Mohr leads today's Rockies lineup in homers (10) and career homers (39)

Still... 7 against the Pirates.... them's good eatin'.

from espn.com

PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- A man who got angry with his wife because she wanted to cuddle after sex when what he really wanted to do was watch sports on television was sentenced to death for killing her with a claw hammer.

Christopher Offord, 30, was sentenced Wednesday by Circuit Judge Dedee Costello, who said the brutality of the crime outweighed any mental problems Offord may have had.

"The defendant struck his wife approximately 70 individual blows after spending a happy interlude with her," the judge said. "Her desire to cuddle after sex does not justify the extremely violent, brutal response of the defendant."

Offord pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2004 slaying of Dana Noser, 40, at his apartment.

He confessed to a bartender at a sports bar before his arrest. He told investigators that his wife had been nagging him to come back to bed.

Offord did not speak in court but said in a jailhouse interview in June: "I figured I killed her so I deserve to die."

He's got to know this will cost him his job, perhaps in a matter of days. Does he not care? Or will he wake up today or tomorrow and realize the immensity of his blunder and try to correct it?

Tracy getting fired before the season's over is a worst-case scenario for him if he intends to manage in the majors again. What GM is going to hire a guy who openly flouted his boss in LA at the expense of team victories?

4-4 tie, still only one out

Unit had 7 starts, the others had 6. So Patterson avg'd 8k/1bb over 6 starts. Off you go Hee Seop, grab a stick.

Great shredding of Rick Monday "the bag-eyed ghoul" by Matt Welch.

Article on Brent Leach, who is looking like one of White's better picks this year. His 2.98 ERA is second in the Pioneer league, in a park that is very much a hitter's park. His 46 Ks are also second in the league. He is a "crafty" lefty, so he may or may not have continued success. For some reason Mlb.com/MiLB.com really like Ogden

I think he's fired by Monday unless he plays Choi and the Dodgers win out thru Sunday. This prediction might be idiotic, but I'm sticking to it.

oh man, it would be perfect.

[34]

so many light-hitting catchers, so few spots in the lineup.

vs

CF Wilkerson
2B Vidro
1B Johnson
LF Wilson
RF Church
3B Castilla
C Bennett
SS Guzman
P Patterson

Is this good news now that he is going to continue pitching as our LOOGY?

Probably same reason why Phillips was starting ahead of Choi?

Hope we don't have any more close games.

What are going to do with all these extra relievers?

54"(sharing this role with Dessens)"

Why not with Carrara? Dessens should be used in late situations when Tracy wants Carrara

Oh, I forgot he ONLY gave up 1 run in his last outing. I guess we have to live with that kind of production.

I think the idea is that the really good hitters/pinch hitters should be saved for some really, really clutch situation that almost never happens. That's why Perez, Ledee and Choi are always there ready to grab a bat.

The only problem is we don't have much speed, we can't bunt, and we can't hit&run.

If Ratt predicts Tracy is gone then Tracy is gone. I'll never doubt one of his predictions again.Just wait and see.

even with the loss, they still have a 1-game lead on the A's. not for long, though :)

Reamain hopeful.

With the dodger training staff/misinformation squad, he will be in a iron lung by tomorrow.

Contusion + "a few days" = Iron Lung

Pretty good stuff.

The only way Choi starts is:
Saenz gets injured.
A. Perez gets injured (forces Kent at 2B).
Right-handed pitcher (Tracy will find a way to put Kent at 1st if he can).
No weird arm angles.

Am I missing anything?

BTW, it seems like Perez and Choi's interests conflict. It looks like Tracy will only start Perez at 2B, meaning Kent has to play 1B. Meaning one more person on top of Choi on the depth chart.

Perez
Choi
Kent
Bradley

looks sooooooo much better than what we run out there.

Perez needs to teach Izzy how to steal a base.

