Musical Guos

Dodger manager Joe Torre announced that Esteban Loaiza will retake HongZhi Guo's place in the starting rotationi. I felt it was a little too soon for Guo to be in the starting rotation given his conditioning after coming back from a 4th surgery. But this game of musical chairs of moving him from the bullpen to the rotation and back to the bullpen all in the month of April cannot be a good thing. Guo didn't pitch all that bad. It appears that Guo, Loaiza and possibly Park are just being used as place holders until Kershaw is ready to come up.

Rough Time Of It

Last night was a step back for HongZhi Guo in his quest to secure the 5th starter spot. It was not a typical Guo-like performance. Normally, Guo litters the box score with Ks and BBs, while being stingy in the Hits/HR categories. Last night, was quite the opposite. Guo only struck out one batter and didn't walk any batters. Guo instead pitched to contact. Whether that was on purpose or not, I have no idea. It could've been a strategy to keep his walk rate down and help him pitch deeper in to the game. Cincinnati is not exactly the stadium you want to pitch to contact at, as it's a hitters park. Guo found that out when he gave up a homerun to Reds slugger Adam Dunn, Guo's first of the season. Guo recorded nine outs on batted balls in play (BABIP), as one of them came on a double play. Meanwhile, Guo gave up seven hits on BABIP, which most people will tell you is very unlucky. How unlucky Guo was is up for debate as some balls that went for hits were hit hard and more than a few were not. In previous starts, Guo's high walk rates got him to his pitch count quickly and last night it was the high hit rate. One of these days Guo will put it all together. Let's just hope it comes sooner rather than later. Guo's next start should come Sunday April 27th at home against the Rockies.

I am a Walk, I am an Island

HongZhi Guo, making his first start of the 2008, after battling back from his fourth arm surgery pitched well after escaping a few first inning jitters. Guo walked three batters in a row with two outs in the first inning, allowing the Pirates their only run when his last walk plated Nate McLouth who had lead off the game with a single to right field. Guo struck out Jose Bautista for the final out and ended up stringing together five consecutive strike outs. Guo registered a total of six strike-outs in four innings, he walked four batters and allowed only two singles. It was a very typical Guo outing. Getting into trouble with walks, making a lot of pitches and striking out a lot of batters. Still, it was his first start of the season and hopefully he will improve on it five games from now. Look for Guo to have a similar pitch count of 75 pitches in his next start, before Torre begins bumping it up a little bit each time Guo goes out to the mound.

Yo Ho Yo Ho

Guo Joins The Rotation.

Left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo will bump Esteban Loaiza from his scheduled start Tuesday night against the Pirates, according to manager Joe Torre. The goal of management is to bide time with Loaiza, Park and Kuo taking starts for another month or so while preserving the arm of 20-year-old phenom Clayton Kershaw, who has never pitched more than 122 innings in a professional season.

Skinny: What a great moment for Guo fans. For a while it looked as if this day would never happen. I am not surprised that Guo finds himself in the rotation, just a little surprised that it is happening this early. This spot in the rotation will eventually go to Kershaw and the Dodgers would like to keep Kershaw down in the minors for another month or two. Guo's innings also need to be watched, and I don't expect him to pitch more than 5 innings per start on most occasions. Between his four time surgically repaired pitching arm and his tendancy to be a little wild, the bullpen better be well rested on days that Guo starts. Luckily for Guo, his first start will be against a weak hitting Pirates team. Best of luck!!!

Hot Start

HongZhi Guo is off to a hot start in 2008. He has yet to give up a run, is allowing less than one hit per inning and over one strike out per inning. He has struggled a bit with his control, issuing 4 walks in 6+ innings. Guo's first outing of the season came as a starter, as he substituted for scheduled starter Chad Billingsley when rain threatened the early innings of the game. Guo's second outing saw Guo pitch 3+ effective innings against the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers may in fact be looking for a new 5th starter shortly if Loaiza doesn't turn things around, but I don't see Guo as being the first option to fill that role. Guo's innings will be watched closely the first third of the season, as he is coming of a fourth arm surgery. Let's take a close look at Guo's rate stats after the first week of the season.

