Five Things to Look For in the Lakers' Season

The defending champs are back. The Los Angeles Lakers look prepared to defend their crown in the 2009-10 NBA season, and the entire gang has returned (minus one Trevor Ariza and plus one Ron Artest). Kobe, Pau, Derek, and the boys appear better than ever, and with the addition of Artest, the defense just became one of the best in the league. With the newest season preparing to begin, there are five things to watch as time progresses:

Ron Artest: The controversial small-forward has received a warm reception, but he has big shoes to fill in Trevor Ariza. He also needs to know he is at best the third best player behind Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. No funny stuff, no crazy antics, just plain basketball.

Andrew Bynum's Knee: In an effort to compensate for his right knee which was injured last season, the young center has opted to wear a brace on both knees. His regular season play was outstanding; his postseason play was far from it. He enters this season as he did last year: having to prove his worth.

Lamar Odom: Odom's tempermental play was thrown aside when he returned after his stunning playoff push. He will still most likely work off the bench, but now that it's a role he is acquainted with, his on-again-off-again play might be a thing of the past. Might be.

The Bench: The bench received some added depth when Shannon Brown was resigned. After abysmal seasons, both Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic have to return to their former glory. Luke Walton needs to remain consistent, and Josh Powell needs to take a few lessons from Odom on how to be versitile. We saw a glimpse of Powell's potential when he sank a 3-pointer in the Finals. He needs to capitalize on that.

Phil Jackson: The NBA's winningest coach was in limbo this year. His health remains an issue, his right-hand man left for Minnesota, and he will be tasked with keeping Artest in check. There has never been such a strange combination for Jackson in his career as a coach. The way he handles the new frontieres he must face will set the tone for the rest of the team.

No Respect: Dodgers On the Wrong Side of the Media

Everyone hates the Dodgers. They love St. Louis. St. Louis is the city that bleeds Cardinal Red. It lives and breathes baseball, and knows the true meaning of passion. Los Angeles is a brooding toilet, where the fans arrive in the third, leave in the seventh, and spend the fourth, fifth and sixth texting. St. Louis has the amazing, the astounding Albert Pujols, the greatest jewel in baseball’s post-steroid crown. LA has a scrappy bunch of over-achievers led by a rotten, no-good cheat named Manny Ramirez. St. Louis has Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, a duo who could have two Cy Young awards between them by the offseason. Los Angeles has a bottom-of-the-pile lefty who somehow has pitched decently and a young kid who is the epitome of the Dodgers’ second-half struggles. Despite the Cardinals’ 2-8 regular season finish, there is no reason to think they cannot turn on the switch and play like champions. The Dodgers’ 4-6 record clearly indicates they are struggling, and could easily be eliminated despite holding the best record in the National League. In fact, the Dodgers do not deserve the title of the NL’s best. Who cares about records. The Cardinals are the clearly superior team. They’ve earned it, while the Dodgers have not.

Sound familiar? It should. This is the diatribe the media has been harping since the playoff matchups were set. FOX Sports ranks the Dodgers seventh of the eight teams in the playoffs, even behind the Colorado Rockies, the club they have beaten 14 of 18 times this season. Everyone says the rotation is in shambles. The bullpen is ignored for its incredible consistency (Tim Kurkjian of ESPN calls the Yankee ‘pen the best, citing how the relievers’ 40 wins is the most for a team in history). The offense is basically nonexistent, and that’s only based on the five-game losing streak. The media has never shown Los Angeles any love, going back to 1988 when the Dodgers were the team that couldn’t but did. As Tommy Lasorda said:

Nobody thought we could win the division! Nobody thought we could beat the mighty Mets! Nobody thought we could beat the team who won 104 games, but we believed it!

The media will never show the Dodgers any love, and until they can achieve the ultimate goal, they never will. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is if we believe. What matters is if we believe we can reach the end. What matters is if the Dodgers can go out onto that field and play like they are the better team, not just say they are. Because if they can do that, and if they can win that magic number of 11, then there will always be a reason to believe, even if no one else does.

