Gonzo didn't have to deal with anything even remotely similar when he was in AZ. Aside from having a roof and those strange vents/windows in the outfield, it's a fairly normal stadium.

A sitcom has already been made about the return of the Caballero.

Where's this "Betemit will SLG .480" hope coming from?

Hasnt done it at any level, and he's been playing for 10 years.

maybe because hes grown like 3 inches and put on like 40lbs? come on, everyone knows power is the last tool to develop and from watching him last year, i can say the raw power increase is for real.

The only differences in today's line-up that I know of are Kemp in, Ethier out (wish it was Lugo instead), Wolf in at pitcher. But no official line-up yet. I actually get to watch this one on MLB TV. Leaving work early to do it . Hopefully it'll be a less ugly game than yesterday's.

The Hall of Fame is probably littered with guys who failed to slug .480 in the minors yet did so in the majors. Betemit is 24, an age at which the normal player is still improving and more particularly, still developing power.

Let's look at some other third basemen:
George Brett slugged .403 over 1200 minor league plate appearances. Brooks Robinson slugged .388 in his only full year of minor league ball, then .521 in his 1964 MVP season. Robin Ventura slugged .361 over his minor league career and .444 in his MLB career.

Mike Schmidt, Ron Santo, and Ken Caminiti are among the other third basemen whose slugging percentages were considerably higher in the majors than in the minors.

And to be fair, tracking a ball with those windows as a background would be pretty difficult, even if he got a good read off the bat.

http://feed.insnews.org/v-cgi/feeds.cgi?feedid=144&story_id=2800260

Outfielders are expected to make tough plays; that's why they're in the major leagues. Hitting a major league fastball is pretty tough too, but we still expect them to do it.

In the Bob Timmermann Universe, he would have just had one.

For those wondering, the sky is orange in my world.

I have to say it seems strange that he chose a team that has Chase Utley (another shoulda-been Dodger) as its second baseman. And Washington just lost its starting second baseman yesterday, too.

142
Betemit did slug over 450 last year. He also slugged 514 at Greenville in AA at the age of 19 which made him the Braves number one prospect. At the age of 22 he slugged 466 in AAA. Intermixed with that we have some down years which got him moved off of the top prospect lists. As I said my belief is more subjective and since your not a fan of scouting I can understand you being a nonbeliever. I feel that Bill Hall might be a good comp for Betemit and his late blooming power.
Hall also came through the minors as a SS but his body matured and while he could still play SS, his body was ready for 3b. Lucky for him, he also has enough speed to play CF, Betemit doesn't. Hall never had a slug% over 420 except for one High Desert year in 01. If you saw Bill Hall in 01 and saw him now you'd see a boy who matured into a man. I think the same has happened for Betemit but unlike Hall he did show a lot of power at the age of 19. If Betemit was showing the same stuff he did for the Braves as a 19 year in AA we wouldn't even be talking about La Roche you'd all be fawning over Betemit as though he was Kemp/Loney/La Roche rolled into one.

2004: .493
2005: .459
2006: .444

Houston, we seem to have a pattern here...

Even Vinnie was appalled that Pierre didn't get an error on his boot yesterday. He called it "charity."

Platooning for Ethier seems particularly loony since he hits LHP so well. Gonzales, besides being old and not so good, has a much bigger platoon split.

Ooh, metaphorific!

Yep. Small sample sizes, but he hit lefties better than righties last year.

How about Juiz...?

I'm not much for nicknames, personally. Or first names, with some obvious exceptions when the nickname is actually more familiar than the surname (Nomar, Kobe, Shaq, ARod, Pudge).

39.
I like it!

-Buster Bluth

Was yesterday LUGO's first game at Miller Park? No it was not. Was the ball hit in the window? Yes it was. Should he have made the play? Difficult to say, but what I will say is that's a catch a Luis Gonzales makes 99.9 percent of the time over the course of his 15 year career..

--

This whole debate to me (last thread) anyways is really about the smarts (or lack of)of signing Nomar over extending JD Drew. Given what we have in the farm and given that Nomar isn't all that better than a MLB avg first baseman.

