Bengie Molina - Frederic Larson - SF Chronicle

It’s never fun to read the annual winners and losers columns from the winter meetings and see the Dodgers in the losing column. John Heyman with Sports Illustrated put them there (Link Here), and I do have to agree with him. This divorce has put a cloud over the Dodgers and they now have even more pitching needs.

After thinking about it more though, the Dodgers didn’t do that bad.  Actually they did quite well from the perspective of the Dodgers/Giants rivalry.  This week it was confirmed that Bengie Molina, Brad Penny and Juan Uribe would not be returning to the Giants.  Although none of them are high all-stars, they were very important to the Giants. 

Bengie Molina was their second big bat with Pablo Sandoval.  Brad Penny gave them a late surge of pitching and Juan Uribe won the hearts of the fans by having numerous late game heroics.  Losing Bengie will hurt them the most.  He was solid behind the plate and always clutch with the bat.  The fans felt he was too slow, the but the real issue is that he was expected to be the #4 hitter on a team when he should have been the #7 hitter.  He also didn’t like it when they started using a different catcher with Barry Zito, and wanted a long term contract, so I guess he didn’t feel truly wanted back.

Bottom line though, those three guys were Dodger Killers and losing them will definitely help the Dodgers.  Bengie didn’t have a great average against the Dodgers, but he had clutch RBI’s to beat them multiple times.  Juan Uribe hit  .340 against the Dodgers last year, so he definitely had their number.  Brad Penny got beat up by the Dodgers in a key game down the stretch last year, but otherwise he pitched pretty good against them and definitely had the motiviation to beat them.

Now, on the flip side Randy Wolf was a stud against the Giants last year with a 1.35 ERA, so that will definitely hurt the Dodgers.  He ate up a lot of innings, so the Dodgers definitely have a big hole to fill.

Now if only the Giants get rid of Randy Winn, then the Dodgers will really be in good shape.    All in all, not a great week, but against the Giants it wasn’t that bad.

By the way, special welcome to all of you who have visited the site through Twitter.  You can catch out my tweets through this site, or by looking up SFDodgerfan.  Go Blue.

Jon Garland - SI.com

Where do I start with Game 2.  Awesome, Awesome, Awesome.  I love a good Dodgers beat down.  As I write this, it is 12-1 in the 9th.   Here I thought Brad Penny would pitch like he did last weekend when I was there, and he just didn’t have it. 

Obviously I could have changed the post to wonder if the best Dodger pickup was Ronnie Belliard.  That grand slam in the 1st inning set the whole tone.  Then it was run after run and homeruns galore.  I like Blake DeWitt, so seeing him even get into the action was great fun.

It was great to see Pierre even get a hit with two outs.  I’m convinced that Juan Pierre is going to play a big part in the playoffs for the Dodgers, and it may just be a clutch hit at the right time.

Now to my focus.  Jon Garland pitched great today.  Even more, he has pitched great for the Dodgers.  I don’t know if it is the new team, or just more offense, but he has been a great pick up.  I think he may be a great pick up for years to come.  As they go into the playoffs, its hard to know where he will pitch.  He may not be the #1 this year, but he could be there in years to come.  He’s just solid, and he may be the difference for the rotation.

Well – Happy Birthday to me – the game is final and the Dodgers won 12-1.  My one request today was to watch the whole game.  I have to thank the Dodgers next time I talk to them for working together for a great game and memory.  The best comment I heard from a Giants fan today, “Isn’t there some sort of mercy rule?”  Love it.

Until tomorrow, who do you think is the best Dodgers pickup?

The season seems to take so long, but then the end gets here quickly. After a long good year, the Dodgers and Giants play their last scheduled match up against each other. They may see each other in the playoffs, but this is the last regularly scheduled match.

It’s amazing what a week of baseball brought. The Dodgers gained 2 games on the Rockies and the Giants are still 3.5 games behind them. I like where the Dodgers stand.

I was talking to a Giants fan last night who said, “The Dodgers are in real good shape.” They know they did what they had to do against the Pirates and now if they can play well this weekend, they should definitely go to the playoffs.

