Interesting posts about White's drafts. At what point, if ever, does player development go into the analysis of drafts? Seems logical to me that not all player development staffs are created equal, and thereofore, Draftee A might be better off than Draftee B if he were in a different farm system. I'd like to believe that talent rises to the top, no matter what farm system a player enters, but that seems a bit counterintuitive. Opportunity and teaching have to count for something. Are the Dodgers strong in player development? Were they stronger when Terry Collins was in charge? Does Watson have a strong background in player development? From what I gleaned, he's more of a scout than a teacher/development man. Were the Braves really good at player development in the 1990s? Seems like it probably was a factor.

So maybe Schmitt of big contract and bum arm will offer the Dodgers a refund on his 07 and 08 paycheck so the Dodgers can pay Kershaw a bit more than MLB minimums ?

Maybe little Nicky C. can buy Kershaw a car or something out of his own pocket in the off season just to show some love.

1 That is an interesting perspective. I think the answer lays somewhere in between. I think the Dodgers player development is above average in the pitching department. Let's keep our fingers crossed with hitting.

Elation at lineup muted by Raffy news. :P

Furcal woke up with stiffness in his back and is on his way back to Los Angeles. He's never coming back is he?

From the last topic, strikeouts seem to me to have nothing to do with leadoff ability. The idea of there being some type of hitter that should hit leadoff is predicated mostly on leading off the game (bases empty situation). Strike out is exactly the same as any other type of out here. Where you don't want a strikeout hitter is #2, where you may be trying to put on a hit & run or whatever.
Maybe they're just thinking of the psychological impact of starting the game off with a strikeout (setting the tone, whatever that means).

Tough series for our leadoff batters so far.

Just back from driving over Ebbett's Pass on last weeks camping trip...the Dodgers high altitude trainng camp there is awesome!

6 Yeah, I've never got that bit of tradition.

thats what were talking about

4 Previous muting unmuted by Martin unleashing home run. :)

5 - That's one reason I don't really post injury updates on disabled players anymore. Too many reversals.

Russell's on his way to 20.

See? If Martin was leading off that only would have been a solo shot. ;^)

Russ Martin is good at baseball.

MARTIN! Makes it much better with the Young walk.

Nice of Steiner to add a run to the score before determining whether the ball was fair or foul.

5 Since when did Mike Marshall become our shortstop?

So who are the Shortstops that will be available as free agents over the off season?

Next stop on the checklist is a trade:(

5 I'll believe he's coming back when he gets placed on the active roster and written in the starting line-up.

at least loney cant gidp

Should I start singing "Oh Wandy.."

Run support.

22 Knock yourself out.

18 The dude who threw over 200 IP in relief spanning over 100 games one year?

Loney would be a horrible #2 hitter. Actually, a strikeout hitter wouldn't be that bad of a choice (assuming he does other things well) in the #2 spot. You don't want a GB hitter at #2 assuming the leadoff guy is getting on often.

22 No.

If you want me to leave that badly, just ask.

Regarding lineups
It seems to me the biggest points about batting lineups are

1/ hitters at the top of lineup get more at bats over the course of a season, so ideally your better OBP or just plain better hitters should bat in the top three spots.

2/ if a guys got speed and a high % success rate on sbs, he's best at batting leadoff given the fact that the bases are likely clear(8th and pitcher spots or 1st inning.)
Follow him with a guy that sees alot of pitches to give more opportunities to steal on the first few pitches.

3/ follow both with your hottest hitter, who's sure to get more at bats than most...since he's near the top of the lineup. Since he's following the two better hitters, he's more likely to have runners on.

Am I far off?

I like Kemp, Martin, Loney for now...

22 I'm pretty sure they have noise ordinances in Pasadena.

There's yer runs, Clayton.

26 So would it be wise to put your greatest DP threat leadoff, where there is the least chance of him batting with a runner on first and less than two outs (especially in the NL where the pitcher will be bunting the #8 guy to second if he gets on)? I ask this in all seriousness. Loney has a good OBP and his DP dettiment would be reduced, but guys like Loney never do bat leadoff.

To bad about Rafy. I think Ned needs to get us a SS, I'm not ready to give up this year but we need a real SS for it to happen.

Get me Alex Cora for all I care but get me a SS.

If Clayton goes 5 IP and exits with a lead, and Saito saves with four relievers preceding him, it could be: Kershaw: VIII Arms To Hold You?

32 The guy playing SS for Houston looks pretty good.

So much for run support.

34 ToyCannon made that exact suggestion at TBLA:
http://www.truebluela.com/2008/6/22/556587/food-for-thought

RIP Jules Tygiel, author of "Baseball's Great Experiment" as well as many other books on baseball and history in general.

I had exchanged e-mails with Jules numerous times and he was always happy to answer any questions I had about his book. And how to pronounce his last name when I mentioned him in a talk at the library. (TIE-gehl)

Every rose bush has its thorns.

33. :-) Fab

Look! A power hitting shortstop coming up to bat!

Thats an error on Kent. He could have gone to first base considering Lee was the runner.

31
Crazy Legs Loney is on a pace to smash the triples record for a 1st baseman of 35 by Garvey. He already has 13 in only 819 at bats. Garvey got his 35 in 7027 plate appearances.

What more could you want from a lead off man? Plus it would keep him from breaking the 4-5-3 record.

That was bad baserunning by Pence. Must've lost track of the outs.

Just saw replay of Martin's dinger at least, that was nice to see. I seem to miss what little offense the Dodgers' muster these days so I think I'll go back to work for awhile when they next come up to bat.

42 Don't you mean 4-6-3? Secondbasemen rarely throw to third base for a DP.

37 I know. :-( I had him as a teacher once at SFSU. Incredibly knowledgeable and great guy.

so is nomar now officially closer to coming back than raffy, and will he now likely play SS with the news

44
Yup

Oh lord. I hope that wasn't a bat splinter that got him. Was it the bat itself? Yikes. I thought he'd had a heart attack at first.

Ugly. Hope he's alright.

On field delay?

36 Funny how the Astros are 1.5 games ahead of the Dodgers and are "out of it" while the Dodgers are still in the race. Division placements mean a lot.

Ivan DeJesus Junior was pitch hit for in the 5th inning of todays Suns game. Not that it means anything but unless he was hurt, it is a tad unusual.

Let's just get Martin out there at short and let him become the Jeter of the West Coast. (with better D)

48- Didn't look like the bat broke.

So ... um ... like what happened?

Could someone elaborate? We are flying blind here.

Anyone?

Maza hit Quintero plum on the top of the head with the follow through of his swing.

Maza's back swing hit Quintero in the head. They're taking him to the clubhouse now.

