What a weird icky season. I almost replied to JoeyP's comment that this isn't a very good team with a sort of "It just feels like there's so much to like that I feel wrong agreeing, but it almost -never- seems to go together for longer than a week that I have a hard time opining much differently.

This might be the toughest stretch of the year--26 games in 27 days against mostly good teams.

My Lovable Dodgers, we're going to the game tomorrow ...

Which means... things ought to look up? Or maybe we'll just plateau and stay this way til September.

In a year that has been so improbable, the incomprehensible happens. Seriously, I think sometimes you just have to tip your cap. The Cubs are on a bit of a schedule-based roll, but the Dodgers certainly aren't helping themselves.

And I just used "Icky" on a forum I try and put my best language forward. Ah well. I blame an over-dose of Milton bringing my least-Milton language out.

I'm going to tomorrow's game in the cheap seats, and to Saturday's in the not-so-cheap seats.

The frustration of a loss like this is compounded by listening to the Cubs announcers saying nasty things about the Dodgers and their fans for three hours, complaining about every call that went against the Cubs, and then yelling and screaming at the end.

I was so happy, though, to see Kent's HRs. I hope he gets really hot right now.

What's the latest on Furcal?

Matt Kemp! My favorite player is becoming my least favorite. His thought process just continues to amaze me. He's like my child. I just want so badly for him to do well, it hurts when he doesn't. Does he not take instruction? Is he just stupid? Do we actually have anybody on this team teaching the young players anything? I'm more talking about his continuously lost in the ether baserunning than the K tonight, but why would he make his hardest swing of the year on that 2-0 pitch uo when for so much of the year his short swing other way approach has worked and we didn't exactly need 4 runs?

And the funny thing is, we're only 4 games out of first. This divison is so unbelievably putrid that this team still has a chance. If Raffy can ever come back and play close to where he did before he got hurt, we still have a chance. Hopefully Loney will turn it around and the whole team will hit for more power as the year progresses. i'm doubtful, but hopeful.

I feel like I'm left clinging to this idea almost every season but...at least the {insert NL West team(s) that the Dodgers should be better than, but for some reason aren't} aren't running away with the division. As long as we stay within striking distance, there's still plenty of time for these guys to put it all together.

Sigh.

Wow, if you watch the replay of Kemp striking out, you can hear when he breaks the bat.

Also, Broxton didn't pitch tonight.

4 - I'm hopeful the kids will unslumpify. Jeff Kent has looked a little perkier in his last week or so. There's hope.

Unfortunately, Arizona didn't play today, so the Dodgers lost ground to them in the standings, four games out of first. The Giants are seven games back, in third place, and who'da thunk it when the season started?

9

Because he's young and frustrated. He wanted to end the game with a bang, and it didnt work. He's still an immature ballplayer, but he's also still one of our best players. Hopefully he can find a power stroke, because there needs to be some return on all of those k's.

Trade Kemp while you can get something. He is nothing more than a prospect. If you play a AAA team against a Major League team, you get what you get. The only Major Leager on the team showed what Major Leager's do...Kent 2 HR's. I won't pay Major League prices for AAA talent.

The stars are aligned into a perfect storm against the Dodgers.

Furcal was one of the best hitters all year and goes down.

The Dodger ace, Brad Penny, goes into a downward slump.

The big ticket free agent becomes a big bust.

Age catches up to Jeff Kent (notwithstanding a nice performance tonight.)

James Loney looks like he lost that sweet swing of his. Loney's numbers are equal or lower than DeWitt's numbers, in what should have been a nice breakout season.

Thank god for a weak division, because as soon as the storm blows through, there could very well be a rainbow on the horizon.

12 - That was me edting the first part of what I wrote, which was more general, and not fixing the second.

I actually felt uplifted by this game. It seemed that there was some spark that I hadn't seen lately. Must have been the XBHs or, perhaps, lower expectations. Isn't this the best team in baseball we were playing, at least record-wise?

15 - AAA talent typically has an .800 OPS in center field?

I'll take on your team full of Kents. Tonight notwithstanding, Kemp has been miles more valuable than Kent this year.

15

not many "prospects" would OPS .832 after a full season of AB's before his 24th birthday.

Long time Lurker, first time poster. I must say this is really disappointing season for the Dodgers and the rest of the NL West.

Not even close. Kent is a proven All Star...Kemp a prospect who can't deliver in the clutch...Loney, Mister Double Play man...There's a reason they call them prospects...Name a team that has won anything with rookies and prospects...Keep paying the money to watch Vegas in LA

15 He is a .300+ hitter with over 650 ABs. That is NOT just a prospect.

Loney's a line drive/ spray hitter that will GIDP quite a bit.

He needs more upper cut in his swing and pull the ball.

22 - We'll have to agree to disagree.

22 - Uh, the Snakes?

18 I feel everything in my stomach being uplifted after such a wretched night of sports, tonight really makes me sick...

26

Except everyone agrees that we're right and he's wrong :). There is no way any rational baseball fan can look at the numbers and say Kemp has been a dissappointment in his first 660 at bats. Obviously, we'd all love for him to show more plate discipline and hit for more power, but he's still been extremely productive. I'm critical of him because he is my favorite player and I've followed him for so l ong and know that he can do better. But to dismiss him as nothing but a prospect is just wrong.

18 Me too. After rolling over the Rockies, this felt like improvement. Then again, my expectations are minimal. I was hoping not to get shut out.

Was it dzzrtRatt who said he didn't expect the Dodgers to make the playoffs? I don't either. There are some bad contracts and a lot of dead weight on this team. I just want the under 26-27 core to remain intact, and I'll wait it out. They're going to suck sometimes, but they're also going to be unbelievable.

Basically, my expectations of Kershaw in 2008 exemplifies my expectations of the 2008 Dodgers.

30 - And there's going to be no convincing each party that the other is wrong, so I see no point in anyone pursuing this discussion.

22 The only "prospect", by definition, in today's lineup was Chin Lung Hu. Everyone else is a major leaguer. Please refer to them as such.

25 - JoeyP to the rescue, defends Loney and offers advice to try to get him back ontrack (or untracked)! The loyal fans rally around our boys.

When most teams get in the situation the Dodgers had tonight, they deliver. The Dodgers continue to unimpress. Who was expecting Loney and Kemp to deliver? Loney did, but luckily he was safe at 2nd. He probably felt bad because he has been an anchor to the team this year. Kemp, he can't keep his emotions in check, he mostly hits when it doesn't matter, and who really has confidence with him in the clutch. I will take Kent every time in that situation. Wood is no fool, he knew emotional Kemp would chase.

22 35

I'm sitting on my hands just for you, Jon!

36 - Good. I appreciate it.

35

So Kerry Wood intentionally threw a 2-0 fastball about 3 feet above the zone because he knew Kemp would chase? Man, that Kerry Wood feller is one smart cookie! Seriously, there's so much thats wrong about what you said its not even worth discussing.

31 should say "rolling over FOR the Rockies."

Canuck, please note rule 2 on the sidebar.

Isn't Loney in the hunt for grounding in to the most double plays?...He would have had another one tonight if Russell hadn't flung his arm up...that means he would have hit into two double plays tonight!!! Solid Major League play.

35 Kemp was hitting .340 with runners in scoring position before tonight. So there goes that idea.

Good night everbody. We live to fight again!

Everyone throwing out stats...the only people that quote stats are usually losing. The winners don't focus on stats. Remember, "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" wasn't said by the winning team.

42 - Your point has been made. Please note the site guidelines on the bottom of the right-hand sidebar. One of them says not to make the same point over and over again. Thanks in advance for living with those rules.

But Jon, it is so tempting to respond. It hurts being quiet.

45 You said Kemp usually hits when it doesn't matter. WRONG. He's better when it DOES matter.

Oh man...

OK, before I explode... "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" was not said by any team. It's a line from a poem by a sportswriter.

OK, I'm done now.

This piling on the young players has gotten old. Yeah, we're not a good team, but the young players are about the only thing good about it, and without them we would have under 20 wins right now. Optimism for this season depended on Furcal being healthy, Kent not playing like a 40 year-old, Jones being good (and healthy), Pierre not being more than a bench player, and Penny and Lowe pitching like our first and second best starters. None of those things came through, and none of it has anything to do with the young players.

45
You should coach youth sports.

We're not this bad of a team.

Is it just me and my browser, or did the font change from 51 onwards?

Never mind. Back to normal.

Ethan Martin sounds like a really good kid from listening to his conference call. Looking forward to his GCL debut.

50 Just to further enlighten the guy who doesn't know, that line was said by Grantland Rice in his poem "Alumnus Football."

http://preview.tinyurl.com/65cya2

Rice died in 1954; somehow I'd thought he'd passed on a lot earlier than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantland_Rice

54 55 That happened to me for a second there, too.

56 I'm listening to the clip on mlb.com and the quality is craptastic. Is this the only version floating around?

joeyp offering moral support to loney is a win in my eyes : )

It sounds like Devaris Strange-Gordon is being drafted as a possible lead off man. He is off the charts with speed but has no power. He didn't play last year due to his transferring. Is this the type of player you draft in the fourth round? Do you think he was even on the radar for many teams?

53 Agreed. Our bullpen is among the better pens in the NL. And without looking it up, something like 4 of our last 8 losses are in the 8th and 9th innings on. This is more a dreadfully unlucky spell than anything. Sure, our offense is on hiatus, but we still should have won more of these games than we have.

Also, there is a lot of reason to believe that the 2nd half of the season will be a lot better. Hopefully Furcal will be back. LaRoche, Schmidt and Jones might be contributing and Loney and Kemp should be OPSing even higher. Only Dodgers due for a slump might be Dewitt and Pierre.

Final note, at this stage of the season last year, Colorado Rockies were 29-31, 7.5 GB and in 4th place in the NL West.

62 Also, I strongly feel that Penny, Lowe and Billz will be better in the next 100 games than they were in the last 60.

62 LOL as soon as pierre starts to get on base a few times, he's due for a slump, I wonder how many other dodgers have gained so little trust from the fans that continue to stay in the starting line up..I'm with you though

Someone made a comment about how the bobbleheads this year are smaller than the others. I think its true. My new Saito bobblehead is about 1/2"-1/4" smaller than various others I have in my collection, but about the same size as my Martin one from last season.

64 I just can't be frustrated by Pierre anymore. It's not his fault he's here, and he gives us what we all thought he would. Anything on top of that is gravy.

