The Dodgers were able to rally for two runs in the bottom of the seventh and another two in the eighth to give themselves a perfect home record in April. However, the biggest implication from the game is what it means for James McDonald. The young righty could not make it out of the second inning on Thursday night, and if it wasn't for a great effort from Jeff Weaver(?!?!) the Dodgers would have been in some serious trouble. The Dream Weaver came out of the pen and pitched four scoreless innings for the Boys in Blue. The Simi Valley High product was in vintage 2004-2005 form (vintage form for Weaver was roughly league average) and his strong performance saved the Dodgers last night.
Now the effect this has on the rotation seems fairly obvious. While I am a big fan of J-Mac, he isn't getting the job done. His 8.16 ERA isn't even the biggest issue. The biggest issues are twofold.. One, he isn't getting deep enough into games. He hasn't pitched more than five innings in any of his four starts, and he only went five once. In two of his starts he was not able to make it out of the third. He is putting too much stress on the bullpen for him to continue to get the ball. The second biggest issue is the cause of the first issue and it is the fact that he is just walking way too many batters. He has walked nearly a batter an inning so far this season while striking out less than 4.5 batters per nine innings. He is allowing way too many baserunners and all the deep counts get his pitch count up so high to the point that he can't go deep into games. Although Torre wouldn't say after the game that McDonald was out of the rotation, I don't see him making his next scheduled start on Tuesday. Chances are that Weaver will make the start. I don't think he is the answer for the long run but in the short run he can pitch effectively enough to keep the Dodgers in the game. As for McDonald, I think the bullpen is a better solution to the problem than a demotion to Triple A. He is obviously pressing but I don't think he can get any better by going down to the minors. He is 24 years old and he is at the stage in his development where he needs to make big league adjustments. I think he will do that. It just might take some time. In the meantime, his versatility out of the 'pen can give the Dodgers some intriguing options. With J-Mac, Kuo, Belisario and Broxton the Dodgers have power arms in their pen and they have guys who can go multiple innings. Add in Troncoso, Wade, and Ohman and the bully is shaping up really nice. I believe that McDonald will eventually be a starter. I was a supporter of him winning the fifth-starter competiton out of spring. But he needs to get both his concentration and his confidence higher. Right now, in the best interests of both parties, he needs to pitch out of the bullpen. However, don't be suprised to see him back in the rotation by the middle of the year. He has always been a starter and that's where he will end up again. His future is bright and I, for one, am excited to see him develop as a Dodger.
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