I agree with that.

It's frustrating that we have four starters with ERAs under 3 (granted, one of them is Sele), and we're still under .500.

Saenz is playing today and Drew gets the day off. Wouldn't it have made more sense to give Drew yesterday off and let Saenz play against the lefty? The Dodgers play tomorrow, so it's not like Drew would get two straight days off

Against Jason Schmidt, the Dodgers could start the 1927 Yankees and they'd still not hit. If you look at how Dodger hitters have fared against Schmidt in their careers, anybody with a significant number of at bats agianst him is pretty bad.

Kent is 6 for 28 and Furcal is 7 for 25. Drew was 3 for 27.

Aybar is 1 for 2. Garciaparra is 4 for 7!

Correct, to a point, but five blown saves by Baez sort of makes him the elephant in the room. And we are not just talking about letting a one run lead get away. The torch job yesterday and one two weeks ago in San Diego were painful to watch. It's not just the five games in the standings lost; the five game skid that followed the one in San Diego added to the problem. You can say that the team has to overcome single losses like that, but I think that Baez has a lot to do with our current spot in the standings. That being said, can somebody keep an eye out for Grady in the ninth? Is he leaving the dugout early for the post-game meal? Did anyone out yesterday have the feeling that Baez was going to come through and get the final outs? Leaving a pitcher in out of a desire to help him through tough spots is one thing, leaving him in to die on the vine is another. I think his job as manager is to make the necessary adjustments. He DOES have other options to try.

Watching that 9th inning was like listening to that Roebuck/Williams meltdown in the 3rd playoff game in 1962.

Overall I think you're right, Jon, and no matter what it's probably a waste of time or an exercise in frustration since there's not much we can do about it right now. BUT conversely, again, as one who witnessed yesterday's implosion (and as one who has frequently defended Baez here), I can tell you Sele pitched solid and pretty deep, Saito pitched solid, the game was Baez's to hold and save and he couldn't do it. Now, the game could have been blown by any of the other guys left in the bullpen, but take it from someone who saw the game close up and in person yesterday. The responsibility for the loss was Baez's - and the defense's.

As for the rest of the season prior to that, there's certainly some truth to what you say.

4 I had mixed feelings about Grady leaving Baez in for the whole debacle yesterday. On the one hand, he's the closer (for now) and you have show them some faith that you believe in them (being a closer is as psychological as it physical). On the other hand, he clearly didn't have it yesterday, he was being shelled, and to not at least have someone up in the bullpen at some point in the ninth is inexplicable to me.

If the Astros can temporarily demote Brad Lidge from closer duties, well, then...

But LA's bullpen is a work in progress, a work that may not be clear or finished until the All Star break.

The Dodgers bullpen hasn't been very good, but has anyone noticed the Jacksonville pen?

Miller- 22 IP, 0.82 ERA, 0 HR, 11 BB, 24 K, 21 yr old
Alexander- 16.1 IP, 0.55 ERA, 1 HR, 7 BB, 24 K, 25 yr old
Alvarez- 23 IP, 3.13 ERA, 4 HR, 3 BB, 23 K, 21 yr old
Diaz- 13 IP, 3.46 ERA, 0 HR, 5 BB, 4 K, 22 yr old
Hoorelbeke- 20.2 IP, 0.44, 0 HR, 8 BB, 16 K, 26 yr old
Ojeda- 22.1 IP, 2.42 ERA, 0 HR, 10 BB, 21 K, 22 yr old

I think Lidge was demoted in part because his failures started last year and on a much much much bigger stage.

I'm not saying Baez wasn't a problem yesterday. Not at all. I'm saying Baez wasn't a problem because he pitched in the ninth. If you flipped Baez to the eighth inning, are you saying he would have done fine?

And Houston has the immortal dan wheeler

It's exactly because Baez isn't a reliable closer that I don't want the discussion to become about who the closer should be.

7 I would love to see Greg Miller sometime this year (maybe as a Sept call up at least). alexander's been quietly really good. Not sure why they don't talk about him more but maybe scouts feel he's not quite ready for prime time?

8 True, but I think they made they move now directly based on his struggles in the past month - struggles which may be partially psychological based on the playoffs last year. So it's all connected...

Jon Weisman here Joe Borchard (and as the Pirate announcers call him, Bor-SHARD) has homered for the Marlins in the first inning in the big matchup in Pittsburgh. Marlins up 3-0.

Nope, Baez in the 8th would have been bad as well. (The way he was tossing it yesterday.) My main problem about yesterday, as I said above was just that they didn't have someone even throwing in the ninth, given how Baez looked to everyone in the stadium. It's also true that had Aybar made that play, they may still have won.

I think they should activate Rick Honeycutt - his sinker is just what we need!

That should have been "Jon Weisman hero"...

Er, scratch that, given our IF defense lately, fly ball pitchers may be more our ticket.

Irony Board - does it qualify as irony that if Tampa Bay had fans, this would be year four of an ongoing debate about whether Baez is the best arm in the bullpen?

The Phillies lineup will have problems today. David Bells is batting 5th, and each of their 6-9 hitters has an OPS that is smaller than Shane Victorino's batting average (.410 currently)

12 -- Mark Alexander's fastball is about 86 MPH, i.e. Lance Carter velocity. Alexander dominates minor leaguers with a great slider, but scouts think that a great breaking ball and a below-average fastball just won't cut it in the majors.

It's the International Court for the Determination of Irony. It sits in The Hague. Please refer your inquiry to them.

In the Battle for the Cellar of the NL, the Marlins have jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second over the Bucs and knocked Ian Snell out of the game.

I expect the Bucs to score as the Marlins are starting Brian (9.42 ERA) Moehler.

I live in the Bay Area, tivoed the game, was very lucky knew nothing about the score and watched the game and then saw the implosion in the 9th. It was awful since I thought I was seeing a win.

But to Jon's point, most agree on this site that Baez is very unreliable, so if he would have come in during the 8th instead of the 9th the same result would have occured. Yesterday, I would say the 8th inning was actually harder by batting order than the 9th. So how do the Dodgers make Baez more reliable, and why did he fail on so many two strike pitches, it is not like he walked everyone. To me yesterdays problem, Baez not being able to finish should be correctable.

I'm not going to let a bunch of Commies and Pinkos and Frenchman tell me what is and what isn't irony! What happened to good old Red White and Blue Irony? I call for an immediate repudiation of and withdrawal from the Treaty on the International Court for the Determination of Irony! Extremism in the defense of irony is no vice! Sic Semper Tyrannus!

23

John Bolton is always ironic.

Or, as Pete Rose might say, Sic Semper Tyrus.

Closer, smoser. All pitchers are unreliable psychopaths; the only sensible thing to do is to use whoever is doing well now in the most dangerous moments of the game. Right now that would be Saito, maybe Broxton. Demote Baez to long relief until he proves he can pitch better than he has. And a better catcher (given the manager's lack of initiative in trying to help him) might help him; Go out there to settle him down, tell him you don't 95 mph fastballs, you want 90 mph that hopefully he can control better. And the point needs to be made to all of them that they can keep their "prestige" position only as long as they are effective. A series of poor starts or failed holds or closes will get them back on middle relief until they get their 'juju' back. Starters and closers always make more money when they sign new contracts, so the 'incentive' system always works.

19 Ah, that would explain the lack of interest. Thanks. Sounds like career minor leaguer to me.

22 You mean "unlucky." ;-) I'm tivo-ing today's game. Will be good to fast forward to the low, er, highlights...

Anyway, this subject is too painful and fruitless. On to happier things, like kittens and puppies and the bright, sunshiney weather, and happy Mother's Day.

Do the A's realize Bobby Kielty is batting 5th for them today?

Also, old friend Antonio Perez is starting, but remains hitless, bringing him up to 0-23 with 12 K's. I was always a fan of his, it's too bad he's not proving his detractors wrong.

The Latin Squad has to tell Steve that the proper spelling is "Sic Semper Tyrannis"

Scott Erickson has been given Andy Pettitte's number with the Yankees, 46.

(29) Wouldn't that depend on how many tyrants there are? Or does 'tryant' by definition eliminate the possibility of another of equal status?

I'm sure he'll make them forget ol' Pettite in no time, maybe even get the number retired with his name.

0-24 with 13 Ks for Antonio Perez now.

I believe "tyrannis" actually means "tyranny" and not "tyrants", but it gets translated differently.

It's a Latin word that is borrowed from the Greek.

I only took one year of Latin and that was back when Jimmy Carter was president. And we didn't get through all the declensions and conjugations even.

But I'm prepared to use the accusative case!

"fly ball pitchers may be more our ticket."

Yup!

Btw, Chad Billingsley's pitching for Vegas today, at noon, against the Nashville Sounds. Be interesting to see how he rebounds today.

33
But he's OPSing .111, which I believe suggests that his IsoD is also .111, which is pretty decent, isn't it?

Hey, look! It's all of Danys Baez's old friends! Jim Brower! John Halama! Dan Miceli! Rudy Saenez! Tyler Walker! Matt Herges! Joey Eischen!

http://tinyurl.com/qepyo

Imagine what we can trade for all of those guys! Kemp for Halama. Guzman for Walker. If we're lucky and catch Bowden on a bad hangover, maybe we can get Eischen for only Orenduff and Miller. The possibilities boggle the mind, if in fact the mind can take it without simply shutting down and resigning itself to a blue haze of persistent mediocrity.

(Thanks, FB. I needed that.)

37 -- Too bad he couldn't save the 0 for 24 slump for when he had a manager who would be impressed by it.

