On that note, let us also hope the Dads continue their woeful offensive output.

"Paul has seen the ups and down of developing young players and trusting the three, four years they've had in the minor leagues and discounting their first few months in the majors," Beane says. "Developing young players can be a lot of fun, but you've got to have the discipline to live with their mistakes and understand their trend line isn't always going to go straight up."

I suppose this helps explain the patience DePo had with Grabowski--that, and the lack of much better alternatives with all our injuries. I still think that the string was way too long. And someone needs to tell this to Tracy with regards to Choi.

The USA Today article, weirdly complimentary to DePo for a mainstream rag, is at:

http://tinyurl.com/dsz5s

WWSH

I elected to stay in denial. My wife has been telling me not stay up and watch the games. "Honey, I'm worried about you"...
:-) (not really, work is worse than the Dodgers if one can imagine that).

Two in a row! Tivo is great, I can settle in on the couch and speed watch if I want or just half-sleep through it.

Whoever thinks Kent should move to first needs to seriously reconsider that notion. If nothing else the ball gets to you that much quicker at 1B, and the only thing I can see is that he occasionally shows a little slowness in reaction time compared to his old mvp self. I'm all for the notion of stability up the middle at this point.... as if there is such a thing this year!

VORP since 2002:

Odalis:
2002 - 59.9
2003 - 19.3
2004 - 49.7
2005 - 1.9
Total - 130.8

Burnett:
2002 - 40.9
2003 - 1.6
2004 - 26.8
2005 - 19.7
Total - 89.0

It seems that Odalis and Burnett are the same age, yet Burnett has never had a better season that Odalis, and Burnett's best season is worse than Odalis' second best.

Are you suggessting trading a good, yet slightly injury prone pitcher for a slightly better, yet far more injury prone one. Or is the prospect of having Derek Thompson and D.J. Houlton as the 4-5 starters appealing to you?

I'll give OP the benefit of the doubt after the NLDS since his mom had just gotten cancer. The media didn't report that until much later, so I like everyone else thought he had just choked.

WWSH

1. Citizens Bank Park has an incredible climbing, sliding playground thing, with a brewpub stand in the wings. Missed innings 1-4 (was late, so only missed 2- top 4), but fun was had by all.

2. Repko's throw to third had them ooing and aahing (though to me it was a very good, but readily makeable by lots of major leaguers play). After the out, all the Phillies fans asked me (and my festooned in blue crew) who he was, and my boy got to say, as I've taught him, "Jason - they're all named Jason". (Though this was, of course, not exactly accurate.)

3. After getting to my seat in the bottom of the fourth, I noted the no hits, no errors on the board. During the bottom of the fifth, jinx bedamned, I had to find out, so I subtly asked my Abreu-jersey wearing neighbor if any Phillies had walked? No clue. "Why you care?" (If he was a Dodger fan, TJ Simers could get an article out of that.) Asked guy behind me, "sorry just got here." Gave up at that point. Flame away, but I had to know.

4. Bottom of the Ninth, home team down by 1 -- really loud music. Video clip -- Jim Carrey as Riddler from Batman Forever -- "Now the game begins." Cheers. Video clip -- Bull Pullman from Independence Day -- "We will not go gentle in the night. We will not go down without a fight." More cheers. Dodger pitcher running in from bullpen. Music stops -- odd moment of quiet, guy behind me says really loud "Thank f-ing God Eric Gagne's not playing this year."

5. Brazoban throws two out of like his first 5 pitches posted as 98 mph on the scoreboard. Same guy says to me "So, um, who's that."

Fun game.

July 22, 1954

Duke Snider and Pee Wee Reese homered and Sandy Amoros had three hits as the defending National League champion Brooklyn Dodgers pounded the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field, 8-5 before a crowd of 5,408. Despite the win, the Dodgers were still six games behind the first place Giants with a 56-37 record.

Carl Furillo scored the first run for the Dodgers. He had his sixth straight hit, a single to lead off the second and Amoros, filling in left field for the injured Jackie Robinson, doubled to right to score Furillo. The Dodgers scored twice more in the fourth off of Cincinnati starter Karl Drews, on a double by Amoros and singles by Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Jim Gilliam.

