I don't believe you, Jon. If that is your real name.

So with at least 20 ABs, which pitcher has the highest batting average?

1
It was Vinny Castilla whom you cannot kill and will not die.

2 Ummm, Billingsley?

2 Enrique Gonzalez, but his .679 OPS comes nowhere close to Mulder's .880.

Should I watch the game or the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon?

Gonzalez, at this moment, leads NL starting pitchers with a .300 batting average. And although his OPS is lower than Mulder's, he has the advantage of being a much better pitcher this year.

J-D-Drew, J-D-Drew

From the "who woulda thought" files, there's something interesting going on in Washington involving the immortal Ramon Ortiz.

Dang, that ball by Kent seemed to absolutely die as it went up the middle. Seemed like it was headed for centerfield initially, but then bounced about 700 times before reaching the shortstop.

Nothing interesting is ever going on until there are nine outs to go.

I love watching Maddux, especially after he releases the ball and becomes a fielder.

nice play

So, when did Cirillo stop being terrible?

We'll set par at 14 pitches per inning. After 1

Maddux: -7
Bush: +1

11 Happy now?

What overkill said above at 9

11
That criterion has been met.

16 Always!

Dioner Navarro homers to put the DRays up 1-0 on the Twins as they try to stay alive in the playoff race.

If anybody wants to impersonate me, you don't have to do it on another board. I'd totally be willing to sell my username. Just email me.

Prince Fielder tried to bunt?

Need a double play ball here Mad Dog

Nice throw Andre, thank goodness Martin wasn't in the way of the Fielder Express.

It's Labor Day, there are seven basball games currently being played - and ESPN believes its time is best spent on a marathon of "The Contender."

Still interesting with 6 outs to go. Unfortunately, with the Nationals' offense, this could be Pedro's Expos pseudo-interesting game all over again.

As Sam DC knows, Zimmerman is a stud at third.

Sitting here at RFK. Dum de dum.

Man, Nomar has looked terrible lately. With Lugo and Loney rotting on the bench, it wouldn't hurt to give Nomar a couple days off every week.

But we can also watch Miami play Florida State on BOTH ESPN and ESPN2!

College football involving Florida teams is usually quite annoying. The only thing more annoying is watching Notre Dame.

Kearns. Boom. 2-0 Nats.

The Marlins have come back from a 5-run deficit to Arizona capped off by a 3-run homer by one of Jon's heroes, Joe Borchard. 6-5 Fish in the sixth.

Joe Borchard just hit a 3 run homer to put the Marlins ahead of the DBacks 6-5. Gonzalez had entered the inning leading 5-0.

30 We can watch Miami and Florida State on every ESPN station and even listen to a useless radio guy chat about the game while it's being played. Maybe the Contender marathon is a better choice.

Strangely I won that contest by 15 seconds despite using a more circuitous sentence structure.

RIP Italian great Giacinto Facchetti

The MASN announcers adhere to rule #9

Hmmm, I can't decide between two sets of brothers for the trivia question.

37

Actually they don't.

The Nationals game is a very, VERY good game heading into the final inning.

Sitting here at RFK. Dum de dum.

Now it's very interesting in DC.

25 Yeah, ESPN did the same thing this year on July 4. It's new to this season, I think. Used to be they'd show three baseball games in succession on national holidays.

I think once September rolls around ESPN goes into "all football all the time" mode.

What's going to be very interesting is Pujols batting 3rd in the 9th.

It could come down to Pujols being the final out.

44--Great minds...

43

While we may not like to admit it, football gets much better ratings than baseball.

Ramon Ortiz just hit a home run.

AAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!

41 Sam, I envy the heck out of you, even if it is the humid environs of DC you're in.

That man in DC is having quite a day.

I don't like that curtain call by Ortiz. The baseball gods don't cotton to that type of thing at this point in the game.

Sam, I am going to the last Nationals home game of the season with some friends. Any advice on food, etc? Thanks.

51

Are you really Gregg Easterbrook? "Baseball gods", c'mon!

Ahhh, so it was the Niekros. I figure it was either them or the Deans.

53 That hurts.

What's the deal with singing "Thank God I'm a County Boy" instead of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" and then singing "Sweet Caroline" in late inning breaks? This happens in Baltimore and I guess in Washington too. I thought the east coast was supposed to be MORE traditional.
Blasphemy!

So does this guy wear sunglasses at night?

I know Maddux isn't very good at holding runners on, but c'mon...

Wonder for whom Julio Lugo is rooting in this little tiff.

I didn't know this Bush was pitching so well
Less than a hit an inning, and three times as many strike-outs as walks. Almost impossible.
Ahh-these announcers broached the Nats. interesting game.

On-field delay?

55
In a recent TMQ column, Easterbrook wrote about basketball and said that in the UCLA-Florida game all the players were shooting 3-pointers because of their egos.

Neglecting the fact that both UCLA and Florida had interior defenses that were nearly impossible to penetrate.

streaker?

You tell him, Kent!

63 - Morganna is back!

Fielder's slide almost took out Kent, and Kent wasn't very happy. They had a long conversation that required several teammates stand between them.

It's over.

Aaron Miles meet Horace Clarke. Horace Clarke meet Aaron Miles.

Nope.

62 You read Gregg Easterbrook?

I was afraid that long bottom of the 8th might cool his arm down a bit

well, it's broken.

