Sorry to repost from the last thread. But I'm curious.

Hey guys, I was just thinking about the mid-90s Dodger teams and I was wondering if it's possible to find somewhere taped games from those teams? Does anybody know how I could do this?

I'd also be interested to see games from 01 and 02, the two seasons I missed when I succumbed to some terrible ideological convictions.

Please email me if you have any relevant information: pellam.1@osu.edu

I got LAT'd in the last thread, but I can't give this one up:

How on earth does a first baseman record an unassisted triple play?

Catch a line drive for one, double up or tag the runner at first for two, and then...?

http://tinyurl.com/34mptp

Looks like our friend Jeff Weaver found a way to leave the office a bit early tonight:

0.1 IP, 7H, 1BB, 6 R (all earned), no strikeouts.

And this was against the Royals, no less.

2
Johnny Neun of the Tigers recorded a UTP as a first baseman by catching a line drive, stepping on second to double off the runner and then running to second base to triple off the other runner.

Supposedly, the shortstop or second baseman were screaming at him to throw the ball, but he insisted on going for the UTP.

Oh, 742 for Bonds BTW

Maybe Los Angeles would have higher performing high schools if the students were the progeny of uneducated people.

The greatest predictor of academic success is parental academic success. Not a whole lot Los Angeles can do to de-dumbify their kids.

Then again, it may not be a problem. The world needs ditch diggers.

3

if anything hearing the song is very relaxing.

6

I'd take Bonds in center over Juan Pierre.

7 And then I realized my post had a huge typo...And I await the bombardment.

Me dumb.

10
There's nothing wrong with building la zanja madre.

10 I have so much respect for you as a teacher that I tried desperately to figure out how uneducated persons' having children would help the situation. Glad you straightened that out.

122 11 That would be the bombardment I was waiting for.

Go Dodgers. LOL.

The greatest predictor of academic success is parental academic success.

fair point but i'm sure you'll agree that it's not always the case. My school teacher friend who's parents ARE crop workers would disagree with you.

Vin has already given Greg Maddux "old friend" status.

Not all former Dodgers get that moniker.

And then I can't even link Bob's post. I'm going to go dig ditches now.

I quit.

I used to be as smart as a monkey.

Now I'm as dumb as a chimp.

the Dodgers have the book on Maddux so i'm hoping for a good game from the Dodgers

I used to envy college graduates, and now I are one.

Pierre is now 10 for 27 with 2 HBP and 3 2Bs against Maddux in his career. No Ks or BBs.

Go figure.

GIGANTOR sighting in Washington, and he is currently the pitcher of record no less!

Are the San Diegans really booing Maddux?

At least Pierre is earning his keep on this trip on the bases.

Jeez. Maddux is getting booed mercilessly by his own home crowd.

Matt Vasgersian is awfully enamored with Juan Pierre's speed.

That should've been an E2, not an E9.

watching the numbers i'm glad Grady didn't rest Luis Gonzalez today.

And now the Pods announcers are talking about pitching around Gonzales to pitch to Martin.

HI-larious.

Man, I thought Russell got all of that one.

24 I'm pretty sure those were the Dodger fans.

29 Too high

Russell got just under that one. Even so, I think that would be out in just about any other park.

31 I've been trying for some time to get me where your name comes from. Do you read Latin?

The kiddies in the Midwest League are beginning to hit as Great Lakes wins their 6th out of 7 games.

Trayvon Robinson hit a 2 strike, 2 out bases clearing double to put the Loons ahead for good 10-8. Preston Mattingly got his 4th hit of the day and drove in Robinson.

Josh Bell hit his first home room of the year. And Scott Van Slyke hit two doubles.

In Jacksonville, Jon Meloan picked up another save. So far the two brightest Suns have been Meloan and Chin Lung Hu. Hu, with an .841 OPS is doing everything he can to move up to AAA while Meloan has now become one of the top RH reliever prospects in the game.

33 "...to get ou to tell me..." that is.

29

he seemed to either get jammed a little or get it off the end of the bat.

33 I sort of did a few years ago back when I came up with the name. I was Impero, but then I had to change the tense because even that wasn't obscure enough to guarantee not being taken on the net. I took Latin for a couple of years in college.

34 I do think playing in the cold spring/winter conditions plus being the first full year for all the kids was part of the reason for the slow starts.

I wish that team was playing in Cal League but I guess they will all get there in good time.

Note to whomever asked if Kershaw was going pitch in the California League next month, I would guess no, I think he will spend his summer in heartland of America.

I could discuss this for a long time but then it would get political. There is plenty Los Angeles can do to de-dumbify their kids. Giving up on them just because they have ignorant parents sounds like an easy way out.
Yes, the best predictor of academic success is parental academic success but that does not mean you can't try innovative ways to help even things out for the children who don't have that advantage. I've met many a child from parents with precious little education and while it is harder the reward is even greater. If some male HS/JHS teachers would infiltrate the elementary school systems which is dominated by female teachers it would help. It is shocking to see the difference in a 9 years olds attention when a strong male presence is in the classroom. This is when you save the kids, that is when learning is more important then peer pressure. Just some of my own observations not backed up by any statistical studies at BP or Hard Times.

35 Man, this is getting ugly.

37 I thought it was because you're famed actress Piper Perabo

Mariano Duncan looks much paler tonight.

bottom of the first for the first tomko/artist reference. record?

Coming up with a unique name is probably the best use I've found for Latin, though I certainly enjoyed studying it more than Spanish. I didn't have to write a journal or learn how to ask where the bathroom was.

Note to whomever asked if Kershaw was going pitch in the California League next month, I would guess no

that's to bad it would have been cool watching the young stud pitch live.

Jeff Weaver should never be allowed to pitch in April

Giving up on them just because they have ignorant parents sounds like an easy way out.

I couldn't agree more. Identify the gifted kids, get them into magnet schools and academy schools, and get them away from the rest of the detritus before it's too late. The problem with tracking is that it's unbelievably successful. The other problem with tracking is that the parents of morons hate it.

Find the smart kids, and segregate them toot sweet.

My lack of talent with Latin is one of the reasons I dropped out of grad school for Medieval History, so don't quiz me.

Or tout suite. Whichever you prefer.

44 What about "Irrumabo", or "Glubam", or the nouns "Irrumator", "Glubitur", or "Imperator".

Of course, there's one other use for knowing Latin--- you could read Latin literature. Suetonius is pretty awesome.

39

good points ToyCannon.

4th walk for Ryan Church tonight...

I was only put on a honors track for one year, when I was in 9th grade, in my year I wish to forget at Chaminade Prep.

O how did I loathe that place.

For grades 10-12, I went to public high school and just took whatever classes where available. Halfway through my junior, they shoved a test in front of me and I was dubbed a "mentally gifted minor."

Surprisingly, I did well on the test despite it having no references to Paul Foytack or catcher's interference.

48 Medieval history is my minor. Right now I'm reading about baptismal sponsorship in the Merovingian period. Where did you go to grad school?

Okay, NFL geeks, how many hours of the draft did you watch (cumulative total).

1. None
2. Less than 1 hour
3. No more than 2 hours
4. 4 hours or until Brady got picked.
5. I have on right now.

I think I creeped over the 1 hour total sometime during the day but my answer would be 3.

50 I've certainly read Suetonius, though not in Latin. I certainly know Irrumator means, though probably from reading First Man in Rome. I actually enjoyed reading Caesar.

54 UCSB. For one quarter. Got my BA in History at UCI.

53 I had a similar experience. I was dubbed a MGM in junior high and spent two of the worst years of my life segregated from my friends.
In high school, I deliberately flunked the test for gifted students.

53 Schools are set up differently now. It's not the same as it was during the Freaks and Geeks years you went to school.

Also, far fewer Army Jackets and corduroy pants.

Right now I'm reading about baptismal sponsorship in the Merovingian period.

