Jon assumes that he is more persuasive than Jessica Biel in getting us to donate money to ThinkCure.

In the latter case, it may have had something to do with Utley and Howard possibly batting. I am glad Torre stretched [him] out for the two inning save too. :)
vr, Xei

Didn't Kuo try to go for the 4 out save on Aug. 9th, and he couldn't close the door? (poor defense, etc) but Torre has shown a willingness for Kuo to pitch multiple innings.

Peter Gammons is pushing Geovany Soto for MVP.

Seriously, he is.

Bluebleeder, here are the NL records since the ASB:

Hou 18-8
Mil 18-9
Chi 17-9
LA 16-10
Ari 15-11
Col 15-12
NY 14-12
StL 15-13
Fla 13-14
Phi 12-13
Pit 11-16
SF 10-15
Atl 10-16
SD 10-16
Cin 8-18
Was 8-18

4
MVP of your fantasy team, maybe.

1 Difference is that I have met Jon, its doubtful I will meet Jessica Biel.

Jayson Stark (on Charley Steiner's show) is less harsh on Dodger fans but still has it in against Manny Ramirez and Scott Boras.

Steiner loves to talk about Matt Kemp (who I noticed has only struck out 16 times in nearly 120 PA since the ASB). Stark agrees that Kemp is really surprising him by being able to lead off.

Stark agrees that Kemp is really surprising him by being able to lead off

I wonder what the lead off standard is that Kemp is meeting that Stark didn't expect him to.

6
I like Geovany Soto so much that I start Yadier Molina sometimes.

Gammons column is about how catchers have to be so smart and work so hard and they don't need to hit as well as everybody else. And since the Cubs have the best record and Soto hits fairly well, Soto should be the MVP.

Poor Brian McCann.

1 - Jessica Biel is very persuasive, but the robots surrounding her scared me.

7 - doesn't everyone have it in against Boras? Including his clients?

2 - Yes, there was a clear reason to leave him in last night. But there was also a clear reason to leave him in on the 8th, and Torre didn't. So I call it progress.

Per Elias via ESPN.com

In Kuroda's 5 wins at home, he has been nearly untouchable: he's allowed 4 earned runs,in 40.1 innings, for a 0.89 ERA and opponents have hit .121 with two walks while striking out 33 times.

12 So are you advocating the abandonment of the Tony LaRussa (and then copied by everyone else in baseball) 9th inning closer?

14 - Nothing so dogmatic :) Just advocating rationality and flexibility.

I have decided to make some of the trivia questions for the picnic multiple choice to increase the chances that the winning number will be 1 or 2 correct.

I will not have Josh Souchon or Jim Gott or A Martinez asking the questions though.

Marlins CF prospect Mike Stanton, 18, is hitting .289/.367/.600 with 33 jacks in Low A. That's pretty sick.

15 I think reality has entered the picture too.

After the Dunn bungle, someone woke up in the FO. Dodgers claimed Belliard to stop D-Backs from claiming him, per rotoworld.

so, who wants to give me $3,000 so I can get the Slash guitar in the auction?

and maybe a little bit more so I can visit Vin in the booth?

20

I can do it. But it has to be for your "business".

19 One man's bungle is another man's prudence.

So do people here ever decide to program their speed dial into a phone while you are reading a number to them over the phone? So that the person on the other end hears the beeps?

Very loudly.

9 Yogi Berra has argued that the catcher should always be the MVP, because if he wasn't there every pitch would be a passed ball.

I'm still a little surprised at the many mentions of not keeping Kuo in on August 8th. We were ahead by one run and had 2 runners on base with 2 out when Kuo's spot came up. That is as clear a spot for a pinch hitter as there can be. We wanted and needed more runs. Now say what you will about the Kuo being a better hitter than Andruw Jones, but that situation screams for a pinch hitter. I am almost certain that if Kuo's batting spot had not come up then Kuo would have pitched the 9th that day.

*21. natepurcell
20

I can do it. But it has to be for your "business".

Dear God Nate have you entered the leasing world?

24 Actually it was Casey Stengal and here is the quote.

"You have to have a catcher because if you don't you're likely to have a lot of passed balls."

The Cubs Reporter blog has an entry from yesterday laying out a strategy that the Cubs should tank the division title to the Brewers, and taking the wild-card instead, because they would be better off facing the winner of the NL East than the winner between the Diamondbacks (Webb-Haren-RJ) and Dodgers (Billingsley-Lowe-???). They are worried about both NL West teams in a 5 game series, and also afraid of the big bats that both teams added. I think they would be better of facing the NL East winner too, but the loss of home field advantage more than offsets any gains from having an arguably easier first round matchup.
vr, Xei

12 I want to believe you are right, but I have a bad feeling this is more Broxton's arm-related than Torre's progress-related. Since Brox pitched the night before, I wonder if the Dodgers decided not to let him pitch last night.

28 The Angels face the prospect of facing Josh Beckett, Dice K and Jon Lester in a short series.

And despite their domination in the regular season of the Red Sox, in a span of 4-5 days, their whole season can go down the drain.

30 I think the Angels are, at best, 50-50 to win that series. And that's because they play the first two at home. I can see them losing that series very easily.

It's a silly concept sometimes, and it is way misused, but there is something to winning your division at a canter and then suddenly turning on the intensity to match a team's that has been battling to get into the playoffs.

