Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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TV and more ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
My dad's friend Ed Medvene got two seats behind home plate for the Dodger game against the Pirates on June 4, 1968. Don Drysdale took the mound that night, and nine innings later, he had broken the National League record for consecutive shutout innings held by Carl Hubbell and the major league record for consecutive shutouts held by Doc White.
Drysdale pitched a three-hitter, walking none, hitting one batter, of course (Manny Mota) and striking out eight. Maury Wills grounded out with a runner on third and two out in the sixth inning to end the biggest scoring threat. Dodger first baseman Wes Parker made 17 putouts, and only one out was recorded by a Dodger outfielder.
It was a Tuesday night, the night of the California presidential primary. The game ended in two hours and 20 minutes, and so my father and his friend made the short drive to the Ambassador Hotel, where Robert F. Kennedy was being crowned the winner of the Democratic primary, to take in the scene there. My dad recalls seeing Kennedy at the hotel, which was torn down this year, though he didn't stay long enough to hear him speak.
"Then we left, and between the time we left and the time we got home, (your mother) was just sitting in front of the TV set, just stunned," he said.
* * *
Maury Brown of Baseball Prospectus makes the case today for inducting former Dodger owner Walter O'Malley into the Hall of Fame, along with former baseball players union chief Marvin Miller.
I'd like to ask how these two individuals could be absent from Cooperstown in the first place. Both men altered MLB's landscape forever. Both changed the conventional thinking in MLB—both in terms of labor, and in terms of business. Both men directed their respective constituencies, either directly or indirectly. Both men are iconic. ...
If anything, it's that relocation that sets O'Malley apart from others as a visionary. No, it's certainly not the only reason he should be inducted into the Hall (we'll get to the rest later), but O'Malley's leap from one coast to the other so dramatically altered MLB's course that it's hard to imagine how different it was before the Dodgers and Giants relocated. Not just the act of the move was remarkable. With the relocation came changes that would alter how ballpark design, marketing, and broadcasting would be done in Major League Baseball.
* * *
Two non-Dodger injury notes from Will Carroll at BP that remind us of the importance of caution when dealing with injuries. Dodgers, take note.
1) Albert Pujols might need be strapped to a gurney to keep from coming back to soon. Carroll writes:
Complicating the analysis is both Pujols' lineup value and his demonstrated ability to play through pain. Coming back too quickly can be devastating for any muscle strain. The body rebuilds the muscle with scar, weakening it by definition, though muscle can of course be strengthened around the tear. Retearing the muscle creates a vicious cycle of problems that can cause the type of career-altering cascades we've seen in the likes of Ken Griffey Jr. or Gil Meche. I'd expect the Cards to be ultraconservative with this injury, keeping Pujols on the shelf beyond the minimum, but less than the oft-quoted six weeks. It is going to be a Charybdean temptation for both manager and staff to write Pujols' name on the lineup card, one that will need to be balanced by the field, medical and front office staff.
2) There may well have been a connection between Roy Oswalt's tight hamstring a week ago and his back problem Sunday.
There is no question in my mind that Roy Oswalt has a cascade injury. In the always-great Alyson Footer's article at MLB.com, Oswalt all but says so himself. "I may have altered my mechanics," he says, referring to what he did after straining his hamstring. Oswalt is now dealing with mid-back spasms, an unusual location. Elsewhere in the article, we get clues. Oswalt's back only acted up when he threw curves, meaning that his mechanics remained altered into this session. Mid-back spasms usually involve some muscles rather than structural problems, so this isn't as bad as it sounds. The Astros medical staff will have to stop the pain-spasm cycle, the Astros field staff will have to keep Oswalt from altering his mechanics, and Oswalt will have to listen. A decision on the DL won't be made until mid-week and would follow an as-yet-unscheduled MRI.
In the same article, Carroll called the latest injury to ex-Dodger Gary Sheffield "devastating."
Of course, after this event, you couldn't just "drop in" on a campaign speech for a presidential candidate.
I would think a candidate's hotel would be pretty well-secured now.
Unbelievable to wake up to the headlines about RFK the next morning, however. Still hard to believe it happened. I think that Jim Murray had a column that day or the next about our "Sick Society."
Oh, and Jon, congrats on the Fighting Weismans' beating the Wolfpack yesterday. Since I am sure nobody will step up, in the name of Jim Valvano, Chris Washburn and Sidney Lowe, I'll call the Pack The Fighting Dagwiches. In my book that's almost as reasonable as the Fighting Artichokes.
