The Jazz are playing like Washington State at Pauley Pavilion.

Or, the Jazz is playing like Washington State at Pauley Pavilion.

The Lakers is giving me heartburn something awful.

As my Jewish-Mexican friend used to say, "Oy Caramba." The Lakers escape after a little high wire act there at the end. Whew. I respect the Jazz team and admire their comeback, but I feel tickled to know their fans suffered greatly during this game.

The night was half a success!

Oh, and for Bob, from previous thread:

274 - I have seen Angels-Dodgers games before, I just have the guys from "Men in Black" come flash that little memory eraser thing at me each time, so it's always a surprise when F-Rod praises the heavens for a save.

And sorry LAT that you miss out on those tix.

Night all!

Jon, very nearly every throw that man makes is a blooper [literally so]. I'm waiting for one of our pitchers, after the blooper back to the pitcher following the pitch, to fire the ball back to him and right at the center of his chest.

And, no, I don't feel sorry him. Throw the darn ball on a line. If the first grade girl who is my baseball pupil can do it, so can you Mr. Bennett.

But how can you know that the MiB use the memory thing on you?

7 Uh... what MiB thing are you referring to?

The Lakers defense almost gave me a heart attack. It's really hot in SoCal. I saw Gary Bennett's crazy throw. Goodness. At least 3.5 hit a home run and Bison drew a walk.

The only thing we ever asked of Druw was for him to at least hit his weight. He's the one who upped the ante.

9
#7, Loney had a good game with a couple of hits.

6 - Well, obviously that's true about his throwing, but won't you concede that tonight's took the cake? The whole point of him conserving his arms on throws back to the pitcher is so he can rock and fire when it counts.

12 It pains me too much too concede the point. You had otherwise better be on standby, since if he ever does rock and fire, well, I will need some confirmation that he indeed rocked and fired. Lastly, if there any word that anyone is trying to work with him in this respect? Sorry, almost forgot, but, yes, if he wasn't on our team and so it didn't hurt so much, I'd find his escapade to be one for the ages.

13 Sorry, "if" should be "is".

Why didn't we just re-sign Lieberthal to be our back-up catcher this season. He was an adequate back-up for Martin. Did he retire?

Lieberthal retired although he is going to sign a nominal 1-day contract with the Phillies and have a ceremony there.

15. He probably retired because the Dodgers didn't want to sign him.
vr, Xei

I really think Colletti has proven to be completely incompetent and should be fired.

Btw, Tony Jackson has a good blog entry posted just a little while ago going into some detail about the game, specifically the Bennett Issue, so I recommend checking that out.

I also hadn't realized that the reason Pierre ended up playing the field for Jones today was because the latter had a "catch" in his back that made it harder for him to play defense tonight.

Good news about Furcal, at least. Boy, they really miss him.

At least DeWitt will be back tomorrow, Martin will be back behind the plate, and all will be right with the world. Except for a possible pitching mis-match.

Okay, I'm really off to bed now.

18 Other than that, how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln?

12
Has Bennett actually come out and said that's the reason behind his bloopers back to the pitcher? I think the vitriol unleashed tonight after Bennett's rainbow toss over Loney stems from the pain of enduring watching him throw back to the pitcher. If it was a normal catcher, we would chalk it up to a freak occurrence. But for Bennett, it's the perfectly logical outcome for a routine throw to first.

A question for someone who watches a lot more baseball than me and has seen Bennett occasionally prior to this season, has he always thrown like this?

All I know is that it's incredibly distracting to me just as a viewer. I think if I was the pitcher I would want to kick him in the groin and tell him to throw me the ball like a normal human, you know play catch like every kid who has ever played baseball beyond teeball league.

I'm glad that Bennett's kids got to see his homerun in Milwaukee, and I am hopeful that they'll being seeing a lot more of ol' dad around the house very soon.

One other thought. Maybe we can survive with Bennett on the team, but only if Torre agrees to play him only when he's paired up with that one home plate umpire who loves to fire the ball back to the pitcher. That way the ump can get the ball back to the pitcher and spare us from having to watch Bennett's bloopers.