31 The Angels only need to look back to 2004 to see how much home field matters.

30 Please don't wake me up from my dream of a Angels-Dodgers World Series yet. Question: when is the most recent year that the Angels and Dodgers have both been in 1st place as late as September? Or has it never happened?

29 Broxton was up in the pen and did throw hard there. If the Phillies had gotten enough runners on to get to Burrell, who was in the hole at the end of the game, I think the Blue Ox was coming in.

33
Don't you remember 2004?

A useful look at draft pick slotting and supplementals. Also known as "How the San Diego Padres go from having the number 3 overall pick to the number 7 overall pick through no fault of their own."

http://tinyurl.com/6rbylk

33 2004, they both won their respective divisions.

33 They both won their division in 2004, and it might have happened in Sept 2006 as well, but I'm too lazy to look that up.

36 If the Pirates don't sign Alvarez, there will be lots written about MLB getting one of their own in place to hold down signing bonuses.

34 I did not know that. I stand corrected then.

32 I'm not saying home field is the most important thing. But given the option, I'd rather have it than not. Either way, I am saying that even with home field, I don't consider them the favorite.

Yankees cut Sexson already, demote Melky: http://tinyurl.com/5nydwc

33 I think you are still blocking out Washburn coming in to face Ortiz that year.

The Angels lost that series a day before Jose Lima won Game 3 against the Cardinals.

home field matters in baseball because of the rules - last at bat and all that. But pitching matters more in the playoffs. Pitching and defense. It's all about the top three starters. Billingsly and Lowe going game one and two on the road, followed by Kuroda going game three at home bodes well for the Dodgers. I don't know who would pitch game four, I'd like it to be Kershaw, but I would suspect probably Billingsly or possibly Penny.

since today is the draft signing deadline, do the Dodgers have any future David Prices or Alex Whites they're passing on?

But pitching matters more in the playoffs. Pitching and defense. It's all about the top three starters

I don't see why pitching and defense would matter more in a playoff game than in a regular season game. I think the point is that #4 and #5 starters don't really matter any more, meaning that (like you said) it's all about the top three starters, plus the bullpens.

Nice to know that the NL East has taken on the title of worst NL division. Maybe Jim Rome can knock on them for a while.

45 Danny Coulombe, a LHP headed to USC, Zach Cox, a 3B who will attend Arkansas, and Will Clinard, a RHP headed to Vanderbilt. From reading over the scouting reports, I'm not sure any of them have the potential of a Price or White though, unless the pitchers increase their velocity in college.

While the Brewers are 34-29 on the road and 13-3 away from home since the All-Star break, they have lost seven of their last eight contests at Dodger Stadium and dropped two of three to Los Angeles at Miller Park from May 13-15.

Lets extend this streak.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview?gameId=280815119

A baseball playoff series doesn't begin until the road team wins a game.

46 Yeah, it's time we got rid of the myth that pitching and defense matter more than hitting in the playoffs, or anytime else for that matter. They don't. Other than the fact that the #5 starter gets eliminated from the equation.

I freely admit that I have a very poor memory. That's what the Internet is for. Thank you to everyone for bringing me way back to 2004.

50
But what if the first game won by the road team is the final game of the series...?

I think if I had a dead-to-me list, 2004 would be at the top.

46 - less room for error against a better team in a race to 3 or 4 wins. higher premium on preventing the other team from scoring.

Hmmm, I thought 44 was saying that in the playoffs, pitching and defense matter more than home field advantage. At least that's how I read it.

55 Why isn't there a so-called higher premium on scoring though?

I am really enjoying reading "Playoff Myth Thoughts" today. :)
vr, Xei

I thought the playoffs didn't start until somebody was punched in the head?

If, from Team A's perspective, it's really really important to prevent Team B from scoring, then from Team B's perspective, sn't it therefore really really important to score...?

56 - that too.

I thought the playoffs ended as soon as the Yankees or Red Sox were eliminated.

I don't have the time to do the analysis, but I think scoring generally goes down in the playoffs from the regular season average - largely because you're seeing the highest quality pitching (no beating up on the Reds). Again, less margin for error means higher premium on preventing the other team from scoring.

but this has the feel of one of those dogmatic arguments that i really don't want to engage in.

51
Doesn't that come back to the old "great pitching beats great hitting" mantra. In a short series you are going to see the best they have.

Belliard starting at short again tonight for the Nationals. Again, this is largely -- though not entirely -- explainable by roster problems.

64 And it actually is proven that power pitching beats power hitting.

66
How so...?

63 To me, it's less of a dogmatic discussion and more of a logical one. I don't see any possible way the balance between hitting, pitching, and fielding would be changed by the fact that a game is played on October 3 instead of September 30.

Some individual pitchers would become more important, because they'd be using up more of their team's innings. But the importance of pitching in general -- how could that possibly change? And how does defense become more important?

The playoff run environment is lower, but not as low as people think it is, and anyway, that doesn't really mean anything as far as the relative importance of pitching vs. hitting. It just means that each individual run scored by the offense is somewhat more valuable.

Going back to the secret sauce article.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5541

There are three particular characteristics of teams that win more than their share of post-season games. These characteristics are as follows:

* A power pitching staff, as measured by normalized strikeout rate.
* A good closer, as measured by WXRL.
* A good defense, as measured by FRAA.

