My pick is Broxton. I predict he'll hit 3 triples in the same game in Sept after they call him up again, in a spectacular come from behind victory.

With his size, no one will get in his way on the base paths, but he'll run out of steam by the time he gets to third and be unable to stretch it into an ITP homer.

Choi has 2 triples? Wow. If he can win with limited at-bats, that could only help his scrappiness, right?

HEE SEOP CHOI! HEE SEOP CHOI!!

Yay!!! Game thread is out. Hopefully back on the topic of baseball? :) vr, Xei

We need to get on a winning streak starting today against Colorado. We haven't won 4 in a row since 12-2 start. We need at least one 4 game winning streak if we are going to win this lousy division.

Xeifrank, there were two posts on baseball this morning. One comparing baseball with television. The other talking about the Dodgers. So absolutely no offense taken, but I just think you needed to scroll a little.

Jon, do you know what is the record for the lowest number of triples in a season by a individual to lead a team since moving to LA.

Angels have 12 hits in the first 3 innings at Baltimore and the top three in the lineup are a combined 7 for 8. Steve's new team is down 1-0 in the MoTown. vr, Xei

I could look it up at home, but Bob will beat me to it. This year will almost certainly qualify.

Up next - the Complete Games contest.

6. Jon, that thread got dead. One post in 1/2 an hour. Meanwhile the TV thread was getting 2-3 posts per minute. I need my Dodger fix... :) Please don't take offense at my being bored by the TV thread on the Dodger Thoughts site. vr, Xei

My wish for today's lineup:

Robles
Choi
Bradley
Kent
Ledee/Werth
Cruz
Navarro
Izturis

The Dodgers get RHP Jaret Wright tonight. No excuse for Buntermaker not starting Choi tonight considering how hot he has been since the All-Star break (see Jon's post on post ASB OPS). Unfortunately, Buntermaker will probably go with Navarro behind the plate and Goggle Boy at first base. fjt, Xei
The following is from MLB.Com:
Player to watch
Jose Valentin is 4-for-13 against Wright.

Quotable
"He's on his way to being very special. Right now, we'll take it a little slower." -- manager Jim Tracy, on the demotion of 21-year-old reliever Jonathan Broxton

My wish for today's lineup (but it will NEVER happen).

APerez - 3B
Choi - 1B
Bradley - CF
Kent - 2B
Ledee - LF
Cruz - RF
Navarro - C
Izturis - SS
Weaver - RHP

Bradley's hurt, no?

Speaking of CG's, anybody see Felipe pull Lowry last night, one out away from a shutout?

Granted 125 pitches is a lot, but after allowing a baserunner, one more hitter would've been too much to ask?

Perez will probably not start at 3rd anymore after last game.

I heard that Bradley's okay to play tonight.

If only Antonio could play the outfield we could make our dream line-up. I think it will be a looong time before Tracy puts Perez at 3B again so he'll probably be relegated to backing up Kent at 2B.

I think ddger has the best line-up we could expect at this point.

18. Yeah, but we can dream! :)
I wonder if Buntermaker will move Choi to the #2 hole when he does start vs a RHP.
vr, Xei

Random Dodger game callback

August 23, 1948

In a long tense game with pennant race ramifications, the Boston Braves edged the Brooklyn Dodgers, 3-2, in 14 innings at Ebbets Field on an RBI double by Connie Ryan. The loss dropped the Dodgers to 61-50 and three games behind the Braves in third place and a half game behind the second place Cardinals.

The Dodgers got an early lead when Marv Rackley led off with a double against Boston starter Nels Potter. Gene Hermanski singled him home. In the second, the Braves tied the game after Bob Elliott singled, Frank McCormick followed with another single and Phil Masi walked to load the bases. Then, Sibi Sisti hit a roller to third that Billy Cox and pitcher Paul Minner hesitated to field and everyone was safe as Elliott scored.

But the Dodgers came back in the bottom of the second. Reese led off with a bunt single and Cox sacrificed him over. Potter injured himself on the play and Red Barrett came into relieve. Minner then singled home Reese.

Minner appeared to have the game in hand until the 8th. But Mike McCormick homered to lead off the inning and tie up the game and send it in to extra innings.

A procession of relievers kept the game scoreless until the 14th. Hank Behrman and Preacher Roe combined for a scoreless inning and Rex Barney came in the 9th.

But in the 14th, Barney gave up a one-out double to Masi, who went to third on an error by George Shuba. Then Ryan followed with a ground-rule double to score Masi.

In the bottom of the 14th, Duke Snider led off with a single and Reese sacrificed him over to second. Third baseman Arky Vaughan walked and Boston manager Billy Southworth brought in Vern Bickford to relieve, his fifth pitcher of the night. Gil Hodges, playing catcher at the end of the game, flied out to center field and Eddie Miksis fouled out to third to end the game.

The Dodgers wouldn't get any closer in 1948 and finished in third place, 7 ½ games behind the Braves in third place and a game behind the second place Cardinals.

After the historic 1947 pennant-winning season with Jackie Robinson leading the way, the 1948 team had a lot of changes. Manager Leo Durocher left the team in July to go manage the Giants. Burt Shotton took over the team.

Roy Campanella broke in to the majors at catcher and split time at the position with Hodges. Hodges would eventually end up at first base and Robinson moved over from first base to second base.

Snider played in his second year and got into 53 games. Hall of Famer Vaughan played his last year in the majors.

But the Dodgers offense just wasn't up to the same level as 1947. No regular batted over .300 and the top offensive player was Hermanski who batted .290 and had an OBP of .391.

Barney led the pitching staff with 15 wins and had a 3.10 ERA. Ralph Branca was 14-9 and 3.51. Carl Erskine made his major league debut in 1948 and went 6-3 with a 3.23 ERA.

The Dodgers stumbled a bit in 1948, but they had the pieces in place now to start a long run atop the National League. Reese, Robinson, Snider, Hodges, and Campanella were headed for legendary status.

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

The Curse of Steve continues.

The A's have one hit through six innings against Nate Robertson in Detroit.

12 Jamey, although you got the stats right. Let's hope Tracy gets the name right, as Valentin crushes Jaret with a 1.655 OPS and would assuredly bat 4th

The 1989 Dodgers hit 17 triples.

Gibson, Griffin, Gonzalez, and Hatcher led the team with 2 each.