55 56 Maza's back swing nailed the cather in the head.

52 He's flying to Houston. ;)

Quintero had moved pretty far inside, and Maza's swing had a big backswing. Ouch.

Had to look up the spelling on Quintero. Quintero was flat on the ground for a long while. He walked off the field with a trainer under each arm.

Yeesh. I've seen that before. Actually twice. Once, involving Steve Yeager, which I've discussed ad nauseum. The other time, I think, it was Mike Piazza at Dodger Stadium as a Met. That's a scary injury.

Seems like the helmet would have protected him a little better than that.

EE's "I guess the question of whether he's "better suited" for leadoff or 3-5 depends on one's opinion on which spot in the batting order is most important" comment from the previous thread gave me an idea for a quick little research effort.

I just estimated a regression model that used Team Runs Per Game as the dependent variable and Team Lineup Position OPS (for #1, #2, #3, etc.) as independent variables.

The findings:

Lineup position #s 1, 4, 5, 7, and 9 have a significant correlation with Runs Per Game.

Lineup position #s 2, 3, 6, and 8 have no significant correlation (and the correlation is actually negative).

The lineup positions with the strongest impact on Runs Per Game (from strongest to weakest):

9
1
5
7
4

In other words, Runs Per Game do not appear to depend upon the OPS of the #2, 3, 6, and 8 hitters, and depend most strongly upon the OPS of the 9 and 1 hitters.

Something you don't see everyday
First inning of the Jacksonville game.

Lee Mitchell pops into a triple play, shortstop Ivan De Jesus to second baseman Shane Justis. Chris Coghlan out at 2nd. Gaby Sanchez out at 1st.

If gamecast's pitch locations are accurate, then this umpire really is missing a lot of obvious strikes.

67
Sounds like some team is unfamiliar with the intricacies of the infield fly rule.

Diamond just emailed me saying he posted some stuff on his blog about the Dodgers in international free agency.

"Lineup position #s 2, 3, 6, and 8 have no significant correlation (and the correlation is actually negative)."

That doesn't make sense. So if we have Angel Berroa batting 6th and then Furcal comes back and we put him in the 6 spot not changing the personnel anywhere else, we'd score more runs? How could upgrading the offense at a spot in the lineup hurt?

Does anyone think DeJesus is an option with Raffy pulling a Bynum? Is his D any good? I love his OBP but I know very little about him.

I guess Baron Davis is a Clipper.

Or do you mean given two lineups with the same aggregate batting line, that being stronger at those positions in the line-up (and hence weaker elsewhere) is worse?

Maza translates to mace, something once used to whack the helmeted person.

I hope Quintero got no worse than his bell rung. Ouch.

71
Well, like I said, the correlation for those spots isn't significant. The fact that it's negative really doesn't mean anything, though I thought it was interesting anyway.

70 Hey he emailed me the same thing.

The Dodgers have focused their efforts making bids on seven Dominican players in advance of tomorrow's start of the international signing players when 16-year-olds who turn 17 after Sept. 6 may sign with major league clubs.

But don't expect the Dodgers to be throwing around seven-figure bonuses like the A's reportedly did in giving Michel Inoa $4.25 million. Assistant general manager Logan White said the team has not changed its philosophy of not getting into bidding wars on players they have attached a dollar amount to in value. "We can't shoot ourselves in the foot by overbidding," White said. "We're active. We're just not active on the high-dollar guys. We just don't like them as high-dollar as other teams do."

Silky.

whoooo! sweet grab james

That was a heck of a play by Loney. A crucial one at that.

Golden God doing his part to keep Kent and Loney out the GIDP by hitting only extra-base hits today.

Okay, for the first time since they traded Chandler for Elton, I'm giddy.
To bad they had to renounce Corey to make it happen because now they can't do a sign and trade with him but I'll take a lineup of
Baron, Cutino, Thornton, Brand, Kaman.

Joba Chamberlain threw 91 pitches in 4 innings today.

82 I may go buy tix to see that team.

82 With Eric Gordon and, possibly, Livingston in the backcourt too, right?

Was that pitching around Kent, or did he "earn" the walk?

Remember the "Moon Shot" Loney poked at the Coliseum this spring? I wonder if he has similar thoughts with this left-field porch?

I really hope Rodriguez ends up on the Marlins some day.

#7 Loney!

I guess not.

atta boy big james

Great at bat by J-Lo.

Martin and Loney. Good stuff.

What is "Wandy" short for?

94 - Wandy.

94 Nuttin'.

86 Is there a difference?

97 Sorry, I wasn't trying to be snarky - I was wondering if walking Kent to get to a left-hand hitter they might get a DP out of was Houston's strategy.

Now I can complete my thought on 88

He'd be a Fish called Wandy.

Wanderful.

[88.] [99.]

Here's a belated..."why!?"

according to Lyons, Billingsley wasn't winning games early in the season because he was striking too many hitters out. These guys get paid lots and lots of money to say these things.

These bonehead announcers and their talk of "getting wins." I swear.

Nice inning for the youngster.

Man, I wish Ethier would turn it up while Pierre is out.

The black hole just got a little bit smaller.

Kemp reminds us that you're only guaranteed to lead-off once a game.

I feel like the baseball gods are smiling apon on us for FINALLY putting a lineup like this forward. Please Joe, watch this very very closely...please

The Bison does a great job for RBI #44.

The Bison!

Good job Matt!

Let us pray that a lesson is learned tonight.

Awesome pick for James. Thats the toughest hop for first baseman and James made the play easily.

GIDP - nice. 57 pitches for Kershaw through 4. 35 strikes (61.4%)

Kershaw sure is looking good tonight.

RBI productivity from the leadoff hitter. Go figure.

Sounds like Quintero was taken to the hospital to be checked out, doesn't sound like he'll be back in a day.

This should be a running situation for Martin.

Kent delivers the double to score Martin.

Who are these guys and what have they done with our meek lil' Dodgers?

Martin and Kent have been on base all 6 times they've been up. martin's first time was very briefly on base(s).

Well, that IS running!

Ahem {cough} Toy {cough} clean up hitter {cough} ;-)

This line-up is productive:)

Andy, don't press man.

What is it, unless they hit a homer, they can't put together more than a run at a time.

That was a situation where Loney rolling over a grounder wouldn't have been a bad thing.

Its amazing that we have 5 runs, but we should have more. Andy does not look ood at the plate. He was trying to jump the yard on the first pitch, but he made up his mind he was swinging at anything, even a ball that almost hit him. He's obviously trying to "win" the job, and its not working right now.

