Hard to believe but I think the reason that you hear that the Dodgers are going to send Loney down, is that they tried to pass Gio and Aaron Sele through waivers and they got claimed.

So unless they offer non-revocable waivers on them and they don't get claimed, they would lose them for nothing.

Personally I'm hoping one of them, Gio, comes down with a hangnail on Friday, that would cover the rest of August and still allow the Dodgers to list him on the playoff roster if they choose to.

Off topic, but we might be able to use a distraction:

The Headline on Drudge is that they arrested a suspect in the Jon Benet Ramsey case.

[2]:

[Gio, Friday morning]:

(Clip. Clip. Clip. Cl--)

Yeeeeoooowww!

Roger Federer lost his streak today as well.

http://tinyurl.com/cgvf8

3 If that comes off to be true, the National Enquirer, Globe and the rest of them are going to have to think about how they hounded those parents all those years.

3 I don't care what it says, I still think Aaron Ecchols did it.

2
"You need a hangnail? I can get you a hangnail."

RIP, Alfredo Stroessner

The Drudge Report is Yellow Journalism at its worse. Wait--- it's not even journalism.

I think the Amish Arm and Tobias Hall are like a completely different team. When they play, nothing seems to really work (although Tobias has seemed to do his part as-of-late).

Send the Amish Arm back to churning butter and perfecting methods of carpentry in whatever farm he came from in Pennsylvania.

He tumbled off the mound onto his face at Dodger stadium. Isn't that enough proof about his abilities as a pitcher?

The Dodgers magic number is one, that is the Gulf Coast Dodgers, now if they can beat out the Red Sox, they are a half game back not counting today's results, they can get a one game bye into the final best of three playoffs.

Kershaw will probably only get one more start regardless.

The JonBenet Ramsey story is on CNN.com now.

Relax guys, the bearded one just gave the team what it needed: a forgettable, laughable end to its winning streak, right before an off-day, right before three tough intra-division road series.

Aside from Jacksonville, the GCL team is the only other farm club that will make the playoffs.

Las Vegas, had there not been the promotions of Martin, Aybar, Ethier, Broxton, and Billingsley, could have been a contender and unfortunately despite Jacksonville's back to back success, this year's team is more reflective of good AAA/AA pitchers but there is no comparison of the talent on last year's team and this year's team.

I expect the real talent in the system to be in Columbus or Vero Beach, dependent on where they send Kershaw, Morris, Mattingley, Steven Johnson, and the other young pitchers in Ogden and GCL.

This is what I meant by Yellow Journalism bobby:

http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2005/12/05/20051205_065000.htm

BTW, a story which was completely false:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200512090008

Does anybody know which hotel the Dodgers stay in when they are in San Francisco? I am going for Friday nights game. My only other Dodger game was in Oakland...I saw the Tomko/Zito match-up.

16 I believe it is the Westin St. Francis though a few years ago it was the San Francisco Hilton.

8 I can get you a hangnail by three o'clock There are ways. You don't want to know.

http://www.lebowskifest.com/4thshirt.asp

Mark Hendrickson's horrible perepherals caught up with him today after a few quality starts in which he got by on smoke and mirrors. They should go to a platoon. Hendrickson hasn't won on the Dodger Stadium mound while Sele has been bombed on the road.

6 I don't think the editors at any of those places will give it even a moment's thought. Selling tabloids is about sensation, not the truth.

The 1972 Dolphins are probably breathing a sigh of relief but won't be able to pop the champagne just yet. Greg Maddux is still undefeated as a Dodger starter. vr, Xei

2,4, 8 and 18 - Very funny!!LOL!! If I hear him going on the DL, I am going to be suspicious of a DT reader of intervention into the team's personnel and his/her less than savory connections ;);). Losing Loney like you said limits our flexibility off the bench, so they are going to have to find a way.

The Jon Benet story is at the intersection of Sex, Violence and Wealth.
In the news business, that's the sweet spot.
(Sex, GSfRB?)
Yes, I know JBR was underage, but the footage of her competing in those pageants provided a creepy sexual subtext.

