If Nomar and others want to leave too then that is fine and we can accommodate them by trading them.

Sure, but the elephant in the room is that the young guys outperformed the old guys, with Kent as the lone exception. He probably thinks he's sticking up for Gonzo and Nomar who, in the end, lost their jobs, or portions of their jobs, fair and square. You'd think that type of perspective might factor in at some point. You're right, it does put Grady in a different light.

By the way, wasn't it Diamond Leung who last week disputed the claim that the Dodgers had clubhouse problems?

I think I've done three of those at once, but I'm not a professional athlete, so I can't get four emotions like that at once.

A few weeks back when SI ran their face of the franchise thing, it was an interesting exercise... but I wonder if the face of the franchise is really Nomar Garciaparra.

That's a fair point with Gonzo and Nomar, but Kent didn't lose his job and that's not what he complained about. Neither is he really in danger of losing his job if he returns (and certainly people here haven't complained about him manning 2B again like we have with Nomar, etc). I don't think he was really standing up for guys like Gonzo and Nomar as much as he was complaining about winning and the recent choke job.

I think the main issue is that Kent is being 1) irrational (the kids have carried the vets more than the other way around) and 2) hypocritical (ie, he's made dumb mistakes, too).

Kent signed up to win (and to play and to make money). If he comes back next year he has a good chance to do just that. He just doesn't seem to realize the kids help more than the typical PVL would (or he's frustrated and said something he didn't really mean).

La Roche cut kind of reminded me of a young Lieberthal, I'm basing this on only one home run of course but it did look pretty cool.

dont fans want the next Fernando? the next Orel...the next Piazza. I feel that if the Dodgers devoted a marketing strategy to promote the young players, it could work. I think fans of teams almost always want a homegrown superstar rather then a mercenary.

I dunno, it just seems the Dodgers didn't even try. For God sakes, even Brett Tomko had a stupid huge banner.

And fans at the game still cheer loudest for the third baseman with the funny name.

Anyway, reposting my last comment from previous thread just, 'cause...

No doubt he's been productive, and even this year, with 'tail end of his career' model Kent, he's still been pretty decent, and I've been totally fine with his surliness because he's always been competitive and a gamer. But calling out kids like that in the press is incredibly unclassy - even if it were true, which it isn't. If he wasn't future hall of famer Jeff Kent, he'd probably be asked to make a public apology, even.

And, yeah, I've seen as much or even more bad baserunning from Kent than I have from Kemp and company the past month so if he wants to point fingers he should start by looking in his mirror.

Kent disagrees about the money part in an article after signing his last contract:

"I'm willing to dedicate myself for another couple of years. It's safe to say I'm proud to be able to retire a Dodger. I'm 99.9 percent sure this is the last contract of my career.''

"It's not about the money. I've got enough money,'' Kent said. "After I talked with Mr. McCourt last night, and I got this feeling when I spoke with him over the winter, I felt his integrity and passion to put the Dodgers back on the map as a perennial contender. My last four or five years, all I've wanted was to be part of a winner.''

and then there's the macho business from Colletti:

"To me, he's got Hall of Fame credentials. He's as competitive as anyone,'' Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said. "You look at his last 10 years and he plays a lot, plays hurt, plays through just about everything. I think he's one of the best players on the club.''

http://tinyurl.com/26uebv

I definitely agree. I do not think it would be too hard to start a new marketing campaigned headlined by Russ and with all the other kids. The Dodgers have a great base to build on because the younger players are actually performing and performing at an extremely high level. It just seems there is absolutely no need for Colletti to acquire veterans just because they are a recognizable name for fans.

Circumstances prevented Andy LaRoche from playing when he would have a lot of time to grow back in August, and I can't see the manager playing him anymore than he did in September.

Tony Abreu or Chin-Lung Hu for Furcal, maybe, I don't know, but that would have been a pretty bold move.

Who else, Stults, Houlton instead of Loiaza?

I agree, Matt Kemp should have been a fixture in right field but besides that but how many more kids really could have played this year as it played out.

But what he is talking about here: "I don't know why they don't get it - professionalism, how to manufacture runs, how to keep your emotions in it." is about maturity and expectation.

