DODGERS The McGwire effect

This has been overseen by many (there's an article at dodgers.com) but one of our biggest tools is Mark. He taught those guys in StL, and knows them like no one else.

Do you guys feel this give us an edge, or its simply a nice storyline?

 

Fingers crossed that this gives us an edge.

 

I hope he makes a difference because as far as I can tell, he hasn't done anything great for or team except scare the fuck out of DBag's coaches and Gibson.

Seriously, the Dodger's don't seem any better offensively due to him...more to do with spending a boatload on payroll and not having shitheads like Cruz and Hairston starting games. Uribe is basically as good as he used to be and most credit for that seems to go to John Valentine. AJ, Mark, Kemp, Ethier, AGon, Crawford, etc. seem to be at their normal value or less. Hanley is just "Happy Hanley" and Puig is just superhuman, maybe McGuire helped them.

 

Why hate? We finally have a hitting coach with some actual WS cred as one.....

Simple as that. He also convinced Ned to sign Skippy.

 

Hate? Simply pointing out that he hasn't been the difference maker we'd all hoped for doesn't mean I am hating on him. He certainly hasn't been a failure either...it just seems like the same team as last season or more offensively really. Still same bad habits with RISP, Ethier still having 2 month slumps and not hitting LHP, AJ slumping in the 2nd half, Mark Ellis still a .270 10 HR level guy that sucks vs. RHP, Agon still declining with age and weight gain, etc.

 

Father Time > Mark McGwire's tutelage. That and not everybody can be a Hanley Ramirez/ Miguel Cabrera...

A lot of different guys rose up and collectively carried us to where we are now and MMcG's instruction was the constant that had a positive effect over a large group of players, all season long.

 

But look at the stats...no improvement from anybody except Uribe(who credits Valentine) and Hanley(who was great before)

 

I get that but this season has been extreme with it's ups and downs. I credit Mac for getting them out of it and keeping them hitting in the clutch much better than they have in recent years. Every interview had him preaching focus and staying the course.

 

IMO, they've done this same thing since Torre came on board. They've taken pitches for a couple years now to get into hitter's counts. The problem has been and still is that at times they get into hitters counts and flail at shit pitches anyway when runners are on scoring position. Shit sometimes they don't even try to get into a hitter's count...in other words McGuire has had zero effect on them from what I see.

Not his fault if they don't listen to him though. Again i'm not knockin McGuire, i'm just not going to give him bredit for our hitters doing the same or worse than they've done the last 4 years. The only real improvement is that we don't have any useless hitters anymore thanks to our payroll and trades.

 

Ok then, be Boras for a minute.....Who would you replace him with, what would improve and why would that person be better?

 

To add: Did you read the article in the Times this morning?

Mac is happy here, effective and has a great track record as a hitting coach. Sure, a lot of guys took PED's but still, even on an even playing field (drugs-wise) very few could do what he could at the plate. He was already better than most in terms of hitting, seeing the ball and working counts. Now he's imparting that knowledge on our hitters. If Puig listens to him for 3-4-5 straight seasons, can you imagine what he will be??

 

No, I wouldn't replace him. He's fine I'm just not going to suck his dick or credit him with our success because our pitching is where our success came from. Honeycutt deserves the cyberhead for that, and Don for keeping it all together as far as clubhouse and personalities, and then Ned and the ownership for improving the quality of players.

 

Sounds like you're describing a good team to me, ALL of them......

If anything DBB is the one they've won in spite of....

 

Maybe...but there's no way to gauge his positive effect on a supermassive payroll clubhouse mixed with so many ethnicities, differing personalities, and ages. All we know is the team seems to be VERY united and no one's whining and crying like say Boston was last season. so IMO, DBB is as important positive piece as anyone on the coaching staff. Without the peace and love we'd probably have a self destructing team sitting at home right now after that beyond horrific start to 2013...again my opinion.

Sure we question his "on field" moves but like I've said a million times, we'd beat up every manager for that, we have...we always have always will.

 

I think Kasten knows what he's doing and has assembled a good group of guys to marshall the egos in the clubhouse.

I'm sure Magic has A LOT to do with it as well, considering his own past as a player, coach and owner of the Lakers. Dude has been involved with a lot of team success.

 

The truth is, after enduring O'Malley's cheapness, Fox, FUCKFACE, we've finally got the Mount Rushmore blue print for success, and we deserve it.