LAT'd from last thread...

112
I agree he was better as a Dodger (159 OPS+), but he was also great as a Met (136 OPS+), plus he had over 900 more PA as a Met. Factor in the World Series appearance, and Piazza's own choice (the HOF will consult him on this even though it has the final say) and it's almost a lock that he goes in a Met.

I would like to see all future HOF plaques with a blank cap, and a separate row on the plaque with the logos of all the teams the player played for. That would be kind of cool, and might be more appropriate for a split career like Piazza (or even Winfield from years past).

Dibs on the movie rights.

--

Nice to see Adam Morrison is just as annoying in the NBA as he was in college.

Amazing the Lakers almost had the lead at the end of that half.

How is Charlotte only 18-26? They have a lot of talent on that team and great defense.

Larry Brown has some pull now.

He was a privileged child who I admired... his whole story is amazing, I think the main reason he's a favorite around here is because of the way he made it to the bigs.

hard work, hard work & more hard work

Turns out that while defense wins championships, offense wins games.

More details to come I would imagine?

Okafor has started to dip, Wallace a little too, Augustine and Felton play same position, and all their other picks are a waste.

I am going to guess right now that I am going to fall in the 50-60 range of having known or done the 100 things.

And many things you have done.

If you've both known and done everything in the book, then you have lived a full life.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-recruiting-football28-2009jan28,0,7087298.story

Like say... USC?

Sheez, I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Do you ever sleep?

101 Haunt Ned.

Why, then, do we think the Lakers will be a championship contender? Usually you look for signs in any team that they're going to make a big playoff run.

I think the Lakers are good enough to win the West, but right now I feel like the Cavs, Celtics, or Magic would be prohibitive favorites against LA. I don't see any killer instinct in this team.

Ariza was out most of the game and Kobe fouled out on a lame call in the first OT. That's tough to rebound from, but the Lakers could have made it work.

This is now two of the last three home games where the Lakers really folded when they could have proven to have the winning tools to close a game.

They are not that good on defense either, reliant on three-point shooting, and they really have never done anything in the playoffs.

You know, if you give the Mad Dog Radio program a call or MLB Home Plate, I'll bet they'd be delighted to offer an interview. I'll be sure to get a copy soon. I'm going to hold out for one of the book meetings myself.

Yay! I mean, oh, darn!

Actually I need to take that one back. After what I saw from the Magic against Boston, I figure they're not a real factor anyway.

The Magic rely wayyyy too much on three pointers, which is strange, knowing they have Dwight Howard manning the paint.

It probably has something to do with having the best record in the NBA before tonight. Or maybe it was beating both Cleveland and Boston handily, albeit at home. .

though the competition is pretty weak. you are just two spots behind the sports guy..

If that were to happen, what kind of compensation would the Dodgers get? Is Rodriguez ranked higher then Ramirez and therefore the Angels get the Mets pick?

As for the formatting problem I've had that in the past but it went away in a day or two and I can't remember if it was something I did.

http://tinyurl.com/bg9bto

Congrats, Jon.

http://tinyurl.com/csqmue

The formatting problem relates to the pictures of me from Saturday night. I'll try to make it go away today.

It better be a signed copy!

If Orlando Hudson signs somewhere other than Arizona (a virtual certainty), the Dodgers are locked into the #37 pick as the sandwich pick for Manny, and Lowe's sandwich pick would be between #41 & 45 depending on some other Type A free agent signings.

So if all this happens, the Dodgers' draft will look like this:

#17 (own pick)
#25 (from Mets, Manny)
#37 (sandwich, Manny)
#41-45 (sandwich, Lowe)
#53-63 (from Braves, Lowe)

When does the sequel, "100 things a DODGER GM should Know and Do before they die" come out?

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/01/dbacks-agree-to.html

1. Andrew Lambo, OF/1B
2. Ethan Martin, RHP
3. Ivan DeJesus Jr., SS/2B
4. James McDonald, RHP
5. Scott Elbert, LHP
6. Josh Lindblom, RHP
7. Josh Bell, 3B
8. Nathan Eovaldi, RHP
9. Ramon Troncoso, RHP
10. Austin Gallagher, 3B

Just for an intellectual exercise if we don't sign Manny we have a gaping hole of 40 million between this years payroll and last years payroll. What player has a huge 2009 contract like Manny did that might be unloaded during the season to save the current owner of that team some Benjamin's?

