Just the Sunday night show?

Well, its longer than any other DodgerTalk show I can recall.

I had an impression that the Sunday night show was supposed to be a more general sports talk show but during Dodger season, it would be geared towards the Dodgers.

But in terms of the DodgerTalk broadcasts that occur happen each game and the longer broadcast on Sunday nights, I would say its pretty much the same as shows in the past.

I always thought Ross Porter's show were not as open as I would like since Ross generally did not comment much about the players or management of the team (in terms of being critical). But he did have the best trivia. No one has been as outspoken as when Al Downing did the show.

I know that there were some issues during last year's show on KFWB but I really never listened too much.

My only real issue about the Sunday night show is that given the amount of time they have, the show really could get down and discuss the Dodgers in greater detail and have more guests like the author of this site.

Though Bowa isn't bothered by the Dodgers' low home run total, he's baffled by the fact that they're second from the bottom in doubles.

"This is a doubles park," Bowa said of Dodger Stadium.
----
Is he senile? Where does he think he is?

Why isn't Bowa bothered by the Dodgers' low home run total...?

The best guys since Ross, at least. They actually respect numbers and seem like reasonable human beings.

I enjoyed them while out in LA, they were funny and meshed well together, rather Pierreiphilic though. Still a nice change from the guy we get here, the usually mean Skip Caray.

the usually mean Skip Caray

I tend to find Skip decidedly less than average...

6 As annoying as he is during broadcasts, he's a complete jerk taking calls.

The Sunday night show on KABC, which I have listened to since Jon was a guest, has problems like seemingly endless commercials, but the regular hosts are fine.

3 Just the other day on Diamond's blog he specifically stated we were last in HR, 2b, and walks, and cited the injuries to Raffy and Juan. The guy is clueless.

9 I've seen less guys sent to their doom than with Rich Donnelly at least. He's got that going for him.

I must admit, that I never listen to the radio on sunday night, so I've never listened to their show before. Only sports talk I listen to on the radio is on the way to and from work. The quality is pretty poor. vr, Xei

I enjoy listening to Ken Levine and Josh Suchon. When they have 2 hosts that means fewer phone calls from fans who often don't add much insight.

10 True. But if The Windmill and Larry Bowa are the last two third base coaches on earth, I'll still take The Windmill.

OT, but my son's 8 year old All Star team has made it to the Pinto World Series this weekend (part of Pony Baseball). There is a ceremony today at the Reagan Library and Ross Porter and Tommy Lasorda will be there, I'm told. Ross reads DT, right? I'll bring it up if someone can confirm that for me.

We're a small youth league (Toluca) and usually get stomped by the powerhouse So Cal programs. Not this year. And this proud papa just wants to brag a little bit!

7 - Speaking of being a jerk taking calls, Al Downing was the most condescending host ever. Geoff Witcher was similar. Always exasperated at the fans for not having been major league players and yet daring to have an opinion.

I've only heard the show a couple if times this year, but I like it okay and it's great that they have Jon on. He should be a regular host, though

Have not listened to the show, and frankly don't believe that sports talk shows are worth the listening, either. If they have better hosts, I might tune in occasionally.

14 - congratulations.

17 - Thanks! I'll brag more if they keep winning.

14 - Yes, Ross reads or has read DT.

ross porter was best and also gene who used to call in after every game. a martinez had zero insight.

20 - A. Martinez was doing a thankless job. I don't think he was poor at it, it's just the nature of the beast.

I'm still holding out for the return of Fred Wallin.

15 I almost forgot about Witcher. He was absolutely the most arrogant and unfriendly host I've ever heard. Ugh.

SCY-
.228 .296 .401-->78 ops+ 13 HR 49R 36BB 95K 5SB 2CS

The Bison-
.284 .337 .444--> 102 ops+ 9HR 47R 27BB 104K 22SB 6CS

And the Bison is a year younger. Going into the season I thought this was going to be a breakout year for SCY. Looks like he is pretty much doing the exact same thing as last season, but he's running a lot less. I wonder if that's a philosophy, or if he's just not getting opportunity's in his new lineup spot.

