I hear Jose Lima is available.

I liked it when Jose Lima pitched that gem against the Cardinals in the playoffs.

DJ Houlton maybe? Isn't he already on the 40-man?

Potentially good news for Firefox users: it appears that the new version (1.505) does not do that annoying thing where it uses up a ton of memory and eventually makes you close it. I could be wrong, but that has been my impression thus far.

Is Ricky Henderson still out there... or Tom Goodwin?

2 Bud Smith pitched a no hitter.

Pitcher's pull off miracles.

It happens.

To answer Steve's question from the previous thread, Howie Kendrick was sent back down to AAA, tore it up, and is back up. He has hit in all 10 games since being called up and has done a remarkable job. Small sample size, but his OPS is .894 before tonight. He is one of the Angels' hopes for an AL pennant.

4 Yeah, been good so far. Though the memory leak was annoying, it was still the best browser.

BTW, your "so you like winning more than losing. Tell me more." made me crack up.

4 Fantastic news if they have fixed the memory leaks. I'll try it out now.

He is one of the Angels' hopes for an AL pennant.

As he should be.

The nascent Arthur Rhodes/Cory Lidle feud, by the way, is very entertaining.

8 The memory leaks always sucked and non-standard pages seem to break FF from time to time.

That said, I'll still take the problems with FF over using a browser that is built into the OS.

Tom Martin was a scab? Oh the horror.

The nascent Arthur Rhodes/Cory Lidle feud, by the way, is very entertaining.

It is, though I was also eager to read about Lidge's meltdown, but the link kept sending me to the Lidle/Rhodes deal.

What the heck happened with Lidge?

FSN is stupid. I was working during the game, so I figured I would catch it on replay. Replay usually cuts out some inning or half inning, depending, to make the game fit in a time slot. Do they cut an inning of 3 and out? No. They cut the Dodgers' 4-run third inning. I mean, why would anyone want to watch that when they could watch Loney, Sele and Loften (after a Furcal single) make quick outs?

Heh, Kendrick just doubled home Anderson for the lead.

Definition of slow motion: watching Garret Anderson score from first.

Kendrick seems like the real deal. He is crushing the ball since his recall. His 3 for 26 when he first came up was a bit misleading as they didn't play him consistently and moved him out of position on the field. Even now, he shouldn't be playing first base as the Angels needed to get a Wilson or Casey to fill that hole. He should just be playing over Kennedy. Note he just gave the Angels the lead over the A's in tonights game with a big double.

Houlton has a good shot I suppose. If They decide they want a 3rd catcher, Edwin Bellorin has a good chance as well (as do the Chris Widgers of the world). Of the guys on the 40 man roster, Jumbo Diaz will not be appearing in the majors this year, and it would require a miraculous recovery to see Werth. Another possibility includes whatever we receive if Cruz is traded.

11 Even better, use an OS where there is no such thing as a browser that is built in. ;-)

17 - Bellorin would be my guess as it is always better to have 3 catchers when you expand the rosters.

Another reason to enjoy watching the Angels: Joe Saunders, 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run.

What the heck happened with Lidge?

Short reliever

overkill94- I think you completely misunderstood my post. While I do dislike Kent, I don't want him on the team anymore because of his large salary, declining production (both in the field and at the plate), and poor attitude that could rub off on some of the younger players. By riding ourselves of Kent's contract, it would give the Dodgers more flexibility in the offseason to go after starting pitching. I feel the same way about Nomar. Loney won't be able to replace Nomar's hitting, but besides a few fluke injuries in the minors, his durability hasn't been terrible. Edmonds is on the decline, but he's still a good defender and pretty good hitter. Edmonds could start 4 games a week and possibly play more if Ethier and/or Kemp go into a slump or if Drew gets injured. The Dodgers are going to need to bring in a quality outfielder in the offseason because relying on 3 rookies in the starting lineup (Loney, Kemp, LaRoche) is very risky.

Except Scioscia shouldn't have left Saunders in for the 7th.

Wilkin Ruan is pretty much the perfect September call up. Very fast and a great defender.

Saunders would be a full time starter on pretty much every other team in the majors.

I know I'm being superstitious, but I haven't worn my Dodger hat since Thursday. I kinda feel like I can't wear it until they lose.

22 I totally agree, and never tire of reading about how much you dislike Kent. Jeff Kent's extension is really wearing on me the more I think about it. I know Lugo will be gone after this season, but I'd like to see Betemit in the lineup every day as well as Laroche. What do we need Jeff Kent for?

I'd rather dump furcal's contract then kent's contract and put betemit at ss.
Betemit is an upgrade over furcal.
Betemit is not an upgrade over kent when healthy.

Moustache power...

28 When is Kent going to be healthy? How much more will he decline next year both offensively and defensively?

I could live with Betemit and Kent up the middle instead of Furcal and Betemit, but getting rid of Furcal and relying on Kent scares me.

25 He'd be the No. 1 starter on the Dodgers. :)

Exaggerating, sort of.

