He looked fine here:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/439448811_abfda5e7a8.jpg

Free baseball in Detroit!

What? No warning for the NPUT impaired.

453. LAT
445. It's okay to hate things. I mean. . .

A few of us went for drinks tonight after work and somehow we got on the subject of "if you won the lottery, at least $25M, would you have an entourage." Two people were emphatic that they would pay people to leave them alone. I was one of them. I agree its okay to hate things.

Legal disclaimer: This post has been spell checked out of respect (read, fear) for anyone over 6'6" or over.

I know I'm way too late here with a Manny Mota memory, but I remember attending a game at Dodger Stadium with my Dad, around 1970, or maybe a year or two later, where Manny Mota and Willie Davis BOTH hit inside the park homeruns. Each was a groundball pulled down the line. It was a see-saw game with lots of lead changes, with the Pirates's Al Oliver making a great catch in center to save the game for the Bucs. The score was 8 to 7. (Al Oliver I believed finished his career with the Dodgers -- but that was much later.) Sorry for browsing so late -- or early -- but that was one of Mota's career highlights.

Fortunately the Dodgers traded Oliver to Toronto where he could finish his career as a DH.

Baseball will be very boring 100 years from now when they clone Magglio Ordóñez and every team has 9 of him.

I will not go to bed until the Yankees-Tigers game is over!

I guess I can go to bed.

But if you check your morning paper, I'll tell you the end.

New York at Detroit, night

From Tony Jackson: "Tomko, who also pitched in San Francisco while Colletti was the Giants' assistant GM, was optimistic about landing with another club.``Ned and I have a pretty tight relationship,'' Tomko said."

I wonder how many ex-Giants we still have on the team because of such a "tight relationship" with the GM. Does anyone know?

It's nice to know that Tomko is a real man who can pitch quietly in pain. Last thing you need is a complainer.

And it's nice to know Wells has been keeping in shape.

Yes, sarcasm intended.

(sigh)

It ain't fun being this bitter. I'm going for a walk.

The signing of Wells but not a draft pick with a golden arm by a team that has already sold over 3.5M tickets seems crazy. When you live in the penthouse you don't bring the Magnavox with you. Well, off to soccer. I'll see if these two-a-days have helped these 7-year-olds.

LAT -- somewhere in the David Wells post from thursday night (8/23) I put a long shpiel on the Nats for you.

Steve Henson Dodger story:

http://tinyurl.com/2ed8yg

Will Russell get a day off today? It´s tough to bench him with Stults and Wells scheduled to pitch.

13- Sounds like it was pretty akward....

I don't know how much energy I have left to complain about the front office...

I just hope to be entertained for the rest of the season....

13- Sounds like it was pretty akward....

I don't know how much energy I have left to complain about the front office...

I just hope to be entertained for the rest of the season....

[13 ] oh, david wells "feels sexy". that changes everything. maybe he can let olmedo in on the secret too while he's at it.

well, last night I extended my Dodgers Shea Stadium record to 2 for 8. I was at Kuo's great game last year, but I seem to always be at Penny's losses at Shea (though, they seem to always be losses at shea).

Alas, for the good of the Dodgers, I think I'll just going to stop going to games when they come into town. You all can thank me later.

You know, it was a really nice gesture for the Dodgers to keep Tomko on the roster to guarantee him his max pension. He pitched lousy for us, but at the end of the day, that was a classy thing for Ned and the gang to do.

So Brett Tomko was in pain when he took the mound. Nice to see he had something in common with Dodger fans.

/rimshot

This Tomko quote proves to me he's delusional:

It just got out of whack. It's just get back to the basics and pitching like I did last year or the year before.

He thinks he pitched well last year.

19. Yeah, well... If they decided to DFA him, and then postponed it for a day or two, that's fine. But if they decided to dump him weeks ago and then put it off to get him past this date, then that's terrible management. And while the implication of the story is the former, the latter is not impossible.

Add to that that there is no way Tomko is done pitching. He'll find another gig somewhere, and would have gotten past 10 yrs in any case, so really, I don't see why anyone is to be congratulated here.

They should have dumped him in Spring Training, or last year. Failing that, they should have dumped him as soon as they realized that error. Rewarding him financially because he's Colletti's pal and Little likes his intangibles is the worst sort of anti-productive patronage.

Pinch hitting Ramon Martinez for James Loney was the last straw for me with this wretched team. I'm done. Now I'm just waiting for the big crash and burn so hopefully everybody will get fired and we can start all over again.

But of course, I'm just a Nintendo manager. In the real world, Ramon Martinez is a much, much better hitter than James Loney.

22 Well, yeah, Tomko shouldn't have been on the team at this point. But since the Dodgers took so long to determine whether or not to DFA him, the fact that they basically let him stay on the roster an extra couple days is a good, decent gesture.

I'd rather think about that than the latest Lucille II/Loney issue.

23 Come to the Nats. If you can overlook Bowden, it's a nice little club. I've been a fan for dozens of hours. It's great!

I will wipe the floor with Grady Little's brain chunks in a game of RBI Baseball.

24. If the extra couple days was really just a couple days, sure. But we really don't know when they decided to cut him loose, and whether that extra couple days might have been an extra couple weeks or more.

Wait, I think I just plagiarized Moe Szyslak after one of Bart's prank calls.

22- There's a third option. The mustache might have kept Tomko around till his pension vested just to really rub it in Tony Abreu's face.

Andrew, whose number are you getting on your new D-Backs jersey?

26 Give me California and I will dominate all comers.

Reggie Jackson + Mike Witt= Victory!

31

I will no-hit you with Bret Saberhagen of the AL Stars. You literally cannot touch his sidearm action.

23 That sounds remarkably like what I said last night. If you don't watch out, you're going to get me angry again. And we can have that. Bob is personally offended by my anger. He also likes to point out my flaws. What a jerk.

I thought we had long since established that RBI 2 was better than RBI 1. Especially the AL All-Stars.

And why does George Brett bat right-handed in that game?

32 All-Star teams are out.

Half the fun of RBI is trying to hit with guys like Kevin Bass.

Well instead of watching the dodger game today I am gonna go see "The Nanny" instead.

Nah, just kidding...

36 And the other half the fun is having a team so good Bo Jackson has to bat leadoff.

34

I think the RBI 2 gameplay is terrible. It's all about the little fat white guys playing on the astroturf field after it has apparently been raining all day.

36

Okay, I'll choose Detroit. That lineup mashes.

38 All-Star games are more conducive to high scoring games. Team games are more conducive to drinking games.

Advantage: Team games

Too bad you kids aren't old enough to remember the torture that was Electric Baseball.

