improvement over our spring at Camelback Ranch in Arizona. By the way, it is a beautiful facility & everyone should try and get over there during Spring Training.

Where to start - how about the starting pitching. It's a bit of a mixed bag: Clayton Kershaw has been wonderful and is clearly the leader of the staff (dare we say that he has been Koufaxesque); Chad Billingsley is coming along, still seems fragile when things get tough but he is more than capable & potentially All Star material; Ted Lilly ... he's our #3 but would probably be a #5 on most staffs - hopefully he will be an inning eater and end up with a .500 won-loss record (that's the upside unfortunately); Hiroki Kuroda is off to a good start at 2-0 - if he holds up physically he will be the key to this year's success as I don't think many people are expecting much from him (I actually think he will be a 15 game winner & solid all year); as for our #5 we are awaiting the return of Jon Garland from an oblique injury & I think he will one of the better #5 starters in the league - however, until his return it is a mixed bag with John Ely currently filling the role poorly.

The bullpen is an almost entire make over - there is still Kuo & Broxton for the 8th & 9th with Kuo looking as excellent as ever (still worries as to health & longevity) but Brox looking really shaky with 2 HRs given up in his early appearances even though he has converted every one of his save opportunities. The rest of these guys are newcomers except for Kenley Jansen (even he was a late season call up last year) & none of them can be described as anything more than journeymen work horses but I am prepared to be surprised as they have done a good job so far.

The starting line up doesn't cause much fear in the hearts of the competition in the National League. The outfield has Andre Ethier in right (he is a good player - All Star quality); Matt Kemp is center (off to a great start - MVP potential so my fingers are crossed); left is a platoon effort manned primarily by Tony Gwynn (the son of the HOF'er) who is off to a pretty good start & is largely responsible for 2 wins in San Diego last week end and Marcus Thames who is looking OK (not great mind you) with adequate defense, good power & .270 potential average.

The infield has become a problem - health issues have affected third baseman Casey Blake since the middle of Spring Training & (at his age) will plague him all season as we watch his production decrease; ss Raphael Furcal (also no spring chicken) is already on the DL with a wrist issue & a broken thumb that should place him on the shelf for 4 to 6 weeks; projected starting second baseman Juan Uribe is a good serviceable player (not a star for sure) and now we are asking a lot of him offensively and defensively as he tries to cover third base & shortstop as well; I love love love Jamie Carroll as a utility player but now he is being called upon to be a starter for an extended period of time & that should expose his shortcomings; Aaron Miles is also in the mix as a part time player who also may end up playing more than expected; Ivan De Jesus had a good spring & was given the chance to start the season with the big club but faltered badly - he is back up with the injury to Furcal so let's hope he performs at a major league level; first base is unexpectedly becoming an issue - after a great 1st half of 2010 James Loney has faltered greatly; his 2nd half was dramatically sub par and his start to 2011 has been atrocious (he is starting to look like a re-run of Russell Martin).

Behind the plate we have Rod Barajas as the starter - he is solid receiver and should hit 15 to 20 HR's,have a .250 to .270 average and drive in 70 runs; not an All Star but a reliable player. He is being backed up by A.J. Ellis and Hector Gimenez both of whom have proven themselves in the minors but are question marks at this level.

All in all it looks like a 3rd place finish in the NL West behind my projected winner Colorado Rockies and last year's World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. We will be in a dog fight with the Arizona D'Backs for 3rd and I am afraid that the San Diego Padres will be at our heels all season.

Unfortunately, if I am wrong it is more likely that I have been overly optimistic rather than pessimistic - in other words we are more likely to end up 5th than 1st.

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.