Can't make the long drive to the game on the 21st, but I will watch for you guys on TV. What section are you sitting in?

1

I think we're sitting on the LF loge section but i'm not quite sure.

295 -- (Previous thread) Have I forgotten something important? Who was the greatest #55 in Dodger history?

2 Infield Reserve Section 3 rows U-V.

From last thread:Sunset is probably a decent bet. I don't live in the area but traffic was light when I headed in via Beverly to Sunset on Tuesday. Might be a similar story today.

an office clerk i met in general hospital sells Dodger shirts & hats with her boyfriend on the sunset road, really nice lady.

3
Orel Hershiser

i'm watching the BoSox vs. TB game & i got a little curious on J.D Drews #'s they don't look to bad but he started out pretty good i would have thought he'd have better numbers.

3,6 I was propping up Russell Martin there as the greatest #55 in Dodgers' history; obviously a bit premature.

8 Today, si.com listed Orel as the best number 55 regardless of team or sport. Next came Junior Seau, Derrick Brooks, Lee Roy Jordan, and Dikembe Mutumbo.

9 Everyone knows the greatest 55 was ex-Laker and Louisville Cardinal Billy Thompson! :)

Gio Carrara wore #55. So did Onan Masaoka. Also Wayne Kirby.

I wonder of Little would let Penny throw a few extra pitches tonight and try and save the bullpen for the weekend. After all, Penny won't have to pitch again until next weekend.

12 He will be pitching Tuesday, at least for a bit.

12

that will probably all depend on how well he pitches today/how many pitches he throws, it sounds like a great strategy

11 The number 5, and thus two 5s, does seem somewhat Onanistic.

interesting carmax text message question today, who is the Dodgers first half mvp? I'd have to say Saito with Brad Penny in a very close 2nd, both are very important in the Dodgers success this year.

16 I would say Penny, followed by Martin.

8 Thanks for clarifying. I couldn't fathom who was a greater #55 for the Dodgers than Hershiser. Perhaps Martin will one day rank up there with him.

16- I'd have to say Penny. The Dodgers' record in games he's started is unreal.

16- I'd have to say Penny. The Dodgers' record in games he's started is unreal.

17

yeah it's very debatable, so far Martin is winning by a land slide on the tube something like 76% if you take Saito or Penny out of the equation we're no were near as competitive as we have been. JMO.

16 Russell Martin, but Penny is very close. His value is (nearly) day, Penny's every five.

21 Or if you take Martin out.

Saito is an every day player too (almost) I really think it's between Penny & Saito with a slight edge to Saito because he's in there almost everyday, we don't have him & we're a 3rd place team 2nd place team at best.

I got my ticket. Thanks very much.

24 But a closer typically only comes in when the team already has a lead and, if successful, seals the deal. Important, but, IMO, not most valuable.

If we didn't have Saito, maybe the replacement closer would also only have one blown save, but I doubt the replacement catcher, or replacement ace, would come near to Martin or Penny's value.

Chip Caray on the TBS telecast: "They don't pay you for ERA championships; they pay you for wins."

Crap. Blisters are annoying. Break out the pickle brine!

When will it end?

27 Chip Caray has probably never sat through an arbitration hearing. Not that I have.

I don't believe Penny has a blister problem. I think he had a fingernail problem. Which I believed was resolved with clippers.

Dodgers Win Share list from Hardball Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2aw9h4

32
Bill James and I don't think much of Closers.

I'm amazed and thrilled that I knew Drysdale started 2 all star games in the same year. I never know anything.

31 Eliza Dushku probably has people to help Penny with that.

31 Bob, the replay on TBS seemed to show a break in the skin of his pointer finger. I hope you're right and it's just a fingernail though.

33 Well, it's Hardball Times' report of James' Win Share metric, which I think HT tweaked a little.

I believe that shutout first inning puts Penny back in the era lead.

26

I kind of doubt Broxton is ready to be an everyday closer judging from past performances, I REALY DOUBT IT. I could be wrong though.

39 I believe Broxton is possessive if the magical pixie dust required to pitch ninth innings with leads of three runs or less.

38 1.98 - think you're right. Too bad it took 30 pitches.

38,41 To regain the ERA lead, Penny needs to give up one run or less in 4.2 or more IP. If he gives up two runs, he needs to go at least 9.1 IP.

I don't know if catcher's era means anything, but Martin is pwning Leiberthal in that regard. He also pwn3d Hall and Alomar last year (though Hall usually caught Hendrickson so that wasn't really fair.)

That sounded a lot better than it was.

That catch in LF by Willie Harris was...bizarre.

that Jeff Kent screamer had to much top spin on it or else it's gone.

42 I didn't think any other qualifier was under 2.00. I thought Penny and Chris Young were tied at 2.00.

It was interesting watching Salty give the sign all the while staring at Kent like he's maybe a peeker.

Woah. That didn't look like a homerun.

Maybe Muellar is having some effect. Pierre took a bunch of pitches in that at bat. If this continues it could make a difference and get us into the soft underbelly--the bullpen. We had the advantage there until this awful period has claimed Schmidt, Wolf ,Kuo, and maybe Biemel. It can't but weaken our pen. You sure can never have too much pitching.

WTF? How'd that carry out?

Oh Penny, please don't let it be a blister. We don't have any bullpen depth.

I'm starting to miss the game when Penny pitched the first inning with his fly open. At least that was (mostly) harmless.

Aw, crud. That ball must have caught the jet stream or something.

I don't blame Pierre for being surprised about that one. Seriously, whatever breeze is blowing tonight found that ball.

And now I have to listen to the Braves' announcers continue to express surprise that Penny is still pitching.

If Juan were just a step faster he'd be safe at first every time. This would put him in light speed territory. But that's what it'd take to make him worthy. Meaning, by the law of physics alone, he's destined to be eternally unworthy.

53 Back to back 3 pitch Ks and there is suprise he's still pitching?

51,52

Pierre looked really bad running that ball out also, it almost looks like he's gonna fall down when he's running balls down.

I didn't know they are planning to build a restaurant in the RF pavilion next year.

43 And Lieberthal hasn't caught Penny at all.

Who is the other Braves' announcer? Is that a Caray too? He just said, "94 miles an hour this" for Hudson. He's just generally irritating me. I want to poke his eyes out.

57 Yeah. Why do the Braves announcers know this and we don't?

56 I can usually tell if it's gonna be a homerun by how the outfielder reacts. Pierre seemed to think it was a lazy flayball, but then it just kept taking him back and back and then suddenly the wall was there and it was gone.

55 No, because of his "blister problem," which I haven't even heard confirmed. Is it a blister, or a fingernail, or something else?

As Yosemite Sam would say, "Sassinfrassinmassin..."

Penny looks awful tonight.

Maybe he does have a blister. The Braves' announcers seem to know everything.

all of a sudden it's 3-0, WHAT??

66 Reneteria doubled them both in.

Looks like Peavy will be starting the All-Star game.

Time to hit the road. Maybe the radio call will be luckier.

65 Scully has made no mention of a blister. His pitches were certainly getting blistered, though.

ooh, rally time

65:

"The Braves' announcers seem to know everything."

Sorry, wrong. Chip Caray is one of the most uninformed announcers in baseball. He keeps his job solely because of his name.

Like when he said Dodger Stadium had a lot of foul territory in the first inning. What, he hasn't seen the place since 1987 or what?

That was a scary hit. Six inches away from a DP.

