Results tagged “russellmartin”

Lookie what we Dodger fans have here: the preliminary 2010 schedule. For the second year in a row the Dodgers will be opening the season on the road. In what can be surmised as a way to make up for this season, the Dodgers will open the season at PNC Park against the Pittsburgh Pirates. “That will be warm,” manager Joe Torre said when alerted of the fact.

The offensive slump the Dodgers found themselves in seemed to be alleviated with one crack of the bat in their 7-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs. With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning and the bases loaded with one out, catcher Russell Martin took the first pitch he saw from Cubs reliever Angel Guzman and drove it over the left centerfield wall for his second career grand slam. “It felt good,” Martin said after the game. “Not many words needed this day. It felt good sitting on the ball, and really just trying to get at least one run in. I got four in, so it feels good.”

Dylan Hernandez, the 28-year-old Dodgers beat writer for the Los Angeles Times, is set to embark on his second full season covering the team. The native Southern Californian and graduate of UCLA has worked for a slew of papers before the Times hired him in 2007. He recently ended one of the more difficult periods in his professional life: covering the Manny Ramirez saga for the Times through sleepless nights and hundreds of stories. I recently caught up with him about the rigors of covering the sport, how traditional sports journalism has been affected by baseball bloggers and what has to happen for the Dodgers to resign Manny Ramirez.

LA Kings defeat Minnesota Wild 5-2. Not only did the Kings have the lead going into the third period, they held the Wild scoreless in that period. The Kings penalty kill was suspect giving the Wild's two scores on four power play opportunities. But overall the Kings limited the Wild's shots holding them to 14 after two periods. And having been outscored 15-4 on their recent losing streak, it was a good sign when the Kings came out to score first on a Kyle Calder wrist shot.

“We didn’t throw at his head. We threw it over his head.”

So the guys are in Vero Beach now, and now my sphincter pulsates in anticipation for March 31: Opening Day at Dodger Stadium.

• "A very, very good night for Barack Obama just got better," the LA Times said after it reported that the winner of the South Carolina Primary was on the receiving end of two Kennedy endorsements; Caroline Kennedy endorsed Obama this morning in the NY Times and Sen. Ted Kennedy issued his endorsement later in the day.
• Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton moved on from South Carolina and defended critics of her husband's campaigning, saying, "everybody just needs to take a deep breath. We need to be focusing on what's important in the lives of Americans."
• The Federal Government isn't making too many friends these days and a new rule along the borders might not change that. People crossing the border must now prove they are a U.S. citizen, eschewing the long standing policy of orally declaring your citizenship. I fear this does not spell the end of those fabled Tijuana donkey shows.
• "I'm in a totally happy place," said former Dodger Mike Lieberthal explaining why he decided to retire yesterday. The Dodgers declined the option on the two-time all star and valley boy who was last year's back up to Russell Martin.
• Good news, foodies: the Daily News found that the number of restaurants who have received a C from the Department of Health has declined dramatically since inspections began a decade ago, while the number of eateries with an A have increased 40 percent from last year. I'm sure this doesn't include taco trucks, but, hey, ignorance is bliss.
• Rains continued Sunday, dumping as much as 4 inches on the Southland. Downtown record about 10 inches, eons more than the 1.65 inches Downtown received at this time last year. Don't freak out, L.A. drivers, the storm might taper off by this evening, forecasters say.
• In case you missed it, LAist had a big week. A few highlights: the Neighborhood Project continued with a look at Country Club Park;
• To Catch a Predator bait Dani Miura was interviewed and;
• The Roman Catholic Archdiocese has sold off their 3424 Wilshire Boulevard Archdiocesan Catholic Center to Jamison Properties for $31 million to raise money for the hundreds of outstanding sexual abuse lawsuits. An interesting debate in the comments section ensued.
• We have a big week ahead with some big name interviews, great music reviews and continued news, politics and art greatness

The symbol of the new year is a baby, and what better baby to ask for predictions than LAist's own sports editor?

As winds died down Sunday, firefighters gained the upper hand on the Malibu blaze that burned at least 49 homes and sent thousands fleeing. It is now 70% contained and officials expect full containment by Tuesday. The damage could run close to $100 million. Firefighters rescued a father and his 4-year-old son in a Sun Valley home that burned down this morning. The father got his wife and daughter out of the house, but,...

1. The Obvious- My parents and sister are the most important people in the world to me. They support me in every boneheaded endeavor I partake in, and believe me, there are tons. It's astonishing how many, actually. 2. My friends. Once again, totally obvious. Once again, they're totally awesome. Much love to Porter House, SLC, Shalhevet, AU, and everyone who fits into all, some, or none of those categories. World rockers, each and every...

So what has been going on in Dodger land since I last posted? Well a big hearty congrats go to Russell Martin for winning the Silver Slugger Award for National League catchers. Voted by coaches and managers, Martin led the NL catchers in hits, homers, runs, stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Only Mike Piazza (from 1993-1998) was the other Dodger catcher to win the award since its inception in 1980....

On Tuesday it was announced that Dodger catcher Russell Martin is joining a fraternity of National League catchers that include Johnny Roseboro, Johnny Bench, Benito Santiago, Tony Pena and even Mike Lieberthal. Russell Martin is now a gold glove winner. Since 1957, Rawlings have been giving out the gold glove award for best fielding performance at each position. Martin is the first full year Dodger catcher since Johnny Roseboro in 1966 to win this...

Clippers 104, Pacers 89 - Like some other teams in LA, the Clippers are starting to revolve around one star (cough ... Lakers ... cough ... Galaxy). Unlike other teams, it's just temporary. Sam Cassell had 35 points, as Cuttino Mobley and Ruben Patterson were injured in the first quarter. Elton Brand and Shaun Livingston were already out hurt. What didn't hurt were Chris Kaman's 15 points and 22 rebounds ... Somehow the Clippers are...

