Good one Jon, I was thinking of typing a similar post, frankly, I don't think that there is much Torre or anyone can do but write out the lineup with the best players in there and hope their talent will produce.

1 By post, I mean comment of course.

Nice post.

There's only 145 games left? (sob)

J.P. Riccardi: Bad GM, or Worst GM?

Either the Dodgers will turn it around---which would be good----> or they wont---> and Ned will be fired.

Riccardi is in a division with the Red Sox/Yankees payroll...tough spot.

6 Benching Frank Thomas for Joe Inglett then releasing him doesn't help matters.

Nice analysis there Jon. It seems really early to contemplate our early losing ways as a continuing trend and hopefully the result so far is all just data noise. Let a winning streak start today with My Kuroda!

Jon's analysis is sane and thoughtful, as always. The Dodgers haven't been HORRIBLE this season. They've been average, for the most part, thus far. The real problem is that Arizona has been awesome. In another division, our problems wouldn't seem so severe. It's like having an older brother who can do no wrong.

I think part of it is that all last year there was the feeling that if the kids would just get the chance to play regularly, then the Dodgers' offense would take off in the same way that Arizona's has. That's probably an unreasonable expectation (and I doubt Arizona can keep it up for an entire season either.) On the other hand, as you say, they haven't exactly been facing Jake Peavy out there this weekend. I'm not asking for 11 a game, but they ought to be able to do better than 2 runs against these guys.

On target post, Jon. Hope people will take it to heart. The other thing is, if by some miracle Arizona doesn't stumble at all and just runs away with division - there's always the wild card. A little early to even be thinking along those terms, of course.

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?)

11
I'm way too polite to say what the numbers mean.

11
Think (for example) "6-4-3"...

I've got a soccer game later this morning so have to Tivo the game. And then find somewhere else to go to watch the Lakers game, since I can't Tivo both. Drat. So I shall not be here for most of the day.

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

Duh, I got it. Thanks. Did I mention I just woke up and haven't had coffee yet?

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.

Duh. Duh. Duh.

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

Adios.

Actually before the game, the managers assigns a relative importance to each player so a guy from Baseball Prospectus can then tabulate who made the greatest contribution.

Hu: Who's number 1?
Man: You are number 4.

from the last post for Icaros - if you got your BA in '99 and MFA in '01, it's entirely possible that we were classmates at some point along the way (though, I will admit to taking very few poetry classes).

11 15 16] I've got that beat.

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.

I hate these made for tv play off game intros where they have some pseudo celebrity doing spoken word to game clips. I don't know which ones are worse, the NBA or baseball, but they'd be much better off not doing it.

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.

I was going to guess that the Dodgers have outscored their opponents on the whole this year, yet have more Ls than Ws. That seems like bad luck, but who knows?

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? :)

The Dodgers and Reds are tied for last in the majors with 2 save opportunities.

Who do we think is going to pick up Frank Thomas?

24
Seattle perhaps?

20 What's Cooperstown?

{duck}

No, I'm with ya. Thanks.

18 So Russell Martin will be played by Patrick McGoohan?

Okay, I have an hour to wake up for my game. Hopefully I can remember the rules. Kick the ball toward's the opponent's goal and into it, right?

No Rafael Furcal is played by Patrick McGoohan.

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

27
Don't use your hands while the ball is in play unless they give you a funny looking shirt and some gloves and make you stand by the goal.

If Arizona doesn't stumble, they're on pace to win 124 games this year. I think Detroit is more likely to score 1000 runs, than Arizona is to win 124 games.

21 I don't think Torre wants to put his two best left-handed hitters back to back (Ethier and Loney).

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.

I once couldn't remember the name of the goaltender for the LA Kings when they went to the Stanley Cup Finals.

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.

This is a three part post

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.

33 pt (2)

...ESPECIALLY with that bullpen of theirs!

32
Who was Hrudey's backup that year?

30 At least Andrew didn't use "we" when speaking about Arizona winning 124 games.

23- I knew you'd come through.

Weird stat that kind of sums things up, right?

The Dodgers offense can by no means be called functional, unless the function is to ground weakly to second. 10th out of 16 teams is not going to get us anywhere. The idea is that you are supposed to be better than the other teams.

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.

Any updates on the Minotour's ETA?

Brewers add a 14th pitcher.

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

Does Kemp have to have multi-hit games in order to stay in the lineup?

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

It looks like Hideo Nomo's career is over.

Domo arigatou gozaimasu!

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

41
I'm trying to wait until May 1 before passing judgment (although last weekend I was almost ready for blood). Today was expected; Kemp had started 5 straight games, so no reason to worry -- yet.

So, which crew will be less annoying, Stiener/Psycho or the TBS guys?

44
The former.

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

40
Wow, I thought 13 pitchers was overkill. It's hard to see how having only 3 bench players (including 1 catcher) won't hurt them at some point.

"listen" instead of "less"

25 Good call. I'm in the NW so the Mariners are my AL team. The blogosphere is already humming with the debate of improving over our odd choice for DH (Jose Vidro, the singles hitting wonder) and saying we don't need a washed up, cancer in the clubhouse guy. My guess is if the M's can get him cheap, they'll pick him up.