24 forgive my ignorance, who is SCY?

I'm surprised that this has not been mentioned here or in the MLB homepages, but Hideo Nomo has announced his retirement. The only link I can find in English is of Daily Yomiuri's newsflash.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/flashnews/

I was already a Dodger fan before his arrival, but he made the mediocre 90's enjoyable for me nonetheless. I hope he enjoys whatever he plans to do next.

24 He's showing better patience at least. His strikeouts are really surprising to me though, I had him as a huge breakout candidate this year.

25 It took me a few minutes to figure it out, too, but it's "short" Chris Young of AZ.

26 - It really is surprising how little mention there is of it here, or disappointing. He had a very, very good career.

It's always revealing when a smart, statistically aware fan calls these baseball shows. The hosts usually deal with such callers in one of two ways.

1. With a humored smirk, as if talking to an overly intelligent boy...but still just a boy.

2. Cut the call VERY short. "Good point Anthony, thanks for calling...ok, Garden Grove you're on with Dibble & Kennedy what's up?"

Notable quotes by Nomo (and one by Yoshii) in Asahi Shimbun (newspaper), translated to English. (I'm not really good at translating. Sorry.) I'm sure a better translation will be available later.

- It is no use to be lukewarm, and I had to draw the line somewhere. I have to tell the fans. I don't think any ballclubs will take me now.

- (Do you have any regrets?) I do not have the ability to perform in front of the fans anymore. I'm sure most ballclubs think the same way.

- (Were you satisfied by returning to the mound in April?) Not at all. There are many ballplayers who say they have no regret when retiring, but I have much regret. My heart says I want to pitch, but this will probably just cause nuisance to the people around me.

- (By Masato Yoshii) Did he really say that? If he did, what we should tell him is 'Congralutations.'.

Okay, I hate the All-Star break.

31
Yeah. What's up with so many teams not playing today...?

And I hate music. So I'm donating my iPod to charity.

32. Bud is trying to push the World Series back to December this year. :)
Seriously though, I wish they'd find some way to shorten the season, so they aren't playing the W.S., in frigid conditions. If they don't want less games, I'd suggest each team play a double header every 10 days and expand rosters by one player on that day (or for the whole season).
vr, Xei

2 new sports books to read:

"How to Retire" by Hideo Nomo
"How Not to Retire" by Brett Favre

34 There is about as much chance of that happening as us trading Pierre and Jones for ARod and Jeter.

36

Heck, I'd take ARod OR Jeter at this point.

Hideo Nomo has always been one of my all time favorite players. I loved his comment you translated about the fans. That's pretty cool. The Dodgers need to bring him back in some capacity. I'm just praying it's not going to be a dual farewell to he and another all time favorite, Takashi Saito.

If Kershaw really does start today, there's no telling who will get called up on Friday. I suppose it could still be him, but Tennessee is pretty far away from Arizona.

35

Simpley put, the Packers want a quarterback who doesn't throw nonsensical airballs to unspecified players in another dimension at critical moments.

39

Torre favorite/old friend Sturtz?

41 I think it will be a player from the 40-man roster. Someone would have to get DFA'd for Sturtze.

Nomo-mania was one of the big steps for me becoming a baseball fan. He deserves more fanfare for his retirement.

42

Plenty of candidates, really.

Is there any reason to not use McDonald?

I echo 11 & 16 . If I'm not in a car I don't have the radio on and I'm rarely in a car. I used to listen to the after game shows if the team won for the ride home but I haven't done that in years.

Watched HBO's When It Was A Game III last night, very interesting to see how empty DS was on nights Koufax pitched. I am sure every night was not like that, but the entire LF PAV empty? Being only 28, I would think people would flock to see him pitch. Then again, offense was not that exciting.

