Broxton spent April 2006 in Vegas...that's it. I didn't know that was "a summer."

Interesting that OBP*SLG is a better predictor of runs than OBP+SLG. It would be very easy to use the product term instead of the sum. Course, it would also be very easy to use the weighted sum that gives more weight to OBP than to SLG.

DeJon Watson and Kim Ng for two-headed GM! Make it happen, Frank.

--

Darnit, I actually wish the Dodgers weren't on ESPN today. It overlaps with the Lakers game, as we all know, and I don't think I can take all the channel-flipping. Wish I could Tivo one while watching the other. Ah well. Hope both games turn out better than they did on Thursday.

3
Just do what I'm doing: don't watch any more of the Laker-Celtic series live unless the Lakers are up 3-1 in the series. Record the games and then watch only those that the Lakers win.

This approach saves you from wasting the time and emotional energy associated with watching your team lose.

Sounds like a good idea. Another idea I had was to step through a rift in the space-time continuum and take peak at the scores for the next two games, then make it back to the present and plan accordingly. That idea seems more problematic, however.

Recording the games takes less effort than stepping through rifts in the space-time continuum. You can record from the comfort of your own couch, without having to get up.

I think the question on everyone's mind is: what will be Angel Berroa's uniform number?

Do baseball uniforms have numbers? I guess I never noticed. Which is weird, because that almost makes them seem unimportant.

The Croatians are wearing the dark blue jerseys with the checkerboard pattern on the side. They aren't in a full checkerboard kit today.

Croatia appears to be much better* than Austria.

*At soccer, not classical music composition.

7 0 , to corspond with his baseball ability.

(From last thread: my question asking who Yoakim Noah might be). Look, I realize that part of what makes this a successful community blog is a reasonable amount of off-topic chat - it's the sort of looseness that prevents rigidity and restrictive internet-mommyism. Jon's rules are pretty well all designed (aside from the absurd superstitious Rule 9) to prevent degeneration into angry arguments and to foster civility - and they work very well - rather to force people into keeping on topic.

Nevertheless, you (and by "you" I mean Bob Hendley) might want to recall that this is baseball blog. I was just asking for information, I wasn't baiting anyone. Since no one would answer me straight, OK, I googled and found an answer. But I have no interest whatsoever in basketball. I know lots of people here share an interest in basketball and football, which I don't, so I normally just pass over those comments, as with pop music, which I also don't care about. I have a an interest in all sorts of things which not many people here share, so I usually don't mention them. (Hands up anyone who cares that England just won a cricket match, in fact, a test series, this morning.)

But calling me out for a "potential Rule 3 violation" because I asked a simple question which no one would answer is a bit much. Yeah, OK, you were just trying to be funny. You might have answered the question, though, while you were at it, no? Same for Bob Timmermann. That'll teach me for asking, I guess.

12
Sorry, Joakim Noah brings out the worst in me.

12
I think I can speak for everyone when I say:

1. We didn't realize you actually didn't know who Yoakim Noah is. We didn't realize your question was serious. If we had, we would have answered.

2. With that in mind, Bob H. thought you were building on my comment, which brought Bob T. out of hiding. His comments about Rule 3 was in jest, assuming that we were all having fun.

LaRoche hit on the hand?! Sheeeesh. I hope it's not serious.

How many times does Nadal have to best Federer until he is no longer the #2?

uh oh.

How many times does Nadal have to best Federer until he is no longer the #2?

Until now, Nadal has only beaten Federer at the French. Nadal has never won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, or US Open.

Federer has 12 Grand Slams to Nadal's 4.

That being said, Federer is getting old by tennis standards and Nadal is entering his prime, so it won't be long before Federer stops winning the other grand slams and/or Nadal starts winning a few.

12 - berkowit28 Please allow me to apologize for having offended you, that was the last thing on my mind.

OK, guys. Thanks for the quick replies. Yeah, I'm just an ignoramus about basketball (OK, I know who Kobe is), let alone college basketball. I really would never have guessed that the son of a French tennis star would have anything to do with a US college sport of any type. (And the TV commentators didn't fill us in on who he was either, when the camera spotted him. Just that he looks like his father, which he does. Tennis, I do follow a bit.)

