he was guillermo both times

i didn't plan to do another 'double dipper' post so soon after the last one, but monday kind of snuck up on me.  the first person i ever knew of that was named guillermo was willie hernandez.  if i recall correctly, he decided he wanted to be known as guillermo after winning the cy young award in 1984.  about twenty years later, the dodgers had a pitcher named guillermo.  to my knowledge, no one called him willie.

[this is the forty-eighth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, and elmer dessens.]

the dodgers acquired guillermo mota and wilkin ruan from the expos in march of 2002 in a deal that cost them matt herges and a minor leaguer.  i don't know when i would ever do a post about ruan, so here is what i believe to be the only card of his that i own - a 2002 select rookies & prospects auto that shows him as a dodger in name only

now back to mota.  after a 1-3 2002 season that saw mota post an era of 4.15 in 43 games, he settled into the setup role nicely.  mota appeared in 76 games during the 2003 season, going 6-3 with a save and a 1.97 era, while compiling 13 holds in front of dodger closer eric gagne.  that performance earned him a 2004 topps card

speaking of which, 2004 was shaping up to be a similar season (mota was 8-4 with a 2.14 era in 52 appearances for the dodgers) when mota was traded to the marlins in the 'heart and soul' deal that also included paul loduca.

mota pitched for the marlins through the 2005 season, and then made stops in cleveland, new york (as a met), and milwaukee before returning to the dodgers as a free agent prior to the 2009 season.  here's his 2008 topps update & highlights card

mota pitched in 61 games for the dodgers in 2009, posting a 3-4 record with a 3.44 era and just a couple of holds.  he did strike out the side in his final appearance as a dodger, which came on the last day of the season against the rockies.  i was glad to see him return, even if it wasn't quite the same seeing him pitch in front of takashi saito.  here's a 2009 goose joak original that i made at the time

since middle relievers don't seem to need cards of their own anymore.  even though the dodgers advanced to the nlcs that year, mota did not pitch in the postseason.  since then, however, he has been to two postseasons and has won them both as a member of the giants (although he did not pitch in the 2012 series).

mota is currently looking for work, and thankfully the dodgers' bullpen looks to be full at this point.  there was a chance a couple of years ago that mota might return to la instead of re-signing with the giants.  had he done so, he would have joined juan castro as the only (to my knowledge) triple dippers in dodger history. 
here's to you, guillermo mota!

it's 1991 all over again

no, i'm not really talking about this 1991 topps card made by dave at goose joak a while back

although it is pretty awesome (and i know how tough the 1991 is to recreate thanks to the 1991 topps traded fernando valenzuela card that should have been that i made a while back).  no, what i mean is that it is 1991 world champions reunion weekend here in minny.  that means the streets are awash with the likes of scott erickson, gene larkin, terry leach, and the guys who are here anyway, such as tom kelly, dan gladden and jack morris.

lots of autograph opportunities today.  i might stop and try for morris (again) along with gladden and erickson after i hit the card show.

need anything?

the first of the 2010 goose joak dodger originals

i am looking forward to helping with the goose joak set again this year.  i think i will approach it a little differently, though.  i'm not concerned about the 40-man roster this year, but i will try to get every player who appears in the majors for the dodgers on a card.  i am also going to use only 2010 photos.  with all that said, here are the first two dodgers i have created - manny ramirez

and opening day starter, vincente padilla

i prefer the logo inset as opposed to a smaller photo, so that's the way i'll do it all year.  both photos are from the dodgers' opening day loss in pittsburgh and are getty images.

i also saw a cool photo (also a getty image) from opening day of mark reynolds of the diamondbacks, and had to make a card out of it

i will also be making some twins cards (with my own photos, hopefully).  should be fun.

while i'm here, i'll post the last two 2009 goose joak originals i had made from last year.  both are variants from the original versions i made for andre ethier

and james loney

i'll get the 2010 cards posted to dave's site as soon as i can figure out the flickr stuff.

