The biggest news of the day for the Dodgers came shortly before the game, when it was revealed that first baseman James Loney had thrown a bullpen session, since Saturday night’s extra inning affair had exhausted much of the Dodger relief corps. (Why exactly this was a preferable solution to simply shooting the useless Eugenio Velez into the sun and getting an arm from Albuquerque to Denver overnight is unknown, but I’ll try to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that travel concerns for today’s day game made that implausible, and not that Velez is just too valuable to replace.)
This of course led to the usual spate of jokes that if the need arose, Loney would be a more valuable pitcher to the Dodgers than he’s been a hitter this year. Don’t forget, he’d entered the day with the 17th-worst seasonal OPS+ by a first baseman since Jackie Robinson integrated the game in 1947, and he’s lost a portion of his starting job to Juan Rivera, having entered five of his last ten games as a defensive replacement or pinch-hitter.
And then Loney went out and got four hits, including a double and a homer, good for his second four-hit game of the season. Because of course he did.
What we’d forgotten, of course, was that this game was played in Coors Field, and James Loney loves hitting in Coors Field. This is more than just your usual “inflated Denver offense” situation; the homer was his 9th in Colorado in 187 career plate appearances. That’s nearly halfway to his Dodger Stadium career total of 20, which he’s needed 1429 plate appearances to accumulate. Of Loney’s six homers in 2011, four have either come in Colorado (three) or against them (one).
Of course, all this focus on Loney obscures the bizarre day Chad Billingsley put forth in picking up his tenth loss of the season. With the bullpen in shambles, Billingsley absolutely, positively had to put up innings, something which has traditionally been tough for him in Colorado. When he allowed a Mark Ellis single and a Carlos Gonzalez homer within the first three batters of the game, you could almost hear the wheels turning to get Loney out to the bullpen. But Billingsley got Troy Tulowitzki and Jason Giambi to end the first, and then faced just one batter over the minimum through the next five innings. In fact, Billingsley went 7.2 innings, and allowed just one hit after the first frame; unfortunately, it was a Seth Smith homer to right, following a walk to Giambi, in the 7th inning. The non-Loney Dodgers managed just four hits against the corpse of Kevin Millwood, and that’s how Chad Billingsley allowed just three hits while going into the 8th inning in Colorado, yet still came away with the loss. As Jon Weisman notes at Dodger Thoughts, this is only the third time in Rockies history they’ve won a home game with three or fewer hits.
Baseball’s a funny game sometimes. But not as funny as it would have been to see James Loney pitching.
******
I’ve tried to stay away from the “why is guy X playing over guy Y”, since the day-to-day machinations in a lost season don’t really matter too much, particularly when there’s not a ton of great alternatives. But seriously, Dioner Navarro, after another 0-4 today (along with a throwing error), is now at .193/.276/.324. He’s had his chance to prove that his terrible last few years were the fluke, as opposed to his solid 2008. It hasn’t happened. Why exactly are we not seeing A.J. Ellis play every day for the last six weeks?
******
In the LA Times this morning, Ben Bolch delves into new-fangled stats like WAR, VORP, BBQ, and LOL, little of which will be news to most of you. Unfortunately for Don Mattingly, because I’ve generally been a supporter of his this season, I’m obligated to share with you that he’s making me sad:
Don Mattingly, the Dodgers’ manager and a former American League batting champion, said he preferred runs scored.
“Think about it,” Mattingly said. “You have to be on base to do it; you have to be getting yourself in position [to score]. If you’re scoring 100 runs, you’re out there a lot, so it means your on-base [percentage] is up there, it probably means you have some extra-base hits or been a guy that can steal a bag.”
Though the flaws in Mattingly’s argument are obvious, I don’t need to explain why, because Ned Colletti, of all people, is on the case:
Colletti’s rebuttal: Runs scored are influenced by other hitters in the lineup, so they’re not the most valuable measurement.
Well, there’s something you don’t see every day: right on, Ned.
[...] recovery. As Navarro continued to struggle, we wondered yet again why Ellis was being kept down in August: I’ve tried to stay away from the “why is guy X playing over guy Y”, since the day-to-day [...]
[...] that was the end, it seemed, of James Loney, Los Angeles Dodgers. But beginning with the ridiculous 24-hour span in which he threw a bullpen session in case he was needed to help support an overworked bullpen and [...]
[...] Yet I can’t even rag on him. It’s not fun. Well, okay, it was fun when he first came up and actually started a game in left field, unless you’ve suddenly forgotten about “Baron Ironglove Von Pickoff“, and I did at one point advocate shooting him into the sun. [...]
[...] then again in his next start, on August 21: Of course, all this focus on Loney obscures the bizarre day Chad Billingsley put forth in picking [...]
