That was a great read.

I wonder if the batting cage was the one on Colorado in Glendale. My little league team took a trip over to it. They had a Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Whitey Ford. A Marichal too I think. I was 9 or 10 then, living in Monrovia and had never heard of Glendale! Years later, I moved to Glendale and the batting cage was still there. Its been gone for a long time now, though.

Ahh Batting cages, brings back memories of oversize helmets and the thud of the balls whizzing by me as I attempted to hit the ball.

The story of the mom offering the lamb chop to Queen Noor is priceless.

If I may respond to ToyCannon's post at #170 in the last thread, what do you mean I "have never been able to see" the Dodgers? Television was invented a good while ago. I'll bet there are plenty of Dodger fans in Los Angeles (albeit a minority of the fanbase) who have never seen the team live at Dodger Stadium. Some people have mobility issues. Some people can't afford the good seats and would rather watch a game on TV than have the view from the cheap seats.

4 I grew up in Orange and Riverside Counties. I only ever went to one Dodger game, that was the last day I spent in California. It was August of 2003 against the Cubs, Kevin Brown vs. Mark Prior. Sammy Sosa hit two homeruns that day (one landed about 4 rows in front of me in the right field bleachers). We didn't get there until the bottom of the 2nd because my brother-in-law didn't believe me when I said there would be traffic. The Dodgers lost 3-1. I think Izturis scored the lone run for the Dodgers, but it was right as we were walking into the stadium, so I wasn't sure.

While we're on the subject, Canuck, how did you come to be a Dodger fan? I started watching the Dodgers because all of my friends were Angels fans, and I hated my friends.

4- If it helps, of all the things about you I find funny, your not having seen a game in the stadium isn't in the top five.

4 When I went to Coors Field to see the Dodgers play, I met Dodger fans from Cincy, Nebraska, New Mexico. The folks from Nebraska told me that they go to Colorado twice a year just to see the Dodgers play in person.

I thought if I had the time and money, I would think it would be cool to follow the Dodgers across the country and talk to their fans in the different locales, there are a few transplanted folks from LA but a lot of time have never lived on Pacific Daylight Savings Time and are just fans for various reasons.

I will say that you have to be at least in your early twenties to say that TV has been covering games, I don't think short of satellite or extra innings that you could see all the games, ON TV first came around in the early '80s but if you were a fan growing up in the 1970's, you had the 9 games from San Francisco plus whatever national game of the week, eventually the Dodgers televised games against the Big Red Machine but it wasn't until the late '70s that the other road games were televised.

The Lakers were probably the first team to have almost every game available of television via ON TV, Prime Ticket, Fox and Channel 9 but Walter O'Malley didn't like giving away the product so for most of us it was Vin and Jerry on the radio and places like Riverfront Stadium, the Astrodome and even Wrigley Field could only be seen through Vinny's word pictures.

5- It was Izzy, on a Roberts single.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN200308100.shtml

8 It's amazing, because I was just making all that up as I went along.

Canuck's story has reached FAQ status.

7 That's interesting. I didn't the realize that regular road telecasts only started in the late 70s. 1977 was really my first year following the Dodgers, and I just recall there being no home telecasts for a long time. I know they didn't televise all the road games, but I would have guessed more than half. I used to sometimes spend the night at a friend's house so I could see the ON TV home telecasts.

I will say this about not televising the home games - at least as a kid, it made going to the games much more special. Dodger Stadium was this amazing place that you only got to see (in my case) once or twice a year, and only in person.

6 -- Okay, I know I am going to regret asking, but what are the top five things you find funny about me?

1 It was an easy bus ride on the RTD's 31 line from Eagle Rock High to the Glendale batting cages, so I spent many a quarter there, despite never making an organized team. Even in quiet Eagle Rock, not too many coaches are interested in sub-Ecksteinian players. (I was 5'4", 120 starting my senior year, even smaller before that.) I didn't dare step into the Koufax cage, the fastest one on the far left, until I was college age and a little bigger.

I am also old enough that I don't believe that they supplied or required helmets.

11
I believe the Dodger TV broadcast plan was first to just telecast games from San Francisco. For part of a season (I think it was 1962), the Dodgers experimented with an early form of pay TV that didn't catch on. Vin Scully didn't work those games.

When the Padres came into existence in 1969, they were added to the TV package although San Diego didn't like that since a lot of Padre fans could get KTTV.

The first road games to be added were the Sunday games.

It wasn't until ON TV and later SportsChannel televised a lot of home games.