Of the dozens of team characteristics that we tested for statistical significance, in terms of their relationship with winning post-season games and series, these were the only three that mattered. Ending the year hot doesn't make a whit of difference, for example, nor does having a veteran club, or a smallball offense.
More remarkably, all three of these characteristics relate to run prevention, rather than run scoring. That does not mean that offense is of no importance in the playoffs. But there is a lot of noise in the postseason record, and offense did not produce enough signal to emerge through it. The reasons are too complicated to get into here, but have to do with what happens when good offenses face good pitching. Pitching does have some tendency to dominate these match-ups, whether they occur in the regular season or in the playoffs. Because "plus pitching" versus "plus hitting" duels occur more frequently in the post-season, we tend to notice the effects more then.

-----------

I can't find where it's actually proven that pitching dominants those matchups, but I can't believe Nate Silver would just make that up.

if you guys make the postseason expect to see Torre pushing Kuo very hard...

69 That's interesting stuff, and there's probably something to it, but as Nate himself implies, there are few enough postseason games that whatever conclusions one reaches from the data is going to have sample-size issues.

I'll also emphasize the distinction Silver makes: It isn't necessarily having better pitching that matters, but the style of pitchers you have.

I am not sure there is anything more annoying than those freecreditreport.com commercials.

72 How about the let's-exploit-sick-kids-for-financial-gain commercials starring Karros, Kennedy, and Zelasko?

534 -Previous Thread
Matt Kemp was not part of the Jacksonville 5 because he did not spend any time in Jacksonville in 2005, he was still in High A. He did not come from out of nowhere, he had a solid season for Vero Beach and after LaRoche was promoted led them in every offense category as a 20 year old.

The Original five were Loney(21), Martin(22), Guzman(20), Billingsley(20), and Broxton(21), but when Broxton got promoted, LaRoche(21) took his place after being promoted. Guzman as a 20 year old SS had some of us salivating. 23 year olds Young and Ruggiano out hit all of them but with Young his demise as an infielder was limiting his ceiling and no one has ever considered Ruggiano more then a 4th outfielder.

I suspect some day Ruggiano will be one of those guys who has a solid season and people will wonder where that came from but it was always there just waiting for a chance.

73
That is an awkward commercial for sure, but these FCR ones are on all the time and there is three or four separate commercials.

I'm pretty sure the playoffs don't start until the regular season ends.

the FCR commercials are incredibly annoying. but i think the pseudo-celebrity car insurance ones are more annoying.

Mad Eye Marty

74
Thanks...the Broxton/LaRoche question always perplexed me.

Also, I do not mind the freedreditreport.com commercials.

If a commercial annoys you, it means the marketing department most likely did a very good job.
vr, Xei

77
At least they had the decency to not even call Michael Winslow by name, referring to him orally only as "the guy from who makes those weird noises" or something like that.

I'm trying to think of an annoying commercial right now, and it's hard. Oh wait -- anything that has a claymation talking car should go straight to H-E-double hockey sticks. And if the lady from the Progressive commercials got run over by a steamroller tomorrow, I wouldn't be sad.

79
That is not definitive, only my interpretation. Eric and others may disagree since at one point Broxton and LaRoche were both on the Jacksonville roster.

80
Until I murder the singer with my bare hands. WITH MY BARE HANDS!

Also, the Sprite basketball court as pool commercial is annoying. But its more watchable if you imagine the first guy jumping actually landing on concrete.

For $15, I'll be a macadamia nut.

84
They played that commercial at the movie theater once and a girl sitting behind me said, "How did they do that? I did not know they had pools like that."

Other notables on the 2005 Suns but not considered part of the Jacksonville Five would be Tony Abreu, Delwyn Young, Hong-Chih Kuo, Justin Orenduff, Greg Miller, Justin Ruggiano, and Edwin Jackson.

The playoffs don't start until two guys are thrown out at the plate on the same play.

85
I love that guy. He should come to the picnic tomorrow.

88 But the real question is, why doesn't it count as a GIDP? The ball hit the ground, and it was a double play...

A commercial I thought I would hate, but I kind of like, is the Del Taco mole chicken taco spot. Something about 4 midgets kicking a guy in the crotch gets me every time.

88 ,90
I wonder how many double play grounders there have been in history in which the batter wasn't one of the outs.

A bunch of rundowns probably count here, but I am thinking more of the 5-4 variety. Less than 100 all-time?

91
Bar none, I found that to be the stupidest commercial I ever watched.

88 I thought that is when the playoffs end.

If the Dodgers end up not being part of this Latin America scout investigation, do you applaud them for being above board or do you think that they were just cheap?

I feel guilty admitting this, but I don't watch commercials anymore at all. I would say 90% of my TV viewing isn't live anymore, and when I do watch live, I change channels during commercials. That's the good thing about having kids. I am usually taping the Dodger games at night, and turn them on around 9pm when the kids have gone to sleep. I am usually done by 10:45 or so.

91 - He really nails that line. Makes me laugh.

92
Tony Batista turned one double play as a third baseman while playing for Arizona.

And I was at the game.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1998/B07250LAN1998.htm

And the batter was safe at first.

I feel guilty admitting this, but I don't watch commercials anymore at all

Why oh why would you feel guilty? This is absolutely something for which no one should ever feel guilty.

Commercials are just a ploy by The Man to get you to buy stuff. You have a right not to buy, and also not to watch.

