Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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TV and more ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
The Dodgers' 1980s reunion Saturday was attended by Dodger Thoughts commenter BHSportsguy. Here's two of several anecdotes he passed along - these regarding Kirk Gibson, who was in town as an Arizona Diamondbacks coach:
He expressed that he always has had a warm spot for the organization and the fans and today, respects them as a competitor. He was reminded of how the fans can raise the level of excitement when Manny came up in the ninth inning the previous night. He also told a story that when he first came up with the Tigers, they would talk about and show highlights of the 1968 championship team and he was sick of it and knew that the only way to stop it was to create a new memory to talk about. So this past winter, he was working out in Arizona with Orlando Hudson and Matt Kemp, and Hudson and Gibson were asking Matt if ever got tired of seeing the Gibson home run. Matt told him yes. So he told Matt, "Well, do something about it." He did not add what he thought about Matt as a player but I guess he might have done that somewhere else this weekend.
I wonder if Hudson added something like, "Yeah, Matt - do something about it. Come on! Oh, wait ..."
Gibson went through that fateful night, on how Mitch Poole told Tommy that Gibson thought he could hit. Lasorda told his side of story and then Gibson proceeded to talk about the at-bat. He repeated that the story about the scouting report on Eck's throwing a backdoor slider on 3-2 pitch to a left-handed hitter was true and he has the scouting report to prove it. (Tim Leary also said he has the same report when asked what his favorite memory as a Dodger was, he did not say it was his pinch hit, it was Gibson's homer.) Gibson said there was no way he could have hit a fastball that night.
* * *
wouldn't it be something if that moment we all have burned into our heads is the result of a mistake scouting report?
So, if Torre were to announce at season's end that he's hanging it up (hypothetical question), and we had a choice between Mattingly and Gibson as manager, who'd everyone around here choose?
http://www.slugger.com/story/players/manny.html
Manny's bat weighs 32oz, so v = -.42(32) + 75, or 61.56 mph. Barry's bat speed is claimed to have been very nearly 70 mph.
That's the stuff legends are made of! I think it only adds to the legend if the scouting report was false. Everything collided at once in order for that moment to happen, including guessing right even though the Dodgers (presumably) were wrong.
I can still picture Gibson stepping out of the box when it was 3-2. I imagine Mel Didier was yelling at his TV with the same news watching the game. Meanwhile, Eck is on the mound thinking "he'll never see this one coming."
I imagine Gibson and the Dodgers as Jeannie Bueller just around the corner in the kitchen, while Eckersley and the A's were Principal Rooney. Both sides were overconfident based on their information.
I'm just glad the Dodgers were able to run upstairs before the Athletics hit the ground after being kicked in the face repeatedly.
In a way, it's unfair how life works out, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, and certainly Fernando Valenzuela were more important to the organization.
And from a career achievement perspective, a player like Bill Madlock, who won 4 batting titles and was a member of a World Series winning team himself had a career of note.
But no one who was ther can deny that in that one at-bat (and certainly highlighting a great year), Gibson, while not ascending to the heights of Koufax, Robinson, Campanella and Drysdale, is probably as beloved a Dodger and maybe even more so than those that I grew up.
Sometimes it is all about the moments, those random occurences where if he had struck out, no one would talking about his MVP season but we all know he didn't and I believe even if this new era of Dodgers can win it all, Gibby's moment will always remain No. 1 in the hearts of LA Dodger fans everywhere.
Nice handle.
(70-75)/-.42... or am I miscalculating?
I think Torre will be back but I would prefer Gibson over Mattingly just because of his history with the team. But I wonder if Gibson's personality would go over well with today's players. We don't have to look much farther than our current third base coach to find a fiery leader whose players eventually tuned him out, both in San Diego and Philadelphia.
(m + 28)(v + 12.8) = 2728
In choosing the little one's bat weight, here's a handy guide from the same authority:
Junior League Baseball (13-17 yrs)
Height/3 + 1
Little League Baseball (11-12 yrs)
Weight/18 + 16
Little League Baseball (9-10 yrs)
Height/3 + 4
Little League Baseball (7-8 yrs)
Age*2 + 4
height is in inches, weight in pounds, and age in years.