19 Wait Colleti said he was impressed by Hendrickson's numbers on grass. So it must be road grass that suits him.

Ramon Martinez has been relagated to the role of pinch bunter.

24 Yup. He's had major home road splits at both Tampa and LA.

There are only two weeks until MLB rosters expand to 40. Even if Loney isn't getting regular at-bats in the big leagues, as he would if sent down to AAA, I don't think it's a big deal since we're talking about only 2 weeks left in the minor-league season, anyway. Might as well keep him up and see big league pitchers a few more times. Besides, Grady has shown no hesitation in using him as an OF, PH, and 1B; given how thin we seem to be in the OF I think the team sees him as more valuable than other current roster occupiers than shall remain nameless.

24- maybe the marijuana just isn't what it used to be in LA.

Ramon Martinez has been relagated to the role of pinch bunter

Relegated? Heck, that's a promotion.

26 I don't buy any of it. These are his career splits:

Home 5.37 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 4.6 K/9, 1.1 HR/9
Away 4.57 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 4.4 K/9, 1.1 HR/9

Same guy in white or gray pants.

31 - Though I agree that it's very unlikely, nevertheless simply showing home/road splits isn't enough; it's possible those splits could still be skewed in favor of grass v. turf (though I certainly wouldn't expect his K/9 or HR/9 to change, his WHIP could very well benefit, as could his ERA, if the grass really did effect the majority of his allowed grounders).

31 - Talking to yourself is only a sign of mental illness if somebody else starts talking back. -_- That was supposed to be for 30.

31 32 If Hendrickson was an extreme groundball guy I might pay some attention to grass/turf splits- otherwise it's like day/night or MWF vs Tues/Thurs to me. Even before today, Hendrickson's peripherals in 8 LA starts have reverted right back to his career norms of 5.00 ERA guy. Remember the talk of his abnormally low 11% LD rate in 2006? Voila, back to 21% compared to 19% in 2004 and 22% in 2005. Ned got snookered on this one period.

33 - As I said, I agree. I was just simply pointing out that only showing home/away splits doesn't really give enough evidence. The LD rate stats are much more convincing. :)

If Sele and Gio can't get thru waivers, why not try to send Hendrickson down to Vegas for two weeks? I'd like to see the press conference by the GM who claims him.

I am kind of amazed by Jim Edmonds right now.

http://tinyurl.com/kxet4

Why would the Dodgers be worried about losing Carrara in waivers, when they showed no worries in letting Cruz/Ledee go in that way?

Its much harder to find a serviceable MLB OF'er, than a mop up reliever.

Cycle Alert in Chicago for Mark Grudzielanek of the Royals. Condition Yellow. He just needs a double and the game is still in the fifth.

If Grdxlknxzknkxz hits for the cycle, I'll need a double.

Grudzielanek hit for the cycle last year for the Cardinals.

How rare would it be for Grudz to have 2 cycles in his career?

Despite an unfortunate name situation, Grudzielanek has carved out quite the career for himself. 1700+ hits is no small feat.

Who's this awesome announcer doing the Boston-Detroit game? I have the game on for background noise, but one of the funniest calls I've heard just came up.

Javy Lopez hit a roller up the middle, fielded deep on the grass by Infante, who threw Lopez out. Almost any other player not named Molina or Jason Phillips beats it out. Here's the call.

"And Infante throws him out! And Lopez can't believe how slow he is!"

Guys who have hit for the cycle twice (not complete, off the top of my head):

John Olerud
Chris Speier
Bob Watson

43
That was Gary Thorne.

Wherever regfairfield is right now, let him know that Verlander looked exactly like Jeff Weaver against the red sox ;).

Scripps-Howard columnist weighs in on all-time greatest pitcher/s issue, rates Maddux with best. Interesting read...

Especially the lines about if he had to pick a pitcher for one game with his (the writer's) life on the line, it'd be Koufax.

And if he had to pick one pitcher for one game with the pitcher's life on the line, it'd be Gibson.

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=BBN-MCNULTY-08-16-06

By the way, who else would really rather have Loney/Saenz at first next year, so we can save the money necessary to get Daisuke Matsuzaka?