You know how to live it up, don't you? You can read about that AND watch a baseball game at the same time?

You don't have be smart to succeed in high school. You just have to do the homework.

For the record my school teacher friend does not approve of my spelling & grammar.

I thought every college history major read Livy, Suetonius, and Tacitus.

Tonight in Las Vegas, Abreu is playing 3B, Kemp is in CF, Loney is at 1B and LaRoche is in LF. 51s down 2-0 in the top of the 2nd.

59
In elementary school, my mom tried to get me into summer school programs that would supposedly stimulate my brain. But since I went to private school, I couldn't get in one year because all the MGM kids got the slots.

So I spent the summer checking out baseball books from the library and watching reruns of "Get Smart."

Pads announcers have already invoked "the speed of Juan Pierre making things happen" and referred to "Pierre's disruptive presence"...(that second phrase cd be applied to Dodger Thoughts, it occurs to me)

65 Non-fiction or Matt Christopher stories?

Gonzo's here to take hacks and chew bubblegum.

Despite Pierre's two hits, the Cycle Alert crew at NORAD aren't worried.

Two weeks into 2nd grade I was marched into the nurses office and given an intelligence test. The next thing I know I'm in third grade with people I had never talked to in my life. It was pretty strange for an 8 year-old.

67
Both, but more non-fiction. Lots of trips to the x796 section.

weak call

71 Had to be that period of Robert Creamer's Babe Ruth bio and "The Boys of Summer." If your folks had any idea of the content, "Ball Four" probably was not allowed.

You guys must have gone to elementary school before "Choose Your Own Adventure" and "Encyclopedia Brown" dominated the landscape.

That Encyclopedia Brown...What a genius!

73
"Ball Four" was off-limits. I read "Strange, but True Baseball Stories". Then I found a copy of "More Strange But True Baseball Stories." And there was a fairly big (by kid standards) overall history of pro baseball that first came out in 1969.

Since I'm about the same age as Josh Wilker, I could write about baseball cards like he does, but my stories wouldn't be as interesting and I didn't take drugs or have parental issues.

I also don't write as well as Josh.

74
I read the "Encyclopedia Brown" canon. I also read "The Two-Minute Mysteries" which were nearly identical plots.

My brother Tom and I liked to figure out how much of Encyclopedia Brown's evidence wouldn't hold up in court.

74 Oh no, Encyclopedia Brown was part of my weekly visit to my local branch of the Los Angeles City Library.

Books on dinosaurs, Matt Christopher stories and biographies were big check out items.

I ate up Ball Four when it came out. But I think that was the last non-fiction sports book I've read.

78
Not even "The Best of Dodger Thoughts?"

The respective performances of Hendrickson and Tomko (along with all the weird things that have gone the Dodgers' way this year) are starting to freak me out. It's as if there's some kind of supernatural force at work on the Dodgers' behalf.

78 I knew that was coming as soon as I hit submit.

79 rather

80 I feel the same way but I didn't want to type that until after Tomko left the game.

ok. focus, please. is tomko throwing better than in recent years? i know, i'm probably being myopic/optimistic/sucker-ish... but seriously, 94 with a bit of life? seems better than i recall. plus he's throwing strikes when he needs to throw strikes. i seem to recall he had a very solid half season with the giants, but, still...

80 Although if you had told Joe Torre that Igawa would be his savior this weekend, he probably would have thought you were crazy.

42 - "1B coach Mariano Duncan went home to the Dominican after learning that his father had died after a long illness Bench coach Dave Jauss will coach 1B until Duncan returns."

- Tony Jackson

Tomko did this last year, and I think BJ did too, just for the Devil Rays. Both were horrible after May

I found the characters in "The Best of Dodger Thoughts" to be completely derivative.

It lacked the passion of "The Best of Sylvia Plath Thoughts."

79 Are comments to a blog fiction or non-fiction?

84 Colletti is a GENIUS. That's why they call him MIDAS. LOL.

Bobby Ojeda?

I know the answer to the Padres broadcast trivia question!

88
The characters in "The Best of Dodger Thoughts, 2nd ed." will be better.

So I guess no one watched the NFL draft today?

I had the draft on as background noise. I don't follow pro football that closely anymore, but I used to love reading about the draft as a kid, so it still has some appeal.

Matt Vasgersian is currently explaining why Pedro Guerrero is a total moron. Which, of course, he very well may be.

But Vasgersian was loving it.

I should also confess, I'm reading a biography of Arnold Rothstein right now, so that's sort of a non-fiction sports book.

87: right. thanks. calendar as ice water. good point.

I assume the Padres broadcasters are on MLB.TV or did they get added to Extra Innings this year?

Bringing up Matt Vasgersian is guaranteed to make me angry.

96 Why?

Is there a common explanation for variation in G/F ratios for pitchers from year to year?

101 Global warming?

I blame violence in the media.

100 He was talking about how Maddux faced Pedro Guerrero 42 times...Just talking about how old Maddux is.

And then he giggled...

did anyone read that article by sarah morris on dodgers.com?

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070428&content_id=1935790&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la

she made a few good points.

I don't think Brian Giles is flexible enough to really drive the ball anymore. He has a stiff controled swing.

105
I like this part:

Everyone knew Mueller had arthritic knees when he signed, but Colletti and most Dodgers fans hoped Mueller could play until the Minor League system produced a third baseman. No such luck! After one month, Mueller underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, and he couldn't recover. He has retired and become a special assistant to Colletti.

94- I think people are just ignoring you because you said Russ Martin was "as responsible as anybody" for the losing streak. I know that's why I've been shunning you.

thats not annoying, 2 outs and nobody on.

For those old enough to remember, the umpire at home plate tonight is doing a fair imitation of Dutch Rennert.

Adrian Gonzalez must not be that fast since the Dodgers actually had a play on him at the plate. He should have scored easily on that hit as it got caught up in the corner.

108 He was, he made a couple of errors that led to early runs. I am not saying he was the sole reason but to blast Pierre and not look at a favorite guy is just not fair.

105 - Well, you lured me into reading it. She does well delineating the revolving door at third base, which makes her assessment that Wilson Valdez is the answer all the more surprising and unrealistic.

110 Dutch Rennert is my favorite umpire of all time.

Tomko all of a sudden ran out of gas.

I think in a few years Wilson Valdez may make us all forget German Rivera.

With respect to the G/F ratio, do "line drives" count as a "G" or an "F"?

108 I'm not in the business of shunning anybody. I'm very shunworthy, and wouldn't like it done to me.

Of course, I'll shun D4P if the price is right.

113 - but at this point you have to figure valdez is just the better option. betemit is completely lost it looks like valdez at least has an idea at the plate.

112- I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear.

is that 2 1st pitch outs for furcal in a row?

117- Neither. Just like ground outs don't count in a K/BB ratio.

119 - Did you read my post this morning?

116 - Impossible.

116

& Jeff Hamilton

Five-pitch fifth inning for Maddux.

This Maddux guy works fast. He might be a prospect.

Nice five pitch inning for Maddux right there.

We're just trying to stretch him into the later innings. Brilliant play on our part.

Neither. Just like ground outs don't count in a K/BB ratio

Really? If true, that surprises me. Of the 3 types of balls in play, who decided that only Gs and Fs should be ratioed, and not Ls? Why not have a G/L ratio, or an L/F ratio?

Leaping lizards, that was a leaping lasso by Nomar.

128 Whaddya, some kinda instigator?

123 - yeah jon i read your post and i agree for the most part but i think the bottom line is winning balls games and riding out betemit for a rough patch that he may never get out of just cant help this team right now. i gotta think thats gradys though process valdez gives them a better chance now.

130 - Norman Fell, ladies and gentlemen!

Stubblin' Bumblin'. . .

131 - And then when Valdez hits his inevitable rough patch, what would you do?

Do you really think Betemit is done at age 25?

119 It seems quite the opposite to me. Betemit has shown great patience and is hitting balls hard. Valdez has only taken one walk this year. The OBPs are almost the same. .307 for Valdez now and .300 for Betemit. Betemit's power will return if he is given a regular shot.

HALLO!

Watch your lips, Tomko.

Holy smokes, that was a smokin' holy that Tomko holed.

None of these screamers are showing up in Tomko's G/F ratio. I guess they don't matter.

Tomko is very lucky he didn't get injured there, wow.

132
I thought Norman Fell kept referring to "agitators" not "instigators"?

134 - jon its just not like the braves to give up like that on one of their top prospects, they has to be something to that. and for danys baez? sometimes guys just dont figure it out...karim garcia...greg brock.

132 We have a winner.

What the Dodgers need is to bat around this inning so Tomko can get pinch hit for and replaced, by whom I have no idea.

134 What, in Betemit's minor league/major league career indicates that he'll be an above average third baseman? I'm not asking to be a smart mouth, I'm asking because you seem to like him more than I, and many others, like him.

Again, not trying to be contentious...I just get what makes Betemit such a worthy starter.

Betemit really LOOKS like he can hit. Mostly though, he hits air.

The Padres have a "Frolicking area" at their stadium. I have no idea what that is.

Frolicking area? Grass and swings and rainbows and whatnot?

0-2 pitch was better than the 1-2 pitch Martin got called out on.
vr, Xei

145 That doesn't seem like the point to me. Perhaps he's not above-average, but he's certainly above-Valdez and above-Martinez. If he just repeats what he did last year, not improving on anything, and hits 18 HRs, he could be the primary power source for this weak team.

Bob, how has the spelling and grammar been today? I was at the SB Zoo all day and couldn't keep up.
vr, Xei

I hate facing Maddox when he's not on our team. I know its not the pitching age I loved so much w/ Koufax and Drysdale, when you could win with a couple of manufactured runs, but Maddox takes me close.

149 That's fair. Betemit is probably better than Valdez and Martinez. If that's the only criteria, then Betemit should play.

Now, what to do about the fact that he, on his own, isn't very good...

149. - but if you are the dodgers how do you just sit around and wait for this guy to produce? watching him strike out with the bases loaded and 1 out?

150
Everyone's been doing an exemplary job today except for Greg Brock.

153 If you do what I want, yes you wait until La Roche is ready, rather than panic and go get some "proven veteran" and block La Roche.

I'm actually not disappointed at Tomko's start sure he gave up the lead but he kept us in the game.

I think we can start looking at Tomko and wonder how long he should stay in the rotation. Since his first start where he struck out 9 and didn't allow a run in 6 innings, he has pitched 17 innings, 20 hits, 8 earned runs, 6 walks, and 9 strike outs.

Not horrible numbers but not as if he lighting the world on fire. With Chad's problems in the pen, I wonder if they would consider a switch.

Another thing, Tomko has pitched well enough to be attractive as trade material.

141 - Yeah, minor point.

142 - Greg Brock had five consecutive seasons with an OPS+ over 100. But that's beside the point.

You're suggesting starting Valdez over Betemit because Betemit won't figure it out, yet two months ago, there isn't a person here that thought Valdez, who is four years older, would ever figure it out. Don't you see that your support of Valdez undermines your point?

I don't know what Betemit's destiny is, but I do know that he has worlds' more hope than Valdez. The idea that three weeks of regular season play should be valued over everything we knew prior to this year just doesn't make sense.

Meanwhile, on defense, Betemit has been Valdez's equal this year. On OBP, Betemit has been Valdez's equal this year. The only thing that separates the two is that Valdez currently has a higher slugging percentage - and if you really think that that would hold up over the course of the season, we just have to agree to disagree. I simply don't think it's possible. Betemit slugged .469 last year.

Finally, using the fact that the Braves traded Betemit without mentioning Aybar (pre-drugs) and without mentioning their desperate need for relief help neglects important parts of the story.

152 & 153 I think I regularly display my ignorance about scouting. I never played organized baseball. I don't know if Betemit has star potential. But he is the best option at 3rd and that's all I'm saying. Valdez struck out last night in a big situation, too. But I would jump at a Nomar to 3rd/Loney at 1st situation.

is tyler houston available?

153 - Wow, that one at-bat just killed people, didn't it. He doubled in his next at-bat, but for some reason that doesn't count at all.

By crucifying Betemit for striking out with the bases loaded in one instance, we have raised him to the level of Alex Rodriguez!

Russell Martin has struck out twice in three ABs with the bases loaded this year; Betemit once in two ABs.

154 You had to sell me out, didn't you...

So Maddox was only a six inning pitcher for us. I suspect he will go further against us.

he's thrown his 80

I have no problem with Betemit playing. He's slumping, but he's certainly a better long term bet than Lucille II or Wilson Valdez.

That doesn't make him a good long term bet, and it doesn't make him a better third baseman than Nomar or LaRoche. That's all I'm saying. I just wonder why people like Betemit.

161, unfourtunately yes that at bat did kill a lot of people considering who was pitching and the count started 3-0.

Tomko already has his quality start.

QUALITY START!

How about Grady's letting Tomko bat for himself in the 7th?

Tomko already has his quality start

Not so fast.

I bet we could get Izturis back to play third. He's following up his 542 OPS with Cubs last year with a 553 this year. How did we beat them out for Pierre again?

Grady is completely ruining Tomko's quality start.

Get a reliever in there! Preserve the Quality Start!

How did we beat them out for Pierre again?

For one thing, The Plumber is no longer the Cubs' manager.

157 To add some intrigue to the starting rotation. From the notes on Dodgers.com

As for Billingsley, Little said the right-hander's wobbly outing Friday night was the result of rustiness, but Little also seemed to backpedal a bit on the decision to make him a reliever.

"There's a lot of adjusting to do when your entire pitching life you're starting," he said. "How long is he going to last like that, I don't know for sure. But any experience he gets now is going to benefit him."

The Plumber is no longer the Cubs' manager.

G. Gordon Liddy?

I can't remember if it was here or somewhere else, but I've argued before that, if we're gonna use the stat at all, a pitcher should get a Quality Start after completing 6 innings while giving up 3 runs or less, regardless of what happens after the 6th inning.

I really liked Little last year. This year I've been irritated with him on several occasions. I wonder if something's changed, or if I just wasn't paying attention last year.

How about Grady's letting Tomko bat for himself in the 7th?

i was muttering to my self about that.

Betemit did have a 116 OPS+ at age 24 in the bigs last year. I'd count that more heavily than his minor league record.

168 - Well, use the same standard to judge other players, and you'll have no one left.

Anyway, Greg, I wrote this morning that I was ready again for Nomar to move to third. But I am not overwhelmed by LaRoche's minor league performance this year, so while I'm more than willing to give him a shot, I don't feel any rush to abandon Betemit. It's April. It's April. It's April. It's April.

BEEEEEutiful.

the two stooges!

Russell Can do no wrong I tell you!

Tsao ran at the runner instead of throwing the ball.

I want to have his children. THE QUALITY START IS ALIVE!

What is going on this year? I'm seriously starting to worry. It's unnatural.

I thought the Dodgers only made plays like that.

Okay Russell is a god, Mr. Unassisted Double Play

Did Martin have the ball in his hand while tagging Cameron with his glove?

Nevermind.

Ahh, the old 1-5-2 CS DP.

nice to see that happen to the OTHER team for a change.

7 I'm not an expert but I'm pretty sure there are a number of factors that go into the level of academic success of students rather than just parental academic success. Level of parental involvement, quality of teachers, availability of resources, and a number of other socio-economic and cultural factors that I'm ignorant of presently all make a difference. Parental academic success may be the best predictor but don't conflate correlation with causation. I don't see how anyone can examine the life of the urban child attending an inner city school and believe those are conditions adequate to achieve academic success. Society can and should do better.

I should say it's just a 1-5-2 DP, no CS.