They were rather disappointed that he did stay to sign things after the lunch.
So in his way, I suppose so but I am not someone who goes to a lot of these things so my comment was more about how Gibson's appearence just excited the crowd and afterwards, it almost seemed anti-climatic despite the presence of Lasorda, Valenzuela, Garvey, Cey, Russell, Welch, Monday, Reuss, etc.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=3520865
I think the Dodgers should pay Beimel monetary compensation.
From: Humma
In re: Manny's hair, vis-a-vis the local dog trainer.
Dear Chazz:
Nobody cares about what the L.A. Times writes about anything, least of all their opinions on Manny's hair.
Those comments are vexing.
"Every day I say something to (Ethier) about patience, giving me some time, and he's been fine with it," Torre said.
"I can't give you an argument against Ethier. I can just give you an argument for Juan (Pierre). The job for us when (Rafael) Furcal went down and the quality of at-bats and the speed he gives us."
What is Ethier supposed to waiting for? At what point in time is Torre supposedly going to replace Manny, Pierre, or Kemp with Andre?
Don't everybody snap him up at once!
How about no? How about you play the best players.
I really do not like Joe Torre very much.
http://pittsburghpirates.buccoblog.com/perrotto-bbwaa-doesnt-know-squat/
but the LaRoche coach is sidelined again, poor guy:
Andy LaRoche had X-rays on his right thumb after Monday night's game, which came back negative.
The bad news is that it's the same thumb that suffered the torn ligament in spring training. He hurt it on a check swing and immediately felt pain. He says it's "not serious," but the team hasn't ruled out another ligament issue. He'll undergo more tests today.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
I can only hope it works in very small samples.
Not that I believe in jinxes but if I did, that comment has the look of a jinx.
Book it.
Actually, I'm surprised they didn't start in the top of the first. Ever since that happened, they treat Martin like he slept with their wives.
Just kidding around, reg!
In the land of meaningless awards, it's the meaninglessest.
Sniff...
I'm taking my Best Statkeeper Trophy from my 8th grade CYO team and going home.
If they want to continue to mock Russ's GG, we can always talk about his silver slugger.
Good work, everybody.
To: Steve Lyons
From: Humma
In re: Word choice
Steve-O:
I can think of a lot of words to describe Izturis's prowess as a hitter. "Pesky" is not one of those words.
Yours in faith,
Humma
Billingsley 30
Carpenter 22
This could be a quick game
To: The Dodgers
From: Humma
In re: Redundancy
Bums:
I refer you to my previous post 73 .
Best always,
Humma.
P.S. Nice hit, Billsy.
Increase McNown Brock.
y = 0
yo = ball height on tee, say, 4ft
voy = sin45 x 61.56mph, or 52.381620999mph
[you need to convert miles per hour to feet per second]
g = -32.2 feet per second squared
Solving for t:
t = the square root of (y-yo-voy/.5g)
Next:
x = vxo x t
vxo = cos45 x 61.56mph = 32.33882164284mph
[you again need to convert this to feet per second]
The seconds will cancel leaving you with feet traveled in the horizontal direction.
As I said initially, you can fudge with the angle at which the ball is struck to find max distance.
I prefer the fluky:
Cotton Barnes Timmermann
But it was a girl.
So she named her Honor.
She says, "I secretly wish I had a Revolutionary War family."
I believe you have the honors of starting us on a path of "What might have been" with Fernando Tatis.
I think we shall call this condition "David Ross Disease."
Andre Ethier! is free for a night.
Of course it's common knowledege amongst the Dodgers coaching staff that it can take upwards of 200 consecutive at bats to see what a player like Ethier can really do.
