This season is really starting to remind me of 2004. Everything seemed great for awhile, and then it was like, "We've got to get through September with these pitchers?"

Since Doug Davis is pitching, it is my duty to remind everyone here about the time I got a base hit off of him during a junior college summer school exhibition game. I was 17, and the coach actually yelled at Davis for wasting a curveball on me when I obviously couldn't touch his fastball (ouch).

I also played against Davis in high school, and I remember one time my JV squad really rocked him, including my best friend at the time who hit one out. Unfortunately, I platooned at 2B that year, and that game was one of my "days off."

I remember Doug being a nice guy, though. We all knew he'd been drafted when I met him during college, but he was very unassuming and non-arrogant.

2 Way to go Icaros! You've got bragging rights over any Dodger that 0fers tonight.

Martin is catching Hendrickson? :-X

Matt "swing at everything" Kemp is in the line-up, I see. Yet, I still have the feeling that Davis will get tourched.

Woops, I forgot to add ":-)" to the end of that last post. O:-)

(4) tourched: passed by Lance Armstrong on one of the mountain stages.

4.

More like Matt "I can't hit a breaking pitch" Kemp.

2
Doug Davis went to my high school. What highschool and JC did you play for?

how about.. Matt "i hit 346/414/543 between AA and AAA at age 21" Kemp?

I think that works better.

can someone link me to the colletti chat transcipt. thanks.

If Kemp doesn't look good this month, we're Soriano bound.

8

I went to Benicia High. The JC was DVC, but I wasn't good enough to actually play there. It was just a practice game.

Soriano is a fast dude, couldn't he learn to play CF?

9.

I realize Matt has a learning curve, and judging him on this kind of a sample size would be foolish. But right now he can't hit a major league breaking pitch.

But right now he can't hit a major league breaking pitch.

by saying that, arent you judging him on the foolish sample size?

14 During his previous stint he couldn't hit a breaking pitch. We don't know what kind of knowledge he learned in his time with Las Vegas where he hit everything in sight.

Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.

Kemp just needs a little Jobu love.

Well, hopefully Doug Davis gets the same advice on Kemp that he got on Icaros.

When the Dodgers face Chicago in the World Series this year I'll get to pull out my even better personal glory of striking out Jermaine Dye in Senior Babe Ruth.

Sure, he was batting left-handed in an attempt to switch hit, and at least one of the strikes I got was a home-run-distance-foul-ball, but he chased a nasty change in the dirt for strike three and walked himself back to that dugout, and that's the truth.

My team eventually got ten-run-ruled that day, as usual.

Just to irk Xeifrank once he gets here, I'm gonna do a little movie talk ;)

First off, I just watched Vertigo, the old Hitchcock classic. It was a good movie with some nice tense moments, but the ending was just horrible I thought. Overall grade: 3.5/5

Also, for those of you who use rottentomatoes.com and/or love making fun of horrible movies, I think the first two 0% major release movies have come out, and they were both within the last month! Crossover, that new horrible street ball movie, got a 0/52 and Zoom, the horrible kid super hero movie with Tim Allen, got a 0/48.

For the record, I have no other brushes with athletic fame to speak of.

[20] the ending was just horrible I thought.

Blasphemy! Nothing more need be said. Go watch it again :)

22
If you're watching "Vertigo" for an airtight plot with a sensible ending, then you're not watching it for the right reason.

12
I went to DVC for a couple years.

13 - he'd be like a healthier Kenny Lofton defensively, yet be capable of blasting 40 homers!

Interesting item from Dodgers.com game notes:

As a result of his decision not to add highly touted prospect Andy LaRoche to the September call-up list, GM Ned Colletti instead purchased the contract of Icaros, a 2B-P who had been toiling away in a distant outpost of the organization.

"He provides a nice two-way threat on the infield," said Colletti, who added that Icaros has had success against major league talent in the past.

Icaros will also likely be ahead of Julio Lugo on the Dodgers infield depth chart.

23 That's the thing, I enjoyed the movie in general (even with the obvious plot holes), but I felt it needed a big payoff at the end to make it truly great. In fact, pretty much everything post-initial climax was a bit of a letdown.

20, 22 I can't believe what I just read!

Unless you mean the ending was horrible for technical reasons, with the laughable matte shot, in which case you're probably right.

