And I thought he majored in American Studies.

.292 .355 .511 .865
.294 .356 .480 .837

Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Birmingham, Buffalo, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Dayton, Fort Myers, Greensboro, Greenville, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Knoxville, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Richmond, San Antonio, St. Louis, Tulsa, Washington, West Palm Beach

You'll either get the Tigers/Twins game or D'Backs/Dodgers. I have no idea how they'll decide.

I think it needs to be stressed that Ethier is not just on a hot streak right now. Ethier is locked in and has been getting progressively more locked in since the beginning of the season. He has been giving the team its best at-bats ever since mid-June, coincidently around the time Russ started swinging at low breaking balls. And Ethier hasn't really taken a step back, in terms of the qulaity of his at-bats, since. That distinguishes him from other young players, who you should rightly expect to progress in a two-steps forward, one-step back, sort of way.

Ethier's last three months are also encouraging for the Dodgers in a wider sense. The other young Dodgers will likely make a similar production leap, by simply having less periods of times where they are lost at the plate, as they reach their prime age years.

Ethier has begun the prime of his career. It will be a lot of fun when Russ, Loney, and Kemp do as well. And when Bills reaches his prime, it might just end up being something historic.

But I like it.

Go Dodgers!

I'll miss the game live because I'll be teaching writing to a very small group of crabby adults, stuck in a hot room on a hot, sunny day. If I should survive, thankyou, comeagain.

50 G 224 PA 202 AB 43 R 65 H 15 2B 4 3B 13 HR 33 RBI 21 BB 41 SO

.322/.384/.629/1.013

Ethier was red hot before Manny came over.

Now, you run out of things to say.

Since August 5th:

.351/.405/.730/1.135

Menin aeide, thea, Aristideo Ramirezou!

Also, I find it hard to believe that Ned couldn't acquire hard-nosed veteran David Eckstein and have him play second base. I'm sure everyone noticed how hard Eckstein runs out ground balls to short and second. Why oh why couldn't the Dodgers trade non-veteran pitchers like Elbert or McDonald (or even both, to make sure the trade went through) to acquire this gritty professional? Eckstein, like Sweeney, Pierre, Proctor, and pro's pro Tanyon Sturtze, gives you a professional haircut EVERY TIME HE GOES OUT THERE TO PLAY. Jeff Kent has been sorely missed these last six games, and Eckstein would have provided veteran leadership and professional interviews in his absence.

I suppose I'll watch the game today, but I will only get depressed marveling at Eckstein's scrappy play, with my depression intensifying YET AGAIN because I have to worry about Ethier making another green baserunning mistake as he clears the bases with another inexperienced drive to the gap.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillies_zone/Iguchi_Is_Back.html

That is all.

I was at the game yesterday. When Ethier's ground rule double bounced into the stands, I cheered, and then said, "Now he just needs the triple!" Mrs. Kavula said, "Don't hold your breath."

Then Ethier came up. I was silently screaming inside my head for a ball to the deepest part of the park. And when he did it, my heart went into my throat.

I saw the ball land and looked back to see Ethier rounding first, then round second, then pick up speed, then stop.

Run, I thought. Even if you're out at third. Run. Even if you're out by six steps. Run. This is history we're talking about -- the Dodgers have a safe lead thanks in no small part to your performance, so give history a shot.

I have rooted for few things harder than I was rooting for Ethier to make it into third.

Then he went back to second, got tagged, and that was that. It wasn't meant to be. Still, it was a fantastic, fun night at the ballpark. People in Section 160 of the Loge were very into Ethier's performance, and Lowe was dominant.

And Spawn of Kavula stayed awake the whole time but didn't get fussy! We saw the whole game! Not bad for a nine-month-old!

...Please be able to throw Casey. Please.

Is this line about Plaschke?

No outs.

And when I wrote that, ESPN.com did have him as 26th in OPS. Now they have him ranked as 19th. I wish I knew when they updated their nightly stats.

Thanks for the link, Jon.

Amazingly both Selig and Fehr agreed to this readily.

Guys like Lindsey or Tiffee didn't get called up because they wouldn't be able to help the team, even as pinch hitters, and they're not great defensive players either.

Still, it was one of the more memorable individual performances I've seen at Dodger Stadium. I saw McGwire hit one over the pavilion and into the parking lot. I saw Brooks Kieschnick, of all people, lead the Rockies over the Good Guys with two bombs. I saw Ethier's 5-for-5-almost-cycle.

I doubt the Minotaur will pitch after the division race is settled.

A guy like Lindsey could probably hit a few home runs before big league pitching figures him out.

My allegiances this September and Octovber are very simple:

In the NL, go Dodgers. (I remain hopeful but not optimistic. I said two weeks ago that I'd given up on the season, and while I still have hope that I'm wrong, I still wonder if the best case scenario is that the good guys actually win one game against the Cubs in the NLDS.)

In the AL, go Rays.

The knocks on Pierre -- and no one's tougher on him than me -- are that he doesn't get on base often enough to be a starter and that he is overpaid as a bench player. But he is certianly a major leaguer.

And as for D. Young, he has slightly higher numbers over JP. A 69+OPS for Young, over a 66+OPS for JP.

Woo, battle of the 2006 Draft picks!

Sunday went from Johnson vs. Maddux to Scherzer vs. Kershaw.

Battle of the ages.

Smaller ages.

I think Pierre has to wonder what he did differently last season and this season than he usually does that would derail that.

Drew bats third and the DBacks start with the guttiest 1-2 punch in baseball: Eckstein and Ojeda.

Again, I say: wow.

They don't.

