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
* * *
I have to say, Tim Salmon could be one of the better stories in baseball this year. At least, I'm rooting for him to be.
We know all about the Dodger outfield, but that Angel outfield isn't exactly the youngest or healthiest in baseball, either. Come to think of it, all four three-or-more-worded California teams are tender in the grass.
Anyway ...
Welcome home, team.
Let Repko and Ross run around in the mud. They're expendable!
Physioc and Hudler for everybody!
http://tinyurl.com/k7sm7
Either him or Butch Henry, who posted the second-best ERA in MLB in 1994.
Santa Marg Eagles, Nate?
Most famous from my high school is a guy named Tiger Woods who just beats out Andy Messersmith.
go eagles!.... i guess.
Santa Margarita and I think a new catholic school(Juniper?maybe I don't know the name) are taking a big bite out of Mater Dei football. I guess all sports eventually.
He was a steal last year, but not much was expected. As with Garciaparra, nobody's predicting a return to 30-homer seasons. But until Joel Guzman is ready or somebody like Kevin Mench is acquired, whatever Cruz can provide will be needed.
huh? is kevin mench really an upgrade over cruz?
In Dodger affairs, I'm sure we're all waiting with bated breath for the result of the Ross situation
http://tinyurl.com/8naco
During the WBC, my mom said to me, "Hey, you know who I saw playing baseball for Canada on TV the other day? That Morneau boy. I remember when you used to play against him in Little League. You used to strike him out all the time." My reply: "Mom, I'm pretty sure I didn't play against Justin Morneau, let alone strike him out all the time. I'm 12 years older than him. Depending on which stage of my Little League days your remembering, Morneau was either in a crib somewhere, in his mother's belly, or was just a twinkle in his father's eye." Aren't moms great?
Cabrera with the Olney.
They brought the light blue outfield back? That makes me happy. I never liked the dark blue. Did they get rid of the murals (which I also didn't like)?
tag was to the front of the bag and Figgins slid to the back of the base.
Erstad professionally hit the heck out of that one!
Yes they did. It looks freaking great. memories.
Ugh...
Blank light blue walls >>> Dark blue walls with murals >>> Light blue walls with ads
But, I guess $11/yr contracts for 40-yr old 2nd basemen don't pay for themselves.
It might just be the hair cut. repko inside the park HR standing.
Repko came around to score on his hit, but I can't believe it will be ruled an HR.
Anderson should have stopped the ball. Repko did not hit the ball particularly hard.
wasnt there someone hear trying to justify his contract saying how good he looked this spring?
(ducks and runs)
My prediction is that he'll struggle for the first month or two, probably sitting with an ERA in the high 3's or low 4's but then will finally adjust to his weaker fastball and become semi-dominant again, posting a mid 2's ERA the rest of the way. Final line will look something like 3.00 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 37 saves, 72 IP, 95 K's.
Then again, if he does regain the velocity on his fastball then he could put up another classic line with insane strikeout numbers and very few blown saves. As always, health could throw everything out the window, which is something else that is a concern.
You can't contain Repko, you can only hope to boot him off the roster.
This is the first I have heard of the ruptured eardrum. Is that new or did I miss it.
Dodgers acquired infielder Wilson Valdez from the Royals for RHP Jarod Plummer.
The 27-year-old Valdez is just added Triple-A depth. He's a quality defensive shortstop, but he just can't hit. Plummer, 22, was a 26th-round pick in 2002. He divided last year between A-ball teams and had a 3.87 ERA in 83 2/3 innings. Mar. 31 - 11:59 pm et
- Rotoworld
Or Navarro is just in a really really bad slump to begin the year...?
Thank you Charlie Steiner.
Skip Bayless.
Of all the people, why did it have to be him?
It's like running for office and getting an endorsement from Lyndon Larouche.
In some dark, smoke filled Las Vegas nite spot, Jimmy Rohan sits at the end of the bar. The down on his luck AAA shortstop, ponders aimlessly as the bartender pours one final shot out...
he looks like a pitching version of brian cook. Meaning, tall, unathletic and does one thing well (throws strikes).
I too was wondering. . .
Forgetting the subject of the sentence, this begs the question:
What do "winning" teams do off the field?
Is it different from what a "losing" team does off the field?
Perplexing.
they also fly in strippers from across the country.
https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/255142.html
I would have to think so as well. The probability of Plummer contributing in the major leagues must be greater than 0, while Valdez appears to have no chance.
I thought you were joking around oldbear. I feel sick. Valdez has been on waivers a bunch of times. Ned truly is a moron.
Jarod and I have the same birthday! Except I'm 10 years older...
"We swing 0-0 here."
Jose Lima decided to go to AAA after all (Newsday).