Why the heck didn't Furcal slide?

28 No, I thought the ending was horrible because it seemed almost tacked-on.

25 We sign Soriano; trade Drew to the Yankees for A-Rod; Kemp and Ethier are the corner outfielders; Betemit and LaRoche on the bench with Saenz and Lofton. Add Schmidt and a catcher... Nice daydream.

14, 16 "But right now he can't hit a major league breaking pitch.
...
During his previous stint he couldn't hit a breaking pitch. We don't know what kind of knowledge he learned in his time with Las Vegas where he hit everything in sight."

Disagree with that. At least one of his homers came on a curveball and at least one other came on a changeup. (I think there were more offspeed pitches that he crushed, too, but those two I do remember for certain.)

I'm not saying he's the world's greatest curveball hitter, but I am saying that even with the too-small-to-judge sample size, he hasn't really struggled with offspeed pitches. He's struggled to lay off the bad ones, but that's a completely different problem from "not being able to hit the curveball."

I think the Yankees have enough outfielders now

31 Since you are by your own admission daydreaming, I'm going to assume the Schmidt you want is Mike....

Just a bit overthrown.

Well this has the makings of a screwy game.

Someone tell the Dodgers that Prince Fielder isn't Babe Ruth.

I want either Dave Schmidt or Boss Schmidt.

How about Holy Schmidt?

30 There's no doubt that the last 20 minutes of the movie are awkward, because you feel like you've seen the ending of a conventional thriller when "Madeleine" dies. Nevertheles, some of the movie's absolute best moments occur in this section -
1. the mad scene - I guess its corny, but I love it.
2. the shot when he's finally made her up to look like Madeleine again, and the camera circles around them, recreating the scene at the mission.
3. the last scene when, as he's dragging her up the stairs, and he's going off on her for manipulating him, and he breaks down when he realizes why she kept the necklace.

trade Drew to the Yankees for A-Rod

What would make Brian Cashman do that? If anything, I'd expect him to be un-Cashman-like and trade Arod for prospects to make a statement. I don't think they'd take Drew for a guy with 31 homers already who's hitting .283/.380/.515 in an off-year; that's Dave Littlefield territory.

IMO if Hendy dons't pitch well today he's toast as a starter.

Hendrickson sucks

Welcome to the rotation, Kuo.

Get.

Hendrickson.

Off.

This.

Team.

44

I 2nd you're thoughts.

40

1. Nope, just plain corny :)
2. Excellent scene
3. Also good, but then ruined by the ensuing scene

41 Plus, in the prevailing Yankee fan/media nonsense, the problem with the incredibly productive Arod is that he's not a "gamer," or something like that. Not a problem that can be solved with JD Drew.

Why couldn't we have tried Dioner Navarro as a starting pitcher?

I think it's safe to safe that this won't be the stellar start Hendrickson needed to keep his spot in the rotation.

Don't I remember that Hendrickson had given up very few homeruns with TB? Since the AL is by far the league with more sluggers, how is it that he seems to give up so many now?

And to think I thought Hendrickson would actually get better with a move to the NL. I guess I get a little too excited about guys when they start doing well for my fantasy team.

48 - Oooh! Laroche and Repko for Arod. Problem solved.

51 Hendrickson's home run rate was only .88 coming into this game, and the game before that it was only .64.

Hendrickson's career homer rate is 1.09 per 9.

let's see if Kemp can work on his numbers against lefties in the majors

Lugo why oh why Lugo!!!

You'd think Dioner Navarro, a guy with a higher OPS than Ivan Rodriguez, would get more respect.

56

you can't throw a fast ball inside past Kemp Period.

its ok. he got it in the air

Saenz should play 3rd base against left handed starters.

Grady is wasting a valuable asset by giving Lugo playing time.

58

please look @ his D.

62 He has a 38% caught stealing percentage.

58

no disrespect but if you're a players players, Navarro tended to fall asleep back there.

58 Actually, their OPS's were identical going into today and Pudge is 1-2 while Navarro is 0-2. Not to mention they both have very uninspiring .734 marks.

62

how many passed balls did he have, how many chances has he had?? in BOTH areas??

Kuo is the official starter on Friday according to Steiner.

65 I was looking at his combined OPS when I said that. Russell Martin is better, I just don't like the fact that its implied that we dodged a bullet when we got rid of Navarro.

