I think we all know that the Phillies must die.

 

 

via farm3.static.flickr.com

 

 

 

They are on the list.  And you know, once on the list, there's nothing more that can be done.

 

Dodger's Revenge List

• Break Lincecolm, Kill SF Season hope of winning Division, Kill SF Season hope of winning Wild Card, leave for Cubbies to ignominiously finish them most embarrassing death possible.
  
CHECK, CHECK
• Single Handedly Kill Rockies Division Hopes (thanks for the help MLB . . .NOT!)
CHECK
• Avenge Lima and Greene by hitting the crap out of Cardinal "Cy Young candidate", shutdown Pujols so he hits like Juan Pierre, entice Matt Holliday to attempt to catch a ball with his balls, gut punch Cardinals Best Pitcher, and Make Mark Loretta a hero in Killing the Cardinals.
  
CHECK



• Kill Phillies

• Kill Yankees

 

 

 

via culturazzi.org

 

Please feel free to post your own rant on why we MUST KILL PHILLIES.

OK, so your team made the playoffs.  Awesome job, it was tough fight but you made it.  But guess what, 27% of all MLB teams will make the playoffs.  The best team is still going to win the World Series right? Well as recently pointed out, if the record for the regular season has anything to do with how good a team you are then, absolutely not (link).  If you go by ESPN "expert" predictions, no fucking way in hell (link) (unless it actually does end up the Yankees or Red Sox, then its probably a lock).  The wild card has the same chance as the team with the best record in baseball.  Why?  When we differentiate a "good" team as winning 6 in 10 and a "mediocre" team as winning 5 in 10, is 5 or 7 games enough to differentiate these two?  For five games this is 3 out of 5 vs. 2.5 out of 5.  How do you even win 0.5 games more than your opponent?  For a seven game series this is 4.2 out of 7 and 3.5 out of 7.  Let round that since you can't win a half game, that's 4 out of 7 vs. 4 out of 7.

 

If you had to take a guess, certainly you would give the 6 in 10 team the advantage, but there is not enough statistical certainty to bet the farm even if you were given an even odd bet.  Because of the close odds, we probably haven't had enough wild card years to show that the wild card will loose a series more often (as by definition, someone else had a better season and is more of a winner).  It might take about a 100-1000 seasons to accumulate enough data to show that.

via www.pe.com

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THEY DID IT Y'ALL

add your thoughts!  TONIGHT I LOVE ALL DODGER FANS! YOU ALL ARE GREAT!

REAL TIME HAS CAUGHT UP TO MY JOURNEY:

 

For Those who are tired of waiting, I went into the future and took these pics for you (I got tired of waiting too):

x

via lostangelesblog.files.wordpress.com

via i2.cdn.turner.com

 

via bleednblue.mlblogs.com

via cdn2.sbnation.com

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/10/04/sports/04rockies.ready.html

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers-rockies4-2009oct04,0,922375,full.story

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091004&content_id=7315268&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

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via cdn3.sbnation.com

OK, after getting over the disappointment of not getting any Bills Kersh type of starting pitching (who is already in their prime); can we say that Ned Plan B will be successful?

via cdn2.sbnation.com

via www1.pictures.gi.zimbio.com

 

In order to do so I think we have to explore what Plan B is, because we are there.  For the playoffs, you need 3 ½ starting pitchers because of the extra days off for travel and the willingness to drive pitchers into the ground as you approach the finish line.  So now we have Bills (who after an awesome start seems to be struggling after getting deeper into the game, Kersh (who over the year has been inconsistent at times, but overall brilliant), Wolf (who has been Mr. Consistency while being Mr. Overachiever), and Kuroda (with now Garland as his insurance policy).

 

Now let's look at the roster.

