Bob tipped me to look up above. Wish I could join you guys on the west coast, but I can't.
Just a tough luck loss, our offense didn't come through but you can't blame it on Loney, Martin, Gonzo, or really anyone.

Better fortune tomorrow.

i'll e-mail Jon i'm gonna need one more tick.

From Tony Jackson:

"[The Dodgers'] next seven games are against A.L. clubs, six of them on the road, where they are 1-20 against A.L. clubs since the start of 2005."

1-20 in interleague road games since '05. That is one of the ugliest statistical trends I have ever seen.

BHSportsguy = da man.

At some point the Dodgers need to consider putting Schmidt on the DL/Billingsley in the rotation.

If Schmidt was the only option the Dodgers had, I could understand letting him work his way into a groove. But he's not. Billingley should be considered right now.

Schmidt's situation is reminding me of Mark Mulder last year. Cards went with him for a long time, bc they had no one else. The Dodgers do, so hopefully they dont let him go on too much longer before pulling the plug.

5 I have to somewhat agree, yet I don't think Schmidt is gonna be that bad.

3 While that is an incredable stat, the most prominent thing is it is due for some natural reversal soon.

Look at me: All of a sudden I'm an optomist!
Shame on usually cynical me.

If we can't split with Toronto/Tampa Bay we don't deserve to be in 1st place by the end of the week.
The offense will pick it up this week and those dismal June OPS's will start moving upward.

the loons hit brett anderson pretty hard today.

The Stadium was very warm today. And the team sleepwalked through the game. And Schmidt wasn't very good. But I had a great time. Loney sure does pick the ball over a first base.

I popped a beach ball and was roundly booed. That was fun.

Could somebody clarify if Kotchman was hit in the helmet or the side of the face? Didn't see a replay.

It looked bad. Dude was down for a good while.

I popped a beach ball and was roundly booed. That was fun.

a beach ball landed on top of my head yesterday, luckily ToyCannon was busy looking at the scoreboard while that happened or else i would have been pretty embarrassed.

One day, a beach ball will fall onto the field, and in some form or fashion, a player will be injured by a timeout call from the umpire or a cruicial play will be impeded. And it will cost the Dodgers.

I look forward to that day. The beach ball, like Steve Bartman, will be eliminated from stadiums. The long-term benefit will outweigh the cost.

One day, a beach ball will fall onto the field, and in some form or fashion, a player will be injured

Make that The Player...

Marcus Giles trying to tackle down Chris Young was pretty comical, i'm watching baseball tonight at the moment.

I've actually warmed to the beachball. I am upset when some numbskull lets it get on the field of play, but I don't think there's any harm in letting it fly around the stands. And I say this as someone's who's been nailed by them, because I'm too busy watching the game. I mean, it is a beachball, so it's not like it can cause any injuries.

WWSH

10- It hit the side of his helmet, toward the back.

At this point - but of course there was no way of knowing so in advance - we would have done much better to pay Maddox for one or two years than to go for Schmidt. I suppose Schmidt might learn to be a Maddox-type pitcher now that his speed is gone, but not before next year.

random question: does anyone know which gm hired logan white? was it kevin malone or dan evans?

16
Back and to the left.

So, I gather I missed a pretty lousy game.

18 -- Evans hired White.

20

it was a pretty darn good game for 4 & a 3rd but then Schmidt started walking dudes & that's when Willits made him pay.

James McDonald has thrown five shoutout innings so far. With the game in San Berno and no Dodger game in the evening, I wonder if Colletti is taking it in. McDonald has 10 fly outs to only one ground out.

18

know way it was Kevin Malone

23

im going to try and catch mcdonalds next start. hopefully he isnt promoted after this one.

laroche hasnt been in the LV lineup in a while, anyone know whats up?

25 -- How close are you to the 66'ers park? I would be happy if you saw a bunch of their games and got scouting reports on as many of their pitchers as possible, but McDonald would be great for a start.

27

mapquest says 56miles and 1 hour exactly. i dont think i will be making tons of trips unless its to see our top pitching prospects due to the high cost of gas and my almost non-existent income.

19- I think that's the first time I've ever been happy about not getting one of your jokes. Never saw that movie.

27

a scouting report on McDonald would be nice.

23- San Bernardino is usually abbreviated: San Berdu. You must not be much of a crystal meth connoisseur.