45
The lure of HD has unfortunately compelled me to listen to Caray & Ron Darling.

40 It boggles the mind. They will have two available pinch-hitters and a backup catcher. Talk about constraining your strategic options.

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

Horrendous at-bat, Juan.

42 Will we see Nomo performing the Japanese retirement ceremony, I wonder?

48
The Mariners used to have Jose Guillen! And Frank Thomas is a clubhouse cancer.

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

Corky Miller's real first name is Abraham for those not reading the media guide at home.

Andruw has missed some meaty pitches.

PSA's telling people to get colonoscopies would be more effective if they showed Jose Guillen in your colon. Polyps aren't nice, exactly, but Jose Guillen would get some appointments set.

53 Guillen (mostly) behaved himself while he was there, but man, was I happy to see him leave.

Looked a little outside to me; maybe just the camera angle.

Position player reserves available for the Brewers today:
Gabe Kapler
Craig Counsell
Mike Rivera

EOL

That called strike three was a ball to Chipper yesterday.

56
Maybe my Jose Guillen t-shirt that I wore to the doctor is why I got scheduled for a colonscopy!

(Or maybe it was the family history.)

61 There are Jose Guillen t-shirts?

59 - if those are there three best reserves, I can see why they are going with a 25 man pitching staff

63- Say what you will about Counsell, but one word against Gabe Kapler, and you're going on my Icaros list!

Bobby Cox always seems to sit close to the microphone, and no matter whom is batting he always says "C'mon, [player], let's go," or something close to that effect. If Cox managed a little league team, he'd be the coach that always wanted chatter in the dugout, "hey batter batter" and the like.

61 If ever there was a procedure that was worse in warmup and anticipation than in actual performance, colonoscopy is it. Drinking that saline goop and the resulting residence in the WC is unpleasant; the scoping itself (in my case) was nuthin'.

Larry Jones didn't even get a nice swing against Kuroda in that AB.

"The Pennsylvania Playoffs"? Awful.

I suspect the Brewers are keeping the guys they can't send down, more than anything.

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)

If microscopic nanobots with cameras haven't replaced the current procedure by the time I hit colonoscopy age, I'm going to renounce science.

67
Rudulf Jones didn't look much better.

51 Braves' announcers stated outright that JP cost the Dodgers a run by not getting the bunt down. Went on to say that the team would like to trade him but his contract is too big.

Urm...

Come on Blake!!!

72 Lyons also criticized JP for not advancing the runner.

I'm guessing that the 14-man pitching staff for the Brewers will last one day after they determine the health of Ben Sheets.

Nomar would have been out on The Solution's infield hit

Criticizing Pierre's sacrifice bunting is like saying he's too slow.

They're going to have to start swinging at that pitch.

I really do not like called third strikes when the Dodgers are hitting

Xiefrank would not approve of Chip Caray's pronunciation of Kuo's last name.

Wow. Breaking news:
Alex Rodriguez will spend his off day tomorrow with his wife!

http://tinyurl.com/6fmd35

Film at 11!

They're going to have to start swinging at that pitch

Fastballs down the middle are tricky.

77 No he wouldn't have, no one was anywhere near the ball.

One wonders if the "work the count" philosophy has gone too far.

82 - the man has no passion for baseball. A real ballplayer would have his 8 month pregnant wife fly to New York and stay in their penthouse apartment while he went out with his model girlfriend

81
I haven't turned over to TBS, but I can guarantee you that no one is pronouncing Kuroda's last name correctly.

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.

84 - I know, I just felt like saying it. Though I could see Nomar dogging it to first, thinking the pitcher was going to get to it.

I'm putting this in the mail tomorrow:

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?

Wow, the Nuggets bus caught fire on the way to Staples Center. That's got to be a sign or something

The Brave's 3B coach is nowhere near to being in the box. What does Bowa think?

That ball was crushed.

89
My advice is to save the 41 cents.

Dear Joe: That would have been a single with Ethier in left. Your pal, Ken

I've got two sets of announcers but neither is the Dodgers. The one for Sports South doesn't seem annoying---yet.
And as usual recently, everywhere the Dodgers go we find excellent unknown young pitchers

Ron Darling explained that Pierre has "lost his ability to throw". Did he ever have that ability?

95
At least Jurrjens has been relatively highly rated in Baseball America in the last few years. Not so for Jeff Bennett.

96
It's not as if Pierre had a shoulder injury. He just never had a good arm. It happens. I'm certain Pierre would blow me away in a baseball tossing contest.

Singles off the wall happen all the time.

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

Ron Darling is surprisingly knowledgeable.

100
He went to Yale. That makes him smarter by divine right.

94 A ball off the wall would have been a double?

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

Why do you suppose my TBS channel is showing me Headline News sports (congrats, Danica Patrick!) instead of the Braves-Dodgers game?

98
I was more pointing out Darling's comment than pontificating on Pierre's arm.

103
In Hawaii, are you lumped in as a Dodger "home" market?

Life goes on, Corky.

