ESPN

A bundle of clickable goodness today ...

• Andre Ethier had some interesting comments in an interview Tuesday with ESPN AM 710.

  ... Asked about wanting to be with the Dodgers long-term, Ethier said, "It comes down to the security part, too, but it also comes down to unfinished business and I feel like, yeah, I'm facing that decision now where hopefully it doesn't come down to me having to leave and [I can] be a part of this team when we start rebounding and getting back to where we need to be."The ownership limbo seemingly affected the Dodgers' ability to deal in free agency this offseason, with general manager Ned Colletti saying earlier this month the team was essentially done with its offseason acquisitions because "we're at our payroll." So when news broke Tuesday of the Detroit Tigers nearing a deal with marquee free agent Prince Fielder, it wasn't lost on Ethier.
  
  "Why can't the Dodgers be doing that? Look at the markets those two teams are, and the stability you see through the front office and the team being able to operate … on the level it should be," he said, adding, "you don't try to think of it too much as a player, but obviously if you're not going after the big fish like other teams are, like our partners are down there to the south of us, the Angels [who acquired Albert Pujols], it's tough to go out there and keep competing year after year if you're not going out there and making your team better every year. "I think that's the situation we've been in. Obviously it's going to get better from here on out because of the sell and getting new people in there."
  
  Ethier, who hit .292 with 11 home runs and 62 RBIs in 2011 before ending the season with a right knee injury, said he's aiming for a "strong, solid" 2012.
  
  "I've kind of dealt with this knee thing for the past two years, put it off for one off-season and then last season it just became a thing where a lot of things started multiplying and getting worse and something where I couldn't quite get back my swing … It was very frustrating and I learned a lot from that."

• Ethier participated in a prank on Dustin Pedroia for a Boston radio station. Roberto Baly of Vin Scully Is My Homeboy has more.
• Matt Kemp's new contract looks even more valuable in the wake of the Prince Fielder signing, writes Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness.
• Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports offers up a wintertime preview of their 19th-ranked MLB team, the 2012 Dodgers.
• Former Dodger co-owner and managing partner Bob Daly had even more to say Tuesday (in an interview with T.J. Simers of the Times) than Ethier. Daly is highly critical of Frank McCourt, critical of the Dodgers' offseason signings and critical of himself for not trading prospects for a bat in the middle of the 2002 season — though I would say that was a period in which the Dodgers didn't have a whole lot of trade value in the system.
• Steve Dilbeck of the Times wonders if the potential interest of St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke in buying the Dodgers could be the first domino that leads to Frank McCourt becoming an NFL minority owner.
• In a separate post, Dilbeck also offers why the Dodgers might win the National League West, despite all their uncertainty.
• Just when I think I can't read any more Hall of Fame voting insight, here comes Lewie Pollis of Behind the Boxscore with a new take, about what he calls "a mistaken assumption about the balloting process: that writers' own observations of players were expected to be primary factors in their votes."
• Daryle Ward, who infamously batted .183 and slugged .193 at age 28 for the 2003 Dodgers, received a 50-game suspension from MLB for testing positive for a banned amphetamine. Ward, who has a .768 lifetime OPS, hasn't played in the majors since 2008.
• Former Dodger infielder Wilson Valdez, who ended up the winning pitcher for the Phillies over the Reds in a 19-inning game last May, was traded to the Reds today.
• There's speculation about whether Patrick Soon-Shiong, who owns 4.5 percent of the Lakers, will get involved with a Dodger ownership bid, such as Magic Johnson's. Bill Shaikin of the Times addresses it today. Soon-Shiong bought Johnson's share of the Lakers in 2010. Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com interviewed Soon-Shiong in November.
• The Left Field Pavilion blog has invited all prospective Dodger owners to come out to the Dodger blogs softball tournament February 11 and "meet the bloggers and fans of the team you are trying to purchase."
• Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, 26, is about to become a free agent that MLB teams can bid on. More on Cespedes at Baseball America. The Dodgers are not rumored to be pursuing him. "Projections based off his Cuban numbers show a good but not great hitter with 25-homer power and poor strike-zone control," writes Aaron Gleeman of Hardball Talk.
• Sam Miller of the Orange County Register is quickly emerging as a baseball writer of the highest order. He has two new freelance pieces: an account of Scott Boras' beginnings as an agent for Baseball Prospectus, and a pitch-by-pitch account of how the Angels signed Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson for ESPN the Magazine.
• Kevin Kaduk at Yahoo! Sports blogs about a law in Florida "that any ballpark or stadium that receives taxpayer money shall serve as a homeless shelter on the dates that it is not in use."

