Nice start to the Padres-Rockies game. Rox first six hitters get hits, 4-1 after one (a DP minimized the damage along with the fact they were all singles I think).
When the vibe is down on this D's team, nobody is safe. We really don't have a stopper. I was hoping Bills or Maddux would provide that.
But there is plenty of hope for tonight. Go D's.
Of course the way its going, I have to have the sound off. I look up from my reading and see poor Kenny waving at a fly ball. I have no idea if he had a chance on it. But he is about our best offensive player outside of Ethier so I forgive him.
36 Based on nothing concrete, but his average is as good as most. I also think he is about the only one who makes any of our opponents nervous with his speed. Furcal should, but I don't think he does much. Will you allow room for instinct here?
Is it just me or has Ethier lost all patience on this road trip? He swings at the first pitch in almost every at bat I've seen him in, except one - when he hit the triple.
Is that pastrami burger from Carl's Jr. really a combination of two burger patties and a pile of pastrami, like it looks to be in the final shot of the ad?
even with his base stealing abilities, I dont see how he is our second best offensive player. I mean, the average is nice but its as empty of an average as you are going to get.
50 I don't have to have him our second best. Furcal has been good and like you said Drew is coming on. I hope Martin comes too soon; somewhere it was suggested that the long Major's season might be getting to him, but I hope it is just a matter of a few more at bats and slump over.
Got no Carl's back here but that pastrami burger looks intiguing.
We only have about three Carl's stores here, and no Hardees. I seem to recall Hardees is mostly SE, although there was one next to a Whataburger right outside the UofA campus in Tucson back in the late 1960s.
I remember 2 years ago when Arizona was so bad that Vin remarked that their club was not a major league quality team and he thought their defense was awful.
54 It is only out of my tremendous respect for Jon that I'm able to resist cracking a joke here. Normally there is no way I could pass up a line like that.
Like you said, he is old for the GCL which automatically makes me hesitant about him. He's going to have to prove it next year in Columbus before I get too excited.
how about Bridger Hunt? Right out of college and hitting over .300 in Columbus is impressive IMO.
With fried chicken instead of Carls' best burger IMO--the western bacon cheeseburger.
Around here, instead of the weird pastrami thing, they instead have a philly cheesesteak burger. Basically the same idea. I've had it, and it really wasn't all the great, although it didn't cause any "intestinal distress." The fried chicken can be a pretty good value, though. And Hardee's also has pretty good biscuits.
I do miss the western bacon, though. I certainly don't value it as much as the In-N-Out double-double, but I usually try to get one when I'm back in LA.
Anyone hear that bit on the radio re: QuesTec? (the strike zone cameras, which they have in Arizona) An interesting possible explanation for Maddux's struggles at that ballpark.
67,80,etc. You guys are sending me towards the refrigerator. The sandwiches I concoct, coupled with it being 11:10 pm here, almost garauntee gastric distress at some point.
Vasgersian on the Padre broadcast just brought up the fact that the Dodgers get the Pirates for an extra series while the Padres get the Braves. "Who would you rather face?", he asked (well, it depends, is Baez on the team or not?)
Well, who would you rather face, the Angels or the Mariners? The Twins (who the Dodgers faced) or the Rangers (who the Pads got) in interleague?
Thanks. Once again, numbers trump impressions; it has seemed awfully frustrating to see how "often" Nomar has messed up a good scoring chance by making an out on the first pitch.
108- I used ESPN. It actually took me longer than it needed to because I always forgot to just use the links Jon has provided in the sidebar. Bob probably knew it off the top of his head.
Aren't we facing the much lauded Arizona kiddie corps in this game? Jackson, Drew, and Quentin? There's got to be some others waiting in the wings, correct? Either way AZ looks pretty good and can only get better in the future. Should be fun.
122
The guy leaned out over the railing and almost stuck his hand in Morneau's glove. If the umpire hadn't called it, I think that Ron Gardenhire would have had the umpire killed.
