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
Brad Penny has faltered in the second half, no doubt. But is it me, or is no one asking why an ERA that was below 3.00 for the first half of the season would soar to nearly 7.00 in the second half?
Why has be become so hittable? Is it arm trouble? Is it a failure to challenge hitters? Are his good pitches easily fouled off until his bad pitches come?
What's Penny working on? What's the pitching coach working on?
After another poor Penny start, we learn little more than, "Well, that was another poor Penny start" - punctuated by Bill Plaschke of the Times going off on Penny's character deficiencies. Is that all we get? Penny was due to slide a little from his outstanding first half, but now he's in Odalis Perez territory. It's excessive. What's the story?
* * *
If the Padres and Phillies are going to win every game they play, there's not much you can do about it. Beyond that, I'll wait before pronoucing the Dodger season over. After Monday night, after 17 out of 18, I owe them that much.
* * *
Its interesting of note that only JD Drew, Derek Lowe, and Russ Martin have been consistently good all season.
Nomar- Great 1st half/Bad 2nd half
Furcal- Bad April/May-- Good 2nd half
Kent- Bad April/May/- Good 2nd half
Penny- Great 1st half/ Bad 2nd half
Ethier- Great 1st half- Bad 2nd half
Drew, Russ Martin, and Derek Lowe seem to be the only three the team can count on for the entire season.
As for the state of the team, I know that fans are fans but c'mon. We are not 4 runs down in the 9th right now. We don't need miracles yet. We're more like 1 run down in the 7th. And many are declaring the game over. Let's see where we are 3 days from now.
His out-pitch was that splitter. Now its just straight fastballs and a curve.
The entire league is looking exhausted, and it comes as no surprise to me that our pitching staff is having problems.
4 JoeyP makes a good point, but should anyone be surprised? I feel comfortable saying that the rookies saved the season, and with the exception of the truly exceptional Martin, they are all beat.
Is it inconceivable that an intangible quality such as competiveness would lead Penny to try and carry the team through the stretch, perhaps minutely altering a mechanic subconciously, and losing effectiveness?
Throughout the last two series I am as disappointed as everyone, but really, if they miss the playoffs, this has still been an improvement over last year, and we learned just how good our youngsters can be.
I am consoled by the thought of an opening day lineup that features Martin, Loney/Nomar, Kent/LaRoche, Furcal, Betemit, Kemp, Drew, and Either with an incomplete rotation of Lowe, Penny, Billingsley, and Kuo.
It's a good team with a bright future. Missing the playoffs this year means avoiding more injuries and avoiding the knee-jerk ownership reaction of selling out the farm for the "one veteran to push us over the edge!"
The Dodgers are still right there. 1/2 game behind the Phillies, 1 1/2 behind the Padres with the Padres having a clearly more difficult schedule in the next week.
This is like a close election: A week is a lifetime.
Keep hope alive!
And that!
This afternoon!!!
It would be instructive to measure revenue for local TV in election years v. non-election years.
This line of reasoning has turned into a red herring. If strength of schedule was going to matter that much, the Dodgers would've rattled off four straight wins against the Pirates and D-backs. As it was, we lost three of the four.
The issue now is whether the Dodgers will simply start playing better, or continue along in this funk. That's all there is to it, and even that might not end up mattering much since the Phils and Pads control their own destiny, and the Dodgers do not.
Re: Penny. Check his August and September and playoffs in the Marlin championship run. Up and down, as I recall, with an impressive last round against the Yanks hiding some of that in memory...
Won't you take me to
Funkytown
Won't you take me to
Funkytown
Won't you take me to
Funkytown
Won't you take me to
Funkytown
Gotta make a move to a
Town that's right for me
Town to keep me movin'
Keep me groovin' with some energy
It's tough, but it works. I highly recommend it.
He has given up the funk.
They look like alike!
Jose Garcia is in. Believe it or not, he is the first pitcher in the majors ever who has gone by that name.
Is it time for Football Thoughts yet?
But even if the Pads/Phils cool off a bit, the Dodgers have to string together a few wins in a row. Is it possible? Sure. It is looking less likely, though. Strangely, I've made my peace with the Dodgers and their collapse.... I'm not as broken up as I thought I would be. If they don't pull it out, I can move on. If they do, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
If ever there was a Must Win game, though, today is it. (Actually, pretty much the rest of the games are).
The Twins are up 4-0 over Baltimore.
