OK, I'll provide a topic for discussion:

Which of these teams will the Dodgers finish in front of in the the standings:

San Diego
Arizona
San Francisco
Colorado

I think the Dodgers will finish ahead of only the Giants and Rockies.

No Bradley, and we have one heck of a 3 hitter. Kent didn't rest like Tracy said he would

SS Izzy
RF Werth
3B Robles
2B Kent
1B Saenz (C'mon, Choi vs Seo...)
C Phillips
LF Valentin
CF Repko
P Houlton

vs

SS Reyes
2B Cairo
3B Wright
LF Floyd
1B Anderson
RF Diaz
C Castro
CF Williams
P Seo

Yup. Sounds about right.

As for today's game, I hear that Kent will rest, and Phllips will start at catcher. So, who will play first? Saenz? Or....dare we hope, Choi?

1 I know this is crazy but I say all of those teams. We have head to head coming up for most of the month. If the dodgers can get inside of 5 games by Sept they have a good shot. Padres are still beatable and the Dodgers have had some incredible bad luck. If they can get anything from JD we are looking at the team that started 12-2(because they were playing the lousy west)

I might still be basking in the glow of Navarro's HR last night but it is not out of the realm of possibility.

I'm still in Acceptance because the last few losses(before the two game streak) didn't bother me as much but I just think that the Padres and AZ are ripe for the taking. This is the most tenuous 6 game lead ever created.

I think you're probably right. The big question, in my opinion, is whether Arizona or San Diego will win the division. It's tough to say, but I think it will be Arizona, although the two weeks may mean that San Diego is not as terrible as I thought. Or they may be just progressing to the mean. I had thought/hoped that the Dodgers would do some progression of their own, especially with Milton back, but it looks like the team, in its current form may actually be that bad.

2 WTF?!! What kind of crap lineup is that? The 1 and 3 spots are crap selections. FJT, FJT, FJT...

That should be the new chant, instead of Hee-Seop Choi.

Sorry for the length, but it was a doubleheader!

Random Dodger game callback

August 13, 1952

It took all day and all night and in the end the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants split a rain-plagued day-night doubleheader at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers won the opener 5-4 and the Giants won the night game 8-4. The split made the Dodgers record 72-34 and they were a comfortable nine games ahead of the Giants. Or at least as comfortable as they thought they could be after the events of 1951.

The opening game matched up Carl Erskine of the Dodgers and Jim Hearn of the Giants. The game was 2-2 in the fifth as each team got a 2-run homer. Bobby Thomson hit one for the Giants in the second and Gil Hodges had one for the Dodgers in the fifth.

Hearn faltered in the sixth. He walked the bases loaded, the last one intentional, to face Erskine. But Hearn walked him to force in a run and Giants manager Leo Durocher brought in rookie Hoyt Wilhelm to relieve and he got the final out.

In the seventh, the Giants tied the game on an RBI single from second baseman Davey Williams. But the Dodgers went back ahead in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Carl Furillo scoring Jackie Robinson who had reached when he was hit by a Hal Gregg pitch.

But the Giants came back in the eighth against Erskine. Hank Thompson tripled and Bobby Thomson doubled him home. Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen brought in Joe Black to relieve.

In the bottom of the 8th, Hodges, who was in the #8 slot, led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice by Black. Pee Wee Reese singled home Hodges with what proved to be the winning run. The Giants loaded the bases in the ninth, but couldn't score. The opener took 3:17 to play, an eternity for a nine-inning game in that era.

The night game was scoreless through four innings as Brooklyn's Ben Wade and New York's Al Corwin matched zeroes. But Wade gave up three hits and walked two in the fifth to give up four runs and was relieved by Ray Moore.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Dodgers used two singles and a walk to load the bases against Corwin when a thunderstorm delayed the game for nearly an hour. Durocher brought in Wilhelm to relieve after the delay. Jackie Robinson greeted Wilhelm with a single to score one run. Giants right fielder Clint Hartung threw home and should have gotten Rocky Nelson easily as he has fallen down in the mud. But Hartung's throw hit a puddle in front of home and bounced away from catcher Wes Westrum and two runs scored. The Dodgers got another run to tie the game.

But the Giants scored a single run in the seventh, two in the eighth and one more in the ninth to win the game 8-4. The second game took 3:05 to play (not counting the delay) and finished after midnight.

Over 59,000 people came to both games at Ebbets Field. One of them was the 17-year old king of Iraq, Faisal II. The young king had never seen a baseball game before, but seemed to enjoy the experience. Faisal II was a guest of Walter O'Malley and when he asked whom the man in the gray uniform was (it was Durocher), Dodgers PR man Irving Rudd said, "They are the hated Giants."

