When did Grits start batting Drew 2nd? This probably the best spot in the lineup for whether he's slumping or not. Nomar's poor approach is finally catching up to him because he's been unable to make adjustments. I guess Grits doesn't want to bruise his ego by moving him down a few spots in the lineup. It's nice that Martin is finally batting higher than 8th. I doubt it will make much of a difference. Who plays is more important than where they hit. Repko should be a small upgrade over Lofton and if he performs even decently, he should be able to steal the starting CF job from Lofton.

Supposedly it's supposed to start cooling off tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath.

Besides going to Grand Canyon when I was younger, I had never been to Arizona. Chase Field might be the best stadium out the teams in the NL West (though I've never been to Petco; only Qualcomm).

8
Yeah, after 10 years of banging 300 with + power that approach is finally catching up to him. He's had ONE dry spell all season.

vs LHP: .364/.481/.909
vs RHP: .277/.346/.340

From 2005 (276 AB):

vs LHP: .235/.278/.382
vs RHP: .213/.283/.385

1) He's found out how to make contact.

2) He's focused more on making contact against right-handers, resulting in a 63 point OBP jump (fueled by a 64 point BA jump).

3) He's been focusing his power on left-handers, and quite successfully. That's where all of his homers have been.

When do you find out?

Chase Field is the only one of the four I have not been to.

I think Coors Field is a pretty nice place and AT&T Park isn't bad except for the fact that you have to watch the Giants play.

PETCO I can take or leave.

It's hard to compare the new boutique parks to Dodger Stadium.

As an exercise, I looked at the Dodgers' first ten post-break games for the past 16 seasons (making a total of 160 games, to most closely replicate an actual season). The result? Dodgers went 69/91, for a winning percentage of .431. In only one of those 16 seasons (1992) did the Dodgers have a winning percentage lower than .431 over the course of an entire season.

It probably doesn't mean anything. I just wanted to confirm the nagging feeling I get every All Star break that rough seas are ahead.

2005 K-rate: 1 every 3.45 AB (.290 K average)

2006 K-rate: 1 every 4.93 AB (.203 K average)

his OBP rise has been all due to hitting the ball better. Striking out less helps a lot.

I guess were just gonna have to ride the wave T Money.

I had the same thought, re: scheduling. And, no, I did no statistically meaningful analysis of the records of the opposing teams. On cursory glance, however, it didn't seem like the teams the Dodgers faced post All Star break were any tougher or easier than random.

Don't get me wrong. I think it's probably luck as well. Bad, bad luck.

I remember that also (not sure if it's true though)

Perhaps it is a quibble, but your original comment was about Repko's work on making contact (not neccessarily a good thing) and not exclusively on his reduction in strikeouts (always a good thing if all other things are held even).

The point is he appears to have improved a lot this year. Has anyone noticed his swing is any different, or is this largely due to working on a lot of stuff?

15- I haven't even applied yet. I will probably find out from most schools between January and May. Here's how I'd rank them right now
1. UofA/ASU- tie
2. University of Oregon
3. Cal Poly SLO
4. CSU Chico
5. University of Colorado- might not even apply because of the snow

17- You get a great view of the field from most seats in Chase Field. Even in the upper deck, you can actually make out the players and are able to distinguish who they are. The fans in Arizona seemed pretty knowledgeable too. You can't do this at Dodger Stadium or SBC from the same seats. Food prices are also relatively cheap. A grilled chicken sandwich is $5, a beer is $4, and a hot dog is about $3.

I love Coors (not the disgusting beer) too. I've been there 3 times. Twice I sat about 10-15 row from the front down the 3rd base line and once in right field.

True. I don't know if he was just lucky to start, unlucky last year, or has genuinely improved. He might be having a reversed sophomore slump, given the low expectations pitchers had of him based on 2005. I don't know what he's going to do at all really.

My PSAT verbal score was 600, and the first time on the SAT is was 620. The second time it hit 800.

What's his Line Drive percentage?

Joe Mauer is good.

I don't believe he was signed, but just given a try out. Wilton was signed. I think Vlad was very young.

um, Written?

Get it?

Yeah... Anyway. Good luck to the Dodgers tonight. I won't say anything else except I'm praying for an escape from my Groundhog Day-like existence (also been rewriting this screenplay over and over again so between that and the Dodgers it's definitely like being stuck in a time loop.)

Strange things are happening ...

My guess would be the ump has "flu-like symptoms". He seemed to be in quite a hurry.

I think Giles is going to be out of the game as he is running very poorly.

twinkle toes.

Way to make him work, btw, JD. Sigh.

