"I love it when they say it's not a good draft. Usually, that's an indicator it might not be (bad)."

When "they" say it's a good draft, I wonder if Logan disagrees.

It seems appropriate to move my LAT'd comment up here:

170. dzzrtRatt
Diamond Leung is a model 21st century journalist. He is to baseball reporting what Politico.com is to politics. He makes the Times look stodgy and slow (not hard to do.) I think he reads this blog for market research, which is what all the paid reporters ought to be doing. He asks the questions you all would ask.

I've probably purchased the P-E twice in my life, both times at a Denny's. But he's getting them page views from all over the country. I hope his ad dept. knows how to monetize that (they probably don't.)

I has a lineup -

Pierre, LF
DeWitt, 3B
Kent, 2B
Martin, C
Loney, 1B
Kemp, CF
Ethier, RF
Berroa, SS
Billingsley, P

1 Logan White has shown that he holds himself in high regard before.

who is "troy from west virginia" ? via Tony Jackson..

4 do you think some of his shine has worn off

DeWitt really is the apple of Torre's eye. Hopefully ALR will see some late-inning work at least.

Logan White has shown that he holds himself in high regard before

And it's not as if he's gonna say he did a bad job or that the players he drafted aren't any good.

8 - If he wanted, he could temper expectations rather than ramp them up.

7
Not that he is not a good player, but can't we jettison Jeff Kent for a B- minor leaguer to the Cubs if we fall further out of contention?

I want to see Loney/LaRoche/Dewitt/anyonewhocanslugover.400 in the infield

5 He's a sort-of-Elvis-looking fan from WV who's been making Youtube videos about his love for Joe Beimel, among others. Search Youtube, you'll find him.

One very good month should not give DeWitt immunity to being optioned.

9
But expectations and perceptions of his job performance presumably go hand in hand. Why would he want to make it sound like he could have done a better job than he did? If the players don't eventually pan out, he can blame someone other than himself. But if the players weren't very good to start with, that's pretty much his fault.

Hallgren reports in the chat that the Dodgers signed Kyle Russell today. Also, DeJon Watson really seems to believe in Greg Miller, and says "we're getting him to the point where he consistently dominates the strike zone."

2 I am pretty sure he doesn't think that way since generally all beat reporters have the same access to the story.

Actually, I think the LA Times gets a bad rap more for their columnists rather than their beat reporting coverage. But also, given their prominence, more is expected from the Times.

That chat was like all of 6 questions long.

Forgive me if this has been discussed already, but dodgers.com says that Stults was recalled with Penny going to the DL. If Stults was going to make the start Friday, why didn't we call up a hitter for the Reds series and just recall Stults Friday? Stupidity or Stults really isn't the starter?

15 I have to say, Dylan Hernandez is a pretty outstanding beat writer also. It's huge that he speaks three languages. He can get insightful quotes from people like Saito, who you would almost never find quoted in a Tony Jackson story.

I was reading the log to catch up and didn't realize it was over. I kept waiting for more questions!

From SI.com re: the Randolph firing being bungled.

Probably the most notoriously bungled firing in the history of pro sports occurred in December 1976, when Chicago Blackhawk owner Bill Wirtz had someone shove a note under Billy Reay 's apartment door. Reay had been the Hawks' coach for 13� seasons. The note, which was found by his wife, informed Reay not only that he was dismissed as the team's coach but also that he was no longer part of the organization. This was three days before Christmas.

That is ICE COLD.

17 It could be either or both, I guess.

13 - I don't understand what you're arguing. There are different ways of spinning a draft without making it sound like the drafter was lame.

17 The hitters we have on the bench hardly get playing time as it is.

17 First, who would you call up and how much would that person play? Second, if something happens like another short outing or games affected by weather, they may need the pitcher right now. Third, the only players that they would think to call up without affecting the roster would be Repko or Hu and neither of them would be much help right now.

6 No, but I am really unhappy with this draft. It's just that Logan White has said stuff like that before. Something about how his worst mistake was not arguing hard enough for his GM to draft Javier Vazquez when he's taken guys who have flamed out like Greg Miller in the first round.

If Stults wasn't going to start, I'd have called up Greg Miller for relief. We're going to have to see what the kid's got sometime this year, because he's out of options.

17 - Stults' regular rotation day would be this coming Thursday, which means Las Vegas would need someone to replace him by then. Add in a travel day for that circumstance from another team and this move makes some sense.

25 How was Greg Miller a mistake? He was the real deal until he got hurt. Injuries happen to pitchers, especially young ones. Can't kill him on that.

24
Besides, doesn't anyone remember that Stults is a better pinch hitter then Sweeney. Really, the boy can hit.

28 Fair enough, but his answer to that question implies that he's never been wrong about anything, when he's clearly screwed up before. I think, for example, taking Preston Mattingly instead of Joba qualifies as a bigger mistake.

Farewell, Cyd Charisse.

28
Right, you can't blame the pick, for two years it looked like genius. Remember this kid was Kershaw before Kershaw and he was drafted much later. What he did in his AA debut is still mind boggling to me which just makes his demise all the more painful.

25 Greg Miller was not a flameout in any way, shape, or form. Indeed, he fully justified the spot at which he was picked with the way he dominated in his couple of pro seasons. Had that draft been re-done a year or two later, he would have been the #1 overall pick. You can't predict injuries.

Basically, if you have to reach far enough to identify Miller as a first-round (actually sandwich round) flop, then you're talking about someone with a spotless draft record. Preston Mattingly would have been a better example, although the jury's probably still out on that one.

31
My wife will be very unhappy. I don't think she has gotten over Tim Russert yet.

30
He certainly has made mistakes but why should he talk about them. That is our job.

I see that, as usual, I am late in making the point.

I'm sure it's already been discussed, but I just read that Penny was sent to the DL. Also, Yahoo has Eric's brother, Brad Stults coming up to pitch on Friday.

http://tinyurl.com/5mx2ey

33 I concede the Greg Miller point, it was just the worst first round pick I could find without getting a "DePo made him do it" response.

It would sound bad to Preston if he said such a thing publicly. He needs to have a relationship with the guys still in the system and saying they were a mistake is not the way to go about building on that relationship.

Greg Miller was not a flameout in any way, shape, or form

Question: do "way", "shape", and "form" cover all possible permutations in these kinds of situations? And how does "shape" differ from "form"?

31 She just had her 60th wedding anniversary with her second husband, Tony Martin on May 15th.

37 Yeah, and that's exactly the point. If that's the worst first-round pick we can find, then something is clearly going right.

Ruggiano is playing on a team in the hunt for the AL East championship. Not bad for someone picked when he was.

39
My dad used that alot. I tend to use it so much my wife hates it. When you have been married 18 years, just about anything you do that is repetitive tends to irritate the spouse.

At least when we trade these outfielders to Tampa Bay, we always draft their little brothers to replace them. Pedroza, Ruggiano...

31 - wow. You watch those old movies of hers ... "Singin' In The Rain" ... wow, what legs.

One you figure 39 out, also help me decipher how "ways" are different from "means."

I still maintain that it is too early to judge the success of the Preston Mattingley pick. I really don't expect to be able to judge him until next year given how raw and unfocused on baseball he was when drafted.

