Notice links in the sidebar to the previous two columns, and notice he'll be writing these all season.

What I see are parallels to "real life." Those of us past 45 are often told while hunting for employment that we're "overqualified," usually code for "too expensive when we can find a 25-year-old to do the same work for half the salary."

Maybe "Doug Glanville" is secretly a pen name for Luis Gonzalez.

1 Very much a real life parallel, but a tough one, when you may reach that moment at age 32.

3 - Glanville had earned $11M in the bigs by the time he reached that moment though, thus effectively ending the real life parallel.

I would hope that Glanville never has to work another day in his life. Early retirement isn't such a bad thing.

I like this from his first column:

Everyone who makes it to big league camp was a baseball legend at some point in his life. It was big fish from big and small ponds thrust into the biggest pond of their lives, most of us just trying to find some plankton of an opportunity in the last slot of a 25-man team.

I had sparkling college All-America and first-round draft pick credentials, but I found out pretty quickly that I didn't have any idea how to approach a major league curve ball.

Was there someone in the comments last night who said they knew Cory Wade, or did I misread that?

I wonder how long it took for him to admit that he "understands the cycle".

That would be a really hard thing to swallow.

Florida getting it's priorities straight (if you have a very strict company, may not be safe for work):

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN4O32105020080424

1. It would be nice if those principles applied to not only the "worker bees" but management too. vr, Xei

6
Jon, JoeyP said he read on another message board that one of the commenters there knew Wade personally and knew in advance that he would be called up.

Wes Parker was the last Dodger to understand the cycle.

for second there I thought he was our Glanville

Does Bob have a color alert scheme for the "Baseball Life Cycle" as he does "Hitting For The Cycle"?
vr, Xei

13
I think Ray King is at red alert status. :)

Since when is TrueBlueLA getting nearly 200 comments for game chats?

And to think, I was reading Andrew back when he was at DFP. He's all grows up now! :)

Can someone possibly fast-forward/flash forward like they do on "Lost" and tell me if the Dodgers win this weekend's series with the Rockies? I just want to know if I should invest any time or emotions in it, or just ignore it altogether.

if you believe in gut feeling then I think you should invest in the blue this weekend

I believe! I believe.

They're not on Fox nationally tomorrow right? That's usually a guaranteed loss, so that's one thing in our favor right there.

Colletti finds Glanville's experience and leadership very intriguing...

16
In 1998, Chan Ho Park told Todd Helton he would face him once more, against all odds, on Sunday, April 26, 2008.

Helton didn't believe him and told him to get out of his flat, but Park wouldn't leave until Helton agreed to meet him on that future date.

If you see blood coming out of Park's nose this weekend, don't say I didn't warn you.

20
Sunday, April 27, 2008

Sample size warning, obviously, but so far this year, Matt Kemp is batting:

.333 on curveballs
.364 on sliders
.500 on changeups
.500 on splitters
.103 on fastballs

http://baseball.bornbybits.com/2008/batters/Matt_Kemp.html

22. Interesting. Can you list the breakdown on pitches that he struck out on, just out of curiousity? vr, Xei

23 It doesn't have that info, but if you click on the link you can see the location of all his swings and misses by pitch type.

Andruw Jones, incidentally, is batting .000 on curveballs, .000 on sliders, and .212 on fastballs.

Assuming the charts are right, it looks like he's getting about as many bad calls in his favor, as going the other way.

22 shocking... For me at least

22 shocking... For me at least

8 - it's nuttin', honey.

21

Todd Helton - "Your fastball is mine, Chan Ho. It always was. It will be again"
Chan Ho Park - "But you'll never hit it."
Todd Helton - "I suppose the game is on for the both of us."
Chan Ho Park - "I suppose it is. Sleep tight, Todd."

Cue creepy music

Glanville reminds me of Jack Elam's summary of the stages of a Hollywood career:

"Who's Jack Elam?"
"We could do it cheaper if we got Jack Elam."
"Get me Jack Elam!"
"Get me a Jack Elam type!"
"Who's Jack Elam?"

So now Troy from West Virginia is sending autographed pictures of himself to the Dodgers?

http://tinyurl.com/5o3wnp

I would probably watch a "Beyond the Glory" type documentary of Troy.