[190] CS?

I guess Tsao didn't burn himself up that inning.

Meanwhile, can any of the computer guys help a guy who's down on his luck. My five-year-old iMac is really struggling with playing videos - on iTunes, for example - just in the last month. The video flow isn't continuous - it skips every few seconds. Is there a way I can fix this at home?

Er, Betemit had a 102 OPS+. 116 was with the Braves.

188
I thought so at first, but it looks like Martin switched the ball just before the tagged Cameron.

How do you score that Bob, that was pretty crazy no? Vinnie just said it was rear.

is that 3 first pitch outs in a row for furcal?

Furcal is in a big time funk at the plate right now.

Not to sound like tskent or anything, but LOL. The Keystone Padres exit stage left.

Russell looked like a kid playing tag by himself.

G. Gordon Liddy?

Johnnie B. Baker Jr. He unclogs the bases.

196 5 years old? I always recommend replacing after 3 years.

192 I was just talking about the greatest predictor, not all the factors.

The player makes me very angry, yet again. The player is Fredo. Fredo is the player.

I hate the player.

181 if fans panic about their team in April and the Internet doesn't exist, does it make a sound?....I love the Toaster, Jon (& Ken) but blogs abhor a vaccuum: if there's space, anxious fans will fill it....

Pierre thought Gonzalez was playing left?

He was out, nice throw by the Padres LF'er

Pierre didn't feel like tagging the base.

bah, pierre was safe.

204 - On my budget, this thing is gonna have to last me until retirement.

Wait... how was Pierre out again? I thought he slid into the base just before the tag... He didn't slip off. I guess the ump saw that differently. Argh.

210 - The play was too close to make it sound like the umpire got it wrong.

206 That's not really fair. We're not talking about a great player who's struggling...We're talking about a marginal player that some like, others don't.

I agree with the Sample Size Argument, but I don't think it's what we're talking about here.

211
More RAM always helps.

Or at least it won't hurt.

I thought he was smart to try for it, it was a great throw, but it seemed to me like he aligator armed the slide. I know you don't lock your elbow for safety but. . .

My dad doesn't own a computer, but I can guarantee you he's wondering about Betemit.

Tsao is not going to be the guy going down whenever the next pitcher comes off the DL.

215 - Is there a way I can fix this at home?

lets light hoffman up again boys, let his pitches float right in.

Six pitches, five outs for Tsao?

Will Hoffman walk Kent and LuGo to get to Martin?

At least the players are making sure the fans don't have too late for the fireworks show.

So... what are the odds of Hoffman blowing three saves in a row?

Um, yeah.

[213] i'll agree it was close, but i wouldn't say it was too close to call definitively.

219 Strip it down. Save everything on disks or thumb drives, delete every program you don't use anymore, get all your documents on disks/thumb drives and off your hard drive, clear out your cache, defrag, and pray.

That's the best you can do.

For those scoring at home, Rob Bowen didn't get charged with a GIDP in the 7th. You don't get one for having stupid runners on base in front of you.

The guy who messed that play up was Kouzmanoff, who should have been on third. He had no business running back to second.

We need a hero.

Oh, well. We won on Friday, which means we won't get swept. That's all I care about when he head to San Diego.

Beat LA

217 and my dad is agonizing about the Yanks right now, but without the computer, the only person he communicates his anxiety to is me (okay, my mother catches a little)

Can't believe they pitched to LuGo in that situation. Think of all the ABs he's had against Hoffman in his career!

LuGo's OPS has officially dropped below .800

What a hare-brained move--letting Maddox go.
He is such a pleasure to watch. Is he a Boras guy? That would make it right to can him.

Russell Martin...Oooh, so close.

You almost did it, you sexy Canadian catcher.

There's no heros left in the world.

ugh. how does hoffman get away with throwing that poo

Almost, Russ - almost. Gave it a good ride.

aw, martin just didn't get enough of it.

Russell Martin didn't miss that by much.

With four in the bottom of the seventh, Arizona leads the Giants 5-4 in the ninth.

Jon, Bob's right, it's really easy to open your Mac and install some RAM, and it's quite cheap to do. We can point you to the online docs if you tell us the exact model of Mac you have. Click "About this Mac" under the Apple menu and tell us what model you have, how much RAM, and which version of the OS you are using.

Pierre needs to learn how to slide properly -- could have touched the bag before being tagged. Martin freaked out the Padres announcers.

Having listened to both the Padres and ChiSox announcers today, I find I'm getting more disturbed by the use of "we" to refer to the team.

He has some sweet warning track power. Bodes well for his prime.

240 - Sorry - that game is in the bottom of the eighth.

233- Maddux's agent is Boras.

239- Your Russ Martin rooting privileges have been revoked until such time as you shape up.

226 - Yeah, okay. Thanks.

My disappointment is tempered by the righteous tunes coming out of the Extra Innings channel right now.

If Only You Belive, by the Diplomats, followed by Sweet Judy Blue Eyes by CSNY.

Right On!

He really did give that a good ride, so much so that I scared my girlfriend, almost knocked over my laptop and my water glass as I lept up in anticipation of his heroism.

That wasn't to be.

We were watching Children of Men (my third time) but my g/f found it too upsetting and we had to turn it off. Sigh.

Meanwhile, Matt Cain can only go 6 and the Giant's pen gives up a 3 run lead in the 7th inning., D-Backs 5-4 in the bottom of the 8th.

Nice day to grade 60 12-page finals. Camp in front of computer, watch the draft, the NBA playoffs, the Angel game, and the Dodger game.

Whoops. Suite Judy Blue Eyes. Another Error for Brock. Grr....

Hardware Overview:

Machine Model: iMac
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 800 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.3.4f2
Serial Number: QT2051WCLF4

Um, you probably didn't need my serial number.

the ball DIES in that park, but Russell gave it a good ride.

Um, you probably didn't need my serial number

Funny. I was just going to post "Um, I don't think you needed to include the serial number."

Mac OS X Version 10.3.9

I think we're all missing sight of the fact that Brett Tomko had a Quality Start tonight.

241 The ChiSox announcers make the Padres announcers both look like Vin Scully. They are truly the worst "homer" announcers I've ever heard. I listened to a game with a Tigers fan friend of mine and we were both appalled at the things coming out of their mouths.

252 - And we've already got your name. Rank, please.

Have to run for a little bit ... but thanks.

256 Did he? I must've seen the one inning lacking in quality.

257 Hey everyone roots for the good guys.

If the Dodgers are going to lose, I appreciate that they did it in 2:04 or thereabouts.

I think I may have to get Extra Innings again next year, just for the music they play after every game is over.

Change my life
Make it right
Be my ladayyyyyyy......

We should be in good shape tomorrow with Lowe vs Wells. Wells bad ERA encourages me.

205- You stated there was not much Los Angeles could do to de-dumbify their kids. There's plenty that can be done, we just lack the vision, will, and sacrifice to do it. I'm not being naive, it may never get better.

lowe really needs to have a good start hes been shakey his last 2 outings

Wells' general suckitude encourages me, for that matter. But we need the Good Lowe to show up, not the low Lowe.

Jon - you may want to install another 512 MB or 1 GB of RAM. It should show you how in the manual that came with the computer. Will definitely help if this is happening with videos you have bought. If you're streaming them from online, the real problem may be your Internet connection speed, so I would check that first.

Good god, whats wrong with Hillary Clinton's voice? (watching the channel 9 news)

262 The quick game has left me lost for the rest of the evening. My fiance is out of town and I'm feeling the effects from umpiring 3 games this morning. I really don't feel like committing myself to a movie or anything right now and I feel too crappy to do anything else.

I was hoping the game would be on until I was ready for bed. So it goes.

