There's only 145 games left? (sob)

Meanwhile, we've got Hu and DeWitt in today's lineup, Martin's back, Pierre is in. So some good, a little bad, but nothing at all surprising to me:

Furcal 6
Pierre 7
Loney 3
Jones 8
Ethier 9
Martin 2
DeWitt 5
Hu 4
Kuroda 1

(From Tony Jax - any idea what the #s mean?)

Good luck to the boys in blue today. They really need this one.

I thought it was Tony Jackson's own ingenious, mysterious rating system. Then realized he can't even fix his own blog comments for a week, or dress himself properly. I hope I can do the latter right now since my brain isn't working either.

Just had to say that again. To get the hat trick.

Adios.

A little over twenty years ago in the midst of a sportscasting career that wasn't really going anywhere anytime soon, I was in a small town playing "Trivial Pursuit" with some friends. I was well known for my knowledge of sports trivia. Compared to some, I wasn't anything special but to this group of friends, I owned the orange category.

Along came a question worth a pie: name the cities that are home to the basketball, football and baseball Halls of Fame.

I blanked on Cooperstown.

I mean, they were all waiting--pretty healthy crowd of people at a party, all impressed with my knowledge of literature, history (again, for perspective, it was a Trivial Pursuit game, so take it for what it's worth) and I'm in a "spotlight" moment. I've just rattled off Springfield, MA and Canton, OH without hesitation and I drew a blank on Cooperstown.

Let me tell you something, underdog. We remember these moments with a smile. Humiliating at first but since everyone--and I mean, EVERYONE, pardon the shouting--has blanks, we understand. Heck, we're laughing with you.

I was a sportscaster. I forgot Cooperstown.

Anybody wanna top that? Underdog and I could use the company.

11 - why drop Ethier to 5th? I'd think a 3-4-5 of Ethier-Loney-Jones would be a bit better. Otherwise, considering rest issues, the line up isn't all that bad. Part of me would really like to see The Solution crush a couple that land near Mobile, Alabama.

It really seems like we either blow teams out, or we lose. I think Saito's only had two save chances this year, out of 17 games. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that is the fewest of any MLB team.

Which numbers geek wants to prove me wrong? :)

{duck}

No, I'm with ya. Thanks.

18 So Russell Martin will be played by Patrick McGoohan?

Russell Martin will be played by a different person each week.
Except Leo McKern will get to do it twice.

Besides, Jones hit a homerun yesterday, so he's obviously ready to bat cleanup.

Come on Blake! Have a big day at the plate and put Nomar to shame.

Not that bad until you consider I've been following the team since I was 6 and I write for a Kings blog under the name "Rudy Kelly." My brother has never let me live it down.

1) Jon, thank you for validating my feelings which I expressed yesterday. I know the Dodgers could come around. Molly, that's a great point about save opportunities, and you know? This is a problem I'd like to have.

2) When you watch the Dbacks, you look at them and think "This is too good to be true." First they defy the laws of probability by winning their division despite their pythagorean record, and now they're just beating up on teams left and right.

3) Benching Frank Thomas (at least after last year) and then releasing him the next day has to be the dumbest move I've ever seen in a long time.

...ESPECIALLY with that bullpen of theirs!

Weird stat that kind of sums things up, right?

But I do think they'll do better as the season goes along. I predicted in the prediction thread that they'd score 4.8 runs/game, and I still think they will.

http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/archive/2008/04/20/brewers-send-dillon-down.aspx

Pierre sure was starting to look good as the pinch-hitting specialist:)

Domo arigatou gozaimasu!

http://griddle.baseballtoaster.com/archives/959138.html

You never want to less Chip Caray unless you are under great duress.

Earl Weaver would have something to say about this, and no doubt there would be many Rule 1 violations.

Frank Thomas is like having skin cancer and Jose Guillen is like having colon cancer.

EOL

(Or maybe it was the family history.)

What a young bench the Brewers must have if half of it had options left. Can you imagine the Dodgers even being able to go with a 3 man bench without losing valuable players? (like Young)

http://tinyurl.com/6fmd35

Film at 11!

Fastballs down the middle are tricky.

All the vowel sounds in it are very short. Try to say them as short as you can. And then shorten them again.

Like automobiles and the club sandwich, the Japanese have made their vowel sounds smaller and more efficient.

An open letter to Dodger management:

To whom may I send an itemized list of Dodger related expenses which I have incurred for refund? I have recently become aware of Mr. McCourt's prediliction for giving money away, and I was hoping to capitalize on that as Mr. Torre has.

If I am unclear, allow me to point out that Mr. Torre's salary is significantly larger than Mr. Little's, though Mr. Torre appears to have no intention of performing his duties any differently than his predecessor. To wit, Mr. Torre insists on playing Juan Pierre; he sees no value in utilizing a set line-up based upon performance; and he applies no consistent metric to the management of the pitching staff.

I admit to being only an amateur observer of what is clearly a complex business, so rather than question decisions made by Messrs McCourt, Colletti, and Torre, I would like to offer my services. I am relatively young, capable of walking upright, and willing to be at work before anyone else. Perhaps I could play outfield for the Dodgers?

Sincerely,
-DN-

Anyone care to give me notes?

Did anyone else think that was an unusually good throw from Pierre?

I realize that Pierre has no arm but I think the guy would have made it to second despite that.

Go Dodgers!