5 12 line drives in his 54 balls in play as a left hand batter.
If you can get Carlos to hit a ground ball, you have a really good chance to get him out since he has only 1 hit in 27 ground balls as a left handed hitter.
Greetings from beautiful Baltimore. I'm here in the land of crab cakes until Friday. I doubt I'll be seeing any Dodger games, or any games for that matter.
Per Baseball HQ on Beltran:
"Latest Player Analysis :
4/28/2008 - Tough luck early for Beltran...The hits haven't been falling nearly enough for Carlos Beltran (OF, NYM) so far. Despite showing greater plate patience and ripping the cover off the ball, he has a paltry .224 BA and .412 SLG to show for it. As the following statistics show, things should correct themselves fairly soon:
AB BA xBA h% bb% ct% Eye G/ L/ F PX
=== ==== ==== === === === ==== ======== ===
2006 510 .275 .318 33% 9% 88% 0.81 37/17/47 186
2007 554 .276 .296 29% 8% 91% 0.98 38/19/43 150
2008 85 .224 .311 27% 17% 76% 0.90 40/30/30 140
When nearly of a third of your batted balls are line drives and you still have a BA in the low-.200's, that's just not fair. His strikeouts are a bit high to start the season, but there's no reason to think he won't rebound and finish up with a season much like last year's. "
I got carried away as I often do because of who I am, not because of some clandestine plan to "get" Will Leitch. I am genuinely embarrassed by what I did and I need to reiterate that. It is not representative at all of who I am.
Well, wait. It happened because of who you are, but it's not representative of who you are?
(And is everyone comfortable with the ? outside the quotes there?)
Not clear to me if that means "a blog that is reported and that generates its own information" or "a blog that presents information for its readers" and if it is somehow distinguished from a "blog that presents opinions for its readers."
Not that I personally think these distinctions are especially important, at least in the way that Mr. Bissinger seems to be holding up a category of worthy sports blogs, which are the "information based" ones.
Marty -- if you've any interest in wandering down to DC and having dinner or something with me and a 3 yr old kid (and who wouldn't!!!!) thursday night -- would be fun. Certainly realize you may be well too busy.
21
I'm comfortable with the ? outside the quotes, because the thing you're asking about is an "information-based sports blog", not an "information-based sports blog?".
18 My stats was through yesterday, those stats do not include the last 5 games where he went 2 for 11 (both singles) in balls in play.
His overall line drive pct. is .250 right now (19/76) and certainly there can be a dispute between fly balls and line drives that would possibly push that number higher.
Tony Jackson blogs about Torre's direction on steals:
Matt [Kemp] told me in the clubhouse that he has the green light to steal unless a no-steal sign is on, which intrigued me to the point that I asked Torre in his pregame session who else had the green light. Turns out Kemp, Furcal, Martin, Pierre and Andruw Jones all have the green light, and the rest of the team [has] at least some degree of freedom, as well.
The Dodgers are on-pace to 167 SB vs. 47 CS this year, a 78.05% success rate thus far. Andruw Jones has zero attempts despite the green light.
Brett Tomko has a game score of 74 right now through 6 innings of a scoreless game against the Angels. If he can pitch one more inning without giving up anything and striking out one more batter, he will move into the top 10 high scores for the AL this season.
The current Mets roster has 25 total career PAs against Billingsly with the most being 6 for Ryan Church. Not much history there, but not much success for the batters either, 3 singles, 1 BB, 4 K.
you guys here that?!? Torre was thinking of starting Russell at 3rd tonight. Another thing is that Torre is really considering using him regularly at the hot corner.
It's weird: I guess I understand why Ethier isn't starting today, and I'm not necessarily mad... perplexed? Exasperated? I'm not coming up with the right word.
45 They are riding JP's hot hand while he has one. JP over his last 17 games:
.396 / .475 / .472 / .947
believe it or not. Note that with only 4 extra-base hits for the season, he is hitting them at about the same rate - 1 every 17 AB - as Andruw Jones, 1 every 16.33.
Still, I would like to see Delwyn Young get one of these starts when Ethier sits against a lefty.
