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"Dodger Thoughts, like TiVo, is one of those things you can completely do without until you start using it."
- Fanerman
SI.com
NL West Preview
Evaluating Defense
Colletti and Depo
World Baseball Classic
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Slow Starts
Eric Gagne
Groundball Pitchers
Dodger Prospects
Albert Pujols
Humbled Angels
You Be the Manager
Eric Gagne II
Unreliable Relievers
Revived Angels
It's Okay To Sell
Dodger Turnaround
Andre Ethier
Padres-Dodgers Showdown
NL Final Weekend
Mets-Dodgers NLDS
Postseason ratings
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Writing on Improv Shows
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Guest Actors
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2006 Emmys Nominees*
*Comedy Series
*Comedy Director
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*Comedy Actor
*Comedy Supporting Actor
Blue's Clues
Lizzy Caplan
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CMT: Giants
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Office Online
2007 Screenplay Noms
Friday Night Lights
Robert Benton
ABC Fridays
Rookie Actors
Global Casting
2007 Pilot Casting
Sublime Slime
Also ...
A Season in Savannah (Stanford Magazine)
Five Questions: Los Angeles Dodgers (2005) (Hardball Times)
Rick Monday (Baseball Analysts)
Baseball's Odd Couple (Baseball Prospectus)
Five Questions: Los Angeles Dodgers (2006) (Hardball Times)
Five Questions: Los Angeles Dodgers (2007) (Hardball Times)
Dodger home record: 50-35 (.588)
When Jon attended: 9-5 (.643)
When Jon didn't: 41-30 (.577)
Dodgers at home: 795-635 (.556)
Jon attended: 302-238 (.559)*
Jon didn't: 498-404 (.552)
* includes road games attended
Current Roster with Estimated 2009 Salaries
(updated November 14)
Most figures are estimates (some are wild estimates) but will be updated as information comes in. Corrections welcome.
More contract details here.
Starting Pitchers (5)
$10,000,000 Hiroki Kuroda
*$475,000 Chad Billingsley
*$415,000 Clayton Kershaw
*$405,000 Eric Stults
*$400,000 James McDonald
*Total: $11,695,000
Bullpen (7)
*$2,500,000 Takashi Saito
*$1,300,000 Scott Proctor
*$1,500,000 Jonathan Broxton
*$425,000 Hong-Chih Kuo
*$420,000 Cory Wade
*$410,000 Ramon Troncoso
*$400,000 Scott Elbert
Total: $6,955,000
Also on 40-man roster
Mario Alvarez
Yhency Brazoban
Greg Miller
Justin Orenduff
Starting Lineup (8)
$17,100,000 Andruw Jones
*$3,000,000 Russell Martin
*$2,500,000 Andre Ethier
*$600,000 Matt Kemp
*$600,000 James Loney
*$500,000 Angel Berroa
*$410,000 Blake DeWitt
*$400,000 Tony Abreu
Total: $25,110,000
Bench (5)
$10,000,000 Juan Pierre
*$600,000 Jason Repko
*$410,000 Delwyn Young
*$400,000 Danny Ardoin
*$400,000 Chin-Lung Hu
Total: $11,810,000
Note: Team can buy out Ozuna's 2009 option for $200,000
Also on 40-man roster
A.J. Ellis
Lucas May
Xavier Paul
Disabled List
$12,000,000 Jason Schmidt
Also Paying ...
$2,000,000 Brad Penny (buyout of $9,000,000 option)
$50,000 Gary Bennett (buyout of $900,000 option)
Note: Kansas City is responsible for $500,000 buyout of Angel Berroa's $5,500,000 option for 2009.
Working total: *$68,020,000
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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Baseball Toaster runs on some experimental software called Fairpole. It's still under development.
For more information, please visit the Fairpole blog, or read the FAQ.
Russell Martin shouted at Hiroki Kuroda to throw to first base on the one-out, fourth-inning comebacker with a runner on third and another runner having broken for second, but Kuroda didn't hear him, Ken Gurnick notes at MLB.com. Unfortunately, as the replays showed, Martin didn't point to first base.
If only Dodger fans were tamer.