I rarely see commercials because nearly all my TV viewing is time-shifted (specifically to avoid them). The only time I watch "live" TV is ESPNews in the morning, while I'm making coffee and puttering around in the kitchen, and that little TV doesn't have a remote (got lost somewhere along the way). So that's when I get stuck watching commercials. I actually like the FCR.com ones. "I'd be a happy bachelor with a dog and a yard." Good stuff.

The two commercials that will force me to put down what I'm doing and walk over to turn off the TV are the Vonage one with the phone company guy getting pushed around and the Planters one with the unibrow girl. I liked the latter one the first time I saw it, but hated it by the 2nd time.

99 I never understood why people try to pin so many nefarious motives on Stan Musial.

95 Both.

I miss Terry Tate.

101
Awesome

The Dos Equis "World's most interesting man - on rollerblading" commercial where he simply says "No" is classic.

This could end up being an interesting day in baseball. Only one of the 11 unsigned first-round picks has signed yet, according to Baseball America.

103
Yeah, that was great.

I like the Emerald Nuts: Encouraging Norwegians commercial.

Watching a foreign old man get shot with an arrow is hilarious.

Has anybody seen this article on how VORP undervalues walks yet?

http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/comments/fixing_vorp

The DVR was a god send and makes watching the olympics or baseball a joy. I wonder if the announcers realize the more they blather the faster we forward.

I pretty much watch baseball live, so I see some commercials then. Otherwise, I see them very rarely.

I think beer commercials are terrible nowadays, because premise for every one is something along the lines of..

Group of Lame D-Bags get together to trick their good looking yet incredibly dumb girlfriends by hiding beer in cheese wheels or going over to a buddy's house to "vent"

99 cinches it. D4P is a Communist.

109 Yeah, it's funny, but I am actually watching more Olympics this year than ever and it's only because of my DVR.

92. We pulled off a 4-6-5 double play in our softball game this week. You don't see too many of those. The play involved the trifecta of bad fielding, bad baserunning and bad umpiring. Something you actually see quite often in slow-pitch softball. :)
vr, Xei

114. It was actually a 4-5-6 dp. Oops!
vr, Xei

I was involved in a 10-4-5-2-5-3 DP last game. I was the 3.

91 I would watch an entire channel of nothing but, oh, Penarol1916, repeatedly getting kicked in the crotch.

0 Current bid values on autographed jerseys:

$ - jersey
=============
625 - Kuroda
550 - Torre
350 - Manny
325 - Ethier
300 - Kemp
300 - Nomar
300 - Martin
300 - Loney

Will there be Internet service at the picnic tomorrow? I wouldn't want to miss any DT stuff if I were to attend or have nothing to read here if you guys don't have Internet there.

When you guys get together, do you talk or text?

Why would someone take performance enhancers or do some kind of doping for air rifle?

What an odd thing to include in the Dodgers' auction, a platinum album award from Everclear. Only $100 bucks at the moment!

http://tinyurl.com/6ngacj

I guess if HGH helps your eyesight.

Isn't being an air-rifleman macho enough without taking HGH?

121 KABC's sister station is KLOS, thus the several rock music related items. Anyone want dinner with Jim Ladd?

I thought gun-shooters had been accused of taking some sort of depressant to help them be still while shooting.

121
I like that there are a couple items from Rush.

Maybe they asked Russell Martin to hook them up.

I would assume the shooters may indulge in beta blockers. I've heard that golfers like 'em too.

120 - aderol or ritlin would probably do wonders for an air-rifleman, I'm thinking.

speaking of, I've suddenly lost all ability to focus and/or concentrate on anything for more than 15 seconds at a time.

129
Have you been drinking?

just a random thought on the dodgers, is there any chance raffy is coming back...whens the last time we were updated on his status?

Maicer Izturis is out for the season.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-izturis16-2008aug16,0,5533675.story

129 Welcome to my existance, now if you'll excuse me this discussion has gotten dull.

"Maicer Izturis' left thumb injury was far worse than the Angels feared. ... The injury to Izturis, who originally hurt the thumb diving for a grounder in Yankee Stadium on Aug. 1 and missed five games, is eerily similar to the torn left thumb ligament suffered by former Angels shortstop Gary DiSarcina on Aug. 3, 1995.

"DiSarcina was having a career year, and the Angels had an 11-game lead in the American League West when he was hurt.

"The Angels then suffered one of baseball's worst collapses, blowing the lead and losing to Seattle in a one-game playoff to determine the division winner."

130 - if only.

Tonight's lineup:

Pierre, CF
Kemp, RF
Kent, 2B
Ramirez, LF
Garciaparra, SS
Martin, C
Blake, 3B
Loney, 1B
Billingsley, RHP

So Pierre and Ethier are platooning against lefties?

I mean, platooning with Pierre playing against lefties?

136 - Looks like it. Pierre vs. lefties and Ethier vs. righties. Ethier should find himself in the game after the 6th.

If you're a manager who wants to get both Pierre and Ethier in the lineup from time to time, the way to do it is to have Pierre start vs. LH and Ethier vs. RH.

I will just assume Joe felt bad for Pierre and wanted to give him a day, so he picked a day against a lefty.

Yes, that almost sounds plausible enough for me to believe it.

how do pierres numbers vs. lefties compare to andre's?

119
I plan on emailing Bob from my iPhone regarding Andrew Shimmin's corduroy pants.

does it seem strange to anyone else that Weird Game James is leading the Dodgers in triples?

