In any case, it's good to have you back.

But how about...
Jon article + trade rumors + the usual Tracy-Choi-DePo-Dunn banter + Suns + Dodgers > 1000?

Yeah the bar is a little high there...

O.K., maybe that ranks as more than general weirdness...

Thanks to Midwest Blue for rounding out the numbers last night. It was a lot of fun.

'Bout to leave for the stadium. Can't believe I haven't been there since '03. Kinda nice to feel that same ol' sense of anticipation building, though.

Wish us all luck!

article from Jon + clinching NL West
> 1500?

Last year the site barely cracked 100 when that happened, but I think we've grown much bigger in a year. I for one didn't know about this site a year ago. For how many regulars is this true?

Then I found DT. One of those moments...

The D-Backs are actually showing some sense in getting rid of Cruz. But Green in center field? Woo hoo!

The DBacks have 10 days to figure out Cruz's ultimate, which I imagine will be a release and free agency.

Anybody notice that the Yankees picked up Nomo?

Parenthetically, I wish the Yankees would sink into oblivion so ESPN would be forced to find another team to feature on their regular baseball broadcasts. I'm so sick of them I could spit (and that doesn't even add in my inherent Dodgers-Yankees hatred).

Brown, Nomo, Lima, Park. What a rotation.

July 27, 1935

The Dodgers and Giants didn't like each other much back in 1935 (or
much any other time), but only 8,000 people wandered over to Ebbets
Field to watch the Dodgers get a win over their intracity rivals, 6-4.
The win made the Dodgers 40-49 for the season and they were 17 ½ games
behind the first place Giants.

Brooklyn caught a break in the first when Giants starter Al Smith hurt
his hand trying to field a grounder. In the second, Smith was
obviously bothered by the injury and he gave up four runs. Left
fielder Danny Taylor had a one out walk and came around to score after
singles by right fielder Frenchy Bordagaray and shortstop Jimmy
Jordan. Giants player manager Bill Terry brought in Frank Gabler to
relieve.

With catcher Al Lopez batting, Bordagaray and Jordan pulled off a
double steal. Lopez then walked to load the bases and pitcher Johnny
Babich singled home two runs. Center fielder Koenecke then drove in a
fourth run on a ground out.

Babich hurt himself in the fourth. He walked Terry to lead off the
inning. Mel Ott then grounded to first baseman Sam Leslie, but Babich
dropped the throw to put runners on first and second. Hank Leiber
doubled in Terry and sent Ott to third. Travis Jackson and Harry
Danning hit consecutive scoring fly balls to make it 4-3 Dodgers.

In the fifth, Jimmy Bucher doubled for the Dodgers and Taylor singled
him to third. Taylor stole second and both men scored on a triple from
Bordagaray.

The Giants scored a run in the 9th and had the tying run on with one
out when manager Casey Stengel, pulled Babich in favor of veteran Tom
Zachary. Zachary got Jo-Jo Moore to ground into a force play and then
retired Hughie Critz on a grounder to second to end the game.

There weren't many other highlights for the Dodgers in 1935. They
finished 70-83 and 29 ½ games behind the first place Cubs in fifth
place. The last place Boston Braves were 38-115 and 61 ½ games out of
first. The Giants finished in third place.

The 1935 Dodgers were an odd mixture of players. Stengel was one of
the greatest managers ever, but in his second year in Brooklyn, he
wasn't much of a manager. Catcher Lopez would make the Hall of Fame as
a manager. Rookie shortstop Rod Dedeaux would go on to become far more
famous as the coach of the USC baseball team. Veteran pitcher Dazzy
Vance came back for one last season in Brooklyn at age 44.

The Dodgers had little power, hitting only 59 home runs. Shortstop
Lonny Frey led the team with 11. Leslie led the team in hitting at
.308.

Watty Clark had a 3.30 ERA and went 13-8 and Van Lingle Mungo was
16-10 with a 3.65 ERA.

Mostly, the 1935 Dodgers were a mixture of guys who were too old or
youngsters who weren't any good.

Center fielder Koenecke was a tragic story though. Stengel was upset
with Koenecke's erratic behavior and insubordination and kicked him
off the team on September 17. He took a plane back home, but became
belligerent on the flight and the pilots of the plane got into a fight
with Koenecke. During the fight, Koenecke was hit in the head with a
fire extinguisher and died of his injuries. Koenecke was 31 years old.
A coroner's inquest in Toronto (the plane was in Canada when the fight
took place) cleared the pilots of any criminal charges.

Thanks to New York Times, BaseballReference.com and Retrosheet

Comments weren't even an option until early 2004, and I didn't make it clear that readers were free to open chat until later that year.

I was thinking the same thing. It really seems like everytime i've noticed baseball tonight since the all-star break, the yankees are one of the teams playing. Do they think that everyone loves the yankees as much as they do?

the archives actually make for good reading:

http://www.all-baseball.com/dodgerthoughts/

pick a month.

