Kuzul

All the talk about 2010 being the “Year of the Pitcher” in Major League Baseball is true. 

It has been an excellent year for pitchers.

For whatever reason, there’s been more no-hitters and perfect games than usual, and that’s without counting Jim Joyce’s rob job of Armando Galarraga.

But this year doesn’t only belong to the hurlers, it belongs to the young guns.

At a time when some people argue the fading relevancy of baseball, there has been more great young talent in the game than we can remember.

The amount of quality ballplayers age 26 or younger currently in baseball is staggering.

No, when it comes to TV ratings and big advertising dollars, baseball does not reign supreme. Football is America’s game now, and that’s just the way it is.

But for baseball fans, that’s OK.

As they say, more for you and me.

As the season ticks along in its final month and pennant races take shape, let’s look at some of the most impressive rookies from this year in baseball.

One last note before the show, don’t feel discouraged if your favorite rookie didn’t make the list.

We are keeping it to 10 names for this space, but there certainly have been more than 10 impressive youngsters who merit consideration.

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Six years ago, prior to Game Four of the ’04 ALCS, Kevin Millar strutted around Fenway Park with a message.

“Don’t let the Sox win tonight!” Millar bellowed to anyone that would listen.

Of course, the Red Sox trailed the New York Yankees 3-0 in the series and looked all but titleless for yet another October. The Curse of the Bambino appeared to live for another year.

But Millar didn’t see it that way.

“This is a big game for [the Yankees],” he said at the time. “If we win tonight, we’ve got Pedro coming back and then Schilling will pitch Game Six.

“And then anything can happen in Game Seven.”

On that evening, Millar’s message didn’t resonate with Red Sox fans like it would a month or so later. What reason did they have to believe? Boston lost 19-8 in Game Three and it looked like just another cold winter in New England.

But then came Millar’s rallying call of “Cowboy Up,” his proclamation that the Red Sox are just a bunch of “idiots,” pregame shots of Jack Daniels, Millar’s walk, Dave Roberts’ steal, and history.

Johnny Damon capped the comeback by hitting a grand slam in Game Seven at Yankee Stadium, a gut punch to the heart of New York that stifled The Bronx.

—See the top Red Sox vs. Yankees moments of the decade—

You know what happened in the World Series. Bye, bye, Bambino.

Those were the good old days in Boston.

An Idiot returns?

Boston claimed Johnny Damon on Monday after the Detroit Tigers put the 36-year-old outfielder on waivers.

In order for Detroit and Boston to work out a trade, however, they first need Damon’s approval, which doesn’t seem that likely based on his initial feelings.

“My teammates are making this decision easier by saying they want me to stay,” Damon told reporters after Monday’s game. “My gut and everything else tells me Detroit’s the place for me.”

Damon has a clause in his contract that allows him to veto a trade to all but eight teams, including the Red Sox. Damon said he would talk to Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski before coming to a final decision.

As far as sentiment goes, Damon returning to the place where he was once beloved would be a nice story.

Damon’s an integral part of the franchise’s most important season, the year that the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since Babe Ruth proclaimed they never would again.

But other than that, not much remains the same.

Oh, Boston could use Damon’s work. The Red Sox have been banged up and leftfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is back on the DL. The Red Sox could plug Damon’s .358 on-base percentage into the top of the order and hope that he provides a little life for the lineup.

Could Damon and Boston reconcile?

But Damon soured on Boston after the Red Sox made it apparent that they weren’t all that interested in re-signing him after the 2005 season.

In fairness to the Red Sox, they simply didn’t want to meet Damon’s contract demands and Damon didn’t want to take a pay cut. Business is business.

Damon then signed with the Yankees and Red Sox Nation ruthlessly excoriated him. They called Damon a “traitor” and booed his every appearance in Fenway from then on.

Surely it didn’t help to see Damon, all clean-shaven in pinstripes, celebrate a World Series title with New York last year.

