A Week At Home Playing the “B” Teams – The Brewers And The Braves

There aren’t too many highlights for the Dodgers, as a team, this past week. Well, there is always highlights.  Matt Kemp made some fabulous catches, as well as Juan Pierre and Andre. Rafael Furcal and Orlando made some fantastic plays at their respective positions. And Casey Blake hit a three-run homerun on Friday night. Then there is Andre, who had another walk-off homerun, which was obviously a remarkable thing to see and hear as Vin Scully and Charlie Steiner announced the dramatic end to Thursday night’s game against the Braves.  As good as those highlights were, we only took 2 of the last 7 games at home. One of those games was on Tuesday. We pounded the Brewers 17-4, where Andre went 3 for 6 with 3 runs and 2 RBIs. Our second win of the week came on Thursday, when Andre, in his 5th dramatic fashion of the season, belted another walk-off hit (his 3rd walk-off homerun) to beat the Braves 5-4. He now leads the majors in walk-offs this season. Another tidbit about this past week was on Saturday, Andre was walked 4 times. That’s the most he has had in a single game in his career.  However, this week was all about the Brewers and the Braves, who seemed to do everything right and catch all the well-deserved breaks for the other five games. 

As far as the Dodgers, going 5 and 5 in the last ten games and going 2 and 7 in the series with the Brewers and the Braves together doesn’t actually represent a winning team right now. There is alot of debate on Inside the Dodgers on the cause, along with all the other Dodger blogs as well. Most of the debate is over our pitching and where it is heading and/or the Dodgers issues with RISP. It seems like when pitching is working, we can’t score runs, and when we are scoring runs, the pitchers are imploding. I guess that is why everything looks good on paper until the game is actually played.

Well, how did Andre do this week? He didn’t do too, too bad in terms of total numbers for the week. He reached base safely in 6 of the 7 games played this week, with 7 hits (1 monster walk-off homerun), 7 runs, and 6 RBIs. He also had 5 walks (4 in one game), and he struck out 5 times. Some other good news as well. Andre only grounded into one double play this week. This is the one category we would rather somebody else take the lead in the NL.

Some noteworthy stats for the week…………………

Andre leads the entire league in walk-off hits, in which three of them have been homeruns. It was great seeing his name splashed all over ESPN and any other news program that featured sports that day.

Andre leads the team in homeruns (23) and is 9th in the NL. Pujols and Reynolds (co-leaders) currently have 36, and then it drops to Adam Dunn at 3rd with 30.

Andre leads the team in RBIs (73) and is 11th in the NL. He is also only 4 away from matching his career high (77) from last season.

Andre leads the team in runs scored (69) and is 10th in the NL.

Andre leads the team in BB (54) and is 17th in the NL.  He is also only 5 away from matching last season’s total. 

Andre leads the team in SLG % with .510 and is 18th in the NL.

Andre leads the team in total bases (212) and is 11th in the NL.

Andre leads the team in GIDPs, but he has moved down to tied for 4th in the NL. That is a good sign.

So, Andre, with his two NL Player of the Week nods, is still keeping up the pace, and hopefully the Dodgers, as a team, will pick up the pace and start getting into their winning ways again. However, no matter how badly things go sometimes, they are still our team………………… The Los Angeles Dodgers.

Until next week, have fun watching America’s Pastime.

Debbie ~

　

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#20 and Going Strong

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I know it’s been a while, a real long while since I wrote my last entry, and I will try to be better.  I spend most of my time on Inside the Dodgers blogging with my Dodger Buddies over there.  I have had writers block when it comes to writing on here.  Many have said Andre has been slumping in terms of batting average, and I feel I have been slumping in the writing department. 

Anyhow, enough about me.  I know last night’s game was all about Manny’s Grand Slam, but I will let all the other blogs talk about that.  Andre, in his own right, reached another milestone last night.  He has had a few this season already………….a few walk-off games, a few games with multiple home runs and a couple games with back to back home runs.  Last night he reached his 20th homerun of the season, which matches his season high from last year.  With 2+ months left to go in the regular season, Andre is very capable of hitting 30-35 before the season is done. 

Andre is currently leading the Dodgers in homeruns and RBIs, and he is 10th in HR’s for the National League and he is tied for 19th with three others in the entire league.  With the exception of Albert Puljols, who has 34, all the others in the National League have 25 or less.  So, Andre can easily be in the top 5 in the NL by the end of the season if he keeps this pace up. 

As for the Dodgers as a team, they are looking pretty good on all fronts.  Those of us talking on ITD feel that we may need to strengthen pitching, but most are in agreement that we don’t want to give up the farm to get a SP.  We are hoping for the best as our GM will be taking it down to the wire before making a deal, if one is to be made. 

