Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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TV and more ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Even if your team wins a baseball game 20-0, you'll suffer at least 24 mini-defeats before the game is over. That's the minimum number of things that can go wrong for a baseball team in an 8 1/2-inning victory. If you want to count each time your hitter gets a strike or your pitcher throws a ball, that bumps the total into the hundreds.
The last time the Dodgers played a Game 1, one infamously large thing went wrong for them, along with about 200 others of various sizes. However, the winning team, the New York Mets, also had almost 200 things go wrong. The official final score was close and implicitly eventful: New York won, 6-5. But the score beneath the score, which also went in the Mets' favor, was more a Paul Westhead-coached Loyola Marymount game; in other words, a Colossus of a roller coaster.
On a good day, baseball has one-tenth the amount of actual scoring that basketball has – but that doesn't tell the whole story. If baseball counted all its jump shots, hook shots, free throws, dunks and three-pointers in its point totals – not to mention how we hang on the outcome of every single pitch – you'd have a truer idea of just how crazy it is to pin your faith on such an uncontrollable affair. (Lawler's Law does not apply.)
So here we go again, ladies and gentlemen. Once more, baseball and hope will pick us up and spin us around like poor saps in a Warner Bros. cartoon. And once more, in the end, it will boil down to a single digit: one win, or none.
Get ready. It's going to be a crazy ride.
* * *
Update: It appears you can get live coverage online here. Or try this. (Thanks to the commenters for their suggestions.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW7q0JzWaoY
It seems a bit redundant to have a Dodgers-specific bar in LA. There are plenty of team-specific bars for football teams since it's a once-a-week event, but how many people could you get to frequent a bar to watch baseball games?
I'm being dense - was this the two-guys-thrown-out-at-home-in-one-play game?
He's got me dead to rights, doc. Would you like to shoot him now or wait 'till you get home?
There are no Dodger bars in New York, much as I've tried hard to find one. No Laker bars either, for that matter. Even the places that host events for USC and UCLA football don't have anything to do with the pro teams.
For anybody wondering the wind is blowing in at Wrigley and quite well.
https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/530778.htm
I didn't realize KG16 had been around since at least then; I still think of him as a newcomer.
http://tinyurl.com/3qsqy5
Neyer argues that playoff teams in the Division series with 3 'aces', pitchers with 115 ERA+ do very well in the division series.
Both the Dodgers and the Cubs have this year this.
Great..thanks!
I echoed the Philosopher King two years back in time!
Seems like nothing ever changes with you people.
Reading that thread just chilled my optimism for today.
Ok-- really starting to get nervous now. 90-30 minutes away is the worst for me. Seems never ending.
My work here is done!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVm-HwAkVp8
Belated congrats to Jon on shipping his book off to the publisher.
You should've mention that Kent & Drew were thrown out at home on the same play.
Or maybe it's better you didn't.
Missed you at True Blue, gets lonely over there when the puppies take over. Get your picks in for the postseason contest.
SportsNation Rob Neyer: Google to 1. Then again, I thought it was a googol to 1 that he'd ever get back to the majors. Let alone with a first-place team . . .
http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=22742
https://www.google.com/search2001.html
Google search results for: Russ Martin Golden God
2001: 0
2008: 225,000
Tell me the world isn't a better place.
Congrats to McDizzle on making the roster! Throw some 93 MPH heaters and 69 MPH hooks!
If the Blue manage to steal one (but only one) at Wrigley, I may try and organize a pre-game meetup--possibly at Phillipe's, possibly at a place where we could leave a bunch of cars and only take one or two. More to come after tomorrow!
Nervous time in Philly.
You are awesome!
And I think Lawler's Law applies to baseball. For the Dodgers, 100 points becomes 8 runs. In the last 20 years, the Dodgers are 421-31 when scoring 8 or more runs, a 93.1% winning percentage, well within the Lawler zone.
70 Thanks - it's actually hard to be away from here; I did lurk some, but was always too far behind to comment.....
Burt Hooten agrees. He still has nightmares.
I'll be "working" while in the conference room, in the sense that I'll have legal type documents in front of me and a pen in my hand.
Thanks for filling in.
Oh why was I so short-sighted 15 years ago when I chose/fell into a career that would keep me so busy every other year as November approaches?
Jon - congrats on the book. Can't wait to read it.
Jon and everyone - Thanks for making this place so rewarding I'm forgoing tivo-delay and instead following the game live here until I can escape my office.
Rearrange the world
Hey thanks for that link the other day on the free sports on line.
Perhaps a bear cub? They are all going to be gone eventually anyway, might as well get some use out of one.
We could bring back that gnome. Gnomes can be evil.
"It ain't gonna work, Lou! I drank it!!!"
Who do they have?
But first... a question. What should the Dodgers' hitters approach be versus Dempster?