1. DC City Government: The image of Marion Barry calling the Lerner bid racist one day and then donning a red W cap two days later to vote for the stadium is probably pretty strongly remembered by the team's new owners. The whole DC government has been absurd through this process, with Mayor Williams fighting hard for a while, then disappearing for the endgame (and he, btw, endorsed a different bid group), mayor-wannabee and City Council chair Linda cropp careening from pro- to anti- to pro-, and The Night Owl (Barry) claiming credit for every positive development. If you're looking to energize a lull in the conversation, this subject should be good for a few laughs (or cries).

2. New Ballpark The new stadium is supposed to be ready for the 2008 season. It is clearly the key to the Nationals' business success. The Lerners are huge regional developers (built Tysons Corner and the White Flynt Mall, both major suburban projects) and Team President Stan Kasten supervised the building of Turner Field so people assume they can manage the project and make it happen. That said, it is the City not the team that is building the stadium so their influence is limited. Parking is a huge and sore issue right now, in two ways. First, the city is obligated to provide some close in VIP spots right next to the stadium that must be available when the stadium opens, and there is a big fight over how to do that. The bottom line is the Lerners want simpler parking structures that can get built on time; the city wants fancier underground parking with Condos/retail on top that risks not getting built on time. Also, there is just a big shortage of parking overall for the new stadium and that issue has not been reasonably addresed so far. Here is a link to a web site with picture of the proposed stadium in case you (or your daughter) want to check it out. http://tinyurl.com/k2mqf

The stadium site is adjacent to the historic DC Navy Yard, one of the oldest naval facilities in the country. The whole area is being redeveloped with a new Federal Center, the new Department of Transportation headquarters, a Five Guys burger joint, for when Jon comes out for a game, and a whole "ballpark entertainment district" which has not been much described in the papers (people wonder if it will be a CityWalk type thing.) Rumors that the naming rights to the stadium will be sold to the clothing company so the park can be called Old Navy Yard, however are just made up by me.

Also as part of the stadium deal, mlb is supposed to build an Youth Baseball Academy like the one operating now in Compton. Nice thing for DC, but not much public action yet on getting it open.

3. Owners: Don't know who'll be drinking margaritas with you on Saturday, but here's a link to the Ownership and Front Office roster. Sportscaster Jim Brown is on there. http://tinyurl.com/geo5q. Just noticed that the director of ballpark operations is named Steve Ethier. Not sure how common that name is, but maybe the Dodgers got the good brother there too.

4. Jim Bowden: Think you know plenty on that score. He's been announced the team's "permanent" GM, although it has oddly not been reported how long his contract actually runs for. He's also facing DUI charges in South Florida; don't know much about the expected disposition of those.

5. The team: Who knows what it'll look like by next saturday, but Nick Johnson at first is having an All-Star year; Bowden signed him this off season to a four-year extension. Austin Kearns, in from the Reds, plays right and center; he's got a gun for an arm. Ryan Zimmerman is the stud rookie-of-the-year candidate 3B. Ryan Church, just recalled from the minors, is the Nationals Hee-Seop Choi. Lots of flotsam and jetsam otherwise. Mainstays Jose Vidro and Jose Guillen are both hurt. Notional Ace John Patterson is hurt. Overall, the Nationals have had a ton of injuries and used north of four million players this year. I think they lead the league in DL days and players used or are close.

Frank Robinson is a by-his-gut, get 'em on, bunt 'em over, wave 'em home type manager. Likes to "put pressure on the defense" and that sort of thing. His pitcher utilization is just kooky. Enjoys seeing his relief pitchers bat in the late innings. Does not possess a laptop.

6. Old Friends The oldest friendliest old friend is Nationals first base coach Davey Lopes. Pedro Astacio is pitching. Also have Daryle Ward, who is having a great season as a pinch hitter. John Wetteland was the bullpen coach earlier in the season, but he was fired for blowing things up with the relief pitchers.

Hope this is of some use. Realize I overdid it, but I'm too lazy to edit it down.

"All I can tell you is that we don't have a deal in place with any team at this hour on any player. That's the only comment I'm going to have," Bowden said.

Unfortunately, we may not be safe yet.

70- Yup. One error pretty well proves that Aybar is no good.

Is that allowed?

I'm unfamiliar with this play.

And it wasn't interesting the first time. I think one of his grandkids must have gotten hold of a Guinness Book of World Records.

The Dodgers lately have seemed innocuous.

They'll never catch on. They're rally killers.

what is this Home run thing you speak of?

Okay, maybe not, but it's close.

Cos is playing football for Temple. I think he's a halfback, but anyway...he gets the ball, heads for the line, and then:

"There's a hole. I'd never seen a hole, playin' for Temple."

Exactly how I feel about a Dodgers home run.

Buck O'Neil could probably muscle one out in this weather.

