The thing that I am complaining about though was how vulgar and rude many of the Dodger fans were. It's one thing to heckle fans of the opposing team (especially in a playoff series) but the level of aggression that I witnessed was almost embarrassing.

Additionally, I went to the game with a good friend of mine who wore an Angels cap and while we were leaving the stadium the amount of abuse he endured was disgusting. At one point we were though someone was going to get physical. We weren't even playing the Angels! (And no, they didn't mistake one red cap for another).

I'm hoping these are bandwagon fans and not true Dodger fans. Good fun and ribbing is welcome and expected, but there's a limit that too many people seemed to have crossed yesterday. I've been to many games in the past, and this was by far the worst (even Giants fans didn't seem to take as much abuse as I saw last night)

2 Days (Games Started / ERA): 2 / 4.00
3 Days: 4 / 5.09
4 Days: 153 / 3.69

Say it aint so Joe!!!

Career August ERA: 3.19
Career Sept/Oct ERA: 3.14

Those are his two best months.

Anyway, Lowe will have plenty of backup and we know he's on a short leash, so if he gives us 5 solid innings I'll be happy.

Oooooooohhhhhhh.... Pierre! Ooooooooohhhh!

How's that?

I can definitely say that he's gutty

I'll say.

I sometimes get them confused myself.

ROOCCCCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As for Pierre starting I think it is ridiculous to sit some who before his last bat was hitting .300 in this series. However, it could be worse, we could be starting Berroa.

Let's hope this angst helps.

Just got a cancellation due to fires - we have two unused loge tix for tonight, want them used, so pay what you can (they cost 80$ each.) We're on our way there, and can hand them over at DS. E-mail tbeatty at lakeshoreentertainment dot com.

hope to see you there!

With him, it is very possible.

http://6-4-2.blogspot.com/2005/04/k-k-k-k-k-k-k-kelvim-angels-1-as-0.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview?gameId=281013119

So far as I know, the answer is "no".

I'm predicting at least 1 base taken on Pierre today. Whether it is a first to third on a single of tagging up on a medium fly ball, I have a feeling something will happen tonight.

Based on three Lowe pitches, I'd say start warming Kershaw and Maddux. I might be jumping the gun.

yesterday was the most energetic rush I've had in a Dodger game since I could remember, I got there a little late cause of traffic (on Cesar Chavez ave, took me like an hour to go from one block to another) but yeah man, as soon as I got there I had that rush of energy (i saw BH & Sporky! & told BH about how great it felt being there) it was just awesome man....

so far it doesn't compute.

He sometimes struggles in the first inning though. But he's gonna be on a short hook tonight, so he won't have much time to right himself.

Blanton's pitching for pete's sake.

That sure looked like strike 3 to me.

... but if IT does start falling, I, for one, welcome our new Phillie overlords.

With that said, the defensive difference more than makes up for it.

go go fookie!!!

(A) Fiery.
(B) Shows passion.
(C) I wish he'd show more composure
(D) Juan Pierre??!?!?!?

Do you live there?

Now Lowe needs to settle down.

Let's get Kershaw up.

We still need a third baseman or second baseman. It was only DeWitt vs. LaRoche because people are stupid.

Now... no RBI hits to the flippin' pitcher here, please!

Fantastic pitch at 3-1.

And this umpire is really helping Joe out.

That wasn't Pierre's best jump ever.

I blame Gary Bennett.

And now Lowe gets on with a bloop!

Sigh.

but put these little stars (above the 8) on the BEGINNING & END of you comment.

But yep, that makes boldfaced font here.

Thank You.

The guys missed 5 months of baseball. It's really safe to say he's not 100%

true. I guess he is a better option than Berroa.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/baseballbugs.jpg

Don't forget his home run yesterday, too.

Now he just needs some run support.

[Pitch tracker shows it to be just a hair outside the strike zone.]

Silence in the booth.

It proves everybody wrong every time.