44 Well, it's either cutting loose a young pitcher with bad stats (Miller, Orenduff) or reinstating Sweeney from the DL, then simultaneously giving him a DFA.

I don't see those scenarios happening.

14 wow that is so cool DK, congrats!

45
Rotowire's take on McDonald and Kershaw for fantasy purposes:
McDonald
"He had a great June. In five starts, he posted a .205 BAA and a 39:11 K:BB over 35 innings with three home runs. He has been wrestling with control issues since May. He also has a GO:AO of 0.75, which will not fly in the bigs, as Clayton Kershaw has learned. The time to teach pitchers to keep the ball down is in the minors, not when they are facing live major league pitching. Unless McDonald solves the control problems and gets the ball down, he will not book any quality major league innings. Most major leaguers can pound the high fastball.
Clayton Kershaw (P) LA - AA 7/16/2008
Kershaw struck out five, walked one and gave up two hits over seven innings on Friday for Double-A Jacksonville. He did not give up an earned run. His two starts at Double-A since his demotion are in line with how he pitched before he got called up. He has a couple of issues. First, he does not get a lot of ground balls, so a 0.91 GO:AO at Double-A which yields zero home runs over 56.1 innings is not going to hold in the bigs. He got more grounders with the Dodgers, but he gave up three home runs over 38.2 innings -- not a bad ratio, but in combination with his other problem, walks, it is. He has about a 3:1 K:BB ratio at Double-A. With the Dodgers, it was 33:24. Maybe the walks were from nerves, maybe the Dodgers told him to keep the ball down more, maybe the umps are better in the bigs -- for whatever reason, he was very wild. Finally, he just turned 20 and should probably be pitching at the college level, maybe Double-A, not Triple-A and not the Dodgers. Twenty-year-olds in major league rotations are few and far between, for many of the reasons referenced."

39
Sweeney could be activated from the DL Saturday. I wonder if there's a chance they wait to officially DL Saito until Saturday and just swap him with Sweeney.

Park can already move to the swing role this weekend, and they can wait to call up Kershaw for the start Tuesday, on 4 days rest. At that time, one of Troncoso/Falkenborg/LaRoche/Berroa/Maza could be sent down or waived.

50 I'd still take that over DFAing someone for Sturtze or Jason Johnson.

14
Congratulations, that is a big deal for your son. You should have clued some of in on the championship game, I bet a few of us would have gone to cheer his team on.

52
Me to, just thought I'd put that out there.

30 Thank you - that is much appreciated.

47 From "Time" in 1965: Bavasi must be afraid Koufax will ask for $120,000 next year. The attendance figures show an average of an extra 8,600 fans every time Koufax pitches

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,841997,00.html

56 I see now that the attendance average during those years was not that impressive compared to today.

Thanks, Hideo, for many great Dodger moments.

Most 10+ K Games, LA Dodgers
Koufax - 92 (32% of starts)
Drysdale - 32 (7.5% of starts)
Fernando - 27 (8.4% of starts)
Sutton - 27 (5% of starts)
Nomo - 24 (12.6% of starts)

Only 11 LA Dodgers have made more starts for the club than Nomo:

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/aYum

Only 7 LAD have more strikeouts:

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/Muut

Only Gagne & Koufax have struck out more batters per 9 IP than Nomo (minimum 500 IP):

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/aANn

Nomo is the last Dodger to lead the league in Ks (1995). Well, until Chad does it this year.

Thanks again, Hideo. The Tornado will be missed.

14 49 53 - Thanks, guys! The actual Championship Tournament begins tomorrow in Simi Valley. We play at 4:00.

Go to http://www.simiworldseries.com for directions, if you're interested. We are playing our rivals, the extremely strong Simi team in their own park, so we could use all the support we can get. Wish us luck!

According to MLB.com

NEXT HITTING MILESTONE:
• Jeff Kent needs 1 RBI to reach 1500

Projected date: July 19, 2008

So, Jeff will probably not drive in any runs tomorrow.

