Happy Anniversary!

Let's hope the Dodgers don't get shut out by Kevin Gross, er, Mike Bacsik, tonight!

And, suddenly, all was right with the world.

3 - When were things wrong with the world?

4
Well, maybe "normal" was a better word choice than "right".

Twenty years feels like a long time to me. Of course, current New York Met Julio Franco was in his sixth season already, so who's to say?

Well, I wasn't talking 20 years ago.

so not me :)

The first baseball game I ever watched was nearly five months after 5/29/1987.

I should tell advertisers that my demos skew young.

9 S'alright, Jon, I'm trying to bring the average up.

Repeated from prior thread, because it got caught in Laker Thoughts and never even got a derisive snort:

Did anyone happen to watch the Giants-Mets game yesterday?

I was watching on TV. There were some great pix of Lincecum's face as he delivered the pitch, and that look instantly reminded me of Hershiser in 1988. He has the same head tilt, peering at the target from the corners of his eyes. He even covered his mouth with his glove as he was walking off the field at the end of an inning in exactly the same way.

Next time he's on the tube, see if you don't agree with me.

"I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are."

guz·man /guhz-mən/ Pronunciation Key - gOoz-mahn
–noun
1. (Spanish/Caribbean slang.) One who perpetually disappoints. See: Juan; Cristian.

11 Mmmm...Nuts and Gum. (Together At Last!)

12 Don't forget Joel!

So the Nat's annoncers tell me that Dodger stadium has always been a good hitters park for doubles. I didn't know that. Maybe because it's . . . what's the word. . . false.

14 Oops, the dictionary meant Joel, not Juan. Who the heck is Juan Guzman? Anyway, yeah, that one.

Hm, this Bacsik guy seems like a pretty good pitcher...

10 Lincecum also wears number 55, just like Orel.

16 History would say otherwise.

Who the heck is Juan Guzman?

How quickly we forget.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/guzmaju01.shtml

Just to be complete, coolstandings.com also offers daily playoff odds.

16- Pitcher for the Blue Jays. I didn't remember much about him, but it looks like it would have been reasonable to expect more from him than he delivered, even if what he did deliver was nothing to sneeze at.

16 - This guy:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/guzmaju01.shtml

Career ERA+ of 113, led the AL in ERA and WHIP in 1996

no rest for the weary.

10 I noticed the Lincecum/Hershiser resemblence right away, too.

23 - Are we now going to have to hear that Martin needs rest every time he makes an out? It feels like someone always has that comment.

I guess the dictionary wasn't as innacurate as I feared. It merely shortchanged the best Guzman of them all.

I agree on the Hershiser-Lincecum resemblance, except - I hope this isn't too harsh because I'm sure he's a swell guy and obviously a tremendous pitcher - Lincecum makes Orel look like Brad Pitt.

25 I think this is the residue of the Paul Loduca era where Tracy played him everywhere everyday.

Anybody know why Logan is playing over Langerhans?

What about Luis Guzman?

http://tinyurl.com/2ab7em

Drat. I have to head to a doctor's appt. Hold the fort while I'm gone, willya? Buena suerte, Dodgers.

If Martin had more rest he would have had him by 2 steps. ;-)

29 A fine actor but probably not a great baseball player either. I think the dictionary entry was referring to sports, only. I should really rewrite that thing... I'm a real guzman.

Terrific throw. Nearly perfect. It's Russ's world, we just live in it.

27 - I get what it's the residue of. I'm just saying that it gets to be a bit much when everything short of perfection is attributed to fatigue.

Mayo emailed me back...

*Can't tell you where I get the info from, but it's info, not just a
guess. Of course, for anyone picking at 20 or below in this draft, the
teams are guessing. I can tell you they'd take Bumgarner over Smoker if
it was a choice between the two.*

*Could Alderson be around at 39? It's possible, but I doubt it. Even if
he was, I'm not certain the Dodgers would take him then...*

In "Out of Sight," the look on Luis Guzman's face when he finds out that the sawing-a-woman-in-half trick is just that -- a trick -- while he is being arrested is priceless.

wow dodgers are very selective at the plate today

34.

jon its just getting to the point where hes bound to break down

why is liberthal even on the team? we might as well release him and bring up loney. or carry 13 pitchers.

