Joe never ceases to amaze.

So with Kent out of the line-up today, it looks like we will field a line-up without a hitter making more than a million bucks. What are we, the Devil Rays?

A friend and I were talking and we think that perhaps 85 games may win the West.

With that, the Dodgers need to go 46-33 the rest of the way.

Is that possible?

Random Dodger game callback

July 6, 1896

On a Monday afternoon at Cleveland's League Park, the Spiders had just enough offense to get past Brooklyn, 3-1. The loss kept Brooklyn in ninth place at 31-33 and 11 ½ games behind league leaders Cleveland and Baltimore.

Brooklyn scored its only run in the first when John Anderson doubled home Mike Griffin. Cleveland tied it in the bottom of the first.

Brooklyn's Harley Payne and Cleveland's Bobby Wallace then matched goose eggs until the eighth. Cleveland strung together three hits, including a 2-run double by Wallace that was the game-winner 3-1. A few years later, Wallace would move to shortstop and make it to the Hall of Fame after a lengthy career with the St. Louis Browns.

Wallace gave up just seven hits and walked none. Payne gave up six hits with one walk.

1896 would be Brooklyn manager Dave Foutz's last year in charge. The team finished 58-73 and 33 games behind Baltimore in ninth place.

Fielder Jones was the big star for Brooklyn, batting .354. Jones would later manage the Chicago White Sox to their first World Series title in 1906.

However, few Brooklyn players showed up among the league leaders in any offensive or defensive category. Brickyard Kennedy led the pitching staff with a 17-20 record and a 4.42 ERA. Payne was 14-16 with a 3.39 ERA.

The National League was dominated by Batlimore in 1896. The Orioles won by 9 ½ games with a 90-39 record. The Orioles batted .328 and scored 995 runs.

The Cleveland team that Brooklyn played this day had three future Hall of Famers on it. In addition to the obscure Wallace, the Spiders also had a pitcher by the name of Cy Young (whom you have likely heard of) and outfielder Jesse Burkett (whom you probably have not heard of), who would both get plaques in Cooperstown.

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

Favorite paragraph from the Joe Morgan article. vr, Xei

Lewis merely shrugs. He told an interviewer recently: "As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Joe Morgan can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy. Short of that kind of thing, there is no level of stupidity that he could express on ESPN that would get him canned, because he's Joe Morgan. What are you going to do about it?"

Over/Under for Brad Penny in tonight is 6 IPs. Please feel free to place your virtual bets.
vr, Xei

Somewhere, Over the Rockies...

7 innings for Penny

How about an over/under on Dodger runs. I say 3.

Funny, the LA Times this morning says how the Dodgers wasted alot of hits, including Werth's 2 doubles....if he hits one of them in the first instead of the DP, the whole game is different, Kent or no Kent.

Chacon strikes out 8 dodgers in 8+ innings. After Chacon gets taken out of the game for a SINGLE A PITCHER, the Dodgers quickly strike out three consecutive times to conclude a 2-1 loss.

Dodgers 1 Run 29 Hits 1 Error
Rockies 2 Runs 2 Hits 0 Errors

Re: #2

Probably not. I don't think we can count on 46 quality starts from Penny, Weaver, Lowe, Perez and Houlton/Erickson/Alvarez/Thompson/Jackson. Each of those pitchers (slots) has 10-15 more starts to come. That averages to about nine QS per spot in the rotation the rest of the way. That would be most studly, but it's probably too much to expect even from a rotation of Clemens, Clemens, Clemens, Clemens, and Maddux. We would need at least that many QS because this offense will generally not be scoring 3+ runs per game, unless a lot of things happen that probably won't happen, i.e. Kent comes back, Izzy hits like he did in April, Drew comes back sooner and picks up where he left off, Bradley ditto...etc. etc.

Babysitting four boys here so I can't say much other than this: I swear when I first read it, I thought that the interview was fake. Even for HWSNBN, the comments were unbelieveable.

12,
Apparently I missed something, but what exactly does HWSNBN stand for?

denkers gotten on base 16 out of his last 18 times.

He Which Shall Not Be Named -- though we sometimes have too many of those to know exactly which Nameless Demon is being discussed

He who shall not be named

And I thought we were talking about baseball. Next thing you know, Joe Morgan (plus his middle name) will spell out "Lord Voldemort". Oops I said it. When does Half-Blood Prince come out again?

How about a numbering system? Voldemort1, Voldemort2, etc. One of the spreadsheet guys could build an index. ;)

2 great minds, fanerman. And it's July 16, and I'm on the waiting list.

Joe Voldemorgan? Sold.

You guys are confusing the hell out of me.
I'm kinda afraid, a little :)

Re: #11

I tend to agree especially with this offense. I think the pitching will hold up.

A lot of things must happen, plus Depo needs to get somebody as well to play left or 1B.

Actually, on this site, the original HWSNBN was the new Dodger owner.

So my brand new copy of "The Godfather Part II" went defective at the one-hour mark last night, right at the scene where Michael shows up at Frankie Pentangeli's house. I'm as lucky as the Dodgers these days.

I exchanged for a new copy today at lunch and will make attempt #2 after tonight's "game."

I second Joe Voldemorgan. Call to a vote? All in favor, say "aye" (that is what you say, right?)

#24 - that definetly sucks.

Although, to match the luck of the Dodgers, the replacement copy would have to be defective...and you would be blamed for it and have to pay for it...and finally go buy it yourself...but inside the box is actually a copy of Harold Reynolds on Baseball.

Sorry for the HWSNBN reference to Morgan. Bob Timmerman in a game chat a while back posted several examples of Morgan's, ah, analysis. Timmerman said from here on out, Morgan is "HWSNBN".

Regarding the interview, this stands out for me: "I played The Game," he says. "You're reading it from a book. I played. I watched. I see everything. I know what happens out there. ... My baseball knowledge is accumulated over 20 years of playing, 20 years of watching The Game, so that's what I care about. I can't care if next week somebody comes up with a new way to evaluate The Game. Am I supposed to say, 'Aw, that's good. I'll go that way now'?"

It's this thinking that keeps Hee-Seop Choi in the bench. There's a part of me that thinks this is not entirely wrong.

Too bad Icaros. Pentageli's house is the old Corleone house. He moved in when Michael moved to Tahoe.

In a recent book called "Blink" (by the same author who wrote "The Tipping Point" whose name escapes me now) the author argues that impulsive, gut feeling decisions come from our accessing data/knowledge from stuff we learn from experience and that we store in our unconscious. We "know" certain things that often prove to be true but cannot explain how we know them. He give examples like art experts being able to recognize fakes without being able to explain why. Or a tennis coach who can predict when players will double fault as the server is tossing the ball in the air. In regards to the traditionalists/sabermetrics debate in baseball, it strikes me that the traditionalists (often ex-players who've seen and played in thousands of games) may be drawing on this subconscious knowledge to make decisions w/o being able to explain lucidly why they do so. And Bill James himself in a recent article called "Underestimating the Fog" argued that those in the analytic community may be overconfident in stating some of the things they believe to "know" to be true e.g. clutch hitting doesn't exist. That being said, Joe Morgan bugs the heck out of me and I believe that sabermetrically inclined teams
will do better in the long run. However, traditionalists are drawing from a vast source of experience and they may not be as ignorant as many of us more analytically inclined believe. They just may not be able to express themselves well.

