Luis Gonzalez was hit by a pitch from Mike Megrew, and a collective gasp went up in the handful of spectators

A hopeful gasp, that is

Let the games begin!

He'll be held back for the next few days, but it isn't expected to be an issue for long.

Where have we heard those words before.

3 - I think there's a keyboard macro for that, isn't there?

Is it wrong that I am disappointed that LuGo didn't go on the DL? I mean rooting for someone to get hurt is inhuman, yet if is going to take a beaning, would it really kill him to break something? I mean does it always have to be the Drew's who are lost for the season?

Also, Juan Pierre says that he's in the best condition of his life, and plans to play a record 166 games and garner 800 plate appearances.

Despite Marlon's super-heroic feats last fall, losing him to injury wouldn't hurt the Dodgers very much. He seemingly makes Ramon Martinez completely useless, but in general just stands to take ABs away from Loney, Laroche, Saenz, Ethier, whoever.

6 - If he managed to get traded in opportune ways that might happen. (Fingers crossed)

Jon, I saw your response to my questions in the prior thread. You know how I hate to post after a NTUT notice:-).

I see your point and he did set forth his bias. It just appears a little too cozy.

BTW, put me down as the number one fan of Lauren Bacall as Slim in To Have and Have Not. Grace Kelly in Rear Window a close second, but Becall was smoldering in a way that just doesn't exist anymore.

Duh. NTUT = NPUT

5. I am at least going to wait for someone to actually be a detriment to the team before I quietly root for an injury. That means we have to be at least 50 games into the regular season. (even then I'm not sure I could really root for an injury)

I need someone to give me objective reasoning on why Hodges is not in the hall. As a biased Dodger fan, i want more and more Dodgers in the hall. All the RBI's, 2 WS titles, managed the 69 mets to WS title! I think the performance in the 59 WS may even out the awful (i think) 52 WS.

9 - Grace Kelly is the G.O.A.T. I don't think it is possible to be better looking than she is in Rear Window. Though Jennifer Connelly is soaring to some pretty unbelievable heights right now (see:Little Children).

I think Anderson will still provide an extremely useful guy to have on the bench and I for one hope he stays healthy. Now, Gonzalez, I wish no ill on either, but a minor injury that causes him to rethink his career and decide to become a Dodgers bench coach instead, wouldn't bug me.

Ooh, Grace Kelly, now you're talkin'....

Meanwhile, reposting from previous thread, since it came at the end:

Gosh, I have no doubt Tim Lincecum is going to be a great pitcher, but it seems a little early to be readying him for the majors.
http://tinyurl.com/28zwyb
"Seven of the nine were strikes, including the three he blew past Tomas De La Rosa and one that broke Nate Schierholtz's bat."

After taking care of De La Rosa and Schierholtz, I annoint him ready for Albert Pujols!

Oh those wacky Giants writers...

Yeah, Grace Kelly might be the GOAT...Very true.

10 topic:post::pə-tā'-tō:pə-tä'-tō

We can be in more than one fan club, can't we?

Rooting for an injury is an unhappy thing to contemplate. But rooting for an injury in February is pretty silly.

16 Well. The boxes were schwas when they were in the input text box.

3 Yes, but it usually yields the briefer "day-to-day".

18
They were schwas on my computer.

GOAT? I'm a big Rita Hayworth fan. Her short haired look in "Lady from Shanghai" is devastating. Devastating. But then, I'm not sure what we're talking about.

On another topic, my birthday present from my wife is that we're going to Vero next year for the last ever Dodger Spring Training. Anybody got recommendations for places to stay, eat, other activities? Is it possible to play on the Dodgertown golf courses during March?

13 And don't underestimate Miss Kelly in "To Catch a Thief"
http://tinyurl.com/cxnye

12
Gil Hodges's problem with the HOF is that his stats are pretty good, but not great, and some of the Veterans Committee are hesitant to vote for the combo good player/good manager.

Obviously being a nice guy doesn't help you get into the HOF. It hasn't helped Ron Santo.

20 Good, thanks. They force us to run archaic software here, e.g., this is IE 6.0 under Windows XP 5.1, which may have something to do with it. (And we just "upgraded" to XP only months ago.)

17 - I know. It is beyond silly. Still it is tempting to imagine a Dodger world without Luis Gonzales, no matter what the circumstances.

20 - Not on mine :(

If we're going for just pure hotness, then Gene Tierney is the way to go, she blows Grace Kelly in anything out of the water.
My crush on Theresa Wright was more about the personality her characters display in the movies than just her looks (which while nice, are pretty average by Hollywood standards).

The whole Grace Kelly thing got me thinking. When I was a kid we all knew my Dad had a thing for Lee Remick. In terms of age, she was his contemporary. I don't think I carry a thing for any contemporary actress. Is this a lack of real starlets? I think so.

I am in my 40s. What are my options? Nicole Kidman? Pretty but not beautiful and definitely not sexy.
Gwyneth? Not even pretty.
Sandra Bullock? Nah.
Julia Roberts? Never beautiful and her looks always seemed trendy to me.

I think my generation is out of luck for a contemporary starlets. Or I may just be forgetting a slew of them.

20 26 - Timmermann gets to Mac at work?

28 - I guess Valerie Bertinelli doesn't qualify? That was my 43-year-old brother's crush as a kid.

Maureen McCormick?

How about Diane Lane? She's a winner.

22: Um, wow.

28: I think its become established now that starlets only exist from age 19-27. So you're supposed to be cleansing your mind of Catherine Zeta Jones and making room for Siena Miller. Didn't you get the memo.

Contemporary fan club: Rachel Weisz.

"I'd like to take a stroll down Diane Lane..."

- Doug Benson, panelist, Best Week Ever

I am using a Windows 2000 machine and Firefox 2.0.2.

I guess LuGo is the 2007 winner of my Kenny Lofton Memorial I Can't Figure Out What The Big Deal Is Award

Yum = CZJ or Seina Miller.

I think Kate Winslet (who is still pretty young at 32) is beautiful. She, more than any actress her age, seems to have "screen legend" potential. Now some might say that 5 Oscar nods already make her a screen legend but legends are made by history, so we will have to wait and see.

31. Diane Lane. Good call there! Maureen McCormick not so much. Especially after she got her nose bashed in with that football.

36 - I agree. The biggest perk of my new job was breakfast with Kate Winslet and Todd Field in November, and she was more beautiful offscreen than on.

31 The guy who played Valerie's friend on One Day at a Time was in the class ahead of me at Uni High.

If we are talking just "starlets" from the 80's, Phoebe Cates would be one (following up my Fast Times reference from Jon's Oscar thread on Screen Jam).

I will not go down the Jan Smithers (Bailey Quarters), Connie Selleca road (okay, just a little).

I loved the Newsradio Maura Tierney.

Penelope Cruz will be sexy at 60.

39 - Yes, Phoebe has a timeless beauty.

I like Grace Kelly a lot, but I'd still side with Ingrid Bergman in a showdown. Contemporarily, Naomi Watts in Peter Jackson's King Kong was quite stunning.

ER has three actresses I really like and I still don't watch it.

What: no Ione Skye references...?