Methinks bringing this up when Martin has had two days off in the last six days isn't the best timing.

WOW!

Strike 3!

Hooray for Nomar.

He's doing fine tonight.

You know, Lowe hasn't done very well or has he?

Furry drops Martin's second kill of the night. Russel Martin is a charitable G-d. He permits Furcal to live.

This time.

What a gun! To bad it was knocked out of his glove.

Guzman swings for strike 3. No harm done.

Man E6, I'm surprised.

38 - No, it's very arguably not at the point yet. Not when he had two off days in the past week.

But that doesn't speak to my point, where the comments just seem to come every time Martin does something that isn't perfect.

If someone could show me any evidence that his playing today is a problem, that resting him today will keep him from a breakdown in September, that would mean something.

45 continued- Scored a CS-E5, so it won't be held against him in his arbitration hearing. The scorer knows better than to tempt the wrath of Martin.

48. Good for Martin's stats though.

50 - E6. Toni Abreu didn't do anything wrong.

Someone recently did a chart showing Martin has rested more this year than people generally believe. Maybe that could be reprinted.

Oh that was close!!!

Well, that was unpleasent.

49. The person you are discussing this with probably believes Martin is near death, the team is about to implode and the stadium is about to collapse. Is there anyone else who continues to make these comments?

NASTY!

Ugh 123 inning.

52- Stupid open source browser. Oh, sure, it has spell check. But can it correct me when I hit the wrong number? No.

Aha, so that's why I use Internet Exploder on this computer.

60- Fascist.

56 - Yes, there are plenty. I wouldn't have made an issue of it otherwise.

20 as the post headline? I thought Jon was writing another article about base-3. I guess that would make it your 6th year anniversary. Congrats!
vr, Xei

Did you guys see that move!?!

20 years ago I was pleading with God and/or negotiating with Satan to get me out of my digital signal processing class with a gentleman's C. That and hoping that food would one day taste like something other than cardboard (hard breakup about three months before).

Zimmerman strikes out. Lowe strikes again!

61 - The truth is that men are tired of liberty. ;)

20 years ago, I was just happy that I didn't have any more studying for my bar mitzvah to do.

I was also wondering how I could get the lovely Robyn to kiss me again. (She didn't.)

1 2 3

We should saved a couple of those runs from last night for today

65 DSP was actually one of my favorite classes in college. C++ programming, however...

20 years ago I was tearing it up in my Coach Pitch league. My dad didn't know what hit him!

Nice hit.

some people think martin is rested plenty, some people thinks he should rest more. no reason to get worked up over.

Come on Russ, get him over at least

Thanks Russ!!!

71 No kidding.

20 years ago I was coding and testing digital signal processing [see 65 ] algorithms (among other things) and dating the woman who is, to this day, still my wife. (I bring up the age average, apparently.)

Jon, FWIW, I appreciated the New Math / Tom Lehrer reference the other day. Lehrer is a minor god, at least, in my book, and as a product of the LAUSD, 1966 - 1978, I was exposed to plenty of new math, new grammar and whatever else was in vogue in the last heady days prior to the passage of proposition 13.

Atta boy 3.5!

Yay!!!!!!!!

Is our hitting getting better or are we facing bad pitching? I'd like to belive the former. But not sure I can.

I wasn't even alive 20 years ago!

3.5!

80 I think it's bad pitching.

53 Here's goes a quick chart, the difference between "Off Day" and "Day Off" is that the former is a scheduled day off while the latter is when Martin does not play in a game.

3 games in a row
Off Day
1
Day Off
4
Off Day
5
Day Off
4
Off Day
6
Day Off
2
Off Day
2
PH only
10
Off Day
1
DH only
4
Off Day
3
Off Day
2 (counting today)

Yes he walked!

Yeah, it's bad pitching.

Raffy having a monster May.

He actually took a pitch!

I hate you Juan.

89 Did you love him yesterday (4-5, 3 2Bs, 1 3B) ?

Right now, there is no question that the NL West, day in day out, is going to be toughest division, top to bottom, to hit against no matter who you play.

So you better be able to hit once you are playing outside the division.

Can someone define 3.5 for me?

77 Do you remember SSM math?

89 - no mercy at all. I went to the game last night and Pierre went 4-5, so he's on my good side now.

