Wow, that's almost as compelling a waiver-for-waiver trade as the Jay Witasick-for-Ruddy Lugo trade the A's and Rays did earlier this year.

Manny Mota?

2 - You never know.

Wonder how many innings our 7th outfielder will get in the final month.

Is Derrell Thomas out of jail? We could get him as a backup catcher.

3 Actually, at his age, he would be relegated to a pinch hitting role.

:-)

Wonder how many innings our 7th outfielder will get in the final month

Well, seeing as how our 7th outfielder has played in every game for us so far...

DodgerSims simulator is giving the Dodgers a 53.0% win probability and LV Hilton Sports Book is giving us a 55.6% win probability.
vr, Xei

It's funny how Bonds gets knocked for missing so many games, while Pierre gets ripped for playing every game. Danged if you do, danged if you don't, I suppose.

Wishful thinking in not listing Nomar at third base??

I can see Nomar declaring his calf healed and Grady penciling him in by the weekend.

5 - I met Derrel Thomas last year, actually, and he's doing well. So yes.

That makes me wonder, is Pierre the anti Bonds?

10 - No, I was destined to make some omissions.

I never connected the animosity towards Tommy Lasorda until this month. Even in the salad days he apparently was more a hinderance than a help.

And those tirades... wow! I heard many of them for the first time this weekend.

I picture Lasorda (just like Wormtongue) whispering in the GM's ear to trade Pedro.

Anyone local (to me, that is), Jay Jaffe reading at Politcs and Prose tonight. http://www.politics-prose.com/

11 Good to know. I thought he had spiraled downward.

8 OK, I've seen your posts all season now, and i just have to ask some questions? What is this DodgerSims? A program you designed? Is it available to the casual user online? How does it work?

18 And while you're at it, what is this "LV Hilton Sports Book" thing of which you speak?

15 I actually picture him screaming in the GM's ear to trade Pedro.

And like his blood, his language is very blue.

Don't be late when showing up for work with Lou Piniella.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-cubsmoves&prov=ap&type=lgns

So Pete Rose is never going to get into the Hall of Fame. Couldn't he make a lot of money if he just started a website where he gives his picks for who to bet on in each baseball game?

21 And yet, he still played in the game yesterday. Weird.

21 - On the surface, it appears the punishment exceeds the crime.

3

... I bought the 1977 WS Collector's Edition DVD set about a month or so ago. I don't remember the '77 Series too well (I was 6), so it was nice to see Manny Mota at the plate a few times. The only other highlight I have of Mota is the one that all Dodger fans have -- the famous double to left in Game 3 of the '77 NLCS.

Mota faced Mike Torrez and was rung up by umpire Larry McCoy in the 9th inning of the critical Game 3 of the '77 Series. And, I went and looked it up -- it was Mota's only strikeout in 42 at-bats in 1977.

Mota also fouled up a bunt try in the 9th inning of Game 1 ... and Dusty Baker got hung up between first and second; but Dusty miraculously made it back to first by dodging Chris Chambliss' tag.

All in all, it was not a shining World Series for Old Number 11.

18. Baseball game simulator that I wrote and blog all rolled into one. I don't want to clutter up DT with a detailed description, so email me if you want more details. But yes, I've made the program download available at the blog site. The database files (player projection files) in the download are a little old/stale. you can use the simulator to test out different lineup hypothesis, win probabilities etc...
I am currently comparing results vs the LV Hilton sports book. They are a little ahead of the simulator but still within the margin of error.
vr, Xei

Two guys wearing Dodger hats robbed Houston Texans cornerback Dunta Robinson at gunpoint in his home.

#7 Good one!

Is there a Fernando or Mariano Duncan (in his debut not his career or assault with a Louisville Slugger mode) on that expanded roster? It would be nice if somebody got hot and carried the team down the stretch.Of course Grady has to give them the opportunity.

27 Maybe they can afford to upgrade from the bleachers now.

Remember the initial news reports of the capture of Saddam Hussein where they said he was wearing a Dodger cap when captured? Did that turn out to be true?

28 Of course, Fernando didn't really get the opportunity to save the Dodgers' season in 1980 either. Although he could have.

Just don't mention this in front of Jon or it will set him off on a rant. ;)

Sorry lurker here, but can't resist this chance to jump in... I swear that I recall Vin saying during an early '80s broadcast that Derrel Thomas and another Dodger invented the High-five. However I've seen here and other places where that has been disputed. Does anyone want to corroborate my somewhat diminished memory on this?

I thought that was Glenn Burke and Dusty Baker.

Small update to this post above.

32 - Glenn Burke and Dusty Baker are usually credited.

https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/331386.html

Guo with elbow soreness?? It would be more of a story if he didn't have elbow soreness. Maybe he should trump Rick Ankiel by one, and start throwing right handed down in the minors and make it to the majors as a right handed pitcher.
vr, Xei :)

32 And Borat ended it.

Thanks to some research I've done I can now pretty conclusively say that the only way batting eighth effects your walk rate is that you get more intentional walks.

I didn't know that anyone "invented" the high five. I thought it was like the handshake. Does that mean people did not high five 40 years ago (anyone age 60+ who can verify that?). I suddenly feel generationally provincial.

Fill in the mystery player's name...

"I think the next four starts I'll do the best to be ____, and the one thing I started today was with my hair."

Okay, I suppose my fondness for thomas may have influenced my hearing/memory. Thanks for replies. I'll crawl back into the lurker space from which I came.

38. F. Ross Johnson invented the golden handshake. vr, Xei

According to Wikipedia, it was none other than Sgt. Bilko that invented the high five. So there you go...

I found this very interesting. A poster on another site that goes by dodger0212 dug up this old Q&A with Logan White after the infamous Hochaver draft. Logan recently said something about wanting Buchholz but DePo made him draft Hochaver. But the day after the draft he said:

acsb: Roy Smith claimed you were prepared to take Ivan De Jesus at 40 until Hochevar fell, yet some think that he was a reach at 51. Did you feel he was underrated being from Puerto Rico, or was this just the result of a thin draft class?

White: Actually, I was prepared to take Beau Jones, a left-handed pitcher from Louisiana that Atlanta drafted right after our pick. But obviously we like Ivan and believe he's going to be a very good Major League player. As far as the draft class goes, I think the overall depth was thin, but I certainly don't want to belittle any of the players drafted, because there are going to be some quality Major League players coming out of this draft.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050616&content_id=1092408&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la

Still seems like there may be a DePo smear campaign going on.

uhoh....Carlyle rings up Werth, but not after a nice greeting from Ryan Howard.

Offense 2, Carlyle 0

38 - Apparently, you were too young for "Welcome Back, Kotter." The low-five ruled.

45 - https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/17079.html

44 - Is Victorino still hurt, or is Werth just playing too well to sit right now?

It seems there was a lot of Depo smearing going around. If Depo wasn't ousted by Lasorda, he was ousted by the media.

Uhoh, and an RBI double by NL Player of the Week (and Steve favorite) Jimmy Rollins! And after walking Utley and getting a popup from Burrell, Carlyle is outta there before facing Howard again...Offense 3 Carlyle 0 at the moment...

44 - Victorino is still having trouble with that injured calf, it sounds like, but Werth playing so well has definitely made the decision to leave Shane-O on the bench much easier. The 9 game hitting streak may be over, but J-Werth has definitely opened some eyes with this hot streak he's on!

49 You're just getting things set up so that the Nationals can end your season.

Again.

Trachsel pitching = pull up a comfy chair and a good book to read between pitches

Come on , make Steve throw some pitches.

50 - Did you catch Jon's in-joke directed at us in that Fungoes post from the last thread?

"Any team that aspires to take the NL wild card might want to make their move early. Seven of Philadelphia's final 10 games are against the struggling Washington Nationals."

Very funny, JW. Verrrrrrrrrry funny.

How did we get 2 outs so fast?

Oh jeez. Here we go again.

getting real old matt, real old.

Oh dear.

Is Trachshell a long time Cub?

Damn, Kemp seems to go out of his way to look bad on the bases. He still is far better than any other option we have in the outfield.

ouch, Kemp really needs to knock off the baserunning blunders.

I'm only watching on Gameday right now, but I take it Kemp is doing me no favors.

Trachsel has 29 pickoffs in his career now. And it's now 220 stolen bases against 98 caught stealing.

So once the Dodgers leave the tight clubhouse at Wrigley, will they promote Miller, Megrew, and Hammes?

Glenn Burke

He kind of had a funky way of running back to the Dugout from what I remember. Non the less WOW, "I did not know that™" (Johnny Carson) about the high five.

Can someone please explain to me the logic behind Soriano batting leadoff? I forgot again...

I recently discovered "Dodger Thoughts," and I feel like you guys are my family--really the only family I have right now.

i.e., I recently asked my wife if she knew who the Dodgers' third basemen was, and she said "James Lonely?"

Not only did she get Loney's name wrong (and she's a fellow Texan, no less!), but she could not have been farther off while still staying in the infield!

I'm glad I have Dodger Thoughts.

BTW: Penny's BA is no longer higher than his ERA.

65 He's fast.

You guys notice how nobody even thinks about running on Matt Kemp anymore? Single to right with a runner on first, and going to third was the farthest thing from Soriano's mind.

66
That's nice, but we still won't have sex with you.

66

After looking at Loney's myspace page, I don't think he's very lonely these days...

Can someone please explain to me the logic behind Soriano batting leadoff?

I suspect Soriano wants to bat leadoff, and that Soriano gets what he wants.

Why does he want to bat leadoff? Not sure, but perhaps to maximize his PAs and thus counting stats and thus salary.

not the Bad Penny again!

Grumble grumble.

26 Thanks. I found the website. I will check it out and let you know if I have further questions.

72
Soriano actually asked to bat lower in the order, but Piniella insisted he bat leadoff when he came off the DL.

70 Awww, I'll give you a big Dodger Thoughts hug after that.

Even though your handle scares me a little bit.

:)

62 Isn't that a CS because he ran toward second?

The distinction is dumb, anyway. You get caught, you get caught. And if you're a baserunner, you can pad your stats by conceding the out instead of trying to scramble to safety. Stupid.