To compound this, we sign Pierre. Given our farm, what was and wasn't available in the winter, given we had Jeff Kent to play 1b if Loney failed, we have Wilson/Laraoach for 3b/2b, give me Drew over Pierre AND Nomar.

Isn't that precisely why the name was given to him?

Luis does not look like a "goon". Look again, he has kind, "please don't hurt me" eyes.

http://tinyurl.com/23xj7l

that Bud Selig should start buying all fans a free MLB TV package. He could do that and give us a free hot dog and still have millions left over.

Tony Jackson: "Did you drop that fly ball because of the sun?"
Gonzo: "Yeah, the sun, and all the colorful swirls, and that purple dragon that was sitting on top of the roof."
Tony Jackson: "Huh?"
Gonzo: "For further comment, please consult my attorney. But it'll have to wait 'til later, as he's out scoring us some mushrooms right now."

Cain, Lowry, Wilson, Sanchez, linden, correia?

Padres have...

Greene, Peavy, Meredith?, Hensley?

Dodgers have...

Martin, Kemp, Broxton, Billingsley

It is the Giants, who also have Hennessey and Niekro. The Padres have the lowest number of players at 3, the Dodgers have 5 right now with 2 on the DL list.

53 I was gonna guess the Padres, but I'm now thinking maybe the Dodgers?

When it comes to this signing...

"We've made a huge, little mistake"

Job Bluth

True, and he definitely conjures up his share of fear and loathing.

Fans of Jenna Fischer will love one scene in the film.

Just added it to my netflix queue, thanks.

agreed. Except when Coach called Ferrell "cool whip". That was pretty hilarious.

It's like it's not even a baseball game.

I never denied that.

Gonzo with shades of Shawn Green....

i love those!

Anyone guaranteeing a victory tonight?

How many .408 sluggers play corner OF for teams with $100M payrolls?

I'll give you 7 million reasons....

I havent seen him hit 90 yet. last year in the starts i watched, he got up to 94 sometimes.

Garrett Anderson LHP 2006: .248/.280/.382

Tremendous pickup Ned.

Not a bad pitch, Estrada did a good job of golfing it, was hit deep.

- Another ball an OF with better range would have grabbed. Gonzalez gets bad breaks on balls and doesn't have the speed to catch up. Is it too late to petition the league to add DH to the NL?

[chuckling]

ZING!

Last year, they were at AAA and AAA.

This year, I think it is just going to be hard for folks to watch Vegas and wonder why there are not here, and thus you get this reaction.

Er, except in sports commentary. And pop cultural commentary.

I will be VERY disappointed (looking at you, fellow DTers) if an LA chapter of it does not open very soon...

Wolf-man looking a little like TJ...?

hmmm...

JP just walked! Excellent.

Can we just guess hit and run coming up.

What's the current status?

P.S. Thanks for nothing, Gameday.

Pierre's speed actually did lead to something productive there. He bolted like all get out.

'...the leadoff walk to Pierre is promptly cashed in...'

now that's what I wanna hear every game...

But it's just based on this year's data.

The Dodgers look like they can be pitched anywhere!

What if he totally sucks this year?

There's a link for "Full Play-by-Play" sandwiched between the box scores for all the other day's games and the expanded view for the Dodgers game.

On CBS Sportsline, click on "Complete Game Chart" under the batter. Then click on "play by play." That will give you a full list of every play in the game.

Thanks for the link in 198 Bob, now I can semi-watch two games at once...ahh the 21st century...

This is L.A., vee don't "volf pack" around here!

He caught that soft line drive. Judged it perfectly.

He unfortunately couldn't catch that next one from Fielder, but can't blame him for the home run.

The Dodgers have yet to carry a lead more through their opponents next at-bat.

211
Sometimes CBS gets the score wrong in its big display when the cache is getting refreshed. It catches up.

Oh god, now I'm doing it, too.

Make it stop!

& Pierre.

Not that it matters so long as the official scorer has all the runs marked down.

Horrible baserunning from Hall
He never slid.

Was it a delayed double steal?

That was the beauty of it

Cap-YOU-ano??

at Corey Harts website (the Canadian rocker)
it claims he was offered the 'Marty McFly' role in 1985's 'Back To The Future'.

yeah right.