Drill one in the gap, Andre!

Bobby Cox just said "You gotta be essing me"

or don't

Ugggh

do the Braves announcers know there's a fire at the Sunset gate?

That DP by Ethier is now looking huge.

Is anyone else experiencing a really foggy camera view on TBS? It's like fireworks went off or something.

The Gods smile on Penny.

slide, chubby!

Penny teaching the kids how to do it. Penny tippy toad to 2nd. heh.

What a terrible at bat by Ethier. I'm going to assume that Ethier will be benched tomorrow since Matt Kemp was for doing the same thing.

That was a hilarious double by Penny.

80 see 78 It's smoke from fire.

80 There is some kind of fire at the Sunset gate, Vin said.

Wow, nice lucky double there. Eek!

Hah hah, thank you Kelly Johnson. That was ridiculous, Penny should have been out 20 minutes ago.

78 A big fire?

87 You'd fumble the ball too, if you saw that much man barreling down on you.

Where there's smoke, there may or may not be fire, but it's quite likely.

Yeah, I thought either my TV had developed glaucoma or there was a fire somewhere. Hope they put it out, and hope the players don't develop black lung disease from playing tonight.

88 Vin didn't say, but it's obviously bugging him. He said it was tough to talk.

89 I think he was still afraid from Loney's previous take-out attempt. Where he put his hands up like a football cornerback.

91 That's called pnuemonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Does anybody else find it strange that a dodgers ad would call Jeff Kent toast?

72 I was being very sarcastic about Caray and the other announcer, kramer - see my previous comment where I suggested gouging eyes out. ;-)

I wonder if the fire gets close enough, if pop flies will be harder to judge and catch? What if a ball disappears and comes back down as a charcoal briquette?

Maybe they sent Tomko to put out a small fire, and it thusly escalated.

95 Very nice.

97If conditions get bad enough, the umpires can suspend the game.

97 If that were to happen, I'd just assume it was the apocalypse. Fire and brimstone and whatnot.

97
Did you charcoal briquettes were originally just sold at Ford dealerships? Then the Kingsford people moved into their own line of marketing after more people started barbecuing?

100 Well then. They couldn't suspend the game then. there wouldn't be a chance to make it up.

Black lung disease is either coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) or anthracosis.

Bad throw by Russell that costs us.

I have never seen a player lose his helmet while swinging.

Actually, I believe I'd once surmised that using Tomko in a close game was one of the signs of the apocalypse. I assumed I'd been proven wrong but now I wonder.

Argh. Elisha Dushku, du something!

102
If the game were stopped now because of poor visibility, it would be called, not suspended because it hasn't gone five innings.

That said, the visibility seems much better.

Good god. Chip Caray and Joe Simpson (on TBS) have said "good piece of hitting" at least five times already. It's really annoying; not a good piece of announcing.

101 I did not know that. Huh. Sounds a bit like a "King of the Hill" plot line, though.

105

it looked cartoonish.

106 If you were in LA, you'd know she can't do anything. She's tied up on half the billboards and bus stops in town.

jeez, this is getting sloppy.

Our defense is having some issues.

What in tarnation is going on tonight? Is the smoke getting in everyone's eyes - and brains?

Did the announcer just say "this is beautiful" about that dribbler hit?

109 I think Hank drives a Ford. He would never stand for that.

Vin reports that a Victorian home in Angelino Heights is on fire.

Plus Hank only uses propane and propane accessories.

108
You can only have a "good piece of hitting" if you hit behind the runner or go the other way.

Haven't the Braves announcers checked their Official Broadcasters Cliche Book?

I mean seriously, I hate to sound naive but I never realized how biased and uninformed the Braves announcers are. The other guys weren't this bad, at least.

Okay, now that was a nice and smart play by Loney. Makes up for his error.

116 Heh. For some reason that conversation thread and the one about the house on fire just merged in my head. Now if only the Braves announcers' were in said house, all would be serendipitous.

Jeff Kent and the Saladmobile! (for those watching in LA)

120 That seems like more of an Arrested Development plot line- all the different threads come together at the end.

The Braves' announcers keep harping on the Dodgers' lack of defense. He mentioned they are second worst in the NL in "defense" because of their error total.

However, according to Baseball Prospectus, the Dodgers are 8th the NL, middle of the pack, in defensive efficiency.

That said, the Dodgers aren't exactly flashing the leather this evening.

who was the last dodger to get a hit with the bases loaded?

hearing you guys makes me feel like a bit of an idiot, i've always liked Chip Caray, I thought he was pretty good during his Cubbie days.

lots of grounballs are becoming hits tonight for both sides.

How does Loney get an error for the throw to third? The error should go to Furcal for throwing the ball in the dirt, allowing the runner to advance.

Expecting a guy to chase down a passed ball and throw out a runner from the coach's box is not reasonable.

Cue Bob: Robert Wuhl sighting on TBS broadcast. "Wuhl looks like he's holding court. Switch to decaf, buddy!"

127 The error was bobbling Furcal's throw.

117 I think all the "good piece of hitting" instances have been directly after singles. I do not wish to rewind my DVR to confirm that however.

Darnit, they were showing Larry King on TBS and I knew they were going to eventually do an impression ("[random city], hello!"), and sure enough they did!

Caray and Simpson are especially cliche tonight.

127 I think he got the error for misplaying a throw to first.

125 I think that's a different Caray, Blue?

125

that's coming from a guy who thinks Rex Hudler rocks the mic.

Kent's bat is making tons of noise for some reason.

I wish I could watch this with the sound off, and put the Dodgers radio on from my computer, but there's too much of a delay...

124
Matt Kemp walked with the bases loaded Monday night. Is that good enough?

132 This is indeed Chip Caray, of Cubs' announcing and poor offspring fame.

Some really weird plays this evening!

wow, you don't see that often Andrew Jones miss played a grounder. YIKES.

Jones messed that one up. Tie game!

Thank you very much Mr. Jones.

Andruw beats Russell's error. A wild one tonight at the Stadium.

wow. What a bizarre night.

Time for another patented Nomar single?

What's are the Brave's announcers saying now about team defense?

They are saying do not let your kids watch this game.

I don't care what kind of arm Andrew has, Pierre should score from second without the error.

Man, Hudson's gotta be loving his defense tonight. Though that ball was ripped. Caray's saying Pierre was going to be held and would not have scored, never mind Kent, had Jones not muffed it, but I find that hard to believe.

143 I see UCLA celebrated their Holiday a day early.

Gameday and the Braves announcers said (at least initially) that Loney's error was on the throw.

Changing the error to the play at first is at least in the right neighborhood, but wasn't the ball short-hopped? I know Loney could've made a better play, but I thought that the error always goes to the thrower if it's in the dirt, unless it's one of those intentional one-hoppers.

140 This game feels like something is happening, but Andruw doesn't know what it is.

full moon of some kind.

136 Speaking of, last night, Todd Helton had one of the weirder lines I've seen. 1 for 2, five RBIs. He walked twice with the bases loaded and had a sac fly.

144
By the way BH, I did not get to celebrate our Holiday with you on Tuesday.

Nomar got five pitches and didn't swing at any of them.

146 Maybe Donnelly is becoming conservative?

Awww, I was so late on that one.

101 Very interesting. Amazing what you can learn here at DT.

142

hi guys, back from my hiatus. was down in san diego for the 4th and went to the padres game today. Miguel Cabrera is fat and Jeremy Hermida has a sweet swing.

