Heh. Good ol' Kelly Stinnett, we hardly knew ye.

I feel like I should be the moderator of this thread.

Fun read, btw, Jon. It's sort of reassuring too, in a way, regarding Nomar's case. I hope he picks it up is all I can say. Or if he doesn't, that they'll give him some time off here and there for Loney.

(Oh, hope you don't mind but I caught one minor typo in that Nomar graph - "In a year that has been a surprisingly challenge..." The editor in me popped out for a second.)

Thanks!

2 - I saw that. It's going through channels to correct.

Props to Grady for having Martin's back yesterday, It's good to see him join the ranks of managers getting booted. Even if he completely back pedaled afterward saying the ump was right. Ive seen the replay a bunch- its very tough to tell.

I can't get enough of the grenade tossing clip.

Quentin has been picking it up a lot lately much like Kouz from San Diego but he is just a kid with limited experience and I don't think they were counting on him as much as the other names in the article.
The number of under achievers in all of baseball is quite alarming as we hit June.
A Jones , Lance Berkman, Rollins(317 OBP), Howard, Dye, Delgado, Konerko, Tejada(420Slug%), V Wells, (Gordon, Barfield, Crede, Crisp, F Lopez, S Drew, JD Drew, Huff, B Giles, A Kearns, M Cameron, M Young, E Chavez, R Cano, D Young) all have an OPS under 700.

5
It's almost as if something significant changed in players' diets or something.

Bhsportsguy and myself met a baseball actor at the CIF Championship game on Saturday. He had quite a few interesting stories but I liked how be broke into the business the best. We've checked him out and we're sure he is legitimate with his claims as they match the historical record. The best part is that he is buds with DeJon Watson(Dodger Director of Player Personnel) whom he played baseball and football with while at Santa Monica High. He was there on Saturday just to watch HS baseball so we gave him the info on Moustakas and Dominquez. Once he realized that Craig went to University High at the same time he was going to Santa Monica he really opened up and they had a good time making fun of how Jordan Farmar's pronunciation changed from when they knew his Dad.

(His story, unable to determine authenticity)
30 year old man driving home passes by Marine Park(Santa Monica) and see's a bit of activity going on. He checks it out and is told they are doing a casting call for a baseball movie and are looking for actors who can portray baseball players. He's never acted before but he's running low on money(87$ in the checking account) so he heads home and puts on his uniform and tries to crash the casting call. He's told that since he doesn't have an agent he can't audition. He talks a good game but is getting nowhere when an actor asks him some questions and so they decide to give him a try out on his athletic ability. He comes through so they ask him to come to the studio for a reading. 3 or 4 readings later he gets a secondary part in the movie and it launches his career which includes many appearances on TV/Cables shows and movies including Arlis. He currently is in a national ad campaign for DHL. He is not a big deal actor but like many in Hollywood goes from one bit part to another. I'm sure no one has ever heard of him based on his name.

So if your bored and want to solve this little puzzle here are some clues:
1. Baseball Movie
2. Actor was 30 years old when he made the movie and is now 43
3. Still looks 30 years old

Who am I and what character did I play? The 1st clue combined with the 2nd clue should make the movie easy. You will need the 3rd clue to help in determining the actor.

If you ever see Craig and I in the Dodger Dugout section waving like fools when the camera hits us it will be because we wasted a Saturday at DS watching baseball. I myself am hoping we can parlay this into a DeJon Watson interview, he seemed more then willing to call DeJon while we were at the game. I had more fun talking about baseball with Craig and company then I did watching baseball. I don't have celebrity envy but I was envious of his contacts and access.

just caught up with the weekend's posts. even thought we are in first place, i'm not satisfied with how we are playing. i keep waiting for the year we just run away with the division. the fact that san diego and arizona are standing toe to toe with us makes me feel like we've already missed some opportunities.

