Could It Get Any Worse For the Dodgers?

Posted on May 5, 2013 by theHoundDawg

The last few days have seen the Dodgers go from a slow start to the verge of implosion. They will take the field soon for the final game of a three game series in San Francisco, having lost the first two on walk-off game winning Giants’ homers. Friday night, in the bottom of the ninth, it at least was a legit star that beat them, as Buster Posey, reigning NL Most Valuable Player, homered to end the game. Last night, after the team blew 8-7 and 9-8 leads, it was, of all people, Guillermo Quiroz, who hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the tenth, to give the game to the Giants. For Quiroz, a 32-year-old journeyman who has been with seven teams over parts of nine seasons, it was his third career home run. Continue reading →

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LA Clippers, Rest in Peace

Posted on May 4, 2013 by theHoundDawg

Dominating big men and overpowering team defense led the Memphis Grizzlies to a fourth straight win over the LA Clippers, abruptly ending a season of outstanding firsts and unfilled promises. The question to ask now is will they build on the successes they did have this season, perhaps fulfilling that promise next year, of will they slip back to oblivion, with 2012-2013 becoming only a distant memory?

It can go either way. The key is Chris Paul, and how the front office will act when it comes time to put cash on the line for him and for others. Continue reading →

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Hanley’s Back – Did WBC Kill Dodgers’ Season? And Ted Lilly is Hurt, Again

Posted on May 1, 2013 by theHoundDawg

A few years back, the POWERS THAT BE decided what a wonderful idea it would be for major league stars to play in a spring exhibition series known as the World Baseball Classic. What could go wrong? Well, for starters, players who play are players who get hurt, and this spring there were some significant injuries suffered by key major league performers while cavorting about in the WBC. Among those injured, throwing their teams’ seasons into early turmoil, were the yankees’ Mark Teixeira, who is not yet close to returning to the field, and the Dodgers’ Hanley Ramirez. Continue reading →

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Angels’ Disabled List Overloaded – And it’s the Pitchers!

Posted on April 30, 2013 by theHoundDawg

The Angels currently have a disabled list that includes eight players, including six pitchers, five of whom if they were not injured, would not only be on the major league roster, but would own key roles on the Angels’ staff.

Heading the list is of course staff ace Jered Weaver, who is there nursing back to health his broken LEFT elbow – thankful emphasis on LFET, his non-pitching elbow. Also there is anticipated closer and high-priced free agent vet Ryan Madson, who is still on the mend from last year’s elbow surgery (yes, his pitching elbow). There is hope he may be pitching before midseason. Maybe. Continue reading →

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A Six-and-One-Half Hour Game Lost, More Injuries, and the Angels are Reeling

Posted on April 30, 2013 by theHoundDawg

So last night, the LA Angels took a 7-2 lead into the eight inning, and Oakland scored four runs to get close, and then a tying run in the ninth. The game went to the 15th inning, when each team scored a run, and then they played four more innings, until Brandon Moss homered (for the second time in the game) with a man on, and after six-and-one-half hours, sometime around a quarter to two in the morning, the Angels had lost, 10-8.

To make matters far worse, this morning, the Angels placed their eighth player this month on the disabled list. Center Fielder Peter Bourjos, who has been playing brilliantly at bat, in the field, and on the basepaths, pulled a hamstring in the 11th inning lat night, and is out for who knows how long. Continue reading →

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Lakers’ Season Ends with a Whimper

Posted on April 28, 2013 by theHoundDawg

From the very beginning (when THE trade was made – before a game had been played) I knew, and I often wrote, that this Lakers’ team, even when at full strength, was not a championship caliber team, that Deee-Wight was the most over-rated player in the NBA in a couple of decades, that the team had no chemistry, no defense, no bench, and at the start of the season, no capable coach. Relying on aging point guards, each with a history of more and more games missed due to injury, should have alone been a tip off as another key issue in the making, Hiring a new coach who disdains the need for, or any effort to improve, team defense was another nail in the team coffin.

Today’s fiasco against San Antonio clearly portrayed the differences between a winning organization and the team they put on the court, and a moribund organization that is clearly moving downhill at an alarming rate. Continue reading →

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Can the Lakers Come Back from the Brink, Like Boston? No, No They Can’t

Posted on April 28, 2013 by theHoundDawg

After being thoroughly outplayed in three games, the Boston Celtics would not say die, and came back today to outplay the Knicks, and win just about wire-to-wire, 97-90. Down three games to none, can the Lakers do the same today against San Antonio? Clearly, no, they can’t.

