This is very irritating. I hope they keep Kemp in the lineup tomorrow. If this team is going to make the playoffs, Kemp and Loney will have to play well. The Pirates are doing their best to keep us in the race.

353. Bob Timmermann
So how will the Dodgers score their next run?
A) home run
B) RBI single
C) RBI double
D) RBI triple
E) sac fly
F) squeeze play
G) error
H) bases loaded walk
I) bases loaded HBP
J) bases loaded CI (separate from G)
K) double play
L) balk
M) UN decree
N) League of Nations mandate
O) Private law passed by Congress
P) Emergency order from Supreme Court justice
Q) Scoreboard operator error

From last thread, at this point anyway we get a run will be good, but I'm hoping it's on a four bagger.

The LA Dodgers have never been shut out in four straight games, but the Dodgers did sweep a four-game series from the Astros in 1966 with a shutout in each one from 9/9 through a doubleheader on 9/11. Messrs. Osteen, Drysdale (with a relief win for Phil Regan), Koufax, and Moeller (Bob Miller getting the win and Regan the save) doing the honors.

The Astros were 20 for 127 (.157) in the series.

The losing pitcher for the Astros in the last game was Chris Zachary and he lost 1-0. And then Zachary lost again 1-0 in his next start.

Larry Jaster shut out the Dodgers 5 times in 1966. Not bad for his 2nd season in the bigs.

You would have thought that the 67/68 team would have had one of the streaks that Jon mentioned.

Tony Jackson suddenly goes understated: "Even for someone like myself, who is supposed to be impartial, this is getting depressing to watch."

But it was just a blip.

"Horrendous."

http://www.insidesocal.com/dodgers/archives/2007/08/reds_1_dodgers.html

Tomkos last start wasn't all that bad I'm hoping he keeps us in the game & we break out of it in a BIG way tomorrow.

Matt Cain has outscored the Dodgers on the day.

5
Tony checked his life insurance and hanging himself by his shoe laces would void the policy.

I think it's so weird that you have to laugh. But I have a lot of defense mechanisms built into my life to deal with unpleasant situations.

I think I'll go get a DVD of "Grave of the Fireflies" to cheer me up.

3
Bob Moeller was the 1st Dodger baseball card I ever collected.

8
That film always brings a smile to my face.

362, prior thread--
I knew you'd have to have posted it, having watched your comments the last few years, but thanks for indulging me! :)

Jon: I'm a little surprised to not have seen you with a direct take on 756. I'm sure you figure that everything you'd say now you've said before (and the column re Vin was fantastic)... but I still feel like we're all lacking something, even if this is a Dodger blog...

9
I guess that was Joe's less successful brother. ;-)

Tony Jackson could become an Angels fan. Lots of ways to score runs with all that scrapitude.

12
Remembering Larry Jaster used up my allotment of memory cells for the evening.

11 Part of it is I'm just a bit tired, but part of it is I guess the event didn't mean that much to me... but when you referred to Jon having a "take on 756" I went back to the last thread and looked for comment 756.

8 I recommend following it with a screening of "The Sorrow and the Pity" as a chaser.

The Dodgers will score a run tomorrow. I won't guarantee a win or a lot of runs. But I will bet on a run.

I think. Don't quote me on that.

Their last three box scores look like failed binary code.

Hi everybody
6 I, too, hope redemption begins with Tomko.
I'm sure it was talked about in the previous thread, but the Dodgers hitters were hitting the ball hard (at least), in the late innings especially. In the 8th inning, Loney whacked the ball hard, and Kemp drilled it, but right at Phillips. Even Kent's 9th inning attempt was a hard hit ball.

If you were planning your day around it, Bob Carpenter now says Russ Ortiz won't pitch the matinee v. the Nationals.

Dodgers are now playing under their Pythagorean record:

.513 v .522

So according to their Pythagorean record, Dodgers should be 59-54, one more win.

