Greinke Breaks Collar Bone In Win Over Padres

Apr 112013
 

That is no typo. Greinke out with no timetable.

Pitching in just his second game as a Dodger, Co-Ace Zach Greinke suffered a collar bone fracture during a scuffle with Hit By Pitch King, Carlos Quentin. Quentin, who has lead the majors for two seasons was plunked during a 3-2 count in the 5th and charged the mound. In a surprise to catcher A.J. Ellis, who was steps behind Quentin, did his best to scramble and eventually tackle Quentin.

The replay shows Greinke turn his left side towards the charge, not to take damage to his pitching arm. As benches cleared, the jawing and scuffle continued, eventually leading to the tossing of both Matt Kemp and Jerry Hairston Jr.. The blow comes off the heals of an injury free pitching staff, where Chad Billingsley returned to earn his first win of the season.gqdodgers

After the game, Don Mattingly was furious to put it nicely. “He [Quentin] shouldn’t be allowed to play another game until Greinke can… If he does.. well then that is just stupid.” The normally calm and precise skipper lashed out at all questions regarding the “why” this all happened. A brave reporter asked him “you seem upset by all this, how upset are you?”

“I’m happy.”

Yikes.

Obviously there will be some suspensions here, but a fair point for Don to make. In a 2-1 game, full count, why would Greinke throw at Quentin? Why would Quentin think it was intentional? Has he considered backing up from the plate a little bit?

Quentin who has 30 pounds on Greinke, attacks, gets suspended maybe for 2-3 games and is back in commission. Greinke gets the brunt of it and could potentially out 4-6 weeks. Doesn’t seem fair. Don isn’t pleased. Management can’t be thrilled with their pricey investment getting injured. Chris Capuano’s stock is rising.

 04/11/2013  Posted by at 11:34 pm Dodgers Injury Reports, Dodgers News 1 Response »

Matt Kemp to get attached with Abby Cadabby

Mar 272013
 

Matt Kemp will make a guest appearance on Sesame Street tomorrow, March 28th on PBS. The Dodger superstar will be featured on a “Word of the Day” segment alongside Abby Cadabby who is an adorable pink three-year-old fairy-in-training. Abby’s magical powers are limited to popping in and out of thin air, floating when she’s happy, and attaching her wand to different items. Which will often prompt her catchphrase “That’s so magical! Tomorrow will certainly be magical for Kemp and he and Abby will discuss the word “attach.” Fitting no? I think this could be the start of something very big.

I grew up watching Sesame Street, but that was back in the day when Super Grover reigned supreme. Of course then there were the few special years I would watch Sesame Street with my daughter. Elmo was king then, and no doubt Elmo’s World was bigger than the famous street itself.

Abby was a newer character at the time my daughter began to fade out of the Sesame Street phase. It’s too bad, because I just can’t bare to tune in tomorrow morning and watch it by myself. Sigh…

So parents, youngsters, tune in tomorrow to see Matt Kemp and Abby Cadabby make the magic happen.

 03/27/2013  Posted by at 7:19 pm Dodgers News No Responses »

Matt Kemp rallies from behind in Face of MLB contest

Feb 222013
 

It was about 5:00pm yesterday afternoon when I was casting my votes away, in hopes of helping Matt Kemp rally from behind in his effort to beat Jayson Heyward. At this time, with less than 8 hours to go, Heyward had 62% of the votes, Kemp with 38%. This was a major deficit, though some ground had been made on 80 percent deficit Kemp faced earlier on in the day. The situation seemed all but too much to overcome, even for the Bison. In the end Dodger fans came together to defeat the Braves’ Jason Heyward in the semi-finals of MLB Network’s Face of MLB contest.

For those that aren’t familiar with the Face of MLB contest, the contest pits players against other superstars of baseball, and allows for fans to place their votes on Twitter, supporting  the player they believe to be that best represents the face of Major League Baseball.

Kemp is starting to be the comeback king.

In the quarterfinals, it was Kemp who came back from what was a bitter battle to the end with the Angels’ rookie sensation Mike Trout by four percent. No love lost between Dodgers and Angels fans these days, this time it was no different as a heated war broke out on Twitter. Of course Kemp beat Trout in the end. You weren’t surprised were you? I know I wasn’t.

Prior to Trout, Kemp defeated Starlin Castro of the Cubs and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners. Even less surprising. King Felix is on the Seattle Mariners, enough said. Castro, one of the great young players in the game, but Cubs fans don’t have much wind in the sails these days.

While the results are yet to be released about yesterday’s Rocky like performance by Kemp, it’s believed that a 52-48 result could be the likely outcome, I am thinking it will be closer like a 51-49 victory. Braves fans went to sleep thinking they had it in the bag, all to find out that Dodger fans bleed blue even at three in the morning.

In the finals, Kemp is slated to await the winner of the Reds’ Joey Votto and the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen. All three are MVP caliber players, all three are household names, and all three could easily be the face of MLB. There is only one Matt Kemp however, and believe me, as close as the race will be, Kemp is the face of the MLB.

Kemp will have his work cut out for him this time around, but keep in mind both the Reds and Pirates lie in the eastern time zone. We saw how Braves fans got off to an early start, propelling Heyward to a 90-10 advantage early on. Kemp will need a strong start from the beginning to get the battle going early. However, we also so how the Dodgers family kept fighting, voting into the late, or is it early hours of the morning? Either way, we united and came back from what seemed an impossible deficit. Time to unite once again, start strong, finish even stronger.

