I like both Dodgers and Phillies, ack... and in truth, both are far more deserving than the Cardinals ... (yuck)

Still though, we need one more clutch win from Kuo today, who has clearly been our best pitcher since he joined the rotation. versus the San Fransisco Ancients...err I mean Giants.

Food for thoughts, is this series the last of Barry Bonds... as a Giant?

"It's a myth that Fernando was even available to start. Putting aside the fact that he had never started a game in the majors to that point, he had pitched two innings the day before (Sunday) and two innings two days before that (Friday)."

Wouldn't it have been as simple as Lasorda saying, "Hey, this guy is my best option to start a playoff game tomorrow, so maybe I shouldn't pitch him in relief tonight" ? Fernando entered the game with the Dodgers already losing 3-1, so Lasorda already knew there was probably going to be a playoff game.

I don't see how one can argue Fernando wasn't an option, unless you doubt the manager's ability to think more than 12 hours ahead.

"Fernando entered the game with the Dodgers already losing 3-1, so Lasorda already knew there was probably going to be a playoff game."

Please ignore that sentence. It makes absolutely no sense, and also gets the score wrong (it was 3-0 Astros).

I have no excuse other than it's 3:30 in the morning. Time to hit the sack.

I love this post so much, I repeat here from the last thread.

Well the first game that matters doesn't start until 4:00 Friday afternoon so we all should get more work done as compared to yesterday.

Here are the current standings that matter to us in Dodgerland.

NL West
San Diego 86-73(3)
Los Angeles 85-74

NL Wild Card
Los Angeles 85-74 (2)
Philadelphia 83-76

With San Diego's win tonight coupled with Phillies loss, the Padres are guaranteed no worse than a Monday trip to Philly. Another win over the weekend and they clinch a playoff spot. Also, the Padres win guaranteed that the NL West winner will have the second seed for the playoffs.

Here is where it gets fun, if the Phillies lose again tomorrow and the Dodgers and Padres both win, not only will they both be in the playoffs, the Padres magic number goes to 1 even though they would only have a one game lead with two games to play because then a tie gives them the division due to the tiebreaker.

In other races
NL Central
St. Louis 81-77 (4)
Houston 81-78
Cincinnati 79-80

One could describe this race as having both the most scariest team heading toward the finish and the team that could erase the 1964 Phillies for the worst collapse in the regular season.

Now Houston has won nine straight, chances are they are bound to lose a game but will it be tomorrow with Roger Clemens on the mound, St. Louis is facing Chris Capuano on Friday and Ben Sheets on Saturday, in turn Jeff Weaver and Jeff Suppan take the mound for the Red Birds. If Houston wins just one of the next two games, a battered Carpenter will have to pitch Sunday hopefully to avoid having to play on Monday against the Giants (who do not want to fly to St. Louis after the Dodger series) and then depending on how that turns out, flying to Houston to face Roy Oswalt, with the winner of that game moving on.

Finally there is the AL Central where both the Tigers and Twins are tied with three games to go, Detroit holds the tie breaker but the earliest a winner can be determined is on Saturday.

Still lots of things are up in the air, only the New York Yankees and Mets know for sure that they are opening their respective series at home, the Yankees and Oakland know what day their series will start, they just don't know officially who they will play.

The Mets could play any one of 5 teams right now.

After Loney's second hr, he came back to the dugout surpressing any outward sign of elation, sat in the first seat available by the stairs, behaving as if he had done that before. Just as you're taught, right? His teammates had to make him stand up and walk to the far end of the dugout to receive proper congratulations. Priceless.

The Yankees must be pulling for the Twins to pass the Tigers. They don't want to face the Twins in the first round. Just as I don't think the Dodgers want to hassle with Houston just yet, not til they cool down at least.

Up late for no particular reason, it just occured to me before opening this post that the Dodgers could clinch tonight! Let's hope so. I don't want to give the Giants any evil momentum.

Morning all. I did not make it to the game sadly. I hung out at the Tune Inn with a friend for a while, watched Cabrera, and by the time I realized they might start at RFK, I was just too worn out to think about heading to the park. Alas. (Also, I find myself up rather early in the morn these days with a certain 18 month old hellion, so no fun for me.)

I did manage to sleep in the Ghame Over shirt -- so I guess it did the trick.

The stopped serving beer at 10 pm last night, more than an hour before the game started. Apparently, the crowd sang Happy Birthday to Ryan Zimmerman. Brian Schneider is reported to have said to one group of Phillies fans, "don't you have jobs?"

I'm just so pleased the Nationals came through for the Dodgers. Now, if only they can learn to beat San Diego in future seasons . . .

