Happy Opening Day, y'all!

Thank God for NPUT.

Today is always one of the red-letter days on the calendar for me. I'm still plotting my escape from work before the first pitch.

Best of luck to the Dodgers and all Dodger Thoughters out there. Thank you for helping me get through the offseason. Play ball indeed.

From the previous thread:

I think it would be degrading to have a 12 year old playing in a league of all 9 and 10 year olds.

It is degrading. But I did learn humility at an early age, so I had that going for me.

Yes, play ball indeed!

DodgerSims has the Dodgers with a pre-game 58.88% win probability, while the LV Hilton has them with a 60.78%. In other NL West games, the simulator has the Padres (51.76%), Reds (51.80%) and Cardinals (50.28%) as favorites to win. There is a good chance the Dodgers will be in first place (or atleast tied for first) after today. The Dodgers magic number (as well as every other NL West team) is 154.
vr, Xei

Thankfully I get of at 12:45 today....going straight home to hold my baby in my lap, and watch her first ever Dodger game that counts. It's a lovely day in Pasadena and I can't wait to go into this season with all of my Dodger Thoughts knowledge.

4. I don't think they should allow it. Atleast not without parent consent.
vr, Xei

LAT'd from last thread...

I wonder if Bob knows the answer to this:

When was the last time a pitcher threw a no-hitter on Opening Day?

I want to guess Hideo Nomo in 2001 with the Orioles.

--

Who was the last Dodger to throw a no-hitter on opening day, if there was one?

7 That was in the 1960's when things like that were never even considered. I'm sure it doesn't happen any more. My little league was also a very competitive one that even produced a major league batting title winner in Steve Kemp.

Unless Bob Feller was a Dodger there hasn't been a Dodger pitcher to throw a no-hitter on opening day.

Feller has the only one.

no need to watch todays game

dodgers 8, giants 3
furcal 2-4, 2b, 2 runs, bb
ethier 0-5
kemp 2-5, 2 rbi
kent 1-3, bb, 2 runs
jones 1-5, hr, run, 3 rbi
martin 3-4, 2b, 2 runs, rbi
loney 3-5, 2 2b, rbi
dewitt 1-4, hr, bb, run, rbi

penny, 7 ip, 6 hits,3 er, 3 bb, 4 k's
proctor 1 ip, 1 hit, 0er, 0 bb, 0 k
kuo 1 ip, 0 hits, 2 k's, 2 bb

11 replace kuo with;
biemel 1 ip 0 hits, 0 bb, 1k

9. Ok, I was referring to Tom Meagher playing as a twelve year old on a team of 9 and 10 year olds. I wonder if his happened in the 60s too? I played Little League in the 70s and it wasn't like that. Our Little League was competitive too, but you would never see a 12 year old playing in the 9 and 10 year old league. We even had a few girls in our Little League, it was the tail end of the women's lib movement. They were all pretty bad, but I guess their mom's were too busy making a point to care.
vr, Xei

My little league had a major and minor division. My experience was eerily like Tom's. I never got called up to the major division and was eventually a 12-year-old playing with mostly younger kids.

"Call it fate, call it luck, call it karma" Opening Day performance:

Steve Sax homering on the first at-bat of the 1988 season. Yeah, they lost 5-1, but still the '88 season was inevitable after that at-bat.

11. That would be ~108 pitches for Penny. I am glad you took out the line with Guo walking two batters. :)
vr, Xei

Mamasay Mamasa Mamacusa!

Assuming Abreu is DL'd, the Dodgers will have 29 on their active roster (including the disabled). I count 15 of these as "homegrown", as in the Dodgers are the only major league team they player has known:

Draft (8)
Billingsley, Broxton, DeWitt, Martin, Loney, Kemp, Young, LaRoche

International Signing (6)
Kuo, Kuroda, Saito, Troncoso, Abreu, Hu

Traded For in Minors (1)
Ethier

Here are the quick counts of homegrown players for the rest of the division:

Colorado: 15 of 26 (12 draft, 3 signed)
Arizona: 16 of 28 (11 draft, 3 signed, 2 trades)
San Francisco: 16 of 29 (13 draft, 3 trades)
San Diego: 8 of 31 (4 draft, 1 signed, 3 trades)

10

Wow, how about that? In the entire history of baseball, only one Opening Day no hitter. I'm a little surprised that it's only one.

13, 14 - My age 12 season was in 1996. I was stuck in the "minors." I don't think too highly of how they split it up, but at the time it didn't seem a huge issue that 12 year olds would be on the teams. On a team of 14 players, there were normally about two eleven year olds and a twelve year old. Most of them hadn't been playing for seven years like I had, though. Being a 12-year-old on a team of mostly 9-year-olds wasn't what I wanted and I was angry about the situation, but I don't know if it lived up to the connotations of the term "degrading." I enjoyed being treated as a leader and honorary coach some time and explaining to the younger kids who Kurt Cobain was.

