Monday, April 16, 2007

Do I understand correctly?

Juan sits out, bringing his lousy bat with him, and the Dodgers can't score any runs, and lose.

Juan goes back into the lineup, bringing his lousy bat with him, and the Dodgers score 9 and win.

Must be his incredible, inspiring leadership.

I'm happy for the win -- the Dodgers are 8-4 -- but this team reminds me of the 2005 squad that started 12-2 and then went 59-89 the rest of the way. They seem to have big holes -- like the #2 spot in the order -- that will be exposed as the season progresses. If they still have twice as many wins as losses on June 1, maybe I'll think differently about them.

1. Strikeout. I believe that's five Ks, compared to, I think, one walk and 9 hits.... how about that from the "toughest man in the majors to strike out." It's out #41.
2. Fielder's Choice -- Valdez out at home. #42.
3. Fielder's Choice -- Ethier out at home. Deja Vu. #43.
4. Popped out to second. #44.
5. Grounded to second. It wouldn't be a Dodgers game if Juan Pierre hadn't grounded to second. #45.

Sitting out for 2 or 3 at-bats on Saturday really brought down his projected out total. After 12 games, he is on pace to record 607 or 608 outs.

4 comments:

ArtHTracy said...

MLB out leaders through 4/15:

45 J Pierre
44 S Stewart
43 M Mora
43 J Kendall
43 G Sheffield (4 DP)
42 R Zimmerman
41 E Byrnes
41 C Crawford (3 CS)
41 F Lopez
41 M Young


I wasn't aware that JP had a consecutive games streak. That might keep him in the line-up for a few more weeks, but probably not at the top of the line-up.

Humma Kavula said...

Not that I have a line to Grady Little or Ned Colletti, but I would imagine that Pierre has at least 2 more weeks at the top of the lineup and then at least 2-3 months in the #7 or 8 slot before he gets benched. Little will eventually field the best lineup he can, but he I predict that he will defer to the lineup that Colletti built until it is no longer tenable.

At the moment, the Dodgers are 8-4, so no one is clamoring for big changes (except me).

On the other hand, the fact that Pierre sat on Saturday is a sign that Little has his eye on the situation. That's all that's required at the moment.

Martin said...

Don't be so sure, HK. After all, Grady did leave Pedro in a little too long in '03.

Humma Kavula said...

I'll certainly admit that Grady was the only man in America who didn't think Pedro was done that night, and he was certainly proven wrong. But a couple of points:

1. His argument -- "That's PEDRO MARTINEZ on the mound" -- is not the worst argument ever, even if it should have been overruled; and
2. That's one game. Grady proved, last year, that though his in-game management left something to be desired, his overall team management -- evidenced over stretches of several games -- was quite good. He got the most out of his team.

No one was angrier than me in 2003. That incident will follow Grady for the rest of his career. But it's not the whole story.