He actually manages to do it in a dignified way. Of course, Vin remembers it happening too.

I'd like to see the Jays, Tigers, Royals, Indians, Brewers etc. once in a while, just because I rarely get a chance. I can see most of the NL on either FSNW2 or TBS. I suppose I could see the AL on FSNW when they show the Angels, but that always seems to conflict with other things, and besides, the Angels' commentators are pretty awful.

wow. i thought getting DFA'd by tampa bay was as low as one could possibly go on the majors. little did i know that getting picked up by the yankees was the bottom rung.

I'm amazed that Casey Stengel's managing career started in the 30s. I used to see him when I saw the Mets. How old am I?

Speaking of Stengel, this is kind of cool:

http://www.rheingoldbeer.com/beer/archives/archives_detail_caseystengel.aspx

The same site has ads featuring Pee Wee Reese and Leo Durocher.

Although Cruz is a bit of a sabermetrics type guy with his relatively high OPS compared to BA, I don't think the Dodgers have any use for him. There are plenty of other teams needing a CF who will give up something for him (Yankees anyone?).

http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Koenecke.Len.Obit.html

We may be under-rating Green's defense. Here are his BPro Rate2 stats from 2000-2005:

2000 100
2001 98
2002 107
2003 108
2004 93
2005 109

Green's career figure is 103.

When I saw these numbers, I was very surprised, but to my eye, Green has looked pretty good in OF for the games he's played against us. I think our perception of his defense may be skewed by last season, which was definitely a low for him. Maybe he was distracted, or perhaps last season just wasn't his year defensively.

That being said, CF is a different beast than RF, but I don't think we should count on Green being as awful a CF as his performance last season would suggest.

WWSH

She sorta looks like Jackie Kennedy to me, except not beautiful.

Jeez, now Jeter gets cut down at the plate. Is there any way to chalk this up to the Moneyball witchcraft?

Are there any stadiums that are wireless hotspots aside from San Francisco in the majors?

Well, except for the ends of the 1962 and 1982 seasons.

10 of the first 20 Twins have reached against him and only one has scored.

Yes. Yes. It is.

Also, if you throw out May, the Padres are only a game better than the Rockies.

non-May May
W L RS RA W L RS RA
LA 34 37 303 315 11 17 120 150
Ari 32 41 313 387 16 12 127 143
SF 31 40 329 370 11 16 104 138
SD 28 43 272 325 22 6 160 117
Col 26 43 306 389 9 20 118 156

Werth out with a bum knee supposedly.

Just a few of us left to keep the faith.

We've gone past Barry Bonds 2001!

If that's what Tracy's vows are like, I would ask Mrs. Tracy to call Mr. Tracy a lot on the next road trip.

2B Freel
SS Lopez
CF Griffey
LF Dunn
1B Casey
RF Kearns
C Valentin
3B Encarnacion
P Ortiz

So which is right?

79 - that pretense was given up ages ago

To add to the wireless discussion, I use my cell from the Coliseum all the time to check the net. I could even post that way, if I was blessed with far more patience than I actually possess. I hope we do hear from our intrepid band of Dunn scouts tonight...

Tracy is the king of saying one thing, doing another, asking himself why and then answering his own question.

Bob, vinny is right. Kearns is Irish. I have a few Kearns in the family tree.

There has been a new phone system installed. And the phones have buttons that say "Home bullpen" and "Visitors bullpen". I wanted to call and get somebody warmed up.

But I was just there for the LA City High School championship and they don't keep extra pitchers down in the bullpen. They just tell the kids to run down to warm up from the bench.

Also, Ramon Hernandez is having surgery, so the Padres will have to now use Fick and Nevin.

This was in the notes column on Dodgers.com on July 24

"More on the lineup: Tracy kept his pledge not to start Olmedo Saenz or Ricky Ledee on consecutive games, even though Saenz homered with three RBIs on Saturday and Ledee had an RBI single.

Hee-Seop Choi was back in the lineup at first base for Saenz, and Mike Edwards started in left field for Ledee. Saenz is 4-for-19 as a pinch-hitter; Ledee is 7-for-15. Choi batted sixth, Edwards seventh and Rose eighth. Jayson Werth was moved up from seventh to fifth in the order."

The weird thing is that Bill Mueller is "Miller" while former Giant Don Mueller was said with an "oo" sound. Both guys are from the same part of the world: St. Louis/Western Illinois.

My father saw Bill Mueller's name and without prompting pronounced his name as "Miller" because he said there was a whole family of them where he grew up.

And if you were in Germany, the name would be Müller.

correct.

B Molina at the plate.

highlights

-not (certainly hope not) breaking up ML roster to bring in anyone

-will move prospects

-wants a bat and some help in the pen

-said all the right things.