Tom Boswell has written a nice column on Frank Robinson. It's quite a hagiograph, so will irk folks a bit, but it's pretty good writing. http://tinyurl.com/mn7yq

I watched part of the Cardinals/Brewers game last night, though I spent most of my time calling down curses on McAfee and its useless online tech support.

There's no way to measure this, to be sure, but the Cards are absolutely lifeless right now, as if they expect to lose each game. Last night, pitcher Brad Hancock was late covering first and the runner was safe. Hancock turned and seemed unfazed as he watched another Brewer runner score from third on the play. Zero emotion from that team.

Barring a late run into the playoffs, La Russa's days in St. Louis may be coming to a close.

Last note from the Post. My fav writer there, Dave Shenin, has a big E1 spread on how each team in the playoff hunt is flawed. Includes some really great turns of phrase, like this one: "'If you're not 18 or 20 games over .500,' Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa told reporters on Wednesday night, 'you're going to have yourself a club that has some issues.' . . . . If by 'issues' La Russa means 'hideous, damning flaws,' he could be speaking not only for the Cardinals, but for many of the World Series title-seekers stumbling to the regular season finish line this weekend."

What is most interesting, however, is that in his rundown of each team's flaws, he does not identify for the Dodgers.

Because, of course, they have no flaws.

http://tinyurl.com/gvpsb

Actually, it's Dave Sheinin.

My gosh, that article about Lamar Odom is just numbing.

While Billz did get tagged for some serious runs yesterday, I think that he will be alright out of the pen in the postseason (should we make it). The runs seemed to be misfortune as Betemit could have maybe fielded one ball and Kent almost got to another one. Most of the hits weren't smoked into the gap in other words. He was wild again, so maybe our esteemed Mr Honeycut should sit him down and tell him to trust his stuff, but I still trust him over Penny right now. Penny and Billz out of the bullpen has a nice ring to it, as you can never have too many live arms in the pen (plus they take spots that would otherwise be occupied by Dessens, Carrera, Henderson or Tiny Tim H.)

I really don't hope the Dodgers play a playoff game for the NL West title. To do so would mean if we lost we'd have to then play the Phillies for the WC. I would much rather just clinch the WC and face the Pedroless Mets. I could very easily see a Dodger/Padre NL Championship series. vr, Xei

Hey Sam, shout out to the burgers and pitchers at the Tune Inn. I used to live a couple blocks from there.

I can't wait for tonight's game, although here in Slovakia game time is 4:15 am. Oh, well, Maybe I'll catch the last couple of innings.

I spent most of my time calling down curses on McAfee and its useless online tech support

There are alternatives to using Windows. By a Mac and you can still run Office if you have to. Or buy a Linux machine and use open source software, where the online tech support far exceeds what you could ever pay for.

If you really have to run Windows, use a virtual machine inside Mac or Linux (VmWare or whatever Mac equivalent). This lets you run Windows inside a safe environment without a network connection. It's the only way I would ever consider touching Windows.

Aside from the Mac for my family, I haven't purchased software for over 10 years and the quality has far exceeded what I used to deal with.

15 - You are a Slokian Dodger fan? Or just studying abroad, or what? I wish I was in Prague right now (I know, not in Slokia, I just wish I was in Prague).

16 - How complicated is it to make the switch? My computer already has windows on it, how would I go about changing to Linux without losing everything on it? I am sure this is a savvyless question but I really have no clue.

17 - Wow I misspelled it twice. I can't even say it was a typo, I just wasn't paying attention.

18 - Naah, here for work. Prague is about 3.5 hours by car. Vienna, less than an hour. It's really been awesome over here. My time here is coming to an end next week but now I'm lucky enough to be moving to Amsterdam for a short stay.

If you like Prague because of the beautiful girls and old town, let me tell you this. Prague has Bratislava beat for the quantity of beautiful buildings and a wealthier, more sophisticated city. But Slovak girls take the prize.

18 You can go to:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

download a CD, and try it without changing your current computer at all. Linux will run off the CD. This is a good way to "test drive" it to see if it will work for you.

Once you decide to make the switch, simply backup your important data, install Linux (which will wipe the hard drive), and then restore your data. You already have a backup plan in place, anyway, right, so this isn't that big of a deal. :-) Just buy a cheap external USB hard drive.

If you really want both systems, you can have someone install an extra hard drive in your computer and then you can boot into either Linux or Windows.

Go Dodgers.

Go Marlins.

and Go D-Backs.

That Tiger Woods is a pretty good golfer.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning (usually don't get up until close to 8:00) like I was a kid at Christmas. This has been such a fun week and it has the spector of a big payoff at the end. I know we don't have it locked yet and this team is a roller coaster, but this has been so fun no matter what happens, I think we have a lot to be thankful for. And if there's more to come, well how great is that?

Anybody know the number of the Phillies hotel in Florida? We should give those folks a call. I'm sure they're up.

