Three hours to go until havoc time - get those checkbooks ready!

Since we last met, Doc Rivers has learned that his family doesn’t want him home too much of the time, so he is re-upping with Boston, which could mean Paul Pierce will return and that the Celtic demise was premature.

Also, though yesterday it seemed pretty sure that LeBum was moving to south Florida, stuff today seems to indicate that my original prognostication from two years ago that he would be playing in Brooklyn, may still have life. That forecast was made while the old ownership was still in place, and when their move from NJ seemed to be on track to happen sooner. But today I think the Heat is not such a sure thing, and Brooklyn, and probably still Chicago, remain in the running.

Of course the biggest event in bb today is the rumor that Phil Jackson WILL be back at Staples for one more season. So, all the Lakers really need is to re-sign Derrick Fisher, find his new backup, and fill in the holes left by the exit of Josh Powell, Shannon Brown, DJ Mbenga and Alan Morrison, as well as Jordan Farmar. Trading Lamar Odom, which is still likely, may present a bigger obstacle with no Paul Pierce on the market, and little $$$$ room for the likes of a Carlos Boozer-type. Then, there are today’s Carmelo Anthony trade rumors as well.

On another note, if Vinny Del Negro is at all interested in coaching the Clippers, SNAP HIM UP!!

theHoundDawg

Tags: Lakers |Clippers |phil Jackson

The three games in SF to start this week provided a monumental step up for the Dodgers, on several fronts.

Since briefly pulling into a tie with the Padres a couple of weeks ago, the Dodgers have been floundering, including the almost total tank in interleague play. The bullpen had been in shambles, and the 48-pitch losing effort by Jonathan Broxton on Sunday seemed to foretell worse days approaching. The horrible play and subsequent benching of the team’s most talented player, Matt Kemp, seemed to be a microcosm of the entire team as far as overall play and attitude.

With all this, the Dodgers headed to SF and three games with the second-place Giants, likely without the option of Broxton in the bullpen, and the big question of the health of Chad Billingsley coming off the DL to start game one, followed by the recently inconsistent John Ely in game two, and then with Vicente Padilla making his thirdd start since returning, in game three.

Well, game one saw Billingsley pitch an excellent six innings, with fine relief following him, including a save from Hong-Chih Kuo. Tuesday saw Ely in fine form, plus a save from Ronald Belasario. But, the game also saw an injury to Manny, who is now likely day-to-day for a couple of weeks. But that injury meant a return to the lineup for Matt Kemp. He responded with two hits yesterday, but he followed that up today with three hits, including his 13th HR, 3RBI, and perhaps a re-awakening. Padilla was also in top form, giving up three hits and a run in seven. The bullpen, no thanks to George Sherrill, managed to hold on to most of an 8-1 lead.

This series could be a turning point in a so far erratic season. Healthy returns by Rafael Furcal, Billingsley and Padilla have been key, but Matt Kemp has to be the offensive leader the rest of the way.

theHoundDawg

Tags: Dodgers |Manny |Jonathan Broxton

Next season is now, and the future of the Lakers depends on PJ coming back. If rumors from south Florida are true and LeBum and Chris Bosh will be joining Wade with the Heat, once again to be coached by Pat Riley, keeping Phil is the only way the Lakers can do it again next season.

If he leaves, Byron Scott is a shoe-in to replace him, and that will spell doom for the Lakers. He is not the coach that some people seem to think he is, and he will not do well in LA. If Phil stays another year, not only will he have a great chance to lead the Lakers to that third straight title, but in the interim Scott will likely accept another spot, and the Lakers will look elsewhere in 2012. Too bad Brian Shaw seems to be in line for the Cav job, as he is number two on the Laker list and I feel has a much better coaching future than Scott, though no coach will be successful with a LeBum-less Cleveland for at least the next five years.

On another note, my guess is that Lamar Odom has played his last game with the Lakers, that Paul Pierce is through in Boston, and that the Lakers will make signing Pierce one of two priorities. The other will be a backup point guard, as Jordan Farmar will also be leaving.

