As long as Rollins starts all of the remaining games this year at short, he will be, according to Jayson Stark, the first NL shortstop to start everyone of his team's games since Bill Russell did so in 1973.

Maury Wills started 164 of the Dodgers 165 games in 1962.

If you're a Mets fan.

You mean the Mets haven't been choking prior to tonight? They were swept at home. By Washington.
(No offense, Sam)

They lost two of three in Florida.

They're ahead 6-0, so I doubt they're too broken up about it.

I still think the Phillies come up a buck short at the end but hey I thought the Brewers were a lock.

I predict that if the Padres win tonight, they will make the playoffs.

Dodgers infielder Tony Abreu, who suffered an injury to his groin in Sunday's victory against the D-backs, will probably not play again this season as he awaits the results from an MRI taken on Tuesday.

Pierre, CF
Young, LF
Kemp, RF
Loney, 1B
Martin, C
The Rock, 3B
Valdez, 2B
Hu, SS
Loaiza, P

"I haven't been able to do anything. I'm just waiting for the MRI results and to see what the doctors say," Abreu said. "I have plans to play in the winter, but I don't know what's going to happen with this injury. I might need surgery."

I'm guessing Bob has figured out that there is no scenario under which they miss the playoffs if they win tonight.

Eckstein and Cairo have had some excellent plays in the field.

So if the Phils and Mets are tied after tonight, Phils go against the Nationals and Mets get Florida, with both teams at home.

Florida's looked pretty bad lately, although I guess they pulled out a big one today.

For the first game, the Nationals run Tim Redding out there against Cole Hamels -- they have the same ERA, give or take .01.

Redbirds 3
Mets 0

"Asked Grady about possible coaching changes, and he didn't really bite. ``We'll see,'' is all he said, which to me is a strong indicator that something is going to happen. My guess is Bill Mueller goes back upstairs, so they'll need a hitting coach, but there could be some other changes, as well. ..."

it sure seems quicker now, I remember when he initially came up it looked a bit long but I guess he fixed a couple of things in his swing & it now looks very nice. It also says a lot about him as a "thinking mans hitter" he sprays the ball TO ALL FIELDS so that alone impresses me a bunch.

Phillies 6, Braves 4.

to me it SCREAMS OUT off season coaching staff moves, I'm pretty happy by that tid bit T.JHere thanks for the info.

In Queens, it's Kim/Perez, Seddon/Maine, and Willis/Glavine.

2 ptiches and out for Cla Meredith.

Milwaukee and Toronto entered today at 81-77, one game in front of the Dodgers. If those two stay in front of the Dodgers record-wise, the Dodgers are assured of a top 15 pick in the draft.

That is important because if they sign a Type A free agent (say, A-Rod for example), they would have to give up their 1st round pick to the team that lost the FA (in this example, Yankees), unless they have a top 15 pick. In that case, they would only have to give up a 2nd round pick instead.

http://mlb4u.com/profile.php?id=991

1) A-Rod

"Rafael Furcal, who stole 35 bases last year and was expected to trigger the offense in combination with Juan Pierre, injured his ankle in March and had only 12 steals entering September -- he and Pierre producing on-base percentages that would be impressive only if combined"

Barry Bonds had a .609 OBP in 617 PA in 2004.

If the Dodgers had fewer weaknesses, I think it would be a great thing, but committing that much to one player on an otherwise flawed team is a mistake.

Of course, I have no faith that Dodger management can find a better use for the 25-30 million, so I guess I would object to the deal based on principles, not reality.

An awesome Ross Newhan article.

Countdown of risky things to do.

5 Surf in the Farolon(sp?)Islands off San Fransisco.
4 Give a contract to a veteran pitcher
3 Eat a random collection of mushrooms picked by an amateur.
.................

Actually Frisco avoided paying much for pitching in a remarkable fashion until the Barry signing---long may it live.

you also missed an incredible 1st inning from Loaiza

Old enough to have a kid (david newhan) playing in the majors.

.919 season, .915 career

Now your talking N.Cal-D...

can you disclose some details MollyKnight like is she all air brushed & so forth...

Or what Greg Miller was supposed to be, there's still hope for Elbert though right.

Actual line: .296/.379/.470

Please ignore the rest of my prediction, which included:
1) 94-68 record
2) Furcal scoring 125 runs
3) a "no-gaping holes" starting rotation

yea you're right. Miller is a better comparison due to both of their high groundball ratios.