	IP	ER	K	BB	HITS	HRs	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	WHIP	ERA
Guo	6-2/3	0	8	4	4	0	10.8	5.4	2.0	1.20	0.00

Hello Bullpen My Old Friend

Diamond Leung reports that HongZhi Guo will likely be starting the season in the bullpen.

Skinny: I really don't find this as a surprise and I see little problem with this plan. The only downside is that Guo does not have a history of being effective pitching in relief. I am not confident that the sample size is large enough for this to be a future trend. On the otherhand, this could wind up helping Guo by taking some pressure off of him. As a bullpen pitcher he would likely be pitching lower leverage innings. Coming off of off-season surgery, starting the season in the bullpen could help put a limit on the number of innings that Guo pitches in this year. I see it as highly unlikely to have Guo start AND finish the season in the starting rotation. The best scenario is for him to follow the path that Chad Billingsley took last year. Starting the season in the bullpen and then working his way into the rotation based on merit and a rotation spot opening up. With the uncertainty of Schmidt's health and the possible ineffectiveness of Loaiza, Guo could shortly find himself called upon to enter the starting rotation by June.

Guo's Debut Live Blogged!

Diamond Leung is going to kindly live blog the 2008 Spring Training debut of HongZhi Guo. Hat tip to Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts.

Skinny: While this normally wouldn't be any big deal. Guo hasn't faced live batting in quite a while. And to top things off, this will be the first impression that new manager Joe Torre has of Guo. We all know that Guo is fighting for one of the last remaining spots in the pitching staff and a decent outing would undoubtedly leave a good impression in Torre's mind. Let's pray for the best.

Healthy & Effective?

In Jon Weisman's DodgerThoughts, Spring Training Breakdown of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jon opines that he believes HongZhi Guo has a spot on the opening day 25-man roster if he can just do two things... Cut down on the visits to the surgeon (stay healthy) and don't walk too many people (be effective). In fact here is what Jon had to say about Guo.

Hong-Chih [G]uo, LHP: I think the Dodgers are past the point of worrying whether [G]uo would be better as a starting pitcher or a reliever. They're just wondering if he can stay healthy for consecutive months. Being out of options, [G]uo should make the Opening Day roster if he's upright, especially if the team goes with 12 pitchers. As a left-hander, he even has a shot joining the otherwise all-righty Dodger starting rotation if Schmidt can't answer the bell. He'll stick as long as he's healthy and effective.

Dodgers & Guo Going to China

The Dodgers and Padres will play exhibition games in China this spring. For those of you who have never travelled to China but are considering a visit let me state that it will be the best place you've ever visited in your life. Please enjoy the following video. Good luck to both teams and may you have a safe and memorable trip to the Middle Kingdom. Huanying!

Rose Parade

I was lucky enough to get front row/curbside seats to the Rose Parade.

www.flickr.com

Return to Sender

Hong-Chih [G]uo is on the trip, and the team is holding out hope he can return from arthroscopic shoulder surgery in September. "I've been expecting him back the majority of these two years," Manager Grady Little said, smiling.

Source: PE.Com

Skinny: Wouldn't that be great if Guo could make Bob T eat his words? I know this is the motivation fueling the attempted comeback. And best of all, Guo always does his best major league pitching in September... well, his only healthy major league pitching anyways!

Loose bodies

Inside The Dodgers reports today that Hong-Chih [G]uo had arthroscopic surgery today [July 25th] to remove loose bodies from his elbow and as soon as more info is available, we'll pass it along.

Viva Las Vegas

Guo News: Hong-Chih [G]uo threw on flat ground Thursday and could pitch off a mound soon, according to the LA Times. [G]uo is recovering from an elbow injury, and he'll likely be sent to the minors once he's healthy.

Skinney: The Dodgers in desperate need of a healthy arm on the big league club will keep their fingers crossed that Guo can pitch without pain. Guo hasn't been himself the entire 2007 season, so I am still doubtful about what he will be able to accomplish this year. If he can get healthy, he'd be a great addition to the Dodgers rotation and would allow the Dodgers to get Tomko out of the rotation.

Them are fightin words!

I doubt that [G]uo will ever pitch an effective game for the Dodgers again.
-Bob Timmermann
July 9, 2007
Comment #3

Guo vs Toronto - Eh!