Icaros,
You should always watch a Godfather film with some oranges around.

You will have to watch Godfather III for the sake of completion, but it's definitely disappointing and it hurts to watch Sofia Coppola act seductive.

I wrote a RDGC for a 1982 game. Needless to say somebody's should have come up, but I wouldn't write it.

24 - That really bites.

I compare Coppola to Joe Morgan. Parts one and two of Godfather is about as good as American filmaking can get. But since then... well, Coppola has been fairly good, at times very good but sheesh me, he's made some awful films.

Point being, after Godfater I&II, one could be excused for thinking it would be impossible for the guy to make a bad film. It is equally tough to reconcile Joe Morgan the ballplayer with Joe Morgan the broadcaster.

Meant to ask yesterday, Steve...was the `hillbilly' quote form `The Producers'?

26 - I bought it myself in the first place, but I had to pay a couple dollars more the second time around (curse you, Tower!) because the store I originally purchased from only had one (defective) copy. The first disc looked like somebody used it to shave Paul LoDuca.

I've already checked the new discs and thankfully there is no "Best of Baseball Tonight" to be found.

30 - A better summary of Godfather III would be hard to find. Painful...

Tonight's lineups have been submitted! Let the Lineup-Posting Grand Prix begin!

[waves green flag]

It would be very interesting to see who can guess the exact lineups for each game.

JMK,
That is Malcolm Gladwell you are referring to. But I don't think any of Gladwell's points apply to sabermetric analysis. "Blink" would deal with stuff like pitch recognition or perhaps a manager knowing when a team is going to pitch out or when to try to steal.

But most sabermetric thought applies to longterm decisions. In the long run, team A will score more runs if they do X.

However "Underestimating the Fog" was an interesting article and quite thought provoking.

James and Phil Birnbaum discuss it further here:
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/main/article/discussing_the_fog/

and Malcolm Gladwell is the author of "Blink".

I can't care if next week somebody comes up with a new way to evaluate The Game. Am I supposed to say, 'Aw, that's good. I'll go that way now'?"

no, joe. but you should at least give a fair hearing to what the person is saying, and after some careful consideration, see if it makes any sense, rather than reflexively dismissing it without a second thought as you so eagerly, self-righteously do.

ah, joe.

Whow. How did Choi go from bench to cleanup. Maybe all our posts is having some effect.

41,
There are at least 7 reasons. And they all start with the letters "DL."

#29 -- The connection between Blink and old-thinking baseball industry guys is very apt. Plus those guys have a ready excuse for their own failures. As the cliche goes, "a batter who fails 7 times out of 10 will go to the Hall of Fame." If a Blinkermatician drafts 10 players and 7 wash out, he still thinks he's a genius. In no other industry is that much failure tolerated, but maybe that's part of the game's charm. Frankly, unlike the writer of the SF Weekly piece, I hope the debate between saber vs. blink goes on forever. It's way too much fun to stop now.

#30 the real Godfather III is a tie between "Prizzi's Honor," "Good Fellas," "Casino," "Donnie Brasco," and every episode of "The Sopranos." In this case, accept substitutes.

This must be the lowest paid starting lineup for any team this season.

hahah, choi is the only one in the lineup who might conceivably hit a home run.

CHOI!!!!

28 - I didn't realize that, though I only got to see the house for about five seconds before it froze.

30 - I don't get the oranges reference yet, but Part III is the one I've actually seen before (saw Part I when I was about six), and Sofia is terrible. I'm glad she decided to direct, though I've yet to see any of her highly acclaimed films.

This lineup is hillarious! What a crock.

We don't have any starters getting paid more than 500K tonight (not counting Penny).

I'd like to point out that there are three batters hitting below .200 in tonight's lineup.

Any over/under for number of runs we'll score tonight. How about 2?

hey, looks like tracy's trying to drop the habit; repko finally got bumped down to the 8th spot.

Ugh. This is embarrassing.

Less than $3M in the 1-8 lineup spots. Combined.

Tonight's team costs $8M a year.

LOL, I like how nobody posts the lineups today after Jon's admonition last night.

I can't access Gameday from work.

54. that is amazing and hilarious and ridiculous all at the same time.

Everyone is afraid to post.

just for you, icaros:

robles ss
edwards 3b
werth lf
choi 1b
perez 2b
phillips c
grabowski rf
repko cf
penny p

Icaros-
How can you not notice the oranges?
Think about about what Vito Corleone is buying before he gets shot and what he's eating before he dies.

Actually the lack of money in the lineup is a good thing. It means the Dodgers aren't wasting a lot of money on players that, shall we say, generally suck relative to real big-leaguers.

Jon - great link to the SF Weekly article. The author painted a great picture of JM's irony's. I, with the conspiracy theory, think that JM might have it out for the A's, due to be turned down as an owner. And now he is feeding off that anger.

"In his Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James, after praising Morgan the player, goes on to describe Morgan the broadcaster as "a self-important little prig," a "twit," and a "weenie," just about hitting for the cycle."

Great stuff.

ok I give up, where can I go to see the lineup for tonite?

You know Penny is just furious right now.
Knowing he must be picture perfect with everything tonight. In his mind you know he's thinking muther*

Murderer's row it aint

Re injuries, etc.: At a certain point you get to feeling like the guy who hires the Three Stooges to remodel his house.

58 - Thanks, Vishal. I'm touched.

59 - Okay, Bob. Now I get it and feel really dumb.

We have one starting Major Leaguer (Phillips) plus part time starters (Werth & Choi) and rest are AAA. How did we come down to this? It'll be a LONG LONG SUMMER. Maybe we will soon have Minor League nights at Dodger Stadium.

58 -- you know, that's really funny, because that is basically the right lineup, if those are the eight guys you are going to put in a lineup.

The Producers used to be this little movie that was sort of this little treat that you could show your friends and you felt like it was your own little secret. It's not like that anymore.

62 - Every night, I post a link to the lineups at the top of my entry.

55 - It wasn't an admonition, at all - I was more amused than anything.

Damn, a 646 lb. catfish. Had no idea the bottom feeding was so good in China.

68 - I haven't seen it in years. That, and Alan
Arkin in `Catch 22'. Yoo hoo!

How many references to a M*A*S*H squad will the Dodger announcers make tonight?
vr, Xei

I'll go out on a limb and take the under on Penny but the over on the runs scored. Dodgers win in a slugfest 12-11. Sometimes what we least expect to occur does happen.

67 - It's a stretch to call Phillips a "starting major leaguer." Yes, he's the top catcher on the Los Angeles team this year, but his strength is as a backup.

He has kind of, sort of come through this year. Maybe I'm being too harsh.

Still, I can't shake the feeling that there are no every day major leaguers in tonight's lineup. May Choi have mercy.

Wow, the 3-4-5 hitters are Werth, Choi and Perez. I think Lou Pineilla might even feel sorry for the Dodgers.

68. hahah you're so right, steve.

if i was limited to that list of names, that's probably the exact same order i would put them in.

It is time to bring up Thurston. Bring up Aybar. And start Chen.

The 2005 pennant race is over for the Dodgers. It's not pining for the fjords. It is no more. It has *ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies. It's metabolic processes are now history. It's off the twig.
It's kicked the bucket, it's shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile. This is an ex-contender.*

it's too bad houlton or thompson isn't starting tonight, with mike rose catching. that could be the cheapest starting lineup EVER.

