Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Lugo, 2B

Drew, RF

Ethier, LF

Betemit, 3B

Loney, 1B

Hall, C

Sele, P

today's line up, my picks to have a good game are Loney & Betemit.

if the Dodgers keep up there winning ways sept. 15 thrue 18 will be recored # of people attending Dodger Stadium.

To continue the A-Rod talk from the last thread. While I'd probably prefer to see what our kids can do over the course of their careers or until better kids come along, I'm interested. I seem to recall years ago A-Rod saying that he wanted to be a Dodger and was disappointed when he was taken first in the draft. Oh, what might have been.

3

A-Rod in L.A. that's Piazza all over again gpellamjr, i wouldn't give up a Kemp though.

LaRouche & Broxton maybe, but even that makes me feel un easy.

Ryan Howard will get an at bat in the 8th agaisnt the Braves in an attempt to hit four homers in one game.

Nationals put up 4 in the eighth off Webb (incl. the game tying RBI by Ryan Zimm) to take the lead 5-3. Webb now pulled.

All started by a Nook Logan bunt-for-a-hit!

6 And he has another game to hit a few more. Any idea what the number of most homers in one day is?

Ryan Howard & that ball park are a dream made in heaven.

8
The doubleheader record is five:
Stan Musial
Nate Colbert
Mark Whiten

All started by a Nook Logan bunt-for-a-hit!

i'd make it an issue to plunk that guy.

9 Well that's true, but he has been hitting some serious no-doubters, including a couple of the longest bombs RFK (which is maybe the biggest park in the league) have seen.

All started by a Nook Logan bunt-for-a-hit!

i'm sure the d-backs aren't happy with that.

10 It's a good thing this situation does not require us to determine the record for home runs in two games that happen to be played on the same day.

12

agreed, #50 was a bomb, would have left any stadium.

What's wrong with a bunt hit? He wasn't breaking up a no-hitter or anything.

A-Rod with two homeruns and four RBI, all of which will be dubbed meaningless 'cause the team was up 4-1 before they came.

Nationals announcers are claiming that, if they hold on, this will be some sort of record for winning four games in a row after trailing each by 2 after the seventh inning.

Speaking of which, there's something very interesting happening in Houston, albeit against a very depleted Mets line-up.

12

i saw #50 on MLB.COM

14
Yes, this is a "traditional" doubleheader. It's old school and satisfies the monopilistic Elias Sports Bureau record keepers!

One day, the people will storm the Elias castle and bring down their Evil Empire.

16

oh in that case anything goes, i was under the impression he had a no-no going.

the people = bob & casey

17
Armstrong and Paciorek admitted that researchers have only checked on that fact back to 1995.

lol grace is talking about broxton again during the dbacks nationals game.

Macay McBride in for the Braves. He faces Utley first.

Utley grounds out and Howard is up.

Game delayed in Philadelphia as fan runs on the field.

For the record, I would give up almost anything to get Alex Rodriguez.

LaRoche, a pitching prospect, and somebody else? Done and done.

23 Gather you're listening, but he just revised back to 1918. Apparently, after the Spanish Flu panpidemic, this became very difficult to do.

A meager single for Howard.

18 Hmm. That one could set a record for "fewest hits, both teams."

29
I switched over to the Phillies game as you can see.

ryan howard is insane. i cant believe he could hit 60 homeruns this year.

I just realized that the Kearns deal is not getting any better for Krivsky. Ryan Wagner, after a bad start, has pitched 12 straight innings without giving up an earned run, striking out 9 batters over that stretch.

32 Apparently, no one explained the rules of this sort of situation to him.

Today is my father's birthday. He would have been 86. Unfortunately, he didn't make it to 54.

28

i kind of agree with you, but our prospects are to freaking good, like a said on the other thread i'm glad i'm not a G.M.

I think you were referring to 31, but that rule was not violated there if you follow a literal interpretation.

I'm a strict constructionist in this area.

The Devil Rays have scored three runs in the 8th to take the lead over the Mariners and change their playoff hopes from "dead" to "mostly dead."

33

he'll hit 60/70 before his career is over.IMO.

PS a Clean 60 or 70. looking at you Bonds.

38 Thank you, Bob. I thought about the rules and decided it didn't break them. It might have skirted the limits, I admit, but...

At SCOTUS I don't like strict constructionism, but in baseball I'm a purist.

36

I know the feeling Marty.

Did your dad live long enough to see Nixon resign? That's what I immediately think of for 1974.

That and the Dodgers winning the pennant.