41 Well that is out of two years, 2002 and 2003. The others ones can be covered by "to soon to tell" or "DePo made him".

I didn't even realize we drafted little Ruggiano. I still like little Pedroza as a possible future utility player, he got off to a slow start but has been fine since May.

47 Case in point...

Still no matter what happens, I doubt he's going to end up better than Joba.

Totally off subject but the new Mozilla Firefox came out today and it's awesome. If you use Firefox, download it. You won't regret it. This site loads and refreshes faster than it ever has for me.

OT. Not to get into Rule 8 territory, but I thought that the signing was a good risk. In any event, what I have trouble understanding is how long it took management to adjust to the fact that it might not pan out(actually, not sure that they have even yet).

The fellow comes to camp after following a self-prescribed regime that conveniently meant that he could stuff his face during the winter. He looked lumbering in ST, not swinging well, but getting some walks so his OPB didn't look so bad.

So the season starts and, at least to me, the first week indicated that something was not happening. Ok, so the question becomes, what do you do. The Torre solution was to keep trotting him out there and watch him flail away night after night, sometimes in the second spot, until, as least one post here was suggesting, he hurt himself.

I hope there is a better plan next time around.

I don't know about the rest of this year, but I doubt that next spring the Dodgers will tolerate Jones showing up to camp in that condition. That might even give them the ability to terminate his contract for cause.

I hope Kuroda fairs well on the MRI that Diamond Leung is reporting. If he were to miss a start, i wonder if Guo would get the nod or they would dip into the minors once again. It might be time to start stretching Guo out a little bit??
vr, Xei

Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda was sent home from Cincinnati and will undergo an MRI exam tomorrow after finally reporting shoulder soreness that has bothered him throughout the season. The team seems to feel better about Kuroda's prognosis than Brad Penny's since Kuroda's scheduled start tomorrow has been pushed back for now to Saturday. Derek Lowe will pitch tomorrow followed by Eric Stults on Thursday and Clayton Kershaw on Friday.

"I would have liked to have been told sooner," Manager Joe Torre said of Kuroda, who the Dodgers signed this offseason out of Japan. I understand it's probably my fault the communication isn't as easy. I probably should have talked to him more, and maybe it would have been easier for him to tell me."

This season is something straight from the Worst Case Scenario handbook.

It's time for JAMES McDIZZLE.

Ned Colletti picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue. (sorry for the movie reference).
vr, Xei

Bad news but it will hopefully lessen the possibility of a panic move to save the season(tm).

54 I don't think its an issue of streching him out, its can he throw he be economical with his pitch count.

59 The good news is that it gave Jon an excuse to post James Ingram lyrics 0

I don't know about the rest of you, but after all this, I'm waiting for Kershaw's arm to explode. The shrapnel will blind LaRoche.

58 And Andruw's (Leon) getting larrrrrgggerrr!

58 - References to Airplane, Blazing Saddles, and Little Shop of Horrors need no apologies.

61 Yamo be in 4th place?

Tony Jackson sez: "There is SOME good news. Andruw Jones has been hitting at Dodger Stadium as part of his rehab, and from what I'm told, his swing looks better than it has all season. No longer dropping the elbow. Maybe the time away was just what he needed"

61 And that last line of the lyric is probably the Dodgers' theme for the season: "Ohh ohhh."

60. and then the question arises... just what does it take to get Guo into the rotation? Two injuries plus one ineffective starter? Kershaw passed him up and I don't have a problem with that. Stults has now passed him up. If Kuroda misses a start, does Guo get passed up again? It's not like they can't live without him in the bullpen, because they don't use him in medium or high leverage situations any more. There are other pitchers that can pitch mop up (CHP, Proctor, Wade, [Default Minor Leaguer]). We may be crossing that bridge shortly.
vr, Xei

61 I know this is one Jon's pet peeves but I just think its that fine line but players will not ever be up front about injuries that no one can see without an MRI.

These guys all have egos and they believe that they can play through the pain. And I think to some extent, some pain is part of the job, pitchers get sore shoulders and arms and they just figure it will get better during their down time.

Kuroda threw one of the best games I have ever personally seen pitched against the Cubs and now he's says he's sore.

So, I can't blame the management for not knowing that Kuroda is hurting, he's has to tell them whether or not Joe's knows enough Japanese to ask him.

66 The battle for rightfield is about to heat up!

68 - Kuo should start with someone to back him up after xx number of pitches, just as Kuo has done for others.

68 I have felt for a while that Kuo has great stuff but his past injury history makes him an unreliable as a starter so if he can be a managed middle reliever (not too many repeat appearances and certain games he just won't pitch) then he has a spot.

71. I am Xeifrank, and I endorse that message. vr, Xei

68 A trade or a plane crash.

69 - I completely agree that the responsibility is shared among the player, training staff, coaches, manager and management. But there is no excuse for a pitcher pitching when he shouldn't be. Someone has to speak up.

The Dodgers don't want 3 lefties in the rotation. Therefore, J-Mac it is.

73 Paid for by the committee to promote G/Kuo to the Dodgers starting rotation.

51 Wow...thanks for the reminder. Big leap. Pages are much, much faster to load. And it was one of the easiest installs ever. Even updated all the extensions and Google Toolbar quickly and automatically. Just, wow.

66 i'll believe it when i see it, but i hope he's right.

66 Andruw Jones returning strong, with of course Either and Kemp flanking him, is one of the things that could actually turn this season around.

75 Sure but what triggers that?

I can't think of a time when management just ignored someone being hurt if they knew it.

And does poor performance automatically mean someone is hurt?

So yes, someone needs to speak up but that has to be 99% the player's responsibility unless the team knows about the injury.

Regarding scapegoats, first we had Bavasi and now we have Randolph. If the Dodgers continue their dance with oblivion, who gets the hook first: Mike Easler, Rick Honeycutt, or Stan Conte?

75
As much as this irritates you, I think you should make it an honorary site rule.

YOU"RE MAD AS HELL AND YOU"RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANY MORE!!!!!!!!

What is the real significance of the Stults promotion? For the first time since who knows, a majority of the Dodgers' 25-man roster consists of products of the Dodger farm system. 13 players out of 25. I find that quite amazing considering how recently, and for how long, the Dodgers were heavily dependent on players drafted/signed as amateurs by other organizations and developed in other organizations' minor league systems.

82 Probably Easler.

83 Should we open our windows before shouting that?

82
If there is genuinely something with Kuroda, then noone gets the ax.

Lowe/Kent get traded and we look ahead to 2009.

85 Easler is only here for one year anyway.

81 - I don't know the specifics of Kuroda's case, but in Penny's case, he tells the team before his start that he shouldn't be starting. And he does that because the team creates a culture that encourages that, as opposed to a culture that whispers J.D. Drew-like criticisms behind a player's back if they aren't gamers.

But it's not 99 percent on the player. You don't think these baseball experts who spend their lives studying mechanics can't ever tell when a pitcher isn't right?

The notion that management hasn't ignored someone being hurt ... I'm sure that isn't true.

72 Tony Abreu?

From the previous thread:

Can the Jones naysayers tell us which of Dunn, Burrell, Teixeira will be the next FA flop?

