what?.. do tell.

As if you didn't dislike Dodgers OF Andre Ethier enough already, after his game-winning three-run HR off Ryan Dempster that gave the Dodgers the series with a 7-4 win over the Cubs, I'm going to tell you a little story about him about something that occurred this morning at the ballpark.

You all have seen me write about Jenna, my daughter Rachel's friend who was Bat Mitzvah two weeks ago. Today, Jenna's mom came to the ballpark on her day off to get some Dodger autographs that Jenna had wanted. She got Mike Lieberthal to sign, a couple of others, and then went to Russell Martin, who wasn't signing very much, and Ethier, who she said at first she didn't even recognize.

Ethier told her: "I'm only going to sign as much as Martin does." Martin had signed, at that time, only one piece, so Ethier signed only one piece. Then Martin signed a few more, so Ethier did, too -- but only for the men waiting, not for Jenna's mom, who was the only woman around. She asked him, "Aren't you going to sign for me?"

His response will stun you. He said, "I already have five girlfriends, I don't want another one." She responded, "I don't want to be your girlfriend, I just want your autograph." But Ethier continued: "I'm just a Southwestern kind of guy, I like to rope my women in." (He's a native of Phoenix, Arizona.)

Stunned, Jenna's mom handed Ethier's card to one of the men in line and Ethier signed it (a pretty weak-looking signature, too, I might add).

Now, maybe Ethier thinks he was being funny, but it strikes me as being extremely rude. Oh, and in case any of the five girlfriends is reading this: you're not the only one!!!

The results were mixed. It was more weird than funny, but it had some moments.

3.5?

I havent heard the thing on kemp, whats that all about?

and Russ needs to be signed long term this offseason. Along with Billingsley.

oh gees.

and Russ needs to be signed long term this offseason. Along with Billingsley.

he doesn't even drink soda!

I get to hear a lot of gossip about showbiz folk from my wife, who reads Perez Hilton and Defamer and so on. Some of it is undoubtedly true, but there is so much envy mixed in with it, you have to take it with a grain of salt. The fact that this appeared on the site of a bitter Cub fan (is there any other kind?) would tend to make me discount it.

Josh Rawitch will get on top of this if there's anything to it.

18 It was just a dumb joke. Unworthy of this site.

I got it :)

are you 6'4 220lbs?

Apparently many of the Angels fans are going to the game on their own dimes.

yeah thats true

And we won today? Sweet. We..uh, win?

Assuming 5'10", 150 lbs is close.

I don't get the whole "autograph" thing, sincerely I don't, anytime you have to put your self at the mercy of a ballplayer or actors mood it's nobodies fault but your own, & I know I didn't explain my self properly but that's the best I can do.

Dear Steve, please look at a copy of the AL standings. Note that there are FIVE teams in the East and FIVE in the Central. Five divided by two does not yield an integer.

I know this is a tough concept for you to grasp.

What does he want the team not playing inside its division to do? Play intrasquad games?

And it wasn't just Bob.

http://tinyurl.com/2f9o3y

Even if Ethier did say that stuff, couldn't he have been joking? Perhaps he was just putting a woman trying to use her physical appeal to get what she wants in her place, or something D4P would say...

Most of the negative stuff I've heard about Ethier has been of the goody-two-shoes variety, that he wears his religion on his sleeve and thinks that makes him better than everyone else. That, combined with the behavior alleged in the blog post, makes me wonder if there's some sort of Doug Christie thing going on with Ethier.

That said, who really cares?

This is really not the sort of stuff that requires careful analysis, but honestly that sounds more like a wooden attempt at "playful" banter than anything else.

Also, can we get some farm teams that don't have stupid numbers as their nicknames?

I'm watching it also, poor Broxton the camera focused on him & he seemed to be a lonely soldier except for Stults who gave him a brotherly pat on the back.

http://kvcr.org/listenlive.htm

---

Top 10 plays coming up on ESPN and their ad teaser made it look like Abreu's crazy leaping grab and throw will be one of them.

But if you want, now that he's here in SF, I can go keep an eye on him. Maybe get his cell # for Oswald, too.