Do it Joe! Do it now!
http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2008/08/here_goes.php
1B - Wilson Betemit
2B - Travis Denker
SS - Jolbert Cabrera
3B - Willie Aybar
LF - Jayson Werth
CF - Cody Ross
RF - Fernando Tatis
C - Dioner Navarro
SP - Edwin Jackson
RP - Joel Hanrahan
Don't know, but Hee Seop Choi was pulled from doing color on this game for Korean broadcast because of them.
You have to admit, that's a pretty good lineup for a bunch of guys either released or given away for nothing. You could add Shane Victorino, so it doesn't seem like we're only picking on Ned.
Good job! Hilarious!
Name that team "The Castaways"!
Thanks.
interesting indeed, not implausible to boot.
Hey, A hit for Izturis! Maybe he'll move up the lineup to 8th now.
http://tinyurl.com/YouarethenewestwinnerofaLivan
And so, Jon, the above provides a rough approximation of the distance traveled.
And he hasn't had a hit in ever!
So, Chan Ho or Kuo to start once the rain delay is off?
And YES! In His Own Words with CHiP, Jeff Kent.
Seriously man... why not just bring up Hu I've heard he is finally turning the corner & is hitting the ball really well in Vegas.
Not me.
Guess I meant players.
The rain delay makes it a battle of the bullpens, which favors the Dodgers. But it also ensures that our ace will pitch 2/3 of an inning less than theirs.
I would assume baseball players would benefit from playing in stadiums which have light standards sticking up near the stadium to act as lightning rods.
However, I would not want to try to cheat death by dodging lightning.
Not that I've heard of, but there's always time for a first. JP should do some windsprints in the outfield to stay sharp during the delay.
Is dodging lightning akin to playing bull poker?
Which of course reminds me of Cobb beating up the fan, guys being afraid of lifting weights, certain colored skins being banned, etc.
Hamlet, the Facebook edition:
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2008/7/30schmelling.html
http://tinyurl.com/raycaldwellgamer
mother nature usually decides those things D4P.
Or if I misheard the whole thing.
And I assume this was about the Cardinals!
And so is Billingsley.
I have asked my contact in the Busch Stadium press box to look into this matter.
During the rain delay my g/f "made me" (well not really) watch shows on HGTV about very wealthy people buying property and spending more money to renovate them. Didn't do much for our hopes and dreams.
Now back to baseball!
If the Cardinals have signed any new players, they aren't telling the writers for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Looked like Kemp had a shot at the one... but not easy.
Who's running this game, the Keystone Kops?
In the minors, game stopped by rain before they're official are suspended.
But in the majors, such a game would be a do-over.
Ardoin: 0 Hr 3 RBI .208 Avg
Jones: 2 Hr 13 RBI .161 Avg
Ozuna: 0 Hr 7 RBI .282 Avg
Pierre: 0 Hr 24 RBI .280 Avg
Sweeney 0 hr 5 RBI .116 Avg
Talk about your power vacuums. Nature must abhor the Dodgers' bench.
Work Ethier? Ethicier?
It was a judgement call, yes, but Falkenborg did what was asked of him. Johnson had not pitched the requisite five innings to get the win. Falkenborg came in when the Dodgers had the lead, which they never relinquished. As I see it the only exception (below) from the Official Rules of Major League Baseball did not apply:
EXCEPTION: Do not credit a victory to a relief pitcher who is ineffective in a brief appearance, when a succeeding relief pitcher pitches effectively in helping his team maintain the lead. In such cases, credit the succeeding relief pitcher with the victory.
I wonder if this was covered in any post-game story. In the aftermath of Manny's performance, I doubt it. But I bet that Falkenborg was cognizant of it.
1) the game is tied when weather forces a stoppage
2) the game is stopped by weather and it's after 1 am
3) there is a power failure or some other non act of God type stoppage
4) the visiting team has tied or gone ahead in the top of an inning that is from the sixth on and the home team hasn't had a chance to bat
This is grossly oversimplified.
If in doubt, a conclave of all cardinals under the age of 80 meet in the Sistine Chapel and cast ballots ...