Man, MLBTV really eats up bandwidth or memory. It's turning my normally fast powerbook G4 into a Mac Classic. Or an Apple IIe. May have to log off of here for a bit, as much as I love all of y'all's company.

Bob, what is the Cycle Alert at?

Tomko on ice: Fifth-starter Brett Tomko is scheduled to start next Tuesday at home, which will be 12 days after his two-inning relief appearance against the Angels on Saturday night.

Little said he will try to get Tomko some work out of the bullpen in the interim, but the game situation must be appropriate. What would be an appropriate situation?

"Pitching the eighth and ninth innings up 12-1," Little said.

278- D4P is not a Marx Brother. He's street fair clown that children instinctively no better than to get too close to.

Missing a triple: yellow
Missing a double or homer: orange
Missing a single: red

Please clip and save and post in your home. Make every family member aware of it. Run drills periodically. Remember, the cycle is nothing to be afraid of.

This message courtesy of the Griddle, the Ad Council, and the Department of Quirky Baseball Accomplishments.

The Secretary of Quirky Baseball Accomplishments is 29th in line for the presidency.

He predicted a cycle by Kemp.

Capuano 95
Wolf 69

I no

Is this the first year this has been done?

Also, the Mets and Cards had to open up a day early, so they may have needed the extra off day to get up to the union-mandated number of days off during the season.

Crowd: "Mono-railllll!"
Homer: (Five minutes later) "Mono... D'oh!"

So, Cleveland and the White Sox had a day off between games last year.
Tampa Bay and Baltimore did as did Detroit and K.C.
And it looks like five of the NL season openers last year had a day off before game two.

Now c'mon Juan Pierre! Prove me wrong!

The Brewers later returned for their other two games in Dodger Stadium in July.

I never could figure out why they did that.

I would have preferred a rally-killing Grand Slam, Pierre.

http://images.sportsline.com/images/baseball/mlb/players/60x80/10752.jpg

HR Mench. Sigh.

A smokejumper would be a case of using Broxton here.

Leave a pitcher in for 1 additional inning at most, and it'll kill ya.

the biggest shame is giving up a home run to a guy who looks as ugly as Mickey Rourke in Sin City.

I guess my point is the bullpen came in earlier than expected yesterday, it's still pretty early in the game, he didn't look like was tiring to me, etc. So you could bring in a pinch hitter and have him do less than Wolf did (get a walk) and then have a reliever do what Wolf did, give up a HR. Again, thinking it's relatively early in the game. But you can play it differently I suppose. At any rate, I hope it's early enough where they can come back! This series is getting on my nerves.

So, aside from the Russell Martin show, tell me something good, please?

Jarrod Washburn is not our number 2 pitcher. Poor Mariners fans.

The Dodger bullpen has five pitchers who didn't pitch yesterday. With four innings to go, hardly a time to be conservative.

(Cheap shot, I know)

Steve can tell you all about the Odalis Perez incident.

But wait: he's young...!?!?!

its billz specialty to lefties...backdoor cutter for called strike 3.

Come on Merlin!

I really hope Grittle isn't worried about hurting LuGo's feelings this year, or it's gonna be a long one.

Oh, and, hey underbruin, what's brewin', bruin?

Actually, as soon as this game is over, I have to get back to work. This script has to be done in two days basically, and work and the Dodgers keep getting in my way.

Hmmm, back to the old drawing board (to learn how to count).

the facial expression when worming up in the bullpen said it also. :o)

Don Mossi:
http://tinyurl.com/2aqrro

Quien es mas feo?

Someone get that man a changeup.

(runs and hides)

But it's a good one.

Stand down.

Stand down.

So. 0-2. What's the mood here? Panic? Frustration but not too worried? Looking forward to the home opener? Anger, followed by brief nausea, and then quiet reflection?

later!

just bummed. if wolf doesnt hang that breaking ball then who knows. Although the positives were the kids- martin, kemp, broxton and bills.

the negatives...just gonzalez for me.

Professor, should we crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside?

the other thing that concerns me is the starting pitching. if lowe's getting shelled and wolf is inconsistent, then in combination with schmidt's lack of velocity and penny's sore shoulder, that's pretty troubling.