137 - I wouldn't call it a platoon just yet. I think it's just more getting Pierre some at bats against a guy that he might actually be able to hit.

OPS this season vs. lefties:

Pierre: .786
Ethier: .649

141 - career numbers, sample size caveat re Ethier (300 PA):

JP vs LHP: .303/.347/.346
Dre v LHP: .275/.324/.406

OPS this season vs. righties:

Pierre: .588
Ethier: .834

What is Ethier's BABIP against lefties this season?

144 thanks, lets hope we can make parra work and get andre in to pinch hit and play defense sooner than later

143 - I used to think it was strange, but Loney just has so much (or enough) doubles power, a few of them seem inevitably to go into triple range for him.

re OPS, wouldn't batting average plus slugging percentage be a slightly better measurement since they are based on the same denominator?

relatedly, why do we care about OPS?

112 Terry A has obviously never heard of the Freedom to be a Bad Consumer Act.

Is BABIP mainly used to see how often a player is putting the ball in play vs. striking out?

149 - I'm just surprised to see him at the top of the list rather than Kemp or Pierre. I always thought you had to be fast to get a lot of triples.

149 Of course last night's was a sinking single played into a triple. First thing I thought when I saw it got past Jenkins with enough left on it to get to the wall, "JATFWGJL".

124 Reckon he'll play some vintage Neil Young?

I still don't understand that when Pierre does play, why does he go stright to leadoff.

I guess Loney is automatically the number eight hitter against lefties.

152 Usually used with Line Drive % to see how lucky / unlucky a batter has been. High BABIP, low LD% = lucky. Vice-versa, unlucky.

155 I just want to know if one must wear headphones to enjoy the experience fully.

Pierre has a higher DORP (Distraction Over Replacement Player) against LHP.

157 ah so if someone could consistently hit fly balls and stretch them into triples like James did last night, they would have a high BABIP, or in other words, be very lucky

hitting the ball over everyone's head, whether it goes into the bleachers or not doesn't strike me as "lucky", it strikes me as "good".

I hate Plaschke.

That is all.

Yeah, I think all misplays like the Jenkins one last night should be scored as errors. Maybe single + 2 base error. Or 3-base error (on the manager for starting Jenkins over Victorino).

I was at the game last night. Told my Philly Phan Phriend that if Ethier ended up 0-4, he'd be benched today. Who knows, maybe 4-4 would have led to a day off anyway. But I really get the feeling that Ethier has to do two good things every game to earn his next start.

150 That would make more sense arithmetically, but OPS comes about in searching for a measurement that statistically correlates closely to scoring runs, and it doee so fairly well. Apparently it works out a little better if the OBP is weighted some (1.3? 1.8?) to favor it over Slg.

158 You bet. Top of the line Sennheiser's ;)

136 We're playing those mind games together,
Pushing barriers, planting seeds,
Playing the mind guerilla,
Chanting the Mantra peace on earth,
We all been playing mind games forever,
Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil.
Doing the mind guerilla,
Some call it the search for the grail,
Love is the answer and you know that for sure,
Love is flower you got to let it, you got to let it grow,
So keep on playing those mind games together,
Faith in the future outta the now,
You just can't beat on those mind guerillas,
Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind,
Yeah we're playing those mind games forever,
Projecting our images in space and in time,
Yes is the answer and you know that for sure,
Yes is the surrender you got to let it, you got to let it go,
So keep on playing those mind games together,
Doing the ritual dance inn the sun,
Millions of mind guerrillas,
Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel,
Keep on playing those mind games forever,
Raising the spirit of peace and love, not war,

-"Mind Games" by John Lennon.

Might help a bit.

164 - I guess that makes sense. I'm still one of those who less than enamored by walks.

Has Jeter's BABIP been unusually low this year? Because he's having a lousy year - bad enough that his hitting might not make up for his horrid defense. I'm just wondering if it's bad luck, or if maybe he's slipping.

163 yea thats frustrating, plus even if someone has struggled against lefties, I think the only way to try and improve that is put him in against more lefties.

I know we are in no position to experiment but I dont wan't to see Pierre in any ballgames in late September and God willing early October, regardless of what hand the pitcher is throwing with..

163 I was there too. I think Victorino's back is a little tweaked or something. Kuo made him look pretty bad when he PH.

I was a little surprised there wasn't more comment here that Kuroda was hit for with a two-run lead and only 79 pitches for seven innings of two-hit ball. I was thinking he'd pitch the eighth and Kuo the ninth. Guess the runner on second was just too tempting.

162 what did he say or do this time? havent read anything in the LAT today..or were you stating the general feelings of this message board

Enough with the Pierre.

124
Jim Ladd, Cynthia Fox, Uncle Joe, holy cow, these people have been DJ's forever. The stories of KMET and KLOS would be interesting.

Were these people young when I first started listening to them and are they like George Carlin or were they my age and we aged together.

168 - Jeter's BABIP has been way down this year from his career numbers (50 points). This year he's at .317, for his career he's at .361.

167 I think that for run correlation, walks are probably slightly less valuable than singles, but WAY better than outs.

Slg is in itself a bit arbitrary in that regard too; is a triple 75% as good as a homer? A homer four times better than a single?. I suppose the advantage to OPS is that it's quick and dirty, and close enough.