Time to switch gameday back to the Dodgers

Aaron Miles? Really? That must hurt.

70
I try not to. But then it appears on my screen. I cannot turn away.

I might have to go to Easterbook Anonymous.

Say what you want, but curtain call= bad idea jeans.

Pujols just hit one about nine miles into the upper deck. Ortiz out.

Clap, clap, clap.

Easterbrook - You'll come for the anti-Semitism, but you'll stay for the pro football analysis.

what was the delay?

76 - I believe the accepted unit for measurement for Pujols' home runs is called a "Lidge."
As in, "Wow, that shot off Ortiz must've gone at least nine-tenths of a Lidge."

79 Any idea how far a "Lidge" is? Using the following site, we can dtetermine how often Pujols hits a full "Lidge."

http://www.hittrackeronline.com/detail.php?id=2006_2965&type=hitter

Furcal just took three strikes down the middle?

The Tigers have won to lower their magic number to 21. It's at 20 to make the playoffs.

Correct that, 18 is the Tigers magic number to clinch at least the wild card.

Adding it up yet again, the Tigers magic number to clinch the wild card is 19.

Let's just say it's in the range of 18 though 20.

Hit parade.

It's about time we got out of that darn inning

I believe there was seismic activity in Milwaukee as Fielder rounded third.

Ethier saves LA from further disaster.
Andre has 8 baserunner kills. That must be in the Top 10 for LFs, I assume.

84 I remember a bit of poetry from my days living near Philadelphia about magic numbers that went something like this:

If the Cardinals win 4 of 8
and the Dodgers 2 of 10
The Phillies as in days of old
Will finish last again

Stan from Tacoma

How is it that announcers can't judge the height of balls in the air? That throw was certainly higher than the "10 feet in the air" that Lyons said. Yesterday Guerrero's home run in the Angels-Tigers game was certainly higher than the 10 feet Morgan thought it was.

Trigonometry should be required for baseball announcers.

Old friend "Blue Tahoe" (I suspect) has started posting as Steve@dodgerthoughts.com as well as Jon and possibly Joey over at ITD.

LF assists
Soriano - 19
Bay - 10

I think Ethier would be third as the outfielders with more assists are either RFs, CFs or guys who play all over the place like Chavez and Winn.

Maddux broke 80 pitches for the first time as a Dodger

If he's replaced next inning, game score 36

I think you should subtract the 8 intentional balls for Maddux.

J-D-Drew, J-D-Drew

Will Drew or Nomar have the higher OPS at the end of the season?

Drew is at .860
Nomar is at .885

Anybody listening on the radio? Monday just mentioned that Martin's 9 SB are the most for a Dodger catcher since Johnny Roseboro had 12 in 1962 (!).

Stupid ground-rule, Ethier better cash in that runner from 3rd.

Stupid warning track.

96

What about Kent? And Ethier?

I don't want to rely on Betemit either, he strikes out too much for situations like these.

I thought I read somewhere that an umpire, on a ground rule double, can award a runner an extra base if it is pretty apparent that the runner would have gotten to that base if the ball hadn't gone over the fence. Is this rule ever put into effect?

Ethier's been walking a lot lately.

97 I am listening to the Brewer radio broadcasters.

Stan from Tacoma

102

I thought that only applied to fan interference, but I could be wrong.

102 I think that only happens when someone interferes with a ball. Anything bouncing over the wall is an automatic two bases for all runners I believe.

Whew, that definitely should have been strike 3.

101 Unfortunately, I was all too prescient

Oh okay. Thanks guys.

One must take the good (home runs), with the bad (brain dead hacking) when it comes to Wilson Betemit.

Man, runners getting cut down left and right.

One good outfield assist deserves another I suppose

Martin!

oh well, deficit cut to 1

103

yea ive noticed that too but you mentioned it first. not a bad thing at all.

110

the power is needed on a team where power is hard to come by.

we need to get maddux out of there before this game gets out of hand.

Grady Little's patterns of using Maddux are baffling.

This is one of those games where its the beginning of 7 straight games, you have uncertain starting pitching so you don't want to start burning out bullpen.

Stick a fork in him

119 But we just called up 3 guys as reinforcements

The Dodgers have like 14 pitchers in the bullpen now. Burning it out isnt a concern.

This is just very poor managing by Grady Little. The only reason he's doing it is because Maddux is due up first the next inning.

Who you cannot kill and he will not die.

To be fair to Maddux however, he didnt get hit that hard. 9 singles and 1 double. His luck regressed a little today.

Isn't this just throwing gas on the fire?

This is where Broxton or Saito should be brought in, but won't be. The traditional "real man" manager prefers to let a less capable reliever let the game get out of hand, rather than to use any of that quiche-eating newfangled statistical nonsense.

Well if I knew Grits was going to bring in Gio Carrara in a 1-run game, eh why not just stick with Maddux?

I thought Carrara had been DFAd?

Rule 6.09
(e) A fair ball, after touching the ground, bounds into the stands, or passes through, over or under a fence, or through or under a scoreboard, or through or under shrubbery, or vines on the fence, in which case the batter and the runners shall be entitled to advance two bases;

Just to clarify.

103 Ethier's season numbers have him at 28/67 BB/K but over the last month he's at 9/16, which is much better. I don't really know what the guidelines are for good and not-so-good BB/K ratios for hitter, though.

128

I guess no one else wanted him...