38 Heh. It is scary what else is out there. As I said last night in previous thread, most teams have fairly shoddy bullpens right now. The Dodgers aren't alone. Good ol' Rudy Seanez, we hardly knew ye. (Give Colletti some props for resisting Tyler Walker, at least.)

Tyler Walker has improved since going to Tampa Bay.

His ERA was over 15 in San Francisco. But in Tampa Bay, he's just a bit over 7.

most teams have fairly shoddy bullpens right now. The Dodgers aren't alone.

That's the entire point. Why would you trade for someone else's shoddy bullpen?

The Scott Erickson in Pinstripes Era has begun.

(34) My two years came while Eisenhower was the honcho but I wouldn't challenge your knowledge on any academic subject, I know when I'm overmatched...

Any chance Flanders could trade for Jason Bay? JT seems to have soured on him...

Erickson did not give up a homer.

He did not give up a homer.

This is not a drill.

The A's just paid the Indians to get Steve Karsay.

(45) If we think it's a good move, there is no chance Flanders will make it. I suspect he takes little advice from his subordinates, he's one of those "If I didn't think of it, it's not a good idea" type of guys.

The best part of The Erickson Trap is setting the bait.

Steve Karsay is still playing? Is his pitching arm still attached to his body?

Maybe it's just me, but the "Flanders" moniker is old and tired.

I left this over at Bronx Banter:

Don't fall for it. Scott Erickson will bring nothing but pain and misery. He stinks, blames his defense for not helping him, and can't break glass with his fastball.

He is Evil Incarnate. When Satan created a washed up long reliever, he looked at Scott Erickson and then he wept upon seeing what sort of weapon he had let loose upon the world.

52

atleast he hooked up with a pretty girl.Poor Erickson man! he use to be a good pitcher.

If you give me the earning power of Scott Erickson had at his peak, I'm sure my available dating pool would increase.

Now there's irony the world can come together to appreciate.

And I don't know if being married to Lisa Guerrero has any added benefits aside from visceral ones. I don't expect that Scott and Lisa sit around discussing the works of Ibsen.

54

very true!

On the plus side D Sanchez's ride on the roller coaster is headed straight down so we can't whine to much about him not being here to stem the bleeding.

Being a Baez booster and of course a Dodger fan, yesterday was hard to watch. I'm rooting extra hard for Baez because I don't want Ned trading for more bullpen help but if he continues to implode I'm afraid that is what he will do. My master plan of Baez pitching well, Gagne coming back, Kuo and Broxton providing great setup help so we could flip Baez and Izzy for something marvelous is in tatters.

Does everyone assume Scott Erickson is smarter than Lisa Guerrero? Maybe he is, she certainly could have got someone with more money than he has.

Antonio Perez just broke is 0/24 slump to start the season with an RBI single.

Ned is not Flanders. Ned is Super Mario, sans white overalls and red shirt.

60.
I was thinking, "of course he got a hit, Erickson was pitching to him," but I see Erickson was pulled a couple of batters before that. Perez even drove in a run (which was charged to Erickson).

23 That should be "sic semper tyrannis", the "tyrannis" is the dative plural form: "Thus always to tyrants". Your version means something like "Thus let there always be a tyrant."

The Latin Squad is out in force today. Given that one letter changes the meaning of that saying to its complete opposite, it's no wonder there were so many wars back in the day. Good thing we live in America, where one can call the GM of the Dodgers "Flanders" without reservation or purpose of evasion.

34 Hey Bob "tyrannis" is a Greek work, which means "tyranny", you are right. In Latin, the word would be "dominatio", I think, because I can't think right now of a word "tyrannia" or any other abstract noun based on the Greek word. But in Latin a tyrant is a "tyrannus". Of course, JWB may have just been rusty or was mixing Greek and Latin freely and meant "Thus always a tyranny", but I don't think so.

64
Amen.

Flanders, Flanders, Flanders!!!

I don't remember what the statheads say exactly, but when one is calculating the run-producing quality of a player, isn't it the case that OBP is more important than Slugging%? In that case, is there a more efficient stat that has a higher correlation to runs scored, which takes that difference into account?

Piazza's been on fire! He just hit a double

Padres 1
Cubbies 0

I'm getting tired of every announcer but Vin Scully freaking out every time a fly ball makes it to the outfield. The Reds--- another team with terrible announcers. I've got to move back to California. Are there any other teams with good radio or TV announcers?

67
I think I remember reading in "Moneyball" that OBP was roughly 3X as important than SLG with respect to creating runs.

67

huh?

(66) I would rather call him ---- for Brains but Jon wouldn't allow it on his blog...

(70) Didn't help Choi any...

72
Baez for Brains will suffice.

64 Steve. In the modern world, it takes two letters fundamentally to change a statement: "There are(n't) WMDs in Iraq".

75 That is... "to change a statment enough to start a war", but whatever the case, I probably shouldn't have said that.

Speaking of Choi: what the heck happened to him? A few weeks ago, he was slugging over .500. Now Hee's all the way down to .388.

(77) How's his OBP? Walks don't help your slugging percentage much but they do help the OBP.

77

Doesn't he have a hole in his swing?

(Flees the scene ...)

70 So how do you figure that into a manageable stat for math illiterates like me?

78
An excellent .439

80
Not totally sure, but it might go something like this:
1. a one point increase in OBP would be expected to increase runs scored by 3X.
2. a one point increase in SLG would be expected to increase runs scored by X.

Billingsley walked the first two batters today, before striking out five of the next six batters. Sergio Garcia, who is somehow keeping his OPS above 1.000, hit a three run homer and 51's lead 4-1 after two innings

D4P is giving sabermetrics lessons?

[Nate faints]

84
Ring the bell: school's in session.

83 Can we trade the Dodgers for the 51's?

Furkle ties the record.

The real problem is that closers are left in to die on the vine whereas seventh and eighth inning relievers will receive a quick hook if they start bombing.

This is a flaw in management of pitchers. The hook should be applied in all innings, equally.

By the way, I think OBP is worth 2 times SLG.

That was a close call I thought Nomar beat it.

87 -- The 90s Kitsch Squad must inform D4P that the correct spelling is Fur-kel. Wars have been fought and people have died over just this sort of thing.

Sergio Garcia doubled, bringing his OPS to 1.121 in 60 ABs. He seems to really like Vegas, as he hasn't OPS'd above .700 since he played for the GCL Dodgers in 2002

And Seo it begins ...

Why do you bunt over a runner from second to third with Bonds coming up? Does Felipe Alou want to have Bonds go up and get an Olney?

put him on, & let's get the DP.

90
So do I include the "-" or not?

92
badly, I would say

DARN IT!!

80 -- This was discussed in Presidential Ballroom II a couple of years back. If you were wasting your time at "Fibonacci Sequences And Ted Williams' All-Star Baseball Spinner Card," then you're just out of luck.

http://www.sabr.org/sabr.cfm?a=cms,c,834,17,0

You can tell Jim Tracy learned everything he knows from Felipe Alou.

Felipe Alou, bunting with his best hitter, in the 1st inning, against a pitcher whose ERA is 6+.

How can we blame the student when the teacher has control of the lesson plan?

Ray Durham, he of the sub .500 OPS, batting 5th.

Jim Tracy, you sir are no Felipe Alou.

Anybody else think we would have had a better chance of a DP had they thrown to 1st base, then tried to tag Bonds going to 2nd?

93 -- It's best to score early before you get into the heart of the Dodgers' revamped bullpen.

101

The way Bonds runs these days maybe! the ball was hit hard.

I thiink it can be said that Schmidt,if healthy, is arguably the only proven staff ace on either team. Given the Giants roster and age, would they really let him go to free agency (Is it next year?)

If you went the other direction on the ground ball, then the run would have scored anyway because the third out wouldn't have been a force.

95 -- I leave it to your discretion. For me, the dash represents the wistful, fleeting hope that there might, someday in the near future, be reconciliation.

101 Yes, but if you remove the force at second, the runner from third will (probably) have scored before Bonds is tagged out, so it's worth it to try the old-fashioned DP.

105 Unless Winn lollygagged home. You know what that would have made him? A lollygagger.

Billinglsey has 7 K's and 3BB's so far. Kinda up and down for him. Also has a wild pitch. I dont know how long he's gonna last in this game as he's been throwing lots of pitches.

105 Darn you, Bob! You did it to me again!

105 107

The A's scored their final run of the game against the Yankees on just such a play today.

108 earns an lol.

After Tracy moved Bay back up to fourth, and their subsequent 8-2 thrashing, the poor Pittsburgh fans are going to be chewing their own limbs off trying to figure out why Burnitz is hitting in front of Bay for the rest of the season.

Will Khalil Greene be the best all around SS in the NL in two years, if he's not already? He hit his 8th HR today.

113

Khalil Greene started having a good year once I put him on my Bizzaro All-Star ballot of the worst players at each position.

Time to fill in a new one.

Hey, Jeff Weaver's pitching today. Let's see how that's going.

billingsley has 91 pitches through 4 innings, thats just not going to cut it.

Why and how are the Padres scoring so many runs all of a sudden?

117 -- 1) They've played a lot of the Cubs lately; 2) They've drawn 10 walks today.

Cameron, Giles, Piazza, Barfield, Greene are still average-above average players for their positions, and Dave Roberts is OPS'ing near .800

Their only real black holes are Castilla and Adrian Gonzales (whenever he plays 1st). But Bellhorn had been playing there and doing pretty well.

115 You scared me there. For a second I thought Weaver "had something going".

I wonder what the Cardinals would want for Braden Looper. Loney?

Weaver's looking very Weaverish today, 3 homers given up already and a one-way ticket off my fantasy team.