Milton Bradley, playing against the 51s tonight, has struck out in all three of his PAs.

it would be nice hearing scouting reports from our top prospects every once in a while.

31

one hopes he's not Andrew.

Looks like I misspelled that. San Berdoo is the preferred spelling?

Looks like somebody doesn't read enough Ross Macdonald novels.

29
Actually, it was from "Seinfeld."

37 That Seinfeld episode was a parody of 'JFK,' which used the line ad nauseam.

23- is james mcdonald from Long Beach Poly HS?

39 Yes.

38
But I didn't have enough patience to sit through "JFK."

I didn't want to see it.
I didn't benefit from seeing it.
I don't have the power to cover it up.

The 66ers are probably the only the minor league team that broadcasts their games on a NPR station.

Nothing like hearing ads for "Fresh Air" between changing pitchers.

Then again, it is better than hearing a "soon to be former Laker?" Kobe say
"Grovey Grove"

42 "The 66ers are probably the only the minor league team that broadcasts their games on a NPR station."

Hmm. I wonder if that's why they're one of the only minor league teams whose games aren't streamed at MiLB.com. I was sort of assuming they didn't have any radio at all.

40- thought so, I caught him in little league majors. good ol' long beach little league, his dad was our coach. i always thought he was gonna be special, he was always advanced for his age, striking out 12 year olds with ease at 10 and 11. what round did he get drafted again?

Something to make DTers nervous until July 31, 2007 1:00 PM PDT

"You've got to trust your instincts and have the guts to pull the trigger," Burke said. "Colletti's got great gambler's instincts. I would hate to play cards with him — or Stoneman."

Anaheim Ducks GM, Brian Burke on trading the future for a big name player.

McDonald was drafted in the 11th round in 2002. Most teams wanted him as a pitcher, but we moved him to the outfield. Turned out he couldn't hit, though, so the Dodgers moved him back to pitcher a couple of years ago.

46

to add, he was signed as a draft and follow after one year at CC.

44 Another member Logan White's first draft, the 2002 Draft, he was drafted in the 11th round and signed as a draft and follow before the 2003 Draft.

Danys Baez to the DL.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2906838

46- thanks, always nice to hear a fellow long beacher doing well. too bad burroughs just got released by the mariners..:(

Just for kicks, here is BA's scouting report on the Dodgers' first pick that year.

James Loney, lhp

School: Elkins HS. Class: Sr.
Hometown: Missouri City, Texas.
B-T: L-L Ht.: 6-3 Wt.: 190 Birthdate: 5/7/84
College Commitment: Baylor.

Scouting Report: Loney made a name for himself by eliminating Houston Bellaire in the state playoffs in both 2000 and 2001, and he has surpassed Wardell Starling, his more heralded teammate. The pair has led Elkins High to a 30-1 record and a No. 1 national ranking in the Baseball America/National High School Baseball Coaches Association Top 25. Loney also plays first base and has power in his bat, but most teams prefer him as a big, strong lefthander. He gets good arm-side run on an 88-93 mph fastball, and his breaking ball and changeup give him the chance to have three plus pitches. As his velocity increased this spring, Loney's command wasn't as good as usual, and he faltered a little down the stretch, taking Elkins' first loss. Following in the footsteps of former Elkins star Kip Wells (a 1998 White Sox first-round pick), Loney has committed to Baylor. At 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds and still growing, the Bears see him as the next Jason Jennings (a 1999 Rockies first-round pick) if he comes to school.

2002 Statistics

9 W
1 L
1.80 ERA
11 G
54 IP
23 H
28 BB
106 SO

Loney's draft stock rose mainly from his performance on the mound at Elkins High in Missouri City, Texas. He went 9-1, 1.80 and struck out 106 in 54 innings as a senior. But when Dodgers vice president Tom Lasorda announced Loney as the club's first-round pick, he referred to him as a first baseman.

With dominant pitching numbers like his, not keeping Loney as a pitcher would appear to be loony. But his offensive statistics are just as eye-popping. He hit .509-8-56 in 106 at-bats with a .934 slugging percentage. The Dodgers will have to decide which direction they want Loney to take.

"He's too good a hitter and too good a fielder to go back to the mound," White told MLB.com Tuesday. "He's along the lines of a (Ryan) Klesko or a (John) Olerud. Those players were pitchers at one time. This guy strikes me as a winner, a line-drive hitter whose power will come. He's a good-looking fielder and he has a chance to be an excellent big-league player."

