I can't IMAGINE Pierre getting a few dinky hits, stealing a base, having Martin belt a double or two, and limiting their offense to just a few silly singles. NO CHANCE of that.

CC and Oswalt continue to look very Tomkish in the early going. Unlike hitters, consecutive games like that will take a while to put in the rear view mirror stat wise.

Just hearing that Longoria is going to be playing Saturday has put me in a very good mood. Thank you Mr. Aybar.

For chrissake. No Kemp. Pierre and Jones. They don't want to win.

Thanks for the heads up, I just nabbed him in both my keeper leagues.

I guess I'm just waiting for Torre's "winning ways" to rub off on the team.

vs Peavy.

And never will.

six for 20 is .300. Which explains why Pierre is in there. I always found those kinds of numbers meaningless.

8) making the same point over and over again

Me: "Argghh."

More fun with small sample sizes. The current Dodger roster has a combined 232 PAs, career, against Peavy. The combined batting line is:
.175 / .235 / .311 / .546

Thanks to baseball-reference.com, of course.

Oh, I just saw Pierre in left.

Juan is not even the slappiest guy on the team.

I'm a New Yawka .... could you educate me on this stuff?

Im for Mr. McPopup bunting here.

Andrew, is there any room in the D-Backs camp? They really seem to know how to put good players on the field.

AG had 7 more PAs and one more HR.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/inning_summary.cgi?year_game=2008&team_id=LAD

ahhh. I have Vin. life is good, even if we didn't have a one run lead.

I do find it interesting that Vin would go all that way to figure out what the name Khalil means, but then completely mispronounce it.

in the field?

I just want to say that I gave way too much credit to Torre for having a brain a few weeks ago. I even gave him credit for being intelligently self-interested, in that I assumed he'd favor Kemp over Pierre. I was wrong. Torre is simply thick. New York was right.

Oh a DP nice!!! Okay he needed that. Gotta keep the pitch count low.

ALso from the previous thread someone asked if MLB guys pay for anything. Well I just happened to talk to Kevin Fransden last year and he said the pay clubhouse dues daily that are about $45. So they do have to pay for the food they get at the games. They can get like anything they want though.

can we have hoffman back???

And what is Bowa doing????? What a terrible decision to wave Russ. He was out by 30 feet!!! At least were getting Peavy's pitch count up, but could of added more there.

so you are saying we need two hits to score a runner from 2nd. Why not be agressive and push the envelope. If hairston makes a bad throw or bard bobbles we score, you never know. the left fielder isnt going to make a perfect throw like that everytime.

I said something tacky about hoffman, and bowa immediately does something boneheaded.

It's one thing to be aggressive. It's another thing to be reckless.

What I was going to say was actually this; As soon as the camera turned to Giles the majority of us gasped had a better first reaction then Larry Bowa did. 100's of miles away. Furcal is on fire, why not give him that oppurtunity, Bowa?

Please stop trying to bunt the best slider in the majors, you're just going to bounce it off the plate.

On the other hand, that works just as well, I suppose.

Thanks,

KG16

I have been alerted by txt that the Dodgers are ahead. Go us!!

Meanwhile I've got the Lakers game on, and they really started off great; however I worry if the Hornets cut the lead to less than 20 before the half. Still though, great half!

Dare I say the mystery substance on his hand was/is a legitimate factor.

Peavy 53
Penny 63

Sure doesn't look like it.

135, Dewitt definitely ways more than 175. I'd say 190.

Besides that Yogi barber shop commercial is the dumbest commercial in 3 years. Even old dudes don't think it's funny.

It's turning into a bad night all around.

That's cute if you really think it's called a "mount".

LOOONESTAAAAARRRRR!!!!

Can't really blame them. He doesn't even look like he belongs in the big leagues. 18 million oughta get you more than that.

whoever thinks andruw is just in a "slump" is just in denial. he may have a few good months like last year, but he'll be hovering around a .700 OPS all year long. why can we never make a good FA signing it's so annoying.

Loney Booooommmmbbb!!!

Jones's first 37 PA's this year: .118/.189/.147

Betemit's first 37 PA's last year: .071/.243/.107

.179/.314/.386 (25 HRs)

Nooo I didn't say that. but he should at least have an OPS above .350!!!! If you can't boo his performance so far, what can you boo?

