My Dad-the-Yankee-Fan confessed that he liked Nomar a lot even when he was on the Red Sox(!) I definitely have a straightmancrush on him.

Btw, I just posted this in the previous thread but will repost it here in the new thread:

Rather than fixate on the bullpen ad nausem, how about a Dodger starting pitching update?

Here are the numbers:
Brett Tomko, (4-1, 2.93)
Derek Lowe, (1-2, 2.98)
Brad Penny, (3-1, 2.66)
Aaron Sele, (1-0, 1.98)
Jae Seo, 1-2, 5.31 (But obviously he pitched well yesterday)

Not too shabby.

Sele goes up against Jeff Weaver on Friday. While I'd say both pitchers are due - Sele to come back to Earth, Weaver to not be horrible - I'm looking forward to that one.

I'm sure Weaver would love nothing more than to pitch well against us.

Hopefully that makes him put too much pressure on himself, rather than just being the incentive he needs.

My gripe with the Nomar signing was that we signed both him and Bill Mueller. We needed a stopgap at third, and I thought Nomar was the guy. His best defensive asset is his arm, and that's totally neutralized at first.

I am also among those who thought we did not need an upgrade at first, and doubted whether Nomar represented an upgrade. That ground is well worn, obviously, and I won't go into it.

That said, the guy is kicking butt right now on offense and, for what its worth, on defense. He's always had the kind of game that relies on reflexes and athleticism, so I worried that post-injuries, and a few years down the road, that he might not have this kind of run in him. Well, he does, and its fun to watch. Plus, I'm a sucker for the hometown thing.

What does the move to first do for Nomar's health? It sould be easier than third or shrot, right, but is there any way of saying that particular areas where he's had injury problems before will be alleviated because of the move to first? Or left field, for that matter?

A lurker since the middle of last year here finally chiming in.

I don't know if this has gotten discussed much, but as much as I liked Depodesta in theory, I have to say that in terms of getting things accomplished Colletti has proved nearly exceptional. Colletti was quite adept at signing who he set out to sign even if I didn't 100% agree with his targets. If MLB threw all the players into a pot and let the GMs take turns picking I'd probably want Depodesta but in the current world where a GM has to get free agents to sign and get other GMs to trade, I think Colletti has done quite well.

And Garciaparra is a case in point. I'm sure lots of GMs wanted to take a chance on the guy. Who wouldn't when the upside had a chance, no matter how slight, of being very high. Right now we are benefitting from that upside and Colletti deserves credit for that.

Happily, I was one of those guys who just wanted Garciaparra on the team. I figured that it would end up being a bust, but I couldn't stop thinking about the WhatIf. Let's hope the WhatIf keeps happening.

OT, but what did people think of San Jose fans booing the Canadian national anthem before the Sharks-Oilers game?

http://tinyurl.com/zhbdb

I've been rooting for the Sharks for years, and was rooting for them this year, but found this completely embarrassing conduct by the fans.

6 Absolutely. The question was always, can he stay healthy, and except for the minor hiccup at the beginning of the year, so far so good... I think the Dodgers wanted him at 1b over 3b because it's a little less wear and tear on your knees and body. It's not easy, but it's easier on the body. Just ask Bill Mueller. Anyway, I'm happy to have the guy on the team, wherever he plays.

6 - Colletti has had hits and misses - and sometimes the hits and misses change week to week. Just as one of many possible examples, Mueller and Garciaparra probably haven't shared more than one simultaneous quality week in the season's first six.

If you don't agree with all of Colletti's targets, the virtue of his being able to sign them all is certainly mixed.

In any case, trying to nip in the bud this turning into a Colletti-DePo thread (don't really have time to manage that one today) I doubt Colletti acquired significantly more of his preferred targets than DePo did. We know, for example, that Colletti didn't solve left field the way he wanted to.

7
The Sharks fans were just copying some other U.S. fans (I forget which city) that did that in the playoffs a few years back.

Does anyone seriously think that people in San Jose has a gripe against the nation of Canada?

It's Canada! It's mostly harmless.

7 I hadn't heard about that, but I personally think it's out of bounds for good etiquette at sporting events. Boo the athletes and teams, not the anthems, especially not an anthem of a nation that is a good neighbor of ours. Among other things, Canada found a way to send timely help to New Orleans the week of Katrina when Rice was dragging her heels on approving any international aid. The Canadian rescue personnel sent were much needed help in the flooded St. Bernard parish at a time when there was absolutely no other trained personnel in the parish helping.

10 I like to wonder when the dolphins are going to depart Earth with their thank-you note...

6. You honestly can't believe that. I mean Brian Giles was probably the biggest target for the Dodgers this off-season, yet there he is in San Diego. Also, I'm not sure how in demand Nomar was this off-season.

Colletti has had hits and misses - and sometimes the hits and misses change week to week.

Ha! Exactly. It's only May. We won't be able to properly judge Colletti until at least the end of the season, and preferably we give him three.

preferably we give him three

There's a new sentiment.

On a different note, today's SF Examiner finally quit publishing the Bonds box "Countdown to History" with the recap of how he did the previous game, how many home runs he hit, and how many more he has to go to reach Ruth and Aaron.

I guess this last homestand was just too much even for the Examiner diehards.

15 - The same 3 years McCourt gave DePo?

17 That's exactly my point. If McCourt was unfair to DePodesta, shouldn't we ask that he be fair to Colletti?

This (center-left political) blogger says that Veronica Mars is going to be aired on The CW. I don't know if this is news, but I know how certain folks about Ms. (Miss?) Mars.

http://tinyurl.com/6sfh2

I still think Ethier is overmatched right now but I'm willing to let him learn on the Dodger team as the 4th outfielder. Repko, Drew, and Lofton, Ethier and Guzman for relief and pinch-hitting. Now, who can we unload Cruz and LeDee on? Not asking for much in return, prospects will be enough. The Red Sox have a big first baseman at Providence that might come in handy...

19 I expected it would make the line-up, but the confirmation is good nonetheless.

I think Ethier will be fine learning up in the majors, as long as the Dodgers show patience with him.

10 Maybe they'd watched the South Park movie recently and took it to heart?

Oh well... So long and thanks for all the fish.

As for the Dodgers OF, I like Ethier but think he could probably benefit from some more seasoning in AAA, then come back again later in the year. Though Ledee doesn't excite me much at this point. Having Repko back will help though.

19. Lisa de Moreas was pretty optimistic about the renewal in her post online chat on Friday too.

I interviewed Veronica Mars showrunner Rob Thomas last week for another story. He was 80-20 confident the series would be back - already working on season 3 - but said he would sleep better once he got official confirmation.

So, down 3-1 in the third inning, runner at second, no outs, Gardenhire has his leadoff man (and DH) Shannon Stewart bunting? This, after both teams lit up the scoreboard last night.

And Stewart pop bunted out.

Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

I thought my comment wouldn't be met with much glee on here but although I am well aware that there is not enough data to be definitive, I would wager that given a list of 5 guys to sign, Colletti would have more luck than Depodesta. I guess I was impressed with his ability to bring in guys this past year despite being on the job for what seemed like a few hours.

And to respond to Jon (and sorry for starting a debate you don't want started), it's all a matter of degree on whether or not you want a GM with the ability to get players here who sometimes targets the wrong guys. But of course you are aware.

To illustrate, if Depodesta wants to sign 90% of the right players but gets them 40% of the time while Ned signs 70% of the right players but gets them 60% of the time, we are statistically better off with Ned who would end up batting .420 with Paul sitting at .360.

This is just a thought I've had lately and Ned certainly could end up being bad, but the biggest concern about Paul I always had was that he didn't seem to be as able to get the deal done. I admit, this is just an impression but I don't think that anyone can argue that the ability to deal is as important as identifying who to deal for.

Now looking back at my post, I see the flaw in my logic is that the hypothetical 70-60 Ned from above ends up spending more money and with more players a manager might feel like he needs to play. But with Little doing a quality job of playing the right guys so far (No Phillips at 1st!!!) and the "wrong" players probably still being decent, Ned's still looking okay to me.

I guess what my endless blather is saying is that Ned may not be as pretty but he's better in bed.

I guess what my endless blather is saying is that Ned may not be as pretty but he's better in bed.

This isn't related to that, but i like prettier women who are not as good in bed better than uglier women who are better in bed.
LOL!!!!!!!!

27. I think the problem you have is with your assumption of 60% for Colletti. Firstly, we don't really know who either guy specifically targeted in each off-season, secondly, we have absolutely no idea how much demand there was for each player. Outside of Furcal I can't think of any player that Ned brought in that the Dodgers had a lot of competition for.

27 I just think that, regardless of where one falls on the DePo/Colletti debate, that for your particular metric above, we don't know enough. We don't know what DePo would have done for this season, so IMO it can't really be judged whether DePo would or wouldn't have gotten more of the players he targeted than Colletti did.

And while Colletti was theoretically "on the job" for just a short time when he made his acquisitions, he was coming off another gig in which he used much the same philosophy, and he signed some of his ex-players. In other words, it seems like it was 50% familiarity and 50% taking his old strategic plan and just crossing out the word "Giants" wherever it appeared and writing in "Dodgers". I don't think he shifted much from what he would have done had he stayed at the Giants org than if he hadn't moved to the Dodgers.

