Let's go Nats! Let's GO!

Let's go Nats! Let's GO!

I still have faith the Dodgers will score some runs today.

Now back to your regularly scheduled ballgame...

Maybe Don Mattingly can come a little early.

Maybe he can insert himself into the lineup!

(That said, Berroa just singled. Good for him.)

Btw, did I mis-hear or did Vin just mistakenly say Boston Braves in his anecdote about Johnson's rookie year?

---

Woo hoo. Johnson's already hit the wall.

It's like an homage to Kevin Kennedy.

Who is this Baker kid and why is he acting like Mike Piazza against CHP?

...

Craig Wilson.

I can't even join bhsportsguy and Marty as there aren't any empty seats by them.

I think we've about reached our Kuotient.

Bullpen getting warm.

do not go see Meet Dave. No matter if you have kids or not. Just don't. Please take my word for it. The Eddie Murphy who was remotely interesting is long since gone. This Eddie Murphy is just plain creepy.

111 - That's too bad. Not at all surprising, but sad. I'd given up on Murphy ever since I had to see Pluto Nash in a theater and wanted to stab at my own eyes.

The promotion for this involves finding a program signed by Andy LaRoche. If you find it, you take it to an usher and they take you to Joe Torre and you get to point out who Andy LaRoche is.

Of course, that's assuming we get a full inning out of Kuo, as Cantu leads off with a single.

On an unrelated note I believe that Mr. DeWitt is now hitting less than .200 since June (a span of 101 ABs)

127 He even makes stories about grass interesting. Try that, Brennaman!

Consarnit.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the performances of the proven veterans like Kent, Pierre, Penny, Jones, Proctor....

C'mon, batflip, HCK!

Picture George Costanza's interview with Steinbrenner.

"Hire this man!"

An entire team of Generation K-like results.

Or so it is said.

Also, I love the Pac-man sound effects that's played after strike-outs. Is that new?

I knew they would regret leaving Johnson in there. And so they shall!

sigh

Yeah, good notice. What's the deal?

I graduated college. I have to type like a grown-up now.

Now why would you want to go and do a thing like graduate college?

And he growns up and he growns up.

I honestly ask myself that every morning that I wake up.

Kuo slaughters every known mortal. Kuo can't slaughter HanRam. Conclusion...

HanRam is a deity.

It'll feel that way for the first five or so years, then it'll get better. Then you'll miss it again.

Totally not worth it.

I spell pretty, though.

Vin is just referencing one of his favorite 80s groups.

Around the 6th inning or so, a young guy behinds me taps me on my shoulder and asks, "So, what's going on August 16th?"

At first, I was really confused and then he pointed to his phone where he has Dodgerthoughts.com up on his browser. Then I remembered I was wearing my DT shirt.

Then he says, "So are you Jon Weisman?"

Heh.

But I can rake the hell out of the ball. Thank you.

"We find the defendant innocent, your honor."

I miss Hartman.

And Matt Kemp.

That, or a big bribe.

These aren't subtle points he's making.

But he does have an award.

An award in a box.

Where his head should be.

Like the end of Barton Fink.

A head and an award in a box.

This is getting really old. It is like a big, Illuminati size conspiracy against the young players ranging from Ken Rosenthal to Frank McCourt.

Seriously. The whole thing is just making me hate the world because everyone in it is stupid and evil.

Being an election year is helping, too.

"How" is not the issue. forever.

Only 100mph on that last one.

Either that or they're just a bunch of jerks.

I just like to say this from time to time, especially to a group of like-minded individuals who are equally powerless to stop this crap.

Let's all have a little primal scream right now.

...

Thank you

I love that "Veteran Scribe" tidbit.

It's like, "Oh, he's a Vet...of course he is right...unlike that trashcan moving Diamond Leung."

The only two acceptable answers to that are:

1) "Yes"
2) "No, I'm Andrew Shimmin"

Nate, was the guy a lurker, or did he give up his screen name?