Thanks, Bob. Surprised that Gibson only had 2 that year. He was one of the fastest guys in baseball.

This might be my favorite article the Times has printed this year.

http://tinyurl.com/bka7q

I had no idea the Angels sold more season ticket packages (5400 more) this year than the Dodgers did. Or that the Dodgers aren't allowed to sell 1600 reserved-level seats because their city permit is for 56,000 only.

The article would have been even better if Shaikin had figured out what the actual no-show rate was, instead of just speculating. Still, worth a read.

Retrosheet shows Gil Hodges played 79 games in the outfield, 64 at catcher, 32 at third base and one at second base. I'm not sure I ever knew there was this much experimentation with him.

21 I wonder if Steve knows that Pat Robertson wants to put a hit on Eric Chavez. I suppose he could hire Robles.

24- Was Gibby really that fast, at that point in his career? I remember him being a very smart and aggressive base-runner, and certainly not slow, but not what you'd call a barn-burner either.

How many triples did Benny Rodriguez have in his Dodgers career? The guy was really fast. I remember in his childhood he once outran a dog while retrieving a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth.

This will make no sense for those of you who have not seen The Sandlot.

28
Gibson was hurt a lot in 1989. As you might remember, he was a little gimpy at the end of the 1988 season.

Talk about a roll of the dice.

27- OH! Now I get it. I couldn't understand why anyone would stick up for Hugo Chavez, but Eric Chavez I get. Assassinating Eric Chavez would be very bad, and Robertson is a jerk for suggesting it.

Well, wonderful post this afternoon, Jon, and a great thougftul, smart, and fun thread that I am quite sorry to have missed in real time. Probably for the best, as my reaction to the SFU finale was pretty over the top and in general I'm pretty overworked on reaper-related issues these days.

At the risk of incurring The Wrath of Xei, however, must offer up my guilty pleasure champ: The Pretender. Now that was a show with a perfect mix of any episode of freestanding fun episodes and a great longterm story arc for the insider fan.

No Bradley or Izturis in tonight's lineup.

Robles, SS
Choi, 1B
Ledee, LF
Kent, 2B
Werth, CF
Cruz, Jr., RF
Navarro, C
Valentin, 3B
Weaver, P

I have this feeling that the Astros-Padres, Clemens-Peavy game is going to end up being an 8-7 game.

However, the Astros really don't have a lot of gaudy numbers for a team that plays in a tiny park.

I loved listening to Larry Dierker last night. He joked that Willy Tavares had more "soft hits" than a 1970s radio station.

Dierker also thinks that the Padres thinking that Miguel Olivo is going to be a great hitter should look at the sample size.

12. Good call on Valentin (4 out 13 is really a big sample size for Tracy). Wonder if Izzy is tired or hurt today.

BTW, great RDGC today Bob. One heck of a game. Sibi Sisti is an excellent name, and a game with Sisti, Masi, and Miksis must have been good fun for Barber (I assume but don't really know), to call.

Choi at first hitting second? I gather from the comments that hasn't been the regular state of affairs while I've been out.

This can't be good

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Milton Bradley accused Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Jeff Kent of a lack of leadership and an inability to deal with black players.
Bradley's remarks before Tuesday's game against Colorado came only a couple of minutes after he said that the feud between the two that became public last weekend in Florida was a "dead issue."
"The problem is, he doesn't know how to deal with African-American people," Bradley said. "I think that's what's causing everything. It's a pattern of things that have been said — things said off the cuff that I don't interpret as funny. It may be funny to him, but it's not funny to Milton Bradley. But I don't take offense to that because we all joke about race in here. Race is an issue with everything we do in here.
"Me being an African-American is the most important thing to me — more important than baseball," said the 27-year-old center fielder, whose voice never went beyond his normal speaking level. "White people never want to see race — with anything. But there's race involved in baseball. That's why there's less than 9 percent African-American representation in the game. I'm one of the few African-Americans that starts here."
Bradley did not like what Kent said to him after Bradley failed to score from first base on a double in Saturday's victory over the Marlins. Bradley initiated a 25-minute closed-door meeting with manager Jim Tracy after that game.
"I was told in spring training I was the team leader by Paul DePodesta. By Jim Tracy. By Frank McCourt," Bradley said of the Dodgers' general manager, manager and owner. "And if you're going to be the leader of the team, then you need to mingle with the team and associate with the team. I mean, you can't have your locker in the corner, put your headphones on and sit in the corner reading a motocross magazine. He's in his own world. Everybody else is in this world."
Bradley accused the media of coming to his locker first Tuesday because he is black. Kent had not yet arrived at his locker.
"At no time am I going to let somebody question my hustle, my injury or question my motivation for playing," Bradley said. "I watch him on the field, and I follow in his footsteps and the things he does on the field. As far as off the field, he has no clue about leadership.
"If you're going to be the leader of the team, then the need to mingle with the team and associate with the team. I mean, you can't have your locker in the corner, put your headphones in and sit in the corner reading a motocross magazine. He's in his own world. Everybody else is in this world."
Kent, a former NL MVP who feuded with Barry Bonds in San Francisco, defended himself following Bradley's accusations.
"He can go ahead and say those types of things, and it comes from an incident that he still doesn't get. And that's a shame," Kent said. "If you think that I've got a problem with African-Americans, then go talk to Dusty Baker. Go talk to Dave Winfield, who took me under his wing. Go talk to Joe Carter — all the guys that I idolized in this game and all the veteran players who taught me how to play this game.
"That's a shame, and I take offense to that. That's just absolutely pathetic if it comes from his mouth."

Well... looks like it exploded in our offices. I hoped that last weekend was the last of it.

Detroit 4, Oakland 1 Final

The pitchers' duel tonight seems to be in Minnesota.

Garcia vs. Santana.

0-0 in the bottom of the 6th. Just two hits in the game and both were by the White Sox.

34 -

If my son (who is somewhat of a b'ball fanatic) had his way, Larry Dierker would be the next Dodger manager. If you look at what he did during his time as manager, it was really pretty terrific. He may have had some issues, but I'll bet he and DePo could do very well together.

37- Very unfortunate on all counts. Bradley is one of my favorite players and I've really come to enjoy Kent's play.

Since 37 might disappear ...

http://tinyurl.com/bgddl

So, Bradley takes umbrage at Kent criticizing his hustle on a play, and reacts by playing the race card. Inexcusable. I was all for giving Milton the benefit of the doubt regarding his anger management issues, but this about does it for me.