I think part of the reason for the "Race to Post the Lineups" is because we are all genuinely curious as to see just what 9 guys are going out there.

It's always a mystery

in fact, imagine if we were to play the cardinals, or maybe the sox of either stripe. that'd make for a really entertaining (albeit humiliating) game.

imagine if we were to play the cardinals, or maybe the sox of either stripe. that'd make for a really entertaining (albeit humiliating) game.

blah, finally it posted. stupid double-comments.

3-0 Astros over the Padres in the 3rd.

Hey, I can dream!

Re: 77

I also agree on starting Chen. Werth in CF, Chen in LF, and Ross in RF. Repko and Grabowski have got their chances already, and I think it's time we see what Chen and Ross could do with consistent playing time. I actually thought that Grabowski's bat would come around, but it hasn't, so we should cut bait on the kid--surely DePo can scrounge up a leftie scrub to try out.

All that being said, I doubt it'll really chance the game all that much. It's a pretty outside chance that Chen and Ross would turn out to be viable solutions, but, hey, what have we got to lose?

WWSH

Re: 83

Well, crazier things have happenned. That's why they still play the games...

WWSH

Oswalt and Podsenik are the two final All-Stars, looks like Captain Intangibles didn't quite make it.

I would say that Chacon has it in for Choi, but I think a more likely reason is that he can't throw the ball over the plate.

Scott Podsednik?

Ugh.

Steve must like the fact that the picture on the MLB.com homepage advertising Podsednik showed him bunting.

The picture I was referring to of Podsednik was the one BEFORE he was chosen.

Will you look at this?

Icaros,

I read last night's game thread but got home from work too late to post. When you're in Montreal you should check out Moishe's Steakhouse. It's one of the oldest restaurants in town. It's in the heart of what was once a pretty big eastern European immigrant community. My grandfather grew up there. He spoke Yiddish with a French accent.

Perhaps this means our luck is changing. Nah.

Could Chacon not go home with that?

THE WHOPPER!!!

Dear me. Penny may think he's died and gone to heaven. A 4-run lead?

There still are openings for the US and Japan in the Home Run Derby. The only Japanese player who has made the All-Star game is Ichiro.

The MLB.com story says that Andruw Jones will represent the Netherlands. So was somebody else in contention for that slot?

It's like rooting for the Bad News Bears! Thoroughly enjoyable.

what happened? gameday's stuck.

Take that, Humma Kavula :)

Those were the four most inexpensive runs the Dodgers will ever score.

97: I laughed out loud. Very true.

Bad throw on a potential DP by Garabito allowed a run to score (no error) and then Phillips hit a 3-run homer.

Did anyone else notice that FSW2 flashed a banner that read "Grand Slam - Repko" after Phillips's blast?

Bob, Blyleven was gonna come out of retirement to represent the Netherlands.

93,
Chacon didn't catch the ball, so he couldn't have gone home. It bounced off his glove.

Aaron Miles can't be scrappy. Only Repko can be scrappy!

I wonder if Andruw Jones has ever been to the Netherlands.

Assuming we win, I'm anticipating the gradual but inevitable comment morphing from "the season is over" to "you know, as bad as the Padres are and given our starting pitching..."

For that matter, what's wrong with him representing the Netherland Antilles as a country? Why the former colonizer?

107 - No. He ha, however, been to the hinterlands.

The Rockies broadcast just flashed that the Dodgers are 21-32 when Choi starts. I wonder what definition of "start" they are using.

109,
Andruw Jones is representing the Netherlands, but Ivan Rodriguez is representing Puerto Rico.

I guess MLB wanted to have a European entrant. And Andruw Jones supposedly does speak Dutch.

The Dodgers have a losing record when Jeff Kent starts too.

Chacon wearing his cap like D-Train ain't gonna help him tonight.

Andruw Jones speaks Dutch? Wow.

Hi everybody. This is Dan Rydell, alongside Casey McCall, and you're watching Sports Night(TM) on CSC so stick around.

112 - So that explains the first name spelling!

The very oldest Dodgers playing today are 29 years old: Grabs and Robles. Edwards and Phillips are 28. Penny is 27. Everyone else is 26 or younger. Yikes.

Today's game is the first in my life in which I have been older than not one of the Dodgers, but all of them. A milestone I wasn't looking forward to.

99- I stand happily corrected! :)

GO PHILLIPS!!

"...and then the bell rang."

Nobody but Vinny.

117
Welcome to my world.

117. Get used to it :-)

The true measure of age is when the President is younger than you are. Bush and Bill are contemporaries of mine, but they still beat me by a couple of years.

What did you guys think of Penny's skate save--pretty athletic move there!

Many men in America are rooting for Julio Franco to keep playing baseball for a long time.

I'm pretty much expecting at the inning break to hear Phillips hurt himself trying to Edwards' throw.

If I recall correctly, the last time we did this "I'm so old thing" someone ended the discussion by noting the time he looked down and realized that a magazine centerfold had the same birthday as his daughter.

Off to put some very little kids to a (rather late) bed. Catch you all when we've gotten that run back.

Sam, that was well said.

Our frearsome lineup continues to make the Rockies nervous.

The Colorado guys call Chacon -- Shack. Like Shaq.

I kid you not.

It manages to be embarrassing and condescending all at the same time.

Request readers read between the typos.

HBP Update:

Repko's HBP in the 2nd was his 6th putting him in a tie with Jeff Kent for most on the team.

The Dodgers now have 41, 1 behind league leader Washington (who don't have one yet tonight).

The Dodgers remain on a 79 HBP pace.

I just turned on the game.

Are the Dodger regulars staying back at Vero Beach, while the B squad goes on the road? When will Thurston, Stanley and Buddy Carlysle get into the game?

Bob, for more on Buzzie Bavasi, check out his autobiography, "Off the Record", published about 15 years ago.

Just got home from work...

69 - Jon, just teasing about the lineup admonition.

91 - Thanks a lot for the tip, Langhorne, I will definitely look for the place. I love good steakhouses more than anything.

It's actually 5-1 Houston over San Diego.

I remember when the Dodgers played Houston last year. The Dodgers faced them when they were playing horribly. Unfortunately, they seem to have straightened themselves out.

Robles puts another exclamation point on the Trade Izturis!!! headline

MLB.TV is only giving me the Rockies feed, but that seems to be OK, because who do I hear talking but Tommy Lasorda

Meanwhile, Lasorda is in the booth with the Colorado broadcasters, and he is in rare form. He even took some of the credit for getting the team put in Denver.

136, 137 - Yes, Tommy just got a little nuts in recounting his speech to Team USA "you're not going to lose to them donkeys in Australia!"

Yeah. Tommy had a great comment about Ben Sheets. That one was a classic.

#84 Agree on Grabowski.This guy has proven from every angle he can't play major league baseball.Now I find out he's 29.We have a scrub in the system.Jon Weber at Jacksonville.He's a better outfielder,a decent left handed hitter with some pop(made the SL allstar game) and at 27 is a in the woods compared to the dismal Grabo.

Vin is comparing Robles to Eddie Stanky. The main difference between the two men could be that Robles isn't as annoying.