Oh, and Wes Anderson's soundtracks always rock. I love 'em all. (Even if the music takes center stage too often and sometimes makes it feels like a music video.)

Jeanne Tripplehorn.

Saturday's game won't be over by then, unfortunately . . . I suspect the event was scheduled well before the game start time was changed.

Nice

Now to my theory – Ethier's "bomb" was pretty much a can of corn to the left-center gap that would have been caught under normal circumstances. The wind wasn't blowing out all game, then suddenly in the top of the ninth with the Dodgers at the plate, the wind picks up and carries the ball just over the netting for a game winner. Chance? Perhaps. But maybe it was more. Perhaps it was the ancient gods of the game exacting their revenge on the fans. Of all people, Cubs fans should know better than to tempt fate the way they did, but then again, day games at Wrigley don't always lead to proper decision making (see: Cub fan/Bud man).

Also of note, they lustily booed Dempster as he left the field. Mind you this is a guy that up to that point had only blown two saves all year (Saito's blown three). Zambrano deserved it, Dempster… not so much. As a comparison, Tomko deserved every boo he ever got at Dodger Stadium, but when Saito blows a save there shouldn't be a sound. It's just good form, but then again, can we really expect people who throw homerun balls back onto the field and eat their own (Bartman) to ever practice good form?

Well, I guess that explains Kuo's arm going bad.

http://tinyurl.com/34obu6

But Bartman deserved to be eaten.

I'm watching Mad Men. I should go before I defame myself.

Russ will have 1 year and 150 days service time at the end of this season. He will almost certainly be eligible for arbitration after 2008 (as a "Super Two") and for four years through 2012.

Similar young stud catchers in similar situations were Victor Martinez and Brian McCann, plus Joe Mauer in a slightly different situation (he signed his contract after 3 years of service time)

Victor Martinez (signed in 2005 with 1 yr, 114 days service time):
$1m signing bonus
2nd yr - $500k
3rd yr - $800k
arb yr 1 - $3m
arb yr 2 - $4.25m
arb yr 3 - $5.7m
FA yr 1 - $7m option ($250k buyout)
Total contract - 5 yrs, $15.5m

Brian McCann (signed in 2007 with 1 yr, 117 days service time):
$1m signing bonus
2nd yr - $500k
3rd yr - $800k
arb yr 1 - $3.5m
arb yr 2 - $5.5m
arb yr 3 - $6.5m
FA yr 1 - $8.5m
FA yr 2 - $12m option ($500k buyout)
Total contract - 6 yrs, $26.8m

Joe Mauer (signed in 2007 with 3 yrs service time - not an exact comp):
arb yr 1 - $3.75m
arb yr 2 - $6.25m
arb yr 3 - $10.5m
FA yr 1 - $12.5m
Total contract - 4 yrs, $33m

Here's my expected Martin contract, which I expect to be more Mcannish than Maueriffic:

$1m signing bonus
2008 (2nd yr) - $500k
2009 (arb yr 1) - $3m
2010 (arb yr 2) - $5.5m
2011 (arb yr 3) - $7.5m
2012 (arb yr 4) - $9.5m
2013 (FA yr 1) - $13m option ($1m buyout)
Total contract - 6 yrs, $28m

All the great young catchers start with M, as in Money.

Night all! It's Dodger Thoughts Night North tomorrow as a few of us will sit together behind Barry's butt. Look for us on ESPN as we catch a Matt Kemp home run.

http://www.the-tidings.com/2007/083107/sangabe.htm#sangabe2

I've heard a lot more good reports about fans interacting with him than bad ones and a friend of mine got his authograph for me last season and said he was really nice and told him to tell me thanks when my friend told him I was a big fan. From what I've observed, I don't think he's the type to play around. I think he's just guilty of having a goofy sense of humor.

1) present value of money
2) setting precedents

If the Dodgers give, say $10m to Martin for next year, what happens when the next all star with less than two years service time comes a knockin'?

120 - Rick White was once a Dodger org man too:

http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=30070

"Dental plan."
"Lisa needs braces."
"Dental plan" ....

Bradley Strong, D.D.S.
www.bstrongdds.com