48- yeah thats looking like a nice draft, nice to see him lumped with those guys. hows his velocity?

The latest from LA Times Baseball Columnist, Bill Shaikin.

The Dodgers and Angels are blessed with enough depth in their minor league systems to withstand the loss of a top prospect or two. But Stoneman never has traded a top prospect, and Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti might be turning into Stoneman.

Colletti trimmed some of the Dodgers' surplus young talent in trades last year, but no one will come back to haunt him. Joel Guzman, the biggest name among the discarded prospects, is hitting .244 for the Devil Rays' triple-A team, striking out once every three at-bats.

The elite names still are here: Matt Kemp, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton and Chad Billingsley taking baby steps in L.A., Andy La Roche and Clayton Kershaw in the minors.

Send your e-mails to bill.shaikin@latimes.com

Schmidt is still not up to speed

>>> "I feel like we'll continue to run him out there and see if he can get it going and build up his strength and stamina," Little said. <<<

http://tinyurl.com/32cp8w

BTW - thanks to GB and LAT, I attended the game, great seats was able to get a good view of both pitching staffs.

Again, hard to say if it would have changed anything but if they could have plated some runs in the second, who knows.

Betemit has not looked good the past two games and Abreu may be getting pitched to differently now that they have some games to see how he does.

Loney took some bad swings in the first but had a nice at bat to get a hit in the 6th inning.

As we were discussing at the game and on the drive (A Long Afternoon's Journey through Downtown), you want kids, you have take them, warts and all and today some of them were a little inpatient when a nice fly ball could have broken the ice and maybe changed the game.

Nice outings by the pen. Again Tomko throws hard stuff in one inning of work, I wonder if a another team would take him and throw him in a setup or even closer role?

some prospect results from today..

dewitt 3-4 2b avg 280

bell 2-4 2b avg 275

mattingly 3-4 avg 265

mattingly has really been coming on as of late.

McDonald and Hammes both pitched nice games as well.

>>> This is the sixth game in a row that Furcal has led off, regardless of whether it was vs. an LHP or an RHP, so Grady appears to have abandoned his platooning leadoff plan in favor of the same Furcal-Pierre alignment that he put in place during spring training. <<<

I was kind of surprised to read this at Tony Jackson's blog. He attends the games every day and yet he seems unaware that the Dodgers have just faced six straight right handers

Big games tomorrow for Jacksonville, 66ers and even the Loons.

66ers can clinch a playoff spot with a win against Lancaster tomorrow afternoon. Alberto Bastardo (A DT favorite) who has pitched great in his past 4 starts, will start.

The Jacksonville Suns do not control their playoff destiny, they are 1 game back with 1 game to go and they are not playing the team ahead of them. But they will hope for the best and try to set up a playoff for the first half spot.

The Loons, who suffered growing pains early on, are going for a .500 record for the first half if they can win tommorrow. Kershaw has been the story but as Nate has pointed out, Josh Bell and Preston Mattingly are also coming on.

Ball's in your court Snook, Texas.

http://tinyurl.com/y46c8y

I'm not sure about this, though. I don't rule out the possibility that it's good, but it doesn't seem, intuitively, likely.

So my wife and kids are taking me to the game tomorrow for Father's Day, but it's my first game of the year. Anyone have any parking advice? We're coming from the West Valley. I used to go in at Academy road -- is that still a good option?

54

Yeah, after all, we can afford to just have him go out and lay more eggs because of our huge lead in the division and lack of options and/or motivation to do anything else.

By the way, has anyone in the dodgers organization, or in the press even come close to getting on Nomar for his rather below average numbers so far this year, both offensively and defensively? It seems to me that Nomar has this great immunity about him that even if he just goes out there and collects 3 bleeders through the left side a week, he is not criticized at all. I mean, for being the dodgers great poster boy, he sure hasn't played much better than Ramon Martinez of last year. I know he's one of Ned's boys, one of Grady's boys, and on of "our own," the local, whatever, but someone, please, give him a little push please. I mean, can we really win with a 3 hitter with 1 home run and a .270s batting average, with a Pierre-like slugging percentage?

61 Since you didn't say where you are sitting, I still think as far as getting in and out of the Stadium, the Sunset entrance is the best because when you get out, you are out of the stadium.

62 Nomar's lack of power this season has been discussed and while no one is calling for him to be replaced, I don't think anyone is sugarcoating it.