1952 would not end like 1951 for the Dodgers. They won the NL with a 96-57 record, 4 ½ games ahead of the Giants. Robinson led the league in OBP at .440 and hit 19 home runs. Hodges hit 32 home runs. Reese led the league in stolen bases with 30 and was caught just 5 times.

On the mound, Black won Rookie of the Year with a 15-4 record and a 2.15 ERA and 15 saves. Erskine went 14-6 and Billy Loes was 13-8.

In the World Series, the Dodgers faced the Yankees … again. The Dodgers had lost to the Yankees in 1941, 1947, and 1949. And they would lose in 1952 as well.

The Dodgers split the first two games at Ebbets Field with Black winning Game 1 and Erskine losing Game 2. The Dodgers won Game 3 at Yankee Stadium behind a good performance from pitcher Preacher Roe and a 9th inning rally. Allie Reynolds threw a 2-0 shutout in Game 4 to tie the Series.

In Game 5, the Dodgers won a 6-5 extra inning thriller when Duke Snider doubled in the winning run. The Dodgers were one win away from their first World Series championship and they were headed back to Ebbets Field.

But it was not to be. Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle homered off of Billy Loes to give Vic Raschi a 3-2 win in Game 6. And in Game 7, Mantle homered off of Black in the 6th inning to give the Yankees a 4-2 win.

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

2

Robles batting third made my day. That is just too funny. I know lineups don't matter that much but they do to Tracy so that makes me laugh.

8 Oscar's 2 RBI single must have burned an impression in Tracy's brain.

Today's bench: Choi, Perez, Bradley, Ledee, Cruz, Navarro

Jackson is done at Jacksonville, his line:

7 IP, 4 hits, 1 unearned run, 2 BBs, 4 Ks, HBP.

Two of the hits were infield hits to Alvarez, who is a terrible 3B and is only there out of necessity. There were 3 errors, and more than a few other plays that were lousy. The walks came in the first, and the HBP was the first batter in the second

9 - Not his brain. Just his heart and/or soul.

Haven't you been paying attention to Joe Morgan? Brains have no place in baseball. Rather, the game should be governed by other body parts such as the gut, heart, etc.

Which gets you Oscar Robles batting third and Jason Phillips taking waay to many starts at first base.

miller looks terrible. wild as ever.

LOL. This wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Tracy contained the comment, "Jim Tracy is one of the most creative managers in baseball history." I removed the comment. I had to restrain myself to not put a more choice comment to replace it.

Since Jackson seems to be on a hot streak again, would we be better served to call him up and see if he can help the Dodgers, or let him alone and hope he continues to dominate AA?

If nothing else, he'd fill Carrara's bullpen role better than Gio does.

Can somebody post the link to Suns TV? They seem to have removed it from their website.

12 After walking 2, and going 2-0 to the next batter, he gets a DP and a K. He looked much better on the last batter

double play ball bailed out miller.

that last batter he looked 10x better. his arm angle is getting back up to normal (almost).

struck the batter out on an awesome sweeping curveball that just froze the LH batter.

10

wow, edwin is coming around. Vegas should be abandoned right after the season, move to IE or somewhere in Calif. or maybe somewhere in AZ.

13 You removed the comment? Why? That's just wacky!

Anybody perusing the lineups day in and day out
should be aware that Tracy clearly IS one the most creative managers in baseball history.

10 Well, Jim Tracy is very creative to put six of our best players on the bench and six of the worst in the starting lineup.

Rivera's 30-something save streak just came to an end. Guess he won't be able to beat Gagne

Eric:

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

14

I say keep him down there and let him continue to do well. But what do I know.

Thanks, Jim, I eventually managed to find it. If anyone wants to watch it without the ads, use this address:

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/spsuns/webcast/sunscam.html

As an addendum to #24, if anyone wants to watch it directly in Windows Media Player (and thus be able to enlarge it to full screen), use this address:

http://pointers.audiovideoweb.com/asxfiles-live/ny60winlive7010.asx

I think Bob was being subtle with his remark that Hodges was hitting eighth.

What the heck was Furillo's nickname? The "something Rifle," but I can't remember what town.

Reading Rifle.

His teammates, though, called him Skoonj, after his favorite type of pasta, scungilli (sp.?).

I enjoy watching Jennie Finch blow major leaguers away on the Fox pre game show, This week in Baseball, actually.

I think she is going to go after scott posednick(sp?) today.
I was hopping for frank thomas but i'll take what I can get.

woohoo! miller is coming out for the 9th!