Come on Dewitt, bring him home.

>>The Phillies and Dodgers resume playing baseball after Buzz-gate, the much ado about two total hit batsmen on two soft breaking balls in three games. For some reason saying that apparently offends Dodger fans like stealing Chad Kreuter's cap.<<

Blanton is starting you off with straight heat down the middle, please adjust.

sincerely, Blubleeder.

They're not hitting him hard.

...still, get that bullpen ready, Joe.

Blake's defense is not that much better than Nomar's to make up for the fact that he cannot hit against Blanton at all.

the ump has an erratic strike zone but I guess it's working for both teams 2-1...

Hiroki Kuroda, Manny Ramirez, Shane Victorino, J.C. Romero and three coaches were fined as a result of the incidents in Game 3 of the NLCS.

In case anyone was wondering, the price for throwing a pitch that could potentially end a player's season, or maybe even his career or life, is $7,500, or 0.06 percent of what Kuroda earns annually (if he remains healthy, he'll earn about $4,000 per pitch over the length of his deal). Ramirez and Victorino were fined $2,500, while Romero was penalized $1,000.

A walk might qualify.

LETS GO DODGERS!

Manny Ramirez owns Joe Blanton.

You make the call!

they've got good set up for Lidge but that's about it no.

Even by Molly.

judging from everybody's comments, we're all in agreement.

I'll help: Zofran, Zofran, Zofran.

PLEASE DOUBLE PLAY.

Keep playing with fire and you are going to get burned!!!

Howard was the main reason for bringing in Kershaw. Do. Not. Want.

Come on Chan Ho. Strand those runners.

3 for 11 with a HR and 3 K's.

Torre has mis-managed this badly.

I mean come on...who doesn't see it?

I saw K/Guo warming up yesterday.

ahh!!!

Call the ball.

my heart can only take so much!!

I hate baseball.

How not to manage 101.

sike

and we know it's just baseball...blah blah blah. And even though it's just baseball...it it so much more you have to admit. Thanks for trying though...this board needs a shrink

"Stopped they must be; on this all depends"

Torre's a genius.

Wow.

Let's do this thing!

Hopefully I will continue to feel that way about him after this inning.

Furthermore, if you're going to bring him out an inning before the pitcher's spot comes up, for the love of God, do a double switch!

Torre's a genius for starting him! ;-)

that's right!!!

3-1 pitch way outside!

Pierre with a double!!!

THE CURSE LIVES.

you don't send the bison up there to sacrifice

I say that a lot.

LOL, we're all pumped up right now. hehehe

One of these is not like the others.

He might hit one out.

Ridiculous I know; this is the age we live in

Yes! Nice throw buddy.

that's a world-historically bad throw.

His D is WAY better in my opinion but I think Torre remembers those horrid AB's Hu had earlier in the year Vishal...

4 for 4 with 2 HR's and three walks.

my buddy keeps on texting me about that...

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/09/15/apples-itunes-ringtones-and-the-complex-world-of-copyright-law/

Poor Vishal, about 2 weeks behind on Roster Thoughts. ;-)

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/08/07/create-ringtones-for-free-with-just-itunes

The best part about going to Stanford (besides, um, the academics) was that our band would chastise our rooting section when the cheers weren't creative enough.

They didn't like it when people yelled "SUCKS" after the announcement of the starting line-ups, and they didn't like the "overrated" chant, arguing that if a team weren't as good as its rating, that would mean our beating them didn't mean as much. And they were right.

No, Hu's is, but he had some pretty bad AB's earlier in the year. to be honest, I really didn't see Ozuna play D all that much so I'm just going by what I hear around here, Hu's D doesn't impressive me all that much to be really honest, but of course we'd seen Izzy play here so....

The Dodgers haven't flashed any "make some noise" signs in the postseason, as far as I know. These crescendos are generating on their own! [It definitely happened that way during the LDS]

Guess I won't be eating my dinner now after all.

i gotta copyright that one...