In Boston, it looks like Doc Rivers is gone, and with Pierce elsewhere and with Rasheed Wallace retired, this Celtic team's time has passed, and serious rebuilding is in order.

theHoundDawg

Tags: Lakers |phil Jackson

Throughout his tenure with the scumstripes, Joe Torre was perhaps criticized more for his handling of his pitching staff, and in particular his bullpen, than for any other aspect of his game. As the Dodgers looked like they were assured of taking two-out-of-three from those same scumstripes this weekend, it was Torre’s handling of the pen that again did him, and the Dodgers, in.

Totally wasting a fine effort from Clayton Kershaw, not to mention 5-0 and 6-2 leads, Torre chose to leave usually stellar closer Jonathan Broxton in throughout a disastrous ninth inning, throwing 48 pitches, and allowing four runs. Even a casual observer knew Broxton did not have it tonight, when he entered the game throwing 92 and 93 MPH fastballs, rather than his usual 96-98 “warm-up” throws. I don’t think he ever exceeded the occasional 97, let alone his usual upper-level range of 99-100. I guess Joe just didn’t see it, or was hoping Broxton would suddenly “click”, but the only “clicking” that was heard was the sound of scumstripe cleats hitting the plate, as they scored the four tying runs in the ninth.

Besides blowing a key game the Dodgers seemingly had locked up, Broxton now should not be anywhere near the mound for perhaps the first two games of the important series against the second-place Giants. The good news is that Chad Billingsley is back from the DL and rehab to start tomorrow.

The Angels start a series with Texas, that getting close to the midway point and the All-Star break, is key to their team morale, not to mention the numbers game, as they continue to trail the Rangers by 4-1/2. Eric Aybar returning much sooner than anticipated was a big boost, as was the return of Jeff Mathis from his group of injuries. The Angels should now settle down with a more steady lineup of Mathis behind the plate and Mike Napoli at 1B. And, that grand slam hit by Brandon Wood should give him some confidence, and just maybe it will be the start of some consistent offense form the perennial can’t miss untouchable prospect.

In a season that has seen my pick to win it all, the Red Sox, go into the season with health issues involving key players, that saw them lose new CF Mike Cameron for an extended period, that saw them lose LF Jacoby Ellsbury for basically the entire first half, if not more, and that saw an ineffective Josh Becket go on the DL with no real timetable for his return, it got much worse the past couple of days. Frist, Dustin Pedroia, who also had missed a few games with minor injuries, broke a bone in his left foot. Then Clay Buchholz hyper-extened a knee on the basepaths, where he should not have been and would not have been were it not for interleague play, and then to top it all off, today Vic Martinez broke his thumb.

The Angels have a steep mountain to climb without Kendry Morales, but the Red Sox have Mt. Everest to climb with their hospital list.

theHoundDawg

Tags: Dodgers |scumstripes |Clayton Kershaw |Angels |Jonathan Broxton |Joe Torre |Kendry Morales

The NBA season is over, but the riot (i.e. jokes), continues:

1) The ludicrous NBA draft.

The NBA draft system is absurd. No team has their own draft pick, no team picks their own players. No trades, just pick the guy that other team wants; work it out later. Screw the fans - let them buy a scorecard next season.

What should be done is to require all those deals to be completed before a player is drafted by the team that doesn’t want him. How is very easy. There should be a rule that no drafted played can be traded for one year. Now how hard was that to fix?

2) Even more ridiculous is the Lebum circus - mature professionals, well established in their field, falling all over themselves to kiss-up to Mr. Conglomerate, who cares not an iota for team, but only for his marketing success and personal statistics, for the privilege of handing him perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars. Wherever he goes, the fans will revel in his stats, the coach will enter a path to termination, and the team will be vilified for not doing what else needed to be done that deprived Lebum of his rightful titles.

theHoundDawg

Tags: 2010 NBA Playoffs

Well, theHoundDawg just got back last night from four days in the bay area. Thanks to satellite radio and Tommy’s fabulous Mexican restaurant in SF, I didn’t miss too much LA sports.

Thursday eve in SF, I was able to hear some of the Laker finale on SiriusXM, and then at dinner at Tommy’s I had an excellent view of the TV for the fourth quarter. A great margarita, a great meal, and a sensational final quarter to the NBA season. As it was the City, as the game ended, the Warrior, Celtic and anti-LA fans that populated the place broke into a sustained round of silence, with a few rationed applause sounds from me and a couple of other brave souls. MrsHound remained silent so as not to enrage the masses.