2. You mean they are going to score another run?

Oh so long ago the case was made that the Dodgers were in first place so why all the criticism. Well, now they are not in first place.

Tomorrow I think it is Peirre's turn to sit. Better yet, let Gonzo and Pierre sit.

Furcal
Martin
Loney
Kemp
Ethier
Kent
Young
Garciaparra

If Little wants to shake up the hitting order, do it.

10 And the news today doesn't get any better. UCLA freshman running back Raymond Carter suffered a torn ACL during his initial workouts and will have surgery once the swelling goes down.

So, what's the Dodger record since DT day at Dodger Stadium?

I have been around, just going with my moms golden rule..if you have nothing nice to say..then you know shut up and don't post. I am so bummed and sad.

If performance matters to Frank the way he said it did in firing Depodesta then Ned will have to go after this season if things don't turn around. That would be my silver lining at least. Kept the kids, get rid of Ned and put White in charge. From Jon's archives.

"Truthfully, as a new owner, I had never been through a search for a general manager before," McCourt said. "Certainly, I thought I hired the right person, and at the time, I verbalized why. The difference is, I had more experience this time and more time to be more deliberate about it.

"The most important point is that I knew what I wanted. We learn from experience, and I feel I learned immensely from the two years I've owned the club. That's what growth is. It's what players go through. You look at failures you have to overcome to become a champion. We all have bumps in the road -- it's how we deal with them. You have to be willing to admit it and fix it."

"The tremendous success we had last year and the huge disappointment this year just reinforced that it is a path, a plan, an overall approach to win consistently," Frank McCourt told the Times on October 6. "You can't get too high with the highs and too low with the lows. We're not as smart as we seemed in 2004 and not as dumb as we seemed this year."

Frank on firing Depodesta.

The Dodgers are 3-12 since DT Day. One win at Houston, one at Colorado, and one against the Giants.

Why is the Angels-Red Sox game taking four hours to play? It's 10:30 and they're still in the top of the 8th?

24 I think this management team will be in place regardless what happens this season.

If winning it all was the goal, prospects and youngsters would have been out the door last week.

By standing pat, it was basically a sign that this year is not as important as the future.

For those still awake, Gagne is pitching the 8th for the Red Sox now in Anaheim.

Comparing this team to the 60's teams, the offense doesn't look that bad.Sweet Lou Johnson was Pierre with a little pop. Loney already is better than Jim Lefevre. Martinez is a better hitter than Billy Grabarkewitz. Martin might be wore out but he's far and away superior to John Roseboro.
Now if we could only find Koufax and Drysdale.

I totally disagree. There is no excuse this year. Our best player didn't break his arm. We didn't have crazy contracts on the books coming into the year that we had to rid ourselves of. Green making more than Bonds at the time comes to mind. We had no one throwing baseballs all over the field. No one calling anyone a racist. Most of you guys don't care, but I am sure that McCourt cares that our self made (cant blame fox)payroll is twice that of the three teams in our division above us and that most of the individual players that have earned their salaries this year were here before the Coletti era began. (kids and vets)

I guess unless things turn around why would he keep Coletti and Little? For continuity purposes would be the only reason. Based on the thing I have heard McCourt say, he would be a liar if he kept them and I don't think he is. Maybe I am nieve.

30 Steve Nieve?

30 I don't think he sees things like that.

First off, the Dodger payroll is going to be the highest in the division. Part of it is because of the revenue stream and wanting that to continue. But regardless of that, he knows (or should know) that payroll doesn't always equal sucess.

I am sure continuity matters and you cannot compare this year to 2005 when he made that statement.

Finally, Ned, unlike Paul DePodesta, has McCourt's full backing, he has said in numerous interviews how well they communicate and that hiring him was the best decision he made.

22

Sucks bigtime for Raymond. He was going to get some PT and i was excited to see him play.