88 - "Closer Eric Gagne had an infection of his inner and outer left ear and was being treated with antibiotics. The original diagnosis was a puncture of the eardrum, but that was revised on further examination. Gagne entered in the fifth inning and Garret Anderson homered on his third pitch. Gagne yielded a second run in the inning." (MLB.com)
I really like Osoria. He seems to fit into the classic setup man mold (like Quantrill): throws strikes, has good movement, induces ground balls. I wouldn't be surprised if he's our 7th inning guy before too long.
Wunsch
It's really nice to see that uniform number 5 playing first base doesn't have a guy named Choi inside of it
Nomar looks like he pulls off the ball at the plate though – I want to see him drive the ball to right more
Gagne looks really flat. Fastest pitch I saw was 90 and it didn't get by anyone. Without a 94 mph fastball it looks like guys can sit more on the splitter. Weaver was throwing as hard as him in the 5th inning. I really hope Eric's still recovering from surgery and not going downhill after not being able to juice anymore – no accusations here, just hope.
Mueller looks awkward at the plate and at third. I think he doesn't have much in the way of fast twitch muscles. I guess he's a professional hitter though and he gets the job done.
JD Drew looks really good with his stroke. They should drop him into a full body ice whirlpool after games to make sure he doesn't pull any muscles. I wrote these sentences before he hit a home run and now I think he looks even better. He has a short compact swing that generates a lot of bat speed – real good mechanics at the plate.
Repko's a player – he's a really good fourth outfielder and he'll get a ton of time with Lofton on the team – that's a good platoon.
I like Odalis – I think he's the second coming of Tom Glavine – he should watch all the film of Glavine he can to see how to make 5 million a year without ever throwing above 87 or below 79.
I also graduated from SM. Don't forget Chris Rix also went to SM. It's a shame he never panned out though. What year did you graduate?
It has not yet reached "cow pissing on a rock" stage, as my father would say.
i graduated in 04, how about you?
(I changed the channel. I'm one of the 11 people in the US that don't care for Seinfeld. Heresy, I know.)
03 for me.....weird
I wonder if we know each other
can anyone explain why he was pitching in the rain with a freakin' ear infection in a spring training game?
I'm assuming to work out his arm, get rid of the bone chips or whatever, work off the rust... etc. But doesn't it seem a bit like an unnecessary risk?
Oh well. No one was hurt tonight, I guess that's the best news (right?)
Let me preface this by saying I'm not a Dodger fan but Dodger Stadium is my favorite local venue.
DODGER STADIUM LOOKS GREAT!
The McCourts finally did something right...the pastel seats look great, feel great (cup holder, whoo hoo!), the aqua outfield wall fit right in...sure, it's only aesthetics, but Chavez Ravine LOOKS like a great park and I'm pretty sure they'll have a great team in there this year.
What is wrong with Mueller? He's been slugging well over .500 this spring, and looked very good tonight, double, and a couple other singles, including an RBI.
As for Nomar, contrary to oldbear's steriod opinion, it is that he is kinda lunging at the ball, and opening up to soon. It is not that he's lost bat speed or anything like that, he's just gotta take a Drew like approach, instead of pressing, just fine tune, because he's been out in front of the ball.
About the game itself? A few plays aside, it felt like it was being played at 80% speed (not surprising, given the weather). Repko's 2-out bunt seemed mind-numbingly stupid -- what were the TV comments about that (if any?) Once the Dodgers scored their first batch of runs, they seemed to settle into a disturbing pattern of swinging early in the count and not getting strong or solid contact... a lot of weak fly balls and ground-outs. The decided lack of power made me wish they still had a lefty bat with some pop coming off the bench (cough cough).
Very nice to see a Dodger catcher throw out runners (repeatedly!) at second, though. And JD's stroke is very smooth right now.
Gagne looked horrible.
The Dodgers' postseason aspirations looked more attainable with each passing day of spring training. But they received a dose of bad news after Friday's 6-6 rain shortened tie against the Los Angeles Angels at Dodger Stadium.
Shortstop Rafael Furcal is out for the season as the Dodgers' shortstop and leadoff hitter because he needs surgery on his right knee. Furcal's MRI exam Friday morning revealed a second-degree sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament suffered in Monday's 4-2 win against the Detroit Tigers.
In layman's terms, a second-degree sprain means that Furcal has a partial tear of his ACL. A third-degree sprain is a complete tear. According to team physician Frank Jobe, only in rare cases has he experienced an individual recovering from a second-degree ACL sprain without undergoing surgery.
Jobe said the surgery could be done as an arthroscopic-assisted procedure, which means only a small incision in the knee has to be made.
For now, the shortstop position will be shared by Ramon Martinez and Oscar Robles.
"More than likely, he will have the surgery,'' Jobe said. "If he shows me he doesn't need the surgery, I'd be surprised. I've very seldom seen a Grade 2 sprain heal without surgery.''