127 Precisely. We're in just as good a position with Maddux struggling in his sixth inning than a well-rested Gio.

Carrara was DFA'd. He cleared waivers, went to the minors, and now the Dodgers brought him back.

Welcome back, Gio.

126

Quod erat demonstrandum.

sometimes things happen that boggle my mind to the point that I'm speechless.

Bringing in Gas Can with the bases loaded is one of those times.

Nice outing, Gio.

135 A fine use of the passive pariphrastic. I thought I was the only Latinist here.

first thing a saw when i turned on the tube was Gio giving up a double 6-3 Brewers & bases loaded.

Maddux might get his 1st loss with Dodgers with a little help (or no help) from Gio.

I can see the rationale of bringing in a ground-ball pitcher to go for the double play. If that pitcher was Paul Quantrill, I'm all for it. Since it's Gio Carrara, not so much.

137 Hey, it's like Steve Phillips said, teams in the race need consistency. What do we have with Gio if not consistency?

i kind of new the Brewers were gonna be tuff, they haven't won a game in like 2 or 3 weeks.

Grits has morphed into Tracy this inning.
Now he's bringing in the Loogy to face Prince.

Little is the only one who should have a loss after this game.

The bullpen's ability to strand inherited runners has not been impressive the last couple of days.

Hamulak saves the day, woo!!

stupid for little to play gio.

The game was lost when Maddox loaded them up in the 6th. But I might have left him in too, he is such a gamer and might have pulled through, but he didn't have it today.
Still I think he's a better choice than Wells. Almost nobody has it everyday at this age. Wells could blow up any minute and is more likely to get an injury.

For those curious, spectator interference is covered in
Rule 3.16
When there is spectator interference with any thrown or batted ball, the ball shall be dead at the moment of interference and the umpire shall impose such penalties as in his opinion will nullify the act of interference.

Conclusion from chapter 2, section 2 of BP's "Baseball between the Numbers": Using your best reliever in the highest leverage situations (rather than exclusively in 9th inning save situations) results in an increase of 1.6 wins in an average season ("like replacing Rick White with Jason Isringhausen"), and a maximum of 4.5 wins ("like replacing Brad Halsey with Barry Zito").

Man, nothing can turn me from a polyanna to a bitter seed like a Giovanni Carrara sighting.

He has to be stopped.

Hmmm, Hamulack--we seem to be in a don't use the serious relievers today if possible mode.

today was the grocery store from hell for me, i'm just hoping for a nice intertaining game from my Dodgers.

This has been a very irritating few days for me. I've been waiting for several people to email me, and the emails just aren't coming. Geez.

145. I agree. I think Little keeping Maddux out there for the 6th, and then bringing in Gio with the bases juiced sort of make him the scape goat.

Hamulack getting Prince Fielder to GIDP isnt something you'll see everyday.

Gio should not pitch rest of this season unless it's at least a 5 run differential.

It looks like the Hot Dog won the race.

Everybody owes me twenty bucks.

At least Gio didnt hit his batter with the bases loaded. He waited to give up a hit first. He has a habit of hitting batters with the bases loaded.

155

I'll email you if it will increase your sense of self-worth.

Hot Dog, also known as Wiener (or Frank to his closest friends), is an All-American favorite of both the young and old. He's worked hard to deserve this reputation. The simplicity of Hot Dog is what makes him so popular. He tries his best in what he does, and knows the effort was there even if the win was not. People cannot help but to love Hot Dog. His happy-go-lucky personality brings a smile to the crowd's face. The infamous Sausage Race is not one for the faint of heart. Hot Dog's demeanor keeps him from ever being rattled even in the fiercest of competitions.

--From the Brewers home page

160 My self-worth is decided by the amount of non-junk emails in my box each morning. If the number is very low, then I'll take the junk emails.

In all honesty Maddux really didnt pitch much differently today, than he has before. Its just that today the ground balls found holes. His GB-FB was 10-3. Only 1 extra base hit given up. Maddux was Odalis'ed today.

138, 155, 160

I'll e-mail you if you promise not to misspell "periphrastic" any more.

Have we comeback from 3 runs down after the 7th this year?

For the record, Italian Sausage is the Carl Lewis of the gang, owning an impressive 24 victories this year.

155

i'll email you to bro (if it makes you feel better)

164 You see, correcting my blatant mistakes is not helping my self-worth. Why do you have to hurt me liks this?

Very few teams come back to win when down 3+ runs after seven innings. If you're good or bad, it's just hard to do.

You'd be better off trying to draw two cards to fill an inside straight.

165

the Brewers have a very bad bullpen i'm still hopefull.

Cole Hamels retired the first 17 Astros today.

Then he gave up a home run to a guy with two last names: Carleton Jimerson. It's tied 1-1.

Roger Clemens started for Houston.

Sorry, the man's name is Charlton Jimerson.

I guess Corey Hart was wearing his sunglasses at night in that at bat.

171 Carleton Jimerson is the villain Bob Kane should have invented to counter the overabundance of first names in his comic books.

172 ruins 174. Thanks a lot, Bob.

175

This day is just not working out right for you is it?

In 1980, I was 14 years old and when they talked about the '55 Dodgers, they might as well have been talking about when dinosaurs walked the earth. It is mind boggling to think that when they now talk about the '81 Dodgers, that was the same time difference. How old can a person be?

did Maddux have a bad game? or did Grady pull him to late?

