Who would have thought when November first began that Dodger fans would have so much to be thankful for?  It all began on November 2nd, when Frank McCourt agreed to sell the Dodgers.  On Nove,ber 17, Clayton Kershaw won the National League Cy Young Award.  Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Matt Kemp signed an eight year, $160 milion deal on November 18. Really, can it get much better than that that?  Absolutely.  Tomorrow the National league MVP Award will be given out, and if Dodger fans had their way, it would go to Matt Kemp.

That would be 20 days of baseball euphoria in Los Angeles.  I honestly am having a hard time finding something to compare it to.  Here we have a down-on-it’s-luck franchise, getting the ultimate gift when a despised owner agrees to sell the city’s beloved franchise, followed quickly by it’s young phenom pitcher receiving the highest award possible, followed by their charismatic and unbelievably talented young outfielder signing a lucrative extension and proclaiming his desire to be a Dodger for life.  It kind of makes you think Matt Kemp is due the MVP doesn’t it?

I so want Matt Kemp to be the MVP.  I want it for him because he had one of best all-around seasons for any baseball player in decades.  I want it for him because he played hard everyday on an average team.  I want it for him because he played the game the way it’s meant to be played: with hard work, class and a fantastic attitude.  But mostly, I want it for Dodger fans…for their support, passion and believe in this club.

But whether or not Matt wins the MVP, I’m thankful.  Thankful that the Dodger organization has turned a corner and that hope is once again on the horizon.  A new owner will soon be in place and we’ll have the opportunity to see Kershaw, Kemp and the others for years to come.

As a baseball fan, you really can’t ask for much more than that.

KeMVP, baby.

Photo credit: Jon SooHoo / 2011 LA Dodgers

Many of us, including myself, have been watching from the sidelines this season for various reasons. For me, after several years of blogging about the Dodgers, I’ve been more hands off this season. A move to Seattle and a new job have left me with less time to blog, but I’ve been watching and listening. It’s good to be back.

With just five games to go in the 2011 season, there’s a huge reason for all Dodger fans on the sidelines, to jump back in. No matter what your reasons for staying away, consider coming back. The reason?  Matt Kemp.

As Dodger fans know, “Beast Mode” is in full effect with the quest for a 40/40 season remaining alive and an even rarer shot at a Triple Crown also within reach. Check out Kemp’s current numbers:

37 HR. Three away from 40, and currently tied as the league leader with one Albert Pujols.

119 RBI. Six more than Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder.

.326 AVG. That’s .003 behind Jose Reyes and Ryan Braun.

Dodger fans, it’s time. At this moment I’m not concerned about your reasons for staying away. Turn on your your radio or television, fire up that iPad, or better yet, get to San Diego or Arizona and root Matt Kemp on. Not only is he playing great baseball, he’s having fun again. Always with a smile on his face, Matt’s even been using Twitter to stay connected with the fans at a level he never has before.

Do you realize how rare a Triple Crown is? The last major leaguer to accomplish such a rare feat was Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. To find the last National Leaguer to win the award, you have to go back another thirty years to Joe Medwick in 1937.

What’s even more incredible is that most players never even get within striking distance of the Triple Crown. From Jason Stark:

So how often has any player had this realistic a shot at a Triple Crown this late in any of those 44 seasons since the Yaz Triple Crown? We asked the Elias Sports Bureau to take a look. You know what they concluded?

Never. That’s what.

According to Elias, not ONCE in all these seasons since 1967 has any player been:

• Leading the league in batting average or been within five
points.

• Leading the league in homers or been within one.

• Leading the league in RBIs or been within one.

And that’s not just in the final week of the season. That’s in the final 15 days of any of those seasons.

So in nearly half a century of waiting around for another Triple Crown winner, we’ve never had a bid like this to follow in the final days of any season. Again, that’s never. Ever. So if you weren’t taking this
drama seriously before, here’s our advice:

It’s time to start. Right … now.

Dodger blogger Jonathan Garza from Dodgers Nation brings up another great point when looking at Kemp’s charge at the Triple Crown. If Kemp were to accomplish the feat, he would do is in a 161 game season, due to a rainout in Washington, DC against the Nationals on September 7.

The question Garza asks is, if the game mattered to the Triple Crown race or Kemp’s quest for 40 HRs, would Major League Baseball schedule a make-up game for the two clubs? The potential positive PR for MLB would be tremendous and could be a shot in the arm for a Dodger franchise desperately in need of a little good news heading into another long offseason.

In the meantime, it’s time to get off your seats, Dodger fans and root The Real Matt Kemp on. At the core, we all bleed Dodger Blue, and we may never see such an impressive individual all-around season for such a good guy ever again. It’s time to celebrate a fantastic season and show Matt Kemp the love.

KEMvP.

Photo Credit: Chris Volk, dodgerfan.net

First off, Mattingly named Clayton Kershaw his Opening Day starter on the first day of camp.  Last year, Joe Torre delayed making this decsision to the very end of camp before making the surprise move by giving the honor to Vicente Padilla.

