http://tinyurl.com/3djbds

What is it with these fireballing lefthanders that slow down their delivery? He may be on to something. :-)

Almost.

http://tinyurl.com/2qs2l8

Do I really need to say anything more?

You're right. :-)

>> You have requested a page that is not supported by this site. <<

>> Torre did say again that Kershaw wasn't a serious candidate to make the team, adding, "It won't hurt him to be around camp and be able to have the experience." <<

http://tinyurl.com/39s5sz

But dying the night before Daylight Savings Time ends would definitely have its advantages, too.

Plaintiff Stephen Lyons, a former professional baseball player later employed as a sportscaster for Fox TV and the Los Angeles Dodgers, met Stacey Roy while they were both vacationing with their families at a hotel in Hawaii. Following an afternoon of poolside conversation, Lyons followed Roy in the elevator to the floor of her hotel room and took her by the wrist to a hallway alcove, where he asked her to expose her breasts. She declined to do. Roy later complained of an ensuing sexual attack, which Lyons denied.

Roy sued Lyons for claims relating to the alleged sexual attack, including a cause of action for false imprisonment. Lyons tendered the defense of the action to defendant Fire Insurance Exchange (Fire Insurance), which denied any coverage under his homeowners policy because the facts did not meet the necessary prerequisite of damages caused by an accident. Lyons settled Roy's underlying claim, and then sued Fire Insurance for breach of contract and the bad faith failure to defend him in Roy's action. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Fire Insurance, and we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY
On March 10, 2002, Lyons and Roy were both guests at the Westin Maui hotel in Hawaii. They met at the hotel pool, where they chatted for several hours. Lyons claimed that Roy made several references to her large breasts, and to "how everybody loves to see them. And ... '[i]f you are a good boy, maybe you will.' " When Roy left the pool area to return to her room, Lyons accompanied her.

After they both got off the elevator on the sixth floor, Lyons asked Roy to show him her breasts. According to Lyons, Roy said she was afraid of being observed in the hall. Lyons took her by the wrist and led her to an alcove near the elevator, where he repeated his request, stating, "[Y]ou know, you've been wanting to do this all day ... so let's just move over here." Roy declined because of concern that her husband might come by. According to Lyons, he then walked Roy to the door of her room and returned to the pool area. He denied any physical contact with Roy, other than having held her wrist when outside the elevator.

Roy had a different version of the events. According to her, Lyons sexually attacked her in the alcove, shoved her against a vending machine, partially removed her clothes, exposed himself, and tried to force her to perform a sexual act. Roy reported the alleged assault to hotel security and the local police, both of which investigated the matter. Because of significant inconsistencies in Roy's story (such as initially claiming the incident occurred at the swimming pool), the lack of any observable injuries to her, and hotel guests who saw Roy flaunting her body while she was at the pool, the investigating police detective determined that "the entire episode was nothing more than a scam on Roy's part to gain money." No criminal charges were filed.

In March of 2003, Roy sued Lyons alleging causes of action for assault, battery, and false imprisonment and seeking damages for bodily injury and emotional distress. Lyons tendered the defense of the action to his homeowners insurer, Fire Insurance. Fire Insurance denied coverage on the ground that the allegations in Roy's complaint did not meet the fundamental requirement for potential coverage under its policy because none of the damages were caused by an accident.

*2 Lyons initially retained his own defense counsel, but ultimately another insurer, to whom the defense had also been tendered, began to provide a defense under a reservation of rights. On the eve of trial, Lyons, Roy, and the other insurance carrier negotiated a settlement. As part of the settlement, Roy and Lyons agreed to entry of a stipulated judgment in the amount of $975,000, which provided in part that the settlement agreement did not constitute an admission by any of the parties of the truth of any of the released claims.

Of the $975,000 obligation under the settlement, Lyons paid $175,000. The other insurance carrier paid $50,000. Roy then sued Fire Insurance for the remainder (as a judgment creditor pursuant to Insurance Code section 11580), and Fire Insurance settled that case with an indemnity payment to Roy of $100,000.

In October of 2005, Lyons filed the present action against Fire Insurance, alleging causes of action for breach of contract and tortious breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Fire Insurance moved for summary judgment on the ground that it owed no duty to defend or indemnify Lyons because his alleged acts were not accidental, but rather were intentional and thus did not fall within the policy provisions. Absent a duty to defend or indemnify, Fire Insurance maintained it could not have committed insurance bad faith.