40 If Judge Reinhold has kids, they won't see that movie until they move out of the house. Enuff said.

43 Oh, here it comes, back to Say Anything.

44
"Daddy, why were you convulsing in the bathroom? And why did the camera only show the upper half of your body?"

i hate to say it, but i agree with dayn perry: http://tinyurl.com/2xwg7f

i think a few years from now--IF our young pitching pans out--we will pass them by, but right now their young talent is overwhelming.

38 - I am very very jealous. She seems to be more on the ball than most, though obviously I have never met her. That is one heck of a perk, mine is free doughnuts on people's birthdays. Which is nice too, I guess.

47 We have spending power though. If we decided to go out and blow 20 million+ a year on Johan or Zambrano, there's nothing the Diamondbacks could do about it.

27 Put me in the Teresa Wright camp.

I once spent a weekend teaching her some of the finer points of baseball. (She became an avid fan very late in life, in her eighties.) Such a sweet lady.

what's a schwa?

51 The sound made by the first vowel in your post.

39. Uni high? Me too. What year did you graduate?

Can the Dodgers sign 2 of 3 next winter:
Zambrano
Dunn
Andruw Jones

Or all 3...what the hey.

47 We also have better pitching. Their young hitters may be scary, but after their #1 guy, their pitching, young and old, doesn't scare me this year. And what Reg said.

54
Ned won't be interested in Dunn.

49 - true. i think we have comparable bullpens, but at this time it's hard to declare either team's rotation superior to the other's.

schmidt/lowe/penny/wolf/? vs. webb/rj/livan/d. davis/? has too many unknown variables to call.

that leaves the lineups, which at this point favors arizona, in my view.

he goes a bit overboard in annointing them the next league powerhouse, largely due to their lack of pitching prospects. however, as we've seen firsthand, pitching prospects don't always pan out.

long-term, i take us based on our pitching depth; this year, i give them the slight nod.

41. I preferred Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.

58
Yeah. She really showed a lot in that movie...

51
A friend of mine from Minnesota claimed that all Californians used the schwa as their only vowel sound.

She wanted me to speak more Minnesotan with words like "boooooooooooat".

58 Oh God, now I'm drooling, I mean, now you're talking. Naomi Watts does it for me now as I'm sure Grace Kelly would have in the 50s. (Or still does.)

Now, then, about this intersquad game, Megrew sounds like he made quite an impression. And I wonder how many home runs Bigbie needs to hit in spring training to be considered for the team (24?)

Don't mean to beat it to death, but what does the character look like that represents a schwa- ie. is it an a with something above it?

Jeff Kent does look in good shape this year and that is a good sign.

Just a random thought. We use far too many vowels. If a word was spelt worse, werse, wirse, or wurse we would pronounce it the same.

Now that Penny looks more like Russell Crowe (and Russell Crowe is starting to look more like Brad Penny of a year or so ago), should we expect better results? Not to mention hope Penny sticks to action over romance?

63. Gene Wiengarten of the Washington Post would tell you that they all could be pronounced differently and that it is only unsophisticated ears that wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

63 Spoken like a man whose screen name should be "Gn3Blu."

Kate Beckinsale. Thats all I have to say.

66 - Unless he means Best Linear Unbiased Estimate. But then I guess then it would be BLUE.

As far as movie star I second the Jennifer Connolly vote from the previous thread. Also in the style over substance category: Tea Leoni.

63 It must be all that rock and roll I played when young that hurt my oars.

50 Its amazing the things you find out on DT. Nice going, did you explain to her that runners don't usually head towards third base after they hit the ball.

53 This is the one in West L.A. - 1980.

54 Zambrano, doubtful unless Penny is traded.
A. Jones - I am sure he will get a call.
Dunn - Doubtful based on what others have said already.

Is it me or does Ethier look like he has built up some "pythons" to use a Hulk Hogan reference.

From what I have seen so far, a lot of guys look to be in really good shape to start spring training though I miss the Dodger Stadium workout days.

67

Who's that, your daughter's favorite actress?

62 The schwa symbol looks like an upside-down, lower-case "e". Not like a square.

Can't wait to get home to my Powerbook so I can see the schwas!

60 Schwa does what theirs does (do) for less than half the sounds.

72 Thanks. So its not in the regular character set on my keyboard.

70. Same one. I graduated in '85 though. Go Warriors! Er, I mean Bobcats. Warriors was too politically incorrect so they changed it to Bobcats. I'm sure in 10 years "Bobcats" will be considered offensive and it will be changed to the Widgets or Greens or Dodgers.

12 Hodges' career SLG of .487 is a little low for HOF 1B, though higher than Murray and Perez. His career is also a bit too short to accumulate the big counting stats, e.g., he has less than 2000 hits.

Intangible talk at Inside the Dodgers. And I totally missed hot 80's chick talk here.

Being employed is for suckers.

76 Now, I am probably more politically correct than most but I would have voted for something else besides Bobcats.

This is a little before your time but we did get quite a chuckle when in the classic film, "The Warriors," the leader of the rival gang clinked two bottles together while yelling "Warriors come out and play."

That's when play had two or three sylables.

Perry's article is a joke. Even if it were true that Arizona's "young pups" are better than ours -- which isn't true at all -- the margin would be so slim that the conclusion Perry drew -- that Arizona will be the "powerhouse" in the division -- is ludicrous. Even with our SUPERIORITY in young talent, I grant that Arizona has enough to keep us from running away with the division year after year. Too bad Perry couldn't have been equally realistic.

As for comparing the two organization's young talent, let's get something perfectly clear: we don't just have an "edge" on them in pitching. It's pretty much Godzilla vs. Bambi. I don't think I even have to go into details, knowing how much people here know about our young pitchers. So moving on to position player comparisons, I'll say they do have an overall "edge" here, but not by as much as some people think. The difference is arguably "small" in absolute terms, and even more so in relative terms, compared to the gap in the Dodgers' favor pitching wise.

Comparing catchers, NOBODY thinks Montero is as strong a talent as Martin. At first base, Jackson is not better than Loney. They both lack HR power, but I give Loney the edge because of superior pure hitting ability and defense, while sabermetricians will like Jackson's walks more. At second base, Callaspo is more advanced than Tony Abreu and Callaspo's stats have benefitted from extremely hitter-friendly home parks and leagues his whole career, but Callaspo and Abreu are very comparable talents. At shortstop, Arizona clearly wins with Drew, as neither Hu nor DeJesus come close to him. At third base, we definitely win with La Roche, who beats Mark Reynolds by a lot. In the outfield, Young, Gonzalez, Upton, and Quentin beat Kemp and Ethier, but after disappointing years by Young (low batting average in a Triple A park the equal of Vegas for hitter-friendliness) and Upton, I think Kemp may be the best out the five, and one of Arizona's four is going to have to go in a trade because they can't all fit in an outfield.

But the real question is, what are Perry's motives here? It's just so obvious. Perry is a sabermetrics guy, and Arizona has a saber-friendly GM, while every sabermetrician in the media today hates the Dodgers for firing "one of our own" and/or sees a bleak future ahead for the Dodgers because they do not like Colletti at all. Perry also probably believes in the non-credible TINSTAAP doctrine, which would make him discount our superiority in pitching. The math, as they say, adds up.

80. Perry has been pumping Arizona's farm system since just before DePodesta was fired, to me it seems more of him sticking by all of the predictions he has made in the past and trying to make sure that he will get "credit" for being one of the first on the Arizona bandwagon.