93 A discussion was held last year regarding Ethier being a starting outfielder or a 4th outfielder so the monicker of "3.5" was given to Ethier.

Now it is used with love rather than skeptism.

I was rong, Lowe is having a good year.

90 What do you think?

90 Use some common sense will ya'?

90 - I didn't love him yesterday, I don't love him today, and I won't love him tomorrow.

There's still skepticism about whether Ethier is good enough to play every day. There's little doubt he's good enough to start for the Dodgers, though.

Nomar is getting a lot of hard ground balls.

What a waste of a bat!

Interesting NBA contract info, Kobe Bryant has the only no-trade contract in the NBA because of their CBA, only players who have been in the league for 8 years and been on the same team for 4 are even eligible to ask for it and because players usually negotiate their max deals in their 4th or 5th years, they are not allowed to put that clause in.

My hatred for him was mildly abated yesterday.

Today, it is back in full force.

104 On the otherhand, ESPN.com reported that Roger Clemens does have a no-trade clause in his 4 month deal with the Yankees.

93 I don't remember that term. I remember, in fifth and sixth grade, being taught (very) basic set theory and base five (and maybe base eight) arithmetic. I also remember being taught English "morpheme" style. Fuzzy memories at this point.

Nice play.

so do you guys think this is kent's last year

104- Count me of the opinion that once a trade demand is issued, any no trade clause should be null and void. There is little in sports more annoying than a pampered superstar saying, "I won't play for you, but I won't play for anyone else, either."

First a good play, then an error by Guzman.

109 No I don't, but I think next year might

Louis Rivas is .286/.362/.457 for Cleveland's AAA affiliate.

If Russel keeps up the way he's playing he could go all the way into the hall of fame.

i love russell martin. that is all.

99

Tonight I'm four for five
On my bloops, line drives
Tonight, I light up scoreboards with my hits
But will you love me tomorrow?

That home run of Russell's would have traveled farther with a day of rest. ;)

OH YEAH!

Just the worst possible day to stake out the Russ needs a rest position. For his next trick, he's going to carry Lowe out to the mound in the bottom of the inning.

Did he look tired rounding the bases?

99 Yes, but I knew where you stood on the subject.

103 - Minnie Ripperton would be dismayed.

On the other hand, I do believe that Dodger fans can rally behind Russ Martin's bomb to left-center.

Lo Duca still has more heart.

And heart is what gets you all star votes.

Russ Ell Mar Tin! (Clap, Clap, Clap Clap Clap)

Bless Rm again. the only ovious choice for All Star Catcher!

116- Tomorrow doesn't rhyme with hits. Pesky rule one.

Whoa, 103 doesnt' exist. That's new math for ya.

Russell Martin, All-Star.

I know the New York or Atlanta areas are used to getting their way, and know how to "stuff the box", but Russell Martin is the obvious choice for Catcher--All Star Game.

I wonder how late in the season you can get prorated season tickets

At least Pierre didn't make an error on that fly.

126 I know you're joking, but "tomorrow" also doesn't rhyme with "eyes," which is the word in the original song.

116 -

Tonight his streak is broken
No hits tonight, he don't have one
But will the team be chokin'
If Pierre can't score leadoff runs?

103 was highly overrated.

110 In New England it's called Manny being Manny.

134 - Did it make Jayson Stark's book?

130 Yeah I've always wondered how far in the season you can get season tickets

115 You got that right!

128 Not only all star but if he continues this way he'll definitely be worthy of mvp votes, and i have to give keith olberman credit beacause before the season on dan patrick's radio show he mentioned russ as a one of his mvp candidates

133

I'd like to know what I did
Just how I ended my skid
But now, instead, I'll just go oh for five
And lower my OPS tomorrow

I got to go bye guys.

130 They were calling me last August for ticket packages so I think you can get them pretty late in the year.

125 - why, thank you. Oh, you mean Russ Martin...

130 In the old days they capped season ticket sales at 27,000. I assume they don't do that anymore.

I hate to interrupt the Russ love to point out that our pitching has been pretty gosh darn good. Of course, that's all because of Russ. Never mind.

145
Lowe has been hitting his spots well tonight.

Does Ray King look all of the listed 242 pounds (at 6'1")?

It doesn't feel quite right, watching King pitch, without having Vin remind me that he isn't fat, just "thick."