My statement about Joakim Noah was not facetious however.

17 - Wow... Thanks for that. I don't follow very closely (though I really enjoy watching a good match) and kept hearing yesterday about all the wins Nadal has over Federer. I take it those wins weren't during the big Opens, etc. They're certainly going down to the wire in this one. Really good game.

21
The deal is that Federer is good enough on clay to make it to the finals of the big tournaments, where he almost always loses to Nadal. That gives the impression that Nadal "owns" Federer.

But up until now, Nadal has not been good enough to even make the finals of the other grand slam tournaments, so he doesn't even get to face Federer in the other events.

As a result, Nadal has a huge advantage over Federer in their lifetime head-to-head meetings, but most of their meetings have been on clay, which is Nadal's best surface by far. Federer holds the head-to-head edge on other surfaces.

Thanks for the info D4P. The rankings make a lot more sense to me now. :)

I have several rules when it comes to watching my games on tv. If the game is going solo I'll Tivo it and watch it later. If the game is being playing at the same time(Lakers/Dodgers, Clippers/Dodgers, Dodgers/Angels, Lakers/Clipper, Lakers/Clippers/Dodgers) then I'll watch it live so that I can flip back and forth between breaks. If I'm going to a game and another game is on then of course I'll Tivo it.

Would anyone be surprised that LaRoche is hurt just as he was about to get called up?

3 Basketball is a game that lends itself to the "Sports Center" approach more than baseball. So watch the Dodgers and then keep it on ESPN.

There's so much activity in basketball, all at the same pace, it becomes boring after awhile. IMO. If it's a close game with less than five minutes left, that's when it becomes arguably dramatic. Otherwise, it's like listening to speed metal. Stimulating but dull. But the highlight reel gives you all the "oh wow" shots, blocks, passes and rebounds without the boring same old same old in between.

I can't watch any sporting event on a DVR. I figure that if I'm not home to watch it, it's not that important for me to follow. Because if it were, I would have planned to be home.

The Dodgers start about 50-60 minutes before the Lakers-Celtics, so it will be a race to see which ends first.

It's possible that the early innings will go quickly today since the batters won't be able to see well. However, Penny could walk six.

LaRoche got hit on the hand again because he has developed into such a disciplined patient hitter that he is always taking pitches til the last moment, before starting to back away, sometimes too late.

I thought LaRoche got hit on the hand because he couldn't get out of the way.

22

The Last time Federer and Nadal met outside of the French Open was last year's Wimbledon Final. Great match, but Federer won anyway. I

26 the real question is who will have more difficulty seeing, the hitters seeing the ball coming at them, or Penny seeing where the plate is...

the funny thing is Penny has trouble finding the plate, but he has no trouble showing disdain for the umpire's supposed bad ball and strike calls

28
Remember that time LaRoche got hit on the back of the head by the Braves's catcher's mit (which contained the ball)?

28 that too

31
Never happened. You must be imagining things.

You're talking crazy. That's Crazy Talk.

maybe it is almost time to say that LaRoche is snake-bit? he is about to get called up and he gets hit on the hand...

every time it is to become his "time", something seems to happen...I wouldn't stand next to him next time there is thunder and lightning

26
So you like to watch Avodart, Flomax, and Viagra commercials? I've always been curious since these commercials now dominate baseball broadcasts how parents explain the sexual dysfunctional commercials to their young kids(5-8) as they try to enjoy watching a baseball game together. I'm still waiting for Vinny to sing "viva viagra" instead of trying to get us to eat another pig.

I can remember getting in a fight with a kid when I was in 2nd grade when I told him how he was created. He didn't take it well.

34 - Do we know the extent of the injury? How soon before they announce today's line-up for the 51s.

Almost all of LaRoches lofty .854 OPS that Jon mentions is based on his incredible OBP and very little on his pedestrian slug%.
Hard to say the position switch is responsible since he wasn't hitting for power before the switch. The culprit is probably the injury and if so, then unless LaRoche is going to play SS, I don't see how he is going to help this team until his power is back. He is not going to be able to carry that OBP up here if the pitchers have no reason to fear him.

34 - He is snakebit, no doubt about it. That's never been the debate. The debate has been whether he causes the bad luck. I don't think he does.