66 I'll just be sad if he leaves here never hitting a home run, home or away...i try to picture what that would look like

67 I think we will see an ITP HR from Pierre this year. It will come against the Cards from a slap hit to Center that Ankiel tries to dive and catch, misses, and Pierre runs all the way around.

35 - you could, you know, actually look up the numbers on Kemp to back up your wholly baseless assertions (cough .340/.439/.472 prior to this game with RISP cough). But I'm sure that would be too much work.

He and his wife, Maggie, were married in February 2006 and they are expecting their first son later this year.

I just read the above on a section of the new blog Ethier has on the Dodger's website. Maybe it's old news, but I hadn't heard it yet. Congratulations to Andre and Maggie.

Tadahito Iguchi is going to join Peavy, Young, Cameron, Barrett, and Prior and be placed on the DL with a separated shoulder.

Not that he was an offensive whirlwind, but that still sucks for the Padres.

71
Well, at least we aren't the Padres.

Im kinda upset the NL West is so godawful this year thus far. We were arguably the toughest division in baseball for the past couple seasons. This year is pretty laughable.

72 Well, at least we aren't the Padres.

That phrase will see much use this season.

Kemp sucks. Trade him for a leader.

70 Yay for them! Although it must be tough being pregnant with your husband being on the road for weeks at a time.

I was at the game tonight. Kemp needs to learn discipline at the plate, and intelligence. There was no excuse to swing at that 2-0 pitch up around his eyes, with the bases loaded in the 9th. Actually, I really thought they should have given him the sign to take a pitch there.

On the plus side, it was really nice to see Kent hit two home runs. And to see them come back to tie the game after being down 4-0.

I was sitting up in the reserved level down the right field line, surrounded by Cubs fans. There was a rowdy group of 8 or 10 lesbians in front of me, drinking beer and rooting vociferously for the Cubs.

At least we're no longer X.5 games behind Arizona. That was getting old.

This steak I have is too gristly and not aged at all. I can't get anywhere with this steak. I know, I'll trade you for that nicely aged and marbled Ribeye over there.

78 - Like your weather reports?

80
High temps for the next 7 days (including today):

98, 100, 102, 95, 97, 95, 94

And it's not even summer yet.

we can all feel as strongly as we want about the ability of our young players, about our so highly rated pitching, how well our farm system is doing...

but this year, our team is not very good, period...they seem to do just enough to lose...the starters have good stats, but always have the one bad inning...the relievers make the bad pitch that does them in...the hitters, be it young or old or inexperienced or past their prime or just not as good as we would like, they just seem to miss the clutch hit...and our defense is very good except for the one play they miss that always seems to open the flood gates...

maybe these are the guys, and next year or the year after, we're golden, I certainly hope so...but this year it's hard to watch

further, clearly Torre is not an answer to our problems...as I recall, he was never thought of as much of a manager until he had a billion dollar lineup of the greatest stars on earth, and even then he didn't win every year...

unless, of course, he can still hit...

Record With Furcal: 18-14
Record Without Furcal: 10-18

Lesson: it helps to have a guy in your lineup OPSing over 1.000.

81 - Good to see that you have lost the decimal. I think that it was getting on Bob's nerves.

85
I only use decimals for the current temp, e.g. "It's currently 81.8 degrees at 9:10".

Actually, it went up to 82.0 as I was typing.

If Bob doesn't like the decimal, D4P can just shift the base. "It's currently 818 decadegrees at 9:10".

Or "8,180 centidegrees".

Tough times in LA. Of course I don't care for basketball but I actually feel it with my friends here who do. Someone really nailed it when he said it was like "perfect storm" coming at the Dodgers. I've been watching it unfold with a kind of horror, and it seems at least as bad as that 11 game losing streak in the last few years.

Tough times in LA. Of course I don't care for basketball but I actually feel it with my friends here who do. Someone really nailed it when he said it was like "perfect storm" coming at the Dodgers. I've been watching it unfold with a kind of horror, and it seems at least as bad as that 11 game losing streak in the last few years.

Sorry. I can say that again.

The draft gets going again in 45 minutes.

Whats everyone think of the first day?

I'm fine with Ethan Martin, Lindblom, Kyle Russell, and Redding.

Not really liking the Gordon or Delmonico picks.

81
It was close to 100 in L.A. back in April. And it reached 100 in May.

It should hit 79 in Downtown L.A. today. Except the NWS thermometer isn't in Downtown and is really at USC.

I'll be in Vancouver, BC in a few weeks, where the high today will be a balmy 53.

53 Celsius?

84 It also doesn't help if everyone not named DeWitt or Martin didn't go in the tank shortly after losing the 1.000 OPS guy.

95
I was reading some UBC faculty stuff yesterday, and ran across words like "colour" and "urbanisation" and "behaviours" and "neighbourhoods" and "belabour" "organisational" and "favour".

The Newark Star-Ledger's Ed Price reports that when asked whether he thought Cashman would re-sign, Steinbrenner responded with, "That's the impression I get."

Price reports that several people close to Cashmam, who asked to remain anonymous, have said he is very interested in the Los Angeles Dodgers GM opening. So interested that he began to look at L.A.'s housing market

Along with the Dodgers, the Phillies and possibly the Mariners will be looking for new GM's.

Is this just speculation or did I completely miss Colletti being fired

can someone who knows how to use basebll-refence.com do me a favor and make a list of highest OPS+ since 2004?

97 Darn tootin'

99 min 2200 PA's

Oh my achin' Takashi Saito bobblehead! What can you say at this point?

It is hard to be a Dodger fan. The expectations are high and should be. This is LA and this is one of the signature franchises in the game. We are four games out, amazingly. But the larger issue is just how this atmosphere of losing has become all pervasive with this franchise. I always felt this way about another franchise in LA: the Clippers. It doesn't seem to matter much what Elgin Baylor and Donald Sterling do, you know that despite who coaches or is on the floor, there are going to find ways to lose. That is what they are good at, ironically. Has this finally been cemented here at Chavez Ravine?

I know it is immature to compare my disappointment with those of long suffering fans of Chicago, Cleveland etc...but it is different. The Dodgers find rather incredible ways to lose games.

That shot of R. Martin sitting on the bench looking forlorn just broke my heart.

It is what it is until it isn't.

Anybody have an opinion on whether DeWitt should have bunted in the 9th? Was at the game last night, my opinion would have been to have DeWitt swing away since the batter coming up after him was Hu, who doesn't exactly inspire me that he can drive in that run.

Regarding Kemp swinging at 2-0; I personally think Torre should shoulder alot of blame there. Kemp is young-- and after Wood hit Tiffe and walked Pierre, Torre can not possibly give Kemp a green light in that situation.

Let's be realistic about the younger players.
None of them are David Wright/Ryan Braun type difference makers. While Loney raised hopes with his 9 HR month in Sept last yr., he had only a career 790-ish minor league OPS and was averaging a mere 10 HR's per 600 ABs in the minors. Martin is proving to be a nice mid 800's Catcher, but he's not a Mike Piazza. Kemp's power may come around eventually but his .26 BB/K ratio says that .300 Bat Avg won't last. He's still got some holes. We know Ethier has settled into a solid but unspectacular low 800's guy. DeWitt has filled in admirably at 3b, but his ceiling isn't any higher than Ethier's.
These are all NICE young players, who can hit at a league average or a bit better rate at their respective spots (Martin is the only one well above avg). But none are big hitting stars who can help carry a team.
It is great that the Dodgers have these young guys as they provide a cheap source of ADEQUACY for years to come. But the fact that they are basically just that means that the club can't afford inadequacy at many other spots. Since Furcal has been down, the team has had 3 distinct holes (SS, 2b, and Pierre). Net result = a below avg offense.
It's not the fault of younger players, but expecting them to provide a major solution would be over-optimistic.

Dodgers have made their 7th and 8th round selections.

104--Thats a good post.

For some reason, James Loney reminds me of Adam LaRoche, and Ethier of Xavier Nady.

But, I dont want the Dodgers to be like the Pirates in any way.

Kemp's power may come around eventually but his .26 BB/K ratio says that .300 Bat Avg won't last

I'm not sure that's true. His poor BB/K ratio may mean that he won't have a high OBP, but his BA will probably stay high as long as keeps hitting (and beating out) so many groundballs.

When Furcal went down, I typed "the day the season died." And since he went down, the season has been death warmed over. If he doesn't go down, the Dodgers are tied for first with the D'Backs, or a game back, or something like that. Even if Torre were foolish enough to bat Pierre second (and he would be), then we have DeWitt batting 8th, then a pinch hitter, then Furcal. That's a much different setup than what we're dealing with now.

It's all about losing Furcal.

98 - The article I read yesterday says Cashman was looking at the L.A. housing market before Colletti was hired.

It seems like Kemp's average rises and falls fairly steeply between .300 and .330 and so I expect he will be hitting again soon. Loney had a boring first half last year and finished strong. I think Abreu is the player the Dodgers miss the most this year.

Dodger pitching is good enough to keep the Dodgers in 90% of their games. My biggest worry is the players are not having fun. Someone needs to start smiling and hope it gets infectious.

Finally: the Dodgers's 10th round selection actually has an MLB scouting writeup.

108 if i'm not mistaken furcal should be back sometime soon, and 4games back with 102 to play is nothing to panic about, i still think this team can win the divison

My biggest worry is the players are not having fun.

Losing isn't fun.

Someone needs to start smiling and hope it gets infectious.

They'll start smiling if/when they start winning.

Pierre is a serious problem, of course, and our bench sucks. Blame Coletti for both. I won't get down on the young players. Loney will finish the season hitting .290. A lineup of seven complementary hitters can win a lot of games...

108 - I agree. Except for Loney, the kids are doing what one probably would have expected of them at this point. It's the Jones vacuum, followed by the Furcal injury and until recently Kent's non-production, that have been the real black holes.

If you assume that DeWitt is doing what LaRoche was hoped to be doing, not one Dodger offensive player is currently exceeding expectations, but most are meeting expectations. Martin, Kemp, Either and DeWitt all have EQAs of .279 or better. I expected Kemp to be nearer to .300, but he's not so far away. SS has gone from the biggest strength to the biggest weakness.

113 - People hold themselves back by waiting for something to happen before they smile and be happy. If I just had more money, if I just had a better job, if I just had a husband that would listen to me,...

114

I agree. 7 800 OPS guys and Pierre can score a lot of runs, but they cant cover up the black holes we have at 7 and 8.
Even so, its been an awfully unlucky stretch of close losses.

