SS Furcal
CF Pierre
DH Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
RF Kemp
1B Loney
3B Betemit

Hong-chih Kuo
James Loney
Randy Wolf
Jason Schmidt
Juan Pierre
Andy Laroche
Rudy Seanez
Mike Lieberthal
Brett Tomko
Wilson Valdez
Mark Hendrickson

Just for point of reference, Tomko, Hendrickson and Seanez are all hitless on the year so far.

He's 0-1, with a BB and HBP for a .667 OBP.

Kemp is a meager 2-1 with a .500 OBP.

See, Grady looks at these things. Ethier is clearly the hot hand here.

Clearly, Grady does not look at these things.

Dodgers
Padres
Reds

One interesting fact, the Padres have lost 8 games when they have led after 6 innings.

I'm going with Cincy.

The Dodgers have lost once and the Padres twice when they they have led after 8 innings.

I think the key number to look at that stat is not how many losses you have but how many times are you ahead after 8 or 6 or whatever inning you have to choose. The Reds are 25-0 when they lead after 8 through today but that means they have either been tied (a few times) or the vast majority behind after 8 and that's a hard way to compete.

http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=93976

Because this Halladay guy just can't get anybody out.

Tomko: -1.7
Hendy: -1.8
Nomar: -2.2

But I'm pretty sure that's not the intended use of this stat.

You know more about it than I do, though, so correct me.

The thing to keep in mind with VORP, though, is that it is effectively a counting stat, affected by playing time.

from the last thread - a friend of mine made it for the Diablos de Mexico but that doesn't count, i also had 2 freinds make it as high as A ball & double AA.

Via GuoMania:
Skinny:
Guo only has 20 innings pitched under his belt so far this year as opposed to 82 from Halladay. Guo gets the edge in ERA and Field Independent ERA, part of this is due to Hallday facing tougher hitters in the American League. Guo is more of a fly ball, strike out pitcher, with a GB/FB/LD line of 29/48/23. Halladay, will get his fair share of strike outs, but he relies more on his control. Both pitchers have home run rates well below (stingy on giving up HRs) league average. Guo has yet to give up a home run in 20 innings thus far. While Guo tends to be a fly ball pitcher, Halladay induces alot more groundballs with a GB/FB/LD line of 56/26/18. Both pitchers have a similiar BABIP allowed. Guo is at .315 and Halladay having a nearly identical mark of .313. Halladay has been slightly more unlucky when it comes to stranding runners on base. Guo has a LOB% of 71.4% and Halladay of 64.4%. This should be a close and low scoring game, a game that the Blue Jays probably feel they should win. If Guo is on, the Jays could be in for a big surprise.

I just babysat my nephew for five hours. You people that willingly had children are insane. I need a nap.

if i remember correctly Mexico city, i swear i'd put Marcos arm with Mondesis, Marco played with me in the Sandy Koufax league then moved back to mexico, great player.

btw, im i the only one completely confused with grady's logic regarding our DH today. i would like to know the last time saenz faced halladay? have those splits expired by now?

Whatever that means.

The Diablos Rojos play in Mexico City. They are Mexico's most storied franchise; Hall of Famers Willie Wells and Ray Dandridge, among others, played for them.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablos_Rojos_del_M%C3%A9xico

This country gives you opportunity. Then you have to prove that you can live up to what's expected of you.

Opportunity and proof.

I don't know if I agree with him, but I do kinda get what he's saying.

Again, because we have a staff that does strike out batters, I think the plan is to attack early to avoid giving them the chance to fan you.

This plan doesn't work if you get a lot of ground balls like Lowe and Penny.

Big Papi facing Buddy

http://www.stathead.com/bbeng/woolner/vorpdescnew.htm

and in particular, the comment that

"We define a replacement level player as one who hits as far below the league positional average as the league backups do relative to league average, who plays average defense for the position, and is a breakeven base-stealer and baserunner."

GUILTY!

The tension is high in Atlanta.

I read that as saying an individual player's VORP is corrected based on the position he plays. That way, you can see who is more valuable to one's team. Russell Martin is 18 runs better than a replacement catcher; Luis Gonzalez is 14 runs better than a replacement left fielder; therefore, Martin provides more value to his team. Why is that wrong?

I guess my question is really this: if you can't compare VORP across positions, why do we need VORP? Why not simply OPS/EQA/whatever?

I'm scheduled to have jury duty next week, so I'm trying to get in the grove. Actually, with all the lawyers around these parts, does anybody have a suggestion of which book, if they saw it sitting on a jurors lap, would get the potential juror booted during voir dire? Or does it not work that way? I'm not willing to lie, or have nasty words shaved into my hair, but most of everything else is negotiable.

3-run homer and the Red Sox are up 5-0.

