Evidently, Mrs. McCourt doesn't care much for Depo.

"Dodgers owner Frank McCourt's wife (a.k.a. "Screaming Meanie") apparently dislikes GM Paul DePodesta, spelling trouble for the boy 'genius.' DePodesta didn't do a great job picking players. Or owners."

http://tinyurl.com/8vwtz

I went to the link to read the entire article...and the part you quoted was all there was. Hope it is not true.

Yeah, I would have liked to have read a little more, but that's all he wrote. Didn't Georgie Frontierre inherit the Rams from her husband? Let's hope Mrs. McCourt dies before Mr.

Playing out the string ...

Random Dodger Game Callback

September 25, 1944

St. Louis right fielder Augie Bergamo doubled and singled and drove in two runs as the first place Cardinals edged the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, 3-1 before a crowd of 2,207. The Dodgers, hit hard by losses to the military fell to 60-88 on the season and were in seventh place, 42 games behind St. Louis, which was en route to a 105-49 record and a World Series win over the St. Louis Browns.

Rube Melton started for Brooklyn against Harry Brecheen of the Cardinals. The Dodgers got a lead for Melton in the fourth when left fielder Frenchy Bordagaray singled and right fielder Dixie Walker doubled him home. But that would be all for the Dodgers offense on this day.

The Cardinals tied it up in the fifth. Shortstop Marty Marion reached on a bunt single to lead off. Melton struck out second baseman Emil Verban and Brecheen. But Bergamo hit a looper into center that fell for a double and Marion scored with the tying run after Dodgers center fielder Luis Olmo's relay throw to second baseman Eddie Stanky was dropped.

In the ninth, Cardinal left fielder Danny Litwhiler hit a grounder that third baseman Eddie Miksis booted for an error. Marion tried to sacrifice, but he beat the throw to first and there were two on with none out. Johnny Hopp pinch hit for Verban and sacrificed the runners over to second and third. Cardinals manager Billy Southworth let Brecheen bat for himself though and he struck out. But Bergamo came through again with a single to score both Litwhiler and Marion. Brecheen shut down the Dodgers in the ninth for the win.

World War II had devastated the Dodgers roster. The only two regulars left over from the pennant winner of 1941 were catcher Mickey Owen and right fielder Walker. Walker would lead the NL in batting at .357.

Some of the replacements on offense had great years. Augie Galan (acquired late in 1941) led the NL in walks with 101 and had an OBP of .426. Stanky was acquired from Chicago early in the year and batted .276 in limited action, but would put up good years after the war was over.

Shortstop was a big problem. Ten different players tried the position for the Dodgers. Bobby Bragan played the most there, 51 games. But the Dodgers also used 16-year old Tommy Brown at short for 46 games. 18-year old rookie Gene Mauch also saw some action at shortstop.

Manager Leo Durocher had to be even more creative with his pitching staff. 24 different men took the mound for Brooklyn in 1944. And not many of them were any good. Hal Gregg won something like the anti-Triple Crown of pitching in 1944, leading the NL in runs, earned runs, and walks. Gregg was 9-16 with a 5.46 ERA. Curt Davis managed to put up a 3.34 ERA. And Melton finished the year with a 3.46 ERA. 18-year old Ralph Branca made his debut, but had a 7.05 ERA in 21 games. The staff had an NL worst ERA of 4.68.

The young Dodgers had big problems fielding, committing 165 errors, tying for the most in the NL with Pittsburgh.

The Dodgers could only hope that the war would end and players like Pee Wee Reese and Pete Reiser would return.

Thanks to the New York Times and Retrosheet.

1-3 - More unsourced reporting (i.e., gossip), from someone 3,000 miles away. Could be true, but as evidence it's worthless.

What ever happened to sourcing?

5
"What ever happened to sourcing?"

I think it's out.

Blast you, D4P, you beat me to it. ;)

7
Good, I'm glad to see there's some "great minds" out there...

5 Sourcing? Pfft...

If the jokers writing the articles actually had to name sources, we all know darn well that the "quotes" wouldn't appear in the articles.