As underdog noted, Tony Jackson's blog covers Bennett's throwing issues much better:
http://tinyurl.com/3edc5p

What sort of input does Torre have in player moves? How much of a say, for example, does he have in Andy still being in Vegas? Or did he have any input when the Solution/Gumption was sent down? It almost seems like we are seeing a power struggle between him and Colletti being played out in the lineup. Its like he is saying, well these are the players you give me, so let me show you just how bad a lineup I can put out there. What is the thought process that has him putting pen to paper and writing down Bennett and Mazza when he fills in the card, and putting his All Star catcher in at third base? I am sure that I am going overboard here, but it just seems so bizarre. And this is on top of the whole Ethier/JP issue and wheeling Druw out there night after night. You see this sort of stuff once and you can think, well there are 162 games so what does it matter if so in so is playing, but this is getting ridiculous.

23 - Let's admit up front we have no idea whether Torre and Colletti are in conflict on personnel moves. No doubt they consult with each other, though.

As for third base-catcher, with DeWitt out but not on the DL to allow for a LaRoche callup, Torre is clearly more comfortable with Martin-Bennett than Hu-Martin. Bennett's HR, 4 RBI and seven innings of shutout catching Thursday no doubt reinforced that.

It's not a mystery. Hu is on the outs with Torre right now. It's not permanent, but it's current.

I had a front row seat at the game tonight and believe Bennett has a mental problem as it relates to throwing the ball back to the pitcher. Not only did Bennett lob it in a manner that I have never seen before but he took several steps toward the mound and Kuroda took several steps toward home plate to shorten the throw every time.

Bennett had a horrible game, throwing, receiving, and swinging the bat (slow bat). I would be surprised if he were still with the team come June.

25 - Welcome home, Rich! The way Bennett throws the ball to the pitcher isn't new and it's completely intentional. That it's supremely disconcerting to watch is another matter.

24 - Thanks. I don't feel any better, but thanks. Good to hear that the Solution is likely to play tomorrow and that Rafi is on the mend. Let get these Halos!

Wait, I can't let this go. So Hu being on the outs would be part of any discussion regarding bringing in Mazza, so Colletti wouldn't blink an eye at seeing him pencilled in for two starts in a row? The LaRoche situation is troubling. We can't afford to not field the best team possible on a consistent basis. We have needed a third basemen for the past couple of days and have a good one in Vegas, but what we do instead is bring in a fellow as an emergency ss and have him start.

27 - Yes. It is lame.

BTW, Torre is on the outs with me. Current, but hopefully not permanent. As for Colletti, well, like Orel, once a Giant, always a Giant.

That doesn't in and of itself mean that Jones should lose at-bats

Respectfully and totally disagree with you. But we both disagreed on the merits of the Jones signing to begin with.

25 - Rex Hudler commented on this in the radio broadcast. In retrospect it may be that he is having issues with his throwing mechanics; new or not, could he be injured?

30 - "That" referred to their lifetime EQAs, so all I meant was that their lifetime EQAs was not a reason by itself to bench Jones.

20 25 Correct, as my vitriol tonight was unleashed following the lob overthrow, but owing to the continued lob throws back to the pitcher, well, like that volcano it was simply a matter of time before the gas and lava erupted. And to bring in 31 , that's it, injury and/or head case. Rich makes the only relevant point for me, as our pitcher now has to break usual routine and all that such entails, just to have to move in a couple steps and take a lob throw back to him. As I said in the game thread, add in slotting in our two no-OBP guys just where they can have the most PAs, and it's fairly obvious to me that some don't have even so much as the first clue.

Gary Bennett can't hit, throw, catch, or run. There was never any point to signing him; there's no point to keeping him. What could possibly be a lower coaching priority than convincing him not to throw like a doofus? I like tinkering with broken stuff, too, but this is like trying to fix a 1.5" black and white CRT. Throw it out, already--it's embarrassing.

Shimmin's right. The consensus on Bennett when we signed him was that it was an abominably stupid move, but it was only the backup catcher, so what could it hurt?

Well, now it's hurting. I want him off the team. Yesterday. Call up Lucas May if you have to. Call Mike Lieberthal if you have to. Call somebody, for Pete's sake.

Clearly our manager needs to be protected from himself. If he's going to be stupid enough to turn his Gold Glove catcher into a semi-regular third baseman, then the backup catcher needs to be somebody who can at least play baseball.