67 I guess Kuo is a good choice considering the options, but I reiterate my 1.

67

good to know

62

maybe i'm wrong i go by look & not my #'s.

Where are these pitches missing?

66 Three in 61.6 games.

68 Oops, darn Yahoo and their league separating ways!

Navarro's line in TB:

.267/.347/.387/.734

Pudge's line:

.291/.318/.416/.734

At this point in his career, he's ahead of Pudge offensively. MLB doesn't have SB/CS numbers before 1999, so I can't compare defense. Woulda been nice if he didn't backhand everything, though.

how many more games has R. Martin played then Navarro, again i'm going by look & not by #'s so please don't think i'm attacking you.

75 Russell Martin is better than Navarro, I don't dispute that.

Come on, Ben Sheets got a hit this year. Your turn Hendrickson.

Hendrickson is quite possibly the worst hitter I've ever seen.

Is the question whether Navarro is better than Martin or Pudge, or whether he's better than Hendrickson or Hall?

78

i think that title belongs to Sele. :o)

All I'm trying to say is that Dioner Navarro doesn't suck. That's all.

Okay, so I have no idea what's going on in the game other than reading the above comments. I'm about finished trying to get some late work done.

So the question is: Is the game so far gone that it's not even worth worth turning on the tivo? Should tonight be a Netflix night?

Martin's thrown out 28.9% of baserunners. I don't know how relevant of a comparison this is, but he gets thrown out 30.8% of the time.

79 You can't spell "Hall of Fame" without Hall.

82 I say watch the game, though its not encouraging.

79

Pudge'S resume forget about it, but Navarro vs Russell give me a break.

i just hope Hendy keeps us in the game

Woulda been nice if he didn't backhand everything, though.

Which is the point being made in #64. Bad mechanics = banishment to Tampa Bay.

If they are going to keep Lofton in there vs LHP, it might be a good idea to switch Martin/Lofton in the batting order.

82 - He sent the Brewers down 1-2-3 last inning, and even though they were the 7-8-9 guys, that's nto bad.

Have the Dodgers ever had a costumed mascot?

91

Not in Los Angeles.

So it's a safe bet they haven't had one ever.

They had a giant Louie Anderson one time I went.

Oh, and while its not a mascot, there was an animatronic scoreboard marionette that we booed out of existence.

Hendy just keep us 3-0

Good Lord, I hate to keep bagging on the guy, but how on earth is Hendrickson still in the starting rotation?

92

thank god. :o)

93
That was the prototype for Scooter! He debuted on Fan Appreciation Day.

The fans didn't appreciate him.

I'm curious as to why Tony Graffanino is going to town on the Dodgers the last two days.

The D's have given the impression that if you get ahead of them by much, they aren't going to use their good relievers or try. But wait I've got to see the Brews pitcher.

But our starters are inconsistent, and the ones in between the inconsistant ones are weak. This is where we must improve. With slightly above average starters, we wouyld be an incredible dynasty for many years.

97 The best part was when he read the lineup because he "knew it by heart", but unfortunately, the Dodgers were eliminated so he somehow knew the dreaded Damon Hollins, Larry Barnes heart of the order.

Hendy gives me hope & strikes out Fielder. double play now.

Wow!
Hendrickson K's Prince Fielder.
Yesterday Prince GIDP'ed against Hamulack.

This was the game that the "Scooter" type character appeared:
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09270LAN1998.htm

Note that in that game, the Brewers scored 1 run, but left 15 men on. Check out Bobby Hughes's day.

this is Hendy's last start imo.

Looks like Stults may get to make his major league debut and audition for Sunday's start. Dave Williams is starting for the Mets, so it doesn't really matter who starts. I predict a lot of runs in that game for both teams.

Fielder does hit .241 against lefties

The D's starters, when they are in a bad streak, give no chance to the offence. This pitcher has had so many men on base that the defense has fallen apart. I'm very pessimistic about what will happen with the Mets.
If these starters bury the D's in the first inning--the Mets will kill them.

I say send him to the pen. He will gain respect if he beans Bonds

I'm retiring. These pitchers are making a laughing stock of the Dodgers.

Grady will gain my respect if Hendrickson only comes in to bean Bonds.

91 "Have the Dodgers ever had a costumed mascot?"