I dislike that person.

Meaning, he sees the value in Kemp and all this talk is just trying to light a fire under him?

OTOH re: Colletti, if he killed a trade that Colletti engineered, then again, actions speak louder than words ("We both agreed it was bad" etc).

Colletti is probably gone at the end of the year.

No, he saw the url on the back of my shirt and just went to the site. He said it was his first time. I told him it's the best Dodgers site on the internet!

...wait, what?

Particularly given the nature of baseball organizations, it takes a couple of years to implement a system and see results. It's not like football or basketball where you can build very quickly through the draft and free agency.

Plus, I don't think it speaks well of ownership to go through so many GMs and on-field managers in such a short time. At some point, the chaos buck has to stop with McCourt.

Yes, replace Paul DePodesta with Ned Colletti and Milton Bradley with Matt Kemp. It's how McCourt jumps in his new GMs.

If the Dodgers are hitching their wagon to the youngsters, rightfully, they should put in charge the person that knows the youngsters the best....Logan White.

And I assume Ng or White would get the GM job.

Marlins got Nolasco, Pinto and Sergio Mitre for Pierre.

Unbelievable.

If I end up going, nobody who lives closer than me has an excuse not to be there.

spare your self the grief & don't ever EVER by a windows vista computer, oh man...

having trouble downloading some updates.

You know, since he won't be busy or anything.

Someone who wants to get paid a lot of money to play fantasy baseball, but with real players and such.

Want to pay me off so you can have the record?

Can I get some letters of rec from the DT community?

You should.

Jose Lima
Shawn Green
Daryl Boston (Baked)

nicely said KG16...

I'll give it a shot.

Is anyone planning on going to the game against the Brewers the night of August 16? Or will everyone follow as Nate's posse for a night of debauchery?

I have no doubt it will be fun. It's even to the point now that many of the people there won't be internet strangers, but actual friendly acquaintances.

But I hate traveling. It's lonely.

Can't it be both?

If it's true (which I doubt) that Kemp has a poor attitude and "won't succeed here," and would be a good trade candidate, why is Mr. Excellence in Ownershipping wrecking his trade value by calling attention to it?

It's one thing to be a Steinbrenner, bullying players you're paying millions of dollars. Unpleasant, but the players involved should be able to handle it. But what kind of crappy boss publicly criticizes his minimum-wage workers?

The PVL theory says that PVLs should provide "leadership." That's one of the reasons they're worth so much money, one of the reason they're played ahead of younger guys. Apparently, their leadership skills are lacking, given the team's record until recently. If McCourt had any nads, he'd be calling our PVLs out. Jump down Jeff Kent's throat, or Brad Penny's, or Andruw Jones for gosh sakes. But he won't do that; their agents will yell at him. What a coward.

Ridiculous. McCourt is the Donald Trump of baseball owners. Except no one would buy McCourt's book.

...and there it goes again.

you got my full endorsement compadre!

I need to be a fact checker on these items. Just embarrassing.

http://tinyurl.com/5b96b8

well if they're gonna twist my arm... :o)

http://tinyurl.com/6j2cet

Well, that'll have its charm, too.

My prediction: if LaRoche bats this evening, he hits a HR.

His cat's name is Mittens.

B. I just read Plaschke's column and I'm absolutely sick to my stomach. Are they really thinking about trading away the team co-leader in RBIs, a guy who could still be a 20-20 man this season, because he doesn't "play the game the right way"?

Insane.

Retro ballplayerism.

not to self, stay away from Brock & KG16

/Sigh...

I didn't know you could get sick going to the Valley. I often suspected it, but I didn't know.

And I still have work to do. Feh.

Plaschke would probably love that. Ballplayers do that.

little glimpse into how Torre's mind works. sigh.

Is that like the smoggy version of Dengue Fever?

--

I think Maza was already in on defense so he kind of had to bat, though I guess they could have pinch hit LaRoche for one of those guys and then gone in to play 2nd or 3rd. But at least we know we have him in the arsenal still!