The last time the Dodgers scored in four or more different innings was in Cincinnati on the 19th.

Thats disgusting

Dr. Hook will be performing tonight at Dodger Stadium....to conclude the 5th inning!

Money. Curveball is just money.

Kershaw is in command of the game. Four run lead. This is fun.

68 pitches through 5. That was an 11-pitch inning even though there were 2 Ks in it, tripling his strikeout total.

Walking Maza = Grabowski Principle?

3-0 Brewers Top 1

The Robot Made of Nails was made to be a lead off hitter.

Martin again! What a night for Martin.

Man when Russ in locked in, he is really locked in, this is fun indeed..haha! and a double steal

Double steal, up by five? Hope Loney doesn't get one in the ear for it.

Golden God! 3-3-3-3 in your box score. Plus a walk.

Crud - I was going to call double steal, went for the box score line comment instead. dang.

Let's see. Dodgers offense is the worst in the NL since May 23. Who had the most at-bats in June? Right.

Please let this game be a harbinger.

Do we have a cycle color for Martin?

140 Don't we need an alert for Martin?

143 Doh!

It's a yellow alert for Martin.

Yellow alert.

146
Thank you. I'm actually trying to work. It's a new fiscal year and all that.

Of course, if Martin gets a triple, someone will be revising part of his book.

146 Isn't Bob supposed to say that?

147 nv'r mnd

Young Mr. Kershaw will learn that when one has a five-run lead, one's manager prefers that one doesn't walk the leadoff hitter. Even if he is Lance Berkman.

K!

148- I keep trying to get Bob to give me his account password, so I can take some of the easy stuff off his plate. But, for some reason, he doesn't trust me.

151
I hereby give Andrew my proxy for any and all cycle alerts from this day forward and in perpetuity.

152 Man! You are either feeling mighty relaxed or might stressed!

Loretta's still a contact guy, maybe a nice GIDP here.

The Rays now have a 2 1/2 game lead on the Red Sox in the A.L East.

Kent gave Kershaw an 'atta boy'. I concur.

5-1 Brewers Top 2

Milwaukee 5 Arizona 1

Make it 6-1 Brewers on back to back HR's.

this Falkenborg guy has what they call a live fastball....

Implicitly, I have always trusted Andrew. I respect corduroy.

Torre just loves using the guys that just got called up. Anyone know the last time our best pitcher (Kuo) pitched?

I freakin hate Joe Torre.

Milwaukee 5.... ah! Never mind.

C'mon Borg, assimilate them!

Or not.

Well, I liked Kershaw being yanked there. I didn't like the result of that. Pshaw!

Brilliant move by Torre.

C'mon.

Ty Wigginton?

Double steal, up by five? Hope Loney doesn't get one in the ear for it.

Perhaps we can get Xeifrank to establish a win expectancy threshold to determine when a stolen base in beanworthy.

Torre has absolutely no brain. That move is just inexcusable. The beat writers better grill him for that after the game. Unacceptable.

C'mon, Clayton has to get this win, he just has to. Otherwise there's no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, or... er, well, it'd be unfair, anyway.

Why is that move inexcusable? It didn't work out. But Kershaw's on a tight pitch count. He was laboring a bit. If he left him in there and the same thing happened there'd be just as many people ready to string the manager up. Well, anyway. Let's get this win. Or we'll all be equally peeved.

168

Ooh, I should have said, "grounds for beanery."

172 That just makes me crave a Starbucks run.

171

Why is it inexcusable? Because he brought in Brian Falkenborg, a guy who has shwonthroughout his career that eh isnt a major league pitcher. If you take Clayton out in that situation, you bring in a guy who can shut the door. Maybe bring in your best reliever who you havent used in ages. That would probably be a better idea.

171 - I don't think Falkenborg is the guy to go to there. He's presumably the last guy in the pen right now. Considering Kuo (non-)usage recently, he should've been the man to turn to. But Choi-forbid Torre brings a lefty in to face a righty (even if the lefty is Kuo, and the righty is Wigginton).

174 I have to agree, while he made a good lineup decision today, this was a poor choice by torre...I dont know if its because he easily gets attached or picks favorites, or if he wants to really see what hes got before the all-star break...I'm hoping its the latter.

171

Basically, the point is that Torr brought in absolutely the worst available option in that situation. That isnt a throw away situation. You put in someone who you trust and who can get the job done. Apparently Falkenbord in 3 innings has shown he is better than Kuo, at least to Joe Torre.

171

Basically, the point is that Torr brought in absolutely the worst available option in that situation. That isnt a throw away situation. You put in someone who you trust and who can get the job done. Apparently Falkenbord in 3 innings has shown he is better than Kuo, at least to Joe Torre.

I'm with you guys in wondering why Kuo hasn't been used lately. But I'll also say Falkenborg has looked great so far this year, not just in Vegas but here. Surprisingly good. But whatever, I don't care enough to argue in defense of the Borg. :-)

Baron Davis 5 years 65 million is now a Los Angeles Clipper.

the fact is, with a five run lead and two outs, why not give kershaw the chance to get the last out? the worst that could happen is exactly what ended up happening when torre took him out -- a three-run homer. situations like this give kershaw the confidence he needs. torre is a geezer moron.

I understood why he took Kershaw out and it's too bad Falkenborg gave up the cheap homer. Here's Kuo.

What a world we live in today! The Rays are the hottest ticket in baseball, Baron Davis goes out of his way to sign with the Clippers, and a Minotaur is about to win an MLB game.

Well, howdy stranger.

Mr. Kuo sighting on the mound.

There must be more to the Kuo situation than we can see. I realize they are trying to limit his innings to save his arm and try to build him up to a full season. Only an idiot wouldn't send in there best reliever in close games, especially on nine days rest.

Oh wait, what did I say? Only an idiot? Well, maybe there's not more to the situation than we can see.

I don't know about low or high leverage but what would this situation be called?

That's crazy, Davis no longer a Warrior, now a Clipper. But since I like the Clippers and hate the Warriors, I'm fairly happy about it. I think that's a lot of money and time for a guy who's a but injury prone, but more power to 'em. They have a great player.

185 was posted before the start of this inning, I take it?

I hate the Warriors, too, but I think Monta Ellis will probably keep them from feeling the loss too much.

At a third of an inning every ten days, his elbow will never go bad again. Great work by Torre to save him.

It's easy to second-guess the move after the home run. But Torre needs to see what he has in Falkenborg and to see if he's going to be a useful addition. Little often brought Seanez in last year with men on base, and it's possible that Torre was eyeing a similar role for Falkenborg out of the pen. Up by five runs with two runners on in the 6th is not a high leverage situation. It was leveraged enough to be meaningful, however - a good test. Falkenborg probably just earned himself a demotion.