But can the Astros win a 1-0 game? Joe Morgan says the hardest games to win are 1-0 games. Because they don't have a lot of runs scored in them.

lol

32
Has Joe never heard of the 0-0 game? I did some checking and no team in history has ever won a 0-0 game.

32 I disagree. I think the toughest games to win are the ones which you've already lost.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Vinnie Chulk (whoever he is) comes in in relief for the Giants and gives up two runs so far, still with only one out and two on. 4-1 Nats

Vinnie Chulk came along with Shea Hillenbrand.

Wow, when was the last time the Dodgers gained ground on all the teams in their division? Been a long while, anyway (a month or more?)

And to answer Jon's question, I don't who the other call-ups would be, but it sure would be fun to see Scott Elbert come up for a few innings. Doubtful it would happen. Possibly Kuo, too. I'd bet on Bellorin because they would want another catcher. Got a month to figure this out though.

36 -- He was the key return in the Jeremy Accardo trade.

35 -- 2005 was a tough year for winning games we lost.

If the Dodgers were to match the 1944 high for players used, that would be quite a feat for a time when players weren't leaving because they were being drafted.

Or they were 16 years old.

"K-rod" strikes out Payton and Bradley on pitches that were 5 inches off the plate.

yeah, I thought Bradley was going to go into a tirade after that called strike three. Kept his cool though

14

In the LA Times Friday, they explained how FSN trims games for time. It's actually done in Houston. The key thing is that they can't cut out an inning that has a big sponsored ad in it, like the AFLAC trivia question or the dopey text message poll. If the inning doesn't have something like that in it, then they can get rid of it. But if it does, since the sponsor paid for it, the sponsor is entitled to have those things shown repeatedly.

I see that "old friend" Caesar Izturis went 2-4 in his debut today for the Cubs. In similar fashion, "old friend" Odalis Perez gave up 2 runs in 4 innings in his debut today for the Royals.

Steve, since your around could you give me the heads up on why your so down on Furcal? As I recall when we signed him you didn't think it was a bad deal given the length of the contract. If you did think it was a mistake then never mind but I'm fairly certain you gave it an okay since that is one of the few times we've agreed on anything. Given what you knew about Furcal then and what you know now, what has changed to make you so anti-Furcal. We've shown repeatedly that he was a slow starter, so nothing new there about his terrible start. For several months now he's been doing what most realistic expectations were offensively and he is basically back upto to his normal offensive year and lately his defense has also improved. I'm just curious cause sometimes you get on the wrong side of a player and the answer isn't obvious why. At least it is never obvious to me. If Rafy was still blowing defensively and hitting 250 I could understand the sentiment toward him but he's been pretty good now for several months and performing at the expected level.

44

As usual, Texas is to blame. (My most disliked state.)

The Reds lost the game tonight more so than the Dodgers winning it. The first inning looked a lot like the losing streak with two on and nobody out and no runs scored.

Again in the 7th, two on and nobody out and Eithier swinging at the first pitch. We got lucky with Freel, very lucky with Clayton.

A win is a win. I'll take them any way they come. I want Houston to sweep too!

14
I was also quite peeved. Changed from the Angel game to the replay just to catch the 3rd inning and next thing I know the Reds are batting and Charlie is giving us the rundown on what I missed again.

47 Personally, I hate New Hampshire and the Dakotas. Just loafin' around, not really pulling their weight. And they're the first to tell Mom if you do something wrong. Jerks.

If Ned was serious about winning JD would be playing CF and Kemp RF with Lofton/Repko caddying both of them. Cruz had some nice value as a RHH. Funny if Boston picked him with Nixon ailing since we picked him up from Boston off last years waiver wire.

Report from Cincinnati: It's hot. Damn hot. It's so hot, I saw little guys, their orange robes burst into flames.

An enjoyable game, though. The first guy I saw sitting there when I walked into the dugout was Maddux. I have to say, he looks right at home in a Dodger uniform.

Had nice little interviews with Ethier, Repko, Saenz, and Steve Lyons. I found myself breaking Jerome Holtzman's rule about the press box when that ball went off Ryan Freel's glove. I spit out half a "Yesss!" before catching myself. I don't think anyone heard me.

I may try and do a running DT commentary from the ballpark (a DT first?) if I get the chance tomorrow.

44 Texas is my least favorite state too.

But New Hampshire and (especially) the Dakotas rock.

I hate Delaware. It's a pipsqueak that never did anything on its own and just mooched off the other states. What kind of state is it if Swedes colonized the place!

And then the Delawarians keep saying "We were the first state! We were the first state!"

Bah! Fie! Go peddle your blue hens elsewhere Delaware.

Benitz comes in when Giants are down 4-1 and has a 1-2-3 inning. I think if I were a Giant fan (after I was done killing myself) I would be even more pissed off at the guy. Blows the big ones and is lights out when it doesn't matter.

BYW, I spent a good part of yesterday looking for clips of Ned on TV to see if its a toupe and I couldn't tell. How are some here so sure?