When Damon returned to Yankee Stadium last week for the first time since leaving the club, the crowd gave him a standing ovation prior to his first at-bat.

Damon stepped out, took his helmet off, and acknowledged the support.

Although he left the Yankees on different terms than he did with the Red Sox—the departure was more mutual—it was quite a contrast to his reception in Boston.

Damon believes all of the ill-will that stemmed from his departure with the Red Sox could be buried for good if he returned and helped Boston make a push for a playoff spot in the season’s final month.

And it should.

Damon gave Boston his best efforts for four seasons, and then exercised his right to maximize his earning power. Boston exercised its right to make a business decision. Call it even.

But if Boston fans believe they can recapture the aura of the self-proclaimed Idiots of ’04, they are mistaken. The identity of the club is completely different today than it was then.

Damon is not the guy he used to be. Jason Varitek is still around, but just barely. Dustin Pedroia wasn’t in the big leagues in ‘04. Josh Beckett was in Florida. Kevin Youkilis was on the roster but wasn’t a starter.

Manny Ramirez is long gone, but David Ortiz still remains to create a few late-night chills every once in a while.

Turnover happens for every organization, and Boston is no different. The Red Sox have gone a little more mainstream in recent years, spending more money in free agency and trading prospects for established stars.

Credit Red Sox GM Theo Epstein for continuing to build a stable of quality homegrown prospects despite Boston’s influx of revenue.

With their own prospects, the Red Sox have a chance to rekindle that us-against-the-world attitude of the ’04 team, but that time won’t be now.

Boston sits 5.5 games behind the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in the A.L. East.

Can Damon help them bridge the gap in the last six weeks of the season by bringing some old-school attitude to a new-school club?

It’s possible, but the idiots and their magic have come and gone.

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter. You can reach him at tm4000@yahoo.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

For the 62nd spring, Vin Scully will pull up a chair and call games for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Scully announced Sunday that he will return for the 2011 season on a one-year contract and keep his normal schedule with the Dodgers, which consists of calling all home games plus road games against National League West opponents.

“I’m just honored and humbled to continue my association with the Dodgers, which has been a major part of my life,” Scully said in a statement.

There was speculation before the season started whether this would be Scully’s last year in the broadcast booth. He almost didn’t make it to this season.

During spring training, Scully was hospitalized after falling in his home and hitting his head on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night.

Scully has cut back his work schedule in recent years, working on a year-to-year basis and traveling less. He wants to spend more time at home with his wife, he says.

Scully could walk away and be strictly a family man now if he wanted because he doesn’t need the Dodgers, he doesn’t need the notoriety, and he probably doesn’t need the money.

But Scully is coming back because he loves what he does, and that means everything to the Dodgers. The Dodgers need him more than ever.

Scully gives the Dodgers an identity. He gives fans a reason to click on the TV every night and listen in.

It’s time for Dodger baseball only because Scully says it is.

With the Dodgers in a time of change—from manager to players to potentially new owners—Scully is the one thing that connects this era’s team with the boys from Brooklyn and ’88. He has seen and called all of it.

Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series? Scully called it. Kirk Gibson’s walk-off homer in Game 1 of the ’88 World Series? Scully called it. A Sandy Koufax perfect game and a Fernando Valenzuela no-no? Those were Scully’s, too.

As current owner Frank McCourt tries to settle a divorce with his wife and former co-owner, Jamie, Dodgers fans have watched the club play lifeless baseball and sink to the cellar of the NL West.

Los Angeles is a club of young, talented guys with no clear direction. There’s no leadership in L.A., nobody to challenge the team and tell them how the Dodgers are expected to play.

Manny Ramirez has the talent and the pedigree to be that guy, but it’s hard to demand respect when you milk a calf injury on the DL while continuing to collect millions and count down to free agency.

Casey Blake has the professionalism and character to lead a team, but rarely does a role player take on that job.

Matt Kemp has all the ability in the world but for whatever reason hasn’t figured out how to play up to his ability on a consistent basis.