Yes, of course they have.
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/pict/column/0711_kantoku14_b.jpg

I haven't read the subsequent posts, so if somebody beat me to that answer... well, shame on you.

I'm off to watch the game now, with thumb already gravitating toward the fast forward button. See you guys later.

Grady bring in anybody, even Gio to replace Hendrickson.

Hendrcison is not fooling anybody.

f f f f fooling

69 pitches for Hendrickson through 3 ip.

the devil ray G.M. did magical powers over Ned, i love his trades but against the devil rays, there G.M. took him to school PERIOD!!

Just a question here:

Has Hall caught Hendrickson every start? When are we going to give someone from the stands a chance to pitch? I think it would be just as good a chance we would get a win.

Bob,
I was hoping you had an over and under for how long it took me to figure out the guise of The Illusionist.

While I enjoyed the movie--plot holes and all--I hope you figured I would know what was happening less then 15 minutes into the movie.

111- Shame on you. But funny. It reminds me of this: http://tinyurl.com/l53ka

The ugliest Hendrickson fact of them all:

Career 02-05    557ip, 5.21 ERA
Tampa 2006       90ip, 3.81 ERA
L.A. 2006           64ip, 5.34 ERA

It's only the 4th so i'm still hopefull

111 I love that picture.

That is ugly.....

118 Somebody should put together a film clip of all the great falls. Tommy, Castro, and Bush Sr are a good start.

Will the Dodgers get draft picks for Mark Hendrickson?

[123] Dole had himself a nasty tumble.

http://tinyurl.com/q7llg

just get this guy out of there please!!

111- I copied that wrong and didn't get the letter G, and I got some japanese site

124- Hasn't he still got one more year before he's FA eligible?

125

i had a pretty good nose dive on our DT's game in Dodger Stadium, i had one to many beers i'll leave it at that.

The White Sox lost to the Red Sox 1-0 and were shut out by the dynamic duo of Kason Gabbard and Mike Timlin.

The Giants have already lost 3-0. They were shut out by Bronson Arroyo of the Reds.

128 You're just saying that to make me mad.

That was a heck of a throw by Kemp.

Gunned em down!

In the good way.

WOW, GREAT FREAKING ARM BY KEMP!!

Good Lord! 5 runs and he's still in there? Did Little have a heart attack or suddenly get Altimers? Or is he try to make Colletti look as bad as he really is? Someone should put Hendrickson out of his misery. If he were a horse, they'd shoot him.

Matt Kemp!

128 I think it's 2, but I know he's arbitration eligible this year. He'll probably be non-tendered, but Ned may want to give him another chance next year.

Speaking of Hendrickson, why not include his fall on the film?

No bounce ethier. WOW Great throw, see stuff like that i love!!

Hey, Disabled List. I loved your game notes in 26. Thanks.

Stults' first ML pitch--strike to Prince Fielder.

140

it was also his 1st walk

1st DP from Stults

1st dinger from Stults

Stults has a very high rate of inducing DPs, although admittedly in a small sample size. Of course, his K-BB ratio isn't too good. Neither is his rate of HR allowed.

144

well atleast he gave up his 1st dinger quick.

Corey Hart is an animal.

At least against these two pitchers.

Stults plays defense. Good for him.

Stults had allowed 10 homers in 153 IP in the PCL. I'd just blame that on Hart and see if Stults can improve in his next few innings.

Nip Tuck starts up again tonight fellas. I can't wait.

Since Rick Monday can't remember, I'll remind him. His first game was Sept. 3, 1966. He went 0-3 with 2 Ks against Jim Lonborg, who pitched a 2-hit shutout and beat KC 7-0.

Bob: whenever I look up a game on Retrosheet (for example, the one I just referred to), the URL showing is just http://www.retrosheet.org/
But I notice that when you refer to a game it has a longer URL that takes you directly to the box score and PBP for that game. What is the difference?

Hendy's game score: 33

There is nothing wrong with Stults' HR rate, especially in the hitter-friendly PCL. By contrast, D. J. Houlton gave up something like 25 homers in about the same number of innings as Stults.

What was the velocity on Stults's fastball, anyone? How did his other pitches loook?

Hendy's days as a starter are over. i hope.

Hendy's days as a starter are over. i hope.

