http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1968/B05030LAN1968.htm

They beat the Reds 4-3 with the game ending on an appeal at third because Alex Johnson failed to tag up.

The Angels had Bat Night longer than the Dodgers. My first baseball game I attended in person was Alex Johnson Bat Night in Anaheim in 1971.

I guess cause he was so hurt in the end it didn't sting as much as I thought it would.

He wasn't a tall guy, contrary to my memories of him from childhood. When I saw him in person at a trade show (pimping some virtual baseball game), I asked to take a picture with him using my cell phone (cheesy, I know, but what do you expect from "SG6"), and was surprised he was only 5-10 or so.

You're a ___ Charlie Brown?

Oops, almost forgot, the game's on.

When they first started the giveaways for kids 14 and under, we were bummed out because we were too old! :)

Gonzo's numbers after the All-Star break.

it was a little pop up near the seats & Nomar snagged it back in for an out, He stroke out Conine but Dunn just got a hit single to score one of the Reds runners 1-0 with 2 outs & men at 3rd & 1st.

If this were McDonald or Orenduff starting, it'd be a lot easier to take as a fan since the team would be developing the youngsters at the mlb level.

Watching Hendrickson/Tomko get lit up game after game does nothing for the Dodgers.

Do I even bother asking how Dunn scored from first on a single?

It would be a popular PR gesture for Mike Piazza to retire as a Dodger. He could not be worse than Saenz at this point.

I've always thought that too. It would be kinda nice for Piazza to finish with the Dodgers. I never liked him being thought of as more of a Met than a Dodger.

Consequently . . . . .

I'm sure you know that Gonzalez or Pierre were involved in the play.

Slappy McPopup says, "Oh yeah! How about them apples!"

Russell is making me want to cry these days.

Lieberthal has to play more, but he can't if Grady keeps playing the catcher who may be wearing down some.

Plus Tomko only wants to start, and the Dodgers can't guarantee him that.

I predict Tomko at Pittsburgh, 2 years at 8 million.

This year he gets $8.5 million from Oakland.

Will he be willing to be a part time PH type and get paid as such? I do not know.

He is still a decent hitter so maybe he would prefer to stay in the AL as a DH. He also wants to stay on the east or west coast. That leaves the AAAAAA, Redsox, Yankees or Devil Rays. Rains too much in Seattle.

It was a Game of the Week. It was a pitcher to first play. Eddie Murray really did a great job on it. I remember him spiking the ball after recording the out.

"The thing that is most consistent is when you play good baseball, you win games," he said. "When you don't execute, you don't win games. That's a constant."

Right now, there probably isn't another candidate to fill in that spot.

Slumps and bad starts do not generally add up to wins.

Not that there is much good to say right now anyway.

This is the worst game ever.

Although I feel the fans deserve one as well if not more.

Jon, we may need Son of Jon to lead us in roaring rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

Of course, they were only two back instead of four back.

Is "it could be worse" a good motivational speech.

The 1st half was carried by Russ Martin, Brad Penny, and Lowe.
-
No one expected them to be as good in the 2nd half as 1st for natural reasons.

Throw in Wolf/Kent getting hurt, a dumb trade of Betemit, and Kemp still on the bench===its just a perfect storm.

This could be a problem. I know which one I would want, but I also feel like I know what Ned Colletti will go with.

I am not sure Juan Pierre "laces" anything to left field but he is 2 for 3.

Bob are you going Monday night too?

Then again, they'd still be losing even if they got the calls, so....

ugh. Every year, it seems, the Dodgers hit an absolute low point where they really stink it up for a couple of weeks. Hopefully they can right the ship before it gets too out of control, but good lord, they're not playing well at all these days.

I can't remember who pointed this out, but until recently, the Dodgers record was largely due to their strong start to the season... they've been playing .500-ball ever since (and now, sub-.500 ball).