10 - Drudge isn't really a journalist. He's kind of an editor, as most of his site is links to stories from other sites. Then he's got a bunch of newspapers and syndicated columnists linked.

Bob, if you're still here, thanks for answer the other day about why game winning RBI stat was discontinued.

You and someone else pointed out that it often went to a first-inning RBI and tended to reward good RBI guys on winning teams and accordingly not be worth much.

Before it was discarded, was there any debate about things like modifying it to require that a GWRBI--if any--had to come from, say, 6th or 7th inning onward? Or was GWRBI just deemed worthless, not even worthy of tinkering?

50

No. The GWRBI died a quick and unlamented death by the Lords of Baseball.

The Angels and Rangers do not seem to like each other.

37 Cruz they found no takers for, Ledee was claimed by the Mets, so in fact he had some value.

I just think the Dodgers feel that they need Gio and/or Sele in September and because they don't have anyone in the system, they would rather protect their pitchers than Loney, who would probably not make their playoff roster.

48
http://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/460377.html#342

I like him. But I'm not sure he's really going to be worth it, if he will even be available.

People have been fooling themselves around here thinking we could get Zito, etc. I think pitching is going to be even harder to come by this off season. I predict it will make Soriano look cheap. (relative to value anyway).

Speaking of Cruz: has anyone picked him up yet? I don't remember hearing anything...I'd be a bit surprised if he was unemployed...

48 Have read that bidding for Matsu is likely to include Yankees and others and probably result in humongous Kevin Brown-style contract.

That kind of contract has not been kind to the Dodgers in the past...

Ya know, it would be really interesting to see who leads the league in Payroll on the DL. It's hard to beleive the Dodgers aren't near the top. Cubs maybe? but they aren't competitive. Yankees, too I guess. Anyway, it's impressive that they're in the lead with that much Salary on the DL. Thanks for keeping that up Jon.

Cruz, along with Preston Wilson, don't have jobs.

I hear that Cruz's agent is telling Wayne Krivsky that he would be willing to be a middle reliever. That may get him work in Cincinnati.

As for Matsuzaka, before you even try to sign him, an MLB team has to pay his current team, Seibu, a "posting fee" (aka, a bribe) to get the rights to negotiate with him.

I hear that Cruz's agent is telling Wayne Krivsky that he would be willing to be a middle reliever

If only Ned had known...

Sushirabbit, think I've read where you're in TN. So am I.

In my short time here, I've seen several other DT folks indicate they're quite a distance from LA.

Has there ever been anything done on where DT commenters live outside CA? The Dodgers' appeal is probably broader than that of any team, except maybe (grrrr.... probably, truthfully) the Yankees.

I hear that Cruz's agent is telling Wayne Krivsky that he would be willing to be a middle reliever. That may get him work in Cincinnati

You know, I think I've got the perfect trade for Wayne Krivsky:

Cararra
Orsoria
Cruz

For

Dunn

Hey, he'd be "helping that bullpen," ;).

60
Find your fellow DT commenters

http://www.frappr.com/dodgerthoughts

62
Unless your fellow commenter lives in Southern California, in which case there will be too many to distinguish.

38, 39, etc. The cycle. Pshaw! Interesting only because it involves the numbers 1,2,3, and 4.

4 Hr's or 4 triples or 3 triples and any other hit, are worth more total bases and are probably more rare (Bob?). Bah humbug.

64
You've called attention to my Quixotic Battle #7. Four hits in the same game that could have been single, double, triple, HR if the hitter had wanted them to be should count as a "cycle."