Was that an echo?

We got the right LaRoche brother!

All of them came against pitcher John Curtis and catcher Ted Simmons of St. Louis.

Davey Lopes had five, Bill Russell had two, and Jimmy Wynn had one.

Lopes was also caught twice.

Lou Brock stole his 88th base of the season.

Sit down kids, let me tell you about baseball in the 1970s.

91 et al, those "home runs" are sooooo 2003!

Aaaaand the final line on HAMELS tonight:

5.1 IP, 6H, 7R (all earned), 2BB, 12K on 106 pitches.

Three true outcomes indeed.

But Furcal gets caught.

That's five. It hasn't been done since 1928.

Isn't Steve Garvey and bobblehead kind of an oxymoron, too?

I think you are going to need some empirical data to show that head first slides are slower than hook slides.

I've read a medical paper that, surprisingly, stated that feet first slides were more likely to result in a traumatic injury than a head first slide.

A head first slide may cause a hand or shoulder problem, but those don't seem to happen as often as really bad ankle and knee injuries.

The only real downside of a head first slide is that you can break your neck and ... well ... die.

That would be bad.

I believe a certain leadoff hitter named Henderson slid head first his whole career.

The Dodgers did not win the 1994 NL West title. No one did.

187 It feels like the answer is 1996 or something, but I'm sure it's more recent than that.

Everybody comes out of mom headfirst unless it's a movie or TV show and there's no doctor around to help with the delivery. Then you are almost guaranteed a breech delivery.

Your method of childbirth may vary.

Dave Roberts
Andre Ethier

The Dodgers are, for the moment, in last place.

I wasn't disagreeing. I was just pointing out a movie cliche.

Double bill of "Little Man" and "Lady in the Water"!

Sideways?

If I had a birth canal of my own, it would haved sympathy pains right now.

your on a mission today.

If a furious storm came this year and wiped out every game after August 14, would they not award division titles to the leaders?

Mainly, I don't like that the Expos were denied their interrupt-the-Braves title.

the way Nomar's been hitting? (I wouldn't)

Part of the reason for not awarding division titles was to avoid having to pay bonuses to the players on the winning teams.

Actually, it may have been the only reason.

I know defense isn't a big deal to many folks here, but basic competence there and the Dodgers are ahead 3-1 or 3-0 and Lowe has a lot more fuel to burn.

Izturis should be at 2B, where he would be Gold Glove caliber. Aybar should be at 3B, or back in Triple-A.

Also, a good fielding pitcher would presumably have a lower ERA anyway because he would prevent more hits.

Tomko is in to pitch the 7th, he'll see Ben Johnson, Jon Knott, and Jack Cust, Portland's 3-4-5 hitters.

There are only two people who comment here, as far as I can tell, who don't care about defense. Everybody else does, each in his own special way.

he'd probably give is the home town discount also.(i heard Vinnie say he was from here)

I'm a defense type guy, & I've mentioned it. But if Aybar were to hit his weight I'd turn a blind eye on his D.

Maybe if the Dodgers were proficient in each of those areas, then you could fine tune the defense.

But playing Ramon Martinez in place of Aybar makes no sense regardless.

Maybe we can bring back the tall first baseman debate!

This is Aybar, not Broxton. Aybar weighs 200.

0-12. This is one of the luckiest performances I've ever seen, for the Dodgers to only have scored 3 runs.

sorry thinking out loud.

For some reason Gameday credits Tomko's pickoff as a pitch though, so maybe he only made 13 pitches. Or the official scorer thought trying to catch Cust off the bag was just too stupid and deserved to be called a pitch.

Good job.
Very Anti-Jim Tracy.

I like it.

254- it has nothing do with height, it's a player's hands. Nomar has always had average hands at best. Loney will be a huge upgrade defensively (but still won't come close to matching Nomar's offense).

Piazza's out, there goes our chance of scoring anymore runs.

The slider also causes great stress and wear on a pitcher's arm: for this reason the Dodgers organization forbade its pitchers to throw sliders for many years after the pitch became popular.

IF the pitching and hitting both stink, then worrying about defense is irrelevant.

I think of defense in a way that Theo Epstein did when he traded Nomar. It was only after their offense was dominant, and the starting pitching was dominant, did he worry about fine tuning their defense.

Certainly, playing Ramon Martinez at 2nd base bc Aybar isnt a GG fielder, makes no sense at all for the Dodgers at this point of the season.

No singles tonight!

not at all, I think it's kind of like "live & learn" type of deal there.

But here comes Fur-kel to the plate. Always a thrill to watch him at work.

Don't know whatcha got, 'til it's go-o-one.
Don't know what it is, I did so wro-o-o-o-ong.

But he played center there!