-if we loose the next 5, he still will go after help, if we win the next 5 he will still go after help

I had it on but didn't pay attention. I figured he would say nothing important or I wouldn't believe what he said no matter what he said. I think he is a big fake signal type of guy. As most GM's are, I guess.

Reds vs Weaver
Aurilia 2-6
Casey 3-11
Cruz 0-10
Dunn 4-7
Freel 3-6 (updated as I type)
Griffey 1-12, HR
LaRue 1-9
Lopez 4-19
Milton 1-2, HR
Pena 0-3
Valentin 1-9

depends on the deal. I wouldn't mind a little of both.

I'm very wary of trying to acquire Adam Dunn as well. Though he hits the ball a mile, no doubt, his splits and RISP stats don't make me feel very comfortable. On one hand, I'm comforted by the fact that we'll keep at least either Guzman or LaRoche because we need a third baseman for next year.

At least on that hit by Kent.

The guys who know more about the youngins than I do can probably give a better ETA, but I doubt that LaRoche or Guzman will be manning 3rd base for the Dodgers next year.

Holy moly, Olmedo. He'll probably be sat for Choi tomorrow.

I thought Olmedo's was going foul and Kent's looked like an HR swing.

Bob, if a player hits a ball dowwn the line like Olmedo did and it stays fair for a HR but he does not leave the batter box is the ball still an HR? I recall something like that with Rick Monday in a game in Cincy where he hit the ball and faile to leave the batter's box because he thought it was going foul. Because he failed to leave the BB the umpire called it foul.

My friends say I am crazy and there is nothing in the rule book and it would be against the spirit of the rules in the first place. Maybe it was a dream.

By the way, what is up with the team all of a sudden? I know it is the Road Reds who are a sub .300 team but we actually look good out there.

He probably looked bigger in his day because players were a little smaller then so Howard stood out more.

But my memories of seeing Frank Howard play (and they're pretty hazy since he retired when I was a wee lad) were that he was one enormous man.

There's a rule also that states that if you're on third with the bases loaded and you get walked in to score a run and refuse to move, you're out.

I have no idea why anyone would do this.

While guys like Frank Howard and Dave Parker and Andruw Jones have done it, Hiram Bocachica has also done it.

I figured it would be dumb but didn't know if there was some arcane rule. much like your home team electing to bat first up until 1950

thanks

why would you hurt your future teammate?

WWSH

If Olmedo continues to hit like this, I guess we can't really complain about Choi sitting. I'm a huge Choi guy, and even I have to admit that.

WWSH

Reminds me of the tricks I always used to TRY and pull.

I like Izzy, but I really wouldn't mind if we traded him for someone else. I don't know if any teams want a defensive upgrade in SS badly enough to give us a lot for him, though.

He must remember 1962 and 1982. The Dodgers had some wickedly long scoreless streaks down the stretch that year.

Down the stretch in 1982, the Dodgers got shutout by the awesome Padre tandem of John Montefusco and Luis DeLeon.

In the Dodgers last 3 games in 1962 before the tiebreaker, they scored 2 runs total against the Cardinals.

Robles has made some great plays at third and seems to be a lot better there than anyone else.

I too enjoy seeing Choi at the plate. He's been improving defensively too. But, being that he won't be seeing much pt, I hope Choi improves as a pinch hitter.

True, his BA is poor with RISP, but his OPS is .981, including a .467 OBP and he has 6 HR (all in 72 AB with RISP).

His OPS ranks 33rd among NL hitters with at least 25 AB with RISP which granted, is not great, but it is not at all bad. He is still ahead of Bobby Abreu, Mike Cameron, Mike Piazza, David Wright, and Todd Helton - all of which have higher BA than Dunn.

It is also interesting to note that Dunn has a .250 BA with RISP w/ 2 outs and his OPS is 1.123 with an OBP of .529. This would rank him 13th among NL hitters, just behind Pujols and ahead of all Dodger hitters.

Also, he's one of the few Dodgers who hits the ball consistently hard, with the 5th best slugging percentage. And like I said, I don't want to substitute Choi for Saenz, I want to get them both in (probably at the expense of Izturis)

But when this is really coming down to Choi over Izturis, what has Izzy done to justify his constant playing time even when he was mired in his 0-for-200 slump? This would be my preferred lineup until Drew gets back:
Robles
Choi
Bradley
Kent
Saenz
Perez
Phillips
Repko

Then when Drew got back he could take Repko's place.

But he hit only 45 for the Reds.

Choi's been shaky at first base and even cost the team a game against St. Louis early in the year.

Izturis is starting to hit again, and he's already got a RBI sacrifice fly tonight. Choi has gotten 241 at bats this year, good for 5th on the team. Looking at his swing, can you honestly believe that he'll be able to overcome his glaring inability to hit for contact?