RF-Repko
CF-Bradley
LF-Valentin
3B-Edwards
SS-Izturis
2B-Robles
1B-Ledee

PH-Choi

"If I put Kent at first and Perez at second, then I won't hear a peep about Choi. Perez, now he's one of DePodesta's boys, too, so that should keep the boss off my keister. I can't play them both. At least Perez didn't take Paulie's locker. (sniff)"

1 - Antonio Perez 3B
2 - Hee Seop Choi 1B
3 - Milton Bradley CF
4 - Jeff Kent 2B
5 - Ricky Ledee LF
6 - Jose Valentin RF
7 - Dioner Navarro C
8 - Cesar Izturis SS

vs. lefties

1 - Antonio Perez 3B
2 - Cesar Izturis SS
3 - Milton Bradley CF
4 - Jeff Kent 2B
5 - Olmedo Saenz 1B
6 - Ricky Ledee LF
7 - Dioner Navarro C
8 - Jason Repko RF

As much as I'd still have Hee Seop batting against lefties, I see the value in putting Old Maid out there against lefties. Also, I realize that Perez is somewhat of a defensive liability, so that's why you have Robles and Edwards on the bench. Also, Repko plays that Defensive replacement in later innings. Tracy's logic has Repko starting and then PINCH-HITS for him when we need runs. He has this absurd mind-set of starting the defensive replacement and then hoping for offense in the later innings. Now, tell me... are these two lineups not doable????

121 I've seen A. Perez play enough games at 3B to agree with Tracy: He's just not a third baseman.

105 - Phillips went from starting catcher to first base.

Dmitri Young
Gary Sheffield
Terry Puhl
Greg Luzinski
Chuck Knoblauch

Trailing 9-8 in the ninth inning Thursday, Milwaukee manager Ned Yost considered his options. The Brewers were rallying with runners at first and second and none out against the New York Mets. Overbay, who singled home the go-ahead runs the night before and had singled home two runs earlier in this one, was coming up.

``As much as I wanted to bunt, I didn't want to give up an out,'' Yost said after a five-run ninth carried the Brewers to a 12-9 victory.

Overbay understood the circumstances and bunted on his own anyway, putting the tying run on third and the lead run on second.

It made sense to him, even knowing the Mets would walk cleanup hitter Carlos Lee, who had eight hits in the series. That's because Geoff Jenkins was coming up behind Lee and he already had four hits in the game.
_________________________________

Very familiar situation, no? Does this make what Tracy did a bit more justifiable? Yes. Does this make what Tracy did a good baseball maneuver? No.

How? Success despite idiocy? Webster defines that as "pulling a 'Homer.'"

I think he had a bad game today.

"Phillips said he would probably have X-rays taken Friday in Pittsburgh."

If a break is found, I will do a little dance. (Then the Catholic guilt will kick in)

M2

This site is the one I was looking for - thanks Jon.

M2

Tracy is a moron.

Choi/AP are batting .370 since the break.

121's lineup looks good to me

(Not including todays game)

Maybe too small a sample size for Tracy.

Choi - 23, AP -31. Considering the sample sizes Tracy uses to justify his lineups, thats good enough for me.

I know that's pretty malicious in assessing Tracy's character, but can one think of another reason to purposely not play Choi? Pure idiocy, maybe?

http://tinyurl.com/a97sc

My bet is Ledee-Izturis-Robles.

"The manager is 'accountable?' Holy crap!"

(from the AP story on Lee Mazzili)

Baltimore got off to a solid start and on April 23 gained sole possession of first place, ahead of the defending champion Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

``Nobody worked harder than Maz,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``I know he worked very, very hard at getting that team and their whole organization going in the right direction. But when it doesn't happen, you're accountable. That's the life of anybody who's in this position. If you're not moving the organization forward, they make you pass the baton to somebody else.''

The Orioles stayed on top through June 23. They were in second place, just one game back, on July 15 -- the day Palmeiro got his 3,000th hit and became the fourth player in baseball history to reach 3,000 hits and 500 homers.

But Baltimore then began the nosedive that cost Mazzilli his job. From July 16 through Wednesday, the Orioles lost 16 of 18 to fall into fourth place.

Best two out of three...(Semi Finals)
8/5, Lowe vs Pirates
8/6, Perez vs Pirates
8/7, Weaver vs Pirates
.........................
Best 2 out of three
Colorado Blue:
Joekings:
.........................
Best 2 out of three
Xeifrank:
Howard:
.........................
Consolation Game:
Louis in SF:
.........................
CT Bum:
Standings...
1-Joekings 8-4-1
2-Howard 8-7-2
3-Xeifrank 8-7-2
4-Colorado Blue 8-9-0
5x-Louis in SF 5-6-2
6x-CT Bum 6-8-3
x = eliminated.

Russ Ortiz's rehab start was not a screaming success:

Ortiz: 2 1/3 IP, 12 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 10 ER
And that was in Lancaster which is class A. He's expected to start in Tucson on Monday.