If you want a 3B you REALLY should consider trading with either the White Sox for Crede or the Royals for Teahan.
sniff...
sniff...
More important question: when does
www.firerickhoneycutt.blogspot.com
make its debut on the Internets...?
Commence Operation Tread Water!
I saw not one second of the game since I was at work and then went right to the Dodgers game.
Sounds like that was all for the best.
I can't say I was overly surprised. There was some irrational exuberance after the Utah game.
Now, if UCLA loses to Stanford then I will have to walk home from the game!
Fortunately, I don't live very far from the Rose Bowl.
Scratch that, the Bruins did it first.
He's a Warrick Dunn clone.
Already over 100 yards against the Colts today.
Lofton, CF
Nomar, 1B
Kent, 2B
Drew, RF
Betemit, 3B
Anderson, LF
Martin, C
Kuo, P
Not sure why Little doesnt flip Nomar and Drew...I dont think Russ is getting another day off until the team is eliminated.
I'm guessing that they will await around a long time to finish this game.
Lets Kuo Dodgers!
Pretty sure I spelled his position wrong.
This from a story after his last good outing:
"Penny had command of a fastball that touched 96 mph, but he said the key was his curveball, which he threw for strikes in any count. In 12 starts since the All-Star break, this was only the second time he made it as far as seven innings and the first time he held the opposition scoreless since June 9.
"Even when I get beat, I usually have command of my fastball," Penny said. "My problem usually is the curve, and for whatever reason I had it tonight and the defense was great, and we scored early."
Which also leads again to the question of why he doesn't use his splitter, which has been effective in its rare sightings.
Striking out the big sluggers in the All-Star game may have led him to fall more in love with his fastball. Seems hitters just take or foul off pitches until he messes up and offers a hittable fastball or mediocre curve, meanwhile running up his pitch counts.
Penny appears to be a thrower. He needs to become a pitcher. (Hint: go talk with Maddux--AND LISTEN!)
Hello, pitching coach? Manager? Someone? Anyone?
Nice idea, but I think you mean archbishop. You can't make Ryan Doumit an archdiocese any more than you can make me a county.
Open the checkbook, close the mouth.
This fantasy brought to you by Sitrick And Company.
Kuo with a clutch strike out..
I'm just surprised the Pads or Phillies haven't hit a bad patch-I certainly didn't expect them to become unbeatable. In which case, there's nothing we can do.
However, it's really 10-6.
But: if it does turn out that it's not to be this season, I'm not calling for anyone's head. This has been a fun season.
Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia!
Many TV talking heads and sportswriters seem to think part of their role is to tell us "what it all means," as though we might not have any idea whatsoever ourselves.
I think it can lead to a mindset that overreacts and ranges between euphoria and despair.
Taking a hopeful wait-and-see approach and taking the media with several grains of salt might be just a bit better...
My professional reading is so exciting.
I would have known about this war earlier, but I had trouble finding out where to locate the information.
It's pointless. It's the third inning.
Is it good that Livan's control is bad, and he has a lot of pitches? I don't think a pitch causes him much effort, and does this mean he can throw 150 if he wants?
Yep, the game is now officially boring.
And this inning (4th) we started hitting, but there were already two out!
Go D's
At least Kuo looks like possibly good starter material, and I think there may be a few more hiding in our system. How minor league pitching is deciphered is a whole other topic.
Kuo: 10 air outs, five strikeouts, zero groundouts (one infield error).
Then they hold the poor guy because he is a pitcher and it is bobbled. And no run.
Thats Baseball!
Ahhh, Drew, I often see him walk with runs to drive in--but he can't walk now; at least not ineffectually!
But that statement does not address the counterpoint.
Why would Arizona "deserve" to win?
Aren't most baseball games decided by positive actions by one team and not negative ones by the other?
By the way, despite having fairly good years statistically, I can't ignore the times I seem to see Kent and Drew both come up with men on base and no result. It seems more than 3 times in the last three games.
The Dodgers need to leave about 7-8 runners per game.
It's not surprising that they have a lot of LOB. They are getting a lot of hits, but not a lot of home runs, so there tend to be runners left on.
Does Kuo allowing no earned runs through five innings fit into the who-deserves-to-lose equation?
Whoever scores more runs will win this game, though. I'd bet anybody that.
Awesome. Baseball and John Madden. :)
I'm brilliant!
