Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Rafael Furcal has moved up to becoming the 27th-most valuable position player in baseball this season and the most valuable Dodger, according to Baseball Prospectus. At No. 26 overall, for comparison, is Mets third baseman David Wright.
Furcal's post-May 1 stats: .377 on-base percentage, .493 slugging percentage, .870 OPS.
Previously: "Furcal Climbing Toward Expectations"
* * *
ps the last 10 games are gonna be fun/heartbreaking/incredable IMO. Cant wait to see what the baseball gods have in store for us.
Olmedo has been a Pirate killer thrue out his Dodger career, if anything why not start him at 3rd everynite against the Pirates!! arrr!!!
Oh right, I should be putting him back to sleep not Dodger Thoughtsing or watching soccer.
They don't.
Just bad managing.
I feel its more the fact that the dodgers have a terrible bullpen.
And the inning ain't over yet!
O-Dog
Drew
Jackson
Byrnes
Tracy
Hairston
Quentin
Snyder
Webb
Padres
Roberts
Giles
Gonzalez
Piazza
Branyan
Cameron
Blum
Barfield
Williams
Organ as instrument, that is. Music instrument.
Note to self--first rule of holes says if in one, best to quit digging. Sometimes even that's hard to do. Arrrrgh...
http://tinyurl.com/g3eqs
Both those teams are challengers for the Premiership title this season, and are perennial heavyweights, to say nothing of bitter rivals as well. Since their season is just underway, It's sort of like an April Red Sox/Yanks game, except maybe if the Red Sox had won more championships in their history.
(Arsenal is Nick Hornby's beloved team in FEVER PITCH.)
Brewers 9, Giants 2
Wright can't field enough said, his bat is what puts him there.
Madness. That is one out-of-control federal prosecutor.
THROW
STRIKES
letting him work through it is the only way he is going to get any better.
ohhh nice hit Furcal!
Nice swing Almaido.
The Tomato comes through.
All 4 of those guys are terrible.
Whats this, Lugo, who never sits?
If you prefer the "everybody hits as a hitter approach," Wright comes out far ahead in offensive production.
51 I know, but defensive position is. I'm not a big fan of VORP for that reason.
Then he went to LSU for 4yrs, and was drafted by the Pirates in the 43rd rd.
The only good thing he did in the minors was not allow home runs.
huh?
his curveball is really good.
Uncle Charlie=Curve Ball
By the way, this is the first time I am getting a chance to watch Billingsley on TV. He's Ben Sheets with a bit of Jeremy Bonderman mixed in.
He's thrown two straight CG's.
His name is Chris Duffy.
i hear ya, but isn't it better when a sinker ballers arm is tired?
"Jack Wilson grounds into a force out, second baseman Jeff Kent to first baseman Olmedo Saenz. Shane Youman out at 2nd. Jack Wilson to 1st."
Did that actually happen? If so, how?
my spelling skills don't allow me to recreate what happened but no GD was wrong.
didnt he pitch tuesday?
that was yesterday, you can catch the re-play on Dodgers.com
Only if you have an inferior operating system, and a buggy, virus-prone browser, both of which (and this is probably not entirely coincidental), made by the same company. My apology if this violates the 7th commandment.
why does Grady play him is a bigger question.
good news thanks 3upn3down
Constantly getting behind puts even more pressure to our pitchers.
Nothing like trying to bunt Wilson, which if it had been successful, would have taken the bat out of Sanchez' hands.
I wont even get into letting Youman hit. The kid doesnt seem to have much left, but Jimbo wants him to pitch 5 innings so he leaves him in.
That was a Jim Tracy inning.
The Dodgers definitely benefitted.
Who's coming in for Chad?
Little I think would have done the same thing. He wouldnt let the NL's leading batter beat him with 1st base open.
Tracy is a dunce.
The AL East and NL West are a little different. Plus Fenway and PETCO have to factor in.
Leave struggling pitcher in to bat, just so he attempt to navigate 5 innings no matter if he's struggling. Said pitcher then does not make it out of inning.
Jim Tracy 101 tonite, being taught by the guy that wrote the textbook.
Please hit the ball in the air.
Sincerely
StolenMonkey86
please trade with me.
sincerely,
fasano's #1 fan.
i see your point
That's not one of the things he's good at.
This guy has no control at all.
:o)
What was it? Wild Thing?
Martin/Saenz...EGADS!
nothing he just ran out & ran back in.
Ugly!!
vr, Xei
I... see.
Gameday is drunk.
Vin gets political!
he really must have disliked what Chavez said.
back to the game.
Reminds me of Tim Hamulack early on in the year. Let inherited runners score by the bushel, but had a 0.00 ERA for a spell.
he hasn't gotten a hit, but he did hit the ball hard his last at bat.
Tnank god for that arm on Furcal! Just threw out Jack wilson, I think.
the Bull
but in all honesty they are using him alot.
Beef could use a few days off.
Doumit has been awful tonite.
One more of those "K" things, please.
i meant he's hanging those curves sorry.
The rule #1 violation was his not mine!
watching those little rinkles by Brox made me heart pump a little faster than i would have liked.
little hobbit?
did you see what Jim Colborn was doing when Kent was at 1st?
yes, & it rocked.
*Tonight's score:
Pirates: 3
Dodgers: 5
Hitting stars: Saenz & Kent.*
vr, Xei
352 It took a good play and a strong, accurate throw to get him. He nearly made it in there. Plus, it was only the first out, and the important run had already scored.
it's 5-2 though. pretty darn close.
why would that be?
You and I were obviously thinking the same thing at the same time.
vr, Xei
sorry, i live in the midwest and can't stand La Russa. He got a lot of notoriety a year or so ago for all his successful squeeze plays.
gotcha
My clue was the lack of Casey Burnishing.
98 Strikeouts on the year for Saito.
Those Pirates better sweep or at least win their series down south.
vr, Xei
good night all
Bob is leaving Dodger Stadium a happy customer.
Saito has been a god send
vr, Xei
that brings a thought, Bob uses a weird scorebook atleast it seems weird to me. my couch & avery body i know uses the troditional scorebook.
But BOOOYAHHH!
It's what I do(just one thing)
It's what I do
It's deep beneath the skin
It's what I major in
It's what I do (Donald Fagan)
But don't disrespect the scorebook!
wow you're little car runs like the wind, but seriously what's the name of you're scorebook Bob just curious.
i meant i like no names on the back oops sorry.
Toby Hall hitting .340+ doesnt count for anything? Why not put him at third? Im sure he would me much more productive than lugo.
And last night. And the night before last. And the night before that....
A couple of things that I noticed, one, you do pick up trends by doing so and two, people ask you all the time what are you doing, are you scout, etc, because keeping score at anything but a baseball game is considered weird.
I would keep score at a football game except years of doing so at prep games has made me sometimes just want to sit and talk during a game to my friends.
Game programs for football used to have scoresheets inside them that you could use to keep track of yardage, but I think they've been dumped. One thing about college football is that teams will throw to a bunch of receivers, so you have to have a lot of spaces.
Are there season ticket holders left in Florida to return their tickets.
we just need to find a position for him because I have my doubts he can play 3rd base.
Also, they seem to think Morris just needs to refine his control. They mentioned that it was a bit of a down year for the league.
With taking the top spots in the GLC and Pioneer league, I think we have a good shot at having 5 top league prospect, with the only league where we have no shot being the SAL.
There's a chance it could affect home field depending upon how the Cardinals and Padres fare against each other next week.
I guess that means Bell is going to be in BAs dodgers top 10.
I am still not sure he will make the Dodgers' top 10, although it seems likely. At No. 1 and 2 in the Pioneer League, I don't think either player will make the top 100 overall. Kershaw could be in the top 25.
I still think our top 10 looks like this:
1. Elbert
2. LaRoche
3. Kershaw
4. Loney
5. Orenduff
6. Meloan
7. Abreu
8. Dewitt
The rest of prospects are then fighting it out for the last two spots, with Morris, Mattingley, Miller, Bell and Hu.
The only ones who figure to make the top 100 are LaRoche, Elbert, Kershaw and Loney, but they all will be the top 50 imo. Dewitt may also make it, but I am lower on him lately than the ones higher my list. He will probably be no. 5 on BA's Dodgers list.
It is shame that some of our prospects have just barely crossed the line of non-prospecthood. Kemp and Kuo would also make great prospects.
Meloan is a possibility to make the SAL league top 5 but I think the only thing that will prevent him is the limited innings he pitched in the sal.
or basically, the limited amount of innings hes pitched total this past year. But still, that 15.75 k/9IP and that 5.5+:1 K:bb ratio is just basically domination.
http://tinyurl.com/pbvkx
As said in the article: "That is America right there."
So well said. You captured the essense of it a perfectly.
The Pirates are going with Gorzelanny, Duke, and Snell over the weekend.
St Bonaventure
tonight in a much anticipated high school football matchup. OC has a 33 game winning streak and SB has a 27 game winning streak. OC is lead by 19 year old QB Jimmy Claussen who will most likely be the starting QB for Notre Dame next year. Wendel Tyler's son is their star RB and is headed to USC. Half of the OC starting team is headed to Div I schools next year. OC has been much maligned for not having played a tough enough schedule, but tonight's matchup will certainly put them to the test. The game has been sold out since the beginning of the year. ESPN, SI and other top sports affiliates will be covering the game. The game will be televised tonight on FSN.
vr, Xei
I think Lou Dobbs could get a show out of this.
"You have to understand, I have a lot of friends over there, people who helped us win that division championship two years ago....
Saenz, Carrara and who else? Gagne if he was dressed. Penny, kind of.
Tracy reminds me of Bruce Dickinson:
"I put my pants on just like the rest of you - one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I win a division championship in 2004!"
I'm going camping this weekend at Cunningham Falls state park MD. I'd like a website where I can print out a map of what the stars will look like at about 9 pm tomorrow night with some consetllations identified so I can point them out to the kids.
I'll be waiting . . .
I actually found that weather underground has some pretty neat stuff too like this.
My record book doesn't have a listing for a team with the latest day taking over first in AL, but it does list fewest days in first for an AL pennant winner and it's 20 by the 1967 Red Sox. The Twins could challenge that. I don't believe the Twins have been in first place at all at the end of any day this season.
Batting average:
Record .272 in 1974 (1511 for 5557)
Right now .274 (1456 for 5313)
Left on base:
1223 in 1982
Presently 1162. That's 61 fewer. The Dodgers would need to leave 6-7 runners per game.
Hits:
1515 in 1970
Presently 1456. That's 59 hits. If the Dodgers don't get 59 hits in the next nine games, they're not making the playoffs.
At bats:
5642 in 1982
Presently 5313. The Dodgers would need to average a little over 36 ABs per game to break this. Since they're on the road for six games, they have a shot.
Total bases:
2362 in 2000.
Presently 2276. They're 86 short. Coors Field will tell the tale.
Slugging:
.431 in 2000
Presently .428
Hmm... It all depends upon Coors.
OBP
.342 in 1974
Presently .346
This will probably hold up.
As for right now, the Dodgers have no batting title qualifiers who are batting over .300. Furcal is at .299 as is Garciaparra. Nomar heeds 16 trips to the plate to qualify.
http://tinyurl.com/jpxya
The Dodgers and Tigers can hold a joint playoff clinching stumble party.
1941 - Lost WS to Yankees (Mickey Owen's PB)
1946 - Lost NL playoff to Cardinals
1947 - Won NL pennant - lost WS to Yanks
1949 - Ditto 1947
1950 - Lost to Phillies Whiz Kids last weekend of season
1951 - We all know! No need to elaborate!
