Good for Ross.

1,137 comments so far today. Not bad.

2 Including that one?

And what about this one?

I'm really glad that he's back on the air. However, I think the premise of the show is a dangerous one. You're playing with fire when you try to use athletic figures to moralize or to illustrate principles. Somebody you highlight is going to end up turning into an O.J. Simpson or a Kirby Puckett. That, or they'll end up occupying a sort of permanent gray area like Lance Armstrong and Sammy Sosa.

Then again, maybe I'm reading too much into the quote and the show isn't really going to be as Pollyana as all that.

To optimize Ross Porter, KLAC needs to let him take some calls from listeners.

Or maybe he could fill in for Dr. Laura Schlesinger:

"Ross, my husband is cheating on me!"

"Mmm-hmm."

"And my mother hates me!"

"Caller, do you want to take a try at our trivia contest?"

"Oh...uh... Bucky Dent?"

"Nuh. Nuh. Nice try, though. You call again!"

In the silly little ESPN Sportsnation poll that's up right now, 8.1% of respondents believe the Dodgers will win the N.L. West. That as compared to 9.2% who believe the Yankees will win the A.L. East and 6.3% who believe the Reds will win the N.L. Central.

4 - Well, if we wait to see how everyone's life turns out before we talk about them, we can only talk about dead people.

If someone does something good, might as well live in the moment and enjoy it.

4 Athletes I am completely certain will never tarnish their reputation:

1) AC Green
2) Nobody

7 True nuff.

Mostly it's just that black-and-white portrayals of people as good or evil get on my nerves. Life's more complex than that. Hopefully on a 90-minute show they'll be able to go in-depth enough to get past the superficiality.

9 - I think you had better reread the part about the show's length.

And please, let's all just pretend that I spelled Pollyanna correctly.

10 Uh, yikes.

My bad. Superficiality reigns!

A little peak ahead at the Padres series with the simulator.

Wells vs Ledezma, 48.3% chance of winning
Lowe vs Peavy, 37.14% chance of winning
Billingsley vs Germano, 48.09% chance of winning.
vr, Xei

"There are people in sports who are doing positive things, and we want to focus on them.

I think the rules of English grammar indicate that "them" means "people in sports", but for 90-second vignettes, I hope Ross means they will focus on the "positive things".

For inspiration from someone who is serving as a good role model, try Scott Long and his most recent topic on "The Juice".

12 My bad. Superficiality reigns!

Kind of like your top 100 movies list...And I am totally kidding, and you are the man, and that is not meant to enrage Angry Enders, which could smite me in a matter of seconds.

Chinatown in ranked in the 70's (71 or 72 I think)...Just sayin'

Ross Porter's voiceovers in "The Bronx is Burning" were stirring. I forgot that ABC brought him in to do some of the play-by-play during the World Series.

That series really ended with a dud. They took the most dramatic part of the 1977 World Series and it just fizzled out.

Angry Enders is still my favorite Enders...But I shouldn't have said that. I chose...poorly.

I'm going to get crushed for that.

No, I agree with you. The list is outdated and in need of major upheaval. I look at it sometimes and think, "What idiot did this, anyway? What the hell was he thinking?"

Okay, since Brock brought it up and I can blame it all on him, I'll suggest a random off-day discussion topic.
http://www.thecinematheque.com/00_top5_25_21st.html

Screen Jam?

18 It was still a cheap shot on my part. Sorry about that.

I was just thinking that if the Dodgers make the playoffs they could be very dangerous. 3 starting pitchers in the neighborhood of ace. 2 dominant relievers. If LaRoche can fill the hole at third this team could ride that pitching all the way.

Andrew Grant on True Blue LA (digested here), Aug. 28: "A good GM needs to be bold. A good GM needs to take risks. If you just sit there and make safe acquisitions all day, you just turn the game into an auction for overvalued talent, and that's a game that no team but the Yankees can win. Until Ned Colletti starts making moves that have some chance at upside with some risk attached, we'll be watching the same type of mediocrity we've been accustomed to the last 20 years."

Ned Colletti on the Loaiza deal, Aug. 29: "If you're not ready to take a risk, you're never going to do anything."

I wonder, does NedCo go straight to True Blue LA for his Dodger news, or read it in digest form here? At any rate, thanks Andrew and Jon for the new pitcher.