And 172, do you think that Perez is fit for the outfield right now even though it's been said by a coach that he's not ready for the outfield?

1 for 3
2 for 3
0 for 5
2 for 5
2 for 3

Repko's last five starts

1 for 3
0 for 3
0 for 4
1 for 3
3 for 4

Saenz's last five starts

1 for 5
0 for 4
0 for 4
2 for 4
3 for 4

In this incredibly small sample size, Choi has been just as effective as Saenz and Repko. (I know this neglects important stats) The difference? Does anyone doubt that Repko and Saenz's performances will earn them tenure, while no matter what Choi does he'll languish on the bench?

I'm still waiting for the bottom to drop out on Saenz against right handed pitching, since he has proved himself horribly ineffective against it through out his career.

So Izzy has a streak and it justifies a start. Choi has several streaks, and it doesn't? Choi is ahead of Izzy in every single offensive category except BA, even despite his sporadic playing time (which I do believe contributes to his offensive problems) and cold spells. Including an OPS 132 points higher than Izzy. For a Dodger team that has more problems with scoring runs than getting hits, I'd take the higher SLG and OPS of Choi.

It's true Izzy's a great defender, but that just means we should be able to get more for him in a trade, which is what I think we need to do with him.

Perez is a defensive liability in the infield too, so I'd actually prefer seeing him in LF than the infield, all things considered. Quite a few LF players in MLB are defensively questionable.

Actually, it was a great two months to start the season, I wouldn't just call it a "streak." I think his Gold Glove season is enough to justify another season of starts, don't you?

178

I'm looking at the game log for Hee Seop and I don't see the same stats for the last 5 starts as you have put out.

He didn't cool off on the Tuesday just after that streak. In fact, he hit a HR against KC. He cooled off slowly. What's annoying to many here is that all it takes is an 0-fer, a 1-fer, or a failure in a clutch pinch-hit situation and Choi ends up back on the end of the bench.

That Saenz is doing so well serves as some consolation, but he seems due for some regression to his mean. He's also old.

On another note, am I the only one who seems to think every single ball is being misplayed in some fashion by the Reds infield? It's uncanny - it looks like they're LUCKY to only have a couple of errors.

Obviously it's now 60 for the Reds.

We've only got 4 runs. I guess that's a beat-down Dodger style, eh?

Yeah, but going from around .350 to around .270 in the same span is equally brutal. That just might get someone benched anywhere else.

Oakland is best in that category.

But Billy Beane doesn't value defense.

After the big deadline trade last year, I was very defensive about Choi, it possibly could have been buyer's remorse speaking for me, but I always wanted to give him a chance. However, when he goes on oh-fer streaks like he's prone to do, there's no justifying keeping him in, especially given his history. If he can't hit, he's really utterly worthless. Even his sought after ability to get walks seems to have decreased this year.

I will concede that he's looked better on defense, as evidenced by the 2nd game of the Mets series, but baseball is a game where you have to consistently prove yourself to get at bats. It might not seem like it with Jason Grabowski getting at bats, but it's a fact of baseball. It may not be fair, but it's not fair either to keep playing Choi when there are better options out there.

But for two innings, it was a nice beatdown. ;)

My lobotomy was just last tuesday, you think it went well?

And further, JT has benched Choi irrespective of his performance. It's useless to talk of Choi earning regular playing time, because as far as JT is concerned, there's apparently nothing Choi can do to earn regular playing time.

Good idea? Bad idea? Tracy asleep and drooling on the linup card again?

The Dodger bullpen is a problem, yes. But staking them to bigger leads can never hurt - and if you look at the LADs's performances over the last few weeks, they seem to have a propensity for getting plenty of hits with few runs to show for it. While their 5th-best slugger languishes on the bench.

In addition, Choi's OBP is actually better than Izzy's, now. Despite an AVG 32 points lower. Because plate discipline is so unimportant.

That's not even going into the numerous management issues Tracy has with his bullpen (Cararra and Erickson, anybody?).

Crap.

It's tough to be Jim Tracy, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.

He slugs .120 better as well.

In short, he makes fewer outs and gains more bases.

The 1951 Dodgers scored 132 runs in 27 games in September. That's 4.9 per game. The Giants averaged 5.1 the same month.

In August of 1951 they scored 159 runs in 32 games. Which is just about 5.0 runs per game.

In August of 1962, the Dodgers scored 132 runs in 29 games, an average of 4.6 runs.

In September of 1962, the Dodgers scored 111 runs in 27 games, an average of 4.1 runs. The Giants averaged 4.8 runs.

Then a throwawayline about the bar.

And now we get the by the book sub.

You noticed that Wilson Alvarez is left-handed. Congratulations! Now please realize that HE HAS NO HISTORY OF EFFECTIVENESS AGAINST LEFT HANDED BATTERS.