18- alternatively, you could try a less stinky av. i ewear by nod32 and i understand it's what ms uses at their offices. lot's of good free options too. not to get into a church of mac v windows arg here, but both have pros and cons

The great thing is that the playoffs in the NL are wide open this year. No Yankees or Twins, or even Tigers or A's to contend with. The Mets have starting pitching that is about as weak as the Dodgers, maybe more so. The Cards are reeling. The Padres aren't that much better than the Dodgers. The Astros are hot, but they aren't a great team or they wouldn't be racing to the finish with the Cards.

Anyone can make the World Series this year.

My new SI column is linked in the update to this post above.

26,16,18,9 - I agree with ninjashippo. A Windows machine has definite advantages over a Mac and vice-versa. A good anti-virus (like anti-vir) will keep your computer virus free.

27
Do you want put money on this? I've got 19 teams I'm willing to let you pick from.

29 - another one to un-recommend on my part would be anything norton. imo, it's a bloated piece of software that wastes system resources.

30 All right, Bob, insert "who makes the playoffs" in that last sentence. Wise guy.

32
But I was ready for a Tampa Bay vs. Florida intrastate rumble!

Great article Jon -- really captures the dizzying possibilities and the craziness of the season.

I definitely worship at the Church of Steve Jobs, so feel free to take my comments with a grain of salt: but I can't imagine ever going back to Windows. Admittedly my main computer uses are the areas that Macs excel in: audio/video work. But really, with the new Macs having Intel chips and being able to run Windows (either windowed or fullscreen), Linux, and OSX, all seamlessly and perfectly, is really slick. My wife's MacBook runs XP better than her Windows computer at work.

Interesting (from washingtonpost.com):

Section 312, Row 4: A friend just e-mailed me that he heard on talk radio that Bowden was gone too? An unsbustantiated rumor?

Barry Svrluga: There are, indeed, rumors about General Manager Jim Bowden. Stan Kasten, the team's president, has said that Bowden has a contract, and that he expects him to be the GM in the future. He will not, however, give the length of the contract, leaving open speculation that Bowden's job is not secure.

Again, this is speculation. For now, all parties insist that Bowden is the GM, now and in the future.

OK, one more, just to share an outsider's view:

Huntington Beach, Calif.: My post season hunch for the World Series is the Dodgers and the Twins. The Twins have the best pitching and are hot. The Dodgers play in a weak league, and the best team in that league, the Mets, will be without Pedro Martinez. This will be a repeat of the '65 series, but the Twins will win. I'll bet you a lunch I'm right.

Barry Svrluga: No lunch necessary, because I think you're right, too. The Dodgers seem to have a little magic going. (Nationals fans: Have you seen what Marlon Anderson's been doing out there since the trade?) And I really, really like the Twins, even without Francisco Liriano. Get 55,000 people in that dome -- as bad a baseball facility as it is -- and it'll be some kinda loud.

There isn't an OS that is right for everyone, but at this point Windows probably is not the best choice for a majority of consumers. I service a network a XP machines all day and if you can avoid XP at home I would recommend that. It is poorly conceived and executed. The biggest problem though is that it is very old and outdated at this point.

If you are buying a new computer at this point get a Mac. OS X is light years ahead of XP in security and usability. Plus, for the majority of home users you won't be missing any XP software (the most notable exception is games).

If you want to escape XP and keep your system switch to Linux. Ubuntu (a prominent Linux distribution) is incredibly easy to install and pretty intuitive.

To give you an idea of what I have running, I personally run a variety of XP and Linux boxes at work. At home, I mostly use a Macbook Pro (that tri-boots with OS X, Ubuntu, and XP), but I have a MCE PC and a couple other things running too.

One of my Giants fan coworkers was just asking what they have to do to knock the Dodgers out of the playoffs this weekend. I sent him Jon's article, and also threw a wet tea bag at him, the vindictive dork. ;-)

The big thing the Giants are going to need this weekend is for Noah Lowry to pitch decently tonight. He hasn't done that in a while. Then they have to hope that Matt Cain hasn't worn down. And that Jason Schmidt is healthy enough to go on Sunday.

And that Barry Bonds cares to play some.

I'm hoping Sunday's game doesn't matter because Schmidt still scares me the most of those three. Anyway, as I said before, if the Dodgers win you can thank me because I'm not going to bring my jinxing butt to any of the games.

Where the Dodgers were playing when they clinched a playoff spot:

1959 - home, LA Coliseum, playoff win against Milwaukee
1963 - home, clinched when Cardinals lost
1965 - home, clinced with win over Braves
1966 - Philadelphia, win over Phillies in second game of DH. Loss would have forced to Giants to play makeup game against Mets
1974 - Houston, clinched when Reds lost in Atlanta
1977 - San Francisco, clinched with win over Giants (on 9/20)
1978 - home, with win over Padres
1981 - during negotiations to create split season
1983 - home, with win over Giants
1985 - home, with over Braves
1988 - San Diego, win over Padres
1995 - San Diego, win over Padres
1996 - home, when Expos lost to Braves
2004 - home, with win over San Francisco

Barry Bonds apparently doesnt care to play monday's potential makeup game with the Cards.