Dodgers Take Finale

It was merely an exhibition, a chance for scrubs to strut their stuff. But for Vicente Padilla, it was his last chance to show the Dodgers he belonged on the postseason rotation. The righty struck out ten, including the first five batters en route to a 5-3 win. Padilla went five innings, giving up only one run on four hits without walking anybody. Brad Ausmus had the honor of managing the finale in keeping with Joe Torre’s tradition of letting veterans be the skipper for a day. Jim Thome and Juan Castro were the hitting coaches, Mark Loretta was the bench coach, bullpen catcher Mike Borzello was the pitching coach, and Jeff Weaver was the bullpen coach.

The Dodgers started where they left off on Saturday, scoring four runs in the first inning. A.J. Ellis had the first hit of his career, and it also led to his first RBI. Doug Mientkiewicz had three hits in his first start of the season, Casey Blake drove in two runs, and Orlando Hudson hit a double. Chin-Lung Hu was 2-for-4 and doubled as well.

Playoffs begin on Wednesday against St. Louis at 6:37 PST. Randy Wolf will get the ball to start Game 1, and Chris Carpenter will go for the Red Birds.

DOGERS CLINCH!

Dodgers 5 - Colorado 0

It took a while, but the Dodgers finally did it! The Boys in Blue hung a crooked five in the seventh inning and defeated Colorado 5-0 to clinch the NL West crown. It was a long and harrowing journey, from Pittsburgh to San Diego to Los Angeles, but the Dodgers found a way to win, and to win big. Clayton Kershaw threw well enough to get the win, striking out ten while shutting down the Rockies over six innings. The bullpen of Hong-Chih Kuo, George Sherrill, and Jonathan Broxton threw a combined three perfect innings of relief, and the rest is history.

Things looked bleak going into the seventh inning. The offense was as stagnant as it had been all year. But Jorge De La Rosa, who threw three perfect innings to start the game, was removed after feeling tightness in his groin while pitching to Rafael Furcal in the fourth. Jose Contreras pitched three shutout innings of relief, but was shaky, giving up four hits and a walk.

In the seventh, Casey Blake opened with a single and took second on an error by Carlos Gonzalez in center. James Loney sacrificed him to second, and Ronnie Belliard, in his first at-bat since last Saturday, hit an infield single to plate Blake. Russell Martin worked a walk, and Mark Loretta hit a pinch-hit double to drive in Castro who pinch-ran for Belliard, his most important AB as a Dodger. With Furcal walked intentionally, and Juan Pierre hit a bloop single to score the third run of the inning. Matt Kemp hit an RBI-sacrifice fly, and Manny Ramirez broke a long 0fer stretch with an RBI single. By the time the third out was recorded, the Dodgers plated five runs.

Trojans Beat Cal Easily

USC 33 - CAL 3

Trojans versus Golden Bears. A matchup for the ages. But with both teams suffering disheartening losses, the game became much more important. USC prevailed easily though, almost assuring Cal of being removed from the top 25 rankings. Joe McKnight had two touchdown runs, and Damian Williams returned a punt for 66 yards and a TD. The Bears had only 88 rushing yards, with the Trojans easily stifling "Heisman candidate" Jahvid Best.

Photo by Ezra Small/Getty Images

Bruins Drop Pac-10 Opener

STANFORD 24 - UCLA 16

Not UCLA's prettiest game. Kevin Craft was 22-for-34 in pass attempts as the Bruins fell in their Pac-10 opener against the Cardinal. The ground game was terrible, with UCLA collecting only 98 yards while the defense allowed 176 rushing yards. The third-down conversion rate was also starkly different, as the Bruins were 2-for-7 while Stanford was 7-for-13.

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Dodgers Cutting it Way Too Close

The Dodgers' race to the pennant is a little too close for comfort. I'm not just talking uneasiness. It's a full-blown ulcer because of this race. While it does add drama to the end of the season, I would settle for the Tigers/Twins. Not this. I'm not a drama guy. Not when it directly affects me. Not when Manny Ramirez is striking out four times and setting his LOB total at a staggering six. Not when the #3, 4, and 5 hitters are a combined 0-for-12. Not when Matt Kemp falls into an 0-for-4 spiral that only gets worse with his LOB of five. And definitely not when it just seems like the Dodgers cannot win a game for the rest of the regular season. I know postseason play does not hinge on how a team finishes the regular season. But it's just so gosh-darn depressing watching failed attempt after failed attempt. When the opponent gets a runner aboard, I feel like he will score. If the Boys in Blue get a runner aboard, I fell like he will either be erased or stranded. That's not really how I want to feel right now.

