Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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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
Inside the Dodgers has the Dodger starting lineups for Games 1 and 2 of the upcoming National League Championship Series. And Jay Jaffe has an exhaustive (and free) series preview at Baseball Prospectus.
Lefties are batting 100 points OPS higher than righties against Hamels. Its also why Ethier is batting 2nd.
Now, I should really get back to work.
What I wrote was: "I think it's great, but it's not as if that's not something many of us have been wanting for years."
Now, you're free - encouraged, even - to disagree with the substance of the comment.
But to interject a cutting personal remark just poisons the well. And to interject a second cutting personal remark after the first one was sidestepped makes it like you're begging for a reaction.
I don't like it.
It was Alhambra, by the way.
You had me until "but..". I have no clue what that is supposed to mean.
I take you seriously as a writer and thinker. So when you're anything less than reasonable it really jumps out at me. I'll work on my tone. I guess I'm sorry.
1B: Eddie Murray
2B: Joe Gordon
SS: Ozzie Smith, Robin Yount
3B: Terry Pendelton
RF: Tony Gwynn
LF: Ralph Kiner
CF: ??
C: Gary Carter
What do you think? I'm sure I'm missing a ton of people...
And, by now, no one needs to be reminded that Garciaparra and Kent are notorious first pitch swingers, though Kent will take a walk.
But with Furcal, Martin, Manny and Ethier at the top of the lineup, those guys will see pitches.
Donnie Baseball may or may not have had an influence on the offense but there has never been any evidence that hitting coaches have made a positive impact, certainly there are some who complain about former Dodger Mickey Hatcher but he is just preaching what Mike Scioscia wants to do.
My high school beat Underdog's high school (they had Keith Wilkes) in the CIF semi-finals. 1970 I think.
I'll let it go at that.
My college (northeastern university) had Carlos Pena. Since we're not known for sports, that's something the school is proud of.
In his career, righties have hit like Freddy Sanchez against him and lefties have hit like Weeks.
http://www.beloblog.com/Pe_Blogs/prosports/mlb/dodgers/
There is no evidence, because there can't be evidence for such a thing. Any more than an a particular English teacher being responsible for a successful author.
Then why have hitting or pitching coaches in the first place?
But like I said, prove me wrong James!!
For a while John Q Trapp was my favorite name in the NBA. Part of the legendary 2nd group after the 1st group demolished the team in 3 quarters.
BP was seemingly the only source that said the Cubs-Dodgers series was going to be much closer than everyone thought (although, it was actually a blowout... just not the way everyone else had it). Good stuff.
Yay for Jaffe!
Kershaw (Utley and Burrell)
Penny (Werth, Dobbs and Howard)
Maddux (Coste and Howard)
Troncoso (Utley)
JJJ (Feliz)
JJJ, Troncoso and Penny are not on the roster. Maddux and Kershaw are in the bullpen (pending Game 4 start).
If our postseason pitching staff can limit the long ball, which they did in eight games, we're in good shape.
When I was at Michigan Stadium this year, the baton twirler (or drum major I forget) was from Alhambra, but the PA announcer said it like the name of the Spanish palace.
My brother and I chuckled.
Gammons basically works PR for the Red Sox.
Wasnt that Pedro Martinez that shoved down Don Zimmer? I thought that was one of the funniest things I've ever seen in baseball. I'm glad Pedro did it. Zimmer was out of control.
I'm not convinced the Dodgers wouldnt be in better shape if they dealt with Pitt directly and traded for Bay.
Bay might not have helped as much this season, but he would still be on the team next year at good cost, which is a big deal.
They must have missed the past two months. Plus the fact that nobody on the Philies has a history of hitting Derek Lowe very well. Small exception Chase Utley (5 for 14). If Lowe is Lowe I feel good about taking at least one game in Philly.
28 hours until Hamels vs. Furcal!