The Phillies scored their only run today on a bases-loaded HBP by Jeff Conine.

Tomko is refreshingly good today.

The Brewers mascot looks creepily similar to Rip Taylor.

Jimerson's home run came in his first major league AB.

176 The ferrets are sick, too.

I never thought Tomko used to pitch at such a slow pace!

53 for Ryan Howard. I started typing as he swung.

I wish we would go to Tomko while the game is still in reach. Grady tends to go to him one pitcher after the game has gone out of reach.

183 Lets not forget Dude that keeping wildlife, um... an amphibious rodent, for... um, ya know domestic... within the city... that ain't legal either.

The Dude: What are you a park ranger now Walter?

187 I don't know what you're talking about. But they're legal in Columbus for some time now and never have been rodents.

Replying to spam can be fun. Especially the used-to-be-Nigerian get-rich-quick schemes. Now they come from all over the globe. I like to write back saying that I'd love to help, and that I really could use the money, but unfortunately I just hate foreigners too much; I got to go back and forth six times with one before he cut me loose. Also good, claiming that, like all Americans, I'm too lazy to look up my bank account. The help me deposit my great loads of money scams are willing to invest a lot of time in what would seem to be clearly screwball cranks. The cheap pills ones aren't fun, but the mail order brides ones can be.

I used to cross pollinate my junk snail mail.

187- That was on t.v. last night.

i hope the Rox beat the Padres

188 It's from a movie. It's called The Big Lebowski. It is humorous.

189

are you a Brewer fan Andrew?

Shouses Gameday picture could yellow newspaper.

188- There's no excuse for not having seen The Big Lebowski. It's excellent.

This reliever makes me want to SHOUSE!

"Hey man, nice marmot."

192- No. I don't hate them, either. I don't recognize them as a legitimate NL team, so I have a tough time feeling anything for them.

That rug really tied the room together.

189
A friend of mine did this once and went on for at least a dozen e-mails. By the end it had fallen to the point where he said he'd love to help but felt uncomfortbale with black people ever since being molested by Jimmy "JJ" Walker as a child. Even that didn't stop the would be scam artist.

Shut the "F" up Donnie

189 That is one of the worst movies to try and edit for TV. Considering it's in the top 5 all-time of using the naughty word, it really makes the movie seem disjointed. Especially when Walter's taking a crowbar to the Corvette.

What a shame that Broxton is a reliever.

171 - Does anybody know who this guy is, besides "dude who broke up COLE HAMELS's no-hitter with a homer in his first MLB at-bat"?

177 - The 1981 season was three years before I was born....where's KoTH when you need him!

179 brings to mind Jeter's clutch walk-off intangible a few weeks ago vs the Bosox...

Meanwhile, a certain 1B just popped #53!

Laynce needs to spellcheck his own name.

201 Most f bombs in movie history.

I thought it held the record for the "F" word?

"Little" too late to be using Broxton is it? I agree with Jon on using your better relief pitchers when the game is on line.

Cole Hamels has faced 22 Astros and retired all but one. 8 Ks, 0 BBs, 1 hit which was a home run. 77 pitches through seven innings.

201 Hey, that taught me to never, ever, find a stranger in the Alps.

199- People say racism isn't funny, but I say they're just not looking hard enough.

201- It was on FLIX, so it was uncut. FLIX is affiliated with some group of channels (Starz or something; I don't pay enough attention to these things) I don't get, but I get it. I'm not sure why.

1-run game bases loaded....Gio
Losing by 3 runs....Broxton

Interesting.

The IMDB says that the word in question was used 281 times.

Grady is steamed, i kind of like that.

Actually, it comes in 11th by using it 260 times. If you go to the Wikipedia page for the movie, it gives a link to the list.

I was under the impression that everybody in the world owned The Big Lebowski on DVD.

Do you see what happens, Larry? This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps.

"The Dude, The Dude in Los Ang-geleez...."

210 Ah. Well, you've never experienced creative dubbing until you've seen it on Comedy Central or USA or whoever plays it on TV once in a while.

I believe we need to have this question settled by the International Commission for the Quantitative Computation of Profanity in Cinema. It is headquartered in Rotterdam.

207

Bad pitching selection from Grady?

I am Jesus.

I've got it on DVD. If you don't have it then your missing one of the greatest movies ever made.

Pure entertainment.

Rotterdam? How appropriate.

211 You said it. This is gonna be a Tracy-esque loss for us.

come in side on Grafanino Broxton!

223
Pirates leading the Cubs 5-4. If they hold on, the Bucs will be at 1/2 game of the Cubs to escape the cellar.

Find a stranger in the Alps???

You have got to be kidding me. I'd rather they just use a bleeping sound.

damn Graffinino has had some good at bats today. I guess they were due.

Way out west there was this fella I wanna tell ya about. Goes by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least that was the handle his loving parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. See, this Lebowski, he called himself "The Dude". Now, "Dude" - there's a name no man would self-apply where I come from. But then there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place so darned interestin'. See, they call Los Angeles the "City Of Angels"; but I didn't find it to be that, exactly. But I'll allow it as there are some nice folks there. 'Course I ain't never been to London, and I ain't never seen France. And I ain't never seen no queen in her damned undies, so the feller says. But I'll tell you what - after seeing Los Angeles, and this here story I'm about to unfold, well, I guess I seen somethin' every bit as stupefyin' as you'd seen in any of them other places. And in English, too. So I can die with a smile on my face, without feelin' like the good Lord gypped me. Now this here story I'm about to unfold took place in the early '90s - just about the time of our conflict with Sad'm and the I-raqis. I only mention it because sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? Sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here - the Dude from Los Angeles. Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude. The Dude, from Los Angeles. And even if he's a lazy man - and the Dude was most certainly that. Quite possibly the laziest in all of Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide. Sometimes there's a man, sometimes, there's a man. Well, I lost my train of thought here. But... aw, hell. I've done introduced it enough.