By the way, why do we actually believe that DeWitt will be in the lineup tomorrow? He was said to be well enough to play on Thursday, and he didn't. Then he was said to be well enough to play on Friday, and he didn't. What reason is there to believe he'll be well enough to play on Saturday?

i Cant believe werth had 3 jacks tonight...unfortunate loss though..

I'm grumpy this morning. Losing is one thing. Good teams lose all the time. Losing to your crosstown rivals because your All-Star catcher is playing third base while your back-up catcher who can't throw the ball is behind the plate yet again is another thing. Throw in the fact that the guy who drove in both runs has become a part-timer, and you've still got the more poorly run operation in SoCal. McCourt needs to put down his landscaping plans and take a hard look now at the team his GM is fielding.

Bennett at catcher, Martin at third, Maza at short is something I would have expected from Tracy.

35 Because we all trust our medical staff so well, and the players judgments of their health also. Much like Furcal said he would be back the next game 5 straight days until he ended up on the DL. It's fun.

35 - Had we started actually believing what players or the team were saying about their injuries? That's a fool's game.

not to defend bennett, or suggest that there were only two options in this, but lieberthal was/is no longer a major league player. it's not just the dodgers who didn't want him. at one point last year he had one (1) rbi in nearly 70 at bats. and i think a reason martin played four trillion innings in a row in july and august was that grady didn't trust giving leiberthal any ABs. so, while we can all pine for bennett's departure, we haven't really lost anything at this spot when compared with last year.

dumb question (because i bet the answer is going to make me wince)... how did werth wind up a non-dodger?

Backup catchers are an odd lot. They are going to be one-dimensional (offense or defense) at best.

And when you have a star catcher, the backup has to be someone who doesn't mind sitting. A lot.

Backup catcher to Martin is akin to being the backup goalie on a very good hockey team. That player isn't going to see a lot of action and principally has the job to sit around and not complain much.

Paul Bako is the quintessential backup catcher, although he's getting more playing time since Old Friend David Ross isn't hitting much. Jose Molina with the Yankees is almost the prototype of what you want from a backup catcher.

A lot of veteran players will hate the backup role (like Toby Hall.) The Dodgers could have put in a waiver claim for Raul Casanova when the Mets DFA'd him recently.

just noticed something: there is a player in pro ball allegedly named Callix Crabbe. and i'm publicly stating a need to steal the name for a script.

i don't mind torre playing martin at 3B. i think it's recognition of obp as a key stat. martin, who has good power/speed for a catcher, is a slightly above avg. offense 3B because of his obp. at least for the dodgers are presently built. so i don't mind what i view as a creative way to keep martin's bat in the lineup and his competitive heart, you know, happy. i do think lucas may couldn't be worse than bennett. or raul casanova. or any number of career PVL type backup catchers. throwing to second is overrated since the vast majority of the running game is stifled by pitchers, not catchers... (confession: i caught and blamed every sb on pitchers)... sigh. fortunately, with martin (who should rest more) this bennett issue will come up only about once a month or so.

Callix Sadeaq Crabbe, no less.

He was born in the Virgin Islands, but grew up in Georgia.

43 Going back to that article that you and the other soul linked, that's exactly the insanity here. Part of his job is to make the pitcher's job easier. The excuse in the linked piece reports him trying to save wear and tear on his arm. What wear and tear? So when he's not growing cobwebs our SPs need think about new routine for his lob throws. To borrow that line from the intro to Trainspotting, it's mind-numbing and spirit-crushing. Time for breakfast.

From the Dodgers.com wrapup of the game:

Torre said no pitcher has complained about Bennett's return throws, although all tend to walk toward Bennett to cut down the distance while taking the throw, especially with runners on base.

An issue that probably nobody here thought was a big deal.

