Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Jon's other site:
Screen Jam
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
With Jose Cruz, Jr. (along with Ricky Ledee) headed off to the World Baseball Championships, otherwise known as Grady Little's "You Do the Math" zone, the starting left field job has become rookie Joel Guzman's to lose. And while it's true that Guzman may still misplace it at the outset of 2006, it's fun to think about what might happen if he puts it in the vault.
Not only does the Dodger starting lineup become that much more interesting to watch, but the bench becomes stronger with Cruz (or Kenny Lofton, on his days off) joining it.
If the Dodgers were truly Strat-o-Matic players, they would let Guzman also serve as a backup/double-switch shortstop and first baseman, thus providing even more flexibility - although the team seems pretty determined to end Guzman's shortstop playing days immediately.
What's important to keep in mind is that just because Guzman might not be ready to start in April doesn't mean he's a failure - it just means he isn't ready. But it's fun to think of what it would mean if he were.
* * *
Bill Plaschke's Times column today on Derek Lowe's actions of July 2, in a nutshell:
He didn't want to be there.
He didn't want to be there.
He didn't want to be there.
In a startling contrast, however, Plaschke refrains from wielding the judgmental stick the way he did last week with Sasha Cohen, who had the temerity to be nervous at age 21 about winning a gold medal. Plaschke's conclusion, that butterflies meant that Cohen did not want to go for gold, was as much of a stumble off the ice as Cohen made on the ice.
This week, athletes are allowed to be human. I'm not sure what prompted the change - perhaps Lowe's checkout moment wasn't in the championship round, so it was all okay - but I like the change.
* * *
The oxymoronically official exhibition opener is today! Brad Penny, Aaron Sele, Lance Carter, Kelly Wunsch, Tim Hamulack and Danys Baez are scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers in Vero Beach against the Braves at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
And fresh over the Associated Press wires, Eric Gagne will be away from camp for a few days for personal reasons. Grady Little said that Gagne "feels great" and will pitch next week, but Little did not go into specifics about Gagne's departure.
Update: "Family reasons" are cited as the cause for Bob Welch's departure from Class A Ogden as pitching coach - for the entire season.
Update 2: My boss at SI.com, Jacob Luft, has a short bit on Dodger catcher Dioner Navarro which begins thusly:
Dioner Navarro has the baseball cards of two players on top of his locker: Pudge Rodriguez and Jason Phillips. Can you guess which one he put there and which one is the product of a practical joke?
Update 3: Former Times sportswriter and assistant sports editor Randy Harvey will replace Bill Dwyre as Sports Editor. (Thanks to Kevin Roderick at L.A. Observed for passing on the news.) Harvey spent more than two decades at the Times in a previous stint. He will start in April; Dwyre will remain on staff, perhaps as a writer.
I always knew this day would come, except that I had expected the announcement to name Dwyre lieutenant Dave Morgan. But Morgan recently left the Times for Yahoo!.
By the way, I should have said more about the recent passing of Otis Chandler. Just haven't had the time to find a meaningful perspective. L.A. Observed covered it very well.
AUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!
My eyes!!!!!!!!
The Plaschke protective goggles! They do nothing!
I asked these questions about mlb.tv in the last thread but got no responses:
1. I can only pay for one month and then cancel right?
2. Do they have the games available to watch after they're completed?
3. Are there any blackouts?
Maybe it's just bad Dodger PR - as if that could ever happen. One would think that if it was truly nothing the organization would go out of their way to explain his absence to stop any speculation. But to shroud it in "personal reasons" just seems odd.
Hopefully it's nothing but bad PR.
2. Do they have the games available to watch after they're completed?
3. Are there any blackouts?
1. yes, you have to call and cancel.
2. yes.
3. yes, depends where you live. for example, i live in tucson right now, and san diego and dback games are blacked out on mlb.tv :(
who know whys san diego is blacked oout.
I'm assuming I wouldn't be able to watch regular season games, but are there any blackouts during the spring?
1. Yes, but if you pay for the whole year it is a better deal.
2. Yes, usually right after they are done, but sometimes itll take a while, and on rare occurances the game will never appear.
3. Yes, there are lots of blackouts unfortunately. Anything that could be considered local, so for example, if you are in upstate New York and the Dodgers are playing the Mets, you cannot watch the game. The main other one is on saturdays with the fox national coverage. Essentially, anything national will be blacked out unless you are out of the country. I had what would have been a really bad experience in 2004, as the Finley grand slam game was blacked out, but i got to listen to it on the radio.
Is this Tracy's way of getting back at the Dodgers? Dodgerthoughts Posters?
Since they're all the way in Florida and I'm all the way in LA, they couldn't block out spring games right?
Penny pitching in the 1st:
ground to SS
pop up to 3B
single to center (i think)
HBP
ground to 2B
Sosa pitching to us:
Lofton singles off the pitcher's leg
Aybar pops to Crespo (3B maybe?)
Nomar singles off the pitcher's butt (might be changed to error)
I'm local
Gagne like me probably has a new cat at home and his wife couldn't find him in the basement.
I told Eric not to feed his cat poutine!
24 So lets all make guesses on what the personal problem was. Im going with the house in Quebec needed more firewood. I think, as a result, we should all hold a candlelight vigil and pray to the gods that the tree does not fall on his right arm.
After Ledee fouls out to 3B, Cruz knocks one up the middle to score the 1st run of the game.
