I'll say that although tonight's lineup is not the one I would come up with, it's one that I would be satisfied with for the second half of the season.

That's what I get for breaking my fast. Good tidings, everyone.

I suspect my ad blocker may be blocking out the registration link, especially if the link is attached to a jpeg or gif instead of a text link. Anyway, my desire to post there has not been strong enough for me spend any time figuring out what the problem is.

Yeah, probably.

BTW, The Padres are a perfect demonstration of how overrated the stolen base is.

I just wish he got on base more often.

Juan Pierre 1
Padres 0

heck.

Corrected.

it is just unimaginative.

Umpires like this do not bode well for the Dodgers and Kuo, he really needs to throw strikes to have success. . I guess a bit of bad luck

throw it down the middle.

it's easy, and has no racial undertones.

It's kind of wordy.

Bison doesn't either.

Stuck in a short delay, bar playing non-stop sportscenter.

But nice to have you all to spend the delay with.

And since I'm typing this, Brock, you can see what I decided to do.

Sometimes our possessions own us.

Seriously...nick names arrive on their own....inspiration will arrive, and we'll be glad we waited...

probably not? it doesn't. what in the word bison would imply racial undertones?

I was just throwing out alternatives, I didn't start a marching and chowder society for it or anything, I just figured with us being in California and he having a long wingspan...oh forget it.

padres 1

Kguo goes 7, Tsao pitches the 8th, Saito closes. Two Taiwanese, even.

It'd work, in theory.

God bless you, Vinny.

... As for the international guys, I'm sure they will be active. The Dodgers are trying to rebuild their Latin American program after it fell into decline the past few years, and Logan White is in the Dominican as we speak.

i would not have called him Polar Bear for the same reason i wouldn't call him wildebeest.

thanks, i did not catch that.

I'm all for old timey nicknames...like SPlendid Splinter, Sultan Of Swat....Oil Can even...

I think the word "imaginative" can feel sufficiently insulted.

"For starting pitchers we have two Dominicans, one Italian, one Mexican and one Japanese. In the bullpen we have a Venezuelan, a Mexican, a guy from the United States and a guy from St. Louis." - Los Angeles Dodger / Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda (AP Wire, 08/18/1999)

Anyone remember Russelldinho? :)

To be fair, it is still only Kuo's 5th start (unfortunately, he can't just pitch against the Mets) so I think they will be a little more patient because the upside is so good with Kuo.

If the Dodgers trade for an innings eater like Wolf--I dont think that helps them much given the offense.

When do we start giving Raffy the Nomar treatment? Getting about that time.

Let's give him some time.

I was looking at the Vegas pitchers and the Holten-Stultz comparison is very interesting. Stultz has slightly better K and BB rates and has given up fewer homeruns, but he's given up 30 more hits and has double the era (so much for DIPS, I guess). The best minor league pitcher right now in the systems appears to be Jacksonville's Erik Cyr, who I have never heard of before and is not on the 40-man.

I'd certainly like to see a Maddux-like rental, but it doesn't look like there is anyone like that available this year.

Kershaw and McDonald look far superior to Cyr right now.

Young is really good.

He is probably a good enough fastball hitter to survive but eventually he will make it by his pitch recognition on breaking pitches.

He is probably a good enough fastball hitter to survive but eventually he will make it by his pitch recognition on breaking pitches.

With the tip of your finger, dab a drop of Tabasco sauce on the inside of your eyelids.

Webb
Johnson
Young
Peavy
Germano
Smoltz

It's almost as though they don't have as much value as we were lead to believe...I dare say "Overvalued"

I'm not worried.

More of us need nothing to do on a Friday night.

The gory details can be found on his Wikipedia page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Cyr

(Trying to find something positive to glom on to here.)

Sigh. So who are we gonna trade for - Buehrle? Buehrle? Something-d-o-o economics?

(Again, trying to find something positive here.)

Sigh. Hong-Chi, you've let us down buddy.

Is not walking people a more important skill than striking out people?

Even given Germano's low K rate, I doubt there are many unsucessful pitchers that have as good of bb/9 rate as he does.

Combining the two skills--German's k/bb is 3.50.
Brad Penny is at 2.50

If Germano doesnt walk people, and doenst give up home runs---then its going to take just plain luck "stringing together sequences of hits" in order to score.

If Germano keeps his bb rate and keeps his HR rate respectable--I think he'll be really effective.

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/ZGYw

Among the key names: Dan Quisenberry, Steve Howe, Sal Maglie, John Tudor, Warren Spahn, Bob Lemon, Preacher Roe, Robin Roberts, Don Newcombe, Clem Labine

http://tinyurl.com/2jlghv

I'm still hesitant to put Germano in that tier, however.