That DP saved Penny for the time being.

If only Esteban could pitch again.

66 - Glad to have you.

77
Retrosheet and MLB.com give Trachsel credit for both.

72 He's quoted saying something about fastballs, but that's just as likely.

you guys thinking what I'm thinking (small strike zone by the blue)

This ump has a microscopic strike zone. Could be a long night for Penny.

71 He's got those "crazy eyes".

83 - Apparently! 84

{exhale}

Whew! dodged a bullet there

Is this the ump Penny flipped out at in 05?

89 Nope, that guy was literally a minor league ump.

Could be bad Penny tonight.

If he could throw strikes it woundn't be bad. His stuff looks OK tonight.

But he didn't throw strikes and loaded the bases. How comfortable can you feel when Kemp makes a pretty good drive look like a good play.

Maybe this inning will straighten him out.

I don't mind if Penny gives up 2 or 3 runs (as long as he gives us 6 or 7 innings) Steve Trachsel is pitching so...

Yankees up 1-0 v. the Ms. With Cano on first and no outs in the fifth, Betemit sac bunts.

Just passing that along for informational purposes.

Don Sutton: Good organizations use both experienced scouts and statistical analysis to try and project which young players have the best chance of succeeding. Objective numbers analysis is very important because even the best scouts fall in love with their players. But it can't be all numbers with very young players.

C'mon Lugo, you don't walk your way to 2500 hits

84

some of Brad Pennys pitches were off the plate but some of them sure looked close from my eyes.

(goes for the rare mid-game triple)

Earlier, he explained the rotation scheme used by umpires on different sorts of plays, including bloop hits where the second base ump has to head out to the OF and the third base ump has to come up to rule at second if the runner tries to stretch a double.

Great stuff. Love Don Sutton.

94 - but that means nuance is required. I was under the impression that there was no room for nuance in America these days.

Okay, is this a tight strike zone or what.

more horrid baserunning

Poor LuGo. Hope I die before I get old.

Terrible play by Gonzo. That was an obvious hit from the very beginning.

apparently bad base running is contagious...

100- Can you really blame him there? Fly ball, he couldn't take the chance of getting doubled up. He just couldn't get to second fast enough after it dropped.

come up, triple pump, look home, throw to 2nd, and still get gonzo.

Something tells me Grady Little will not be having a talk with Gonzo on how to minimize his mistakes on the bases.

PVL costs Martin a base hit... ok, that's a little facetious, if he would have been running and the outfielder caught it, he'd be doubled off first. Still, can't help but think that Ethier would have had the extra step to take the base.

Yes, I can. There was never the slightest chance the ball would be caught.

93 If

Looked like Gonzo was safe, the poor old guy.
Sam,
If you give the Yanks score--give the Sox for us Downeasters.

C'mon James "Only The" Loney; get a hit

even more HORRID baserunning! wee!

Three outs made by batters. Three outs made on the bases. Good ratio there.

Arrrghh. Just some bad luck that inning, don't know what else to say about it.

Except to beat Trachsel the way things are going they may have to - gasp! - hit a long ball.

now whose fault was that.

sometimes bad plays are just fortunate plays.

Nice stroke by Loney. Nice d, Cubs.

Lets see if Penny can get it together. I have mixed feeling of the Karma.

104

yup, my 103 was pretty much a stupid joke. Old man Gonzalez just wasn't quick enough.

113 You cannot fault a guy for hitting a line drive

The LuGo out prevented a triple play.

113 Then they'd just miss second base or something. We're going to need to find a way to score runs that doesn't involve leaving the batters box.

That was a very lucky inning for the Cubs.---This is baseball. But if Penny is close to his potential, we could win.

109 White Sox losing again, of course.

What's that? :)

Sox have been cruising -- 4-0 over Toronto -- the T.O. has a couple runners on in the fifth at Fenway.

judging from the last 2 batters Penny has faced, He looks plenty more settled in now.

Uh oh -- 4-3 Sox over Toronto now.

the camera just should Penny having some words with the umpire.

117 I wasn't. Thus the "bad luck" comment.

Penny and C.B. Bucknor having a little chat. I cannot conceive of any situation in which that's a good thing.

124 - Were they good words or *BAD*words?

117 Unless it is directly at a fielder.

this pitcher looks perfect for La Roche to hit it out towards Sheffield ave...

126 Hey C.B. Bucknor, do you like toast too?

127

it didn't look all that bad but I really wouldn't know.

Why are we not allowed to watch Laroche's AB? Or was that just me?

That was pretty pathethic.

118 You probably know this but in reviewing Baseball America's Top 10 prospects for each team, already 7 of 10 for the D-Backs have surpassed the prospect cutoff (AB/IP), though for some this was done over a period of a few seasons. If Justin Upton can get to 130 AB, then he will be the 8th out of 10. The only 2 who shall remain on the 2008 list are OF Carlos Gonzalez and a 2006 draftee lefthander who finished up in the Cal League.

I saw it. He struck out on 4 pitches it looked like. Swung at a low pitch for strike 3. Ah well. At least he's starting every day since he's been up. Which means one bad K won't send him to the bench.

130

Hey, C.B. Bucknor I'm having an ALL NIGHT KEG PARTY! wonna come with!??..

Since the Padres signed Tomko today, they are only on the hook for roughly $70k, the pro-rated minimum salary. The positive news, besides Tomko actually pitching for the Padres, is that the Dodgers can use that $70k to cover Ramon Martinez's exorbitant $50k buyout of his 2008 option.

132 It wasn't just you. MLB.tv craps out at the most inopportune times.

137

I wouldn't mind Wilson Valdez at all.

That crafty pitcher with the unspellable name starting with T is thwarting us. We must get into the "soft underbelly of their bull-pen.

135 I saw the first pitch, and as he started to swing, it broke to commercial. It returned when he was in the dugout just as Penny was going to start his AB.

130 - It's alot cooler smoking real grass with the fake C.B. Bucknor than smoking fake grass with the real one.

138 This was on normal TV, not MLB.tv.

143 Then you're insane and I have no idea what you're talking about. ;)

130 Smoking fake weed with C.B. Bucknor is not as cool as smoking real weed with a guy who looks like C.B. Bucknor.

134- Didn't know that, but I guess it isn't too surprising. I can't figure out what they're going to do with all their outfielders, since they re-signed Byrnes, but, whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be awesome.

142 You are much quicker than I am.

Penny really looks like he settled in here in the 3rd inning.

140 How is Tracshel making the Dodgers imcompetent running the bases?

148 Bluebleeder, was it you who asked a question during the Ng chat today on Dodgers.com? There was a question from "Bluebleeder1977" and I figured there was a small chance it was you and it was a typo.

149- He's a witch! Burn him!

149 By lulling them to sleep.

What we need to do is jack a couple dingers. You can't get thrown out during a homerun trot.

150

No, it was me (I've had a few questions answered, including VINNIE!!) She gave me the answer I was expecting.

we better start hitting trachsel.

Pardon my ignorance, I've been off the planet for a while.
What's Vin doing broadcasting from Chicago? (Not grousing, glad to hear the lad)
I thought he didn't go east of the Rockies anymore...
-Anyone?

Come on Kemp make up for the mistake...

153 Tell that to Mike Marshall, who tried to throw out Ozzie Smith after Smith's HR to end Game 6 of the 1985 NLCS!

146 Trade them for some middle of rotation help.

Kemp's got little wings on his shoes, judging from that play.

Man is that Kemp just plain fast--for a big man. He reminds me of someone, and I think it is Dave Winfield.

159- That doesn't sound awesome enough. Maybe if the trading partner throws in one of those conversion vans, with the plasma televisions and a disco ball.

Or something.

It was announced at the beginning of the season that Vin would be doing this series from Wrigley. According to the Cubs announcers, it's because Wrigley is his favorite ballpark and he missed going there.

we score 1st!!

Yay. Way to go old man!

is Kemp a serious 30-30 threat next year. or 40-40?

Man, Kemp was so far ahead of that play.
He is over aggressive on the bases, but I'm not conviced this is bad.

Like, some guys would have trouble scoring on that single. But Kent was home and could have made first base again.

166 I'd say it's hard to consider someone with less than 400 PAs a serious threat to do something (40-40) that's been done thrice in major league history.

That said, if he doesn't mimic Eric Davis's 1987 season in 2008, I'll be extremely disappointed! :)

Interesting question in that Ng chat today. Isn't RC a different team's minor league affiliate?

Started off with: "I play for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and hope to play for the Dodgers one day."

thrice

actually 4 times

Canseco '88
Bonds '96
ARod '98
Sori '06

The Dodger players in that league are saying "I play for the Inland Empire 66ers and hope to play for the Devil Rays one day."

Poor Luis Gonzalez...

daryl ward going 1st to 3rd

171 Well, they're just being realistic in that case.

--

Come on Penny!

Can we just play a stone statue in left field?

173 daryl ward bro!!

169 I saw that too. Screen name was "5quakesRc". #5 on the quakes is Nate Sutton, a 2B.

176 - daryle even! ;)

Cubs fans get awfully excited about a groundball out scoring a run. But then we're probably ones to talk.

170 My bad. Too bad there isn't a cool word like thrice for four times.

Monday and Steiner discussing how the Cubs have had CF problems 'for a number of years now' getting it started offensively. Hm. Who used to play CF for the Cubs?

177

That sounds like a JoeyP job no?

I was getting a bit excited by the symmetry between 9 SBs and 9 HRs.

Gonzo gave his RBI right back to the Cubs right there by not being able to throw out Mr. Ward.

I just had to break the bad news to some visiting Brits about how their favorite football team did over the weekend.

They are fans of Derby.

c'mon andy, dont give grady a reason to put one of the other 2 third baseman out there.

Speaking of Eric Davis & Matt Kemp, 2008 is Kemp's age 23 season.

From 1985-1990, beginning with Davis's age 23 season, ED hit .276/.367/.526, good for a 142 OPS+. Davis averaged 26 HR and 37 SB (at an 87% clip!!!) during those 6 seasons.

I'm just sayin'.

LaRoche is 1-11.