Russell getting thrown out.
Furcal trying to steal 2nd with no outs and middle of the lineup coming up.
Pierre not being sent on down contact while at 3B with one out.
Penny hitting for himself with runner at 3rd while down 2 runs.

That pierre hesitation on Kent's hit earlier also hurt.

... I don't think the booing is targeted specifically at Jones as much as it's being targeted at the Dodgers' penchant for signing over-priced and frankly unneeded outfielders like Jones and Pierre. It's just a buildup of frustration and I understand it completely.

Shouldn't the Bison PH for Slappy here??? Seeing as its a lefty pitching and all.
Don't really understand the bunt unless he as just trying to get on.

Speaking of pinch-hitters, has Delwyn hit the ball out of the infield this year? He seems to be struggling to hit as well.

I bet he can smell the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I don't think the people that are booing think that way.

A. The guy is getting paid 9 million dollars and he wont even try to get a hit.

B. The guy is getting paid 4 million dollars and he thinks we should give up outs when we are losing in the 7th inning.

I honestly dont know which is worth. Ignorance is bliss so Im going with:

C. He was trying to bunt for a hit and the second baseman made a great play.

It was mostly beimels fault u are right. but you got khalil greene up there who strikes out a ton, in a 1-2 count, you want a slider way off the plate or in the dirt, and he just flips a little hanger right over the middle, sac fly, 5th run for the padres. hes gotta get the K right there.

Actually, those are unrelated questions.

but yeah, DeWitt has been nice

How about Sabathia?

warming

... I would have given Young a chance to play in LF, with Kemp in center and Ethier in right.

274

... Most of the people I talk to at the Stadium do indeed think that way. And I honestly couldn't care less if a guy who hasn't done a thing offensively is "feeling good".

what did you expect?

Wow, and that ball just sputtered and died. Unbelievable.

On a funnier note, the Giants just lost and made 3 errors to the Cards. So on the postgame one of the Giants commentators says, "If you're a team that doesn't have a few guys like Pujols, like the Giants are, then you have to catch the ball. And the Giants didn't today".

I'd hate to face those lineups... :)

Get Meloan up to the club, and in the pen. Troncoso, what did anyone see in this guy again? Did the team give him a spot based on spring training?

Couldn't agree more. Yet another really puzzling decision.

Of course, it happened to Finley at around 40.

Let the record show that DeWitt's walk was not to get to the pitcher.

Im convinced they are doing it to trade him, but for what? Likely a second baseman, hopefully not Freddy Sanchez. Why did Chase Utley have to sign that extension, he could have come home.

... Pierre!!!!! Well, can this happen??

No thanks for the fact that Kemp will sit for the next week though

A hit ties the game.

And the season just started.

All in all, tonight felt like watching the Dodgers in the 90's. Hopefully the Dodgers learned a little from watching the Pads beat them by hitting to the opposite feild and not uppercutting everything.

I hope Penny gets it together, and I think he will. Let's hope that Arizona isn't 20 games up by the time this team gets it together.

Here's my own little splits for April so far.

Dodgers record in...

Games Juan Pierre started over Kemp: 1-4
Games Kemp started over Pierre (or with Pierre): 2-3

I'm just sayin'

I don't disagree; I was speaking more to the macroscopic issue. I didn't see the game tonight, being preoccupied with the "Pierre over Kemp" boycott, plus the Lakers/Hornets game was intense.

To me, the beef isn't just having Juan Pierre play, its the fact that we insist on benching Kemp to make room. If there was a reason not to sign anyone this offseason for the OF, this was it.

Pierre did have one baserunning mistake, and I'm also wondering why he didn't score on the grounder to the hole. Also had a crummy bunt attempt where he basically gave them an out. But yes all in all he had a decent game at bat.

OBP vs. RHP, 2007
Pierre .338
Kemp .340

I was 100 percent against starting Pierre over Kemp, but there is an easy case to make for leaving Pierre to bat instead of Kemp in the ninth inning.

I expect this discussion is going to get old really quick, but I really feel that not only was it the wrong move, but there is no conceivable justification for it. There is no explanation which would make it remotely defensible, except the protection of Pierre's feelings, which I reject as a valid reason.

