Not Grady's Fault
August 3, 2007
You can’t blame last night’s loss on Grady. He’s not the one who left the bases loaded three times. He’s not the one who made the errors. He’s not the one who walked the leadoff hitter who eventually scored. And he’s not the one who gave up three runs in the first on 43 pitches. The players did that.
Grady just puts the players he has on the field. The problem is what he has to work with. And that you can blame on Ned. This week, the Dodgers traded away Betemit. good move. But when Kent went down with a hammy, that left them without a backup infielder and Ramon Martinez in the starting lineup. So what does Ned do? He brings up Delwyn Young, an outfielder. Huh?
The mistake was glaring in the eighth, when Ramon came up with the bases loaded. Most managers would have pinch hit for Martinez and his .188 average, but because the Dodgers had nobody else to play second, Grady’s hands were tied. How can you not have a backup infielder around? I know Abreu’s hurt, but then bring up LaRoche, or whoever is playing second at Vegas.
Colletti’s other shortcoming is not getting a bat to replace Olmedo Saenz. The Killer Tomato has clearly lost it. He never could hit anything other than a fastball, and these days, he can’t even do that. He’s gotten too fat to play third, and probably first, so he gets no more than three swings a night, if that. I don’t think he’s had a hit since the big homer in Toronto. In fact, the Dodgers have lost 9 of the last 10 games in which he appeared. the lone exception being a 5-4 win over Philadelphia July 18. A typical Olmedo night is a late-inning pinch hit appearance in which he fails to deliver a crucial run.
The best thing you can say about Ned is that he didn’t trade away the farm system to get an overpriced guy like Jermaine Dye. We’ve seen the value of Martin, Loney, Kemp, and Ethier. Could we please get them all in the starting lineup at the same time, now? I’m tired of seeing Juan Pierre hit lazy fly balls to the outfield and Luis Gonzalez swinging wildly at pitches in the dirt. Gonzalez left seven runners on base last night, despite owning a monster average against Barry Zito. He carried the team briefly in June, but he’s had just three extra-base hits since June 24 in his hometown of Tampa.
Pierre has just three extra base hits since July 5. He doesn’t hit home runs and he doesn’t walk. He plays great defense, but that’s not enough to make up for his shortcomings at the plate. The outfield platoon needs to be Pierre and Gonzalez, not Ethier and Kemp. LET THE KIDS PLAY.
You can’t blame last night’s loss on Grady. He’s not the one who left the bases loaded three times. He’s not the one who made the errors. He’s not the one who walked the leadoff hitter who eventually scored. And he’s not the one who gave up three runs in the first on 43 pitches. The players did that.
Grady just puts the players he has on the field. The problem is what he has to work with. And that you can blame on Ned. This week, the Dodgers traded away Betemit. good move. But when Kent went down with a hammy, that left them without a backup infielder and Ramon Martinez in the starting lineup. So what does Ned do? He brings up Delwyn Young, an outfielder. Huh?
The mistake was glaring in the eighth, when Ramon came up with the bases loaded. Most managers would have pinch hit for Martinez and his .188 average, but because the Dodgers had nobody else to play second, Grady’s hands were tied. How can you not have a backup infielder around? I know Abreu’s hurt, but then bring up LaRoche, or whoever is playing second at Vegas.
Colletti’s other shortcoming is not getting a bat to replace Olmedo Saenz. The Killer Tomato has clearly lost it. He never could hit anything other than a fastball, and these days, he can’t even do that. He’s gotten too fat to play third, and probably first, so he gets no more than three swings a night, if that. I don’t think he’s had a hit since the big homer in Toronto. In fact, the Dodgers have lost 9 of the last 10 games in which he appeared. the lone exception being a 5-4 win over Philadelphia July 18. A typical Olmedo night is a late-inning pinch hit appearance in which he fails to deliver a crucial run.
The best thing you can say about Ned is that he didn’t trade away the farm system to get an overpriced guy like Jermaine Dye. We’ve seen the value of Martin, Loney, Kemp, and Ethier. Could we please get them all in the starting lineup at the same time, now? I’m tired of seeing Juan Pierre hit lazy fly balls to the outfield and Luis Gonzalez swinging wildly at pitches in the dirt. Gonzalez left seven runners on base last night, despite owning a monster average against Barry Zito. He carried the team briefly in June, but he’s had just three extra-base hits since June 24 in his hometown of Tampa.
Pierre has just three extra base hits since July 5. He doesn’t hit home runs and he doesn’t walk. He plays great defense, but that’s not enough to make up for his shortcomings at the plate. The outfield platoon needs to be Pierre and Gonzalez, not Ethier and Kemp. LET THE KIDS PLAY.
posted by John Rosenthal @ 1:20 PM
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