I hesitantly went to the Dodger game against the Giants this past Friday. The only reason I went was because it was a fundraiser for my friend’s school. Thankfully the Dodgers won the game 8-3 which is a better result than the last several games I attended. But if you want me to remember anything about the game you’ve got me. Sadly the only memorable thing was seeing that High School Musical actorhomo being...

Fuck Bill Plaschke. Fuck TJ Simers. Fuck the LA Times. Fuck Grady Little. Fuck Ned Colletti. Fuck Frank McCourt. Fuck Jeff Kent. Fuck the Dodgers. When I read Plaschke’s column Wednesday morning that basically put Matt Kemp in the hangman’s noose, my blood started to boil. How does he have the unmitigated gall to scapegoat Kemp and let the veterans have a free pass just because they have “experience”? This entire mess became public...

The Dodgers squandered a good chance to gain some ground in the division and wild card races last night in a 6-4 loss against the Padres. Here the Dodgers faced starting pitcher Jack Cassell making his first major league start, and they did nothing to make him work in the first several innings. The first batter to get a three-ball count was Russell Martin in the fourth when he hit an RBI single that...

In an attempt to shore up holes in their pitching staff, the Dodgers claimed right-hander Esteban Loaiza, 36, off waivers from the Oakland A's today.

The Dodgers are winning. They’ve won nine of their last 13 games crawling back to 4 ½ games within the NL West lead. It looks like a rosy picture, but I’m still not buying into it. The problem is the Dodgers are merely a singles-hitting team that can only run station-to-station. Of their 1,232 hits 225 are doubles (ranked 13th in the NL), 27 are triples (tied for 8th) and 96 are home runs...

Angels 18, Yankees 9 - Garret Anderson had such a good night that he hit a grand slam -- and it wasn't even his biggest accomplishment. That honor would belong to his 10 RBIs, a new Angel record and only the 12th time anybody has been that productive in MLB history. The Angles are 6-2 against New York this year, and remain the only team with a winning record in the Joe Torre era (since...

The Dodgers hitters shortened up their swings. They were a bit more patient at the plate. They hit with runners in scoring position. And most importantly of all the Dodgers won a game! In fact Tubby got the first victory for a Dodger’s starting pitcher since July 26th when he posted a 5-4 at Colorado. Now Tubby didn’t have his best stuff. The Astros managed to get 10 hits off of him in six...

I don't usually do a pre-write for a game, but since I won't be writing about the game tonight I just needed to put in my two cents. Nomar is sent to the DL with a strained left calf which means today is the start of the Shea Hillenbrand era. Excuse me if my optimism has died like my faith in the Democrats. To further muddle things, Grady inexplicably has put Juan Pierre back...

Coming into Tuesday night’s game the Dodgers were 58-53 and the Cincinnati Reds were 47-64. The Dodgers were still in striking distance for the division title, and the Reds had the third worst record in all of baseball. It was this horrible Reds team that shut out the Dodgers. This would be the third game in the last four games the Dodgers have put up a goose egg. Count it: in the last 19...

Dodgers 6, Giants 4 - Barry Bonds didn't make any headlines on Wednesday, which was good news for Dodger faithful. Los Angeles needed an eigth inning comeback featuring a home run by Nomar Garciaparra. Nom-ahh also was one of four Dodgers with a stolen base. Russell Martin nabbed one of those bags, matching the team record of 18 stolen bases by a catcher (first set by Con Daily in 1892). For the first time this...

Seattle 2, Angels 0 - After piling up the runs against the Detroit, the Halos couldn't connect in Seattle. Kelvim Escobar pitched all eight innings with seven strikeouts in the loss. Appropriately, Ichiro Suzuki had three hits, a run, and an RBI on Japanese Baseball Night. Rivalry Week - While LA develops a split personality disorder during that "other" rivalry week (Trojans-Bruins), the city unites in loathing of the San Francisco Giants whenever the ol'...

James Loney was a star pitcher in his high school in Houston. In his senior year of high school, he went 12-1 with 120 strikeouts in 69 innings pitched. More than once this season, he has been willing to pitch if asked. As unlikely as that may have seemed a few weeks ago, it looks like it could be a distinct possibility now. In the fifth inning in Wednesday’s night 2-1 loss to the...

Dodgers 5, Phillies 4 - Los Angeles recovered from a shellacking to take the series from Philadelphia 2-1. Andre Ethier and Luis Gonzalez both hit jacks and the team got strong support from the bullpen. Russell Martin stole his 17th base, one shy of the team's all time record for a catcher. Could he be a five tool player? Devil Rays 7, Angels 2 - The Angels have lost 11 of their last 17 (including...

The National League has not won an All-Star Game since 1996. But, as a Dodger fan, there were plenty of reasons to smile.

Dodgers 9, Marlins 3 - The Dodgers took out their slump frustrations on the Marlins, avoiding what would have been the first ever sweep by the Fish in Dodger Stadium. Russell Martin put on a clinic in the final game before the All Star break, reaching home on all three of his plate appearances. He smashed a two run homer in the first, singled and scored a run in the second, and notched his third...

This may be the first time anyone has ever heard me say this, but last night the Dodgers lost and I still feel like a winner. My sheer joy was a gift from a generous benefactor who will be referred to as JC, not only because those are his initials but also because he is now holier than Christ himself. JC hooked us up with seats in the Dugout Club, which is where I...

Monday night came news that Nomar Garciapopup would be the third baseman in the near future. Who knew the near future meant Tuesday?