Some great info on our pitcher tonight.
http://www.jacksonvillesuns.com/games/052705112433.shtml

Are we missing Paul Quantrill?

Our Hawaiian posters will bemoan the fact that the Giants traded Jerome Williams (along with David Aardsma) today to the Cubs for LaTroy "Screaming Line Drive" Hawkins.

(The latter nickname borrowed from Jim Caple, I believe.)

Re: #1 No, we are not.

Neither are the Red Sox. They hit everything he threw apparently

Not that I expect it today, but the Dodgers should have a game like the Red Sox are having today in about a week or so.

They haven't had one since the Dodgers were fortunate enough to face Paul Wilson in Cincinnati.

Giants go up 1-0 on the Padres in the first.

The Red Sox have a mere 26 hits through 8 innings.

And 2 walks!

Jerome to the friendly confines? Well, that means our local sports guys will show pictures of the ivy rather than McCovey Cove when they're giving us updates on the young man.

RE: Thompson article

I don't get it...is this article of Thompson or Dreifort? Although, it seems like he's not really a AA pitcher since his career was set back with those injuries.

Red Sox club record is 28 hits. They just got their 27th, and the 15 runs so far is the most they've ever scored against the Yanks.

The person who "thought" up Scooter on the Fox broadcast needs to be knee-capped.

I love the home-run line in the Red Sox game:

HR: Renteria (3, 5th inning off Quantrill, 3 on, 1 out), Nixon (7, 5th inning off Quantrill, 2 on, 1 out), Payton (3, 7th inning off Quantrill, 1 on, 0 out).

Perhaps Foulke will be able to hold on to a 16-run lead.

#10 I totally agree. Scooter delenda est.

#12, I dunno. Foulke has really, really been awful. Like, Erickson awful.

I believe Scooter was originally thought up for Dodger Stadium. On Fan Appreciation Day in 1998 (9/27/1998), there was a Scooter-like animated character who popped up on DiamondVision. He was booed each time he appeared.

I don't know if he was named Scooter, but I think that Fox is using the same voice actor.

Scooter makes me all nostalgic for Peter Puck.

Bring back Peter Puck! I want more Ronnie Schell!

You know, if the Padres only had players named Gibson and Ludwig, they could start a band...

One of the Fox broadcasters just said the Giants bullpen was "greased up and ready to go".

Random Dodger game callback

May 28, 1901

Coming off a National League pennant the year before, Brooklyn stumbled out of the gate in 1901 and were able to balance their record at 13-13 with a come from behind 8-7 win over the Pittsburg (no h at the time) Pirates at Washington Park.

Brooklyn spotted the Pirates a 5-0 before rallying for five runs in the fifth and then added single runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth and survived an error by shortstop Bill Dahlen that allowed the Pirates to close the gap to 8-7, but pitcher Bill Donovan, who had replaced ineffective starter Frank Kitson in the fifth, was able to get the last out.

The 1901 Brooklyn squad was definitely star-studded. It was managed by Hall of Famer Ned Hanlon. Other Hall of Famers on the squad were outfielder Willie Keeler and first baseman Joe Kelley. Catcher Deacon McGuire, who would play his last game when he was 48, was a relatively young 37 in 1901 and in his sixteenth season in the majors. The Dodgers big hitting star that year was 22-year old Jimmy Sheckard, who batted .354 and hit 11 home runs and 19 triples and led the NL in slugging at .534, totals that Sheckard would never again reach in a 17-year career. 35-year old second baseman Tom Daly led the NL in doubles with 38.

Brooklyn had a good August and September to finish with a 79-57 record, but it was only good for third place, 9 ½ games behind first place Pittsburg. 1901 started a stretch when the Pirates, Cubs, and Giants won all the NL pennants until 1914. The National League was dividing into Haves and Have Nots.

And of course, one of the biggest changes in baseball in 1901 was the establishment of a second major league to compete with the National League. That of course was the American League, which declared itself to be a major league in 1901. The American League was a big hit at the box office and featured some great offensive stars, especially Philadelphia's Nap Lajoie who batted .426 with 14 HRs and 126 RBI, which would have been a Triple Crown if anyone had officially kept track of RBI at the time. Lajoie and others had their batting averages helped out by the fact that the American League did not adopt the National League's new foul strike rule. Starting in 1901, National League hitters would be charged a strike for their first two foul balls (except for bunts). The American League did not charge a strike on foul balls until 1903.

One of the managers in the new American League was John McGraw, who managed the new Baltimore Orioles team. McGraw would change jobs in 1902, an event that would be part of the Dodgers' reason for residence in the second division for many years.