93 you could've pointed out that i spelled "predilection" incorrectly...

Unveiling the Dodger Thoughts shirt on the unwitting Cerritos Library public today, oh yes.

Go Dodgers!

102 - actually, the relay throw got to second at the same time as the runner. That said, like reg pointed out, it was actually a pretty good throw by Pierre.

105 Beats me. How would I go about finding out? Any idea?

If I ever saw Kyra Sedgwick on the street, I'd confess to her that I think "The Closer" is awful.

102 It was actually fairly close even with JP's arm.

110
There's a link here to a map:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-blackouts061906&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

113
However that map doesn't include Alaska or Hawai'i.

You could also argue that it would have take Ethier longer to get the ball, or that Francouer would have ran harder if Ethier was out there.

113 LOL!

113 - apparently that map was drawn in 1958 because it does not seem to recognize the 49th and 50th states

NL Records Better/(Worse) than Pythagorean record:

NYM 10-6 (1)
Fla 10-7 +3
Atl 8-9 (3)
Phi 8-10 (1)
Was 5-13 (1)

StL 12-6 0
Mil 11-6 +1
Chi 11-6 +1
Pit 7-10 +1
Cin 7-11 (1)
Hou 6-12 (1)

Ari 13-4 (1)
Col 9-8 +1
San 8-10 +2
LAD 7-10 (3)
SF 7-11 +3

110
I did a search, and found the following comment which would lead me to believe Hawaii is considered a Dodger and Angel market:

*OK. I live in Hawaii. The nearest MLB teams are 2,500 miles and 3 time zones away. Here are the blackouts (other than the national FOX & ESPN Saturday/Sunday games):
On MLB.TV: None. (Good)
On DirecTV Extra Innings: Only the Dodgers and Angels and then only when they are being broadcast on FSN. (Makes sense)
On Oceanic Time-Warner Cable Extra Innings: permanent blackout of the Mariners, Giants, A's, Dodgers, and Angels. (No rational explanation)*

http://attaboy.tommydoc.net/?p=263

119
So the 50th state has been ceded to the Padres?

110 TBS is not blacked out in LA on DirectTV.

113- Another good reason not to move to Iowa.

122 - "It's Iowa" isn't enough?

TBS is blacked out on Time-Warner in South Pasadena and presumably the rest of the L.A. market.

And it's literally blacked out. They aren't showing anything on TBS HD. It's just a black screen. On the regular version of TBS there is CNN Headline News.

0 - Call me crazy, but to me this describes a functional National League offense.

Functional yes, but very dispiriting. Against preseason picks for contending teams, the Dodgers are simply doing very poorly.

vs. ARI - 11 runs scored, 23 runs allowed
vs. SDG - 27 runs scored, 16 runs allowed
vs. ATL - 2 runs scored, 10 allowed

In the case of the Padres, even when the Dodgers massively outscore the opposition, the result is still a 3-3 dead heat (mainly because of a couple blowouts). The Dodgers simply aren't scoring well against the good teams that will form their competition for a postseason berth, and it is this, I think, that forms the basis for so much frustration. Even viewed from a very optimistic lens, this team is not playing, in the early going, like one that will get past game 162.

113 Well, you could argue that by omission we're blacked out, or you could argue the opposite and we should be in. All I know is the cable identifier at the bottom of the TBS screen has MLB on from 7:00-10:30am, the paper's TV skeds say the game is on that channel, and yet it ain't there. I thought for a moment there was a rain delay, but then y'all were talking about ongoing plays, so that wasn't it.

Rats.

115 Agreed, but it's still likely that Francouer thought, "hey, Pierre, two bases!"

119 Ah. That's annoying, particularly since when the Braves and TBS had their deal going (for what, 25 years?) we got all those games with no trouble on Oceanic Cable.

124 Yeah, I've got CNN's Headline News on my regular TBS.

Snarl, grumble, grouse.

I drove through Des Moines, once. At the top of the hour, the DJ on whatever radio station I could pick up read the school lunch menu for the week. Then, when he finished that, he read the lunch menu for the senior centers.

Alston/Lasorda - 2 managers in 38 years
Russell, Hoffman, Johnson, Tracy, Little and Torre - 6 managers in 12 (though Hoffman was interim)

Again, not being a pitcher, so I don't know what they are thinking, you wonder if the starters are pressing because of the offense.

130
Alston/Lasorda - 2 managers in 43 years

Pierre didn't either bother trying to throw out the runner at home.

Now you can argue Ethier would have got Johnson there.

130 - would the Dodgers be better off today if Russell was still the manager? In all honesty, I'm curious as to what everyone's opinion.

124 - in north Orange County I get a black screen on the digital version and a picture of a swing and miss with the words: TBS home of the 2008 NLDS and 2008 ALDS; or some such thing.

134- So argued.

Interesting observation from Ron Darling about how Texiera hit that same pitch to the opposite field yesterday.

Over 60 pitches in 2+ innings for Kuroda.

I think Pierre is a button off on his uniform. The left side is sitting higher than the right side. It's pretty funny.