Okay... off to run errands. Hope something good happens while I'm gone.
The K's are up. The BB's are way down.
Excellent job by Mr. Kuo.
But the Dodgers did score a run in the 6th.
Sorry, meant 5th. My righteous indignation got the better of me.
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity"
honestly, when he threw that, i thought his elbow had given out again.
Let's get some runs to support Kuo's great pitching.
Good time for his 1st HR.
A tale as old as time itself.
Wear it, wimp.
he's max velocity right now is probably 95. but will usually work in the low 90s.
It is a conspiracy.
1. Drew in between Kent and Nomar gives you a R-L-R lineup.
2. Kent is hurting
3. Drew is swinging it well.
Conspiracy!
I never thought I would miss Ramon E. Martinez, but I'll take Ramon every day and twice on Sunday.
Lugo does nothing for me.
This is isn't the 1910s. Teams aren't laying down for anyone.
I predict you will be instantly popular.
But can we use up Saito here?
happy?
Ahh, the never ending battle of wits between Melvin and Little...
You mean Kenny Lofton?
Rafael Soriano would be a bad third baseman.
We'll be okay.
University of South Alabama.
Remember the intense battle for the util spot, with Ramon E. Martinez outwitting, outlasting, and outplaying old Oscar.
The Marburg virus is the causative agent of Marburg hemorrhagic fever. Both the disease and virus are related to Ebola and originate in the same part of Africa (Uganda and Eastern Congo). The zoonosis is of unknown origin, but some scientists believe it may be hosted by bats.
Barring a PO or CS, they'll have at least 10 LOB in this game.
At least some pressure on the pitcher.
Amazing to win it 5-1, even though Vin said 4-1.
Arizona is now in last place.
It's nice to see Kuo pitch so well. He should get another start before the end of the season. Unfortunately, the Dodgers weren't able to gain any ground on Philadelphia or San Diego. I am really hung over today; nothing was going my way until Nomar deposited that pitch into the seats.
Kent 0for 4
Drew 0for 3.
I expect either the Pads or the Phillies are due for a horrendous stretch, unless the gods are playing a huge cosmic joke on the D's this year.
Just blow somebody out already.
The alternate explanation is that my eyes aren't very good. Evidence for this theory would be that I've got, right now, new glasses on order.
and, whats the point of having a larry fitzgerald when you have QB that cant get him the ball?
I think im just venting since they both are on my fantasy team but both teams are so frustrating.
I'm not sure how you could be that disappointed with Fitzgerald, 65 yards and a TD ain't too shabby.
What I'm stoked about is all the meaningless 2nd half action in the Seahawks/Giants game since I have Eli and my opponent has the Seattle defense. I went from a 10-point deficit to a 25 point lead in no time.
Looks like the drugs and concubines have finally taken their toll.
Nomar, you did a nifty little job for a year. Thanks, beautiful. Good luck elsewhere.
Does anyone know if the "convenience charge' for the postseason tix are returned if the Dodgers don't make it? I think not. They'll be making almost $100.00 off me for those.
You're kidding right? You think Ticketmaster is going to refund the service charges on anything?
I think im just mad because im going to lose this week.
New post coming up top.
Just a nihilistic joke with a splash of sarcasm. Maybe Hugo Chavez will offer fee-free Dodger playoff tickets along with the cheap heating oil.
So now that we've kept ourselves closely in the hunt with the dramatic victory, the questions should still be swirling around what to do about our left side. Anderson has done more than anyone could have hoped for but I think it's time he moved back into his designated role - the left handed pinch hitter. So who plays left field? Are we that down on Ethier that Grady keeps him out for the entire last week? He helped get us to this point and although he has looked rather awful recently, I can't think of a better candidate sitting on the bench. The bigger question is what to do at the black hole that has become 3rd base. Lugo can't hit; Betemit can't hit and can't field. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I wouldn't mind if Grady experimented a bit at third this last week even though it is the LAST week. At least it can't get any worse, can it? How about getting Olmedo some at bats and playing him at third early in the game and then sub for the defensive replacement later in games if we have an actual lead. Hell, I know this is close to sacrilege but I wouldn't mind giving Robles a shot in a game or two just to roll the dice and see if he can get hot. Am I forgetting somebody? Both Lugo and Betemit have looked lost for quite a while now and I don't have much confidence that either of them can get back on track in the stretch week of the season.
Either stealing my thunder or great minds think alike.
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