Keep in mind there may be nothing wrong with him today.

He is not going to be able to carry that OBP up here if the pitchers have no reason to fear him

Did pitchers fear Brett Butler...?

BTW: I will think it ironic if a lack of power keeps LaRoche of this team.

37 - And yet he's had high OBP at every level he's played at for the past four years, including the majors. His career OBP in the minors is .379.

If he isn't slugging now (he has five homers but two doubles), how do you explain his high OBP with Vegas? Why can't it be a skill that he has?

LaRoche has to have more power than Hu.

Michael Kay just asked David Cone if a line drive through the box made his "heart beat."

There was no adverb used.

I really hope that David Cone's heart was beating when he played. It's tough to pitch with a defibrillator attached to you all the time.

You rooting for anyone in particular in the Euro's, Bob?

I'm rooting for Holland. Especially Robin Van Persie and Ruud van Nistlerooy.

You can't go wrong rooting for a team in checkerboard jerseys.

Andy's not playing today.

Should I feel bad for rooting against Germany?

36 He's not in today's lineup.

7 13!

38 I certainly don't believe it is his fault, no one does it intentionally, but some people do tend to find the black cloud associated with every silver lining

0 - Thanks for the links, Jon. I try to keep up with the various measures that are thrown about on this site, which I find very enlightening in terms of my understanding and enjoyment of the game. Most seem intuitive and well grounded in methodology, subject to limitations in modeling and data. One conclusion from this number crunching that occasionally pops up here (generally related to JP) always hits me as counter-intuitive is the notion that how hitters are placed in the line-up has little effect on runs scored, on average over the long run (perhaps this is because I can't imagine the Bums in the 1960s being as producive without Junior Gilliam batting with Wills on base). I have not seen this crunching first hand so would appreciate any link you have discussing it (I understand from your responses here when the issue comes up that it has already been well treated in DT, so I don't want to bore anyone here). In my own field, economic development, in trying to establish attribution a common issue is to establish a counter-factual, and I was just wondering how they go about this when they do this particular analysis.

and a question, how well is Berroa going to have to hit to make up for the huge decrease in defense when he replaces Hu?

personally, I would leave Hu at short, and tell him don't worry about hitting, we like him for his defense...with zero pressure to hit, maybe he will...

50 whatever you just said, it sure sounded good

I don't generally use the DVR for sporting events either. I made a huge exception for Kershaw's first game as a Dodger.

51 - Somehow I don't think that the pitchers were included in this particular vote (Disenfranchised!) I assume he is insurance so that Hu can be send down once Furcal comes back and that Torre just has him in the line-up today to take advantage of Kuroda and Lowe not being on the mound and to Hu a one-day breather. I would expect to see Hu back in after that until Fural comes back (unless Berroa hits a couple out), but Torre has fooled me before.

We can speculate on two reasons why LaRoche isn't in the 51's lineup:
!. He's hurt
2. He's coming up to LA

44 Nice. At some point you want to consider adding the name Martin Taylor to your giant obelisk. You can thank him for Croatia being without their top striker, Eduardo.

46 My best friend is from Karlshruhe! Go Deutschland!

Sheesh...capitalizing van, using the letter h excessively.

What can I say, the Euro's got me pumped.

Pirates are up on Arizona 2-1.

Meanwhile, the score in the soccer game is 0-0.

Lather, rinse, and repeat.

Meanwhile, the score in the soccer game is 0-0.

Lather, rinse, and repeat.

58 - This is a combined Snake Watch/Bay Watch?

60 Should be one nil. Klose had no business passing that ball. Super Mario was offside, though.

Bay doubles in 2 more. 5-1 in Arizona.

Goallllll!!!!!!!

It's like 1939 all over again.

The Padres have won 4 straight games, each by a score of 2-1.

When is the last time that happened?

According to Elias, no team has ever won four straight games by a 2-1 score.

The Dodgers have yet to win by a 2-1 score in 2008.

In fact, it might interest you to know that they have yet to win when scoring 2 runs or fewer.

So close for Poland.

66 67 Announcers during last night's telecast claimed it was a MLB record.

