Far as 'Druw, I'd seen some of his struggles in 2007 as well, so my assessment is basically an accumulation of the end of last year plus the ST plus this first week. Granted, we all know Andruw won't hit below the Mendoza line all year, but I'd heard from Braves fans about his tendency to pull the ball too much. Of course, all of this might just mean he starts off slowly, which many players do. I think what I'll do in a moment is run some splits for Druw, year by year from 2005 up to now. I'll report the results in a moment.

And could anyone here imagine the crowd reaction the first time the PA guy said, "Your attention, please. Now batting for the Dodgers, number 31, Mike Piazza"?

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, after all.

Fascinating results. In 2005 and 2006, he hit about the same (about .261/.360/.550/.900 with 20 HRs) in the first half and the second half.

In 2007 here's how it broke down:

1st half 'druw: .202/.299/.384/.684 with 12 HRs
2nd half 'druw: .244/.321/.442/.761 with 14 HRs

Well, as they said in some old movie, "Tomorrow's another day." I'd be quite happy if the Dodgers took this series, though, yeah, Davis has given them some trouble in the past and of course this is his final game for awhile so the adrenaline will be flowing and the schwartz will be with him.

You might be out of luck. Last I heard, it was 3 kid shirts for family.

You can't have all seventy of them fighting over 3 shirts.

KU Jayhawks last title- 1988
Dodgers last title- 1988

Hmmmmmmmmm

From Diamond:

>>Also in the bullpen, rookie Ramon Troncoso has been made responsible for carrying a gnome wearing a Dodgers cap out to 'pen during games. The gnome was introduced to fit in with the new greenery that was put in the Dodger Stadium bullpen for this season. Now, according to Joe Beimel, it's the bullpen's good luck charm.<<

Take it to the man. Nice, I like it.

Very...edgy....dare I say...Shimmin-esque?

Gnomes are awesome.

Although being one...not so awesome.

Is the bullpen now going to be sponsored by Travelocity?

Its a strange flip flop, however, I enjoy Rory Markas much more, despite his tepid call of tonight's Walk Off GS. Now, whatever happened to Terry Smith?

Gnomes make good wizards and bards.

Eric Hull to Boston for minor league SS Christian Lara (presumably, according to Tony Jackson's hint).

http://tinyurl.com/4k5joo

strength- affects distance ball goes on contact, also used for throwing out baserunners

dexterity- improves bat speed, affects chance of making contact, also also for infielders whether or not they handle ground balls they reach

constitution- ability to play long strings of consecutive games, avoid the DL and be less affected by 'nagging injuries

intellegence- ability to judge flyballs and ground balls off contact

wisdom- judgement of the strikezone, also helps in baserunning judgement

charisma- ability to give good interviews and get better press than is deserved on merit of play

"Jones vs. Hunter: Angels trump Dodgers again."

I'm just sayin'... He hit two bombs to win their game tonight.

Ah, D&D Talk, it doesn't get any nerdier or better than that.

Name the show:
"He thinks being the Dungeon Master gives him the license to mess with our heads."
"Oh, I'm Sorry. Perhaps I should let you encounter kittens and grandmas so as not to upset you."

Are the Dodgers 0-3 when Pierre starts?

But on the baseball player:
http://www.soxprospects.com/players/lara-christian.htm

and a few years ago, Jim Callis wrote in his Red Sox prospects write up: Fluid shortstop Christian Lara made BA's Top 10 Prospects list in both leagues in his first season in the United States.

So I had her punch "record" on the DVR, just in case spooks had visited the TV.

Oddly enough, it was the second time in one day that I had given up on a game as won or lost. I was listening to the XM broadcast of the Cubs-Pirates game, and per custom, the home (Pirates) feed was going. You could hear the air leaking out of the broadcast booth after slap-hitter Ronny Cedeno hit a bases-clearing double that put the Cubs up 7-0 in Pittsburgh's home opener.

Of course, the Cubs' pitching staff couldn't hold that lead, and so it went into extras, and the Cubs eventually won it 9-7, the final tally being scored on a humiliating bases-loaded walk.

We won Sunday so we are 2-2 when he starts so far.

Drew: .305/.436/.569/1.005
Druw: .222/.311/.413/.724

So there's that ...

For you D&D types... maybe you've seen this, but this thing showed up on the lawn a few weeks ago after Gary Gygax died.
http://tinyurl.com/3cq96n

Oh, wait.

And I never trade!

The gnome has a better fastball than Park ...

Fastasy dork alert: Last week I picked up Andre Ethier off the FA list and dropped Jacoby Ellsbury.

(yeah, it was a strange draft for me, and there are only 7 owners in our mixed league ... so everyone has an all-star team)

Ethier hasn't cracked my starting lineup yet, as I have Chris Young, Lastings Milledge, Torii Hunter, Corey Hart and Jeff Francoeur in the outfield, with Junior Griffey at DH.