Most people just want to watch their home team and then do something else. It's not like people are out with a parlay card seeing how they did on all the games today.

It seems ridiculous to black it out for people who can't even watch it on Fox in their area. It's not like i would be watching it rather than the same game on Fox. I just want to watch the game. Makes me wonder why I paid for mlb.tv when they black out half the games. Sorry, I am done venting now.

The Commissioner's Office would like to change it, but the teams are resistant to it.

Let me tell you kids about back in the day, when folks in L.A. wouldn't be able to see the Dodgers on the NBC Game of the Week even if they were a road team.

When Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record, NBC had to get special permission from Walter O'Malley to show the game in L.A. And Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek seemingly thanked O'Malley every 10 minutes.

Then again, I also lived in a time when it was big news that there would be no blackout of the Super Bowl between Miami and Washington at the Coliseum.

Grace: "And guts!"

Next pitch: swinging strikeout.

I am used to people belittling the Huskies but I am not used to BYU smack talk.

Is a good game so far.

And add me to the list of northwest Dodger fans who are forced to watch midwest AL teams go at it.

/Come on, seriously, Fox?

And Manny up.

Guy can't throw a strike and he swings at three balls.

For the situation, that might be the worst AB of any Dodger this year. Yikes.

I have one on my key ring.

FORM OF DAN SHAUGHNESSY

Torre just compared Bills to Pettitte, Andy.

TOUCHDOWN AZTECS!

This annoys Mrs. Kavula, who is responsible for replacing all the silverware as well as spackling and painting over the forkholes in our kitchen.

Never heard of it.

I thought he was a running back?

184
They said QB on Fox, but good chance they are wrong.

He has some odd pronunciations for a guy who grew up in Santa Monica.

"Two bowls, two strikes to Kemp."

Well played.

Thanks.

yess!!!

Jeez Louise, did Webb set that thing up on a tee or what?

I'm a little worried about our Rays. Barring a complete collapse they should still make the playoffs, but they need to start winning some games.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Happy days for all!

Extra dirty with some dirt on the side. He has been phenomenal.

That fourth intentional walk marks a single-season career high for Berroa. His previous high was three, reached in 2003 and 2005.

Ned looks like he's ready to eat his moustache after that at-bat.

Huskies catch a big break.

Good grief, that should have been a run.

Here comes the hook.

squee...ze!

I meant it more as a general statement, not jus the walks for one game. Russell is a guy that will work out a walk, and its something that is great to have with a guy leading off.

AND HE WALKS. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oh, and memo to Juan Cruz: that won't help you get calls.

For us.

Webb's current ERA, 3 starts later: 3.41

Since sporky is all squee'd out, I'll do it for her: squee!

This is making me want to go to church tomorrow.

Everyone got their pitchforks?

:)

I might have to lob a complaint Fox's way.

Moose Skowron!

Thanks, stupid local rules.

"Right now, anyway, as we've said, L.A. loves Manny, Manny loves L.A. He's done everything but hire Randy Newman to trail him and sing that infernal song all day long.

(Four seconds of dead air)

But it's going great for Manny Ramirez, hitting better than .400 since coming over."

I think Boston, Cleveland, the Yankees, and the Angels might have something to say about that.

Nice job Wade!!!!

:) :)

... and I don't even speak Spanish.

Grace wasn't praising Martin for his # of trips to the mound. He and Darin Sutton were ripping on Martin all night for it last night.

It would be a very Charlie Weis way of winning a game.

And you got to love this: Joe Torre won't say anything bad about Jeff Kent, and I guess you won't either, but...

[/Seinfeld]

Of course, if this were the 1973 AL East, you may think differently.

Well, Grace is an actual D-backs broadcaster, and he is a huge homer, so I don't think people are as paranoid as you say.

Mark Grace speaks in a nearly unbroken pattern of cliches.

The Dodgers announcers haven't been as homerish because:
1) Vin Scully doesn't like to do it
2) They didn't need to as much when they moved to L.A. because the area really wanted to have a team of its own at that time

The DBacks and Rays were born in an era where it was much easier to follow your old hometown team when you moved away.

When my parents moved to California in 1960, they left behind their Cardinal fanhood and became Dodgers fans. Why? Because the only times they heard about the Cardinals was a few times a year.

So they switched.

But now, you can be a Cubs fan or Red Sox fan or Yankees fan or Mets fan or even a Nats fan for life. Even if you move.

Repko is a outfielder.

1) Lots of Dodger fans.
2) Bob
3) Notre Dame haters are funny.

Then use it just long enough to take Jimmy Clausen.

Assign him to a station in Greenland.

The rest writes itself!

If the weather down there is anything like the freakish heat in SF, they are warm.

We don't take kindly to those types around here.

That made more than a bit of sense.

However if one can say Vin is not a homer because he just doesn't like it. Then one should include "liking it" as one reason for the Arizona announcers being homers.

(I don't particularly mind when announcers are homers against the Dodgers.)

Yeah, whatever.

And when he worked Dodgers game nationally on NBC, he was accused of being a homer.

The DBacks announcers might like being homers because they like keeping their bosses happy and keep getting paid.

No he's not.

It's not like Arizona has never scored a run off the Dodgers.

Now we go for the sweep.

I severely doubt Arizona cares about scoring 2 runs off of Elbert and Johnson. They know they got their butts whipped twice in a row. Scoring 2 runs with their scrub players off of a major leaguer in his 1st week and Jason johnson isn't going to turn them into an offensive juggernaut full of confidence.

Also, only one game left against the D'backs...and we just whipped Webb and Haren. it is good to be a Dodger fan.