Work Cube Whiteboard

I’m writing this as I watch the Giants broadcasters dissect the game tonight. Let’s just say they’re a little stunned. As two of them said, they just weren’t expecting the Giants to get blown out like they did tonight. With the Giants pitching as it is, blowouts like this aren’t real common. Yet with the errors the Giants had tonight, it just wasn’t close. They spent a lot of time in their discussion stating just how good the Dodgers are this year. Bring on the spoon, because I can eat up that praise and their shock all day!  

Tonight just wasn’t close. Wolf and Ethier were on and Manny just raked. It was great to see Manny hit a homerun tonight. Hopefully his hand is feeling better now. He is officially claiming the title of “Giant Killer.” He continues to step up against the Giants and it’s just great to see the fans continue to hate him all the more for being so good.

Today was a fun day because it came after the win last night. I rubbed it in to my co-workers and put the Dodgers score on my whiteboard at work (See picture). I got some great comments. I had one guy who didn’t know I was a Dodgerfan say, “Why in the world are you celebrating that the Dodgers won?” I said, “BECAUSE I’M A DODGERFAN!” He rolled his eyes and then said, “well then I’m not coming back to your cube any time soon….” Such it is. 

Another Giants fan was lamenting that the Giants just can’t catch up when they are down. Last night, I was confident the Dodgers would win with a 4-1 lead (even though I was right on Broxton), and I was right.   The Giants have great pitching, but they just don’t have the offense.

The papers and the TV were touting how important this series was to the Giants.  After seeing the Dodgers struggle so much with Atlanta, it’s great to see them come in and build up their lead in the west.  Even if they lose to Lincecum tomorrow, the Dodgers still showed already why they are the best in the West.

I don’t want to rub it in too much tomorrow…but oh what fun to do what I can.  Go Blue.

Well, it happened.  50 days later, he’s back.  The Dodgers are better, have a better lead, and now get their superstar back.  Regardless of the feelings on Manny, I am glad he is coming back.  The Dodgers were doing good, but were losing a bit of offense of late, so I’m glad for something to mix it up.

As it happened, I’m visiting L.A. (man I love just turning on the tv and seeing the Dodgers) and I get to catch the last few innings of the game.  So far so good.  The Dodgers are beating the Padres…again.  So far 6-3, but they should be able to pull this out.  Manny didn’t do much, but it may take some time…assuming most of his career has been the real Manny, and not the enhanced one.  Since there were more Dodger fans than Padres fans at the game, Manny got more cheers than boos.

What I like though is that the Dodgers keep beating the Padres.  Even in years past when they were decent, they couldn’t beat the Padres.  This year, they seem to have beat them consistently.  This is good.  The Dodgers are the best team, and if they are going to go to the playoffs they have to be able to beat the bottom teams.

Broxton just finished the game with strikeouts.  Man, he’s sharp this year.  He seems to have figured out this closer thing.  We’ll see when he plays the Giants next month, but for now, he’s playing great.

Oh yeah, for all of you following my posting on my search for Dodger Dogs, I got a great surprise when I got down south today.  Got to love mom providing Dodger Dogs to BBQ tonight.  Yep, still the best hot dogs out there.  More to come on that topic too.  I finally found Dodger Dogs in the Bay Area!

I have to admit I was pretty disappointed when I found out that Manny Ramirez still has a really good chance to make the All-Star game this year.  I know he will have the month of June to make his case, and he is definitely popular, but I believe that anyone who gets suspended for steriods for 50 games shouldn’t get to play in the All-Star game.  It just isn’t right.  It is an honor, and most of the time a pay raise for a lot of guys to be in that game, and to keep someone else from going for a guy who cheated just isn’t right.  It sounds like Joe Torre is on the same page, but it certainly didn’t seem that way from the Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.  He said it would be an “honor” for Manny to play.  That still seems like a bad quote from a guy who’s number 1 player just got busted for cheating.

I actually don’t vote for the All-Stars a lot any more (I used to love pushing out the tabs at the ball-game), but this year, I’m going to vote for three players.   These guys have been all-stars in every part of the word and should get their shot.

Juan Pierre - Fox Sports.com

First, Juan Pierre.  Manny’s replacement doesn’t hit homeruns, but he steals bases, is hitting like crazy and is doing everything possible to help the team.  Just look at his stats the last few games:

The hits alone is crazy.

Casey Blake - Fox Sports.com

Second, Casey Blake.  Where would the Dodgers be without him this year?  He is just clutch and has a lot more homeruns than Manny.  He can be streaky, but he drove in the winning run again two nights ago and was involved last night.  He was a good pickup and will definitely provide stability at third for the next few years.

