What no Gameday link?

I'm hedging.

We're going to need Lowe to be able to match up with Sheets, or hope Sheets pitches like Carpenter did Sunday.

I'm at Disneyland (in a hotel) with my two and half year old and my five week old. The wife will be on Small World with the two year old and I'll be at ESPN Zone with the baby when 11 am rolls around. Just got done with a 5 am feeding, can't wait for the season to begin. I'm not sure I can get back to sleep, I'm kinda pumped up about the game.

Did Bigbie get his release or will he be accepting a position at Vegas?

Does anyone know if I buy the MLB game on the internet if I'll get it since I'm in the LA market?

My hotel doesn't have FSN in the rooms. I figure I have to go to ESPN Zone at this point since I don't want to buy the game and then get blacked out and have to run over there and miss the first inning. It says on the MLB site that it is for out of market games only and that games are subject to blackouts. I wish opening day was on KCAL.

5. It is most likely by billing address. If it was by ip you could bypass it with a proxy.

MLB provided the infrastructure for March Madness on Demand, which based its blackouts on IP. Doing a little googling, it looks like that's how they do it with MLB.tv, too. That makes it pretty easy to subvert using a proxy server, but, doing that makes an account holder liable for termination without refund, and a $100 fine. It is in violation of the acceptable use agreement, a binding legal contract.

There are message board/blog comment section reports that one could (last year) get blacked out games without using a proxy server, simply by opening the video window thirty minutes before the game started, and not futzing with it. Don't know whether (a) it was ever true or, (b) they fixed that for this year.

You Cub fans out there won't have me to kick around anymore after this season.

Sam Zell is a good name. Do Cubs fans feel about Tribune the way we did Fox?

Not in my mind, my man. Thank the powers that be for spring break!

I think most Cub fans hated Tribune because they thought Tribune never felt the need to improve the team because it was such a profitable business regardless of how the Cubs finished. Of course, you could blame the fans for that too.

So....is Mark Cuban in the Cubs' future?

Saturday night I had a dream. There's a game being played at a local high school field between two nondescript teams. I am watching the game while standing in foul territory somewhere between home and first.

Juan Pierre is up and, after taking the first pitch for a strike, grounds out on the second pitch 4-3.

I yell out "You've got to take some pitches, Juan." Pierre shoots me a nasty look and says "Are you talking to me?"

I reply "Yeah, learn to take a pitch." Pierre swears at me.

Then, in my dream, I wake up and go online and tell my friends at Dodger Thoughts about my dream. Weird.

7 MLB.tv
Some will get it when out of range and some won't get it when they are within range. One is an error and the other isn't.

14 No way. I had the exact same dream! DUN DUN DUNNNNNN! (ominous music).

11 Huzzah!

4 Re: Bigbie, Tony Jackson had this bit on his blog:
"Just checked with Dodgers PR man Josh Rawitch to see if anything had happened today with Larry Bigbie, whose window of opportunity for exercising his out clause is closing fast. Josh said there was no news. Sounds like there is at least a possibility Bigbie will agree to stay with the club and go to the minors. It's tough to find a big-league job right now, because clubs are busy setting their final rosters -- which means subtracting players, not adding them"

---

Welp, I'm not going to get too freaked out if the Dodgers lose to Ben Sheets today, tough one to start off with, but I have faith in th e boys. See you all in awhile.

Holy bejesus it's baseball season.

From Tony's blog: Ned and Grady made it clear that Kemp is going to be on the bench, which is why I'm fairly sure he'll go back to the minors as soon as Furcal comes back. ... And Loney WILL be back as soon as Ned and Grady find a spot for him. But it has to be at least a semi-regular spot, and therein lies the dilemma. (emphasis mine)

I always wanted to write "emphasis mine." And gosh, I'm glad I picked up Kemp for my fantasy league team.

T-2 hrs... it's opening day and I can't wait!!! Go Dodgers.

Tough matchup today, Sheets is nasty when healthy.

Even though I love our staff- seems like we have two 1.5s and a 3,4,5 rotation. No real #1.

By the by, the LAT has a new owner and the Cubs are looking for one.

God, I love me spring break!

I love me spring break

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is still several months off.

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

Updates above.

Even though I love our staff- seems like we have two 1.5s and a 3,4,5 rotation. No real #1.

alot of clubs dont have a real number 1.

22

Did you hear about the new dirty Pirate movie?

my mlb.tv mosaic wont download :(

18- is that ivan bejesus?

"MLB provided the infrastructure for March Madness on Demand, which based its blackouts on IP."

Are you sure about that? I was traveling during the tournament and was able to get two different games from the same location by logging in to MMOD using two different accounts that had different billing zip codes.