The Reds cut the score to 3-2 in the fourth when Ted Kluszewski hit his 26th homer of the season with Roy McMillan aboard. Snider homered in the fifth to make it 4-2 Brooklyn and Reese hit his homer in the 7th off of Moe Savaransky to make it 5-2. Another run scored on a double play to make it 6-2.

The Reds closed the gap in the bottom of the seventh when they converted an error by Gilliam into a pair of unearned runs. Manager Walter Alston brought in Jim Hughes to relieve Newcombe and he got out of the inning.

The Dodgers scored two more runs in the 9th on an RBI single from Duke Snider, which gave Hughes a cushion in the 9th and made Gus Bell's home run in the bottom half merely cosmetic.

Alston was the biggest change to the Dodgers in 1954. Charlie Dressen had won two straight pennants and finished an agonizingly close second in his three years managing the Dodgers. Prior to the 1954 season, Dressen asked owner Walter O'Malley for a multi-year contact. O'Malley's response was to fire Dressen and promote little-known minor league manager Alston to the position. While the decision was not well received at the time, Alston would go on to be the winningest manager in Dodgers history.

But in 1954, the Dodgers could not overcome the Giants. They finished 92-62 and were five games back. The hitting was not as good as the 1953 squad and the pitching staff couldn't keep up with the Giants, surrendering 190 more runs than their neighbors in Manhattan.

Injuries were a problem. Robinson played in just 124 games. Campanella slumped to a .207 average. There was no regular third baseman with Don Hoak playing the most there.

The pitchers were a mixed lot. Carl Erskine went 18-15 but with an ERA of 4.15. Billy Loes went 13-5 with a 4.14 ERA. Newcombe was just 9-8 with a 4.55 ERA. Hughes made a league-leading 60 appearances with 24 saves.

Two rookie pitchers debuted. One had a spectacular start. Karl Spooner threw 2 complete game shutouts in his only games of the year and struck out 15 batters in his first game. He struck out 12 in his second game.

The other rookie was a young lefthander from Pennsylvania named Tom Lasorda. He appeared in four games with no decisions and gave up 5 runs in 9 innings of work. More would be heard from him later.
Thanks to New York Times, BaseballReference.com and Retrosheet

Also ESPN insider had two stories about the Dodgers. But I won't discuss them unless somebody pays me.

The renovations for the most part sound fine. I don't mind ads, but many do, so those need to be more tastefully done. Most importantly, McCourt needs to make sure he doesn't have a fiasco similar to the botched sightlines with those new seats. But I most especially liked the idea of larger restrooms and trying to find a way of improving traffic flow in the lot. The valet parking may be a start--I certainly won't be able to afford something like that, but if that can implove traffic flow overall, it definitely should be done. Escalators are also a good idea.

WWSH

Since almost all these things mention expansion, I wonder what will be removed.

Gillettes article was pretty good, while Crasnick's article started off neutral, then suddenly turned towards Lo Duca, chemistry, and J.D. Drew not being a gamer.

Given ESPN's track record I must ask if they are even worth paying for?

Crasnik: "For Dodger fans pining in Chavez Ravine, the 2005 L.A. story is injury, poor chemistry and a 43-52 record reflecting it. But the NL West offers hope"

Gillette: "Dodgers' GM calculatingly cold"

and this (possibly non-Dodgers-related because I can't access premium Insider content) gem from Steve Phillips: " How to handle a wayward club" [snicker]

Based on the headlines, ESPN's writers are copying and pasting the pre-framed stories they wrote a year ago, complete with "In the 2003 book 'Moneyball'..." lead-ins, in Gillette's case.

Yeah, no one's ever written THAT before.

I don't know why Gillete's article got that title, because it's certainly not anti-DePo.

Anyway, I would be extremely curious as to how Crasnick analyzed the Dodger clubhouse and determined there is a "lack of chemistry". Does he site specific examples? What method did he use to measure and quantify "chemistry"?

For answers to those questions and more all you have to do is join ESPN's 3rd layer of obfuscation at the incredibly ridiculous price of you'll-know-once-we-bill-your-credit-card.

