June 25, 1923

A mediocre Brooklyn team lost to a very bad Boston team on this day in 1923, falling 7-4 as ace Dazzy Vance didn't have his good stuff pitching in front of the home folks at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers fell to 30-29, 10 games out of first and in fifth place. Boston was already 20-42 and actually 1 ½ games ahead of last place Philadelphia.

The Dodgers got a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning when Jack Fournier hit a 2-run homer off of Boston starter Jesse Barnes. Boston tied the game in the top of the second when Bob Smith's grounder bounced off the shin of shortstop Jimmy Johnston into left field to plate two Braves to tie the game. Brooklyn would make four errors on the day.

In the third, Gus Felix led off with a single for Boston and went to second when outfielder Bert Griffith misplayed the ball. Stuffy McInnis then doubled home Felix to put Boston up 3-2.

In the fourth, Boston's Bob Smith led off with a triple and was singled home by Hod Ford. After two force outs, leadoff man Al Nixon was on first. Nixon then stole second and went to third on an overthrow by catcher Hank DeBerry and then came home when center fielder Bernie Neis fumbled the ball.

DeBerry tried to redeem his gaffe with a triple in the sixth. He would score on an Andy High sacrifice fly to make it 5-3 Boston.

Boston scored a run in the 8th when Earl Smith singled and Bob Smith doubled him home. After a walk to Ford, Barnes singled in Bob Smith to make it 7-3.

Johnston singled in pinch hitter Zack Taylor in the 9th for Brooklyn's final run. Brooklyn's other Zack (Wheat) sat out the game, according to the New York Times because of "heat".

Wheat's frequent absences no doubt hurt the Dodgers in 1923. The team finished in sixth place at 76-78, 19 ½ games behind the Giants. Wheat made it in to only 98 games, although he did bat .375 in that limited action. Fournier batted .351 with 22 homers, which was third best in average and second in homers in the NL.

The Dodgers couldn't settle on a double play combo. Johnston moved back between second and shortstop during the season. The Dodgers even tried out a young Ivy League graduate named Moe Berg out at shortstop for 49 games in 1923. Berg would leave the Dodgers and come back in the American League as a backup catcher and coach and then would go on to be a spy for the U.S. during World War II. Overall, Berg was an interesting, but pretty weird guy. Read the "Catcher Was a Spy" by Nicholas Dawidoff for more about the life of Berg.

Vance led the league in strikeouts for the second straight year (197) and went 18-15 with a 3.50 ERA. Burleigh Grimes finished 21-18 with a 3.58 ERA.

There were several Hall of Famers present at Ebbets Field that day. Brooklyn had manager Wilbert Robinson, Wheat, Grimes, Vance. Boston used future Hall of Fame umpire Jocko Conlon at third base. Although not a Hall of Famer, Boston outfielder Billy Southworth would manage teams to four NL pennants and 2 World Series titles. Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Marquard was on the 1923 Braves, but did not pitch on this day.

Brooklyn used a 20-year old pitcher named Paul Schreiber for nine games in 1923. Schreiber would not pitch in the major leagues again until 1945 when he appeared in a couple of games for the Yankees. For more of his story see:
https://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/17145.html

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

I should be by tomorrow for one last game before I flee the country.

I think it's called the Rising Sun....

And she sewed my new blue jeans.

But my daddy was a gambling.

Down in New Orleans.

(Actually, I've never been to New Orleans.)

I know that alot of the things he does are just a big act, but man Shaq is awesome. He is far and away the most entertaining person in that sport.

Kreuter, Kinkade, and Saenz.

25 - Steve, you card, you.

Re scrap -- can we please, please end this inning before Vladimir Guerrero shows up?

That argument earned a very constitutional veto.

Then the kids. :)

Who does this remind me of? Who? Someone in the not so recent past? Can't think...

John Lackey needs to learn to breathe through his nose.

It works both ways, though. A bunch of sluggers that hit the ball hard with low OBPs won't score a ton of runs, either. The key is to have both aspects, or get really lucky by having all your hits in one inning.

Like the Angels did in the 2nd inning.

Chad Billingsley - #1/2 starter
Edwin Jackson - #1/2 starter
Jonathan Broxton - #3/4 starter / closer
Hong-Chih Kuo - #3/4 starter / closer
Justin Orenduff - #3/4 starter / middle-reliever
Carlos Alvarez - closer / setup man
Joel Hanrahan - #4/5 starter
Eric Hull - #5 starter / middle-reliever
William Juarez - #5 starter / middle-reliever

Like Andruw Jones. I don't like that guy.

i brought that up in the last game thread, i believe. someone (stubbs, maybe?) was complaining about drew's lack of clutchness, and i pointed out his career stats with RISP are just as good, if not better, than his normal stats.

i'm not sure i believe in clutch hitting. there may be a few individuals who are able to do it oonsistently, but they are very few and far between.

Or not, given the last three years to the contrary of the first proposition.

Is Cody Ross clutch?