With Andy, I was hoping we would finally have gotten the better brother this time but adams 296/368/589 28+hr season is going to hard to top for andy.

i really hope Kemp gets the starting gig next year in CF, i also hope Grady is patient with him.

Astros take the lead 1-0 on a squeeze. They have received three walks and an HBP in the inning.

Pujols decided that Howard was getting too much attention. He's blasted 3 homers off of Ian Snell and he still has at least one more AB. This gives him a meager 42 homers.

36, 42 My mother celebrated her 80th Friday. My father would have celebrated his 82nd this Tuesday, but he passed away just short of 69.

It's over. Reyes with an infield hit.

46

he missed a good chunk of the season KofH

48 Yahoo's calling it an error

50 They are incorrect. It was a perfect slow roller to Everett, which he tried to barehand, but missed. It was scored a hit, as it should have been.

The Astros announcers said it was a hit.

Meanwhile, the Phillies have just blown a 3-run lead in the 9th. Braves lead 7-6. RBI groundout by LaRoche and 3-run homer by Diaz.

51

if that's the way it happend, i agree.

He died in August, so he definitely didn't see the Dodgers win. I can't remember what month Nixon resigned.

The Gameday operator recorded Reyes's play as a hit.

54
It was in August. You were busy.

54 Nixon resigned August 7 or 8, 1974.

I do remember going to the liquor store with my brother and telling the owner "we're going home to watch the president resign". That was a very surreal time for me.

BTW, my brother didn't make it to 47, so I may be on the endangered species list :-)

Nixon made the annoucnement on August 8, 1974 effective at noon August 9, 1974.

Link, Bob, whoever -- I didn't think Link broke the rules. I was talking about Ryan Howard, and the rule was that when you have three homers and a three run lead, you swing for the fences and either homer, flyout, or K. It's a loose rule and I had just made it up at the time, but there you go.

Now I hope Albert Pujols has been following this.

My best thoughts are with you, Marty.

The Brewers have one hit through seven innings against Florida today. Jeff Cirillo singled in the first and then it's been nothing else for the Brewers except for two walks against Scott Olsen.

60

I believe the case has been made moot.

Thanks Sam. It's been 32 years so I'm pretty much past it. Actually, looking at the title of this thread is what reminded me, though I would have rememebered at some point today. There's only me and two sisters left and I'm the one that has to remind them about family birthdays.

I don't know how Atlanta having taken the lead affects my rule.

Other than proving its folly.

Back to baseball, Kim always eems to do well against the Dodgers and I can never understand it. He looks so hittable.

65

All of the options we were discussing are no longer available. So everything is moot.

Sele is pitching like i'd expect him to pitch.

The Dodgers are 7-6 against Kim in his career.

everything is moot

Was that Sartre? Or Camus?

Has anyone heard any background on Nomar's new stance?

Vin just reminded me Kim is 0-3 against the Dodger, so I don't know what I'm talking about.

Kim was very good against the Dodgers when he was on Arizona.

72 It was mentioned in the Dodger's story in the Times. I think it was a suggestion from Murray.

Lugo has magical powers over Grady.

Joe Thurston just scored the tying run in Philly. Howard unlikely to bat in the 9th though.

Pujols flies out just shy of the warning track.

Bob Wickman finally returned to being his usual bad Bob Wickman self.

what the heck??

what was a weird play by Furcal

Did Furcal do that on purpose or is that my imagination? It sure looked like he had an easy beat on that pop fly, then purposely let it drop so he could retire the runner at 2nd. Not sure why, but sure looked like that.

81

i mean that was a weird play by Furcal sorry.

It's rotating runners at first, a new game show.

That was a heck of a play by Toby Hall.

82

I think Furcal was trying to get a DP.

Then he made the nice running tag on the delayed steal.

Delayed steel & the Tubester throwing from his knees is really weird.

The Reds jumped out 1-0 in the 2nd over the Padres.

That was an even weirder play - Hall throws out a runner making a delayed steal, with no one covering until Furcal dashed over, caught it and tagged him out. Whatever works!

87 The world is a fantastic place.

The Reds jumped out 1-0 in the 2nd over the Padres.

:o)

Betemit does me proud, i picked him & Loney to have a good game today.

(Attempting mobile commenting)

78: I see Albert got the memo.

O/T, but for all the college football fans, if you haven't looked at Fanblogs, it's worth a visit. It's a comprehensive site with news and gossip about most Div. I-A conferences and the teams within.

http://www.fanblogs.com/

So far so good for Sele, i'm really confident he'll give us 6 or 7 innings. we shall see.