The announcers are beautiful dreamers, but I guess one would have to be, so I will save my vitriol for several teams in our own division.

147 meet 148?

and why did I type a question mark there?

Nice AB by Lowe. Some of our guys should take notes.

Dodgers raking Ray King?

Our pitchers are costing our leadoff guys triples.

C'mon suicide squeeze!

The Pitchers have been getting on base to keep our speedsters from getting thrown out. It seems to work very well.

that's right Juan; if he walked Lowe, he might walk you.

Pierre needs to hit more balls in the air.

so last night Nomar gets the guy in front of him intentionally walked, and tonight he just gets a new reliever.

153 - Ray King leaves

What was the count on Pierre's groundout?

The concept of "clogging up the bases" does seem a bit more legitimate these last two nights.

161 2-1

161 - 2-1

159
yeah, I couldn't believe when they walked the guy in front of Nomar last night. With Nomar's percentages with the bases loaded, I wonder what the Nats were thinking.

whewww i'm so glad that pierre has returned to his normal self tonight after an imposter was batting last night

159 - They were trying to set up the DP

This series is giving me the impression that the Dodgers are better than the Nationals.

A difference in opinion perhaps. The Dodgers.com story on Schmidt's outing has Ned pretty much saying that Jason is ready to go (barring any complications of course from today).

In the notes from DC, Grady says he is not yet convinced and Honeycutt was surprised that Schmidt pitched 6 innings. Grady did leave the door open for discussion but I think they will want to see his bullpen on Friday in Pittsburgh and then figure things out.

163, 164 - Thanks.

Another single for Nomar with RISP.

168 Duh.

Nomar has 31 RBIs this season. It seems like he's had 31 RBI-singles.

172 C'mon, he hit a solo homerun.

Did you see that move?

Before we unconsciously rate our selves in regard to the NL, wait till we play the Mets also. With all respect to SamDC who is one of my favorites and a great commenter, I think the 51's would be in better shape if the Nats. were in the PCL.

Abreu's got quite an arm hasn't he?

Beimel's warming up in the pen.

Lowe is just having a great day today.

Yeah let's hope he does a good job.

Oh man!that wasn't the right call.

The NL West is clobbering the NL East tonight. So far.

So have any pics of the ahem surgically enhanced Carolyn Hughes made their their way on to the internets yet

Hmmm maybe Beimel SHOULD come in.

the ump doesnt want to cooperate....

The walk should have been a strike out.

Lowe really got squeezed on those last two pitches.

184 I think you have the right idea.

186 Yes he did.

Assuming Lowe is done, on 113 pitches, that's 3 straight games with the Dodger starter allowing no runs.

That was close.

189 Your right I didn't notice that.

What a pitch to swing at.
(sarcasm)

In Gurnick's notebook: Mitch Jones, third baseman.

Not again!!!!!!!!!! I'm not happy with those two strike outs.
(ripping hair put)

Not again!!!!!!!!!! I'm not happy with those two strike outs.
(ripping hair out)

The NL West is throwing a collective shutout tonight.

173 and two sac flies.

Beimel sure doesn't help our MLB-best K:BB ratio

196 And they're outscoring the NL East 19-0.

198 But he's trying to rectify that right now. Hit the pine, Nook.

So the NL West is throwing 4 shutouts and each game is in at least the 9th inning. And we are all on the road. Has that ever been done before?

201 Colorado, on the other hand, has yielded a run to the Cardinals.

The Phillies break up the shut out with 2 in the 9th.

Looking ahead a little bit, seeing as olmedo absolutely owns PNC Park and nomar just got a day off sunday i wonder if grady would dare start olmedo at third for a couple of games

194, 195 - Easy now. You're gonna want that stuff down the road.

Mmmm...Nuts and Gum. (Together At Last!)

Simpson's episode, no?

Tense time in Philly, only one run lead with Howard up.
Arizona got lazy and didn't bring in Valverde until Lyon had made a mess.

203 Phils within 1 with Howard PHing with one on.

Meanwhile, Guzman led off with an IF single. How long does Grady wait before getting Broxton (?) up?

is it the bottom of the ninth yet at shea? I wanna catch tonight's meltdown.

4-6-3 DP!

Allright Rudy.

Phils just ran their way out of a rally.

What does Seanez have to do convince people he deserves to pitch?

