[iverson voice] We're talking about intrasquad games! Intrasquad games! [/iverson voice]

There are those words again.

2 (Jim Mora voice) And we wanna talk PLAYOFFS! PLAYOFFS!

What did the Zen Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor?

"Make me one with everything."

Also interesting is the lineup Torre will use for the spring opener. All the regulars will start, including Juan Pierre in left field, Matt Kemp in right field and Nomar Garciaparra at third base. Pierre, in fact, will hit leadoff. "He says, 'Whatever you want to do,'" Torre said of Pierre. Garciaparra, meanwhile, has been told by Torre of his status as frontrunner for the job.

You would have been more sick with the original post. Diamond had said that Nomar would be playing SS, but it has been fixed.

This sucks. Jon, we need something sunny to cheer us up. Can you whip up a "Logan White Promoted to GM After Colletti Elopes to Paris with Juan Pierre" post?

he lost 10 MPH off his fastball, he's just tired but everything's ok

"I formed a relationship with Dave where he's easy to talk to," Bruney said. "In the past, I might not have had that relationship; I didn't talk to Gator."

Bruney also admitted to a level of fear in playing for Joe Torre, who was constantly criticized in recent years for overusing certain relievers.

"With Torre - and I'm not trying to bad-mouth anybody - sometimes you would go out there and try to be so good because you were scared of doing bad," Bruney said. "You can't pitch like that. (Joe) Girardi understands that you make mistakes - and I'm going to make them."

No wonder they went 73-89 and just missed out on last place in the NL West.....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kHXpgbQrsEo

35 It's great fun, and I'm sure you didn't know, but that video's been posted about here about 100 times including the last few days. I see it in my sleep, nightmares even. ;-)

in the movie version, Jerry Reuss will be played by Ed Begley Jr.

If you look at this team and this lineup and the way a lineup is generally structured (each guy fits into it a certain way, and a lot has to do with how all the pieces fit together), if everyone is healthy and productive, this is a better team with Pierre's speed in the lineup. It's not all about each individual player's talent level, a la fantasy baseball. It's about how it all fits together. IMHO, Pierre needs to be in there most of the time

A commenter named Marcel replied within one hour:

To be honest, Furcal, Martin and Kemp provide more than enough speed (there is potential for 80 steals there combined) for this to be a successful lineup. Then you put Ethier's solid power and on-base skills in place of Pierre, and this is a much more dangerous team.

16 "Regulars" is also Leung's word. (If JP is leading off, is Furcal playing?)

Jackson might occasionally deign to allude to non-traditional stats such as OPS, but until he gets the fundamental point that a baseball team is nothing more or less than the sum of its parts (with the minor exception of things like turning DPs), he'll never grasp the contributions of performance analysis.

Speed is better than lack of speed. But it's nothing compared to the ability to get on base and hit for power. So while Marcel is not wrong, he too misses the bigger points.

And, as Jon has put it 1000 times, if intangibles matter, they matter in ways that show up in statistics on the field.

That's me being optimistic.

52 Gurnick also has a veteran over young 'uns bias that's pretty clear and has very little say in what line-up Torre brings out there in April.

That's Ned's interview with BP in January. I contrast that with the Red Sox treatment of Pedroia last year. He was batting .172 on May 3rd and given the chance to hit his way out of it. I think Boston qualifies as a big market.

I guess I prefer this situation to a 4-year Lowell contract.

I would be shocked (and appalled) if Gurnick had any say whatsoever. Or even any indirect influence.

But that's probably what you meant.

Something for now, something for later.

bhsportsguy, los angeles: Hey Jim: I see that two of the on the brink of the top 100 list are Hiroki Kuroda and Chris Withrow. What can we expect from each of them this year?

John Manuel: those are apples & oranges guys . . . had a scout email me today that we "missed the boat" by not ranking Kuroda; personally I was worried about his size, lack of strikeouts and durability (he had elbow issues in '06 and finished modestly last year).

Withrow is a pick to click for the '09 top 100, I could see him leaping up the list if he has a good first season, big-time arm, just a little raw for the top 100 at this point for me.