Why is everyone so up in arms that Santo didn't make the hall? He looks like a pretty marginal candidate both by traditional (2254 Hits, 365 HR, .277 AVG) and statistical (.277/.362/.464, with a 125 OPS+) judgments. His black ink (11 versus 27 for a typical HoF player), HOF Standard (40.9 versus 50) and HOF Monitor (88 versus 100) all don't meet muster (He is barely above average in Grey Ink 147 versus 144). He did win five gold gloves, but he never won an MVP and never won the world series. Compared to someone like Bert Blyleven he's a light-weight, so why the outrage? Because he is a nice guy?

80 Just a quick glance at the drafts since 2002, certainly in the first round, you would say that outside of 2004, most of the players that have made an impact have been position players.

2004 featured Verlander and Jered Weaver who made their marks last year, with Homer Bailey, Humber, Phillip Hughes and Scott Elbert all among their organization's top prospects.

71. Ouch. She's only 11 years younger than me. Ok that violates the impled must be within a decate of your age rule. Regardless, she is beautiful and if she does the right movies could have starlet presence. After all, she already played one in the Aviator.

Getting back to the subject of schwas and vowel sounds (because isn't that what this blog is all about), as I learned in my Linguistics classes at UCLA, in the famous UC Berkeley drinking song:

They had to carry Harry to the ferry
They had to carry Harry to the shore
They had to carry Harry to the ferry
'Cause Harry couldn't carry anymore

The rhymes only work with a West Coast accent. People from the East or South or Midwest would think that "Harry", "ferry", and "carry" don't rhyme.

Another example is "Mary", "merry", and "marry", which all sound the same out in these parts, but don't if you were the dialect coach for "The Departed."

Bill James had Ron Santo as the third best baseman of all time before he retired. Even now, he's still sixth.

As ToyCannon would remind us, position does matter. I was a Santo, denier, but I was wrong. Santo belongs.

Kate Winslet for me please.

82 This is a bit harsh, but I think a lot of it's because he's a nice guy who doesn't have any legs. There's a lot of the Buck O'Neil factor in his candidacy, plus a certain amount of sympathy vote.

However, his case is better than it might appear at first because (a) The low-offense era he played in depresses his stats, (b) He was by most accounts excellent defensively, and (c) 3B is historically the weakest position in terms of HOFers, so he's quite a bit better than many 3Bmen already enshrined.

I watched a DVD press kit for the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, which they referred to as taking place at "UCLA's indoor arena." Apparently, Pauley Pavilion doesn't have enough cachet among our yutes.

Its officially baseball season in my house! Yesterday, after school, daughter called me to announce that Dodgers are playing the Mets this Sat and it will be televised on WPIX. "Do we get WPIX Dad?" Yes we do. Slight dissapointment when I reminded her that vets only play an inning or two in ST. Wait til I have to have the 'Lastings Millage is the Future' discussion with her.

86 - Most similar by age:
21. Adrian Beltre (956)
22. Adrian Beltre (946)
23. Adrian Beltre (975)
24. Adrian Beltre (945)
25. Adrian Beltre (965)
26. Adrian Beltre (946)
27. Adrian Beltre (931)
28. Eric Chavez (902)
29. Ruben Sierra (884)
30. Del Ennis (873)
31. Del Ennis (878)
32. Del Ennis (882)
33. Al Kaline (863)
34. Al Kaline (865)

Well it isn't particularly impressive to have Beltre as your best comparable, expect for age 25 when it is high flattery.

Whatever, I still say he is marginal and there is a ridiculous hitter bias where only inner circle starters get in, while Santo makes on "good for the era" and "good for the position".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa

If you dismiss eras and positions, you're going to have to pull a hell of a lot of players out of the Hall of Fame. Johnny Bench, Brooks Robinson, Ozzie Smith, just off the top of my head.

89. Tickets to the Kids' Choice Awards are tough to come by. At one of my kids school, someone manages to get a few every year and donate them to the school auction. They are one of the most coveted item and fetch $$$.

The main case for Santo is that his peak was nuts. From 64-68 Santo was worth 72.3 wins. Over the last five years, Pujols has been worth 68.6 wins. He put up 6-7 win seasons five years after that.

Santo was playing in one of the most pitcher friendly eras, which massively suppressed his stats.

That should be six year spans on Santo and Pujols.

Frankly, I don't think that Santo belongs in the Hall. Not for any rational reason, but just because I enjoy all of the Cub fans around me getting mad about his repeated snubs.

Ron Santo's career OPS+ is beyond sick for a third baseman. It's 125.

George Brett's is 135

93 - That isn't my point as much as, people look for reasons to vote position players in. Being outstanding at one or two aspects of the game, and decent in general, is enough to get you to Cooperstown. Voters meanwhile, look for reasons NOT to vote starting pitching in. Bert Blyleven dominates in certain categories (Strike outs for example) and is generally very good, but he didn't get enough wins, didn't make enough all-star appearances, whatever. It is a silly double standard.

Dakota Fanning

'Nuff Said.

99 The same people that want Santo are the same people that want Blyleven in pretty much.

80 - great post, Canuck. I just wanted to hear it from you :)

now with greg miller potentially back in the starting pitcher mix, i'm having a hard time drawing up future rotations. i think my latest 2010 one featured billingsley on top followed by kershaw, elbert, kuo, & miller.

91

I wouldn't compare Santo to Beltre. Recent comments have addressed the value of the EQA stat because it is adjusted for league offensive levels, home parks, league difficulty, etc (though defense is not considered).

From '63-'72 Santo's EQA ranged from .279 to .334. He was over .300 six times and has a career average .294.

Other than 2004 Beltre's career best is .267 and his career is .270 (heavily influenced by his overpowering 2004).

Even with 2004 Beltre is 24 points below Santo's career average and he only has 1 year in his career that he exceeded Santo's worst.

Santo belongs but so does Gil Hodges.

99 Using Bert Blyleven as an example doesn't help, because I'm the Captain of the Blyleven for HOF Self Immolation Team.

We meet tri-annually at a compound in Minnesota, and it's getting close to match-lighting time.

The average JAWS score for a HOF 3b is 92. He is a no brainer unless you don't believe in sabremetrics. Then he is a no brainer if you ever saw him play against his peers. How he's not in the HOF is a mystery and it has nothing to do with his illness.