Many managers tend not to pinch hit with their reserve catcher because of the risk of injury to the starting catcher. If this risk was mitigated by a new rule allowing a catcher to pinch hit and then reenter the game later if, and only if, the starting catcher suffers an injury and cannot continue the game.

New Rule:
A catcher that had previously entered the game as a PH can reenter the game at a later point and replace the current game catcher if he is injured and cannot continue.

Qualifications:

-There can be only 2 catchers on the roster for this rule to apply.

-Both the starting catcher and backup catcher are full time catchers only (played no other positions for their current team).

-The umpire in charge would make the ruling determining if the starting catcher cannot continue the game (in consultation with the medical staff of course).

There may be holes in this rule that a clever manage could use to circumvent the spirit but this is the best I could do at the moment.

Currently, Grady is reluctant to rest Martin because he cannot do without Martin's offense. When Martin does have a day off the injury risk situation takes effect in that Martin would not usually be available to PH in the latter stage of a game he did not start for fear of an injury to Lieberthal. If Martin could still be available after PH to replace an injured Lieberthal later in the game it might persuade Grady to rest Martin more.

166 I totally agree. I really like that idea.

The BR Play Index doesn't work right for reaching on errors.

In soccer, if you substitute the goalkeeper for another (and the only) one on you bench and if the substitute gets injured, one of the field players has to play goalkeeper. Should be the same in baseball.

We need another rainout to get out of this mess.

How's the Reds bullpen this year?

So long Bronson.

Mike Stanton?

And now I have to do laundry. This day just keeps getting better.

3 out of 4 games being shut out.
That type of offensive futility hasnt been seen for awhile.

No easy solution, but at least play Matt Kemp ahead of Pierre/Gonzo.

Again, Doug Davis, Brandon Webb, Noah Lowry, and Bronson Arroyo are all capable of having a good night against the Dodgers but right now, it appears that the youngsters are pressing, the vets are old and tired and all the pitching issues have come to the forefront.

So... not that it will happen, but I'd love to see Grady blow up the lineup for a day and let the kids go for it: get Young, Ethier, Loney, Kemp, and Martin all starting. Heck, do it for Billingsley's start.

You guys need to get your act together or else you'll end up living in a van...!...by the river...!

A good game for Pierre: his grounders find outfielder gloves

It's a gentleman's sport.

4 runs, 3 hits, 1 errors
LA Dodgers 4, Cincinnati 4

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a mere shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour across the stage; it is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

I'm going to do something more fun, like laundry.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd.

243 Let's not be attacking each other now. I mean seriously, time for a deep breath and a bit of a perspective check. Or should I go jump off a pier, too?

things can only get better, they JUST HAVE TOO!

1983: 5.5
1995: 3.0
1978: 2.0
1959: 1.5
2006: 1.5
1996: 1.0

86

Slumps are part of the game. Streaks are too.

261- very encouraging . hopefully we can rewrite some history here.

COLLETTI: We had one American League club that offered us a middle reliever in exchange for two of our everyday players who are not yet 25 years old and are playing at the big league level. Needless to say, it was a short conversation.
______________________________

any guesses?

he said everyday players. So I'm assuming it wouldn't be a pitcher.

thanks for the info Mr.T.

Forget about the playoffs, because the thing you have to wonder now is whether this team can finish above .500

I'm guessing it was Dotel?

"We had another club offer us a middle reliever for a mid-twenties infielder with loads of power and darn good patience. We almost choked on our own laughter."

If your an alarmist i'm guessing it's gonna come out in a bad way with this little bad stretch.

Anthony Reyes pitches his best game since the World Series start but leaves down by 1.

Home runs were involved.

Not only that, but he popped it up.

Right now, the pitching hasn't been that bad, Penny lost two games last week, giving up 3 runs in 6 and 3 runs in 7 innings, that doesn't match the first half where he might have given up 1 or 2 runs in those starts but certainly he should have won at least one of those starts. Chad pitches great, and giving up 4 runs in Cincy still probably gives you a fighting chance to win a lot of games.