So, the two things on my schedule this morning are
a) Going to get a root canal, and
b) Coming home to watch the Dodger game.

[insert joke here]

A No. 1 starter is by definition one of the top 30 starters in baseball. Jason Schmidt and Derek Lowe were both on that list last year.

I wish I was getting a root canal, so I could be home for the game. I woke up looking for any reason to not feel well, but I have too many Dodger fans in my office, so my absence would immediately be suspect.

Carl Pavano, #1 starter.

Is there a decent online radio station that has a pregame show?

33

For $14.95 ( I think) at MLB.com you can hear every game for every team all season. That's what it was last year. And you can choose home or away broadcasts- theoretically, you would want that.

26
You really need to watch six games at once?

Remember that a lot of people are trying to download the same thing now.

34
I don't think MLB.com has the pregame or postgame shows because of sponsorship issues.

Coincidentally, those same sponsorhip issues keep the pregame and postgame shows off the individual radio stations websites.

It's a Catch-Marlin Anderson + 1

34 I have that. I just want to hear a recommendable pregame show.

You really need to watch six games at once?

not really but i want the higher resolution picture. i d/l the setup installation and it says error every time i try to open it.

37

they have around the league with A. Martinez and the Dodger dugout. Comes on about 20 min before the game.

39 Which channel?

26
It seemed to download okay but when I put in my billing address for black out purposes and clicked send it just refreshed without any error message displaying the same blank billing address prompts. I'm really looking forward to the mosaic. It will be just like being at a sportsbook.

I dare to see if Gameday crashes my browser before the game starts! Of course, I'll be home watching and will have to settle for Vin Scully telling me how much Ben Sheets' pitches are breaking, but perhaps I'll be able to parse the data later and make some nice scattergrams.

35
Yes, when I had the extra innings package I would just going up and down in a continuous manner. You'd be amazed how much you can watch and never miss anything because of all the dead time in baseball. If Nomar is up I can go up and down 3 times before he's ready to hit after each pitch.

40

should be KFWB (I would just click "away" broadcast on game day audio) I don't live in So Cal so I don't Know the programming there.

But if you watch six games at once, you might miss out on Michael Kay telling you that you're not a very smart fan.

I'm very disturbed to realize that whatever channel I was watching last night before I went to sleep is now showing an up close and personal interview with Steve Guttenberg.

42
Does Vin distinguish between the velocity of pitches when leaving the pitcher's hand vs. when crossing the plate...?

10:06 A.M. and FSN coverage has already made the first mention of Coletti and "character".

the premium picture is actually really good. the ball doesnt look fuzzy!

I've got the TB/Yankee game right now. For me the season is starting now and not that imposter game last night. Go DevilRays....

armed with a gig of ram, I shall take my chances with Gameday

At long last, Opening Day is here! I'm sitting here at work in my Dodger jersey, my co-worker is wearing his Giants jersey, and we're slinging insults at each other. All is well in the world.

(And Apple & EMI are gonna offer DRM-free music! woohoo!)

The stadiums in Philadelphia, Washington, and Detroit don't seem to have the equipment.

So those Gamedays work OK.

ESPN is using Karl Ravech and John Kruk to call the Rays-Yankees game. This will not be good.

I live in Arizona and therefore I am most appreciative of that chill wind coming over from Colorado. Jon, tell them to keep blowing.

Warning for those planning to watch on MLB.tv: Log in a little bit early, because today there is a popup screen requiring you to re-enter your personal information including credit card number ("for verification purposes"). This can be rough on those (like me) who didn't recall which card they put it on.

Also, the 700K stream looks exactly the same as the 350K. What a joke.

I imagine that this has been posted elsewhere, but the lineup is:

Pierre, CF
Martin, C
Nomar, 1B
Kent, 2B
Gonzalez, LF
Betemit, 3B
Ethier, RF
Martinez, SS
Lowe, P

That could be decent, but the downside is 2003 redux. Get well soon Furcal!

Jeter is a "winner" and a "team player"

57 - He is also really bad at defense according to that Zone Rating article Jon linked to. Furcal is below average too by the way, though I think that it takes a few years to properly figure out defensive numbers.

The CBS website is way behind already

58 - A few years meaning larger sample not me staring at the hardballtimes for a few years to figure out the math.

Yeah, the line-up's fine, except for SS. It'll be tough - they have to go three Sheets to the wind today.

28- Are you trying to get me to incriminate myself? I don't know why your fix worked, but I do know that using the same account, uh, a hypothetical guy I might or might not know was definitely able to watch games that were blacked out in his hypothetical market, using a foreign proxy server.