It still was not a good game for the Mad Dog. Maddux's game score: 33. If he struck out the side in the 6th and was pulled after that, he'd be getting a game score of 41.
I think he will, mostly because he's been thriving out of the pen, whereas he kinda sucked as a starter.
Which, I don't understand. From what I've seen of Tomko (although that is little, as I mostly just listen to the games on radio), his stuff seems to be excellent, and he seems to know what he's doing out there on the mound. Of course, the results have never had him as anything better than a mediocre #5. I wonder why?
134 - I wasn't predicting, I was just pointing out that according to the metric, he still wouldn't have had that good a start. Fortunately, Drew and Martin have belted a few.
Thanks again. Yeah, that's pretty good. Steiner was talking (in general terms) about how well Monday had done against Carlton, and Monday was not only doing the "aw shucks" routine, but talking about how he hated every minute of it.
Makes you wonder which Tim Stauffer-like pitcher owned Monday...
130 I'm not sure which would be better.
At least we ar5e trying here with Tomato.
tonight, I don't get the feeling one run is going to be enough. I hope I'm wrong.
Micah Owings was giving me a scare when he was mowing down AA batters in the southern league. then he went to AAA tucson in the PCL and he has fallen apart.
For all of his, er, unfortunate results as an erstwhile Dodger relief pitcher, Steiner just announced that Danys Baez has undergone an emergency appendectomy, and I wish him a speedy recovery (ditto to Chan Ho).
Wow. Looks like Monday pounded Seaver harder than any pitcher not named Dick Ruthven (20 for 49, 7 HR); I'm not counting Garry Roggenburk, against whom Monday went 4 for 5.
This game has me uptight enough so I had to pace up and dowm my driveway twice before I realized it is raining pretty hard here.
Darn, that looked like a Kenny play.
One last batter-pitcher comment, and I promise to shut up (new toy, gotta play with it). Mays vs. Koufax:
25 for 95, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 4 HR, 23 BB, 20 K, 263/407/484.
I think the Byrnes at bat really shook Broxton up, in hindsight even if Hudson sacrifices, they walk Gonzalez, if Tracy and Jackson do their thing, he gets out of the inning.
Is it JD Drew's turn to clinch his player of the game?
From the UCLA General Catalog on why to be a History major:
" Opportunities
Leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree, it is excellent preparation for a wide variety of careers -- law, teaching, business, the communications media, public services, and medicine."
I guess I fall under "public services", but wouldn't that include anyone who works for the government?
It appears Mark Alexander has been sent back to Jacksonville, likely to serve as their closer for the end of the season and post season. His demotion makes it even more unlikely that he will see the majors this year.
incidentally, Andy Laroche homered for Vegas tonight batting 6th, 2 run shot, as he went 1-4 with a K. He made a fielding error but also started a double play.
When Furcal broke for second on the first pitch, had a huge jump, and Lugo fouled off a ball low and away, I cringed. Methinks the inning might have been a little different.
Just got home, was surprised to see the game was still on, and I made it just in time for Drew's RBI.
Looking over box score... Drew's having a nice game, Nomar is not (6 LOB??), Maddux was in midseason form (not a good thing), it's nice to have Saito in now, but maybe he should've come in in the 8th inning.
If Byrnes gets a game-winning hit here, I'm getting my diploma out of the drawer and crossing out "History" and writing in something like "Death to Arizona!"
There was so much angst on that play, my brain shut down and proceeded to play Ethel Merman tunes. Next thing I knew, the Dodgers were out of the inning.
You'll be swell! You'll be great!
Gonna have the whole world on the plate!
Starting here, starting now,
honey, everything's coming up roses!
Clear the decks! Clear the tracks!
You've got nothing to do but relax.
Blow a kiss. Take a bow.
Honey, everything's coming up roses!
Now's your inning. Stand the world on it's ear!
Set it spinning! That'll be just the beginning!
Curtain up! Light the lights!
You got nothing to hit but the heights!