30- Disco Stu doesn't advertise.

43

Funny, Disco Stu is actually who I picture when reading your comments.

I am bummed that my instinct's were so right on Coletti. I know I never gave him a chance really from day 1 but I think I am right. He is a used car saleman type who really is in over his head. The last straw for me was long ago, trading Edwin Jackson for junk...the rest has been as painful (Guzman for junk, Wilson for junk and the whole off season worth of junk brought into to play over Loney, Either and Kemp)

Half the fun of RBI is trying to hit with guys like Kevin Bass

I liked causing havoc on the basepaths with the Cardinals and the Coleman-Smith-Herr trifecta at the top of the lineup. Just slap a little tapper to shortstop for a single, steal second, and eventually score. Or try for the ever popular bunt-HR that rolls to the wall.

The Mets are in kind of a Tomko situation with Shawn Green. They need to activate Endy Chavez from the DL, and Green is basically the only candidate to get cut. So they can either jump the gun and release Green now, or limp around for six days until rosters expand.

46

Then Jack Clark is next to hit one out of the universe.

RBI and the Original Tecmo Bowl were the absolute peak of sports video games. Throw in Mike Tyson's Punchout and it's no contest.

007 373 5963. From memory.

48
Yep. Followed by McGee to wreak more havoc.

My favorite gambit was always the bait-and-switch throwing error. When the first baseman had the ball, I'd have him run toward second. Then I'd have him throw the ball to first where nobody was covering, and it would roll to the wall. My brother always got greedy and tried to score but most of the time I ended up retrieving it and throwing him out.

I was disappointed by Mike Tyson's Punchout, as I wanted it to be just like the arcade version. I preferred being a transparent normal-sized green-lined guy over a stupid little munchkin jumping up and down guy.

I liked the munchkin guy. He looked like Frank Whaley.

49

Completely agree.

51

Sometimes the ball would get stuck in the stands and couldn't be retrieved. Ever happen to you?

52 An attack on Little Mac is not cool. He's like the David Eckstein in all of us.

51
I used to throw the ball away just for fun after recording an out. I also routinely took extra bases, e.g.: With a runner on second, if I hit a single, I would send the lead runner home to draw a throw, then send the hitter up to 2B and the lead runner back to 3B. The computer would never throw to 2B out of fear of the lead runner scoring.

Remember the later copies of original Tecmo Bowl where Eric Dickerson was removed from the Colts, but his skills were transferred to his back up?

Sometimes the ball would get stuck in the stands and couldn't be retrieved. Ever happen to you?

Yeah, then your guy would just run in place up against the way and you couldn't get the ball. The best thing was when the computer would try to throw the ball to the infield but the ball would bounce off the wall and get stuck.

57 We used to keep notebooks full of rushing stats for Bo Jackson. Receive the kickoff, run back to the one, and rip off 99 yard TD's.

Our single game record was somewhere around 1200 yards. Bo was a god.

There was also a trick with throwing the ball into the outfield. If you had your second baseman run toward third and then throw it back toward second, if you waited until exactly the right moment to throw, the ball would go straight to the right fielder and you could deke the runner into trying to advance.

By the way, I bowled a 203 on a blind date last night. Just letting everybody know.

59

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PBvOxicz-0

I never had RBI Baseball, just plain old Baseball. Once I figured out that it was possible to advance on any rundown, it sort of ruined it. Every single was a home run. When I put the game in, I'd promise myself I wasn't going to cheat, this time. But I always did.

61
Was the bowling score the best part of the date...?

49- Punchout was the greates game of all time....

Loved watching the German's handelbar twitch after Little Mac dotted him up....

Gotta love a game full of ethnic stereotypes....

56 Stupid Grady Little. Why doesn't he ever try that?

Bo was a god.

nah, he was just good at what he did.

I'm gonna git you sucka is on Comedy Central...

64

It was actually a good time all around. I'd never been on a blind date before.

p.s. No, she wasn't blind.

Today's lineup*

Pierre CF
Martinez 2B
Furcal SS
Saenz 3B
Gonzalez LF
Hillenbrand 1B
Lieberthal C
Ethier RF
Stults P

(* = not really today's lineup)

Gotta love a game full of ethnic stereotypes....

Don't forget the disappearing middle-eastern guy wearing a turbin.

65

Hey Lex, is your show on saturday mornings as well, or do you work on new sketches on the weekends?

70 Could this be the worst lineup of the year? Not complaining, because we're not making the playoffs and that's okay. I'm just wondering.

72- Believe he was Indian...

71 Jerk

It was actually a good time all around. I'd never been on a blind date before

Was she of the certain ethnicity in question...? Are you going to see her again...?

Great Tiger was a Sikh.

73-We'll be finishing up the recordings for the next show on Sunday.....we air the 1st Friday of the month and that's it...Work on Sketches whenever I get a good idea...sometimes I'm feelin' it, sometimes I can't think of anything....

I wouldn't be to surprised if Grady didn't pencil in Ethier today (bad game & all)

Blades of Glory was pretty good, too. Not Tecmo Bowl good, but as good as MTPO.

Dane Cook get's to make out with jessica Alba...I really need to figure out a way to be less talented....

Blades of Steel.

Hey, Brock, I've done one of the items on your "If I were a millionaire" list already. When I was nine we moved from Monterey south to Palos Verdes, specifically 1510 Palos Verdes Drive, which was 1950s-built military housing, believe it or not.

77

1) Half that and half white...hard to go wrong there.

2) Yes, I believe so.

Geography is my achilles heel. India is not considered Middle East?

"He O.G'd!"

84 Did you go To PVHS, RHHS, or Miraleste?

86 Persia or Afghanistan is generally the cutting off point. India is South Asia.

85
Exciting stuff.

88 I was nine. I went to 259th St. Elementary in (I think) Lomita. Any of you natives are welcome to correct me if my location for that school seems wrong.

89

Okay, so Pakistan is also out?

90

We'll see.

Be sure to introduce her to the drunk girls in your apartment.

92 Okay, so Pakistan is also out?

It would be if India had anything to say about it. But yeah, Pakistan is South Asia.

Bangladesh can be whatever it wants.

82

I saw him at the laughfactory a while back, his shtick is way to choreographed for my taste at least that's the impression that I got.

92- Some consider Pakistan a cutting point....but I believe most Pakistani's consider themselves South Asian...at least in America....

94

They aren't here anymore. Underdog and D4P can attest.

95 and 97

Thanks.

99- The feature story in the latest National Geographic is about Pakistan....