I'm watching the Det-KC game. It's amazing the number of people who think the Tigers have some historically great offense.

The Yankee game start is delayed until at least 2pm eastern - assuming it starts at some point looks like out of state Dodger fans will get the shaft.

20

Actually MLB Extra Innings is free this week, so even out of state Dodger fans can catch the game on one of the EI channels.

18
There are rarely more than 1 or 2 no-hitters in a season, so I don't think the distribution of when they came in a season is all that unusual.

21 - good call - I have the package anyway but for some reason thought it wouldn't be on since it's an espn game. Gotta get used to living outside of Cali.

Historicallity inflation is on the march.

18 - there have been 255 major league no-hitters, I think, and the baseball season lasts about 180 days. So having only had one on opening day sounds about right. Most top pitchers pitch on opening day, but this is to some extent balanced by teams generally having stronger starting lineups on opening day (I actually once researched the latter issue for the entire retrosheet era).

19 I'm watching the game, too. I fully expect Cabrera to be awesome, and Guillen and Ordonez will be good, too. But I think the whole 1000-run prediction depends a great deal on Sheffield and Rodriguez improving rather than declining.

23 I think usually ESPN games are blacked out, but I don't know if this one will be on EI or not. I don't have much ope.

My ExtraInnings listings had the ESPN games listed as being available. I believe it's just the Wednesday games that aren't available.

And the games from evil Fox on Saturday. I believe the TBS Sunday games will be available.

26 Should I have included Ordonez and Granderson in the "awesome" category?

yes, this is one of those days I'm down with a sore throat and a tinge of the "flu." No office hours, but I'll be doing a quick discussion.

I hope our boys in blue to have it wrapped up by 2:30.

Did we get anyone for Pierre yet?

ESPN is getting a lot of mileage out of the George Will thing.

In about 20 minutes, I'm off to the ballpark -- my first Opening Day ever! I'm pretty excited... never had the chance to go to an opening day game before, since I was always working. I'll be sure to take a couple pictures from my seat high up in the Reserve Desk.

Anyone else from DT gonna be there today?

31 fo sho, will be loge level 1st base line.

I will be at the Padres-Astros game this evening, and I just realized that this will be my first opening day.

I'll be listening to the Dodger game via MLB audio this afternoon.

Little known fact:
Today you can park your car for free at the Coliseum and take a shuttle to Dodger Stadium.

Yeah, 1000 runs is feasible if Granderson misses little time, Ordonez hits 3-4 SD above his talent level again, Sheffield is completely reborn, and if Jacque Jones and Ivan Rodriguez were actually the good hitters the MSM seems to think they are. Playing Inge over Raburn also isn't going to help their hitting. I think I proposed a Garciaparra for Raburn trade last spring, but don't remember where or to whom. And even as someone who thought in 2003 that the Dodgers should go after Carlos Guillen, you would think most would understand that he's not an above average hitter for his new position. Did anybody else see the ugly first play of this game? Cabrera was pretty slow in charging a Grudzielanek grounder, threw low, and Carlos Guillen set up to catch the ball with his leg in the baseline in front of first. Maybe I've seen that before but I don't recall it. Grudzielanek ran into him, they both fell over, and Guillen dropped the ball.

34 or you can park across from the Coliseum for $60 and walk to Chavez Ravine.

I have a history of not being excited about opening day just because I can't stand the hype and small sample overkill. But if today's game were up here in SF, I would be walking up 3rd St. right now to find a scalper and pay 10x what I'm otherwise willing to pay to see a game.

Eric is busting a Rick Monday... you walking 4 miles was a cool story, the weather was perfect for it too...

Hey everyone! Here's a virtual toast to a great season! I'm hoping for many great times ahead...

38
Ha! It seemed like it was going to rain, but other than maybe 5 tiny drops we stayed dry on our Figueroa frolic.

Blue, I didn't see all the comments over the weekend...how fast did you light up the radar gun?

Ordonez up with bases loaded, two out, in Detroit.

I really should start working on my laundry. Somebody force me to do laundry. I need a reason to do laundry. But the recliner and remote have such a strong pull.

But I should wear clean underwear shouldn't I?

37 Hey Tom. It's good to see you around again, I really enjoyed reading The Fourth Outfielder. Since you're around in SF, would you be interested in going to the unofficial NorCal Dodger Thoughts meet, whenever it happens this summer?

42 Magglio Ordonez says, "Here, I'll fly out to left, just for you, Bob. Now go do your laundry."

42 Like the Tigers offense, clean underwear is overrated based on expectations that are unlikely to be fulfilled.

11-year minor leaguer Rico Washington has made the Cardinals opening day roster. He has never played in the majors. He'll be 30 at the end of May.