Dreifort had been the Dodgers' busiest reliever, serving as the bridge to Mota and closer Eric Gagne. But Dreifort struggled in his new role, going 0-3 with a 12.15 ERA. Tracy said he has no regrets about placing Dreifort in the setup role but stated that Dreifort had not pitched well in recent appearances.
Furcal, who signed a three-year, $39 million free agent contract this winter, who has been slowed by a strained lower back the last few days, was thought to have shown enough improvement to be on target for the opener, but recent events have changed those plans.
The Dodgers' postseason aspirations looked more attainable with each passing day of spring training. But they received a dose of bad news after Friday's 6-6 rain shortened tie against the Los Angeles Angels at Dodger Stadium.
Shortstop Rafael Furcal is out for the season as the Dodgers' shortstop and leadoff hitter because he needs surgery on his right knee. Furcal's MRI exam Friday morning revealed a second-degree sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament suffered in Monday's 4-2 win against the Detroit Tigers.
In layman's terms, a second-degree sprain means that Furcal has a partial tear of his ACL. A third-degree sprain is a complete tear. According to team physician Frank Jobe, only in rare cases has he experienced an individual recovering from a second-degree ACL sprain without undergoing surgery.
Jobe said the surgery could be done as an arthroscopic-assisted procedure, which means only a small incision in the knee has to be made.
For now, the shortstop position will be shared by Ramon Martinez and Oscar Robles.
"More than likely, he will have the surgery,'' Jobe said. "If he shows me he doesn't need the surgery, I'd be surprised. I've very seldom seen a Grade 2 sprain heal without surgery.''
Furcal, who signed a three-year, $39 million free agent contract this winter, who has been slowed by a strained lower back the last few days, was thought to have shown enough improvement to be on target for the opener, but recent events have changed those plans.
i am a little buzzed, i refreshed DT comments and what do i see,
"FURCAL OUT FOR THE SEASON"
i just freak out and remember... april fools! mannnn thats not funny!
Glad that's over. Can that be the official DT prank? Or are there going to be more?
If I had said "Carter out for the season" would anybody care?
http://tinyurl.com/z87tm
Big thanks to Uncle Miltie for tricking me in to hitting the LA Times website. I hope you're proud of yourself.
Thats bad. This could be worse:
I'm gonna call my ex-gf up and tell her I have HIV and that she should get tested too.
Shortstop Rafael Furcal is out for the season
Can they now move the destroyer back to SS?
Nomar and Drew are the exact opposite in terms of hitting approach and have been so their entire careers.
You sounded good. Sore throats agree with you.
Two detail problems. First, it was his back that was hurting. Second, 2nd-degree sprains do heal without surgery. As long as there's some blood flow (partial tear, not complete), it's a 6-7 week proposition. Probably fewer for an elite athlete in his prime with top-of-the-line care.
Uh, so yeah, I take it back. With the Dodger training staff, it's probably a season-ender. Because it's probably an undiagnosed case of leprosy.
Phyzzy and Huddy were in rare form today. Geez. Gagne's Tommy John surgery, all the professional hitting, grittiness, and leadership. I muted, but then couldn't get the close-captioning off the screen. So I un-muted, and just turned the volume to zero. Ah.......silenccccccccce....
What's the over-under on number of plate appearances before Nomar takes a first pitch?
I'm officially projecting a sub-.800 OPS this season. Closer to .750. Which is OK if you're, ya know, a shortstop.
"The game was called in the middle of the eighth inning, shortly after Edgardo Alfonzo's single to right had scored Maicer Izturis from second to put the Angels ahead, 7-6. But because the Dodgers did not get to bat in their half of the inning, the game reverted to a tie."
And MLB.com lists a 6-6 score. But the game should have just been declared over with the Angels ahead 7-6. If it had been a regulation game, it would have been suspended. Unless the old rule is in place for exhibition games, the final score of a game should be what's on the board when the umpire says it over unless it hasn't gone 5 innings.
The score of a regulation game is the total number of runs scored by each team at the moment the game ends.
The score was Angels 7, Dodgers 6 when the game ended.
This is going to bother me.
A lot.
Until the Final Four starts.
I assumed when the rain delay began that the final score would be 6-6 if they didn't play anymore.
I'm fairly certain there have been tie games in baseball in recent years (All-Star games notwithstanding).
Maybe "the moment the game ends" is defined in this situation as the moment after the reversion to the previous inning.