I think Jacob has roughly the right idea for the contract, perhaps less than $15m over 2 years.

I don't know if a trade for Manny happens if the Dodgers didn't have Bryan Morris to trade off, a guy picked with a late first rounder.

I had some strange dream last night that Brandon Looper threw a shutout but all I can remember is the box score.

But I still think Manny ends up here. He just needs to choose a number so I can order bhsportsguy's t-shirt.

Sure it is better to have draft picks if you spend the money to sign them. I'm not arguing against draft picks in any way, just saying a 25th pick and a 37th pick is small consolation for not signing Manny.

Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner,and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles
by Michael D'Antonio

Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself
by Michael Shapiro

From Tot Holmes:
""We wanted to pair him with Devaris Strange-Gordon at Ogden as a shortstop-second base tandem. He would be good for Devaris became the young kid has all the tools and Delmoico has been well-coached."

White later suggested that Delmonico was one two of the players he selected in the 2008 Player Draft might, at some point, trade in their infielder's gloves for some catching gear."

Hell, I'd sign Dunn, stick him at 1st and move Loney to LF for a year.

121
Sheffield - Hmmm - If we are going to consider Sheff might we not consider Barry Bonds?

Ned prefers the Bennett/Mota brand of PED user.

134 - I agree. Ned should at least begin negotiating with Abreu in a very public way. If there actually are other teams looking at Manny, knowing we are exploring options will mitigate a bidding war and keep his price down. If we do lose out on Manny, then we get Abreu. Not so bad. Beats Pierre, that's for sure.

$8M signing bonus
09:$16M, 10-14:$18M annually
full no-trade clause

award bonuses: $0.25M for top vote-getter in All-Star balloting, $0.35M for World Series MVP, $0.25M for LCS MVP, $0.3M for MVP, $75,000 for Gold Glove

perks: suite on road trips, 6 premium tickets for each home game (spring training - post-season) and All Star Game (if selected)

Btw, Cubs just traded for Aaron Heilman, apparently -- M's get Ronny Cedeno and Garrett Olson.

Jon, congrat's on finishing the book, my order is in. Can't wait to read it!

Vernon Well's, in retrospect:

09:$1.5M (Really 9.5 with signing bonus), 10:$12.5M (really 20.5 with signing bonus), 11:$23M, 12:$21M, 13:$21M, 14:$21M

But really, I like V-Wells and all, but that thing is a mighty albatross.

"Governor A.B. (Happy) Chandler wept today as he signed an order fixing the execution date for a condemned man who has been 'lost' in the Eddyville death house more than four years."

On the same page, don't miss the story of "elderly prospector" and "septuagenarian eccentric" Peter Voiss, who really didn't like having his picture taken for free.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2009/01/man-kills-denti.html

With Sanders it was high heat. Two strikes? Here comes a high fastball, sit down.

"Half swing strike three called and the Cubs are dead."

He didn't want to send the man to his execution. He felt he owed it to him.

"The City Council's transportation committee has an item today about the $600,000 cost of the Dodger Stadium shuttle and the team's refusal to pay any of the cost."

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2009/01/morning_buzz_wednesday_12_10.php

Wonder how much better Bison will be in 3,375 days?

Gimme a break.

Kemp 9-23-84, The Bison, my favorite player.

*Hint - he is recently signed by the Dodgers and his ast name begins with "A".

Question: how many more tickets would the Dodgers sell if people could get to the game for minimal cost via public transport? What is the average price of the additional tickets they would sell? How much additional revenue in concessions could they gain? How much would they lose from parking fees of customers who would come to the game anyway? Is this total figure more or less than the $600,000 that the shuttle will cost to run?

My point is: as much as I think there should be public transportation to Dodger Stadium, there are a lot of reasons why the Dodgers might not want to pay for it.