I'd say none have as great of chance as Andruw Jones did.

All 3 have not thrown their body around in CF for 12+ years.

All 3 have much better patience than Andruw Jones did--a skill that holds better with age than does power (even though all 3 have both).

Oops, 89 should have pointed to 81 .

51 . OT: I run an old W2000 license on an about 2001-vintage, about 1100Mhz Athlon processor machine. Would Firefox run well on this machine?

Game is "Delayed (Ceremony)" according to GameDay.

I probably should have talked to him more, and maybe it would have been easier for him to tell me.

Sounds like joe has communication problems.

50. There was a problem in being able to sign Jaba, IIRC boras is his agent and the last time White drafted a boras client it was a mess so he decided to stay away from him. BTW Greg Miller is still young, 21 or 22, so could still make it to the show if he can regain the form he had before the shoulder injury. Before that he was AMAZING. If there was a choice between Miller sans injury or Kershaw, I'd take Miller hands down.

81 "I can't think of a time when management just ignored someone being hurt if they knew it."

Furcal, Rafael. 2007.

I've got Network permanently on my DVR. I sometimes amuse myself by saying "I must make my witness" when people greet me.

94 He can, but not with us unless he suddenly figures it out. He's out of options next year.

95 But maybe you meant pitchers. In which case, Brad Penny, September 2006.

58 Wait...XF made a movie reference?? Did the world shift on it's axis?

93 Yeah, wonder what that is.

97 Don't look now, but it's already happened. Or at least is in the process of happening.

Today is Ken Griffey Jr. Day at Great American Ball Park.

Fine, I stand corrected and I just should not use absolutes.

100 I've noticed, but I'm still skeptical until he keeps it up for a while. He's still walked 9 in his last 10.2 innings. That's only good on a relative scale.

88. While it's true that there are symptoms that show an injury, Penny didn't show any that I could tell. I saw the Schmidt injury before the team anounced it because of his loss in velocity. Even when he tried to over throw he couldn't get a fast ball over 90mph, which shows that he's injured either his shoulder or pulled/tore a leg muscle. Penny OTOH still had decent velocity but his location sucked. I didn't think of an injury so much as he lost his release point.

101 Yet Griffey isn't in the lineup.

I've wondered what the Dodgers MLB advance scouts were looking at when they endorsed Schmidt and Loaiza. Both had substantial losses in velocity, yet the scouts ok'ed the moves presumably.

Dodger scouts must own radar guns no?

He had a 3.59 ERA in 220 innings that year with 180 strike outs, he must have been doing something right

I heard Griffey is sick on the way home from work. Bills' hometown is about 25 minutes from where I live, unfortunately I couldn't take the day off to make it down.

97 -- Greg Miller is not only going to make it to the majors, he is probably going to have a career as along as Jesse Orosco's. He throws in the mid 90's with a plus slider, strikes out a batter an inning, induces ground ball after ground ball (his GO/AO rate right now is an otherworldly 3.27), and, most importantly, he does it with his left hand. For that package, teams will overlook a walk per inning. Heck, for that package, teams will overlook bank robbery, arson, and sexual preferences of the Troy McClure variety.

"Oh Kuo is me..."

109 Only 28 guys in history have walked a batter an inning and had a career lasting longer 30 innings. The record is 143 innings.

107. Sure but the previous year he was also on the DL with shoulder stiffness and the year before that he was also on the DL for another shoulder related injury. All while colletti was still the assistant gm. That should have sent up warning bells.

Let's just say it has something to do with fish...

Actually that's not right. Only 28 guys have walked a batter an inning and pitched more than 30 innigs in a season.

Only seven guys have walked a batter an inning and had a career lasting longer than 30 innings. After Dick Weik's record 212 innings, the next highest is 75.

Few things annoy me more than back to back 3 and 1 groundouts.

Egads, if Kuroda was to hit the DL, that would put every big FA that Ned has signed on the DL except for the one we would most like to see hit the DL. Ned has a bad mojo working.

I refuse to acknowledge that Kuo cannot pitch in a regular rotation if they just stick him in one and let him pitch. So what if his arm falls off, get what you can before it does. Babying him does none of us any good. Either blow his arm out or find out if he is physically strong enough to help this team.

I just hope it's not one of those years, hearing the Kuroda news, hopefully not...

109 "Greg Miller is going to have a career as long as Jessie Orosco's".

Wait a minute! Orosco pitched in more games (1,252) than any Major League in history. How can you project that on a 23 year old minor leaguer with two major shoulder surgeries in three years?

Okay, they really need to do something about these splintery bats. That one broke without even a swing.

Ugh, Steiner's getting into the whole "clogging the bases" thing with Dunn

Nice pitch, Chad! w00t.

108 At first I read that as Griffey was sick on the way home from work. Thought, doesn't he work at the ballpark? Oh, I get it...!

Canuck did not say it was going to be a major league career:)

The shoulder surgeries were not major. They were different in that one involved shaving his shoulder blade as I recall, and the other was also bizarre but were not talking Labrum or TJ.

117 I don't agree that they should start Kuo with the idea that "so what if he blows is arm out" again. He has been quite effective as a reliever this year and the only criticism is that he should probably be used in some more high leverage game situations instead of Chan Ho or Proctor. If we need another starter, I say go with James McDonald, not Kuo.

To finish up the subject, only one pitcher has ever pitched more than 300 innings with a walk rate over seven, Mitch Williams at 7.06/9. Miller's going to need to get some sense of control if he wants a career, no matter how good his stuff is.

Billz K rate is the best development of this year amongst any of the Dodger youngsters.

111,114,115 -- And what do those stats you are looking up tell you about those guys' fastball velocities, the quality of their breaking pitches, their groundball rates? At least you could find out how many were left-handed. Player value is determined by a balance of their assets and liabilities. Right now, Miller's total package of assets, which are numerous, and liabilities, which boil down to one liability, may be utterly unique. Thus, the historical record may be quite useless in telling us what kind of career Miller will have, if an EXACT comp to Miller can't be found. But I can tell you that the historical record tells us that lefty relievers are given chance after chance after chance in the majors, and those are lefties without the kind of stuff Miller has.

111,114,115 -- And what do those stats you are looking up tell you about those guys' fastball velocities, the quality of their breaking pitches, their groundball rates? At least you could find out how many were left-handed. Player value is determined by a balance of their assets and liabilities. Right now, Miller's total package of assets, which are numerous, and liabilities, which boil down to one liability, may be utterly unique. Thus, the historical record may be quite useless in telling us what kind of career Miller will have, if an EXACT comp to Miller can't be found. But I can tell you that the historical record tells us that lefty relievers are given chance after chance after chance in the majors, and those are lefties without the kind of stuff Miller has.

Nice strikeout, X3, C-Bills!

Dang, Chad's got his strikeout mojo going today and it's only taken him 29 pitches in two innings to do it

Who's Billingsley think he is? Koufax? Striking out the side is wasteful! ;)

115 It's a gigantic and unlikely assumption that Miller will walk a batter an inning. As you're well aware, pitchers' walks tend to go down as they age, and Miller's already under a walk per inning right now.

