Tim Wallach Joins Dodgers Coaching Staff?

According to Dylan Hernandez of  the Los Angeles Times, Tim Wallach has signed a contract to be on the Dodgers coaching staff in 2011. Although Ken Gurnick at MLB.com is reporting that he was only verbally promised a role on the Dodgers' coaching staff, and will join the team if he doesn't land a Major League managing job.

Wallach's role on the staff has not been determined, but he's likely to be third base coach or batting coach. Wallach was the Dodgers batting coach in 2004 and 2005, and became the Albuquerque Isotopes manager in 2009.

OK, so they don't hire Wallach to manage the team, but they give him a job coaching. Fine. I, like a lot of Dodger fans, wanted Wallach to be the next manager. He has the managerial experience and would have been the right hire for the position. I guess this is the next best thing.

This seems like a consolation prize for the man who deserved to win the gig. And it feels like an insurance move for the Dodgers. If Don Mattingly fails, at least they have the right guy sitting on the bench to take his place.

Dodgerbobble In Fan Appreciation Weekend Commercial

Back on August 3, I was part of a commercial shoot at Dodger Stadium. I won a Twitter Tuesday contest held by @dodgertownusa, and the prize was to be part of the shoot.

While shooting, we used different promotional items, so it was pretty obvious it would be for different commercials. On August 20, I posted the second commercial I was in. Since then, I've been in two others. This is the fourth and final commercial I saw myself in. It was for Fan Appreciation Weekend at Dodger Stadium. The same shot of me and my wife were used in the last three commercials.

I saw this commercial so many times during the last week of Dodger baseball. It was pretty exciting seeing myself on tv.

2008 SP "BY THE LETTER" Matt Kemp Autograph

I've had a few yellow bubble envelopes come my way over the last few weeks. One of my most recent ebay pickups is this 2008 SP "BY THE LETTER" Matt Kemp autograph card. This is a  signed letter "M" numbered 61/99.

I wanted a Matt Kemp autograph card for a while, and I thought these cards looked so cool. Now, I don't know if I'm gonna pick up any more of the letters, but if I decide not to, I think the "M" is the one to have.

I now have a Matt Kemp autographed bobblehead and card. I need to get my Dodger team ball signed by him next.

Anyways, I also picked up a 2007 Upper Deck Premier Shawne Merriman Premier Remnants Game Used card.

While searching for the Kemp card, I stumbled across this complete Chad Billingsley set. $600 for the entire master set, which is way out of my price range.

It's beautiful

What's Up Doc?

Congratulation to Roy Halladay on throwing the second no hitter in playoff history.

As much as I hate the Phillies, I do have a soft spot in my heart for Doc Halladay. After suffering for years in the Great White North with the Blue Jays, he finally gets a shot at the playoffs with the Phils. And what does he do in his first playoff appearance? He throws a no-no.

Welcome to the postseason Roy Halladay.

2011 Dodger Bobblehead Predictions

With the Dodger season finally over, it's time to look forward to 2011. I'm not gonna talk about the team right now. I'll save that for another day. Today I wanna take a crack at predicting next year's bobblehead giveaways.

This year the Dodgers gave away four bobbleheads, Andre Ethier, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton and Matt Kemp. It was Kemp's second bobblehead in two years. I think it's safe to assume Kemp will not get a bobblehead three years in a row. The other three didn't have spectacular seasons, so they probably won't get bobbleheads again in 2011 either.

So who will get nodders next year?

The Dodgers have given away four bobbleheads each year for the last three years. Let's assume they keep up this trend. I think they start with the newest Dodger, manager Don Mattingly. They gave Joe Torre a bobblehead in 2008. What better way to make Donnie Baseball feel like a Dodger than to give him a bobblehead?

Who's next? Well, most of the offensive players have recieved bobbleheads over the last three seasons, so I think the Dodger go with three pitchers in 2011. The first one will be Chad Billingsley. He finished 2010 nicely and has been solid for the team over the last few years. Chad's a beast. He deserves a bobblehead.

The third bobblehead will be Hong Chih Kuo. Kuo had an amazing 2010 season, finishing the season with a 3-2 record, leading all Major League relievers with a 1.20 ERA. That 1.20 ERA set a new record for a Dodger pitchers in a season, previously held by Eric Gagne. In 56 appearances out of the bullpen, he pitched 60.0 innings, struck out 73 walking just 18 while converting 12 saves in 13 chances. He also became the first Taiwanese-born player to play in the All-Star game. I think the Dodger will honor his All-Star appearance with a bobblehead, although most Dodger fans would like to see him honored with a bat flip bobblehead.  Mike at thelfp.com showed us what it could look like:

The last bobblehead the Dodgers will give away in 2011 will be Clayton Kershaw. The "Ace" of the staff must be honored. Kersh really stepped it up in 2010, finishing his third major league season with a record of 13-10, an ERA of 2.91, 32 starts, 204 1/3 innings and 212 strikeouts. His wins, starts, innings and strikeouts are all career highs. He deserves a bobblehead, right?