So, until next time, which will hopefully be sooner than later, I wish you and which every team you are a part of, the best.  Dodgers are my favorite team, but I am a fan of baseball, and a good player or a good team is fun to watch regardless of your ties to a certain team.  Yes, we all have our rivals, but it’s still great to see good baseball played.  On that note, I would like to congratulate Mark Buehrle, of the Chicago White Sox, for his perfect game today.  Now, that is good baseball!!!  

What a Night for Andre!!!

I can not call myself an Ethieraholic if I do not do an entry on a night after a game that Andre had tonight. 

I was sitting in the living room of one of my favorite bloggers on ITD and now friend, Dodgereric, and as Andre was coming up for his first at-bat for the evening, he tells me “You’ll be mad at me, but quess what will happen?”.  I said, “He will ground into a double play?”, and Dodgereric said, “You got it!” So, I am sitting there with two other bloggers from ITD, trublu and Dodger4life, along with Eric’s wife Chris, and what does Andre do?  He hits a 3-run shot to right centerfield.

The next at-bat – Andre did what Eric thought he would do the first at-bat. He grounded into a double play.  However, that GIDP was easily forgotten because Andre would go on to have 2 more home runs on the night. The three homeruns in a single game is a first time for Andre in his still young career.  And the curtain call was just great.  It was definitely an Andre being Andre moment, not wanted to be the center of attention. 

He now has 14 homeruns for the year in which he leads the team.  Also, he is now tied with James Loney for the most RBIs on the team as well, with 49.  Andre went 3 for 4, with 6 RBIs 3 runs and 12 total bases. Those of you who thought about dropping him from your fantasy team may want to reconsider.   

 

………..and then the things he does off the field.

 

Today Andre hosted “A better L.A.” with Best Buy.  He donated $2,500 and Best Buy put in $1,500 to give a shopping spree for some very well deserved kids in Los Angeles.   

Sunday Stats and More ~ The Week Ending June 21st

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SUMMER!!!

 

The Dodgers ~

The Dodgers have had a pretty good week this week.  In the series against Oakland, we took the series 2 out of the 3 at Dodger Stadium, and in the series against the freeway rivals, the Angels, we took the series winning 2 out of 3 at Angels Stadium. The Dodgers record is now 46-24, and we are 8 games in front in our division, with Giants taking up the 2nd place spot for now, while the Rockies are just behind them at 9.5 back but are on a current 16 wins out of 17 games tear right now. 

The Dodgers have Monday off as they travel to Chicago, facing a three game series against the White Sox, and then they come home to face the Seattle Mariners for a weekend series beginning Friday, June 26th. The Dodgers have yet to lose more than two games in a row, and they have only lost three series’, which is just fabulous!!!

 

Andre’s Stats ~ Season to Date

Andre didn’t have the greatest week in terms of a whole bunch of hits or homeruns, but he did have a key at bat against the Angels Saturday night, where he got a 2-Run triple at a very crucial time during the game and pretty much sealed the deal on that game for the Dodgers.  His June numbers are looking good, but here are his numbers for the season to date.  In some areas he is close to surpassing(or already surpassed) his 2008 numbers. 

Games – 68

At Bats – 250

TPAs – 290

Runs – 36

Hits – 67

XBH – 27

HR – 11 (leads the team)

RBI – 43 (3rd behind Loney and Blake)

TB – 117

BB – 32

SO – 49

SB – 4

OBP – .359

SLG – .468

AVE – .268

SF – 3

HBP – 5 (leads the team)

IBB – 6

GDP – 12 (leads the team)

NP – 1201

Ave number of pitches per at Bat – 4.14 (2nd behind Casey Blake with 4.25) …Russell Martin is 3rd with 4.13, and JP is last out of the starters with 3.11. 

OPS – .865

Andre is batting .300 for the month of June so far, which is much better than his .211 for May. For the month of June so far Andre has 21 hits, 5 of which were home runs, along with 4 doubles, 1 triple, 5 BB and 13 RBIs, with 7 runs scored so far this month.  

I will check in next weekend as I am part of the ITD (Inside the Dodgers) group that is taking the tour of Dodger Stadium next Saturday, along with taking in the Saturday night game against the Mariners with many of our fellow bloggers on ITD.  This is sure to be a great time.

 

Take Care Dodger and Baseball fans!!!   

Back to Back Walk-Offs Makes For a Great Way to Come out of a Slump

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I can’t believe it’s been that long since my last entry on this blog, but being a teacher in my last two weeks of school is the reason.  The interesting thing is that Andre up until this last week, really hasn’t done too much.  In fact, he was in a pretty big slump, and was just showing signs of coming out of it when all of a sudden this last week, he has come back to being the Andre we know he can be. 

I am one of the faithful bloggers on Inside the Dodgers (ITD), and it has been talked about how when young players go through major slumps like Andre did and survive it, it just makes them that much stronger of a ballplayer later on and shows they are well on their way to be a big time major league player.  Well, in the last few days, Andre has, once again, made a name for himself in the MLB media train.  And this time without the “so-called” help of Manny Ramirez. 