You gotta be kidding me
I do like the idea of Tommy drinking it. Or maybe drinking it and then... decorating the dugout with his own version of holy water.
Thanks!
Tommy carries a stachel of warm Lasorda Chardonnay just for situations events like this...We are all safe.
I want some commentary, so I will turn on 790, but they are not too far apart, or it will get schizo on me
Thank you so much!
Drats! My blue 790 hat give-away doesn't get reception in the office!
wish they'd let us watch the lineups being announced instead of showing yet another frank tv commercial. oh well.
"CHICAGO CUBS! STRENGTH: PITCHING! STAR PLAYER: CARLOS ZAMBRANO! Taking on the LOS ANGELES DODGERS! STRENGTH: HITTING! STAR PLAYER: JUAN PIERRE!"
So, so many things were wrong with that promo.
Well said, Dick, really. :|
Go Dodgers! {cross fingers} {sprinkle holy water}
Hard to believe these teams have not faced each other in post-season before. Crazy.
http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/mlb/hotcorner/index.jsp
And then go from there.
I will enjoy listening to and savoring each utterance by Vin ...
This is fun
Gametime!
Even better!!!
That is working. I love the Mosaic feed.
and he doesn't!
Naw, just kidding. Let's go Derek!
Yeah.
Yes it was. The strike zone appears to be a baseball-sized circle at knee level on the outside corner.
Okay, let's go 'Dre!
The only thing more disappointing than Manny's DP in the 1st was that we had a chance to really rack up the pitch count on Dempster. OK, maybe this inning.
You mean if Derek Lee was 24?
For the next couple years regardless of salary - Lee
2011 and beyond - Loney
Agreed.
It won't be the last.
This video feed is back up.
{{eat hat}}
{{chew through laptop keyboard}}
I too refer to him as M. Bison. We need his Psycho Powers.
HE'S A FRAUD!
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/sep/30/padres-greene-self-inflicted-injury/?padres
You may see the Golden State Warriors do it very soon with Monte Ellis.
At least Joe and Jon are palatable..(sorta).
Agreed.
Stupid wind. That should've been foul or in play. Stupid Wrigley.
Okay. We'll just have to get one of those of our own.
No one here wants to see it again, trust me.
Sorry.
... as long as one of those bases isn't homebase.
Thank You For Not ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
The winds must be crazy there. That ball just died completely (not that it wasn't going to be an out regardless, but... weird.)
Aargh!
walk it out
walk it out
walk it out
lets hope for some more good at bats and we will not see Dempster last past 6. theres been really good atnd bats and really bad at bats, regardless of result.
good AB Raffy :)
But I'll hope for a hit or a walk.
to not score would be slightly bigger
dont you just love wind
The wind is evil.
EVIL!
how many balls are we going to see from Russ driven like that?
Ya, like that matters...
JAHIHFM!
/small consolations
At least Dempster's pitch count is way up. We may be seeing the soft underbelly of the Cubs - the front of their bullpen - pretty soon tonight.
Like, I don't know if I can speak to it for awhile.
I fear an onset of LOB disease at the worst possible time.
Unusual humidity. A weird stuffy hot.
Everyone please find a paper bag and breathe into it.
Come on Loney!
I realize people want the Dodgers to win and view every opportunity as important but you will drive yourself silly if you don't relax.
TO: James Loney
FROM: Ken Noe
RE: Next at-bat
You're in Coors Field.
We'll try not to curse the wind too often here. But I can't promise.
I envision it like Jo sending her manuscript to New York in Little Women.
But I think the ending will be different aside from the book being published.
Local police still were searching for Burgos on Wednesday.
http://tinyurl.com/4ht2do
If we're still down after the 6th, it'll be time to switch to a different lucky jersey.
He let's his pitcher hit for some reason.
I'm trying to remind myself watching this game that it's not Seattle. The Dodgers actually win games.
I'm just hoping for a split in this series so I won't view a loss here as the apocalypse, but it puts more pressure on Chad tomorrow.
But I am looking ahead, which I said I wouldn't do. One inning at a time.
Well, surprisingly similar. I expected more of a difference. Girardi is as stuck on the "No, we can't put Mo in now, he's the closer" thing as Torre was, for instance.
No they don't.
Someone is going to have to bite the bullet and kill him in order to end this.
That's assuming Amtrak is on time.
That's a big assumption.
Isn't it easier to just jump on the PATCO train?
Lowe 68 pitches through 4 IP
1 fly ball the difference so far. We can definitely get it back.
How do you stand watching pitchers bat every freaking day?
When are they coming?
Seriously. The gall of these people..
This summer I actually went to a few games of an historic baseball league. Providence Greys, 1888 style baseball. Batters get to call for a high or low pitch, all that stuff.
(Manny with a man on, I mean.)