Chipper Jones just doubled in 2 runs, Braves winning 7-5 in the 7th

Nate means coming out, as in coming out to the mound, not coming out of the game.

Game Over. Miller looked good pitching the ninth.

9 consecutive wins for the Suns now.

Miller gave up a hit, but struck out a second batter and got the save. Suns won 6-1

25 - Eric, jsut so you know, you can also fullscreen the other links. Rt mouse click will bring up the menu.

Man, 9 in a row. That's some team.

follow up to the Perez thread yesterday...

wow...sorry I had to leave for the game last night...the responses to my comments were fun to read...apparently I almost incited a riot...

but the reality is the team sucks top to bottom, we all know it, yet everyone is so damn defensive and touchy when it comes to the reasons...

none of us are right and none of us are wrong...you can quote all the stats and figures you'd like to support this player or that, but the bottom line is we stink, we have suffered too many injuries, and we are in a transition period...

yet thru it all, I still see us in the playoffs, which is a sad statement more for the NL West than anything else...

I don't know if it was just that the video feed was choppy, but it looks like Miller kinda slings the ball in there. I guess the numbers don't lie though...

Yet they are still not in first place.

Bring up the Suns, en masse

37 -- Miller does look like he's slinging it. The last game his arm angle and motion reminded me of Randy Johnson. Today he seemed a little more overhand.

Well, no Vinny today. Time for me to mute the Fox bozos and cue up Jaime Jarrín.

Eric, I'll turn on SAP, but will have to rely on you for immediate translation :)

36

Welcome Back, Howard!!! I enjoy your comments, don't always agree with them but do enjoy them.

I echo Brendan in 43. I rarely agree with Howard but always find his comments interesting and valuable.

Howard is correct about virtually every subject except Hee Seop Choi. :)

41 And miss out on Scooter's valuable information? Like a fast ball is fast?

the pain begins

DJ getting through the first with no damage? wow maybe he pitches a gem today.

Houlton got out of the first without a run, and got both Wright and Floyd out. Nice start for him, let's just hope he doesn't decide to go into first inning mode at some point

Brando Lyon had an umpressive return for the DBacks, gave up 3 hits, 2 doubles, and allowed 2 runs in .2 IP

Not many Dodgers have faced Seo, but Choi is actually 4 for 11 off of him with a home run.

Bradley is 0 for 6 with 4 Ks.

Too bad Drew is out. He is 4 for 5 with a 2B and HR.

Nice clean hit for Izzy

has Seo been injured all season?

51

I hate tracy. perfect time to give Choi a start.

53 Ishii had his spot. He was in the minors

Seo does that funky stall move, that might mess up Choi's timing.

Tracy's lineups always bring me back into acceptance.

How much damage will that hit and run do to us in the future?

The hit and run works. We don't need to further convince Tracy to use them

Steiner sounded a little shocked at Robles in the 3-hole. Said the lineup was posted late, and JT couldn't be asked about this.

I'm also a little bummed out that Cruz Jr was only given 6 at bats, and now is benched. THe guy is better than Repko, and probably still better than Valentin.

2 on for Jeff Kent. Kent had some terrible at bats last nite. Wonder if he'll come through today?

It's very likely that no dodger will finish with 30HR or higher. that's sad.

Kent's not looking good this series. That was the last thing we needed

62 Coming into the season, did you expect anyone to?

Drew, Kent and Valentin had the potential to, but they weren't sure things.

Kent should have taken the day off. Ever since swinging 3-0 last nite, he's looked like absolute crap. GIDP. Dodgers waste the only 2 hits we'll see out of Izturis and Robles today.

DBacks lost 9-5. San Diego's game isn't on until 7 tonight

No Dodger with 30 HRs! Why that hasn't happened since 2003!

Dodgers have hit into 5 DP's in the last 11 innings, counting last nite's game.

64

I thought Drew, Kent and maybe Bradley. Also thought Choi could.

Wow. That's the first time I saw the video of the collision. Man oh man...

Thats probably a sign of things to come. Given up homers to the back up catcher. My word...

The Castro one I understood, but Gerald Williams? Let's give one to Seo as well. That was Day Game aided, but still

whoops, DJ just was late. didn't get here until the 2nd inning

A diffrent kind of duces wild.

2 outs
2 pitches
2 HRs

Ugh.
Double ugh.

Izturis is regaining defensive prowess

Milton probably isn't playing because of a certain umpire in the game.

Why is Marv (I bit a prostitute) Albert's son announcing the game?

Back to back HRs...

Well thats all Jea Seo will need with this pathetic lineup the Dodgers have on the field.