The fact that Loney has started 3 of 6 games since he has had been here may or may not mean anything but we can hope that (1) Loney does produce when given the opportunity and (2) Nomar, whether due to extra rest or pushed by Loney, starts being a little more like the guy we cheered for last year.

61
If you know how to get to Academy Road, use that gate. Best ingress and egress to Dodger Stadium by far. You will have to go and get across three lanes of traffic on the Pasadena Freeway to get on the 5 North in about 10 seconds while trying to accelerate from a dead stop, but if you're an experienced driver, it should be no problem.

I did it when I was 17. I considered it my driving rite of passage.

Then my dad made me go out and kill a wild animal when I got home. I opted for a spider and we called it a day.

Re: Schmitd. I know he didn't let the game get out of time, but sucken cost and relativity apply here. We expect great results from our pitching staff because the pitching staff has the deep talent for it. I think the biggest question mark on the whole team is not thirdbase, firstbase, or leftfield. We can be confident in Lowe, Penny, Wolf, Kuo, and ?(maybe Schmidt can use his experience to be average at best). So, the present order of business is whether Schmitd is one of our five starters. If not, it's gotta be Billingsley but there is a legitimate argument for keeping him in the bullpen. His position in the bullpen, despite the low amount of innings pitched, is very important, disproportionally even, and his great job there will be hard to replicate. If Chad had to take a spot in the rotation, I would try Bombko despite having seen the guy pitch before(I say that trying to be funny). Otherwise, one of the DL guys (e.g Brazoban) or minor league players (e.g Meloan) will have to fill the 7th inning role, but in either case we should expect a rough beginning (costing us 1 or 2 games) we might not be able to afford.

Right now, no choice, if you are deciding on the Dodgers, you are gambling. Do you bet on Schmidt to not be awful, or do you bet on finding a very important third reliever.

By the way, in my mind there are 5 rotation spots and 3 bullpen spot with the rest of the spots satisfied by scrap-heap finds, and minimum pay pitchers like Seanez.

It's great the Dodgers pick pitchers early. The age of Billingsley and Broxton is 22. Young even for the prospects.

54

hopefully Grady will have a small leash on him considering his cranky shoulder, i'm just about ready to give Bills a shot every 5th day, I know it ain't gonna happen cause of the huge contract Schmidt has but still.

Schmidt needs to go back on the DL and pitch in a few minor league games.

Bills to start in his place and Tomko, Broxton, Saito owning 7th, 8th, and 9th.

I just learned that Blake DeWitt was drafted out of Brea Olinda High school. I never attended, but it is my home town, so Blake replaces Mitch Jones as my favorite minor leaguer, now that Jones is in Japan.

Also, the Angels just called up Terry Evans, their equivalent to Mitch Jones. He's the guy they got when they traded Jeff Weaver. Be interesting to see how he does, if he plays. Evans suddenly became a power hitter last year, after 3 years of nothing, He's OPSing 900+ again this year, so maybe he's a late bloomer.

69 -- DeWitt was drafted out of Sikeston High School, in Sikeston, Missouri. It is Travis Denker who was drafted out of the high school you mention.

Oakmont appears to be playing easy today. 10 of the 17 players on the course are at par or better, including 6 players under par. In each of the first 3 rounds, there were exactly 2 players that broke par. I'm guessing there will be quite a few to do so today.

Oakmont appears to be playing easy today. 10 of the 17 players on the course are at par or better, including 6 players under par. In each of the first 3 rounds, there were exactly 2 players that broke par. I'm guessing there will be quite a few to do so today.

63,65
Thanks. Tickets are loge level, on the first base side. Unless that changes the advice, I'll probably stick with Academy Road.

And Bob, I think afterward we'll all go out as a family and strangle a moose, just to commemorate the event. I'm assuming we'll just find one up in Griffith Park.

Also: Happy Father's Day to our proprietor, the father of his kids and the Father of L.A. Sports Blogging.

Also also: Jon, you've probably got it already, but may I recommend "Wonder Girl" to you? It's a kids' book, perfect for a girl about your daughter's age. Its a true story about Alta Weiss, a turn-of-the-century female pitcher-cum-doctor. Kind of a female Moonlight Graham. With a nasty fastball.

Oakmont appears to be playing easy today. 10 of the 17 players on the course are at par or better, including 6 players under par. In each of the first 3 rounds, there were exactly 2 players that broke par. I'm guessing there will be quite a few to do so today.