As someone once said, it's better to keep your mouth shut and have everyone think you're an idiot, than to open it and remove all doubt.

36

Thank you Sam.

On the TV pre-game, they just announced that due to injuries, Bradley & Izzy (lower back) won't be playing tonight. Bradley will have an MRI tomorrow.

In honor of Milton Bradley I will refer to myself in the third person tonight.

Doug thinks Milton needs to take a chill pill and realize he is being paid loads of money any of us would give our right arm to play professionally.

...and also that JD Drew started swinging the bat today, but has not hit off a tee yet.

Is Tracy losing control of the clubhouse now. Does Depo have to come in and take care of this feud.

I hope Tracy takes care of this matter quick before it goes any further.

...money to play a game any of us ....

Doug needs to utlize the comment preview function.

I once started referring to myself in the third person in front of a friend of mine. I asked her to tell me how long it would take before it annoyed her.

I think it was about 30 seconds.

What's doubly frustating about the Kent/Bradley situation is that both players, I feel, have been the ones playing hard each game they're in. (I discount Kent's comments about Bradley not hustling as I discount the occasional comments about Kent not sprinting out a ground-out).

I have no idea what specific things (if anything) were said that caused Bradley to get pissed -- however, going to the media with his complaint is the wrong move. His first approach (going to the manager) was the right one.

51 Point well taken.

53

Oh, not a criticism. I'm just warning you what will happen if you try it with your friends! :-)

With apologies to `To Kill A Mockingbird', I will now start referring to Milton as Boo Bradley.

48 Well, that's some good news, at least.

51 Some of the funniest moments of morning talk radio that I can remember came when Mark Willard and (was it Tony Bruno? whoever the co-host for 1540's morning show was a couple of months ago) decided to have a bet to see who could last the longest referring to themselves only in the third person. They were continually cracking up because they kept slipping on the personal pronouns -- good stuff. :)

54 Thanks for the warning. :)

55 Ironically with the theme of the earlier posts, the actor Brock Peters who played the man accused of rape in "To Kill A Mockingbird" sadly passed aways today.

Boo Radley didn't give interviews.

away

Still no Rickey references? Rickey would not be happy. Rickey also thinks an MLB team should sign Rickey, so Rickey does not have to play for the "Surf Dawgs."

Let's not forget Rickey is the greatest of all time.

Briefly stepping away from the hilarity, if there's one thing I think Tracy does well, it's interacting with his players on a personal level. This should be a situation he can resolve... or at least reduce to a quiet simmer (presumably then solved, one way or the other, once the season is over).

If Adrian Beltre were still here, he'd have put a stop to it...
From John Hickey in the Seattle P-I:

Beltre earning respect as M's new clubhouse leader

By JOHN HICKEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Dave Hansen had seen this side of Adrian Beltre before.

Beltre, you may recall, wasted no time jumping into the middle of the fray last Thursday in Minnesota, lifting up pitcher Ryan Franklin by the shirt and moving him away from pitching coach Bryan Price, keeping their dugout shouting match from escalating.

If you knew Beltre, Hansen said later, you wouldn't have been surprised. Beltre, he says, is a natural as a clubhouse leader.

And, when the situation calls for it, a peacemaker.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/237585_mari23.html

If Walter O'Malley owned the team, one of the principals would have been traded at the end of the year. And it would have been Kent since he makes more.

Chisox 000 000 00 - 0 3 1
Twins 000 000 0 - 0 0 0

JINX

Chisox 000 000 00 - 0 3 1
Twins 000 000 01 - 1 1 0

HR- Jones (18)

#64: Way to go, Bob :)

I can't help thinking that this is the death knell for Bradley as a Dodger. I just don't see Bradley and Kent on the same team next year.

62- that kind of stuff doesn't show up in the box score making Beltre a bargain at $17 million. We need a guy who isn't afraid to grab a person by the shirt collar...

Depodesta has officially become the manager of the team (or Tracy has turned into a "Yes Man" in fear that he would be fired.

Choi's playing, Izturis isn't leading off (or playing), Valentin is playing 3B and batting 9th, Choi is playing AND batting 2nd. The only person missing is Antonio Perez.

How often has a pitcher throwing no hitter ends up giving up one hit on a homerun and wind up losing the game?

Victor Diaz drove a ball that Shawn Green had a terrible time getting to. It went past him as Green's momentum kept him going towards left. He eventually got the ball, but not until Diaz got a triple. A run scored on the play. For those DBack fans who think he's a good CF, he was not on that play...

Can't believe I missed the Sandlot reference earlier. My son -- proud daily wearer of his "Benny Cap" ("Hey kid, nice Dodgers cap." "No, it's my Benny cap.") would shake his head in disappointment.

Harvey Haddix lost a 12-inning 1-hitter to the Milwaukee Braves, so Freddy Garcia has a ways to go.

62 - speaking of Beltre, who would have guessed that Beltre and Ichiro would have the same Slugging % (.434 for beltre and .433 for Ichiro) or that Ichiro would out OPS Beltre this year.

It'll blow over. Kent handled it in an adult manner. I think Bradley will get enough negative feedback over this nonsense to bring him back to Earth.

2005 Dodgers Triples Champ?

My vote will still go to Willie Davis, even if he's 65 years old, he could come back and outrun half of these guys.

Castro drove in Diaz, 2-0 Mets

Officially, the hit Haddix gave up was a single, but Joe Adcock had hit a home run that would have made it 3-0, but Hank Aaron left the field thinking that it was a ground rule double and Adcock passed him up and the game ended up 1-0.

I like the graphic: 1 error in Florida. Too bad all the defensive problems in the last game weren't errors

The Angels came to within 1 run of giving up a 7-2 lead in the 9th. KRod recovered a Tejada grand slam to strike out Javy Lopez

Isn't our defense better with Cruz CF and Werth RF?

Did Bradley bring up race at all last year? It seems like I remember he did, but I'm not sure. He seems to be hyper-sensitive when it comes to that. But then in practically the same sentence he says that race is joked about all the time in the clubhouse. It's hard to get a read on him.

Joey Devine has had a hard time in the majors. After giving up the slam to Nady, he gave up 3 runs on a Burnitz homer today in a third of an inning. So much for all of the Braves rookies starting their major league career on fire

How many African-American players in the majors have backgrounds similar to Bradley's?