20-

Why do you wanna get rid of Ledee? He's a fine left handed bat off the bench...and he's really our only good left handed option.

I would like to get rid of Cruz and upgrade in LF also....some people have jumped down my throat for saying I want to upgrade in LF which I don't get. It's the only hole on our team where there is a potential to significantly upgrade over what we have now.

I don't think Colletti followed the Giants plan exactly. He knows that the Dodgers have better prospects in the minors than the Giants.

If the Giants were in a similar injury bind to the Dodgers, they would have been brining in AAAA players or making trades for mediocrities and hoping that they can keep catching Randy Winn in a bottle.

Plus the Dodgers don't have to build everything around Bonds, either. I agree that he didn't follow the full and complete Giants plan, but I do think he cribbed a few pages.

It's Tomko whom I'll never forgive him for signing.

[10] that should be canada's motto. sure, it's no "land of the free, home of the brave", but darned if it isn't catchy.

"Canada: Mostly Harmless!"

1 How about having a straightman crush on his wife, Mia Hamm?

6 I want to echo your sentiments about the What If scenario. When healthy, Nomar can obviously hit and has potential to be a great value at $6 million a year.

There is one thing that has me concerned about Garciaparra's health...that is Furcal's scatter arm. One of these days he is going to make a throw into the runner and G will get hurt catching it. So far G has done a good job of getting out of the way of such throws.

(and yes, i know our official motto is "in god we trust". that one's kinda lame though.)

10 From I heard on the news this morning, the fans booing also ticked off all the Sharks' Canandian players as well.

or is it "e pluribus unum"? that one's a lot better.

come to think of it, "in god we trust" is just a phrase we print on our coins, isn't it.

30-Christina

I concede your first paragraph. I have no real data. This is all just my impression and may be completely wrong. I was simply wondering if others had the same impression or have thought about such a metric when considering the success of a GM.

Jose Cruz is 11th in the NL in walks with 23. He's only had 100 at bats and has a .381 OBP. He's hitting .318/.515/.455 in May (10 walks in 22 at bats!) He's hitting .319/.441/.511 batting 2nd (47 at bats). At the very minimum, Cruz should be platooning with Lofton and play 4 games a week. Instead, Grits is wasting his OBP at the bottom of the lineup when he does play him. He may not be hitting for much power, but that OBP is being wasted. Why did Grits allow Bill Mueller to completely stink, yet he benched Cruz when he was in a slump?

okay, so i looked it up. IGWT replaced EPU as our national motto in the 50s, naturally. right around the time they stuck in the phrase "under god" in the pledge. ah, the red scares.

[41] also, your 90/20 and 70/60 scheme is too cut-and-dry. certain players are more "right" than others. what if one would've been amazing and another would have been simply decent, but he was able to get the amazing player and not the decent one?

(also, sorry to make five off-topic posts about the national motto. i got carried away :) )

As Jon said the scorecard changes on Ned every couple of weeks. I'll be honest, many moves he made that I agreed with have not worked out. Baez and Hamulack were two moves that I was behind and they have been hacks. Four moves I couldn't have cared less about were bringing in Sele/Beimel/Saito/Alomar and so far they have worked out. Check back in a couple of weeks and it could easily be reversed. The biggest reason I was a Ned booster was because of the short term contracts he passed out. It showed me he was committed to the youth movement and he has done nothing to change my mind. As injury after injury hit this team he didn't make deals to patch the holes, he brought up the kids and then Grady played them. Looks like the GM and manager are on the same page. I'm enjoying this year with the older veteran mix of Nomar, Lofton, Kent, Mueller, to go along with prime time players Drew and Furcal and the youth of Navarro, Martin, Repko, Loney, Aybar, Martin, and Ethier.

Nomar should be enjoyed, this streak he's on may be the best we ever get out of him.

At least "In God We Trust" has a good case for being the national motto, since The Star-Spangled Banner has a line that reads:

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

All "E Pluribus Unum" and "Annuit Coeptis" have ever done for the country is to give conspiracy nuts more ammo.

I like it when people argue with me at work that U.S. currency has no intrinsic value because it isn't backed by gold. I respond to that by offering to take all their Federal Reserve notes off of their hands to save them the worry.

Canada's real motto is:
A mari usque ad mare

The fact that Colletti's good moves change week to week mean that we shouldn't be doing any real player evaluation yet. A little over two weeks ago Mueller and Drew were the best offensive players the Dodgers had, and both of them have slumped since. Now Nomar, Olmedo and Russ Martin, none of whom have more than 75 at bats lead the team offensively.

Sample size is a very tricky thing, and it can take months for numbers to stabalize. Let's just enjoy the production we're getting now, and wait until the end of the season to judge the end results of his moves.

31 You know, you're right, I was probably too harsh on Ledee - while he doesn't excite me (and seems in the injury prone, downward turn part of his career) he's a pretty solid lefty off the bench. Again, when healthy.

33 I wasn't thrilled about Tomko either, but figured him to be a cheaper replacement for Jeff Weaver, and you have to admit, he's been a helluvalot better than Weaver or than expected...

The best thing Colletti has done is what he hasn't done - trade the farm for short term veterans. (Save for the EJ and Tiffany for Baez and Carter trade, and frankly the jury's still out on all of those guys...) That and signing Nomar. Did I mention I like Nomar?

47 That's in one of our songs too.

46. you know actual goldbugs? I thought that they were virtually extinct and just kept alive to contribute to the op-ed pages of Forbes and the Wall Street Journal.

[47] our take on that phrase is better because our seas are "shining" :P

49 I agree Tomko has been better than expected, so far. It's just that given the amount of razzing I had to take from Giants fans over the signing, he has to do considerably better than expected to make up for that to me - like Cy Young form.

Since Satan should be needing mittens before that ever happens, I feel safe in saying that I'll never forgive Colletti for the signing. ;)

51

I work in a public library. I meet gold bugs. I meet people who want books written by Father Coughlin.

And those are the sane ones.

Colletti's good moves change week to week mean that we shouldn't be doing any real player evaluation yet

A team that has different heroes each week is a sign of a good team. No one player is hot for an entire season. To have diff players pick up for someone who is slumping is a good sign.

i actually kinda like tomko at this point. he's a lot less maddening in blue.

ok, here. non sequiter for the discussion at hand, but looking at post 2 makes me wish this were a softball team. We could just stop the game after 7 innings. Then we wouldn't need our bullpen most of the time at all.

Or, we could move to oregon and pray for rain delays after the 5th inning every day...

I think either solution is viable.

The sane ones aren't looking for Aimee Semple?

I'm not a goldbug, but there are situations where it might become nice if we had a currency backed up by something.

Such as a $10 trillion debt situation where the Federal Reserve has quit printing the M3 monetary aggregate, and where the GAO projected solutions for down the road are not pleasant and politically impossible to carry out. We're already printing a lot of money as it is, and we can't just print our way out of the problem, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's tried as a short-term, stupid, solution.

58

Not my floor fortunately.

53 Whenever your Giants fan give you hard time about Tomko, just mention Kirk Reuter. Better yet, how about that great A.J. Pierzynski (yes I had to look up how to spell his name) for Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano trade.

59

If it was good enough for Weimar Germany, then it's good enough for the USA!

At least our country will end up producing some really good Expressionist Art and writers like Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht.

53 I feel your pain; I have to take razzing from Giants fans, too. Giants fans prefer mindless razzing to thoughtful commentary or long term analysis. They're just bitter because they haven't won a world series since their arrival in SF. Anyway, I remember how erratic Tomko was last year which is why I questioned the move, but a change of scenery for a pitcher who has pretty decent stuff is often a good thing.

Meanwhile, just remind your Giants fans friends that their team is in last place and made very few moves in the off season beyond signing Matt Morris (yawn).

63 Oh, and adding more geriatric talent.

59. Honestly, I would think that the interest rates of US government debt would have to stop being the benchmark price for risk free debt before we would even have to consider backing up our currency with anything. Before that of course, the dollar would have to stop being the asset that backs up the value of almost all other currencies. Backing the value of the currency with a an arbitrary commodity such as gold severely limit our flexibility and really should be done only in a catastrophe.

When I worked on Kwajalein in the mid-1970s I knew a lot of gold bugs. They were buying Krugerrands at $325 per coin. I'm happy for them. Finally, 30 years later, their investment is starting to pay off (if they haven't sold them for cash in the meantime).

I gotta be honest & say I was one of those guys that wanted him on the team BUT looked at the past 2 season's & got scared from all the freak injuries he had, I'm glad I was wrong. It's great to have a hometown boy in Dodger blue!

Believe me, I never let up on razzing the Giants fans. It's been so easy, too, what with Bonds and the other aging vets and so-so pitchers and World Series fiasco. I just wish Colletti hadn't given them some good ammo with which to return fire. ;)

A team that has different heroes each week is a sign of a good team. No one player is hot for an entire season. To have diff players pick up for someone who is slumping is a good sign.