What a nice game by Lowe. Two out of three is great, but a sweep should be in order. A certain giant on the hill tomorrow is on notice.

We win!

210 Two outs in the top of the ninth.

That's crazy I didn't know Lenny Harris was the hitting coach for the Nats, i'm slowly but surely getting up there in age.

215--Especially then Penny/Lowe are pitching those first two games. You almost have to win those.

213 Stole second with Howard up!? Then he lined into a 4-6 DP.

Ethier the winning run. Martin the insurance.
Lowe the quality start. Beimel and Seanez good relief. No more to say.

What does Seanez have to do convince people he deserves to pitch?

To me, the issue isn't so much whether he can pitch, but whether he should be getting a roster spot over, say, a Matt Kemp or a James Loney or a K/G-uo.

Baseball Refernce shows Seanez's nickname as "action traction". I've never heard that. That's way too awesome a nickname to wasted on a forgetable player.

222
I wonder if he likes a good stew

So it ends up the three Calif. NL teams shutting out the Nats, Mets, and Bucs.

223 Whoa, whoa, whoa. There's still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato. Baby, you've got a stew going.

223 You know I'm like a moth to a flame with the AD quotes.

My fear is this. Playing the NL east we may not gain any ground as everybody is winning.
But I fear the Mets combination of talent and luck, combined with a perverse penchant for hurting the D's, could get in our way big time. Mark my words, though I hope I am wrong.

221-I agree with that Seanez shouldn't have a roster spot over the guys you mention, but how about Hendrickson and Tomko? Do we need both of them? Either of them?

227 The big difference in schedules is that the Dodgers (outside of 3 more games against the Angels at Dodger Stadium) play the Blue Jays for 6 and 3 in Tampa Bay while the Arizona plays both Boston and New York, the Padres host Boston and the Giants host New York.

Of course the bad thing is that the Dodgers get to play Mets 3 times (10 games), once in New York and twice in LA.

The saving grace could be that right now the Dodgers are the only team in the division to have a .500 or better record against the other 4 teams in the NL West while the other 4 take turns beating each other.

I wonder if they got those muffins that the size of softballs?

Jason Schmidt comments after his rehab start per the Riverside Press.

Schmidt, who purchased a post-game spread from Claim Jumper for the entire 66ers roster.

"I was thinking more about getting life on the fastball and trying to locate it. That was the biggest thing for me, that, and pitching pain free, and we accomplished that today."

221 I'd rather see Seanez in relief than Brazoban, just to name a guy on the roster more expendible.

229 I appreciate your rational outlook. But I feel even worse because I didn't realize we had 9 or ten with the Mets. I hope it is just my neurosis about the Mets. And perhaps the other guys schedules w/ NY and Boston will have the desired effect. If Martin continues in this way steady it may not even matter. Bless us, every one.

Last thread: I lived in Portland for one of my forty years -- it was Summer 99 to Fall 2000. Boy did I watch that Game 7 in a room of loud obnoxious Blazer fans, esp. since if I recall correctly, the Lakers had failed to clinch for two games in a row.

28: More often than not Logan starts over Langerhans.

When Ken redesigns Fairpole (or at least takes it out of Beta!), I have a modest proposal. I've been on a chat site where the comment drafting box was static on the right third of the screen and the comment thread scrolled in the left two thirds. So when you had to scroll through 232 comments after logging in, the comment box stayed visible on the right and you could type your responses, insights, witty gems, etc., as you went. Instead of jumping up and back from the bottom or making notes in a separate window somewhere.

Works well.

Big pain, I realize.

Quote from Shaq after the 2000 Western Conference Finals win:

"They were playing their best ball the whole game, and we were just scratching and clawing," O'Neal said. "The Blazers are a fabulous team, and this is probably a rivalry that's going to last throughout my entire career."

http://tinyurl.com/s24eq

Um, well, so, anyhow . . .

