The Dodgers must have been impressed by McDonald's ability to pose before games with charity groups holding oversized novelty checks.

Playoffs tonight! This is awesome!

Bummer for Ramon but I think having a wildcard like McDonald might be the right thing in a playoff situation. Dangerous, yes, but potentially brilliant-- if he gets into a game.

I'm glad it's not Proctor.

That is some serious forward thinking going on. Not Proctor and not Troncoso. I guess they liked what they saw when they finally let him loose. He won't know what to do in the bullpen with all the empty chairs around him as Troncoso, Proctor, Kuo, Elbert, Stults, and Johnson dissipate into the good night.

Whoa. I wonder what Proctor is thinking about at this point. That's cool though. Shows a lot of faith in a young 'un.

After watching McDonald live in person last Friday though, I'm a little nervous by his flyball ratio, especially at a place like Wrigley. It could spell trouble. But then having to put him in a game at Wrigley may be a bad sign anyway. Personally, I would've preferred Proctor, but again I like the faith they're showing in McDonald. He's got good stuff. Less fly balls, please.

3
having a wildcard like McDonald might be the right thing

As long as he doesn't cut the brakes like Charlie. Wild card!! :)

Super amped for James and his fam.

How many DL exceptions do the Dodgers have? Is it just Mr.Penny?

7 Or maybe the plan is to have him hit Soriano in the face with a volleyball? Greenman!

Terrible move, and now I have to rewrite my paragraph contrasting Cory Wade and Troncoso.

9
The Dodgers have four pitchers on the DL that they could play around with.

There is also one catcher (Bennett) and one infielder (Abreu).

Showing this much faith in him already, makes you think he has a very good shot to make the rotation next year.

5
He won't know what to do in the bullpen with all the empty chairs around him

Here's what I don't get about the bullpens at Dodger Stadium. I haven't actually seen inside the little behind-the-wall bullpen benches, but it looks a little crowded.

My beef is with the $5 plastic chairs they have outside that little area. You would think a large organization such as the Dodgers would spring for a long bench, or at least nicer chairs or something.

From your seats, TC, can you see how expansive the secluded bullpen area is (behind the wall with the peep hole)?

Just reading up on the Khalil Greene story. As a lawyer, this is not the kind of statement I want my client making to the press in a breach of contract claim:

"In our case, I don't think it was critical to the outcome of our season, but I guess with Khalil we might not have lost 99 games."

If I'm Greene's agent and attorney that quote is on a poster board behind me at the hearing.

Maybe it's this: McDonald is a career .208 hitter in the minors. So he's really the one taking Sweeney's spot.

16 lol

16 Lol.

If I were a famous athlete or celebrity named McDonald, I would call my house/compound "McDonald's Farm".

On on this farm I would have some chicks.

16 How dare you downgrade McDonald's offensive abilities like that!

15 If you assume that they would not have made the playoffs but would have won more games my conclusion is that it helped the team because they will get better draft picks.

19 E I E I O.

Young MacDonald had an arm, E-I-E-I-O.
And with that arm he had to pitch, E-I-E-I-O.
With a flyout here and a flyout there
Here an out, there an out, everywhere an... uh oh.
Young MacDonald had an arm, E-I-E-I-O.

14
It must not be big enough to handle more then 4 people. It isn't big enough for Big Jon as he always sits outside. No bathroom for sure.
Big Jon gets a recliner, the rest get the plastic chairs. I'm not sure what kind of chairs are in the peep hole area.

E-I-E-I-O looks like the defense behind Jonathan Broxton to me for some reason.

Don't forget to try your luck in the True Blue Postseason pool. Winner gets a Western Division Champion T-Shirt.
http://www.truebluela.com/2008/10/1/626003/post-season-pool

Try to best the Griddle, Marty, Eric and assorted members of the Toy Cannon family.

We seem to have lost El Lay Dave and Eric Enders for the postseason run.

