The train idea apparently came from some of the team's savvy, wily veteran players, which just goes to show they're still good for something.

the Dodgers should go for plan B & start Houlton, I really feel he's a better option than Tomko at this point but if that can't happen just have Tomko on the shortest leash humanly possible, seriously!

Hmmm, considering I'm in Japan (16 hours ahead) and thought the game was starting at 2 am (10 am PDT) I was ready to write the game off and wake up to see the result. Now that I only have to stay up until 1 am? Not so bad. Although I've yet to stay awake past 10 pm on this trip so this will be harder than my usual late nights.

Yahoo! Baseball says the game starts at 1:05 Eastern.

4 - Canuck is right again!

I'll be taking a train from Copenhagen to Aarhus in a couple weeks.

You can't blame James McDonald for not putting in the extra work in the off-season I'm pretty sure he didn't realize how hard & how long a season can be but hopefully this will give him the extra incentive this off season to work harder, so fatigue won't be an issue with him come '08.

Dammit, I don't think I can make it until 2 am, I'm already fading fast.

Lost in the shuffle of all the records broken by the Rangers yesterday, did they set some sort of record for most runs scored in 4 innings of a game? It's hard to believe that all 30 runs were scored in only 4 innings.

6

Let's see, last time I took a train was from Union Station (L.A) to Newhall it was actually quite enjoyable/different.

Todays line up from ItD:

Here's today's lineup:

Furcal, SS

Pierre, CF

Kemp, RF

Kent, 2B

Hillenbrand, 1B

Martin, C

Gonzo, LF

Martinez, 3B

Billingsley, P

some people are upset Ethier & Loney aren't in the lineup today.

Will Gonzo resign or re-sign for next year?

last thread: I'm just not going to be a part of a fundamentally amateurish operation.

I just think it's funny that a college football program can be accurately criticized for being amateurish.

10- I am one of those people

10 This basically comes down to Loney vs. Lucille II.

Loney vs LHP 2007: .382/.435/.509 in 62 PAs
Martinez vs. LHP 2007: .289/.357/.342 in 42 PA

This is Loney's 3rd non-start in the last 6 games. Not acceptable on any level.

14 Not that I think this is a good idea, but when you look at the larger sample of Loney's minor league numbers, he's a much worse hitter against lefties than against righties to the tune of 150 points of OPS.

Gotta keep Hillenbrand in the lineup.

15 I can accept that Loney doesn't hit LHP. But I can never accept him sitting in favor of Ramon Martinez.

When most line-ups score 15 runs, the manager comes back the next day and says "well, it worked yesterday, let's try it again today". Instead, two of our best hitters are taken out and replaced by one of the worst hitters in the majors and our worst all-around outfielder (even Pierre is playing better than Gonzo lately when you factor in defense).

I'm usually a big Grady supporter, but I figured today's line-up would be a slam dunk.

16

Grady is like, well Ned got 'em might as well make him useful.

Thank God Billingsley's bounce back start will make all this hulabaloo about the lineup a moot point.

17 Nor can I, I was just pointing out that's there's one less level of boneheadness there. It's only about a nine instead of a ten.

At least Greg Brock and Bob will have this to take their minds off things.

http://tinyurl.com/2tdp4d

I mentioned it last night, my friend football boy took note of the 30-3 score last night.

If Amtrak had more convenient schedules I'd take it more often.

4 Canuck, normally I would join you in that Yahooo, except today I have to leave at 12:30 pm Eastern to pick up my daughter in Boston. If it was the Mets I could get it on the radio but Phillies--no way in the daytime.

I was supposed to go to today's game.

Then tuesday my boss said he and basically everyone else in the office would be gone today and was on call.

They will all suffer by my low productivity!!

re: Lineup

Grady must be looking at the overall numbers for Gonzo vs Ethier:

OBP/SLG/AVG

L Gonzalez .357/.427/.278

A Ethier .368/.474/.298

sorry, still doesn't make sense

From July 31 through yesterday, Ramon Martinez accumulated 43 PAs. Matt Kemp has 51 PAs in that same span. Those totals are too close for comfort.

23 From BTF:

The Baltimore Orioles just gave up 30 runs. The most points surrendered by the Baltimore Ravens in any of their games last year was 26.

Actually in Gonzo's defense, it's been said that he very good career stats when playing in Philadelphia

he very = he has very

Orioles vs Ravens: that'd be some matchup

29 In 53 PA, Gonzo is hitting a whopping .452/.566/.857 in Citizens Bank Park.

In his career in Philly, including the Vet, he is hitting .308/.418/.515 in 273 PA.

Stephen! Errrrrrrrrrric Stephen!

sorry bud, couldn't resist ;)

33 No problem. I am in fact in the white pages.

Hi everybody,

Trains are cool. In 1975, following a 6-month stint on an Israeli kibbutz, I embarked on a 2-month tour of Western Europe via Eurail. The 2-month pass cost me $200. I visited friends in Stockholm and Copenhagen to the north, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Vienna to the east. I stepped off the train for 20 minutes in Basel Switzerland to buy an authentic Swiss Army knife (turned out to be a genuine fake), and rode the night-train between Munich and Paris to save on hostel fees. The Eurail pass was a good deal all round.

Loney and Ethier go a combined 4-8 with 6 RBIs and 3 BBs last night, and their reward is to ride the pine so that a 39-year-old who's OPS'ing .578 since the All-Star break and a reserve IFer with a .179 BA can play.

A real headscratcher ...

36 All that running around the bases would wear anyone out.

Its really Grady choosing Hillenbrand/Martinez over Loney.

And of course Gonzo over Ethier.

Very Jim Tracy-esque.

R.I.P. Bat Boy.

We'll always have Paris and the Internet.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/07/weekly_world_news_goes_online.html

Some people throw crap against a wall to see what sticks, but this lineup shows that Grady just kind of throws the crap at the wall without worrying what stuck before.

In my mind, that pretty much makes him a gorilla.

I love taking the train. Cool to see they're doing that. It's actually a pretty easy shot from Philly to NY, makes total sense. I one t ook the overnight train from Chicago to NY in a sleeper car, and it was totally nice. (Getting to sleep through Toledo makes it even nicer.) Also took the train up to Eugene once and that was pretty.

Today's line-up is totally stupid but I guess the only rationale behind it is to rest guys for the NY series? Otherwise, I dunno. Fingers are crossed!

From the Phillies Insider on MLB.com (Larry Shenk, the Josh Rawitch of the Phillies), with a nice Dodger crossover:

I remember asking Johnny Podres one time, "How come there weren't that many injuries to pitchers during his career (1950s)?" He responded, "We drank more beer."

37 I guess that's true. Plus, Loney and Ethier aren't exactly spring chicks. They're 23 and 25, respectively. They need their rest.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing as my west coast self sits on the Amtrak Alcea Express from Baltimore to Philly, readin DT on iPhone, on the way to stag party at today's game. I'm liking this, and will get to experience bullet train in France on honeymoon next week. Maybe I can parlay nuptial weight into getting James into the lineup today...or at least convince one of my ushers to "show Shea the door".

Shame that Kuo went down and is still mending... he's the Met's daddy

42

well beer is a muscle relaxer so they might be on to something.

44 Congrats on your pending nuptials.

Listen for a "let the kids play Grady" chant on TV/radio today.

47 - gracias, but after last night the in-laws have labeled me a curse to the O's :(

49
Did you go to the doubleheader?

Even Steve Lyons said they need to find a way to get those kids in the lineup and that Gonzo should sit. Even Steve Lyons! Steve Lyons! Come on Grady, get a clue!

42 - I've also heard that it's because the old timers didn't do weight training either. There may be something to the school of thought that certain types of weight training during the season could be a negative for a lot of players, pitchers especially.

There's really no other explanation Grady simply wanted RM2 in the lineup today, sigh! (with a touch of anger in the sigh)

Loney and Ethier drove in six runs between them last night - their reward - riding the pine! As Overkill said, most managers when just trot out the same lineup that scored 15 runs the night before - not Grady though. What can he possibly be thinking? I thought Grady was treated unfairly by Boston, but after a year and a half of him, I am starting to think otherwise.

I believe one of the laws of thermodynamics tells me that I can't get hot water out of my electric kettle if I don't plug it in.

I'm not sure which one it is.

4 years ago i bought an amtrak pass and took the train from LA to el paso, new orleans, chicago, philadelphia, new york, boston/new hampshire, montreal, toronto, and chicago. yeah, some of the trips were kind of long (a 28-hour scheduled trip from el paso to new orleans plus an additional 8 hours of delay was especially tough... 36 hours is a long time to be on the same train), but i met some interesting people and it was pretty worthwhile. i'm now friends with an amish grandpa, for example. i visited him a couple years ago at his farm in PA and he let me drive the buggy.

With a little more than a month left in the season I wanted to know how the Dodgers schedule stood up against the 4 other NLW contenders. The results are surprising(see below).
Each of the 4 NLW contenders plays 25 games against other NLW teams. The Rockies seem to have the easiest schedule because they play the most games (13) against under 500 teams, and have the most home games (20).
By far the easiest last series belongs to the Dodgers (3 at home against the Giants).

DIAMONDBACKS: 34 games left, H-18, A-16
NLW 25 games - 7-SD, 6-CO, 6-LAD, 6-SF
NLC 9 games - 3-CHC, 3-STL, 3-PIT
NLE 0 games
No.Games ag. Teams under 500: 12
Final week: Away (7) to Pirates, Rockies

PADRES: 37 games left, H-17, A-20
NLW 25 games: 7-ARI, 6-CO, 6-LAD, 6-SF
NLC 8 games: 4-MIL, 4-PIT
NLE 4 games: 1-NYM, 3-PHI
No.Games ag. Teams under 500: 10
Final week: Away (7)to Giants, Brewers

ROCKIES: 36 games left, H-20, A-16
NLW 25 games: 7-LAD, 6-SD, 6-ARI, 6-SF
NLC 1 game: 1-PIT
NLE 10 games: 3-WASH, 4-PHI, 3-FLM
No.Games ag. Teams under 500: 13
Final week: Away (3), Home (3) Diamondbacks

DODGERS: 36 games left, H-15, A-21
NLW 25 games: 7-CO, 6-SD, 6-ARI, 6-SF
NLC 4 games: 4- CHC
NLE 7 games: 1-PHI, 3-NYM, 3-WASH
No.Games ag. Teams under 500: 9
Final week: Home (6) Rockies, Giants

[42 ] perhaps that explains derek lowe's durability...

I don't agree with sitting Ethier in place of Gonzo, but at least that makes a little more sense with regards to Gonzo's status as a starter all year. Sitting Loney in place of Lucille II, however, is completely inexcusable and makes no sense. I just don't buy the "resting him" argument, because if anybody should be sitting during a day game after a night game, it's Martin, not Loney.

With offensive output last night should keep the same line-up? The only person needing a rest is R. Martin...This could be Leiberthal's final game in Philly, and Grady should allow him a start in Philly not in NY!

I took the Amtrak from Montreal to Washington once.

I would never ever ever ever ever (x20) do that again. That may have been the single most miserable travel of experience of my life, even more than getting stuck in a plane on a taxiway at O'Hare during a severe thunderstorm while the guy next to me told me that public libraries were the biggest waste of taxpayer money in America, aside from zoos.

55 The first!

61 What was so bad about the train trip?

Someone knowingly reported here a few days ago that it would be Lieberthal (Enders, I'm looking at you).

Meanwhile, another fun topic:

"[T]he pitching-starved GMs of America find themselves debating pressing (or is that depressing?) questions like this: Who will get more overpaid this winter -- Kyle Lohse or Carlos Silva?

"Let's face it," said one GM. "It's going to be a nuclear winter."

Stark -- http://tinyurl.com/39fndn

59 I actually expected Ethier to sit for Gonzalez today, I don't agree with it of course, however, I agree with you - Martinez over Loney is just stupid. I think there is a lefty going and while still would have played Loney over Saenz, I would have played Saenz over Martinez.

61. Oh come on now, I know that the guy was stating the obvious, but how boring could that really be?

63
That train was incredibly late and since it was 100 outside, they put the AC on. The AC on the train had one setting: 50 degrees F.

