Paris Hilton says she will no longer "act dumb."

"I used to act dumb. ... That act is no longer cute,"

Hilton has been saying that she is changed by her jailhouse experience, and she repeated that theme with Walters: "Now, I would like to make a difference. ... God has given me this new chance."

Do Not Want.

Jeff Kent strapping up the tools of ignorance would be amusing.

But as for catching, would most major leaguers be able to squat behind the plate and actually catch the ball (especially one that is swung at)? Or would you be seeing a lot of passed balls and curveballs off one's chest protector?

http://tinyurl.com/ysnnjk

Never mind I found it.

http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1999/B07110LAN1999.htm

http://www.kutu.com/thai/splash.jpg

I have been wondering if Schmidt would be the key if the Dodgers were to make a trade. If he is healthy and able to pitch well, they could add a pitcher to a trade and if they think Schmidt is a risk, they would be less likely to make such a trade.

The rotation without Schmidt could be Bills, Kuo, Penny, Wolf, and Lowe leaving Hoalton, Tomko, Hendrickson as emergency starters. Unless they agree to trade prospects I don't see a trade without Schmidt stepping up big time.

And I simply refuse to believe Ned would admit to making such a huge mistake so quickly into the contract. Trading Pierre or absorbing his contract is much different than jettisoning the disappointing Jae Seo after a few months.

Mike Lieberthal has played in all of them.

The Dodgers have been outscored 26-8 in the games.

Don't get your hopes up for June 30.

Doesn't PayPal forward you the money as soon as we click the button?

Of course, it could all turn around if Pierre breaks out of his slump, and Schmidt reverts back to his form against the Padres two games ago.

I know, it only June.

During Saturday night's contest between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Dodgers, a security guard attempted to confiscate a Canadian flag from a fan. That provoked an angry confrontation with about 100 local expats attending the game.

The flag waver was Lee Fraser, a 29-year-old native of Pembroke, Ont., who works in L.A. in the entertainment business. As he showed his national pride during the sixth inning, a single security staffer demanded he hand over his Maple Leaf. When Fraser refused, the guard found himself facing a pocket of Canadian indignation.

"The whole crew went crazy," Fraser said. "They sent down three or four security guards, the LAPD. Because, you know, Canadians are such a big threat."

When can we start calling a .300 OBP the Pierre line?

(and that was my version of diamond notes)

I think the Dodgers don't want a fight to start between some drunken yahoos waving U.S. and Mexican flags and arguing over immigration during the last few innings of a blowout.

It's a Dodgers game. It ain't the World Cup.

I'm guessing security was called in because you were being a jerk.

(not addressed to underdog)

And I'm not really an anal-retentive copy editor, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Because it never rains at Autzen...err...Dodger Stadium?

* Weapons
* Umbrellas
* Glass bottles, cans and thermoses
* Broken factory sealed beverage containers
* Containers larger than 1 liter in size
* Alcoholic beverages
* Purses/Bags/Backpacks larger than 14 inches square
* Hard and soft sided coolers
* Brooms, poles and sticks
* Beachballs and inflatables
* Baseball bats
* Banners, signs and flags
* Use of laser pointers
* Noisemakers, musical instruments, whistles, air horns and boom boxes
* Fireworks/firecrackers
* Pets (Exception: Service animals for the disabled that are in service)
* Wrapped packages

www.metsblog.com

Well, I do, but I don't. It would be nice to get a little stability from the McCourts, even if it's not for "my guy". Plus, for all his faults, Ned hasn't signed any long-term debilitating contracts (with the lone obvious exception) nor traded any young'n of any real consequence. But ask me again come August 1, if Loney and LaRoche have been traded in a desperate attempt to vault 5 teams and 8 games in the Wild Card hunt.

But the real reason is I'm just not sure I could stomach another off-season of Jim Bowden-to-LA rumors.

http://tinyurl.com/29ny87

I then see a Dodger signing autographs down the left field line, I look through my binoculars and I see the name "Loney" on the back.

