This is why I hate it whenever we play the Angels or Padres.

In a division that is likely to come down to 2 or 3 games (like last year), is it really fair that we have to play 6 with ANA (23-17, .575), and the Padres get 6 with SEA (16-24, .400) and the DBacks get 6 with DET (19-20, .487)??

besides, the Mariners have the all time greatest third baseman in the history of the game, so they could explode at any moment...right?

Penny has had one start against the Halo's in his career and it wasn't good; Lowe has had mixed results. Erickson... let's just say I'm amazed he can make it twice through any opposing lineup.

Washburn has had mixed results against the Dodgers albeit more bad than good. Byrd has had some successes vs. LAD. Lackey has been dominant against the cross-town rivals. On a down note, both Byrd and Lackey have been in a groove this month.

The silver lining is no K-Rod for games 1 and 2, possibly the whole series. I'm not sure it will matter as I see a frustrating sweep on the horizon. I just hope it's not compounded by a Padres sweep of the Mariners.

Dessens' shoulder, Gagne's elbow, Werth's wrist, Perez's hamstring, Alvarez's arm, Weaver's shoulder, Odalis' shoulder - and it's only May. This list doesn't count the "impact" injuries (with the exception of Werth's slow-healing wrist), either.

My point is not to lay any blame to the Dodgers med staff - certainly, there's some bad luck in play here and I don't have nearly enough knowledge or information to judge their performance. However, given the struggles we've had keeping key people healthy, the question of "is the med staff ineffective?" may be worth an investigation.

The Dodgers have four quality starting pitchers, a quality setup man and closer, and by all evidence thus far, a quality offense and defense. They have a chance to do something special THIS SEASON, and they need Jeff Weaver to be a part of this. They can't afford to keep losing three-game series at home because their starting pitchers are making a habit of quitting on them. If they are injured, as is the case now with Perez, then they can rest and work the problem. If not, then they need to what the team requires.

As a pitcher, there's going to be days where you can't seem to buy a strikeout. There's going to be days where you can't get ahead in the count to 90% of the hitters you face. Those are the days where you have to buckle down and limit the damage. Be a competitor. Stay focused; keep your head in the damn game. Keep the ball in the ballpark, at least; give your defense a chance to get the outs you need. If I'm Jim Colborn, I'm out there every inning during a game like Wednesday, continually hounding Weaver and getting him back on track until he's convinced me that he's ready. Carlton Fisk used to do that to Bill Lee all the time, until Lee got sick of him -- but Lee would also be ready to keep his mind on the game.

It's time to get this ship right before they completely squander everything they did in the first 14 games. I still believe this team is clearly the best in the NL West. It's high time their pitching staff pulled their heads out of those small tunnels they are residing in and pitch the way I (and other Dodger fans) have SEEN them pitch. The series with the Angels would be a good time to start on the right road.

In the same number of games (40) the Dodgers have drawn 49 more walks than the Angels. Or just about 1.2 more per game. And the Dodgers have 41 more runs too.

Mike Scioscia would not say there is any corollary between the two figures.

The Angels are 35 out of 49 on steals, about 70% while the Dodgers are just 14 of 22, about 64%.

Don't forget the Dodgers secret weapon of HBPs. 25 of them!

Frankie Rodriguez will miss tonight's game and maybe longer. If the Dodgers can get to the Angels relievers who are not named Donnelly or Shields, I would be optimistic.

Yes, Delgado and Cabrera are great hitters, and there's no shame in allowing them a HR. Moreover, the pitch Weaver threw to Delgado was practically unhittable - fading down-and-away, as I remember it.

But the question is, given everything that had been going up to that point, and with an off day Thursday, were there better options available than Weaver? Did a fresh reliever give the Dodgers a better chance of escaping the inning - not a certainty, but a better chance? The answer seems to be yes.

Grit and buckling down are all fine things, but is it so bad if sometimes a guy just needs a reliever's shoulder to lean on before he falls over, rather than being carried out of the game after the fall?

are the Dodgers as bad as the last 26 games, I don't think so...

are they as good as the first 14 games, I also don't think so....

are they clearly the class of the West, I don't think so there either...

the Dodgers are to me a better than average team that, to be successful must be firing on all cylinders...they did that last year, but so far it isn't happening this year, and with all the injuries, it may not this year...