If he can cut his rate slightly, to, say, two-thirds of a walk per inning, he has a chance at a significant major league career. Fifty-eight guys have had careers of at least 100 innings with that walk rate, including some pretty significant pitchers like Tommy Byrne, Herb Score, and Mitch Williams.

If he could cut his walk rate even further to only half a walk per inning -- well, that's still a pretty bad walk rate, but there are 635 pitchers who have lasted at least 100 innings with that walk rate. This includes guys like Sam McDowell, Allie Reynolds, Johnny Vander Meer, Armando Benitez, Chad Billingsley, and Nolan Ryan.

And of course, Miller has an advantage over most of these guys because he's left-handed.

Greg Miller could be another Steve Colyer. Or at best Scott Radinsky.

125
Quit letting facts get in the way of a dream. The Polar Bear is going to be our Wagner without the playoff implosions.

119 -- Hyperbole, but Orosco is a good example of how a pitcher just scratching his butt with his left hand translates into some team somewhere being ready to throw work at the guy.

123 - LOL!

He can't be clogging the bases when he has 18 home runs. He doesn't stick around long enough

127 I agree with you there. I'm just saying that Miller would have to be a completely unprecedented pitcher to be successful right now. Considering how good his stuff, how far away from harnessing it, and that he's out of options, it probably won't happen with the Dodgers.

I'm having a really bad day, that I can't begin to describe, and couldn't if I could.
But I feel bad when I neglect DT. So best wishes, and I hope the D's can turn it around. I hope to return in good shape soon.

We gotta give Billz some run support though... I heard Nate say his BABIP wasn't all that good in his recent starts.

135
Maybe you are to young to have seen Orosco pitch, but he had some nasty stuff in his prime.

127 - gotta agree with 125 and regfairfield here. At some point the numbers (BB/9) supercede the numbers (MPH/break on his pitches).

Berroa breaks up the perfect game.
Nice Ab.

The SS didn't make an out!

Orosco was a tremendous power pitcher at one time, but the last 10 years of his major league existence was basically due to having a semi-functional left appendage.

Good bunt, Chad! Now let's see if Slappy McPopup can drive him in.

(sigh)

That's like a home run for Pierre no?

Yay! The (sigh) jinx finally worked!

Heck of an AB by Berroa and Pierre got him in.

wesley and slappy...yipee

It should be noted that most of the way wild guys who had careers were lefties.

143
He walked 8 in his last game. If he threw a perfect game at us we would have to turn in our Dodger fan credentials.
No a no no is always possible these days, except we can always count on Pierre or Kemp to beat out at least infield hit.

141 Plus he went to my HS and I was friends with his nephew at the same HS, therefore he is one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

Berroa--Billingsley---Pierre producing!

I think it might be time to change the team name to the Los Angeles MRIs.

Huzzah!

Drat, I thought DeWitt had a DeHit there for a second.

Orozco had that rise fastball when he was in his prime (scary pitch) & his slider, forget about it.

I met his family at a spring training game during his last spring. He had about 25 members there and they were all very cool.

I remember a time when he looked like the best LHRP I'd ever seen.

4 straight!

Btw, someone on the Dodgers will hit a home run today. That's my prediction. I won't get more specific than that, except that it won't be Pierre.

5

5 straight!

5 straight K's for Bills. 6 overall.

5 straight!

I like it when Billz brings his A game to the park.

My god! Its Jolbert Cabrera. Hi, Jolbert!

Bills is absolutely dealing today. That curve is as nasty as I've seen.

Ken Griffey Jr's favorite cartoon character is the Road Runner and his favorite TV show growing up was Diff'rent Strokes, for those of you not able to catch that amazing bit of trivia on the Reds' broadcast. (Oh, and he'd most like to meet Jackie Robinson.)

Only 40 pitches through 3 IP. Nice.

167 -- But Sporky's co-worker isn't there to see it, so I guess it doesn't count.

I liked Diff'rent Strokes, too. Possibly even enough to call it my favorite at some point in time.

In case you were wondering.

Psycho needs to get fired soon. I get 5% dumber every time he opens his mouf.

boom, GG delivers two RBI doubles baby

Execution. It is the key.

An extra base hit! Holy Toledo! Or Cincinnati! Wherever!

We match up well with this team somehow.

I see Torre moved DeWitt up, utilizing his signature move your struggling power hitter to the leado...I mean two spot (Juan Pierre is too important).

Blake DeWitt is now in the same company as Andruw Jones and Matt Kemp.

Sigh.

172 Not to beat a dead horse, but the line to get fired as a Dodger broadcaster starts behind Rick Monday.

Johnny Cueto = Spanish for "Slumpbuster"?

178 At least Monday's just boring. Psycho is just plain annoying.

170 Hopefully she's at least watching or listening to it. If not, Sporky will enlighten her.

171 Hey I used to watch it when I was 8 or whatever, too. And Three's Company. And Dukes of Hazard. I am not ashamed to admit that. But would be ashamed if I said I still thought those shows were good.

Loney reads the LA Times.

atta boy james

Ooopsie. I wonder if Martin would've been safe had he not slipped and gone back to third? Maybe that was for the best.

I didn't realize a "blog" was short for *Web Log" from Wikipedia>>> A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) are part of a wider network of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging which consists of blogs with very short posts. As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.1 With the advent of video blogging, the word blog has taken on an even looser meaning of any bit of media wherein the subject expresses his opinion or simply talks about something.

Full history of blogs from Wikipedia here [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog ]

Personally, I think blogs are one of the best things ever invented {internet}

Okay Matt, time for a safety squeeze.

I really liked Silver Spoons. There. I said it.

185 Hey Blue, you should get some tickets for Friday and join me and Eric Stephen to see Kershaw pitch.

You can also get a free cap.

187 But not Small Wonder, at least? Right?

187 - It's like you guys are begging me to once again write from memory the lyrics to the "Hello, Larry" theme song.

That pitch was so bad to Kemp, it got me off my death bed!!

Yikes, 6th in strikeout? You gotta have more than 5 homers if you're going to occupy a spot in the top 10 in strikeouts.

190 We've got different strokes to rule the world.

Unfortunately, I have the Facts of Life theme song running through my head now.

Now he walks. :)

190 Maclean Stevenson ranks pretty high on all-time bad career moves.

189 I'm racking (wracking??) my brain even trying to remember Small Wonder. Was it that thing with Soleil Moon Frye, because I hated that show.

Sweet at-bat Wesley

185 -

It's blog! It's blog!
It's big, it's heavy, it's wood!
It's blog! It's blog!
It's better than bad, it's good!

-- with apologies to Jim Kricfalusi.

ah and theres our shortstop position coming through

197 But if Matt does that, we have a run.

The season in a nutshell right there.

181

as long as we're at meeting things, I saw "The Incredible Hulk" this Sat. & loved it, that's right! I loved it!! & I ain't ashamed to admit it.

Well done, Grampa Snipes.

Well for a second I thought that was a base hit. Ah well.

196 You're thinking of Punky Brewster. Small Wonder was the one with the robot daughter named Vicki.

And Angel Berroa is Spanish for "The pitcher can relax now."