We'll be there in 3 weeks, assuming my petition for a bus to get there isn't turned down.
No runs..c'mon boys..
I gotta say, if we reach a game five, Dempster is not scary at all.
Marshall and Notre Dame's WR just got up in the bullpen. Dempster will have to suffer through another hitter.
Come on Loney
(screams at tv)
I can't believe Loney swung at the first two pitches. My Lord....
Forget 563!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
(Sorry I was 2 mins behind due to Tivo pause.)
I LOVE THIS TEAM.
It corrected me to "Money!" Sometimes I love you, Apple.
Ron Cey hit one the night before, too.
That was awesome. He was looking pretty bad early in that AB.
Always the voice of reason, Jon. You're perfectly right.
"WHY ARE YOU SWINGING!!!! THIS GUY COULDN'T THROW A STRIKE TO SAVE HIS LIFE!!! AND AGAIN!! You shouldn't have swung until this guy shows you he can throw two strikes, and I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU STRUCK OUT THERE... oh wait, you didn't.
OH, ok. And that's a ball high. Yes, that would have been ball four if you would have just laid off. Now he throws and, ok. OH, OK!! That's when you're supposed to swing. Awesome AB, James.
It works for me.
TO: Ken Noe
FROM: James Loney
RE: Pretend you're in Coors Field
Gotcha.
Back to writing grant recommendations for me...
they've had quite the boring night and deserve to be yelled at. :-)
Me, you, and millions of other superstitious Dodger fans out there
--
Dear Boss,
Please stop giving me stuff to do. You're located in LA, you should understand these things.
Sincerely,
underdog
Or, rather, didn't hear.
Rocket shot by Fukudome. Can't believe they called that an error.
What say you now?
And to think, nary a 'squee!' among the lot...
Great job Lowe!
Nice DP pitch.
LONEY!!!!! I love this game!
- Paul Wall
Jon, thanks for creating DT!
Btw, Blake could have had a play on that one but that ball was crushed. I wouldn't mock him for not coming up with it cleanly.
I'm not sure I fully understand rule 1. But I can't think of any way to ask a question without possibly violating it. So, I won't.
Sigh.
'm a Dodger fan and even I'm almost frustrated watching that.
So yeah, just saying that's rule one in place of a cuss word is a violation.
re: Rule 1, it's Jon's rule and we respect it. I tend to curse a lot privately in my own home instead of typing it here. While I have less of a problem with cursing keeping it clean here does keep some people away who otherwise have nothing else to say other than cursing. But I did curse in my apartment when DeRosa hit one out.
I just got an email from UCLA saying that the Bruins face their final non-conference opponent, Washington State.
Did they petition out of the Pac-10?
Nah, not gonna happen. Ca$hman is looking for bigger names, you know.
Rule 1: I get the idea, but was wondering about exactly what would count as a euphemism. But it's only idle curiosity -- I'm not asking for practical advice!
(I'm considered a squeaky clean type back home in the Bronx.)
428. Ken Noe
MEMO
TO: James Loney
FROM: Ken Noe
RE: Next at-bat
You're in Coors Field.
I guess they made that mistake because we can beat them.
Loney!! he's the Man!
I'm a Gooner, so despite wanting to kill myself Saturday, I was ecstatic yesterday.
Now, keep it up, Lowe! Orale Doyars!
Err on the Ned Flanders side.
A) Ethier's hitting since Manny arrived.
B) Lowe's pitching since Maddux arrived.
C) None of the above
FCS division?
Contrast that to Martin who regularly meets with his pitchers. Any pitcher. Every pitcher.
=P
I've never seen "diddely" deleted.
I'm going to be driving home facing a major existential crisis.
Oh God, not again!
Nice job Lowe!
Doing it Vlad Guerrerro style!
"Curveball, and that is whacked out of sight."
Oh wow.
Was that with the nine iron? Or the pitching wedge?
Did I ever mention how happy I was to see that flaky dude take off the "B" cap forever?
I'm over here in France at 3AM and watching the game for free. And just last night I tried to resign up for mlb.com , but it was just my luck that my credit card expired on the 1st of October.
It's Loney Time !
I heart Vin so much.
Yep, might as well pull out all the stops. What was Lowe's pitch count going into the 7th?
I miss Vin. Why can't Santa Barbara have a Dodgers Radio affiliate?
Clever, quite clever.
Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How am I going to break this to my brother?
i was on the freeway just as loney hit the bomb and i yelled out the windows "WHOOOOO ONE TIME"...and now a dewitt triple!
He should've been a goodfella'
DeWitt has great instinct.
---
Okay, TBS, I could do with less shots of depressed old Cubs fans. Am I supposed to feel guilt now?
SMILES, EVERYONE.
I could do with more depressed Cub fan shots. This is great!