133 I doubt he had a shot, but I thought it slightly odd that he didn't come up throwing immediately to the cutoff man.

Straw pole:

Would anyone be strongly opposed to the dodgers going to the all blue with white lettering (spring training) jerseys on Sunday's? I think the Braves' Sunday jerseys are a nice change of pace.

135
I can't picture any scenario under which Russell would have survived all the changes in the front office. Russell was wound very tight.

And he also had a falling out with Lasorda after taking over.

And he would still be sending up a washed up Eddie Murray to pinch hit in a crucial situation. Murray was a great player. But he was not a great player in September of 1997.

Now you can argue Ethier would have got Johnson there

But you could argue that Ethier would have taken longer to get to the ball in the first place...

141
I would be more than strongly opposed. I would be take up arms and lead a guerrilla attack on Dodger Stadium to prevent it.

141
Extremism in the opposition to ugly uniforms is no vice.

142 I wonder if Scioscia would have survived all the front office changes.

Danica Patrick does what Anna Kourikova could never do.

I can't get used to seeing "Los Angeles" on the shirts instead of just "Dodgers." I'll never forgive that Anaheim team for driving LA to do it.

146
The McCourts will fire anyone at anytime if they so choose.

The Dodgers should wear white at home; the Lakers should not.

The Dodgers had "Los Angeles" on their road jerseys from 1959 through 1969.

Golden God!

That looked gone off the bat, but barely made it out.

That's nice to see!

We needed that so badly.

YES.

Russ Martin is like a nail made of robots.

Barely made it but it counts, nice going Russell.

Russell Martin has soothed my rage for Juan Pierre.

148
They had "Los Angeles" on the road uniforms for something like a decade when they first moved to LA. It's not like it's unprecedented.

151 I knew you would come up with that fact.

156-OK. That was good for a belly laugh.

142 - in Russell's defense, I think anyone who took the job would have had a falling out with Lasorda because Lasorda wasn't ready to retire. I remember having the distinct impression that Lasorda was going to be back in the dugout within a year.

But yes, the front office changes would have likely done him in. Though, if he got to keep Piazza, things could have been different, no?

Sandy Koufax looks dashing in this "Los Angeles" jersey:
http://tinyurl.com/3jhtgc

141 Non-white home unis are the devil's playthings. I wouldn't mind 1937 throwbacks once in a blue moon.

150
I also hate the home Laker whites.

I want to say the Dodgers at some point during the Fox ownership wore blue tops with white pants at home for one game. Then the public outcry was so negative that the idea was scrapped.

151 159 But that's when I listened to them on the radio and rarely got to see them on TV. Still bugs me.

The Dodgers wore blue uniforms for a whole week. It was during a Think Blue week back in the Fox Era.

I have tried to suppress the memory, but it came out once during a sensory deprivation experiment I was undergoing last night.

I'm trying to make some extra bucks.

141 - Yes, I would be.

163 Love it. Thanks.

Home whites, road grays. No solids. Wear your city name on your visiting jerseys.

There are rules, people.

Anyone else notice Pierre's unfortunate uniform buttoning today?

If I showed up at a Dodgers game in L.A. and the team was wearing blue uniforms, I would ask for my ticket price to be refunded.

172 - I concur

170
Secretly, Greg Brock has told me that he loved it when the UCLA basketball team wore black jerseys at home once.

Do the home jerseys still say "Dodgers" on the front?

166 I think that was during the time when Dodgers showed only the road games from San Francisco on TV.

174 If this were another era, I would challenge you to a duel, sir. Good day.

I said good day sir!

I'm a little surprised about this uniform discussion. I wouldn't care if the Dodgers wore kilts as long as they won.

I'm one of the few who like the Laker white uniforms I guess. I've never been a big fan of the yellow home jerseys.

175 Yes.

I do like those throwback road jerseys for the Lakers that have "Los Angeles" scripted on them.

Dunn trips on the bat. Hilarious.

178 I assume kilt-adorned baseball players wear sliding shorts underneath.

178 You just want to see Russell in a skirt.

178 - if the Dodgers wore kilts, they'd have to change the camera angle... for Martin's modesty, of course.

179 - the new white jerseys are an abomination, in my mind. The throw backs are cool though.

178 I was thinking exactly that.

181
I love those uniforms.

Does Tommy not own a nail clipper?

178
Every time I think of kilts, I think of Groundskeeper Willie exclaiming to a group of shocked kids, "'Tis only what God gave me!"

Maryville College used to wear plaid trim. Their basketball warm-ups made them look like the Bay City Rollers.

188 Lasorda?

190 Did they play any games on Saturday night?

It looks like Hu has been getting some batting tips from Tony Abreu.

192 Saturday night!

Yeah on the Torre bobblehead commercial his finger nails were as long as a Vegas cocktail waitress.

Raffy with his second steal, now if only Slappy McPopup can hit it out of the infield

189 I recall the take off on "Basic Instinct" when Willie is sitting in the chair and Wiggum threatens to shoot him if he keeps uncrossing his legs.

