Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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TV and more ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
* * *
The power of Gilligan and Bob Denver was profound, as pointed out in this tribute from U.S. News and World Report (recommended by Defamer):
A mother once told him that her son had been in a coma for six months or so. Every day at 3:00 she tuned the TV to Gilligan's Island. And then, one day, the boy awoke.
"This is your favorite one," she told him. And he said, "It is my favorite."
"One of my aims when I shot the show," Denver said, "was to bring children out of comas."
Which brings us to Jose Cruz, Jr., who has awoken to raise his OPS with the Dodgers to .849. Since August 18, Cruz has an on-base percentage of .449 and a slugging percentage of .525 for a .975 OPS.
It's been almost six months since Opening Day. Perhaps it's time to start airing Gilligan's Island in the Dodger clubhouse.
But I still keep singing
I want to be,
Or not to be
That is the question that I ask of thee...
Random Dodger game callback
September 7, 1967
Randy Hundley homered and then singled in the winning run in the 12th inning as the Chicago Cubs edged the Dodgers 3-2 before a crowd of around 17,000 at Dodger Stadium. The loss dropped the Dodgers record to 63-75. They were in eighth place, 23 ½ games behind the first place Cardinals.
The game was scoreless until the fifth when Hundley homered off of Dodgers starter Don Drysdale. But the Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the sixth on a home run from Willie Davis and an RBI double from catcher John Roseboro.
In the eighth inning, the game got contentious. Cubs manager Leo Durocher brought in Pete Mikkelsen to relieve. Mikkelsen hit Lou Johnson with a pitch and then made an error on a sacrifice attempt by Jim Lefebvre to put runners on first and second with no outs and Roseboro due up.
Cubs pitching coach Joe Becker (who had been fired as a coach by the Dodgers along with Durocher after the 1964 season) came out to talk to Mikkelsen and give rookie lefthander Jim Ellis time to warm up. Becker left the mound and headed back to the bench. But Durocher told Becker that Ellis was warmed up and sent Becker back to pull Mikkelsen and Ellis came in.
Dodgers manager Walter Alston then came out of the dugout to tell home plate umpire Tony Venzon that Mikkelsen couldn't come out of the game because Becker had already made a trip to the mound and left and he had to stay in. (The rule was new in 1967.) The umpires realized their error and ordered Mikkelsen back into the game. And Mikkelsen was able to get Roseboro to hit a grounder to second base that Glenn Beckert ran to first base on his own after Ernie Banks fell out of the play and Johnson and Lefebvre moved up.
Now Durocher decided that he wanted Chuck Hartenstein to relieve. But Venzon declared that Ellis had to come in to pitch since he was already brought in. Becker and Durocher argued with Venzon about this and Becker got ejected. And Ellis had to pitch to Ron Fairly, whom he walked. Finally, Hartenstein was allowed to come in. Third baseman Bob Bailey lifted a fly ball to Cubs right fielder Bob Raudman who threw out Johnson at the plate for a double play to end the inning.
With all the machinations and arguments, the bottom of the eighth lasted nearly 30 minutes and Drysdale stiffened up and gave up a leadoff single to Beckert in the ninth. Ron Perranoski came in to relieve and he gave up a single to Billy Williams and walked Ron Santo to load the bases. Alston brought in Bob Miller to relieve and he gave up a sacrifice fly to Banks to tie the game.
The Dodgers got runners on base against Hartenstein in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh innings, but could not score. In the top of the twelfth, Santo reached on an error by shortstop Nate Oliver and moved up to second on a sacrifice by Banks (he had 45 of them in his career, so it wasn't an unusual thing). After an intentional walk to Raudman, Hundley singled to right to score Santo.
After winning the National League, three times in the past five seasons, the Dodgers finished 1967 in eighth place with a 73-89 record. The Dodgers were 28 ½ games behind the Cardinals and ahead of only the Astros and Mets.
The 1967 Dodgers were just a shadow of the team that had won the pennant the year before. Of course, Sandy Koufax had retired and that left a hole in the rotation that no one could fill (rookie Bill Singer got the spot). Shortstop Maury Wills was traded in the off-season to Pittsburgh and Gene Michael took his place and batted .202.
Al Ferrara led Dodger hitters with 16 home runs and batted .277 and he was the team's fourth outfielder. Lefebvre moved from second base to third and Ron Hunt took over in the middle of the infield. Hunt was acquired along with Jim Hickman from the Mets for Tommy Davis and Derrell Griffith. But neither man did much. Hunt batted .263 with 3 home runs and Hickman hit .163.