1952-53 - Won NL pennant - lost WS to Yanks
1955 - Finally - Won WS vs. Yanks in 7
1956 - Lost WS to Yankees
1959 - Won NL playoff vs. Braves - Won WS v. White Sox in 6.
1962 - Lost to Hated ones in NL Playoff series.
1963 - Glorious - Won in sweep in WS over Yankees
1965 - Won by 1 game over Giants coming from 5 back with 15 to play -Won WS over Twins in 7.
1966 - Won NL pennant on last weekend. Swept by Orioles in WS
1971 - Lost Division to Hated ones by 1 game
1973 - Young team collapsed in Sept. finished 2nd to Reds.
1974 - Won Division by 4 games over Reds, beat Pirates in NLCS - Lost WS to A's.
1977 - Won west handily by 10, beat Phillies in NLCS - Lost to Yankees in 6 in WS
1978 - Won West, Beat Phills, lose to Yankees.
1980 - Lost to Astros in 1 game playoff after sweeping last three games in season to tie.
1981 - Strike year-Won Division series 3-2 after down 0-2 to Astros, beat Expos in NLCS 3-2 after down 1-2 and won WS vs. Yankees in 6 after down 0-2.
http://tinyurl.com/h52yu
From August 14 to the end of the year, the Cardinals went 36-6! The Dodgers were 28-17.
Hopefully they can hold it in the World Series:)
Meanwhile, back to our minor leaguers - what's the scoop on Nic Akins? Is he playing in the system? He was one of the more highly rated HS players before the year, came out of LA.
Phil from LosAngeles asks:
Is Carlos Santana a prospect? He was actually in High A for a while before going back to the rookie league. High A seemed a stretch given his experience and age and once back in the rookie league he seemed to perform quite well. His patience seems unusual for a young Dominican who has power.
A:
Bryan Smith: Yes, Santana is either #21 or 22 on this list. The Dodgers really tested him by sending him to Vero Beach, and he performed very well. It should be noted that Bell blocked his ability to play third, but he's very good there, and has a cannon for an arm. I heard rumors that he will try catching in the Instructional League, and if he has any success there, his value skyrockets. Gotta love his plate coverage at the plate. Consider me a big fan.
FYI- he posted the 5th highest OPS in the Pioneer league. He only had 100 something at bats but his OPS was higher then the #2 prospect Joshua Bell and he's shown excellent patience so far in his career posting a 423 OB% while barely hitting over 300.
For those who don't know this kid was a potential first round pick out of high school (lives in inner-city L.A.), but at the end of his junior season, his dad got in a fight with the opposing coach and Akins was suspended for the season, and could only play in rec leagues, so it was incredibly difficult to scout him. Hopefully during his year in juco, he can show his talent the Dodgers sign him for something good.
The deal would probably have to include Chone Figgins and some of their pitching.
494 - I heard Mason and Ireland discussing this very issue yesterday on their radio show. It would cost the Angels 16 mil as the Rangers pick up 9 mil. It might cost them Shields, Figgins and either 1 starter or a AAA pitcher to get it done.
I almost would rather sign Soriano as a FA and keep the 5 starters they have.
Something tells me that the Yankees wouldn't want one of those three anyway...
Figgins wouldn't be as big a loss but they would have to find someone to play CF (Edmonds come home?) And even though they won't know the status of Colon, I do think that they have enough depth to make that deal.
1982-2004;
1982 - You all know - Morgan v. Forster last day of season at the Stick!
1983 - Young Kids, Brock, Marshall and Sax win the West, lose to the "Sarge" led Phillies in NLCS.
1985- Won West, lose to Cardinals in NLCS,
"Tommy, you should have walked Jack Clark"
1988 - Bulldog and Gibby with tremendous help from the "Stuntmen" win the west, upset the Mighty Mets in 7 in NLCS and stun the mighty A's in the WS in 5. Last glory year for the Dodgers at this writing.