I'd send Raffy again

Here is what you don't want--Pierre up 3rd in an inning--as Bill James recently pointed out.

199 - it's even worse, he was up fourth, with two outs

Every time poor JP comes up, the Braves announcers negatively critique his contract.

I'm with Lyons; clearly an on-target throw gets Furcal out. I know the scorer isn't supposed to assume the DP, but that, for all intents and purposes, is a throwing error on the SS.

196 Two outs; it has to be a hit.

167 Bob, was this something like the sensory deprivation you were experimenting with?

http://tinyurl.com/5vg4bt

The Sports South annoncers pointed out "but you won't find a harder working player"

199. I think you misquoted James. What he really said was "Here is what you don't want--Pierre up."

If you want a break from sports today and you have HBO, you can watch their version of the American Revolution through John Adam's eyes.

Ouch.

Was Larry Jones limping into 2B?

I know we talked about the other day but the trend has been either everyone hits or no one hits with runners on base. Even if they hit their average with RISP, the Dodgers score a few more runs.

208- Yes, he was. And then he slid awkwardly and took about a minute to get up and dust himself off. He seems to be OK, though.

I would very much enjoy a strikeout right here.

210 Thanks, that's what I thought I saw too.

I've got the following beers in my fridge, and am getting thirsty. First person to recommend one of the following flavors wins the opportunity to control what I consume for the next 5 minutes.

Guinness Draught
Old Peculiar Ale
John Courage Ale
St. Arnold's Ale
Widmer Hefeweizen

208 - Good catch there.

Ah, and now a new 3B for the Braves.

widmer Hefeweizen

Minotaur thru 1 IP:

0 ER, 0 hits, 1 BB

If you've got Andruw's golden sombrero, through it up in the air.

Those balls right down the middle seem to be bothering Andruw.

I'm on the cusp of a Rule #1 violation.

Thank you 216 . Off to the fridge.

Patience loses much of its virtue when it dictates taking pitches right down the middle with 2 strikes.

This is frustrating.

Andruw watching a hanging breaking ball for strike 2 is just painful.

I'm no Pierre fan at all but it's getting boring to see people complain about him when his OPS is the best on the bench and currently better than two starters. He's gonna play sometimes. He's a serviceable 4th outfielder. His playing time indicates that. To his credit, his popups are down; G/F is his best in 5 years. I know, small sample but he seems to have finally accepted his role. It's our turn now.

I don't know why Kuroda is still out there. He looks completely done.

I'd like a GIDP here.

... or here.

Guh.

Gameday can be useless. "Juertjens hits a sacrifice bunt."

Yeah, and? Why was he not out at first?

Wow. That might have been the lowest called strike I've ever seen.

224

Andruw is making JP look like a power hitter.

Today was JP's first strike out.

229 Martin threw to 2nd, but it was in the dirt, everyone safe. I'd rule that a fielder's choice, E-2, if I were the scorer.

Jacksonville defense sucks! 2 errors lead to a run.

Dodgers got lucky there. Bases should have been loaded

Don't want to be critical of Russell but that was a bad play by him.

233 DeWitt will be improving it soon.

What have you done for me lately?

"Torre is so impressed with the rookie (Blake DeWitt) that he wouldn't rule out sending down Andy LaRoche when he is ready to come off the disabled list."

http://www.beloblog.com/Pe_Blogs/prosports/2008/04/dodgers-third-base-situation-r.html

232 Thanks.

237 I don't think there is any reason for Torre to rule anything out at this point.

Would Pierre have caught that...?

Wowie wow wow, Ethier!!!

Web Gem

Play of the year by Ethier! Let's turn this frigate around!

Ethier keeps it close!

Great Great Catch

Great catch my Andre...

Web Gem ?

240 - Really? We have to go there? Can't we just enjoy a good play?

240 Irrelevant - he'd never be in RF to begin with.

YES YES YES!!!!

That was nice.

Andre locks up the quality start for Kuroda.

what a catch!

240

Yes.

Last year JP only dropped a few, he's actually a good fielder with a poor arm.

The top defensive plays are called web gems on baseball tonight.

Wow, he came really close to dropping that.

And somehow Kuroda gets a quality start from that.

255 Because he bore down with men on base.

I join the chorus--man that was sweet.

237 DeWitt may be Torre's new Proctor. For the time being, that's great, but I'd rather see Nomar replace Sweeney or DFA than LaRoche go back to Vegas again.

Bless Ethier.

240 wasn't intended to be taken seriously.

254

Will ESPN show it as a Web Gem? That was the question/comment.

237 Steiner absolutely loves the guy too. I don't really get it. He certainly exceeded expectations, but it's not like he's set the world on fire.

did hu actually just swing at that bad of a pitch.

Nomar picks up a bat.

259 A better question would have been, could Kemp had made that play since he would have to make a back-handed catch.

The snarky response would be no, Pierre would not have maade that catch since he was in left field.

Darling and Caray with a nice illustration of the young players on the Dodgers and the legacy of Dan Evans.