(Attempting mobile commenting)

78: I see Albert got the memo.

The A's rolled a nine in the first against Baltimore. Eight of the runs came against Hayden Penn in 2/3 IP. It was Penn's first game of the year so he has a 108.00 ERA.

Russ Ortiz's 8.77 ERA seems like a step in the right direction.

it's looks like a leg issue with Kim

That was weird - as if right on cue, with Vin talking about BK's weird throwing motion and how much pressure it puts on his body, he throws out of whack, misses by ten feet and looks like he hurt himself.

That might be the wildest pitch I've seen.

Other than the bouncing cleat stuck in the dirt type pitch.

Did you guys see that throw by Kim? he missed mars with that pitch.

Russ Ortiz is still allowed to pitch somewhere? I thought that was outlawed in most states.

Carlos Delgado homers in the 9th to make it 2-1 Astros with 2 outs.

The Astros have 2 runs on one hit. The Mets have four.

Shawn Green grounds out to end the game and the Astros win 2-1.

Although the Astros had just one hit, they did draw NINE walks.

I'd like to see Ryan Howard face Russ Ortiz just to see how many home runs he could hit - even in four at bats vs. Ortiz he could probably hit 8-10 home runs, if logic weren't in effect.

The Mets losing today, the Dodgers are within 11 games of the #1 spot in the NL playoffs!

Lazy sunday games are the best.

105

i wouldn't like to see Tomko vs Ryan Howard.

Is that Jayson Werth sitting behind home plate wearing sunglasses?

Ryan Howard has faced Russ Ortiz before. Howard was 2 for 2 with a single and a double.

109

i thought i saw the black crows lead singer in the back ground.

109

he does look like him, is it him?

1-0 Rox let's score some runs Dodgers.

if i were voting for Rookie of the year i'd vote for Russell Martin catchers are so underated.

So I think Vin is hinting that the Dodgers might want to move out of their hotel in Milwaukee because it's booked for a rave.

I love Vin right now.

A rave? Wasn't it a going away party? I guess to Vin that might as well be a rave - or to Greg Maddux for that matter. I wonder why Maddux didn't want to go ahead of the team.

I was the one hinting that it was a rave. I don't think Vin knows what a rave is. I was just adding some color to the story.

Atta boy J-Lo!

Loney does me proud, & hit's a little texas leaguer to tie it up.

I'm fairly certain that Vin has been to his share of raves.

Muscled for a hit! Well done, James.

Now I can safely go do laundry, knowing the Dodgers are at least temporarily no longer losing.

No I figured Vin wouldn't know a rave from a "hop-hip" concert, it cracked me up actually. I think you added at least much color as has been added to Vin's hair.

Now I'm trying to picture Vin at Burning Man.

Now my head hurts.

Loney's here, I hope to stay. Imagine if we had traded him for 1 month of David Wells.

116

Vin is golden

So fun, Loney getting that hit.

Brewers drop their 10th straight game, losing to Florida 10-3.

The Marlins are now a .500 team.

I think the LF pavilion is a good training ground for people heading out to Iraq.

Using the ideas on clutch hitting from Baseball Prospectus (to which I referred on DT in yesterday's game thread) and the win expectancy calculator at walkoffbalk.com, I see that Loney's hit increased the Dodger's chances of winning this game from .428 to .578, Hall's hit from .578 to .701, and Sele's out decreased it from .701 to .677. That will look very nice when calculating the clutch-hitting stats for both Loney and Hall.

Interesting that historically, a home team up by 1 after 4 innings wins 2/3 of the time; I would not have thought that the percentage was quite so high.

Let's get a DP Sele

3-0 to the pitcher??

The Smithsonian American History Museum closes tomorrow for two years. Went today for a last visit.

They had some of their hip hop collection out I'd never seen before. A ginormous boom box owned by someone I never heard of, old Source mags, technics turntable used by grandmaster flash. MC Lyte's old journal. One of Afrika Bambaataa's jackets. And a bunch of old scratched up LPs of Run DMCs.

Pretty cool

Keep us in the game Sele, you're doing you're job so far.

Argh, he was cruising along so well, too.

Leaving Sele in is conceding the game. He entered the inning with nothing.

4-2 i'll be happy if Sele keeps it that way.

134 You have to leave him long enough to get the win, otherwise he has nothing to show for his efforts.

They also had the Swedish Chef out and some other muppets.

I always love seeing the Bunkers' chairs the most.

Oh what, is there a game decomposing somewhere?