What's this "Delaware" of which you speak?

Is that somewhere in Canadia?

Delaware just exists for tax purposes. It's an imaginary place. Sort of like Brigadoon.

I must not be the only one whose most hated state is Texas (it is the complete opposite of California in almost every respect).

Any thoughts as to whether we can actually trade Cruz or will he be released. He still can hit the lefties and has a little power left. I may have liked to have traded Ledee instead of releasing Cruz. I had heard that there was some interest from the Yankees in Ledee.

Delaware has one claim to fame, Wilmington, the credit card capitol of the US. Which is reason enough to hate it I suppose.

Delaware is the Lichtenstein of the United States.

Giants lose 9th in a row and fans boooooing very loudly. Music to my ears!

53 I'm planning a visit to the Dakotas in a couple of weeks. My family owns a farm in North Dakota.

Does anyone else get the horrible feeling that if Billingsley goes 6 shut out innings saturday, but throws about 110 pitches or so in the proccess, he will get bumped for the mediocre Sele because of his pitch count?

I really hope not. And some things I don't understand, when a rookie makes an occasional error, or a rookie pitcher has high pitch counts, but still gets the job done, why are they bashed so much harder then when mediocre veteran's make errors, or like tonight, when Sele has a mediocre start (but gets a win, with a low pitch count).

Why is this so?

I have emotional ties to Delaware - call them Delawarians or Delawarites, it's true either way.

51 - We know Ned is serious about winning, so what adjective really belongs there. If he were "smart" about winning? "Sensible?"

/cheer. Lidge managed not to blow it tonight!

The NL West is collapsing around us as we speak.

I hate Delaware probably second most after Texas.

They have the gall to build this road that's like 8 miles long and call it "The Delaware Turnpike," which enables them to charge people an arm and a leg to drive on it.

Delaware is the bureaucratic equivalent of the menacing troll that charges you to cross the bridge.

63 - I don't know if they get bashed harder in general. I think the fact that rookies have options and can be sent down without fear of them being lost plays a huge role. You cut loose Sele, you can't get him back if someone then gets hurt. But Billingsley you can stash.

That being said, the Dodgers don't appear to be in a hurry to send down Billingsley - otherwise Cruz would still be here.

So no, you can bet that if Billingsley throws six shutout innings, he will not get bumped for his pitch count or any other reason.

That is pretty sad when two teams lose 1-0 at home and a third scores only 1 run at home.

But now we are tied for 3rd, 4 games back.

Tell Sam to keep the Nats going against the other West teams.

Boy, all this hatred for Delaware is setting up the huge three game series between the Dodgers and Delaware Bureaucrats in October.

No love lost between those two teams.

If not for Texas's victory in its war for independence, we probably would not be living as well as we do.

55 Is there anything more enjoyable than reading McCovey Chronicles during a Giants losing streak?

Favorite State: California
Least Favorite State: Florida- can't stand the humidity
Favorite City: Toronto (In the U.S.): Seattle
Least favorite city: Portland or New York. I also hate Vancouver.

I've never been to Mexico, but I've been Canada many times. I've been to almost every state on the East Coast.

Portland Maine or Portland, Or

63 - I don't think that will be the case. Sele is starting to fade from his hot start as expected, but I am not sure he doesn't deserve more starts ahead of Hendrickson. Billingsley will stay as a starter as long as he is reasonably successful. Management has to gamble on him as he has superior stuff to any other options. They have to risk that he will overcome control problems and inexperience as its the only shot we have. I'm not sure I think much of Ned, but I am pretty sure he knows this much.

74- Oregon

I too don't care for Texas but my dislike of the state pales in comparison to that of Tom Cruise. And now we can add Mel "The Jews are responsible for all the wars" Gibson to the list. Cruise still has the lead but Mel is closing fast.

76
Who the heck hates Portland, OR? Jeff Kent, yes, but Portland...?

I do.

Wow, I didn't know Delaware was such a hated state.

74 - Never been to Vancouver or Portland, but they have the reputation of being very livable and nice cities. Surprised to see them on your hated list??? As for hating Florida for humidity, have you ever been to Dallas or Houston anywhere near summer. It is as bad as Florida.

My most hated city is San Luis Obispo, but that's for personal reasons. Why the hatred for Portland? I hear it is a nice place.

See, typos make a huge difference. I thought Mel said "Jews are responsible for all the CARS", and I was like, "Hey, thanks Jews". Now I know what he really said. Not good, not good at all.

The thing I looked forward to most when driving to Portland from Corvallis was stopping at the Popeyes Chicken on the way back.

And another thing: how can Seattle be your favorite city, and Portland be your least favorite?

Favorite city - Visalia
Worst city - Tacoma or Stockton
Best state - California
Worst state - Washington
Best country - USA

Best Planet - Neptune

78- it's a nice city but it seemed a bit boring. It probably shouldn't have been on my most hated list though since it's pretty clean.