Jay Jaffe from BP taking a look at veteran ballot.
Name Pos EqA BRAR BRAA FRAA Career Peak JAWS BBW VC
Ron Santo 3B .294 650 375 82 116.7 79.8 98.3 43 65
Ken Boyer 3B .285 493 244 125 102.0 71.1 86.6 26 19
Joe Torre C .298 655 399 -2 104.0 61.6 82.8 22 45
Dick Allen 3B .325 801 591 -80 95.7 69.8 82.8 19 15
Bobby Bonds CF .298 628 382 35 93.4 62.9 78.2 11 5
Gil Hodges 1B .289 516 277 101 89.5 61.9 75.7 63 65
Joe Gordon 2B .288 410 216 13 85.5 65.5 75.5 29 18
Vada Pinson CF .277 541 216 -21 88.6 54.4 71.5 16 29
Minnie Minoso LF .296 544 323 6 81.9 58.5 70.2 21 15
Maury Wills SS .264 299 34 14 81.7 56.7 69.2 41 33
Rocky Colavito RF .295 538 316 -1 78.7 56.4 67.6 1 5
Al Oliver CF .287 608 313 -72 84.2 45.7 65.0 4 --
Mickey Vernon 1B .282 541 249 -40 78.7 50.8 64.8 25 --
Thurman Munson C .282 332 154 79 72.9 56.3 64.6 15 3
Cecil Travis SS .277 261 103 57 64.5 57.5 61.0 -- --
Tony Oliva RF .294 484 279 22 67.0 53.5 60.3 47 56
Curt Flood CF .268 279 66 139 69.0 51.3 60.2 15 13
Marty Marion SS .246 97 -95 151 67.5 48.7 58.1 40 20
Roger Maris RF .292 399 224 -2 58.2 47.6 52.9 43 24
Lefty O'Doul LF .312 317 218 -25 39.9 41.3 40.6 17 --

Santo's main problem is that he never had that moment like Brooks Robinson (not a good comparison since Brooks won an MVP and his teams played in the World Series) but you play on the Cubs and you have already put in Banks, Williams and Fergie Jenkins from that period so do you put in another guy from that era on a team that could never get over the top.

Another problem for Santo is that in his best years, a Hall of Famer was winning MVPs, one year he finished behind 10 HOFs plus Pete Rose in the voting.

His best shot at an MVP was 1969 but because of the Cub's swoon, he finished 5th.

91 Those comps are cumulative through that age, not snapshots.

Al Kaline is a HOF outfielder, how many 3B compared to modern HOF OFs? (Not that 800s are strong matches.)

Post WWII HOF 3B:
Mathews
Robinson
Brett
Schmidt

Santo is not out of place on that list, but neither is he an egregious omission.

Santo's OPS+, as stated before, is 125. Brooks Robinson's is 104. Defensively, Robinson sports a silly 216 FRAA. But Santo's is very, very good 82.

Santo was a far above average/great third basman. Robinson was ungodly. But Santo crushes him offensively.

Or he could just think that the Diamondbacks have more young talent than the Dodgers do. It's not outside the realm of possibility.

And, since we all like EQA, and I have some time on my hands:

Robinson: .271
Santo: .294

107 - Yeah, but Kaline isn't one of his comparables. Kaline played five more years after they were comparable and put up above average OPS's in four of those years (twice topping 140). His comparables are Dale Murphy (borderline candidate) and Ken Boyer (who played in the same era at the same position, though he isn't quite as good). Whatever, I am fine with seeing Santo in the hall. He is wouldn't be inner circle, but he is worthy enough. I just wonder why the hacks at ESPN care so much?

Career OPS+:

Ron Santo - 125
Ken Boyer - 116
Ron Cey - 121
Mike Schmidt - 147
Eddie Mathews - 143
Geo. Brett - 135

I think there is a lot of perception that Santo is lot closer to non-HOFers than the HOFers. For 3B, the border line is very subjective.

105 Dick Allen (and Richie too) played more games at 1B than 3B. Torre only played about 40% of his games at C, almost all the others at corner infield.

110 - Who posted the link to Tango's The Book that talked about how EQA isn't a good statistic? Apparently it is pretty (tracks well with AVG) but isn't the best stat/has some problems. Some of the math was over my head/wasn't worth parsing through.

At first base, Jackson is not better than Loney. They both lack HR power

I dont think you can equate Jackson/Loney HR power wise...Jackson has shown to have alot more HR power than Loney has.

over my head/wasn't worth parsing through
Didn't Murray Chass say that? ;)

Kate Winslet probably had the greatest cameo ever on Extras. That makes her that much more attractive to me.

I too am a fan of Diane Lane. A Walk on the Moon is a must see.

In relation to the title of this post, I have the first, and only, season of Police Squad on its way from the good people at Netflix. Looking forward to some Leslie Nielsen hijinx.

109 -- Perry's writing record makes his biases pretty clear. If it were another writer, I wouldn't necessarily suspect sinister motives. I still recall him labeling the Dodgers' 2003 draft the worst in baseball right after the draft because we stayed away from four-year college players and used our top pick on a HS pitcher. Three and half years later, did another team get more out of that draft than Billingsley, Kemp, and La Roche? I can't think of one.

114 Jackson's minor league PA/HR is roughly double Loney's, but it's in the high 20s, not notable for 1B. Loney is exactly two years younger than Jackson.

Diane Lane rocks!

But Tango-Tiger's attempt to introduce these new-age numbers into the hard-core statistics threatens to undermine my enjoyment of sitting at my computers and play with this thing all day long and the human factor therein.

I don't like Perry either. But he's more incompetent than anything.

I suppose that if stats mongers want to sit at their computers and play with these things all day long... and the human factor therein.

Sounds a wee onanistic.

I love all these new words I learn on this blog.

I mean flog.

114 -- Jackson managed 8 HR's in Triple A as a 23-year-old, the same number Loney hit in Triple A as a 22-year-old, and both their home parks were very hitter friendly (Jackson's slightly more so, by park factor according the BP 2006). Prior to Triple A, Jackson was at even more hitter friendly environmants while Loney was hurt and/or playing in pitcher-friendly environments and doing so while younger than Jackson ever was as a pro. Loney also showed more power than Jackson did in their first tastes of the majors (Jackson slugged .306 in Arizona in 2005, a much poorer showing than Loney's .559 in the majors his first year, and Loney was younger than Jackson was, and in a more pitcher-friendly MLB home park).

123 - I think it is from that infamous Letterman joke:

Uma ona, ona Uma

126
No idea what you are talking about. I have no idea if I am even old enough to possibly know.

126 - That joke is Uma, Oprah, Oprah, Uma that Letterman told at the Oscars. 126 is a pun but it goes over my head too.

114

jackson has also played his minor league career at an older age where muscle and power are more matured. Personally, I think both players are pretty comparable; with loney hitting for a higher average and playing significantly better D and jackson walking a bit more.

Well I know Onan is Judah's son and that is where the word onanistic is derived from.

Thank you dictionary.com

I believe Onan is (in)famous for "spilling his seed", ostensibly against God's wishes.

off the top of my head, I cant think of any other organization that has a better group of pitching prospects then the dodgers.

131 - Wow... just wow.

Tampa Bay with Neiman, McGee, and Davis all have the potential to be 1 and 2's.
Not counting pitchers who have already seen major league time I only see Elbert and Kershaw as possible 1 and 2's. Greg Miller has the potential but I don't think we can even talk about him until he throws 100 uninterrupted innings.

I guess I should have put it

Uma, Onan, Onan, Uma

It doesn't rhyme that way though.

39- Mary Landrieu is going to be so disappointed in you.

127 - Too young to remember Letterman hosting the Oscars. Sad.

Marlon Anderson is a gritty grinder. How long before he receives a "C" on his uni?

First bench captain ever?

Come June 1 the Angels will have given up trying to find a CF from within and they and the Giants will fight over trading for Pierre. This assumes that Mathews has his contract voided.

The Angels will probably want Gonzo as well and I would imagine they might want Nomar.

June 1, my favorite holiday.