"It's also no great revelation that DePodesta focuses more on stats than personalities and "chemistry" and how players might mesh as a unit. The running joke in Los Angeles is that Bible-toting Drew and standoffish Kent have yet to be introduced.

Drew -- who signed a five-year, $55 million contract this past winter -- didn't exactly enhance his "gamer" credentials even before getting plunked with a Brad Halsey pitch two weeks ago. On June 26, he was unable to pinch hit late in a 5-3 loss to the Angels. When he went 2-for-2 the next day against the Padres, some people in the organization wondered whether he couldn't have sucked it up and come off the bench to take a hack.

And naturally, word got around.

"If you have a five-year contract and you're on the active roster, at worst you go up to the plate and swing the bat and they pinch run for you," said an official from an AL club. "This is the city where Kirk Gibson basically needed a wheelbarrow to take him to home plate, so something like that doesn't go over real well." "

Same old, same old. His anecdote to support "no chemistry" is that people in LA joke about the "Bible-toting Drew and standoffish Kent have yet to be introduced." Then he moves on.

He sort of admonishes DePodesta for trying to "build a bench on the cheap, and he's paying for it." Does he think it would be better to spend a ton of money on backup players? I dunno. But I'm trying to find out how these "cheap" bench players DePodesta acquired are hurting the Dodgers:

OBP/SLG/AVG
Saenz .342 .473 .280
Ledee .344 .411 .277
Perez .392 .429 .324
Bako .362 .300 .250 (40 ABs)

"Extra" backup players acquired by DePodesta:

Robles .419 .459 .351
Edwards .318 .381 .286
Rose .286 .281 .219 (32 ABs)

Yeah, he should have spent more money on backup catchers - look at that terrible line from Bako and Rose.

Sunday should be a better game.

They are mashed together but most of the info is rehashed so I wouldn't worry about it.

Because we could save a lot of bandwidth by accepting these premises and moving forward, I sense.

"Although J.D. Drew is deeply religious and Jeff Kent is a rough-hewned scrapper they've managed to overlook each other's vast differences in personality and put the best of interest of the team first. There is no better example of clubhouse leadership than Drew's quiet, unassuming demeanor where his play speaks for itself and Kent's willingness to pull a teammate aside and give him a talking to if need be.

"As the Dodgers continue their roll to the W.S. the other NL contenders better get used to the fact nothing short of nuclear meltdown can dissolve the ideal chemistry that is the Dodger clubhouse."

Speaking of that, Gammons will be making his acceptance speech for his award at the HOF induction ceremonies on July 31.

Never heard of Bodley before so I do not have a background context to put him in.

Some people who are likely to win it in upcoming years, mainly because it will be their time, will be Tracy Ringolsby and Rick Hummel. I imagine that Jayson Stark will get it one of these years, but he's relatively young.

Ringolsby is the guy with the big cowboy hat who works for one of the Denver papers. Hummel was the Cardinals beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for a long, long time.

"Given that Dodgers pitching coach Jim Colborn and hitting coach Tim Wallach are both extremely well-regarded and could have gone elsewhere if not for their loyalty to Tracy, that makes you wonder."

No evidence is cited for this comment, but if it's true then that must make the cost of firing JT considerably greater.

"The Los Angeles Times' Tim Brown recently reported that Tracy's two-year contract extension includes an out clause allowing him to leave after this season."

I must have missed Brown's original article. This is interesting...we might not need to fire him after all.

Anyone want to try the LINEUP MATCH GAME today.

I'm guessing that Tracy will give Phillips another day of rest.

The following criteria will be used to determine whose lineup was the most accurate to the actual lineup.

1st tiebreaker: Correct players in the actual lineup.

2nd tiebreaker: Correct players in the actual spot in the batting order.

3rd tiebreaker: Correct positions in the actual position played.

Yeah, picking Werth 3rd was probably not good especially since Ledee will probably be in the lineup.

And Tracey does seem like the type of guy who would go for breaking such a record, so maybe he's trying to get ledee hit on the hands with a Zambrano up&in.

My advice for batters tonight:

Duck.

The MLB leader in HBP for pitchers is Casey Fossum with 13. Sandy Koufax hit just 18 his career.

