|
A-1 Pitching Sauce
2003-05-21 09:03
5-1 Those are the scores of the Dodgers' past five games. Amazingly, despite allowing only one run in each of their past five games, the past four have been come-from-behind victories. The Dodgers have been NBAing it - you can miss the first three sleepwalking quarters of the game and just tune in for the comeback. (Not that I'm advocating that.) By the way, the San Francisco Giants, who have followed an 18-4 start by going 10-13, have allowed at least four runs in 10 of their past 11 games. On April 12, I wrote that tallying quality starts was not a good way to measure whether the Dodger pitching staff was doing its job. True, you could use quality starts to compare the Dodger staff to other teams' pitchers. But because the Dodgers' strength is so concentrated in pitching, I argued, allowing three runs in six innings should not qualify as a quality start for the team, because it meant that for the team to win, either the bullpen would have to pitch shutout ball or that the offense would have to score five runs. In other words, something exceptional. I think that column and subsequent ones on the same topic got more criticism than anything else I've written about this year. Regrettably, it came across that I thought the pitching was the problem with the team, not the hitting. That wasn't my point. My point was that just because the pitching was good did not mean that it should not try to be better - for the same reason that Laker fans ask Shaquille O'Neal to be better even when he averages 27 points and 14 rebounds. Well, we can all agree now that these days, the Dodger pitching is bringing its A game. Tonight, we'll see if it continues with Kaz "Let-'em-walk-but-don't-let-'em-sock" Ishii.
|
Jon Weisman's outlet
for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers and baseball. Hot from the Toaster
BlogAds
Search
Archives
2008 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2007 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2006 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2005 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2004 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2003 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2002 09 08 07 About Jon
Jon's other site: Support Dodger Thoughts
Dodger Thoughts T-Shirts * * *
The Best of Dodger Thoughts Click here for more information.
"Dodger Thoughts, like TiVo, is one of those things you can completely do without until you start using it." - Fanerman Dodger Sites
Dodger Resources
Non-Partisan Baseball Sites
Partisan Baseball Sites
Baseball, Among Other Things
Invaluable Resources
Less Dodgers, More L.A.
All in the Family
Other Writing by Jon on the Web
SI.com Variety Also ... More Shameless Self-Promotion
2008 Season
Dodger home record: 22-20 (.524) 1991-2007
Dodgers at home: 745-600 (.554) 2008 Payroll Worksheet
Current Roster with Estimated 2008 Salaries Most figures are estimates (some are wild estimates) but will be updated as information comes in. Corrections welcome. More contract details here. Starting Pitchers (5) Bullpen (6) Starting Lineup (8) Bench (6) Disabled List Also Paying ... Working total: *$113,268,725 *Rough salary estimate The 2008 Dodgers
ESPN BR
BP
Cube Alvarez Selected Recent Ex-Dodgers
ESPN BR BP Cube Alomar Dodger Thoughts Land
Thank You For Not ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity Syndication
 
About the Toaster
Baseball Toaster runs on some experimental software called Fairpole. It's still under development. For more information, please visit the Fairpole blog, or read the FAQ. |
Comment status: comments have been closed.