I wrote about (somewhat favorably) about Pierre starting against LHP over Ethier earlier this week:
http://tinyurl.com/6pnzug

Whatever happened to Torre's LaRussa-inspired idea to bat the pitcher eighth and Pierre ninth? I liked that idea.

163 I don't think players should be penalized defensively for trying to make an exceptional play. Jenkins came close to catching that ball and early in a game it's okay to roll the dice like that.

171 - front page of the Times' website: Please Let Phelps Be for Real. with a teaser of: if a baseball player had his staying power, we'd have already convicted him of steroid use.

but yes, it's also a general statement these days.

170 - I would have left Kuroda in, but I also wasn't convinced that he would go more than another inning, so I didn't freak out like I sometimes do.

168. Answering my own question.
From Hardball Times

http://www.hardballtimes.com/thtstats/main/player/index.php?lastName=Jeter

Jeter's BABIP, by year.

2004 .315
2005 .351
2006 .391
2007 .367
2008 .314

And here's winshares data:

Year Bat Fldg WSP WSAB TotWS
2004 18.9 6.9 .711 0013 0026
2005 19.6 6.0 .672 0012 0026
2006 28.0 4.6 .882 0020 0033
2007 18.9 5.1 .662 0011 0024
2008 08.3 3.4 .461 0003 0011

From the glossary:

WSAB
Win Shares Above Bench, or Baseline. WSAB is a refined approach to Win Shares, in which each player's total Win Shares are compared to the Win Shares an average bench player would have received, given that player's time at bat, on the mound or in the field.

This is an important adjustment to Win Shares, as we discovered during the 2003-2004 offseason. The bench player approach is explained in this article. It is essentially 75% of Expected Win Shares for all players except Starting Pitchers, for whom it is 60% of Expected Win Shares.

WSP
Win Shares Percent, a Win Shares "rate stat" -- a measure of the player's contribution, given his playing time. The math is WS/(2*ExpWS). Expected Win Shares are the number of Win Shares an average player contributed, given that particular player's time at bat, on the mound or in the field.

So, yeah, acc. to WSAB, he's not much better than a bench player this year.

175 - oh, I agree a walk is usually better than an out. My problem with walks is that the hitter is ultimately relying on the pitcher and the umpire to get on base.

179 O lord, i don't even think I'll bother

I think it's ridiculous that Ethier should have to platoon with Pierre. Yes, he struggled for a bit against lefties this year, but he's hit them well his entire career going back to college. He just needs to play to work his way through it and he seems to be doing that with a walk off winning hit the other night and a double last night, both against lefties. Not to mention what we lose in defense with Pierre in the lineup.

173 Oh, and add the Beamer, B Mitchell Reed to that list.

Anybody who's ever listened to the first Emerson, Lake & Palmer live album will recognize his voice. `Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends, ladies and gentleman, Emerson, Lake & Palmer!'

I was at that concert, and it was quite a moment.

182 I think that's only if the batter is trying only to walk. I don't think walks should be a goal, they should be a side effect of being a good hitter, e.g. not swinging at bad balls, fouling off pitcher's pitches.

DT commenters aren't the only ones having difficulty with the pronunciation of Chinese words. So does Bob Costas, apparently:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/08/15/beijing.pronunciation.ap/index.html

FTA: "For you mousse-coiffed, Mr. Gravitas TV anchor types and you sotto voce public radio types, please oh please stop saying "Bay-zheeng," wrote Kaiser Kuo, who works for a China-based ad agency and wrote an online guide for journalists covering the Olympics. "The pronunciation of the city's name couldn't be easier."

You were a Lucky Man

168. Answering my own question.
From Hardball Times

http://www.hardballtimes.com/thtstats/main/player/index.php?lastName=Jeter

Jeter's BABIP, by year.

2004 .315
2005 .351
2006 .391
2007 .367
2008 .314

And here's winshares data:

Year Bat Fldg WSP WSAB TotWS
2004 18.9 6.9 .711 0013 0026
2005 19.6 6.0 .672 0012 0026
2006 28.0 4.6 .882 0020 0033
2007 18.9 5.1 .662 0011 0024
2008 08.3 3.4 .461 0003 0011

From the glossary:

WSAB
Win Shares Above Bench, or Baseline. WSAB is a refined approach to Win Shares, in which each player's total Win Shares are compared to the Win Shares an average bench player would have received, given that player's time at bat, on the mound or in the field.

This is an important adjustment to Win Shares, as we discovered during the 2003-2004 offseason. The bench player approach is explained in this article. It is essentially 75% of Expected Win Shares for all players except Starting Pitchers, for whom it is 60% of Expected Win Shares.

WSP
Win Shares Percent, a Win Shares "rate stat" -- a measure of the player's contribution, given his playing time. The math is WS/(2*ExpWS). Expected Win Shares are the number of Win Shares an average player contributed, given that particular player's time at bat, on the mound or in the field.

So, yeah, acc. to WSAB, he's not much better than a bench player this year.

173 Jim Ladd is 60, so I think he's like a significantly older brother to you, the one that introduces you to cool music. I don't know how old Joe Benson is, maybe he really is like an uncle.

Woah, that was weird. I was typing a completely different comment, and previewed it. When I hit submit, my earlier comment got reposted. Gremlins, I tells ya!

173 et al

those DJs bring to mind a pair who used to be on KRTH probably 25 years ago...London & Engleman...probably the funniest bits I have ever heard on a continuous basis on the radio...then they just disappeared and were never heard from again...