In 1974, Walter O'Malley had to give permission for NBC to televise Henry Aaron's attempt to hit home run #715 back to L.A. At the time, you couldn't see your home team on national TV televised in your own market even if it was the road team.

5 -- I think Jon asked me the same question before -- how I became a Dodger fan. The 1977 World Series (I was 8-years-old at the time) was the first pro baseball I ever saw on TV (like most Canadian kids, hockey is what I usually watched on TV, but I did play Little League baseball). I fell in love with the Dodgers at first sight, and I don't suppose there was anything more rational to it than that. The obsession grew from there.

The way you wear your hat
The way you sip your tea
The way your smile just beams
The way you sing off-key
The way you haunt my dreams

Alright. I don't have an actual list. It was just a throw away line.

Let me clarify. I knew the Dodgers had very limited television exposure in their early years in LA. I just thought that the addition of a sizable road t.v. package came earlier than the late 70s. In other words, I picked a good time to start following the Dodgers.

This is one of the most exciting Spelling Bees I've ever seen.

The event is sponsored by Scripps and the "S" fell off the wall in the backdrop.

15 So you liked the Dodgers because they were the not-Reggies.

14 Here is the story via WalterOMalley.com:

April 27, 1958 - All Dodger road games from San Francisco, beginning with the May 9 contest, will be carried on KTTV Channel 11, announces Walter O'Malley.

This is one of the most exciting Spelling Bees I've ever seen

More exciting than this one...?

http://ww2.scripps.com/shnews/july97issue/cover/beeburliegh.jpg

And Anurag Kashyap is the World Champion of Spellers!

Anurag Kashyap > Takeru Kobayashi?

22 Iconoclast!

In either 1977 or 1978 (I lean to the latter), KTTV offered a promotion where you could get a scorebook that had all the scheduled televised games preprinted. I think rosters were included too, although those weren't all that useful after a month or two in the season.

This would help if you were scoring at home. Not that this uber-geek 12-year old would have ever entertained such an idea of scoring every televised Dodger game.

I only scored some of them.

21- that girl was extremely annoying. Even South Park made fun of her.

It appears that the Spelling Bee I just watched was from 2005. The 2007 event will be held May 30-31. This event is almost as good as the Hot Dog Eating Competition, but better than the World Cup.

I wonder if his cousin ever came by the cage singing "Easy to be HardBall"?

What do Jeff Weaver, Eric Milton, Ramon Ortiz and Josh Towers have in common. They all make more, the same or in Towers' case, a million less than Tomko but are certainly worse pitchers right now than Brett.

Of course Weaver and Milton, they make nearly 20 million between them, are both on the DL, Ramon is now following up a really good April with a horrendous May, and Towers had is one decent year in 2005 parlayed into a nice contract so he can win less than one out of six decisions.

Actually Kip Wells also goes on this list.

Seeing those guys and even less costly run producing starters like Jerome Williams and now DFAed Sidney Ponson still gives me hope that when we hit July and Ned can absorb some of the 2+ million remaining on Tomko's contract, he can send him off for pennies on the dollar.

that girl was extremely annoying

My wife saw her and her family in town here last summer. I subsequently discovered that she's in the doctoral program in biology at Duke.

A favorite Taylor Negron role was as the mailman in "Better Off Dead".
"What's a little boy like you doing with big boy smut like this?"
Classic.

Chris Duncan is the only Cardinal starter tonight with a higher OPS than pitcher Adam Wainwright.

How many runs will the Cardinals get tonight?
A) 0-3
B) 4-6
C) 6-9
D) 10 or more

Please be sure to fill in the bubble completely and if you change your answer to erase any stray marks.

Another great Taylor Negron role was the gas station attendant in "One Crazy Summer". He's teasing a little kid over her ugly dog:

"Little girl, I'm gonna have nightmares just knowing that dog exists!"

Savage Steve Holland was a genius.

well there you go- Kuo called up, Valdez DFA

Whoa! Kuo!

5 Unbelievable. I have been to exactly 1 game at Dodger Stadium since the early 70's, and it was that Cubs game. In fact, i was sitting near you in the RF pavillion, because Sosa's 2nd HR landed perhaps 4 rows in front of me.

Prior was amazing that game, Brown just really really good. Izzy did score that run as I recall.

15 That's similar to how I became a Broncos fan. Was 7 years old and they were the Orange Crush - and the underdog, of course! - against the Cowboys in the SB and the only thing I knew about football at all at the time was that I hated Dallas. I watched the game with my dad and his friends - the first NFL game I remember seeing, and they all hated Dallas too. And I also liked that the Denver QB had the same first name as me - Craig. They got blown out of course (foreshadowing their next 3 super bowls) but I stuck with them then and since. Also, my best friend in elementary school and JHS was a Raiders fan (besides Dallas I also didn't like any of the California teams as a kid for some reason) and we had a friendly rivalry about it; we became friends after he saw my Broncos hat and that was my indoctrination to the world of friends giving you s... for being a fan of whatever team.

I've been to Denver twice but never lived there.

Kuo. Wow, okay, I was gonna guess Kemp, but I guess they decided they needed more pitching (thanks in part I'm sure to Tomko's effort yesterday). Well, I still want Kemp, but happy to see Kuo back.

yay! another Bronco fan!

37 {High five} {apologize to Trainwreck}

Oh yeah, I could tell you some really obscure Broncos trivia.

32- excellent news. Hopefully Kuo is coming up to replace Tomko in the rotation (though I wouldn't mind seeing Billingsley start either)

37
Let the record reflect that I have hated John Elway since he was in HIGH SCHOOL.

HIGH SCHOOL!!!

Although I don't dislike him as much as Fran Tarkenton.

40- I've met Elway on more than a few occasions and, um, he's easier to dislike in person.

40 As long as you don't hate Craig Morton...

What does Tarkenton have against Elway?

43
Do I need to put more indirect objects in my descriptions of levels of hatred of John Elway and Fran Tarkenton?

Mmm, indirect objects. . .[gargling noises]

Can't we shift the subject to how much Bob hates the Cardinals? More on-topic.

I don't like seeing all these balls in the air vs. Lowe...

I only hate Cardinal fans.

I don't hate the Cardinals.

And in particular, I only hate Cardinal fans of the last ten years which is when they started reading their own press clippings.

It's all Bob Costas's fault.

I hate the Broncos, but not Bronco fans.

Well some of them.

{Getting out notepad, taking notes} Mm-hmm, and where do you think these feelings originated?

There's a shocker, Garciaparra first ball swinging, after Pierre flied out.

I hate some Bronco fans, too. I would probably not be a fan if I lived in Denver.

The woman who cleans my apartment is a big Broncos fan and she's nice.

It's really just John Elway.

Yeah, I rarely try to stick up for fellow Raider or Laker fans.

Dodgers get a break on that one - looked like a strike, but it was called a ball, except it wasn't called at all, and so Molina made the throw to 2nd, which was pretty close to getting Furcal, but Furcal was called safe.

51
That one needed a dependent clause.

It's just John Elway I hate.

But I reserve the right to be peeved at Vance Johnson.

Did you know Al Davis claimed the league blocked him from trading for John Elway?

Now Bob can hate Al Davis, which he most likely already did.

I don't understand why pitchers walk LuGo so often with Martin hitting behind him.

55
Doesn't everybody hate Al Davis?

Pretty much.

I don't care about football, but I hate Al Davis.

That looked fully fair. I am agog.

long way to go for a HBP

60 - pleased to meet you, Mr. Gog.

You just never see the triple steal on a 3-2 count with 2 outs anymore.

Call me kooky, but I don't think Wainwright meant to hit Martin there.

Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw should be flown in to take care of Mr. Wainwright.

Come on, Andre! Give us a catcher's interference here, your specialty!

Ethier's locker should be searched for a crack pipe for swinging at that. But I'll take it.

first inning fortunes reversed from last night.

Or we'll take a regular ol' single up the middle, if you want to be different and stuff. That's cool.

We, as a team and a society, can do better than "Whoop! There it is!"

Ethier with a Juan Pierre-style hit there. Soft little groundball with eyes.

And how about a La Roche specialty here: an IBB. Or an UIBB.

that bases loaded single caught me by surprise, too. I was expecting a PB, or a balk, or something.

I really hope we "return the favor tonight" so far so good. :o)

Is it just me, or does LaRoche look like a more unkempt version, if that's possible, of Scott Spiezio?

Spiezio II walks. Yay!

Gameday just said LaRoche got a walk on two balls and a strike.

75 - he doesn't have that bleeding thing on his chin

I think "Whoop, there it is" still exists because it appeals to the lowest common denominator in terms of age, IQ, and state of sobriety.

Sadly, I bet Grady is mad LaRcohe walked there.

Yeah, without the swatch of lemur fur sprouting from his chin, he looks different. Fine by me.

for a "defensive liability", kent plays a pretty decent 2nd base.

Ethier, my favorite dodger, coming through. Please don't trade him.

77 - it is his extraordinary eye that allows him to do this.

well there you go- Kuo called up, Valdez DFA

he had some key bunts & plays for us, I really hope he gets a gig somewhere else.

For the three people who were tempted to watch the Ducks-Red Wings playoff game tonight ... never mind.

They just aren't mighty anymore.

i like rooting for little Eck except when he plays against us. I think Bob doesn't care for him all that much though.

Everytime Eckstein gets a hit, D4P dies a little inside.

I haven't seen the news about valdez and kuo anywhere else. has DT scooped the internet?

For their first few years in L.A., the Dodgers only televised the road games from San Francisco. There were 11 then. Wow! Were those big events. I can remember staking out the living room to watch every inning of every game on our small black-and-white TV. There was no cable, of course, no Game of the Week, no WGN, no TBS. That was it: eleven games, all on KTTV. The camera work was limited. I remember the main one was behind home plate, rather than behind the pitcher. No replays. The pre-game show was televised as well, and Jerry Doggett would have a guest. The only exception was if the Dodgers were in a pennant race, they would sometimes add a few games.

90

It's posted on Inside the Dodgers.

92. ah. thanks.

Whew. Martin almost threw that one away.

Also, I just saw that Armando Blownitez struck again in Houston. That game's now tied 5-5 in the 9th.

94. I am sure he looked very intimidating as he blew the save though. that's what really matters.

Everyone in the starting lineup for the Dodgers, except for Lowe, was hitting at least .270. Strikes me as unusual.

I admit I cannot ever be optimistic about playing the Cards these days. But so far so good: make this Loudon throw some more pitches.

Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw to the white courtesy phone, please.

Yes-- make this guy throw, please Juan.

Wow, Furcal's 12 for his last 13. That's beyond hot.

95 Always. And fashionable, too.

Deja vu. Slappy McPopup strikes again.

101. and I hear he has a lovely singing voice.

pierre is worthless, grady take a page out of la russas book, put him in the 8 hole ala eckstein.

Way to draw him out.

I have nothing against David Eckstein. Nor does ToyCannon.

D4P and Greg Brock are another matter. Their parents didn't raise them right is what it is.

How can you not like Eckstein? He was elected to the Jewish All-American team despite not being Jewish. If that's not scrapy I don't know what is.

Do you see what happens Dodgers? Do you see what happens? That's what happens when you hit the ball to the wall.

whatever honeycutt said, lowe either ignored it, or should have ignored it.

107 - Eckstein has scrapes in a lot of places.

Good cutoff by Nomar. Not sure Furry got the tag down in time, but I'll take that, too.

here we go, the st louis curse.

David Eckstein does not belong in the MLB.

I admit I cannot ever be optimistic about playing the Cards these days.

we need to make a Bonn fire in the Dodger Bullpen to rid our selves of this Dodger vs. Cards funk. geez!

We have trouble with the Cards. I'd be happy to win one. Of course the main problem is Lowe throwing beach balls.

Raul Mondesi is in the ballpark tonight? how cool is that?

Rauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuulllllll!!

now wainwright is gonna go into shutdown mode

114 or maybe a low fire?

I wonder if Raul Mondesi's hat flew off while he was walking to his seat.

115. beach balls don't go as far as these things are going . . .

If we had made a concerted effort to take a few pitches, Louden the III would already be gone.

119. I wonder of he swung and missed at a low and away 0-2 dodgerdog.

martin has been hanging out with juan pierre entirely too much.

114 - what do the Germans know of baseball?

this would be a great time for andys first big fly

ooh, 1 out and first base not open!

Just what we need, a sarcastic spell checker. Wait, that last sentence was sarcastic wasn't it? Anyone have their sarcasm detector handy?

124 I don't know. But with The d'dog controversy, maybe we could have a Hamburg fire.

No time to wait for Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw. Mariano Duncan is going to have to take care of this himself.

he walked anyway.

129 Your new third base coach...Rick Mahorn.

Honestly, how much worse could he be than Donnelly?

derek heres a good time to not take the bat off your shoulder

I know its sacralige, but I would of battede Tomato.

Wainwright is terrible.

you gotta be joking if you walk the pitcher.

with the bases loaded

damn.

and now raffy comes up with runners on...

and hits a triple :(

bless you, mr. furcal.

:) i mean

Everybody went a minimum of 270 feet on that one.

It's nice to have you back Furcal.

Way to go little man.

Dios Mio! A treeeeple with the sacks drunk. Do thine eyes deceive me?

A hit? Bases loaded? Really???

sort of a less than graceful swing he put on that gapper, though.

all's well that ends well, I suppose.

I always knew Furcal had it in him. His Aprils are atoned for.

Do the Dodgers always blare "Hit the Road, Jack" when an opposing pitcher is removed? Seems pretty tasteless and non-Dodgery to me.

Drew McCourt's idea, no doubt.

We don't yet have enough runs against the Cardinals. So now we will see the "Grits", of this team.

Why bother taking Wainwright out now?

I almost fell over dead. I thought that was going to slip over the low fence in the corner.

And then The Player hits it to the warning track! Insanity! Day is night, up is down.

Dogs and cats, living together...Mass hysteria.

Wainwright manages to pull a Tomko.

Kind of amazing .... Four days ago, Furcal's average was .218. It's now .294.

Thirteen hits in 16 at-bats will do that for you.

After that last inning, I don't know if Lowe can hold this lead.

Furcal is like 13 for 14 in the last three games. If we are lucky, we might win two of them.

I pulled a Tomko the other day trying to start my lawn mower.

We need a rip-job against the Cardinals. This team needs to get that monkey off their backs. I hope they have to invoke the mercy rule tonight. I'm not kidding. I want to see a position player mopping up the last inning for LaRussa. I WANT BLOOD .

Now that's more like it.

155 That better be enough of a cushion for Lowe. He was shaky last inning.

About LaRoche's walks, obviously he is getting pitched around because the pitcher would rather face our pitcher, but are pitchers even TRYING to tempt LaRoche with borderline pitches, and LaRoche is showing a good eye, or is it literally pitches three feet off the plate all the time for LaRoche?

160

He's laying off a lot of pitches early in the count that players like the The Player and The Nomar would hack at.

160 I wonder how many walks Pierre would have if he batted 8th. Seriously.

did you know that "Nomar" is "Ramon" spelled backwards? and be sure to meet his wife, "Aim".

Duncan has Adam Dunn potential in LF.

I seriously think we will need a few more runs to beat the Cards. But I am somewhat optimstic that we might get them for a change.

Wow, LaRoche swung at a terrible pitch for him

165
Four runs for the Cardinals is an offensive explosion. The Dodgers have this game wrapped up.

Andy went to pieces

Andy went to pieces?
No. Andy was the navigator. He was all right. Buddy went to pieces

167. oh, man. the karmic backwash on that one could be painful . . .

quite an arm on that andy laroche.

"Mr. November." Somebody needs to remind Vinny about Rule 5.

169

That man urinates karmic backwash. He doesn't care.

That man urinates karmic backwash.

Man, if I had a nickel for every time I've said that...

By the by, the latest Cardinalfan buzz regarding a deal between the Dodgers and Cards calls for this beaut:

Rolen and unspecified minor leaguer for...

LaRoche, Kemp and Broxton.

Billingsley would suffice in place of Broxton.

173 - Karmicturation for short.

174. what? they don't want james loney?

Is that actually shorter? (That's what she said.)

Well, by golly, it is. By one space.

Nice bat speed on those replays.

Wait, when did D4P move to Wyoming?

http://tinyurl.com/2nx3o8

174 We should throw in Penny and Saito for good measure. Anything to make those rational Cardinals fans happy, by gum!

180,176 I love it that you guys won't even joke about Martin.

Is it safe to come out? Is the regular Juan Pierre back in uniform?

180

They're going to have to at least throw in Scrapmaster Scrap if you're adding those two.

181 - Well, we've gotta keep some dry powder for the Eckstein deal.

but if we got rolen, we would have 3rd base handled . . . except for those 100+ games he has spent on the DL in two of the last three years.

and he's only 32, you know.

181 I literally started typing it and my hands started shaking, and some invisible, magical force actually moved my fingers over the delete key. It was crazy, man.

Way to skew to the younger demographic, Vin.

181. indeed, that would be no joking matter.

Carlos Lee had a pretty good day for the Astros, and even better, at the Giants expense.
---

I wonder if we'll see Kuo tonight?

vin just said greg gagne. and I got a twitch.

Ah yes, the Gagne reflex.

David Eckstein is "listed" at 5'7 165lbs i bet it's all muscle. I'm 5'7 145 with muscle & fat here & there.

