On Tony Jackson's comment about using Kershaw in one-inning increments so the Dodgers can use him more later in the year:
How does that make sense? I mean, if a guy pitches 15 innings one month and then 30 the next (as opposed to 22 each month), is that really the same thing? It seems like it's not just the total innings at the end of the year that are important, but how they're fanned out.
I would think that Martin, Hu, or even Kemp could lead off for a game. As much as I'd prefer Ethier over Pierre, I don't mind the "hot hand" approach as much as a lot of others.
Aw jeez. My clock is totally wrong. Dodger game not for another 20 minutes. I think I'll slink away from here before I start talking about how I'm looking forward to the Washington Senators season. Time for dinner.
I haven't yet made the decision whether to watch the Laker game live with a few Dodger updates, or just wait to watch the Dodger game until after the Laker game.
So, is the longest tenured Dodger now Yhency? Is he the long-winded grandpa everyone should be gathering around when telling stories?
"We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One way is to tell stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I took the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new buckle for my shoe, so I decided to take the ferry to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville back in those days. I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and back in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. 'gimme five bees for a quarter' you'd say. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the point is that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. Back then you couldn't get white onions, because of the war. You could only get those big yellow ones..."
Why, oh why, does Phil leave Radmanovic in there for as long as he does? Vlad may have two "d"s in his name but he has no "D" in his game. Sigh. At least Kobe's woken up.
I thought I turned it on in plenty of time for the first pitch-- but what I saw was Lowes last pitch of the inning. And I was about to make a snied remark about Lowe having to get through the first inning before he was ready to pitch. Good job Lowe.
55
I read about Wilson's Disease today at work. The treatment for it isn't a liver transplant. There are medications that can lower the amount of copper in your system or you can also consume lots of zinc.
The disease also would have caused a lot of psychological problems.
Have to shout this out to the world tonight. Jdub (progeny of tjdub) hit for the cycle tonight in his Super League tournament. First real live, no error, home run. He's pretty excited.
57
Wilson's Disease aside, it made absolutely no sense for Kelso to be at the hospital, yet the show acted as if it were perfectly normal. Plus, they brought Keith back from nowhere.
When I looked at tonight's lineup, I temporarily forgot that DeWitt was hitting over .300, and that bottom third just does not look good. Mr. Strikeout .170, DeWitt, and Hu, the pitcher, Pierre. It just does not look fearsome, as much as I like DeWitt and Hu. Admittedly, I wasn't giving DeWitt his due when I had that response, but one does worry about when he will come back to earth.
Anyway, the point is this: this lineup just reminds us of how very important Furcal is to the team (Furcal and Ethier instead of Pierre and Hu would be a vast improvement, needless to say). And how very important it is that Jones starts hitting.
Poor Ethier. Hitting over .300 but still benched. Can this guy ever win?
It could be a few quiet years at DT, but in two years we may have developed a few good starters, and most of the vets will be gone.
We could be very good.
As of the end of 2006, Tyner had the longest streak without a homer of any active player with 997. Pierre went deep three time in 2006, so he's not quite there yet. The longest homerless streak of alltime is 2335 by Bill Holbert.
I found a streak of 1595 ABs by Vince Coleman without a home run. It stretched from partway through the 1985 season through the middle of the 1987 season.
87 Kemp is the last of the outfielders who should be benched. But there are two others who could use some rest to get Ethier some playing time. I don't mind riding the hot hand with Pierre, but why isn't Druw getting the same treatment that Kemp got to get him on track? Yeah, Druw needs to work his way out of the slump, but when he's playing, while a guy hitting .291/.376/.447 is on the bench, there's a problem.
If Park has to come in to bail out Lowe, does that mean we're going to see Kershaw starting in place of Loaiza? I suppose it's too early to tell ... Lowe's next start will be the real determiner.
110 Yep, he did. And he also earlier said Hu is "basically a 2nd baseman, but playing short tonight." Uh, yeah... But he's Vin and he's great and we love him.
148 Well, if I think about UCLA's last game, and the Broncos season last year, and that time that girl laughed at me in the 9th grade, I can make this evening even sadder. But let's just focus on the sadness of this one evening specifically.
Man, if Kent wasn't robbed of a hit, there'd be a run in by now.
Terrible strike! That was low! Garbage! Bologne! Anger, outrage, and thus and such. Sorry, I have to fit all my outrage in one entry. And bad call at second! Kick your dog, blue!
154 I agree. I know Repko isn't the most popular player around, that he causes collisions and doesn't always get a good read on a ball. But I like the way he plays -- really hard -- and I've always rooted for him as the first of the kids. He was the first draft pick that I followed.
This inning was, unfortunately, predictable. Loney and DeWitt hit singles. Jones gets out and looks ugly trying. Hu is still mostly defense. Once Kent made the first out, our chances of scoring went down to about 10%.
Ack. I am feeling so pessimistic tonight. Why? Because of one big loss? Snap out of it. They have been playing so very well before now. It must be the 4-0 score that's doing it.
154 I always though Repko deserved a longer look at CF. He was always playing hard, but to his demise, he was always playing hard. Would our team had look differently had he stayed healthy? I definitely would want Repko in CF - he can't contribute any less than Jones had offensively.
It's like none of the GMs wanted to give Repko a real chance because he wasn't their guy. He was a Malone draft pick, I believe. To be fair, he might have gotten his chance last year if he hadn't run into the wall -- well, maybe not, given that Ethier and Kemp didn't really get a shot last year. Oh that's right, it's LaRoche that's lost a chance because of injury.
I don't think we should get all gloom and doom based on a couple of games as the Dodgers are still one of the hottest teams in baseball over the past coupla weeks and the Backs have cooled off a bit BUT I will say I'm a bit worried about the performances we're getting out of the starters lately. Some really bad ones, and a few others where there was not much consistency. The bullpen's really been a saving grace. But Lowe and Penny need to pick it up.
The Minotaur can't replace three guys. He almost could, but not quite.
188 You're right. It's totally irrational. But it's hard to be optimistic when you're supposed #1 and #2 starters blow back to back games like this. So much for the winning streak.
198 No, in his last MLB season he hit:
.254 / .345 / .377 / .722
His career numbers are:
.232 / .302 / .382 / .684
All at an age older than Andy LaRoche was this spring.
I wasn't around when Penny was giving up his ten runs, for the argument about whether the bullpen had to be preserved. I was trying to relive the magic.
That's it! This is a parallel universe! No, that's not it. We're still in our universe, but a vortex opened, sucking out the real Andruw Jones and replacing him with this one, who can't hit and who keeps wondering why everyone spells his name wrong. Perhaps the same vortex also replaced Repko? It reopened in the last couple days, and replaced Penny and Lowe with a worthless Penny and Mr. How-Lowe-Can-It-Go. Someone, please return all beings to their correct universe. Except for Blake. If that's the alternate universe Blake, I want to keep him.
206 When did we start replacing pitchers based entirely upon pitch count, regardless of performance? I understand the need to preserve the bullpen, but it seems like Torre decided to give away this game already. Easy to do, I suppose, when the offense isn't showing much life.
217 - Perhaps the same vortex also replaced Repko? It reopened in the last couple days, and replaced Penny and Lowe with a worthless Penny and Mr. How-Lowe-Can-It-Go.
Except for the part where he gives up fly balls and line drives.
222 Yah, but that hand grenade thing could be used to our advantage in certain situations.
I have a new idea. Start the games with our relievers. Have them pitch an inning or two. Let the team get confident and score some runs. Then if you have to bring in a Penny or a Lowe to mop up. It's genius, I tell ya!
Trotting Jones out there game after game after game is doing nothing. Kemp talked about spending extra time in the batting cages developing the muscle memory that he can carry into games. That's how he got out of his slump. Jones may look good in batting practice, but games are all muscle memory. Jones needs a good week of looking good in batting practice before he will have regained the muscle memory that can carry into games. As is, he just regresses everytime he enters. And playing in L.A., in front of booing fans, is just making him press more. Bench him until the next road trip. Let Ethier have the starting spot that he earned.
219 - could be worse. Could be Rick Astley videos. (I wasn't paying attention, but apparently YouTube played an April Fool's joke on everybody and replaced all their videos with Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". I thought you'd say that.)
227 Jones has his entire major league career as his "upside." His terrible year last year is about the same as Repko's best one, OPS-wise. And Jones is still a legitimate gold-glove caliber CF.
(I am a stubbornly refusing to believe he can stink like this all season and I'm sorry if that makes me appear [more] boorish.)
235 Why? Talking about Repko, as ridiculous as it has been, has been great fun, and a new twist on how to complain about the starting outfield. It has enabled us to complain without committing a rule 8 violation. So we should all be thanking you.
Torre is annoying me with his reluctance to go to the pen early. The last two games he's let our starters spot the opposition with insurmountable leads. It seems he's willing to concede the game rather than hit the pen.
246 Ah, I see your point. Repko should just be entering his prime now. He might actually be able to put up numbers like Jones put up last year (his worst season), which is starting to look like an improvement over what Jones is going to give us this year.
That said, reason tells me to stick with Jones, but I still think Torre needs to try something different with him to get him back on track. Running him out there every day, in front of booing fans, just seems to be making him worse.
At some point in these games, Torre has to decide to just give Martin the rest of the night off. Yeah, if Bennett gets hurt, we're left with Young as our emergency catcher. But I'd still give Martin the rest of the night off when the game is looking this ugly.
As if the Lakers and Dodgers' games weren't frustrating enough, I now have to attempt to give my cat a pill. In her mouth. I'd rather deal with the waddling beavers.
320 You didn't start out doing it that way? Even my dog has to have the pills in wet food or in cheese. The wet food actually works the best because it wraps around the pill.
320
1. Get towel.
2. Get pill
3. Wrap up cat in towel.
4. Pry open cat's mouth with one hand.
5. Use other hand to stick pill on the back of the cat's tongue.
6. REMOVE YOUR HAND FROM THE CAT's mouth
7. Tickle cat's throat.
8. Wait for cat to stick tongue out.
Once the cat sticks its tongue out, s/he has swallowed the pill. Remember that cats can't spit.
326 My vet gave me bad advice. "Just stick it in her mouth, on the back of the tongue." The back of the tongue?? I don't think so. Yeah, I should've trusted my instincts. This worked a lot better.
329 You're serious, aren't go? At first I thought you were just repeating the joke circulating around the internet on How to Give a Cat a Pill (if you haven't seen it, I recall that the owner gets rather beaten up, and the cat wins).
Manual? I never got a manual with mine. Should I call the manufacturer?
339 - Nope.
My g/f's cat is declawed though, only because he lived with her mom for awhile and they secretly declawed him. Now he walks bow-legged and wobbly, and phantom scratches at the scratching post, which is a sad sight.
But yes, the wrapping in a towel thing is a good trick, I've done that before.
2 straight ugly games for the Dodgers. No offense, no starting pitching, and yet tomorrow's another day and hopefully they'll get it going again when their good luck charm is back in the lineup.
There's a Taiwanese heritage festival at/near Union Station all day saturday and sunday. I am hoping Guo is there tomorrow to demonstrate the Taiwanese bat flip.
vr, Xei
On the positive side the Dodgers are ruining their pythagorean win/loss record, giving the "stat geeks" something to chat about in their basements this coming winter.
vr, Xei
How does that make sense? I mean, if a guy pitches 15 innings one month and then 30 the next (as opposed to 22 each month), is that really the same thing? It seems like it's not just the total innings at the end of the year that are important, but how they're fanned out.
Pierre, LF
Martin, C
Kemp, RF
Kent, 2B
Loney, 1B
Jones, CF
DeWitt, 3B
Hu, SS
Lowe, P
Maybe the streak will stop with my attendance tomorrow night.
Of course he is.
They should air all Utah home games in black-and-white.
Minus the black.
The cerebral MVP!
It's pretty nice there.
The Jazz fans are so sweet that they boo Derek Fisher out of respect for his own family situation.
Hopefully the second half doesn't send us running for the Dodgers game.
2 I imagine that's how Torre sees it. But if he is willing to bat Martin 2, why not 1 (and Ethier 2)?
"We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One way is to tell stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I took the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new buckle for my shoe, so I decided to take the ferry to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville back in those days. I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and back in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. 'gimme five bees for a quarter' you'd say. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the point is that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. Back then you couldn't get white onions, because of the war. You could only get those big yellow ones..."
It's loose.
Please alert the media.
I read about Wilson's Disease today at work. The treatment for it isn't a liver transplant. There are medications that can lower the amount of copper in your system or you can also consume lots of zinc.
The disease also would have caused a lot of psychological problems.
Tell people you think Red Auerbach was a better coach than Phil Jackson. Endear yourself to the crowd.
Wilson's Disease aside, it made absolutely no sense for Kelso to be at the hospital, yet the show acted as if it were perfectly normal. Plus, they brought Keith back from nowhere.
Bad writing.
How am I doing Bob?
Jason Tyner may hold that distinction.
When I looked at tonight's lineup, I temporarily forgot that DeWitt was hitting over .300, and that bottom third just does not look good. Mr. Strikeout .170, DeWitt, and Hu, the pitcher, Pierre. It just does not look fearsome, as much as I like DeWitt and Hu. Admittedly, I wasn't giving DeWitt his due when I had that response, but one does worry about when he will come back to earth.
Anyway, the point is this: this lineup just reminds us of how very important Furcal is to the team (Furcal and Ethier instead of Pierre and Hu would be a vast improvement, needless to say). And how very important it is that Jones starts hitting.
Poor Ethier. Hitting over .300 but still benched. Can this guy ever win?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/grossgr01.shtml
And he's OPSing .591.
God will have the final say about your apostasy.
Actually, I would fear trainwreck more.
We could be very good.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/02/sports/baseball/02twins.html
Vince Coleman got a lot of ABs.
I was confused. "a sports board without cursing? how ridiculous", I thought.
that was a few years ago. but I am a happy uncursing camper since then.
Reminder: This is a contract year, friend-o.
Signed,
Your agent.
I believe that lawsuit was thrown out, but teams just give the Mother's Day stuff out to everybody to avoid the nuisance.
That brick wasn't beautiful...
Can you call such a thing? Is that even legal?
It's like every game is the Livan Hernandez '97 World Series strike zone.
Luke had too much buttered popcorn during that time out, apparently.
Yep, and if I think about the Rams recent draft, I can be triple-sad.
I know you have another nickname for him, but I like screaming
BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKEE
when he does something good.
Man, if Kent wasn't robbed of a hit, there'd be a run in by now.
I'll be at the pub.
161 And I'm right behind ya. I'll buy the first pitcher. And what would you like?
Ack. I am feeling so pessimistic tonight. Why? Because of one big loss? Snap out of it. They have been playing so very well before now. It must be the 4-0 score that's doing it.
a great play in the OF, ot he ran the bases aggressively . . . . something about that kid always caught my attention.
Oh criminy.
Beautiful plumage, those Repkos, innit?
"Arizona isn't so red-hot anymore".
Apparently neither are we, unfortunately. These last two games have been brutal. (I reserve the right to take this back if we come back).
The Minotaur can't replace three guys. He almost could, but not quite.
let's call repko up.
We could also just smother him under a pillow long before that if he keeps pitching like this.
http://tinyurl.com/3w6mkl
http://tinyurl.com/3pzsxu
G/F is down by 1.50 from last year, and about 2 from 2006:
http://baseball.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=3640
If George Lombard is an orchestra leader, is John-Ford Griffin a filmmaker?
can we do much worse?
.254 / .345 / .377 / .722
His career numbers are:
.232 / .302 / .382 / .684
All at an age older than Andy LaRoche was this spring.
Tough night from Lowe and some great work by the Astro catcher to frame those low pitches early in the game.
vr, Xei
I wasn't around when Penny was giving up his ten runs, for the argument about whether the bullpen had to be preserved. I was trying to relive the magic.
211 Yeah, he upsided Furcal and upsided the outfield wall.
so, what's the problem here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QSaM5gQ9vo
Plus Repko is hitting this in Vegas:
.242 / .340 / .411 / .751, 13 BB, 34 K, 144 PA
He judges fly balls like Stevie Wonder, and is a virtual hand grenade to his fellow teammates on the field.
At least that's what I keep telling myself as I ignore Repko Thoughts.
Except for the part where he gives up fly balls and line drives.
(sheepish grin)
I have a new idea. Start the games with our relievers. Have them pitch an inning or two. Let the team get confident and score some runs. Then if you have to bring in a Penny or a Lowe to mop up. It's genius, I tell ya!
(I am a stubbornly refusing to believe he can stink like this all season and I'm sorry if that makes me appear [more] boorish.)
There are worse things in life than having a Jason Repko fetish.
You could have a Terry Tiffee fetish.
And Old Friend Who Is Older Than His Listed Age strikes out!
those numbers mean something.
- Josh Wilker
Cardboard Gods
That said, reason tells me to stick with Jones, but I still think Torre needs to try something different with him to get him back on track. Running him out there every day, in front of booing fans, just seems to be making him worse.
http://griddle.baseballtoaster.com/archives/781311.html
Jes' sayin'.
Odd time to start speaking French, Vinny.
sorry, couldn't help it.
vr, Xei
French for Wally Pipp?
French for "The Gross Insect"?
Me: I assume many swinging at balls out of the zone vr, Xei
good episode of Doctor Who tonight, though it's just about done.
Yellow alert.
vr, Xei
You know, Jimmy Rollins, he plays for the Phillies. He's a shortstop.
Do you routinely drug beavers to see how they waddle?
I don't think the people at Fish and Game are going to approve of that.
Or at least, they're having an off day.
The days before drugged beavers.
The days before the dark times (cue scary music).
I'll be right over. I'm really good at giving cats pills. I had a cat that needed a lot of them and I had it down to a science.
His velocity is down from what I remember; he used to be mid-high 90's, now it's just 88.
Roll it in catnip?
Ow!
Okay, I'm gonna open a can of food. I give up.
He also doesn't look as fat as Odalis to me.
But other than that, I agree!
1. Get towel.
2. Get pill
3. Wrap up cat in towel.
4. Pry open cat's mouth with one hand.
5. Use other hand to stick pill on the back of the cat's tongue.
6. REMOVE YOUR HAND FROM THE CAT's mouth
7. Tickle cat's throat.
8. Wait for cat to stick tongue out.
Once the cat sticks its tongue out, s/he has swallowed the pill. Remember that cats can't spit.
I was about to try mixing it with some ice cream.
Your vet's advice was pretty much dead on.
Oh, you mean the outside of the throat. Ah!
(Kidding.)
Once I read the manual, it was pretty easy to give my cat a pill. I probably did it a couple hundred times.
or if you're the Amazing Bob, apparently.
The double play helped too.
339 - Nope.
My g/f's cat is declawed though, only because he lived with her mom for awhile and they secretly declawed him. Now he walks bow-legged and wobbly, and phantom scratches at the scratching post, which is a sad sight.
But yes, the wrapping in a towel thing is a good trick, I've done that before.
Oh, is there still a game on?
vr, Xei
vr, Xei
Wearing a long sleeve shirt helps.
The gnome is going to be in the lineup tomorrow?
Same time the world's oil supply runs out, I think.
Hideki had the long streak, not Kazuo.
Stand down.
349 Yeah, where is that gnome these days anyway? Seems like they stopped rubbing it. Unless you meant Hu.
Ooo. That was a sacriledge to say.
He's still Vin.
And just when I was gonna predict a 6+1 comeback victory tonight.
And now I think I shall curl up with an irritated cat wrapped in a towel and watch a DVD.
vr, Xei