Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 16, 2005
La-La Lineup

You know the Dodgers are in trouble when the best cleanup hitter they can find against a left-handed pitcher is Jason Phillips. And it shouldn't be surprising that such a lineup was the victim of a Giants shutout. The lineup was necessitated by Jeff Kent's wrist:

As the Dodgers try to cobble together their best lineup for a pennant push in this injury-riddled season, Jeff Kent said he would accommodate a request to move to first base.

The Dodgers have yet to make such a request, but Manager Jim Tracy has discussed the possibility with Kent, a five-time All-Star second baseman.

"If that's what it takes, we'll deal with it every day," Kent said. "We've had a confusing lineup every day. Hopefully, soon, we can resolve that and become consistent. Tracy is trying to do that the best he can."

Before the Dodgers scratched Kent on Friday because of a sore left wrist — a throw hit him there in Thursday's game — their lineup included Kent at first base, for the third consecutive game. Tracy said Kent was playing there primarily to ease the strain on his sore left hamstring.

When DePodesta took over in LA, he praised the Dodgers farm system. Yet, he's done very little to use that system. If the farm system is so great, why doesn't he either:

  1. Bring up players to fill in holes, as the Braves are doing.
  2. Trade some of those prospects for players who can help now.

The Dodgers are 10 games under .500, and only a weak division leader is keeping them from being double digits in games back. If the team waits another two weeks to try to fill in the holes, it may be too late.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:15 AM | Strategy | TrackBack (0)
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