Sorry if this has been asked. If the Dodgers clinch the wildcard tonight, do we still go all out to try for the division title or just give the veterans a rest?

44
Oh to be fortunate enough to have such a problem.

44 I want the division title since it's the division title and therefore a successul season.

However, I think Nomar and Lowe will get to rest. Certainly Lowe, because he's needed for game 1 of the playoffs.

If the Blue clinch tonght, then Hendrickson/Hall would prolly go Saturday. (Martin's gotta be ready to collapse). Then, idk. Little prolly wants Maddux for game 2 even though many here (including myself) would prefer Kuo. But if the division is still atainable Sunday, in that scenerio, Maddux might go. Or perhaps somebody like Sele.

I actually wouldn't mind a preplanned Sele for innings 1-3, Bills for 4-5, Stults 6-7, Hamulak 8, Gio 9 or something as a last audition for the playoff roster.

24 is dead on.

This has been a remarkable season, and September an incredible month. That we're all on pins and needles -- and may still be even after Sunday -- is a sign of a great year.

A no-hitter interrupted by rain. A bi-polar losing-then-winning streak. The Four Homers. Loney. Marlon Anderson. The emergence of Kemp, Ethier, Martin, Saito, Billingsley, Broxton, Kuo, and others. Plus all the stuff I'm forgetting.

Simply amazing.

I'd think the Dodgers won't be satisfied with just clinching it tonight if that happened, because separate from the fleeting chance of winning the division, they'd want to avoid having to do that one-game playoff possibility. Winning at least two this weekend would be the minimum they're playing for. If they won the first two, then Sunday could be the "playoff audition" pitching by committee game though.

47 - I would love to see Martin get some time off. I was thinking yesterday that his knees must be killing him and that hopefully we won't talk about 2006 the way Cubs fans talk about 2003. Killing your stud young catcher's knees in a last ditch effort to make the postseason would not be a great way to manage the team. That said, play til we clinch and then let him rest!

50 Agree that Martin should get some time off. I missed the last part of the game chat yesterday, but I hope there was an appropriate amount of indignation that Hall or Diaz wasn't put into the game with an 8-run lead in the last 2 innings. There's no defensible reason for leaving Martin in that game.

Still, he does have some advantages... he's a better athlete than most catchers, and despite being Lo Duca's size, he appears to not have the LoDucan tendency to disappear in the second half. Also he became a catcher late in life, which is absolutely vital. Historically, catchers have only X number of games in their knees before the huge decline starts. Thankfully for us, almost all of Martin's games caught will be in a Dodger uniform, as opposed to high school, college, or the low minors.

So, I do think Grady has been a little unwise in his use of Martin this year but I don't think it will hurt Russ in the long term unless Grady uses him this way in future years too.

Pretty funny article by Eric Neel over at ESPN.com.

http://tinyurl.com/fujvg

For some reason I seem to have heard todays game mentioned at 4 pm several places. Has the Giants game been rescheduled earlier, or am I catching reference to the Phils game. I guess that makes more sense.

51 Yes, this is a mysterious position by Little to keep playing Martin. I thought for sure when Hendrickson got into the game yesterday, he would bring his catcher with him. Since they removed Hendrickson from the rotation, it's like Toby Hall has disappeared. He might not be great, and I know people blame him for the trade that brought him here...but jeez, the guy was a starting catcher for something like five years. A start of week for Hall no matter who's pitching would be good for the team.

50,51 I hope we have some likely younsters at catcher( I think we do) or else why on earth would we give away Navarro!

53 Gen3, it's still at 7:15 here in chilly SF.

And I agree, I thought Hall should have played a bit more this week though I know we're in a pennant race and all. Yesterday especially, he should have come in in the 5th/6th.

Mac? Pfsht, I need to right-click on stuff!

Speaking of anti-virus software, my Norton "subscription" ran out a while ago and I haven't gotten around to getting a new one. What's the most reliable (and free) anti-virus out there? I'd do the research myself, but I'm too damn lazy.

OK you Retrosheet data-crunchers, has there ever been a 5-2-4-9 line before?

(rainy day off-season project for myself: get up-to-speed on manipulating Retrosheet game logs and such)

58
Retrosheet doesn't have all the boxscores available, so you could only go back to 1957.

I know Vlad Guerrero hit 9RBIs in a game a coupla years ago but not sure what his line score was...