I never did, thank the stars.

what??

I like it!

Dodgers are 4-3.

He must be getting ready for the arrival of the new hitting coach.

You can OBP low as long as you slug .500. Also he's 27 and can even play CF.

"You're the best...around!"

Oh Andy
You came and you swung without raking
And Joe locked you away

Oh Andy

You know, it never occurred to me until you wrote this, but "Highly illogical," which Spock did say, is kinda illogical.

I mean, either something is logical or it's illogical. There aren't level of illogic. That's like saying something is "very unique."

Spock should have known better. I guess Vulcans don't get irony.

But this conversation bores me and everybody else. Just give him 400 AB's to see what he is. That's all anybody wants.

Hopefully, only part one of my prophecy will come true.

I'll come up with a musical reference better.

"The Folk explosion"

Blog long and prosper.

And the Borg is gonna face Hanley Ramirez. That made me let out a few Rule 1 violations.

Alright everyone, cross your fingers, pray, whatever you gotta do right here. Ooh nevermind... woah that sucks.

You know, Ramirez was just unconscious today. Incredible. I would've just walked him there.

Wouldn't you use Wade and Beimel before Faulkenberg?

Wow, he's lousy at bullpen management.

I'm not convinced Torre I'm not convinced.

Well, at least we have the heart of the order coming up.

He wasn't teasing you it almost left the yard.

if it was hit earlier, that ball would have been gone.

467 Maybe I can put that in the script somewhere. It's less dorky than the real fictitious name I'm using.

Welp, night everyone!

Imagine this guy hitting in Fenway.

you guys are probably right... just walk the dude.

I was pleasantly surprised we even scored 3 quick runs, I thought we were gonna loose by a boat load tonight the way Park started off.

>> But that cloud could be lifted by the July 31 trading deadline, which is probably Colletti's last chance to make a good impression. <<

Well, the next three weeks could be very interesting.

also i found it funny that this is pierres note on baseball reference..i feel like a Dt'r may be responsible for this

"Freebasing grit and hustle doesn't obscure the 700+ PA's of 75 OPS+ production Pierre brings. He's a black David Eckstein. Bill Plaschke's unsavory fetish notwithstanding, Juan Pierre is probably the worst regular in baseball."

On the way back to my car, a guy looked at my Team Croatia shirt and said, "So Czech Republic fan?"
"No, it's Croatia."
"What's the difference?"
"They're different countries"
"Why don't the Czechs wear checks?"
"These are the Croatian colors."
"Whatever."

10 Random thoughts:

1. Giving Hanley Ramirez a pitch to hit with two outs, no one on and extra innings is just not phi beta kappa baseball.

2. Marlins have some horses, people. They got some talent.

3. Josh Johnson looked very good except for one bad inning where all the damage was done with two outs. Johnson batted for himself in the top of the sixth, made the last out of the inning... and in came a reliever. How often does that happen?

4. John Baker first major league hit was a homerun. I've never seen that before.

5. The radar gun was great for the ego tonight. Most of the pitches were 95 and up. Lindstrom hit 100mph on three pitches. Take it for what it's worth.

6. Renyel Pinto was penalized a pitch for going to his mouth. Russell Martin's count was changed from 2-0 to 3-0 (or was it from 2-1 to 3-1?). Anywho, I've never seen that, either.

7. Chan Ho Park pitched with a lot of guts tonight. After giving up three runs and getting into more trouble, he really tried to bear down. I'm not saying he did well but he was gutty.

8. Blake DeWitt. How long, Joe Torre? How long?

9. Nomar got the biggest ovation in the game. I've got a Nomar jersey. Both of these facts are kind of sad in a way.

10. With DeWitt, Berroa and later Maza, the Dodgers basically had three automatic outs at the bottom of the order. Throw in public enemy number one Andruw Jones and you've got a lineup that isn't within a loud shout of the Marlins. That's not sad in a way, that's just sad, period.