So those are my 2011 Dodger bobblehead predictions. Any thoughts? Is there someone more deserving?  Let me know.

Brad Ausmus Retires

After playing 18 seasons in the majors, catcher Brad Ausmus retired today. In his last game, he went 2 for 4 with a single in his final at bat. He was removed for pinch runner Chin-lung Hu in the eighth inning. The crowd then gave him a standing ovation.

Ausmus:

“I’ve never been an offensive player and to go out like that is great. There’s an old saying in baseball. You’re only as good as your last at bat. I think I’ll stick with that.”

Well said. Good luck to Brad Ausmus, I'm sure he'll have more time to hit the waves now.

From the Dodgers Press Release:

Ausmus started this afternoon's contest between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, catching the 1,938th and last game of his career. The number leaves him all alone in seventh place on the all-time list, 10 games behind Tony Pena. The next closest active player to Ausmus is the Yankees' Jorge Posada, who has caught 1,573 after today.


Prior to the Dodgers' game against the Arizona Diamondbacks a video tribute to Ausmus was shown on DodgerVision and he was presented by Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti with a unique catching helmet that highlighted his career by featuring all of the key milestones and achievements, as designed by renowned artist David Arrigo.

The 41-year-old backstop headed into his final game with a .251 career average in 1,970 contests. The native of Connecticut and Dartmouth graduate has collected 1,577 career hits, 80 home runs, 607 RBI, 718 runs and 102 stolen bases in 18 seasons with the Padres (1993-96), Tigers (1996, 1999-2000), Astros (1997-98, 2001-08) and Dodgers (2009-10).

Ausmus is a three-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, earning the honor for National League catchers while with Houston in 2001, 2002 and 2006. Among active catchers with at least 600 games played, he is tied for fifth with a .994 career fielding percentage behind Mike Redmond (.996), Joe Mauer (.996), A.J. Pierzynski (.995) and Yorvit Torrealba (.995). He ranks third in big league history with 12,829 putouts as a catcher, trailing only Ivan Rodriguez (14,611) and Jason Kendall (13,019).

Ausmus has spent the last two seasons working with the Dodger pitching staff and helping mentor young catchers Russell Martin and A.J. Ellis. Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti re-signed Ausmus this past January after witnessing his influence on the 2009 National League West champions.

"While the majority of his career was played in uniforms other than the Dodgers, his presence and positive impact on the team and the organization are greatly appreciated," said Colletti. "His talent, thought process, wit and candor will be missed by all who had the opportunity to know him as a teammate and a friend during his 18 years in the Major Leagues. The Dodger organization wishes him continued success and good health in the next chapters of his career."
In 18 seasons, Ausmus hit the disabled list just one time and that came earlier this season when he had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back. Prior to the injury, Ausmus held a streak of the most consecutive seasons of not going on the DL among all active players.

Ausmus played 10 of his 18 big league seasons with the Astros, including from 2001-08. He was Houston's Opening Day catcher for nine of those seasons, including 2003-08. Ausmus is Houston's all-time leader for catchers with 1,243 games and 1,119 starts. He had started at least 100 games at catcher for 11 straight seasons until starting 62 behind the plate in 2008.

Including 2009, when he did not appear in any of the Dodgers' eight playoff games, Ausmus has been a part of six postseasons, including one World Series appearance in 2005 with Houston. He was an American League All-Star with Detroit in 1999, when he started 121 games, threw out 32 of 91 potential base stealers (35.2 percent) and established career highs with a .275 batting average, nine home runs, and 54 RBI.

Ausmus was the recipient of the 2006 Darryl Kile Award presented by the Houston chapter of the BBWAA, which is given annually to the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros player who best exemplifies Kile's traits of "a good teammate, a great friend, a fine father and a humble man."

In 2009, Ausmus was Joe Torre's acting manager for the regular-season finale Oct. 4 vs. Colorado, a game in which the Dodgers won, 5-3. This year, Torre gave the reigns to the veteran backstop on Friday night and then Dodger infielder Jamey Carroll named Ausmus as his bench coach for last night's game.

Ausmus was originally selected by the Yankees in the 48th round of the 1987 First-Year Player Draft. He lives in Del Mar, CA with his wife Liz and their daughters Sophie (12) and Abigail (11).

My Last Vin Scully Fix of 2010

The 2010 Dodger season comes to an end today. I haven't watched a full nine-inning game in weeks. It's been too hard to watch this Dodger team play.

After making it to the NLCS the last two years, the Dodgers will be watching the playoffs on TV this time around.  This has been a disaster of a season. There's much to talk about, and I will do a season review later in the week.

There was one good thing about the 2010 season though, listening to Vin Scully call games. As always, it was pleasure listening to the  greatest sports broadcaster of all time paint pictures with his words.

In a year when the Dodgers hurt the fans with their  horrible play, Vin Scully's velvety voice was soothing and seemed to make it all tolerable. So, on the last day of the season, I will sit down and watch all nine innings of today's Dodger game. Not for the play on the field, but to hear Vin Scully's voice one last time in 2010.