0 - Please?

Given the way the Dodgers have been before this year, this could be his last NLCS (or playoff series, for that matter). Joe Buck doesn't even LIKE baseball, he can sit at home.

AMEN!!!!!!!

ill bet there is some (stupid) contractual issue to be worked out. Not that it cant happen, but i wouldnt hold my breath. besides, i dont have a tv so i love the 6 innings of work that he does on radio for the playoffs

LAT'd

142 You made me look at the '21 Yankees. They led the league with 481 K's in 1364 IP. Supposedly the strike zone was arm pits to knee's back than too. Dude's must been throwing the 70s back than.

Tim McCarver would even rather hear Vin than himself.

Anyone's better than Tim "You're a real man Deion!" McCarver.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tom_verducci/10/06/verducci.cuts/index.html

Lowe stood in front of his teammates, with the Dodgers leading the Cubs two games to none, and said, "Listen, I've been down 0-2, 0-2 and 0-3 and we've won the series each time: [against] Cleveland, Oakland and New York. All we needed each time was a reason to think we were going to win. Right now they [the Cubs] know they're in trouble, and they're looking for a reason to think they can win. Don't give it to them. I've seen teams leading 2-0, 3-0 all of a sudden start changing their game. I don't want to see that. I don't want you to think, 'Oh, it's O.K. if we lose this one because we'll just get 'em tomorrow.' Don't give them any reason to think they can win."

I'd be happy to share Vin Scully with any national broadcast, whether the Dodgers are part of it or not. Send him to Boston this evening. Send him to Tampa Bay. There's no one better, especially not on the national broadcast teams. His calls of the Gibson HR and Buckner's error that whole inning) are all-time classics, and he made them on NBC. The world became a poorer place when CBS and then Fox took over and didn't find a place for Scully.

Boy would that be fun! He doesn't need to be solo, as a columnist suggested, but maybe a reunion with Joe Garagiola would be pretty sweet.

Pretty... pretty... sweet!

Someone told me you can synch the radio and tv broadcasts. We tried it at home and it was impossible, as the radio broadcast was slightly ahead of the TV.

My defense of Dodger fans against the whiny Cub blogger got LAT'd:

149. dzzrtRatt
87 I was in what is usually the rowdiest part of the stadium, there were Cub fans mixed into it, and I saw absolutely nothing happen that Dodger fans should be embarrassed about.

The "leaving-early" canard is tried and true, but false. From our seats I could clearly see the Academy Drive and Stadium Way exit lanes and they were empty, or virtually so, until the end of the game. From my seat in the last row, I could also turn around and see the departures through the Reserved Gate, and they didn't start until the bottom of the eighth -- and most of them were people wearing Cub gear! Moreover, about 20 percent of the crowd if not more hung around to wait for the Dodgers to retake the field after the champagne celebration.

The Cub fan writing that lament 87 linked to saw what he saw, so I can't challenge it. I can only speak to the behavior of a few hundred people in my sight lines. However, if you read what he said he objected to, I'd have to call him a bit oversensitive. What did he expect, a hug?

8

I remember that Vin did the World Series for CBS Radio during the 90's. So he was still a big part of the National Scene up until, you'll love this, ESPN Radio took over National Radio broadcast rights in 1998.

I think Harry Kalas should merit some air time too.

Vin would be amazing, but I'm not holding my breath.

From the last thread - Molly, I think the game is actually at 8PM ETZ. So you might be spending a lot of the time at the bar if you get there at 2PM. Not like there's anything wrong with that.

I'll probably get to Chickie and Pete's around 5:30 - 6PM on Thursday. Will DTers still be there then?

I saw him broadcast on TV during the division series. The problem was they made everybody listen to TBS dorks talking about what a great broadcaster he is!

People connected to the team say the genesis of the division is that a few key young stars have acquired outsized egos, possibly from years of praise and kid-glove treatment. (That group is said to include Andre Ethier, Russell Martin and Matt Kemp but not James Loney, who is said to be more level-headed than the others). "They are constantly saying inappropriate things,'' one Dodger intimate said of the young stars.

And then Jon Heyman died in a pothole.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_heyman/10/06/heyman.dodgers/index.html

I'm not sure why but I've always assumed he's not interested in doing it. Maybe I assume that because if he wanted to, wouldn't it have happened by now?

What were the rules in 88 for the NLCS? How did the Dodgers get the home field?

Sigh, Amen. I miss Vin on NBC during the World Series years back. Even when the Dodgers weren't in it, it was the best. Ah well.

11 You should post that on BleedCubbieBlue if you can. Or I can post it for you.

17 - I include Vin in my mental list of people we need to convince on this.

16 - 10 bucks says the "Dodger intimate" is Jeff Kent.

16 God, another lame article with the same theme?

I did find the CC Sabathia discussion at the bottom interesting, though. Can you imagine how insane the staff of the Giants would be if they added Sabathia? Only problem is, he could also probably bat 5th.

21 Or Lasorda.

16 - A "Dodger intimate." I love those sources. Inappropriate, according to whom? What a ridiculous remark, as though baseball players are supposed to be egoless anyway, and as if it has any bearing upon what happens on the field. I wish this storyline would go away.

16 I thought Russ was our stoic leader who had veteran respect.

The best short post Jon has ever done. Let's get Vin in there.

He saw the Dodgers earlier this year ago and determined they were terrible. But now he loves their pitching. "[Derek] Lowe, [Chad] Billingsley and [Hiroki] Kuroda are all good. Kuroda is nasty. [Closer Jonathan] Broxton is awesome. He throws 100 mph and he has a 90-mph slider. He's better than [Jonathan] Papelbon.''

High praise. High praise indeed.

20 Yes. I don't know why, but I have the sense that Vin retired from national broadcasting and not the other way around.

Even if Vin wants it and the networks want it, I don't know if such a thing is possible. Wouldn't the broadcasters have something in their contracts guaranteeing that they will be the ones calling the action? I don't know how they would feel if they were asked to step aside...

...but maybe they'd feel just fine about it. I could certainly see a scenario where Scully is invited into the booth for an "interview" and then calls an inning or two. It could definitely happen.

The Dodger "intimate" could be Luis Gonzalez for all we know (from last year). Darned lazy sportswriting...

Vin Scully and Harry Kalas should do 3 innings in their respective home ball parks.

24 A Dodger intimate -- Carolyn Hughes?

25 Russell Matin is a lot of things. Stoic is not one of them. I can see him being lumped in with Ethier and Kemp but that's a lump that does not to be removed or even treated at this point.

Mad Dog Unlaeshed Radio is now playing "I Love LA" on Sirius/XM.

Now I've seen everything.

19 I'd leave Bleed Cubbie Blue alone for the time being, for the same reasons you'd leave alone a dog that's been kicked, cornered, and is snarling angry.

