By the way, what's the time table on a return from Wilson Alvarez? I know he pitched a minor league assigments the other day. If I remember correctly, his K/9 is not too bad. Certainly better than Schmoll (who I expect to leave before Carlyle upon Alvarez' arrival).

Man, the Cards have a scary lineup. Except for Cedeno, who is scary in a whole different way.

I think Alvarez is coming soon. If he has no bad aftereffects of throwing 60 pitches with Vegas the other night, he's ready.

On the other hand, Carlyle's BABIP is .240, so his numbers aren't inflated by having a lot of hits fall in. He should definitely go down when Alvarez returns in a few days.

I was there and I have a scorebook!

-JD Drew, AKA David Jonathan Drew
-DJ Houlton, AKA Dennis Sean Houlton

The transposition is easy to see in Drew's name. Am I missing a silent J in Houlton's name???

Still have fond memories of Brian Holton and Game 5 of the NLCS in 1988.

I felt like I was stealing money.

So, I get my color for the games from this site. So thanks to all for that. I have been suffering from afar with Tracy's bullpen bunglings and 6 innings of Rick Monday, so reading here softens the blows.

This was in the last thread, but I wanted to lob in my own beach ball story. 8 years ago, I took my future wife to Dodger Stadium for our second date. A dreaded beach ball came our way. I caught it and handed it to the usher (she told me they donate them to charity). After I did it, I was booed as if I were Barry. Someone a few rows back threw a chunk of pretzel, with mustard on it, my way. Intead of me, it hit my brother's wife square in the back of her new leather jacket. Then the guy behind me called me a p---y, and asked me if I wanted to step outside. I told him we already were outside, and that it wasn't worth my time. Anyhow, for two inning the heckling continued. Finally, the usher came down and offered to move us to a new section. We accepted, and were moved from the section behind the ball boy to just behind home plate. So, other than the dry cleaning bill for my sister-in-law's jacket, we made out alright. Still, it was disheartening to see so many people fixated on a 99 cent toy.

Sorry my first post was so long. I will keep it shorter in the future. Keep up the great work.

Some new faces in the lineup (for this year) for Colorado with Dustan Mohr batting 7th and Garret Atkings batting 8th.

Jason Jennings has a career ERA of 3.10 against the Dodgers. Geez. He's not all that good.

I have a bad feeling already.

Unlike,say, the length of the bottom of the first.

It's not as intense as my dislike for Russ Ortiz. But give me time.

That last thread was really wonderful to read, by the way.

url for the jersey . . .
http://tinyurl.com/7b84z

The two teams that had more sacrifices than the Rockies were Houston with 98 and Montreal with 100.

I just don't think it's that rare. I've seen it several times in person. I once saw it twice in one game.

Rare was the ending to this game.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08120LAN1995.htm

But you likely won't be able to figure it out if you don't remember the game.

"rockies suck"

first base is not occupied OR
first base is occupied and there are two outs

And no he doesn't have a thick lower body as he claims, he's just plain fat.

"Left-on-base bug bites bums in behind"

As for that last inning, can I at least take solace in our having made Jennings throw a lot of pitches? I'm trying to see some sort of bright side to dilute my frustration with this team right now.

Now if we can just start hitting this guy as he practically underhands it in....

And have scored just 4 runs.

What the ....?

That position is cursed.

Why I love Vin...

Plenty of Choi at Dodger Stadium!

1. I doubt he's a good enough writer to use sophisticated literary devices like alliteration.

2. Columnists don't write their own headlines anyway.

T-shirt, anyone?

Whatever works...

Last year was Cora, a less effective Izturis, Ventura, Ross, Encrancacion, etc.

And Beltre is having a less than phenomenal year so far this year.

Really? I think Bradley/Gagne are definitely leaders "heart and soul" type leaders, and the new guys (Kent, Valentin, Phillips) are meshing very well together.

Topic for discussion: is it possible for a player to have "heart," but no "soul"? And vice versa.

Extra innings in PETCO.

In my mind, tomorrow's a big game. Want to see Penny come through unscathed.