Mike Greenwell had a 5 2 4 9 line for Boston against Seattle on 9/2/1996
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Pgreem001.htm

Greenwell also drove in EVERY run for the Red Sox that day, setting a major league record.

57 Now you can (http://tinyurl.com/p5whe), though you always could.

Besides, the right click is a feature for UI design lightweights.

Ah, here it is: vs Boston in 04 - Vlad was 4 for 4, 2 hrs, 9 rbis, 2 runs. Very close.

61 Ah, I remember that. I had Mike Greenwell's rookie baseball card and I remember thinking how valuable that was going to be someday. If ever there was a case when one should have "sold high," that would've been it.

Ah, I knew I had kids for a reason. Kid's friend's dad just called, two extra tix to tonights game, his son wondered if mine could go.

I'm a free rider!

Ivan Rodriguez put up a 5 2 4 9 on April 13, 1999 for the Rangers against Seattle.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04130SEA1999.htm

Sam what year will the new stadium be ready?

Does anyone know if the Dodgers gave discounts to season ticket holders for their playoff tickets. I'm looking at the pricing and I can't believe they charged these prices to their season ticket holders. I know during the season the dodgers charged more for single game tickets than you would pay as a season ticket holder for the same seat. Wondering if that is the same with the playoffs.

52
Eric Neel's columns are always good for a few laughs.

Continuing on his sorry state of the Cardinals theme, it got me thinking about my one and only trip to a Cardinal's game in St. Louis. It was without a doubt the worst experience I have ever had at a professional sporting event. They were playing the Braves, and the only tickets I could get were in the cheap seats where I was subjected to 3 hours of racist rants from their fat, sunburned, drunk fans. They not only delighted in calling Chipper Jones "Larrreeeeee" (don't ask me why that's supposed to be funny) and J.D. Drew a pansy and various Braves with somewhat dark complexions the N word, but they continually belittled two little kids sitting in the same section who made the poor choice of wearing Braves apparel. After briefly reliving that nightmare, I realized that the old stadium is gone and that this is the first year in the new Busch stadium. With that in mind, now I'm really rooting for a historic Cardinal's collapse. As superstitious as baseball players and baseball fans can be, I am almost certain that they will find a way to blame the collapse on the new stadium, thus ushering in an era of utter incompetence as they go on a forty year losing streak before they finally hold a ritualistic implosion of the cursed stadium in 2046 with a withered wheelchair-ridden Tony LaRussa hitting the switch that triggers the explosion.

Go Braves! Go Astros!

Those were the only other 5 2 4 9 lines I could find from 1957 on.

Fun things (to me) I found out were that Jim Gentile once got 9 RBI in a game with just two hits. You can probably figure out how he managed that.

The most RBIs in a game by a Milwaukee Brewers player is 7 by three games. One of them is Ted Kubiak.

The most RBI in a game by a Devil Ray is 6 by Paul Sorrento.

ooops, make that Go Brewers!!!

67: The agreement between DC and MLB requires it to be ready by Opening Day 2008. There are substantial penalties if it is not, although the issue could I'm sure be reopened/renegotited. They're building fast.

Construction Site Webcam: http://tinyurl.com/ot6os

Stadium renderings and info: http://tinyurl.com/k2mqf

One thing I do remember as an 11 yr old in 1980 was watching that Dodgers/Astros playoff game while in a bowling alley with some friends after school. Growing up in Southern California during this time was awesome even if the Padres would have a parade for a better then .500 finish. The Dodgers were hated, but we were jealous of their success.

68 No, they don't give any discounts to season ticket owners, the only advantage you get is the option to purchase extra tickets and the opportuntiy to buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public.

I believe that MLB sets the prices for tickets because the money is spread out to different pockets unlike the regular season.

57 You can right-click in OS X.

AVG Free is the common choice for free anti-virus. It is pretty decent and a bargain for the price.

Does anyone know who holds the tiebreaker for StL and Houston?

76
Houston would be the home team in a playoff.

74

thank you for the info.

AP article from last month about postseason ticket prices:
http://tinyurl.com/lfc3s

My stab at prognostication for the results of the last weekend. Philly takes 2 of 3 from FL, Dodgers get win Friday (then sensing the lack of drama) lose Sat and Sun but still secure WC with Philly losing on Sat.

SD takes the west and will meet the St.L. Houston playoff winner pending the makeup game with SF. Houston takes 2 of 3 from Atl., Stl loses 2 of last 3 to MIlw but beats SF in game Monday to force playoff Tuesday in Houston. Oswalt is brilliant and beats the Cards 4-2.

SD v Houston and LA v. NYM

79

that is a big increase in the last couple of years.

At the risk of counting unhatched chickens, I prefer the WC. My gut tells me that StL holds on to the division, but I'd rather be assured of the Mets as an opponent versus the possibility of drawing the Astros.