I like the move - the Cubs also don't know what to expect in regards to McDonald's stuff. (and you know they would be happy to see Ramon or Proctor)

This is one good looking bullpen:

Takashi Saito - closer
Jonathan Broxton - set up
Cory Wade - situational
Joe Beimel - situational
Greg Maddux - middle
Kershaw - middle/situational
James McDonald - ?
Chan Ho Park - hopefully not used

I really like this move. My one complaint on the announced 25 man roster was seeing Troncoso, who looked bad the last month of the season. McDonald might be a pleasant surprise for us in the playoffs.

Let's win today, and beat the Cubs in 4 games!

26
I hope to eliminate Andrew Shimmin's quest for perfection this afternoon (he picked Cubs to sweep).

14 For many years that room had a small hole cut in the ceiling.
The Dodgers used to have cute usherettes who wore skirts and stood at the base of the stairs of Left Field Pavilion section 301.

Jayson Stark joins the dogpile:

Amazingly, you could make a case that the Cubs' Octobers have gone way better than the Dodgers' Octobers -- at least lately. Since 1989, the Cubs have won seven times as many postseason games as the Dodgers (7-1). And we see that trend holding up this year, too.

The biggest reason to pick the Dodgers would be their improved, Manny-fied offense, right? Well, what does it tell you that the Cubs outscored the Dodgers over the past two months (275-250) even with Manny Ramirez, and outscored L.A. by 155 runs over the course of the season? One NL executive's description of Manny's supporting offensive cast: "Thin."

We agree. The Cubs' pitching is rested and recharged. The Dodgers need too much to go right. Cubs in four.

30 Hey Jon, are you SURE the book is complete?? Maybe this can be #101!

27 I think the advantage is really overstated. Saito and Broxton are great but Wood and Marmol are probably just as good. Beimel is a great LOOGY but the Cubs are almost all right handed, and Wade is getting by on fairy dust with a .222 BABIP. Without Kuo our bullpen isn't the huge weapon it was this year.

31 Meanwhile the Cubs offensive advantage is really overblown. Their getting huge numbers from guys like Fotenot and DeRosa, that could go away at any time.

33 Outside of Wood and Marmol the Cubs don't have much either.

31
One NL executive's description of Manny's supporting offensive cast: "Thin."

Paging D4P. D4P, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

35 I agree, I was saying the the bullpens are pretty evenly matched, not the huge advantage that we've been saying it is.

The front end of the bullpen means way more than the back in the playoffs anyway.

"On on this farm I would have some chicks."

Four-legged or two-legged variety?

38 I didn't know there was such a thing as a four-legged chick.

36
I was stuck on the previous thread, having never received an NPUT warning.

32 - There are 50 sidebars - I could see one of them being a sexual harrassment seminar.

Anti-sexual harrassment, that is. :)

39 - not that there's, you know, anything wrong with that...

40 - See comment 110.

36 I won't overstate it for fear of jinxing and because I know the Dodgers offense can be very erratic, but to ignore Ethier, Martin, Kemp, Loney, and now Furcal, plus Blake, DeWitt, Kent, Nomar... and call that all "thin" seems a bit ignorant. But whatever. They have to prove it on the field or no one will care about "fair."

Wow just realized this looking at Beimel's numbers. Dating back to 2006 he hasn't allowed a HR in 128 IP, which is even more amazing because he has only struck out 78 in those 128 IP.

39 Shouldn't you be studying?

45 He allowed one on July 21st, 2007.

With Kuo, our bullpen is definitely superior. Without him, it might be even or just slightly worse.

(I just looked that up half an hour ago, I didn't know off hand).

Name the four teams with which current Dodgers won World Series rings.

Hint: one was Boston.

45 My mistake, I meant 1 HR.

There's no doubt in my mind the biggest weakness the Cubs have is their middle relief. If we work the count the way that we've been able to do we can get to it. Aside from Marmol and Wood:

Cotts, Howry, Marquis, Marshall, and Samardzija are their middle relief.

This is an area we must exploit to take this series.

46 I should. But there are more pressing issues at hand.

50 On the post-season roster?

50 Florida, Boston, Blue Jays, White Sox

Boston, Florida, Atalanta, ?

Does Torre count?

50 Marlins, Braves, Yankees?

52 The problem is that in the playoffs middle relief isn't that relevant most of the time, they can start the Marmol/Wood thing as early as the 6th.