Looks like Jose Dominguez made a nice debut. I am really surprised the dodgers started him off in the GCL at 16yrs old. If he does well, the question i ask is... how in hell did logan white get him for only 50k?

153 I did not have access to a computer on Tuesday so I saw it on BRO yesterday afternoon.

"When the smoke gets in yoouuurrr eyes...."

Darn, Loney roped that one, too.

147 Hoffman was holding Pierre until the ball got past Jones.

Renteria needs to not stand in front of Loney's line drives.

155 The Windmill was asked by the fire department not to fan the flames.

163 brilliant.

161 "Hoffman" = Donnely

158 So we can't trade all our guys for Miggy because he can't lay off the Big Macs?

McDonald got sent up to Jacksonville after yesterday's start.

Toy Cannon and maybe a few other are going to the Futures Game.

And Andy LaRoche seems to be hitting again.

But Tales of Hoffman has a better ring to it than does Tales of Donnelly. (Though I guess the latter could also be called Man of La Mancha.) Thank you, I'll be here all night.

The Dodgers last bases loaded hit was on June 21 when Martin had a double in Toronto.

Penny with a chance to help himself.

161

you got the wrong era 3rd base coach we got the windmill over there now.

WOW, Brad Penny putting on a clinic! woo!!

Penny not only wants to start the All-Star game, he wants to bat higher than 9th!

168
I am quite prescient.

168 Wrong! It was Brad Penny 10 seconds ago.

Andy and Adam La Roche are both hitting a lot better these days.

Oh MAN. Penny just rocks with the bat. This is hilarious.

Brad Penny may not last 5 innings but he has now driven 3.

Can Penny field CF?

like I said: Penny= MVP.

I feel duty bound to point out that Offenbach's opera is "The Tales of Hoffmann"

The funniest thing is that this game is only in the 3rd inning! This game may outlast me.

166

i saw that danny danielson made his debut too. He is interesting because he has a great frame, good fastball and very good control already. Still waiting for Chris Withrow's and Watt's debuts!

Furcal did a nice Abreu impression on strike 2 there.

155 Well I seem to be only one who likes Donnelly's aggressiveness. I think people underestimate the opportunity cost of not trying for extra bases, and overestimate the frequency of throwouts.

But I think I may have been wrong about my criticsm of that play. The ball was up the middle, and Pierre probably had to hold up to make sure the pitcher didn't snag it.

174 LaRoche the Adam started hitting, quite literally, the day I dropped him from my fantasy team in favor of Loney. Now I'm completely torn.

178 Yes, yes, but this was his lesser known work about brothers Glenn and Trevor.

101 Did you [know] charcoal briquettes were originally just sold at Ford dealerships?

That depends on the country of origin. My great-great-grandfather was a carbonaio, or coal man, in Italy. They would make charcoal in a wooden hut, by burning wood until it turned into charcoal. They would then sell this door-to-door. They did this for many years in Italy, long before Ford dealerships were around.

Largely thanks to Penny, we may get into the soft underbelly. Maybe not.

So the Braves have given the Dodgers 4 or maybe 5 extra outs, according to the announcers, but no mention of any of the extra outs the Braves were given by the Dodgers.

183 That's the Fantasy corollary though, that he only started hitting because you dropped him.

Brad Penny swings a nice piece of wood.

Well if Furcal walks, everyone here would have been forced to watch another Pierre at-bat with the bases loaded.

101,185 I thought for sure you were making a joke about Fords and their propensity to catch on fire. A Car-B-Q if you will.

I am an Escape owner, but did not take offense.

189 I wonder if Grady would have pinch hit Saenz for him? ;-)

187 exactly. Maybe I should trade for- and then drop- Nomar.

Incidentally, pasta alla carbonaro is a dish that comes from the carbonaio, meaning it is pasta typical of a coal merchant. This is a wonderful pasta dish, prepared with eggs, pecorino cheese, fried bacon and black pepper.

185
But did he form the charcoal into nice uniform shapes and then treat it with lighter fluid? That's what I meant by charcoal briquettes. Charcoal has been around since prehistory. But it didn't always come in bags you could get at the market.

166

I also think the Dodgers need to bring over a playersfrom their DSL team.

19yr old LHP Geison Agueasviva
5GS 28IP 0.32ERA 12H 5bb 26K

193 Filled with that good cholesteral.

It is really good, best one I had was the now long gone "Harry's Bar" at the ABC Entertainment Center (Century City).

To show that I'm not making up all my info:

http://www.kingsford.com/about/index.htm

i really feel Saito & Penny are being undervalued today on the carmax text message question.

197 I'll admit, I went and looked it up after your original comment. I shouldn't have doubted you as if your vast knowledge only included baseball statistics. Sorry.

I don't like the way these announcers talk.
I think the incredable Braves run for the last ~20 years makes them resentful to have an average team.

stop fouling off pitches; ground one to furcal already

this has to be Penny's last inning

Nice one JP.

WOW, that was extremely close

Ahh, Juan had it all the way....

No worries ...

193 I'm guessing the name has morphed into carbonara. I love it....

200 For the most part, I have never minded Joe Simpson, and rather liked Don Sutton (now with Washington), but Chip Caray is just awful.

I don't remember being really annoyed with Skip Caray, probably mostly because I enjoyed his weird voice and how he sometimes sounded like Kermit the Frog. I remember the smugness during the final out of the 1996 World Series. Skip Caray said something like "The Yankees have stolen the Braves' championship" after Charlie Hayes caught the final out.

I make a decent carbonara

um, wasn't tonight suppose to be a pitcher's duel?

Oh. Good. Lord.

Juanito caught up to that one - thought it was out, too. Penny's not long for this world.

Gahhh this game is crazy!

you know what, i think Grady is gonna give Brad Penny every opportunity to win this game & throw him back out there.

So who comes in for Penny? If it's Houlton, I assume he can't start on Sunday. Can bring in Stults. Just, please, don't bring in Tomko.

This is the kind of game, whoever takes out their starter first will win.

That was an excellent play by Pierre. He got a very good jump.

Today hasn't been a great day for some pitchers. Both Penny and Sabathia have been hit hard. Peavy lost, although he pitched pretty well. Verlander was sharp. Beckett had 15 runs to work with tonight.

207 I agree, Skip Caray is much less annoying. This one just needs to join a monastery so he can take a vow of silence.

What's Cyberbullying?

I suddenly feel very old.

I'd guess Stults is more likely to go tonight and Houlton likely for Sunday. Billingsley, Hendrickson, and/or Penny might be available on Sunday too for an inning or so.

You better get used to Skip Caray because he will be the lead announcer for TBS coverage of baseball nationally starting with the playoffs this year.

I don't think I have ever seen that, there was no one there.

Go Speed Racer, go!

Y'know, he's really been hitting the ball much better this week. If he continues (which he probably won't) then he'll be much less of an abyss in the line-up.

214 BH, I hope you are wrong!

If Pierre scores i'm pretty sure Penny will be back out there right?

218

Meet me out on the Dodgers.com board, I'll start cyberbullying you! I will make you give me all your lunch money.

Anyone catch the Q&A in the Times today, about Kemp getting center field? The answer was something like, Pierre is dangerous because you don't know what he'll do at the plate (like hit a stand up triple), so he's going to stay in the line up.

My question is this... anyone have a problem with Ethier, Pierre, and Kemp as the everyday outfield?

