Hardball Weekly 6/8/09
Dodgers Help Lower Phillies’ Team ERA
The Dodgers offense has finally slowed down a bit from its torrid pace. Whether it was with Manny Ramirez or without, they seemed to be able to string hits together at will and score runs in bunches. Facing a Phillies’ pitching staff that boasts the second worst ERA in the National League, they probably expected to have four huge offensive games last week at home.
But the Phils put up a fight and held the Dodgers to just nine runs over the course of the four-game series. While Andre Ethier seems to have finally awoken from the slump he fell into when Manny went out, Orlando Hudson, Casey Blake, Rafael Furcal, and Russell Martin are all now slumping.
As for Juan Pierre, who is hitting .362 in Manny’s stead, the Dodgers will likely try and trade him for pitching help while his value is still sky-high. Pierre is in the final year of one of many terrible contracts the Dodgers have signed over the past few years and is making $10,000,000 this year. Clearly Manny Ramirez’ job is waiting for him when he comes back, and Matt Kemp and Ethier are part of the “untouchable” group that the Dodgers have repeatedly said they won’t move. Plus Ethier makes just $3.1 M this year and Kemp $467,000 (yes, you read that right).
The Gang’s All Here
Although the Halos were just 3-3 on last week’s road trip in Toronto and Detroit, they have to be thrilled with the pitching they got from Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar.
Santana had missed the first six weeks of the season with an elbow injury and allowed 15 runs in his last two starts over just 6-1/3 innings. He was back to his All-Star form against Detroit, scattering six hits and seven K’s over 8-2/3 innings, and allowing only 1 run to score for his first win of 2009.
Escobar took the mound for the first time since 2007 and allowed just four hits through five innings, taking the loss as the Angels fell 2-1 a day after they’d beaten Detroit by the same score on Friday. With their stellar rotation of Jered Weaver, John Lackey, Santana, Escobar, and Joe Saunders back together, and the offense continues to improve, the Angels have only given Texas a 4.5-game lead and will look to make that up by the All-Star break.
I Wouldn’t Want To Pitch To The Phillies Either
Since winning a Major League Baseball season-high 10-straight last month, the Padres are just 3-8 in their last 11, and have slipped back to a double-digit deficit behind the Dodgers. They play five games in Los Angeles this week, facing the Dodgers twice and Angels thrice.
Jake Peavy left after just one inning against the Phillies last week (upper respiratory infection), but will be back on the hill twice this week. Peavy is just 5-6 with an ERA over 4.00 this season, though his 84 strikeouts put him fifth in the National League. The lone bright spot for the Padres continues to be Adrian Gonzalez whose 22 homers lead all of baseball.
The Lineup (9 Things To Watch This Week)
Major League Baseball’s Draft (Tuesday-Thursday)
Padres at Dodgers (Tuesday-Wednesday)
Angels at Rays (Tuesday-Thursday)
Dodgers at Rangers (Friday-Sunday)
Mets host Phillies (Tuesday-Thursday) and visit the new Yankee Stadium (Friday-Sunday)
Red Sox at Phillies (Friday-Sunday)
Oakland (6 straight wins) vs. Minnesota (Monday-Thursday) and at San Francisco (Friday-Sunday)
Ian Stewart (Colorado) has 4 homers and 12 RBI in his last 5 games
Edwin Jackson (Detroit) is 5-1 with 7 earned runs in his last six starts (at White Sox Thursday)
Related posts
Excellent analysis of Dodgers roster for 2010: http://yallkiltit.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/dodgerblast-spring-training-roster-analysis/ 
I was with the UCLA Alumni Band; I sat in the 4th row of the box seats, a few rows ...
Joey, your right, but what were you thinking was going to happen? whats your point here? you called every UCLA ...
I was at that game as well. Where'd you sit? 
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Comment by Joey Kaufman on 8 June 2009:
I’m surprisingly not all that optimistic about the Angels. Yes, they have all 5 starters back, but starting pitching has not been their achilles heel this year. It’s been the bullpen, which is ranked near the bottom in all of major league baseball. It’s great how they have the starters all in place, but what are they going to do about a declining Vlad Guerrero and a bullpen, which has a collective ERA around 5?
Comment by Scott Bergen on 8 June 2009:
I agree with you that the pen and the offense have been bigger problems than the starters, but with all five starters in there eating up innings, the pen will get more rest and will likely improve. Having an ace doesn’t help you win one game. It helps you win the one before and the one after too because you can manage those games differently. Having basically 3 aces is even better.
As for Vlad, I don’t know what he has left in the tank but the offense doesn’t have to be historically good to make noise with this starting pitching. They just need to be average. Crappy offense can win crappy divisions (see: 2008 Dodgers)