116
They have to be careful about being too smiley when they're losing. That gives the impression to fans, Management, etc. that they don't care about losing. If they don't look down in the dumps, they get criticized.

115 kent the last 2 weeks, .308/.325/.615, i think kent is starting to wake up and will be a very respectable offensive player from here on out, just the juan pierre, hu spot in the line-up is killing us, at least there is hope that loney can still become an average offensive player this year.

119 that's kent's line by the way.

It was disheartening to see the Reds and Pirates pass the Dodgers in the conference standings.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

If there's one silver lining to be found in a season circling the drain, it's that Ned Colletti will most certainly be canned. He really has been a front-office disaster.

Dodgers select an "Austin Yount".

Any relation to Robin?

124
Noooo... Not a Stanford guy!

Wait...

Go Cardinal!
Beat guys who go to commuter school that requires you only to know what one of letters in SAT stands for to gain admission.

How can I remember the Dodgers' Enos Cabell era but have no recollection of the Dodgers' Cesar Cedeno era?

123 It is only a silver lining if the guy who replaces him does a better job.

We really could use a win today. I can't take much more of all the Cubbie fans gloating about beating the Dodgers.

124

Yep, his uncle is Robin Yount

126
You also said you didn't remember the Carlos Diaz Era?

And did anybody see CoCo Crisp post-fight interview? What a clown. I think we can all be glad Kemp didn't react in the same manner.

The UT (Tennessee) connection:
http://tinyurl.com/48t22n

130 - Maybe my memory is going. I don't remember the Carlos Diaz era, I don't remember saying "I don't remember the Carlos Diaz era" and I don't remember Carlos Diaz.

Only three High Schoolers in 14 rounds. What a dramatic shift in philosophy!

133
You told me you didn't remember the Carlos Diaz era in an email back in 2006 after a Random Dodger Game Callback that covered 1986.

It's not in the comments.
https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/285393.html

123 Ditto.

A bunch of average or better kids playing for cheap and getting better is a great situation to have. All you need to do is spend the other $100Million of your budget (!!!!) in some vaguely useful way, with some legitimate producers. Should have been the easiest GM job in the world. I mean really, if you can count on getting average or better production at 4 or 5 positions for like $2M total, you should be able to put together a pretty good team.
What went wrong was not counting on it, and now that you have all these contracts of non-great players weighing you down for the next couple years, it's not even clear what to do. In a couple years, the bad contracts will be gone, but now these same kids will be all demanding their own money.

118 - Baseball is supposed to be entertainment and the secret to entertaining is having fun because people like to watch people having fun. So, enjoy success, smile after a hit or a good catch, joke around some during the game, and hold the head up after making out or error.

Maybe Jay Johnstone should be the third base coach and Jerry Rouse (sp) the pitching coach. I admit to never being a big Lasorda fan but his personality is needed in the dugout about now.

Maybe last year's ending and the flap between young and old about not caring, not wanting to win, not knowing how to win is hanging over the players today and if so, maybe Kent just needs to go to Texas and be close to his ranch.

123 If there's one silver lining to be found in a season circling the drain, it's that Ned Colletti will most certainly be canned. He really has been a front-office disaster.

Actually, I'd be really careful in calling for the head of Ned Coletti right now. It's fair to say that he hasn't spent his money wisely. Pierre, of course. Jones and Schmidt are injury cases and may never perform, but at least 2-3 years of contract are easier to eat than 6-7.

The point is, Coletti has burned money, but for the most part he hasn't burned our good prospects despite our continual handwringing that he would. Could it be better? Sure. But this season's rough start has as much to do with injury as it does with bad general management. Could it be worse? Oh yeah.

"The devil you know" has us in line to start Loney, DeWitt, LaRoche, Kemp, Ethier, Martin, Billingsley, and Kershaw next year. "The devil you don't" may well take the next Kemp+Loney+LaRoche+Kershaw+Billingsley for Miguel Cabrera deal that comes along.

I like where things are heading. And after a few offseasons of concern, I think Coletti is actually going to keep it going in that direction. Bring somebody new in, and they'll be bound to "tinker". (Shudder)

Ahh the "Enos Cabell Era" The exact phrase one of my old high school friends always uses to justify his raging hatred for the Dodgers. That was a lonely time as the only Dodger fan at Poway High. Thank God for Gibby.

124. He was announced by Lasorda on XM radio as the son of hall of Famer Robin Yount. Hopefully his bloodlines are a little more like the Griffey type rather than the Mattingly type.

99
Cargill, here is your list. Top OPS+ 2004-present:

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/RYY7

143
Lucky #13

Tommy Lasorda reading off each Dodger draft pick during the conference call is entertaining to say the least.

143

Wow, what a great list! only thing about Texiera (#13) is that how could anyone tell if his numbers were legitimate or inflated by playing in Texas?

I still think a trade for him would've been a mistake.

The one that hurts is JD Drew. I can't believe he's in the top 1/3, and you wonder: would it really have Killed Ned to work out an extension with Boras at the time? His opt out hurt a lot more than I thought it would.

140 I respect Jon's site tremendously, even Rule 8, which is why I'll keep this real short:

Colletti inherited a team loaded with prospects. He also was given an upper echelon payroll. Additionally, the team he took over has every possible "intangible" in its favor: climate, tradition, big market appeal.

Yet, he has gotten us nowhere.

There is plenty of blame to go around, but the person responsible for the construction of the current team should bear the brunt of it.

In my opinion. :)

138 and 140 both make great points. I'd be worried that the lesson McCourt learns is that Colletti erred by sticking with the kids, when the real lesson ought be, as CodyS puts it, that Colletti didn't trust the kids enough to avoid spending most of the budget on expensive junk.

With injuries and kids being inconsistent (as kids tend to be), it's a bad year so far, but the key is which lesson is drawn from the experience.

At this point, as bad as I think Colletti has been, I'd almost prefer to bank on the same stubbornness that keeps Pierre around to keep the commitment to the kids going, despite the apparent lack of superstars among them.

146 - Or Atlanta

146 Yeah, out bidding Atlanta for him would have been a huge mistake since they gave up something like four of their top five prospects to get him. Signing him this offseason wouldn't give us the biggest boost we could get, but I wouldn't be upset if it happened.

147 He's been terrible since he left, the opt out was brilliant. Then again, we probably wouldn't have Pierre or Jones if he had of staued.

only thing about Texiera (#13) is that how could anyone tell if his numbers were legitimate or inflated by playing in Texas?

At the very least, anyone could compare his home and away splits.

2005-2007

Home:
.303/.379/.570/.949

Away:
.288/.385/.530/.915

Someone (I think it might have been Eric Enders) pointed out a while ago that Kemp's reputation for not being able to hit off-speed stuff is incorrect, especially this year. I also recall that he speculated that Kemp might go up there looking for breaking balls, and then trying to react to fastballs. That's backwards from what we usually hear about how one should approach things, so I've been watching Kemp very closely, and I think Eric (or whoever it was) might be right. Kemp seems most vulnerable to fastballs, particularly really good fastballs. He just couldn't catch up with Wood's 96 MPH heat. Certainly he has the batspeed to hit those, so I wonder if it's a late reaction thing. This would also explain why he seems to K looking at fastballs down the middle so often.

Just my impression, and I'm no scout. Anyone else have any further thoughts about this?

Hasn't the tide turned recently, especially amongst the big market teams, to not trade your top prospects so frivolously? Atlanta traded a bushel for Teixeira, but he's a quality player that they got for two years. Detroit traded some dubious top prospects, but got back Miguel Cabrera.

Looking at the Johan Santana sweepstakes I think showed that teams are extremely protective of their farm systems.

He's been terrible since he left

2007:
.270./.373/.423/.796

2008:
.303/.406/.473/.879

"terrible" seems a little extreme.

155 I thought he was a lot worse in 2007. .796 from a corner outfielder in Fenway isn't great though.

151/155 - Walks aren't sexy, but hitting grand slams in Game 7 of the ALCS are very sexy. Before that moment Boston didn't like him at all. Since then he's been pretty good for the Red Sox.

It seems like it. Making guys like Ian Kennedy, Jon Lester, and Jacoby Ellsbury completely untouchable seems a bit insane to me.

143 thanks sir, i'm in quite the debate right now that just as an offensive player adam dunn is in the 15-20 range in baseball. i don't have hafner, thome, or helton ahead of him now, but i do have utley, hanley and holliday ahead of him

The men's French Open final will pit Rafael Nadal against Roger Federer.

Federer's Win Expectancy: 1.0%.

When did the team funk begin? Did it result from Torre continuing to play Jones? Did it then expand when Kent slumped and Pierre began to leadoff instead of Furcal? Is the funk due to too much youth or merely not telling the youth this is your team now take ownership--tell them by putting Martin, Loney, Kemp, Ethier, DeWitt, and Young in the first 6 hitting spots.

160

Tell me about it hahahahaha... Nadal is like Federer's kryptonite, complete with strange surface.

140.
yes

148.
no

im my opinion. :)

So why is it bad to be in a funk, but it's good to be funky?

164 I wouldn't want to smell funky.

164
And if it is bad to be in a funk, why do we want (and gotta have) the funk?

And where does Fred Funk fit in?

164 , 165
I had something really profound to say, but you threw me off my game...

The Padres drafted a "Beamer Weems".

juan pierre 102nd out of 109... nice.

164 - If it were not for a Jack-in-the-Box commercial I might not have a clue.

The OED has lots of different meanings for "funk" and "funky." The smell part of it came from a word use to describe tobacco smells.

The word seems to go back to the 14th Century when it meant "spark."

We need to find a way to put the fun back in funk.

We need to find a way to put the fun back in funk

All we have now are "k"s.

Let's put the base back in baseball (at least when we are up).

I veer offtopic to seek the consensus of America's most thoughtful and analytical bunch.

Yesterday, I went to Starbucks and paid for a $1.85 cup of coffee with a $20 and eighty-five cents in change.

I was distracted when I left and I never got back my $19.

Should I go back today and see if the manager can assist me? Or do I chalk this up to my own incompetence?

172 Knuf said.

175
You would be acting within your rights to go back and talk to the manager.

Whether the effort is worth $19 or not is up to you to determine.

175 My guess is a lucky Starbucks employee got a $19 tip for a cup of coffee.

175
How long would it take? How much is your time worth to you? Can you quantify the satisfaction of retrieving your $19 vs. the indignation of returning for it?

I'd chalk it up myself.