Coming from Kent, I believe he's saying that the younger players don't yet know how to handle the adversity/pressure of a playoff run. Kent, as much as he's chronicled as a jerk, is also universally known as having a highly competitive, killer instinct style of play. Perhaps he believes some of the kids could have produced more had they felt like it. . . .been more dedicated to it. And if that was my perspective, I would be "angry and disappointed and perplexed and bitter", too.

Ditto!

very easy, I'm pretty sure '08 will show case there talents far more than PVL. The Marketing Team (is it a team?) would be foolish not to market the likes of Russell Martin, James Loney & Matt Kemp, Nomar will do his Sunday carne asade & all is well in DodgerLand.

And if he is counting Martin in that group then he is nuts, because Martin plays the game harder than Kent does. Also, Andre Ethier probably shows the most emotion of anyone on the team after at bats.

Benard went to high school with a friend of mine.

Okay, I need to go to the gym, work off all my pent-up aggression.

1. Kent retires. I just don't see this happening.
2. Kent re-ups, and is told, this is the program, so get with it.
3. Kent re-ups, and management tries to accommodate his need to not have so many young guys around.

None of these are good. 3 is an obvious disaster, but can any of us say its out of the question? When Ned gets this chorus of PVLs coming into his office saying that a team with this much youth just won't work, will he be able to see through that? And then the inevitable barrage of newsprint supporting the PVL point of view?

He's probably the only major leaguer who knows where Cudahy is.

Cudahy is one of four cities in L.A. County I have never been in and the other three are the gated cities.

This theory that the little things win games and is still propagated by men who've never played little ball in their life but expect others to, drives me up a wall.

Productive outs............

Ramirez was out from me to Palm Beach.

Dan Uggla followed with a single.

He just seems like a grumpy old man, talking about the way he did things in the old days and telling the press to get off his lawn. He is complaining for no reason and it has no resonance at all with me.

Whatever. It's Jeff Kent. He says stuff like that, and sometimes, he gets quoted saying it.

You aren't missing anything.

I heard Andre Ethier say last week that he rarely makes it to early BP but he does his work when his name is on the sheet.

Now, he has every right to not go to anything he isn't required to do but he is also a second year player that probably hasn't figured everything out yet. And that could rub guys the wrong way if they think you are not "respecting the game."

Maybe the life should just be measured in merit and how and why you do things shouldn't matter but generally that isn't how things work out.

The reason why the Juan Pierres get praised is that it is probably believed that they do everything possilble to get the most out of their talent, now the Dodgers have some guys with great talent but are they now willing to put in the work to continue to get better now that they have reached the big leagues.

That question remains unanswered for now.

that's pretty crazy cause my buddy is a truck driver.

I didn't go through with it.

Miguel Cabrera hits a 3-run homer to put Florida up 4-3.

What's wrong with publicly saying that the young guys still have a lot to learn?

But am I Dan Ackroyd or Jane Curtin?

I recently moved to a new neighborhood. I met my new neighbor, who was playing with her kids in the front lawn. I introduced myself to the kids.

"My name is Humma," I said. (I didn't really say Humma.)

"Do you mind if they call you Mister Kavula?" said my neighbor. "I'm trying to teach them respect."

I'm all for respect. I'm a big fan of treating people -- everyone -- the right way. The golden rule is maybe the wisest thing anyone's ever thought of.

But a lot of times, things get filed into "respect" that have nothing to do with that. What does calling me by my first name have to do with respect?

I know my example is entirely unrelated, but I wonder if there's a similar thing going on. Just because Jeff Kent spews his crazy opinions doesn't mean you have to listen to him; you can still respect what he's accomplished in the game.

And get off my lawn!

On the other hand, I find the younger librarians to be quite an asset. Mainly because they seem to like to do a lot of work.

My real post was going to be in reply 56 . I think he already got a ring in 1992 when he came up with the Blue Jays.

Oh, one more thing: Good riddance, old man. Your sparkling personality and your spectacular baserunning snafus won't be missed. Enjoy your Hall of Fame induction. The only people in attendance will be your wife and kids.

Just the other day we heard a story that Kent as a rookie didn't like the "wear the funny costume" ritual. Now, all of a sudden it's that the kids don't get it. Maybe they don't get that they are obviously better but don't get to play?

I can't figure Kent out, he's all over the place. Maybe he's just an ...

yeah, he's an old dude LAT, I tell him he looks young for being old but for some reason I got bad feed back when I said that (from Bob & TC, if I remember correctly it was in good humor though)

Also keep in mind that the media tends to print the stuff that will make the most waves. Who knows what else he said of importance.