My favorite time of year is about to start. The beginning of ST games, followed by March Madness, followed by Roto Drafts, and then spring in Los Angeles with live Dodger Stadium baseball. Last year at this time it was also Clipper Time but instead of becoming an annual event you can close the book on their future.

The Angels will not need to go outside for a CF. If Mathews doesn't hack it they have the luxury of moving Figgins back to CF and installing Brandon Wood at 3b for the next 5 years. Or Erik Aybar can move to CF. He's already taking fly balls there. The Angels won't be taking our deadwood.

I looked it up. I was 10 when Letterman hosted the Oscars. I remember him hosting at least.

141
Interesting. I had no heard Aybar was moved to the outfield.

Just a reminder that signups are taking place for the 2007 Friends of Dodger Thoughts yahoo fantasy baseball leagues. We have both a 5x5 Roto and 5x5 H2H league. Each league will be having a live draft in the evening in mid March. If you'd like to sign up and put your GM prowess on display, send me an email and I will send out an invite to you. vr, Xei
xeifrank@yahoo.com

By the way, all y'all are slipping. How do you have an entire conversation about this without Salma Hayek getting a shout out?

"y'all"...?

If we kept going on with actresses we found attractive, we would easily beat the posts record.

That's like saying, "if we kept talking about baseball players who are good, of course we would eventually get to Albert Pujols."

143
He hasn't moved but with Cabrerra at SS, CF has to be his next positional move if he stays with the Angels. They have moved Wood to 3b so they could both play in AAA this year.

Aybar is still a tools guy that has not produced enough for me to be enamored with him. I am very interested to see how well he does this year.

An enthusiastic seconding for Selma Hayek. Oh my goodness - ¡Qué Chica!
------
1950s babe: Abbey Lincoln
----------
----------
131:
genesis 38:9

I don't think he'll be much of a real ballplayer but roto guys will love him.

Everytime I read through the Dodger batting order, I get a little uneasy with the power shortage in the middle but then when I get to the 7-8-9 spots and see Martin, Betemit and Ethier, I feel much better. That is a pretty deep batting order. We have .308 guy hitting 8th. 8th! Even the Yankees can't say that.

Our number 2 hitter is Juan Pierre. The Yankees number 2 hitter is Derek Jeter.

VOWELS, JOWLS &BOWELS
----
As a native Californian living in France, my mouth always gets fatigued trying to speak French correctly where so much precision in the pronunciation of vowels is required.
On Wednesdays, I teach 5 hours straight and my "schwa bred" jaw muscles feel like I've got jowls the size of John Houseman's hanging on them as a result of not having had the opportunity to work on the precision of my vowels as a child.
-------
-------
If I can learn about and appreciate OPS, EqA and VORP from following the game from over here, Mr Chass, an ostensible baseball pro, can do it in NYC.

Or is he of a generation and level of accomplishment to be given an excuse?
Vin is the only one that I can only imagine putting in that category.

(In French, "chass" is the flushing of a toilet -
A phrase that has often been said to me, as I'm sometimes absent-minded:
'Cheri, tu as encore oublié de tirer la chasse' - - -)

155 - It sounds less nagging in French.

Don't feel qualified to tryout for the Dodgers? Well, the A's have an intern opening in their front office and the job description sounds pretty interesting. Here is the link. SFW. vr, Xei
http://tinyurl.com/2659f3

Ah, a great link on why Buck should also be in the HOF. I disagreed with one of the Erik's here on Buck but this puts forth the arguement that I would have liked to have the ability to write.
https://thejuice.baseballtoaster.com/archives/597006.html

157

too bad im nowhere near the bay area.

Am I geek if I want to go to Wonder-Con?
http://www.comic-con.org/wc/

Just for one afternoon? To see Brad Bird and Patton Oswalt talk about Ratatouille? And see a Spider-man discussion. That's it. I promise I won't watch anything about 300.

157
I applied to film all the games for the A's this season. I am going to have to learn some things before I could apply for that job.

155
When speaking Spanish, I always rhyme "tres" and "seis."

They don't rhyme in Spanish. People get numbers confused when I try to repeat them.

Unless being a bad geometry tutor counts for a background in mathematics.

Tommy Lasorda and little girl photo link:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/photo?slug=flrd10502221848.dodgers_spring_baseball_flrd105&prov=ap

Sorry to belabor the point but I'm looking for some guidance here. It's just such an odd photo. Why would this little girl be crying with Lasorda during what would normally be jovial situation?

And why do reporters or caption writers lack the imagination to fathom that readers would wonder why she's crying, yet they don't think to say.

Possible reasons why she's crying: (this is not meant to be a "jokey" list.) Your perspective would be appreciated, or at least tell me which of the following makes the most sense. Thanks

1. Her parents made her get Tommy's autograph and she's embarrassed or scared by the whole thing.

2. She's afraid of the way Tommy looks, like a big fat old scary guy.

3. She's not even dealing with Tommy, but just happens to be a girl in a photo who is crying for whatever reason.

4. Even though she doesen't actually grasp why, she is in awe of Tommy since growing up in a Dodger fanatic household, and hense overcome with emotion.

5. He's some kind of adorable Winnie the Poo type character to her, or mascot.

6. It's humid and she's really hot and grouchy or she has an earache.

7. Tommy, being charming, yet self-centered and highly defensive, said something mean to her after she asked who he was.

160 - My brother will be there.

http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/latest.php

164 # 3 gets my vote

Most kids cry when they meet Santa for the first time.

165 I just saw that, Jon! That's funny. My g/f and I were looking over Saturday's sched because it looked like the best day to go. And then I saw the "Gargoyles" spotlight. Sounds great!

164

Her dad just told her Juan Pierre is getting 800 at-bats but will only see 1600 pitches this season.

I already can't stand him.

"I'm fine," he [Gonzo] said, after being drilled by the left-handed Megrew. "I'm kind of old-school. I don't come off the field unless I'm really hurt. I think if you baby your body, you baby yourself, and I've never been one of those guys. I think the kid was scared he hurt me, so I tapped him on the shoulder and told him I was OK. He said he was sorry."

You'll get him next time, Mike!

Being of an older generation, I vote for Ann Sheridan (aka "the oomph girl"), although Selma Hayek gets a vote as well.
As for Onan, that was the name of Dorothy Parker's parrot. He spilled his seed. (rim shot).

170
What about enhancing your body?

Dodgers had their own Onan (Masaoka) a few years back. He spilled a lot of seeds out of the strike zone.

Dodgers had their own Onan (Masaoka) a few years back. He spilled a lot of seeds out of the strike zone.

Huh? I didn't do that.

164 He called her Babydol

167. My 2+ year old was thrilled to meet Santa Claus. We had prepped her on the whole this is the guy who brings toys and candy if you are a good girl drill. She had a huge smile on her face and one of the best pictures we have of her is sitting on Santa's lap. vr, Xei

I always preferred the Easter Bunny to Santa. My disgust for human beings started at an early age.

164. Clearly the girl was listening to Tommy wax on about bleeding Dodger blue and the big Dodger in the sky and how much he loves baseball and she had simply had enough.

BTW, I think the Tommy story is a non-story. The point his lawyer made in the paper today was spot on... Tommy pay $1,500 for any service? Puh-leez!