Whether the effort is worth $19 or not is up to you to determine

Actually, that assumes you get the $19 back. Since the probability of getting it back is presumably less than 1.0, the expected value of your effort is less than $19. Actually, it's already less than $19 because of the time and energy you expend in the process.

The count at the end of the day should a $19 mistake and generally, the Manager of any halfway honest establishment will be glad to give you your $19 if you call now.

104
Great post.

I wonder if we would be better served sending Loney in a package for a decent starter and breaking the bank on Texeria.

You get everything you want from Loney (fantastic fielding, on base skills, and a much bigger bat) while keeping most of our other pieces intact.

Loney would fetch someone of value, we could let Lowe, Kent, Garciaparra, and Loaiza's contracts off the books and still have a young pitching/hitting nucleus for a year while we wait to shed those unwanted Jones/Schmidt pounds for 2009.

I'm just becoming more and more convinced that we still need a Pujols/Holliday/A-Rod/Berkman type to build off of.

If you call, the owner might mail it to you.

164 166

Maybe thats what the Dodger Thoughts Logo (t-shirt) is pondering? That or when Furcal's back is going to be healthy again! Great advice fellas!

175. My first thought is that you should stop drinking coffee. My second thought is that without a receipt you stand very little chance. You could mention it to the manager and if their books show an extra $19 when they do their inventory... but let's not kid ourselves.

The coffee mess where I work is like it's own little world. I am guessing it probably has it's own written Constitution somewhere, as there seems to be a complex code about who is allowed near the coffee pot. I am pretty sure that if the guy who brings in the coffee were to die in the line of duty, that the person who brings in the filters would then be in charge.
vr, Xei

The big question Bob is, is there anything you might want to buy from me?

175
Just consider it a really big tip and the fact that you may have made the day of the crew who splits the tips.

Chalk it up...

175 If you can find the phone number try calling. You will know pretty quickly if the trip will be worth it.

The question of the day becomes, "What was it that made you forget about your $19?"

I just saw a photo of Brett Wallace, and boy, he has one massive arse.

185
You don't be around me if I stopped drinking coffee. There would be repercussions felt in at least seven counties.

And one of them would be Snohomish County, Washington.

So call already and let us know what happened.

If the manager doesn't refund your money, just follow him/her around on a your bike yelling "I want my nineteen dollars!"

191 If you keep pestering Bob you'll just end up with your name on his obelisk.

Without sounding like I'm a starstruck person, I was distracted by the cast and crew of "CSI: NY" walking in to the store.

Amazing how a slow day at DT's can become coffee thoughts.

195 At least we're not being horribly pessimistic.

193 - That just sounds wrong

195. and atleast there aren't any hit TV shows about coffee.
vr, Xei

194
You recognized the cast and crew of "CSI: NY"...?

I'm going to write off the $19 as the cost of doing business.

And I'm too embarrassed to ask for them to check.

199
Gary Sinise and Melina Kanakaredes were in.

tleast there aren't any hit TV shows about coffee

Paul Baldwin begs to differ

And I'm too embarrassed to ask for them to check

That's just how The Man wants you to feel.

Bob, just make the "extra trip" back to get more coffee, then ask the manager. Your chances depend on whether or not their cash count was over yesterday. It would be bad luck if your cashier somehow over collected roughly $19 throughout the remainder of his/her shift as to cancel out your overage.

200 - You should call anonymously anyway and let the Manager know what you think might have happened. Anytime the register doesn't balance their is suspicion of theft or incompetence.

I think when Bob thought about making a phone call to Starbucks, he thought about what the manager would think of him. Then he immediately had a Lost-like flashback of receiving random phone calls as a librarian from random citizens asking for random things. Then he began muttering "We're not supposed to go back!"

Just thinking out loud here. If Furcal were to come back healthy and hit, say .340 for 3-4 weeks. If that happened, would Furcal & Penny/or Lowe fetch say Moss & and or Bucholz from Boston? Would Boston even want to make such a deal? Would the Dodgers?

Next time, don't be a slave to round numbers. Pocket change is your friend.

And after all, 85 cents would have made a more appropriate tip than 19 dollars.

190 Shoot. There go my chances at ever getting Bob to convert.

I would definitely call or stop by the Starbucks. It's the responsibility of the employees to give you your change back. They should have chased you down when you left the establishment.

Twice I've had a cashier fail to give me change more than a few times. In the cases where it was $10+ I was looked at with suspicion. Both places gave me the change, and one place made a big deal out of it, taking down my name and address from my drivers license. They said they would check the balance at the end of the day and would bill me if it showed I was in error. I never heard from them. During the experience I felt a little insulted but later realized that it would be pretty easy for someone to come up with a scheme where they tried to get double change from various establishments... probably something a Giants fan would do.
vr, Xei

207 - I think the Dodger need is middle infielders and based on less is more, moving Kent, Nomar, Jones, Pierre off the team. And, yes I know, Kent is a middle infielder.

207. Whom plays SS if we trade a healthy and productive Furcal? I doubt Boston trades two (one very good) young/cheap players for Furcal/Penny.
vr, Xei

Does anyone have some good TV show recommendations that I can rent from GreenCine?

I took the advice on FNL, and I am loving it. What else do I need to be watching? Especially for a guy without HBO or cable

214
Arrested Development, Big Love, Tell Me You Love Me.

214 GreenCine?

214. Ha! Trying to change Bob Thoughts over to TV Thoughts? :) What's this world coming to.
vr, Xei

214
Every young man needs to see "The Rockford Files."

213 - Hu plays shortstop, the last thing Vin would want to say if your Whom guy became a runner on first would be "Whom is on first"

213 At 60-100 does it matter who plays SS? They more then likely don't bring Furcal back given his injury concerns. Not at big money. Though, now that I think about it, we are talking the Dodgers. They do that sort of stuff all the time.

216. Someone here works for them. NetFlix type company, specializing in blue movies.
vr, Xei

219. Hu should be manning SS in AAA imho.
220. We are only four games out of first place.
vr, Xei

220 Except we aren't a 60-100 team.

222 and 4 games from .500 with no end in sight from this horrid baseball play. Isn't it time they scrap this ill-advised plan at trying to win with over-priced veterans who end up on the DL and instead embrace a plan built around young players and any other young players they can get by trading whatever old players have value?

223 11 losses in their last 14 suggests otherwise, but that's just me.

224. I see you are a coffee cup half empty person. vr, Xei

I'm a $19 coffee cup kind of guy.

224 Every hitter on this team, with the exception of DeWitt and Martin, has been somewhere between bad and horrible since Furcal went down. The problem isn't that we have veterans, or that we have to many young players, it's that everyone is slumping simultenously, and the only solution in AAA we have plays the same position as one of our productive players.

226 Hasn't the coffee cup spilled over? There's no coffee in it right now! :)

With oil up another $10 per barrell today, we will probably see $5 gas by the end of next week. It would cost me $25 to drive to a Dodger game and back with those prices. vr, Xei

225 You know, there was a point in the season where we won 11 out of 13 games. We weren't a 100-60 team then. We're not a 60-100 team now.

HA! Rockford Files seems so LA to me.

I've been watching the Avatar with my son. I'm really impressed, but it may just be low expectations. It's not really anime, but takes off from there.

228 I agree with you, but the question, for me anyway, is what is better for the organization longterm? Building up the team with young players or hanging on to veterans chasing down a chance a t a division with a possible below .500 record?

223 we hope

232
The Rockford Files has one of the more realistic portrayals of L.A. that any TV series has had. The show used a lot of exterior shots in Burbank that made L.A. look decidedly unglamorous.

231 Okay fine, split the difference! 80-80 still is bad in my book! No matter how one looks at this team, healthy or not, it's bad!

222 - Hu needs about 50 PAs at Vegas to get relaxed and natural at the plate again, that and his swing shortened a bit.

215

Oh, I have not missed that show. Now I am sad again that it only lasted 3 seasons.

233 What young player isn't getting a fair shake right now?

238
I was sad that "Tell Me You Love Me" lasted more than three episodes.

Don't forget about Rockford's dream home overlooking the ocean.

239 At this point it's not about a particular young player. I want the whole attraction to over-priced useless veterans to stop, for at least 2 years or so. Let the young players play. Forget about winning for a few years (Dodgers don't win anyway) and build the team through trading away whatever veterans have talent and building thorugh the draft. In a few years with a much lower payroll and a clearer understanding of needs, perhaps then they can explore the free agent market again.

241
In the first season, the trailer was actually on the beach off of PCH. By season three, the trailer had moved to the parking lot of Paradise Cove.

236 80-80 isn't bad. I'd call it... average.

I was sad that "Tell Me You Love Me" lasted more than three episodes

But you watch "CSI: NY"...? (Or "CSI: Anything", for that matter)...?

Why are the Dodgers going to play just 160 games this year?

245
I don't watch the show. I just know who is in it.

246 It's an error factor.

246 - Lack of interest?

242 By then, our current crop of players are going to get old, then become the dreaded over priced veterans. Are we really going to get another crop of players better than Kemp/Loney/Ethier/Martin/DeWitt? I doubt it. The Dodgers are building through the draft, most of our talent comes from there. What needs is Colletti missing? We had a needed power, so we got Andruw Jones. It hasn't worked out, but would you want to be locked into five years of the dreaded veterans Torii Hunter and Aaron Rowand. We had a need to be filled, so we tried to do the smart thing and get someone with upside.

Aside from the Diamondbacks, there aren't any teams with five below arbitration level players starting on opening day that was remotely competitive. The idea that the Dodgers don't care about their young players is entirely false, and we're doing what you want right now. Young players aren't some magical thing that solves all of your problems.

250
I don't buy the notion that Andruw Jones had "upside". Backside, yes...

250 While I agree with you, others might call you "soft."

I hate the Dodgers more than anyone, until we lose two games in a row.

reg, why would you hate your own team?

I don't, people just think I do when I suggest that we might not win 125 games during the offseason.

254 I think regfairfield is saying that his feelings toward the Dodgers are somewhat independent of their day-to-day win/loss streaks. Perhaps he is also implying that others have have an "undamped response" to the Dodgers short-term record.

There are two ways the team-wide slump will be seen to the old school observer:

1. the team is failing because they do not have Furcal at the top of the line up.

2. the team has chemistry issues.

Option one, while completely foolish (what one hitter does is relatively meaningless to what the next hitter, let alone the guy 4 or 5 spots down in the line up, does) is still a better bet than option two.

Option two would require Plashckeseque reasoning, something along the lines of: the team is struggling, no one is showing leadership skills and picking up his teammates, and so everyone continues to struggle, the lack of a leader is a critical error in the make up of the team, something must be done to address it.

