I still think someone will be DFA'd. Here's why:

We only have a certain amount of 60-day DL spots to play around with to open spots on the roster (Schmidt was placed on it to create room for Hillenbrand). We will need at least three come September 1 (Meloan, Hu, and a 3rd string catcher).

I suppose Repko and Brazoban could be 60-day DLers. Maybe Tsao or Kuo. But who else? We need those spots, so somebody will be gone, I'd say.

From previous thread, paraphrasing myself:

Hamulack is still on the roster?! My word, there's your roster spot right there!

It's like Chinese water torture having this genius run my favorite team.

Maybe he'll surprise us and have Wells pitch once against the southpaw-fearin' Mets and then put him back out to pasture. The ultimate "spot starter."

But I doubt it.

I loath Wells and threatened earlier to join the Shimmin/Dbacks Marching and Chowder Society if he was signed. Well, I'm a man of my word.

GO ZONA!!!!

if Tomko doesn't pitch his little hart out who else would it be?

You knew it was gonna happen (the tone in Josh's last post sang the tune) I'm not really bothered by it Houlton or who ever else could have done the same job David Wells is gonna do.

ps I hope he proves us wrong but I really doubt it.

I'm thinking he can still muster up a quality start or maybe 2 but it will be down hill after that, trust me!

Do it for Sam. And our nation's capital! And America! You don't hate America, do you Marty?

Seriously, what's the objection to this deal? As long as we don't let ourselves think this is a major move, it seems like a good one.

Is there a minor league starter ready to go who he'd be blocking? Not from what I can tell, unless you're a member of the DJ Houlton Marching and Chowder Society.

I was interested in the idea of McDonald, but he's clearly not available.

Penny
Lowe
Billingsley
Wells
Stults

is so much better than

Penny
Lowe
Billingsley
Tomko
Hendrickson

And if Wells falls apart, easy enough to send him packing, and bring Tomko or Houlton back. But I think Wells will want to prove something to Towers and to all the other baseball execs who think he's washed up.

This is a low-risk, high-reward gamble. The kind of shot you're supposed to take.

Again, if we have to suffer through Tomko and Wells together for the next month, then I'm gonna be more bummed out.

Tomko has obviously lost all confidence at this point. I cringe everytime he pitches and as bad as Wells can and probably will be, I am ok with the Dodgers trying something new. Wells is capable of a good start and things like pitching on national TV against the Mets or pitching against the Padres to stick it to them might actually coerce a good start or two from him.

The biggest downside to this, as far as I can tell, is that Tomko will be trotting out of the bullpen every now and then to lose a lead or two. That will be depressing.

Well it's a dog's life in a rope leash or a diamond collar
It's enough to make you think right now
But you don't bother
For goodness sake as you cry and shake
Let's keep you face down in the dirt where you belong
And think of all the pleasure that it brings
Though you know that it's wrong

And there's still life in your body
But most of it's leaving
Can't you give us all a break
Can't you stop breathing

http://tinyurl.com/2hbyh6

If he pitches poorly, Houlton is still available.

If it was serious money, or a decent prospect at stake, then Wells would be a bad idea. But absent those two cases, bringing him here works.

Also, a totally non-sabermetric point. So far, our young pitchers, particularly Billinsley and Broxton, have had a chance to be teammates with: Greg Maddux, Jason Schmidt, Derek Lowe, Brad Penny and an assortment of OG relief pitchers who had good seasons in the past. One HOF lock, and at least three others who've pitched in the World Series.

Isn't it kind of good for the kids to be exposed to these kinds of men, pitchers who developed their gifts to this level?

Houlton would be a warm body, an anti-Tomko but not much more. Wells at least makes this look like a pennant race. It's a flyer.