For the record, I love this move.  It shows moxie and a desire by Mattingly to make this team his own.  It’s time for Kershaw to take the title of staff ace and run with it, and Mattingly showing immediate confidence in his young phenom is awesome to see.

Next, Mattingly named Matt Kemp his cleanup hitter for the majority of the upcoming season.  Woah.  I like the confidence Donny Baseball has in Kemp (and he needs all the confidence Dodger fans and coaches can muster in this critical rebound year), but Kemp strikes out. A LOT.  While others are also sure to be sceptical, we need to remember that there aren’t a whole lot of other options on the club.  If Kemp can curb the Ks, he could provide the insurance behind Andre Ethier to allow the club’s #3 hitter to really shine, much like he did when Manny Ramirez was hitting behind him.

What’s next?  Only time will tell, but Mattingly seems like a man who’s going to have his players walk the walk and put all that potential on the line (the first full workout for the team takes place on Tuesday).  Maybe Chris Gwynn starting in center field?  I wouldn’t put it past Mattingly if the kid gets off to a hot start this spring.  Whatever happens, it’s going to be interesting!

Photo Credit: © Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers 2011

The Signing of Zach Lee

I’ve got to give credit to Ned Colletti and team for this one.  A GREAT signing and a real feather in the cap of Assistant GM Logan White.  Here’s a nice recap of Lee’s potential (as well as the other draft signings) from Tony Jackson.  The Dodgers really did a nice job (and spent quite a bit of money for once) in getting this done.  A potential 2012 lineup of Billingsley, Kershaw and Lee is pretty damn exciting.

There’s also a great video on the Dodger Media Network showing that Zach Lee was Logan White’s great white whale of the draft.  It’s a well done piece, and a nice look behind the scenes.

Criticizing Kemp

Steve Dilbeck wrote an interesting column today about fans’ perceptions about the performance of Matt Kemp and how any writer who criticizes Kemp is immediately jumped on by rabid fans.  I don’t remember this happening when Chad Billingsley stumbled down the stretch last season.

Photo Credit: Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2010

The persistent rumor today has the Dodgers talking to the Pirates about starter Paul Maholm.  Per Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

“Maholm, a 28-year-old left-hander is the Pirates’ highest-paid player on the active roster at $4.5 million — second baseman Aki Iwamura is continuing to make his $4.85 million salary in the minors — and he is coming off a three-hit shutout Sunday of the Astros. Overall, he is a team-best 6-7 with a 4.03 ERA.”

Paul Maholm? Eh. The news that the Dodgers are talking to the Pirates about this guy doesn’t get me excited (57 Ks and 40 walks in 114+ innings of work), but he most likely is going to be the type of starting pitcher the Dodgers eventually acquire before the trading deadline.  He won’t cost them a ton in terms of prospects (hopefully), and also won’t cost them that much in terms of salary this season and next year (per a tweet from DodgersFYI, “Maholm is owed $5.75M in ’11 % has a 9.75 club option in ’12 that can increase to $11.05M with a $750k buyout”).  No word yet on who the Dodgers may have to give up to land Maholm.

On the plus side, Ned Colletti told Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times that he’s not planning on moving Matt Kemp:

“I’ve never floated his name,” General Manager Ned Colletti said. “He’s a gifted, five-tool player. He’s getting better and better. He’s had a tough couple of months. It’s a baseball career. It’s not a baseball two months.

“I have no intention of moving him.”

And trading Andre Ethier would be even crazier than trading Matt Kemp, right?  This is lunacy in my book, but Peter Gammons thinks it’s a possibility (per Steve Dilbeck at the LA Times):

“The one team I keep wondering about if they drop a few games back, if the Dodgers start dropping back, would they talk about Andre Ethier. He’s going to make $10-$12 million next year, the coaching staff feels with their bizarre ownership situation, they don’t want to pay Ethier and might trade him now. That would be a fascinating guy to go after.”

More updates to come…

Photo Credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I’ll be in the press box for tomorrow’s day game against the D-Backs when Edwin Jackson returns to Chavez Ravine!  Email any questions you would like me to ask of Joe, Edwin or any of the Dodgers starters to chris@dodgerfan.net. 

Photo Credit: Jon SooHoo / LA Dodgers 2010

If you trust the sources of ESPN LA’s Tony Jackon, then yes.  According to the transcript of an online chat from earlier this week, Jackson had the following exchange with a Dodger fan named Earl:

Earl (LA, CA)

Wow, if Kemp gets traded for anyone, I would be bummed.Do you feel that would be a big mistake for the Dodgers to trade Kemp for a frontline starter, despite what Colleti thinks about him?I think Colleti exaggerated the issues of Kemp, personally.

Tony Jackson (6:41 PM)

Earl, I have it on good authority (NOT from Colletti, from others) that if anything, Ned UNDERSTATED the issues with Kemp. This kid is really full of himself, to the point that it is becoming an issue in the clubhouse. I’m not saying they WILL trade him. I still think there is less than a 50-percent chance that they will. I’m just saying that if they do trade one of their core young players, he probably will be the one, not only because of these issues but also because he would have the most value.