BTW: Anybody read Buster Olney's Insider article on Dodger rookies? Anybody willing to reprint or paraphrase it for us poor people who can't (or won't) pay for Insider status?
Then there are stories on the inside pages about the election and the results in other states reporting on who won that obviously were printed well before the shooting.
Ronald Reagan was the winner of the Republican primary that day. He was the only Republican on the ballot.
Nothing that you didn't know before. The Dodgers are getting good production from the rookies is the sum of it. Kim Ng credits Terry Collins and Logan White for identifying the players who can help.
Olney likes to focus on how many pitchers per PA each of the rookies average.
I wasn't born for more than another decade, but for anyone alive and old enough, what were his prospects of becoming president?
It was still was far from a sure thing that Kennedy would have even received the nomination. Hubert Humphrey was able to win the nomination and he didn't even enter any primaries I believe. There weren't nearly as many back in 1968.
A Kennedy vs. Nixon rematch in 1968 would have been something. By "something", I mean I don't know what that would have been like. But it likely wouldn't have been a pleasant campaign.
Although I was just 2 in 1968 except for the last three weeks, it was an extraordinarily turbulent year in American history and quite traumatic.
I have very early childhood memories of Yaro's photos being shown on TV in 1969 and 1970, most likely when there were news reports on Sirhan Sirhan and other investigations into the assassination.
The Central Libary in L.A. has a microfilmed set of the complete (or what is considered complete) of the LAPD investigation reports and evidence. It's 22 reels if you feel the need to read up on everything.
http://tinyurl.com/jbpmy
Security didn't get rigorous very quickly. I went to a speech by Hubert Humphrey at my college when he was running (again) in 1972. After the speech, he just waded into the crowd and started shaking hands (including mine). He even autographed a bottle of Boone's Farm apple wine that someone handed him.
I know Reagan was CA governor in 1968, but are you saying that Nixon, who was also from California, didn't even appear on the primary ballot in his home state the year he was elected President?
Reagan was quoted as saying he didn't think he would have much of an effect at the Republican Convention because he thought Nixon would have enough delegates to win anyway, but he wanted to have the option to cut a deal. Presumably if the nomination came down to Nixon vs. Rockefeller, Reagan would have thrown his delegates over to Nixon. But Nixon won easily.
I believe George McGovern took over Kennedy's delegates in 1968, but I think some of them peeled off to vote for other candidates. Regardless, Humphrey won on the first ballot.
Another thing is that by 1968, Richard Nixon had moved to New York and was identified himself that way. His last attempt at running for statewide office in California was in 1962 when he ran against Pat Brown for governor.
It didn't go well.
As a result of states passing these laws tying delegates to primary winners, the Republicans also had to change the way they did business in 1972.
I hope I have my facts right here. It's been a long time since I studied this stuff.
10 - If RFK had survived and won the nomination, I think he would've won. He was quite a bit more charismatic than Humphrey, and Nixon barely beat HHH (by less than one percentage point) in the popular vote that year.
Don Drysdale was one of the endorsers.
Others included (and it's a really long list and I left many of the names off):
Julie Andrews
Leonard Bernstein
Yul Brynner
Senator Clifford Case
Petula Clark
Bill Cosby
Noel Coward
Joe DiMaggio
Patty Duke
Clint Eastwood
Barbara Feldon
Ambassador Arthur Goldberg
Rock Hudson
Senator Jacob Javits
Danny Kaye
Werner Klemperer
The Lennon Sisters
Steve McQueen
Ricardo Montalban
Louis Nizer
Jack Paar
Roman Polanski
Lou Rawls
Edward G. Robinson
Vidal Sassoon
Telly Savalas
The Smothers Brothers
Sonny & Cher
Frank Sinatra
Jon Voight
Edward Bennett Williams
Earl Wilson
Flip Wilson
P.G. Wodehouse
Sorry for the length of that.
On a cheerfull baseball note Eric Young Junior stole his 41st base and is on pace for 104 for the season. The number of 2nd generation black ballplayers keeps growing. I did a quick study that I need to get into more detail on but I think that the % of black major leaguers who are 2nd generation is over 15%.
I didn't remember that the Drysdale record and the California primary was the same day even though I was at Drysdale's previous game. My mother was a HUGE Kennedy fan and I do remember her waking up all us kids to watch the TV when he was shot. She wanted us to recognize history when it happened. I'd always thought that winning California was the sling-shot RFK needed to have enough momentum to wrap up the nomination. I've often wondered if the Chicago convention would have been as bad as it turned out to be if he had been alive.
You can't pass up the chance to work in a Werner Klemperer reference.