135

saying that hoping the Dodgers score more runs ofcourse.

135 I suspect you'll be happy anyway. You seem like a happy guy.

I guess Sele isn't into sabermetrics. Matsui's hit drops the Dodgers' chances of winning this game to .311, and Helton's to .239

Sele ran out of gas period.

137

That's my favorite Smithsonian museum, but it needs some sprucing up. It was the first place I ever saw an HDTV. It was in some "Information Age" exhibit. When they had a special exhibit about Japanese internment, that was very effective.

The less said about the American Indian Museum the better.

Now .185. If there is a stat for "clutch pitching," Sele just trashed his.

I think the Reds strategy is to make David Wells run the bases as much as possible wihtout scoring.

140

we're in 1st place ofcourse i'm happy.

I hope that if Bills can't start Friday, this performance will mean that Kuo will get the start as opposed to Sele.

WWSH

136 If he got taken out, at least there wouldn't be a risk of violence like someone we know.

Briiliant. Wells on 2nd and a bloop hit gets him thrown out at home. He looks gassed.

Everyday Elmer perhaps shouldn't be daily.

well that wasn't good for Dessens ego.

We could have used Hammy and Gio today if they were called up.

151

However that home run was very good for Matt Holliday's id.

the Rox don't have a good bullpen so let's see what happens

That's a lot of 5+ run innings the past two games. Let's hope the trend continues for the good guys.

Wow, I guess I, uh, missed some stuff.

143 Hey, if you've seen the beautiful from the outside and impossible to visit NMAI, that means you've been here while I live here and didn't look me up.

Sniff.

The Am Hist has an amazing collection, most of which is not displayed, and desperately needs major renovations and re-curating. Apparently they have a heartbreaking collection of 9-11 artifacts they have not much displayed.

The Natural History museul has a truly incredible mammal exhibit, extremely dynamic presentation and very engaging. Not to be missed.

The Air and Space is super popular, but I read a comment that struck me as very smart. Once, that museum was very inspiring and got visitors excited about the future and about exploration; now it feels very historical and focused on the past. There are many ongoing and planned space missions, but they don't use the museum to educate folks about them (perhaps because the subject of investment in space exploration is much more controversial now then 20 years ago).

I'd rather lose ten in a row like this than give a major prospect for "Boomer" Wells, ala San Diego.

Now that Sele has had a bad outing, I think we will see Hendrickson continue to start.

I visited NMAI in October 2004.

I will say that the cafeteria had some really good food.

Once I was inside the museum I had no idea what was going on.

Another short outing by our starter. Our bullpen is really getting overused lately.

Lugo's never heard of productive out's.

When is Midas going to touch Lugo?

Is it possible that Grady is continuing to bat Lugo third to make up to Lugo for Lugo's lack of playing time.

bases loaded with 1 out.

I don't think it's our day today

DP by Ethier, in all honesty Ethier can do no wrong in my book, he's erned my respect.

Apparently, Kim didn't get the memo on allowing a big home run in that situation. He got the Clint Hurdle rally killing memo instead of the Steve Lyons rally killing memo.

no matter what happens today, the Dodgers will stay in 1st place.

Challenging the neighborhood play is a Quixotic battle Don Quixote wouldn't even engage in.

Or Bob Timmermann, for that matter.

This game is long from being over since we know Russ Martin never really gets a day off.

Yet I still dream the impossible dream.

170

i turn a blind eye to that play, i'm cool with it.

Olsen (12-7) struck out seven and walked two as Florida (68-68) completed the three-game sweep and became the first team since 1899 to return to .500 after falling 20 games below, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Marlins were 11-31 on May 21.

If the Marlins didnt have to play the Mets 7 more times, they would be my choice to win the WC. They've got the best pitching.

According to that graphic, Kim is "1 of 13 MLB players who was born in South Korea". Someone help me with the grammar of that.

So we're at the point when Drew will now come out of the game at the next opportunity.

They were probably going for the singular "he was one who was."

I just always thought there were more than 13 players.

It's now the Reds pen vs. the Padres pen.

So the Padres should go up by 5 or 6 soon.

BBref lists 12 coming into the season. I assume that there has been one new guy.

One of the 13 is Tommy Phelps, but the others are all Korean citizens.

180 The pitcher on Seattle? Baek?

180 Still, the grammar is the issue. That sentence said that there are only 13 MLB players.

With Kent replaced by Lugo and Nomar by Loney, today's result shouldn't be that surprising.

I guess it's only an issue to me. Too bad I'm not the type to start any quixotic missions on my own.

