April IS the Cruelest Month...

The Dodgers are proving T.S. Eliot right. At 8-13, embarrassed by the lowly, but improving Washington Nationals and the bad New York Mets, Manny, Padilla and Furcal banged up, they limp home amid backbiting and in-fighting with their own incompetent GM, Ned Colletti.

The team SHOULD be 8-13. A Major League club is only as good as it's pitching staff and bullpen and, for the Dodgers, both those groups suck. Ironically, their starting pitching wasn't the culprit for the second half of that ill-fated road trip. It was their sparked dynamite offense that completely fizzled out, as if they'd been dowsed with water by the Roadrunner. Without Manny in the lineup, they wilted like an un-watered rose in the middle of the Mojave. But it wasn't really Manny's absence that caused it. They were hitting above their heads and were bound to come back to earth. No way Casey Blake remains a .300 hitter and you can look for Loney and Martin to cool even more rapidly than the great Matt Kemp, who's average and production have plummeted. (I'm even looking for Loney to be moved in a possible deal, but that would involve acquiring a first baseman in addition to pitching) The Blake DeWitt experiment may be over, or at least it should be. He kills them at second base worse than Kemp kills them in center. And, as much as I love the guy and his approach at the plate, he simply can't hit. Belliard should be their everyday 2nd baseman. Sure it's only the last week of April, but unless wholesale changes occur, this is what you're gonna get. Fourth or last place in the NL West. This is what happens to a team that rests on their laurels and doesn't make any attempt to improve.

The Colletti comments on the Peter Tilden Show on KABC the other morning? I don't like Ned, but BRA-VO! It's the first time in more years than I can remember that someone in the Dodger organization actually called someone out publically. And it's the first time anyone has ever really done something for the fans regarding underperformance on the field. Who cares if he hurt Kemp's feelings? What Colletti did was heroic. Kemp has great offensive numbers despite his recent slump. But he's not bright. And he plays like he's not bright. One of the worst things that could have happened to the Dodgers defensively is for Kemp to be awarded a Gold Glove last year? Why? Why on earth was he awarded a Gold Glove? HE IS A BAD OUTFIELDER! I know, I know, he's been compared to Willie Mays in terms of his athletic ability. I don't care how much athletic ability he has, can you imagine Willie Mays misplaying and misreading routine flies, mistiming jumps. Can you imagine Willie Mays running from 2nd to 3rd on a grounder hit in front of him?? Matt Kemp's baseball intelligence is in the remedial category. On top of that, he's being called to the carpet because he hasn't even been working on his defense. What he has been doing is loafing out to his position, not hustling and apparently enjoying himself too much immediately after signing a 2-year, 10.95 million dollar contract. I got to give Colletti credit for calling Kemp on his BS and for NOT keeping it private. After all, the fans can see what he's doing. Why not make it public? And Dave Stewart, you can shut up. Your client isn't doing what he's supposed to be doing, so stop crying. If you're not gonna tell him and Torre won't tell him, someone has to. Might as well be Colletti.

But, look. Stewart has it wrong. It's not really Colletti's fault. Colletti has it wrong. It's not Kemp's fault or Billingsley's fault or the personnel's fault. The blame, as it has for a long time, rests on the doorstep of cheap, greedy Frank McCourt. It was McCourt's cheapness that disabled the Dodgers from improving. It was McCourt's greed that kept them from acquiring the pitching they needed to compete. Yes, Colletti has an annoying tendency to overrate his players. He's overrated Billingsley for years. When you look at these guys coming up on other teams who might just be the REAL DEAL - the Mike Leakes, the Wade Le Blancs, you can see just how mediocre Billingsley is turning out to be. HOW COULD THEY EXPECT TO REPEAT IN THE WEST WITHOUT PITCHING??? I have no doubt, as much as I dislike Ned, he had to have said something to McCourt during the offseason like, "Frank, now that we lost Randy Wolf, I'm worried about our starting pitching. I think we should try to acquire someone. Joel Piniero is available. John Lackey. Ben Sheets is looking strong. Maybe we can make a deal for a top of the line guy." To which, I'm sure McCourt responded, "No. Too much money." When you have an owner who cares more about his own profits than whether or not the team is successful, it doesn't really matter who says what on the Peter Tilden Show or who isn't hustling or who's making errors. The team had no chance from Day 1.