68
These were my prices for the playoffs:
Loge Section 167
TieBreaker 16.00 per ticket
Division Series 20.00 per Ticket
NL Championship Series 50.00 per ticket
World Series 200.00 per ticket

80 - SD v Houston and LA v. NYM

Just got my playoff tickets for the first home game in round 1.

So who am I going to see pitch in game 3 next Saturday?

75 Even so, I'm sticking with Windows, it hasn't failed me yet!

Thanks for the tip on the anti-virus as well, I'll check that out once I get back from San Francisco.

I feel that I must admit that for as well as the Astros are playing now, overall, the Astros are not a very good team and have gotten by with a 2-man offense of Lance Berkman and Luke Scott.

It's a nice story though.

86 - Their pitching is the real deal though.

86
Not if your a Cardinal fan:)

84 - I guess that depends on if we can save Lowe this weekend to pitch game 1. You can have Lowe in game 1, Kuo in 2 and then Maddux in game 3. I have tickets for game 4, home game #2 provided there is no sweep.

I would love to end the suspense of a playoff spot and clinch the WC tonight, but in the back of my pessimistic mind, I think 1982, 1991 and 1996 for times the Dodgers failed to win on the last weekend with a division on the line.

i think that since the dodgers will know the results of the game in Flordia by the time they start playing tonight, grady should really consider giving nomar another day to rest. we got options at 1st with the tomato and loney.

If Houston plays the Cards at home in a tie breaker game, I pray Lidge faces Pujols so I can watch his head explode.

89 - versus Trachsel I would guess in Game 3?

There is a lot of hype for Ugly Betty maybe I should check it out.

Didn't Houston win the season series from StL? So if they are tied doesn't Houston win the Division without playoff.

If SD and we tie at end of the season, is there a playoff or does SD win the division because they won the season series.

94 - Only if both teams are guaranteed a playoff spot does the tiebreaker go to the season series winner.

It's highly unlikely, if not impossible for Houston AND StL to make the playoffs.

Since the NL Central champ CANNOT be the wild card, there would have to be a playoff.

Anyone know what time the Monday playoff game would start? I've checked the Dodger and MLB sites with no luck.

I'm pretty sure that I understand all of the playoff possibilities. I could not say that during the World Baseball Classic tiebreaker discussions.

97
The recent ones have been night time affairs. Probably at 4 or 5 pm PT.

93. It was okay, not great, not terrible. What was terrible though, was that my eight year old insisted on watching the second half-hour so I had to miss The Office last night.

Just to throw some gasoline on the coals of the clutchiness debate. If only Steve were still around.

http://tinyurl.com/jb8va

95 Its impossible for there to be any other W/C team other than the Padres, Dodgers or Phillies.

95 Its impossible for there to be any other W/C team other than the Padres, Dodgers or Phillies.

96 - Since the NL Central champ CANNOT be the wild card

I'm not sure I understand. Is it not possible for Houston to get the WC, and StL hold on for the division (assuming a total collapse by the Phillies and Dodgers)?

The Astros cannot win more than 84 games and the Dodgers have 85 wins.

102/105 - Ok, thanks. As of this morning, ESPNews was still including the Astros in their WC standings.

104 St. Louis has a magic number of 4, their record in 81-77, the most wins they can get is 85 and if they do that they win the NL Central. The most wins the Astros can have is 84.

The Padres and Dodgers already have won 86 and 85 games so the W/C team has to win at least 85 games which if the Cards do that they will win the Central.

The Rockies pick up win #75 in Chicago!

106 If you want some ramblings on this go to my early morning post 4

101 - Um, where did that guy go?

110
He's sleeping off BYU's decisive win over TCU.

111 - So that explains the last 12 hours. What about the rest of September, or should I just stop asking questions?

112
The last guy who asked too many questions, well, let's just say, he doesn't come around here no more.

If anyone other than the Yankees win the World Series, it'll end a pretty long drought. No one else in contention has won in 15 years

Astros- never
Padres- never
Phils- 1980
Cards- 1982
Tigers- 1984
Mets- 1986
Dodgers- 1988
A's- 1989
Reds (still alive!)- 1990
Twins- 1991

Reminds me of the good ol' days, before collusion and steroids....

(God, I hate the Yankees)

113 Speaking of which, anybody seen blue22 lately?

101

good grief ... more inane banter on the non-entity known as clutchness?

apparently Walker hasn't read Tango's "The Book"

http://tinyurl.com/pobsn

Hey, I don't want any trouble. I'm just here for the Bud Light.

Does anyone know who pays for the playoff shares the players get? Does that come from the owners pockets or does MLB have some sort of fund it pulls from. I've always wondered about that.

