But he won't be able to see around my top hat.

Statuary: Frank White?

I think the Cardinals lead the majors in statues. Musial, Gibson, Schoendienst, Slaughter, and Jack Buck all have statues. There could be more.

The Reds have several at their new park also.

The Gene Autry statue in Anaheim always seems like something of an afterthought.

Or..you know...A statue of the fans.

I usually side with Greg on LaRoche/DeWitt, but the issue is at times a white whale for him.

I call shotgun!

After Dreifort, I didn't think I could love again. I've been hurt before.

I remembered it as a Winter 06 debate, but fair enough. You agreed with me...deal with it.

For me, there was no going back after the bat flip. I wonder if he got my flowers?

AP Summer Institute all next week though. In Long Beach.

The end of June was a harsh mistress. I took it out on Blake DeWitt, naturally.

At first read I thought that comment had something to do with fertility drugs.

It would be a lot easier if I had to rely on George Washington's personal courier relay my correspondence.

I can't go creating personal vendettas willy-nilly.

Start the seventh with one, based on matchups, let him try for two innings, or pass the baton in the 8th if he gets into too much trouble.

They can trade off. One monster from each side.

He'll always be house money to me.

Those chips can be made to look rather nice. Circus Circus had pink ones.

I'm still waiting on Brad Penny to come off the bump holding his elbow again.

Btw, I don't think the Kuo Wars series was William Shatner's best effort.

I have a soft spot for Kuo because of the way he went out after his scintillating debut. I figured he was done ala Kiki Jones and then he came back. And boom he was gone again. I can still remember the little smile I got when I was perusing the minor league clubs back in 2005 and saw that he was trying another comeback.

You are right, we are playing with house money but he's packing a full house at the moment.

Good thing that's not Pedroza's name, then. You can still go on hating Jamie McCourt, though.

In Detroit they have a Willie Horton statue. In Cincinnati they have a Joe Nuxhall statue. In L.A. you can throw four no-hitters and singlehandedly win two World Series, and all you get is a spot in the pavilion next to Tommy Lasorda.

It'll be like St Louis, and someone will have to watch after Bob.

It was just an offhand, cheeseball comment he made to us when we met him last year. I never had the impression that this was something he was actually working on.

It would be hilarious if he assigned a project manager to this. I still want to know what a statue of the fans will look like.

How will we human fans get into the stadium if it's occupied by 38,000 statue fans?

Lame.

How many teams have put up a statue of a player who never played for them? The only ones I can think of are Babe Ruth in Baltimore and Ty Cobb in Atlanta. I could see Pittsburgh putting up a Josh Gibson statue or K.C. putting up a Satchel Paige statue, though.

There's also part of the stadium that has a quote from Kluszewski along the lines of "Have you ever walked into a dark room where you didn't know where all the furniture was and try not to trip. That's what hitting a baseball is like."

53 - I think it'd mainly be expansion teams that replaced teams that moved that would have such statues. I could totally see the Mets putting up statues of Jackie and Ott.

Then I had to figure out whether to call myself and imbecile or moron. Tough call.

Half-wit was also a possibility.

http://reds.enquirer.com/2003/03/27/klu_600x474.jpg

The Gibson statue looks like it would dust you off.

My alltime favorite ballpark statue was a Buddha made into the image of slugger Alex Cabrera that used to be outside the Seibu Dome in Tokorazawa, Japan.

Cabrera has switched teams so I don't know what happened to the statue.

Frank Howard. Roberto Clemente. Hodges at the new Mets park, maybe?

Cy Young: 511 wins, 749 CG, 7354.2 IP

I know it was a different era, and some don't put much weight in those category of stats, but really, wow.

The food was ... not good.

He's deeply annoying. His reign was flawed. He's got some of the worst decisions in team history in his jacket. But he won, pretty consistently, and generally with something less than the best talent in the league.

Its the thighs.

More rumormongering

A Philadelphia scout attended Friday's game between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants but reportedly got up and left as soon as Dodgers pitcher Derek Lowe was lifted after five innings, a clear sign the Phillies are interested in the veteran right-hander.

Lowe is in the final season of a four-year, $36million contract, and the Dodgers conceivably could move him before the July 31 trading deadline. But the Dodgers' primary need, as stated last week by general manager Ned Colletti, is an everyday shortstop, and the Phillies clearly aren't going to part with reigning NL Most Valuable Player Jimmy Rollins, who is signed through 2010.

I don't see us trading Lowe with Penny ailing and Schmidt not fully recovered.

Their system isn't very appealing; especially the pitchers.

Actually, if this silliness prevents trading Kemp, I can live with it.

I'd trade Lowe in a heartbeat. LA has the pitching.

So true.

Funny how it seems.....Always in time, but never in line for dreams.

NL West champs:

LA: 46.5%
AZ: 46.0%

Playoffs:

LA: 47.3%
AZ: 46.8%

DeWitt .343
LaRoche .708

OIney says the reason we're out for CC is that other teams have no idea who the Dodgers have in charge of decisions. He asked if it's Ned, McCourt, White, the scouts... and it's the reason we can't get deals done.

He also blasted Colletti for being very vague about which young players are available, making it impossible for other teams to even try completing a dea.

Phillips says Colletti leaves teams hanging like Sabean... Will make them feel like a deal is a day away and practically blow them off looking to make other deals with those players and nothing gets done.

Just interesting view points on all this I thought i'd share... This is from the Baseball Show on ESPN Radio today.

I only post this because, IIRC, we were led to believe that (1) Depo was responsible for this kinda stuff, and (2) it would change when we hired The Great Communicator.

But those of us who are... we're still eligible for the promotion, right?

According to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the Los Angeles Dodgers are seriously interested in Pittsburgh Pirates' shortstop Jack Wilson, but their pursuit will be put on hold while they restructure their offer for the infielder.