42- Just buy new ones. Online. You'll have to get up when the UPS guy comes, but it's still your best bet.

42 I can't speak for anyone else, but I just couldn't take your cycle alerts seriously if I knew you were posting while wearing dirty clothes.

42
Today is a double holiday. Banks are closed. How can any reasonable person expect you to do laundry on such a day?

I say add 15 minutes to your next errand run to buy more underwear, and/or go commando.

Both ESPN games now are in rain delays. And the Reds haven't started playing yet. It's Detroit-KC or nothing.

You can watch George Grande kill time on the Reds broadcast, but that's not for the faint of heart.

The cycle alert system has been pretty quiet so far. And the catcher's interference alarm bell has not been struck yet.

Is Edwin Encarnacion going to start for the Reds this year? He's the most likely guy to sound the alarm.

50
I bet Grande has a hard time convincing people he was the original SportsCenter anchor.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think George Grande is on the Eric Enders Enemies List.

43 - absolutely. Hit me up at meagher @ berkeley.edu.

DePo would have been on H:LOTS in season 3 and/or season 4. I will consult the DVD's when I get a chance. Does anyone else remember being able to watch his corporate speaking gig on the internet way back when, where he had the projector and had a slide with run expectancy by base/out on it?

53
Is Enders' list longer than Richard Nixon's?

Miggy big fly.

I was humbled Eric, I only went as high as 73MPH on the gun but I know I can to higher when properly warmed-up.

Miguel Cabrera, welcome to Detroit.

Who's starting at 3rd today for us?

A city hangs on Vin Scully's every word

>> Bob Costas notes that when the Dodgers first arrived in Los Angeles, "virtually no Dodgers games were televised, except for the San Francisco games. <<

http://tinyurl.com/38mo6w

54 Awesome. What are you studying at Berkeley? I just graduated from there last year.

According to Diamond Leung, looks like Hull was DFA'd.
http://www.beloblog.com/Pe_Blogs/prosports/mlb/dodgers/

62
That is stupid.

Go Dodgers!

Go Ethier!

I just feel very happy right now. Yay!
I hope Pierre is a great pinch runner for us this season, and I hope we have 5 guys with 20 home runs - Ethier, Jones, Martin, Kemp and Loney.

I also hope Torre is Manager of the Year and we win the World Series!

Here we go! My off-season plan of staying as far away from the Dodgers didn't really work out, thanks 100% to this website. I didn't really comment often, but read almost every day. Maybe next year, if Jon falls of his game.

Go Dodgers!

Uggh, I actually got a cold.

Can we trade DeWitt for Cabrera?

63 Somebody had to be DFA'd for DeWitt and Chavez. I don't know the 40-man well enough to say -- who would be the odd man out for you?

64 How many do you think Kent will hit?

66 They probably wouldn't go for that unless we throw Pierre in.

Gordon with a 2-run HR. He has a pretty swing when he hits it well.

After a 2-run shot by Alex Gordon, The Best Offense of All Time now holds a slim one-run lead over the Royals.

Just opened the Gameday link... that line up is one of the prettiest things I've seen in sports; not quite in the category of the Long Beach St women's volleyball team, but close.

I was 57 seconds too late with the news, but perhaps style counts.

No?

OK, maybe obnoxiousness counts.

No?

Darn.

Loads 1 and 2 of laundry are go. And to celebrate this day, I have donned the checkerboard jersey.

It seems the 1,000 runs prediction for the Tigers thrown around by Gammons, et al, doesn't take into account just how hard it is to score that many runs.

Also, what about the Yankees? They scored 968 runs last year. Is anyone talking about them scoring 1,000? It seems like they are an afterthought to the mighty Tiger offense.

67 There were two spots open with Schmidt getting 60 day DLed and Seanez getting released. This is presumably for Chan Ho at a later date.

I was not allowed to go down to check out Canter's and the field level. But it's a beautiful day for a ballgame!

75 Hm. Then I am on board the stupid wagon. If Hull is the choice to be released, then release him when you call up Chan Ho.

I forgot to mention I got my two new Dodger Thoughts t-shirts in the mail over the weekend. Both short sleeved; one blue, one gray.

Verlander out in Detroit in the 7th, up 3-2 but with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out.

42, 47 Just make a special run to Wal*mart!

So, it doesn't look like I can listen to the game through KABC's website. That's rather annoying.

They stopped using the camera from the back of the stadium in the Brewers/Cubs game, because you could barely see anything with all the mist.

80
The closest WalMart to me is 15 miles away in Duarte.

However, there are two Targets within a few miles.

76 Not allowed to check out Canter's? But... but... you're one of the 50 ways to love the Dodgers!

I though I had read somwhere that Kevin Kennedy had been axed from the pre and post game shows on FSN.

82
And now it has cleared up a lot.

76 So you're there live in person?

--
I would chuckle quietly to myself if the Royals came back and beat the Tigers today.