265 Los Angeles can do a lot to de-dumbify their kids. If, by "Los Angeles" you mean "Parents" in this case.

Read to your kids. Go to Back to School Night. Get weekly progress reports. The problem with schools has nothing to do with schools, and everything to do with parents. I'm there, on Back to School night, talking to three parents out of sixty. I'm one of people trying to fix this garbage. It's got nothing to do with schools.

Care about your euphamism kids, and we don't have this euphamism problem.

271 On back to school night, we had 1 set of parents show up from our class. I understand that I work with special ed kids, but I believe that it's more important for their parents to be involved than a kid with full capabilities.

Amazingly, the kids in our program that have involved parents are better behaved and are in a position to get out of special ed to the best of their ability.

271
Either do all that, or just don't have kids in the first place.

I would like somebody to explain to me how to fix a 14 year-old student who can't read, because their parents never did a damn thing, never read to them, never helped them do homework because their parents can't even do basic math. Explain to me how a teacher is supposed to fix a 14 year-old student who doesn't have the basic interpersonal relationship skills to say please, thank you, and excuse me. A kid who can't articulate his feelings because he's never, ever been taught how to function as a normal human being.

Please explain that to me. Tell me how easy this is. I'm dying to hear about this simple plan. Really. Tell me. Fix this for me, oh educational reformers.

Wow, I sounded really bitter right there. I'm sorry about that.

But oooh, felt so good.

274 And yet, his test scores are counted in the API scores for your school.

I'm still trying to figure out how testing special ed kids with the same tests as the rest of the school really proves anything. State testing can kiss my butt. Last week was horrible.

276 When I have a prep period, I often period sub for the resource/special day classes. As tough as it is for me, I don't envy those teachers at all. And standardized testing is a joke.

Again, I don't mean to sound bitter, but kids are formed before they're ten. Bottom line. If kids don't get the necessary stimuli/education/support while they're little midgets, they're done for. The best thing we can do for teenage nightmares is to teach them a valuable trade, so they can become electricians and make more money than I do.

I don't mean to sound bitter

There's nothing wrong with sounding bitter

274 Now I know where my Western Civ students come from-- Greg Brock's class.

Where is Suffering Bruin when I need him?

279 My kids have monster test scores. Highest at my school, and it's not close.

When I was in High School, my goal was to get done with Standardized Testing as soon as possible so I could get back to reading my book. This meant I applied the rigourous standard of "do I know this immediately? If not, just guess." Now, I did pretty well due to my innate ability to handle what amounts to trivia, but I could see decently knowledgeable students bombing a test that really means nothing to them.

282 Yeah, that's a huge problem. The trick is to count each point as extra credit, or missing homework assignments, or as an extra test.

You're not supposed to, but it's the only way to make the kids care about it.

I didn't mean to sound like I was lecturing you. I know you're a teacher and you're obviously bright. I'm 99% sure that you're way more informed in this area than I. But your posts seemed to me pretty callous and cynical. Perhaps, if I knew more of the matter I would be too. I know that some kids are going to be bitched from the start. Given their environments (parental and otherwise)the chances of them achieving any kind of academic success will be really small. Parents are without a doubt the biggest factor in academic success. But are you really telling me that having quality teachers and being able to attend school where you feel safe and you have all the resources you need don't make any kind of a difference? Jon stated he wished that some of the energy poured into popular culture could be poured in education. I know it's a complex matter but society should think about developing policies which encourage or enable parents to be better parents (e.g. a limit to the amount of overtime that companies can ask employees to work).

282 I gave some of my kids crap the other day for finishing too soon. I can buzz through a standardized test and do pretty well. Some of the kids buzzed through the test quicker than I can.

I've heard them read. I know their reading levels. I know that they didn't try very hard. I told them to have fun in tutorials next year instead of "fun" type of electives.

I didn't think you sounded inappropriately bitter, Greg, for what that's worth.

My sister's been both a junior high school teacer, and then more recently she became an ESL administrator for an urban high school. That school district was just on strike for two weeks because they hadn't even been giving a COLA raise in two or more years. But at least for that they had a lot of nice support from parents in the community and it was kind of heartwarming to see.

But anyway, she's told me some stories in the past about kids and their parents that will make you want to scream.

271
It's a good thing Greg Brock's students aren't scored on their ability to spell "euphemism."

Teacher, that is. Sheesh.

And I think 284 is well said, too.

I could go off on my whole schools, not bombs sloganeering, but don't want to politicize this blog. ;-) So I'm gonna go watch the the extras on the Children of Men disc, finish the movie again, and then lie in bed, frightened.

Another good bitter teacher story (not mine though). A few departments at my fiance's school were told the other day that perhaps they should adjust their grading scale because there were far too many Fs going out.

She said that the vast majority of the Fs she has given out in her teaching career are because the kids don't do the work. Some of the other teachers she talked to her in her department said the same thing.

The kids don't do the work and their grades reflect it yet the teachers take crap for it.

284 I didn't take any offense to what you said. At all. It's just that people don't want to face the fact that most human beings aren't meant for college. Most people aren't "smart". "Smart" means above average, so everybody can't be "smart", or "smart" would be average.

Teachers can tell you who the college kids are in one night. AP classes are standing room only on Back to School Night. Seventy parents, crammed in to hear about how you're going to get their child into Harvard. College Prep classes are half-filled, and those parents have CSU-bound kids.

General Ed classes have three parents show up. Those kids are going to fix my messed up wiring. I'm not knocking electricians or plumbers or masons...It's noble work. It's important work. Those are hard working people who know a hell a lot more about their work than I do, and they work their bums off. But they're not schoolwork people.

Parents are 90% of the product. That's it. It's not an argument. I don't want to hear about improving schools, or more funding, or standardized tests, or NCLB, or increased taxes for computers and field trips. Read to your kids. Show them you care, and they will care.

287 That's it? That's your contribution? Ripping me on euphemism?

Boooo-urns.

I really feel for elementary and secondary school teachers. They deal with a lot more than I do. I can only wish that you each had school districts with involved parents like ours. Probably 50/60 parents showing up for parent night, and most kids have involvement at home.

Kids with uninvolved parents need to be identified early and given mentoring. I intend to get involved in a big brother program some day.

292
You must have a Parent's Night every night...

293
Is Parent's Night around the same time as Veteran's Day?

Yikes, did anyone see the box score for the 51s game tonight? Not their finest pitching effort.

http://tinyurl.com/37kdgh

Stults, Alexander, Hoorelbeke hit particularly hard.

Loney went 2-3, Bigbie continues to tear it up... but they were a couple touchdowns shy.

Onto other subjects, the NFL draft boggles my mind. It still seems like tooly type of players are taken higher than guys with track records.

Oop's.

Lest I go crazy, I must say that there are awesome times. I have kids come up to me and say that they want to be History teachers because of how much they love my class. I have kids that say that I'm their favorite teacher ever. I love my job. I get up every day and am thankful that I get to do this.

I love my job, and I only get this adamant because of how much I care about these kids. I wouldn't trade what I do with anybody. I feel blessed.

296 This is true, too. But the thing that really boggles my mind, the only thing, really, is the # of fans who dress up in hardcore fan gear and come to the draft HQ or to their team's official parties and cheer and scream and chant prospects' names. I love football and follow the draft, but if I ever follow it that much, please hit me, hard.

Bob's gal pal works with exceptional children. Any input on the subject, Griddler?

Thanks for the dialogue. Seems to me that your students are lucky to have you for a teacher. Best of luck to you and take it easy on Pierre. Just like we all can't be smart, we all can't be good baseball players.

Just like we all can't be smart, we all can't be good baseball players

I have no problem with persons who are not good baseball players. I just have a problem with persons who are not good baseball players getting paid $44 million to play baseball.

Jon, late comment, but to contrast last night with tonight, well, to borrow from Chief Dan George's character in the film Little Big Man, sometimes the Magic works, sometimes It doesn't...

300
I could get her comments, but most of it would be laced with profanities and not suitable for reprinting.

At her school, she rarely sees parents who care about their kids. Even if they are to pick them up for beating up other students or setting fires.