The veterans who have gotten a lot of strife from the DT crowd are off to a good start.
http://tinyurl.com/dgz8p
Heh. My frustration is that it's snowing like crazy here in RI, and a little baseball would be great.
And they finally got the feed straightened out. Woo hoo!
But on the bright side, the audio started working.
Ahh, the Canadian cafe in Monrovia. I've never heard anyone say they like it.
Yet it seems to stay in business. Go figure.
For those not able to listen, he made a couple nice plays in the hole this inning.
Fascinating to know that was what was going on. It was a real downer to watch.
Nor do I have much sympathy...
Steiner just praised BROTheR for his incredible defensive abilities, and Monday reminisced about The Catch.
How long til you reconsider my Steiner petition?
C
I am stuck at work with no access to the game. My only updates are from everyone at DT.
Thanks in advance.
Maybe someone said the 'T' word (trade) to him and he's mulling it over to see how he feels about the possibility...
Dodger pitchers so far:
Penny - 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER
Sele - 2 IP, 0 ER
Baez - 1 IP, 1 BB, 0 H, 0 ER
Carter - 1 IP, 0 BB, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K
now Hamulack's in the game.
Hamulack 1st three batters. Walk, ground single through second, line drive hit, runner held, bases loaded.
End of 7 1/2, still 3-1 Dodgers.
Grittle forgot to add "We swing on 1-0 and 2-0 here".
C - Alomar
1B - Loney
2B - R. Martinez
SS - Abreu
3B - LaRoche
LF - D. Young
CF - Repko
RF - Kemp
I guess Guzman was pinch-hitting for the pitcher, or maybe I just heard the name wrong.
Dodgers only got 4 hits today and I think they were all in the first two innings against Sosa. Better luck for the prospects tomorrow.
Game's over by the way, Dodgers win 3-2.
http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3275423
Steiner invoked the name of Erickson when Sele came in. At least Sele managed to strike out a couple of guys.
I'm not welcome in Ogden at any time. It must have been because I once mooned the crowd at a Weber State basketball game.
So all 4 Dodger hits were in the first inning. I guess you can't expect a ton when Kent, Drew, and Furcal aren't playing yet. It'll be nice to see the game tomorrow.
http://tinyurl.com/rdn6b
You can never have too much pitching, or too many middle relievers.
I wonder what Sele's wife looks like.
From L.A. Observed
http://tinyurl.com/ja2po
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-dodgers-drew&prov=ap&type=lgns
Plaschke and Simers better start looking for new jobs and Jon will look good on Page 2.
Stated in the All-Baseball Dodger Thoughts comments, in December 2004, by some lunatic who used to have parentheses around the DC in his screen name: "Given the strong views on all sides, I think Choi Watch 2005 will be a particularly fun part of this site."
Seriously, you should consider revoking that guy's commenting privileges.
This was almost like a gameday thread.
http://tinyurl.com/jbtxl
Seems no one wanted to walk. Although no one wanted to get on base at all, so it's not so bad. Sure is nice that baseball's back. And at 6:30 tonight, Choi and Seo take on Hu and Kuo, for even more Dodger baseball
"Excuse a stupid question that has probably been answered elsewhere a few times but, can someone please explain VORP and what its supposed to signify? Thanks.
BTY, love the blog Jon.
Posted by Marty at August 24, 2004 12:56 PM "
"Werth looks very little like Kingman to me.
Posted by Jon at August 26, 2004 11:08 AM"
BTY
Is that like MYP?
I guess no one pays attention to my comments anymore. :-( 106
Before Gore's Super Highway, you had to talk to more people and it took longer to find the hard parts. And we like it! I sold my old turntable because my wife loved hers. It sucked. It finally died. Now I am saving pennies for a Thorens.
Darren McGavin
Dennis Weaver
and now ...
Jack Wild
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,18473,00.html
Steve will be sad because I'm sure he was a big "H.R. Pufnstuf" fan.
Pirates 9 - Nats 1
They had a shortstop playing by the name of J.Guzman. Have we traded him already? I hope we got something good, like Jim Tracy's treatise on arm angles.
Yeah, I hate when that happens.
I might watch it, but I would have to watch on my computer as my cable system doesn't get ESPNDeportes. I would watch the first game, but not the second as I like sleeping.
But I don't know if I can get the video on my Powerbook. Anyone have experience with that?
...the Dodgers announced today that we'll be bringing a few guest analysts to KFWB during Spring Training. Jerry Reuss, Steve Yeager and Tom Goodwin will all be on the air at various times, as will A Martinez and a pair of Dodger "farmhands," Brian Petrotta and Russ Langer."
Petrotta does the VB Dodger games (2003-2004 he was in Ogden doing the Pioneer League games for the Dodger farm club) and Langer is the Las Vegas club radio broadcaster. Petrotta might have insight on some prospects since he saw Chad and Russ in Ogden and Andy LaRoche (both in Ogden and VB) and Matt Kemp in VB. Also Yeager was a coach at Jacksonville, so that might be interesting if he doesn't go back and tell the story about the invention of the throat protecter.
I guess Dusty won't be calling Tom Goodwin for an outfield spot (at least not until July).
His book 5 O'clock Comes Early was inspirational for me.
That being said, I would like to point out that on the press release, it states "family reasons" not "personal reasons." Considering his past, I think that is an important distinction.
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.