Excellent point! Messers Lowe, Bills, Kuroda, Broxton, Beimel, Park, & Kuo have pitched a combined 43 homerless innings against the Phightin' Phils (3.14 ERA).
http://tinyurl.com/elginbaylor
I may be in L.A. the 21st through the 26th - what is the best way for me to get tickets to a possible Dodgers game that might be happening around then? I also live 1.5 hours from Fenway and try to go there as well.
That must have been one of the last tinyurls not yet taken! :)
But then I can't go to game 5...oh wait, who cares, we're in the WS then
1. Jackie Robinson playing for UCLA football team.
2. Sandy Koufax
3. Baylor and West
4. Fearsome Foursome
5. Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor
By the Wilt came, he was not player he was in Philly and I did see him during the 1972 season as I did see West but not in their prime. Even Bill Walton at UCLA is a hazy memory. But since then I have seen them all.
http://www.insidesocal.com/dodgers/2008/10/saitos-roster-s.html
Since I am no longer going to Game 5, I expect to see a clincher Monday. :)
Wade and Kuo become even more important.
A FEW more tidbits from the sit-down with Ramirez:
* As for the incident that had him knocking down a Red Sox executive, "I was wrong," Ramirez said.
He said the relationship with the executive had been deteriorating for some time, and a day earlier the guy had said some nasty things to Ramirez in front of Ramirez's teammates.
Ramirez went home troubled, returned and asked for a meeting with the executive. "I told him, 'I can't have you disrespecting me in front of my teammates.' "
When he didn't get the response he liked, it escalated into a shove.
"I didn't handle it the right way," he said.
Greg Maddux to the rescue!
Sounds like a house call is in order for Dr. Proctor.
SportsNation Jim Callis: Hadn't thought of that. That's pretty funny.
If the world series ended in a tie, does Manny get two rings?
Moss = Xavier Paul and Hansen = Meloan but we already moved Meloan. I agree that it would have been better to deal with Pitt directly given the cost of Bay. I'd sold high on Wade and made it Wade, LaRoche, Morris, Paul which might have given us Bay but we probably would not be in the playoffs and we would have missed the coolest two months I'd ever been around.
Mike LaCoss (Reds/Astros/Royals/Giants pitcher)
Larry French (Pirates/Cubs/Dodgers pitcher)
Jim Wohlford (Royals/Brewers/Giants/Expos outfielder)
Marty Perez (Angels/Braves/Giants/Yankees/A's middle infielder)
Nothing to write home about, but they still made it!
http://tinyurl.com/5xnne4
http://tinyurl.com/46lj9a
It's the "but" that makes me think that he's talking about Game 4 - holding back one of those guys as a potential starter. Not that I don't think Lowe will start that game.
Manny could conceivably get two playoff shares and a WS ring, no matter who wins!
103 Manny does have incentives in his contract, including post season awards:
* $0.15M for ALCS or World Series MVP
* $0.1M for Silver Slugger
* $75,000 for All Star selection
* MVP bonuses
--o $0.2M for 1st place in voting
--o $0.125M for 2nd
--o $0.1M for 3rd
--o $75,000 for 4th
--o $50,000 for 5th
The Dodgers would be on the hook for any post-season incentives, because the Red SoKKKs responsibility stopped at the end of the regular season. The Red SoKKKs would still be on the hook for any regular season incentives, though.
Incidentally, one of the things that never seems to get mentioned in the math for the "Re-sign Manny" discussions is that the Red SoKKKs won't be totally off the hook until the year 2026. They're still responsible for 15 years worth of deferred payments (at $1.94 million per year) beginning in 2011.
You're responses will dictate whether I shrug it off as "just kidding". lol
The $1.94m/yr payments never get mentioned in the math for Manny's next contract because it won't be a factor. All that is is deferred money from the 8/$160m deal he already signed.
Uh oh...I have a feeling everyone just shunned me. Yikes!
Although I didn't even know west-coasters would have ever even heard of Liberty
Arash markazi states the obvious that the Angels don't actually play in Los Angeles.