one reason for optimism is our current rotation, which as of this second looks like some combination of penny, lowe, wolf, schmidt, and kuo. the first three have been solid all year long, and schmidt and kuo obviously bring more hope than their predecessors. i'm perfectly fine with billingsley staying in the rotation the entire year as long as he keeps pitching like he's pitching AND he is given a rotation spot in 2008.

as Jon rightly pointed out, an urgent need is to get kemp somehow into the lineup. at this point, i'm wondering what exactly brady clark is adding to our team. if we could somehow swing a four-man outfield rotation, we'd at least bring some competition to the group, and at most add a legitimate thumper to a lineup starved of power.

i have no problems with this team's heart, character, etc. i agree with others who say that the main conflict on this team is the one between colletti (the guy who brings in the players) and little (the guy who decides who plays). it's hard to trumpet loney too much considering his AAA numbers aren't great [i know they're near-meaningless in reality]; likewise, it's hard to argue with abreu now that he's producing. however, there is certainly an air of what-the-heck-is-going-on? with regard to some of our decisions.

at the moment, we're a good team. it would be nice to take the leap to great team.

7. Tom Hanks!
vr, Xei

7 I found somebody who was in both Little Big League (1994) and Arliss, but the age doesn't match up.

This is difficult.

9 I think he said it's not a big deal actor, so that would eliminate Hanks ;-) There were actually a few baseball movies in that year (13 years ago would be 1994), Angels in the Outfield, Cobb, Little Big League (assuming it's not that one)... hmm....

Baseball movies, 1993-94:

The Sandlot (1993)
Angels in the Outfield (1994 remake)
Little Big League (1994)
Major League II (1994)
The Scout (1994)

10 Actually he won't be 43 until this month.

And now my first name has been revealed. I will uphold ToyCannon's anonymity for now. :)

Antonio Lewis Todd was in "The Scout" (and Little Big League for that matter) and Arli$$. Is it him? I've never heard of him, actually, but the IMDB is your friend. (No pics of him there, though.)

Eric Bruskotter?

13 It's okay, you have the same first name as me so we'll maintain each other's anonymity.

Hasn't it got to be Charlie Sheen? He was at Santa Monica High, and in September 1965, so the ages match up.

Steve Lyons was is Major League II and Arli$$, along with a June birthday, yesterday actually.

I'm still going with Tom Hanks. Wasn't he the coach of Rosie O'Donnell's team?
vr, Xei

Except for the never acted before part. I should have read the whole thing, but I didn't want to lose time finding the answer.

14
Is the winner.

19
You think Tom Hanks is a bit actor?

22. he's the only actor I can think of. I don't watch too many movies, sorry. :(
vr, Xei

14 Good job. Though he goes by Tony Todd. If you are going to Saturday's game for the Hollywood Star's Softball game, he will be there.

17 They share a connection.

He also had some great stories about Japanese Baseball, I am sure that Bob could either concur or disagree with some of his statements.

Is this the DHL commercial?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=e0_nK6O2OuY

If so, that guy is in a ton of commercials.

I doubt Tom Hanks (or Steve Lyons for that matter) ever had a checking account with $87 in it. Not since the early 80s at least.

Rosie O'Donnel?

He played Jackie Robinson:

http://www.tv.com/cold-case/colors/episode/456527/summary.html

Yay! What do I win? Besides filmgeekywebsurfer of the hour award? I hope the prize isn't an Arli$$ box set. ;-)

Okay, I'll make sure I call him Tony Todd next time I see him. ;-) (Although there is another African American actor named Tony Todd...) Can't find any pics of your Tony.

There are a few pics of "Antonio Todd" at the All-Star Game in 2004 here:

http://tinyurl.com/yplzyx

Don't you people have jobs?

:)

31 Yep. And mine partially involves film-related web surfing, so no one will be the wiser anyway. ;-) (I''m also procrastinating something fierce this morning.)

Aren't jobs something we do when nothing is happening at DT?