It depends where you go in Vancouver. Some parts are very nice and clean, but if you go a couple blocks down, you'll end up in the heroin capital of the world (I believe) and it's very dirty and run down in those parts.

I forgot to mention that Rhode Island is one of the coolest states around.

Portland is a very nice place to visit, but having lived there during my college days, the almost constant drizzle/rain gets annoying (for 10 months out of the year, anyway). Culture-wise, it's sort of like San Francisco's little brother.

Hated cities? I found Salt Lake City unsettling: too clean and too orderly (everything seemed sorted by neat tidy quadrants). Admittedly I was only there for a weekend. The most depressing place, though, is Vegas at 10am on a Monday morning.

Worst Planet to Raise Your Kids - Mars

the almost constant drizzle/rain gets annoying

Once you've lived in a hot and humid place (like North Carolina), you grow to miss those gray days.

Favority City - London
Worst City - Houston
Best State - Calfornia
Worst State - Texas/Florida (tie)
Best Country - Sweden

89 Nice...In fact, it's cold as...well, you know.

Ice?

I left.

I just have a low tolerance for high hype v. reality players. Furkel was killing us, and yet, nobody in the media would ever point out that, yes, in fact, Furkel was killing us. Furkel has not beeen killing us lately, but then again, we are 51-55. If he continues to hit, then we'll see where he is. As it is, he only turned into a positive for the offense as of last week, and that simply is not enough to deserve those things which are said about him.

My opinion about Colletti vis a vis Furkel has not changed. He went and got the player he wanted, which one would think would be an unmitigated good, until one is watching Mark Hendrickson pitch every fifth day.

I've always thought that travel was over-rated. There is so much to see in your area. For instance, I am always finding cool places to visit for a half-day/day in SoCal.

In an effort to keep DT MovieTalk going, I've got three reviews this week.

You Me and Dupree. I am considering a class action lawsuit to recover those two hours of my life. Suffice to say, wife and daughter have lost movie selection priviliges for a very long time. D-

My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Had a few funny moments. My expectations were pretty low so I wasn't horribly offended. Lots of sex jokes with a super hero. Not sure how they got Uma to do such a silly movie. A rental at best. C

Little Miss Sunshine. They tried to create the Napolean Dynomite/Best in Show feel. It was cute although the same gag of pushing the van got old after a while. Cast was really good.B

For the record, I don't care what he said about Jewish people...I still love Kirk Gibson.

92
Plus, even if you did, there's no one there to raise them.

97

lol nice

10 Worst Cities/Towns in North America

(Apologies to anyone who lives in any of these... but then again, your town is really who should be apologizing to the rest of us...)

Amariilo, Texas
Banff, Alberta
Branson, Missouri
Houston, Texas
Midland, Texas
Odessa, Texas
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Niagara Falls, Ontario
San Angelo, Texas
Waco, Texas (I used to have a friend there and every time I sent him a letter I'd address it to "Wacko, Texas" and he always received it. Some things are just universally understood.)

Didn't mean to change the subject, but he asked.

I saw Pirates of the Carribean II!

96
We rented "The Matador" over the weekend. I recommend it (for adults).

i just saw lady in the water. the scrunt was scary.

Do "Worst Cities in America" lists take Redding as given...?

87. I forgot to mention that Rhode Island is one of the coolest states around.

It is my favorite state (lived there half my life). I will be there next week.

Rent the old Producers with Zero and Gene. Go ahead and feel free to skip the new version.

MKS is genius. I have loved every one of his films. Unbreakable was probably my favourite. Lady in the Water - it was nice to see him change directions as far as story telling. I hope it works out in the box office. It is a tough sell, I think. It's pretty much a children's story, but the imagery might be too much for kids. I loved it, though.

103. What's a scrunt?

I think the last movie I saw in theaters was Inside Man, which was a good movie.

I'll definitely be seeing Snakes on a Plane in a few weeks ;)

I saw Superman Returns too!

Heath Ledger. Joker. Discuss.

The movie about the Village was my favorite.

The last movie I saw was Wedding Crashers - I almost peed my pants.

Speaking of must-see rentals, if you've never seen THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE, find a way to rent it.

Imagine Sam Peckinpah directing a Benny Hill episode (but with heart!) and you come close to describing something that's ultimately, well, indescribable.

110
I posted this in another thread, right before it died.

Regarding, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, etc. etc. etc.: It amazes me that moviemakers can keep making the same movies over and over and over, and people keep going to see them over and over and over.

Why come up with a new idea when you can make millions just rehashing the same one over and over and over?

The most depressing place, though, is Vegas at 10am on a Monday morning.

I've been in Vegas a couple of days after New Years on a Monday or Tuesday morning. It's amazing how empty it feels after seeing the throng of people on New Years Eve.

What's a scrunt?

The scrunt is the wolf like animal that has coarse grass as fur that stops the Narf and kills it before it catches the Eagle that comes down from the sky to take it back to the blue planet.

The movie about the Village was my favorite.