Apparently Joel Hanrahan heard about Hendrickson's perfromance, and decided to pitch well. Likely his best start thus far in Vegas:
7 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 0 HR, 119 pitches
He made a lot of pitches, but 45 of the 119 came in the last 2 innings (Brazelton alone had a 10 pitch AB). He did this against Portland, one of the better, and more patient, lineups in the PCL. Dessens came in relief and gave up a 2 run homer to Terrmel Sledge, and was removed after 2 outs. His line:
.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR

66. any chance Joel gets a September callup?
vr, Xei

48 56 58 Like Matsuzaka, not a free agent, but with the right gesture of respect and appreciation, the Dodgers might be able to get Kenshin Kawakami of the Chunichi Dragons. He took a pay cut this year and as the media reported, he wasn't all that shy when it came to expressing his displeasure. Here's the latest numbers from the Central League:

http://tinyurl.com/f5k6l

By way of comparison, the Pacific League:

http://tinyurl.com/h58mf

And, lastly, see also:

http://tinyurl.com/z897p

He's been even more decent since that article appeared and has hopefully come to know that he's capable. As I said, I'm sure that with just the right gesture of respect and appreciation, all concerned can show that happy face. And since Kawakami didn't play in the WBC while Matsuzaka did, maybe Seibu will post Matsusaka and all who have heretofore expressed their interest will post their entry bid, leaving the Dodgers to land the rights to Kawakami [it'll have to be a double bribe, the first one paying to post him and the second to land the negotiation rights, though that's not necessarily the more outward form that the transactions will take].

Sorry, one more. His last outing:

"The Yomiuri Shimbun

Kenshin Kawakami allowed two unearned runs in eight innings as the Chunichi Dragons opened a three-game set against the Hanshin Tigers with a 3-2 victory at Nagoya Dome on Friday.

Kawakami allowed four hits and two walks, while striking out 11, including three against fearsome cleanup hitter Tomoaki Kanemoto before a packed crowd of 38,023."

See: http://tinyurl.com/h7htt

"Haren (11-9) struck out eight and didn't walk a batter to win his fifth straight start for the first-place A's, who increased their AL West lead to a season-best 6 1/2 games over Los Angeles after the Angels lost 9-3 at Texas. It's Oakland's biggest advantage in the division since having a seven-game lead on Sept. 30, 1992."

This just jumped out at me considering all the good teams the A's have had the last couple years.

Is the AL West over?

The Phillies are now 13-6 (.684) since trading David Bell. Just FYI.

...and has anybody addressed yet the question of whether "macaca" is considered a profanity on the Toaster? Jon? Ken? Bob?

Re: 60

I'm gonna guess the Red Sox's appeal is pretty broad-based as well. Certainly for this Massachusetts native.

68 Is "production" OPS? Are there really only 9 players in the Pacific League with an OPS above .800?

Surfing around to see how Joel Guzman is doing, I found that former Twins SS/2b Luis Rivas is now playing for the Durham Bulls.

Either Cesar Izturis will have a Juan Castro-like career (bouncing around the majors, but staying in the majors nonetheless as a utility man), or he'll end up like Rivas back in the minors.

Rivas is one great comp to Izturis. Probably the closest one I've been able to find.

Oh sorry, one more re Kawakami:

http://tinyurl.com/n65yw

Note that his ERA matches his opposing b.a.

70 There is no Toaster-wide profanity standard. It's up to each site.

However, I generally consider name-calling of any sort on any site, whether profane or not, to be unacceptable. It's trolling, pure and simple. I'll boot people off for behavior like that.

On the other hand, I almost always accept sincere apologies. But for some reason, the concept of an apology is usually beyond the comprehension of trolls, so it rarely happens that I get one.

"It is going to be hard to gain games in the Wild Card race while the N.L. West is beating up on each other. That's why we stress that the Dodgers need to destroy that division for us since we can't do it ourselves." - Philliesnation.com, 8/15/05

60 - Didn't the Mariners have players from something like 6 different countries on their roster earlier this year?

75 - Ok Ken. I certainly was not aiming that at anybody, but I've been offline for a few days and just wanted to check if this latest profanity that is not actually a profanity (?? Yeah, even the guy who said it is confused, see http://tinyurl.com/f2a44 ) has been addressed yet. Thanks!

70 You already crossed the line when you said the most horrible of all phrases - "David Bell". Anything you say after that pales in comparison.

75 I visit The Toaster sites every day, and every single day, I am impressed by the conduct of Toaster participants. I would challenge anybody to find a collection of sports sites with such good conduct. It's easy to swear (and lord knows I do), but it makes for better discourse when everybody knows the code of conduct. It's part of the reason I love coming here.