You have two outs in the ninth, you're behind by three with the tying run at the plate. In this situation, there's about a 99% chance that the only hope you have of tying the game is to hit a three-run homer. The other option, stringing together a series of about six consecutive hits, is extremely farfetched and unlikely (as we later found out, although we tried).

So, a three-run homer is your only hope. On your bench you have a guy who is one of the most likely players in all of baseball to hit a three-run homer. At bat, you have a guy who is the least likely player in all of baseball to hit a three-run homer (except for maybe a few pitchers). If you tie the game, there aren't even any positional snafus to be resolved, as Kemp plays the same position, and vastly better than Pierre does. It is an absolute no-brainer. It was a very simple test, amnd Torre failed it miserably.

(And don't get me started on the two extra runs that the Padres likely scored because Pierre was playing -- one because Pierre's throwing arm was in left field instead of Ethier's, and another because Ethier's arm was in right field instead of Kemp's.)

Reading GasLampBall, outside of seeking unintentional humor, is only validating sophomoric banter.

That reminds me: I finally got around to reading the latest on FJM, and I... LOVED IT!!! Unfortunately the video was taken down; what was it?

Not exactly. A single and a home run would do just fine. Or a single and a walk and a single. Or ...

Given that Matt Kemp homers in about 4 percent of his at-bats, I don't think that you can suggest that's the only viable strategy in a situation that has Ethier and Kemp on deck.

And let's not forget, home runs aside, Kemp's also about as likely to single as Pierre is.

So that being said, if you'll concede that Kemp's chances of homering were 5 percent or less, then the idea that using Kemp as a pinch-hitter for Pierre vs. hoping for a combination of events - let's face it, the difference is marginal.

The reason that it's important to start Kemp is because when you give him multiple at-bats, the difference between him and Pierre grows. But the difference between Kemp and Pierre in a single at-bat is marginal.

That said, I can understand why you think it's beside the point. I realize that over the long haul, the dumb decisions made before the game are going to greatly outweigh the dumb decisions made during the game. That doesn't make the latter any less frustrating, though.

I meant that in terms of my own personal frustration with him; it wasn't supposed to imply that everyone else should feel the same. Everybody has different breaking points. My own already low tolerance for lousy moves is even lower where Matt Kemp is concerned.

>> Left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo will bump Esteban Loaiza from his scheduled start Tuesday night against the Pirates, according to manager Joe Torre. <<

## The goal of management is to bide time with Loaiza, Park and Kuo taking starts for another month or so while preserving the arm of 20-year-old phenom Clayton Kershaw, who has never pitched more than 122 innings in a professional season. ##

http://tinyurl.com/4dnceu

I don't see Kuo as a savior by any means, but he's always been really good when healthy and we might as well ride the horse until it collapses.

Sure, Juan Pierre had a decent game at the plate... his "shot" to third base coupled with a single in the 9th whilst I was screaming from the RF to pinch-hit with Matt Kemp.

I understand Jon's argument that Kemp is "wasted" lest he hits one out, but I think it is agreed that it was a bad decision to not let Kemp pinch-hit, if only marginally bad. I agree with him Jon that the bad decision is in giving Pierre the start to begin with. It's so frustrating to see the Dodgers' most talented player sitting the bench. Don't the Dodgers get it? I thought Joe Torre was an upgrade on Grady Little, but is he really?

Anyhow, I was ecstatic about seeing Chan Ho Park get in during the 9th inning... perhaps if he had pitched the 8th instead of Troncoso, we might have eked out a victory. Argh. These Dodgers are INFURIATING.

G'night everyone.

Win expectancies of...
4.50% with Kemp
4.12% with Pierre

it's probably worth pinch hitting, but Jon seems pretty spot on. Not much of a difference and the bigger difference ~2% was in the fact that Pierre started over Kemp in the first place. Good night!
vr, Xei

I'll buy that a bigger call there came when Pierre went into the lineup over Kemp.

Got no problem at all with Furcal trying to steal against the Padres.

By the way, Kent got some pretty juicy pitches to hit from Hoffman.

The hitters and that situation were a bad matchup for Troncoso, a major-league LHB will see that sinker and can wear out left and center. But I attribute his exposure to night more to bad roster construction than Torre.