I think I developed chilblains.

6 - Hey, Marty - I've done that train ride. My wife is from Arhus and summers there every year (she's there now). What takes you to Denmark?

Haven't read the rest of the thread, but what the heck is Grady thinking?!

Is he friends with Tim Donaghy? I want an investigation!

66
Fortunately the other guy was helping to save God and democracy by working as a financial analyst for Citicorp.

I took a train from Kissimmee, FL to Atlantic City, NJ. The worst part was the unsanitary conditions of the mens room due to the constant rocking motion of the train.

Ranking wasted taxpayer money would be pretty tough.

I'll start with, well, Amtrak.

The guy on the plane said that libraries should only carry books when we could cut a deal with a publisher to get extra copies and promotional material. Or free.

The rest of the stuff was just a waste.

Game on, people!

Poor at-bats in the top of the first by the Dodgers. Way to make a rookie work.

On the other hand, at least the Phillies aren't working the count either.

So who else thinks this will be a crisp 2 hour pitchers' duel that ends 1-0 and gets done before lunchtime?

Castro vs Billingsley sounds like it could be a fun matchup for many many years to come...

Nice start by the Chadster.

the lack of body hair on Bills arms is uneasy on the eyes, but he pitched a masterful 1st inning striking out 2 (hitting the corners very nicely) so I guess I can' let it go.

Cant we just win or loose with our best lineup? I am so sick of this.

I am now off the fence about Grady Little. Just to make it official.

Not to revive the pitch count controversy of a couple days ago, but since the announcers mentioned pitch count (and what is considered "economical" - 15 per inning, if you're wondering), I have a hypothetical for the group...

If you could take either Nolan Ryan or Greg Maddux, in their prime, who would you go with? Ryan being the prototypical high pitch count, high strike out, power pitcher; Maddux being the prototypical lower pitch count, force-them-to-put-it-in-play, "finesse" type?

11 pitch inning!

Why is the Big Ten Network advertising during a Dodgers game?

Can anybody on the West Coast get it?

79 I'd take Greg Maddux, easily. Maddux's career ERA+ is 135. Ryan had only four seasons in his career as good as Maddux's career ERA+.

79
I would take the mid 1990s Greg Maddux over the mid 1970s Nolan Ryan 10 out of 10 times.

Maddux had an ERA+ of 273 in 1994!

The best Ryan hit with the Angels was 141.

74 Castro's last 10 games in the minors (since July 3, 2007)

2-5 4.54 35.2 34 hits 18 ER 19 BB 28 K

79 Maddux easily. In the context of all time greats Ryan wasn't really that good.

Walking 200 guys in a season will do that.

Castros nerves are probably getting to him (little wild)

The top B-R comparable to Maddux is Tom Seaver. Ryan's top comparable is Steve Carlton. However, neither pitcher is very close.

Maddux has struck out a lot of batters in his career, over 3200. Which is a lot for pitchers not named Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, or Roger Clemens.

Wow. Steve Lyons just said he thinks "Martinez has the most deceptive .179 average in baseball. He gives you a good at bat every time he stands up there."

Bills is gonna have to do it himself with the bat, too. At least they've bloated his pitch count already.

Steiner was just saying that they had heard about Castro having "good stuff, but bad control." Wonder if anyone thought to tell Pierre? It will be very interesting to see what Pierre does next time up.

In fairness to Lyons, the only other players coming into today with a .179 average are Mike Hessman, Pete Orr, and Chris Iannetta. Maybe their .179 averages are less deceptive than Ramon's.

Aww thank you Billz!

Billingsley helps the pitcher (swung at a ball up in his head) & strikes out.

89 - ("his" meaning Castro, of course.)

Honestly, I wouldn't mind Martinez getting the start at third today if he was replacing Hillenbrand. It's benching Loney that makes no sense to me. I just hope James starts the three in NY.

A walk means a run Chad.
Real bad swing.

Hard to fault a pitcher batting, but that 3-2 pitch to Chad was Hillenbrand-esque.

Why on earth wouldn't Grady give a "mandatory take" sign to Billingsley on that 3-2 pitch?

Chad! Don't the Dodgers have a "take" sign? That's just unbelieveable.

6 batters, only one put the ball in play that half inning. vr, Xei

96 Its worse, I mean you may not think much about Shea but he has a better shot hitting a 3-2 pitch than Chad does, unless the ball was right down the middle, and especially with Castro's wildness, he has to be taking all the way.

88 That's not actually that dumb. According to PrOPS, Martinez's OPS should be .677 right now. While "a good at bat every time" is pretty inaccurate, he would get his numbers back to where they usually are if he played more.

82, 83, 85 - interesting, perhaps it's a matter of taste, but I'd go with Ryan.

85 - in his defense, in the two years that he walked 200, he averaged 350 Ks.

98 I don't think you give an automatic take sign to any batter at 3-2 (except maybe Dice-K), I mean even Hendy got one hit.

Faulting the pitcher for not hitting well is the acme of intolerance.

Dodger Win Probabilities:
Pre-Game
Dodger Sims: 49.3% (pre R.Mart/Gonzo in lineup)
LV Hilton: 52.38%

Current:
FanGraphs: 45%

vr, Xei

Bills taking lessons from Beimel. Howard really scares the bejesus out of me up there.

Billingsley is being very economical with his pitches, another 1,2,3 inning for him, very nice.

Who in the world aside from Eddie Yost would ever go up to bat with a 3-2 count thinking he should take?

So currently Howard has 33 home runs, behind Prince and ARod...do any of you oldies remember back when that was enough to lead the league for the YEAR?

103 - I'm not saying you automatically give the take sign on any 3-2 count. But Castro was struggling mightily to find the plate, you've got a terrible hitter at bat, and a walk means a run and brings up the top of the lineup. The likelihood that (a) Castro throws a strike, (b) Billingsley makes contact, and (c) that contact drives in a run, was very, very low.

109 - I'm 29, and I remember when 33 was enough to lead the league and garner a lot of MVP votes.

104- Pff. I fault the pitcher for not willing Martinez to hit better.

108 - Chad Billingsley

Does anybody else think bare-chested Putin looks a little like a young Hunter Thompson?

http://kremlin.ru/dyn_images/img142256.jpg

looks like someone learned from yesterday...

The last time a HR leader in a non-strike year had as few as 33 HR was Graig Nettles in the 1976 AL.

There hasn't been a leading total that low in the NL since Ralph Kiner's 23 in 1946!

It's not a question of automatically taking on every 3-2 count. Castro had just walked the bases loaded and our pitcher was up.

113
And what if Billingsley had taken an easy strike over the middle of the plate?

90

I was interested in seeing how Pierre would approach that at bat as well but unfortunately he swang at the 3rd pitch (almost hit into a DP) which confirms that Pierre is up there hacking against ALL comers.

I'm sick of Gameday. It sucks.

Jayson Werth is a Dodger killer.

120 Allow me to elaborate. Am I the only one who has to wait two minutes between everything? It's hardly real time.

You people killed Dodger Thoughts with your ranting at our pitcher's poor swing!!

(At least you killed it for me.)

But we're back. A bit of a server hiccup there.

So Ned, we've got this guy who has plate discipline, power, can play all three outfield positions, speed, and a gun. It will cost around 700 thousand to bring him back, what do you say?

Nah, we wouldn't want to send Repko down.

Man I'm bitter about that.

way to help the pitcher Hillenbrand, with a 3-1 count, he swings at what looked like ball 4

I had been so focused on Kemp's career stats lately that I hadn't even noticed his season OPS was over .900.

Hillenbrand, even with his four-hit game, is at .603 ... .621 as a Dodger.

124 ,123

I had the same hiccup as well.

125
But Repko is very versatile. He can hurt both himself and injure an infielder at the same.

You can't find utility like that in most other players.

Martin has a chance to lead the Dodgers in walks, strikeouts, and homers.

Someone get Lyons a wet bulb thermometer and an explanation of the dew point so he can learn about humidity.

Seriously, is there supposed to be some "logic" about this asinine lineup? Why do you take two big bats out of a lineup for two non-entities? I'm steamed in steamy Alabama.

[79 ] i think maddux was a power pitcher in his prime. his fastball used to hit the mid-90s if i remember correctly. that's what made him so devastating; power AND smarts.

125 He had not played in a year, they offered him a minor league deal and non-roster invitation to the big league camp.

I think that is pretty generous considering the circumstances.

118 - That would have been much easier for me to accept than swinging at a ball way out of the zone. In that situation (pitcher having just walked the bags full), if you're gonna swing you'd better be sure it's at a strike.

Yankees:Murderer's Row :: Dodgers:Suidice Row

I think Pierre's 45 million was rather "generous" as well.

Wait, is generous the right term?

I get the feeling that if the dodgers hadn't swung the bat at all today, they'd have another 3-4 walks and 2+ runs.

nice play at third there by lucille 2

Ugg. This may be the dodgers worst offensive performence yet. This guy can't hit the side of a barn door and yet keeps getting let off the hook.

The greatest beatdowns in history :

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=schoenfield/070823

Last time I rode a train was about 3 hours ago from my office in Tokyo to my home in Yokohama. Smooth ride, on time as usual, crowded but not like a sardine can.

Unlike overkill94, I made it to 2am and then some.

I want to love Grady, I really do. But things like Ramon over James, Shea batting 5th and Tomko on Sunday are making it hard.

136 - LOL!

134 I think you should try harder than that to keep a player with Werth's skill set. They don't grow on trees. Several other teams saw his potential and made offers.

ooh, chad uncorked an absolutely nasty slider low and inside to howard for strike 1.

135
You have extraordinarily high, if not completely unrealistic expectations, for a 23- year old pitcher who has hardly seen any major league pitching in his life.

But I'm giving up this argument as my doctors have informed that if I get another subdural hematoma my insurance won't cover it.

4 good innings for Billingsley.

141 44. The playoffs versus Marty Schottenheimer.

That one made me laugh out loud.

Billingsley has a Maddux-like pitch count so far.

146--How hard is it to just not swing?

Nice, 41 pitches with 4 K in 4 innings for Chad. His last few outings, he would have hit 41 in the second inning.

142
Taking trains in Japan has spoiled me when I get back to the U.S.

Even the slow trains in Japan are better than the Amtrak.

During the World Cup in '06, my brother told me that it was a myth that German trains run on time as they were constantly late.

I think in Japan I have never encountered a late train. If the train is going to get there at 7:45, it gets there at 7:45.

So I have a off topic question. I am listening to the BOSS right now. I am not a huge fan, although I should be based on my musical tastes..

So I have some box set that I got in some columbia deal along time ago and not sure what it is. I just found it it today..I think its just called Tracks? There are 4cds.

What is this? (I dont have the cd covers etc) Is it like B-sides or out takes that never made it to albums? Or are these songs on albums too. There are none that I recognize by name. I really like it. I am on disc 4. I seem to like his more mellow tunes. Like as a kid i really liked the song tunnel of love more so than say born in the usa...so which album(s) should I go buy to get started. Like a song called "loose change" is on now and it's just great. His lyrics put me visually in the place he is. In Glory Days when I hear it, I am in that bar type thing.

I am ready to take the Springstreen plunge.

146 - That's exactly why I would have had him taking the pitch. It's not Chad I fault, it's Grady. Sorry if I've injured you.

It's hard to rip on Bills for hitting when we're a step away from the manager putting Mark Sweeney at shortstop.

Bigger fish to fry than one at bat from Chad.

150 Ask Shea Hillenbrand. Heck, ask anyone who's played any sort of baseball. I know I still occasionally swing at pitches over my head.

"Don't swing" really only works if the pitcher isn't trying to fool you.

125 - Werth, Kemp, Ethier... yeah, that would do quite nicely left to right, right to left, or any other way you want to arrange them.

134 - I'd agree if the injury was not sustained on the field. But getting hurt in a freak accident on the field, that's a horse of another color.

