Meh, I had a writeup 95% done twice now, and my comp has froze. No way I'm falling for that again, so instead you guys get links to these articles:

Dodgerthoughts roster article
Dodgers.com article

My prediction for this year's team - 90-72 and NL West division champs, and probably lose first round of playoffs (barring picking up an ace at some point in the year, or Kershaw making a Lincecum-esque jump forward this year).

I was born in LA and grew up watching the Dodgers and listening to Vin Scully as a little kid. Then I moved away when I was 11, became sort of a Reds fan for a few years, but I never stopped liking the Dodgers and ultimately they became my number one team again (and always will be).

A couple of months ago, I got the opportunity to move the Central Coast of California with the Air Force. I'll be here less than a year, but the chance to go to Chavez Ravine this year and the chance to watch Dodger baseball is something that I've been greatly looking forward to. Two nights ago, I watch almost all nine innings of the Dodgers/Angels preseason game. Yes, I watched almost an entire preseason game. I don't think I've watched nine innings of a baseball game in years, but that's how excited I was about watching Dodger baseball with Vin Scully on the mike. I only wish he could announce forever.

As far as this year's team is concerned, I think they'll probably win about 88-90 games and win the West. I wish I could see them going all the way to the World Series and winning it, but like Patrick said, I just don't think the pitching is there. Barring a midseason trade, Jason Schmidt coming back and being pitcher we thought he would be, or Billingsley, Kersahw and McDonald pitching out of their minds, I think we probably lose in the NLCS. I'm really happy that we're competitive again though.

im really really excited for the dodgers offense this season. We are definitely going against what we normally do. (strong pitching, weak hitting) I think the key to the dodger's season will hinge on kershaw and wolf pitching well. I can't wait to see what James mcdonald has to bring to the table. I think that it will come down to the dodgers and arizona again but our hitting will prove to be too much. i predict 92 wins this season. LETS GO DODGERSSSSSSSSSS

Good start to the year. Kuroda looked pretty good until he tired in the 6th, and we beat Peavy which is a minor miracle (13-1 lifetime vs LAD going into today). I'm intrigued by the news that Matt Kemp got contacts; maybe he won't swing through so many fastballs this year and take the next forward in his career.

I'm quite happy about the Kemp news, partly b/c I own him in a fantasy league that counts strikeouts, so I need him to cut those down if he's gonna be useful. That said, I'm really excited to see if he can take that next step forward and be the superstar people have been predicting for years.

Obviously beating Peavy today was huge. Kuroda looked solid and while we had to use our bullpen a little bit more than would have been ideal, they were up to the task. Ethier continues to impress hitting behind Manny and Furcal and Hudson look like they're gonna be awesome table setters.

All things considered, I'm very excited. I just hope the pitching holds up.

Wolf looked ok, but like Kuroda he tired in the 6th and they did a poor job of anticipating it. The umpire's zone was inconsistent for both sides, so that was kind of annoying. Hopefully Bills get his season off to a good start; last year he was slow out of the gate, partly because of that fluke rain out game vs the Giants early on that messed up his schedule.

Good win; Bills looked decent, but like Wolf and Kuroda he faded in the 5th. Games at Petco are so boring, but it could be just the team.

I think it probably has to do with Petco. I keep hearing folks on ESPN and ESPN.com talk about how great the Dodger lineup is and how it's the best/deepest in baseball. I'd say Petco has really been holding us back this week. We'll get a better idea of where we stand in the coming weeks.

lol, who would that be?

He's right; the lineup has been hyped up but so was the Tigers last year.

4-3 road trip to start the year is acceptable I guess, but I am more than a little worried about the bullpen. If Kuo had a rubber arm and could pitch the 8th every day I wouldn't be worried, but he can't so they are stuck with guys like Mota and Wade. Wade was fantastic last year, but hasn't looked too good since ST started.

Manny off to somewhat of a slow start, but he's been walked a ton. Hudson has looked good, and I love hearing Vin Scully say O Dog over and over.

What time does the Giants/Dodgers game begin tonight?