Oakmont appears to be playing easy today. 10 of the 17 players on the course are at par or better, including 6 players under par. In each of the first 3 rounds, there were exactly 2 players that broke par. I'm guessing there will be quite a few to do so today.

Woah. I have no idea why my golf post is repeating itself.

oh, by the way, i'll be wearing my Ghame Over shirt. If you see an overwhelmingly handsome and somewhat harried man wearing that shirt, feel free to come up and say hello. my real-life name is "dan reines."

I hope Oakmont is playing easier today.

78Have you heard anything about the conditions?

One of the problems they have on Sunday is that a local priest celebrates Mass in the church pew bunker.

78 79

Hahahaha.

Kevin Sutherland is the leader in the clubhouse at Oakmont. He's in at 304!

82

The guy from 24?

83
Give me my putter now or millions of people will die!

Or, in this season,

Give me my putter now or I will stare placidly out a window for 5 minutes!

I'm only gonna say this once:

There are now only 3 players under par today.

And now Rory Sabbatini is the leader in the clubhouse at 301.

Look for Anthony Kim to be the next LITC.

85

So you're changing your earlier position? You seemed pretty adamant.

Anthony Kim posts +14...!

88
No, I still think there will be more than 2 rounds under par today.

300 yard Par 3 - Given the set up and rough, I would just put a 10 down and go to the next hole.

Or I would hit 3 sand wedges and hope for a 6 or 7.

91
A friend of mine who plays a lot of golf says that if you tried to play Oakmont without spotters, you would lose balls by the score. The rough is just too thick.

Wow, Tiger looks huge in his fitted shirt.

92 Folks you can pay to play at next year's U.S. Open Course, Torrey Pines South.

And the Open returns to Pebble Beach in 2010.

wake me up when we're not talking about golf anymore.

95 Ha.

That Glenn Mills School story was very cool.

A Father's Day gift for Mike Lieberthal:

Furcal, SS

Pierre, CF

Nomar, 1B

Kent, 2B

Gonzo, LF

Betemit, 3B

Kemp, RF

Lieberthal, C

Wolf, P

95
How about a discussion of baking?

Do people realize that Nomar is now just 5 OPS points ahead of Pierre...?

On the Blue Jays broadcast, they cut to a shot of Frank Thomas's home run totals on a display in the Rogers Centre. About two seconds later, Thomas crushed a homer to left.

He's now at 496 homers.

99
I've painted a picture of Juan Pierre on my Prius.

Does anyone actually like Jimmy Roberts and his little stories...?

102
They are good only in comparison to Jim Huber stories.

I remember when Jimmy Roberts was ESPN's "serious" guy.

I like when Dick Enberg does his little stories. That's about it. Maybe Kenny Mayne's as well, but only because they are invariably ludicrous.

But I have Enberg Bias.

Enberg is great.

I like Enberg too. And Edberg, for that matter.

106 Ken will be so happy to see that. The Toaster is very pro-Swede.

David Feherty > Every other golf analyst. Even his commercials are awesome.

97 Greg Brock and I were hoping that today would be the day for both Ethier and Kemp to start and Gonzalez get the day off.

98 Or the highlights of Troy McClure's career. You may remember him from such DT threads such as
https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/633580.html or get the Season 4 Simpsons DVD for several of the best Troy McClure episodes.

Johnny Miller won the United States Open?

Geez, you'd think he'd mention it once in a while.

109
I think it was Oakmont too.

I think he had a good final round. Shot a 78 or something.

His playing partner that day:

John Schlee.

The First Annual Andrew Shimmin Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Looting just picked up a heavy favorite for the year.

McCourts are now true Blue

>>> "We're having the time of ours lives," says McCourt. "We love this team. We love this community. We love the way things have been going. Our goal is to become the most dominant franchise in baseball, and one day we'll reach that goal." <<<

http://www.presstelegram.com/sports/ci_6161283

70 That's what I get for posting before I've had my coffee. Of course I meant Travis Denker, but I had just read a comment about Blake DeWitt. Denker it is.

Rich Hill's tossing up some batting practice in Chi-town today, 5-1 Pads after 2 1/2.

Baddeley triples the first, Tiger now in tie for lead with Ames.

Ames is a tough customer, and he has the advantage of not being in the same group with Tiger.

Game thread is open.