Blue Sparks 08-24 / 08-31

by Phil Gurnee on Aug 31, 2008 10:40 PM PDT Comment 8 comments

After that dreadful road trip to be only 2 1/2 games back is a lucky break. The Dodgers couldn't hit the AAA pitchers of the Nationals but they take out the double aces of the Diamondbacks. Don't understand this game but I sure love it.

Great week for the prospects. Hu, Elbert, and McDonald will be heading to the big show. Elbert went early so that he could be on the playoff roster if needed. All he has done is strike out 5 of the 7 hitters he has faced so far. Which means that every out he has recorded so far has been a strikeout. I wonder if our research analyst Eric Stephen can let us know the last time that happened? Hu will replace Kent who will undergo surgery .

Other invites for Sept were D Young coming back from rehab, Jason Repko, and Eric Stults. Expect to see Proctor and AJ Ellis.

For AJ Ellis and James McDonald it will be their first time with the big club. AJ will be trying to impress enough to get a shot at the backup catcher job next year while McDonald hopes to contend for a rotation spot.

Hot Shots:

The Dodgers currently have two of the hottest hitters in the minor leagues and they both do their damage for the Jacksonville Suns. Ivan DeJesus now has a 23 game hitting streak after banging a home run in his 1st at bat in today's game. For a guy with no power he ended August with a triple line stat of 517/614/1.131. You can't get any hotter then that for a middle infielder. The scouts may have to readjust their ceiling and the Dodgers should consider giving him a shot this Sept. With Nomar ailing and unable to play well when on the field and Berroa his backup you'd think they might have room for the hottest hitter in the minor leagues.

I wrote about what Lambo had done earlier in the week and then he went and got 4 more hits the next night. So far he has played six games and has a hit in every one of them. His final triple stat line for the Suns in August stands at 448/889/1.337 He will be headed to the AFL as the youngest player in the league. Safe to say this 4th round pick is making scouting directors all over the league wonder why they missed him.

The other player of note this week also hails from the Suns. Twenty one year old Joshua Lindblom the 2nd round pick in this years draft was jumped from the Loons to the Suns last week after he proved to much for the Midwest League. He has only pitched one game so far but he continued to show plus dominance and good command.

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i’m excited to see mcdonald get called up. didn’t get a chance to see him dominate for the las vegas 51s (except for that one start).

i hope they call up ivan de jesus, although i would not like to see him rot on the bench. hopefully joe torre uses the new kids.

CLAYTON KERSHAW 4 PRESIDENT!
MATT KEMP 4 VICE!

by wongy on Sep 1, 2008 2:39 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Plus dominance

Plus dominance, eh? What’s average dominance level? ;-)

by Brendan Scolari on Sep 1, 2008 10:35 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Lambo

A lot of teams passed on Lambo because of makeup/character concerns no? Don’t think it was a question of talent. Anyways, I’m glad we have him!

by ASUcruz on Sep 1, 2008 11:18 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

its exciting

what dejesus has been doing -he may even salvagethe ‘05 draft class. but my excitment about prospects is tempered by the dodgers’ usual unwillingless to utilize them properly.

by JLS23 on Sep 1, 2008 1:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

That seems to be the perception but is it more myth then reality?

Martin, Loney, DeWitt, Etheir, Kemp, Billingsley, Broxton, Kuo, Wade, Kershaw, Elbert and Troncoso all up since 2006. They may have taken a year longer on Kemp and Loney then we would have liked and they certainly didn’t give LaRoche a valid shot but who else didn’t get a shot that deserved one.
Hu was given his shot and failed. Hopefully he will get another. Abreu was given his shot and got hurt every time he took the field.
I wanted Meloan to get a shot in 2007 but it looks like he wasn’t ready. I wanted Hull to get a shot and he was just released by the RedSox.

2005 draft may have been the weakest since Logan was part of the draft process. Josh Bell could still have something to say about it.

by Phil Gurnee on Sep 1, 2008 10:49 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i meant moreso

to rely on prospects for wholes to be plugged than washed up all stars, but yes you also have a point. Just imagine in 2007 if we had turned the jobs over to loney, kemp, ethier, billz, etc from the beginning, instead of holding them off with creamy veteran goodness. i hope that furcal is only signed for one year or not at all. dejesus seems legit, if he fails.. we’ll worry about that then. ned needs to stop being so reactionary.

by JLS23 on Sep 2, 2008 9:32 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

*holes.. not wholes.

by JLS23 on Sep 2, 2008 9:33 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

re:

Per Glossary of Baseball HQ
Dominance rate (k/9), or Opposition Strikeouts per Game

(K Allowed x 9 / IP)

Measures how many strikeouts a pitcher allows per game equivalent. BENCHMARK: The best pitchers will have k/9 levels of 5.6 or higher.
———————————————————————
So if a pitcher has dominance > 8 I consider that plus dominance. I was a bit over zealous since it is based on such a small sample size but you have to like what Josh is doing so far.

by Phil Gurnee on Sep 2, 2008 10:34 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs