Since this is more of a game thread comment anyway:

Nomar is the only Dodger to have seen Lopez anything approaching a significant number of times.

12-32, 5 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 3 BB, 1 K, .375 / .429 / .781 / 1.210

All Lowe needs is a little leg rub and alot of morphine.

Canuck's LAT'd post in the last thread . . .

148 -- This is just getting silly. Wolf is two starts away from returning. Lowe at most would be unavailable for two weeks. No team makes a trade to cover THAT short a time span . . .

Yeah, but refresh my memory about that Julio Lugo trade from last year.

just take it for what it's worth but it is interesting to see Ethier have the game off. This is because there is a strong rumor out there that the dodgers are trying to get Texiera and a reliever from texas (maybe GAGNE! or benoit) for Ethier, Loney + a minor league pitcher. I personaly, as long as the minor league pitcher isn't one of the major names, would pull the trigger on this deal with a contract extension from texiera. What are your thoughts on this trade and also on the possible return of Gagne?

4 Tex is a Boras client. There is no possibility of an extension. Ethier is not playing because Pierre never sits and Kemp is going to start against more than just left-handers.

3 - Funny, I inadvertantly responded to you all up top.

4 - Ethier has had many nights off. And that rumor has gotten a lot of play but makes no sense given the Dodgers' needs.

4

there is no contract extension from Tex.

Lee, Ensberg go back to back off Wells. Houston 3, San Diego 1, 1st inning.

yes personally i don't see it happening but I think it would be a solid deal knowing we need a reliever. We can get Gagne back and have him leave for 2 draft picks and Ethier could be replaced by the extremely hot Delmon Young in AAA. My bet is that Dotel will the only trade deadline deal.

9-Delwyn Young

6 Sorry , Jon. I always read your up-top post before opening mine own big fat keyboard. Except for this time. The opportunity to make timely and pithy Julio Lugo comments got the better of me.

Maybe Colletti should buy low on Olsen.

11 - Not at all! I was adding on to my post and hit publish, and at the same time, your comment appeared.

13 Cool. Just so long as we all remember the Lessons of Lugo.

The whole point of having Tomko and Hendrickson on the roster is so that they can start in situations like this, with Houlton, Stults, and Meloan to be called up as necessary. Or, of course, Houlton and Stults starting with Tomko and Hendrickson still playing the pitcher-of-last-resort role.

9

A lot of people seem to have the hots for Dotel, i'm personally not impressed with the dude specially knowing we have somebody younger, stronger (the guy has tree trunks for legs very intimidating) & cheaper waiting in Vegas.

The local ABC sports guy (I don't recognize him; he must be a summer fill in) just took a shot at Buddy Carlyle. If anybody knew who he was, he'd have made a very powerful enemy.

How would a bullpen of Brox, Gagne and Saito be utilized everyday?

...and would Guns and Roses/George Thurgood be played in the 8th?

It's an exciting, if unlikely, collection of talent. Meloan too, yikes. Who needs Dotel.

3 -- I think Lugo was obtained specifically to be a utility player, and what Colletti gave up he considered garbage anyway (Guzman's stock had sunk that low). You don't get a "name" starting pitcher at the deadline and then have the option of making him a "utility pitcher," especially given the price of what that pitcher cost to acquire in talent. And we already have plenty of utility pitchers -- Tomko, Hendrickson, Houlton, Stults. The only way another starter fits on this club -- to go along with Penny, Lowe, Billingsley, and Wolf -- is if we get a really top arm, and nobody like that is available. The starting pitchers available are Hendricksons and worse, and Colletti has all but said just that in interviews. Jose Contreras? Give me a break! And I don't believe all the nonsense about Teixeira or Dunn or Dye. People are just making that crap up. We changed gears away from looking for offense long ago. No, the only trade I really believe Colletti is in danger of making is one for a reliever, like Dotel, or Weathers, and from what I have heard Colletti has ruled out giving up an Abreu-level prospect for that.

16 Dotel pro - 27 Ks in 22 IP this year.

Dotel con - I'd be worried about adding a pitcher who'd go straight to the DL with the rest of our pitchers.

Steiner and Monday said no word on the MRI, might not hear tonight.

Wolf is with the team. Monday said he wasn't smiling, FWIW.

6-1 Houston in the third.

I believe that trading James Loney would rank in club infamy with trading Pedro Martinez and Mike Piazza. As I Dodgers fan for more than 50 years, I think that Loney will be something particularly special.

Lopez looks overly excited on his gameday mug.

23

we already see glimpses of what could be greatness so i see your point

Bob, do you know what the club record is for most consecutive games started by the same catcher? My guess would be that it is held by either Scioscia or Piazza.

Bob, do you know what the club record is for most consecutive games started by the same catcher? My guess would be that it is held by either Scioscia or Piazza.

Ah yes Will Taveras. The right handed Juan Pierre, who hits for less average.

Please excuse the double posting, which followed the doubleplay.

28

if anything Will Taveras has a better arm from what i understand.

Now 7-1 in Houston. Biggio another HR. Wells is really getting hammered. Remember the rumors last year that we were going to get Wells? Weren't they saying Kemp for Wells?

Put me down as one who would not like to see a panic trade for pitcher - especially a starter. While it's true Tomko and Hendrickson are not that reliable, anyone we get is likely to be of the David Wells caliber. In other words, probably worse than Tonko and Hendrickson.

that was a beautiful first inning from penny.

one more note on Jonathan Meloan, I really think the Dodgers are playing the Meloan card really well bringing him up nice & slowly (too slowly if you ask me) but i feel upper management knows what there doing with him.

ugly at-bat from gonzo.

30

and taveras makes about 8.5 million less than pierre.

not Dodger-related, but baseball related, the Onion declares Bonds to be the feel-good story of the summer

http://tinyurl.com/379q4l

9 Delwyn Young it is, but he is the one traded and nothing else. They have to make some moves---we don't

Well, it looks like we are going through an offensive slump. And I didn't even know Lowe was hurt, I've been so out of it. I'll do some reading and be back, but it is beginning to appear it is us that are making the last several pitchers look like Babe Ruth.

rockies announcers were gushing over loney.

38 - sounds gross.

31 t, any relation to a? ;-)

(ethier, I mean! get your minds out of the gutter...)

C'mon, Penny.

36 Well, wouldn't you rather be Bud Selig than David Stern or Roger Goodell right now? A guy who's perceived to be guilty of PED is still better than a ref fixing games or a star QB executing dogs.

As somebody (John Feinstein, maybe?) said, the guy eating this all up is Gary Bettman of the NHL.

From Gurnick:

"That was a crazy game," said Loney [of his 9 RBI game]. "I've thought about it coming back here and a lot of people have told me they saw the game on TV. It wouldn't have happened if we hadn't had so many people on base. Nobody would even be talking about it."

Loney understands how the RBI statistic works. Awesome.

40 We're cousins...just kidding. We do have the same last name though.

I've been a Dodger fan since 1965 and so it's pretty cool having an Ethier as a Dodger, or in the major leagues for that matter. Needless to say, Andre is my favorite Dodger. I just hope they don't trade him. Too bad they won't do the 4 outfielder rotation that some have suggested.

[38] that's not how i meant it, rob. :P

[42] wow, i've never heard a ballplayer say that.

41- I'm not altogether sure I'd rather be Bud Selig than Rosanne Barr's hemorrhoid donut. But I'll say this for the man: He has a very fine pair of glasses. Rimless, hingeless; superb.

Maybe if we just start calling BB's hits, people will figure it out.

Nice base hit by Betemit there.

way to go ump.

... Looked like the pitch was inside to Kemp.

George Frazier, the awful Rockies' color guy, said having someone as good as Kemp (of course, he only mentioned the traditional ".361-6-23") hitting 8th reminded him of Butch Hobson getting 115 RBI batting 9th for the Red Sox.

Hobson only had over 90 RBI once, in 1977 (he had 112). Hobson also only had 24 PA batting 9th that year. He mostly batted 8th, but only had 63 RBI batting 8th.

Facts!

This seems like logic to me. You have a fine young team coming up. This is obvious. The reaper of fate takes out 4 of your best 6 starters. The majority of them are probably coming back.
Solution. You don't give up anyone in your future plans for starting pitching, which is so obviously unreliable.
And I'm such a crank my feelings about trading for relief pitching are probably too well known.
Of course if any desperate team will make a stupid trade, I'm ok with that.

penny's got a higher batting average than his ERA. the last dodger pitcher to do that is fernando, according to the rockies guys.

... Ahhh, the Dodger luck strikes again.

Of course with four starters down, any starter they get won't make much difference unless he is at least twice as good as Houlton or Stultz, and that means better than Willis for sure.

ah, that's a shame. wilson had a good jump.

Brad Penny is scorching the ball, unfortunately it was right at Helton for the DP.

... OUTSTANDING double play. Great job.

Nice slick play by Loney to Furcal for the DP.

Look! at Loney! Thats runs there!

Nice job by Loney right there.

Furcal too.

I could get used to watching that.

[56] it also looked to me like he was told to try a bunt on the first pitch, but he didn't want to sacrifice, so he waved at it. like he was thinking "dude, this is coors field. i'm not bunting!"

i've grown to like brad penny a lot.

Vin sees a helmet.
Vin happy to see helmet.
Vin unsatisfied with helmet.

Vin is my Idol.

62

It doesn't hurt that he's pitching well post all-star break either.

With the trade deadline approaching, here is a proposal: The Giants send Barry Bonds to Denmark for Dennis Rasmussen, the Tour de France leader who was removed from the competition by his team. Bonds' first wife was Scandinavian -- she was Swedish -- so he would likely have some affinity for the country. Also, his presence there would fulfill Marcellus' line in Hamlet: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." Rasmussen, meanwhile, would probably feel comfortable in San Francisco, with its laidback attitude toward drug use. Also, he could practice his bicycling on its many hilly streets.

does furcal do anything anymore?