Speaking of rest Joe Beimel has only been used once since June 22nd. What's up with that?

I'm a bruin fan but unfortunately despise the clippers, its too bad because Baron grew up a laker fan and a couple times offered to take a pay cut to try and join the Lake Show...oh well at least I'll see more of him now

Does anyone have the numbers on how Broxton does when he starts and inning vs. coming in with inherited runners on base? Torre is reeling around the deck trying to preserve the win for Kershaw.

This is tough but do you walk Berkman?

Broxton in the 7th is interesting... Is something wrong with Beimel?

Yeah, there's no way the Lakers could front the kind of money Davis was asking. Man, that would've been a sweet line-up next year, though.

Jeez, Broxton trying to keep Loney from having children someday with that toss over to first.

Well, Broxton should be used against Pence, Lee and Tejada. Not a lefty.

193

I thought about that. But do the Lakers really need Baron Davis? I know they'd love to have him, but if they did, the Lakers would be well over the salary cap. They might have to put out a monopoly ruling not rivaled since the breakup of AT&T.

Can someone explain why there are grown people dressed in Puma costumes out in the outfield bleachers?

Easy, underdog. That's Berkman's nickname.

i cant believe he just did it again! take out our best long reliever with one out after just giving up a walk?! come on, have some faith!

Lee vs. Broxton: 2 for 2 with a HR.

you know the more I see Russell Martin run (especially when he's running lax) it looks like he's running towards the restroom to relieve him self.

but that's just me.

97 mph on last two pitches.

I just hope our bullpen doesn't blow it for Kershaw, the kid pitched a brilliant game.

The Minotaur is cursed

Another ND for Kershaw. Grrrrrrrr.

Going inside to Lee was a big big mistake.

Young made a great attempt.

201 Seriously? Where have I been?

--

Well that sucks.

A better relay through would've helped.

194
Please see #194. Broxton probably doesn't create the type of situation that he inherits when he starts the inning.
203 Ouch!

I tell you, the Dodgers are finding some REALLY creative ways to take wins away from Kershaw.

WHAT IS THIS?!?!?!!

... How long is Joe Torre's contract again?

don't stress the tie game. Torre got to see what Falkenborg has and Kuo is still fresh :)

Torre must go.

183 did you knock on wood?

206 Er, too late.

Poor Clayton. Maybe he'll never get a win again. What happened last August that cursed him? The Minotaur nickname? It's our fault.

Why does it seem like we are going to lose this game?

with the D-Backs losing today we really need to win this one.

new ball game, let get 'em.

I feel duty bound at this time to tell people that Carlos Lee is on my fantasy team.

Sam's son weeps.

Would you have Torre not use his best reliever in that situation?

170 C'mon, Clayton has to get this win, he just has to. Otherwise there's no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, or... er, well, it'd be unfair, anyway.

...and it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime...

198 I'm not knocking Broxton, but righties are hitting only .195 against Kuo. Why not stick with him and then use Broxton in the 8th?

momentum is on the Stros side now but a couple of timely hits & we're back in this thing.

Well DeWitt just got hosed.

224 - We are bad at timely hits.

Why did the ump wait like five minutes to call that third strike?

223 Fair enough, but bringing in one of the best relievers in baseball isn't exactly a fireable offense.

I should remind you that we may have a good Houston curse going. The Dodgers haven't won a series at Houston since 2005. ...and I don't like it!

221 Who are you saying is his best reliever? Broxton?

looking at it from a timeline stand point I like the steady progression of our boy Kershaw.

I'm sorry man, but I just don't like to dwell on the negative.

223 - Because you use your best right handed shutdown guy against the best right handed batters. The problem was the pitch by Broxton. They set up inside, that was their first mistake.

That umpire is horrible.

228 Agreed. His list of fireable offenses is long, but that one isn't included.

230 I think him and Saito are about equal now. Also I was assuming that Saito's unavailable outside of a save situation.

229
Isn't that just two series in Houston? In 2005, the Dodgers dominated the Astros.

And the Astros fared pretty well that year.

223 I agree with Jon, I would've left Kuo in there (and was thinking that before Lee's hit).

Still, I'm not sure I'm ready to burn Torre's figure in effigy over that one. (I wonder, though, why no one tells him the previous Lee vs Brox at bats, or if they do?)

This ump SUCKS btw.

237
I still have complete control of the effigy market.

232 You also use your best left handed reliever more that 1/3 of an inning in ten days, but things on this team seem to be unconventional in a bad way instead of unconventional in a good way.

"Kershaw! What a loser!"

Sarah's reaction to Lee's hit.

I too feel Kuo should have staid but I just HOPE Torre remembers this stuff & doesn't do it again specially next year.

And Broxton needs to get those guys out. Pitchers share some responsibility for failing when they fail.

--

A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.

Why does Torre walk the number three hitter, putting the tying run on base with two outs, to face the cleanup hitter who is 2-for-2 lifetime with a homer off Broxton? At best, this is odd managing; at worse, it is awful managing. Then, of course, Broxton gets two strikes on Lee, tantalizing us. And, Gameday, my source for this game, says "no out" recorded, which usually means no runs have scored. I first looked at the game when it was 6-1. I should have stayed away.

238 I thought that was the obelisk market? Or did you buy up shares in EffigyCorp, too? This is starting to sound like a monopoly to me.

243 - It was Lance Berkman that's why. No problem with that.

no matter what the snakes are losing & that's a good thing.

243 I'd rather he walk Berkman than make a decision based off two at bats.

That's the pitch he should have thrown Lee.

All right. One run lets get it done.

244
I've outsourced the obelisk work to Mexico.

245 Then Torrecutt should have stayed with the little-used lefty Kuo.

243 2-2 lifetime is obviously a meaningless sample size; but putting the tying run on base in that situation is not only dumb, but the kind of thing that "old school" managers are supposed not to do....you don't IBB anybody except Bonds in his prime in that situation--I'm surprised Torre did it.

Plus I would rather pitch to Berkman with a lefty. I mean, the poor guy only has an OPS against lefties of 1.007. That's .191 below his meager OPS against righties.

247

Berkman scares the bejesus out of me too. but did you guys notice how Kershaw made him look when he K'd him, man that was a sweet pitch!