It was also reported on ITD that this is the 6th time in two years that Andre has had a walk-off hit, and that he is the only one to do that in the entire league. 

Also, during the first 6 days in June, he has had 4 runs, 9 hits, in which 3 were doubles and 3 were home runs, and 5 RBI’s.  His batting average for June is .391, with an OBP of .417 and a SLG of .913.  Andre may not have had a stellar May, but he is having a tremendous start to the month of June. 

I will be back tomorrow with my Everyday Dre Sunday Stats.   

 

Finally Some Light and Then an Injury

I have never played baseball or softball so I can only imagine what it must be like to be in a slump and never know when you will finally break through it.  Andre has been in one of those slumps,and tonight it looks like he may have swung himself out of it.  His first at-bat was a opposite field double in which he ended up scoring on a James Loney hit and getting the first run of the game against our freeway rivals, the Angels.  His second at-bat was an opposite field single, but he was left stranded.  His third at-bat was probably the most controversial of the night. He had a called strike two on a check swing in which Andre never swung the bat. I thought Andre might get ejected from the game at that point, but it was good to see him all fired up.  The next pitch was a ball, and then he was hit in the foot by a pitch, which put him to the ground.  Andre walked it off, and he seemed okay.  He scored once again and ended up scoring 2 of the 5 runs for the night. His 4th at-bat he lined out to left-field and then Jamie Hoffmann came in and replaced him in right field for the 8th and 9th innings.  He left the game with an injury to his right big toe.  It was a split toenail.  I am not sure how this will affect him, but I hope he is back out in right field tomorrow. 

I am hoping tonight was the end of Andre’s slump, but we will have to stay tuned to see if he even plays tomorrow.  Seeing how it’s a Sunday day game and his injury tonight, he may just get the day off tomorrow, or at minimum be ready to come off the bench to pinch hit.  I spend alot of time blogging on Inside the Dodgers(ITD), and one of our beloved bloggers over there, enchantedsunset, described these types of slumps as ones where Andre will probably do the most growing.  The fact that Torre has kept him in his spot in the lineup is showing Andre that he has every faith in him that he will get through this slump and come out a much better player for it. 

The Dodgers had a great game against the Angels tonight.  Wolf pitched 6 and 1/3 innings, and other than the homerun, pitched a pretty good game.  Bellisario came in and pitched the remainder of the 7th inning and the 8th inning and he was lights out fantastic.  He had 1 hit, 1 BB and 2 K’s.  Then it was time for Jonathon Broxton who’s slider was just nasty tonight.  He had 1 hit and 3 K’s in 2 innings, and he got his 5th win of the season.  In the hitting department.  Andre, Russell and James did most of the hitting in the heart of the game, but it was Matt, Casey and Juan Castro who loaded the bases and Juan Pierre got himself a walk off walk to end the game and seal the win in 10 innings.  

Another side note ~ The Dodgers are the first team to reach 30 games in the entire league. The Dodgers are currently the best team in baseball, and it’s a really good feeling.

Tomorrow we play the Angels once again in a rubber match as Dodger Stadium. Game time is 1:10 pm. 

~DODGER BLUE THRU AND THRU~

****ETHIERAHOLIC FOREVER****

Sunday Update on Monday

I decided not to do stats today. Instead let’s focus on the events of the week, which were news worthy……….some good and some bad. Let’s start with the good.  Last Sunday, Andre was host to “Andre’s Carne Asada Sundays”, which Nomar Garciaparra had begun. Andre is graciously carrying on this tradition, and I can’t wait to go to the next one.  On that same day, Dodger Stadium was giving away Ethier practice jerseys for kids 14 and under.  The only thing I thought, I wish I was 14 again, but then again…………..maybe not. 

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This is my niece Hailee, who was at the game with her parents, and I am glad to say she is an Andre fan now.

 

Now, I  couldn’t call myself bleeding blue Dodger fan if I didn’t weigh-in on the Manny issue.  As you may know I live with Giants fans, and I wasn’t exactly quiet about the Barry Bonds issue, and now to have a similar issue come up with my team, it will make for some interesting discussions around the dinner table to say the least.  Anyhow, I believe in second chances, but in this case, Manny really needs to talk to the team and the words need to mean something in order to get my respect for him back.  I teach first grade and I give mulitple second chances, but they are children, who most of time, don’t even know what they are doing is wrong.  Manny is not a child and he knew what he was doing was wrong.  So, he really needs to make this right with his team, and us die hard Dodger fans or I will be hardpressed to accept him back in left field, and that will be difficult seeing how the current left fielder isn’t exactly what most Dodger fans were hoping for.  I am starting to understand how some Boston fans felt when the real “Manny being Manny” reared it’s ugly head. I knew it would happen someday. I just didn’t think it would happen 33 games into the season.