The Nationals announced today that tonight's starter -- rookie John Lannan who started the season in A-Ball -- will be shut down after one more start. Nice to see them making such a move, and also making sort of public point about it. http://tinyurl.com/298q8y

Again, I'd rather see Houlton than Tomko. (And would rather see ____ than Tomko.) But don't think Houlton is really much of a savior. I think people latch on to him because he's a young starter who is not Tomko. (I actually think Miguel Pinango, of Vegas' starters, would be more interesting to take a look at, if we wanted an in house young starter...)

Sam will be staying up late for that one, though I don't know who he will listen to as he watches the game.

Lannan is not dreamy. But he's got guts. Why, John Lannan's got more guts in his little finger than most of us have in our large intestine, including the colon!

1) Wells pitches on Friday, Penny is bumped up to Saturday, Stults is bumped up to Sunday. Wells drops his appeal after the game, meaning Tomko takes his place for one start and Wells is next eligible to pitch on Sept. 1 against SD.

2) The Dodgers don't officially sign Wells until Sunday morning. He pitches that night and skips town before his appeal can be heard, delaying his suspension until 2008. (MLB may not let the Dodgers get away with this scenario.)

3) The Dodgers sign Wells and his appeal is heard tomorrow. Tomko starts on Sunday, Wells serves his suspension and is not eligible to pitch his first game for the Dodgers until Friday, Aug. 31 at San Diego.

I will go on record saying I'd prefer Tomko over Wells. Tomko gives up fewer homers and strikes out more men, and his home/road split shows he's been mediocre anywhere. Wells has slightly better control, but outside of Petco, has been far worse than Tomko anywhere. Unless we score 5+ runs, cances are the team won't win with either starter. The only player that would give the Dodgers a legitimately better chance at winning is McDonald, and if his velocity is down, it would be far better to rest him for next year.

If I were GM, Proctor would have been named a starter a week ago, Hernandez and Tomko would be DFA'd, and Hull and Meloan would come up to pitch the 7th inning with Beimel. But who am I?

Clubbies should be paid time and a half.

I think you can list the demerits of David Wells and end it with, ". . . and he's still better than Brett Tomko."

However, for now, I'm still a Dodgers fan.

http://blog.nbx.com/2007/08/throwin-heat--3.html

To make matters worse, the Dodgers are also a relatively old team. Unlike most teams that are trying to get younger, the Dodgers have a hard time letting their youth play. For example, it's rumored that LA might be signing 44 year old David Wells. Wells is a good guy to party with, but his work ethic isn't very good and he isn't a good influence on the younger guys. And, it makes no sense to sign him since the Dodgers already have guys that are better than Wells. For instance, 27 year old Eric Stults has pitched well enough to earn a spot in their starting five.
...
Bottom line... there's an old saying in baseball, "it's better a year too soon than a year too late". In other words, if you've got some promising young players at your disposal, you're better off playing them even if you're not quite sure if they're ready, than playing older guys who are past their prime.

It just seems that if I met Gary Cohen in a bar who would dislike me just because I'm from the West Coast.

Yeah, if Broxton gains another 40 pounds and starts beer-belching at umpires, then perhaps I underestimated the downside. The thing I like about Wells is his competitiveness. If his stuff is working, he can rise to the occasion. Another thing I like is that he was a journeyman who figured out how to become a more effective pitcher at a relatively advanced age.

your a poster at Dodger Thoughts who's comments are well respected just like all DT'ers post are respected.

ps But I don't know about Proctor starting though, was he a starter in the minors?

He's my Russ Ortiz.

For that matter, if you make your judgments of Wells based on what you remember from 2005 (or 1998, or 2001), you're equally off base. I don't think there's any question whatsoever that right now, in 2007, Houlton is a better pitcher than Wells. Plus he has infinitely more upside than Wells.

And you know what, I think Colletti knows this. This is a CYA move. I think he's reasonably certain that Wells will fail, but that your average Dodger fan will be seduced by Wells' famous name and say to himself, "Well, at least Ned tried. He brought in some big-name players."