                                                    Pitchers      B/T              Ht                 Wt                 DOB                                          

                                                    54 Ronald Belisario       R/R              6-3                 235      12/31/82            

                                                    58 Chad Billingsley        R/R              6-1                 245      07/29/84            

                                                    51 Jonathan Broxton    R/R              6-4                 295      06/16/84            

                                                    57 Scott Elbert               L/L               6-1                 215      08/13/85            

                                                    21 Jon Garland               R/R              6-6                 210      09/27/79            

                                                    37 Charlie Haeger          R/R              6-1                 210      09/19/83            

                                                    22 Clayton Kershaw      L/L               6-3                 225      03/19/88            

                                                    56 Hong-Chih Kuo         L/L               6-1                 240      07/23/81            

                                                    31 James McDonald      L/R               6-5                 195      10/19/84            

                                                    44 Vicente Padilla          R/R              6-2                 220      09/27/77            

                                                    52 George Sherrill          L/L               6-0                 230      04/19/77            

                                                    38 Ramon Troncoso     R/R              6-1                 220      02/16/83            

                                                    36 Jeff Weaver               R/R              6-5                 200      08/22/76            

                                                    43 Randy Wolf               L/L               5-10               200      08/22/76            

 

Now take away the bottom of the barrel guys . . .

via assets.sbnation.com

 

to make the playoff roster and what do you see: Good solid pitching from top to bottom.

 

via upload.wikimedia.org

You have the Brox-Sherill-Kuo-Tron-Shrek relief corps to put a lid on close games where you are ahead, and the Dodger have been very effective at keeping leads.  

via www.post-gazette.com

via latimesblogs.latimes.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

via cache.daylife.com

The addition of Sherill really added the bridge and versatility of the relief corps as this guy has been death to lefties. 

 

 

Throw in Garland and we now have several 4th 5th starter guys to pitch long relief if needed, or to put a lid on any game where the Dodgers have managed to get a good lead and give the starter a rest and limit any chances of imploding.

What this means is that the starting pitching can be just be taken out of the game after 5 innings (and if necessary start 4 days later).  And when you have Thome-Pierre as pinch hitters, why not go to the bench early?  With the Dodgers, knocking a starting pitcher out of the game is simply just not going to help your team.

This being said, it looks like Plan B can work, and can match up against just about any team in the NL.  In the AL, this may be a bit more trouble, but its not a sure thing the Yankees are going to get though, some other team that may not have as great of pitching could get hot and go through too, and its only one series where anything can happen. 

So there it is, we have an Ace, its called the Dodger Pitching Staff, and the great thing about it, is that its pretty close to injury proof, and as far as plan B’s go it’s a pretty good one.

Is the offense going to get shut-out by some great pitching in the playoffs?  Absolutely, but the key is the team needs to come back the next game and shell the poor slob behind the other team’s ace, that’s why they play 5-7 game in a series (and if that doesn’t work, we’ll just have Loney slide into them). 

Can the offense make up for some of the momentary lapses in pitching that will inevitably occur?  We’ll see, but against almost every other team on the NL, the Dodgers should be able to find some pitching they can hit, because they are not going to face a staff as good as the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL. 