Act like you've been there before.

He pitches the eighth inning. Easy decision.

that's kind of near Porterville (love driving over there, beautiful) I have family near there bro.

I'd take him out, sure, it's tempting to keep him in but if it were up to me i'd take him out, we need him for the duration.

8) Pierre is taken out of the game. Kuo goes into his spot.

9) Kemp pinch hits for Beimel and stays in the game in CF.

Switching spots is not legal or Manny would be up there a lot.

Ah, ok, to be fair it was Kuo who revived buzz-gate.

I mean, let's keep things in perpective.

plus it's kind of cold...

Angel Berroa, SuperDefensiveSub!™

now get...Kuo.....outa there

you think he was going for the obviation?

I shouldn't think it, b/c I know what Brox's gonna do to him;)

Why would you want Kuo out? He's been amazing all year against everybody, not just lefties

It's looking that way.

I sort of did.

What else is on?

I'm glad I waited to eat dinner. I would've tossed it there.

He wasn't leaving the ball up. His velocity wasn't down. Victorino just went in and got it.

We still should be up by at least 2 runs if we had any luck. This just feels horrible.

The add on runs we couldn't get, Torre now uses the whole bullpen.

He wasnt precise at all. Burrell swung at a bad pitch and the pitch before was a fastball down the heart. you cant blame Cory, this is all o n Torre's shoulders.

And the world cries.

Game 4 N.L.C.S.

Took me 24 hours to recover from the Lakers.

I'm gonna need 48 at least.

Then again, we have to get out of this hellacious inning first.

I shouldn't say that. I'm just upset.

I blame:
1) Torre's bullpen mis-management.
2) Frip's gut.

AND STOPPING PLAYING THAT #$#%% ROCKY MUSIC EVERY TIME PHILLY SCORES!!!!

I haven't given up on everything, however.

Huh? They scored five runs. There just aren't any reliable relievers in this pen. Even Broxton got beat today.

I need a beer. And a shoulder to cry on should a need arise.

Dewitt, Martin, and Kemp both hit shots with either runners on 2nd and 3rd or the bases loaded. If even one drops, its 2 runs. Thats being severely unlucky to have 3 line drives caught in those situations.

what?

{cry}

{drink}

There's been so much bad luck, in addition to everything else, for LA today it's hard to even know what to say.

Still, I think Kuo was the one egregious mistake.

And regardless, it's been a great ride, and a lot more than I expected.

You hit it on the head, I wondered why he didn't try and extend Lowe, but could understand that one. I guess I would have prefered Kuo staying, but again no add on runs, when there was chances, and Andre has to take that pitch.

Whatever happens during this game, you guys on this board rock. I mean, I know for a fact that everyone's gonna be bummed and all if they lose, and go crazy if they win. But if we don't win the WS or advance to it...I know that you guys are gonna be there talking about off-season Manny rumors and every thing else. I don't know when the next Dodgers World Series win will come...but I'm happy that I'll be checking this board when it happens. And I DO think it will happen soon.

You guys rule!

Good one.

I feel you man.

I got a fever and the only prescription is a Loney Bomb.

?

What scares and depresses me, looking ahead, is that we really do need to sign Manny, and CC Sabathia. Not one. Both. Unfortunately for us, our young core is...OK. Pretty good. I suppose it's possible Kershaw will turn out to be everything we've dreamed he one day will be, and Billingsley will...good like Brad Penny used to be. We have a bunch of solid guys in Martin, Loney, Kemp, Ethier, hopefully DeWitt, with more solidity ahead--hopefully--in...DeJesus, I guess. But we're thin. And right now I don't think a one of those guys will prove to be truly great. Nor Broxton, alas.

It's been a beautiful dream. But I'm awfully sour on it right now.

Anyway, I'm not too optimistic about this game at this point either but not giving up on it or the series.