27 - What a turnaround in his rep in one night.

I think I'd rather not hear Vin if it meant I'd have to listen to Garagiola too. My goodness he was bad. I can still hear him say "This is where he has to make it happen" for any impoirtant situation.

Heyman should be like Plaschke here. We should just ignore their existence. All they want is attention.

34 Yah, that's why I've avoided posting there this past week. Not that I wouldn't be tactful and gentle if I did post there, but I just didn't see the point or want to step in when they're down. I was just thinking it might be nice to defend Dodger fans but... whatever...

Btw, speaking of Vin, do we know if he'll be making the trip to Philly to call parts of those games on the radio, at least?

I know that's one of the reasons he hasn't generally called post-season games, is not wanting to do as much travel. But seems like he's making the effort for the Dodgers this post-season.

People connected to the team say the genesis of the division is that a few key young stars have acquired outsized egos, possibly from years of praise and kid-glove treatment.

So, they are the only professional athletes who got years of praise and kid-glove treatment. Interesting. They must be really good then.

38 I posted there today praising their site. The only response I got was a question about arriving early and leaving late.

My goodness, whoever said the Phillies would be slighted in the NLCS coverage nailed it. Man, oh man, suddenly the Dodgers are the media favorites.

I saw it happening, because you had the Torre Factor, the Manny Factor, the 50 years of Dodger Moments factor, the LA factor, and so on.

Oh yes, when I think of the Phillies I think of:

1) The Phillie Phanatic
2) Mike Schmidt smacking home runs
3) Steve Carlton
4) Fans booing Santa Claus
5) The Vet and its dangerous Astro Turf
6) Harry Kalas
7) Boy Meets World
8) Jim Halpert
9) 10,000 losses!

Vin will be there in Philly, his first visit to Citizens Bank.

It's unfortunate that TBS is covering the playoffs. Do they have the rights to everything all the way through the World Series?

My recurring thought throughout the series broadcast was that those three guys hadn't seen the Dodgers play all year. Or at least in the last six weeks. They routinely butchered names, botched story lines, and even managed to list Hu as the starting 2nd basemen on Saturday. Darling was OK but hardly insightful, Gwynn may be a nice guy but should never by allowed inside an announcers booth, and the 3rd guy (Stockton?) seemed like he'd rather be playing golf except when he got super excited on every routine fly ball hit. The scary thing was that as mediocre as the announcing crew was, the "analysts" were ten times worse. Someone should notify TBS that ex-players often make really poor analysts; they were so bad that they made Kevin Kennedy and Lyons seem highly professional.

Of course, I can easily live with TBS' cruddy broadcast team, if the Dodgers keep playing like they did against the Cubs.

41 Point number 7 made me laugh, because I think of Boy Meets World too, particularly the episode where the main character had to sneak a radio into class to listen to the Phillies playoff game. I remember thinking how stupid it was that games went on during the day, when people are in class/ work. It turns out, I still think its stupid.

If people know nothing about a huge market team like the Dodgers, I wonder what they know about the Royals.

41 10,000 losses!

This brings up a very, very important question. Are the Phillies the saddest franchise of all time?

Their all-time .470 winning percentage is bad -- tied for third-worst with Colorado and Seattle, and only San Diego's 462 and Tampa's .417 (!) are worse.

What's more, despite being around so long, Philly has only five pennants and one championship in the franchise's long history.

I mean, the Braves also spent years in the wilderness, but they've pulled themselves nearly even (.499 all-time, 39 games under .500) and have 17 pennants and 3 championships all time.

They have a good club this year, but over the course of baseball history, has anyone been more mediocre than the Phillies?

I open the floor to discussion.

Fox has the rest of the post season. So we don't have Dick Stockton to kick around anymore.

Hey, I've been out of town, away from internet access/news. I know the folks here are usually up to the minute, and the best place to find news.

Do we have any update on Kuo's status? Just hoping to get some positive news, having him in the pen could be critical to the NLDS!

Thanks in advance!

41. I was on the subway going to a Phillies game, and a stranger made it clear to me that Mike Schmidt was an average player. He said that Schmidt owed his MVP awards to Pete Rose.

This is the logic that makes me reluctant to wear Dodgers garb around Phillies fans on Thursday.

43 TBS is so much better than Fox.

I tried to do a home-baked simulcast on Saturday by tuning in Vin on the radio, and putting the tv volume down. I discovered that the tv broadcast was about 10 seconds behind. I could use my DVR wizardry to get it further behind, but not to catch up to real time.

Man, Kuroda has been a fantastic signing. Since the ASB in 84.2 IP (including post-season) 3 HR's allowed, 15 BB, 58 K's.

Stockton's a pro at play by play, but I felt his performance in the NLDS was rusty, to say the least.

I will say this about TBS. After Broxton's strike out, they promply shut up. They let the audience hear the stadium and the atmosphere, unlike a certain Joe Buck, who would have certainly ruined the moment.

It looks like TBS has the ALCS and Fox has the NLCS and World Series. Never thought I would be looking forward to getting a Fox broadcast, but it should be markedly better than TBS. The good news is that if need to hear some more of Eckersley's insights like "oh I hate answering these questions" I can flip over to TBS after the Red Sox-Rays' games.

54 Good point. I appreciated that a great deal as well.

I've enjoyed the TBS playoffs other then the same ad's being repeated over and over. That is not TBS fault, they evidently have no market to sell the spots to so they hype their own shows. I'll take Ernie and his group any day over Jeannie and Kennedy. I'm going to miss Darling and Gwynn 10 seconds into Buck.

I'm actually going to have have to miss all of game 1. I'll be able to follow from a computer in class, but man, does that stink.

From Ken Gurnick:

The Dodgers are hopeful of reinstating left-handed reliever Hong-Chih Kuo to the active roster, although he has pitched only once in the past four weeks because of persistent discomfort in his left triceps area. Kuo, who has had four elbow operations, is expected to throw off a mound Monday for the first time in three weeks.

Interesting.

I love to pick on Fox as much as anyone, but their broadcasts are light-years better than TBS, for the simple reason that they've been broadcasting baseball all season long. They know what they're doing, at least relatively speaking.

The amount of technical incompetence I noticed on TBS blew me away. Even simple things, like what levels the ambient crowd noise should be mixed at, and the camera operators' inabilty to track fly balls to the outfield. The direction was lousy too; often I saw them cutting to a camera that wasn't set up right, so the viewers all saw jarring camera movement. This is all without even discussing how bad the announcers were.

TBS put together a good studio show, I'll give them that. I wouldn't mind seeing them take over for the Baseball Tonight circus.

51
As an out of market Dodger fan I have to sync up Vin on Mlb.Com audio feed which is behind TV by 30-60 seconds. My comcast DVR is not the easiest to sync up but it was doable and made the last two innings on Saturday the best listening/viewing of Baseball in many a year.