Giambi Juice puts New York on the scoreboard

ON ESPN's GameChannel, Overbay has his 46th double of the season and Rios his 33rd. Roy Halladay is pitching shutout ball with a 3.19 ERA.

Sounds like the ESPN guys forgot to hit the "reset" button since those were the season ending figures for those guys.

well whatever. I've got some homework and class, so I'll miss the game anyway.

63 - That juice is on the menu for my fantasy team. I like having Giambi, Thome and Hafner on the same team.

I had Giambi and Thome on my squad last year and did well by them. Thome more than Giambi. I wanted to get Thome again this season, but he lost his 1B eligibility and I have little use for players who are utility only.

I'm going to miss the start of the game. I have to go hear my current management try to explain to me how I'm not going to get an instant 4% pay reduction next year when an ESOP takes over my pension options.

Ryan Church just took a 9 pitch walk. Washington is starting him, but he's batting 7th, behind Schneider.

Somebody needs to be introduced to his cough button.

I have a question for those with MLB.TV

I just signed up yesterday for that. So I go to login to my account today, and they say I have to put in another credit card for "verification" purposes only again. That I'm going to do this for every game I want to watch for the first 5 days. Is that right?

Anyone else have this problem?

I was not thrilled with the prospect of sitting in the Atlanta airport trying to catch an earlier flight to LA (couldn't pass up a UCLA Final Four trip). Turns out it's Opening Day, though, so I'm watching a ton of baseball, which is all I was going to do today anyway.

Dukes looks like a pretty patient hitter with a good eye

72- see 55.

The DRays have an intriguing team

72
Yes, but I finally remembered which CC I used based on what Eric said before so it loaded okay except it(Mosiac) came up with 6 blank screens so now I'm back to using the one game product and it works okay.

Hard to complain. Watching live baseball over the internet while working is high up on my awesome list.

74
It is amazing what you can tell from one at bat.

78
Astounding. He laid off a number of close pitches, which tells me he'll do so for the remainder of his career.

Watching the camera go down the Dodgers lineup: Broxton is huge. He dwarfed Billingsly.

Program has him at 288. Not bad.

For the record, MLB and OnDemand are still negotiating over Extra Innings. According to Maury Brown, the sticking point is how much of an equity share people like Comcast would get in an MLB channel.

And if anyone had the right to shave off Chase Carey's mustache.

The radio commercial where Kobe says that he hates it when he goes to a store and 4-5 people start following him around, might have had a different slant if he wasn't well Kobe Bryant.

Happy Baseball Day, everyone! And happy Passover too.

82 Bob, are you preparing your sidebar tribute to the winner of the Griddle NCAA Tournament contest?

84

So why do we set a place for Juan Pierre?

Howard out after Utley's batted ball hit him on the bottom of his foot.

86 Quite the contrary. At my seder, Juan Pierre is the table-setter.

Why is this day different than all other days?
Daiyanu! Here we go.

Nothing like a few AIDS commercials to pump you up on Opening Day.

85
In the sense, that I will put up either "Trojan Ron" or "Suffering Bruin" on the sidebar.

I expect about six comments on the basketball game tonight.

here it is!

I've read that the gefilte fisheries are almost completely depleted.

Wow, a 5-pitch AB for Pierre

It's not an omen. It's not an omen. It's not an omen. . .

Yahoo's premium game tracker is borked also, at least for me.

This is annoying. I figured these bugs would've been worked out before Opening Day.

clap

Strike three in the dirt. Run to first, you lazy bum!

thing I hate most about opening day: We end up facing a guy like Sheets.

Feel free to take some pitches here guys.

100
Our #1 and 3 hitters drew a grand total of 1 walk this spring

7 pitches so far for Nomar

a K and two pop outs. Nice.

Ben Sheets is a good pitcher.

Interesting start for Sheets

yeah, taking 14 pitches to get through the two most trigger-happy guys in the lineup

86 - Because he can't set the table for anyone else, and Elijah isn't here yet.

The swunt...Not my favorite series of events thus far.

eh, it might be an omen andrew...

the red dot says it went to third but it said Ground Ball to Lowe.

Please explain.

unnnnnhhhh.

oh come on baseball gods!

This was also not an omen.

110 little roller to third. lowe fielded. off-balance throw.

Didn't the Dodgers have white trim around the blue numbers on the road unis last year?

Do I understand correctly that Pierre tried to throw the runner out at 3rd rather than throwing it to 2nd...?

115 Yeah, the ditched it, and also changed the shoulder patch to LA instead of Dodgers.

116 yeah you do.

yay prince fielder

There. Lowe K'ing Fielder; that's an omen.