At times, Kemp carries himself with a sense of entitlement that is sometimes seen with superstars. Kemp can be a superstar, but he’s not there yet.

The list of issues runs deep on this team.

It used to be that Tommy Lasorda would march down to the clubhouse and light a fire under players he thought weren’t performing up to their capabilities.

A few years ago when Brad Penny pitched for the Dodgers, Lasorda grew tired of watching Penny, who was supposed to be the Dodgers ace, continually struggle to get out of the sixth inning during his starts.

Penny had great stuff, but the Dodgers weren’t getting the most out of him.

Lasorda went down to the clubhouse and asked Penny if there was anything wrong with him.

“It’s a different era, Tommy,” Penny said, clearly content with turning in his five or six innings of work and hitting the showers.

Lasorda, disgusted and struggling to come up with a response, simply looked at Penny and said, “A new era, my ass!”

But Lasorda is slowing down, too. His presence isn’t as felt throughout the organization, his voice not quite as boisterous.

Once Scully leaves, the Dodgers are going to have to ask a simple question: Who are we?

For the first time since the organization moved to Los Angeles, the answer is unclear. The Dodgers are a proud franchise with loads of tradition, but tradition needs to be carried on.

If Scully isn’t calling games and the Dodgers aren’t winning, what reason will there be to watch them play? The most prestigious baseball team in the country’s second-largest market won’t have anything of substance to sell to its fan base.

That’s almost unfathomable, but it’s reality now in L.A.

The ownership issue will need to be resolved before the Dodgers can move forward and build a team capable of returning to the World Series.

It would behoove them to do that while Scully is still around and keeping fans watching, if only for nostalgia’s sake.

When Vinny is gone, there will be nobody to tell us, “Lets get back to this one.”

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter. You can reach him at tm4000@yahoo.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

When Chase Utley slid into second base at Cincinnati on June 28 and thrashed his right thumb in the process, you could hear the big groan let out of Philly.

With Shane Victorino not being the typical menace to opposing pitchers that he usually is,  Jayson Werth being tossed around in weekly trade rumors, and Brad Lidge sauntering in from the bullpen to close games and looking less and less like his old dominating self, it just didn’t look good for the Phillies.

Maybe this just wasn’t going to be a great year. It happens. After back-to-back World Series appearances and one title to brag about, maybe the dealer just got tired of hooking the Phillies up with ace, king suited. You need some luck to win.

The Phillies played .500 ball in June, Utley went down, and within three-and-a-half weeks they trailed the Braves by seven games.

Atlanta had been rejuvenated by Jason Heyward’s emergence—although he closed out the first half on the DL, too—and had enjoyed a strong year from Troy Glaus. Tim Hudson teamed up with Tommy Hanson to anchor the rotation, and Billy Wagner brought some stability to the bullpen.

The New York Mets were hanging around. The Florida Marlins had some guy named Josh Johnson starting the All-Star Game for the National League. Word is, he is pretty good.

So that seemed to be it for the 2010 Phillies, and who could complain that much if they caught a little bad luck this year?

But then Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. fixed up a package of players that got Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros. No, getting Oswalt couldn’t compare to dealing for Cliff Lee the year before, but it was quite a move. Oswalt is a difference maker.

Philadelphia managed to hang on and play two games better than .500 in July, enjoying a little burst of energy when top prospect Dominic Brown came up to make his debut in place for Victorino. Brown had a couple hits on his first night in the big leagues, and it was a lift that the Phillies needed.

And now here we are, almost halfway through August, and the Phillies sit 2.5 games behind the Braves and continue to put the pressure on a young Atlanta team that is now being tested like the Phillies have been all season.

After dealing with his own thumb issues earlier on in the summer, Heyward had to be scratched prior to a game on Tuesday night because of a sore knee. He said he hurt it in Monday’s game. Welcome to the long grind of a big league season, rookie.