You forgot to blame the med staff for Valentin's torn ACL...

is it fair that the Devil Rays played the Yankees when they were in a tailspin rather than when they won 10 in a row...its the luck of the draw...

Werth had three hits last night, raising his average to .323 and driving in his first three RBI of the season

BAD NEWS

Still no extra base hits, and he has more K's(13) than hits (10)

Just like Seattle is San Diego's "rival".

The Rockies are the odd team out in the NL West and get 3 interleague series at home (Chicago, Detroit, and KC) and 2 on the road (Cleveland and Baltimore)

You forgot to read the sentence "Of course they're [the Med staff] not to blame for players getting hurt..."

I'm not blaming the med staff for Valentin''s torn ACL - which is why I noted that we've had some sudden "impact" injuries - Valentin's knee, Izturis' ankle, Werth's wrist (at least initially - letting him hit off a tee may or may not have made things worse). Maybe the sentence was awkwardly worded, implying that maybe they were. Of course, this was not my intention.

I'm not blaming the med staff for anything. Read more carefully in the future.

Thanks.

Delgado had four homeruns coming into the Dodgers series. He's a decent hitter for a 33 year old with back problems, but I think that Colborn and Weaver are participating in some good old fashioned spin doctoring when they rave about how good that pitch was. Because it wasn't.

Well, it's worth noting that through 40 games, last year's Dodgers were 22-18. Through 40 games, this year's Dodgers are also 22-18.

If I recall, our best starting pitcher was hurt for 2 months last year, and our best hitter was plagued with a nagging injury all year. We still managed to "fire on all cylinders"...

As some sappy country song about the Dodgers (http://tinyurl.com/davoq) once said, "on the other side of memory's fence, the grass is always green." I think Howard may be suffering from this phenomenon.

Making this one of the few times in a season I must reply up MLB.com's radio package. Which means it's a weekend of Steiner and Monday. Eww.

The pitch to Cabrera was simply awful, however.

At what point do the Dodgers put Werth out of their plans? It's dangerous for a team to wait... wait... wait... for an expected key part to return from an injury.

I also think Oz posed a fair question about the medical staff. As Jon's pointed out before, there has been a consistent pattern over the last 3 years of either (a) badly underestimating the severity of injuries, or (b) willfully misleading the public regarding the true nature of said injuries.

I'm not sure whether (a) or (b) is true, but one of them HAS to be. The Cubs medical staff has also displayed the same pattern, and they've been much more harshly criticized for it than the Dodgers have.

However, given the struggles we've had keeping key people healthy, the question of "is the med staff ineffective?" may be worth an investigation.

----------------------

Why would you recommend investigating someone if you don't think they are to blame?

"I'd like to register a complaint against the Dodger training staff. (I believe you have made similar comments.) Doesn't it seem to you that an above-average number of medical controversies seem to befall our boys in blue? Green's shoulder, McGriff's groin, Perez's finger, Beltre's appendix, the various - and expensive - disabilities of Brown and Dreifort.

Somewhere, within the nexus of players-trainers-coaches, is a dysfunction. Does Jim Tracy throw his top players on the field, no matter how poor their health? (Wow - imagine quiet ol' Jim, acting like Bear Bryant.) Is Stan Johnston's crew simply bad, misdiagnosing injuries? Budget cutbacks in the trainer's office? (Think "Major League," with the jury-rigged whirlpool. Also, Marge Schott's 14-year reich in Cincinnati had penny-wise pound-foolish training staff; remember the scandal over Eric Davis' lacerated kidney in the 1990 World Series?)

Is there mistrust between the players and Johnston, where they'd rather lie? The first man I'd like to testify on this topic is Odalis Perez.

Johnston, going off the media guide, is an organizational soldier, but behind the lines, if I may stretch the metaphor. He started with the Great Falls team in 1985 and has worked his way up the chain: Bakersfield, Albuquerque and assistant in The Show. I'm not going to lay everything at Johnston's feet - who knows what's happening behind closed doors. But this is a matter that needs to be addressed in the offseason. Will Dan Evans do it? This is his second year as Johnston's boss, so he should have formed an opinion by now. If the team is sold, with the new owners even look in that direction, or will they be too busy hiring architects and contractors so they can cram housing into Chavez Ravine, or lobbying for a downtown stadium? Good organizations are proactive about the health of their players - end of story."