Going on right now...0-0 bottom of 2.

Yawn, thanks for being a part of Dodgers history '09 Giants. I thought Wes Parker would have the only cycle forever, that was cool to see.

On a positive SF note, you'll win a road game eventually.

I hope so.

Hopefully Cain will pitch well today....

Cain's not going to be doing any pitching today. And tomorrow, he'll probably get shelled.

meh, it's weird that they played a game then had a day off, and then play tomorrow. I find it odd that they took a break after the first game of a series.

I caught a little bit of Monday's broadcast and Vin Scully said that they schedule an open date after a home opener in case of weather on the day of the scheduled game. That way, if they need to postpone they can just play it the next day. Kinda makes sense.

Kershaw versus Cain tonight. Two very good young pitchers. Hopefully it'll be a good game.

what an interesting game tonight. Kershaw pitches his heart out with 14 strikeouts. Then the blowpen comes in and instantly blows it. Im really glad we got the win but this is going to be a long year with this pitching staff.

I'm actually very encouraged by the last two nights. Billingsley and Kershaw pitched great. Kershaw has been awesome so far and hasn't really exhibited any of the growing pains I was afraid we might see. There are going to be nights in any season when the bullpen blows it. Kuo has been very good for us out of the bullpen, so I'm not really worried about him. Comeback wins are always good to get too. It shows the character of a team. This is the most excited I've been about a Dodger team in recent memory.

The Giants offense makes a lot of pitchers look good, unfortunately. Billingsley and Kershaw are good, but not that good.

billingsley is very good

FYP

If you think that Billingsley and Kershaw are not that good then you have no idea about baseball. They are both amazing pitchers.

And if Kershaw can keep this up, the Dodgers will be a World Series contender.

They both have great stuff, but walk far too many people - especially kershaw. They will be studs a few years down the line when they learn how to "pitch" and not just "throw". However, right now, they are not "amazing pitchers" as you say - just good pitchers with a lot of potential.

Lol, not against the Giants. 18 bbs and 72 ks on the year thus far for Giants hitters; that is some impressive discipline. The Nats have struck out once more, but have also drawn 15 more walks or so.

Your inclusion of Billingsley in that comment is off base and not supported by the numbers, let alone what the eye can see. Last year he had 4 less walks allowed then your golden boy Lincecum, in 25 or so less innings. Not really that big of a disparity. Control has not been a major issue for Billingsley for a while now, which anyone that has watched him pitch regularly could tell you. I think most people believe he is a stud right now, not a few years down the line. 16-10 w/ a 3.14 ERA and 200+ strikeouts is pretty good in a baseball era where few pitchers win 20 games anymore.

Kershaw however, does need to refine his control. He falls behind too many hitters, throws too many pitches to get outs, and limits his time in the game. Pretty much how Chad was when he came up as well. His stuff is obviously fantastic and it is easy to see why scouts/gms/baseball people are so high on him, but he is not quite there yet. As much as I enjoyed his performace last night, he won't have the luxury of facing minor league caliber hitters and guys past their prime every start. He fell behind 2-0 quite a bit and then was helped out by weak fly outs etc etc.

On a side note, the 'pitch/throw' comment reminded me of something Joe Morgan would say; thanks for the chuckle.

Stults is basically a AAAA pitcher (not quite good enough at MLB level), so tonight should be a fair matchup vs Zito and the Giants lineup. I actually have a feeling Zito pitches well tonight vs the Dodgers, but we shall see.

I didn't mean to insinuate that Billingsley and Kershaw are at the same stage of development, just that they both have had control problems and have not reached their full potential yet. Billingsley had 80 walks last year in 200 innings...i've always heard that a good ratio is 3 innings per 1 walk, no?

Yeah...my baseball vernacular has been heavily influenced by guys like joe morgan, jon miller and of course kruk and kuip.

Billingsley has had his control problems in the past, but that's mostly behind him now. Sure, he walks a few more guys than we'd like him too, but he'll never be an extreme control pitcher. I'm very happy with where he is in his development. I think he's a staff ace right now.