Las Vegas Bottom 1st

Angel Chavez pops out to first baseman Freddy Sandoval in foul territory.
Nomar Garciaparra singles on a ground ball to center fielder Christopher Walker.
Terry Tiffee doubles (30) on a fly ball to center fielder Christopher Walker. Nomar Garciaparra scores. Terry Tiffee to 3rd on the throw.
Andruw Jones singles on a ground ball to left fielder Coby Smith. Terry Tiffee scores.
With John Lindsey batting, wild pitch by Shane Loux, Andruw Jones to 2nd.
John Lindsey flies out to left fielder Coby Smith.
Mitch Jones strikes out swinging.

Ugggh...

Thankfully I have something to look forward to in the Clippers' season.

255 You're a hit behind for both Nomar and Andruw. They're both 2-2 already.

Old Lady in a buring building.
Baby in a swimming pool.
Man choking on chicken bone.
Dodger game.

Which one of these things can't be saved.

236

I meant to say 2004. In 2005, the Dodgers were swept in Houston. Btw, in '04, the Dodgers only played two games at Minute Maid. Before that, their last series win at MMP was 2002.

Is it the train..?

you gotta wonder who Torre is gonna use in the bottom of the inning.

Loney's diving catch was the #3 web gem on BBTN.

Also on that show Peter Gammons predicted that Berkman will win the triple crown.

Scooplew, don't take this personally, but stop watching the game. :-)

I would just pitch around Loney with Sweeney Todd on deck.

Rockies beat the Padres 4-0 and do it in 1:58.

260 My guess is he'll use Saito for one inning, then he will have used his three best relievers. The game will probably go a few more innings and all we'll have left is Beimel and some minor leaguers. That's if he thinks Beimel is rested enough. He's pitched a full inning in the last nine days.

Not the greatest pinch hitting options for the Dodgers manager to choose from.

Loney with a "nice piece of hitting".

while I love james' hitting, the best I was hoping for was a double...this only saddened me because .097 was on deck

{sigh} That hit's just a tease, with two outs and Schweeney up.

SWEENY???? Really Torre?

Sweeney Agonistes...

262 Yeah, maybe you're right...

264.

Aaron Cook
9ip
79pitches

Maybe another spot start at 1st will get Sweeney going. He could bat second.

even if Sweeney gets a hit I really doubt Loney will score here.

The options are: Sweeney (the only lefty), Ardoin (who can't really be used yet), Berroa, and Repko.

We don't have a bench...look out!

Monkey, do see my 276 . I have the same reaction as you every time he comes up. But the options all suck for Torre. Maybe Stults could be called.

Lucky he was ok.

That's just selfish right there man...

really, how can he still be employed? it's just amazing--an industry with this much money involved, and yet--???

278. Yeah I know he is pretty much the Dodgers only option. Really sad.

Jeez, how many Astros are going to get hurt tonight?

We may not win but we're taking out the Astros one player at a time!

hmm...i should never of said the baseball god's were smiling on us...they are throwing lightning bolts at us from the heavens, how do we actually get what seems like good fortune in the form a communication error, only to have a guy get laid out and still hold on to the ball!

Would Furcal's back survive a stint as a full-time pinch hitter? I wonder.

They collide a second earlier we have the lead. Just saying. You don't use Saito here, I'd go with Beimel.

281 Hey, those charges were dropped, they never proved nothing and I got my job back fair and squ.... Oh, wait, you weren't talking about me? Never mind, you heard nothing, move it along.

The Sweeney Line has dropped well below .100

274 Behind Repko.

Las Vegas Bottom 3rd

Nomar Garciaparra singles on a ground ball to left fielder Coby Smith.
With Terry Tiffee batting, wild pitch by Shane Loux, Nomar Garciaparra to 2nd.
Terry Tiffee flies out to left fielder Coby Smith. Nomar Garciaparra to 3rd.
Andruw Jones singles on a sharp ground ball to left fielder Coby Smith. Nomar Garciaparra scores.
With John Lindsey batting, Andruw Jones steals (1) 2nd base.
John Lindsey walks.
Coaching visit to mound.
Mitch Jones flies out to center fielder Christopher Walker.
John-Ford Griffin pops out to second baseman Sean Rodriguez.

So are people okay with Beimel coming in? I am. But just for the record, you know, in case he blows it and the second guessing starts.

And to add to the fun: 7-5 Brewers Bot 5.

The Dodgers bench will be so much better in just 1-2 weeks, even if Raffy isn't ready. Nomar and Jones > stiffs they have there now.

I never fashioned Joe Torre as a micromanager. I mean it seems like an extra inning affair to me: why sub out Beimel so soon?

This is great. Almost everyone in the Dodger's bullpen is getting to play tonight. Woo hoo!

We're running out of arms, Torre is a little too quick here. Now all we have left is Troncoso, Wade and Saito.

294 yea i agree, i assume park will take a couple innings from here and hope for a save situation?

You Dodgers! You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you?

Lollygaggers!

Oh it's getting real good now. Should I just turn off the T.V?

2965 He probably feels like he has to, now that he doesn't have his "ace" in Proctor in the bullpen.

That was unlucky.

Oh well, at least it's just Berkman up.

Berkman 8 for 22 vs. Park.

300 Was directed at 295 .

uh nice pitch there by Park 1 & 2 make him chase something Park!

Chan Ho's looks intimidating.

Nothing gets to Berkman he's incredible.

I like this time out call by Russell breaks the fans mood & gets Park & him on the same page.

305 Shame Proctor's on the DL...

Batting .375 with the count 2 and 2.

Nice pitching by Park

Way to go Chan Ho!

Mr. Park you've been AWESOME this year.

Extras.

Come on, I have people to do and stuff to see!

309 That means nothing to Chan Ho!

win or lose, im going to be pissed off

Wesley Wright in.

Nomar and Andru have 2 hits each so far...Baseball is a game of inches, if Ethier c=or Young could have made one of those catches

I don't know if this is true, but I've heard that in Saudi Arabia, if you get into a taxi, and the taxi gets into an accident, you're held partially responsible. Because if you hadn't hailed that taxi in the first place, that accident wouldn't have happened. A little bit - just a little - like being a baseball manager.

This umpire has been very inconsistent today.

I think this is a watershed game. If we come back and win it, we go on and make the playoffs. If we go down in flames, so does the season.

Nobody has mentioned free baseball in Houston?

315 - Well, that's the spirit ...

God, Rick Monday is no Vin Scully.

At least Berroa managed to get benched.

Nice double for Maza!

o.k. Maza! gets things started. woot, woot!

yes come on now boys lets go

Speaking of winless rookies, whatever happened to Derek Thompson?

Nice dbl Maza!

So Maza is officially better in our hearts than Berroa now, right?

Luis Maza gets his first career double.

Underdog, I just got Food Network HD today. I'm watching a piece on "Its Its!"

Nice useless at-bat Dewitt.