I turn and say, Loney's here. So then the process of elimination begins. Again, no internet access and I was not listening to radio so we were trying to figure out what happened.

The first thing I did was look for Kemp in the dugout. After a few minutes I saw him and Nomar so we it came down to Kent or Clark being hurt. We briefly talked about the pitchers but I couldn't really see the Dodgers dropping down to 11 pitchers.

Ultimately, I think we thought Clark must have gotten "hurt" until I heard Steiner say that he had been designated for assignment.

My roster question of the day is what happens when Marlon is available to come off his rehab assignment? Does Ned trade him for some middling prospects? On the one hand, Loney probably has more value due to his defense at first, but all in all Anderson certainly has more experience pinch hitting.

The difference in salary isn't that much, by the name you trade Marlon, his prorated salaray is a little more than 250K, which certainly would be okay for any contender.

And one last note, both GB and I thought Betemit looked really comfortable at the plate so I hope he gets some more starts against the righty starters and Abreu gets to split time all around the infield.

I actually think Ned has replaced Tommy as the "baseball guy" which all in all isn't the worse thing.

Also, did anyone see the notes about last night's hero for the Titans, Tim Wallach's kid. Lasorda made this noise on how he had to push the Dodgers to draft him (he compared the situation though not the result to how he pushed the Dodgers to draft Piazza). Hallgren said in the same article that no one pushed them to draft him, he said Wallach looked like a pretty good player and we selected him accordingly.

Sounds like the the current front office is trying to do everything possible to make sure the closest Tommy comes to being involved is announcing the picks on the conference call.

2003 15.8%
2004 15.9%
2005 17.0%
2006 16.4%
2007 12.2%

(More on Dunn: He's also supposedly not even a good firstbaseman. There's nowhere to play him so fahgedaboutit.)

I just remembered this KitH exchange:
Filipino kid: You are American?
Tourist: No, I'm a Canadian. It's like an American, but without the gun.

The best baseball atmosphere I've ever been in was a playoff game at Fenway with Pedro pitching against the Yankees. Lots of people in the stands were waving Dominican flags around. It didn't detract from the experience; it made it more festive and exciting.

But if the man was told that he couldn't bring in a flag, but then they allowed him to hold it up during "O Canada", but no other time and then he still held it up despite being told he couldn't do it, then he's breaking the rules.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playerrating

It seems like a weird blend of sabermetric stats (OBP, DIPS) and stone-age stats (RBI, runs produced). Anyway, I guess I'm not particularly enthused by any system that rates Russell Martin the third-best player on the Dodgers.

" I think Adkins fits fine with what White has done before, a southpaw with plus stuff that hasn't turned the corner yet. Adkins has a lot to figure out, but he looked so good as a freshman in Omaha, I can't believe he has no value left. The Dodgers draft, for me, is dependent upon Kyle Blair signing. That pushes it from one of the better drafts to middle of the road."

34.3 for Martin
16.7 for Gonzo
15.1 for Kent

Furcal SS
Abreu 2B
Gonzalez LF
Martin C
Betemit 3B
Loney 1B
Ethier RF
Pierre CF
Wolf P

However, I find it difficult to believe that Nomar and Kent would get two days off in a row.

Preferred Outcome > Quality methodology

Fourth!

hes starting WED. he took a scheduled turn off.

(...Lansing Lugnuts??)

---
"I had a chance to see Chin-lung Hu who is playing extremely well there and so is Xavier Paul. Some of the pitchers like Jonathan Meloan, who we saw in big league camp, pitched very well while I was there."

Martin is the highest ranked Dodger's hitter because of two factors from what I can tell: 1) Catcher is the "toughest" position and thusly weighted. 2) The ratings have something to do with positional ranking, and since Martin is the best catcher in the NL, his score goes up.

So, his position and his rank at that position make him our best positional player.

