That guy pitches really quickly.

It's the best I can do since it doesn't appear that I'm in the child-producing industry.

Dear Colorado,

That's great. Thanks a million.

Sincerely,

Steve

June 17, 1978

Coming off a National League pennant the previous year, the Dodgers were headed for a record year of attendance and over 51,000 came to Dodger Stadium on a Saturday night to watch the starters for both the Dodgers and the Montreal Expos falter early. Neither Burt Hooton nor Rudy May could get out of the third inning, but it was the Montreal bullpen that prevailed in a 6-3 win for the Expos. The loss dropped the Dodgers to 35-28 for the season and 5 games behind San Francisco and in third place.

Hooton let the first two Expos, Dave Cash and Stan Papi reach and Tony Perez singled Cash home to give Montreal a quick 1-0 lead. The Dodgers tied the game in the bottom of the first after back-to-back walks to Davey Lopes and Bill Russell eventually led to a sacrifice fly from Ron Cey.

But Hooton still was shaky. Larry Parrish singled to lead off the second. After a May sacrifice, Cash drove him home to make it 2-1 Montreal in the second. But May was shakier. He hit Rick Monday to lead off the second and then walked Steve Yeager. Expos manager Dick Williams had seen enough and called for Dan Schatzeder. Hooton singled to load the bases and then Lopes drew a walk to force in a run to tie the game.

The Expos drove Hooton from the game in the third. Perez and Warren Cromartie hit back-to-back doubles to make it 3-2 Montreal. Cromartie singled to put runners on first and third and Tommy Lasorda had seen enough and brought in Bobby Castillo. Andre Dawson hit a sac fly to make it 4-2 before Castillo got out of the jam.

The Dodgers threatened in the third a Cey double and a Dusty Baker walk. Schatzeder then balked the runners over. But he got Lee Lacy, filling in for the injured Reggie Smith, to pop out and struck out Monday and Yeager to end the inning.

The Expos kept coming. In the fifth, walks to Papi, Perez and Valentine loaded the bases. Lance Rautzhan relieved, but gave up a run on a fielder's choice by Dawson and then an RBI single by Gary Carter. The Dodgers would get one more run in the 9th to make it 6-3. The Dodgers stranded 13 runners on the night. Montreal reliever Hal Dues picked up his only major league save with four innings of relief.

The loss on June 17 ended a seven-game winning streak for the Dodgers, who were starting to catch up to the Giants, who had gotten out of the gate quickly. The Dodgers would catch the Giants, who faded, and Cincinnati, who eventually finished second and clinched the division with a week left in the season. The team finished 95-67.

The Dodgers suffered a drop in power in 1978. After clouting 191 homers in 1977, the Dodgers hit just 149 in 1978, with Reggie Smith leading the team with 29. Steve Garvey led the NL in hits with 202. It was the fourth time in five years, that Garvey had over 200 hits. Lopes continued with his excellent production at the top of the order with 17 homers and stealing 45 bases in 49 attempts.

The big hole for the Dodgers was at catcher. Yeager batted .193. The Dodgers decided to bring back Joe Ferguson as help, a trade that would cost them Jeffrey Leonard and Rafael Landestoy (who would be reacquired at an even steeper cost). Rookie Pedro Guerrero came up in September and had 5 hits in just 8 at bats.

The pitching staff was solid as usual. Hooton led the team with 19 wins and a 2.71 ERA. Tommy John's remarkable comeback continued with a 17-10 mark a 3.30 ERA. Rookie Bob Welch appeared in 23 games and was 7-4 with a 2.02 ERA. Terry Forster saved 22 games.

The LCS against Philadelphia was not as dramatic as the 1977 matchup. The Dodgers won the first two in Philadelphia, 9-5 and 4-0. John threw a 4-hit shutout in Game 2. Coming back to L.A., the Phillies kept the champagne on ice in Game 3 with a 9-4 win, but the Dodgers won Game 4 in 10 innings 4-3 thanks to a couple of rare misplays in center field by Philadelphia Gold Glover Garry Maddox.

The World Series was a disappointment. Longtime coach Jim Gilliam died two days before the series started. The Dodgers wore #19 on their sleeves in his memory and won the first two games at Dodger Stadium, 11-5 and 4-3. Game 2 ended with Welch's memorable strikeout of Reggie Jackson.

But once the Series went to New York, everything went wrong. Graig Nettles put on a Brooks Robinson like performance at third to help Ron Guidry get a 5-1 win in Game 3. In Game 4, a controversial hip check of a throw from Bill Russell by Reggie Jackson led to a Yankee win in 10 innings, 4-3. And in Game 5, the Yankees pounded Hooton, Rauthzan, and Charlie Hough in a 12-2 loss.