Nice hustle Manischewitz. Bad at bat Blakey boy.

... I mean between pitches and things

Kemp or Pee Wee will get a hit to win the game here.

Walking Kemp.

That looked high and out of the strike zone.

I like this. hopefully D-Young makes them pay.

Pee Wee will get the GW hit.
There's no way he's going to go 0-5 for the nite.

322 that was a little sour on my part, but argh this team, manager, and this game are so frustrating soemtimes

322 It's not most downbeat thing posted here tonight.

Darnit, walking the Bison! You can't do that!

What a game. What a game. The Bison gets the IBB. C'mon Pee Wee!

332 Shhhh! Quiet Logik, or my g/f will invite herself over there.

PW going for the fences.

Wrong idea, sigh.

If this game went really long the Astros would be in trouble with other backup catcher, I believe.

no other catcher, I meant.

Oy vey.

{sigh}

well what can you do...

All Houston has left on the bench is Geoff Blum. But with 4,5,6 coming up that doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot.

328 I think he got into some trouble with the law, if I recall correctly.

Gotta go. Hope the Dodgers can pull this one out:)

Lee was 4 for 10 vs. Park now 5 for 11. Tejada is 3 for 18.

Loretta 7 for 22 vs. Park.

Nice thing about this situation is that if the Dodgers manage to pull this game out, I will be totally surprised.

Gotta go with Saito here..

That's Maza playing hopscotch there.

Nice inning for Mr Chan.

How about 11?

stuff like that is so good from loney, he so easily and naturally picks up those low throws

356

the Astros are not a great team these days so I won't be surprised but I will be happy if they win this one.

352 Can't find anything about legal problems. Last news on him was that he signed a minor league contract with the A's after the 2006 season. Didn't he have a bad arm surgery after only a few starts for us?

8-5 Brewers Top 7

Looney scoops it, says the Astros announcer.

He's a looney bird over there all right!

This game goes to 11.

ESPN: Baron Davis agrees to sign w/ Clippers. 5 years, 65 million.

Just back from dinner. Chan ho is a beast. I'm really happy for him. As for the team, they deserve to lose this game because of how their manager managed the game. It's not that hard to manage a baseball game, especially in the situations we saw tonight. That was just a failure of understanding your own players and the situations they should be used in. To me, thats absolutely inexcusable and an absolute shame that this happened on a major league diamond.

Dodgers got to win it this inning.

The Dodgers have been so good at picking effective pitchers up off the scrap heap. If only we'd had as much luck with hitters...

Valverde has pitched three consecutive games so he's not available.

Derek Thompson did get something like a DUI at one point.

if I were a coach I'd tell my young players to take notes on how Russell approaches an at-bat.

Can Martin reach base 5 of 6 times?

luckily "El Caballo" cought that ball because it was gonna hit him in the coconut.

Darn, Russell roped that one.

373 But Joe Torre said he only likes Russell's approach sometimes.

Is Valverde unavailable?

They are really stringing out Wesley Wright.

372 - I've said this before, but a team deserves to lose when the other team scores more runs. This is not to defend Torre, but if the mistakes the Dodgers or their manager made were so awful, then what does that say about the opponent if it still couldn't beat them?

These games are not moral contests. In the end, if you are stupid but still win, you probably did something right and/or the other team did something worse.

Torre makes some good moves & bad moves... I like Troncoso coming in.

372 Well whaddya know, he got a DUI and some trespassing charges at an Indian casino:

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/28/Hernando/Journey_takes_a_detour.shtml

PVL!

woo!! yeah kent!!

the stache wow thats incredible

o.k. bring in Saito now!

YES!!

Yes!!!!!!

You could see it coming Jeff Kent delivers in Houston AGAIN!

378 - I think someone said earlier he's pitched three games in a row so probably available only if this game goes much longer.

Kent!!! O.O

370 . Ain't that the truth! For years and years.

I wonder what Kent and Ausmus said to each other when Kent crossed home.

Old Man!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAHHH!!!!

That's a HOF worthy HR, Kent!

MVP! MVP! MVP!

Lyons makes a great point, that's a minute maid park dinger.

Nice approach!

wonder what he said to Ausmus.

That was hilarious. I like the Astros announcers actually, but their play by play guy called the home run as if he were calling his grandmother's funeral.

Way to go 'stache!

371. Alex41592
Valverde has pitched three consecutive games so he's not available.

I still think he's old & can't field his position but he can still hit (sometimes...)

391 It looked like Kent was asking Ausmus if they were trying to pitch him high in the zone. Ausmus kinda did the thumbs up (to signify high in the zone) thing and nodded.

395 - Well, hey, it's only fair, since they get plenty of those too.

P V L ! Finally. JK just earned his salary.

You could see that Jeff Kent HR coming from a mile away.

Leaving the rookie lefty out there for that long---bad decision.

All Houston has left is Doug Brocail aside from Valverde.

Dodgers trying to take out yet another Astro.

367 I thought that might happen. Good for the Clippers, assuming he continues to play at that level for 5 years.

Hey, Repko made solid contact!

He's moving on up, to the sky, he's finally got a piece of the pie!

Alright Sammy, time to close this one out so I can finally go to the gym

Please, Sammy, please, don't blow this one. I promise I'll write you every day if you don't.

Okay, maybe not, but... please?

I got slow, slow Internet.

Ausmus, Blum and Bourn.

Walking Ausmus right here should be a fineable offense

412 ...Attorneys at law?

Gack, this ump is so inconsistent.

Sammmy!

only Saito can come back from that, I really thought he was gonna walk 'em.

that was huge

Nice comeback Sammy!

This out will be huger!

We don't lose!

SAMMY!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YA!!!!! I love Kent too!

SAMMY! Great pick by DeWitt! Big win!

nice win.

Brewers still winning 8-5. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

We win again, when hitting multiple homeruns!

Dodgers win! And they win one with the O for once.

We win!

Time to stand down on Russ Martin's cycle alert.

Huge momentum win. Dodgers will make the playoffs.

Okay, on that note, time to make up for lost... time. Work and laundry and all that. Cheers all.

Feel bad for Kershaw, but I'm sure he is happy they won. But Borg and Brox ought to buy him drinks.

Wait, can he drink yet?

Btw, the official scorer decided to award Kershaw the honorary win that all rights should have been his, so there ya go.

428
Well done.

But the proper phraseology is.

Cycle alert canceled in Houston.
Stand down.