219 Doesn't Bills pitch tomorrow? I would assume he wouldn't be available Sunday unless he get shelled tomorrow and taken out after a couple of innings.

The way Penny threw today, I wouldn't be suprised to see something like the following in the paper tomorrow:

"Penny admitted after the game that he wasn't 100%. 'My elbow felt stiff when I was warming up,' said Penny 'I thought that when the game started and I got my adreneline flowing that it would loosen up but it didn't.' Penny will undergo an MRI on Saturday and will likely join Schmidt, Kuo, and Wolf on the DL."

:(

225

Not a PayPal mugging!

221 That was quite an extreme shift with Andruw playing in left center. They had a 4-man softball outfield alignment without a right centerfielder.

Penny has been throwing hard today and really hasn't looked much different than other games except for location problems.

The Pirates knocked Penny around too.

It happens.

228 I wouldn't expect something like his elbow, but it sounds like there's a chance we may hear about a blister or loose nail, something like that.

226 Gonzo has been the most consistent hitter all year.

227 I always forget which day is a starter's "throw day"...is it 2 days or 3 days after the start?

Anyway, I think Billingsley would be available if necessary just because of the 4-day break plus he probably wouldn't pitch again until Sunday July 15 (3rd game back from the break).

Russell seems pull happy today, didn't he get into that bad hobbit earlier this season.

The Braves announcing team has been talking about Penny's blister problem all night.

Fire update:
http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_186233439.html

233 - yeah, I know, I'm just trying to figure out how to get the kids in the everyday line up.

232 Thats right. Somebody here was talking about a blister early in the game.

235 I'm only teasing you gently, BB, but "a bad hobbit" makes me think of the Shire, and Schmiegel before he was overtaken by the ring.

That is classic as to how to waste a leadoff triple.

I can't believe they wasted Pierre's triple. That's just sad. The Braves should have left Hudson in!

240

It's cool, he just seems (today at least) to be pulling off everything.

Please move Gonzo into the cleanup spot Grady.

The game in Oakland, which started five minutes before this one, is in the bottom of the 8th.

I'd say there's still a decent chance we get Billingsley on DT day July 21.

After the break, the rotation figures to be:

7/13 - Lowe
7/14 - Penny
7/15 - Billingsley
7/16 - Hendrickson
7/17 - Houlton
7/18 - Lowe
7/19 - Wolf (eligible to come off the DL)
7/20 - Penny (an extra day of rest thanks to Wolf's return)
7/21 - Billingsley

Braves' announcers are now picking on Eric Stults' high ERA at Vegas. Not that it's super impressive, but of course he does pitch in the PCL, in Las Vegas. Should be able to subtract a run or 2 from that ERA to make it more accurate. Not that this should matter to them...

On the other hand, maybe he does suck.

I liked the Dan Evans era, but the TBS guys seem to be giving too much credit for him drafting Stults.

NL ERA leaders:
Young SD 2.00
Peavy SD 2.19
Penny LA 2.39

Whew. For a second there I thought he was gonna walk a relief pitcher.

251
An Australian relief pitcher to boot!

Nice change-up there from Eric Stoltz, er, Stults.

In this game having the 3-4-5 hitters not get the man in from third doesn't surprise me. Everything I think is going to happen doesn't. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the next hitter reaches on catcher's interference.

Jim Barr may have trouble sleeping tonight. The former Giant holds the record for retiring 41 straight batters over two starts in 1972.

Chad Billingsley is sitting on 16 straight, and "only" needs 8.2 perfect innings tomorrow against the Marlins to own the record. :)

252 That's about as down under, er, low, as you can get!

Ugh, I really don't like the Braves pitching match-ups vs. the Padres this weekend. Well, except for Buddy Carlyle of course! Then a pitcher making his ML debut on Saturday. And then Kyle Davies vs. Maddux.

254
It's a felony to send off a false alarm about catcher's interference.

All over in Oakland.

"Don't thread on me."

seeing eye single for Ethier, Stults handles the bat quite well from what i remember.

Is there any reason to take the 405 from LA to SD? Isn't the 5 quicker? I'm just in an anti-Chip mood tonight.

Wowsa, Stult's now 4-6 as a hitter in the majors.

260 Quick, say something good about Furcal!

I meant 261

Bases loaded for Pierre, if Furcal does not get called out for not touching the bag.

262 Somehow I doubt he's driving himself anyway.

Yikes, the Braves fielding has been even worse than the Dodgers' tonight.

bases juiced for Pierre [crossing fingers & hoping for the best]

262 Its the same until you hit the split aka the Orange Crush.

Pierre gets his chance, actually it looked he was out but it also looked like he dropped the ball right at the same time.

Good call.

The flying bat actually slowed down the pitcher.

262
Unless the Braves are staying by the airport, I doubt they will take the 405.

261 You got a mind like a steel trap.

I was hoping Cox would get his record ejection there, the only all-time record to be broken by a visitor to Dodger Stadium this season.

Eric Stults looks like Toby from Dunder Mifflin

6-6-6

Sorry, Underdog. I didn't see your earlier thread about gouging eyes. :-) I'm glad we can both agree that Chip Caray is a bumbling idiot.

I actually kinda like Joe Simpson, though. His voice is soothing, much like Don Sutton's (now a Nats announcer). I enjoyed listening to Braves games before they got Chip.

It's just embarrassing even the TBS guys know Pierre is a non threat judging from what they just said about him.

Can't we swap, have Pierre's triple happen in that inning rather than the inning before?

Is it just me, or has Vin been super great recently and presently? He's always great of course, but he seems really on his game of late.

That smoke is getting to Vinny's voice.

If the Dodgers and Braves tied for the wild card, wouldn't they play a playoff game to decide the wild card winner, and not go to head to head records as Chip Caray said?

Nice pitching and fielding by Stults, not something you could have said at any point during this game.

Er, or not.

281 You forgot to knock on wood.

273 I think Stults is more like a young McLean Stevenson.

280 The only time that tiebreaker is used is in a situation that the Dodgers and Padres were in, that is, both teams are in the playoffs and the tiebreaker is used to determine the division championship.

And M*A*S*H kills the thread. Ironically, the Jamie Farr Classic starts next week.

285: Yeah, did I mention that Chip Caray is an uninformed idiot? Worst announcer in baseball.

That's okay. Anyone giving up on this game is missing out. At the rate we're going, there's another few runs to score, and another few hours before it's over.

284 Heh.

I can't believe we're only in the 6th inning, what's wrong with Vinnie's Voice? i guess the smoke got to him.

285 http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/division_ties.shtml

Paronto is another reliever who looks like Mongo.

It's funny that Caray doesn't know the tiebreaker rules when TBS would show any potential tiebreaker games.

Actually, it's kind of sad.

I'm actually just old enough to faintly remember MacLean Stevenson's failed sitcom "Hello, Larry." Sad, sad.

I'm surprised those of you who agree with me that Caray is an idiot still have the sound on. I muted it a few innings back and the quality of my life was instantly improved.

292 So is the Central Library beginning to look a lot like Hogwarts now?

Wow, where to begin with Chip Caray here. He said Nomar didn't embrace the move to third. Hasn't it been widely reported that Nomar has been overly accommodating for his move to third?

Simpson said he'd like to bat in a lineup with Furcal and Pierre "getting on base all the time." So would the Dodgers!

Come on, James!