That said, he should have bit his tongue. But Jeff doesn't do that. He's emotional and he hates to lose. If we're in Kent's position I'm sure we would be thinking the same thing, but we probably wouldn't say it.

And now Rollins doubles . . . still no outs in the seventh.

I did call my teachers Mr and Mrs, though. That is, except for the ones whom I wanted to drive crazy -- those I'd call by their first names just to get a rise out of them.

3 games left at RFK after this one.

Oh -- Ryan Howard plunked and he does not look happy.

I hope he stays. He's got an edge that few on this team have.

Luis G stays, I will go Rosanne on someone.

1/ Martin plays through a knee sprain. The Franchise. Please shut him down.

2/ Broxton. 80 appearances. 6 of 8 games. 4 straight. Dingers left and right.Sore arm, dead arm. PLEASE SHUT HIM DOWN!

3/ Lowe. He of the degenerative hip. Izzy. Shut him down.

4/ Billz. The franchise, part deux. He's young enough where no more innings is prudent. Shut him down.

5/ Furcal. Ankle. All season. Back. Please, think 2008. Shut him down.

And get Laroche, Abreu and Hu some valuable experience.

Were not impressed with Silverio and his high OPS.

Check out the previous thread and you'll see the quotes from BA about our players somewhere near the beginning.

I was thinking just loud, nasty big girl raggin' kinda stuff.
No crotch. Just unhappy.

ps love your work, Eric E.
Jon, Bob, Toy Cannon, Nate.
Dynamite site.

I will be there with my six year old. We will go early, and he will hope with all his soul to get a ball, like he always does. They are giving out commemorative t-shirts. The place will not be close to sold out. Joel Hanrahan is scheduled to pitch, always an adventure, unless they do something screwy like give it to Ross Detwiler or Walter Johnson's grandkid or something.

After the game, they are digging up home plate and taking it to the new stadium. Not yet clear if it will be used for home plate there are just displayed somewhere.

I've actually had people call me Mr. Humma, which is just weird.

Like in Cool Hand Luke.

1. Doesn't this sort of lend credence to that article that you posted recently regarding the Dodgers' dugout problems?

2. It's a little weird that the full quote isn't in the first article. The quote sounds better (though still not great, and quite bitter at that) when the whole thing is put there in context, as in Ken Gurnick's article.

www.bluethoughts.com

Or maybe I just missed it.

[fn] "Double" enabled by Tony Hands of Stone Batista playing first base.

First and third. No outs in the 9th. Fish lead the Mets 4-3 with Old Friend Shawn Green up.

The talent should over come the coaching, especially on that team, which is like the Yankees.

By the by- Jack Elway is much better than reports have led me to believe. He's interested in Stanford (for obvious reasons) and they would be lucky to have him. He's head and shoulders above the high school game plan, and has an absolutely fantastic arm.

Anderson from what I've seen has been great for the Mets, wow.

They didn't even see the game Marlon had for Washington right before the Dodger picked him up. He had a bunt single in the 9th to start a 2-run rally that tied the game and in the 10th, he singled in the 10th and then scored the winning run on a wild pitch.

That was against the Phillies. He helped the Dodgers twice that night.

I hate Cherry Creek, but I think he can be a very good QB for a program. Poise + strong arm. Mullen is still better. Go Mustangs!

He affects the pose of a guy who doesn't care, is only in it for the money, can't wait to take off that silly uniform and back to his macho pursuits like hog-ridin' and truck-washin'; but in fact, he's passionate and very proud.

In real-world terms, Kent is 75 years old, with physical infirmity creeping in, who suddenly realizes he's never been to Spain but he kinda likes the music. His list of things to do before you (figuratively) die is not complete. You can't begrudge him his disappointment. Or at least I can't.

As for blaming the kids? He's wrong, but undoubtedly he's looked at the month-to-month team record and noticed that it was about when Loney took Nomar's job away that the Dodgers started to slide. That's not why it happened, but Kent has never pretended to be Sandra Day O'Connor.