Big spot for OF Jayson Werth in Philly. Up bases loaded,1 out, down by 5.

Back to the Dodgers for a sec, why do the Giants get to play their game at an early time today but the Dodgers have to play a night game, before heading to San Diego (for a game tomorrow night)? Traveling across country and then playing a game that next night seems kinda unfair.

Interesting tidbits from BA on these two prospects.

NYM AA Martinez, Fernando CF ....... 6 1 0 1 .279 - youngest player in AA by 22 months
MIL AAA Gallardo, Yovani .......... 7.0 3 0 0 0 11 2.14 - W (8-1); also went 2-for-2 with a double, batting .273/.333/.545

31 Nope :)

Werth with the Olney.

35 Home teams get to choose the time of game (unless National TV steps in).

39 Jim Tracy gets his revenge on the Dodgers, then.

37 In my plan to meet all DTers one by one, if you would like to go to the game on Friday or Sunday in my palatial seats with me, email me at BHSportsguy@aol.com.

I may even try out my new friend's number see 7

I read somewhere recently where they were making fun of the great Dodger Jacksonville team of 2005 and how it was all hype.
1st - Loney - still waiting for his chance but is there any doubt he is a future major league 1st baseman? Just how good is the only question. High side is Grace or A Gonzalez, low side Minky.
2nd - Abreu - joined them at the end of the season and is now the Dodger starting 3rd baseman and destined to become the Dodger 2nd baseman. No one has increased their value higher then Abreu since 2005.
SS - Joel Guzman - When 2005 started he was the top positional prospect in the Dodger organization. No one fell faster or harder. He has moved all the way across the defensive spectrum to DH right now for Durham and his offense is still MIA. His 2004 season just looks flukish. I never thought he'd be a SS but I did think he would be a slugging RF/1st baseman and I'm more bummed about his failure then any 2005 Dodger prospect.
3rb - La Roche - still waiting for his chance. Just like Loney, little doubt that he will be a quality major league 3b.
C - Russ Martin - in two short years has become the best catcher in the NL and the Dodger MVP. Will team with McCann for all-star appearances. He alone would make the Sun class worthwhile.
OF - D Young, Ruggiano - still slated to be 4th/5th outfielders in the majors but I did expect D Young to be playing in the bigs by now.

RP - Broxton - best setup man in baseball right now
SP - Billingsley - current setup man to the setup man. Eventually he will start and given what we have seen in the last month we can only be giddy about his prospects.
RP - Kuo - now starting in the Dodger rotation, in 2006 helped pitch the Dodgers into the post season with an excellent Sept.

Other then Guzman I don't think we've had any serious miscalculations or that the hype machine was in overdrive. Based on potential after that season I think the list looked like:
Billingsley
Guzman
La Roche
Martin
Broxton
Loney
D Young
Abreu
Kuo

Now it would be:
Martin
Billingsley
Broxton
La Roche
Loney
Abreu
Kuo
Guzman
D Young

41 Hmm...Actual interaction with other carbon-based units. That's a toughy. My matrix isn't really designed for that kind of thing.

Kidding.

We'll need 12 pitchers for the next week I suppose, meaning that if Saito has to be disabled, I don't think that Kemp gets the call up. Is Tsao ready to come back?

I suppose that Schmidt getting activated on Tuesday means the rook goes back to AAA without getting into a game unless they get him in tonight. He warmed up each of the last two games, must be nerve racking.

When we go to 11 pitchers again, I just have to believe we'll call up Kemp assuming no further injuries. Broxton will be closing the next few games I suppose. We'll need to give him a day off somewhere, he's been out there a lot. Nice to see him not get lit up yesterday, he kept the ball down and was nasty in the 8th.

44) Broxton was hitting 99 a couple of times. That is just plain sick

As I continue to pine for a power bat, I take a modicum of solace in this, from Jon Heyman:

"What's the value of a home run? Texas leads the AL with 73 home runs and Cincinnati leads the NL with 75. Texas has the worst record in the AL, Cincinnati the worst in the NL."