I've seen three of those people in person: Clint Eastwood, Werner Klemperer and Vidal Sassoon.
I want to say we were all in Bob's kitchen, but that probably wasn't the case.
I once thought a great cartoon character name would be Vidal Baboon. You know how they like to do each other's hair and all.
RFK had caught a wave and knew it. I don't doubt he would have won the nomination that summer had he not been killed.
21 -- I remember them all! Bob, your abilities remind me of a poster I saw on the outsisde of a Medical Librarian's door in a research center I used to work at: "If you absolutely, positively need to know something, ask a librarian!"
Even reading it instead of hearing it, I could tell that it was a rhetorical masterwork, in which he conveyed the difficulty of balancing grief over a truly terrible event that affected the entire nation, and the fact that the life still went on, even something as trivial as a baseball game (which could, perhaps, lighten our hearts a bit at this terrible hour). He never lost control of his message for an instant, all the emotions parceled out in precise measure and proper proportion. Made you misty-eyed, even just reading it. A brilliant performance. Brilliant.
P.G. Wodehouse.
Do you guys know that we have a contributor who was the transportation secretary under Jerry Brown when he was our Gov? I wonder if he's working on the AG campaign. I think he's the only contributor who ever saw Jackie Robinson play baseball.
Are you referring to something in the LA Times from 1998?
It was a TV series starring Steven Fry and Hugh (now Dr. Greg House) Laurie also.
Darrell Evans
David Lee Roth
Go Mustangs.
There was a time in both Pasadena and Glendale that if you went to high school, you could just move straight on to the city JC.
There would be a few people who come by here who would think Ryan Hollins is the only basketball player of note from Muir High.
That makes me sad.
I now live a 5-minute drive away from Muir High.
http://www.aafla.org/9arr/JackieRobinson/jackie.htm
Historic, because we are the FIRST class to graduate from the then newly created John Muir HIGH SCHOOL (remember, in 11th grade, we were Freshmen in the last year of John Muir Junior College?)
"Jackie attended Muir Tech High, the modern outgrowth of the old Pasadena High School where Babe Horrell achieved athletic fame."
The present day Muir High Alumni Association is claiming Robinson as one of theirs.
The LA Times article describes Robinson as attending "Pasadena Jaysee." I believe the present day Pasadena CC is on the same site as it was in Jackie Robinson's Day. And I assume the present day Muir High campus is in the same place it was in the 1930s. It would have made sense for Robinson to go there for high school. It wouldn't have been far away from his home on Pepper Avenue, which was on the east side of the Arroyo Seco.
You wouldn't be in awe of the John Muir High band anymore.
Pasadena High has the big marching band in that district now. Pasadena High is now over toward the eastern part of the city of Pasadena.
No, I'm not working on the EGB,Jr. campaign. He doesn't need any help, not even money, with a 30%+ lead.
Ahh, delving into history...
Good to hear from you. Can you send me an email, the ones I have for you aren't working at the moment.
Brothers Saladin and Sultan McCullough went to Muir
This is about 2 years old. Still…..
"I think walks are overrated unless you can run. If you get a walk and put the pitcher in a stretch, that helps, but the guy who walks and can't run, most of the time he's clogging up the bases for somebody who can run."
"You're down here to find out as a hitter where the head of the bat is," Baker said. "You're down here to find out how to get to that sweet spot of the bat. I let my guys hit."
"Who have been the champions the last seven, eight years? Have you ever heard the Yankees talk about on-base percentage and walks?" Baker said. "Walks help. They do help. But you aren't going to walk across the plate, you're going to hit across the plate. That's the school I come from."
"Everybody can't hit with two strikes, everybody can't walk," Baker said. "You're taking away some of the aggressiveness of a kid if you're telling him to go up there and try to work for a walk.
"It's like when I see kids in Little League and they make the small kids go up there and try to get a walk. That's not any fun," Baker said. "Do you ever see the top 10 walking (rankings)? You see top 10 batting average. A lot of those top 10 do walk, but the name of the game is to hit."
I also thought that this was interesting:
Baker and outfielder Calvin Murray were talking about just such a thing Tuesday. Murray said his former hitting coach, George Hendrick, advised players to get deep in the count. However, players often were looking at pitches that might have been the best to hit.
Was Depodesta our GM when George Hendrick replaced Jack Clark as the hitting coach?