So I finally found my old Bill James Baseball Abstracts 1982-1988 in my Mom's attic. They were mildewed from summers at Camp Sea Gull on the Carolina Coast but my name written inside the front cover in my mother's handwriting is still legible.

Needless to say, the books are even better reads now than they were 20-25 years ago. I thought I'd share a favorite passage that I stumbled across during the re-reading [since I think it has particular relevance for reasons that will be apparent]:

[From the 1983 Player Ratings by position. Enos Cabell is ranked 26 out 26 ML first basemen] James' comment:

"When Enos Cabell was hot early in the year, you'd ask Sparky Anderson about him and Sparky would say, 'Enos Cabell is a we ballplayer. You don't hear Enos Cabell saying "I did this" or "I did that."' I think that's what drives me nuts about Sparky Anderson, that he's so full of brown stuff that it just doesn't seem like he has any words left over for a basic, fundamental understanding of the game. I want to look at a player on the basis of what, specifically, he can and cannot do to help you win a baseball game, but Sparky's so full of 'winners' and 'discipline' and 'we ballplayers' and self-consciously asinine theories about baseball that he seems to have no concept of how it is, mechanically, that baseball games are won and lost. I mean, I would never say that it was not important to have a team with a good attitude, but Christ, Sparky, there are millions of people in this country who have good attitudes, but there are only about 200 who can play a major-league brand of baseball, so which are you going to take? Sparky is so focused on all that attitude stuff that he looks at Enos Cabell and he doesn't even see that the man can't play baseball. This we ballplayer, Sparky, can't play first, can't play third, can't hit, can't run and can't throw. So who cares what his attitude is?"

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2007/06/new_sports_columnist_in_t.php#more

Arnold Schwarzenegger is governor of California and hardly ever goes to Sacramento.

"Kurt came to the paper as a METPRO fellow in 1998 and followed that with a year spent covering inner-city Baltimore for The Sun before returning to The Times."

What? They couldn't get David Simon??

That famed Cicotte story, by the way, has pretty much been debunked. Never happened.

Cicotte started 35 games in a 140-game season. He finished 30 of them and also relieved five times. He threw 306 2/3 innings in 1919.

Then he kept on "throwing."

There's always alot of talk in business and elsewhere about "creating an environment". Tell me, just how would a manager go about creating an environment for young players? And how does it differ from creating an environment for older players? How many "environments" must he create before all is well?

Or maybe I'm just not into pretentious sounding phrases when every-day language is clearer, such as, simply, "is Brady giving the young guys a chance?"

95 - ... whereby I had to confirm that it wasn't that Ed Burns.

96 - I do love that movie.

Oh, I guess you mean Grady not Brady?

My parents were going to move into Mr. Brady's (the actor) house when they moved to Pasadena. I wish they had. I think he was the greatest tv dad of all time, next to Brian Keith in Family Affair. (I'm choosing to disregard his hair perm years.)

Most of you kids are too young too remember that. Or 77 Sunset Strip.

Whippersnappers.

And, in general, American sports were very corrupt then. Gambling was prevalent throughout the sport.

Bob, do you know?

I'd say this qualifies as extreme:

http://tinyurl.com/2uzqfn

Gallagher wouldn't release signing bonus figures last night, but he gave hints. Asked if it was between $300,000 and $500,000, he agreed it was.

"That and $150,000 for my full (college) education," he said.

Link: http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/205410

130
About as safe for work as you can get.

I should be a bigger man than to get annoyed by this stuff, but the problem with the new ESPN player ratings is that they're exactly the sort of thing that give statheads a bad name.

Ding Ding Ding...Correct.

I think my favorite aspect is the point value assigned based on a team's winning percentage. Yikes.

Robert Horry is about to become one of the few players to play for more than 6 NBA champions as he goes for number 7 with the Spurs, he will become the only player to play for three teams with multiple titles. Does that make him a great player, no, but he becomes one of those players whose true value may never be something that is easily calculated.