That would be - "The Village" - :) I think it had the most stunning visuals of his films. I also liked how it had obvious twists that distracted you from the big one at the end. Since you were really looking for the twist at that point...

Really, all of his films have been spectactular. Signs, which I tink is my least favourite of the five so far, was none-the-less a well concieved take on an alien invasion. I loved how the suspense kept building and you never saw the aliens. I also thought it was really creative to know that aliens were landing everywhere, but all you experienced was the perspective of one family - pretty much like what any catastrophy would feel like to someone in one.

109 and 113.

Inside Man was orginal. Its just that it could have been told in about 20 mins and Jodie Foster's character was not at all believable.

113

Batman Begins is actually a lot better than you would expect. I didn't see it until I found myself without anything to do for a few hours, but I was surprised at how good it was.

Steve Buscemi should have been the Joker.

I liked Batman Begins very much. I go by the Ebert Maxim: It is not what a movie is about, but how it goes about it.

116

I agree, alot of my friends dont like shyamalan's movies but I am a huge fan and Lady in the water was no different.

Each one of M. Night's films has been weaker than the previous one, IMHO. I haven't seen LADY yet, but probably won't until it hits TV or something. The best thing he could do, IMHO, is take a break from directing his own scripts and work with someone else's original stuff. He's a better director than writer.

In terms of big-budget studio stuff, especially action and superhero stuff, what makes me interested in the project are the writer and director. When the studio picks a strong director -- like Chris Nolan -- you get BATMAN BEGINS. When they pick someone weaker, you get FANTASTIC FOUR.

120 Batman Begins was a pretty fresh take on the superhero genre type of movie. I know this is going to sound strange, but there was a certain reality to the movie.

Anyone want to know the definition of "DOGHOUSE!!!"?

Forget to send in your wife's car registration and then have her car get towed when she is in a store with the kids (well, only one kid). Yep, old LAT is screwed (or not as the case may be).

124

Ouch, blame it on Texas, or Delaware

124 Wow, that is an ouch...

blame it on Texas, or Delaware

Or Rio

I would have remembered honey, but I was drunk.

Did Carlos Guillen cycle?

Yes. Espn. Verlander won his 14th.

Lately, with all these great rookie pitchers, I've been wondering how many were passed up by the Dodgers.

..in the draft. And/or who did the Dodgers choose?

130

which pitchers are you referring to?

Just thinking out loud, but guys like Zumaya, Liriano, Cain...

I missed out. Favorite city: Boston. A subway, Fenway Park, Little Italy, great bookstores. Did I mention the MIT bookstore? Hey, I'm a nerd. Least favorite: Las Vegas. Way too hot and I don't gamble.

What I'm most interested in is:

Dodgers take player x in the 3rd round.
Who were the next five or ten players taken?
How do those players compare 3, 4, and 5 years down the road?

94
Thanks for the answer. I don't have a problem with overhyped players since that is not of their making. Given a major league history it is not to terribly difficult to figure out what an offensive players production is going to be over a 162 game season. Offensively Furcal is doing what was expected, if that is dissapointing to you so be it. I expected much more from him on the defensive side but that was because of a defensive metric and not from watching him on a daily basis. My brother who worked for the Braves warned me he was a defensive disaster but I just figured that was because he saw him as a kid and never gave him a chance after he got better but I'm a bit leery about the defensive performance. It has gotten better so that I'm not cringing on any ball hit to him but my confidence is still not very strong.

133 Also Jenks, Papelbon, Verlander, Jer. Weaver, Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Jeremy Sowers...

You guys are breaking the heart of the Hawai'i Tourist and Convention bureau.

zumaya- selected in the 11th round in 2002. But he was a projection pick then, he threw hard but not much else with shaky mechanics. Looks like he has worked out.

Liriano- international signing

Cain- first round 25th pick in 2002 draft. Dodgers picked James Loney 19th and Greg Miller 31st.

Regarding Furcal's defense, I think a) y'all got spoiled by Izturis, and b) you have all forgotten a second baseman named Sax and a third baseman named Guerrero.

Verlander was drafted second.

124
I did the same thing several years ago and my wife was frisked by the LAPD after rolling through a stop sign. Any particular reason why you'd frisk a 5 Ft, 50 year old woman over a late registration other then the fact she is Mexican? Needless to say my stay in the doghouse went on for quite a while.

The one guy I'm upset that we didn't go after is Brandon Phillips. At the very worst, he would have been an upgrade over Lucille. Next year, he would likely have become our starting 2B.

140
Not fair to Pedro, he wasn't a 3b and was just trying to help out. Izzy did spoil us in regards to Furcal but so did the defensive metrics that showed Furcal to be a better defensive player then Izzy. When the eyes tell you the obvious you start questioning defensive metrics.

Is Kuo starting again? I think BA's Prospect Report had him pitching 5.

WWSH

Yes, Kuo will get more innings as a starter to develop control.

Shyamalan: I figured out 6th sense about half way through, then I found Signs ridiculous and haven't had the desire to see anything he's done since. David O. Russell and Michel Gondry are the two guys that excite me most in terms of anticipating new stuff. Dying to see The Science of Sleep.