Gameday says Guo is gone.

ugg

Their DH, who does nothing else but hit 4-5 times again, goes 2-2 with a double and a grand slam.

lol uhh..

well, we also dont have a DH who is most likely a HOFer and 3hr from 500.

but yea, i understand your point.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1990/B08210LAN1990.htm

Probably a good idea to hold 'em from here on out though.

But since this is Canada, that's only four metric runs.

he also provides chuckles when he runs

I get it, guys.

The game isn't over, true. We have yet to see how far down the Dodgers will be when the game is over.

I just remembered the Dodger game was on, so I hurriedly went to turn on the TV, only to hear the TV say, and it's now "10-0" while seeing a Blue Jay round the bases. Talk about getting deflated.

although knowing our luck, troy glaus will line one off his skull.

They have blown leads of 8 and 10 runs in that same period.

I never thought they'd make a movie about Brett Tomko's ERA.

After the game, perhaps Kevin Kennedy will tell us all about why you don't send in a superstar position player in to pitch.

Heck, if Loney's knee is still bothering him, I wouldn't mind seeing Matt Kemp try to blow it by people.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU198906030.shtml

Didn't Hamilton get a couple of strikeouts in that game?

Perhaps one of these was avoidable, but mostly this kind of bad luck permeates baseball.

I would assume that if you go back far enough in time with Brooklyn, you would find a big deficit overcome. Especially in the 1930s when runs came easily.

Nobody ever developes two way playes anymore. They thrive in high school and college but by the time guys turn pro they have to go one way or the other.

Yeah; Hamilton got Billy Hatcher looking at a fastball on the outside corner, and Ken Caminiti swung and missed a high fastball to strike out. Caminiti promptly broke his bat (or attempted to break it) over his knee.

One thing I remember about that marathon game -- Eddie Murray came up with a chance to give the Dodgers the lead in the 21st and hit a line drive up the middle, but Rafael Ramirez had been shifted defensively to that precise area. I'll never forget Lasorda (who was coaching third) starting to celebrate when he saw the ball come off the bat, then agonizing as Ramirez caught the liner in his tracks. Hilarious stuff.

The Dodgers scored one in the sixth, four in the seventh, and one in the ninth to tie and won it in the 10th on a Milton Bradley homer 8-6. The game was at Miller Park.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL200504190.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1988/B07300LAN1988.htm

... Mickey Hatcher got into a game in 1989:

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1989/B05040LAN1989.htm

... and Dave Concepcion pitched against the Dodgers in 1988:

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1988/B06030LAN1988.htm

... The Dodgers won that Concepcion game 13-5, on 22 hits, all singles.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/COL/COL200008220.shtml

205 So you limit your Jacksonville talk to the ballpark?

This is weird.

I'm not even going to make a joke. Fish/barrel.

And there's nobody on the field...absolutely nobody...except for the two umpires still on the field. Nice work, Charlie.

At least, that's what they told me when I went to school in Borneo.

That'd fit the past suggestion of some here for Bills and Kguo to split games.

Hope one awful game doesn't shake Kguo's confidence. Shouldn't. If he was on and getting lit up like that it'd be one thing. But on he obviously wasn't.

Also hope his performance was not because he's hurt, or something's not quite right physically...

Alston explained what he was going to do to umpire Jocko Conlon and he said it was OK, but Ken Burkhart overruled him and said that since Carey was not listed as a pitcher, he could not pitch. So Moeller batted.

The next day, the Dodgers called the NL office and the league secretary checked the rule book and realized that there was no such rule. And from then on, anybody could pitch.

It wasn't really a rule, but a commonly held misconception that the umpires had given the force of a rule.

A DH is being compared to not just hitters, but hitters who fielded a position, often better than average. Maybe once DH's are coming up for consideration in droves, like the recent surge in closers, we would see a more categorical evaluation of DH's to one another.

shh, don't tell Jon that.

if i'm understanding correctly, it's like having an emergency catcher?

That likely would have been the reason to get rid of the rule.

Schmidt done for the year

Jason Schmidt had a torn labrum, scarring of the bursa and a frayed biceps tendon. He won't throw for three or four months, but they're hopeful he'll be ready by the start of spring training. At first glance, this would appear to be devastating news. But as GM Ned Colletti correctly pointed out in the most relevant quote of the day, "With all due respect, he wasn't throwing well. It's not as if he were on the way to a Cy Young season and suddenly you lose him.''

Unless they just took Conte's word for it. In which case, well, dumb dumb dumb.

How is a diagnosis of a labrum tear made?

Because this cartilage is deep in the shoulder, it is very difficult to make the diagnosis of a torn labrum upon physical examination. There are several tests that the physician can perform which may indicate a torn labrum, but these tests are not always accurate. The other problem is that labrum tears take different forms as described above, and certain tests will detect one kind of tear but not another. Some physicians feel very confident that they can make the diagnosis of a labral tear upon physical examination, but this is controversial. There are not many scientific studies that show that physical examination is reliable for making the diagnosis of a labral tear. As a result of this uncertainty, other studies can be done to confirm the diagnosis if it is suspected.