I really, really don't like Jimy Williams.

Wow, I'm impersonating Bob.

Izturis, Edwards, Werth, Ross, Rose, Bad Choi

One or several of them is going to be hitting somewhere they don't belong. Like somewhere from spots 1-9.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sports/51s/

I really wanted Nakamura to be successful, but he sure did look bad when he was up here.

i believe i said drew was average with risp, awful this year, good last year.

But yes, the Y in Jayson is prestentious. I mean, really, one out of every two male children in this country are named Jason, and you want to pretend yours is somehow different?

two packs of cigarettes...nokamura is sad situation.

Vin mentioned earlier that the full name is actually "DeChone." I'll call that Dee-Choan.

105 -- I am a bad person. I shall subject myself to three innings of Ken Harrelson in penance.

At the very least, I think we can all agree that above-average clutch hitting is, as a general rule, not something that shows up consistently in a player from season to season.

Manny steps up for the RBI, but falls apart when the game is on the line?

Derek Jeter:
2005:
None on: .313/.399/.495
RISP: .217/.319/.367
Close and late: .289/.357/.421
3-Year:
None on: .298/.365/.458
RISP: .308/.389/.430
Close and late: .237/.343/.365

Derek used to be average in the clutch, but he's lost that clutchy feeling, now it's gone, gone, gone?

114 -- Your god is a cruel god. Must I listen to six innings of Harrelson? Or nine?

I hate being this defeatist...I know it will turn around. I just hope it's not too late.

I say put Fred Wallin in the booth. I mention that because the last time I brought up his name on DT, he sent me an e-mail thanking me, which was pretty cool.

I predict a season low number of posts at DT.

For those not watching the telecast, they just showed a video-efect thing that captured and held frames of the infielders converge on a groundball toward the middle. You could see the path they tookd to the ball and how far they came. Kent went a long way to make the play.

Perez
Phillips (if only because he K's the least)
Drew
Kent
Bradley
Choi
Werth
Izturis

Something for your consideration.

Mr. Bokonon, sir. I'm already in hell.

And now Repko's probably going to get picked off of first.

K-Rod's been throwing badly. Not that it will help us, since even after Choi hits his solo home run to lead off the inning, Edwards, Ross, and Grabowski will be following.

It is moneyball's fault that Werth is not 'clutch'.

The Dodgers have outhit the Angels by a factor of two and scored only one run, yet trail because of their 'moneyball philosophy.'

moneyball is the reason that hee seop choi is a terrible terrible player.

moneyball is the reason Antonio Perez dropped a pop fly.

What. Ever.

Must credit TMQ!! Or something like that.

Of course, pundits have long blamed the recession of the late 80s on Lewis' backward 'liarspoker' philosophies.

Right!

If he wasn't so scary, Ashcroft would be a pretty amusing guy.

But seriously, love the Liar's Poker.

I'm not watching tomorrow.

I may not watch again until they win 3 in a row...prob around august.

Izturis (SS)
Perez (2B)
Werth (CF)
Saenz (DH)
Choi (1B)
Phillips (C)
Grabowski (LF)
Ross (RF)
Edwards (3B)

Quite the team we'd be trotting out.

Then the SCSR tells me the Dodgers are 0-12 with RISP in these two games.

Aaaargh.

Positives:

1) Choi draws his second walk in six weeks.

2) Tracy uses Phillips instead of dying with Cody Ross. Such is progress.

3) Tracy doesn't bunt because "You have to get to Izturis in that situation."

4) Perez can do whatever he wants in the field if he can keep hitting .340. But a little bird tells me that Plaschke is going to come out tomorrow and call this "Tony's team," sending Perez into a 3-217 slump that gets him DFAed and signed by the Mets to backup Kaz Matsui.

So there's that.

Ya gotta hand it to the people of Missouri for voting a dead man in as Senator over John Boy, though.

I must find comfort among my enemies. I wonder if SoxTalk is still open?

1) NAMBLA references
2) Jon calling someone a douche

I don't like the hit and run.

Your 2008 nominee is Tennessee. You won't listen to me, so there's no risk of giving anything away.

Your nominee is in Tennessee.

Really hard to get excited about the presumptive choices. You know who I'm talkin' about.

Al Gore? Yikes. I'm trying to help you here, at risk of my Party Card.

Phil Bredesen!

Prior to his hiatus, I was surprised how qualified Gore was. Served in Vietnam, 8 years in the House, 8 years in the Senate, 8 years as the Vice-President. It's too bad about that whole lack of personality.

By the way, I love Project Gutenberg, but there King James Bible may be a prank. I'm pretty sure there isn't a profit called Jeremy.

You know what he did before becoming a pol? Investigative journalism. Remember that?

A good place to start would be to demand free time on the airwaves that we own, and lease for practically nothing. That alone would take a hell of a lot of money out of politics.

1) Young
2) Charismatic
3) Religious
4) From the South or Mid-West
5) Politically inexperienced
6) Preferably a minority

In the end, the national election is just a popularity contest, so we should play to it instead of pushing over-qualified robots.