Perhaps, as they have a monopoly on major league baseball in L.A., they have a civic duty to provide an economical way to get to the ballpark, but if I make that argument, I'm going to get in over my head very, very quickly.

And, as someone coming from Pasadena, I wouldn't want to take it. The gas "saved" was not worth it to me in terms of the extra 60 minutes of travel time, part of which was sitting on the Gold Line after the game for 30 minutes waiting for it to leave.

For example in San Francisco, Oakland, or San Diego, the stadiums are either on a street (San Francisco and San Diego) or near an public transportation stop used for other purposes (Oakland's stop for the Coliseum also serves the Oakland Airport.)

I'm not sure how the shuttles for UCLA and USC football are funded. I would assume that the City of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Committee pay much of the costs for the shuttle. But that's only for 5-7 games a year.

Exactly!

As for my second question: is there any argument to be made that it is in the Dodgers' financial interest to offer fans an economical way to get to the ballpark and avoid the parking fees?

The Department reported that the shuttle service, which operated for the last two months of the 2008 baseball season (32 home games) and five playoff games, carried an average of 704 riders and 1,408 one-way passenger trips per game. These figures far exceeded the approximate 400 riders per game served when the Dodgers contracted for the service during the 2004 season. The total cost to the City to operate the shuttle service for a portion of the 2008 baseball season was approximately $150,000, ...

My admittedly crude analysis: assuming that two months is a representative sample, 704 round-trip riders per game over an entire season is approximately 60,000 fares. So to break even, the city would have to charge $10 per round-trip.

Manny may not be able to play the field in 2011 or 2012.

If the only way the Dodgers can sign Manny is if they give him 3 or 4 years, is this a good investment?

Essentially they could be taking a $75 or $100 million gamble on the 2010 season hoping the young pitchers have developed enough by then to win in 2010.

As for the supplemental picks or in the case of the Mets 25th pick being a waste, I don't understand the logic. Unless the Dodgers have never had a good pick beyond say the 20th or so pick in the first round, I don't understand how past performances of players picked late 1st round or during the supplemental 1st round stage indicate in any way shape or form how future players picked at these spots will perform. As many fans like to say regarding stats like this, "small sample size".

As for the size of the payroll? What is wrong with having a good (in this case low)flexible payroll, when the free agent market is void of any players worth spending on, or in the case of Manny, ones that might not make sense in the long term despite their short term value. Should an owner simply spend because they have the money? Or should they spend when it makes more sense, or where it makes more sense?

This is a product worth over 1/2 Billion dollars. 600,000 for a full season of shuttles seems cheap enough to me but it ain't my money. If they do it people will complain about how it works, if they don't people will complain they are cheap. They are in a no win situation because if they do it, they won't do it right.

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/01/28/clayton-kershaw-is-the-new-king-felix/

My point was also more to the wisdom of signing Manny long term. Currently the Dodgers are holding firm to 2 years which I agree with and think is smart.

I don't think the Mets signing Manny (albeit the rumor since debunked) is poor or a sad consolation prize for the Dodgers not ending up with Manny. For example, Abreu or Dunn (either for 1 year with club option for a 2nd year) and the 2 picks and all the money saved is quite a nice consolation prize for not landing Manny.

It certainly doesn't have the devastating impact some Dodger fans would have you think. And it certainly isn't such a bad consolation prize so as to give into Boras and Manny for 3 or 4 years.

If the cost per game is the same in the future it would cost $328,000 for 81 games . The study estimated it would cost $383,000 for basic service and as much as $630,000 for a higher level of service as recommended by the Dodgers. If it explained the difference in the levels of service I did not see it.

One suggestion was to charge a dollar. That would reduce the subsidy to less than $2 per one-way trip.

It's hard to say if the sample is representative of a full season. I did not see if the usage increased or decreased during the season or if the playoff games distorted the average.

Wait, are they saying Billingsley is a top of the rotation pitcher?

Things are not as simple as "just give him whatever he wants".