On the other hand, Don Drysdale hit 154.

http://tinyurl.com/9tupv

The Dodgers have been pretty fortunate with the weather this year. No postponements yet and I think only a couple of games that have started a little late. There was one in Denver. Were there any others?

Pads and Dodgers have the same schedule for the rest of the month - it's our turn at the Mets, the Pads get the Phils. Then both teams are home to host the Reds and Cards.

I say if we're inside 5 games (make up 2 games in the next 8 games) we definitely go for it.

If we drop 2 games over the next 8, may be time pack it in.

So, 8.5 back - sell. 4.5 back - buy, baby, buy!

But what about in between? Depo almost needs to have two trades (at least) in place as the 31st comes up.

I cannot think of a reason in the world that Brother Kent would dislike J.D. Drew because he owns a bible. That is nonsense.

Robles 3b
Izturis ss
Kent 1b
Ledee rf
Perez 2b
Phillips c
Werth lf
Repko cf
Christy Mathewson in Jeff Weaver's uniform - p

Robles 3B
Izzy SS
Kent 2B
Ledee RF
Werth LF
Choi 1B
Philips C
Repko CF
Weaver P

They seem similar to me. Both relatively quiet, neither very emotional.

Most of Crasnik's recent column would be inadmissable in court on those grounds.

Padres get the Cards first, while we should be beating the Reds. But the games leading up to the deadline is the reverse scenario. We could close the gap against the Reds, only to fall back against the Cards.

DePo isn't afraid of making a deal at the 11th hour, so we'll see what happens.

Of course, we could get swept by the Mets this weekend too. Ask the Padres how that felt.

Go Phils!

Why not get someone good for Weaver, then make him an offer during the offseason? He strikes me as lazy enough not to want to look for a new place to live and may sign with the Dodgers for less than $9M per year. He'd have to find a whole new dealer and everything.

"Pornography. It's Just as Dangerous."

'Pork. The Other White Meat' is ain't.

Robles 3B
Izzy SS
Kent 2B
Phillips C
Choi 1B
Ledee RF
Edwards LF
Repko CF
Weaver P

Having a pitcher that has about a 90% chance of getting you to at least the 6th inning, with 3 or less runs?

Oh by the way he's making 2 Mil this year. Wow

And, if we were to resign him, he'd want 3 yrs./$27M at least. Remember, there are few starters available this offseason. Burnett will get traded and extended. Weaver might very well be best pitcher available (unless I'm completely forgetting someone - Jason Schmidt?).

I think we deal him and be done with the season (and don't try to resign him), or go for it this year and offer him arbitration.

on our pitching depth. have we traded lowe, odalis or weaver yet?

One of the problems the Dodgers have is that everyone asks for these great prospects for players that, frankly, aren't worth it. The prospects are just SOOOOO good that it's difficult to get equivalent value in return. A Penn-type broadens the field of impact MLB players that we could get fair value for.

Deal him for sure, but what have we got to lose by making a fair offer as a FA? He might accept it. Radke, Koskie, and Clement did last winter. What we shouldn't do is RELY on re-signing him regardless of cost.

Anyway, I often wonder how the Dodgers would do if us Dodger Thought-ites became a sort of collective brain trust GM for the Dodgers.

Just a random thought.

he has a lot of potential. but similar to jackson, he has had his pysche hurt when he got called up to the bigs. he has been bad since returning to AA. Penn would definately be a top 5 pitcher. but his cieling isnt as high as billingsley and miller. so you can put him anywhere after those two based on your preference.

I'm indifferent in terms of keeping one or the other, but not both. When are the kids going to get a chance?

all of them have cielings of a #3 pitcher and greater or a lights out bullpen arm. wow

probably right after billingsley and miller. some people dont realize how big of a steal it was in getting hochevar at pick #40.

A team run by collective brains would be totally paralyzed. That's why being a good GM, or executive in general, is so hard. You are forced to make decisions that affect the entire organization that not everyone agrees with, then show up at work the next day with those same dissenters and get to work on the next problem/task/issue in a professional manner.