I was going to say that I was looking forward to Fox too because TBS was so bad, but then I remembered, it'll be Tim McCarver won't it? Pain.

6
Anyone's better than Tim "You're a real man Deion!" McCarver.

One of the greatest moments ever. Think about this: America was sick of McCarver way back in 1992! How he has somehow managed to be the lead baseball analyst on three different networks is beyond me.

57 In fairness, networks buy into baseball to pump their own shows. This has been true for years. The Playoffs happen at the perfect time to promote Fall lineups. So they've always paid way more than it's worth in revenue. We've all seen the Fox stars eating a hot dog at the game. This is where they make their money back. This is what gets the player's their large salaries. In theory, this is what keeps ticket prices lower. In theory. Not in practice.

Can anyone find the stats on Rollins and Victorino batting from the left side? For future reference, where would I find them?

63
Did McCarver criticize Deion? I never knew the backstory on it.

I kinda liked the TBS studio crew. Eckersley looks like he could still come in and close out a game, and he did a creditable job.

I'd really like to hear Al Leiter again, though; he was excellent in his appearances a couple of years ago.

66
If I remember correctly, the criticism had to do with Deion playing both with the Falcons and Braves at the time. I think he famously took a helicopter ride from a Falcons game to Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium for the NLCS game that night. McCarver called Deion selfish a few times throughout the series, and as a result, Deion went through the clubhouse with a bucket of water shouting, "Where McCarver?", before finding him and dumping the bucket on him.

I want to hear Steve Lyons and Lou Pinella in the booth again.

69 Well, Lou is free now...

65 Baseball Reference.

Victorino is about 100 points of OPS better against lefties.

11. I saw something to be embarrassed about: a few minutes after the game, in the loge section, a guy starts tossing around a Cubs cap stomping on it and stuff (no big deal) but then some other guy grabs it, spits on (and by spit, I mean hawks a lugie)it and throws it at someone wearing a Cub shirt. The first guy picks it up and lights it on fire. He holds it up by the brim while the cap part is buring and everyone starts cheering.

I just shook my head but where was Dodger security. A guy lit a cap on fire and held it up in the air and no one even notices, never mind tells him to put it out or eighty-sixs him. Are you kidding me?

65
Rollins as LHB
2008: .272/.352/.438
Career: .274/.330/.437

Flyin' Hawaiian as LHB
2008: .298/.355/.407
Career: .289/.346/.404

I used Baseball-Reference.com. You can click on any team page or search for a player. Once on a player page, there are drop down menus for either game logs or splits, and you can choose a specific year or their entire career. Here is Victorino's split page:

http://tinyurl.com/3ksqtf

69 - Well, the Dodgers ARE en fuego.

Has anyone brought the idea of Vin announcing NLCS games to anyone in the Dodgers org?

14 I'm lucky enough to have tickets for both game 1 and 2.
Any Philly area people know where the best place to stay thursday night would be? Looking for something convenient to public transport and/or the stadium if not both.

Looking forward to meeting up with other DT'ers before the game...wherever that may be. Chickie and pete's?

75. There's a Holiday Inn right next to the stadium. I wouldn't recommend it if you plan on doing much other than the games in the city - it's a pretty isolated area. Though it is close to the subway which will get you downtown. You could also stay at any place downtown on or near Broad street. The Broad Street subway is a straight shot to the stadium.

Look forward to seeing you there.

46 , and still people wonder why we are the way we are...

2008 NL Lefty Pitchers OPS against:
vs RHB: .777
vs LHB: .695

Cole Hamels career OPS against:
vs RHB: .671
vs LHB: .742

Maybe Loney should start Game 1.

On Mike and Mike this morning, they had a little segment where they played Vin Scully's call of the final out of the series. Just so everyone could hear him.

79

That's a class move by Mike and Mike. Should I spring the 15 bucks to get to archives of Vin calling the NLDS? Can you podcast game broadcasts?

Yup, he has that weird reverse split.

I'm worried about Manny's slump. He didn't hit a home run in the last game and I only saw him take his bat off his shoulder once.

On a somewhat related topic

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=151211

68 - ah, the good old days.

Thanks to whomever recommended the Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. I've tried several that very clearly use artificial flavors to increase the pumpkin spice flavor, but this one tastes like a unique ale rather than a beer with some Starbucks flavor syrup added to it.

79 - and now, it's not one precious, beautiful out, it's one precious, beautiful strike..."

I could not imagine any other announcer in the sport today being able to say something like that. the deliver was absolutely perfect.

2 more comments on the broadcast -

I've enjoyed TBS' sparing use of the extreme-super-closeup. Say goodbye to that on Thursday. We should be able to tell if Lowe has gotten over his cold symptoms.

Also, as bad as McCarver and others have been for so long, CBS fired Billy Packer, so there's hope.

80 - define "podcast"? if you mean transfer them onto an ipod or other mp3 player, probably. if you mean post your own pod cast with said audio, I'm guessing you would need the express written consent of Major League Baseball and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Unless you're in international water, then implied oral consent may be enough.

That list in 41 is pretty priceless..I have to say though I'm now worried being the media favorite, I wanted to stay us the quiet underdog and fly under the radar.

well we can't control the media, I just hope we stay level headed and keep that "team mentality" we keep hearing about.

Loney has a double in 6 at bats vs Hamels.
Kent and Nomar are each 0 for 6. (According to MLB.com)

87

The former. I was just wondering if the mlb audio service allows the broadcasts to be downloaded, so I can preserve them to listen to down the line.

38 The reputation of Dodger fans for leaving early, etc. is unshakable outside of us fans. Even during Gagnemania, the world outside of Dodgerdom never picked up on the fact that he was keeping people in their seats til "Game Over."

I just wanted to make sure those of you who didn't attend Saturday night's game aren't misled into thinking Cub fan abuse was widespread. I really don't think it was.

There was a great vibe in the crowd and the parking lot, but it was all pro-Dodger, not anti- anyone else. The victory Friday put to rest 20 years of frustration and disappointment, so I didn't sense that many in the crowd wanted to take their emotions into such a negative place.

And I should say, the reverse was also true. The Cub fans I encountered were very polite and engaging. I had a great talk with a guy in a food line who was clearly yearning for his Cubbies to turn it around.

I'm not worried about being the media favorite or at least the attention grabbing team of the series. But as long as Vegas, et al continue to make the Dodgers dogs I will be a happy camper. There is a good chance the Dodgers won't be favored until Game 3 (Kuroda v. Moyer).

84

I am pleasantly surprised by the Boont Amber Ale from Trader Joe's. Much better than I expected.

I don't care about who's favored or who's predicting what.

I just love to enjoy the ride. Everything else is meaningless.