[150] You are in a frame, right click in the frame with the box score and select something along the lines of view this frame only.

sorry for 154.

well Stults debue is not worth writing home about.

152 His fastball seems to be 89-91, or at least the ones I noticed were about that fast.

150 Right-click on BOX+PBP for the game, then select properties. The URL is there.

Mark Hendrickson is teh suck.

what are nomar and kent doing up there? seriously. davis is throwing 82 mpg poo-balls and they cant touch him.

Mark Hendrickson is teh suck.

i still have hope blue crew

160

i'm o.k. with them lossing today, but if the lose to the brewers tomorrow.....

155, 158

Thanks; that was it.

Two other interesting things about that game: One, Sal Bando also made his major-league debut, and batted right after Monday. Second, in the first inning, Catfish Hunter intentionally walked Tony Conigliaro with men on 1st and 3rd and one out! Shades of Barry Bonds.

i wanna be the mexican chorizo!!

is everyone in favor of letting nomar walk and giving loney his shot next season? it has to be done.

166

i'm in favor of letting go of Selig, & the Joke that are the owners letting this guy be the "commish" yeah were that stupid mlb

selig, huh?

168

name one good thing "Selig" has brote to the game?

ps he looks like an alien!!

who cares, what does that have to do with nomar and loney? and the wild card was good for the game.

170

i for one don't agree with the wild card my friend, let alone his daughter owning the Brewers.

ps i don't know if the Daughter still "owns" the brewers but give me a break.. i can rant about that for ever.owners included!!!!!!

OK, everybody.

Just step back from the computers.

Take a deep breath.

Go watch something else on TV.

171 The Seligs are no longer majority owners of the Brewers.

172

i think you're right Bob, i'm sorry i just... well you know....

Batting in the 9th: Repko, Martinez, Diaz, and then Robles if anyone gets on. That seems like the 1 through 4 spots in the lineup last year.

I think we have to realize that his team is a mix of talented young guys and vets who have no way been molded into a team yet.
When they do well it is good, but remember---would you want to be in the playy-offs with these starters? We don't even have Loney, Kemp, and Laroche integrated into the team yet!
This will take a year or more; but it will be worth it. A few years from now we should be great and this is the way it has been planned.

lossing to a realy bad team might wake us up as a team.

Poor Eric. Damn us and our hopeless optimism. Well, Kemp's throw was nice.

178

:o)

Bluebleeder -- I don't mean to be harsh, but you might think about adding something meaningful when you post a comment.

we're still in 1st place.

180

i'm sorry Daniel, i just post what i feel i know what you mean though.

A 10 RBI game for Corey Hart would have been cool.

Tommy Lasorda would have had a fit lossing against a team like the Brewers.

We just ran into the pride of Northgate High School on the mound and some guy who wears his sunglasses at night.

Nothing you can do about that.

That makes for two complete game shut outs on the day.

I think the main question for this game is why Doug Davis was able to throw a complete game shutout. Are the Dodgers that bad against lefties?

Five shutouts overall tonight and the Yankees have been shut out after 7 innings in Kansas City.

Presumably, the Yankees won't score 10 runs in the 8th again tonight.

Maybe just seven.

Hmm, the Dodgers are OPSing 846 against lefties, 764 against righties. That can't be it.

Bob, there's also no score in that Angels game through 2 innings. The Angels are always a threat to be shut out.

I believe I can describe this in the words that a doctor of mine used to describe why my left eye didn't seem to follow objects correctly. I was given a battery of tests inside and out.

The official diagnosis:

It was just one of those things that happens.

The Rockies haven't scored yet either and trail San Diego 1-0 and Oakland is down 1-0.

Shutouts for everybody!

I'm wondering how the White Sox couldn't score off of Kason Gabbard.

191. I'd get a second opinion.

SD up by 2 now, top of the third.

i'm cool with the lose today but tomorrow will be a different story.

ps being swept against the brewers!

193

I'm afraid to think of what else they would check. It's not reassuring to go to a medical lab with an order and have the technician say "Wow, what the heck do they think you have?"

Besides, my eye doesn't have that problem that anymore.

The Rockies will not be shut out tonight.

Tie game in SD. Atkins hits it out with Helton aboard.

1/2 the shutout possibilities are up in smoke in Anaheim.

Bob's Lucky Day: back to back to back to back episodes of According to Jim, starting soon!