[114] royce clayton says hello.

[121] what on earth would the cardinals need a light-hitting first baseman for? i think they have first base locked up for the next decade or so.

Only if they do the Rick Ankiel project on Loney, but in reverse.

Pujols is on his way to 80HR's, thereby re-establishing a "clean" record in a "post-steroids" era.

123 -- Good point. More likely DeWitt and Kemp. No price is too high for a proven closer like Braden Looper, though.

I'm sure Dempster can be had for Loney.

Make it 4 homers off Weaver...oh yeah, and he's facing the freakin Mariners.

If Colletti trades Dewitt and Kemp for nothing short of Pujols I will stop being a Dodger fan. There, my ultimatum.

Hanley Ramirez is currently leading NL SS's in OPS, and is third overall (Tejada and Jeter are ahead of him). He's doing a nice job, hitting .345/.406/.497 with 10 stolen bases in 145 ABs. He has struck out 32 times however, and his batting average likely will fall 50 points by the end of the season

Weaver's ERA is now 7.40.
So that would make the AL inflation rate, about 30 percent I suppose?

Oh, how I miss the Duaner Years.

128 You mean Cabrera or Santana wouldn't stack up? I'd trade Dewitt and Kemp for Bay without a second thought.

[118] according to vinny, brian giles has 5 of them.

Bay and Duke.

Indeed.

I'd trade Dewitt and Kemp for Bay without a second thought.

I'd probably wouldnt, just because Bay has already been Tracyed. You cant get rid of that stank.

Is there anything particularly special about Blake DeWitt?
20yrs old.
Single A- .289/.344/.457 career line.
Position: Third Base

I havent checked his stats this year. Are they alot better?

Nothing stands out so far.

In their seven losses to the Padres, the Cubs were outscored 40-15.

Jae Seo breaking bats with his dominating fastball

Of course, since we're dealing with Pittsburgh, Repko or Alomar may be enough.

137 He now plays second base, and has apparently played well there

137

he plays second base and scouts say he has plus power and power is the last tool to develop. He could develop into a chase utley type second basemen. Which would be nice because the Dodgers did draft Utley to only lose him to UCLA.

Wow. It is incredible just how little Bonds has left in his legs. On a kick-save like that, even Bengie Molina would have tried to beat it out.

If the White Sox lose to the Twins tonight, the Tigers take over first place in the AL Central and possibly the best record in baseball if the Cardinals lose.

Dewitt's line:
314/378/436 (BA/OBP/SLG). And Vero is a pitcher's park, is it not?

What's his ETA in the mlb? Later then 2008?

vero is a hitters park but the FSL in general is a pitchers league. Dewitt was in a horrible slump in april and he is now just heating up.

Travis Denker outproduced Blake Dewitt last year at Savannah, and they are both the same age.

Why not just keep Denker at 2nd, instead of "hoping" for something out of Dewitt that he has yet to show.

Does anyone else think about Kevin Elster whenever there's a Dodger-Giant game at phonebook park?

After 110 pitches, Billingsley is probably done. his final line:

5IP 3H 1ER 3bb 9k

pretty good numbers except for the walks. He is falling behind in counts too much trying to nibble on the corners. I think he is scared of throwing it right down the middle because it'll end up in the bleachers (day game, vegas, etc). He is probably thinking he has to strike everyone out.

Of course Denker isnt doing well either this year. I wouldnt be averse to trading either of those guys.

148

My mother told me that one way for a wish to come true was to sit in the corner quietly and not think about Kevin Elster.

147

they played at columbus and you're right, Denker did outproduce Dewitt at Columbus. But look at Denker at vero last year and this year. He has been HORRIBLE. Flat out, no twisting anything, just horrible. Also, his actions at 2b were very poor defensively and dewitt was athletic enough to become a solid second basemen.

I am honestly perplexed by Denker. A 19 yr old mashing like he did in the SAL should not be facing this much difficulty hitting A+ pitching.

Denker 214/254/282. Dewitt is actually 15 days younger. DeWitt is playing 3B.

147 Denker is terrible defensively and has been horrible this year (.214/.254/.282 in 117 ABs)

It should probably be noted that Dewitt has hit .250/.308/.383 on the road this year, and .381/.444/.476 at home.

147. What are they "hoping" for DeWitt to show?

Right now Denker is struggling horribly, while DeWitt is hitting 324/388/449. I think by the end of the season Kemp and DeWitt will be the top two prospects in the farm system. Those two along with Martinavarro gives the Dodgers some pretty good homegrown talent at up-the-middle positions.

That Vero Beach team has some poor hitting stats altogether.

One that sticks out:
OF- Ryan Carter-
107 ABs
43 Ks
6 BB's.

Thats Abercombi-esque

151
good one.

I'm not sure if this has been discussed, but what's the deal with Loney playing RF last night?

157

I was going for a very obscure reference there.

Where did Alberto Bastardo come from? thebaseballcube.com says he spent the last two years pitching for Baltimore in the Appy league. Did LA trade for him?

nice job, saenz

re: the AFLAC question...

finley's close to the 300/300 club, and henderson is 3 homers shy.

the ball dons't carry that well in SF hu.

Olmedo "country mile" Saenz

Where did Alberto Bastardo come from?

Tough to say. Authorities have only succeeded in locating his mother.

154

matt kemp is showing this year that home-road vero splits mean nothing.

158. it was just one game, i dont think it means anything

Albert Bastardo was taking in the minor league rule 5 draft from the Orioles.

what happend to Schmidt?

Vero Beach is playing a lot of non-prospects, and almost no one on the team can hit. Those points are what make it hard for me to understand why guys like Pedroza and Mitchell are playing in Columbus

I bet the equipment manager has to exercise a lot of self-discipline everytime Bastardo pitches.

[168] nothing; just a visit to the mound. it looks like schmidt's mechanics are a little off but he's not hurt or anything.

What's the deal with Billingsley making so many pitches? It's 9-1 Vegas.

169. thanks

ethier was the definition of overmatched there against schmidt.

Ethier's having trouble with the hard fastball.

[164] groan.

Loney has moved back to RF, and Delwyn Young is out of the game

I am now sucked into this game and Saeo at best probably is good for two more innings. At what point does Grady get Perez going in the pen so he can come in and finish the game win or lose.

Wow, that "mother's salary" thing is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Are they trying to say that men do absolutely nothing except do their paying job?

it must be a thick day over in SF, the ball ain't carring well at all!

The Royals have 12 walks today. Danial Cabrera started, but I would have thought that Orioles pitchers knew that throwing the ball down the middle of the plate is effective against the Royals

Ray Durham has drifted into Christian Guzman Canal...

180 I just returned from the CostCo that isn't too far from the ballpark. The air in that area is definitely thick today.

call me crazy but I kinda like these at bats by Martin.

179

That's about a week's worth of topics on another board.

183

Isn't it thick up there everyday? All that smug and what not.

186

you're right caseybarker there right next to the ocean.

179 It's not a jab at men, it's a jab at the group of people - from both genders, and I actually think these days that women make up more of that group, and tend to be more contemptuous of the choice than the men in the group - who think that being a stay-at-home parent is easy or a lesser choice than those who choose to work outside the home. As a woman who dislikes children and never intends to have one, I admit I used to be guilty of the latter myself, but I've grown past that. Different choices make different people happy, that's all.

183 Not really. SF gets a lot of wind, which helps greatly. The inland areas like Marin and Oakland tend to be much muggier.

Just watched Ethier strike out. It convinced me of what I have been thinking for the past weel: He's not ready for the bigs yet. Neither was Loney, the verdict is not in yet on Aybar and Martin, so far they look pretty good. Although Andre's average is still about .250, he has really looked overwhelmed at the plate the last week or so. And I have no idea if Guzman or anyone else on the farm is more ready. Maybe being in and out of the lineup is causing problems, I understand even major league players claim they can;t hit well that way. I have no confidence at all in Cruz or Ledee. Who would have thought our best outfielder after Drew would be Lofton? Oh, I forgot Repko; if he were active, I'd play him, Lofton and Drew, with Cruz relieving each one for one game a week. Lefty/righty BS out the window.

thank you very much!

All right, Kent!

187- he said SMUG, have you the South Park episode "Smug Alert". It means they are self-righteous.

Kent hits a meaningful home run off a pretty good pitcher too.

186

smug, not to be confused with smog. Sorry about the South Park thoughts. Won't happen again.

Kent is on a tear.

190

I would give a rookie a little more then 25 ABs or so to determine if he is ready. I honestly would just let him keep playing and dont draw any conclusions until july/august.

Dang it Kent!!! You killed the rally!!!

188. Well put. In my experience working moms are the toughest on stay at home moms and stay at home moms like to guilt working moms. My wife who stays home works as hard as I do--just diffrently. I will say she loves her job a lot more than I do.

Catching up here. If Flanders is too trite, we can always use Midas. I like that one.

193 Heh. I'm a little too used to seeing typos online, I guess - now I'm automatically correcting typos that weren't typos...

A lead. If only I had confidence in our bullpen. Saito probably isn't available today, I would think.

My Kent and Izturis for Vidro and Patterson deal is becoming for plausible.

And Seo will proceed to give up the tying and (hopefully!) the go ahead run(s).

Bunt... Bunt... You know you want to Felipe...

200

They're not going to trade Patterson.

I think this is the one for BB

Me:Kent
Nate:Seo?

Vin says OP up in the pen

Little was up until 4am last night working on different bullpen configurations, and still came to the conclusion that Baez will remain the closer

Don't dare trade Kemp til you see what his ceiling is. He's still young for his level, has tremendous power and hasn't shown he will hit less than 330 yet. Granted this can't last, but I would damn well wait and see.
Unless Bays a gauaranteed 40/.300 man.

