I will like it a lot if the White Sox miss the playoffs.

COOL HAND LUKE, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID and THE STING played an integral part of my cinematic development. Don't remember feeling so sad re: an actor's passing.
[Why he was cutting the heads off parking meters]
Luke: Small town, not much to do in the evenin'.

Dodgers currently hold the 16th draft pick (17th overall due to Nats' failure to sign Aaron Crow).

The key point is that it's NOT protected (if we sign Sabathia, the pick is gone). It's important to finish 15th, where we get to keep it.

CNN.com poll:

What is your favorite Paul Newman film?
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
"The Hustler"
"Cool Hand Luke"
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"
"The Sting"
"The Verdict"
"The Color of Money"

I have seen exactly zero of those films.

4
I would suggest "The Towering Inferno."

Sorry if this has been discussed, but ESPN seems to think that the Mariners will hire Kim Ng. I think she'd be a good choice and a good fit, and since they also have nowhere to go but up, she'd be "in a position to succeed" and maybe put a crack or two in another glass ceiling.

Down here, Colletti is likely to get another contract, and I bet McCourt cherishes White more than Ng. She's hit her ceiling in LA.

http://tinyurl.com/4bkbwr

Do we know the details of Ng's contract, esp. when it expires?

If I paid for Fox Sports Atlantic, I could be watching Indiana of Pennsylvania take on California of Pennsylvania.

8
Will you at least be able to watch Los Angeles of Anaheim take on Texas of Arlington?

The Angels vs. Rangers game will be on KCOP. It's on "free" TV.

I make it a rule not to talk about my fantasy baseball team because frankly, no one cares. But I'm violating that rule right now because if Ricky Nolasco shuts the Mets down today, I will win my league. Six months of being a waiver wire warrior, and it all comes down to one pitcher wrecking one team's season!

I've never been in a race this close before!

I will eat 50 eggs in his honor. Seriously, he was a giant in the industry. My favorite Newman Movies are the "H" ones:

Hud
The Hustler
Hombre
Cool Hand Luke
Harper

Newman is also my favorite Billy the Kid. People should check out The Left-Handed Gun.

Butch Cassidy is definitely a classic, but I still love him in The Sting the most. Of course, The Hustler and Cool Hand Luke are great as well.

Jon, thanks for paying tribute.

"Slap Shot" is one of my favorite movies of all time (I'd put a quote but I can't think of a clean one) and was completely inappropriate for my 8 year-old mind. Paul Newman's always been a hero of mine because of that movie. And the whole raising $180 million for kid's charities thing. But mostly "Slap Shot."

{Sniff} What sad news to wake up to. I think it's time for a new poll.

--

He was smiling... That's right. You know, that, that Luke smile of his. He had it on his face right to the very end. Hell, if they didn't know it 'fore, they could tell right then that they weren't a-gonna beat him. That old Luke smile. Oh, Luke. He was some boy. Cool Hand Luke. Hell, he's a natural-born world-shaker.

If I had to pick just a couple of Newman films to have with me on a desert island, I'd take Cool Hand Luke and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But so many other great performances, roles...

---
Btw, I summarized the experience of watching last night's game live in the previous comments if anyone's interested.

I have a quick question: if I don't have cable (or satellite, being a poor grad student), does MLB.tv's postseason blackout mean I won't be able to watch the NLDS live?

11
I would like Rickey Nolasco to win only to make New York Mets fans miserable. The Germans have a phrase for people who enjoy the suffering of Mets fans.

They're called "normal Leute"

(pours out a carton of Newman's Own lemonade for all the homies that aren't here)

18
That is correct.

I love Newman's Own Lemonade.

:(

21 Thanks. Looks like it'll be radio-feed for me then.

Well, what the heck, a Paul Newman poll:

http://www.greencine.com/central/node/849

6 No need to extend Coletti's contract, he has a year left on it.

21 Won't they put the TBS feed on Ch 9? I know this was done in the past with ESPN on Ch 13.

Whoever posted on Tony Jackson's blog about the game last night regarding Furcal and Broxton needs to be smacked, hard.

I tried to put the smackdown on them myself with a follow-up post, though I'm not sure what the point is.

Favorite Newman movie?

Hogwash.

My favorite salad dressing is

Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar

What I would do that Torre won't do.

Put Hu and Young on the playoff roster instead of Pablo and Sweeney.