You guys are killing Xeifrank

193 I did too, but I managed to replace it with the theme from M*A*S*H.

Hey, at least Berroa had a good at bat previously and came in to score first run. Try to see the glass half full people. Also, we're winning.

196 No, even worse:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Wonder_(TV_series)

C'mon back, Xei! We'll shift to Airplane! references again if you want.

181 I have it on good authority that underdog
also regularly watched Flamingo Road ;)

Sheee's fantastic! Made of plastic! Microchip's here and there...

She's a smaaaaall wonder
and she'll make your (can't remember the rest)
la lalala lalala lalalalala

202 "at meeting" = "admitting"?

Bummer man! It appears the linkification add-on doesn't work with Firefox 3. I use that a lot, particularly at this site.

204 Oh, yeah. That was in a deep, dark recess of memory from which I did not want it to come out. I was also not into the Belvedere. That's three 80s sitcoms I disliked. Loved Benson, though.

On another note, I'm all for adopting the term "Sporky's Coworker" as generic for poorly informed fan. What say you all?

Chad is dealing, people, dealing!

210 That's grounds for a defamation suit! ;-)
I've already confessed my worst sins. (Well, not counting 70s/80s saturday morning fare...)

211 Kill!

Okay, guys, let's switch to disco songs. Everybody think `Ring My Bell'.

Hey, why is everybody throwing things at me?

I think the worse show I could admit watching was the Luke/Laura serial on the One Life to Live soap opera while going to college. We'd watch it in the college cafe while studying for our 2:00 class.

o.k. guys, Billz is seriously dealing tonight, wowzers!!

Dunn clogging up the bases again.

8Ks in 4ip. Wow. Only Dunn seems to have him pitching around a bit.

Well done, ThunderThighs!

217 I hate to correct this but Luke and Laura are General Hospital.

213- It works if you install MR Tech Toolkit, first, and then try to install linkification with the "Don't check version compatibility" box checked. Some un-upgraded extensions won't work (Gmail Manager is the one that was driving me nuts for a couple of weeks, before I gave up on the 3 Beta) with that workaround, but linkification did, all through the betas.

221 bhsportsguy, resident soap opera expert.

223 221 , I'm pretty sure 217 was a plant to see who could spot the mistake. I'm glad bh got in there first.

Extension compatibility is a good reason to put off upgrading, though, in general. At the very least, you should backup all of your extensions, search plugins, etc., just so you can get back to the way you were, if you have to go back to 2.0.0.14.

224 I am no expert but I did watch that storyline.

I also watched Days for a while, never got into All My Children.

My entire soap opera-watching history consists of Greg and Jenny on All My Children.

Jenny blew up.

Jenny, of course, was played by ingenue Kim Delaney.

I just hope we score more runs but the Reds are just what the Doctor ordered.

I watched a lot of crappy TV as a kid - Small Wonder, Mr. Belvedere, Silver Spoons, Diff'rent Strokes, Facts of Life, Three's Company. Pretty much whatever crappy 80's sit-com reruns were on USA.

214 - Poorly informed, and proud of it.

Call me a fascist, but I'm now officially disappointed at every out that is not a k.

Interestingly, Ken Griffey's personal trivia could have just as easily spawned a discussion of favorite cartoon characters. But I like this confessional more.

Last add Greg and Jenny:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Nelson_and_Jenny_Gardner#Storyline

"As a testement to Jenny and Greg's enduring popularity, and their importance to soap opera culture, Delaney's character was given daytime drama's highest honor: she was killed off so that no other actor could be recast in the role"

Nice job Russ! And now the pitcher has to stand out there on the basepaths.

217 - I think I may have watched an episode while studying a college girlfriend.

lets hope the dodgers can keep this up, so that the lakers can have a shot at it tonight : )

236 Sounds like your eyes were focused elsewhere, as they should be. ;-)

234 - soap opera culture?

my favorite shows when I was a kid were "Different Strokes" & "Family Ties"

I use to watch "Fame" for some reason, never liked it but kind of always tuned in for some reason, you guys remember the song???

"The Wonder Years" was flat out brilliant also, how can I forget that one.

I am officially sick of reading Bill Simmons. I know, I know, it's about time.

240

Fame!
I'm going to live forever
I'm going to learn how to fly (High)
I feel it coming together

241 You do know that this blog's top '80s sitcom?

242 He's the single biggest reason I'm dreading a Celtics championship. I stopped reading his nonsense about LA vs Boston after the 2nd one.

Suggested new rule 13 - no Irene Cara.

240 - How could I not?

"Ching Ming Wing", Rick?

248 Really, I missed that.

237 - how does the Dodgers' offensive situation relate to the number of NBA refs on the take?

244 - Actually, it's the first season of Cheers. Otherwise, you're dead on.

Why is it that Steiner and Lyons never think "what would Vin be saying?" Or "Don't the viewers deserve better than this crap we're spewing?" I finally had to mute them. A couple of stupid whiners. Especially Lyons.

Really nice play by Juan out there.

251 Wait, so your favorite '80 sitcom was the first year of Cheers, then The Wonder Years?

Wow, Billz tied with Cole Hammels in strikeouts with 91, and in 23 fewer innings.

Could this be the first game we win while scoring 2 or fewer runs...?

256 Shush, Mr. Jinx!

256

Let's not get carried away, we seriously need to score more runs.

I still like Steiner and Lyons. Even though Steiner got all base-cloggy earlier, and still can't pronounce Encarnacion. The Blue Man Group commercials are an order of magnitude more irritating than either of them.

257 - Jeez, remember the last time he said that? Didn't they score three off of us in the ninth?

Well, how are you supposed to pronounce Encuhnarcion...?

Isn't Joey Votto on Bob's fantasy team...?

252 Actually I think that Monday studied tapes of Vinny to hone his "craft." He picked up Vinny's tendency to start a sentence with "And for Billingsley his 8th strikeout of the night..."

244

I've read were Jon liked the show I didn't realize it was his favorite (good to know I guess) but that show was just brilliant, the writers, the cast everything fell into place with that show perfectly, the thing that made me love the show was how they had the older guy looking back at his life... I think the writers were genius at how they did that, just a great great show.

It is amazing how you can be rolling along and then a couple of scratch hits and then a walk can end your night.

You know, it's been a while since anybody teased Jon over his love of Becker.

For once, Torre pulls the pitcher before it's too late. I hope it's Beimel now.

Also, if the Dodgers lose this game, I propose that D4P be banned until after they win a game while scoring two or fewer runs.

268 - We should ban him now, just in case. I mean, what's the downside?

we'll take that, now let's get the 3rd out Beimel!

Patterson is Dusty's ideal leadoff hitter.

Could they have gotten a double play on that first ground ball, it doesn't sound like it.

Bases loaded one out, 2 ground balls by Beimel.

1 inherited runner scored. First run given up by Chad to the Reds this year.

272- Maybe, but it would have been unlikely, even if Loney had come up with it cleanly.

No mention that Pierre, who supposedly never strikes out, strikes out.

man, we needed that run, nicely done PVL.

Nice baserunning by DeWitt!

269 - can we now unban D4P?

A little surprised they haven't pinch run for Kent, especially for a tag situation.

278 I think Kent can score on most if not all sacrifice fly situations so I think you wait and see how this inning plays out.