49 How much luck is involved in something like that? At some point it has to be considered that he's just going to give up less HR's per fly ball than the normal pitcher.

54 - Yes
55 - No
56 - No
57 - No

44 The Dodgers' starting lineup in Game 1--easily the best lineup they've put on the field all season--will feature five players with an OPS+ below 104. One of the other three players is Rafael Furcal, whose effectiveness is still a major question mark.

That's not very intimidating.

57 Gotta be Marlins, Braves, White Sox, Red Sox.

Has anyone else noticed the stark contrast between DT and ALL of the "popular media" when it comes to Manny? I would guess that there are more posts related to Sweeney or Kershaw over the last month than there have been to Manny.
The rest of the world thinks that Manny IS the Dodgers and there is nothing else to talk about. I hope they're all talking about Manny when Ethier hit the game winning home run, Broxton holds it and Saito saves it.

Fla, Bost, ChWS, Atl

Some of what I love in DT:

38 - "On on this farm I would have some chicks."

Four-legged or two-legged variety?

39 - I didn't know there was such a thing as a four-legged chick.

marlins, red socks, braves, hmmm

Jeff Kent was granted a ring by the Blue Jays, I believe.

Kent has a ring, he told Charley Steiner that on in Prime Ticket interview from last year.

63 He has been the best deadline acquisition ever, it's a pretty big story.

...Which would make it Ozuna (CHA), Pierre(FLA), Lowe/Manny (BOS), Braves (Maddux), Kent (Blue Jays)

61 It's not full of sluggers, no, but I wouldn't call it "thin" at all. I stand by my feeling that that is an unfair assessment. If it's not top to bottom intimidating, that's another matter. I don't think the Cubs line-up is top to bottom intimidating, either, but they do have several scary hitters in a row.

63 - I had a feeling that Hu was going to be this year's Bucky Dent but Torre, so far, has made that somewhat difficult for Hu to do.

67 Marlins (Pierre), Braves (Maddux), White Sox (Ozuna), Red Sox (Lowe, Manny)

Forgot about Ozuna. Add a team to the list.

70 I forgot about Maddux, also Nomar has a ring from Boston too.

Ozuna - White Sox
Kent - Jays
Pierre - Marlins
Maddux - Braves
Lowe - Red Sox

I count 5 teams.

63 In my opinion, and others may disagree, but a lot of people here are not thrilled to see Manny succeed at the extent he did this year with the Dodgers. When the trade was made, a lot of people were upset about losing LaRoche. Somehow rooting for Manny would be like swallowing a bitter pill or something. Manny has been awesome, signing him mid-season was brilliant and you're right, people should be talking more about him.

Jon has been very fair with giving Manny credit where it's due. But somehow those threads always revert back to "colletti sucks" and "we lost santana".

I'm sorry that these opinions of mine are probably unpopular. It's just what I have seen over the past month or so.

73 Oops, disregard :)

Since I messed up I'll just give the answer.

Toronto (Kent)
Boston (Manny, Derek)
Florida (Pierre)
Chicago WS (Ozuna)
Atlanta (Maddux)

79 Penny?

McDonald is to the playoff roster as was DeWitt on the opening day roster.

71 Derrek Lee and his 111 OPS+ is the second worst hitter in the lineup. The worst hitter has a .387 on base. If that's not scary, what is?

I like how I labeled the Greglanta's representative to the Dodgers some guy names Braves.

Oh the foils of parenthesis

69 Of course it is. But it's not the ONLY story. He improved the team as much as any one player could. But he increases the Dodgers chances of winning this series by less than 15% I'm sure. If you want to understand this team at all, you'd better look past Manny and no other media outlet seems to be doing that.

79 - Seeing Ozuna's name there answers my question on why Torre would include Osuna and not Hu, though I still disagree.

This is still the best lineup today that I may have ever seen in my 26 yrs watching the team.

77 Actually, my point wasn't that we should be talking more about him, but that others should be talking less about him. And I was thrilled to get him from day one. It's just that there is so much more to talk about. Again, he may be the biggest story, he's just not the only story. Not even close.