Eckstein is a marvelous player with a career .252 EqA.

191 That gagne never gets old.

192 It's mostly snips and snails.

kuo is warming in the bullpen

Did the Dodgers tie a MLB record for hitting the most infield fly rules in one inning?
vr, Xei

195 - He's so scrappy he doesn't even need the puppy dogs' tails. He wouldn't take them if he could. David Eckstein is a lover of man and beast alike. I for one welcome our new Scraptastic overlords.

196. Who's bullpen is Guo warming up in?
vr, Xei

Wow - according to Gamecast Beimel put 3 straight pitches on the bottom-left corner of the strike zone, all right in the exact same spot.

199 The big club.

199 - the Bodger's

The one in Dodger Stadium, silly Xei.

We may indeed see him tonight, as Beimel won't go much longer if at all, and they won't want to bring in Broxton and Saito if they don't have to.

Eckstein's HOF induction speech: "I am not what you would call a handsome man. The good Lord chose not to bless me with... with charm, athletic ability... or a fully functional brain."

196

i hope he comes in & strikes out the side, a Kuo strike out gets me excited for some reason.

Maybe Xei's ahead of us all (again).

Maybe that Kuo/Elbert/Abreu/Loney for Juan Encarnacion deal has gone down.

so, grady is looking for two innings out of kuo, and brox to finish it?

I didn't think he was going beyond two innings at vegas, and was still "developing arm strength" . . .

sounds like a very gradyesque plan, though.

There are some things about baseball stats that strain my understanding. One, and this is very anecdotal, is that the Dodgers must score at least 10 runs to beat the Cardinals. A more serious worry, is that pitchers with losing records for the past year or two( like say 9-11) seem to be worth millions of dollars. This is disturbing logically, but it must be due to long term predictions, teams played for, and park effects. I guess I can accept this.

174 That unspecified minor leaguer better be former Memphis Redbird Albert Pujols.

why would they call a curve ball if Duncan looked over matched with Gou's cheese.

Hmmm... Kuo is activated and called up hastily, then immediately sees game action.

I smell showcase!

Ugh how come Kuo sucks coming out of the pen?

um, Kuo isn't scaring anybody. maybe this experiment (tonight) should be short lived.

Kuo has absolutely no idea what he's doing to Xeifrank. Have a heart, pal!

mix in an out kuo

And why isn't he pitching out of the stretch?

get that slider down

That was extremely solid by LaRoche.

nice play by La Roche men & 3rd & 1st sets up a DP. 1 out.

I leave to get a cookie and he has yet to record an out while giving up a run?
me no like.

217

looks like there on to his slider i'd ask for pure cheese.

Taylor Negron imitating ethnic Glendale carpet sellers:
"Area rug!"
Hehe
-fp

214 - Have a heart, pal!

Which hand should I hold it in? Mine seems to be leaping out of my chest.

Nice offensive lob.

I just got home -- in time to see the Dodgers begin to lose their seemingly comfortable lead. Alas.

Okay, that one was not Kuo's fault. Bad luck. C'mon Hong Chi, suck it up and get yourself outta this one.

A Kuo-sign he needs to be yanked.

Might be a good time to start up the drinking conversation again.

I assume grady has forgotten where the mound is again.

Take away Xeifrank's shoelaces...STAT.

Sigh

Creates a save opportunity for our man Saito.

I see what you did there, Kuo. Nice job.

Okay, Kuo needs to start.

And we got Mr. Red McFurPatch coming up next. C'mon Bull.

228. LOL

Yuck, they are using Guo out of the bullpen again?
vr, Xei

232 - that's called being a rainmaker.

There's a leprechaun at the plate

Luckily, it looks like Spiezio's been drinking again.

Siddown, McFurpatch.

Are we serving as Gameday for Xei's purposes?

240. haha. I am too afraid to look.
vr, Xei

Long live The Bull!

Miles was about ten minutes late on that swing. Yay Blue Ox! Only two more innings of heavy drinking, I mean, nailbiting, and we're safe.

I love Baby Elvis

Someone get Broxton a GIANT silver belt buckle that says "JB".

The Cards' broadcast showed that last pitch -- the one Aaron Miles just now tried to swing at -- at 97.

Allright Brox. But my problem is with the D's having no offense after the third. I hope they can somehow prevail.

232 That's only the half of it, as we get the "hold" opportunity for Broxton as well. Good job, Guo!

Andre Ethier is the king of the oppo warning track shot.