A hit and run would be a nice idea here...nevermind.

277 - maybe we should ban GIDP instead.

back to back sideburn action with Beimel & Broxton let's hope Brox gets some K's here.

277 - I guess so. By the way, the last time he said that was May 31 against the Mets, with Billz leading 2-0 after seven. They scored 3 in the 8th off of Mongo and Joe B.

god, joe really needs to start puting runners in motion when loney is up, that rate at which he hits into DP's is get ridiculous.

Whew.

{exhale}

Okay, let's nail this one down Saito.

Now back to the Lakers.

By the way, Jeff Kent was right about moving trash cans. I've been wearing glasses for fifteen years; for the first time in my life, I broke a pair, today, stumbling while moving one. They're dangerous.

Also, it turns out that Titanium is a crock.

286
For some reason, I never pictured you in glasses. Maybe it's the smoking. I never picture smokers in glasses.

286 - I understand argon and praseodymium are pretty bogus, too.

Pasta diving Berroa.

Making me nervous here, Sammy.

Sigh.

I know it's easy for me to say but I guess Saito wasn't feeling his slder in that at-bat to Votto, I feel he could have K'd him had he thrown the slider.

Nice K for Saito. I wonder if Ross going to hurt us like pass Dodgers.

Bye-yi-yi, Junior.

291

add a little something more. a fastball in, the guys was looking away away...

287- I once applied for a grant from an anti-smoking organization on the premise that if kids saw me smoking, they'd find it a much, much less attractive thing to do.

Never heard back from them.

Bako and Ross...Hmmm...

Might the Reds be interested in one Gary Bennett...?

gawd I love watching Saito hit those corners, beautiful!

Sammy!

295
On a somewhat related tangent, I was thinking today about how someone could probably make a lot of money (a la "Jared from Subway") by trying to make fast food look healthy. To wit: you intentionally gain a lot of weight, and take photos of yourself. Then you return to your normal diet and exercise, except that you eat a lot of relatively non-unhealthy foods from (e.g.) McDonalds. Then you approach the McDonalds big-wigs and show them the photos along with your new svelte physique.

Then they give you the money to be their Jaredesque spokesperson. I'm surprised this hasn't happened yet.

Lyons just said it, Patterson has a LONG SWING come in on the guy Russ!.

Corey Patterson has a career OBP of .294

One in a row!

We win!

Thanks Loney. And Sammy.

And Chad gets the game ball.

Back to the Lakers!

Hey there Loney, boy....

A needed win, we needed some good news today for Dodgers... and Lakers fans.

yeah Corey's average is down around Hu-ville. And the world's smallest violin plays for him.

Dodgers own the Reds.

Great game from Billz.

Regarding Patterson: it's as if we're supposed to believe a layperson manager would be so much worse than a professional like Dusty.

Well, they did call up Bruce and he's playing. So who should be playing instead of Patterson? I'm not disagreeing, just wondering... Bruce was the one I couldn't understand why they didn't call him up and play in place of Patterson, but obviously someone else is either missing or not getting playing time.

Jeez, did you guys see this on Diamond Leung's blog?

>>Joe Beimel got two big groundouts in the seventh inning to bail out Chad Billingsley, and heading into the top of the eighth, it appears Beimel fan Troy from West Virginia was hauled off by numerous security personnel at Great American Ball Park much to the delight of an entire section of Reds fans.<< (Read the rest on the PE blog)

You can't do that to our Troy! Joe Beimel will be mad.

310 -- I am starting to fear that Beimel could end up like one of those actors killed by their obsessed stalkers. And I am NOT joking.

If kuroda can't pitch on saturday who the heck would start? Kuo? I am going to the game and am disappointed kershaw isn't going to pitch then.

And Diamond has this too:

"Jason Schmidt (shoulder) threw a bullpen session to Gary Bennett (plantar fasciitis) in Los Angeles,"

I wonder which was slower, Schimdt's fastball or Bennett's return throws?

If the Reds were in the NL West, they'd be in second place, instead of last.

222 Thanks, Shimmin! I'm off to give the tech toolkit a whirl now. I appreciate the tip, I dig that linkification.

313 - Ha!

There's a beta version of Linkification for FF3.0 here:

http://yellow5.us/firefox/linkification

It's ver 1.3.4 at the bottom of the page.

I've downloaded it and it seems to work fine.

Brandon Webb gets a beatdown from the A's.

Milton Bradley pulls muscle, leaves game early.

One you expect, one you don't.

As a life long Laker fan it bothers me not one iota that Garnett, Pierce, and Allen are going to get their first ring. They deserved it, they played great as a team. And Sam I Am even sneaks in another. I wonder what the record is for years between rings. Not many guys ever played basketball as long as the Alien.

314 - And LA would be underwater.

Deadspin got around to Plaschke on their approve/disapprove series. The comments are amusing.

Small Wonder might be the worst [but enjoyable] show in TV history (Land of the Lost is in its own category).

I'd love to see what Greg Miller would do in the bigs. He just might click.

320 16.5% of America likes Bill Plaschke.

I wonder how that squares with Americans who think we faked the moon landing or that the CIA planned 9/11.

There are lots of crazy people is my point.

321 What about "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster?"

I don't even watch reality shows, other than the ones my wife forces me to watch on TLC like "What Not to Wear." My frame of reference is the flood of bad sitcoms in the 60s that I felt duty-bound to check out.

I'm mad that the Laker game caused me to not see any of the Dodger game. I would have watched the Dodger game if I knew the Lakers would get killed tonight.

Still, they far exceeded my expectations this season, so it wasn't a failure by any means. It just feels like they really could have taken this series. Oh well, reload with Bynum and take it in 2009.

323 Not familiar with it, but I see it aired during my favorite year (1962).

Ogden roster is posted.

the notables for me:

RHP Robert Boothe 22yrs- the amateur signed from Japan this offseason
RHP Javier Solano 18yrs- This kid is suppose to be pretty legit. One of his old HS coaches compares his stuff to Big Z.
LHP Michael Watt
OF Kyle Russell

Really intrigued to see how Russell adapts to pro ball.

The Celtics and their fans are now on my obelisk. So is Vlad "Defense, what's that?" Radmonovic. But I do have high hopes forthe Lakers' future.

311 Seriously! The dude is scaring me. He may love Beimel to death some day or turn into Travis Bickle.

326 Are they really sending Baez down? And what about Kyle Orr? He has proving to do. Aguasviva is the other name that stands out. I believe BA tagged him with the #30 spot (book's in other room--I'm lazy).

327

He used to rant here, didn't he?

Troy from West Virginia jumped way over the line from overzealous fan to jackass. Any innocent charm or goodwill he had is all gone now. I blame the sideburns.

329
I don't think Radmanovic ever commented here, no.

Nice LA defense, underdog. Good stuff.

332 Thanks - Did I miss anything? I feel like Bob will want me to add something about its great public libraries, too. Well, add to the comments if anyone wishes.

http://tinyurl.com/5y2qbv

328

Baez has been pretty pathetic at Great Lakes so I approve the move for a confidence booster. I agree, Orr needs to start showing he can hit a little bit and Aguasviva had good k/bb rates in great lakes but was allowing a lot of hits. Things might have evened out in the long run for him but letting him find himself in Ogden isn't a bad idea.