Wow, I've taken your comment way too seriously. But you make a great point - 'sabermetricians' and other math-and-stats-type people are suddenly craving work in baseball. But stats and evaluation are probably less than half the battle, especially given the inherent uncertainty and randomness in player performance. I think that the ability to think clearly and make decisions, especially with an understanding of the labor market is the single greatest skill a GM can have.

A Steve Phillips-type is the opposite of this, letting the local newspaper make decisions for him while totally misjudging the value of specfic players to his team.

I don't want to be the Angels.

President - Jon?
VP - Bob "Haliburton" Timmerman?

SCOTUS: Steve and who else?

and the rest of us Senators. Sounds good to me. I think Steve would find the employment of Jim Tracy as unconstitutional.

vr, Xei

Are you sure we aren't? Jon might as well retitle this blog "Free Advice for Tracy, DePodesta and McCourt." Some folks here just spout opinions, but we have quite a few who take the trouble to construct logical, complete and coherent arguments to support their positions, including relevant documentation.

If in the dark of a sleepless night Paul DePodesta doesn't read through these comments, then he's not the geek I thought he was.

Hi Paulie, don't forget your cookies and milk!

They are:
#5 - Guzman
#17 - LaRoche
#19 - Billingsley
#50 - Jackson
#51 - Martin
#53 - Tiffany
#57 - Miller
#79 - Loney
#89 - Broxton (not as much faith as Sickels apparently)
#99 - Orenduff
#132 - Navarro
#141 - Aybar

Not sure how Elbert and maybe Kuo didn't make the list.

BTW, Penn ended up at #67 on this list

odalis weaver penny= all under 30

You may be aware of this but Tuesday, July 25 is Joe McDonald bobblehead night at the RC Quakes. But you better get there early becasue only the first 1,000 get the bobblehead. I'm guessing Joe will be there as well.

Who knew every Wed. at the Quakes game is honor Frank McCourt night. . .but they call it Weenie Wednesday where hot dogs are only a buck.

And now, the results are:

Actual Lineup:

Robles 3B
Izzy SS
Kent 2B
Ledee LF
Philips C
Choi 1B
Werth RF
Repko CF
Weaver P

56. Colorado Blue (8
I'll give it a whirl:
Robles (3B)
Izturis (SS)
Werth (RF)
Kent (2B)
Choi (1B)
Edwards (LF)
Phillips (C)
Repko (CF)
Weaver (SP)

65. Bob Timmermann (8
Robles 3B
Izturis SS
Kent 2B
Ledee RF
Werth LF
Choi 1B
Rose C
Repko CF
Weaver P

80. coachjpark (8
Robles (3B)
Izturis (SS)
Kent (2B)
Choi (1B)
Werth (RF)
Ledee (LF)
Rose (C)
Repko (CF)
Weaver (SP)

84. Steve (8
Lineup

Robles 3b
Izturis ss
Kent 1b
Ledee rf
Perez 2b
Phillips c
Werth lf
Repko cf
Christy Mathewson in Jeff Weaver's uniform - p

85. fanerman
oh what the heck. I'm bad at these but here's a line-up

Robles 3B (9
Izzy SS
Kent 2B
Ledee RF
Werth LF
Choi 1B
Philips C
Repko CF
Weaver P

86. the OZ (8
Robles 1B
Izturis SS
Kent 2B
Phillips C
Ledee LF
Edwards 3B
Werth RF
Repkowski CF
Weaver P

110. Midwest Blue (8
Lineup:

Robles 3B
Izzy SS
Kent 2B
Phillips C
Choi 1B
Ledee RF
Edwards LF
Repko CF
Weaver P

Congratulations, fanerman. You are the winner tonight.

fanerman correctly guessed all the players in the lineup tonight even though the lineup order was slightly off.

fanerman must be getting good at reading Tracy's mind.

Thanks again for participating you guys.