Here are the pitching matchups and my take on who has the advantage.

Friday: Vicente Padilla, RHP (11-6, 4.42)  vs. Jonathan Sanchez, LHP (6-12, 4.16)

Advantage Dodgers.  He’s just pitching well right now, and the Dodgers seemed to have Sanchez’s number last weekend.

Saturday: Jon Garland, RHP (10-11, 4.19) vs Brad Penny, RHP (10-8, 5.04)

Having seen Penny first hand on Sunday, definitely advantage Giants.  He wants to win against the Dodgers.  Period.

Sunday: Randy Wolf, LHP (10-6, 3.24)  vs. Tim Lincecum, RHP (14-5, 2.30)

Wow.  Wolf is sharp right now, but Lincecum is still Cy Young level.  Advantage Giants.  If the Dodgers can get to him late, they have a chance, but that should be a great game.

Well – hopefully we can take 2 of 3 and keep the lead we have.  We’ll see.  Then again the bats seemed to jump out last weekend, so hopefully it will be the same this weekend.  At least if we lose 2 of 3 we can go back to playing the Pirates.  Go Blue.

Here’s the pitching match ups for the 3 games:

Friday
Hiroki Kuroda, RHP (5-6, 4.15)
Matt Cain, RHP (13-4, 2.51)

Saturday
Vicente Padilla, RHP (10-6, 4.63)
Jonathan Sanchez, LHP (6-11, 4.03)

Sunday
Chad Billingsley, RHP (12-9, 3.93)
Brad Penny, RHP (9-8, 5.15)

Learned something new tonight – The Dodgers have a great probable pitchers write up that gives a great comparison of each of these pitchers.  (Click Here)  It’s a good write up on their recent performance, but it stays nuetral on who will win….

I won’t stay neutral.  Here’s my picks.

Friday – Advantage Dodgers.  Matt Cain will out pitch Kuroda, but as always, the Dodgers will break it open against the bullpen.

Saturday – Advantage Dodgers.  I think Padilla can beat out Sanchez.  Sanchez is pitching well of late though.

Sunday – I hate to say it since I’ll be there, but Advantage Giants.  Billingsley just doesn’t seem to have it right now, and Penny is a man on a mission to stick it to the Dodgers.

Bottom line – they will be close…especially if Broxton does the closing.  The Dodgers again need to take 2 of 3 to stay on top and show who should take the division.  The Dodgers were fortunate not to face Lincecum this series.  That is the big concern up here is whether his back will be ok.  He is their Ace and they want him back.  There were even conspiracy theories up here that he was kept out a game to set him up against the Rockies on Monday.  It doesn’t ring true though because they need him to win every game he can…not sit on the bench.

I was hoping for a Padilla/Penny matchup to see if my brawl prediction comes through, but it could still happen.  If Padilla brushes someone back, Penny may try to finish it off the next day.  I should have plenty to write about if their is a brawl when I’m there on Sunday.

Keep coming back – more to come each day of the series.

Brad Penny - Sports Illustrated

It’s amazing what can happen in a week. I thought all the trading was done…but apparently not for the Dodgers and Giants.

The Dodgers get Thome and Garland (who I have wanted all year) and the Giants got Brad Penny.

This whole Brad Penny thing is really interesting. I’m calling it now, Brad Penny will cause a brawl with the Dodgers.

Between Vincente Padilla and Brad Penny, it should be an exciting series between the Dodgers and Giants here in September.

Brad Penny was mad at the Dodgers for not signing him long term last year. The Dodgers weren’t thrilled on his attitude and work ethic and were concerned on the health of his arm.

They seem to have gotten his health strong as he pitched without problems with the Red Sox. Pitched healthily…but not well as they released him. (Score a point for the Dodgers)

Now the Giants have him and he’s a man on a mission to get back to at the Dodgers. He proved he can still pitch last night, so it should be quite the battle down the stretch. I still think the Giants needed more offense than pitching, but he helped them win another game, so the gamble paid off.

So I’m calling it here first. There’s going to be a rumble this year, and now the Dodgers and Giants both have guys who can do it.