This sort of follows in a pattern of acquiring guys like Nomar, Gonzo, Pierre, and even Maddux, where their actual performance on the field matters much less than the cachet their name gets among the fans. Three of the other four tanked, and with Maddux he just got lucky that a pitcher who had been having a really lousy year suddenly turned it on.

And I don't think Wells is bumping Stults, is he? Stewart must think Tomko is staying in the rotation and Stults is sitting. Is there any indication that's how it's going to go? You don't have to be a mind-reader to pick up that Little is ready to be shed of Tomko as a starter.

They were so impressed by his work with Kim Ng that they hired him to scourt Asia.

Makes perfect sense.

Thank god for Kemp, Loney, Martin, and Bills.

It should not be confused with ScCourt which is when you scout players for Frank McCourt.

"A lot of organizations -- and some past Dodgers organizations -- wouldn't be comfortable bringing up 21-year-olds and letting them play," said Stewart.

"A lot of clubs make young players wait too long in the Minor Leagues and they lose the glimmer and spark. The Dodgers were brave to bring them up and let them play. Ned and Grady only saw them play a little in the spring. They didn't have a lot to go on. That takes a lot of confidence."

59 I'm not writing off Houlton's entire career. He might wind up a solid contributor to the Dodgers or some team, someday soon. When I was comparing upsides, I was talking about for the next two months only.

This move is about the pennant race, and keeping the veterans' heads in it. If you show Jeff Kent or Derek Lowe a rotation that has three near-rookies in it, talented as they might be, and those players conclude you've written off the season. Wells arrival says, "We're going for it."

I'm not expecting the Dodgers to win even the division. But I think it's good for the kids to be part of a team that is driving toward it, rather than starting the exhibition baseball season six months early.

But then you know that you will never get into heaven.

What else would you expect from the only person kicked out of Narcissists Anonymous for talking too much during meetings?

For the year, he has a 102 OPS+, which is significantly below average for a left fielder. So instead of "tanked," maybe I should have just said "played significantly below average."

They score 6 in the inning, topped off by a 3 run dinger by old friend Marlon Anderson.

The antecedent of "it" in this case being "dinner".

It looks like the Pads are losing now 7-6

You're not seeing Arizona red...That's Nationals red!

Heck, I'll even defend the Arizona front office for extending Byrnes and resigning Craig Counsell after this year.

I don't hate this deal because there is no hope that Wells can pitch a couple good games. I hate it because it is one more drip on the forehead that shows there's no hope that Colletti can get a clue.

Forget Pierre for a minute, who is merely below average and way overpaid. How many roster spots are now held down by below-replacement-level players?

Wells
Hernandez
Martinez
Hillebrand
Tomko
Saenz (thanks for the memories, Olmedo)
maybe Nomar, albeit on the DL?

Hendrickson, while awful is likely not on the list. And that's what's depressing.

I'm not expecting the Dodgers to win even the division. But I think it's good for the kids to be part of a team that is driving toward it, rather than starting the exhibition baseball season six months early."
-------

Okay, part of me says "this sort of makes sense." And the other part of me says "it's freaking nuts."

What you call "starting the exhibition season six months early," I would call "putting the best baseball players on the field." And isn't that, in the end, what it's all about? Are you really suggesting that we should be playing washed-up old guys because playing better, younger players would constitute giving up on the season?

OK, so you might not buy that Houlton is a better pitcher than Wells at this exact moment. Let's hypothesize instead about someone who is, with no question whatsoever, a better pitcher than Wells right now: James McDonald. Assuming McDonald were still an option, would you advocate starting Wells over him? Or would you go with the older and clearly inferior guy for purely psychological, non-baseball reasons?

Hernandez, Tomko, Shea, sure why not.

Nomar, well he was hitting better after the ASB.

Hendy in the pen, good, starting, not so good.

