I always believe... the kid in me just won't let it go that anything is possible in sports.

But Ken Rosenthal told me that Martin had "flattened out."

Rosenthal is obviously right about everything. After all, he thinks the Dodgers are missing Andruw Jones' "presence" in the lineup.

Open letter to Ken Rosenthal: What good are all your sources if they are telling you the moon is made of green cheese?

0 I was thinking the same thing. Not only when he scored, but also a few moments earlier when he ran pell-mell to second base on a single.

And a heckuva slide, too.

Somebody needs to find some eye black.

put a C on that jersey of his.

"It got me an RBI"

--Matt Kemp, sort of bumming me out right there.

chills:

Vin:

all year long, they looked to him to light the fire, and all year long, he answered the demands, until he was physically unable to start tonight——with two bad legs: The bad left hamstring, and the swollen right knee. And, with two out, you talk about a roll of the dice... this is it.

Actually, it reminded me more of the movie Major League when Tom Berenger bunted home Willy Mays Hays from second.

It was an awesome play, that's for sure. I would be believing a lot more if the Dodgers were in first place, 10 games over .500. But Russell Martin is well on his way to being one of the greats.

Mongo throw gas.

7 - the only sport where uniforms should include a "C" is hockey.

I don't care about a "C" on a uniform; get Martin's signature on a contract extension, pronto!

Perhaps we can compromise and just make Martin wear a special armband instead of a "C".

by the way, how is it that Martin is third in voting for the NL All Star Game? Not third overall, that I could understand, I mean third for catcher. Behind Soto and McCann? Really?

15 - only if he has to give it to another player when he comes out of the game.

Time for another All Star campaign!

17
But of course!

14 -- No way. Carlos Santana will be our starting catcher in 2011. Trade Russell Martin after 2010 for a mega talent.

A banzai headband instead of a batting helmet?

16 Soto: .278 .371 .527 129 OPS+ 10 HR
McCann: .306 .387 .579 153 12
Martin: 314 .422 .429 122 5

All-Star ballots dig the long ball.

DeWitt #2 Web Gem

20 - Carlos Santana? Isn't he like 68? And a musician?

24 - Oye como va!

22 - I would explain the Soto thing as an ESPN effect, they've been playing up the Cubs this year (the whole 100 years angle) almost as much as they've been playing up the Yank-Saux. Yours seems to work for McCann.

The 51's scored 13 runs in one inning tonight. Against the Padres' Triple A team.

And Greg Miller didn't walk anybody in two innings. Miller in his last 11 appearances:

14.2 IP, 10 H's, 1 ER, 9 BB's, 16 K's.

24 -- Yeah, so?

Santana at the Greek was one of he best show I ever saw.

8 - what on earth for?

just watched a video highlight on mlb.com titled "kershaw makes a great pickoff move to get kemp"

30 It's a selfish thing to say when asked about another player's great performance.

I love Kemp, but not a great moment.

30 , 32 Also because it demonstrates that he's bad at math. He got two RBI on that play.

Jason Repko was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle in that Vegas game tonight. Plus a stolen base.

34 Plus, zero collateral damage. Which is nice.

32 I thought that if you play well for yourself in baseball, you automatically play well for the team. What's wrong with that?

36
That's not what Larry Bowa thinks!

36 Of course, but you don't need to be an I Guy about it. Talking about you're own numbers is bad. And when it's in response to a question about a teammate's great night, it's cringeworthy.

And some of you disagree. Whatever. Agree to disagree. Let's move on.

I'll stand by my approval of the Berroa trade. I think Berroa hit more line drives today than Hu hit in a month! ;)

Also, I think we have allowed the fewest runs in the NL now!!!! Now if we can just score...

16,
Uh, well, Soto and McCann are both real good and have both had better seasons so far, what else can you say. Allstar voting comes too soon, I think.

Also, not to sound like a whiner, but in the game thread people complained about Kent swinging at the first pitch. When did swing at the first pitch become so horrible? I was much more annoyed when the Bison took a 83 mph fastball for a strike right down the middle in the first inning. Taking a pitch like that is a horrible baseball move. I don't care that Loney just walked, thats the best pitch you're gonna see. And what happens, he gets out. And just for the record:

Jeff Kent (when putting first pitch in play):

Career: .320/.330/.567 1502 PA
2007: .330/.320/.585 97 PA
2008: .314/.306/.543 36 PA (compare to rest of this years numbers)

And Career after 0-1 count: .263/.308/.444
3891 PA

Kemp Career:
First Pitch in Play (small sample size alert): .495/.489/.817 95 PA
After 0-1 Count: .257/.273/.378 337 PA

ANd the first pitch swings don't even include eventual walks. I think its a terribly f;awed idea that you shouldn't swing at the first pitch. You don't want to take an essy fastball to hit and get in an 0-1 count. Any decent hitter should swing if they get something good to hit. Now, obviously sometimes you'll do what Kent did and pop up, but you can't expect to get a hit everytime. But the real flaw is taking a great pitch to hit like Kemp did, and then swing at a breaking ball out of the zone.