If you assign positive values on winning, then you have to punish great players for being on bad teams. I'm not comfortable with that.

From TV Guide, April 4 1970:

For instance, Reed lives in Pasadena. Now
Actors don't live in Pasadena. They live in
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Pacific Palisades, at Malibu--and a few even live in Hollywood. Which is the principal reason Robert Reed lives in Pasadena. "I love the business," he says, "but isn't it nice to get away from it? Maybe one of my neighbors knows I'm an actor, but otherwise I'm just somebody that lives there and we discuss our roses."

Figgins could play/backup CF/3B for the Dodgers, while Nomar could be used as a popular sports figure on billboards advertising the Angels in S.Cal.

Now in reality we all know Ned would never trade JP or Nomar, but we can dream.

I think the Pasadena the Robert Reed lived in '70s is a lot different than the one that exists now.

I'm a big believer in psychological motivation.

Darn those cocky Mets fans. ;-) Now they want to trade for Russell Martin. (Can't argue that the Dodgers have been pretty punchless though.)

Dodgers 8 Mets -6

To quote Seinfeld, "That's a shame......"

Added one general manager, "I see him as more of an American League player and a DH." --

Newspaper blogger ejected from NCAA baseball game

Manager of broadcasting said blogs are considered a "live representation of the game" and those containing action photos or game reports are prohibited until the game is over.

http://tinyurl.com/38lzdj

Nomar 91 (177 gms)
Dunn  95 (108 gms)

The problem is convincing Nomar he needs to spend more time with the twins.

ill throw in a buck.

Of course, the Yanks have a little work to do before it gets to that point, but I suspect they'll get it together and make their run at the playoffs.

Apparently we're being partially credited or blamed for Bonds dropping to 4th, too.

Awesome about Martin.

I guess I'm a majority of one

Now, that's technically correct, sort of. Schmidt maxed out at 91 against the Padres and 88 against Toronto. Still, the difference is not as big as Carroll is trying to make it seem. For the second time in a week, he's exaggerated or falsified the status of a Dodger pitcher in order to bolster the point he's trying to make. The more I read Carroll these days, the less impressed I am by him. And I was never all that impressed to begin with.

To be fair, Nomar has had more than 2 bad months. That doesn't necessarily change your point, but still.

200 Quite true, but I don't think that time has come just yet. Especially when his replacement is James Loney, who seems to have almost the exact same upside this year.

That's kinda what DFA means.

What he's doing right now, just hitting for decent average with zero power, seems like an entirely different thing. I'm far more concerned about what's happening now than the last two months of 2006.

Furcal, SS
Pierre, CF
Martin, C
Kent, 2B
Gonzalez, LF
Ethier, RF
Loney, 1B
Abreu, 3B
Wolf, P

The only variable is when a player is an injured and you place that player on the 60-day disabled list which allows you the option to add another player to the 40 man roster but then you have to square all that by November.

Milledge's defense isn't all that good either, if I recall correctly.

Sample size issues apply.

All star voting
Martin- 1st (with a slim lead)
Kent- 2nd
Furcal- 3rd
Nomar- 3rd (disgusting that he's here)
Pierre- 11th (see above)
Gonzalez- 12th

I don't remember the Dodgers ever having so many guys near the top. Are the Dodgers forcing every person to cast 50 ballots before thye enter the stadium? Maybe they have their PR people sitting at their computers voting nonstop. I really don't think that Dodgers fans just decided this year to start voting.

Takes a long time to lift that leg.

I do think the Dodgers.com and ItD campaign for Russell has a had a trickle-down effect on the other categories. Myself, I try to vote for guys from other teams too, who, you know, may deserve it more than, say, Juan Pierre.

Neither should be hitting 2nd. If we do an external upgrade it will be at 3b.

it also helps that he's a pretty darn good player & that people are finally noticing (east coast also?) i've noticed that his #'s are regressing but the fact that he's a catcher & contributes the way he does is huge.