Fire Insurance moved in the alternative for summary adjudication of (1) the cause of action for tortious breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and (2) the claim for damages. Regarding the bad faith claim, Fire Insurance urged that it acted reasonably in denying coverage and that at all times there was a genuine dispute as to whether it owed Lyons a duty to defend or indemnify. As to the punitive damages claim, Fire Insurance argued that Lyons had not provided clear and convincing evidence that Fire Insurance had acted with the requisite malice, fraud, or oppression in responding to his claim.

Lyons countered with his own motion for summary adjudication. He urged that Fire Insurance owed a duty to defend because the policy potentially covered Roy's cause of action for false imprisonment.

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Fire Insurance and denied the motion by Lyons for summary adjudication. The court found, in pertinent part, that there was "no possibility of coverage for the grabbing and pulling of Roy's wrist to take her to the alcove in the hallway of the hotel" because "grabbing a person's wrist is not an accident." Also, grabbing Roy's wrist was "an intentional act," even if done under a "mistaken belief" by Lyons that he had a right to do so, and thus the conduct is excluded from coverage.

I only saw him pitch to Casey, which was impressive enough, but wouldn't mind looking at the other two. Good to see McDonald today, too. Honestly, I wouldn't mind them starting the season with Loiaza as number 5, and then when he starts to fade, as he invariably will and probably within a couple of months, if Schmidt is ready, great, if not it should be Kuo or Kershaw, period.

So when was the last time 3 prospects like Kershaw, McDonald, and Miller all pitched in the same spring training game?

28 Heh. I was impressed by his special powers as well. If Kershaw is mythical, McDonald could be magickal.

I'm going to pretend Hot Wheels doesn't exist otherwise I'll never get any writing done tonight, before The Wire.

The names Kerry Wood and Mark Prior were mentioned, but their problems were arm related, and had nothing to do with maturity. Are the odds of an arm injury increased by pitching in the majors as opposed to the PCL?

>>The Dodgers are showing interest in Ronnie Belliard and Esteban German in their quest for infield help, says FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal.<< (FoxSports via RotoBall)

>> Normally a right fielder, Kemp started in center field as Torre wanted to see if he could handle the position and said he was impressed with the way Kemp cut off a ball in the gap.

"He's learning how to play [there]," said Torre. "What he needs to do is learn his own ability. There are a lot of things he can do and he's a willing participant. He's very passionate about it."

Kemp said he's more confident this spring, in part because of work he's done with hitting coaches Mike Easler and Don Mattingly.

"There's a lot of knowledge there," Kemp said. "I've been with Easler back in Double-A, and he told me then I could hit in the big leagues. Mattingly was one of the best hitters in the game. They both were. That's a pretty good one-two punch." <<

http://tinyurl.com/3yk49z

http://tinyurl.com/2s8djh

>>Instead of pursuing a high-priced third baseman, the Dodgers are looking for a more versatile infielder who can play second and third, backing up Jeff Kent and Nomar Garciaparra.

The Nationals' Ron Belliard and Royals' Esteban German, both of whom are attracting the Dodgers' interest, would be more affordable than the Tigers' Brandon Inge or White Sox's Joe Crede.

Delywn Young, who is out of options, is an internal possibility for the utility role, but his defense might not be strong enough for the Dodgers to justify carrying him.<< (Sez you, Rosenthal!)

A bit more on Kershaw there, too.