Andre Ethier has avoided a salary arbitration hearing by signing a one-year deal for $10.95 million plus minimal incentives – a deal so modest, given what he could have potentially earned, that it's almost as if Ethier has taken a Dale Carnegie approach to 2012.

Tip of the hat, no muss, no fuss, let's play ball.

Based on the history of raises for arbitration-eligible players of his caliber, I had projected in September that Ethier (who made $9.25 million last year) could pull $13 million in salary for 2012. On this, I wasn't alone: Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. reached the same conclusion, while Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness was close behind at $12 million. By my estimation, $10.95 million (plus $25,000 for reaching 600 plate appearances and again for 625 plate appearances, according to ESPNLosAngeles.com's Tony Jackson) is roughly the minimum Ethier would have gotten in salary arbitration – the figure he would have ended up with had he lost.

If you're wondering why Ethier would be guaranteed a raise even after a decline in performance last year, you have a lot to learn about Major League Baseball's salary structure. By way of comparison, James Loney got a 57 percent salary bump after the 2010 season despite falling to a .723 OPS that year. Ethier just pulled an 18 percent increase.

Perhaps all of us overestimated what Ethier could get this year, but it would appear that he simply wanted to just take care of business and have no part of a protracted conflict.

Now the path is clear for Ethier to pursue a healthy rebound from his career-low 11-homer, .789 OPS season, not to mention a reversal of his decline against left-handed pitching. Ethier obviously won't end up in the poorhouse should he fall short, but all in all, a comfortable peace between the Dodgers and Ethier would seem to be a good thing.

In an offseason dominated by kudos for Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp, speculation about the future of James Loney, headscratching over some free-agent contracts handed out by Ned Colletti, mourning over the imminent departure of Hiroki Kuroda, fretting over the state of the starting rotation and the offense, and of course, cautious optimism about what we hope to be the final chapter in the McCourt ownership drama, you'd be hard-pressed to find many words written about one player integral to the Dodgers' 2012 fortunes: Andre Ethier.

The 2009 Walkoff King, 2010 National League Most Valuable Player dreamer and 2011 challenger to DiMaggio has rather suddenly become something of an enigma, which makes me particularly interested in how he got to this point and where he goes from here – and whether that includes another organization.

The setup: Ethier made his major-league debut in 2006, the first of five consecutive seasons in which he had an on-base percentage of at least .350, slugging percentage of at least .450 and OPS of at least .800. In 2007, he was still earning respect, making 117 starts and sharing time with Matt Kemp in right field and Luis Gonzalez in left while Juan Pierre played every day in center field. The following year began the transition that made Pierre a fourth outfielder (at least until Andruw Jones proved a disaster), but you couldn't say Ethier was the Dodgers' undisputed starter in right until late August 2008.

The next year, 2009, brought Ethier's finest full season. Starting 150 games, Ethier had a .361 on-base percentage, .508 slugging percentage, 31 homers and 42 doubles, finishing sixth in the voting for NL MVP at age 27. He produced with the spotlight off and with it shining bright, bashing four walkoff home runs in the regular season, then in the 2009 postseason going 11 for 31 with three doubles, three homers and three walks for a 1.235 OPS.


That, one might have argued in the spring of 2010, was only a prelude to true superstardom. It seems like a long time ago to me now, but it's been barely 18 months since the Dodgers' best player was undoubtedly Ethier, who began the year on a legitimate Triple Crown and MVP run. Through May 14, Ethier had 11 home runs and 38 RBI in 33 games to go with a .392 batting average, .457 on-base percentage and .744 slugging percentage. A monster.

What happened next was like something out of a bastardized Aesop's fable. Ethier's full-on rush to brilliance ended with a fracture on the tip of the smallest finger on his right hand. He missed 15 games, and apparently rushed back too soon to keep it from being more. For the rest of 2011, he had 12 home runs in 105 games, a .338 on-base percentage and .418 slugging percentage.

Still, he finished 2010 as only one of three Dodgers since Pedro Guerrero (Gary Sheffield and Mike Piazza being the others) to have three consecutive seasons with an adjusted OPS of at least 130. As 2011 approached, many assumed Ethier would return to the level he established before the pinky injury - that is, not a Triple Crown place but to a place as one of the best hitters in the game. His struggles against left-handed pitching (.661 OPS lifetime, .625 in 2010) were a wild-card – something that could prevent him from maintaining elite status, but also room for improvement – in which case, look out.