On Sunday, as the afternoon turned into evening, driving home on the aromatic five, the sounds of Dodger baseball helped pass the time, though losing that third in a row to Boston was painful.

Even more painful was the fact the SiriusXM broadcasts of both the Laker-Celtic game (and the post-game we listened to after leaving Tommy’s) and the Dodger-Red Sox game were feeds of the Boston broadcasts, with Boston’s homer announcers, including the basketball color guy, the never-to-be forgotten Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell.

theHoundDawg

Tags: Dodgers |Lakers |2010 NBA Playoffs

Ah, for the good ole days when the prevailing sound from sc was silence.

The more the astoundingly arrogant uncle petey has to say, the more ridiculous he sounds, and likely the more the good folk in Seattle are having second thoughts, and I’m sure the more the dunderheads at 60 Minutes would like to burn the film of their blubbery tribute to the impeccable mr carroll from a year and a half ago (see my post “60 Minutes Disgrace - Pete Carroll Love Fest”, Dec. 14, 2008). The arrogance of this idiot - to again come out and say he had neither knowledge of the special treatment afforded his star players, nor of the total lack of institutional oversight of the goings on, boggles the educated mind, let alone the minds of sc students and alumni.

Even worse are the comments now flowing from the mouth of r bush. Lest you forget, the NCAA went out of its way to include in their 67 page report, the statement that “Bush and his family refused to cooperate with the investigation”. Now, bush has the gall, the arrogance, the audacity, to actually come out and say - while continuing to deny any wrongdoing, of course - that now, “all I can do is continue to try to help them and move forward with the situation.” Bush pledges to help USC fight NCAA sanctions. He has also said that he knows that he will not lose his Heisman. We’ll have to see about that.

For all you doubters out there, you have to read the definitive article, detailing the events of the bush-petey-timmy-m garrett years, written by then sc student and now ESPN correspondent Arash Markazi, entitled appropriately, USC turned a blind eye.

theHoundDawg

Tags: sc brain surgeons |pete carroll |NCAA |Timmy Floyd

Bye, Bye, Big 12; So long, Big 10; Pac 10, I knew you well.

Right now, they are the Big Nought, the Big 11, and the Pac 11. Tomorrow, they could be anything.

Colorado is now in the Pac [Insert Number of Your Choice Here]. So is Texas. No, wait - Texas is in the SEC! No, That’s Texas A & M. And it’s Texas Tech that’s in the Pac [Insert Number of Your Choice Here]. But aren’t Miami and Florida State now in the SEC? Well, Boise St and Kansas and Kansas State and Missouri are all in the Mountain West, aren’t they?

So if there are going to be four super-conferences and the conference champs play a four-team playoff for the National Championship, where does that leave Boise State? Or will that mean that the Mountain West must also be a super-conference? But won’t that make five of them? Then you’ll need even more conference champs for that playoff.

And how does the University of Memphis fit into all of this:

”FedEx CEO Fred Smith has spoken to various conference officials and made it known that his Memphis-based company could provide millions of dollars -- perhaps as much as $10 million annually -- to a BCS-affiliated league willing to offer an invitation to the University of Memphis, multiple sources close to the Memphis program have told CBSSports.com.” CBSSports.com, June 12, 2009.

What seems clear here, is the following:

• The super-conference movement will mean the end of the NCAA was we know it.
• That may work well for football, probably leading to a real national championship playoff system.
• It will be a disaster for college basketball - it could well mean the end of the NCAA Basketball Tournament as it has existed for the past several decades.
• It likely will lead to more and more major instances of failure of institutional oversight and flaunting of rules - with a weakened NCAA or a replacement organization monitoring the ever-powerful schools and conferences, what sc did, and got away with for six years, will be much more prevalent.

Who was it that said “Power Breeds Contempt”? OR was it “Power corrupts, Absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

theHoundDawg

Tags: NCAA |sc brain surgeons

So, I’m out walking the dogs late this morning, and as I feared, KSPN 710 - ESPN Radio in SoCal, is broadcasting a soccer game.

No brain surgeon aftermath. No Laker prognostications. No NCAA realignment banter. No Dodger-Angel interleague series discussion. Nothing of interest. Soccer.

As 710 is the only real sportstalk station in this area, I was doomed. I did try that other station that used to have some interesting talk, 570 (formerly 690) and they were broadcasting what they called a car show. All I heard for the five minutes or so I tried listening was one “commercial” after another for the hosts’ friends who just happen to sell cars.