And while Robles sees a lot of pitches, he doesn't draw as many walks as Stanky did. But no National Leaguer has ever drawn as many walks in a season as Stanky unless his name is Barry Bonds.

137 - When you consider the altitude, could be true, gaseous wonder that he is.

Andy Petitte left the game in Houston after 5 innings with a sore elbow. But going by the calendar, it doesn't look like the Dodgers would have faced him anyway.

Isn't it a little too early for the naysayers to be writing off the season. As long as we are under a dozen games out of first we still have a decent shot. Sure, we resemble a M*A*S*H unit right now but we do play in the NL West and we do have the miracle worker otherwise known as Buntermaker coaching the team.
vr, Xei

Confession time: I'm the governor of Colorado. At my lunch with Jim Tracy today, I told him to start Choi.

Repko's thow would have had the runner at home if it didn't take that last funny hop.

So Governor Owens is your educational system really rated the best in the country by the Heritage Foundation?

Man, Fearing Blue is seeing that sky in person.

HBP update:
That's Jayson Werth's first HBP of the season.

The Dodgers have now tied Washington for first place in the NL.

They are now on an 81 HBP pace, which would be an LA record.

146 - or if Phillips hadn't "hurt" himself earlier in the game.

Isn't it a little spooky how the score of our game and the Padres' games is keeping in sync (now 5-3).

Hey, we're now tied for the lead in HBP.

147 - Does that mean they teach Creation Science with a minor in oxymoronics?

It's 5-4 Astros in the 8th.

147- I'd like to say this, about that. The Heritage Foundation is a fine organization, and I deeply respect their opinions, just as I respect all the opinions of the members (and non-members) of various organizations. John Elway rules!

Three items:
1) So in all this trade talk, why has no one mentioned Mondesi? He's available, and who needs production when happy memories are involved?

2) If Depo traded Izturis, would it be a bigger deal to the community than LoDuca.

3) Does this mean anything to anyone: Jud I think i've been ripped off!

NL West's Sad Lexicon

These are the strangest of possible words:
Robles to Perez to Choi.
Trio of Blue babes, fleeter than birds,
Robles to Perez to Choi.
Pricking our rivals gonfalon bubble
Making their hits into a double--
Words that are weighty with nothing but trouble;
Robles to Perez to Choi.

With apologies to Franklin P. Adams

Update: I did NOT tell Tracy to have Choi steal.

Was that just a 2-0 hit and run with Choi?
And then a 2-1 hit and run?

Weird...

"Shack" is good for what ails you.

What's more, I don't know if anybody in California has a right to snicker at anybody else's educational system.

The Astros escaped without further damage. It's 5-4 going to the bottom of the 8th.

Sorry Governor Owens,
I was just picking lines out of your official bio.

See 155

My Choi. Perez and Robles are looking Izzy/Cora-esque tonight.

I'm not quick enough commenting for HBP or the SD/Hou scores...

But I can tell you that in the Colorado broadcast's "sounds of the game" Hawpe asked the 1B coach how Grab throws...the reply was "above average". Everyone agree?

Wow, I just had an Izzy/Cora "flashy-back" watching that play.

159 - Huh? Why do you think we hire Roy Romer in L.A.?

161- Just looked up my official bio. Look how hard I rock! I wonder if I'm runing for President in 08? I get along with Canadians, apparently, too. If I can just find a way to fire Ward Churchill, I bet O'Rielly would support my candidacy.

155. Nice. I posted one a few months ago that was:

Cesar to Jeff Kent to Choi.

Wouldn't work today

And the LAUSD is one of the finest school districts in the nation.

The LAUSD opened its first comprehensive high school in 34 years (not counting magnet schools and such) yesterday. Santee High is its name. The last new high school was my alma mater John F. Kennedy High.

168 was meant to have overtones of sarcasm.

165-Suckers. . .

Damn that scrappy Repko is full of leg-doubles.

Repko gets a two-bagger. Things are happening. When can we start sketching out a playoff roster?

Since we've all been bemoaning the Dodgers' rotten luck, we oughtta acknowledge some good luck. That 2nd DP on Wilson was a terrible pitch by Penny. Phillips called for fastball on the outside, and he ran one over the plate, and even a little inside. Wilson hit it well, but Perez saved Penny's bacon. Nice.

Also, while the Dodgers managed only 1 run on 10 hits yesterday, they've gotten 6 on 6 (oops, now 7) hits tonight. Ain't baseball grand?

166 - Think you're playing whackjob against whackjob :)

Governor Owens,
You've got Bob Novak's seal of approval.

But as I read the bio, I wonder why you're a Dodgers fan? You grew up in Texas.

Did the Padres really make six errors tonight?

Gameday has the Padres with one error tonight. The Astros have three.

177- Nope, they didn't. Don't know what I was looking at.

165 - No doubt...

All over in Houston. Padres lose again.

175- Two words: Paul DePodesta. He's just so dreamy. I feel like a little school girl when I look into his stormy eyes. Mmmm, DePo. . .

A private-school girl, whose way was paved with vouchers. Sorry, I got off script for a minute.

George Will says that you have no further political ambitions governor. You can't run for a third term. You will return to the private sector in 2007.

175- Also, I think CNN only cancelled Capital Gang to hurt my Novak-centered message machine. Ted Turner fears me.

182 - paging Karl Rove :)

183- That's a clever cover I've devised for myself. I'm going to be like Batman--Haliburton board member by day, Grand Vizer of Grover Norquist's secret society by night. Oh, I have ambitions. Darkly secret ambitions.

Elsewhere in the NL West,
The Cards lead the DBacks 1-0 on a Jim Edmonds home run.
The Reds lead the Giants 2-0 on an RBI single from Adam Dunn. Dunn is batting in the 2 hole tonight.

183 -- So my Bill Owens v. Phil Bredesen grudge match is not going to happen?

Ironically, the sideline guy in Colorado is interviewing Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell's daughter.

Keeping up the governors and baseball theme, both Vin Scully and Arnold Schwarzenegger were major donors to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and have their names on plaques.

I still remember looking at all the names and an usher coming up to me and asking me if he could help me find my name.

"Why yes, I'm Richard Riordan."

Got to love that pathetic Colorado bullpen.

186 - LOL. But you're scaring me :)

Back to the game. Who the heck are these guys?

Things are getting out of hand.

This is the weirdest damn season.

At what point do we stop calling perez a AAA player and acknowledge him as major leaguer, i wouldnt mind playing kent at 1st and perez at 2nd full time.

We haven't scored this many runs in a month. Tracy has finally found the magic lineup he's been looking for all season. Who needs Drew, Kent, Bradley, etc. to play just cuz they're getting millions?

This is the lineup we should have started all year long.

I've almost forgotten that Grabowski is in the lineup.

195 - I didn't even know he was until Vinny mentioned him.

Perez's other 5 RBI game in 2003 accounted nearly half of his season total that year. He drove in 12 in 2003. And he had 125 ABs.

In his first trade, he was traded for Ken Griffey (along with 3 others)
Then he was traded straight up for Randy Winn.
Then he was traded straight up for Jason Romano.

We need to hurry this game up so Icaros can find out who ratted out Michael and why.

191- When I read the Lakoff book, the title of which I forget, about Grover Norquist's secret meetings, I wrote him an email asking if those in attendence had to wear funny hats. He never replied.

