GO GATORS, BEAT THE UCLANS. UCLA got it's share of national championshis in the Alcindor-Walton era. Let the SEC win one for a change. Besides, I haven't seen a "doo" like Noah's since my sister's Jewish girlfriends back in th 60's.

Wow -- can't believe the game I left at 4-1 ended up like this. I was musing at the Griddle last night about how, leaving aside questions of effectiveness, DePodesta's tenure was just more engaging to me than Colletti's, more interesting to ponder and watch. (Although hard to call today's game uninteresting.)

Anyhow, great comments on the game/season. Glad you enjoyed the day at the park.

1 Just FYI, there's a thread below where you'll find a crowd of hoopstalkers.

3
Is that "hoops talkers" or "hoop stalkers"?

Meanwhile, I'm very excited to be seeing the Dodgers this Sunday in Philly.

---

Doing my DC duty, Nationals fans too are experiencing a disturbing sense of deja vue today (not to mention crummy-baserunning-ja vue). Ball Wonk wrote a couple of really nice sentences about how this loss felt a lot like those of last year: "Well, hello, 2005 Nationals. What are you doing here? We thought you had retired. Really, you had a good run, but you deserve some rest. Please go away now, and let the 2006 Nationals play.

What's that, 2005 Nationals? You don't know who the 2006 Nationals are? Well, neither do we, not exactly, not yet anyway. But they're certainly not the team that manages to outhit, outpitch, outhustle, and downright outplay their opponents but still squander every meaningful chance and lose the game anyway until every Nationals fan's heart is as broken after a single game as a Red Sox fan's is in a year." www.ball-wonk.com

Sam DC-Please forgive my transgression. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and trying to watch the basketball game (after a 12 hour shift at the hospital today), when the basketball thread got posted. I didn't notice it. I feel worse about the Dodgers losing today than good about the beating Florida is laying on UCLA. As a guy who grew up in the northeast I'm envious that you can see the Dodgers both in DC and Philly (and in a stretch NY) while I haven't seen the Dodgers (other than at Vero) since they played in St. Pete back in 2001. It kind sucks living on the Gulf Coast and having put up with the hometown, Mobile Bay Bears, except when the J-ville Suns come into town. Have fun in Philly and don't let the obnoxious fans get to you (I think Philly rooters are the worst - though my wife is from the "Main Line").

Jon, Nice summary of the day. I echo most of your sentiments about the day and the game. Mueller and Furcal looked great, but I don't think a team with Saenz starting and batting fifth is likely to put fear in the hearts of their opponents. Sitting in the right field pavilion for the first time in years, I had a nice view of the ballpark. The new color scheme looks great and brings back memories of childhood visits to the Stadium. The bleachers were full of Dodger faithful, making for a very enjoyable experience.....with one minor exception. I'm sitting alone in an aisle seat; my row is nearly empty until the bottom of the fourth. Finally, a group of six show up to sit in my row so I step into the aisle to give them easy access to their seats (or to avoid being stepped on by six sets of feat). They take the first six seats in the row including mine, as I stand next to them in the aisle. After waiting a moment I say " Excuse me, the end seat is mine" Response: "Are you sure? What's your seat number???" Eventually, after they take inventory of the tickets in their group they slide over and allow me to reclaim my seat. Anyway, just a minor inconvenience, but it struck me as quite rude and presumtuous.

what a crappy sports day for me. dodgers get down big, rally and still manage to lose. ucla is going to cost me ten bucks. and my favorite pitcher (zito) gets bombed for 7 runs in a little over an inning in the A's home opener. he also happens to be on 2 fantasy teams of mine.

i think it's time to just call it a day.

6 wasn't at all trying to be a busybody; I actually thought there would be folks chatting up the title game in the other thread. Wrong! Guess folks are actually, like, watching the game with friends and family and whatnot, almost like real people.

not me, of course.

My observations:

Furcal is worth every penny.

Mueller is a very good 3B.

Repko has improved.

Would anyone still prefer a Choi-Saenz platoon over a healthy Nomar?

Lowe was about as mentally tough as a school girl.

Kent is still Kent.

Cruz is a pretty solid player.

And Navarro doesn't look healthy at all.

8 Vishal, let me help you out here. You're a Cal grad, right? Go Bears and all that? Well, that means you hate Ucla and your REALLY hate U$C. Zito went to $C. Conference loyalty? No such thing.

There, your day just got better. You're welcome.