Unfortunately, my only satellite receiver is in my car.

Also, later in the day, as I could not avoid hearing the score of the match between the US and the British, I must inquire: How in the world could ANY tournament game EVER be allowed to end in a TIE???

theHoundDawg

Tags: World Crap

THE REPORT is in, the sanctions have been announced, and justice, incredibly, has been done.

First, the official penalties:

• Postseason ban in football following the 2010 and 2011 seasons;
• Loss of 30 total football scholarships over the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons;
• Loss of all football victoriesfrom December 2004 through the 2005 season, including the national championship win over Oklahoma on Jan. 4, 2005;
• All statistics vacated for Bush, Mayo and an unnamed women’s tennis athlete in the games which the NCAA deemed them ineligible due to rules violations;
• Bush and Mayo must be "disassociated" from USC athletics;
• The acceptance of USC’s self-imposed penalties on its basketball program, which included a forfeiture of all wins in 2007-2008 and a one-year postseason ban;
• All titles won during ineligible games must be vacated and trophies and banners must be removed;
• The loss of wins in the women’s tennis program from May 2006 to May 2009, for long distance telephone violations committed by a student-athlete;
• A reduction of recruiting days for the men’s basketball program in 2010-2011; and
• Four years of probation.

On Page two of the report, the NCAA went out of its way state that Bush and his family refused to cooperate with the investigation.

So, what did the NCAA say about the brain surgeons’s athletic programs? Here are some excerpts from the 67 page report: [Note: Additional material added at 7:30 pm]

“The general campus environment surrounding the violations troubled the committee. At least at the time of the football violations, there was relatively little effective monitoring of, among others, football locker rooms and sidelines, and there existed a general post game locker room environment that made compliance efforts difficult. Further, in recent years, the NCAA has made efforts to encourage universities to curb excesses in the entertainment of prospective student-athletes making visits to college campuses so as to avoid a perception by prospects of special status or entitlement. Yet, in this case, the committee reviewed information that, during the official paid visit of a highly recruited football prospect, his host - student-athlete 1 [Bush] - did not pick up the prospect until nearly midnight the evening following a home football game and that he was taken out until the early morning hours. There also was information in the record that the assistant football coach knew that the prospect was not picked up until nearly midnight by student-athlete 1 [Bush] and that the prospect was taken to a club at which alcohol was served. These activities and others referred to during the hearing fostered an atmosphere in which student-athletes could feel entitled to special treatment and which almost certainly contributed to the difficulties of compliance staff in achieving a rules-compliant program.”

“During a telephone conversation in late 2004, student-athlete 1 [Bush] informed agency partner A that he (student-athlete 1) was embarrassed to drive his current vehicle, a pick-up truck, and wanted a different vehicle. Agency partner A [agency Bush had agreed to hire upon leaving sc] agreed to provide the cash to purchase a vehicle. A short while later, in December 2004, student-athlete 1 [Bush] located a vehicle he wanted, and agency partner A gave student-athlete 1's [Bush’s] stepfather several thousand dollars in cash for a down payment on the vehicle. Student-athlete 1 [Bush] later contacted agency partner A to request additional money needed to purchase wheel rims for the vehicle. Agency partner A then drove from San Diego to Los Angeles and gave student-athlete 1 [Bush] an additional several thousand dollars in cash. Approximately one week later, agency partner A gave student-athlete 1 [Bush] another sizable cash payment, which the student-athlete used for a car alarm and audio system.”