As for Sheets, I wouldn't mind investing the 17th pick on him either. But how healthy is he? Isn't it rather strange that the Yankees would spend on Burnett instead of Sheets? That the Mets or Cubs wouldn't be interested in him? Any team for that matter?

If the cost is the 17th pick for the equivalent of what Mark Prior gave the Padres last year, i sure as heck would scoff at giving it (17th pick) up.

I would imagine a suspension is coming.

I doubt that protecting the #17 pick has that much to do with it. I think Ned's been ordered to avoid any big ticket FAs with significant injury risks.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/alex_belth/01/28/torre.arod/index.html

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/dodgers/2009-01-28-organizational-report_N.htm

I actually agree with you which is why I'm a little surprised we are even talking to Wolf. If they wanted to stay away from injuries then they should have ponied up for Garland.

By trade perhaps?

I didn't like that the picture they used was of Billingsley coming out of game 2 against the Cubs. The caption reads, "but [Billingsley] couldn't continue his success in the playoffs" and shows Chad coming out of a game in which he had a game score of 66, only gave up 1 run, and won.

But I'm probably a little too sensitive on this subject.

You made me angry about it/

219 makes a good point about Furcal, though.

So we are ignoring his career and worrying that a torn elbow muscle is going to change this pattern?

Just for fun, how many pitchers do you think have thrown more innings then Ben Sheets since he started pitching in 2001 that also started pitching in 2001?

Again, the cost and length of the contract is what makes Wolf more attractive. If Sheets could be had for not much more than Wolf, and for only one year, the Dodgers would accept that risk.

This is the third year in a row that Jason Schmidt's contract is crippling the team. McCourt seems determined to minimize the possibility of that ever happening again.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/the_bonus/01/28/springsteen/index.html

http://www.nba.com/bobcats/release_wallace_090128.html

Bynum was trying to play hard, but took it a little too far

All that said, I am sure it would be great to witness Springsteen in an intimate setting, doing what he loves to do, but that probably isn't in the cards for me to see anytime soon.

I believe we are often so focused on the present and that are memories are so selective, we fail to see that the great thing about baseball is that it really hasn't changed in 100+ years its been played professionally in America.

Disputes about player's salaries, complaints about teams selling off players, competitive balance, having enough pitching, etc. The outlandish, eccentric ballplayer, you could find a story from 1914, put Manny Ramirez, A-Rod or some other prominent player in it and you would not know that those incidents took place so long ago.

It is the beauty and perhaps the curse of the game that it really has not changed and if you want to move up the timeline to 1947, you can do that too but outside where the players come from now, the rest of it is just not that much different.

Of the three major professional sports in America, baseball is the closest to what is was like when your grandfather first saw the game. And it is the most likely to be the same when your grandchildren watch the game.

Is that progress, maybe, maybe not. But in a fast moving world, its comforting to me.

Monopoly. What Monopoly? You're obviously forgetting about the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. :-)

Oh, no! Isn't Rossington now the only core member left?

(Yes, I know that Ed King and Artimus Pyle are still alive, but they've long since been drummed out.)

Just saying if we don't sign Manny we'll get 1 of the other 2.

We know for a fact the Dodgers are in the market for a starter, so we have to hope they choose the best one. I would choose Sheets, but I can understand not wanting to give up a draft pick (sort of).

It's a matter of choosing if Garland is the best option among the trio of Garland, Wolf, and Looper.

I still remember where I was when I heard about the plane crash. Sitting in my apartment in Hermosa Beach, watching channel 5 news on a black & white TV, and it was Hal Fishman, of all people, who broke the news.

The last time I saw the band was a few months before. I scored front row center tickets at the Starlight Amphitheater, buying them two days before the concert.

I sure would have liked to see the Street Survivors tour, though.

I'm not the biggest of Loney fans but I do believe he has no where to go but up. Also, if I had to bet I would bet that Martin has a better year this year than last.