But Liberty has done OK on the women's side.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3632459
I do hope it matters for my purposes though (I want Manny to re-sign as a Dodger and live happily ever after).
The thing I hope Manny has enough sense to have learned from his Boston experience (I don't doubt that his discomfort and unhappiness were genuine) is that trading off a good situation for every last dollar might not be his best move.
I mentioned those deferred payments to indicate that he really doesn't have to do that. (I probably should have used the term "mental math" or "trade-offs", rather than literal math, to be clearer.)
Nope, I've never sneered at Liberty University. Patrick Henry College, yes. Liberty, no.
Haha, yes women's basketball has been our calling card. We are desperately trying to gain legitimacy through the football team, which surprisingly is 5-0 and ranked 15th in the FCS. That said, we're gonna get creamed by WVU next year in Morganstown.
Our baseball team is pretty solid. Ironically we recruit heavily in California.
Liberty has garnered lots of media attention throughout the last 20 some yrs, and almost all of it bad publicity stemming from our deceased founder Jerry Falwell. I do obviously go to Liberty for a reason, but it kinda stinks that whatever Falwell said in the past automatically made people assume the student body agreed with it whole-heartedly.
There were a couple guys on my high school team that played in the minors, but one got busted for PED's and never did much anyway (Matt Rico) and the other has been toiling away in the D-Backs system for a while (Matt Morgan).
Back when I was in high school (late 80's, early 90's), I worked at a pizza joint, and Mr. Norris came in. One of the kitchen staff, Felipe, was a huge fan of his, but very shy and spoke little english. Felipe wanted me to ask Chuck for an autograph, despite my encouraging him to ask himself.
Chuck was super nice, but said he'd only give Felipe an autograph only if he would come ask him himself. To my surprise Chuck was fluent in Spanish, and pulled Felipe right out of his shell, talking with him for what had to be a half hour. Needless to say he made Felipe's week... and left an impression on me of what a classy guy he was.
One thing that makes going to sporting events in LA not as fan friendly as places like Philly and Denver (Coors Park) is the lack of places to go right outside the stadium.
Fenway and Yankee Stadium has the charm of being neighborhood parks.
But Angel Stadium exists in a commercial district and Dodger Stadium is an island onto itself.
Imagine if the Dodgers had the same neighborhood experience like some other places, a nearby sports bar would be packed Sunday morning with football to watch and then a Dodger playoff game.
So to Molly and the rest of the DTers going to Citizen's Bank tomorrow, have fun, and don't forget the Crab Fries.
Some of us would like to omit some of the first athletes on the that list but that's a different story....
Gabe Kapler, Robin Yount, Larry Dierker, Rick Auerbach & Kevin Kennedy (well, not really MLB player)
Nomar Garciaparra and... Evan Longoria
Greg Dobbs didn't go to my school but I played against him in youth ball. It's crazy that there are two players on the Phils from this city (Moreno Valley). Incidentally, Bobby Kielty also went to the same school as Dobbs.
Wikipedia tells me that Dave Grohl of Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and Queens of the Stone Age fame attended but did not graduate.
And apparently Icaros dominated him.
Robert Fick
Tyler Johnson
in a few years, Andrew Lambo.
We'll all be wearing a green necklace!
Troy Glaus
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/selena_roberts/10/07/roberts.manny/index.html
Hart High is home of Todd Zeile and James Shields, along with several mediocre NFL Quarterbacks!
I'm even more surprised that Bowa used the word correctly.
Jon is still talking about the Kyle Matter Era at Stanford.
138
Ken and LU,
Add another Virginian. Actually, I mentioned it in an earlier thread (you said that you went to Averett I believe). Good to see that I am not the only Dodger fan in Virginia. There don't seem to be many over here.
Sorry, Jon.
When Matt Moore and Kyle Boller each started the same week last year, with equally lack luster expectations, I had no idea what to feel.