The Koufax-less pitching staff saw its ERA increase over half a run from 1966, although it was still just 3.21 in an era of outstanding pitching. Drysdale went 13-16 with a 2.74 ERA and Claude Osteen was 17-17 with a 3.22 ERA.
When the season was over, the Dodgers traded Johnson to the Cubs, Roseboro and Perranoski to the Twins, Hunt to the Giants, and Michael to the Yankees. Despite the bad year, the Dodgers still had the second best attendance in the National League at 1.6 million.
Thanks to Los Angeles Times, BaseballReference.com and Retrosheet
Tracy won the batting title that year. I wonder if he was scrappy?
I do kinda like how he says "Jaysonwerth" as one word, though.
I think you're reading the stats wrong. According to ESPN.com, Cruz does bat better against lefties over the past three years, but the difference is much smaller than you stated:
vs left: .792 OPS
vs right: .758 OPS
Despite this, his HR rate is slightly higher (but only slightly) vs. RHP.
Back to who should manage the Dodgers. Pete Rose. Peter Edward Rose. If we could just get him reinstated. How awesome would that be.
Imagine how much fun this board would be, everytime Pete made a questionable (or "tracy" like decision). We could have an open debate about how much money he may have had riding on the game.
Funny as that sounds ask yourself this. If Pete Rose were the Dodger manager and he managed like Jim Tracy has this season, made many of the same decisions Jim Tracy has made this season, wouldn't you think that Pete Rose was betting against his team?
Robles
Kent
Saenz
Cruz
Edwards
Navarro
Valentin
Weaver
I know it's been beat to death, but how did Choi completely lose his job? He never stopped being productive, and Phillips never started. I don't get it. And there's no rhyme or reason to the righty/righty platoon at first.
-------
Yeah. Totally awesome.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go barf.
cruz has all of his homeruns (13) this year against northpaws, but he's only had 58 ab's agasint lefties. Apparently his managers this year have decided that he cant hit lefties despite the fact that he's been stong against them in previous years.
---------
He did, actually, for a while. Look at this page:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/gamelog?playerId=4595
Between June 14 and July 24, his OPS dropped about 100 points, from from .871 to .773. The latter date, not coincidentally, is the exact date on which Choi lost his job.
I'm a big Choi fan and I strongly believe Tracy should have stuck with him through the slump. But to say that he never stopped being productive is, well, false.
"Back in November 2003 when I was 21 years old, I made an enormous mistake in my life: I took steroids while in the minor leagues," Morse said. "My thigh muscle, which I had previously torn, had never healed and I was scared that my career was over. I was desperate and made a terrible mistake which I deeply regret.... I embarrassed myself, my family and my team. I am responsible for the mistake of taking steroids and the positive result was not due to some over-the-counter supplement, protein shake or tainted test."
Honesty should count for something.
OPS/744
VORP/7.7
Hee Sop Choi
OPS/798
Vorp/13.9
The Twins know that Morneau is their future and so they keep playing him even in the middle of a pennant race. They could play Matt Lecroy much like we waste time on Philips but the Twins approach will pay off in the future. Our approach will not. If Choi does not play in September after we get our butts beat by San Diego then we can only assume that something else besides his baseball ability is keeping him glued to the bench.
Conversely, I don't see what Edwards and Phillips have done to earn theirs. It isn't a new topic, I know, but it keeps on baffling me.
It would be nice if Depo invested in an outfielder who has proven that he can handle the rigors of a 162 game season.
Weaver has to pitch a shutout to have a chance tonight.
Mikkelson, and his palm ball, did well for the Yankee bullpen in their last "Dynasty" pennant run of '64. Unfortunately he soon found himself bouncing through the minors, with the Pirates, Cubs and Cards before surfacing with the Dodgers from 69-72 as a decent reliever.
Ellis was obtained by the Dodgers in one of their worst trades of the decade, when relief ace Phil Regan was gift wrapped to the Cubs for light hitting Ted Savage. Ellis never made it to the big club.
#29 Griffith was still playing in AAA into the late 60's and early 70's in the PCL, but even after converting to the outfield never got called up.
This info may not be of interest to most, but for some of us, it beats watching Valentin try to play the outfield.
Jeff Kent. Of course noone else can get going not knowing where they are playing day to day. With out any malice, Vin makes a fool look like a fool through mild truth.