Jon, you articulated quite well what I and I'm sure many other people are feeling about this year's team. I really wanted Paul DePodesta to succeed, because he seemed like a bright guy with a lot of interest in making thoughtful decisions (but gee, that Lowe signing didn't look too hot today...) Colletti has done some good things, but he is much more conventional and traditional, obviously. What are you really rooting for? There is nothing new, even if it works because the old guys somehow stay healthy. We all know that the Plaschke column would have been ready to go if DePo had signed Nomar and Lofton and they got hurt. Example 567906 that life is unfair.

Also, it does seem amazing that the team doesn't realize that the key to a good bench is a bunch of lefty hitters who either get on base or can hit homers. Or at least, it seems to me that is what a good bench is.

10 I don't think we should update our assessments one way or the other after a single freakin' game.

But how can Nomar missing the game due to injury and probably hitting the DL possibly make you LESS likely to prefer a Choi/Saenz platoon?

Sure, Saenz was pretty bad today, but he's generally pretty bad against RHP. Hence the notion of a platoon.

12
Is it just me, or does Plaschke not seem to write about the Dodgers anymore?

Would anyone still prefer a Choi-Saenz platoon over a healthy Nomar?

yes, saenz still kills lefties. The point is, nomar wont be healthy.

Nate - Does Jared ever post over here?

no i dont think so, he should though.

16. And is he still eatin' those Subway sandwiches?

16, 18 He was good in The Pretender.

17
I'm surprised that he doesn't. Maybe he likes posting where he feels like he knows more about baseball than other people...

18
I'm guessing he has upgraded his cuisine since making it big by getting smaller.

I'm guessing that CBS will be wishing they hadn't lost Two and a Half Men to the basketball game once they see the ratings.

14 - Plaschke has been with UCLA through today.

22 -- That makes me feel so sorry for them that I almost take back all the mean things I said about them.

Antonio Perez is playing SS for the A's right now. Apparently they trust his defense more than Tracy did

Jim Tracy used to play Repko in center. What makes you think he cared about defense?

Jim Tracy used to play Jason Phillips period. "" ""

Justin Upton is officially headed to center field, because the DBacks badly need more OF prospects (even if he's isn't much of a SS, they have Young ahead of him)

24
Shouldn't that be put in perspective?
The A's were down by over a touchdown and the starting SS got hurt.

Well Bradley went 2 for 4 today. Thank goodness we have Repko! Good baserunning by Bradley and the A's score their 2nd run.

repko ops= 1.000
bradley ops= 800

:)

oops. i cant do math.

both have an OPS at 1.000

still, even trade off :)

28 But the A's have Scutaro, who seems like Tracy's ideal candidate to play SS in a worthless game. Remember, Tracy wouldn't let players play, even in the worst of situations (Choi and the last half of last season comes to mind)

13.

Because Saenz left 7 on base. And Nomar is a career .300 + hitter off Hudson. I don't wanna start another Choi conversation, but I will leave it at this, Choi has been placed on the DL, so he has not been better than Nomar at all.

At this point, I just really wanna see Nomar get on the field as soon as possible, after all, Kent showed today that ST stats are meaninless.

Would MB have caught Reneria's long double in the 6th? Maybe but probably not. Not sure if repko got a late jump or it was just a very dificcult play.

I though Kuo should have been able to finish out that inning. Even though he gave up two walks there were two outs and IIRC no one had hit the ball. I know one game means little but Yhancy does not inspire the confidence he once did.

Ironic how the first game of the season exposed what Jon and others have been saying for a while, that the 2006 Dodgers are not much deeper, if aat all, than the 2005 version.

Actually I was impressed with offense. 1 and 2 hitters go 7 for 11. While the 3-4-5 hitters pick up 8 RBIs. The Tomato hurt us but not everyone is going to come through. But the lack of bench power was glaring and the decesion to carry 12 pitchers was, as Jon said, arrogant. Apparently the extra pitcher we should not have carried was Lowe.

Nomar's injury is very disappointing and exposes the decision not to have JtD or the like available.

Can't blame Saenz. His job is to mash lefties, and he does it well. Not his fault his platoon partner got dropped for Ramon Martinez.

i will be okay with a loney+saenz platoon from here on out. probably be more productive then nomar anyways.

Would MB have caught Reneria's long double in the 6th?
Yea, Bradley isn't stupid enough to leap for balls that are coming at him. He also made a great rolling catch today. Billy Beane robbed Ned blind.

