Dodgers beat Diamondbacks....and I don't care

I watched the first four innings of today’s Diamondbacks-Dodgers spring training game and was mildly pleased with what I saw. (What I heard on the other hand was a lot of Steve Lyons….Vin you can never retire) Webb didn’t pitch well but he seemed more concerned about not tipping off the Dodger hitters than finding the strikezone. Basically Furcal and Hudson showed what they can do at the top of a lineup: walk, hit and run, and steal a base. This is of course pointless because it was Andre Ethier and not Manny Ramirez hitting 3rd, and I guarantee things like that hit and run won’t happen if Manny is hitting there. Still it’s nice to see them functioning as a 1-2 pair even though as I mentioned before Russell Martin should be hitting second. Anyway, Loney had a two run single and Blake hit a ball out, then I stopped watching



Kuroda showed none of Webb’s concerns as he aggressively hit his spots and K’d a number of Diamondbacks. Was this wise? Well if you’re not tipping your pitches and you throw your best stuff, I don’t see how it hurts anymore.

Juan “0 for 3” Pierre had a good defensive play…..which just goes to show if you’re willing to crash into walls in spring training, well you’re going to be upset about a lack of playing time during the regular season. For the spring Pierre is hitting around .125.

Manny debuts Thursday against Korea. No biggie really….if he gets fooled by some exotic Korean pitcher, I’m not worried, and if he takes said pitcher deep, well no real reason to get excited. Quite frankly he should focus on bunting and legging it out ala Major League, because I’m pretty sure that’s the only thing he can’t do offensively.

6 Foot 11 Scapegoat

Finally someone has stepped forward and taken responsibility for the Diamondbacks epic collapse last season. Dan Haren? No. Brandon Webb? No. Hitting coach who thinks it's acceptable to have 5 starters strikeout 100+ times? No. Manager Bob Melvin? No.

It's a relief pitcher traded to the D-Backs midseason. Way to go Joe Rauch.

Look....part of me admires the guy for stepping forward and saying I'm responsible and it sounds like he's had his personal struggles and come out stronger for it.

But then the part of my brain that's not a stranger to reason steps forward and says that unless Rauch engaged in a Iago-like series of schemes to make Webb and Haren fade hard down the stretch and he personally arranged the Manny Ramirez deal, he's not responsible.

HARD FACT: Arizona started 19-7 and finished the season 63-73. They played like the '27 Yankees for the better part of a month and then became the Kansas City Royals, and they did virtually all of it without Joe Rauch's help.

So Rauch....good to hear you got your life in order, but give the blue some credit.