In any event, optimism about Ethier's performance this year and an understanding of his importance to the team was high. That's what made it surprising when, days before a tranquil Spring Training ended, Ethier openly speculated (more than once) that 2011 would be his last season in Los Angeles.

The closeup: Ethier singled in four at-bats on Opening Day, then went 0 for 4 in game 2. Taking a .111 batting average to the plate against Matt Cain in the bottom of the fourth inning on April 2, Ethier got a single in that at-bat and his next two. And so his campaign to break the Dodger and major-league consecutive-games hitting-streak records began.

Overshadowing basically every other Dodger, including Kershaw and Kemp, Ethier and his streak were palpably exciting and dramatically deficient only in the fact that Ethier rarely waited until his final at-bat to extend the skein. He reached Halfway to DiMaggio status May 2 and his 30th consecutive game May 6, going 3 for 5 against the Mets one night after his only missed game during the streak.

That missed game brought with it some foreshadowing, because it turned out that Ethier was suffering from left-elbow inflammation, raising fears that his 2011 season might play out like 2010 did.

The hitting streak ended May 7, with Ethier striking out against Mets lefty reliever Tim Byrdak in the eighth inning to go 0 for 4 (with a walk). The game was tied at that point, but the Dodger bullpen gave up two runs in the bottom of the eighth to prevent Ethier from getting a chance to extend the streak in extra innings. Ethier did continue his streak of reaching base for another week, taking it to 37 games before going 0 for 4 against Arizona on May 15.

Ethier fell into a brief slump after the streaks ended, but for the most part continued to reach base at a high rate thereafter, especially after taking three starts off to rest his aching body (and also chill out a bit). From May 27 through the remainder of his season, Ethier had a .358 on-base percentage, almost equal to his 2009 mark. But the problem was that his power from 2009 had all but disappeared. Ethier's 11 home runs and 30 doubles in 2011 were his lowest totals since his rookie year, and his .421 slugging was by far the lowest of his career. In addition, his struggles against left-handed pitchers only grew worse, with a career-low .258 OBP, .305 slugging and .563 OPS.

Ethier's season ground to a halt amid more injuries (his right knee the latest culprit) and controversy over how they were being treated, though he kept battling at the plate until the end. On September 6, Ethier matched a season high (established one week earlier) with four RBI against the Nationals; with that, he called it a year. He had arthroscopic knee surgery on September 14, with a scheduled recovery time of six-to-eight weeks. In other words, Ethier should be 100 percent right now.

Nothing, arguably, illustrates how unpredictable Ethier's 2011 was than the fact that the right fielder, admired for his bat but often maligned for his defense, came away with one postseason honor: his first Gold Glove Award.

Coming attractions: Ethier, the pride of Ned Colletti's trading resume, the kid with the sweet swing beloved by scouts, turns a wizened 30 in April. That will kick off what will be his last year before free agency save a contract extension that, given an October Colletti interview with Jim Bowden for ESPNLosAngeles.com, doesn't seem likely to come. Nor, however, does there appear to be an Ethier trade on the horizon, though with a salary that should be somewhere in the neighborhood of $13 million next year, the player who has battled injuries for two years projects as the highest-paid Dodger of 2012.

Ethier's Dodger future, short-term and long, is uncertain. His on-field performance has to answer the larger questions of where his home-run power went and whether his production against lefty pitching will ever arrive. If those questions are answered sourly, 2012 will no doubt be his last in Dodger whites. More and more, people are wondering if the former MVP candidate is at best a platoon player extraordinaire. But a rebound year that ends with new ownership in place could set Ethier up for a renewed engagement in Los Angeles. Though few are talking about it now, Ethier will definitely be one of the Dodgers' biggest stories next spring.

Andre Ethier appears to have become the third Dodger starting position player to call it a season because of injury, joining Casey Blake and Juan Uribe. Less than two weeks after the controversy about his injured knee broke, the decision has been made that solving the problem is more important than seeing how long it can be tolerated.

From Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com:

... Ethier has left the club to consult with famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., concerning the right fielder's continually troublesome right knee.

This appears to be an indication Ethier, who has been an All-Star each of the past two seasons and is a key member of the Dodgers core, won't play again this season. He already was expected to have surgery on the knee after the season, and this could mean he will have it sooner than that.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly's comments to reporters before the Dodgers doubleheader in Washington on Thursday made it sound as if that is a foregone conclusion.