Answering my own question, yes, the Dodgers road unis did have trim around the numbers last year.

http://tinyurl.com/ytzfyk

has anyone else noticed FSN doesn't even have a score bar?

Andrew is being very selective with the omens.

the old run scoring groundout

Gameday suggesting the the ump's strike zone is a little high

123- It's not easy, having the second sight. It's a gift. . . and a curse.

I can't get Gameday to work, and ESPN is about 5 minutes behind. Any suggestions (cbssportsline is blocked at work, though basically nothing else is)?

a gift curse . . . or a gurse

122
And it's back!

127
Yahoo has a play by play feature.

I think walking Johnny Estrada counts as an omen.

Geoff Jenkins does what Geoff Jenkins does.

Lowe always seems to have trouble in the first inning early in the year. Hope we get out without too much damage. Ahhh.

Now pitching for Washington:

Levale Speigner

Vinny:

'...the Brewers take a 1-0 lead RUNNING ON JUAN PIERRE...'

Will I have to hear that all season long?

Who was interviewing McCourt at Barney's Beanery?

135 Not if you don't tune in to the Dodger game.

131- Nope. Sorry.

So that wasn't the ideal inning to start the season, but going off of only that inning I say we win 95 games because of Pierre's new found power (there is a strong correlation between strikeouts and power), Nomar's "game-nitude" as evidenced by taking lots of pitches before making out and Lowe having a K/9 of 9. Congrats to the World Champion Dodgers.

woo hoo!

There's another omen!

What an omen! The good kind!

KENT! NICE!

kent's power is back!!!!

i hope!!!!

Kent pops one!

woohooo!!!

smash

OMEN!

smash

The Reds season started with Freel drawing a walk and #2 hitter Dunn homering.

I predict that we won't see that a lot with the Dodgers.

Woo hoo, we'll take that.
We scored our run on a real hit, too. Nyaah!

150
And I mean, having the leadoff hitter walk and scoring on a home run by the #2 hitter.

I would wager that it won't happen once all year unless Pierre gets hurt.

Jeff Kent is a veteran who knows better than to kill rallies by hitting HRs with runners on base

K looking...possibly my biggest pet peeve.

Kent! I have Kent and Sheets on my fantasy teams, so aside from my obvious preference that the Dodgers do well, I am a little torn. I have a really good feeling about Kent this year (and I had it before this harbinger of things to come).

153

what day should i take in the "d4p will say something positive and not sarcastic" pool?

Pitch Counts:
Sheets 32
D-Lowe 21

Does Corey Hart wear shades during night games...?

juan is not winning any friends around here

135 Yes you are

And they test Pierre again.

For every base Pierre steals on offense, he gives up two on defense

Sigh

Pierre, earnin' that money today.

158
After last year, I rule that the "sunglasses at night" joke is officially played out.

pierre is killing me

"They're gonna test the arm of Juan Pierre". I wonder how many times this year we hear Vinny's mellifluous voice say those words. Too many for my taste.

Juan Pierre, to this point, has had one of the worst careers in Dodger history.

Strikeout on a ball in the dirt, then feels sorry for himself instead of running to first.

One extra base taken on his arm, and another extra base taken on his error.

74
Dukes with power and patience. Sounds like a RedSox future for him.

Wait, that's our CF for the next 5 years?

That was a generous double.

Craig Counsell - is there any NL team he hasn't played for? (Okay, I know there are... but still, that guy's been around, if you know what I mean, eh? He's a goer...)

More fun with small sample sizes: My fantasy baseball team currently has a batting average of .818, and an OPS of 2.090.

158 - Only so he can see the light that's right before his eyes.

Hello all! It's nice to have baseball again.

#162: Who wants to keep track of the Pierre net extra bases statistics? I'm thinking something like SB - CS - WAEBA (Weak Arm Extra Bases Allowed).

Just took a look at the new gameday and it seems an ungainly monster. However it seems to run Ok on my machine,Bob. It's fairly new and probably has a gig of memory. Does it get worse the longer you run it?

175 - it's Flash. Draw your own conclusions.

Why is it against the Dodgers that most base hits to center allow the runner to go two bases, while on other teams they only go one base?

74
Dukes with power and patience. Sounds like a RedSox future for him.

I will now state that I am out of Haggadah related jokes.

I think Gameday's stuck.

Fielder is the only Brewer to swing at the first pitch so far, and he missed.

177
What is it that Kenny Lofton and Juan Pierre have in common? I'm not sure.

Just got back from class.

Is Charley Steiner announcing the game on TV?

