August 12, 1902

Brooklyn pitcher Frank Kitson slugged a double and a triple and went the distance as the Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs at Washington Park, 5-4. The win improved the record of second place Brooklyn to 54-43, but they were 17 games behind Pittsburgh.

Brooklyn jumped out to a 4-0 lead after 3 innings as the Dodgers got seven hits early off of Cubs starter Jock Menefee, who played more games in the field in 1902 than as a pitcher. But Brooklyn's defense committed four errors in the fifth and sixth and the Cubs were able to parlay those in to four runs.

In the eighth, third baseman Charlie Irwin led off with a walk against Menefee and moved to second on a sacrifice by second baseman Tim Flood. Catcher Duke Farrell grounded out to third, but Kitson followed with a booming triple to right center to score Irwin with what proved to be the winning run.

Brooklyn finished the year in second place with a 75-63 record. But they finished 27 ½ games behind the Pirates, who finished with an incredible 103-36 record. It was the biggest margin for any National League champion ever. The 1995 Cleveland Indians won the AL Central by 30 games, although they were only 14 games better than the team with the second best record in the league.

The Cubs in 1902 finished in third place. Their lineup on August 12 featured Joe Tinker at shortstop and Frank Chance at first base, but Johnny Evers would not join the team until September 1. Veteran Bobby Lowe played second base on this day.

Kitson led Brooklyn with 19 wins. He was 19-13 with a 2.85 ERA and he batted .276. Bill Donovan went 17-15 with a 2.78 ERA and also filled in at first base, second base, and the outfield. Both Donovan and Kitson would jump to the Detroit Tigers in the fledgling American League for 1903.

Another player who would jump to the AL in 1903 was veteran outfielder Willie Keeler, who led Dodger hitters with a .333 batting average. Keeler would play for the New York Highlanders in 1903.

One player who dropped out of the majors after 1902 was backup catcher Tacks Latimer. (His given name was Clifford). He was 1 for 24 and finished his major league career 19 for 86.

Brooklyn's intracity rival, the Giants, finished in last place in 1902 with a 48-88 record. But help for them was on the way. Brooklyn manager Ned Hanlon's disciple, John McGraw, left the AL Baltimore Orioles (who would become the New York Highlanders in 1903) and became the Giants manager on July 19. And the National League would be much different for the next 30 years.

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

Oh dear me. That image (given the average age and physical proportions of baseball fans) is one I could have done without.

He did not get his chance of fulfilling Icaros's dream of being the Omega Man of Baseball though.

I will be out tonight, but the comments about leaving early will likely be made by Howie Rose on radio.

http://6-4-2.blogspot.com/2004/07/mariners-6-angels-5.html

Myself I don't think I've seen the team win until I've seen the last out, but I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me why devotion to professional sports is a sign of character.

Whoops, another opposite field HR as I was typing this.

Izzy SS
Robles 3b
Bradley CF
Kent 2b
Ledee RF
Phillips 1b
Valentin LF
Navarro C
Weaver P

vs

SS Reyes
2B Cairo
3B Wright
LF Floyd
C Piazza
1B Offerman
RF Diaz
CF Williams
P Zambrano

Not our optimal line up, but the Mets are hurt so we have a chance...

http://tinyurl.com/d77sr

I don't really have a strong opinion

Robles, Izturis at the top of the order makes me want to puke.

Best damn bench in baseball- Cruz, Werth, Saenz, Choi, AP.

I'd start all 5 of those guys if I could.

2. Replacements can come in all forms. Robles, etc...

Jason Phillips and Cliff Floyd must be good friends.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.asp?sport=MLB&id=8070

What is this, a save face move for Epstein? He can't possibly think Schrager has any value.

I dont make a snap decision based on 6 at bats. Thats ludicrous.

Cruz as a 3rd OF'er isnt a bad problem to have. And everything is relative. I'd rather have his bat in there than Izzy, Robles, Valentin, Phillips etc... you get the point.

This Phillips thing is going to set this franchise back five years. Every base hit is like another dagger to success.

3-3 Thank you Dan Evans!

Let's play another match game

The players are Repko Cruz and Phillips. Match them with their lines.

Cruz is not good, but considering who we were playing, he wasn't a bad acquisition. In fact, of the OFs who moved at the trading deadline he might have been the best, and he was certainly the best deal considering what for example, the Giants gave up.

All this Match Game stuff is frustrating. None of these guys are the stuff of winning teams, much less teams that have all three of them at the same time. I couldn't care less which one of those three guys play at any time.

The point isn't who we have on the roster, the point is that Tracy has made it his personal mission to put the worst possible lineup on the field.

Thank goodness he's so scrappy.

Any chance that Piazza goes into the Hall as a Dodger?

And the worst part. Juan Castro gets the most AB's on the team...

80 You're right. Trading Izturis would have probably resulting in a riot, though.

Bradley swings 2-0 Groundball
Kent swings 3-0 Flyball

We need baserunners!

Robles sees 2 pitchs.
Bradley makes an out on 2-0.
Kent makes an out on 3-0.

Take a strike...

My guess is that Tracy has given Kent the green light on every single 3-0 count he's had this year. Kent just usually chooses not to swing.