5.0 wins from Lowe
a couple wins from Manny
1.7 wins from Saito
0.7 wins from Kent
0.7 wins from Beimel
vr, Xei

The funny thing is, Bruce apparently has been wanting to sing at the Super Bowl for almost 40 years. In 1973, when Springsteen was still an unknown, his über-aggressive then-manager, Mike Appel (think of him as half Scott Boras, half Jeff Dowd), proposed an outlandish plan to have Bruce perform the anti-war song "Balboa Versus The Earth Slayer" at the Super Bowl. Shockingly, NBC somehow turned down this opportunity to have an unknown singer perform a controversial song the most-watched program of the year.

Anyway, as it turns out, whatever disappointment I felt about Springsteen selling out to do the Super Bowl has now been superseded by disappointment about how bad the new record is.

That was the soporific Super Bowl VII between the Dolphins and Washington. Needless to say Miami won, creating the NFL's most insecure group of Super Bowl champs.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3866527

I remember being surprised that Bruce was going to be on Saturday Night Live for the first time, back in 1992. And then he played 57 Channels, in what might have been the worst performance he has ever had. In the end, did it matter? It just showed, in a different way, he's human.

Springsteen is not a zero-sum game. I'm disappointed in the new record in places, perplexed by it in places, but I don't lose anything from it.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Halftime is America's greatest sporting nightmare.

The Dolphins, like Curt Gowdy and Al DeRogatis, would go on to be one of the more overrated Super Bowl teams in history, despite going undefeated that year (the Dolphins, not Curt Gowdy).

Larry Bowa is a pessimist and not someone I'd want on my side during a protracted negotiation.

How many are going to Bhsportsguys Super Bowl get together? I think I've convinced my wife to go based on the quality of the food more then the company.

Halftime at UCLA games at the Rose Bowl consists of deciding when to go down the restroom and then deciding if you want to buy something. I don't believe I have ever seen Bob leave his seat during halftime, but then he is much closer to exit than I am .

Like Bob at a peach farm.

This is not a sanctioned/official DT event. But I can guarantee that you can debate the TrueBlue lineup, Simpsons trivia and get some good food at the party.

http://www.bronxbanterblog.com/2009/01/28/news-of-the-day-12809/

amusing...

He also talked about himself and CC going out to dinner, and consuming much food.

The one we were more worried about was Jordan Shipley, but he's coming back too.

It's usually more exciting than the action on the field.

Even if it's not halftime.

Calderon's streak is regular season only, and doesn't include the 5 straight FT he made in last year's playoffs.

279 I actually thought longer about the Wal-Mart only compilation release from Springsteen earlier this month and what it means than I did about his upcoming Super Bowl appearance.

Coincidentally, my father is from the same New Jersey county as Bruce. He's far less cool though.

She was on New York Undercover. I loved that show as a kid.

Ridiculous recruiting news today, some good for us, some terrible.

I'd like to think if I was Erik with a "k" I would have had the common decency to switch it to either my current (and correct) spelling or perhaps a nod to Soul Glo and go with "Eric." :)

Thus ends the mention of the Raiders during Super Bowl week.

I assume Carroll and Vehikite.

What number was Fernando?

If Billingsley is listed at 6'0'' 244 Lbs. and CC is 6'7'' "X" Lbs. what is "X"?

My guess 320

The Carroll news is simply crazy. Mom v. Son never ends well. Also hearing Hasiak is opening things up again.

I think the Dodgers employ an unwritten or written rule that numbers are only retired when a Dodger makes the Hall of Fame. That's an unfortunate rule because, I feel like in every other aspect, Fernando's number should be officially retired.

Ah well... Maybe we can wait 20 years and get some fellas to vote him in like with Jim Rice.

I brought up Fernando because for all intents and purposes #34 is retired, just not officially so. He is unique in that respect.

If anything, Hershiser deserves to have his number retired more than Fernando does. Wayne Kirby wore #55, for God's sake.

Magic 32
Robinson 42
Jordan 23
Gretzky 99
Kobe 8 then 24
I believe Martin is 55
Russell Westbrook was 0 at UCLA

Well, that is about it.

If I remember correctly, there is only one person still wearing Jackie Robinson's number 42, Mariano Rivera. Once he retires, the number will be retired for good.