82 Careful what you wish for seems an operative cliche for all the finger-crossing that LA would play the Mets.

Yes, the Mets have lost their best pitcher. But they didn't have their best pitcher for weeks, and they still ran away with the division.

Their lineup is frightening, with Wright, Delgado, Beltran and Reyes. The Dodgers' lineup doesn't come close to this, especially given the injuries to Kent and Nomar. We've got Furcal, Drew, arguably Martin, and a bunch of guys who can get hot, but also not.

They will have homefield advantage. The Dodgers' road record is horrible, especially if you subtract their ability to dominate in Colorado.

The 2006 Mets were built to dominate, and for most of the season, they did. Their slump tells me nothing. Lots of teams that clinch early go into slumps. They might not be as strong a team as they were in May. They are still the toughest possible opponent.

Whereas the Cardinals have truly deteriorated since we last played them. If we win the West, we'd get the Cardinals with LA having home field advantage. That's a better scenario, I think.

If we draw the Astros, we'd also have home field. Those would be interesting games, but I agree with Bob, our pitchers have a bigger advantage over the Astro lineup than their pitchers have over ours. There would be a lot of 4-1 type games, and we'd win more of them.

Theme song for the Cardinals over the last 10 days, "Free Fallin" by Tom Petty.:)

118 - I imagine it comes from MLB sales of tickets and TV revenue for the postseason, am I right or wrong? Bob or Jon, maybe you guys know!!

119 - Sounds like you're "wishing" we play the Astros or Cardinals.

Funny quotes from Scott Boras re Barry Zito in this SF Gate article:

http://tinyurl.com/qqms9

"Barry is the most durable pitcher to hit the market since Greg Maddux."

and: "There is no team that cannot afford premium players."

More there about the NY teams' interest, etc.

120 From the MLBPA site - FAQ section

Q: How is the players' playoff pool created and how is it distributed?
A: The Players' pool is created from 60% of the total gate receipts from the first four World Series Games; 60% of the total gate receipts from the first four games of each League Championship Series; and 60% of the total gate receipts from the first three games of each Division Series. The Pool is distributed as follows: World Series Winning Team: 36%; World Series Loser: 24%; League Championship Series Losers (two teams): 12% each; Division Series Losers (four teams): 3% each; Non-wild Card Second Place Teams (four teams): 1% each. The division of a team's Players' pool shall be made by a vote of the Players, in a meeting chaired by the Player Representative.

119 - But psychologically, the Dodgers have it in thir heads that they can't beat the Cards much like the Rockies knowing the Dodgers will find a way to beat the snot out of them. Mind games and confidence are a delicate and unpredictable component to the postseason matchups. Dodgers feel they can play with the Mets, 3-4 with the Mets. Cards seem to beat them in every conceivable way. Astros are doable but if they get in they will have the biggest head of steam going in and will be the most dangerous.

123- I am assuming the other 40% goes to the teams hosting the games.

123 - Thank you for clearing that up, bhsportsguy!!

123

"The division of a team's Players' pool shall be made by a vote of the Players, in a meeting chaired by the Player Representative."

=====================

In an unprecedented move, the Yankees are requiring Carl Pavano to pay his 2006 salary INTO the pool for distribution to those who actually played during the year.

(evil grin)

123 Last year, the total pool was $40,788,565.62, each White Sox playoff share came to $324,532.72, while each Astro playoff share was $191,985.45.

http://tinyurl.com/z3fgr

Momentum is hooey. There are no trends.

121 What I really want is home field advantage.

I don't know if the Cardinals have the same hex on the Dodgers anymore, assuming the Dodgers are aware of how crippled that team is right now.

116 - I think that's a pretty decent article. It doesn't blather on about how "clutch" Derek Jeter has been and always will be.

"Clutch situations", and therefore "clutch hitting" exist (IMO), it's just that it's not a quality you can assign to an individual (IMO). It's more of a hindsight concept, not a predictor of a future outcome.

130 Aside from assuring me that the Dodgers would play at least 2 games at home during the Divisional Series, I can think of reasons why I don't want to be playing for the division on Sunday but I will wait until we clinch getting in first before getting into to them.

JA Adande does not pay much attention to the Dodgers did he. He was on Around the Horn and he does not think we have any pitching advantage over the Mets. Someone tell him about a man named Kuo.

127. That joke is too New York. What do I care about Carl Pavano?

119 the Mets' lineup isn't that frightening. they have 811 runs scored, compared with 808 for the boys in blue.

Does all this talk about Kuo as the LAD's secret weapon vs the Mets remind anybody of that Rick Ankiel kid, from back when the Cardinals were not huge colossal failures?