[146 ] on principle, with the way castro had been throwing, especially in that inning, when you are a pitcher with only 2 hits all season, and he's taken you to a 3-ball count with the bases walked loaded, why on earth would you swing?? if it's a strike, oh well. but chances are pretty good that it won't be, and you'll drive in a run. the chances that you will get a hit are rather low. he should've taken on principle.

Bhsportsguy invoked cloture after three comments on the topic of Kemp getting thrown out at the plate yesterday. But he lets the Billingsley shouldn't have struck out argument linger.

Somebody's slipping.

Leave it to the pitcher not to swing?

bluto!

[158 ] <--- also, why has the toaster been adding an extra space between the number and the bracket? i'm not putting that in myself.

The ultimate irony perhaps.

is it just me or does billingsley look faster than loney?

156
Too late, I still have to go get a CAT scan.

And Rex Hudler is going to be explaining the process to me!

I would think unless you were a decent hitting pitcher you should just take all the way and make the other pitcher work.

Especially if
1. you were hitting around a buck
2. the pitcher was throwing more balls than strikes
3. there was a 3-x count

Billingsly has the legs of a toddler. It looks like he travels about 6 inches per step.

Looks like we got the "good" Chad today. :)
vr, Xei

Lesson Learned: Good things happen when Chad doesnt swing.

Before anybody talks about what a great line drive that was, it's a candy hop groundout if Taguchi is playing back.

Andrew, I need my copy of "Trepanning for Dummies" back.

159 I invoked the cloture because there was irrevocable evidence (or at least two witnesses via Tivo) who cleared Donnelly.

The defense has not been able to clear Chad of any fault in his attempt to swing at ball 4.

168 Or maybe we learned that he has a good enough eye to trust to select his own pitches to hit.

Did anyone else kind of scream, "Oh good God", when you heard Charlie Stiener say, "and they're going to send Billingsly!" And again on the squeeze play?

And why would Lyons even think of saying that Kemp should bunt with two outs and a runner on third? Oh, never mind.

When was the last time the Dodgers dominated a Pitcher that was making their big league debut against them?

169 You know, I have heard Greg Brock actually say nice things about Juan Pierre.

But I won't swear to it on a stack of Harry Potter books.

Sometimes we're more dogmatic here than the Council of Trent.

153 - Tracks is great, just a whole bunch of unreleased or underpublicized Springsteen material.

Unless you're going to go in chronological order, just start with Born to Run like so many of us (well, me) did.

171- I didn't say anything at the time, but you forgot the required quorum call, so cloture wasn't binding.

170- Will you be demanding that I provide you with free promotional materials when I return it?

The Phillies announcers have an annoying habit of calling the play (or trying to) before it actually happens. They did it twice on Furcal's hit, once when Billingsley scored (they intoned he was gonna hold up at third), then again when Furcal was ruled safe (they called him out).

Uhoh....that is 1-0...

174 - the Model Dictator had a 17 inning Webb streak last season, this is not nearly his MLB debut, fyi.

Fabio Castro might be the smallest pitcher in the major leagues. He's listed at 5'7 185 on the phillies home page. He's only 22yrs old.

174 I wonder what the stats are for pitchers making their debuts? They are probably not as bad as we think they should be.

174
Baseball's history is littered with a lot of pitchers having disastrous debuts.

When Chicago scored 36 runs back in 1897, Louisville used a relief pitcher making his major league debut and he gave up 22 runs.

https://griddle.baseballtoaster.com/archives/775722.html

68 What a small world. The company that makes the production system I support is based in Aarhus. I'm going for a user group meeting/junket.

183 It would be too easy and cheap to make Tomko jokes here.

183 That pitch count must have been something else.

steiner said it was "waffled by ruiz"?? what?

378 pitchers have had their first career start in the last ten years. 117 had Quality Starts. Jason Jennings, Andy Van Hekken, and Mark Brownson had complete game shutouts.

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/YDZ2

183 If yesterday's record breaking game had not happened, would you have known about that game?

HAHAHA old friend and onetime Phillie All Star Mariano Duncan, busts a move with the Phanatic!!

153 , 177 Just don't take too long before getting to Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.

Tony Jackson is at it again with his "What have you done with Chad Billingsley" jab.

Not funny considering Billingsley [i]has[/i] been efficient before.

Chad's struck out 5, and made only 54 pitches in 5 IP. Good going!

One would think that having an extra finger would allow one to do more crazy stuff with pitches.

Sweet, Loney comes in for Hillenbrand.

192-Oops, I guess italics don't work here.

Loney's batting for Hillenbrand!

i'm trying to decide if alfonseca is more barrel-chested or just keg-bellied.

191
Good call on Greetings. The River is one of my favorites as well.

Did Alfonseca use one of his 6 fingers to get that ball?

194 Or you have an extra finger to spare in case you catch one bare handed.

Yeah, at least we didn't have to wait too long for Loney to come in today.

190 That was quite amusing - or disturbing. The Phanatic was decked out in a Flamenco dress and Duncan danced along with him/her/it.

It is really upsetting that the only apparent reason Loney didn't start was because the Phillies had a LHP. It is really really upsetting.

I'll bet Alfonseca is a hell of a piano player.

Thanks Jon. I'll go grab Born to Run at lunch today. Of course I have heard some of it, but typically I like the non popular songs by any artist with a huge volume of quality stuff more so than the popular songs. Yes this 4 cd set is fantastic....jeeze one song even sounds reggaeish (part man, part monkey) With his new album comming out soon, I want to fully get on board and see him and the E-Streeters live.

Now Ethier will bat for LuGo.

Just kidding.

203
I bet he isn't. Who teaches piano for 12 fingers?

Golden Perambulating God.

Wait, does Alfonseca really have six fingers on one hand or was that some weird joke? Either way, not the smartest thing in the world for a pitcher to bare hand a ball, but it wasn't hit very hard and he survived.

Darn that Rowand!

208 - apparently, he has six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot.

208
No brag, just fact. Antonio's here got an extrs set.

Of pinkies.

Wow, he really is polydactyl. I never knew that. The funny thing - or stupid thing - is that one of his nicknames is "The Octopus" - which, um, isn't quite accurate any way you look at it, but it's cute anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Alfonseca

208 Yeah he does, though he never pitched well enough to get a monicker like "Three-Finger" Brown.

Now Bob can explain why "Three-Finger" was called that.

So Chad's trying to turn the tables and win a game 1-0.

Was there an injury on the Loney groundout? MLB.com mobile gameday (phone) said there was an injury delay so I came to my computer to get the bad news. SInce you guys aren't talking about it, I assume there was not.

In case some people have not read this, it always makes me laugh, especially the Jack McKeon quote. Enjoy.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41417

184 That's so freaky. Just the other day, I had a dream that I was looking at a map of the bridges between the various Danish islands.

I've spent a couple of days in Århus, too, visiting a friend. Not a particularly interesting city, from a tourist's perspective. The most memorable thing about the city was statue of a pig that would pee from time to time.

212 - because his first name was Mordecai, and even in the late 1800's that was a funny name?

212
Because he had three fingers on one hand because of an accident. Three complete fingers that is.

Rangers-Orioles post-mortem: I went to the Dallas Morning News webiste to see what the local reaction was to the 30-3 game. On the main page of the sports section was a story about Cowboys training camp and a high school football preview.

The Rangers game was mentioned in a 5-word link on the sidebar under "Other Stories."

214
They were checking on Alfonseca.

214 There was an injury delay in Kent's at bat - he fouled a ball off his foot and went down, but then finished the at bat and looked okay.

220 Oh right, the Octopus - they were checking on one of his tentacles after that play.

Was Charlie Steiner the only person who thought that was a home run?

220 "Dude, you really DO have six fingers! Hey, Charlie, come check this out!"

Don't forget, clever and oh-so-contrarian discussion of bottled v. tap water well underway right now. See 22 .

For the Alfonseca doubters:

http://www.itsbeach.com/blog/images/2007/04/05/alfonseca_3.jpg

http://homerderby.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/el-pulpo-big.jpg

(the pics are definitely SFW...but...)

223 - yes, yes he was.

153 As I recall, "Tracks" disproportionately draws on the period of "The River." "The River" also has some of Springsteen's best ballads and slower tunes, like "Point Blank" and "Independence Day." The lyrics are intense, so it's hard to call these songs "mellow," but they are beautiful performances, with some of the best Roy Bittan piano parts the band ever recorded. It's also got his most light-hearted, comical tunes, like "Sherry Darling," and "Hungry Heart," which was his first mass hit. All in all, I think "The River" could be the best introduction to Springsteen for a new listener.

My personal favorite is "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle," but that's a minority viewpoint. Imagine what would happen of Gary U.S. Bonds and Leonard Bernstein mated. That's what the album sounds like.

Mordecai Brown's pitching hand:

http://tinyurl.com/2tfovh

229 - the original knuckleballer?

Whew. Chad got lucky on that one. Whatever that was, don't throw that again.

my question how did Mordecai lose that finger anyway? Not a birth defect.

Homeplate ump cost the Dodgers a double play there.

225 Good read.

Marin hesitated to throw waiting for the strike three call. Not sure if it would have mattered.

232 - corn shredder on his uncle's farm, according to his official fan site

http://www.cmgworldwide.com/baseball/brown/index.html

And then falling and breaking his fingers again.

232 Farm accident. Thresher or something.

Pierre looked like Lofton on that play. :(

pierre turned 3 times on that play and didn't get to it. tsk, tsk.

Man, this Phillie lineup is hard to get through without allowing a run, even if you're dealing like Chad's been. Little can't be thinking about LuGo's hurt feelings in situations like this. You need runs in this park.

We need to score more than 1 run.

Darnit. I thought that was out of there at first. Pierre must have, too.

I hear that your odds of catching a fly ball are better if you put your glove up.

Kemp would have caught that ball had he been playing center field.

To quote Lincoln, "like a duck hit on the head."

240 Gonzo's confidence is much more important that Bills. Because, you know, why would you want to give a good young pitcher a chance? That doesn't build character.

Adversity does.

Pierre looked totally lost on that play. Situation normal.

Too bad you can't steal center field.
vr, Xei

241 Bills has himself to blame or the lack of run support. He swung at ball 4 with the bases loaded.

244
If Kemp had been able to catch it, it would have looked pretty ugly. Kemp likes his "serpentine! serpentine!"

Wow, harshness on JP on what sounded like one, a horrible pitch by Chad, two, lucky he didn't hit it out and three, the ball went off the wall in CF.

And, oh my god, an oversize tse-tse fly has carried off Juan Pierre!

249 Yeah, why can't he be a clutch RBI machine like all the other pitchers?

You brought this on yourself, Chad.

251 Well he can't catch short balls because he plays deep, and he can't catch deep balls because he's afraid of the wall.

253 DFA! DFA!

Yeah, on my TV, it didn't look like Pierre had a chance to catch that. His speed made it look like a closer thing than it really was.

Furcal got a triple on a ball hit in that general area.

218
I wonder if he was the bearer of the "subtle knife"?

Hematoma returning... Must relieve pressure on brain...

251 - that was catchable, and not just in a Willie Mays/Jim Edmonds manner.

Just tuned in, and saw the lineup...

Ned and Grady are like that relative with a substance abuse problem who drive you crazy with thier constant choices motivated by personality disorder, and not common sense....

[259 ] yeah, that would've been forgivable if it were in the gap, but it was straight back.

260 I think that it is a little over the top.

It makes sense to Grady and he is the man in charge of the lineup. I don't think he calls Neds up to clear it with him.

I thought it was catchable, at least for an outfielder with decent speed and some decent glove skills.

Pierre was utterly confused. He turned around three times, almost got hit in the head by the ball, and let it carom off the wall and had to chase it down.

Those tsetse flies, they were the size of eagles.

262- I'm talking about Ned's personnel moves, and Grady's lineups...At this point in the season, I don't feel I am being over the top at all.....

And if it makes sense to Grady, than we are in for some tough times...

Billingsley already scored one run today. So if he loses, it's because as a hitter he was only able to manufacture one run and not two?

yeah, JP! A hit and RBI.

RBI basehit for Pierre...

Somebody check on Greg Brock

265
If you can prove that everything done by Colletti and Little were ENTIRELY irrational, you might have a case.

But you're really heading into Rule 6 territory.