Man, I hope Peavy is a little off his game tomorrow, and Penny isn't.

209 This Benoit thing just gets more and more bizarre.

Nomar with the biggest "I'll take whatever I can get" face of all time.

Need a homer.

They just picked the wrong draft to highlight.

Hell, a lot of Moneyball seems kind of foolish in hindsight.

Yep, I heard the faint sounds of a small rally calling, so I came back.

227 It was you, Brock. Er, Fredo.

That said...Kazmir and Fielder are pretty good.

259 Wasn't that the same exactly the same clip package and Scully spiel they used at the beginning of the broadcast?

"Two bunts and a bomb!"

Come on, Eric. That's not how we do things around here.

1) Name recognition
2) Service time
3) Batting Average
4) Proven Veteran Leadership
5) Steals
6) OBP

100) EqA
101) VORP

on that list too.

(Notice how I'm just assuming Slappy will make an out.)

Oh well, at least they made this game interesting. Subtract that 4th inning and they'd have won easily. In fact, if you build a time machine, go back, and whack Kevin Kouzmanoff's dad, they'd definitely win this game.

Let's go, Russ!

It just happened!

Well, nice character-revealing comeback, lots of scrappiness, and... they just couldn't overcome the stinky pitching in the first few innings. Feh.

SIGH.

I say nobody shows up.

If Penny shoves against Peavy, I don't care if we lose the series. I just want this game tomorrow.

And I want Mariano Duncan to punch Peavy in the mouth. But that isn't happening.

I'm guessing Vin was all over the height issue when Young and Hendrickson were pitching. Was this the tallest matchup in history.

Too bad about Marin Anderson. He was a great pick up last year. Someone will no doubt pick him up.

I'm looking forward to the bliss of Dodger Stadium parking tomorrow night.

Presumably, there will be fewer runs.

I like Kuo, but I'm willing to go against my beloved DT peeps and say that he is not what we'd like him to be. I would sell high.

The game was also excruciatingly slow. Kuo, Young, and Hendrickson are all very slow workers.

Finally, I moved behind the plate (same level) in the 7th, by which time lots of seats were empty. The crowd was a little better (no beachballs under the low overhang, and more older fans), and the game perked up too.

My wife gave me a hard time every time Pierre or Nomar got a hit (or made a play, however routine). That was weird, but welcome.

On my way out, some guy saw my DodgerThoughts t-shirt and said "hey, I like that blog!" I just agreed - odd to be complimented on someone else's creation. So Jon - I'm pretty sure that was meant for you. Kudos. I was too dazed to ask him if he is a regular commenter. If so, howdy again!

I trust everyone had a good time here in cyberland?

Experience. Leadership. Consistency. As it stands, Loney has only one thing going for him...He doesn't suck. And not sucking never helped a team go anywhere. He needs to get older.

"Offensively, he's had a little bad spell..."

Yeah. It has only lasted a year.

"Yeah, the world has been a tad under the weather"

Also, when he's on he can make ML hitters look overmatched, high K rate, etc.

All kinds of potential. But he has to find more consistency and put this rough patch behind him or he won't keep starting.

Someone posted the other day that apart from his other meltdown, his ERA was 2.7ish as a starter. Obviously it's a bit higher now.

I'm concerned that at crunch time, even if Bills and Kguo are starting and pitching well, Ned won't be able to trust them in a pennant fight and will have to acquire a "proven veteran" starter...who probably won't do as well and who will cost too much. But Ned must have his backups.

Also, given the youth of Kuo and Bills, I doubt Houlton or other pitchers in the Dodger system have much of a chance right now with the Dodgers. Even if, say, Houlton did well, that'd be THREE young pichers in a pennant race. I doubt Ned/Grady could handle that.

I'm not as on top of the Edwin Jackson story as many here, but management probably is greatly influenced by what happened with him--whatever that might have been. Outpitch Randy Johnson in your first start, read the press clippings, put yourself in a mental box expecting that kind of results every time out, whatever.

An outcome like Jackson's probably influences GM decision-making as far as giving young players a chance more than it should.

But it's understandable to a degree if Ned fears for his job if the Dodgers don't make the playoffs.

I would still rotate Abreu into the infield at 3rd, ss, and 2b. Give Furcal a five day All Star break.

I had to leave the game early due to its slowness. I would send Kuo back to Vegas until he gets it together again.

I don't understand how Little decides when to play Kemp and Ethier. Is it a coin flip? With three weak hits will Nomar hit third again?