I don't see why we shouldn't. Hes going to get more then a one year deal and because he

1- throws 95
2- had 41 saves in 2005
3- is under 30
4- durable

Delwyn Young ties up the game at Vegas. Young has been one of the biggest disappointments on the farm this year. I really thought that he was going to tear up Vegas. He's always been a very good hitter. It would be a shame if the Dodgers gave up on after this year.

I heard Tony Jackson interviewed today and he said that the Dodgers have soured on Guzman and LaRoche. I'm guessing he mixed up LaRoche with someone else or he's just full of bull. Jackson also blamed this year's failures on Depodesta and said that Grits and Ned shouldn't be held accountable.

we'd ask for Ned's head if that were to happen.

First of all, the Cubs have Barrett. Secondly, those two stay here.

LaRoche? Huh?

By the way, Aybar was removed for a double-switch, pretty clearly. It was nothing personal - it was to allow Broxton to pitch longer. Obviously, Little didn't count on him allowing the blast.

No doubt Depo would have been given all the credit if the team had succeeded...

T-minus 7 days and counting until our prospects are safe.

T-minus 7 days and counting to rid the team of lofton and izturis. LOL!

So much for Williamson's one pitch win.

It would have made me happy for some reason.

come on Izzy.

Which, strangely enough, averages out to "non factor."

They don't make 3.5's in the homerun hitter models.

Good point. Our 3.5 came from the Oakland factory; probably different specs then the 3.5 model from the LA factory.

Hey Greg, Ive narrowed down my search to the taylor mades and the clevelands.

Different factory.

Can someone turn into Jon Garland so all the Kennedy High alums in the majors can be mentioned?

Did somebody say Olmedo?

He's the poster child for this bad streak.

So you wanted Toby Hall instead?

For sure I'll let you know. Ebay has both brand new for significantly cheaper then store bought (200-250$ less). The models are the CG4 for the Clevelands and the r7 XD for the TM's. I went into Roger Dunn's today and did all the swing speed stuff. Iron speed was between 78-86mph or so. So thats definately steel. I forgot if he said stiff or regular flex. oh well.

Close your eyes, Gio's pitching.

Only guy to make it as a professional in one of the four large sports.

The great irons are made by titleist and mizuno.

I need something a little bit more forgiving. If i was better, then I would definately be upgrading to titleist or mizunos. Maybe in a couple of years.

Nate, I wish I could be as sanguine as you about the prospect of offering Baez arbitration. I recognize, basically, that it has to be done, and yet you will have to exercise great patience with me once it is.

And he's not even in the game anymore!

But it is a cool name.

Don't worry, we wont have to wait long. The Giants love to sign average type A relievers before the deadline to offer abritration.

1 point Bochy

0 points for Grady today.

I never saw Weaver (would have loved to though)

423 -- Your lips to God's ears, and actually, that makes a heck of a lot of sense.

What are you looking for exactly?

He's OK.

Some stuff ive been into lately

Russian circles (alot like Pelican)
Raise the Red Lantern
Akimbo
Plague Bringer (HEAVY, brutal breakdowns)
Shades of Dusk (melodic metal stuff)
Set Your Goals (Melodic Hardcore, bit poppy)
Misery Signals

also on Weds, Im seeing two awesome postrock bands down at the che cafe in San Diego, "This Will Destroy You" and "Sparowes Swarm and Sing". Both bands are like Explosions in the Sky/Mogwai type music. Check the out if you are into that stuff.

Yeah that be alot better.

Have you heard Dragonforce?

Have you heard Dragonforce?

If you get a chance, stop by Roberto's Taco Shop on Miramar Rd for some Carne Asada Fries. It's only about 2 miles east of the 805 freeway; maybe 5 miles east of the venue. It has a yellow sign.

Good night.

See you in the left-field bleachers tomorrow! I'm guessing things will be a little more well-behaved than usual.

The lead singer looks like he's almost 40, buts its like he sings song from the perspective of a 7th grader. Real strange.

Oh Hell yea. I LOVE power metal. And I'm not even one of those metal freaks that have hair down to their butt. Its something about signing about marching into battle on your stallion to fight the 5 headed dragon that makes it awesome.

blind guardian
demonds and wizards
3 inches of blood (sings about killing orcs)
Kamelot
DragonLand

all awesome power metal bands.

yep that Che. its a great DYI music venue. really cheap and alot of the bands i listen to play through there. And yea, veganism is pretty big there.

In my opinion a long time ago.

But with ned/mccourt you never know.

Only 7 days left, if they were smart they'd sell some mediocre veterans.

Yea, its just good times music.

ethier: 349/397/542 212AB 8hr

I saw the Advtange two years ago. They played with Pinback