Oh well, I guess we couldn't expect the Phillies to be good three days in a row.

Mathew Pouliut of Rotoworld Lists Broxton as 35 in his power rankings for relief pitchers and Saito at 10.

He also has Martin fifth for catcher.

46
Home runs don't help a team's record per se: they help score runs. With that in mind, Texas in 6th in the AL in runs/game, and Cincinnati is 6th in the NL in runs/game.

47 Listening to the Phillies radio team, neither did they.

50 I guess it's understandable, if you're covering a franchise that's now lost 10,000 games.
http://tinyurl.com/26xevd

46/49
Those two teams sorely lack pitching and won't be winners until they have what we have, a stock of effective arms.

A balanced offensive attack would be great for us, that would involve a little more slugging than we are getting.

Abreu is the type of player that would fit great into the slot Ned imagined when he signed Pierre. If Juan produced like that, he would be very welcome at the top of the lineup for five years. Abreu has done it for a week, so we can't get ahead of ourselves, but if Abreu continues, I would hope that we would find a way to put him in the two slot and drop Juan to 8th. Better yet, Juan can take a break (don't wish for an injury) and Kemp can take over in CF.

I'm redundant.

Old friend Dioner Navarro hit by a pitch from Gil Meche at The Trop.

Yes, I realize that's not necessarily the most interesting thing.

48 Well, those are his rankings as far as fantasy baseball goes. I'd still probably have Martin #3 behind Mauer and Victor Martinez, especially when you factor in his steals, but there's a case to be made for McCann and Posada as well.

50, 51 The Phillies really don't get enough credit in the "All Time Joke Franchise" category. They put the Cubs to shame, really. They took until 1980 to win a World Series. For most of their history, they have played in either a joke of a ballpark (Baker Bowl, The Vet) or in somebody else's park (Connie Mack Stadium). And then there's my favorite: In all of baseball history, the two most contentious court cases between a player and his team occurred because a player wanted the right to not play for the Phillies: Nap Lajoie in 1904 and Curt Flood in 1970.

51 From that article:
"Their lack of balance was never more pronounced than in 1930 when Chuck Klein and Lefty O'Doul hit .386 and .383, respectively, amid a team batting average of .315. Yet, Philadelphia lost 102 games and finished last because the staff surrendered a record 1,199 runs and compiled a ghastly 6.71 ERA.

Not surprisingly, O'Doul was traded to the Dodgers after that season and Klein was sent to the Cubs after recording a Triple Crown in 1933."

That's the exact sort of resignation and ennui consistent with the tone of the Phillies' broadcasters. Man am I glad I don't live in Philadelphia.

55 Don't forget the Ben Chapman incident where the then manager of the Phillies led his team in giving Jackie Robinson the most foul mouthed taunts and insults that Chapman was later admonished by the commissioner and later that season asked Robinson to pose with him in a picture, which Robinson but they did not shake hands in the photograph.

Jon: Reading your SI.com post made me wince a little ... specifically, after seeing the Pads-Bums pitching matchups.

Call me the eternal pessimist, but I feel a sweep coming on. I'll be pleased with one Dodger victory at Petco.

Didn't Chapman tell all his pitchers to hit Robinson rather than pitch to him when they got behind in the count? Yeah, that guy was all class.

58 The good news is that the Padres don't score that much in Petco either.

60: Hope you're right.

I do feel good about tonight's game, though.

Dumb question from a guy who doesn't blog much: How do you get the "58" to be blue and underlined?

Put a right "[" and left "]" (braces) around the number to make it "jump-able"/linkable.

62 Put it in brackets

I think the Kuo vs. Peavy game is fairly unwinnable since we've never really hit Peavy well and he's having an amazing season (hopefully Kuo can at least hold his own though). The other two games are definitely doable - we did knock Young around earlier in the year and IIRC Maddux has had mixed success against us. I just hope the bats can wake up enough to make the games non-depressing.