Odds of Mark Gubicza saying "tonight was the game the Dodgers were hping for":

93 %

Just got home. Man who are these guys wearing Dodger uniforms?

OK, I'm just joining the party now. When I got home, I checked the score. My TV is broken, so the top few lines are wavy and wobbly and I couldn't tell if the score was a "9" or a "0". I assumed it was a 0 that looked like a 9, but sure enough, 9 runs.

How did we get 9 runs? Did the Rockies make, like, 70 errors?

199 - I forget what he calls them, but as far as I know, he still holds those meetings every wednesday.

Are there more Jasons on the roster or Jims on the coaching staff?

I am ordering my Las Vegas 51s hat to support our guys.

This is truly a case of `when don't have anything to lose...'

I've always said that Robles was our future. Wait, that wasn't me.
vr, Xei

Penny beats the Over of 6 IPs by 2/3rds of an inning. Not a bad result for Coors Field. I'm going to go out on a limb and say we win this game and pick up a game on both San Diego and Arizona. Funny thing that ESPN announcers said tonight during the Cardinals/DBacks game. They said the DBacks best friend of late has been the out of town scoreboard. I was thinking the same thing about the Dodgers.
vr, Xei

202. Big homeruns by Phillips and Perez.
vr, Xei

Ooh, ESPN is using its rare intelligent pair tonight in Arizona: Dan Schulman and Steve Stone.

Isn't this Erickson Time?

Erickson won't be pitching tonight, he is the backup shorstop.
wow!!!! What a play by Oscar.
vr, Xei

Robles has seriously come out of his shell.

The Rockies have only one error to their credit: a bad throw on a pickoff by Ardoin that let Werth score, but Garabito made a bad throw in the first that allowed a run to score, but he didn't draw an error because it was the back end of a DP.

Garabito also airmailed another throw, but it was ruled a hit.

203: Grover "Bipartisanship is another word for date rape" Norquist's Wednesday meetings are called, simply, "the Wednesday Meetings" of the "Leave Us Alone Coalition." The President and the Vice President each send a representative each week. This according to Wikipedia. Sadly, Wikipedia does not address the issue of funny hats.

Atleast if Helton comes up this inning he cannot tie the game.
vr, Xei

213: If the alternative was being deported to Mexico, I think we'd all come out of our shells.

HEE SEOP CHOI!
HEE SEOP CHOI!
HEE SEOP CHOI!

I think Tracy was listening to Dodger Talk the other night...

Reading this board yesterday and today, and until comment 214, I thought that Garabito was a cutesy name that someone here had coined for Jason Grabowski.

Re my 219. Board is not the right word.

Choi with another atom ball...

Still 1-0 Cardinals over the DBacks. Each pitcher has given up just one hit. But Vazquez gave up a homer and Carpenter just gave up a double.

The homer has been the only runner for the Redbirds.

The Reds have gone ahead of the Giants 4-2 and some guy named Brian Schackleford is relieving now for the Reds.

Thanks, Pat...man has a lot of power, considering 98% of Americans have never heard of him.

Dan Miceli's brief stay in Japan
4 games
2 2/3 IP
9 H
7 R/ER
3 HR
2 BB
3 SO
0-2
23.63 ERA

He told the Japanese media that his principal reason for coming to Japan was to do some sightseeing.

He was told to do it on his own yen.

223: Yes, for better or for worse, he appears to be a very influential person, to a level disproportionate to his Q-rating.

Damn it, nobody gave me a hat. :(

Alex Cintron homers to tie it in Arizona 1-1.

And now Icaros can find out who order the assassination attempt on Michael. Who tried to kill him? IN HIS HOME! IN HIS BEDROOM! WHERE HE AND HIS WIFE SLEEP! WHERE HIS SON COMES TO PLAY WITH HIS TOYS!

Had to go to a HOA meeting. We're getting a new roof, but I will have moved out by then.

I'm going to start actually believing in Robles if he keeps seeing so many pitches per AB.

I will soon return to 1950s Lake Tahoe; hopefully my new DVD works. It isn't scraped up like the one last night, at least.

Sayeth USA Today:

Royals starter Jose Lima is expected to be released during the All-Star break.

Should be an opening for Erickson in KC now.

I might have more fun if I just let Bob describe the film to me. At least I won't miss any fruit symbolism.

Royals starter Jose Lima is expected to be released during the All-Star break.

Bet he goes to San Francisco.

I used to go out with a woman who was a big "Godfather" fan. She could pretty much recite from memory the dialogue from the first two films.

And she could also point out which different edited version you were seeing. There is "The Godfather Saga" where Parts 1 and 2 are edited so the story plays out chronologically.

228: Icaros will also find out who broke Michael's heart.

And also Icaros will see, for my money, the best, most ice-cold doorway confrontation in the history of cinema.

Dang it's a good movie.

And also Icaros will see, for my money, the best, most ice-cold doorway confrontation in the history of cinema.

That's the exact scene where the DVD froze and stopped playing. I almost broke a window.

Diane Keaton was at my workplace a lot working on an exhibit. She was very quiet and kept to herself, although quite polite. But I wanted her to come up to me sometime to ask me what I was doing just so I could say,
"How many times have I told you not to ask me about my business!"

It's always funny hearing Perez interviewed. I can make out about 1 word for every 5 he speaks, but somehow I get the gist.

There is "The Godfather Saga" where Parts 1 and 2 are edited so the story plays out chronologically.

Where was that shown? Network TV?

This is one great pitcher's duel in Arizona.

Vasquez- 8 IP 1 Run 2 hits
Carpenter 7 IP 1 run 2 hits.

You can get the different versions on DVD now. When NBC first showed the Godfather, Coppola edited together the "Godfather Saga" and made his own cuts of the violence.

There is also "The Trilogy" or something like that.

The only extra scene you missed in Godfather I of any consequence was one where Vito talks to his dying consigliere, Genco, (whom the olive oil company is named for) and the consigliere asks the Don to do one last favor for him and save him.

He dies.

Icaros, what version did you get? I ordered the 1972 DVD version today since the 1990 v. was `coming soon' (1990 and it's comiing soon?). The 1990 version 15 minutes longer thatn the 1i72, at 3 hours 20 minutes.

Not that any of this really matters. Go watch the movie.

So by getting the original widescreen version, I'm cheated out of scenes?

Doesn't seem right...

Not that any of this really matters. Go watch the movie.

I kinda feel ripped off, but I'm gonna put my bulletproof vest on soon and watch the damn thing anyway.

According to the IMDB about Godfather I:
"# In 1977 a special version for television was prepared by director Francis Ford Coppola and editor Barry Malkin by joining "The Godfather" and "The Godfather, Part II", re-editing them so that the story is told in chronological order and adding some outtake footage. Among new scenes from the first film:

# After the wedding, the Don takes his sons to visit Genco in the hospital before he dies;

# after Tom Hagen returns from Hollywood, he discusses with don Vito Corleone what he has discovered about the film producer (in the original version, the scene where Tom Hagen leaves the house is immediately followed by the notorious "horse head in bed" sequence).

# the scene where Clemenza murders Paulie is much longer; they drive around the city for a while and stop to eat pizza and buy some cannoli.