Ramon Castro and Gerald Williams?? back-back...

That is a double Grabowski principle.

You have to admit, Houlton didn't deserve that second one. Williams took an outside pitch and hung it long enough over the short wall in right.

Ledee, Bradley, Choi, Cruz, Navarro, AP are all sitting this one out.

Wow.

Why are they swinging?!?!?!?!? He's not throwing strikes, and they're hitting soft fly balls. @#$%&!

Jon Weisman needs to do a post specifically explaining today's lineup to his readership. Then he needs to send that post to every newspaper in LA.

Our OF Bench- Cruz, Bradley, Ledee should be starting.

Our IF Bench- AP, Choi, Navarro- should be starting.

I cant get over how terrible this lineup today. Its just about the worst lineup possible that Tracy could come up with.

That's good for an infield triple for Reyes

81 Navarro has been starting for the last 2 weeks straight, and it's a day game after a night game. The rest of the guys however...

DJ owns Wright so far

Beautiful AB by Repko. Hits himself with a bunt out of the box

Joe West blows another one!

Marv Albert's son is a huge Mets homer.

XBH for Izturis!

Repko looked like he was half in the box, half out. What's the exact rule on that? If you're half and half, are you considered in the batter's box or out of it?

Why don't our fly balls carry over the fence? I swear that only opponents fly ball carry during day games

I'm pretty sure your entire body (both feet) has to be out of the box when the ball hits you.

Werthless with a terrible at bat.

Until you put your foot down outside of the box, you're not out of the box. So Repko shouldn't have been out.

If Izzy is driving fly ball doubles to the wall, why aren't the rest of the guys? If Izzy makes you look bad...

DePo is on the radio broadcast right now.

Never mind Werthless batting second. Why is he playing at all?

This is disgusting, a slow runner just steals a base off Phillips again!

DIAZ? The only singles/walks that won't be 2 basers are ones followed by people swinging at the first pitch

Phillips looks a little better than he did--but still not good enough.

And Houlton walks the accused rapist.

What's with the whacky Williams drives? The way he turns I'm amazed he has that much power

Woha that was scary. Game over if its 2 feet to the right.

Was that Marv Albert in the background yelling "Yes!"

That guy in the background on TV deserves to be shot.

I hope they ask DePo what he thinks of AP/Choi being benched.

Nice job by Houlton to work around the SB's...

Who is the injury delay for?

105 Seo

Sounded like Seo bumped knees with Anderson.

Jeff Kent needs the day off. 1st pitch brain dead hacking at slop yet again...

This after Robles has a 9 pitch at bat.

Stupid.

Does anyone know where the offense has gone? Oh yeah, its on the bench.

Sliding into first is the ultimate style-over-substance play, and it actually hurts the team. Doesn't really seem to fit with Kent's style of play.

Saenz does little to dismiss the stereotype of the brain dead caribbean hitter with that at bat.

Choi needs to be there, Saenz is swining at that same pitch everytime and never doing anything with it. And Kent isn't much better. When Izzy and Robles is your offense...ouch

Over/under on pitches before Reyes steals:

2

Izzy, he's not that fast. Not he'll end up at third

From the notes:

Of course, Choi and some Dodgers fans would like to see Choi's power bat in the lineup to start the game. But while Choi may not be playing much right now, he's looking forward to some regular playing time next spring.

As for Robles batting 3rd:
"Because he's on base [frequently], and Jeff Kent knocks runs in when guys are on base"

Ouch that's a tough error, Izturis is penalized for having good range.

WTF? Sanez, @#$%&!

OLMEDO YOU *!

As expected, not too much new info from DePo on the radio. Talked about Houlton, Navarro, about the general problem of holding runners on base (no questions about why Phillips plays first).

Ducked a question about the timetable for when we'll see more of the Jacksonville players.

Expressed a vote of confidence in EJack, DePo said that the monday game was one of the "most dominant minor league pitching performances he had ever seen." Said his main problem is control on the fastball, agreed that he was a victicm of unreasonable expectations and given his age, he's actually ahead of where he should be expected to be. Also complimented Billingsley and Orenduff.

Said that he thought JtD could play SS at the major league level, but "might not because we've got a pretty good one right now". Earlier said that Izturis' offense is continually getting better.

God, it's hard to say whether JT or PDP should go first.

We finally have a chance to get a base runner and Saenz drops the ball. I can't believe it

I think Marv's son is about to cry because Reyes gets a CS in the box score.

...

What I want to know is how long the new Dodger manager would get before Steve starts a campaign to fire him. 48 hours?

For those of us not watching did Saenz drop a throw on a pitchout?