81
I'm not sure how often you listen but you can join MLB Audio on MLB.com for $14.95 for the whole season, and you can listen to any game, with the choice of broadcast feed. It is a really good deal if you listen enough.

The Best Offense of All Time, and the Royals, all tied up at 3.

42, 47 Just make a special run to Wal*mart!

first season with MLB Extra Innings over here and I don't know what to do with myself. I had MLB.com because I thought I'd use it during lecture/office hours instead of Gamecast. The comfort of the couch and a bigger screen trumps the laptop. It's all good in Vegas with Thursday nights at Cashman, but I miss the bacon-wrapped dogs out here!

Love made 1st team AP All-American. Collison 3rd team.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3322266

Let's Go Dodgers!

Here's to a fun, exciting, and rewarding season.

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast; man never is, but always to be blest." - Alexander Pope

I'm jealous of all of you able to attend the game at the Taj Mahal of baseball (AKA Dodger Stadium). Instead I'll be watching the game at a sports bar close to work in enemy territory.

ack! I thought I heard someone say Pierre and my lucky foot twitched and hit the enter key again.

61 - I graduated in '06 with a BA in Ethnic Studies. There's a good chance (I think) I'll go back to the department in 2009 for the PhD program, but I'm not in school these days.

74 - I've heard chatter about the Yankees doing it this year. I don't think it's at all likely to happen (outside of Giambi, Melky, and Abreu, you really couldn't expect anyone in that lineup to not decline this year), but it's certainly more probable than the Tigers doing it.

91
There were many impromptu grills with bacon-wrapped hot dogs just outside the Coliseum Saturday night as the game was ending and roughly 100,000 people hit the streets. The smell was enticing, but I resisted the temptation!

I'm not sure it's physically possible to get into the Duarte Walmart. I tried once, but lost my will after driving past it the second time.

I think it might just be a front for the mob, actually.

88 - I'd likely only use it for weekday day games, as I am unfortunately stuck in the office. I'm in the market so I can just flip on the radio or boob tube, usually.

Luckily there is a widescreen teevee in the conference room that is open, so I'll be able to catch a bit of the game.

Besides, I suspect the existence of MLB Audio is the reason KABC is running Hannity rather than baseball on its website at the moment.

Is Dennis Farina the Reds' play by play guy?

97
I've been inside the Duarte Walmart. It's the only one in California I've been to. I've been to the one near my brother's home in Michigan several times.

97
It's actually the outer edge of the little world of "The Andrew Show". It's for the best you didn't touch it.

Does anyone know what time and from what direction the stealth should be flying over the stadium? I wonder if I can see it from Pasadena.

102
I've been tracking the Stealth Bomber on my special radar.

I think I've said too much....

100- I'm not sure, yet, but I might be able to get out to your neck of the woods for the big April 3rd presentation. Unless I run into a giant polyurethane dome, in Arcadia.

Ed Harris is such a bastard.

Happy Opening Day everyone!

Anyone got any advice for listening to the Dodger game today online?

What up with KABC? Am I going to have to be innundated with Bill O'Rielly and the like everytime I want to hear Vin?

75 Schmidt wasn't put on the 60-day. They decided to DFA Eric Hull instead.

Eric Byrnes grounded out to short in his first AB this year.

Buck up Andrew. Buck up.

Royals 4
Best Offense of All Time 3

Oops. Commenter confusion. That was Eric Stephen who made the Truman Show crack.

Hooray it is finally here, the official start of the Dodgers season. I'm excited, thrilled, and hoping the baseball gods look down favorably on our boys in blue.

I am going to say that while it is exciting to attend opening day, I did it once and never again. It took over an hour to get from where we stopped on the freeway to get in the parking gates and park. By then we had missed the first inning. Then it was so hot that year that we roasted in the sun. I prefer my seats at home to watch opening day, less traffic, cheaper food, and I can yell at the TV all game along without getting strange looks from those sitting around me.

I'm just happy baseball season is here for the next few months and my life will once again be filled with something besides work.

103 - Will we be allowed to boo the stealth? (let us know when)

109
Cue the sun.

Brett Tomko alert! So much for the Royals' lead.

You talk about old friends!

Mark Grudzielanek singles in the go ahead run for Kansas City in the Top of the 7th, and now, here, in the Bottom of the 7th, Brett Tomko will try to protect it.

96 That restraint wasn't there for me on Saturday! I heard the bacon-dogs are healthy and become low calorie and fat free when one is on vacation.

Brett Tomko versus the Best Offense of All Time. What an Opening Day!

96 That restraint wasn't there for me on Saturday! I heard the bacon-dogs are healthy and become low calorie and fat free when one is on vacation.

Bomko sighting!

Oh. The Reds all switched shirts. When they were introduced, everyone of them was wearing a Joe Nuxhall jersey.