So a game like last night in the regular season would have been suspended. The Dodgers and Giants had a similar situation back in 2000. I believe it was the second game in the history of Pac Bell.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04120SFN2000.htm
Here is Rule 4.11 in its entirety:
4.11
The score of a regulation game is the total number of runs scored by each team at the moment the game ends. (a) The game ends when the visiting team completes its half of the ninth inning if the home team is ahead. (b) The game ends when the ninth inning is completed, if the visiting team is ahead. (c) If the home team scores the winning run in its half of the ninth inning (or its half of an extra inning after a tie), the game ends immediately when the winning run is scored. EXCEPTION: If the last batter in a game hits a home run out of the playing field, the batter runner and all runners on base are permitted to score, in accordance with the base running rules, and the game ends when the batter runner touches home plate. APPROVED RULING: The batter hits a home run out of the playing field to win the game in the last half of the ninth or an extra inning, but is called out for passing a preceding runner. The game ends immediately when the winning run is scored. (d) A called game ends at the moment the umpire terminates play. EXCEPTION: If the game is called while an inning is in progress and before it is completed, the game becomes a SUSPENDED game in each of the following situations: (1) The visiting team has scored one or more runs to tie the score and the home team has not scored; (2) The visiting team has scored one or more runs to take the lead and the home team has not tied the score or retaken the lead. National Association Leagues may also adopt the following rules for suspended games in addition to 4.11 (d) (1) & (2) above. (If adopted by a National Association League, Rule 4.10 (c) (d) & (e) would not apply to their games.): (3) The game has not become a regulation game (4 1/2 innings with the home team ahead, or 5 innings with the visiting club ahead or tied). (4) Any regulation game tied at the point play is stopped because of weather, curfew or other reason. (5) If a game is suspended before it becomes a regulation game, and is continued prior to another regularly scheduled game, the regularly scheduled game will be limited to seven innings. (6) If a game is suspended after it is a regulation game, and is continued prior to another regularly scheduled game, the regularly scheduled game will be a nine inning game. EXCEPTION: The above sections (3), (4), (5) & (6) will not apply to the last scheduled game between the two teams during the championship season, or League Playoffs. Any suspended game not completed prior to the last scheduled game between the two teams during the championship season, will become a called game.
I'm Matt McConnell SM class of 03.....
Who are you and where do you go now?
Billingsley's pitching tonight though, right? That should be interesting. Hope he does well.
Dodgers re-sign Darren Dreifort to 3 year deal
but knew no one here would buy it.
What about:
"Dodgers sign Jose Lima after he refused AAA assignment from the Mets" - Nah, no one would have bought that one, either.
The game ended. The Angels were ahead 7-6.
I just don't like seeing people pulling rules out of their (insert euphemism here) and making stuff up. Even if it is April 1.
https://www.google.com/romance/
So sayeth the University's website.
One of them is in Doha, Qatar.
http://entomology.library.cornell.edu/
Now that is one narrow focus.
Cornell Blue Fan, I might be making an assumption but I think nate purcell's name might actually be nate purcell.
Not my business but I couldn't not point that out. didn't want an abbot and costello routine to break out. ;.>
Espn Classic is running a show from 11am to 5pm PST titled: MLB Classic Flame-throwers.
Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, JIM ABBOTT,DAVID CONE,DAVID WELLS, FERNANDO VALENZUELA.
right now they are showing RJ'S perfect game against the braves so I am guessing they are showing no-hitters which might have been a better title for the show.
yea my nate is Nate...Purcell. lol.
i go to U of Arizona. Your name sounds really familiar.
ha, my roommate knows you. I just went to ask him. His name is dustin cavanaugh. small world.
from what i watched, his fb didnt have the zip on it, it was more 90-93 instead of 93-95. His slider still needs work and he still telegraphs his change up and slider- he slowns down his arm motion when hes about to throw those pitches.
isn't the fact that his fastball was 97-95(when he faced Randy Johnson) and fell to 92-90 after injuries the real reason for his problems? combined with only having one other pitch. is he truly healthy or is something wrong with his delivery?
The Cubs will send Matt Murton, Rich Hill, and Angel Guzman to the Brewers for slugger Carlos Lee.
eh nevermind, its probably an april fools joke.
I figured that was your name, it just didn't ring a bell. Ya I know Dustin. Cool kid. You know Kenny Chambers. He and I played baseball at SM but he transfered to Capo after our Sophomore season. Hes at UA and is a cool kid too. Small world.
that is stunning. you are giving up your tickets to opening day, correct? looks like something historic might happen.
I can see the 88 WS because Hershiser was scheduled for GM 2 but man oh man. At least you didn't go and then leave early.
dustin told me you and him
I take it English isn't your field of endeavor?
I think that would be Meyers or Eddie Doucette.
that's right. why would they go from the espn television broadcast(with thorne) to meyers and ron cey(which sounded like it was a radio broadcast) for the ninth. Meyer actually pulled a Vin and didn't speak for a full 30 seconds.
what a great line (again) from Vin.
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