Now if I ever get a grand kid...

Kuroda to start on Wednesday at Houston unless he feels some sort of residual negative effect from the 45-pitch simulated game he pitched today, which was split into three ``innings.'' Rafael Furcal, Danny Ardoin, Andruw Jones and Mark Sweeney all took turns taking their cuts, and Kuroda looked good. .. As for Brad Penny, he is probably going to throw a similar simulated game (trying saying that three times quickly) sometime during the Houston series, although there still is a slim chance he could be sent on a minor-league rehab, something manager Joe Torre said he would rather not do. Guessing if the sim game goes well, Penny would come off the DL and return by the start of the next homestand a week from Monday if not sooner.

Rays are really something.

Our line-up is not so bad tonight. But unless we continue miraculous pitching, the black hole is probably too big.

Yeah I heard that too, & I understand it to a degree BUT there comes a time were it becomes a detriment to a team & you have to balance that out specially if your the manager.

He's gonna be DFA in a few weeks so the point is moot.

About the same page that Bills struck out Hunter on.

not only does it look bad for the batter but the pitchers confidence grows when you do that.

From Diamond Leung's blog:

>>"Pretty much everybody that knew me that watched the game called to ask what kind of drugs I was on," Andy LaRoche said of a bunt last night that came with two out and the bases loaded.

LaRoche, who got a talking-to from Manager Joe Torre, said he couldn't remember bunting for a base hit in his entire life.

"Why not do it with two out in a one-run game against our cross-town rivals," LaRoche mused.

"It didn't work out and made me look like an idiot."<<

Eastern Time.

I believe this is my time to sign off.

tid bit to add, Kemp probably gets so much advise left & right that maybe he can't observe all of it at the same time but I'm confident he'll learn from it, little by little, rome wasn't built in a day.

Hmm, now that you mention it, Loney's pants are having a hard time finishing sentences. Plus they smell like Cheetos.

I don't know if you've ever stayed at a motel 6 Bob but there wake up call is pretty funny & frustrating at the same time.

Yes, you've gotten his wake-up call I imagine... man, Billz already with 9 K's did I hear that right?

Can't argue with the great one.

"Sofor" Sweeney.

As in "Struck Out For" whomever he's hiting for at the time.

1) Back in 2003 when the Cubs had returned to Dodger Stadium, Eric Karros made his first at-bat as a Cub. The stadium booed him, including some guy next to us. I asked him why they were booing a former Dodger, and his response was "he isn't a Dodger anymore." I replied that he was traded against his wishes. That got an, "oh".

2) "Bar-ry sucks".

Garret Anderon is 2 for 2
Casey Kotchman is 2 for 1

not counting today of course, info. From B-R.Com.

Martin coughs those up like there ain't no tomorrow.

2) I guess so. Booing as a form of respect. Stupid.

2 2/3 innings & it's already July... another thing is how his shoulder feels the next few days.

I'm disappointed at his slow progress, but I was worn by you guys, I should have listen. Sometimes I'm too optimistic for my own good.

[ http://tinyurl.com/42l9uq ]

---

I wonder if the booing of Vlad has to do with the fact that "he should've been ours" before the ownership change screwed over those plans. Not really his fault per se, but maybe there's resentment. Still, that was, uh, awhile ago.

I would... the english sold it for me.

If he does it, it won't count as an officially "interesting" game. You have to pitch all 9 innings for that. But it would still be pretty cool. Hope it happens.

Billingsley has been pretty amazing thus far, as well.

C'mon, let's bear down here Chad.

Can you imagine what the Dodgers will be able to do to teams if Kershaw catches his potential to the degree Chad has? With Penny as #3, and some combination of Park, Stults, Schmidt, Kuroda and McDonald behind them, this could be tremendous.

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/7qFb

Angels havent scored a run since Wednesday night.

Strange game.

we're brewing something special here but we must be patient, & I hope NedCo doesn't do anything panicky.

I'm not sure what happened, but can I at least propose a Rule 9 reset going forward?

