Broxton debuted with the Dodgers on July 29, 2005, and everyone that was here prior to that has a tenuous future with the club:

Penny (8/3/04): exercise of option still up in the air
Brazoban (8/15/04): likely to be non-tendered; arbitration eligible but out of options
Kent (4/5/05): likely retired
Repko (4/6/05): likely to be non-tendered; arbitration eligible but out of options

Whosetosaybermetrics...

--

(LAT'd)
My obelisk is like Spinal Tap's Stonehenge piece compared to Bob's real Stonehenge-sized obelisk, but I'm working on it.

then...

But looking back at the series now, the Dodgers never had a realistic series advantage again after that single play.

They appeared to have a great shot at tying the series before the Victorino HR in game #4, but I never got that feeling like the team was destined to make the World Series after the Game #2 loss.

When Lowe was cruising with that 2-0 lead, the series seemed very winnable to me. Lowe had such a great history of shutting down teams in the post-season. Everything was going as planned.

Baseball is a funny game.

I'm not under any illusion that the Dodgers didn't benefit from similar breaks.

The game would have been left up to the bullpens, and Philly's pen was definitely superior in the series.

Compare that to the Ryan Howard error on the bunt in Game #4. The Dodgers had every opportunity to put that game away right there but could not.

In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history, an ancient race of people... the Druids. No one knows who they were or what they were doing...

Which reminds me, has Bill Plaschke been fired yet?

Did everyone read the last FJM post about him?

Really, that inning is a lesson in the perils of the bunt. Felipe Alou tried to sacrifice and failed twice, getting himself in an 0-2 hole, and then struck out for the first out of the inning. There's a very real possibility that the Giants win the World Series if they don't try to sacrifice there.

At least we can take comfort in the fact that the phrase "World Champion San Francisco Giants" has never been uttered in truth.

1) The Dodger LF will win league MVP
2) A Dodger pitcher, whose previous team was Milwaukee, will win 17 games and get a game-winning hit against the Giants
3) A Dodger pitcher, in his 2nd year in MLB, will start Game 1 of the World Series

And give up a killer grand slam to a steroid freak!

But I would not call the ending depressing. Very disappointing, but the reality is the team was fortunate to play in a horrible NL West which allowed them to even make the playoffs.

It was definitely a great opportunity lost. The hope is that is won't take another 20 years again to get this close.

He was only a freshman last year, bad decision making goes with the territory doesn't it when you are the only gun in high school and distribution is not something you really need to think about?

Eric Gordon's beautiful, moonball, knee-weakening, once-in-a-generation jump shot. It's just perfect. I love it. I love everything about it. Every time he shoots it, the Clippers crowd goes quiet for a split-second like one of the cheerleaders just pulled up her shirt. Even the spin is gorgeous. I can't say enough about it. I am in love with Eric Gordon's jump shot. I want to marry it. I want to have kids with it. I will go to at least one practice or shootaround this year just to see him hoist 200 of them. And by the way, the kid is going to be great -- he's bigger than I thought, and when he drives to the lane, defenders just bounce off him. He will end up being the third-best guy in that draft

It also didn't help that russell and Blake hit two shots with at least runners on second and thrid that were caught. Even though the series was pretty lopsided in the final score (4-1), there were so many little things that would have changed the entire complexion of the series for the Dodgers. Manny's almost homer, Furcal's error, the shots that were caught in game 4, taking out Kuo. Ugh, just thinking about it gets me upset.

Furcal SS
Martin C
Manny LF
Ethier RF
Kemp CF
Crede 3B
Loney 1B
DeWitt 2B

Age 31, career .306 OPB... no thanks.

May God have mercy on their souls.

Dodger Stadium just gives you the same blue receipt (for GA parking), if you have season tix parking, you should have that stub already.

http://tinyurl.com/5v6vqq

1. No announcement of "starting" lineup.
2. No National Anthem or First pitch.
3. When do they stop selling alcohol at the game?
4. 7th inning stretch?

In other better news, from the we-hate-the-Pats dept., Vince Woolfork may get fined or suspended after all for his cheap shot at Jay Cutler last week. An elbow to the head after an interception, wasn't caught on ESPN but it was caught by NFL Network. Punk.

--
Speaking of rain... It's supposed to rain up here on Halloween, which sucks. (Even though we do need the rain.)

Will there be beer?

http://tinyurl.com/phillybeer

"Today is considered a new event," he said.

So the cutoff would be after seven more innings - which means the brew won't stop flowing unless a handful of extra innings are played.

I try not to think about it too much.

And the spelling is intentional, as Stephen Hawkings once suggested that we live in a P-brane universe.