Sincerely,

Better Minds

The only mistake Tracy has made in this inning is bringing in Hideo Alvarez.

"Jeff Weaver has a gummy arm"

"Jim Tracy is a moron"

I can't think of a bar line right now, sorry.

=P

-- Joan Baez

"Trade for me, and Wilson Alvarez can be released."

-- Dennys Baez

The mind of Tracy shant be delved into

And this guy... Why's he hitting second??? 0 fer last week?

Sentiment for the past will get you...the SF Giants.

259 - Jon, I gave up Gameday a long time ago for Sportsline. Not only does it perform better, but I've actually grown to like its interface better as well, once I adjusted to the look.

Come on Milton...

I like his approach, no doubt, but having two guys who you know can't do anything but hit singles at the top of the order is very tough.

Am I the only one who thought that line from Vinny was rather amusing?

the robles era should end at 0-35. any takers?

7/27, Cincinnati vs Jeff Weaver
Actual: 6-2/3
.........................
Colorado Blue: 7 (Win)
Joekings: 7-1/3
.........................
Louis in SF: 6-2/3 (Win)
Xeifrank: 7
.........................
Howard: 6-1/3 (Win)
CT Bum: No Pick
.........................
Standings...
Louis in SF 5-2-2
Howard 7-4-2
Joekings 4-4-1
CT Bum 5-5-3
Xeifrank 5-6-2
Colorado Blue 5-8-0

Next Game: Cincy vs DJ Houlton

I have no idea how Vin does this.

-- Joan Baez

"He loves his damned old LOOGY more than he loves winning the division. Someday soon, Kuo, Broxton and me, someday soon."

-- Dennys Baez

But no more.

One in Los Angeles
One in Seattle
One in Baltimore

Nice innning for Sanchez after the two-bagger down the line.

Man, Sanchez is throwing the crap out of the ball. He hears footsteps.

I fully expect Baltimore to score three to tie.

Repko's grounder might qualify as one of those.

The Rangers have James Baldwin pitching.

James Baldwin!

James Baldwin may have been the only Dodger slower than Jason Phillips.

dies

Why not Navarro, unless he's about to be dealt? He's at least an average defensive catcher, right?

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B06300COL1996.htm

At least he can pronounce "Ryan Freel" and "five stolen bases" correctly.

On the steal of third, he stole on Yhency again. Granted, Phillips has slow feet. His throws were fine in both cases.

But remember everyone, Jason Phillips hits .300 with RISP so he must be a real important cog in this lineup. Very special man here.

Branch Rickey, 13.

That's the post-1900 high.

Rickey's bad day was June 28, 1907.

He is double clutching. I haven't been against Phillips to this point, bu seeing that replay on the steal of second, I realized he may be a major liability.

376 -- That was more a statement about everyone's favorite $10 million bonghead than about Freel, who is one guy who with his .370+ OBP capability may in fact live up to the hype.

Remember, we got him for Ishii, we traded him for Ishii...

It defeats the purpose: To get the catcher out from behind home plate and into throwing position for a quick turnaound and strong throw.

If he double clutches it's no better than a calling for a fasball off the plate.

Short of Rick Ankiel, pitchers don't need therapy to help them.

Pudge was on the Fox baseball show last saturday talking about throwing to the bases. He was a good example of setting the feet and readying the arm in a single quick move.

299 .350 .517 .867

Phillips without RISP

.236 .289 .351 .641

He's like a walking advertisement for the uselessness of the stat. But it's why Tracy was batting him fourth for a while.

I'm ok with Phillips, given that we were going in with Ross, and we got rid of Ishii. He's basically been as advertised. But in 2006, DePo has to bite the bullet and give Navarro/Martin every shot to win the job out of ST.

Tracy was asleep at the wheel again, and to compound his mistake, brought in Alverez to pitch to LHBs.

384 - True. We traded one hypertension inducing player for another of a different type. He's a cheaper one at that!

395 - Weaver's actually done a nice job in some recent games of pulling himself together and battling through situations. I think tonight the fact he was over 100 pitches had more to do with it than anything.

1. Izturis
2. Perez
3. Bradley
4. Kent
5. Dunn
6. Phillips
7. Ledee/Werth
8. Edwards/Robles

at least I thin that's what it was, couldn't type fast enough

1. Izturis
2. Perez
3. Bradley
4. Kent
5. Dunn
6. Phillips
7. Ledee/Werth
8. Edwards/Robles

at least I think that's what it was, couldn't type fast enough

All too often I see managers bring in their closers when the game is tied, only to see them give up a run and take the loss. How many losses does Brazoban have now...at least 6. I would say a good portion of those are due to him giving up a run in non-save situations...how many games are we back now? Take back those games in which Brazoban has blown it, we could be 2-3 games back instead of 5.