(a) A game shall become a suspended game that must be completed at a future date if the game is terminated for any of the following reasons:
(1) A curfew imposed by law;
(2) A time limit permissible under league rules;
(3) Light failure or malfunction of a mechanical field device under control of the home club. (Mechanical field device shall include automatic tarpaulin or water removal equipment);
(4) Darkness, when a law prevents the lights from being turned on;
(5) Weather, if a regulation game is called while an inning is in progress and before the inning is completed, and the visiting team has scored one or more runs to take the lead, and the home team has not retaken the lead; or
(6) It is a regulation game that is called with the score tied.
And, yeah, I think that last rule is probably how this game will be decided.
On the other hand, maybe not.
for anyone who was wondering, tonight's 2B umpire referenced in 126 is:
http://tinyurl.com/billhohnrocksthestache
is that not glorious??
that dopler looks like were about clear....
Wade got the win, as he had to under the rules:
---------------------
10.17 (b) If the pitcher whose team assumes a lead while such pitcher is in the game, or during the inning on offense in which such pitcher is removed from the game, and does not relinquish such lead, is a starting pitcher who has not completed
(1) five innings of a game that lasts six or more innings on defense, or
(2) four innings of a game that lasts five innings on defense,
then the official scorer shall credit as the winning pitcher the relief pitcher, if there is only one relief pitcher, or the relief pitcher who, in the official scorer's judgment was the most effective, if there is more than one relief pitcher.
Rule 10.17(b) Comment: It is the intent of Rule 10.17(b) that a relief pitcher pitch at least one complete inning or pitch when a crucial out is made, within the context of the game (including the score), in order to be credited as the winning pitcher. If the first relief pitcher pitches effectively, the official scorer should not presumptively credit that pitcher with the win, because the rule requires that the win be credited to the pitcher who was the most effective, and a subsequent relief pitcher may have been most effective. The official scorer, in determining which relief pitcher was the most effective, should consider the number of runs, earned runs and base runners given up by each relief pitcher and the context of the game at the time of each relief pitcher's appearance. If two or more relief pitchers were similarly effective, the official scorer should give the presumption to the earlier pitcher as the winning pitcher.
the thing is only about a year old & it's been giving me trouble for a while now. sigh.
They let Edwin Jackson bat?
it's like there bagging us to switch to all apple products...
Ask your source how the nachos are.
If it's St. Louis, everything would be deep-fried.
Juan Pierre is batting for Billingsley? Oy.
Replace it with a Mac?
It's not fun for me - Juan Pierre really makes me {cringe}!
Said commenter's uppance will come in the top of the 7th!
Mark my words.
Furthermore, I put them in a time capsule.
An additional set was shot into space.
{Shakes fist}
Beimel Assists Per 9 IP
2006: 3.21
2007: 2.94
2008: 1.76
Hey Torre, that looks like speed, doesn't it?
Bison Defense!
Bison Leather!
Well there are a lot of arms down there in the pen and we didn't play yesterday.... so I don't think its a given that we need Borg in a 1 run game (or really on the team I'd guess if you look at stats).
Not that there's anything wrong with it...
Beaning means you got hit in the head.
And Rick Ankiel isn't that dumb.
And that's your astute commentary from yours truly. We'll be right back.
That's a clever way of calling Rick Ankiel a butt-head. Nice work.
I heard a 'fact' at a pub trivia night that I just think is BS. The question was "What happens to the batter when their ball is caught with an outfielder's hat?" I assumed, it being a catch, that he'd be out. The trivia dude, however, claimed that the showboating is penalized with an automatic triple. That just seems preposterous to me - why wouldn't it be a ground rule double? And why would the defender be penalized at all? He made the catch after all...
Anybody know if this bunk is true?
I learned this by throwing my glove at a ball once. Tomfoolery results in a triple.
The Dodgers once got a walk-off victory this way when a Pirates catcher whose name escapes me at the moment stopped the ball with his mask.
I'm flabbergasted. Though technically, the dude was wrong - it's not a triple, it's a three base penalty. That said, I'm still dubious.