"Grown Men do cry.....Grown men do cry...

I've spent a lifetime of acheiving while overcoming adversity.

Grown men do cry....."

I'm sitting here laughing like a moron now that I figured out finding a stranger in the alps. That's wonderful. When Do the Right Thing is on t.v., some considerable screen time is devoted to characters saying micky-ficky this or that.

One of the greatest openings to a film of all-time! :)

"Phillies late inning collapse team ... please report to the stadium. Please report to the stadium."

227

losing 10 or 11 in arrow i'm not sure how many but yeah they were due.

Last night I was talking to a girl who was a dodgers fan. It turns out that she used to date one of Jimbo's sons. Luckily, I hadn't said anything bad about Jimbo.

I hope the Dodgers become better then the Little Lebowski Acheivers this inning. This last inning, or grown men will be crying.....

Cordero was with the Rangers no?

236 Yep.

225 I hope the Dodgers become better then the Little Lebowski Acheivers this inning.

Yes, and proud we are of all of them.

237

ins't he the guy that threw a chair at a fan?

Oops, meant to quote 235 there.

239
That was Frank Francisco.

if Martin get's on bace i'd put Saenez in there against Cordero

Martin stunk it up with that at bat, oh well tomorrow is another day.

Excuse me while I go cry!

I'm off to go see The Illustionist. See if he can make a picthing ace or two to magically appear on our roster.

I blame this on ToyCannon and his eerily prescient description of how this game would play out.

He obviously deals in the black arts.

244
I saw that last night. It wasn't bad.

We need an exorcism then, no?

that's what I hear. the movie starts in an hour, but I hear the lines are long.

There's nothing quite as rewarding as walking into a supermarket with a t-shirt that says "I can get you a toe" on the front.

Baffled. Just baffled.

247
I won't spoil the movie for you.

244 Can the illusionist replace Hendrickson with healthy Billingsley tomorrow?

I can't say that I'm anxious to see Hendrickson makes his appearance once again.

Magic number stays at 22 today.

The lines are never long for movies now. I can't imagine that a bunch of teenagers are going to be filing to watch a drama set in Vienna in the early 1900s and Paul Giamatti is one of the leads.

The Prestige will be a far better movie than the Illusionist. Bale, Jackman, directed by Christopher Nolan.

That and The Fountain are my two must see movies this year.

252
You mean so far. The Padres could still lose tonight.

244 Hendrickson does look awfully laxidazical up there doesn't he?

Tomorrow's game is important in avoiding a long losing streak.
Doug Davis vs Hendrickson..bc after that its
Capuano (who's a pretty good pitcher), and then 4 with the Mets.

254
There was a trailer for "The Prestige" before "The Illusionist". Ricky Jay is in the former and he's a technical advisor in the latter.

255. I think he means magic number to clinch post season (meaning Wild Card). Since the Marlins won today, even if the Phillies lose the Dodgers dont gain anything in that dept I dont think.

I was looking at the stuff last night on IMDB on The Prestige and it does look interesting.

Bob is somewhat correct about Paul Giamatti. they just aren't going to let the son of a MLB commish win any awards, no matter how good of an actor he is.

It's ashame too, he along with Norton and Jeffrey Wright might be the best actors of our time.

I'm not surprised the Dodgers lost today. Wouldn't worry about it too much. Those afternoon games that follow a night of travel after a game - never a good rate of success.

Tomorrow's another day!

and now I'm gone with the wind.

boy it's really hot today in L.A.

Best opening of a Coen Brothers movie has to be Miller's Crossing

Hendy going tomorrow makes me a bit un easy.

Marty, I'm still weeping for you.

This Is Me

you say the word Jon & i'll rip that guy a new one, although i'm kind of disapointed you haven't posted a good read lately.

ps labor day weekend so i understand.

Florida State vs. Miami should be a good game.

In regional battles like this, I tend to root for the academic powerhouse.

So, yeah...

I was at the beach today, so I didn't see any of the game. I came home and saw the box score. What happened to Maddux?! =-0

Maddux was Maddux.
Its just that today, the grounders he gave up found holes not gloves.

269

i'm cool with the loss, speacily since the Brewers lost like 10 or 11 games in arrow, we'll get 'em tomorrow.

269 Lots of seeing eye grounders, then? My guess is that Jeff Kent had something to do with that?

270 I think a lot of the time winning streaks come right after losing streaks. Kind of like the ocean receeding before the big wave.

272

i hope your pesemist mind is wrong. :o)

by the way did you guys read Scott Long's blog yet?? really good read.

According to ESPN and Joe Morgan, the NL MVP is either Albert Pujols or Ryan Howard.

Carlos Beltran does not approve. Neither do I.

275

what are Carlos Beltran's #'s against his picks.