How do you see the draft playing out for the Dodgers? What's your most realistic, favorable scenario? Any draft sites you would recommend?
https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/011942.html
draft sites
pgcrosschecker.com - allan simpson has his first round mock up.
mlb.com and their draft stuff is good
and baseballamerica.com callis has his top 15 mock up.
my favorite scenario would probably be grabbing kershaw at 7, kiker at 26 and kyler burke at 31 right now. It seems we might get kershaw, about all the mocks by the people with inside info (callis, simpson, mayo) all have kershaw falling past the tigers and into our laps.
you went to servite eh? I went to santa margarita. i think we're in the same league for sports.
Speak English, man. ENGLISH! ;)
http://minorleagueball.com/main/1
sickels did a 5 round mock draft and CanuckDodger was the dodgers Scouting director. He went high school heavy and loaded up on 3 big texan arms: kershaw, walden and a sleeper LHP Angelle.
eh?
I presume you are giving me a hard time because I suck at spelling?
Mater Dei got all the good black basketball players so we never had a chance. Until 2004, we beat them! one time! it was glorious.
I date several decades back now (yikes!) but the big rivalry used to be football with Servite and Mater Dei, before Santa Margarita was built, and Servite got the best of that matchup. I have no idea where things stand now.
the strength of the draft is pitching and left handed high school pitching is well represented.
But I'm pretty sure I've got everybody else's high school beat in the baseball department.
Unless you attended Fremont. Then you would just be tied.
okay i get it now steve. I'll try to explain.
We have 3 picks in the top 31 then nothing until the 4th round again. The 3 picks are: 7, 26, 31.
The consensus of the draft experts is that Logan White will take the top rated high school pitcher at #7. This year, that top rated high school pitcher is LHP from Texas, Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw has everything you want in a prep prospect: outstanding fb with heavy late movement at 90-98, plus curveball that is a big sweeper, and a developing change up that he has a feel for to be a better then average pitch. He also has a very projectible athletic body at 6'4 200lbs. His make up is outstanding. Even though he comes from a upper class community, his family is pretty poor because he lives with his single mom. So he doesnt get anything for granted and has worked hard to achieve everyhing.
After about the first 10 picks or so, the draft becomes more complicated to predict and anyone's guess is as good as the experts. My ideal scenario would be for us to land lhp pitcher Kasey Kiker; or scott kazmir lite beta 2.0
Now, this wish isnt really out of the blue(heh no pun intended). Ive conversed with Kiker's coach in mid may and he told me the Dodger's really liked Kiker; even having their area scout take Kiker to a Columbus Catfish game and spending a ton of time with him to get a read on his personality/character and percieved make up issues. It seems they still like him and (hopefully) will pull the trigger at 26 if he is available.
at 31, I personally would like a high cieling but relatively polished prep hitter. One that may be available that fits the bill is OF prospect Kyler Burke from Tenn. He is a switch hitter with 5 tool potential that knows the strike zone. his power really blossomed this year and scouts evoke todd helton comparisons to him. He's been rising up draft boards this spring. I think he has a committ to Vandy so he might be a tough sign but should sign for 31st slot money (1 mil+)
okay thats detailed enough.
For those of us who don't know our Kikers from our Kershaws, it's quite dizzying.
But in a good way. And I do appreciate your wikipedic knowledge of all things farm*.
Let the draftish (draphtese?) continue unabated!
* -- Actual farm animals and/or implements may not apply.
5'11 lefty with tremendous arm strength, fb ranges from 90-97, sits 91-94. Delivery might not look pretty to the eye, but the mechanics are good and work well. uses a high leg kick to hide the ball a bit, ball gets on the hitter quicker then anticipated. His command and control is top 5 in the draft class. His curveball is above average but his change up is his bread and butter secondary pitch. Scouts are concerned about height, but hes never had arm troubles and his core area is well built. Make up issues hurt his draft stock. are they real issues or blown up? I dont know but the team that drafts him will have to find that out.
My only worry with Kiker is just... I'm not sure he'll still be there at 26. If he is, and the Dodger nab him, high fives all around.
I would love for the Tigers to take Hochevar, pushing Kershaw to us. The recent track record of 1st round prep lefthanders is excellent.
I learned that Senator George Allen (son of the football coach) also went to my school. I guess we were the cradle of coaches kids. We also had Art Shell, Jr., and Paul Westhead's daughter.
http://tinyurl.com/oo5qv
What a weird way to injure your arm irreparably too. Not even a game injury...
the cards like russell county kids. they nabbed rasmus last yr and like both little rasmus and kiker this year.
My high school has never been a southern California powerhouse at anything, though we have produced a Dodger manager, one very good relief pitcher, and one great one.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encinal_High_School
Famous alumni include Ryan Madson and Kyle Turley.