"We knew his symptoms, and it hadn't gotten worse, but we don't want it to get worse," Mattingly said. "It definitely doesn't sound like something that will be with him the rest of his career once it is taken care of. We will go into next year expecting him to be fully healthy for spring training. ... By getting this taken care of now, it allows him to heal and get his work done and come to spring training ready to go."

Ethier has been playing through pain in the knee since last season and considered surgery last winter before ultimately deciding against it. He received a series of three injections of orthovisc, a synthetic fluid that lubricates the knee, over a three-week period that ended three weeks ago, but that hasn't lessened the discomfort. ...

"You start making changes to get away from pain, and you can easily get away from your base," Mattingly said.

While I ponder what a potential rainout of Thursday's Dodgers-Nationals doubleheader — with the games unlikely to be replayed — might do to Matt Kemp's MVP chances, here are some links:

• Juan Uribe's season-ending surgery for a sports hernia is today, the Dodgers announced.
• Rob Neyer of Baseball Nation offers a history of suicides among baseball players, with some particularly grim anecdotes from the distant and more recent past.
• Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. on the broken dreams of Ivan DeJesus Jr.:
  

  ... In addition to his two walks in 35 at-bats with the Dodgers, DeJesus had just 16 walks in 245 plate appearances over 57 games in Triple A through July 21, just 6.5% of his plate appearances. However, as the season wore on DeJesus showed improvement with 29 walks in his final 43 games, walking in 14.6% of his plate appearances during that span, showing glimpses of his prior days as a viable prospect. DeJesus even hit six of his eight home runs this season in a 16-game span in mid-August.
  
  
  Whether it was for attitude, or performance, or both, DeJesus did not get the call. Again. If the Dodgers thought anything of DeJesus, he would be up with the big league team. It appears his days in the Dodger organization are numbered, which is a shame.

  
  It's not clear to me why, even if De Jesus doesn't loom large in the Dodgers' future plans, he would get buried by Eugenio Velez, who is 0 for his last 40 in the majors — unless the Dodgers' share the same perverse fascination with how long Velez's streak can go on that we do.
• Stephen also points out that Andre Ethier now has at least 30 doubles in five consecutive seasons, a figure exceeded by only four players in Dodger history: Zack Wheat, Dixie Walker, Jackie Robinson and Steve Garvey.
• Don Mattingly gave an interview to Jim Rosenthal of Los Angeles Magazine (link via L.A. Observed, which also points to a science-flavored Times op-ed piece by Frederick M. Cohan related to Sandy Koufax's perfect game). An excerpt from the Mattingly interview:
  

  ... Managers have people second-guessing them all the time. But even you’ve second-guessed some of your decisions in the press.
  If you don’t second-guess yourself, then you are not trying to get better. Joe would always tell me that you are going to make decisions. Some of them are not going to work out, and it does not mean that they were the wrong decisions. I have had many occasions this year where I questioned and second-guessed my decision in a game, but it comes down to learning from mistakes and being accountable for what you did right or did wrong.
  
  Can you think of a decision you second-guessed recently?
  The Mets had Jason Bay waiting on deck with an open base, and I could have walked the lefty hitter and pitched to Bay. Instead the lefty got a hit, and I kicked myself for not challenging Bay and walking the other guy with an open base. We all have the temptation to be backseat drivers when it comes to decisions that don’t work out the way we want. ...

• Is Biz of Baseball founder and Dodger Thoughts friend Maury Brown bringing down the Jim Crane ownership of the Houston Astros (with an assist from Frank and Jamie McCourt) before it even begins? Take a look at this piece and this one by Brown and judge for yourself.
• J.J. Cooper of Baseball America stacks Minor League Player of the Year Mike Trout's 2011 season against the best ever by age-20 players.
• Satchel Price of Beyond the Boxscore looks at the offseason market for catchers (in case the Dodgers decide they need to stick a dagger in A.J. Ellis' heart one more time.
• A big topic of conversation in the online sabermetric world Tuesday was this piece appearing on It's About the Money, which calls into question the value of the Wins Above Replacement stat because of its reliance on fielding metrics that are questionable. This led to a discussion at Sean Foreman's Baseball-Reference.com blog (including the comments) about how much consistency one should expect in fielding stats for individual players from year to year.
• Baseball Toaster founder Ken Arneson explores on his new blog why he's not ready to "commit to a life as a chicken." I can relate:
  

  ... It’s partly because I don’t have all my ducks in a row in my personal life to make that practical right now. I quit writing regularly two years ago because I was juggling too many balls in my life, and I ended up doing a half-assed job on all of them. I hate feeling like I’m not living up to expectations, I hate feeling like I need to work 24/7 in order to avoid feeling like I’m not living up to expectations, so I resist making commitments that would create any expectations. Hence, for now, this blog, where I can do what I like, when I like, how I like with maximum flexibility and minimum commitment. ...