I assume Ethan Martin will start out in the GCL and Lindblom out of the bullpen in one of the A leagues.

Underdog. Good article. I often think about the Hate L.A club. I posted a comment. Good stuff.

Oh well, the Lakers checking out early allowed me to get close to finally finishing the Dirty Harry collection review at last. Those two things combined mean I can get on with my life.

331

You know what I meant.

Color of sky. Godfather 2 lake.

326 - Solano just turned 18, picked up from the Monterrey Sultanes. They said that they wouldn't send him North until the weather warmed up. Good to see that he is in Ogden.

I wish someone asked White in the chat today about Melvin Ray and if the reports of him signing are true. That chat was very lackluster.

Its too bad they are starting Russell out in Ogden.

He doesnt need to be playing vs those just out of high school.

I'd put him at Inland Empire.

338

He sounds pretty legit. Anyone have his numbers from the Sultanes on hand?

337
If I can use Radmanovic for a joke, at least he's good for something.

I'm a simple, petty man.

340

No way. The Pioneer League and short season A ball are where most college draftees start out.

Starting him at Inland Empire is going to result in like a 40% strikeout rate.

Nomar has a HR and a strikeout for the 51s.

http://tinyurl.com/3pyqnu

On Melvin Ray signing with the dodgers with quotes from his father. Its probably a good of source as any.

Ray is probably the best athlete in our system now. Another Matt Kemp type raw athlete.

This doesn't make sense to me..

Ray plans to sign the contract in the next few days, but his father would not disclose a figure. The Dodgers will pay for college, he said.

"(Saban) was very supportive," Ray Sr. said. "As a matter of fact, he left the door open. We're not closing the doors on (Alabama football). (Melvin is) going to take some junior college classes, so if he decides to go that route, he's still got the opportunity to play football."

I thought once you turn professionally in any sport you are not allowed to play collegiately in sports.

346 Maybe it's to go to college, not play at college. Or maybe he said something he shouldn't have.

341 - From Ask BA " Solano has a mature body at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, but he's more athletic than that build might indicate. Los Angeles loves his mechanics, pitchability and confidence. His stuff is promising too. Solano's two best pitches are an 89-93 mph fastball that sits around 91 and a plus 75-78 mph curveball. He also has some feel for a changeup and uses a slider as his fourth offering. Solano has been very impressive in minor league camp, pitching well enough to merit making the Dodgers' low Class A Great Lakes club".

Bums purchased his rights from the Sultanes ($250,000). I don't see a record of him every pitching with the "big" club, being just 17. He may have gone to HS in Texas, not sure.

Players play minor league baseball and college football all the time.

Chris Weinke, Ricky Williams, Josh Booty and so on. You just lose eligibility in that sport.

349 And the Dodgers' own Cedric Benson. Who isn't doing that well these days.

349 - Didn't Danny Ainge...never mind.

349 I'm dumb. Didn't John Elway do that?

346--I dont think Ray is an academic qualifier for Alabama football--thus he's signing with the Dodgers and will try to get eligible for college football through JUCO classes.

As others mentioned, Cedric Benson played rookie ball before enrolling at Texas.

352 He did!

Any 25 year old non-Mormon quarterback is most likely a minor league bounceback. Weinke was a millionaire at Florida State, strange only in that it did not come from the boosters.

Having once seen Campus Man, I'm an expert on NCAA eligibility rules. I rule him ineligible.

I still can't believe I saw a Leon Powe jersey in the crowd tonight.

Yeah, Ray Sr.'s quotes make it sound like the kid isn't academically eligible for Bama. Which is good for us. That's how we got Kemp too.

Withrow didn't make the Ogden roster? Are they sending him back to GCL?

I just got tickets to Orem v. Ogden on Sunday (Utah's Class A freeway series!). Anyone else I should check out?

Withrow is still hurt I think.

346 I thought once you turn professionally in any sport you are not allowed to play collegiately in sports.

Not so. I remember a few year ago a kid, Kenny Lewis, turned down a scholarship to Virginia Tech to sign with Cincinnati. After spending three years in the Reds system he quit baseball and played for Virginia Tech last year and expects to be a starter this year (running back).

359 In the White-Watson-Hallgren chat a few hours ago, they explicitly said that he's healthy.

358 -- In the chat today somebody said Withrow is "working with Charlie Hough," the Inland Empire pitching coach. That makes it sound like his hand injury kept him from getting in enough work to be ready to pitch in a league, and with extended spring training over, Withrow is now having to get one-on-one coaching.

360 - the only rule is that you can't get a scholarship. Ricky Williams played minor league ball while at Texas, if I remember correctly and thus was not on scholarship while winning the Heisman Trophy.

You can still get a scholarship if you're retired from the pro sport. You can't get one if you're playing one pro sport and another college sport at the same time.

I saw Ricky play in the minors. He was basically the uberPierre. Fastest guy on the field. Beat out a ton of infield hits, but couldn't hit and couldn't throw. Also, he could never find a helmet that fit properly over his dreadlocks.

299

A woman sort of did that in response to the documentary "Super Size Me!". She went to McDonalds every day for a month to show how you can eat well there if you choose to. I think I saw it on Good Morning America

Didn't McDonald's actually hire someone to make a documentary in rebuttal to Super Size Me?

Here it is. Looks like they didn't hire him officially, but...
http://www.dietdetective.com/content/view/2994/150/

I missed the Laker game tonight. Did Kevin McHale end up getting the Finals MVP? It's a little irksome that the two teams in the finals made it there via gift trades.
vr, Xei

Eric Stephen -- I did indeed see a Marcus Thames home run tonight!

AT&T Park is much better of Candlestick, that's for sure. Fantastic views, some interesting quirks, and an amazing video board. I didn't like the giant Coke bottle in the outfield, nor the Levi's sponsorship of the rightfield area. Too much in-your-face commercialism. I didn't like how the line score was only on the video screen, so anytime it showed something else the score wasn't shown. The flags for each team along the top tier is a nice touch, but they ought to use the proper team colors and logos. The colors were mostly very strange choices, like a green background with white letters for "Anaheim."

Good evening all around, though, and the Giants lost 5-1. They loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, but failed to score.

In Inland Empire's game tonight, Jaime Pedroza has 4 doubles. Austin Gallagher has a home run, 2 doubles and a single. Gallagher is doing okay in high A for a 19-year-old who was skipped right over low A, and who just last year, as a high school senior, was thought by some scouts to not be ready for pro ball.

The National League won only two of the 14 Interleague games played today. Fortunately, the Dodgers played in the only non-Interleague game.

Tacoma Top 5th

Defensive Substitution: Sergio Garcia replaces shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, batting 2nd, playing shortstop.

At Las Vegas Nomar struck out in the 1st and homered in the 3rd and was then was removed from the game in the 5th.

Ok, raise your hand if you think the Celtics are a lock for the Finals next year.

Nobody??

