But I have a baby, so instead, I'm going to bed.

Merry Chadmas to all, and to all a good night!

Chad was dealing.

I know, the Giants' line-up leaves something to be desired, but hey they rocked Kuroda on Monday and I don't think many teams would've done much against him today.

Fun way to end it, too.

The Castillo hit in the 9th looked like it could've been a home run, but fortunately Mike Krukow only whined about it briefly (after about 100 references to last night's weird left field play).

But that was just fantastic. It's only too bad Chad can't face the Dbacks in this big series coming up.

Marlins get Manny Ramirez
Red Sox get Jason Bay
Pirates get Jeremy Hermida

I dont like this deal for the Pirates. They have to get something better for Bay than just Hermida.

{throw slightly sarcastic confetti}

But it is great to finally break that barrier. Seems ages ago they were last here. Now let's stay there, boys.

Stupid Pirates.

I agree. They should be getting Hermida and another player to make that a fair deal - especially given what they'd supposedly been demanding.

By the way, There's a John Mellencamp concert going on at the SB bowl a mile from me. I can hear the next song.

What's it called again? "I fought the .... something and the something... always wins"

Then he says it again.

>> Marlins get Manny Ramirez, one prospect (Red Sox), and cash (likely covering Ramirez's remaining salary)

Pirates get Jeremy Hermida and three prospects (two Marlins, one Red Sox)

Red Sox get Jason Bay and John Grabow

There is still potential for this to fall apart over the prospects, but things appear closer now than ever before. <<

--

One more time for good measure... Yay Chad!

And they're going to have two Ramirezes! Do they get to keep the same last name or add an initial like "A. Ramirez" and "M. Ramirez". Which is the best solution.

368 Think Jones gets another start?

I'm expecting Pierre back tomorrow with Jones back again Friday against Randy Johnson.

Remember, this is the guy with the 10,000:1 odds to win an oscar!

Since Brad Penny's last start, June 14 in Detroit, here are the numbers for the Dodgers starters:

39 starts
5.89 IP/start
18-10 (team is 23-16)
3.21 ERA

You send the runner if you want to optimize your chance to breakup the shutout, hold him for the best chance towin.

Brett Favre practiced this morning at his local high school.

Wow, if Manny ends u a Marlin, that team is going to have an incredible lineup, power wise.

I missed him before you did.

CC, Chad, and Clayton.

The Killer C's.

That is wicked scary.

http://tinyurl.com/693trg (post 118)

Chad Billingsley will go 17-9 with an ERA of 2.88. There, I said it. And we'll fall in love with him like a girl in a flowing white gown bounding across a springtime meadow

Current: 11-9, 3.05 ERA.

Fine by me, though.

2009 - 5 mil
2010 - 6 mil
2011 - 8 mil
2012 - 9 mil
2013 - 10 mil (option)
2014 - 11 mil (option)

4 year, $28 million guaranteed, is this a reasonable deal for either side? How about Russell Martin, would a similar contract be reasonable?

I personally don't think Loney and Ethier need to be locked up until we see more power, but maybe a contract with Kemp will make him happy enough to allow trash cans near his locker.

Isn't it because he's a two month rental? Ramirez said he doesn't want the options picked up if he's traded, I've read.

Can anyone suggest something to do with two boys between landing at Burbank airport in the afternoon and Dodger Stadium Gates opening?

Late lunch relatively close to the airport or the stadium? The park around the area? Griffith park?

I'm praying for Grabow to be part of the deal so that there's on less guy for my man Tyler Yates to compete with for saves when Pittsburgh actually wins.

signing bonus - $1m
2009 - $500k
2010 - $4m
2011 - $7m
2012 - $10m
2013 - $13m option ($1.5m buyout)

Total - 4 years, $24m (potential for 5/35.5)

Interesting how the Marlins sucked in 07 with Miggy, did nothing to change their team position players in 2008 and yet if they add Manny are scary good. Adding Josh Johnson to the rotation will probably have more of an effect then replacing Hermida with Manny.

But yeah the cupboard's pretty bare when it comes to ML ready young guys. Only Schierholtz seems to have much to offer. (Lewis can hit pretty well, but should be a DH somewhere.) Velez's main point of praise seems to be that he can run very fast. Etc.