272
Others look at it as more like math.

NL leaders, Win Shares:

Beltran: 11.33
Pujols: 10.00
Cabrerra: 10.00

Howard: 7.33

There is also the not-irrelevant fact that Beltran is a switch hitting gold-glove caliber center fielder who steals bases while Pujols is a cement-footed first baseman.

Pujols is awesome, but he's not the MVP.

There is also the not-irrelevant fact that Beltran is a switch hitting gold-glove caliber center fielder who steals bases while Pujols is a cement-footed first baseman.

i would have gone with 1 demensial agreed non the less.

Pujols does outweigh Beltran if one looks at VORP, however.

Pujols 69.7
Beltran 64.9

279

agreed, Ortiz kind of makes me think twice about one dimensial players though.

Ortiz is a heck of a hitter, but he's about as overrated as they come. He's about the fourth best DH in the AL this year.

i think Ortiz puts shame in over paid A-Rod.JMO.

283.

So besides Travis Hafner, who's about as under the radar as they come, which are the better DHs than Ortiz?

It depends on whether or not you count split Dye and Thome as DH's. Ortiz is great, but the "clutchiness" canard overstates his worth.

Plus, if you're a DH, you better be Babe Ruth to get my vote for anything.

So, you're saying that if, once his baseball days are done, David Ortiz joined the Whig party and ran for a seat on the school board in your city, you wouldn't vote for him? Just because he isn't Babe Ruth?

Racist.

286

i don't know many DH's beacause i live in the pure west. do the math.

i do believe in Ortiz though.

287 Damn. Exposed by the left wing blogosphere (Is the left wing the opposite of the Whig party? Is there an opposition to the Whig Party?)

The Tories, right? There must be Tory bloggers.

There you go, Andrew.

torythoughts.baseballtoaster.com

Make it happen.

I haven't been reloading frenetically (the way I usually do) but that was the maybe the most unobtrusive site maintenance in the history of the web.

291 I actually tried to click on that to see if it would work.

Are we talking about British Whigs or American Whigs?

Obviously, there are still British Tories.

294 Of course there are American Whigs! Vin Scully wears an American whig! You don't think whigs have been outsourced, do ya?

I can't decide whether the my Whigs are American, British, or global. Perhaps that's why our numbers have not improved.

I had the same problem with my doomsday cult. We could never quite agree how the world was going to end.

That, and people hated our outfits.

295

how DARE YOU!!! CHUKLES~!

291- I tried blogging once. It's not as much fun calling some one a racist when nobody reads it. And I don't have what it takes to run a blog that attracts a real readership.

298 Hey, watch what you call a "real readership!" I average 225 visitors a week! ;)

I blog. A few people read it. I haven't written anything new since school started. These students of mine seem to believe that me grading their homework is more important that my treatises on life, baseball, and movies.

Teenagers are so selfish.

I blog, but I leach off of Dodger Thoughts and Bronx Banter.

Leaching off of other blogs is a good way to get traffic.

2-0 Rockies after two batters in San Diego. Carroll walked and Helton homered.

Hey now Bob, I check The Griddle every day each morning, before checking in with Dodger Thoughts. I just feel like The Griddle is a place where a man can slow down...well, you know.

The RGC's were my early morning readings. Now, I look for daily planetary updates.

301

i blog simply because DDA thaught me how to blog.

299- I would have killed for that. Literally. In fact, you're lucky you're way too far away for one of my impulse murders. Plus you put real money in to it; maybe if I'd bothered to register a domain, that would've been incentive enough to keep it up. Also, the scene changed. I started in early 2001. Without going in to it, political bloging got a whole lot less fun, and a whole lot more ugly during the four years I played at participating.

301- The biggest hit getting post I ever had was on Lara Roxx. It was entirely above board, but I somehow ended up a top ten Yahoo search return for that name. That was some kind of week. But it didn't get me much repeat business, I don't think.

So what do you blog about?

305 Political blogs are dead. They all fall under the heading of "Tell me what I want to hear, and be really pissed off about it."

I read Andrew Sullivan and Chris Hitchens, primarily because both sides of the political spectrum can't decide whether to hate them or love them.

Chuck James has thrown a one-hitter through 8 for the Braves. The only hit was a single by David Wright and he was thrown out trying to stretch. James has walked three. He's at 108 pitches. But Bobby Cox just had old friend Daryle Ward pinch hit for him.

The Columbus Catfish beat Charleston, ending our full season minor league teams' seasons. Jacksonville will start their playoffs on Thursday, which is the same day Ogden plays their last game. Ogden currently is in a playoff spot, but are only one game ahead of their competition, Idaho Falls.

305 Well, registering the domain (two, actually) was mostly because I had the Islanders material I wanted to put up somewhere, as well as resumés and the music collection. The blog started out at Geocities and moved when Yahoo prohibited using any FTP software except its own, the money-grubbing no-goods.

Hey all -- heck of a day at RFK. 26 got scrambled around again and came out on the third base line, so he's still winless (rules committee did not give him credit for yesterday's Rosie Ruis move).

The baseball game was OK too.

When you are with two five year olds, you have to talk about a no-hitter in progress, or else they won't know what's going on and will get nervous and uncomfortable when everyone starts massively cheering after every play.

Ortiz may have crossed the gods by coming out for that curtain call off his homer, but he really wasn't going to be able to avoid it. The fans just would not stop cheering for a long long time.

I've never attended a no-hitter or even a game that went into the ninth like this. Boy what an amazing feeling as each out ramped up the pressure/intensity. Really fun.

