Commenting in the nether zone!

I went to Shea for the game last night, so I'm filing my Game Report: I was so pumped about seeing Kershaw that I brought a camera and snapped a few action shots. They weren't very good, but then again, neither was Kershaw. He had trouble getting his fastball down, and showed that he really needs a third out pitch. There were several situations last night where the Mets hitters were obviously sitting dead red. If he can develop a good change-up, he will become an absolute monster.

Maybe Clay-K was rattled by his first major league road game. Shea is a tough environment for any struggling pitcher. The Mets fans were absolutely KILLING Aaron Heilman after his arson job in the 8th. Willie Randolph took some serious verbal abuse too. The bile was flowing nice and thick in Flushing last night.

I wasn't thrilled with Torre's use of Chan Ho Park. Three times, Chan Ho pitched with the bases loaded in a tie/1-run game. That should never happen. The Dodgers have better relievers to use in high-leverage situations. I'm also not sure about using Brox and Sammy in a 4-run game, but I'm assuming they were both already warming up in the 8th when the Dodgers broke the game open, so they might as well come in and pitch.

On the positive side, the Dodgers won, and actually recorded a few extra-base hits and a few crooked numbers on the line score--both rarities these days. Also, I was not harrassed, taunted, targeted, assaulted, or demeaned in any way, even though I was wearing a Dodger cap and sitting in the upper deck. So despite Kershaw's struggles, all in all, it was an excellent night.

thanks for the report DL.

I'm not basketball fan but this Celtics Laker series really should be something

Do we have an official Archivist of Stupid Larry Bowa Quotes yet? Anyway, here's another one for the collection... he tells Dylan Hernandez that he'd rather see Russell Martin hit more with two strikes, and that he hates it when Martin gets a 2-0 or 3-1 count.

Bowa's career:
.260/.300/.320
OPS+ 71
Season high OBP: .334
Season high OPS+: 95

Martin's career:
.294/.377/.452
OPS+ 111
Season high OBP: .374 (.430 in 2008)
Season high OPS+: 113 (126 in 2008)

When it comes to hitting, Bowa don't know diddly.

4
I hate Bowa as much as the next guy, but just because he was a bad MLB hitter in his playing days has no relevance to his competency as a coach.

Good report DL

Congrats on yesterday's game Sam DC, and continued good fortune for the Nats all year(OK, I admit I was thinking particularly this weekend).

The NY Times recap of yesterday's game notes that Kershaw's curveball was called "Public Enemy #1 " by Vin Scully during spring training.

http://tinyurl.com/4bfqgs

4 Perhaps a more interesting statistical analysis would be to compare Martin's stats in at-bats where he was 2-0 or 3-1 to those where he has two strikes (obviously there would be some overlap).

6 The chances of the Nationals beating Webb today are, well, how to put it, low.

Death Valley low.

Cockroach limo low.

Alan Sparhawk low.

9 Sounds like what an old farmer I knew described as "lower than snake-poop in a wagon wheel rut". But hey, even Webb can have a shaky day!

And no, that isn't exactly what he said.

9 Think Webb's been roughed up his last two outings... so I wouldn't go that low. I'd say a 'fair to middlin'' chance actually.

For entertainment purposes only:

Arizona is a -230 favorite over Washington tonight.

That's tied for the second biggest favorite of the day. The Cubs are -230 at home against the Rockies.

The Dodgers are the slightest of favorites today at -110.

The Phillies are -220 favorites at home against Florida.

OK, wow. I just woke up, (I was up all night working), and there's no way the game is being played today. It's a monsoon out there. Like a St.Louis thunderstorm or something.

The rain is supposed to clear out by 10.

10 pm ET.

Since this is the only trip to Shea, the Dodgers and Mets will have to play a doubleheader. And it would have to be a split doubleheader since Sunday is an ESPN game.

Danny Ardoin gets ready for action.

13
I feel obligated to point out that a St. Louis thunderstorm and a monsoonal rainstorm are entirely unrelated weather events. All they have in common is rain.

And people wonder why I'm still single.

I hate Bowa as much as the next guy, but just because he was a bad MLB hitter in his playing days has no relevance to his competency as a coach

I disagree. I think there's a good chance that Bowa was not a "patient" hitter, and seeks to instill his "aggressiveness" in the players he coaches.

For true idiocy on ice, read Sweeney's quotes here in this stupid Ken Rosenthal story. Get more than two hits in a season, Mark, and then you can talk about how the young guys are "getting it." Sense of entitlement, my ass. Just because you've been on big league rosters before does NOT mean you're entitled to a roster spot now. What a joker.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8192232/Young-Dodgers-still-figuring-out-Torre

16 - while I'm a fan of aggressive play, I think it makes more sense to be aggressive on the base paths than it does at the plate. Bowa strikes me as a stubborn old mule who is convinced that his way, and his way only, is the right way. I suspect this has something to do with his inability to keep a managerial job... not that baseball is any worse for it.

