That's a hilarious photo. I like the look Grady is giving Gurnick -- "If I wanted to, I could step on you and squish you like a bug."

---------

"The best chance that Garciaparra has of increasing his value the Dodgers - or any team - is to show the willingness to play more than one position."

There's that, certainly, but I'd argue that his best chance to increase his value to another team is to catch fire in the postseason like Beltran did. Teams may think playing multiple positions would make him more injury prone anyway.

1 - Yes, you're obviously right. I covered that in "Barring a heroic finish ..." but I should have written that part you quoted better.

What Eric said, plus it's important not to underestimate both the local and national PR and publicity value of having Nomar on the team, in whatever position.

I think the PR value of Nomar has gone down with his slump - there's a lag but the decline is there.

So, Marlon Anderson's starting...again. Anyone know why this is?

In a way this slump may benefit the Dodgers, because it's made it clear to the casual fan that Nomar is mortal. It gives Colletti a plausible defense for letting Nomar go and playing Loney at first if in fact he decides to go that route. Now at least letting Nomar sign elsewhere won't start some kind of media feeding frenzy like the LoDuca trade did.

When do we find out about compensation picks? Given the existence of Logan White, that's a huge part of this equation.

Anderson is 12 for 31 in his career against Trachsel.

Lofton is 11 for 23.

According to Yahoo's site, Nomar has never faced Trachsel.

The question should no longer be whether or not Nomar gets re-signed for next year. The question now should be whether our chances of playing in the post-season are better with Nomar playing every day, or with a Nomar/Loney platoon.

"have already committed to overpaying for aging skills at second base in Jeff Kent"

I think this is the biggest component to Nomar not being re-signed.

And really, even with the slump I'd rather have Nomar around to play second or first next year than Kent.

I still hold out hope that we can dump Kent on some rich team that needs a second baseman.

You listening, Theo?

Compensation picks for Nomar? Nomar's decline has been so dramatic that I no longer feel comfortable with the idea of the Dodgers offering Nomar arbitration -- because I fear he would accept it. The James Loney era in L.A. can't begin soon enough.

I think it's an acceptable risk. If he accepts arbitration, fine. We get him for another year and we have Loney to keep him fresh and serve as a platoon partner. Having Nomar for one more year -- as the worst case scenario in a move that would otherwise net us two picks -- is fine with me.

RE: 9

Considering their recent track records, I'd still rather have Kent than Nomar, even with the admitted injury risk that comes with Kent. Besides, with Betemit capable of playing 2B, I think we can afford to have Kent around. But having two injury prone, expensive, and aging IFs is probably not such a great idea, which is why I agree that we should let Nomah walk. But one is alright. Besides, Kent can still hit when he plays. Among NL 2B with at least 100 ABs, he's still 5th in the league in OPS.

WWSH

I had no idea that re-signing Nomar was even a thought at this point. I sure hope it isn't. I like Nomar, but the team doesn't need him. Loney can only put up numbers in the minors for so long. You have to give the kid his shot at first.

Is Laroche expected to make the club out of spring training next year?

The Dodgers will be going into spring training with 5 starting infielders in Furcal, Betemit, Loney, Kent and Laroche.
My guess is that if Loney faulters Kent plays first and Betemit plays second while Laroche remains at third. If Laroche faulters Betemit plays third while Kent and Loney play second and first respectively.

If he accepts arbitration, then we have him for a year at $10 mil or so, that wouldn't be the worse thing possible. However, a free agent that accepts arbitration is eligible to be traded (like Graffanino this last offseason), and I'm sure Nomar would have decent trade value, even with the slump, assuming he's signed to a one year deal.

7 Never mind the fact that 31 at bats is a small sample size, is it really that special if someone can stick Trachsel?

I'm just glad there's a justification for it, at least.

A Nomar/Loney platoon seems like a bad idea because of what we would have to pay Nomar to play only against lefties. That's at least 7 million to a guy who would start once or twice a week. If they want to platoon with Loney they should do it with saenz.

12 Is arbitration limited to salary? Could we not also bring alternate positions into it? If we made it clear before arbitration that we intended to use him at First, Second, Third, and Left Field, he probably wouldn't accept arbitration and we would get our draft picks.

18 Was me just thinking out loud, by the way. No one said the Dodgers should platoon those two.

19 Exactly. We'd have the same leverage in offering Lugo arbitration -- accept it, and you might not play where you want to.

20 I did suggest that in 12. But nobody said it had to be a strict platoon. In that situation I'd expect Nomar to play more than half the time even though he'd be the RH half of the platoon.