Did you do it to be funny, or were you just pulling out all the stops?
Each runner including the batter-runner may, without liability to be put out, advance --
(b) Three bases, if a fielder deliberately touches a fair ball with his cap, mask or any part of his uniform detached from its proper place on his person. The ball is in play and the batter may advance to home base at his peril
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/runner_7.jsp
I feel embarrassed; I loudly objected, said that was ridiculous, and booed. And I vowed to check it on DT.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN199508120.shtml
Wow, that was a shot.
:-(
Chan Ho is starting to revert back to the gopher ball-giving pitcher we feared he'd be at the beginning of the season. Not that there's huge shame in giving up a dinger to Pujols. (Tony Clark is another matter.)
What else is on TV?
Yeah, that's where I was at the one time I hit a batter on purpose.
The Dodgers really got screwed by the weather tonight. Chad should still be in there and Park and Falkenborg would not even have pitched in this game.
I want to think of him as a good manager, I really do.
"Darryl Strawberry is living in the St. Louis area."
(No offense to bobsbrother)
Complain to the Pope, I guess.
--
Chan Ho looked just fine to all the other batters in that inning, at least.
LaRussasOnFire: Yeah, hold on a second. Albert, can you bat .500 and hit 80 home runs this season?
Pujol_Junkie: e'yase
LaRussasOnFire: haha, yeah, we're gonna be fine.
5 runs
Let's get it on!
Pujols, lifetime against Odalis: .609/.719/1.391, 5 HR, 15 RBI, 14 R in 32 PA!
"Odalis Perez
His Grud: Albert Pujols
The numbers: .609/.719/1.391 with five homers in 23 at-bats.
We are definitely getting away from the mission here — Pujols is also too great to be a Grud. But I use him here because whenever Pujols would come to the plate to face Perez in Kansas City, it was the responsibility of my Star partner (startner?) Bob Dutton to say: "How do you like this match-up?" And Bob always came through."
I'm officially done with Berroa today. How about you guys?
Technically that qualifies as plagiarism, since I read that a few weeks ago, but I must have forgotten it since I did a double take when I just saw the numbers again tonight.
Or did the Cards schedule another disruptive rain delay tomorrow?
Or is this a "I can make fun of my sister but you cannot" type situation?
But it's better than this, even with Berroa, and even with Kent doing nothing these days. The rest of the line-up is pretty agreeable to me. It's better than this.
Too bad Blake loves Cleveland.
I think it's former Dodger Ricky Horton.
Haha, I swear I didn't see your post before posting mine.
My MLBTV is broken. It just showed Andruw hitting a home run.
Also, Juan Pierre looks bored/unhappy.
While we're on the subject, I'm suggesting "Gandhi" as a nickname for Cory Wade.
http://tinyurl.com/sirben
Mr. Torre knows
(sarcasm emoticon here)
He's also the Cardinals' official spiritual leader and clubhouse chaplain. I wonder if that interferes with his quasi-journalistic duties.
Jones bought at least 4 starts with the HR.
4-1 and getting late
but the fans all stayed because they knew
Manny may come to the plate
You were saying? (I'm watching on delay and Manny is just coming up).
Make 'em pay, James!
Heh.
The Greatest Fans in the World™ cheer Izzy's removal. (I would have, too.)
I'm not greedy.
And the Cards' announcers get positively funereal. I literally had to turn the sound way up just to see if they were still there.
And if it wasn't for Pujols, it'd be 6-4 right now.
--
Darn, thought that liner was gonna get through for a second.
Then again, Dodgers fan don't leave all that much earlier than most stadiums (especially any without a great public transport), so I suppose the court of public opinion is rather logical. I just enjoy any chance to point it out.
Can't Fault Mr.Sweeney there.
Also, cargill can take a bow, sort of, since Ozuna is now at SS.
Sweeney has only Gary Bennett to blame
If you're watching on TV and you were fooled, then it just shows it wasn't that easy to judge. If you weren't fooled, it was a non-event.
Oh, by the way - that was some top of the ninth.
and wow, nice play by Blake.