Wonder if we can predict the EXACT LINEUP one of these day.

but we PRETEND penny is the one making the 9 mil a yr and weaver is making pennys contract.

see, it works out :)

What did fanerman ever do to you?:-)

7/22 Jeff Weaver vs NY Mets
.........................
Colorado Blue: 6
Xeifrank: 6-2/3
.........................
Joekings: 7
CT Bum: 7-1/3
.........................
Louis in SF: 6-2/3
Howard: 6-2/3
.........................
Standings...
Louis in SF 2-1-0
Xeifrank 3-2-2
Howard 4-3-0
CT Bum 3-2-2
Joekings 1-2-0
Colorado Blue 2-5-0

I'm not sure if you just want to know how Gutierrez is doing or don't realize that we traded him to the Indians for Bradley, but either way he is at #64 despite struggling mightily in AA - .233/.294/.389 with a 65/23 K/BB ratio and 10 SB.

Steiner oversells every fly ball. I get it.

After explaining the order of the first four teams, Steiner says "...aaaand the Rockies have already been mathematically eliminated."

I decided then that Steiner had a good chance at being liked in LA.

Much better than the Mondayesque "Line drive, its... here comes... the ball... going foul... IT'S GONE."

Werth moves up a runner in front of Repko. And this is supposed to be a good thing.

Or visa versa ...

I assume he didn't want to get into a collision with Mintiekiewicz.

Let the Denial phase begin!

Monday reminds me a bit of John Miller in that he emphasizes phrases that by themselves are mundane, i.e., Floyd's weight.

If Vin is telling the same story it's so different as to be interesting. I think Monday strives too hard for validation and, unlike Steiner, feels he has something to prove.

Steiner bothers me at times because he sometimes talks too much off subject and loses the rhythm of the game.

#209,
You mean continue?

I think I'll just settle in to Bargaining with a dash of Anger.

Asking someone if they are in denial cannot be answered honestly. The act of answering it changes your answer. Either you are denying your denial by saying no or accepting your denial by saying yes, in which case it isn't denial anymore.

Steve, its Friday afternoon and I'm doing timesheets. Only a couple more weeks of a time-sheet free existence for you.

The Timmerman Uncertainty Principle.

It's all part of the Dodgers Thought Philosophical Principles:

1) The Grabowski Principle
2) The Chad Kreuter Effect
3) The Timmermann Uncertainty Principle

went through a rough 2nd inning. lol

I think it came up after Repko got an RBI sometime.

thats why i hope we could get at least petit and milledge for odalis from them.

Given his long and deeply-held support for Shawn Green, I nominate LAT for Secretary of Veterans' Affairs

IP H R ER BB SO
3 7 5 4 1 1

The universe may implode or something.

I thought the same thing at first, but after watching the replay the ump got it right, Cairo made the sweep tag too early.

Anybody else starting to get excited? For once we're actually winning by more than 2 runs, and it is happening for the 2nd time in 3 days.

I don't think the Dodgers will be allowed to get so comfy against Pedro.

However, with as little as four days left in the season it was possible that the NL East would have finished in a 5-way tie. Everybody but the Phillies was a contender that year.

In a full 162 game season, the fewest wins a Dodgers first place team has had was 91 by the 1983 team.

In the 154 game season, the fewest wins by a Dodger first place team was 88 by the 1959 team and two of those were in a playoff.

Going the other way, the 1962 Dodgers won 102 games (101 before the playoff with the Giants) and finished second. And the 1942 Dodgers won 104 games and finished second.

I love when the outfielder goes ass over teacup making that throw

82-79 might just earn us a trip to St Louis again (but send Odalis to the pen this time around?)

if houston holds on and the braves win today, the nationals will be out of first place.

Umm, yeah, that's one way of putting it Steve.

Isn't that Padilla guy supposed to be doing time in Gitmo for trying to bomb things? Looks like he's out and giving up bombs for the Mets...

And I want to get something to eat.

Same old same old.

I guess not.

Floyd is 4 for 5, so Tracy isn't pressing his luck.

i could tell you that i met the cousin of bob timmerman's wife, and you would know who i'm talking about, but that doesn't make her famous. :)

C'mon do you think a guy with as much useless knowledge on his hands could actually be married?

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/finalbuilds.htm#realalt

Icaros knows every state she's visited.

phillips isn't that fat, but losing some of it is bound to help his footspeed.

GHAME OVER. woot.

GHAME OVER. woot.

funny how a meaningless game in the middle of a meaningless season can still be exciting and tense-making.