Well, not really. It's the sign of a mediocre (.500) team that gets to that record without long winning streaks and losing streaks. A team where everyone was hot for a while then cold for a while would get to the same place, just along a much more maddening path. A team where players take turns getting hot, then slumping is at least interesting, in that you never know what's going to happen. And I'll take mediocre and interesting over mediocre and predictable (Kent/Drew or Green/Beltre or bust) any day.

63 - Giants averaged 90 wins a season, and finished either 1st or 2nd in the division from 1997 to 2004, including a World Series appearance and several trips to the playoffs.

That's what I get when I try to throw razzing back in their face. Friggin' Bonds.

I think I'm going to become a Free Silver advocate. Can I get my silver redeemed at a 16:1 ratio?

I'm not going to be crucified on a Cross of Gold again!

68. No kidding. And watching Bonds and Finley "patrol" LF and CF in this last series was painful. How many fly-ball doubles did the Dodgers get that would have been outs with any other OFers? I know Nomar got one. Ethier too. I think there were a few more. For the first time in a long time, watching sports made me feel young (and I'm not).

Bob Timmermann this is gonna probably sound kinda dumn but I was watching the replay yesterday of the Dodgers against the Giants & I saw nothing wrong with Schmidt's mechanics except that the pitches probably got away because of pine tar. I know it's cheating if you use pine tar, what's you're take?

I hope I'm wrong but what do you think?, if you watch the slo-mo's of it it looks like the ball got stuck in his fingers just a bit to long.

70 Yeah, you can't win. There's no arguing. I just wish they'd come up with a new anti-Dodger chant other than "Beat LA" - I mean, c'mon, go ahead and hate 'em but it's the same child-like war cry they've been yelling for decades and it's gotten old. But so far the only alternative I've heard (and I heard it a lot on Saturday) was "LA sucks!" And then a guy behind me yelled, "Nuke LA!" instead of Beat LA. Very clever.

Not that we have anything particularly clever to yell back when the Giants are in LA, either.

I didn't watch yesterday's game.

76

just my dumb opinion. I'm sure I'm wrong.

75 If the Giants have one thing over us, it's the chant, although they can't take credit for it, our city just fits better in the standard three-syllable chant meter. We're stuck with the very sophomoric "Gi-ants suck!".

I don't know how Giants fans could still be giving Dodger fans flack about signing Tomko if he does better for us than he did for them. It's about time the tides turn, I've had enough Tom Goodwin and Marquis Grissom nightmares for a lifetime.

I think it's hard to come up with anything clever that can also be chanted properly by a crowd of people, so that's one thing I don't really fault them for.

Anaheim I find more annoying, what with the thundersticks. I also think the Braves' chop is stupid.

69 GoBears

The problem, as you are aware, is not hitting it's relief pitching.

Although I'm not a Yankees fan, I do like the "Let's Go Yankees" chant. I also like how they chant each player's name in the top if the 1st.

The Angels are in last place in the AL West. There are only two teams in the AL with worse records: Tampa Bay and Kansas City.

And if you read the LA Times, you would have no idea that there were any problems with the team.

The LA Times sports section writes about:
1) The Clippers
2) The Lakers and how they can get better
3) .....
4) .....
5) Long lines at concession stands at Dodger Stadium
6) The Dodgers
7) The Angels
8) The Galaxy
9) Chivas USA
10) The Ducks (who happen to be in NHL semifinals)

80 Up until a couple days ago, according to win expectancy hitting and the bullpen were almost equally at fault.

81 Yes, "Let's Go (two syllables here)" is a serviceable enough chant - boring, but easy to chant. With the A's it's "Let's Go Oak-land" clapclap clapclapclap.

The thing with chants is if they don't follow the classic chant meter, everyone ends up getting confused.

A game I recently went to, some group tried to get a "Gooooo-Dodgers-Go (clap clap)" chant started, and it didn't work because no one could really figure out the rythmn. If you don't have a classic chant, it's hard to get outside support.

84 Unfortunately for the A's, the chant doesn't sound so good when there are onluy 10,000 fans in the stand.

"Beat L.A." conjures up too many bad memories of watching the Dodgers at the 'Stick and the Giants coming back to win the game in the bottome on the ninth. The horror of it all.

One year my brother's Little League team, Golden Hills, did very well. The chant we used was "G-H" clapclap, and it was firmly believed by the parents that it had magical powers and was used sparingly, in critical situations. It did get the team all the way to the LLWS on a suicide squeeze play that won the west, during the tournament in Fresno, which I personally remember more for my first case of food poisoning ever.

Then the team was given "West" jerseys and referred to that way in the WS, but the parents decided to continue with the G-H chant. It failed. They probably still blame the change of jerseys.

I think the "Let's Go ____" began or was popularized with the Mets when they were first introduced to the world. Angell called the fans "The Go-Shouters."

Nice William Jennings Bryan reference, Bob.

What do you mean William Jennings Bryan reference? Those are my own original political thoughts!

When I wrote a sign of a good team s/b a good hitting team.

83 regfairfield - I find that strange. Haven't the Dodgers scored more runs than all the teams in the West and up there with all teams in the NL?

The Dodgers and Reds have both scored 196 runs, most in the NL.

Toronto leads the majors at 217.

89 If that's the case I expect you to argue the next evolution case in Missouri or somewhere; who here has been reincarnated as Clarence Darrow?

Monetary Policy Thoughts. Sweet.

90 - OK, Fallout. What is "s/b"? I've seen you write that before, and thought it was a typo or something...

91
Are there any stat websites out there that distinguish between "earned" runs scored and "unearned" runs scored?

94 s/b - should be

Nomar is co-NL Player of the Week. I'll leave it to you to guess the other co-.

96 - Thanks. Never saw that abbreviation before, and couldn't for the life of me figure it out by context.

97 - Pujols is generally a safe pick.

97 Based on today's thread, I would have guessed the new Fed chairman.

79 The Braves fans tomahawk chop is not only annoying, it's fairly racist as well. If I were Native American and I saw a bunch of mostly white Southerners doing that, I'd probably either be angry, or more likely, embarrassed for them.

85 Anyone remember the obscure cartoon that used to be shown with Underdog (natch), "Go Go Gophers"? It had the theme song "Go go gophers, watch them go go go." Maybe we could use that for the Dodgers? Too obscure?

(Of course, that cartoon was fairly close to racist, too, in its depiction of Indians, or at least hasn't aged very well.)

97 Barry Bonds?

{cough}
{ahem}

So are the Cleveland Indians?

For a minute there, I thought it would be Shawn Green. Took player of the week honors when Choi had his six-homer series against the Twins.

That was a miscarriage of justice on a par with the Scottsboro Boys case!

Or maybe my speeding ticket back in 1984.

Or my speeding ticket back in 2005.

WE've scored 196 and given up only 171. We are obviously playing better than our record and Karma owes us for last season and this season. I like our chances and am getting more and more excited.

106 k j

How many leads has this team lost after the 6th inning? I know that a few of them were sizable leads.

106
Looks like the Dodgers have the 6th best avg. margin of victory in the ML, yet only the 13th best record. I suppose that suggests they have won a lot of blowouts, and lost a lot of close games.

Karma? I hear that Frank McCourt has a sheet of yellow paper he keeps in his pocket and he's trying to go around and cross things off.

102 That would be hilarious.

The Examiner also featured a column on Bonds today in which he said he knew his teammates supported him because he'd read their statements of support in the media.

It's like he's isolated himself from his teammates for so long that he has absolutely no clue of how normal people support each other when they all work and travel together.

54 Bob Timmermann
>>>I work in a public library.<<<

I thought you were the library.

From my calculations, the Dodgers have the 15th best record in the majors.

There are 8 NL teams and 6 AL teams with records over .500.

It will be interesting to see the reaction if Bonds hits number 714 (and 715) on the road.

112
Ah ah, you correct sir, ah ah ah...

I think my eyes lost focus while scrolling.

107 - How many [sizable] leads has this team lost after the 6th inning?

This is a good thing though, right? I'll take my chances on being able to protect big leads late in games, if given repeated opportunities to do so.

115 Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.

I do actually sort of think this is a good thing, but for a different reason: It's a little easier to find some arms to plug bullpen holes than to plug other holes a team might have.

Actually, I researched this today. The Dodgers have lost seven three-run leads this season - but five of them were blown by the fifth inning. Only the SD and SF games came after.

116 - Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.

It will be different - no more Lance Carter, for one.

And yes, I agree, bullpen arms are easiest to upgrade as the season progresses.

115 blue22

You changed my quote.

117 Jon Weisman

I wonder if those early leads were lost by the stater or middle relief. Probably the starter but it shows a need for good middle relievers too.

116 Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.

Yet how many times have we all walked into a room, flipped the light switch and burnt the bulb out, yet continued to flip the switch four or five more times just in case? Makes me feel stupid every time, but I can't stop.

Johnson, you're insane. Weisman can I say that?

121 Sounds like a personal attack. You should probably avoid it, just in case.

119 - Sorry, just consolidated, and pointed out the changed part. No disrespect intended.