Thanks to the Washington Post, BaseballReference.com and Retrosheet

#14, I remember being at that game. I emailed the Dodgers afterwards about it and got a response from someone in marketing asking why we were booing. I mention this only to contrast how responsive even the Fox ownership was compared to the McCourts. I also wonder if anyone would boo today if the McCourts tried a little animated mascot, or for that matter, a real mascot. We've been so numbed by change -- and the standard of behavior at the Stadium has so declined -- that I doubt that there would be much of a reaction to anything short of the Dodgers wearing hot pants and adding beer logos to their jerseys. As if the latter is not in the plans for the next few years, alas...

Did anyone hear the incognito Dodger employee call Ross Porter yesterday and complain about what the McCourts have done to the morale among the Dodger workforce? Imagine being nostalgic for Fox, but apparently that's what it's like among those who work at the Stadium behind the scenes...

I e-mailed the Dodgers after the early appearance of Scooter to tell them that I thought the character could be cute if used judiciously, pregame stuff, promos and such.

I didn't get a response. Those marketing people didn't want me showing them up!

Doesn't Fox have a Sat. morning baseball-for-kids show? That's where Scooter belongs. Unless they would let Steve write the scripts. Imagine Scooter explaining the Grabowski Principle.

"Baseball for Kids"? Isn't that why the Dodgers have Steve Lyons around?

5-3 SD Bottom 9, Giants 2 on 2 out. . .

Did anyone seriously think Michael Tucker would have taken ball four?

Michael Tucker strikes out. SD wins. Hoffman didn't look too good

Bob,
How was Star Wars? Two thumbs up? I've heard its the best of 1-3.

I would say Star Wars 3 was the best of the prequels, but that's mainly because Jar Jar Binks doesn't say anything.

Very cool action scenes, but in some sense, the drama is blunted because you know how the story has to end. Don't expect anyone from that film to get nominated for an acting Oscar.

Except for the little kids in the theater who were wondering what was going to happen in the "next one".

Not that I'm crying for the Giants but I do not see the wisdom of the Williams/Aarsmada for Hawkins trade. Jerome always made me nervous when he pitched against the Dodgers. He throws hard as any young pitcher. Hawkins by contrast is a mess. I know the Giants need a closer but they just signed Binetez. Can't believe they traded away the future for this season. Don't they know that with Bonds gone and Schmit not right this season is over for them.

Bob, Any chance you were getting your car washed today at about 1:00 because that is exactly what some guy i started takling to said.

I get my car washed about twice a year. And last Tuesday was one of those two days.

So, it likely wasn't me.

I did learn that my car is really blue! I always thought it was gray.

I do a little better than twice a year but not much. FOr me its when I run out of winshield fluid and have no other way of cleaning the window. Then I get it washed.

When Star Wars was about the good guys fighting the bad guys, it was good; fun. The last three have been like a public service announcement in political awareness. Episode III is the best of the bunch, but that's like being the best Police Academy movie. Which, of course, was Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow.

Derek Thompson is a lefty?

Really? Shows how much I paid attention during spring training.

And since a lefty is starting does that mean Shawn Green takes the night off?

Aw, rats. It's not on the tube out here. Instead I get college baseball and softball.

Sorry, tonight's game is on KCOP. Or for those who didn't grow up in L.A., UPN 13.

In my youth, it was KCOP, a Chris Craft Station. That was back in the day when those stations ran nothing but "Get Smart" and "Gilligan's Island" and heavily edited movies to fit into weird time slots.

And we have lineups:
Izturis
Werth
Bradley
Kent
Drew
Perez
Choi
Phillips
Thompson

vs

Counsell
Clayton
Gonzalez
Glaus
Clark
Green
Terrero
Snyder
Vazquez

I used to work for Copley Newspapers and I had always heard that KCOP was originally owned by Copley, before Chris Craft. Hence the COP in the call letters. But I can't verify that.

Going to the bottom of the sixth at Dodger Stadium:
Chatsworth 1, El Camino Real 2

ECR is the "home" team.

LA City High School baseball championship.

Is Chatsworth still #1 in the nation?

Bob,
Where are you getting info on the HS Championship game? Is it on the radio?

The Daily News is updating it slowly on its website.

It's 5-1 ECR going to the 7th.

No, Chatsworth is not #1, they lost three times this year, twice (and likely three times) to ECR and once to Hart.

Hart is where I went to high school. Played football there.