My favorite Philly fact: Veterans Stadium is the only MLB park ever to have an actual city police precinct located inside it, with a jail and everything. And boy did they need it. I guess the new park is a bit more gentrified. But only a bit.

Although I don't know if the commercial is going to be timed to play simultaneously throughout the U.S.

(I was at both games). (And those two plays were equally crushing).

Among the Type A Free agents:
Doug Brocail, Jason Isringhausen, & Juan Cruz.

Can this be accurate?

Total Games (Games Relieved +2*Games Started)
IP**
Wins+Saves
IP/H
K/BB
ERA

**Innings Pitched are given just 75% of the weight of the other relief categories

SportsNation Jim Callis: It all depends on how much of Ordonez' contract the Tigers would pick up. But honestly, the Dodgers already have more outfielders than they know what to do with, so I don't see them adding Magglio.

For just another catcher, everyone seems to want Martin.

Really, though, that whole list is just somebody's wild guess. The rankings haven't been released yet, and they can't really be simulated since they're calculated using a proprietary Elias formula that isn't made public and which makes no sense to anyone except Steve Hirdt.

Awesome.

Last year the true Elias list came out October 31, three days after the WS ended.

But the Furcal error this year didn't seem so bad right away to me. Lowe had been pitching out of trouble and had not really given up any fly balls the entire game. Those 2 homeruns were a surprise considering how well he was pitching.

The Mariners signed Jeff Nelson in 2001, and the Yankees received picks 23 & 42.

In 2000, the A's signed Mike Magnante (Angels got #20) and the Rangers signed Darren Oliver (Cards got #24).

In 1998, the Astros signed Doug Henry, and the Giants received #19.

7 pitchers used.
6 pinch-hitters/defensive replacements.
Game will end tonight in 2 hours.

The salary arbitration process actually isn't all that contentious, according to people involved in it.

75
The guy in Detroit thinks he cracked the code. We will find out soon enough.

While Blake being a B is bad for the Dodgers it is great for him. Besides if he was an A would anyone sign him? He's to old be signed by any of the protected slot teams and not good enough to warrant losing a 15-30 draft pick.

When is the typical time for team's to make decisions for these options? Is there a deadline for a decision on Brad Penny?

http://tinyurl.com/6lx2r5

"I'm happy the process is over," she said. "This is not a fun process, it's a very tough process but it's there if we need it. Trust me, it's hard."

And now I can see from the link in 106 that this incident has been completely misremembered anyway.

Reading the Gurnick article today seems fine to me. And most people know that Gurnick works for MLB.com, not the Dodgers.

However, Gurnick does work for the Dodgers. His salary is paid by them and 29 other teams. He technically works for a separate corporate entity in order to create an illusion of separation, but make no mistake, he works for the Dodgers and his job description is to create and foster interest in the team. If McCourt wanted Gurnick fired and someone else hired, that's exactly what would happen.

http://tinyurl.com/5eksbf

(Enders will certainly disagree with me; the Eric Alliance is fractured yet again!)

Seeing Roger Clemens and Derek Jeter together on the Longhorns sideline last week certainly tested my Texas fandom. It remains intact, however.

The salary arbitration process actually isn't all that contentious

James has said this several times, that people outside the process invariably get it wrong, that they make unwarranted dramatic assumptions about imaginary acrimony, and that the discussion is mostly about the various ways of determining similarity scores.

On a related topic, Gurnick seems more and more to me to be something of a moron

The Cubs signed LaTroy Hawkins in 2004, and the Twins received picks 25 & 39. {Steven Waldrop RHP, Jay Rainville RHP}

The Mariners signed Jeff Nelson in 2001, and the Yankees received picks 23 & 42. {John-Ford Griffin OF, Jon Skaggs RHP}

In 2000, the A's signed Mike Magnante (Angels got #20) and the Rangers signed Darren Oliver (Cards got #24). {Blake Williams RHP}

In 1998, the Astros signed Doug Henry, and the Giants received #19. {Tony Torcato 3B}

The interesting near miss is 1998. Torcato was more-or-less local, from Woodland, a Sacramento suburb, but the very next pick was from a very nearby north bay town of Vallejo: C. C. Sabathia.

Way too much chaos needs to happen in the Big XII and SEC for USC to end up in Miami.

Most other college oranges are your basic medium shade of bright orange: Syracuse, Illinois, UTEP, Oregon State, etc.

Bingo! Or Missouri can upset whomever wins a 3-way tie between 1-loss Texas/Tech/Oklahoma for the Big XII South.

I also need either Alabama to lose twice or the Georgia/Florida winner to lose again before beating Alabama in the SEC title game.

Or Penn State can lose one of their 3 games, but that ain't happening.

Great info and something to make Giant fans more neurotic than they already are!