Torre has 'no problem' being left off All-Star coaching staff.

http://tinyurl.com/6ynhz7

Quote from Ethier about the Dodgers inability to win at Anaheim in recent years, in the PE.com (I no longer call it Diamond Leung's blog because they now have 2 other contributors):

>>"It's real annoying and it's frustrating," Andre Ethier said. "I find it a more bitter park and bitter situation. It's a series and a game you want to win, playing your cross-town rivals. It's disappointing to put efforts forth like this and not have the result you'd like in the last couple years of this series. You don't like to point it out but the little momentum things that happen seem to turn in their favor and they capitalize on it. We need to find a way to turn this around and restore some confidence in the West side of L.A. that we are representing."<<

http://www.beloblog.com/Pe_Blogs/prosports/mlb/dodgers/

Beating Santana will be tough today, but hey, Sheets was undefeated when we faced him, too. No one expects much from Park either, but you never know. Today is the "You Never Know" game.

Gary Bennett is already way too relevant. He's a backup catcher.

Cut him and let's move on.

(Do the Angels represent the east side of LA? Uh, I don't get the geography there, Andre, but I get the gist.)

Can you catch the ball? Yes.
Can you throw the ball to a human? Yes.
Can you go 0-4 and play 15 games? Yes.
Can you give hot-foots and flick seeds at people? Yes.

You're hired.

Qual es mas ironico:

1. Gary Bennett, catcher
2. Wedding day, rain

49 - He is currently on the outs with me, so I have no problem with that either.

There's no reason except optimism to call Ethier & Kemp "on the rise." This is the third year for both of them, and their statistics are not exactly trending up. Both have achieved the level of mediocre right now. If they are in the lineup, we will have two fairly competent hitters. If they are not, we get two slightly less than average hitters. Who cares. What we need are some actual good hitters (like we hope Kemp becomes, like Jones has been over the last few years before last year).

56 - So they have each have a better career EQA than Andruw Jones, who until 13 months ago was considered a solid Hall of Fame candidate, and Kemp and Ethier are mediocre?

56 - Saying we need "actual good hitters" in that context - that's almost like saying, go get Lance Berkman.

And by the way, you're wrong about Ethier. His stats are trending up this year. And Kemp is 23 years old. Is it optimism to suggest he can do better than he's currently doing, or just common sense?

57
But how many Gold Gloves™ do Kemp and Ethier have between them...?

56 Kemp has 600 plate appearances. That's one year.

There isn't a job in the walk of life that anybody has mastered after one year. And Kemp isn't mediocre. He is already above average by whatever measuring stick you'd like to use.

The only question is how much more above average he'll become.

54 - First place, Washington

54
It's "cual" not "qual"

60 The deep fryer at McDonald's is a job that one should be able to master in less than one year, especially with the technological advances of the machine at some of the new McDonald's. The problem is that the people they hire to run this machine don't have the potential to properly learn the device and therefore, they fail to master it before moving on to flip burgers or become a cashier. Gary Bennett may have the capability to do just such a thing. I recommend he moves on and give it a try.

63 Even the fry man could get better after a year. He could shave seconds off his transition from the fryer to the basket. I can't believe you'd assert it's that easy.

You hate the working man. Elitist.

He was definitely way too relevant yesterday, but my guess is the backup catcher position in general will become less relevant in general for the Dodgers, whether it's still Bennett or someone else. Especially when the third base situation gets clarified.

Hey, I was one of those who wanted the D's to resign Lieberthal but the poster above is right, he was done, that was pretty clear last year. Bennett seems done, too, but do they want someone like Lucas May or Carlos Santana rotting on the bench except for once every 10 games?

Hm, maybe they could call up AJ Ellis.

Anyway, hopefully we won't have to talk about this much longer.

Matt Kemp is putting up a 105 OPS+. That's 5% better than the National League average (which includes pitchers). On average, 23 year olds get better, but it is not a law of the universe. Personally, I believe Kemp will get quite a bit better. This year however, I doubt we'll get much more.

Ethier, 114 OPS+. This is mediocre. This is what you want from your middle infield on a championship team, not your corner outfielder. If your corner outfielder is doing this, you're probably a 75-85 win team. And his trend is 113, 103, 114. He has not improved one iota.

We need to have a little respect for how good everyone else in the big leagues is if we hope to compete.

Andruw Jones 4 times has topped 125. He can be good, and has been. He hit 92 HR in 2005-6. We need that guy to have a chance this year.