204 He always hits big ones against LA.

Man, that ball four was close to being a strike.

How was that pitch not a strike?

203- replace him with Livan though. Despite his bad start, he's a pretty solid and durable pitcher.

they tread Bonds* like he's god! the was a strike to anybody else BUT BONDS*!

205

hah nah. I have no beef with Seo.

204. In hindsight, BB meant base on balls, not Barry Bonds

Ball four was a strike.

Bonds is going to eventually pass Ruth, but watching this weekend tells me he should never be intentinally walked again, unless you need to set up a force.

Oh, Dallas is warming up.

213- I thought you wanted Billingsley to steal Seo's spot in the rotation.

Kent is showing some range at 2B....I hope Jim Bowden is watching

There it is SAME AXACT PITCH FOR A STRIKE TO FINLEY! WOW! I can't believe these umps

[219] the one to bonds had a higher arc and tailed further outside.

Good pitching By SEO! WOO!

219- is Jae Seo Jewish (Bruce Froemming is the umpire)?

Same junk we've been seeing all weekend when Bonds is up to bat.

218

not yet. Maybe in June/July or something.

218 Problem with that is Odalis is probably ahead of Billingsley if a spot opens

Two on, one out?
Seo What?

219 It evens out. There's been at least two strikes called against Bonds this series that were very questionable.

Durham batting 5th.
Thats really all that needs to be known.
If baseball is fair, the Giants will lose this game for that decision alone.

219

I guess I'm being a little bias, I thought it was a strike!

217

Good one, Nate.

I hope that Odalis climbs back into the rotation. Not that he has much of an incentive...

That LOB column Fox shows throws me. Everytime I see it I think its errors and I then I wonder how it is I don't recall seeing 5 or 5 errors.

On a tangential note, my brother shipped me a bunch of my old books, and one of them is Ron Luciano's "The Umpire Strikes "Back". I've been re-reading it today. He was very open about umpires blowing calls a lot, about them favoring certain players, and so forth. It's still a good read after all these years.

walkin' willy in to hit for seo.

Finley is really getting some bad jumps on flyballs, yet the Giants announcers are amazed by his defense.

232
I wouldn't doubt that, but at least it's not the NBA.

LAT can join xeifrank's crusade against the LOB column.

I sense a grass roots movement to get rid of it.

ethier was out by a mile there.

Seo's Game Score - 62.

freaking Matheny man!

Ugh... Missed sign...

Another ill-fated hit and run?

It was a bad throw and they still nailed him by a yard

What kind of garbage was that Grits? Aybar was on his way to drawing another walk. I have to think that Ethier missed a sign, let's hope that Grits knows how to insert Perez in Saenz's spot in the lineup.

Did Aybar swing at that?

Seo has now exceeded my expectations for the day, next inning the Giants have the bottom of the order, Bonds hopefully will only get 1 more at bat. If the Dodgers are holding a lead of 1 run going into the 8th, do we bring in Perez to try and finsh?..He is coming in in the 7th.

Does Aybar get to come up again?

Bad way to lose Aybar for the day (unless Grittle does some double-switching).

234 Perhaps they're taking into account the fact that a 41-year-old man is stuck covering half the territory of the other 41-year-old out there, even though the latter is playing LF and the former must cover CF as well.

I'm not exactly a Finley fan, but I do feel sorry for him in regards to that and would consider it justifiable if he took a bat to Bonds's head. But I'm sure everyone will be happier if I don't start on the Bonds-at-first rant yet again.

Oh no, its O.P!!!!

Aybar better stay in the game, or he was essentially wasted without being able to do anything.

Just saw the replay, Ethier was looking back at Aybar, so either Ethier or Aybar missed a sign.

aybar's gone.

Save opportunity for Odalis.

Perhaps the Dodgers could ask to play under the early rules of baseball (1850s-early 1870s), where the first batter up in an inning is the guy who batted after the player who was the last out even on the bases.

So, Russell Martin can lead off in the 8th!

244

I don't think he did!

Grits is a moron. Are they only going to use Perez for one inning? Otherwise, he's going to leadoff next inning.

This seems like a good spot to intro OP to relief pitching.

Never mind. Forget I said that

Ethier is thrown out with a pinch hitter at the plate. Does that mean the pitcher's spot is still due up? I assume it does. Does that mean that Aybar is still available?

252 Grittle is a fool...

Feliz was only 3-26 off Perez before that double.

Its really a "blown save" opportunity for Odalis. He cant get a save unless he pitches through the 9th.

259 No, once you're announced, you're in the game.

hey bob, this might be a difficult assignment, but i wonder if you could get the stats for how the pink bats fared today?

259. The pitcher's spot is due up, but Aybar is not available. Once a pinch hitter is announced, he's in the game at that point.

Wheels fall off... now.

Please throw another changeup!

I don't think being a reliever is Odalis' forte.

On second thought, maybe pitching in general isn't his thing.

I hate those blooper hits to shallow CF.

Blown save #2 for Perez in his career. That was a really weak changeup by Perez.

Odalis, with his 1st blown save of the year.

Let's get a DP

264 Announcer: And the pink bat comes through.

Gag. I knew there was a good reason I never liked that color.

264

I will let others attempt that.

269

I know!

Blowing only a 1 run lead is progress for us.

You the man, O.P!!

He's still not as bad as the other relievers.
Yet.

Kent's ladder is kind of small.

Odalis is just unlucky. Most balls put in play don't result in hits. Can't blame him for the fact that 2 of 3 balls put in play off of him so far resulted in hits.

throw a fastball O.P

278 Give him an inning...

I blame Grittle for this one though, how do you rationalize using Odalis in the 7th inning of a 1-run game? He's not used to relieving, why not wait until he's needed in long relief or in a lower-pressure situation? It's not like the bullpen isn't fresh, only Saito and Baez pitched yesterday.

THANK YOU!

Odalis hit 90 with that fastball.

Nice play Old Maid!

SAENZ FOR PRESIDENT!! WHOO HOO!!!

Let's hear it for Tomato Cans!!!

285
He's leaving it all out there.

OP owes tomato a steak.

Wonder if they'll pinch hit for OP, or leave him to pitch another inning? Who else in the bullpen are you going to turn too?

Hamulack?

And O.P. thinks Grittle owes him a start. Will OP get a win anyway?

292 Ah, so this was OP's master plan!

290- and a large pizza and a few bean and cheese burritos and some chili and a double bacon cheeseburger

So, since Aybar's at bat didn't happen, how would it appear in the boxscore? Aybar announced for Seo?

Seattle is pitching Emiliano Fruto now.

That choice of names is not the best there by his parents.

294

stop making me hungry.

Lucille has been sighted.

Jae Seo: Thank you, Odalis-san...for nothing.

a-Aybar, PH

a - Batted for Seo in 7th

Fookie!

Lofton will bunt here. Is Drew allowed to pinch hit on days he doesn't start?

bunt lofton bunt!

Yes! Hahahahahaha!

HAHAHAAH!! YEAH BABY!!!!!!!!!

Thats has to be a Grabowski Principle when you walk Lucille.

Yea Fookie- that's some great baserunning!

Nice.

Wow, Vizquel definitely should have had that one.

we can all chalk those runs up to veteran leadership.

Now let's hope our pen dons't blow it!

283 This is the perfect time to use Perez, he needs to be tested, he came in with a 1 run lead, pitched mediocre to the bottom half of the Giants line-up. To Methaney's credit he got a hit aon not a bad pitch. If Perez is going to pitch this is a classic situation which he will be in. Unfortantely he made a mistake to Feliez, who is only capable of hitting a mistake.

Just replayed it - best part, Bonds limping towards the ball. If it'd been left up to him to grab it, that would've been an inside-the-park home run. Snerk.

For Furry, that's an excellent use of his posterior.

To me, that throw looked like it went off Vizquel's glove. I'd like to see a replay from another angle.

Beimel us worming up in the pen I kinda trust him over Hamulak

Donnelly was conspicuously motionless as Furcal rounded third so that was all Raffy.

It wasn't a terrible throw, I'm sure it hit his glove.

we still have two innings of relief to get through. I'll remain cautiously optimistic about a win for today.

311 Why would he be a one innning close game pitcher? Aren't washed up starters usually used a long men?

315

Why Beimel? We want the Bull!

293 Apparently, yes.

o.k. bullpen we're giving you a cunfy cushing DON'T BLOW IT!!

311 How do you figure? He's not auditioning to be our new setup guy, he got demoted to the bullpen because he wasn't pitching well. Unless the sole purpose of the Dodgers is to get Odalis back on track (instead of winning games), someone else (cough Broxton cough) should have come in to protect the lead.

The announcers think it bounced off his glove, too. I just ran through the replay in slo-mo and if it did, it bounced off the very top of his glove.

Error goes on Kline, not on the golden boy Omar Vizquel

320

They had him worming up

Wait, why is Lofton perched on first base?

And I use "Washed Up" very loosely. OP could still be very useful.

Usually happens when you don't go for the sure out.(first-then again I don't know how close it would have been at first) .
I'm afraid we seem to be worse off with a 3-10 run lead than with two with an inning of two to go.
We may lose a lot, but we really put it to every other teams ERA

Just that Vizquel didn't react in an odd way to the throw until it was past him - and it didn't go all that far past him with much speed. If it was just a wild throw, I think Vizquel would have reacted sooner.

If it didn't hit Vizquel's glove, then Vizquel just had an Eric Karros reaction there.

OP should be happy, he's in place to get the W.