264 You could argue that Kemp would have got there faster. ;)

259 - That wasn't clear at all, and you know, I don't really care.

I still can't find the "highlights" button on Gameday to see big plays. Little help?

264
240 was harkening back to the earlier discussion.

262 Hu rarely gets to play so I think its fair to say that he's going to be rusty most times he comes to the plate.

267
Start reading at 94 .

Nice AB by Nomar

Furcal overdue for an HR

Nomar wouldn't take that strike on the outside edge, fouls them off, and earns a walk. Good PA.

Good at bat by Nomar there.

Great at-bat, Nomar.

268 If Ethier is playing regular depth, its a routine fly ball to the gap but he was playing in a bit, the ball was hit well to right center gap (perhaps not the gap but towards it) and he had to make a leaping diving catch with a lot of ball showing to save 3 runs.

I know walks are good, but I'd rather see Furcal hack away here then take a base on balls, him being our hottest hitter and all.

If Nomar was like Lou Gehrig, he'd retire if he got congratulated for taking a walk against a guy just a few games out of the minors.

Nuggets on an 11-0 run, 36-30 Denver in the 2nd quarter.

Scratch that, Sasha hits a 3. 36-33

271 - I get it. I've read every comment. If I still have to make a case that there has been Pierre overkill whenever another outfielder makes a play, I guess I'm lost.

278 Girls like homers not walks.

But forget it. I'm sorry if I came down too hard.

280 Its the NBA, no need to tune it until the 4th.

284
That hurts, man.

282 - well yeah. Chicks dig the long ball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ltD21rYWVw

Not exactly Greg Maddux like there

Joe T. going to drive Beimel to the barber shop again?

So this is what a rally looks like. . .

Kershaw thru 3 IP:

0 ER, 2 hits, 2 BB, 2 K

286
One of the all-time great commercials.

I didn't know you were allowed to do that.

If he pulled that off it would have been the play of the year

that would have definitely been a web gem for Russ, if he'd have caught it

292 What? What?

ha, the commentator said Teixeira was too slow to run on Juan Pierre

I was going to criticize Lyons for the hardly topical "Dwight Stones" reference, but I can't name a current high jumper either.

Martin went Spiderman on the net to try to grab a ball that landed in the dugout club.

It should be clear that runs/game only tells you so much and that variation is also extremely important in determining # of wins.
This can easily be seen in the extreme.
Imagine, to make things simpler, that you give up 4 runs every single game. That reduces the problem to one dimension, although the points made could be made in two dimensions equally well.
Imagine one team scores 810 runs in one game, then 0 every other game. They'll go 1-161
Another team scores 5 runs every game. They'll go 162-0.
You can work out the math in more detail, but you'll still see that the more variation you have, the worse you'll do (assuming you have a net run advantage...it'd be the opposite if you had a net run disadvantage).

I was wondering why the Lakers game wasn't on TV here, and now I have an answer: 4 hour Papal Mass at Yankee Stadium

Odalis Perez pitched six earned run-less innings today to lower his ERA to 3.38.

300
That would drive me crazy.

...the more variation you have, the worse you'll do

Not if your runs scored variation aligns favorably with your runs allowed variation.

I thought the point of displaying the runs the way Jon did was to point out the variation.

Eric Gagne is trying to please chicks in the greater Cincinnati area today.

300 Are they showing it on every station?

Come on guys, this is kind of game that you have to win because Atlanta is blowing every chance to take control.

300 I'm working on this right now and I can tell you that it's absolutely not true. If you were as consistent as humanly possible versus your normal run distribution, you'd win one more game or so.

Pierre is overdue, right? Yes? Please?

Re: 301

Someone has kidnapped every aspect of Odalis Perez (save for the propensity to give up horrendous numbers of hits and runs) and replaced him with a near-exact replica.

I was going to make a point about median runs scored and allowed, but the Dodgers are better off in that way too

Molly, I read your interview with Derek Fisher, is as nice and classy a guy as he is portrayed?

Kershaw just K'd former prospect Sergio Pedroza with 95 MPH heat.

Wow Giants just own Cards. Leading 8-0.

would kemp have stolen that base? i think not.

Hidden Ball Trick! Fail!

wow did they really just run the hidden ball play on Pierre?

Kershaw thru 4 IP:

0 ER, 2 hits, 2 BB, 3 K (2.00 ERA)

310-Even more so. I'm actually supposed to interview him again this week. We'll see.

man loney looks bad

Loney is really mixed up. Wouldn't be surprised to see him sit soon.

313 based on the throw, Kemp would have taken third also

Kind of like Pierre just did

Two steals, a hidden ball trick, and a fake bunt by Andruw Jones. What a half-inning!

Now he will never get out of the lineup.

earning your pay check their, fatty.

Andruw, a fly ball would have been useful there.

322 Can't fault him for doing what he does best.

A. Jones is just killing this team. Ned must get sick every time he comes to bat. Frank must get furious.

part of me wants to see Pierre steal home

Pitching around Ethier.

Walking Ethier to get to Russ. Make 'em pay, Golden God!!

awful at bat by Andruw.