"I yelled, 'One, one, one,'" said catcher Russell Martin, instructing Kuroda to throw to first base. "With the crowd, it's hard to communicate. If he doesn't hear the defenders yell, 'Going,' he's taught to turn around and fire [to second base]. The pitcher usually sees a runner breaking, unless it's a late break and that's what happened."
Kuroda threw to second, where John Bowker had already rounded the base. Everyone was safe, and the bases were loaded. After that, despite a strikeout of the sub-.200-hitting Omar Vizquel (who had singled and scored in the previous inning), the roof fell in:
It was a Murphy's Law inning, and yet the Dodgers still almost came back and won. In a game that saw struggling hitters Mark Sweeney and Andruw Jones each get pinch-hit RBIs, that saw Omar Vizquel flail at a grounder Jeff Kent-style, they cut the deficit to one. And then, Kent hit a fly ball to the deepest part of the ballfield, but it just wouldn't go out. And that was that.
* * *
The print edition of the Times sports section today had no advertising. That's the first time I've ever noticed that happening.
He has a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee.
Sounds like a serious injury, especially with a guy like Nomar.
I was at the game and haven't seen any of the replays, was Either's trap a catch? His body language indicated to me that he thought he made a catch.
Also, was that Torre's 1st ejection as a Dodger? It was really lackluster. Seemed to be just for show. Not that I need a Lou Pinella type outburst, but Torre seemed to have to really work at getting thrown out. Someone should teach him the magic words to get tossed; maybe save him some time.
I saw about 5 replays of Ethier's would-be catch, and I still can't tell whether or not he caught it. I think part of the outfielder's job is to sell that catch even if you know you didn't catch it, and Ethier seemed to do a good job of that.
Is FSN doing something at the National Sports Grill in Torrance, or did I dream that?
Last season, 11 different Dodger pitchers started.
I wouldn't say we pounded Correia. Those errors by Castillo and Vizquel got our rally kick started. Take out those plays, and he proabably has a quality start. The middle of our order went like 2-16 or something.
I wonder if Kuroda is hurt or just having a run of bad luck, but he is getting hit much more than usual for him.
But I also wonder if it's not just another jab through the press from John Henry.
Maybe it's Ned's hands that are tied from trading anyone of consequence.
10 for 16 with a walk.
However, all are singles.
Pierre
Martin
Ethier
Kemp
Loney
Blake
Kent
Berroa
>>From Dan Graziano of the Newark Star-Ledger:
"The Dodgers continue to look everywhere for a shortstop, and tons of names have come up in connection with their search. They don't seem likely to land the Pirates' Jack Wilson, but they're scouring other organizations for options, having touched base with Toronto about John McDonald, the Yankees about Alberto Gonzales, the Twins about Adam Everett and even the Rangers about Michael Young, though it's unclear whether or why Young would be available."
Young is new to the discussion. The 31 year-old shortstop is hitting .298/.345/.421 in 469 plate appearances this year. His five-year, $80MM extension was signed in March of '07 but doesn't kick in until next year. Even if the Rangers would listen on Young, could the Dodgers take on such a contract?<<
Because Kent is a beteran who deserves respect, and his beteran presence is needed in the cleanup spot.
And I'm not even trying to be funny. It's just the way it is.
omg...my totally lame owner took my money away...anywayz i still heart wilson LOL u want ALR? txt me back. NC
Kent has never batted lower than 5th in his 3½ years as a Dodger, and hasn't even batted 5th since 2006.
And Hu could outhit McDonald and Everett with both eyes tied behind his back.
So he'd fit right in.
I don't think it's too much to ask for your GM be able to tell who's good and who isn't without having to acquire them first.
Never mind.
Or, maybe he'd be cheaper to acquire now!
Blake was shouting at him from the dugout though, and used the magic word of "fertilizer" (cleaned up by Vin Scully), which was easy to see on replay. Crossing the curse word threshold will get you ejected almost every time.
Also made it sound like the injury was self-inflicted.
I'm a UCSB alum too, but I have my limits.
http://tinyurl.com/5v2rl4 (SFW)
First of all, why might that be?
Second, that doesn't bode well for a guy who really needs HRs to bolster his OPS.
I'd post the Catherine Helmond picture from Brazil, but people who haven't seen it probably wouldn't like that very much.