BTW, just a poll... anyone here have an autographed picture of Tommy signed "You and the Dodgers are both great!"?

Simers cracked me up on this part, and that's a rare thing for him.

"I talked to Tom Lasorda several times. I told one of my girls she would be meeting with Lasorda and she was all giggles. Then she came back all excited after being with him."

I find that hard to believe, but there's more. [...]

180 Damned with faintest praise. Simers is funny (to you) when attributing a direct quote to someone else. But it makes sense he'd be funniest that way.

162 Manuel, there's too much butter on those trays.

The whole site is neat, but this especially:

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/02/14/203/

181

I just like how he doesn't make it clear whether what he finds hard to believe is her story or the notion that the girl was excited after being with Tommy.

182 -- Applicable and original. Well played, Sir.

Matt "The Billionaire" White makes the big time, getting a Drudge linked story about his schist quarry. The AP found a geology professor (an adjunct at UMASS; is that weird? No full professor's wanted to talk?) to speculate about the economics of the thing.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/28/D8NJ03L80.html

Eek. Please excuse the superfluous apostrophe.

last two pictures from todays photo gallery are awesome. too bad we cant d/l them.

188

I was going to ask you if that's the first pic of Kershaw as a Dodger.

Too bad he's wearing one of the lamest jerseys I've ever seen.

too bad we cant d/l them

I think Icaros needs to invite Nate over for one of his drunk girl parties.

We'd be better off going to one of Brad Penny's drunk girl parties.

Yeah, Penny's money.

I like to call him "MoneyPenny"

I link this FJM piece, not because it's a clever thoughtful demolition of a really irksome article, but because it uses the word "dipthong."

http://tinyurl.com/36b8pj

Penny knows milk, too.

Milk Money

Milk and "Honey"...

Fun story, written well.

http://tinyurl.com/3cg9ma

Regarding Arizona's talent- at at least 2 positions. Shortstop:
Drew will be vs Furcal for at least 2 and maybe more years, not Abreu or Hu.
At first base, I am skeptical that Loney lacks power, and also that anyone, stat lover or not will love someones (Jacksons) ability to walk over someone who can hit.

188

With a bit of technical wizardry, you can.

http://members.cox.net/aaugust/elbert.jpg
http://members.cox.net/aaugust/kershaw.jpg

Just don't go selling them.

Much ink will be spilled, I think, discussing those two gentlemen, but the comparison speaks well of both of them, and I am glad we have one of them.

185 Thank you. Now that I've demonstrated a glimmer of potential, I'll have to work on consistency.

197 SPOILER:
What??? He doesn't even go there??? I also managed to click from page 1 to page 3 and not notice until I reached the end of the article. Perhaps I wasn't reading carefully enough for full appreciation!

Speaking of Loney and Jackson that is. We have Elbert and Kershaw until Brock trades them for two months of Miguel Cabrera.

202 LOL.

Sam, that was a great story. Andrew would be proud of a madness-inducing search like that.

The D's official web site has the best collection of photo's of almost any team. Most pics are inspiing, although the jaundiced color of Huckaby's glove and the shot of Kent about to backhand someone were less than uplifting.

199- Did you screen cap them, or legitimately defeat the flash lock box?

Speaking of Loney and Jackson that is. We have Elbert and Kershaw until Brock trades them for two months of Miguel Cabrera.

and kuo and miller! I cant believe we have 4 left power arms that can throw 95.

Maybe that'll get us 5 months of miggy :)

November, December, January, February, and March?

Keeping TINSTAAPP in mind, it's ridiculous to have four power pitching lefties in one organization. Just ridiculous.

If just one of them becomes an ace, and one other becomes decent, it would be pretty awesome.

I was amazed to see in a picture how Elbert was much smaller than some of our other minor league pitchers. Just goes to show how left handers can be small. Good thing we got rid of small right handers like Pedro before they could undermine us.

209

I think those other pitchers are just behemoths. anyone will look small standing between a 6'8 zach hammes and a 6'6 mike megrew.

I'm sure BB receives death threats, although not like Aaron who was breaking a white man's record in the '70s, but I take it with a grain of salt. He gets threats cause he's a jerk not because of the record. He is apologizing for not being fan friendly becasue of the death threats. The guy has never been fan or anything else friendly. Its just a convienient excuse for being Barry. And I would have been very disappointed if he hadn't thrown the family reference in.

(So maybe I am rooting for someone to get injured in Feb.)

http://tinyurl.com/6ww3u

205

I just screen captured them. There's likely a way to defeat flash, but if I had to guess I would say that it would take more effort than capping and cropping.

208

the sat ST game is going to be on mlbtv and penny, stults and kuo are scheduled to pitch.

anyone will look small standing between a 6'8 zach hammes and a 6'6 mike megrew.

Not da Bull

Can we get used to this?
http://tinyurl.com/2ee8ld

213. According to Yahoo Sports Schedule the game will be on WPIX.

Now even Yahoo's MLB page is leading with the Tommy story.

From ItD: Matt Kemp made the only defensive gem of the day while playing center field by diving to rob Juan Pierre of a single.

215
I don't think I'll ever get used to those stupid tan strips on the hats

217
Pierre hit a ball that made it to center field on the fly...?

If on mlb.tv, then on mlb radio?

It's not hard to rob somebody of a single when you're playing ten steps behind second base.

It's the Little League "EVERYBODY MOVE IN!" positioning.

Center field, people. CENTER FIELD.
[raises his false hopes high]

Matt KEMP in CENTER FIELD.

My box of Buitoni Focaccia bread mix, which was supposed to contain:
1) flour
2) yeast
3) toppings

Contained:

1) flour

I am not eating focaccia tonight.

221 or like softball's rover.

224 You don't have yeast on hand? You could order in.

Are you still in Florida? This weekend's games will be on KFWB. As will tomorrow's. Is ESPN not showing ST games this year, or did the Dodgers just get shafted?

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/schedule/broadcast.jsp?c_id=la

224
Fo-gotcha...!

FYI: After back-to-back 70 degree days last week, our olive oil returned to normal.

I could do without Matt Kemp diving for a ball in a meaningless intrasquad game--even if it is to make JP look bad.

229 You can't ruin my good mood you wet blanket!

224 You will be returning that defective product to the store, will you not?

231
I'm not sure when I bought it and the box has gunk on it in the trash.

I sent an email to the company, which is actually Nestle, so I'm sure I will get a gazillion coupons to replace it.

Nestle's headquarters are in Glendale, CA, I have learned.

defective product

I'll bet the flour is fit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used.

RIP, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

He was on the cover of Time magazine the week I was born.

233 Yes, but a necessary part missing from a kit is a defect, by definition.

235
One necessary part was missing and another advertised part was missing.

236

Now it sounds like you've started up another Jim Tracy discussion.

I know there arent a lot of American Idol fans here but there is one woman, Lakisha, who is so much better than everyone else, its like Pujlos competing in a Little Leauge game.

[Awesome Respect]

I know there arent a lot of American Idol fans here

Don't be so sure. From what I've seen, the TV tastes around here aren't all that discriminating...

I have a bunch of Schlesinger books and essays, some from college, some from elsewhere.

Irrespective of political leanings, the guy was brilliant.

D4P orders you to turn on Lifetime! Now!

