interesting read. Furcal is more than likely just hitting a little rough patch here...

I'm probably the only person who thinks this (and I'll probably get slammed for this) but I think we need another bat. I'd go after a LF...we could really use a nice power source in the middle of the lineup. I'm not advocating trading the farm or anything, just think we could use a nice HR threat in our lineup.

As for pitching, we all know that's the main need...the question is: what pitchers? I can't think of any outside of guys like Livan Hernandez, Maddux etc that'll be available. Willis and Smoltz are long shots....is Maddux really our best option out there?

Not to hijack the thread, but I thought I'd share some photos from my trip last Thursday to Yankee Stadium for the clash between the Bronx Bombers and the Tribe. Here's the link to the photo album, with captions below:

http://tinyurl.com/gr89l

Photos 1-3: Architectural photos for Bob.
4: The street outside the stadium. The blue structure you see is the subway track.
5-9: Various pre-game views from different parts of the stadium.
10-14: Views from our seats.
15: The Bronx Bombers take the field.
16: "Old Friend" and former ROY Todd Hollandsworth crosses home after his 3-run HR off Mike Mussina gives the Tribe a 6-1 lead. In the not-so-old days, the blast would have garnered T-Hol "Game-winning RBI" honors.

I always thought Vin lived in Pasadena.

Glad to hear that Vin considers the area a nice place to live. Wish him better luck with the hiring of contractors. Perhaps he could get advice next time from his neighbors Sparky Anderson, Mike Scoscia and Wayne Gretzky. vr, Xei

3
All that stalking gone to waste, eh?

Vin has lived in the Valley for a while. I just missed being in the same school with one of his daughters (Chaminade Prep) by one year.

For the record, I hated that year of school more than any other year of my life.

5-

something you need to vent about, Bob?

6

You don't want to go down that road. I don't want don't go down that road. Not unless we've got a therapist and a team of police sharpshooters handy.

Not unless we've got a therapist and a team of police sharpshooters handy.

Don't know about the former, but I'm pretty sure the latter is a given since the passing of the Patriot Act.

I used to live in Thousand Oaks. I've had it explained to me many times that TO is not "in the Valley." Unless you mean the Conejo Valley.

7-

The way you wrote that reminded me of the Simpsons...when they'll say something normal then turn around and all of a sudden they're in shadow and talking about something serious....like when skinner talks about 'nam.

lineup is out. its pretty good except i would have put cruz in instead of lofton

Furcal, SS
Lofton, CF
Garciaparra, 1B
Drew, RF
Kent, 2B
Saenz, 3B
Kemp, LF
Martin, C
Billingsley, P

Even though Kemp hasnt hit lefties in the majors, this year at jacksonville, he was hitting 329/427/632 against lefties in 76ABs

Jim Tracy should really be managing the Giants. He's that despicable.

but I think we need another bat. I'd go after a LF...we could really use a nice power source in the middle of the lineup.

Grady just needs to maximize his assets at lf and 3b and play kemp everyday in cf.
Platoon saenz/aybar at 3b, which means get aybar back on the team, saenz hits lefties and aybar hits righties.
Platoon ethier/cruz in lf, ethier hits righties and cruz hits lefties.

This darn lofton stuff almost everyday is getting old. He's the one draining the power in the lineup.

Now don't get me wrong, i like grady, i think it has a lot to do with our former manager, grady definately is an upgrade.
And also, don't get me wrong, pitching is our problem not our offense.

But grady could help the team by maximizing his assets by putting the most power in the lineup.
Pretty much everyone is getting on base at a good pace, so sitting lofton and martinez in favor of more power will not hurt the overall obp.

11 - That notion that Kemp can't hit lefties in the majors is silly. He's had all of 12 at-bats against them.

What is there about Kemp that would suggest he would be a right-handed power hitter who can't hit lefties?

Aybar, for that matter, was over-derided for an inability to hit lefties. He had only 15 at-bats against them. He had one hit, but no strikeouts. Last year, he OPSed .732. I'm not saying Aybar can hit lefties like Saenz can, but it's a little early to call him a one-way hitter.

11
I'm tired of having the two worst hitters on the team getting the most PAs. Why does Grittle insist on putting Gaffy (and his paltry .330 OBP) in the leadoff spot?

15 -- you'll love tomorrow.

13 -

Lofton OPS vs. righties: .817
Ethier OPS vs. righties: .845

With Lofton's basestealing thrown in, I'd call it about even. I'd give Ethier a defensive edge, as well as hope that he would improve. But playing Lofton against righties is not a major issue.

But playing Lofton against righties is not a major issue.

It is when you're talking about power.
Ethier 4 hrs 99 at bats.
Lofton ZERO hrs 158 at bats.

Furcal wouldnt be so bad in the leadoff spot if he would walk like he did at the beginning of the year. He wasn't in the top 5 of runs scored in the NL because of of .250 batting average.

This darn lofton stuff almost everyday is getting old. He's the one draining the power in the lineup.

agreed, and while I don't dislike lofton per se, he is sapping power. But since there's a snowball's chance in hell of Grady actually not playing Lofton, I'd go after a legit LF. Although which one is a completely different question.

and while I don't dislike lofton per se

And i don't either.
I just think he should be used to steal a tying or winning run late in the game when the situation comes up.
He's a bench guy, nothing more.

15 For years, managers have either put speedy outfielders or middle infielders in the lead-off spot, in the 70's it was guys like Omar Moreno, in the 80's, Steve Sax or Vince Coleman. Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds were exceptions.

Interestingly, one of the most atypical leadoff guys was Brian Downing, who after he became an outfielder, scored 90 runs, drove in 70 or so, had a lifetime OBP of .370, could not steal a base if it was right in front of him but he scored runs.

Pete Rose was not the classic leadoff guy either.

18 - I'm not going to talk about power defined only as home runs, nor am I going to talk about it in the absence of other skills.

Lofton vs. righties: 158 AB, 12 BB, 0 HBP, 41 singles, four 2B, seven 3B, 0 HR, 12 SB-CS, 94 bases, 170 PA, .553 bases/PA

Ethier vs. righties: 99 AB, nine BB, 2 HBP, 19 singles, five 2B, one 3B, four HR, (-1) SB-CS, 58 bases, 110 PA, .527 bases/PA

Lofton is superior offensively, possibly inferior defensively. Again, not a major issue.

I guess we argue about the lineup because there are identified options, the pitching is just beyond the grasp of comprehension.

This might help explain Lofton in the line-up instead of Cruz:

Washburn vs. LH batters this year - .316 BAA
vs. RH batters this year - .245 BAA

While this might seem like it would be a bad idea to have Saenz in the line-up, he's got a 1.184 OPS against Washburn in 29 career plate appearances.

Hmmm, I should've given a small sample size warning for the BAA stat, there have only been 13 2/3 IP against LH batters for Washburn this year. In the past he has generally been tough on lefties (.243 BAA versus .253 BAA against righties).

5 - My mother is the office manager at the school one of Vin's granddaughters attends.

Can anyone say, "Grandparents Day?!"

Schools have "Grandparents Day"?

28 - It's another avenue for fundraising - I mean, connecting with the family.

Tonights Dodgers Sim Game:
Seattle: 7
Dodgers: 6
It was a tough loss. The Dodgers batted around in the first inning taking a 4-1 lead after one. The Dodgers lead 4-3 after 5 innings. Billingsley was knocked out in the 5th. The Dodgers scored two more in the bottom of the 7th on Nomar's two run HR to take a 6-3 lead which remained the score heading to the 9th. Saito came in to close out the game and quickly gave up a run and had runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs. Baez was brought in to bail Saito out only to have Jeremy Reed hit a surprising 3-run HR to give Seattle a 7-6 lead heading into the bottom of the 9th. Furcal lead off with a single in the 9th and Lofton bunted him over to 2nd only to have Nomar and Drew make outs to sadly end the game.
Go Dodgers! Hope the sim is wrong again!!
vr, Xei

29
What if your grandparents weren't wealthy?

I mean I really enjoyed the $400 check I got from my grandmother's estate.

5 i hope it doesn't bring back too many painful memories, but i'm a chaminade alum of '00 myself. sorry you had a bad go of it there, but i really loved it. :)

31
Along those lines, my mother-in-law's mother took out a $1,000 life insurance policy some 30-40 years ago. Sadly, she passed away within this past year. This past week, my mother-in-law received the payout for the policy. The value? $1,013.

32
I only went to Chaminade for one, long, painful year in 9th grade, which was on the Chatsworth side.

Much different administration then. Probably no clerical types drowning stray cats in a barrel in 2000.

33
When my grandmother passed away in 2000, the Federal government got to save some money by not paying out her $13/month Spanish-American War veteran widow's benefit.

34 Gadzooks! None that I remembered. The worst thing I can remember is the over-domesticated squirrels having free reign over the place.

Apparently they have a good baseball team, now, too.

Tampa Bay has signed Jason Romano to a minor league contract!

Break out the champagne!

Jose Cruz is dead to me. With all the upside kids behind him and his lack of hitting, I think it might be time to wash our hands of him. Switch hitter or not, depth is just not a good enough reason for him anymore. If I'm way off base here let me know.

36
I suppose the rampant anti-Semitism is gone too.

And the unique Catholic school style of justice of meting out physical punishment on everybody in a clas to find out if one person wrote graffiti on a bathroom wall.

38
The Puerto Rican God of Walks? (apologies to Uncle Miltie) say it isn't so.

39
wow, things really have changed. especially since 1) they're now in west hills, and 2) the student body is nearly 50% jewish.

36
Speaking of squirrels, one of the highlights of my recent trip to New York involved my encounters with black (yes, black) squirrels at the Westchester Community College parking lot (the site of the park and ride for the US Open golf tournament). We arrived at the lot around 7 in the morning, and I saw a little critter running around. It looked like a squirrel, except that it was black. Squirrels aren't black, I thought to myself. But if it wasn't a squirrel, what the heck was it? Well, I pondered the mystery until the afternoon, when (back at the lot) I once again espied the dark, mysterious rodent. So help me God: it looked like a black squirrel. I Googled "black squirrel" later that evening, and found this:

http://www.scarysquirrel.org/current/blackskwerls/

38 I'll join the ladderkite Marching & Chowder Society.

I drove Grandma Sue to the museum this morning. I asked her about her father, who grew up in Minsk. When he came to the U.S., he was the guy who the other Minsk immigrants came to for check cashing. Unfortunately, he was not good at distinguishing good checks from bad.

I haven't quite come to terms with the fact that I'm descended from Minskians. But I do like cold weather.

