You get a 6-0 lead in the 5th, your team should win. Period. Bitching at Kent for not hitting afterwards, or even at Green for stealing that extra-base hit from Furcal... it shouldn't come to that.

Good teams do not blow 5+ leads. They especially don't do it two times in three days.

New lineup
1. Furcal SS (he can still walk)
2. Aybar 2B
3. Drew RF
4. Nomar 1B
5. Mueller 3B
6. Cruz/Ethier (spelling?) LF
7. Repko CF
8. Navarro C

Still not very good, but better than our current lineup.

Right now, the Dodgers are not a good team. At best, they are mediocre with a high upside.

We know this team can score runs, even if that's inconsistent, too.

Other things we know:
- Gagne will be back (We don't know how effective, but he'll help)
- The season is very long and it's still very early.
- The minors have some players who can help, some of whom are already here; more could be coming. Little and Colletti have already shown that they'll only be so patient and I like that.
- All it takes is a few streaks and we're in first place in a mediocre division.

That's all I have to say, except try to keep the faith a little, guys.

Night!

Dodgers must be the outlier in that argument. Such great chemistry, and yet 2-9 in 1 run games.

Apathy is good medicine.

They got ringing endorsements from Plaschke. Why did you have to suddenly go and brag about the Lakers? Same thing with USC and the Rose Bowl.

...

Bonjour, monsieurs Jackson and Tiffany.

The guy is a disease.

What upside? The Dodgers as a team have pretty much been statistically what most projected them to be before the season. Good OBP, Poor SLG, Average ERA.

12-15 has resulted.

The "upside" if there was upside would be from players improving. Which pitchers are going to improve enough to make up for the lack of power and age of the position players, over the course of the year?

Ah, rats. Lowe's wasted outing yesterday, Perez's blowup today; you shouldn't lose to teams in your own division like this.

Fixed. :)

Like I said the other day, a healthy Oscar Robles is better (or equal, depending on your opinion) than a hurt Furcal. Same thing can probably said for a healthy Aybar being better than a hurt Kent. If two of your better players are barely playing better than replacement level players because of injury, things need to change.

More importantly, the pitching stinks...

- Nomar has been a mildly pleasant surprise.
- So has Lofton.
- Penny and Lowe will be solid enough. Billingsley is close to a promotion.
- The two young kids we've temporarily promoted -- Ethier and Loney -- have had sensible ABs. Loney doesn't have a ton of power at this point, but he showed a good eye at the plate. I've seen very little of Ethier, but I like what I see.
- We're scoring runs.
- Baez, despite the bitching, is a more-than-competent closer. He's no lights-out, game-over Gagne, but he's reasonably solid.
- Broxton and Kuo, while inconsistent, are showing real flashes of domination.
- Mueller is a rock at third.

Fortunately, we're in a division that's pretty evenly matched. No one's going to run away with it... and despite the poor pitching over the last few days, the Dodgers have had a run of poor luck at the plate. Kent's been hitting the ball hard with increasing frequency.... just right at people. And who could've predicted that Shawn Green would make game-saving catches on back-to-back nights?

The pendulum has swung one way.... it'll swing back.

As I said in previous thread, I do secretly or not so secretly hope Billingsley gets the call sooner rather than later.

And
17 I hear you, totally, I hope not, too. But I really think they are more likely to give the kids a chance at this point than trade them. We'll see...

Wasn't I asleep a few minutes ago? Why am I still typing?

Hah, I have popped your precious bubble of positivity. -Insert mad scientist evil laugh here-

cb charles gordon
wr hank baskett
rb taurean henderson

i cant believe they didnt get drafted.

I know there are a few Rams fans left on the board still. I think the Rams had a decent draft. I'm still a little upset they passed on Ngata to take a 5'9 corner back.

Cb has been a problem with the Rams for awhile.

from what ive read and stuff, childress and rogers (qb coach) really like him. a week before the draft, rogers and bevell (offensive coordinator) went down to alabama for a secret workout with jackson. I guess they see a ton of untapped potential in him.

i use to work at the country club and yea, alot of moms that look like they came out of the blonde factory.

"mike says he is only partying once a week and has a 2.9 GPA."

what a complete lie.

really shows the dark side of the hair styling business. Its a grinding lifestyle i tell you!

Owner Frank McCourt visited Colletti in his press-level suite above home plate moments after Chad Tracy's grand slam against Odalis Perez tied the score, 6-6, in the fifth inning.

From their animated gestures, it appeared McCourt vented for several minutes, then Colletti made a few points. Eventually both men sat back in their chairs and chatted amiably for two innings before McCourt departed.

Wow. This guy is "straight".

Little plans to platoon [Ethier] with right-handed hitting Jason Repko, leaving Cruz in limbo, also known as the end of the bench. The switch-hitting Cruz is batting .231 with one home run and four runs batted in, and is batting only .180 left-handed.

if i could, i would probably let off a little steam at colletti as well and i think that would apply to almost everyone here.

Aside from conditioning problems, drinking problems, injury problems and pitch-quality deterioration, there were no red flags on Perez. Seems entirely reasonable the chap will get $9.5 million this year and about $10 million next year.