# In The Godfather Saga, there is an extra scene in which Bonasera (the undertaker) is getting ready to do a service for Brando. Bonasera tells his wife that maybe he will be asked to do something that will implicate him in some crime. He expresses his fear to his wife, who is helping him dress for the meeting.

# The Saga version shows more in the scene where Carlo abuses Connie when she's very pregnant, and wearing the full-length mauve silk gown. The alternate version shows that when Connie hangs up the phone on Carlo's "girlfriend" she then confronts Carlo and says, "You know who that was? That was your girlfriend!" Then Carlo orders her to make him dinner. In the original version, these parts are omitted.
"

The extended version of Godfather II has a longer version of the Lake Tahoe scene where everyone meets with Michael.

You get to find out what happened to the guy who turned on Michael in Sicily.

A Steve Special in Arizona

Double by Molina.
Taguchi runs for Molina
Sacrifice moves Taguchi to third
Squeeze by Eckstein scores Taguchi.

I love that Frankie Pentangeli's brother from the old country is Michael Constantine as in Principal Seymour Kaufman from Room 222. Although for some reason Constantine is not creditied.

The squeeze play is really too risky a play to warrant using. If the pitcher throws on in the dirt, your screwed..

LaRussa has some guts, and it paid off. Still, not the smartest move.

Eating pizza and cannoli is important as the prelude to a good murder.

245 - I get it. It's like the TV version of Halloween, where some of the violence is replaced by extra other stuff.

What did happen to the guy who turned on Michael in Sicily?

Except there is an actor credited as playing Vincenzo Pentangeli and it's someone named Salvatore Po.

That guy doesn't look like at all like Michael Constantine in my opinion.

Bob, I always wondered what happened to that guy. It didn't seem right that Michael didn't hunt him down. After all, he trashed Michael's fine ride.

What do you think the house in Tahoe is worth today? That was one sweet crib.

Icaros,
If you have the DVD version of Godfather II, you should have found out what happened to that guy. That scene is supposed to be on the DVD.

But if your version is different, I think you can use your imagination. How did Appolonia die?

There was another side saga to the series called `The Sicilian'. I remember the book as very good, the movie (with Christopher Lambert) as not so hot.

Wait. Are you telling me it isn't Michael Constine. I would have bet Karen Vaentine's life on it. Damn, I hate when I that wrong.

The character is Fabrizio. I will just say that he has problems with his car's ignition system.

253 - Okay, I guess I haven't gotten that far yet.

I bought Parts I and II separately, not the trilogy, because I didn't want Part III.

I wonder if they're different.

If you saw the entire Lake Tahoe meeting and there was no resolution to the Fabrizio situation and you didn't see Frankie Pentangli drinking from a garden hose, then you have the original version.

Once STL nails down this win over ARI, I'm out of here.

256 - Actually, theignition system worked flawlessly...

258 - I saw him drinking from the hose, maybe I just missed the Fabrizio part.

Did it show something or is it just talked about?

Sorry, everyone. Go Dodgers.

Second place!

Damn our division sucks.

Greenie K's in the 9th. Dodgers gain a game on the entire NL West tonite.

Who knows how many different editions there are.

If you didn't see what happened to Fabrizio, you had to be asleep or that version didn't include the scene.

263,
Not quite, the Giants are ahead 5-2 in the 7th.

263 - Not SF. I still care about them.

If you didn't see what happened to Fabrizio, you had to be asleep or that version didn't include the scene.

I'm PO'd now.

Bring me the head of whoever makes these damn DVDs!

Alfredo Garcia.

Well, I guess I just won't ever get to watch this movie. My new disc f's up in the same spot.

I have two DVD players, and it messes up on both.

I'm infuriated right now.

Bob, following up on the oranges thing:

"The presence of oranges in all three "Godfather" movies indicates that a death or a close call will soon happen. The Senator is framed for murder after playing with oranges at the Corleone house, and Johnny Ola brings and orange into Michael's office before the attempt on Michael's life. Fanucci eats an orange just before he is gunned down and Michael is eating an orange (it looks like an apple, but it is an orange) while plotting to kill Roth."

Also, Icaros if you are still on line (which you souldn't be. You should be watching the movie) "Fredo is in bed sleeping when the phone rings. We hear only his end of the conversation, and afterwards when his wife asks who it was, he says it was a wrong number. However, on the DVD, if you turn on subtitles, you can "hear" both sides of the conversation. It's Johnny Ola calling, with some interesting - and relevant - information."

Finally, putting to bed yesterday's discussion of whether it is the best sequal ever: "Was voted the 7th Greatest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly, thus being the most highly ranked sequel on their list and only 6 rankings behind its predecessor."

--IMDb

Sorry, Icaros don't read my post. Sorry if I gave away too much. I didn't think you were still on line. I hate people like me.

Now, on Encore Mystery West, my Californian counterpart's magnum opus: Kindergarten Cop. This will be my last post. Grover Norquist offered me three hundred dollars for the screenname; I said five hundred, he said, "Dunn." This is Bill Owens, signing off. Choi bless you, and Choi bless America.

Icaros, I'd suggest just going back to the menu and selecting the next scene. Bob can fill you in on what you missed.

And then you can return the disc tomorrow, no guilt.

According to the announcers on ESPN, the Giants just drew their smallest crowd ever at Telecommunications Company Park - 30-something thousand, I think they said.

I have no idea if weather was a factor, but I guess that a terrible, terrible team had something to do with it.

272 - I refer to that masterpiece as his magnum opie.

Dunn had a splash foul ball before grounding out to end the game.

274 - They changed the name to Telecommunications Company Park? Yikes.

273 - That plan has worked so far.

Don't worry, LAT. I didn't read your post. Thanks for the warning.

Wish me luck, folks.

278. Wadda ya mean you didn't read my post. :-)

Watching Kenny Rogers' apology. Didn't seem very sincere to me. What some took for emotion, I took for a poor rehersed speech prepared by Texas version of Strick & Co. (BTW, I think I have their name wrong- anyone?)

Watching Kenny Rogers' apology. Didn't seem very sincere to me. What some took for emotion, I took for a poor rehersed speech prepared by Texas version of Strick & Co. (BTW, I think I have their name wrong- anyone?)

Strick & Co. it is.

Thanks Jim.

Re:274 Do you think there is any doubt Dodger Stadium will have a corp sponser before long? Maybe Chinese Union Oil Stadium or Farmer John Weenie Land?

Looking into the future after tonight's encouraging (and no doubt totally anomalous) game:

Tomorrow: Lowe vs Kennedy. If Lowe keeps the ball down and doesn't succumb to Coors and his own ineptitude of late, we should have the edge here. That said, we will be facing arguably the scariest one-two punch in the bigs the next two nights, we need this one. Hopefully, Tracy will actually play Choi.
Friday: Houlton vs Clemons. Houlton is fresh off of a disastrous start, the kind of start that Clemons hasn't had in... years probably. This matchup is so one-sided that I kind of expect the Dodgers to win. I heard somewhere that Tracy was shuffling it up and DJ wasn't pitching until after the AS break. I hope this is the case since the Rocket versus Houlton sounds like Tyson versus McNeeley.
Saturday: Weaver vs Oswalt. Weaver has been sharp lately, and maybe Oswalt will be distracted by the AS game, but I doubt it. I don't think we have a 5% chance of winning both of the games against the Astro Aces, and maybe a 35% chance of winning either (that 35% consisting of 34% chance of winning against Oswalt and a 1% chance with Houlton against Clemons). I am hoping that the Padres just keep losing, though they are playing the Rockies so I doubt it.
Sunday: By the Schedule, this is Perez vs Backe. But I think it will be Penny vs Backe and Perez will face Oswalt. This game is a must win, since no doubt doubt we will be fighting to avoid the sweep at this point.