At a different time, my great-grandfather was a bootlegger during Prohibition. His usual method was to dress his three Jewish daughters into church-going clothes on Sunday and have them in the backseat while the liquor was in the trunk. The police didn't suspect a thing.

Was Lofton this bad defensively in his Gold Glove days? How did he ever win those Gold Gloves. I know he had bad arm but he used to make highlight catches in his earlier years. Does age make one worse in his ability to judge flyballs? Lofton still has good speed but somehow he either lost it or never had good ability to take good routes to flyballs or line drives.

Squirrels are my dog's mortal enemies. Followed by skunks, then cats.

41
In my day (1979), Grades 7-9 were in Chatsworth and 10-12 were at West Hills.

I think there were just 3-4 Jewish students when I was there. Man, did they take some abuse. I hadn't been in a school since kindergarten where all the students weren't Catholic. It was somewhat shocking.

The school had some major changes in its administration after I left. The mass cat drowning episode sort of turned things around.

There are two people from Minsk in my department.

These are the most mentions of Minsk I've heard since I saw the musical version of "Rachelle, Rachelle"

49
Bette Midler is fantastic in that.

according to wikkipedia, Minsk has a sister city in america....Detroit.

I have a friend in Minsk,
Who has a friend in Pinsk,
Whose friend in Omsk
Has friend in Tomsk
With friend in Akmolinsk.
His friend in Alexandrovsk
Has friend in Petropavlovsk,
Whose friend somehow
Is solving now
The problem in Dnepropetrovsk.

-- Tom Lehrer

http://www.chaminade.org/alm_news/HallOfFame/Nominations.htm

I have met five members or nominees of the Chaminade Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame.

44 One of my great-grandfathers was active during prohibition working (apparently) unwillingly for some mafia guys. When he decided to refuse working for them, they poisoned him with mushrooms (a favorite dish back in southern Italy). Or so the story goes.

49 - That musical is part of my struggle with my ancestry.

54 - They still haven't found my paternal grandfather's uncle.

53 - Oops, make it six. Mark Dulsky, Curtis Dunn, Jeff Gehl, Daiva Tomkus, Amy Cook, Rich Lawson.

Izturis (Maicer edition) with a bases-clearing double for the Angels today (against the Giants).

53
Impressive! I didn't even know there was an Eagles HOF. The most interesting sports tidbit I know about the place is that Mark Gubicza (of the Royals/Angels/FSW) coaches the baseball team.

53
In my one year at Chaminade, the football team played its games on Saturday afternoons at the Chatsworth campus with about 200 bench seats available. They lost the league championship to Pater Noster High, which does not exist now (bonus points if you know what is on that site now).

Chaminade played in a really low level of football then back in the day when the CIF had "conferences."

As a prep sports stringer, I have found the Chaminade people to be much nicer than they were in the past.

I once covered a high school basketball tournament there and saw an undisciplined, but extraordinarily talented guard for Crossroads play there as a freshman.

That little boy grew up to be....

Baron Davis.

And that's the rest of the story.

Page two ....

38 Every team needs a fifth outfielder. It's not like he's getting a ton of playing time.

Pater Noster High, which does not exist now (bonus points if you know what is on that site now)

I suppose "Wal-Mart" is always a good guess in these situations...

Why do the Dbacks get to play the Drays in interleague play while the rest of us are playing the AL West?

Of course I complained about skipping the Drays in 2004 when we played the east, but then Tampa dern near swept their games against our division foes.

63
The Dodgers are playing the Twins. The Rockies played the Jays.
Things are a little off because Texas plays Houston six times.

I would also think that Arizona playing Tampa Bay would only be a benefit to the DBacks if they, you know, won the games.

64 Why don't they just send the Backs (or somebody) to the American League already. I know. Send the Brewers back.

The fact that NL Central teams have to beat 5 other clubs for a playoff spot, while AL West teams only have to beat 3 is one of the many things about baseball's current structure that is just patently unfair. Granted, the extra team in the NL Central is the Pirates, but still.

The way interleague play worked out this year, the Dodgers also got an extra series, at home no less, with the Bucs.

67 Ordinarily, I'd say that works in our favor, but given last night's Beltre experience, and Lima time last year, I'm not so sure.

When we play the Pirates at Dodger Stadium, Jim Tracy will put out his best possible lineup, with his worst hitter each day batting eighth. Scrappy guys sit. Bad news for us.

Bob, is there something you want to tell us all concerning the Mets game?

Nate, take a look at comments 57, 80, and then 84 over at Bronx Banter!

66 - A six-team AL East:

NY Yankees
NY Mets
Red Sox
Orioles
Blue Jays
Nationals

would solve sooooo many of MLB's problems...

Their love for Sal Fasano does not run as deep as mine!

The White Sox have 29 runs in 10 innings vs. St. Louis.

70 How so?

The one year I lived in Palo Alto (shudder), we had black squirrels in the backyard, chasing each other around all the livelong day. I was pretty sure it was divine retribution for my presence on unholy ground. In penance, I sang CAL songs on my bike ride into the office each day, pausing only to loogify the big stone "S" sign I'd pass on my way up Galvez. My wife stopped me from painting the thing blue and gold during Big Game Week, arguing that it wouldn't be smart, even if it were the right thing to do.

60 Wouldn't be the Ribet Academy, would it?

How is the Wily Aybar fan club holding up? Any one of them jump off the Vincent Thomas Bridge?

74 was a (belated) response to 42.

73 - Put all of the high rollers into one division and make sure they beat each other into submission. Works in the NHL's Western Conference...

71 - I'm almost hesitant to link them to his myspace Nate. Almost.

72 - Still can't understand why so many people think that will be the WS matchup this year. Even the Dodgers have a better potential playoff rotation than the Cards!

78 Hey, it happens, the people who think the White Sox and Cards' will face-off in the WS are probably the same ones that think Wily Aybar can maintain a .800 OPS over a 162 game season....

75

We have a winner! You can see it off the 2 Freeway over on the east side of the freeway near the Fletcher Dr offramp.

Jose Valentin is still better than Adrian Beltre.

Sal Fasano has a myspace!!?!?! Link man, prove the link!

Is Aybar suddenly related to that coyote who spent all of his money on ACME products?

81 Beltre will no doubt hit a grand slam and save a few runs with his defense tonight though.

The White Sox have outscored the Cardinals 32-9 in their last 13 innings.

Jason Marquis has given up 12 runs in 4 innings.

Aybar invested in portable holes. Matt Kemp invented them though.

www.myspace.com/salfasano13 of course!!

Of course as soon as I posted that over there he was pinch hit for by...Shane Victorino!

Why flame Aybar?

I like guys that OPS .851 in their first 200 MLB ABs.

Has nothing to do with being apart of a fan club. Just has everything to do with enjoying productive players.

84

Probably, but he'll still have far worse numbers than Valentin for the season.

Far worse.

Das, is this really him?? If so, this is amazing!

Okay i doubt its him. Im still going to request his friendship.

88 Not a diss to Aybar, just a nudge in the ribs to all the guys who thought that clip could be maintained. Aybar is not a .800 OPS player...

i found this too.

http://www.myspace.com/salspals

definately going to join.

Hey Icaros, I'm going to see Chinatown tonight at an old downtown movie palace, the Orpheum on Broadway.

Over at BP, Joe Sheehan looks at the NL West so far. His conclusion is that most teams have played pretty much to their ability so far. Here's an excerpt, with actual and adjusted (for runs scored/allowed and quality of opposition) respectively:

Actual ------- ........ Adjusted ------

SD 37-33 --- ........ LA 38-32 ---
LA 36-34 1.0 ........ SD 36-34 2.0
AZ 36-35 1.5 ........ Co 36-35 2.5
Co 36-35 1.5 ........ SF 35-36 3.5
SF 36-35 1.5 ........ AZ 34-37 4.5

(Hard to make columns line up on Toaster. All the dashes and dots are an effort to increase readability.)

He thinks that the Dodgers are probably the best team, but have also played the easiest schedule so far, by far.

Aybar is not a .800 OPS player...

Neither is Bill Mueller.

94

I miss having fun things to do.

Aybar is not a .800 OPS player...

His stats say he is.
Thats all that matters.

60- I'm a huge Baron Davis fan back to his days at UCLA. I know he's had a solid NBA player, but I thought he'd be a great one. I was pretty upset when he was taken one spot ahead of the Clippers pick, and they were forced to take Lamar Odom. At the time, the Clippers were almost certain that Baron was going to fall to them and he was very excited about the prospect of playing in his home town. A few years later (before the 2002-03 season), the Clippers were looking for a point guard. They briefly explored the possibility of acquiring Baron Davis, but really wanted another guy from LA, Andre Miller. The Clippers ended up trading Darius Miles for Andre Miller. A few days later, Baron Davis signed a contract extension with the Hornets. From what I heard, he desperately wanted to go to the Clippers (an extreme rarity). He was pretty disappointed when the Clippers traded for Miller, but decided that signing an extension was the next best thing. What could have been....

Interesting that Aybar is doing ok at 3B according to the The Fielding Bible. I'm not surprised about JD Drew either. He really gets outstanding reads on flyballs. That is the guy Kemp should be working with on his defense, not K Loft. Rate2 is a decent fielding statistic (a lot better than fielding %), but it has its flaws. You know something's wrong when it has Kent rated as the best defensive 2B in baseball. The Fielding Bible has Carl Crawford rated as the best defensive LF in baseball and it's not even close.

When did I bring Bill Mueller into the discussion...

Let us see what his stats say after 600 ABs, 1000 ABs, 5000 ABs (if he ever gets there)...

Reyes just cycled

Hitting for the cycle is now officially meaningless.

87

Sal Fasano on myspace. That's hilarious. I foresee hours of wasted time in my future, trying to find marginal big leaguers (and favorite minor leaguers) on there.

That alone justifies the existence of my myspace account. Not to mention the opportunity to put the pictures of me wearing my dodger wig. :)

...and I'm not talking about steroids or the Tour de France.

100-

I don't see why people throw Aybar under the bus when he has a slump. Every player has slumps. Aybar just happens to be a young player, who doesn't get the leash a veteran does.

Also, Kenny Lofotn is not our problem. Rafael Furcal and Ramon Martinez and pitchers not named Penny/Lowe.

When did I bring Bill Mueller into the discussion...

You didn't. I did.

105-

Add are to the end of that.

105
As long as R-Mart 2.0 (russell martin is R-Mart 1.0) is OPSing .834, I have no problem with him playing. When he stops playing over his head, I expect Grittle to bench him. For who? Even I don't know the answer to that.