Back in Los Angeles for Game 6, the Yankees finished off the Dodgers, 7-2 and Jackson hit a 2-run homer off of Welch.

But the people came. 3,347,845 people paid to go to Dodger games in 1978, an average of over 41,000 per game.

Thanks to the NY Times, BaseballReference.com and Retrosheet

Dodgers:
A Perez SS
Repko RF
Drew CF (you're excused)
Kent 2B
Saenz DH
Werth LF
Phillips 1B
Edwards 3B
Rose C (?????)

Pale Hose:
Podsednik LF
Iguchi 2B
Thomas DH
Konerko 1B
Rowand CF
Dye RF
Pierzynski C
Crede 3B
Uribe SS

Thanks!

Does JT know he doesn't have a backup catcher on the bench? This was always a major sticking point for him until it became an excuse to keep Choi out of the lineup.

This lineup suggests that Mike Rose is a better hitter against LHPs than Hee Seop Choi. Does anyone think this could be the case?

There was a bus to take us to the night game, but we were told there'd be no bus to take us back (Was the reason that the South Side was deemed too dangerous? Dunno). So about 30 of us walked over to the El and rode back downtown at 11:00pm or so. No problems.

Why isn't this game on FSNW2?

The Dodgers in the lineup today that have faced him are:
Drew (0 for 3)
Perez (1 for 3)
Saenz (0 for 5)
Werth (0 for 2)

And to an extent, I can understand Choi sitting against the tough, tough lefty.

And to an extent, I like giving Rose some at-bat opportunities.

But unless he's hurt, there's no doubt in my mind that Choi should be in the lineup today. Bat him ninth, if you must, but this is an absolute wasted opportunity to develop the guy as a full-time player.

If that's the case, may God have mercy on all of you.

However, Lyons won't be at today or tomorrow's game. He has duty for big Fox. So I don't know who's going to be with Steiner tonight. A. Martinez is doing radio. I don't know whether they are shifting over Monday or Downing.

May God have mercy on us too!

One of the advantages of making up a lineup solely with players who can play four or more positions. Of course the disadvantage is that they had to learn all those positions because none of them can hit enough to claim one position.

And if something goes incredibly right, someone says, "Ahhhh, that's better."

Bob, can you find the boxscore of the Billy Martin-managed (I think) pull a lineup at random game?

http://tinyurl.com/bqcjx

.259 .338 .445 Cash 1b
.261 .324 .362 Northrup rf
.231 .293 .387 Horton lf
.203 .259 .279 Brinkman ss
.303 .346 .404 Taylor 2b
.316 .432 .480 Sims c (98 ABs)
.234 .278 .395 Stanley cf
.236 .272 .356 Rodriguez 3b
.125 .125 .125 Fryman p

The Tigers won that game, then lost the second game of the doubleheader with the 'regular' lineup.

The Yankees started:
Randolph 2b
Munson C
Jackson RF
Nettles 3B
Rivers CF
White LF
May DH
Chambliss 1B
Dent SS

The Yankees won 7-5 and Martin kept the same lineup through a 5-game winning streak.

In 1972 Martin did the same thing with the Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader against Cleveland. He ended up with Eddie Brinkman (who was Oscar Robles at the plate) batting cleanup. Brinkman had a game-tying double in that game. But Martin went back to his regular lineup in Game 2 and the Tigers got crushed as some bum named Tom Timmermann gave up 5 runs in 4 2/3 innings, including a 2-run homer to Ray Fosse.

For HDTV fans, tonight's game is on InHD nationally...and Sunday's is on ESPN-HD. Almost makes up for the fact that tomorrow's game is one of only 5 games all season that I can't see on TV here in AZ.

re: #29...I actually have local cable to supplement my DirecTV Extra Innings just for the Dodger game or two a month InHD carries.

Brinkman had a hit, run, and RBI. Cash was 2-4 without scoring or driving in a run. Horton had a three-hit game, but no player had more than 1 RBI. It looked to be a game of very timely hitting.

http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08131DET1972.htm

The Tigers had scored just 3 runs in the previous four games when Martin pulled out the hat.

In 1977 the Yankees had lost five straight and had been shut out by Bill Travers and held to one run by Dave Lemanczyk.