"KCOP a Chris Craft Station" That's Great. I had forgotten all about that. I think Cal Worthington must of had a piece of the action too. Speaking of good old LA TV anyone whateve happened to Bob McAllaster, Mr. Wonderama.

I wonder what the over/under will be for the AA kid.

And Channel 11 was a Metromedia station...like KMET, the Mighty Met, who who-ya'd it's way into history...

I also think the L.A. Times had a piece of channel 11 in the fifties.

KMET was grat for a long time, but does anyone remember KWST?

K-WEST? I remember that. But does anyone remember KPPPC before everyone moved over to KMET?

Subtract one 'P' please

I had always heard that KCOP was originally owned by Copley, before Chris Craft. Hence the COP in the call letters. But I can't verify that.

I did a Google search on KCOP Copely and found this:
http://www.seeing-stars.com/TVstudios/KCOP.shtml

Channel 13 first began broadcasting over 50 years ago, in 1948, as KLAC-TV. In 1953, it was sold to Copley Press, who renamed it KCOP. Just a month later, Copley sold the station to a group of investors that included Bing Crosby. Crosby's group owned the station until 1960, when it was sold to Chris Craft Industries.

Thanks Blue. They owned it a whole month. LOL

That's a funny thing, Marty...for years I had assumed what I remembered as KPPC was actually KPCC. Long, long sets (entire Allman Bros. sides, for instance), and no commercials. The epitome of layed back disc jockeys.

In tribute to legendary KPPC-FM 106.7 in Pasadena, California, the first FM Rock Underground Radio Station in Southern California originally located in the basement of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church and broadcasting hippie rebop from November 1, 1967 until the entire KPPC-FM airstaff was fired on October 24, 1971.

Man, the great B. Mitchell Reed. Saw him open an Emerson, Lake, And Palmer show with "Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends..."

And Shadoe Stevens!

Thankfully, no Humble Harv.

Nice job in the girlfriend area for our pitcher...

Gee, dad, how 'bout a camera with a zoom lens?

I would say this is way OT, but there doesn't really appear to be much of a T yet.

Anyhow, I find this pretty amusing:

http://tinyurl.com/763hn

I don't know from Indy, let alone NASCAR, and I have no clue who Robby ("not Jeff") Gordon is, but isn't this sort of whining against various codes of honor/manliness/whatever?

Kid throws hard.

Sam, so can we expect the equivalent of Eddie Gaedel at Indy next year if Patrick wins?

That's pretty whiny for a big tough NASCAR driver, but then Vijay Singh got all huffy about Annika Sorenstam playing the same tournament too.

Sexism lives. Regrettably.

60- He probably just wants to sit on her lap.

60- It's worse than that: it's simply an excuse for a loser redneck to comment about how "them wimmins can't be in our sport! grunt grunt".

El Camino Real held on for a 5-1 win.

Chatsworth's string of city titles ends at 2. The only school to win 3 straight is Fremont from 1946-48.

anyone watching on TV? on gameday, looked like quite an at bat Glaus had... 6 foul balls, 10 total pitches. Many more ABs like that and our young little pitcher won't be around much longer...

The DBacks work well when they get productive outs!

29 pitches later . . . welcome to the majors.

Wow, 28 pitches. He'd better stop falling behind hitters.

this is much more efficient . . .

I doubt Thompson is slated for more than 5 innings unless he was throwing a no-hitter. Then we turn it over to the crack bullpen!

Into the pool, HSC.

Personally, I'm hoping for an unbelievably rare quad-Grabowski from the Snakes tonight.

A sweet, sweet productive out for Thompson's first AB.

Bob, I just got home from the LA City High School Championship game. Well played game. Eric Pettis pitched a great game for El Camino, only giving up 2 hits, a home run in the first, and a double in the seventh. The Chatsworth centerfielder made a ridiculous play on a drive hit to the Auto Club sign. Full extension lay out and made the catch. Unbelievable.

Interesting tidbit about Dodger Stadium today. parking was free! The food was cheaper. And Tommy Lasorda stuck around and gave a speach after the game.

Phillips for Ishii is turning into the trade of the year in baseball.

I ask the wisdom of Dodger Thoughts: Is it OK for a pitcher to sacrifice given that there is very little chance he can get a hit anyway? Puts two runners into scoring position ...

Productive outs: they're like little chocolates dipped in . . . more chocolate.

That was not a productive out.

Tommy Lasorda today at the game:

"I told my wife I had to go to Dodger Stadium to make a speech at the game. She said to me 'Tommy, you love baseball and the Dodgers more than me.' I replied 'Yeah but I love you more than I love Basketball and Football.'"