Or, it wouldn't look very cool for the source to be a "friend of the McCourt's cleaning lady's nephew"

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050924&content_id=1222766&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la

"The last five or six games, I've been doing some things that go against the norm of what I usually do," Tracy said, "because there are some things I want to visualize for myself going into the winter."
--------------------------------------------
Uh oh, it sounds to me like tracy wants to stick around for another year, he's doing things now to find out what he may have next season.
He said that he put the runners in motion with myrow at the plate on purpose cause he wants to see if myrow will be a option for the bench next year.
It might come down to forcing depodesta to fire him, and depodesta better not drop the ball.

The New York Daily News doesn't require sourcing. The New York Post has a "truth optional" policy.

Victor Martinez put the tribe on top 3-0

11 - That's New York Times Bob. Yknow, the one that Jayson Blair worked for..?

5 But it still adds to my growing, nauseating feeling that DePo is a goner. I hope I'm wrong. If you're gonna hire someone to take your franchise in a totally different direction, don't you give him more than 1 1/2 years to accomplish that?

13
I stand by my statement.

Some Dodgers who have a chance to lead the league in important categories:

Derek Lowe, starting today, is 6 behind Mark Mulder for the NL lead in assists by a pitcher.

Jeff Weaver leads the NL in HBPs with 17 and is one behind Casey Fossum of Tampa Bay for the major league lead. Jamey Wright is two behind Weaver.

14
I used to think that McCourt was completely on board with Depo's approach. But recently I've started to wonder if McCourt just kinda went along with Depo's moves, but was never totally convinced by the logic behind them. I also think McCourt has felt somewhat embarrassed because of the so-called "character" issues on the team, and that he may no longer be giving Depo free reign over the roster moves.

14 - I have that feeling, too.

Bonds will start in a day game after a night game in Denver today.
Because, you know, the Giants are still in the hunt.

Randy Winn hit his EIGHTEENTH homer of the season leading off at Coors.

The Padres today are batting Robert Fick in the leadoff spot. Manny Alexander is starting at short. Giles is starting in center field and Ben Johnson is playing right.

I believe both Greene and Roberts are hurt. And Bochy doesn't want to use Eric Young it seems.

Aybar
Choi
Robles
Cruz
A Perez
Navarro
Werth
Repko
Lowe

Pirates:
T Redman
J Wilson
Sanchez
Bay
Ward
C Wilson
Macowiak
Cota
Snell

I just hope Frank McCourt doesn't like to swim. Especially not in the ocean.

Emil Brown has tied it up 3-3 vs Cleveland

Dave Roberts is supposed to miss the rest of the regular season with a quad strain. Khalil Greene may miss a few days with various aches and pains in his shin and feet. He's had a broken toe this year and he recently fouled a ball off of his shin.

The Padres are going to be literally limping across the finish line.

It's 4-3 KC in the 8th. Cleveland has the tying run at third with 2 outs.

Is this Dodger Thoughts Appreciation Day? Are we all eligible for prizes in a postgame drawing?

Just another walk for Aybar....

Sigh.....

Perez is learning from Kent

29
Just another HR given up by Lowe....

But at least Lowe is keeping his pitch total low....

32- more souvenirs for fans. Why do you think Lowe is pitching on Fan Appreciation Day.

Thr Indians have tied it up, now men on the corners for Coco Crisp with 2 outs

34
Too bad your namesake isn't around to dump buckets of "souvenirs" in the stands.

34
Too bad your namesake isn't around to dump buckets of "souvenirs" in the stands.

The Mets beat the Nationals, so Washington is out. The Nats fell into last place.
The Cardinals beat the Brewers, so they're out of it.

The Cubs are ahead of Houston 1-0. The Phillies beat the Reds 6-3. The Marlins lost and are quickly becoming an endangered species.

Giants lead the Rockies 2-1 in the 6th.

Royals win 5-4 when Grady Sizemore loses a fly ball in the sun to let the winning run score.

I've become the Omega Man. If only Icaros were around to share the experience.

Then I wouldn't be the Omega Man however.

Lowe seems to be struggling a bit, but I'm only watching Game Day so what do I know. It's so much harder to pay attention to games at school than at home...