The Cubs added the 13th player, Jae Kuk Ryu.

183 Indeed. Clearly the Dodgers wouldn't have given up 8 runs were those two vets in the game.

Grittle's given up on this game so Kuo is pitching.

gpellamjr is very big on subject/verb agreement.

Baek
Bong
Cho
Choi
Choo
B-H Kim
S-W Kim
Koo
Lee
Park
Phelps
Ryu
Seo

Don't worry about it. I are too.

Freel made an amazing catch in San Diego, robbing Bellhorn of a double with a diving catch on the warning track in left center.

If Kuo pitches well today, he might get the start on Friday over Sele.

190 Weren't I, my students wouldn't go very far in the field of classical studies.

we had to lose one day, i'm just happy we took the series.

ps it's not over yet.

Hall dons't know Kou, why would he ask for so many curves??

Given the score, I'll go off topic. Does anybody know what the "Permalink" thing does when you click on it? Anything?

Did the Red Sox know how good Cla Meredith was when they traded him away? He was a 6th rd pick in 2004, so not much time to evaluate him. He's probably the best reliever in the major leagues going strictly by the numbers this year.

Who questioned the Anderson acquisition? Show yourselves! I dare you!

196
It opens up the thread in its own window and gives you a URL that you can use to refer someone to an individual link instead of the whole site.

Lugo batting 3rd, wow.

Do they still make Yugo's?

199 - I see. Thanks, Bob.

Byung-Hyun Kim will not get a chance to tie the major league record for sacrifices in one game now.

productive out's please!! lugo

Yugos are still sold in Europe.

Wow, Vin with a big mistake there at the close of the inning.

Padres have 1st and 2nd with one out in the 8th. Majewski against Cameron.

When you're down 9-2, I dont think any out is 'productive'.

204

making contact with the ball would help (he represents the Dodgers trading Izzy so please understand) :o)

We need a couple of unproductive outs by Cameron and Bard (phew, that was close by Cameron... FOUL!).

Sacks are loaded now in San Diego after Majewski hit Cameron.

Bard singles in a run. 2-1 Padres. Cameron ran into the second out.

Padres take the lead on a base hit, but two runners end up on third, and it takes the infielder about twenty seconds to figure out who to tag.

Kou can't fain the strike zone in the 8th.

One run was all for San Diego. Going to the ninth 2-1 Padres.

Gary Majewski is not healthy. I don't know why the Reds use him in crucial situations.

the Padres are snakes on a plane to me.

Griffey the last hope for the Reds.

Instead, it will be Hatteberg with Griffey on deck.

Hatteberg singles and now it's time for Griffey.

hit it out Grif!!

San Diego 2, Cincinnati 1 - FINAL

222

we're still up in the standings

Kuo channels Billingsley

You have to slide head first into third on a triple.

You just have to.

Hall's swing is ugly but he get's his share of hits.

Nice to see Vin quoting the Gettysburg Address.

i love Vinnie

The Rockies are getting ready for PETCO, where they are 4-2. They scored 10+ runs in three games earlier in the year (in April), but on their last trip in, at the end of May, they scored 5, 0, and 2 runs.

This game can't end fast enough.

don't worry Beimel, i rather lose big than lose close

It's gonna be tough to pull this one out. We'll see.

Grady should save Beimel for tomorrow. Where is Gio when you need him?

i'm proud of my Dodgers, this game is just one of those things.3 game lead in the west, i'm cool with that.

Keep hope alive:
https://griddle.baseballtoaster.com/archives/350988.html

i swear watching Matt swing gives me goose bumps

Oh, how you taunt me with RGC's gone by.

See, there's our Buck Freeman!

:o)

Wow, what a sea of humanity in the pavilion.

the umpires want this game to be over.

Is it time for Lugo to officially become Izturis II?

OK, it's gonna be really tough to pull this one out.

the umps won the world series for the white sox last year.

Keep hope alive!

http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07281PIT2001.htm

OK, abandon all hope.

Loney's out puts us in a really bad spot.

But I'm not giving up yet.

I just want to wish you good luck.

We're all counting on you.

246

the Dodgers went from last to first, i'm one happy Dodger fan.

we took the series so it's all good.

If the Dodgers had gotten Wells, they'd have won today and the Padres would have lost. The non-deal has already cost the Blue two games in the standings.

250 But... the perfect homestand has been ruined!!! >:<

Ugg. The Dodgers need Gio up to bolster the pen.