Ross is great but there was no better announcing team then Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett. As much as I love Jerry Coleman, as a kid I would actually switch my radio station hoping I could get a faint signal of the Dodger game just to listen to those two guys. I was like listening to a game and your grandfather tell world war two stories.

Eric E, I enjoyed your film section, and photo section... in fact that was good stuff of the the eclipse. As Van used to say "It's too late to stop now" (maybe he still does that).

For 2008, if Nomar retires or somehow gets traded, Kent retires, Gonzo goes to another team, Wolf goes to another team the Dodger payroll becomes skinny enough to justify Wells and Loiza starting through May of 2008. Then perhaps the Dodger prospects can take over the rotation from there along with Penny, Lowe, and Billingsley.

Most likely s far as era goes is Loiza = Hendrickson and Wells = Tomko.

NL Central Schedule Oddities:

The Cardinals have no scheduled off-days for the rest of the season. They will play 35 straight games due to making up rainouts against the Cubs and the Mets. They also will play a day/night double header against the Cubs at New Busch.

The Cubs only play one team that is above .500 for the rest of the season (the Cardinals are a game under .500). Only 10 of their remaining 31 games are against playoff contending teams.

If the Brewers are going to make a move, a win against the Cubs today would help. Then they will start an 18 game home and away series against the Astros, Reds and Pirates. But they better fatten up because their schedule with a 4 game series at Atlanta and then a potentially huge homestand with 3 against the Cardinals and 4 against the Padres.

Why the heck don't the Brewers call up Dickey? Perhaps they'll just add him Saturday, but it'll be insane if some ML team doesn't take a flyer on him.

In fact, they probably ought to ditch Yost and call up Kemblas.

Wild Card Talk:

Are the Phillies still a threat? Somehow, I should be disappointed that they almost swept the Mets, but I'm not. It's the Mets.

Though the A's have nothing coming back at the moment and expect no future concessions from Los Angeles, according to team sources, there remains some possibility that by not pulling back Esteban Loaiza, they might get a break on a future deal with the Dodgers, such as getting the first crack at a player Los Angeles can't keep on the 40-man roster this winter. Or perhaps if the teams resume talks about Joe Blanton in the offseason, the Dodgers might slide Oakland an extra prospect for the goodwill engendered by handing them an experienced starter for their stretch run. At one point, there was talk involving starter Brett Tomko coming to the A's, something Oakland probably considered only with an eye toward getting a possible draft pick for him after the season. The Dodgers designated Tomko for assignment last week.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/30/SP74RRJIL.DTL

BP's Christina Kahrl on Loaiza:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6651

I'm not sure it's a season-saving pickup, but it's pretty close. The club's 4.5 out, and risking five September starts on Eric Stults, or on trying to rush Randy Wolf back, or even turning back to the ongoing nonsense about Mark Hendrickson...these aren't the things the Dodgers can afford. What they can afford is to flex some financial muscle, and if there's no better way to keep the player development team happy while also pleasing the McCourts, then congratulate Ned Colletti for finding that middle road. Colletti found a way that gave him an experienced, veteran starter of some ability who represents an immediate upgrade, stepping right into the front four, and nobody, nobody should be upset with how he pulled it off.

Add in that by today's rates for a starting pitcher Loaiza's is a relatively modest salary to take on for next season ($7 million), and that he has an equally affordable option ($7.5 million), and this might be a better move for 2008 and 2009 than any move Colletti makes for those seasons. This also has the added advantage of reducing David Wells to a more probationary role with the club, which allows them to ditch Jumbo should he keep giving up two baserunners per frame, and turn back to Stults without asking the impossible from one of the injured, or taking another spin with Hendrickson. I can't quite call it genius, because all that was involved was a willingness to spend other people's money, but this was a very, very good move for the Dodgers, and one of Colletti's best actions yet.

30 Is Loaiza really guaranteed to be that much better than Stultz?

30 - Yeah, that is pretty much how I feel. 7 Million for one year is significantly less that what Loaiza would get if he was a free agent this offseason. I have zero faith in Wells and Loaiza is a decent back of the rotation option this year and next year. If the team somehow makes the postseason then he is the fourth starter/long relief in a bullpen that might be really stocked (I am thinking that Meloan could be K-rod-ed onto the roster if he pitches well in September).