29
Awesome screen name. One of the better palindromes ever.

My favorite palindrome of all-time is "Lisa Bonet ate no basil."

I don't know if I should take this somewhere else, but I thought LOST was awesome last night. Watched the last half again at lunch, and I liked it even more.

31

So, when does this reach the "restraining order" phase ?

31

It would be awesome if Beimel would do a youtube video pretending to be Troy

34
This was close, with one of Beimel's friends as Troy-like, and Beimel himself appeared at the end.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tsahZaLHjSo

33 https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/964473.html

I thought it was a great episode, too.

I haven't watched Lost yet, so normally this would be okay, but I'll entreat you to keep the discussion down in last night's chat thread.

37 I still can't believe they killed all the characters off in one fell swoop like that! Wonder how they'll fill in the rest of the episodes...

Ooops! Sorry! Forget I said anything.

35 That Beimel video is hilarious, seems like he was having a good time with the whole idea.

37

No problem. That is why I kept my comment as a general statement.

32 Able was I ere I saw Elba.

Gagne, I made Damien gag.

38
And what about Danica McKellar coming out of nowhere to teach the smoke monster that math is fun.

I was in the same elevator as Beimel once (2 years ago)

ESPN is making a big deal that Josh Howard partakes in the Yoda in the off-season.

I am shocked that a NBA player would partake in the Yoda.

Bavasi's antagonizing M's fans again, re-signing an unproductive veteran catcher while Clement languishes in AAA.

35

That is a great video and the comments are funny. Joe apparently addresses Troy in the comments. I gotta say, i don't know if I would recognize Joe on the street...he looks like a rock star.

44 Grave danger you are in. Impatient you are, Howard.

I'm under the impression that Troy from West Virgina is the same guy as our own scamp Blue Tahoe.

I was like mah what ever

48
I really hope that's true. It fits with my conception of the universe.

It's Rick Mon-Day:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/April_25

I like the Buckner one on this list.

22

Thats actually what i expected with Kemp. His big problem this year is his tardiness on fastballs. Often he swings through them, and he hasnt made solid contact all year. Does anyone remember the last time he pulled a fastball, or even made solid contact against one? People make way too big of a deal about his hitting of breaking pitches, as he usually does hammer the "hangers", which is what good hitters do. If he can hit good fastballs like he did last year and still hit the breaking ball, he'll be a handful.

Standings End of Day 9/17/07
Arizona 84-67, ---
San Diego 82-67, 1 GB (Wild Card lead)
Dodgers 79-70, 4 GB
Rockies 77-72, 6 GB

The Dodgers then traveled to Colorado for a 4-game set with the Rockies, and would face them (and lose to them) seven times over the next 10 days. Of course, the Rockies' ascension into the playoffs, and ultimately the World Series, seemed to come at the direct and almost sole expense of the Dodgers (although the Padres might share some grief).

Tonight begins the cleansing process, a payback of sorts for 2007.

And what the hell, why not also throw the angst of Larry Walker owning one of Mike Piazza's two MVP awards (1997) into the mix.

Also, purple is predominately featured in the Rockies' uniforms. Barney the dinosaur is purple. Need I say more?

Purple is predominantly featured in the Lakers' uniforms...

54
That's a low blow, man. :)

54 Not if I had any say about it.

So Marty wants to tear down Dodger Stadium and take purple out of the Lakers uniforms. What a nut.

57
And he never went to college.

Oh, I too would be in favor of a stadium downtown.

You're a smart boy, D4P. But I know how to take care of smart boys, you smart college guys! I've been seeing your kind around since I was ten years old... working as a busboy. "Oh busboy, it seems my friend has thrown up on the table. Clean up that mess, boy, will'ya?" And then when I went to sea as a steward... people poking at you with umbrellas. "Oh, boy!", "You, boy!", "Careful with that luggage, boy!" And I took it. I took it for years! But I don't have to take it any more.

60 Marty sounds like he's on the edge of taking his gun to work.

It's gonna happen to you. It's gonna happen to you! What are you gonna do if Marty gets married? Huh? What are you gonna cook? Where's all the children playing in all the rooms? Where's the noise? It's a curse to be a widow, a curse! What are you gonna do if Marty gets married? What are you gonna do?