John Manuel:

We'll see. And, likely as not, injuries will tie everyone's hands anyway. What's that old football axiom - "the most important ability is availability?"

It includes all 5 WS games, plus games 4 & 7 of the NLCS. There are also bonus features, including 3 calls of Gibson's HR (Scully, Buck, and the awesome Drysdale call).

This will start shipping March 25.

http://tinyurl.com/3xa9tk

It's on Amazon.com for $52.49, and also on MLB.com for $51.99.

This is a must have!

"When people ask what it is about him that makes him special, all you can say is, 'Wait 'till you see him,'" said pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. "It's an explosion coming out of that arm. Some guys just set themselves apart. Some people are from this planet, and some are from another planet."

MINOTAUR!

It starts, "High fly to right field..."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've seen the Gibson HR roughly 1,000 times and I'm almost 100% sure Scully says, "High fly ball into right field..."

I'll still buy the DVD, but with a healthy dollop of disdain.

He said,"Manny Ramirez is not here today. What did his grandmother die again?"

Also, if anyone else is in Vero and wants a free ticket (1st Row next to bullpen) I still have it available.

Jim Callis usually does the Wed. Baseball America chat and I sent the question in prior to finding out John Manuel was doing the chat today.

I keep thinking that he will eventually get back into ownership and try to abolish the Wild Card.

I remember when he was around 6 or 7 and he told me, "This 55 guy is really good."

And now he wants to start a fantasy baseball league with me! Kids grow up so fast.

This is akin to my wife's cousin, who won a "small" jackpot in the lottery, and her parents were already rich.

Life is not fair.

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2008/02/as-mrs-bueller.html#more

Furcal
Martin
Loney
Jones
Kemp
Kent
Penny
Nomar
Juan

Furcal (18)
EthIerre (12)
Loney (21)
Jones (38)
Kemp (24)
Kent (19)
Martin (15)
LaRoMar (22)

I'm guessing the EthIerre split would be 12/0.

93
It took me a minute...but I finally got that. I'm just a not-so-smart SEC fan.

92 which way?

Furry (8)
LOOGY (0)
Kempier (31)
Kent (18)
Martin (17)
Jones (26)
LaRoMar (21)

You sure you want to do that? I'll take you up on that. ;-)

Somebody has to do D4P's job.

and then run the Texas Rangers into the ground? Oops, it's too late.

I for one remain optimistic that, even if it takes a bit, Ethier and LaRoche will rightly take the starting jobs.

I cannae wait!

if aurilla starts they have 5 of their 8 starters with a OBP less than .310 and 3 guys with an ops worse than juan pierre

http://tinyurl.com/36pap2

DODGER PITCHERS TAKE NOTE!!! See how Kazmir puts just a few games in doubt to ensure he doesn't endanger a potentially promising season for the Rays. Toughness is a virtue...in FOOTBALL.

MMMMMMM...That phrase could send me into a nice, happy sleep if repeated over and over while put to some Enya background music.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Forget the Phillies. Billy Wagner nearly started a beanball war with the University of Michigan after one overzealous Wolverine tried to bunt on him in the fourth inning. With a runner on second and one out, centerfielder Kevin Cislo pushed his bunt foul.

Wagner, clearly annoyed, shook his head a number of times, and Cislo wisely swung away, grounding out. Wagner said he couldn't believe that Cislo, a junior, bunted.

"If he got that bunt down, I would have drilled the next guy," Wagner said. "Play to win against Villanova."

What's unusual is that a good bit of the day we've had snow and sun at the same time.

That's about as common as Dodger announcements that the team will play its best players, period, regardless of PVL factor. So, now, after simultaneous snow and sun, maybe there's hope...

Now I may have just heard thunder. At least it isn't likely there'll be tornadoes along shortly. Those were about 3 weeks ago.

Warm weather and baseball will be nice.

http://tinyurl.com/35akmb

Its understandable that many around here would just prefer not look at a picture of a fake and mythical creature.

That ain't cool, but like some here have said, maybe Torre is just trying to help La Roche.

This year on the anniversary of 4+1, those here who missed it somehow, should write up how they found out about it.

And I agree, she is sweet while Jon on the otherhand, well you know he is the cynical one on DT.