1. 2007 Performance: The team cut payroll to low $30M, lowest or near lowest in the league, and made no high profile acquisitions in the offseason. They were predicted to be historically, 62 Metsy, bad. Then, basically four fifths of their projected no-name rotation were lost to injury; it was pretty nuts filling in. But somehow, after a horrid April/May, they are on pace to win 70something games -- their pythag right now has them a few games ahead of last year when they had Alfonso Soriano and Livan Hernandez. They have one of the better records in baseball since the AS break and I think the organization takes real pride in having already outperformed expectations. Basically, a a string of players have had long stretches of performing way above their career norms (Cristian Guzman before he got hurt, Dmitri Young all year -- he is in the hunt for the batting title, Ronnie Belliard the first half, Nook Logan since the All Star break). Young, who was the team's All Star, has been the most high profile story -- he was picked up late in the offseason when no one wanted him and it seemed like he was out of baseball after major off the field problems, including assaulting his mistress and being diagnosed with diabetes. The story here is told that, because he came into camp so late, he spent a bunch of time at the rookie field, with many of the team's youngest prospects, high school kids and stuff, and kind of re-found his love of the game playing with them. Anyhow, he's got an ugly history, but he has been a good citizen here, is beloved by his teammates and the press covering the team, and really does seem to be happy and appreciating the opportunity. People are complicated.

2. Manny Acta: The biggest move in the offseason was hiring Manny Acta. A smart, sabr-friendly, and completely likeable first year manager. He has really impressed. For one, the locker room just seems very healthy and friendly. Under Robinson, there was so much tension and anger floating around all the time, even in 2005 when they were winning. He was constantly ripping his own players in the press, and I think his "respect for the ways of the game" bred a real old-school culture of conflict and disrespect between younger/newer players and the vets. In particular, there was a major divide between players who'd been on the team in Montreal and new players to DC. And Robinson was understood to very much have favorites and take sides. Acta is always positive, the players really like him. I don't know how that translates on the field, but they very much play hard all the time, they have a lot of confidence even when they fall behind, etc. Also, during horrible losing times in April and May, the clubhouse managed to hang together and the players seemed to buy into Acta's repeated statements that they were better than they were showing and would do better over the course of the year. And so they have.

Also, on Manny, he seems to be very good at teaching/criticizing players without causing a fuss. He made Ryan Zimmerman come out for defensive drills after a string of Zimm errors a couple of weeks ago and Zimm was only appreciative. Same with when he benched Church for not running out a popup early in the season. And in other ways, he's been able to let folks know when they were not meeting his expectations in a way that encouraged them to try and do better rather than causing them to just be angry or hurt. Acta was a real find, and you can congratulate Kasten and Bowden on the hire.

3. New Stadium: The Nationals new stadium, along the Anacostia river about a mile from the Capitol is on budget and on time and will be ready for next season. Here is an animated tour of the stadium: http://tinyurl.com/yrh95r. If you can get me some inside dirt on what the darn thing is going to be called, I'd be much obliged. Last year, you may recall, you joshed about calling it Old Navy Yard since the neighborhood where it is going up is called the Navy Yard. Folks are now speculating that it may be called Geico Park, since Geico has been steadily expanding its sponsorship connections to the team, and now sends a giant mascot Gekko to the games. Geico Park is not a real popular name. MY idea is that they should try and get one of the huge defense contractors (Lockheed Martin is local) to pay to have the stadium named something traditional like "Memorial Field" and then build in some galleries where the company could have it's advertising presence. Maybe have plaques for all the Medal of Honor winners around, with the company's name on them. I think a company that did that would get a ton of positive free press merely in news coverage of their decision. Feel free to pass that idea on to Mr. Kasten if you like.