253 I'm assuming that you are kidding.

251

If the Dodgers had gotten Wells, they could have picked up two games in the standings and gotten rid of a good player that would be around for several more years. Or Wells could have been out on the mound and lost just like Sele did.

I would say your analysis of the situation is not exactly rigorous here.

Marlon "dumb luck" Anderson

255 It's not definitive, but Wells did pitch well today. Perhaps the Rockies just swung the bats better than the Reds today, though. And it's not definitive that the Pads would have lost either, but who'd have pitched if not for Wells? Stauffer?

I know I said this before. But Little seems to give days off knowing that the long term is more important than the short. I would have taken out Sele when he collapsed, and not given days off to Martin, Kent, and Garc at the same time. Yet, I think he is right, and therefore a good, long-term manager. Might as well lose big if you have to lose.

I admit I had my sound off after it hit 9-2.
But I looked up for a minute, and we had a guy wearing #97, can you dig it almost 100!
And he was serving balls--I saw two go out of the park near center field. When it falls apart,let it go. We are way ahead in the west, and tomorrow's another day.

251

so you would have traded loney or laroche or kemp for david wells?

you got to be kidding me. I know there is a time to be all down and always negative, but the time isnt all the time.

Re: 257

I actually think your right to the extent we probably would have won this game if Wells had pitched.

That being said, do you really think a few games in September, when we're already in the cat's bird seat in the race, is worth giving up years of possibly stellar production on the cheap from Kent in CF? Besides, there's nothing that says Wells might not break down in the next week or so. His conditioning is really that bad.

Even with a healthy Wells, I'm reasonably confident we'll still take the division.

WWSH

258 That was Beimel, not some recent callup. I believe he wears 97 because it is the year of his son's birth.

At Dodgers.com, a poster who wants the Dodgers to sign Garciaparra to a long-term contract asks, "If Loney is so great why did the Dodgers get blown out today with him in the line-up?"

By the way, can anybody describe Loney's triple today? Was it a line-drive down the line, a near HR, or what? Since his second call-up, he has hit triples in the majors at a ridiculous rate.

Very few joys in life match hearing Jon Miller pronounce "Wilfredo Ledezman."

Of course, Joe Morgan is there, so, you know, that sucks.

262
Loney's triple was a hit right down the line on the first base side. He might not be the smoothest looking runner but the kid has hustle. Loney may not have the raw power that Kemp has but the kid is an XBH machine.

He has become my favorite prospect to follow because he is like the underdog prospect in the dodgers farm.

The Tigers are a good baseball team. What you probably didn't know was that they're a good team because they never quit.

264 -- Thanks.

The Dodgers' season is over. For the second time this year.

Fortunately there are 3 teams known as the Dodgers. Vero Beach won both games of a double header today, ending their second half at 26-38. For the season they were 52-80. Columbus, Vegas, and Jacksonville all end their regular seasons tomorrow, although Jacksonville will try to defend their title in the post season. Hamulack should be the only player called up from Vero.

The biggest problem with 251 is that, even if Boomer was the proximate cause of the Dodgers' loss today, and the Padres' win, that's still only one game in the standings.

235

Good stuff; thanks. I read both your article and Eric's article. Then I checked Retrosheet, but they didn't have a box score for the game. Too bad--I wanted to calculate Orth's game score!

245

Wow. The Pirates really have that capability. I remember a game (eerily similar to the April 30 catastrophe in San Diego of this year), I believe on Father's Day about 20 years ago, where the Dodgers were 5 runs up, but the Pirates scored 6 in the bottom of the ninth to win.

268 Well, if the Dodgers had won and the Padres lost, the Dodgers would be 5 games up rather than 3. Or are you just being wrong to be edgy?

If you believe I was being edgy, then, okay. If not, try harder. If not, still, then let's all pretend 268 never existed.

Dude, I'm just giving you a hard time becuase I'm intimidated. I mean, you're Andred Shimmin. Your work on this blog is what made me want to be edgy!

272 You may be Andred Shimmin, but I meant to write "Andrew". There I go again being crazy.

Thread killer.

At least if they had to lose, they lost while giving an extra day rest to Martin, Kent, and Nomar.

sorry to advertise (for the wrong sport no less) but my friends and I are in a bind...our fantasy football draft is tomorrow at 11:30 am and only like 5 people have joined..so an open invitiation to anyone who cares to come...you don't even have to like football really cause i couldn't give a shit about it but fantasy games would probably make figure skating watchable

http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1
league id: 637586
password: jeff george

269 Really late on this, but Orth's game line: 10 IP, 25 hits, 17 runs (11 earned), 3 BB, 3 K (plus 1 hit batter). Game score: 13.