And i don't mean this as a slam at Kemp but more not understanding what it seems like many DT'ers believe. Am I crazy for thinking this?

32 hes a kid, and I think he'll grow up sooner than later...he just needs discipline and good management around him, I believe he has it, and should learn everything he can with all these good people around him.

35 - Not quite - actually he broke some lady's leg when trying to catch a foul ball in the stands and then later swung so hard at a pitch he lost control of the bat, hitting Angel Chavez, who was in the dugout, in the privates. Fortunately, no one else on the team was seriously injured however, so all told a successful day.

39 - I think the belief is that Kent would be the first guy to criticize a teammate for swinging at the first pitch in that situation.

Reports that Repko took out 6 neighborhood mailboxes driving home from tonight's game are unconfirmed at this time.

The Padres really look like a bad team this year. We need to beat up on the bad teams, so hopefully we can sweep this series.

Talking about second base, or shortstop, maybe Juan Pierre could learn to play one of those positions. We're apparently stuck with him for three more years. He's quick enough, and he hits more like a middle infielder than an outfielder, so why not have him fielding grounders and learning to play 2nd or short?

42,

Even though he would do it? Ahh, I guess could see that. But he complains about everything, so who cares?

44

Juan Pierre making left-handed throws from SS with that soft-serve ice cream arm?

44
You should check which hand Juan Pierre throws with.

Yeah, if Pierre were right-handed he likely would have been converted to a second baseman many years ago.

I object to the notion that Pierre at SS is that much crazier than Berroa at SS. Or Pierre in LF.

I heard a rumor that Bill Hall of the Brewers is on the trading block. I don't know his game too well, but I think i remember him playing several positions over the past couple of years (3B and CF, I think). Can he play in the middle infield at all? Anyone think he's worth a look. I know he's got some pop, and I know Torre likes to have as much flexibility as possible with his lineup (Don Mattingly was talking about this in an interview yesterday with Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN. It's on their site. He was also talking about how many of our young hitters aren't approaching their at-bats with a "game plan.") I think there is some validity to that, especially with Kemp. Anyway, we obviously need another option in the middle of the infield, because Furcal seems like he may be done for a while. Every report pushes it back further and further. It would be great to find someone with a little bit of power to play shortstop, even if he's a free swinger. That's why I was thinking maybe Hall. Can Brandon Inge play short? He's another guy Torre would love to have, I bet.

44,

He's left handed.

I'm just happy I correctly charged a run to Bryan Corey and not Cla Meredith in the 7th inning in my scorebook.

The Martin mad dash for home was a spectacle to see.

Sorry for not meeting up with you, JJ42. I purposely ditched my phone as to avoid any Laker updates. I managed to only hear that the Celtics were up at some point in the 3rd quarter, so I was able to watch the entire 2nd half once I got home.

50,

Both of those guys contracts are horrible. And both would be terrible at short. We don't really want either of those guys.

From the Times FYI article:

>>"[DeWitt]'s been amazing," LaRoche said. "You can't take a guy out of the lineup when he's hitting the way he is and playing defense the way he is. That's an obvious decision."<<

Granted, there's not much else he could of said in response to that question, but it was still neat of him to say so. If I remember correctly, he was pretty enthusiastically clapping (with a gimpy hand, no less) for Blake when he got his first few hits.

The Tigers are giving Inge MORE playing time now as the season goes on. He's going to catch more since Pudge Rodriguez's expiration date seems to be drawing near. And Inge is also going to be playing more third base.

Just saw this. Cody Ross is an idiot.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/06/off-topic-the-g.html#comments

52 Not a problem - we'll meet up at another game. I did enjoy the Dodgers crowd taking over Petco after we took the lead.

57
Tonight was an especially Dodgeriffic crowd in San Diego. It was awesome. Announced attendance was 26,000 and change, but that's tickets sold. It didn't look like more than 20,000 in the park. The perfect recipe for a fan takeover.

54 Mr. DeWitt and Mr. LaRoche have a gentleman's agreement involving sharing 2B and 3B when Mr. Kent retires.

56 I kind of agree with Cody Ross, actually. The whole deal where fans hold home run balls for ransom has gotten a little out of hand.

My personal sports heroes tonight, in order:

1) Golden God
2) The Machine
3) Black Mamba
4) The Minotaur
5) Paul "Seal" Pierce

59 I hope they give the LaRoche/DeWitt-as-permanent-2B/3B-in-2009 idea serious consideration. One of the two should make a half-decent defensive 2B.