Just because someone doesn't do what you want doesn't make them morally or psychologically deficient absent other evidence.

Pierre may be injured...

And Pierre appears to have tweaked his left arm on that slide.

I think it was a finger.

265 Its baseball, its fun and games, not life or death.

To compare their behavior to addicts, I think it is over the top.

182 BH, there have been 30 pitchers make their ML debuts as starters this season. Their numbers:

8-8, 158 IP (5.27 per start), 9.51 H/9, 3.87 BB/9, 6.49 K/9, 5.41 ERA

153 The only Springsteen album I own is the "live at Hammersmith Odeon" one, recorded in 1975 (I think). It's highly representative of his early material.

For the record, I'm as appalled at the lineup we started with as everyone else.

Now if this was oh 22 of the 25 players on the roster, there would collective hush as we wait and see what happened.

And I may be generous with the 22 figure.

So Pierre's still in. I'm not going to celebrate an injury, but I did have a little fantasy that he would miss one game just to get rid of the streak.

274 Then maybe its just the Dodgers. Lucky us.

276 - Pierre being out for the rest of the season is probably the best thing that could happen to the Dodgers playoff hopes. I hope he isn't in too much pain, but maybe an injury that only hurts him when he plays baseball?

So how does Chad look today, sounds like he his for the most part pitching where Chad is setting up, how's his velocity and movement?

I think the issue with Grady is the same issue one could have with about 95 percent of the active players, coaches and managers in the major leagues. They believe young players earn nothing unless they can clearly and consistently outplay the veteran they would be replacing, by an unmistakable margin.

The Ethier-Kemp-Loney lineup on a daily basis awaits the absence of Gonzalez and Nomar/Shea from the active roster.

I write this as Luis Gonzalez makes Grady Little feel good about himself with a decent catch in the left-center gap.

279
Pierre's left pinky was pointing the wrong direction.

The trainer popped it back into place.

i find steiner's fly ball excitement voice to be quite off-putting.

Anyone notice that twice now, Steiner has mentioned that Kemp was shading his eyes as he went to catch a fly ball? That seems a strange thing to point out.

The Phanatic does a Bono move.

282 Yes. It looked very painful. I think Pierre deserves some credit especially after driving in the go ahead run.

way to shatter the illusion Steiner, telling all those little kids that there's actually a person inside the Philly Phantic. What's next, pulling the beard off of Santa at the mall?

284 - Kemp should wear sunglasses, maybe Steiner dropping some hints.

Kemp and Loney look like good friends. They're always laughing with each other.

By the by, I used to post as "Kyle S". Now as "Stephenson". You see, I don't want people to know my full name... blast...

228 awesome, thanks!!

Chad's been lucky on a few pitches, and Burrell made him pay on one, but overall I'd say he's pitched really well. What's been nice is he hasn't been wild, few hits, only 2 walks, low pitch count, overall a very strong game for him.

286
Since Pierre doesn't throw well to begin with, any problem with his left pinky shouldn't be a problem.

Unless he holds the ball with his pinky when he throws it.

Then we'd have real issues.

Is the stadium in a bad neighborhood or are those constant police sirens some annoying sound effect from inside the park?

i love watching matt kemp.

291 Plus one of the walks was an intentional walk to Howard, so that really shouldn't be held against him.

286 - On the other hand, if he would have gotten a hit in either his 2nd or 3rd at bats then the Dodgers would already be up a run. I am happy he came through in his bloopy sort of way, but I am dreading watching 4 more years of this.

Kemp's walking funny. Still.

That's the way we do it Bison!

(Except for the slides - those need work.)

I honestly thought that Kemp was toast at the plate. Wow, the guy's got wheels.

293 When I was in Philly for work during a week in June I don't remember a time the entire trip that I didn't hear police sirens.

296 Greg Brock guaranteed that you won't have to worry about that.

288 I stopped wearing sunglasses entirely when I started wearing regular glasses and haven't missed them. Sunglasses are seriously overrated. Sunglasses that can make visible a ball that crosses into the center of direct sunlight don't exist.

I'm going to show up at a ball game with a sign that reads Bob 269:3 :-)

Branch Rickey would be so proud right now. Now if Ethier could come up this inning, nice.

Rowand would've had that one.

302
I believe my girlfriend is buying a set of nonprescription sunglasses today.

She's going under the laser.

Like around ... now.

come on Russell put the ! on this game...

I just tuned into Gameday. It certainly looks like Bills has pitched a really good game against a hard-hitting team. I hope we can hold on to get him the win. Kemp's steal was certainly big to help get that insurance run.

306 - and you are here? Good to know you've got your priorities straight.

Stiener and Lyons have actually been pretty funny these last few games....

303- You should correct his subject/verb agreement issue, if you're going to put it on a sign.

309
Hey, I offered to drive! I'm taking her on a vacation this weekend also.

306 Getting ready for parts unknown.

hah, that booing santa thing was the cleverest thing steve lyons has said in a while.

Have you (pl) noticed that Martin hasn't been spitting on his batting gloves between pitches like he usually does? Is there a connection here to his poorer than usual hitting performance?

313
Guests of the Cheney family.

Loney, to Howard: "Doesn't he know how slow I am?"

Loney's going to end up like the guy from the Rockies the other day...

Gordon is the Phillies' version of Roberto Hernandez or Paul Shuey. Unfortunately our management has not yet realized this.

[306 ] best of luck to her.

315 Really? I saw him do it yesterday, I thought. But maybe he needs more spit - it could be magic Golden God ™ spit.

316 I won't ask where you are going because one, you told me and to, I don't want to tip off Homeland Security.

It's amazing to me how little exposure Matt Kemp get's on a national level...I know he's west coastin' but then Justin Upton get's plenty...

4 walks for Martin. I know, I know, but I'd still prefer that he have a hit in there some way.

Bon mots galore in Gurnick's latest - see update above.

Russell is living up to his Canadian Mountie of Walks and Heart billing.

319 I was going to dispute that but after watching him pitch this inning, yeah, it's just as painful as watching the other guys. He's not Flash Gordon anymore. More like Flush Gordon?

320
She received a letter from her employer telling her that they had overpaid her by $3000.

They want it back.

Now.

The thing is, she probably doesn't owe them $3000. But she will have to pay it anyway. And then get reimbursed in about two years.

Why is Russell called the Golden God?

323

maybe if he starts datin' Alyssa Milano
espn would notice?

329 Because that's what he is!

I will give credit to Windmill Donnelly today for at least being alert on the Furcal double/triple that scored Billingsley. Bills was motoring but Donnelly waved him in - appropriately for once. But I've enjoyed watching Kemp say "screw this" twice on him.

Martin is having a terrible game, he can't get a hit to save his life. Be a team player Russ! Stop selfishly walking to first base, take the bat off your shoulder and drive in some runs.

For jasonungar, here's the lowdown on the various Springsteen records, in approximate order of recommendation. Others feel free to skip all this.

Born to Run -- This has a lot of anthemic, orchestral sounding songs, but also a few spectacular slower numbers like "Meeting Across the River." Overall, his best album.

Darkness on the Edge of Town -- A leaner, darker album with a little bit of punk influence in places. A lot of songs similar to the version of "Stolen Car" that appears on Tracks.

Nebraska -- A musically spare acoustic folk album with stunningly downbeat lyrics. The version of "Born in the USA" that appears on Tracks is an outtake from the Nebraska sessions.

The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle -- This is a more jazzy sounding album thanks to the presence of pianist David Sancious, who left the band after it was recorded. Lyrics are all over the place. You will like this record if you liked "Thundercrack," "Seaside Bar Song," or "Santa Ana" on Tracks.

The River -- Probably his most musically diverse album, it contains everything from Ramones-style rockers to doo-wop ditties to anthemic ballads. A lot of people like this record more than I do, as I tend to be drawn to those albums that are more musically cohesive.

Greetings From Asbury Park -- His most lyrically dense album, with some excellent folk-rockish tunes. Most notable for the original version of "Blinded By the Light." Also contains "Mary Queen of Arkansas" and "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street" in essentially the same versions as they appear on Tracks.

Tunnel of Love -- Known as the "divorce album," packs a lot of emotional impact, not so much rocking. Very worthwhile.

Ghost of Tom Joad -- This is sort of Nebraska II in terms of its acoustic spareness and downbeat lyrics. It's really fantastic but not for all tastes. The Tracks song "Brothers Under the Bridges ('95)" is an outtake from this.

The Rising -- Rock and roll for old people. Some great lyrics here. Musically it feels a little forced and stale in places. Thematically it works very well.

Born in the USA -- Seven top ten hits. Some of them are good. Others not so much. Poppy-sounding record with a lot of synthesizers.

The Seeger Sessions -- Bluegrass-folk-jazz take on traditional old-timey songs. Musically it's a lot of fun, although arguably in an artificial way. The concerts were better than the record.

Human Touch and Lucky Town -- Released on the same day, these are the only rock albums he's recorded with a band other than the E Street Band. Not really worth your trouble until you've listened to everything else above.

333
JD Drew would have gotten a single there!

btw I heard while listening to the radio broadcast as I am mowing the lawn, that Juan "Can Do No Right" Pierre has 50 steals on the season, is this correct?

NICE clutch DP by Geary!!

rally killer 2.0 by Gonzo.

Feel free to run that out, next time, LuGo.

I think the Gonzo that's had good success in this park in the past is not the same one we have this week. He's either been replaced by a clone, or he's, you know, older than he was then.

Either swing on don't swing Luis. You Karate do maybe, squish like grape!

Free baseball in Detroit! Aughts all around between the Indians and Tigers.

321 I've been paying attention to Russell's behavior between pitches for three games, now. I haven't seen him spit. I may have missed a pitch or two, though.

martin looked to be limping a little after he scored...

335 - Exactly. Sometimes you just need a free swinger like Drew around to do the dirty work.

Nomar who?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news all, but at this rate, Ramon Martinez is going to be starting the rest of the season.

well on the bright side maybe that DP means we won't be seeing much more of Gonzo over Ethier in the line-up. Hopefully...

Ramon is so money and he doesn't even know it!

22 hits -> 22 RBIs

Thanks for the update...what a strange article....seems like Grady and co. are hearing the grumbles...very self counscious.

I wonder how many times when Grady puts out the bizarre lineup do the Dodgers win? For example the time Wilson Valdez started in LF. It seems everytime I'm really irked with a bonehead lineup it ends up being pointless to have wasted effort on it.

As I've said before my biggest worry is that Shea will hit just enough so that when Nomar comes back they play Shea at 1st just enough to make me root for the Diamondbacks.

334 - That's some pretty good ordering. I might bump River higher and Darkness lower, and on a given day trade Nebraska with Wild/Innocent, and even give USA a couple notches higher, but all in all, that's about dead-on.

346 - Yes, but in left field.

Oh boy. If I can snag ToyCannon, the D'backs will have to put me on staff!

334 I've got the 7 inch picture sleeve single of "I'm On Fire." I love that song.

Ramon Martinez is an RBI machine. Maybe we should take him off the roster and make him special assistant to the hitting coach. :)

Well, at least Ethier is in the line up, half an inning late, but better late than never, I suppose

354
You had me at Upton I just don't brag about it.

336 Das, yep. It's true. He'd also had like 18 straight steals before being caught today.

What is this, like Invasion of the Body Snatchers? One by one, Dodger fans turn into alien DBacks fans... Creepy.

350 If you ask a question about second guessing to any manager, coach, etc. I think you will get that kind of response.

334 First (and only) Springsteen concert I went to was the Born in USA tour at Coliseum. When he first started playing "The River" I thought why isn't he singing, as I heard the crowd sing the first verse. After they finished, he started up again, and then he began to sing the song from the top.

I felt like an outsider, not knowing what to do at the concert. But he puts on a great show, multiple encores and I must try and see his next show regardless of cost.

Aww maaan!

Rats!