It would be especially gratifying to see Martin starting since he's a homegrown kid.

I'll do everything in my power to keep Nomar and Pierre out of the game.

I understand your sentiment, but at the same time, the voting system is such a joke that the game almost deserves players like Nomar and Pierre. I don't watch American Idol, but I was made aware of the attempts by an ornery subset of voters to make sure the worst singers stay on the show. I kinda liked that.

>>> Because they rarely draft them. The recently concluded First-Year Player Draft is an excellent answer to your question. Six of the first eight players the Dodgers took are pitchers. That's a trend not only followed by Logan White, who currently oversees the club's scouting, but it's been the Dodger way for decades. <<<

http://tinyurl.com/ynrmy8

Six of six saves, 0.56 ERA, 16 IP, 8 H, 7 BB (?), 16 SO. His one run allowed was a HR. Small sample size and all that, and when does he go on the DL again? He's already been there for Texas once.

In other Ranger news, a June 10 video highlight shows Kenny Lofton throwing out a runner at home. Announcer describes it as maybe the throw of Lofton's life, with the game on the line.

Chances are not real good for anything like this to happen for the Dodgers from CF this year...

http://tinyurl.com/yvwlja

While thre is certainly a current philosophy of drafting pitchers (again going to Logan White said in Jon's piece about projecting pitchers versus hitters), I don't think they would intentionally not draft a home run hitter.

I think we are heading back to a period where there are just fewer guys available that will hit with consistent power. I guess for about 7-8 years, teams had all kind of guys who hit 25 or more homers but now that number will regress. There are many reasons for that but you cannot ignore the biggest one.

The non-HD Dodger broadcasts now make me sad. I'm so spoiled.

Channel 413 is Fox HD (which may carry Prime Ticket broadcasts, and may not).

Time Warner uses the 400's for HD, so that 402 is Channel 2 CBS in HD; 404 is Channel 4 NBC, etc.

Of course, Johnson hasn't played since a brutal leg break last September and isn't due back until maybe the AS break and maybe later.

Ken Griffey, Jr. has 1234 games in CF, 74 assists, and 45 errors.

Juan Pierre has 1061 games in CF.

Are Edmonds and Griffey "average CFs?" Probably above average, at least by reputation, huh?

(1) He takes odd, banana-shaped routes to fly balls, which negates his greatest asset (his speed); and
(2) On some base hits that would otherwise be singles, Pierre's arm is so poor that above-average runners can stretch them into doubles.

Of the above, (2) will almost never be scored an error unless Pierre clearly slips or something. (1) could be scored an error if Pierre fumbles the catch, but even then, I doubt it. The scorer would see Pierre hauling all out -- making extraordinary effort -- and simply not making the catch... and score it a base hit.

This is what makes the traditional fielding stats so poor.

And there's also this: 'One of Garciaparra's ex-teammates in Boston said the Dodgers and Yankees made the same offer [after '05], but Garciaparra chose LA because, ''He always considers himself a Red Sox. That's one thing people don't understand about Nomar. He would have never signed with the Yankees because he always thought of himself as a Red Sox player.'" (from a May 14,2006 Boston Globe article from Nick Carfado.) Take it
for what it's worth. I'm sure Nomar wouldn't piss on Theo and the trio if they were on fire, but it's not unreasonable to say it's different with the Boston fans, who still love him. Weigh that for what it might be worth.

(Although you know who could use Nomar just as much? Baltimore. Hell, they're only 2 games behind the Yankees. Sure it's AL East, but it's very different to go to Toronto or Baltimore than it is to go to NY. And Nomar's close friends with Jay Payton, one of the Baltimore outfielders. Nomar's also very close with Jason Varitek.)

Anyway, too soon to say what will happen.

210 That would be a no. I won't promise that Bowden isn't that stupid, but I can assure you - Kasten is not.