I get to see LA in HDTV for the first time since Opening Day.

106 So what does Bill Mueller have to do with the future projection of Wily Aybar?

You want to bring up Ron Cey or Jeff Hamilton up next.

Geez, a little jab in the ribs and everyone gets butt heart. That Wily Aybar must be a real loveable guy....

93- I don't have myspace, but I was looking around that page. They have a nice article on Fasano. I can see why you like him. He's a grinder, a dirt player. A fat David Eckstein. I'm on the Sal Fasano bandwagon too....

There was only one problem. As Randa, Damon and Sweeney dazzled the Royals with myriad skills, the organization branded Fasano an excellent minor league player who would never amount to much. Fasano gained the reputation as a full-moon carouser, and it was well-deserved. Every night after games, Fasano would drink a case of beer and a fifth of Southern Comfort. Every night.

"There aren't many places to go in minor league towns," says Fasano. "So I'd be sitting around a bar, talking to people, and all of a sudden I'd look up and see it was 2 o'clock and I'd downed 30 beers."

I'm guessing you are/were a big Rod Beck fan too.

108 Please, you cannot compare Martin's upside and abilities to that of Wily Aybar. Aybar was as hot as he will probably EVER be, lucky for him it was during his first two hundred and some-odd plate appearances.

110

I hope I don't have butt heart. That sounds terrible.

112

I think you are very confused about what I was saying. I said R-Mart 2.0 (aka Ramon Martinez) is playing over his head and I don't mind him playing instead of Aybar until he comes back to earth.

I only mentioned R-Mart 1.0 (Russell Martin) to delineate him from R-Mart 2.0.

Our Aybar has OPSed over .800 in two years. So his numbers indicate that he is actually a "OVER .800 OPS Player"

Wagner blows the lead in New York after having two outs and no one on.

115 LOL! Aybar had OPSed over .800 in two years? How many at-bats does that intail?

And Wagner gives up the lead in Shea after having two out, nobody on. I swear, it is simply not possible for the early game to end before the Dodger game starts in an ESPN doubleheader. Ever.

Hey Bob, what happened to the cycle alert. We didn't get any here. FOR SHAME!

Hey, I updated the Griddle list within seconds after Reyes's single.

I can only serve one master at a time. And I didn't know Reyes was going for the cycle until he got up.

118
wait, is the game on kcal or espn? or both?

Old friend David Ross had a key infield hit in that rally in New York. Thanks mainly to David Wright's overeagerness.

Matt Kemp, the 2006 Jeff Francouer (or however the heck you spell his last name?)?

Actually Kemp seems to walk a tidbit more than the Atlanta youngster.

123

Your skepticism of all things Dodger Farm system is not refreshing :)

Intersting ESPN says Dodgers vs. Mariners but is showing Cin vs. Mets.
But DTV has the D's game on so OK.

Jose Reyes walks more than Jeff Francouer.

Damn, The Griddle just hit for the cycle on the sidebar. I've never seen that.

Especially cool since the fourth post is about the history of hitting for the cycle.

I swear, it is simply not possible for the early game to end before the Dodger game starts in an ESPN doubleheader. Ever.

Exactly, i live out of california so i only get to watch the dodgers when they are on espn or when they play atlanta or the cubs because those 2 teams have their own channels on cable.
But anyways every time the dodgers are on espn the first game never ends on time.
They should schedule the doubleheaders where there is a 1 hour break in between, in case of extra innings or just a long game.

125
i know, i'm confused. i told steevo the tivo to record the kcal feed so as to not miss chadwick tonight. i hope it's not blacked out.. :/

124 Wouldn't that be a compliment? Francouer tore it up in his debut last year.

I am skeptical off all farm systems..

It just kind of scary that the Dodgers seem to have their future vested on a large number of prospects..

LaRoche is down, for a while...

Joel Guzman looks average...

Billngsley, is a nice player, but I do not see the #1 stuff people are ranting and raving about...

Matt Kemp has a hell of an upside, but if he is here to stay, we got to be patient.

Russel Martin, my favorite out of all of them...

Andre Ethier, a good #4 outfielder for the future.

I just hope this is not a ploy by Dodgers brass and P.R. department to keep the payroll down with cheaply priced rookies.

Bottom line, we are not winning ANYTHING with 90% of our hopes riding on a group of rookies for the next 2 to 3 years. This is 2006, not 1976. Cey-Garvey-Lopes-Russell, is dead and ain't happening again.

Hell, what did Mondesi, Karros, and Piazza produce for use?

I am skeptical off all farm systems.

I guess mlb players just drop out of the sky or something.

130 Sure it would be a compliment! Francouer is a nice player, I just do not expect him to learn the plate discipline necessary to really excel with his free swinging tendencies...

Ahhh, I finally get to watch Billingsley pitch. That curve is pretty dang wicked, needs to locate his fastball a little better though.

Kid Cuba why not wait for the players to start to stink, rather than rip them now?

Aybar's a career .851 OPS player.

Its one thing to rip a guy having a career season (like Ramon Martinez, he has a career of failure that makes it seem like this year is out of whack).

However, the rooks have no history of failing, so its useless to label them failures until they've had some evidence that would show them to be failing.

Saying Aybar isnt an .800 OPS player (when he is), is about as asinine as people complaining that Kemp doesnt hit enough singles.

132 No they do not, but winning franchises to put their hopes on 5 to 6 prospects... We need to get good free agents and mix them in with these youngsters, if we want to be champions.

Lofton, Mueller, and the gang are not the type of free agents we need.

For example, there is no #1 starter out there right now, but one comes available via free agency, the Dodgers need to pursue him. A true #1, Penny, Lowe, Bills, and somone else is a NICE pitching staff..

We need one more bat.... The Kent contract extension still makes me sick, we could have used that money for a legit bat, not some slightly above average stick..

I am pissed I guess, I look at New York and their teams and look at the patched up bucket we put on the field...

Why don't we have players like Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, etc... mixed in with our youth? If we did, we would be kicking ass...

131 That's the thing though, we're not the Devil Rays. We're spending $100 million dollars in payroll, so the rookies only have to be complementary players in the future. If only a few of the top prospects become regulars, that still provides a lot of salary relief to sign superstars to build around.

136

New York has a 200 million dollar payroll.

135 I am sorry, Wily has done nothing as a professional player to sell me on the fact he can be a .800 plus player over a year long MLB season. He is a nice utility guy, I think we should keep him...

I guess I am a bitter Dodger fan these days...

wow... Olmedo. are you kidding me?

Wow, I didn't know Saenz had that in him.

138 Hey if it takes 150 or 200 million so be it, I am sick of thinking back to 1988. We fill up the stadium, pay over priced parking fees, etc... Do we not deserved a star-studded team?

KidCuba, did Billy Ashley touch you in naughty places when you were a kid or something? ;)

Hang in east coasters-I know it sucks. Getting worse actually: ESPN used to have several alternative feeds you could watch so you could often choose between three games.DTV carried them all. I haven't seen that yet this year.

Oh no. Bills looks wild.

143 Hell, I forgot about Billy Ashley!!!! Ashley, Karim Garcia, those guys were supposed to be the goods!

Shaky first inning. Chad doesnt seem to have his best fastball today.

145 The guy walks a lot of batters, but has good stuff. I hope he can grow into a #1, we need it...

Shaky 1st for Billz.
2BBs
Rocket that Saenz snared.
Then Sexson just missed a 3run HR.

can we give saenz a +2 for that play alone?

147

Following on gamecast here. what does chad's fastball top out at?

my english professors are rolling in their graves...

21 pitches...

Billingsley doesnt really throw hard, but looks like he does have a good curve ball. First time seeing him, he doesnt "look" impressive.

Furcal, he is another one who gets me hot, what a waster of money.....

Fix that gap in your teeth Furcal, and fix Navarro's snaggle tooth for him while you are at it..

Billingsley doesnt really throw hard

In the san diego game, he was consistently 93-96. he doesnt have his best fb today yet.

Bills is a good young pitcher, I just do not see the #1 stuff people go on and on about....Especially with all the walks...

Sexson hit the ball far, but Lofton wasn't even on the warning track when he caught it.

I question the pitch selection by Billingsley and Martin in the 1st inning. Especially that inside fastball on a 1-2 count to Lopez. Why not throw an outside curveball? He needs to mix in some other pitches because a 90 mph 4 seamer is not going to get it done. He does seem to build velocity later in the game. I wonder why he can't come out of the gate throwing 92-95.

Can this place be anymore negative?

151 The top I've seen is 93 on the ESPN gun, but most of his fastballs have been 89-90.

How come Furcal leads off. That seems strange given his offensive profile.

You want to see young #1 stuff, go check out that filthy dog Francisco Liriano.

160 Hey the more pessimistic we get, the more I appreciate wins. Hell 2004, was a great season, very enjoyable...

162 He is a speedy guy, I guess... I wonder how much managers study baseball. Furcal is NO lead-off hitter...

160
no kidding, nate. on a positive note, i am pumped about getting a fernando bobblehead friday!

thanks Johnson for the FB update.

162
How come Furcal plays SS? That seems strange given his defensive profile...

Bills has really been improving his control.
But having to come up now I think I've heard more than once that he will walk as many as he strikes out.

160, meet 111!

167 True at present.

Can this place be anymore negative?

Or any worse spelled?

168 He is no Daniel Cabrera.... I think his control should improve in time, I just cannot understand why batters get soo many foul balls off of him..

My Cubano brother Betancourt...

112 and 117 seem contradictory, and this invalidates the argument, unless I can be convinced otherwise.

Why don't we just sit back and watch the games and see what happens sometimes instead of assuming that every single thing is going wrong.

The list:
1) Kemp swings too quickly
2) Billingsley is too wild
3) Willie Aybar is not good
4) Rafael Furcal is a character out of "The Omen"
5) Kenny Lofton killed someone's dog

uhhh what channel is the game on...espn is showing espn news right now

Lets go Chad. Get the nervous jitters out of you and pitch like you can.

175 What fun would that be? Atleast I am not some fat out of shape mid-20's cholo at Dodger stadium yelling graphic content our of my yap, while a 7 year old girl eats her Dodger dog, a row in from of him..

This is just uninteligible (we need a spell check in here) discussion..

40 pitches, does he make it past the 5th?

What's most difficult right now is watching the D's offense. They're making pitchers I never heard of look like Babe Ruth. If we had someone who could break out and lead us.

Outstanding play by Furcal to save Billingsley. A crappy shortstop like Jeter would have had to have dived.

Billingsley has been extremely shaky

Furcal must be the nanny.

found it....