My favorite city is Los Angeles, to tell the truth. I love driving around and going on food hunts. I was near MacArthur Park yesterday and I dropped by Langer's for a pastrami sandwich.

I understand the sentiment toward all the Texas hate, but it's a great state. One of the few places in this country with a strongly defined sense and pride of place. Austin is a great city, San Antonio is pretty cool, and there are about 500 great small towns to stop in for BBQ or Tex Mex or Chicken Fried Steak while your passing through.

Least favorite state is Nevada - a big nuclear test site/waste dump, with a mall/gambling theme park stuck in the middle.

As far as planets go, i'm partial to earth.

Bar-Be-Cue!

Link,

I don't know if you saw the post I left for you last week but Vicki Toushingham (sp?) at BHCC passed away last week. I think she was one of the people you asked about in connection with Gene.

142. Nice to know someone else did it. Not sure she will appreciate that fact, but I do.

128. I was thinking of going with the "I didn't forget, I lost it at Del Mar opening day." Probably not a good idea.

Anyway, if I have helped one person here remember to pay his wife's car registration well then it will have been worth it. (Well no, not really at all).

138. You guys are breaking the heart of the Hawai'i Tourist and Convention bureau.

Long as I am destined to live on a deserted glacier the rest of my life, I might as well confess Honolulu is one of my least favorite places. I had a case there a few years back and had to fly every other week for six months. Boy, did that get old in a hurry. As a guy wakling around by myself at night I couldn't go five feet without being propositioned by a hooker. Not to mention if I never see another ABC Store it won't be too soon. Although the guy who owns those places must be printing money.

149 Yes, I did see it; the name is unfamiliar. Unless Vicki Bonde had gotten married (not entirely unlikely, I guess) within the past 20 years.

Thanks again. I'm impressed you remembered it from the depths of your doghouse. ;)

151 Repeat after me: Waikiki is not Honolulu; Waikiki is not Oahu. Waikiki is not even the state of Hawai'i. Waikiki is the standard tourist beach destination you've seen all your life.

'Course, I could say the same about LA; back in the mid-80s I was flying back and forth every other week and staying in Century City. Fortunately I had a rental car for weekends to get away from there. ;)

Hey, have you gotten to El Nopal yet?

The next time a hooker propositions me will be the 1st time. I've been to Vegas, Reno, Vancouver, Business conventions, lived in LA for 37 years, nyet. Still waiting for my Elizabeth Shue to help me leave Las Vegas.

You'll need to start drinking yourself to death first.

153. Yeah about a week ago. A lot of food to be sure. My wife and daughter split a burrito and could'nt even make a dent. I had a few bites. Good sauce. I had two beef tacos which were pretty good. I liked it and will go back but think I still like King Taco a little better.

I think Vicki Bonde may be the same person. VickiTushingham had been with Gene since the he bought the place. I will ask tomorrow.

I have only been to Vegas, Toronto, and seen the Grand Canyon. That is the extent of my traveling, well not counting when I was an infant.

154. Cannon, just go to Waikiki for 5 mins. and walk down the main strip. You can also get your name printed in pretty script with each letter being a fish or tree or such. $3 a letter.

On diffrent note: randon observation: The World is Not Enough is on. Not a very good Bond movie but Sophie Marceau is very sexy.

I agree, Sophie Marceau is extremely sexy.

156 Thanks, I'd appreciate it. I looked in the LA Times obits but didn't find her name.

Growing up in a military family and moving every 18 months - 2 years, I got bitten by the travel bug early. In my experience kids who grow up like that either love travel or hate it; there's no middle ground.

Once I was on my own I lived in Japan for a couple of years, then on Kwajalein, then Hawai'i. Went to Europe for a month on an AMEX bus once, then back a couple of years later to Edinburgh. My vacations tend to be of the "rent a car and go" type, and I've done that all over Oregon, Washington, Ca., and New Mexico.

147 "Austin is a great city, San Antonio is pretty cool, and there are about 500 great small towns to stop in for BBQ or Tex Mex or Chicken Fried Steak while your passing through."
-----

All very true, and none of which excuses Texas from being the worst state. And regarding those 500 small towns: About the only thing you want to stop there for is the food, and even then not unless your skin is pretty pale.

Lest you think me a curmudgeon, I present another list.

10 great things about Texas:

1. Austin
2. Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Willie Nelson, Janis Joplin, Lyle Lovett, Alejandro Escovedo, Tom Russell, Norah Jones. Without Texas, there would be no rock and roll. (And I mean that quite literally, since every Robert Johnson recording was made there.)
3. El Paso, safest large city in the United States
4. Longhorn football
5. The Menger Hotel in San Antonio
6. Don Haskins
7. Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park
8. Molly Ivins and Ann Richards
9. The L&J Cafe in El Paso
10. Richard Linklater

160 My dad grew up like that, and he's always been rather indifferent to travel. He doesn't travel much, but doesn't have anything against it. However, he hates Louisiana.