47 ,56
I looked at Koufax's 1965 season, and he had 20 home starts that year. Average attendance was 37,571.

On the season, the Dodgers total attendance was 2,553,577. They had 3 doubleheaders, so a total of 78 home dates.

In non-Koufax starts, the Dodger attendance averaged 31,072, so the club averaged about 6,500 more (a 21% increase) with Koufax pitching in 1965.

57 In '62 (first year at new stadium) we drew 2.7 million. '63-'66 we averaged about 2.5 million while the league average was 1.3. In '67, the first non-Koufax year, we dropped to 1.6. Last year we drew 3.8 million while the league average was 2.7.

That's probably more than you wanted to know but it's a bit slow at work today. If you are a glutton for attendance stats go to the link below.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/laatte.shtml

I really enjoyed Ross Porter's Dodger Talk for several reasons, most notably his calm and intelligent demeanor and also the fact that he treated callers with respect. Didn't he later get paired on AM 1150 one of the blowhard jerks who later had his own show on that station?

Anyhow, I had a memorable moment on that show. I had taken to sending Ross emails which he often read over the air. Eventually I sent him an email on a night when he had Kevin Malone as a guest. I am sure all DT readers will understand when I tell you that what I wrote was not complimentary to Malone.

Ross, to his regret, read the email on the air sight unseen (he prefaced it by saying "Now here's an email from one of our GOOD listeners.") As he read my rather unflattering comments about Malone, his pace slowed and you could tell he was really unsure what to do. Finally, after he finished the letter, there was this long pause. Malone then starts yelling into the microphone: "Who is this guy? What the hell does he know?" And so forth. Afterward, I felt really awful for putting Ross in this uncomfortable position with a guy who was, after all, his boss.

If you are reading this, Ross, I, like so many others, really miss you on the air. Your departure was one of the last shoes to drop in the post-O'Malley era.

58 Belcher's stats jump out at me. Had no idea he was even that good.

Back to the lecture at hand, I rarely listen to postgame Dodger talk. I would have to be in the car to do so, and that's usually not the case unless I'm at the game in person.

I did not listen to the Sunday night show -- I didn't even know about it -- until Jon co-hosted. I have listened to the Sunday night show a few times since, and I like it. Levine & Suchon have a good rapport.

Always, remember that unlike today, back then attendance was the actual tickets collected that day for the game. Not that I think too many people back then would not show up if they had a ticket like today.

That's why I still maintain that the most people ever to attend Dodger games was 1982 because those were actual people showing up.

66 Of course. Maybe it was an aberration, but the clips that they had showed a lot of empty seats. Maybe it was cold that night, who knows. Can't blame it on Laker playoffs...

66
They could have perhaps tacked on a few more to their total in 1982 were it not for a HR by a certain chicken-winging 2B.

(I have no idea where the one-game playoff with Atlanta would have been, but I was thinking more of the playoffs)

68
The one-game playoff with Atlanta would have been held at Dodger Stadium on Monday, October 4, 1982, a day after Joe Morgan's HR.

http://tinyurl.com/liljoe

While the Dodgers look to add Mark Sweeney this weekend, the D-Backs have added old friend Tony Clark:

http://tinyurl.com/tonyclark

"Under his contract with the Padres, Clark would have received $500,000 from the Padres if traded, but he waived that clause in order to complete the trade."

No word yet on whom the D-Backs gave up.

They love Tony Clark in Arizona!

I think it's because he's tall.

70 You could see a lineup with Clark at first, Tracy at 3B and Jackson in left.

14 I'd like to add my congratulations as well. Great stuff.

To be honest, I didn't even know the Dodgers had a show on Sunday's. I'll start listening.

Sweeney back this weekend! Anybody know the record for most PA's in a season by a non-pitcher with a BA below .100?

I'd rather have Nomo back than Sweeney. And I'm talking as a pinch hitter.