This is the most distressing thing ever. They made an Alvin and Chipmunks live-action movie and they appear to have "updated" their style.

http://tinyurl.com/2fd4go

298
ALVIN!!!!!!

295
Not until Saturday I think. Most of the activities don't start until the afternoon.

More distressing than even the pending underdog movie with the same sort of tack?

Darn it, Loney had a couple of good rips there but finally pooped out.

so far BHSportsguy fruition of who ever took there starter out 1st would win, i hope you don't get offended BHS but i'm hoping your fruition doesn't come true.

293 - Comment 58

https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/236065.html

Let's see: grown man, Dave Seville, living with his three pet chipmunks. Nope, nothing weird about that, at all!

I don't remember them filming this All-Star game commercial here, with players riding the cable cars. Especially don't remember the part where it goes off the tracks and lands in the bay.

303 Hey, I liked "Two Guys, A Girl, and A Pizza Place"!

306
I thought the title of that show described its audience.

303 Aww. I was too young to have seen the episode where Blake meets his demise, the first time around, but saw it many times in reruns and always get choked up. I like this bit of trivia about that episode, after it originally aired, from Wikipedia entry on Col. Blake: After the news of Colonel Blake's death shocked the world, the very next night on The Carol Burnett Show, the opening shot was of McLean Stevenson in a smoking raft, waving his arms, hollering, "I'm OK! I'm OK!"

307 I thought it was a sequel to the Dudley Moore movie "Modern Romance."

303,307 The best thing about that show was Ryan Reynolds as Berg. I saw Van Wilder just because he was in it, and was rewarded with a damned funny movie.

309 Sorry, I meant "Romantic Comedy," even more generically titled. (The other one starred Albert Brooks and I actually like.)

McLean Stevenson died on 2/15/1996
Roger Bowen died on 2/16/1996

Coincidence, I think not?

Meanwhile Harry Morgan is still with us at 92.

"Unload" is another favorite Chip Caray phrase. Fortunately Pierre was able to load that ball into his glove.

...."and Juan-hands it"?

313 Some Brave "unloaded" on a popout earlier that was caught by Ethier...just in front of Jeff Kent.

Meanwhile, in his AAA debut Cyr pitched three scoreless innings then was knocked out in the 4th and charged with five runs in 3 and 2/3.

(And yes, I unmuted it finally, just to see what I've been missing. Much stupidty, apparently.)

Good eye, Bison!

Or stupidity, that is. If you're going to call someone stupid, you should spell stupid right. Stupid underdog!

That was your pitch Tomato.

That was a pretty awesome double play, even if Saenz was running.

argh.

Just went through the comments to see if anyone complimented Nomar on that fine play several innings ago. Guess Not

Nice play by Nomar. Nice AB by Nomar.

Ugggggh

Saenz of aging rapidly. Gosh, he's slow.

I'm now officially muting hit again.

308 No one mentions because he didn't die, but that was also Wayne Rogers last episode as Trapper John and perhaps that saved the series because it brought Mike Farrell and Harry Morgan to the series as true supporting characters to Hawkeye Pierce.

Caray was practicing for his trip to San Diego with his take off on (awful) Padres' announcer Jerry Coleman. On the Saenz DP, Caray said, "You can hang a gold star on that one."

Muting "it" rather. Maybe I should just stop typing.

Ugggggh is right.

308 True, it's often overlooked. I actually always liked Wayne Rogers on that show but they had no idea what to do with that character, never gave him much to do.

Chip Caray had a stroke calling that double play, but who here didn't think it was a double play the moment iut left the bat? Renteria with that backwards flip made that double play look WAY harder than it was. It was pretty routine as DPs go.

All that said, I don't think we are winning this game.

Holy lord! Nice talent at the ballgame this evening. Is that all it takes to keep Chip Caray quiet?

I hate Chipper Jones.

Not off to a hot start tonight Tsao.

Crud. Twice for Jones. Two home runs off Tsao in this series, too. I think Pierre just hurt himself, too.

Did Caray say "unloads" again?

Vin has trouble with Wil Ledezma's name. He either removes or adds a syllable. Saltalamacchia has really messed him up this series.

Just hope that Atlanta keeps hitting like this in San Diego, they have beaten the Padres 3 out of 4 this year.

TBS needs an HD channel, especially since they will be doing the MLB playoffs. Do any of you DirecTV users get TBS in HD? I'm on Time Warner here.

You know what else "puts pressure on the fielders"? Hard hit balls!

335 I have TW Cable as well...not sure if we'll get it, but they are launching an HD channel in Sept I believe: http://tinyurl.com/35w58l

335
If Time-Warner isn't providing an HD channel for TBS, I doubt anyone will.

Not a great series for starters, Lowe only pitched 5, Wolf 3, Hendy 5 and Penny 4. With the extra inning game on Saturday, its been a tough week for the pen.

The Dodgers get started in the second half with 17 straight games and 55 games in 58 days until they actually get some breaks with their last three weeks of the season getting only 6 games in a row with a day off between them.

That all being said, I would think that the pitching staff will be closely watched in the latter part of this month.

Not the greatest of games for Russell.

338 Heh, that's a good point. Although, knowing Time Warner, I wouldn't really put it past them...

337 Thanks. Possibly just in time for the playoffs.

the Braves bullpen has our # today so far

Then again, TNT is in HD on my system. But I always have to tweak things to get the aspect ratio correct.

TNT has a really good HD channel too.

Russell looked really pretty bad in a couple of at bats today, oh well it happens.

Yeah I get TNT HD as well...I think basketball was one of the main drivers for creating that station, as well as Law and Order reruns probably. I guess MLB has helped TBS go hi-def too...

i gotta get some sleep i'll catch you guys tomorrow hope we get a come back going, night all.

Nomar, Loney, Kemp in the 9th, with possibly Betemit pinch hitting.

The Braves' announcers seem to know an awful lot about the proposed new restaurant in RF at Dodger Stadium. I looked online to no avail to find any information on this. Has anyone else heard anything?

Wow, that was scored a hit??!!! Any kind of a throw gets the out there; that's got to be an error on Kent.

He should have had him but it wasn't an easy play. But still, a hit is generous there.

So Tsao and Stults both pitched really well - except for Chipper Jones.

349

Did they say just "restaurant" or were they talking about reworking the whole bleacher setup?
-missed it, sorry.

Just noticed that KCAL doesn't have the LOB column on their RHE graphic (remember when somebody here hated it when they started doing that on Fox/Prime?).

I was interested, in case anybody else is, Dodgers team LOB is at 11.

Doesn't look like it's going to change.

352 They spoke earlier of a chop house style restaurant in the RF bullpen area. It will require some re-working of the pavilion and stands I'm sure, as well as possibly the bullpen. They didn't have many details.

Couldn't take some pitches?

355 They're just trying to drive Tony Jackson crazy.

I can't think of much else to say about this one other than "Feh."

Feh.

I hope Billingsley pitches like he did the last time out. They could use that.

Night all.

What a load of dingo's kidneys.

354. I'm picturing the country bar in the Blues Brothers.

355 - Tony Jackson does not get to be the father of the take-pitches movement. Not after the way he piled onto the guys in 2005 and 2006 who took pitches.

I guess the bright side of our outing tonight is that we rest all of our key relievers (Tsao notwithstanding but we needed him tonight). Looks like the break is coming at the right time. I hope we have enough left in the tank to take the weekend series.