Per Diamond:

Furcal, SS
Jones, CF
Garciaparra, 3B
Kent, 2B
Loney, 1B
Martin, C
Ethier, RF
Pierre, LF
Kuroda, P

I have four reserve level tickets for tonite's game - Joe Torre Bobble head - they are section 43 row H - is anyone interested in them? All I ask is for the face value, not including the $4-5 ticket charge - $20 a piece. Anyone interested?

54 I thought that was "forum blue".

What did Joe Torre do to get his head bobbled...?

63

So it goes...

Ellipses are Dodger Thoughts favorite form of punctuation...

Tonight is the Dodgers' 23rd game and Torre's 23rd different batting order.

Repetition watch is on! We should try to guess the date of the first repeat lineup. I'll go with July 23.

68 Obviously the apostrophe is not as highly regarded...

68 My all time favorite computer was my Amiga 3000. It would speak any words (and sound like Stephen Hawking in doing so) after the `say' command.

If you put ellipses at the end of a sentence, it would finish the sentence `and so on, and so on...'. That always cracked me up.

71
My friend's mother was disabled, and used an Amiga to speak.

Last year the Dodgers had their first repeat batting order on April 21. (Furcal-SS Pierre-CF Garciaparra-1B Kent-2B Gonzalez-LF Martin-C Ethier-RF Betemit-3B Penny-P)

For those scoring at home, we beat Pittsburgh on the Golden God's walk-off grand slam.

Found it on SI:

"Folks in his own clubhouse are starting to question how much Andruw Jones (.159, 25 K's in 69 at-bats) has left, not a good sign at all."

69. July 23rd? of this year??
vr, Xei

66 - I don't know, but is the lineup of bobbleheads is subject to change?

These recent lineups suck. I mean, seriously, Ethier 7th? He's the best hitter on the team.

71 That's awesome!

I don't "get" thinking that Nomar is our best hitter.

79. Who thinks Nomar is our best hitter?
vr, Xei

79 - I don't get Andruw in the 2, Pierre over Kemp today, or the way Joe Torre handles the bullpen.

This marks the 5th game in a row that Nomar has hit 3rd or 4th in the lineup. Amazing that a guy whose turned-into-nothing-but-a-singles-hitter-ness should relegate him to the bench is instead revered by Management because batting him 3rd or 4th means that his occasional single will likely drive in a run here and there.

Pierre has to start at some point. Batting order isn't all that important. vr, Xei

Nomar's tied for the team lead in homers over the past week. I assume that Torre is going to consider him a power hitter until Nomar proves otherwise. After all, Joe wasn't around last year. The last time Torre saw Nomar play, he was slugging .500 in the American League.

Who thinks Nomar is our best hitter?

The Bobble-Head.

Jon, you need to fix the math on your "2008 Season" sidebar...

85. When did he say that?
vr, Xei

Hmm. If we like to bat our best hitter 3rd, why don't we put Furcal there?

87
When he began putting Nomar in the #3/4 spot consistently. Actions speak at least as loudly as words.

89. um, ok.
vr, Xei

Starting in two or three weeks, this should be the everyday order:

Furcal
Martin
Kemp
Kent
Ethier
LaRoche
Loney
Jones

the Kanye West tour was one of the cooler hip hop concerts Ive been to.

How was Lupe?

93

Absolutely sic. He went on first out of the 3 tour acts and it was nice because it wasn't that crowded yet. I was on the KW marketing team so I had access to basically anywhere (sans dressing rooms) in the arena. I was mostly up close, in front of the first row most of the time.

When Kanye went on, security tried to hold everyone back but they broke through and everyone on the floor smushed up as close as they can to the stage.

PS Kanye is the most conceited artist in the business right now. His set was hot, but it was so cheesy. He was traveling through the universe trying to find the biggest star, the star that will shine forever and last the longest, yada yada yada.

You can guess who/what that "star" was.

No big deal that Pierre is playing tonight. He had only started two of the previous seven games. Besides, Kemp is more likely to play the next two days anyway since two lefties (Redman and Francis) are pitching.

OF playing time distribution thus far:

Plate Apps
Ethier 91
Jones 84
Kemp 69
Pierre 46

Innings
Ethier 180
Jones 176
Kemp 130
Pierre 81

Starts (including tonight)
Ethier 22
Jones 21
Kemp 14
Pierre 12

Pretty weird that Ethier, who during Spring Training complained about being the odd man out, has played the most of the four outfielders.

has played the most of the four outfielders

...and the best.

The Dodgers are one of four teams that have used only four outfielders so far. The other three are the Royals, Pirates, and Orioles.

The Giants have used 9.

Who needs four outfielders when you have JAYSON WERTH??

3-0 Phils, top 3rd.

Man Rick Neuheisel isnt catching a break early in his tenure... both Cowan & Olsen were carted off the field today. per ESPN.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3368114

100
Actually they were carted off the field yesterday. Cowan may require reconstructive surgery and miss the 2008 season.

94

That sounds like something Gob Bluth would do. How can he perform that storyline and not be laughed at by his friends?

Yes, I know. The friends don't laugh because they like the lifestyle.

Times Sports gets hard-nosed about sources:

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/04/times_sports_gets_serious.php

103 Well, it's pretty interesting to get an inside look at the newspaper business.

Also interesting is the fact the Times writers are still getting raises!

Kanye must not be aware of the singer cycle.

Jayson Werths broken wrist is another reason why Depo is no longer with us. That was a brilliant stroke in 2004 and it is good to see Jayson finally healthy again for a sustained period. When Ned was lamenting we had no outfielders back in Nov 2006, he forgot to count on Werth. I understand because of the wrist injury but man it is tough to take seeing him play so well for the Phillies while he subs for Depo's folly.

105 Yeah. Ethier/Werth/Kemp would be a pretty darn good outfield.

I loathe Kanye West. Not only is he a giant ego-maniac, but all his beats are just mixes of old songs. Even P Diddy can do that.

95 This will not make Mr. Brock happy.

On the otherhand, since Colorado is starting lefties the next two games, Mr. Kemp should play in those games.

all his beats are just mixes of old songs

I can't believe so many people can get rich by copying old songs.

Rob Neyer has an "Insider" article about whether and how much managers matter.

I'm not an Insider.

I used to be an Insider.

Kershaw and LaRoche both starting tonight for Jacksonville, Andy started in the field for the first time this year.

I believe Tim Sexton is pitching tonight for Inland Empire.

I'm off to old ballgame to see Hiroki Kuroda for the first time. I have seen Penny twice, Lowe once, Chad once and Kuo once so far.

109 Well, what percentage of the population is really musically astute? I heard a story on NPR once where the the owner of a radio station that resisted playlists put the figure at about 5%, and I think he may be close. The other 95% just want to hear what's currently deemed cool.

Of course, one of the great things about DT is that those figures do not apply here.

112 Bring them luck! Bring them an extra gnome if you have to. They could use all the good gn-omens they can get.

The Jax game will be fun to follow, too.

I'm off for the eve, will catch the game in the archives late, so... good luck, Dodgers!

110 It is your standarad article about how much does a manager really affect the outcome.

115
Does he reach any strong conclusions one way or the other?

116 He reached the groundbreaking conclusion that... {Sorry, you must be a Toaster Insider to read the rest of this comment}

I've been sitting on the tarmac in minneapolis for, oh, about 4 hours waiting for some nasty storm to pass thru Chicago, where i'll pick up, maybe, my connecting flight to LA. I figue to be home in about 8 hours if I'm lucky.

so until my battery dies, i'll check in here for amusement.

another great pda read for these situations--Fire Joe Morgan. you can't stop giggling. the item about dusty baker praising edward encarnacion by saying he "bleeds internally" was especially choice.

Meanwhile, Jayson Werth has 5 homeruns this season.

118

Ugh. That sounds terrible. I've grown to hate air travel, but it is generally unavoidable.

dzzrtRatt doesn't seem to spend much time in the dzzrt these days...

Minotaur is 2 for 2 ... oh and hes struck out 5 in 3 innings. He is now on 3rd w/ LaRoche batting 1 out

The price of working at home is lots of travel. I like seeing my colleagues when I'm in Minneapolis, Boston, Phoenix, Boise, Colorado Springs, Oklahoma City (partial list). Hotels can be OK. But flying is the pits.

LaRoche struck out, hes 1 for 2 ... 1-0 Jax (Suns have left 9 on base, 7 in scoring position) going to the top of the 5th. Minotaur's line so far 4IP, 1H, 1BB, 6K's and the Jax announcer says this is the best hes looked so far this season.

124 Hmm... I read that post about J.P. Shadrich's comments before I actually heard them on the internet feed.

Must be a whole lot of buffering going on.

Will this happen before 2009?

3b. Furcal
2b. Abreu
RF. Kemp
1b. Loney
c. Martin
LF. Ethier
CF. Jones
SS. Hu

From the link in 51 :
2000 - Honoring the work stoppage called by Cuban-Americans over the Elian Gonzalez situation, Alex Fernandez, Vladimir Núñez, Michael Tejera and Mike Lowell of the Marlins, Jose Canseco of Tampa Bay, and Mets' Rey Ordóñez and Cookie Rojas do not participate in major league action.

Mike Lowell? I didn't know his background, that he was born in Puerto Rico. From his wikipedia entry:

Mike was raised in Miami, Florida. He is the son of Carlos Lowell, a Cuban exile of Irish and German descent that established in Puerto Rico, from 1962 to 1974, pitching for the Puerto Rico National Team during that time.

(Cookie Rojas refrained from coaching, I assume.)

126
I'm going out on a limb and predicting Furcal will never play 3B for the Dodgers.

I am going to miss dodger baseball because the folks at extra innings can't get their act together.

the dodgers follow the sox and TB . . . .

130
You've got 35 minutes until first pitch.

final numbers on Minotaur: 6IP, 2H, 0ER 2BB, 8K's

I realize I am LAT'ing myself, but:

Doug Glanville was the best quote in baseball when he was playing. These columns are gems.

131 that doesn't make it any less tied.

I very seldom get annoyed, but I am annoyed right now.

NPUT

I just returned from a trip to Huntsville, AL, where I was able to see the Suns play last night. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick around to see Kershaw pitch tonight, but what a great time I had last night. I got to the game early and was able to get tickets in the first row right behind the dugout, so when the Suns came out I was able to have conversation with a few of them. It helped that there were only a few hundred people in the stands and most of those were on the Huntsville side. I had a quick opportunity to chat with McDonald as he came out to stretch before warming up, but he was either really focused, shy, or just didn't want to talk much. Shortly thereafter, I was able to get Laroche's attention. He came over, offered to sign autographs and talked to me for a couple minutes about his hand and being happy to be back. He says the hand is doing great, and then he even showed it to me, as if that would prove that it was good. He seems like a real nice guy. I tried to get some information on when he might me moving up from the Suns or if he would be heading to LA, but he either didn't know or wasn't going to share it with me, no surprise. After spotting Kershaw during warm ups (wearing number 36 instead of the 22 that my program listed) and failing to get his attention, I couldn't seem to spot him at all in the dugout during the game. I assumed for a while that he was down in the bullpen, which is inaccessible to fans since the stands stop at about 1st base. About the 7th inning, I finally asked another player (Jacobs) where he was tonight, and to my surprise he told me that he was up in the stands behind home plate charting pitches. Well, it might have been the wrong thing to do, interrupting him at his work, but I headed over to the home plate area and spotted him. It wasn't too hard since he was the only large, 20 year old, left handed writing guy in the area. Me and a friend of mine walked down, sat right now to him and were able to have about a ten minute conversation. At first, I just sat down said "Hi Clayton" and then asked if if I was intruding. He invited us to sit and had quite a fun conversation. He seems like a very down to earth and extremely polite kid. He actually thanked us several times for the nice comments about him and for being fans. During the exchange, I was able to find out that he was aware of the "Minotaur" nickname, and he has seen the YouTube video (that one brought quite a laugh when I asked him about it). I was able to sneak in a plug for Dodger Thoughts too and he seemed interested that so many Dodger fans actually were following his every pitch in AA. All in all, it was quite a nice little conversation and one I'll never forget.