MankatoDodger: RFK turns out to be a fun place to see a game. Lots of good cheap tickets in the upper decks, and no real obstacles to moving around in the top deck to seats you like. It's a very steep deck, so you're close in and the sightlines are quite good from almost anywhere. Obviously, lower down good too, but if you're in the 300 sections and row 13 or so or higher, you'll be under an underhang and have some trouble spotting flies or seeing the scoreborad. If you let me know where you coming from, I can weigh in on getting there options, but both the metro and parking are very easy. Never any stadium traffic and huge lots surrounding the park; it's quite something. (New park will be much less easy to get to, though as I never tire of saying, my house is about a mile from each park -- we walked today.)

Foodwise -- the Italian Sausages and Grilled Jumbo hot dogs from Delmonica's carts all around the park are real good. There is a little known full bar on the 100 level behind home plate. There's a guiness stand behind home plate too, and Sam Adams on the 300 level. Otherwise, lots of bright yellow American beer. Can't get any food beyond peanuts in your seat, but beer vendors come very very often unless you're way up high. On the 300 level right behind home plate, the new owners converted a big outdoor patio into a food court, so your more novel food items show up there. Brisket sandwich pretty good; hard times chili also good. Fries from the famous Cluck-U chicken (think they call them Jersey Fries) really really good. In the middle of the terrace is a bar that sells Margaritas; fun pre-game spot if you get there early.

President's Race is middle of (or maybe after) the Fourth Inning. Don't miss it. My bet is the 26 hasn't won til then and that's his big day. If I ran the world, they'd disqualify him for something, then he'd go all Tanner and refuse to leave the field, and then they'd re-run the race and he'd win.

Aren't you glad you asked.

307- Some of the blogs are still good, but most comments sections are radioactive.

310- I started out with Xanga, which, as far as I know, never developed any ftp access for users. I hand copied each entry over, individually, when I moved to blogger.com.

From the Cardinals mlb.com story about today's Nationals/Cards game:

"'I don't consider him a guy that can throw a no-hitter,' said Miles. 'But he almost did it today.'

Even so, there was some déjà vu for Miles. On Aug. 7, 1997, Ortiz threw a no-hitter for Cedar Rapids against Miles' Quad Cities team in the Midwest League, with Miles making the final out."

311 Rosie Ruis...I am laughing my Brock off. Hi-larious.

Teddy will have his day.

aw, i missed the dodgerthoughts lebowskifest. lebowski's my favorite.

[214] interestingly, you can't access wikipedia in china. or the BBC. and i have permission specifically to access foreign websites. those are still blocked, though.

2-1 Rockies over San Diego and the Padres have 1st and 3rd with no outs.

Er, Rosie Ruiz, of course.

Get it, "course".

2-2 in San Diego after Dave Roberts has a clutch GIDP to score the tying run.

3-2 Padres now after a Giles homer.

I hadn't even realized Tiger won again. Five in a row. I find that very amazing. Isn't the record something real crazy like 10 or 11?

Byron Nelson won 11 straight tournaments in 1945. He won 18 overall that year.

I don't think he faced the same level of competition as Tiger Woods however.

321 That seems less likely to happen again that someone hitting in 56 straight games.

Sam, I'm correcting papers on the Renaissance and Enlightenment.

There is a varitable cornucopia of humor embedded within each answer. I wish you could be here to see it.

I don't know if Tiger Woods will enter six more PGA Tour events the rest of the year. The Ryder Cup is coming up. The Tour Championship is the first weekend in November. There aren't many "real" tournaments left.

Like baseball hitting streaks, Woods can't carry any streak over to the next year.

(Actually, I just made that up.)

Martin Luther started the Reformation because he thought the church was stupid.

Tough to argue with that, I guess.

325

I've seen similar arguments espoused here about the Dodgers.

The OED word of the day is "farther".

This is in the usage notes:

The primary sense of further, farther is 'more forward, more onward'; but this sense is practically coincident with that of the comparative degree of far, where the latter word refers to real or attributed motion in some particular direction. Hence further, farther came to be used as the comparative of far; first in the special application just mentioned, and ultimately in all senses, displacing the regular comparative farrer. In standard Eng. the form farther is usually preferred where the word is intended to be the comparative of far, while further is used where the notion of far is altogether absent; there is a large intermediate class of instances in which the choice between the two forms is arbitrary.

Discuss.

Apparently, he was also angry because the church was selling "those heaven things."

Hey, say what you want, at least they're trying.

I've always understood further to be a verb, as in "to further (push forward) one's cause."

Farther is a distance issue. But what do I know?

I thought Martin Luther started the Reformation because he wanted to meet chicks.

The checkered jersey moves to Minnesota as the White Sox lose in 10 on a home run by Carlos Pena.

Oh Mr. Brock, you're so indulgent.

I think the historical record should be modified, so that indulgences are officially replaced by "Those heaven things."

It just sounds cooler.

3-3 in San Diego after Tulowitzki drilled a pitch by Williams way, way, way, way over the center field fence at PETCO.

Despite my effort at humor in 332, both answers you quote seem fairly serviceable to me. Certainly not "fear for the future of our nation" territory.

335 My kids try their best. Considering the background from which they emerge, I'm quite happy.

Of course, the Glorious Revolution is next week. Lord knows what they will do with William of Orange. I can't wait.