A Phillies' blog Jon links to the right -- A Citizen's BLog for the Philadelphia Phillies -- shares this quote from The Fielding Bible: "I'm reminded about what The Fielding Bible said about Rowand: 'Not always the fastest or smoothest defensive center fielder, Rowand more than gets the job done nonetheless ... Rowand plays with reckless abandon ... he would run through a wall to make a play.'" Funny.

123 blue22

Not a problem. Just was curious how many leads of any type had been lost after the 6th.

122 Johnson

:)

If anyone cares, today's line up was posted on Inside the Dodgers:
Furcal
Lofton
Garciaparra (NL Player of the Week)
Drew
Kent
Saenz
Cruz
Martin
Tomko

Not a bad lineup. Interesting that Saenz is playing 3b two days in a row, after Aybar's defense had some issues on the weekend. I'm sure that's not the only reason (match ups, etc)...

I have the standings listed NBA style on the Griddle so it's easier to check where one team is overall.

Unless I mistype something.

124 They talkin' bout Aaron Repko?

It's still early, Nomar's average and OPS will come back down to earth. I'm not sure I buy the argument about a player's defensive position affecting his offensive output (besides catcher {knees}). But what's done is done (Choi) and if Nomar is too brittle to play the OF then so be it but if he is able to play other positions then I don't by the line about him being more productive offensively at a certain position. Has anyone in the saber community ever done a study on this? vr, Xei

126 Interesting indeed. When I saw that both Cruz and Saenz were playing I assumed a lefty was on the mound, but instead it's perpetual waste of space right-hander Josh Fogg. Hopefully it's just a little time for the young 'uns to clear their heads, they've been doing so well lately of letting the kids play.

Bob sez: "I have the standings listed NBA style on the Griddle so it's easier to check where one team is overall."

Does anyone else think Bob is taking to this "blogging" phenomenon like a duck to water?

Is Sele scheduled to pitch at Colorado. That might be fun to watch. In trainwreck sense.

Did anyone hear why Joel Guzman sat out yesterday? I attended the Sat and Sun games in Vegas and was curious. Billingsley was pretty impressive in person. He topped out at 97 on the gun. I took off before Carrara and Carter got in the game. I'll post some pictures tonight.

Yeah, but if I were smart I would figure out a way for the standings to update without me having to type them in manually.

134 Easy. Make your girlfriend do it, or take on a reader as your "assistant" who will be so grateful for the honor s/he'll do it for free. ;)

132 No, Sele goes Friday against the Angels (and Jeff Weaver - who is also fun to watch in a trainwreck sense).

The idea of my girlfiend being able to figure out how to read HTML codes. She's not a computer person. As evidenced by her question to me last week, "Does my computer run Microsoft Windows?"

Bob, that would be an easy thing to write as a script. If you're interested, I'm sure one of us could do it.

137 Freudian slip?

I'll offer anyone who wishes to write such a script can have a Random Game Callback dedicated to them.

It's a rare honor accorded to no one before!

140 I wish I could, but that's beyond my skill level.

I seriously hope the Dodgers get into the post-season for several reasons, not the least of which is that Bob's Random Game Callbacks might then include some pretty famous games, like Game 4 of the 1929 WS, when the Athletics overcame an 8-0 Cubs lead in the 8th inning with 10 runs of their own.

The regular season ones will end on August 27.

If I do them in the postseason, they won't be all that random.

I think the national anthem booing got started in detroit when the raptors were in town after Canadians acidentally killed some servicemen in the 'Stan. Then some Canadian Hockey fans returned the favor, and another 'great' tradition was started.

62 Sums up what I think is the political majority here... not that there's anything wrong with that! :-P

124 Unless he was on your fantasy team. Seriously, though, between that and Matsui I was definitely thinking about injuries as I took my soon to T-ball....

What was the Over/Under on Seo giving up the HR to Bonds? I was certianly surprised he didn't.

I meant Detroit instead of 'in town'. That makes me laugh, because I've never even been to Detroit.

126-The Tomato in Coors field in 37 ABs, .378/.442/.676 with 2 homers, against Josh Fogg 1 for 3 with a home run.

However, the Aybar family should get some tickets for this weekend at Dodger Stadium as both brothers are up with their respective teams.

Today's Dodgers v Rockies sim game is in the books. The Dodgers ended up winning 7-2. Tomko was able to go 6 innings. Furcal was the hitting star with a single and a 2-run HR.
Dodgers...7-14-0
Rockies...2-8-0
WP-Tomko, LP-Fogg

What kind of script are you looking for Bob? Something to read the standings from a site like MLB.Com and then format it into HTML code? That's easy. :) vr, Xei

Yes, but the standings need to be rearranged so they teams are ranked from 1-14 or 1-16, but with the three divisional leaders placed 1-2-3.

127 Bob, you should rename them "League Standings". As you well know, baseball does not have conferences.

149 - He's purposely mimicking the NBA.

I know, it's just a semantics thing. Baseball has leagues, not conferences!

Let me elaborate on that. Mimicking the NBA by calling them "Conference Standings" makes it seem like just a novelty, when in fact, those are the true standings. All that counts in baseball is finishing in the top four, as Bob has it organized.

I wouldn't mind seeing the league standings appear that way in the LA Times, personally.

"All that counts in baseball is finishing in the top four, as Bob has it organized."
-------

Uh, no. You can finish in the top four and not make the playoffs.

Was having a good baseball discussion here at work. Could someone on the board please explain to me how the performance of a "replacement level player" is determined in the VORP metric?

Is it considered the performance of a league average player, or is it supposed to imitate the performance of a AAAA type player.

I understand the various degrees of VORP and WARP, but don't have my head around this "replacement level player"

Thanks

153 - No, he's right. Bob has it organized as top-3 division leaders, and then in descending order of winning_% (wild cards).

155 Correct, but that's not quite what "finishing in the top four" means. I mean, I know Disabled List probably meant exactly what you said, but if you use the strict meaning of the phrase, it's not correct. It is theoretically possible that in a super-strong division where the 2nd place team takes the wild card, the 3rd place team still has a better record than winner of one of the other divisions. But that 3rd place team isn't going to the playoffs, even though it's one of the top four teams in baseball strictly by record. That was Eric's point.

155 oops. mea culpa.

154 - Baseball Prospectus (Keith Woolner) had this to say about "replacement level" last year:

"A replacement-level player is one who is "easily available" to any team--a AAA journeyman or end of the bench player. There's a research article I wrote explaining replacement level in gory detail in Baseball Prospectus 2002. Replacement level is significantly below average--about 80% of average for the position. If you think of it in OPS terms, roughly 70 points of OPS below the average for the position is replacement level. "

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4187

Although, reading again, I do see that Disabled List had "as Bob has it organized" as a qualifier, which Eric and I both missed. Never mind.

Thanks blue22. Here is another article on the subject giving an example with a bit of witty humor thrown in.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2032

158 Ohhhh, I always thought VORP meant Value Over RePko.

Bob. I could probably automate that for you. Would go something like this.

1. Program could only run on a system with internet access.
2. Read standings from mlb.com, espn.com or some other sports website.
3. Parse website of standings and extract standings info for each team.
4. Sort standings in format wanted.
5. Output into a text ascii file, using the html template of your choice.
6. You cut n paste that output text ascii file into your website or blog code, or however you modify your code.

I could do it in my spare time, which could be anywhere from a week to a month. Email me if interested. xeifrank@yahoo.com
vr, Xei

They are going to have to change the name to VOB.

163 Well you know you can't spell BLOWN SAVE without BAES. We'll just pretend it's spelled that way so it's funny.

Actually, everyone in the major leagues but Francisco Cordero would have positive VOB, so it wouldn't be a very helpful statistic.

VOB for pitchers, VOL for utility infielders.

100- "Ben-Ber Nan-Ke" clapclap clapclapclap

166 - You mean VOLII?

169
:)

164 Are you dissing the Dodgers' blow-pen again?

I was inspired to arrange the standings in the way I did by the "Number Three Seed" Denver Nuggets.

The Braves fans tomahawk chop is not only annoying, it's fairly racist as well. If I were Native American and I saw a bunch of mostly white Southerners doing that, I'd probably either be angry, or more likely, embarrassed for them.

Hey thats not that bad.
Just imagine if you were Irish, and saw the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the little leprechaun every week on NBC.
Talk about stereotyping....

Barry Bonds will be starting in Houston tonight for the Giants and batting cleanup against Tyler Buchholz.

Hey, San Diego isn't playing Chicago anymore. Maybe they'll start losing. It seemed like they played the Cubs about 10 straight games.

Nice to see that Grits has likely given up on Aybar after that one error. It probably doesn't hurt the defense much since Tomko is a flyball pitcher though. I think Coors Field is playing as more a pitchers park this year. Something must going on. Fogg has only allowed 3 home runs in 40 innings. The Rockies pitching staff is now throwing strikes and actually striking out a few guys. Watch out for Brad Hawpe, he's really turning into a great hitter.

San Diego won't play Chicago again unless they meet in the postseason.

The Dodgers are all done with Houston.

John Laroche is done with fish.