84
Yahoo is on top of it. See the team slugging percentage chart mid-page:

http://tinyurl.com/3tw3h5

"Ramirez is responsible for much of that offensive explosion over the past two months, but even when taking his bat out of the equation, the rest of the Dodgers' lineup is slugging .409 since his arrival, compared to .376 prior."

77 - I was upset to see LaRoche go and thus rooted for Manny to light it up so it'd be worth it, so... disagreed. I think I see where you're going tho, but seeing Ned Colletti fail often means seeing the Dodgers fail. While I think he's a poor GM, I still hope he gets better if he's retained.

87 - We hear about players being great clubhouse guys. Guys like Pierre, Gonzo. But Manny is the one that actually changed the clubhouse. For the time being at least.

77
Getting Manny and losing Santana are not related nor have ever been. I was geeked over Manny, upset over Santana and neither were a contradiction in emotions.

56 Last I checked, Atalanta hasn't won a Serie A title in years. : )

82 - Maybe related to position. But to say Lee is a worse hitter than Derosa, Theriot, Edmonds is a stretch. I'm assuming you have Fukudome as the hitter who is below him.

Lengthy series preview at BP:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8139

92 They have had some nice runs in Serie B! ;D

77 I know that ToyCannon and myself were on board with Manny when the deal was made. Certainly, there have been discussions about what the Dodgers have given up for Blake, Ramirez and Maddux and those discussions will continue long after this October.

But I do think for the most part, folks here, even if they did nit jump in head first like myself into the Manny pool, were able to root for Manny and the team.

If I have learned anything in my time on DT, once the games begin, any disagreements about how the team on the field was put together is put aside until that game is over.

So, in summing up, there is no doubt that not everyone here was in full agreement on the deals made in July and August, but I do think for as long as this ride continues, the rooting will be much louder than the jeering.

82
The names of DeRosa, Theriot, Old Jim Edmunds, Fukedome, and Fontenot are not particularly scary even if their production has been. You even made the point at True Blue that if would not be a surprise if this group falls back to its historical levels.

Oops. I better get some work done here or will suffer from Gameus Interruptus later on today.

Is Fukudome even going to play much in the series? He's not exactly in good standing with Lou Piniella. Isn't DeRosa expected to start in RF?

97 Yeah, thanks, that was the point I was trying to make basically. Maybe these are all semantic arguments. Those guys have been very good. But am I personally scared of them? No. Still, they could clobber us. Who knows. Cheers 'til 3:30. :-)

99 DeRosa's still hurt. The Cubs are worried his legs are going to slow him down in RF.

99
Remember how you said Fukudome would not do well in the states. Then when Fukudome started out like a house of fire you quietly took your shots to the middle. Your right hook after the all-star break was devastating. Kuo is left huddling in fear in the corner now.

93 This year he was. Fukudome doesn't start anymore either if DeRosa plays.

101 I thought he was playing.

102
I'm not one to gloat.

Much.

96
If I have learned anything in my time on DT, once the games begin, any disagreements about how the team on the field was put together is put aside until that game is over

I think you have been to too many games recently to check in during game time. :) The roster construction debates rarely end during game time.

I'm in the "sad to lose LaRoche, but this is freaking Manny" camp.

95 A futbol comment! If you don't mind me asking-what club do you support, if any?

My prediction (or WAG) on August 1 for Manny was something I thought would be on the high side:

.323/.425/.568, 14 HR, 40 RBI

Actual line:
.396/.489/.743, 17 HR, 53 RBI

And of course Manny is the first Dodger since Oyster Burns in 1890 to have as many (or more) RBI than games played.

105
I agree, what threads has BH been reading because it isn't DT game day threads which can be incredibly negative if the game is negative.

I think you have to throw out a lot of regular season stats in the post season. As good as the Cubs have been, how much of their offense was racked up against the likes of the Pirates, Reds, and other less than stellar teams in the NL Central? Plus, in the regular season you get quite a few games against 4th and 5th starters that you're not going to see in the post season (and if you do, it will be out of the bullpen).