Compared to the Arizona game, Lowe looks like a right-handed Johan Santana.

Ah, I was looking for a quiet place to hang out and do some thinking.

Looks like I've found it.

Robles is a roider

The traditional 1-2 punch of Lowe and Robles gives the Dodgers a lead.

Maybe we could move Robles to a corner outfield spot next season.

Bob, where's a good place to find canned goods around here?

Icaros is the Anthony Zerbe to my Charlton Heston.

I could be Rosalind Cash.

Doesn't Anthony Zerbe survive at the end of the movie? Heston doesn't and I don't think Rosalind Cash does either.

Great, now the Pirates announcers are talking about how the LA fans show up late and leave early.

Do the Pirates even have fans?

50 I thought Rosalind Cash survives and leaves with the vanload of wayward children.

Liriano has 8 Ks in 6 IP, but has allowed 4 runs, Twins down 4-1. They have 3 more innings to get those runs, or Cleveland goes another game back of Chicago

Very few Dodgers fan will leave early today. The chance of winning a case of fireplace logs is very compelling. Or maybe season tickets to the LA Avengers.

The only Pirates game I've been to in Pittsburgh (at their extraordinarily beautiful park) the fans were talking about the Steelers. And since the Steelers are playing right now, I imagine that there are about 6 people in the Pittsburgh area watching this game.

52
If Xeifrank were here and not in China, I'm sure he'd be glad to tell us about this film.

I think you're right.

Have you been to SBC in SF, Bob? I just went there for the first time last week.

How does Pittsburgh compare to that place?

55 I've been under the assumption for a while now that he secretly likes our film discussions.

PNC Park in Pittsburg is nicer than SBC Park in San Francisco, solely because it is easier to get to and easier to walk around the park. That RF porch in SBC creates a pedestrian bottleneck.

While the view at SBC of San Francisco Bay is nice, PNC has a view of the Ohio River (or the Allegheny or the Monanghela, there are three of them I hear) with a view of a beautiful old bridge designed by Roebling and the Pittsburgh skyline in the background.

You just have to watch the Pirates play.

Werth didn't miss that by much...

I thought Werth had a HR there

SBC is a 10-20 minute walk from BART, which is nice. I refuse to drive into San Francisco.

I grew up going to games at Candlestick, which was really quite terrible.

Why not use Ledee here?

I think Ledee would be a 9th inning pinch-hitter only. I have a feeling he's not all that healthy anyway.

I don't mind Myrow getting the AB here. He'll appreciate it more than Ledee, and none of this matters anymore anyway.

Good at bat by Myrow

SBC isn't fit for slaughtering hogs.

Now if Saenz pinch-hits for Choi, I'll be miffed.

2-2 Giants-Rockies in the 9th. The Giants have gotten Winn and Vizquel on to lead off the inning.

Bonds has already been taken out.

And Felipe Alou is pinch hitting Julio Ramirez for J.T. Snow with Jason Ellison on deck.

Ya got me.

Oh sure, Fuentes is unstoppable except when playing SF. He's on the list.

JT says if the division is settled by Sunday, Weaver won't pitch, they'll take a look at one of the "young guys". Who is there besides Jackson? Osoria?

71 Hanrahan?

Phillips up for Choi...wow

All right! Phillips batting for Choi. It's time for a Dodger Thoughts Class 1 freakout!

WHY JASON PHILLIPS????????

Just another walk for Aybar!

Phillips pinch hitting for Choi, BOOOOOO!

Carrara

I'm speechless, and I'm leaving.

Nothing like seeing Goggles to bring everyone out of the woodwork.

I was afraid he might do that

This is so absurd. We are eliminated. This is a perfect chance to see if Hee Seop can hit lefties. I don't care that Phillips just got a single. This is absurd.

76 Why not Erickson?

I'm speechless, and I'm leaving.
Are you coming back, Mr. Clutch delivers

Ooh, weird synchronicity here:

Phillips singles in two runs.

Julio Ramirez singles in a run to put the Giants up 3-2.

But Robles gets to bat...

Inexcusable.

Mahomes

All Redman needed to do was play it somewhat cleanly and Phillips is at 2nd.

