6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Rebuttal: The Outside Views Project

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Rebuttal: The Outside Views Project

The Dodgers lost 6-5 tonight, at home to the Rockies. It goes down hard, but as I said, you can't count on much of anything in this game, and the Dodgers could just as easily go on a bender the rest of the month as play .500 ball. Be that as it may, Jon has invited a bevy of bloggers to comment on the Dodgers. Realizing that my comments would be too long to put in the comment section, here goes:

Tyler Bleszinski, Athletics Nation: To summarize how I feel about the Dodgers is simple…common enemies and a shared ideology. The Dodgers and A’s are on the same side in the Great Idea War raging in baseball between the old school small ballers and the new school Moneyballers. They, along with the Red Sox and Blue Jays, have formed an alliance in this war. Not to mention that Dodger fans hate Giants and Angels fans.

... except, of course, that save for the bench, this team is still really Evans', which was largely Will Carroll's point. As to whether the A's and Dodgers are on the same ideological page, I would recommend you look at the number of prep players the Dodgers drafted (22) versus those taken by Oakland (5). As to whether Angels fans hate Dodgers fans, well, I suppose some people need a hobby.

David Pinto, Baseball Musings: ... The most obvious need is 1st base, which also happens to be the easiest position to fill. John Olerud is now available and he’ll be real cheap. He won’t hit for power, but he’ll get on base.

Green just happens to own a 14.4 VORP, whereas Olerud's is 6.8, less than half Green's. This would be an upgrade, how?

Alex Belth, Bronx Banter: It’s hard for me to know what to make of the Dodgers. Truthfully, the only time I’ve really paid attention to them was when the Yankees were in town.

The scene is a waiting room where Alex Belth's parents are approached by a doctor in surgical scrubs. They look concerned.

Alex's Father: Is it serious?

Surgeon: It's worse than we thought... Alex... he's become a Yankee fan. We're going to have to operate, but the chances of success are slim...

Peter White, Mariner Musings: Still not outscoring Detroit.

Ouch! Guilty as charged.

Steve Treder, The Hardball Times: To a Giants fan, the 2004 Dodgers are the undead. They’ve been clubbed, slashed, shot, burned, and buried six feet underground, only to be found up and around yet again, greedily consuming wins, stalking first place with a glazed-eyed mindlessness that maddens us all the more.

DIE, Cesar Izturis! DIE, Shawn Green! DIE, Alex Freaking Cora! But death seems to hardly slow their monstrous trudge.

And to think, the Dodgers were supposed to be evil for bringing out the "Game Over" sign on the scoreboard when Gagné comes out. Talk about hubris: cladding your team in orange and black, the official colors of October. As one Giants wag said when asked what an "Orange October" meant, "It's the same as any other, only shorter."

// posted by Rob @ 10:55 PM link // 2 comments