Williams is even worse than Mark Grace. But Matt Williams is pretty high on my list of annoying baseball players.

I have a long list don't I?

Two AL teams received 18 in a game. And an AA team in 1887 got 19.

The Dodgers won the day they got 17 walks, 11-10 over the Phillies.

The Dodgers lost the day they gave out 17 walks to the Giants. 26-8!

Re: Choi's HR - He put a great swing on the pitch, which wasn't right in the power zone. He powered it out to Left-Center.

Re: Schmoll's pitching - Other than the walk, he did fine. He struck a guy out and then had two seeing-eye groundballs up the middle. His BABIP was ridiculously low, so it's to be expected that hits are going to fall a little more often.

P.S. Cora would have gotten to both of the ground balls and headed over to left field to eject that fan.

If I'm mistaken and we only have 11 pitchers, then nevermind.

In the 1944 game, a Giants wartime player by the name of Phil Weintraub had 11 RBI in the game. He was a 36-year old who hadn't been in the majors since he was 30.

Gotta love power arms. One more in the starting rotation at the trading deadline and this team is set.

Will Sanchez remain on the team all year or is he on that fringe talent level where he might be worth more as a tradeable part?

So, when Gagne and Alvarez come back, we pretty much have to send down Schmoll and Carlyle.

Houlton stays on the roster because he's Rule 5 and has pitched very well.

Tracy won't drop Wunsch, because he's very big on having a situational lefty in the bullpen. As I recall, it was something he complained about often last year when Alvarez moved to the rotation and before they picked up Venafro.

I think they should go down to an 11 man pitching staff as well, but I have no idea who they would drop.

Don't forget that we still have Dessens on the DL. I'm assuming they'll release Erickson to free up a roster slot for Dessens, but what happens if Erickson starts pitching well?

Good problems to have fortunately. The Rockies broadcast showed the Rockies bullpen statistics. Think like the Dodgers, but opposite.

I'm also in Japan. Except you can watch the Dodgers. I actually just finished watching the game. You need to subscribe to SkyPerfecTV, the MLB pack is like 1940yen per month. Get 3 games live per day, with the same games on tape delay in the evening for easy watching. I get the Dodgers on probably 2x a week. Sometimes more or less...

http://tinyurl.com/7bsr7

"Scott Erickson fell to 1-2 after giving up three runs in five innings tonight against the Diamondbacks.
It was just one bad inning that cost him, but everything else was discouraging. Erickson gave up two homers, walked two, hit a batter and struck out none. The Dodgers are going to find a way to replace him at some point."

He hasn't been anything resembling respectable since 98
http://tinyurl.com/b7hdw

186 k/69 bb 251 ip

Maybe Weaver, Sanchez, and Loney (if Choi becomes consistent) for a power arm?

It was a battle of pitching prospects with Edwin Jackson outpitching Jerome Williams.

Jackson's line was 5IP 1R 0ER 3H 2BB 5K 0HR.
William's line was 4IP 6R 5ER 9H 4BB 2K 0HR.

It looks like Cain may end up becoming the Giants new 5th starter. Cain dominated the 51s last night with the following line 7.1IP 0R 0ER 1H 1BB 10K 0HR.

Perez started at 3rd, but was pulled after going 1/1 with a walk. He was also picked off at 1st. Chen went 3/5 with a single, double, and a triple.

Alex, I think it also comes from the philosophy that relievers just aren't worth that much. It's better to build your bullpen with young (cheap) arms than to pay millions for a guy who's only going to pitch 85 innings. Fortunately, the Dodgers have a bunch of pitchers in the minors who could contribute in the bullpen next year, so trading a guy like Sanchez at the All-Star break may make sense. I think you're right that they could get some good value in return.

So, 1st place again tonight for our boys.

And, will somebody please give Hee Seop some meat!

2005
.269 .367 .481

2004 - FLA
.270 .388 .495

Drew and Choi have to step up since it seems MB is scuffling a little, and Valentin is horrendous right now.