April 5th - April 13th: Batting 2nd twice & 8th twice / Does not start 3 of 7 games / OPS .330
April 13th - May 11th: Batting 2nd / Starts 18 of 26 games / OPS .300 -> .969
May 12th: Batting 5th / OPS .969 -> .965
May 13th - May 21st: Batting 2nd / Starts 4 of 8 games / OPS .965 -> .952
May 22nd - June 7th: Batting 2nd once, 3rd twice, 6th once, & 7th 5 times / Starts 9 of 17 games / OPS .952 -> .739
June 8th - June 14th: Batting 2nd / Starts 5 of 5 games / OPS .739 -> .871
June 15th - June 16th: Batting 6th / Starts 2 of 2 games / OPS .871 -> .852
June 17th: Does not play

Dear Jim Tracy,

Please bat Choi second and play him regularly until he stops performing instead of leaving him out of the lineup and moving him around until you find a spot where he is no longer comfortable.

Thank you!

Consistent playing time makes sense. Consistent batting spot, I wouldn't think that would matter.

Harold Baines is the bench coach to add to confusion.

Sox on pace to steal 27 tonight

Padres are down 2-0 in Minnesota.

I'm from Soxtalk.com

We've been doing something where we invite (intelligent) opposing fans to post on our boards for a series or longer if they like.

My dad's a Dodger fan, so I would tend to think you guys are intelligent. :)

If you guys don't want to, that's fine, but we like seeing opposing viewpoints. We love Buehrle, but do you guys think he's taht good, etc.?

Thanks
Alex

Los Angeles Dodgers of Las Vegas

or

Las Vegas 51's of Los Angeles

I can throw up a link in the thread back to you guys if you'd like.

Somebody named KJ Choi is tied for 2nd, one stroke back, at the US Open. Shouldn't our Choi be playing?

We've also done this with USS Mariner, if it means anything.

We love Buehrle. I'm starting to think you Dodger fans would kill for a guy who leads the league in innings and never gets hurt. Also, he was named as like one of the few players with a real chance to get to 300 wins.

Of course, Buehrle's having a mediocre game tonite and you wouldn't notice.

ME: "Against a LHP without much of a L/R split, the Catcher is playing 1B and the backup catcher is catching. Choi is sitting."

MY DAD: "That's stupid."

Stupid, indeed.

ok, he didn't, but still...

"You can put it on the board.. YES!"
"He gone!"
"Stretch!"
"Good guys"

It's like these fools get a bonus every time they say something stupid.

What don't you guys like about our pair? I'm intrigued. I grew up listening to Harrellson and Jackson is in like his fifth or sixth year.

She will not have her name changed to DJ.

That's why we don't like them.

"A line drive deep to left. If it stays fair it's gone. And it's gone! A two-run homerun by Frank Thomas."

Oh wait, pitching...

5.0 IP; 6 H; 7 R; 4 ER; 1 BB; 3 K; 2 HR

Of course he wasn't helped out by the following:

E: Guzman (14, throw), LaRoche 3 (3, throw, fielding, throw).

That's some shaky defense from the new left side of the infield.

Marty, Teri

The Twins tied the game at 4-4, but an injury to JC Romero has left them short of relievers.

So Terry Mulholland is pitching.....

Anyway, Elmer was a legendary (and fictitious) lost bear cub. Every night, just before the firefall, kids (and kids at heart) all over the valley would be yelling "ELLLMMMEEERRR!"

It was pretty neat.

I wonder if my current cat is getting upset that I'm thinking about a replacement for her already. She actually seems pretty chipper lately.

Hey, good for the cat.

And, heck, they only lost 4-5 kids a year...and only the slow ones.

The cat is feeling better now, but she's still on borrowed time. I think she's just glad about not being dragged to the vet all the time. But she still has cancer. I just opted to not give her chemotherapy because: 1) it's expensive ($200-300/treatment) 2) she's old (16-17 years old) and 3) it likely wouldn't do much good either.

In his first major league game, April 7, 1986, Kruk came into the game against the Dodgers in the 9th inning as a pinch runner for Steve Garvey. The Padres had runners on 1st and 3rd with no one out. And were down 2-0.

Kruk got caught stealing by Mike Scioscia.

The Padres ended up losing 2-1.

