Ummm, wow.

I actually feel my angst about the lineups is rather tame. I've only asked for one adjustment.

Just imagine...

Food would taste better. The air would be fresher. Crime rates would go down. Democrats and Republicans would work together to help the country. The hole in the ozone would disappear. Intelligent life would be found on other planets and all the creatures would carry around books called "To Serve Man."

Your like a child who has walked into the middle of a movie!

You're supposed to kill the threads, not start them :-)

The J.D Drew affect.....I'm telling you...

Slacking inbetween the bugs.

Is it just my peculiar filter on the Dodgers, or is there something about the not-playing-the-kids problem Grady seems to have that plays like it's McCourt who's afraid that they'll tank, inflaming his pathetic and ever-present fear of failure? It's not like there's no risk in playing the veterans...

I guess what Im saying is that its a team effort.

[checks stats]

Delete! Delete! Delete!

http://tinyurl.com/22aqek

And even more important: The Dodgers need to win.

Wasn't he supposed to be activated from the DL this week?

But I did cover some Oaks Christian games. And a Westlake High game with Rudy Carpenter at QB.

I hate these East Coast games. It means I have to start drinking before dusk.

Swisher, Kotsay, Buck, Cust, Stewart

Of course, sometimes I look at the final line-up for the '88 Dodgers and go... "huh?"

Still one of the all-time great quotes.

Why does Abreu get the start over Betemit...?

They could never fly again until years later when they saw a pyschiatrist. She sounded an awful lot like Anne Bancroft but she explained to them how that event scarred them and prevented them from enjoying the chance to lose their luggage and sit through long delays at the airport.

They were then able to get on a plane fly just about anywhere in the world.

...And when you're on the street, depending on the street, I bet you are definitely in the top 3..."

In the column you say "only 10 have been 25."

Um, everybody over 25 has been 25. I suspect a demon editor chopped the part of the sentence which read "of the starters."

Those guys are brilliant. And I'm using the word "brilliant" here.

okay, I'm done now.

Poor little guy needs every HR accounted for. We need to pimp the stock on Pierre if Ned is ever to find a suitor for his services. Maybe throw around that new ESPN stat some more.

I feel like career high for home runs in a season is implied.

By the way how brutal is that ESPN front page with Pavano on it? Ouch, Schmidt next...

That's some toolsy comedy, right there. Those guys have comedy tools.

Really, where was Major League II? I know that Godfather II is considered the best sequel and Police Academy II has it fans but its a Charlie Sheen showcase, going from jerk to sweet sincere guy by just putting on some glasses, c'mon, that's real acting there.

That movie is full of subtleties. It's obviously not as good as the first one, but it has it's moments. If Wesley Snipes had signed on rather than Omar Epps, it clearly would have made the AFI Top 100.

I think Lucas should stop talking for 30 years.

They could have also cast Brian Keith, of Hardcastle & McCormick fame.

Its probably just nervous energy waiting for Chad.

A serious movie question, I have never seen a complete Chaplin movie but after watching the clip of "City Lights" and seeing Jack Lemmon get all chocked up describing the last scene, I feel have to watch that movie, any thoughts?

Men at Work...What an ignored movie. Band of the same name is still pretty famous.

Okay, let's go Dodgers, let's go Chad...

I'll be watching the second half of the game late due to an early soccer game. Buena suerte to us all.

100 - Oh, no worries.

"tip" of the bat

Nice first inning by Chad. We like that.

Reminds me of the options this guy named Buba gave me in prison.

I love Chaplin and Keaton but it's always fun to debate.

I'd also love to see Kent not look so old.

"Padres spokesman George Stieren said the bills were thrown by a fan in a suite on the third-base side of the downtown ballpark. The fan was ejected."

Kidding. Kuo is great. It was just too easy...

Crimson Tide, CSI, Cold Case, Black Hawk Down, etc etc.

Bay (who now produces as well), not so much.... (putting it mildly).

flatest.pitch.ever.

I mean, sigh.

That pitch was the "hanging Chad"?

Toronto's also doing a good job of taking pitches early in their abs.

Speaking of which, the film that inspired Airplane! (an unfunny version of the latter) is out on DVD next week for first time - Zero Hour.

Back to the game... SIGH.

Coincidence?

What could relax them is for this team to score some runs.

How much do you want to bet Abreu swings at the first pitch?

wow.