So on the Mets website, there is a story about how Lee Mazzilli became a Mets icon because he was a local (Brooklyn) kid who became a star (in a fairly small way) with the Mets.

http://tinyurl.com/5xlypl

It seems odd that for the Dodgers fans don't really feel the need to adopt a local kid as a team hero.

There have been LA high school stars who have come to play for the Dodgers, but I doubt that guys like Eddie Murray are going to be cult figures like Mazzilli.

I would say that the five most popular L.A. Dodger players (just popular and they're inc chronological order) are Koufax (New Yorker), Garvey (Michigan and Florida), Valenzuela (Mexico), Piazza (Pennsylvania), and Nomo (Japan).

#1. Seattle (59-101)
#2. Washington (59-100)
#3. San Diego (62-98)
#4. Pittsburgh (66-94)
#5. Baltimore (67-92)
#6. Atlanta (71-89)
#7. San Fran (71-89)
#8. Detroit (73-86)
#9. Kansas City (74-86)
#10.Cincinnati (74-86)
#11.Coloradio (74-86)
#12. Oakland (75-84)
#13. Texas (78-82)
#14. Arizona (80-80)
#15. Cleveland (80-80)
#16. Dodgers (83-77)

Arent the Dodgers locked into #16 or worse, meaning their pick will not be protected no matter what?

30 That is an interesting question to ponder, though. Who is the most popular local player to play for the Dodgers? Might be hard pressed to find too many. Eric Karros? Uh... Darryl Strawberry was sort of popular for a brief period. Jeff Kent? Tough one...

Oh, and Nomar, of course! I would argue as far as popularity, even though he wasn't a Dodger for a long period, Nomar has to be up there as far as local products go.

Are you considering Karros "local" because he went to UCLA? He grew up in San Diego.

Bobby Castillo should be more popular than Darryl Strawberry. The latter had all the incredible idiots who root for the Mets drooling over him.

Times said today that Kuo's out of the NLDS for sure. Plug Proctor in his place, I guess.

32
Jeff Kent! LOL

Yeah, Karros was a stretch, was just thinking of him due to UCLA. If we're defining it purely as born and raised in LA it narrows it even more.

Jeff Kent... he's from LA. He's not what I would call someone who is deep in the hearts of Dodger fans so I was being a little facetious. But he's certainly one of the better LA-area products in baseball in recent times. Nomar's about the best I can come up with right now. Anyway, I'm outta here. Talk amongst yourselves.

Anyone catch this line in Simer's article? I like how its completely made up:

It's a foregone conclusion around here that Lowe, who is represented by agent Scott Boras, will be pitching elsewhere next season, replaced by CC Sabathia, pitching now in Milwaukee.

Sure, I'll take Sabathia, but is it a sure thing? No way.

Jeff Kent is an OC guy. And he has become a Texan.

He did the rare OC to Berkeley to Texas move in life.

I'm off to the Rose Bowl. May God have mercy on my soul.

I'd say there are only a few celebrities that I would be happy for my son (when I have one) to grow up emulating. Paul Newman was defintely one of them..a consummate mans man who had a heart as big as his sense of humor will be missed. A few others I could think of would be Clint Eastwood, Vin Scully, and John Wooden..

Don Drysdale was born and raised in Van Nuys.

You guys are forgetting all about Ken Landreaux.

Duke Snider - Compton, CA

Willie Davis - Los Angeles, CA

It's still hard to picture Kent up here at Berkeley. Kind of funny.
Don Drysdale is a good choice.

--

Here's how I see the LDS playoff roster, knowing there are clearly several places where it's not quite set in stone. If I'm missing anything obvious, let us know. As it stands, I don't see a spot for Ozuna here. I think it's between Young and Sweeney for the other PH/bench player if Kent makes it.

1. Rafael Furcal IF
2. Blake DeWitt IF
3. Russell Martin C
4. Danny Ardoin C
5. James Loney 1B
6. Nomar Garciaparra IF
7. Casey Blake IF
8. Manny Ramirez OF
9. Matt Kemp OF
10. Andre Ethier OF
11. Juan Pierre OF
12. Jeff Kent, IF/PH
13. Angel Berroa, IF
14. Delwyn Young or Sweeney
15. Derek Lowe, P
16. Chad Billingsley, P
17. Hiroki Kuroda, P
18. Clayton Kershaw, P
19. Jonathan Broxton, P
20. Joe Beimel, P
21. Chan Ho Park, P
22. Takashi Saito, P
23. Scott Proctor, P
24. Cory Wade, P
25. Maddux or...??