————–

Earl (LA, CA)

Wow, Tony, didn’t know that about Kemp. I just don’t think you can afford to let a talent like his go. Do you think its just a simple case of immaturity?I mean a lot of ball players start out cocky, but mature and settle down with age. Kemp could be no different.

Tony Jackson (6:50 PM)

well, if it’s immaturity, he has had plenty of time to outgrow it. Based on what I’m told, he hasn’t outgrown it yet. None of this is terribly surprising, just judging from the way he handles himself with the media. He is difficult to deal with, and I’m told that isn’t limited to the media.

After reading the full transcript, as well as the reflections of my blogging brethren over at Memories of Kevin Malone and Vin Scully is my Homeboy, I found myself thinking a lot about this exchange and found it really interesting for a number of reasons.

First, like many Dodger bloggers and fans, I really enjoy and respect Tony Jackson as a writer and his perspective on things related to the club.  He’s with the Dodgers day in and day out, and he knows his beat.  So if Jackson says he has sources that indicate that Kemp is “really full of himself” and “becoming an issue in the clubhouse” then I’m going to pay attention.  That said, I’ve personally covered a handful of games over the past year, and (in my very limited interactions) I’ve always found Matt Kemp to be a straightforward guy.  For example, I was at the second home game of the season when the Dodgers lost to the Diamondbacks in a five hour marathon.  Kemp had a couple bone-headed fielding plays, including one that allowed the eventual winning run to score.  Yet there he was, being a man and answering the difficult questions in the clubhouse after the game.

I am, however, surprised that Tony Jackson’s comments aren’t a bigger deal.  Saying that one of the Dodgers’ biggest young stars has issues is newsworthy, but I’m guessing that as long as it doesn’t divide the clubhouse or cause problems on the field, then there’s no reason to make a mountain out of a mole hill, right?  I’m probably most surprised that this came out in a chat on ESPN LA, rather in one of Tony’s regular articles.  Jackson seems to know what he’s talking about here, and I’d be curious to know why it wouldn’t be a bigger story, either at ESPN or in the eyes of other mainstream media outlets.  Food for thought.

Joe Torre:

On Chad Billingsley: “He got in some bad counts and I think he started over-throwing the ball in that last inning.  It is frustrating for him because his first three innings were really good and his last start was really good and I know this is a disappointment for him.”

On keeping pressure off the relievers: “I think ability-wise they can do it.  It is a matter of going out there and not thinking they have the weight of the world on their shoulders.  We’ll get through it…we just have to make sure we don’t lose our composure.”

On the offense and closing out games: “Offensively, we’re fine.  We’re having good at bats, quality at bats, doing some good things.  Casey Blake with a big hit tonight for us, Manny is swinging the bat really well.  The thing is, you can’t run the clock out on this game.  You have to get 27 outs and we have to find a way to do that on a consistent basis.”

On who would pitch the 12^th inning (if necessary): “It would have been one of those guys on the field…we would have found a volunteer in there somewhere…we may have gone lefty righty, back and forth.”

Matt Kemp:

On the game overall: “It was a fight.  Two good hitting teams, and we battled it out.  At the end, they ended up coming out on the right side.”

On the team’s slow start: “I’m not worried about.  We still got 150 games left.  It’s not time to panic; we’ve got a lot of games left.  We still got a great team and we’re capable of doing a lot of great things.  We can’t always start out the way we did last year.  We’re not that hot right now, but we’ve got a great team and we’re going to end up on top at the end.”

On the ball that dropped for a single in the bottom of the 10^th inning (I think): “I played deep, but that’s no excuse.  I should have got to the ball.  It was high enough to get there….it should have been caught.”

On the way they played:  “We never give up…that shows the character of the team.  We’ve got great character, we never give up and we battle to the end.”

 Good night!

And the Dodgers powered through the game, knocking in four home runs, more than doubling their total from the first six games of the season.  Manny Ramirez, Casey Blake, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier all contributed bombs.  It wasn’t perfect as the bullpen once again struggled to maintain the lead they were given by starter Clayton Kershaw, but everything ended well. as the Dodgers survived with an 9-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Rather than recapping the game as many other fine Dodger bloggers have already done today, we wanted to share some of today’s great moments, as captured by Dodgers photographer Jon SooHoo. Enjoy!

Rihanna shows her support for Matt Kemp after he homers against the Diamondbacks

Kemp and Ethier proudly show off their Silver Slugger awards

Manager Joe Torre talks on the phone prior to the game

Matt Kemp and his Gold Glove award following the game

Pitcher Hiroki Kuroda and members of the media check out his locker

Photo Credit: Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2010

Matt Kemp, center fielder for the LA Dodgers, and Rihanna celebrated his new two-year contract by taking in the Clippers game agains the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James.   What do you think the odds are that Rihanna makes an appearance to watch The Bison at Camelback Ranch?

Photo Credit: SplashNewsOnline.com