Night all! (For real this time)

I was hoping someone would pick up on that or else I would look really dumb.

A bloody end for Homer Simpson...is just one of several possible outcomes according to our computer simulation. Now here is how it would look if the police killed him with a barrage of baseballs.

How interesting.

Gonzo and Pierre both look pretty pathetic so far, but they can't possibly be this bad all year, can they? Martin looked great at the plate today and the offense in general was hitting the ball well. Wolf looked good except for that one pitch and the bullpen was fantastic. Schmidt against Suppan SHOULD be a mismatch tomorrow, but you never know.

Defensively, probably.

Offensively, no. They're both due for large increases in BA, OBP, and SLG.

I've come to grips with the Pierre situation. I'm not expecting much and I am going to do my best to enjoy watching what he does best: cover some ground in the outfield, beat out some infield singles, and run the bases like a small-headed whirling dervish.

But I am completely pessimistic regarding the LuGo situation, and it's the defense that concerns me even more than the weak hitting. He's going to get some hits, but his power will be a pittance in comparison with other left fielders. An 0-7 start can happen to even the best of hitters, but the atrocious fielding and noodle arm are things that aren't likely to improve as the season progresses for an aging outfielder coming off shoulder surgery (or shoulder injury - I can't remember if he actually had the surgery or not).

The best case scenario may be that LuGo's ineptitude reaches epidemic and undeniable proportions so there's no question that he gets benched for the youngsters. I predict a number of mystery ailments for LuGo this season. Nagging muscle pulls and assorted bumps and bruises that will send him on the 15 day DL three or four times during the course of the season. That way he will get to hang out with the team, won't suffer the indignity of getting DFA in his final season, may even get a few pinch hit opportunities in the stretch run, and then he can sail off into the sunset enjoying a fine career with 7 millon more dollars added to the triplets' college fund.

Yes

476 Where'd you see this? I think Meloan being in AA isn't a bad move - the team could still call him up at some point, but there he won't have the PCL air to contend with and shatter confidence.

I'm really not that worried about the Dodgers bullpen though; just don't want to see them frequently!

http://www.trolleydodger.com/2007/04/01/minor-league-rosters/

And since his Character is off the charts, he won't complain about it...

http://tinyurl.com/2wlhue

Interestingly, Travis Denker is nowhere to be found.

No one here will likely disagree with that. However, two things to consider:

1) Grady Little's GM handed Gonzalez $7 million to play left field.
2) Grady Little is a lot smarter than Jim Tracy.

I've never been a fan of Dewitt, but even the most fanatic of Blake Dewitt fans cant be happy about him repeating A ball.

Elbert--I agree he should be in AA. He gave up alot of HRs there last year, he needs to get better there. I still wish the Dodgers would promote from AA. I dont think AAA Vegas helps pitchers build confidence in their pitches.

Bridger Hunt hit well for average in low after being drafted in the 9th round last year, but Baseball America's Alan Matthews said he over-achieved, as he has below-average tools across the board. So he's nothing more than a bench player prospect, if that is any kind of prospect at all.

"The best case scenario may be that LuGo's ineptitude reaches epidemic and undeniable proportions so there's no question that he gets benched for the youngsters."

goodness gracious

10. Dodgers — 1B/OF James Loney

Simply put, Loney, who absolutely raked this spring, figures to give the Dodgers more than Luis Gonzalez, who's waist-deep in his decline phase. It's a classic case of favoring the likeable veteran over the young talent. It's also a mistake in this instance.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6634638

But, hey, whatever works.

I'll say this: for a team that will compete this year, the fans in Milwaukee are pathetic. Announced attendance was 22K but I doubt they had 18K. Tons of empty seats -- and this is the second game of the season!

I'll be there again tomorrow night behind home plate (wish I had a Dodger Thoughts shirt to wear). Can't get swept.

http://tinyurl.com/25qvnt

Tenacious D (my favorite except it puts pressure on our... D!)
Weapons of Mass Distraction
The Others (for the "Lost" fans on the team)
Earthquakes

What do you think? We're open to suggestions (something clever, pun-ny, and/or pop culturish).

I'm going to bed.

i like tenacious D.