Since the end of April (18 starts, including tonight) Chad's WHIP is much lower, at 1.161. He's also 11-5 with a 2.44 ERA during that span.

Is that the correct format for an analogy?

No way Jose

The conversations between the Dodgers and Padres about future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux have hit a roadblock, and it's unclear whether the two sides will continue talks on Thursday. The Dodgers have mild interest in Maddux, who essentially has boxed in San Diego with his insistence that he can be dealt only to a West Coast team; the rival Dodgers are the only team on the coast with a need for a starter. The two sides are far apart in agreeing what compensation is appropriate for the pitcher.

If Maddux is not dealt before the deadline, the Dodgers could try to place a waiver claim on the pitcher in August, and once again, the Padres would be left with little leverage.

Low WHIP is only part of the equation for a low (theoretical) ERA, I think its mitigated by Chad's ability to depress XBH. I'd like to know where his .350 SLG against ranks in the NL.

Salami, easy mix -- FANTASTIC.

Pierre joins rare class of base thieves

>> By taking second in the bottom of the seventh without a throw from Giants catcher Bengie Molina, the Dodgers outfielder became the fourth player in Major League Baseball history to steal at least 100 bases with three different teams. <<

http://tinyurl.com/5jrfcc

http://adage.com/songsforsoap/post?article_id=129804

http://www.philippes.com/

Saturday morning is the perfect time to get brunch (i.e. Dim Sum)

The trade deadline is like the anti-Christmas Eve. Don't want to wake up to find coal in our Dodger blue stockings.

Awesome. It's like the nickname is our baby.

Now, to work on Evie Sands and Phil Ochs (at least in today's day and age on the latter)

Also like the "List of Demands" one.

http://tinyurl.com/6jmgk7

Players are arbitration eligible after 3 full seasons, but can also qualify with 2+ years service time (a 4th year of arb) if they are in the top 17% in service time among 2-3 year players. (Super Twos)

Martin (2 yrs, 150 days after this year) & Ethier (2 yes, 153 days) are in the second boat.

In general, players need to have at least 2 years and 127 or more days service time to qualify as Super Twos.

I kinda think of Ochs like Joni Mitchell; it's hard to imagine either's music sold for advertising.

http://sportsblogs.latimes.com/sports_baseball_dodgers/2008/07/post-11.html

I think Ochs was born at the same hospital I was.

If somebody put Ochs into commercials his music might be brought back to public attention; I suspect not too many people in their 20s-30s know it at all.

{On the last play of the game:}
>>Third-base coach Tim Flannery waved Castillo around and blamed himself, confessing he thought too much about averting another shutout and not enough about winning.

"You play the game by the score," Flannery said. "Tonight, after 14 years, I became a fan instead of a third-base coach for one minute. It was flat-out ... stupid.">Then again, the Dodgers need a shortstop and the Giants have one available in Omar Vizquel, a notion that might have been discussed.<<

and then this from the story's author Henry Schulman, on seeing Sabean and Colletti chat before the game. It's just ludicrous.

Then again, the Dodgers need a shortstop and the Giants have one available in Omar Vizquel, a notion that might have been discussed.

Still, I think it's just the writer talking to himself and has no basis in reality.

Btw, don't know if this was posted earlier but didn't see it -- Andy LaRoche went 3 for 4 for Vegas tonight in OKC, including a double. Started a double play, too. DeWitt played 2nd and had a hit and a run, as did Hu.

Pitcher Greg Maddux Thursday night packed a glove for Dodger Stadium in anticipation that the Padres – who are eager to shed more than $3 million of his salary – might trade him to Los Angeles Thursday.

"I'm bringing this glove," Maddux said while pulling a black glove onto his left hand. "Do the Dodgers wear blue spikes?"

After the game, which decided the series for Arizona, Maddux received hugs from a few teammates in the event that trade talks result in him being sent to the Dodgers.

Maddux called it a win-win, whether the Padres trade him or not.

"I like it here," he said. "I like Dodger Stadium. I really do."

A Dodgers source said the Dodgers "really want" Maddux and will try to get a deal done. The Padres are motivated to shed the remaining part of his $10 million salary.