Nice to see that Grits has likely given up on Aybar after that one error.

Sarcasm - yes or no?

The fact that it is Saenz rather than Robles/Ramon makes it a little less annoying, but I want Aybar at 3rd more often than not.

As was pointed out by 145 above, Saenz has especially great numbers at Coors, and has a home run against Fogg, and the Dodgers were obviously just trying to find him a place in the line up today. I think it's more about him and less about Aybar, who will likely be in the line up again within a day or two at the most.

176
Meanwhile, Gaffe-y Furcal racks up the E's with impunity.

I don't know if it's been discussed, but I would have expected another punny title like, "Nomar, so good." ;-)

Not to stir the pot up too much, but does anyone else find it interesting that the teams tied for the most runs in the NL (Dodgers and Reds) are also 1 and 2 in stolen bases in all of baseball? Has Ozzieball taken over?

Obviously I'm joking a bit, but it does put to rest some of the talk about not being able to score runs with little power.

176 When did they start to refrigerate the balls at Coors field?

I'm glad Boo-nds didn't tie or pass Ruth for third place on the all-time HR list against us. Wonder if he goes on the DL shortly after passing Ruth for #3?
vr, Xei

184 I'm just waiting for body parts to start flying off him everytime he swings the bat.

184 Heh. That reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Mr Burns and Smithers enter a film in the Springfield film festival and, after their work is greeted by boos, Smithers reassures Mr Burns, "No no, they're saying 'Boo-urns, Boo-urns'!"

180 What's bad about Furcal (and Mueller) is why I'm favorable toward Nomar nowadays. His hitting lately has been outasite, but like all streaks, it won't last. But Nomar will save a couple of runs a week (WAG) with his athletic saves of bad throws from the left side of the infield.

I think speed has helped in terms of extra bases, ie. doubles and going from first to third or second to home on singles.

183- 2002. I don't know why it's just started working (unless they've been monkeying with it every year and finally found a good formula). It's also possible that--gasp--the Rockies pitchers really aren't that bad, now. I mean, if Tomko and Sele are legit, then anything is possible, isn't it?

http://tinyurl.com/gattz

I'm calling it.

Bonds is getting it done now (on deck, at least according cbs sportsline)
. 5:19 p.m.

Do us proud, Houston.

By "getting it done," I meant drawing another record breaking walk.

Anyhoo, not a good start for Buchholz.

184 I'm sure Vin is quietly glad he didn't have to announce it as well.

187 One positive about Furcal and Mueller, though, is that even when they're struggling at the plate, they still are taking walks and doing what they can to get on base. That being said, Furcal in particular has been weaker than expected defensively.

189 You know, I can see the guy's point. Why should baseball interfere? Nobody in the Commissioner's office griped when there was a short porch in right field in Yankee Stadium and Ruth was hammering home runs out there. I sure don't want more cookie-cutter stadia like all the old multi-purpose ones (Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, etc.).

191 I prefer a HBP.

192 You never know. Vin still might have to call it.

isn't Pac Bell a favorable HR park for lefties? Didn't Aaron play in a place called "The Launching Pad". I'm not sure about the park factors of the #1 hitter, Mr Oh... perhaps Mr Library knows. :)
vr, Xei

Does anyone know a good home made remedy for a really bad sun burn?

Ahhhh MLBTV broadcasting from Colorado

If Barry Bonds is having trouble moving around in the OF, why not just stick him at 1st base?

Ray Durham just sacrificed a runner to third with the first out of the inning. This, of course, gives Mike Matheny and Brad Hennessey a big shot to drive him in.

Just thought that might look familiar to some of you.

Can we get past the whole Bonds should be walked or hit with a pitch every time up? I'm sorry if it rubs the wrong way for me to say this, but it's rubbing me the wrong way to hear it. Even on a joke level, it really is getting tired.

Baseball has sanctioned Bonds to play. He's a reality. The choices are either to get him out or make the best of things. I detest the message that's being sent by talking or joking about not pitching to him.

199 Just proving my skills as a counter-indicator. Matheny picked up the sac fly.

San Francisco is a favorable home run park for guys named Barry Bonds. Not anybody else.

Aaron's late career surge was probably helped by Atlanta, but it wasn't helped when he was younger because County Stadium in Milwaukee was a pitcher's park

200 I get what you're saying, Jon, and the fact is that he doesn't warrant pitching around right now. However, the fact is, actual major league teams are still walking him quite a lot, including the Dodgers over the weekend.

The Giants ought to thank everybody for the base, and when Finley cools off, find some better lineup protection.

200 The flip-side, of course, is Giants fans screaming "pitch to him!" and booing every time a ball is called. (Your point is well-taken, though).

The Bonds event is basically a non-starter -- he will pass Ruth. Even Scott Podsednik and pitchers can occasionally hit homers. Frankly, BB is looking so weak right now I'm amazed he's getting ANY intentional walks. Talk about surviving on past glories.

Fogg can't find the strike zone.

Bad Nomar!

203 - I understand that he gets walked. I'm talking about the people who want to walk him as some sort of misguided effort to punish him. I don't think that's why he's getting walked these days.

Currently Taboo Topics:

1. Walking/beaning Bonds
2. Steiner's "every flyball is a HR"-itis

I'm great at stating the avious

Did Nomar get the memo?

203 I agree that Bonds is not hitting well enough at this time, to warrant pitching around him. I think people genuinely dislike the thought of giving up #714.

Jon, sorry about the HBP remark, if it's been hackneyed here. Haven't been around enough to have a pulse on the mood of the site. I just blurted out a thought that occurs to me everytime I see Bonds' bloated mug.

Is stating the avious like burnishing the cat?

DJ is terrible. Swing the bat!

204- He could still get hurt. It's to be hoped in some non-walk/HBP way. Jail would also prevent him from making it. Asteroids, Noah's ark style flooding, really any number of things. Keep hope alive!

207- Though I feel walking Bonds can be justified ethically, I will refrain from any comments regarding intentional Bonds walking.

How is acting childish in a child's game misguided?

Well, Bonds could always turn into Jason Kendall II, the one guy in baseball who is apparently unable to hit home runs anymore.

Wow, pitch 4 obliterated pitch 1 on Gameday.

207- Though I feel walking Bonds can be justified ethically, I will refrain from any comments regarding intentional Bonds walking.

How is acting childish in a child's game misguided?

At least it was a 24 pitch inning for Fogg.

From watching young Mr. Buchholz today, he could walk Jeff Francouer with his stuff.

215 - I can think of about a hundred ways. If you punch someone in the face during kickball, is that not misguided?

Bonds up in Houston.

Lane is a terrible fielder!

Saenz with the throwing error. Aybar sighs in relief.

Ten errors by Dodger third basemen this year.

221- That's pretty slippery slope.
Anyhow I don't really want to get into it. The question was more of a statement regarding why HBP and IBB comments have been taking place.

I've never seen a ball in the outfield takes such a bad hop as Bonds double did in Houston. It bounced right in front of Lane and then almost caromed over the fence.

Buchholz has yet to give up a single.

The Houston announcers are openly derisive of Bonds. Which I think is unusual and not entirely professional.

Old Maid showing off his gold glove defense.

And a Pedro Feliz home run makes it 8-0 Giants and Buchholz should be checking on apartments in Round Rock.

While I myself have never advocating walking Bonds intentionally - because I didn't want the Dodgers to be accused of chickening out - I do think, Jon, that the comments this past weekend that did say to walk Bonds were coming out of a desire not to want Bonds to homer against the Dodgers, not out of a desire to punish him.

Old Maid error costs the Dodgers a run. You better bench him now, Grits.

And a HR is hit in Houston.....by Pedro Feliz

how many unearned runs have Dodger pitchers given up? Where does that rank in the league?

Please ignore most of my comments tonight, I am very badly sun burned and kind of out of it.

A grand slam by Feliz, no less.

Curtis, aloe vera is always good for burns.

Bruce Bochy must not like moving batters around in the order. Josh Bard is the starting catcher today and he's batting cleanup.

Yesterday the Padres had Brian Giles walk 5 times in a 9-inning game and pitcher Clay Hensley strike out 5 times. It is, for now, believed to be the first time that's ever happened in the same 9-inning game according to Dave Smith of Retrosheet.

236-

Marty,

Do you know of any good drinks for relieving sunbruins?

Wow, that really carried.

Feliz must be resembling his name.

Yay Cruz. Curtis, if you don't have to work tomorrow, I recommend bourbon.

239 Was it hit far? On Yahoo Game Channel, every HR is always deep to left field, right field, etc.

239 Was it hit far? On Yahoo Game Channel, every HR is always deep to left field, right field, etc.

239 Was it hit far? On Yahoo Game Channel, every HR is always deep to left field, right field, etc.

Nice to see Cruz produce after my little rant today. Too bad he's not batting 2nd though.

241 Or Pedro Borbon....Sorry, it's been a long day. ;-)

244 It cleared right center by about 10 feet.

I second Marty's recommendation of bourbon.

242 Yes
243 Yes
244 Yes

241- Bourbon? I will try that out.