The Dodgers have recalled John Ely and Jerry Sands while purchasing the contract of Tim Federowicz from Albuquerque. Federowicz will become the 48th player to suit up for the 2011 Dodgers once he gets in a game.

When that will happen is a bit murky. Dylan Hernandez of the Times tweeted that Federowicz might not play until the last week or two of the season because Don Mattingly wants him to get used to his "new environment." Aside from this making more sense if Federowicz were joining the Terra Nova Dodgers, I can't quite believe that Mattingly thinks it's necessary for the young catcher to have no game action for more than a week. It's not as if the Dodgers have been doing that with any of their other young farmboys this year.

In a procedural move, injured pitcher Vicente Padilla was moved to the 60-day disabled list, so the number of players on the Dodgers' 40-man roster remains the same.

Meanwhile, to give Sands at-bats, Don Mattingly will have to take some playing time from either Juan Rivera or Andre Ethier. That could mean more angst for Ethier, whose saga gets scoped out by Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.

Jaime Jarrin joined Vin Scully in signing up for 2012 today:

... "It was very kind of them to ask me to return,'' Jarrin said. "My desire was to stay with the team and do what I love to do and be around you guys (the media). I am especially grateful to have the chance to be the link between the Dodgers and the Hispanic community. It is great to have the chance to do something I love and to do it with the community in mind.'' ...

... For now, though, Jarrin said he wants to continue to call every game, although he did take an in-season vacation for the first time this year and said he likely will do so again next year.

Jarrin said that after more than a half-century of calling Dodgers games on Spanish-language radio, he still has a passion for the job.

"I love it,'' he said. "Even if the team isn't doing well, I try to see things that compensate (for that). In baseball, everything is so different from one game to the next. Really, it is fun to do it. I still love it. Otherwise, I would quit right now, because financially, I am well set.'' ...

* * *

This time last year, John Lindsey was the Dodgers' feel-good story. Christopher Jackson of Albuquerque Baseball Examiner catches up with him.

* * *

Tony Jackson's latest view of the Andre Ethier situation is up at ESPNLosAngeles.com:

... As it stands, Ethier won't be eligible for free agency until after 2012. But is he trying to force his way out of town a year early? That's my theory. I don't have enough insight to know for a fact that it's true, or that it isn't. That's why they call it a theory. But I have to say, when you take the statements Ethier made in March, and to Simers this weekend, and put them together, it sure smells that way.

Could it be that Ethier is trying to become such a distraction that the Dodgers, rather than going through the expensive process of arbitration this winter -- he already is making $9.25 million this season and would get a significant raise -- will simply non-tender him, making him a free agent a year early?

One thing is clear: if it's a distraction Ethier is trying to become, he is at least succeeding there. Mattingly made that fairly obvious before Sunday's game, when he said he was "blindsided" by Ethier's remarks. He made it clear again during the game when, with the bases loaded, nobody out, the pitcher's spot due up and the Dodgers trailing 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, he sent Eugenio Velez -- that would be the 0-for-28 Eugenio Velez -- to pinch hit and kept Ethier on the bench.

Although Ethier was on deck to hit for Rod Barajas when the game ended, Mattingly made it clear again immediately after the game, when asked by a reporter whether Ethier will be back in the lineup Monday night against the San Diego Padres.

"We're kind of in a little bit of a box, really," Mattingly said. "If he says his knee hurts and we put him out there and he blows a hammy or hurts something else, now we're kind of in a box as far as having trouble using him. So we're going to talk and go from there."

It was a cryptic comment from an exasperated manager, but it hinted that Ethier's playing time could be sporadic the rest of the way, especially with the Dodgers (62-70), who are in fourth place in the National League West and 12 games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks, far out of contention.