Or doing things which I can't even describe in this forum.

For those of you that care, here is a great website with tons of original photographs from 1860 to 1900. Lincoln at Antietam is among them...Just a treasure trove of great pictures. It was put on fark.com, so it's kind of farked, but if you hit refresh the images should come up. They're fantastic.

http://www.old-picture.com/index.htm

304 So why can't she fix the students? Is she a bad teacher? Isn't that her job? FIX THEM!

306
She's a coordinator now, not a teacher.

So your girlfriend works with the really bad kids? I imagine that they are the kids that we kick out because they are too bad for our classes.

If anyone has ever spent any time in a special day class, you know you have a bad, bad kid to get kicked out. Special day kids get away with a lot of crap.

308 But those kids have severe learning disabilities, often exacerbated by social disorders/behavioral issues.

Yeah, you gotta be a fire starter or a biter to get kicked out of special day. Gadzooks.

310
You can give a teacher a lap dance too.

That can get you kicked out.

309 was in the wrong thread, so I deleted it.

312
I wondered about that. I thought I missed something juicy.

I haven't met many Special Ed teachers that I really respect. There are a few that I believe to be absolute saints, and a whole lot that should quit.

Of course, the same could be said for a bunch of teachers in a bunch of subjects. But it just seems so much more cruel to phone it in as a Special Ed teacher. How could somebody do that?

314
While she complains about her job and her administrators, my girlfriend does genuinely care about her children.

But it's really hard for her to put up with everything else that goes on in at LAUSD.

Jon, what version of QuickTime do you have on your Mac?

315 I can't imagine you'd date somebody that would phone it in as a Special Ed teacher.

But this is what happens when school performance comes up, anywhere. My Great Grandfather was a professor. My grandparents were teachers. My mother is a teacher. I'm a teacher. My sister is a teacher. We all tend to get very bitter and defensive and attacking. Non-teachers telling teachers how to fix education really gets me fired up.

Do you see what happens, non-teachers?
Do you see what happens?

This is what happens when you find a teacher on the ropes.

This is what happens.

This has been said at least a million times, but it doesn't seem reasonable to expect teachers to "fix" and "educate" and "counsel" and "care for" and etc. our children, and then turn around and not pay them very much money.

As far as I'm concerned, we're lucky schools do as well as they do.

310 The learning disabilities part of the equation is huge. Unfortunately, most of our kids don't enter special ed until later on in their school career. It is very rare to look at an IEP and see a kid enter special before middle school.

By the time they have an initial IEP, many of them have also developed behavior problems. Many of them have a hard time coping with the feeling that they are stupid so it's easier to start acting like a knucklehead to hide their learning problems and to make them feel less stupid. I think for most kids, it's easier to be labeled as a jerk than it is to be stupid.

Of course, there are also the kids that have had life deal them a crappy hand. They are already mentally deficient and have a hard time controlling themselves. Throw abuse (mental, physical, or sexual) into the mix and it makes for one seriously screwed up kid.

Just as far as my "I still would like to see some of the energy and enthusiasm we spend on popular culture somehow channeled into education" goes, that wasn't directed at the educators. That was directed at the population at large.

316 - QuickTime™ Version 7.1.5, Player Version 7.1.5

319 Do your parents show up for the IEP's? We have a huge problem with that.

Also, the parents don't talk when they do show up. They're embarrassed, don't know what to do, and completely shut down. It's so hard to get parents to communicate during an IEP.

If anyone's interested in Los Angeles broadcasting history, can I recommend the top entry on Screen Jam?

319 It doesn't seem to be a huge problem, but we did have a manifestation determination a couple of weeks ago that a parent didn't show up to.

A manifestation determination is a big, big deal. I guarantee you that the kids that Bob's girlfriend works with who were in special ed are all their because of one of those meetings.

The latest Dodger third base candidate is Mike Lieberthal:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodrep29apr29,1,2437480.story?coll=la-headlines-sports

I am the proud parent of a child who had an IEP starting in preschool and has left his IEP behind by third grade.

324
The quality of my weekend depends upon how the week's IEP meetings went.

I'm on my own this weekend.

325 If it gets that bad, I would really really hope they move Nomar over. The article says they can't do this because of a history of injuries, but I just don't buy that excuse.

Lieberthal has played only catcher as a major leaguer but was a shortstop until his senior year at Westlake Village Westlake High.

Hi-larious

327 The teachers who live and die by their students' performance live the toughest lives.

I am not one of them. I love my job, but I will not hang myself because you didn't learn about the Third Estate. It's the stupid peasantry and artisans. There. It takes two seconds to memorize that. Fail, don't fail...I love you guys, but I'm not losing any sleep because you can't memorize that.

I'm not having a nervous breakdown because you can't remember who lead the Jacobins. I'm just not going to. Sorry.

In 1962, the Dodgers stuck Tommy Davis at third base for 39 games. He made 10 errors and had a fielding percentage of .889.

Bill Sudakis was a catcher-third baseman in the style of a sofa-bed.

The quality of my weekend depends upon how the week's IEP meetings went

The quality of my 24/y depends on my wife's day at work. Fortunately, after 3.5 years of misery, she's planning to resign on Monday.

Wasn't Martin formerly a third baseman? And much more recently than Lieberthal was an infielder. It would make more sense to move Martin to third and put Lieberthal at catcher. But that still doesn't make any sense at all, because Martin's become such a wonderful catcher and calls a great game. Either way, it's dumb. Move Nomar to third, call up Loney, put Lieberthal in at first once in awhile if you need to get him more at bats.

My head hurts. Night all!

24/y

Oops, my right pointer finger went too low and to the left.

321 If this is a network speed problem and not a memory problem, then you might be able to fix this from home. I suspect it might be because (a) you were having some network problems last week, (b) this worked before, and isn't working now.

Under the Apple menu, open up System Preferences (Show All), and select QuickTime.

Under "Streaming", you can experiment with the "Instant-On" settings. Either move the slider further to the right, or turn off "Instant-On" altogether.

Another thing you can try is under the "Browser" button. Empty the disk cache, and make the cache a bit larger than what you currently have.

Then exit out of System Preferences, reboot, and then see what happens.

Moving Lieberthal to third instead of Nomar is so crazy, I can't begin to understand it. Crazy crazy crazy. Lampshade on the head crazy. Paul Lynd as Hamlet crazy. Soupy Sales as Vito Corleone crazy.

Carrot Top as Oskar Schindler crazy. Dumb Dumb Dumb.

[/end insightful analysis]

But is it Leonard Nimoy singing Proud Mary crazy? It... just...might... work.

Except, replace "work" with "suck."

337 Underdog wins.

Hard to believe that Lieberthal could be higher up on the 3B depth chart than LaRoche

Or Saenz. It's too goofy to believe.

I think Ethier should play third base.

Or Kevin Malone. Or a ham sandwich.

Or they could move Nomar to third and call Loney up. If, you know, they want to do proper baseball stuff.

I'm not against Broxton playing third. Dude has a cannon, and can take up space.

I'm not against the Bison playing third. Dude has a cannon, and can take up space.

A bit late with this, but==

A couple stories which illustrate parental education involvement, or lack of...or the wrong kind of...

One of my son's elementary teachers noticed a girl, a good student, occasionally coming to school late without homework or much else, sometimes wearing the same clothes as the day before.

The teacher discovered that the girl's late days were the ones following nights spent hiding in a laundromat with her mother, where the pair went to get away from her drunken father. If they stayed home when he drank, he would beat them both.

And in second grade a girl just quit coming. The school checked and was told she and her mother were out of state due to the mother's job. Six weeks later, the story had changed. Truth was the mother had just taken the girl and gone to visit relatives...