Wow, I didn't think it was possible for me to have any less respect for A-Rod. He just got the Yankees a run by pulling the most bush league stunt I have heard about in a long time. In the 9th inning of the Blue Jays' game, the Yankees have two outs. A-Rod is on 2nd, and another Yankee is on 3rd. The batter pops it up to the 3B/SS area. The Blue Jays' 3B, some nobody filling in for Glaus, is camped under the ball with the Blue Jays' SS a bit behind him. As A-Rod is running from 2B to 3B, he shouts out "I've got it!" The 3B, believing he has just been called off the ball by the SS, stands still and the ball drops onto the field. The Yankee runner who was on 3rd, scores. The Blue Jays' bench started to empty as everybody no doubt wanted to go and kick the crap out of A-Rod. As poor sportsmanship as I have ever seen. But A-Rod did it, so I am sure a lot of people will think it was just great.

Hello?

Check, check.

Is this thing on?

236 Actually, A-Rod did it so people will think it's bush. If it was Varitek, people would talk about how heady it was.

See how the other half lives -- Post gamer is up: http://tinyurl.com/3dvkuy

You'll be happy to know that Russ Martin is "quickly developing into one of the National League's best catchers."

And I liked this line: "How bad have the past two nights been? The Dodgers' pitchers -- Lowe and Brad Penny -- have combined to go 3 for 3 with two walks, a double and a sacrifice bunt, more production than any of the Nationals' offensive regulars."

236--I wouldnt fault A-Rod for it, but i'd have to question the 3rd basemen for being that unaware of his surroundings.

I just got home from the game, and am left with three thoughts:
1) The Nats are bad.
2) The Secondary market for Nats tickets is worse (for the sellers). I got a single in Section 119 (7th row inside the 3rd base dugout) at an 80% discount. Free food and a nice view.
3) Russ Martin is a god.

241 On point 2, that's funny because I was just looking at this: http://tinyurl.com/2j82le

239,241

the MASN broadcasters were pinpping our pitching staff & Russell Martin, it's pretty good on the ego even for us fans.

Beltre with a two out RBI double off Jared W. ties things up in Anaheim at 4 all.

Or did that happen in LA?

A-Rod didn't yell "I got it." He just shouted "Haa!" loudly and dude got spooked. That happens all the time when you run to the dugout to make a catch.

Who gets spooked by that? What are you, nine years old there third baseman?

242 The scalper made $14 off of my ticket and he was still holding a book of tickets at 6:40. He tried to sell it to me for forty, but I told him I had a bit less on me, so let me have it.

So, I'm going to see the Nationals face Jake Peavy Friday night.

I've never seen a team score negative runs before.

246 - I shoulda tried that last night. I had all of $9 in cash on me, but I never bothered with the scalpers, I guess partly out of fear that the tickets aren't good. But if it works I'll have to try that in the future.

The Nats actually beat Jake Peavy exactly one month ago today. Ryan Church scored two of those runs.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN200704300.shtml

247

your a trooper Sam.

248 Yeah, I had that worry at one time. I got over it by going to too many games in Fenway with my wife. The only way to get tickets there is to buy at 1.5-2.5x face for any seat.

Plus, with singles, the supply usually comes from people ditching tickets on the way in. They have tickets and want to get some of their money back.

As if the team itself weren't bad enough, the Nats' TV broadcast team is on a mission to misspell the name of the best player on every team in the NL. Today their graphics featured references to "Russel Martin" and "Jake Peavey."

You could find a lot of 12-year-olds in D.C. who could do better than that. (Several hundred in fact -- the National Spelling Bee started there today.)

Vlad Guerrero just hit it out to take back the lead against Seattle 7-5 Angels & the Angel announcers are back in a good mood.

251 - They wanted $200 apiece for tickets when my family was in Boston. I think that's when I stopped sympathizing with the Red Sox in their side of the rivalry.

It might have also factored in that my girlfriend's a Yanks fan.

251 - Was that $200 for a Sox-Yanks tilt in the Fens? I've never even tried to get tickets for that. Whenever we'd see those kind of prices and markups, we'd head over to Boston Beer Works for a few innnings. By the end of the third, they'd have come down to something reasonable.

Pads sign Matt Latos for 1.2 million. Angels signed Jordan Walden earlier today for about 1 million.

Think the Dodgers could have had Reggie Willits for a song and installed him in CF this past offseason?

Life is just really good when both the Dodgers and Angels are winning and in first place.

236 are you out of your mind? have you ever played a game with rules? even your last sentence is crazy--people love A-Rod and like to give him the benefit of the doubt?!