There seems to be a communication problem between the team and Josh (who I think remained in LA) at ItD today. Isn't there a game starting in little over an hour? No lineup posted yet. Nor Tony Jackson either (maybe he's not awake yet). Or maybe FOX has managed to get a total news blackout until their broadcast starts at 12:30...

I swear I've learned more from four years of DT than I did in all of my school years. And I have a Masters!

101

I was wondering the same thing Berkowit28 maybe it's just a collective GLITCH of some kind, I'm sure by 12:00PM or so we'll have something.

Why all the anxiety about the lineup? You know it's going to suck anyway.

See, this will be my mood for the rest of the season. I'm sure you all can hardly wait. Fun times ahead.

104
Welcome aboard.

104

Stutltsy will take us to the promised land Enders don't sweat it, he has good #'s against the Mets small sample size but still...

61. "By the way, I bowled a 203 on a blind date last night."

I bet that was painful for her. :)

104
It's all right to cry
Crying gets the sad out of you
It's all right to cry
It might make you feel better

Raindrops from your eyes
Washing all the mad out of you
Raindrops from your eyes
It's gonna make you feel better

107

Nice. Being away from teaching has made me lose a step.

Personally, I'm excited about the new Eric Enders attitude.

But I'm one of those who really misses Steve.

Lineup

Furcal SS
Pierre CF
Ethier RF
Kent 2B
Gonzalez LF
Martin C
Loney 1B
Hillenbrand 3B
Stults P

13. http://tinyurl.com/2ed8yg

>> The Dodgers kept Tomko on the roster through Thursday, allowing him to reach 10 years of major league service time and guaranteeing him the maximum pension. <<

Contrast this with how considerate the GM was of Tony Abreu.

13. http://tinyurl.com/2ed8yg

>> The Dodgers kept Tomko on the roster through Thursday, allowing him to reach 10 years of major league service time and guaranteeing him the maximum pension. <<

Contrast this with how considerate the GM was of Tony Abreu.

109

I have to admit it's pretty refreshing hearing a moody Eric Enders.

113 Abreu isn't old enough to matter.

Stupid Kemp. Only went 2-4 yesterday. Bench him.

Anyone betting on how many starts Wells gets before he is removed from the rotation?

14. Will Russell get a day off today? It´s tough to bench him with Stults and Wells scheduled to pitch.

Little indicated while in Philly that Russell would probably get Sunday off. So we'll see.

Can't be sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if Zappala had a hand in this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRKIDdIaFyE

116 Yeah, but Kemp's performance assures that Gonzo won't be back next year. Write this season off anyway. It's good for the soul.

118 We were also told that Russ was going to be getting a day off on Thursday, thus rationalizing his catching a day game after 14 innings the night before, but that didn't pan out either.

23. Pinch hitting Ramon Martinez for James Loney was the last straw for me with this wretched team. I'm done.

The silliness actually started an inning earlier. Little used his only right handed power threat off the bench (The Killer Tomato) in the 7th with the bases empty and the Dodgers down by two and Lucille ll sitting there. Then when the Dodgers loaded the bases in the next inning he goes to Lucille ll. Mind boggling!

On the bright side, TWIB still has the same great music of my youth at the end.

Alas, I didn't see Ozzie Smith flip.

123

Don't they have a computer-generated Mel Allen now?

119 Hilarious. I wish I could claim credit.

116. Stupid Kemp. Only went 2-4 yesterday. Bench him.

Make that 2 for 4 with a 7 or 8 game hitting streak. But, don't forget, LuGo got a single yesterday so he's on a streak of his own.

Tuesday, November 20:

As Yet Unnamed Album Release: Dido

Thought I'd just stick that in there.

124 Indeed they do. He is disturbing.
127 I see what you did there.

the Loney home & away splits are pretty incredible.

I know we got Bob a little upset last night :-) but it seemed to me that last night's events were sort of a tipping point for many of us here who have been getting increasingly frustrated with the way this team has been managed this year (both at the GM and field levels). The announcement that the GM had signed David Wells combined with Grady pinch hitting for Loney with Lucille ll was just the final straw that drove us over the edge.

I think I dislike Karros more as an announcer than as a player.

Hey, everybody! It's Tim McCarver!

Tim McCarver was born to announce. I mean, "Mc" is almost his middle name.

Joe Beimel can read...?

Timmy sounds more lost than usual...

135 I need a Thomas Guide to get through Tim McCarver's long comments.

Nice swunt, Furkle.

I'd love to see that swunt work for Furcal at least once, he's tried it a few times.

Atta boy Juan

Every time Carlos Delgado pumps his fist after a good play, take a drink.

Why is a punter reading the Mets's lineup...?

Greetings from Shropshire,England. I find it pretty disgusting that Tomko thinks he's better than any number of options bad back and all, after hearing that its pretty hard to support the bloke's running this team. The "everybody has ailments" thing may apply to Furcal, but to use that excuse on a pitcher who has shown no success whatsoever is disrespectful to the people who pay good money to see this team perform. I find it astonishing that Tomko can say something even remotely close to being tight with Coletti.

Wow. I wasn't expecting to get the game today, and in HD, even!

Too bad Bison's on the bench.

This is not the way to pitch, Eric Stults.

144 Hey Brock- are you from PV? I went to Miraleste. Not often I see that word typed anywhere.

144 But Stults is the Dodgers' anti-Met weapon. 60% of his career starts have come against them!

Wow. Not only have Delgado's numbers gone way down, but he looks tiny.

That's a thing that makes me go "Hmmm".

They can't fire Grady quick enough for me but I think I figured out how he comes up with lineups. Guys who get hits ride the bench next day because they've "used up their hits" for awhile. And guys who had 0'fers play because they're are due to get a hit.

That inning by Stults was reminiscent of Perez' first inning yesterday.

145 My dad grew up there, and I played a lot of soccer up there.

Kent seems to be standing a long way from the plate.

Don't run on Sandy.

I agree. Baserunners are stupid. Let's get rid of 'em.

I guess that was a hitting & run.

It's good to turn your best base stealers loose. Right on, Grady.

I'm not sure that stolen base attempt was a good idea.

Sam,

Thanks for the great write up. (Sorry I missed it initially.) I will definitely interject some of these issues into the conversation. I don't know if Kasden will be there but Teddy and, I believe Mark Lerner, will be there. I would be shocked if management didn't have a plan for parking. This is a real estate family. That's what they know. They definitely understand the need to move people in and out of a facility. I'm guessing they are having a dispute with the City or something like that but I'll ask what the plan is. As for the $50 million in upgrades I would be surprised they reneged. I understand most of their properties have pretty high end amenities. I'm guessing they are really putting it to the City to get other things they want before they invest the $50 million. Teddy focuses on every detail no matter how small and I would not expect him to permit the ball park to be second class in any fashion. As for naming rights, I'm guessing they will go with the highest bidder but I agree with you, Geico Park is not very appealing. Even if they went with Lockheed Stadium that has more appeal than Geico. I will try and pass on your suggestion. In the end, I am going to guess the stadium will be beautiful but not before the Lerners have squeezed every penny they can out of the City. As for 2008, I expect they will try to make a splash with some FA signings. I know they feel they have the offense and are focused on acquiring pitching so I would look there. I will ask about any specifics (although I doubt they would share that but Teddy may tell my father.) Finally, regarding Acta, I would assume they are happy with him. They certainly didn't love Frank's style. I think I mentioned the story last year when we were at the game and someone told Teddy that Frank wanted to play golf with him in the off-season and Teddy said "I don't think Frank will want to play with me this winter." I will gather whatever I can and fill you in. I'm not sure how many other people will be there. Last year was fairly small hopefully it will be the same. Thanks again for the great write up --now I'll look like I know something about the team.

hes comes a sandy alomar homerun

Ralph Kiner was the man on Kiner's Korner back in the day.

Today, not so much. Bell's Palsy will do that to you, I guess.

C'mon girl in the green shirt! You gotta want it.

Seems like I've always hated watching the Dodgers play at Shea Stadium.

I read somewhere that Frank McCourt's proudest move was hiring Colletti. Other than the Ethier trade, I can't think of a single move by Ned that was not a bust. What are some of Ned's shining moments? I've been harboring a lot of negativity towards him, and I think it would be good for me to see his good points listed out.

Seems like I've always hated watching Shea Hillenbrand play for the Dodgers.

162 The Furcal signing was good.

162- The Izturis for Maddux deal. Getting Merlin for a low minors relief pitcher. The first Nomar contract. Aybar/Baez for Betemit.

I think I'm on the same boat as most DT'ers in that I'm not to fond of Tim McCarver.

that Stults fastball was Bluebleeder-esque (at 79mph)

Guess brain fart by Hillenbrand didn't matter.

New outlook buoys 51s' Houlton

>> In addition to his attitude, Houlton said he has improved his arsenal of pitches this season.

"My curveball's a lot better than it was last year," he said. "My change-up keeps getting better and better, and I'm throwing my fastball where I want. If I can do those three things, then I feel like I can pitch anywhere." <<

## 51s starter William Juarez was placed on the disabled list, and reliever Matt Riley was activated from the DL. ... Delwyn Young hit his 47th double of the season in the 10th inning to set a Las Vegas franchise single-season record, then scored the winning run on a single by Marshall McDougall ##

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/9370421.html

This broadcast in terrible in more than one reason.

168 How was that Hillenbrand's fault? Bobble or not, he looked Reyes back and got the out at first. What was he supposed to do?

If Kiner were a carpenter, and McCarver were a lady, he would marry him anyway. And he'd have his baby.

I don't like the current version of the Dodgers very much right now. I'm a fan of the kids, but the rest of the team doesn't inspire me very much.

When I was a kid, hot dogs cost a nickel!

--Ralph Kiner

I agree the Hillenbrand hick up was an excusable bobble, as biased as I am against him.

"El Duque" is having his way against the Blue so far.

god i hope kent retires

Somebody said recently that Furcal ranks 19th among major league shortstops in terms of VORP. At 13 million, I don't think that's a feather in Ned's cap.

177 You do realize he's our best hitter, right?

178 You can't blame Furcal for Repko ruining his season in spring training. Furcal was awesome last year and I expect him to return to form next season.

178 His D makes him totally worth it. He's, at the very least, caught the ball (with adjustments) more often than any other shortstop

Can we get this Stults fellow some run support, stat!?

Based on very recent expirences I can say that "oh no, the landlord is coming" would make a decent plot on a C grade sitcom.

I love the eephus pitch.

182 Same old Dodgers. Pitchers know: Pitch a shutout or lose.

Where's that Kemp fellow?

My local Fox station just played innings 1-2 twice in a row, and then skipped directly from inning 2 to inning 5.

How is that even possible?

Stults' pitch speed reminds me of when an announcer said a radar gun was hitting 92 in one of Don Sutton's games--

46 mph in to Steve Yeager, 46 back to Sutton

That was an attempt at a very cheap trick by Martin.

Looks like El Duque & Russell Martin had some words

El Duque's pitching style is very frustrating if your a Dodger fan, sigh!

186 It's proof that all baseball games are staged. Kind of like the moon landing.

186 They just wanted to spare you two innings of Tim McCarver and Ralph Kiner.

Bob Eucker had a memorable line from Major League that is an appropriate description for the number of Dodger hits in this game.

Did we just walk Conine to get to Delgado?

Baseball sucks.

okay, who didn't see that coming.

Nice.. Sweeney replaces Loney.. Dodger baseball, gotta love it!

Did we just put in a defensive substitution for Loney? I thought he was an up and coming gold glover.

And that was the '07 D's in a nutshell: pitcher puts two men on, Grady walks the wrong batter to load the bases, Pierre winds up but can't get the ball back to the infield, Los Mets score two. Wait, I take it back, Martinez wasn't on the field.

Considering how Loney has been treated lately, I wouldn't be surprised if we had Nomar/Hillenbrand at the corners if Nomar was healthy.

199 I typed too soon, taking Loney out for ex-Giant counts as a Martinez appearance.

Why is Loney all of a sudden in the doghouse? My patience with Grady little is wearing very thin.

It's times like this that make me remember that the Dodgers have one only one playoff game in my memory (a Lima gem). Why do I still follow this team?

Shouldn't they pull those anti-drunk driving ads until this Nicole Richie/Lindsey Lohan thing blows over?

My best Dodger memory was the offseason before the '99 season. A new sheriff in town, and everybody knew the Dodgers would finally contend. My worst Dodger memory was the '99 season.

Looks like we got rid of Alomar one year too early.

good job by the dodgers being completely unwatchable

With Coletti's panicked moves and Little's tactical and lineup limitations, not to mention the stewardship of a phony carperbagger, the team I have rooted for ever since my Dad took me to Ebbets Field and later the Coleseum (sp?), is doomed to mediocrity till at least 2009 when some of these dumb contracts expire. Or maybe that'll be me expiring.

These little snippets of Rosenthal throughout the game are like sprinkles of salt in the papercuts already covering my body.

I must say, it's hard to think of positive things to say when almost nothing positive is going on.

unwatchable

How can you know something is unwatchable without watching it, thus making it watchable?

But the table looked good.