Nice veteran play there Marlon.

it has the apposite affect on us so i'm guessing your right.

he's on a pitch count of roughly 60 pitches.

I would put him back in for another inning.

He's squeezed the hell out of Chad today....

i tend to agree with you Jon.

is that hendrickson warming in the bullpen?

are you watching the game on gameday??

I also think, they wanted to see if Schmidt could pitch on 4 days rest.

the KCAL gun had him there also.

sometime during the second time through the order, you take out the overhand right handed pitcher, and put in the (admittedly mediocre) left handed pitcher.

. . . just trying to have positive thoughts.

Teams hit .297 when they have runners in scoring position against the Dodgers.

Partly this is due to the low number of at bats that the Dodgers have in this situation but still that is a really high number.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3290003&page=1

Then, some do-gooder had to add "without representation!"

The other blockbuster firing of the week was Eddie Murray's exit as Dodgers hitting coach.

Dodgers players have told their friends that Murray was so headstrong and old-school that half the position players on the roster weren't even on speaking terms with him.

Stubbornness is a virtue. :)

Also: "James Loney was able to participate in all drills and was completely cleared for baseball activities four days after bruising his knee running into the Dodger Stadium fence."

??? I really dont even think Grady could give a good answer . .

right on Q D4P

Unleash the fury!

Oh Canada.

IBB's Gonzo to get to Martin is not a smart move.

Very few of them have been pitchers. Tim Leary may have been the best and his lifetime W-L record was 78-105.

Pause for stunned silence and angry keyboards.

START HIM TOMORROW GRADY. I am on the bandwagon.

And I would disagree that Wayne Gretzky was not tough. He would only look "weak" if you're comparing him to Marty McSorley.

Murphy looked pretty good in the start at Long Beach in the Regional.

OK, that was awful.

On the other, I would have loved to see the Bison run down Zaun.

it was off the wall, he didn't even have a good swing at it. man, he's got a ton of talent.

Preparing core dump.

Kemp's a starter and the Dodgers need to ride him through good and bad. Spot starts here and there do him nor the team any good.

http://tinyurl.com/yssqcb

lim(ERA) = infinity
IP -> 0

I can understand getting Buck, Stewart, Swisher all time in the Of---but Bradley is a better player than Mark Kotsay.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA200304120.shtml

135.00. One out. Five runs. First game of the season.

After the banks take their cut, you will break even or a little behind.

You telling me someone didn't catch the double entendre and thought this commercial was OK?

Joe Cleary in 1945.
Jack Scheible in 1894.

Cleary pitched in just one game. I mentioned him once before. He pitched in the same game as Bert Shepard for Washington. Shepard only had one leg and outpitched Cleary.

Where should I park if I bring my niece to the event?

There will be a lot of Harry Potter stuff going on that day.

A LOT.

There will even be a live performance by the band Harry and the Potters.

Chuck Norris once starred a batter down and he went back to the dugout too afraid to hit.

It ain't over till it's over... or until Chuck Norris comes, whichever happens first.

So Bills looks OK, we may get something out of Schmidt next year, Wolf will do allright or else it is our call. We could play Kemp and Loney if we choose. Maybe things aren't quite as dark as they looked this morning.

And their answer was that the two leagues were tied at 205-205.

Which is wrong in many different ways.

The AL is ahead (113-96 now). And they don't play that many interleague games.

I'm not sure were they got that number.

Very few of them have been pitchers.*

No love for old friend Matt Young? ;)

It could have been for Jim Parque except for that, um, torn labrum thing....

>>> General Manager Ned Colletti declined to say whether the Dodgers had injury insurance that would cover all or part of Schmidt's three-year, $47-million contract should the right-hander fail to return, citing his policy of not disclosing such information. <<<

http://tinyurl.com/25h4ht

BTW, if anyone cares, there's a pretty damn good soccer game going on between Mexico and a Caribbean section of France.

This Mitchell steroids invest. is so corriagraphed it means nothing. I bet Giambi will talk about himself, but he isn't going to stool on anyone else. This whole thing is ridiculous.

If they dont have insurance, it could be good. That might mean the McCourts wont take on a high priced average veteran.

(Tom Timmermann, of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, reports St. Louis Cardinals SP Tomo Ohka allowed four runs on eight hits over five innings in a start for Triple-A Memphis Wednesday, June 20.)