Fun night with the family. I enjoyed it. I always do.

I'm telling you it all makes me never want to leave the house again.

Maybe that's the key. It's like that experiment where if you told someone a bottle of wine costs $100, they report it tastes better than if you tell them the real price is $10. Pierre is costing a lot of money, so that biases how Dodger management sees him. Kemp comes at a reasonable price, so he gets scrutinized more by management.

We all saw Pierre walking around the dugout and he was limping noticeably. He looks really lost because he's never been hurt. At one point, he got a glove on just to give himself the feel that he was going to get to play.

I don't think he has.

It's going into its 5th printing!

As far as I'm concerned, LaRoche's few, scattered at-bats in the majors are basically a junk stat. The stupidity surrounding this whole situation is stunning and pathetic.

I'm very comfortable starting LaRoche over DeWitt, not least because LaRoche is as of this moment outslugging DeWitt.

Scary thought--there are people in the Dodger organization who are higher on DeWitt than Kemp. Tell me I'm wrong. I don't think I am.

But it's never been harder.

It's been said before and needs to be said again: this organization, as presently constituted, cannot identify it's best players. We aren't talking about 2005 Jim Tracy who out of spite played crap players because of ego and myopia. We're talking about management--Colletti and perhaps Torre--who truly believe that the players who are getting the bulk of the playing time and positive press are the guys who give this team the best chance of winning.

I'm a teacher. I don't like using words like stupid and dumb because it's terribly insulting and frankly, not true as it concerns my students. There are many kinds of intelligence--I know I'm an idiot in the kitchen, for example. But this... well, the Dodgers right now are just doing really... not smart things.

And yes, it's terribly, terribly frustrating.

She wasn't being mean. She was noticing that the Dodgers don't have a lot of pop in their bats.

This year, two. Last year, I think he started four in a row at one point.

I'm out tonight people. Remember the rallying cry: "We're better than the Nationals!" It's kind of like a California teacher (like me!) saying, well, per pupil spending is way down but at least we're not Mississippi.

'Night.

That stuff'll kill your brain cells.

And once it was down on the floor, he used the calendar to deposit his furball on! Easy cleanup!

What a nice cat. I really wasn't going to use the calendar anyway.

Whoops, I "accidentally" knocked to the floor the Times' sports section.

When an older cat of mine did this a lot, I took her to a vet. The vet's reply, "She's a cat. Puking is what they do."

For the most part, the videos are Plaschke speaking against a black background. They have all the production values of a ransom demand.

Were you at that King Khan and the Shrines show last night at The Echo?

http://tinyurl.com/56xgz5

Hey, Mr. Torre: Pierre is the perfect pinch runner. The only thing he does well is steal bases - so keep him on the bench until the point in the game when a stolen base would really make a difference (the Dave Roberts World Series spot). If that point doesn't come up in most games, well, I think you now understand how basically unimportant stolen bases are, and how basically worthless is a guy with only that skill.

I loved (he says sarcastically) the logic Torre used in that interview cited here yesterday. He admits that JP's OBP is low, and basically says that THAT IS WHY he needs to bad leadoff, to give him that extra chance to get on base, whence he can use his one skill.

There you have it people: the reason that you should hit your worst OBP guy first - it gives him more chances to maybe be useful.

547 548 I think I'll wait to hear Gallant's trade ideas.

like he would know.

Good question looks to me like he started 7 straight games when he was called up in May 2007 (must of been an injury to someone, Nomar perhaps) anyway he OPS'ed .925. After that his usage was quite spotty and his OPS plummeted and on June 2nd he was sent back down until the roster expanded in September. In September he started the final 8 games but only OPSed about .600 (I am eyeballing it)

McCourt: "The sky is blue."

Plaschke: "The sky isn't blue at Dodger Stadium, and its because of Matt Kemp. Frank McCourt doesn't want to say that, but that's what he's thinking."

No, it's what Plaschke's thinking.

