Sunday, May 06, 2007 |
Betemit's nth Stand: Dodgers 6, Braves 2
For those who saw Betemit's batting average coming into Saturday's play and cannot understand Little's patience, it comes from a combination of remembering what Betemit did last year -- 18 Major League home runs -- while knowing there's no obvious alternative to play third base.Jon:
Of course, now Izuris and Aybar are both gone and both having years as miserable as Betemit's or worse. (Izturis has a .513 OPS in 20 games for the Cubs; Aybar is off Atlanta's active roster and dealing with personal problems.) Over the past year, the Dodgers haven't had a hot corner as much as they have a plutonium corner, destroying ballplayers from the inside out.Ken Gurnick today:
Looking desperately for help at third base, the Dodgers announced on Sunday the promotion of Andy La Roche from Triple-A Las Vegas and made room for him by placing Marlon Anderson on the 15-day disabled list with a sore elbow.So what makes Wilson Betemit's pinch-hit solo homer last night unusual is that (a) Grady Little expressed enough interest in him actually playing to let him have a pinch-hit opportunity, especially after his vote of no-confidence only Friday, and (b) that he did something productive with the chance.La Roche wasn't exactly tearing up the Pacific Coast League with a .235 average and three home runs. But the Dodgers have been starting Wilson Betemit for most of this season and he is hitting .140 with only one home run, which he hit Saturday night as a pinch-hitter.
Not that anyone will take this to mean that Betemit will suddenly blossom with the Dodgers, or that Willy Aybar was a wasted trade. In hindsight, Aybar's confused career death spiral might have happened just as easily with the Dodgers as with the Braves, but with this lone exception: Aybar, at least, would still have options. Assuming Aybar stuck with the club but was awful, well, back to Las Vegas he goes. (Of course, if he did turn the same bizarro-land psycho player trick, it doesn't matter, because the Dodgers are still out a player.)
The Dodgers now replay the Adrian Beltre saga at third, only with half or maybe a third of the potential. It's hard to decide which is worse.
Labels: braves, dodgers, recaps
: 5/06/2007 04:57:00 PMAs for LaRoche, I think he should be back at AAA fixing whatever ails his swing there. He's wasting away for the Dodgers on the major league roster.
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