Las Vegas Bottom 5th

Nomar Garciaparra strikes out swinging.
Terry Tiffee singles on a soft ground ball to third baseman Matthew Brown. Terry Tiffee advances to 2nd, on throwing error by third baseman Matthew Brown.
Andruw Jones singles on a ground ball to shortstop Brandon Wood.
John Lindsey grounds into double play, shortstop Brandon Wood to second baseman Sean Rodriguez to first baseman Freddy Sandoval. Andruw Jones out at 2nd.

I think Jeff Kent is the best interview on the team. That was a great interview by Lyons and Kent.

431 It seems like whenever Kershaw pitches well, the bullpen implodes.

Hate to bring bad news, but old friend Mota is helping out the Dbacks. Tying run at plate, no outs in the inning.

434- I'm going to have to make some flash cards.

Lincecum-Sanchez-Cain, man, what a three headed monster the Giants have created.

440 I see another couple of 1-0 games this weekend.

433 According to ESPN's box score, the winner was Park.

Jason Kendell playing first base made a terrific unassisted double play to end the threat. 8-6 Brewers Top 9.

436 yea absolutely...well mr. weisman sammy's smile has cured me, I am not in a bad mood after a win as i thought I may be : )

444 - That's the spirit!

438 Guillermo Mota? The Brewers have both members of the Roided Dodger Dynamic Duo of the 2003 bullpen?

441.
I'm pretty sure we face Zito, dude has an ERA on 5.99!

J.R. Towles is being recalled and Quintero is going on the DL with a concussion.

We face Sanchez, Zito and Cain this weekend.

Zito isn't going to finish the season with 20 losses and an era of 6. He's a much better pitcher than that.

447 I guess we should be able to win that one 1-0 then.

I'm glad I took a break, returning to see that we won. Hooray!

Sanchez has started 17 games and has given up 3ER or less in 14 of them, the other 3 starts, 7ER in each.

If Cain is last, it's important to note that Cain is less effective in day games than in night games this year:

Day Games

0-3, 6.11 ERA

Night Games

4-3, 3.60 ERA

---

I do not know WHAT Bochy was doing leaving Cain out there for the 8th inning tonight after 110 pitches! It worked out, but still.

One out to go in AZ, and with enough luck, the Dodgers will go back to 2.5 back of the Dbacks.

They win!

Brewers pull it out, and the Dodger close the gap.

Game over. 2.5 back. Brewers win 8-6.

And I get a commenting cycle!!

Thanks Brewers!

450.
85.2 ip
53BB/50k

He is pretty bad.

Can someone explain how pitchers are awarded wins? Seems like Kershaw deserves a W.

We live in a world of cable & or satellite you really gotta wonder why the people who handle this stuff (t.v. programmers?? I don't know) would get unbiased broadcasters, it's just silly some of these guys.

461

life is just unfair compadre...

442 I was being facetious, or wistful really, in 433 , in case that wasn't clear.

460.
I know we still have two more with the 'Stros,and I shouldn't be looking too far ahead, but I kinda feel this weekend series with the Giants is gonna be important.

461 - In this case, the win goes to whoever was pitching when the Dodgers took the lead for good.

461 When the run is scored that gives the winning team a lead that they will not relinquish at any future point (regardless of whether or not this is the game deciding run) the pitcher who last threw a pitch for that team is credited with the win and the one who gave up that run, the loss.

The exception to this rule is if the critical run is scored in the first five innings with the team's starting pitcher being the 'pitcher of record' at that given time AND that starter fails to pitch five innings in which case the relief pitcher deemed "most effective"(generally either the first reliever or the reliever who pitches the most innings) is granted the win.

Cubies looking for a comeback

Oakland A's choked one away to Garret and the Halos.

Frankie Rodriguez is among the most annoying players in the league to me. He's there with Joba.

Salt Lake Top 6th

Defensive Substitution: Rex Rundgren replaces shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, batting 2nd, playing shortstop.
Defensive Substitution: Wilkin Ruan replaces center fielder Andruw Jones, batting 4th, playing center field.

Example, say the Astros score 1 run in the 2nd then the Dodgers score 3 in the 4th. No one scores through six and both sides take out their starter after 6 (say Oswalt and Park) The Dodgers again fail to score in the seventh and Beimel throws a shutout frame in the bottom of the inning. The Dodgers then score 7 runs in the top of the 8th to take a 10-1 lead. The Astros then score 5 runs off of Wade to make it 10-6. In the ninth, Saito gives up two more but holds on and the Dodgers win 10-8. In this case, look at when the critical run was scored. The intuition to to say this is the ninth run that the Dodgers scored as it provided the margin of victory. However, after scoring their second run, they lead the entire game after then, so the critical run was actually the second run. This was scored in the third inning when Park was the pitcher of record. Since Park did meet the five inning requirement for starting pitchers he gets the win. And since Oswalt was pitching at the time the critical run was scored he gets the loss.

470 Because he's a lights out closer?

Say what you want about K-Rod, but he's an amazing pitcher right now.

474 Totally agreed.

Jose Valverde ranks a close second in excessive gesticulation.

Jones is batting over .600....call him up!!!

475 edited

475. Zak
No, because he's classless and responds to the easiest of saves as if he just saved the world. Sometimes, a quiet celebration is ok too. Being emotional does not mean being arrogant. Let me know if you need me to go on.

475 agreed, k rod is absolutely the most annoying celebrator in the league, I cant wait till his luck runs out and he starts getting hammered

479 Sorry Jon.

480 - I think his elbow goes before his luck does; he's no Todd Jones/Joe Borowski. His stuff is filthy - kinda like Zak's language :-p

Speaking of filthy, I didn't realize the Giants' Brian Wilson could throw 100mph, but he did tonight a few times. He can't quite control it as well when he does throw that hard, but wow. Dodgers should be aware of that this weekend. Hopefully the Giants won't have much occasion to bring in their closer, anyway.

478

Man, I got jobbed by upper management (or maybe it was the players, they probably get to choose were they wanna go) I really felt Furcal & Jones were gonna do there rehab in San Bernardino, oh well. I know Schmidty did his up there.

I work so close by that stadium, rats!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3470209

this is hilarious. The reds offered 5 million AND a major league contract to Inoa.

Any news on who the Dodgers will send down tomorrow, assume it is Faulkenborg?

Even though he gave up that homerun today, I would like to see more of the Borg.

482 Hey, I abbreviated. :)

486 With a 6 man rotation, I would think Faulkenborg stays.

has anyone taken note of arizona catcher chris snyder's rather dreadful injury? poor guy :(

483 - Brandon Morrow doesn't quite throw 100, but he's in the midst of a Gagne-like streak right now. Since May 27th:

13.1 IP, 20 K's, 2 hits, 2 BB's, 0 runs allowed.

One of those walks came tonight, but he struck out the side around it.