Vin says on eperson we won't see today os Saito. i hope Baez is the other...

That was a laser. Too bad the tomato couldn't have hit it closer to the line. Then we would have been able to watch Bonds try to run it down.

Bonds owes Saenz a steak for that easy putout.

Beimel seems to be the right choice for next inning with 2 lefties and a switch-hitter coming up. I'd really like to see Broxton close it out, but I'm sure we'll get another ride on the Baez Train if it's still a save situation.

That was a terrible pitchout. Hee.

Anyway, I suspect Vizquel should have gotten the error, not Kline.

Vin just noted that the ballpark scoreboard gave the error to the Dodgers.

Uh-oh...A 5-2 lead...

331 As noted, that seems to have ben his plan.

Ethier hits it hard, but right at Winn. Oh well.

Saenz is eating good 2night...

Lightning will strike twice, but not on consecutive days.

The correct scoring choice for the error was to give it to the pitcher. However, had Vizquel simply jumped a little bit he could have easily caught the ball while probably still getting the out at 3rd. The fact that it got by him makes his decision even worse.

Terror time!!!! Gagne, we need you!! Get well soon.

330If it didn't hit Vizquel's glove, then Vizquel just had an Eric Karros reaction there.

LOL!

We're almost through this series. Beimel, PLEASE don't give up one to Bonds now.

Wait, wait, wait. Gagne, take your time. Be patient. Make sure you are healed. Get well--sooner or later.

Did Ethier just intentionally not throw that foul ball into the stands to spite Giants fans? If he did, he's my new hero.

343 The fact that Bonds is the one behind Vizquel also makes his decision worse. He has to know he can't count on Bonds to back him up.

Give him four (I hate this guy).

I love Beimel!

Bonds just hit a screamer!

WHOO HOO!That's it for Bonds & Dodgers!

Do it against another team

350 Believe me, I've thought of that too, but I also don't want anyone saying that the Dodgers chickened out with Bonds. But this series has turned out absolutely perfect in that respect - Bonds got plenty of chances, he just couldn't capitalize on them. Ha!

Beimel should finish out the game.

Bonds ain't Bonds anymore

Two out of three against the Giants with BB not hitting 714 makes it a complete series for me!! (only thing better would have been a sweep, alas...)

Bonds may have to pass Ruth in (according to the AP) "the run-down stadium across San Francisco Bay".

The Coliseum isn't run down. It's just unattractive.

We can't do a Baez with only a 3 run lead, can we?

we still got to win this one...

Loney hits his first homerun of the year. LV beating nashvulle 15-5 in the top of the 9th.

Chritina, I watched the replay on the throw to third...you're right, if Bb has to go after the ballit's an inside the park. They should shoot that lame horse.

I really don't even think the Coliseum is unattractive - it's not attractive, but I wouldn't call it unattractive, either. I actually kind of like the imposing Mt. Davis structure.

And unless you want garlic fries, the concession lines are pretty fast.

Did I just hear Steiner say that Baez was warming up? Because I'm really hoping I only imagined it.

Gotta get back on that horse!

Nice at bat by Martin. We need to come up with a nickname for him. Too bad his first name isn't Kerry, then we could call him K-Mart.

Another cheery tidbit to chew on: After this series, Bonds's career average is below .300.

Emiliano Fruto just earned his first major league save for the Mariners, despite a 5 run lead.

In 51's news, Loney finally homered, and Carrara gave up a run and has the bases loaded, one out

we need Geico!

"OH what a piece of hitting by Ramon Martinez!"

I caught the first six innings in Vegas this afternoon...Billingsley went to a LOT of 3-ball counts, but I have to say, the battle was basically with himself: came back to strike out guys in key situations, hitting 94-95 nice and easy....the ump was calling a tight zone, too...

That's the way to go, more insurance runs...

It just seems like the only bullpen worse than the Dodgers is the Giants, no?

Thank you!

Now that was a good hit and run. Martin definitely runs well for a catcher. The Giants announcers don't think he has good speed.

Fookie does it again. Lucille you bum!

We are running into outs.

That was not close.

I really don't like Matheny!

Outs, here! Get your free outs here!

no save situation! maybe we will see broxton now.

I like Russell Martin -- I just do.

Monday: "What we're seeing is a winning kind of ball being demonstrated"

There is no Save Situation®

So now that the save situation is gone, Baez sits down, right? </hopeful>

Baez is not warming up anymore!

We must be coming up against union rules on big innings.

The announcer just said that Baez is no longer warming up because it's not a Save Situation anymore. (Sorry, I don't remember how to do the TM...)

We're getting too near that magical 5 run lead.

We're getting too near that magical 5 run lead.

Too bad Carter isn't around to make it a save situation for Baez

Sorry sorry

Nate, do you ever check out The Baseball Notebook? Someone at minorleagueball.com linked to their top 100 list and they have Denker as the #4 prospect IN ALL OF BASEBALL. Going strictly by the stats I can see that but sheesh. Just to make sure everyone knows he's not a Dodger homer or anything, he has Billingsley at #67.

Save Situation™

It's ALT+0153 on a PC. It's Option-2 on a Mac.

It's still a save chance for Beimel if he stays in, no?

Thanks, Bob. I use a Mac™ at home, so I actually have a shot at remembering that.

Is Gio Carrara up yet? That would make it interesting.

¡™£¢?§¶•ªº–?

Just curious.

395 Yes.

Remember that time last year when Gio had more wins than any of our starting pitchers?

Was that code for OP™?

395
Yes.

Johnson is now out doing a dance of joy.

Oh no! Baez will probably come in now!

TM!

Uh oh, it's a save situation now...

393
They have the worst prospect ratings I have ever seen!

Ok this is ridiculous! Giving up home runs to Durham, I even felt it would happen.

Yaargh! Is even a four-run lead safe?

Hee, Jon. I tried that too and just discovered that option-delete will erase whole words at a time. Cool.

Here comes BAEZ!!!!!

Please. Have mercy baseball Gods. Not two consecutive day.

If Beimel is good enough to pitch with a 4-run lead, isn't it safe to assume that he would have been good enough to pitch with a 3-run lead?

Update: Giving up a HR to Durham = Grabowski Principle

And here we go...(same quesy feeling as if I'm at the crest of the largest drop of the roller coaster.)

Beat LA chants begin anew. Sad.

414- they don't have the most intelligent fans around.

Hello, announcers, the reason people stuck around yesterday was because of the Kaboom concert, not because they're such ardent homer fans.

415 It's the garlic fries. Fries your brain.

Alright, Joe.

And that's that...2 out of 3, no Bonds home runs. Not entirely perfect, but I'll definitely take it!

Wheeee!!!

383

oh man! LOL!

We can now tell our descendants where we were when we saw Joe Beimel get his first major league save.

Quick inning for Beimel. Our bullpen only gave up 2 runs and Beimel gets the save!

If Sele becomes the Lima/Alvarez of 2006, can Beimel be considered the Carrara (2004 version) of 2006?

Nate, do you ever check out The Baseball Notebook? Someone at minorleagueball.com linked to their top 100 list and they have Denker as the #4 prospect IN ALL OF BASEBALL. Going strictly by the stats I can see that but sheesh. Just to make sure everyone knows he's not a Dodger homer or anything, he has Billingsley at #67.

Yea I've seen them. They are very different from the norm. But, he has his own ranking metric that he uses and displaying power potential for positional prospects at a very young age is a HUGE factor in his metric. For pitchers, control is the huge factor in his metric.

I have no beef with his rankings, its certainly unorthodox but to maybe counter all the negative, he did have hunter pence at #4 and look at what he is doing this year. He also did have matt kemp at #17 and look at what he is doing this year.

And yet somehow Beimel recovers. Nice job by grittle leaving Flanders' Folly on the bench.

So you think OP™ taked to Beimel™ in the dugout™ and told him how to maneuver to get the save?

OP's master plan worked perfectly, as long as Seo doesn't figure it out and murder him.

where we were when we saw

That's a lot of dubyas.

Finally, the highest scoring team in the NL West is out of the cellar.

416- it looked like 1/3 of the fans left after Bonds was taken out of the game. Yesterday the Giants announcers were commenting on the huge crowds over the weekend and suggested that it was because they were playing the Dodgers. I'm sure it had nothing to do with Bonds chasing Babe. The Giants are going to have to have some pretty nice promotions to sell out games next year.

Seo: Odalis, Let me demonstrate the ancient art of hari-kiri...on YOU!

428 Not if I don't murder him first, Seo's on my fantasy team. He and Carpenter gave up 1 earned run combined in 12 IP and neither got a win. Sigh.

Getting a BS and a W in the same game is, well, BS.

Not only are the Padres are in first place by themselves, the Phillies are just a game behind the Mets now.

434 What? You don't respect the vulture win?

434- Seo got Baezed™ by Odalis.

435 Yes, and we're still only 3 games back.

Anyone know if beimel added a pitch since last season? , because his career stats are horrible but he has pitched o.k. so far this season.
He's kinda reminding me of sanchez, remember sanchez added a changeup and he became a totally different pitcher, i'm wondering if beimel did the same.

437 I disagree. A Baez™ is when a reliever comes in and blows the un-blowable lead and we lose. I think OP™ just invented a new category that is so in line with his me-first personality.

434 Seriously. They really should put in a rule of some kind that if you blow the save and your team goes on to take the lead again, in order to collect the win, you must go back out and pitch another inning afterwards without blowing the lead again.

I love beer commercials. This one was just on TV
http://tinyurl.com/gspf6

Addendum to 441: Not that I wanted to see Perez back out there again. Maybe that's why the rule doesn't exist, to avoid stupid managers putting their stupid blown-save pitchers out for another inning to blow the game again just for the chance to pad their Win Stats™.