Check out the video clip of Damion Easley's outfielder assisted homer:

http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/

2 of the 3 AAA/AA games were shutouts tonight. The third is currently 1-1 in the 10th. There aren't as many shutouts in the lower minors, but Ogden shut out Idaho Falls, giving them a 1 game lead over Idaho Falls for a playoff spot.

Possibly the worst game of the season. Can anybody remember a more uninspired, flatter Dodger performance this season? To make it worse, it's in the heat of a pennant race, the day after a loss (2 of 'em to be exact), against a mediocre (at best) team.

The bottom of the 8th pretty much summed it up. I don't know if Ethier lost it in the lights, but the way it looked pretty much fit the rest of the way the Dodgers looked in the field and at the plate. It matched the effort on Hamulack's throw, Saenz's indifference to make a play most first baseman make, and Martinez's misplay, and it all made for one ugly inning of one ugly game. Granted the game was way over but sheesh, play ball.

Apparently Furcal not sliding in the first inning set the tone for a sleepwalk.

I didn't see the game -- I'm in another city.

Perhaps the Dodgers see Hendrickson on the mound and figure, eh, we lose no matter what, don't sweat it.

Good teams lose. I bet the Brewers have beaten the Mets. The Devil Rays have won games against first place team.

We aren't a mighty juggernaut. We're a good team, but not complete yet. Not only does having Hendrickson hurt, the lack of HR power also sometimes bites.

Wow, looks like missed a real peach of a baseball game.

The real problem with Hendricskson is his execution.

It needs to happen.

That's right, I'm so upset that I'm not going to spell his name properly.

Heh... I saw the score and my first thought was, "Why did the Dodgers forfeit the game?"

The Royals shut out the Yankees tonight.

207 At least a forfit would have sparred Dodger fans from having to see tonight's performence. Fugly. :-!

The Dodgers are an atrocious road team. At least the Cubs should be beatable. Looks like they'll have to somehow pull out a win against the Pads when they play 'em. :-/

The Dodgers are 29-38 on the road. If that's atrocious, then what do you make of:

Tampa Bay, 19-50 on the road
Baltimore, 25-42 on the road
Kansas City, 20-49
Seattle, 27-42
Washington, 25-45
Milwaukee, 23-46
Pittsburgh, 20-50

Meanwhile, the Padres and Phillies have overall winning records, but have losing records at home.

211 Those are all pretty atrocious if you ask me.

Is the home team winning a higher than usual percentage of MLB games this year?

The Red Sox, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Astros and Giants are all at least five games under .500 on the road.

wow, another pretty bad loss and to top things off the Pads are up 5-3 late against the woeful Rockies. Anyone know anything about this new drug law in CA? I went to the drug store to buy some cough medicine and tylenol and the cashier said there was some new law and I could only buy one of the two. I just stood in a different line to buy the 2nd item, but seems like an odd law even if bad guys are using over the counter meds to produce meth. vr, Xei

There are so many atrocities going on with road records, that we're going to have to talk to the boys at The Hague about getting some court time.

The Hague -- is that what they're calling the SF ballpark now?

I've been outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague. But it wasn't open at the time.

http://tinyurl.com/mbv8j

I mainly went to The Hague to add it to my list of places where "The" is part of the name.

Right now it consists of "The Hague" and "The Bronx". In Berkeley, I lived on "The Alameda".

I have not been to "The Dalles" in Oregon.

Man, I can't get over that parent who leveled the kid at the Pop Warner game.

His tackling is horrible. You always shoot for the hips, not the shoulders.

What a horrible role model for would be tacklers.

I have been to The Dalles and you aren't missing much.

Padres win 5-4.

Google is taking over The Dalles isn't it? They are building some special supercomputing facility there aren't they?

just looked at the game score file, and I saw something very alarming in Aaron Sele. He's flat out tanking. He really does have a rather definite downward trend, with a nice upswing. Overall, though, he's a first half pitcher.

[217] I would recommend "The Duomo".

It seems most foreign places get such treatment (ie. "The Vatican", "The Parthenon", etc.).

And it turns out that after today's game I'm feeling religious.

Never been to the Haight, Bob?

Does Mr. Google like to sail board or does he like long commutes?

Too bad Repko wasn't playing and Lofton sitting last night. The Dodgers are going to win with youth and fade with aged.