213 Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

In retrospect, what a blunder the Betemit for Proctor trade appears to have been. That's what run through my head whenever I see Hillenbrand playing 3rd.

Maybe it was a sign of Colletti's faith in LaRoche being able to come up and do the job.

But Meloan could have played the role Proctor is playing.

213 Did you watch the trailer for No Country for Old Men? Does it not look nifty?

The good news is the Yankees won't start Betimit, so nobody will every find out how bad that trade really was.

pathetic at bat after pathetic after at bat

Huzzah! Offense!

218- That's just bad timing.

It seems like Gonzo has generally outperformed expectations. At first blush that would appear to be to Colletti's credit. But 12 homers from an overachieving LF makes me wonder how we're not below .500.

218 Please repeat your remark after the Dodgers' batter makes a leadoff out next inning. Thanks.

Why bring in Hernandez in a 1-run game?

223 Maybe there's some senior citizen discount going.

223

He's here to make one of his former teams pay for giving up on him.

223 See my prior remarks here on DT re the quality [or lack therefor] of team game management.

Re 226 , one of those days, so substitute "thereof" for "therefor".

221 I wouldn't say that, he's got the same numbers as last year, just with less power, which is fairly close to what I expected. If he finishes the year at .260, he'll drop down to about .260/.340/.405, which is worse than what I expected.

It depends if he can pull out of this slump.

DFA! DFA! DFA! I long for the day when we can be included in the "Hernandez' former team" club.

Luis Gonzalez is a fossil. And so is Roberto Hernandez.

It's like the La Brea Tar Pits, but more messy.

223 We need to save the good relievers for when Wells gets pulled after 3 2/3ds innings tomorrow.

Gonzo giveth, Gonzo taketh away.

230

Perhaps you can use that reasoning to get permission to take your students on a field trip to the Dodgers clubhouse.

233 I'm hoping this will be rectified by next season. I like the elderly, I hope to be one some day. But not on my favorite baseball team.

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.

Nice route, Magellan.

231 Two thoughts immediately come to mind re that notion: (1) the young girl from the one Broadway production, Tomorrow, tomorrow, you're always a day away, (2) Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day. The Shea triple is why we pitch the game otherwise. He would be the tying run, now he just gets us back to pre-Hernandez.

Delgado's fist pumps are bush league.

One day, you find it's not business as usual. Your hair is gray. You wonder, "will people still see me as a valuable player? Is my career going down?"

Welcome to Juan Pierre's world.

238 He's giving me grey hair.

I'm just glad Pierre only has 4 more years left on his contract after this season.

239
How do you post that fancy hyperlink to reference a previous post?

233 - just make sure to bring a toothbrush so you can clean their fossilized bones.

241 Put it in brackets.

Just put brackets around the post number.

At least Wagner is out.

Time for some faith-restoring heroics.

241 - use square brackets like so: [number]

Colletti's best move this year has been inducing JD Drew to exercise the out clause in his contract.

Drew is making twice as much as Gonzolez, with half as many homers!

248 - but since it was DePodesta who wrote the contract that allowed that, it seems unfair handing that to Ned.

Does it work on URLs? [www.google.com]

Come on Jeffy, you can do it!!

Guess not.

251 - no, but if you use Firefox and the Linkification extension, you don't need it to.

Yeah, DePodesta is the greatest baseball mind ever. (Insert a hint of sarcasm)

255 - blink What brought that on?

Nice tease Kent.

I think DePodesta's best move (and clearest evidence of his genius) was not re-signing beltre. Ironically, that was probably one of the biggest factors in his firing (the media was screaming for a higher payroll).

Sorry, comment on 250

And now Heilman teases us by not being able to throw a strike.

Fossil

260 Wow that was predictable!

Well there you go.

Night, all.

The good news is: Battlefield Earth is starting on KTLA in ten minutes!

258 That's looking like less and less of a good move as time goes on. Since that terrible 2005, Beltre has been decent with the bat and probably the best defensive third baseman in baseball. It's not a great signing, but that contract isn't exactly killing the Mariners.

This is beginning to look like a twixt-and-tween year, one in which we're not good enough to compete and not bad enough to despair.

265 I'd feel better about giving up Beltre if someone had replaced him at 3B. But it has been a black hole ever since. Likewise, I think crediting DePo for allowing that Drew escape clause rather overstates the man's "genius": if he could see into the future that well, he wouldn't have expected to acquire Randy Johnson and Charles Johnson.

But I digress from bashing Ned and Grady.

Interesting that anyone is happy that Drew opted out of his contract, I would be much happier to have Drew for 3 years for 33 Million instead of some random centerfielder for 5 years for 49?

That's a little stretching it. Drew is declining fast.

208. With Coletti's panicked moves and Little's tactical and lineup limitations

When Grady Little was hired I read an article somewhere that said it was a misconception to believe Grady was fired just for sticking with Pedro too long. It said the Red Sox Nation was fed up with Grady's bonehead moves and if the Red Sox didn't go to the World Series management wasn't planning to bring Grady back anyway. His supporters point to his winning percentage but that's mainly a factor of the talent he's had to work with. We're in for some frustrating times ahead with this guy.

Even if you despite Grady, and the worst manager in baseball is Grady Little, how many games do people think he can lose?

It's not very many.

267 - Likewise, I think crediting DePo for allowing that Drew escape clause rather overstates the man's "genius"

This is Scott Boras you're dealing with here. A possibility of getting a bonus shot at free agency is his bug light.

265 - That's looking like less and less of a good move as time goes on. Since that terrible 2005, Beltre has been decent with the bat and probably the best defensive third baseman in baseball. It's not a great signing, but that contract isn't exactly killing the Mariners.

0 runs by 2007 UZR: http://tinyurl.com/2b8anw
100 Rate2: http://tinyurl.com/29uzde
+2.7 fielding win shares (good for 8th in the AL, behind such oft-cursed 3B's as Chone Figgins!): http://tinyurl.com/2ysa49

I didn't remember there being any evidence using the advanced fielding metrics to think Beltre was anything more than an average third baseman. I'm pleased to see that I'm still right.

Don't know how many people heard Keven Kennedy today but thought he made sense regarding when he pinch hit with Matt Kemp against El Duke, and while it was a tough play for Gonzales in the 7th inning, don't think Hernandez should have been in there...As somebody said earlier this is a tweener team

273 Rate2 and fielding win shares are generally garbage in terms of telling how good someone is. Maybe he's bad this year, but he was great in 05 and 06.

275 - Rate2 and fielding win shares are generally garbage in terms of telling how good someone is.

And you get to make this statement, why?

Since both tend to largely agree with UZR, I see no basis whatsoever for your dismissal of their findings.