Phillips scores from first on a hit to the outfield! Amazing.

Moises Alou triples in two more and the Giants are up 5-2.

San Diego leads AZ 3-2 in the fifth.

more stuff to make tracy have phillips and robles right in the thick of things next season if tracy is back (please no).

Phillips scores from first on a hit to the outfield! Amazing.
It has to be the first time he's done this in his career. Maybe they should give him all the bases after the guy for his historic feat

The Mauerless and Morneauless Twins have 3 outs left to get 3 runs to tie the game. It's looking like Cleveland will fall another game back

Blah blah blah Phillips blah blah blah Choi blah blah blah. This sucks. I'm freaking out. Class 1 style.

*game

If there was still a race, it would have been more of a Class 3 or 4 freakout. Class 5 freakout if it had happened in a playoff game.

Despite facing the 2-3-4 hitters, it only took Buerhle 8 pitches to finish the game. The 2-3-4 hitters included Juan Castro...

Darn that Antonio Perez. So injury prone.

That Twins lineup was really bad. It looked like the lineup the Angels used against the Twins when Eric Milton threw his no-hitter.

But hey, we're beating the Pirates in a meaningless game thanks to that great coaching!!! (crickets chirp in the quiet distance).

The Dodgers look to be on their way to clinching the season series against their FOURTH NL opponent. The Dodgers have won the series against the Reds, Brewers, and Padres.

Giants win 6-2 and will stay alive until at least Tuesday.

Don't you people know that Jason Philips is the first baseman of the future? With that kind of plate discipline, defensive range and speed on the basepaths, who wouldn't want him up there pinch hitting?

He has the ability to strike out to all fields.

Sorry, but the Jason Phillips Complaint Window is closed for today. You can leave a message and someone will get back to you on Monday.

More back logged than closed.

This Steelers-Patriots game is really good. I don't blame Pirates fans for not watching baseball.

This is, I believe, the last Channel 13 broadcast for the Dodgers. The rest of the games are on FSN2 and the Dodgers move to Channel 9 next year.

What's the deal with the Angels for next year? I remember hearing that channel 9 didn't want to renew a contract with them.

The Angels are still looking for a broadcast outlet. It's an interesting sign that the Dodgers, despite their recent ineptitude, are still a better ratings draw than the Angels.

I think that may be because the Dodgers have Vin and the Angels have Physioc and Hudler.

109 Wonder Dog = ratings poison

Partially because of Broadcasters but mostly because many people in LA don't except the Angels as their team. OC is much smaller than LA, so less fans. That's my opinion.

111 - So, Arte's marketing push into LA is a failure?
(snicker)

yup

Channel 9 doesn't get much help in the ratings for its news with Angels games. They do with Lakers game. Since they will have both the Lakers and Dodgers, they will have the two prestige franchises.

Not that hockey gets great ratings, but the Kings ratings are marginally higher than those of the Ducks and the Ducks were in the Finals recently.

DBacks with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 7th. McCracken at bat against Linebrink.

Do we really need to see what grabowski can do, pinch hitting for perez.

Give Q an Olney!

116 - Grabby is up for Schmoll.

ooopppsss nevermind 116, i forgot perez was taken out of the game.

Grabowski is batting for Schmoll. Perez came out after getting hit by a pitch.

I like the line score so far in AZ

SD 3 2 0
AZ 3 10 0

Hey, the Dodgers finished before the Angels game!

Dodgers' magic number to NOT finish last is 2, I think.

It's 2 to clinch no worse than a tie for fourth. 3 to clinch fourth all alone.

At season's end, if the Dodgers are just playing out the string, they should lend Scully either to the Angels, if they're still in the race, or to ESPN's coverage of decisive games. All afternoon, I've been switching from the important Angels/Rays back to this meaningless Dodger game, just because the announcers are driving me nuts. Ditto with this morning's Yankee/Jays game. Tonight, I think ESPN viewers get the glories of Joe Morgan. Scully should be shared.

AZ wins 4-3.

Padres magic number remains at 4.

Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?

