The 9-1 Dodgers will slow down eventually, but their hot start ensures they'll win 85 games as long as they play .500 baseball from here on. Here are some Dodgers-related links in the aftermath of Jackie Robinson Day 2012…
- Matt Kemp is wowing Yahoo's Jeff Passan nightly with his power and speed. We're seeing "the self-actualization of a player like Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols," Passan writes.
- The Dodgers may not be a great team, but they're good enough to make the playoffs this year, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports argues. The Dodgers have only played the Pirates and Padres so far, but at least they're winning the games they should win.
- Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson of the Yankees tell Bill Shaikin of the LA Times that it takes more than money to turn a large-market team like the Dodgers into a perennial playoff contender.
- Robinson's daughter, Sharon Robinson, told Shaikin that the Dodgers' incoming owners have reached out to her and her family. The ownership group publicly fronted by Magic Johnson and Stan Kasten has contacted the Robinson family and its foundation, Shaikin reports. Sharon Robinson sounds optimistic about the possibility of working with the franchise her father played for.
who cares what any of the yankees have to say!!! they havent done anything in how long? and whos russell martin again?
Two years? Follow Chico’s model for making fun of players who happen to play for the Yankees, it’s a lot more accurate…Though neither Martin or Granderson are New Yorkers…
For the love of god, please don’t tell me they make millions a year and choose to live in New Jersey during the season. They really might be dolts if that’s the case.
Have you ever been to the suburbs in NJ outside of NY? No? Than maybe research before you speak. Not to mention, a lot of players don’t live in the city they play in year round and even when they do, living there for a two years isn’t going to change their geographical personality.
I actually have been, numerous times, and there are some nice places, but I don’t care if you’re living next door to CC, it’s still Jersey no matter how much you dress it up.
Who said anything about year round?
But it was a joke, man. Lighten up. Jeter’s playing well, the Yanks are in first, the Sox lost, and it’s beautiful outside. Enjoy the afternoon like a good Yankee fan should.
I drive through New Jersey every weekend, I really hate that state. Perhaps its the high taxes people pay there yet they can seemingly never fix the terrible roads. The constant road construction causes hour long delays every Friday night. Or maybe because I can’t stand Chris Christie and he reminds me of Rex Ryan…who knows there is just something about Jersey….
I can’t man, the Rangers give me heart attacks so I’m stuck suffering watching NHL playoffs. It’s a tough life.
That was a good game! Lundqvist was amazing.
You know 2009 wasn’t that long ago.
Technically those two guys weren’t a part of the 2009 team but still a valid point.
To be fair it’s not clear in the original comment if the snipe was specifically at Martin and Granderson, or at the Yankees’ as a franchise in general. I interpreted it as the Yankees since he said “who cares what ANY of the Yankees have to say”…
So Martin and Granderson play for the Yanks for a couple of seasons and suddenly they know how to build a perennial contender?
I guess New Yorkers with inflated egos shouldn’t come as a surprise
Yes, because they were born and raised there and everything.
Oh, wait….
I see. So unless you were born and raised there, you can’t adopt the mindset after living there a few years? I didn’t think you big city folk were so provincial.
That’s OK, we DID think you small town folk were…:)
And I’m gonna side with the other commenter, living there half the year for two years is less likely to have you adopt the personality of an entire city compared to the rest of your life elsewhere. Especially when your only support was responding to a reporter’s question (curiously asked admittedly).
Ha ha ha ha, good one 🙂
But I thought that the streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you 😉
Who ever thought a Yankee fan would downplay the influential impact of NYC?
Yes, in Jay Z’s case, if you go from slinging rock to rap mogul, I’d be inspired too. If you move from one lavish home to another lavish home part of the year, less likely.
Well, at least they can say they were in the playoffs the last couple of seasons and they are contenders for the title this year.
No idea why that reporter would ask Martin and Granderson Dodgers questions on how to build a team…
Russell Martin, you know.. the guy that Ned let walk for NOTHING! An all star catcher for zero, zilch, nada.. Draft pick compensation? Nope.. The Dodgers have AJ Ellis, while not one, but two all star caliber catchers in Carlos Santana and Russell J. Martin, for zip, squat, and salary relief.
Yeah, we remember Russell Martin. Just didn’t know he was a good source of information on how to build a team.
Martin might be on the walk line again if he doesn’t produce like he hasn’t done since last May. That 10m salary of his is going to seem very, very brutal for the person who has had 2 strong months over the last 3 seasons for a team that supposedly is looking to cut costs and a catcher who struggles to hit his weight is a good place to start cutting when they have other internal options.
A big part of martin’s value is what he does behind the plate. This is how yadier got 15M aav. While batting though he takes alot of walks which certainly helps his value.
Yes his avg so far is .182, but he has 9 walks in 31 pa, not a bad rate certainly. A walk statistically is equal to a single, in practice though it requires that the opposing pitchers work harder, because they require 4+ pitches each.
Shh, Sox fans don’t like hearing that even though that was the Varitek excuse the last five or so years of his career.
I’m big on guys getting on base as well, always liked that about Russ. But let us not forget, nobody goes first to third or scores from second on a walk. Not equal.
The guy’s pulling down a .455 OBP so far. It won’t hold, but that gets him a pass for now.
Most Yankee fans I know are expecting him to be league average offensively, a bar he actually topped last season despite his pretty bad overall numbers.
Yeah dude, it’s not like Martin’s stats eroded in 2009 and 2010. The Dodgers weren’t going to be able to get anything for him in a trade back then.
In the short memory department, not only did the Dodgers try to trade Martin (hip fracture, no takers), they also made him an offer virtually identical to the Yankees.
Am thinking he had a lot of those low ball offers last year and if not mistaken? Boston may have offered slightly more and it was thought he was headed there for a little while.
Interesting how this story on Matt Kemp and the Dodgers turned into a discussion of Russell Martin and the Yankees. The black hole effect strikes again.
Think that Kemp article was more self absorption by the writer than anything else. Many, many point A’s that lead to nowheresville on his part in other words, or that was how I thought of it at least.
It amazes me that no one ever acknowledges that Matt Kemp’s dramatic improvement is due to the fine work of Davey Lopes. I have no idea if Los Angeles newspapers have written anything, but from what I have read not a soul. I find it interesting and disappointing that this is the case.
Lopes has gotten some credit for improving Kemp’s baserunning, but you are right, probably not enough.
Russell Martin is speaking from experience. Yankees over spend every year and are a solid team to make it to the play offs but thats it more often then not. Martin isn’t even worth talking about. He sucks
Apparently, the individuals bashing Martin and Granderson didn’t bother reading the news article. If you did, exactly what was wrong with what they said?