One Dubya's way too many. WE shagged the Giants at home and but for cruel fate we should have swept them. I hope this is the begginigng of something good. What have they got for the next five years--mostly just Schmidt.

I have become Death™
Destroyer of repetitious jokes™

Odalis is now 4-1. I guess the guy just knows how to win.

446- he's a proven winner and I hope Omar Minaya is noticing.

441 if thats the way it is you are definitely right!

just some more positive about baseball notebook, this is what he wrote after the 2002 season when he ranked Chris "Beltin'" Shelton the 8th best hitting prospect in baseball

"Though he played some at catcher last year, most doubt that his major league future includes catching and I see his future as a first baseman who eventually and consistently hits around .290 with 25 home run power. I rank him as high as he is because he's young enough that he should have a longer and more productive career than many others on this list who will have better individual seasons without the longevity."

SO his metric isnt all bad. It sure is unorthodox, but he has had a lot of hits.

Kent so far in May is hitting .282/.365/.652.

Berman wonders if Bond's homerun chase is hurting the team. My vote is yes.

I've got Pros vs. Joes on now. Bo Jackson is on this ep. Does anyone else watch this show?

How about this--if you blow a save, and the team goes on to win, the win is credited to the guy you relieved. In this case I think this would be Seo, not a bad deal.

452

is bo a pro or joe?

453 There's certainly a valid argument to be made for that, and a valid argument for giving the W to the guy who relieves you. I don't know which side I come down on, but there's no valid argument IMO for giving the W to the guy who blew the save and didn't pitch again after the team took the lead back.

452
I watch it. I like it when the athletes actually really try, because then the Joes can not do anything.

449
He really tries to project what players do in the future. I just question having Mike Carp number 9 and Billingsley in the 60's and Felix as the third best minor league pitcher. I just do not like his rankings. They may make a lot of sense far down the road.

These fools have to compete against Jackson in a home-run derby. This should be good...

456 I've noticed that too, trainwreck. A couple of eps ago, both Dave Stewart and the soccer player were clearly taking it easy on the Joes, at least in the first part. At least Misty May and the football player made up for it.

444 Cruel fate? I say a cruel Baez™.

Herschel Walker takes it seriously. I do not think he has let a Joe succeed.

I'm so glad we didnt resign Jeff Weaver. He's 1-6 with a 5+ ERA. I read 7.00 but wont swear on it. Meanwhile, our poor man's Jeff Weaver, Brett Tomko, has a sub 3.00 ERA (for now).

You know, baseball tonight is surprisingly watchable on mute. Go figure.

Joe Morgan always looks high.

461 On that note, it looks like we should be glad we didn't sign Brian Giles either (.276/.401/.358) with 2 HR. Sheesh, Nomar is better.

My wife has always said Joe Morgan is useless. I've been coming around to her point of view...

Maybe Nomar's time on the DL helped freshen him. Whatever the cause, I'm happy for it.

The first Joe just managed a paltry one home run...

Second Joe fails entirely.

463

why is that?

And the third Joe also fails. Hahahahaha...

468-
I think its his giant head and eyes. His eyes always look half closed. Although he doesn't look as high as Dave Roberts.

The excuse for the bullpen on Dodgersdotcom is that the bar was set too high in 2004.

I don't know where to begin...

Jeff Weaver's ERA is presently at 7.40.

459 Cruel Baez it is-indeed!

Isn't Jeff Weaver about the first promising pitcher we've turned away. Think of Dreyfort, Perez and many more we have given good contracts too. Maybe we finally decided to say no to Boras, esp. after that Hochevar travesty.
Don't the Giants take the opposite tack basically-Dropping veteran pitchers high contract demands?
I think the averages are against giving a good pitcher a long contract(see Brown, among others.)

Joe Morgan doing a White Sox game is going to be torture. Only thing worse would be if the Sox were playing interleague against the Gints.

That was pretty. Hunter robs Thome of his 15th homerun. Great defensive play.

The White Sox's 3-4 combo has been beastly this year.

471 -- Nice to see that our friends over there continue to hold a death grip on the bleedingly obvious.

474. Jeff Weaver isnt a promising pitcher, nor did LA turn him away. Ned tried to sign him to a deal very similar to the one he eventually signed with the Angels.

listening to morgan is basically torture to me. This guy is so bad I can't believe it. Isn't it odd that maybe the worst announcer out there (Morgan) is doing SNB? Shouldn't he be doing Single A games?

Same thing with McCarver...he's so bad I can't believe it yet he does the WS.

On a side note, I missed today's game...went to the beach. Great day. Great win. I was worried yesterday's game might have started us on a slide.

474 -- Chan Ho Park. But the point is the same -- overpaying pitchers is not News At 11 material

What a wacky game. Buerhle's getting burned.

When's Buerhle coming out?

I would like to personally thank Uribe for blowing two plays (he should have gotten the error on the first one) and messing up my ERA in my fantasy league. I've got Buehrle....ugh

It's a blood bath!

Buerhle's either unlucky or the defense is letting him down. I lose track.

oh, nice. Only two of those runs were earned. Good times...my era ISNT ruined after all!

I think that an unearned run attributed to the pitcher's error should NOT be unearned.

488 That's a really good point.

The existence of, and rules governing, unearned runs needs to be wholly reconsidered.

Will MLB tell us to sit down and shut up?

So I had an interesting thing happen this morning. I was staying at my sister's house in Torrance and we took her two and my two dogs for a hike on a trail in Palos Verdes at the end of Crenshaw blvd. We've done this quite a few times before. We let the dogs off the leashes and they were racing around. About a mile into the trail we decided to take an offshoot. My sister was ahead of me around a corner when I heard her start screaming at one of her dogs. Then I heard the rattlesnake. Her dogs are big Rhodesian Ridgebacks and one of them was practically nose to nose with the biggest rattler I've ever seen. It must have been at least 1 1/2 inches thick. I don't know how long because it was coiled. I grabbed the dog's collar and pulled it away. The snake never moved. Amazingly, the other three dogs were not interested in it and we were able to get them all away. I can't believe neither the dog, nor me was bit.

After that, we had had enough hiking for the day.

Twins, Twins...

479

I'd give Ned a little credit there. Dodgers newbie GMs have been so dumb over the years when it comes to dealing with Boras. Deciding not to give Weaver the "discounted" three year/$27m doesn't smack of genius, but compared to some of the deals done with Boras clients, it's a credible move.

Ultimately, the results are the measure, and it appears the LAD avoided flushing a lot of money on a minus producer, while also getting two Top-30 draft picks.

464 --

Not sure Nomar's the Giles comp vis a vis the LAD. Furcal's the comp. Dodgers signed him for similar money they offered Giles. So far, Giles gets the nod, but it's so early.

I think Morgan has almost made it four innings without mentioning Barry Bonds.

new world record.

Marty, that reminds me of something that happened when I was a kid. I was playing over at my best friends' house (two brothers), which was on a huge property - the "backyard" was at least half an acre, it had a guest house, and it had a forested area and slope and such. So it was great fun to play there, as you might expect. So one day the guys and I are playing soldiers at the bottom of the slope when, at the top, we hear their father yelling that there's a snake very close to where we are. Panic. None of us turned around to look at said snake - we just scrambled up the steep slope on all fours as fast as we could...and then the father shot his gun right over our heads at the snake as we were scrambling up the slope on all fours. Freaky.

Boo. Nice play, though, by Konerko.

The good thing about posting every great while is you get to appreciate any benchmark. Like, oh, I don't know.... hitting 500?

500!

499 with the assist.

Yeah, I've seen a few snakes, mostly young ones on golf courses, but never that close to a pet or a bare leg. If I'd had my wits about me I would have said "Crikey, that's a big one".

I really hate snakes, but in sixth grade my science teacher kept one in the classroom and I did once spend a class with the snake wrapped around various parts of my body, in the name of conquering my fear and embracing a new experience. I also had a giant boa constrictor, about three inches thick, placed on my shoulders when I was young, too.

Still don't like them any better, and will not be going to see Snakes on a Plane this summer. Entertainment Weekly had a photo of one of the giant snakes in the film - took three people to carry it around.

Oh, and the father told us the reason he shot at the snake right over our heads - when if any of us had raised our heads even slightly we might've taken the bullet ourselves - was because the snake was chasing us. Just to clarify why he took such a risk. It made us all feel better to know that he wasn't just being trigger-happy, but on the other hand, it freaked us all out more to think of the snake on our heels.

You guys are made of sterner stuff than I if you can tolerate listening to Joe Morgan for more than an inning - but I am shocked about the lack of a Bonds mention.

Meanwhile, I just watched my Tivo of today's game and, since I, like a lot of people, was pretty darned cranky yesterday, let me say something positive - most of which have been uttered here already... But nicely done comeback game today for the boys in blue, they didn't let today get them down and they didn't let the very hot Jason Schmidt get them down either. While yet another strong effort by a starter was wasted in terms of Seo not getting the win, I'll take it.

Also, nice to see the Giants D let them down today after the Dodgers D did yesterday. Much better defensive effort all around. And Bonds goes homerless, even sweeter. Again, I'll take it.

I use to have pet king snakes.

I doubt snakes would chase after people haha.

(Didn't let yesterday get them down, rather. Sheesh, typing while hopped up on cold medicine is not a great idea. Time for a nap.)