Jon, I know you're not making Tracy the only scapegoat. A lot of others were, though. Hey, his in-game mistakes cause me to yell at him through my TV screen a lot. But in this case, I find it hard to blame him as much as I blame Weaver.

I know that Delgado hit a good pitch; I should have quantified that. And that leads to my point, in a way: he was still able to make good pitches, but seemed to throw up his hands and quit after he gave up that homer. Apparently, he even said "'bout time" when he got pulled, and that's the LAST thing I want to hear from my pitcher.

There have been an avalanche of homers hit against the Dodgers in the past several games, and most of them have been poor pitches from pitchers who looked to be throwing in the towel. I suppose I'm just frustrated, as a lot here are ... I'm going to the game tonight, and I'm excited to be there; there's a lot of pride and bragging rights among many of those I know. All I'm looking for is the Dodgers to play to their ability, and make a good fight out of this.

I've been a fan of this team for a long time, as you have; I'm not giving up on them. Those that are getting on Tracy have very valid points; I'll go so far as to say that if the Dodgers win the division this season, they will do it largely in spite of Tracy's ineptitude. I just feel that the Dodger pitching staff is better than this, and that this is a prime example of why they are underachieving.

I am concerned about SD but I don't think they'll run away with it. Bochy is not a very good manager, and their line-up is packed with injury-prone players.

On another note, one could say that SD's 10-0 record against FL, Atl., and St.L. is a very bad sign. However, they played those three teams in the midst of a very good streak. I sincerely think that if the Dodgers had played those three teams in the midst of THEIR early streak, they would've fared much better.

When you're that hot, as both LA was and SD is now, you can beat any opponent. Conversely, when you're struggling, you have trouble with just about anybody.

My prediction for tonight: three HR's in four innings by Erickson. If he pitches five innings, then make that 4 HR's.

"Ultimately, one wants to give the benefit of the doubt to the Dodger coaching and medical staff, although their denial of injury reality with such players Hideo Nomo and Shawn Green in the past calls for some scrutiny. On the other hand, Adrian Beltre thrived in 2004 on his bum extremities.

"Personally, I have faith that Gagne will be fine this season. But I've learned over time that just because a Dodger tells the media that everything is okay doesn't mean that it is."

My suspicion is we are bordering on thin right now, but that doesn't stop me from root, root, rooting for the Dodgers...

the responsibility for the lineup, for the condition of the players, for recovery from injuries, for most of what we complain about should rightly fall at the feet of Tracy...after all, he is the manager, he picks his staff, supposedly...if conditioning coaches or trainers or whomever is not performing to the proper level, he needs to be the one to answer for it...

back to a previous point, the 22-18 record this year is a lot different than the 22-18 last year...our fundamentals are bad this year and that has caused a lot of the in-game failures this year...poor fundamentals compound themselves as the year progresses...

it's kind of like when the drain in the bathrub doesn't seal, no matter what you do, there is always some of it leaking away...that is what our poor fundamentals are doing to us right now...

37 -- that may be true, but it is hard to see how that makes any sense, unless Tracy is excited to see Gagne come in to a lot of 8-2 games.

36 -- As one of whom you speak, in my case personally, I have completely given up on our pitching staff. So to criticize them for giving up homeruns on bad pitches is, for me, like criticizing a zebra for having stripes. It's who they are. It's what they do. Sure, they deserve blame for it, but it's Tracy who has to take that mess and add value to it and maximize our chances despite it. And as you appear to agree, he's doing a lousy job of it. So you can divide the "blame" in any portion you want, but the fact remains that Jim Tracy is giving us less of a chance to win games than otherwise. And that's not acceptable at any level.

Count me among those who don't believe Weaver shouted "bout time," (I went back on the TiVo when it came up here, and saw him shout something, but don't think it was that), but even if he did, it was "bout time," so I'm not sure what the problem would be.

Well, those bad fundamentals still enabled us to post the same record, so it must follow that there are some things the v.2005 Dodgers do better than last year's version, right?

Or are you saying that teams with bad fundamentals, even winning ones, are all destined to become losers before the end of the season? That sounds like filler from a rejected Joe Morgan column.

