Report!

by Art

He scored the first run of the season on Kent's home run and he scored the winning run on an infield single the next day in the bottom of the ninth. On Wednesday he went 0 for 4 with a walk and two strikeouts leaving three men on base and the Dodgers loose by one run. It's evident to me, even this early in the season, that as Rafael Furcal goes, so do the Dodgers.

Nice to see DeWitt is doing well. Actually I think I like him better then LaRoche who reminds me of my dog Floyd when I take him to the dog park. If it were up to me I'd trade LaRoche when given a chance and use DeWitt as Nomar's backup. He's come into a tough situation and stepped up and that's the kind of attitude I like to see in a Dodger. Now having said that the kid is only going to do well for so long. This isn't football when the season is over 16 weeks after it begins, we play 162 in the majors and it's only a matter of time before he starts to struggle. Hopefully by then Nomar is back and can take some of the pressure off.

Pierre is on the bench and deservedly so, the guy batter below the Mendoza line in spring and the one chance he gets to prove himself on Wednesday he bunts back to the box and gets caught stealing for the last out. Talk about anti-climactic. Torre has Ethier taking some ground balls at first in hopes to alleviate the congested outfield and it makes sense. Pierre isn't good enough or powerful enough as a pinch hitter and using him solely as a pinch runner seems like a waste; with Pierre the only way you're going to reap the benefits of his style of play, and there are benefits, is by playing him every day. I know I said I would have gone with Pierre over Ethier but I was wrong. Ethier's earned it: he looks like he's lost some weight and solidified his swing, the kid is better then I thought and will probably be good for a long time. Maybe it's time to alleviate some payroll and trade Pierre to perhaps the Cubs. It's only fair to the veteran and maybe we can acquire a proper 4th outfielder.

Martin is the new Dodger god. If you're not on his bandwagon I suggest getting on. Just look what Kuroda had to say about the guy.

Ouch!!!!

The injury bug has hit the Dodgers early this year. Obviously enough it’s the old guys who are hurting but the most serious injury occurred to young 3rd baseman Andy LaRoche. By all accounts he’ll be out a minimum of 8 weeks which means a May return to the big leagues or AAA. The silver lining in all this is that the Dodgers now don’t have to choose between LaRoche and Nomar as to who will be the starting 3rd baseman. Although everyone up to now has been publicly saying all the right things, I don’t think Nomar was ever going to start the season on the bench. Same for the other position battle between Pierre and Ethier which makes this injury to LaRoche, well timely, if there’s such a thing.

All these injuries remind me of that horrific 2005 season when just about every starting player went down and was replaced by a Jason. (Grabowski, Werth, Phillips, or Repko, Art hates that guy.) The difference between this season and 2005 is that the Dodgers have solid internal options. Even with Abreu hurt the Dodgers could fill a decent infield of Young/Dewitt at 3rd and Hu at 2nd or vice versa. Yes this Dodger squad has many options and it’s going to be interesting to see who will be the starting nine at the end of it. I’m guessing the oldest guy starting will be tubby Andruw Jones.

By the way, I hear this kid is stupid sick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYc8j6F50BU

Ty