For each player, the format is the estimated number of games missed * the estimated VORP rate / game = the total VORP lost. For the estimated number of games missed, I took an educated guess based on the total number of games missed (i.e. starting pitchers / long relievers = games / 5, closer = games / 2, etc.). For the VORP rate, I used a weighted average of Baseball Prospectus projections (3x) and current VORP rate (1x), unless there wasn't enough data from this season (e.g, Dessens and Young), in which cased I just used the BP projection. Any VORP rates that turned out negative (Redding and Blum) I rounded up to 0. Here are the results:

Brad Penny: 3 * 0.788 = 2.364
Odalis Perez: 5 * 0.848 = 4.24
Eric Gagne: 19 * 0.429 = 8.151
Wilson Alvarez: 8 * 0.628 = 5.024
Elmer Dessens: 9 * 0.336 = 3.024
Darren Dreifort: 0 * 0 = 0
Dodgers Pitchers = 22.803
Milton Bradley: 17 * 0.229 = 3.893
Jose Valentin: 26 * 0.176 = 4.576
Jayson Werth: 29 * 0.148 = 4.292
Antonio Perez: 17 * 0.31 = 5.27
Ricky Ledee: 4 * 0.155 = 0.62
Jason Grabowski: 3 * 0.079 = 0.237
Paul Bako: 4 * 0.015 = 0.06
Dodgers Hitters = 18.948
Dodgers Total = 41.751

Woody Williams: 6 * 0.719 = 4.314
Tim Redding: 6 * 0 = 0
Padres Pitchers = 4.314
Mark Loretta: 25 * 0.264 = 6.6
Khalil Greene: 21 * 0.23 = 4.83
Dave Roberts: 9 * 0.145 = 1.305
Geoff Blum: 3 * 0 = 0
Eric Young: 13 * 0.117 = 1.521
Freddy Guzman: 4 * 0.052 = 0.208
Padres Hitters = 14.464
Padres Total = 18.778

Brandon Lyon: 15 * 0.142 = 2.13
Greg Aquino: 31 * 0.16 = 4.96
Jose Valverde: 13 * 0.116 = 1.508
Oscar Villareal: 30 * 0.144 = 4.32
D-Backs Pitchers = 12.918
Jose Cruz Jr.: 28 * 0.139 = 3.892
Luis Terrero: 2 * 0.093 = 0.186
Jerry Gill: 4 * 0 = 0
D-Backs Hitters = 4.078
D-Backs Total = 16.996

The conclusion is that the Dodgers injuries have cost them about 2.5 wins (1 win = 10 VORP) more than the Padres and Diamondbacks injuries.

I haven't done the Giants yet, but I'm pretty confident they have been hit the hardest by injuries. Barry Bonds alone comes out to about an estimated 40.68 VORP lost.

Note: The numbers for the Padres and Dodgers are slightly different than last time, because I calculated games played formulaically instead of hard-coding. The formulas will make it easier to redo the analysis in the future.

So I went by the book. Took a pan and a very large spoon and started banging for all I was worth. Now, that got some attention.

Unfortunately, it was from other hikers spread throughtout the valley. The valley literally rang with cries to "Shut Up! Shut the hell up!"

And the bear ignored it.

The bear gets to my backpack, tears a hole in it, and down to the ground drops our entire food cache...one Hershey bar and a packet of instant soup.

Well, it was on. Took a rock, sailed it behind the bear, and was studiously ignored. Took another rock, and plugged thet bear square in the heine. Now that got it's attention. It wasted no time starting to back down the tree.

My friend in sleeping bag: Oh S*#& Jim, what'd you do that for?

Me: Well, don't know exactly...

My friend still in sleeping bag: Well, do something!

Me: Ok, I'll...I'll start a fire. That always works.

The bear drops the last couple feet to the ground...and runs off into the trees.

And for one moment, I was king of the forest.

Jason Schmidt: 2 * 1.254 = 2.508
Armando Benitez: 22 * 0.234 = 5.148
LaTroy Hawkins: 0 * 0.311 = 0
Al Levine: 9 * 0 = 0
Giants Pitchers = 7.656
Barry Bonds: 59 * 0.678 = 40.002
Moises Alou: 12 * 0.204 = 2.448
Edgardo Alfonzo: 4 * 0.125 = 0.5
Marquis Grissom: 9 * 0.038 = 0.342
Giants Hitters = 43.292
Giants Total = 50.948

As expected, the Giants have been hit harder than the Dodgers, strictly because of Bonds. Losing Bonds is roughly equivalent to all of the Dodgers DL stints this year combined, which seems about right. Overall, the Giants have been hit about 1 win harder than the Dodgers. Based on this conclusion, it's hard to see how even getting Bonds back would make the Giants a competitor.

Just got back from the game. My impression was that Houlton did a great job holding them to 5 hits. If he doesn't do the walks and hit batter we may only have lost this game by 2 runs :$

Gio is awful and you can predict he'll give up a homerun all the time now.

Offense was just pathetic. Any chance we can do that Harang/Dunn trade? We need something right away.

I've got tix for tomorrow and Sunday. I am a masochist.