via blogs.pe.com

Sortable Pitching
RK	TEAM	GP	W	L	ERA	SV	CG	SHO	IP	QS	ER	R	BB	SO	BAA
1	LA Dodgers	135	80	55	3.48	38	1	8	1233.1	65	477	510	497	1047	.233
2	San Francisco	134	73	61	3.50	35	10	18	1194.2	73	464	499	471	1064	.237
3	St. Louis	135	79	56	3.63	40	7	9	1198.2	73	484	527	371	847	.257
4	Atlanta	134	70	64	3.71	30	1	7	1199.1	79	494	547	440	1007	.257
5	Chicago Cubs	132	67	65	3.89	33	1	4	1188.0	80	513	559	491	1022	.247
6	Seattle	135	71	64	3.90	42	3	8	1213.0	68	526	586	457	887	.246
7	Philadelphia	131	77	54	4.10	35	7	7	1184.1	72	539	568	407	940	.261
8	Detroit	133	72	61	4.16	34	4	9	1179.2	62	545	595	477	924	.259
9	Chicago Sox	135	66	69	4.17	31	3	8	1192.1	70	553	617	433	941	.261
10	Arizona	135	61	74	4.23	30	4	12	1210.1	78	569	635	422	964	.260
11	Texas	133	75	58	4.23	40	6	10	1182.2	60	556	586	445	819	.258
12	Tampa Bay	133	72	61	4.23	34	2	3	1180.0	60	555	609	417	904	.256
13	Colorado	134	74	60	4.24	36	5	7	1190.0	81	560	595	419	909	.265
14	Boston	133	78	55	4.29	37	7	8	1189.2	68	567	600	433	1034	.264
15	NY Yankees	134	86	48	4.31	43	3	7	1204.1	64	577	627	463	1047	.251
16	Florida	134	70	64	4.33	33	5	4	1198.2	63	577	641	492	1021	.259
17	Cincinnati	133	60	73	4.38	32	6	11	1200.2	63	584	626	488	883	.262
18	Oakland	134	59	75	4.41	31	1	7	1197.0	57	586	643	447	916	.268
19	Toronto	133	59	74	4.41	19	6	7	1195.1	67	586	633	455	987	.267
20	NY Mets	134	60	74	4.44	32	1	10	1182.2	66	584	629	523	870	.267
21	Houston	133	63	70	4.52	34	5	8	1180.0	60	592	635	452	930	.272
22	Pittsburgh	132	53	79	4.57	25	4	6	1158.0	70	588	616	461	753	.276
23	San Diego	135	59	76	4.60	35	1	4	1207.2	63	617	666	500	969	.262
24	Minnesota	133	67	66	4.66	36	4	4	1186.0	65	614	645	375	856	.273
25	LA Angels	132	78	54	4.77	39	7	9	1175.1	60	623	657	441	873	.276
26	Kansas City	133	51	82	4.84	24	9	7	1167.1	65	628	690	456	948	.269
27	Milwaukee	133	65	68	4.90	36	1	7	1172.2	57	639	677	500	896	.269
28	Cleveland	133	58	75	5.01	22	4	5	1181.0	58	657	698	487	807	.276
29	Washington	134	46	88	5.04	25	6	3	1170.1	51	656	726	511	758	.277
30	Baltimore	134	54	80	5.05	27	2	2	1184.2	49	665	714	447	778	.286
LEAGUE AVERAGES		GP	W	L	ERA	SV	CG	SHO	IP	QS	ER	R	BB	SO	BAA
American League		133	68	66	4.46	33	4	7	1188	62	588	636	445	909	.265
National League		134	66	68	4.22	33	4	8	1192	68	559	604	465	930	.260
Major League Baseball		134	67	67	4.33	33	4	7	1190	66	573	619	456	920	.262

Glossary

• GP: GP
• W: Wins
• L: Losses
• ERA: Earned Run Average
• Sv: Saves

• CG: Complete Games
• SHO: Shutouts
• IP: Innings Pitched
• QS: Quality Starts
• ER: Earned Runs

• R: Runs
• BB: Walks
• SO: Strikeouts
• BAA: Opponents Batting Average

Statistics Glossary »

Data provided by Elias Sports Bureau

You know I haven't really scouted what was available, but it shocks me that we weren't able to find a starting pitcher who would have been an upgrade from Wolf on down for the playoffs. 

via www.dodgerdugout.com

via latimesblogs.latimes.com

via cdn2.sbnation.com

This basically means we count on Bills and Kershaw to out pitch the other team's aces and for the offense to knock in enough runs for Kuroda and Wolf to pick up the win.

As we can see from the St. Louis series, you can see that luck is a big factor ( we out-hit the Cardinals but nearly lost every game).

While I still have to say I like our odds vs. any other team, the World Series lock is now gone and the Dodgers will absolutely have to play their best ball to get there.

via cache.daylife.com

OK,

 

Having gotten over the initial shock without the benefit of any banned substances this early in the morning, this is not a terrible thing.

 

Continue reading this post »

via baseballislife.mlblogs.com

 

 

I HATE the giants.

 

HATE HATE HATE.

 

Healthy hate, but hate.

 

I've always disliked Randy Johnson for being so tall and good and always rebuffing the Dodger's advances, but now I really hate him for being old AND a Giant.  And I hate the giants for being so stupid as to build a hitters ballpark with a dorky corporate name and then put all there eggs into the pitching basket.  I 'm not sure if its rationale to hate them for that since I want them to loose every game of the season, but I do. 

 

They have built a team where the only chance they have to win any games at all this year is in Dodger stadium. Even with Barry Bonds gone, I hate them even more for getting rid of him and his performance enhancers because they were just trying to take away one more reason for me to hate them.   I really, really really hate the giants.  Really.

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Let's face it, Joe Torre has the job that everyone else on the planet would love to have.  You get paid very well to lead the best baseball club in the world and you don't have to have any hard-earned physical talent to get there.  If you can make it up the dugout steps and to the pitcher's mound you are in good enough shape to be a Major League Manger.  So you think, "That’s the job that I could do".   But guess what, you couldn’t.

 

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