The illusion that Colletti has constructed a deeper team than the Dodgers had in 2005 should be dissolving like scales from the media's eyes soon.
From Gurnick's gamer: "Management's decision to carry 12 pitchers backfired in the later innings because Garciaparra's absence left a shorthanded bench even shorter."
Not much, but it's a start.

Today, for the first time in my life, I find myself more depressed that basketball season has ended than I am excited that baseball season is starting. Not sure if that means anything, but, well, there it is.

But I do dig the new/old outfield fence color.

37. Miltie, I am willing to criticize Ned for a lot but I'm not sure MB is his fault. I believe Frank made it clear that MB had to go, thereby substantially reducing his market value. For me, the MB deal is on Frank, not Ned.

Now if you want to talk lack of depth, orginality or why we are the retirement home for the Giants. . .then we're talking Ned.

34 -- We ARE deeper than we were last year, though the reason has litle to do with Colletti and is all about our young players being one year older and more experienced than they were in 2005.

Considering the three factors of ability, age, and health (all of which are related, really), it is entirely possible that we can get more production out of a full year of Repko and Loney playing center field and first base respectively than we could get out of Lofton and Garciaparra playing all year in the same positions.

Of course I doubt very much that Lofton and Garciaparra will be out of action that long, but frankly, I find myself wishing they WERE hurt worse than they are. Jon recently said that spring training stats are meaningless. I think it would be more accurate to say those stats CAN BE misleading, as all stats can be. What I think this spring training's stats ACCURATELY reflect is that Repko performed much better than Lofton and is probably more capable right now than Lofton, and Loney's stats show that he outperformed Garciaparra and is likewise, right now, a superior player to Garciaparra, given Garciaparra's physical fragility. Repko is in his physical prime, and Loney has yet to even come close to reaching his but is on the upward slope. Lofton and Garciaparra, conversely, are on the decline, have been for some time, and their acquisition amounted to a gamble on Colletti's part that they have not quite reached bottom yet, much like Evans took a gamble that McGriff had one more year in him and lost his bet.

I just watched the tape of the game, unfortunately lost the end of the 8th and 9th. For those who think the Dodger bench is not much better than last, I agree but do believe and hope that Las Vegas willbe seen as the extension and be used more agressively. I know there are option issues but it strikes me thatwith some of these young guys being so close, you error on the side of bringing them up sooner rather than later.

Sutcliff throughout the game said he thinks Nomar is not the hitter he was, and if he is as fragile and not the power hitter he once was, keeping Martinez over Choi will end up being a big mistake. I hope the Dodgers bring up either Guzman or Looney, however if those two are not ready, what may make more sense is to bring up Either

Would anyone still prefer a Choi-Saenz platoon over a healthy Nomar?

This mythical 'healthy' Nomar hasnt appeared since 2003.

Which is why just 'hoping' he'd appear in 2006 was not smart planning.

What are you really rooting for?

I'm rooting for a team that can someday be dominant. In order to be dominant, you need superstar level expensive players, and high upside cheap youngsters...What the Dodgers have given me this year is something different...Something boring...Something in which there's little interest in watching develop, bc there's very little deviation on what might occur this year.

If Guzman, Billingsley, Martin and Aybar all come up and start, I'll have something to be interested in. If Werth comes back, it'll be interesting to see what kind of player he is or could possibly be in CF.

But watching Mueller, Saenz, Lofton, Ramon Martinez, Nomar is just plain boring.

44. Its only one game but at least Mueller was exciting. 4-2 with some very nice defensive plays.

What I think this spring training's stats ACCURATELY reflect is that Repko performed much better than Lofton and is probably more capable right now than Lofton, and Loney's stats show that he outperformed Garciaparra and is likewise, right now, a superior player to Garciaparra, given Garciaparra's physical fragility.

The question isnt Repko vs Lofton....or Nomar vs Loney.....

The question should be whether Repko, Lofton, Nomar, or Loney are good enough to begin with???

I dont think any of them are, nor were good bets enterings this year.

Sure, I'd rather have Dave Roberts than Jason Grabowski patrolling the OF. But honestly, I wouldnt have either guy on my team.

I feel that same way about Loney, Repko, Nomar, and Lofton.

The whole attitude about "Well he may stink now but he could get better bc he's young", was applied to Cesar Izturis. To me, Loney and Repko are getting the Izzy treatment. Players that couldnt hit in the minors, but have a defensive reputation, and the defenders claim they are improving. Nevermind if 'improving' means going from a terrible player to a merely below average player. Nonetheless, I dont want a player on the MLB roster if they cant prove their worth at the minor league level first.