Derby County, isn´t? I am a big fan of River Plate(ARG) and in England my favorite team is Arsenal.

Penny showing them how it's done....

Good lord we're getting owned by Steve Trachsel. What is it about crappy junkballers that renders us unable to take advantage?

181 Corey Patterson.

Come on guys. You have to either hit Tracks or make him throw some pitches. He's not quite old enough to be decrepid, and likely to be more crafty than Penny. But Penny did as much as one could hope for with that double, so our guys got to hit or else.

LaRoche just wants Traschel to feel good, so that he will give him something to crush later.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

good job Windmill, station to station with Mr. Brad Penny.

If you can't hit Trash you could lose. Damn that Donnelly

Laroche really needs to settle down. 2 Ks vs a pitcher that has 48 on the season in 140+ innings is unacceptable. And I know this isn't the type of player that he is, as he only averages about 80 Ks per 500 ABs (he's not Pierre, but he's no Dunn either).

wow, LaRoche Ks twice in a row against a guy with a 2.6 Ks per 9 rate on the year. That will actually earn you a deserved spot on the bench. Not what I was hoping for out of young Mr LaRoche.

LaRoche is a sreaky hitter. 3 HR or so in his next 6 AB should keep the wolves at bay! :)

woo hoo, HOO!!

191 Pay no attention to that man panicking in the corner.

I guess Pierre and Furcal heard y'all.

Don't say this often, but nice clutch hitting by Slappy there.

189
The BBC's website just calls them "Derby". And their two supporters called them "Derby." And all the fixtures say "Derby."

Derby played Liverpool Saturday.

It did not end well.

JP 2 out rbi.I feel faint.

199
You'd think with a Trachsel type he'd crush it, theres still time though, & I really feel he's gonna do something tonight.

Another player thrown out on the base paths!

Pierre was out from me to you.

Soriano's arm = good

Cubs fans get awfully excited about giving up two runs, too, even if it does end with an out at the plate.

I'm pretty sure one of the things I remember from Little League is do not try to score from second when it's hit directly to the left fielder.

Repeat last sentence of 196 .

that was a good send by donnelly right there, you gotta put pressure on the defense to make soriano make a perfect throw and he did that.

I liiike it. I was going to say send Furcal no matter, but Kemp is to good a hitter>

JP giveth, JP taketh away.

203. They call Derby County here and I wasn´t sure it was the same team. Well, Fernando Torres killed them on Saturday.

Looks like another Dodger victory.

The Cubs make a pretty lousy first place team.

That throw was right on the money. I would have sent Pierre there so windmill gets a pass from me.

Are the Cubs known for their defense?

I would have sent Pierre....if the throw was even a little off line, he's in there....that was an amazing throw....

187

I use too mimic Eric Davis in every which way (my favorite player during my early youth) except the whole chewing tobacco thing. Man, did I love watching him play.

185 Bob, did your friends go to Lucky Baldwin's?

Whats with these commercial interuptions?

Correction, some parts of the BBC site do say "Derby County."

Pierre was out by ten feet guys. Kendall had enough time to have a smoke between when the ball got there and when Pierre did.

220
They're coming out next month for the UCLA-Notre Dame game and they wanted to anticipate a place to drown their sorrows.

2 more runs this inning would be great

223

I agree...

The Cubs broadcast cuts to shots of women in the stands an insane number of times.

It makes ABC's NBA coverage look tame.

Sori had 22 outfield assists last year, so I'm not surprised.

225 - indeed

Penny only about 72 pitches; he could go two more innings. Now is the time to get a few more runs, or at least get Tracks into the 90s

You know what, Matt Kemp just hits the ball too hard.

227- They make Wrigley look like a frat boy utopia....

221 So I'm not the only one?

2007 Dodgers record in Penny starts: 21-7

219- I used to pat my glove against my thigh while waiting for a fly ball like Eric Davis...got yelled at by my little league coach for it...

233 - Nope, Im watching the Orange County Time Warner Prime Ticket feed and it keeps breaking into random commercials.

as long as beimel or proctor dont sniff this game, should be in good shape.

236 Must be Time Warner. I've had it happen at least 3 times so far today.

Will Matt Kemp hit a homer on the road in 2007?
Remaining Road Schedule

2+ games in Chicago
3 games in San Francisco
4 games in Colorado
3 games in Arizona

Matt has 9 home runs, all at Dodger Stadium. Yet, he is hitting .361 on the road going into tonights game. (.310 at home)

235

I do that to this day Lex!

237

good game to have Jonathan Meloan pitch an inning or 2.

239- I say he hits two in AZ.....assuming he plays....

139

& of course we all remember Matt Kemp went deep twice in Colorado.

oh andy...sigh.

Oops. Right through the ol' la roche there.

rough night for roche

Damn, if Martin had tagged him that would have been an awesome play.

Penny should be on a real short leash...

Furcal has a friggin gun!

Pierre should have just thrown up his hands.

215 , 222 Derby County is correct, but just like Bolton Wanderers, Oldham Athletic, and any other town/borough with a single team they are coequally known by their location alone.

of course if pierre doesnt drop the ball ramirez is probably out.

236 238 Same here with Time Warner South Bay. It happened at least once during yesterday's game, also.

Like I was saying...

(Grr, Penny...)

250

Yup.

wow, looking at the replay Martin missed Aramis by milli-inches

Looked like Martin may have nicked him on the butt, but too hard to call that one. He didn't argue much.

Its crazy Cub fans had to sit through Jacque Jones and Juan Piere in the same OF.

Thats too bad for their fans.

163
thanks, es

Well, thats a tough call, but who is getting hit this hard. Penny! it may be time

Sweeet! Okay, now hit the showers, Brad.

Time for Laroche to make up for that error.

Penny really impressed me right there, He's done it twice already, with the DP.

The Nats are mounting an 11th hour rally!

ugh, Abreu>LaRoche anyone?

Jacque Jones AND Juan Pierre...

andy needs to hit his 1st jack.

But if the D's can't get a bit of insurance here, they are trying to drive me nutty!

The arms of Kemp and Furcal saved the Dodgers that inning.

1) Furcal came within a whisker of throwing out Ramirez at the plate
2) Kemp's arm held Ward at 3rd on DeRosa's single
3) Furcal's gun completed the sweet 4-6-3 DP by a speedy Jones.

LoDuca went yard twice in Cincy tonight

Kerry Wood Alert™

Nats win! Nats win!

Unfortunately the gnats are winning here at the office, too.

Someone left some rotting food in the drain over the weekend.

bartman area!

Is that Kerry Wood or an impersanator?

Wow, for a second I thought Andy had ripped that out. Well, he did, but foul. So much for my astigmatic eyes.

thata boy andy

LaRoche is 2-12.

well take the double by La Roche & Loney scoring.

But Andy says, "There's your insurance!" Hah.

yay, I take back 263. for a while.

Go LaRoche!!!

He could have gotten a triple.

You know, you have to like these kids, you really do. They make mistakes but they pick themselves up.

Is Penny still in there just because they need someone to bunt? I don't like him coming back in to pitch...

I like seeing LaRoche going the other way....

276 he's 2-10 with 2 walks, and 2 doubles.

the worst thing with GameDay is you have no idea where foul balls go. LaRoche could be hitting bombs into the seats down the line or chopping balls into his feat. I wish they would use the dot.

So much for that.

He could have gotten a triple.

But he didn't get thrown out trying for it, so yay.

Chris Young, the pitcher, 1 IP thus far, walked 2 and gave up a 2 run homer to former basketball player Tony Clark.

Why do I get this feeling that Brett Tomko may return next week in Dodger Stadium as a starter.

Juan Gone!

heartwarming Kerry Wood story by Vin-too bad the kid will never see his dad's good stuff....

That was kinda cool.

284 Send him back down.

What, the season's over.

Okay, he can stay.

wow, Pierre + RBI?

The ol' bunt RBI.

Now that is a scrappy RBI.

speed kills, man. speed kills

Pierre! Thats how you bunt it! You da man!

Tie goes to runner, I guess.

295 Scared of BYU and I don't know why.

The ump deserves some respect for that very difficult but clearly correct call.

as a Yankee fan, I have to say Kemp is more graceful than Winfield--don't know who the Bison reminds me of physically....

Now Pierre's speed gets a base hit for Kemp!

Fielder's choice or hit?

Looking at his career stats against him. Kent carries wood against Kerry Wood.

301 - physically he reminds me of a lot of middle linebackers. In baseball, not so sure.

hit.

295
BYU is a solid team. They are definitely not a team to look past.

no infield hit for Kent, so it's time for the stretch

307 But I think that helps the team knowing that it should be a good match, realistically outside the Washington game and maybe the Arizona in November, last week was by far the easiest game they will have this year.

I like this move by Grady (letting Penny stay) but I have to say, hopefully Grady has a short leash.

309
Hopefully Olson won't be too pumped up and anxious to face his old school.

I'm afraid Hu> Abrue< LaRoche.

305- I read somewhere that scouts are comparing him to Dave Parher....I'm too young to have seen him play.....The best physical comparison I can make would be 40/40 'roided out Canseco....Maybe he's a new prototype, and players in the future will be compared to him....

313- D'oh ...*Dave Parker

But Abrue is better than many teams infielders--that says a lot.

another pop up for Soriano

309 I think Washington will be much tougher than Stanford was.

I just did a double take looking at the screen. Soriano only has 45 RBIs???!!!

When did Martinez take over at third?

Excellent, now it's time for Brox/Saito/game!

318 - hitting leadoff cuts down on potential RBIs.

319
Why does he keep playing?

That is the question I want to know.

317 Hey, I'm not looking past anyone.

So, one error and all of a sudden LaRoche is in need of a defensive replacement? What about all those double plays he's started? They don't count?

322 - Yeah, If you'ge going to put in a defensive replacement use Hu or Abreu. Andy's defense has looked really sharp except for that 1 little non issue last inning.

the Cubs don't strut like a 1st place team should strut, but then again they are the Cubbies...

Gonzo has had a nice past couple of games.

Wrigley Field needs more illumination. The field always looks dark and shadowy during night games.