Also, one final comment, can someone over there tell Vin Scully when he makes a mistake. I know he might as well be Jesus-Allah-and Buddah wrapped all into one, but if I was 14 years old today, I would have no idea what a great broadcaster Vinny is, because he makes mistakes, like calling Pedro Martinez, Ramon Martinez for several innings...Come on, whisper it into his headset from the production booth for christ sake!

Billingsley is all over the place tonight.
Another reason why i think we will go nowhere in the playoffs because we have penny and lowe and nothing else for starting pitching.
Now don't get me wrong, billingsley will grow into a good pitcher.
Also don't get me wrong, i'm not advocating trading the future away for a starting pitcher or more.
I think the end result will be the same whether or not we acquire 1 starting pitcher, and that is if we win the division we will go nowhere in the playoffs, we need more than just 1 starting pitcher to win a championship this year.
Just my opinion.

I'd rather save our prospects and become a consistant playoff team then trade our prospects for a chance at 1 championship this year and then fall off the map.

175

Did you spell Aybar's first name the wrong way on purpose just to go along with today's crowd?

You should be above peer pressure by now, Bob.

What fun would that be?

Probably not a lot of fun. But it will sure be a lot less annoying.

Did Washburn not get the memo? I didn't see one breaking ball in that at bat with Kemp.

184 We need more than a #1 ace, we need a real offensive threat. J.D. Drew is nice, but he is not the type of bat that will take us to the promised land... No, Carl Crawford is not that bat either, but Miguel Cabrera on the other hand!..

Kemp must have been reading the comments about his plate approach |)

See for me, you have two sporting experiences going on now:

1) You have the World Cup where you live and die on seemingly each play and hope that your team doesn't screw up because if it does, that could be it and there's no tomorrow

2) Baseball unfolds over a long period time and I like the ups and downs. It's good. It's bad. There's usually a tomorrow.

The two events exist as counterpoints to each other. It's a nice rhythm for me.

Golden Boy!

The only way any other team is getting Miguel Cabrera on their team this year involves kindapping or extortion.

Golden Boy is hitting .343 w/ RISP going into today. It's starting to get to the point where I'm expecting a clutch hit.

192We are talking about the Marlins, any thin g is available for the right package of prospects. Using Florida's methodology, Miguel is probably already over-valued. We should try to snatch him up, before Cabrera is signed to a 20 year deal by Omar Minaya...

I hope the woman animated in the Charles Schwab commercial sees his 401(K) disappear.

I find that ad to transcend stupidity.

189- not really. I think anyone would have walked there

Martin is a real grinder. Is he not the heart and soul of this team (pending Kent's approval)

It bothers me so much that I can't get my pronouns and adjectives to agree in gender!

195
I resent those commercials for stealing a cool effect from "Waking Life" and the upcoming "A Scanner Darkly."

Is Ichiro the first baseball player since The Babe to be referred to solely by his first name?

That's quite an honor.

199
Well, the lineup on the Inside the Dodgers blog always lists Garciaparra as "Nomar."

199

I don't think you can compare Ichiro's name to the nickname "The Babe."

Newspapers called Babe Ruth "Ruth" most of the time when he played.

Ichiro pretty much demanded that he be called Ichiro when he was in Japan. And the fact that he was endorsing a car company that was not called Suzuki was one factor.

200

It's listed as Garciaparra for today's game.

Come on Bills, get out of this inning with under a total of 60 pitches I do not feel like seeing Kuo or Broxton tonight...

Padres take a 3-2 lead in the 9th in Texas on an Otsuka wild pitch.

I love how Beltre only plays when he has motivation to play.

Mench, Wilkerson, and Kinsler due up in the 9th for Texas.

BT:

Interesting. What car company was he promoting?

205 stop being negative.....

Kinsler due up? That is a nice young second baseman... Well, maybe because I want to draft him in my Diamond Mind league...

oyy... chad is not impressing tonight, and he's running out of pitches (i assume he's on a pitch count) to turn it around.

207
I don't remember so I left it out deliberately.

Suzuki is one of the most common surnames in Japan as well.

I love how Beltre only plays when he has motivation to play.

No kidding. 2004 was all about money.

And bone spurs.

And steroids/HGH.

Actually it's Wilkerson, Kinsler, and Laird.

Does someone care to guess why he gets soo many pitches fouled off?

Lew Ford will go by Lew when Ford Motors refuses to pay him advertising money.

Where did that miss?

214

Well right now, his fb velocity isn't swing and miss velocity. That could be one reason.

There is definately a correlation between Beltre in a position to lose playtime or money and his performance, but there's too many other factors to consider to say that it's the exact cause.

Kent is a freaking idiot. He didn't pay any attention to Beltre. Great veteran leadership right there.

214

Ask Brad Penny. What do we know?

I also think Chad is tipping his pitchings. I can tell if he is going to through a curveball or a fastball by where his release point is and how much his back arches.

Question (for Bob): What is the latest date in the season that all teams in a division had the same record? I ask because the NL West is pretty close to a 5-way tie.

220 I thought you might be able to answer that, since you feel you can accurately forecast Aybar's future...

The complete lists of products that Ichiro does not endorse in Japan:

1) Septic systems
2) Feminine hygiene products
3) Murder for hire syndicates

219

That was Martin's fault, not Kent's.

62 pitches for Chad....

221
good eye nate. maybe we can get you to start at 3B ;)

222

I've looked around and I don't think there's ever been more than 3 teams tied with the same record this late.

In the early 1970s, the AL East had all six teams within a game or two of each other around this time.

Re: 225

I think the Seattle broadcasters said that Beltre went when Martin made the throw. Even if Kent had thrown back to home plate, I doubt he would have gotten the out at home plate.

WWSH

223

And I thought you would eventually spell "Willy" correctly.

We were both wrong.

Why not have Nomar leadoff? Because he's not a basestealing threat? Is it bad policy to give your best hitter the most possible ABs? Not being facetious.. just wondering as a relative baseball novice.

Some futures are easy to tell

229- I don't think so. Kent didn't even glance at Beltre. It's like he was oblivious to the fact that Beltre was coming home.

That looked like a foul ball to me…..

231 Because that's how they've always done it.

That was a homerun?

235
It did hit the pole. Just barely.

That ball was fair by a matter of inches.

Re: 231

Because you want your best hitter to be able to bat with men on base.

WWSH

231 That would actually make sense...

234
okay, just checking. that offends my common sense, but what do i know?

i couldn't tell on the replay that it hit the pole.

237 What does it matter if there are no men on in front of him?

237
I get that, but who on our team regularly gets on base? Not lofton or furcal. Maybe martin? but who would leadoff with their catcher? (See: jason kendall) ;)

233

In the dugout, Little was talking to Martin about the play and Martin looked like he was admitting his error.

Martin is the guy with the whole play in front of him.

You can't make EVERYTHING Jeff Kent's fault.

I personally know that he wasn't responsible for leaking A-bomb secrets to the Soviets.

239 Whenever baseball teams do something that doesn't make sense, that's almost always the answer.

I would try Nomar first, Kent third...

240

If the ball Johjima hit hadn't hit the pole, there is no doubt that Kemp would have come runnning in screaming about it.

242 Lofton has a .365 on base percentage.

You can't make EVERYTHING Jeff Kent's fault.

I beg to differ.

"Please, please, let me differ"

242 Lofton has a .365 on base percentage.

This would be my lineup:
1. Martin C
2. Nomar 1B or Drew RF
3. Nomar 1B or Drew RF
4. Kent 2B
5. Kemp CF
6. Furcal SS
7. Ethier/Cruz LF (if Cruz plays bat him ahead of Furcal)
8. Izturis 3B (we need to play him to boost his trade value)

247 You forgot one thing though...he is the devil reincarnate, so we must hate him. The odd pendant he wears gives it away.

247
fair enough. and .330 isn't awful for furcal, either. just wondering out loud.

I am hoping pitchers can learn control right about now...

A's batting in the 9th down 2-1. They have 1 run in 26 innings in Denver.

247, 249 regfairfield with the rare Grover Cleveland double post!

Re: 234 237

Not all received baseball wisdom is dumb.

Of course it matters if the bases are empty. If you're always having your best hitter bat with the pitcher and a no. 8 slap-hitter with a low OBP ahead of them, you reduce the number of RBI opportunities. The no. 1 and 2 hitters should be guys with high OBPs, but low slugging percentages. They can't get themselves home, so let the hitters with high slugging numbers bring them home.

WWSH

The A's have 2 runs in 26 innings as Swisher hit his second home run of the game to tie it up 2-2.

256 I think the real answer is that it makes the difference of about three runs in the end.

I keep waiting for Chad to scream up at Vin Scully: "I AM NOT FREAKING TIRED!"

Scully seems to hold it against Billingsley that batters foul a lot of his pitches off. Is that a fatal flaw?

Ever since pitch counts became the controlling stat for pitchers, there seems to be a premium put on groundball pitchers who don't need three pitches minimum to get a guy out.

Finally the real Adrian Beltre shows up.
He was hacking at high fastballs, inside curves, and low and away sliders in that at bat.

First impressions for far of Billingsley: Good curve ball, but doesnt have a dominating fastball. He doesnt look to be a dominant #1 type at this point of his career. Certainly isnt at a Liriano, Peavy, Willis level when those 3 came up.

I really hope Chad isn't hiding an injury. His fastball velocity is down by like 3-4mph.

You can't make EVERYTHING Jeff Kent's fault.
Did you read Jon's post? Vin Scully, one of the most gentle human beings on the planet, is suing a man named Kent.

Moral of the story: Never trust anyone named Kent. Not even Clark Kent.

Where is the potent Dodger Offense that leads the NL in runs scored?

260 Easy their, you might get your head bitten off! Did you not read and hear and see all the spin, BILLS is a #1. That is it, do not question that, at all....

That homerun was foul. I watched it on TIVO. What is up with Drew? And I think the ch. 9 radar gun is slow.

Since Johjima ran around the bases and a run was tallied, the hit was, by definition, fair.

If the Dodgers had thought it was foul, they would have been screaming at anyone who would listen.

It was foul. Watch it again.

good time for #8 to blast off the bat...

The bat was blasted off. Is that what you wanted.

267

What's the point?

It's not like I'm going to be filing a writ of certiorari to have the call changed.

I find it highly ironic that the posters Dodger Thoughts, a place where the #1 rebuttal for anything is "small sample size", are basing their analysis of a 21 yr old pitcher off about 4 innings pitched so far today.

271I also take into consideration Bills minor league track record in my assessments.