Offensively, the team has shut down, Martin and Gonzo are in funks, Pierre is down, Raffy can't his lefthanded. And Kent going down when he did sure slowed things down for him.

Telling comment about LaRoche by Ned today, saying that if he hadn't gotten hurt, he might be up playing for the Dodgers today.

Where would he be playing...?

"the Betimit" one start a week with a few PH's

Clayton Kershaw will debut for Class AA Jacksonville tomorrow in a game Ned Colletti is scheduled to attend.

From Diamond Leung.

"COLLETTI: Had Andy remained healthy at Triple-A, there's a very good chance he'd be here right now, whether it be playing once in a while or coming off the bench. He's been unable to stay completely healthy this season but he certainly factors into our plans for '08."

I think it is safe to say he'd steal some ABs from Nomar, and maybe Loney assuming Nomar was willing to move back and forth, but he clearly didn't intend with his comment to imply he would be an every day starter.

How he looks, what the Braves did, and Brad Penny's small sample size of a less-meaningful stat like batting average don't mean much to me, fair or not.

Okay, one month was a lousy deal for Wilson, but it certainly seems like there is no guarantee that Nomar is destined to be at 3B next year.

Andy will be given his chance to compete again for the job, Nomar or no Nomar.

just like Loney and kemp were?

It's hard to imagine Nomar being relegated to the bench. I'd have to think he'll start at least half the time at some combo of 1B or 3B.

http://tinyurl.com/259wpt

Chris at Cap Punishment flagged it.

I know that's very shocking to hear.

If Hairston's OPS is over 1.2 at the end of the year for the Padres, then you can compare the pickups.

But for the Padres, a cheap replacement for Hiram Bochachicca, Jose Cruz, Jr., etc.

On a bases loaded Olney to the first baseman!

He also sold those German hats with the shaving brush thingee in them with a Dodger logo as well as the stereotypical "coolie hats" with Dodger logos on them.

Even if he doesn't retire, would he still have the choice not to exercise the option? Could he get a better one-year contract on the open market to DH for some AL team? Play 1B for the Yankees? Do Harley-Davidson commercials?

I'd like to see one of those. Alas, a quick internet search yielded nothing. Did Danny consider a "Dodger 32" yarmulke?

With Furcal still under contract for next year, I wouldn't be surprised if the Dodgers wanted Hu to get his feet wet in the majors in a utility type role, a la Abreu.

Bacsik has hung some serious meatballs in front of him too.

(and who is this Danny Goodman guy? Wasn't he in a Sheryl Crow song...?)

I believe there was a Yamulke don't know if it was 32. Regarding Bat Days-i went to 3 of them and got a Maury Wills, Bob Baily and Ron Hunt, as some of you may know Baily was part of the in the infamous Wills for Gene Michael trade...Bats in the late 60's and early 70"s were full size and it was greeat during a rally when kids would pund thier bats into the concrete.....We all know the Dodgers are weded to both Gonzales and (Pierre) for the rest of the year, since this is the case despite the best outfield being Either Pierre and Kemp, would it make any sense to jolt the batting order by flipping Pierre and Furcal. In fairness Pierre has gotten on base a bit and if Grady/Ned are going to insist on not playing the best outfield-doesn't that make more sense?

and congratulations to Mr. Bonds!

He likes foreign bikes so I don't it.

Aww.....what a speech, and what a hitter :'(

Imagine being his son-in-law, yikes.

07/07/07 bizarro world

It can't come soon enough.

and a HUGE standing O as he goes back into left field!

Say what you will about him, but this is truly an incredible moment for MLB...

Oops, your right.

Your typing was a bit slow-try 08/07/07!...Bonds was and always will be a great hitter and a great player, but as many have said fair or unfair he will be the poster child for the steroid/enhancement era...I could have been at the game tonight and chose not to, I only hope the Nationals come back and beat them...Meanwhile I watch good baseball the Red Sox and the Angels

well someone in his entourage looks like Gabrielle Union, so....