204. That is the work of the magic lens of John SooHoo. He has been the official Dodger photographer for about 20 years (which must rank him in the top 5 for all Dodger employees) and is a heck of a nice guy to boot. And available for hire should you have a need (not on a game night of course).

242
I'll have you know I watched Sarah Chalke's Lifetime movie on a laptop! With my wife!

244
Are you trying to get everyone on Andrew's side?

244- Sure, but how does that explain your Not Without My Daughter marathon weekend when normal American men were watching the Super Bowl?

239

Thanks. I learned it by watching you.

Sarah Chalke is a very nice looking woman, and I wanted to see her in something other than Scrubs (the TV show, not the clothing).

246
Granted, I didn't watch the Super Bowl, but I have no idea what "Not Without My Daughter" is.

She used to be on Roseanne. She replaced the original blonde daughter.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102555/

243 Current Dodger employees longer than 20 years, off the top of my head:
Vin
Tommy
Jaime Jarrin
Rick Monday

248

I developed a major scrub fetish working on hospital floors last year.

Texas plays some exciting basketball games.

She used to be on Roseanne

I had stopped watching Roseanne by the time she started on the show. Am I proud to say I watched that show at all? No.

249 -- It's the one that's after "Give Me Back My Daughter!" and the one that's before "Please Leave My Daughter Alone!"

Sorry, I only watch Lifetime movies with Lindsey Wagner and Meredith Baxter.

So, I watch all the Lifetime movies.

252. I believe the top of your head may include the full list (although Monday doesn't count- never had 20 consecutive years). For all I know there may be some scouts and Dodgertown people like Craig Callan. Employed by the front office? I think that's it. Oh, I guess you could include Don Newcombe.

But then Lifetime went and got Unsolved Mysteries, one of my favorite shows ever.

I never understood how UM was television for women.

I remember seeing Roseanne Barr (then, and now?) at the Comedy Store before she had the sitcom, doing her sit-down act, while she ate the Planter's cheese balls from the can. We thought she was hilarious. (The uterus / tracking device joke was sorta new then.) We thought the sitcom was funny at first too. Severe shark-jumping at some point, though.

Without Roseanne, is John Goodman in Coen brothers' films?

I never understood how UM was television for women.

You have to bridge the "D4P Gap" between "Please Don't Hurt My Daughter (Too Much)" and back to back episodes of The Golden Girls.

259 Because it often involves evil men making women disappear.

{Robert Stack voic}
"She was last seen with her husband, a MAN, on the night of August 25th..."

252 Rick Monday came to the Dodgers' broadcast team after Don Drysdale's tragic death, I think that was in the early 90's so he has not been an employee for 20 consecutive years.

Here's a few of the guys who go back 20 or more years.

Sam Fernandez, General Counsel
Mitch Poole Clubhouse manager
Billy DeLury, Travel consultant
Don Newkcombe, Community Relations
Lou Johnson, Community Relations
I think a few of the scouts
Manny Mota, coach
Tom Lasorda
Vin Scully
Jaime Jarrin

Sounds like Greg Brock owns a Ford and has a Sleep By Numbers Bed.

Golden Girls: Saw it a few times and hated it.

The best Unsolved Mysteries is about Joe Cooper.

263 I forgot Roger Owens, the peanut tosser (Don't buy his book, buy another copy of Best of DT or wait for Volume II, From 4+1 to Juan Pierre, Best topics to create a lot comments

258 Consecutive? Who mentioned consecutive? Anyway, he gets bridged.

Is there still a long-running peanut guy? (As opposed to a fast-running peanut-headed guy.)

263. Very good! Sam Fernandez is the most powerful person that most people don't know. He has negotiated many Dodger contracts. Mitch Poole does not have 20 years (I don't think) but Jerry Turner (the visiting clubhouse manager) does. Billy DeLury was travelling secretary. Now... nobody's sure. So with SooHoo we're up to possible 10.
Any others?

I will proudly admit to watching Lifetime. Many years ago, it was showing "It's Garry Shandling's Show" reruns. When it comes to "It's Garry Shandling's Show" reruns, forget the source and full speed ahead.

267. Not technically a Dodger employee.

This is the theme to Garry's show
The theme to Garry's show
Garry called me up and asked me to write his theme song
I'm almost halfway finished
How do you like it so far?
How do you like the theme to Garry's show?

Best theme song ever.

This is the theme to Garry's show
The opening theme to Garry's show
And now we come to the part
The part where I start to whistle
Then we'll watch It's Garry Shandling's Show

D4P, this is television. Not your silly Pierrean-Plaschkean-Tracian Lifetime TV movies. I sentence you to two weeks of The Oxygen Channel. Appeals waived. Costs to the Defendant.

260. I too saw Rosanne early on--the Improv, I think. She was a riot. I mean really memorable but that was a long long time ago.

I also saw Chris Rock as early as 1988 in a tiny no name club in NYC that no longer exists. He too was very memorable.

But the funniest was George Wallace. He did this bit about the ugliest mellonheaded baby he ever saw and I couldn't stop laughing. Days later I would bust out laughing just thinking about it.

Rick Monday - 26 years (non-consecutive):

Dodger player 1977-1984 (8 years)
Dodger cable TV announcer 1985-1988 (4 years)
Padre announcer 1989-1992 (I think)
Dodger announcer 1993 - present (14 years and counting)

although my memory may be playing tricks on me.

274
Was it like Sputnik?

I would never have thought of Garry Shandling appealing to a general female population. That was a great show.

I would never have thought of Garry Shandling appealing to a general female population.

Excuse me?

I would never have thought of Garry Shandling appealing to a general female population.

Excuse me?

I saw George Wallace at the Ice House in Pasadena, c. 1981. Brought down the house. Still used the "not who you expected" entrance line then.

D4P, this is television

I loved Garry Shandling's Show! Or, at least, one of them. The one that was on around 1988 or so.

From 7am to 2pm tomorrow, Oxygen is showing "Drastic Plastic Surgery." That could be good. Especially if they have some of those thirty pound tumors. Gigantic tumors are my favorite. Well, anything with parasites is my favorite, but that's not really plastic surgery.

OK, Monday gets in on a special exemption. And one more name: George Barajas. I think he's in too.

278 279 My wife didn't like it and claimed it was "guy humor". I defer to her as more in tune with general female taste in television than I.

Although I suppose one must have some female draw to guest host the Tonight Show frequently.

My wife didn't like it and claimed it was "guy humor."

Just watch yourself over there. I don't take kindly to people who accuse me of pronoun abuse. I shot a man in Reno who accused me of gerund malfeasanceances.

Who hasn't shot a man in Reno? It's a rite of passage.

Does Mike Brito make the long-standing employee list? Gib Bodet?

Shooting in Reno does garner interesting police response, though.

This was a long ways back, but as the resident Angels fan (along with Rob/scareduck), yes, Eric Aybar has been practicing in CF during spring training. I read that somewhere. And no, I don't think Stoneman is the type to take Dodgers castoffs.

As much as I hate to raise the specter of baseball during these pleasant down times, I remember that awhile ago at The Griddle, Bob posted a number of rule changes that had been announced. I don't remember him mentioning it at the time, and it seems like I would but I could definitely be wrong about that, but I am recently told that one of the rules that has been amended is that runners on base will get one base whenever a player makes a legal catch but then falls into the dugout or otherwise out of the field of play. Am I the last one on board this train?