31 - No, but we didn't have to lose Stultz. I think he is a better bet in the short term and now we are two pitchers away from a Hendrickson start.

30 Wow, she has a pretty high opinion of Estaban Loaiza.

I can't quite call it genius, because all that was involved was a willingness to spend other people's money, but this was a very, very good move for the Dodgers, and one of Colletti's best actions yet.

Are we still talking about Esteban Loaiza? I don't think it's a bad move, but come on. Best actions yet? For Esteban Loaiza? That says a lot.

Plus, she misses the fact that we essentially traded Wolf for Loaiza, which I think is the biggest part of the move.

Draft pick? Tomko? You've gotta be kidding me. Even if he rates a pick, the A's would have to offer him arbitration, which he'd probably accept. I can't imagine Beane doing that at all.

36 - I wonder if the Dodgers had already decided not to exercise Wolf's option, with or without Loaiza.

38 I would hope not, because I can't believe they'd go into the season with Kuo or McDonald as the fifth starter, and replacing Wolf on the open market would mean throwing 30 million at Jason Jennings.

But Ned is going to "give" them LaRoche this offseason in return for Loaiza (at least that's how A's fans are justifying this transaction).

Buster Olney is also speculating in his blog today that Beane would want he-who-shall-not-be-named for Eric Chavez this offseason:

Oakland would want something in return {for Chavez}; in a deal with the Dodgers, maybe the Athletics would ask for young pitcher Clay Kershaw.

40 A's save $8 million bucks. That's it, that't their benefit of the deal, they put him on waivers, he was claimed and they let him go.

Why does there have to be any second part to this deal, its done.

39 - For all I know, I'm 100 percent wrong and they'll keep Loaiza and Wolf (with our without a buyout).

41 - The thought would be why not wait until the offseason, where a non-waiver trade could more easily be worked out for Loaiza. A starter on a reasonable one-year deal should have some value.

42 Eh, can't believe that's happening either. I know the first thing I thought when this move was made was that Wolf was gone.

I don't want to see Bills start the year in the pen again.

i wouldn't be surprised at all to see wolf return with a revised contract. i think there's a lot of mutual admiration between him and the organization. besides, colletti has proven too much is never enough.

is Eric Chavez one of the PVL guys?

43 Maybe with Billy Beane, the standard is higher but what if Loiaza sucks it up for them in September or worse his back flares up. You shut him down, he's going to have to prove himself again in Spring training and by then who knows what the A's rotation will look like.

This way, they no for sure that he is off their roster, they save some money and they move on.

"Value" sometimes doesn't equal pure cash. 8 million for a player that they can't count on is more riskier for the A's than the Dodgers and I think that was in the end what forced them to make this move.

44 - I think the notion of Billingsley coming out of the rotation at this point is pure paranoia. I know they've knocked around Ethier and Loney and Kemp, but I don't see how Billinglsey isn't in to stay.

46 Yes. His Clubhouse Leader metrics are off the charts

No way is Bills gonna start in the bullpen. That's just silly.

44 I think Bill's bullpen days are gone. In my mind he has become the most reliable starter. I think management now sees that as well.

Will someone tell me where I can get the video of Kirk Gibson's HR off Eckersley in 1988 WS?

44 If we had Penny/Lowe/Schmidt/Loaiza/Wolf I can see Bills being the odd man out until someone gets hurt.

The corn flakes analogy might ring true again, but on the other hand, what other pitchers are going to be available on the Free Agent market? Thinking about it, this is as good a move as one can make for a starter.

...but

McDonald and Kershaw: hey, how about us?

Yeah, Billingsley's in the rotation for good. I very much like the way they handled him this year. They had a plan, they stuck to it when deviating might have brought short-term gain, they limited the number of innings his arm throws at age 22, and now they have an established, mostly-reliable starter who can only contunue to get better. I hope they take the same route with Kershaw.

53 I really can't see it. Billingsley is already the 3rd best starter the Dodgers have. And he doesn't have the question marks that those other guys have.

My main argument isn't even that Bills will get demoted thanks to managerial incompetence, it's that we might not be able to get that depth guy that Ned so loves if he knows he'll be pitching out of the pen at the start of the year. Maybe more money can solve that, but I can see "proven" guys being very reluctant to sign with a team that would make them come out of the pen.