60 is old?? all I can say is "oy"

185 They had retired the revolving piano by then?

193 - I've developed a formula to determine what is old:

O = A + .5A

O is old
A is my current age.

Thus, old, as far as I'm concerned is 45.

188 Keith Emerson had a hand held synthesizer that he would use when he jumped off the stage to zap people with. I was a point blank zappee!

180 There are good arguments either way, which is why I thought it would get discussed more. Maybe Torre/Honeycutt didn't like what they saw with Werth's double and Howard's lined SF to the wall (on which I thought Manny made a decent play to go back and catch - I was worried he wouldn't make the play).

178. wronghanded
163 I don't think players should be penalized defensively for trying to make an exceptional play. Jenkins came close to catching that ball and early in a game it's okay to roll the dice like that.

retyping...

I do. Jenkings made a poor judgment and gave up 2 extra bases and a run as a result. A run is a run, no matter when it happens, so the idea that it's less important early in the game is wrong.

I was taught that corner OFer should gamble in the gaps and play conservatively in the corners, because the downside risk of a bad gamble is lower when there's backup. If he'd made that same play in the gap, it still would have been just a single.

The official error is a dumb stat, since it's so subjective, but if you're going to have it at all, then I would count judgment errors as well as physical ones. I'd even count baserunning errors.

194 Dave, the first time I remember seeing the revolving piano was at California Jam One.

Boy, was that a great show. Started off with Rare Earth and just got better as the day went on.

195 I hope none of Brock's students are around. :)

190
Sometimes coming home from a Dodger game I'll catch a little of the Jim Ladd show and I'll always say to myself I should be listening to the radio instead of watching TV when I get home.

But then I never do.

Since Manny's arrival:

The Outfield Start Allocation

Manny Ramirez - 14
Matt Kemp - 14
Andre Ethier - 7 (7 out of last 11)
Juan Pierre - 5 (3 out of last 8)
Andruw Jones - 2

This is only the second time Pierre has been "platooned" for Ethier against a lefthander since his comments to TJ Simers. He also started against Kyle Lohse in the last game of the series against the Cardinals.

The Dodgers will face 2 more lefties in their following 9 games (Francis and Hamels) so I might expect Pierre to start those days too.

I still think at some point Manny and Matt will take a day off too but who knows when that will be.

193 Did I saw it was? It's just older brother age to guys like Toy Cannon and me. And that can't be old. Old is an age older than my parents, at least for now - that is starting to change.

200 - the real advantage of my formula is that the older you get, the further away from you "old" gets.

The only radio I go out of the way to listen to anymore is Jonesy's Jukebox on 103.1

Does anyone know where I can find stats of batters vs pitching types?

198 It really comes down to the situation, the bases were empty, slow runner at the dish (no real chance of an inside the park HR) and it was early in the game (0-0) on a team with a good offense. I can almost guarantee that the coaching staff and Myers himself had little to no issue with the attempt, I also don't think it was poor judgment as he missed the ball by a couple of inches.

201 Jim Ladd is one thing I really miss about no longer living in L.A. Him and Frank Sontag.

Still no day off for Russell Martin.

I realize he had a decent Philly series, but he still looks tired. The strikeouts are uncharacteristic - he's chasing a lot - and even many of the hits (while they still count) haven't looked like great swings.

I know we had this out last year too, but I'd say his poor September last year and his poor August this year suggest that he does need time off. With Ramirez in there, the team can afford to play Ardoin 3 times every 2 weeks.

199 Alas, I was only 13 at the time of Cal Jam, but I remember some the television broadcast, particularly the end-over-end piano stunt. According to wikipedia the exact lineup was:
* Rare Earth
* Earth, Wind and Fire
* Eagles
* Seals & Crofts
* Black Oak Arkansas
* Black Sabbath
* Deep Purple
* Emerson, Lake and Palmer

210
Damn, that is a show.

209 - I think Russ will take tomorrow night off and he'll catch Kershaw on Sunday afternoon. Combine that with Monday's home off day and that's a good amount of rest.

Radio died for me on Oct 24th, 2005. RIP John Peel.

205 Unfortunately, that station does not come in well in the north SF Valley.

207. He missed it. He wasn't trying to miss it. He thought he could get it. He was wrong. It was a poor decision, just like swinging at a ball outside the strike zone, only much more costly.

If Loney had been held to a single, he'd have been doubled up on Nomar's groundout. No run.

The difference between the out that he tried to record and the single that would have resulted had he eased up was much smaller than the difference between the single and the triple. Zero outs makes it worse. Had there been two outs, the gamble would have had lower downside risk.

If I were Myers, I'd have been ticked off. It's hard to stop a team from scoring when they have a guy on 3rd and no outs.

205 for me its ClassicVinyl on Sirius

This isn't the time to over extend Kuroda. We talk about Kershaw's and Bills innings count, but its also Kuroda's first year throwing so many innings. The guy is used to a six man rotation, and only pitching around 150-175 innings.

206 baseball-reference.com

215 fortunately for Jenkins, Myers is the easy going type

I am sure Myers didn't have much to say about it to him back in the club house

213 Big John Peel fan as well.

LA Outfielder's OPS since Manny's arrival.