Hit the weight room, MEAT [/Krukow]

249 That was a pretty easy swing to hit the ball that far op field. I think he has a lot room to grow his power.

I'm actually getting bored seeing LaRoche walk so many times. Not that I wouldn't take that over striking out a lot, but it'd be nice to see him get something to hit once in awhile.

Griffey homer puts the Reds up 2-1 in the 12th in San Diego.

LaRoche and The Player should switch spots in the order.

Andy's going to have to learn that you can't get on base an awful lot drawing all those walks.

C'mon Springer, through a chair!

C'mon Brady, that was high slop, you should be able to hit that.

This is gonna be one of those 4 hour 9 inning games isn't it?

There's a wild one in Oakland as well. 2-0 A's going into the 8th, but KC scores a run in their top half, only to see the A's come back with 2 in the bottom. Then KC scorea 3 in the top of the 9th and now it's the A's up in the bottom of the 9th facing Risky Riske.

253 We need to get Martin up there first. Then LaRoche. The Player can bat eleventy-fourth.

254 Nice.

Three straight four hit games for Furcal. Not too shabby. First Dodger ever.

Furcal is going insane with those base hits.

Well, I didn't say there's anything wrong with drawing walks, I just said I was bored with it. Can't I fast-forward to the exciting parts already?

Pierre is gonna go up there & swing at the 1st or 2nd pitch you watch.

Fun fact: evidently four in ten teenage girls are bigger than Juan Pierre.

Maybe Furcal had to adapt to the pressure of people saying he's the best player in the division.

and in the notoriously unforgiving world of small sample size stats, Kuo's ERA stands at a frosty 81.01. damn lucky he got that out . . .

well atleast Furcal is heating up.

can't blame Pierre there, those dribblers usually go for hits.

267

& to be honest they did look like strikes.

Broxton's family crest is a picture of a barracuda eating Neil Armstrong.

He'd eat a homeless person if you dared him!

265. Hey, hold it! Let's round down to a cool 81.00 please. Guo was seen in the dugout asking Grady for a mulligan. Also glad to see Guo take one for the team. SFW
http://tinyurl.com/ys25ny
vr, Xei

269. Would he eat a pig that lived in a small cage? vr, Xei

269- what would he do if I double dog dared him?

Marcus Giles was the last player with three straight 4+ hit games. July 27-29, 2003 when he went 13 for 15.

Did I ever tell you about the time Broxton was in a production of, 'The King & I?' On opening night, Broxton chloroforms the entire cast and slowly eats them in front of the audience for two hours. The production got pretty good reviews.

These are all from an SNL skit, by the way.

274. Oh ok, an SNL skit. I thought it was a rule #11 violation for a moment. vr, Xei

274- would these be Bill Brasky-isms?

276 They would be. If Bill Brasky really existed, he'd be Jonathan Broxton.

Bill Brasky couldn't hit Broxton

i hope Saito makes quick work of the Red Birds.

i don't know about other closers but Saito's #'s look pretty darn good if you ask me.

274. Who was the skit about? Marlon Brando?

274. No biggie. There are a lot of small children in the King & I. Three of those kids equal about one regular size person. Now if he ate the cast West Side Story with all those Jets and Sharks that would be something to brag about. Heck, Officer Krupkee counts as two himself.

Three others with three straight 4-hit (or more) games:

Brett Butler in 1995 (for the Mets)
Mike Benjamin in 1995 (for the Giants a month before Butler did it)
Tim Salmon in 1994

Retrosheet doesn't have any other happening from 1957 through 1993.

Saito's throwing hard, very hard. 95-ish on several pitches to Rolen to strike him out.

Sammy was filthy tonight.

281 It was a fictional character that everybody knew. His exploits were legendary.

I'd link, but some of the quotes are a little risque. The Googles can assist you.

We win!

I'd like to thank Kuo for adding to my fantasy team's save total

nice win although i have to admit i wish we would have clobbered them tonight. Saito made them look pretty foolish so i was happy in that respect, hopefully we'll take the series tomorrow.

Bless Sammy and his infectious smile. I can sleep well tonight.

Btw, my sports movie DVD rental recommendation of the night is "The Heart of the Game." Don't miss this fine basketball doc.

It seems like Saito must think this is the easiest job he's ever had. Pitch the 9th, get 3 outs, and everyone cheers him. It really doesn't seem like he feels any pressure closing games. Must be different from his work in Japan.

The interview with Furcal reminded me of the scene in Lost in Translation where Bill Murry asks what the photographer was saying in long winded Japanese and the assistant answers in one word.

