July 23, 1912

A very bad Brooklyn team got a shutout from rookie lefthander Frank Allen to beat the second place Cubs at West Side Park, 6-0. The win improved Brooklyn's record to 32-55 and the team was 33 games behind the first place Giants in seventh place.

The Dodgers pounded out 10 hits and used 3 errors by the Cubs to produce their six runs. The Dodgers scored four runs in four innings off of Chicago starter Jim Moroney and added two more off of reliever Charlie Smith. After the game, Moroney was released. Apparently losing to Brooklyn that badly was grounds for termination in 1912.

The shutout was the high point of the season for Allen, who went 3-9 in his first season in the majors with a 3.63 ERA. He would go 4-18 the following year and 8-14 in 1914 before jumping to the Federal League. Allen had a 23-13 year in the 1915 Federal League pitching for Pittsburgh. He returned to the NL the next two years and was out of the majors at age 27.

The 1912 Brooklyn team had two good hitters in Zack Wheat, who batted .305 with 8 home runs, and Jake Daubert who batted .308 with 16 triples, which was only an incredible 20 triples fewer than league leader Owen Wilson of Pittsburgh who set a major league record for triples in a season with 36. Rookie Casey Stengel made his major league debut for Brooklyn and played in 17 games in September.

The pitching staff was not much to talk about, but what the heck. Southpaw Nap Rucker went 18-21 with a 2.21 ERA and led the NL with 6 shutouts. Pat Ragan was 7-18 with a 3.63 ERA.

When the dust settled, Brooklyn, under manager Bill Dahlen, finished 58-95 and were 46 games behind first place New York. Only the atrocious Boston Braves, who were 52-101, kept Brooklyn out of the cellar. Brooklyn appeared to be an aimless franchise drifting about in the lower reaches of the National League.

1912 would also be Brooklyn's last season at Washington Park. The home of the Dodgers from 1898 through 1912 was bounded by 1st and 3rd Streets on two sides and by 3rd and 4th Avenues on the other two. A picture of it can be seen here: http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/national/washin.htm
The next season owner Charles Ebbets was set to open a new park and he thought he had the perfect name for it. He'd call it Ebbets Field. Says it all doesn't it?

Thanks to New York Times, BaseballReference.com and Retrosheet

How does this move help either team?

And Sidney Ponson comes back to the NL West. His stay in San Francisco was so memorable!

I suppose that Kevin Towers feels that Ponson will give up lots of deep fly balls that will die on the warning track of PETCO.

However, I dont see how Ponson helps them? I suppose Ponson is better than the crap they've been sending out there for the 5th game (Stauffer, etc..)..

But this seems like a panic move to me.

Nevin always killed the Dodgers. Thats one less big bat to worry aobut, although I do like Xavier Nady.

Has Nevin waived his limited no-trade? He can veto a trade to Baltimore is he so chooses.

I'd still prefer to keep Odalis, only because average starters are tough to get on the open market. Who would replace him in the rotation next year?

"In the minors, Werth showed good plate discipline most of the time, and a major power spike at age 22, following the trade to Toronto. He looked like a future star at one point. Although that hasn't panned out, he should have a long career."

There's much more at the link, especially about Werth's early career as a catcher and a swing change that led to more loft.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2005/7/22/20324/2244

If the poor guy doesn't make it back to the bigs, he will always have to remember how Scott Erickson's incompetence cost him his best shot at his first win. Hope Scott takes time out of his busy schedule in the bullpen to send the kid a get well card.

1. Robles
2. Izturis
3. Bradley
4. Kent
5. Ledee
6. Saenz
7. Werth
8. Phillips
9. Houlton

Not sure why Choi got benched after such a good performance yesterday, but I'm not surprised given Tracy's weird ways.

I have a lineup card from a game between LA and Houston Astros. Can't be older than 1980 because the starters for the respective teams are Don Sutton and J.R. Richard. I tried looking it up on retro sheet but it didn't help. should be a game in Houston

here are the lineups

LA
Lopes
Russell (North replaced)
Smith
Cey
Garvey
Baker
Monday
Ferguson
Sutton, Davalillo, Hough

Houston
Walling
Puhl
Cabell
Cruz
Watson(replaced by Berman)
Howe
Pujols
Fischlin
Richard

if someone can find the boxscore or can give me details where to find it, I would appreciate it. I'm not sure if this is a tough request so I apologize if it is.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07090HOU1978.htm

Without looking, I was almost positive that the Dodgers lost the game. They could never beat J.R. Richard. He owned the Dodgers.