You'll be swell. You'll be great.
I can tell. Just you wait.
That lucky star I talk about is due!
Honey, everything's coming up roses for me and for you!
There's a UCLA vs. Washington game on FSNPT tomorrow at 2. Fresno St. vs. USC at 6. I know they rerun old games, but usually those are marked as classics.
These other announcers are so god awful, that when Vin Scully is unfortunately unable to announce games, I don't see myself being very interested in baseball anymore.
I switched back to this after dinner (local, national, local and the News Hour intervening) and was astonished to find it in the 11th inning. When I turned over to news it was bases loaded and no outs in the 8th for the DBacks.
There should be a law against moronic use of the PA system after 11 p.m. The demographic you're trying to entertain went to bed already. The rest of us shouldn't have to put up with it.
234 Yes, Greg, and I cringed too [add also the obligatory off color remark].
235 No need for another treatise, Bob, since now we can simply mimeograph the one posted and hand it to Julio for further review. He even gets to smell it, hot off the press.
I remember Vinny talk about that longest game the Dodgers played in Montreal ... maybe we'll beat that. But it is hard to imagine as that was scoreless until the end and this is ugly to the end.
I'm guessing that Beimel is OK, and Grady is just going with the "this may go on a while, so I'm going with a starter who can give me a bunch of innings" theory.
360: Sure - I just remain surprised that he didn't trot out Beimel for an inning or two before turning to the distance runner. Must be hard on a guy, being the one dude on the club that does'nt pitch in a 14-inning game where the starter only went 5.
Bob -- seriously you add a lot to these chats. Thank you. No walks in 22 innings. Things were different pre Money Ball. NO WALKS in 22 innings? that just sounds soooo unlikely. Amazing. I bet Vinny said something funny about that at the time. I mean in San Fran he talked about Eliszer Alfonzo a million times cause he has walked once!
365
Vin wasn't at the 22-inning game. Ross Porter did all 22 innings on the radio by himself as Don Drysdale was sick. I listened to the whole game with my grandmother.
The Dodgers didn't draw a walk that night because they had a really bad lineup.
I just looked up the game (I'm getting better at using Retrosheet). Alfredo Griffin led off for the Dodgers and went 0 for 9. That's a good start on not drawing any walks.
As an on-again, off-again DT follower (because of lack of time, not lack of interest), I don't know all of the argot. I've figured out some of it, but I would like to know why Ethier is referred to as "3.5". Could someone enlighten me?
Well that was a good start.
Good-bye. Ok.
http://tinyurl.com/kj7bz
But there is plenty of hope for tonight. Go D's.
And how did the big league team do against him? bleh.
That mark is 23!
Willie Mays would have caught it in 1951.
Actually I meant 1954.
based on what numbers?
it didnt count in the first inning?
Of course, their enigmatic superstar is a lot better than our enigmatic superstar. But he's more enigmatic.
If JD gets hot and his power returns to his career norm, we could actually be in pretty good shape.
WWSH
even with his base stealing abilities, I dont see how he is our second best offensive player. I mean, the average is nice but its as empty of an average as you are going to get.
That is correct. At my local burger stand, that's called "the Special Burger."
I've tried it twice to make sure that the severe instestinal distress was not happening by chance.
I've not had one since.
Got no Carl's back here but that pastrami burger looks intiguing.
Do you have a Hardee's?
Not really. Its rookie ball. Some take more time to adjust then others but the strikeouts do show that he has excellent stuff.
Like you said, he is old for the GCL which automatically makes me hesitant about him. He's going to have to prove it next year in Columbus before I get too excited.
how about Bridger Hunt? Right out of college and hitting over .300 in Columbus is impressive IMO.
With fried chicken instead of Carls' best burger IMO--the western bacon cheeseburger.
Around here, instead of the weird pastrami thing, they instead have a philly cheesesteak burger. Basically the same idea. I've had it, and it really wasn't all the great, although it didn't cause any "intestinal distress." The fried chicken can be a pretty good value, though. And Hardee's also has pretty good biscuits.