Would this be a bad time to point out Andruw has a better OPS than Russ?

317 He seems to have a great influence on Kobe, if anything he can take a shot and Kobe won't give him the glare.

327
All of me wants to see that.

Dodgers putting up a picket fence series in Atlanta.

331 I think frustration tends to get pointed at the most expensive guys who are stinking up the joint.

335
I think it is because Martin has already produced for the Dodgers, so people give him benefit of the doubt.

331 According to Gameday's numbers that's not accurate. Jones .595, Martin .628.

306 - That's hilarious, because you meant to reference 299 .

Chip Caray said the Braves and the Dodgers, "former NL West rivals," are now "meeting in a cross country matchup for the very first time".

Huh?

337 Okay, before this game.

339 - that hurt my brain

Kershaw thru 5 IP:

0 ER, 2 hits, 2 BB, 4 K (1.89 ERA)

I hate to pile on, but moving from 2nd to 3rd on a fly to LF is bad stuff.

Caray with another comment about Pierre's arm

runner tagged from second on a fly ball to left, don't see that every day

game

Looked like Andre mistakenly ran in on that ball

Ethier can't chase that one down. No one could, from that positioning.

For reasonable values of variation, the effect is small, but still there. A few games per year. That's with 0 correlation. Too lazy to consider correlation right now.

Brave's win expectancy just went up a lot.

Game Set Match. Dr, Proctor kills the patient.

batting practice. wow

did he just say Proctor might need a hug?

Rod Barajas started at DH for the Big Hurt-less Blue Jays today.

Proctor's ex girlfriend is having fun w/ his struggles right now on her blog.

On the bright side, I couldn't attend the game in person today as planned. At least I can sulk in silence without tomahawk chopping around me.

Proctor is suddenly reminding me of Don Stanhouse when he pitched for the Dodgers (Not the Os!).

Bad pitching or not, the story of this weekend is the total lack of offense, starting with Loney striking out in the first inning of Game 1 with the bases loaded.

Come. Observe. Watch your Dodgers fall apart in a spectacular fashion. Free hot dogs for all.

Mop Up Park warming in the pen.

That's gotta be a technical on Anthony Carter.

This team looks absolutely hopeless right now. Meanwhile, I just watched the Red Sox come from five runs down in the 7th to beat the Rangers, with Manny sitting on the bench.

349 I'll have the post up in a couple days so I can show my work, but the effect doesn't exist. Sure you have a decent chance to win every game, but you lose the games where you score enough runs to automatically win. It balances out.

349 - Yes, but there is also variation in runs allowed. It is just as likely that unusually low runs allowed will benefit a team, and on average, it works.

These are correlated too - park effects, weather, etc play into things.

A disastrous series when we could ill-afford it. Sigh.

I just noticed that on Gameday the pitcher's ERA is updated in real time. I just saw Proctor's jump from 5 to 9.39.

Looking at bright side our bullpen will be well rested.

If you lose the close ones, and win the blow-outs, you never have to use your good relievers.

Joe Torre's best fried isn't helping him.

Kershaw done for the day:

5.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, 2 BB, 5 K (1.83 ERA)

Next 7 days are going to be the test of Joe's power as a manager early on in the season.

Cincinnati, Arizona, then Colorado.

The boys in Blue are about to get hit pretty hard over the next week, how well Joe manages the team facing some tough teams and the club house might be an indicator of the rest of the season.

best friend. Wow. Torre is not Colonel Sanders.

And with that K it falls to 9.00.

What a wasted weekend for the Dodgers.

Jones really needs to sit. He is killing this team. Even one game. He needs a break. He is just pressing and pressing harder. Give Kemp a start in CF.

Derek Fisher just threw the ball at Carmelo's head at point blank range (on accident).

373 But is Andruw the only reason why the team isn't winning these games? I am not saying he shouldn't take a day off but really outside of Furcal, no one is having a consistent year at the plate.

373 I'm not sure if, as of late, Jones is killing this team as much as any of DT's favorites.

Plus, a Jones benching would likely mean a Pierre start in center. That is a depressing thought.

373

That's where Joe's years as a winning coach are going to come in.

Team playing badly, power not there, what does Joe do in games that are most likely going to be lost?

Play the regulars, try some experiments with the line up and roles, or just go out there and plug away?

Interesting 7 days ahead.

That should be more than, not as much as. I should start waking up earlier.

I hope Jeff Van Gundy doesn't take a coaching job this offseason. I really like him as an announcer.

375 Agreed. The last three days have been a team effort.

379
Jeff Van Gundy was a very annoying coach, but he's a very pleasant announcer.

But his eyes creep me out.

375. Agreed but others have sat. In addition, other are providing other services. Russ catches a good game. Pitchers need him. Jp offers SB and speed. Right now the best that can be said is that Jones doesn't drop fly balls. I just think he should be subject to the same treatment as everyone else and given a day or two off.

The question everyone is silently(?) worrying about is not if/when will a Dodger offense show up on a consistent basis, but, when will Ned panic and make one of his patented trades?