66 - JoeyP, you mentioned yesterday when Pee Wee appeared as a pinch hitter that he had swung at ball four (which he hardly ever does-this is what I said). He was fouling so many off that I was momentarily distracted and did not see it. I have been trying for the past few hours to view it on mlb.tv archives, but there seems to be some sort of glitch when it gets to that particular inning and I am frustrated. If you recall, was the ball low and inside? Signed Pew Wee Obsessed

71

I'm pretty sure it was a high fastball around the letters.

I know who to blame for LaRoche getting hit on the hand.

Gary Bennett!

72 - Thanks!

73 actually the LaRoche apologists are blaming DeWitt for him getting hit on the hand

75
LOL!

So is Ethan Martin gonna be a pitcher or a batsman?

Assuming that he is alright, I haven't noticed that LaRoche has gotten much of any playingtime in LF in Vegas. With Kemp likely to have to do his time soon, we will be in a situation with only three outfielders (I shudder to think of who is going to play CF). Note, I am not counting M. Sweeney, the Robot Made of Snails, who seems to be injured.

LaRoche just entered the game as a defensive sub in the 4th inning. He's playing 2B.

From Hardball Times team rankings:
#10 Arizona Diamondbacks (Dartboard Factor = 88, 91): Drawn down in the Dartboard because so far in 2008 the Diamondbacks have faced the easiest schedule of all teams.
#17 Los Angeles Dodgers (Dartboard Factor = 79, 81): Matt Kemp has had a quality week with an OPS just shy of 1.000 as he appears to have settled into the center field role in Los Angeles.

79 Very interesting.

One might have supposed that they would have wanted to bring LaRoche up before they broke camp and went on the road, and perhaps this HBP incident kept that from happening. In any event, they will just be down the road on the first part, before heading off to Detroit, where DH will be a need, even if they think to go with only three outfielders

75 What are the Tiffee apologists saying about his DFA?

77 Ethan will be a pitcher.

The Mets scored three runs in the top of the first in San Diego, so the Padres streak of 2-1 wins is over, barring some extraordinarily unexpected weather.

There are Terry Tiffee apologists?

Does being an apologist mean "We hope Tiffee does OK until LaRoche is ready to get called up?"

Or is there an Andy LaRoche orthodoxy that has to be adhered to?

How long does it take for those guys in NYC to dimiss appeals? Are the appeals a public document?

My momma didn't raise know Angel Berroa apoligist, I'll tell you what.

Oh, and is the appeal to a higher authority, or just the same guy?

87
I believe MLB just announces the result of the appeal and that's that. Since this is essentially an H.R. procedure, I doubt any of it would be made public.

Terry Tiffee was treated worse than Shea Hillenbrand by some people here and he had far less effect on the Dodgers.

And I'm betting that Terry Tiffee was probably not as much of a problem in the clubhouse as Shea Hillenbrand.

Look at Bob, dropping a Hillenbrand bomb in the swimming pool on a Sunday afternoon. That's edgy.

anyone know the correct score to the houston stl game? i had it at 5-4 in the bottom of the 8th, and erstad hit an RBI 2b to make it 5-5. now every baseball website i look at has it 5-4 stl

The Cardinals lead 5-4.

94 do you know what happened to erstad's RBI 2b in the 8th?

Nope, I just turned to the game and it's 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th.

96 thanks, gamecast and stat tracker both reported an RBI 2b in the 8th to tie it... i wonder if something weird happened lik batting out of turn, or maybe just a glitch.

I think some here misunderstood my comments on LaRoche being able to carry his lofty OBP up here at the major league level. No doubt he has demonstrated over his minor league career that he has excellent plate discipline. My only point is that he won't be generating a 440 OBP up here. It will likely be between 350-380 and if he's only able to slug 400 due to the lingering injury then I don't see much of a benefit by having him on the big club.

However, if his lack of power comes around then I'd be more then happy to see LaRoche steal ab's from Loney, DeWitt, Kent, and Pierre. It may be a timing issue rather then the lingering injury issue but the fact is, he has little power at the moment.

I'm not through, yet. I gather that appealing is just a way of stalling and maybe getting a day knocked off of the sentence. The appeal is made by the player and not the club, right, but probably done in consultation (collusion). Can a player or a team appeal the sentence of a player on another team, for example if grievous injury was incurred on a player that was not known about at the time of the original sentence? Where are all the lawyers, when you need them?

