pittsburgh faithful might argue otherwise his 4.3 war (essentially) got them home field for yesterday's 1-game win or go home game and for a team that hadn't finished above .500 -- let alone sniffed the postseason -- in 21 years... yeah, i'm pretty sure they'd say he was well worth the investment
I love AJ and all that, but I still miss Martin. He was my fave of all the younguns with Kemp seconnd when they were all coming up.
Limited Ethier likely to be on Dodgers' NLDS roster Outfielder reports small improvement, will be restricted to pinch-hitting By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com | 10/2/2013 5:22 P.M. ET ATLANTA -- With Matt Kemp leading cheers on crutches and Andre Ethier reduced to only pinch-hitting, right fielder Yasiel Puig will be relocated from the top of the Dodgers' batting order to the middle for Thursday night's Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Braves (5:30 p.m. PT on TBS). Ethier is expected to be on the roster the Dodgers submit at 7 a.m. PT Thursday, but based on what he was able to do, and not do, during Wednesday's workout, he'll play the role of Kirk Gibson -- mostly a decoy, with the possibility of late-inning heroics. The absence of two key bats will prompt manager Don Mattingly to bat Puig fifth behind Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez, with Carl Crawford moving back up to leadoff. Crawford last batted leadoff Sept. 8. For most of the final month, Puig led off with Crawford batting second. The Dodgers were 50-35 with Crawford batting leadoff and 9-4 when he hit second. They were 15-11 with Puig at the top, 37-14 with Puig batting second, 12-5 with Puig at cleanup and 0-1 with Puig batting fifth. Mattingly did not announce his roster or lineup at Wednesday's workout news conference. The lineup is likely to be: Crawford, left field; Mark Ellis, second base; Ramirez, shortstop; Gonzalez, first base; Puig, right field; Juan Uribe, third base; A.J. Ellis, catcher; Skip Schumaker, center field; Clayton Kershaw, pitcher. The Dodgers still have difficult roster moves to make, with veterans Chris Capuano, Brandon League and Jerry Hairston in jeopardy of being left off because of the acquisitions of Brian Wilson, Carlos Marmol and Michael Young. Keeping Ethier active might mean the inclusion of Dee Gordon for pinch-running duties and makes an 11-man pitching staff most likely. Ethier went through a customized workout Wednesday. After tracking pitches from Ricky Nolasco in the bullpen, Ethier jogged in to take batting practice, then twice ran half-speed from first base to second base. With Dr. Neal ElAttrache and medical director Stan Conte watching, Ethier did not attempt to round any bases, which he has said gives him the greatest pain. "Same thing as yesterday," Ethier said afterward. "It's still going good and going in the direction we want to go, but obviously not all the way there yet." Ethier did not take fly balls. Based on his restricted movement, it would be surprising if he could. With Kemp also out, Schumaker is expected to get the bulk of playing time in center field, although Gordon and Scott Van Slyke have been taking fly balls there this week. "Definitely not tomorrow," Ethier said Wednesday when asked if he'd be able to play the outfield this series. "I'm not going to be playing the outfield tomorrow. Whatever they need me for, I'm good with that and I'm just getting ready for whatever my duty is going into that first game." Though Ethier's opportunities to make an impact in the NLDS figure to be limited, Gonzalez is still confident that Ethier will find a way to make his mark on the series. "We're still going to be able to use him in a key situation, so he's still in there and we still have his bat," Gonzalez said. "He'll be part of all this." Ethier initially suffered the injury above and to the outside of his left ankle -- which he described as being similar to painful shin splints -- during the Dodgers' Sept. 4 game in Colorado. He later aggravated the injury Sept. 13 and has been unable to start a game since. Following the aggravation, Ethier received a week of treatment before experiencing increased pain while trying to round the bases in a workout in San Francisco. "It's getting better every day," Ethier said. "Maybe not as fast as we want, but it is on the timetable we knew it'd probably be on going into it. Every day that it doesn't get more sore or set me back is a good day. So that's what we're happy about after today's workout." __
Braves' Medlen ready to face Dodgers By Mark Saxon | ESPNLosAngeles.com -- 40 minutes ago ATLANTA -- Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw did not face the Atlanta Braves in any of the seven games the teams played this season, prompting Braves ace Kris Medlen to say that might be a good thing for Kershaw. "We've missed him twice this year both times we played, but I think our team, the confidence that we have, he missed us," Medlen said. Kershaw and Medlen are the starters for Thursday night's Game 1 of the teams' NL Division Series at Turner Field. Some Braves have taken exception to the attention the star-studded Dodgers have gotten coming into this series given the fact the Braves won four more games in the regular season and secured homefield advantage for the series. "The Dodgers are a great team, big-name players, but we had to play against them during the regular season and we played pretty well," Medlen said. "All the attention, I mean, we're not running for prom king. We're ready to play this series and play this team." Medlen has pitched well against the Dodgers in his career, going 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA. In four career starts against Atlanta, Kershaw has never gotten a decision, but has a 2.45 ERA. Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis, a close friend of Kershaw's, said he doesn't think the left-hander will be any more motivated after reading or hearing about Medlen's comment. "I don't think Clayton needs any motivation at all," Ellis said. __
It just comes across as misguided or irrationally backing his teammates. Maybe it's trash talk... I will let it slide.
It'll be the pitchers in the end who get the W or L, of course. But it will be the lineups, or lack of one, that will win this NLDS, for sure. And fuck Medlen, or whatever his name is (fair to middling ?), his own lineup is what Kershaw should be concerned about.
Having Kershaw and Greinke sure helps with confidence but I am worried about the fact that we reverted to the April/May team lately the one who couldn't get a 2 out hit to save their lives but then again it was after playing .700 ball so it was somewhat expected. Just wish we were healthier going in, Yasiel has been pretty bad and HanRam hasn't gotten consistent at-bats lately. We will find out soon enough but I am thinking Braves in 4 sorry. PROVE ME WRONG BOYS!!!
i have your same concerns and i think realistically anyone that watched that last month would. but i'm picking us in 5 not as a homer but as a realist as well. unless the wheels come off i think seeing kershaw twice is pretty devastating and look for grienke or ryu to win one of those starts. not that kershaw is destined for two wins but i like his chances. as long as we don't shoot ourselves in the foot and commit stupid errors both in the field and on the base paths. we also need dbb not to over manage which is nearly impossible to imagine. so i expect a lot of close nail biters with us prevailing. no homer. now the next series should we get through this one is different. we are far from the hottest team out there.
Yeah BJ is probably worse but based off those stats I like uggla being left off better. I was looking at the box scores for our games and we really should have won all three in Atlanta and 3 of the 4 in LA. That's when our bullpen was trash.
why the fuck is the sunday game start time still TBD. It's less than 4 days away! WTF are they waiting for. I'd like to plan my day at least, instead of having everything on hold until MLB decides to stop keeping my plans hostage
The braves have good pitching, notably their bullpen and lots of power. But let's not forget they also strikeout....a lot! They had troubles against the really good pitchers in that division. Harvey, Lee, Hamels, Fernandez, strausburg, etc. Greinke beat them, ryu pitched well against them twice nolasco only faced them once this year and did well and they didn't face Kershaw all year. I see this being a low scoring pitching series and as long as we don't get behind I like our chances.