Maddux will be at Universal Studios Thursday and noted that it's a short trip from there to Dodger Stadium, where the Dodgers will play Thursday night.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/news/2008/jul/30/padres-baek-rattled-arizona/

121 - Close call, maybe even since they have Mitch Jones at 1st and LA has Loney. :-)

The cynical part of me fears that leverage is a concept Ned doesn't grasp, however. He'll give in.

But you knew that.

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2008/07/deefense_deefen_1.php

Funny that it seems to take a commercial (Nick Drake, Vashti, others I'm probably forgetting) to get some of these people out there. There are worse ways, I suppose.

I dunno if Ochs' music could get a foothold, though. It's message material, and outside of Neil Young and the Dixie Chicks, who's selling that?

132. Not what he said. I don't want Greene for lots of reasons--not the least of which is he looks too much like a Weaver brother.

http://tinyurl.com/yugq7j

I'm awake. A sense of dread keeps me awake. I don't think anything is going to happen but I cringe when I think about what might happen. Why, lord, why does this team have such an affect on me? Or is it effect? I can't remember...

I'm going to walk around the room, listen to music and pretend that my favorite announcer on the planet will have nothing to talk about tomorrow except the battle between the top two teams in the NL West. Here's hoping...

"Los Angeles pitcher Chad Billingsley's up-and-down season continues. Billingsley dominated for the second straight in a complete-game shutout against the Giants."

?

I'm drunk but I even know thats ridiculuosly retarded.

DRINKS IN HONOR OF HIS ROYAL THIGHNESS GO CHAD GO!!!

Or maybe Bill's been on a bender.

Within every riddle lies its own answer, and within every problem lies its own solution.

It's true: we don't.

(Hey Mom - Bring me down another breakfast burrito!)

Menu
Sea Harbor in Rosemead, on Rosemead just north of the 10 freeway (an old Farrell's).
Elite in Monterrey Park on Atlantic.
Mission 261 in San Gabriel on Mission.
Yum Cha Cafe on Broadway in Chinatown. Only place for dim sum in Chinatown in my opinion.

Cart
888 Seafood on Valley in Rosemead
New Capital Seafood on Valley in San Gabriel

Now if you want, IMO, the best dumplings and steamed buns in the region, go to Noodle House on Garvey in Monterrey Park. They make them fresh to order. Get the shrimp and pumpkin dumplings and the double-mushroom buns. They also make a killer beef tendon noodle soup.

I also second the sandwich recommendations of Marios, Phillipes and East Side Deli.

Maddux would be insurance against a Kuroda crash or a Bad Penny.

How about Mario Alvarez for Maddux? Saves them cash and Alvarez might develop. They have nothing to lose but some payroll. Alvarez is already on our 40 man roster so we don't need to drop anyone.

Except that Maddux (away from Petco) is worse than a crashed Kuroda.

--

I still don't quite buy that the Dodgers were willing to trade Matt Kemp for Manny as much as the Sox were asking about him. We don't know what's what with that rumor, but from everything I've heard the Dodgers haven't exactly been shopping Kemp around as much as he's the guy other teams tirelessly (or tiresomely) keep asking about. Whatever, we're almost there people, almost through the other side! Just hold tight.

Sounds like the Maddux talks may have stalled, too.

>>"He would love to go back in Green Bay," Cook said, in comments broadcast by ESPNEWS. "I mean, that's why he started working out. But right now, it looks like he'll be the quarterback at Oak Grove High School." Favre worked out with the school's football team on Wednesday before the meeting.<<

We'll be right back.

All I could think about was the Dodgers and who they might trade. Yes, I would like the trade deadline to pass so I can stop typing "I" and go out and do something--I hear we have a beach nearby?

Seriously, 1pm can't come soon enough. I think we should have a countdown or something and if nothing happens, we ceremoniously toss our Dodger caps to the sky.

"We are probably not going to make any deals," general manager Josh Byrnes said Wednesday night.

If you mean last night's play at the plate, no, but they would've had two runners on (with two outs), and they might have had to remove Bills then. Giants likely still would've lost but it made it easier on the Dodgers.