I do miss the western bacon, though. I certainly don't value it as much as the In-N-Out double-double, but I usually try to get one when I'm back in LA.
WWSH
Don't they have QuesTec at Dodger Stadium?
Thank you for running your way out of this inning.
Your buddy,
Greg Maddux
It's a matchup between baseball's savviest pitcher and baseball's savviest hitter!
Or at least that's the way Counsell is portrayed.
Or at least that's the way Maddux is portrayed.
But it doesn't do any good. Does anyone know what Nomar's average is when he puts the first pitch of an AB into play?
Well, who would you rather face, the Angels or the Mariners? The Twins (who the Dodgers faced) or the Rangers (who the Pads got) in interleague?
Thanks. Once again, numbers trump impressions; it has seemed awfully frustrating to see how "often" Nomar has messed up a good scoring chance by making an out on the first pitch.
How/where did you get that answer so quickly?
Click on players.
It was pretty blatant.
Cool; thanks.
Tomko has to get Drew out for Maddux to still have a chance for the win.
Mission accomplished. That was the first strikeout of the game by a Dodger pitcher.
I hope Tomko's willing to stay in the pen next season. He seems to be thriving there. I think the following rotation could work for 2007:
Lowe
Penny
Bills
Kuo (?)
Maddux (?)
Hopefully Maddux could be signed to a reasonable one year deal. And Kuo's arm will hopefully hold up.
WWSH
Chris Young is up, but he isnt in the lineup tonight. Then they have two outfielders, carlos gonzales and justin upton then a catcher Miguel Montero.
The guy leaned out over the railing and almost stuck his hand in Morneau's glove. If the umpire hadn't called it, I think that Ron Gardenhire would have had the umpire killed.
Seeing as how he didn't strike anyone out in 5 innings, I wouldn't have predicted him striking out "the side" in the 6th
I think he will, mostly because he's been thriving out of the pen, whereas he kinda sucked as a starter.
Which, I don't understand. From what I've seen of Tomko (although that is little, as I mostly just listen to the games on radio), his stuff seems to be excellent, and he seems to know what he's doing out there on the mound. Of course, the results have never had him as anything better than a mediocre #5. I wonder why?
I would say Rick has a case.
of the Mondays...?
Thanks again. Yeah, that's pretty good. Steiner was talking (in general terms) about how well Monday had done against Carlton, and Monday was not only doing the "aw shucks" routine, but talking about how he hated every minute of it.
Makes you wonder which Tim Stauffer-like pitcher owned Monday...
Monday was 4 for 30 against Gene Garber.
Beat me both to the stat, and to the inevitable political allusion arising therefrom.
At least we ar5e trying here with Tomato.
tonight, I don't get the feeling one run is going to be enough. I hope I'm wrong.
Micah Owings was giving me a scare when he was mowing down AA batters in the southern league. then he went to AAA tucson in the PCL and he has fallen apart.
Repko is full of double-switching goodness.
It must not have been an emergency since it happened yesterday.
Wow. Looks like Monday pounded Seaver harder than any pitcher not named Dick Ruthven (20 for 49, 7 HR); I'm not counting Garry Roggenburk, against whom Monday went 4 for 5.
We'll never know
But so did a lot of guys.
Darn, that looked like a Kenny play.
But the Angels-Yankees game will likely take four hours at its pace.
What are the odds?
Not that long actually as UCLA has boatloads of history majors.
It's 4-2 Angels.
It's going to be a long night out in Anaheim.
25 for 95, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 4 HR, 23 BB, 20 K, 263/407/484.
I think this is history in the making. I don't know when anyone has fouled so many off Bull.
And then got a hit.