Dodgers lost this game for many reasons and bullpen has taken a small dive, but nothing to panic about. However, my question is this how many on this site would rather see Eric Stultz in a game instead of Tomko. Lets face it Chipper Jones is borderline Hall of Fame, so his homer was no suprise.

Too bad now that the Braves would get homefield advantage in the playoffs in a series against the Dodgers if they both win their divisions and end up with the same record.

It`s going to be interesting when Wolfe comes back.Who gets dropped.Tsao,Stults or Tomko?

Every time an opportunity to DFA Tomko is missed, God kills a kitten.

Crud. Twice for Jones. Two home runs off Tsao in this series, too. I think Pierre just hurt himself, too.

This passage should have ended "...himself, however."

Happy 53rd Birthday to old friend , Willie Randolph . Happy 47th German Rivera! Who fielded 3rd base in the same graceful manner as Pedro Guerrero and Steve Garvey.

"Wolf switched lockers with sidelined outfielder Jason Repko, saying he needed a "karma change."

I don't think this is the type of Karma he should be seeking.

267 Hah. I thought the same thing but on closer inspection it seems like Repko and Schmidt are together and Wolf and Liberthal are new neighbors. Hopefully this means Wolf will play in more than 1/10th of the games from here on out.

From today's LA Times:

*James Loney received baserunning tips from Maury Wills before Thursday's game.

"He was showing me different leads, different ways to steal," Loney said*

Loney has seemed slow to me, but maybe getting better leads and secondary leads (not necessarily base stealing) will help him out. Who knows, maybe Loney can drop a few Bagwell-type 30-30 seasons now!

365 Apologies. I was half asleep, or slightly damaged by prolonged exposure to Chip Caray. I'll be more careful about my grammar in the future, however, too.

370
To make sure we're on the same page, my comment wasn't related to grammar...

Hold on. Coffee is ready. Coffee is swallowed. Coffee is flowing through my veins....

Adverbs... of degree... Is that it?

Zzzz. Coffee not working. So, how about those Dodgers, eh?

372
Looks like I've got some 'splainin' to do.

1. Crud.

You indicate negative emotion.

2. Twice for Jones. Two home runs off Tsao in this series, too.

You list things that contributed to negative emotion.

3. I think Pierre just hurt himself, too.

You list something that should contribute to positive emotion as if it also contributed to previous negative emotion.

(In other words, I was making a joke, implying that Pierre getting hurt was on "the other hand" relative to the homeruns given up)

Late to the party and not in on the joke, if there is one: did Pierre actually hurt himself?

373 Aahhhhhhhhh. Coffee just kicked in. A wan smile and then a hearty chuckle to you my friend. Sorry, even Pierre-related jokes go over my head when I'm a bit sleepy. I get it!

Hee.

Of course, I wasn't rooting for Pierre to get hurt (I am surprised no one at the time jumped at that opening, though.) I wouldn't mind if he slightly tweaked himself and had to sit for a few days. On the other hand, he's actually been swinging the bat better the past few days so this may not be the best time to wish for such a thing. On the other other hand, having Ethier and Kemp and Gonzo together once in awhile wouldn't be so bad.

Ah, tsao.

Btw, the Sklar brothers are sitting in for Jim Rome today and are amusing. It's on right now, at least where I am. Their recurring "Ichiro Moment of Zen" today is quite funny.

Saenz is 3 for 8 with a 2B & HR against tonight's starter, Dontrelle Willis, good for a .375/.545/.875 line. With the lefty starting, will Loney get the night off?

I doubt it, especially since Loney has hit lefties to the tune of .429/.459/.657 in an admittedly small sample size of 37 PAs. Plus, Saenz has only started eight games this season, and four of those were at DH.

Dontrelle Willis is only 1-5 in six career starts vs. LA, with a 7.11 ERA. In contrast, two of Chad Billingsley's best starts (the 2nd & 4th best game scores of his 19 career starts) have come against the Marlins, two wins last August with a 0.69 ERA in those starts.

Gonzo already sat against a lefty once this week. I don't imagine he will sit tonight. Projected lineup:

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

Thanks to Jon and bhsportsguy for organizing and handling the DT game and tickets - I rec'd mine.

353. That was me. :) The addition of the LOB column to the R-H-E scoreboard is very annoying. If I had to add a 4th stat to the R-H-E scoreboard it would probably be Total Bases or Beach balls on The Field (BBOTF).
vr, Xei

I'd like to see Furcal and his ankle get some extra rest over the All-Star break. If he took two games off, maybe Sunday (day game after a night game) and Friday (night game before a day game), he'd have six days off to rest the ankle, or 40% or a 15-day DL. (Or maybe the last two against FLA before the break so he doesn't have to sit against the Giants.)

Has Saenz actually got any hits this year? Probably in April, I guess. How about in May, June, July? He's not the hitter he was last year, unfortunately.

On the other hand, Pierre has actually been doing not at all badly the past week or two. Maybe lay off him a while?

380 (Furcal rest.) Yes, good idea. But I'll be surprised if he gets even one of those games off. The problem is that we haven't many replacement SSs - is Martinez still on the 25-man roster? He must be, but we haven't heard from him for a while, and he wouldn't be much improvement as a batter. Has Abreu ever played SS? Should he try? It's quite amazing how great a defensive SS Furcal is if his ankle is really bothering him that much. If it isn't, then he's either getting worse as a batter or he's now due for his second half transformation.

381 Saenz Splits:
April: .176 .364 .471
May: .259 .355 .407
June: .200 .346 .400
July: 0-2 w/ an SF

Last hit: June 23, 1-2, 2B, 2 BB in a DH start against the Devil Rays. 0 for his last 5, plus the SF.

Can't imagine that Sunday's starter won't be D.J. Houlton. Surely they wouldn't start the lefty, Stults, against Uggla, Cabrera, Ramirez and Willingham!

384 He should. If he isn't, why didn't he pitch last night?

I would love to see Nomar moved to the 8th spot, so when I am watching Gonzo at bat, I can look over and see Loney waiting his turn.

379 I don't like that LOB is added to the R-H-E standard, at least on the telecast. On the scoreboard at the stadium, it's probably the best place to show LOB.

In general, I am in favor of showing as much information as possible on the scoreboard. Better to get the information out there to the masses, so they can at least see something more than "Garciaparra, .272-2-41"

The front office is going to have to choose between Loney and LaRoche in the next 3 weeks, because neither belongs in Vegas next year. It's a shame that a washed up vet has to come between them staying here.

388 If it's between Loney & LaRoche, I think management has already made their choice. I think they like Loney and Kemp enough to not make a move for an impact bat at the trading deadline this year.

The more likely move would be a pitcher, but the cost for a starter could prove too costly. I can see them adding a Luis Vizcaino type, a middle reliever they can acquire cheaply enough to provide some depth in the pen.

I think if LaRoche continues to hit he will get his chance, whether it's this year or next.

I think the most troubling thing about the pitching staff is that Stults/Tomko should not be on the team anymore---while Meloan/Orenduff should be.

What is stopping the Dodgers from DFA'ing both, to make room for the more higher ceiling talent?

388. I think that if LaRoche continues hitting like he has recently, management will eventually do the right thing.

390. I think Meloan is definately ready, while I'd like to see Orenduff make a few more good starts in a row.

Ned's unwillingness to get rid of Tomko highlights the "cons" of acquiring people that you have personal, friendly relationships with from previous organizations.

