Dodgers vs. Rockheads 8/26 Wolf and Fogg

If we don't win tonight, barriers should be put up around every building in LA tall enough to cause damage when jumping off of. Or we can just try again on Thursday. But the former will seem more inviting.

Randy Wolf.

Josh Fogg.

One of these things is not like the other.

grabarkewitz:

I thought the same thing with Clayton Kershaw and Jason Hammel. We have a talent for making scrub pitchers look real good.

Not tonight. There's absolutely no way we don't ROCK Josh Fogg.

But don't get me wrong, Torre could do something stoopid, like pull Randy Wolf while he's throwing a no-hitter in the 6th inning because he walked the first batter. In other words, anything can happen. But one thing that won't: Josh Fogg making it through the 5th.

BluePastorKyle:

Not tonight. There's absolutely no way we don't ROCK Josh Fogg.

But don't get me wrong, Torre could do something stoopid, like pull Randy Wolf while he's throwing a no-hitter in the 6th inning because he walked the first batter. In other words, anything can happen. But one thing that won't: Josh Fogg making it through the 5th.

With the exception of Andre and Blake (and Manny to a lesser extent) we are running up the '65 Dodgers to the dish. I have this scary feeling that we are going to make Josh Fogg look like Greg Maddux, tonight. Right now, we would be better off running the geriatric Lou Johnson, Wes Parker, Ron Fairly, Maury Wills and Jim Lefebvre up there to hit than our present lineup. I mean I could see Fogg intentionally walk Ethier, Manny and Blake, in order, and we would still not score. I don't know if these guys cannot handle the pressure or if they are weak in the mental toughness aspect, but it is getting pretty ridiculous.

If we lose tonight my my lineup for thursday will have castro instead of furcal and ausmus instead of martin. One other point that needs to be brought up. Why the heck was Loney batting in the middle of the order yesterday. Its clear as day (to everyone except Torre) that Loney can't hit little league pitching right now. Drop him to 8th Torre. Btw, Monday broke down Loney swing yesterday talking about how screwed up it is and he basically has no shot at hitting anything because of bad mechanics.

JamesMiranda:

Oh man, if I weren't tied up with loans for school, and credit card debt, I'd place a bet on that last statement.

Go ahead, as long as I get what you lose.

Seriously guys, somebody has to be Chief Smiles around here, or the next thing you know, Torg will offering to pay for a round of Kool-Aid.

Captain Optimist here.

I said this last night in the game thread, but I believe it's still relevant. The Dodgers are still hitting the baseball, and still pitching well. Just not in a timely fashion. At one point last night late in the game, we had amassed 12 hits, and left 12 men on base. We ended the night 2-for-10 with RISP.

The optimism stems from the fact that this is not a one-time thing. This has been the them since the AS break. Among other things, this oughta be a sure sign to Torre that a shake up in the lineup is in order.

The fact our pitching is still statistically the best in the NL, and our BA is still at the top is a HUGE indication that the boys are going through a pro-longed period due to a combination of things:
- lack of timely hitting
- lack of plate discipline (pressing is a natural reaction to a slump)
- other teams consider the Dodgers the "team to beat" and are UP for every game
- Torre's mismanagement of the 'pen (1-8 in one-run games after starting the season 21-9)
- Manny's lack of juice (yes, I said it)

Therefore, if Manny is gonna be a singles hitter (still the best in the game at recognizing pitches), let him hit 6th. Maybe he'll get his quick bat back again. Put Kemp, Ethier and Blake 3-4-5 for a couple weeks. I like the idea of Ethier working out at 1B a bit, but the idea has plenty of negatives as well (just to mention two: no experience; and too late in the season). But should Torre go that route (not likely), I wouldn't mind seeing if Pierre could put another 20 fantastic games together. Then throw this lineup out there:

Pierre
Furcal
Kemp
Ethier
Blake
Manny
Martin
O-Dog

Give it a week. Why not?

LOL, sorry Kyle. You know what I mean. I was typing with angst.

Monday commented on Loney's "mechanics" weeks ago. I questioned then in a post what Donny was watching that Monday can see from the booth and did he have any plans to do anything about it.

Clearly we have our answer.

I just hafta believe the second time through the order will be the killer for Fogg. He's having a decent season as a reliever, but when he was a starter (have to go all the way back to last season when he got his last start), he proves hittable.

Unless it's just pitch selection and coincidence, it appears perhaps the word of the day - so far - is patience. Andre and Kemp both have been patient.

And Andre hits it out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Major clobberization.

You know, by all accounts, the Rox are in a heap of trouble. They just don't know it yet.

Manny walks.

Thirsty hits into the 5-4-3 DP.

EY starts and stops, then gets picked off!