My concern is that someone on either the coaching staff or in the front office is going to take one of these two ideas and run with it and that is going to lead to the classic panic move of bringing in a "leadership guy".

I really hope that some one will just point out that slumps happen, and sometimes they happen to more than one guy at a time. We don't have any potential Hall of Famers in their prime on this team, we can't expect a couple of guys to go out and put up gawdy numbers no matter what.

Of course, option three might be: this is not a very good team, let's blow it up and start over. And then I will be an Angels fan.

Will Schmidt start in the bullpen or enter the rotation?

Also, Mae Whitman, (from Arrested Development) does the voice work for Katara in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

258 In case anybody else wasn't sure about it, Mae Whitman = Ann Veal.

257 - Option 1 is not so foolish. It means that:

a) our MVP is not in the lineup
b) Hu replaces him in the lineup
c) it compels Joe to not only play Pierre everyday, but put him at the top of the lineup

The hope is that Raffy comes back soon, Pierre returns to 3.5 OFer status, Loney gets hot, and Kent either comes alive or is replaced by LaRoche.

Mae Whitman, (from Arrested Development) does the voice work for Katara in Avatar: The Last Airbender

Her? Does she have a good voice or something?

261 Let's hope so.

228 Your solution in AAA is failing to slug .400 after 100+ AB, even playing for LV in the PCL. It seems unlikely he will suddenly come up the major leagues and slug .450 or .500 this summer (which is what we need somebody to do). No doubt, LaRoche could come and be a contributor, but I doubt his addition would make the team score a lot more runs.

These are thoughts are independent of each other but here is my take a little more than a third into the season.

1. I don't think there will be a rush to make any drastic moves because the management had built this team to have the veteran players (Furcal, Kent, Jones, Pierre, Nomar) balance out the youth on the club. The fact that injuries (Furcal, Nomar, and to some extent Kent and Jones) have caused that part to not to take shape yet won't cause them to change the plan midstream.

2. Even those teams in the 1970's that were built with the homegrown talent, featured veteran players acquired by trading young players. The key thing is to determine what areas are you weak in your system and go out get those pieces either by trade or free agency.

I think that at some point, the Dodgers will have to decide if they are going to keep the whole mix or start trading pieces to fill in. I'm not talking Martin, Billingsley or Kershaw (which right now maybe the only untouchables) but at some point if there is still good trade value for DeWitt, LaRoche, McDonald, Elbert, Hu, etc., you may have to look at it.

260 - Loney getting hot and Kent coming alive have nothing, really, to do with who is hitting at the top of the line up, unless Loney or Kent get moved to the top of the line up.

Baseball, ultimately, is an individual game played at a team level. It is the antithesis to most every other team sport, which generally are team games played at an individual level.

259 her?

263 Andy always struggles like this in the beginning of the season. I remember last year, he was having a hard time getting his SLG above his OBP until June. Then he hit, like, 13 HR's in 30 games, and slugged .900 in the month of July.

Furcal was/is on a pace for a WAR of over 7 wins and Hu is on a pace for a WAR of -2 wins. Hu's is much worse than that, if projected as a fulltime player. It's a huge loss to go from your #1 most valuable player to arguably your least valuable player (in terms of added wins 08). The two biggest blows the Dodgers could have (injury wise) is to lose Furcal and or Martin. The gap between them and the next available player on the depth chart is rather large. Losing Billingsley would also be tough, but atleast Guo could fill in. vr, Xei

Less we forget, Lee struck out in a key spot last night and went 0 for 4. He and Loney have the same average. Lee's 8 additional homeruns have resulted in only 5 more rbi over Loney. Lee being the veteran stud many would love to have on the Dodgers.

267 LaRoche losing power after his injury was a real concern though.

I'm not sure that's true. His poor BB/K ratio may mean that he won't have a high OBP, but his BA will probably stay high as long as keeps hitting (and beating out) so many groundballs. >>
Actually Kemp doesn't have that many IF hits. To date, he has only 4, where Ethier (5) and Loney (7) have more. Pierre leads the team in IF hits (8) naturally. Kemp's Bat Avg is being fueled by a very high .407 BABIP. That usually implies a correction downward soon. His BB/K ratio is in Alfonzo Soriano territory, and Soriano is a career .280 hitter. That seems more like where Kemp ultimately belongs, which is OK if his power starts coming back in better fashion.

Update to America's most pressing issue:

The lost $19 at the Starbucks at 6th and Olive.

I told the young woman the situation from the day before.

However:
1) I didn't have a receipt
2) I don't remember who rang me up (it could have been her for all I know.)
3) The manager was gone

End result:
I was given a free cup of coffee

The Starbucks in question is at 6th and Grand, not Olive.

269
Lee OPS+ - 116
Loney - 93

268 I think the unspoken factor in all of this is the injury to Tony Abreu. Abreu was much more developed than Hu is, and was expected to be the backup infielder while Hu would get time fine-tuning in Las Vegas. If it weren't for his injury, Abreu would be playing shortstop right now, and we would have Hu as the backup, instead of Maza.

271 Very true, but his walk rate has nothing to do with that, just his strikeout rate.

272 - so, $19 for two cups of Starbucks coffee? Sounds like you're even

One of the top hitting high school players in the country fell all the way to round 20, as Kentucky recruit Zack Cox is selected by the Dodgers with pick 607. Cox hits for power and average, and will be an impact bat for the Wildcats if he doesn't sign. Cox plays third base and hits lefthanded.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=359#more-359

277
I'm not leaving any tips for a while.

270 "LaRoche losing power after his injury was a real concern though."

Are you refering to this year or last year?

There is no such thing as a free cup of coffee.

281
There's a reason why economics is called the "dismal science."

281
There's a reason why economics is called the "dismal science."

279 Why would you tip for a poured cup of coffee you ordered and picked up at a counter? (I am assuming $1.85 buys you just coffee, not a "prepared" drink, e.g., latte.) In the old days, I never saw anyone tip (nor did I see a tip jar) when someone walked into a doughnut shop for a coffee and a cruller.

283 - or in this case, the decaf science.

279
"for a while" suggests that leaving a tip at Starbucks is something you would do under normal circumstances sometimes.

I'm hard pressed to come up with a service less deserving of a tip.

284
It's a tough world out there.

265 - You're right - the first two (Furcal returns and Pierre sits) are related. Kent and Loney just need to flat-out get going in the 2nd half.

264 bhsportsguy
One of the issues with this team is that it is so thin on power and consistency that every piece in the lineup becomes so important. Not having Furcal is a bigger issue with this team than it may be on another.

Well, I guess I should be grateful I went to a movie screening last night rather than watch the Lakers lose live and the Dodgers lose live. Instead I saw them both lose on tape, one late last night, then the Dodgers early this morning. The Lakers I felt were going to win until the 4th quarter, the Dodgers I felt were going to win as the game progressed, it just felt like it. Until it ended and they hadn't won. Everything sucks, until it doesn't. It's hard to be optimistic about anything sports right now but any of us who have been through this before know that things can turn around just as quickly. For the Lakers, Sunday is pretty critical. For the Dodgers, one game at a time, with the majority of the season still left to play, but the feeling that things need to shift soon for it to not feel hopeless.

On the plus side, Kung Fu Panda didn't suck! In fact, I actually quite liked it, whatever its flaws. Review up on my blog if you're curious.

Oh, and re {257], I don't think option 1 is foolish at all. Furcal is sorely missed. Their offense has been a disaster since he's been out. That doesn't mean they don't have other holes to fill and areas of concern, but in the house of cards that are the Dodgers (as opposed to the house of dodgers that are the Cards), Furcal was the card that held everything up. They need him back or they need to reshuffle the deck.

200 - I'm going to write off the $19 as the cost of doing business.

Looks like the IRS has gone soft since I left.

The Rockies just drafted Rod Scurry, Jr. That kid must have had a rough childhood, what with his father dying of a cocaine overdose when he was 6.

And lastly before I shut up for awhile, I read through some of the comments during our draft chat yesterday and enjoyed them all (even rereading the ones while I was still there), but I had to chuckle a bit at some of the worry and criticism at the Dodgers draft picks, and picking too many players from the South, and so on.

The Russell Martin example is just one -- but yeah if he was drafted with other players from that region I can just see the comments. "Who the heck's this guy? Sounds intriguing but do we need another shortstop, and another guy from the south?" etc. And it was a year where HS players weren't as strong as in past years. Basically, you never know with any of these guys. And I like the character/make-up of quite a few of the ones they got early. It's an intriguing draft, there will probably be some steals, and surely a few busts, too, but I like our odds, and wouldn't question Logan White and co. if I can help it. Just mho.

Plus the Dodgers drafted a fine high schooler from my hometown (Goleta/SB) so that right there makes it a success!

Speaking of IRS, I'm a little depressed. My last two SSN digits place me as getting my rebate check during 4th of July Weekend... such a long time to wait.

I filed electronically but did not get a refund (I owed money). Everybody else get their rebate checks?

Cole St. Clair was a good pick. He was talked about going top 10 last year but has had injuries.

288 - are we sure Pierre sits with Jones out? As much as I'd like to see DY play, I'm not sure Torre has much confidence in him at this point (though I don't know why).

I do think Frank makes a decent point though about going from a guy with Furcal's production to a guy like Hu's production (thus far). Over the long run, it's definitely true, over the course of a game or inning, it may be less important though; as long as the guys hitting behind Furcal are struggling.

Let's assume Player A leads off an inning with a double. Then, Player B hits a ground ball to the third baseman that can not advance the runner. Player C follows with a fly ball that moves Player A to third. Player D finishes the inning by striking out. What is the value of Player A's double?

Yea how do you explain the Lakers/Celtics yesterday? I thought the Lakers played great defense.

It all turned when Paul Pierce had his injury and then returned to the game. Yeah right. I'll bet he over-dramatized the whole thing, but gah!! It worked.

The Lakers lost their first road game in every series so far except the Denver one, but Denver doesn't count.

Tommy has called it a day and the Dodgers' draft picks are now being read by an unidentified female. It's not Kim Ng. Are there any other women in the Dodgers front office?

274 - Assuming those numbers are adjusted OPS+, neither 93 or 116 is impressive. My point was that while Loney has not taken advantage of opportunities to drive in as many clutch runs as we would all like, it is not like Lee is doing that much better.