On Sept. 4, 1991 the Committee for Statistical Accuracy, appointed by Commissioner Fay Vincent, changed the definition of a no-hitter to require that a pitcher throw at least nine full innings and a complete game.

that nick hadn't loomed around these parts in a while, sigh...

Rose is off it's bloom. Berroa blew an easy 1-6-3.

Berrow, not so hot.

Btw, I still think Rule 9 applies, even if a pitcher is no longer even or winning. But maybe that's just me.

Anyway, whew.

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/5YpB

Just like the Dodgers.

But I'll take a win. Come on Sammy!

I'm glad Saito will get PRIME TIME coverage, woohoo!

Do I go too far in seeing this as part of the irony of our era: constant stat-driven stupidity (the save rule determining closer usage etc.) on the part of the very people who disparage stats?

But seriously, right now, Furcal's loss seemed to ruin the Dodgers precarious offense, whereas as important as he is you get the feeling the Yankees could still score some runs this year if Jeter were out for awhile. Not that it would be a good thing for them...

Angels not scoring since Wed.
Or Dodgers winning while being no-hit.

But I think Scioscia needed to do something to give them a chance to score in a game where runs were clearly at a premium.

-- Vin Scully

Ooh great play by Maza.

188 That amazed me too. He's seen a few games, mmm-hmm.

--
The way the crowd is into it you'd almost think the Dodgers were not only winning but trying to get the no-hitter.

-- Vin Scully

{bite nails}

its on KCAL

Signed,

Everyone in the greater L.A. area.

I love baseball

CLASSIC!!!!!

I almost feel sorry for Weaver, but you know what, that's the kind of game I could just as easily see the Dodgers losing this year -- great pitching, no hitting. And so I will take it.

/Tim Kurkjian

KCAL either. Up in the sticks here. next thing to another planet.

Crazy game, this baseball. And I enjoy the hell out of it at times like this.

And thank God for MLBTV because my girlfriend owned the remote control tonight and was watching some nonsense about cakes on the Food Network.

He stole this game (literally) for us with pure athleticism.

I also don't want to hear anymore about the trials the "kids" are to everybody. Last I looked, no one else is doing anything, either.

Got to chalk this up as one more thing "I thought I'd never see"

Ask the Angels!

IP 7.0 H 3 R 0 ER 0 BB 3 K 7

that's just dumb.

Now that we get up here.:D

So NOW can Selig fix that stupid rule and make games like this "officially" count as no-hitters??

20. Michael D
Nice first inning for Billingsley. I hope we can get some more offense for him tonight.

And the errors aside, Kemp did steal the base. Without the steal they'd still playing baseball in extra innings right now. Saying "Kemp had nothing to do with it" is ridiculousness akin to saying Dave Roberts had nothing to do with the Red Sox winning the 2004 ALCS.

It's my bro-in-law, offering me four tickets to tomorrow's game, plus parking. Undoubtedly good seats.

I had plans. I changed my plans. Awesome.

Pierre is Salieri. Kemp is Mozart.

*Fielding Independent Pitching, a measure of all those things for which a pitcher is specifically responsible. The formula is (HR*13+(BB+HBP-IBB)*3-K*2)/IP, plus a league-specific factor (usually around 3.2) to round out the number to an equivalent ERA number. FIP helps you understand how well a pitcher pitched, regardless of how well his fielders fielded. FIP was invented by Tangotiger*

PS for the record I wasn't impressed with Weaver's "No hit pitching"

Dodgers are young (the ones playing anyway) and will struggle for a couple of years until fully developed.

I have said it before mostly in other forums, but this season has been very interesting. It's only frustrating if one is expecting the young players to produce right away. At time they will, many other times they won't. And that's to be expected.

If that's pathetic, I'm not sure what you are expecting.

These days, the Dodgers are either shut-outers or shut-outees (if you'll allow me to invent a new term).

Of course, I have my own issues to deal with.

New post up top.

Night folks.