 02/22/2013  Posted by at 11:00 am Dodgers News, Thinking Blue No Responses »

Dodgers 2012 Offseason Injuries Update

Feb 012013
 

Ken Gurnick reports that Matt Kemp is ahead of schedule in his recovery from his October shoulder surgery, and that Kemp should be back in time for Spring Training. Gurnick also adds that he Kemp should be in the starting lineup on Opening Day. Kemp has reported that he is still feeling soreness in the shoulder he injured after his collision with the Coors field outfield wall.

“That’s my goal,” said Kemp. “I’m hitting off the tee, no soft toss yet. I have my good days and bad days. It’s still a little sore. But being ready for the season is all that matters.”

I still don’t get why the coaches and training staff didn’t shut him down after the injury. This is obviously the downside to players wanting to play through injuries they shouldn’t and coaches allowing them to do it. Isn’t that the purpose of the coaches and training staff? I get that the Dodgers were pushing hard for the playoffs, I thought that it was a bad idea at the time, after much time to reflect it wasn’t a bad idea, it was a really bad idea.

“I couldn’t shut it down,” Kemp said. “They told me to shut it down and think about surgery — or at least rest. But I just couldn’t do it. I had to continue and play. That’s what I do. I can’t sit and watch.”

Carl Crawford is progressing well after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August. Crawford has begun baseball activities and could be back as soon as the beginning of Spring Training. That’s well ahead of the May-July timetable that was originally reported. Whispers emerged towards the end of the season that there was a small chance he could be ready by Opening Day, and it looks like that isn’t as much of a longshot at this point.

Scott Elbert underwent a second elbow surgery on January 23rd. Elbert will be able to resume throwing in six weeks. His availability for Opening Day is not looking probable. This opens up the door for J.P. Howell, Paco Rodriguez, and Ted Lilly, to get ahead of Elbert on the depth chart, if they weren’t ahead of him already.

Speaking of Ted Lilly, who is progressing very well from his left shoulder surgery back in September. Lilly has been throwing for several weeks as of Dec. 5, and he is expected to be fully ready by Spring Training.

In other pitching injury updates; Clayton Kershaw is in a full running program for his right hip soreness. He is expected to be fully ready near the beginning of Spring Training. Chad Billingsley is still recovering from his partially torn right elbow ligament injury. We heard some positive things in November after he hit 94mph on the radar gun.

Today, Ken Gurnick provided an update on Billingsley, who is reportedly feeling “absolutely great.” Everything has progressed as planned with no setbacks. Updating yesterday’s post, it’s quite possible that Billingsley makes an appearance during Spring Training. My expectations will not be very high for Billingsley in 2013. I don’t see how you can fully recover from a partially torn elbow ligament without having Tommy John surgery. I fully expect Billingsley to start out well but miss some time, perhaps even having to shut it down and have surgery at some point. Time will tell, but hopefully the plasma injection works, and the Dodgers can capitalize on their pitching depth.

Javy Guerra, Kenley Jansen, and Matt Guerrier are all progressing from in their rehab and should all be ready for Spring Training.

 02/01/2013  Posted by at 3:05 pm Dodgers Injury Reports, Dodgers News No Responses »

The Right Mind For Los Angeles

Dec 042012
 

I am excited. I am about excited as anyone else about what the Dodgers can potentially score this offseason. I am also a bit worried, so I guess that makes me anxious? Feelings aside, we have to examine if a spending a boat load of money is going to get the Dodgers into the post-season and a championship berth. That is the goal, isn’t it? The immediate goal appears to be showing Los Angeles fans that the new Dodger ownership is not just about winning, but spending whatever it takes to get winning. Remind you of anyone?

I like to joke and chide some of my Giants and Angels fans when saying the Dodgers are the “West-Coast Yankees”, but come to think of it, most Dodger fans HATE the Yankees, maybe with a Derek Jeter exception. Why do Dodger fans hate Yankees? Because they buy their wins, they spend the most money, they have the swagger that LA should have. Every day we are becoming more and more like the Yankees because our wallets are open and we are not getting the wins to show for it. The Yankees have plenty of collapses and blown opportunities and money drained to show for it, but so do the Dodgers, just not to the magnitude we are approaching. I like to be cautiously optimistic about the situation. The season hasn’t started, players need to adjust to the league, Don Mattingly is only getting better, signings haven’t happened and a lot of work needs to be done before the boys in blue take the field, I’m still anxious. But are we on the right course?

Take Zach Greinke. The prize of the pitching market. Much like the supremely talented Josh Hamilton, they’re both damaged goods. Hamilton has showed signs of alcholic relapse and Zach Greinke has struggled with a depressing Social Anxiety Disorder from his days in Kansas City. Although it appears those days are behind him, most players go through a physical evaluation before signing, not a mental evaluation. The bright lights of Los Angeles may be too much for Greinke, with the not-so-forgiving fans and a new ownership bent on making the post-season no matter what the costs.

How about Adrian Gonzalez? Jersey sales will be through the roof this year but the So-Cal native has much to do in 2013 to earn his keep and potentially become the favor over Matt Kemp. Luckily anything he does will be a leap over James Loney, who in over 300+ at-bats scraped out 4 home-runs to Gonzalez’s 3 in under 200. But that will only last for so long. Dodger newcomers are not in for an easy day at the office, they were getting a substantial contract to perform in their prior teams, now it’ll feel like they really have to earn their pay.

So time will tell. We do know baseball doesn’t care about injuries, excuses, adjustments or anything else. Just winning.

We know where the heads of the ownership and fans are, now it’s a matter of the players following suit.

 12/04/2012  Posted by at 2:45 pm Dodgers News 1 Response »
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