326 - gets me wondering, which would be worse, rooting for a team that has never won or a team that hasn't won in 100 years. I suppose there really isn't much of a difference, but the championship banner must look awfully lonely out there.

321 Soriano batted primarily leadoff in 2002, 2003, and 2006, and had 102, 91, and 95 RBI respectively. Granted, those were better offenses, but he's on pace for only 67 RBI in 162 games this season. That's an extreme drop.

Bah!

329 I've often asked the question: would you rather root for a consistently good team that can't win the title (say, Atlanta Braves), or a team that fluctuates wildly from very good to very bad but wins it all when they're very good (say, Florida Marlins). I

330 - he also missed a lot of games this year due to injury. Just recently came back, if I recall correctly

Cool. Loney gets shown a little respect.

Or, Martinez is disrespected. Too bad LaRoche didn't get another at bat.

328 My one visit to Wrigley was for a night game, and the small number of lights makes for a cool setting. Basically, only the field is illuminated, and it makes the ballpark almost theater-style. It's pretty cool.

Yeah, great move there. Good thing we don't have LaRoche hitting here.

I guess an extra inning of Martinez's defense was worth him hitting with the bases loaded and no outs instead of Laroche.

I'd love to see the Dodgers blow it open here - so I can feel more comfortable heading home.

we can use some insurance runs, I don't know but a 3 run lead just doesn't do it for me.

I hope that LaRoche is out is for some reason outside of the obvious like he tweaked something.

329 The Cubs have two championship banners. They keep each other company.

There was a point in mid-August where Martinez led the team in RBI for the month.

Now Martinez is getting RBI without even using up an atbat.

Way to pinch score, Valdez! Woo hoo!

It's obvious LaRoche was pulled because he wasn't thrown out trying to stretch a triple.

Play it safe and you play bench duty judy.

330 The 2006 Nationals have a better offense than the 2007 Cubs?

After looking it up, the 2006 Nats offense was marginally better, which really surprises me.

RM2™ tippie toes in a run.

I have to say, though - right now the Dodgers have a very good bench. Not all of them on a playoff roster, mind you, but pretty deep.

333 Soriano has 45 RBI in 110 games played. He's on pace for 67 in a 162-game season (for him).

332 Based on their respective attendance figures, that's a no contest in favor of the Braves-type team.

Chris Young the pitcher just gave up a 3 run HR to Eric Byrnes, after 2 1/3 5 runs on 2 HRs.

348 That happens when you have 20 hitters on your team.

334 - LaRoche could have taken an intentional bases loaded walk.

That was awkward at best.

Again?

Windmill™, wow.

Looked like Martin tweaked his left knee.

Why are we running on Soriano?

And getting Russell possibly hurt in the process.

354

Russell Martin looked a little shaken also.

Just caught up on the game comments late (for the second day in a row). Is it me, or are some commenters getting awful quick to panic on certain players?

Why on earth was Russell going home on that shallow pop up? Hellloooo? Anyone home? Was that Martin's or the Windmill's fault? Er, never mind. Forget I asked.

Regardless, I'm going home. Hope to catch the end - or actually, hope to miss it, because it could be a bad sign if it's still going.

356 I think asking Pierre to get his 3rd RBI with 2 out would be a bit much.

348. I think the problem is how Grady will use the bench.

360 Not you, but you're just now noticing this habit? ;-)

Man, I hope Russell's okay...

DT to the fans: What's with all the Wrigley Fans' Booing

Response to DT: "We Boo Because We Care" sign

DT comeback, it's all yours guys

Seriously, upper management really needs to address this during the off season.

351
It's Tall Chris Young. You have my permission to use that moniker.

Seems to me Soriano's not somebody one should run on. Too bad it took two plays at the plate to learn that.

Why is Martin in the game? Why are we sending him?

This is absolute insanity.

350 I'm not thinking from that perspective. Personally, I get frustrated watching teams I root for in perpetual "plug the dike" mode. I feel like the Dodgers did that this year with Gonzo. 3 teams I root for- Dodgers, Broncos, Nuggets, seem to have themselves in a perpetual contender mode- where they sign guys like Gonzo/ Simeon Rice/ Chucky Atkins trying to make the one minor tweak to get over the hump. At some point, I'd like to see them blow the team up to rebuild, rather than spackling over the cracks. (I actually have a much dirtier analogy that isn't appropriate at all, but it works better)

What's that, five outs on the bases now? Or four? I lose track. Anyway, Matt Kemp is not the only thing that's wrong with this team's baserunning. Good thing we're winning tonight.

Also, there is no reason for Martin to be catching right now.

{367} I will do that.

What did your girlfriend think of Saturday's ho hum affair at the Coliseum?

360 Someone once said "If you think it's only you, it almost never is."

Just sayin . . .

Face it, as long as Grady manages this team, Russell Martin is going to catch just about everyday, every inning.

With a four-run lead in the 8th, I would have held out Broxton until and unless somebody got in trouble...

JA363DPFL

371 - When did 6-2 become a blowout?

It's not fair having a James Loney at first base. I hope the other teams don't get together and petition.

I think James Loney is already the Dodgers' career leader in 3-6-3 double plays turned.

Well, not really, but it sure seems like it.

379 What about the all-time Gold Glover and last Dodger to hit for the cycle?

377 The game is not the blowout I'm concerned about. Martin's knee is. Did you see the replay of that play at the plate? And Martin getting up awkwardly and limping away?

377 Right on. It is perilous and we need to continue some offense this inning, or we could look foolish. 6-2 is no plum at Wrigley.

378. But the other teams must love Juan Pierre and his "strong" throws.

TV Schedule Update

I just heard back from Josh R., he says Sunday's game against the Giants should be on FSN Prime Ticket.

Matt Kemp has wings!!

Yeah, Martin looked liked he tweaked his knee badly. I just do not understand risking it with our best position player.

In 2003, his lone year with the Dodgers, Daryle Ward played in 52 games and had one (1) extra-base hit. The club's media guide devoted 3 1/3 pages to him that year.

Kemp is very good!!!

I love watching Kemp run.

Matt Kemp is good.

matt kemp....i hit line drives.

Chugga chugga chugggga chuga Bison...

381 - I thought you meant before the slide, not after.

ARF! ARF!

I can't believe Kemp is hitting this well after pitchers have made their adjustments to him.

Kemp is now hitting .344.

390. I must agree. Matt Kemp is gonna be a superstar.

Dear Matt Kemp: My brother thanks you, my sister thanks you, my mother thanks you, and both my roto teams thank you.

Could very easily have been a 5-for-5 for Kemp, the only non-hit being a line drive smash which he reached base on.

We are reaching the point where Kemp and Loney could be sat and hidden so it won't look too stupid that they weren't played all year. This has happened before.

somebody mentioned earlier in the year that Kemp runs like he's running down hill, I have to concur with the notion..

Steal home, Matt.

399
Please tell me that you are kidding.

Please.

Organizations don't act that irrationally.

395 I feel like part of it is that Matty has also adjusted. It seems like he's a lot more content with just making contact instead of swinging for the fences.

398 My roto team got the top seed in the playoffs and thus, I have a bye this week. Martin, Saito, Loney, and Kemp all do nothing for me on a roto level, despite my fake ownership of them. It's slightly disheartening. I wish I could get a fantasy point piggy bank or something.

Vin has just noted that many of the great fans of the Chicago Cubs have left the game early.

MKE wins.

Ray King smiles.

this umpiring has a fluctuating strike zone I swear.

404 non-Vin announcers would probably assume that they were from LA.

Saito has not pitched since Wednesday.

403

thats what i meant. The pitchers adjusted and he has adjusted back. He's only 22 and he is so far ahead of the learning curve for someone with his baseball (or lack there of) background. Its exciting.

Gameday says Ethier stared at a red circle out of the zone.

I might bring in Meloan here, just for a test drive.

... TERRIBLE call to ring up Ethier.

401- Enabler.

Tony Abreu is officially out of the doghouse.

402 I think the last guy the Dodgers tried to hide was Roberto Clemente at their Triple-A franchise in Montreal a little over 50 years ago. Whatever happened to that guy, anyway?

Grady Little likes showing off all the young studs we have, bringing in Abreu as a Defensive replacement.

404 That's funny. The Cubs announcers last inning mentioned how the dedicated Cubs fans were still sticking around hoping for a comeback!

New Dodger policy: Make an error, get removed for defense the next inning.

Nothing like hindsight!

Anecdotally, Saito isn't at his best when he's rested a ton. But I don't know if that is just my selective memory.

415 - So that's what that award is for.

so this is interesting...

http://tinyurl.com/2fumzn

has this been covered yet?

HA! Nice!

the double play was ultra flukish.

Saito is quick like a cat.

I just saw the final AP story, so I guess we won.

415
Actually, I read an article about Clemente playing in Montreal and it turned out the Dodgers weren't hiding him. Or if they did, they did a very bad job of it. Pirates scouts saw Clemente play several times in Montreal.

So that's why Saito walked the guy.

darn, I wanted an unassisted double play from Saito

I recant my first statement of Bad Penny.

Good Penny.

415: Waiting for Enders . . .

425 - is miss cleo the AP correspondent in chicago?

the NL West & the Wild Card seem pretty attainable at this point, nothing like a little winning streak to get back in the flow of things.

Nice, three in a row for the Dodgers! Bases loaded and no outs for San Diego, with Cameron batting.

Well, at least hiding Russell Martin in Montreal seemed to work out OK.

Tall Chris Young was pinch hit for in the top of the 5th.

429 - 7ip, 7 hits, 1 earned run, and he hit a double and scored a run. I'll take it.

Also, looks like Penny should top 200 IP for the first time since 01.

402 I wish I were kidding!

Each Dodger pitcher induced at least 1 double play, the Dodgers turned 5 as a team.

Old Friend Milton Bradley showed up tonight as he was called out on strikes with 2 runners on in the 5th, down 5-1, and then got ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

When a lot of the prospects are played, we get into a situation where 1-8 hit about .290 and that is going to eventually take a toll on any pitcher.
I had an old cousin, now gone , who used to marvel about one of his Phillies teams, that batted .300, from top to bottom. It must have been in the 30's of 40's, knowing him. Is this true.