"In the fall of 2004, while student-athlete 1 [Bush] was competing for the institution, student-athlete 1's [Bush’s] step-father and agency partner A discussed the formation of a sports agency and marketing company featuring student-athlete 1 [Bush] . Subsequently, student-athlete 1 [Bush] entered into an agreement with sports agency partners A and B to establish a sports agency to negotiate future marketing and professional sports contracts. Shortly after the agreement was reached to form a sports agency, student-athlete 1 [Bush] and his family began asking for financial and other assistance from agency partners A and B. Thus, began a pattern of impermissible benefits provided by agency partners A and B to student-athlete 1 [Bush] and his family." Some of what this included was the following: 1) "In January 2005, at the request of the parents, agency partner A instructed his former brother-in-law to arrange round-trip airline transportation between San Diego and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, a value of approximately $1,200, for the parents and for the brother of student-athlete 1 [Bush] to attend the Orange Bowl." 2) "In early March 2005, after a request from student-athlete 1 to attend a former NFL player's ("former NFL player") birthday party in San Diego, agency partner A contacted agency partner B to arrange for student-athlete 1 to use a room in a hotel near the venue where the birthday party was held. On the night of March 5, 2005, agency partner A provided cost- free round-trip limousine service for student-athlete 1 to travel from the hotel to the San Diego nightclub where the birthday party was held." The biggie: 3) "In March 2005 and after his parents were asked by their landlord to vacate their Paradise Valley Road residence, student-athlete 1's [Bush’s] parents and agency partners A and B agreed that agency partner B. would purchase a property located in Spring Valley for the parents. The written agreement called for the parents to pay agency partner B $1,400 per month (of the approximately $4,500 monthly cost) plus utilities until such time when student-athlete 1 [Bush] would pay the difference to agency partners A and B with money from the income he would earn once he became a professional athlete. However, the parents resided at the property at no cost until April 2006. In the spring of 2005, agency partner B provided the parents with approximately $10,000 in cash to purchase furniture for the Spring Valley residence. In April 2005, the mother of agency partner A ("agency partner A's mother") purchased a washer and dryer for the parents."

“From December 2004 through March 2009, the institution exhibited a lack of control over its department of athletics by its failure to have in place procedures to effectively monitor the violations of NCAA amateurism, recruiting and extra benefit legislation in the sports of football, men's basketball and women's tennis. As a result, three different agents and/or their associates committed violations regarding student-athletes 1 and 2. Particular instances of lack of institutional control were exhibited in deficiencies in the following areas alleged by the enforcement staff: a) monitoring of student-athlete 1's automobile registration; b) monitoring of student-athlete 1's employment at the office of a sports marketing agent; c) involvement of boosters and agents in the recruiting process; d) monitoring the number of countable coaches in the football program; and e) monitoring long distance telephone calls made from the department of athletics.”

Too bad all this come down on sc. They had run such a clean, upstanding athletic department until petey came on board. Oh, wait!. NOT SO: “This was the institution's sixth major infractions case. Most recently, the institution appeared before the committee in June 2001 for a case involving the football and women's swimming programs. Accordingly, USC is considered a "repeat violator" under NCAA Bylaw19.5.2.3. The institution also had infractions cases in 1986, 1982, 1959 and 1957, all of which involved its football program.”

We now await the BCS to remove the brain surgeons from that ill-gotten championship, and the Heisman people to send UPS to pick-up Bush’s stolen trophy. And how long will Mike Garrett have a job?

theHoundDawg

Tags: sc brain surgeons |pete carroll |NCAA

Rumors abound - but we will know tomorrow.

The LA Times just reported loss of 20 scholarships, two-year bowl ban, and what else??????

Can’t wait ’til tomorrow.

10:00 pm update - ESPN reports forfeiture of 2004 wins.

theHoundDawg

Tags: sc brain surgeons |NCAA

In this electronic age, where most human activity is monitored, recorded, and evaluated, where technology is able to observe and record minute actions millions of miles away, where the NFL can show an instant replay of every movement on their field, from 20 separate angles, within seconds of the plays’ completion, how can it be that:

1) An experienced MLB umpire’s blown call - shown to be incorrect seconds afterward, can deprive a pitcher of the immortality of a perfect game, and

2) In what could have been a decisive play in the closing minuted of an NBA Finals game, NBA refs, unsure of a call, can use that same replay to determine which player last touched a ball knocked out of bounds, but when that replay shows an obvious but previously missed foul, that would change possession, they must ignore the obvious foul, but award possession based on the content of the replay.

This is absurd.

We all know the extremely limited use of replay in major league baseball, and how that ridiculous position deprived, barely a week ago, Armando Galarraga from registering a perfect game. There is no justification for archaic rules that prohibit using everyday equipment to overturn what is wrong, to produce the correct outcome.

In the final couple of minutes of tonight’s Laker-Celtic game, with the score close and the outcome not yet determined, under the Celtic basket, a ball was knocked out of bounds. The referees gathered and agreed it was a play to view on replay in order to determine ONLY who last touched the ball. As millions of TV viewers watched, the referees saw two things - that the ball last went off the arm of Laker Lamar Odom, and that he lost the ball out of bounds because he was fouled.