We forget that he’s a young man who would be entering his senior year of college this fall if he decided to go to school. He’s getting what many old timers would call experience.

Chipper Jones also went down in a heap Tuesday evening, injuring his knee trying to make a play in the field. Some within the Braves organization don’t think it’s a day-to-day thing.

“Chip’s going to be out a while probably,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said. “Chip doesn’t think it’s bad, but that’s him. I don’t know.”

If Heyward continued to stay healthy and produce, Matt Diaz hit better than .240, and Troy Glaus duplicated his first half where he hit 14 home runs, maybe there would be enough offense to piece around Brian McCann and keep the ship afloat.

But Glaus went 39 games without going deep until he belted a homer Tuesday night. There just simply hasn’t been a lot of help, and the onus to keep the Phillies fighting for air has fallen on an unproven pitching staff, save for Hudson and Wagner.

Like a good veteran team would, it appears that the Phillies are beginning to smell blood in the water. The New York Mets fooled us for a little while and then became the Mets again, and the Florida Marlins traded Jorge Cantu to the Texas Rangers and look comfortable with accepting another mediocre year.

That leaves only two teams at the top of the National League East, and the Phillies are trying to prove that they have guile to go with ability.

On Wednesday evening, when word came that Utley has been cleared to begin hitting again, Roy Oswalt went out and spun seven shutout innings against the woeful Los Angeles Dodgers. Lidge struck out two in the ninth inning, and now all of a sudden the Phillies have won seven of their last 10, and 15 of their last 19.

The club will not rush Utley, however. He had surgery on July 1, and the Phillies predicted he would miss eight weeks. They absolutely will not force him to return until he’s ready. They can afford to wait for Utley until September, but they can’t afford to lose him again when he returns.

The Phillies hope to get Victorino back soon. Brown will be sent back down, it appears, as he has struggled since his debut, hitting only .237. The Phillies are also waiting on Ryan Howard, who went on the DL with a sprained ankle after hurting it August 1.

Howard had 23 homers before he got hurt and kept the lineup revolving around him in the absence of Utley. Somehow, someway the Phillies have used Werth’s .395 OBP and a lot of spare parts to keep the wheels turning towards another October.

Nobody is talking about Roy Halladay this year—possibly because Ubaldo Jimenez and Johnson and Stephen Strasburg have gotten all the hype among N.L. arms—but he has quietly posted a 2.34 ERA in 185 innings. He’ll likely win 20 games again, exceed 230 innings, and lead the Phillies back to October.

Halladay, Oswalt and Cole Hamels—who has enjoyed a nice rebound year—are still the best one-two-three the N.L. has to offer.

We will see if the Braves can hold on. If they indeed with the division, they will have earned it.

At a time when we like to point to the next big thing in baseball, the Phillies know more than any other club that the last seven weeks of the season are the longest seven weeks of the season.

Veteran teams hang on and ride it out, while young teams feel the pressure and wilt.

If you closed the book on the 2010 Phillies a few weeks ago, it’s time to pick it up and start reading again.

The two-time defending N.L. champs are still here, and they are only going to get better.

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter. You can reach him at tm4000@yahoo.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

For the first time in a long time something other than high school football, the Dallas Cowboys, and barbecue matters in Arlington, Texas.

Cliff Lee matters. Baseball matters. The Texas Rangers and an October pennant race matter.

As the first week of August rolls on, the Rangers find themselves in unfamiliar territory, territory that has been reserved for the Angels, A’s, and Mariners since the millennium turned.

The Rangers lead the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by eight games in the American League West. Talent evaluators believe that the Rangers are for real and that they can sustain this lead over the Angels for the final two months of the regular season because they are simply the best team in their division.

It’s been 11 years since anyone has said that about the Texas Rangers, who last made the playoffs in 1999 when they finished first in the A.L. West by winning 95 games. The eventual World Series winner, the New York Yankees, swept the Rangers out of the playoffs in the Division Series.