I really think you have to look at the head to head match ups - small sample sizes or not - because that's going to be the best indicator of what a team can do. The Dodgers and Cubs played pretty even this year. In fact, they did last year as well (I recall the Dodgers winning at least on in Wrigley last year on an Either pinch hit home run).

FWIW, my Chicago friend sends me this message from his store near Wrigley:

"wind is blowing in briskly directly from LF !! Sunny and bright but it may cool down later with this wind off the lake."

109
I recall the Dodgers winning at least on in Wrigley last year on an Either pinch hit home run

The HR was hit off...

RYAN DEMPSTER.

Dun, dun, DUNNNNN!!!

Hey this is cool.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081001/sp_nm/us_oneseason_9

I'd thought about this 25 years ago but didn't have a clue about how to make it happen. Would be cool to be part of the cottage industry to support it, if it takes off. Alot more Americans think they know more about athletes then they do about stocks. I'm going long on Baron Davis while shorting Brand with a straddle on Bynum.

109 The difference reallt is power pitching. Power pitching is what takes down elite hitters. Finesse guys like Lowe and Kuroda, not so much.

speaking of negative game threads, do we have am ambulance ready for I Love LA in the event the Cubs score first today?

105 I discount that black hole in August. And yes, I have been to way too many games recently.

Last Time The 2008 NL Divisional Series Participants Were In A World Series

Dodgers - 1988 (W)
Phillies - 1983 (L), only World Series won in 1980
Brewers - 1982 (L), only World Series appearance
Cubs - 1945 (L), did you know that they last won a World Series in 1908, wonder if they'll mention that during the playoffs

110 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU8vOQNvd3c

108 I think some of that has to do with who is around during games. Seems to be a different group makeup here at times like this (day before a night game) than there is during the game. At least a different group that is vocal.

108 All right, I must have been reading other Toaster sites during the Dodger games.

115
Add 10 years to the Phillies.

Another FWIW, since August 1st;

Dodgers .281/.355/.443- .798
Cubs .274/.350/.439- .789

Dodgers- 485 IP, 150 BB, 401 K's, 45 HR, 3.69 ERA
Cubs- 468.1 IP, 182 BB, 423 K's, 44 HRs, 4.04 ERA

Wrigley Field Webcam!
http://tinyurl.com/3dzkrl

119 Blocked out that Series, sorry Joe Carter.

Turn the sound down or disregard the cruddy Pro-Cubs music.

122
Touch 'em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run.

124
That really is a classic call. It is filled with praise yet slightly ominous as well. :)

Its my second favorite "touch em all" call behind "Touch em all Kirby Puckett" in the 1991 World Series, a radio call with the sister TV call by Jack Buck of "we'll see you tomorrow night" (game 6 to game 7). Great stuff.

Jon mentioned it earlier but the BP review of our series is spot on. Great stuff.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8139

Christina Kahrl is bullish on the Dodgers (although she still has us losing in 5 games). The rest of BP, not so much:

Odds to win Division Series:

CHC 71.8831
MIL 54.7744
BOS 54.0209
TBR 51.5756
CWS 48.4244
LAA 45.9791
PHI 45.2256
LAD 28.1169

Last with a bullet. BP gives the Dodgers just a 5% chance of winning the World Series, as well.

Just attempted to open an account for a Scott Proctor, but was rejected due to a fraud flag. That has to be a good sign.

And yes, I'm totally serious.

124 - there was some show, greatest home runs or something, one of those fillers on cable sports channels, and they were talking about Joe Carter's home run. One guy said, "Joe Carter, you hit a walk off home run to win the world series, never complain about anything ever again."

That about sums up my feelings on it.

Sorry for getting the pot brewing everyone. My comments were not directed at anyone in particular, but just what I see in general. I was in favor of the Manny trade and actually indifferent about the Blake trade. Without rehashing the trades, my only point was and is that some people will jump on Colletti with every mistake but will not acknowledge his good deals. I am not generally a Colletti fan, so I actually do not enjoy defending him. But it gets old when the same comments are made over and over again in a non-clever way. When someone says that they are so used to expecting the worst from Colletti that they are relieved when he does not screw up, to me that is a reflection on the commenter than the job Colletti has done. But anyway, my only point is that criticisms get old.