They then returned to school, the mother expecting the girl to pick right back up on her part in a school play the class had begun work on six weeks earlier--and of course getting really upset when the teacher said she couldn't, because the part had to be reassigned and it wouldn't be fair to other students. The girl's name? "Special" (really). Was the mother concerned about missed classwork? Not in the least. Just the play.

These stories pale beside others that could be told, I'm sure. For the record, my son's school drew from probably a wider ranging socio-economic population than most schools. The first story above was a middle-class family, the second from a family lower on that scale.

I think there's little doubt education generally is valued less these days, moreso among lower-income families, which means their children are more likely to repeat the life pattern.

The ingrained belief used to be that if you worked hard and got a good education, you could, would, and should better yourself. Now, more and more people value education less and less, to their detriment.

That's fairly easy to point out. What's not easy is coming up with good ways to get more parents to care. And when they don't, children suffer...without exception.

Hey, that is good news D4P. Are you guys moving or does she have another job? What is the good word?

345
There is another firm in town, one that has always appeared much more appropriate and enjoyable to work for. She has been in contact with them multiple times before, most notably a year or so ago when they made her an offer. She chickened out and stayed at her current job. After another crappy year, she has decided (hopefully) to finally leave and go to the other firm. She met with them last week, and it sounds like a much better place for her. They made her an offer again, and she's supposed to be telling her boss on Monday that she's quitting.

I'm withholding my excitement until she actually follows through with it, because she's waffling and I know that quitting will be a very unpleasant experience. She'll be really stressed out all day tomorrow. She's mostly concerned about hurting the feelings of her sexist, abusive, moronic boss.

346cont.
She's also concerned (rightfully so) that her boss will make her feel really bad about quitting and will be a (jerk) about the whole thing.

346 - Yeah, I felt bad telling my aunt I was moving out of town, like I was breaking up with her or something. She was really happy for me though, which I imagine is not the case here.

Your wife mentioned how much she hated this job, so this seems like an unequivocally positive development. I hope it all works out.

To tie the two threads of this story together, I went out to dinner with my aunt tonight, and I told her about how we went out to dinner at Grasshopper (she ate there at my graduation). It was like coming out of the closet as an internet message board person, especially since the first story she thought of was someone who had an affair with an online partner. Fortunately, I am more into the baseball side than internet romance (with you anyway).

247 - Pull the band-aid off, don't do it slowly and suffer for months. I mean, eventually she is leaving anyway so staying is only delaying the inevitable.

There's pretty much no doubt that the job change will be positive, in virtually every respect. She doesn't doubt that, but she just has to get over the hurdle of actually telling her boss she's leaving.

350 - Is she giving two weeks notice? I am quitting soon and I am kind of excited for that two weeks. I assume that there is this weird conflict between them trying to work you really hard and you not giving a crap.

Lieberthal at 3b would be worse than Phillips at 1b.

They cant possibly be seriously considering that.

Lost in the discussions re Pierre's inadequacies and the hole at third:

(1) Tsao has yet to give up an earned run. I have not seen him pitch. I can only assess him from the linescores. Looks like a keeper. Anyone watched him closely in action? What are your observations?

(2) Billingsley is no relief pitcher. Put him back into the starting rotation -- at Las Vegas. Call an end to a failed experiment. Experiments like these lose games.

(3) LaRoche is playing poorly at Las Vegas. Might that have something to do with the other experiment of playing him out of position in the outfield? Time to terminate that wrong-headed experiment, too. Had LaRoche gotten his work in at third, he might be ready to take care of our disaster there.

(4) Martinez and Seanez are the prime candidates for removal, and in that order.

BTW, I agree, of course, that we ought to bring Loney back and try Nomar at third. However, I do not recall Nomar playing ANY third during spring training. Am I wrong?

49.

a bit of french spelling for Steve Garvey's heir:

tout DE suite

(although one rarely hears the 'de' pronounced it's ALWAYS written !)

Now you can go back to hitting your 44HRs at Albuquerque

Obviously Steve Garvey's heir is onto something when he talks about the lack of parental involvement in their children's education. But it's far from being the only factor.

Also, entirely blaming the parents for the lack of success of the students is somewhat like saying Sgt Janice Karpinski (spelling?) is the sole responsable for torture in Iraq. The buck goes higher.

I'd be willing to put money on the table that the figures would show that education in CA (and the US in general) started slipping at about the same time that the notorious proposition 13 passed. (June 1978 if i remember correctly…). Prop 13 enabled many pre 1978 homeowners to add on an extra room to their suburban homes, but over the last 30 years, it's most lasting effect has been the destruction of public services in California.

Thus the current state of the pavement on the 5 freeway is directly related to the quality of schools as well.

(Maybe we should contract Haliburton to fix our roads… and our schools…by gum by golly, there's nothing that a little private enterprise couldn't fix !)

The anti intellectual mood in American society in general also plays a large role in our general lack of attention to education: be it on the parental or political level . Evolution vs creation debates in the US (just to quickly cite one example…) create incredulous smiles on the faces of people all over the world. It's hard to find another country capable of electing such complete intellectual lightweights as President (ref: elections of 1980 and 2000). (and Idi Amin was NOT elected…).

------
in a lighter direction…
-----

Also the decline in popularity of baseball over the last 40 years might have something to do with the corresponding decline in American intelligence. Nowhere is there another sport (with exception of chess!) that stimulates the brain cells as much as our(former?) national pastime.

And while you're all asleep in sunny SoCal, I'd like to congratulate Jon in particular and Dodger Thoughts in general for the most balanced and thoughtful discussion of the Barry Bonds story(from 2 days ago) that I've seen on the net over the last 2 years…
----

and this from Dodger fans…
(chapeau!give yourselves a hand…)
----
----
Also I have a confession to make:
even though I am SoCal born and bred and used to go to games with Sandy Koufax and Maury Wills at the Coliseum as an infant
in the early 1960s …

…uh, as a personal protest, I became a Giant fan during the Rupert Murdoch period…

But now I'm back in the fold.

And even more so with Russell Coltrane Martin on board…
(Will his father be playing the anthem on his saxophone again at any time this year?)

But no one would be happier if the Dodger's won the division AND the Giants picked up the wild card…

Is there anyone else with such seemingly contradictory allegiances ?

325 - Someone needs to remind the Dodger powers that be of the Pedro Guerrero experiment. Things like this never end well.

If they do decide that Betemit is just not going to emerge from his funk (and I'm still fine with giving him some more time to try), then bring up LaRoche, ready or not. It's not like they are planning to stick him in the cleanup spot anyway. Put him in the 8-hole where there's not much pressure to produce, and let him develop just as they did with Russell Martin last year. If he hits, then he can be moved up, and if not, well he can't be much worse than what they're getting now.

A growing body of research indicates that ADHD kids are far more likely to become criminals, thrill seekers, successful or bankrupt risk obsessive entrepreneurs. Because of slower than normal waves in the prefrontal cortex, the front of the brain cannot communicate effectively with the midbrain and properly regulate emotions in everyday life.

Neurofeedback has been successful in speeding up the brainwaves for those with ADD or ADHD and increasing them for alcoholics.

Damage to the cortex from accident, physical abuse, sports, genetics, oxygen deprivation at birth, or drinking by the mother apparently causes slower than normal waves in the front of the brain and the inability to engage the other systems.

Because the brain's internal communication system in people with slow wave activity in the frontal lobes is sluggish, incoming messages need to be more sensational than normal to achieve the same level of stimulation.

A study of 101 students from age fifteen to age twenty-nine found that kids with low arousal in the prefrontal cortex had a much greater chance of becoming delinquents. The theory is that these kids become addicted to stimulation that increases their arousal levels back to normal. Some adolescents join a gang, burglarize a house, or beat someone up to get an arousal jag.

Neurofedback has shown an ability to speed up brainwaves for those with ADD or ADHD and slow them for alcoholics.

I can only hope that Kemp playing CF and Abreu back at 3B last night is indication the Dodgers are considering change. Start thinking about change in one place and it carries over to other places.