I would think that a optimistic outlook would be 2-2 and the Padres do the same.

283 - You know, I really don't think so, primarily because it's named after the team, like Yankee Stadium.

I hope this is the case since the Rocket versus Houlton sounds like Tyson versus McNeeley

Every dog has his day. It could be Tyson vs. Busta Douglas.

I went out for the evening. I missed this game. And we won big.

Hmmmmm...

269 - You've got to be kidding me! That cuts it. You are hereby invited, quite publicly, to my new apartment. You, me, the wife and the kid are watching Godfather II. When the wife looks at me funny about the movie being "inappropriate" for an eight-year old to watch, I'll just tell her the man she married was partly developed by the Z channel. She'll smile knowingly and I'll wonder for the umpteenth time in my marriage what I could've said that was so funny... but that's beside the point.

I'm here for you, brother. Let me know...

Jim, I hope you are right but every time I walk through the door at DS and see the ads on the turnstile arms or see the Builders Warehouse ads on the top of the rakes between innings, I feel a corp. name is inevitable.

I believe Houlton is being skipped this time around and won't pitch until after the ASG.

I love all this Godfather II talk. That movie features the three best scenes in American cinema, and they all occur within the same half hour or so: "You broke my heart, Fredo" (You broke my wrist, Halsey) on the dance floor; Michael and Fredo talking on the porch ("You're nothing to me now") and of course the final Michael-Kay confrontation ("Oh Michael you are blind . . ."). Sublime.

Al Pacino has had many wonderful performances, most recently in "Merchant of Venice." Being a Shakespeare nut, I thought this film fit the play very well.

But Pacino was never better and perhaps never will be better than he was in Godfather II. I would add that the entire cast was amazing.

"[Tracey], you're nothing to me now. You're not a manager, you're not a friend. I don't want to know you or what you do. I don't want to see you at the [stadiums], I don't want you near my house. When you see our [Choi], I want to know a day in advance, so I won't be there. You understand?"

Steve in Utah,
ve xeifrank, and
bokonon42 among others.

Liked Pachino in Devil's Advocate. Bit of a goofy movie but some good twists. Also liked him in the Insider and Sea of Love with the queen of sexy/ugly Ellen Barkin. Hated him in Scent of a Woman. . .way over acting.

280, 282

Actually, it's Sitrick & Co., not "Strick."

Thanks Ratt. As they are now the oracle of all things Dodger off the field, I should at least know their name.

Actually I think Pacino was even better than in G-II in two non-dialog scenes... in G-I as he metamorphosed before killing the two in the restaurant, and in G-III as he literally screamed his life away holding his dead daughter. Are there any more primal and complete scenes of emotion in all movies?

Of course, the scream scene serves to remind some of us of our feelings on pre-opening day this year when looking over the Dodger roster.

Just wanted to update everyone on the GF2 drama. I was able to successfully view the entire film after some creative skipping around the defective spot in the DVD.

There must've been a bad batch sent out to Long Beach. I bought two DVDs from two different stores, and they both messed up in the same spot on both of my players. Hopefully I'll be able to find a copy of the film that I can actually keep before I die.

Oh yeah, GF2 was great. I thought DeNiro's imitation of Brando's voice was a nice touch, along with all of the other great actors and scenes that everyone has pointed out here the past two nights.

Re: Sitrick & Co. Thanks for the correcetion, DzzrtRatt. Sorry for the bad info, LAT.

Hey, what's that I smell? Oranges...?

296 - In my world, Godfather III never happened. Sofia Coppola has only started the long process of redemption with Lost in Translation.

Minor League Update

Las Vegas 51s (AAA):
The 51s beat Fresno 6 - 3.

The 51s came back from a 3 - 2 deficit, scoring 4 runs in the 7th led by left fielder Henri Stanley's 3-run homerun. Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura also hit a homerun, a solo shot in the 6th, going 1 for 4 on the night. Recently promoted center fielder Todd Donovan got his first hit with the 51s, going 1 for 3 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI. Catcher Dioner Navarro went 1 for 3 with a sacrifice and a strikeout. Willy Aybar did not play. Pitcher Eric Stults went 1 for 1 with a double and a sacrifice.

Eric Stults started the game for the Suns and had a solid performance. Stults pitched 6 innings, allowing 3 runs (all earned) on 7 hits (1 homerun and 2 doubles) and a walk, while striking out 4. Eric Stults was a 15th round draft pick in the 2002 draft out Bethel College in Kansas. Stults pitched well in 2002 before missing most of the 2003 season recovering from surgery. Stults has come back strong this year, shooting through AA and into AAA. Stults is a left-handed pitcher with great control, recording 76 strikeouts and 21 walks in 87.2 combined minor league innings. As such, Stults has a good chance of contributing either in the bullpen or the starting rotation as early as this year. Steve Schmoll recorded the save with a perfect inning of relief, striking out 1 and lowering his ERA to 5.18. Since the 15th of June, Schmoll has dropped his ERA from 8.78 (9 IP with 2 R / 1 ER). The performance of Stults, Thompson, and Schmoll makes it very hard to justify keeping Scott Erickson on the team.

Jacksonville Suns (AA):
The Suns games were postponed due to rain.

Tonight at 6:35pm EST, the suspended game from Tuesday night will be resumed. Following completion of that game, the Suns will play a full nine-inning game. The remaining game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on August 6th in Mobile.

The Suns will have 5 representatives at the Southern League All-Star game. Shortstop Joel Guzman, catcher Russell Martin, second baseman Delwyn Young, and center fielder Jon Weber will all start. Center fielder Jon Weber and right-handed pitcher Jonathan Broxton were added to the team as alternates.

Vero Beach Dodgers (High-A):
The Dodgers crushed Sarasota 8 - 0.

Five of the Dodgers Vero Beach prospects had 2 or more hits on the evening. Leadoff hitter and second baseman, Tony Abreu, went 2 for 2 with a double, a triple, a walk, and 2 runs scored. Shorstop Chin-lung Hu went 2 for 4, with 2 runs scored and an RBI. Left fielder Anthony Raglani and right fielder Matt Kemp each went 2 for 5 with a triple, 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Raglani struck out twice on the night. First baseman Cory Dunlap went 3 for 4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Xavier Paul went 0 for 3 with a walk, dropping his average to .216 on the season.

Starting pitcher, Danny Muegge, pitched a tremendous game. Muegge went 6 scoreless innings, allowing only 4 hits (all singles) and a walk, while striking out 7. Danny Muegge, a 24-year old right-hander, was originally drafted by Arizona in the 19th round of the 2003 draft. He was obtained by the Dodgers in the Shawn Green trade. Muegge has had a decent season for Vero Beach as a starter and reliever, pitching 63.0 innings with 45 strikeouts, 23 walks, and 6 homeruns allowed. His 3.43 ERA on the season is likely a little low considering his peripherals. Orlando Rodriguez, Justin Simmons, and Beltran Perez each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to finish the game. Rodriguez, a 24-year old left-hander, has a 5.02 ERA in 14.1 innings with Vero Beach and is not a prospect.