So, I'm to understand from reading the comments that there was a Dodger Game today and Jason Phillips pinch hit for Hee-Seop Choi. And apparently the Dodgers won. And the DePodesta/Tracy/Frank McCourt/Jamie McCourt soap is apparently getting ready to boil over. Or not. Anything else?

127 We're all in mourning over the loss of Ch 13? And...um...it's a Sunday, I guess people decided there were better things to do (shame on them)

Well, it's just that there's 162 comments up over at Bronx Beat (why is that number so familiar?) and we just can't have Bronx Beat outrunning Dodger Thoughts. It runs contrary to the Karmic Order of the Toaster.

Hey don't look at me. I kept up my end of the bargain.

Xeifrank is in China. Jim Hitchcock told me his computer broke down. I believe Jon went to the game. Steve popped up a couple of times, but he probably wanted to show his face to his children.

Icaros came in briefly and then left once Phillips came up to bat.

Indeed, Bob, you held up your and many others' ends of the bargain, inluding mine.

I'm just stuck now trying to get some work done and incredibly not wanting too.

I have some baseball excitement coming because I ended up with tickets 5 rows behind home plate to see Randy Johnson pitch at Camden Yards tomorrow night.

Barajas has hit a 3 run homer, 4-2 Rangers, Saarloos and Dominguez entered with the same ERA, now Saarloos's is slightly higher

i am no longer a dodger fan if depo is a goner

But Sam, you're going to have to watch the Orioles play! They have looked horrible recently.

134 This is actually a rescheduled rain game from June. Man, it was a different world back then. The Orioles were cooling, but still viable; the Yankees were heating up, but still problematic.

Back in June the Orioles had Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro starting.

133
Wouldn't it be ironic if, after all the speculation and wishful thinking about Tracy's departure, it turned out that Depo left and Tracy stayed?

The Halo wins.

This postgame statement by Tracy can be interpreted so many ways:

"Jason Repko, with his energy ... is the kind of stuff that breeds a very dangerous environment for opponents who come to play against you," Tracy said.

139
Did Lima have the same kind of energy?

To quote Steve Martin: Make the bad man stop.

Given TB 8, Angels 4, what does 138 mean? Have I, gasp, missed something?

Why are the Giants considered to have a better chance of winning by "experts" than Oakland?

Don't both teams have remote chances of winning? Aren't the chances of the Giants winning four straight games in PETCO slight?

Hey folks,
I have my season seats available for Tuesday night vs. D'Backs. Loge 136 Row K plus snazzy parking. Email me at bigcpa@gmail.com.

144 I should have noted it'll be Scott Boras bobblehead day.

The A's are losing. That's all. It's a surrender.

146 Drag. Year like this is enough to make a man quit blogging, I'd expect. You flirted with Nats too bit, as I recall. Or should I say, the now formally eliminated Nats.

The last place Nats.

"I'm not having another surgery," Bonds said. "If that happens, I'll quit. I'm done, after October of next year."

And Alou the younger said he will pick up his $6 mil player option

So the Giants are going to be going with a Bonds-Winn-Alou outfield next year?

Is Sabean counting on Winn to continue playing way above he has performed in any previous year? But he's a relatively youthful 31. Youthful by Giants standards.

148 My town is awash in metaphysical "is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" discussions.

151

Poison provided the definitive answer to that question:

It's better to have lost at love
Than never to have loved at all

DC deserves better than Robinson.

I think the Nats deserve Robinson. The way that whole franchise is set up is a disgrace. So they might as well have a disgracefully bad manager like Robinson and a joke of a GM like B Bowden.

The whole franchise can fall into the Potomac as far as I'm concerned. Get rid of the Nats and contract another NL team to match up with them. Maybe the Giants.

Bob, that is as intemperate as I've ever seen you. :)

154 A fall into the Anacostia would be a good deal easier to accomplish, if that'd work allright for you.

I just don't like the Nats and one of my best friends was an Expos fan.

When you put Robinson and Bowden together, I turn into a Class 5 hurricane of rage.

And I always get those rivers in DC mixed up.

I know the feeling.

You get mad when you get the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers confused too?