SB attempt, pitchout, Izturis catches the throw from Phillips, runner scoots back to first, Izturis makes perfect throw to Saenz, who drops it.

Thanks.

Any new Dodger manager gets a 48-second grace period from Steve.

*&&^ Saenz costs the Dodgers a run.

Depo's to do list:
1. Fire Tracy
2. Find a manager that will play Choi

124 Pitchout, Phillips made an awful throw, but Reyes had inexplicably stopped, and Saenz couldn't handle a throw from Izzy. And now Reyes is driven in. This game probably won't end well

Why does Yahoo say that Reyes is caught stealing, then he ends up at 3rd on a sac bunt?

What I want to know is how long everyone will sit around spouting inane cliches, until it takes a disasterous 65-win season, while killing at least two of our better prospects, for anyone to notice what was going on in the first place?

Nevermind. I just read the post above mine.

130 Steve, I thought you switched over to the A's. ;)

It's a transitionary period. It's going to take a couple of weeks to adjust fully.

111 Oldbear, Filepe Alou called. He wants to know where you work so he can have you fired.

Amazing that Willie Randolph never scored 100 runs in a season despite getting on base 37% of the time in his career.

What are the chances we make Seo work enough to see at least 2 innings of the Mets pen? Choi will probaby be up this inning if a man gets on, if he hits it hard off Seo, I will not be too happy

130

2007 april

Today's just inexcusable. To leave the ENTIRE offense on the damn bench... Unbelievable.

134 Well, at least oldbear also called Kent's AB brain dead hacking at slop. ;-)

137 -- The inane cliches will never end. And then 2008's version of Jason Phillips will be playing first base, and everybody will go "Huh? Whaaaa? Whaaaa Happened?"

130

What inane cliches are we spouting here? Or are you referring to Jim Tracy? And do you think another manager won't speak in inane cliches?

When you get really angry, your spelling goes south I've noticed.

Note to guy yelling in the background: We have a lot of Ja(y)sons, but Valentin is not one of them

139 well than he should be fired for politically incorrect remarks about White Red Neck Texans with Bad Mustaches who needlessly dive into 1B:)

Bob, I'm talking about everyone who spouts inane cliches. One can decide about one's own inclusion in that category.

142- I think he called him HOSE-E

143 Redneck Texans born in Bellflower...LOL.

Steve,

You may want to dial it down a notch today.

But that's just me.

You're heading over the precipice in your choler today.

Diaz's weakness is the high fastball, hopefully Penny is watching.

Can't believe the Dodgers are being 3-hit today...and Izturis has two of those hits.

Perfect inning for Houlton. He hasn't pitched a bad game, if it's night, and Izzy/Saenz can play defense, then we're down 1-0. We won for him when he wasn't so good, but now that he is putting decent starts together, we lose for him

140

That's not fair, it was a trick question all along.

The most overused cliche of the season: "We are trying to remain competitve this season while building for the future."

Said far too many times by Depo and anyone named McCourt.

Ranks right up there with "I'm against crime and for educationn." Uttered by every politician to ever run for office.

Choi in. I predict a homer

Just turned on the game. I see we have the optimal lineup out there today.

why have choi leadoff an inning. All of South Korea rejoices.

Quality starrt for D.J.
Watch, JT will say it was such a shame the offense couldn't give D.J. any support.
As if JT is an innocent bystander to this team's fortunes.

I'm just tired of this crappy lineup day in and day out.

If he had kept the bat, that's a homer

It's gotta be the bat.

Blame Joe West! Choi lost his concentration.

I never want to hear Albert announce a game again.

Terrible at bat by Izturis.

If I go off on how bad Werth is, will that guarentee a HR?

I thinknot

Never mind

For you golf fans, Mickelson is slapping it around like Phillips and doing his best to give the PGA away.

160 Have to agree Albert Jr. sucks. No style and an absurd homer. Lacks any of the style his father has and probably does't even look as good in a diaper or women's clothing or whatever, the prostitue said he liked to wear.

161 Usually works when I badmouth Phillips. He usually hits a homerun when my scorn is at its peak.

Reyes has that down perfectly. Hit it to Izzy

164 Probably doesn't even bite well, nor wear a toupee.

Yeah, he's a star that one. Only twelve years to go.

Wow. When was the last time Izturis had two errors in one game?

Izturis looks like Jose Offerman today at SS.

Phillips makes another horrible throw.

Stolen base, hohum...

Dioner guaranteed the catching job for a very long time.

But he's a GG SS. And he's young. And he's fast...

When will this nightmare end?

167- I was just thinking to myself whether or not Jr. is also a biter.