garland, thome and belliard - oh my!

in what may be the last of the dodgers' 2009 goose joak originals, here are the latest acquisitions.

jon garland.jim thome.ronnie belliard.

that is all.

a (goose joak) call for arms

not 'to arms' - it's definitely a call for arms in mannywood these days. with kuroda down, we've relied on the knuckleball of charlie haeger, and in a couple of days we'll see if vincente padilla can be a positive force on the field. the padilla start may even be a start to keep first place, perish the thought.

here are a couple more goose joak originals for the file - first, charlie haeger

all haeger has done is go 7 innings in each of his two starts. he gave up 3 runs his first start (and lost) but held the cubs scoreless in his most recent outing picking up the win. it's always nice when you can bring up a guy to fill in and he does the job. just look at the mess the twins are in right now with their pitching. none of the minor league guys are able to give the bullpen any rest.

and then there's the aforementioned padilla.i went the o-pee-chee route with him, since he has yet to make his debut with the dodgers. i remember in 1988 when the dodgers traded pedro guerrero, and the word was addition by subtraction. i hope this isn't subtraction by addition. here's hoping he wears the dodger blue well.

the new sherrill in town

as everyone knows by now, the dodgers acquired lefty george sherrill from the orioles at the trade deadline which was two weeks ago. that means i have been derelict in my duty to create a 2009 goose joak original. well, no longer.

this gives the dodgers perhaps the best one-two/lefty-righty punch since the 1977 pirates (!) had terry forster and goose gossage going.

please note that i spent exactly twenty-nine seconds thinking of a similar bullpen duo, so feel free to comment on others that i have overlooked. i just really wanted to acknowledge the pirates for doing something right.

rickey is the greatest

or at least one of the greatest of all time, and now he has his own 2009 goose joak original.congratulations to the latest dodger hall of famer. sure, he spent just a short time with the dodgers, but it is time that will be noted on his plaque. i am very much looking forward to his speech, by the way.

i wish billy beane would have signed rickey to a contract during the final month of any of the last 5 seasons. maybe now that holliday is gone, rickey will be back in left one more time.

here's to you rickey!

mr. jones and me, we're gonna be big stars

well, not me. but maybe mr. jones. mitch jones, that is. although, as a 31 year-old rookie he is just happy to be playing in the big leagues, i bet.

jones was called up to the dodgers last week. it wasn't his first trip to the majors - he was called up by the joe torre-led yankees in 2006 - but he did make his first appearance in a game, pinch hitting for ronald belisario. alas, mr. jones struck out. but, the next night, he pinch hit for guillermo mota and singled for his first major league hit.

in honor of his appearance in the show, here is his 2009 goose joak original card

here's to you, mr. jones!

cleaning out the rest of my goose joak files

here are the rest of my active player 2009 goose joak originals so far. i hope to eventually have a card for each member of the 40 man roster, and i am getting close.

first, a classic combo type of manny and vlad.no doubt exchanging hair styling tips.

xavier paul. a recent call up - splitting time with juan pierre in left while manny is out.

another recent call up, brent leach.with russell martin congratulating him after his major league debut.

delwyn (not delmon) young.

i understand he was traded to the pirates a while back. oh well, i made this card a long time ago, and it's not going to be wasted.

jason repko.the oft-injured repko. the braves showed some interest in acquiring repko recently, according to ken rosenthal. i wonder why.

a couple more 40 man roster guys - lucas may.

stuck behind russell martin.

and jamie hoffmann.
a local kid from new ulm, mn. he has a few bowman cards already, and was recently promoted to aaa.

goose joak rotation, plus a couple other bullpen stragglers

here are a few more 2009 goose joak originals. this time, i have a bunch of starting pitchers, with a couple of recent bullpen callups, plus a 40 man roster guy.

first is greg maddux. the goose joak final tribute. i thought i had posted this before, but i guess not. maddux just had his number retired by the cubs last weekend, but i have to believe he goes to the hall as a brave.