The point is that while he is being held prisoner he gets hired to produce their rebel training video. It was definitely one of the highest production quality rebel videos ever made.

http://tinyurl.com/6jkq83

Plaschke:

"The sky isn't blue at Dodger Stadium,

It's because of Matt Kemp.

Frank McCourt doesn't want to say that.

But that's what he's thinking."

In other news, when I click the link for Plaschke's column I just get a white screen. That's probably for the best.

Adkins: (L, 5-7), 1.0 IP, 9 R, 8 ER, 7 H, 1 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 5.38 ERA

a) Rot on the bench for the Dodgers;

or

b) Become an above average regular elsewhere

I'm rooting for the latter b/c he deserves an opportunity to succeed.

Oh well, The Snakes have to play in Philly this weekend, hopefully Utley and Howard and company ruin their weekend and we can manage to take at least 2 of the next 3.

As far as trades-it's really hard to get equal value in a trade when you have no leverage and everyone knows you are delaing from a short deck at SS. Why Placshke and these other writers insist on the Dodgers making another panic deal and goad Coletti into another bad deal is beyond me? To feed their own ego as de facto GM's? I pray that Colletti holds firm and doesn't panic but I fear the worst that he will cave and the Dodgers will again regress or go back into neutral spinning their wheels into mediocrity.

2007
4 - May 6-9 (first 4 games of career)
2 - May 11-12 (started 6 of first 7 games)
3 - May 15-18
3 - Sept 2-4
2 - Sept 16-18
8 - Sept 22-30 (final 8 games of season after LA was 8 GB with 8 to play)

2008
2 - June 20-21
2 - June 26-27

www.bbref.com/pi

Since June 1 (37 games)
Dodger SS: .183/.243/.262, 12 R, 7 RBI
Dodger 3B: .191/.272/.244, 10 R, 6 RBI

But he also had a list recently of games where 25 straight batters were retired during the game. It's toward the bottom of the Hudson-Lowe game thread.

In other news, Steve Jobs didn't say that he thought the iPhone 3G was crap, but he didn't have to.

Brendan Fraser didn't say that he thought 3-D was a gimmick that the moviegoing public would see through, but he didn't have to.

Like that?

This is fun.

This despite the fact that (a) this opening isn't very interesting; (b) it's a poor rhetorical trick, even for a man who writes in one-sentence paragraphs; and (c) he's being mocked for this at FJM often and recently.

3b is a black hole of Blake Dewitt.
Sure, LaRoche could be every bit the hole that Dewitt is, but at least give him the chance.

He's only 21 years old.
6'8 220# right hander---> tallest right handed starter in the major leagues.

His minor league numbers are rather underwhelming:

91 IP at AA (Southern League)
56 ks
30 bbs
0 HRs allowed

Dodgers should be able to score some runs tonight since they dont really depend on homers to score anyway. Volstad will throw a "here hit it" game. Maybe the Dodgers luck will be good tonight?

For LaRoche, Berroa & Nomar, it was easy since they have only played their respective positions since June 1, so I was able to use the splits page for each.

For the rest, I used game logs and selected the range of games since June 1. For Hu, he only played SS so he was easy. For the rest, I went back and got rid of all the non-positional PA game by game.

Maza was the hardest since he has played all over and was essentially a game-by-game tallying affair.

Seems his upside is that of a very tall Derek Lowe.

A pitcher dependent on infield defense to suck up ground balls and turn DPs may have trouble with Hanley/Uggla behind him.

Dodgers are 18-19 since June 1, 20-26 since May 23.

They have scored some runs so the record is probably bad luck, but still.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/DGeE

DeWitt: .179/.241/.233 in 79 PA
LaRoche: .179/.289/.359 in 45 PA

589 That makes me feel a little better.

I hope it isn't the norm for Torre (1st year managing a new team & all...) if he keeps it up, I feel many DT'ers will be "sad Pandas"

Son,let me introducec you to the 1960's.