55
Don't forget JD and how he shined them on.

58
The Padre's don't worry me much for the long haul. Greg and Wells will not be doing much come Sept and Germano's fairy dust should be settling down very soon. Love Peavy/Young but come Sept our depth will be the difference. The Diamondbacks on the other hand continue to worry me as they have some excellent trading chips to upgrade with. Wouldn't Tracy or Clark look nice to the folks in pinstripes right about now. Not that they have any pitching to spare. Upton is coming on so fast that he'll be having some kind of an impact come Sept. It is a good thing that Drew/Quentin/Young/Montero have struggled or they might have made a mockery of the race.

I seem to remember a certain game last year where we came back from 4 down against Peavy. It can be done.

todd morgan draft Q&A...

http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=283&p=2&c=648865

Todd,
Are you still sticking with your Jack McGeary to the Dodgers in Round One?
-Eli

I haven't decided yet. Keith Law is one of my favorite draft analysts because his word isn't beholden to scouts that are attached to MLB teams. Thus, his recent report on McGeary carries a lot of weight with me. Still, my source is adamant that the Dodgers and McGeary are a match. Will I have him at #20 in my final projection later this week? As I said, I don't know because McGeary's subpar final start may have the Dodgers thinking they can get him at #39 in the sandwich round. One thing is for certain – the team that takes him is going to have to make a great offer to buy him out of his Stanford commitment.

I enjoyed Fungoes Jon, but I could have done without imagining the Dodgers lineup vs. Greg Maddux on Wednesday. Not your fault of course.

55 deserves an evil glare.

Followed of course by some intrepid researcher looking up which team is the ONLY one in MLB history to lose a World Series to each of the 4 AL East teams that have ever won a pennant.

Hmph.

67 Nice draft yesterday. What do you think about the fall of Andrew Brackman?

San Diego worries me much more than Arizona...

Arizona's pitching outside of Webb is mediocre, JOhnson breaks down, and there is little depth..thier bullpen is much weaker that those of L.A and S.D....it is like last year at this time when AZ was playing well...they are still a young team that isn't there yet...

San Diego is a tough team though....I think L.A matches up well against them, but the division will definatly come down to us and the Pads....and this will be the first of a few Cy youngs for Peavy...The Dodgers need to make a deal for some pop, and get Billingsly into the rotation... is suspect that Ned is giving Kuo the opportunity to impress so that he can be traded instead of Billingsly...

It will come down to the dodgers and the Padres no doubt...but the NL has turned into a dynamic division...

65 i agree that the dbacks are especially scary right now. question for nobody in particular: historically, do young teams [i'm considering the dbacks in this broad category] tend to do better in the first half or second half?

New ITD post: Josh Rawitch pleas for moderation.

Clark spot-starting for Gonzalez today.

I'm guessing 73 is meant in the "please calm down" sense, not the "please run my blog for me" sense.

So I saw Knocked Up yesterday. Very funny, but I'm not sure if it was quite as brilliant as all the reviews are saying it is. I'm going to have to see it a second time.

The movie's website has a "Babymaker" program where you can submit photos of two parents and see what their supposed offspring would look like. So here's the unofficial mascot of Dodger Thoughts: A baby whose parents are Jenna Fischer and Russell Martin.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nrmnbates/530344220/

75 Born with chin scruf. Is that a girl or a boy?

75 - What does that baby get named?

75
Throw it back.

78 At three years of age that was my response to my new brother.

The adults all laughed at my joke.

Kershaw is #5 on BA's hot sheet this week:

We've been getting emails asking if Kershaw is hurt. Hello . . . the Dodgers' first-round pick last year has struck out six or more since Opening Day in the Looneybin and has whiffed 74 in 55 innings overall. Hitters are batting just. 178 against him and he's allowed just one home run in his first full season. Signs point to no on the injury bug so far this season for the 19-year-old lefthander.