Thankfully I am moving in about 1.5 weeks and recently left my job.

The Rockies run in the first was the 17th unearned run given up by the Dodgers.

The Reds lead the majors with 22 unearned runs allowed.

The Angels and Brewers have given up 21. Coincidentally, they are both at 188/167 (R/ER).

Evening! Well, no real complaints -- if we have to play a BAT like Tomato in the infield, we can't fault a few runs. We should get at least even on offense. There are those progressives that say we're better of playing a newbie like Aybar at third base and I'm not sure I disagree. It's great we have these options-many teams don't.
Furcal is hurting.

251
I'd still like to know how many unearned runs the Dodgers (and other teams) have received (without having to plow through the box scores, of course).

Just go to MLB.com.
Look up sortable team stats.
Pick the pitching stats.
Then sort them by runs scored.
Then you can sort of eyeball the differences.

http://tinyurl.com/fx8b4

How did Nomar get involved in that play??

Texas leaguers aren't cool!

253
Oh never mind, you were asking the reverse.

That's harder to do.

Give me some time....

A little flashback of that one Cubs game? With all the bloops and flairs.

This is like very slow bleeding. Better than a monster inning, though, I suppose.

255

On a double, it's the first baseman's job to trail the runner to second base.

Everything the Rockies hit right now is dropping in. May it happen to us sometime. It did in the second week of the season.

You never want to make the 1st out of an inning at 3rd base, especially in coors field.

255

ain't it funny how even out fielders get involved in run downs! WOW MLB has to go back to the basic's

So Furcal threw to second, then Nomar to third?

Oh, it was a rundown play.

265

yup!

Ahh, the old 8-6-3-5 play.

8 pitch inning for Fogg.

267. the old 8-6-3-5 play

Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

the ump is on our side (for a change)

You dont see that call made against Todd Helton very much. Even gameday disagrees.

A Phoenician K for Bonds.

272- ?

Grab some pine meat!

The Phoenician alphabet:

http://tinyurl.com/fjkoo

That was the LFers no?

Would anyone but Vinnie call Cory Sullivan "Sully"?

My brother-in-law's last name is Sullivan. He gets called Sully quite a bit.

276- I wouldn't know! I am being tortured with CR broadcadsters.

273 If Barmes strikes out, it's "grab some deer meat"

278

LOL!

278 -- They would deserve the word "wretched" if it weren't being so kind.

Marty,

I wasn't able to convince my fiancee that we needed Bourbon but I was able to talk her into some pacifico and calamari ceviche.
The ceviche goes excellent with sunburns.

Is it Drew Goodman and Jeff Huson on the Rockies broadcast? Or is George Frazier back?

The Marlins have Odalised their 5-0 lead against the Braves and now trail 8-5.

Does Nomar's red armband mean something? Hadn't noticed it till now; has he been wearing it all along?

Pacifico's not bad either.

283- I'm not too sure, one guy looks like Jason Stratham the other is an average Joe looking fellow.

That's should be Jeff Huson and Drew Goodman.

George Frazier is an older guy with dark hair and a mustache.

285- Isn't that the band they make you wear if you've had a vasectomy?

Nomar is a superstitios fellow, he's been wearing that thing says his bosox days.

284 That has happened many times this year. I should know, Borowski's my only closer on my crappy NL-only team. Herges really needs to hang em up, Florida's gotta have some rookies who could do better than he attempts.

285-

he has been wearing it all along. this season anyway....

cr

So right now the Yankees/Rangers game is delayed in the middle of the 8th with the Rangers ahead 4-2, but it was 2-2 after 7 innings. Say it's raining so hard they can't finish the 8th inning, do they only play the last inning and a half tomorrow or do they make it a full double-header?

Matt Herges brings a lot to the table I've been told.

However, at his current pace, he'll bringing people their daily special from IHOP to the table.

We're tooling around picking up the house yesterday afternoon, and my five-year old asks to stop and play baseball. It had rained and we had millions of things to do, so I said no, you gotta keep helping us pick up. So he stops, and looks at me, and real slow says "If you let me play baseball in the puddles outside, there definitely won't be any trouble at bedtime tonight."

Volume up a little too high when watching the Sopranos, I think.

295- That is pretty funny.

At least he is being honest.

293

The game in New York would be suspended if they can't finish it tonight.

Sullivan had to gain 20 lbs to be this big?

295 Oh my. Was it true? Did you play baseball, and was there trouble anyway?

298

That's weird hu? He still looks kinda skinny but I think all the weight went to his legs or something? I don't know.

Back to back walks...
Hopefully he is falling apart.

The stat-padder strikes again.

fallowed by Kents hit, 2-2 now

Did Nomar have a better week then Kent?

Kent with another selfish RBI.

At least Kent didn't kill the rally with a home run, selfishly padding his stats even more.

304- Nomar had 2 fewer homeruns but had a higher batting avg.

Plus Nomar has played for Boston which magnifies anything he does.

40 balls 42 strikes is not good at all 82 totall pitches thrown.

You dare test the Martin?

I guess Jose Cruz is our Bonds.

That was a low quality at bat.

I'm beginning to regret giving Olmedo boy for life status.

Martin is going to make them pay for their perfidy.

Let's go Mar-tin! clap-clap

I guess Martin isn't very good with RISP since he is currently 1 for 7 according to the Colorado announcers.

Fogg has thrown more balls then strikes tonight

Russ sure is no Ross.

314 I don't have the game on TV, so I can't see how he looked at the plate, but maybe he's pressing with RISP.

Or not.

When Martin trys to pull the ball, it dons't look pretty. opposite field & up the middle looks good.

I wonder what it does to a player psychologically, when a team walks a batter to get to you.

That would be some study if anyone ever did the research to find some sort of statistical analysis on it.

320- My guess is some prevail and some fail.

The Dodgers are going to be in big trouble when Satan comes to claim Tomko's soul.

321 - great guess!

322 Which reminds me that one of our local community theaters is putting "Damn Yankees" on this summer. I wonder what this version of Lola looks like (ahhh...Gwen Verdon).

320 It wouldn't be that hard to automatically mine Retrosheet for the data.

321

very scientific too.

Over at Athletics Nation it's been noted that Bobby Crosby noticeably changes his approach at bat when there are RISP, with detrimental effects.

Did you know Fogg is the Houdini of pitchers?

Wow, Sportsline's line on Ramirez was pretty darn good - 15 IP, 20 Ks, 2 BBs, 0.00 ERA - and then he walks Tomko. A Grabowski Principle, I would think.

327

& those affects are?

Too bad Martin didn't make them pay for that crazy move.

299 My response was to crack up, play baseball, and no, there was no trouble at bedtime (that night!). Guess he knows that the racket only works if everyone holds up their end.

Beautiful Lofton!

331 Protection works! ;)

Yes, most definitely the Grabowski Principle. What a slide!

wasted effort by Lofton, oh wait Nomar saves the day. great slide my Tomko

How did Tomko get around that?

Billy wopper for Tomko!

327 That he fails to do anything but make a non-productive out.

Ardoin decided to set himself up in the on deck circle, for some reason. If he'd been in place, Tomko would have been out.

Tomko running towards home plate made the CR announcers poopy and then talk for 3 minutes about it being a dumb move.

Hurry up, Drew, before the Rockies put King in.

Nuts. I couldn't tell from Sportsline that the switch had already happened.

338

best approach IMO see ball hit ball.

Wow that was a bullet!

"Dr' 'e' 'w"

"Dr' 'e' 'w"

Not that it turned out to matter - the implosion is continuing from one pitcher to the next.

Yay Drew!

5-2. Baez must be getting nervous...

Is 24 a 2hr deal tonight?

343 -- Amen. Amen.

Being at .500 and three runs up hasn't worked so well for us. Maybe third time will pay for all.

How many arms do the Rockies have left in their bullpen?

347

you guys been making to much fun of him THAT'S NO COOL!

Kent getting beat up today.

Thanks a lot, Old Maid.

Kent getting beat up today

It couldn't happen to a nice guy

Yeah, you guys should be going after Francisco Cordero.

Your a towel.

Did that pitch Cruz struck out on really all but bounce on the plate? That's what Sportsline shows.

356

FRANCISCO CORDERO? Dosn't he pitch for DC & is great.

357

I think it was a splitter or an off-speed pitch. Good pitch, can't blame Cruz Jr.

That's Chad Cordero, and he's not all that great either. Francisco Cordero is the one pitcher in the major leagues right now worse than Danys Baez.

The Padres are down to Arizona 4-3. The Padres runs came on a 2-run homer by cleanup man Josh Bard and a solo homer by Adrian Gonzalez. The DBacks have 3 unearned runs against Chan Ho Park.

360 Nah. Carlos Silva of the Twins. 8+ ERA as a starter.

Walking Ardoin is definately a Grabowski Principle.

360- Oh sure, if you just take major league pitchers, you can make it seem like Baez isn't that good. But think of all the non-major league pitchers out there. Huh? Did you even think of that?!

362 Worst reliever.

362
He's heading to the pen because Liriano is going into the rotation. Finally! Wasting away as a reliever on my fantasy teams.