Perhaps 8:52 PM. 8:54 is when the first wire service story ran.

great ball player but a complete jerk & that's what turns people off, it's a shame the dude flat out has GAME.

What did Sutcliffe say?

Stand down.

Talk about a surprise ending:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/

And there is GIGANTOR!!

I had a feeling Bascik would be the lucky sap.

At least ESPN can discontinue their caravan of coverage, sparing us more of the blather.

While I was at the laundromat I dozed off and dreamed that the Dodgers had a bye week, like they do in football. I'm going to believe my dream, just for comfort's sake. (In a way, the dream's true.)

The Dodgers made six errors in the game.

Oh wait, I think I nodded off again and had another weird dream.

But hey, everybody was doing it. No big deal.

"B*nds"

I think not with Henrickson is on the mound. Or better yet, maybe we reactivate Al Downing. He can't be any worse than our current 4 and 5 starters.

BB: "More baseball! Hell yeah, I ain't quittin'..."

As you were.

Grandpa humored Frenchy like we'll humor Bonds. Yup, you have 756+, but you'll never be the home run king. Ever.

Fraud.

I need to know. Your cat just may be a legend.

391 et al say a lot more about you than they do about the new Home Run King...

from the press conference: "I'm gonna hit a lot better after this..."

"I don't want the ball, I never ever believe a home run ball belongs to a player, never. If he caught it, it's his."

"I think they brought me back to win, not to break this record. So we'll see what happens next year."

But the guy spun around in a circle after hitting a home run ten years ago. And I can never forgive that. Ever.

Different subject, Does anyone know what is happening to Bryan Morris???

I have a feeling my cat would like The Wild Bunch, it's even more exciting!

he also likes soccer.

But basically, he likes stuff where things move around on the screen. He doesn't like Eric Rohmer films as much.

Yes, it does. And your position tells me a lot about you. So, now that our positions tell us a lot about each other, let's say that we simply agree to disagree.

But Robert Vaughn is still my favorite in that flick.

Santana
Sabathia
Sheets
K-Rod
Nathan

Talk about cashing in. Wow.

Because I asked!

I don't like to use the word "hero" too much...

Every person who sees that movie swears it's an instant classic. I tend to agree.

Joe Morgan really is quite stupid, and particularly so for the #1 baseball analyst on the #1 sports network in the US.

1. He bats leadoff most of the time
2. His team scores a ridiculous number of runs, which gives him more PAs even when controlling for position in the lineup

"The way Mike throws, he's going to give up some home runs." -- Mike Bacsik's dad

"I knew he couldn't overpower me with his fastball." -- Barry Lamar Bonds

http://tinyurl.com/ytzlhg

Yes, he does. But the list up there is for free agents after the 2008 season.

Standings are like cars with manual transmissions: it's best to start in first.

*IsoH = Isolated Heat = (Heat Index - Temperature) = (107 - 93.9)

In other words, the Heat Index is already at 107

This should be a so much greater moment for baseball. I remember watching Aaron on live TV and being transfixed. Last night I worked late and heard about it on the radio as I passed Wilshire Blvd. without feeling like I was missing out. Sad.

McDonald is listed as starting for Jax today. Wasn't Kershaw scheduled or is that tomorrow? Either way, should be interesting to track that one, too.

oh yeah, and the Dodgers play the Reds today or something.

Stan from Tacoma

I'm quite conflicted on Bonds. There is some evidence he has cheated, but it's not clear exactly what role that played in his ability to hit lots of home runs. Until Bonds comes clean or we have more solid evidence, I will remain conflicted on how I view his role in history.

On the other hand, I found the Aaron video a moment that I will always cherish, far more than anything Bonds has done.

437 Probably fair, but I still wish we would've kept him. he's 23 but it took him awhile to make some adjustments and get over the wrist injury. But true about VB. It's weird to see someone formerly a Dodger play at Vero Beach, and not for the Dodgers.

Ditto. Unfortunately, I've seen "Titanic".