If Ethier is trying to outsmart the system, well, the one he is outsmarting might be himself. Let's say he does force the Dodgers' hand, and they do cut him loose, and he does become a free agent. In that case, how much of a market will there be for a guy who is coming off a down year? A guy who probably is going to be coming off arthroscopic knee surgery? A guy who so often lets his emotions get the better of his game? A guy who certainly isn't helping his reputation with all these public outbursts, especially at a time when, according to various sources, scouts from other teams are starting to pick up on his moodiness and the fact he can be high maintenance?

Better yet, what if the Dodgers simply trade him? In that case, there is just as much chance he ends up in Kansas City or Pittsburgh as the promised land of New York or Boston, which his close friend and former Arizona State University teammate Dustin Pedroia reportedly has told him is a great place to play big league baseball. ...

Before today's game ended, Andre Ethier, focal point of a day-long controversy, made an appearance in the on-deck circle. Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com has a lengthy account that you need to read in full.

The situation is kind of a mess, really, but if I could apply Occam's Razor to it, I think what we'd be left with is this ...

If the goal, weeks and weeks ago, had been to get Ethier to as close to 100 percent health as possible before putting him back on the field, there wouldn't be this confusion, and everyone would be healthier and happier.

It would be clear: Ethier would have the necessary treatment on his knee, including surgery, before returning to the field. For all the virtues of what a partially healthy Ethier provides, it's hard for me to see how it doesn't serve both Ethier's and the Dodgers' short-term and long-term needs to have made this the goal.

The Dodgers have gone through this dance before with other players, most notably this year – though with much less bitterness – with Jonathan Broxton. It's a weird game of chicken where each party puts the burden on the other to determine when to sit an injured player, and all it does is kick the can down the road until the problem is worse. And the team isn't much better in the interim.

Mythology aside, injured players, however gutty, generally aren't as good as healthy backups. Ethier certainly hasn't been. And whether the Dodgers were fighting for first place or fighting to stay out of last, a hobbled Ethier is not such a valuable asset.

We're not talking about a hangnail here. We're talking about an essential limb, and this is not a Monty Python movie: If you don't have your arms and legs, you're usually not going to be a very good baseball player. This is a sport of mechanics, of timing, and the smallest injury can knock you off your game, even if you feel like you can and should play.

If the injured baseball player doesn't feel he can take himself out of action, because of love of the game, or arrogance, or denial, or fear of being labeled a sissy, then management needs to make the decision for him. You can't rely on the Russell Martins and Broxtons and Ethiers to break "The Code" of manning up. There are a few exceptions to the rule (his name, I believe, is Kobe Bryant), but you need to have the rule.

Everyone's wondering, "Is it really that bad?" If you have to ask, then the answer is yes.

Even Kirk Gibson sat out 44 of 45 innings in the 1988 World Series.

Below, you can see in graphic form the ongoing power decline for Andre Ethier, discussed here last week. Charts come courtesy of ESPN Stats and Information. Note not only the reduction in balls hit over the fence but also hits to the warning track, compared with 2009.





* * *

Albuquerque baseball expert Chris Jackson freelanced a feature for MiLB.com on new Dodger catching prospect Tim Federowicz.

Fair or not, catcher Tim Federowicz finds himself under some extra pressure after being traded.

Los Angeles Dodgers fans were almost uniform in their dislike of the three-team trade that sent outfield prospect Trayvon Robinson to Seattle and brought Federowicz and two pitchers to the Dodgers organization.

The stated intent by Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti was to acquire a catching prospect, something Los Angeles lacked in its farm system. Federowicz said he understands the frustration of Dodgers fans.

"Yeah, they gave up Trayvon -- he's a great player and now he's in the big leagues, doing his thing up there," Federowicz said. "That's tough to lose.

"I guess there is a little bit of pressure to show fans what I've got. But I think it'll eventually work out the way the Dodgers want it to." ...

* * *

Grant Brisbee of McCovey Chronicles was kind enough to show sympathy for Dodger fans when Rubby De La Rosa went down for the count. Now, with the Giants verging toward tailspin, having lost 16 of 23, he might need some for himself. Or maybe time was ripe for a humbling, if you ask Brisbee. From the New York Times:

... Such minor hysteria — sarcastic or not — highlights the uncomfortable fact that, for some, the team’s faithful have come to resemble the type of smug, and yet strangely neurotic, supporters of certain big-money East Coast franchises.

“People get on me when I say this, but it’s kind of that first step toward the path of the Red Sox fan,” said Grant Brisbee, 33, the editor of The McCovey Chronicles, a Web site for Giants fans. “You get a little cocky, a little arrogant. And they say, ‘No, no, no, Giants fans aren’t like that.’ But they’re not that far away from getting that really obnoxious national fan base.” (Just like Yankees fans, Mr. Brisbee added.) ...