I thought Izturis had a 2-error game earlier in the year.

He had two of them in 2002.

I'm praying for a 7th very similar to yesterday's, although I'd prefer a better ending

Nice play by Old Maid, but now he probably won't feel sexy for a few days.

Not bad for an Old Maid.

This game is like a clinic for the meaninglessness of the stolen base.

172 From espn.com: Defensively, Phillips is a good catch-and-throw receiver who works well with pitchers. He also does a decent job controlling the running game.

I hate to say it but it would be almost better if the Dodgers were shut out.

I mean, when Trace threw that lineup out there.. What more did he expect?

Jr. continues to update us on Seo's scoreless streak after every out is made.

DP? Robles walk to first is annoying, he drops the bat on the plate delicately like he has to

Bob T,

Not sure if you got my post on an earlier thread, but Alston batted Drysdale 7th in the order on August 15, 1965 against the Pirates. I think for awhile Tony L was batting his pitcher 8th in the order for some tactical reason that only made sense to Tony. Other than LaRussa's experiment, I can't think of any other time except for Don in 1965 when a National League pitcher has batted anywhere other than 9th to begin a game.

Stan from Tacoma

180 Was that written by Joe Morgan.

185 LOL...not Tracy?

182 Yeah, listening to Jr., you'd think Bulldog had something to worry about

YES! There goes the scoreless sreak JR!

At least we're not shutout. And we have a man in scoring position for Mr Clutch

*streak

Jr. right on cue: "Soo's shutout streak ends at 21 innings."

That was not a clutch out.

That was a clutch pop up to Reyes. Let's go for another run at least...

Way to go, Old Maido.

Man Howard looked a lot like Boog Powell

184
Ah yes, I see that now Stan.

I looked at the account of that game and Alston thought it was worth a try. But Drysdale didn't get any hits and the Dodgers lost anyway, so I guess that was the end of that.

Vaentin had a nice line drive, he just needed to hit it harder and not at someone

Jr "Jeanie I love your outfit, maybe I could borrow some of your clothes some time"

I don't want to violate the profanity rule when posting about Phillips. Are "crap" "sucks" and "he's a bitch" violations?

Truth is always a defense, LAT

As a followup to the game when Drysdale started on the mound and batted seventh, it was during the Watts Riots and the newspaper account said that when Johnny Podres and Don LeJohn were driving back on the Pasadena Freeway to their hotel, their car got hit by a sniper's bullet, but no one was hurt.

Did Izturis miss the tag? Terrible play if he did.

That throw was close. Just a little more on the throw and it's an out

Did Repko misplay another ball in CF, or was that a legit Double?

204 Line drive to the gap. Repko actually played it well

197 His BA is now .173...wow.

Izturis looks completely asleep today.

The Mets love to make productive outs

And Saenz's double was useless

The guy in the background would be a more entertaining announcer than Jr.

199 I heard this on NPR a few weeks ago, regarding the annual dog show, and the female dog that won best in show. The commentator, "She is such an amazing bitch."

Why is Saenz's double useless? The Dodgers scored a run. Yes, they allowed another run. But still it's better to be down 4-1 than 4-0 isn't it?

As hard as it is for me to give credit to Steve Lyons, I must today. He has resisted the temptation to be a Dodger homer in reponse to Jr. and has done a nice job sitting next to an idiot.

212 Bad word usage on my part. I guess I meant the double didn't change anything from an inning before.

211 I wan't thinking along the lines of "Phillips is such an amazing bitch."

I was thinking "Phillips is such a uselss bitch."

Jr. makes Joe Morgan sound convincing with his arguments.

Three runs down...time for the real offense! Or something.

Ledee is a kid?

Ricky 9 for 19 as PH. That's pretty dran good

Izturis really isnt a very good ballplayer. I hope DePo thinks the same.

It's the parade of pinch-hitters. You know, the guys who should've been starting.

Izturis hits .313 during the day and .240 (a bad .240; not a Phillips/Hercules .240) at night. Would Tracy consider playing him only during the day, given his amazing grasp of statistical splits?

Steve,
Daughter just gleefully read that Mike Hampton will be starting against the D'Backs tomorrow.

220 10 for 20 now. He should be our lefty off the bench, not Choi. I've given up on Tracy seeing anything sensibly at this point

Its just Izturis approach to the plate is terrible. It never changes. He hits the ball in the air way too much, he doesnt take enough pitches. He belongs on the SF Giants...

There I said it.

And Green has heated up again.

A Giant lineup with Matheny and Izturis in it would look like...would look like...well, it would look like a Jim Tracy lineup. Which gives me another idea...