Nice to see Kent increasing his trade value…

The Yankees now need an error from Cano to error for the cycle in the game. Phelps, Jeter, and Rodriguez all have one now.

Rodriguez really didn't deserve his.

180. use yahoo sports gamechannel its much better

Well, Lowe can't blame that SB on Pierre. He fell asleep.

183:
Only to drop it when he breaks something washing his car(s).

180 http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/gamechannel

crap

Juan Pierre has allowed both Brewers runs.

Ohhh, those BB's.

185 Gamechannel is not working at all for me. Gameday is barely working. It'll stop for 5 minutes, then catch up and give me 5 minutes worth of action in 5 seconds.

192
You were warned about Gameday.

179- I bet if you were to hide an afikomen, Prince Fielder would find it.

CBS GameCenter works very well

how was that NOT a strike!?

that was a strike

what!!!!!!!

Lowe is getting kind of squeezed the first two innings.

Can we blame this walk on Pierre?

wow, this ump is killing us

Is Billingsley warming up yet...?

those pitches were not a strike, but they were strikes in that ben sheet's exact same pitch was a strike.

Bill Hall's HR numbers are suspicious

199 - even Gameday agrees on that one

Maybe The Moose should have started.

Cleaveland is taking the White Sox to the woodshed 7-2 through 2 innings. Grady Sizemore is the anti-Pierre.

Chances our CF would have made that play?

Juan Pierre's gameday picture makes me laugh.

His hat looks two sizes too big.

looking forward to about 400 more of those from pierre.

209 If his hat makes you laugh, you should see his contract.

211 Baddum Ch!!

Normally, if you put humans in a blender, you get a lot of blood.

I'm hoping someone can help me w/ a problem I'm having w/ MLB.TV. I signed up for the premium package (I know I'm a sucker) and downloaded the software on my laptop. Now I'm at work and I'm trying to watch the game and I'm constantly being sent to pages telling me to subscribe. Now I'm already signed in so that's not the problem.

Can I only run the software on 1 computer? Of course I've been on hold for 15 minutes w/ MLB.

Are the Dodgers paying for these spots, or is everybody content to pretend that they're news?

211:
I think that would make him cry.

(I forgot how to link the post #s.)

So I guess the other 8 guys playing for the Dodgers nor the 9 guys playing for the Brewers is responsible for what is going on the game so far?

213
That comment makes sense if you are watching the FSN broadcast.

you use the [ brackets ]

Looks like Billingsley is going to get a couple innings today to start building his rotation case.

219 is for 216

The plate umpire is from the Milwaukee area

221
Thanks.

What happened to all those groundball outs, Ace?

222- shocking...

Nice grab by 3.5

how deep to Ethier?

So every single Milwaukee hit (besides the trickle through the infield) has been hit to Pierre? Crazy.

Nice play by Ethier after a shaky catch by Ethier on the previous flyball.

Lowe is looking really shaky today. Four walks!

Wow, Ethier just saved Lowe's butt, but, man they better get Bills up in the bullpen if he's not already.

Grits with the hook already?

Quixotic Battle #something: Change the sacrifice fly rules.

Moving a runner from 2nd to 3rd on a flyout should get the same ruling as moving a runner from 3rd to home on a flyout.

Having Ben Sheets on your fantasy team with this game - good.

Having Derek Lowe on your fantasy team with this game - bad.

I have both.

228 Weeks' hit in the first was to Lowe.

But otherwise, yes.

232 How about when someone hits a grounder and they get the same result?

I wonder if Lowe gets to hyped for games like this and he gets the ball up in the zone where he doesn't have the stuff to get guys to swing and miss?

232
That was a rule for a couple years in the 1930s.

It wasn't very popular.

I'm of the school that sacrifice flies should be credited as at bats. Unless you can prove that a batter deliberately hits a deep fly ball more often with a runner on 3rd and less than two outs than at other times of the game.

214 Try going to the Dodger home page and clicking on the multimedia link. That should take you to a page where you can click a link to watch the game.

236
I agree. They should get the same ruling, and I would prefer they all count as ABs rather than all not count as ABs.

what time does the Sausage Race start?

Meanwhile, Adam Dunn has 2 HRs

I hope Sheets appreciates our teams concern for his pitch count.

When Ted Williams was the last .400 hitter, there was no sacrifice fly rule at all.

He would have had a really scary batting average with sac flies helping him out.

240
Dunn moves ahead Kent, Cabrera, Rollins, and McCann for the NL lead!

The guy I am playing this week has Dunn on his fantasy team. Needless to say, I am getting worked right now.

According to Gameday, this blue will not call the low strike. Each of one of the last three pitches was a strike according to it, and each was called a ball for a Hardy walk. That is pretty bad.

