Ely Gets First Home Start In Finale With Brewers
by Eric Stephen on May 6, 2010 4:17 PM PDT
in Dodgers Game Previews
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After giving up 11 runs to the Brewers in back-to-back games started by Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers send John Ely to the bump tonight, hoping he won't take as many lumps as his rotation counterparts in his second major league start. I was struck by this comment about Ely by Tony Jackson of ESPN LA:
No matter how he pitches against the Brewers, Ely probably will be optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque after the game to clear a roster spot for Jeff Weaver, who is coming off the disabled list.
If Ely gets optioned, that will leave yet another vacancy in the rotation for next Tuesday. Weaver himself won't be a candidate to start, since his role will be situational relief. Charlie Haeger is starting Saturday, which leaves only Carlos Monasterios and Ramon Ortiz as options currently on the 25-man roster. Another candidate is James McDonald, who is scheduled to pitch Sunday for Albuquerque. McDonald could be skipped, perhaps throwing a bullpen session instead, so he can be ready to pitch Tuesday. But recalling McDonald would require another roster move, perhaps designating Ramon Ortiz for assignment, or placing George Sherrill on the disabled list.
While I am concerned about just who will start next Tuesday, last place teams don't have the luxury of thinking about any other game than the current one. The Dodgers, at 11-16 at the bottom of the National League West, are off to one of their worst starts since the franchise moved to Los Angeles. Only three seasons have been worse through 27 games:
| Worst LA Dodger 27-Game Starts | ||
| Year | Record | Final Rec |
| 1958 | 9-18 | 71-83 |
| 1967 | 10-17 | 73-89 |
| 1992 | 10-17 | 63-99 |
| 1964 | 11-16 | 80-82 |
| 1979 | 11-16 | 79-83 |
| 1993 | 11-16 | 81-81 |
| 2010 | 11-16 | ???? |
That is not exactly the most inspiring list. Things aren't going to get better overnight, but it would be nice if the club's fortunes turned around soon.
Other Notes
- Manny Ramirez will play in his second tune-up game tonight for Class A Inland Empire in Lake Elsinore, before being activated Saturday
- Great news: Legendary Brewers' announcer and actor Bob Uecker was released from the hospital today following heart surgery last week, per Bailey Stephens of MLB.com
- Baseball lost another legend this week, as Hall of Famer and former Phillies' great Robin Roberts passed away today at the age of 83. Roberts allowed more home runs (505) than any other pitcher in baseball history.
- Speaking of home runs allowed, tonight's starter for the Brewers, Dave Bush, is tied for the National League lead with seven home runs allowed, in his 29 1/3 innings of work
- Ryan Braun has 15 hits, including seven extra-base hits, in 32 career at-bats at Dodger Stadium, hitting .469/.469/.844
Lineups
| Brewers | Dodgers | |||
| 2B | Weeks |
LF |
Paul | |
| CF | Edmonds |
CF | Kemp | |
| LF | Braun |
RF | Ethier | |
| 1B | Fielder |
1B | Loney | |
| 3B | McGehee | 3B | Blake | |
| C | Zaun |
C | Martin |
|
| RF |
Hart |
2B | DeWitt | |
| SS | Escobar | SS | Carroll | |
| P | Bush | P | Ely |
|
Xeifrank's simulation of today's game is here.
Game Time: 7:10pm
TV: Prime Ticket
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Comments
2nd
attempt by Ely for that 1st major league win
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
3rd
place is our goal by the end of May
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Question: Is Sherrill actually hurt, or is that your personal guess?
by lakersdodgersyankees4life on May 6, 2010 4:33 PM PDT reply actions
Question: If Ely records an out in the seventh, what will you do to celebrate?
My suggestion: one Three Dog Night reference per sentence of the game recap.
The Ultimate Ned's Kind of Guy
Last year the Dodgers had a stretch with a similar record to today's 11-16
From July 26 to August 25, 2009, the Dodgers went 12-16. Stretches like this can be offset.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
Sure, but it was awful nice to be in the drivers seat by opening up the season — what was it? 20-8? The team had built a cushion to soften the blow of the slump that followed.
Now there is no cushion, and if they are going to catch up, it is likely that they will have to have a stretch in which they play out of their minds.
The Ultimate Ned's Kind of Guy
If it happens
people will be going ape shit here.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
also I feel as though schedule gets considerably tougher starting in June
when I looked at the season early on, I was hoping we’d be sitting in or around first before we have to take on the Angels, Yanks, Cards, Red Sox
William Doolittle at your service, a.k.a. will do.
Struck by the 1979 team start
they were coming off of a World Series appearance and by my account were the better team in 1978. I’ll have to see do some research to see what went wrong in April of 79.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/dodger-thoughts/post/_/id/4691/it-could-be-1979-all-over-again
I like the fact we were hot in the 2nd half.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
What I remember about that year (from research, since I was 3) was that Davey Lopes was named captain, but gave up his captaincy amid frustration.
There was a note a month or so ago
On how the Dodgers came close to getting Seaver in 1978. Had that happened, the team might have done okay.
I saw that note ...
Was that another proposed deal that involved Guerrero?
Imagine if we had traded Fernando and Bobby Castillo for Seaver …
Yes
Seaver was still among the best pitchers in the NL from 1978-1981. Perhaps he helps win the 1978 World Series. But then the team probably suffers after 1980.
The Dodgers are on a 15-game saveless streak
The last time the Dodgers (Broxton) had a save, he closed them to a .500 record at 6-6, the last time they’ve seen .500.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
He's only had one opportunity since then
And he blew that one.