I do look forward to the day in 2029 when #55 is retired in a joint ceremony for Hershiser and Russ Martin. (Who, by the way, definitely appreciates the significance of that number; I've spoken with him about it and he was delighted that he was thought highly enough of to be assigned Orel's number.)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3867478

AB #1: K vs. Wes Littleton (nasty backdoor slider)

AB #2: K vs. Trevor Cahill (3 straight fastballs...HEAT)

AB #3: popout to 2nd vs. Andres Esquibel (R ball for the Mariners) I finally touched a fastball unfortunately it didn't go very far.

I always have fun at this event but I couldn't have drawn a worse group of pitchers to face. I guess if anything, it has me prepped for my Sunday league starting in late February.

That's pretty good!

Of the Showtime Lakers I remember these numbers.

Magic, 32
Worthy, 42
Scott, 4
Rambis, 31
Abdul-Jabbar, 33
Cooper, 21

Numbers of the current Lakers:

Kobe (24), Sasha (18), Vlad-Rad (10), Bynum (17), Fish (2), Walton (4), Odom (7), Powell (21, formerly Turiaf's number), Gasol (16), Farmar (5), Ariza (3)

It's easy to remember some of those since they're single digits.

364 Good call, he is a beast on the mound, but a really nice kid when you sit down and talk to him.

For California, I would put Magic, John Wooden, Jackie Robinson, and Jerry Rice.

Disclaimer: I thought about this for about 5 seconds.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportscenter/news/story?id=3836315

Anyway, for Texas I refuse to pick anyone Cowboys-related, so I'll go with Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Rube Foster, and Don Haskins.

Some people could misspell it and say "Super BOWLL"

Um, yup. Of course there is a certain Timmermann "favorite" there as well.

Alabama - Dixie Walker
Alaska -
Arizona - Andre Ethier
Arkansas - Preacher Roe
California - Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, etc
Colorado -
Connecticut - Jackie Robinson lived here for 20 years; that's the closest thing I could think of
Delaware
Florida - Steve Garvey
Georgia - Jackie Robinson
Hawaii - Sid Fernandez
Idaho -
Illinois - Rickey Henderson (deserves an asterisk, but the only thing I could think of)
Indiana - Carl Erskine
Iowa - Casey Blake
Kansas -
Kentucky - P.W. Reese
Louisiana - Ben Sheets (pretty please?)
Maine - Clyde Sukeforth
Maryland - Brian Jordan
Massachusetts - Glenn Hoffman
Michigan - Kirk Gibson
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri - Zack Wheat
Montana -
Nebraska -
Nevada - Greg Maddux
New Hampshire - Brad Ausmus (?)
New Jersey - Eric Young
New Mexico
New York - Sandy Koufax
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio - Jim Tracy
Oklahoma - Matt Kemp
Oregon - does Steve Lyons count?
Pennsylvania - Joe Beimel
Puerto Rico - Jose Valentin
Rhode Island - Davey Lopes
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee - Rick Honeycutt
Texas - Clayton Kershaw
Utah - Cory Wade
Vermont
Virginia
Washington state - Mark Hendrickson
Washington DC - Maury Wills
West Virginia
Wisconsin - Craig Counsell
Wyoming - Mike Devereaux

Brad Ausmus was born in Connecticut.

Sandy Vance was born in Colorado, a state that has produced 80 big leaguers but very few Dodgers.

Mike Garman and Ken Dayley are Idahoans.

Has he been affiliated with the Dodgers in the past? Of course.

Is Chad Billingsley a more fitting representative for Ohio amongst LA Dodgers? I have to answer yes.

The Dodgers have not had a native of Montana play for them.

19th Century pitcher Bert Abbey was a Green Mountain State native.

EVERYBODY knows that title goes to Brian Bohanon.