277 Oops, forgot that Orth didn't pitch the 10th. Make that: 9 IP, 25 H, 17 R, 11 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. Game score: 8.

279 Triple post (I suck). Screwed up the game score calculation: it should be -19.

I apologize if this has been asked already but: Did Theo Epstein give the Padres as "my-ex-employer" discount for Wells. It sounds like they wanted Kemp and Broxton from the Dodgers, but took a second-rate catcher from the Padres.

I think Bud should investigate.

280 I don't think Kottaras is really second rate, probably roughly the equivalent of us trading Loney for Wells. The Padres don't have a Kemp or a Broxton, so taking their top healthy prospect was the next best thing. Plus, once Varitek leaves, the Red Sox don't have much catching in the minors, so they wanted a young catcher, something we lacked. There's a chance Navarro would have been enough, as some here speculated.

280. Kottaras was Padres' best prospect in the system. Though honestly, their system has been quite thin of late, so Kottaras is by no means a guarantee. However, he is their best prospect, so they did give up a lot to acquire Wells.

Kottaras is a full calendar year older than Loney but hit only .230 in the PCL, in contrast to Loney's .380 in the same league. Does the difference between a first baseman and a catcher make the offensive difference irrelevent? Well, there does seem to be some doubts that Kottaras can stay a catcher, and he may not be suited to play anywhere else if he can't.

I don't think there is any question that Epstein had a lower price for San Diego than he did for the Dodgers. The Padres aren't just an "ex-employer," the people he used to work with are his friends. And now his personal friend DePodesta is working for the Padres. Would Epstein screw the Red Sox for the sake of friendship? Of course not. If Epstein had told the Dodgers that they could offer him the moon and he still would deal only with the Padres, that would be hurting the Red Sox. Instead, Epstein took the position that he would be happy to fleece the Dodgers if they were willing to let themselves be fleeced, and he could still look his friends in San Diego in the eye by saying, "Hey, your rivals just compromised their future for a month of David Wells. I did you a favor." Behind the scenes, baseball is all about relationships.

Kottaras is a full calendar year older than Loney but hit only .230 in the PCL, in contrast to Loney's .380 in the same league. Does the difference between a first baseman and a catcher make the offensive difference irrelevent? Well, there does seem to be some doubts that Kottaras can stay a catcher, and he may not be suited to play anywhere else if he can't.

I don't think there is any question that Epstein had a lower price for San Diego than he did for the Dodgers. The Padres aren't just an "ex-employer," the people he used to work with are his friends. And now his personal friend DePodesta is working for the Padres. Would Epstein screw the Red Sox for the sake of friendship? Of course not. If Epstein had told the Dodgers that they could offer him the moon and he still would deal only with the Padres, that would be hurting the Red Sox. Instead, Epstein took the position that he would be happy to fleece the Dodgers if they were willing to let themselves be fleeced, and he could still look his friends in San Diego in the eye by saying, "Hey, your rivals just compromised their future for a month of David Wells. I did you a favor." Behind the scenes, baseball is all about relationships.

The Padres traded a serviceable catcher with 15-20 home run power for five starts out of a 42 year old lefthander with back muscles made out of string cheese. Methinks it was a bit of a mistake.

Steve Irwin, the "Crododile Hunter", was killed in a marine accident after being stung by a stingray.

There are surely myriad things to add, but I'll give it a little time before doing so.

283 I wasn't really comparing Loney to Kottaras as prospects, but rather the value to their initial team and to the Red Sox. Both teams have alternates available at the respective positions (Nomar and Piazza/Bard), and giving them up will not hurt in the immediate future. The Red Sox probably need a catcher more than a first baseman, so in this case, Kottaras' position does make up for the difference in hitting. Furthermore, Kottaras' PCL batting average is fluky. While it's not .380, his ability is more than .209. His power saw no decrease in the PCL, and he had so few ABs that 5 bloop singles raises his average 43 points. I was also under the impression that Kottaras was a strong defensive catcher as the papers have reported, so if you're right (and I trust you more than the papers), that changes things.

I would be curious to see who Ned was willing to give up for Wells?

286. That's a tragedy, especially considering he had young children. I figured it was only a matter of time, the only question would be HOW. I will never forget the time he dragged his newborn into the crocodile pit. What an idiot. Nevertheless, a terrible tragedy for his wife, kids, family and friends.
vr, Xei

Death by stingray is definitely on my top ten coolest ways to die list.