Back in the dark ages when the World Series was broadcast by Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek on NBC, they would have the radio announcers for the participating teams come into the booth during, if memory serves me, the fourth and fifth innings of home games. It would be nice to do that again but I don't think the egos of Buck and McCarver would tolerate it.
72 I remember a doubleheader against the Cubs in the 70s when some loud, obnoxious Cub fans were in the left field pavillion blowing a loud whistle and waving a pennant. Some fan grabbed the pennant out of their hands and lit it on fire. Nothing happened then, either.

Heyman might be a pain sometimes, but would Plaschke have written this passage?

Kent is the most extreme case and practically a non-entity now, as he sits and sulks by himself as a glum bench player. "He doesn't talk to anyone,'' a Dodgers insider said.

That's actually not quite true. The truth is, Kent shouldn't talk to anyone. When he does, he says dumb things like, "Vin Scully talks too much.'' Kent is also extremely close to owner Frank McCourt's wife, Jamie, who's also the club president. So in other words, the ornery pinch-hitter has the ability to double as a clubhouse informant -- more potential for messiness.

This is a much harder shot at Kent than the comments about the young guys.

just on topic with the cubs fans reaction to the Dodgers, I noticed this in an article on yahoo sports...it was right near the top of the comments section

"the Dodgers are and always have been a classy organization....congrats, coming from a Cubs fan."

95
I bet Rick Monday looked on in horror from CF and vowed never to let that happen on his watch again!

96
Plaschke will jump on any bandwagon.

There was one obnoxious Dodger fan in our section. He kept yelling at some people a few rows in front of him. I think he had Manny dreadlocks and a white hoodie. At one point Brock turned to his dad and said Aren't you glad your son didn't turn out like that?

Speaking of Plaschke, here's his latest:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke6-2008oct06,0,3178988.column

"The Herd" on ESPN Radio took Plaschke's contract year angle and ran with it. Not that an ESPN Radio show had much credence to start with, you know :)

98

LOL

100

I always have an internal debate with myself when I see that at a game. Is it worth trying to talk to this person about civility, or will I just end up getting a beat down? A lot of it depends if I am with a friend or my wife.

98 HAHA

At a UCLA game I went to this year, one Bruin supporter was yelling at everyone to stand up and support the team. He then got into a discussion with some others nearby about whose rights he was or not infringing on by his actions.

To me its a fine line but I don't think you should throw things at other people.

98 Eric's at it again. Makin' me laugh.

101 And as with any viewpoint expressed on that show, it was factually wrong and didn't make any sense. Andruw Jones was not in a contract year. If he were, that wouldn't begin to explain is performance, nor did it explain his performance in 2007 when he was in a contract year.

107 And just to add, the bottom line point he was trying to reach was, as always, the NFL is better.

I still haven't seen a date for World Series ticket availability to the general public, but I'm going to guess it's this Saturday at 10am (pure speculation on my part!).

You can still register for a drawing to get the chance to buy them before they are released to the general public, or you can be part of a pre-sale by simply putting down a $1,000 deposit on season tickets for 2009.

http://tinyurl.com/4b23qb

Beej!!!!

Going to any sporting event that attracts tens of thousands is like going to one huge dog kennel. Some dogs are very nice, while others deserve the golden needle.

I think Icaros has capture the stadium experience as no one else has.

111 Can we instantly grant that nickname to someone? How about James "Golden Needle" McDonald?

105
Even when being obnoxious, UCLA fans can't help but be dorky. ; )

76 Thanks Sam PHL.
I'll probably stay away from the Holiday inn. Thanks for the info and looking forward to meeting some of the devoted DT contingent.

Is the Tampa game not on t.v.?

I don't understand why some sports writers feel the need to cover the team like it was a soap opera. Don't they have some baseball to write about this time of year?

105. What about the Westside Rental Geek. The clown dancing in the black and red trunks wearing the Westside Rental Tee shirt. I get annoyed just watching him from 30 rows away. If he were sitting next to me, we would have a serious problem and he doesn't throw anything.

116
TBS

Very funny

119 ah it kept telling me tbs was showing everybody loves raymond, I see that was an error.. lol

118 I think that guy gets paid to dance and be an idiot by Westside Rentals, so that he can be put on the jumbotron. It may have worked once or twice at Staple Center, but I'm pretty sure they have a policy now where they absolutely will not put him on the big tv. That being said, I went to a Clippers game and Kings game in consecutive games last year, and he was at both of them--- that gig of his can't be all bad.

121 He was dancing on top of a van parked on the exit to the sunset gate the last game I was at. I think hes also a prominent fixture in Santa Monica/Brentwood when hes not at sporting events.

121 he actually showed up on the t.v. highlights of a couple UCLA games during march madness, I think he traveled to phoenix..

121
I figure the guy must own the company because you couldn't hire someone to put so much energy into something they didn't have a vested interest in. He is scorned and disliked by everyone.

113

Golden Needle pitches to the Golden God.

Good day for Upton

Beej!!!

Xeifrank must be loving his odds these days.

128 now that you're i meant to mention that i couldnt agree more with your comments about the towels, I think they're gimmicky and that people should be clapping

I don't get why they were using rally towels.

We had a series lead! This is not Pittsburgh.

98 Actually, I think the original Toy Cannon was still in center.

I remember the 1987 Twins being the first baseball team to really make a scene with rally towels. They matched the color of the stadium roof.

[118} That clown was at the Jackson Browne concert last night at the Orpheum Theatre downtown.

I now have commitments at 8PM on the days of game 6 and game 7. Uh oh.

131
Not surprising, the pavilion fans during 74/75 were notorious for being rowdy drunks. Jimmy Wynn had to give a speech one game to ask fans to behave. Fairly certain it was around that time when they stopped serving beer in the bleachers.

And Floyd wins that match-up.

63 Eric Stephen
When I see so many broadcasters who come to predominance and be so lacking, it makes me realize that it happens frequently in every profession.

Add another to the long list of people who hit Brandon Backe hard this year...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3629594

See, Gavin Floyd was a terrible acquisition.

I just love seeing all that well manicured grass at the baseball games. Nothing like it, that's for sure.

Say friends, I'm thinking of having fake grass installed in my yard. Does anyone have any experience with fake grass? Pros/Cons?

Thanks

135 It was. Back-to-back game interruptions caused by Pete Rose or the rowdy drunken fans, depending on how you look at it. More the latter than the former. I was too young to drink (legally) at the time.

138 Great line

118 That guy does his schtick every day near my office in Santa Monica.

I talked to him once and guess what-- he doesn't get paid to go to those games, and the company only pays for his ticket if it's a nationally televised game, and even then they don't always pay. He was complaining to me about this and how the company doesn't value him enough, etc. etc. Hilarious. And bizarre.

You know how some people have "crazy eyes" and when you make eye contact with them you know right away they're totally freakin' nuts? He's one of those.

