Adam Kennedy is batting fifth (yes, fifth) for your Los Angeles Dodgers today, so in honor of that event, I thought I would breakdown a swing that he took against Clayton Richard of the San Diego Padres yesterday.

IT’S SUPER IMPORTANT!

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Adam Kennedy Thought Analysis: “Down by one? No problem. Adam Kennedy’s here to save the day. Sitting dead red because that’s how Adam Kennedy likes it.”

Adam Kennedy Swing Analysis: Look how strong and hopeful he looks here. Like a proud lion confident that he’s about to rule the plains. Save that image in your head for contrast purposes later.

Adam Kennedy Thought Analysis: “Throwing Adam Kennedy a fastball? LOLOLOLOL!”

Adam Kennedy Swing Analysis: You can tell he thinks he recognizes the pitch here. If you look closely, you can almost see his eyes get wider because he thinks he just got a fastball up in the zone. Yeah … oops.

Adam Kennedy Thought Analysis: “I would be rofling right now if I wasn’t about to crush this baseball like Juan Uribe does the post-game spread. Tie game, incoming.”

Adam Kennedy Swing Analysis: Shit.

Adam Kennedy Thought Analysis: “Aw fuck, is that a slider?”

Adam Kennedy Swing Analysis: Shit.

Adam Kennedy Thought Analysis: *Sigh*

Adam Kennedy Swing Analysis: My favorite part about this is the look of resignation and utter defeat on his face. It permeates the screen and should be used as a flawless example of emoting in acting school.

Adam Kennedy Thought Analysis: “Now I’m gonna get mocked by the blogs again…”

Adam Kennedy Swing Analysis: I enjoy how his head automatically goes down, as if he knows that he’s just started a race to see who can type out the most clever “Adam Kennedy sucks” tweet.

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Seriously though, he sucks.

Now enjoy him going 5-for-5 with 5 home runs today because I wrote this.

The popular discussion about this game will revolve around the blown call that ended it, but that kind of stuff will happen from time to time, just ask the Padres. For my interests, the real discussion should revolve around exactly what Don Mattingly was thinking late in the game.

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As it got down to the late innings of a tie game on the road, it wasn’t hard to see that Mattingly was going to save closer Javy Guerra for a save situation. Many of us speculated on that move well before it happened, and sure enough, Matt Guerrier entered the game in the ninth.

Now Guerrier has been excellent this season and Guerra has struggled lately, but overall, Guerra is the better reliever and he’s the team’s closer. Yet instead of making sure that, you know, the game actually continues, Guerra was saved for when the Dodgers took the lead, a lead that never came.

That was a managerial mistake, and Guerrier compounded it by making a mistake of his own with the walk of Jonathan Lucroy. The Brewers gave the Dodgers a gift by bunting into an out without advancing the runner, but the Dodgers gave it right back when Nyjer Morgan stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by A.J. Ellis.

Now this is the point where I felt Mattingly’s decision making got really odd.

Mattingly proceeded to intentionally walk Rickie Weeks to put runners on first and third with one out. If you’re going to go that route, the next course of action is to:

1) Walk George Kottaras to load the bases and create a force play at home.
2) Play the corners in and at double play depth up the middle, and try to induce a grounder.

Instead, Mattingly brought in Jerry Hairston Jr. from the outfield to make five infielders and then proceeded to play all of them in, negating the point of walking Weeks to begin with. The fact that the walk was useless was further driven home when Weeks took second base on defensive indifference, thus showing that the Dodgers never cared about creating a force at second.

So if they had no intention of using the force play at second, why didn’t they walk Kottaras after they walked Weeks? Presumably because they didn’t want to face Ryan Braun with the bases loaded, but if that was indeed the case, why not pitch to Weeks since they weren’t banking on a force play being around to begin with?

1) Pitch to Weeks and pitch to Kottaras.
2) Walk Weeks, play the corners in and the middle at double play depth, and try to induce Kottaras into hitting a grounder.
3) Walk Weeks, walk Kottaras, and face Braun.

I prefer going with option one or option two over option three by a lot, but all seem to make some semblance of logical sense. Instead, Mattingly went with option four, which involved still having to face both Kottaras and Braun, both with no force play in tact if Guerrier did his job, meaning they actively choose to face one of the best hitters in the National League and gave the Brewers two chances to win it.

With option one, you potentially miss having to pitch to Braun. With options two and three (especially two), there’s a chance you can get out of it with one pitch. Yet, Mattingly seems to have chosen the scenario that both gives the opposing team the most attempts at driving in the runner from third and results in having to face the best hitter on the Brewers.

Swell.

Granted, most of this discussion was negated when Guerrier unintentionally walked Kottaras, but it still revealed a lot of what Mattingly was or wasn’t thinking.