297 Injuries? For a Rice pitcher? You don't say!

299 Yeah. Paul Pierce's injury was just a bad omen. The second he jogged back out was just very ominous.

301 116 may not be super-outstanding for a first baseman, but it's a heck of a lot better than 93.

I've got to remember to carry around my business card. I could have given it to the frightened Starbucks barista to give to her manager so that person could have used it to forget to call me back.

303

Now... is that going to carry over to the rest of the series? Absolutely not! If it does, the Lakers are really not ready for prime time.

The A's just drafted Bob Welch's son, a HS pitcher.

Here's what I think about Loney right now. He's slumping clearly, and while maybe he'll never be an all-star (I still think he could), he's bound to pick it up again BUT I think he needs to get more days off. The problem is the only other firstbaseman they have on the roster is Sweeney, and his long single last night notwithstanding, he's pretty stinky this year. Call up Andy LaRoche, have him fill in at first for Loney once or twice a week, give Loney a chance to think about things and get a rest while they don't lose much if anything with LaRoche in there. he can fill in for DeWitt too of course, but DeWitt's been fine.

Btw, what's with all the Cubs fans at the stadium last night, especially behind home plate? Let's fill that place up with Dodger fans the rest of the weekend! That made it even more painful to watch them lose in the 9th.

how do you explain the Lakers/Celtics yesterday?

I felt like the first half was very well officiated. Few to no superfluous calls and even-handed treatment.

But from the very beginning of the third quarter, the scales shifted noticeably in the Celtics's favor. The refs started calling numerous away from the ball fouls on the Lakers, and pretty much no calls went the Lakers way. Boston started shooting free throws at the 5:00 mark of the third quarter, mostly because of lame foul calls by the refs. Not a single similar call went against Boston.

Anything close went to the Celtics. Meanwhile, Boston was allowed to manhandle LA in the paint, with impunity.

309
Cubs games at Dodger Stadium have been that way for several years. It's not going to change the next three nights because the Cubs fans out here buy up the tickets in advance because they know the team is only coming out once.

It seems like Loney's trying to answer all the criticisms that he doesn't hit for enough power, and is trying to pull everything. What's made him such a good hitter in the past is his ability to hit outside pitches to the opposite field, and he's not doing that anymore.

290. Underdog, which blog is yours?
underdog.com?
vr, Xei

The Lakers had a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter if they made shots, but they missed them. They had tons of opportunities. That's the game I saw. You swing, and sometimes you miss.

298 - I think (hope?) Pierre at least moves down in the order when Raffy returns. But yeah, I don't expect Pierre to start sitting frequently until Andruw returns. At that point it will be real interesting to see who gets the short-end of the 4-man OF rotation.

I also am willing to give the Lakers the "they're young and it's the first game of the Finals" excuse. Hopefully some of it is jitters and that'll go away.

313 - sorry, it's underdog.typepad.com, actually.

311 - Ah well. Makes the stadium louder than it has been, I'll give 'em that. Be nice if the Dodgers did something this series that makes them regret buying all those tickets.

Wow, some very good discussion going on here. The comment at 104 is certainly thought-provoking and I think little-discussed around these parts:

What if the Dodger kids (Kemp, Loney, and Ethier in particular) are merely better-than-average?

We might view 2008, then, as a year of discovery. I can't think of much in the way of free agent outfielders who will be available to improve the team in the 2008/9 offseason; who would the Dodgers acquire to improve there? Conversely, it's possible to give up too early on a prospect; for an example, see the Diamondbacks' error of keeping Eric Byrnes and jettisoning Carlos Quentin. What I am trying to say here is that I think it's awfully early to be declaring this group a bust.

At the same time, you can make mistakes in the opposite direction; the Angels put a lot of stock in Dallas McPherson before his back turned into a Gordian knot. Since his back problems were well-known beforehand, and I don't see any of the Dodger kids with similar issues, it's hard to draw parallels.

140 is a good point as far as it goes, which is to say, not very. Ned's strategery, such as it is, was to provide blocking players for virtually every Dodger youngster imaginable:

Chad Billingsley: Jason Schmidt
James Loney: Nomar Garciaparra
Matt Kemp: Luis Gonzalez, arguably Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones
Andy LaRoche: Nomar again
Andre Ethier: see Matt Kemp

This he did in the name of depth, something that's wholly comprehensible when applied to pitching, but not so much when applied to starting position players. In his defense, it is true that he has not traded any of the Dodgers core young players, but he has blocked them at nearly every turn.

Moreover, if you believe that the kids are what they are and that they will not improve (a very difficult position to defend, IMO, but one that has some merit), perhaps a GM who can execute a trade of one or more of the kids for a better player is worth examining. Unfortunately, the best GM as measured by that yardstick, Walt Jocketty, has already signed on with Cincinnati.

For my part, I think Kemp's upside is quite a bit higher than he's shown to date, and Loney is suffering much from depressed line drive and BABIP rates. (It would certainly help the latter's reputation if he could stop grounding into double plays quite so much.)

314 - I think that's more to the point. They had a lot of shots miss, and quite a few just unlucky shots that were on target but rolled out. (Kobe had a few of those early in the game.) It happens. Fouls were part of it, but other things went wrong.

To the issue of losing Furcal. Yes, it was huge considering how poorly his replacements have been hitting and how well Furcal was going. But Furcal wasn't going to sustain his April 1.000+ OPS rate even if he stayed healthy, considering his .764 career OPS and 814 career-best. His loss may have hastened the Dodgers offensive dive but it did not fundamentally change the subpar nature of this offense. The young position players (aside from Martin) are basically average offensively at their spots while the declining vets are challenged to even attain adequacy. The Dodgers were 10th in league in 2007 yr in Runs and a wretched 14th in OPS+. It will take more than a healthy, normal Furcal to dramatically alter that to any great degree.

317
Soon, Dodger Stadium will be known as "The Tropicana Field of the West."

311 I missed the whole change thing but wasn't this a subplot of a Seinfeld episode.

But then Bob is pretty much a complete opposite of George Costanza.

Except for wanting to leave the room with a good line.

314
That's pretty much my take too. They had ample opportunities to win the game, and overall played well. They just didn't hit the shots.

Yes, the Celtics played good defense, but the Lakers' 4th quarter misses were mostly wide open, and ones I expect to knock down if they continue. Also, I think Kobe will play better as well.

I'm still sore that the Lakers didn't pressure Rondo or Cassell more, and that they didn't aggressively attack more when Allen, Cassell, and P.J. Brown were in the game together.

Lakers lost because that's the way the series was scripted. The Lakers win games 2 and 3. :)
vr, Xei

300 - Jamie McCourt?

Heh. The Cardinals just drafted Shane Boras, "son of former Cardinals minor leaguer Scott Boras."

Yes, that Scott Boras. Something tells me this kid is going to drive a hard bargain.

322
I was starting to get like George Costanza in a very bad way, but I will leave it at that. I managed to avoid the bad situation.

318 I think what we have to realize is that these guys are all pretty young. Now, sure Albert Pujols, David Wright, Miguel Cabera are examples of hitters who hit when they were 21-23 and kept improving but generally, a lot of players don't hit their stride until their mid-20's.

So it might not be a case of them being as good as they ever will be, it just could be a case where they are still putting everything together.

Another thing I was thinking about today. I know he isn't slumping but does anyone think that there could be a chance for Andy to come up and eventually take over 3B?

the kid is a shrimp. He goes to a HS 15 mins from my parents house in OC.

324 - scripted? You mean like ...

http://ussmariner.com/2008/06/05/why-baseball-should-be-more-like-pro-wrestling/

327 - Shrinkage, Bob?

329 So did you buy a car?

328

I always pinned the "magic age" at 26. That's the year when Ryan Howard broke out, among others.

Granted, Ryan Howard didn't play a full season until 26 either.

It's the Summer of Bob!

328 - I think they need Andy to be able to come up and competently play 2nd, 3rd, and maybe even 1st. At that point, you let the chips fall where they may. If Kent continues to play like an old man, LaRoche gets some play there. If DeWitt comes back to earth, he can get 3rd.

272 - "End result:
I was given a free cup of coffee"

You might think that's the end of it, but I am guessing that the IRS is going to want you to declare the cup of coffee as a gift.

334 - it's like the Summer of Love, only without the nekkid 18-year-old hippie chicks.

326 Is his dad representing him?

327
Hypochondriac?

It is amazing how a player in a slump all of the sudden just becomes an average player for the future.

1. At my Starbucks, they know me well enough and have enough integrity, they would without question return my $19. I think Bob if you showed your LA City Library employee ID, that would cinch the case. Librarians don't lie.

2. On renting TV series DVD's: I can't believe I'm recommending this, but my wife has gotten me into watching DVDs of a 1991 miniseries from England, "The House of Elliot." It's very girly, but kind of fascinating. Two sisters who grew up in a kind of isolated environment, facing destitution after the death of their ne'er-do-well father, start a dressmaking company that evolves into an haute couture house that (where I am now) is trying to figure out whether it should become more of a mass-market firm. It's a fascinating, entertaining look at the social classes in the 1920s, and one of the few fictional series about business I've ever seen that seems to have an idea about how business works. It's not as funny as Arrested Development, to be sure... We're also checking out Freaks and Geeks, which I'd never seen before and is available on DVD. It's as great as everyone at DT says it is.

3. I did indeed say this Dodger team isn't going to the World Series. It might stumble into the playoffs, but the class of the NL this season does not include the Dodgers.

Watching what's happening to Arizona and Colorado should make us feel like misery loves company. All three teams are mostly dependant on a youth movement, and there's no way the progress with such a team will follow a straight line. It makes perfect sense to me that this team goes up and down, and that expected power sources aren't delivering. Players like Kemp, Loney, Billingsley, Kershaw, and DeWitt are just beginning their journeys. They're at least two or three years ahead of their peak seasons.

Dispensing with expectations for this season makes it a lot more relaxing and less dismal when they lose (not like I don't react initially.) Kemp's strikeout last night was the perfect Zen moment. At first I cussed him out. But then, I realized how important it is for him to learn from these experiences. It's probably good that it's not always coming easy for him. Last night's strikeout will surely serve as the direct predecessor to a grand slam in the same situation, if not this season then next.

I'm liking our situation a lot better than seasons past. I'd rather lose with a team largely comprised of players who are on the way up than on the way down. And you never know. Colorado's September '07 or Arizona's April '08 are entirely within the realm of possibility for the Dodgers at any point this season. Maybe when Furcal comes back. Or maybe when we finally bring up Andy.