Rental Man used to dance crazy at LB State hoops games before he was rental man maybe 8 years ago. In a full 3 pc suit, with some olympic looking gold medal on. Creepy, but I have some old Hi-8 footage of it in a box under my bed.

OmG - Rental man was at the last yankee stadium game. SFW

http://tinyurl.com/3l7djq

143
Sounds pathetic but I'm not in his shoes. Would be interesting to know what his motivation is.

141
You must have been born a fan.

143 Not that I'm trying to understand the inner-workings of the genuiuses behind the Westside Rentals dancing guy marketing campaign, but why would they care if its a nationally televised game? Their website is for apartments in Los Angeles; what do they care if people in Pittsburgh are looking at their website.

145

I am surprised it took so long for him to get hit by a bottle.

I don't think I've ever seen that guy before.

I prefer this dancer, who gets around just a bit more than the Westside Rentals guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4

147 I got hooked when I was 4. Vin Scully was a big reason. KMPC was the Dodgers radio station then and at the end of the year they put out a vinyl LP (I know, my age is really showing now) of season highlights. I think I still have most of those memorized. I don't know what happened to the album, but I know the last time I played it there was a lot of bacon frying in the background.

New from Diamond Leung:

- Joe Torre wouldn't announce his rotation and said he hasn't decided whether to go with a three-man rotation or four. Clayton Kershaw would be considered for Game 4 since the Phillies have far more tough left-handed hitters than the Cubs do.

- Hong-Chih Kuo remains a possibility to be activated for the series, and Torre said he'd likely be the only roster change.

- Torre didn't expect to remove anyone from the lineup in facing left-hander Cole Hamels, but the order could be juggled.

140 - don't do it.

1 - it gets very hot - burnable hot
2 - it's less "green" than you think. Basically replacing planet cooling "grass" with artificial heat absorbing material.

Yes, it takes water to keep that lawn, but if I could, I'd dig up an "op-ed" column in the LATimes that had much more substance to back this up.

Just do a google map, and think of replacing all that green lawn with concrete or other non-green material.

154

Or get a permit to start growing fruits and vegetables in the front lawn. I would love that

155 You need a permit? I see lots of vegetable gardens in front yards.

what about what used to be called a xeriscape garden? Low water use, lots of climate-appropriate plants?

This is a big country with thousands of different mini-climates and ecosystems. Seems weird to me that everybody everywhere, from Maine to Florida, from North Dakota to California, wants the same kind of landscaping.

140 it really depends on what the area is for. Is it for playing sports? Is it for looks? That's really important.

By the way, not that anyone is supposed to care, but I was at the game Saturday night about 5 rows back behind first base (but about 20 feet down the foul line) and I "caught" the line drive hit by Fotenot in the top of the third! I use the word "caught" here liberally since I stopped it with my right wrist, it bounced around my chest and an old man picked it up. Everyone around us demanded him to give it to me since I had a huge welt on my hand, which he was very willing to do. Naturally, of all the line drive/foul balls that they show, TBS did not decide to cover that particular one. Oh well, it was well worth the pain. It was icing to the best sporting event I have ever attended.

159 Did the adrenaline rush of actually getting the ball make the pain go away?

I still don't know how Fontenot hurt himself on that bad pickoff play Saturday.

160 Definitely. That, and my ice cold drink I used to ice it down. It was such an amazing feeling...I never thought I would catch one in my whole life.

161 The spikes on his plant foot caught.

161 Me neither. Definitely one of the weirder injuries I have seen. He was on the ground for a while, and I couldn't tell if it was an ankle, a shin or maybe groin.

Logan White has the first unprotected pick in the 2009 draft.

Something tells me that Logan White won't be able to make that pick. Either by leaving the organization, and/or signing away a Type-A FA.

165 How is that.

165 I think the only Type A free agent the Dodgers could even be mentioned signing would be CC.

With Ramirez, Blake, Lowe and Furcal, it seems that it is more likely they keep their pick and gain a few others.

166 Right now, Ng is more likely to leave.

166

If we re-sign Manny, I think that effectively blows our wad on signing any other type a free agent.

Re: 3b....I wouldn't mind looking into Dan Uggla from the Marlins and moving him to 3b. He's due for arbitration and Marlins probably don't want to keep him for much longer.

From Baseball America:

Protected First-Round Picks
1. Nationals (59-102)
2. Mariners (61-101)
3. Padres (63-99)
4. Pirates (67-95)
5. Orioles (68-93)
6. Giants (72-90)
7. Braves (72-90)
8. Reds (74-88)
9. Tigers (74-88)
10. Nationals (compensation for failure to sign 2008 first-rounder Aaron Crow)
11. Rockies (74-88)
12. Royals (75-87)
13. Athletics (75-86)
14. Rangers (79-83)
15. Indians (81-81)
16. Diamondbacks (82-80)
Unprotected First-Round Picks
17. Dodgers (84-78)
18. Marlins (84-77)
19. Cardinals (86-76)
20. Blue Jays (86-76)
21. Astros (86-75)
22. Mariners (compensaton for failure to sign 2008 first-rounder Joshua Fields)
23. Twins (88-75)
24. White Sox (89-74)
25. Mets (89-73)
26. Yankees (89-73)
27. Brewers (90-72)
28. Phillies (92-70)
29. Red Sox (95-67)
30. Rays (97-65)
31. Yankees (compensation for failure to sign 2008 first-rounder Gerrit Cole)
32. Cubs (97-64)
33. Angels (100-62)

I can't remember if Aaron Crow's agent is Boras, but if Jim Bowden (or whomever succeeds him) doesn't draft/sign Stephen Strasburg...

156

I'm talking about the full on Front Yard farm. It's just so much wasted space

Ng's a front runner for the seattle job, but I don't know how long White will let himself stay in the same position with the Dodgers.

Again, as BH points out, Dodgers are very possibly going to be gaining more draft picks than they're losing. It's a little early to write out their draft order in pen. Maybe pencil.

Alexei Ramirez looks malnourished.

This year Carlos Quentin was mentioned as a big mistake for the Snakes even if they parlayed the prospect into part of the Haren deal. Much more harmful was letting Uggla go in the Rule 5 several years ago.

I don't see Florida making any money moves this winter. They are on the verge of becoming great again. I could see that rotation being the best in the NL very quickly. They don't get much pub but Nolasco, Johnson, and Volstad are a dynamite trio.

Could LA decline Penny's option and still offer arbitration?

For the 1st time since their inception the Rays will not be able to take on of the best players available. Curious to see how they draft when they it is not a gimme.

Logan already gave us his best bullets.

172 Crow's agent isn't Boras. Its Hendricks Sports Management team, a corporation managed by two brothers.

174 I'd be shocked if Ng got the Seattle job. They've got an enormous payroll and a discouraged fan base. They're not going to take any risks.