Tomko is getting tired no?

Tomko does happen to be at 100 pitches.

And finishes with 101. He IS finished, right? Broxton is all warmed up and can pitch the 8th.

Who's in the bullpen for the Dodgers? Can anybody tell?

#714 isn't coming for Bonds tonight.

the bull

I really did refresh before I typed that question, honest.

At least Tomko seems to be paying attention to Honeycutt. That is a positive for him.

374 Despite my negative comments about Tomko upthread, I do have to say that 3 runs in 7 innings and 101 pitches at Coors Field is a very good performance.

BB Tonight just showed about 10 triple plays, including a really impressive unassisted tp by Furcal from August 2003. Very cool. Will probably run again, I imagine, or if it somehow is stuck in your tivo (e.g. BB Tonight was on but you were DTing not watching), good fun.

Rookie mistake by Aybar. Freeze by Freeze

Will Broxton be "setting up" for Baez?

(324) Madonna
I think I'd stick pencils in my eyes...

why does the Bull NEVER pitch?

Broxton is getting Sosciad.

Beimel needs his innings.

Now that I think about it, we really haven't seen anyone but Saito and Beimel recently.

You think Broxton will close the game? I saw him worming up.

381 Sosciad?

Sciosciad

382

Yeah there arms are gonna fall off.

If its not the 7th inning, Little wont bring in Broxton.

oh

Saito is awesome.

11 pitches, 3 outs. I like Saito.

How about keeping Saito in for the 9th?

391
Where's the fun in that?

Unless the Dodgers score a couple of runs this inning, it will be officially "Time to Get Back on the Horse" for Baez.

392

True, bring on Baez!?!

Andy Pettitte is pinch-hitting in the 9th for the Astros.

Little is now dead to me.

395

Tommy use too do that alot. I remember one game (I was there) where Tim Leary pinch hit & hit a bullet to Left field.

395 Why?

I hope I survive listening to these Colorado broadcasters; it,s difficult.

The Astros were losing 10-1 at the time. Lance Berkman was on the bench, but I suppose Garner was holding him out to bat if the Astros rolled a 9 in the ninth.

That does not seem likely.

All this goodness will be washed away as Grady tries to give Baez confidence.

Please let me be wrong.

At this moment in time, six weeks into the season Brett Tomko has been the best free agent starting pitcher signing in baseball.

At this moment in time, six weeks into the season Nomar has been the best positional free agent signing in baseball.

At this moment in time six weeks into the season Rafy Furcal has been the worse positional free agent signing in baseball.

By August Ravy will have gone down with a season ending injury as he compensates for his numerous little injuries but we won't notice as Izzy replaces him.

396

Drew was bunting for a hit. And I'm sure it was his own idea.

They almost sound like they have the ability to make the D's lose, almost as sure as Joe Morgan does.

San Diego has gone ahead of Arizona on a 2-run single by old friend Chan Ho Park.

401
I beg to differ. Kenny Rogers has been the best free agent starter and I wanted to sign him.

Garc stopped at third!! Thats it then.

404
I thought "old friend" required ""

406 It was a ground rule double. He had to stop at third by rule.

402 Then Little needs to beat him until he never gets that idea again.

Shoulda saved Aybar to pinch hit for Lucille II. Does Ramon have ANY hits this season or am I not paying enough attention?

409 I thought Bob was being dryly sarcastic.

I don't want to watch the bottom of the 9th tonight. Who's pitching? Please say Saito

411 Well, he should beat him just to be safe.

Well, can we officially say Kent's bat has awoken now?

Okay, 9th inning, up 5-3. It's time for all of us to hold hands and bow our heads in prayer.

401
Konerko was a free agent too and he is doing better than Nomar.

410 9 hits and 5 BBs in 32 ABs, according to Sportsline.

Kent's double didn't bounce over the wall. He just hit it really hard that Holliday got the ball back very quickly.

Saito's on the mound and already has one out! Yaaaaaay!

Ooh, Saito's still in there. Our prayers were answered(?)

Do you think Baez is afraid of seals?

415 But Konerko costs a truckload more money than Nomar.

418 There is a god!

Arrrgh. And our jinx was answered as well.

Arrrgh. And our jinx was answered as well.

home run. ugh.

And now a home run. Well, it is Coors. Come on, Saito!

I blame myself

419 -- An eerily prescient question mark.

Can we win a one run game please.

There goes the obligatory 9th run HR.

Sammy is just trying to improve the Dodgers' record in 1-run games.

417 Well, that's what I get for listening to Steiner. He was quite unambiguous about proclaiming it a ground rule double.

There's nothing worse than seeing "Run scoring play" on Gameday, and when there's no one on base...

Brad was the Rockies' last hope.

Nice way to bounce back, Saito!

Over .500! Grittle for President!

Saito is the man PERIOD!

never easy is it?

So is Saito the new closer?
Or does he lose that job since he did give up a home run?

......... whew! {{exhale}}

And now we'll gain a game on either AZ or SD.

431 Sammy? Is that Saito's nickname?

Saaaaaiiiiitttttooooo your @$# down!

434 The last Hawpe, you mean.

I applaud Little for leaving Saito in for the ninth. Maybe he's going to start running the pen that way. Although I guess when/if Gagne comes back that puts an end to that.

A nice way to end a bad day in which at least two people in my office were reduced to tears and a third will probably be ripped to shreds tomorrow. Can't wait to go on vacation and escape the madness. I'm heading home now - 'night all!

The Padres have 10 hits, and Josh Bard and Chan Ho Park each have 3 of them. They're also batting Bard cleanup, much like they used to do when Rob Bowen was healthy. Do they realize that they don't need to bat their backup catchers in the cleanup spot?

Given what Little said in the Dodgers.com piece today, I don't think there is officially a closer right now. He reserves the right to change his mind on a daily basis. I actually kind of respect that. It could be Baez tomorrow, or Saito, or Broxton. But right now, it seems like he's much more confident in Saito, and I don't blame him.

Dodgers win yeah! whoo hoo!

Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
Tomko with 3ks, and a 4-13 GB/FB ratio in Colorado. Only giving up 3runs pitching like that, in those conditions, is a minor miracle.

Yeesh, Christina, sounds awful.

You ride the Sammy wave until the league adjusts to him.

In other positive news, Andy Laroche hit another HR in Jacksonville today.

Boy these Rocky announcers are still astounded that they didn't win.
They say whats with Tomko --he was no good last year with the Giants, how can he beat the Rockies.!!! He's kicking higher!

452 Do they realize that the Rockies started Josh Fogg?

i think the dodgers unofficially have a "closer by committee" going right now.

Hope Laroche is coming around.

Grittle is an interesting guy. Some good, some bad, always something to talk about. He appears non-ideological (No Grittleball), and learns from mistakes (That game where he went to Hamulack against a lefty -- geez, that was like watching a slow motion car wreck). Jon had a post awhile back based on the LA Times profile of Grittle, where he wondered (and rightly so) about Grittle's capacity for humility. I think we may be seeing it.

448 So with Saito's 0/5 GB/FB performance, the Dodgers ended with a 4/18 GB/FB performance.

I guess we should be pretty thankful for this win.

456- So have you put FGL on the shelf for now?

Who did close the ninth. I had the sound off and missed it as usual. If we get much better I'll be able to watch the endings again.

Saito yeaaaah-would have been my choice.

you know, sammy really isn't that bad. his fastball was touching 93 today, and he has a decent changeup and a passable breaking ball. i don't think we're going to wake up one day and the league will suddenly have figured him out. i doubt he'll continue to be spectacular, but he should do all right. the home run he gave up tonight was the result of throwing three consecutive fastballs at about 91-92 in the exact same spot. i would have gone with an offspeed pitch the third time around, and told my dad that he should look for a changeup or breaking ball as he threw it, but unfortunately i was wrong.

Are we over .500 --yes I think so.

I really like Sammy's slider. He can put it anywhere he wants and has a real nice break to it. What a nice bread and butter pitch.

Re: 458

Right now, I certainly appreciate Little's flexibility--Tracy probably would have had Carrara out there to pitch the ninth.

And really, Little's main problem has been with an awful pen. When Baez started to struggle, it's not as if he had obvious alternatives, and he's now adjusted to Baez's faults.

WWSH

Whoooo,, we are as good as on top of tis division right no. No one with any staying power is above us!

At the very least, it seems safe to say that Grittle's influence on the team's success has been less negative than Tracy's.

Re: 462

He also seems to have pretty good control. Broxton's problems with that is the main reason I don't want him closing.

How was Saito's stuff in ST? I thought of him as a junkballer until I first saw him pitch, and lo-and-behold he had a decent enough fastball.

WWSH

Re: 465

Which is probably about as much as one can hope from a manager.

What's striking about Little having Saito out there is his dismissive comments regarding Boston's one ill-fated experiment with a closer-by-committee at the beginning of the season. He really was buying the company line that one needed a Proven Closer, which justified that awful trade to get Baez and Carter.

I like how Little has junked that and gone to what Vishall calls an unofficial closer-by-committee, when it became clear that Baez just stank.