55 McDonald on the other hand is already older and probably already past the injury nexus, so I don't think he needs to start his MLB career in the bullpen. I'd love to see him in the rotation by May.

53 Schmidt isn't a lock to return and if he does, how effective. Right now I see two semi-locks for the rotation. Those being Lowe and Penny. Even then Penny could be moved in a deal. Really hard to say what the rotation will be next year.

59 If Schmidt can pitch, he'll be in the rotation, and I haven't seen anything that says he won't be ready next year.

58 Does anyone have any idea how McDonald's potnetial injury nexus plays out, considering the fact that for nearly two years he was an outfielder? I would still rather that they treat him more like a 20 year old than the 22 year old he is chronlogically.

Penny will not be traded.

He also will be a very interesting case for next year, since his season will be viewed as a fluke by the sabermetric types who believe strikeout rate has a lot of predictive value. He may be a longshot to repeat his 2007 season.

But I think you don't even need a pencil, you can Sharpie in Penny-Lowe-Billingsley as the front of the 2008 rotation.

38 I wonder if the Dodgers had already decided not to exercise Wolf's option, with or without Loaiza.

Seems like a reasonable guess. They signed Wolf hoping his arm troubles were behind him. Now that he's proven otherwise, who could blame them for wanting to back out?

He's only made 30+ starts 3 times in his career, and the last time was '03.

That said, I hope Kinbote is right about a revised contract, because he's worth taking a chance on again for the right money.

I don't even know why I'm arguing about this. Wolf isn't coming back.

61 Good question. My understanding is that it has more to do with the fact that a 20 or 21-year old is still developing more physically, and that the strain of pitching a baseball 150 times a week can complicate that.

There is a BP article titled "The Injury Nexus" by Nate Silver and Will Carroll ... not sure if it's premium content or not, but give it a try.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1658

"As an athlete matures, his bones calcify and harden, his growth plates close, and his ligaments reach full strength. Since no athlete matures on the same schedule as another, it is important to note that chronological age does not always directly correlate to physical age. However, as Dr. Jobe and others have noted, a pitcher is generally most vulnerable at a young age, before the bones and muscles of his upper body have fully developed.
...
"Even for a successful, established pitcher, the risk of catastrophic injury is meaningfully high throughout his career, almost certainly at least 10 percent in any given season. However, the risk does appear to be to some degree dependent on a pitcher's age. For the very young pitchers in our study--ages 21 and 22--the risk of injury is significantly higher, in excess of 20 percent. Injury rate then drops dramatically as a pitcher matures physically, reaching its lowest point at roughly age 24, while rising gradually throughout the remainder of his career."

Was Ross Porter really liked by a lot of fans? From reading here (in the past) I guess he was and that people are upset he was fired. I believe that most inside the organization and the press box viewed Porter as very similar to Hank Kingsley. Very similar. Perhaps that's why they thought firing him was no big deal. Perhaps fans didn't see it that way.

52 There's a pulldown box in here with a bunch of famous clips, including that one.

You have to watch a short ad too, and I don't know if the broadcaster didn't believe what he just saw or if he simply felt that it was impossible.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/baseballs_best/index.jsp

I think it's pretty unfair to label Dodger management as incompetent. Just because we don't always agree with them doesn't make them incompetent. Making a mistake does not make one incompetent. Every GM will make a mistake and I think Ned has done some good as well. Ned has not done enough bad to just always assume he will blow it. I know Beane is typically viewed here as a genius, but I think there is a lot of head scratching regarding some of his moves this summer.

I don't think Porter was a good announcer, necessarily, but as I grew accustomed to hearing him he grew on me. He certainly wasn't a bad announcer; he was nothing like Rick Monday. I started liking him more as he became tangentially involved with Dodger Thoughts; I liked the fact that he read the site, and Jon's long interview with him revealed him to be a more thoughtful guy than I might have suspected.

I think a lot of people were more upset at the classless manner in which Porter was fired than they were at the firing itself.

68 Who said management was incompetent (today)?

66 At least for me, it was the fact that Ross had been there my whole life, and that Rick Monday kept his job.

68 The difference between Beane and Colletti is that Beane has a history of head-scratching moves that turn out to have been prescient, so he gets a certain benefit of the doubt. Colletti just has a history of head-scratching moves that turn out to be, well, head-scratching.