If Yhency is going to be our closer, then build up his confidence in knowing he's our man...don't bring him into the game only to give up a walk to one of the fastest guys in the league and then take the loss. He has pitched well in the last few games after he had that one week where he blew a few games in a span of a week, then this happens. I blame this loss on Jim Tracy.

I haven't posted in a while...I AM PISSED!

Braz came into the ninth because he is our man. And he lost. So what?

The point is he gives up home runs and other hits because he's tiring and losing it not the other way around.

The home run, and subsequent hits and walks, are a symptom of the problem. Jimbo needs to recognize when his pitcher is gassed and go to the pen irrespective of whatever crud he has to march out of there. It's better than a weaver who's thrown 90+ pitches.

As an aside, Weaver is, by no means, the only pitcher like this. Pedro is much the same way. Lights out before 95 or so pitches and decidely human afterwards.

But a tied game in the 9th? It may not count statistically as a save, but in terms of the pressure involved, I feel it's very much comparable to coming in to hold onto a small lead. If a game is tied in the 9th and we're playing to win it in the 9th, the closer should bloody well be able to handle it.

Alvarez is my main problem with Tracy's decision-making tonight.

Tracy didn't use Gagne in tie situations because, typically, Brazoban was available. I don't necessarily agree with the logic, but I can appreciate it, I guess [but using Carrara in those situations, like that game in AZ - just wrong on every level].

Now that we're missing one of our top 2 relievers in Gagne, Tracy doesn't have the luxury of the pair of aces (not that I'm sold on Braz as a bullpen ace, but that seems to be how he's perceived for lack of an alternative). If Braz were the one hurt, and not Gagne, I'm sure we'd see Gagne's usage pattern change to what we're seeing with Braz now.

It's basically a lack of alternatives resulting from being one "top" reliever short.

Of course, Piazza hit a little bit better.

But in 1996 Piazza had 155 runners steal against him and he threw out just 34.

He has 2 blown saves out of 10 opportunities.

This is our bullpen. It's not going to get a significant upgrade outside of perhaps Broxton or Kuo or both, because upgrades either aren't available or worth the price.

Please forgive me?

When the game is tied in the 9th, why shouldn't the best guy from the pen come in with the top of the order coming up? I agree with 407, Braz is our man right now. The only other guy in the pen i would trust is Schmoll.

Regarding Gagne, during his stretch where he did save those games, it was only when he was brought into the game when it was tied that he would take the losses. Tracy RARELY used him in thos situations. I understand we had Mota/Brazoban back then.

My main point is that Brazoban since being handed the closer role has not been as consistent as the team needs him to be. Why bring him into the role of "stopper" in a tie game and ask him to hold that tie? HE's supposed to close out games. He's 0 & 3 in the tie game situations. That's enough for me to say NO MORE TIE GAME SITUATIONS FOR BRAZOBAN! Bring in Schmoll in that situation...I don't care, just not Brazoban.

With all due respect to Ryan Freel, if you're afraid to have Yhency Brazoban face him in any situation, you've got bigger problems than what you've described.

Brazoban is just inconsistent right now, period. Distinguishing between save and non-save situations is pointless.

393 - Tommy, what prompted that remark?

Regarding Gagne, during his stretch where he did save those games, it was only when he was brought into the game when it was tied that he would take the losses.

Of course. The reason Gagne took losses in tie games is that when you allow any runs in that situation, you're on the hook for the loss BY DEFINITION. Gagne gave up runs when he was saving games, too, it's just that he had a 2 or 3 run lead some of the time, so those runs didn't result in a W/L decision.

That's really a non-issue. Much ahs been made about how Gagne could or couldn't pitch when a save wasn't on the line. In those cases, W/L record is irrelevant since tie games are more likely to result in ANY decision for a pitcher since only one run is required, either way.

- which, as I've shown in the past, is a complete myth brought on by selective memory

Same guy who has been inconsistent, but has been asked to have the huevos to close out a game. Why screw with his confidence?

Or we could trade for...Danys Baez. Icky. No trading for relief pitchers. What a waste.

Manager keeps his starter in one inning too long to keep the bullpen out of the game;
Manager goes to unreliable mid-reliever who usually puts gasoline on fire;
Manager goes to next-most reliable pitcher, with mixed results;
Manager goes to set-up-man as closer, who has the skills but not the experience or guts to perform in that role.

Adam Dunn will not solve this problem! He won't add enough runs to our total to offset the late inning blown games, which is the Dodgers' number one problem this year. We aren't getting blown out; we're letting games slip away in the last three innings. That didn't happen often during the 2002-04 seasons, because we had a reliable closer.

DePo's mission is to bring in Danys Baez, or failing that, Eddie Guardado. We can't afford both a new closer and Dunn. In the process of bringing in a closer we will lose an important prospect. But if we get value in return, we're jake.