I don't mean to be confrontational, Howard; I really am trying (futilely) to understand where you're coming from.

I agree with #37, SD won't run away with it. I have Padre fans telling me that they are going to win 105 games, since they have the best pitching in the NL. Give me a break.

And I agree with the idea of pulling pitchers earlier. Isn't that why we are carrying a bazillion pitchers? But I don't get all the Tracy haters. Have you always hated him, or is it just recently, with his pitcher handling? Personally, I've never had huge feelings about him one way or the other. He seems to do some things well, like get everyone involved and move people around for good matchups (caveats abound, but you know what I mean).

while this year we do the little things wrong, and my fear is we are a lot closer to the 10-16 team than the 12-2 team...

I hope I am wrong...but I go to a lot of games, probably 65-70 a year, and there are things you don't see on TV or in the box scores that are indicaters of a team not being prepared or well schooled

Just for kicks, Howard, care to share an example or two of those things I can't tell from watching on TV?

Also, your claim that we "were good consistently" last year is undermined by the fact that by this time in 2004 we'd already had an 8-game losing streak, far worse than anything that's gone on this year. My contention is still, Howard, that you are choosing to remember only the good things about 2004 while forgetting the bad ones -- and for the 2005 team, vice versa.

"So to criticize them for giving up homeruns on bad pitches is, for me, like criticizing a zebra for having stripes. It's who they are. It's what they do."

It's been a recent phenomenon, though.

Dodgers' pitching, 1st 34 games:

301 IP, 30 HR allowed

Dodgers' pitching, last 6 games:

54 IP, 14 HR allowed

Not sure why the penalty was bumped up to 15 games from 10; Weber, Totten, and Farmer all failed their tests under the same minor league steroid policy.

Unless you subscribe to the theory that the Red Sox won solely because Dave Roberts stole a base and Orlando Cabrera fielded the shortstop better than Nomar Garciaparra.

The problem isn't "little things", which I'm not sure what those things consist, but rather "big things". Like having starting pitchers who don't give up lots and lots of home runs.

The two top teams in MLB history in LOB are the 1976 Reds, who went 102-60, and the 1941 Browns, who went 70-84.

I'm guessing that the Dodgers record will be somewhere in between those two.

This is the same reason that having a high GIDP rate as a team is not necessarily bad. It's a direct function of having lots of guys on base. This is why the infielders who lead the league in DPs almost always play for crappy teams; those lousy pitchers are putting more guys on first.

I concur.

I will clarify that it's starting pitching that I'm concerned with. All the talk last year about Quality Starts and how Weaver should have been considered for the Cy Young last year got to Tracy's head. Our starters outperformed expectations last year, and are underperforming so far this year. In the end it's a group of guys who are slightly better than league average.

Does it make me mad when our pitchers don't perform? Absolutely, but I don't think it's because of focus, chemistry, or heart and soul. It's because they're not as good as we'd all like them to be.

Both of these teams have impotent offenses. Although I think one of them will become more potent after drinking Dr. Erickson's Bat Feel Good Now Potion.

"o o ee ea ae ioe oee. Aou I i oe o e i eoe oe oe ae ii Eio' a ee oo o oio."

No, he wasn't. That's why the discrepancy is so puzzling to me.

Maybe there's a different penalty if you fail an in-season test vs an off-season one.

12th in the NL in ERA

13th in the NL in BA against (you can keep your DIPS -- the opposition is hitting ropes)

12th in the NL in SLG against (so you can definitely keep your DIPS)

10th in the NL in OBP against

12th in the NL in OPS against

9th in the NL in DIPS ERA (virtually tied with Arizona for 10th)

Tied 4th (with Colorado!) in Total Bases Allowed

3rd in Hits Allowed

2nd in the National League in RUN SUPPORT (ahead of Colorado and behind only St. Louis)

Of course, you can play the sample size game all you want -- though it wasn't the pitching that helped us start 12-2 (the Giants home opener, the Arizona series, etc.), but we have the sample size we have -- it's one quarter of the season, and our pitchers are not very good. Furthermore, Perez is injured, Penny is supposedly not injured but not convincing me, Weaver's top fastball is 87, and Erickson is Erickson. I'm comfortable with the Tiger/stripes assertion, and would like to see Jim Tracy recognize reality and deal with it for what it is, and not what he would wish it to be.