But don't be over-protective of the kids. If they can't take a beating like this, they probably don't belong in the bigs. I know Russell Martin will use this to fuel his almost insane competitiveness, and suspect Loney, Kemp and Abreu will as well. I think it would be great if Kent came back and had to face a fired-up bunch of rookies and second-year players determined to prove him wrong. At the end of 2008, we can only pray that Andy LaRoche takes the Commissioner's Trophy and shoves it straight up Jeff Kent's baggy

(Sopranos style blackout)

Well, unless Nick de-commits. Sigh.

He's had a pretty amazing career but hasn't had a chance to win the World Series. That sort of thing starts to wear on guys late in their career (think Stockton and Malone). And maybe the kids don't get it because they recognize that they've got a chance to play this game for another 10 years or so and will have plenty of opportunities (in which case they should talk to Dan Marino).

As far as the experience angle goes, well, that's what happens when you sign an extension with a team that is in the process of a youth movement. Also, you can't get experience unless you're in the game, it's a bit of a catch-22 for a guy in his spot.

Anyone think that if he decides to play another year, he's going to ask to be traded?

I did hear a rumor today that they have already started to come up with candidates for the football job.

Anderson's triple was changed to a double.

Guy proposes to girl, girl goes crazy during engagement, scorer steps in and says, "Sorry, on review, that wasn't a proposal, it was only a really nice gift."

It's a blood feud.

http://tinyurl.com/35lrbr

156 Yeah- I don't see that offer. I thought he was wanting to walk on at LSU. He's good, but I don't think he's LSU good. I saw that Oregon offered him, and that seems more accurat. we need some recruits.

And then he made me sit through numerous boring Super Bowls where the Denver Broncos got slaughtered.

Fast forward to this year... aside from Kemp, who has made the most baserunning errors of any Dodger? That's right, Kent. It's you. Again. I've watched you get thrown out at third base to end many innings, I've seen you get picked off second. Oh, and Sunday you got picked off first base in the game that was the beginning of the end of the Dodgers season.

Good thing we have these experienced vets who don't make base running mistakes! Cause you can't get experience like (snaps fingers) that. Only experience gives you experience. So you don't get two runners thrown out at home ON THE SAME PLAY. The worst thing possible is when you have a big group of kids all on one team because then you can't influence them with all your... experience. Gee, I thought when people got older and wiser they took responsibility for their own mistakes, and didn't blame others. Guess not.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15135515/

I think he's talking about the mindset he perceives. This is probably about something happening in the clubhouse, not the field.

OK, perhaps no exclamation point warranted.

And the question that will be asked, where was Billy Wagner?

Although the reporter, in the paragraph following, still feels that only the kids lack intangibles.

16-1 over St. Louis.

We didn't much care for Mr. Elway. We liked the virtuous Tom Ramsey, who later went to UCLA, and got to watch the Bears clobber New England in the Super Bowl.

I'll admit to having no idea about these schools. I was in a private school, so we had the Catholic powerhouses.

In the AL, the ivitations have printed but we are not sure where the parties will be held. The Angels can punch their ticket first since they are playing the team they are trying to eliminate.

But when was the last time 4 division races had two teams within 1.5 games or less with 10 days to go?

At the same time, I can't help but think that his rant is a product of being near-eliminated, and everyone's probably really on edge. If I were a betting man I'd think that Kent will later regret making these comments (though not admit it), come back next year and put up an .800ish OPS or better like he always does (being 40 notwithstanding).

They weren't very bright.

With this, I give up trying to understand.

197 The odds are very high that we lose the first rounder. The Dodgers currently have the 13th best record in the majors. 14th is the Brewers (.5 game behind Dodgers), 15th is the Blue Jays (1.5 games behind), and 16th is the Twins (3.5 games behind).

If comes down to talent, not "manufacturing runs" and "being experienced". How many times did we see LuGo mangle a ball in the OF? How many stupid baserunning mistakes did Kent make? What about Sweeney's brainfart? What about Garciaparra competing with Pierre in the slugging department? What about their inability to show any kind of health? And he has the nerve to try and pin it on the young players?

And don't sit here and talk about how it's "hard to give them experience". That's part of your job as a "seasoned veteran" and the tradeoff for settling with your declining skill set while receiving a large salary. It's tough to teach sitting behind a Motorcross magazine. It's tough to teach when your own performance can't back up the example you think you're setting. It's tough to teach when you are hurt on a constant basis. Calling out other players on the tam in the press is the best example of all, isn't it you insolent jackass?