Wow, thanks Eric. I just printed that up. Being a fellow Wilco fan I very much trust your opinion. (seeing them Monday!) I wasn't that thrilled with "the Rising" either. I had born in the USA and Tunnel of Love on record and 75/85 on casette. No 8 tracks were found, lol

Gonzo with 7 runners left on base and 6 outs in 4 plate apperances. defend that over playing our best hitter in the 2nd half Grady.

361
ESPN accidentally said Ben Olson tore his hamstring instead of Cowan. I was about to be very sad.

You got to be kidding me

You should not make me see "In play, run(s)" when Iguchi is up with the bases empty, Broxton.

Btw, is anyone else having MLBTV problems today? Mine was fine earlier, but now it just keeps getting stuck, freezing or going to black.

You could have made a lot of money betting that Broxton's home run streak would end with Iguchi hitting the homer.

So now that it's ended, where does the Bull's homerless streak rank again?

Would you believe it? The guy who breaks Broxton's no-homer strike is the guy who hadn't gotten a hit off Dodger pitching for the entire series!

My The River (and about 100 other cds) was stolen when our house was broken into a few years back.

:(

Man, the Rockies have really struggled at home vs. the Pirates. Maybe they are dead after all.

360
I've been a closet Diamondback fan ever since they beat the Yankee's in 2001. I'm also a closet DevilRay, Royal, and Brewer fan. My loyalties are all over the board.

Dagnambit!

Dagnambit!

367 Yep. MLB.TV is dead here, too.

365 Cowan tore his hamstring?

361- I thought the comments about youthful recklessness were also a response to poeple being upset that the youngsters spend time on the bench....

367
I second that and would add that it is completely not working now.

376/379 - Except now it's back up and working again for me. They must've fixed whatever was goofing out.

367 Yes

371 - How about a CD pledge drive. Will 99 DT commenters join me in burning CDs or e-mailing songs for Sam?

369
I believe Broxton had the longest LA streak.

The Brooklyn streak is untouchable. It's well over 250 innings.
Actually it may be close to 300 or 350 innings.

Behold Elmer Stricklett!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/stricel01.shtml

I like that Grady dropped a Nintendo bomb.

Nintendo!

MLB.TV is back up.

364 No 8 tracks were found, lol

Those things were weird. I still don't understand how they worked. My brother had one 8 track player hooked up to a big battery in the room we shared for a while when I was a kid.

384- I feel like I know the exact game he was talking about...

Did Atari ever have aports games?

382
Sam,
I've got some nice Mongolian throat singing for you. Or perhaps you'd like my Easter Island Greatest Hits CD.

"You can sit there with your Strat-O-Matic baseball and your Commodore 64 computers and Sony Walkmen, but you don't know what it's like on the field."

382 If you like Earth Wind and Fire, I am your man.

Juan Pierre is such a team player that when he plays Nintendo baseball, he benches himself.

389- http://youtube.com/watch?v=JArXRxuVTgY

From the Press Notes:

Jonathan Broxton pitched a scoreless inning Tuesday night and has not allowed a homer in his last 94 games (96.2 IP), extending his record for the longest streak in L.A. Dodger history and the fifth-longest streak in baseball since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. Broxton's homerless-outing streak is the second-longest active streak in baseball behind Chad Bradford (114 games/97.2 IP). The big right-hander leads all Major League relief pitchers with 79 strikeouts, four more than Milwaukee's Derrick Turnbow. The Georgia native has also not given up a run in 9.1 consecutive innings.

382 Sam can check out my CD collection (the top third of the page) and see what he'd like me to burn. I've got it online (but wait till tomorrow because I have to update it with about 8 additional CDs!).

http://linkmeister.com/lmmusic.html

Pierre is fantastic on Playstation. You get to use his skills with your brain.

MLB.TV was up, now it's back down for me.

What kind of music do you like Sam DC?

334 You left off "Devils 'n Dust." It would be in the lower tier for me, but it's better than Lucky Town/Human Touch.

"Seeger Sessions" gets little love out there, but I enjoy it. It's the first time Bruce lets go and sounds like he's having fun on record since "The River." I expected more grim, political pedanticism -- Seeger was a Communist, after all -- but instead, he makes it more of a kitchen-sink celebration of the genius of American musical styles, from folk to jazz to rockabilly.

If his new CD is a real rocker like the hype suggests, it will be because of the liberating effects of "Seeger Sessions" teaching Bruce not to take himself so seriously.

Broxton just wanted to get it back to a save situation for his buddy Saito.

But a couple seeing-eye singles and a productive out could've done the trick.

::sniff::

391 - I heard that he made a "John Peter" character that looks like him but has maxed out power stats, though. He looks like a closet self-loathing speedster if I ever saw one.

Saito doesn't give you much to hit.

399- Mr. Saito understands the joke you are making, but says that even though Broxton is a nice guy, he's not that nice.

If you live in NYC, my guess is that the Dodgers will be arriving at Penn Station around 7:30, their hotel is up in Midtown (NY Hilton).

That must be a fun commute from Midtown to Queens on the bus, especially tomorrow afternoon.

I hate getaway day games on the east coast. I always forget them.

"Self-Loathing speedster".....for some reason Vince Coleman comes to mind...

Was my favorate player as a kid, and then threw the M80 and kind of ruined it for me...

Grady in the Gurnick article: It proves what they say about playing younger guys. They have a tendency to do things you just can't believe, and turn around and do something you can't believe.

Maybe you have to hear the inflections in that one to understand what he meant?

We win!

Have a nice afternoon everybody.

for those who can't watch on Gameday, Saito' getting lots of swings and misses on both sliders and fastballs. K'd Howard and Rowand and game over now.

Heh. I am across the street from the NY Hilton as we speak. Maybe I'll hang around after work and see if I can catch the fellas in the lobby.

That was quite a streak for Brox. If he's going to give one up, better it be in a four run game than a one run game.

I still think someone other than Tomko will pitch on Sunday. I just can't see going to him again at this point in the year. Why can't Lowe come back and pitch on short rest on Sunday?

Wouldn't we rather D. Lowe going up against the Mets than the Nats? Is Wells in good enough condition to give us four innings if we sign him this week? Please, no more Tomko. We have to find an option other than him. Hendrickson? I'd take him over Tomko right now.

406 Hated himself so much that he threw himself into an unrolling tarp.

Ouch.

But at least a series victory. Yay!

408 I saw that before the game ended on the internet radio connection.

Saito-san! He's just such a joy to watch, no other way to put it.

Billingsley was the Phillies' broadcast's player of the game.

I'll take 2 out of 3 in Philly any time.

There's that smile we know and love.
Good night, everybody. (It's 11:00 PM in Israel)

410 You will have hang around for 4-5 hours but if that is okay with you, go for it.

At least they should be in a good mood, I wonder where the youngsters will go on a free night in NYC.

390
I like me some Phillip Bailey with Phil Collins.

411 I hear ya Android. I still think that, at worst, the Dodgers' should stick to my idea of having Tomko pitch 2 innings, and then bring in Hendrickson for 3 or so, since Hendy pitches so much better in relief. I think that'll work, but yeah, I'd rather see Lowe vs. Mets but depends on how his hip's feeling and he did pitch pretty deep yesterday...

Okay, back to work for me. Later all!

417
Probably the 4-H Club. That's where Principal Skinner and I used to go as kids.

For all of the nasty things that Dodger fans have had to endure lately (2005 alone was just pure misery) you gotta thank the baseball gods for a gift like Saito. He has been so improbably spectacular that if one day the clouds part and the Babe's voice rings from on high "This is my son, in whom I am well pleased" I shan't bat an eyelash. Well, maybe one eyelash.

4 PA's for Martin and 4 walks. That's hot. If that doesn't bring Alyssa running back to him, I don't know what could.

390

of EWF's best which do you prefer:

1.) Thats The Way Of The World
2.) Gratitude
3.) All N All

#3's my personal fave, but all of them are EWF at their best.

LA Dodgers who had at least 4 PA appearances with no ABs.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/yPXZ

Bill Mueller was the last player to do it.

424 You just answered my unasked question. Thanks.

Hey, this guy Saito is pretty darn good...(said with understatement)

404 Hmm well i'm at work in Midtown right now and will be until late...I guess I could go over there but I'm afraid that seeing them all in person on the street will shatter the illusion that the Dodgers are my friends.

Steve Henson at Yahoo sports has an article on the Dodgers that is an interesting read. He both praises, and bags on our minor league talent.

Mike Krukow was reading a promo for an upcoming LGBT Night at AT&T Park.

He made it a point to only use the initials.

Todays' star players for the Dodgers in terms of WPA were...
1) Billingsley .305 (pitching only)
2) Martinez .154
3) Furcal .115

last is Gonzalez at -.214

vr, Xei

What is Hu going to do next year. He clearly has no need to spend another year in AAA, but he is blocked by Furcal in LA. At this point I am fairly confident that he can outhit Raffy and supposedly his defense is phenomenal- so what? Wait for Raffy to get injured again?

382 I'm in. Just tell me what you need. Got lots of Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Kinks, Neil Young, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello, The Band, Warren Zevon, Aimee Mann, Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan, Marshall Crenshaw, Nick Lowe, Maria McKee, Linda Ronstadt, Grateful Dead, Springsteen of course, and best-ofs from everyone from Al Green to Journey to Herman's Hermits to Doris Day. Want jazz? Got lots of Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and various others. My classical collection is heavy on Mozart and Bach. I even have a fair number of Christmas records, from Elvis Presley to Julie Andrews. I'm leaving a lot out. Who knows what will turn up if you ask.

Thx all for the library rebuilding offers but I'm doing OK -- the thieves somehow failed to take my 15 Genesis/Phil Collins album.

But genuine thanks.

Mmmmm . . . Maria McKee -- somehow the foolish criminals missed my Lone Justice and my solo Maria!

431-Hu is playing a lot of 2B right now.

433
At least the thieves had taste.

433 They had time to sift through and just take the good stuff?

I kid, I kid.

And 434 makes me immediately retract 437 .

423 You have some interesting choices.

As LPs go, I was never a big fan or either TTWOW or Gratitude, though Gratitude was the first one I bought. Don't get me wrong, Shining Star, That's the Way of the World, Happy Feelin', Reasons with Don Myrick on the alto horn, the studio side of Gratitude with the underated Sunshine cut are all among my favorites, I just like other albums better.

My favorite is Faces, followed by I Am, I think All n All is solid, like Spirit.

By now, there are so many compilations, no one really owns the individual CDs but I have 30 songs on my IPOD that represent their music over a span of 10 years.

382 I've seen it all. The estimable Jon Weisman advocating not just theft, but an entire DT crime ring. Thankfully, Sam had the fortitude to reject the offer.

Tomko went back over video of Tuesday night's loss and compared it to last year, when he started the season 5-1. He said he spotted mechanical flaws that made him "look like a completely different pitcher."

I think one major mechanical flaw is that he is being allowed to throw baseballs in the general direction of human beings.

431 Four walks in 146 at bats at AAA tells me he still has something to learn.

442 Yes but he wears wacky sunglasses. All you need in this sport is an angle.

[440 ] crime ring?? since when is it illegal to burn CDs that you own?

I don't think my CD collection would be very helpful to Sam or anyone for that matter.

439 I love the Faces. "Miss Judy's Farm," "Stay With Me," "Cindy Incidentally"...

Oh, wait.

I guess we can assume from Little's remarks in Gurnick's column that Loney or Ethier have a tweaked hamstring.

Good thing they recovered in time to play the later innings!

440 - Technically, I didn't say we shouldn't pay for what we sent Sam, did I?

And if anyone wants to borrow some Selling England By the Pound or Trespass, do let me know.

440- As long as Sam bought the CDs the first time around, he retained the right to have backup copies. Does it make a difference, legally, how he came by them?

444 It's OK to burn yourself some backup copies, just not to copy them and send them to someone else. That's a copyright violation. Burning a CD and sending it to someone or emailing an MP3 to a friend is the same violation, legally speaking, as downloading the song from a P2P network.

Everybody should just burn the worst or most obscure CD they own and send it to Daniel. I'll send "Living in Oblivion" by Anything Box and also Reba McEntire's "For My Broken Heart."

Actually, my old handle used to be "Sam 'The Napster' DC".

What of it?