Erickson is a guy who looks like he's waiting for the defense to give him an alibi. Perez seems to be maturing, but for a long time was a big baby, and still is sometimes. Penny's tough, and his problems might be more due to overcoming rust. If he avoids getting hurt again, I am optimistic about him.

The pen is a different story. Gagne is a fierce take-no-prisoners warrior, and once he shakes off the rust, he'll be fine. Yhency is impressively poised for a kid. Alvarez is Buddha-like in his calm. He's been through everything already. Carrara more or less the same.

The starting rotation needs to see the same shrink who cured Milton Bradley. Whoever that guy is, he's a genius.

Tracy has been spoiled by the consistency of the staff from pitch 61-105 during the past three seasons and the early hook gathered dust. He's learning to tame a new beast this season.

OPS against Dodger pitchers

pitch# 2005 '04 '03 '02
61-075 .768 .712 .645 .621
76-090 .897 .777 .738 .731
91-105 .898 .773 .674 .553
(ESPN.com)

Mmm, that's a good point. I know he's never been on the Dodgers' 40-man, but it's just barely possible he could have been on Oakland's.

So count me as a glass half full guy. Craig Counsell has a .422 OBP. The "other guys" should be on the next elevator down.

I think it is a case of emotions getting the best of them....it was a no brainer (no pun intended) that Weaver would fall apart after Delgado's homer

71 -- wow -- of course, our starters last year included Ishii and Nomo at this time -- maybe starting pitching is just mediocre and frustrating everywhere.

69, 72 -- I would allow for a combination of the two. Particularly for Weaver.

"Finding Meaning In Damian Easley's Home Run: Does Anything Explain The Unexplainable?"

I think it's a problem of guys trying to pitch with nothing left in the tank, not a problem of mental midgetry.

Anybody know which team has given up the most home runs in a season? Does Cincinnati have a shot at that record this year?

Weaver even loses his composure when in a tough situation he doesn't get a call he thinks he should from an umpire

"Jeff Weaver gives up home run" to
"Jeff Weaver has a mental problem."

In order for me to even suggest something like that, I'd have to see a lot more evidence for it than I've seen. Making judgments of someone's mental stability based solely on their body language and the quality of their on-field performance is not, IMO, a particularly wise or productive thing to do.

Not everything that goes wrong on the baseball field can be explained by mental or moral failing. Sometimes, the other guy is just better.

the reason Gagne and other great relievers, and for that matter other great pitchers, are so good, is that the last batter who got a hit or hit a home run...it's yesterday's news...

with Weaver, it just gnaws at him and distracts him

Start #1 4/7 at SF, 8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, so he never had trouble to overcome
Start #2 4/12 vs SF, trouble starts immediately as 10 Giants come up and 5 score in the first inning. Weaver leaves in the fourth after giving up a single to Vizquel, an HBP to snow, and a 3-run bomb to Feliz
Start #3 4/17 vs SD, Weaver throws a CG shutout.
Start #4 4/22 at COL, Weaver gets hit consistenly all game by the Rockies and gives up 13 hits and 8 runs in just 4 innings
Start #5 4/27 vs ARI, Weaver nurses a 3-2 lead into the 7th. He gives up singles to the first two hitters. He gets an out when Nakamura makes a nice player to throw a runner out at the plate. Then he walks Clark. Then he hits Counsell to force in the tying run. (Meanwhile, people scream TAKE HIM OUT). After the HBP, Weaver leaves and eventually Wunsch gives up a 2-run single to Gonzalez.
Start #6 5/3 vs WAS, Weaver gives up single runs in the 2nd and 3rd, but the Dodgers tie the game in the 4th and go ahead in the 5th. Weaver leaves after walking the leadoff hitter in the 7th. Dodgers win 4-2.
Start #7 5/8 at CIN, Weaver falls behind on homers by Eric Milton and Ken Griffey, but Weaver helps himself with an RBI double and behind Jason Phillips slam the Dodgers ease to a 9-3 win.
Start #8 5/13 vs ATL, Weaver takes 2-0 lead into the 8th. With one out: single, double, K, walk. Then KABOOM, LaRoche grand slam. Weaver leaves for Wunsch. Dodgers win anyway 7-4
Start #9 5/18 vs FLA, Dodgers take 2-1 lead into 6th. Lo Duca singles, Delgado homers, Cabrera homers. Weaver gets two outs. Easley homers, then Gonzalez doubles. Finally Weaver is relieved by Sanchez.