The year before, Texas also finished first in the division and went to the postseason. The eventual World Series winner, also the Yankees, swept them in the first round, too. Catcher Ivan Rodriguez was the linchpin of those teams and Johnny Oates was the manager.

In fact, you have to go back to 1996 to find the last Rangers playoff victory. Texas won one game that postseason and lost in the first round to—who else—the Yankees. John Burkett threw a complete game and beat David Cone at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the ALDS. And that, folks, is the lone postseason win in the history of the Texas Rangers.

So, yes, when the heat becomes unbearable this time of year and opposing pitchers come to Arlington to melt with the Rangers holding a substantial lead in the division, you bet it matters. Texans want to savor this summer. The humidity at the ballpark has never felt more soothing.

How did the Rangers get caught in a rut of hardship and failure over the last decade? Answers vary, but it always begins with the top of management, which, until now, has been owner Tom Hicks.

The Rangers never had a strong scouting and player development system in place to replenish their big league roster with homegrown talent. Due to their home ballpark and its propensity to favor hitters, the Rangers seemed content to try to slug their way to division titles. It worked in those late 90s years, but the lack of pitching depth became exposed immediately once the playoffs began. The old adage still lives; you need power arms to win in October.

Texas hoped that Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, Rusty Greer, Rafael Palmeiro, et al., could hit the Rangers to a World Series title.

When that didn’t work and the Rangers bottomed out in 2000 by winning only 71 games and finishing fourth in the division, Hicks opened up his wallet and gave Alex Rodriguez the then-richest contract in baseball history. For 10 years and $252 million, A-Rod became a Ranger.

Hicks more than doubled the Rangers payroll during that time, eclipsing the $100 million mark in 2002 and 2003, the only two years the Rangers have come within $30 million of the century mark in payroll.

As good as Texas’ offense was in those years—they ranked third in the A.L. in runs in A-Rod’s first year with the club—its pitching held the franchise back.

Since Texas’ last playoff appearance, the Rangers have only had four seasons of an ERA better than 4—out of a possible 50—from its starting pitchers. Kenny Rogers did it twice, and Kevin Millwood did it last year after Nolan Ryan had gotten his paws on the pitching staff.

All of this makes the impending sale of the Rangers extremely important.

Texas’ bankruptcy issues have been well documented this year, but the organization’s real financial status remains unclear as the club actually added payroll at the trade deadline this summer and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Russell Nelms listens to bids on the club in an auction set to occur Wednesday in Fort Worth.

It appears that the new owner of the Rangers will be either current club president Nolan Ryan or Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Ryan and his attorney, Chuck Greenberg, submitted a proposal of $520 million to purchase the team, $306.7 million of it in cash. Cuban must reportedly eclipse the cash portion of Ryan’s proposal by $15 million to enter the bidding.

Cuban will almost certainly spend the cash he thinks is needed to secure ownership of the Rangers, but that is not what MLB wants. Cuban told Commissioner Bud Selig in 2008 that he would pay more than $1 billion to buy the Chicago Cubs. Afraid of Cuban’s obstreperous personality and reputation for his public damnation of NBA referees, Selig said no, and Tom Ricketts bought the Cubs for at least $100 million less.

Selig would be most comfortable with Ryan buying the Rangers, but that wouldn’t be best for the future of the club. Look, Ryan could be a great owner, but his value comes in being a hands-on consultant for the team.

In May, Albert Chen of Sports Illustrated wrote a piece titled “Nolan Ryan’s Crusade,” documenting how Ryan took control of the Rangers pitching staff by bringing in pitching coach Mike Maddux prior to the ’09 season and changing the culture of pitching in Texas.

Ryan wanted his pitchers to work deeper into games, to shun pitch counts, to take ownership of their starts. The results have been remarkable and the reason why Texas is so dangerous this year.

If Ryan became the majority owner, he would still want to have that impact, but that never works. Owners can’t run the bank account and craft the product, too. One takes away from the other.