ALSO, EVERYONE GOING TO THE GAME TOMORROW: CHICKIE AND PETE'S PRE-GAME REMINDER.
We will be in the bar area (there are tables there, too) from 5:30ish to 730ish barring a Chinatown bus disaster.
It will be fun to gather with as many of you and your friends as possible, so please stop by! And for gosh sakes someone bring a camera 'cause I dropped mine at Cellular Field and murdered it.
I'll shoot for being there around 5-6pm.
BTW - in case anyone missed it before, I have one extra ticket to Friday's game. I just have to be sure it doesn't get resold so I'd like to give it to a DT person if possible. And you'd be sitting next to a Dodger fan (me)!
It's Infield 3rd Base - about 30 rows up.
Email me at jaehyun.chang at gmail.com
cheers
Brandon Puffer who played for the Astros.
I'm still a little upset about Mike Watt, who would've made the first alumni to play for the Dodgers. Greg Maddux better help us win the World Series to make it worth it!
We actually had a great athletic tradition with a lot of athletes going to D-1 schools and some in the pros, including the NFL. Some of the names include Malifou MacKenzie from USC and Todd Marinovich with the Raiders. Also, one of my classmates was Ken Norton Sr.'s daughter.
This is way too much of a break without baseball.
I'm dreading the off-season.
I believe I went to high school (Taft) with Robin Yount, also Jeff Fisher, coach of the Titans, although I wasn't really aware of either (or much else) until later. I think Yount was a couple of years ahead of me and Fisher a year or so behind.
Or not.
I suppose I have to admit that I am not the real John Hale.
She will. She got me back into the Sharks, after I stopped following when I went to college.
I remember the thirty-five sweet goodbyes
When you put me on the wolverine
Up to annandale
It was still september
When your daddy was quite surprised
To find you with the working girls
In the county jail
I was smoking with the boys upstairs
When I heard about the whole affair
I said oh no
William and mary wont do
Chorus:
Well I did not think the girl
Could be so cruel
And Im never going back
To my old school
But I know Chris Snelling (good mates and play baseball with his brother) who has played for Seattle, the Nationals and Philadelphia. And I played ball with Andy Graham who was at AAA for Detroit the season before this one (missed this year after surgery). That's it.
I was like that too. I even used to root for the Might Ducks, because of the movies.
It's knuckle puck time!
Keep it roll'in guys ...
I'm ready for a sensational four game win streak
I was sitting behind the M's dugout one of the times that Chris Snelling suffered serious injury. So sad to see such a promising player go through that. And he was on the all interview team. When he came back and talked about going on walk-about it was classic. Hope he makes it.
Al Pacino wants to make a movie about Lasorda.
baseball:
Greg Miller (yes, our Greg Miller)
David Parish (son of Lance, career minor leaguer, from what I understand)
Keith McDonald
David Newhan
Mike Simms
Football:
Brandon Stai (offensive lineman)
Travis Kirshke (defensive lineman)
And a few actors/actresses along the way.
Also: Heather Bown (US indoor volleyball team); a couple of MLS players. Oh and the daughters of John Force.
Poway High School, Phil Plantier (he was two years ahead and, um, much much better than me). Tony Gwynn Jr. In basketball Jud Buechler piggy backed on MJ for an NBA ring or two.
LOL. That is the worst thing ever!
Wow, the Minotaur was a center.
Going back to this quote, Torre has to be talking about long relief, otherwise why mention McDonald? He's is definitely not a candidate to start game 4.
Al Pacino has not been a good actor for awhile.
"What do I think of Kingman's performance? Say hello to my little friend!"
"So I yelled, 'Hey Mac, hoo-ah! It ain't gonna work; I blew it out!"
Bob Costas: "You can't beat the mighty Mets."
Lasorda: "Who's being naive now, Bob?"
Famous athletes in baseball: nobody.
Famous athletes in football: nobody.
Famous athletes in basketball: nobody.
Famous athletes in lacrosse: Chris Rotelli
Doug Slaten
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