For some bizarre reason only known to a 10 year old I took a liking to Ted Savage and Jim Hickman. I'm sure it had something to do with their baseball cards. In 1970 both of those players had career years far surpassing anything they had ever done before or would ever do again.
#21 -- I, too, am clueless as to why Valentin is in the starting lineup. Prior to this season, by the way, he had never played a game in left field and only about two dozen overall in the outfield. And his batting average has gone down every year in succession in the current millenium.
cause A: tips from talented batting coach Tim Wallach
OR
cause B: tips from talented batting coach Manny Mota
OR
cause C: ???
Player, Innings, Errors, Pct:
Edwards, 274, 6, .923
Valentin, 216, 7, .913
Perez, 265, 5, .944
Robles, 292, 2, .979
We are winning in spite of Edwards and Valentin today.
Does Tracy think Edwards is better defensive 3rd baseman than Valentin?
Is Perez at 3rd any worse than Edwards or Valentin?
The only recent news I could find of Derrell Griffith is of him serving as a pallbearer at someone's funeral last year:
http://tinyurl.com/dnocu
Appears to be the same guy. Either that, or it's a heckuva coincidence that he's also from Oklahoma and has the same unusual spelling of his first name.
Yahoo! People search shows a Derrell Griffith currently living in Tuttle, OK, about 38 miles away from where Dodger Derrell Griffith was born.
Someone brought up a great point in the other thread about in the late 1990's, Tom Kelly of the Twins wouldnt play David Ortiz or Todd Walker.
Me thinks thats akin to Hee Seop Choi, Antonio Perez, and Jim Tracy.
Kelly's been gone and no one wants him rehired.
I believe the same will happen to Tracy.
Welcome Raffy Furcal or Joel the Destroyer.
Perhaps people tend to admire, and overvalue, the things they can't do themselves. This is also discussed in Moneyball regarding Beane and his playing career.
Is it the same for Short Stops?
I think demonizing Tracy's favorite players (Phillips, Robles, Izturis) and rooting for them to fail and get injured is taking the Tracy-hatred a little too far. It's pretty disgusting, frankly.
I don't think any of those guys are the second coming, either, but they all have their uses, and it's not their fault that they are being misused.
However at the plate, how does Tommy John surgery effect how you swing the lumber?
Different muscles are used arent they?
Strange injury for Izturis.
Gagne was looking at missing all of next year if he had the surgery.
Chris Carpenter, John Smoltz, Kerry Wood all missed an entire season.
Maybe its just wishful thinking, but I hope this is the end of Izturis as the everyday SS. Perhaps this injury will force DePo, or give him an excuse, to look for another SS.
I was reading Ender's WS book the other night on the '88 series, and it actually brought tears to my eyes. I couldn;t believe it! Imagine how much abuse some of you guys would have been heaping on Mike Davis that year.
And then think how that turned out.
Good thing we got the runs, the Dodgers look terrible in the 3rd (I'm guessing it's Schmidt's fault, not the Dodgers)
Know what would mean about the skeeters...I'm extremely allergic to them.
If you missed Vin's announcement, Rockies tied the Padres game 2-2. Denial coming back if we win and Padres lose...
I'm worried if Iz is another who can't start next year-we don't have many major leagues.
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful team!
That started great on opening day,
destined for great things!
The team was sailing right along,
playing brave and sure!
But then one day along came May,
and then three months more; then three months more...
The games they started getting rough,
the players fell like flies.
The papers said without Tracy there,
the season would be lost; the season would be lost.
They were under .500 by fifteen games, then voices they got raised...
with Bradley-man, the Kent-man, too.
Lack of hustle was claimed... and racial strife...
April seems so far! And now we're all also-rans... here on Dodger's Isle!
"...and his wife..."
to
"...and racial strife..."
Seriously, is he okay? What happened?
103 Made it up when I got home fifteen minutes ago. I ain't teaching until this Monday. By that time, the bullet-proof vest should be delivered... :)
Tim Brown, you will never live that down!
You missed my post last night, so I'll repeat: When is the book on your experiences at Locke coming out? Will the movie be named The Principle XIV? Will James Belushi or Morgan Freeman star, or will you hold out for Tom Berenger?
They all do that.
I start at Locke on Monday. I'm going to visit again tomorrow. I'm what they call a "pool" teacher, which means I'm placed where needed. I got a buddy who's pooling at Los Angeles High School, just up the road from me. They don't need him right now... so he's getting paid for sittind down. Nice...