Cuban, on the other hand, is as smart as they come in the business world. He has deep pockets, he listens to the right people, and he gets out of the way. He’ll spend the money to win, but there won’t be idiotic contracts. There won’t be any contracts which the club still pays for seven seasons after the player left (like the Rangers are doing this year with A-Rod).

Most importantly, he’s an owner that actually cares about winning titles more than making money. You can handle the outbursts and the fines because, as a fan, you know he’s always looking to put the best product on the field.

The perfect solution would be to have Ryan and Cuban both involved. Cuban as the majority owner and Ryan as a minority owner who oversees the baseball operations. Ryan’s expertise would come in player development and Cuban’s would come in financial decisions and the overall fan experience.

Would that ever happen? Probably not. It seems clear that Ryan wants to be the owner in charge, and Cuban doesn’t need to buy-in to a team just for the sake of doing it. He’s got the Mavericks.

But Cuban would bring new blood and a fresh perspective to the game, two things baseball has been continuously harped on for lacking. Baseball is built on traditions and outdated customs more than any other major sport. This is comfortable for the old suits that still reminisce about their fathers’ MLB.

That doesn’t work anymore. Times change, technology changes, and every business needs to engage the social media era and the young consumer more than ever.

Major League Baseball wouldn’t lose if Nolan Ryan becomes the owner of the Texas Rangers.

But the league would lose dearly if Mark Cuban didn’t.

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter. You can reach him at tm4000@yahoo.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The big behemoth from Georgia lumbered to the mound to begin the top of the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead Thursday evening, in Chavez Ravine.

Jonathan Broxton closes games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, or he’s supposed to anyway.

Triple-digit fastballs, and 90 mph sliders don’t generally greet hitters with a smile.

After allowing base hits to Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Gregg Zaun, and Craig Counsell, the Milwaukee Brewers tied the game, and forced the Dodgers to face another doom and gloom evening.

A blown lead in May can be swallowed, but this Dodgers team needed a lift. A team that occupies the bottom of the National League West needed a spark. A club that has dropped six of its last 10 games needed a hero.

Andre Ethier, meet LaTroy Hawkins. LaTroy, meet Andre.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Ethier sent a Hawkins pitch deep into the Los Angeles night, landing over the center field wall for a walk-off grand slam and a 7-3 Dodgers victory.

Ethier has two walk-off hits this season, already a third of the way to his 2009 total.

“It was important for us to bounce right back and not dwell on [the blown lead],” Ethier said. “I don’t know what it is, but for some reason I just keep getting up in that situation with an opportunity to [win the game].”

Dodgers manger Joe Torre had high praise for his right fielder after the win. “I don’t remember anybody being as heroic as he’s been out of all the guys I’ve managed,” Torre said.

Lets not forget that list includes a dude named Derek Jeter, the prince of the Big Apple who has made a living in October, and earned himself the nickname “Mr. November” for his 2001 World Series heroics; the same guy who recently became the all-time hits leader in Yankees history. Not Ruth, not Mantle, not Gehrig. Jeter.

This is not to suggest that Torre is putting Ethier in the same context as those guys—not yet anyway—but a comment like Torre’s means something, especially considering where Ethier came from.

If Ethier would have listened to Pat Murphy 10 years ago, he probably wouldn’t have been anywhere near Dodger Stadium Thursday night.

In the fall of 2000, Ethier enrolled as a freshman at Arizona State University. Murphy, then the Sun Devils’ coach, told him he wasn’t good enough to play Division I baseball, and that he should probably transfer to a junior college instead.

So, Ethier did. Murphy, notoriously known for his bulldog personality, had just earned Pac-10 Coach of the year honors in the spring. If he thought a freshman needed to go somewhere else to play, well, that’s what was going to happen.

Ethier swallowed his pride and headed Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Arizona.

Ninety-four hits and a .468 batting average later, Ethier knocked on Murphy’s door the following fall, this time as a 37^th round pick of the Oakland Athletics.

