Speaking of, where has LAT been lately? Or am I just being oblivious?

also disappointing: looking at the '94 roster and standings.

(I ask because of the add behind home plate)

Oh, JoBo! Hope of hopes!

ninth inning rally!

http://tinyurl.com/6bt2n5

Don't swing.

Thanks,

KG

69 - really? Wow. I have to believe Jag is casting a rather thin net here.

Another no-decision for Clay.

Free baseball at Dodger Stadium!!

LaRoche looks like a British matinee idol from a 40s movie. Devilishly handsome. Maybe his nickname should be Basil.

'Sup with Sammy?...c'mon!

Oh, my, Saito.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA196510010.shtml

Beautiful DP!

Sweet 6-2-5 DP, probably the first I've ever witnessed in my life.

Oh, damn.

Great DP! But Ethier, so close!

But are the Dodgers out of it? Not against this 'pen, if Saito can stop horsing around. The Indians don't have anything close to three or four of our relievers, including Saito.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cgi?n1=saitota01&t=p&year=2008

Flash of blighting!
Roar of blunder!

Uh... I'm working on the rest ...

It's all part of the growing process, these games.

sigh.

It was just the Reds.

Expectation, more than anything. Sammy was probably a top 3 reliever in baseball the last 2 years. This year, especially the last month or so, he seems to always fall behind in counts, throw a lot more pitches than we're used to, and just work a lot harder to record outs. He's still been good, but doesn't have that dominant aura he had the last 2 years.

So how did Kershaw look? Sounded like the bullpen was lights out after him. Was he off or just some good Indian hitting?

Well tomorrow's game isn't on Fox here in SF which is probably just as well, because it means then I can't watch it which means I can't be blamed if they lose.

I don't think anyone can correctly say its ineffective, but i think our eyes tell us he has been worse than what his stats say (not sure if i said that right). For me, his location has been a problem, especially with the fastball. Sammy has always been able to really pinpoint that fastball on the corners at the knees, but not so much this year. Without that amazing control, he works a lot harder in each inning and doesnt seem to throw as many breaking balls because he falls behind in counts. Just a little different than what we are used to seeing.

Things could pick up though. Still got 1/4 of the month left!

195 Hey, the Reds series counts, I don't care what recent history with them is, it counts! But yeah, still a bummer of a month so far.

Yep. Night all.

I haven't been here in so long that I forgot! Thanks for thinking of me.

A few thoughts, some nice at-bats in the 8th and 9th innings. Going into the 9th, I was telling Eric that I like to figure out who can't bat in the bottom of the 9th if the game stays the same, I figured out it was going to be Ethier. But I really did not believe it could happen.

It was great to see Clayton pitch for the first time, a couple of hiccups but overall he's probably never going to pitch in relief.

Finally, if you are going to the next 2 games (I'll be back on Sunday), be prepared for a hot afternoon, it was warm all night.

Cliff Lee was awesome. His control was incredible and he came as advertised. Kudos to him. Down 4-0, my father said things look bad for the Dodgers. I told him we need to get to the Indians bullpen as soon as possible and then we have a fighting chance. Luckily Betancourt and Borowski were used, both looked really bad, Betancourt in limited action. All the Dodger pitchers looked good except for Saito, something must be going on with his mechanics. Proctor looked very good after the first batter he faced. Proctor hit 96 on the stadium gun once, I didn't see any pitches register faster than that. The 6-2-5 double play was great, too bad Saito couldn't get the 3rd out before allowing the double. Ben Francisco made a bonehead baserunning play by heading back to 2nd base when the ball was hit. Ardoin made about half a dozen nice saves on balls in the dirt, mostly from Kershaw. But of course the obvious problem that comes with starting Ardoin is that the black-hole in the lineup grows bigger. I thought a big play was the failure of Blake DeWitt to put the ball in play with runners on 2nd and 3rd nobody out in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Our seats were pretty good, lower loge between home plate and the Dodger dugout. A foul ball landed two seats behind me. Closest I've ever came to a foul ball. It was very hot and muggy. The seats are wayyyy too small, especially on hot days/nights. Four of us had a row all to ourselves... well atleast we thought so until the top of the 5th inning when the La Raza gang bangers showed up and filled up our row. They were drunk and shouted plenty of profanities. Not exactly family friendly. They were leading many "Cleveland Sucks" and "Let's Go Raza" chants throughout the 2nd half of the game. Is it normal for people to show up to their seats in the top of the 5th inning, even on 740 start time games? It was just way too hot with all the body heat, so we moved 6 rows down where it ended up being much cooler. The concrete of the deck above us really kept the heat in. I would recommend they put in some fans (the kind that blow air) or something that sprays a cool mist from time to time, especially on hot days/nights. Also had a problem with one guy in our row who probably weighed 450lbs and took up his own seat and half of the two seats next to him. Also had a group of four sitting behind us with loud voices that were chatting about something other than the game the whole time (before we moved). Watching the game live in person is nice, but there sure is a lot to put up with. Getting out of the parking lot was easy as half the crowd had left by the time the game was over. I feel sorry for the guy who does the Dodger Talk radio show. 9 out of the 10 callers he had were clueless for the most part (hope nobody hear was a caller :)). On a good note, they did give away free Dodger caps, which will make a nice gift for my 3 year old daughter and one of her friends.
vr, Xei

I thought he made some good points, especially about Cory Wade.

Thought Andy battled back well in his at bat in the 9th.

Finally, the "Bob" that called was not a Bob that comments here.

It is a name just used for radio like Steve Mason and Lee Hacksaw Hamilton.

Go Dodgers!

Awesome! A couple of my co-workers introduced me to that place a few years ago and I was hooked. Incredibly good sandwiches, especially the salami.

If you can't win the game, win the stats, I guess.

You can almost hear Ned thinking (is that possible? And I guess that question could be taken two ways.:))==

"I've seen what Sweeney can do, and we're fortunate to have a proven pinch-hitter like him on the team. He's just going thru a rough patch. With a little more time, I know he'll figure it out, like he always did with the Giants. He could even get hot and give us some good spot starts."

Note to Ned: the season is almost on three months old, dude. Sweeney has swooned. Swooney may be a former Giant and all that, but it is just flat out inexcusable for him to be on the team any longer. That he is says volumes about your own competence. And what it says isn't good.

DFA. him, and now! And since the team badly needs power, bring up Lindsey, or someone, most anyone, to take his PH role. Lindsey may be a AAAA hitter, but that level hitter with some pop is miles ahead of Sweeney. Lindsey may be AAAA, but these days Sweeney is BBBB, or maybe FFFF. And Lindsey has 15HR in 257 AB.....yeah, that's Vegas. But next closest to him has 7.

Make the call, Ned. It's obvious. Do it now.

End of current too-long rant.

BTW when to the game last night, and that out Andy made in the 9th was a screamer, man that would have been sweet.

And ga oranje (for the football fans)