Vote 4 Blake DeWitt for Rookie of the Month:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/fan_forum/gillette/index.jsp

318 Tomko was the guy who blocked Bills, there was still room in the rotation for him. Even so, this lasted two months

Loney - Two months
Kemp - There was a very real chance that he wasn't ready at the start of 2007, you needed someone there in case Kemp couldn't handle it
Ethier - Was the starting right fielder at the beginning of the year, played 153 games
LaRoche - You can't accuse Nomar of blocking two people, someone had to start

The only one of these that there's a decent case for is throwing Nomar in front of Loney and that lasted all of two months.

340 - Last night's strikeout will surely serve as the direct predecessor to a grand slam in the same situation, if not this season then next.

Reminding me of Kobe's repeated airballs against Utah in the playoffs a million years ago.

334
Precisely!

335
They would also need Andy to do more then hit a few singles, which seems to be all he is capable of at the moment. Of course singles and walks are useful, and could come in handy on this team. Kent hit two solo home runs. People do need to get on base before Loney eliminates them.

340 "this Dodger team isn't going to the World Series. It might stumble into the playoffs, but the class of the NL this season does not include the Dodgers."

Since when does making the World Series have anything to do with being "the class of the NL"? Remember last year when a Wild Card team made the World Series? Or the year before when a .500 team won it?

Saying the Dodgers could possibly make the playoffs but not the World Series doesn't hold water. It implies that the NLDS and NLCS are not affected by randomness, when in fact they're mostly randomness.

Speaking of spawn of famous athletes, here's a nice little piece from just a week or so ago on Dodger draftee and nephew of Robin, Austin Yount:

http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/5/28/trueTwowayPlayer

Do we know if the Dodgers are planning on him as a pitcher or as a position player?

340
1. At my Starbucks, they know me well enough and have enough integrity, they would without question return my $19. I think Bob if you showed your LA City Library employee ID, that would cinch the case. Librarians don't lie.

My ID and $1.85 are good enough to get me a cup of coffee.

One of my staff has just come back from Starbucks with a $16 box of cookies for free.

309

Is that why no one stood up and cheered right when Kent hit the second home run? I was so annoyed at the people behind home plate, but if they were all Cubs fans, it makes sense.

342 "The only one of these that there's a decent case for is throwing Nomar in front of Loney and that lasted all of two months."

Hooey.

Nomar did in fact block two different guys, one in the first half and one in the second half.

Having a backup plan in case Kemp isn't ready is all well and good, as long as you resolve to play Kemp when he does prove ready. They didn't.

Also, you're using Ethier's games as a defensive replacement to overstate his playing time. He started 113 games. Which is 49 fewer than he should have.

Tipping at Starbucks seems odd to me, especially when almost all they do is automated at the Barista level. End snobby remark

347 They announced Yount as a 3B, although as we saw in the first round, that doesn't always end up being accurate.

We're getting heavy into the nepotism picks now. Cubs just picked Bob Brenly's son from UNLV.

345 - Looking at LA's bench now (and even when Raffy comes back), Delwyn is the only offensive infielder (who also happens to be the 4th outfielder). Andy would be an immediate asset in the infield if he could adequately play 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.

351 I make it a policy to tip everyone who provides service to me, even if I perceive what they have done is little in the way of work

349 They were indeed mostly Cubs fans, it appeared from watching it on TV, so that would explain it but you can still go ahead and feel annoyed.

352 - Ah, thanks, and good point. Will wait and see. Sounds like another "worth a flyer" player. He can hang out with Son of Mattingly and Son of Flash Gordon, among others.

to quote Steve Martin in My Blue Heaven..."I don't believe in tipping, I believe in over-tipping"

I missed the game thread last night, but can I assume there was appropriate indignation at having to use Terry Tiffee as a pinch hitter in the ninth because the Dodgers refuse to keep a real hitter like LaRoche on the roster?

The nepotism thing doesn't always work out so badly, as know from a certain little favor done for Tommy Lasorda and a friend at the very end of a draft many years ago.

332

I've narrowed it down to new Scion tC or new Mazda3 hatchback.

I'm leaning towards the scion.

I just saw that video - I presume it's Troy from West Virginia again? - on the PE.com blog bemoaning "another Dodgers loss." Man, that one's as depressing as Ingmar Bergman's "Shame".

Kemp - There was a very real chance that he wasn't ready at the start of 2007, you needed someone there in case Kemp couldn't handle it

But, if the choice is:
A.) Matt Kemp, but we're not sure he's ready
B.) Juan Pierre for 5 years.

You never choose Pierre.
Ever.

Considering that Kemp played CF all through the minors, and Colletti still reasoned he needed Pierre was one of the worst mistakes ever made by a Dodger GM.

That play Kemp made last night---on the dive---made me extremely happy and angry at the same time.

Happy--cuz Kemp made a great play
Angry--that Dodger mgmt didnt think Kemp could play CF, then a year later reason he can, when all along he could.

The Pierre contract is a 5yr prison sentence for the Dodgers.

Bob, it sounds like you are well on your way to solving the problem of a $20 cup of coffee. You now have two cups for $20, which averages out to $10 per cup. You further state that you are a regular coffee drinker. After three cups, you will have paid $21.85, or $7.28 per cup. At the current price of $1.85 per cup, if you drink 1 cup a day, five days a week, for 52 weeks, you will have paid a total of $481 + $20 for 260 + 2 cups of coffee, or an average of $1.91 per cup. The more you drink, the closer you get to the actual price of $1.85 per cup.

You could also remedy this problem quite quickly by getting another 15 or so cups of coffee for free. Maybe you could offer to wash a few windshields at the corner of 6th and Grand?

Of course, the bad news is you spend close to $500 per year drinking coffee when you could be using the free drinking fountain at work instead.

We don't have a free drinking fountain at work.

Somebody should invent the coffee fountain.

You work at a library without drinking fountains???

365
Man, that would be sweet.

366
There are drinking fountains, but I'm unsure of exactly what substance comes out of them.

367, I thought you were at the central, not baldwin hills? :-) Isn't that the one near the La Brea tar pits.

And was it the musician Bob Welch or the pitcher Bob Welch's son?

362 Gonzalez was the insurance policy, not Pierre.

The Fairfax Library would be the closest branch to the La Brea Tar Pits.

The Baldwin Hills branch is on La Brea between Adams and Jefferson

304 116 may not be super-outstanding for a first baseman, but it's a heck of a lot better than 93

One of the problems I have with statistics like OPS+ is recognizing what historically represents a great number and knowing what the difference is between 93 and 116 other than 23. Pee Wee Reese was a career 99 OPS+ and

1. Babe Ruth+* 207
2. Ted Williams+* 191
3. Barry Bonds* 182
4. Lou Gehrig+* 179
5. Rogers Hornsby+ 175
6. Mickey Mantle+# 172
7. Dan Brouthers+* 170
Joe Jackson* 170
9. Albert Pujols 169
10. Ty Cobb+* 167 L
11. Jimmie Foxx+ 163 R
12. Pete Browning 162 R
Mark McGwire 162 R
14. Dave Orr 161 R
15. Stan Musial+* 159 L
16. Hank Greenberg+ 158 R
Johnny Mize+* 158 L
Tris Speaker+* 158 L
19. Frank Thomas (40) 157 R
20. Dick Allen 156 R
Willie Mays+ 156 R
22. Hank Aaron+ 155 R
Joe DiMaggio+ 155 R
Mel Ott+* 155 L

Aaron was 23 points less than Gehrig for example.

363 - $500/yr is a small price to pay to stay away most of the time

365 - A product only matched in severe burn potential by the infamous Cornballer.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has announced his retirement. I was unaware that they still had boxing in this day and age.

Suspensions came down in the Tampa-Boston brouhaha:

Crisp 7
Shields 6
Lester 5
Casey 3
Gomes 5
Jackson 5
Crawford 4
Iwamura 3

369--Pierre was signed to play CF though. If the team had faith that Kemp could play CF, I doubt Pierre gets signed.

So really the Pierre signing prevented Kemp from playing the position he's most valuable at --CF, that he's actually playing right now.

And signing Gonzo, even if its as an "insurance policy"--bc he's a guy that wouldnt accept beign a bench player so he was going to definitely start more games than he should on a team that already has Ethier/Kemp needing playing time.

Its like, what were the Dodgers thinking? Was playing Gonzo more important than developing Kemp/Ethier? Did they really think Gonzo was the difference between making the playoffs and not? All at the expense of needed developmental time for the youngsters?

Haven't seen Greg Brock around, so I think I'm safe.

Boxing is not a sport.

377
I concur. Boxing is a sport as much as bear-baiting is a sport.

WhatCountsAsASportAndWhatDoesn't Thoughts might be even worse than MyFantasyTeam Thoughts.

However, I would tip boxers at a Starbucks.

this indians rangers 1974 riot story is great

http://tinyurl.com/58nbun

358 - "I missed the game thread last night, but can I assume there was appropriate indignation at having to use Terry Tiffee as a pinch hitter in the ninth because the Dodgers refuse to keep a real hitter like LaRoche on the roster?"

As I recall, Vin introduced him as they guy who had lost his starting job to LaRoche in Las Vegas. ;-)

305 - "I've got to remember to carry around my business card. I could have given it to the frightened Starbucks barista..."

That's right, drag the library into this whole sorid affair! On the other hand, this might have been enough for the IRS to justify the write-off.

383
That was the advice I read in "Wesley Snipes' Tax Guide."

More fuel for Eric Stephen:

"L.A. is a different approach to the world," Tom Heinsohn told The Boston Globe. "I don't think there's a Freedom Trail out there in L.A."

I'm going to take Mr. Heinsohn out here and drop him on El Camino Real and tell him to walk the whole thing and take a picture of every Mission.

367 -- That reminds, despite intending to do so, I have never gotten around to asking those of you who live in the LA area if any of you actually drink the water that comes out of your taps. When I was in LA as a kid, 29 years ago, I filled up a jug of LA tap water and brought it home (the Vancouver area). I wanted evidence because I wasn't sure people would believe me when I talked about how godawful the water was in LA. Nobody who ever tasted it failed to grimace, and the best description of the taste came from an uncle who said it tasted like water from a heavily-chlorinated swimming fool -- after someone had peed in it.

379. Neither are very much fun, but I'd rather read those than golfthoughts or mmathoughts.

386
I drink water from the tap all the time. It helps if you put in the refrigerator first.

Different parts of L.A. get water from different sources. The San Fernando Valley and the Westside get a lot of water from the L.A. Aqueduct, which brings in the Owens Valley water ("There it is, take it!") which tastes a lot better than some of the stuff that comes out of wells.