our ace, chad billingsley.

he's good. perhaps the only good thing about my fantasy team in marie's league.

randy wolf.

in his second go around with the dodgers. he's pitching fairly well right now.

now for some injured guys. hiroki kuroda.probably on the dl for a couple more weeks. i was hoping he would have the type of sophomore season that daisuke had last year.

jason schmidt.

apologies to andruw jones, but this has to be ned's worst signing. to jason's credit, he's still trying to come back.

speaking of comebacks, here's another second time dodger - jeff weaver.

he pitched 4 shutout innings in his season debut. good enough to displace james mcdonald in the rotation. since he was last with the dodgers, he's bounced around but won a world series ring. that has to count for something, right?

ronald belisario. apparently his stuff was why weaver didn't make the team out of spring training. is he going to be the new 8th inning guy? who knows.

finally, here is a guy on the 40-man roster, victor garate.i was looking for a photo of recent call up brent leach, but found this guy instead. he pitched for the great lakes loons of the midwest league last year and set a mark, striking out 12 in 6 innings of work.

goose joak originals - the infield

orlando hudson's cycle got me to post his card already, but here is the rest of the dodgers' infield in their 2009 goose joak originals glory.

playing first base, number 7, james loney.
a nice centerfield shot of his nlds grand slam.

at shortstop, number 15, rafael furcal.i was really hoping ned would re-sign furcal. now i hope furcal stays healthy.

at third base, number 23, casey blake.last year, blake was wearing number 30. this year, hudson wore 30 once or twice. now, nobody's wearing it. makes me wonder if there's something going on with maury wills, even though the dodgers are notorious for not retiring numbers unless it's for a hall-of-famer (jim gilliam being the only exception).

now for some of the backup infielders. the theme this year is versatility. all of these guys can play just about any of the infield positions. even the injured doug mientkiewicz can play first and third.

blake dewitt.dewitt can play second or third, and even short, and we will probably need him in all spots before the season is through.

juan castro.

his second tour of duty with the dodgers. great glove - only 65 errors in his career playing all infield positions, except for one game in the outfield.

mark loretta.

he's already shown up at first, second and third.

tony abreu.

abreu saw a good amount of action in 2007 at second, third, and short, but is still waiting for another shot.

the cycle of life

back in may of 1970, i was suspended in fluid, unaware of wes parker and his hitting for the cycle.

in my years of dodger fandom since, i have seen, listened to, or celebrated several no-hitters, two world championships, 3 more world series appearances, a four home run game, countless other home runs - even a world series game one walkoff, and the application of the 4th out rule. but i had not, until today, been alive for a dodgers cycle.

orlando hudson (on a 2009 goose joak original by dave himself), thanks for the memory.

here's hoping it doesn't take another 39 years, though.

goose joak bullpen

time for some more 2009 goose joak original dodgers.

this time, we'll focus on the bullpen. i already featured hong-chih kuo, but here are more of the relievers.

guillermo mota.hopefully we don't bring back loduca to try to placate plaschke.

jonathan broxton.close 'em out big guy!

eric stults.not stoltz. although pulp fiction was awesome. and not to be confused with

tanyon sturtze.a torre tag-along who has been pitching well this spring. keep it up.

james mcdonald.let's see what he can do.

claudio vargas.mop it up.

eric milton.i had tickets to his no-hitter but didn't go. that sucks.

cory wade.set up guy primed for a big season, i hope.

ramon troncoso.that's a closer's name if i ever heard one. but i think he wants to start.

scott elbert.sent down to triple a, but he'll be back.

shawn estes.released, but he came back to try to be the loogy. i thought that's why they picked up...

will ohman.the latest dodger. started things out with a hr to the first batter he faced. i actually like this card a lot because it reminds me of the late 60s/early 70s cards where the photo gives no indication of the team, making it easy for use when players switched teams.

more to come...