Remember when last year a bunch of people were clamoring to trade Penny and Beimel? Boy am I glad that didn't happen.

I may have been one of the "trade Penny" guys, but this predated my involvement with Dodger Thoughts.

70 um, you did in 57 My main argument isn't even that Bills will get demoted thanks to managerial incompetence...

Please don't think I'm picking on you, I just felt it was important to give Dodger management a little credit and support

69. I wasn't aware that Jon had done an interview with Porter and that he was an admitted DTer. That perhaps explains the better vibes towards him around here.
Monday really is bad. Steiner would be fine with me if he just gained the ability to describe what he was seeing. Even if it happened kinda fast.

66 - Whether people liked Ross or not, the manner in which he was fired even made those who disliked him shudder. If Hank Kingsley had been dropped so unceremoniously, even those who mocked him might have been angry at the network.

You don't have to like someone who is working for you to assess the PR ramifications of treating a 30-year employee like garbage. Ross had his detractors, but I don't think most fans thought of him as Hank.

73 I said they wouldn't get demoted because management is incompetent.

After just writing that sentence I see where the confusion lies. I was trying to say that Bills would get demoted due to a poor management move, I was saying that Bills could get demoted thanks to the realities of baseball.

And as for me, I think Ross is one of the top baseball broadcasters I have heard. After Vinny and a few others, the standards really, really drop.

75. Fair enough, true enough. I think maybe they confused their own view with the fans view which is a mistake. And I agree that not at least going through the motions for a long time employee is a mistake.

Next year's rotation, IMO, will be Penny, Lowe, Billingsley, Loaiza (if healthy), Wolf (with an incentive laden contract)...

Schmidt is toast...Wells is a rental...

Stults and the youngsters still in the minors will get looks and occasional stints, but Coletti seems inclined to stay with the old, while protecting the youth (from what, I don't know)

I like Charley Steiner as well, so I can see what you mean with your request to be a better word's eye view, Branch.

It turns out that most radio pbp guys aren't good enough at this quality: Where Vin would say "Owings checks the runner, rocks back and delivers the 2-1 pitch, a curveball on the outside corner for a strike..."

others would say "Here's the 2-1 pitch from Owings, strike 2..."

I found Ross a little maddening at times, with the off-the-wall statistics and the creative pronunciations. I'm of the opinion that an announcer should go to each player and ask how his name should be pronounced; that doesn't seem like too much to ask. And the way he used to say Los Angaleez drove me up the wall.

He was, however, the first Dodger announcer in memory to ever acknowledge OBP with any regularity.

All in all, I kinda miss him, and it will be good to hear him again.

Porter has a great personality and is well informed, if he could just keep the marbles out of his mouth...

71 I do think that for the most part, Beane deserves the benefit of doubt. He certainly is not infallable and I think maybe at times he gets a little to full of himself, but I really have no interest in the A's or Beane.

I do think though that for the most part there is an over emphasis on Ned's deals that didn't workout and not enough credit handed out for those that do.

The Mets and Phillies are starting an equal number of Old Friends today: Shawn Green and Jayson Werth.

I always thought Ross used "Old Friend" the most, but I think it's a Vinism

"I'm of the opinion that an announcer should go to each player and ask how his name should be pronounced; that doesn't seem like too much to ask."

I agree. Unfortunately most of them, because it takes a lot less work, just walk over to the other team's booth and ask their announcers how to pronounce the players' names. Which only results in mispronunciations getting passed around like herpes.

75 I agree.

And I have to mention again, I purchased the Best of Larry Sanders DVD set that again shows you when professionals really care about something, they can put out some really great stuff.

My top ten favorite sitcoms of the past 25 years include Its the Garry Shandling Show, The Larry Sanders Show, Seinfeld and The Simpsons. The other 6 are pending.

Ross was a fine announcer. Yeah, he wasn't brilliant, but he did a fine job. Rick Monday is the worst announcer, and I'm not being hyperbolic, I've ever heard call a baseball game.

And Ross Porter was treated like a trash by the Dodgers.

83 ok, too much use of the phrase "for the most part"