"Before the road trip the guy at the top of the order had been gettting on at a 29% clip with 6 extra base hits in over 200 ABs, since the trip he has been getting on at 41% and has 3 extra base hits in only 25 ABs.....The guy in the middle who had been OPS'ing under .700 all year since the roadie is in the 1.200 range. And thats not even getting to the recent consistent play out of our 2 hole hitter who for some reason has found his groove to the tune of a 1.356 OPS since the trip began. So yeah they are finally listening and as I told them what matters most is the name on the front of the jersey not the back...."

At least they fared better than they probably would've had I gone. Or I guess if I'd gone it would've been to Saturday's loss.

I understand what you're saying, but in Ned's case, I feel like the longer he waits the more desperate he'll become, and the more likely he'll be to say, "Fine, I'll throw in Kershaw with Kemp and LaRoche. Just give me your singles-hitting shortstop, already!"

limited no-trade clause 2007-09, allowing (Jack) Wilson to block deals to 6 clubs each season

Does this mean that there are 6 particular clubs that have already been identified that Wilson can block, or does it mean that he has the power to block trades up to 6 unspecified teams in a given season?

If the former, can we find out which 6 teams have been identified?

i figured it was too good to be true.

i'd much rather have wilson and have him hit 8th.

I'm sure he would be very amenable to playing in L.A. or Anaheim or San Diego. Not that the latter two teams need him.

Wilson is over 5 feet tall.

2005: 158
2006: 142
2007: 135
2008: 38

Seems to be a pattern there. Has he been getting hurt?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBGlt7hCaRQ

They want the players that have already had some success in the majors. The problem remains, if you deal one of those guys to fill a hole, you don't get any better.

So even though, Ned and to some extent, McCourt, put out those vague pronouncements over the last few days, the reality remains, they cannot afford to deal anyone who is playing or pitching for the Dodgers on a regular basis.

However, despite what some think here, teams are not interested in anyone on the Vegas team, Scott Elbert is still recovering from his injury, DeJesus doesn't have the sexy offensive tools to make him a prime trade target.

So really if a deal is going to be made it is going to involve one of the two 3B on the club and this is where I believe the biggest debate internally involves LaRoche and DeWitt and who will be the third baseman of the future.

I am sure that if you polled the field staff, they would pick DeWitt, if you polled the development staff, they would pick LaRoche and in the end both sides would rather not deal either one right now.

But if Andre represents what the players are thinking, it is probably a good thing.

"On their way off the field, Kent, who at times has been a vocal critic of the Dodgers' young, unproven and sometimes-cocky stable of promising young talent, and Kemp, perhaps the poster child for that brash bunch of youngsters, exchanged a high five so forceful that their hands must have tingled for several seconds afterward."

Almost every day, I see a car jump its place in line. Now, I'm not talking about going the opposite direction of the car that has the right of way, because ultimately that does more good than harm. I'm saying that, for example, the car that's 90 degrees from me decides to jump in front of me, even though I've clearly been waiting longer. Frequently on other occasions, a car will try to piggy-back on the car in front of it even though that cuts me off when I'm supposed to have the right of way. I'm not sure where drivers get the idea that stop signs are meant for two cars at a time when others are waiting, but it's a regular occurrence here.

I don't know if I'm explaining this well, but it's become infuriating to me. Although I realize it doesn't do me any good to get aggravated about it, I'm still wondering if I'm insane to get upset about it, or if I can at least feel justified in my mini-road rage.

We saw Nomar go warning track twice yesterday!

Great post BH, well said. Who would you choose right now based on everything you know and feel. (if you had to)

I like Kruk and Kuip overall but sometimes they just space out completely.

FOR the Dodgers that is.... I have very little hope Ned is capable of making smart deals. There's isn't much data out there that's favorable.

Baseball is a game where no one generally hits the same day to day, week to week and month to month, you just hope that enough are on to win more than lose.

I'll post some pics. Is there a Dodger Thoughts flickr group or anything?

Kevin: What do you hear about Ivan De Jesus, Jr., his plate discipline is impressive but I wonder how that will translate as he advances. Thanks as always.

Kevin Goldstein: I think he's one of the better sleepers in the minors. I do think the walks will translate on a decent level because he's also a dangerous hitter. Very little power, but he laces line drives all over the field and makes good contact.

Is there anyone who was there last summer who doesn't wish, looking back, that he could have overcome the politeness incumbent upon invited guests and spoken truth to what passes for power? Or at least expostulated with a "Pshaw"?

In terms of what we'd likely give up, I agree with some of the names that Canuck gave out: Meloan, Orenduff, & May.

Meloan is clearly behind Kershaw & McDonald, so losing him would not be a major blow.

Orenduff probably has minimal value; I see him as the third player involved (assuming a three player package).

May is intriguing, largely because Carlos Santana is taking over the world! Santana could be our #2 prospect by the end of the year. He's that good.

I wouldn't trade DeJesus, Elbert, Santana, or McDonald. I would consider Miller, Castillo, or a lower-level arm.

I mean no one blinks when sports talk hosts go on and on about management and yet when they interview them, none of their attacks come out. Why is that, well, one, they want to contiune their access and two, they probably don't feel that combative about anyway but it makes "good radio."

As an invited guest to meet Frank McCourt, I don't think it was my place to start asking him questions about how he decides to run the team and even if I did, what kind of answers would I expect him to give.

Billingsley, Lowe, Kershaw, Penny*, Kuroda.

* If Penny is still out, put Park there.

Game 1: 0 IP , 6 runs, 5 ER
Game 2: 4.1 IP, 7 runs, 5 ER

I would completely support the idea of building a statue of Dodger fans outside McCourt's bank.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/dodgerthoughts/