Titled "Where Have All the Gagnes Gone?"

To quote from the conclusion - "If teams see that they can cut payroll by going to someone untried in the closer role, the practice, which has been gaining momentum over the last couple of years, might become standard. Why sign B.J. Ryan if you can get Chris Ray? If you don't have Mariano Rivera, why not try someone new instead an established—read overpriced—but mediocre closer?"

-cough-cough-

In an earlier post I said that I thought this year win or lose it was important to give the top young players at bats and innings pitched. Right now we are doing that, I just hope they can help turn things around.

"you never wanna do it when i wanan do it!"

lol lol.

I dont think anyone could argue OP was a mediocrity, much less a proven one, at the time of his signing.

Ideally he'd be a 4 or 5. But certainly good enough to be on a staff. Its the Tomkos, Weavers, and Seo's that really have no place on a pitching staff.

"innings eater" is a bad word. er words.

How many consecutive months in his LAD tenure has Ledee been healthy?

What were the other options?
Dave Roberts?... He's always healthy....
David Dellucci?.. Ok I'll buy this.

This is the first person I've heard complain about Ricky Ledee being the 4th/5th OF'er. I thought Ledee did a pretty good job in that role.

If you dont like Ledee, whom would you rather have had?

If you dont like Odalis, whom would you rather have had?

Its one thing to criticize, but at least offer a counter-solution.

Level-headed Larry's.

I'm an Angry Arnold, myself. Three leads of five runs or more blown... that's pretty ugly. Remember 2003? As soon as the Dodgers took a ONE run lead, I'd feel assured of victory.

And Steve, pan-frying is an abomination. You have to grill, or broil the youth to make them come out right.

I'm an Angry Arnold in that respect too. Some of these losses have been sickening. It was only 2 years ago I felt the same way about a 1 run lead. Our bullpen will never be as good as the bullpens Dan Evans assembled. But our bullpen can still be solid once Gagne returns. Saito had a hiccup last night but I've been real impressed with Joe Beimel. Hamulack may need to go once Kuo gets back on track. This bullpen can get the job done.

1) Baez
2) Gagne
3) Broxton
4) Saito
5) Osoria
6) Beimel/Kuo

Thats one h*e*double hockey sticks of a bullpen.

The issue of issue of race is (for now, and sadly to my mind) engulfing the Nationals owner selection process. Many articles at Washingtonpost.com including, actually, a quite good one by Boswell and a contrary view from columnist Courtney Millory ripping the Lerner selection on race grounds. One business columnist who essentially told the Night Owl to stop hooting in today's column is now online chatting about these issues. Surreal chat, that starts with a key player in the column (Barry favorite for ownership participant, local boxing promoter Rock Newman) writing in to kvetch about the column.

Crazy.

link to the chat: http://tinyurl.com/zcb2v

1. The probability of scoring at least one run is higher with (a) a runner on first and no outs, than with (b) a runner on second and one out, and
2. The average number of runs scored is higher with (a) a runner on first and no outs, than with (b) a runner on second and one out.

Thanking you in advance.

that answers your 2nd question. however, i think your first one is wrong. i think your probability of scoring at least 1 run is higher with a man on 2nd and 1 out, but the average number of runs scored is higher with a man on 1st and nobody out.

http://tinyurl.com/l54a2 (links up now, Bob)

-Drew can mash when healthy.
-If Saito can throw that change up for strikes consistently.. he will be very reliable.
-Furcal is better suited for the 2 slot.
-Broxton is up with Billingsley right behind him.
-Little shaking things up.

Oh, I also dont mind McCourt throwing a hissy fit. I always hated Tracy because I thought he was too passive.

Bob -- Smart and thoughtful guy writing Capitol Punishment, and I'm impressed atyour magnanimous nature, passing on words of support even after he called you "Timmerman".

Ball Wonk really is hilarious - anyone bemused by the Soriano situation should go look at the Peanuts cartoon he's posted. www.ball-wonk.com

I wouldn't expect any deals anytime soon. Bud is not going to want Teddy to make any drastic moves and Teddy is generally a pretty conservative guy. (In other words, if Vald Gurrero becomes available don't expect the new owner to sign him without approval from MLB)

That's Stan Kasten, not Kazdan.

All politics is local.

The transition here has been reported as June. The Natosphere is going to explode if they hear it won't be til August.

I also think ownership could make more of a splash by improving service/amenities off the field than on. RFK's honeymoon is definitely over and even a modest push to improve the fan experience there would make a huge impression. I think that would be doable too since the problems are have become so comically bad.

New Ownership will need to decide what to do about Soriano at trade deadline time -- (i) deal him to a contender for prospects, (ii) offer arbitration and let him walk for draft picks, or (iii) try and re-sign. Jose Guillen wants an extension too, but I think he ends up on a one-year nomar-type deal next year. He's still not fully performing and probably is not fully healthy, and I doubt anyone will give him the kind of contract he expects after this year.

Sam, we are actually talking about coming to a game in Aug for my father's 80th.

http://www.tangotiger.net/RE9902score.html