Ahh, the vagaries of the divisions

I remember that. JR owned them. That is why I was thrilled as a kid when Dusty hit #30 off of him in the last game of the season in 1977 to complete the 4 teammates with 30Hr

(At least that is the way I remember it listening to Vinny on the radio)

He took Gooden deep in 88 playoffs to tie the game and keep mets from going up 3 games to one. He has a Pass with me. he had such warning track power, he would have hit 50 in wrigley.

I should have realized it had to be 1978 because of North and Lacy was in reserve on the lineup card. he went to pirates the next year.

An OPS+ of 100 is average.

Why would the Padres make a late season trade with one of the teams chasing them? The Dodgers and Padres have made a grand total of two trades.

Ever.

In 37 years. And one of them was because Jim Bruske ticked off Tommy Lasorda so he sent him to the Padres for a minor leaguer who never made it. Then Bruske made it to the Yankees later in 1998. He was one lucky guy that year.

what is Garvey, Cey, Lopes, Russell respctive OPS+?

I bet Regie Smith had a high OPS+

Weaver's being heavily scouted, and I think we still get mentioned in the list of names looking for Dunn. But we've definitely been off the radar screen, although that means nothing with DePo. He seems to like lightning strikes out of the blue.

WWSH

How F'ing dumb is Cincinatti anyways?

I think we need to go and get Adam Dunn right now, before San Diego finds some way to acquire him for next to nothing as well.

interesting. thanks

then beltran dropped Olmedo's fly on the warning track

yeah, he lost it in the wind and stumbled back and fell in front of beltran.

Oh, it's going to be one of those games today

Perhaps teams have had interest in Mora, and may use Nevin as a replacement at 3B.

As for the Padres... they get to play Nady and get to take a chance on Ponson.

wow. must have been a great night.

Something else from Rotoworld's analysis:

"Chick has been a disappointment this year, going 2-9 with a 5.27 ERA, 109 H and 92/40 K/BB in 97 1/3 IP for Double-A Mobile"

"Phil doesn't want to go anywhere," Axelrod told TSN. "He's from this area. He's building a new home in San Diego. He has three children in school here. His parents attend a good portion of the games -- they live 80 or 90 miles up the road. San Diego is where he wants to be."

....In agent-speak, this is called "Getting an extra year added to my contract, or at least a million bucks or so, in exchange for me not messing up your plans, and having to keep someone who knows you don't want."

Which should be good news for Giants and Dodgers fans since their team likely won't finish last now no matter what.

Two on nobody out, the heart of the lineup coming up, and one lousy run. Enjoy your 120 million dollar Kenny Lofton clone, Mets fans.

Lucky for us many of the other managers are just as dumb as JT.

Was the first pitch Werth took a Fastball down the middle? Gameday had it exactly in the center of the zone.

Beltran doesn't exactly prove him wrong. Whee!

I officially take back what I was secretly thinking about how I wished the Dodgers had the other catcher named Jason today - Jason Kendall.

At least we did get the go-ahead run.

Are Mets fans aware that their manager is complete blithering idiot? I did a little research and discovered that at least on the blogosphere, Nats fans are in fact aware that Frank Robinson is an idiot. I wonder if the same is true of Mets fans.

149 - I don't know about Mets fans, but Angels fans are certainly in denial about Scioscia.

Derrek Lee just hit a home run.

Unfortunately, hardly anyone on our team knows how to bunt so it makes it hard for Buntermaker.

And as I type this bradley gets a bunt hit, who knew.

If you can't figure out that Carlos Beltran should never ever be bunting in that particular situation, I can't help you. Or Willie Randolph.

I'm so use to Vin telling me a story, committing to telling me a story, that when anyone else talks about the game, it's no longer a story.

Instead we have Steiner's awkward interpretation of the descriptions rather than the story. His funky hyperbole is sometimes funny, but it leaves me wanting. When he loses the rhythm of the game is the worst ("What the $%#@ is happening?!").

Monday is (again) from the John Miller school of making-everything-sound-interesting-even-when-it's-just-indigestion school of broadcasting which makes everything he says inherently uninteresting.

Re 184: managers never call a "bunt for a hit", Bradley definitely did that on his own.

That's why you don't bunt. You need as many chances as possible to deliver run-scoring hits.

