I have seen no other story mentioning this so I cannot confrim it. His youngest son (out of three) is 16 years old so perhaps he needs to be around more this year to get things settled. Preston is the middle son.

However, I'm glad to hear that replacing Mattingly will be the guy who worked with all our young hitters in the minors. Smart move.

I also have been working for years on a concept — Perception of guy (minus) way guy actually is. I was calling it the Tommy Lasorda Award for a while, though that might be outdated.

Really sad.

First question is whether Juan Pierre will play left field.

Thanatos:
5:07 pm When will you sign Russell Martin to a long term deal?

dodgersguest:
5:07 pm We explored this possibility early in the offseason and the agent declined.

dodgersguest:
5:09 pm There are very few players that we won't consider moving, however, whenever we're talking about players that are at the top of the list as far as prospects or young Major League players go, we would have to be able to acquire a player that can make a dramatic difference, both short-term, mid-term and long-term with our club.

Creating a position...? Hilarious.

Also, I was going to needle Ned for not knowing the difference between "premier" and "premiere," but now that I think of it, it's probably highly unlikely that he's actually doing his own typing.

The Joker's character is based on his first two appearances in the comic books, as well as his portrayal in the graphic novel "The Killing Joke." To prepare for the role, Heath Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month researching the character and developing his performance, which he claims is based upon Sid Vicious and the character of Alex in A Clockwork Orange (1971). Ledger found the role extremely difficult, and suffered insomnia as a result.

Still hard to grasp.

Just say he's on paid leave, or whatever. But don't insult us by trying to make us believe he's doing something important or "special".

If I were valuable enough to the organization, to the point that I was an heir apparent for a key position, I'm confident I would get all the time I needed. Do you think Mattingly's is a unique case?

44 - You're too easily insulted. The Dodgers want Mattingly for the long-term. If that's the case, they'd be foolish to let him go over a family crisis. Meanwhile, he will be working some, so what is the big problem?

Unrelated: I don't like Colletti's use of the term "Kemp/Ethier."

Father is not a phony position. :)
vr, Xei

Ethier can't platoon with Pierre because they're both left-handed, so Management has no choice but to platoon him with Kemp...

I know U.C.L.A. alum Bob T. would agree with that.

Mattingly - more valuable to the Dodgers than I am to Variety - is getting paid leave from his hitting coach job, but will be working part-time as a scout. Again, what is the problem?

The sign looks pretty old and you would think it would just rust out or get covered in dirt or grafitti, but it appears to be made of an indestructible material.

Wow, the Ledger news just flabbergasted me today. I'd almost finished our Tuesday newsletter when the news hit, so I managed to squeeze in a little tribute. It's just so sad. With this and Brad Renfro, it's not a good month for young Hollywood actors.

He also said he expects 100+ SB's out of Pierre, Furcal, and Martin is it just me or is he telling us Juan Pierre is our everyday #2 hitter/LF

In my eyes, he was the main character and center of the film. Seems odd to me that Bardem is up for an award that Judy Dench won when she was barely in a film.

And I'm guessing Ned doesn't mean as a pinch runner.

I think in Bardem's case, there was something so untraditional about his character that they might have been nervous about submitting him for lead.

Well, what about Ruby Dee? She was great, but was really only in 2 or so scenes in American Gangster? But in the old days, that was the more traditional type of Supporting Actor/Actress nominee. In Bardem's case, a case could definitely be made for lead actor, but maybe if there are other leads and that one is the evil lead, they make the evil character a supporting person. Or, what Jon said.

Before xeifrank gets too cranky - Jon does have an Oscars-chat thread over here:
http://screenjam.toaster.tv/archives/898491.html

Nobody's mentioned Hal Holbrook, who, like Dee, had a tiny role in his film and was nominated mostly as a lifetime achievement award. (His performance was spectacular, though.)

Has anybody besides Montgomery Clift ever gotten a nomination for just one scene?

Mother Sister: Hey, you old drunk, what did I tell you about drinking in front of my stoop? Move on, you're blocking my view. You are ugly enough, don't stare at me, the Evil Eye doesn't work on me.
Da Mayor: Mother Sister, you've been talkin' about me for 18 years. What have I ever done to you?
Mother Sister: You a drunk fool.
Da Mayor: Besides that? Da Mayor don't bother nobody and nobody no bother Da Mayor but you. The Man just tends to his own business. I love everybody; I even love you.
Mother Sister: Hold your tongue: you don't have that much love.
Da Mayor: One day you're gonna be nice to me. We may both be dead and buried, but you're gonna be nice, at least civil.

87 - It would if I were paying attention to it.

While most here seemed convinced Ethier will primarily share time with Pierre, I'm still convinced that Ethier will primarily share time with Kemp (at least at the beginning). Torre will have a talk with Pierre and when it turns out that Pierre is quite fond of his streak Torre will respect the streak. I believe that if Juan Pierre is still on the team opening day Juan will practically own left field.

Back to baseball... when will Colletti's chat transcript be up - tomorrow?

However, Merlin Olsen still has not been ruled out as a suspect.

Two films for your Netflix queue: The Sea Inside and Before Night Falls.

I had trouble with (1) as well, but later figured that, along with the opening narrative, provided the explanation of the title of the movie.

"I believe in America"

"I'm talkin' about friendship. I'm talkin' about character. I'm talkin' about - hell. Leo, I ain't embarrassed to use the word - I'm talkin' about ethics."

My two favorite opening scenes.

DeNiro/Pacino coffeeshop scene was great.

The Dodgers hired the perfect man to replace Don Mattingly