http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw4r4FmwZ28

(It didn't have to be baseball, did it?)

Mets - Wagner on the DL, Heilman the favorite, old friend Sanchez in the mix but dealing with a dead arm, new guy Kunz a dark horse

Indians - Kobayashi blowing it lately, R. Perez used more as a smokejumper but also getting some save opps, Jensen Lewis for some reason got the save last night

Pirates - Hard to know since they get so few save opportunities, but Grabow looks like the favorite with Yates and newly-acquired Craig Hansen (who got the save in the 12th last night) also in the mix.

A's - With Street struggling lately, wunderkid Brad Ziegler is a possibility to grab some saves and look to extend his MLB-record 37-inning beginning of his career streak.

I'm sure there are others, but those are the most volatile.

On a side note, I just picked Inglett up for my AL-only fantasy team a few days ago

Not that I'm counting or anything...

And speaking of old friends/catchers, how about Henry Blanco still playing, yet alone his game winning RBI last night for the Cubs? He has a .289 OBP in his 11 year career.

4 Did you have fun at the game last night? (If you went.) We enjoyed it. :-)

I am going to tonight's game and hopefully tomorrow's game. Tonight I have tickets in the lower box, section 104 which is right around the RF foul pole. They look like decent enough seats and only cost $30 apiece.

Oh, and before I go, here's a story from a couple days ago on how Meloan is progressing at Buffalo.

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/408260.html

I'm sort of surprised he's not up with the Indians given the state of their bullpen, but obviously he'll join them in a month.

This is a fact. You heard it hear on Dodger Thoughts first!

Something you certainly don't know-I was able to attend 2 of the games on Thursday in Shanghai. My 1st (and probably last) Olympic events attended. What a treat.

It's the sport where competitors take their horses and leap over obstacles and do funny dances in the shortest amount of time.

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Where I live (Virginia) we are 3 hours from any ML teams but the NFL is the undisputed King of favorite sports among my co-workers. College FB is probably second. MLB is, at best, a distant 3rd. NHL does not exist. NCAA BB tournament is a big deal too but it's all about the money (I love it because I won 2 of the last 3).

Where I live (Virginia) we are 3 hours from any ML teams but the NFL is the undisputed King of favorite sports among my co-workers. College FB is probably second. MLB is, at best, a distant 3rd. NHL does not exist. NCAA BB tournament is a big deal too but it's all about the money (I love it because I won 2 of the last 3).

The Track and Field arcade game was pretty tough.

I was on Bourbon Street the night of January 4, 2004.

Before when he was warming up as the 8th inning set up man, he usually went into the game. Now, as the closer he's usually only in when there's a lead in the 9th. The problem is that he's still warming up on days he's not used due to the close leads the Dodgers had, or lost close games. Broxton's fine, its just the Dodgers have been using him incorrectly.

And a note to the volleyball announcers: Heather Bown pronounces her last name Bow-en.

Something to reflect on while we root for another recently acquired superstar who wears #99.

RIP Bernie Mac

What a difference a year makes.

Wow, complications from pneumonia and at age 50. Very sad

I've learned so many new things while feeding my son. When he wakes up from a nap, he is usually starving and whatever the last channel I flipped to stays on for a bit.

Not that I don't expect the Yankees making a push for Manny.(They're the Yankees, just getting a guy that can stick it to the Red Sox might be worth it, and they certainly have the money.) But that Post story was weak, and didn't have any great sources. Its the same slockey stuff that Dan Shaughnessy wrote for the Globe.

IF anything, all the Post is saying that the Yankees are going to be suitors for Manny along with the Dodgers, and perhaps two or three other teams.

I think that Andrew Hatch will end up with the job. He is a classic drop back QB with a previous relationship with Gary Crowton (our offensive coordinator). He will have a pretty short leash.

As a longsuffering fan, it is almost criminal that I missed that game.