134 It shows that the Darren Dreifort lesson has not bee learned.

136 Sorry, that was before my time.

134 - But funny though nonetheless. I think you can apply that to oft-injured players anywhere, i.e. Darren Dreifort, $55 million over 5 years pretty much wasted. Angels got nothing from Mo Vaughn while he was here. You can pick so many players over the years that should have given their salary back that it would fill a volume of an encyclopedia.;)

136 There are also young pitchers that do really well in the playoffs. Like K-Rod.

Kuo's pitching made up for Penny's atrocious pitching if we make the playoffs. At this point, I have more confidence when he starts than Penny.

Anyone know how long a Jr. High School volley ball game lasts? I have to go one tonight starting at 5:30. Think it'll be over by game time, or do I need to set the tivo?

Well my little sister's high school match hadn't started at 3:20 when I called home but she was back online at 4:30...if that helps...setting the Tivo is probably a good idea anyways though.

The oldies here will be glad to know I am one of the few people on my campus who still uses a VCR! Yes, they do still make 'em.

I've got some family business that might keep me away until well into the SF game. Hope not. I can't get through this weekend unless I can spend lots of time in the DT virtual living room.

Perhaps in time for next season, Jon can retool this site to be like Second Life, where we would all have animated icons to represent us, someone would have to bring the beer, someone else the peanuts, and we could watch each game at someone's "house."

Any team is beatable once the playoffs heat up. It all depends on matchups, execution and then the timely hits or fielding plays and some luck! Momentum coming in does mean something, Whitesox last year won 6 of last 7 coming in to playoffs, Angels in 2002 were on a tear coming in, ect..

For those who follow the draft, here is the latest regarding Kyle Orr from today's BA.

There was widespread speculation that Orr had agreed to terms with the Dodgers this summer, but that the club delayed announcing the signing based, in part, because the bonus exceeded the recommended slot (113 overall).

Dodgers scouting director Logan White refuted that claim. "That's not accurate at all," White said. "I think we're going to get it done, but he hasn't signed. When he gets back (from Cuba Sept. 29) we're going to meet with his family."

its going to get done. Orr doesnt have leverage now since College has already started and he would be way behind in his classes.

And White is right when he said "he hasn't signed". thats correct, he hasnt signed....but he will. White is doing the right thing here by not announcing anything or upsetting the family before it is actually done.

146 - Nice update. I like that guy. This year's was the first draft that I really paid attention to, so there's little behind this belief, but I was pretty excited about Orr.

Nate, a while back you mentioned that you lived in RSM (I used to a few years ago)... have you been to the Oggi's in Mission Viejo? I'm heading up to OC to watch the game tomorrow since it's not being shown here in San Diego, I want to make sure it's a decent place. (I used to hang at Daily's in RSM and I like it there but my buddy wants to go to Oggi's).

149

Yea ive been to oggis. Isnt it off alicia? Its like a pizza place with lots of TVs everywhere. its more of a family atmosphere though. Foods good though.

150 - Thanks. That works. There are Oggi's down here but they vary from place to place as far as the TV setup (food and microbrew is all the same).

Speaking of Kuo, if he has a good outing tonight and the Dodgers play the Mets in the NLDS, Kuo should start game one. Hernandez is going for the Mets and he's pitching too well right now to risk starting Penny.

Also, I'd like to see Maddux pitch in LA rather than NY.
My roataton:

Kuo
Lowe
Maddux
Penny

I think the Dodgers should only start Penny in a DS game 1 if the Mets would agree to start Pedro Martinez. :-)

I am not sure about cluth hitting, but I do believe there are clutch pitchers. It always seemed to me when Koufax was pitching that the few times in a game he would be in trouble were the times when he would go into an extra gear and start to strike everyone out. He could finish a game better than any pitcher I have seen.

Stan from Tacoma

Game thread is open.

142 By all means, set the TIVO; over and above the volleyball game, you have no idea what else might come up to inconvenience you before or during the game. I always TIVO the games, even if I intend to watch them in real time. If you want to go fix a snack or if a 'sudden urge' hits you (you know what I mean), you can come back and catch up on everything you missed. You can also zip through the commercials and watch the 'good' parts of the game again. I was able to determine that Kent was really safe yesterday before Vin announced it. Got 4 or 5 good views of him skipping over second base, too.

With apologies to Penarol etc for daring to bring in news other than Dodgers/Nationals here at the La/DC site, Girardi just ordered Howard walked with two out, a man on third and two outs, Cabrera caught on camera waving four fingers before the brilliant move is relayed to the backstop.
Howard has been pressing the last week, Moehler(sp?) handled him pretty easily first ab; Burrell has been, surprise of all surprises in Philly, getting "clutch" at bats in the same time as Ryan has not, and has a very nice lifetime story against this pitcher, and whacked a legit double his first time up. Bang! on first fat pitch. Great 'feel" by Girardi and Cabrera (and add another chapter for talented players being often the worst managers).