Did Tiffee get much grief here? I didn't notice.

The Astros announcers aren't making any reference to a weird play, but they did say "what if Abercrombie had been sent in the 8th."

Most of the websites have Lee scoring on a double by Erstad, but Abercrombie had run for him. And didn't try to score.

101 thank you, stl is the last game needed to complete a 4 team parlay so that makes me feel better

The Prefontaine Classic at the UofO is on NBC right now.

Sorry for being so persistent on this, but I am thinking that in a matter of days we may see the Bison in the midst of a hot streak having to sit out and end up with JP in CF, so I want to the all the parameters involved in this in order to have an informed rant.

Appeals are heard whenever the Commissioner's Office has somebody in town where the player is. I've never heard of a player getting a longer suspension after an appeal.

Kemp's appeal or lack thereof may be timed to coincide with Jones' return or a mild injury.

The Cardinals got five runs on just four singles.

That doesn't happen too often:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/xshG

Lambo is heating up in the Midwest League.

The NL West was 16-0 until Arizona lost today as they try to get back some respect.

107
Silverio is banging but has yet to walk in 117 plate appearances.

Your first para suggest that there is some uncertainty involved in this, i.e., someone from the Commisioner's office being in the same town as the player. Whereas, your second suggests that there may be some collusion between that office and the club. Under the first, Andy should have his bags packed, under the second not necessarily.

109

Yeah.... I don't care much for Silverio because of what you just mentioned. I heard Josh Bell hurt his knee and might need surgery. Also, Santana is having a stellar season. I wonder if his defense is good enough to make him a top catching prospect.

This might be the year where we don't have any prospects in BAs top 100....

When Kemp serves his suspension, the Dodgers only have 24 players available, so I'm not sure how Andy LaRoche figures into this.

The women's 100 meters at the Prefontaine appears to have no Caucasian women. Weird.

112 - Ok, then no replacements are allowed. Thanks.

You do get to replace players who are suspending for flunking drug tests however.

115
Pretend I used the proper tense there.

113

Does that mean you can't find someone to root for?

Just why is track and field so disproportionately popular in Eugene than any other city in the U.S.?

116 - OK, and I promise not to test you.

117
Well, there were no Filipino fillies either...

111
I'm hoping with Elberts return that he can continue the progress he was making before the hiccup. Players who could be top 100 next season:
Laroche - Andrew could pop a vein if he's still available
McDonald
Santana
DeJesus
Elbert

118
I'm not 100% sure. There's Pre, and Nike, and all that, but I don't really know why Eugene became "Tracktown USA".

122 What else was it to be?....if there's an opportunity for a niche you gotta go and get it.

121 How far is Lambo from becoming a top 100?

123
I think that's probably a big part of it.

7 I think the question on everyone's mind is: what will be Angel Berroa's uniform number?

On Dodgers.com there is a picture of him sitting in the Dodgers dugout yesterday wearing #13.

126 Your gonna give Berroa 13?....talk about bad omens...I see potential for an "Offerman II" nickname...

118 Steve PreFontaine has a lot to do with it.

121

If Withrow and Ethan Martin come out firing when they start pitching professionally this year, they have chances of making the back end based on pedigree.

I think Laroche will use up his prospect status by the end of the year. I was hoping Bryan Morris could break out this year but he's sidelined with shoulder tenderness right now and hasn't pitched in almost a month.

Man, the bats sure are quiet down there in te minors.

Considering that LaRoche only needs 15 plate appearances to exhaust his prospect status, I will definitely be among those popping a vein if he ends up on next year's Top 100.

Lambo doesn't have a lot of super athletic tools, so he's going to have to hit a lot better than he's hitting right now to merit Top 100 consideration. Like around 1.000 OPS, or maybe .950. (He's at .815 right now.)

130

I think you have to really consider his hitting environment. The Midwest League offensive averages are:

248/320/368 688 OPS.

If he can get/keep his OPS around 850 or so for the entire season with the league average staying about the same, in context, he will have had a really good season.

Question before the house:

Since Torre now likes Ardoin what are the chances we will DFA Bennett?