276 It's not me, it's people who are way smarter than me. I think of rate2 like ERA. In the end, having a good rate2 is all that matters (since it means you're catching the ball a lot) but having a good rate2 doesn't necassarilly make you a good player. I've never seen any major analyst take fielding win shares seriously, and if I knew how they were calculated, I could know better. Since I don't think they're a play by play stat (they can be calculated way back in time), I have to doubt their veracity.

The fact UZR jives with them for Beltre tells me he's not having a great defensive year, but just because they agree in this case doesn't make them particularly valid in the long run.

162 Saito was a pretty good signing by THE NED. Almost a half of year of Tsao was not bad either. Add in a half of year of Wolf and Luis G. and THE NED was almost not below average as a GM.

What is dragging down THE NED's reputation is the THREE years of Nomar, FIVE years of Pierre and THREE years of Schmidt. Not to mention the washed up veteran's show of x-SFGs, x-Redsoxers and just plain x's Hillenbrand/Hernandez/Tomko/Hendrickson/Martinez.

the frustration extends even to the Dodger Talk folk, host & A. Martinez if anything I'm happy I missed the 2nd half of the game, with Boomer tomorrow is should be plenty interesting in Dodger Thoughts land.

Something is floating that Seattle boat.

Not a Bavasi fan but I'd love to see the Angels win the West and Mariners the Wild Card just for the U.S.S. Mariner fans.

Why is Hernandez on the team? I must have missed the conversations discussing his role on the team. Is he the designated pitcher for winning runs for the opposition? How much worse could Hull possibly be? Are we really trying to win games and make the playoffs or has management thrown in the towel and are disguising it behind the bulk (hulks/husks) of Wells/Hernandez/Hillenbrand?

I find the best way to judge a player's defense is the number of Gold Gloves they have won.

One thing to remember about the Drew opt-out is that it led Colletti to re-sign Garciaparra.

282 This is entirely my opinion, but I think Hernandez hasn't got DFA'd because we're out of relievers. If you assume that Ned doesn't want Meloan on the 40 man for whatever reason (a seemingly safe assumption) the only other ready reliever in the system is Hull. If someone got hurt, then we would be out of relievers.

It's a flawed line of thinking, but I can see the thought process.

284

Pierre would be sporting Giant orange & black if J.D Drew wouldn't have opted out, I was never a fan of the guy so what ever.

Chiming in late here, but that was a bummer of a game. El Duque did pitch pretty well overall and it was good to see the Dodgers smack him a little bit in the 7th but all in all the game kind of encapsulated the Dodgers' season: they tease you with hope but ultimately fail.

And I agree with the choir: Hernandez shouldn't be on the team, and if he is he shouldn't be coming into tight games, period. I understood him throwing when it was 3-0 but that should've stopped when they came back within a run. Sigh.

Other than that, what can ya do, they've been outplayed this series so far overall. I hope Wells shows us a well rested pitcher tomorrow and not a rusty pitcher. Salvaging one game in this series is crucial (for the team to continue teasing us with hope).

277 - thank you for that clarification.
280 - good years from Beltre and Jose Guillen, a lights-out bullpen, and a mediocre (as opposed to godawful) second half from Jeff Weaver (4-4, 4.58 ERA).

285 That could be true, and the other thing at this point is that I think Hull can't come back to the team just yet - there's that 10 day rule. He'll be up next week I'm sure. Meloan, yeah, another roster move has to happen. Still, like I said, if Hernandez is going to be on the team, it should only be in purely mop up situations.

I hope Wells shows us a well rested pitcher tomorrow and not a rusty pitcher.

I'm gonna go out on the limb & say he should be o.k. & NOT show any signs of rust (he's been doing this for what? 20 plus years) the question for me will be if he can hang in there for 6,7 innings & looking further I really hope he can give us at least 3 or 4 quality starts, he's gonna be an interesting pitcher to watch just for curiosity reasons.

one hopes Boomer doesn't party to much tonight though.

ToyCannon has a nice read over at Think BLue L.A. regarding the old 4 man rotation & the new school 5 man pitching rotation, well worth the read.

Just keep him away from the all you can eat special in the hotel dining room and he should be okay tomorrow. I actually think it's good they're starting Lieberthal tomorrow to catch him, finally give Russell a couple of days off and just to have the veteran out there with Wells. Hopefully it won't all be a total disaster.

Hopefully it won't all be a total disaster.

Ease up on the optimism there, fella.

294 And I'm usually one of the more optimistic Dodger fans around these parts! ;-)

I'm cautiously, guardedly semi-optimistic about tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I didn't realize Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords was in that Eagle vs. Shark movie. Darnit, I knew I should've seen that one when it was in theaters.

216 It was all kinds of awesome. Looks to be the most violent Coen Bros. movie yet.

278 - Hard to give Coletti credit for signing Saito since he and Little saw fit last year, despite Saito's very good spring, to have him start the season in Vegas when clearly he had shown more than a number of other relievers (I've blocked their names from my traumatized mind) who were absolute gas cans on the 25 man roster.

p.s. How do you make links, i.e. to post 278?

297 [use these things that are outside this comment]

And go here to learn all the nifty tricks.
https://fairpole.baseballtoaster.com/archives/548606.html#comments

Kershaw tonight thus far:

4IP 0ER 0H 3BB 6K

Not too shabby.

{298} Thanks!

298 Let me try that again. Thanks...

I see General Counsel of companies retain law firms like Lathem & Watkins or Skadden at $600 per hour and I am convinced its because if anything goes wrong the GC can say "I used the known entity and paid the most money what else should I have done." Anyone see where I'm going with this? When it all goes wrong (as in right now) Ned will say Tomko, Sweeny, Gonzo, Hillenbrand, Hernandez and Nomar were all known veterans what else should I have done? He is like those GCs, unimaginative and looking to CYA.

Kershaw after 5:

4BB and 7K

0 everywhere else.

302 Ned Colletti is risk averse. Fear. Comfort in the known, even if the known is known to suck.

Watching the Halos is amazing. When theye get a leadoff double, I figure they'll hang a three spot that inning.

When the Dodgers get a leadoff double, I'm praying they get a run. Sigh.

It's an interesting game going into the seventh for Kershaw.

6 IP 4BB 8K and 0's everywhere else for Kershaw tonight.

Well Brock, Nationals are getting clobbered by the Rockies.

On the other hand, ESPN2 is going with "Athletic Girls Playing Soccer." Finland no less.

Thanks for the heads up on Kershaw Jujibee.

JUJIBE!! (love saying that)

{{turns on ESPN2}}

307 Finns are a notoriously morose bunch. Fortunately for them, I'm all about the gams.

Personality be damned!