So who goes down. Sad to say I think Sweeney stays until Nomar and Jones come back.

490 - I didn't know those could fracture!

478 So Nate, I keep hearing about this Jones guy we have in AAA...is he any good?

494 - His glove is big league, but his bat is strictly AAAA.

The medical literature I'm looking at says that the leading cause of fractures of the ... you know ... those things is "sports injuries and kicks to the groin."

Um... so how 'bout them Dodgers?

You know the pictures of people with Snyder's injury don't really look all that gross.

It's probably because they're ultrasounds.

483

I really feel he probably throws more like 96-98 MPH.

496

I missed something; what's his injury?

500
One of these:
http://tinyurl.com/5nfkbo

Surprisingly, it's SFW.

I feel bad for Snyder. I've heard of the other thing in the region fracturing (though, it's not really a fracture) but not that. Man, that's got to hurt.

I'm beginning to think Kershaw isn't going to get a win this season unless he pitches an interesting game.

Oh, and it looks like Baron Davis is coming back to LA. That's kind of cool.

I gotta say, the fatherly Jeff Kent post-game interview really shows what kind of guy he really is. Who would've thunk that Kent of all people would take a walk to the mound to prod our 20 yr old phenom. Kudos Jeff.

We survived some bad bullpen management tonight. Gritty win, though.

Boy, oh boy. For those of us who thought Torre screwed up on pitcher moves tonight, take a look at Bronx Banter (You Buggin thread) on what they thought of Girardi's moves tonight.

505 I saw a complaint about needing someone to hit in the bottom of the lineup, they should try living with a black hole sometime!

Sweeney is now at .095 BA (6 for 62). If Torre uses him as PH every day from now until the end of the season, and he never gets another hit, he'll be at .042 (6 for 142). I'm sure that would be a record hard to beat.

Do you think even Torre would look for an alternative once Sweeney drops to .050? That would be at 6 for 120, or another 58 games without a hit. If he plays every day, that would arrive at the end of August, just in time for minor league call-ups, so management wouldn't even have to DFA Sweeney! He could just sit on the bench while others pinch hit. Wouldn't that be nice? Sweeney is obviously on some sort of retirement plan for proven veterans, so that sounds like a great solution, no? Never mind the games lost between now and end of August.

This is cool. I wonder if this has anything to do with the reason all violas sound awful.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2438473

506 Living with a black hole really sucks.

Sorry, but this is time the tail end of the bill takes the comedy stage.

BTW, did anyone post that Baron Davis is signing with the Clippers? ;)

Kershaw is apparently Kersed. The first professional win will have to wait for another day.

Jeff Kent, post-game admirer of young players: "Playing with the enthusiasm with our younger kids later in the game, sometimes that's neat," Kent said...."As the game wears on, gets past the ninth, you see some of these guys in here with more intensity," he said with a smile. "Reminds me of the days I used to have that too."

BTW, did anyone post that Baron Davis is signing with the Clippers?

You mean this guy?

Career
FG%: .414
3P%: .325
FT%: .692

2008
FG%: .426
3P%: .330
FT%: .750

I know it's probably already been said, but who got sent down with Kuroda being activated?

Hasn't been said yet, but Troncoso is the only guy that makes sense.

...knowing how we feel about Stults.

So, what's up with LaRoche?

.200/.294/.333/.627

Injuries? Small sample size? Never very good to start with?

516 Some combination of one and two.

517 small sample size

518
That's my hope. It remains to be seen whether he ever recovers completely from his various injury problems.

Course, what will probably happen is Ned will give up on him and give him away for little/nothing, only to have him recover somewhere else and significantly outperform the relatively expensive PVL guy Ned gets to replace him.

Andy has had 34 PA's.

521
Combined with his 115 PAs last year, he's now at

.220/.349/.317/.666

I think it's safe to say that if he doesn't start performing soon, Management will lose whatever confidence they have in him.

andrew jones 4-6 with a hr and sb in AAA :) :) :) :)

hopefully he figured something out.

LaRoche is maybe thinking his best chance to stay with the team once Nomar and Jones returns is as pinch hitter so he is tailoring his game to compete with Sweeney.

522 - Furcal's latest setback means Andy will continue to get some run at the big league level. I'd assumed that he'd go down (or DeWitt, but he still seems to be in good favor with Torre) when Furcal and Nomar came back. Now it looks like Nomar will be at short, with DaRoche continuing to split time at third and Berroa history.

Andy needs to start hitting with some power though, especially if he's getting to face mostly lefties now.

I'm having issues getting game highlights video to play from the Dodgers' new site. Everything else at dodgers.com seems to work fine. Gameday's ok except for its occasional internal weirdness; no video probs anywhere else on the computer.

At times dodgers.com video will work. Mostly not.

When the new Dodger site first came online, there was the option to download Silverlight. I said yes--apparently a bad choice since there were no video problems prior to that.

Even got some kind of error message at the time it was downloaded. If any of the several tech-savvy DTers are out there, any suggested solutions?

Remove Silverlight and try again? Or just remove Silverlight, period? Anyone else having this kind of trouble?

Thx for any ideas.

526 - I have the same issue. You have a mac don't you? I think the solution someone suggested, that I haven't tried yet, is to try uninstalling Silverlight, yeah.

Good luck getting help directly from MLBTV tech support.

--

Btw, Yhency B is starting a rehab assignment, in the Gulf Coast League. If he can't do well there vs 18 yr olds he's in trouble. That's according to Diamond Leung. Also a new piece on Carlos Santana, who I hope makes it to the bigs at least so we can enjoy all the hi-larious music jokes from the zany BBTN crew.

522

But I hope they are willing to give Andy some starting time like DeWitt has had. The platoon doesn't seem to help him

Have to figure Furcal is done for the season, no?

526 Oh wait, do you have problems getting the video to play or problems with the audio on the video? Because it's the latter I have problems with. The audio static issue, which is a known issue for Mac users. Haven't had a problem playing with the visuals though.

NPUT

513

Must there be statistics for everything? :-)

re: LaRoche trade. Right now I'm more concerned about yet ANOTHER PVL trade for a short term SS.

It pains me to say this, but Maza is just fine where he is, otherwise we might as well call up another SS in the system. Is it too early to bring up DeJesus in AA?

529 While I wouldn't count on him, I wouldn't say that yet either. If he actually needs back surgery for his disc, then it would probably take 8-12 weeks to recovery from what I've been told about that kind of surgery so that would, yeah, knock him out for the year. Unless, perhaps he'd be back if the Dodgers make the playoffs! :-)

One step at a time, I guess.

Since Kent came back from his injury he's got an .845 OPS in 110 PA.