61 Koufax attendance boost at Dodger Stadium, removing all doubleheaders:

1961: 1,894
1962: -4,231 (Koufax missed half of July, all of August, and most of September, and thus missed the summer/pennant race attendance bump)
1963: 4,735
1964: 7,566
1965: 6,218
1966: 6,213

74 100 by Ed Connelly. Sweeney is up to 12th on the list. He needs three more for 11th.

I found just the perfect gift for any of you who have babies or know someone who does, a delightful bit of Dodgers propaganda to get 'em started young:

http://tinyurl.com/5e66d6

(They have them for a lot of other teams, and colleges, too.)

Sammy Strang hit .094/.385/.094 in 1908.

That is a moneyballer right there.

75 Isn't that the truth.

Listening to Dodger Talk is like reading the Dodgers.com message boards. It's one caller after another talking about how Andy LaRoche is overrated and Andruw Jones is fat and Juan Pierre is such a gutty little gamer and thank god Milton Bradley's not on the team anymore and Matt Kemp's got an attitude problem and the kids need to buy into Joe Torre's philosophy of winning and we should trade Kershaw and the prospects for Chase Utley, Jose Reyes, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, David Wright, Ichiro, or some other completely un-attainable but well-known superstar.

I can't use my cell phone while driving in CA anymore, but DodgerTalk is still there, on the air and causing accidents.

81
Just get a Bluetooth headset so you can get in an accident and look like Uhura at the same

81 Sounds like they need more DT readers calling in for a different perspective. Or do they screen people out if they're too intelligent?

My favorite Dodger Talk call of all time is when some guy managed to plot out the last 110 games of the season and predicted we'd go something like 80-30 the rest of the way. It was five minutes of "well, we've got four with the Mets on July 20th and I think we can take three out of four there. After that we have..."

In spite of the fact that I hate almost every caller, I still listen to Dodger Talk every time I go to a game.

82 Does DL have to wear the mini-dress too?

Trade talk is always fun. Let's trade everyone we don't want for Matt Holliday. Why haven't you done this Ned?

82 , 85 I draw the line at the beehive hairdo.

84
My freshman year in college, I got introduced to a friend of a friend, who was known simply as "The Legend". He had a tape of him prank calling into various radio talk shows, including Dodger Talk with poor Ross Porter.

I asked for a copy of the tape, but The Legend told me he could not give out copies for fear of "the statute of limitations for his crimes." It was one of the most surreal moments of my life.

83 You make it sound like reading DT means you are intelligent. My wife would disagree with you.

88 can u give an example of the prank

89 What mean disagree? Me head hurt.

--

An A's fan friend of mine asked who would "we" give up for Huston Street. He's trying to get us to agree to a trade. I said that is probably something NedCo would consider, but I wouldn't, no offense to Huston Street. (Huston Street and Bobby Crosby in trade sounds good on paper but not in reality. Actually I'm not even sure it sounds good on paper.)

90
Just stupid juvenile stuff, like getting Ross Porter to say this name:

http://tinyurl.com/5dfnj7 (text, but NSFW)

92 how did the screener not figure that out?

did he say his name was jack meoff to the screener and the screener still put him through?

I know Rick Garcia isn't exactly reliable but he said Saito was NOT gonna have TJ surgery.

Is this true?

91 I know the A's love DeJesus so you can probably make that the center point of the deal. I might think about DeJesus, May and Bell if I were the A's, but it would probably take more.

94
How dare you sully the good name of Rick Garcia! :)

I don't think anyone knows yet with Saito. They're in wait and see mode. Official word is he will be reevaluated in 6 weeks, so maybe TJ surgery would be decided upon then.

91
Yeesh, I know Crosby is an upgrade, but no player has frustrated me over the last few years like Bobby Crosby. I don't think I could handle him on the Dodgers.

I bet the Brewers make a run at Street.

I have called DodgerTalk a few times this season, the first time I used my DT name which was misunderstood by the screener when Jon was a co-host.

The other times I have been "Bob" from Pasadena or "Joe" from Alhambra.