178 Yeah, but the problem is that Penny could potentially make more money in arbitration than the option. And if teams have to give up draft pick compensation to sign an risk player like Penny, Penny would be smart to accept arbitration, and then the Dodgers will be in trouble.

182 Its that kind of thinking that got Seattle in this problem in the first place.

"Lets not take risks, lets keep Bavasi as GM, lets sign a mediocre starter like Carlos Silva a bunch of money to eat innings, etc."

While I do agree Harold Reynolds is better suited for the Little League World Series, he doesn't seem to get on my nerves that much..

183 Wouldn't injury/ineffectiveness factor into an arbitration case? He's been broken for most of the year.

On a related note, this was taken from the Elias Projections done by Detroit Tigers Thoughts:

Manny Ramirez (A)
Jeff Kent (B)
Casey Blake (B)
Rafael Furcal (B)
Derek Lowe (A)
Brad Penny (B)
Greg Maddux (B)
Joe Beimel (B)

186 You can offer a team 70% of his last year in arbitration. But this rarely happens due to it pissing off the player. And even if its 70%, you're still paying him $2 million in a buyout, so you're going to pay him near the $9 million he would have gotten if you just picked up the option. Its a lot of hassle just to save $500,000.

187 Unless the rules changed recently, it's 80, not 70.

Even if you think Penny is done, you have to bring him back just for depth purposes. If you lose out on the Sabathia/Sheets sweepstakes, we come into next year with McDonald and Stults as our four and five. It would be very un Ned like to take that kind of risk.

1 out to go before the Rays are headed to the ALCS.

So was not blocking Adam Dunn still a mistake?

This could be Junior Griffey's last at-bat of his career. I hope not.

That's kind of sad. I'm happy for the Rays, but sad to see Griffey strike out in what could be his last at bat, to make the final out. :-(

188 I would agree, but it sounded like Penny was really pissed off at the Dodgers for not picking up his option. Maybe he gotten over it, but the Dodgers are a team scrambling to try to find money to spend on FAs. Don't know how Penny makes sense when you're trying to free up money.

The Dodgers and Rays are in the final four. Fun times.

Eight to go.

Rays win!! To the ALCS they go!

Boy is it a good thing the Dodgers made the NLCS. If they were at home watching the last expansion team make the 2008 LCS... that'd be depressing.

192

I hope Junior isn't done. If he is, then I'm officially old. One of my favorite ballplayers. Ever.

193 I'd sooner resign Lowe. I realize overpaying is a certainty, and the contract will be at least a year too long, but he's made me a believer.

171 Thanks, I get it.

Whoa, seeing these Ray's celebration, it may be hard to convince them they can't go all the way!

Meant to say make an LCS. With the Rays in, that means all four recent expansion teams made the League Championship Series.

For that matter, the Rays have a good chance to make it to the World Series along with the other three in their history (Rox, Dbacks, Marlins).

198 I rather it be a year too long than doing another Ned Coletti special. Lets stop giving millions of more dollars in a shorter amount of years while they end up injured or ineffective.

198 D-ratt, I know its hard but you have to avoid that resign vs. resign conundrum. Anyhow I know what you mean and I think I'd rather waste money on Lowe than Penny. But Penny could have the "Arm" if he could figure out how to use it. I have never seen a stranger story.

Westside Rental Man could have starred in the movie Rize.

I think the White Sox have less to be disappointed about than the Cubs do, don't you? Nobody and I mean NOBODY thought the Sox had a chance to win the division before the season started. To see them make a run like this is pretty good. And in the end they can go to bed at night and say "At least we're not the Cubs."

188 -- If you read my post on the subject you already know I would be happy to have McDonald and Stults as our #4 and #5 next year, but I agree that Colletti would never go for it. However, I am failing to see how it is not obvious to you that bringing back Penny would be equally "un-Ned-like" and even un-McCourt-like. And lets put the arm injury to one side for a moment. Penny has publicly blamed his pitching hurt and thus hurting the team on the Dodgers not picking up his 2009 option a year early, which is not only ridiculous but a huge insult to the FO, AND he went AWOL before the Dodgers clinched the division and never returned, just because he was told he would not pitch in the post-season. Honestly, after that, is it not clear that Penny is even less likely to wear a Dodger uniform again than Milton Bradley? As for what we will do, I can see the Dodgers now making a big effort to re-sign Derek Lowe, when it was not too long ago that everybody thought there was no chance of that.

I always think if you are quitting you are resigning. If you are signing up again, you are re-signing

Industrious use of hyphens is key.

Mike Lowell off Red Sox roster. Out until World Series, if they get that far.

http://tinyurl.com/4293pe

205
Around 3:00 in the morning on Sunday, I was flipping through channels at my friend's place and Comedy Central was playing the Trailer Park Boys movie uncensored.

205 - We were subsequently told by Diamond Leung last Thursday that Penny was coming back to resume his rehab.

208 -- 3 AM on a cable channel? Really, would anybody in America have seen it at that hour?

By the way, you have probably seen the ads for the movie Blindness. Don McKellar wrote the script.

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

Jeff Kent thinks he can play 2nd base now, and that defensive range is overrated. His veteransness would help him get to any balls as quick as any player with faster, and better rangy younger player.

207 - Tony Masseroti of the Globe described the injury as similar to a torn shoulder labrum. Further, he said that the injury was causing him to have difficulty even taking his pants off. If that's accurate (and Lowell does apparently plan to have surgery in the offseason), I would be surprised to see him in a Red Sox uniform for the rest of the postseason including the World Series. Without knowing anything about labrum repair, it seems reasonable to assume that he might not even play in 2009.

I've always liked Penny. But he's too risky to commit much money to. He's not quite a spring-training-invitation guy, but he's not getting a big contract next season.

I'm curious if anyone knows: if the credit markets have "seized up," how does that impact teams' abilities to make payroll? I have to assume they can't always dip into cash on hand to write those big checks every two weeks.

205 It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but then who's your six and seven? That's where things can start to get ugly.

210
I believe it started at 1 or 1:30. Only time they would show an uncensored film on cable TV here.

Yeah I knew about McKellar and I saw him in a scene of the movie.

211 - How can you question his logic? Old veterans are just as fast as young kids. Because they know how to get to the ball. And play the game the right way. And being older means you're automatically smarter than the young.

Jeff "A trash can can move faster than me" Kent.

213 http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/index

ESPN did a story of it recently. Check "Impact of struggling economy on sports." One of the first teams getting caught is the Marlins.

216 Perhaps my eyes were lying to me when I see Kent give up on balls to his left most times. ...naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

It's pretty funny because until recently Kent was a decent statistical second baseman, it was just public perception that he sucked.