There has been a controversy here re whether the Lerners have honored their commitments re the ballpark and in general whether they are too cheap. This past offseason (soon after they slashed payroll to the bone, in fact), they made a big press splash by promising to spend around $50 million on upgrades to the publicly-funded stadium, including a hot new scoreboard, lots of luxury box upgrades, and other stuff that would benefit the average parkgoer. A few weeks ago, the local Moonie paper (aka the Washington Times) broke the story that they hadn't paid much of that money. Also, they are actually suing the City on some smallish side issues, and that too has fed a perception that they Lerners are just cash sharks who are shaking the city down for a free stadium and then picking up whatever loose change also happened to fall from the city's pockets. Before that, Ken Rosnenthal ran a big and very negative piece on how the organization was being run. It covered a lot of ground, and included some especially weird anecdotes about the Lerners needing to personal inspect every voucher to spend any money at all ($18 for a new fungo bat, yes or no?). The story had some scouts and old school folks complaining that the team wouldn't pay for free sunflower seeds which they considered customary. I give them the benefit of the doubt (I mean, I gather they are tight with money and sharp, but I'm not ready to buy into the most outlandish of claims and bet that a lot of what looks like cheap may be other forms of mismanagement and/or disorganization). But there are serious open questions about this issue going forward. (I bet you hear that the price of baseballs has only gone up since last year!)

Parking -- the new stadium is on metro but harder to reach than RFK, and it has very little parking. So far, the plan for that seems to be, it will all just work out. This is a time bomb waiting to explode on Opening Day 2008. Parking/traffic related to the stadium seems very poorly thought out or addressed so far.

4. Personnel/The Plan/2008. This will be a fascinating offseason. Having signed Dmitri Young and Ronnie Belliard, the team seems determined to rebuild and try and compete at the same time. Most would've expected them to plunge more deeply into rebuilding, but I assume they figure that they need to put a serviceable product on the field next year in a new park with lots of casual fans coming through to see them for the first time. And they should have something like $20M to spend. It will be interesting to see if they try and get one big difference maker type, or two or three pieces. Most fans want the former, but it is not obvious who that would be (given that the Nationals already have like 8 former Bowden/Reds players, the smart money is on Adam Dunn). Their most obvious spots to upgrade would be getting a centerfielder who can hit (Andruw? Torii Hunter?) or a strong staring pitcher. But it's not a great FA class and the team hasn't whispered word one about what it will try and do.
I vote they sign A_Rod to play short and make a real splash and quiet their doubters for good. Feel free to pass that long too.
5. Attendance/Season Ticket base. They were over 2 mill in the first season w/something like 22K season ticket holders, between the buzz of being new to the city and having an incredible first half run (they were in first place with 50 or so wins at the AS break.) Over the next two years, the season ticket base (and with it overall attendance) plummeted. The team has been bad throughout, and the service and amenities at RFK have really only gotten or worse (or at least have failed to improve, which is pretty unacceptable). Also, over that time, ethics/gift rules in Congress changed dramatically and my understanding is that a major use for season tickets -- giving them to elected officials and staff -- has been severely limited. Presumably a new park will kick attendance back up, but the team has to be concerned by the steepness of the drop over the past three years. Sure, if they build a first place team they will have a full ballpark, but will this city sustain interest in the team during medium/average/poor years?

But then, I probably shouldn't answer for him, for me, I like the color blue too much to change.

The Rangers have been shutout early by Jeff Weaver in Arlington.

Anderson for the Mets: .340, .373, .553, .926
Is he going to do the stretch-drive thing two years running?

I actually think people were in a better mood then than they are this year.

It's an angry group this year that condemns more quickly than a Texas judge who gets paid commissions by a lethal injection company.

BTW - Surgery go well? If you can answer without violating HIPPA.

Therefore 2007 is dumb.

One problem with Olmedo is he is so slow. So when he gets on base, which hasn't been very often, you almost have to have someone come in and run for him. It would have been nice to see Young in Olmedo's role, especially since he's a switch hitter and was knocking the out of the ball all summer.

Without disclosing any details you don't want to: Are you a baseball "insider" in some sense? I ask in part because you seem to know a lot about the minors, etc., but mostly because you refer to nearly all players and management folk by their first names, indicating familiarity. Sometimes it's confusing, because while "Nomar" is unambiguous (and used by everyone), "James" or "Matt" or "Frank" or "Jeff" often require more careful reading of context.