18 Where do you get $7M? Aren't we paying him $6M plus whatever incentive he wins? Right now he's getting $20,000 per at bat (Increments od $500,000 for each 25 PAs). So wouldn't his salary be considered $6M in respect to how much it could be cut?

Didn't someone tell Willie Randolph that David Wright looks tired? He needs rest to. He's looking quite piqued.

Is that Lo Duca behind the plate? Gameday says he's playing but the Mets announcers say he's not.

It's fine to honor NY firemen, but those FDNY caps look goofy on a baseball team. It makes me want to look for the beer keg.

It makes me want to look for the beer keg.

And that's a bad thing because...

Marlins already lead 1-0.

Have I missed the seven-run first inning yet?

Checking the RIOT number site, I see that the Dodgers actual magic number for clinching the West is 19, not 20. If the Dodgers were to go 19-1 down the stretch, they would have to beat San Diego at least three times.
So the Dodgers would end up 94-68. The Padres would finish 93-69.

We can all rest easier now.

Two catchers go down on one swing. Wow.

Wow, an unexpected zero frame by Stults. Nice.

I expected it. He does throw with the left appendage, after all.

33 - Cool. What's the final score gonna be?

Eric will only give predictions in verse. Sort of like Nostradamus. And he'll make them vague so they can be interpreted to mean anything.

Coming from the East
A man with a ball
Downs the beast

There you have it!

32 -- I noticed you have been scoffing at Stults on your blog. I am not saying I would be astonished if Stults had a bad game today, his decent first inning notwithstanding, but your holding his Triple A record up to ridicule was out of line. You followed the 51's game by game this year. In Stults' last 11 Triple A starts, his ERA was 2.98, and in his last two starts he K'd 20 batters and walked two over 13.1 innings. None of that guaranteed MLB success, of course. I'm just saying it warranted better than a blogger's scorn.

35 I think Bob just predicted the end times.

37

Either that or something to do with Hitler, Stalin, Osama bin Laden, the Federal Reserve, or the Freemasons.

portside swingers flail
stultz throwing morning napalm
smells like victory

33 You mean like the Flying Spaghetti Monster? "Blessed with his noodly appendage?"

I'm a proud owner of a "Flying Spaghetti Monster" t-shirt

39
Oooooooh, a prediction in Haiku form.

And a victory, no less.

41 If I didn't have two drawersful of T-shirts...

Any reason why Ethier isn't playing and Anderson is?

I think it would have made sense to play Loney today instead of Nomar.

i always thought tony jackson was black...kind of like, you know, tom jackson the football guy.

45 So did I. Tony Jackson is officially a member of the Reggie Cleveland all stars.

Hey, Steve Traschel pitches slowly.

45
Black baseball beat writers are not very common.

48
More precisely, black sportswriters for major newspapers are relatively rare. You may think there are more than there really are because the few African-American columnists have fairly high-profile jobs (e.g. Michael Wilbon, Steven A. Smith.)

46 Whenever I've talked up Ethier to my East Coast-centric baseball friends who don't pay attention to the Dodgers, they always ask what country he's from and are shocked to hear "Phoenix."

The Reggie Cleveland all-stars also include Lew Ford and Reggie Abercrombie. The captain is Khalil Greene, of course.

45- a new picture for my dart board; it'll replace the one of Paris Hilton
46- Jason Reid is, but I don't think he is covering any particular team right now

36 - Ah, CanuckDodger, for whom any skepticism of Dodger prospects is unwarranted. Some things never change. Congratulations, he had a good stretch. He also had a 4.23 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP facing AAA batters. I'm not going to get into a war of words with you here, but suffice to say I strongly object to your imperious tone here, and your attitude that brooks no dissent from your opinion of Dodger minor leaguers.

Er, define Reggie Cleveland all-stars, please? Guys whose names sound black but who ain't?

51
The LA Times also has JA Adande and Lonnie White and Mike Terry.

50 Don't forget LaMarr Hoyt.

53

Yes, you've got it. The Angels have two players whose names defy stereotypes: Howie Kendrick and Reggie Willits.

Being named Reggie helps.

53 I covers all names that seem incongruous with their particular geneology.

An Alfredo Griffin special!

Oh my God! Kenny killed them!

Woot! Man, I was sure Lofton was gonna GIDP in that one.

Jason Kendall has looked like Pudge throwing-wise this year. Huge turnaround for Kendall. He's also hitting a lot better this year, albeit for no power.