And I would add, whateve else, keep Bob Shrum
from running the campaign.

236 -- is exactly right. Nominate She Who Will Not Be Named or Biden and you'll feel like you're in a 2000/2004 timewarp...while those Great Lakes states keep bleeding red. Bredesen is the best of FB's six. He's not a minority, but if you name Ken Salazar as Veep candidate, you're well on your way to a ticket that, hey, might actually win.

http://www.state.tn.us/governor/About.do

How did you hear about him?

This kinda lessens the incentive to throw big fundraisers and prostitute oneself to fat cat donors.

Between that and free airtime on the public airwaves, we can fix this whole democracy thing yet, I tell ya!

How I meant that, though, was in the sense that T.V. advertising will always be the biggest expense in any campaign. And candidates have to go somewhere to get the money to pay for them. And the people (corporations, unions, whatever) who give them that money extract blood for the favor. Just think very strongly that that works against us.

For a pretty good example, look at Bush's biggest financial backer - Ken Lay of Enron.
Not that the Dems are any better. They feed from the same trough. I really feel strongly that that works against true democracy.

But, hey, I'm nothing if not idealistic :)

WOuldn't it be interesting if we could limit campaign contributions to a check box on our tax returns?

http://tinyurl.com/7ke92

But as I said elsewhere, the Dems use the same sources. The fact that these guys are so beholden to corporate contributions make them speak with forked toungue.

Anyway, to answer your question, I believe a baseline minimum is pre-established for each viable candidate's warchest ("viability," by the way, is established by a candidate's ability to collect a qualifying number of individual $5 contributions... each from a different voter). The pre-established warchest minimum depends on the office being contested. A Gubernatorial candidate may receive more than a legislative candidate.

Now what are those amounts? I'm not exactly sure.

So I guess I didn't answer your question.

But you get the idea.

But, boy, would those who now lease the airwaves put up a fight! Is it too big a statement to say that democracy is being held hostage by them?

Izturis is 8 for 70 this month. What's happened to him? Tough to vote him to the all-star game. At least Eckstein's hitting a little. Green seems to have cooled off.

So never say never!

I don't like Wes Anderson films, so I wouldn't recommend it. But some people love his work.

I keep my thumb parallel to the ground on that one.

It was horrible!

Maybe not horrible, but it was a bad movie. A bad, bad movie.

And I say that as someone who truly loves Wes Anderson, and who has both "Bottle Rocket" and "Royal Tennenbaums" in my personal Top 20.

259 -- We tried to start a debate about which was the better clutch hitter out of Ross, Werth, Grabowski, and Repko, but it didn't go very far.

I never check the box. Public money paying for candidates is the only thing worse than private money paying for candidates.

And finally, to square today's circle. I am watching Jimmy Piersall on What's My Line as I type this.

My particular hobbyhorse is redistricting. I'm tired of extremists on each side being apportioned "safe" districts. I want a non-partisan commission to draw up maps after each census, no appeals allowed.

I think (or maybe it's just hope) that that would mean more centrists, in districts that don't look like riverbeds drawn by Lewis Carroll.

http://tinyurl.com/ex9ja (toward the bottom)

As close as we got was we almost divided the north side of Lake Isabella from the south side of Lake Isabella. The 400 residents that surround Lake Isabella were incensed. We found another way to get to population equality.

I am taking bets here that I'm the only person here who also have ever seen the Faeroe Islands play a World Cup qualifier match in person.

The Faeroe Islands was on the road.

Over and over these days, we hear and see the words: "Choi Bless America." I agree wholeheartedly. We ought to pray for Choi's blessings on our nation. But that's not enough. We must also take time every day to pray: "America, Bless Choi."

http://tinyurl.com/bcm43

I had actually forgotten that district ended up with La Crescenta, Wrightwood, Apple Valley, part of Highland, part of Redlands, and Mentone.

Here's the map so you can see what such a district would look like:

http://www.assembly.ca.gov/committee/c7/2001pdfs/2001ad59.pdf

Anyway, someone I trust says that Bredesen is the most straight talking no BS person they have ever met. Which is the exact same thing that another person that I trust more said about G.W. Bush. Bredesen's problem will be that he might be the saviour and the sword of the Democrats. That is because he is pretty much taking on the one real indictment of liberalism: TennCare.

Around here, everything is "for the children", but the sad reality is people like my mother (and thousands of illegal immigrants, if not hundreds of thousands) come here without ever paying a penny in state taxes and get on the tenncare dole. The sad thing is that even the elderly and the poor didn't make out that well, it was the insurance companies, the drug companies and the corrupt people like John Ford. All this has wasted an ungodly ammount of money, any amount of which if it had been spent better would have actually helped the children (and education).

So, I like Bredesen, and if he gets the nod, I won't be as fearful as I have been in the past two elections, but I have a feeling that he will have to run on the facts of TennCare, and those facts aren't going to sit well with the current leaders in the DNC.