Starts 5, 8, and 9 indicate to me that Weaver stayed in too long and lost his stuff. But in his other losses, Weaver just got hit early and often.

Personally, I think that these pitcher meltdowns, especially Weaver's, are the result of declining stuff (out of gas), and not loss of concentration or focus. I think this because before each meltdown, esp. with Weaver and Erickson, you can see that the pitches that DO make it to the catcher have less movement, less velocity, and look (as someone put it) like batting-practice fastballs. On TV anyway (I brought this up a couple days ago), you can see this, and think, "uh oh... bad sign." I wonder if that's as visible from the dugout.

No, thanks.

I'm hoping that sooner or later DePo swaps out a reliever for a position player to deepen the bench. It's not like Tracy has faith in all 7 of these relievers and it's hard to win when you don't use your 25-man roster to the max.

This thread has been dominated by our injured pitchers. Why on Earth would we want another pitcher with an injury history like Kerry Wood???

Tracy:
That's a possibility as we go along. I think what is important right now is that with the return of Gagne, Brazoban has been moved to a different part of the game already. We don't want to juggle him around too much, too quickly, and create uncertainty in his mind as to exactly the area of the game that he must be prepared for. As we get deeper into the season and you get to crunch time, the possibility of Yhency coming in to put down an inning is one that you would consider. But, at this early juncture in the season, having moved him already once, we need to take some time to allow him to settle into his role."

Not from the Tracy chat:
Have I considered what you are asking? Yes. I have thought about it. Will i be that proactive in implementing such a good idea? Absolutely not at this juncture. Will I keep it in mind for the future? Perhaps.

But, at least it might happen ni the future.

4:45 pm Topic: Los Angeles Dodgers baseball

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rwdblue:
5:32 pm Can you give an update on Jason Werth's rehab?

laguest:
5:33 pm He is progressing. We have been encouraged over the past few days with the progress he is making offensively. He's gotten some hits as of late, including three last night, and we've heard less of him talking about pain and/or discomfort that he had been experiencing earlier. We are continuing to keep an eye on it and we're hopeful that in the not too distant future, we'll be talking about the possibility of activating him.

jfanaselle:
5:33 pm With the injury to Jose Valentin, what is your plan for 3rd base? Do you plan to start Antonio Perez there (when he's re-activated) or are you confident in the skills of Oscar Robles and Mike Edwards?

mike92882:
5:35 pm When will Edwin Jackson be called back to the Majors, and what role will he play when he is?

wewillwinthewest:
5:36 pm Good afternoon Mr. Tracy! Who has been the biggest surprise of the season so far?

mike92882:
5:38 pm What's your game on beating the Angels this series?

Jake_Norton:
5:41 pm With both Brazoban and Gagne in the bullpen do you forsee ever using one of them (like Brazoban) in more creative ways such as getting out of a mid game jam situation? Then you still have Gagne for the 9th?

dreaminofjayson28:
5:43 pm I just want to say that I think you are doing a great job and thank you

laguest:
5:43 pm Thank you very much. I appreciate your support, as I have greatly appreciated the support of the fans of Los Angeles during the course of my 4 1/2 years as manager of the club.

jfanaselle:
5:44 pm Milton Bradley has mentioned in the past that you're like a father to him. How have you two developed such a great working relationship after he came over to the dodgers as the man a manager could love to hate?

pesh1103:
5:46 pm How do you feel about Scott Erickson's contributions to starting pitching?

laguest:
5:47 pm His performance thus far has had its ups and downs. I think the other thing that you have to keep in mind is the irregularity in which he has worked with a number of days off in between starts. You take that into consideration. He's had some very good starts, most recently his start Sunday against the Braves. Rather than focus on one guy, we need to look at the situation as a whole here of late and that collectively, we have not pitched very well.

jfanaselle:
5:47 pm All of the work invested in Hee Seop Choi is definately beginning to pay off offensively. How do you plan to work on, or how are you already attempting to smooth out his mechanical defense?

wewillwinthewest:
5:49 pm Do you have any clubhouse rules ?

laguest:
5:50 pm I don't overwhelm my players with rules, but I have a few things that I don't ask, I expect. For five years, we've never had a problem with that. If you look at the success we've had, it's become a very neat place for people to come to.

