Asides

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Druw.

No more legging out doubles on loopy line drive singles against the Dodgers. No, sirree. There's an arm out there in center field now. Two of them, actually. And the other one has a gold glove on it.

So with one problem solved, a new one arises. The Dodgers have four starting outfielders and since they are not playing in a family softball game, one of them will have to sit on the bench.

The mainstream media is reporting that the acquisition of Jones signals a move to left field for Juan Pierre and the possibility of trading Andre Ethier or Matt Kemp for some starting pitching. To me, I guess that makes sense, but it depends on what pitcher we're looking at. Erik Bedard? Not worth it. Danny Haren? Not available. Johan Santana? Hmm. That one would work for me.

Otherwise, if they can't land a legitimate ace by including one of the surplus outfielders, I hope the Dodger Brass has the balls to play the most deserving three, namely Ethier in left, Jones in center, and Kemp in right. Man, that's what I'm talking about. However, trotting out this triple cheeseburger of an outfield would require them to admit they made a huge mistake with the Juan Pierre signing. But admitting the mistake for the sake of one of the GM's better acquisitions(Ethier) and a potential 30/30 guy (Kemp) -- part of the Dodger's bright future -- should help it go down easier. Nothing is worse than compounding a mistake with another one.

From Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus (via DodgerThoughts):

The Dodgers have an opportunity to show just how well they understand sunk costs by relegating Pierre to a fourth outfielder's role, to which he'd be reasonably suited. It would also give us a chance to test the whole "character" framework, to see if the fourth-best outfielder on the roster is able to accept that he, in fact, is that, and sublimate his desire to play more for the good of the team. That's leadership, right?

Glad we got Joe Torre yet?
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Lakers at the Nuggs

Just a few notes from last night's game:

+ Iverson was amazing last night, no doubt. I haven't seen a display like that in a long time. For a while, I thought that he was going to top Kobe's night against Memphis from a while back (56 points in 3 qtrs, 20-29 fgs). Then they put Kobe/Ariza on him and that was just about that.

One thing that bothered me about Iverson last night was his flopping. My lord. All that dude had to do to get a whistle was get close to a Laker and swing his head backward and flail his arms. I was getting so pissed watching all the replays. He was literally untouched on many of those fouls. It reminded me of Reggie Miller toward the end of his career.

+ Trevor Ariza can seriously hit the boards.

+ I am starting to get REALLY sick of Joel Meyers. I swear if I hear him describe the "rub" or talk about someone's "length" or say someone got in someone's "grill" one more time, I'm going to ... shit, do nothing. Bitch about it on my blog, perhaps.

I say it's about time for Spero to take over.

+ It's been stated before and backed up with stats that Kobe Bryant is Not the Most Clutch Player. Usually this kind of analysis involves taking some small sample set of clutch shots, such as attempts within the last 30 seconds with the chance to tie or take the lead (in the link, free throws to tie with less than 10 seconds), and then pointing out that someone, or a few people, perform better than Kobe. But then why, if you ask the players and coaches, would Kobe be the consensus Most Clutch? Last night is a good example. Take a look at that Kobe did to the Nuggets down the stretch:

Game tied 104-104, 1:42 to play: Kobe takes three Nuggets to the rack from the left wing. And 0ne (he missed).

Lakers 104-102, 1:12 to play: Kobe beats J.R. Smith off the dribble, hits running lay-up in the lane

Lakers 106-104, :35 seconds to play: Kobe hits 20 footer

Lakers 108-104, 35 seconds to play: Denver Timeout

The point is, you don't always have to strike out the last batter with the bases loaded to be considered a good closer.
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Happy to birthday to BandwagonLA. Thanks for reading.
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