Seal?

63
When Pierce got stabbed several times in the face a few years back, I thought it would make him look like Seal. Seal got the last laugh however, thanks to Ms. Klum.

64 Lol nice.

56 I blame the people who pay ridiculous amounts of money for such items for creating the marketplace and thus the frenzy. Why, Josh Wilker gets far more value out of torn up baseball cards than anyone but the Griffey family should get out of that ball.

60,

Really? But its the fans ball, and I wouldn't give up say 50,000 dollars for a few autographed things. I certainly don't think the players has a right to the ball.

62,

Yeah, me too. Except, it doesn't really look like Dewitt has a lot of range (IMO), and he's the smaller of the two, so would it work?

66,

I wouldn't blame anyone, but I think its stupid of Ross to say the fan is greed for trying to get money out of it. Would he give up money on his next contract? Especially if this were what set him up for life? Is the fan supposed to give all that up for basically nothing? Doesn't make any sense to me.

68 Ross shouldn't say anything. Given that the marketplace exists, I don't blame someone for selling the ball. Who couldn't use an extra ${five-digit figure}?

69,

Hmm... Juan Pierre unfortunately... and Jason Schmidt... Andruw Jones... Nomar... okay this is just too sad. I'm done...

70 You can't blame them for signing with the team that offered them the most money.

The whole deal where fans hold home run balls for ransom has gotten a little out of hand.

Not unlike ballplayers holding their services for ransom, auctioning themselves off to the highest bidder. Turnabout is fair play in my books.

I think Griffey has more than enough money that if he wants the ball badly enough he can make it happen. Then he can pay the guy in pennies.

And why exactly should the player's salary have any bearing on whether the fan's actions are crass?

I fail to understand why so many ordinary fans are jealous of the money ballplayers make and feel the need to vilify them for it. Look these are entertainers, the money is very well-earned, and they're making what the market will bear. Get over it already. Oprah's studio audience doesn't boo and hiss because she makes tons more money than they do. People who go see Brad Pitt movies don't vilify him for his salary. But somehow with athletes this seems to be an acceptable attitude. I just don't get it.

Look, you don't like baseball players making big bucks? Then don't give them your money. Don't go to the games and don't watch them on TV and don't buy apparel or products they endorse. If you do any of those things, then it's your fault they make a lot of money.

By the way, did anyone notice that at the exact same time we were rallying from behind against the Padres, Las Vegas was doing exactly the same thing against the Padres' AAA team. Down 8-0, they scored 13 in the sixth to go ahead.

Greg Miller, the new super-dooper version, had another fine outing. It was his fourth walkless outing in his last six, and he's allowed only one run over his last 12+ innings.

... I would ask to please not insult the 1988 Dodgers by comparing them to this current team.

If I were to suggest the following, would I be kicking of a campaign, or hopping on the bandwagon?

LAROCHE FOR LEADOFF MAN AND LEFT FIELD, 2008

I cant get over how amazing this Josh Hamilton story is.

Take a crack addict, have him be completely out of baseball for 3 years (2002-2005). From what I read, he was not even doing much baseball stuff when he was on crack. He was working in construction (and was even on an episode of flip that house)

He gets re-instated in 2006 and plays 15 gmaes in A ball.

He makes the Reds in 2007 (at age 26) and has a pretty good season.

This year, he's got 17hrs 70RBIS in only 64 games played.
I never really believed in players being a "natural", because I always thought even the pros need repetition or their skills will fade. But Josh Hamilton is really proving me wrong.

Can you imagine how good the Cubs would be if they hadnt dealt him to the Reds in the Rule V?

Alex Eisenberg did a nice evaluation of Ethan Martin's swing in The Hardball Times today. Makes me not want to correct him and say that he has been drafted as a pitcher. Of course, I also want to see the analysis of his pitching motion.

Undaunted, Rosenthal still yearns for Ned to trade Kemp. Other tidbits: Ned willing to move one of the kids in exchange for "veteran presence." Ned's already made deals in the past to trade youngsters but "backed out." Ned also offered Loaiza for Uribe but Williams held off, knowing that Ned would release him anyway and they could move Uribe to someone else. Wasn't one of Plaschke's raps against DePo that other GMs allegedly had no respect for him and thus played him?

http://tinyurl.com/5ekj7j

79 I think it's like the A's did with the Rays that year. You can't actually trade your pick in the Rule V draft, but you can tell someone who to draft, then trade for him.

81 - I just read that piece and wished I hadn't. Why don't we see numerous articles about why the Rays should trade BJ Upton or the D-backs should trade Chris Young or the Marlins should trade Hanley Ramirez? I am so sick of Rosenthal.