Biding my time watching the Rays v. Orioles. Over/under on the Rays is 82 wins. What do you think? I'd hope for the over...

Opening Day! I had a morning meeting in Torrance and I was afraid my drive back to my office in Atwater Village would be derailed by traffic but I went past the Stadium on the 110 at noon and I snuck by pretty easily. I love the look of the 2008 lineup, even with Dewitt in there. Go Dodgers!

Fukudome doubles to dead center on his first MLB pitch.

102 - The stealth is piloted by Chuck Norris. You won't know where it's coming unless Chuck wants you to know where it's coming from. Stare at your feet to avoid surprise.

Wow. The Best Offense of All Time ™ hits into a double play against Brett Tomko. So much for being TBOAT.

Anybody have a link to the old-style gamedays for each game?

120. The over/under on the Rays got bumped up to 82 already? It was in the low 70s not too long ago. I am headed to Vegas this weekend and was going to take the over on the mid 70s number, but not anything in the 80s. vr, Xei

103 LOL

Listening to Detroit announcers on Gameday radio marvel at Tomko's stuff in the last inning then question why his numbers have been so awful, "must have had an injury that led to those numbers."

Jeff Kent just presented Russell Martin his Silver Slugger award. Martin plays ball the right way!

98 That's exactly correct. MLBAM hasn't allowed radio stations to stream games for several years. OTOH, the Gameday audio package is a pretty good deal, especially for those of us who live out of market.

Is the game at 1:10 PDT or 4:10 PDT? MLB.com can't seem to make up its mind.

122. I am shocked that they started that game, it is absolutely miserable in Chicago today. I wonder if they'll be able to get the game in before the deluge hits us later today.

I tried listening to the Reds' broadcast, but one can only take so much Jeff Brantley. Off to the D-Backs broadcast team.

There's the Tomko we know.

Nice to see Tomko is up to his old tricks with his new club.

Oh drat. I just realized the ESPN coverage of the Dodgers' game is blacked out here in the Bay Area so I have to watch the Giants' broadcast on The Channel Formerly Known as Fox Sports Net Bay Area But is Now Comcast Sports Bay Area. Ah well. Krukow and Kuiper it is for me, then. Maybe not that much worse than the ESPN people, perhaps.

Ah! And there's the Bombko we know and love! A big fly from Guillen.

Tomko must still be injured...HR for Guillen.

126 Yes Xei, the Hilton should still have them in the 70's, but I haven't seen the futures since the first round of Madness. Wouldn't expect that kind of movement. I thought about 73 or so, but the Baltimore announcers mentioned that inflated number and how the Rays have that pressure to perform on them (unlike the O's). It didn't raise my eyebrows too much, but my optimism is mainly a function of my owning Kazmir, Shields, Crawford, and Pena on Fantasy...and hating the Yankees.

The Tigers backlash on DT is remarkable.

135
Their Giant homerism aside, I really like Krukow and Kuiper.

Then again, I like Matt Vasgersian.

Beach Ball sighting!!! in Detroit no less

139

I'm with Eric. I think Kruk and Kuip are pretty good. MUCH better than the Padres Crew.

Hu gets "Hooo"-ed, instead of cheered, with the introduction. So, that's going to be a thing, it looks like.

139 I actually am fine with K&K, too, except, yah, for their homerism and the occasional "Siddown Meat!" from Krukow. But they're better than many announcing teams. Hopefully they'll not be able to see "Siddown Meat!" much today.

I never knew we had a Tigers forelash.

138 I think we're just being snarky about the Best Offense of All Time™ hype.

be able to "say", that should say above.

I need lunch and coffee before the game, otherwise I may actually need to take that "nap" I warned my boss about.

Chris Young crushed that ball.

Juan Pierre got a warm, non-booing reception. But the fans love the kids even more!

Short Chris Young hits a tall one.

147
Was that a Haranging curveball?

Say a prayer of thanks that Mark Buehrle is not on the Dodgers.

I was worried for a second when I heard that a saxophonist was going to play the national anthem - thought they were going to torture us with Kenny G.

saxophones rule

Uh oh. Byrnes big fly. His deal with Satan was a multi-year pact.

Hang it all. I missed the Young shot. Did Byrnes homer, too?

145 Where did that come from?

I've got to quit smoking.

Byrnes has not homered.

I'm so excited for opening day. Unfortunately, I have a calculus 2 class at 3. I wonder why Jones is hitting so low in the batting order.

great opening day festivities. Sweet Lou Johnson could still outrun James Loney

146
Are you sure the ESPN feed is blacked out here, as I recall those blackouts only on Saturdays!

DT must be getting a ton of traffic.

156 Apparently from ESPN. I think we're exagerrating the hype their offense is getting. Someone said they'd score 1000 runs this season. Someone started calling it the Best Offense of All-Time. Someone added a trademark. I'm just along for the ride because it's Monday.