Juan Pierre - .280/.333/.360 (27 PA)
Andre Ethier - .324/.405/.558 (38 PA)
Matt Kemp - .317/.328/.500 (64 PA)
Manny Ramirez - .438/.542/.813 (57 PA)

217 He threw 79 pitches through seven. Even a 20-pitch eight would still have been under 100 pitches total, which doesn't sound like "over extend". Your overall point is taken though - he did get on the DL this year, so caution may be prudent. And Kuo was very good.

205
That is a good show but as El Lay Dave said it does not come in well in the Valley. Plus I don't drive anymore so other then trips to Staples or DS I'm rarely in a vehicle with a radio for longer then 10 minutes.

Giants are close to signing Posey to $7.5 million deal.

221
Manny's OPS is dropping like a rock.

221
What kind of eggs are you making tomorrow?

I never heard John Peel on the radio-- but Pink Floyd did a couple of awesome performances on his show back in 70 and 71-- the recordings of those shows are the only way I even know what Peel sounded like.

187 It is easy. pay-KING. ;)

210 Funny you should bring up Black Oak Arkansas. Two nights ago in the wee hours of the morning I watched most of an hilarious cornball comedy called `Run Ronnie Run', written by and starring David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, and on the soundtrack was "Jim Dandy to the Rescue".

The weird the was, I recognized the song from the the opening chords.

Diamond has the Brewers lineup:

Weeks, 2B
Hardy, SS
Kapler, LF
Fielder, 1B
Hart, RF
Counsell, 3B
Cameron, CF
Kendall, C
Parra, P

http://www.beloblog.com/Pe_Blogs/prosports/mlb/dodgers/

226 I'm leaning towards Portuguese sausage and eggs (usually scrambled with green onions). It will be cooked to order.

I also plan to bring some other things too.

217 In 2005 Kuroda started 29 games and pitched 212 2/3 innings.

215 I guess it's a fine line, was it reckless or aggressive? I saw it as an aggressive attempt early in a tied ballgame when Philly had 6 innings worth of outs to try to score the run that was given up. We can agree to disagree I just don't see it as a right or wrong decision.

Simulator says the Dodgers are around a 60% favorite to win tonight's game. It predicts the following line from Billingsley.

IP-6.5
SO-6.6
BB-2.9
Hits-5.7
HR-0.7
WHIP-1.32
FIP-3.90
Pitches-101.83

and between Billingsley and the bullpen the Dodgers will give up one HR, with Chan Ho the most likely culprit (from the pen).
Go Dodgers!
vr, Xei

231 Man, I wish I could be there for that.

Jon and all, I hope you have a wonderful time tomorrow.

with Chan Ho the most likely culprit (from the pen).

I could have told you that without the use of a fancy simulator.

Oh Wandy,
You threw the pitch
Out of the strike zone
You walked in a run
Oh Wandy

Arizona 1, Houston 0

236
Could you have told me that Billingsley's gonna throw 101.93 pitches tonight...?

Astrosuck.

Oh Wandy,
You gave up a single
To big Tony
But we need you today
Oh Wandy

Arizona 2, Houston 0

With Webb in that game I think it's safe to call it with 0% of the precincts reporting. Arizona has won.

Wow, RIP Jerry Wexler. I hope the Allman Brothers and Mark Knopfler play at his funeral.

30 pitches for Wandy.

10 for strikes!

239 Uh oh, looks like the San Francisco adult products market is starting to rub off on Icaros.

238 - I probably would have rounded up to the next whole number.

245
Fancy simulators don't have to round up. Or down.

246 - I'd pay money to see a pitcher throw .83 pitches.

ok, must get something that resembles work done in the next few minutes so I can attempt to enjoy a weekend.

Good news: Arizona scored the minimum amount of runs you can score when you bat around. 3.

Bad News: Everything else.

Minute Maid Park looks almost square-shaped.

Leading off for your Houston Astros:

Darin Erstad!

244

It's inescapable, I tell you.

3-1 D'Backs Bot 1. Berkman RBI double.

Zambrano getting shelled again.

You normally would look at lineup with Gabe Kaplar batting 3rd and smirk until you realize just how effective he has been this year. Still it is nice, not to have to face Braun.

Dustin Brown is throwing out the first pitch tonight at Dodger Stadium. I wonder if it's the first time an American hockey player has thrown the first pitch to a Canadian baseball player.

Darryl from The Office busted for MDMA possession. Nice.

247 Tanyon Sturtze is on the roster now. His throws are probably about .83 of a pitch.

256 Culver City represent!

246 - I'd pay money to see a pitcher throw .83 pitches.

I think that's what Penny was doing the other day.

257 D'oh!

256
He's got his thizz face goin.

256
You watch "The Office"...?

You fail.

Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin seem like really great people. They're easy to root for.

262

more like you fail for not seeing any episodes.

262

So sayeth the admitted "Scrubs" fan.

Scrub.

265
I used to be a "Scrubs" fan. I can barely tolerate the show now.

266

Because it jumped the shark, or because you developed a real sense of humor?

:-)

The D-Backs were able to skip Petit's turn Tuesday due to Monday's off-day. However, he is scheduled to pitch tomorrow. So all we have to do is keep winning and we'll have 1st place all to ourselves after Saturday night's game. :-)

267
So sayeth the admitted "Hasn't watched every episode of 'Arrested Development'" guy.

But yes, "Scrubs" j'ed the s.

I am surprised D4P could watch a show where a female character has a name associated with men.

Game thread is open up top.

269

I didn't have TV when it was in primetime.