This year, and incredible # of things have to bounce the right way for us to be a championship team. Furcal & DeWitt have to continue. Kemp & Billingsley have to grow up all of a sudden. Kershaw has to be a miraculous savior. Kent has to not age so fast. Jones has to remember how to swing without falling over. Penny & Lowe have to hold it together. Loney has to step it up. While any one of those things may have a good chance, we need 4 or 5 of them to happen at once. That's radically unlikely. Even imagining a mid-season trade, there's not much to hope for that could make a difference. Ryan Howard maybe.

54 - It rained cats and dogs on my wedding day. My wife's family (Latinos) said it was good luck. I am guessing that they were trying to put a good spin on an otherwise bad day for them.

66 But you have to go get a corner outfielder worth more than Ethier. From where?

There are a bunch of issues more pressing than Andre Ethier. Like where to get a new GM.

53 A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.

"On average, 23 year olds get better, but it is not a law of the universe. "

Who said it was? But on a relative scale, am I being more optimistic than you're being pessimistic?

If you can get me 125 OPS+ hitters throughout the lineup, be my guest. There are currently 52 hitters in the major leagues with a 125 OPS+, and 30 teams wanting them. You do the math.
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/yJak

As for your last paragraph, you're right, things need to go right for the Dodgers to win.

68 - Can't they call up a new GM from AAA? I hear there's a hotshot exec down there who's just raking. Now it may be the thin PCL air that's making him look better, but it's high time we give him a chance. Cut our starting GM loose, or maybe trade him to the Mariners for a bullpen coach. 'Course, he'd have to trade himself, but I could see it happenin'. {spit}

69 - I'd rather that Bennett think about that when he is playing wiffle ball in his backyard.

Kershaw! In Jacksonville! On YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEJdL4CQGKM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hC1Fs5OJ0E

To be fair to Bennett, this is Torre/Colletti monkey business. We have a need at 3rd base and have a good one in Vegas. The best that they can come up with is to put our All Star catcher at 3rd, Bennett behind the plate, and Mazza at SS. They are trying to be too clever and we are fielding a subpar team. This is not how you when championships.

Did I say "when"?

They're hesitant to call up LaRoche because if they do, they would have to DL Dewitt, DFA someone, or leave us without a backup at a position. It's understandable that we have the infield we do right now, except for the Maza over Hu part.

73 And speaking of Lucas May, here he is hitting a home run!, taped by the same guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBKPQuwCYtc&NR=1

Man, that ball really smokes out of the Minotaur's hands.

76 Or they could just send Brazoban down. He's only pitched one inning and couldn't throw strikes.

78 He's only pitched one inning, plus six man bullpen? That's just crazy talk.

76 I don't think it's understandable at all. They have left themselves with zero 3B so that they can carry 2 SS. Basically they called up Maza in case Hu got hurt. They had Dewitt with no backup. Then when Dewitt gets hurt they have nobody to replace him.

74/76 - Yah, it isn't quite their fault that Furcal got hurt, nor is LaRoche's freak injury at the end of spring, all those things have had a domino effect, as has the surprising fact that DeWitt has been so solid. If Kent got hurt, I'd hope they would bring up LaRoche to play some 2nd base, and if DeWitt falters or his back flares up again, LaRoche will be up, but right now, he can't play short so... When Raffy comes back next week things will start to become clearer and there will be less excuse for "monkeying around." (Of course, I'd still like to see LaRoche up, but agree, where do you play him right now.)

I certainly realize that these situations involve decisions. My problem is that the route they have taken has meant that we have an emergency ss starting the past two games, and that Bennett has played in 20% of our games so far and the Golden God has played in all 41. Something is wrong with this picture.

Look, I'm not thrilled by Maza either, but he was called up because he can play all the infield positions, particularly short stop, and, yes, 3rd base, and Furcal was injured. He's a stopgap because of his versatility. He'll be back down in 6 days. I don't get the mystery here.

81
Could Abreu's health be included as a factor in your scenario? (spit)

Until this year, Maza hadn't played any SS since 2002 in A ball, where he committed 27 errors in 74 games. What kind of versatility are we looking for here? I would rather take my chances with Hu playing and Laroche or Martin filling in to finish out a game if Hu gets hurt. Then we could recall Maza the next game.

83 - Six days in May. All these moves have a rationale, but they add up. And what they ad up to is us not fielding the best team that we can, given what the organization has available.