17
We picked apart Rosenthal two threads ago.

I agree with D4P. Bowa needs to take a step back and zip it. Last I checked Mike Easler was the hitting coach.

I think the entire concept of "aggressiveness" is silly. Just do what works*, and don't do what doesn't work.

*Use knowledge to figure out what works, rather than guts, intuitions, The Book, etc.

If this game is rained out, your viewing choices on Fox will be either Atlanta at Cincinnati or, gulp, Detroit at Seattle.

Josh Fogg pitches for the Reds today so it should be a fun day.

I can vouch for Molly's weather report. I went out bike riding today; it was nice and overcast when I left, and was a torrential downpour when I got back. Even my ears are waterlogged.

22
And here I thought Bob Timmermann never met a baseball game he'd gulp at.

From my experience with watching games on Extra Innings, the Tigers and the Mariners are two of the dullest teams in the majors to watch.

I agree with Greg Brock on Bowa: "Imagine Fredo's incompetence with Sonny's temperament."

This is becoming a very complicated situation. I have been contemplating trying to hook a local cable feed I have to my system so that I can get FOX. Why I can't get networks with my DTV is too long a story to go into. But if I do this it involves some serious moving of things to gain access and some complicated unknowns about what kind of inputs I have, how to route the audio, and if I will have to hook in an old VHS unit I have to use the tuner.
I've been looking at the weather radar, and I an definitely jealous of the amount of rain Molly has. We are getting a bit of rain but it has been desperately dry in western ma., at least for fishermen and gardeners. However it it looks like there is a non trivial chance there will be a window of no rain at game time.
If I get it hooked up, if the game is not rained out, if I'm not blacked out, if Fox doesn't decide to show the Red or Giants here... the if's go on and on.

Larry Bowa would look at JD Drew's stats from 2004 and say "he needs to be more aggressive".

25-I would vote Mariners and Royals, if only because there's never a dull moment if there's an outside chance Todd Jones will come in to pitch.

But the Royals give you the chance of a Jose Guillen temper tantrum or an extreme bullpen meltdown.

The wind is blowing out at Wrigley again today. Omar Quintanilla hit a 2-run homer off of Dempster to make it 2-0 Rox in the second.

It was his first career homer in the big leagues. Quintanilla has homered in the minors.

Sorry about that...

And now the sun is out. And it's still raining and about 85 degrees.

32
You missed all the fun with the Rosenthal/Sweeney/Bowa article.

And Andre Ethier doesn't know the fourth word that ends in -gry either.

"I understand that. I've been playing (17) years. These kids have 1, 2, 2-1/2 years in the big leagues. Do they know who Joe Torre is? Do they know what he did? These kids were in high school, elementary school when he was winning World Series.

That's Kent from the Rosenthal article.

It's funny how whenever old guys (like me) want to point out the deficiencies in younger people, they use the "you were still in elementary school when I..." formulation. He makes it sound like they were loitering, as if they had a choice.

Kemp and Ethier's comeback should be: "Yeah, and when I'm elected to the Hall of Fame, you'll probably be dead."

If Jeff Kent was a politico, it would have been fun to see his reaction when Bush's current press secretary Dana Perino admitted on NPR that she'd never heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Same lineup as yesterday if the game is played from ITD:

Pierre, LF

Kemp, CF

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

Ethier, RF

DeWitt, 3B

Maza, SS

Billingsley, P

Time demands don't allow me to follow DT as closely as I'd like, so apologies if my $.02 on a few things have been discussed:

1) In Kershaw's first start, Dodger pitchers (including him) struck out 16. In his second, Dodger pitchers (including him), walked 8. The Dodgers won both, eventually. Whooda thunk it?

2) IMO, managers like Torre who seem to find a formula (each player has a role, etc.) and then work rigidly from it don't always get it right. For instance, the other night Broxton struck out the side in the 8th and was dominating. Sammy came on in the 9th and blew it, which of course is unusual. But if the other team is doing absolutely nothing with one of your most dominant relievers, what would be the harm in at least having him start the 9th? Two innings aren't going to kill him; he's done it before. The situation would call for having Sammy ready, of course. And, yeah, he might have to come in mid-inning, which is not exactly a revolutionary concept. You wouldn't want to do something like this too often due to excessive warmups, but still.... a bit of flexibility on roles and creativity just might result in a few more wins.