Jose Reyes bunting was valueless. Jose Reyes with a game tying triple, standing at third base with no one out and DFA Carrara on the mound, has a lot of value.

It would have been nice if Pedro had just dominated us like we thought he would.

Of course, this all assumes Sanchez can get us out of this.

WWSH

You were saying?

Unrealted: hooray for weird plays.

According to ESPN, Sanchez is hit hard early in his appearances:

between 1-15 pitches he allows an .833 OPS

between 16-30 pitches he allows .645 OPS.

I wonder if there is any numbers based on the innings that he pitches, he always seems to have difficulties when pitching multiple innings.

Meanwhile, the once invincible Dodger bullpen has fallen apart. Gone are the days when a lead after 6 meant a win. Congratulations, DePo!

You're an idiot.

It's not like the relievers are getting tired. They only get to pitch a second inning if they did OK in the first one (unless it's mopup).

2003 - splits are about equal vs. LH and RH batters

2004 - LH - .307 avg, 1.50 whip, 2:1 K/BB 29IP
2004 - RH - .222 avg, 1.05 WHIP, 4:1 K/BB 90IP

2005 - BAA same for each `.285, 6 HR vs RH in 15 innings. About .750 OPS vs LH, .950 vs RH.

The point is, there's no reason to expect a late-career Alvarez to get lefties out better than any other pitcher on staff. In fact, this season, there's little reason to expect him to get ANYONE out better than, oh, say Erickson.

Well, it's close to the bullpen at the end of 2004. With the exceptions of Schmoll and Erickson.

Obviously there's no more Guillermo Mota or Tom Martin.

What is the status of Broxton, and the likelihood of him being called up?

But Jim Tracy is not a guy familiar with sample sizes.

Of course, Gagne's injury scrambled all the eggs and the result was not an omelet, but more of a fritatta.

And no, I don't wonder why Gange was injured. He twisted his knee playing pepper and then they let him pitch on before he was healed. This caused a change in his mechanics (!) and then and before you could say "Dr. Frank Jobe" he was on the shelf.

and before

But, for crying out loud, the Padres are losing to guys named Robinson Tejada, and are forced to start Astacio, and now think that Ponson is their big hope, and DePo continues to DO NOTHING?

Randa may not be much, but certainly the Dodgers could have made a more competitive offer to the Reds using C level prospects like the Padres did.

Chick may have been highly rated at the beginning of the year, but his AA performance this year (2-9, era over 5.00) apparently made him available.

and no, that should not be read as a death wish.

Fielding aside (and we would only get two months of Joe Randa's gold glove), didn't you just describe Antonio Perez?

Antonio Perez? You mean our future outfielder?

The Dodgers have lots of guys now who can play third base passably (Robles, A Perez, and soon Valentin).

Randa's not bad, but I doubt he would have made much of an impact.

but do you like his sexy stache?

Meanwhile, Baltimore is supposed to be looking for pitching, not another hitter.

So what's up? This is all very Sicilian.

I hope the trade happens, because Ponson's a bum and Nevin is a force in the lineup, while Randa's just a body. But it doesn't look like something either side really intends.

Adrian Beltre - .695
Cesar Izturis - .649

Careful, Adrian. You're letting your buddy back in the race!

My own guess is that DePo will see what happens with what personnel we have and wait until the last minute. If we were going to sell, as I think we will still end up doing, it'd be better be to wait until the last minute anyway for leverage. And even if we were buyers, we might have to wait on potential trading partners.

IMO, Bob's listing of run differentials says it all. Any major blockbuster deal will involve top-level prospects, and I'd say no thanks to us giving up any real value to win in this pathetic division.

WWSH

Ponson's ERA ranks him at 102. The pitchers who are worse are Mark Hendrickson, Jose Lima, and Hideo Nomo.

A bit flighty, wouldn't you have to say? One loss, a loss that doesn't cost us a game in the standings, and we're back to "acceptance?" What, is Joe Randa scaring you people?

As bad as the Dodgers suck, the last two weeks have demonstrated that we can overtake the Padres. Yeah, we lost today, and it's a drag how it happened, but this wasn't the game anyone figured us to win. A road loss against a hot team with its best pitcher does not spell doom.