The Padres went 22-6 in May and they are 3-12 in June.

Bochy brought in Reyes to pitch at that end. Dennys Reyes is Spanish for "Scott Erickson".

They are at +6

The DBacks are at -52
The Dodgers are at -14
The Giants are at -55
The Rockies are at -82

10 runs/season = 1 win
10 runs/half-season = 2 wins

The cumulative nature of VORP is irrelevant as it relates to the numerator/denominator relationship of runs+/-10 = +/- 1 win/season.

If 10 VORP in one season = 1 win, then 10 VORP in a half season must = 2 wins.

Or look at it this way: 10 VORP in June equates to 20 VORP over a whole season, or 2 wins.

Either way, right now 10 VORP 1 win.

"Adam Dunn was given another day off Friday, and he was about as happy as he was for his last day off June 3 in Colorado. That time, he didn't complain because he wasn't hitting well.

Now he is vocal about it after hitting a 455-foot homer Thursday.

"I don't know why I'm off," he said. "And, of course, they didn't tell me Thursday — that would be too easy, they waited until today (Friday) when my mom and dad are here for the games....

Asked what would have happened if he had hit a 500-foot homer, Dunn said, "I probably would have gotten two days off."

June 18, 1949

Over 32,000 fans came to Wrigley Field on a Saturday afternoon to watch one of the least remembered of the "Boys of Summer", Rex Barney, shut out the Cubs 2-0. Barney held the Cubs to just five hits while striking out seven. The loss was the seventh straight for the Cubs and their eighth straight loss to Brooklyn. The Dodgers improved to 35-22 and stayed 2 games in front of second place St. Louis.

1949 would be one of the most written about seasons in baseball history. There were exciting pennant races in both leagues. The Dodgers and Cardinals would be close all season and the Dodgers would not clinch until the last day of the season. The Dodgers were 97-57. In the AL, the Yankees won two straight games from the Red Sox to end the season to win the pennant by one game also.

1949 was Jackie Robinson's MVP season. He led the league in hitting at .342 and in stolen bases with 37. Robinson also hit 16 home runs and drove in 124, a mark no second baseman in baseball would top until Jeff Kent drove in 128 in 1998.

The Dodgers also had the National League Rookie of the Year in pitcher Don Newcombe, who went 17-8 with a 3.17 ERA. Newcombe would eventually add an MVP and a Cy Young Award to his credit in 1956,

But the pitching ace on June 18 was Barney. The young right-hander had made his major league debut at age 18 in 1943. He moved into the Dodgers rotation fulltime in 1948. Barney threw hard but was plagued with wildness in his career. In 1949 Barney would go 9-8 and walk 89 batters and strike out 80 in 140 2/3 innings. His wildness would get only worse and after 1950, Barney was out of the majors. He would later go on to greater fame as the public address announcer for the Baltimore Orioles with a trademark "Thank yooouuuu!" after most announcements and also saying, "Give that fan a contract!" after a fan made a nice catch of a foul ball. Barney passed away in 1997.

The Dodgers had the best offense in the National League in 1949, scoring 879 runs, but they were only able to scratch out two against Cubs veteran Dutch Leonard. A pair of infield hits by Gil Hodges contributed to both runs.

In the second, Hodges squirted a ball that Leonard couldn't come up with cleanly and reached with a hit. Carl Furillo singled him to third and Hodges came home on a force out by backup catcher Bruce Edwards.

In the third, Pee Wee Reese led off with a single and went to second a ground out and third on a wild pitch. Duke Snider then grounded to Cub first baseman Herman Reich who threw out Reese at the plate. Robinson singled Snider to third and Snider scored when Hodges hit a bouncer that Cub third baseman Andy Pafko couldn't make a play on. After that, neither team was able to put together any sort of threat. The normally wild Barney walked only two batters.

In the World Series, the Dodgers faced the Yankees for the third time in the 1940s. The Dodgers lost Game 1 at Yankee Stadium, 1-0 on a 9th inning homer by Tommy Heinrich against Newcombe, but bounced back to win Game 2, 1-0 on a shutout from Preacher Roe. The Yankees closed out the series at Ebbets Field, winning 4-3, 6-4, and 10-6, with Barney losing the finale. It was the second World Series loss for Dodgers manager Burt Shotton in 3 years. Shotton was the last manager of the Dodgers who did not dress in a uniform while on the job.

The Dodgers were solidly established as the dominant team in the National League, but the next two years were going to end even more unhappily than 1949 did.

Thanks to the New York Times, BaseballReference.com and Retrosheet