It really depends on the question asked, to. I really doubt he's going to come out and say "Yeah, I suck, DeWitt should be playing over me."

reading up on old MLB rumors threads, and I see a Kershaw/Kemp for Johan Santana trade. Was that a serious offer?

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/09/kempkershaw-for.html

212 I wouldn't be surprised, however, to see him wearing just the pants of his uniform.

Things change very quickly.
How could the 2005 Dodgers morph into the 2008 version?
How could the 2008 Dodgers become a juggernaut equal to the Cubs and Phils.
How can I redeem myself--I guess I need another forum to express myself. Can anyone recommend a political forum where what I say might matter?
I deleted a ridiculous statement the was probably political frustration, because I respect the rules here, Which make it such a marvelous forum.

I'd go for Scully. I actually preferred the NESN guys in previous playoffs, they were so much better than the Fox nitwits. Ugh.

Also, I have to admit now that I was secretly hoping for an El World Series, but I'd be happy with, hm, is it a US 5 Series? You don't have trains, right?

220 -- No, that was never an offer. The Dodgers never made any attempt to get Santana.

223

If it happened, I think we'd call it the "Freeway Series" or maybe the "I-5 Series."

220 Thats old already. And it had to be conceived as a joke, or a tremendous example of wishful thinking. Santana showed signs of being over the top of the curve, and his rambling team didn't make the play-offs, while the two players on the other side of the see-saw have potential to carry a team staff and offense for years to come---cheaply at that.-- get real.

223 "Freeway Series" sounds right. It has the nice parallel (sound and city contrast) with "Subway Series".

Think about this: America was sick of McCarver way back in 1992! How he has somehow managed to be the lead baseball analyst on three different networks is beyond me.

What else might one think would be the cause of falling ratings for the World Series over the last decade? Even with Red Sox Nation (R) in the series and a really hot Colorado Rockies team last year, the World Series pulled an 18 share.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/wstv.shtml

206 You got it, Thanks Marty. that could clarify every thing. Hyphen---.

Haha, US 5. Crazy non-CA lack of "The" in freeway names.

230 "I'm really looking forward to a the I-5 Series..."

There the article refers to the series. We also tend to not say I.

Just me clinging on to the very few dialectical differences American English has anymore. "The 5" v "US/I 5," et al. being one of the few.

232 There is no "I" in "Highway".
Nah, it'll never catch on.

Meanwhile, over in Fenway in the bottom of the 4th:

JD Drew + Jason Bay < Manny.

Craig Sager really needs a new wardrobe person.

I almost never use "I-5" but "The 'the 5' series" sounded awkward too. I'll stick with "Freeway Series." I think the 5 is the only freeway that connects Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium directly.

Freeway Series indeed woudl be the most popular moniker.

My rambling was just the RI's use of "US 5," tis all.

Fun scoreless game thus far in Boston.

So "The 110 to the 91 to the 5 Series" wouldn't catch on?

I like the ring of it.

237 But you must have forgotten a 'the'. Maybe right at the beginning?

239
I have enough definite articles in there to suit me.

If the Red Sox had won the 1948 playoff against Cleveland what would that World Series have been nicknamed?

240 I'm not honestly sure where Braves Field was. I think it was in or near downtown, so the preferred mode of transport between there and Fenway would be walking. But let's say it would have been an MTA Series.

SORIANO EXPLAINS:
Soriano is likely to hear about it the most over the off-season.

"Yeah, it's tough," he said. "We tried, but it just didn't happen. We played all year like a very good team and we expected a little bit more, but it didn't happen."

While he didn't pass the buck, Soriano said he believes the Cubs were built for a marathon, not a sprint.

"We're a very good team for 162 games, but we don't do nothing after that," he said. "That's the difference. We're not put together for [a short series]."
MY TAKE:
in other words, let us play Pittsburgh and Washington and we'll win most of the time.

241
The remnants of Braves Field are on the BU campus.

Freeway Series becoming less likely...

I'd like to reiterate that I do not think the "The" is better or more correct. I just think it's a funny difference. I spend my nights looking up linguistic studies. I can't be helped.

I am to morphosyntactic studies what Bob is to historical plumping codes.

If John Madden were covering the series, any series would be a freeway series.

I'd like to see John Madden go from Philadelphia to L.A. in one travel day on a bus. I suppose if he had about four drivers to trade off shifts, he could make it.

243 So there ya go, just a little jog up Commonwealth Ave. Or the Green Line if you'd rather. Anyway, a whole lot easier than getting from Flushing Meadow to Arthur Avenue, or Wrigley to the South Side, and definitely less traffic than the the US I-5.

245 I know, I was just giving you a hard time.

Kuo threw a 'pen yesterday and is still a possibility for the NLCS, which would be interesting given the number of lefties on the Phillies. Joe also said that Kershaw is a candidate to start Game 4 for the same reason...most likely, there won't be many changes on the roster, which is due Thursday morning.

http://insidethedodgers.mlblogs.com/

248 Uh, River Avenue, of course. (Arthur Ave. is where my dad grew up, a few blocks away from River Ave.)

More dodger crowd bashing by the Redsox Angel announcers.

14-Yeah, I realized my mistake was in assuming that Jon posted the start of the games in ET, not PT.

I will not be at Chickie and Pete's for seven hours in Dodger gear. The later start of the Thursday game creates some problems for me because I had hoped to sleep in my own bed Thursday night, and now it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

250

Could that also be "Roosevelt Ave to River Ave"?

247-I drove from LA to Philly last summer. I left at 5 am on a Tuesday morning and was in Philly by 8 pm on Thursday evening. Of course, I spent eight hours sleeping in Amarillo, TX on Tuesday night, and eight hours sleeping in Indianapolis on Wednesday night.

Someone driving straight through could leave LA at 5 am on Tuesday and make it to Philly by midnight Wednesday/Thursday.

253 I guess. I don't know Shea's street address, I just know it's in Flushing Meadows. #7 train.

I bet there will never, ever be a MARC Series. And a BART Series doesn't look like it's coming around the corner, either.

253

I'm just nitpicking now. Sorry RIYank.

---

I'm just not seeing the Angels getting past this round. First its the lack of power, now it's the defensive miscues. Where's Tim Salmon when you need him?

A question for all

I live in Australia but am a big Dodgers fan (I lived in L.A. when I was young). We get MLB on cable here, but the games are on when I am at work.

Is my best bet for watching the games MLB.TV?

I managed to watch the Ustream broadcast of NASN a few days ago but that has not worked since then. And hot-corner is pretty ordinary.

Advice is appreciated.

There is no MLB.TV for the playoffs. You're stuck using a P2P feed or listening to gameday audio.

From TJ:

If Kuo isn't a go, Kershaw will likely have to be the second lefty in the pen, so Greg Maddux would get the nod in Game 4. Lefty relievers are vital in this series because the Phillies have so many dangerous lefties in their lineup, beginning and ending with N.L. MVP candidate Ryan Howard, who had a monster September.