It's a marathon and we're in the hills. There's still time. Vinnie used to talk about Larry Jaster as a Dodger killer. Sweet Lou. Number 41 in your program. He hit one out in the '65 series, Game 7, and celebrated by pouring a milkshake over his head, with a smile. If I remember right. Outdoors in Minnesota. What an idea.

2 Juan Pierre singles to pitcher. Juan Pierre steals second. Juan Pierre steals third. Juan Pierre steals home.

That would work for me. The alternative is:

Juan Pierre grounder to third, throwing error by Encarnacion, Pierre to third, Pierre scores on throwing error by Griffey, Jr.

Maybe I'm too hardcore, but I actually want the Dodgers to fail in hopes that Coletti is fired and replaced with a better GM. I don't want my beloved Dodgers run by a man who thinks the league's leader in outs is worth $44 million and whose only reference to sabermetrics was to poke fun at the VORP statistic. But will McCourt be smart enough to fire Coletti and replace him with a good GM? McCourt's comment that hiring Coletti is the best decision he's made is discouraging. But then McCourt did try to hire Theo Epstein before hiring Coletti.

I don't want Colletti fired in the off season, not because I like him, but because of the message it sends. The next GM will know one bad season and he is out. After watching two guys hold onto the kids and get the axe, I doubt the next guy stands pat. Clayton Kershaw and others would get traded to try and win now. The prospects really would be for trading and not playing if Colletti were fired.

Normally Baseball is thought of as the team sport where individual contributions count the most. But watching the last five Dodger games (or the Yankees over the last 2 weeks)it's clear that there is a collective dynamic that is magnifying their individual weaknesses. How this works I have no idea. At first, I thought that ithe team dynamic changed because Kent was out, but now he's returned and their hitting is worse than ever. How could this be the same team that averaged something like 5 runs a game in July? Does anybody have any ideas about how this collective "Baseball mojo" works?

2 Would love to see an inside the park home run by Jonathan Broxton.

36 - "McCourt's comment that hiring Coletti is the best decision he's made is discouraging. But then McCourt did try to hire Theo Epstein before hiring Coletti."

If rumors are to be believed, he also tried to hire (or considered hiring) Pat Gillick and Bobby Valentine. So there you go.

Looks like today's game will start before Bob even has his coffee.

37 Yep.

I've got two more days of teaching summer school. After that, the Dodgers will explode offensively.

Damn right there's a correlation.

41
I will have some coffee before the game starts.

It will definitely start before I have some coffee.

ItD:

Furcal, SS
Martin, C
Saenz, 1B
Kent, 2B
Kemp, RF
Young, LF
Pierre, CF
Martinez, 3B
Tomko, P

This is the "Abandon all hope once you pass #6 in the order" lineup!

Some have expressed the thought that Grady should "shake things up a bit". Today's line up is certainly different. Young, Martinez and Saenz start and Pierre drops to 7th. Day game after a night game probably explains Nomar not playing. Not sure about the rest. Let's hope for an offensive explosion today. We are overdue.

Weather.com says temperature at game time should be 97 (on the way to 99) with a heat index of 108. And that is in the shade.

I wish Martin would sit down. There should be labor laws or something about a catcher working this many days in a row in this heat. Its not like Angel Pena is the backup.

Angel Pena would have melted in this heat. I'm betting Lieberthal doesn't mind missing this day.

49 Have the Dodgers even won a game this year in which Lieberthal started?

46 Plus -- Saenz batting third?

Roster shuffling, giving tired veterans and promising rooks the day off, extra batting practice...............none of it matters. These guys STINK right now, plain and simple. As with every year we are just mired in a slump and it just seems to be especially painful to watch because it's freakin August!
I for one am not worried and I don't think our season is over or even in danger of being over. The mediocrity in the National League will allow us to hang around until the end of the season. That being said, we better start winning some games. I don't care if we go 3 for 64 with RISP as long as we win the games. Good teams FIND ways to create wins when they are sucking and right now we do not look like a good team. Does that mean we are not good? No not at all, but we have to start somewhere and hopefully we start this morning! I do not want to have to root for the Rockies as they are slowly starting to win me over....