Prediction: my Tigers will be 10-2 with losses to Georgia and Auburn. Just not enough QB to cope with the Georgia defense.

The woman who cloned her dog is apparently a bail jumping sexual assault S&M committing stalker.

I have a different hypothesis - that the difference between a good closer (really, reliever) and a great one is that the great ones have an out pitch that fools hitters, rather than overpowering them. Gagne and Hoffman had devastating change-ups that got guys swinging. Saito had all that late movement on what - slider? But as successful has he was, I was always nervous watching him. With Gagne and Hoffman, it seemed like 2 strikes automatically meant 3.

In Mariano Rivera's case, it's that cutter that batters still hit, but never hit hard.

A pitch that fools hitters takes the outcome out of the hands of the umpire, for one thing, close strike/ball calls irrelevant. I think a big curve ball would do the same thing as a pitch in the dirt.

When Broxton gets into trouble, it's often from falling behind after not getting borderline calls. He either overpowers guys or needs calls on the outside corner (to RHB). With his 97 MPH FB, I think he would be great if he could add a 78 MPH changeup. If he could dip that into the 60s, like Gagne did, wow. But so far, he hasn't been able to.

I might be completely wrong about this. Does it sound at all right to people?

Wow.

A 6-man rotation might result. Definitely outside the MLB box, but maybe feasible. Torre was threatening it earlier in the year, but the idea quickly dissipated. A 6-man would weaken the bullpen by subtracting a pure reliever, I suppose. But then the bullpen might be needed less if better-rested starters went deeper into games more often, which in turn would rest the remaining relievers more.

There'd be talk that a 6-man would foul up the starters' off-day routines and such. Maybe. But this reaction is likely to be mostly mental, more to do with comfort levels with the way things have been done for however many years. An organization as tradition-bound and conservative as the Dodgers isn't likely to do it, especially since they probably would perceive it as taking too much risk with the playoffs still very achievable. And maybe they'd be right. But then maybe it shouldn't be just automatically ruled out.

As far as specific starters: Kuroda probably would benefit. It's what he's been used to in Japan. More of the dominating Kuroda who earned opponent praise as having the best stuff seen all year (twice, I think, after each of his shutouts) would be great. He's had a ton of adjustments to make in a tougher league, but being able to get into his normal weekly routine might allow him to be more consistent, at least.

Lowe might not be helped. Sinkerballers can have trouble with being too fresh and throwing too hard and losing some action on their sinkers. Sinkers that don't sink don't do much, except maybe disappear over a fence somewhere. (See Lowe, D. v. Cardinals, St. Louis, this week.) Seems like I've heard that sinkerballers actually pitch better when they're a bit tired since they can't overthrow. Also, Lowe has been a successful reliever before, so in theory he could be a swingman. (But, then, what if any, theories apply to Lowe?)

Penny, with probably a still-tender shoulder, probably would be helped bc of less workload, at least in theory. Younger pitchers Kershaw and Billz might benefit from less innings at the time of year when fatigue factors in more. It certainly would help limit Kershaw's innings, an organizational goal.

Maddux depends more on guile these days; I wouldn't think it'd matter much with him. Also, while the future HOF starter might not go for it, he'd probably be an ideal swing man between the rotation and the pen due to his smarts and PVL factor (the good kind).

Turns might be skipped or maybe swapped for matchups, stadium factors, certain lineups, and such. At this time of year fresher arms hardly could be a bad thing, especially since pitching is the key to the Dodgers going anywhere.

OK, so much for baseball heresy. Back to the usually scheduled whatever.

{goes on alert for tomatoes tossed his way for non-traditional thinking}

>> Things were going so smoothly for the Las Vegas 51s on Friday night at Cashman Field.

A 3-0 first-inning deficit to Sacramento had turned into a 4-4 tie after five innings, starting pitcher B.J. LaMura yielded the ball to reliever Jerome Williams, and a calm fell over the 51s crowd.