382 Day's off (excluding Pierre/Kemp) (really more days they did not start)
0 - Furcal, Loney
1 - Jones, Ethier
2 - Martin
3 - Dewitt, Kent

383 Which trades would those be? Most of his debated moves are free agent signings, he's not made a trade involving a significant position player or prospects for position player since he has been here.

384 Also, Jones has pretty much played everyday since he came up in 1996. He gets about 1-2 days off a month.

385
Mark Hendrickson trade.

387 Yeah, but they were dealing for a 5th starter, I know its giving credit for not doing anything but he hasn't made a deal involving significant prospects in his time here, I don't think they will now.

The Pau Gasol trade might be the biggest giveaway in NBA history.

388
Maybe I am in minority, but I still thought Jackson and Navarro could be considered significant prospects.

I guess Guzman could have been considered significant too, but that trade did not do much for either team.

391 - I disagree, I think Julio Lugo hurt us in 2006.

The Lakers offense is really something.

388 We lost Dioner Navarro in the Hendrickson deal.

I am significantly less excited about driving 4 hours to Cincinnati tomorrow. But I'll represent anyway.

I'd like to thank the Memphis GM again.

392 - My memory is hazy, but the Lugo trade afforded the compensatory pick that led to a sandwich pick in the draft because of a bizarre high-ranking for lugo. I -think- that was used on Mattingly, but again, two years is like, a long time man.

Milton Bradley for Ethier, although I think it was his best deal.

383

Ned will probably offer Andruw a long term deal, because that uncertainty of his future is clearly effecting his hitting. Shades of Mo Vaughn.

397
Maddux for Izturis was another good one for Ned. The Marlon Anderson deal too.

396 - true, so I'll give it some time.

If--big if--there really were divisions in the front office last year over keeping the kids vs. acquiring vets, as reported, I wonder what looks were exchanged along with the Texiera home run. Without a turnaround by the break, the pro-trade 'em forces might at least have more sway this year.

398 - That's harsh. You're saying Ned is as stupid as Steve Phillips?

The jury is out on Betemit for Proctor, but I have always opposed it. Although on the plus side, Blake Dewitt came into today's game with a .274 EqA.

395
Driving to Cincinnati for any reason would not excite me.

396 Lugo got us Chris Withrow and James Adkins in the 2007 draft.

405 Off by a year. Thank ya kindly.

Does anybody get the feeling the Dodgers might be the inverse of the D-Backs last year? Out-scoring the opponents by winning most of the blowouts, but losing most of the close-ones, and thus, have a losing record?

407 This just feels like an offensive slump. They had a few of these last season. So many called strikes. They're just not seeing the ball. Unless this continues through May, I will not believe that a lineup that regularly features Furcal, Kemp, Kent, Loney, Ethier and Martin, plus Jones and either Nomar or La Roche won't spend most of the season punishing pitchers or at least scoring a lot more than 1 run per game over the course of a lost weekend.

This isn't on Colletti or Torre. It's just a darn slump (avoiding Rule #1) that the hitters have to use mojo and burning sticks to banish.

Jon's diagram in his original post should be something you can look up every day on MLB.com. Maybe as a bar chart. It's extremely helpful, and a good basis for comparison.

NPUT

385
Most of the Ned's errors have been on FA signings but.....

Poor trades:
1/4/06 Sanchez for Seo
1/14/06 Jackson for Baez
6/27/06 Navarro for Hendrickson
7/31/07 Betemit for Proctor

Good trades:
11/5/06 Ethier for Bradley
7/31/06 Maddux for Izturis (however, not resigning him takes away any good points)

I am always appalled when the best that someone can say about the Ned is that he has not traded away the good young prospects. Maybe he is longing to do so, but is just on a short leash.

Fortunately I seem to be taking the Dodgers current problems with a fairly calm acceptance. I did OK in 2007 also, but I remember doing poorly in 2006 and particularly in 2005. It could be that DT is helping my experience as I realize the path has been aided by increasing contact through DT over these years.
"Things" are certainly not falling the D's way this April, and I understand in this series the Dodgers were 2 for 42 hitting with men on base. While it has been very hard to prove there is "clutchness" in hitting, I don't think there is any question that "chokeing" exists and can actually spread rapidly thoughout a team to become a team slump. It is fair to say a team truly becomes demoralized.
Teams like the Snakes and the Rockies had the advantage that their budget gave them no choice but to play their young prospects. They did and went through a period of a year or more in which these players stunk and had to figure things out: now they are basically over this. I hate to harp on this, but I have predicted struggles this year for Loney and Kemp, and even Martin. They will go through it one time or another, and it won't help how gradually they are eased in. This has to happen, and the vets must go when their contracts are up.
I wouldn't be surprised to see many of these young players getting hot in the second half, and pre-viewing a wonderful age as pitching begins to join the major league club.
All this intuative stuff doesn't include the plight of Andruw. I am as baffled as anyone as to what course he is on and had thought Atlanta just felt they couldn't afford him. Now I can't help thinking something more sinister is involved, and perhaps the Atlanta people in the know figured he was already headed south.