83 I actually thought about not posting it but then I saw the Rosenthal comments at the top and it seemed germane. Plus, I think the answer to your question is that the Rays and Snakes' GMs aren't feeding this stuff to the press. Ours clearly is.

81 How do the Pirates have "pitching to spare"? Their current rotation sports guys with ERA's of 4.10, 4.55, 5.65, and 6.83 and they have nothing coming through the pipeline.

Then again, Neil Walker might be available since they drafted a stud 3B with their 1st round pick.

85 There was that rumored deal last week, Bay and Snell for Ethier/Meloan/Wade that supposedly foundered when the Bucs also asked for LaRoche. I didn't take it seriously, but the way Rosenthal is thumping Bay and pitching, the Bucs might be willing to move Snell.

86 If Huntington as enlightened as he's supposed to be, there's no way he's taking a low upside outfielder and a couple of relievers for his best two players.

86 if some type of deal like that were to happen, bay would have to start, andruw (when healthy) would have to start... no way they platoon kemp and pierre right?

Rosenthal conveniently ignores that Colletti's track record indicates he's not going to get anything close to sufficient value for Kemp.

Like Jon said yesterday: the story here is Colletti, not Kemp or any other youngster.

Again, I don't give any credence to that rumor other than the Bucs' conceivable willingness to move Snell and maybe Bay. I only mentioned it because we discussed it last week.

I just noticed one of my fantasy teams had Adrian Beltre on it, and figured he was doing alright since he had hit so many homers early.

Not so.

I've found a player that is struggling just about as much as Druw:

Beltre's splits:
April: .290/.400/.538 (93 Abs)
May: .189/.237/.387 (111 Abs)
June: .114/.179/.200 (4 for 35)

What started out as one of Beltre's best, may end up being his worst.

0 Don't have time to read all the posts, but it was Kirk Gibson revisited.

And the previous trip home? What's the sound of one hand slapping?

91 As of a couple weeks ago, Belte's PrOPS was something like .930. He's due for an upswing.

The Dodgers may not be playing very well but they sure have been lucky. Saturday Night and last night they got quite a few breaks.
Martin hits a couple of seeing eye groundballs and is a hero, home team outfielders unable to judge flyballs.
Other then Kershaws command he looked very good. No hard hit balls that I remember other then the one Kent should have been able to make a play on. Usually he catches what he gets to when he leaves his feet, so that is disconcerting.
In watching the game on TV I noticed little play was given by Vin to the great slide by Martin when he scored from 2nd, and Loney got barely a mention on his great scoop after the awesome play by DeWitt.

93 what's PrOPS?

94
I was keeping score at the game last night, and on the play in question (groundball single by Adrian Gonzalez) I added a not-so-cordial note to Jeff Kent on my scorecard.

That should have been at least one out if not two (although the DP may have been unlikely).

I also don't understand why Torre didn't double switch when he brought Broxton in. There's no excuse for having Broxton bat in the 8th. Even so, the Dodgers got lucky that it was a sacrifice situation anyway, but of course Broxton's bad bunt and Gonzalez's great play ended that. I thought Berroa went into 2B too weakly on that play. He should have taken out Khalil Greene rather than slide head first into the bag.

Lets not forget to follow the money when looking at trade ideas such as Bay and Snell for Meloan, Wade, and Ethier. While the Pirates might want to shed $$, the Dodgers don't want to add $$.

95.

Predicted OPS

http://tinyurl.com/bscxl

He would have been the hair apparent, too, if he hadn't shaved his mustache.

96 - I think he was too enamored of DeWitt's defense to take him out and have LaRoche make his debut in that situation, especially since DeWitt had just made that great diving play.

Still, I would have made the double-switch.

If it were up to me, though, I might have brought Broxton in when Proctor was brought in. I think it's time for me to revive the Smokejumper campaign.

Rosenthal's tripe is yet another dangerous indicator that Colletti equates winning, say, two playoff games this season as tantamount to job insurance. What will he do to win two playoff games?

I don't think he'd trade Kemp right now, however, until he knows whether Jones can play at something approaching his 2007 form. It's bad enough that he signed Jones as he was falling off a cliff, but to keep Jones while Kemp blossoms elsewhere would not only cost him his job in LA, it would make him unhirable.

Rosenthal's theory seems to be that if a team has a struggling offense, it should trade one of its few offensive forces for another offensive player with a lower ceiling who costs more.

44 etc. If Pierre were asked to play short or second he would switch back to his natural throwing arm and stop experimenting with ambidextrousness.

A belated standing ovation to Jon for his Two Words piece. Great stuff.

97. I don't remember reading anything about the Dodgers not wanting to take on any more money. When was this written?

Rosenthal is the new Plaschke.

105 The old Plaschke will return once the Lakers are done, and he too will be unhappy with the Do