Perhaps it's just a style choice on your part, in which case, sorry for the dumb question. But for me anyway, it would seem odd (even presumptuous?) to refer to someone by their given name without any personal relationship. And, as I said, it makes some references difficult to interpret.

That made me laugh. Very pithy.

I assume it went OK.

Where as anytime I get the slightest bit sick, I want 20 people to come by and feed me and feel sorry for me, she just goes off in a corner and seals herself from the world.

She was told to lie on her back for 8 hours after the operation. So I imagine she's asleep. Tomorrow she goes to USC for their big season opening banquet for football boosters.

I suppose by default Betemit would have to played unless, after his slow start, you just stick LaRoche in.

I don't see any way, Ned doesn't sign Pierre, I just don't.

I don't think there are any other obvious solutions to starting rotation, at least at the beginning of the year, besides Kuo and Chad and Kuo got hurt.

The bullpen plan was to have Tsao and Brazoban, so again, does that mean promoting Meloan.

Now, once Kemp and Loney are here, it seems silly not to play them as much as possible but I again state, who exactly has been held up. Really, from the Jacksonville 5, that would only be LaRoche. Kemp wasn't part of that group and Loney wasn't included.

Russell, Chad, and Broxton have been here all year and of course Guzman was in AAA for Tampa Bay until recently.

Wells will get a prorated salary with the Dodgers plus a per-start incentive that is almost identical to the incentive-based deal he had with the Padres.

Wells' contract with the Padres called for him to make $176,470 per start from Nos. 11-27. He made 22 starts with San Diego.

AP quotes Wells' agent on the signing, but got no comment from the Dodgers.

it sure seems that way, he had some pretty good at bats last time we saw him from what I remember.

133 There have been comments with the same exact time displayed.

No. The reports on McDonald were intriguing enough where promoting him seemed like a great move. Promoting McDonald would not have been a surrender move.

The process seemed to be: Ned checks out McDonald. Ned realizes McDonald is burnt for the season. Ned calls Wells. I would have followed the same path.

It is not logically inconsistent to say LuGo should be benched so Kemp and Ethier can play every day and to also say Wells is a better option than Houlton. I believe we win more games with Kemp and Ethier, and if I didn't think that, I'd say, heck, play LuGo.

Shorter: If Wells and Kemp played the same position, I'd pick Kemp. But that's not the kind of choice we're facing.

World Series Hero up.

The more I think about it (and I know this is fascinating to everyone) it's really less about the unintentional implication of familiarity and more about the ambiguity. Because I do think of some guys by their nicknames (ARod, Pudge). When first names are less ambiguous than surnames (Shaq, Kobe, Vlad), using those makes communication easier. But common names (Mike, Chad, James) require that everyone has the same context in mind. And with blog comments, in which conversations are often something of a patchwork, that's sometimes tricky.

OK, I'm done whining, or navel-gazing, or whatever I'm doing. Just thought I'd ask, since the day's Dodger baseball has concluded.

I'm on the same boat you are imerabo.

It makes for great drama though.

uncensored.

So whose bullpen is in better shape for extra innings. I think the Padres are only because I think they have Bell, while the Mets have Heillman and Mota.

I still can't believe it. Wow, this is some game, huh?

The Padres are 40-22 in games which Bell has appeared.

I'm rooting for a Nina for the Mets.

Btw, re: McDonald, given he started the season in A, moved up to AA, and - while he looks like a great prospect now - has pitched more innings than he's likely used to, and is showing signs of tiredness, I'm not sure about calling for him at this point. It seemed like an intriguing dark horse kind of idea about a month ago. But not as much now. Like I said, this season is on Penny, Lowe and Bills, with some help from Stults and now I guess Wells a boost. As long as Tomko's not in there any more, I'm okay with it. (And yes, I can see the argument for giving Houlton another chance or two. The argument against would be that they already have Stults up, having both he and Houlton pitching critical games could make coaches nervous... but again, not as nervous as watching Tomko.)