A Peacock jumped onto my roof yesterday. First it did a vertical leap of 6 feet to the top of my fence and then another leap to my roof. He then hung out for about an hour and then decided he would try to cross Victory Blvd and see how many cars he could make slam on their brakes. Incredibly he was successful and last seen he had hopped upto a roof and was headed north. Many a driver had a dropped jaw as they starred at each other.

Who knew Peacocks had the same vertical as Jordan.

Nice draft yesterday. What do you think about the fall of Andrew Brackman?

I think my favorite pick yesterday was Nefi Soto. I hope the Dodgers actually draft him. I realize BAs scouting report doesnt think he could stay at SS but PGCC thinks its a realistic chance. Both agree his bat has the ability to be very special.

As for Brackman, his fall is going to be the same on draft day because teams are going to be concerned with injury issues and results issue. When he was pitching healthy, he wasnt even that dominant. Combined with Boras probably asking for a ton of money, i dont think many teams will have him high on their boards.

81 Maybe he was the NBC peacock, heading back to work.

Or lost from the Zoo.

alan matthews doing a draft chat at BA right now.

There's a few peafowl in my neighborhood. They are incredibly noisy and drive my dogs insane.

82 If you were still in Arizona, you could have made the trip this week to Chase Field to see Lincecum pitch for the Giants.

Q: Jared from LA asks:
With the 20th pick, the Los Angeles Dodgers select...
A:

Alan Matthews: Probably a major leaguer, given the track record of Logan White and first-year scouting director Tim Hallgren (who ran the Rangers' 2001 draft that included Mark Teixeira). Blake Beavan might be a fit, as the Dodgers have mined the Midwest effectively recently and Texas area scout Calvin Jones is an excellent pitching evaluator.

the beavan bandwagon is too loud to ignore.

86

i probably wouldnt go. it would make me cry seeing live pitching for the hated ones.

87 Would you have taken him if he was available yesterday at 20?

84 Heh. I like his response to question about the Nationals' pick: "One thing to consider is who is running the Nats' draft. If it's Jim Bowden, there's no telling which direction they'll go, but if it's Mike Rizzo or Dana Brown, I'd feel a little more comfortable Washington's choice will be a logical one."

78

to funny

I know he's old for a prospect, but does anyone know what the deal is about Mitch Jones? He has an AAA-leading 18 homers, which is pretty hard to ignore. Does anyone think he could help a major league club?

89

yea, beavan was ranked higher on my board. They both are pretty similar pitchers in terms of stuff, body structure and command.

92 - Daniel Zappala does.

73 It goes something like this..

The positive guy: God, Pierre is horrible.

The Negative guy: I gave you proof on why Pierre was horrible back in March and all I got were your tears.

The positive guy:yeah but your negative

The Negative guy:yeah but don't you agree now that he is a bad signing? I mean four more years of this.

The positive guy:well, he has 18 steals

The Negative guy: but he is horrible. A replacement level CF would be better or Kenny Lofton.

The positive guy: He gets alot of hits and you cant replace that with a replacement player cause scrubs aren't allowed and you are a horrible dodger fan for thinking any dodger is horrible. Go Blue, WS champs 2007!

95 - I think he was pretty much saying stop burnishing the cat when all the tarnish has been used up for months.

Mitch Jones is like Rob Deer or Dave Kingman, but has less patience at the plate.

Unlike a former commenter here, I attended a baseball game with a real 10-year old Sunday. I hope to write something about it later this week. My nephew is pretty easy to handle thankfully.

His favorite baseball player: Kenny Rogers.

He's off to an early start as an iconoclast.

Argh, why is the rest of the country so worthless? I'm stuck in Louisville right now, about to be booked on my third different flight after both Chicago and Dallas were canceled due to weather problems. At least the Dodger game will be starting somewhat soon.