The calm before the storm. <<

## • NOTES -- The Dodgers released second baseman Kevin Howard after he batted .257 in 60 games for the 51s. Howard missed more than 50 games with a sprained medial collateral ligament. ... The 51s activated infielder Rex Rundgren from the disabled list in an unrelated move. . ##

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/26468474.html

Yeah, this is what I've always heard too. My point is that the pitcher is best off if that 2nd pitch is one that deceives. But perhaps that's too vague.

There are basically 3 ways to fool a hitter:

1. A pitch that looks like a ball but darts into the zone. A big curve ball is the most likely one here, but not too many closers throw one, perhaps because if it's recognized, it will cease to fool (think Zito) and since it's ending up as a strike, it will be hit hard.

2. A pitch that looks like a strike, but ends up out of the zone. Sliders, some sidearm curves, splitters, forkballs, changeups. This is usually the 2nd pitch of a good reliever.

3. A pitch that looks like a fastball, but isn't. These are the changeups and 2-seamers that sink. I guess usually a subcategory of #2, but some guys throw changeups for called strikes, just hoping batters will swing early.

Seems to me that the most common 2nd pitch these days is a slider, and there aren't that many guys who can either disguise their slider as a FB, or who have a enough bite, as you say, to avoid solid contact. A swooping slider is no good, because batters will just spit on it.

Nothing wrong with a hard slider, but I agree that Broxton needs to change speeds more dramatically to become top-notch.

Kemp, CF

Ethier, RF

Kent, 2B

Manny, LF

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

Blake, 3B

Berroa, SS

Kuroda, P

I'm getting a second HD receiver for my Dish network, so I get to buy a second HD TV. The question is Plasma or LCD?

I've found a deal on a Plasma that is actually cheaper than the same size in LCD, so if money was the decision point...

What say you O great and might DT readership?

I'm sure this would not be news to Honeycutt or anyone else. It's odd how few guys can throw good changeups, and probably not for lack of trying. I remember Pedro Martinez attributing his terrific changeup to his freakishly long (and double-jointed?) fingers. That burying the ball deep in his palm and having it roll off those long fingers allowed a much slower delivery with the same arm motion.

Any pitchers around here who can explain the key to the changeup?

Less spin off of the fingers makes it slower with the same arm motion as a fastball.

I ended up pretty much using a power reliever's arsenal even though I probably top out at about 80 - 4-seam fastball, cutter, slider, and occasional curve.

I would switch Martin with Blake. Other than that, nice lineup.

For whatever reason it seems that lefties like Big Unit and Wagner are able to have hard sliders with huge breaks. The best slider I can think of by a righty is K-Rod's, but even his has more of a slurve break to it. Broxton's slider is pretty typical of most power pitchers' - tight spin but not a ton of break.

But Manny wasn't here then. We're ready to make our move. :-)

I really REALLY like our defensive line. We can get by the QB situation, but I think we will lose two of the Georgia, Florida, Auburn, and Alabama games.

We'll see how we cope w/o Mark, I'm guessing no way he plays game 1 at UVA. I think if Mitch plays well that day, PC is almost forced to go with Mitch v. tOSU, especially after what happened last year allowing injured qb's to play.

Thats all arm angle. When you have the release point of Randy Johnson, and to a lesser extent, Billy Wagner, you are going to get a sweeping type slider. Brox is pretty much over the top so his is more of a sharp downward break. When his slider is on, that pitch is easily a 70 on the 80 scale. Its pretty dynamic.

I'm also not sure why anyone is saying Brox needs to develop a change, "Stones" etc. He throws his fastball, slider, and has a split which to hi is a changeup. The guy is a complete stud right now. He doesnt need to develop "stones" to succeed in the closer role, considering he has been one of the best relievers in the game over the past 3 years. Just look at the numbers and remember how much better they would be if he didnt have the disastrous outing against the Astros (ERA under 2 in all other appearances, WHIP would be 1). Jon is a premier closer in baseball right now and is going to get even better.