Jonathan Broxton - Fox Sports.com

Finally, Jonathan Broxton.  Who would have thought that we wouldn’t be missing Saito.  Broxton has shored up his game, and as long as they keep him out against the Giants, he can definitely pitch.

Honorable mention to Chad Billingsley.  He really has become the ace this year.  The Dodgers are now 9.5 games ahead in the West.  I read today that they haven’t been that far out in front since 1988 when they won the World Series.  Too early to predict the World Series, but they are a very good team.  

Go Blue.

Jonathan Broxton - Christian Petersen/Getty Images

There really isn’t a good way to explain it. You can’t make this stuff up, and you definitely couldn’t script it.

Weird things just happen with these two teams in SF. Fred Lewis drops a ball in his glove due the wind. Matt Kemp trips while trying to steal second and gets out by a mile. Broxton just can’t seem to have an easy game up here and walks in the tying run. Just weird.

Thankfully, the Dodgers offense is just out of this world this year and it didn’t matter. Manny. Manny. Manny. Talk about a Giant killer. He is just clutch. Even more, he’s rubbing off on the other guys. To see Ethier and Kemp hit opposite field doubles in the ninth just rings of Manny.

I’m really finding that I’m just enjoying watching Ramirez. Yes, he’s drama, but he is a Hall of Famer. Other than Greg Maddux, the Dodgers haven’t had a bunch of those to watch in a while. He just does the little things and does them well. Last night, he knew he didn’t need a home run, just a single to the hole to push over the run. Tonight, just get the rally started.

Who knows if he stays or goes, but he is a treat.

The great thing about winning tonight well is that it levels out last night’s loss.  I got a lot of Giants fans rubbing in the loss last night.  I could blame it on the Dodgers forgetting how to play defense, but it’s still never fun.  At least tomorrow I can give it back.

The best call of the game was Torre using Ohman for the save in the 9th. Broxton didn’t look that bad tonight (he should have gotten some of those calls), but he should just miss the bus when coming to SF. They just beat him up. Give Ohman the ball when in town and let Broxton pitch to all the other teams.

So what do you think, leave Broxton out against the Giants, or let him keep trying?  Let me know what you think.

Go Blue.

Dodgers Mob James Loney - Brian Vander Brug - LA Times.com

I was gone for a few days to go see the Dodgers in L.A., and when I got back a Giants fan I work with told me that he was hoping that I didn’t get back until Thursday.  With the beating the Giants took on Monday, he hoped I was gone at least until the second game of the series, hoping the Giants would win and level out the series.  He felt if the Giants won game two, that he could point out that Monday was just one game, and wasn’t all that significant.

Well – sorry Jon.  No luck.  I came back, AND the Dodgers won game two.  The Dodgers are still better.  He even told me yesterday that the Giants were better than the Dodgers because all time they still have a better winning percentage than the Dodgers.

Again – sorry Jon.  Maybe so, but this year so far is all Dodgers.

I’m not sure if Dodger fans are aware of this, but Matt Cain is still 0-6 lifetime against the Dodgers.  He always pitches them well, but continues to come away with a loss.  It really became obvious last year when he consistently held them to less than 3 runs, but then once he left the game, the Dodgers beat the bullpen and won the game.  Last night Casey Blake got the best of him, but he pitched well…the Dodgers just beat the bullpen.

Got to love Casey Blake and Clayton Kershaw.  Blake is the 8 hitter and has 3 homeruns.  He may hit 30 this year.  Kershaw strikes out 13 and looks brilliant.  Running tally – the Giants have struck out 24 times out of 54 at bats in 2 games.  That has to be rough for a pitching coach.  Between Stults, Wolf, Billingsley and Kershaw, Ned Colletti obviously knew something more about the pitching staff than we all did.  They could still use one more arm, but they look great right now.

You could have an interesting debate as to if Loney was trying for walks in two of his at bats last night, including the one to win the game.  He stared down multiple beautiful fastballs, and then took the walks.  You could say he was afraid to hit and wanted the walk, or you could say he just knew the pitchers would end up throwing balls, and therefore he just let them do it.

I don’t buy that he was afraid to hit as he has been hitting the ball like crazy the last few days.  I think he’s just a smart hitter who knew the power of a walk, and was going to let the pitchers do it if they couldn’t throw strikes. How bitterly sweet that the Giants walked in the winning run.

Brian Wilson is a good closer, so tough luck to him, but to the Dodgers gain.  Even if the Dodgers lose tonight, the series has been won.