quality seo article writing, you need to…
plan out your search engine marketing strategy, which starts with picking a great seo writer.when you go online to search for ‘good seo article writer,’ also type in related key phrases, like ‘top seo writer,’ ‘cheap seo article writer,’ ‘afford…
your blog. you can get a blog…
within the next 10 minutes by going to a site called “blogger”, and get your very own site up and running in no time at all. once you’ve created your blog, it’s up to you to start promoting it everywhere on…
popularity in the real world. when you’re…
writing about pop culture this is a great idea to use.write reviewsput together a list of products and write some short reviews that you can use in your niche on a day to day basis. it can be short maybe just…
a blog that is physically appealing will…
attract attention and then make them delve deeper into the content of your blog. make sure that your pictures, illustrations and graphics are relevant to your blog topic. this is a way to attract people visually to your blog. you can…
can use is indeed wordpress, but for…
many reasons aside from its popularity. there are thousands of free themes that allow you to design your site and many of the themes are customizable.another benefit of using wordpress as a means of developing your seo blog is the vast…
successfully, develop better relationships and greater trust…
with their target audience, and thus market themselves more effectively as a result.when prospects and customers are searching for product or company information blogs can be a critical component of their information gathering. additionally, blogging e…
the screen. if you want readers to…
explore your website or blog, you can add various links to previously published articles.increasing the readability of your blog posts will help you gain new visitors and build a solid audience. make a note of the points you wish to cover…
is to write high quality content. this…
will entice readers to subscribe to your blog if your information is good, and it’s a great way to get people to visit your blog more often for the good email tips that they are looking for.plus, when you write relevant…
science fiction is exactly what hubbard is…
referring to: it is possible. this doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen now or that it’s going to happen at all, but the possibility of life on mars or alien invasions or even the simplicity of space travel lifts my…
can register and have his own account….
it means you can still make interaction and send messages but only through pictures and video clips. in internet business, you can also use photography and videos to advertise your products. sharing videos and photos regarding your business is a good…
help but buy from you. good content…
writing services know how to produce writing in whatever format you need that will show off your expertise, so that people come to you for advice – and to buy. content writing services certainly provide a valuable service, in that they…
will have to know something about search…
engine optimization, or seo for short, because many clients are looking for writers with knowledge of seo. you may also have to learn social media writing skills.online writing style tipsthe first thing you need to do is to master the art…
a blogger needs focus. you can not…
be everything for every one. you must clearly define what your mission for blogging is. for instance, if you are writing about dogs, you should not waste time and energy writing on online jobs.try and write on what you are passionate…
research first. it’s “very” important that you…
research the keyword phrases that people are using to look for information online. this will help you in deciding what niche is best for you. chances are that any niche you participate in will have some competition now. there simply are…
hire, and these individuals guarantee that readers…
will keep coming back again and again in order to read the latest entries.business owners who are interested in starting or maintaining a blog have plenty of options for finding blog post writers for hire online. these individuals are well-skilled in…
can also come back to a lens…
to keep it up- to- date with fresh information. a good length is 500 words the minimum should be at least 300 but i would recommend more so you have the right amount of detail but don’t bore your audience. if…
a look that will set you apart….
while you don’t have to be a whiz with computer programming, it can definitely help if you are! the layout of a blog is extremely important, especially if you anticipate readers.when creating the overall format of your blog, you will want…
more traditional marketing methods can’t (without taking…
a lot of time and costing a lot of money). why don’t more business owners and managers use blogging as a strategic tool? here is what i’m hearing and why you should do it anyway:i just don’t have the time. spending…
you’ve got to start with the basics….
you don’t need to be an expert and obscure rules of language and all the nuanced technicalities of what is “right” or “wrong” according to the oxford dictionary. but, you do need to adhere to good practices in spelling, grammar, and…
work on a blog post. give yourself…
a time frame in which to complete articles and set aside a few hours each day to complete an article, take your time and remember that patience is key to writing a good articles. write when you have free time, maybe…
enthral, but also give several insights for…
creative writers. here are five highlights from the art of david hockney (gathered together for his exhibition “a bigger picture” at london’s royal academy).1) working from memory frees the imaginationhockney does a charcoal sketch in situ, then pai…
blog. whether it’s for your own personal…
creativity, or because you want to make money off of it, finding your best blogging niche is key.passion and an interest in a subject are ideal when choosing what to write about. if you are writing a blog for pleasure, just…
educate. irrelevant posts don’t usually find takers.your…
blog articles should also cater to the reader’s needs and provide information they can identify with or relate to. the blog posts must be able to address or answer the questions, problems, issues and queries faced by the target audience.thought provok…
signs of low vitamin d…
An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in reality bought me breakfast because I discovered it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! However yeah Thnkx for spending t…
in the best of light. take some…
time to check your comment and make sure it reads well and flows naturally, because this is vital if you want to build up an authority over time with your comments.individual comments – do not just go and write one comment…
trust means getting your prospects to like…
you, and getting your prospects to look forward to what you have to offer in your internet business.your products and services should be stellar, and you should strive to make sure that you provide excellent customer service to your customers -…
the keyword should have at least a…
5% immersion in the article. it should also be placed in the title of the blog post and the first and last sentence. the keyword should also appear in the article 3 distinct ways; in bold, in italics, and also in…
you don’t have firefox?! take a trip…
over to firefox and download it for free. http://www.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/new/ it is a great alternative to internet explorer, and it is my preferred browser… on my pc netbook and on my apple imac.so that’s it. 9 suggestions that i think will h…
increase your blog traffic. if you have…
good content on your site, it’s possible that other websites will link to your site. consequently your web page will become popular in the eyes of the search engines8. guest postsare you a guest posting to grow your blog? guest posting…
well millions of people who have put…
solutions to these problems on the internet and among the people who put the solutions on the internet is you. now, how can you make sure that your answer in the form of a blog post get read and action is…
should have an easy changeover into the…
next paragraph. effective transitions are what make the essay flow; each sentence should connect to the next. teachers will often times write “choppy” if your transitions are not in good form. when writing, always remember idea-to-idea, sentence-to-s…
Evike.com…
Check out our very latest own-branded Evike Airsoft range, offering amazing value on loads of Airsoft products….