Goofy Draft Stuff:
I was perusing Baseball Cube and started looking through the Dodger drafts.
In 2002 we drafted Stults but check this out
15 451 Eric Stults P 22 12/9/1979 6-3 210 L L MLB 2006-2006 Bethel High School (Bethel,IN)
It says he was 22 years old but was drafted out of Bethel High School?

Also I noticed that we drafted Luke Hochever in 2002 when he was 18.

290 Stults' page on the cube (that I see):

Position: P Full Name: Eric William Stults Born: December 9, 1979 Plymouth,Indiana Height: 6-3 Weight: 210 Bats: L Throws: L College: Bethel College Indiana

290

His hometown of Bethel liked him so much they let him keep playing Senior Babe Ruth fours years past his 18th birthday.

289

You'll be happy to learn that one new rule allows teams to score runs this season purely on hustle.

Hustle (v) -- To misrepresent one's skill in (a game or activity) in order to deceive someone

289 I don't remember discussion on this rule change you mention, but you, sir, are correct!

Rule Change for 2007: 7.04(c) Casebook Comment
(c) A fielder, after catching a fly ball, falls into a bench or stand, or
falls across ropes into a crowd when spectators are on the field;
Rule 7.04(c) Comment: If a fielder, after having made a legal catch, should fall
into a stand or among spectators or into the dugout or any other out-of-play area
while in possession of the ball after making a legal catch, or fall while in the dugout after making a legal catch, the ball is dead and each runner shall advance one
base, without liability to be put out, from his last legally touched base at the time
the fielder fell into, or in, such out-of-play area.

Forgot the link to MLB's official document (pdf file, 14 pages)
http://tinyurl.com/2zgk79

Why there should be a Nobel Prize for engineering:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-y7rSXJKNM

294 (imagine italicization)
Juan Pierre's agent hustled .......

Naw, too easy.

297 Great invention, or greatest invention?

299 Great invention. Toilet paper is greater.

297
I read an article about this yesterday, but there was no fancy video of it.

There sure are a lot of YouTube videos of bathing suit clad women with amputated legs. What's that about? One called, unfortunately, "Stump Wash" is in the top ten. Or fifty, or something, I don't remember what the breakdown was.

Andrew: do something with your life. Get a job or something. Anything.

302 They're called "devotees". People who dig women with amputations.

Thanks, Showtime and "Dexter" for introducing me to the world of amputation fetishes. Things you can't unlearn.

Said the man who's up at one in the morning, watching "Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?" on his laptop.

The only TV shows I watch on my laptop:

1. Scrubs
2. Arrested Development
3. Keeping Up Appearances
4. Greg the Bunny

In the queue:

1. Futurama

What about the beer being all shook up? I guess you can't have everything.

Most famous devotee:

Paul McCartney

Reminds me of J.G. Ballard's Crash, where the fetish was for car-accident-related disfigurement.

309
David Cronenberg made that into a film.

To be precise, all runners on base would get to move up one base if a fielder catches a ball and then falls into the stands or the dugouts.

What's different this year is that a fielder cannot stand in the dugout to catch a ball. You have to lean in to the dugout.

310

I saw it in an almost completely empty theater (which has since closed) in Newport Beach.

Lost finally lightens up, and the results are excellent. I adored that episode.

Can you push start a car that has a dead battery?

Yes. As long as it's a manual transmission.

And, of course, nothing important is run off the battery. Modern cars with their thingamajigs need computers. My car ('72 VW) can be push started with a dead battery. There was a time when I was an expert in this. Then I bought a new battery.

But if you push started your car all the time and you had a colorful family and your grandfather died, then you'd have a Oscar-worthy movie!

Or you could purchase Microsoft Office.

It's a two-seater. There's already an Oscar-worthy movie about a man driving across the country with a girl to whom he wasn't related, and whom he's coerced into behaving inappropriately. It was on the other night. Sue Lyon is 60, now. So, that's something.

289 - Updated: Feb. 17, 2007, 1:16 AM ET

Scuffing baseball tops MLB rules changes

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- A major league position player who scuffs or defaces a baseball would be ejected and receive an automatic 10-game suspension under changes approved Friday by the sport's playing rules committee.

Previously, the penalty was to call the pitch a ball and warn the player. For pitchers, umpires have the discretion to issue only a warning if they determine the pitcher's actions weren't intended to alter the characteristics of a pitch.

As part of the first changes to baseball rules since 1996, the committee approved a recommendation from general managers to largely eliminate tie games.

Before this year, when an official game was called due to weather and the score was tied, the statistics counted and a new game was replayed from the start. Under the change, when a game is tied in the bottom of the fifth inning or later and is called because of weather, it will be suspended and resumed before the next scheduled game between the teams at the same ballpark.

If no more games remain between the teams at the same ballpark, it will be resumed when the teams meet at the visitor's ballpark. If it is the final scheduled meeting between the teams, it will be replayed from the start if it is needed to determine a postseason berth.

Under another change, a player may no longer step into a dugout to catch a foul ball. He still will be allowed to reach into a dugout.

A batter running to first base also will be allowed to exit the 3-foot lane in foul territory "for the sole purpose of touching first base," and a batter will lose the ability to run to first on a dropped third strike if he leaves the dirt circle around home plate unless he does so while trying to reach first base.

Previously, a player could run to first until he reached the dugout or his defensive position.

In another change, a batter who hits an apparent game-ending home run with less than two outs would be allowed to circle the bases if a runner ahead of him doesn't continue to home plate, thinking the game is over. If there are two outs when the play begins, however, the runner who abandons trying for home plate would be the third out and the home run would not count.

Another change allows pitchers to wear a multicolored glove if the umpire determines it isn't distracting. And a pitcher in the stretch position instead of a windup with no runners on base no longer will have to come to a complete stop.

With no runners on, a pitcher will be required to pitch within 12 seconds, the timing starting when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the batter's box, alert to the pitcher.

In addition, several changes were made to the scoring rules.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2768949

A good rule of thumb is to not quote more than 10% of an article, here. Jon's a legit journalist, so he tends to be sensitive about copyright rules. That and having his status as the "Greatest Ever Fan of Becker," questioned.

Hahahahahaha.

Just a general laugh offered up to all in thanks for a fine morning read.

Weather forecast for tonight:

An intense storm system will approach North Carolina from the west today. Southerly winds just above the surface will increase later today... reaching as high as 65 mph by early this evening. This combination of strong winds aloft and a warm and moist air flow into the region will favor the development of strong to severe storms...starting this evening and continuing overnight.

The main hazards from severe storms will be damaging straight line winds over 70 mph... and isolated tornadoes. The greatest threat for severe weather will exist between 9 PM this evening until around 6 am Friday morning. The risk of severe storms will be highest south of Highway 64... however severe storms will be possible anywhere across central North Carolina tonight.

Goodbye, cruel world...

323. Bah, that's a beach day here in Chicago.

I expect this comment to be summarily borked by a NPUT, but the "Garry Shandling Show" discussion got me to do some searching on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eg63PBbWkI

Included, of course, is the theme song. Interesting to see that Shandling actually pioneered the half stand-up/half sitcom thing a few years before Jerry Seinfeld.