If (big if) Gagne can resume his role next spring, we can trade our new closer for other good prospects. There's always a demand, and none of the pitchers I've mentioned are expensive. But if Gagne can't go, we'll be covered, thus meeting DePo's criterion that we help ourselves in '05 and beyond.

End of sermon.

Who's your choice for tie games, then? The oh-so-consistent Carrara, Sanchez, Alvarez, Dessens, Schmoll or Erickson?

So why bring Brazoban into the game where he's on the hook when he has been so inconsistent? If he's our man, why screw with his confidence for the remainder of the season? That's all I am saying.

Yhancy is not Gange. He's a converted outfielder learning to pitch still. To say that Tracy should handle Yhancy like he handled Gange is wrong. The two represent entirely different pitchers in entirely different circumstances.

What is wrong with Braz's confidence? I don't understand this.

Good question...who's your choice?

Mine is anyone but Brazoban as his record in those situations indicate.

If not for the internet and TV my memory of Gagne would be very distorted. In every Dodger game i have attended in the past few years the Dodgers were either:

A. Down a few runs in the ninth (no Gagne)
or
B. Had Gagne blow a save or non save situation. ( This includes the blown save against Arizona before the mythical streak)
Woe is me.

I am not against trading for anyone if you can get rid of say, a Kaz Ishii to a retard like Omar Minaya. But giving up anybody one would term a "prospect" for a closer might get us from 71 to 73 wins, but do nothing to solve the bigger problem, which is what we're going to do for the first eight innings before we get to the closer. We probably don't have this discussion if Weaver was as good as everyone around here thinks he is. :)

440 - I think Steve in 438 raises the other obvious point. Just how did you decide Brazoban's problem was a confidence problem?

Who's my choice? My choice is if the game is on the line, no matter what the inning, use the best available pitcher. Period.

I just hate losing. When I watch a guy who's supposed to be our closer come in and lose the game for us, it pisses me off.

Understandable about using a W-L record when evaluating, however, he has been thrown into that situation 3 times in a month and a half. He's lost all 3. Luck?

Read these:
https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/183054.html
(Ignore the personal horn tootalage here)
http://depodestaforpresident.blogspot.com/2005/05/game-over.html

Then comment.

so that means that ghame over, dirty d and its a schmoll world should work the majority of the innings.

He's a 5-6 inning pitcher who, with a little luck and a good buzz, will spin off a few bonus innings every other start or two. Lots of people seem to get that except the two or three guys that matter.

Keep the Faith. One game One bad game but I'm still in a better mood than I was 10 games ago.

I think Tommy N means that this sitcom has reached its zenith and we are going to have crappy episodes from now on until we are cancelled. Or he watches too may Happy Days reruns in between Diamondback games.your pick.

Regarding all this talk about confidence, maybe JT would actually pull Weaver before a meltdown if he had confidence in that the pen could keep a lead.

He's next in line for us.

Well, yeah. Nobody around here understands being pissed off more than me. But there are about 300+ pitchers in major league baseball, many of them are middle relievers, and many of them would do exactly what Brazoban is doing.

Look at everybody's favorite overrated eighth inning pitcher, Guillermo Mota. He had a very nice first year, followed by two years of virtually unspeakable crappiness. He had a replacement level '02, then a very good '03 and '04 which had everybody drooling about the "best setup man in baseball" blah blah blah. Whatever. Relief pitchers are like NASDAQ and craps -- play the hot hand and get out of Dodge.

Braz just turned 25. He is young, he has good stuff, he is refining it, and he has potential.

Imagine being the Giants right now. Locked into horrendous contracts with yesterday's mediocrities, not to mention tomorrow's. Aging and old and decrepit with a farm system that resembles the best of Kevin Malone's days.

Let Braz play and work it out. Then he can have a couple of good years, we can flip him for the only decent starting pitcher on the team, and everyone can whine for a year about it.

that and the Barry Bonds one was funny

453 -- a goodly number of excellent pitchers are six-inning pitchers. When Tracy decides a worn-out Weaver in the seventh inning is his best option, it's because the bullpen is less than mediocre.

449 -- Who's my choice? My choice is if the game is on the line, no matter what the inning, use the best available pitcher. Period. The problem is, we don't have enough "available pitchers" who are "best" to get us through a good week. The cast of characters out in that bullpen has to change. And my guess is that's where the trade focus is right this moment.

Stan from Tacoma

"Jim Tracy was a lot less stupid when he had Gagne."

Not really.

--Rosenthal

Why does he still have a job?

Way, way too tired to post about the game I attended tonight with the following:

Hitchcock
Burns
Vishal
Icaros
Marty
Rob
Rob's wife
Kim
BigCPA
Surfpunk (still waiting for first post)

Suffice to say the game was like a roller coaster when at the end of the ride everybody throws up. The top of the ninth was enough to make a grown man cry.