By the way, the schedule for the entire series has been set. Basically, all the games except for Game 2 start at 8 Eastern. That means all three games at Dodger Stadium (3, 4 and 5) will start at 5 Los Angeles time, while three of the four games at Citizens Bank Park, including Games 6 and 7, will start at 8 p.m. Philly time

MLB.TV is only blacked out in the playoffs for people in the U.S. and Canada.

Australians are welcome to sign up. Just make sure it's an Australian IP address and Australian credit card.

Foiled again by Bob.

The fine print was included in a historical plumbing code.

My ribbing tonight is coming back to bite me, it seems.

I also realized I probably should have said historic in my statement about linguistics. I'm going to my corner.

260 is there a way I can listen to Vin? is that available on MLB.audio, but i'd have to forego pictures?

I don't think you can get the audio stream and video stream at the same time.

Unless you had two computers and a lot of bandwidth.

A question to hopefully redeem myself in the eyes of Bob, is there any credence to Chip Caray's "Friday Night Baseball" comment regarding highschool/college baseball, or did he get caught up in Buzz B. football hoo rah rah?

266
I don't recall what he said.

The comment was "These guys have pitched in big games, Friday Night baseball, area code games."

Paraphrased. I always thought baseball occurred on various nights of the week, and wasn't a Friday centralized thing.

Angels pull it out on a Hunter Torii single. 2-2 Angels.

huge at bat from Hunter! Was it close at the plate?

Nah. Throw was off.

Hey, good for the Angels. This is a good game.

Vlad had a great jump too.

Now that the weekday game(s) are confirmed for 5, this will probably be the happiest I've felt to wake up at 6am, to get to work early enough, since the New Nintendo System Christmas mornings.

272 It's been a pretty fun series--the games, thus far, have been happening with the wrong crowds for proper excited reactions, but it's been some interesting baseball being played.

268
There are only a handful of schools that play night games in baseball.

And most schools play baseball on Tuesday and Thursday. Or at least they did in my day. Friday is usually the day for track meets which require a lot more staff.

"3rd call, Boys B 440 yards. 2nd call, Girl A 200 yards."

Being a PA announcer for high school track was really boring, despite there being a lot to say.

254 I drove straight through from Dallas to LA once, and that was pretty brutal. With the time change, you can leave Dallas at 6 in the morning and pull into LA by midnight. That last stretch from Needles to LA is tough - you're fighting road hypnosis the whole way.

259 Boy, I was hoping Maddux wouldn't start in game 4, but in that case it's hardly worth having him on the roster. It seems to make more sense to have Elbert there as the 2nd lefty and Kershaw as the 4th starter (if you don't use Lowe on 3 days rest). I think Torre would feel pretty shaky with 3 rooks in the pen though. I do think it would make sense to start Maddux v. the Angels or Rays.

At least Maddux would be at Dodger stadium. If the front free can keep the bullpen fresh to let Maddux have a short leash, it may not end up that bad.

I can't see not having Lowe start Game 4 on three days rest. Because of the extra off day between Games 4 and 5, you could have Lowe in 1, 4, and 7, Bills in 2 and 5, and Kuroda in 3 and 6. If you start Maddux in Game 4 and Lowe in Game 5, then you have Kuroda starting Game 7 in front of a hostile Philly crowd. No thanks. If the Dodgers come out of Philly with a split, why not try to wrap it up at home with Lowe and Bills?

I should add that the only game in the scenario above in which we'd have a starter on three days rest would be Lowe for Game 4. He's a sinkerball pitcher, and he did great in the 2004 postseason on short rest.

277 I wouldn't trust Elbert that much. As a pitcher, Kershaw's light years ahead of Elbert. Or rather, I trust Kershaw's way more of not blowing a game over Elbert not having a crazy inning.

Biemel and Kuo should be good enough for lefties.

Stupid "small ball" strategy by the Angels.

240 - Comm Ave. series?

(it's really comm ave to brookline ave, but whatever)

Maybe the Kenmore Series.

Sigh. Sigh. You have to get the bunt down in that situation.

240 "Baseball Beanpot"

Wow. Fates against us here.

Haha. The ridiculous small ball and complete lack of execution got them in the end.

Red Sox win, 3-2 on a Lowrie single. Jason Bay was the winning run.

Great. Another season of insufferable Red Sox "Nation" fans.

Dodgers/Phillies - Thursday

Red Sox/Rays - Friday

Jason Bay just earned himself $15 million dollars in 2010.

And Jed Lowrie is well on his way to becoming the next great overrated player.

Stanford guy comes through.

80
LogikReader, I can't say, but I enjoyed Vin Scully's 9th inning call (in addition to the rest of the game). Just don't tell anybody.

http://www.botecomm.com/bote/ball/

Well These were the two teams I desperatly wanted to see lose, and one is down...so I really hope the rays can get these guys now

For personal reasons I really wanted the cubs to lose as well so that played out nicely, but i also loathe philly. I guess basically the only team I enjoy watching besides the blue crew is the rays lol..

293 I approve of you, good sir.

Reggie Bush is going nuts tonight.

Is Reggie Bush a good player yet?

296 - I don't think he's a good running back, but he's a good player.

how many outs did the angels give up on the field and on the basepaths?

293
I am sure Bud Selig does not approve but that makes it that much greater. I listened to it live and considered it an instant classic.
"one sweet, beautiful, marvelous out away....
"not one sweet precious out but one sweet precious pitch..."

"I'm ready" said Kuo. (I believe him that he is honest)

262. That plumbing code is a wonderful resource. Perhaps the Angels can use it to figure out how to play something other than stupid small ball.

One step closer to Manny v. Nation showdown.

301 - He's a very important piece especially against the Phillies. If he is indeed ready, we're stacked.

293 - Unless there's a problem, I'm going to link to that in my upcoming new post.

VIKINGS PREVAIL! VICTORY!

302 And thus, the Angels decided to become Yankees West, and sign Manny, C.C., and Texiera in the same off season. They will also promise C.C. that the DH won't be used when he starts.

293 - I listened to every word at the stadium. Just beautiful.

Sean Estes and Josh Bard are now free agents. Time to start your shopping!

Dirk Hayhurst was claimed by the Blue Jays.

293

Awesome! Thank you so much for showing me that great link! I don't know how Vin does it... that was truly a great call.

If the Dodgers and Red Sox were to ever meet, for whatever reason, I'd love to hear Fox use the NBA on NBC theme song. I don't know why but it fits the scenario: Manny... Bay.. the Dodgers... the Red Sox... only on Fox!

New post up top.

304 Sure, as long as you put up the bail money. :-)

312b: And not from Eddie Moscone, he's a slimeball in a sea of puss. Just ask Jack. :-)