Brad_Arnsmeier:
5:51 pm Do you have any superstitions with regard to baseball?

laguest:
5:52 pm I don't believe in superstition. They're bad luck (that was actually Jim Colborn, who just walked into my office).

Base_Ball_2:
5:52 pm As a ball player yourself, who did you idolize growing up during or before your playing days?

56b56:
5:54 pm What do you know about Willy Ayabar? Is he going to be a good third baseman? What's his game and when will he be ready?

mike92882:
5:56 pm What has been your most rememberable moment as the Dodgers skipper?

laguest:
5:57 pm October 2, 2004. When we began in 2001, one of the dreams that we had in managing in his organization was to get it back to the point where it had realized a championship of some sort under my tenure. However, it's not the final hurdle that I'm looking forward to going over as the manager of this team. What we left short was a National League championship and an opportunity to play in the World Series.

laguest:
5:57 pm Last question here guys...

Brad_Arnsmeier:
5:58 pm As the season goes on who do you perceive as the greatest competition in the NL West and why?

laguest:
5:59 pm I think the San Diego Padres are a team that is going to be around for the majority of the season. The Arizona Diamondbacks have made vast improvements from a year ago. They have improved offensively, they have improved defensively which has helped bring Brandon Webb back to his success as a rookie and is going to help enhance their team. I really feel that it could virtually end up being a three- to four-team race throughout much of the season.

laguest:
5:59 pm We've got to go prepare for tonight's game, but thank you all for taking part in this. I enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to seeing you all at Dodger Stadium this season.

Software © 2005 Prospero Technologies LLC. All rights reserved.

QQQQQQ, A, QQQ, A

Next time, just provide a link. That's way too much of someone else's property to publish here. Thanks.

I just don't get the whole "adjustment" to pitching in a different inning theory

an 8th inning specialist? I don't get it

I just don't get the whole "adjustment" to pitching in a different inning theory"
---------------

It's mostly just that it violates the work routine pitchers have become comfortable with. Sort of like if you were asked to start working graveyard shift at work. Theoretically you should be able to do the job just as well, but it would probably take a little while to adjust to it.

That said, I do think too much is made of it. Pitchers should be able to adjust to whatever the needs of the team are.

I'm not sure if that qualifies. Like Simers.

Tracy to Colborn: since when?

Now, I can see that it might be counterproductive to leave too much uncertainty as to length of use. If a guy is sometimes brought in to face one batter, and other times to pitch 3 innings, well, that will effect preparation and how hard a guy will go to the first batter(s). But what's wrong with a "smokejumper" job description, for multiple guys, even? You'll come in when we need you, most likely no earlier than the 5th, and no later than the 8th. Be ready.

the 3 inning reference is to the Padre game last year when Tracy had Gagne go 3 innings???

No, I wasn't thinking of Gagne specifically. More generally about middle-innings guys. 3 innings is unlikely unless the starter leaves early, but the point was that "roles" should be defined in terms of length of stint, not inning.

Looks like they didn't do that this time.

D'Angelo is a guy who could fill in for Izturas and Kent. In fact, he might be an upgrade at third. I wonder what's the deal there.

1 year/$2.87M, with a tad over 4 years of service time. So, whoever claimed him would be responsible a the pro-rated portion of the $2.87M and would have control of him after the season.

2005 line: .229/.319/.295/.615 in 105 AB
career line: .267/.350/.382/.732 in about 2000 AB
Only full season: .270/.364/.394/.758, 563 AB (2004)

I'm not proposing that the Dodgers should or shouldn't make a waiver claim, I'm just trying to bring some information on board. Is it correct to assume that about 20 other teams would need to pass on him before a hypothetical Dodger waiver claim would be completed?

Besides Jimenez being available,the Phillies have now released Dodger legend, and DT trivia answer Jose Offerman!

Mr. RDGC, you're on.