3)The reverse might be true, too. If Ox shows signs of struggle in the 8th--also unusual--maybe Sammy could come in a bit earler. An inning plus isn't going to zap him, either. He struck ouf a career high five over two IP in closing Kershaw's first start (though IIRC his next time out was when he blew the save. But then he hadn't been used in several days.)

4) A set role formula can deprive a team of some of its best weapons. Kuo's "role" seems to be long relief. But he hasn't been used much lately, since starters have gone farther. Yet he's pretty much been the Dodgers' best pitcher. He could be used some in eighth and maybe even ninth innings to get more from him. Plus, there'd be a bit less wear and tear on Ox and Sammy--who of course would need to be told their "roles" weren't in danger. They'd also be available if Kuo struggled. As far as the long reliever "role," Park seems like a better fit--more experience, probably less potential control issues.

5) DYoung's bat should be in the lineup more somehow, some way. In a Dodger lineup having trouble scoring, his talent is not being maximized. He'd certainly do no worse than some of the offensively challenged who have been playing lately. Unless he's just terrible fielding, he should play a lot more.

6) And it looks like the fork marks in Sweeney's back (very well described by someone on DT recently) are getting more and more prominent. His "role" as top lefty PH should have been recast a good while back, regardless of PVL status, especially on a team struggling to score. I think I feel a DFA coming on, and soon.

Stay tuned to this channel for future DT novellas. (Hopefully not.)

Using experience and age as a weapon to wave over younger people is the most intellectually wimpy thing I can think of. I tell my students to call me out on it.

I then tell them to be quiet and sit down.

Detroit vs. Seattle sounds deadly at first look. But Verlander vs. King Felix is another story entirely.

I assume Fox will give us that one if there's rain in NY, since it's the only other option involving a western division team.

I hate it when the Dodgers play during the day on Saturdays.

38 I've never been in a job where it wasn't in some way an advantage to be younger, in order to stay current. If older people put up a wall to keep younger people out, that's the quickest way to become irrelevant and expendable.

21 - the problem is, you can have success in multiple ways, look at the Angels and their aggressive play on the base paths as opposed to say, the A's, who are much less aggressive on the base paths.

9. I like the Low reference. Seems like an appropriate soundtrack for Nats fans.

you can have success in multiple ways

I think it's more accurate to say "You can win even if you do stupid stuff", and "You'd win even more if you didn't do stupid stuff".

Bad managing/strategy doesn't prevent winning, but other things being equal, you win more with good managing/strategy.

43 - and I would posit that the way a team is built should effect strategy. If the Angels used the same strategy as the A's the last few years, the Angels would have much less success. Good managing/strategy depends on the team you have.

40 Unitl my current position, I have always worked in jobs where being older meant having more power. And where younger people just did work to make money for the older people.

Now, it doesn't quite work out that way. But that is why I tend to understand what the veterans are saying, not saying I agree all the time but I understand.

36 I don't think there's any chance the game would be played from ItD. It's either from Shea, or nowhere.

38 He also tells his students that he lived during the Dust Bowl.

But what they don't know is that he is referring to the last 5 years of UCLA football.

Perhaps a more detailed look at Kouzmanoff's dark night might cast some light on the situation. Bob, do we know the counts he was hitting on?

Good managing/strategy depends on the team you have

That's true to a certain extent. Stealing bases and taking extra bases are obviously better ideas when your runners are fast than when they're slow. But there are other things (e.g. patience at the plate) that are good strategy regardless of the player.

Which is partly to say that "Taking an extra base when you're fast" isn't really "aggressive", it's just doing what's right. Seems to me that "aggressive" means "doing the wrong thing given the situation, but gambling that it will pay off anyway".

I'd love for someone to take Bowa fishing, or through a toll booth.

[50
Or to a cornfield for some "batting practice"...

47 Fishing with Larry Bowa would be terrible. He'd spend the whole time telling me how to bait my hook, drink all the beer, and get sunburned at pass out by noon.

He would then tell me how much better the fishing was fifteen years ago.

52

That would only happen if you took too long to do the job.

Even in the library world, there is a big gap between generations. And I think there is a demographic gap between the leadership (50-50 range) and the newcomers (20s-30s).

And then there are people like me in their 40s, who just don't fit in anywhere. I trust my younger staff to do a lot because they know more as the profession changes quite rapidly.

One person left the library to go into "freelance corpus analysis."

Some people actually knew what that meant.

I was not among them.

Aside from Bowa not sending Hu earlier this week, most of the flak that Bowa gets here is about his comments or demeanor and not about his coaching.

54 Not much of an age range for your leadership.

56
50-60. Sometimes it seems like a 50/50 proposition though.