I approve of Lofty's bases clearing triple

4 Maybe for the more-informed fan, but for the casual fan, he's still Nomar.

Nomar says "Loney who?"

Yay! Nomar some more!

Boy, these Mets better start trying.

Vishal and I use to think TJ simers was black and looked like David Aldridge.

Mets Trivia: Who has played the most games at SS for the Mets?

"Trachsel has gotten some instant therapy from his pitching coach Rick Peterson."

What sort of approach does Peterson use? Jungian, gestalt, primal scream?

68

Bud Harrelson?

Gotta be Harrelson, right?

68 Kevin Elster?

69 Electro-shock?

56 Wasn't so long ago that Reginald umpty-fratz the Third was indicative of WASP-y Ivy League background; there have probably been lengthy studies of how names have been adopted by other groups.

You'd think that would be too easy a question to ask a TV audience of Mets fans.

Harrelson played 1280 games at SS for the Mets by my count.

76 1281 by BB-Ref's count. Either way it's him.

69 I'm OK: Your OK I think.

Nice year at bat for K-loft.

74

There's a chapter about first names in "Freakonomics". The use another economist's study. The working theory is that the upper classes try to find unique names for their children. Eventually, people from the middle and lower classes start to adopt them. This causes the upper class people to try to find a new first name to give their children.

Two names that used to be associated with upper crust society were Tiffany and Brittany. They aren't now.

Eventually, we will all start naming our kids Apple and Moses.

74 - In Freakonomics there is a chapter on names and how they have an affect on the named person's life. The gist of it is that names do have a correlation with education and income, but largely because people with more education and income are more likely to use certain names than most. However, over time the names filter down and other people begin to use them, though usually that just means that the upper crust moves on to new names.

Can you get a Bronx cheer in Queens?

Steve Trachsel needs a new axle.

80 81

Where's D4P to chime in on this now?

wow... I don't know whether to be upset that I got beat or to be flattered, since great minds think alike and I would be in excellent company.

82 It's more of a flushing sound.

Grits better not bring in Lugo here

I believe Peterson follows the therapudic beliefs of Dr. Tobias Funke, a self styled analyst-therapist.

There is a shortened version of analyst-therapist, but I can't say it here.

The Sporting News record book is silent on whether or not there have been two bases-loaded triples in an inning. I'm inclined to think that it hasn't happened.

69 - at the rate Trachsel is going, it'll be transactional analysis. "Son, we're trading you to Pittsburgh..."

85

"Freakonomics" is one of the few popular books in the section of the library I work in that aren't written by The Riddler (aka Matthew Lesko) or Robert Kiyosaki.

89 If I were a hot-shot sports book guy in Vegas I'd be writing odds against it.

Well that hurts

91 What section might that be?

It is a fun book for sure. That and the two books by... his name escapes me, Blink and the Tipping Point are smart books that anyone can understand.

How long did that half-inning take?

From wikipedia, so take it for what it's worth:

"On May 1, 1949, Valo became the first player in the American League to hit two bases-loaded triples in a game. He added a third bases-loaded triple in the same season, to tie the mark set by Shano Collins in 1918. Years later, the mark of two bases-loaded triples in a game has been matched only by Bill Bruton (NL, 1979) and Duane Kuiper (AL, 1978)."

95
Malcolm Gladwell is the guy you're thinking of.

Gladwell's books don't end up in my section. Books about studying for the real estate license exam are also popular. As are books on non-profit accounting.

I've never quite figured out the last one.

stults is getting it up to 92mph. pretty good for a lefty.

Ahh September baseball. LOOGYs brought in to pitch in the third!

90 Thats good.

99
Hong-Chih Kuo isn't impressed by 92 mph.

Freakonomics was really controversial as I remember because its first assertion is that legalized abortion led to a drop in crime. An assertion that is controversial to say the least.

23 You're right 6 million.

Abortion is a controversial topic? I thought everybody agreed on that issue.

Speaking of Kuo, does anyone with knowledge of Taiwanese names know why that group of Taiwanese fans the other night spelled his name "Hong-Chin Kuo" on their banner in the stands? Do they know something we don't?

I'm sure it led to a drop in criminal abortions.

99 And he is commanding it pretty well.

Hayden Penn of Baltimore has given up 5 runs in 2 1/3 IP. His ERA has gone down from 108 to 39.

107 Well played.

105 Sometimes I wish I could go back to high school simply to get the oppurtunuty to right a persuasive essay once a year on Abortion.