I'm Back!

Yes, Mr. LA Sports Fan is back, and better than ever. Over the next few days, you might notice a lot of differences to LASS. Since I'm now pulling double-duty at SoCal Sports Hub, I find I have little time to post about big things happening with the Dodgers, the Lakers, and anything else happening. In order to cut back on the workload, I will no longer cover Kings hockey or college basketball except for March Madness. I apologize for their removal. I will continue to cover the Dodgers, the Lakers, USC Football, UCLA Football, and of course, the Clippers. I will try to add a little more flavor to the posts and make them more interesting to the readers. It's the start of a brand new day here, and I thank all of you for sticking around.

Please Stand By

The LA Sports Scene is currently on hiatus until further notice.

Dodgers Add Padilla

The Los Angeles Dodgers added Vicente Padilla to their rotation, signing him to a minor-league contract worth $100,000. The Dodgers felt the need to bring in a pitcher to help with an exhausted pitching staff, especially after Hiroki Kuroda's injury. Padilla will start one game in the minors, then will be called up. He previously pitched with the Texas Rangers, compiling an 8-6 record with a 4.92 ERA. LA was also considering John Smoltz, but he was picked up by St. Louis.

Series Recap: Kuroda Feelin' Fine

The series against Arizona took a gruesome turn when Hiroki Kuroda was struck in the head by a line-drive. Medical analysis shows he will make a full recovery, and could begin pitching very soon this season. His Thursday start is doubtful.

SAT - The injury to Kuroda set the stage for a heart-wrenching 4-3 loss, where Jonathan Broxton gave up back-to-back home runs to Mark Reynolds and Miguel Montero to tie the game. Ramon Troncoso continued to struggle, giving up a hit and two walks before allowing a deep single to center to drive in the winning run.

SUN - The Dodgers managed to salvage their series with the D-Backs with a 9-3 blowout. Randy Wolf cruised through seven innings before hitting trouble in the eighth, and even contributed with the bat, falling a triple short of the cycle. Andre Ethier hit a three-run homer before the first out of the game could be recorded, and Orlando Hudson drove in two runs with his own home run.

D-Backs Down Dodgers in Opener

The Los Angeles Dodgers fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-1, their second loss in a row. Dan Haren shut LA down for eight innings, holding them to just one run on six hits while striking out eight. Clayton Kershaw hit trouble in the second, giving up four runs on three hits and three walks. Matt Kemp hit his 17th home run of the season, and Manny Ramirez had three hits.

The Dodgers signed second-round draft pick Garrett Gould to a contract. Gould is a first-round talent who dropped to the second due to signability issues.

Corp Breaks Leg in Practice

Aaron Corp, USC's first-string quarterback, has a fracture in his small left knee as a result of an injury sustained during practice. He will be out for two weeks. Freshman Matt Barkley will be moved into the starter role.

Dodgers Can't Hang On in Extras

The Los Angeles Dodgers fell to the San Francisco Giants 4-2 in 10 innings, but still took the series two games to one. Tim Lincecum was nails, allowing only one run in eight innings of work before going into the ninth. After Rafael Furcal singled and tagged up to second, Andre Ethier singled him home with two out to tie the game at two runs apiece. The match entered extra innings, and Guillermo Mota surrendered a two-run homer to Juan Uribe that ended the game. The Dodgers had only four hits, two coming from Ethier. Juan Pierre tripled and scored a run, and Rafael Furcal had the only other hit and RBI. Freddy Sanchez had two hits, a run scored, and an RBI for the Giants.

Clips Get Butler

The Los Angeles Clippers traded for Rasual Butler from New Orleans, and in exchange the Hornets will receive a conditional second-round pick in 2016. The transaction comes as the Clippers try to start a rebuilding process built around Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon. New Orleans' reasons for trading Butler, who enjoyed a career-season with an average of 11.2 points a game, for just a draft pick in the distant future was to lower payroll.