What happened to all this "veteran-ness" and "leadership" Colletti says they're supposed to provide? This is another one of the season's shortcomings that fall on his shoulders.

Again, I think you guys who are reacting to these comments by citing Kent's baserunning mistakes are comparing apples to oranges. He's pretty clearly not accusing the kids of failing to perform adequately, nor is he saying a veteran won't hurt the team with mistakes. "Experience" in Kent's context is about focusing your emotions and using them to inspire a higher level of performance.

But to the Register, he allows as how maybe the veterans he played with as a prospect were frustrated by him in the same way he is frustrated now. He thought he was humbly learning from them, but maybe they thought he was just a dumb, arrogant little jerk who didn't get it.

The more I read these comments, the more I think he's knocking the organization -- for bringing in a lot of young talent without a plan for how to integrate them into the existing team. Any business with that much turnover needs to be mindful of how all this change is going to affect the organization's culture and performance, and some organizations fall down during such a transition. It's not the newbies' fault. It's the management's fault. I think that's a fair idea of what Kent's really saying.

from watching & reading, Russell isn't a vocal guy, but just how he plays the game & carries himself etc..

Weaver hit Jojima & the Seattle pitcher hit there catcher, Scioscia wasn't to pleased.

ps but then Guerrero hit a monster shot.

Hang 'em up, you fossil.

The pitch to Guerrero didn't look that bad, but it certainly got him mad. And he certainly knew how to respond.

Guerrero just swung, dropped the bat, and then just watched it go.

People who focus on age vs. ability are usually old...and lacking ability.

Um, you know why you don't know, Jeff? Because maybe they weren't jerkwads who cried to the press about it!

Which is rich, coming from someone who takes every opportunity to express how much he hates baseball.

..........I got nothing. Eric?

when he says "them" it makes it seem like he's from another planet.

Actually Ichiro did something similar to that a while back & caught a four bagger.

I don't know, I think Kent is just impatient because his career is dwindling. The guy's probably never going to win a world series. I'd be mad if the young players had an attitude of"Oh well, wait till next year." I don't know if they actually do but Kent doesn't usually lie.

Especially about riding motorcyc...er...washing trucks.

What is he really going to do? Make them more fetishistic with vets. Is that even possible?

Are they going to sign Abe Vigoda?

I have to say though, if this kind of thing had happened earlier in the season, a blow up, lashing out publicly or public frustration, maybe this team would have benefited from it in some way? Because there'd be the inevitable team meeting, and airing things out, and finding out what kind of team this was, and at least people on the team would have expressed themselves. Instead, Grady Little's too nice, tries to please everyone, and players act like things are hunky dory. Instead the season imploded instead of exploded and now this kind of thing can't have any kind of positive resolution because it's too damned late.

That's one way of looking at it, anyway, just one angle in "Rashomon-Dodgers Style."

--

How about that Chelsea sacking, eh?

I always had Kent pegged as preferring Before Sunset. And Tape.

On DT day, I thought Camille Johnston was giving me the eye.

I'd better crawl back into my hole. The one with all the Richard Linklater DVDs in it.

I hope he's proud of himself.

Oh, right...

251
I was a bit surprised to see Schuerholz on your list since he just traded his future for a failed run at the playoffs. If Ned had made that deal for Tex you'd have blown a fuse.
Billy gave away Milton for nothing, after trading a starting LF for him in the 1st place.
Epstein signed Lugo, JD, and traded for Gagne just in the last month. I won't even mention trading the most exciting player not named Reyes in the NL.

Just saying every GM makes questionable moves even the esteemed Depo made plenty in my book in his brief tenure.

My only attempt to relieve BHSPORTSGUY of his counterpoint day job.

In truth, I'm glad to see someone is upset that this season was an utter failure. Raise your hand if you picked the Dodgers to finish fourth in the division.

Greg Brocks's a wimp. He never could've out-fought bhsportguy. But I didn't know until this day that it was underdog all along.

Abe Vigoda and Harry Morgan. 2 Guys who seem like they should have long ago been dead. These guys must have been born old. Really think back to Barny Miller or The Godfather. That was 30+ years ago and he looked 70 then. As for Morgan, forget Sheman Potter it was 50 years ago he was paired with Sgt. Joe Friday.