Mannyville!
Especially now.
We've heard the talk about fastballs vs off speed stuff. But I would also posit that a hitter is more likely to see something up, to make it easier for the catcher to get up and throw.
Thoughts?
(Er, to jinx proof here -- I mean, I still think it stinks. You know.)
Rip his cold little heart out.
I'm all for Temple of Doom-style punishment for LaRussa!
Paul Bako wouldn't have struck out either.
(Sorry, couldn't resist.)
Wow, he's almost 28. Better late than never though. Good for him.
Freakin` Russ:(
I agree.
Maybe I need to see Hu and Steiner's optometrist.
High leverage: .878 OPS
Medium: .933
Low: .683
I don't mean just this game, but in the past week or so, he hasn't walked much and strikeouts are up.
Martin has a .819 OPS with RISP this year.
I don't know what the numbers say, but it sure seems like Martin has been horrendous all year at getting runners home from third with less than two outs.
Coming into tonight, 9 for 27 with 7 walks and a SF. .333/.457/.333 (all singles), 15 RBI
I expect Kuo could go one inning at the most.
Man, Slo' Mo' Kent let another one through.
Well, if the Dodgers don't win this game, I hope it goes really long at least just to make Cardinal fans miserable. Er, but my first choice would be the Dodgers winning.
Between the rain delays and the deficit in runs, I just gave up. I went down to the Farmers Market with my sis and got some dinner. Come back, and it's a nail-biter...
Ah, baseball...
Russell Martin would be a tremendous backup catcher. That doesn't mean he should be one.
http://www.mercurynews.com/athletics/ci_10085078
Or is that too Lasordaesque?
I {{heart}} Cory Wade.
The Cards' pitcher should be embarrassed, too.
so, does Cory Wade's next plate appearance count as his first major league at bat?
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/07/19/musial/
But Ozuna did what a pitcher normally would've done. Weak grounder.
Ah well. If they can survive one more half inning they'll have real hitters coming up again.
http://tinyurl.com/5hsvtc
That brings up a good point. Announcers referring to a "first major league AB" before the fact assume the player has no patience.
I don't like Johnson having to face Pujols. Saving Broxton for a save that might not come?
Don't make 402 come back to haunt me.
I think he's on "save only" detail.
These FSN midwest announcers are making me appreciate Vin a lot.
BTW, Cardinals need to stop hitting it to Kent.
Still 2 more outs to go before prolonging this eternal game.
Luckily they didn't say it three times fast in succession.
Agony prolonged only one more batter.
Well, that was fun guys -- until it wasn't.
Erg
Without ranting, I simply want some media members to do their job and make Torre uncomfortable with this, in the hopes that next time he'll at least consider the correct percentage play.
I will rarely criticize Torre, but bringing in Johnson was very very strange to me. Almost anyone else left makes more sense.
Now the Dodgers get some food, get some sleep, and go after the Birds again tomorrow.
If Broxton was also unavailable, then
(a) Torre probably screwed up by having him warm up on Sunday, and
(b) Derek Lowe tonight and James McDonald later this week would have been a better move than a worn-out Jason Johnson. Every game matters now. They matter too much to just punt them away.
My feeling is that Broxton was almost certainly available but was stupidly not used.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALK1g83zonE
I had NO idea Oingo Boingo did this. Very cool... but very.... them.
Same logic, he managed by the book, no one will criticize him.
11 for 26 with 3 HR's and 3 walks.
.423/.516/.769/1.285
Torre has learned not to toy with the starters because of rain delays.
The Billingsley experiment did not work out at the start of the season.
And tonight's starter was ... ?
I'm sure it would have been cheaper. Even if it was a college textbook.
1. Nomar's soreness
2. Furcal's soreness
3. Plaschke
4. Manny's hair
I apologize.
Like what happened to DB Cooper, or the identity of Jack the Ripper.
5. My headache from all the times we lose to the Cardinals.
I know we're better than a .500 team. I cannot figure this out!