What did the rules of the NBA require? That the ball be awarded to Boston, because the refs had to use the reply to see who last touched the ball and that the refs had to ignore the obvious foul that caused the ball to leave Odom’s grasp and tumble across the out-of-bounds line.

Why can’t the concept of GETTING IT RIGHT be the most important factor in refereeing and umpiring sporting events where millionaire players are performing at the behest of billionaire owners, for the entertainment of hundreds of millions of fans.

theHoundDawg

Tags: 2010 NBA Playoffs

Perhaps I was too harsh on soccer fans actually interested in the world cup.

In case you can not wait for the games to start, or will unfortunately be too busy to watch all the action (action?), here is a preview of the thrill-a-minute excitement the games promise to deliver:

theHoundDawg

Tags: World Crap

John Wooden passed away this evening at age 99.

He was the greatest coach in American sports history, a teacher and philosopher whose deeply held faith and belief in always putting others before him guided his life. He was a genuinely nice man, whose former players loved and adored him, and continued relationships with him to his dying day.

My four years at UCLA were the first four years of his unbelievable run of seven consecutive NCAA basketball championships (which eventually would become part of 10 titles in 12 years). I attended almost every home game over those four years. I didn't get to many games over the next ten years or so, but I've had UCLA basketball season tickets for the past 25+ years, and almost never missed a game until my wife's health problems worsened in 2003. Coach Wooden almost never missed a game either. He sat in the same seat a few rows behind the UCLA bench for almost every game from his retirement until his health declined a few short years ago. You did not have to look hard to find him - there was always an orderly, respectful line of people, young and old, waiting to say hello and ask for an autograph. He never declined and he never asked to be paid for signing his name.

He was devoted to his family, especially his wife, Nell, to whom he was married 53 years until her death in 1985. In the early 2000s, UCLA officials wanted to name the Pauley Pavilion basketball court after him. He would not hear of it, until they agreed to name it the "Nell & John Wooden Court".

He wrote several books on his philosophies of living life and in gaining success in your chosen path. He was famous for his Pyramid of Success, and for the many, many maxims that he could recite when appropriate, even into his late 90s. Here are a few of them:

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

Be quick, but don’t hurry.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.

If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.

Never mistake activity for achievement.

Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

RIP, Coach.

theHoundDawg

Tags: UCLA |Deaths

The steroid era of major league baseball is officially over.

Rest in peace, hitters. Pitching is king.

With a bare third of the season having been completed, Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga today came within a single out (and a clearly wrong umpire’s call) of pitching the third perfect game and fourth no-hitter of the season.

The much maligned Dodger pitching staff is currently on a streak of 31 consecutive scoreless innings, after completing consecutive 1-0 extra-inning 1-0 wins.

Four teams currently have team ERAs lower than last years major league low 3.41, which was posted by those same Dodger pitchers.

There will still be a lot of home runs hit, and a lot of long home runs, but overall the tide has turned, and the days of multiple 50+ home run totals in a single season are history; the days of a Brady Anderson breaking that 50 level are over. It’s doubtful that there will be a return to the pitching dominance of 1968 when a single American League hitter broke .300 (Carl Yastrzemski at .301) and the National League’s league ERA was 2.99, led by Bob Gibson’s 1.12, but when the Mets can throw three consecutive shutouts against the Phillies as they did last week, hitters are struggling and there is no quick, or legal, remedy in sight.

The great pitching being turned in by Clayton Kershaw, with little to show for it, is reminiscent of another great pitcher of the pitching-dominant 60s - former Dodger Claude Osteen. Last season Kershaw made 30 starts, compiled a 2.79 ERA, threw consistently well, had a solid offense behind him - solid by 2009 standards - yet won only eight games. This year he started out with similar results: good efforts, few wins. Overshadowed by Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, Osteen was one of the finest pitches of his era. Season after season he started 37, 38, 39, 40 games per season, pitched 250 to 300 innings, compiled stellar ERAs (3.30 lifetime ERA), yet struggled to end most seasons at .500. His lifetime won-lost record? 196 wins, 195 loses. Kershaw deserves a better fate.

theHoundDawg

Tags: Dodgers |Clayton Kershaw