Oh, and he has Glavine..ouch

More confusion on the Kemp situation:
Ken Gurnick reports that Grady Little said Monday that Matt Kemp would start in right field Tuesday night against Milwaukee left-hander Chris Capuano. Little said he was not committing to a strict platoon.

http://tinyurl.com/3c46o3

Also, Bigbie accepted his assignment to Las Vegas, Brazoban may be ahead of Kuo on the rehab trail and Logan White says that Loney knows that there are some things out his control and he has to be ready when his opportuntiy comes.

LuGo is Repko without the spunk.

welp, I'm going out to get some homework done...After that Gonzo play I might not even make it out to my car before I fall down in a comatose state.

Oh Kempy where art thou?

This game is turning into a lodge meeting for the Ned Colletti Detractors Marching and Chowder Society.

Paging Grady Little...

Grady Little to the white courtesy phone, please, you're leaving a struggling pitcher in for too long again...

that was not pretty.

If this was Brad Penny, Grits would have pulled him a long time. Time to bring in Billingsley.

245 - One cannot seriously be evaluating umpires based on Gameday.

247 - As I suspected. Score one for me over Tony Jackson.

Last year were there this many posts talking about people's fantasy teams? Maybe my memory is getting fuzzy, but I don't seem to remember this many posts about fantasy teams, especially during opening day.

BJ's warming up

Wasn't our pitching supposed to be good?

Hendrickson up in the pen.

Alright, it is clearly not Lowe's day, time to bring Billingsley (though I would have brought him before that double).

The White Flag of Henrickson is being raised.

Lowe's just not an opening day kinda of guy.

We could do this with an outfield of Kemp and Loney and do better on offense.

I say that we let Lowe pitch about 7 innings today to really tire out his arm so he will be a good pitcher in his next outing. It also seems like when he is fresh, he just doesn't that right sink and games go like today's is going.

Is it just me or is Lowe always terrible in his first game of the season? Can the Dodgers get with the program and not start him opening day next year? Sigh.

Are the gameday balls and strikes still based on stringer reporting? Don't they have a snazzy computerized system for determining placement now?

256 - I'm doing it just for you, Penarol.n :)

265-

Exactly. Lowe is notoriously atrocious on opening day...so why continue to start him against the opposing ace?

But whatever, now is the perfect role for Hendrickson...eat up some innings.

Lowe spits the bit on opening day, again.

Yawn.

265 Its not you.

The key thing for Lowe was his apparent lack of movement on his sinker, sounds like a lot flyballs today and that just won't do.

Lowe had his stinker working today, though.

251 -- I'll bring my antler hat if you do.

For those watching the game, do the guys appear to be getting along really well? How does the dugout atmosphere look? Are they having a good time? Are the veterans keeping up the younger guys' spirits?

I would assume that the Gameday balls and strikes would be based upon some computer generated location finder, otherwise, why wouldn't whoever was placing the balls and strikes show the close ones as either in or out in agreement with the Umpire's call, instead of actually showing him up? Could be wrong though.

Lots of Brewers grounders were finding gaps though, whilst ours are flying/bouncing into diving fielders gloves all afternoon.

265 This was one the D's didn't figure to win. Opening Day messes with a guy like Lowe's head. If it's Sheets v. Lowe in August, Lowe would win it.

I'm in the desert and they block out Dodger games here. I just saw the Yankees run themselves out of a big inning, leaving the score tied 5-5. But Kazmir is out of the game, so they'll eventually win it.

I believe Gameday only uses a computer when they have the all-important BFX and PFX info.

The rest of the time, it's just the stringer guessing.

Mark Hendrickson would much rather be a starter. And I would much rather not have Mark Hendrickson.

You can't always get what you want.

Do we really need to make a double switch in the fifth inning?

Vinny:
'...the Dodger offense is nil...'

this one is over.

0-1 with 161 to go.

otherwise, why wouldn't whoever was placing the balls and strikes show the close ones as either in or out in agreement with the Umpire's call, instead of actually showing him up?

Ssh, don't tell Bud Selig. He'll fine the GameDay freelancers who don't do this $5000. Or the umpire's union will make him do that.

Well if the starters average less than 6 innings a game, this team will lose more than they win no matter if the entire Las Vegas roster is playing instead of the current team.

274. The Dodgers have yet to walk, so Pierre's influence is being felt.

I will never be able to openly cheer for Luis Gonzalez. Thankfully, Ned only signed him to a 1 year contract. If/when Gonzo goes the down, both the offense and the defense will improve.

*down

Mark Hendrickson, opening day ace.