WWSH

Saito is Bonafide. In temperament, he can be put in for 8 or 9 with no sweat. His stuff is really not bad either. If Gagne comes back we are golden, but thats a lot to hope.

446 Well, which is worse:

A closer who has control issues.
A closer who gives up a greater than average amount of home runs.

I don't know the answer to this.

Grittle's errors don't seem born from a shotgun wedding of incompetence and malice. After five years of the opposite, that is enough for me.

470
I still think FGL should be renamed FNC.

Re: 469

Well, in Saito's case, I guess we have sample size issues on this point and everything else. Today's HR was forgivable, being in Coors, and with a run to work with. A reliever I think can be aggressive if he has two runs to work with, and doesn't allow baserunners.

WWSH

472 Saito had a history of allowing home runs in Japan (though he played in a tiny park). The thing that most commonly occurs when a Japanese pitcher comes to the MLB is an increase in home run rate, so I fully expect him to give up a decent amount of them.

471 -- Fight Club

Saito has pitched a grand total of 20 major league innings. This isn't like Baez, who has pitched for four boring, underwhelming, pedestrian years in baseball's version of Desperation, Nevada. And they've been 20 pretty good innings, and I guess he's the horse we ride, but it's hard to say what kind of pitcher Saito is or what the future will bring.

Disclaimer for future readers: Read 472 and 474 together, then read 473 for the response. It will make more sense that way.

Padres-Arizona 5-5 in the ninth. With the Dodgers over .500, I can lift my self-imposed ban against scoreboard watching.

474 what the future will bring
475 future readers

All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A (Sabre) craves not these things. You are reckless.

476
Can we also talk about beaning Bonds now?

Re: 473 475

Well, the HRs are worrisome, but hopefully this will all be moot when Gagne comes back.

Kent looks like he's returning to form, and if Nomah and Drew healthy, we could actually have a pretty good lineup. Gagne would stabilize the pen and actually give us a pretty good team.

For me at least, the losses have been so demoralizing at times that I'm almost surprised we're only 2.5 back in the standings.

WWSH

473.

But the home run was ok, because we were up by 2 at the time, so the solo homer doesn't hurt. It's better than not going after the hitter, walking people, then giving up the 3 run shot. In that case, you go after the hitter.

Also, the shot Tomko gave up, it was like 8 inches off the ground.

just thank god for Saito vs. what we have been putting ou there. I a reliever has bad control he's done for, annd if he walks the first batter its over.

Not sure if it was noted that Old Friend® Chan Ho Park was 3-3 at the plate tonight.

480 Not every homerun won't matter.

Pardon the spelling. Good night.

hello, boys! long time, no see. speaking of not seeing, i haven't had a chance to see many dodger games this year (shame, shame, shame on me) so all i have to go on are box scores and recaps, which don't always tell the whole story.

that said, imho, considering how many moved ned made this last year, on balance i think hes done remarkably well (although that duaner move hurts pretty bad -- funny how in just three years the pen has gone from invincible to fragile). afterall, this year really doesn't matter, does it? i feel a strange sense of ease as i check the dodger scores as i placidly wait for THE FUTURE to arrive.

for all the talk here of man crushes on nomar, qualified with the obligatory not-that-there's-anything-wrong-with-that mention of straightmancrush, i will use my gender to say i flat-out have a crush on nomar. watch out mia!

478 -- I thought walking Bonds was the problem. Who doesn't want to see him take one in the noggin? Certainly Jon does three times over.

487 - I just want to get the guy out, like I always did. The beauty part is now, we can.

Just finished watching the game on Tivo. I'm hoping that now LA is finally over the hurdle of being above .500 they can put together a nice winning streak.

My three stars for the game:

1. Tomko - drew the leadoff walk in the 7th, pitched a good game, and what a slide!

2. Nomar - comes through again with a key hit.

3. Saito - nice to see Little leave him in there and nice recovery after giving up the HR.

Honorable mention to Drew for the two-run single extending the lead.

Is it just me or is Rich Donnelly being very agressive sending runners home this year? With Tomko this game and with another play this past weekend it seems he's been sending runners home who be all rights should been out if a decent throw was made.

488
While opinions on this matter will vary, I'm guessing there are some pitchers/teams out there who would rather walk Bonds every time than have him go 1 for 10 against them, with that "1" being some kind of special homerun.

484.

But the point is, in that case, you go after the hitter, because if you don't, you'll walk people, and give away the game.

Of course, in 1 run games, you may be a little more carful, but in that case, go after the hitter.

If I could retire Bonds nine out of 10 times, I'd live with the special home run.

492
A reasonable perspective.

I know we're all against trading prospects for relivers...but I'm wondering if we deal Navarro and say, Izzy, if we can get something good and persuade another team to "throw in" a half decent reliever.

Just a thought.

Throw-ins aren't bad. It's only when the throw-ins are the centerpiece of the deal that it becomes problematic.

484 So, you missed the part where I said that throughout his career, Saito gave up a lot of home runs.

Plus if he's more careful, won't he walk more people?

494

I think the problem with a trade for a reliever is that there really aren't many consistently good relievers, except for a few closers. One year a reliever is a good and then the next year he is average at best.

Is San Diego intentionally walking Tony Clark to get to "Old Friend" Shawn Green?

Our old friend Shawn Green with a chance to win it for AZ in the 10th.

497-

I completley agree and normally I'd be absolutely against it..but our bullpen obviously needs some help. I'm not saying to trade straight up for a reliever, but hoping that if we make another deal (say for LF) maybe we can get a decent reliever as a toss in.

498

That would be Tony Clark hitting .198.

501
And Shawn Green (now) hitting .336

And he comes through! I'd never thought I'd see the Padres lose again.

502

Touche :)

Has Green turned into a singles hitter? He's not hitting for power or walking.

505

Sadly, I think he is just turning into a hitter on the downside of his career.

495 Throw-ins are at least better than throw-ups, which is what many middle (and middling) relievers are essentially.

506 For a hitter on the downside, he's having a pretty good upside this year.

Lance Carter struck out the side for a save today. He has 10 Ks in 8.1 IP. Kuo has 11 in 8 IP

Carter is the Grabowski of pitchers.

Nobody mentioned that Florida's Odalisizer was "Old Friend" Matt Herges

Kenny Rogers is always one of the best pitchers in April/May, just don't have him in your rotation come August. Your right though at this moment he is a better deal then Tomko.

As someone else pointed out Konerko makes twice as much as Nomar and is signed for a silly amount of years while Nomar is just a one year deal so I stick by my statement that Nomar has been the best positional free agent signing of 2006 at this moment.

Kuo also has 6 walks in 8 innings. Still needs to get his control under control.

JtD is in freefall but D Young has picked up the flag and is carrying it up the hill.

505
Shawn Green is slugging over 600 in the last 21 days. Not sure what you think a singles hitter slugs but it isn't 600.

507 Right now, Green is slightly better than the 2005 version of Kenny Lofton. (113 OPS+ vs. 107)

I wouldn't say he is on a huge upswing though. His OPS last year was the same as it was in 2004. His numbers at the moment (without the OPS plus factored in) are pretty similar to last year (.832 OPS last year, .840 OPS this year).

He does have six doubles. The man is made of doubles.

514 Oopsie.. I fumbled the numbers. The 2005 Green and the 2005 Lofton are essentially the same player.

500+ posts tonight! and a Dodger victory, way to go!! No internet access til now, but a few comments on tonights sporting events.
1. Great slide by Tomko at home plate
2. Dodger sim goes 5-3 in predicting tonights Dodger win.
3. Another NL West team goes above .500 and the Giants are the only team under .500 and just by one game.
4. Spurs blew it in OT by not fouling.
5. Any idea who got to 714 HRs in few at bats? Aaron, Ruth or Bonds?
vr, Xei

517 Ruth got to 714 in way less ABs than Bonds (eventually) or Aaron did.

Ruth had 8398 ABs, Aaron had approx 11000 ABs (probably more, but I'm being generous.. Bob can probably give a more exact number), and Bonds was at 9140 as of last year.

517

Ruth: 8399
Bonds: 9211 (and counting)
Aaron: Slightly more than 11288

518,519. Thanks, that's kind of what I figured. Ruth's achievement is still tops.
vr, Xei

What might be interesting to know would be how many intentional walks Ruth got. I doubt that the stats break bases on balls down that way, but that period was when pitchers were men and walking somebody was sissified!

Babe Ruth got a lot of walks. He got 170 in 1923. He probably didn't get as many intentional walks because he tended to have guys like Lou Gehrig batting behind him.

Roger Maris had 0 IBB when he hit 61 home runs in 1961. Something about having to pitch to that Mantle guy.

509 It was mentioned a while back by Bob and I. I wouldn't give a damn about the Marlins if I didn't have their closer who gets less chances than he should because of schmucks like Herges.

I believe Green holds the Dodger single season record for HRs and doubles.

Another interesting Beyer article on the Preakness. This one about post position strategy and how Brother Derek's trainer may have lost the Derby at the postdraw.

Apparently, baseball is not the only sport with old-school/new-school/stathead issues.

http://tinyurl.com/mp7oo