Let's see, there's Dontrelle Willis and Gary Sheffield and ... Um.....

I'm getting the Rockies feed and these announcers absolutely stink. They were complaining about Weaver wasting pitches against Sullivan.

Dbacks down 4-0, and as Vin said, Padres up 1-0 on Clemens. Giants have no score. Looks like we can go back into (a tie for) second tonight if all goes well

Twins officially won that game 1-0

They think Wright's rate is good and they are now complaining about the umpire....give me Vin Scully!

Dave Roberts opened up the Padres' game with a triple off Clemens.

Freddy Garcia meet Pedro Martinez
Pedro meet Freddy

Have a meeting and discuss your woes.

Wright seems to have a lot of control tonight

Wow. Hopefully the rest of the line-up gets the message.

make that HR rate.

Hee Seop Choi! Hee Seop Choi! Hee Seop Choi!

Sorry to interrupt the Jamie Wright Walkathon, but I have somewhat unrelated question

Has anyone ever seen a marriage proposal on Diamondvision at Dodger Stadium. A friend is thinking about trying that.

Despite my counsel against it.

Not the proposal, just the venue.

Boo!

92 - I've seen it on TV at a basketball game I think. I'd oppose the venue, too.

That was pathetic. 8 straight balls and nobody scored.

Terrible AB by Kent

For someone who pitched 9 straight balls, Wright sure got out of that easily. Was it just me, or did Ledee's strikes look like sympathy strikes?

96 - Seriously. Just stand there until he shows he can throw 3 strikes in one at-bat.

97 - The "high" strike looked like a ball to me.

See, those walks are no good. They just set up double plays. Sheesh.

Also, I just looked up as my wife was flipping channels, and it appears Eric Gagne has decided to play pro poker on TV. I swear, it was him, the graphic even said his name was Eric.

Jax Suns continue to roll. 9-2 in 8th with 18 hits. Kuo in to pitch.

Ugh..a steroid fueled HR

Weaver gives up another HR. What's the Lowe/Weaver race at now?

Bob, is he 100% sure she'll say yes? If not, I wouldn't want to get turned down in front of a stadium and TV audience.

So, I guess Weaver's pitching tonight, huh?

104
I don't know. I'm shocked that he's even thinking about it.

Piedra has been hot of late, steroids or not. That was his 5th homer in August. Hopefully Wright goes back to walk mode

100 OK, he's back. It's Eric something else, and he's a lot, um, bigger than Gagne and doesn't really look all that much like him. But on channel-flip mode, it was a whole different story.

104 - Nothing like hanging your fanny out in front of 50,000 of your closest friends.

109
He should wait for that final series against the Pirates.

Werth is our best base-stealer.

Never saw this before: "Craig Biggio reaches on force attempt, missed catch error by Unknown (0), assist to shortstop Damian Jackson. Roger Clemens to 3rd. Willy Taveras to 2nd." Man, does anyone here doubt that if Bob was working this game, there'd be no "Unknown (0)" roaming PETCO Park?

111
Vin says Werth is 9 of 11...that's actually high enough for attempting the stolen base to worth it, right?

112
I assume that the unknown man there is Mark Loretta.

112 Bad call by the ump it looked like. Jackson flipped to Loretta, who apparently was off the bag. It looked like he got back on the bag before the runner got there, but the runner was safe. A very unfair error to loretta, who didn't expect a throw when the the throw to 1st was easier

Woohoo! Nice error.

Thanks Helton...

If I haven't said it already, this weekend is going to suck

Why is Valentin swinging? At that?

he stinks

Weaver will probably do something better than Valentin

Weaver does what Valentin can't...

120 Nice prediction, although it was pretty obvious

Phillies ahead of the Gints 2-1 now.

Oscar!

Choi just missed that one

Mets now have a 6-1 lead against the DBacks. Vargas is finally coming back to earth.

C'mon Choi, a few more feet next time... and some patience would be nice. The crowd didn't get a chance to chant

Izzy who?

Nice play by Robles

Does anyone who followed Suns game know why Miller only pitched to one batter?
Scott Elbert is pitching very well at Columbus-Tonight 5 innings,1 hit,10 k's.

Bench Kent

Nice indeed Robles! But I hate to admit that watching the Rocks clown around in the 2nd inning made me remember how good it felt to have good fielding; ie. Beltre, Izturis, and Cora in a good stretch.

Vin's wisdom on Kent/Bradley is what we should all be thinking:

"It's just words, and Werth takes a strike" "I don't know how they do it, but when they play, they have a mental blindness"

Was Werth hit on the wrist?

Isn't Elbert only 19. Uh-oh, Werth is hit--I hope no broken bones.

Phillies over the Giants 5-1 in the 3rd

128 - I turned the game on (radio) just after he came out and didn't hear anything about it the rest of the way.

This has all the makings of a beanball fest.

Anyone remember the Penny/Patterson K race? Looks like we got a HBP race tonight. Weaver leads 2-1, and is up 13-12 on the season. Should be an epic battle

Weaver is involved in all kinds of things isn't he-with the HR duel with Lowe. But damn he can burn innins up, which might not be so impressive if we could find anyone else who can.

Bradley blasted Kent before the game. look on google. the headline says Bradley accuses Kent of Racism but no where in the article does bradley say that. It's an AP article so it will be in every paper in the country.

Come on Werth, field the ball.

128 - Miller was brought in just to pitch to that one LH batter. Beltran Perez, who relieved Miller, was warming up before Miller came in to pitch. I don't know why they would use Miller like a LOOGY though.

Astros had the bases loaded, 1 out. Lane grounded into a force out at home, although Olivo looked like he may have taken his foot off the bag. Burke then grounded an out to Jackson. He is the ugliest SS, if there's a bad 1B, half his throws would be to the dugout

I would just like to point out that Weaver did not "fall apart", "become a headcase", etc. after two defensive errors.

#140: That's what I was hoping, but it still seems strange. Perhaps Miller is going to be our LOOGy next year :P.

Franklin Gutiarrez(sp?) is beginning to look better and better, damn it.

That double could be a home run in a couple years.

Dioner discovering his power? That will make Navarro vs Martin much harder

``The problem is, he doesn't know how to deal with African-American people,'' Bradley said. ``I think that's what's causing everything. It's a pattern of things that have been said -- things said off the cuff that I don't interpret as funny. It may be funny to him, but it's not funny to Milton Bradley. But I don't take offense to that because we all joke about race in here. Race is an issue with everything we do in here."