This dugout view idea might be crazy enough to work

Since I am to lazy to look it up, how long is that bus ride, can't be too long since the train ride is only a little over an hour.

When Nomar came up in the 4+1 game, I always trying to figure out when Marlon the Magician was due up?

Darn that Gonzalez.

Which he's shown little propensity for this year.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Mike LeValliere suit up of the Mets.

But again kudos to whoever it was that found him.

ah but Dunn makes up for it! wow that was CRUSHED

http://truebluela.com/story/2006/12/18/3260/2119

Oh Ron Darling, how I describe thee, let me count the rule 1 violations...

It is what it is

And of course Bob's second favorite Trojan, Lindsay Soto.

I've driven to far and thunkem to hard and I'm going to bed. Good night and good morning.

Her eye surgery took approximately 10 minutes. She is laying at home with funky looking goggles on she told me.

She will take them off tomorrow to go pay homage to Mr. Carroll and his young charges.

and we'll make the move to the wild card round, naaaaaa na na na na na...

being inspired by Kim Wilde is a weird thing

What do you mean if?

I'd have to check a map to see what the easternmost point in California is. It has to be on the Arizona border.

-- or spy satellites over Canada

My mom didn't like it when people used the two syllable pronunciation for her name.

...and now an interview with the little girl who sings the Take Me out to the Ballgame song

-- coming up next, a conversation with the ball boy

Not much experience w/ Wynalda, but not sure that I care too much for him. He seemed to get off on seeing Beckham being intentionally kicked in the stomach.

He absolutely torched Arena after Germany, as he should have. And he told Jim Rome to do something naughty, which Jim Rome deserved.

If Wells does great, he gets all the credit. If he sucks, we'll at least Ned tried (in the eyes of the casual fan).

Personally, its ridiculous to spend 1mils on Wells, when that money could have been given to a draft pick, or the team could have just called up Orenduff and had him start in Sept.

I'm really enjoying this PrimeTicket Angels broadcast, especially with no Hudler. The musical interludes are odd, but given the choice of this or Lyons post-Vin, I'm definitely all for this (although I'd welcome the likes of Langer and similar personalities).

With the arrogant rants the Mets' announcers go on, I tend to forget there's a baseball game on, because I become so irritated.

I wonder how often Grady Little has held the power to put $178,000 in a man's pocket -- or not. Wells will probably be doing a lot of sucking up.

"That's right, Mr. Little. You said it. Here, let me get you a chair -- wait, that one's not comfy enough, here, sit on my belly."

Get your priorities straight, man.

They're no longer on my team.

I'm tough. I play to win, and then stare at athletic chicks.

That's why you play keeper in coed leagues. Bird-dogging the ladies while pretending to scan the field.

He told me, "You know how sometime you see some little kids playing soccer and you see how bad everyone is? Eric Wynalda wasn't like that when he was a little kid."

San Diego
8/24-26 @ Philadelphia
8/27-30 Arizona
8/31-9/2 Los Angeles

Philadelphia
8/24-26 San Diego
8/27-8/30 New York
8/31-9/2 @ Florida

Los Angeles
8/24-26 @ New York
8/27-29 Washington
8/31-9/2 @ San Diego

Atlanta
8/24-26 @ St. Louis
8/27-29 @ Florida
8/31-9/2 New York

Milwaukee
8/24-26 @ San Francisco
8/27-29 @ Chicago
8/31-9/2 Pittsburgh

A nice 9 game stretch would probably keep the Dodgers in the Wild Card race, which is a lot better then it looked a week ago.

San Diego just began their toughest stretch, after they host the Dodgers, they go on the road against Arizona, Colorado and the Dodgers.

The Dodgers are not much better off, going to Chicago and San Francisco, going home to play San Diego and Arizona before their final road trip including a day/night doubleheader in Colorado and closing weekend in Arizona.