Plus, everybody at DT makes me laugh...every day.

1. Do any of you think the recent Dodgers run has altered what has been the top upside of the team going into almost every season since divisional play: a) possibly win a weak division or win wild card and b) win one playoff series?

2. Might the Dodgers slip in a minor league reliever before the deadline for playoff rosters is set (I think that's August 31)?

79. What, are we clowns to you?

OK, this is pretty funny: Dennis Leary was a guest commentator at a recent BoSox-Tigers game, and he had this take on the Mel Gibson debacle. Stay with it until the end, when the clip gets really funny....or classless, depending on your POV:
http://tinyurl.com/gdtva

71 76 Had to sign off and missed these. IF anyone's still here, yes, I think Red Sox have a lot of appeal. They're my favorite AL team.

Seattle may have players from several countries, but it doesn't have the Dodgers' history and tradition. No one does, IMO, except grrr, Yankees and double grrrrr, Cardinals.

Seems like Dodgers last year at some time or other had players from 8 or 9 different countries. IIRC, I looked at roster once and with a little tinkering and bringing back Nokamura (egad!) it was possible to have every position player on the field from a different country.

Not that it would necessarily have been the best lineup last year ("best lineup" and "last year" probably don't belong in same sentence.)

Lots of speculation today that Jose Cruz Jr. will become a Cardinal. Jim Edmonds' post-concussion syndrome may keep him out quite a while, and the Cards were very thin in the outfield before Edmonds went down.

Of course, there's also some speculation they'll deal for Shawn Green.

81 You're a funny guy. Dance, Spider.

84 But if they don't replace Edmonds, LaRussa can have 14 pitchers. Think of the possbilities!

Back to Zito, it seems a few people would really like to pick him up. I'm wondering why, since it looks like he will go for a lot of money and he seems to always have a second half fade.

87 Zito has 3.87 ERA pre All Star Break and a 3.22 ERA afterwards.

87.
Zito will be a terrible pickup for any team except the Yankees, Mets, or Red Sox who can afford to pay 15 mil a year for a 3.7-4.0 ERA pitcher. His curveball is not a pitch he has great control of, and as a result(accd to Scouts inc.) he only throws it 6% of the time when behind in the count. Instead, he's throwing fastballs and changeups, both which are very fringe-average type pitches. His fastball is that of a soft tosser without the kind of movement or pinpoint control that would lead to success, same with his change, and opponents are hitting almost .250 on both those pitches. His K-BB rate is below average, certainly not elite, and he's a flyball pitcher which leads to a good bit of inconsistency. Basically, he is not an ace, maybe a number 3 starter.

89 So are you saying that Ned should only pay him $14 mil a year instead of $16 mil?

90.
I'm saying if Ned signs him I will cry myself to sleep and rethink my whole obsession with baseball.

92 Start getting some tissues together now.

Zito has two things going for him: A constantly low BABIP, and he's seemingly immune to injury.

With a low BABIP, perhiprals aren't as important as they usually are, since you can count on more balls in play being turned into outs. Thus, Zito's unspectular K/BB isn't really an issue.

The fact that the guy doesn't get hurt is baffling to me. He's possibly the least efficent pitcher in baseball (in his most efficent year, he still threw the 11th most pitches per batter in baseball) yet he still gets his innings in, so he ends up with high pitch counts. Despite this, he's never gone on the DL.

I wouldn't sign him, but it's not the end of the world if we do.

Just curious: If DT posters got to vote for one free agent pitcher to acquire in the off-season, Who would it be? Zito? Schmidt? Matsuzaka? Somebody else?

94 Matsuzaka, Zito, Schmidt, in that order. Matsuzaka is the priority since he's 25. I'm just scared how much he's going to command just for the right to negotiate with him.

New post up top.

We spend a lot of time worrying about which FA pitchers to go after, but my big concern is for next year's backup catcher. I'm thinking either Chris Widger or Jason LaRue. But, Henry Blanco is pretty tempting, too. . .