392cont.
If Tomko had been a Depo acquisition, there's a good chance he would have been long gone by now.

392
393
Totally! Truer words were never spoken.

It's possible that if Ned was Depo he would be gone by now, to.

So boss, about this 120 million I spent in the offseason. Any press is good press right? right?

Well, it did take awhile for Ned to let Houlton back on the team. He went through the Hendricksons/Stults/Tomkos, etc.

I think Logan White is driving the 40-man roster decisions though. Why the Dodgers had room for Mike McGrew, Zach Hammes, Eric Stults last year---but dumped Ryan Ketchner made no sense at all, even if Ketchner was coming off an injury. Ketchner had better numbers at all stops in the minor leagues.

I think White's shown more favoritism towards his pick, that other acquisitions. Thats the only reason I can think of for Stults being in the major leagues---White drafted him.

And also for Joel Guzman playing for the Durham Bulls---Guzman wasnt a Logan White pick.

388 - Why does the front office "have to choose between Loney and LaRoche in the next 3 weeks?" And what does that have to do with next year in Vegas.

Loney's here to stay. LaRoche isn't here yet, but next year is a long way away.

So what does this month have to do with all that?

395 It's not likely that the GM of a team that's one game out of first place, leading the wild card race by 1.5 games, and has never trailed by much, would be fired by now.

If Tomko had been a Depo acquisition, there's a good chance he would have been long gone by now

Exactly. Even DePo didnt let Scott Erickson last this long. With Tomko, he's been on the team for 1.5 years and likely will stay on on it.

And its not like the Dodgers havent been willing to eat salary on guys they release. Brady Clark, Odalis Perez, etc---if they want to get rid of them it doesnt matter how much they make. So therefore, someone must think Tomko is good enough to be on the team, and that its not just a money decision.

I didn't agree with the Depo firing, but a main reason he was gone was the 71-91 record in 2005. If Ned puts up a 71-win season, his job will be in jeopardy too.

The Tomko existence is due largely to the inability to recognize a sunk cost. The money is gone whether or not Tomko is on the roster, so why not get rid of him? Maybe they are trying to increase his trade value but Tomko is not obliging by pitching poorly during his recent showcasing.

400 Whether you think Ned looks at them or not, Tomko still has solid perhiperals and is not nearly as comparable as Erickson.

390 There's nothing indicating that Orenduff should inherit a 40 man roster spot right now. Sure he's had a few good starts, but he's still recovering from injury, and is still injury prone. He still has one year left of rule V avoidance, so why not let him show some sustained success in the minors. He has more upside than Stults, but I doubt he's much better than him right now. Stults' BABIP in the minors was over .400, which caused his terrible ERA.

What more does Meloan have to do to get a call-up?

I agree with the approach of calling up young pitchers and seeing who can help us out for awhile.

And also for Joel Guzman playing for the Durham Bulls---Guzman wasnt a Logan White pick.

that is just faulty reasoning. tiffany was traded, blake johnson was traded, pedroza was traded, ruggiano was traded and those are off the type of my head and they were all logan white picks. And you cant play the college draft choice card because johnson and tiffany were prep players.

stults was called up because we lost a lefty in wolf and they wanted another lefty in stults. Occam's razor people.

to add, they were all traded because the dodgers don't believe they would be productive major league players. There is not some conspiracy, its pretty simple.

404 I think even more razory is that the only other starter on the 40 man roster was Mike Megrew.

390--

There's nothing indicating that Orenduff should inherit a 40 man roster spot right now

Of course there is.
The sheer of goal of maximizing the available talent to the LA Dodgers is one very good reason. Its not like the Dodgers should really ever care about penny pinching guys and worry about starting their arbitration clocks.

Orenduff represents hope (that is, at least he's young and hasnt sucked before) that Stults/Houlton/Hendrickson do not.

396 "I think White's shown more favoritism towards his picks, than other acquisitions"

I think it stands to reason that White's picks are more likely to possess the qualities he considers valuable than someone else's picks, so it's probably not "favoritism", exactly.

400 Milwaukee was covering a lot of Clark's salary.

A "new post up top" is hanging like the sword of Damocles but I'll post anyway. I made my annual trek out to Zebulon, NC last night to see the Jax Suns play the Carolina Mudcats before a crowd that may have cracked 1,000, so my friend and I could move to pretty much any seat in the house. Some thoughts:
-- Greg Miller pitched a couple of innings of middle relief. The guy throws absolute smoke, in the high 90s if you believe the gun. If he somehow gains better control he will be a great addition to the Dodger pen.
-- Chin-lung Hu looks like a player. We nicknamed him "Hot dog" because his game is kind of show off-y.
-- Cory Dunlap needs to lose about 50 pounds, no way is he the 205 pounds as listed. I expect never to see him in the bigs. I'd love to see a Saenz-Dunlop sprint race.
-- Based on last night, Alvis Ojeda might want to look for another line of work. I don't know if he's a prospect, but he was being way too cute and getting hit hard after getting ahead in the count.
-- The last 3 innings we sat right behind home (when Miller was pitching). There was quite a guy with a gun just behind us and we struck up a conversation. He turned out to be Mike Megrew, and he is very nice. I asked him about his recovery from the injury as he said he was not real happy with his pitching to date but that he expects to be back to normal pretty soon. Amazing how young he looks. I said the Dodgers can really use some good middle relief and that I hope to see him there ASAP. Then he stood up, and man is he tall. Bob T could probably stand nose to nose with him but I came up considerably lower.

By my count there are only 38 player on the 40-man roster, with Repko, Schmidt and Brazoban available to move from the 15-day DL to the 60 if the need should arise. Doesn't seem anyone needs to be added to the 40-man until they MUST be added to the 40-man. If/when the Dodgers want Orenduff, or anyone else not on the 40-man, in L.A., they can add him then.

409 "sword of Damocles" - exactly! Thanks for the notes, a good read.

Are you saying that Cory has Dunlap's Disease? ;)

I personally don't think Orenduff should be called up. He needs to build up his stamina more and figure out a way to neutralize lefties.

407 If Orenduff gets called up, he'll be placed in long relief. He's behind Houlton and Hendrickson on the depth chart, and deservedly so.

He's also far from a finished product, so he should be starting on a regular schedule, not just getting work in whenever he can. He probably still needs to rebuild arm strength from his injuries, and having him throw only a couple innings at a time won't help.

In order to put Orenduff into this role, you want to DFA Stults, who probably would find a home on a bad team. If you DFA Stults and Orenduff once again gets hurt, you now have the same problem, just with one less pitcher.

Bringing up Orenduff now would stunt his development, cost the Dodgers a roster spot, and start his service time early, just so they might get a better long reliever. Doesn't seem worth it to me.

398-Jon, it is very likely that Ned will trade for a starting pitcher by July 31, and with the way LaRoche is hitting right now, he could be the biggest chip. I don't want him or Loney traded, but it's plausible that other GMs will want a quality, ML ready prospect in return for a quality starter.

By "choosing", what I meant was, 2008 will feature either Loney and Nomar at the corners, or Nomar and LaRoche. Unless they want to covert one of the kids into an outfielder, I can't see both being on the big league team next year. And they're both too good for Triple-A.

414 - Well, I don't think Loney's going anywhere at this point.

382 I was thinking the Dodgers could get away with Abreu a game or two at SS. He's played only 6 innings there for L.A., 21 games in the minors before this year (don't about Vegas this year).