Here is a place I have accused the D's of falling asleep before. We have our lead and don't need to do anything is not appropriate at this point.

111 That would be "write" and now you know how well I did on those essays.

Damn' I thought that was fair untill the replay. Martins not asleep!

106

If you drop "Hong-Chin Kuo" in to Google, you will get a lot of hits. I'm guessing that's it's just another type of transliteration.

I wouldn't be surprised since it seems that few people come close to pronouncing his name correctly over here in the U.S. When I asked someone from Taiwan how to pronounce "Kuo" she replied with a sound that I don't think I can duplicate.

Not enough h&s on that throw by Lo Duca.

The Mets appear vulnerable to left handed starters. They've been shut out by Chuck James, Kuo, and Stults just this week.

The Mets are more than vulnerable, they're atrocious against lefties. It's been a sore spot with their fans all year long. Even their switch hitters like Valentin and Beltran have bad splits against lefties.

117 Just wait 'til we throw Derek Thompson at them next year.

Run run run.

Steal third Raffy.

118
Well, we all knew that Valentin was bad against lefties.

Wind blowing out, Kenny has two dingers on top of his triple.

Nice to see you guys treating Trachsel like the kind of pitcher that he is.....
PS--I take no joy in sauntering over from Bronx Banter and pointing out that Bob might want to reconsider his choice of adjectives in 24...none whatsoever....:)

Lofton has drilled the ball three times this game but only has one hit.

Where the heck is Derek Thompson?

124

No I was using that word for effect.

Meeting with his probation officer?

126 He's working at the Auto Zone right by my house.

Derek Thompson was both injured and later put on suspended for his various "incidents."

Apparently, two brothers are playing a football game tonight. Why have I not heard of this sooner?

Mets are 4-10 after the A-S break against lefty starters, the announcers just said.

131 :)

131

I'll drive down to my brother's house tonight and toss the pigskin around with him.

One of my roommates is very strange. He puts plastic disposable utensils in the dishwasher! We have plenty of metal utensils.

There is only one true way to find out if the Mets are really vunerable to LH pitching--put in Mark Hendrickson!

135 - I wash my plastic utensils that I take to the office with me. If they break, they break, but why spend money on stuff you don't need to throw away?

The Buffalo Bills are leading the Pats 17-7.

The Los Angeles game has not started yet. It may be a one o'clock start. I'm not sure.

If Dodgers can hold on today, they will be 2-0 when a rookie lefty AND Marlon Anderson start.

The Dodgers are so bizarre with their triples this year.

Kent--you animal.

The triples are wild today!

138
The LA game is blacked out. You'll have to drive to Palm Springs to watch it.

Wow, a Jeff Kent triple. In Atlanta, Jeff Francouer blows a sliding catch of a Henry Blanco single and Blanco gets his tenth career triple.

I think Blanco's was more unlikely.

143 I put 50 bucks on the LA football team this week, and I don't even get to watch them on TV?

144. Kent does have 3 triples this year.

At least I had Bill Plaschke tell me we don't need a team...For the eightieth time.

At least every opening day, he writes a similar article. Dwyre doesn't notice because he's usually asleep or playing golf.

steven jackson needs to score some touchdowns.

Is anyone old enough to remember when TV Guide would publish the rosters of the two football teams that were being shown in a particular game?

They would print the rosters for a Rams home game and then you would look up in the corner and see that the game was only being televised on a Palm Springs station. That always irked me.

The Super Bowl was blacked out in its host city until Super Bowl VII at the Coliseum.

137- but these are the cheap ones that you would find at McDonalds. He also only uses them in the house. I guess whenever he goes out to eat, he saves the plastic utensils and brings them home.

147
If Randy Harvey notices, that would make more of a difference.

I hope Jon adds a "no fantasy football talk" rule.

149

I'm probably old enough, but I don't remember.

151 Good point.

{Walks into sliding glass door}

152 - seconded.

153
I guess reading TV Guide wasn't as important to your formative years as it was to me.

152 concur.

156

I mostly did the crossword puzzles on the back page, which made me feel smart.

Stults has been great so far, but I really hope he doesn't have to start again.

ok fine.

152, 155

I hope he makes it a no football and no basketball rule, period.

156 - I'm probably old enough, but we never subscribed.

160 Were you planning on talking fantasy football? Sorry about that.

140 The Dodgers lead the NL with 50 triples, including their two today. The club record in L.A. is 67, set in 1970. The individual record by an L.A. Dodger is 16, by Willie Davis in 1970. Lofton now has 10.