I missed the last inning or two - what's the scoop on Martin? I assume he's okay, or he wouldn't be out there. (Yes, I know that sounds naiive, but seriously, I don't think the Dodgers would bring him back in if they had any doubts. Even then I still would've pulled him for a defensive sub after that play.)

Anyway, great win. Great to see Bison mashing and stampeding! Tomorrow's pitching match up would seem to favor the Cubs, but we'll see, and at least it isn't quite as critical now.

so what are everyones feelings on that boston herald article stating if White had it his way, Billingsley and Buccholz would be in our rotation right now?

Current National League Batting Leaders
(200 or more plate appearances)

1. Matt Diaz .347
2. Matt Kemp .344
3. Chase Utley .336
4. Edgar Renteria .336
5. Matt Holliday .335
6. Hanley Ramirez .334

442 You mean, besides that it makes me want to cry into my cereal?

440 The 1930 Phillies, playing in one of the best hitters' parks of all time in the best hitting year of all time, batted .315 as a team.

Which was second best in the league.

442 Considering he signed for 800K, I'm guessing he would not have been a problem to sign.

444 that

442 see my comment and link in 43 . This may be a bad case of changing your tune way after the fact, or even worse a continued smear campaign on DePo 2 years after he is gone

442 Good riddance to DePodesta and even though I'm not a fan of Colletti, at least he doesn't try to tell White who to draft.

444 Boston probably would've taken Hochevar if we didn't right? Considering Boston isn't shy about spending money, it might have meant Kershaw would never have fallen to the number 7 pick.

wow, one of the sportscenter anchormen just mentioned OPS....

446 Does tell you that as Scouting Director, he did not have the final say at least in that draft.

He made a point in an interview this year that he does have final say if there are any disagreements re which player to pick.

442 So we wouldn't have Kershaw. But a bird in the hand I guess. Is Bucholtz as good as Kershaw?

449 How do you know Ned doesn't tell White who to draft? This year's draft some have said didn't seem like a Logan White draft.

448 I don't think there is much love lost between the remaining front office people from Paul DePodesta's time here and Paul DePodesta.

452

well like you said, a bird in the hand. Buccholz is in the bigs, Kershaw has more road blocks to overcome.

A Distant Sound of Thunder: First Year Player Draft Edition

445 That helps explain it. That could well have been the team--he said every one of them hit over .300, and would never let it go in any discussion.

441
For some reason, Martin was sent on a short pop up to Soriano and he was out by a mile. He tried to avoid the tag by jumping the in air and landed very awkwardly on his ankle and looked like he possibly twisted it or his knee.

OT but if any of you guys have a chance to see Okkervil River on their current tour, go do it! Absolutely amazing. They played for an hour and a half in Tucson the other night.

*in the air

452 "Is Bucholtz as good as Kershaw?"

Six of one, half dozen of the other. Baseball America ranks Kershaw the #6 prospect and Buchholz #7. I'd probably rather have Kershaw because he's left-handed and we need one of those.

459
What type of music are they?

453 Whenever I talk about things like this, I can only go from what I either hear someone say, like in this case, Logan White back in April 2007, or from Logan White interviews where I get direct quotes.

I mean what is a "Logan White" draft?

All I know is that he said that while he and Tim Hallgren and their scouts all talk about who to pick, if there is any disagreement, Logan White says he has final say on that pick.

457 The Phillies also batted over .300 as a team in 1893, 1895, 1899, and 1929. They played in what was basically the Coors Field of the day.

462

indie rock, i guess post alternative country or whatever. Just from the heart music.

some songs:

For Real
Westfall
another radio song
no key, no plan

OT for the PAC 10 football fans: how on earth did I get Cal (-14) at Colorado State (for entertainment purposes only)? Call me paranoid, bu I get nervous around dead solid locks like this. Am I missing something?

Oh, I forgot 1894. Just in case Bob checks my work.

453 I can only hope he doesn't. I just hope McCourt sees all of Logan's successes and gives him the GM job before he gets an offer he couldn't refuse from another organization. Unfortunately, Frank really seems to like Colletti.

The Giants do their part, they lose the lead and then the game to the Rockies in the 9th.

1929 could have been in my cousins range. I wish he was still here so I could counter with "what a hitters park they played in".

466
I thought Michigan was a lock to win too.

But yeah, Cal should mop the floor with them.

469 I am in danger of getting too euphoric tonight. Keep it coming.

469
Don't we want the Giants to win in this situation?

Yes, I realize what I just typed.

468 The one thing that Dodger fans have in their favor regarding losing White and Ng to another team, both hires will seem risky to that team so unless they want to take that risk, they will go for retreads.

And in someways, White has farther to go since he has only had other duties aside from scouting during this year.

But in both cases, it will take a team willing to take a chance and also commit to a multi-year plan, for both come from player development and it took the Dodgers 5 seasons to start seeing the benefits to the drafts, I doubt either of them would get that long to turn a franchise around.

469 Yeah, I meant that they do their part which is just rollover to every other team in the NL West, hope they that accomodating to us this weekend.

471 Michigan was off the board completely (I was actually ready to bet App St. if they were 14 or more dogs). I've seen both of these teams, and I can't conceive of why Cal doesn't get at least 21. Ft. Collins is NOT an intimidating place to play. Altitude?

Whatever- I'll worry right up until I end up winning (um, bragging rights... for entertainment purposes only). I just checked the line and it's up to 15 and a half, so obviously people feel like I do. My entertainment purposes did pretty well last weekend, so I've got a little bit of a goodwill endowment.

>> Brett Tomko cleared waivers, was released and immediately signed with his hometown San Diego Padres, where he played in 2002. Tomko said six clubs were interested in signing him, and it came down to the Padres and Rockies. The Dodgers are responsible for all of his 2007 salary of $4.1 million, except for roughly $70,000, which San Diego will pay. Plus, the Dodgers must pay a $1 million buyout of his option next year. <<

http://tinyurl.com/2crux7

After the draft, White said he wanted Beau Jones (see 43 ). White could have done many things with that pick in 2005, but I think we need to accept that we selected Hochevar.

At the time of the draft, how many here would have preferred drafting Bucholtz over Hochevar? Yes, Clay was the easier player to sign obviously, but I don't think many people thought he would ultimately be the better player at that time, otherwise he'd have been drafted a lot earlier than he was (and there's still a very real chance that Hochevar becomes the better player).

I hate missing days of DT.

477 I think we can handle that.

The Dodgers' roster now includes six players who played for the 2005 Dodgers and nine players who played for the 2005 Jacksonville Suns.

One player (Broxton) counts in both categories.

479> "Days of DT" Is that a new soap opera?

I hate this thing where San Diego and Arizona keep trading off wins. I wish one of them would just beat the other many times in a row.

>> Proctor's twinge: Something you don't see every day, but seem to be seeing a lot when Scott Proctor is on the mound, is a pitcher doubling over in pain on one pitch and throwing a 94-mph fastball with the next pitch.

The Dodgers reliever knows it looks strange, as it did during Monday's game, when trainer Stan Conte raced out to the mound, only to be shouted back into the dugout by Proctor, who insisted on continuing and finished off a scoreless inning.

Here's Proctor's explanation:

"It's something mechanical with my shoulder. Sometimes with fatigue, my arm gets tired and it slows down and can't catch up with my body, and I feel it. But it's not something like an injury. It doesn't happen early in the year, when you're at full arm strength. But if I'm hurt, I won't be in the game. It's late in the season, and it's time to do what you've got to do. It's nothing, really." <<

http://tinyurl.com/2crux7

482 I'm just going to be out of the loop for awhile...And that stinks to high heaven.

On the bright side...

477 It doesn't bother me much that we missed Buchholz, I just think White has earned the right to pick whoever he wants. Baseball drafts are pretty hit and miss so I don't really get too worked up over a missed prospects.

483. I hate this thing where San Diego and Arizona keep trading off wins. I wish one of them would just beat the other many times in a row.

I like it. We're going to pass them both anyway. :-)

I chuckled today thinking about the ecstatic reviews the Atlanta Braves got for their deadline acquisitions of Teixeira and Dotel.

Since the deadline, the Braves are 14-18, six games out of the wild card, and 8.5 behind in the NL East.

This is not a knock against the Braves, whose overall management is admirable, but against the media for assuming that these acquisitions made the Braves so much stronger. The same stories ragged on the Dodgers for being unwilling to part with Loney, LaRoche, Meloan, Kershaw et. al. when they had such a great opportunity to get Teixiera.

Job prospects Brock?? The masses need to know.

Does Logan White report to Ned?

203 et al: But you have to pronounce it "Darby".

489 Yeah, I got a sweet job. A really, really sweet job.

I'm kind of in heaven. But don't tell anybody.

492 A chocolate factory gig?

493 Even better.

494
A cougar chocolate factory gig?

495 No, a teaching gig.

But I like the way you think.

I still think the idea that the Dodgers would stop playing their best players right now for fear of looking "foolish" is a statement that is absurd beyond belief.

When people propose such ideas, similar to the "Jim Tracy sat down good players to spite Paul DePodesta," I get sad at how paranoid people are.

Do we want conspiracies or just differences of opinion?

I still think that if White reports to Ned, anyone who thinks that Ned doesn't influence the draft picks has blinders on. Ned may trust White, Ned may think White is very good, White may publicly say he has final say in the draft, but that doesn't stop Ned from throwing his weight around. I've seen too much of it in my career in middle management. And, the same goes for Depo. He had to make his mark in the draft too. All of this is speculation when you get down to it since I have zero insight in how the Dodgers do business, but this time, I'm relying on my gut instinct :-)

492 Question: is it local to SoCal?

492 Go back to the hills, lurker.

499 Not only is it SoCal, it's home. It's the South Bay.

I hit the jackpot.

501 Yeah, we're stuck with a happy Greg Brock. This may need a whole thread to itself.

502 Naw...No threads. I'm just happy to stay home.

Really happy.

Really, really, happy. Happiness, thy name is me.