Repko, Loney, Izturis do not belong on the Dodgers roster IMO.

44. Thats true I did like our lineup 1-4.

Its 5-9 that makes me want to take a nap.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Would anyone still prefer a Choi-Saenz platoon over a healthy Nomar?

Assuming a healthy Choi too, then yes.

45 -- Actually, the question IS Repko or Lofton, and Garciaparra or Loney? That OldBear does not LIKE the question, or any of the limited number of possible answers to the question, is irrelevent, isn't it? I am not trying to pick a fight here, but in all good spirits I think it has to be said that OldBear's opinions about what constitutes a good baseball player are approximately a universe away from the opinons on the same subject entertained by the people who actually RUN the Dodgers. OldBear knows that, and that is why he is angry. He is perfectly entitled to be angry. If I had his beliefs, I would certainly be angry. The Los Angeles Dodgers have never been, for any amount of time worth mentioning, a "power and patience" baseball team, and they certainly won't be that team under Colletti. A few years ago OldBear's whipping boy, Dan Evans, said "You're not going to out-slug people in this park (Dodger Stadium)." That was practically a summation of the "Dodger Way." DePodesta's appointment as Dodger GM was a kind of French Revolution, as philosophically he represented a redudiation of the Dodger Way, the ancien regime. He tried to make the Dodgers fit the power and patience model, but he was not here long enough to carry out the full Revolution. Now, with DePo's neck having been fed to the guillotine as surely as Robespierre's was, the Restoration has occurred, and since when are friends of revolutions SUPPOSED to be happy with what comes with a restoration?

Derek's just misunderstood I guess:
http://tinyurl.com/ru5ht

That was a good post Canuck. I agree with the comparison. I guess since the Dodgers are going to be ran a certain way, I might as well root for the lesser of two evils, rather than neither...?

Hmmm?

49

Is Ned Colletti the Thermidorian Reaction?

It seems odd to be despairing the offense after a 10 run opening day. Tho even Vin concluded that today's problem was all the LOB's. My concern is the starting pitching staff that puts more fear into Dodger fans than into opposing batters, and gives up 7 earned runs in 5 innings.

53 Much like Derek Lowe won't be that terrible every day, the offense also isn't going to get 15 hits every day.

49 -- For the record, I think "redudiation" should be a real word, because it has a nice ring to it, but I meant to say "repudiation."

Jon, I say we need an edit feature for posts AFTER they have been posted, for those of us for whom proof-reading doesn't work until the post is posted, for some reason. We're people to.

Has anyone noticed that Tony Jackson says in his Daily News piece that ANDY LaRoche hit a three-run homer for the Braves on Monday? I guess if we WON'T use our own prospects in the majors, other teams WILL. lol

55 -- That should be "too." Damn it, Jon!

Please clean the guillotine. We need it for Derek Lowe today.

I know ace starting pitchers are hard to come by, but man we need an ace starting pitcher.

Also, i wondering if repko would outperform lofton, i'd rather have neither, but...

Wild cards for this season are guzman, billingsley, martin, broxton, and werth.
If they can all get it together, we can start replacing some slackers.

Nomar is a big question mark, or should i say 1b is a big question mark, if nomar can't get healthy we have a problem at 1b.
Especially since guzman is our replacement for lofton/repko (or at least my opinion guzman is the replacement for lofton/repko).

Hey all, it has been quite a while since I've been motivated enough to post; but I'm always lurking!

Two plays that stick out in my mind that led to the Dodgers demise yesterday: 1) Lowe's lapse after the Kent error (which, by the way, on the replays looked like the last hop took a "scrappy" jump) and 2) Repko's fantastic castatrophe in CF.

In regards to 2), obviously project BROTHeR needs to be reinstated.

All-in-all, I followed Jon's advise and sat back and took it all in. It was nice to see the near-comeback.

Jon, you're absolutely correct: the bench is thin and I believe it will be our Achille's Heal all year. I propose getting rid of the 12th pitcher, promoting Guzman and Ethier, and optioning Repko. Put Drew in CF, Guzman in LF, keep Cruz in RF, and Ethier can be the 4th/5th guy with Lofton. I'd rather watch them get experience than experience the sinking feeling I get everytime the ball is hit Repko's way.

