EXPOSED!

The 3 game series with Houston has exposed many, if not all, of the Dodgers’ weaknesses. They easily could’ve won 2 out of 3, or they could’ve just as easily been swept. They wound up salvaging the last game on a brilliant performance from their now confirmed ace, Chad Billingsley last night.

The 1977 Dodgers were one of a select few teams in MLB history to have 4 players bang out 30 home runs. (Garvey, Cey, Baker, Smith) This years Dodgers may come close. Manny, Ethier, Kemp and Blake each have a shot at a 5 homer April. And the season is 6 months long. However, the power which certainly came through at Minute Maid Park was undone by the porous bullpen and starting pitching, two huge factors which may or may not prove to be the Blue’s undoing in ’09. I hate to say I told you so, but the “woeful” Astros gave the Dodgers a lot of trouble and that Astros team will not be going gently into that good night in spite of what the so-called experts predict. Hunter Pence is becoming a bona fide star who can run, hit, hit for power, and field. Carlos Lee and Lance Berkman are studs and they have a very solid one-two on the mound with Oswalt and the emerging Wandy Rodriguez. Tejada and Pudge, in spite of their being somewhat long on the tooth, are still viable stars and Jeff Keppinger is underrated. Michaels and Bourn are a solid platoon in center and Kaz Matsui is pesky. Make no mistake. This is a tough team. And in their ’09 debut against a tough team, the Dodgers failed fairly miserably.

Young Kershaw looked like a deer in the headlights Tuesday night. He had extreme difficulty with his command and it seemed like the middle of the ‘Stros order was up constantly. Like many young aces to be, he threw way too many pitches and walked too many people. They should’ve won that game because Russ Ortiz looked even worse, but they handed Ortiz the win. Wednesday night, the mediocre Randy Wolf struck again. I hate to say I called it, but I called it. It was a typical Wolf weak start after a strong start. He couldn’t hit his spots and got blasted. And when the Dodgers blasters powered them back into the lead, the phenom from a few days ago, Ronald Belisario quickly squandered it. I think we may be starting to see why this guy has been a career minor leaguer. He was just too hittable and has been his last 2 out 3 appearances. If he implodes again his next time out, he’ll be dubbed Ronald Beli- ‘sorry-o” and the honeymoon will be officially over. So, why didn’t Torre go with Hong Chih Kuo in the 8th inning of Wednesday night? Sore neck. And that's the problem with Kuo. He's injured as often as he is healthy. With Corey Wade still rehabbing, they have few choices in that pen. If you ask me, Guillermo Mota has seen better days and Will Ohman is strictly a lefty specialist. That leaves Ramon “Trancos-oh no!” who’s not good or asking Broxton to get 5 to 8 outs every time they have a late inning lead. So, in spite of an effective fireballer in Broxton who’s been mixing his offspeed stuff with his express with amazing acuity, their pen is suspect. With Billingsley being the only starter who fits the description of being truly reliable, Kuroda still on the DL, and the other options being a tried and untrue Stults and a not quite ready for prime time McDonald, the soft underbelly of this team may well be dangerously exposed.

Also, we saw some rare poor fielding from Furcal and very little hitting from little him. That simply can’t continue. Raffy, Martin and Loney have to join the hit parade. Tonight we open up an always difficult series in Denver and I’m sure Hurdle and his Mountains want some payback. Let’s see how Eric Stults fares in the rarified mile high air. Still, this Dodgers team is an offensive juggernaut, the likes of which I haven’t seen, perhaps since the 70’s. Yes, even more so, perhaps than the failed Piazza, Mondesi,, Karros teams of the ‘90s. They need to prove, however, that they can beat the real teams and that they can win on the road. In the meantime, so much for going 159-3.