Can those of you who closely follow the prospects explain why we shouldn't be more excited about Stults' start today?

That's funny. Eric Stults, .500 career hitter.

Addendum: The Dodgers actually lead the majors in triples.

I don't think we should try to impose a "no fantasy football talk" rule until it is appropriately vetted by the Dodger Thoughts Ways and Means Committee and then the Rules Committee.

Then we need to have three readings of the measure and eventually have the bill passed on to Jon for his approval.

165 At least today, he only has one strikeout, has had a lot of long outs, and got some timely double plays.

Can those of you who closely follow the prospects explain why we shouldn't be more excited about Stults' start today?

well hes 26 and didnt k alot of batters in the minors.

I mean, he doesnt have the top end cieling of a billingsley, kuo, kershaw, elbert etc, but he could be a cheap 4-5 starter.

165. Because he is more committed to his acting career than he is to baseball.

165

1) The Mets are atrocious at hitting lefty pitchers.
2) 1.44 WHIP in AAA. Given a tour of the league, he'll eventually get eaten up, or at least that's the fear.

"As Kenny Lofton flies out, one out and nobody on." Uh, Charlie... ???

168 You act as if this is some sort of democracy.

The Philosopher King will hear about this.

Nomar mocks Jon.

Despite Stults's non-prospect status, we're not throwing this one back.

170 The only problem with that is the only way a spot will open up for him is if someone gets hurt.

I can see him as an okay reliever/mop up man, however.

Did Nomar read Jon today?

Perhaps Nomar read today's DT headline

166

Would be 1.000 if he had gotten that bunt down his first time up.

I make no promise, but that should about do it.

nomar has to walk that fine line of doing good enough that the dodgers feel comfortable offering arbitration to get the draft picks and not doing great enough so the dodgers dont have to feel the media pressure of signing him back.

I think somebody pointed out Jon's post to Nomar. Does Mia read DT?

Next, Jon has to write a piece about how the Dodgers should DFA Mark Hendrickson.

181 - no draft picks for free agents anymore.

This thread is screaming for D4P. I suspect he's in Redding.

Somebody needs to poke Tommy with a stick, or put mirror under his nose.

184 that's far from certain.

184 Is that actually a fact now? There's no way they'd change that rule in the middle of the season.

Everytime in September where I said Loney should play instead of Nomar, Nomar had a 4+ RBI game.

to be fair to stults, he had a really good homerun rate considering context of the league and home park.

Thanks for all of those answers. I accept and understand the reasons regarding his age and minor league tendencies. But I don't agree that this game has been anything short of highy impressive. He sure looks like a legitimate pitcher to me. Good stuff, good command and he appears confident in a huge game against the best team in the league.

Warning: Charley has just put the game in the refrigerator. I can't imagine the baseball gods like that.

165 -- We absolutely SHOULD be excited about Eric Stults' start today. Aside from his recent performance in Triple A, which I mentioned earlier in the thread, Stults has nice velocity on his fastball for a southpaw. He was touted as a legit sleeper prospect after his first couple of months in the pros, back in 2002, but much as happened with Kuo, Tommy John surgery took Stults out of action and he soon became an afterthought in a very deep farm system.

192 Don't let Bob catch you referring to the baseball gods.

He may call you Gregg Easterbrook, the deepest cut of all.

118

OK, what should be done if we end up playing the Mets in the post-season, given that in ordinary circumstances our first 3 would be Lowe, Maddux, Penny, all of the right-handed persuasion? Do we give Kuo a start? Will Kuo even be on the post-season roster?

Furcal is .001 away from matching Lugo's OPS this year. Will Furcal top the .800 OPS mark by the end of the year?

188 - unless Maury Brown's report is wrong.

http://www.maurybrown.com/?p=333

I'm going to start posting gratuitous links to NFL cheerleaders on the Griddle as part of my Easterbrook homage.

196

Geez, the way he's been hitting, I thought he'd already gotten to .800. What is his OPS since May 1?

197 I intepreted that as it could happen, at some point in the indeterminate future.

197
MLB and MLBPA denied that report a few days later.

While it is only 1.5 games and we are playing the Mets who are not very good against left handers and they have a large lead, the Dodgers have struggeeled all year for a consistent left hander/4 or 5 pitcher. Think about it Perez, Hendrickson Seo. Had we gone it the minors sooner for Stultz who was a more complete pitcher than Kuo (Kuo has the larger upside) wonder if we wouldn't have a few more wins.

Jose Reyes becoming a useful player is very upsetting to me.