Coming off two strong starts (Padres, Mets) in a row, Hongzhi Guo takes his lefthanded 96 mph fastball north of the border. Once again, Guo will be matched against a tough pitcher. This time it will be Toronto's ace Roy Halladay. Dodger Sims has the Dodgers as slight favorites to win, but it will take a great pitching performance by Guo to get the victory.

Skinny:
Guo only has 20 innings pitched under his belt so far this year as opposed to 82 from Halladay. Guo gets the edge in ERA and Field Independent ERA, part of this is due to Hallday facing tougher hitters in the American League. Guo is more of a fly ball, strike out pitcher, with a GB/FB/LD line of 29/48/23. Halladay, will get his fair share of strike outs, but he relies more on his control. Both pitchers have home run rates well below (stingy on giving up HRs) league average. Guo has yet to give up a home run in 20 innings thus far. While Guo tends to be a fly ball pitcher, Halladay induces alot more groundballs with a GB/FB/LD line of 56/26/18. Both pitchers have a similiar BABIP allowed. Guo is at .315 and Halladay having a nearly identical mark of .313. Halladay has been slightly more unlucky when it comes to stranding runners on base. Guo has a LOB% of 71.4% and Halladay of 64.4%. This should be a close and low scoring game, a game that the Blue Jays probably feel they should win. If Guo is on, the Jays could be in for a big surprise.

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Update: Guo got hammered. Better luck next time.

vr, Xeifrank

Guo-ing, Guo-ing, Gone!

Hongzhi Guo pitched masterfully, allowing only 5 hits, over 7 strong innings, while striking out 5 and only walking one. Guo threw alot of strikes and showed that when he can get ahead in the count, he is able to silence the oppositions' bats. Hongzhi Guo topped off a great night, a night in which the Dodgers took a second straight game from the Mets, by becoming the first Taiwanese born player to hit a homerun in the Major Leagues. Guo is not yet the ace of the staff, but he has definitely leapfrogged the likes of Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf in the pecking order.

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The Taipei Times chimes in.

vr, Xeifrank

Guo Get em!

Hongzhi Guo pitches tonight against John Maine and the New York Mets. Guo is coming off a good outing against the Padres. Let's hope the defense doesn't let him down this time and that he can harness his control a little better. vr, Xeifrank

For He's A Jolly Good Fellow

Nobody can deny that Guo deserves his spot in the starting rotation after the nearly masterful performance he put up against the Padres and Jake Peavy. Guo outpitched Peavy and left after 6 innings, having struck out 8, only allowing 3 hits, but walking four. The Dodgers were unable to hold a 9th inning 5-1 lead, as Nomar booted the game away. Guo was definitel one of the few positives of this game, as he put the Dodgers in position to halt their 2 game losing streak. Oh well, let's hope Guo can cut down on the wildness a little bit when he takes on another big challenege at home against the Mets next week. vr, Xeifrank

Stopper Guo

Hongzhi Guo, in his second start of the season will have the unenviable task of taking on Padres ace and Cy Young favorite Jake Peavy. The Dodgers enter the game with a two game losing streak, both losses at the hands of the Padres, and now find themselves 1-1/2 games behind both the Padres and Diamondbacks. The Dodgers are in need of a great performance from Guo. It is time for him to bear down, trust his dominating stuff, throw strikes and challenge the Padre hitters. Guo is now thrusted into the role of "stopper", let's just hope he can put together a great performance, because the Dodgers will sure need one to match Jake Peavy. vr, Xeifrank

Guo is so-so in starting debut

Hongzhi Guo's first start for the Dodgers in 2007 was a mixed bag. Guo was not hit hard, as he scattered 5 singles in 4-2/3 innings of work. Guo's downfall was his first inning wildness, when he walked two batters including one with the bases loaded. It was Guo's misfortune that manager Grady Little happened to pick today to rest the teams best hitter, Russell Martin. The Dodgers were only able to muster one run against Ian Snell. Guo only gave up two runs, but made 94 pitches in less than 5 innings, which is not going to cut muster. In Guo's next appearance he is going to need to pitch more efficiently, and should target a full 6 innings of work. vr, Xeifrank