The best tests available to make the diagnosis of a labral tear are magnetic resonance imaging or a test called a CT-arthrogram ( the latter is a CAT scan preceded by an arthrogram where dye is injected into the shoulder). Both of these tests are relatively good at defining a labrum tear due to a subluxation or dislocation, but they are only around 80-85% accurate. For that reason, some physicians believe that are not always needed if the diagnosis of subluxation or dislocation can be made by history and physical examination. Neither of those tests is currently very good at making the diagnosis of a SLAP lesion. This area is very complex and it is difficult to reliably get good pictures of this area with MRI.

However, if the MRI definitely shows a tear then frequently it will be present. The problem is that the MRI may miss smaller tears and cannot reliably make the diagnosis in larger tears of the labrum.

The best way to make the diagnosis of labrum tearing is with arthroscopy of the shoulder. Unfortunately this is an operative procedure and requires some form of anesthesia. Making the diagnosis also takes some experience on the part of the surgeon, since the anatomy of the inside of the shoulder can be quite complex. The relationship between labrum tears and symptoms has not been totally figured out, so it is not clearly known which ones should be repaired and which ones can be left alone.

http://tinyurl.com/32xl2e

I cant seem them going back to Tomko/Hendrickson.

WWSH

Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case, especially not if it's a complete tear. A torn labrum is not something you come back from. In fact, with all the modern medical advances, I think it's basically the only remaining career-ending inury. As far as I know, there is not even one example of a player tearing his labrum and coming back to be an effective pitcher.

A partial tear is a different story, but one that still presents very long odds. We don't know yet if Schmidt's tear is a partial or complete one. In either case, I think we would have to be very pleasantly surprised if Schmidt ever pitches another major league game.

Here's a Will Carroll article on labrum tears:
http://www.slate.com/id/2100895/

"The leading minds in baseball medicine are flummoxed by the labrum. Doctors can't agree on how to detect a tear, don't know the best way to fix one, and aren't sure why, almost without fail, a torn labrum will destroy a pitcher's career."

At least we're in familiar territory here. No problem.

https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/010620.html

I was driving up from SB back to SF this afternoon so I missed the game and then watched the condensed version of it on MLB TV. Thankfully, because I sure would have been even more tortured if had to watch it live. Ugh. What a horror show. Oh well, the Jays get revenge on the D's for the night before and then you move on.

The balls were just jumping off their bats, what can you do? Was Kuo that bad or was it just a combination of things? I couldn't tell from just the high(low)lights.

With Schmidt officially done for the year, I'm gonna worry more about their pitching if we have a few more of these Kuo-then-Tomko shell games but I have more faith in Kuo than that.

All I can say is... let's go Chad!

um, yeah, I definitely had that in mind.

The Labrum is quickly becoming my least favorite body part. Stupid Appendix, sittin' there doin' nuthin' and getting asploded in the Dominican Republic now has competition.

I hate you, Labrum.

The acetabular labrum and I are totally cool.

Jackson also had some arterial damage in his hip too I believe. It was pretty messed up.

It's never good to have something with the word "necrosis" attached to it.

We need some good news tonight. All I got is that Evans (the Angels' Mitch Jones clone) got a homer in his first big league AB tonight and Vlad hit a 3-run shot to put the Angels up big. But not all you are Angels fans, so that might not help.

"It must grow back to the bone, so the rehab process slows down," he said. "We anticipated that the labrum did not need to be reattached, but it did."

But this discussion is too labrum-intensive for me so I'm going to bed. Hope tomorrow's news is less full of... bad stuff.

Yup, that's all I got.

It was a highly overrated experience.

He was better in the second half including an outstanding August in which he posted a 4-0 record with a 3.13 ERA. A hamstring injury slowed him in September and he finished that month with a 5.40 ERA."

From what I remember in 2006 Schmidt pitched very well in the first half of the season with mixed results the 2nd half. His pitch count per inning very was high (someone could probably look it up) but had an excellent change-up that made up for a lack of velocity though decent.

I don't get the Jones comparison. Jones was 29 this year, and repeated high-A twice, and AA and AAA three times. Evans is 25, repeated low A twice, high-A three times, AA twice times, but the third time was the charm as he slingshotted through two levels and never stopped hitting. He continued hitting at AAA Salt Lake and earned (however dubiously: 60:10 K:BB ratio) a promotion to the Show. But the age difference is a big key. So far with the Angels, he has struck out once and walked once, in five plate appearances. That's better than his minor league record, and almost certainly unsustainable. However, as with Kendry Morales, a homer as your first major league hit is a ticket to some playing time, and with an ice-cold opponent (Pirates) on tap, it's a near-certainty he'll get another start. Probably that will come at the expense of Shea Hillenbrand, who is almost certainly a better hitter.