Tommy was great today.

Agree that Phillips trade was smart at the time and looks good in hindsight, but I'm happy to see that Kaz is hanging in there in NY: 6 2/3 today, 5 hit, 1 run, 3 BB, 3 K v. FL.

I think it was OK for Thompson to bat, but the most hardcore anti-sacrifice people say that the only time it is a worthwhile play is if you have a very poor hitter (think Bob Buhl if you're old enough, if younger think Doug Davis, if confused think of a polar bear) and a very good pitcher (Roger Clemens, e.g.) on the hill.

Otherwise, you're better off hoping that the bad hitter can get lucky than giving up an out. You're more likely to have the bad hitter strike out than hit into a DP.

Having a pitcher in his ML debut sac bunt against a very good pitcher to move runners to 2nd and 3rd base...always a good move.

Dodger pitchers named Derek can't hold runners very well.

Every bag has been stolen off the pitcher. Very few have really taken one of Phillips.

What happened with the bunt single by Terrero?

Not to be a joke here, but that is definitely one time we can say that "Beltre would have mad that play."

Perez couldn't barehand the ball.

Two lead off walks come around to score.

The emotional rollercoaster that is Gameday:

I see "In play, run scoring play." Crap.

We wait. Then, I see that no one's on base, thinking, "Oh God, a three-run bomb." Double crap.

Then, Gameday gives me the news that Green scored on a double play. Half a crap.

jeongers...

I hear you... that is my life since I was exiled to the East coast and can no longer see any games on TV or in person. Though, it does create a sort of mystery around the game...

I think I may put Shawn Green on my list now.

Like 89 said. This game, in particular, has been gameday exhausting. First inning had the Glaus 10 pitch Olney with two on.

The kid is as shaky as you would expect, especially with the lead off walks, but he looks better than Erickon so far to me. He gets the top of the lineup this inning. Let's see who makes the adjustments.

Counsell is already on my list.

He's under the category of players who were bad on the Dodgers but good for other teams.

Yeah, where's your Messiah now, Counsell?

Two of Thompson's three SO's have been in the dirt.

Dear KCOP/UPN:

Fewer shots of the parents. More shots of the Girlfriend.

Thanks.

What did SG do to get on the list?

I think Vin said that's his sister, OZ.

SG made a diving catch to put away Bradley.

He made a diving catch in foul territory to retire Bradley. And he actually drew a walk and stole a base in this game.

He is showing skills that he did not display in Los Angeles.

The woman to the left (our left) of the parents is his girlfriend, the one to the right is his sister.

OK, I still haven't seen her. Was wondering what you guys wew getting so excited about :)

The girlfriend is OUTSTANDING

Nice inning by the kid. Let's hope he goes 5+ and we get some runs.

101.

But he still makes a good play and looks completely catatonic. No emotion at all.A little nod or smile might be nice.

Alright, scoreless inning. What's the kid's stuff like? Someone mentions he throws hard. What are his other pitches, and what's he hitting on the gun?

Looks like a fastball in the low 90s and a slow curve in the low 70s. I'd like to see a third pitch.

Aflac Trivia, What Dodger has the most career grand slams?

I know Ventura must have had the most of any Dodger player, but probably not the most with the Dodgers.

I think the BOB's gun is juiced. Wasn't Yhency up over 100 last night?

Jeeze, this Perez kid is just on fire. Wow.

Jose Norihu Edwards who?

Alright, come on, Hee Seop.

That was an extraordinarily unproductive out by Choi.

But I believe in the magical power of the Goggles!

Never mind . . .

Yes, Vin, Bill Fischer holds the record for most consecutive innings pitched without a walk.

Greg Maddux has the NL record and he ended it on an intentional walk.

Unprovoked my 7 year-old asked for a pair of goggles like the ones Phillips wears.

Aw, Vinny took the sting outta that, somehow.

This would be a great time for Thompson's first ML hit!

That sucked.

It always hurts to have runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs and fail to score--even if your 7-8-9 hitters are up.

Ha 117. I had a smile on my face after Vin's callout. "Hello operator. Thanks for that vital piece of information, Vin."

I feel like we will score enough this game. Maybe just blind optimism

It was bad not scoring because the Dogders 7 and 8 hitters are both pretty good.

Alright, big out. Now if the top of the lineup can do something . . .

He's gonna throw you a fastball, Jayson...

El Camino Real-National Academic Decathlon Champions & LA City Baseball Champions. We be proud of our High School.