Wilson Alvarez is not going to be the key factor in whether we go to the playoffs. Every team's got less than impregnable bullpens. It's going to be up to Penny, Lowe, Weaver, Brazoban, Sanchez, Kent, Bradley, Izturis, Valenting, Phillips, Saenz, Choi, Robles and possibly Drew. And Tracy. And DePodesta, who might get us another hitter.

You'd have to ask my therapist about it. It was quite traumatic.

I think this game is more important than that. We need every game at this point in the season, especially with Arizona still ahead of us. The Padres are obviously nothing special, but I don't think they'll continue to suck this bad forever, and we need to make up ground when we can. A team gets only so many opportunities like we had today, and losing games like this will seal our fate at season's end.

WWSH

They've won 4 out of their last 7. That's progress by NL West standards.

Regression to the mean would indicate that the Padres will start playing better at some point. We can't keep on relying on their ineptitude.

WWSH

Division lead = .510 (50/98)

How did you manage that rhetorical flourish? Yours is the first post I've seen to include an underscore.

Underlining involves putting an underscore immediately before and after a word, instead of the asterisk for bold.

WWSH

I think the Dodgers losses are magnified because they have tendency to come in very annoying fashions. An error late (such as Valentin on Opening day), a 2-out, 2-strike home run (I would shudder to count those), or blowing the lead late.

And the losses are all relatively close as witnessed by the -40 in runs scored/against.

And I would go so far to say that even though his stuff is not the best, it is better than the vast majority of 35 year old middle relievers still vacuuming up resources and roster space and weighing down most clubs.

How long should these pitchers stay on our roster?

For a GM to leave a sharp, dominant RELIEF pitcher in the minors when his team needs some help and has an opportunity to win the division because he's more concerned about managing an arbitration clock would be unfathomable.

Broxton's a different story because he has starter potential - managing his artibration clock can result in a greater net gain for the team because he could stand to command $10 in arbitration one day if he pans out to his ceiling. That's not the case with Kuo.

Is it pronouned "Quo?" Does anyone "Know"?

My Chinese linguistics is rusty--I can hold a passable conversation over basic personal topics with what I learned growing up, and I still remember something from the one college course I took--so I may be wrong, but I'll try to answer your question. If you know the Hanyu pinyin romanization, Kuo's name would be spelled as "Guo" instead of "Kuo"--Taiwanese use a different form of Romanization. This is why the old Nationalist party is sometimes spelled as either Kuomintang or Guomindang.

However, assuming I'm interpreting my old textbook correctly, Guo is somewhat deceptive. Although the sound isn't like the English "k," it's also not exactly like the English "g," because it's an unvoiced consonant (it doesn't use the vocal cords). It's more like the "k" in sky.

WWSH

Of course, when I speak Mandarin Chinese, I don't really think about all these sorts of things. I just say it, although that's why I speak with a Taiwanese accent as opposed to "proper" Mandarin pronounciation.

WWSH

Took the daughters to see Charlie and the Choc. Factory. 5:00 show in Century City. A fairly large but soft spoken black man was in line in front of me with his family. The guy had arms like tree trunks. He was going to see the Fantastic Four. Suprisingly his wife was not very hot. But more than that, Barry was walking just fine. No limp or visable sign of injury. I still maintain he will be back this year.
There were not very many people in the theater and only a few people even noticed him. No one asked for an autograph. Barry did hustle into the theater leaving his family to get the popcorn and drinks.

A former company of mine rented a condo on Century Park West, which I stayed in about every other week for a while. The neighborhood was nice and convenient, but the condo (specifically the walls) was furnished in what I call "early family member." Paintings that looked like the daughter or niece had done them when she was about 14. Mismatched living room furniture, two small bedrooms, one of which had a sofa bed. And it was right across from Centinela Hospital (I think), so lots of ambient noise.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2100404

368. The movie was pretty good. Suprisingly, the only weak spot was Johnny Depp. He is just this weird Michael Jackson asexual freak. He had none of the charm of the Gene Wilder Wonka. The Ompa Lompas were a little weird as well. But the rest of the movie was very well done. Worth seeing if you have kids or are a fan of the first one.

BTW, asked the Shawn Green Daughter if she wanted to ask Barry for an autograph and she asked "why?"
Who says I'm not raising my children right.

Howie's on my list!

LAT, I have this picture in my head of your daughter going up to Bonds and saying "You're no Shawn Green, but can I have your autograph anyway?"

375. Jim, that is probably what she would say. Part of me would be afraid of her saying it to him and part of me would be proud of her for it.