450 Actually, that's a good question. But I'd hate to go up against the RIAA lawyers on that technicality. IANAL of course.

453
Sam could make some calls to some well-placed people and avoid any civil penalties.

So Phillie pitchers walked 9 today, 3 of whom came around to score in the 5-2 game...andto top it off gave up clutch RBI hits to Juan Pierre and Ramon Martinez.

Ew.

441 Is this similar to Tomko 'shortening his delivery' or whatever he did during spring training that yielded positive results for all of one game?

455 I believe those folks are reading this conversation as it takes place.

You know how things work on the Tubes.

452- I've got a CD of steal drum Christmas music in a box, somewhere. If I can find it, it's all his.

Steel. Stoopid homonyms.

452 Oh great, thanks. I guess obeying copyright law is old fashioned these days. I should just carry around a big sign that says "old fart."

460 You probably stole it too.

[451 ] hmm. i'm not sure i follow here. if you buy a movie or CD, you can certainly lend it or give it to a friend, right?

and is there something wrong with making a copy for yourself before you do that?

and if that's okay, are you telling me that there is a legal difference between handing over the original and handing over the copy to your friend?

I've already got enough Laura Branigan and Richard Marx; please don't send me any of that.

461
You could just move to China and remove any pretense of the idea of intellectual property.

And you can read many different alternate editions of Harry Potter.

452
I could go with Mike Patton's "Adult Themes for the Voice", which is an entire album of weird sounds he can make with his voice. Or Melt Banana, which is a Japanese punk band and it is just offensive to the ears. I could also go with anything from Fantomas, such as "Director's Cut" where they take old movie theme songs and make them into odd death metal.

I could keep going.

461 , 463 Could be just diffent generations view copyright as two entirely different things or just hard to consider that you paid for the one original work.

Its a quandry that folks at the RIAA deal with all the time

[466 ] melt banana \m/

463 Again, I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that's covered under the first-sale doctrine. Once you give/sell your original to someone, you lose your rights to the original and any copies you made for backup or other legal purposes. Your rights have been transferred to that other person.

468: What is that emoticon?

The Dodgers really need to win Friday and Saturday then if we have Tomko pitching on Sunday night baseball. That's it Grady, pick the pitcher with the greatest chance of embarrassing the Blue on National TV. I guess we can hope for a slugfest on both sides or that they pitch by committee-Tomko for 2-3 then Hendy for 2-3- just one turn through the lineup is enough then go to the rest of the pen from there.
431 - Raffy is under contract for next year and if can avoid outfield collisions in spring training, we can look for Raffy to bounce back close to his 2006 numbers. I don't consider SS our major problem right now. As much as a buffoon as Lyons can be sometimes, last night he pointed out what is true, that their lineup last night with Ethier, Kemp, Loney and Martin is the most dynamic their lineup is going to get. Lugo, Nomar and some of the other vets need to take a reality check and suck up their pride for the good of the team. It's not too late to salvage the season but they need to make a run to get at least the wild card.

The copyright discussion is getting a little confused. The Betamax decision would call my copying a CD for Sam a "fair use." I can't sell it to him. If I made copies for everyone, that might break the law, but for just one person?

All the CDs I own were legally purchased. That's why I live in a cardboard box near the freeway right now.

i wonder how one legally determines the distinction between letting someone borrow something and letting someone have it. this whole thing sounds like a very gray area here.

i'm kind of opposed to the whole principle anyway. i think art should be akin to public domain.

LAT -- this from the Post Nationals blogger reminded me I owed you a state of the Nats before 8/28.

A big segment of the ownership group -- including Mark Lerner -- has landed in Houston and will remain with the team for the rest of the trip. They're going to be checking out the parks -- Minute Maid, Coors Field and Dodger Stadium -- and trying to see what they might incorporate into the new ballpark next year.

For starters, please do not encourage them on this "Statue of the Fans" business. People in DC are very happy with the idea that outside the new ballpark will be statues of Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson, and Frank Howard.

[470 ] the metal sign/devil horns:

http://www.twin-citiesblog.com/080206tour3.c-thumb.jpg

472 Explain how that is fair use, please. To my understanding, fair use must balance (1) the purpose and character of the work, (2) the nature of the work, (3) the amount used, and (4) the effect of the use on the value of the work.

It could easily be argued that if you copy your CD for your friend you are violating fair use by (a) making an entire copy and (b) eliminating his need to purchase the work. It is a little murkier if your friend already purchased the CD but lost or damaged it, but you made no mention of that. The fact that it was just one person doesn't excuse you in any way that I know of.

Really, if distributing to just one person was a loophole, someone would have made a P2P network that allowed you to transfer one copy of a song to one friend, but no more, and then it would be legal and safe. It's just not that easy to get around copyright law.

I am a huge promoter of fair use, as it is a crucial right, but I don't see it being applied as easily as you say.

473- It should be eventually. And probably much sooner than it becomes, now. But it doesn't seem right to deny the artist some profit from his work. How much Bob would like it if the Sam's buddies passed a law making Librarianating free?

474 At least throw Montreal a bone, Rusty Staub, Steve Rogers, Tim Raines sliding head first to avoid breaking is vial of coke.

Josh Rawitch combines an impassioned defense of Grady Little's bonafides with the hallowed halls of the South Pasadena Public Library.

http://insidethedodgers.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/2007/08/something_to_do.html

477 I've heard that artists don't make much money off of album sales, and it's mostly from concerts and memorabilia and that stuff. I don't know how true that is.

I don't pay as much attention as I should to these sorts of things, but www.eff.org is an anti-RIAA website that may make a good point or two. I have no idea how accurate the info actually is, though.

467 - When RIAA started suing individual downloaders (including a friend of mine) I lost all sympathy for the "victims" of copyright infringement. RIAA essentially stated the terms, if you download then you may be subject to a stiff penalty. Knowing those consequences, I can download with a clear conscience since I am "paying" with my liability. Most people break some law, you are only outside of walls of society if you are able to avoid the consequences when caught. Or maybe I am just a cheap philosophy major with expensive (read: expansive) music tastes.

473 Lending implies you are giving the original copy and you expect it back. You can't rip 10 copies of your CD and loan these copies to 10 friends -- you don't have the right to reproduce and redistribute the work. You can't even make one copy and loan the copy -- that's not a valid fair use.

You can lend all the music you want, just don't expect to listen to it while it is in the possession of someone else.

i'm kind of opposed to the whole principle anyway. i think art should be akin to public domain.

I certainly sympathize with this point of view, but we're discussing what is legal now, not what we might wish for in a different society. There are lots of people who would re-do copyright law if given the chance. We may someday even reach that point because copyrights are very difficult to enforce in a digital world.

Sam, if there's any obscure prog you are still missing, let me know as I have a nice collection

[477 ] the way i understand it, these days, at least with music, mostly it's not the artist who gets all that much out of album sales. the musicians get most of their money from touring and merchandise. it's the labels that get their money from record sales, and frankly i don't have much sympathy for them.

480 I love the EFF and I wish everyone would donate them bucketfuls of money.

I heard a report on NPR the other day that yes, bands make most money touring, and they are starting to get wise to this and not caring so much about giving away music.

Woohoo Vishal hears the same things I do.

I got part of Lou Reed's Metal Machine music from an mp3 blog a few months back. I'd love to see the RIAA go after that case of downloading...

480
Unless you are a big time selling artists, most artists make 10-50 cents an album.

Just watch out for those highly trained, award winning DVD bootleg-sniffing dogs that were in Southeast Asia and are now in NYC.

In other news, since I know many of you like Jamba Juice - since when did Nike take over sponsorship of my favorite smoothie there? I was too embarrassed to order the Nike Protein Berry Blast or whatever it's called now. "Just give me the Adidas boost and a cup of Sony Wheatgrass, please."

484 Yes this is true to my experience. I'm im in a band and have lots of friend's in bands who've made it to major labels. The money comes mainly from merch and touring. Steve Albini has a really great essay about the problem with major labels and how bands regularly get suckered. http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

487 You could sue the label for damages for having to endure listening to Metal Machine Music. I think a jury would be with you on that one.

Man, people really, really don't like Grady Little on the BlueNotes blog, the commenters that is. Not that those of us who frequent here don't criticize him either, but it's taken to the extreme, take him out and string him up variety that kind of scares me.

491 I think they use that record and Yoko Ono albums at Guantanamo.

482 - Then there is "Steamboat Willy" and Disney's strengthening of intellectual property law into infinity to protect Micky Mouse from entering the public domain. Artistic expression relies on sampling and coopting art of the past into new creative ideas, revolutionizing and building on what has come before. When nothing ever enters the public domain that expression is stifled and art suffers (but corporations rake it in).

David Wells' career is not over. In fact, he could be pitching in New York on Sunday night.

A person close to the situation, who requested anonymity because the deal is not yet finalized, said the former Yankees left-hander was close to signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The person said that, if the deal got completed today, Wells could start Sunday night's game for the Dodgers against the Mets at Shea Stadium.

The 44-year-old Wells was 5-8 with a 5.54 ERA in 22 games for the San Diego Padres this year. The Padres designated him for assignment Aug. 10, and he became a free agent after clearing waivers last week. The Colorado Rockies had also been interested in signing Wells, who has 235 career victories over 21 major-league seasons with the Blue Jays, Tigers, Reds, Orioles, Yankees, White Sox, Padres and Red Sox.

494 Absolutely. I heartily agree. Copyright ought to be severely limited in duration. Fair use ought to receive wider publicity and protection. The DMCA should die an ugly death. Software patents should be abolished.

I'm really a very liberal guy when it comes to this kind of stuff. I just also believe in obeying the existing laws while pushing for change. I recognize not everyone lives this way, but it's where my conscience takes me.

Boy, what use are you Weisman when this kind of news breaks in your own rag and we have to learn about through back channels?

I know Greg Brock is going to be disappointed.

http://tinyurl.com/yszujm

497

I really enjoyed the original Gladiators... I just hope they bring back the signature theme from Bill Conti... that was a really great theme!

497 - Sorry! I never watched the show the first time around.

473 if you could guarantee that artists get some recompense for their work, they would probably all agree to let their works be public domain. so much of art-making is similar to borrowing/stealing/recontextualizing/etc...

the DMCA would make some sort of sense if they outlawed selling and buying used CDs. The artist makes nothing from such a sale, just like when one copies it from a friend. When I can, I do buy used CDs of the stuff I've borrowed from friends just to stick it to the RIAA. http://www.boycott-riaa.com/ is a good site.

and while I don't support such activities, I hear that some people trade music online with www.mailbigfile.com

I too lost all sympathy for the RIAA when they started using thug tactics and heavy-handed measures like suing grandmothers whose only crime was letting their grandchildren use their computer. If anything, these things caused me to be more likely to infringe on their copyrights, just to stick it to them.

Also, it's hard to feel too guilty about it when the artists themselves condone it. Springsteen has been known to start a concert or two with the declaration "all you bootleggers out there, roll your tapes!" And I've been to a couple of Wilco concerts where Jeff Tweedy came onstage sporting a Napster t-shirt.

Although I have benefited from burned CDs and free downloads, I have a strict policy about it. First, the only copyrights I violate are those belonging to the big recording studios. If it's an indie label -- as are most things I listen to -- I always make it a point to buy the actual record. And whether it's an indie label or not, I often make an effort to repay the free music by buying the band's merchandise or going to a concert, or other things that will put money in the artist's pocket without benefiting the recording companies.

495 For a good time check out Wells' splits for 07. His last three starts yielded an ops of 1.215.

http://tinyurl.com/37bwfz

whince whince shudder shudder whince

Wells looked terrible to me his last few outings, and yet I would still trust him more than Tomko. How do others feel? Is it just a matter of choosing one poison over another? I don't see many options for the Dodgers out there or in the minors, but those few options would all be a mite better than Tomko.

Weisman embroiled in the Christine Daniels story!

http://tinyurl.com/2czmvy

As I understand the law, if the CD in question had a copy-protecting device, even a crude one that was easy to circumvent, and I circumvented it, that would make my copying a CD for Sam illegal.