This is longest stretch at the beginning of the season since the save became an official stat (1969) that the Dodgers only have 1 save, it is the longest since 1964 (also 27 games) since they had 1 save.
Yes
I meant to note that as a indication of the poor results the team has been putting up, not even generating save opportunities, but it also points out that when they win, those games haven’t been close either.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
Andy LaRoche
is finally playing like we had hoped he would. Tonight with two walks. Nice to see, hope it continues because I’ve wondered how we could have been so wrong.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
He might become a regular
Which is no small feat, but you would have thought given his numbers, he would become more.
What has gotten into Scott Olsen
he’s back to being the guy the Marlins thought so highly of.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Dice K - biggest bust when you consider the cost?
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Mike Hampton has got to be included in that equation. Juan Gonzalez would have been included if he had excepted that reported $140 million contract offer back in the day.
The posting price is what I think puts Dice K over
Of course he still has plenty of time to straighten out.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Hampton signed for 8 years, $121 million, and over the life of the contract made 147 starts, and had a 96 ERA+ in 891 1/3 IP, with 7.7 WARP. He only spent two years with the team that signed him.
Dice K is at 6 years, $103.1 million, and so far has made 74 starts, with a 115 ERA+ over 436 1/3 innings (before tonight), with 8.2 WARP.
Based on Eric's info
just getting to .500 now would be a historical feat. Given how much I rely on historical precedents my previous optimism has evaporated.
On the other hand I’m feeling more comfortable with Manny being a DH in the AL by the end of the year.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Considering .500 is less than a week away
and that an 11-16 stretch isn’t uncommon for any team, it’s a bit weird that it’s so hard to achieve.
Anyone know if the Dodgers had any similar stretches the last couple years? I’d imagine so.
My twitter = @neufaustcan
Look above
Last year the Dodgers had a stretch with a similar record to today’s 11-16
From July 26 to August 25, 2009, the Dodgers went 12-16. Stretches like this can be offset.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
by David Young on May 6, 2010 5:00 PM PDT
From May 23 to June 15, 2008, the Dodgers had a 23-game saveless streak where they went 6-17.
They’ve had longer saveless streaks in LA. The longest are 30, but bullpen usage was different in 1975 and 1960.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
by David Young on May 6, 2010 5:29 PM PDT
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
It boggles my mind
but I rarely bet against historical precedent. That was why I was totally comfortable with Eric declaring us the Division Champions so early last year. It was quite exciting to see if that was going to hold up when the team folded in the last week of the year.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
The problem is that
Eric’s list is only 11-16 and worse starts. In order to find optimism, you’d hope to find a good time that started 12-15 or 13-14. Of course there’s also the fact that lots of bad teams probably had crappy starts and few good teams probably did.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
I expect Eric is working on that suggestion now
seems he realized he just sucked all the optimism air right out of TBLA. As others have said the schedule is going to look daunting after June when we are trying to get back in to the race. My only reason for optimism right now are the teams we are chasing.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Scott Olsen
had a no-hitter through 7 1/3. Was just broken up on a single to left.
Nats win on a walk off single by PH Willie Harris.
Despite Dunn and Willingham having both been double-switched out earlier, the Braves bullpen blows it to the middle of the order.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
Just noticed Andruw Jones has 8 homeruns so far
Which makes Andruw Jones an asshole.
Generally
The longer you sit below .500 and in last place, the harder the climb no matter how far back you are.
Also, Scott Kazmir was just replaced in the 5th inning of a 4-4 tie with the bases loaded and one out.
The Angels had a 4-0 lead going into the bottom the 3rd
Martinez hit a 2-run homer in the 3rd, now they have scored 5 runs, 3 with 2 out, in the 5th to take a 7-4 lead and they are still batting in the 5th,
Can't keep a good team done
hopefully we will follow suit.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Napoli with a two-out, two-run HR after Delcarmen replaced Dice-K to make it 7-6 Boston. Dice-K still the pitcher of record.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
But the Angels bullpen is now pitching
And outside of Rodney and Jepsen, that has not been a good thing.
At least one, maybe two, will be crouching down though, making it easier.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
Correction 9 homeruns
Which really makes him a douche
Kind of what Texas thought of Padilla
as they watched him shut down the Cardinals and Phillies in the playoffs.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Tony Abreu 3-3 .. .average up to .366
obviously small sample size. . but we need a SS right?
by SeanMillerSavior on May 6, 2010 6:19 PM PDT reply actions
Pittsburgh scores 11 runs tonight
Meaning the most the Brewers can get tonight is 10, as 11 is already taken and the Dodgers never give up more than 11 runs.
Giants ahead 6-1
but Hanley is batting with the bases-loaded and one out in the 8th.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
and...
Giants bring in… Guillermo Mota… Mota… Mota…
There's no need to fear, Underdog is here! / Broncos/Dodgers/Lakers fan in Niners/Raiders/Giants/Warriors country, and damned proud of it.
which means
In Play, Run(s)
There's no need to fear, Underdog is here! / Broncos/Dodgers/Lakers fan in Niners/Raiders/Giants/Warriors country, and damned proud of it.
by underdog on May 6, 2010 6:41 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
The Brewers are a good team
that woke up, alas, against the Dodgers.
There's no need to fear, Underdog is here! / Broncos/Dodgers/Lakers fan in Niners/Raiders/Giants/Warriors country, and damned proud of it.
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