274 Well, they all want to be Dodgers, and that's what's important.

283 I don't anticipate this being the norm.

Good Lord, it better not be.

A quick look at Lowe's first start of the season, through the last 5 years (2007 not included because I think we're all aware of it).

2006: 5 IP, 7 ER, 2 K (9 hits, 1 walk)
2005: 7 IP, 2 ER, 6 K (though he allowed 8 hits and 2 walks)
2004: 6 IP, 2 ER, 3 K (7 hits, 2 walks)
2003: 6 IP, 5 ER, 3 K (6 hits, 2 walks)
2002: 7 IP, 0 ER (!), 1 K (1 hit, 3 walks)

Over the previous 5 years, Lowe's had an average ERA of 4.65 in his first start of the year with a WHIP of 1.32. Not great, but not really atrocious - just definitely not opening-day material.

The Enhanced Gameday blog states:

"Q: Where does this data come from?
A: A series of high-speed cameras are installed in the ballpark, which record dozens of images of each pitch in real time. From those images we are able to determine the speed, trajectory and location of the pitch at any point along its path from the pitcher towards home plate. That pitch data is merged with the stats data entered by our scorekeepers in the ballpark and then presented in Enhanced Gameday.

Q: Why are the pitch locations different in Enhanced Gameday vs. Classic Gameday?
A: The pitch locations in Classic Gameday are entered by our scorers in the ballpark, but are not exact; they are the best human attempt to approximate the location of the pitch. The high-speed camera system in Enhanced Gameday makes it far more accurate than the locations previously available in Classic Gameday."

http://tinyurl.com/29xqd2

Why is Ethier replaced with Clark? Why? What is the point?

You cannot not start Lowe, your best pitcher on opening day. It would be insulting. Pitchers are sensitive. It would be like starting a backup girlfriend on prom night.

Because Ethier made the last out, the pitcher was due up next and the Dodgers are going to lose this game. Why not?

284 Or maybe it's just that Sheets never walks anybody...ever

Gonzo looks horrible, plays horrible defense but Ethier gets the hook?

292 Perhaps Brady Clark has some amazing Brewers secrets hes going to employ to sabotage them from the outside.

More reasons why Flash stinks:
1) You can't scroll with the middle mouse button.
2) You can't search for text.
3) You can't highlight text for copy and paste.

Eh

291
And all of that pitch info is presented in lightning fast fashion and is also utterly useless while watching the game.

291
And all of that pitch info is presented in lightning fast fashion and is also utterly useless while watching the game.

292 Grady wants Hendrickson to pitch as many innings as he can so having Clark bat 9th allows that.

292 - To burn out Hendrickson and not the rest of the bullpen in a rout. Ethier made the last out. This is hardly an unusual move.

umm...at work and checking on opening day game and it's 6-1, the dodgers have 1 hit and Hendrickson is in pitching in the 5th.

This isn't quite the start I was hoping for after 6 months of waiting for the season to start.

Perhaps the Dodgers should have started Hendrickson instead of Lowe.

ooooo. My mistake

I should refrain from my knee jerk reactions.

I'm not going to get too worked up about one game especially against Sheets but the lack of offense is no fun.

Since this game isn't all that fun, here's a semi-interesting question. If you could guarantee that Ben Sheets was healthy, is he better than Johan Santana?

So, is it really worse for Hendrickson to bat second in an inning than for Clark to replace Ethier...?

Even worse is that Sheets is on a complete game pace. 66 pitches through 5.1. Aside from one pitch to Kent he is throwing a perfect game.

If we didn't have knee-jerk reactions, what kind of society would we live in?

Where would we get our violence from if everybody had to think about it ahead of time?

309 umm...no

15 straight retired by Sheets.

Vinny:
'...the Brewers are beating the Dodgers in every facet of the game...'

309 - I don't think so. Sheets is really good, but Santana's pretty much the unquestioned best pitcher in the game at the moment.

Never mind this game. The good news is my company's gonna start offering The Jackie Robinson Story (the one where he plays himself) for video-on-demand/streaming starting tomorrow. Fun one to promote.

309 Sheets is 8 game under .500 career pitcher, Santana is the best pitcher in baseball. So I would say, no, Ben Sheets, healthy or not is not a better pitcher.

Now Sandy Koufax with a healthy elbow, he might be though he might only be able to pitch 5 innings a start now. Then again, Sandy is 70 or so years old. (See old joke about Ty Cobb).

Well, hey, Hendy's increasing his trade value so far - and even (gasp!) his value to the team in this game.

When Sheets is healthy, he's among the top 5 pitchers in the game.

But Santana is top 1. And I don't think second place is even close to him.