Well, I guess that's better than his favorite singer being Kenny Rogers.

The Dodgers are gauranteed to be in either first place by themselves or third place by themselves after tonight's game.
vr, Xei

The weather in Minneapolis is great and I should be leaving on time.

I miss weather. When I retire it will be to a region that has it.

Xavier Paul walks alot. 205ABs, 30bbs so far this year. Im really curious how his play in CF is so far this year. maybe he can be someone like curtis granderson.

My nephews and nieces complained about the heat in Western Michigan a lot. It was in the high 70s although a bit humid.

It doesn't get very hot in Holland, MI.

104 DeJon Watson said during a Jacksonville radio broadcast that his play was improving there, the Dodgers do want him to play CF.

He sure is a guy who has been an on and off prospect.

Nate, since you did so much work preparing for the draft you need to write up some of the players you had on your draft board so we can check out your record in 5 years.
Thursday should be a lot of fun for you as you check your work against the professionals.

i hope ITD has another draft contest like they did last year. Although this year will be significantly harder to guess the right players.

I wonder how many sports blogs have to ask their participants to be less negative.

I'm guessing all of them, at one point or another.

107

i'll probably do that but i wont have time in the next two days. Im going to vegas tomorrow with 6 of my friends and my dad. I just hope i can make it to the draft on thursday.

a couple of my sisters live in Detroit Michigan i can't stand bad weather, give me 68-73 & i'm a happy camper.

110 Somehow I don't think it will be on the Caesar's Palace Sportsbook screens.

I have played at Angel Park and Desert Pines in Vegas, they are not that expensive (in comparison to other courses in LV), Primm has some nice courses too.

97 - Jones is 7th in the PCL in walks, and has a .397 OBP...

Here's a question: When does Jon Meloan get promoted to AAA? I thought one of the criteria for being considered for promotion to the next level is when you've accomplished all you can at the current level and, if you're a pitcher, if no one can hit you. Would the PCL be too risky for Meloan's confidence? I think it'd be a great test and put him just a step away from the Dodgers.

I hope Josh Bell saves our 2005 draft because it is looking dismal in hindsite.

Clay Buchholz would have been nice at 40 instead of Hochevar.

112

golfs not going to be in the agenda for this and hopefully dying isnt either.

I feel so left out when it comes to the baseball draft. I just don't get all that interested. Baseball draft talk turns me into Xeifrank when people talk about movies.

But I'm glad other people pay attention. Keeps me from having to.

That is because you know most of the players that get talked about will fail. Does that make you a pragmatist?

I just don't like any drafts. I loathe the NFL draft time to go!

Re: Fungoes/NL West Underachievers.

Atkins' troubles are riddling to me. Last year, Atkins truly looked like on the best hitters in the league -- an amazingly compact swing, selective, could seemingly time any pitch in any spot...just an amazingly instinctive hitter.

This year? He looks awful -- bad guesses, always behind in the count...just lost at the plate.

So once I get to the ticket counter there's already a planeful of people trying to get their flights rerouted as well. Solution - go to the bar and drink away the pain.

Bob also doesn't seem too keen on minor league discussions either. He probably shouldn't go see Knocked Up. He only gets interested in the baby after it's actually born.

117. haha, baseball draft talk bores me too, but atleast it's baseball on a baseball blog. I get more excited about baseball prospects when they reach the AA and AAA level. Basketball and football draftees make a quicker impact and are more predictable on their impact. Wasn't Mike Piazza drafted in something like the 48th round? I really respect the knowledge of those that know so much about all the potential draftees like Nate and a few others though.
vr, Xei

overk, maybe you could just move to louisville? I heard it's a nice town. easier than trying to leave it, apparently.

124 I think I saw everything I wanted to see when I was killing a few hours this afternoon.

It doesn't help that I only got about 3 hours of sleep last night due to the time difference.