>> Torre said the team would consider using Ardoin as Kuroda's personal catcher, in part to have a designated day to give starting catcher Russell Martin a breather. <<

http://tinyurl.com/62exth

Delwyn Young, incidentally, has become one of those rare players who has exhausted his rookie eligibility due to the seldom-invoked roster clause. Even if you don't get 130 plate appearances, you're no longer a rookie once you spend 45 non-September days on the active roster. Young has 70 days on the active roster and only 81 PAs.

131 I agree, and I'm very aware of the hitting environment at Great Lakes. You're right that .850 would be a solid season. But it would also be nowhere near enough to get him into the Top 100, which was the issue under discussion.

We get our first taste of Angel tonight..

111, 121 Sorry I'm a bit late for this conversation, but I would have said I hoped that Withrow, Morris and Elbert could produce one or two surges by the end of the year. Bats are very quiet indeed, and this could be a place where we use free agency or trade to get a legitimate upgrade somwhere, but it would half to be legit( not a Pierre or Andruw).

Wow, I saw Hillenbrand's debut in person and now I'll see Berroa's.

I also saw Trever Miller's debut.

I only wish I had kids I could tell about this.

126 127 It's 13 on the official roster. I think he wore 40 with KC.

Suns let early lead slip away

>> Up next: Suns right-hander James McDonald (3-1, 3.90) is scheduled to face Mudcats right-hander Ryan Tucker (4-2, 1.41) at 2 p.m. today. <<

http://tinyurl.com/3klzas

133 - That explains it, he doesn't seem like a rookie the way approaches the bench. In all seriousness, he is starting to gets some PAs, but JP is so firmly anchored in LF that it always seems to come at the expense of Andre. This might have been a good day for a start at 2nd, but with Berroa out there already, unlikely that Torre would do that. So I am guessing Mazas as Kent makes up for not sitting down yesterday.

Pierre, LF

Ethier, RF

Kent, 2B

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

Kemp, CF

DeWitt, 3B

Berroa, SS

Penny, P

126 127 138 -- L.A. Dodgers who wore #13 (through 2006) -- Joe Ferguson, Antonio Osuna, Jim Leyritz, Alex Cora and Oscar Robles. Whatever happened to Robles? Quiz -- Who was the only Dodger, in Brooklyn or L.A., who ever wore 0?

I only wish I had kids I could tell about this

No you don't.

Robles is with the Phillies organization and playing at AAA Lehigh Valley.

143
This would be a reason to have children.

144 -- Thanks.

Torre goes with the hot-handed Kent. Gotta love the passion.

The NBA Finals chat is up on the Griddle now.
https://griddle.baseballtoaster.com/archives/1012173.html

142 Al Oliver.

134 Nine players in the 2007 Midwest League had OPS of .850 or better in 150 or more PAs, 13 in 2006. The 2006 group includes 19-year olds Colby Rasmus (.885) and Jay Bruce (.871) with same-aged Cameron Maybin just missing (.844). Maybe, just maybe, an .850+ from a 19-year old Andrew Lambo might get him noticed to that level. Outside chance, I know.

How long is the Hu/Maza/Berroa going to last?

The NBA Finals chat is up on the Griddle now

AKA "The D4P chats with himself for the entire first half and then leaves out of shame" chat.

I missed the Euro Soccer Thoughts earlier, to go off to my own game, but saw the first half of that Croatia-Austria game. Did anyone see that horribly flagrant foul by that Austrian player who basically tackled this guy twice including grabbing at his face and making him bleed. How there was no yellow card there was beyond me.

My team lost 7-5 to a bunch of floppers and foulers, and now has to win or tie our last game next week to make the playoffs. For anyone tracking at home.

I know LaRoche's status was already posted above, but this was Tony Jax's post a little while ago:

>>He's in the lineup today, although DeJon Watson said he'll probably DH. But he just jammed his finger when he got hit by a pitch last night, and although he did leave the game for precautionary reasons, he is not seriously injured, and this shouldn't jeopardize a big-league callup that it sounds like could be imminent.<<

Did anyone see that horribly flagrant foul by that Austrian player who basically tackled this guy twice including grabbing at his face and making him bleed. How there was no yellow card there was beyond me

Yes, I saw it. Then later I saw a German player (in the other game) get a yellow card for barely touching another player.

NPUT