Books may be replaced one day, but I will wager significant sums of money that CDs will never be the medium that wins out.
CDs have had about 15 years to try to make headway in replacing the book. They have not done so.
A technology like the Kindle is more likely to win out. Except it would be unlike the Kindle and not be hard to read.
And I'm not against all textbooks. I'm against textbooks that update a couple of years, and don't significantly revise and edit over previous editions.
"That's definitely the biggest move since I've been here," said Penny, who is in his fourth season in Los Angeles. "It's going to help us probably win the division. One guy can't win the division, but we've got that legitimate power guy now -- and he hits for average."
--
Keep giving me hope Andruw, keep giving me hope. Spitting through a wire fence six inches of front of you is never a good idea.
I'm not being snarky.
It's sad that I have to say that.
I'll go with "No."
--
the question should be:
Do you really think Jones could outperform Pierre from here on out?
The real answer here is Mike Lupica.
I would be guilty of violations of Rules 1, 4, 6, 7, and 8 every single day.
I still don't understand what I was supposed to find admirable about him.
I know we're not supposed to speak ill of the dead.
But please ... just this once... please.
I have fun, sometimes, imagining LaRussa as an attorney rather than a major league manager. Then I remember what a friend in law school said about him when I mentioned the law degree, "Yeah, from Florida State." My friend is a Reds fan.
Simers was an agent for a little while, imagine if he represented Manny.
Mike Lupica is a small man. A petty, know-it-all jerk that writes something mean and then looks admirably at his prose. "I sure stuck it to that guy" as he leans back in his chair and chuckles. The guy at the sports bar that argues loudly, always incorrectly, always passionately.
Sorry you got stuffed in a locker, man. Not my fault. Lighten up.
What makes Stephen A. Smith so terrible aside from his personality, is that he knows absolutely nothing about sports. He once covered the NBA draft and it was so obvious he did not know any of the prospects aside from Oden and Durant and he probably did not even see those guys play. He is the epitome of what is wrong with modern sports-writing.
Jonathan Broxton was being saved for a save situation.
I agree Broxton should have been used in the 11th with the heart of the lineup coming up. But, it would have been great to see him in the 9th or 10th with a chance to save it. It didn't work out that way.
That's the point. Broxton had a much better chance of getting the game to the 12th than a journeyman pitcher that threw 81 pitches only two days before.
Using Broxton wouldn't have guaranteed a Dodger win. But it would have given them a much, much better chance than JJJ.
Leaving your best pitcher in the pen because it wasn't a save situation? Worry about the save when you have a lead.
He's just Robomanager 3000. At four million per.
That game took a couple hours off my day where I just had to punch things. So how are the rest of you doing.
Count me as a huge SVP fan as well.
Let's just hope Lowe can throw one of his classic games and save the bullpen and that the offense can wake up before the 9th inning!
http://tinyurl.com/helloandrewtryme
Now since everyone has Kevin Kennedy on their side (did you know he managed in the major leagues?), I won't say that your opinion on this is not right but its hard for me to place the loss on a pitcher in the 11th inning when there were several plays prior to that could have decided the game.
I don't think anybody is placing the loss on Jason Johnson. He did what Jason Johnson does, that being "Not being good."
We're blaming the loss on Jason Johnson being on the bump in the first place.
From what I read earlier, I didn't see anyone asking for Broxton in the bottom of the 9th when the Dodgers had all the momentum and were do the send up the top of the lineup again?
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/080805
Re, fireman versus closer, see comment 1 here:
https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/691995.html
Someone [not me] should write a piece on the phenomenon of how the construct/ideology changes.
I think I'd probably choose Chad Billingsley.
http://www.bb-ref.com/boxes/FLO/FLO200310220.shtml
Johnson could have been the long man after Broxton was used. It's hard to defend the use of a rested Jason Johnson in that spot. But using JJJ -- before Broxton or even Kuo -- two days removed from 81 pitches is a dumb decision. Not a 100% cause for the loss, but a dumb and costly decision nonetheless.
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