Me? I'm going to be used every day and not in the subject I was trained in--English. I might be teaching Spanish! Who knows?
As for a book, I'm pretty lazy when it comes to writing books. I'll have Icaros ghostwrite it. Obviously, if a movie is made I'll insist on playing myself. I could use the extra cash.
Wild times, the 1920's were.
Check out Mr. Saw Himself on TV a Few Weeks Ago.
I HAD IT TIVO'D AND THE WIFE ERASED IT!
May she rest in peace...
I've tried to be kinder and gentler since moving back into enemy territory.
A peacemaker, if you will.
This should be fun if I can stay awake...
Isn't it about time to make defensive substitutions.
Maybe that helps to explain his self-flagellative (new word?) journey into the depths of Locke High School.
Agassi on a major role right now.
126- are you kidding?
Weaver is back! This guy is a total choke artist. Anyone think he will reach 14 wins (a career high)
The only difference is in my version you trip coming down the steps, spilling coke in all directions...
Unreal.
That was in the original script, but somebody felt like that would ruin his career.
I'm sorry to see Izturis with such a major injury. From all accounts, he's a good, stand-up guy. Not his fault that Tracy leads him off and all this "glad he's hurt" crap is seriously misplaced and offensive.
What is up with Rick Monday? His comment on JT taking out Weaver: "Jim Tracy did not waste any time." Excuse me? He is one HR too late!!
I hate Tracy.
AP, Ledee, Choi are 0-0.
I had a tennis coach who said he knew a guy who knew Agassi. With that as a source, I heard Andre was in the batting cages once and started walking toward the pitching machine, bat in hand, and making contact on every single ball. The guy running the place told him to knock it off.
Looks like the match, by the by, is going five sets.
Now Jason Repko can stay in and play the OF too...
Ridiculous.
vr, Xei
But what is considered successful pct for bunt attempts? 75% or higher?
Weaver is going to be a very attractive free agent...about as attractive as Eric Milton (maybe some GMs will learn this year)
So what SS are FAs (short-term)?
i've got a funny feeling tracy will be back next season which basically destroys our chances next season.
also bradley might have to be traded which creates a hole we need to fill.
also i was hoping that izturis would be the main piece of a trade in the offseason for a starting pitcher, but now that he is injured that isn't going to happen, he was the only one with trade value that we don't need, guys like edwards repko phillips carrara have no value.
what a mess.
man i was hoping bigtime that izturis plus 1 or 2 others would have gotten us a penny type starting pitcher.
i don't want a millwood type from free agency, we have 4 mediocre starting pitchers right now, we lose one and add one = no gain.
burnett is the only free agent i'd go after but he's going to be pricey.
offseason holes we need to fill are 1 starting pitcher,3b,2 outfield spots if bradley is gone, 1b if tracy is still around, and then how about the bullpen.
what a friggin mess.
Best comment of the season.
191 Maybe Felipe thought JT would pinch hit with Choi?
And Repko.
vr, Xei
We give Tracy crap all the time for sitting high OPS hitters, let's not follow him.
190- sorry that you got your hopes up, but Izturis probably wouldn't have been traded with his value so low. If the McCourt wanted to please the media and build a team full of character guys, then I doubt he would want Izturis traded so he could sign FtB (Furcal the Boozer).
oldbear has probably passed out (from celebrating), but I hope he's having a good time, he got his wish.
I muted the Giants announcers and I can still hear them yelling. Olmedo is a rotten tomato.
Note: Eyre is just as effective against righty (.179)/lefty (.179)
if so the mess gets bigger, how do you let bradley walk and not get anything for him.
Olmedo, Edwards, and Valentin should not have started this game.
Choi, AP, and Ledee should have.
The former are 0-9 and have left 7 men on base.
Why the hell was Tyler Walker the closer then?
Furcal, Guzman, even Robles. Doesnt matter I'm very happy Izturis is done for next year.
I hope Furcal is brought in, but I'll settle on the other two.
Remove the other Scrap also: Repko, Edwards, Valentin, Tracy, Phillips.
Luckily, all those guys have 1 year deals. I doubt any are brought back.
Can you say Heidi?
there are gm's that would want a mediocre hitter that has very good defense at ss.
man what do you want, do you want the dodgers to suck, thats what you'll get if you want izturis and tracy around, and you are the biggest izturis and tracy supporter on this site.
IP H W K ERA
58 36 24 53 2.62
Too bad non of our relievers are as good.
At least Justice will win tonite.
