Perspective

    I've been a Dodger fan since the first year they came here, 1958. I listened to Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett broadcast every game since I was in third grade, in Mrs. Hoffman's class at Martha Baldwin School. My dad bought me a Philco desk radio (the size of a loaf of bread, turquoise plastic shell with a white front, AM only) and I listened to all the games.
    Sometimes I played in the mirror on the back of my bedroom door, as Koufax pitched (I'm right-handed, but in the mirror it looked ok) or Drysdale (screw the reversal of the mirror).
    But most of all, I became a fan of baseball. And I have studied its history.
    And over the years I've acquired some photos. Most of them are publicity shots, baseball card shots, newspaper shots... and I can't give the photographers credit because I don't know who they were. But I enjoy looking at them. I hope you will too.
    Cy Young was the preeminent pitcher of his era. From 1890 –1921, a span of 22 years, he won 511 games and lost 315. Things were different then; they didn't have set-up men and closers; but he started 815 games  and completed 750 of them.
    No wonder he got an award named after himself.
    He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1937.

Dem Bums Live

Dodgers have the highest payroll in baseball this year (I think; you can tell me if I'm mistaken), and they are drawing more fans than any other team. But they still play like a bunch of sandlot boys. Or like the way they played in Brooklyn, 58 years ago.

They don't make the plays; they don't make the pitches; they don't get the key hits.

Dodgers played for more than 50 years before they won the World Series in Brooklyn. It's been 28 years since they even appeared in the Series here.

Last night they did a fold-o, giving up a 5-1 lead to the Padres and losing 6-5. Hats off to the Padres; they fought hard and deserved to win. But my Dodgers looked like bums.

What's the reason?

I don't think it's Mattingly, although he isn't the most charismatic manager out there. And I don't think it's Honeycutt, although I don't think he's the best pitching coach...

It's the players. They have to go out there and play if the team is gonna go anywhere this season. And some of them do. Some of them play their hearts out.

But some of them don't. Some of them probably can't, for physical reasons.

Ok.

I'm not gonna get into that.

And I'm just reacting to the season so far, and tonight's game in particular. And for me, they're Bums.

Maybe lovable, maybe not. but for me, for now, Dem Bums.

Puzzle Dodgers

    On paper, the Dodgers have a terrific team this season.
    "We're gonna pour money into this team," Magic declared when the new ownership took over. "We're gonna pour money into the fan experience."
    And they did. The team looks great, on paper at least, and the 50+ year old Dodger Stadium gleams.
    In reality, though, the Dodgers are last in the National League West.
    They don't hit, especially with runners in scoring position. The starting pitchers do fine but the relief pitchers can't get the outs they need to get. The defense has committed more errors than any other team in the major leagues.
    I was taught that pitching and defense were the two basic building blocks on which you built a team. The hitting would come around. Pitching and defense would keep you in there until it did. Hitters were always slow starters, but once they found their grooves you were fine, as long as you had good pitching and defense.
    Dodgers have good starting pitching, but these days that just means six or seven innings. The game lasts nine, so that means going to the bullpen for the last two or three innings.
    For the record, I don't agree with that, but that's the way it is these days. The manager tells the starting pitcher "You give me seven innings, and then I'm gonna go batter by batter."
    That kind of micromanagement only works if you have good pitchers in your bullpen. The Dodgers don't seem to have that.
    Good players, on paper at least, but ineffective pitching and poor defense.
    So what's missing?
    Good coaching. I've said that before. But in fairness to the coaches, they don't play the game; the players do. And when they play it badly we fans don't enjoy the experience.
    Leadership. By a player on the team. Someone who steps up and says "Hey, guys" and the other players look up and listen.
    Dodgers don't have anyone they would call Captain.
    That might just be what they need.

Dodgers Have the Players They Need; Do They Have the Coaches?

    The new Dodgers management has built a team that can win. But have they built a coaching staff that can help the players win?
    I went to the game last night, April 16. Windy night, wind blowing left to right. And cold. Nothing's going out tonight. But the Dodgers swing for the fences. Ten high fly balls to the outfield, only one with a chance to go out. It was caught, just like all the others. Not one line drive up the middle. Just four hits in all: a bouncer up the third base line, a bouncer between second and shortstop, a blooper into shallow left-center and a low line drive up the first base line.
    Good hits, those four, but not enough to win ballgames.
    Dodgers' primary hitting coach is Mark McGwire. Yes, the Mark McGwire who intentionally swung for the fences and surpassed Roger Maris' record of 61 homeruns in a single season.
    Steroid Mark McGwire.
    Steroids weren't illegal when he set his record, so his record stands. But they are now. So maybe hitters should go back to the tried and true way to hit: line drives up the middle. But is McGwire telling them that? He relied on performance enhancing drugs. Can he coach in an era that doesn't allow their use?
    And the Dodgers had to go to the bullpen early when starter Chris Capuano injured his leg covering first base. And the Dodger relief pitchers don't seem to know how to take charge of the game.
    Dodger pitching coach Rick Honeycutt didn't always seem to know that either. He nibbled around the strike zone, throwing balls, until he had to throw a strike and then the batter hit it.
    Same thing last night.
    Padres received one walk, one hit-by-pitch and got ten hits off the Dodger relief corps.
    Can Honeycutt really coach in the modern era?
    Just wondering....