Is she giving two weeks notice?

Yes, though there's a possibility he'll kick her out of the office for the two weeks and she'll get what amounts to a two week paid vacation. He has done that before when people left. It's largely up to her, in that he would kick her out for sure if she told him she was going to a competitor firm. But she's not sure she wants to do that because wants the two weeks to look out for her clients and help transition her projects to other people.

361 - I think my boss might not make me stay the whole two weeks either, but I don't think that means I would get paid for that time. She could always take her address book with her and then call them personally and tell them what happened. Exciting stuff.

Tragic news out of St. Louis.

RP Hancock killed in a car wreck.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=118024

The game between Cardinals and Cubs was postponed.

RIP Josh Hancock

356 I will root for the Giants in a World Series. I have always liked that the Giants moved to CA with the Dodgers and it is hard to not like Willie Mays.

I quit watching the Lakers for awhile and rooted for Portland instead when Walton was there. At that time the Lakers were not only boring they didn't have any UCLA players on the team. Why pull for UCLA and then root against those same players when they moved to the NBA? I pull for the Lakers again but they have to be careful to not get boring again.

362
It is exciting, though I was much more excited last year when she was seriously considering the change. Once she decided to stay at the current job, I think a piece of me died, and I'm more guarded in my excitement this year.

I personally want her to get kicked out, not only for the vacation, but because staying there for two weeks after quitting will really suck. Her boss will make it miserable for her.

366 - Yeah. My boss is a really nice guy, perhaps too nice, so I think those two weeks will be awesome. Plus, the company tradition is to have a party on my last day, which usually devolves into a sloppy mess.

When I quit my previous job, the last couple of weeks were pretty cool. I found as many excuses to call in sick as possible because the city only paid 20% of my sick and after being there for almost 10 years, I had accumulated quite a bit.

I don't remember doing a whole lot of work, except for making sure that everyone knew where my stuff was and transitioning other people into the programs that I ran.

Lemme tell ya, getting up in the morning and deciding that I didn't feel like going to work and doing something about it was pretty cool.

Lemme tell ya, getting up in the morning and deciding that I didn't feel like going to work and doing something about it was pretty cool

Yeah. It's very empowering, especially at a place that has mistreated you and made you feel like a failure.

I'm reasonably certain now that Mrs. D4P does not read this blog.

Six months ago, I got to live out the American dream of telling off my stupid, immature, and totally unqualified manager (in front of nearly all my co-workers), then two weeks later leaving for a promotion within the same company (different facility) and a 50% raise.

My first interview (of five) for the new position took place three days after our altercation, so I was sweating bullets for a little while.

The only bad part is that he now goes around taking credit for getting me the job, when the truth is he didn't know anything about it until it was already decided.

371 I've found the secret to success often is to make other people you work with think a change that you need was their idea.

I'm reasonably certain now that Mrs. D4P does not read this blog

You can be absolutely certain of that. I don't want her monitoring me...

372

Yes, I agree with that for the most part, but it almost sickened me how superficially nice he suddenly became when he found out I was moving on.

He wants it to look like people go on to better things because he runs a great department, when the truth is he runs a terrible department and everyone hates him.

Today is the day that my promotion kicks in. I feel taller. My coffee tastes better. My punctuation seems more punctual. I'd go and boss someone around today except that I'm on loan to another department today so I'm just a visitor there.

I shall have to wait until Monday to institute my reign of terror.

375
What kinds of things will you get to tell people to do?

Yeah. It's very empowering, especially at a place that has mistreated you and made you feel like a failure.

I really hated my job for the last year and a half or so before I actually quit. I was fairly certain I was ready to quit and a couple of things pushed me over the edge. I've probably said it on here before, but in '05 I lost both of my grandmother's within 12 days of each other.

After losing one and on the brink of losing another (she had taken a turn for the worse that morning), I went in just to make sure loose ends were tied up for the softball league that evening. Sometime during that day, I talked with a guy about a refund check for softball. I knew that it was processed and figured finance had mailed it out. I left it at that. Honestly, softball refund checks weren't the top priority that day.

That sunday, my other grandma passed. I took a few days off and on one of the days, I got a call from my boss about that softball check. I guess her boss was giving her crap about me telling the guy that it was mailed out rather than checking finance. I told my boss that refund checks weren't really my concern that day and given the circumstances, I couldn't believe that her boss would even think about having her ask me that.

That was pretty much the day that I decided I couldn't work for the city anymore.

376
"Are you going to finish that sandwich?"
"Don't take candy from strangers."
"Hey, you're 30 minutes late!"
"Who used the last of the toilet paper?"

375 >>I shall have to wait until Monday to institute my reign of terror. <<

It's good to be the Librarian...

Actually, I think one of my first tasks tomorrow will be to print up everybody's timesheets.

Then I have to use a paper cutter.

And copy one of the timesheets on to blue paper.

Then it will be time for a break.

380
Sheesh. How long until you can retire and start taking care of yourself?

Farewell Josh Hancock :(

and I really, really do not want to ask or speculate on this but wasn't his manager also involved in a late-night driving incident just recently...?

USC has had four players taken in the NFL draft so far.

Stanford has had THREE. They must have been the only three good players on the team.

I can't believe I'm watching draft coverage right now. I must say that the NFL network is more subdued than ESPN. I think it's time to find a baseball game on EI.

383

Oregon finally got one. They have now matched perennial football powerhouse Western Oregon in players drafted.

There was a player drafted from "Western Oregon."

There's a college with that name?

Check out the cool guy with the mohawk!

http://www.wou.edu/

My mother was on her way to a degree in music at Western Oregon until she met my future dad and dropped out of school. Western Oregon is located in Monmouth, which was a "dry" city at the time, and may still be to this day.

Western Oregon is older than the University of Oregon?

389
Kind of like how Fredo is older than Michael

I don't know which school is older

388

Apparently the ban was lifted in 2003.

The 144-year-old ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages came to an end January 10, 2003 after a public vote in 2002. At the time the ban was lifted, Monmouth was the last "dry" municipality in the western United States (excluding Alaska)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth%2C_Oregon

Western Oregon's website says it opened in 1856. The University of Oregon opened in 1876.

393

Western Oregon didn't become a public university until 1882.

Former names of the school:
Monmouth University
Christian College
Oregon Normal School
Oregon College of Education
Western Oregon State College

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Oregon_University

Alex Cora goes deep for a 2-run shot to put Boston ahead 4-3. The Yankees scored their three runs on a Doug Mientkiewicz homer.

At least David Ortiz hit a home run to make it seem normal.

JD Drew is sitting out this game as he's been in a slump.

375 Today is the day that my promotion kicks in.

Ah. Hence the HDTV purchase? Congratulations.

I just stole the HDTV. Don't tell Sears.

Funny how a few hits early in the year changes everything. If you factor in the defense Betemit has been playing compared to the defense Gonzo plays and bats 5th it is amazing to me that Betemit is considered the source of all the Dodgers ills. Grady is finding every reason in the book not not to play Betemit while Gonzo never misses a day. The numbers for the last seven days:
Name/AVG/OBA/Slug%
Gonzo/143/280/190
Betemit/200/375/400

So that is a 775 OPS compared to 470 and yet Lieberthal is mentioned as someone to take some ab from Betemit while Kemp is in AAA. Sometimes I wonder why I care about this game.

398 Because it's fun to complain?

Why don't you post that over at Jackson's website? He seems to think it's a good thing for Martinez to play for Betemit. Someone needs to kick Grady in the butt about this.

So that is a 775 OPS compared to 470 and yet Lieberthal is mentioned as someone to take some ab from Betemit while Kemp is in AAA. Sometimes I wonder why I care about this game.

Were' masochists ToyCannon. BTW I threw a no-hitter today on my sunday league game, i'm not to excited cause i realise the league isn't all that good.

We will score in the 15th off Hampson, probably with a home run.