I have to think Young makes it over Sweeney. Young can switch hit, and can play the outfield. Switch hitting is important because you take out the lefty/righty match up for the opposing manager.

I'd prefer young over sweeney for the reasons mentioned, but neither is really particularly good, and with the ultra limited sample size you'll get out of either one, it's really pure luck at that point.

46/47.
I can't even believe it should be a debate between Sweeney or Young. I think that Joe will start to get actually serious instead of sentimental (not quite sure why for Sweeney) for the playoffs.

30-I may take a lot of flack for saying this, but having lived in both New York and LA, there's really no comparison in terms of sense of community and city pride, with NYC trouncing my hometown.

I love LA. I ultimately want to return and raise children there. But I know I'll never, ever feel as a part of something as I do here.

In a strange way, it's kind of like a small town, because geographically it is. I see so many familiar faces every day and I know, by name, about 40 people who live in my neighborhood. On the other hand, I can't name a single neighbor I had from age 11 to age 17 in Whittier.

It make sense for me that Mets fans would take pride in a kid from, say Queens, while Dodger fans would be indifferent to a kid from, say, Downey.

49 I think so, too. Given his comments in the Daily News today about the roster, if he's true to his word, that is... Then he's not going to pick based on sentimentality but on giving him the best roster of 25. If that's true, then it's a no brainer. And he really does seem to prefer DY as a PH in last couple of months, Pee Wee's gotten the more critical PH at bats over Sweeney. So it's hard to imagine, but on the other hand they all seem to like Sweeney, he's been a good PH in the past and blah blah... I hope logic wins out here. As you said, Pee Wee can play the OF well, too, whereas Sweeney can't really do anything anymore except play emergency 1B so it just seems a wasted roster spot entirely.

50- Last graph should begin "It makes sense to me" instead of "It make sense for me." I need to lay off the cough syrup.

52 Or double up on it. Lubricants help!

I know there's been alot discussed about Torre and the Yankees, but here's another nice story on foxsports.com, where the writer sticks up for Torre, in the wake of the Yankees' disrespect of Torre, in leaving him out of the Yankee stadium celebration. Kind of makes you think that Hank Steinbrenner is only going to ruin the Yankees more as time goes by. I frankly would love if old Georgie gave his son the boot, as one of his last big decisions, however I doubt it.

nice read though

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8609834/Out-west,-Torre-takes-the-high-road

51 Yeah, and if Sweeney ever has to play the field, we're in huge trouble. Just looking at 1st base depth:

Loney
Nomar
Kent
-
-
-
-
-
-
Sweeney.

31 Arent the Dodgers locked into #16 or worse, meaning their pick will not be protected no matter what?

Yeah, looks that way, unfortunately.

Short series - Pitching, pitching, and more pitching.

Sweeny has proven over the course of the season that the role of the pinch hitter hasn't been that big of a deal for the Dodgers.

Dodgers are #1 in pitching.

And the Dodgers have Manny.

If the starting offense is set then enhance the defense off the bench in the late innings. Ozuna showed the value of this in the game last night.

Any player (like Young or Repko) that can add some defense.

Or include another pitcher (Maddux) for a special situation.

Just a thought

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/majors/organization-reports/los-angeles-dodgers/2008/266913.html

Tony Jackson writes about some of the more well known Dodgers prospects for baseball America. He did say that he thinks DeJesus will get a chance to win the SS job if Furcal or another vet isn't signed in the off season.

I'm sure all of Arizona is jumping up and down knowing their pick is protected.

I'm sure Arizona is hoping to pick a player with the talent of David Eckstein with his first rounder.

Milton Bradley-Long Beach, CA

61
As long as Jeff Kent is in the discussion then Milton must be included!

R.I.P. - Paul Newman: I still remember seeing Cool Hand Luke in a junior high auditorium during summer school. My favorite line comes out of this movie of course and I use it whenever I sense a lack of communication between people. I know Strother Martin utters it first in the film but seeing Luke utter that line in total defiance at the end of the film has always stayed with me.

As far as the postseason roster goes, we need as much flexibility off our bench as possible with 6 players as we can get. To add someone as limited as Sweeney would be really handcuffing themselves. If he was having a Manny Mota type season, maybe I could see it, but he has been terrible and unreliable and I much rather have the flexibility of pinch hitting and being able to then double switch the pinch hitter to save from chewing up our best relievers too fast. Our most unsung bullpen hero this year: Corey Wade!!

