The Final Countdown
by Eric Stephen on Apr 1, 2009 9:31 AM PDT
in Game Threads
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PrintDodgers (15-18) at Giants (18-18), 1:05pm
With five spring games left, today begins the final trip through the starting rotation, with each starter getting one more tune up. Hiroki Kuroda starts for the Dodgers today in the club's final game in Arizona.
Jonathan Sanchez is scheduled to start for the Giants, "but he burned the index finger on his throwing hand and may be scratched," per T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com.
UPDATE: Sanchez has been scratched, per Henry Schulman of the SF Chronicle -- beware Puerto Rican rice and beans! Giants' #1 prospect Madison Bumgarner will start instead.
A few notes:
- Yesterday's outing by James McDonald was OK: he allowed three runs and six hits in 4.1 innings, but he has impressed Joe Torre to the point where he has basically won, although not yet officially, the 5th starter job.
- Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts tempers his optimism of the Randy Wolf signing, asking whether Wolf is "a Tomko in sheep's clothing."
- Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times profiles Blake DeWitt, vying for a spot on the 25-man roster. Larry Bowa sums up the prevailing thought about whether or not to keep DeWitt: "If we knew he could get 250 at-bats as an extra guy, I'd say keep him. If you project that he's going to get 100, you're hurting his progress."
- Tom Tango is conducting a survey of fans, attempting to use the wisdom of crowds to project playing time for players on each team. Take a few minutes to enter in your projections for the Dodgers, won't you?
- Today is the final day of voting in the Elite 8 in the 2009 Dodger Prediction Bracket.
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Padres' Rotation
Shawn Hill is the #5 starter, per the NC Times.
It looks like the Dodgers’ opening series in SD will have the following pitching matchups:
Monday – Kuroda v. Peavy
Tuesday – Wolf v. Young
Wednesday – Billingsley v. Walter Silva
Thursday – Kershaw v. Kevin Correia
I don't think it will be a big deal
There’s only a 30% chance of rain Monday-Wednesday. There is a 60% chance of rain Thursday, but I seriously doubt the series will be delayed all of next week.
by Eric Stephen on Apr 1, 2009 11:39 AM PDT up reply actions
Also
Having a game delayed in San Diego is just about the best place to have a rainout because of this:
1) July 3-5 in SD is sandwiched by off days on both July 2 & 6.
2) September 29 & 30 in SD is followed by an off day October 1
Plenty of chances to makeup those games if any are rained out.
by Eric Stephen on Apr 1, 2009 11:44 AM PDT up reply actions
Totally off topic
but I thought this quote by John Calipari today was both funny and ridiculous:
“I’m a regular guy, folks,” Calipari said. “I do not walk on water; I do not have a magic wand.”
Update to the post - Sanchez scratched
Jonathan Sanchez was in fact scratched. Top prospect Madison Bumgarner will start instead. The 19-year old Bumgarner was ranked the 9th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America, only two spots behind Brett Anderson, who they faced Monday.
So far
he’s only thrown 2 innings this spring to big leaguers.
by Eric Stephen on Apr 1, 2009 12:39 PM PDT up reply actions
Speaking of top prospects
What’s up with Tigers’ management letting Rick Porcello start in the majors? He’s never pitched in AA. Talk about wasting a potential year of elite service.
Because
Bonderman is not going to be ready to start the season and Willis has not been particularly effective anyway plus he appears to be having some psychiatric issues. That leaves a starting rotation of Verlander, Galarraga, Edwin Jackson and fill in the blank. The logic was that Porcello would compete with Willis and Nate Robertson for the #5 slot. But with Willis on the shelf for the foreseable future it looks like both Robertson and Porcello will be in the starting rotation.
May I ask what your rationale is in saying that they are wasting his services? While he is young, by all accounts he is having a monster spring, and clearly the Tigers feel he is one of the top 5 pitchers they have available to them, and I would agree with that.
by Michael White on Apr 1, 2009 1:05 PM PDT up reply actions
Don't want to speak for Silverwidow, but
I believe he was just pointing out the Tigers are essentially trading his age 20 season for his age 26 season, since calling him up now will presumably make him a free agent after 2014.
However, I do think if he’s one of the 5 best starters they have I don’t have a problem bringing him up.
What Eric said
Porcello is going to be a free agent at 25 instead of 26. If he really ends up being the “best pitching prospect since Josh Beckett” then they’ll regret losing a year of his prime.
Unless
they resign him at 25. Besides, as fans is that not what we want management doing, making decisions which help the team as opposed to pinching pennies. Detroit’s actions this spring and before (basically since Dombrowski was the GM) have been that they are not going to allow money to dictate the team’s composition. They cut Gary Sheffield yesterday, even though he is owed $14MM. Meanwhile Pierre is going to be pouting on our bench. Willis costs like $8MM per year, and they sent him to A Ball last year rather than forcing him into the starting rotation just to make their decision to give him the extension less stupid. The owner of the Tigers (who also owns the Red Wings) is a very wealthy man, so I’m going to assume that if Porcello becomes the “best pitching prospect since Josh Beckett” they will be making an offer. But in the mean time, they probably feel like their window to return to the postseason is closing. Ordonez and Guillen can’t have too many strong years left in them so what’s the point in sending one of your top 5 pitchers to the minors now, in order to help your team win in five years….
by Michael White on Apr 1, 2009 1:28 PM PDT up reply actions
They don't have to leave him up all year though.
I’d just keep him up until Bonderman gets healthy.
by Brendan Scolari on Apr 1, 2009 11:44 PM PDT up reply actions
Bumgarner is impressive
Is there anywhere you can find stats from the minor league spring training games? I want to see what he’s done this spring, last year he was unreal in lowA
Stay classy, Giants fans
If you are listening via MLB Audio, it’s the Giant broadcast and one of their team commercials for tickets includes having a kid say “Dodgers suck.” Way to promote that, SF.
So far this spring
Milton has allowed the following in 18.1 IP:
33 hits
23 runs
4 HR
6 BB
9 K
And he hasn’t pitched since May of 2007!
I have to think if he’s going to make any impact whatsoever, he needs to work out his issues in the minors first.
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