Murphy had been wrong about Ethier, and he knew it. Ethier became a Sun Devil, went on to enjoy All-Pac 10 seasons in ’02 and ’03, and then signed with the A’s after being selected in the second round of the 2003 draft.

In December of 2005, A’s general manager Billy Beane thought the A’s had the type of club to win the American League West the following season.

Looking to add another piece or two, Beane shipped Ethier to the Dodgers in exchange for maligned outfielder Milton Bradley and infielder Antonio Perez. The Dodgers sold high on Perez, who hit .297 in 259 at-bats prior to the trade, and had grown tired of Bradley.

Ethier was known as one of the premier hitters in the minor leagues, but he didn’t come with superstar hype.

When the trade went through, Baseball America’s Kevin Goldstein had this to say about Ethier:  “In Ethier, the Dodgers acquired one of the top hitting prospects in the Oakland system … Ethier is a gifted hitter, but average speed and a below-average arm limit him to left field. With just average power at best, scouts are mixed as Ethier having enough offensive firepower to profile as an everyday corner outfielder in the big leagues.”

Four years later, Ethier led the Dodgers with 31 homers. His .869 OPS ranked behind only Manny Ramirez for the team lead.

In the off-season, the Dodgers inked Ethier to a two-year deal worth $15.25 million, and he has been one of the lone bright spots for the Dodgers so far this spring.

Los Angeles should be better than their 12-16 record, 4-11 on the road, but its -11 run differential through 28 games speaks to the early season troubles.

Ramirez has hit only two homers while being limited to 13 games because of a calf strain. He is scheduled to come off the disabled list on Saturday, May 8.

Matt Kemp has swung a hot bat in the early going, but management expects more from him after giving him a two-year, $10.95 million deal.

General manager Ned Colletti went on a Los Angeles-based radio station and questioned whether Kemp had become too comfortable now that he received an extension.

Kemp says there is no rift between him and Colletti, but the public comments rubbed his agent, former big leaguer Dave Stewart, the wrong way.

“When it comes time for Matt to arbitrate two years from now, we’re going to look at that situation and do what’s best for Matt,” Stewart said on The Mason and Ireland Show.

Stewart is also the agent for pitcher Chad Billingsley, a guy the Dodgers hoped would take some big steps forward this season. It hasn’t happened. Billingsley sports a 5.06 ERA, and is averaging almost four walks per nine innings.

Combine that with the recent regression of Clayton Kershaw—4.99 ERA in six starts—and the two arms L.A. hoped would transition into aces are nowhere to be found.

If the Dodgers want to compete with San Francisco, Colorado, and the rest of the division, their pitching woes will have to be worked out. Charlie Haeger and John Ely can help, but they can’t carry the slack of the rotation.

Meanwhile, Torre has been through a few of these things. He knows every season has an ebb and flow that must be endured.

There will be blown saves, injuries and, yes, walk-off wins once in a while.

At a time when so much appears to be in disarray, Torre can look into right field and find Ethier, his hero.

The man who decided to put the Dodgers on his back at a time when the glitter has fallen off Hollywood’s team.

Teddy Mitrosilis is a journalism major at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and plays baseball for the Tar Heels. Follow him on Twitter . You can reach him at tm4000@yahoo.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Anytime sports and politics mix, things get a little sticky. We want sports to be pure and offer a sanctimonious escape in the form of entertainment. We also want sports to use its national platform to encourage positive change in our country and countries beyond our borders. Both are achievable, presumably, but we can rarely have it both ways.

Asking Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, to single-handedly change the new immigration law in Arizona is asking too much.

Senate Bill 1070 likely won’t be in effect until August at the earliest, but Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, who signed America’s toughest immigration law to date, has felt instant backlash.

The bill makes it a crime to be in Arizona illegally, but the public ire stems from the process, or lack thereof, that authorities are instructed to take to determine who is legal and illegal.

Basically if you look illegal, then prepare to be asked to show documentation proving you are in the U.S. legally.