Ohka: http://www.baseball-reference.com/o/ohkato01.shtml
Tomko: http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tomkobr01.shtml

When Abbott told his mom and dad, they responded "giving somebody a hand means helping them out. You don't have to take it literally." Jim promptly said "Chuck Norris never needs help." Jim Abbott was a smart boy.

What is the worst deal in L.A. Dodgers history?
Signing Dave Goltz
Signing Jason Schmidt
Signing Don Stanhouse
Signing Darryl Strawberry
Replacing Ross Porter with Charley Steiner
Trading Paul Konerko for Jeff Shaw
Trading Paul LoDuca for Choi and Penny
Trading Pedro Martinez for Delino DeShields
Trading Mike Piazza for Sheffield, Bonilla and others
$15 for parking

>>> Bradley's agent, Seth Levinson, said that his impression of Beane's meeting with Bradley was that, "clearly their decision was (already) made after finding out that Milton would be unhappy not playing every day. Milton feels he is an everyday player and they felt it would be a disservice to him not playing him in his free-agent year.'' >> Asked specifically if character issues led to Bradley's departure, Beane said, "Is Milton a fiery, emotional guy? Absolutely. He's not the first guy to be like that in this game and we don't get to the playoffs (last year) without Milton. As far as speculation, you can speculate all you want. I'm not going to contribute to that in any way. We had to manage our roster and it was time to go a different way.'' <<<

http://tinyurl.com/2hdruh

474 I was fooled at first also. The worst deal for me personally is the $15 parking, but that is a great deal for the club.

Is Kershaw going to skip Vero/Inland Empire and head straight for AA next year?

i think he gets promoted to inland empire soon and stays there for the rest of the year. depending on how he does there and how he progressed over the offseason, he could start next year in AA.

Because being DFAed always makes you look so good.

There a several teams where MB is an upgrade, at CF or corner OF. San Diego seems obvious.

There is no Kershaw. Kershaw does not exist.

Quentin, Upton, Young in the Arizona OF might happen sooner rather than later.

/plaschke

Very funny.

Spike Lundberg? Have at it.

Nice grab by Ethier, too.

Thanks Billy, that all seems to make sense.

What, you think you are such a man of mystery that no one will figure out you are just fed up with MB's antics. You think your thinly veiled comments will keep some other GM from realizing what a headcase Milton is so you can still get some value for him. News flash Billy: You would be at least the third GM to reach that conclusion and your coy comments aren't fooling anyone.

Nomar Garciaparra greeted Janssen with a single before Kent doubled off the top of the right-field wall.

"You wonder what would have happened if had ball [sic] just gone over the fence," Little said. "It stayed in the park and good things followed."

The general manager will face heat over losing Jason Schmidt but he shouldn't panic and risk the future of the team.

http://www.baumerfoods.com/products/

I wish Andy LaRoche was given a longer chance. I wonder how Tony Abreu will look at second base. I love how Andre Ethier always surprises. I have been infected with these kids' ability and enthusiasm, and I know I'm not the only one.

oh my god who is ghost writing for plaschke today?

Th Winchester House has 47 chimneys. That's a lot of chimneys.

"The offense will react better to new hitting coach Bill Mueller than to Eddie Murray, whose greatness overwhelmed kids who were just too darn intimidated by him."

Nice work, Eddie. You da man.

17 chimneys is much better. 47 would be a little excessive.

It's tempting to think he's having a good year so far. .442 OBP and .550 SLG look pretty nice, until you look at the .425 BA. Where's the patience? Where's the power?

The good news is he's only 22.

http://tinyurl.com/23ez6v

According to the LA Times poll on "the worst deal in Dodger history," 58 percent believe it to have been the Brad Penny trade.

Whereas 13 reckon it's Pedro for Delino.

I would let that pass unremarked, but I can't do it. Did Plaschke vote a thousand times?

I have to say I'm a bit surprised by the latter.

Now Plaschke shouldn't be a casual Dodger's fan. At the very least he should have a better sense on how the youngsters are performing than vaguely watching them on the tube. He is paid to follow sports after all. But, I don't think he is a politician for flip-flopping so much as for telling people what they already think. Bill doesn't try to shape public opinion, he is merely a milestone of tipping points in public opinion.

Each bar goes with the trade below it, not above it. So really, 57.8% of the people think the Pedro trade was the worst one.