I'm feeling Beavens won't be around at 20. Unless his agent is he who will not be named.Does anyone Know?

119 Bob's a true soccer fan at heart.

When I cared about football the draft was big for me. With the Clippers it used to be all we had to look forward to even though you knew Baylor would screw it up. Kind of like being drawn to a trainwreck.

Wow, TC is drawn to me.

Jon, probably thanks to your link, Tony Jackson's Saito story is the most-read story in the Daily News today.

You command multitudes.

127

Bob's got soccer in his blood, his grandfather was quite the player from what i've read.

130 - Or, the Daily News is in trouble.

FTWC: Martin and Garciaparra now third in the All-Star voting. Martin's within 4,000 of McCann for second.

132 Mark Heisler wrote in the LA Times in his weekly column that during the Kobe drama, the Laker stories were the most read.

Nice grab by old friend Jayson Werth is highlighted from the mlb.com home page (from today's game vs. Giants). And you can see it about 15 times from every angle and speed!

I know I tend to get obsessed with certain players but more about Hu. I think he had a couple more doubles yesterday. An interesting aspect is that he leads the Jax in slugging pct. for practical purposes.*
This may not be a good sign for the team, but it is good for Hu. If he has half the D I have heard, he is the best SS prospect in the org. for sure.

* if someone has a higher slugging pct., I think they are over thirty, in AA.

132 Good to see our ballot stuffing paid off! I think Martin should make it now even if he's not voted in, those top 3 guys should all make it. Especially with Molina now hurt.

Um, Pierre's now slipped in to the top 15 outfielders in the voting...

136)

Don't blame me.

I'm feeling Beavens won't be around at 20. Unless his agent is he who will not be named.Does anyone Know?

his agent isnt boras. I also agree that i dont think beavan will be available at 20. The rangers are most likely to pop him a couple spots before us.

mlbtraderumors brought up the possibility of Arod to the Dodgers. Says a package of Loney + Kemp could get it done...

if they'll take Loney + Laroche and maybe eat the rest of Tomko's contract I'd do it...no way we should be giving up loney AND kemp though....

UCLA is apparently doing very well with RB Darrell Scott, the number 2 prospect in the country.

I am sure Greg Brock is not holding his breath.

As always, my math is suspect, but it looks like Hu's line, adjusted for LD% vs. BABIP, is .226/.268/.394.

Let's go!

Batter up!

We're taking the afternoon off! (Not really, boss!)

141
Well that is quite alarming.

134

he also has respectable #'s, nice to see him doing good.

Game thread is open.

141 Is that MLE?

141

Would you please explain the process behind your math? Interesting stuff.

147 I'm assuming it's setting his BABIP to his line drive percentage +.12.

The press needs to give us more details about Kemp. Has he improved in CF? What is Easler emphasizing? Is he calming down against the breaking ball?
Nice to see Kemp heat up. Hope he isn't too Vegas-inflated. Want him to show more on the road (.717 OPS).

Number of hits divided by current BABIP times line drive percent plus .12 equals expected number of hits. Assume all the lost (if BABIP is higher than expected BABIP) or gained (if BABIP is lower than expected BABIP) hits are singles, and then adjust everything accordingly. It's regfairfield's magical spell, so, in addition to my math being suspect, it should also be presumed to be implicitly anti-Dodger. But, so it goes.

150

Thanks, is this a commonly used analytical tool? Something from BP?

I found it at True Blue L.A., Andrew "regfairfield" Grant's blog. Actually, I think I first saw it at his old place, but, anyway, he's the source. I've seen BPers use it (I only remember one instance, but expect it's not uncommon) but I don't know how firm the ground it's based on is.

http://truebluela.com/

138 Thanks Nate for knowing its not S. o B.
141 I'm not so happy with you for shattering my illusions about you know Hu.
But I can hope your math treatment is wrong.

153- You can assume my math is wrong. 8^)

But it's probably not too far wrong.