1991 - Lose to Braves in West on last weekend while playing Will the Thrill and the Hated ones at the "Stick".
1995 - Win division - swept by Reds in NLDS.
1996 - Back into WC after losing all 3 against Padres on last weekend in LA. Padres take division. Swept by Braves in NLDS.
2004 - Win West on next to last day in LA against the Hated ones on 9th inning rally culminated with Finley's walk-off Grand Slam! Lose to Cards in 4 in NLDS.
If I ran the Angels, I would jump all over such a deal. Guerrero, Rodriguez, Kendrick, and Weaver are probably the only guys I'd hesitate to include in a trade for A-Rod. Maybe one or two of the top prospects as well. Figgins? In a New York minute.
Furcal
Martin
JD Drew
Arod
Kent
Kemp
Loney
LaRoche
WOuld be an excellent combo of youth/veteran, power/speed. With Saenz, Anderson, Repko, Martinez, D Young we'd have a solid bench to boot. If McCourt ever wants to get 4 Million seats in Dodgers stadium this is the way to go.
I dunno. A-Rod is the best player of his generation, and he's only a smidge past his peak. I wouldn't do what Texas did and impoverish the franchise for him (cuz even one superstar can't hit 9 times in the lineup), but I'd give up a lot. The Angels have one of the top 2-3 farm systems in baseball, right? They could afford to cut loose a couple prospects. Heck, A-Rod is even better than Mark Hendrickson AND Toby Hall.
I will be the new Chairman of the Board of Hewlett-Packard.
I hear it pays well.
how about the 7th best left hander in the AL in 2006?
she wants us to refer to her as the philosopher queen.
I already have your cellphone bills in hand. So why have you been calling Jerry Cranick all the time?
its not bad so far. the book we have is basically a cliff notes book. it has excerpts from plato, hobbes, locke, marx, machaveili, etc. so far the class is okay. we are reviewing for the exam right now but DT is of more interest to me right now.
What does Figgins do that makes Scioscia love him so?
What has Lugo done that makes Grittle love him so.
maybe it's the inconsistancy of Betemit. But at least Wilson has power, he should be in more.
"You're young and somewhat inconsistent, so we're going to let you play once a week and see if that helps."
Again, he's only here because of the fraility of Nomar and Kent (and even Grady said that if we weren't in September, he probably would sit them out.) I don't think Lugo is hurting his value because there are only a few teams looking for a shortstop (Boston and Toronto) and they are very familiar with him from the American League.
Now will Lugo accept arbitration if offered, the ideal situation will be for him to go free agent after the World Series (he will) and he signs with a team even before the deadline to offer arbitration. Then we will get the draft choices without ever being put at risk of him accepting arbitration.
OK, I'm going to stop there. Different players, different manager, different GM. Sorry all.
540 - Marty, you've gotta go with some sort of glorious milkshake or ice cream float with that!
Ouch. I just gave myself a headache.
Furcal, SS
Lofton, CF
Garciaparra, 1B
Kent, 2B
Drew, RF
Betemit, 3B
Ethier, LF
Martin, C
Lowe, P
551 Anderson-meh. They prolly got all what they could out of him. Kind of like Sele.
I really want to see Ethier bust out of his slump tonight.
There's a change up. Good idea to finally get Lugo out of there. I know he will go on to hit .310 for the Blue Jays next year, but who cares, he can't hit the national league right now.
I really like this line-up - I hope Ethier busts out too, though I'm generally fine with an Anderson-Ethier platoon from here on out. Good line-up on paper, anyway; as we know, games aren't won on paper.
I liked it!
Phillies scored in the 1st to lead 1-0 against the Fish. Wes Helms just led off the second with a double. Old friend Cody Ross at the plate.
Me, I like the simple things, like seeing this on the ESPN.com scroll just now: "Colts DE Dwight Freeney (buttocks) and K Adam Vinatieri (groin) out for Sunday vs Jacksonville"
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