Doesn't sound like what we'd want from a "cleanup hitter"...
What are those predictions based on...?
Kent's prOPS (I found it on Hardball Times!) is .806 (.297/.346/.460), which would give Kent roughly a 107 OPS+ right now and would make my bet with ToyCannon winnable (I said Kent would have a 110 OPS+ this year).
Nomar: .953
Martin: .858
LaRoche: .840
Blake (with Cleveland): .834
Ethier: .827
Kent: .806
Kemp: .766
Loney: .764
Pierre: .720
DeWitt: .719
Berroa: .678
Jones: .609
How do I point something out without violating Rule 1?
Try to think like Lew Alcindor when the NCAA banned the slam dunk. Develop the hook shot of language, if you will.
You mean fb, gb, ld?
If so, the obvious concern with such an approach is that as a player loses power, each given type of batted ball will presumably be less likely to result in a hit. Flyballs will be caught instead of being doubles and HRs, line drives won't be moving as fast and will thus be easier to snare, and groundballs will be less likely to make it past fielders into the outfield.
Thus, it's entirely reasonable that two players (one young and strong, one old and weak) could have the exact same batted ball data, but have vastly different results.
A Google image search is a frightening thing.
Unlucky: Adam Dunn, Freddy Sanchez, Jeff Kent, Khalil Greene, Ryan Howard, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Francouer, Todd Helton, Ken Griffey, Joey Votto
Lucky: Lance Berkman, Fred Lewis, Matt Holliday, Ryan Braun, James Loney, Dan Uggla, Conor Jackson, Xavier Nady, Aaron Rowand, J.J. Hardy
The lucky list is actually much less extreme than the unlucky one. Only four players are exceeding their real OPS by more than .055.
I also wonder about defensive shifts. Do the unlucky guys typically hit to one part of the field, while the lucky guys spray the ball?
But I have more important things to be working on...
Andre: Yes I did.
Ump: Oh, OK. I'll change the call.
Apparently, that wasn't enough restraint for first base umpire Greg Gibson's liking, as he took it upon himself to run Blake. The third baseman burst out of the dugout to exchange words with Gibson (who, it turns out, drop kicked him once in the minors). Joe Torre followed to take up his player's case and in the end, both found themselves watching the final frame on television.
http://sportsblogs.latimes.com/sports_baseball_dodgers/2008/07/post-8.html#more
"Delwyn Young, one of the most talkative and funniest guys on the team, will be chatting with all of you today at 2 p.m. PT. As some of you know, during the last web chat with Matt Kemp, DY was in the room and cracking jokes the whole time, so someone asked if he would chat the next time around...voila."
http://insidethedodgers.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/07/the_man_can_talk.html
The bar has been raised, unfortunately
I don't mean to pick on you, fanerman, but I think its pointless to root against Sweeney in the hopes that he would be benched or released. That simply won't happen; Sweeney is here until the end of the year, so why not root for him to do well?
However, if you were rooting for him to finish under .100 for purely historical reasons, I'm all for that. :)
However, if you were rooting for him to finish under .100 for purely historical reasons, I'm all for that.
I won't speak for fanerman, but I am!
I also don't believe that Sweeney has cost the team very much in terms of wins anyway, being a pinch-hitter and all, so I'm not terribly bitter.
That's cool. You're allowed, since you have a quote on the sidebar and all! :)
Or say the tubes! Tubes!
Will the gentleman yield the floor?
Maybe the umps huddle and reconsider? Maybe another ump saw it as a clean catch? Why not try?
Curious if MLB employs same strategy as NBA - mailing video proof of blown calls to umps. Just as kind of an FYI to them.
Rob Neyer: I think he has an operation, and eventually comes back as the highest-paid LOOGY ever.
I've heard this LOOGY term here too, please explain.
Lefty
One
Out
Guy
If you were really Ted Stevens, you would have just yelled back at me,
"NO! I WON'T!"
http://tinyurl.com/639aeg
If you don't think I'm spending part of today figuring out whether or not Casey Blake will be a Type A, you're crazy.
I found this link via Nick Piecoro, the informative D-Backs beat writer for the Arizona Republic. He reported that the D-Backs expect Hudson and Lyon to be Type A and Juan Cruz to be Type B this offseason.