414 The one thing that gives me hope is Dave Cameron's recent works on deadline deals. If LaRoche got shipped off, he'd be the best prospect moved at the deadline for the last seven years. Hopefully, Ned won't set a new precedent in that department.

414 Unless they want to covert one of the kids into an outfielder

Let's not let any of LaRoche's shoulder near the outfield walls, okay?

If Nomar slugs .3xx for this entire season and no injury is uncovered, what's the guarantee, outside of this contract, that he starts next season?

Has anybody pointed out that tonight it will almost be as if Buddy Carlyle were pitching for the Dodgers.

Go Buddy!

Orenduff has had 4 great games in a row after being very inconsistent for most of the season. Instead of rushing him to the show we should just be glad he's pitching well and hope he can continue his recent success.

409
Thanks for the post. Love that stuff. Miller is now only walking about 1 per inning instead of 3 and he seems to have got some dominance back. I have little faith he'll ever amount to something but a part of me won't let go.

419 Well, he got mentioned in 257 so, sort of.

If Nomar slugs .3xx for this entire season and no injury is uncovered, what's the guarantee, outside of this contract, that he starts next season?

To the extent that Ned cares about SLG (or more generally, "power"), he's likely to view it as a means to an end, where that end is "driving in runs". When Nomar was starting everyday, it was clear that he would likely end up with 80-90 RBIs. Rather than making an effort to evaluate home many runs Nomar coulda/shoulda driven in given the available opportunities, Ned would have likely looked only at Nomar's RBI total and concluded that it was "good", and that he was driving in enough runs such that his lack of power wasn't a problem.

Now that Nomar is platooning, it's less clear to me what will happen. That being said, given his contract, Veteraness, popularity, etc., it seems unlikely that he won't at least be in a platoon situation.

Mr. Buehrle packs his locker?
http://tinyurl.com/2mqock

418
Last 7 Days
Nomar/333/385/458/843
Loney/192/300/192/492

Brought to you by the D4P counterprogramming staff at JCIVG university.

422 it seems unlikely that he [Nomar] won't at least be in a platoon situation

Also seems like the way Ned/Grady like to work in younger players, e.g., LaRoche and Loney start, but Nomar gets frequent starts, some for LaRoche, occasionally for Loney against certain lefties.

BTW - last night's scoring was changed later in the game and the error that had been charged to Loney became a throwing error on Furcal, instead. For those of you scoring at home.

413--Would your opinion be different if Orenduff was going to be called up to start?--bc thats what I'm suggesting.

I'd dump Tomko/Stults---and keep Meloan/Hendrickson in the bullpen.

Penny
Lowe
Billingsley
Houlton
Orenduff

Hendrickson--mop up
Tsao-
Bemiel
Meloan
Broxton
Saito

Going back to Hendrickson as a starter---thats dumb bc everyone knows how bad Hendrickson is. He's most effective as a mop up/long man in the bullpen.

So that leaves Houlton/Orenduff in the 4/5 spot. When Wolf comes back, option the guy doing worse.

423
Tease

424 I would be happy if this turns out to be the start of a long Nomar hot streak. How about through October?

I wish Edwin Jackson could be our emergency 5th starter.

Ooh... we could bring back the trainwreck/JoeyP dream battery of Edwin Jackson and Dioner Navarro.

That would solve a lot of problems I guess.

I believe Colletti is going to trade Ethier for a SP and to open a spot in the outfield next season to sign a power hitter like Andruw Jones.

I don't care about Navarro. I always knew Martin was going to be our catcher of future.

I just think Edwin could be useful as a reliever or backup starter for us.

I am for the prospects always, I am not JoeyP.

FWIW (not much): Dodgers are 28th in MLB, last in the NL, in OPS with the bases-loaded. (Small sample size, etc., etc.)

Team AVG OBP SLG OPS R H HR 2B 3B RBI SB
Tor 0.413 0.462 0.653 1.115 87 31 3 7 1 82 0
Det 0.427 0.469 0.610 1.079 94 35 4 3 0 93 0
Mil 0.321 0.323 0.736 1.059 63 17 6 2 1 60 0
Sea 0.378 0.404 0.595 0.999 82 28 3 5 1 79 0
Min 0.369 0.352 0.569 0.921 67 24 3 4 0 57 0
LAA 0.333 0.358 0.537 0.895 60 18 3 2 0 54 0
Hou 0.287 0.316 0.563 0.879 78 25 5 9 0 73 0
Col 0.297 0.333 0.516 0.849 84 27 4 6 1 79 0
SFG 0.294 0.321 0.515 0.836 64 20 3 6 0 59 0
Fla 0.314 0.337 0.477 0.814 76 27 2 4 2 69 0
Bal 0.275 0.304 0.478 0.782 55 19 3 5 0 52 0
Was 0.246 0.259 0.522 0.781 66 17 5 2 1 61 0
Bos 0.250 0.308 0.469 0.777 84 24 3 6 3 77 0
Tam 0.292 0.316 0.458 0.774 58 21 2 4 1 53 0
Cin 0.258 0.365 0.403 0.768 68 16 1 2 2 60 0
NYY 0.300 0.326 0.438 0.764 75 24 2 5 0 72 0
Tex 0.262 0.313 0.446 0.759 66 17 4 0 0 61 0
NYM 0.314 0.312 0.429 0.741 54 22 0 6 1 50 0
STL 0.282 0.298 0.437 0.735 64 20 1 6 1 58 0
KC 0.281 0.358 0.368 0.726 53 16 0 5 0 42 0
Arz 0.270 0.282 0.429 0.711 59 17 1 5 1 56 0
SD 0.246 0.271 0.435 0.706 63 17 2 5 1 56 0
Phi 0.261 0.309 0.386 0.695 74 23 2 5 0 67 0
ChC 0.224 0.287 0.382 0.669 55 17 3 1 1 54 0
Atl 0.290 0.299 0.362 0.661 59 20 0 3 1 54 0
Cle 0.250 0.264 0.370 0.634 76 23 2 3 1 72 0
Pit 0.242 0.310 0.303 0.613 60 16 0 4 0 53 0
LAD 0.210 0.290 0.321 0.611 63 17 1 4 1 56 0
ChW 0.196 0.275 0.333 0.608 50 10 2 1 0 46 0
Oak 0.192 0.226 0.282 0.508 54 15 1 4 0 51 0

Looks like no one pulled off the triple-steal.

433
I just think Edwin could be useful as a reliever or backup starter for us.

Are you serious? Have you seen his numbers this year and last year for that matter?
He almost makes Tomko look good............................I said almost.

He is in the American League and has more upside then guys such as Houlton or Stults.

He did well against us and I think he could do well against the NL West.

The Sword of Damocles has fallen. New post up top.

438
Unless that team is Colorado.

Or San Diego.

431--I'd rather have Navarro than Mike Lieberthal on the 25-man roster.

Mike Lieberthal is the least of the Dodgers problems. He's a more than capable backup. Plus Navarro deserves a chance to grow as a young starter; sitting on the bench 90% of the time wouldn't do him much good, or us. Jackson, we can debate about.

I don't see what's wrong with Houlton right now, and I don't think Stults will be around long enough for us to consider him an issue. I agree Orenduff and - even sooner - Meloan should (and will) be given a chance to help, but they still need some time to develop. I'm sure we'll see at least one of them if not both in 2 months.