203

useful player? hes becoming a star.

As my buddy the Met fan just texted me, "Hey Steiner, why don't you guys beat the Padres once before you start popping champagne."

I concur...Charlie, calm down.

202 I doubt Stults would do much better than those guys if he pitched a few months. While his home run rate was nice, he wasn't really overpowering AAA batters.

There is a reason why very few people cared about this guy up until two weeks ago.

204 Yeah, but he was a lot more fun last year when he was below replacement level. So transitioning from that to star is rather unpleasant.

198 Um, ok by me. Just leave out the Easterbrook references.

"The Griddle's Cheerleaders of the NFL!"

Then you could branch out to college cheerleaders once you've run through the NFL possibilities. I seem to remember there's at least one team which has no cheerleaders, strange as that may seem.

Reyes is too much of a hotdog

197
Despite the speculation that the new rule is having an immediate effect on trades, I read it as sounding almost impossible that the new rule could go into immediate effect.
First, it's still subject to collective bargaining (even if they had agreed in principle-which sounds like it is in doubt). Second, even if the do build it into an upcoming agreement, there is little reason to believe they would make it retroactive or even put it into effect immediately as opposed to grandfathering in transactions that happened before the agreement.

Jose Reyes is looking like a 25 HR 60+ stolen base type of player. That's Carl Crawford good, but Reyes is a SS!

How many players have had a 25 HR 60 SB season? Eric Davis and Rickey Henderson immediately come to mind.

Darren Oliver: exhibit A in the "why you don't pay for relief" case.

I should add that Reyes is having a better year than Crawford.

Rios is a classic D's type player, although he seems to have as much power as Lopes had at his peak in his early thirties. I'd love to have him.
Oliver has found something late in his career: he is allowing less than a hit an inning for the first time in at least ten years-much less.

214 Or he's another guy who's taking advantage of the inherent randomness of middle relief.

206 - yeah. He kept the walks down, but he also didn't strike out a whole lot of guys (7.35 K/9).

206 -- Overpowering Triple A hitters is not a prerequisite for a pitcher to do well in the majors, but 54 K's in his last Triple A 60.1 innings, while keeping his ERA under 3.00 in a radical hitter's league and home park, is a portent for future MLB success if a pitcher has decent stuff.

What part of the heart and soul centers of Lo Duca's brain got that strikeout?

I think it can affect the feel of a game when you change almost all the players at once, so I am against it. But I will shut up as long as he leaves Stultz in for a bit.

217 - I like how you use small sample sizes to bolster a weak case. Wasn't Edwin Jackson enough of an example?

A little help Bob on the 25 HR 60 SB seasons?

So far I have

Joe Morgan (73, 76)
Eric Davis (86)
Rickey Henderson (86, 90)

Ryne Sandberg came very close in 1985.

Cesar Cedeno came very close from 1972 to 1974.

By the way, compensation for free agents was a huge point of contention when the rules of free agency were first negotiated/arbitrated in the 70's. It would be a gigantic victory for the players to get rid of it as it is a drag on salaries. I'm not sure how they could get rid of it without a substantial win of some kind for the owners.

Any idea with a 9-1 lead we couldn't give the bullpen another inning of rest and lest Stultz pitch the 7th?

Seriously, how many adults bring their glove to a baseball game? Anybody here?

224 - I have if I'm sitting in a section where I might get foul balls.

220

canuck isnt saying stults is going to be a star but a good 4-5th starter for 300k is valuable. that means we donthave to trade valuable commodities like 22 yr old catchers for the mark hendricksons of the world. I dont see how his case is weak. Stults numbers in the PCL environment are good enough to suggest he can succeed in the majors.

223 I think there are a lot of good reasons including the off day tomorrow and the fact that letting Stults' get out with a unblemisheed gem could have positive effects later. Perhaps Tommy John has something to say about it as well.

Sweet called strike 3. Didn't think Dessens had it in him (and he almost didn't).

Great point 226, had we been able to hold on to Navarro we might have been able to get something better at the deadline or more importantly for next year. Even if today's start is a 1 day wonder-beter today than a 4 inning mediocre start from Hendrickson.

Eric Stults reminded me of Jim Abbott facially and just the way he looked on the mound. Impressive game no matter what his prospect level is.