I'm on the East Coast. Does anybody know if you can listen to the game via the KABC website (or somewhere else)? I tried looking around but right now Larry Elder's show is on.
12 pitches from Chad, 11 strikes. And he seemed to be throwing harder than he was in Florida. He reached 94 a few times, and I think he only did that twice in seven innings last game.
Those of you that have seen both Billingsley and Kershaw pitch, does Kershaw's stuff look that much better to you? In my amateur opinion, I think they offer very similar pitches just from different hands. It seems that Kershaw is brought up all the time by the experts, but Chad isn't always talked about as having the ability to become a great pitcher.
71 Really? I feel like I hear Chad talked about as soon being an ace by a lot of people, not just DodgerThoughts-ers. But I will say from what I've seen of Kershaw they both have a lot of movement in their repertoire. As we know, Kershaw's curveball can be sick, and Billingsley has some great movement when he's on, too. His change still needs some work but he has quite a few weapons in his arsenal.
The funny thing about that play is that Delgado was basically a full step off of the bag when he caught the ball. Too bad the dude who called Jeff off of the base at 2nd isnt umping at 1st tonight.
82Pretty sure Delgado Karrosed that ball (removed his foot from the bag before catching it).
When I was about 12 I was wandering around by the local Little League field when a game was on featuring about 2nd - 4th graders. The home plate umpire called over to me and asked me if I could first base ump for him. I was quite happy to say yes. On the first play at the base, the 1B pulled his foot to catch the ball, though the throw was plenty in time. I called safe. Even after I explained my ruling, the home plate umpire overturned it and summarily dismissed me. :(
what helps Kershaw also is that he IS LEFTY & A POWER PITCHER, I've heard that EVEN IF HE WAS RIGHTY it wouldn't change anything HE IS JUST A SPECIAL PITCHER.
"Sure, for every Felix Hernandez there's a Dan Meyer, for every Cole Hamels a Chad Billingsley and for every Tim Lincecum a Homer Bailey, but Scherzer's unflinching composure and otherworldly stuff will take fantasy owners 'Beyond Thunderdome' sometime this year."
No offense to the fantasy baseball players among us, but I've learned not to take any of their analysis too seriously at all. It's all short attention span, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately stuff.
95 That's a good example of what I mean. Around here, many of my baseball friends have barely even heard of the guy. They aren't the brightest guys in the world, but they are familiar with the likes of Lincecum, Chamberlain, Gallardo, Hamels and Cueto, yet they barely know Chad exists.
I think Nate will agree with thise, the bite of both Kershaw & Billingsley curve ball are equal or there abouts but the power of Kershaws curve ball is slightly better, & I trully stand by that statement.
The difference in velocity between fb and cb is higher for Kershaw than Billingsley. But yeah, scouts are calling Kershaw's curve one of the best pitches in the minors so i guess its more devastating. If he can duplicate Chad's success, I will be extremely happy.
Chad is trying to enter rare company tonight. He comes into tonight with four straight starts with 8+ strikeouts. Only Koufax, Nomo, Hershiser, and Valenzuela have had longer streaks.
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/Wcxt
What's amazing is that the top two streaks cover 18 of 19 Koufax starts in the 2nd half of 1965. Koufax had 190 K in those 19 starts.
i dont know if anyone is watching on sny, as i, unfortunately am, but they just aired a recording of vin telling a story about the move from new york. so awesome
He must have a) great great movement on his fastball or b) a great secondary pitch to compliment his fastball, if he is being called a great pitching prospect no?
man, Billz is making Wright look wrong tonight. :o)
Exhibit A why you're not supposed to slide at first base. Pierre lost just enough speed by dragging his body along the ground that Perez was able to beat him by half a step. If he runs that out, he probably beats it. (He would've bounced off of Perez, of course, but he would've been safe...)
I am here at the game and they flashed something that said the dodgers are 297-241-1 against the mets (dont quote me on the exact numbers). any idea when the tie was?
146
There's praise and there's also people who say Scully is better than listening to Daron Sutton, which is akin to saying that women find Brad Pitt more attractive than me.
(Not even taking into consideration the fact that I don't have hands.)
I liked reading their comments on Scully over there. And besides obviously agreeing with the praise, I can also imagine how he sounds even better when compared to the homer-ish announcers of Arizona and some of the other teams they've played recently, as one of their commenters wrote.
---
Okay, Casey Stengel, I knew the Afflac answer, but I can't say I'd heard him called "The Lefthanded Dentist" before. I feel ashamed, but I'd certainly have remembered that.
Billz needs to work on getting his pitch count down. Start by going after .220 batters and not pitch around them, don't run the pitch count full on the 8th spot batter. This is where Maddux would have been a good prescence for Billz, Lowe, Penny..
dont know what anyone thinks about it, but i thought it was worth mentioning... when my buddy (knows nothing about baseball) and i were watching billingsley's debut and i told him how awesome he would be, my friend nicknamed him "killingspree." any good?
Although we are in pretty good shape, it is hard to watch Bills get through danger, while we are unable to do a thing against Perez inning after inning.
159
Maddux already was said good presence, in 2006. If Maddux wants to retire and coach, bring him on over. Otherwise, I'll take my eight figures and spend it on Kuroda rather than Maddux.
I would have had a nice chuckle at that exchange, specially cause I would have known he knows nothing about baseball & he came up with something pretty funny of the bat...
I have to mute it when Jones is batting now just because I hate hearing the boos that will surely reign down upon him when he's done. Still, I, like BB, am predicting a hit tonight. Er, not putting money on it or anything.
197- That was actually the point of it, when it started. It was a shot at a guy who's been gone longer than he was here. I should let it go, but it still makes me chuckle, sinisterly.
235 Yeah, the old silent treatment and then Martin and the rest of the team congratulated him with back slaps and hand shakes, the fans called him for a curtain call too.
The fans should give Pierre a standing ovation for every walk.
Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers has been named Bank of America Presents the National League Player of the Eight Days for the period ending May 5th.
Kent is like your vaguely mean-spirited uncle who took left the family back in the 1990s but always liked you and took you under his wing and took you to your first R-rated movie.
I've been thinking that if Pierre was leading off and Furcal hitting 3rd or 4th, might the Dodgers offense be even more potent. Not saying always, but while Pierre has been hot.
Ian Ziering used to be married to Nikki Ziering, whom I had the pleasure of knowing when I worked at CBS. Very nice person, and yes, I've seen her naked (in Playboy).
Ian used to show up occasionally to watch tapings of The Price Is Right. (She was a Barker's Beauty.)
What about the nickname "Prize Winner" for Chad? It's sorta obscure, but there was a movie called The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio that came out a few years ago. Since Chad is from Defiance and "Prize Winner" is a favorable nickname, I think it works.
296-I have not seen her naked, but according to wikipedia she went to my high school. She's probably the second most famous Sonora High grad after Ann Meyers Drysdale.
301
The only thing I remember about La Habra is that Paul, the King of Big Screens, is there. I had to do a report in 7th grade on medieval times, and my main character was "King Paul of La Habra."
Why is Nomar Garciaparra wishing "everybody" a Happy Mother's Day?
There's a significant percentage of the population that are not mothers. I mean I may have given birth once and not remembered it. 1988 has always been a bit fuzzy for me.
A 12-2 GO/FO ratio for Chad tonight. That's weird for Chad, who has usually been more of a flyball pitcher. I don't think it is an accident either. Chad seems to be making an effort to keep the ball low, which results in more -- but less dangerous -- contact and fewer K's.
299 No, Nikki was the only BB I ever spoke to (or to be more precise: she was the only BB who ever spoke to me). I left CBS in 2000, was she working there then?
So, if Chad's spot doesn't bat this inning, does he come back out? He's at 91 pitches through 6. I'd let him go another inning, or at least until trouble.
I remember when I was 13 years old going on a roller coaster ride with a girl that lived in La Habra but she never said if she was from La Habra heights or La Habra, OC it was fun & she was very sweet.
313- Exactly. My mom's house backs up to the Heights, basically. I grew up in Los Angeles county, but my assigned public high school was in Orange county. My childhood bedroom was about 10 feet from the border.
326-Yes. My mother's house is in Whittier, but our back fence borders La Habra Heights.
Strangely, I think LHH has a high number of baseball players per capita. I know Nomar hangs around there, and Rick Burleson (former Red Sock) lives there, too. His son was one of my best pals in elementary school.
Like some of you have said earlier today, I'm kind of perplexed why Ethier, all of a sudden, seem to be the odd man out in the outfield. I know tonight's pitcher is a lefty, but he hasn't played a lot in the last few games.
348 I don't think that's a fair argument because if that was the case, certainly in 2006, the Lakers don't make the playoffs without Kobe Bryant but Steve Nash won the award.
Could Chris Paul be as successful without David West, Tyson Chandler or Peja.
To group anything as broad-based as blogs was just ill informed and pretty lazy.
His line drive rate is very high for such a low average.
They haven't been so far this year.
Does that matter?
IP 27.7
Strikeouts 40 (pretty cool)
If you can get Carlos to hit a ground ball, you have a really good chance to get him out since he has only 1 hit in 27 ground balls as a left handed hitter.
Actually Beltran is knocking the snot out of the ball. He has a 30% line drive rate and should be hitting 324 based on his peripherals.
"Latest Player Analysis :
4/28/2008 - Tough luck early for Beltran...The hits haven't been falling nearly enough for Carlos Beltran (OF, NYM) so far. Despite showing greater plate patience and ripping the cover off the ball, he has a paltry .224 BA and .412 SLG to show for it. As the following statistics show, things should correct themselves fairly soon:
AB BA xBA h% bb% ct% Eye G/ L/ F PX
=== ==== ==== === === === ==== ======== ===
2006 510 .275 .318 33% 9% 88% 0.81 37/17/47 186
2007 554 .276 .296 29% 8% 91% 0.98 38/19/43 150
2008 85 .224 .311 27% 17% 76% 0.90 40/30/30 140
When nearly of a third of your batted balls are line drives and you still have a BA in the low-.200's, that's just not fair. His strikeouts are a bit high to start the season, but there's no reason to think he won't rebound and finish up with a season much like last year's. "
0-2
IP only 7.1
era 8.59
I got carried away as I often do because of who I am, not because of some clandestine plan to "get" Will Leitch. I am genuinely embarrassed by what I did and I need to reiterate that. It is not representative at all of who I am.
Well, wait. It happened because of who you are, but it's not representative of who you are?
(And is everyone comfortable with the ? outside the quotes there?)
Not clear to me if that means "a blog that is reported and that generates its own information" or "a blog that presents information for its readers" and if it is somehow distinguished from a "blog that presents opinions for its readers."
Not that I personally think these distinctions are especially important, at least in the way that Mr. Bissinger seems to be holding up a category of worthy sports blogs, which are the "information based" ones.
That kinda thing always bugs me.
Sam DOT brodsok AT comcast DOT net.
I'm comfortable with the ? outside the quotes, because the thing you're asking about is an "information-based sports blog", not an "information-based sports blog?".
15 I have a friend named Winnie and Winnie isn't short for anything (like Gwendolyn)
His overall line drive pct. is .250 right now (19/76) and certainly there can be a dispute between fly balls and line drives that would possibly push that number higher.
Matt [Kemp] told me in the clubhouse that he has the green light to steal unless a no-steal sign is on, which intrigued me to the point that I asked Torre in his pregame session who else had the green light. Turns out Kemp, Furcal, Martin, Pierre and Andruw Jones all have the green light, and the rest of the team [has] at least some degree of freedom, as well.
The Dodgers are on-pace to 167 SB vs. 47 CS this year, a 78.05% success rate thus far. Andruw Jones has zero attempts despite the green light.
Bases empty: .231/.344/.404/.748
Runners on: .087/.192/.087/.279
Don't tell me that Hannah Montana girl is in trouble again ...
J. Reyes ss
R. Church rf
D. Wright 3b
C. Beltran cf
M. Alou lf
C. Delgado 1b
B. Schneider c
L. Castillo 2b
O. Perez p
That was pretty egregious.
Last Dodger to do it was Ethier in July 2006.
http://tinyurl.com/5fyv3p
egregious - 1. extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant: an egregious mistake
courtesy of Dictionary Dot Com.
I read about that as well but figured somebody else had posted the story & there thoughts about it already.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/YyKf
I prefer flummoxed.
.396 / .475 / .472 / .947
believe it or not. Note that with only 4 extra-base hits for the season, he is hitting them at about the same rate - 1 every 17 AB - as Andruw Jones, 1 every 16.33.
Still, I would like to see Delwyn Young get one of these starts when Ethier sits against a lefty.
Re: Pierre in LF
You've been hoodwinked. You've been had. You've been took. You've been led astray, run amok. You've been bamboozled.
Excellent 1st inning for Chad.
You can only listen to baseball games through MLB.com for a fee.
Seasoning, seasoning, ladies and gentlemen.
Gotta stick with your young talent and let them grow up on the big stage...
Really nice first inning.
That was a darned good first inning from CBills, and gosh, a pretty good first at bat from Raffy!
Canuck, those 94 mphs fastball had pretty extreme tailing action to them too.
Kershaws curve ball (watching it live) is just scary, that's all I have to say...
Kershaw has a better fastball (if you can believe that) and I think both of their curveballs are comparable. Billingsley sports a slider though.
Darn, we don't want Perez out now!
I don't see it:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/meyerda01.shtml
When I was about 12 I was wandering around by the local Little League field when a game was on featuring about 2nd - 4th graders. The home plate umpire called over to me and asked me if I could first base ump for him. I was quite happy to say yes. On the first play at the base, the 1B pulled his foot to catch the ball, though the throw was plenty in time. I called safe. Even after I explained my ruling, the home plate umpire overturned it and summarily dismissed me. :(
what helps Kershaw also is that he IS LEFTY & A POWER PITCHER, I've heard that EVEN IF HE WAS RIGHTY it wouldn't change anything HE IS JUST A SPECIAL PITCHER.
So you guys would agree that they are very similar in ability and ceiling?
He shaved, okay?!
Thats absolutely retarded. Who wrote it?
http://tinyurl.com/3h8aqg
And now Bruce Campbell is up.
Including Billingsley doesn't even make sense. Their career ERA+s are almost the same.
Nice recovery CBills!
Just let him work through it and I think you're gonna have an ace before you know it, folks.
Nice second inning for Chad...
Good point, you (and Brad Evans) win, I lose.
The difference in velocity between fb and cb is higher for Kershaw than Billingsley. But yeah, scouts are calling Kershaw's curve one of the best pitches in the minors so i guess its more devastating. If he can duplicate Chad's success, I will be extremely happy.
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/Wcxt
What's amazing is that the top two streaks cover 18 of 19 Koufax starts in the 2nd half of 1965. Koufax had 190 K in those 19 starts.
Too bad, we let Perez off pretty easy that inning.
Speaking of the 2-days-older Scherzer, he retired all 13 batters in his debut last week.
Tonight, not so much. 5-1 Phillies in the 3rd.
He must have a) great great movement on his fastball or b) a great secondary pitch to compliment his fastball, if he is being called a great pitching prospect no?
man, Billz is making Wright look wrong tonight. :o)
So happy to see a young and decidedly talented pitcher hitting the note.
Keep goin', boss...
Great play by Delgado and Perez.
And the first pitch was a strike.
And the pitch he swung at was way inside, though not has inside as the second pitch.
One of the many uses of DVR, although it would've come in handier here for me if I remembered to check it before I posted.
Well, you could look it up.
Stick with him, Ned...
There's praise and there's also people who say Scully is better than listening to Daron Sutton, which is akin to saying that women find Brad Pitt more attractive than me.
(Not even taking into consideration the fact that I don't have hands.)
Just for fun I'm gonna respond to that quote & think the tie MUST HAVE BEEN in NY right?
---
Okay, Casey Stengel, I knew the Afflac answer, but I can't say I'd heard him called "The Lefthanded Dentist" before. I feel ashamed, but I'd certainly have remembered that.
http://tinyurl.com/47q2nz
"Who is the last LA Dodger to play at least 5 games at 3rd and catcher in one season?"
Maddux already was said good presence, in 2006. If Maddux wants to retire and coach, bring him on over. Otherwise, I'll take my eight figures and spend it on Kuroda rather than Maddux.
That said, I love Greg Maddux.
They were reading Dodger Thoughts last week! Jerry Grote!
Nope, who was the manager other than Joe Torre to manage the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers.
Torre, like Stengel, has only been successful with one of those teams.
I would have had a nice chuckle at that exchange, specially cause I would have known he knows nothing about baseball & he came up with something pretty funny of the bat...
Dodgers and Mets tie 1-1 in the second game of a doubleheader.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196406072.shtml
& no I'm not joking I really mean it.
The Dodgers won 47 times.
Crap, I didn't even think about that! As soon as I read your comment, blam! Walk to Church.
V.
P.
Another Web Gem.
For now, Peacock will replace the Sunday night two-hour block with four back-to-back repeats of "The Office."
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117985142.html
A Scullyesque comment.
Nice 5th Inning, Chad.
Thanks for the help, Mr. Furcal.
Good young pitchers should be cherished. And nurtured.
I'm not a betting man either but he looks a little better tonight we'll see what happens.
DeWitt goes YARD!!
Nice going, Blake!
That's what working at Shea stadium will do to you.
Nice Blake
The Solution Solves It!
I loved the fake out with the silent treatment in the dugout, too. Quite inspired.
It's his 1st MLB HR. An important moment for sure.
That's exactly it.
I like that boy.
The fans should give Pierre a standing ovation for every walk.
The man is a witch! Stone him!
"Russell Martin graduates!!!"
I can make hands magically reappear.
Holy cow!
You sure called that one.
Jon is taking note of Ian Ziering at the game and adding it to an article he's writing.
---
Man, now I'm really glad I flaked on going to a SF film fest screening tonight; this was totally worth it.
That made me laugh out loud.
Btw, Pierre's OBP is probably around .400 now. Say what you will, but Pierre and Furcal sure do a nice job of setting the table.
Wasn't he married to a playmate once?
There is nothing with Pierre if he can keep his OBP about .360
Kent is like your vaguely mean-spirited uncle who took left the family back in the 1990s but always liked you and took you under his wing and took you to your first R-rated movie.
You never forget it. You always appreciate him.
And there goes the shutout. Ah well. Just one more inning Chad!
Ian used to show up occasionally to watch tapings of The Price Is Right. (She was a Barker's Beauty.)
mid-90's pop culture I'm aware off I guess :o)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonora_High_School
The only thing I remember about La Habra is that Paul, the King of Big Screens, is there. I had to do a report in 7th grade on medieval times, and my main character was "King Paul of La Habra."
There's a significant percentage of the population that are not mothers. I mean I may have given birth once and not remembered it. 1988 has always been a bit fuzzy for me.
La Habra - Orange County
La Habra Heights - Los Angeles County
Few people who live in Los Angeles County have ever heard of or been to La Habra Heights.
I am one of those few.
Didn't Ralph Kiner once say during a Mothers' Day broadcast, "So to all you mothers out there, happy birthday."?
------------------
Um, failing to run out groundballs is not going to silence the booing, Andruw.
--
Boy, they sure turned on their own on the MetsBlog. I know it can get negative here sometimes when the Dodgers are struggling, but boy...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barker%27s_Beauties#List_of_Barker.27s_Beauties.2FPrice_Is_Right_Models
what does BB mean?
It seems he could have easily legged that one out...ugh
There are only about 6000 people who live in La Habra Heights. And they are almost all white.
Strangely, I think LHH has a high number of baseball players per capita. I know Nomar hangs around there, and Rick Burleson (former Red Sock) lives there, too. His son was one of my best pals in elementary school.
I know DS doesn't have pitching mounds on the side but it brought back flashbacks, sorry.
vr, Xei
Pitching bounds?
.295/.382/.436
He's so much more valuable to the Hornets, than Kobe is to the Lakers.
Dodgers--3 games back after tonight.
His BAIBP isn't bad, what's his LD rate?
Could Chris Paul be as successful without David West, Tyson Chandler or Peja.
You can't be an MVP without teammates.
his OPS+ has to be something like 108 now.
really, thats all? It seems he has hit more line drive than that.