Kershaw will probably struggle with his control all year. As PMJ said, he won't have the benefit of facing minor league caliber lineups every day. In two years or less, he WILL be a staff ace though.

Pitching was the issue with this teams coming into the season and while I've been encouraged by what I've seen so far, we haven't exactly been facing the Cubs and Mets. I think this team will struggle at times to get enough people out, but fortunately we won't struggle to score runs like we have so often in the past.

I still expect Colletti to make another move or two to shore up the pitching staff before the playoffs. Maybe signing Pedro for half a season, maybe Jason Schmidt will come back and be able to resemble his former self enough to get a few people out. Maybe they'll trade for someone I'm not thinking of, but I do expect a move to happen.

Roy Halladay might be available once the Blue Jays fall off.

Heh, I haven't heard you call anyone 'meat' or tell them to 'grab some pine' yet....

FYP

Yawn.

It's nice to get off to a great start, but they started 12-2 in 2005 and finished in 4th/20 games under .500...

I don't really remember what the 2005 start looked like, but I will say this. Good God this team can score runs! This may be the best/deepest lineup we've ever had in LA.

you called it patrick, Kershaw got roughed up.

Winning games but they are still a flawed team; middle relief is pretty questionable, and the back of the rotation is still unreliable. The offense is great, but they need to do a better job with situational hitting. Broxton has been lights out, as has Bills. Ethier has really matured into a very good MLB player.

i love you andre ethier. have my babies

dear ned colleti,

go get us some middle relief help

You want Howry?

That game sucked...I can't believe Bochy keeps throwing Howry out there...he has been ridiculously overworked so far this season. I had a feeling he would blow it before the inning even started.

Hopefully Lincecum can pull out the rubber match vs. whatever scrub Torre throws out there.

What a difference a year makes...the words "hopefully" and "Lincecum can pull one out" would have never been uttered in the same sentence last year.

Just an observation.

ya that was awesome to read. hopefully he doesnt do what cc did last year and completely turn it around.

edit: just saw that t.l. era is 2.94 , i definitely would of guess it was higher.

The dodgers are a good team...hence the word hopefully. You misunderstood me.

Before you post this shit maybe you should check how well he has done in his last 2 starts. His ERA is comparable to last year and his peripherals are even better. Tim is the real deal and is gonna put up sub 3.00 ERAs for the next few years anyways. And you will continue to be a terrible poster in the baseball forum, congrats.

Also If you want to actually start the Tim vs Duke bet just pm me.

And you will continue to be a complete douche. If you would just slow down and relax a little bit you piece of crap, you would have maybe understood my post a little better. My point was that a Giants fan was saying "hopefully Lincecum will pull one out." Not once in my post did I say anything bad about your precious little darling. So do yourself a little favor and back up off the "reply" button until you know what hell you're talking about kthnx.

keep it calm guys.

I think what Sportsmack meant was the Giants were so horrible last year than Lincecum's starts had little importance besides his Cy Young chase. Now that the Giants are mediocre to semi decent, his starts mean more.

And I'll take 2/3 from the Dodgers who won 11 out of 13 coming into this series.

Sorry I got a little carried away, but when someone calls you out without even comprehending what you posted...it's pretty damn annoying. My original post was just general surprise that a Giants fan said "hopefully Lincecum can pull one out" this early in the season. Sure he's had a few bad outings, but it's still so early. But then GoodTom cleared up what he meant, and it makes more sense now. I'm not a Giants hater by any means, I think I even posted in the Giants thread that I hope they have a great season because it just makes for a better sports atmosphere here in the Bay Area. Anyway, nice game last night, and an overall impressive series against the Dodgers.

No worries man. I can see why you got frustrated, lord knows I have on FCP.

I always thought that James McDonald was white

It funny when stuff like this happens. When they first came up I thought Corey Hart was black and Bill Hall was white and for some reason when BJ Upton just started in the minors I thought he was white. James McDonald is def one of those guys you would think would be white too.

lol Dodgers bullpen.