Count me into the sick crowd today. I was feeling real bad right after lunch and had to head home about 3:30. Must be something going around.

155
Byrnes HR came off a fastball.

They were both big shots.

Young's went upperdeck.

162 I would say there are a few people online right now. :)

Dodger game is being broadcast in Jerusalem!!! Now, I just have to stay awake long enough to watch.

It's time for Dodger baseball! This is the best day of the year.

You may begrudge the McCourts aplenty but not for these opening day festivities. Very cool stuff.

169- The music kind of sucks, though, no? I'm just saying. . .

59 Who's starting at 3rd today for us?

Dodgers reset Opening Day roster

>> The Dodgers reset their Opening Day roster Monday morning, purchasing the contracts of infielders Blake DeWitt and Angel Chavez.
To make room, the club added infielder Tony Abreu to the 15-day disabled list and designated right-hander Eric Hull for assignment before the first pitch of the 1:10 p.m. PT opener with the Giants. <<

## Schmidt, who suffered a setback in Spring Training, is said to be making steady progress, and the Dodgers must believe that, otherwise they could have opened a roster spot by placing him on the 60-day emergency list instead of the 15-day list. ##

http://tinyurl.com/365qtq

169 yup, wish I was there...but it looks plenty good on Prime Ticket.

Meanwhile, Mark Hendrickson is warming up for the Marlins.

Good afternoon to the DT readership, wherever you may be!

Gameday, which has been OK all ST, yields only blank pages now. No lineups even.

So is it DeWitt at 3rd?

Dodger legend Eric Karros is there!

I barely got the MLB package turned on before the broadcast.

ahhhhhhhhhh. vin scully's voice. life is good once more.

Roberts LF
Aurilia 1B
Winn RF
Molina C
Durham 2B
Rowand CF
Castillo 3B
Bocock SS
Zito P

That's no Tigers' lineup, that's for sure! :)

Sandy's starting today!

Tommy's in uniform. Again.

Let's go! Batter up! We're listening while we're at work!

I saw Roger Lodge at the Angels game. He looks good.

Yep Dewitt is at third. I can't get my blasted AM radio to work in the office, sad sad me. So I'm going to keep up both by using Gameday and listening to the chatter here. My fiance said that DT was better though for play by play during games.

175 DeWitt is at 3rd.

Two minutes to go!!!!! Longest 120 seconds of the off-season for me. I may scream from my balcony if Ethier or Kemp homer today.

73 I can picture you now Bob.

In case it hasn't been noted, free baseball in Detroit.

I'm jealous I couldn't make it to the game but my co-worker will tell me how it was

I was going to tell people to listen to me on KCRW, but it appears that they gone with the historian with a "Ph. D." after his name to talk about the Dodgers move to L.A.

But I could have gone on the air and made a total fool of myself! Oh well, at least I'll be able to get my clothes out of the dryer in a timely manner now.

Ahhhhh! I thought the opening pitch was at 410 ET. What's goin' on?

Great Opening Day ceremony. But man, the Dodger Stadium DJ needs antidepressants.

I can't listen at work. For some reason this office building in Rancho Cucamonga creates a huge buzz on the AM stations. I'm so very very upset. All I wanna do is pick up an AM frequency. That's not asking alot!

190
THE START OF THE GAME IS BEING DELAYED DUE TO CEREMONIES

192
If you really want to listen, you'll strip all the wiring and all other metal from the building.

Josh Suchon: "Just one word: Tommy Lasorda."

is espn going to switch over to the dodgers game once it starts? why would anybody on the west coast care about the tigers/royals game?

An Uncle Miltie sighting. Good to see you.

There is somebody using my conference room and blocking me from the tv. Normally, I wouldn't mind; today, I may have to consider drastic measures.

I can tell it's early in the year because I haven't quite gotten down the knack of tracking six games at once.

By August, I have it down to a science.

Royals-Tigers has been a great game, FWIW.

Royals-Tigers is a game what goes to 11!

...I mean, the 11th.

Darn, looks like I've got the Giants announcers. ESPNS in overtime in Detroit, but at least I think Joe is there.

175 It's a mac browser issue it seems. The problem is only on FireFox )even the very newest update 2.0.0.13 which is supposed to fix it). It's fine on Safari.

wow, they should've started the ceremonies 15 minutes earlier!
vr, Xei

201 LOL.

Please, just start the game.

DeWitt get to wear #33 today. Great.

Everyone take a deep breath and wish for the best for these guys and for us. GO DODGERS!

"The drama continues this season on Fox"...

where, it seems, the Red Sox have replaced the Yankees as the only team anyone should ever care about.

(sigh)

I thought KABC AM790 was broadcasting all the Dodger games this year. But when I listen live on the net, it's the Sean Hannity show.