Tom Russell, obscure. I like it.

161 Hey! Where's Jim Hightower?

163 Tom Russell wrote the best baseball song of all time, IMO. ("The Kid From Spavinaw," on his Modern Art album.) This 30-second clip doesn't do it justice.
http://tinyurl.com/kd5y6

164 I thought about putting Hightower on there... back when I was editing my high school paper, his nephew was one of my reporters.

Put him on the same line as Molly and Ann. ;)

Anyone see this in the LA Times?

Finally a call came from Jim Hendry of the Chicago Cubs, making a last-ditch effort to move Maddux. Colletti wanted him, but was unwilling to part with the players Hendry requested — power-hitting prospects Matt Kemp and Andy LaRoche.

Unbelievable, these GMs are insane!

Concur with Eric's take on good ol' Texas, but how did the Llano Estacado not make the list? :)

The ball n' chain's family is from Childress, so I would be in mighty big trouble if she didn't make number one on my personal best of the worst list.

Just saw Ceasar's first hit as a Cub. It missed going out by about two feet. He had to settle for a double. Nice debut. I hope he does well.

Does Hendry actually think Izturis is a good consolation to Kemp and LaRoche?

Ned needs to replace Tampa with Chicago on his speed dial.

165 I love "Tonight We Ride" I don't have a link for you sorry.

171 No, but Maddux asked to be moved and he was hust trying to get whatever he could.

If I was a GM I would always ask for the best prospect. They're always going to say no but they can't blame you for asking.

In fact, I kind of wonder how those conversation go.

Bowden: "Alright Flanders, I'll send you Livan and Alfonso for Kemp, Laroche, Billingsly, Loney, Elbert and Kershaw."

Ned: "Only if you throw in Damian Jackson"

173 I thnk Bowden tried that as a joke on the Reds GM.

Krivski (Reds GM): Hey Jimmy, I need some middle relief help!

Bowden: Sure, but it'll cost you Felipe Lopez and Austin Kearns. I've always liked Felipe. I traded for him before left. And as you know, we drafted Austin when I was still with the Reds. You think I can get them?

Krivski: Sure, I just need me some middle relief.

Bowden: (Shocked and awed..) Tell you what, I'll throw in Clayton to even it out.

Krivski: IT'S A DEAL..

Can you blame a GM for shooting for the moon when something like the Nats-Reds deal happens?

BRING BACK HEE SEOP!

I doubt Choi will leave the Red Sox.
I think he was DFA'ed so he could be moved off the 40 man roster. He has a sprained knee and hasnt played in a month. I guess the Red Sox could have 60-day DL'ed him, but there might be a chance he'll come to play. But it appears that they just really needed the roster spot on the 40 man, and keeping an injured guy on it didnt make sense.

I forgot to mention that Rhode Island is one of the coolest states around.

Not the past couple of days it hasn't. Yesterday weather.com told me it was "96° (feels like 109°)." Yikes!

That said, RI is usually a quite pleasant place to live. Way better than Delaware.

Most hated city? Probably Newark, NJ. I don't much like NYC much either, but then, I'm a small town boy.

I think Wilson Valdez and Eric Hull both have outside shots for a September call up.

For all DT golf fans, did you see this?:

Jonathan Broxton usually wows people with his 98-mph fastball. Last week, he had an opportunity to show off his 350-yard drives at Trump National Golf Club.

Wow!

How could anybody not like Portland? If Sodom or Gomorrah had a Powell's, they would have been spared. I think Boise is unambiguously the worst city in America. In fact, the only part of Idaho that isn't awful is Twin Falls. Which puts it one city ahead of Florida, which is the worst state.

Good news. Looks like no harm from Laroche's injury and he is beginning to heat up like last year.I think he has homers in cons. games.
Also, G.Miller apparently came off the DL and had a couple of good appearances, but I haven't seen any thing for a couple of days.

What a classic "what I love about the Dodger Thoughts guys" thread.

I know I'm supposed to hate Gary Sheffield, but I don't. I've always secretly rooted for him, even on the yankees. Anyhow, good Gary on display at Bronx Banter.

That's great reporting in Henson's article on the blow by blow of the Maddux and Lugo deals.

I've not traveled much, and I'm a small-town sort, so I was amazed by how much I enjoyed New York City, Chicago and LA when I visited those places.

I can attest that Branson, Mo., is indeed a hole.

Off the top of my head, I believe that this season:

The Nationals took one series from the Dodgers 2-1 and were swept in the other.

Were four-game swept by the Rockies at RFK

Were three game swept by the Pads at RFK.

Have swept 5 games from the Giants, home and away.

One more series against Colo and Pads.

Two series still to come against AZ.

To look at it another way, out of the six Nationals' series so far against the NL West, the Nationals have been swept three times (LA, SD, CO), have swept twice (SF, SF - but with a game still to play today), and split one (LA).