Athleticism is a big deal to me when it comes to investing first-round money in a pitcher. Is Kershaw a good athlete?
Don't know what your view on the Hochevar saga was, but I'm glad the LAD didn't sign him after he reneged on the deal and reportedly said it would have been an awful decision to accept $2.98 million guaranteed. If White thought $2.98-million was the max dollar for him even before Hochevar displayed such questionable makeup, you're undermining White by then exceeding that $2.98 million.
Hochevar's curveball is a tremendous pitch, but in today's game, it's pretty tough to get consistent strikes with that pitch.
I predict that Hochevar proves less valuable than what he gets to sign -- if, that is, he does sign and doesn't pull a Matt Harrington.
all the reports ive read on kershaw have noted him on his outstanding athleticism. he wasnt a two sport start like billingsley or elbert but his athleticism is still very good.
from BA:
Now he has grown into his strong, athletic 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame, and his stuff has taken a leap. He has pitched at 90-96 mph all spring while continuing to pound the bottom of the strike zone. His curveball has improved even more than his fastball and now ranks a legitimate second plus pitch. He also has done a better job of repeating his delivery, giving him more control and command.
from perfect game:
: Described by more than one scout as "just a horse of a pitcher"; if so, this horse is a thoroughbred . . . has a strong, physical power pitcher's build and raw stuff . . . came into the spring throwing 90-91 mph, touching 94, now throwing steadily in the 95-96 mph range, touching 98 mph . . . he has an excellent arm action and mechanics and doesn't have much effort in his delivery . . . his curveball doesn't have ideal velocity at 72-73 mph but has tight spin and a big, sharp break; has a quality changeup for his age . . . . has dominated high school hitters since striking out 99 hitters his freshman year . . . a strained oblique muscle in late April was not considered serious, one scout said "he was dealing when he came out, I don't think anyone cared" . . . one of the very few players in the country scouts never seem to say anything negative about or qualify any statement . . . . probable Top 10 pick in the first round.
man, I am setting myself up for extreme dissapointment if we dont get kershaw.
His nickname was "Ga"
It's amazing. Absolutely amazing. I went in somewhat skeptical; contemporary classical music isn't really my bag (yes, I'm a philistine) and I wasn't sure how they were going to pull off the character. It turned out that yes, the music is atonal in places, but it works perfectly for the piece. They pulled off the character with style, wit, and humanity. The choices were interesting and nothing rang false -- I really felt for the character.
I really can't overstate how much I loved this production.
Up on Dodgers.com, the headline is "Facing Mets, Tomko seeks return to form". We need pitchers who aim higher than this.
That's my favorite baseball novel.
The language drove a lot of the blue-hairs at the Saturday matinee a little nuts, but my friends and I ate it up.
Carl Crawford walks. Julio Lugo scores. Carl Crawford to 3rd. Throwing error by catcher Mike Napoli. Fielding error by center fielder Chone Figgins.
Do I win anything if I'm right?
108. natepurcell
Kemp has looked a lot better at the plate today. he isnt swinging at balls, looks composed and looks nothing like his adrian beltre impersonation from yesterday.
lol, the braves announcer just call him a big stomping buffalo.
109. autumnlanding
"like a big buffalo running around the bases"
https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/387331.html
As for Kemp's nickname maybe we need an animal indgenous to the area. But I guess The Coyote is not good. Or Quail.
At this intstant of time, high school players are the one area that is most undervalued, especially pitching.
Reading between the lines, I think that is because there is still concern about the number of innings college pitchers throw.
Another point, while on average, the first 100 picks are usually split pretty evenly between high school and college players, the past 3 years have been tilted (post-Moneyball) 60/40 college.
I do think like everyone else it will be a HS pitcher at 7, I think 26 & 31 will be the best player they have on their chart but none of these three will see Dodger Stadium anytime soon.
My only reservation was whether bisons had good throwing arms, but that's me overthinking.
I have a long list of pet peeves and if everybody indulged me on each one, the world would be a rather picayune place.
By early July, I could see Jacknsonville promoting LaRoche (he would have spent a full year in AA) and Orenduff (he has to be put on the 40 man at the end of the year, he was drafted out of college so he is a little older than the rest of the prospects.)
For the AA playoffs (assuming Vero Beach does not have a great 2nd half), I could see them promoting DeWitt and Elbert in August, maybe Paul if he continues to play well.
After that, we will have to see how the 2005 and 2006 picks pan out.
How about condor? Large wingspan, very big for a bird, and since it flies it symbolizes speed.
I actually like bison, I was just trying to please the crowd who requested a regional nickname.
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