ESPN didn't show a camera angle that even showed the homerun. Their cameraman apaprently thought it was popped foul and parked the view in the 3B/LF seats.

270-It is pointless. Your right. I'am wrong. You win. Congrats

I don't expect Chadwick to be a #1, immediately or ever. If we develop a steady #3 or #2, I'll be plenty happy.

*I'm

271 You're forgetting the five innings he pitched last week.

So his 10+ k rate and around 7 hit rate doesn't show top of the rotation pitcher?

Let him hit for himself.

KidCuba, the ongoing joke where you mock everyone who defends a player that you aren't in love with has passed its expiration date. Sarcasm and personal comments at other commenters' expense is not tolerated here, and I'm asking you to stop.

There's a multiplicity of viewpoints here, so this tease that you're some kind of martyr for having your point of view is off-target, and the repetition is making it worse.

Good inning by The Chad. He threw more strikes and mixed in his 2 seamer.

260 -- Billingsley has had a dominating fastball for three years, and that includes five days ago in his debut, but because his velocity is down in the ONE game JoeyP sees, that means he doesn't really have one. Obviously, Billingsley fooled everybody. For three years.

Billingsley is certainly a better pitching prospect now Peavy and Willis when they came up, but not Liriano. Peavy didn't do a hell of a lot when he debuted, and Willis' funky delivery has always compensated for very average stuff across the board.

CBills reminds me of Penny. (I am not just talking about the foul ball rate).

The crystal ball sees all.

Good outing by Bills. Let's score some runs to give Bills his 1st win.

As long as we get at least 5 innings and stay in the game, that's fine.

Furcal thinks he is a power hitter.

For all the negativism surrounding Chad, he does have a 3.48 era for his big league career so far.

280 Understood.

It is interesting that your folks here can be insulted just because someone disagrees with their viewpoint and can keep ongoing jokes about other foolish subjet matters.

I love the site and will continue reading it, but I guess the comment board is not for me.

Thanks for the fun and great blog.

KC

CBills on a bad day is still better than Tomko. :)

Keep the faith, Nate. Ralphie is our guy.

282- Billingsley is not better than Willis at this point in their careers. Willis doesn't have average stuff either. He gets his fastball up there at 93 and his pitches have a lot of movement. His home run rates in the minors were incredible and they have been very good in the majors. Willis is an excellent pitcher whether you think he's going to get injured or not. Peavy was also a better minor leaguer and he has better stuff than Billingsley. He has incredible movement on his pitches. We'll see if Billingsley can duplicate Peavy's numbers from his rookie year. I really doubt it. Peavy had better control.

hallo all, I wasn't here for the first 5 innings can somebody tell me if Bills pitched well? I know the score is 2-1 but how did he fare?

For once, I agree with herman.

Billingley clearly didn't have his best velocity or control today but he kept us in the game. He battled, only giving up 2 runs in 5 innings. Tomko would have been blown out of the water with 3 homeruns already.

In june, lofton has a 678 ops (that's cesar izturis type ops) and on the year a 761 ops (for an outfielder thats mediocre, and 21 points higher than my prediction for him this season).
Kemp cf.
Ethier/cruz lf.
Saenz/aybar 3b.
Also drop furcal to the bottom of the lineup.

I hope Francisco Liriano becomes the next Koufax, with thrice the career length. I really, really, really do.

Really.

Re: 293

If Bills doesn't get the walks under control, he WILL get burned.

That being said, not a bad two starts at all for someone of his age. I expect him to go through his share of bad spells, but I don't see any reason to think he won't be the real deal.

WWSH

291 Peavy allowing 11 home runs in 90 innings certainly hurts his case, however.

If Tomko were pitching, herman and I wouldn't have been arguing if Johjima's home run was fair since it would have likely ended up in the loge.

Nice inning by Joe. :) :) :) That gets three happy faces.

293- Billingsley has much better makeup than Tomko. I know we joke about things like this, but it's very important for a pitcher to have good makeup and a good mound presence. Tomko gets really gets wound up when anything goes wrong. Weaver is the same way. Derek Lowe was like that last year. Billingsley seems much better at keeping his composure.

295

I somehow don't think Giants fans hope that as well.

288 - 288 - Actually, based upon your second sentence, I don't think you do understand.

Most people are not insulted by being disagreed with. They're insulted by being insulted. There's plenty of room for jokes here, but mocking fellow commenters just does not translate well online. I've yet to find a site that benefits from it.

Re: 300

Let's hope it lasts. Jackson had that too, but unaccountably lost it.

WWSH

Let's stay positive guys. We are going to turn this around. I have been "pull ot my hair" as well, but the season is a seris of ups and downs. We are due for a big up.

300 How do you define getting wound up? Because Tomko gives up a below average amount of unearned runs in relation to his earned runs.

303- Jackson didn't lose his makeup, he lost his confidence. That and Jim Colborn screwed around with his mechanics.

come on Dodgers! Let's score some runs!

301

That has everything to do with why I care so much.

I want the Giants to go down in history as making a worse trade than D4P.

When Kemp comes up, I'm going to clean out the cat box for good luck.

Drew's really slumping...

GO KENT!

WWSH

298- True

305- he's a flyball pitcher, so he's not going to give up a lot of unearned runs (unless he has Vladimir Guerrero playing all outfield positions). When guys get on base, when an umpire makes a bad call, or when he gives up a home run, he just completely falls apart. That's a sign of a pitcher having bad makeup.

I would really like to know when Jarrod Washburn became a good pitcher. Or is this an offensive slump by the Dodgers?

Is Washburn this good? :(

I guess I can put off cleaning out the cat box for a while.

we were all expecting that right! (Saenz)

313 - that question just answered itself. Woot!

Tomato vs left handed pitching= Pujols in Dodger Blue :)

312 Can you prove that?

Boy, with that play in the first inning and now this, Izturis is going to have a tough act to follow.

:) :) :) :) :) :) That homerun gets 6 happy faces. See what positive thinking gets you.

Just think, tomorrow that's going to be two fake bunts and a popout to second.

Matt Kemp willed Tomato to hit that homerun. In fact, Matt Kemp just glared at the ball from the on-deck circle, and it left the yard.

Matt Kemp is toast. That was fun while it lasted. Or something.

322- That was funny.

Saenz/Cruz should start every game against LHP.

320-

it really is too bad that Olmedo can't play every day...it'd be very nice to see his name penciled on that lineup card every night...

At this point, I'd rather have Martinez instead of Izturis at 3rd but I guess we have to showcase Izturis for a trade.

324
At the very least, his power is clearly gone.

323

So I guess I am going to be seeing Kemp at the Tucson Convention Center for those Trekkie conventions.

It's a little-known fact that the Dodgers write the lineup out with an Etch-a-Sketch.

Dave Jauss is a craftsman with that thing.

324, etc. -- when did Kemp become a problem?

for anyone interested: one of my best friends is on that America Has Talent show tonight...Ivan Pecel, a juggler. Thought I'd throw that out there and think about how bizarre it is that one of the best jugglers in the world is a good friend....

328-

well that's what we hope...if he really is going to keep the job I might have to start drinking bleach.

328-

well that's what we hope...if he really is going to keep the job I might have to start drinking bleach.

331 - LOL

Until Little decides to shake up the lineup ... ?

333

What's his best trick?

332 - In the comments last night.

332. Kemp doesnt hit enough singles and has a -10 scrap factor.

330 - I'm sure there's a reference there that I'm not getting, but I have it on good authority Matt Kemp eats 3 Trekkies with eggs every morning for breakfast. Chews 15 times before swallowing, too.

Career year for Ramon. Awesome.

Martinez should start tommorrow.

The flood of happy faces from the Martinez double may just crash the server!

333-

I have no idea. I don't know the names of anything but he competes in the world championships and stuff. One insane thing he does is juggler like six rings, throw one behind his head, kick it back up into the rotation with his heel without missing a beat. I didn't even know that was possible.

332 -- last night apparently. I'm not on the distribution list for these particular memos.

Furcal? has he gotten a hit today?

Ramon Martinez can leave the room on a high note. "That's it - good night!"

Is Furcal still hurt, or is he really this bad?

He battled, only giving up 2 runs in 5 innings. Tomko would have been blown out of the water with 3 homeruns already.

Defending Billingsley by comparing him to Tomko.

Ouch.

Not that I dont agree. But Billingsley was labeled the #1 pitching prospect in baseball. Just being better than Tomko...I expect more.

Guess we'll see Baez (just hold the lead!!!)and Saito.

I heard Vinnie say Kemp has 2 hits & one walk.

Lucille II + Mike Hargrove = W for the Beimelack

Fur-kel + Pitcher With A Pulse = 40 million down the chute

346

Let's just say Rafael has had better nights in his career.

But he's been fielding well today! He made a nice play on a line drive to keep the Mariners from a big inning.

348 -- Fur-kel brings to mind that old saw about the uselessness of certain body parts on a bull.

291 -- Neither Willis nor Peavy were ever BA top 10 prospects, unlike Billingsley. Peavy's stuff was never better than Bilingsley's. Peavy's scouting reports in the minors were simple: low 90's fastball, a slider that needs work, a change-up, Greg Maddux-type finesse. Willis is another guy with more finesse than stuff. They were never in Billingsley's league when it comes to stuff, as in plus pitches. And Peavy's ERA in his debut season was 4.52. So far Billingsley is staying far ahead of that, even if he hasn't looked pretty doing it.

"Free" "Agent" "Bust!"
"Free" "Agent" "Bust!"

I understand that Jarrod Washburn is a pitcher who knows how to win.

Brett Tomko will tell Broxton when he gets back to the dugout, "Kid, let me tell you about the home run I gave up back in 2001..."

That's four syllables!

The Bull isn't inspiring much confidence.

WWSH

Man, Broxton gave up a monster to Milton Bradley's future.

355 - It's too bad the Dodgers didn't have the luxury of leaving Bills in the thin PCL air. He could learn a lot there.

What is this, a haiku blog?

is Ichiro human?

Great, now Beltre's fouled a pitch off his LEFT foot.

Free agent Furcal
I can't count all the errors
Glove made of iron

Bring in Baez. I never thought I would say that.

Billinglsy has had two starts and hasn't pitched a shutout yet. Obviously overrated.

Rafael Fur-kel
Overrated Shortstop Man
Fat Tub Of Goo Soon

Let's get a DP

Interesting move. Maybe Izturis can give Furcal a day off tommorrow at short.

Beltre's an animal... when he's motivated.

Jonathon Brazoban?

Great double switch by Grits.