D'oh. Kershaw's game's no longer interesting. Still a great one for him.

Javier Brito, the Southern League's leading hitter, breaks it up with a double.

even though Kershaw gave up the 2 bagger, pretty darn impressive 7.

Coors Field really looks empty for a midusummer saturday night game and with the team finally kinda sorta in a playoff race.

304 There's something to be said about comfort in the known. For example, I know David Wells is incredibly home run prone, and only Pecto combined with San Diego's defense was keeping his numbers reasonable. When he stinks with the Dodgers (though he might do well at Shea) I won't care at all.

Wow, Laroche is finally back.

Most Finns I know aren't so much morose as drunk.

Kershaw thru 7 IP:

1 ER, 2 hits, 4 BB, 10 Ks

Stupid MiLB.com jinxed it. They have a big picture of The Minotaur on their front page with the headline "NO HITTER - IN PROGRESS."

Kershaw is really starting to dominate AA.

last 13 innings:

13IP 4H 1ER 6BB 18K

I'd like to see the BB rate go down, but everything else looks pretty darn impessive. He is allowing less than one runner per inning pitched when he's 2 years younger than most of the competetion.

James McDonald pitches for the Suns tomorrow.

I don't see why starting an AA game is more stressful on his arm than starting a major league one.

321 Because the Mobile BayBears aren't the NY Mets? But maybe that's more emotional stress than arm stress.

If you have MASN, they;re showing the moon through the tefoto cameras -- it's amazoing.

never mind -- it was MASN2 and it's over. Sorry for the typos, was hurrying to spread the news.

It's amazing how close in those cameras can get.

Having blown a 5-1 lead in the ninth last night, Nationals now try to undo a 5-1 deficit in the ninth.

324 We didn't pull off the comeback :-(

Now that the Kershaw is on the AA roster I feel comfortable thinking about his future with Los Angeles.
Is anyone not drooling over a 2009 rotation of Santana, Billingsley, McDonald, Elbert, Kershaw.
We can afford Santana with all the young affordable pitching.
At this rate Kershaw and McDonald should be considered for the rotation by mid summer 2008.

292
Thanks for the shout out.

327 It was a good piece. I've wanted a four man rotation back for a long time, But you have to institute it from the lowest minors up.

I doubt the Dodgers would lead the way in, well, anything different.

I'm skeptical that the Dodgers would come close to landing Santana.

Is Optimus Prime one of the good guys?

Optimus-Best
Prime-First

He is the main good guy. The head dude. Mr. Wonderful.

I'm sort of astonished at how much chicken-counting (or something like it) there's been about Santana in recent threads too. I reckon there's no way we outbid the other teams for him. It's just not what McCourt and Colletti do. It makes too much sense.

I'm afraid we've devolved into a B-plus (at best) franchise, who'll always be aced out by teams that spend at once more freely and more wisely. I'm certainly excited about Kershaw and McDonald...it's just a pity there'll be dreck in our rotation even then.

329
I'm skeptical that all those pitchers will be healthy in 2009, but it won't stop me from dreaming of what I want.

331 Thank you.

332 What grade would you give the Dodgers for the last fifteen years?

335-Lower, obviously, but the distinction is that even during those wilderness years they were somehow still an A-grade franchise that had lost its way. Now, I fear they're second-raters even at their best. A finely-calibrated, perhaps imaginary, distinction, but it's one I feel nevertheless.

By the way, could we give Wilson Valdez some credit for batting .345 in 340 at-bats in Vegas this year? The guy's having a nice year and is probably twice the player Ramon Martinez is at this point.

337 I stopped paying attention. If I meticulously followed the farm system, I would be as bitter as, well, you are right now.

By the way, angry Enders is my favorite Enders.

316. Wow, Laroche is finally back.

Still no sign of Tony Abreu though. He appeared in his last game a week ago tomorrow. He isn't on the DL. But at least he's not on the Inactive List either.

333 Not to stomp on your dream, but Penny will be back in 2009 since his option is only like 10 million.

337 I never thought I'd join the Ramon Martinez marching and chowder society, but I still think that Martinez would out hit Valdez at the big league level.

"According to the Inland Empire 66ers radio broadcast earlier this evening, 2B Travis Denker has been sent to the San Francisco Giants organization as the Player To Be Named Later in the Mark Sweeney deal."

Valdez has been excellent! John Lindsay has been a suprise also. He has 75 rbi in only 67 games. They both deserve September promotions.

341 OK, now that really ticks me off. Colletti is taking that Giants ring he still wears way too seriously.

341 I like Denker, and still place him above Dewitt in my mind, but unless Abreu explodes, he probably doesn't have a future here.

Since all of my roomates are gone, I need someone to pre-party with me. Who's game?

332 The two biggest free agents this year went to SF and the Cubbies. Not exactly franchises raking up the trophies. Sure players like to go to the perennial contenders, but they also like money and whoever wheels out more of it.

The GM is always greener on the other side.

What do you think would do it to land Santana? 8 years, $25 mil per, player opt-out option after 2 years?

I gotta figure that's where the bargaining starts.

Zappala isn't going to like this one bit. First they shipped off Mitch Jones, now Denker, too? It's like Colletti wants him to jump on the D'back bandwagon. With all the cool kids.

344 Is Denker a future superstar? No. Is he a future capable major league regular? Maybe, maybe not. Is he a more valuable property than the steaming pile of dung the Giants sent Flanders in return? Absolutely.

347 6/150. And probably worth it.

The D'backs are givers, by the way. They saw how the Dodgers struggled today, and decided to do them a favor by beating the Cubs. Okay, they're in the same division, but their interests are not diametrically opposed. And won't be, until the Dodgers field a team capable of getting past the first round of the playoffs.

Uh, so, any day now, I'm sure.

349 I agree, the Giants have more expected value out of this trade, but I think Denkers shot at the major leagues is low enough that I can't really hate this.

It is still a bad deal from our end.

By the way, I would like more than one entry in my David Wells joke contest. My personal thumbs up should mean a lot.

http://truebluela.com/admin/story/2007/8/25/13258/1150

Meloan could pick up another win if Las Vegas can hold a 3-1 lead:

Las Vegas
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Houlton 5.0 5 1 0 1 6 0 3.68
Meloan 2.0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1.86
Bauer 0.2 1 0 0 1 0 0 4.28

Just another day at the ballpark for Mr. Meloan
2 IP
0 H
0 R
2 BB
2 SO
Season ERA: 1.86

Or, what he said.