But beware of relegation.

How's InterUnited? :)

I think he was a marine biologist as well.

Okay, so I made the last part up, but the quote is really from Henson's latest.

"One final question Karl and the beautiful lounge suite will be yours... Are you going to have a go?" (Karl nods) You're a brave man. Karl Marx, your final question... Who won the Cup Final in 1949?"
Karl: "er.. The workers' control of the means of production? The struggle of the urban proletariat?"
"No. It was in fact, Wolverhampton Wanderers who beat Leicester 3-1."

Thanks for the thoughts all, I'll sleep on it. (Hm, Springfield Isotopes might be fun.)

http://www.uoregon.edu/~duckball/html/yoshiokak.html

Check out his hobbies.

I will be very happy if I never see Pierre swing on a 1-0 count ever again. That said, he wasn't the reason the Dodgers lost, he did cover some ground in CF tonight, and he looked mighty good racing home from first on Martin's double.

I thought Wolf looked good at times tonight and, with all due respect to hindsight, pinch-hitting for him in the 6th - in his first start where conventional wisdom says pitchers are still stretching out - would have been a good choice. Grady thinks he has a real good pen, doesn't he?

Theoretically, yeah, but I doubt his hitting strategy is that, uh, advanced.

ivan dejesus 5'11 182lbs

blake dewitt 5'11 175lbs

seems like dewitt hasnt grown at all since he was drafted.

- Almost all the players are under 6 feet
- Almost all the players are from the state of Oregon
- Almost all the players bat and throw right-handed
- Too many of them are listed as P/OF, P/1B or something of the sort.

thats what i will dream about tonight.

• Mike Moustakas, Chatsworth, Sr.: There's no hotter hitter in the Southland than the USC-bound Moustakas, a shortstop who's threatening state records for single-season and career home runs.

Moustakas has hit 14 home runs, giving him 42 in his career. The state records are 21 for a season and 47 for a career.

Even more stunning is that he was clocked throwing 97 mph during a relief pitching stint. He has three saves and 12 strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. He could be a first-round draft pick.

he has been one of the players ive been eyeing with our supp 1st round pick but we might have to spend the 20th pick on him.

Arizona
3-0
25-6
UCLA
3-0
13-14
Arizona State
4-2
23-10
Washington
4-2
15-11
California
2-1
17-14
USC
1-2
18-12
Washington State
1-5
16-12
Oregon State
0-3
23-6
Stanford
0-3
13-12

Sigh. Stupid, teasing dreams!

A lineup of Brady Clark, Ethier and Kemp today would be nice, but with Pierre sure to start, at least two of the above would be nice.

A 168 OPS+ goes a long way. Manny could play left field without a glove and it would be worth it.

Dido's "White Flag":

"I will go down with this ship..."

The worst Dodger intro music was Jayson Werth, who came out to the most apathetic Gorillaz tune I have ever heard.

Such a tough decision making room for Loney on the 25 man roster. But with Gonzo as the left hand pinch hitter and fifth outfielder and with Juan as the fourth outfielder/pinch runner/pinch hitter could Ned find his way to trading Anderson/Martinez/Valdez?

How do you offer suggestions? I want to suggest "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains because that's what I would choose as my song.

I asked Nomar about "Low Rider" but he gave sort of a non-answer answer that made it clear he wasn't interested in talking about it. Still, that's gotta be one of the all-time classic batter themes. I hope he keeps it.

Since Russ is from Montreal, he should come out to something by the Arcade Fire. Maybe "Intervention"? Although the lyrics would actually be more appropriate for Luis Gonzalez:

I can taste the fear.
Lift me up and take me out of here...
We can't find you now,
But they're gonna get their money back somehow.
And when you finally disappear,
We'll just say you were never here.

I'm a weirdo and would probably have Talking Heads, Modest Mouse or The Shins as my theme music, I'm just not as hep as these baseball kids today.

my little brother likes my mustache but it might be because he's got one too
he says it makes me look like a badass; "don't ever shave it off"

and my baby says she likes my mustache and it's got me thinking i like it too
she says it makes her wild
now i know that i'll never shave it off

doin' it for rock-n-roll and
i'm doin' it for love...