Well, proximity and a wide-eyed four-year-old have me somewhat partial to the Nationals, but Robinson and Bowden are indeed Cat 5 material. And the way the team has ignored its Montreal heritage is shameful, and for no good reason as far as I can see. You're lucky you don't live here, because the massive and goldplated honeymoon those guys are enjoying (even despite the freefall) is, um, aggravating to say the least.

I know I am way late here, had (non-baseball) daughter's 10th birthday party today. Whatever happened to cake and ice cream in the backyard with pin the tale on the donkey. Almost sold Mrs. LAT when I got the bill for the party. Magicolopis in Santa Monica-kids enjoyed it but $$$. Had World War III in the house because the baseball daughters favorite day is fan appreciation and she had to be at her sister's party. She asks me to get those tickets as soon as the season starts. I guess she needs ceramic fireplace logs. If only she knew how much fan appreciation day sucks now. They used to give away a car and a boat they would drive around the warning track. Now they give posters they take down from the walls and a gift certificate for brunch at Cha Cha Cha. At any rate, this is not the issue I really wanted to raise. What I want to know is it morally wrong that I want Milton Bradley back?

The problems with MB are two fold: First, there is the Jeff Kent saga. Can they continue to coexist on the same team. I think so. Kent doesn't care. If he can deal with Barry, he can deal with anyone. He just wants to win. Can Milton deal with Kent? Who cares. He'll have to. Either way, we all agree chemistry is overrated. It does have value, just not as much as most think. And more than that, winning breeds chemistry.

The second issue. Domestic abuse. Let's all agree. It takes a very little man to smack a woman, no matter what the reason. He has emotional, control and anger problems. If one of my daughters were married to him, and he laid a hand on her, I would kick his @#!. But he's not married to my daughter. He plays center field for my favorite baseball team and he plays it well. So do I care about having players with character or winning? In a perfect world, I would like to have both. Its nice to have guys with character on your team. Its nice to point a player out to your child and tell them he does the right thing. Its equally unpleasant to have to explain to your child what the arrest reports are about. But sports is a business and nothing succeeds like winning. Just ask the people who employ Ron Artest, Ray Lewis, Kobe and Lawrence Phillips.

It is unfortunate that Bradley can't control himself or get along with his teammates, but he was not arrested, and frankly, if you listened tot he 911 call, his wife sounds a little wacko (no justification for raising a hind to her.) He is a good center fielder in a FA market devoid of outfielders. If we were going to make character a requirement, we would have kept Shawn Green, Dave Roberts and Alex Cora. But we didn't. We took another path. As such, let's see that path through.

My conclusion: who cares if its wrong, I just want to win.

114. Bob Timmermann

Whatever happened to KTLA channel 5? I e-mailed them a few yrs ago and asked why they didn't carry the Dodgers any longer. This was their reply:

"KTLA did not lose the Dodgers. Our contract was up with the team. We proposed a new contract. The Dodgers chose to broadcast on KCOP, a Fox-owned station"

So with the change in ownership I decided to e-mailed them again earlier this year but did not get a response.

I wanted to know since I'm in the East Bay and can get KTLA on Dish Network.

I would assume that KTLA would have too many conflicts with WB programming to show baseball games.

WGN cut back on the number of its Cubs games for the same reason. And the other teams also didn't like games being on the superstations either. Mainly because they didn't get enough money from them.

162
Depo clearly didn't "make character a requirement," but it seems like McCourt may "encourage" Depo to do things differently from here on out.

164. Bob Timmermann

Thanks. I was wondering why there were so few Cubs games on WGN.

I think McCourt wants to make money and win becasue winning makes money. If the Dodgers were winning, McCourt wouldn't care a lick about character. He now takes up the character mantle because it is a safe harbor in this Katrina of a season and he can lay it at Depo's doorstep.

167
You may be right, though I also think McCourt was embarrassed by some of the "character" episodes over the past few seasons.

162. LAT

Ask the Dallas Cowboys about Duane Thomas or even Cleveland about MB.
The question is how bad is he? How will he act in the future. No one can say for sure. The yr b4 he threw that bottle in the stands. Did he get "fixed" by the anger mgt program?

It seems to me he more issues than just anger.