It’s just so … what?

Ugh.

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As far as the last play of the game, he was out, as Mike Petriello‘s GIF shows.

I initially thought Ellis completely whiffed on the tag, but having now seen it slowed down, I see where the glove bends back as he makes contact with Morgan.

Terrible setup and throw by Matt Kemp, by the way.

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What is Adam Kennedy on the team for?

I feel no more confident with him up at the plate as opposed to a pitcher, and quite frankly, he’s done nothing in recent years to prove he’s a significant improvement.

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Let’s not lose sight of the fact that Guerrier was signed for three years by Colletti and is the 4th best reliever to 3 guys making $500k.

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 19, 2012

Yes, I'm in shape. The shape I'm in is round.

Juan Uribe is off to a miserable start for the Dodgers in 2012, putting up a .231/.259/.231/.490 line while playing a mediocre third base. After a particularly ugly swing in the bottom of the eighth inning of Friday’s game against the Padres, color guy Steve Lyons took at look at Uribe’s swing mechanics.

Basically what Lyons pointed out is that Uribe’s lead foot drifts away from home plate as he steps and swings, leading him to pull off the ball with his body. Lyons is actually correct, as that’s horrible technique that you shouldn’t teach anybody, but Uribe’s ugly looking swing on that pitch wasn’t any different than what Uribe has always done, successful or not.

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Note: That arrow is what Lyons drew, not me.

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While it’s not exactly the same pitch and it’s not exactly the same swing, it’s close enough to identical that you should be able to get my point. On one of those swings, Uribe hit a line shot into the left field stands for a homer. On the other swing, we all sat back and wondered how he ever makes contact with the baseball, much less how he gets paid millions to play.

So while the swing analysis of Lyons was correct, he didn’t factor in what Uribe looks like when he does hit the ball well, which, for better or worse, is basically the exact same thing as when he does terrible. As such, this isn’t so much a case of something that coaches can correct as it is the Dodgers getting exactly what they paid for. Uribe is a streaky player, so he could turn it around at a moment’s notice, and there’s really no mechanical issue with his swing that wasn’t there when the team signed him.

The bottom line is that if the team thinks the skills they paid him for remain in tact, then they just need to be patient and hope he goes on one of his hot streaks. However, if they think his skills have deteriorated, then they need to rework his swing and make it more efficient to give Uribe a fighting chance as he ages. He wouldn’t be the first player to do so, and he certainly wouldn’t be the best.

How did I feel about Don Mattingly‘s decision making in the bottom of the fifth against the Padres yesterday?

Great decision by Mattingly, fuck stupid statistics like pitcher wins.

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 8, 2012

Wait, he brought in Wright.

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 8, 2012

Yeah, that basically sums up my thoughts on Mattingly’s managerial skills in yesterday’s game. Good idea, bad execution.

Up five runs to none in the bottom of the fifth inning, starter Chris Capuano was struggling mightily with his control. After getting a strikeout to begin the frame, he gave up a single, a walk, got a force out, and then walked the next two batters.

Now most managers would let their starter try to get the last out of the fifth inning in this scenario because of the vaunted pitcher win, but it’s an inherently stupid thing to let influence decision making since it’s a meaningless statistic, especially when the game is on the line.

As such, Mattingly made the right call by pulling Capuano, who had been iffy with his control all day (even by his own admission in the post-game interview), but negated that decision by bringing in Jamey Wright, who was essentially the last man to make an eight-man bullpen out of Spring Training.

If Jansen or Coffey or something do that, I can live with it. Wright is going to be in like independent league in 15 days.

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 8, 2012

That one out is the highest leverage situation of the game (or will lead to it) because it either keeps the game at a four-run lead or it starts a chain reaction that implodes the game for the Dodgers. As such, it’s a perfect opportunity to use Kenley Jansen, probably the best reliever in the pen, But even if that’s too unconventional, why not veterans like Todd Coffey or Matt Guerrier? That’s what the Dodgers are paying them for, isn’t it?

The decision was half right, but half right is still wrong.

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In transaction news, Carlos Monasterios was released by the team yesterday.

The Dodgers have released right-hander Carlos Monasterios, who pitched in 32 games for them in 2010 but has since required two elbow operations.

Monasterios, 26, was a Rule 5 Draft pick who went 3-5 with a 4.38 ERA in 2010, when he started 13 games and spent the entire season in the Major Leagues. But after making one start at Triple-A last year, he required Tommy John elbow reconstruction and missed the rest of the season.

He encountered further arm problems after reporting to Spring Training this year and at the end of March underwent surgery to relocate the ulna nerve.

He looked to be solid front-end bullpen guy, long man, and spot starter, but injuries really derailed a potentially decent career.