Kuo tonight, K/9: 27.00

I don't think I even want to check out the Mets Blog again right now. Can't imagine the joy experienced in that last inning.

- Crash Davis

7K's. Hiroki's performance is quickly becoming a forgotten memory of long ago.

500 Try this: Go to the Bay Bridge at about 11 in the morning, eastbound, which direction is the lower lane, going about 60 mph. Stay over to the right. At that hour last Saturday, the bright sun angled over that lane only, leaving the rest of the traffic in shadow. But the bridge has a series of pillars or girders or something that threw evenly-spaced shadows on the road and passing cars. It created an old-movie flickering effect as you drove the lane, quickly flipping from bright to dark at half-second intervals.

I thought my head was going to explode. Finally, I changed lanes.

DeWitt is going to be hard to lose.

I did have Blake my roster vote earlier though lol, so I'm not jumping on two bandwagons at once

27 Who?

12 pts, 9 rebs, 9 assts, 10 TOs

Actually, my DVD collection needs a lot of work.

I believe the trophy is tomorrow before the game.

I'll take Bill Mueller for DeWitt. Maybe minus the way that story ended, though.

Overall: 12.34
As Reliever: 15.63

Kemp with his second steal tonight. Heh. "Kemp, who does everything right," says Vin

Tee. Hee.

SHAZAM! There we go. Kuo's back on track!

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/Ehu4

I guess those incredible defensive plays last September were just a myth.

95 I had turf toe once, from soccer. It can commonly happen to athletes who play on artificial turf especially, but also other ways. It's pretty painful, though if caught early enough it can be protected and alleviated. He may indeed be injury-cursed, we'll see, but I don't know if your assessment of LaRoche's attitude is that fair though.

Koufax 9IP; 6H; 2R; 3BB; 15K
Beats Whitey Ford

As an 11 year old kid it was the game of a lifetime.

I'm going to have to hunt down the cords--haven't seen them in a while. They started to fray after the third wash, at which point I looked at the tag and discovered they were meant to be dry cleaned. I've never heard of dry cleaning cotton clothing.

Sweet.

Only the 1996 & 1997 teams featured 4 pitchers with 50+ innings and 9+ K/9.

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/2bdq

It was a "truthy" outcome.

I still have a hard time watching Laker games without the voice from "High above the western side line" calling the game.

Baseball without Vin is going to be tough, real tough. Maybe a season with no play by play man?

And yes: Hu's on first.

It's just a gut feeling I got from watching him. Maybe it is just his confidence that I noticed. Maybe it is the fact that all of Dodger blogdom has christened him the 3rd baseman of the future. I apologize if I offended anybody.
Maybe DeWitt is just a flash in the pan and when LaRoche comes back he will show us that he can hit big league pitching as well as he hit in the minors.

C'mon Druw!

He was schooled there. Well, hey, two good at bats tonight, we can't have everything I guess.

I know its asking too much, and he has had some decent at bats, but I feel like one day it'll just click, and he start belting it.

LoneStar! nice Defense baby

One more out, let's go!

heh. I knew it all along. whistles

After my promo, I plan on sleeping for 12 hours.

We win!

And the channel will now be changed. G'night all.

Thank you, Logan White. And whoever else.

I and a good friend of mine (who's a huge Met fan) have a longstanding agreement that whenever the Dodgers and Mets play, if the Dodgers win the series, he owes me lunch, and vice versa.

For the first time since 2005, I'm getting a free lunch.

Happy day!

It's nine trillion hours long.

I hope that he reads this thread.

The guy is an upstanding dude, seems like a really good teammate.

Also I noticed he was wearing this cool "Kuro 18" shirt that he must wear when Hiroki starts.

Interview with LaRoche

1. Kuroda had nothing but Dewitt's error didn't help in the 3rd. One thing I noticed is that in the bottom of the 3rd inning and the Dodgers rallying, Kuo was getting ready and they were ready to pinch hit for him even after it was 4-3.
2. When I saw Dewitt was 4-4 with the bases loaded, I thought okay, he's going to make an out here and yet his OPS went down with bases loaded with that single.
3. According to scoreboard gun, Kuo was hitting 96 pretty much all night. His first 2 strike outs were electric.
4. Most impressive though was his work in the 5th, he threw over 25 pitches but got Reyes and Church looking.
5. I wanted to look at Jones at bats and see if he was making any progress, he had a really good at bat with Pierre on first, he worked the count, fouled off some tough pitches and then took a slider for ball 3 but Pierre got thrown out because he overslid the bag.
6. In Andruw's next 2 at bats, he hit the ball up the middle and looked good. It is certainly a work in progress.
7. Each of Dewitt's 3 hits were shots, his drive to right was belted and I give Dewitt credit, he ran it out for a triple and by the time ball was being picked up in right field, he was rounding third, not sure why there was no cut-off man, pretty much made it an impossible play, wasn't really close.
8. Pleasantly surprised Torre kept Kuo in the 7th, again still hit 95-96.
9. Broxton was sharp, not blowing guys away but Wright still took a third strike.
10. Nice standing ovation for Kuo, and a nice touch by Torre to let Kuo come out and then get the applause from the crowd.
11. Sammy is still a little rough but got the job done.

Oh, the Pierre we love was back tonight, sure he got a clutch 2-out RBI hit but otherwise some soft fly balls and grounders.

This team is showing a nice ability to come back from deficits.

Finally, I'm 6-1 this year so I hope that streak can keep going.

DeWitt will see a lot of action off the bench, but Nomar will start by divine right of former AL All-Stars.

But what a shot in the arm both Kuo and DeWitt provided for the game. Kuo took whatever momentum the Mets had and just squashed it.

So far the Dodgers are 5-0 when I've attended this season.

You covered most everything in your post (the suites and reserve level aren't that far apart as far as view of the field), but the atmosphere of the suite is obviously different:

1) Kuroda definitely didn't have his best stuff, but you gotta give him a little credit for keeping them in the game still. It was a long first three innings though. After the third people were coming up to me wondering if it was the 7th inning stretch already.

2) When Kuo came in, the whole dynamic of the game changed. Everyone I was with started paying more attention and people were saying "Is that Kuo? Wow." He was just blowing it by guys...96 mph everytime. There was one at bat in the 7th I think, though I can't remember who it was, where the batter was clearly looking for the fastball and he got an 80+mph breaking pitch and found himself looking like Andruw Jones.

3) The people with me were all upset when DeWitt came up with the bases loaded and when they flashed the "4-4 with the bases loaded signed", then they all got on board. I didn't want to explain the concept of small sample size to everyone in the suite. Either way, I was just the opposite...I was stoked at first and amped from all the talk here today, but when I saw the 4-4 I thought there was just no way. Luckily I didn't have to. I think the last time I screamed that loud was at the Lima playoff game. It was just sheer amazement/shock.

4) Jones still looked horrible to me. He was swinging through nearly everything. When Pierre got CS, I said to everyone "the worst part of this is that Jones has to lead off the next inning."

5) Kent is slow. I mean we all know this, but that time he went from first to third, he'd have been out by a mile if the RF hadn't bobbled it.

6) I think Torre played the pitching changes perfectly. I was actually scared when Saito came in...in a way I haven't felt since Jeff Shaw was our closer. It's a far cry from Game Over Gagne and Saito of the past few years, but it's working so far. I wonder if Broxton will become the closer by year's end. He looked great.

7) I think it will be good to give Martin a break tomorrow...I know he walked and singled, but I just get the feeling it's a good day to sit him...not that I like seeing Gary Bennett in the lineup. If Ethier sits again in favor of Jones and we have Bennett and Jones both in there as automatic outs, I'll be glad I'm at work and unable to watch tomorrow.

8) DeWitt and Kuo won this game for us. If we had lost I would have blamed Furcal.

The Dodger's record thus far this year is 3-0 during my attendance.

The second-place Dodgers (19-14), who remained three games behind division-leading Arizona in the National League West, won't need a fifth starter again until May 17 at the Angels. Whoever it ends up being, it isn't likely to be Kuo, no matter how well he pitches.

"No," Torre said. "That second left-hander in the bullpen ... that's important."

Then when Kuo came in, everything changed and game 2 started. Kuo was unbelieveable. I saw Koufax's no-hitter against the Mets when I was a boy - Kuo does remind me of Sandy the way he seems almost unhittable.

DeWitt hit the ball really hard and seems to be a terrific clutch hitter. The IPHR was really fun to see. I'm hoarse now from yelling so much.

After losing the first 2 games I attended this season, now my record is up to 2-2.

I really wish there was some way Torre could sit Jones. Ethier would have been a big improvement tonight I'm sure.

Sure he got Reyes and Church to take third strikes but an inning where he is facing 7-8-9, he ends up putting two men on base and throwing 25-26 pitches.

Add the fact that the Dodgers are more likely to need a bridge from 5th-6th inning every 3-4 days make its a tough choice.

Do you use Kuo once every 5 days for maybe 5-6 innings or do you use him twice a week for 2-3 innings?

Logan White.

the dodger stadium gun was saying kuo was throwing 94-97mph!!!
people with the beach balls stopped to watch kuo,people waiting for dodger dogs and beer stopped to stare at the 10inch monitors to watch kuo's amazing run! best pitching i've seen in person!(im only 20, okay) idk, it was just awesome being out there tonight!

david wright...grr...hes good, except for that one throw.ha

Better than anything I saw as a kid at Dodger Stadium. That's great.

LaRoche and Abreu for Embree. Book it.

Everyone is born right-handed. Only the greatest can overcome it.

It says Broxton hit 100 once.

And then the game story on dodgers.com quotes Honeycutt saying the stadium gun was recalibrated this week, and the readings went UP.

Mets batters probably feel like the readings were accurate, at least.

People around here could generally save themselves a lot of time and heartache if they'd just agree with me up front, instead of delaying the inevitable...

The North Carolina-Alabama-Tennessee chapter of DT will now come to order.

Or not.

As best I recall you didn't care for the bugs and assorted other Southern nuisances, like rednecks and folks who think the Civil War was only discontinued, not decided.

Not that being a redneck is limited to the South. But being a unreconstituted Southerner pretty much is, I suppose.

Stupid submit button. Call the "grammer" police.

Gotta run to a meeting-Boy am I tired-stayed up till 1 something with the game but it was worth it.

Probably a pretty small crowd. But I'd think an interesting one, especially folks who've never lived anywhere near LA. Be interesting to hear how they became Dodger fans. I think there was a thread along those lines recently, which I found too late to comment on...as usual.

Other stupid stuff keeps getting in the way of making being a Dodger fan top priority, which it ought to be.

The crowd might be bigger if it included the folks from New Zealand, France, Israel, and wherever else not on the West Coast.

And a Ja(y)son Werth update:

.269/.349/.538/.887

The man is getting paid $1.7 million this season.

But really:
Loaiza as starter, 8.74 ERA
Loaiza as reliever, 2.84 ERA

Kuo as starter, 5.06 ERA
Kuo as reliever, 0.90 ERA

The starter job is up for grabs, and neither has grabbed it. Clayton Kershaw to the white courtesy phone. Paging Captain K.

(That's GERMAN Nazi, not German NAZI)

On Dodgers.com today Kuo says he has adjusted to a relief role.

IIRC, Dodger middle relief--Brian Holton, specifically--was an underappreciated factor in 1988's title. Middle relief is when batters usually see the worst of the other team's pen. But in K/Guo they just might see the very best, if he's on.

Nice fantasy thought...Kershaw is called up, dominates a game for 6 innings or so, striking out 10+. Then, due to minotaur pitch counts and lots of LH batters on the other team, Torre brings K/Guo in. He then finishes the last three innings, striking out, oh, 8 or so, like last night.

Hey, it's not that far-fetched. Dodger pitching equation== _K_ershaw +_K_uo=lots and lots of K's.

City planning. Yippee.

It's due to the fact that I inexplicably woke up at 3:30 am after going to bed at midnight and could not for the life of me go back to sleep. The rest of my morning has been used to catch up on work, watch some TV on hulu.com (awesome site), and catch up on this thread.

I'm hoping my job tomorrow allows me to come home by noon, the Dodgers open up a big lead, then I take a killer nap.

267 It is fun how DT in the early EDT morning hours belongs to our little band of south-easterners. And Bob.

Funny you should mention that. I've been getting emails from students who are unhappy with their grades, and are wanting to do extra work to improve them. (The students who are complaining got Bs and B+s).

How do you typically respond?

From a local paper:

"Affordable professional photography for sports, events, parties, graduations, portraits, pets, and more. Shot at the location of your choice. Visit our website at wizardpixphotography DOT com to see why we should be your choice for quality photography. Bob Timmerman(one n), photographer."

So, Bob drops an "n" and moonlights as a photographer in TN. I bet travel is a bear.

Actually, I think commented on this Timmerma(n) fellow guy here a good while back after he wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper.

But DT's Timmerma(nn) probably never would do that. Would he?

(BYU Class of '96)

LaRoche has never looked that way to me at bat. I know he has a good OBP, but in the old days it used to be called "don't let the 8th batter beat you when the pitcher is on deck".

Nomar is a waste of time at this point in his career, every time he plays it is taking away from someone on the upswing, be it DeWitt or LaRoche.

LaRoche is not happy where he is now, nor should he be. I would have thought one of them would be trade fodder prior to July 31, but at this point the team is taking shape nicely, and I don't see any great needs worthy of what we would have to give up.

Timmermanns tend to live in California, Missouri, Illinois, and New York.

If you use something other than base 10.

Pass.

Since all my students are Math or Physics grad students -- grading is easier.

If students do not know Jim Morrison or Duke Snider they have problems. :)

I envy you. Well, not so much the "math and physics" part, but the "being able to give use questions with obviously correct/incorrect answers over which students can't argue much and that are easy to grade" part.

I took a class called "The Two Crazies: The Mad Scientist in Fiction and Real Life" co-taught by a physicist and an English teacher as an undergrad that was kinda similar.

"SS Rafael Furcal reached base on a fielder's choice Sunday, extending his season-long streak to 31 games. He is the first member of the Dodgers to safely reach base in 30 or more games since Hall of Famer Duke Snider accomplished the feat in 34 straight games in 1955."

How does a fielder's choice count for an on-base streak? Is that different than a reached safely streak?

The Sporting News uses that definition. I would assume Elias would also.