Boise is not unambiguously the worst city in America, Stockton and Fresno are both much worse, and the list of bad Texas cities for some reason failed to include Lubbock, which is just one step above the worst city in America, Amarillo.

For the record, that list about good things in Texas was also deeply flawed, as El Paso is a hole, and Longhorn football is almost as insufferable as Crimson Tide football, plus I can never respect a program where Major Applewhite was constantly overlooked for Chris Simms. Even with all that, I hate Georgia much more than I hate Texas.

186

You mean you didn't enjoy El Paso's Little Montevideo district?

Stockton and Fresno are Paris and London compared to Boise. Amarillo may not have much to commend it, but you can get a steak the size of a surf board, for free, if you eat it quickly enough; I think you just have to respect that.

BTW, actually on topic, Nationals suit up their 50th player of the year today.

I got some catchin up to do....

I've hated almost all of M Night Shamalelylelaln's movies. Sixth sense was OK, but it was so obvious. When the kid (who just drunkenly wrecked his car in La Canada the other day) said "I see dead people" I wanted Willis to say "you talkin to me?"

The Village made me want to destroy my TV it was so awful. The last movie that made me that mad was Good Will Hunting.

Favorite cities:
1. San Francisco (minus the sports teams)
2. Chicago
3. Boston
4. Annapolis
5. Mexico City

Least favorite:
1. Reno
2. Allentown
3. Tijuana
4. Easton N.J. (a long story)
5. Sacramento

Stockton may be a dump, I don't know, never been there. But it did provide us, meaning mankind, with one of the greatest indie rock band of all time. Pavement that is.

I've driven through Stockton many times but never found a reason to stop.

Charleston, SC ought to be mentioned in any great cities list. It is near perfect.

Worst City: Barstow, CA. Get gas and leave asap.

188. You don't have to respect that, especially when you are in the armpit of America. Boise is somewhat boring, but at least I've found people who enjoy being there, unlike Stockton, Fresno, and Amarillo.

190. That's a pretty decent list on both sides, the only city I disagree with is Mexico City.

"a snooty attitude"

Thus Joel Guzman is described in today's LAT. I'm going to venture a guess and say that this is the first time a ballplayer has ever been described as snooty. I love it.

I would give much money to find out what players besides Guzman were on the second list.

196
From the same article:

Furthermore, Colletti reasoned that the only way to justify trading Izturis was to obtain Lugo.

Because 4 shortstops are never enough...

Evidence of Guzman's snooty attitude:
1) Would only drink Pellegrino in the dugout
2) Didn't use neat's foot oil to break in his glove, but rather used the fluid from his teammates pineal glands
3) Insisted that everyone address him as "Your Lordship"

I guess "Sitting in the corner of the dugout with headphones on listening to country music and reading motocross while ignoring your teammates" doesn't qualify as "snooty."

No, that's "snotty".

193 Care to elaborate?

201
I liked Charleston too, mostly because of the great architecture in the downtown area and surrounding neighborhood. The waterfront park is nice too. You can watch wild dolphins swimming around less than 100 yards from the shore.

199 Puppies that chew up your belongings are irritating, but adorable. When your dog does that, he sleeps in the yard.

I'm off to do some real work, since everyone is opinionating, I'll play.

Best 5 Cities (North American Edition)
1. Chicago, IL
2. Santa Fe, NM
3. Portland, OR
4. Vancouver, BC
5. Denver, CO

Worst 5 Cities (Personal list, no offense intended)

1. Gary, IN
2. Bakersfield, CA
3. Las Vegas, NV
4. Sacramento, CA
5. Atlanta, GA

195- You're a tough one to please, if surf board sized steaks won't do. It's possible my distaste for Boise is irrationally strong; I did nearly choke to death, there, once. And I had my windshield broken, for me, by a falling potato (honestly).

197
That reasoning is my biggest problem with the Lugo trade.

Furthermore, Colletti reasoned that the only way to justify trading Izturis was to obtain Lugo.

Bad premise, worse conclusion.

190 As another Chicagoan (like Penarol) I like your list too. However, I would scratch off San Fran. Everything it has going for it is negated by the ubiquitous bums that loiter on every foot of pavement.

The last time my wife and I were leaving that fair city, we had the good fortune of having a bum vomit on our cab at a stop light. Give me Boise over that.

My complaint with San Franciso is more or less the opposite. Its become so upscale and expensive that its basically a giant, compact Beverly Hills. A lot of its city character is long gone.

A couple of people mentioned Sacramento, which is pretty much the only place I ever get sent for work (being in government). There's nothing unpleasant about Sacramento, but the next time I find something fun to do there will be a first.

207- Boise has more skinheads.

190- As a denizen of Reno, I have to say it's a very nice place to live, though I'm not sure why you would want to visit. The rotting corpses of casinos are downright depressing once you've seen Vegas. It is something of an outdoor recreational paradise around here though.

You'd definitely have to be hit by a high speed potato to think that any place in Idaho is worse than Fresno.

208 Jacob, what role in government?

I'm a planner for a regional council of governments - if that means anything to you.