"`Me being an African-American is the most important thing to me -- more important than baseball,'' said the 27-year-old center fielder, whose voice never went beyond his normal speaking level. ``White people never want to see race -- with anything. But there's race involved in baseball. That's why there's less than 9 percent African-American representation in the game. I'm one of the few African-Americans that starts here.''
That's a bunch of BS.

``I was told in spring training I was the team leader by Paul DePodesta. By Jim Tracy. By Frank McCourt,'' Bradley said of the Dodgers' general manager, manager and owner. ``Growing up in LA, I know how to deal with all types of people, and I do it on an everyday basis. But some people don't deal with all different types of people every day, and therefore don't know how to handle situations when they arise.''

``If you're going to be the leader of the team, then you need to mingle with the team and associate with the team. I mean, you can't have your locker in the corner, put your headphones on and sit in the corner reading a motocross magazine. He's in his own world. Everybody else is in this world.''
This I agree with.

Rockies announcer just said Dodger Stadium is tough to get to balls in the outfield, directly contradicting every ballpark study to date. Way to go guy! Of course, the same announcer thought Quintanilla should have gotten a base hit on the line drive into and out of Valentin's glove.

145- or as Jose Canseco would say...that's a HR "with a couple of b12 shots"

Just ask the catcher formerly known as Pudge

Interesting play, Atkins really screwed up Helton's plans

Nice bunt.

It's fun watching a game against a team worse than the Dodgers.

ROBLES!!!!!

would Izzy have done that?

Oscar!!!

154- yes, Izzy might have had a 3 pitch at bat like Robles...

Was Saenz (I think it was Saenz) fanning Weaver or was he doing the "We're Not Worthy" thing?

Anyone want to explain Saenz bowing (or whatever that was) to Weaver?

Choi isn't missing by much

That wasn't a bad swing by Choi.

That wasn't a bad swing at all by Choi.

Dah. The delayed post caused the double-ish post.

158 Maybe scoring from first on that double. That's interesting for an entirely different reason than tonight, too.

Giles just hit a solo homer, turning a seemingly impossible 1-0 lead to 2-0. Giles has 2 hits and 2 RBIs, the Roberts triple is the only other hit off Clemens

Klesko doubles and the Rocket has allowed a cycle to the Padres hitters

The Mets now lead 14-1. Assuming we can hold off the Rockies, a tie for 2nd is materializing

The DBacks would hold a percentage point lead however.

Unless my math is off.

Funny--Kent looks a bit like B.Bridges in the cult film "The Incident". Any other cast sims---. I wan't to ignore this-its already being used as youre juicy lead-in by several channels.

Jayson "Rickey Henderson" Werth is a stolen base machine.

Tonight Werth is doing what Izturis should be.

167 You'd be right. Just have to take all the fun out it don't you?

If the scores hold, the DBacks should be .4566 and the Dodgers .456. Since the Dodgers are playing their 125th game, their winning percentage would be an even .456.

The DBacks right now are -134 in the runs scored department.

Hi. Some nice swings by the Dodgers tonight - opposing pitcher makes a difference, huh?

Bob Costas - anti-wild card, anti-TV sensationalism:

http://tinyurl.com/btzc4

Biggio-Berkman-Ensberg decided to make Peavy make 11 pitches. They also removed the only threat in the Astros line up with a game left. Things aren't looking good for gaining a game on them. Astacio vs Park tomorrow

As for the Astros announcers, they are unhappy that the Dodgers won't announce their probable pitchers for that series (Lowe-Jackson-Weaver I'd guess). They're not sure if we can find any volunteers. I wouldn't blame our pitchers for disliking Pettitte-Oswalt-Clemens

Back to triples.

The 1986 Dodgers and the 1999 Mets hold the NL record for fewest triples in a full season with 14. And the Mets had one extra game to play that year because they were tied with Cincinnati for the wild card.

The 1998 Orioles had 11 triples. The youngest starting position player on that team was Roberto Alomar who was 30.

Astacio vs. Park? Awesome.

Time of game in San Diego was ...?

The predicted pitchers duels tonight ended up being pitchers duels.

176

1:53

No stealing for Robles. Never

Good at-bat. That last one was a strike though. Robles still can't steal a base. He needs to get lessons from Werth.

I love the smell of Robles stealing in the evening.

176

That should be Ezequiel Astacio versus Chan Ho Park.

Unless Pedro and Chan Ho are playing an intrasquad game.

Why was Robles running? Izturis would have been safe.

200 pitches in 113 minutes.

"White people never want to see race — with anything." Doesn't that mean Bradley knew Kent wasn't impugning his race? His accusation seems, at worst, to be that Kent is racially insensitive, as are all white people. And the way to not be insensitive would be to not question MB's hustle. That's pretty cheap grace. Kent isn't the Hustle Police (even though he could have been a Disco sensation with a mustache like that).

Robles is one of the slowest players on the team. Sadly he's a worse baserunner than Izturis.

Robles 0-7 SB-SBA
Izturis 8-16 SB-SBA

182 - that's what I was counting on!

Minnesota and Chicago has 208 pitches in 2:08.

There have been 217 pitches in Phoenix in over 3:20.

The Rockies are pretty bad, but the D's can't afford to give up all these chances.

Can we agree to push back Penny's start a game? For Thursday, maybe start, uh, Repko could probably give us some quality innings if he walked Helton every time. I'd much rather him give us a chance against the Astros rather than be swept as the Padres sweep the Rockies. Maybe the (almost) guarunteed Penny game against the Rockies is preferable, considering the Astros line up is about as good as the Rockies, and pray for runs

His accusation seems, at worst, to be that Kent is racially insensitive, as are all white people.

Huh?

His accusation seems, at worst, to be that Kent is racially insensitive, as are all white people.

Huh?

Whoops, second huh was directed at:

And the way to not be insensitive would be to not question MB's hustle

191- The headline mentioned above said Bradley called Kent a racist. But that doesn't seem to be true. Not wanting to see race isn't racism, it's racial insensensitivity. By definition, right? Since the line was white people never want to see it, it follows that white people (a groupe to which Kent belongs) are racially insensitive. I'm not sure I understand your question.