Or... not.

That's the ol' Hendy!

310 Yeah, it is, I know some people disagree with how baseball is played at times but that was the prudent move to make.

I'm checking to see if anyone has had a complete game that would be perfect except for allowing a home run.

Pedro Martinez came pretty close in 1999 against the Yankees.
http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1999/B09100NYA1999.htm

309 - I think he might consistently put up ERAs like Santana, but I don't know if he would be better. From a fantasy perspective maybe. His peripheral stats are off the charts. If you were trying to build the perfect pitcher he would be something like a healthy Sheets (more groundballs though).

So the Dodgers are going with a "Koyanisqaatsi" style ad campaign?

Let's see, we had a game:
Against a team very tough at home last year.
Against one of the top 5 starters in the league.
With our starter traditionally a terrible first game/opening day pitcher.

Can I say I wasn't very confident going into this one, and just looking forward to the "do-over" tomorrow?

(Just repeat to yourself... "12 and 2 start two years ago...")

Man, I was sure the Chorizo was going to pull that one out.

Great, a commercial promising yet more Gatorade. The only thing I find truly intimidating is the great wailing wall of multi flavored Gatorade in the shopping aisle. Total paralysis.

324 - 'splain, Lucy.

Sheets best season 2004-12 W,14 L,237 IP, 201 H,85 R,71 ER, 25 HR,32 Walks, 264 SO, 2.70 ERA

Santana's best season 2004 20 W,6 L, 228 IP, 156 H,70 R,66 ER,24 HR, 54 Walks, 265 SO, 2.61 ERA

It's a valid question to ask

Brewers have spent about 6 total minutes in the field today.

Wow, talk about taking a risk, a promotion to award $1000 plus $98 to be added everyday the Dodgers don't score 7 runs in the 7th inning. Big risk by the Morongo Casino.

On May 13, 1954 Robin Roberts gave up a leadoff home run to Bobby Adams of Philadelphia and then retired 27 straight.

332 - you misspelled the Moron Go Casino.

329 - They are practically identical. The fact that Sheets had a losing record with a 2.70 ERA in 237 Innings shows you how absurd pitching wins are as a statistic. Santana prevented more hits but the K numbers were similar enough that the variation was probably due to luck.

I think the White Sox thought the season started tomorrow, too.

Sheets's WHIP in '04: .983
Santana's WHIP in '04: .921

In addition, ERA doesn't factor in a pitcher's ability to prevent unearned runs, which IS in fact a skill - note that Santana had only 4 unearned runs, while Sheets had 14, a not-insignificant difference (though HOW much significance I couldn't say without the stats for the defenses behind them that year, but I don't care THAT much).

328
There was a commerical with time lapse photos of a guy watching TV while minimalist music played in the background.

vinny:
'...this is the best game Ben Sheets has pitched since he shut out Cuba...'

329 I think the issue is that its not as if Sheets is a 2nd or 3rd year guy, he has over 120 decisions and he is under .500, no matter what you think about how variable wins and losses are, the great ones find ways to win more than they lose.

45K plus at Miller Park today, I predict 25K tomorrow and Wednesday.

I thought we'd lose to Sheets, but I didn't think he'd shove like this. And I wasn't planning on watching Lowe stink the joint up.

And if you neutralize the stats, Santana is a solid amount better than Sheets. But Sheets is good.

Brady Clark wore 45 in the Freeway Series.

Now he's the heir to Willie Davis, Rudy Law, and Steve Sax.

"We will rock you" seems a bit excessive at this point.

340

How many beers drank?

Sheets is getting lucky this game.
Dodgers only have 1 hit, but Sheets GB/FB is 6/12. He's only got 3ks.

A Jeff Kent HR is keeping Sheets from a perfecto tho.

337 - There is also the ERA+ difference. 182 vs 154. Santana was slightly better even though he faced the DH. Never the less, it isn't an insane question. Sheets certainly has the ability to out-pitch Santana any given year.

It's easier to Google if Koyaanisqatsi is spelled correctly.

Do you really think Sheets is getting lucky? Most of those flyballs are just lazy fly balls to the outfield.

True, I think Santana is on a higher plane then every pitcher out there. Santana didn't have to rough through some season till he learned out to use his stuff. Santana came ready made with better stuff.

337- Sheets BABIP 2004: .303
Santana BABIP 2004: .259

Sheets GB%: 43.8%
Santana GB%: 40.6%

Santana seemingly got lucky on hits that year, which explains the difference in WHIP considering that Sheets has a significantly better BB/9.

He is dominating, not getting lucky. not sure what the VWAR, or ERA++, or SIN(WHIP)etc... tell you.