I don't understand. Aren't all Dodger games on the radio?

204
If you start the ceremonies before the game starts, most people will miss them and that takes away from their impact.

206 You're not enjoying the Giants' sideline reporter say "awesome" twelve times per each report?

210 - you missed the discussion about that... MLB Audio is the only place you can get radio games over the internets.

Anybody else having problems with MLB.TV?

210
To listen online, you have to pay the good people at MLB.com for the privilege.

200 Sure, been a great game, but both my fantasy players involved in that game are 0-5.

211. Tough, then do them after the game.
vr, Xei

Feels so good to see Ethier listed.

First pitch coming. Who else is ready?

:)

217
You want to honor Sandy Koufax after everybody has left?

Rowand is nothing great, but isn't he better than a 6th place hitter on this team?

They give Rowand 60 million and bat him 6th on opening day? I'd mock the Giants but the challenge is gone.

Apparently there was a play at the plate and Teahen was called out at home... but I can't really follow the play on Sportsline.

212
I like how Krukow and Kuiper were in glee that they did not feel like clapping for the Dodger greats.

Royals lead 5-4 in the 11th.

Dave Roberts has been up for a long time.

220. I want the game to start when or near when it is listed to start!
vr, Xei

222 Well, with reserve outfielders getting $45 millions these days... :)

Hendrickson strikes out Jose Reyes on three pitches.

Oh yeah!!

Golden God

Golden God!

Show that arm strength martin! Teach them to fear you.

good bye old friend Roberts. Nice throw Martin!

MLB.TV is killing me. Absolutely killing me.

227
If you want to go someplace where the games ALWAYS start exactly on time, go to Japan. I've never been to a game there that didn't start at the precise listed time.

Then they take four hours to play nine innings.

I think my last comment got lost in cyberspace which is just as well. It had something to do with where Dave Roberts would be in this inning if we had someone else playing in CF. But the subject is dead, people, it's dead... right?

Wow Gameday is already screwed up. It says Roberts singled, but doesn't have him on the base paths and shows one out.

We go to the bottom of the 11th in Detroit with Kansas City holding on to a one run lead.

238 He was caught stealing on a busted hit-and-run play.

Aah, they just posted the CS

238

He singled and was promptly thrown out stealing.

I want Russ to father my children. That is all.

236 LOL. A buddy of mine went to a few games there, said it takes "the length of a bible" (his words) to get a game in. Every lever a manager can pull to lengthen a game is used--every single lever.

sportsline's gamecenter is working well, for those of you having trouble with gameday.

Giants are going to be the epitome of a small-ball team this year.

243. Are you a male or female?
vr, Xei

237 - Yes, I had the same thought, but decided better to stick it in my back pocket. That's all behind us.

Rick Ankiel swinging on 3-0 count with bases loaded, for a foul ball. Makes up for it with a double on next pitch.

That is the ugliest picture I have ever seen of Jeff Kent.

The Giants will be the epitome of a terrible team this year.

Zito is throwing 83mph.

Yeesh.

Leadoff double for the Tigers.

MLB.TV not working for me, either. Was working fine through the whole Royals-Tigers game, saw a little bit of the pregame ceremony at Dodger Stadium, now nothing. Figures.

Nice, Furcal!!

Furkel! A different year, perhaps?

Furcal is back, my friends!

double by Furcal!

how close was that to a home run?

Can anyone post a link to the Gameday Audio link. For some reason none of MLB.com's websites will come up for me, figure might be worth trying the audio link directly (I paid weeks ago!) since they're handled by other servers afaik...just can't get ot them.

lol. I predict a new comments record if we have 5 play-by-play reactions to every remotely good event.

259 ditto

way to communicate Gints!

258
Not very.

258 Not very. It was barely a fair ball.

Inge sacrifices. With a runner on third, Tigers now have two chances, Renteria and Polanco, to tie or win.

Bison!

Plaschke tomorrow will be sure to point out how JP would have moved Furcal over.

Imagine Furcal with a good start!

March/April 2006: .198/.306/.219
March/April 2007: .203/.272/.243
March/April 2008: 1.000/1.000/2.000 :)

258- Fifteen feet, maybe. Bounced on the chock and up into the seats in foul territory.

258 Not close. Hit the chalk 20 feet before bouncing in the stands.

THAT is why they call him the Bison!!

263 My comment-response fu is weak.

We score!

Rowand screwed that one up.

"They call him the Bison because he's got a body like a robot built outta nails"

263 264 - just wondering because gameday had it in the corner right in front of the short fence

Vin Scully is pro-boo!

"Who the heck are you gonna boo, Aaron Rowand?"

LOL

275 Oh, he's tougher than that.

Royals win! Royals win! The Royyyyyyyyyyyalllls winnnnnn!

260 :)

Yeah, I think if 1000 comments was the line, people would be betting the over right now.