Oh one more annoying thing from being at the game yesterday (and hearing it again today on TV) - the # of Giants fans who boo every time a Dodger pitcher didn't throw Bonds a strike, even if they were pitching to him. Basically, they boo if a pitcher doesn't serve up a fat, juicy pitch. I actually yelled at a guy yesterday who said, "Oh come on, pitch to him!" when Sele was obviously pitching to him, just carefully. Bunch of ignoramuses...

'night all!

504 Bob did diagnose me with Joe Morgan Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder last night.

Has anybody been to Vero Beach at a time other than Spring Training? I'm thinking about dropping in next week (the team is on the road) if there's anything to see. Is there a museum? Can it even be gotten in to when it isn't up and running for games?

Choi. Just in case anyone wanted to see how he was doing because I know we never get tired of talking about Choi!

• Homestand: 0-6.
• Ranks 3rd in the I.L. in OBP at .439.
• Has 1 hit in last 18 at-bats (.056).
• Reached base with a hit or walk in first 20 games with PawSox before going 0-3 in a 7-inning game on May 5.
• Had 8-game hitting streak April 19-27 (.379).
• Last HR: 4/21 at Durham (off Jason Cromer).

I think I'm going to make this a weekly thing...

503 Indiana Jones: "Snakes, why does it have to be snakes?! I hate snakes."

508 Buddy of mine went a few years back. He said unless it's Spring, there's nothing to see.

506 The booing over any pitch to Bonds that is not a fat, juicy pitch has been going on for a couple of seasons now, and is indeed really annoying.

And Bonds himself seems to have a perpetual "I can't believe this guy's not just serving me up one" look on his face these days. Too bad for him that Brett Favre isn't a MLB pitcher - I've always disliked Favre on general principles anyway, but I really disliked him giving Strahan a freebie so that he could break the sacks record. It cheapened the accomplishment so much.

511- Thanks. It's too bad. The website (unlinked on Dodgers.com) seems to agree with your friend. It is available for corporate retreats, though, so, all I need is a corporation. In need of retreating.

http://www.dodgertown.com/index.cfm

There's a joke at the bottom of the page.

451 So, should they bench Bonds? He's having a horrible season.

The only record chase to rival this one for a sour taste was (if I recall correctly) Phil Niekro's hobbling pursuit of win #300. It was, like, enough already.

Nobody saw the Clippers game? Sam Cassell and Elton Brand were huge.

I saw part of it. I liked the game Livingston had today. That kid will be great if he lives up to his potential.

514 Well, the Giants don't have much else in the way of "power" threats, especially with Alou now out of commission for awhile. So perhaps Bonds shouldn't be benched, but he should not be out in the outfield.

Although, I do find it amusing to see King Barry embarrass himself out there all the time, and it's not like I want to see the Giants win any games, so sure, go ahead and leave the liability out there...added advantages are ever more wear-and-tear on his knees, and the likelihood of more and more AL teams realizing as the season wears on that he's not worth bothering about as a DH - next year will only see him decline further, after all. Even on Athletics Nation, where posters are usually smarter, some of them were falling all over themselves in today's game thread over the idea of Bonds DHing for the A's next season.

Deciding not to give Weaver the "discounted" three year/$27m doesn't smack of genius,

I thought it was Weaver that turned it down. Doesnt it smack of non-genius to even offer that to him in the first place? Certainly non-genius for Boras not to accept.

Boras is very non-genius. Just smarter than some owners/GM's.

Today is the day The West Wing dies, so not even pink bats, and the idiotic stay-at-home moms are worth a billion dollars a minute "study" can get me down. Our long national nightmare is over! Fifty-two minutes now. Fifty-two minutes to freedom!

518

you're right

Giant fans since Pac Bell Park have been rather arrogant and everyone I think in the past month has become very protecttive of Bonds, including the announcers even Jon Miller. What is great with the terrible homestand he had and what everyone was anticipating-including homering against the Dodgers, sweeping the Dodgers, passing the Babe-they did none of that.

The Giants now are in last place and bickering among themselves. Apparently Worell got pissed when people went up to Bonds after the game. Worell is quoted on AP as saying , "what did he do today"..I only hope things continue like this.

This may be opening a great big ol' heaping can but...

520 I think The West Wing has provided some of the best writing in the history of television. I'll miss it.

The pink bats worked out really well for the A's today. Here's hoping they don't decide to keep using them - not because I don't want the A's to do well, of course, but because I do still hate the color pink.

I was considerably relieved when my best friend, pregnant with my niece, told me that she had no intention of raising her daughter to be a princess. I dislike baby clothes, but at least I didn't have to hold my nose and buy any pink, lacy junk.

Have any of you heard what a freak that Charlie Sheen is according to Denise Richards? Scary.

By the by, Andrew, my buddy adds that even the locals were telling him "there's nothing here."

But if you do go, we want a full report, of course! :)

525 FWIW, one of the best high school pitchers Santa Monica ever produced denies every word.

That would be Sheen, by the way. Amazing knuckle ball for a high school kid.

That said, I do like Charlie Sheen as an actor. And I enjoyed Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now.

525 I could have told her he was a freak before she married him. But I guess she thought he had reformed and changed his ways.

I'll never forget what he said before his first marriage and during his first divorce: Before the wedding, he gave a beautiful statement about how his wife was an angel sent from heaven to guide him on this journey, and during the divorce he said that it was like a car - if it didn't work, you just trade it in. What a contrast.

As Bill Maher said, what do you expect when you marry Charlie Sheen!

Yeah, I like him as an actor too. And Apocalypse Now is one of my favorite films. I was happy when they released an extended version in the theaters so that I could go and see it on the big screen.

527

Oh, well I do hope that is so.

530 Wait until Britney Spears finally tries to divest herself of K-Fed. Another marriage that everyone else could have told her was an absolute non-starter...but she'll have a great deal more trouble than Richards, since Richards doesn't actually represent the money train to Sheen - his career is just fine and he almost certainly makes more than she does.

526- I've decided against it; I've got a rental car, though, with unlimitted mileage (capped--which, technically, I guess, isn't a limit?--at 150 miles a day). So, I've got to go somewhere. VB was the perfect distance to dispose of the time before check-in at the motel on the first day. But there must be something else a hundred miles from Orlando that's worth seeing. Right? By and large, the way Grandpa Simpson feels about Missouri, I feel about Florida.

In general, I support the institution of marriage and don't like divorce. But I must admit to experiencing a kind of sadistic pleasure from watching moronic celebrities marrying each other, while knowing full well that the union won't last and that they'll be humbled* by the breakup.

*Not that all humbling experiences succeed in humbling...

Ahhh, Apocalypse Now. I saw it opening day at the Cinerama Dome. It just atarted and ended with no credits. The credits were in a booklet at the theater entrances. Ultimately not as great as it could have been, but so many great lines. My favorite is by Robert Duvall when he's doing the "I love the smell of napalm" soliloquy. He's squatting down and looks at Sheen and says "Someday, this war is gonna end" with a tone and look of regret.

I just love that line.

536

You saw the first one or the "redux" in the theaters?

534 My parents chose to retire to Sarasota. It's perfectly fine to spend a couple of relaxing weekends in, but after 8 or 9 trips I am beyond over the place. Yet I head there to spend Memorial Day weekend...sigh.

Most of Florida I can take or leave. I did like some of Miami, but I'm not really interested in going back. The Coral Castle is one of the coolest places I've ever seen. (Not close to Orlando, unfortunately - it's in the Miami area.) And there's the Everglades, a worthwhile day.

The area around Orlando is pretty bland and dreadful, though. I was there at the end of high school, and we were driving from Disney World to see Universal Studios. Booooring drive.

(492) One and a half inches in diameter? Probably no more than three or three and a half feet long. I've seen some in the Californis foothills that were almosr six feet long and nearly three inches in diameter. No matter; even if he's only six inches long I respect him enough to shoot first and wonder later. And that's all snakes, not just rattlers. The only good snake is a dead one...

536 --

"Charlie don't surf."

How did Billingsley do today?

539 A worthy motto. I feel that way about snakes and spiders both. My previous roommate didn't feel that way about spiders and disliked me killing every one I saw, but my current housemate has no such reservations. The only problem with her is that she's too scared to go near any spider to kill it, and we have enough of them skedaddling around the house at all hours that I can't eradicate them all myself when I'm home...

At least it's not my parents' old house in Marin. Up there on the hill they had the kind of big red spiders that are really good jumpers, and knew when you were coming. Sometimes I felt like I was trying to kill a grasshopper. Sort of like how a hitter must feel with a knuckleball, I suppose.

541

I think Billingsley threw about 100 ptches in five innings. He had 9 K, 3 BB, and many 3 ball counts. Vegas won 15-5. I heard that the strike zone was awfully small today.

ive been snooping around and i have found out Logan White has been in Florida checking out some prep prospects. Colten Willems is one of them.

Well, it's not far enough, but what about Kennedy Space Center? Do they let tourists wander around that? Anybody been?

They do allow visitors. Check out kennedyspacecenter.com. I haven't been there, but I've been to the Johnson Space Center south of Houston and I would think that this is much the same. It was a pretty good way to spend a half day or so.

537 The original in 1979.

I'm posting sporadically because I'm whipping up some Chicken Marsala. Mushrooms, shallots, garlic, heavy cream, chicken stock and Marsala wine. Mmmmm.

Oh jeez. Thirty bucks for the standard admission to the Kennedy Space Center? I don't care enough for that. Pretty cheeky of a government agency to charge that. Gatorland is (nearly) in my price range, but doesn't interest me much. Holy Land interests me very much, but not twenty-seven dollars worth. Maybe I'll just drive to a far flung suberb and catch a movie.