LOL: Izturis replacing Fur-kel.

Am I dreaming? (Izzy in)

Broxton has disappointed more often than not when put in high leverage situations. Oh well, he's young, so hopefully he'll learn.

WWSH

Caesar Izturis
Overrated Shortstop Man
Trade Him For Good Stuff

Grady seems to like double switching a lot.

Welcome back Cesar
Your anemic bat and all
At last, some defense

Baez loves them inherited runners allowed.

Just Another Inherited Run Allowed By Baez :)

379 wins and wins big.

378 - he's making up for lost time in the AL.

Baez should only start beginning of innings.

Jon "the Bull" Broxton
Why have you started to suck?
Hit the rookie wall

379 - wins my vote, too.

I heard Izzy's glove has a vacume on it.

Baez is a horrible fielder. This isn't the first time he's done something like that. He better get an error on that play.

If we get out of this inning with the lead, can we use Saito for 8th and 9th?

Dodger Pitching Staff
Can not throw a first pitch strike
No first ball swinging

389

how many days has he rested (I'm wondering)

Oh boy, Kemp must be getting extra lessons from Lofton.

Man, that was one ugly catch.

Kemp made that play..... interesting.

Oh well, no harm, no foul.

WWSH

Yikes! (Kemp)

Kemp almost evoked Dodger Thoughts pandemonium.

Wow, I roll into the DT thread, and it's become George Swede appreciation night.

Matt, please do not purchase anymore Kenny Lofton fielding videos. JD Drew is the guy to go to. Or Fred McGriff if you want to learn about the fundamentals of baseball.

391 He hasn't pitched since Saturday.

Baez luck was good for that inning.
3 rockets. No runs scored.

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of Baez!

Kemp almost blew that
He probly planned it that way
Me? I had no doubt

That looked like a deceptive fly ball. The way he swung made it look like it would be a dunker.

After calling the Argentina v. Holland game I'm going to put my luck on the line and say we pull this one out.

Feeling positive having not seen a live Dodger game since Bills last start.

I would guess he can go two then no?

403

or he probably lost it in the white shirts

Kenny Lofton swings
Has a plane or bus to catch
Against Mateo?

I would prefer Saito going 2 instead of having Baez go 1 more.

Drew is do man!

Baez is the suck
Nausea for all fans watching
Three words: DFA

Neither Willis nor Peavy were ever BA top 10 prospects, unlike Billingsley

It is possible, that BA is wrong on players.

Pitches taken in that inning = 1

George Swede references in the DT comment thread in that inning = 1

Steve commenting on
Team patience or lack thereof
Sure to upset Jon

Moral of the story: There should probably be more pitches taken in any given inning than George Swede references in the DT comment thread during that same inning.

[411] Maybe the BA but never Dodger Thoughts posters.

WHY WHY DIDN'T GRADY BRING IN SAITO???

our preminision's were correct peeps!

Nice pitch, Superstar

Frown.

We've just been Baezed. Thanks for pimping up Baez Charley!

0-2 0-2.....

A GW HR by Izturis will have to do

Giving up homerun
To Jeremy Reed is Grab
Owski principle

Ex-Dirtbag homers
Danys Baez ties up game
With average stuff

Another blown save by Baez and he wanted to be the closer.

Baez really sucks
Really really really sucks
He really blows too

I make no apologies for George Swede references. He was the Rance Mulliniks of my poetry career.

The Dodger bullpen
Detonating our rare lead
Bunch of arsonists

355- 93 MPH is not a finesse pitcher that's what Peavy was throwing his rookie year (consistently and he would get up in the 97 range). Peavy and Willis have always had a lot of movement on their pitches, Billingsley doesn't. You know that ERA isn't the best way to judge a pitchers' performance. I look at a pitchers' peripherals. HR rate, K/BB ratio, K/9- Willis and Peavy excelled in all of these in the minors.

Grady saves Saito for later
But save opp goes away
Now we face another Baez meltdown

Izzy being Izzy! (LOVE IT!)

At least CBills will not get a loss tonight.

Just got home and turned on the game. Our little disfunctional family here at DT can't agree on much but we can all agree that Baez is awful. Can't we?

O.K. izturis is healthy now lets trade him. lol

What are you waiting for Grady? Baez doesn't have it.

Hate to say it, but Tivo says Ichiro is safe.

There is no luck great enough to overcome Baez.

This bullpen is absolutely rediculous.

Adrian Beltre, apparently, really WOULD play better if he was still at Dodger staidum.

Odd time to be asking this, but are Dodger fans booing Beltre?

I've never seen Graddy so steamed. yikes!

0-2 again.

DFA half the roster.

Seo, Tomko, Baez, Perez (he should get one more start)

Beltre killing us
Coming up with the big hits
Facing Baez helps

Baez #######!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grady saved Saito and now he's paying for it with another loss.

There once was a pitcher named Danys
Whose batters all turned into Manny
A charge at the plate
Russell's tag was too late
And Ichiro scored on his fanny.

Beltre is injured? No wonder he is playing so well.

What's up with Kemp. That ball is like a greased pig out there for him.

this game turned around quick.

But Baez had only given up 1R in his last 9ip........

Grady, where's the hook?
Baez is ungodly awful
Kiss this game goodbye

Lofton and Furcal are the least of our problems.

The Dodgers need to install a guillotine at Dodger Stadium. Baez is first in line.

448 That's why it was time for a meltdown.

Danys Baez booed, and rightfully so. What a loser. From closer to crappy middle reliever. Forget releasing Odalis, release this guy! He's worthless. The Dodgers might be able to get a Raul Mondesi rookie card for him.

Well, I blew the meter with that last haiku. I'm done with the prose for tonight.

There's no question that Baez blows.
But why did Grits leave him in for another inning, when Baez had given up like 3 rockets in the 7th?

If you get 1 shut out inning out of Baez, count your lucky stars. Do not press your luck with another inning.

Did you honestly expect Grady to take a pitcher out in time?

I think its the pants for Kuo.

Knee high pants= bad control. Pants down at the ankles= good control.

450

I advocated the repatriation of Baez long ago.

Guillotine? No, Guantanamo would be more appropriate.

If we are making old friend Adrian Beltre look this good, just imagine what we will do for Jim Tracy and his gang this weekend.

I'm not gonna give up, but darn do these games hurt

Half our starting pitching is bad and I don't trust anyone in your bullpen.

449

That haiku's middle line is so good, the syllables go up to 8!

We've gone from Haiku to limericks to French Revolution...Can an Industrial Revolution analogy be far behind...I've got a few ready.

Baez gets :( :( :( :( four frowns.

Does anyone need a "proven closer" cause we are will to trade ours.

458

I hate to think what will happen to the Dodger Thoughts group if the Pirates win that game in some comeback fashion.

Like on a 3-run pinch homer by Jeromy Burnitz off of Danys Baez. Then in the bottom of the 9th, Tracy will make a series of increasingly more clever pitching changes and the game will end with Kemp fishing at a pitch in the dirt from Matt Capps.

I knew that if I blew the syllables on one haiku, Bob would catch me on it.

There was a lot of pressure on those compositions, Bob! I had a better success rate than Danys Baez, in any case.

Can anyone in our bullpen get an out?

462- you're hoping that Baez gets his pitching hand stuck in a machine at a textile mill?

This year is starting to feel like last year.

Let's score some runs!

Kuo must be the only pitcher averaging a walk per inning.

K is for Kuo

Darn, didn't get to use this one:

Poetic justice
When pitcher after Baez
Lets his runners score

Haikus are so much better than arguing about Willy Aybar.

Or watching this game.

467

Saito (that's all I can think of)

466
I only noticed because you said it was wrong.

468 I was gonna go with "The Dodger's luck is worse than industrial development in agrarian Ireland of the 1840's." But yours was better.

Which is worse? Starting pitching or bullpen.

Nice night for Kuo.

I haven't read anything to the effect, but will Izzy be making some starts at SS? It's not like Furry should be untouchable. The team announced Izzy's start tomorrow in advance to let other teams get scouts to the game, right?

465. Just reading that made me a little sick, Bob.

468. That would be a good start.

Trade Furcal

Izturis leads a comeback?

Mr. 1.000 OPS :)

We need a dinger by Kemp

480

My scenario in 465 is my version of "An Inconvenient Truth".

478-BOTH

I just drank the blood of a chicken. So Martin will hit a home run here.

486 - Hey! That's my phone number!

487- You drank the blood for nothing.

478-

Argh!!!

Brain explodes

Grady has tendency to leave his starters and/or relief pitchers in too long. He needs to be quicker replacing ineffective pitchers and have other pitchers ready. Tonight, it could cost us a win.

Jim Tracy no, but watch out for Jeromy Burnitz. For some reason he can hit the Dodgers very well. It might be a good idea to start Odalis Perez so Tracy starts the right handed Craig Wilson instead.

Incidentally,
Furcal tonight: 0-4 with 2 K
Izturis tonight: 1-1

Grady has tendency to leave his starters and/or relief pitchers in too long.

Yeah. Apparently he left Pedro Martinez in too long once.

Only the Padres keep winning in this mediocre division.

What teams have pitching that would even be interested in Izturis?

Another wasted night for Saito. Wonder when he'll get to pitch in the 9th with a lead.

Izturis is messing with Ned and Grady's minds.

At least we have Tomko tommorrow. Insert laugh here_____________.

That's a base hit if Furcal was still in the game.

Boot Rafael off the Roster, had to steal that from Steve

Keep Izturis, trade Furcal.
Furcals nickname should be
"Iron glove Feather bat"

Izturis gets to balls that Furcal can't smell.

Fur-kel's heavy pockets weigh him down.

The Dodgers are my life. My life officially sucks.

Well, Herman, at least you have things in perspective.

Putz has pretty good stuff. I'm impressed considering I've never heard of him until tonight.

5 in arrow, not good.

Let's salvage one, ATLEAST!

Putz has the most unfortunate last name this side of Rusty Kuntz.

I kinda want to shoot arrows right now.

I saw Putz pitch 2 years ago as a rookie. His stuff was nasty, but he didn't have great command and he left too many pitches up in the zone.

Would the Mariners like to swap Rafael's?

Was it this same exact week last year that the team was swept by the Royals?

Can we clone Saito, for our bullpen?

Broxton is not the closer of the future.

Baez is a "proven" bust.

I believe Broxton and kuo"fax" have the stuff to be future closers.

Baez has the benefit of not being a bust as reasonable expectations were low from the get go.

I can't believe you guys kept watching after Baez gave up that tying homerun.

By the way, how many runs has Baez given up in his last eleven innings?