348 Denker gone? Good grief, what is this? I have an ability to pick minor leaguers toiling in semi-obscurity and they immediately get traded? I'd rather have a cooler superpower, like the ability to crack jokes like Brock, find arcane information like Bob, or calm the masses like Jon. Why do I have to get the useless superpower?

But no, Andrew, this is not enough to turn me to the dark side. I am not as weak as you think. Besides, I can never root for a team that claims Salt Lake City is in the Phoenix market. It's just too bizarre.

Now, which minor leaguer should I pick on next? Brian Akin? Matt Berezay? I'll have to think about this ...

Daniel, begin rooting for major leaguers. Start with Roberto Hernandez.

I don't think of Mark Sweeney as a steaming pile of dung nor do I value Travis Denker as highly as some of ya, but I was hoping for someone a little more pathetic to go to the Giants in that deal. I just don't expect to be wringing my hands in 5 years when he makes the all star team for the Giants. Anyway, bigger fish to fry - or wring my hands over. And I actually could see the Dodgers going after Santana, especially if their rotation by then is mostly the youngsters we hope for. But won't Schmidt still be under contract in '08?

357 - If it's any consolation, my ability to calm the masses appears to have been Kryptonited.

Roberto Hernandez? I thought that guy'd retired long ago.

Oh wait...

358 That's no fun. DingFA Hernandez and calling up Meloan is too obvious.

350 But how much more than that would the D's be willing to pay? The Yankees need him. So do the Mets, and so do the Cubs. Texas and Seattle could surely use him. Any of those could potentially afford 6/150. Where would you drop out? 8 years? $30 mil?

350 But how much more than that would the D's be willing to pay? The Yankees need him. So do the Mets, and so do the Cubs. Texas and Seattle could surely use him. Any of those could potentially afford 6/150. Where would you drop out? 8 years? $30 mil?

359 "I don't think of Mark Sweeney as a steaming pile of dung"

Neither do I, really. Just in a righteous indignation sort of mood.

I choose Delwyn Young. Born in Los Angeles. Can whack the ball. My kind of guy.

360 When in doubt, refer to Alexander Hamilton when dealing with the masses.

I'm loathe to help with this, since it decreases my chances of winning, but, this link works better:

http://truebluela.com/story/2007/8/25/13258/1150

364 No, I wouldn't. I love Santana. I think he's the best pitcher since Montreal/Early Boston Pedro. I want to have his children.

But I wouldn't give him $240 million dollars for eight years. No player is worth that right now. Maybe A-Rod, but I don't think so. And not a guy who pitches once a week.

30 million dollars a year can buy you a lot of good stuff. And it doesn't have to be wrapped up in one guy.

Happy 95th birthday George Cisar! He is the third oldest living old friend.

Did Bob Saget used to be funny?

371 I think I stopped watching standup when Bill Hicks died.

Fussell threw away Meloan's win:

Las Vegas
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Houlton 5.0 5 1 0 1 6 0 3.68
Meloan 2.0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1.86
Bauer 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 0 4.23
Fussell 1.0 3 3 3 1 2 0 6.06
Hoorelbeke 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5.98

The 51's used a rather odd bullpen approach. Meloan for the 6th and 7th, and then no Hull for the save? Probably not indicative of anything, just odd.

And I'm not particularly happy about Denker. He's a good hitter as a 2B, but he's barely a 2B and probably not a corner OF, hitting-wise. But the system doesn't have many OBP guys, and getting rid of them doesn't seem like the best plan, especially for a guy like Sweeney, who is good at what he does, but over 2 months probably won't add much to this team. Admittedly, this is nowhere near as bad as throwing away Ruggiano in a deal that already appeared to favor the other team without him. The club seems to actually like DeJesus (probably because he can actually play defense), and I have high hopes for Lambo, but I fully expect Raglani to be dumped fairly soon.

372 Repeating from last night: Patton Oswalt, Werewolves and Lollipops. Download now. Bill Hicks would approve.

374 So does the disdain for Low AVG/High OBP players stem solely from Colletti or is it a more widespread view within the organization?

Back in March, we made predictions as to what we thought the Dodgers's record would be at the end of the season. Based on our record thus far, we're "on pace" to win 83 games. BaseballProspectus has us winning 84 games.

With that in mind, here are the posters with the best predictions thus far:

84 wins
regfairfield
schoffle
humma kavula
joeyp

83 wins
clair malone-evans
trainwreck

85 wins
scareduck
greg brock

82 wins
d4p

https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/608622.html#comments

For the sake of embarrassment, might as well throw out the worst predictions too.

102 wins
gpellamjr

101 wins
firstmohican
dzzrtratt

100 wins
tellmethescorerickmonday

68 wins
eric enders

I know its been said before here by someone, but the Dodger problems are centered on Coletti and Little.

The Dodgers are structured for a small ball approach and Little is trained in American League pitching defense and 3 run homers.

Coletti is trained in reliance on older players, but he doesnt have the "eye" that Sabean has for them having something left.

Good reading with TJ Simers today, he has consistently touted more youth and less "experience"...it would be nice if Coletti read his column.

he doesnt have the "eye" that Sabean has for them having something left

I think you're giving Sabean too much credit.

I wouldn't discount Sabean for this year. They made a conscious decision to sacrifice this year for the Bonds home run chase.

Much has been made--a little too much, actually--of Colletti alleged penchant for washed-up veterans. I don't think that's it, quite. Sure, he's signed players off the junk heap, but this seems to me the equivalent of fiddling around with penny stocks. This team's problem isn't the presence of Mark Sweeney, or even Shea Hillenbrand. It's the absence of a vision, and the continuous effort to fix a busted machine with broken parts, veteran or otherwise. The answer to losing JD Drew wasn't Juan Pierre. The answer to Tomko's terribleness isn't David Wells: it's Kyle Blair. That's not so much about veteranness, I don't think--not really--so much as it is attempting to fix a broken bone with band-aids, that this team might continue to "contend." Or appear to. What you wish Colletti would figure out is simply that such efforts are near-useless at best (Wells, Hillenbrant) and profoundly harmful (Pierre) at worst.

As for Grady's line-ups, well, the less said about those, I guess, the better.

382 so what you are saying is that Coletti needs to have a vision, whether old or young, and stick to it and see it thru....don't tout the youth and future and bring in Hillenbrand, Wells, Pierre, etc...

the season is virtually done, save a miraculous about face...bring up the 2008 squad and lets see how they do...

382 - I agree with you.

New post up top.

378 I am so ashamed of my prediction!

It is clear to me that my life has become completely unmanageable because I am addicted to the Dodgers. I am not blaming anyone else for my conduct other than myself.

I need a few weeks in Utah to recover.