2007 First Round College Hitters (age at start of season)

1. Matt Wieters C (21) - 2007 (did not play), 2008 (High A)
2. Matt LaPorta OF (23) - 2007 (Rookie, A Ball), 2008 (AA)
3. Beau Mills 1B (21) - 2007 (Rookie, A, High A), 2008 (High A)
4. J.P. Arencibia C (22) - 2007 (A Short Season), 2008 (High A, AA)
5. Julio Borbon OF (22) - 2007 (Rookie), 2008 (High A)

375

I definitely believe Kyle Russell should start at high A next year if his play warrants it but Inland Empire this year is just way too fast for him.

376 My post is just to show that it would be really rare to start any player at High A.

Now, if Russell starts dominating the Pioneer League, maybe he goes to Midland but they could just wait until next year.

365 the granola, apple, grapes & yogurt desert ( is it a desert?? I dont know) is really good but the chicken salad isn't anything to write home about.

371. The fact that he is playing at a higher level than I would think is the main reason that I'm not as concerned about his strikeout rate. Last year, he seemed to have much better plate discipline, at least for the first half of the season, but less power. I still claim him as my adopted prospect.

349 Dennis Dixon, the senior UofO quartback last year, spent last summer player minor league baseball in the Braves organization.

370 I wonder what the ML average is for scoring with bases loaded, no outs. I've always thought of that situation as hard NOT to score. I'm guessing it's somewhere around .500

tuesday morning- depressed about what looks like a long dodger season

wed morning- optimistic after reminding myself they're ONLY 4.5 GB

381 86% in the NL.

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2006/07/empirical_analy_1.php

383
I wonder if the run expectancy table has changed dramatically since the 1977-1992 period. I would love to see that.

for this weekends series against cleveland, espn has kershaw pitching on friday and sat and bills on sunday, what is the correct matchup?

384 I don't have the one run percentage, but the average runs scored in that situation went from 2.27 to 2.35.

Started the first season of Dexter this morning. Sometimes I forgot what good writing looks like.

385 - Sounds like Stults friday, then Kershaw and Bills. An all-young pitching series!

Ah, but then Diamond Leung and MLB.com lists Stults on Thursday vs. Cincy, then Kershaw Friday and Kuroda on Saturday, assuming he's able to pitch... So go with that.

383 cool, thanks.

388 Stults is two years younger than Penny.

Since he's out of options next year, and I doubt we want a bullpen consisting of Kuo, Miller, and Stults, this could be the last start Stults makes as a Dodger.

391 - Since Penny is on the DL, I would assume that Stults gets at least a couple of starts

Well, he better make it a good one, then!

And he's "younger" in terms of ML experience, at least.

I was sitting on the first base side last night when we heard the commotion and saw someone being escorted out. I didn't know what it was about at the time.

371--3bbs in 75ABs isnt very good. But it is still only 75 Abs.

Do you guys know if Lambo, assuming he's to spend the whole year in Great Lakes, will be likely move up to AA next year? I'm assuming he'll start in High A and then possibly move up in the same year?

391--Even if Stults is out of options, do you really think someone is going to pick him up?

At some point Repko will be out of options, but he'll still be in Vegas.

I missed the game last night, but it appears that Chad Billingsley is awesome.

397 Is he a left-handed pitcher? As long as the sun rises in the east, left-handed pitchers that aren't completely shot will get picked up.

397 Washington, Kansas City, and a bunch of other teams who are starting guys no one has heard of would at least take a chance on him.

398 sporky's co-worker remains unconvinced, I imagine.

Poor Stults, hasn't even made his first ML start of '08 and he's already being shipped to Washington. ;-)

Better a Stults than a Sturtze!

I'm amazed that the Dodger hype machine hasn't got behind Billingsley at all. He's one of the best young pitchers in baseball, and no one realizes it. He's pitching better than Fernando did in his first two years as a starter.

399

And that is why I am hoping my son inherits my wife's left handed abilities

404 Uh-oh. Sounds like we have one of those ultra-competitive parents who tries to live through their kids by making them play mucho sports...

j/k

403 - You say Fernando (and I read your blog post), I've been saying Don Sutton for months. Either way, it's been apparent for a while that Chad is something special.

406 - Apparent to us, anyway.

Clubhouse strife in Houston:

http://blogs.chron.com/baseballblog/archives/2008/06/toxic_time_for.html

405 When my wife was pregnant, we watched "He Got Game" on t.v. She said to me, "You know, this is a cautionary tale about overbearing sports parents who live vicariously through their kids." To that, I replied, "This movie is about basketball. I'm going to be overbearing and pushy for baseball. Totally different thing."

401 Every time he struck someone out, I was sure to point it out. "LOOK! A strikeout!"

There is hope! But Pierre's RBI double has only solidified her position that Juan is good leadoff hitter.

410 what about the foul bunt off pierre's hand and his head first slam into the wall.

of course when something like that happens to laroche he actually has to miss 10 weeks.

I wonder if that misinformed Mets fan I finally chastised on the Mets Blog, who had said the Mets "shouldn't have this much trouble with this guy" because he's a nobody, look at his ERA, etc... has finally seen the light about Billingsley.

I think I love Firefox 3.

Tiger is out for the remainder of 2008.

He has a torn ACL and a double stress fracture of the left tibia.

Ay caramba.

You'd think he was on the Dodgers or something.

Makes his victory all the more astonishing. (And playing in the Open probably kind of stupid, in hindsight.)

415 Wow.

Holy guacamole.

391 Again, Stults is not out of options.

His contract was purchased in September 2006 and he was never sent back down (the minor league season had ended already).

Option #1 in 2007
Option #2 in 2008

So he's still with the organization next year.

Not surprisingly, Jeff Passan lists quite a few Dodgers, as well as the entire Angels outfield, on his All-Overpaid team:
http://tinyurl.com/3s2y46

Would've been nice if Billingsley or Saito made the Underpaid list that comes after.

419 Ah, my mistake.

420 I'm thinking the Angels aren't regretting giving Vlad that contract.

I think Tiger wins the Willis Reed award over Paul Pierce. He might even be in the Jack Youngblood race.

422 Yah, that one seemed a bit unfair.

420--I'm glad Derek Jeter is on the list. I've had to platoon him with Stephen Drew on my fantasy team---with Drew getting all the starts against RHP.

He can have Eric Hinske, Todd Wellemeyer and Jorge Cantu. I'll take Vlad, Torii Hunter and Ichiro. We'll see whose team does better.

413 - I'm not liking the drop down on the url box. It's too big and cumbersome, with big fonts and logos. I liked my old simple listing of urls.

422 To be fair, he's listing the entire Angels outfield as one unit, and $54 million is an awful lot to spend and get that kind of production.

NPUT

Jon, you realize that Tiger winning the US Open on one leg is not going to help us in our quest to keep Dodger pitchers from pitching hurt.

Jeter's another one I'm sure the Yankees aren't regretting. Over the life of the contract he's given them five 50 VORP seasons and one MVP quality one. Not exactly a dumb contract.

Good read regarding the M's GM search:
http://tinyurl.com/3kfys9

Didn't know Bavasi had a saber-guy on staff. I get the impression they'll go the Josh Byrnes route. The winter meetings are going to start looking like a 15 year HS reunion. Ned and Gillick are the chaperones.

430 - Apples and oranges. See new post.