Peavy will pitch in series finale
Right-hander will go on three days' rest against Diamondbacks

>> There were several factors that made Peavy's situation much more palatable. He threw only 99 pitches in Saturday's victory over the Dodgers at PETCO Park, seven mostly drama-free innings.

That the Padres have an off-day on Thursday and again on Monday, giving Peavy an extra day to recover from Wednesday's start. He'll likely start the first game of a three-game set in Los Angeles on Tuesday. <<

http://tinyurl.com/2k7nag

If you don't want to talk about it then it probably isn't an absolutely done deal then. I'll just say, best of luck brother. I'll keep a good thought for you.

Well, a big congratulations to Brock.

505 I have the job. It's a done deal. I'm here. I just didn't want this to turn into a Greg Brock gets a job at home thread. Which it did, anyway.

I have the job. I'm already at work. I'm working on my class and putting together my lesson plans. I got the job last week, I just didn't want to bother everybody with my personal nonsense.

Everything is peaches.
Life is wonderful.

{High fives}

I don't understand. Why would you want to leave Bakersfield?

But seriously, congratulations! {high fives} (no matter who invented the high five)

FSN is running the Michigan-App St game, if anyone is interested.

509 He plans to spend his weekends up there.

507 Then, it's just my denseness. Congratulations brother. It's a great feeling to have a new job.

Huh. So Jonah Hill played a college student in Accepted (on cable right now), then a post-college age slacker in Knocked Up, and then a... HS student in Superbad... ? Well, cool.

513
And he is only a year younger than Seth Rogen.

It was a number of factors. They needed a teacher on short notice, I'm a home town kid, I know my subject well, My letters of recommendation were solid, and I nailed the interview.

There is also the not-so-subtle fact that I am the balls. They bought in. As they should. Everybody wins.

{again, high fives}

Now that I can quit being silly, I was just really lucky. I caught the right job at the right time, and it was more luck than anything.

But I'll take it.

Never underestimate the power of luck. It was pure luck I got in the newspaper business, oh wait...

Brock, that is totally fantastic. Congrats. May you be a force for good in some kids' lives this year.

517
Awesome news.

Does the South Bay School District actually pay their employee's without demanding they return the money?

520 Pay, darn it, he knew he forgot something.

521 He knows I kid because well, because he's Greg Brock.

520
Brock works for one of them fancy school districts where you get paid, instead of getting a bill.

Gurnick's gamer tonight calls Grady Little "Kemp's biggest booster." With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Have to admit, I'm not down with the LA area geography slang. South bay? Ok, the first time I heard that, I thought San Jose? Milpitas? perhaps Mountain View?? Oh wait, it's a descriptive term for the greater LA area. Ok, where in the LA area is there a bay? hmm, Long Beach has a harbor, which could be called a bay I guess. So is the South Bay in Long Beach? Still not sure on this one. Just please don't tell me the area between Santa Monica and RPV is a bay! I also hear the term "Beach Cities". Ok, Beach Cities... hmm, there are cities along the beach/coast pretty much all along SoCal, minus a few areas where there are military bases or sheer cliffs. Maybe it has to do with the word "beach" being in the city names. Manhattan/Redondo/Hermosa beach? or Long/Huntington/Newport/Laguna? Who knows. It's like the bizzaro geographical area. vr, Xei

Long Beach is not part of the South Bay. The "Bay" in South Bay is Santa Monica Bay.

http://tinyurl.com/2ed8er

Why isn't it a bay? It looks baylike enough to me. Cartographers have thought so for years.

Please send your complaints to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
http://geonames.usgs.gov/

The Ghost of Gaspar de Portola is going to haunt Xeifrank tonight.

526. I guess I have higher standards when it comes to bays. It doesn't really look enough like a bay to me. There just isn't enough curvature for me. If you are going to make Santa Monica a bay, then you are going to have to make the Ventura/Oxnard area a bay too. Then we will have anarchy on our hands and everyone will want to be called a bay. We will have the Laguna Bay, San Luis Obispo Bay, Isla Vista Bay, Gaviota Bay, Jalama Bay, Avila Beach Bay, and all heck will break out. vr, Xei

Greg Brock,

Congratulations. If I were a teacher, I'd be thrilled to teach in the South Bay too. I've lived here for 21 years divided between two stints, one of which included high school. My parents have lived here for close to 40 years. It's beautiful here. I'm not sure I get it, even after all this time, but I love it.

To Bob's point. The Harbor Area is definitely distinct from the South Bay. And yet...not. You can't really separate the defense/aerospace heritage of the South Bay from that of Long Beach. You can't ignore there are a lot of longshorepersons living all around the South Bay, not just in San Pedro. In both areas, you're likely to look out at night and see huge flares from oil refineries. And between LAX and the LA/LB port complex, we are an unimaginably huge center of imports. If Santa Claus exists, he starts keeping a close eye on the ships steaming for the breakwaters as well as the planes floating like fireflies above the airport, because without them, he's got nothing.

A bay is supposed to be surrounded on three sides by land.

Malibu and Pt. Dume faces the bay looking south.

Santa Monica and the beach cities south of LAX face the Bay looking west.

The Santa Monica Bay's third side is a small notch of the Palos Verdes Peninsula that faces the bay looking north. Maybe it doesn't extend out far enough to be a "side" that would fully qualify it as a bay, but a lot of people pay a lot of money to occupy that notch so they can look in that direction.

Another way to look at it: At one time, the Santa Monica Bay filled the low-lying lands where the Ballona Creek now flows. That flood zone extends, arguably, all the way to downtown. When the seas rise again, it's inner "bay"ness will be restored.

It can't be a bay. San Francisco is THE city by THE bay. So, by definition, either that's not a bay or LA isn't a city.

531. haha, I like your logic.
Good night. vr, Xei

531 We just lost Baltimore and Galveston.

528 As an Oxnard guy moving to LA from the bay after college it took me about 3 years to adjust to people saying South Bay when they were not referring to San Jose, etc.

Oh no. The D's winning is as bad for sleep as the D's losing.

Rock on Greg Brock.

At this point, it's looking to me as if the Dodgers will make the playoffs. Andrew's DBacks will fold, and LA will secure the wildcard.

Everything is peaches

Bob wonders whether that's good or bad.

Awesome Brock. If those kids laugh half as much as at you as I do, they'll love your class. Wait, it's not a drivers training class, right???

Thanks for all the nice wishes, gang. Gotta go!

More congrats to GB.

Bob, my remark about not playing people so as not to look bad was suppoesed to be tongue in cheek, but I guess I didn't do it right.

537
What about a week ago when BP said we had as much chance of getting in the playoffs as Greg Brock had getting a gig in the South Bay?

541
Ahh, OK.

I will lower my level of righteous indignation appropriately.

I'm down to just "smug."

542 True, but those are pretty swingy. Three games back is still a pretty large deficit to overcome.

BPro thinks just three NL teams have no chance: Washington, San Francisco, and Florida.

Those two sentences had nothing to do with each other. During the Padres series, the playoff odds dipped from about 30% to 14% after the losses, then back up to 22%. Since the playoff odds are calculated by simulating the season a million times, the Dodgers only gain a game in the standings on any given day about a quarter of the time. When that happens, the odds shoot way up, and they'll shoot way down when they lose a game.

542
The BP probabilities can change dramatically from one day to the next. The Dodgers appear to be getting "hot" at the right time, with 7 wins in the last 9 games. They don't seem to be folding. Three games is a lot to make up, but it's looking like they'll do it. The DBacks' Pyth Record has to kick in sooner or later, doesn't it...?

"Smug is good".

Just saw an interview over at THT, of Retrosheets Dave Smith and although I'm a few years younger, our bio's and path to the D's are eirily similiar. Whats different is his amazing contribution to stats.

The D-bax have the easiest schedule down the stretch:

9 games vs SF/Pittsburgh.

Padres have 10 vs SF/Pitt, but they also have 4 vs Brewers.

Dodgers have the toughest schedule, with only 6 vs the SF.

If the Dodgers finish 15-9, there´s a good chance(78.5%) to reach the postseason.

Link:http://www.sportsclubstats.com/MLB/National/West/Dodgers.html

547
The 1987 Twins and 1997 Giants are still waiting for Pythagoras to kick in.

Waiting...

Waiting...

The 1959 Dodgers are enjoying their World Series, while the Braves that year are still wondering what happened.

547
Exactly, so what is the point of them?

3 games is not a big deal. Put it this way: would you feel comfortable with a 3-game Dodger lead right now? Thinking, no sweat, we'll definitely make the playoffs?

There is a good article somewhere on why Pythagoras won't work on the D-backs. Ican't remember where, but it was probably in the last two weeks.

Hello, Mr. Chips! Congrats.

552 The short version is the snakes have a great top half and lousy bottom in the pen, so they tend to win the close ones, and when they are losing they let the runs pile up. Its a hole in the theory IMO.

"Arizona's precocious rookies -- Stephen Drew, Chris Young and Justin Upton -- have fared well for the most part, but they're about to encounter a pressure..."

Link:http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=3005147

552 Because they figure out what the average scenario is.

This Wells for Tomko trade has significantly improved the Dodgers chances. I never figured the Padres were having this much trouble with their rotation.

This playoff race is still too close to call. All riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

Notice how everyone complains less about the offense now?

559 How exactly does that trade improve the Dodgers chances? I could see the garbage for garbage change of scenery argument, but significantly improves their chances?

561

I never said how significant it was... but it's at least a small amount. All the 5th starter needs to do is keep the team in the game.

With Wells, there's a halfway decent chance he'll be very good over the short duration we need him to be. He can win us 2 or 3 games that Tomko or Hendrickson would have lost.

With Tomko, the chance he'll be any good is almost nil. Especially if the Padres use him out of the bullpen, a role that doesn't suit Tomko's mindset. He's a mop-up man, optimally, a guy who saves the arms of better pitchers when the Pads are already hopelessly behind in a game.

They might both stink, but Tomko has no upside potential, whereas Wells has at least some.

With the Padres off-days, and moving Peavy up in the rotation--how many starts will Tomko actually make?