>>The talk of Dodgers camp has been 19-year old left-hander Clayton Kershaw. "He's going to help us this year," says Russell Martin. "He has dominant stuff, a great curveball you can almost hear." Some of the coaches suggest Kershaw might be able to help right now, but more likely he will open the season in the minors. Kershaw has only five starts above the A level, but between A and AA last season struck out 163 in 122 innings. Also in Dodgers camp, Larry Bowa is sold on the future of SS Chin-Lung Hu. "He can really play defense," says Bowa.>The torn ligament in Andy LaRoche's thumb is a significant blow to the Dodgers, as LaRoche had opened many eyes and has a chance to be a legitimate power bat at the corner. Unless they change their minds and trade for Brandon Inge -- which doesn't seem likely -- that means Nomar Garciaparra will open the season as the third baseman. Dodgers coaches say Garciaparra has had a very good spring swinging the bat, and they appreciate that his all-out, unorthodox fielding style is not easily translated to third base. But it had been a majority opinion on the staff that Nomar would not have been happy as LaRoche's caddy or as a utilityman, so the loss of LaRoche probably ensures that the Dodgers will not have to make a decision on whether or not to eat his contract.>6. Russell Martin: The game's best catcher approaches his craft like Varitek, accepts responsibility for his pitchers, and has been a leader amid the veterans/kids media war of last winter. Larry Bowa loves to watch him take ground balls at his original position, shortstop. "We could put him at shortstop," says Bowa, "and he'd be fine."<<

I'm assuming I need to have MLB's written consent to post the link to the clip here... right?

If Jeff Kent begins the season on the DL-it's possible for the 40 yr old; and Nomar is our 3bman-Does Joe elect to start Ethier in LF more since we have lost some of the power bats of Laroche and Kent??

if you can't post the link, I would love it through email.

npurcell@email.arizona.edu

Hu has impressed me enough to think about not signing Furcal. He has also impressed me enough to think that he can play second and third and be our super utility guy if Abreu isn't healthy.

I still don't see the need for a trade, especially a guy who won't hang around. We've made our moves for the Brady Clarks of the world only to accept the fact that we have better options biting at the bit in AAA.

I still fear Ramon Martinez can get the nod over a guy like Hu with the familiar "we want Hu to play everday" mantra.

The fact that we seem to have a rotation that can break spring training as of now gives us the luxury of not rushing him. He has exceded expectations so far, I think they don't want to risk any set-backs right now. As much as I'd like to see him take off and be the next Greg Maddux or Bret Saberhagen, I'm willing to let him get a few starts at AAA and push his way onto the big club.

That and Meyers looks good enough so far to make the team which makes Kuo the guy we need to decide on before we bring Kershaw into the big show mix. Figure out if and where Kuo fits in before we risk him to waivers first, then look at Kershaw in the rotation.

234 total games
76 games with both teams under 100 points
158 "Lawler" games
153 times the first team to 100 points won
5 times the first team to 100 points lost

That's a 96.8% success rate for Lawler's Law. In case you were wondering (I was!).

If we need the infield PVL as rumors are suggesting we're in the market for, who's to say one of those 2 teams isn't looking for a PVL like Pierre and some cash in return? If that's the case, I bet we'd all approve.

Let Kershaw dominate the minors and get his inning count closer to that expected of him if he were on the big club. Bring him up at the end of the year when rosters expand and don't exceed his inning count to take an option year away. Next year, he can fill Lowe's spot in the rotation and have a bit more seasoning, while still being extremely young.

Of the 158 Lawler games:

95 had only one team with 100 points
63 had both teams over 100

So the success ratio of Lawler's Law when both teams scored 100 was 92.1% (58 of 63).

I'd be happy to welcome Ronnie Belliard if Washington would take Pierre, but I don't see it happening. I fear Delwyn is the guy who would be used to get said PVL to carry Kent's jock strap. We have Ronnie Belliard already, his uniform says Martinez. I guess being non-roster makes his number 18 go to Kuroda without any cars or watches changing hands.

I can't figure it out. The defense is pretty lousy tonight.

One thing that's interesting is that although the Lakers are clearly playing down to their competition tonight, I don't get angry about it like I did during the Shaq era. I think there might be a difference in the mentality this year's team.

even though it won't happen, i wish we could deal pierre for somebody, ethier and kemp have both looked so good this spring. it would be a shame for pierre to steal ab's from either of them.

To demonstrate, I asked him this morning what time the Dodger game started, and he had no reply.

I'm in the same boat. It feels like the Lakers are playing with house money this year. They are really set up nicely for the next few years with Kobe-Gasol-Bynum. That said, they have an excellent opportunity to take home the trophy this year.

So far, Andruw Jones hasn't sparkled as I'd hoped in ST. I think we could platoon him with Pierre.

HAH!

I'm just kidding, of course :)

1) Trail underdog team from northern California almost the entire game
2) Make late run, win

Maybe they can combine both endings by