* * *

Finally, here's a cool video feature from ESPN Sport Science on last week's triple play by Milwaukee against the Dodgers:

Andre Ethier's OPS has dropped below .800 for the first time since April 3. He has 10 home runs this season and one in his past 107 at-bats. All this is feeding some simmering frustration about his 2011 performance and even making me wonder to myself ever so briefly whether he might be on a downward, James Loney-like trajectory.

And then, you take a step back and see that in 2011, Ethier has ...

• a .294 batting average that is .002 higher than last year's and .003 higher than his career average.
• a .367 on-base percentage that is .003 higher than both his 2010 and career averages.
• 5.71 doubles per 100 plate appearances, compared with 5.64 in 2010 and 5.84 in his career.

Most of Ethier's game is the same as it ever was. Except for this one thing.

• Ethier has 2.04 home runs per 100 plate appearances, compared with 3.93 in 2010, 4.53 in 2009 and 3.27 for his career.

I'll say up front that I don't know the reason for this — though I still don't believe it has anything to do with his early season hitting streak. Ethier was showing little home-run power even before it really got going, and has had plenty of time to self-correct since it ended on May 7. That being said, Fangraphs shows that Ethier's line-drive and ground-ball rates have risen to near-career-high levels, while his fly-ball rate is the lowest it has ever been.

Just another observation in passing — Ethier seems to be having particular trouble with sliders this year.

But the kicker is this: According to Fangraphs, Ethier has been more valuable this year than he was in 2010 or 2009, thanks to what the site reports as a dramatic improvement in his fielding. I know numerous people take advance fielding metrics with a grain of salt — thanks in part to wild fluctuations like these — but it's something to consider.

It's a small step no matter how you look at it – back toward the division race, or away from the rebuilding that need take place – but it's a step nonetheless.

Andre Ethier hit two home runs, ending the Dodgers' drought, and Ted Lilly allowed one but otherwise pitched solidly for five innings, and Los Angeles defeated San Diego, 4-1. For the Dodgers, it's their first series sweep and first four-game winning streak of the year.

The first inhale of the last gasp has been a healthy one. After the All-Star break, six straight games against the National League West leaders.

Andre Ethier and Rod Barajas are being held off the disabled list, according to Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com.

In addition, Aaron Miles has returned to the playing field. He'll give Jamey Carroll, who has played in 46 of 48 games this season, a theoretical day off — although it seems very likely we could see Carroll off the bench.

Dodger batting leaders for May appear in the chart below. James Loney, who is batting third in the Dodgers' latest makeshift lineup, does in fact have the third-best May OPS among tonight's starting nine:
Update: More from Jackson:

Ethier said he woke up without soreness one day after injuring his left big toe, left elbow and lower back when he banged into the right field wall chasing a ball.

"I'm going to go out and see how I feel [during batting practice] and go from there,'' he said. "I don't know if it was a good sign or a bad sign, but I really wasn't all that sore when I woke up this morning.''

Mattingly said he wouldn't hesitate to use the left-handed-hitting Ethier as a pinch hitter, but with the Dodgers scheduled to face Astros lefty J.A. Happ on Tuesday night, Mattingly said that might be a good excuse to rest Ethier for one more day.

Barajas, who suffered a sprained right wrist on a play at the plate, was sent for an MRI exam on Monday morning. Just as the X-rays he underwent on Sunday, the MRI showed no fracture and nothing seriously wrong.

"It's still sore, but it hasn't gotten any worse,'' Barajas said. "I think I could [play], but I love to play. I feel like I could tough it out even if I'm not 100 percent.'' ...

"At this point, we have a couple of guys we can put back there [to catch],'' Mattingly said, adding that infielder Russell Mitchell is his primary emergency catcher for now. "But obviously, you don't anticipate Navarro getting hurt.''

Meanwhile, third baseman Casey Blake (left elbow) and reliever Blake Hawksworth (right groin) were set to begin their minor league rehabilitation assignments on Monday night at Triple-A Albuquerque and advanced Class A Rancho Cucamonga, respectively. Outfielder Marcus Thames (right quad) is tentatively slated to report to Albuquerque on Friday, and Mattingly said he likely will need a longer rehab than Blake, whom team officials hope to activate in about a week.

A day that has gone poorly from the start for the Dodgers has become a real nightmare.