Carvajal appears to be perfect for the Rockies, 3.56 Coors ERA, 7.00 away ERA. We could use him, too bad the Rockies decided not to give him back, as they really should have

192- Right. Isn't that what we're all supposing started this? Bradley failed to score on Kent's double, and Kent had some important theory about hustle to which Bradley took exception.

Oscar Robles is way out in uncharted waters when it comes to his number of CS in a season without having a SB.

Nobody is close.

Two players were 0 for 7 in a career:

Russ Nixon
Dave Meier

Meier had an 0 for 6 season for the Twins in 1985.

Nixon never had more than 3 CS in a season.

Dave Meier, as an aside to our esteemed host, played his college ball on The Farm.

191 what MB said was unhelpful and off base, but I don't think it justifies this headline, from the Yahoo! run of the AP story:

Bradley accuses Kent of racism, lack of leadership

Nowhere did Bradley say Kent had, in word or deed, acted on a "belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others," nor did MB accuse Kent of "discrimination or prejudice based on race."

Headline writers and news scribes, now hear this: Words should mean something. Kent Unable to Deal with Black Players, Bradley Claims would have been a justifiable headline. But if Kent supporters believe Bradley called him a racist, which is an order of magnitude worse than an accusation of cultural incompetency, then they should be disabused of that concern.

Jim Tracy, earn your money.

Robles was 1 for 2 in Mexico City, making him 1 for 9 this year.

The first huh was directed at the inherant racism of Bradley's comment.

The second was at what you labeled insentivity, whereas I see it as more as a case of wild overreaction ob Bradley's part.

196 - Meier batted .405 in 1981. I was not aware of him. Meier edged out Mark Marquess for the No. 5 single season batting average all time at Stanford. Marquess hit .403 - twice.

The Giants pennant push seems to have come to a screeching halt tonight as the Phillies are pummeling them 9-2.

As an aside on the Bradley/Kent tussle, I do think this story will have the effect of dramatizing a little-noted development in baseball, the dramatic drop in percentage of players of African-American descent. The fact that Milton Bradley is the only* black player on the team of Jackie Robinson and Don Newcombe, Maury Wills and John Roseboro, Reggie Smith and Dusty Baker--is startling. I guess the Campanis gaffe doesn't help the image, either.

*Sir Edwin excepted, since he was a spot call-up.

199- I think calling all white people racially insensitive is wildly ridiculous. In the first place, it doesn't account for honest-to-Choi racists who want desperately to see race in everything. Mostly, I was trying to make dzzrtRatt's point. Thankfully, he was here to make it himself. 8^)

Houlton must be relieved, he'll be facing a pitcher with an ERA higher than his, fewer wins, and more losses tomorrow. In his last 4 starts, the Dodgers offense has scored 3 runs total. The start before that stretch, he faced Pedro, and Carrara lost it for him. That's some terrible luck. In those 5 starts, he went either 6 or 6.1 IP, allowing 4, 4, 2, 2, 3 runs in those starts

Houlton will have to overcome his biggest handicap.

My presence at the game.

199 Jim, I didn't mean to appear to be contradicting you; yours was just the last post on the topic.

Bradley is an articulate, precise man. His vivid description of Kent tuning out the world with his earphones and motocross mags sounds like the Kent we've known about for a long time. But he's tuning out everybody, not just players of a certain ethnicity, and I don't think he meant to imply much beyond that.

205- Fortunately, he has the Steve monkey off his back, now.

Looks like we will still be 5 games out after tonight, but one game closer to the D-Backs and one game further ahead of the Juyants. Robles had a nice game with the glove and it was also nice to see Choi in the starting lineup and batting 2nd. He didn't have a great game with the stick but did get one walk. Goggle boy must be pretty upset. No major complaints about Buntermaker tonight. Might be a first. :)
5 games out with 6 H2H vs the Pads. D-E-N-I-A-L
vr, Xei

208 Peavy seems to rise to the occasion. If he only faced future Hall of Fame pitchers, he'd win 30 games. But he seems to slack off when the klieg lights go down.

I have no statistical basis for this comment, however. Remember, I don't own a computer.

208- Choi hit the ball hard, they just weren't falling for him.

Our WEC is 99.7% with 1 out bottom of 8th, man on first and up 4 runs. vr, Xei

Freddy Garcia was not the first White Sox pitcher to lose a 1-0 game giving up only a home run.

Richard Dotson lost to Baltimore on May 18, 1983 1-0. He gave up an 8th inning home run to Dan Ford. He did walk seven in the game.

Must resist Denial, must resist...

Thanks for clarifying, Bokonon. It's just a pretty depressing lack of leadership on Bradley's part, is all.

210. Thanks. I just saw the 0 for 3 and 1 BB and heard the Kc on the radio on the way back from Rite Aid. Choi has had cruddy luck with his BABIP this year. vr, Xei

Can Weaver play third?

Best pitching performance I ever saw at Dodger stadium was by Jerry Ruess vs the Reds a few years back. The first man got a leadoff double and scored on two productive outs. Ruess went on to retire the next 27 batters in a row after the leadoff double. Pretty darn near a perfecto. Bob probably could carbon date my program from the game to find out the exact date it happened. :)
vr, Xei

You can't stop Jeff Weaver, you can only hope to contain him.

208, 213 - not denial, acceptance that mediocre teams are still in a mediocre race. Learn it. Know it. Live it.

Hope Weaver doesn't pull a Zack Duke on the basepaths. vr, Xei

Well Dioner is human!--hes seems to run like a catcher. But nowhere near as much like a catcher as our frequent third baseman. With that rubber arm, could Weaver pitch everyday?

No extra at-bat for Choi... =(

217 - I went to that game. We arrived in time to see the second batter, so i saw a perfect game.

Sorry-should read-Our frequent first baseman.(221)

I suppose I saw a better game with Dennis Martinez in '91, though.

Weaver is batting .291. There are 2 Dodgers with a higher average, Kent and Perez. Bradley has .290, Ledee .288, Robles .287, and Saenz .286

217. How ironic.

I hope Weaver is on a short leash here in the 9th. I don't know why with our bullpen.
vr, Xei

Uh, 7 balls in a row. Earth to Buntermaker, come in Buntermaker. Time to pull him! vr, Xei

Maybe he shouldn't go for the CG

Weaver isn't doing very well. If he can't get this guy out might as well bring in the pen.