#18

Dodgers rookie save record.

Wow, what a meaningless record.

btw, "wham bam brazoban" is brilliant. but sometimes it's the opposing team who's on the receiving end, and sometimes it's us.

wham bam brazoban will be revealed to the whole world.

Going to the bottom of the 10th in Philly, still 6-6.

6-6 in extra innings in Philly.

That is the most agile I've ever seen Choi. I never would have thought he could make a play on a ground ball in foul ground and get the out. Shame on me. I'm sending myself to bed without any eel.

maybe we shouldnt be sellers... crap i dont know what to do anymore.

The Dodgers last won 3 straight road games from April 18-20, which was the end of the 12-2 start.

Maybe a small child in Tampa is trapped under a mountian of food and only one person can save the little one.

Bob pointed out: Beltran is now 1 for 13 in his career against Alvarez. Floyd is 4 for 5

when a manager uses numbers to back his gutsy and seemingly stupid moves its all good. When a GM does, its moneyball. LOL

maybe. or maybe tampas GM's little kids favorite player is ponson and he is briging ponson over to spoil his kid.

442. i personally would have very little trouble with the idea of trading brazoban and replacing him with broxton and kuo this season. however, i just don't think it's very likely that it will happen. getting rid of the only real major league experienced fireballer while we're still supposed to be in the division race will only cause an unnecessary firestorm. i guess it would depend on who we got in return, but i don't think brazoban's trade value is as high as it would be at the end of the season anyway, especially if he settles down a little. plus we could use him. i think we need to DFA erickson and carrara and bring up brox and kuo.

If the Padres win and we're within five games back, I'm like Nate in being totally confused as to whether or not we're buyers or sellers. I'm still expecting the sudden surge of hope I'm feeling right now to be dashed by a three game losing streak, but with the unbalanced schedule and the Padres' seeming ineptitude, we actually seem to have a chance.

WWSH

It was a bad decision by the umpires, but that's life.

I actually feel bad for Quantrill. It's my impression that Torre basically wrecked his knee with overuse.

WWSH

damn, earlier, we were talking about what would we do if DT was one collective dodger GM unit. we came up of bringing shawn green back to satisfy your child. oops, scratch that plan then.

WWSH

Of course, it would have been Mozart's Requiem.

if we get to 4.5 by the end of the weekend, we have to be buyers.

and to canuck, i dont ever remmeber you making that up :)

Yep, but we still have the Snakes to worry about.

Padre fans must be furious right now.

WWSH

Is it bad/sad that I'm starting to get excited again? Not only have we actually been getting some breaks lately, but our bullpen is seemingly improved with Schmoll and Alvarez and Bradley and Valentin should be back soon to bolster the line-up. Plus, the Padres just plain suck.

The news is particularly disappointing to Thompson, who was acquired after the 2002 Rule 5 Draft and missed the entire 2003 season with a similar injury. At that time, the decision was made to repair a partial tear instead of transplant a new ligament.

I'm still against a trade that gives up major prospects, though, and I'd still pass on Dunn. A division title will still be meaningless, even if we beat the odds. I'd rather just try my luck with the kids from the farm than make a move for help.

WWSH

I did not know that in 1995 and 1996, Paul Quantrill was a starter. In 2005, he appears to be a finisher.

Well, there goes one trade chip.

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Ledee/Edwards/Repko bench, outfield
Perez/Olmedo bench infield.

team is starting to shape up a bit

So once a game gets to extra innings, the home team can't win by more than 4 runs. But the visitors can win by a lot more.

You could have a situation though like the 1999 NLCS when Robin Ventura hit what would have been a walkoff grand slam. Except his teammates came out to congratulate and he never finished his tour of the bases. So Ventura was called out for not touching all the bases and given credit for just a single.

Making myself sick.

I knew I was getting too giddy. thanks nate.

From the official website Notes. I'm not sure if I should worry about this--could just be a AAA ump being lame.

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I still hear bad gambling beats about that game. Right up there with Chris Weber calling for a TO when Michigan was out of them in the NCAA's.