With the White Sox leading 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Juan Pierre muscled up on a Hiroki Kuroda slider and send it toward the right-field wall. Andre Ethier chased it, and at the last moment, turned the right side of his body into the fence and slammed into it in his vain attempt to make the catch. As Gordon Beckham went into third base and Pierre into second, Ethier retrieved the ball but clearly looked shaken up afterward.

The next batter was Alexei Ramirez, who homered earlier in the game. The Dodgers had the infield in, while the staggered Ethier was playing deep. Ramirez hit a 3-1 pitch for a pure Texas Leaguer in between the oncoming Ethier and backpedaling second baseman Jamey Carroll. The ball fell in for an RBI single.

After that play, as Ethier retreated back to his position, Tony Gwynn Jr. came running out of the dugout on manager Don Mattingly's direction to replace Ethier in right field. It was unclear to me whether Ethier signaled that he needed to replaced.

Though Ethier had been in a 1-for-30 slump (including 0 for 2 today) when the play occurred and has only one extra-base hit this month, there's no doubt that any kind of injury to him would be a significant blow to a reeling Dodger team. Of course, Ethier has already been nursing a troublesome left elbow, which some think might be responsible for the hitting woes that followed the end of his 37-game on-base streak.

In the meantime, the Dodgers were hoping that Kuroda could just stabilize things, not out of any realistic hope of winning the game, but just to spare a Dodger bullpen that used mop-up relievers Ramon Troncoso and Lance Cormier for outings Saturday of 30-plus pitches each.

Kuroda ended up allowing two runs in the inning (both unearned, thanks to an error by Rafael Furcal), but at least he made it through four frames, albeit on 89 pitches. Rookie reliever Javy Guerra, who warmed up in the fourth inning, would probably combine with Scott Elbert to take the role of long man today.

However, the sixth White Sox run of the day brought about another injury, as Pierre, sliding home on Paul Konerko's sacrifice fly, brought his right leg right into catcher Rod Barajas' face. Dioner Navarro pinch-hit for Barajas in the top of the fifth.

Update: The Dodgers tried to come back, managing to score three runs and get Matt Kemp to the plate as the tying run in the seventh, before ultimately losing, 8-3. A day after his first major-league home run, Jerry Sands went 4 for 4 with his 10th double of the season and third stolen base. James Loney reached base three times. Rafael Furcal made an error and went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts, including one with the bases loaded, in his return from the disabled list.

Chicago's Ramirez went 4 for 5 with his home run and two doubles, driving in five runs.

Ethier and Barajas are currently day-to-day with their injuries, according to Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The Dodgers said Ethier had injuries to his right elbow, right lower back and left big toe, while Barajas had a right wrist injury.

Even if Barajas is only going to be out for a few days, it's hard to imagine the Dodgers won't have to call up catcher A.J. Ellis from Albuquerque, rather than rely on Dioner Navarro and emergency catchers – regardless of whether it's Barajas, Ethier or Aaron Miles who goes in the disabled list. (Miles has been said to be improving enough to be ready to play Monday in Houston.) If two players went on the DL, then Jamie Hoffmann would be the likely second callup.

After the three-game Houston series that starts Monday, the Dodgers play 19 consecutive games against teams with winning records. Brace yourselves.

From Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com:

Major League Baseball is looking into photographs that show Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier making an obscene gesture at a photographer before Monday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium.

"We are aware of the pictures and will talk to the appropriate people about them," MLB spokesman Pat Courtney wrote in an e-mail.

The incident -- in which Ethier was snapped flipping his middle fingers at a photographer -- occurred during the Dodgers' batting practice at approximately 4:45 p.m. PT on Wednesday, before the stadium was opened to the general public.

Ethier said Thursday that he had been contacted by the league and had already discussed the matter with Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. He had yet to receive any indication of whether he'd be disciplined by either the league or the team.

The incident occurred, Ethier said, when he repeatedly asked a photographer standing behind the batting cage whether he was finished taking pictures of him because it was interrupting his preparations for the game.

"I just got kind of annoyed, so to that extent I guess I slipped up and that temper you guys like to write about got ahead of me," Ethier said. "I didn't use my head or use the best judgment in that situation. Sometimes you make a mistake and it's unfortunate."

Ethier denied the initial report, published on TheBigLead.com, in which a source claimed he used profanity with the photographer and was loud enough for children standing nearby to hear him. ...

Steve Dilbeck of the Times was less than impressed with Ethier's contrition, or at least his sense of when a joke has gone on too long.