516 -- Broxton has a rough going with three hitters and all of a sudden he isn't the closer of the future. I swear some people around here have the memories of goldfish. A player is as good or bad as when you guys last saw him. Anything before that, out of sight, out of mind.

Did anyone see the poll on KCAL 9 before yesterday's game?

Who is the best leadoff hitter in baseball?
The choices:
Johnny Damon
Ichiro
Jimmy Rollins

Something doesn't look right here

Jimmy Rollins isn't the best leadoff hitter on the left side of the Phillies infield.

517 Its gruesome. Can't watch and can't stop watching.

521 Sadly, he is.

Did anyone see the poll during the game?

Who would you start your team with

Ichiro
Pujols
Jeter

Why would you start a team with Derek Jeter?

Derek Jeter is a winner.

Baez should be DFAed. His acquisition was an embarrassment and must be remedied.

Greetings from Homer, Alaska where the air is clean, the mountains are still covered in snow, and the women are....not pretty.

On the drive down from Anchorage yesterday I was able to pick up a Mariner broadcast of the game; on the down side, though, it was another Dodger loss.

O.K. back to fishing.

527- ice fishing?

Baez has the benefit of not being a bust as reasonable expectations were low from the get go.

I remember Colletti being interviewed during an ESPN game about a month ago. I think he was expecting more from Baez that what he's gotten.

Maybe if the Bull struggles some more in the pen, they'll do the right thing and make him a starter. I think he's got better stuff than Billingsley.

No - actually more kayaking than fishing.

The weather here is actually in the 60s and most of the fishing is for halibut and salmon.

527. How big are the King(s) running? Flatties? Lingcod?

511. Putz might have been the best pitcher to pitch tonite from either team. He was nasty.

Putz is very fortunate that the majority of the MLB community does not speak Yiddish.

[529] I said reasonable expectations.

Baez has the benefit of not being a bust as reasonable expectations were low from the get go.

Excellent use of the term "reasonable." I was going to disagree, but then realized that the only reasonable expectations were non-existent. Q.E.D.

529

Billingsley doesn't have the luxury of rearing back and throwing for only an inning or two. When Broxton was starting, his velocity wasn't mid 90s like it is coming out of the pen.

Yeah, when Broxton is in middle relief, he can get it up to Baez Speed.

Did ESPN ever come on the air with the Dodgers game? Or explain why it wasn't on?

from gurnick

Nobody considered third base until it became clear that Bill Mueller might not return from knee surgery this year, or ever

interesting developments on the mueller front. Too bad Laroche had to dive for that groundball.

From dodgers.com notes:

Nobody considered third base until it became clear that Bill Mueller might not return from knee surgery this year, or ever.

They were talking about izturis, but zero in on the words or ever about mueller.

2nd place for MB!

Nobody considered third base until it became clear that Bill Mueller might not return from knee surgery this year, or ever
Ned will be operating with a heavy heart for the rest of the season.

Tomko hit a foul ball off his foot in BP so Lowe is going to pitch tomorrow. Maybe we won't be swept.

I took that quote from nate, so I didn't finish in 3rd.

8 seconds behind you.
A tiny 8 seconds.

Tomko hit a foul ball off his foot in BP so Lowe is going to pitch tomorrow.

LOL....Sure.

Coincidence that in the midst of a losing streak, Tomko's been set back twice.

Last week he's pushed back for Billingsley.
This week he's pushed back for Lowe.

At least the Dodgers are trying.
Going up against King Felix may be a challenge though.

"I throw good pitches and just a HR...
You gotta not walk people
They made good contact"
-Baez

Good pitches are not normally hit out of the ball park. His problem has not been about walking people this year, it's been about throwing too many strikes. Has he ever heard of wasting a pitch with an 0-2 count? It seems like he's given up a lot of hits on 0-2 (at least 2 of them tonight, including the home run and maybe the 2 run double to Beltre also)

The Dodgerthoughts community will pin this loss on Baez, but Broxton was the one that let the game get away. 3 run lead...HR, 1B, 1B. You cant consistantly put your bullpen in situations were there is so little room for error. Yeah, Baez blew hard the next inning, but again, the bullpen is consistantly in very tough situations. The point is, up by 3, dont start serving up fastball after fastball to good fastball hitters like Beltre, Ichiro, and Everett.

And I cant really put this on Gritts either. Who else is he supposed to bring in? Broxton has been great at times, and downright horrible too. Baez has been servicable at times and absolutely atrocious at other times. Gritts brought in the right relievers in the correct order, and they just kept serving it up.

This was one of the more depressing games I've attended at Dodger stadium. Not only because we lost, but because the better players let them down. Broxton blowing huevos, Kemp looking completely lost out there. Also, while I do think that Izturis' bat is a drain on the team, it was a lot of fun watching him play short.

The Dodgerthoughts community will pin this loss on Baez, but Broxton was the one that let the game get away.

Baez lost this one, both figuratively and literally.

Kemp looking completely lost out there.

You must mean in the field. He did boot some grounders. At the plate he reached base 3 of 4 times.

Can anyone answer my question in 538? If ESPN has become untrustworthy, I'll have to watch Jeopardy or something at that hour.

from latimes

In his debut, he maintained a fastball from 93-96 mph. Wednesday, the Dodger Stadium radar gun had him from 87-92 mph.

I'll give you Broxton and Baez together (for one low, low price), but it doesn't hold that because Broxton gave up two (one, plus the one of his that Baez let in) runs, he's responsible for the loss. Baez gave up four of his own, without any help. Bad night for Broxton, but it's not right to hang this one on him alone.

550- if you live in Southern California (not sure about San Diego) or Las Vegas, they black out Dodger games during the week because you are considered in the home town team territory. Some stupid thing that Bud Selig screwed up because it's not like that in the NBA.

I hope Gagne has instructed the Dunner in the Dodger Way of hiding injuries, and pitching through pain. Or maybe it was just a bad night.

549 yes I did mean in the field. Kemp booted a few grounders, and than horribly misplayed a flyball at him in the 7th.

552 I'm not pinning this ALL on Broxton. Yeah he only gave uo two runs, but he couldnt get a single guy out and Baez was brought in with 2 on and 0 out. Very few pitchers will get out of that unscathed.

Both pitched horrible. I just think Baez catches way too much flack on here. Is he a great pitcher? No. But hes at least servicable, if used in the right way, and theres no way that anyone can fully pin this loss on him.

553 Well, I'm in Honolulu, and it's never happened before. I've seen many Dodger games on ESPN during the week.

Hmm. Maybe I'll call my cable provider/extortionist tomorrow and ask.

I got a myspace invitation:

July 6, 2006 at Citizens Bank Park will be huge. We are planning the biggest Sal's Pals night of the season. Our goal is to have all 502 seats in section 307 at the Bank filled with "stached" Phillies phans.

The game is a 7:05 game vs. the San Diego Padres. We suggest purchasing tickets in section 307 or in another section and just relocate once inside.

I wish I lived close to Philly :(

If you know the right way to use Baez, please alert Grady Little. I dont think 8 blown saves and allowing countless inherited runners to score could possibly be the 'right' way.

Equating Baez and Broxton as if they are on the same level seems pretty absurd, but if there's stats to back this up I'll listen.

I know it is doubtful and most likely impossible, but is there anything in the rule book that prevents the Dodgers from trading Frucal this year. Would he become a free agent next year becasue he was traded in the first year of a multi-year deal? I think that is the case

555- I think there's a temptation amongst partisans (leaving aside what the parties might be) to hate players who are, or have been, wrongly loved a little more than is warranted because they are, or have been, wrongly loved. So, because Baez isn't what people who lofted his 41 saves thought he was, he gets twice as much of The Business as he deserves for his crappy year.

558- Who's equating them? Beyond saying they each had crummy nights. Or are you saying they didn't both have crummy nights?

Who wants to start the LA Chapter of Sal's Pals with me?

Does anybody else worry that, perhaps-- Nate:Sal Fasano::John Hinkley:Jodie Foster?

558Please enlighten me...who would you have brought in after Broxton had given up 3 hits to the first 3 batters? Saito? Our best reliever right now, but even if he holds the lead, you're left with Baez to close it out...bad idea. Kuo? Been very inconsistant, has had games were he walks the house. Not exactly the guy you want with 2 on and no outs. Perez? Seo? No explanation needed. Gritts pulled the right strings, bringing in broxton first, and only bringing in baez when he saw that Broxton was getting lit up.

Thats how you use him. Hes your back-up middle-reliever who should really only pitch with a lead and should really only start innings. But when the rest of the bullpen has been so horrible, what other choices did Gritts have?

560 I agree. Anyone who was expecting that kind of year out of baez is of course disapointed. I find that a little ironic since so many criticized the move when it happened, proclaiming baez was overrated, to only completely snap Baez's head off when he pitches the way they expect him too.

I really only expected Baez to be a decent, servicable reliever. And, for the most part, thats what hes been. A few horrible outings (tonight, @SD), but otherwise he hasnt been THAT bad. Find a middle reliever who doesnt have a few BP nights. There isnt one.

562

If I try to assinate George Bush, that wouldn't be a bad thing right?

Just read the LA Times article on tonight's game and while you can find a debate on this site for who deserves more blame for tonight's loss (Baez vs Broxton) the number of losses by our bullpen is staggering 17 games, coupled with no complete games and you have a receipe for disaster.

Options at Triple A don't seem to be good, Miller seems to be the best pitcher but walks people and I don't know if Hanrahaen (sp) is ready at double A. But both of these guys I believe are being groomed for starting, what about the possibility of bringing them up and pitching out of the bullpen, like they used to do in the old days. Can somebody explain to me why this isn't done anymore

wow, that's great spelling.

a-s-s-a-s-i-n-a-t-e

When threatening, in print, the life of the guy for whom the Secret Service works, it's always best to misspell that word. 8^)

[566] a-s-s-a-s-s-i-n-a-t-e ;)

567

That's true. I guess I should expect some Service Men with silencers in my room tonight.

Dear Government,

You don't have to worry. I am not John Hinkley.

p.s. the toaster would benefit greatly from a spellcheck function.

568

I need to throw off the government filters somehow :)

[565] johan santana? francisco liriano?

Most of Baez ineffectiveness lies in things that go unseen on his overall statistics (inherited runners scoring/stranded).

Does anyone know where I can find those statistics? They use to be printed in Baseball Weekly, but I cant find them there.

Baez makes 4.5 mils, doesnt k many people, and has very little discernable talent other than to luck out occasionaly. Thats why he gets "The Business".