And you know what? Kent SHOULD be greenlighted on 3-0, as should every hitter of his caliber. Look up his season & career splits on that count if you disagree.

someone shoot me

'You know when you swing really hard? That's awesome. You need to do that all the time,'

http://tinyurl.com/9qbbp

or, as Rotoworld said "Sounds a little like Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney on SNL."

Does anyone else get the feeling that Izturis doesn't seem as intense anymore? His hitting and fielding seem to be a bit more lackadaisical since he started slumping.

The Weaver Collapse™ has begun.

Kent's not playing tomorrow, Houlton is starting, and were going against Seo, who has a 1.42 ERA. He replaced Ishii in the rotation, I'd rather see Ishii

Two pretty poor at bats by Bradley the last 2 times up.

As for Izzy, geez..

Tonite, more of the same. Bad pitching, bad lineup, and a bad result.

With the way our bullpen is going, maybe 1 run for 1 extra inning by our starter is acceptable.

Maybe Choi and Perez should grow goatees.

Here's a good explanation
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/sports/1283281.html?c=y&page=3

Twins win 1-0. Game only took 2 hours.

Since Vin is not giving updates, and nobody else here is, Urbina just put down the Padres 3-4-5 hitters in the eigth, Phillies 3-2 still.

164 No, I'm not a pitcher. But I think I understand now. Still doesn't make sense the 2 seamer would have any sideway movement, unless the spin is not 12 to 6.

I noticed that, too. He said it as if something unimaginably absurd had just happened.

Maybe he needs to learn the other one.

Bat AP!!!

That is what I'd truly like to see...

Vin is having a hard time with Zambrano's first name. Remember, Carlos is the good one who won't go down in history as "that guy who was traded for Scott Kazmir"

If these guys dont swing, they'd have been walked 6 times already.

He's already called Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado tonight. The last thing we need is to confuse him with another Carlos.

I'm glad Chan Ho Park came through as a pinch hitter tonight, though!

That makes the speedsters at the top of our lineup 7 for 21 in stolen base attempts.

I like how Piazza went for the trailing runner. Very subtle message there.

Steiner "Phillips has soft hands"

This is a malady called "Repko Disease" and defined as gushing over a play that anybody at that position could have made.

Still, sending the runners was probably a bad move because it forced Kent to chase one of those even if he wasn't fooled by the late break.

Why don't you just say "With a decent outing by Jeff, we could have easily won this game without extending our bullpen"

Piazza, Diaz, Offerman, and Cairo.

And some guy named Pedro something...

233 I don't think Vinnie will ever top calling a certain pitcher Hideo Homo last year.

Oh wait, Robles is 3 for 4 with 2 rbis...

Nope.

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/gamecenter/live/MLB_20050812_NYM@LA

As he's done with so many opposing runners this year.

Its nice to see we're not the only ones who suffer with a crappy pen.

Now if Saenz can do something good. Not what he did against STL a few weeks ago.

J. Weaver singled to catcher

Huh?

I assume he'll go two tonight. I hope we don't see Braz, that would be ironic.

I dont want to have to face those guys.

Phillips to win. Armageddon. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

I'm afraid our arson squad cannot hold back the Mets forever.

This game, if we lose, might be one of the toughest to lose all year.

I've never seen a team more unlucky than the Dodgers.

I dont want to watch anymore. Our bullpen doenst have 4 scoreless innings in it.

JOSE OFFERMAN = MAJOR OFFENSE

Jose Offerman is still in the majors?

Is Antonio Perez the only hitter left on the bench?

Do the Mets have any pinch hitters left?

We gotta score.

Unless Randolph used him.

Great at bat by that kid. 10 pitches and a HR.

I like it when the kids do good. And I like it when Duaner does his job. Makes my job in the Duaner Chowder & Marching Society easier.

Ahh, the self-loathing of the Mets fans.

But now losing a game to the Dodgers is the equivalent of losing a game to the Rockies.

37 Sam, thanks for asking. Yes she saw most of it.

I am in total denial--about 2007.

Navarro and Robles were clearly the heroes tonight. And the bullpen. Kent didn't do much. Milton doubled, but to no effect. Izturis was awful with the bat, but made a couple nice plays at SS. Phillips got the early ribbies. Team effort, actually. Nice to see.

Gee, I hope Tracy lets Choi face Seo. So does the LA Korean community. Could have been worth 5000 tickets if Tracy had announced it tonight.

A friend of mine was seeing his first Dodger game, and we were both immensely pleased to get a glimpse of Choi, for him to experience the HEE! SEOP! chant, and of course, great to see Navarro really come into his own -- he had an excellent game.

Poor Jose Cruz Jr -- he almost was the hero, and it really looked for a second like Offerman had mistimed his jump. Ah well -- Dioner's homer was an awesome finish. :)

Choi gets the loudest applause of anyone all evening; louder still than even when Navarro hit the game-winner. And yet he'll be cemented on the bench because of the performance by Jason F. Phillips.

from the yahoo story of the dodger win last night

http://www.southernguide.tv/channel1.html

Russ Ortiz is back pitching for Arizona today.

He must be stopped!

Go Braves!

Martin just hit a homer, 1-0 Suns

Lyon would be the good news for them.

3-run homer puts the Braves up 4-2 in the third over the DBacks.

someone that could be on the dodgers radar for next year: devin sheppard

big time power potential from RF. swing reminds me of arod.

Jackson allowed a hit in the 7th, but also got his 4th K