But it was unlikely that Michigan could come back in that game because UNC had committed only three fouls and Michigan probably never would have gotten a shot off as UNC would have kept taking fouls until time ran out.

Yeah, but Ghame Over has t-shirts!
You want fame. You gotta have a t-shirt!

exactly. with the point spread and time left there was no way UNC would be able to cover. Except UNC hits their T's thanks to weber and get the ball and score. Wham! Bam! Millions change hands.

If you do it like this.

1 Penny
2 Lowe
3 OFF DAY
4 Perez
5 Weaver
6 Houlton
7 Lowe
8 Penny

Or you just have one guy go on 3 days rest.

Why should I name a starting RF? Tracy won't name a starting 1b. good enough for Tracy, good enough for me.

However, in the case of Weber and Michigan, those gamblers must have been sweating it out if they played their bets that closely.

Careful, Brandon you may owe nate or Canuck some $$$.

Marlins and Giants are tied at 4-4.

This is based on the fact that a reporter saw Jason Schmidt's ESPN page up on Mike Scioscia's computer.

I've heard the Harmon stories as well. I don't think weber was in that category. Just a mental mistake.

if you had bet on mich the only way you could have lost is turning over the ball and getting a technical and then UNC scoring. exactly ehat happened. if weber had shot and missed or had just turned it over, UNC doesn't cover.

Ventura not crossing home plate in 99 was just as stunning.

509

I think I'm right on the line.

Off sport -- I know basically nothing about all the various forms of competitive bicycle racing (although I once did see the Tour de France go by). So, I am wondering, assuming no meteors strike and Lance Armstrong wins the Tour de France, is it clear that he is the greatest bicycle racer ever? Can I just say that and not worry about some Marty Nothstein fan picking a fight?

Franco's ML debut was 1982:

ET and Gandhi released (Think how old Drew Barrymore is today.)

Cheers premieres-Coach long gone and Julio plays on

Falkland Islands War

Amarie Stoudemire Born.

LAT a sophmore in college. (Ok Fox didn't include this one)

The Guy is amazing. Growing up my father was a huge George Blanda fan because he played into his late 40s. Dad even had a Blanda jersey before jerseys were cool. My kids may have to listen to the same about Julio.

Hope lives!

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I was wondering who was left to make pitching changes. It's Jay Bell!

File this one in the "Who Watches the Watchers" portfolio.

Thanks Bob (#530)

Bob, you will be going to your 25 yr reunion about the time Franco starts thinking about hanging it up.

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Shawn Green is going to homer here. That is Dan Kolb on the mound.

I think Leiter's first start was an example of reading the expiration date on milk. It's good for a few days after the date, but eventually it's going to spoil.

I had a colleague who grumbled that at a recent college reunion, the youngsters there for their fifth reunion thought it'd be fun to pull fire alarms as a throw-back prank. It was not so amusing to the older alums who had small children.

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Imagine if you are the Nats watching this game. Your team is going down in flames, you take some solice in the Brves down by 4 in the 9th and then tie game. Your hating life.

If you know it as the Hill you must know Providence. I love the place. The Hill is the best Italian Food in the Country.

Crasnik: "Hollywood is famous for happy endings, and the Dodgers still hope to pen one of their own."

Gillette: "DePodesta under fire" [the article is more about how DePodesta shouldn't be judged too harshly. Yet.]

Steve Phillips: "Coping with bad times" [Snicker. He's the expert on poor management and bad times, which is, ironically, why he's writing about the bad times rather than continuing to incur them on the Mets]

The change in Crasnik heading is what I find most amusing. It used to read:

"For Dodger fans pining in Chavez Ravine, the 2005 L.A. story is injury, poor chemistry and a 43-52 record reflecting it. But the NL West offers hope"

Of course, the only reason ESPN knows that the Dodgers won tonight is because they had to cover the Mets losing.

http://tinyurl.com/74pxo

Is this one of those things where people bemoan the passing of the good ol' days that never were? Or did umpires really not used to be such little girls? I can't read lips as well as Vin can, but I remember loving to watch Tommy Lasorda "argue" with the umps over their lineage, sexual preferences, etc. Is this blowback from the Players Association refusing to strike when the umpires did?