How many of these kids here even know who Abe Vigoda is? Or ever bothered to ask any of us older veteran posters about him? I'm angry and disappointed and perplexed. They, my friend, they are the ones that have ruined a perfectly joke.

277 Hey, I like Tape, too. I even saw it in the theater, me and three other people.

--

Maybe a William Demarest joke can be worked in here somewhere. Talk about someone born old.

And no, I'm not that old, I just like screwball comedies.

286 Don't you mean, "I know it was you Fredog. You broke my heart."

Well, they would have a really odd view of him.

Yes.

Plenty! He's on Conan every other week.

290 I knew it was Brock, it was the smart play. Brock was always the smart one.

Before the interpretation of Kent's "remarks" (meaning words inside quotation marks) settles into a consensus, I strongly suggest you re-read all the clips Jon put in the post. Kent doesn't say most of the things we're attributing to him:

"According to Kent, one of the problems was the amount of young players on the team." -- Diamond Leung, interpreting Kent.

"But my guess is that certain guys felt that Nomar and Gonzo should get most of the time and unless he was tired, Kent probably should play too." -- BHsportsguy, reacting to what Kent said.

"When you hear there's a split between the older Dodgers and the younger ones, some of it can get a little personal, especially when somebody's inevitably about to take away your job. But for Kent, it's strictly professional. He remembers being a young player that respected veterans and learned from them and he doesn't see that happening with this generation, or at least the large group of 20-somethings in his clubhouse." -- Ken Gurnick, who I know is considered a sage by most of us. Not.

"Asked if those curious and perplexing things included Manager Grady Little's daily lineups and the coaching staff's game strategy, Kent responded: "Everything." ...

There has been an obvious and growing tension all season between the Dodgers' veterans and youngsters. Publicly, at least, that discord had remained largely under control and Kent is the only one who has spoken out on the record." -- Kevin Baxter, minus one word he attributes to Kent.

The most potentially inflammatory thing Kent is actually quoted as having said is some variation of:

"I don't know what it is, but especially when you have a lot of them, it's hard to influence a lot of them," he said. "Don't get me wrong -- we have a lot of good kids. But it's hard to translate experience. I don't know why they don't get it.

"It's professionalism. It's manufacturing runs, keeping your emotions in it. Experience can pull you through more than inexperience, experience helps more than inexperience. It's hard to give experience, just like that," Kent said, snapping his fingers.

Where in that quote is he saying anything that isn't obvious to anyone who has ever worked in any kind of organization? Talented young people can go astray without proper leadership. It is hard to "translate experience." It's not the fault of the young people; it's the leadership.

Elsewhere, he goes out of his way to praise the young guys, and attempts, apparently in vain, to correct the misimpression that he probably realized the writers were jumping to write.

I'm sorry, I know a lot of people on this site dislike Kent and wish he'd retire. Sticking up for him is not going with the flow. But I've been around enough of the kind of crap lazy, agenda-driven, herd-mentality reporters can do, so when an interviewee is being positioned as having hung himself with seemingly stupid remarks, I always parse these things closely.

In this case, I think Kent is getting a bad rap. He didn't say Nomar and LuGo should've played more, and let the young players sit to make way for them. He didn't blame the young players for the Dodgers falling out of contention. He didn't say the young players don't care. He didn't confirm there was "tension" between the young guys and the old guys. But by tomorrow, that's what everyone's going to think he said. I hate when that happens.

"I'm smaaaat!"

Knox is winning the battle right now.

My typing is worse than usual. Getting use to a Mac.

296 No, no, no! No more! Not this time, consiglieri. No more meetings, no more discussions, no more blog comments.

--

Boy, I'd forgotten how hot Linda Fiorentino was in After Hours.

Oh, the pain, the pain...

Almost.

As my punishment, I will go listen to old Dodger radio broadcasts and wait for Rick Monday to give me the score.

And now it's all shot to hell.

I hope everyone is happy.

I'm taking my fish and going home.

"I'm angry and disappointed and perplexed. Bitter."

"You can use all your fingers on your hand and point around. There's many, many things that have happened that are perplexing. Many things that have happened that are curious. Many things that have happened that are unfortunate. And you can't really put a finger on it. But you can point to it. Those things are disappointing. And frustrating as well."