Little should not have had him pitch the 8th. I'm honestly surprised he'd still bring him into the 7th with runners on base as well, but he lucked out then.

Baez for Fasano?

573 No one is saying Baez is great. But you still havent answered the question? What would you have done in the 7th after Broxton gave up a homerun, and allowed the tying run to reach base with no body out? You criticize Baez and Little's decision to use him, but you havent offered a decent alternative.

563- It isn't for Baez's benefit. The piling on is sort of a proxy war. It's like, nobody could reasonably have hated He Soep Choy (using the Nate Principle, here) as much as his detractors seemed to. He seemed like a good guy, had an okay year, for free, and cost the team just about nothing to acquire (depending on how you apportion the cost of the traded players between him and Penny). The Baez bashing, when it's not funny, is a shot at everybody who said that he'd be a good Gagne insurance policy.

573- He has easily discernable talent. Just not as much as one might hope. He's been an above average, and well above replacement level, pitcher every year of his career. He's not good, he's not worth the money he makes, it was not a good trade that brought him to the team. But he's not trash, no matter how much any one might wish he were.

http://www.920espn.com/audio/salFasano0528.mp3

Sal Fasano interview!

I am nothing,
You are wind and water and sky,
[Sal].
Tell me, [Sal],
How I can earn you love.
I would swim oceans,
I would move mountains,
I would do anything for you.
What do you want me to do?

http://tinyurl.com/nq8xo

Hmm. That site needs a proof reader.

www.myspace.com/salspals

you should join Andrew.

581- I can't can't join. It's possible that a reason good enough to make me join mysapce exists, but it is beyond my ability to imagine such a reason.

582

If Sal Fasano isn't a good enough reason then well, nothing is good enough for you. Ever.

Homer: Oh. My dreams will go unfulfilled? Oh, no! I don't like the sound of that one bit. That means I have nothing to hope for. Marge, make it better please, can't you make it better, huh?

Marge: Homer, when a man's biggest dreams include seconds on dessert, occasional snuggling and sleeping in til noon on weekends, no one man can destroy them.

Homer: Hey, you did it!

There is a conflation of arguments going on here. If grittle in fact has no one else to being in other than the Cuban Missile Crisis, that simply means that the loss is not grittle's fault. And last night was not really grittle's fault, although it will be going forward if baez is not DFAed.

As for baez, while it continues to be fashionable to damn him with faint praise, he is what he is, which is a godawful middle reliever who like others of his ilk survives merely because he is fortunate enough to have found some schlub who will pay him a boatload of money to luck into getting three outs a couple of times a week. I am not sure what the "business" is, but I am quite sure I am getting it when a pitcher like baez is called serviceable in the right situations. Possibly he's serviceable cleaning Howard Fox's kitchen.

You have this thing about middle relievers. It's fine as far as it's defensible, but I don't see where the DFA march gets you. Why would any other available option be preferable to keeping Baez till his contract is up? What makes you think the middle reliever called up to replace his spot would be better?

Baez is not good. I'm not going to be tricked by some lawyerly trickiness in to arguing otherwise. But he's not even the worst middle reliever on the team. Right? I've not seen you make that case (I don't think), unless it fits into the greater scheme of there not being such a thing as a useful middle reliever. Unless this is like an affirmative action program for other not-good middle relievers who haven't lucked in to big pay days, I don't get the point.

Hmm. Consulting new evidence that I hadn't yet seen, I'm still prepared to defend myself, but the temptation to not try to hard in keeping you from the path you seem to have chosen is strong. With the vengeance, and the bloodletting, and the hoyven mayven.

Was at the game last night and yuck. Broxton was awful, Baez was worse, Billingsly was adequate, and Kemp look like Lonnie Smith in LF but the thing that scared me most was watching JD Drew continue to morph into the 2003 Shawn Green version. Weak groundballs to 2nd, weak fly balls, average plate discipline, and warning track power. I'm sure it is just a little slump and he'll soon explode but it is depressing right now. This team isn't going anywhere if JD and Kent can't produce in the middle of the lineup and so far in June that production has been wanting.

We wouldn't need to rely so much on "middle" relief if we had starters capable of going more than five innings. Baez might be overpaid, but he's functional as a guy you bring in once in a while when the starter tires in the seventh or eighth. Our problem is, by the time Baez usually enters a game now, we're already on the slippery slope to defeat, and in that situation, he is barely capable of helping reverse the slide.

My theory last year and this year is our relief problems need be cured with better starting pitching. Right now we've got one B+ ace (Lowe), another B+ ace who can't last past five innings (Penny), an effective rookie who also can't last past five innings (Bills), and then three guys to fill the last two slots who often flame out after three or four innings, if not sooner. That exposes the bullpen too much. Bullpens are by definition comprised of pitchers you don't think are good enough to start (except the closer.) So it's silly to blame them for being inferior to the fifth-best pitcher on the team. If they were any better than that, they would be starting for us, or somewhere else.

You go to the bullpen because the starter has failed or tired. Our starters tire too soon and fail too often.

586 -- Human sacrifice.

590 - Grittle: We need to talk about execution... [wheels in guillotine].

Tom Boswell has been reading Dzzrt Ratt 589. http://tinyurl.com/o9adg

583

for some reason I thought you were a 40 year old guy.

593
No, that's me.

what?? no way!

your not 20!!?? are you?

ps you have an interesting taste in music.

I know that's not you Bob, you're pulling my chain.

I was referring to people who were 40.

598

oh, ok.

for some reason I thought you were a 40 year old guy.

Sorry to disappoint., I'm basically only half that.

ps you have an interesting taste in music.

me?

600

when you write it sounds older

601

yes

Must be all of Nate's references on how long it takes for his horse to get him to class.

602

I still make spelling/grammer/punctuation mistakes up the ying yang. What don't you like about the music I listen to? :)

603

I have equipped my Chariot with turbo boosters so now I only have to wake up 5 minutes before class starts and still get there on time.

RIP USA. Now I have no dog in the World Cup fight. Wait a minute, I never did...

604

no, I'm just saying it's interesting that's all, were is that group from?

603

Bob I think I've seen a picture of you no? (on the dodger site)

Which group Bluebleeder?

that group from your myspace?

how do you know so much about the draft?

606

I'd say dog is an apt description of Team USA.

I just keep thinking Jon was right, we should have signed Hochevar for the cash we burned on Baez.

Personally, I'm not afraid to say I'm ready for a panic trade.

608

There is a photo of me on Dodgers.com. I'm really Ned Colletti.

Personally, I'm not afraid to say I'm ready for a panic trade.

You want to trade for more relief pitching?

610

the music playing on my myspace is a joke. I don't really listen to Hot Sundae.

612

let's just relax, & hope Drew & Kent start hitting, & pray Colletti makes an o.k. trade for relief pitching or starting pitching, both?

613

Bob is actually Joel Guzman.

Same height, anyway.

615

you should have put that Barbie song, you know from that swedish band?

Yesterday's Dodger sim in post #30 was eerily accurate with the Dodgers blowing a three run lead late in the game with Baez imploding and giving up a big HR to Jeremy Reed. vr, Xei

615

I never heard of "hot sunday" do you have a little sister that likes that group or something?

620

It's from Save by the Bell. The episode where Jessie becomes addicted to caffiene pills.

621

I thought she sang "I'm So Excited" before passing out.

And really, caffiene pills? They could've at least thrown the girl some crystal.

621

I rearly watche save by the bell but it makes sense now.

614 No. Panic for starters. 2 or 3, make Lowe a releiver again. :-)

616 I'm trying. I can't really think of someone we could get that'd I'd want for relief, for all the reasons Steve as made his Sysiphusian mountain.

Why do I feel really old right now?

625

Colonoscopy day?

622

She did, you have a good memory (I only know this because they just played that episode for the 930 am show on TBS; ironic eh!).

The Hot Sundae song is the song kelly, screech and lisa were performing.

They could've at least thrown the girl some crystal.

Its okay. She got to be naughty in Showgirls.

621

hey nate, are you going to the get together at DS?

Hey Rob -- congrats on your LAist gig. Great first post. Gonna be hard to top "Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure."

627

Showgirls I did see. :o)

hey nate, are you going to the get together at DS?

I can't, I have work this weekend.

She got to be naughty in Showgirls.

Never actually subjected myself to that movie. Would've been more interested in just seeing Jessie strip for ten minutes and being done with it.

It's been 108 minutes, so I typed in the numbers and reset the counter. New thread up top.

Would've been more interested in just seeing [Kelly Kapowski] strip for ten minutes and being done with it.

My all time teenage crush was probably Kelly.

nate has good taste in music.

btw, since we're talking about SBTB, did anyone hear about the "save screech's house" movement?

Nope, elaborate on save screeh's house.

626 No, that's in the not too distant future. It's all the Myspace talk.

Regarding Jon's interesting post on the defensive work of Furcal and Izturis:

Dewan is cool. Love his work. Quote him to others. He does note that Izturis was injured last year and thus skewed his 3-year numbers. Very safe to say the consensus among major league scouts and field-personnel is that Izturis is decidely a better defender than Furcal (unless the TJ issue degrades him, which certainly is possible).

As for Furcal's defensive problems this year, Jon writes that they apparently are misleading or perplexing.

My belief is that Furcal's problems are a bit more acute than they should be, but are fairly indicative of where his skill set is and where it's going to stay.

My prediction in the winter that Furcal ultimately should go to CF, where he is better suited, was based in large part on the belief that his SS defense was headed down a slick slope.

Nothing that's transpired has forced me to relent on my assumptions.

Rafael Furcal is a max-effort thrower with poor footwork and dubious anticipation and timing skills. For years, his quick feet and rocket arm allowed him to compensate, although his shortcomings showed up on the margin, often at critical times. The minute but crucial slippage in athleticism makes him more vulnerable to miscues that a fundamentally sound SS won't make. In his dreams, Furcal would have the touch and feel of Vizquel when throwing the ball. Doesn't have it. Doubt he ever will.

The Braves valued him, but at nowhere near $13 million per year.

well, apparently he doesn't have much money because his parents wasted it all, and he is reduced to selling t-shirts to avoid foreclosure on his house. he went on howard stern to talk about it recently, but apparently stern spent most of the time discussing screech's uh, johnson.

639 - Thanks for those comments. After post #1, I think you were the second person to comment on the main topic.

I've run into Dustin Diamond (Screech) twice in my lifetime.

First, in line for Disneyland's Splash Mountain.

Second, a few years later at The Wherehouse across from my old apartment in Long Beach. He was trying to rent some movies with his friends but the store wouldn't take his check.