I'll let others fill in the detaiLS as I am
a) exhausted and
b) studying like a madmen so I can educate younguns in English

but I wanted to say that tonight was a heckuva lot of fun and for a guy who has been studying non-stop for 17 straight days, a fun time was desperately needed. Thanks to all who attended.

i dont understand wanting mora. he is 33 yrs old already.

Stargell and Musial await us at 475.

2005 Salary: $3,833,333

He's under contract through at least 2006 (I don't know when it actually expires, just not this year.

Would like to thank SB for being such a good host. It was a lot of fun.

Snap judgement, but SB's gonna make an exceptional teacher. The man has command presence!

1) What do the Dodgers do with the 3rd Basemen Committee with which they currently operate?

2) What about that spot in the rotation? Another trade? Three-way? Four-Way or More-Way? Call-up? Or my personal favorite option: Lord Choi to the rescue.

More likely a posse of Weaver and Perez.

right now hes at:
.300 .360 .492

i think the average and power would take a little bit of a dip going from balt to LA, but still very productive. i doubt the orioles trade him though, especially for weaver. maybe for odalis though.

Home 2.91ERA 16G 21.2IP 2HR 8BB 12K .224BAA
Away 5.71ERA 13G 17.1IP 1HR 7BB 15K .284BAA

Even weirder, actually, since 21.2+17.1=39, not 42. And he's going more than one inning per app. What might have been. . .

If the genius could have contented himself with the Kent signing, then he could be focusing on fixing the bullpen and selectively bringing up youngsters now.

Instead, there's a trainwreck to unscramble with no real pressure to do anything now because revenues are high. He's succeeded at his boss' likely real objective of improving profit through lowering the payroll.

I read somewhere that the Indians might be willing to trade Bob Wickman. So move him in front of Baez on our shopping list.

This year's line-ups have produced 4.34 runs a game vs. 4.70 from last year's. That's less than the difference between the 4.73 runs allowed per game this year vs. 4.22 last year. Beltre wasn't the only lucky fluke last year. Jose Hernandez, Lima, Mota, Duaner, Gio, and Yhency all had atypically good years (that's probably a stupid thing to say about the rookies, but I'm okay with that). Last year's team really wasn't as good as it's numbers.

Do you have any reason to believe DePo doesn't care about winning? Is there anything you know about him that would lead you to that conclusion? It's pretty catty to imply it, if you don't.

From what I recall Mora was a super sub in the mold of a Figgins for awhile and did not have one position. played all over the place and quite well when he did play.

#3 - Brazoban walks Freel in the 9th

#2 - Jason Phillips - someone has to explain to him that the only player who should go into a windup prior to throwing the ball is the pitcher

and the #1 reason we lost - once again, Tracy leaves Weaver in long after the opposition starts teeing off on him

Yes, JT left Weavs in too long... but we expect that. I don't think Ghame walking Freel was that bad... untimely, yes! EXCEPT in the sense that is a) Freel and b) my sister was catching. Freel getting 3rd rests entirely on Phillips shoulders as far as I'm concerned.

Duaner gave a leadoff double to someone who did not advance at all. Freel was exceptional last night; and Phillips, well...

We're still a team that is 9 games under .500. You have to expect to lose games like that.

I still think we've got a run at SD in us, and I'd like to see us beef up the roster before 8/1, but we shouldn't be so shocked to lose a game like that.

The walk to Freel was a reason, those walks always seem to come around to score. A great hitter bats .325, in other words, he makes out 67.5% of the time...Freel is good but not great, you have to make him swing the bat...

Back to Jason Phillips, every time he went to throw he goes into this big windup, by the time he is about to throw the ball, it is already too late...the great throwing catchers get rid of the ball in an instant.

The most annoying thing about phillips is that he can't throw anyone out.

"The Angels aren't yet pressing the panic button. Still, they're stunned at how quickly Steve Finley has declined. "

how could the Angels be "shocked"? Do they think Finley is immortal?

It's a shame that we will never field our full force team this year. I was hoping to shut up the nay-sayers.

1. Our pitchers can not hold runners. Something needs to be done about this. I know all of our starters are below average in time to the plate. I'm not sure about the relievers.

2. They scored six other runs. Someone has to take the blame for those.

The stolen base is an amazingly low yield play. Yeah, we lost this one game to it, but it's a weakness I'm willing to accept.

"The move was made after the Diamondbacks' 3-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Manager Bob Melvin said the 23-year-old Jackson will share time with Tony Clark at first base, with Chad Tracy moving from first to right field. Shawn Green will go from right to center."

Sure Depodesta wants to field a winner, but he's budget handicapped. The sabremetric-optimized Dodger team at $88 million will not win championships. Until revenues start eroding, this same team is desired by the owner for profitability reasons.