I didn't come into the series exactly expecting to take both, but if I had any worries, they involved Carlos Zambrano and game two.
D. Lee: 0-1
Ramirez: 1-1
Soto: ????
Next time ask your manager to start your best pitcher twice. Harden scared us, Dempster not so much.
One Away!
Let's go Broxton!
-in best old man voice
But now I have the soothing sounds of Dick Stockton to take me the rest of the way.
From the short attention span dept: Caught the first couple minutes of FNL between the 6th and 7th. Promising I think, but I'm a sucker for that show.
There's no second team to compete against per se, so basically you only have the 11 games to win. I think that's how it works.
Pitch Saito.
Or tack on a few more and pitch McDonald.
Yeah, but to be fair they made Martin's deep fly earlier sound the same.
Thomas
But magic numbers are pretty useless in this situation. Unless we're Graham Champman in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" we should be able to count to three.
Thomas
Feeling good!
I was going to miss this game. Thanks to you, I have seen most of it. I really appreciate it.
Crush three balls and one of them has to cash in!
(Warm up McDonald)
Just kidding, but I know you guys are thinking that.
Ahhh! Russ just did. But keep going!
The announcers tend to follow the emotion of the crowd. It's hard to act really excited when everyone around you is depressed unless you have a vested interest.
Remember interjections can be followed by a comma when the feeling is not as strong.
Right.
(That sounds odd)
The Lima game was an entirely different beast. That game I spent the entire time thinking, "It's only a matter of time before the Cardinals hit five straight homers against him."
But today, I figured that the Dodgers would be in it since Derek Lowe is slightly more reliable than Jose Lima.
I think he'll do fine.
Hope it contiues
(Torre's thoughts)
Maddux can't get a blown save in this game.
Of course I know that. Regardless though...we've had this conversation. Lets enjoy the win.
Tell that to Martin, Kemp, and Ethier.
He has one postseason save. That was in Game 5 of the 1998 NLCS. Kevin Brown had a blown save in that game.
I agree.
Game Over
Excess punctuation!
Woo Hoo!!!
The Dodgers take a 1-0 lead in the postseason for the first time since October 15, 1988!
Game 1 goes to the boys in blue!
Go Dodgers!
Go Dodgers!
Great game. Great contributions all around.
Win another one tomorrow.
That was sweet.
(Sorry Phil, better luck manana.)
Thanks for being great company everyone.
I'm giddy and hungry and I smell bad.
Darn, that's the end.
Feels great to get a win in October!
The Dodgers should feel pretty good tonight.
One other thing tonight shows me, if there is a game 4, Kershaw is starting it.
Vinnie was the same way when I was driving a little while ago... it makes sense.
Anyway, time to eat, shower, and spend the rest of the evening grinning stupidly. Before the worry sets in all over again tomorrow.
It feels good. Very good indeed.
Raise a glass to our boys tonight, people! Here's to this being just the beginning.
Thank for winning Dodgers! Now I'll keep my end of the deal and finish my work now.
He actually did say the Dodgers would win today.
They predicted the Dodgers lineup could put up 5+ runs, and they produced 7 runs!
Last time we had a post season series in Chicago it started ugly but got progressively better. I like this start a lot better. And Bills tomorrow. The only problem is I worked through this game and I'm going to see Neil Diamond tomorrow. I guess I'll just watch us clinch Saturday night. I know, no jinxes, as he throws the black cat under a ladder and breaks a mirror with it.
we did have a great Sept hopefully we "Ride the wind"
They hadn't won a postseason game on the road by more than 5 since Game 4 of the 1981 NLCS.
Looking forward to a modest two game win streak
Headline on ESPN.com - Loney Tune
http://tinyurl.com/loneytune
I'm ready for another four years of Manny & the "kids (manchildren)". I say lets take a gamble on him and see if he can be a little more graceful in his decline years then Jeff Kent.
Though if there is I won't cry as I can actually go to my first Dodger Playoff game! Speaking of which, I have to email you BH about that.
They might be a scary team this post-season.
Great win.
Thanks Dodgers.
What really excites me is Russell seeming to get his batspeed back. If he and Furcal get on a lot, Manny and Eithier are so much more dangerous.
We have some great players, maybe if they are handled right this can go on..
Dodger Stadium looks SO much bigger than little Wrigley Field I bet the Dodger hitters were liking there chops.
I'm off to Rite-Aid!!
Nice game, glad to watch with you guys. I REALLY like this lineup with Furcal in there, and Nomar and Kent as the top two pinch hitters. In my best Holly Hunter voice, I'll declare that it's "bona fide!"
TAKE THAT STARK.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3617228
GS IP..... H... HR BB K... ERA ERA+
30 200.7 189 17 40 194 3.27 145 - Beckett 2007
32 200.7 188 14 80 201 3.14 141 - Billingsley 2008
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