Jose, it's like you never left.

226 I'm telling you it was the Pepe Frais comment to you the other day:)

Oakland retired Eck's number today. Too bad they weren't playing Detroit

The 40 year old steals 3rd off Phillips!

Good job Phillips. A good throw and he's out, but no, he scores

It's like Steve Sax is playing catcher.

Nice throw, Jason...oh, there are a lot of Jason, I should specify, Phillips.

What a crappy sucky bitch.

Jayson, Burger King is on the phone for you

#201, I did not know about Podres and LeJohn. I was visiting LA at the time and it was very tense inside and outside Dodger Stadium. Too bad that baseball was not the main topic of conversation.

Stan from Tacoma

Hey, we're within slamming range.

This is funny in a sad, very sad, sort of way.

Be careful what you wish for. It's first base that's on the phone for Jason Phillips.

On the bright side, Broxton didn't give up an earned run! We should be rejoicing

I'm guessing the Phillips at catcher experiment is over. Choi will be a pinch hitter the rest of the year :(

With Tracy's love for defense, how is that Jason Phillips has managed to not stay out of his doghouse?

Trace must really really hate Choi. Thats the only way I can figure it.

We need to just DFA Phillips and call back up Mike Rose.

At least when Navarro has a day off, someone adequate can take his place.

134 So, I guess this further cements Phillips at 1B.

Pinch hit for Phillips with Bradley!

I thought Phillips worth was as a back up catcher, but the league knows it can run at will on him now. So he's basically useless.

243 Nah, if the three guys get on, Phillips will hit a grand slam.

245 Unfortunately, no

Dang, Phillips' clutch homer will not catch the Mets, now that Robles made an out.

And Kent.

244 He is what Phillips is good for:

"I'll have a Whopper with cheese, large fries and diet coke. Oh yeah, also I want an order of those new chicken fries and don't forget my care bear plush toy."

Nice to see we can agree so passionately on something, LAT.

Mets win! Jr. is off Victoria's Secret to celebrate.

That game sucked. With Pedro going tomorrow, I predict a devestating lineup of Izzy, Robles, Bradley, Phillips, Valentin, Perez, Navarro, Repko, Penny

249 Just don't say, "Throw in an order of apple pie." He might actually throw and miss.

I dont want Phillips, Izturis, or Repko on the team next year. That is all.

Good thing the Dodgers came up with that last hit. Otherwise they have the same number of errors as hits.

Well watching this miserable game with all here is about all you say for today. Have a good evening all.

These 2 game win streaks are awfully nice. Let's try for a 3 game one next time

252. I agree. Its a shame that Tracy has deemed Jose Cruz Jr already useless. I'd give him at least 25 at bats before declaring him that.

The only thing that can save this season is a 60 DL of Izturis, along with a DFA of Phillips.

Its doubtful either happen.

Izzy/Phillips must be stopped before they wreak more havoc.

Enjoy the fireworks tomorrow, LAT.

The problem isn't the injuries per se, but that they happened to Drew, Bradley, Ledee, Gagne, Perez, and Alvarez, rather than Izzy, Phillips, Carrara, and Repko (aside from Izzy's one DL stint).

Astacio vs Padilla, could go either way, but the Phils will hammer Astacio moreso than the Pads hammering Padilla I would guess

Tomko vs Beckett, we'll stay a game ahead of San Francisco, unless Beckett is injured/ejected

Anyone watching the Little League World Series? A couple of the kids' favorite player is Ty Cobb? Those racist little *

261 Do they bat with a gap between the hands?

The catcher for Illinois resembles Jason Phillips defensively. His (or his dad's) favorite player is Ryne Sandberg. Hopefully the kid is a fan of Sandberg's writing.

Illinois just ran themselves out of the inning. On a wild pitch walk, with runners on 2nd and 3rd, the runner from 3rd tried to score, but was thrown out, then the guy who had just walked tried to go to 2nd and was thrown out for an interesting double play. These kids must have been taught to run the bases by Izturis.

The Tigers and Royals have been rained out two straight nights now in Kansas City!

This pains me greatly.

I hope Tony Bennett is more enjoyable than what I was able to follow of the game along with what I've been dealing with at work.

Quote from AP, "Dodgers 1B Hee-Seop Choi, a high school teammate of Seo's in South Korea, did not start despite his four hits in 11 career at-bats against his countryman. Choi pinch-hit in the sixth and struck out."

Apparently a .364 BA only earns you a pinch-hitting appearance. JT makes me want to vomit. It's apparent to me that JT is neither old-school nor new-school when it comes to defining his managerial style, so what school is he from?