562 Okay, I generally take significantly to mean a lot.

563 I've hammered this point home way too much so I'll drop it after this, but I really don't see how Wells who has been absolutely horrid this year, has any upside. Sure he was sort of decent last year, but he seems to have lost the one thing that makes him useful, his control.

The thing I like the most is SD going to Mil for the final 3 games while we play the Giants.

Were the only team in the race that has 3 quality starting pitchers.

3 games is a lot to make up but if we do make the playoffs I like our chances better in the postseason this year then in 2004/2006.

Shockingly the Cardinals could be defending their Championship.

This is the worse group of NL teams I can ever remember.

Billy Wagner is imploding about a month early.

Simply put, Wells is not Tomko. Having 11 losses led the team to lose confidence with him on the mound. The team simply needed a change. So did Tomko.

Wells biggest attribute is that he isn't Tomko. Both are high wire acts. Wells has experience and an attitude. I hope that gets it done. If not, we are approaching a few off days and if need be, we go with a four man rotation, assuming Loaiza holds his own again.

We will have Wells on a short leash. The Pads won't expect much from Tomko. He might be thrown into the fire against us next week, just to see if he can get up for the team he feels gave up on him.

The Pirates will be a big part of this whole playoff run. I hope Jim Tracy puts it to the Snakes and Pads. However, I don't have a lot of confidence in that team. Two good starting pitchers and a couple sluggers, but they aren't playing for anything other than pride. Who is their closer again? Yeah, that is scary.

I'm wondering how long the Rockies can hang in the race. Dodgers are still closer to 4th place than 1st.

This Wells for Tomko trade has significantly improved the Dodgers chances

Wells's ERA+ with the Padres was 75.

Tomko's ERA+ with the Dodgers was 77.

The one thing that still worries me if the Dodgers actually make the playoffs is the third base situation. La Roche isn't on their playoff roster, right? And it'll be awhile before Nomar can play in the field it sounds like. Hopefully, with a few weeks left, IF the Dodgers did make the playoffs by then Nomar would be healed closer to 100%. But if not, the Dodgers would have Shea Hillenbrand as their playoff third baseman.

LaRoche could be put on the playoff roster fairly easily through use of the disabled list.

572 -- Exactly. LaRoche could take Repko's spot on the playoff roster.

Ahh. Is that right? And it doesn't even have to be a current player who's injured? Whew. I'll sleep better tonight.

(I lead a rather sad life.)

I lead a rather sad life

Speaking of which, I had the worst ever Protein Berry Workout today. It was essentially strawberry-flavored soy milk, with no iota of texture.

574
Speak yourself, I spent 20 minutes last night trying to figure out different scenarios for the Tampa Devil Rays to be eliminated.

576- Why are the D-Rays so cool?.....I guess because they wear green and have neat young players....

Be back in a while....Matt Kemp is greatness on a field...

574 -- LaRoche can only replace a hitter on the 60-day DL (which would be Repko).

We have a bunch of pitchers on the 60-day who can be replaced with different pitchers.

576 I've been bested!

575 Those get worse every time I go, too. Must be the Nike sponsorship that did 'em in.

Those get worse every time I go, too. Must be the Nike sponsorship that did 'em in

Yeah. They haven't been the same since Nike took over. Kinda like UofO.

I guess we can blame Nike for killing this thread also.

I blame Appalachian State

And yet no one has blamed Juan Pierre.

583 - that would be too easy, and if we've learned anything this year, it's that the Dodgers don't do anything the easy way.

Careful what you say, D4P, you've been quoted on the Cubs' Toaster blog. Big Cub is watching you.

And so the lead is now down to half a game. I think Dodger Thoughts commenter D4P last night astutely summed up the current state of the Cubs with this remark I discovered this morning: "The Cubs make a pretty lousy first place team."

Heh heh.

I will now boldy name a newly created entry that will factor into the playoff scenarios bouncing around in all our heads. It will be the demise of the Friars.

The Tomko Factor.

His arrival in a Padres uniform resulted in a lopsided loss and a Milton Bradley ejection. This is only the beginning.

We are paying him to be a secret and disruptive weapon in their clubhouse and eventually on the mound. He will take a Charley Brown spin backward when Kent hits a liner up the middle on him next week. Despite being added to the DL, his Tomko juice will infect the Padres and they will finish fourth behind the Rockies in the west.

587 And that's a clubhouse that already has some potentially implosive personalities in it. (Of course, the Dodgers have a few, too, I suppose.)

It's amazing the Padres are where they are... now they have the Tomko Factor

... to go along with the Barrett Factor, the Milton Bradley factor, and the "They're the Padres" factor

Milton was money last year for the A's during crunch time.

590 For a man that never plans, Milton seems to get a ton of clutch hits.

I think if we could play the Cubs every day till the end of the season, we would win the division by 4 games.

588 "Implosive personalities?"

I knew this day would come. For years, "implode" was on its way to becoming the new "explode," sort of how "emphathize" has completely replaced "sympathize" lately. But most uses of "implode" seemed fine, indicating a inwardly-focused meltdown rather than an outwardly focused, shrapnel-spewing bomb detonation.

But I've never expected to see "implosive personalities," particularly as a predictor of clubhouse discord. The image it provokes is of each Padre (or several of 'em) in front of his individual locker, curled up in the fetal position, sobbing uncontrollably.

I like it. But I'm pretty sure Bradley is more of an EXploder.

Phillies put a pretty good beating on Tim Hudson. They lead Atlanta, 5-0 in the sixth behind Kyle Kendrick.

Re: 554 A little late to the party, but the article that Gen3Blue was wondering about regarding Arizona outperforming their Pythagoreans is at The Hardball Times:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/no-mirage-in-arizona/

He is correct, the reason has to do with how many really good and really bad pitchers they have. Interesting read...

Jayson Werth is closing in on 200Abs worth of .420 OBP.

593 - Actually I did mean "explosive" but maybe subconsciously I meant to imply an implosion, too, as in a team that caves in on itself based on bad chemistry. Either way, it's a big gooey mess that someone has to clean up!

I hope the Braves bats come alive now. The Phils need to cool down.

I also don't like their schedule, they get Washington six more times and Florida this weekend.

Washington knocked them out of the WC last year, and the Nats are a poorer team while the Phils will remember what happened in 06. With all their injuries and pitching woes, they still scare me. More so than AZ who has to deal with Peavy tonight and us for six games.

Even if AZ fades, if the Dodgers and Phils go down to the wire, the Phils finish with three against the Nats. Not much room for error. I hope Stults is up for tonight. I don't want to see Big Bird throwing in Wrigley.

591
Is that a subjective or objective opinion?

Borrowing heavily from Larry D. and Jerry S., I am comfortable enough with my marriage and sexuality to admit what happened to me last night. Kemp hit the ball into right field and bolted towards third for his fourth hit of the night, fifth time on base. As he rounded second base without pausing...well....uh....hmmm....okay....I think it moved.

I'm sure this doesn't mean anything other than I am an obsessed Dodger fan, but I had to confess to someone. When the game was over, I watched a bad movie with Jessica Alba in it just to make sure it was a baseball thing. I'm confident it was.

So you're saying Matt Kemp gets you so excited, you have to calm down by thinking about sex?

2007 Minor League Park Factors:

http://tinyurl.com/392lya

I had no idea that Inland Empire was that much of a pitcher's park (it's the best pitcher's park in our system, and Great Lakes and Jacksonville aren't exactly hitter's parks).

599 Subjective.

Brock,

Congrats on the new job! I would have posted this sooner but I was busy filling out paperwork to transefer my kids out of the South Bay School District:-) (Truth be told I wish they were in the South Bay District--good schools down there).

600 - Too much.

Hold you hand up if you thought Kyle Kendrick would be the ace of the Phillies come Sept 07 or if you even heard of Kyle Kendrick on May 1st.

Keith Law would disagree. But then he's the same man who stated Garret Anderson should be benched for a man posting a sub 700 OPS for the last two months while Garret was posting an 881 and 854 OPS in the same months. To top it off Garret then launched 3 home runs in 4 days after the chat. RBI's may be meaningless but do extra base hits count?

600
Maybe you just need to do some angry dancing.

598 After today the Phillies have 4 with the Rockies, 3 with the Mets, 3 with the Cards and 3 with the Braves plus 7 with the Nats and 3 with Florida. That is 13 games with teams still with a playoff chance (at least for now) and 10 with teams that don't.

When they play the Rockies I may not know who to root for.

They are pounding the Braves today.

602
Thanks for the link.
Puts a little different spin on what McDonald did. 1.01 WHIP at home, 1.60 on the road while pitching for Inland.

608
I don't think the Braves have a realistic shot at the playoffs. They are going to be .500 after today and SEVENTH in the wild card standings.

610
But what does BP say?

Anyone see this from Jim Callis' chat?

Chris (Dartmouth, NH): If you were running the Pirates, who's your new GM and new CEO?

Jim Callis: Not sure on the CEO part, but if I needed a GM, I'd give Logan White a call.

and...

Ryan (LA, CA): What's Clayton Kershaw's ETA? I was thinking 2009 at the earliest, but some are saying he may be in AAA by May 2008 and end up in the majors by next season. Your thoughts?

Jim Callis: I think we'll see him in 2008. I don't think the Dodgers will be able to hold him back.

Although, if anyone would be able to hold him back, it'd be Coletti.

Starting today, the BP gaves the Braves a 2.9% chance of making the playoffs.

They're the only team in the NL that is over 1% and less than 15%.

If the Dodgers don't nab the Wild Card,

a) Which team, of the ones still in contention, would you rather see as the NL Wild Card winner?
b) Which team, of the ones still in contention, have the best shot to get to the World Series?

by the way, a) and b) don't have to be the same team.

My answers:

a) Phillies, awesome offense!
b) Probably the D'backs

The Padres are starting Germano, Maddux and Young against the Rockies this weekend. They haven't announced their rotation against the Dodgers but Peavy is expected to start Tuesday's game. Since they have Monday off they wouldn't need to start Tomko in the Dodgers series. But I wouldn't be surprised to see him start against us either Wednesday or Thursday.

btw, it's conceivable that the Dodgers don't nab the wild card because they won the NL West :) :) :)

610
I agree, the Braves seem dead in the water this year but I wouldn't be surprised to see them rise next year. With Colorado's pitching woes, they might eventually fade although they don't seem to have gotten that memo yet.