Opponents of the new law have already raised concerns regarding racial profiling. Multiple lawsuits have been filed, declaring the bill unconstitutional. More will follow.

At best, the new law is incredibly offensive. I’m assuming that police aren’t going to stop two white Europeans and ask them for paperwork. At worst, well, that’s a political bag of worms.

Almost 30 percent of Arizona’s residents are Hispanic, and it is clear that Gov. Brewer is one of many who want to make sure people aren’t fleeing Mexico and coming into the state while bypassing the traditional immigration process.

That is where the fire alarm goes off in baseball. More than a quarter of the players on MLB rosters are Latin. Many of them travel through Phoenix to play the Arizona Diamondbacks every year. More convene in Arizona every February and March for spring training.

How will this new law affect baseball players and what can Selig do about it? That’s the big question.

William C. Rhoden wrote a column in Monday’s edition of The New York Times calling this an opportunity for Selig to “send a message” and write his own legacy.

Rhoden writes: “Selig can remind his fans, those who support the Arizona legislation and those who oppose it, that close to 30 percent of major league players were born elsewhere. That these international players help provide the strength of the game. That it is unthinkable that they should feel in any way unwelcome. This is the message Selig should convey. With his legacy on the line, it’s the swing he eventually has to take.”

I’m not taking a side on the law. It’s political, it’s laced with personal agendas, and that’s certainly not the place for me to comment and not the place for sports to overstep its boundaries. Politics are politics, sports are sports, and that’s how I generally prefer to keep them.

But I do agree with the premise of Rhoden’s column. It’s preposterous to think of a situation where Felix Hernandez can be stopped while walking to lunch and asked if he belongs in this country.

Or even worse, an unknown kid playing minor league ball. Things may be fine for the superstars and millionaires, but the 18-year-olds trying to learn a new language and adjust to a new lifestyle face different problems.

But what is there for Selig to do other than publicly express a desire to see the bill escorted to the nearest paper shredder? Bud Selig isn’t a politician. It’s not his job to fight the feds, nor should we want him to.

Selig’s job, as the commissioner of baseball, is to help protect his players. When a player signs with an organization, he has a legitimate reason to be in this country. That doesn’t take away the reality that he may be forced to carry proof in his pocket.

I’m afraid Selig’s only potential response to that is, “Sorry, fellas, it’s the world we live in.”

What else can he say? What else can he do?

Some people want Selig to move the 2011 All Star Game, which is currently scheduled for Phoenix. I’m not in favor of that, because what does it solve? Nothing, really. It only hurts the baseball fans in Arizona and the Diamondbacks. Moving the All Star Game would take millions of dollars away from the Arizona organization and the opportunity to showcase Chase Field to the masses.

It’s not the Diamonbacks’ fault they happen to play in Arizona. What do you want them to do, relocate? That’s silly.

Selig doesn’t have the authority to change the immigration law. That’s for President Obama if he wants. What Selig should be concerned with is ensuring the quality of life for Latin players in Arizona.

It will be interesting to see how this law, if it stays as currently constructed, will affect the Diamondbacks in the future in terms of signing international players and foreign-born free agents. Will Latin kids want to sign as 16-year-olds knowing their team plays in a state with this type of law in place? Will free agents require a little extra coin—call it the Arizona Tax—in order to agree to a deal with Arizona? They are legitimate questions. Questions that directly impact the baseball issue at hand.

The MLB Players Association has spoken out against the law. Selig surely has thoughts and maybe we will hear from him in the near future. As much as some may want him to force change, he is, after all, only a baseball commissioner. Taking drastic measures, like boycotting anything Arizona-related, can do more harm to the sport than good.

Selig can raise verbal hell. He can call out against the law. But after that, the only thing he can do to send a real message is pull the players off the field, and I don’t think we want to go there with this.

Sometimes it’s just the world we live in, fellas, and it’s not always fair.

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter . You can reach him at tm4000@yahoo.com.

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