"How do you teach the young kids? I don't know if the older guys said that about me when I was a young kid, too. I don't know what it is, especially when you have a lot of [young players.] It's hard to influence a big group. We've got some good kids on the team. Don't get me wrong, please don't misinterpret my impressions. [But] it's hard to translate experience. I don't know why they don't get it." [Asked what they don't get, Kent said:] "A lot of things. Professionalism. How to manufacture a run. How to keep your emotions in it. There's just a lot of things that go on with playing 162 games and barely getting yourself in there just enough to make the playoffs. But I think experience can help more than inexperience. And it's hard to give a young kid experience. I've been there with some experienced teams."

"We're in a bad spot right now. Pretty soon we're going to give up the ghost and it's going to be painful. It's close to the end of the season. And a career for me too. I'm running out of time. A lot of kids in here, they don't understand that. I've played a long time. I've played on some really good teams. I've been in the World Series once. So you hate to waste an opportunity, even if it's one and even if it's your first time. And it's hard to get them to understand that because they've haven't been there. So there lies some frustration."

About retirement: "If you can get in touch with me about November, I'll let you know. I'm still trying to go through emotions of the season right now to worry about the possibilities for next year."

http://tinyurl.com/2ky6bm

Looks like White will be with the Dodgers for the foreseeable future.

"I think in Spring Training [the Dodgers] wanted to make me a little more deceptive, and wanted me to sink the ball a little more and I just got into some bad habits. Until I got removed from the situation and kind of reevaluated where I was at and how I was pitching and how I was going at people, it was hard to see."

-- Brett Tomko, quoted in mlb.com

Ugh.

My anger has subsided.

To say nothing of aluminum siding. I could really be a great aluminum siding salesman. I believe in the product.

Now I have something else.

Compost, the "plastic" of the 21st Century.

For inaccuracy sake, here were my final five teams eliminated:

5. Cardinals
4. Rockies
3. Padres
2. Phillies
1. Cubs - September 29

I won't be winning the contest.

Now I wonder what it sounded like.

Following is the full transcript of Kent's comments:

"One day, back in 1989, I was driving my hog onto the Catalina ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since then that I haven't thought about that girl."

I need to go to bed. Night all. Here's to happier times ahead.

So does JD score if the ump doesn't give the "watch out" look to Lo Duca?

It's such a strange mix, it's really the perfect summary of the season.

The good thing about the Dodgers crapping out is that it won't be hard to choose between next week's game, and the The Office season premiere.

When Plaschke said he was wrong, I don't think he meant he was wrong about the plan of going with the kids, it was how that plan might fit with the makeup of the team. Plaschke even says that some of the kids (okay, Loney, Kemp and Ethier) were out performing Garciaparra and Gonzalez, but that wasn't going to make sitting them any easier.

0.21%

"So you're saying there's a chance..."

NY, Phil - 90-72
Chi, Mil - 83-78
Ariz, SD - 90-72

The tiebreaker scenario does not seem to cover this. The Cubs and Brewers would play Monday, and I guess Phil would win the NL East by 12-6 over NY and Ariz wins NL West 10-8 over SD. Phil vs SD Monday for Wild Card. Ariz #1 seed by 5-1 over Phil. Is this correct?

Can Jeff Kent turn down the $9 million for next year?

The losers of the East and West games would have another one game playoff to determine the wild card.

http://tinyurl.com/24kr8y

I need a new "sleeps with the fishes" update, maybe Kent can post it up in the locker room. :-)

Actually, it's weak even by his standards.

I loved ripping into the guy when he was merely spectacularly wrong and without talent. Who can forget when he called the Dodgers' best hitter "the scroll wheel on DePodesta's baseball iPod?" I mean, that's brilliant, and by brilliant, I mean inane.

But today, he's just rambling on and on and never gets anywhere. It's like a fifth-grader's essay; it's no fun to make fun of that. I wonder if his column today is a rule 11 violation.

Maybe. My guess is he had a crayon or six up his nose.

Abreu may not be listening to the vets and then hacks at bad pitches without a thought to maybe moving a runner along or even walking to get on base.

Gonzo's desire to add to his doubles stat and get 3000 hits clearly puts himself and not the team first. I didn't like seeing LaRoche in the lineup either but who else was there to play third that would do any better.

Maybe if Kent had something profound to say worth listening to he might have been in more than one World Series by now.