Alabama - Dixie Walker
Alaska - none
Arizona - Andre Ethier
Arkansas - Preacher Roe
California - Duke Snider
Colorado - Johnny Frederick
Connecticut - Bobby Valentine
Delaware - Delino DeShields
Florida - Steve Garvey
Georgia - Marquis Grissom
Hawaii - Charlie Hough (for Bob)
Idaho - Jason Schmidt
Illinois - Wes Parker
Indiana - Carl Erskine
Iowa - Casey Blake
Kansas - Darren Dreifort
Kentucky - P.W. Reese
Louisiana - Reggie Smith
Maine - Clyde Sukeforth
Maryland - Brian Jordan
Massachusetts - Glenn Hoffman
Michigan - Kirk Gibson
Minnesota - Tom Niedenfuer
Mississippi - Sam Leslie
Missouri - Zack Wheat
Montana - none
Nebraska - Otto Miller
Nevada - Greg Maddux
New Hampshire - Stan Williams
New Jersey - Eric Young
New Mexico - Cody Ross
New York - Sandy Koufax
North Carolina - Franklin Stubbs
North Dakota - none
Ohio - Johnny Roseboro
Oklahoma - Matt Kemp
Oregon - Greg Brock
Pennsylvania - Roy Campanella
Puerto Rico - Jose Valentin
Rhode Island - Davey Lopes
South Carolina - Mike Sharperson
South Dakota - FTOG
Tennessee - Rick Honeycutt
Texas - Clayton Kershaw
Utah - Herman Franks
Vermont - Henry Porter
Virginia - Tracy Woodson
Washington state - Ron Cey
Washington DC - Maury Wills
West Virginia - Steve Yeager
Wisconsin - Burleigh Grimes
Wyoming - Mike Devereaux

Even Carlos Diaz and Onan Masaoka did more.

James Baldwin

Go Tell It On the Mountain.

I don't really want any of 'em to win.

I've warmed to Jamie, but her food doesn't do a lot for me.

I guess I'm left with Fabio. Everyone else bugs me something fierce.

Sounds like Brad Penny.

The dream is still alive.

David Cone was though.

Hey, ToyCannon sighting (via interview) on MLB Network, in the 1968 "Baseball Seasons" show.

Charlize Theron as the Cable Guy. Uh, sure . . .

More importantly, there's no chef this year that is hanging by a thread and yet is still around to torture the rest of us like Lisa from season four was.

Not sayin, just sayin...and Jon, the book looks awesome, but do any of the experiences have to do with 8-25-1995?

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1990/B08210LAN1990.htm

My personal favs are Fabio and Stefan. Usually I hate the "villains" (Hung, Marcelo) but Stefan has a different vibe than those others, almost as if he doesn't really care about the show/his persona and just flat out knows he's much, much better than everyone else.

Well, that and 'love'.

Crowd was totally not sure if they should rush or not. They do realize they went to the school that produced Chris Paul, Josh Howard, and Tim Duncan?

Possible rule 5 violation, but the story is just crazy.

Opposition party members in South Korea tried to get in a locked camber room with a sledge hammer. So the ruling party tried to protect the front door with fire extinguishers. There's a photo in the link. Crazy!

The hardball times says that its Scott Boras' status as a lawyer that makes him unethical. Not just being an agent.

the Twins have stopped there talks with Gagne.

can't wait to get my hands on one.

mc, you out there? see that RvP classic today in the 92nd? oh my Dutch baby!

Whenever I'm in the mood for straight Dodger talk, I use ourdodgers.com

This site is usually pretty directed though.

And make jokes about Juan Pierre.

https://twitter.com/stephenfry

It's definitely him, I checked. Fun stuff. I wonder if Hugh Laurie is twittering too or if he's too busy playing "House."

(Sorry, Paul.)

Just got the brand new BA magazine, which features the NL West Top 10s. The Dodgers list will be released Friday on their website, but here it is two days early. Keep in mind that I haven't read the scouting reports yet, but wanted to let you guys know how it turned out:

1) Andrew Lambo
2) James McDonald
3) Ethan Martin
4) Josh Lindblom
5) Scott Elbert
6) Ivan DeJesus, Jr.
7) Devaris Gordon
8) Josh Bell
9) Chris Withrow
10) Nathan Eovaldi

Just a mid show reaction to a minor choice.

There's so much to say!

- Tom's blog.

Also from the future, Jon Stewart takes on the Pluto question with author Neil DeGrasse Tyson. "Are you going to downgrade the dog next?"