Eric Stults: first shutout by a lefthanded Dodger since Kaz Ishii in 2004. There’s not a whole lot to add to this one, except to point out that it was pure domination. The Sox only managed four hits and a walk; not only that, Stults drove in a run of his own on a sacrifice fly.
In his two starts now, Stults is 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA, which is just one ER over 14 innings, and an excellent K/BB ratio of 4/1. Look, Stults isn’t a mega-prospect, and he’s not a kid. He’s 28 years old. His time, if he is to have one, is now. Let’s hope the Blue give him a shot to see what he can do. With Hiroki Kuroda not coming back for his Saturday start (Chan Ho Park will go) and Brad Penny possibly needing a rehab assignment, Stults will hopefully get at least a few more starts.
And, look: Eric Stults is no C.C. Sabathia. Clearly. But isn’t this just another log on the fire of “don’t trade for C.C. Sabathia!” Without even touching guys like James McDonald and Jon Meloan, the Dodgers have dipped into the minors to recall a guy who’s at least got the talent to shut down a good American League team. As we’ve said over and over… pitching is not the problem.
In other news, Scott Proctor’s going to the DL with “elbow tendinitis” – an injury he’s apparently been nursing for a month. As DodgerThoughts is completely correct in saying, we’ve had just about enough of guys trying to be tough and concealing injuries around here. Does it ever work out well? Ever? But that’s not my focus, for the moment. This is:
Basically, Joe admitted that the original plan with Proctor was to option him to Vegas, and apparently, Proctor was willing to go.
Am I the only one completely floored by this? Joe Torre’s infatuation with Scott Proctor is well known back to their days in New York. Despite how bad he’s been, I don’t think any of us actually thought the club would really do anything about it – especially not when they refuse to rectify the Mark Sweeney situation. I have to admit, I’m a little impressed and a lot surprised that they’d actually planned on sending him down to AAA. Maybe there’s hope after all?
On the other hand, they called up Brian Falkenborg, who already failed in one try with the Dodgers (7.53 ERA in 14.3 innings back in 2004) and has never really had any success in the bigs (5.74 ERA in parts of 5 seasons), while bypassing Mike Koplove, who’s got 222 MLB games of 120 ERA+ work under his belt. I’m sure that makes sense somehow… somewhere… in some reality.
- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness 