In each race, two clear favorites have emerged and are waging close battles for the top spot. I won't post any results until the polls have closed, as to not sway the voting.

I'm just gonna give the All-Time Faves*:

Fernando
Pedro G.
Sax
Orel
Piazza

Honorable Mention:

Hee-Seop Ch-i

*I don't necessarily have much emotional connection to these players now, but I did when they played.

Broxton: 1.49
Guo: 2.67
Beimel: 2.86
Wade: 3.23
Billingsley: 3.30
Lowe: 3.71
Penny: 3.77
Kuroda: 4.30
Loiaza: 4.64
Park: 5.57
Proctor: 5.75

This list tells a different story.
vr, Xei

Alternately, I should have created a bunch of sockpuppet accounts, and really rigged the poll up good. But that's a lot of work, as opposed to snubbing, which comes effortlessly to me.

You can probably get away with PG-13

The only thing that come to mind was Jar Jar Binks.

All-Time (that I was old enough to see)
Guererro
Fernando
Scioscia
Cey
Orel

2 for 3.

Current
1. Bison
2. Russ
3. Loney
4. Broxton
5. Furcal

All-Time-
1. Jackie
2. Koufax
3. Edwin Jackson (what can i say, i got attached)
4. Piazza
5. Campy

As for my all-time #3, he currently has a VORP over 10. He is also second in the majors behind Cliff Lee in starts giving up 0 runs. He has 3 and i like Lee has 5 or 6.

"Cate Blanchett" is perfectly fine, however.

Please forgive me everyone.

I hope Eric never gets a job he pays attention to so that we get his complete poll attention.

"This is the first time he's left the nest," the manager said. "He's been with an organization his whole life. He ventures out; he doesn't do very well."

I then wondered what explained Jones's 2007, given that he was still in the nest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfmFAL84Egw

He left "the nest" of Curacao in 1994 and over the next 3 seasons played in 7 cities and roared thru the farm system. He did all this as a teenager. It did not seem to bother him then.

He spent 12 years in Atlanta and I have no doubt he misses it and it's an adjustment but I'm skeptical that that is the root of the problem.

Having said all that, I agree with Torre in keeping him in the lineup. If he starts hitting we will be a much better team.

I hate it when the fans boo a Dodger unless he's not trying.

53.2 IP
32 Hits
4 BBs
44 Ks
1 HR

0.67 ERA

All the peripherals are good. 11-1 (Ks/bbs) is insane. But 32 hits allowed in 53 IP?

Wow.

A year from now instead of lamenting that Ned wasted money on A Jones, the debate will be how long and for how much we should extend his contract.

The sooner he works things out the less Pierre we'll see which is to everyone's benefit.

This quest, while fun, has taken some time to keep up with. It may have been easier to compile everything at the end, but it wouldn't have been nearly as fun.

I suspect some fans interpret Jones's weight to be an indication that he's not trying as hard as he could.

When the Reds traded Frank Robinson to the Orioles it was because they said he was an old 30, when you look at A Jones, he looks like an old 31.

Chad Billingsley
James Loney
Russell Martin
Matt Kemp
Jonathan Broxton

All-Time (Non-Current):

Bob Welch
Steve Garvey
Eric Gagne
Tim Belcher
Eric Karros

Hard to remember but when Welch came up it seemed very Kershaw like. He had electric stuff.

Current-
Martin
Kemp
Saito
Broxton
Loney

All Time-
Yeager
Fernando
Dusty Baker (sorry)
Cey
Pedro Guerrero

I picked 4 of the same all-time 5 except you have Boomer and I took Reggie Smith.

Hmmm, 1981 World Series MVP Trio, 1981 Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award winner and Johnnie B. Baker. Nothing wrong with those 5.

All-Time:
Robinson
Koufax
Hershiser
Baker
Scioscia

in other news, dialidol.com predicts a david v. david final, using busy signals as an indicator of the number of votes. it's science!

Plus, look at the expected ERAs in 12 . The pitchers have been fine; just a bit unlucky.

Kemp
Martin
Furcal
Billingsley
Kuo

All-Time (that I've seen):

Orel
Piazza
Beltre
Ramon Martinez (I)
Gagne

This is not true.

In Betemit's case, he was a reverse agegate guy. The Braves tried to pass him off as older than he really was so that they could sign him before he turned 16. It's the same thing the Dodgers did with Beltre. So Betemit is actually younger than his official DOB says he is.

With Furcal, he turned out to have fudged his age to make him appear younger. But there has never been any suspicion that the Braves were complicit in this; in fact, it makes no sense whatsoever that they would be. The whole reason players fake their ages is to appear younger to the team signing them, so that they can get a bigger bonus -- or, in some cases, so they can be signed at all. If the team knew the player's real age, then that would eliminate the only reason for faking one's age in the first place.

Pierre, LF
Jones, CF
Kemp, RF
Kent, 2B
Martin, C
Loney, 1B
DeWitt, 3B
Hu, SS
Lowe, P

Hope Lowe's sinker is working today.

Did Fimple get a retirement benefit from MLB with these numbers?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fimplja01.shtml

Does anyone know the MLB retirement deal? Days and dollars.

All-Time Dodgers
1) Sandy Koufax
2) Ron Cey
3) Don Drysdale
4) Gil Hodges
5) Orel Hershiser

All-Time:
Koufax
Hershiser
Reese
Piazza
R Martinez

Dorey Wade followed Brad Penny with two scoreless innings and lowered his ERA to 1.88

Gio - he was awesome for us.

Charlie Neal
Junior Gilliam
Johnny Roseboro
Doug Camilli
Maury Wills

My all-time favorites are really:
Myron White
Mike Ramsey
Mike Ramsey
Sandy Vance
Camilo Pascual

All-Time (Life Time):
Hershiser
Piazza
Butler, Brett (I was young)
Beltre
Mondesi

All-time:
Garvey
Orel
Scioscia
Cey
Piazza

If Jones did steroids, then stopped before last season, doesn't that explain the precipitous decline? Plus, who's to know for sure whether he might not be a couple years older than he's supposed to be.

He batted .222 last season. And while he hit 26 home runs, he was playing in the NL East, in hitter-friendly parks, and not facing the pitching he's seeing now in the NL West.

115 I do. I have pee samples for all ten thousand+ baseball players over the past two decades. Fun stuff. It's in my basement, next to my central blogging headquarters and the Buzz Bissinger Library.

Chuck Norris doesn't play favorites, he is everyone elses favorite.

When I think of Ron Cey its the memory of him playing 3B not selling appliances on TV.

Steve Garvey never was a favorite of mine because I thought he was too image conscious, too concerned about his stats and wasn't the best player on his team.

Torre probably figured hitting in Milwaukee tonight against a crappy LH is the best hitting situation Druw will see until next week.

Tomorrow is Sheets, and the weekend is the Angels staff.

Sax received seven.

All-Time:
Jackie
Sandy
Fernando
Piazza
Shawn Green

CF Mike Cameron
SS JJ Hardy
LF Ryan Braun
1B Prince Fielder
RF Corey Hart
3B Bill Hall
2B Craig Counsell
P Manny Parra
C Jason Kendall

Perhaps Lasorda can reminisce on the opponents' cleanup hitter's performance.

I was 12 when I got a foul ball that Sax hit.

I was 13 when I saw him homer on Opening Day in '88.

I did not know at the time that Davey Lopes had a better career OPS+ than Steve Sax.

I don't know, I'm asking. Have we reached 100,000? Or are we well beyond?

Pierre's agent rocked the boat.

My parents still laugh about my original pronunciation of Davey Lopes's name when I was a little boy. I thought it was Baby Lopes.

To me, its that simple.

Plus Ethier has had a horrible time hitting lefties this year (4 for 28, all singles), even Jones has slightly better numbers than that.

FWIW - at the last game I went to (Saturday with Eric Stephen), I saw Ethier joking around with Jones and in pretty good spirits before the game during BP.

Okay, one commenter might.

Prince Vegetable has nothing on J-Lo

1- Reggie Smith - fun to do the switchhittig thing while playing wiffleball as a child.

2- Piazza
3 - Fernando
4 - Garvey - His stance was fun for wiffle ball as well.
5 - Greg Brock - From a city not to far from me.

Current :

1- Martin
2 - Loney
3- Kemp
4- Laroche
5 - Billingsley.

Isn't that what Pierre has attached to his shoulder?

I'm here all week. Try the veal.

On May 1, Pierre voiced his displeasure with his role. He started that night, and for the next 5 games before Furcal went out. That's a Grady move straight out of 2007, when he would play Gonzo immediately after a complaint about playing time.

Starting Pierre is wrong on any of these 3 levels:

1) Torre believes in playing the hot hand, rather than the best players
2) Torre will allow a veteran to determine playing time by responding to his complaints
3) Torre thinks Pierre is a suitable replacement for Furcal at the leadoff spot

I'm not saying any other manager would do it differently. I'm not saying Ethier should demand a trade. But I'm saying I feel like Will Ferrell in Zoolander. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Why is something that is so blindingly obvious to me and many others (Kemp AND Ethier should play every day, almost without question) not even considered by the club? It's embarrassing.

707 did anyone else have a gut feeling that JP was gonna hit his 1st career HR as a dodger last night off gagne?

Somehow that thought never entered my mind.

Five favorite Dodgers alltime:
Dick Allen
Don Sutton
Andy Messersmith
Claude Osteen
Duke Sims

709 what's the deal with lucas may? he hasn't played since sunday and it was only 1 PA

SUNS REPORT: Jacksonville 8, Mobile 4

>> Lucas May left in the second inning after a first-inning pitch hit him in the left arm. <<

And never saw Cheap Seats. I did meet him at a trade show a few years back; he was pimping some video game software. I introduced myself, and he let me take a cell phone pic with him. Nice enough for me. Funny thing is that I was taller than him, which just struck me as odd.

Sandy
Fernando
Piazza
Gibson
Wills

It's funny to me that Broxton looks like a huge monster on the field, but he's the height of a guard in the NBA.

>> "The thing with Jon is, as a reliever, what we noticed was a slight drop in velocity when we used him on back-to-back days," Bundy said. "By him starting, hopefully it allows him to get some of that arm strength back and to develop three pitches." <<

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/18887689.html

Also, Bobby Grich was probably my favorite player during that time so I think in mind, he's my favorite 2B so Lopes doesn't come to mind due to that too.

That team, not that time.

Darn, that's what I thought.

I got over Saxie when he became a Yankee.

>> Bundy said Stults is pitching better now than he was last year when the Dodgers called him up three times and he pitched in 12 games for them. <<

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/18924834.html

The Here-And-Now:
1. Kemp
2. Loney
3. Ethier
4. Martin
5. Broxton

Ancient Times:
1. Koufax
2. Bill Singer
3. Piazza
4. Bill Sudakis
5. S. Green

I'd like to see him go one-on-one with Barkley.

THEN: Robinson, Koufax, Piazza, Valenzuela, Gagne

As much as I didn't want Sax to leave, I thought the right side of the infield was upgraded when Randolph/Murray replaced Sax/Stubbs. Back-to-back champs for sure!

At what point will Bob strike out tonight?

Just don't get sunburn in Mexico.

"The mystery is solved: Park pitches Saturday. Torre says they should be able to get 85-90 pitches out of him."

Batten down the hatches.

The cynical side of me asks, if that's the case, who enters the game in the fourth?

Then:
1) Koufax
2) Robinson
3) Newcombe
4) Wes Parker
5) Drysdale

Nomar Garciaparra has been working out at shortstop and could return to the position and start over Chin-lung Hu if he beats Rafael Furcal back.

209 I saw that yesterday, personally, I think that leads me more to the idea of Nomar being a utility player once Raffy gets back.

Unless the goal is to get him hurt as quickly as possible, which very well might be the goal.

Does the one-millionth Toaster poster gets a free subscription to Baseball Toaster Platinum?

202 - glad I didn't go buy tickets for the game

Nothing wrong with it though.

There's a drive you can make past Santa Barbara heading up towards that whole "Sideways" wine country where you pass a lake and some nice mountain roads.

When my car broke down near Santa Barbara and I had to be towed back to LA (and I also had to pay the guy cash on my arrival home), my conversation with a tow truck driver consisted of how many times he finds a car that went off the road in that area. (At least once a month)

Then:
Piazza
Nomo
Green
Gagne
Beltre

Now:
Chad Billingsley
Russell Martin
Matt Kemp
James Loney
Rafael Furcal

Then:
Orel Hershiser
Mike Scioscia
Fernando Valenzuela
Shawn Green
Pedro Guerrero

I figured it was off-topic but I did the drive this weekend & it's one of those things were you find something so great you wanna share it with everybody!

225. The drive from Solvang to Los Olivos is beautiful too and it takes you right by the Sideways Winery (movie fame). Keep driving through Los Olivos up past the Neverland Ranch and to the ridge of Figueroa mountain. That is also an incredibly beautiful drive, but it's starting to brown up. I like camping in the Lake Cachuma area (Rancho Oso). Doesn't get the crowds like anything within 90 minutes of LA does.
vr, Xei

http://folar.org/

Current:

1)Martin
2)Saito
3)Broxton (he's a thrower now BUT if he starts pitching he could be very special)
4)Kuo
5)Kemp

Former:

1)Orel Hershiser
2)Michael Piazza (I can't believe I forgot him)
3)Fernando (I never saw him in his prime but my dad sure made a fuss over 'em)
4)Mondesi
5)Pedro Martinez (for the little while he was with us he sure threw gas)

All-time:

1. Koufax
2. Drysdale
3. Wills
4. Willie Davis
5. Pete Reiser

I saw all of them save Reiser.
Current:

1. Loney
2. Martin
3. Kemp
4. Saito
5. DeWitt

I was old enough to see Jackie Robinson play had there been televised Games of the Week back then.

Oh, my, my
There's a new post in town
just another new post in town
Ooh, hoo
Everybody's talking 'bout the new post in town,
Ooh, hoo
Everybody's walking like the new post in town
There's a new post in town
There's a new post in town
I don't want to hear it
There's a new post in town
I don't want to hear it
There's a new post in town
There's a new post in town
There's a new post in town

Now:
1) Kemp
2) Martin
3) Billingsley
4) LaRoche
5) Broxton

According to 222 , yes.

I'll post the results in the game thread.

Boo.

1. how many runs Park gives up in his start?

2. the innings where Kuo inevitablly enters the game?

I'd hope Hu does well though. he's had some decent stretches . need some consistent play time though. I'm hopin they don't Chris Burke him.