286

he's dead? you're not kidding? wow that cat was cool.

291 Some things you can make up. Death by stingray is not one of them.

292

is there a link to the story?

go to msnbc.com

294

thanks brotha

well atleast he went out with his boots on.

yeah pretty cool... and atleast he left a couple of little ones without a daddy. Not cool in my book. vr, Xei

297

CNN.COM has video already, wow i'm kind of speach less.

Most people who make a living taunting predators have a hard time cracking my "favorite people" list. It's definitely sad, but is it shocking? I don't think so.

299

i thought he was cool, "favorite people" in my book not really, but a good guy non the less.

Milwaukee has lost like 10 in arrow, i don't like playing teams that have lost that many games.

RIP Steve Irwin. You were truly nuts, but in a good way.

My four-year-old niece is going to be devastated when she hears about Irwin. She only watches "Animal Planet." Her mother is going to have to treat it like a death in the family. I'm sure this is not untypical.

299 Greg Brock, you might want to avoid "Grizzly Man."

Washington Post had an E1 article today about the Dodger rookies. Not a great piece, and nothing new for us types. (I don't know who the guy is who wrote it.)
Also -- did Ethier and Martin play together in the minors? But I do like that the Post would run such a story, and not prompting by a Nats/Dodgers series or anything.

http://tinyurl.com/hrb5v

281, Perhaps Navarro and Guzman would have for sure gotton Wells and better yet Martinez and Kuo would have been playing more.

Martin and Repko played one year ahead of Ethier in the Arizona Fall League. Ethier joined the Dodgers organization after the end of last year's AFL.

305 & 307 But Martin and Ethier played together at the beginning of the year in LV.

308 D'oh!

Hamulack, Carrara, and Stults are back up.

I guess "back" is not precise to describe Stults.

Stults? That's somewhat surprising, as I would have expected Hanrahan or Houlton before him. His addition to the 40 man roster means only one spot remains available, plus another if Gagne is 60-day DL'd. Other than some control problems, Stults had a nice year, although he's probably only up to pitch in a mop up role.

Just looked at today's lineup. Jenkins is 21 for 47 lifetime against Maddux, Bell is 3 for 24. Expect walks for Jenkins and outs for Bell. Miller is 12 for 35. I have no clue as to the statistical significance of these numbers.

As noted in today's notes, Tim Hamulack and Gio Carrera are back as well as AAA pitcher, Eric Stults. Stults, 26 years old, a left handed starter, who in his last 6 starts pitched 38 1/3 innings, gave up 30 hits, 37K/10BB, .213 BAA and a 3.29 ERA.

Amazing, Stingrays can do some damage but it was just bad luck that it put a hole in his heart. He probably would have survived most any other exit wound. Next time I dive I'm sure my wife will remind me to leave the Manta Ray alone even though the Manta Ray doesn't have a stinger. Prettiest thing I've seen in the ocean is a Manta Ray above you floating through the kelp with the sun streaming through. Scariest thing is a Seal darting unexpectedly through the kelp and stopping inches from your face.

314
Plus Bush is dynamite at home. Expecting a loss today as the Brewers need to end their losing streak. Maddox gets messed up today and by the end of Sept his incredible Aug will be as much a memory as his incredible April. Not to be confused with facts these are just one fans opinion of the future.

I looked up Stultz. His AAA numbers are decent but not great or even good. Doesn't look like too bad an option for a spot start. Meh.

314 How do they decide how many games to profile? If you used Stults' last 7 starts, it becomes 45 1/3 IP, 37 hits, 41K/12BB, .218 BAA, and a 3.18 ERA. His stats barely change, and it's a bigger sample size. In his last 7 starts, he hasn't recorded a game score below 51, and he's coming off of a 70 from last Wednesday

Game starts in 15 minutes. Is this gonna be the thread for it? Two games in one thread?

318 I could tell you what he did in his last 26 starts if you want...

Bullpen status for today,
Tomko, Broxton and Saito have not pitched since Friday, Hamulack last pitched on Tuesday, Gio on August 25th.

Stults' last start was on August 30th.

I would expect that the only pitchers who are unavailable are Dessens (3 straight appearances), Kuo (2 straight appearances) and Beimel (2 out of the last 3 games).

304 Seen it, loved it.

Bob, I don't remember for whom you used the headline "Who you cannot kill and he will not die" for over at The Griddle....

That's Giovanni Carrara to me.

The game thread is up.

323

It might have been Scott Erickson. Or Vinny Castilla.