However, because my CD collection includes no CDs with copy-protecting software, I can make copies for my personal collection. If I then want to make a gift from my personal collection to Sam, I can do that legally.

Napster was different because its entire existence (then) was based on allowing an infinite number of strangers to copy the mp3 libraries of other strangers an infinite number of times. "Fair use" is imprecise, but scale seems to figure into it.

But the most relevant fact with regard to what we're discussing here is that the CD manufacturers have chosen not to copy-protect their products. For a brief while, Sony was doing that, but gave it up in the face of consumer protests. This is a clear sign that Sony understands what their customers do with their products and will not stand in their way legally.

The mp3s sold by Apple do have copy-protection, however, so it would be against the law to go around it, even though it is relatively easy to do so. The key word is circumvention.

If they sign Wells I will be even more mad that they didn't sign Blair.

501 - I wholeheartedly agree with buy indie and go to concerts. I do both, but I haven't bought a CD at a store like Best Buy/Wal-Mart/Sam Goody ect. in more than 5 years.

503 I'd prefer the new toy to the old rag doll. Plus, if we do make it to the playoffs, you can't discount Wells' sparkling post-season stats.

From the Henson article:
"And barring an unexpected change, Lawrence and Tomko will match up Sunday at Shea Stadium, hitters will trip over one another getting to the bat rack and the managers will cover their eyes. "

501 I hate the RIAA as much as anyone. Just as long as you recognize none of that will hold up in court if you ever do have the misfortune to be prosecuted.

506 What does one have to do with the other? Did you expect Blair to come up and pitch on Sunday?

508 It took me a second to realize "old rag doll" wasn't the part referring to Wells. ;-)

David Wells...

Who didn't see that one coming?

505 With regards to the DMCA, you would not be liable for copying a CD without copyright protection. But the DMCA is separate from other copyright law. If for some crazy reason the RIAA started going after people who made copies of CDs and gave them to friends, you would be on the wrong side of the law with regard to copyright protection. There is no right to make copies and "gift" them to a friend.

503 I wonder if the Dodgers are going to pick up that 1 million in incentives that was going to be owed to him by the Padres. If so this would be really stupid especially in light of the Kyle Blair fiasco.

511 I think he was referring to the money being used to sign Wells, which could have been used to sign Blair.

It will cost 1.3 mil to have Wells suck on sunday as opposed to 1.1 mil to Blair and watch Tomko suck sunday.

511 - True, but instead of maybe having Blair for 7 years the Dodgers preferred to keep enough in the petty cash to waste money on junk like Wells for five minutes of sub-sub-sub-replacement level production and a hope and a dream that all of the balls in play find gloves. I like to buy scratch tickets every now and then, but they aren't part of my financial planning. If your team needs David Wells than the season is already over.

Is Dj Houlton really any worse than David Wells or Tomko?

501 I have a somewhat lax approach to my buying/downloading habits. I'll download to my heart's content to see if I like a particular album. From there, the albums get listened to a few times to see if they're to my liking. If I like it enough, I'll burn a copy to listen to in my car. Once a CD has passed all those tests, they get put on my list of "CD's to buy when I can find them at a good price". I've been slowly but surely replacing the burned CDs in my collection with originals from ebay purchases, used CD store buys, etc.

My reasoning for the lax attitude is that I would never buy a CD without having some sort of assurance that I would enjoy it, so it's better for me to steal in the short-term and pay in the end than to never pay at all.

152 It's Switzerland, not Germany, where the trains run on time. All stations have a big clock over the tracks, with a second hand. When the second hand gets to 12 at the right minute, the train leaves the station.

I think you may have been thinking of the standard apologia, more often used ironically, for Fascist Italy under Mussolini: "Well, the trains now run on time".

502
And yet if you pick the 4 games prior to the 2 game carnage it is not so hard to swallow. You cherrypick your poison and I'll cherrypick mine.
Date IP/Hits/Runs
6/26 6/6/1
7/2 6/5/0
7/7 3/4/3
7/16 6/7/1

519 That is the question, isn't it? I'd take him, though I haven't been too impressed with him either. Stults has been better as a starter, but I'd still give Houlton a shot. I guess they're a little worried about trying to make the playoffs with two untested fresh outta AAA guys like Houlton (who may be a AAAA player) and Stults both, rather than one of them. But... yeah...

I realize the semantics of signing Wells instead of Blair seem silly, but they essentially have nothing to do with each other. The team has a need right now that they think Wells can fill, so whether it costs them more to do it than they would have used to sign a guy two weeks ago is irrelevant.

BTW, way to go Dodgers on the win. I woke up groggily at 5:30 a.m. with the realization that I could check the final score and was pleasantly surprised. Billingsley's the man!

504- More importantly, why isn't there a cheesecake photo at the tail of every DT post?

I'll bet Alfonseca is a hell of a piano player. & 206

I don't think the 6th finger works it's just there.

520 That's an interesting rationale, since used CD's (and probably most ebay purchases) don't put money into the hands of the parties who are legally entitled to it.

In my view, I don't really steal music. First- I rarely download anything I would otherwise buy, and if I do find something that's worth it, I buy the album. Second, my "stealing" a song doesn't deprive anyone else of having it, the way stealing a car would.

Finally, when you buy CD's, you don't buy the music. you essentially buy a piece of plastic and a license to the music- like software.

520 If someone could invent a way to allow you to download a song once, listen to it for a limited time, and then have it expire -- forcing you to buy it if you really like it -- then this would be the way the music industry would evolve.

I'm sure Microsoft or somebody has done this with their music service already (I don't keep track), but there are just so many difficult technical issues to make it work properly.

I don't think we'll ever get there. Eventually, I think music really will just be free and you can buy a CD if you want the high fidelity version and liner notes or whatever things they put in there, and the real money will continue to be made by touring and merchandise. Put another way, the CD itself will become merchandise by virtue of its packaging and non-music content. Put a t-shirt in every CD case.

re: Wells

The sun is still in the sky... Up is up, Down is down... the world is still in one piece, how about that?

btw it's not official, yet.

The Dodgers would not have to pay any incentives on Wells. That's the responsibility of the DFA-ing team.

526 - I didn't want to get those angry letters from librarians.

The Pirates continue to impress:

http://tinyurl.com/224vvg

Let's just hope that Abreu doesn't have the same problem.

522 It was actually 4 game carnage. Last 4 starts:

7/21 4.1/7/7
7/22 3/7/7
8/1 5.1/9/5
8/6 4/11/7

Tomko's last 4 are better. But if we get the Wells from the previous four it would totally be worth it obviously. I think I mostly just don't like the signing because looking at David Wells makes me nauseous.

524 If Bud Selig had some policy problem with giving 44 year old over-the-hill pitchers access to $1.3 million in incentives, the Dodgers would not be signing Wells.

Blair was not about the money. It was about Bud Selig's beliefs about how teams should spend their money.

For the players' union, by the way, this is exactly how things are supposed to work. Blair is not a member of the players' association, and might never be. Wells is a member, and this contract will allow him to pay his dues for another month. The powers that be are served by a system that diverts $1.3 million away from Blair and toward Wells.

All that said... I don't think Wells will suck. At least not every game. I'm completely done with Tomko, permanently. Let him try out his new mechanics in Tampa Bay. I'm willing to see what Wells can do.

I already saw "American Pastime" on DVD and I won't be heading to my local public library as it's really hard to get me to go to a public library on my day off.

I reviewed it on The Griddle. It's John Kruk's finest performance!

Librarians write a half dozen angry letters and get exactly what they want. I write Juan Pierre six times a day, and what do I get? A restraining order!

531 Wells is looking for a team to pick up the incentives that remained in his deal. The Padres owe him $1 million in base salary, but Wells also had $1.13 million in incentives that he likely would have made had he not been released by San Diego.

http://tinyurl.com/2q6rwp

531 He didn't reach the incentives, so the DFAing team didn't have to pay them. However, he wants his new team to pay them as a requisite for his pitching. Essentially he wants more than the minimum that someone like Hillenbrand is getting from the Dodgers.

Am I out of touch in thinking that bootlegging concerts is not even a gray area issue? I just find nothing inherently wrong with bootlegging and sharing bootlegged concerts.

Speaking of Tomko and Wells (um...), Twilight Zone the Movie is finally coming to DVD next month.

537

Just start Houlton, upper management should stop over thinking these issues. There gonna look so bad when David Wells stinks it up. sigh!

537, 538 - That's weird. I've always understood that when you sign a DFA player, you can sign him for the minimum and that the team that contracted the incentives would be responsible no matter what team the player was on when he earned them.

If someone had an incentive clause for pitching 150 innings, for example, and they pitched 149 innings with the Padres and one inning with the Dodgers, it would make no sense for the Dodgers to have to pay the incentives.

Wouldn't you see a lot of player releases in September if that were the case?

541 Are you sure overthinking is the problem?

This looks like Ned's kind of guy.
Per Rotowire:
"The Diamondbacks acknowledge their budget won't accomodate Hernandez following this season, the East Valley Tribune reports. Hernandez (9-8) is making $7 million this season and is likely to command at least that much per year this winter. That prices him out of Arizona's range, as he is seeking a contract of at least three years duration. "I understand their situation. I feel a little … not mad, but I don't feel good. I'm waiting for an offer. Maybe I'll say yes. Maybe I'll say no," Hernandez said. "I want to come back. I like it here." The Diamondbacks are expected to attempt to fill Hernandez's spot in the rotation via trade."

540 And Fletch is coming out tomorrow!!!!!!!

529 You've just described Rhapsody. For a monthly fee, I can download any song in their library onto my computer (and for a little extra monthly fee, onto my mp3 player) and listen to it until either my Rhapsody subscription expires or the recording's copyright holder decides to pull the song from the system. (For an additional 79 cents/track, I can buy the song and the rights to copy it onto a CD.)

Rhapsody has permitted me to try out lots of artists I wouldn't have been able to listen to before. It has clearly spurred me to purchase or download-for-purchase, music I never would've taken a chance on, so the evil record companies are the winners here. For a 50ish music lover, this is the only way to sort through all the new pop music that gets released to find what's good, since radio has abdicated that job, and I don't have a network of drunken friends to recommend stuff to me anymore. It's also allowed me to explore older music that I might not have ever heard. It is so superior a system to the iTunes/iPod model, I can hardly believe everyone's not using it.

From Tony Jackson:

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_6684268

But the Dodgers are desperate for starting pitching and theoretically could get Wells for the rest of the season for only about $87,000 - a prorated share of the major-league minimum - with the Padres picking up the remainder of his $1 million salary. But a club wishing to sign him still could sweeten the pot by offering Wells additional money to increase his overall salary to entice him out of what might be retirement.

Wells' contract also has about $1.3 million in performance incentives based on games started, but any club that signs him wouldn't be responsible for that.

Everyone here at Dodgerthoughts is perfect for perfect so far predicting washed up veterans that Coletti has signed, even going back to LuGo.

I'd be surprised if NedCo doesn't get Livan Hernandez

Is it "DodgerThoughts" or "Dodger Thoughts"?

524 Ok I'll revise and say paying Wells' incentives would be stupid. Forget about Kyle Blair.

547
Wells seems like a guy that would almost pitch for free, because he loves to do it so much.

If the Dodgers are going to sign Wells, they should probably wait until after the New York series to do it. Wells has a seven-game suspension hanging over his head which I believe is under appeal. The suspension is always delayed until the appeal is heard -- and the only time hearings can occur is when the player makes a road trip to New York, where MLB offices are. So if we sign Wells now, he has to sit on the sidelines for a week anyway since his appeal will be heard on the New York trip. If we wait until Monday to sign Wells, he won't serve the suspension until next April when he's some other team's problem.

545 But Fletch has been out on DVD before, in several incarnations. While Twilight Zone movie never has!

--

All I know is if Tomko's pitching on national TV on Sunday, I'm not watching.

546 The reason more people aren't using it is because you can accomplish pretty much the same things without the subscription service. Most people don't use itunes to try out new music, just to buy the stuff they know they want. On the other hand, it took me about 10 seconds to find the first of three parts of the live recording of Springsteen at the Roxy from 1978:
http://tinyurl.com/3axmor

Hmm this is fascinating:

Moving up Penny appears to give him a chance to start tomorrow's game. Good times, good times...