55 Please don't add an edit-comments feature!

Might I remind you that if Jon had that feature, none of us would be burnishing the cat right now?

In his deposition, Derek Lowe acknowledged that the Red Sox thought he had a drinking issue but that he disagreed.

"I don't have a drinking problem...I have a drinking solution"

The more I learn about Lowe, the better I feel about a society that rewards a guy like him with $36 million.

It's Not Quite Chavez Ravine Watch. Lovely article from the Post about the Navy Yard gay clubs that shuttered over the weekend to make way for ballpark construction:

"No amount of Whitney Houston and Toni Braxton and Mariah Carey songs could mask the pain. One by one, until the wee hours Monday morning, the reigning drag queens of Half Street SE descended the stairs at Ziegfeld's cabaret to strut their last, blowing kisses to admirers and making a few more sweepingly glamorous gestures -- all of it a farewell to the shabby but perfect place they called home for three decades.

Ziegfeld's, and four other establishments on the same forsaken industrial block at Half and O streets, closed yesterday in a cruelly predictable high school metaphor: The jocks win."

http://tinyurl.com/fm6o9

Lowe would get drunk last season in the Dodgers clubhouse with clubhouse manager Dave Dickinson, Trinka contends.

1. Nothing like "chemistry" in the clubhouse.
2. Looks like Derek gets bombed on and off the field.

What disturbs me the most is Lowe's definition of "American".

65
Do you mean to tell me that there are Americans who aren't white...?

I'm getting an early start on disliking Grady Little. In his Daily News quotes, he essentially pinned the loss on Kuo and Osoria.

None of those wily veterans had a hand in this, right Grady? It was the rookies' fault. I'm sure they won't feel pressure to be perfect the next time out.

67
And his old Red Sox buddy Lowe had nothing to do with it, of course.

It's going to be hard rooting for Lowe after reading that.

Re: 64.2 - Zing!

---

A few comments about opening day:

The pavillion is getting worse, and the LAPD seem to be pretty relaxed, if not moreso than the ushers. Also, a $2 increase in ticket prices only gets you a new paintjob.

I'm a fan of the seats, but the peach and banana yellow are hard to differentiate when they're full of people (don't know why that's worth mentioning, shrug). I'm not a fan of the outfield wall, either, as it makes the ads stand out even more. Generally, the stadium feels brighter.

I can't remember the last day game I came into Dodger Stadium through Elysian Park, but the off-peak hour parking on Sunset is killer. It took 20 minutes to get from Westchester to Downtown, and 40 minutes to get from 3rd & Beaudry to the parking lot.

67 I'm glad you pointed that out. I was wondering if I was the only one who'd notice...

MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST

You've just lost your opening day game 11-10. Which of your first three pitchers do you blame?

a) The Proven Veteran starter, who gave up 8 in his five innings;

b) The rookie reliever, who got 2 quick outs, then walked two;

c) The wily pitcher who took over for pitcher b, giving up a big double and allowing both those runs to score

If you said b, then you, too, could manage a Major League franchise!

Painfully obvious yesterday that LA needs another lefty on the bench. If Loney is indeed coming up to replace Nomar, then another move that should be made is to replace Ross with Ethier.

An Ethier/Repko rotation should be able to hold down the fort until Lofton is ready.

72
An Ethier/Repko rotation might be better than Lofton.

Then again, it might not.

73 - Slight correction:
Ethier/Repko better than Lofton/Repko.

Not sure Lofton gets many AB's versus lefties.

Is everyone really that hyped about bringing Loney up? He's 22, hit .284/.357/.419 at AA and has never played at AAA. Seems to me he needs to impress in Vegas before they should even consider him.

Let's not rush him until he looks ready.

75 - The alternatives would be:

- to sign Carlos Pena for a short term solution

- play Olmedo fulltime

- move Kent to 1st, sub in Ramon or Oscar at 2nd

- bring up Loney to platoon with Olmedo

Looking at it this way, why not give Loney a shot?

I was busy burnishing the cat, or admonisning the bishop, just dropping in on this now...

Saenz playing full time is not an option, period. So bringing up Loney (or Guzman) for now is fine by me. Honestly, I like Nomar and hope he contributes this year but wasn't counting on him that much. Still really early in the year to be judging this move, of course. I was a little more disappointed about Lofton, actually, because, despite his age, he's always been in great shape, and always at least starts the season healthy. We'll see...

Meanwhile, you can ask Ned Colletti about this yourself with a chat on MLB