Anyway, 3.5 hours to go. Super excited about tonight. I see us going to a scoreless 6th inning tonight.

106 I'm a big Fiorentina fan! Studied in Florence right before they fell down to Serie C2... Their Champions League run isn't going so hot.

127

Didn't the Angels beat up on Boston this year?

121

Bummer, I thought I could watch the game with that

Can everyone please ignore 130 ? I don't want to get people riled up when everyone is in a good mood. Jon can delete it if he likes. It's just a little too bitter and too much from the heart than the situation warrants.

92 I realized that when I saw it typed out as opposed to when I was typing it. But hey, they're off to a decent start this year. At least AC Milan is turning their season around.

Your Arsenal are making you look bad. They can be such an exciting team to watch but do seem to fall asleep a little bit at the worst moments. Still, I'd expect a top 4 finish from them. It looks like unfortunately Chelsea will have a tremendus season, although it will be interesting how they cope without Essien over a few months. I also shudder to think that this might actually be Liverpool's year, but I wouldn't put any money on that at all. That said, I still think Man U. has the best squad if Ronaldo is even 80% of what he was last year. Even Rooney is coming around.

I think C.C. will win 4 games in the post season, unfortunately for the Brewers, their other pitchers will only win 1 other game.

But that will be enough for the Dodgers to host the NLCS.

133 I hope people don't get that riled up by it. While Colletti makes me angry, maybe more than he does you, I thought you made a good point and made it well. Wouldn't worry about it. At any rate, I do think we should all hold hands and instead of singing Kumbaya, perhaps the "D-o-d-g-e-r-s" song will suffice. ;-)

131 I wouldn't be surprised if they took 4 points off of Bayern and beat Lyon in Florence. They are off to a slow start, but have a good squad and will have a good year. That being said, it will be very difficult for them to qualify for the CL at the end of the year.

Does anyone know of a stat that accounts for the ERA of a teams opponents? Something like:

6 innings batting against Pitcher X who had a full season ERA of 4.00)
3 innings batting against Pitcher Y with a full season ERA of 3.00
Opponents' ERA = 3.67

I'm just curious how the Dodgers rank in terms of the pitching they've faced, especially being in the NL West with Webb, Haren, Cain, Lincecum, Peavy, etc.

I just found out one my soccer teammates is a Dodger fan, which I didn't know 'til today. I guess he keeps quiet about it in case the rest of us are Giant fans and yell Beat LA at him or something. Now that he's "come out" he knows it's safe.

136 I showed my almost 4 year old that clip last night and he loved it. I can't get him to understand the difference between a playoff game and a regular game though, which is probably a good thing since he gets upset every time they lose. I haven't told him that they lost 78 times this year.

It just started hailing here in Philadelphia. Good way to start the game.

138 - you know, I was thinking about that the other day. When someone mentions that the NL West isn't that good and that the Dodgers haven't scored a lot of runs. My thought was, how many would the Cubs have scored if they had to face the pitching of the NL West all season?

Here's a dedicated thread for the Phillies-Brewers

https://griddle.baseballtoaster.com/archives/1147235.html

Do you know what happened to Scott Proctor?

Short-term NPUT

My online sportsbook has a bunch of fun props for today's game, including who will hit the first home run in game 1. Blake Dewitt is at +2500 (worse odds than the non-starting Kent at +2000), so I put a fiver on him...

No homeruns is the favorite at +300, which might be a good bet given the teams and the conditions....

131 Nice.

134 ManU got a pretty favorable pen over the weekend. I heard they were laughing and shrugging their shoulders. Not too worried about ManU at this point in time. Last I saw Liverpool they drew against Stoke City. Can't really speak on them. And I don't comment on Chelski.

I still think were going to be there in the end. Were just getting these last few shockers out of the system. We looked much better against an admittedly mediocre Porto, and still have a schedule that should allow us to work out a few kinks.

131 This is my first year really paying attention to the CL... like I said, the start of my soccer fandom was spent in Serie C2 and Serie B... I'm sure the squad will wake up soon and do well in Serie A, but they just cant stop choking in the CL. It makes it a bit harder for me relying on FSC to see games...