The Dodger Post Game Braintrust says 3, 4 hit games had been done 5 times.

From Tony Jackson:

To answer the Scott Elbert question that was posted on another thread, the club's top pitching prospect has been sent to extended spring training in Vero Beach to rehab what essentially is tendinitis in the front of his left shoulder. The injury is an annoyance, and Elbert reportedly is champing at the bit to pitch again, but it isn't serious. He underwent an MRI a couple of weeks ago that showed no structural damage to either the rotator cuff or the labrum, so for now, it's basically a waiting game. He'll rejoin Double-A Jacksonville, where he made three starts earlier this season, as soon as he is deemed physically ready to resume pitching

I never saw the said SNL skit but am gonna guess Chris Farley was somehow involved.

286. "His poop is considered currency in Argentina."

Now I remember.

Milt Stock of the 1925 Brooklyn Dodgers had four straight 4+ hit games from June 30-July 3, 1925.

That's the only such stretch in history. It was Stock's last year in the majors as a regular. He played in 3 games in 1926 and went 0 for 8.

Milt Stock was best known for being the Rich Donnelly of 1950.

i'm sure my fellow DT'ers agree we need to either start Gou or have him do long relief no? preferably start.

Golden State's run about to come to an end.

Golden State's run about to come to an end.

Meet Milt Stock:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/stockmi01.shtml

From Tony Jackson:

Right-hander Joe Mays, a veteran major leaguer who didn't make the club out of spring training and was 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA in seven starts at Triple-A Las Vegas, exercised the escape clause in his contract today and became a free agent

Ahhhhh...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Brasky

299 I wouldn't want him to start ahead of Billingsley. But I do like Kuo, and would like to see him get a shot in the rotation.

Penny, Lowe, Wolf, Billingsley, and Kuo would be fine by me.

294

that's good news.

for me, Billingsley's the guy who should be starting- he's wild enough that his bad innings will get mitigated over 6-7 innings. Those innings just look awful when it's 1 of 1 or 1 of 2.

304 as i was typing 298 i thought in my head, but what happens to Bills & the answer is i don't know. it's nice to have options though.

i'm getting sleepy so i'm going to bed, good night peepz.

306 But he also hasn't had any of those awful 1 or 2 inning stints as of late, all the more reason to think it's time. But Kuo should really start too - he keeps proving he's more effective over the long haul than in short bursts. I'll tke Kuo and Bills over Tomko and Hendy (both of whom have done decently in the pen).

Final game of the 1950 season:
Dodgers trail the Phillies by one game. It's 1-1 in the top of the 9th in Philadelphia.

Cal Abrams leads off with a walk against Robin Roberts. Pee Wee Reese fails to sacrifice and instead singles Abrams to second. Duke Snider comes up and singles to center. Dodgers third base coach Milt Stock waves Abrams and Ashburn's throw to catcher Stan Lopata was on the money and Abrams was out, but Snider moved up a base. Jackie Robinson was intentionally walked. Carl Furillo then popped out and Gil Hodges flied out to right.

In the bottom of the ninth, the first two Phillies reached base, then after a force out, Dick Sisler hit a three-run homer to win the game and the pennant for the Phillies.

309- very true. I'll take that, but if I have to pick one, I pick Bills. Mostly because I saw him more than Kuo. I wouldn't take Tomrickson over either of them (assuming the braintrust is paying attention to the Very Serious Thought Rays I'm sending out).

BTW, for any of you that haven't kept up with the standings lately, feel free to take a gander at the AL East.

Great Googly-Moogly.

311 Agreed.
Go Broncos. Good night all.

No rotation change:

Manager Grady Little was asked if he would replace Tomko in the starting rotation following his eight-run, 2 1/3-inning start Monday night.

"For one game? No," said Little, indicating Tomko would make his next scheduled start against the Angels in Anaheim on Sunday. "After a performance like that, it's best to turn the page and not think about it anymore."

Little said he wouldn't hesitate moving Chad Billingsley into the starting rotation when he felt it was necessary, but countered by saying he wasn't rushing into it either.

http://tinyurl.com/2hy9p6

Bigbie's resurgence not dirty nor cheap

>>> Bigbie also has an escape clause in his contract allowing him to become a free agent on June 1 if he's not promoted to the Dodgers by then, and he said he plans on testing the market this time around. <<<

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/7491567.html

New post up top.

310 Didn't Abrams hesitate rounding third?