Guess I better move mine here too...

Taking my little guy to Autograph Day today.

Any tips on how it works and how to have the best experience with it?

Thanks!

I think I've got more sense when in the throes of insomnia.

I was about to join in the Godfather/Dodgerfather Thoughts, too, but now it's too late. Well, okay, just one. Regarding Jones, I was going to suggest the Dodgers ship him to Central America, say, Panama.

But Panama won't take him. Not for a million, not for ten million.

http://tinyurl.com/5huhfm

You go, Alyssa!

Anyone want to predict our OF today? I think Ethier will start, but will Torre have the brains/guts/whatever to bench Jones, or is Kemp going to be riding the pine with his 13-game hitting streak? Put nothing past this cabal of incompetent geezers.

Could be. Mattingly's only just rejoined the club, is asked to help Jones, make an impression, and asks Joe for a little more time?

Torre has already shown that loyalty can matter more to him than the mundane necessities of winning games. It does make for a little more consistency than Grady Little's ever-changing muddle, but this is getting really, really stale. And stupid.

"I'm sure there was a lot to him," Scully said. "He certainly was not a saint. I'm sure he was a human being.

"But when you get into that major a role, it's like being the President of the United States in a smaller way. There's always people kicking you in the fanny. It's just part of the game. Tell me some beloved owner in baseball. And look at the commissioners. Every commissioner has been machine-gunned."

D4P will be there, I think.

Junior is hit-and-miss, but that is hilarious.

Figures you'd be so mainstream.

Yeah, and that's just the stuff you know about.

You think rent is cheap in San Francisco?

http://tinyurl.com/5fwbte

Somebody needs to introduce Martin Landau to the importance of something called "page views."

No rumors for me. Only the facts, the interviews, the analysis. Check out the rumors. If unproven, forget them. The old-fashioned way, the way I learned about proper journalism more than 50 years ago.

I wonder if Mr. Landau happened to walk to school as a child. And if the path had a sharp incline. And if said path was often covered in frozen precipitation.

I went down to the crossroads, tried to hit a curve.
I went down to the crossroads, tried to hit a curve
Nobody seemed to know me, all of them passed me by.

The scouting director who oversaw most of those disastrous Pirates drafts was Ed Creech, the same guy who wrecked the Dodger farm system before Logan White was hired. I'm amazed he was able to get another job after his tenure with the Dodgers.

Now he works for the Giants. [Rubs hands together with glee.]

Did Creech draft Tim Lincecum?

"In my day we didn't have hair dryers, if you wanted to blow-dry your hair, you had to step outside in the middle of a hurricane! You would get your hair dried but you would also get a sharp piece of wood driven clean through your skull--'Look, I'm a human head kebab!'--that's the way it was and we liked it, we loved it! "

-Grumpy Old Man (Dana Carvey)

Sort of like storming Omaha Beach, except not.

Dick Tidrow

lolz...

http://tinyurl.com/5s395o

Craig Calcaterra had the best quote ever about this article on BBTF, but it can't be repeated here.

But you don't say that and then say "Gimme five bees for a nickel!"

Some people at work call me "Eddie Haskell."

Pierre, LF
Kemp, CF
Martin, C
Kent, 2B
Loney, 1B
Garciaparra, SS
Blake, 3B
Ethier, RF
Kershaw, LHP

Kemp, CF

Martin, C

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B

Nomar, SS

Blake, 3B

Ethier, RF

Kershaw, P

And who gets to see a fictional beast pitch at the stadium today? This Guy

What has two thumbs and doesn't give a crap...?

50 Steven Sondheim? Pope Benedict XVI? Lucy Lawless? Who? Who?

Which the Cardinals won anyway. And got 21 hits.

After the game has been played a few innings how much difference does it make when the pitcher's spot comes up? The Mets could have just given an IBB to make the pitcher's spot come up anyway.

Sometimes, Cohen thinks he is the world's smartest man.

I have not yet ceded that title to him.

We went from having a black hole in the 8 spot for 95% of the season to having the best hitting eight spot in baseball.

The offense is almost always something when facing a mediocre pitcher. What's this Bergmann like?

Tim Brown chimes in on the Blake trade, has the Dodgers looking for a reliever next.

Rotoworld.com has a quote denying the rumor that Penny is rehabbing as a reliever. The Dodgers say he's coming back as a starter.

And wasn't Ethier batting 2nd before his benching two days ago? And why the heck is Kent batting fourth again? He has a OBP of .310! Blake isn't going to see any RBI attempts unless he goes on a furious homerun pace.

Come again?

[repeat 10000000000000000 time]

> Andre Ethier wasn't in the mood to talk about being left out of the lineup for the second day in a row. Though Torre has complimented Ethier for his consistency in recent games, Torre opted for an outfield that included Juan Pierre, Andruw Jones and Matt Kemp.

> "I'm not allowed to have feelings with what goes on around here," Ethier said.

Rule 12 violation...?

Off to see Kershaw today, hopefully he will make the trip worthwhile. Lately I've found many reasons to just stay home and watch the game on TV but I've decided to get off my ass for this one.

On the way back there was a line (at 9:45) and didn't get to board the two waiting shuttles, but a third pulled up 30 seconds after they departed. Ride back to Union Station: 25 minutes. Attendance was around 42,000.

Ethier's too pretty to be a Gamer.

He just wants to compete, man. Gamer!

They have to produce more if we are to win. I am not saying they shouldn't play but I am pointing the finger at them directly. In the roles they are both being asked to perform they are failing miserably.

Ha ha...Sigh.

Am I missing something or do we have no left handed hitting players on the bench today? Of the 13 position players on the active roster, only 3 hit left handed and they're all starting. We don't even have Stultz off the bench anymore.

Martin
Ethier
Kemp
Loney
Nomar
Blake
Kent
Pierre
Kershaw

It's only a 3 today!

However, you can go through them in a different order or skip steps. Your grief may vary.

*A raging Ned Coletti is sheeting at Ethier's comments. "How dare he criticize playing Andruw Jones playing every day! Can't he see that Andruw Jones is being paid $18 million this year, and is our only power threat? He's just been on a little slump is all. Jones is a gamer, he's grinding it out every day, and we're going to see results soon as Jones is going to change the game we play by constantly giving us honest, good at-bats. If Ethier can't see that, then its time to trade the sissy to Oakland for Houston Street."

Why do I play this sport again? May be time to hike up my pants and learn golf.

Mmmmm...Nike Protein Berry Workout...

Is Meloan doing the interesting thing?

Go Dodgers!

Thanks for wasting my time.

You say that Ethier is in the 8 hole because of L/R balance but then you bat Pierre and Kershaw back to back and have Nomar, Blake and Kent hitting together. You're out of balance anyway.

I wonder if any major league mgr these days actually determines his order based on L/R splits against instead of just how they hold the bat.

Can I have my blender back?

It was also interesting how Cleveland scored their run earlier:
"- S. Fasano hit sacrifice fly to right, S. Choo scored"

Just to see Fasano playing and contributing seems like a disruption of the space-time continuum.

May the fictional beast miss many a bat, and slay the mighty baseballers from the District of Columbia.

Thank the Lord above for this lineup.

A little prayer: Dear Lord, Thank you for this lineup. Only next time, could you have Ethier bat second, Kemp fourth, and Kent maybe eighth, if it won't hurt his grit-pride too much?