I would pay money to see Bradley interact with the Giles brothers.

I do have a problem with a sportswriter not treating those with opposing viewpoints with respect, with a sportswriter misrepresenting those points of view to make making his point easier, and then after coming around to the other point of view, failing to acknowledge that maybe the people he trashed last year had a point.

In short, it's not the flip-flop that bothers we at all. It's the unrepentant trashing.

Just listened to Jim Tracy being interviewed on Simers/Roggin's radio show.

His comments on Bradley:
"For the most part I like to think that we had a good relationship while we were in Los Angeles...but you have to wonder how many times can you wear out your welcome...When you look at his career, it's astounding from a Disabled List standpoint how many games he's lost in his career to injury."

When asked directly by Simers if he would want the Pirates to obtain Bradley, Tracy said:

"It would be tough, it's tantalizing...it's a very good question when you consider our offensive struggles of late and how hard it has been for us to score runs, but you have to consider how long you would be able to keep him on the field."

Also, they asked him his thoughts on the Dodgers, Padres, and Angels and he basically said he thought all three teams are in very good shape because of the strength of the backend of their bullpens. He then started talking about his Dodger bullpens and Gagne, and then I started to feel all warm and fuzzy toward Tracy, and then I took off my right shoe and slammed my computer monitor on my foot.

Is today the day Kemp gets into the lineup?

I would guess Abreu starts at 3B with Lowe on the mound (for defense, at least in the organization's mind -- Abreu has started at 3B in 4 of the last 5 Lowe starts)

Ethier has been hitting well the last few days so he stays in. Same with Kent. Pierre and/or Gonzo are more likely to see time off Saturday against Kazmir.

If Loney is healthy, they might try to get him in there against the righty Sonnanstine.

Here is my projected lineup today:

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

2 years later he still slips DePodesta's name into his columns like profanity. DePo really shafted this team with those Penny and Lowe contracts didn't he Bill?

Maybe Khalil Greene can be the "Wizard of the Coast."

I was pleasantly surprised he wanted LaRoche to get more time. Me too.

Gosh, I really hope we get Gonzo at DH and Kemp in the field tonight, and/or Loney in (and Nomar at DH) - at least one of those things. Otherwise I'll assume all the hauntings in their Tampa hotel spooked Grady beyond rational.

http://tinyurl.com/36nslp

Dodgers will wear 1955 uniforms, and Duke Snider, Carl Erksine, and Johnny Podres will all be there to sign autographs.

Sounds pretty cool to me.

http://tinyurl.com/ywr6xq

There is talk in Tampa that Elijah Dukes could be released soon, perhaps even before tonight's game.

Burroughs' career has become mystifying

>>> The strange odyssey of one of this city's most publicized baseball players, Sean Burroughs, took another dark turn last week when he was released by the Seattle Mariners.
<<<

http://www.presstelegram.com/sports/ci_6200079

Pure Quality Start (PQS)
Purpose & Meaning
PQS is the next step in following pitching lines. The old Quality Start method - minimum 6 IP, maximum 3 earned runs - is overly simplistic and does not measure any real skill. Bill James' "game score" methodology is better, but it is not feasible for quick calculation.
In PQS, we give a starting pitcher credit for exhibiting certain skills in each of his starts. PQS establishes a single score for each start by assigning one point for achieving each of the criteria listed below; the PQS score ranges from 0 to 5. Then by tracking his score over time, we can follow his true "skills" progress.
Benchmarks
A PQS score for a pitcher of 1 or 0 is often coined as a DISaster while a PQS of 4 or 5 is a DOMinating start. Any pitcher who averages 3 or more over the course of the season is performing admirably.
We can also monitor the percentage of starts that are DOM versus DIS and calculate an expected ERA, or PQS ERA (qERA) based upon the comparison of those two percentages.
Formula
A pitcher receives one point for meeting each of the criteria:
Must go a minimum of six innings. Any outing of less than 5 IP generates an automatic PQS score of 0.
Must allow a number of hits equal to or less than the number of innings pitched.
Number of strikeouts must be no fewer than two fewer than the number of innings pitched.
Must strike out at least twice as many batters as he walks.
Must allow no more than one home run.
Notes

Yes. I am astounded.

Jose Diaz will be an interesting name to follow. Again.

"Am I astounded from a Disabled List standpoint by how many games he's lost to injury? Looking at his career, yes."