Yes, I'm aware of some of the excellent input on this site but your comment sums up this season for me with brevity and humor.
I think someone made a boo-boo. Sad.
vr, Xei
Not if LA loses another outfielder to injury this season.
I'm done, folks. Been good. Same time tomorrow.. and same thing, probably.
Best....
vr, Xei
Jon, it's not a night for LA sports fans.
I thought you said legit, thanks for the laugh.
218- Izturis played quality defense before this year and had a .330 OBP in Dodger Stadium. If Miguel Tejada was on the market, I'd drive Izturis to the airport. There is nobody on the market that is a big enough upgrade to warrant the raise in salary.
The Giants announcers are now using words like "ownage". Very professional.
Woohoo for Cruz. Too bad he wasn't batting with the bases loaded
I don't think I like that idea.
GO RAIDERS!!
3-3 in the tiebreaker.
That's what happens to greedy people who want 2,000 channels all to themselves.
298 I can sympathize. Doesn't help either of us but I can directly sympathize.
Just found out that Agassi won it.
What a match!
Man I wish I could have seen it.
It is useful, however, if I ever want to know if it is raining really hard outside.
In slightly more recent history, remember Connors' last stand in around 1990 or so?
Aye, carumba!
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/gd2005.html?2005_04_12_sfnmlb_lanmlb_1
There's are 2006 SS!!!!!
What is our record in games where we score 8 runs? vr, Xei
Now we can extend our 28-0 record when we score 7 or more runs.
vr, Xei
Ha ha!
Cruz- CF
Grabowski- RF
3rd- Saenz
SS- Robles
2nd- Kent
1st- Choi
C- Navarro
Aweseome.
Pray for extra innings!
Stan from Tacoma
Tracy: Should we bunt?
8 Ball: Ask again later.
vr, Xei
Particularly funny when the host said "can you imagine the message it would send in the clubhouse if Erstad were benched". The caller responded "yes. performance matters".
Bob, Steve, I'm glad you were there.
Bob's scorebook can now be properly retired.
Stan from Yacoma
I still like beating the Gnats.
Nothing like stepping on the Giant's Hearts!
Hey, SB, one of my favorite Traffic songs!
Dodgers must sweep Padres this weekend.
vr, Xei
I'd like to bring him back as a 4th OF'er. Ledee is our 5th OF'er.
Werth, Giles, Drew as starters aint bad.
Confucious, forget backwards "K" SO Choke!
He's a big huge loser! :)
Thanks of course by some errors by the Gnats.
If Padres lose tomorrow, then we sweep them. Only 3 games back.
Cruz has to be offered arbitration by the Dodgers. If he declines, I wonder if he's worth a 1st rounder?
That would be 3 1st round picks counting the one we already have, and the one from Weaver.
Winn: .299/.331/.551 with 5 SB
Cruz: .304/.400/.449
Cruz bumped his OPS significantly with tonight's performance, but Winn got a homer of his own. Both teams are hurting for offense, but I'd have to think the Dodgers needed Cruz more than the Giants needed Winn. Plus, we gave up nothing while the Giants gave up some good players.
The season is O-V-E-R...
Time to prepare for next year. Sign Cruz. Cruz to the title. (trying to sound like a Baedeaker hot tip at the track!)
Sign Weaver and "Weave" us a championship! (More Baedeaker track talk)
But now my recap:
I must say that I was seated in front of some very nice people who really weren't too up on baseball, but liked to act like it.
Here were a sample of their comments today:
"J.T. Snow's father was a quarterback for the Rams. Now he's a Senator."
"Why doesn't Jason Grabowski play more?"
"Good thing Grabowski is running here. He's really fast."
(Man returns to seat to find J.T. Snow on second with none out in the 8th) "No one out and runner on 2nd. This guy should be bunting." (Moises Alou was batting)
"Four straight walks? Who would keep a stat like that."
"The Giants are bringing their closer in too early" (upon the entrance of Tyler Walker)
I think my experience at Dodger games this year has been like something out of Greek mythology. I have been cursed by someone. The only three games I have seen the Dodgers win in person this year were 9th inning, come from behind wins. Two of them by 9-8 scores! The other 7 games were just miserable affairs.
Or maybe this is more like Faust.
I'm not sure.
Time to go back and peruse the comments.
I heard about Izzy through back channels.
1. Cruz
2. Robles
3. Edwards
What a game!
Choi? Perez? Osoria? Brazoban? Nope, it's EDWARDS!
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