245 I think you're right on--just saw the replay...

257 Yes, but he's over performing now. He's the type of player I like though. I'm totally into guys who can play center with good on base skills. See: Jason Michaels, Brady Clark.

andddd, dbacks come to terms with scherzer.

I dont like all these NL west teams reloading.

261

although I dont think Scherze is that good. Hes either going to end up a reliever or blow out his elbow.

If Logan White is such a God why did he want to take Bryan Morris with the pick used for Kershaw. You guys all convinced me that if we signed Hochevar we wouldn't have gotten Kershaw which I agree with but we could have had Linecrum and wouldn't we be sitting pretty with Lincecum and Hochevar?
If he really wanted Morris over Lincecum I've going to put his diety act on notice.

Man the West is tight. Even the Giant rotation is scary with Zito hitting his stride and Lincecum replacing Ortiz.

don't know if anyone's commented on this, but ...

for all the talk about how bad the dodgers offense is, guess who has a lower slugging than juan pierre?

that's right, everyone's favorite pseudo jesus freak, jd drew!

also, drew's ostensible replacement, gonzo, is besting drew in every offensive category thus far this season. i was one of the people who thought drew was really scummy for opting out the way he did, and i'm glad he's struggling mightily ... even though by writing this, i will jump start his season!

If Logan White is such a God why did he want to take Bryan Morris with the pick used for Kershaw

i realize that is what the BA guys were speculating but I dont think that was ever confirmed. I was looking over the back end of the first round/supp round of last year and trying to find players i would take over bryan morris and there were very few if any.

You told me it was a lock that if Kershaw wasn't available that Morris was the pick. You seem to be waffling now.

266

I did? I honestly dont remember that. It was what BA was reporting in their up to the minute blog but it could have been a smokescreen who knows.

i still like Morris and i was really happy we picked him at 28 and still happy he is the pick even though hes been TJed.

We can't retire JtD yet. He's got 7 extra base hits (3 Homers) in his last 40 at bats.

E Jackson was whacked in the face in his last start but then recovered and pitched a solid game for him.

Man I hope these guys make it. Can you imagine the DevilRays if these guys can pan out on top of Upton, Longoria, D Young, Brignac, Neiman, Sonnastine, McGee, W Davis, and now David Price. Let me drive this train through the Bronx and Beantown.

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guzman is like #4 on the 3b depth chart though.

Well that is what I remember when I got to complaining about how we should have just taken our medicine and signed Hochevar so we didn't waste our number one pick in 2005. Canuck also said it was a lock. I commented that I wasn't impressed if Logan was going to use the pick at 7 to pick a pitcher that no one else wanted in the 1st round. Canuck in his very subtle way basically told me I was an idiot.

He's been DHing lately. Talk about going down the defensive spectrum in one year from SS to DH:)

i still like Morris and i was really happy we picked him at 28 and still happy he is the pick even though hes been TJed.

i hear he's got a super great work ethic, so hopefully he'll come back really strong.

I commented that I wasn't impressed if Logan was going to use the pick at 7 to pick a pitcher that no one else wanted in the 1st round

i dont know why you think Morris wasnt a first round caliber pitcher. I think alot of teams were scared off because of the broke down of negotiations with the drays. I mean, he was ranked the #1 talent in the Pioneer League so its not like White was picking some no good hack. I dont really understand the frustration. If tie frustration stems from watching Lincecum dominate for the hated ones then yes, im frustrated right there with you. Maybe that was a White mistake but even good SDs arent always going to be right.

That is exactly my frustation but it is based strictly on specualation that he wouldn't have picked Lincecum and still stayed with Morris.
So basically I'm bored and I'll end this thread with that since we will never know what lurked inside the head of our SD but I'm still irritated he didn't sign Hochever and David Price when he picked him and now A White.

White himself said in an interview (I think it was a Dodgers.com chat) that Morris would have been the pick if Kershaw was unavailable.

Would White ever have picked a college player in the first 15 picks of a draft?

I thought he was all about HS'ers that scouts loved? Something Lincecum was not.

New post up top.

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Morrs was a community college player.

From the Yahoo article about the Yankee game:

"As Jason Giambi stepped up to hit, he seemed to get into it with catcher Jason Phillips"

Now that would have been worth the price of admission. Jason Phillips would have looked like Chuck Liddell about three minutes into last weekends fight.

Dho!!!