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Tuesday, April 01, 2008 |
Pickoff Moves
Tech: MLBAM's Gameday Blog Stops Working
Coincidence? I sorta doubt it.Dodgers Rout Nemeses-In-Name-Only: Dodgers 5, Giants 0
The Giants' fifth-place finish in the NL West seems pretty well assured, and even though it's only opening day we're talking about here, it's instructive to read the Chronicle's Gwen Knapp on the matter:Zito went after the hitters. He didn't mess around. He threw strikes.Taken from that perspective, it dims the Dodgers' accomplishment considerably, and nobody's day was more darkened than that of rookie — as in, report to Jacksonville or Dodger Stadium — third baseman Blake DeWitt, who singled in his first major league at-bat, and off a former Cy Young winner, too, no less. His instructions from the club were understandably vague:And the Dodgers ate them up, every juicy morsel.
That shouldn't have been surprising, given Zito's horrendous spring training. In fact, every detail of the Giants' 5-0 loss seemed to fulfill the scorched-earth expectations of this club.
DeWitt is here because Andy LaRoche, Nomar Garciaparra and Tony Abreu are not.Easy and charming and downright thrilling as it was to see DeWitt get that single, and an almost home run eventually caught by Randy Winn, the fact of the matter is he's more likely to need additional at-bats at the minor league level. Expectations need to be downgraded accordingly, but what a way to start a career, in a game that saw him also score his first major league run, and making a sparkling play or two at third.He did not begin camp with the big-leaguers, instead showing up in the minor-league barracks in Vero Beach. Torre had not seen DeWitt play before the plane left for China.
But, in baseball, you create your own timetable. DeWitt was anticipating a full year in Double-A Jacksonville. Now it might be hard to get back on the bus, especially after the show DeWitt witnessed Monday.
Welcome to the Show, Blake.
The Beginning Of Our Regrets: Padres 4, Astros 0
Around Thanksgiiving last year, Jon gave the podium to frequent Dodger Thoughts commenter and prospect maven CanuckDodger to opine on the Dodgers' 40-man roster moves prior to the Rule 5 draft. His big head-scratcher: failing to protect Wesley Wright:When the Rule 5 draft is held in December, at the Winter Meetings, I think only a minor miracle will keep us from losing Wesley Wright. He's not guaranteed to make or stick on a 25-man roster in 2008, but a non-contending MLB team will take greater pains to hide Wright as a bullpen mop-up man than would have been spent hiding Alvarez in the same role, were Alvarez somehow picked. Now, it's possible that the Dodgers know something about Wright that hasn't been told to the public - such as Wright is hurt, or the Dodgers suspect his arm will fall off soon - but outside of that possibility, the Dodgers' protecting Alvarez over Wright is a monumental head-scratcher, and in my opinion, represents a Dodger front-office miscalculation. But, alas, such miscalculations are something to which the current Dodger front-office personnel are very far from strangers.Wright made his first major league appearance in this game, and got Brian Giles to ground out to short in the seventh to snuff out a two-out Padres rally. What's more, Wright had a 2.38 ERA in spring training. Barring arm problems or some such, failing to protect him is not looking like a very good transaction at all for the Dodgers.
Roster Notes
- Scot Shields may be back in the lineup by Friday if today's simulated game goes well.
- Gary Matthews, Jr. will be in the outfield later in the series, according to Mike Scioscia.
- In yesterday's game, Darren O'Day made his first major league appearance, getting in and out of a bases-loaded jam, but thanks to stupid Gameday Audio, I wasn't able to hear it. Stupid MLBAM.
- Rudy Seanez has signed a deal with the Phillies.
- The clock on Nomar Garciaparra's, Jason Schmidt's, and Andy LaRoche's DL time started on March 20. I didn't know you could do that ...
- Eric Gagne and Kerry Wood traded three-run frames in their inaugural roles as designated team closers for the Brewers and Cubs respectively; the Cubs eventually lost.
Labels: angels, astros, brewers, ex-dodgers, giants, minors, padres, tech, transactions
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