Juan Pierre's home run ball sold on eBay for $150 when it was offered for $10,000.

http://www.beloblog.com/Pe_Blogs/prosports/2008/09/dodgers-pierres-hr-ball-sold.html

The reliever with the golden, but brittle, left arm was able to play catch without discomfort Friday and manager Joe Torre said he was hopeful he could use Kuo for an inning Saturday in what would be a critical opportunity to judge whether he's healthy enough to be on the postseason roster.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080926&content_id=3557103&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la

Nothing will console me for thur night, but if Ole Miss can pull this off against the Gators, it would help.

Santana doing his best to put the Mets on his back and carry them to the finish line. Official game now in NY.

64
What a bargain! Very few are aware of just how rare that ball is!

64
That ball should be tested for "juice".

"Nobody's Fool" from about 1997, or so, is one of my favorite quiet-type movies. The interaction between Newman and Tandy is really nice. Of course, Melanie Griffith is,... er,... excellent as well. Buncha' nice little roles in that film for me.

Damn, I just saw the news by coming on DT.

RIP Paul Newman

You will be deeply missed.

UCLA special teams are terrible.

wow, UCLA has a touchdown on the opening kick called back on a hold (100 yard return taken back to the 13) and then after going three and out, Fresno returns a punt 60-some yards for a touchdown.

Up to the minute NL Cy Young watch:

Lincecum: 17-5, 220 IP, 162 ERA+
Webb: 22-7, 219.2 IP, 141 ERA+
Santana*: 15-7, 233.1 IP, 162 ERA+

*through 8 IP today

UCLA is figuring out that you are allowed to run the ball. And it seems to actually be working for them.

74 - it's got to go to Lincecum, if only because of his absurd strikeout total.

76
I would probably vote for Lincecum. But, a possible shutout on the 2nd-to-last day of the season, on 3 days rest, to keep the Mets alive will garner Santana some votes.

Ja(y)son Stark on David Eckstein. Er, I mean, Dustin Pedroia.

There has never been an MVP who looked like the Red Sox's favorite mini-mite. I mean, how tall is Dustin Pedroia, anyhow? "I don't know," laughed teammate Sean Casey. "Maybe 5-3? 5-5? 5-6? I don't know. But he plays like he's 6-5, 250.

Well, whatever you measure this guy at (and officially, he's, ahem, 5-foot-9), he has been a larger-than-life figure for a team that sure needed him.

He's an energizer. He's a great defender. He's a leader.

64 I'm going to pull a D4P and say that the fact someone paid $150 for a Pierre home run ball indicates that our society has crumbled into ruin.

Mets have two outs to go. Willingham just doubled. Now Marlines are down to their last out.

2-0 Cubs. Top 1

0-2 to old friend Cody Ross

Old friend Daryle Ward 2-run HR by the way.

speaking of old friends, Ramon Martinez had a key RBI double for the Mets today.

77
I would vote for Lincecum too.

The Mets survive until the last day of the season, at least.

Shutout for Johan. His legend grows.

Over in New York, this is why they got Santana. too bad he can't oitch tomorrow.

After being familiar with the song for more than 20 years, I finally looked up the lyrics to the Bangles's "Manic Monday" to figure out what they say in the bridge. I had no idea what the last two lines were:

All of the nights
Why did my lover have to pick last night
To get down
Doesn't it matter
That I have to feed the both of us
Employment's down

89
Speaking of Manic Monday, a Cubs win today would go a long way toward ensuring that!

Yeah, Brian Price! Our best player.

78 In other words, here's your MVP?

http://tinyurl.com/4xrjxn

--

Go UCLA! Go Dodgers! Go NL Wild Card chaos! Go banana!

Ole Miss beats Florida.

So after today's victory by Santana he is now 16-7, and lowers his WHIP to I think about 1.11, he was 1.16 going in. He will only end up about 50 k's behind Lincecum. Given those stats, if the Dodger junior varsity is able to do something against Tim tomorrow, we could derail his Cy Young party-which would be wonderful.

Well, the decision to pitch Santana on short rest sure worked well.

Wow. Paul Newman gone. He is definitely one of my favorite actors ever, I grew up on the Sting, Cool Hand and Butch Cassidy.