And don't say clown college; it's obvious.

Ladies and gentlemen, a show of support for your 2006 Dodgers:

Eric Gagne
J.D. Drew
Jeff Kent
Milton Bradley
Brad Penny
...and Scott Erickson. (what? oh)

Clown's a good one. It's definitely a special school. He was mentored by Alou, maybe Caribbean School

(disclaimer: this is in no way racist or making fun of ethnicities)

269

I just can't get this out of my head when I read that handle

http://tinyurl.com/79x5t

Funny how the playing time of various Dodgers players has been determined mainly by Ryan Freel.

Geoff Jenkins just broke up a no hitter in the 5th--against Ramon Ortiz

Marlins up 2-1. Bases loaded, line drive to short right field for Delgado, but Cruz was playing about 10-15 feet off the grass to make the diving catch. That's a single in any normal defensive alignment. I thought it was the rightfielder at first who caught it... Still 2-1 nonetheless

2-1 win for the Marlins. Great complete game performance by Josh Beckett. My goal for the Dodgers this year is for DePo to get something for Weaver and for the Dodgers to finish ahead of the Giants.

Stan from Tacoma

For any late stragglers or people still not all the way to "acceptance," Trevor Hoffman gave up 4 runs in the ninth as the Padres are on their way to losing to the Phillies tonight.

Every NL West team lost, it's hard to go into acceptance with that. I'm there, I just forget it from time to time

Also, while it means nothing, Chen made his 6th error of the season today, meaning the defensive liability has the same number of errors as the defensive whiz (Repko). Obviously this means nothing, just a fun fact

Through some miracle if we end up winning this lousy division, Tracy most likely will be retained.

Our Choice:

Win this division and Tracy retained
OR
Lose this division and Tracy gone

I'm rooting for "Win this division and Tracy bails to manage for his home town Reds"

King, it looks like you and I are the only ones here.

Should we be fortunate that Valentin came back quickly from his injury?

Our eagerly awaited BIG BAT Jose Valentin is
5 for 37 since his return. How long will Tracy continue to start him and why does he continue to start him?

Tracy complains about our offense being so inconsistent. Does he think that the lineup he makes out everyday doesn't have anything to do with it?

Has anyone mentioned this yet?

"Tracy said Friday afternoon that Kent would get a day off Saturday, but an examination of Bradley's numbers against Seo -- 0-for-6 with four strikeouts -- prompted the manager to move Kent's day of rest to Sunday. "
--from mlb.com(http://tinyurl.com/8a7g9)

I thought Tracy only does this with Choi, now Bradley too? Does Tracy really thinks 6 ABs is so meaningful we have to keep Bradley on the bench and bat Robles 3rd? I guess this is Tracy being creative.

I just read Henson's Dodger Report, and it looks like even Robles knows that Tracy's lineups are wacky: http://tinyurl.com/a89g7

" The lineup card was posted in the Dodger clubhouse, third baseman Oscar Robles looked over from his locker and his eyes bulged.

"What the . . . ?" he yelped to no one in particular.

Robles, a contact hitter with limited power, was batting third because Milton Bradley was given the day off.

"Why me?" Robles said.

Manager Jim Tracy had an answer.

"Because he gets on base and [cleanup hitter] Jeff Kent knocks in runs when guys are on base," he said. "Oscar gives you a good at-bat every time he goes up there."

A day or two ago somebody mentioned that Jim Tracy had admitted to reading Bill Jame's book on managers and someone else said that was the one that said bunting wasn't a bad idea. OK, so I looked it up and the comment was buried under the Leo Duroucher section. Now, it don't say bunting isn't a bad idea. In, fact, I thought I was going to quote from it at length but, truth is, if I quoted at all it would take 10K words or more. You all should read it. But the point is, this is not an easy question. You can't say the bunt is... forget it. Read the book. What I mean to say here is Jim Tracy is not an idiot just because of what he does at one point in one game. Paul knows what he is doing and knows why. Does anyone here think he knows more than Paul about what is happening on the field? For Christ's sake, read BP on this. Yeah, we lost a tough one today. But, please, that's no reason to turn stupid.

281 "Jim Tracy is not an idiot just because of what he does at one point in one game"

No, Tracy is an idiot because of the cummulation of mistakes that he makes seemingly every game. It starts with our ridiculous lineups. Managing a baseball team isn't brain surgery. I think Bill James would agree with that.

And i don't think any rational person thinks Depo is stupid.

Before giving up on Brazo, remember Joe Nathan. Almost identical development pattern.

If he doesn't come back as manager, Jim Tracy would make a hella funeral director. He's got the imagination of a zombie.