ESPN hammering Hugo Chavez today....

Well not hammering him, but calling him out...

Wish these guys actually paid attention to reality as opposed to being blow-dried mouthpieces...

But what do I expect...

ESPN can't even say anything insightful about the sports they cover.

MESSAGE TO ICAROS

Charmane Starr will be at the Crazy Horse from today through Saturday!

549 Dodger Thoughts.

558 This is a family site.

Tony Jackson update on Wells:

http://www.insidesocal.com/dodgers/archives/2007/08/dodgers_win_52.html

"The Dodgers could have Wells for a prorated share of the major-league minimum salary of $380,000 (about $80,000), but in order to lure him out of semi-retirement, they might have to agree to play a complicated performance bonus in Wells' contract that was nullified when the Padres released him. Wells' contract called for him to receive an additional $176,471 per start for starts No. 11-27, and he present has 22 starts. That means the deal could cost the Dodgers an additional $882,355."

552 - I'm wondering if the Dodgers don't sign Wells until Sunday, perhaps there wouldn't be time for a suspension review? The whole system is so silly.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I don't think David Wells is worth $200K a start.

561 Lets just say that he signs and pitches over the weekend, he can just accept the suspension, the way the schedule breaks, by the time is next turn comes (they can skip his start), he won't miss a turn anyway.

The Mets are 22-17 against lefty starters this year.

556 - Do you have a link? Can't seem to find it.

556 Is he a better pitcher than Tomko?

56 Agreed, David Wells for 85 thousand, why not? Wells for one million, heck no.

558 That message might be better sent via "The Juice", judging from its current topic.

558 the Crazy Horse in West Covina?

Hey, Icaros has mentioned her before on this site lol.

569
SF

There's a long, if very subtle, tradition of Dodger Thoughts After Dark (though less so since Christina (?) from the Bay Area stopped commenting. That said, it usually crops up, you know, after dark.

It's not even dark in DC.

562 If the Dodgers are this desperate wouldn't they be better off trading for Steve Trachsel? He's on the block and Colorado is making a push for him why aren't we?

What's wrong with Houlton? Why can't he make a start?

Moeller's defense keeps career afloat

>> Bundy said the Dodgers probably will promote Moeller over fellow 51s catcher Ken Huckaby, 36, based solely on their age. <<

## The 51s made other roster moves during their recent nine-game road trip: Larry Barnes was released, Octavio Martinez was activated from the disabled list, Matt Riley was placed on the DL, and Brian Akin was promoted to Las Vegas from Double-A Jacksonville. ##

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/9329046.html

Meloan's appearance last night:

Las Vegas
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Lundberg (W, 7-5) 5.0 9 5 5 2 1 1 6.02
Fussell 2.0 3 1 1 0 1 0 4.41
Meloan 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2.08
Hull 1.0 3 1 1 0 1 0 2.83

David Wells last pitched (in a game) on August 6. Is it realistic that he could be ready to start a game on Sunday, which would be one day short of three weeks later? Is a rusty Wells better than an AAAA Houlton? Does Wells have enough left to revert to the league-average ERA+ pitcher he was the previous two seasons at ages 42 and 43?

A fully rested and well fed David Wells may not be a bad gamble at a cheap price.

But not for a million bucks. Come on.

There is a pitcher on our Gulf Coast Roster right now who has Saito beat when it comes to K/BB - Daigoro Rondon currently sports a nice little 59K/4BB ratio to go along with his 2.77 ERA.

Wells' last good game was against the Mets on July 16. Six innings, nine baserunners, one run, three strikeouts.

Why don't we just sign Koufax? He'll pitch as well as Wells and would at least draw some fans.

575 Too bad Meloan isn't 39 years old.

577 well fed David Wells

Maybe the only incentive clause he needs is right-field pavillion access.

579 However, in San Diego, not New York.

574 - A report (from late last year) on Brian Akin, for the curious:
http://tinyurl.com/2tmdyj

580 "Why don't we just sign ______? He'll pitch as well as Wells and would at least draw some fans."

DT Fun: See how many names we can come up with that would accurately fill the blank.

580 Would we have to purchase his rights from the Modi'in Miracle?

Does Israeli baseball have a posting system?

585 Fernando Valenzuela

Buster Olney is reporting on ESPN that we signed Wells.

foxsports.com is saying Wells signing is done deal. dodgers will pay the incentives(but doesn't state exact)

585 A Hefty trash bag

585 Barack Obama

The only recent return on an ESPN site search for Chavez. The story doesn't cover him in glory, but it's not exactly hammering him. And, anyway, it's just an AP wire story. Although, I can think of a couple reasons a TV station might not be hip to Chavez's groove.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=2977243

585 Woody Allen

585 Buster Olney.

Vanilla Ice.

Anthony Michael Hall.

The guys from Mythbusters.

589- So does he replace Tomko or Stults?

I'm putting nothing past ned at this point....

585- Tommy LaSorda for the home team discount...

Why you should make sure you know precisely what is being put in your smoothie, and not just ring off the catchy marketing phrases:

http://www.nbc11.com/news/13959144/detail.html

585 Jerry Reuss. Or Jerry Royster, for that matter.

594 I doubt highly that the guys from Mythbusters can pitch as well as David Wells.

For starters, there are two of them -- five if you count the B team -- and I'm pretty sure that's not allowed.

585 Jon Weisman

So who gets DFA'd: Tomko or Hernandez?

585 Flanders himself. He wouldn't even need to bother negotiating.

585 Johan Santana.

I don't let things like "under contract to another club" get in the way. This is progressive thinking.

585 We could have Lucille I a.k.a. the original Ramon Martinez pitch for us again.

601 Stults to Vegas.

585 Or maybe Blind Melon Chitlin. That would be inspirational.

The guy from Dirty Jobs on the other hand, could definitely give us five innings.

585 Emmanuel Lewis.

585 Mia Hamm, she may even hit better than her husband this year.

605- God that would be irritating...

585 Dustin Diamond as Samuel Powers

585 Alyssa Milano
Juan Pierre
Kobe Bryant (to a mixed reaction from the crowd)

585
Talk about opening up a can of worms.

605 and Billingsley back in the 'pen.

613 Well, maybe that can of worms would be a better pitcher than Tomko.

585 A can of worms

612 Juan Pierre

"The 3-0 to David Wright... in the dirt again! That's 88 straight balls from Juan Pierre, none of which has gone more than 54 feet. And it's still top of the 1st, still nobody out, Nineteen-nothing Mets lead."

615 Hey!

{shakes fist}

610 Yeah, but I doubt Ned wants to DFA anyone so close to September. So Stults is the most likely, as he can make his start, be sent down, and then come back in a week. It would mean his start would be skipped, so Boomer would pitch next Friday.

Stults to Vegas doesn't make sense to me. If that was the case, why isn't Wells pitching on Saturday?

585- Todd Zeile

Is it rational to be mad about the misuse of available resources? Would it be crazy to continue the "Please sign DraftPicks not washed up veterans" mantra?

Should I just dislike Bud Selig?

Gooozfraaaaawwwbbbbbaah

619- Does that mean Tomko stays in the rotation?

622 Gooozfraaaaawwwbbbbbaah?

623 Obviously! Didn't you catch that article about how he spotted his Mechanical flaws?!? I can't wait for sunday!

The Rosenthal breakdown of the deal makes it sound like we're picking up a portion of the league minimum, as well as sweetening the pot for games started, but it doesnt sound like we're on the hook for SD's bonus moneys. Looks like its something along the lines of bonuses if we make the playoffs.

623 Not necessarily. Stults goes Saturday, then gets sent down. Because next Thursday is an off day, they can skip Stults' spot in the rotation, then he can come back the first week in September.

619 "Yeah, but I doubt Ned wants to DFA anyone so close to September. So Stults is the most likely, as he can make his start, be sent down, and then come back in a week."

I'm not sure if that's possible. Is anyone well versed in all the arcane option rules?

I know that if you send somebody to the minors, you can't call them back up for 10 days. However, there is an exception stating that if another player who plays the same position is placed on the DL, then you can be recalled in less than 10 days. Perhaps there is another exception that eliminates the 10-day wait after Sept. 1?

626 - If he helps the Dodgers make the playoffs I will personally give him a bonus. I will mail him a check for an undisclosed amt.

629 The Wells House, Oct. 4, 2007

"Who is C. Lowe, and why did he send me a check for $0.18?"

585 Quentin Tarantino.

Joe Cocker.

Warren Buffet.

I still think Joe Kennedy is better than Wells or Tomko. He's been jerked around since early July for reasons I still can't fathom, but his ERA as a starter in Oakland this year before all that craziness happened was 4.03. Of course, Arizona might try to find a non NL-West home for him after they DFA'd him last week, but if they let him walk, the Dodgers should definitely pick him up.

628 I considered that, and I'm not sure if there's a Sept 1st exception or not. Stults wouldn't be needed until the 4th, so if he was optioned on the 25th after his start, wouldn't Sept 4th be the 10th day?

631 Warren Buffet will get repeated standing ovations from the RF pavilion.

I would also rather have Joe Kennedy than Wells. No contest there.

588 ,589

You knew it was gonna happen (the tone in Josh's last post sang the tune) I'm not really bothered by it Houlton or who ever else could have done the same job David Wells is gonna do.

ps I hope he proves us wrong but I really doubt it.

I agree about Joe Kennedy.

Heck, if Wells helps the Dodgers to the PostSeason I'll send Joe Kennedy a check too!

Wells is a perfect fit.
He's crafty and smart with playoff experience.
He's a big game pitcher who's interested in the playoffs before he walks away from the game.
He costs us nothing but $$s and snickers bars.
He can't be worse than trotting out Tomko like some sick groundhog's day.
Maybe we catch lighting in a bottle.
September the rosters expand if he blows up after 2-3 starts...by the time which we're likely dead ducks anyway.

Go Boomer!

I would've been on the Kennedy bandwagon earlier this year but after watching him a couple of times, he seemed to have major control issues. I was not impressed. Maybe Ken A can enlighten us further? Not that I'd prefer Tomko, but I just don't know if Kennedy would be any better than he or Wells. Basically, they all suck. Choose the path of least sucksistence, I guess.

I put a new post up, even though I don't like to do that when it's not confirmed on the record.

Hillenbrand and now Wells. Somebody call Solomon Burke and let him know that something has been discovered that's sadder than a glass of wine, alone.

Don't you feel like crying?

638 "Maybe we catch lighting in a bottle."

Or, more likely, we catch it in the head.

I still think someone will be DFA'd. Here's why:

We only have a certain amount of 60-day DL spots to play around with to open spots on the roster (Schmidt was placed on it to create room for Hillenbrand). We will need at least three come September 1 (Meloan, Hu, and a 3rd string catcher).

I suppose Repko and Brazoban could be 60-day DLers. Maybe Tsao or Kuo. But who else? We need those spots, so somebody will be gone, I'd say.

Since I started it with the Koufax line, I feel like I created a monster.

I loath Wells and threatened earlier to join the Shimmin/Dbacks Marching and Chowder Society if he was signed. Well, I'm a man of my word.

GO ZONA!!!!

643 Hamulack is a waste of space and could be DFAed.

I stand by my 636 | 638

Pads just went up 4-1. Gosh darn you Milton Bradley!

Hamulack is still on the roster? My word, there's your roster spot right there!

644- I am the greatest ever legend in D'backs fandom! Fear me, McCourt. All your fanbase is belong to me!

649
lol

649 Not so fast. I'm pulling Marty over to the Nats.

Marty, you can't switch to a team in your own division. Shimmin is leading you down a path of destruction and darkness. This is not the way.

Do it for Sam. And our nation's capital! And America! You don't hate America, do you Marty?

651- The D'backs are going to build a statue of me in front of the BOB (or whatever it's called now), and no one will object. A woman in Buckeye will see my face in a toasted cheese sandwich, and become a millionaire, selling tickets to the throngs who flock to her doorstep to see it.

I'm bigger than Ch-i!