154. Contract the Rockies with them!!!

Is it safe to assume Tavarez and Rogers will not come to the Dodgers as FAs? What other FAs are limited in the character department?

162. Fallout, you are right. That is the $64,000 question. How bad is he? Have we seen the worst or is there more to come? Who knows. But he has a long way to go until he is on the post office wall with Ray Lewis, Kobe and Artest, the hockey guy (I forget his name), Michael Irvin, Mike Tyson and on and on.

154. No, otherwise we are in last place and, this season excepted, who are we going to get a free 10+ games from? In all seriousness, next year the Rocks will not be the pushover the have been for the last number of years.

Is the "hockey guy" you're thinking of Todd Bertuzzi, the guy who broke another player's neck? Or are you thinking of Mike Danton, who tried to hire a hit man to kill his agent? Or Bob Probert, who had a bunch of drug arrests and DUIs? This is just scratching the surface.

174. I was thinking of Todd Bertuzzi, but let's go with Mike Danton, he is a better example of a player gone wrong. Can he play center field? :-)

175. LAT

And again he could go a full yr and be OK, then pull what that center for the Raiders did.

Nah.

Mike Danton is going to be prison for quite a while, so he won't be available.

Despite committing his crime in the U.S., he is serving his term in jail in Canada.
It's a pretty sad story. The guy he wanted killed is a Svengali-like guy. The player got alienated from his parents. To the extent that he changed his last name. He switched from having a name of an American revolutionary (Jefferson) to a French one (Danton).

176. Fallout

Barret Robbins...

164LAT Couldn't agree with you more. Since when is behavior off-field the determining issue about whether you keep a player? I have no idea what the truth is about what happened between MB and his wife; I don't think most of the people who took strong positions about it did, particularly the print journalists. Having been married to three difficult women, some of whom I really like and respect, I can understand what they might be going through. I want our Dodgers to win; I don't think I know why our 2006 team should not include MB, particularly because the aroma from this season's "issues" might make MB a real bargain.
I attended today's game. When Phillips hit for MCC, said to my son, somewhere there are hundreds of Dodger DT's heads exploding. Then, when he got the 2RBI single, I mentioned the hazards of small sample analysis. Since my son is very intellilgent, I did not have to explain.
Let's look forward to a good 2006 and an even better 2007!

179. deburns
Let's look forward to a good 2006 and an even better 2007!

Personally, I would rather root for the Angels than think about going from first place in 2004, then sinking (or is that stinking) so low that I have to wait for 2007.

180 That's exactly what the Angels did, only subtract 2 years from each date.

180. I may be drinking Kool-Aid but I don't think we will have to wait. I think it unlikly that the Dodgers will be hit this hard by injuries again in 2006. Assuming Drew and Gagne are healthy that should be good for at least 10+ games, those 10 games wold have made the diffrence this year. In addition, I expect Depo (and I assume he will still be here) will add at least one more stong bat or arm, which will be good for a few more games. SF will do little to improve. They will rise and fall with Barry and their very wron out bullpen. The Rocks will be improved but not enough to win. The D'Backs will be no better unless they get some pitching which will be too expensive next year for their budget. The real question is what will the Padres do to up grade. Either way, I don't think the division is much better in 2006 than it was in 2005, and the Dodgers could take it.

181 The Angels had 22 fewer wins in '03 than '02. To reach that mark, the Dodgers need to win 2 games

I think 2-5 is not a tough mark for the Dodgers to reach in the last week. It will help if the Padres have already clinched.

183. King of the Hobos
the Dodgers need to win 2 games

Would that be a high water mark? :(

I think the Dodgers should shoot for 4-3. Then they could make it to 73-89, which is a popular record for the team. They've hit that mark three times: 1967, 1986, and 1987.

177. Bob, the Mike Danton story is a sad one. 20/20 or one of those shows did an expose on the case and the family that Denton lived with during his club and minor league teams. He was a very niave young guy who was completely manipulated by his so-called mananger. The manager got his hooks into Danton when he was still in club hockey but expected to be a phenom. I think Danton asserted the mananger was trying to have him killed but no ever found proof of it. The 20/20 peice seemed to imply Danton did fear for his life.