217

June 11, 1982

Dodgers 11, Reds 1

Ok, I'm ready for a pitching change now. Bring in Gagne. vr, Xei

Weaver is in danger of losing his quality start - another sign of that flawed stat.

Tracy figured it out. Keeping him in was not a bad decision though

Anybody else notice that, in light of the LA Times article today on attendance numbers, Vin made it a point to say "the announced attendance is ..."

Good job Tracy. Now let's just hold the lead. Shouldn't be too hard.

231. haha! Thanks. My dad and I went to that game. We were both big Reds fans back then. I was a huge Reds fan in the days of the Big Red Machine. I can't stand watching the Carlton Fisk home run. I always say, yeah but who won the series. I am still upset that the Reds had the best record in baseball that one year but didn't even make the playoffs. vr, Xei

My first Dodger game was a Reuss gem as well, summer of 1980 against the Pirates I think. I remember the game was over in about 1:50 and I was bummed out it was over so quickly.

234. Never a "good" idea to keep a pitcher in just for the sole reason of getting a CG, especially with a 6 run lead. Better to bring in some scrap from the bullpen to pitch 1 inning. Save the wear and tare(sp?) on Weaver imho. vr, Xei

237
But the Reds were given some lovely parting gifts for the best record in the majors.

I think each player got a year's supply of Turtle Wax.

I'm not worried about Sanchez giving this game up, but if he's our closer, why are we using him? With a 6 run lead (now 5), wouldn't Osoria or Brazoban or the like made more sense? I only say this because Tracy must use a closer in a save situation, and I don't want that to be a tired Sanchez or Carrara

Infield fly rule can be called on a ball caught in foul territory?

Not sure if it was a good idea to use Sanchez today. Maybe we should "save him" for another day (I'm mildly surprised I'm saying this about Duaner). I dunno if he's too well-rested though.

That change looks good.

The Dodgers are in a no-off day run with some rough starting pitching from Lowe and Jackson and Houlton never a certainty - it was fine to see if Weaver could have an easy ninth to give the pen a day off. He didn't, so Tracy pulled him. Tracy did just fine with this.

238. I loved watching Ruess pitch. He was definitely an "Old School" pitcher. He didn't throw all that hard, his success rested on keeping the ball down in the strike zone and hitting the corners, keeping the hitters off balanced. Those were the good ole days. vr, Xei

239 I was referring to the single more than anything

The June 11, 1982 game that Xeifrank went to lasted 2:02.

Dennis Martinez's perfect game took 2:14.

Tom Browning's perfect game took 1:51.

The infield fly rule is "infield fly, if fair." You signal it even if you're not sure where the ball will go.

242 They yell it but generally qualify it with "if it's fair" That way if it drops, it's foul and the batter is still up.

242

No.

248, thanks, that's what I figured but wasn't sure.

I went to the Dodgers' 18-inning day game loss to the Braves a few years ago - Ramon Martinez came out of the rotation to take the L. Almost missed the Hollywood Bowl national anthem. Game time?

241. I agree, Buntermaker probably should've brought in someone from the scrapheap, not our new closer. I am not sure about when the last time he pitched was, so the "he needs some work" argument might be Buntermakers only defense. Anyways, it all worked out. Still 5 GBs
vr, Xei

252

5:05
August 3, 1996

32 Ks in that game!

My marathon length best is 5:39 for a 16-inning game in Milwaukee between the Brewers and Astros.

There's a new feature on MLB.com that allows fans to vote on which players have the best abilities. The current question is which major league pitcher has the best velocity?

The choices are:

Roger Clemens
Randy Johnson
Duaner Sanchez
Mark Prior
Curt Schilling
Ben Sheets

Does this seem odd to anyone else?

http://tinyurl.com/b5vqy

Just saw the Bradley interview on Fox Sports. Looks like Bradley needs a hug.
vr, Xei

252 I was at that game. My girlfriend at the time and I went down to LA for the weekend for my birthday and went to the games that weekend. I remember sitting in the blue section of the 1st base side and moving up a row each half inning to stay in the shade and ending up in the top row by the end of the game.

I looked up the Reuss game I went to. 7/30/1980, Reuss pitched a 4-hit shutout (vs. Candeleria). Time of game -- a very speedy 1:43.

257- Tracy quoted as saying he thought MB was seeing things that weren't there. Not much of a hug. Maybe MB walks balk his pre-game quotes in the locker room now.

Walks them back, I mean.

The quickest game I've seen was a 1:49 affair in Atlanta where the Braves beat the Padres 3-1.

Rick Mahler versus LaMarr Hoyt. And there were two mid-inning pitching changes in the 9th.

According to SCSR, being the team leader of the Dodgers requires one to "take the team out to lunch and dinner." It's that easy!

Why can't their be two leaders?

The Bash Brothers anyone?

Bradley says he is the only black starter on the team. What's his point? Is he implying the owner/GM/Manager are racist? Hate to see someone play the race card like this, but whenever someone does it needs to be taken serious. None of us really know what is going on behind closed doors so it's hard to do anything more than just speculate. And as fans that's what we do best. vr, Xei

I have only read the ESPN comments from Kent and Bradley and am sorry to see that Bradley went public. Sadley I think there are two possibly three separate issues but they are now all mixed together. 1) having nothing to do with race just two egos clashing-both wanting to be the recognized leader of the team. 2.) Two different styles Kent being the loner and Bradley being the more engaging person. 3.) As a white guy growing up in LA many minorities will talk about the issue of isolation-eventhough both Kent and Bradley are well paid and as far as class goes both may have far more in common with each other than Bradley does with an African American struggling in compton. Saying that though the issue of isolation can't be denied. I wish someone like Derrick Hall was still around-the Dodgers have too proud a history of excellent African American players who were loved as much as many white players by LA fans. I hope LA's fan base will ignore the issue, and I hope the Dodgers internally work it out, and at the same time make an effort to get past this issue.

Hope the Bradley/Kent issue doesn't blow up any more than it already has. If it does, I could imagine a scenario where Bradley says he can't play with Kent anymore and demands a trade during the offseason. Let's hope it never gets to that point.
vr, Xei

This is what they should do. Either tomorrow or Thursday, Kent should take Bradley out to lunch and they should settle there problems. Then Kent will give Bradley a hug and everything will be OK with the 2 of them.