Speaking of long commutes, I just got a phone call out of the blue offering me tickets to tomorrow's game... looks like I'll be making the long drive to Shea to see Penny implode.

Bob, you forgot all the roadways in Southern California. I'm sure you've been on most of them.

The Hague is huge, though, since it counts double. (The Netherlands)

I'm thinking of cities most of the time with "The" as an integral part of the name.

Maybe I'll go to all the cities in California with "El", "La", or "Los" in the name.

228. I guess that would eliminate THE Ohio State University from the list then.

229
I would rather just go to An Ohio State University.

Did anyone read the new interview with Jeff Kent on the Times' Dodgers blog?

http://tinyurl.com/gnbkl

Pretty interesting actually.
He even says (and sounds like he had to grit his teeth and hold his nose while he said it) that Bonds was the greatest player he's ever seen play.

Also says if he was as on the fence as Brett Favre obviously was about coming back, he'd retire.

I've always been partial to The Oxnard, myself.

(I'll preface this by saying I'm not a Drew basher...)

The fact that he is sitting again today (according to the LA Times) bothers me. Does resting him two days in a row make any sense? Yes, the Dodgers are facing left-handers but the Mets are going to start two lefties as well. We've gotten to September with him relatively healthy and it also seems like his bat was starting to heat up a bit, not to mention the small fact that the Dodgers are in the middle of a pennant race.

I'd rather have him out there facing Capuano and Glavine than Kemp or Repko or Lugo.

I think it's great how Grady has handled Drew and I can understand a day off but at this point in the season in a tight race, perhaps not as many days off and especially not two consecutive games.

Had a chuckle at the MLB Trade Rumours site.
They mention as a long shot the possibility of B. Bonds going to the Dodgers to replace Nomar at first base for a year. Long shot doesn't begin to describe the probability.

And Bob, let me know it you ever visit "The" Berkshires.

234

That is worth a good laugh. Bonds needs to go to the AL if he leaves the Hated Ones.

I've got the boys at the Board of Geographic Names trying to figure out how I can generate a list of all the place names in the U.S. that start with "The". I don't think their database can handle it.

207, 209 - That was my first thought. I was busy and engaged last night and fortunately I missed this non-game. I came home and saw the score and expected a big story on Baseball Tonight about the Dodgers forfeiting the game for some bizarre reason. I know Penny wasn't scheduled so he couldn't be the reason. Then I saw the low-lights and I thought to myself, "You should have forfeited, not shown up if they are going to play like that"! I hope Lowe can stop the bleeding tonight. We can lose all of our 4 game lead we had built up in just 4 days tonight before we even arrive at Shea. This is the nightmare of a road trip becoming a very real reality!

Is a dream a lie that don't come true or is it something worse?

2-0 Giants.

239 No, it's just a lie.

Just go down to the courthouse. The judge'll put it all to rest.

239 - All I know is looking at the schedule a couple weeks ago and seeing this road trip, I was hoping they can take 2 of 3 from the Brewers and Cubs and split with the Mets or even if they lost 3 of 4, they could overall still have a .500 road trip. Starting the trip off with two lackluster losses in Milwaukee has me fearing the worst, a 2-8 or 1-9 trip that will send the Padres rocketing ahead of us into first and the Blue spiral down even out of the wild card lead. This is the time Lowe and Penny need to right the ship, give us 6-7 strong innings and hope our bats revive to win a couple games here this week.
I guess if a dream does not come true, then it is just your subconscious showing you your fears and hopes come to life in your nightmares and dreams.

Remember, it's the NL West. Every team that rockets, tends to crash and burn. The Padres still have a road trip to St. Louis and finish the season in Arizona, where they are 20-52 alltime.

Cities are one thing, but how many countries have "the" in their name? Is The Gambia (or Republic of The Gambia) the only one?

The Bahamas is the other.

You can also make a case for El Salvador.

234 Have you forgotten who our GM is?

244. Uruguay could count then as it's name is The Republic East of The Uruguay and in Spanish is referred to as El Uruguay.

What's the deal with those Latin American countries and the articles in the name?

There's also "El Peru" and "La Argentina".

Oh, and the people in Ukraine do not want their country called "The Ukraine."