"I had an old score to settle."

94

Bochy will probably have Lincecum pitch 13 innings over today and tomorrow in order to beat Santana out on ERA.

Bochy should be fired for the way he handled Linecium.

I did not realize the Brewers won their last five games. That is truly remarkable in the context of a huge pennant race with massive pressure, especially for Milwaukee.

Today, unfortunately, they're trailing the Cubbies 2-0, 3rd inning.

Because of the physical situation of Raffy, Kent, and Nomar, I think we need to have Hu on the roster instead of Ozuna. If Kuo cannot go, I think we need to put Kershaw on the roster and leave Maddux off. It's my (possibly incorrect) understanding that there is an off day between Games 4 and 5, so we can use Lowe on three days rest for Game 4 and Chad on four days rest for Game 5. After watching Pierre throw home in the 9th inning last night, I'm wondering if Joe might insert Repko onto the roster and leave Delwyn off. If we need a defensive replacement, Repko is pretty solid, and Delwyn's hitting hasn't been better enough than Repko's to overcome Repko's defense. I think there is no question that we have to leave both Ozuna and Sweeney off the roster. They are both too limited on defense, and neither offers much of a batting advantage over Hu and Repko.

I saw a really fun movie, last night. It was called The Hammer. It's an Adam Carolla movie, so that probably poisons it for a lot of people (I used to listen to him on Loveline when I was a kid, but never bothered with his subsequent shows), but it was funny. Funnier than anything Judd Apatow has ever been responsible for (though, being the voice of the Goofy Ball comes close).

Mark Grace, Edmonds had 90 bats for San Diego, not 25 at bats. And its not 'just' April. That said, Edmonds has a 138 OPS+ with the Cubs in 85 games. That's a good pick up by the Cubs.

Also, 4-0 Cubs over Brewers.

I Love Mil is probably really mad right now.

98

thanks to b-r.com ...

Since beginning of 2004, # of 120+ pitch games thrown while age 25 or younger:
Carlos Zambrano 26
Dontrelle Willis 9
Matt Cain 8
Justin Verlander 6
Noah Lowry 6
Mark Prior 5
Oliver Perez 5
Tim Lincecum 5

What is it about PATs today? A missed PAT cost Florida the game.

Even if Ozuna's on the roster, I can't see how he makes it off the bench outside of a PH role or an really long extra innings game. This is the playoffs, and I expect starters to play as far as they can. So unless we see an 18 inning game, Ozuna shouldn't even see an inning of defense.

Listening to Mark Grace is making my ears bleed.

If anyone has good suggestions for restaurants in downtown Atlanta, I'd love to hear them.

52 Last graph should begin "It makes sense to me" instead of "It make sense for me."

You've got to be kidding.

Sheets is out of the game. The Cubs are licking their lips over the prospects of facing the Brewers bullpen.

4
D4P, if you like movies, both The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are absolutely iconic films. They were both extremely enjoyable films, they were both huge box office at the time, and they cemented Redford's status as a movie idol up there with Newman. Those two were the two biggest movie idols in America from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, although Newman was transitioning from movie idol to serious actor from the mid-1970s on.

"Who are those guys?" and "The fall will probably kill ya" are two of my all-time favorite lines.

Mets won 2-0. Brewers losing (though early innings still, Cubs 4-0 middle 3rd). Still a reasonable chance that Dodgers might get to play Phillies instead of Cubs. (And a rather slim chance, involving tie-breakers, that it could still be Mets.)

Mark Grace. Daryle Wade is not one of the best players in the world.

ooh .... they switched me over to the Philly game .... how bout you guys?

113
I heard that too. I think Gracie has had too many cold ones already today.

114

but now I have to listen to Tim McCarver ... (sigh)

Kosuke Fukudome, the Cubs version of Andruw Jones.

And, Mark DeRosa plays 2nd base. Fukudome plays right field for the Cubs. Fukudome's been beaten out by freaking Reed Johnson. Mark Grace, what the heck does DeRosa has to do with Fukudome playing time?

NPUT

108 Chipper Jones, among other athletes, would recommend the Gold Club.

Phillies need to lose today and tomorrow, Mets need to win tomorrow, and the Brewers need to lose today, and win tomorrow, or vice versa. And then the fun truly begins.

Philles up 2-0 in their pursuit to win the N.L East today.

So much for leading at the half.