386
the best description of the taste came from an uncle who said it tasted like water from a heavily-chlorinated swimming fool -- after someone had peed in it

How would he know? :)

386 Swimming fool - One who swims in hurricanes?

385
I was going to do a Hulk reference, since my hatred for Boston has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few days, but I don't want to be associated with the color green.

I drink water from the tap all the time

Tell me you at least use a Brita...

When I lived in LA I definitely used a Brita filter. But it does depend on where you live, as Bob says. When I was in Westwood it was pretty terrible. A couple of other places it wasn't as bad but I didn't chance it. Growing up in Santa Barbara, the water was especially bad, it's not as bad now but still pretty bad there. There was a time they were talking about building a desalination plant there just in case there's another drought. I figured sea water couldn't be much worse than what they had.

One of the good things about SF (sorry Bob) is the tap water is really good. Probably because much of it comes from a once-beautiful valley we filled in with water and then import in, but Hetch Hetchy water sure is good. And even then, though, I still use a Brita filter. Even if it seems clear and tastes good, there can still be bad things in the water you don't want to drink.

378 Lol.

In case anyone is wondering why Hu and Maza are still here and LaRoche isn't, there was a clue on Tony Jackson the other day. Ramon Martinez is recovering nicely from his thumb surgery and is almost ready to start rehab. When he is rehabbed, Hu goes down, Martinez comes up. La Roche? Who knows? I don't see a future for him here as long as Colletti is in charge.

A panel of culinary experts has spoken out recently about whose tap water tastes best:
http://tinyurl.com/4y5hw9

Yes, Ramon Martinez, the solution to all the Dodgers offense woes. (Sigh.) (Not that LaRoche would be either, but he clearly would help. The other guy is no better than Maza.)

390 -- "pool":)

389 -- I so KNEW somebody was going to say that. The LA water definitely had a chlorine taste to it, presumably to kill all of the impurities. I think my uncle added the pee thing just to be funny, but if he had ever changed the diaper of his baby son, there's a good chance he did get a shot or two of urine in his face.

I came to Los Angeles for the waters.

I'm docking him a Tommy Point for that comment. What's the big deal about the Freedom Trail?

400 was for 385

395
There is the whole matter of being able to play SS.

400
See, Boston has history! People live it every day in Boston. Every few weeks people wait around on the road from Lexington to Concord and shoot at anyone wearing red.

But in Los Angeles we're just driving the freeways, chatting on our cellphones, and being oblivious to anything that happened more than 10 minutes ago.

Because we're so incredibly lame and stupid compared to the good people of Boston, aka The Hub of the Universe.

Does anyone know if there is a handicap restroom on the Reserve level?

Tom Heinsohn has no more points left to be docked, in my book. He's been in the red for a long time, now he's just on my own future giant obelisk.

404
If there isn't, the Dodgers are looking at one hellacious ADA suit.

398
Yeah I couldn't let that one pass. :) Besides, who hasn't had a baby pee on them? As a 14-time uncle, I've changed many a diaper in my day. It can be quite the dangerous task.

7 Rob, I only hope your presence Fri/Sat at DS brings us a two game win streak!

399 Bob was a major force behind `Heal the Bay'.

403
In LA, people also shoot those wearing red occasionally. Out here, we call the shooters "gang members" instead of "patriots".

A panel of culinary experts has spoken out recently about whose tap water tastes best

Au contrair:

http://www.dunsmuir.com/images/masthead.jpg

I've been kicking around this question this week, and the idea is gaining more and more traction in my mind. Would it be worth it for the US to revert to British colonial rule if we didn't have to put up with Boston sports fans*?

It's a fair trade.

*Josh Wilker and others are obvious exceptions. There are certainly thoughtful and bearable Boston fans, but I'm speaking here in general terms.

410 - I went through Dunsmuir on the train once. I'm sure the water is good, since it probably comes straight from mountain sources/lakes.

407 14 times?! Whoa, Nelly.

406

The answer appears to be "on the club level"

407

My son almost got me last night, but I normally keep the area blocked with my left hand

Justin Upton strikes out with the bases loaded and is now 5 for his last 51.

413
The combo of older brothers and sisters (2 of each; youngest is 10 years older than me), all having at least 3 kids really helps the numbers. My oldest niece is only 3 years younger than me.

I drink my LA tap water in the San Fernando Valley. The taste is acceptable to me, but perhaps I'm just used to it.

The tap water in Tenneesee was generally pretty good. As was the Tuckaleechee Caverns water.

415 See, he's just a prospect, not a Major League player. /sarcasm

342 - LaRoche - You can't accuse Nomar of blocking two people, someone had to start

I can if they are in different years (Loney last year, LaRoche this year).

411 - who needs British colonial rule? The Bush administration is already on record as saying the President is a king (and no, I am not making this up).

355 I make it a policy to tip everyone who provides service to me, even if I perceive what they have done is little in the way of work

Really? Do you tip the grocery checker since you didn't use the self-check line? The bagger? I never know where to draw the line. I tip wait staff, of course. Skycaps. Hotel housekeeping. I don't tip the fast-food person who collects and bags (or trays) my food. Baristas??

399 I bet you're waiting for someone to ask, so I'll do it -

The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.

By the way, my best friend is from Boston and I am so using 403 in a cnversation with him as I see fit.

419 No, this year it was Danny Ardoin. :/

[41 Anybody ever drunk from the spring on the 4-mile trail up to Glacier Point? Best water anywhere.

Of course, one tends to be really thirsty after 3 miles of switchbacks...

408 - Any good vibes I bring to Dodger Stadium will be likely nullified by my Cubs-worshiping wife. Well, not really worshiping. Her shrine isn't THAT big.

375 - Wait, really? Nothing for Navarro? He looked like an awfully big part of that brawl to me...

425 Yeah, I remember her in the Cubbies hat ;)

At a DT outing no less.

426 That was my first thought.

426 I think what Navarro did was viewed as "protecting his pitcher", I didn't see him throw any punches, he seemed to try to keep Crisp away from Shields after the charge.

I picked the wrong time to go on a 4 day camping trip...next week, when we're playing the Tigers. We can beat the Tigers!

The Dodgers and Tigers will be locked in an Underachievers Battle to the Death! The loser will be the first guy to cry "AUNT!"

432 That's cruel, but in a very funny way...

Hah hah... Sigh. Would be nice if the Dodgers are underachieving slightly less by next week. Aim for the stars, I say! Funny how I'd look forward to that battle when I saw it on the calendar. Who knew that it would be so potentially pointless.

434 Not totally pointless. Right now we're locked in a struggle to regain .500. Nothing like the soothing balm of lowered expectations.

435 - Exactly! I'm just hoping no one the team has his pants fall down or breaks anything. Starting from there and then anything better than that will be gravy, man, gravy!

436 Fortunately, Steve Lyons is only on the Dodgers' broadcast team and not an active player.

...no one the team has his pants fall down...

We have Psycho for that!

Beat me by a full minute.

And now I can't count time, so therefore will withdraw and go home.

Just call me Mr. Set-Up Line.

I decided I'm not going to be pessimistic about the Dodgers as much as I will just have lowered expectations. Hopeful, but protected so I'm not so crushed if they continue stinking up the joint.

441 That's the spirit. But we're going to win tonight. I have it on good authority that scareduck `misplaced' his wife's lucky Cubby hat.

442 - the only way it can be "lucky" is if it attracts bad luck...

Brandon Webb is no longer interesting in Pittsburgh.

Per TJ:

LF Pierre
RF Young
2B Kent
1B Loney
CF Kemp
3B DeWitt
C Ardoin
SS Hu
RH Kuroda

Guess a lefty is going tonight eh? And they should probably give Ethier a day off since he's going to be starting 4 games in a row at least coming up soon.

This might have been a good night to try Martin at short...

Sorry if this was already posted....

CITY OF ANGEL – The Dodgers today acquired former American League Rookie of the Year Angel Berroa in exchange for minor leaguer Juan Rivera. The shortstop won the Rookie of the Year in 2003 with the Royals, when he hit .287 with 17 homers, 73 RBI, and 21 stolen bases. Berroa was hitting .291 with 10 homers and 27 RBI for Triple-A Omaha in the Pacific Coast League.

The Dodgers have acquired Angel Berroa.

448
Hey, he's better than Hideki Matsui!

446
Guess a lefty is going tonight eh?

Sean Gallagher is a righty. Don't worry about Ethier though. He has planned ahead and will sit in the dugout tonight with a protective tarp so he doesn't get splattered.

SS depth? Is this a way of saying that the Dodgers don't know when Furcal's coming back and they don't trust Hu at SS?

451
I think yes to both of those issues.

Can we get 1 game that sees Ethier, Kemp, Young in our outfield??!!! We need hitters and we choose to sit Ethier on the day that Russ is out of the line-up. These decisions are getting so annoying. I ditched work for the day game on Wednesday and was so bummed on our line-up when it hit the Maza, Hu, Pitcher's spot, Pierre section. 4 outs in a row. Unbelievable.

451 Haven't we been expecting this move? Berroa will play SS till Furcal comes back, and then serve as a backup, right? and Hu will be sent down to start at LV?

Dear God, Angel Berroa is going to be our starting shortstop.

Berroa sounds fine to me actually, and we can't say we gave up anything for him. let's put it this way, I think he's an upgrade over what we've had. I still think Hu will start to hit so I'd rather it be Maza who is sent down, but then again it would be-hu-ve Hu to play everyday so, whatever.

450 - Hah hah. I was just too lazy to even look up who was pitching tonight. Pretty sad, but it's been a long day.

So, but, uh, when's Furcal back again? Anyway he can return two weeks ago?

Angel Berroa > Ramon Martinez, right? We can agree on that much.

457 It's a Dodger injury, so (actual DL time) = (expected DL time)^3

456 You're underestimating how bad Berroa is, he's possibly the worst defensive shortstop in baseball, on top of the fact that he can't hit. I'm very impressed that Ned managed to acquire two zero tool players in the last two years.

456 - I agree. That should hopefully help a bit with my Maza, Hu, P, Pierre disdain.

Angel Berroa's Career:

.263/.305/.384, 78 OPS+.

The Dodgers are sadly deluding themselves if they think Berroa will be any better than Hu would be from this point forward.

This move is not merely like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound. It's like putting an old, worn-out band-aid with no stickum left on a gunshot wound. When you already have a newer, better band-aid in your possession.

NPUT