Luis Gonzalez spoke with Dan Patrick on KLAC-AM (570) today and had this to say about the idea of a split clubhouse:
"It was not as bad as the media made it out to seem. That was not the issue."
Then Patrick asked what was the issue, and here's Gonzo's answer:
"We went away from a game plan. We had no game plan.
"If you look at our record, we had the best record in the National League at the All-Star break. And we brought up a lot of young kids, and when they brought the kids up, they did well. There's no doubt these are all great young players. They were hitting .340, .350. Loney, Kemp, Martin, Ethier - they're all great players, but we weren't winning games. They're getting three and four hits, but you're not winning games.
"So in baseball a lot of times people look at the numbers instead of the results, and the results for us were we were not winning games, but that's what the organization wanted. They wanted to develop these young kids. And instead of us going out there and winning games, we ended up finishing in fourth place and the fans are ticked off, and the organization is now going to continue to this youth movement, which is great for them. I mean, they've got great young players."
Comments (6)
What is Gonzalez talking about? The losing is about PITCHING, not the kids or the vets. Lowe nagged by injuries, Penny fading (to some extent at least), Wolf felled by injury, too many starts by Tomko, Hendrickson, Loaiza and Wells, Broxton getting fatigued (maybe). How is playing Nomar and Gonzalez more (Kent never lost his full-time starters job) going to change any of that? Good riddance Luis, don't let the door whack you on the backside on your way out to a DH job with the Baltimore Orioles.
Posted by El Lay Dave | October 15, 2007 9:10 PM
Posted on October 15, 2007 21:10
Some numbers that show the Dodger pitching decline, comparing the second half to the first:
eam ERA rose 0.83
K/BB ratio dropped from 2.51:1 to 2.04:1
HR/9 rose from 0.72 to 1.13
WHIP rose from 1.294 to 1.424.
Posted by El Lay Dave | October 15, 2007 9:24 PM
Posted on October 15, 2007 21:24
Clearly the problem was the young players dragging the team down with all of their production. The suckitude of the old, washed up veterans didn't have anything to do with the losing.
Good luck on your quest to hang on for another four years and rack up enough weak singles to get to 3,000 hits, Gonzo. You (and your "veteran leadership")certainly won't be missed in Los Angeles.
Posted by Chris H | October 15, 2007 10:32 PM
Posted on October 15, 2007 22:32
There is no way to respond to such an idiotic comment.
Baseball is partly about numbers, Gonzo. Like, how many runs you score in a game vs. how many runs they score. There's no premium put on players who have "been there." You have to cross the plate more times than they do.
Hits are part of it. Matt Kemp and James Loney were better than you during your time together because they got more hits and produced more runs as a result. You hit a few home runs, sure. But you also hit a lot of pop-ups. Pop-ups don't win games, even if Jesus Christ is hitting them.
With Grady Little trotting out the likes of Brett Tomko, Roberto Hernandez, Esteban Loiza and Mark Hendrickson to pitch, and backing them up with feeble fielders like Juan Pierre and, uh, you, they let a lot of runs score. More than the offense scored. So, you lost.
See, that's how it works! Numbers do matter!
Posted by dzzrtRatt | October 15, 2007 10:57 PM
Posted on October 15, 2007 22:57
Hello McFly? Anyone home!??
Gonzo is in la-la-land. He needs to take a course in logic, because he has very little of it in his arguments.
vr, Xei
Posted by Xeifrank | October 16, 2007 10:57 AM
Posted on October 16, 2007 10:57
Dear, darling Gonzo:
You were once extraordinary. How sad.
-- Love, R.
Posted by Rob McMillin | October 17, 2007 8:42 PM
Posted on October 17, 2007 20:42