Columbus Catfish (Low-A):
The Catfish lost 6 - 3 to Hickory.

Second baseman Travis Denker and third baseman Blake Dewitt again had good nights at the plate. Denker went 3 for 4 with a run scored. Dewitt went 2 for 4 with a 2-run homerun. Catcher Gabriel Gutierrez also had a good night, going 2 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored. Gutierrez is 21 years old and putting up a batting line of .248/.329/.355 in 141 ABs.

Starter Christopher Malone had a rough night, allowing 6 runs (all earned) in 5 innings pitched on 9 hits (1 homerun and 1 double) and a walk. In 5 innings, Malone struck out 3 batters. Left-handers Wesley Wright and Liam O'Flaherty combined to hold Hickory scoreless over 3 innings. Wright and O'Flaherty are interesting in that they both pitch left-handed, bat right-handed, and were born within 10 days of each other (January 28th, 1985 and January 18th, 1985 respectively). Wright had the best performance on the evening, pitching 2 perfect innings and striking out 5. Wright was a 7th round draft pick in the 2003 draft out of Goshen High School in Alabama, though he did not pitch with the Dodgers until joining Ogden in 2004. Wright has pitched well this year, compiling a 2.23 ERA in 22 relief appearances. In 44.1 innings pitched, Wright has struck out 43, walked 23, and allowed 1 homerun. Wright was not listed as one of the Dodgers top 30 prospects coming into the season, but could be a legitimate middle-relief prospect. O'Flaherty just joined the Catfish and has pitched 5.2 innings of scoreless relief so far.

Ogden Raptors (Rookie):
The Raptors defeated Idaho Falls 6 - 3.

The Raptors totalled ten hits, with four players having two hits in the contest. First baseman David Sutherland went 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored to raise his batting average to .443 in 61 ABs. Sutherland, a 2003 amateur free agent signing, has good plate discipline with 11 BBs and 7 Ks in 61 ABs. Unfortunately, he hasn't shown any power with a .508 slugging propped up almost entirely on his batting average. Sutherland only has 2 extra-base hits on the season, a double and a homerun, for an ISO of .065. Catcher Juan Apodaca went 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBIs. Unlike Sutherland, Apodaco has shown little plate discipline (1 walk and 8 strikeouts in 47 ABs), but excellent power (.255 ISO). Designated hitter B.J. Richmond went 2 for 4 with an RBI. Center fielder Adam Godwin went 2 for 3 with a double and a run scored. Godwin, an 11th round draft pick from Troy University in Alabama, was drafted primarily for his speed, which is his only above average tool (rated 70 on a 20-80 scouting scale). So far, Godwin has stolen 2 based and been caught once. Second baseman Jesus Soto had another good night, going 1 for 4 with a 3-run homerun and 2 runs scored. Like many other Rookie Leaguers, Soto needs to draw more walks with only 2 in 69 ABs. Sergio Pedroza went 1 for 4 with a run scored and 2 strikeouts. Third baseman Russell Mitchell broke his two-game homerun streak, going 0 for 3 with a walk.

Starter Brent Leach pitched a good game for Ogden. Leach went 5 scoreless innings, allowing 5 hits (1 double) and 3 walks, while striking out 4. Reliever Nathan Hochgesang, pitched 3 innings of relief allowing all 3 of Idaho Falls' runs (earned) on a 3-run homerun in the 6th. Hochgesang, a 23-year old right-hander, also wins the award for name I'm most likely to mispell. Ramon Toroncoso got the save with one perfect inning of relief (no strikeouts).

GCL Dodgers (Rookie):
The Dodgers lost 9 - 8 to the GCL Marlins.

The GCL Dodgers finally got the bats going, but it wasn't enough to beat the Marlins. The Dodgers got 15 hits, on the night, but only two for extra bases. With the Mets getting 4 extra-base hits, the Dodgers have moved back into last place in the league in extra-base hits. The Dodgers two extra-base hits were both doubles, one each by shortstop Ivan DeJesus and designated-hitter Eduardo Perez. DeJesus was 2 for 4 overall, with 2 runs scored and 2 strikeouts. Perez was also 2 for 4, adding a walk and a strikeout, 1 run scored and 2 RBIs. The offensive performance of 20-year old Perez has been one of the few offensive bright spots for the Dodgers this season. Perez has a batting line of .357/.486/.500 in 28 ABs. He's shown good plate disciple (4 BBs and 3 Ks) and decent power (1 double and 1 homerun). The other strong offensive performer on the team has been third baseman Carlos Santana. Santana went 1 for 2 with a walk, a run scored, and 2 RBIs in the game. Overall, 19-year old Santana has a .467/.474/.667 batting line in 15 ABs.

Starter, Charles Dasni, and reliever, Juan Flores combined to allow 9 earned runs in 5.2 innings pitched. Eduardo Quintana came on to relieve in the 6th, allowing an inherited runner to score before holding the Marlins scoreless for the remaining 3.1 innings. Quintana allowed 8 baserunners (5 hits and 3 walks), but was able to keep himself out of serious trouble by striking out 7.

Tommy Lasorda is the person who gets to have the LA Times Calendar Weekend experience. Where someone talks about doing all sorts of stuff on a weekend.

Tommy says he and his wife like to go to dinner at the Napa Rose at the Disney Grand Californian on Fridays (the Napa Rose) and then for cheesecake at Burger Continental.

Personally, I wouldn't eat dinner in Anaheim and then drive to Pasadena for dessert.

Having eaten at the Napa Rose, I can also say that I know Tommy makes a pretty good salary because if you ate there every Friday, you would not have a lot of money left over.

301 - yeah, he looks like he eats pretty well

I love Napa Rose. Last time I went there for a friend's 50th birthday party. Terrific food, good wine list.

I bet the drive from Anaheim to Pasadena allows enough time for Tommy to get his full appetite back after dinner.

He looks like a guy who doesn't want to get cheated at the dessert table.

He wouldn't have much money unless Mr. "I Don't Get Heartattacks, I Give 'Em" was being compensated for such endorsments. Given most celebs eat for free anyway, I doubt its coming out of his pocket. Could you imagine driving from Anaheim to Pasadena on a Friday night. You wouldn't get to Pasadena until Sat. morning. I'm calling BS on him. Call me a cynic but I have never been a fan of Mr. Dodger. He doesn't take a crap unless there is something in it for him.

303 - Sounds like the food at your place is just as good, Marty.

What's he doing in Anaheim anyway? Watching the Los Angeles baseball team?

He doesn't take a crap unless there is something in it for him.

You mean like if he swallowed a quarter or something?

304-I suspect Tommy recharges his appetite as they are clearing the table and bringing the next course.

"The whole left side of the menu"

I've gone too long without seeing "Diner" again.

310-why see old movies when there are so many great new original ones out now...

Plus, I wouldn't eat anything at Burger Continental. It's really a filthy mess there. The last time I was there for beers, you could smell sewage in the back of the patio.

312-they always seat me right next to the kitchen with the help

312 - What, are you too good for a little sewage?

In this case, yes :)

308. Good one Icaros.