April 7 against the Giants
July 3 against the Braves

54
Are those the last two times we won a game or scored a run?

if anything at least Pierre is way down in the batting order I'd wish he'd bat 8th heck even 9th (busting a Tony LaRussa!) but hey at least he ain't batting 2nd.

I think Colletti should stay as GM and McCourt should pull in the reins. Not that his hiring of Colletti indicates that his wisdom is needed to help decide who stays and who goes and who plays, but that Colletti should not be given alot of freedom.

29. Now if we could only find Koufax and Drysdale
Enter Kershaw and McDonald

For me this period of down merely gives occasion to play Young, Kemp, and Ethier in the outfield together and keep Loney at first. And, give Martin some rest.

WEST W L PCT GB
_______________________________________________
Arizona 65 51 .557 1ST PLACE

San Diego 61 52 .540 2.0

Colorado 59 54 .522 4.0

Los Angeles 58 55 .513 5.0 LOSS 6

San Francisco 49 63 .438 13.0
________________________________________________

This is definitely the time to get back on track

57 Forget Koufax and Drysdale (I can't believe I said that) we need hitters. If we are going back that far let's find a circa 1962 Tommy Davis (.909 OPS and 153 RBI's).

I agree that Martin should get the day off, especially after playing last night, but I guess given the rest of the line-up Little probably felt nervous about that. Martinez at 3rd strikes me as bizarre, but I bet Grady wishes he had Betemit to plug in there today. (Or LaRoche.) At any rate, glad to see Pierre moved way down, the next step before benching him. Hope something works!

Wow, the number of people about ready to jump ship from the Dodgers kind of startles me, but I guess it's part of feeling frustrated and tired. Will we see you come back when the Dodgers start winning again?

Or as Tammy Wynette once sang, "Stand by your team... Give them two arms to cling to..."

55
Sorry, my comment lacked context. Those were the two games Lieberthal started that the Dodgers won.

And whatever happens today at least we know we have Clayton Kershaw's AA debut to look forward to later. Listen to it at 4:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t564

Do you guys think all the Dodgers' starters prefer to work with Martin and that's another reason it's hard to get him a day off? I would think, even if they like Lieberthal, that everyone prefers throwing to Russ and that may be part of it. Still, if Lieberthal doesn't play one of the next three, I'm gonna pull my lower lip over my face.

Game thread is open.

It could be worse . . . we could have a new mascot named Steely McBeam.

I think Pierre batting lower in the order is a red herring. This happened earlier in the year and I believe it lasted all of one game. As soon as we win, Pierre is going back to the top of the order.

64 - I definitely think there's a feeling that there's a comfort zone with Martin regardless of how he's hitting.

You have to be at least a little encouraged by this little tidbit from Little (via Diamond Leung), about Pierre:
>>Some very interesting news coming out of today's lineup. Juan Pierre has been dropped to seventh in the lineup, and while hitting him lower in the order has happened before during his struggles, he will be hitting toward the bottom of the lineup "for a while," according to Grady Little. Rafael Furcal will hit leadoff, and Russell Martin will hit second. Among the Little quotes...

"Early in the season, there was some struggling there. Now we're at 400-500 at-bats. We need more on-base percentage. That's the bottom line. That's pure numbers.

"To get runs, we have to get more runners on. We need more of an on-base percentage from this man.

"It's not really something he's probably looking forward to or has done much in his life. I'm not doing this. I'm writing it down. The numbers dictate.

"What I buy is the bottom line. There's a lot of numbers to judge by.<<

D'oh.

I think that with 3 games in Cincy followed by 3 in St Louis (where it is just as hot) coupled with the fact that 3 of the next 4 (including today) are day games we are going to see a lot of people play. I am sure Lieberthal will get some playing time. The day games in the sun with catchers gear on is brutal.