I'd be more then happy to see Nomar increase his value this winter by having a torid stretch from here on out because the better he does the better chance we have of going deep into the playoffs. His bat has looked much more alive this past week and it wouldn't shock me at all if he does some damage from here on out. I get the feeling that Ned and friends are quite enamored with Loney so I don't think Nomar will be coming back next year no matter what happens the rest of the year. I'd say that Ned's one year deals for Nomar and Lofton have worked out very well provided they are not on the team in 2007.

Look at that Repko hustle. He's what to you call it. Plucky?

226 - I'm not even talking star-level quality. I'm not ruling it out, but it seems to me it's more likely he's got a career as a AAAA type. His peripherals don't impress me, but I'll concede it's also possible Stults will keep the Dodgers from re-signing or trading for guys like Hendrickson.

OK, I've finally got a handle on this football thing. Parker and Eric Manning both play the same position, and they're facing off tonight.

Man, I just can't believe this one slipped by me.

looks like the Dodgers are having a good game today

only skimmed the comments. did anyone note the NY Times article about the guy who has caught/been given/grabbed 3,000 foul balls at stadiums. He runs from the left field to the right field bleachers depending on who'se batting and has a grapple to snag balls that get lost in places fans can't go.

On dishes, I had a roommate in college who just never did them. And we groused and kvetched and whatnot and he never did them. So, my normal roommates and I were going out of town one long weekend and this fellow was staying in the room, and we left a massive sinkfull of basically all our dishes in the sink with a stern "do these before we get back or else." We got back, he had thrown them all away.

That was when we realized he had problems beyond your normal "bad roommate" stuff.

Also, he had six toes on each foot. But the sixth was really very small.

Speak of the Hendrickson and he appears.

220 -- Players in the minors are there to improve. If a player makes a change in his game that makes him a different player than the one he was before, then his previous stats are irrelevent. The player has to be judged by what he can do NOW and by what he can reasonably be foreseen to do in the future, and what a pitcher has done in his last 11 starts is a good indicator of current ability. Thanks for bringing up Edwin Jackson. He proves my point nicely. Jackson was fantastic in Double A at age 19, and beat Randy Johnson on his 20th birthday, but that nice performance record became meaningless when Jackson ceased to be the same pitcher who accomplished those feats.

224
I always bring a glove if I'm sitting in an area where nasty line drives are part of the scene. Broken hands are not something I want to take home from the ballgame. Really don't care about catching the ball as any ball I get always goes to a kid but self defense is important to me. Sure I could just get out of the way but by doing so I could be causing damage to the fan behind me or to the side because they would lose sight of the ball which was aimed at me and my ducking could cause them to get smacked by it thus causing much pain. Much more simple to just catch the ball if one can. JMO

Hendrickson facing Ledee was a collision of antimatter and feather pillow.

237 - yes, he got worse once the league caught on to him. Exactly the same dynamic I expect will catch up to master Stults.

238

And I like Japanese stadiums that have screens to keep you from getting clobbered by a baseball while you are trying to manipulate your chopsticks to eat out of your souvenir Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters bento box.

Oh my god. Nook Logan homered today.

240

thats not the reason why he got worse.

I'm beginning to feel this game isn't too good to be true.

235- funny story. This guy doesn't do the dishes either; he just sticks his plastic utensils in the dishwasher. He rarely talks and spends most of his time in his room reading science fiction books. A few days ago, I brought a friend over and he didn't even say hello. He also hates LA even though he's never been there. Last weekend, we were playing beer pong in the living room with a mix of guys and girls and he basically locked himself in his room.

245 Before I moved off base, I had a barracks mate in the Navy who would never do anything, and basically exhibited the most withdrawn behavior I had ever seen. One night, we said, "You're going out with us and having a good time, and you don't get to have an opinion on the matter." After much protesting, he went out, and had a blast. He was much more sociable after that.

Though hilarity ensued that night. But that's another story.

245 - I had a room mate like that too. Super sloppy and he always complained about how high school was better and college girls were stuck up, but if we ever had a party then he would stay in his room and talk to his friends from home on the internet. I think that it is a from of social anxiety disorder, if a guy hasn't gotten any play in recent memory it is just too much for him to deal with.

235, 245 - a female friend of mine once told me she knew the guy she was dating was not going to work out when he moved without cleaning the dishes in the sink first.

246 Another ex-Navy type? I moved out of the barracks after a year and into a little bitty ground-level apartment in Yokosuka. You could say I was withdrawing, I suppose. Those barracks had 3/4-high walls. You could hear everything going on on the entire 100-yard-long floor.

The Twins are up 4-0 on the Tigers and threatening to pull within two games of the Bengals.

