So, of course, I got LAT'd on the last thread. I sort of expected it. Here's what I wrote:

408. dzzrtRatt
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 compariso

I agree. This team will improve, just as the Dbacks will...disimprove. But I'd sure like it to happen sooner rather than later.

We might have to put Justin Miller on notice.

-heavy, plus fastball
-good command
-lack of homers and XBHs,

looks like those are enough to beat up on low A hitters.

6IP 3H 0ER 1BB 11K

nice.

Unsure if the DT pun was intended, however.

I wonder if Ray Milland ever played in a Hollywood Stars game. It would be great to see what he looked like in a Dodger uniform.

He used to live near where I grew up. He was a frequent visitor to a bakery/soda fountain I used to frequent. He and it are both gone now.

final line today.

7IP 3H 0ER 1bb 12k

on the season:
20IP 12H 1hr 7bb 22k 1.8 era

Then Wthrow and Watt should take their spots in the Great lakes rotation.

3 runs.....Pathetic!!! LA rarely does well in Atlanta, but 3 runs against 2 mediocre pitchers and 1 decent pitching prospect....screams panic for Dodger fans. This weekend's performance, I hope, is rock bottom.
The last time I posted something similar to this was right before LA reeled off 16 of 17 two years ago....let's hope history repeats.
If not, I may have to start up a www.firened.com blog.

I agree, pretty pathetic series from the Dodgers offensively.

What was his username?

If, hypothetically, someone were to bet on the Brewers today, $20 to win $23, and they noticed the Brewers were up 3-1 going into the bottom of the 10th, that someone might hypothetically have thought he had money in the bank.

Then, if that someone turned channels over to watch Gagne close it out -- assuming of course that someone also hypothetically had Extra Innings on his cable package in San Diego, for instance -- then that someone may have shouted many Rule 1 violations directed toward a player he once revered after said closer gave up homer-homer-walk to his 3 batters.

You know, hypothetically.

Watching Loney the past 4 or 5 games is like watching a totally different hitter than what I was seeing during the first 12 games. However, I thought he was getting back to being himself today even with his lack of production. It just seemed like he was mentally out of it.

The Dodgers have been swinging and missing at sliders that break out of the strike zone. Today they seemed to make up their minds to stop doing that. But instead of sliders, today they got fast balls that were starting outside and coming back in to hit the outside corner. They kept taking those pitches for called third strikes.

At least my soccer team has started 3-0.
I never got the ray milland references in bugs bunny toons when i was a kid. But enjoyed them anyway.

It's not particularly fair.

At the end of the novel on which the movie was based he was looking forward to his next binge.

So it's not as if they suck.

Very true. I believe I picked the Braves to finish 2nd in the NL East this year. I'm very high on their overall lineup and I also knew Yunel Escobar could have a nice breakout season.

I feel like I just had a lost week. I don't ordinarily take an entire week off, and I had fun with my family, but now that I'm back I have the feeling that I've been gone forever. So much work to do this week. Let's hope the Dodgers get back to work too.

He forgot, however, to thank Henry Clay.

Those articles aren't gonna write themselves...

His strikeout rate is pretty high. I would keep him there for a while. Even though he is talented hitter, he still has some holes that he should work on.

But he is definitely exciting me.

Who's this Henry Clay you speak of?

No they don't...but the Dodgers offense is going a good limitation of a vacuum cleaner right now.

What was the old commercial from one manufacturer with the bolling ball?

Let me make a D4P comment. See, the Dodgers don't need power. Every time they hit a HR they lose.

Well, if the Dodgers did that...

*He's not

44 He's the guy that wanted to be president more than any human being ever. Yes, more than Adlai or Nixon.

Why did Juan Pierre start today?

I've read Remini's bio on Clay. I can go set up a thread for us to debate the merits of the Compromise of 1850 over on the Griddle.

Clay also was elected Speaker of the House in his first House term. He had previously done a short term in the Senate to fill out another term. Despite being too young to be eligible to serve in the Senate.

It's a bold strategy.

Many said Flames would be Sharks hardest test. Many may be right.

There is a sort of deflating sadness that accompanies grading tests. It's one quarter frustration towards the students, and three quarters blaming yourself for not doing a better job teaching. Even if the scores are decent.

There is no joy in Brockville :-(

I'm not kidding

/Reverse last words

The Communist Party of North Korea is your new leader.

It's sort of like Juan Pierre sitting out on opening day.

Hamilton was right about the future of the American economy. Jefferson was wrong.

That didn't seem to make it into the minseries.

Now Shimmin has a list named for me, too. What an honor.

KG16 and I may have met. I never took the novel class, but I'd bet your teacher was either Fried (who also taught my father in the late 70s) or Cooper (whom I have a personal vendetta against). Oh, and Greenburg may have been spelled Greenberg, can't quite remember.

I'm not a big Jefferson fan.

Would that be a good trade?

The deification of Jefferson is, to me, among the most baffling things in American history.

Get a room, Thomas Jefferson and people who love Thomas Jefferson.

It could have also been called Polk: And those other guys after Jackson and before Lincoln, you know, those guys.

Of course, I don't have more free time than others :-)

http://tinyurl.com/44f4od

"Every serious baseball fan has had moments when they see a dumb managerial move and say, 'Hey, I could manage better than that guy,'" says Eric Enders, a baseball researcher and author who avidly plays Richman's game. "Strat-O-Matic is a chance to prove it."

Which was more controversial Paul DePodesta's term as GM of the Dodgers or Henry Clay's American System?

I know, as a product of the California public school system, who only paid attention to history when forced to memorize facts for quizzes and tests, I was really getting a crush on Thomas Jefferson as portrayed in "John Adams" (I haven't seen the final episode yet).

Now Brock has made me feel like a guy who thinks Juan Pierre is good because he gets 200 hits a year.

Though is life is certainly more movie worthy, soldier, confidante/protege of George Washington, his affair, his anonymous writings in support of the constitution, his role in the elections of 1796 and 1800, and of course, his duel with Aaron Burr.

I mean, I majored in American Studies. I should have retained some of this stuff, right?

At least I knew Washington had two terms.

You're like a white, free, male Sally Hemings!

Greg Brock has founded "The Society to Promote Really Awesome Stuff."

98 I was stoked that Rufus Sewell was going to play Hamilton, until I remembered that Sewell only plays creeps and weirdos.

They might as well gotten Brad Dourif.

I feel dumb for wanting to wait until Flight of the Conchords returns.

Sewell was definitely not a creep or weirdo as Fortinbras in Branagh's Hamlet.

He was 100% badass. Inspired the "My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!" speech and everything.

George Mason was bounced and replaced by an actor who looked like Joakim Noah.