In NCAA men's golf, UCLA leads USC by 8 in the early going of the final round.

re 27 Hook-up achieved. Now if all the fates cooperate.

The Mets putative lineup is
Reyes 2B
Chavez RF
Wright 3B
Beltran CF
Delgado 1B
Easley 2B
Schneider C
Tatis LF
Pelfrey P

It's still sunny. Maybe it's going to happen after all. I can't believe it..

If this game doesn't happen, I will have no choice but to blame Molly for ruining my Saturday.

Amen to 38 and 40 . In academic departments there often is a split between younger and older members, one that I've now been on both ends of. Some of its philosophical; approaches change over time and often are generational. We are often in the business of revising our elders. Some of its experiential; that's nice Dr. X but we tried that ten years ago and it failed. Some of its simply who has small kids and needs shared babysitting. So to an extent I understand what Kent and Sweeney are saying. But then, there also all sorts of other groupings that undermine age as a divider and bring us together: field, shared approaches, common concerns, the new hires that I talk baseball with. It just means that I have to get off my high academic, full professor horse and make an effort, and they must do the same. Of course it helps too that we keep all of our differences in-house rather than running to the local paper.

UCLA's lead, which had been eight strokes, is down to two strokes in the NCAA men's golf championship.

There are many snowmen in West Lafayette, Indiana today.

If baseball wants to appeal to the youngsters, how about making TWIB remotely entertaining again.

Like an actual host with a pulse.

U.C.L.A. now up by 4 shots.

65

They need to bring back Johnny Bench and The Baseball Bunch.

67
No, no they do not.

68

Your age doesn't allow you to appreciate The Baseball Bunch. It's a reverse Freaks and Geeks.

69
Fair enough.

Carlos Marmol in to get the save for the Cubs.

Carlos Marmol is on my fantasy team.

Go Carlos!

I believe this is the first regular season Dodger game Joe Buck has done since we were in Boston in 2004. I also remember he did Game 2 of the NLDS in 2004 in St. Louis. But it has been a while.

Bison!

Jeff Kent, the man with half a personality, heh.

And Crazy Legs? You got it half right James, half right

Loney validates DT!

James Loney is my hero.

LaRoche! Yes!

Love the Bison reference.

And I wonder which half of a personality Jeff Kent has.

78 - the bad half of Harvey Dent

The Padres bad luck continues. Shawn Estes tripped on some stairs in San Francisco and broke his thumb and had to go on the DL.

54 - I think he's becoming a screenwriter for CSI: Miami.

Oh, that was precious. 1-0 on Jose Reyes' misplay.

77 What are you referring to regarding LaRoche?

interesting play there

Bad baserunning by Matt Kemp... huh. I guess.

That was a bad decision by Kemp.

I see Kemp still hasn't learned discession on the base paths. For once it was to his advantage though.

What are you referring to regarding LaRoche?

I thought I was playing along, until I eventually deduced what was going on.

78 - I assume it's the back end of the horse costume.

They really need to work with Kemp on his baserunning.

why in the world was Kemp looking at the right fielder? if he's going to test the guys arm, just go.

Now that was a bad decision by Kemp. The overhead view made it look like Schneider missed the tag.

Well the Dodgers just got screwed. Tag missed Kemp scored.

wow, adventures in base running for Matt Kemp. Good thing Jones is on the DL otherwise the Bison would not stampede for weeks

Only Tim McCarver would spend a minute and a half talking about a secondary lead at third base.

Pelfrey has nothing but a fastball, we should pound him.

Chad B. will probably hit 95-96 on the FOX gun.

92 Idk, tough to get mad at a guy for trying to score on a grounder to a middle infielder when there is already an out (so no sac fly). Obviously it backfired this time (a single followed by an out). I'd like to see the statistics on this type of thing (how often the infielder throws home, how often he's safe if the infielder does).

Delgado totally stole his nickname from Shaq.

Not sure what Matt was doing going to second, but the play at home wasnt his fault. Contact play was on, and he was safe. Good to know that McCarver doesnt think its important to actually tag the guy out, just as long as the ball beats the runner. Solid commentary right there.

71 - That'll give some distance between you and the 7 year old.

anyone know how schmidt pitched last night?

The more I think about it, the more incredible the Loney "Bison" reference is becoming.

Jon has created something very special here. Where else do blog commenters have such power!

I mean, this is national televsion! Wow.

97 Last one was 91.

But why wasn't Kemp given a double? He looked to have the throw beat despite the error.

104 I guess the gun isn't juiced today.

97 Does Bills usually throw that hard? If so, he's ~5 mph slow today.