Either way, the Nats and the Marlins are easy fixins for the Phils with the way they've been scoring. They also get the Braves and Rocks to pick apart later. The Phils concern me more than I thought they would. I've been looking at AZ and SD so long, I forgot how they could knock us out too.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong.

The Dodgers fire a manager, minor league version:

http://tinyurl.com/2d6enk

614
We have that very poll going on right now at
http://www.truebluela.com/poll_vote/1188584950_oiYkrAya

Phillies are winning by a slight margin over spoiled brats.

nah, logan white doesn't wanna go to the pirates.

617
Since 1993, no one has gone broke betting against the Phillies.

614
I can't see the Snakes in the World Series. They have a great future, but I don't see them doing it now. They had their run, I think they'll fade away. They aren't quite ready for prime time just yet.

I personally would like the Cubs to make it in the WC since I'm from there. I don't see the WC coming out of the central, so I'd rather see the Pads in there if we win the division. I'd like to go through them to the series, just an added pleasure of accomplishment if we can get it done right.

619

That's a nice poll, and I've chimed in. Tommy Lasorda's gonna have to talk those "taking the ball home" voters out of it.

Dodgers suddenly look pretty good....well, not so much, more like the Pads and D-Backs look to be on the verge of mini collapses...

The Loaiza pick up will pay dividends, and as I told my Buddy Gerardo during the sweep of the Nats, Matt Kemp will be unconscious during the stretch run....

Anyone scared of the Rockies?...can't decide if I am or not...

If the DBacks made the playoffs, would their fans show up?

A Padres-Dodgers NLCS would be great.

625
No.

All Laroche needs is a 3-4 2hr bb night and his confidence will take over.

618
"Parrish led the Loons to a 57-82 record "

Is that leading?

624 I can see how you'd say that about the Snakes, but the worst thing you could say about the Padres is that they've lost two of four.

I wonder why Parrish was let go. Bad Communication skills?

This whole thing is a bit surreal as far as my emotions go, it seems to change from day to day. On Saturday I was resigned to dealing with off-season moves, then we gain two games in two days and and another game on the division yesterday.

I am hopeful to be pre-occupied in the next three weeks from real things, but it is just too soon to tell.

Seems silly to be making fun of the Diamondback fans. If we counted butts our numbers wouldn't be impressive enough to sniff our noses at our neighbors.

Wasn't long ago (summer of 2002) that people were making fun of the Angel attendance. Is anyone laughing now?

Braves rallying in the bottom of 8th, bases loaded 2 out 4 runs in, now 8-6 Phillies!!

630
He was looking into the future and predicting a sweep by us, thus the Padre misstep.

LaRoches double was well lit last night.
He's still 2-10/2 bb thats like a .200 batting AVG.

634 Until Chipper flied out to end the inning.

And a happy 47th to Candy Maldonado.

During his Dodger career, Candy was 0-for-3 on his birthday with a strikeout and a GIDP.

636
Did you do a daily review of Shea and Nomar when they were putting up such stellar numbers?

Candido, one of my 1st prospect crushes.

624. Matt Kemp will be unconscious during the stretch run....

The Dodgers face lefthanded starters in three of the next four games so we should at least see quite a bit of Matt for a while in spite of Grady's preference for PVL. :-)

625. I´m afraid that the Dodgers lose 3 of 4 in Colorado but I don´t believe that the Rockies are going to reach the postseason.
Isn´t it funny that the Pirates may be a decisive factor in the NL West?

636

Laroche will turn it around eventually. He will hit in the majors. He is the prospect I am most confident in - based on minor league track record, that - that will be a consistent offensive contributor in the majors.

All I know is the next 11 games will tell us our playoff picture. We finish this road trip 4-1 including today and then take care of business at home and win 4 or 5 of 6 then you can talk playoff possibilities. This team has yet to put together more than a 5 game win streak all year. Cubs are helping us out so far and we've had success in the phone booth this year. An earlier poster had said he like the last 3 games that we have the Giants here, why is that? We are 1-5 here against the NoCals, I dread the last three if we need it to get into the post-season especially taking the history with those %$&*$ into consideration. Bottom line, Dodgers have to take care of their business and then let the chips fall where they may.

to add to 643

the only thing that will prevent him from hitting is if:

1. his back explodes
2. his shoulders implode
3. Colletti keeps blocking him with more Hillenbrands.

643. Do you believe he will have better power numbers than his brother?

646

He will be a better all around hitter then his brother. I don't think he has the raw power of Adam but he should be a consistent 25-30 homerun threat with 60-70 walks a season if he is healthy.

He's basically like a Russ Martin but with more power.

639
So Andy starts three double plays on Tuesday and the so-called Lucille II is a defensive replacement for him last night? Must have been that routine grounder he booted.

Andy's walks are impressive until you realize how many have been IBB and how many times he has been pitched around in the 8th slot of the order.

With his power potential, I can't see him hitting 8th in the future. Remember what Kemp was doing in the 8th slot? Can you believe that basher was hitting eighth? Will Nomar ever hit third again? No. Never.

If LaRoche continues to strike out a lot, I foresee Abreu getting a start or two to see if he can ignite things. He's more of a natural 8 hitter, speed and such.

It should be noted that LaRoche doesn't need to "turn it around" to keep up with his competitors. His OPS since his recall is .733. Nomar's is .689 and Hillenbrand's is .613.

I'm hoping that Matt Kemp will be "unconscious" in the Shane Spencer sense as opposed to the Dickie Thon sense.

Philies lead 8-6 bottom of the 9th; Braves have bases loaded and 2 out

By the tip of Chris Roberson's glove the Braves win!

648 Hitting eighth does not effect your ability to take walks, except you get walked intentionally more. That's the only thing that changes.

http://truebluela.com/story/2007/9/4/201518/6293

Matt Diaz-walk off 2 out 3 run double. Braves win

I'd like to see Brett Myers' postgame interview.

649- Remember a few threads ago when we were talking about great baseball names?

Reporter: Brett, what did you think of Matt Diaz' Performance?

couldn't resist

649 - "Andy's walks are impressive until you realize how many have been IBB and how many times he has been pitched around in the 8th slot of the order."

Have you ever read anything I've written on this point?

657- http://youtube.com/watch?v=QPx327SbBQ0

Curtis, you need to stop with that Traschel nickname you've been using. I've now had to delete it twice.

653 - edited

2007-09-05 13:54:54
653. Curtis Lowe

I'm not really down on LaRoche just being fecetious with a small sample size.

Germano was throwing some wicked breaking pitches in LaRoches first two over eager at bats since being recalled and then he faced a pretty focused Zambrano and then when both pitchers lost their edge he did what I expected him to do, walk or hit.

Following up on him calling a reporter "retarded"...

Brett, why did you put what turned out to be the winning run on 1st with that walk? That seems pretty retarded.

Hopefully that is the kind of heart-breaking loss that costs the Phills more than just one game.

662
I toast to that LAT! I'm afraid they have too many runs to score though. If they are out of the playoffs by one game (a very possible scenario), does Charlie still win manager of the year? Does Brett move in with Mitch Williams?

658
Apparently it hasn't stuck if I have read it. I'm interested in it though, I'll search around. I know you posted on Andy when he didn't get called up on Saturday, that might be where it rings a bell. I'll go find it.

Don't take it personally, my head is cluttered. Too many numbers, too many responsibilities. Lots of personal highs and lows in the past week too. My daughter used the potty sucessfully for the first time on Tuesday and my son started to crawl. Neither of them were pitched around either, they stepped up to the plate themselves.

[658}

Read it. I'll have to check with my attorney "Billy" before I enter and then retract a guilty plea. I think I have his cell number right here. All I can say now is that I intend to reconsider my opinion this month.

661.
https://thejuice.baseballtoaster.com/archives/782593.html

664 - https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/787079.html

Even if he's being his curmudgeonly self, I liked Tony Jackson's piece today about Wrigley vs. Dodger Stadium and most other stadiums...

664. Congrats to the little Androids.
vr, Xei

Tony Jackson has a funny 'get off my lawn' post on his blog today. Granted I see his point, but unfortunately I would say 85% of people who go to baseball games really enjoy all the silly videos, kiss cams, etc that they play between innings. Unfortunately you can't say no to the 85%. Seems like Dodger Stadium held out for awhile but lost that battle in the end.

664 - The potty hurdle is a wonderful one to clear. We're one for two in that department.

670 Jinx! 668 Say it three times fast.

671 I think "the potty hurdle" also aptly describes a game we play on the street I work on in SF's civic center.

664 Thanks for your time, I appreciate the link. I don't have numbers to back up my thoughts, I've just seen him pitched around a few times. I'm not sold on his readiness just yet like I am with Kemp and Loney. However, we have a void at third and he has the most potential of all the candidates right now. I was hoping Shea would be our Marlon Anderson of Sept 07 but those five strikeouts and that error on Saturday made those hopes die quickly.

I think Andy needs some more time in the bigs to find out if he is here to stay. I'm hopeful he proves himself when it matters most, a pennant race. That is some big time pressure though. I also much prefer him to walk than to strike out as often as he has this week, but his two big doubles were very big parts of our victories, so I'll take the good with the bad.

Just so we don't forget last week, those who gave Shea an earful and called him a "turd" and such, he was 4 for 9 with 5 RBIs and a big defensive play on Tuesday that kept the Nats from at least getting even in that game. I'm not a Shea fan and don't think he's a long term solution, but he plugged a hole for us quicky when Nomar went down.

New post up top.

673 Andy is the only one of the three who showed both power and patience at every level. I think he will be fine.

671 We are nowhere near clearing the hurdle yet. She been sitting on the potty a few times a day for a few months, she might have accidently went. It is a beginning though. With a new baby in the house, we are not pressuring her at all.

BTW, the Elmo Goes Potty video/DVD is a great help if any have a future need.

Speaking of Hurdles, did anyone see Clint watch his former team recentley? Are they going to fade now?