... Furcal's monthly batting averages this season remind me of Ken Landreaux.

the carmax tex message question is a know brainer for me "The Natural"

carmax choices were:

The Natural
Pride Of The Yankees
8 Men Out

Pierre: 2 grounders, 2 hits. I'm shocked.

maybe grady needs to put furcal in the 7 or 8 hole again like he did last year

65 Whoops. Make that Michael Rasmussen, not Dennis Rasmussen, a former big league pitcher.

O.K. Martin concentrate a little harder now with a runner at 3rd.

65 I found out last night that the Lake Elsinore Storm -- single A affiliate of the Padres -- used to have a mascot named Hamlet.

... That's a GREAT at-bat for Russ.

great AB by Martin there. His bat does look a bit slower at the plate today then usually.

Speaking as the proud owner of a standard poodle, I was very happy about that comment by Vin.

Coincidentally (and appropriately, given Randy Wolf was pitching), last night at the Inland Empire 66ers game was bring your dog to the park night.

gonzo got all of that

... Attaboy, LuGo.

yay, we scored something

Looks like Taveras has the same fielding skills as Pierre. ;o)

Hmmm, I think Willy should have had that.

OK, you guys had to see that. Do you see why Willy Taveras stalks my freaking dreams? What a crummy ballplayer.

73 Really? That's remarkable. I wonder if they served White Castle hamburgers.

82

At least you don't have him locked in for five years.

84 Yeah, but Willy's pop ain't nothing on JP's.

73 Too bad the mascot is no more. It's such a tragedy.

I hear he has been replaced by a new mascot named Fortinbras.

... Wow. Nomar had a great at-bat as well. So far, so good.

Scoring runs is so much better than not scoring runs.

Nomar nice hitting

hoping the baseball gods don't toy with us today.

70 Furcal started one game batting 7th in 2006. Do you really think that turned around his season?

86

Let four ballboys
Bear Hamlet, like a player, to the dugout;
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have proved most professionally: and, for his passage,
The organ music and the PA announcer
Speak loudly for him.
Take up the bodies: such a sight as this
Becomes the infield, but here shows much amiss.
Go, bid the players play.

91 - that was the game where Nomar got beaned 3 times

92 - heh.

82 Mark, bright side in two words: Matt Holliday.

Doesn't erase Taveras, but, it's something.

Boy they positioned Gonzo perfectly vs. Atkins there.

---

Man, I have a 9pm soccer game. 9pm! I can't even have dinner tonight basically. Sigh.

96

Where do you play? Kezar?

Alfonso Soriano's car: http://tinyurl.com/2lqcpg

At least, I think it's his.

82 I have a friend who used to blog about the Astros and his disdain for Taveras was up there with what this board can accomplish with regards to Juan Pierre. Taveras was still pretty popular in Houston, and if I recall was in the top 5 of vote getters for ROY in '05 or '04.

Penny is so cool.

haha!

... Furcal! Crushed tomatoes.

Ferkel Blast!!!

As a staunch advocate of the AL game, I have to admit I respect Penny's prowess with the stick.

I respect Furcal's jack even more, of course.

Penny may sign with the Rockies when he gets to free agency, just because he hits so well at Coors.

66

well at least he hit a dinger.

105

He has also pitched well there in his career as well.

OPS watch
Penny - .685
Nomar - .684
Pierre - .654

107

I went to the well one too many times.

Maybe Furcals ankle is getting better?

two things:

1. 66 yes

2. Remember on NFL Countdown on ESPN when Cris Carter would catch a TD?

Berman: Cris Carter, all he does is...

Tom Jackson: ...Catch Touchdowns!!!!

can we the same for Nomar, except substitute the phrase "hit rbi singles" ?

98

mother nature sheds a tear.

Penny has a nice pitch count, for him, or4 anyone!

[104] if you're playing, you should have to hit. DHs are crap.

92 Unless you teach Shakespeare or poetry, you missed your calling. But be of good cheer.

Looked like Furcal almost passed Penny on the bases there. Well, anyway, that was good to see. Maybe this game will be called in the next inning and I can leave.

Hi everybody:
Re: rain delays. At what inning is a game stopped because of rain considered an official game? Or, will the game be restarted where it left off but at a future time?

btw, to the guys at DT Night, it was so fun just quoting Major League.

"TOO HIGH, TOO HIGH!"

Penny's getting a bit lucky, too, given the number of balls that have been tattooed.

114. I second that emotion.

117

... The game's official now.

118

That was on Beltran's, right?

Loney more like slowney.

j/k

uh oh, Matt Holiday up with 2 on.

looks like the umpire kinda screened betemit a little. though play anyway, though.

er, tough.

Icaros

Good memory, sure was. It was good having you out at the game bro. Good baseball talk.

Oh, Penelope

We'll take a sac fly there. Whew.

Penny got a little bad luck when the ump called that one pitch a ball, but it was a good at bat by Holliday to get a walk out of that.

125

It was a hot shot you can't blame Betemit for not making the play.

127

Thanks. You too.

... Well, when you walk the World, sometimes it comes back to bite you.

It's like Penny's throwing rain-balls this inning.