Great day in LA today. Dodgers win, Clippers win, the Cannon is happy tonight. All I wanted was at least a 6 game series.

Dollywood can't be that far away. Or Heritage USA. Be creative!

Marty your love of food reminds me of the Ex-Utah basketball coach?

I don't remember what I paid at the Johnson Space Center. NASA is hurting these days, though - that Mars program has had some very interesting side effects, such as draining money out of programs that are politically inconvenient in certain ways. There's an interesting article about it here: http://tinyurl.com/e4vbu

If you can't disprove global warming, just get rid of programs that might gather evidence of it, after all. There are other benefits as well to the current amount of money being budgeted on Mars.

Personally, as someone who travels a lot herself, I think that if Holy Land really interests you, then you should do it regardless. I tend to have a deathbed approach to life...

552 LOL! I'm not quite as big as Majerus (sp?). Hopefully, my love of food is more quality than quantity. My take on really big people is it's not really about the taste, but the amount.

554- It's funny enough that I'd be willing to waste the time, but not funny enough that I'd be willing to waste the money.

Given that the bullpen didn't implode today, and that Seo added to the list of starters that performed admirably (albeit without a W) I treated myself by preparing coq au vin a la Childs, which I have made a lot of times, but always comes out a little differently. Tonight was a 9 (out of 10), and my son at the last minute invited a friend over, so we had a nice time. Good food, a nice cheap pinot noir. There is enough for another good meal, so all in all a good day, nice weather, Dodger W (against the Black and Orange!) so what else do we need? What I am really looking forward to is something I can't mention on this site because of the no-politics rule.

556 Gotcha. The funny thing is, I'm an atheist and I actually thought that sounded kind of cool to spend half a day at myself, when I looked it up online. If I ever have the misfortune to be in Orlando again for anything other than catching a plane or cruise connection, I'll have to remember it.

And Marty, I agree. I really am endlessly grateful to live where I do, with the number of terrific restaurants and all the fresh food items that are readily available. That's what my mother hates most about living in Sarasota - the fish is generally fresh, obviously, but many vegetables, not so much.

Christina,an athiest too! I tend to not get into religious discussions, but it's nice to meet a fellow traveler :)

Hail fellow well met. :)

No doubt supporters of the International Court for the Determination of Irony too.

I'm only agnostoic, but I have my aspirations. . .

561 Yes, I was having a little fun. Hee.

And deburns, I don't know if we're thinking about the same thing, but there's a bottle of wine one of my salespeople gave me that I've been saving for something in particular, myself.

Christina: An atheist and someone who is into fine wine, and politics. Sounds like someone very simpatico. Let's hope our fine wine is ready in the near future, maybe even this week. I particularly love pinot noir, whether California, French or Australian. The challenge is finding a good pinot less than $15.

Deburns, dump the Pinots, and go for the California Syrahs. That's where the value id right now.

564 Simpatico indeed. I don't recall if I've had Rosemount pinot noir, but I have found that winery to be reliably drinkable for the price for other vintages.

Andrew, how would you like an iced tea? I'll stick with the 7-Up...

I brought a bottle of one of the California Syrahs to Thanksgiving dinner this year, along with three other bottles of wine. I can't remember the winery now (a big problem of mine) but it turned out to be excellent, and disappeared fast.

Since I don't cook, I bring the wine every year for the dinner.

I prefer a riesling with my religion and politics.

For white wines, it's Riesling and Gewürztraminer for me.

I seem to go in phases. I'll drink nothing but red wine for a while, then I'll drink nothing but white wine for a while, with occasional shorter periods where I drink both. I've been in the latter recently, but I can tell a red-only phase is kicking in.

Well, you all won't have Invasion to kick around anymore. I am the first to admit that the show started out about 12 episodes too slow, but it had its own style. Probably the right call by ABC: too much story-arc to get people interested once the first year has gone by. That does not mean I forgive them for what they did to Kolchak.

I don't drink tea. I've almost entirely stopped drinking coffee, too--not for spiritual reasons, but because I have enough trouble sleeping. But I do dig me a nice ginger ale, here and there. Vernor's is my favorite.

mmmm....ginger ale. I'm a straight IBC root beer man, though. If I'm feeling frisky, I'll order it in a dirty bottle.

"Al" "co" "hol"

"Al" "co" "hol"

"Al" "co" "hol"

I didn't watch Invasion, not because I didn't think it sounded cool, but because I figured it wouldn't last and I didn't want to spend time on a show that would be cancelled for sure.

Which did not stop me from watching Thief, but at least that show pretty much wrapped everything up in its 6 episodes - there was certainly much more story it could have told if it had been picked up for another season, but it found a way to end at a reasonably satisfying point. Plus, Andre Braugher and Mae Whitman were well worth it.

Bringing the thread together, the Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences has Dead Sea Scroll fragments coming to town the day I do.

So the Henson article has these bright quotes from OP™:

"Then he went on the record for the first time in several days. His message was clear — he doesn't like pitching in relief.

"When you make a lot of money as a starter, it's not reasonable to make that money throwing one or two innings out of the bullpen," he said. "It's not good for any owner."

Perez, who is owed $21 million through next season, said his unfamiliarity with the bullpen makes it a challenge...

Little and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt want him to spend time on his delivery, but Perez doesn't believe there are any problems.

He's so me-first and arrogant. At least he's right in one thing-- he's too expensive to play out of the pen. That's why we need to move him.

Maybe we could talk the Yankees into something. They wouldn't care about the cost of his contract and Randy Johnson isn't doing well this season, whether that be because of age or an injury he's trying to pitch through or some combination thereof.

At this point, I'd throw in a pair of Dodger Dogs if they would just take OP™ and his contract off our hands. We have C-Bills waiting to take Sele's spot when he finally comes back to Earth.

While Odalis is arrogant, I think he has a right to be angry. He had three bad starts, where Grady refused to bail him out, one of which was right after he found out his mom had some terminal disease and then he got replaced by Aaron Sele.

If I were Odalis, I'd be pretty angry too.

I judge OP on the entirety of his career. While I have some sympathy, his attitude isn't unique to this year. He's been a d**k for a while. And I'm tired of it. It detracts from the team.

OP was bad last season too. Like Bob said a couple of days ago, in regards to injured players losing their jobs, managers are in this to win, not to be nice.

Could the Dodgers maybe have treated OP a little nicer (in addition to what they've already done in overpaying him for his performance)? Perhaps. It feels like there were some things going on behind the scenes that we don't know the whole story about that might explain things better. It might also be a case of the Golden Rule: OP is a jerk, and so other people are jerks to him.

I'm sorry for what he's going through with his mother. But at the same time, I know that I can't screw up on my job because I'm upset over a major personal crisis, and his poor job performance long pre-dates this horrible turn in his mother's health.

582 Yes, OP's season was bad last year, but he was hurt, and even so, I'd take OP last year over Sele this year.

If I didn't think OP could help this team, I certainly wouldn't care, but starting OP is in the best interests of the Dodgers.

583 If he's not willing to work on his pitching, when he's been bad this year and last year both, he's not going to return to the kind of form where he could really help the team.

I don't think Sele is a better pitcher. But for what we're paying him vs. what we're paying OP, he's much better value, and more importantly, Sele doesn't block one of our pitching prospects. OP needs to go.

Well, at this point, who would take OP without the Dodgers eating 90% of his salary?

Isiah Thomas?

True, which says something about OP's fitness as a starting pitcher.

So in other words, we're just basically supposed to keep throwing OP out there to pitch badly because we're paying 9 million for the privilege, as opposed to throwing a lesser-paid pitcher out there to pitch badly. That's what's nicer about less expensive guys; at least you know you're getting what you paid for. With the guys like OP, you have to watch and know you've been suckered.

Still, once they're on your team the cost is irrelevant, you run the best guy out there. If the best guy actually is Aaron Sele, your team has issues.

You ride Sele as long as the horse lasts and jump off when it collapses. Nothing wrong with that strategy. It's better than getting 9 million headaches for 9 million dollars.

588 ...your team has issues. I thought it was "our" team?

Hey -- Danny Graves available. Colletti better hurry if he's going to beat Jim Bowden on this one.

http://tinyurl.com/qw77u

I still think the Mets could be a good fit. I don't think they're going to give up the necessary prospects (Milledge) to get D-train or Zito. There aren't many other options (yet) for teams that don't want to give up prospects for starting pitching.

I'd take Cliff Floyd for Odalis and $5M. Floyd fills a void on this team for lefty power (no Choi comments, please). This allows Ethier to go back down to Vegas, and makes Cruz a 4th OFer/starter against lefties.

I know I'm late to the party re: Andrew's question, but wanted to mention that I stopped in Vero en-route to the 1992 Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando. (I'm sure someone here will remember that game.)

Dodgertown was, of course, deader than a doornail, but still in my estimation well worth the side trip. There's a gift shop that's open. There're streets named after Dodgers that you can photograph. Plus we actually got play ball on the field at Holman. Mind you, we had to use an imaginary ball and bat, but whatever.

Plus, if you're going now, you'd stand a good chance of catching a VB Dodgers game, no?

Rather than fixate on the bullpen ad nausem, how about a Dodger starting pitching update?

Here are the numbers:
Brett Tomko, (4-1, 2.93)
Derek Lowe, (1-2, 2.98)
Brad Penny, (3-1, 2.66)
Aaron Sele, (1-0, 1.98)
Jae Seo, 1-2, 5.31 (But obviously he pitched well yesterday)

Not too shabby.

Sele goes up against Jeff Weaver on Friday. While I'd say both pitchers are due - Sele to come back to Earth, Weaver to not be horrible - I'm looking forward to that one.