A win tommorrow gives the Blue a 15-8 April. Not too shabby.

Without further ado...

----------------------------------------------

TODAY'S FACT OF CHOI, SB'S FAVORITE PLAYER, 2005:

Our hero seems to be playing well. But he has yet to hit a grand slam homerun. Call me crazy, but tonight, I think that will change.

---------------------------------------------

THANK YOU, READERS OF DODGER THOUGHTS, FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING WITH REGARD TO MY COMPUTER BEING HELD CAPTIVE BY MY WANNA-BE FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN WIFE AND MY WANNA-BE LIGHT-SABER WIELDING SON. I'LL TRY NOT TO LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.

Listen, Greenspan is gonna retire next year, so tell her to submit her application now. Those confirmation hearings can be contentious.

There is much Choi in Dodgerville now that the Mighty Hee-Sop has his first grand slam, yes? It's not too late for Hee-Sopmania, I'm telling you. Gubicza on FSN post-game saying that Choi will become a power hitter, but I'm not seeing it. Since he first came over, he seems like a guy who hits line drives real hard, not a fly-ball home run slugger.

By all means question my veracity... I was trying to make a gag. I had no inkling that Choi was going to go grand salami.

Only after re-reading my post did I realize to my horror that it seemed like serious thing. My bad. And all those caps! Ugly stuff...

But how about that Choi, huh? If 4/5 bought him 24 hours, I think a game-winning slam might buy him a pinch-hitting performance tonight!

"He's basically a good line-drive hitter. A player like Choi, once he matures a little bit and gets his rhythm and hits the ball the way he is capable of hitting it, that is going to translate into a lot of doubles. He will be a good, productive hitter. He can get a lot of extra-base hits. He has the ability to hit triples and doubles and if he has that power, he's going to hit home runs anywhere." - Scout Leon Lee, upon signing Hee-Seop Choi.
(Baseball Almanac)

I watched Choi as closely as I could when he first came over, and the one thing I noticed was that when he hit the ball on a line, it was a shot. I can't remember anyone on the Dodgers who could hit line drives that hard on a consistent basis, except for Piazza (who was scary strong in that regard).

I've gone on record here as saying that it would be fun for this city and great for the Dodgers to have a true superstar from Korea or China (hence my constant Hee-Sopmania remarks). Park didn't quite make it and I'm not really predicting that Choi will be that good, but I'd at least like to see him stick around for a while. There's also something charmingly symbolic about him and Bradley doing that funky home-run dance.

In my house its the wife on e-mail and the kids on SIMS. I got so fed up I bit the bullet, called Dell, ordered a laptop, and told them all it was mine mine mine. Now I sit on the couch watch the game and read Dodger Thoughts during the game. What could be better?

As for the fan who interfered last night. I don't care if he made contact. He is an even bigger loser if he tried and didn't interfer becasue he was too lame. If the intent was there and he disrupted the game while the ball was in play or reached out for the player he should be ejected.

Now the really lame part is the Dodger Security that could not locate the guy to throw him out. FSW showed him clear as day. This is the problem: DS security is non-exisitent. There are not enough of them. This is why people who have the guts to pop beach balls get abused. And those security/ushers that are there are too old, too young or too stupid to be effective. Example: go get a beer or food. Stop to watch a play from the concourse but step on the white line behind the seats and the ushers are all over you. Use foul langugae, throw beer, and scream all game and no one cares. Dodgers need to invest in more and better security. People should not have to be afraid of popping a beach ball that should not be there in the first place.

I also sometimes think that Choi might press too much partly because he feels obligated to play national hero, with BK and Park looking so awful as of late--although Park seems to actually be on the rebound now. A young player has enough to worry about, without fretting about questions of national pride, especially when one is playing in a city with such a large Korean population.

WWSH

Anyway, he seems to be more focused lately. And the fans are clearly on his side now, which helps.

He won't be playing tonight, though; Tracy has already said that Saenz will play first. Saenz is batting .400 against lefties, so it makes sense.

Don't kid yourself. The fans are only on his side until his next 2 for 20 streak.