I had a roommate in college who would go to sleep in the living room fully dressed (including shoes). He would set the alarm 5 minutes before the bus got to the stop, wake up, and instantly walk out the door to catch the bus. He too had other problems besides being a bad roommate.

249 My barracks room consisted of brick walls painted beisch, a bathroom, and a set of two metal lockers to separate the room in half.

Needless to say, my stay in prison...er...barracks was short.

Nowadays, they build barracks like Holiday Inn rooms, with separate bedrooms and bathrooms, and a common kitchen for the two occupants. A KITCHEN!

We win!

237 -- I suppose every young player up from the minors eventually gets figured out and has to go back to the minors -- oh, wait a second, if that were true there would be no major leaguers at all. Nobody "caught on" to Jackson. He lost his mechanics, he lost his command, he lost his confidence. In short, he wasn't the same pitcher he had been in 2003. When I argued we shouldn't trade him, it wasn't because I was happy with the pitcher he was in 2004 and 2005. I simply held out the hope that with his young age we could get him back to what he had been before he went off the rails. I am not arguing that Stults deserves to be considered a great prospect. But it is a fact that every so often older minor leaguers regarded as non-prospects break through and establish themselves in the majors. That was the case with mid-to-late 20's non-prospects Paul Lo Duca, David Ross, and Dave Roberts.

254 - Let's see him do this for an entire season. He hasn't even managed that in AAA. A month of good execution in AAA is a still just a month.

252 My barracks room in San Diego during training school was similar to Motel 6 rooms I had 25 years later, without the shower.

The one in Japan was a wartime-era multi-floor building; fire escapes down the front and back, a big asphalt slab ("grinder," it was called, for reasons lost to memory if they were ever known) out front, and a big hillside in back.

254
When he does this, he won't be a prospect, he'll be an All Star.

Magic number of 18 for the division.

257- was for 255, not 254.

256

A grinder. Of course, where else are you supposed to muster?

Grinder. Muster. It's all coming back to me. Go away memories!

Antonio Perez is a professional pinch runner

I come home from church and find that Stults shut down the Mets and the Dodgers won.

BTW, is there some unwritten rule that no pitcher goes more than 6 innings in their first major league start?

The Astros are about to be shut out by Dave Bush. He's obviously the greatest pitcher in the majors.

262
It's the doctrine of "Don't Push Your Luck"

And it looks like it could be a winning road trip despite the horrific start to it.

Issue. Starting Pitching. I don't see how you can refuge either lefty rookie another turn in a fairly timely way. And I won't even name the probable next candidate who should sit.
I put it this way because it brought back a laugh. A company I worked for told us we should not use the word problem in our weekly report or as a heading for bullets.
We should substitute "issues"!

CanuckDodger,
I will warn you that you have embarked on the baseball messageboard equivalent of a land war in Asia.

Re: 267

If Canuck takes after the Steppe peoples of Central Asia, he'll do just fine. =)

WWSH

I'm going to today's Giants game. Should I be rooting for the Padres to lose?

I won't be wearing my Dodgers hat this time.

267 Well put.

Giants v Pads is on ESPN tonight I take it?
That could be a pleasant watch knowing someone must lose.

Soriano with steal 39.

I'd probably root against the Pads and against B.B. if possible. And don't wear the hat unless it over a frag helmit.

I'm very happy for Andy Roddick. It's a great accomplishment to get to a Grand Slam final and be destroyed by Roger Federer.

It's like winning the Grand Slam, only not. Or facing those UCLA teams in the NCAA finals.

269
I really don't know who to root for in that game. I might just not watch it and be happy knowing we will gain ground on one of the teams.

Re TV Guide: I also remember going through a copy at the supermarket checkout line while my mother was buying groceries -- the Market Basket on 3rd Street near Fairfax in L.A. -- to see if the Dodgers were on the Game of the Week that Saturday. What a rare treat if they were.

Anyone know the deal with Ethier being benched? Is this gonna be a regular thing?

276 - Dodger notes from Gurnick say it was just to give him a breather. Not a regular thing.

275 like it was yeasterday.

New thread open.

Hmm, OK. Little sat him on Friday, and again today, so it made me wonder.

There was also this quote by Little from the LA Times.

"He's been kind of sluggish the last day or two," Little said. "We have to remind ourselves he's a rookie. He's not used to playing this time of year."

What is the consensus on who to root for tonight between the hated Ones and the Pads. I don't want to see the Hated Ones get more confidence. So I am going with the Pads.

162 Roger that. Add politics and weird philosophies. OK, strike "weird".