And the reason they can’t is not because of all those injured guards, though the latest injury the team has suffered, that to the meta tag artest psycho thing, is a big plus for the team, NOT having it on the court. No, amazingly, Continue reading →

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Any Volunteers to Suit Up Tonight For the Lakers? Anyone?

Posted on April 26, 2013 by theHoundDawg

Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock. Remember those names. Unless Steve Nash has a miraculous recovery in the next three hours, or unless some takes up the above offer to suit, they will be the Lakers’ starting guards in tonight’s third playoff game against San Antonio. Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock.

Goudelock spent the season in the Development league, and Morris played the equivalent of 14 full games during the entire season. Continue reading →

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More Dodgers in Surgery, But They Take Two of Three From Overachieving Mets

Posted on April 25, 2013 by theHoundDawg

Oh, where to begin?

On the day after Chad Billingsley underwent Tommy John surgery, it was revealed that a third Dodgers’ pitcher, is today undergoing THE KNIFE in barely two weeks time. Shawn Tolleson has a herniated lumbar disc and likely will not pitch again this season. Five pitchers on the disabled list – it sure is a good thing the Dodgers didn’t go out a make a stupid deal and trade away a dependable pitcher, especially a starting pitcher.

Oh.

Not only is the need to have a guy like Aaron Harang around growing by the hour, but the guy they got in the trade FOR him continues to do worse in each succeeding game. The other day I mentioned Ramon Harnandez’ stats, and they’ve gone downhill from there, especially after today. Continue reading →

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Of All the LA-SA Match-ups, Will the Three v Three Be the Key?

Posted on April 24, 2013 by theHoundDawg

Pau Gasol versus Tim Duncan? Steve Blake versus Tony Parker? Meta tag artest psycho thing v Kawhi Leonard – That’s the ticket.

In Game One of the series, Leonard had eight points and eleven rebounds, and provided one of the key moments, and turning points, of the game, when he blocked a three-point shot put up by the psycho, and, keeping the pay in play, and leading a fast break for a lay-in, faking out and thoroughly embarrassing the psycho.

Add Leonard’s athleticism and enthusiasm and basketball ability to the ever-young TIm Duncan, to the healthier Tony Parker, and with the return of Manu Ginobili, the Lakers’ will have a tough time tonight, and going back to Los Angeles 0-2, may be an obsticle the “Old and Slow” Lakers will not be able to overcome.

If they have any chance, they need not just outstanding performances from Deee-Wight Howard, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, and Steve Blake, but some stellar work off the bench, and that means real contributions from the likes of Antawn Jamison, Jodie Meeks, and the newly activated Jordan Hill.

We shall see.

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Second Basemen Make Hay, and Home Runs

Posted on April 23, 2013 by theHoundDawg

Dodgers’ second baseman Mark Ellis is a really good ballplayer. He is an excellent defensive player, and a clutch hitter. Despite one season hitting 19 home runs, he is not a guy who would ever be considered a power hitter, averaging nine per year over his ten-year career. Similarly, Angels’ second baseman Howie Kendrick is a fine player who one season hit 18 home runs, but who averages eight home runs a year through seven big league seasons.

Why bring this all up? Well, amazingly enough, tonight Ellis, who started today homerless for the young season, and Kendrick, who had hit one out so far, powered their teams to victory, each hitting two home runs. Continue reading →

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Dodgers in Free-Fall

Posted on April 23, 2013 by theHoundDawg

The Dodgers, i.e., the “Best Team Money Can Buy” as a team, are reeling, and their pitching staff is in shambles.

With today’s news that Chad Billingsley will be undergoing Tommy John surgery and will be unavailable for a minimum of one year, the depleted staff now includes guys who entered spring training as numbers eight and nine on the depth chart – Stephen Fife, who had five major league appearances to his name before this past week, and 37-year-old Ted Lilly, who has basically been injured since signing a three-year, $33 Million contract after the 2010 season, and who last pitched in a major league game May 23, 2012. Continue reading →

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