264: I disagree that he's playing the race card. This is a man who has taken a lot of shite over his career that a typical white player of his caliber would not go through.

Racism in baseball is institutionalized. Just look at the salaries of the players.

268- Maybe he's had a tougher time over his career than a white player of his caliber would have. But he didn't have it at Kent's hands, right? It's a punk move, calling Bradley out on the bench in front of the rest of the team (if that's what happened) but there isn't any reason to believe Kent meant to impugn his race. I think Louis is spot on in calling this an ego problem.

What player pay stats should I be looking for. Not Barry Bonds's, right?

268 - You mean the salaries where Rodriguez, Ramirez, Martinez and Jeter are the highest paid?

Racism aside, this appears to be an instance where two very rich, VERY DUMB guys - one older and wiser, one younger and impressionable (maybe?) - are retelling their story through a bunch of underpaid, college graduates.

268. Why is Bradley mentioning race? Kind of funny to ask me to look at salaries when Bradley is making $2.5 mil per year. Poor guy! Xei

My statement was a bit strong. But so is my drink.

Actually I was thinking more along the lines of players from Asia and from the Caribbean. They are the players Vinnie describes as spending their childhood climbing mango trees and what not.

Of course the "elite" of all races who are mentioned in the media are making millions, many of them African American. But what about the rest?

272- What about the rest? Who are the Asian and Caribbean players who are underpaid because of their race? I've never heard Scully describe any player as having spent his childhood climbing mango trees. Are you saying Scully is a racist, too?

I'm open to being shown any blind spot, but just saying that the non-elite of the unfavored races are being underpaid doesn't make it so. What am I looking for, specifically?

256 I'm a loyal Dodger fan, so he has my vote. I'm guessing I am one of about 10 people who vote for him. He doesn't even have the best velocity on the team, much less in the majors

274- I voted for Duaner, too. He sits at 96 in L.A., but if he were playing up in S.F., their juiced gun would have him hitting 99 regularly.

Regarding triples, the most exciting Dodger I have seen running out a three bagger has to be Willie Davis. I suspect every Dodger fan is most drawn to the team of their youth, and that is definitely true for me. Wills on the bases, Koufax and Drysdale on the mound, and Willie Davis flying around second, heading for third are images that remain with me 40 years later.

Stan from Tacoma

273: I heard Scully say this exact thing about a Dodger within the last two weeks. I believe it was pitcher but cannot recall whom.

As to Vinny being a racist...that's up to you to decide. But he did contribute to the Bush/Cheney campaign and the majority of the world would say those two are racists and fascists.

http://www.newsmeat.com/sports_political_donations/Vin_Scully.php

277- Oh, okay. Bush and Cheney are racist fascists-- Vinny is just a racist-fascist-lover. I wish you had said this up top, I would have known where you were coming from. Forget I ever engaged you, if you would.

278:
Yes my whole point of discussing Kent and Bradley was to actually finger Vin Scully as to what you termed a "racist-fascist-lover." You had me all along. You're brilliant.

Interesting; Vin has contributed money to the RNC in 3 of the last 4 presidential elections, with 2000 being the only time when he didn't contribute. The other curious stat is that Vin has contributed money in September and October, months when the campaigns traditionally don't need donations as much-- mostly because the races are a foregone conclusion. For example, on 10/17/96, was there any doubt that Bob Dole was going to get destroyed at the polls?

Also-- you heard it here first: neither Bradley nor Kent will be with the team next year after this little outburst that made the front page of espn.com.

276
Stan,
And Willie Davis has the most triples in L.A. history with 16 back in 1970. He had 110 overall for the Dodgers.

Only Zack Wheat hit more. And he hit a lot more: 171.

But Wheat played in an era where it was a lot easier to get triples.
Historically, Dodger Stadium has been bad for triples because of its relatively short alleys and lack of funny angles for balls to bounce around.

In 1970, Willie Davis hit just 2 of his 16 triples at Dodger Stadium. Four were in St. Louis and three in San Francisco and both stadiums had turf then.

"But he did contribute to the Bush/Cheney campaign and the majority of the world would say those two are racists and fascists."

Aside from the patent absurdity of this statement, what on earth does it have to do with a baseball discussion?

I think one of the reasons why Willie Davis was called the 3 Dog was because he hit lots of triples. He also wore No. 3....As far as Vinny being a republican and contributing to Bush and Cheney, while I hate that group implying that Vinny has racial issues is very very stupid! If you went through major league baseball or many other professional sports teams you would that many African American players vote republican-rich people vote with their pocket book, black or white!

The hits keep coming: "On the same hot Florida day Milton Bradley and Jeff Kent skirmished in the clubhouse, pitcher Brad Penny and batting coach Tim Wallach screamed at each other in a corner of the dugout."

http://tinyurl.com/9t96l

Sir Edwin will make O. Perez's next start; Perez is expected to be out for about three weeks.

http://tinyurl.com/az5bu

Bob,

Willie could flat out fly. In the outfield he didn't always get the best jump on a flyball, but he could outrun almost anything hit in the air. He was a player who was fun to watch. Really that whole team was amazing. Frank Howard hit the longest homeruns I have ever seen, Sandy is the most dominate pitcher I have ever seen, and Willie Davis is the fastest player I have ever seen. The Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey teams of the 70s and early 80s was a better balanced team, but the Dodger team of the 60s was in my mind the most fun to watch.

Stan from Tacoma

In other news, T.J. Simers has a soul, it turns out.

http://tinyurl.com/74egy

This has been L.A. Times preview with your host, bokoknon42. Thank you, and goodnight.

Hochevar goes back to school today, sure hope he decides not to.

No matter what every other journalist and analysist says, I don't see Kent or Bradley not with the Dodgers next year. They both want to be here, and they both want to play. Plus winning the west would help them settle down

Woo hoo! The Dodgers' odds of making the postseason according to Baseball Prospectus have gotten better than the DBacks!

The Dodgers chances are 6.897% The DBacks are 6.242%

The Padres have the second best chances in the NL.

There is some opinion that JD Drew would be better off long-term if he plays cf. Milton Bradley was asked to surrender cf last year for Steve Finley and it certainly appears to be a strong possibility that LA will move Bradley to open cf for Drew in 2006. How much does this play into Bradley's current emotions?

I think most of the "underpaid" ballplayers are "underpaid" because of lack of MLB time rather than any other issue.