Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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Screen Jam
TV and more ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
It was just an inning, but it was nice to hear about Yhency Brazoban's return to the mound tonight: three batters, two strikeouts, one groundout.
Meanwhile, Esteban Loaiza also had a good day, pitching two scoreless innings. Last week, Ken Gurnick told us at MLB.com that pitching coach Rick Honeycutt had altered his delivery, prior to Loaiza's poor Spring Training debut:
"Flat": That was the word right-hander Esteban Loaiza used after allowing three runs (two on a homer by Javy Lopez) in two innings Friday. ... Loaiza blamed his Friday problems on a tweaked delivery, suggested by pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. The adjustment changes Loaiza's knee raise to force hip turn, generate lower-body power and greater pitch velocity, but his fastball hovered around the mid-80s and he sounded uncomfortable with the delivery change.
"It's what Honeycutt wants me to do," Loaiza said. "I was too rushed on it, just did it in the bullpen two days ago and took it into the game and I wasn't my normal self. Next time, I'll have a good idea what I'm doing and not have things in my head. [Brad] Penny, [Derek] Lowe, [Tanyon] Sturtze, [Scott] Proctor are doing it [the knee raise]. If I'm not comfortable with it, I won't bring it into the game."
This week, we learned that essentially, Loaiza has rejected Honeycutt's suggestion.
Loaiza said he abandoned a tweak in his delivery, went back to his usual mechanics and felt better than he has since prior to last year's neck and knee operations.
"I just stayed tall and drove the ball down," he said. "I wanted to keep throwing, but Joe Torre said that's it. I was more relaxed today, going back to me delivery. I felt great. I wasn't happy with the results last week, and I didn't want people to be thinking negative stuff about me."
Finally, Dylan Hernandez of the Times rounds up the hopefully minor ailments of pitchers Hong-Chih Kuo, Takashi Saito and 2007 first-round pick James Adkins.
* * *
I'm pretty far past the age of getting addicted to video games - blogging pretty much eliminates the time for that - but my son, the car fanatic, likes to go to HotWheels.com, and I've found this game strangely entrancing. I have even played it a couple times after he goes to bed.
That press conference that Jon attended seems like a long time ago.
Also, the fact that "bloggers" and "stat guys" argue against Pierre's playing time probably helps guys like Plaschke find even more reason to support Pierre.
But what is so crazy about the situation is JP's is doing what was expected of him-he isn't going to perform much better. Either may perform better, but even if his stats remain the same he contributes more to the Dodgers, defense power, position flexibility, etc. However, nothing is going to change because of the JP contract. I think the JP, Either situation will be a problem all year. Our best hope is for some team to have a centerfielder get injured and see if a trade can be made.
I do not think Pierre's contract is the problem. I think the fact that we still have no idea how to judge performance, is the real problem.
It's so depressing. It can't be real. This is just a nightmare. But soon I'm gonna wake up. Someone's gonna bring me around. Right? Right?
>> but Kershaw used a fastball that topped out at 97 mph and a vicious curveball to strike out three batters, two with the bases loaded. <<
http://tinyurl.com/3agtl8
''A fastball that topped out at 97 mph and a vicious curveball," puts him pretty close to Sandy Koufax territory. I followed Koufax his entire career although I didn't see him pitch in person until 1962. Here's what I recall based on what was being written in the newspapers at the time.
When Koufax pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers his fastball was probably in the 98-100 mph range. He had the best fastball in the Major Leagues. The problem was he couldn't control it. He didn't become a great pitcher until he developed his curveball and learned to take something off his fastball. But "taking something off his fastball" didn't mean dropping all the way down into the 90-93 mph range as some here have suggested. During the 1960s when Koufax was pitching no-hitters and striking out more than 300 batter per season his fastball was probably in the 95-97 range with an occasional 98. In other words, he probably still had the base fastball in baseball. It's just that he was throwing it a few mph less than maximum effort. Is Kershaw the next Koufax? Maybe not. But it's going to be a thing of beauty to watch if he comes anywhere close to Sandy.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dwyre5mar05,1,7465315.column?
It's like the Play Juan Pierre press campaign has begun. It's like the wire. What's the Sun running? ok..Bill get on out there and do the Pierre thing but with your one line BS..make it better than Jacksons..
(as he is walking away)...his shirts are horrible..I need that by 4..
(Bill stuttering/laughing) it's basically all ready written chief..
When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for the Minotaur!!!
Maybe UCLA needs to re-hire Lavin so Coach Wooden won't have to get himself so worked up during March Madness.
Just stay safe, Coach.
Please Bill, take the buyout. Please.
"He [Kershaw] gave up a home run and had the bases loaded, but he didn't back off one bit," he [Torre] said. "That's good insides for me."
That's the famous Belly Full Of Guts, isn't it?
You should trade the gas station, the repair shop, the tire store, and the snack bar for a new Datsun. And sign the junkyard to a 5 year, $44 million deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwxIZbXdWCQ
1 min long. (NSFW) (sheee)
I don't know if you call me a Dodger conspiracy person or not, but if JP's contract was exactly the same in years and he had produced the same stats, but was being paid 3million a year instead of a tad over 9million, the talk in camp would be I think at minimum, will use Either for situations when we want more power, and when we feel we need more speed will use JP. Ethier would be a central part of the conversation, JP would have to compete for the job. However, since he has the large contract, Ethier has to do something incredible and he still will not be guaranteed a spot, or even a platoon.
Because Bill Plaschke would never, ever brutalize anybody in print. It just wouldn't happen.
Yeah, right.
We were famous. We went on ESPN. We were king.
If someone was on steroids, we could hide it.
Then came the internet. A series of tubes.
On the internets they hate Juan Pierre.
I like Juan Pierre. He has a ring in a box.
Don't read the internets. They have no ring in a box.
They don't go on ESPN.
Plaschke must only be counting active players, but even then, Nomar has a WS ring.
As for other people with the organization. Joe Torre has a few WS rings. Rick Honeycutt has one from 1989. Tommy Lasorda has a couple.
Plaschke clearly isn't a numbers guy.
Plaschke doesn't really remember last season. Pierre almost always batted 2nd. Why does he get paid to have opinions again?
I've gotten over 100,000 a couple times, at which point the game starts to malfunction on my computer and becomes even more difficult - cars get trapped at various places and you can't move 'em out.
The best thing Ethier has going for him is Martin, Kent, Kemp, Jones, and LaRoche/Nomar. The thing most going against Pierre is Furcal--the team already has a lead off hitter.
In other news, Tony Jackson seems like a fairly nice guy. It's kind of sad that he doesn't grasp the silliness of his faith in Pierre.
You didn't misread. It was taunting.
Others took it literally. It's all a mess.
For what it's worth, I added my buck-two-five:
http://tinyurl.com/2zf4rl
Though I contribute very little, such a show makes me proud to be a part of this online community.
Young RF
Loney 1B
Jones CF
Kent 2B
Nomar DH
LaRoche 3B
Ethier LF
Bennett C
Hu SS
Penny P
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