1 Undeclared 3,306
2 Economics (incl related majors) 2,032
3 Psychology (incl pre-Psychology)2,002
4 Political Science (incl pre-Political Science) 1,804
5 Biology (incl pre-Biology) 1,391
6 History (incl pre-History) 1,212
7 English 1,188
8 Sociology 992
9 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology 798
10 Psychobiology (incl pre-Psychobiology) 710
Don't you remember from History 1A? I was the guy in the shirt.
Both of my undergrad majors are on that list
I wish I was. This is painful.
I'm glad I'm not.
And now would even be better...
Stop laughing.
Is it JD Drew's turn to clinch his player of the game?
I'm sorry what did you say? I was laughing.
The Giants have now won 1 straight!
Out loud, no less
Game would have been ours.
" Opportunities
Leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree, it is excellent preparation for a wide variety of careers -- law, teaching, business, the communications media, public services, and medicine."
I guess I fall under "public services", but wouldn't that include anyone who works for the government?
I can think of plenty of people who "work" for the government that aren't really "serving" the "public"
Bob Dylan said, "You've got to serve somebody."
But that was in his temporary insanity phase.
We're doomed!
Scrapperiffic.
Not a sock puppet.
Other players of note:
Kemp 0-4
Loney 1-3, BB, 2B, R, RBI
Young 1-4, 2B, K, GIDP
In the sense that he's a better pick than Hall? Not much left on the bench just now.
I was expecting a 1200 word treatise on why Lugo shouldn't have swung.
Yes, I left out that it would be from someone else.
The Toby Hall treatise checked in at 1,233 words.
nice
Looking over box score... Drew's having a nice game, Nomar is not (6 LOB??), Maddux was in midseason form (not a good thing), it's nice to have Saito in now, but maybe he should've come in in the 8th inning.
Good night.
His first error of the season was a ball that practically took the mitt off his hand.
For now.
The Arizona announcers are terrible, btw.
Meetcha over there.
Lord knows I'm ready when it is.
I thought it started on August 31.
You'll be swell! You'll be great!
Gonna have the whole world on the plate!
Starting here, starting now,
honey, everything's coming up roses!
Clear the decks! Clear the tracks!
You've got nothing to do but relax.
Blow a kiss. Take a bow.
Honey, everything's coming up roses!
Now's your inning. Stand the world on it's ear!
Set it spinning! That'll be just the beginning!
Curtain up! Light the lights!
You got nothing to hit but the heights!
You'll be swell. You'll be great.
I can tell. Just you wait.
That lucky star I talk about is due!
Honey, everything's coming up roses for me and for you!
I think it's time for bed.
Interpretively, of course. Um, go Dodgers.
Division I-A football starts on August 31 when Boston College plays at Central Michigan at 3 pm PT.
What'd I miss?
with any success Nomar should see plate appearance #7 of the night here
The line was good, but what I really can't shake is the mental image of the official Greg Brock performing it.
That's Mr. Green now.
Fan law?
Fan law.
235 No need for another treatise, Bob, since now we can simply mimeograph the one posted and hand it to Julio for further review. He even gets to smell it, hot off the press.
Wrong.
In the long 1989 game in Montreal, the Dodgers set a record by playing 22 innings and never once drawing a walk.
I'm guessing that Beimel is OK, and Grady is just going with the "this may go on a while, so I'm going with a starter who can give me a bunch of innings" theory.
That's 27 by the Braves in a 20-inning game in 1973.
Vin wasn't at the 22-inning game. Ross Porter did all 22 innings on the radio by himself as Don Drysdale was sick. I listened to the whole game with my grandmother.
The Dodgers didn't draw a walk that night because they had a really bad lineup.
Here is the boxscore from the 27 LOB game:
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B05040PHI1973.htm
I just looked up the game (I'm getting better at using Retrosheet). Alfredo Griffin led off for the Dodgers and went 0 for 9. That's a good start on not drawing any walks.
They then deserve to lose like their next 5 games at least.
I never thought I'd see another Jim Tracy.
But I have.
Long live Bob Melvin!
Hence, 3.5 was coined by some genius. His name escapes me.