Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Clayton Kershaw is headed back to Jacksonville today to make room for the activation of Hiroki Kuroda from the disabled list. The move makes sense if for no other reason than Kershaw was not needed to pitch until after the All-Star break, especially if Brad Penny comes off the disabled list this weekend.
So Kershaw is headed out, and congrats are in order. That's because the winless pitcher is a winner.
The silliness of actually thinking that Kershaw's quixotic quest for a victory this season reflected his ability was summed up by what happened Tuesday - he left the game with a 6-1 lead and one of baseball's best bullpens there to back him up, and still didn't get the win. Though he never pitched more than six innings for Los Angeles, Kershaw allowed two runs or fewer in six of his eight starts. He easily could have come away with victories in five of those: May 25 vs. St. Louis, June 4 vs. Colorado, June 10 at San Diego, June 15 at Detroit and last night at Houston. And that doesn't count a 2-0 loss to the White Sox last week. As it was, the Dodgers went 4-4 in Kershaw's appearances. He ably filled a hole left by ailing pitchers Penny and Kuroda, not to mention the released Esteban Loaiza.
Kershaw showed he had plenty of development ahead of him with regards to command, pitch use and endurance. But even factoring that in, however, he was generally effective: In 38 2/3 innings, despite walking 24 batters, he had an ERA+ of 99 (almost exactly the major league average) struck out 33 and allowed only three home runs. He did this at age 20.
Perhaps most importantly, Kershaw was not abused. He never threw more than 104 pitches in a game, and averaged fewer than 100 pitches per week. Ultimately, you'll want to see him pitch deeper into games, but here's the thing - he will. And when he does, look out.
Now he can go back to Jacksonville and work on his pitches. But he should go back with his head held high and every reason for optimism about the future.
The Dodgers already have a budding ace in Chad Billingsley. Clayton Kershaw will give them two. That is going to be huge for the team going forward.
* * *
Update: Kershaw sounds disappointed, according to Tony Jackson of the Daily News: "Any way you spin it, I'm getting sent down. They can say they didn't have enough room, but they (brought) me up when they didn't have enough room, because all those (pitchers) were healthy then." Hopefully, he will be made to understand that his return to Jacksonville doesn't have to be considered a step backward.
I'm not with the team, so I can't explain the reasoning [for optioning Kershaw] but I'm sure Joe Torre will do so shortly...obviously someone had to go for Kuroda to be activated and it makes sense if we have six starters for the most recent one to get a little respite heading into the All-Star Break. At least that's my sense at this point.
It's also easier to limit his workload in the minors rather than on the 25-man roster.
3 - Maybe, but the Dodgers had little trouble keeping his pitch counts in line here.
All in all, I just think this went almost as well as could be expected. Short of him dominating, he got great experience, he learned what he needs to work on, he helped the team, and he came out unscathed - assuming he knows not to care about the 0 in his personal win column.
Ker-shaw! As if!
Man, looking at those all-time lists, it does seem like the culture of the Dodger organization is to breed elite pitchers, and not so much hitters. I can't imagine 10 percent of the thought process given to Kershaw and Billingsley was applied to Loney, Kemp or LaRoche in the past few years.
Dodger fans, I think we're going to be rooting for a great-pitching, so-so hitting team forever.
So, I'm browsing the web, something I'm able to do now and the two previous days since, you know, it's summer vacation and all. And I come across this.
The Diamondbacks placed Snyder on the 15-day DL Tuesday with a left testicular fracture.
From my brother, a urologist: "He should be fine. The likelihood of testicular salvage is very high if surgery is done within 72 hours."
Let the punning begin.
"touched on." See? It's starting already.
You hear me, Mr. Kent? I'm looking at you, sir.
I'm late on everything. In the old days, I used to "break" stories after a day or so. Before this wonderous site grew like a fern in the Amazon.
But that changes this summer, people. When you get head-butted at the picnic by yours truly, I don't want to hear, "Hey, didn't that used to be Suffering Bruin?"
A double.
He had a SLIM chance of qualifying after 2010, now he has zero.
But this year, it's different, right? We can be a league-average offense, we're just struggling, right?
Right?
Therefore, I passed.
Favorite: Win%/Total Runs
LV Hilton: LAD: 53.48%/8.5
AccuScore: LAD: 56.00%/9.8
My Simulator: HOU: 52.96%/8.75
I hope the simulator is wrong on this one. :)
vr, Xei
Darn right, that's a capital T.
26 - Testicular squee?
Hope he gets that elusive win one of these days, even if in Jacksonville.
--
Okay, I've had to read the comments here with my legs crossed uncomfortably for far too long. C'mon, can we change the subject?
Ouch.
Just for that...
FACT OF CHOI--INFORMATION ON A PLAYER WHO USED TO BE SB'S FAVORITE DODGER, SOMETHING THAT CAME DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO OBSESSION, RETURNS.
Last month, Paek Cha-seung of the San Diego Padres and Choo Shin-soo of the Cleveland Indians smiled at each other as they faced off. You might ask why and even if you didn't, here goes.
Both players had attended Busan High School in Korea. Is this the first time such a thing has happened in our beloved MLB? Of course not.