329
Further is not always a verb.

Let's not discuss this further.

327 See? Let's not push this discussion forward. What? It works...sort of.

Hey, I'm not an English major.

Rockies take a 5-3 lead after Holliday doubles in two runs.

337 Of course, it would have made far more sense if I'd have referenced the proper line.

The fog of correcting papers. Oh well, back to Martin Luther King...er, Luther.

340 When do they get to that new food fad, the Diet of Worms?

And did that guy Stanley have anything to do with the hammer Luther used to nail those proclamations to the door, or was he the jungly guy?

Unfortunately, teaching World History is now a series of snapshots...

Greece-Democracy
Rome-Republic
Dark Ages-Not good
Printing Press-Good
Renaissance- Rebirth
Enlightenment- Ideas about government

Yup, that's 2000 years of history in two weeks. God bless standardized testing.

13-10 Florida State over Miami.

No truth to the rumor that the first tiebreaker is a spelling bee.

It's the same thing every year. When it comes to Florida State and Miami, the defenses are just too good.

5-4 Rockies starting the 9th

The Bronx Banterers have seen their team go from a 5-1 deficit in the 8th to an 11-5 lead.

Down 5-1, Yankees put up 10 in the 8th.

And neither of us mention that they are playing KC.

Going to the bottom of the 9th in San Diego:
Branyan, Cameron, Blum.

If there's a 10-run inning to be played, it's a safe bet that the Royals are involved. They've both scored and given up double digits in an inning before this year.

One down in San Diego.

Cameron up, Piazza on deck.

Going for the cycle...

Cameron walks. Piazza up.

3-run homer by Barfield. Padres win 7-5.

Lead cut to 2 games.

Cycle? That's nothin Bob, Bluebleeder87 may have set a new record at the end of the 9/1 game chat!

342 - Greg, no Industrial Revolution?? But when else will your students be able to reference "The Puppy Who Lost His Way"?

354 We'll get to the IR soon enough. We have to get through the age of revolution (Glorious, French, and American) in the next two weeks.

We spend quite a lot of time on the French Revolution. It's kind of important.

Then we get to the IR, a period which even the most fervent fan of history finds boring as all get out.

All this talk about world history makes me want to watch "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure".

When students come to the library asking for books about the Industrial Revolution, they always leave unhappy. The books are too hard for high schoolers to get through. Lots and lots and lots of discussion of textile mills in England.

Is being a librarian as exciting as it sounds?

It's edge of your seat excitement every day. It's an adrenaline rush. If you get injected with the drug that Jason Statham's character gets in "Crank", it's best to come along with me to work and I can get you revved up. It's an eight-hour long bacchanal.

355 - Now Greg, the IR only seems boring to them because they don't realize it makes warfare so much bloodier!

357 - What, no bridges or railroads? Slacker!

Yes I just registered for the last course I need to fulfill my History major, why do you ask?

360 There is no possible situation in which the Industrial Revolution is interesting. It's just not...Ever...In any form or fashion.

[355] Then we get to the IR, a period which even the most fervent fan of history finds boring as all get out.

Imagine the professors after you that teaching the computer revolution. Talk about page turners.

[362] I'm offended, but that might just be because I dragged the SO to first cast iron bridge in Ironbridge, England (naturally). She was not impressed.

I tell my students, "This period of time is called the Industrial Revolution. It is thoroughly unpleasant. I don't like it, I don't expect you to like it. This, like many things in life, is just something you need to know."

It's probably not the right thing to say, but it's honest.

You know what history students really like to talk about?

Tariffs.

Yep, tariffs.

Lots and lots and lots about tariffs.

Mix in some stuff about the Corn Laws and you've got yourself a wild time!

You bet Bob, nothing draws them in like tariffs. Hawley Smoot, BABY!

I see your sarcasm and raise you a Stamp Act.

All jokes, jests and jibes must be submitted to the Motherland to be processed for humour quotient and then sold back, at a fair price, for your usage. Mercantilism is your daddy.

I suggest the Townshend Acts instead. The defining moment of Charles Townshend's Parliamentary career.

He didn't get much time to revel in that particular success.

And by a stroke of coincidence today marks the anniversary of his death.

The Townshend duties are so beyond what I can teach these kids, it falls under the category of "Stuff you should probably know, but we don't get to teach you."

I'd venture that 5% of all people in the U.S. don't know what the Townshend duties are.

5% is probably a bit high.

Why I was just arguing with James Otis about the Townshend Duties!

I dont know what Townshend duties are.

maybe i do but dont remember.

When you're trying to explain the importance of the Reformation and Enlightenment, and the kids just don't care, the Towshend Duties just don't seem that important.

But it's a nice segue between the Stamp Act and the Boston Tea Party!

Charles Townshend then moved on to Los Angeles, where he started an Agency and hired three pretty girls from the Police Department....

[374] As long as you know Pete Townshend, it's all good baby. Something about Beyond Blue Waves and The Colonies are Alright.

I love the first line here:
"Charles Townshend, known as "Champagne Charlie" to his friends, was the chancellor of the exchequer in the period following the repeal of the Stamp Act. Hoping to enhance his political career, he tackled the pressing problem of imperial finance. Riots in England convinced him that tax relief was needed at home, but he hoped to reduce the national debt by imposing taxes in the colonies."

From http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h643.html

Yes, I had to look them up. So what?