244, see 227

From Boswell's chat:

16th & K, N.W.: I have never been a fan of these new-age young "kids" becoming GM's with absolutely no experience in baseball. I guess they remind me all too well of McNamara's "Whiz Kids" who mismanaged the Vietnam War. Having said that, I don't think that I am being overly harsh in saying that Theo Epstein is in totally over his head. He overestimated the strength of his pitching when he gave up Arroyo. He grossly overestimated Coco Crisp and vast underestimated Johnny Damon. He completely goofed when he didn't do something before the trade deadline, thus ceding the season to the Yankees, who did get two valuable players. These amateur followers of Billy Beane have been the ruination of more the one team in MLB. Do you agree that Theo Epstein should be fired, the sooner the better?

Tom Boswell: Here we have what may be the perfect post to capture the Red Sox Nation mentality. It's unique, passionate but also truly bizarre. The argurment is subtle and probably correct on many points, but the object of the anger is the only GM to oversee a Red Sox world champion in 86 years. Oh, and McNamara still hasn't been forgiven. My wife is from New England so I see up close this every summer. It's fascinating.

So, who is DePo? McGeorge Bundy?

250
That country goes by "Netherlands". It's full name in English is "Kingdom of the Netherlands", and in Dutch it's "Koninkrijk der Nederlanden"

The official short form names of the country are: Netherlands (in English) and Nederland (in Dutch).

251

Jim Tracy starring as General William Westmoreland!

248. That's a slightly different case with Argentina and Peru, as their official names don't have articles in them, Argentina is just Republica Argentina, thus the articles in these cases just exist in order to provide a gender to the name of the country, since all nouns have to have a gender in Spanish. Uruguay is different as it is literally called El Uruguay in official documents.

Bill Plaschke as William Fulbright!

Jon Weisman as Walter Cronkite.

256
Don't you remember the day last year, Jon got up, took off his glasses, looked into the camera and told us that the NL West in 2005 was unwinnable?

Ned Colletti as Gerald Ford?

251. If you want to use this analogy, then DePodesta is probably McNamara and Beane is Tex Thornton, the original head of the Whiz Kids and the guy who brought them all together. McNamara was thought of as the smartest of all of the Whiz Kids and called the Human Computer.

246 I don't know how it slipped my mind, but I not happy now that I'm reminded:)

257 I'll admit, I was thinking more that we really knew it was over when Jim Tracy lost Weisman.

259 Yeah, the whole thing doesn't really work. And I sure like DePodesta too much to go down your more accurate road!

253 Actually Bob I would pick Tim Johnson for that role.

Stan from Tacoma

Tommy Lasorda as Henri Kissinger!

262. I think you could get it is work and McNamara was very successful as head of Ford Motors. The one you don't want to be compared to is Reith, I think that will eventually be Ricciardi.

We don't have a George Ball or Dean Rusk in our tableau.

Or even an LBJ.

266 Bill James for President

Stan from Tacoma

More Boswell:

Which is it Tom?: Last week you said:

Soriano is gone: I can't imagine him staying. This can't be any fun for him and next year doen't look much better. A contender will say, "Here's a no-trade, $75 million, 5-year contract. Make a home with us." How could he resist? Tom Boswell: He can't. And he won't.

Now you say don't give up on him yet...

Tom Boswell: I've been doing a little more digging. Neither New York team looks interested. There's no reason for the Red Sox to be interested. Who else, with mega-big money, is interested enough in Soriano to drive the price beyond the Nats appetite for spending? A lot of people in baseball, after August 1st, said, "He's gone. Book it." Including me. But as the dust has settled the Nats emerge as one of the logical contenders. Still, it's probably less than even money for him to resign. I'd make the Angels the front-runner.

Mickey Hatcher couldn't wait to get his hand on another hacker like Soriano? He would be able to continue his unique style of non-coaching as a batting coach.

Nationals down 3-1 on a Spezio 3-run HR.

I thought the Nats were living on borrowed time there.

Boswell on Nationals call up Chris Booker, who apparently throws a forkball: "sStick a fort in him."

Sigh.

3-2 now at RFK, Nationals have the bases loaded and nobody out.

And Nook Logan is up to bat!

Reds are down a run in the 8th.

Stan from Tacoma

Run scoring singles by Brian Schneider and Alfonso Soriano send Carpenter to the showers. 5-3 Nationals.