Three--count 'em, three--Gwangju Jeil High School alumni faced each other at one time or another. They were Seo Jae-weong, Choi Hee-seop and Kim Byung-hyun. I'm cribbing this information from a Korean paper so for you 'mericans, you can probably tell that they use the last names first over there. All of the Gwangju Jeil High alumni were pitchers. Only Choi decided to test the bigs with the bat in his hands.
You think I'm making this up, but I'm not. Those are the actual terms.
44 - I think the Dodgers change their minds pretty much every day or so on things.
But I hope Chris Snyder does not need these:
http://tinyurl.com/4yanr
Link is SFW
Was this a real intention or a facade?
No, it's really a frieze.
Oh wait. Wrong reflexive response.
Nomar activated; Berroa DFA?
Penny activated; Troncoso optioned?
Andruw activated; Repko optioned?
We were members there for a year, but we just kept going through faster and faster. Kids liked the touch exhibit the most.
Life can be tough for a boy named Yeicok.
(God that hill is stupid.)
He and his former wife did not have children, but I don't know if that was medically-related or not.
I blame the Ausmus Girls.
Take that Ausmuses!
Manager Joe Torre said he expects Kershaw to be back in the Major Leagues in the "not-too-distant future." For now, however, he'll be starting at Double-A Jacksonville, where he was 0-3 with a 2.28 ERA before being promoted to the Dodgers on May 24.
"We made the move, not because he wasn't handling it, but we've got pitchers coming back," Torre said, referring to Kuroda and Brad Penny, who is expected to come off the disabled list to start Saturday in San Francisco. Torre also said that, after burning through six relievers in Tuesday night's 11-inning game, he didn't want to send reliever Ramon Troncoso out.
http://tinyurl.com/3zokzf
Well at least now we're sure that Kershaw won't be a Super Two in a few years. Thats good news.
112,
Yes.
And where are all the people complaining about Kent swinging at the first pitch? Pretty selective complainers, eh?
There was a guy named Clayton,
Not too different from you or me.
He pitched for the Dodgers Institute,
Just another face in a blue and white suit.
He did a good job pitching off the hill,
But his bosses didn't like him
So they shot him out to Jacksonville.
(la la la)
Might help the Old Man stay at the very top of his game.
He's got the team on his back right now.
Penny does well in his next start and gets traded?
If a player needs a home run for the cycle, the level of the alert varies depending upon the determination of the Cycle Detection Warning System, which is headquartered in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.
So Shimmin is already slacking off??
And another lousy at bat... Can we bat Kent multiple times in the lineup? Maybe have him go up in a disguise?
Man, Pee Wee, I love ya, but get 'er done, man.
Squee(ze)!
Wow that is really sad... But we're winning!!!
Obviously I meant Dodger not Dsdger. Doh.
I don't think Dsdger shortstops have ever had an RBI. They aren't a very god hitting team.
The weak stuff that we have been seeing too much of recently.
Oh man I'm making a fool of myself. "Good hitting" not "god hitting". Ugh, terrible.
"god hitting" would be a way to describe Kent in this series.
(ball sails towards upper deck)
"Yup."
That was outta here fast and far.
A. Michael Bourn leads off every game
B. Runelvys Hernandes is in the major leagues.
190 - as are Royals fans. What shocked me was to discover he was briefly in the Yankees' and Red Sox' system last year.
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/H/Runelvys-Hernandez.shtml
Deep.
At least one Dodger fan was already wondering both of those things.
204 Man, that stinks. For Oklahoma City? That's just lame. No offense to Oklahoma or anything.
And its not close.
Ha! Enjoy, OK!
lol, None taken. I currently live in Oklahoma City so it's good for me!
Red alert for Dustin Pedroia in St. Petersburg.
This is a red alert.
Regardless, at 20 years old doing what he did IS very impressive.
Our bench is looking a little thin, but the bullpen looks great!
That's why I didn't give you my proxy.
Only because the Killer Tomato doesn't live here anymore.
No problemo we are use to it.
This is a yellow alert.
--
Ethier needs a triple for the you-know-what now! What is that, yellow?
Ethier is pretty slow footed from what I've seen.
He was halfway through calling that Kent fly out a home run! grrrrr
That was pretty funny when Lyons called Ethier's home run. He pretty much hit it on cue.
he also relied on the score board for pitch counts (the score board was wrong). ah!!
vr, Xei
Not that I wouldn't love to see Sweeney get a chance to play more or anything. :-/
vr, Xei
Rays WE: 94%
vr, Xei
vr, Xei
vr, Xei
Facing rookie Warner Madrigal in relief helped.
Bob, do you have any Rays in your Fantasy team?
dang!
I had Carlos Pena at the beginning of the year, but I waived him because he started slowly. I also had Percival for a while, but then he got hurt.
My saves are supposed to come from the imposing trio of Lidge, Street, and Wilson.
C.J. Wilson!
Ramon Martinez flies out to right fielder Adam Pavkovich in foul territory.
Nomar Garciaparra singles on a fly ball to right fielder Adam Pavkovich.
Terry Tiffee singles on a line drive to center fielder Christopher Walker, deflected by shortstop Brandon Wood. Nomar Garciaparra to 3rd.
Andruw Jones flies out to right fielder Adam Pavkovich.
I have Billingsley!
The Red Alert is still in effect!
Kuroda was excellent and the bullpen is saved for the day game tomorrow. 11 a.m tomorrow in L.A.