Win expectancy up to 66% on the Kemp single.
vr, Xei

Gameday has Rick Monday disease. Two pitch calls at once.

dodger baseball is back! wow, I miss la :(

280 As a result of this one game, I think it's absosmurfly clear that the Tigers do not have the Best Offense of All Time and thus are worthy of my scorn.

For those in the Bay Area "working at home" today the game is being televised on ESPN

246.

Male.

Kemp will do as well...

MLB rule violation, rule violation.

wow, 4 batters in and Zito has thrown 15+ pitches

YAY!!!

284 agreed Miltie. The Coliseum game will do for this season, or a midweek game sometime this summer.

jeffrey kent!

Aw, yeah!

This is a good start! Kent!

This is awesome!

YEEEEEEEEAHH!

Nice homer by Kent.

286 Argh I wish I was working at home today!!!!!!

Old man still has pop, yay.

Early returns have my 2009 DT Day ticket being paid for by ToyCannon. :)

Kent!!

286
They blacked out ESPN for me.

That was a veteran home run!

84 mph straight fastball. I like.

Barry Zito is the gift that keeps on giving.

according to gameday, Kent's homerun landed somewhere near Simi Valley

What a happy opening day so far!

29 "I hope our boys in blue have it wrapped up by 2:30."

Not to shoot too soon, but I may be able to teach a happy man...but still run Gamecast on my podium computer.

OK, here comes my favorite player!!

YAAAAAAY!

I'm so psyched for today I can't even eat my lunch.

It's Opening Day.
The Dodgers are on TV.
Dodger Thoughts is on the monitor in front of me.
My trigger finger is on the mouse prepared to press "Refresh" every 30 seconds.

Life is good.

I'm so glad baseball has started.

I'm standing by my 97-win prediction.

BTW, what kind of single was Matt Kemp's? Was it the Bison Special (super hard ground ball)?

This is Zito's 4th straight opening day. His ERA on opening day coming into today's game is 9.49.

$126 Mil.

Bother. MLB.com has stopped working for me. Can't get the audio to load, can't even get to Gameday. I had to switch over to ESPN gamecast.

312

Pretty much, right up the middle.

Kent homers, Andruw makes out. Hmm. Is Jeff saying somethin' here?

ESPN showed a nice moment between Kent and Kemp at home plate. I think those two are getting along fine.

312 line drive. not a grounder.

318 Did they kiss each other on the cheek or something?

Bengie Molina batting 4th. Ray Durham batting 5th.

If it were any other team, I might feel some empathy.

318 definitive proof that chemistry breeds winning?

Apologies, I thought when I was watching the Dodgers have inning on ESPN after the Royals Tigers game those of us in the Bay Area would see the game live on ESPN, but top of the second screen goes to blue with the more info sign-so it is back to Krukow and Kipe! It is fun to hear the Giants announcers moan

77% win expectancy according to Fan Graphs right now, but it doesn't take into consideration how hard it will be for the Giants offense to score more than three runs. Pierre may see some garbage time in this one. :)
vr, Xei

Penny realizes that the Giants are terrible, right?

312

It was a line drive up the middle. hit the ball pretty darn hard.

312

It was a line drive up the middle. hit the ball pretty darn hard.

For those watching on TV... have the Giants given Barry's number 25 to anybody this season?

They've apparently erased all other memories of him from the park, so I wonder if 25 is now just another number.

320 322 What I noticed before the game when the lineup was announced was that Kent gave Kemp a pat on the ribs--they were announced one after the other. After the homerun, Kemp put a kind of half-wrap on Kent's head, kind of things friends do, really.

It's better to enjoy rather than loathe who you're playing with.

327

wow, late on the comment and a double post. good opening day for me!

I'm liking this Giants offense.

I like DP action, atta way boys!

DeLightful double play!

Sounds like a good play from young DeWitt!

Hmm... I wonder if DeWitt got it out of his glove with DeBrevity.

Okay, what happened? The wife had a 2pm TiVo with both the Barefoot Contessa and the Gilmore Girls being taped.

Yes, I'm made adjustments but I missed the play. Was it a double-play?

Aaron Rowand is a grinder who isn't afraid to break his nose to catch a ball

335 Yes. 5-4-3.

2006 Gameday is broken, period. New Gameday practically demands being fullscreened, a horrible proposition.

Gameday Audio is completely broken under Linux.

There are complaints about Gameday and Gameday Audio breakage in Mac environments on all browsers.

Those with Microsoft desktops complaining about problems with the new Gameday, try manually updating Flash. Close all IE windows and restart. Also, installing Silverlight may help (Google Silverlight for more details, or go to silverlight.com.)

I will update things as I get more details:

http://6-4-2.blogspot.com/2008/03/final-tuneup-angels-11-padres-3.html

328. He's not on their team and hasn't retired. I don't see why they need to use him as a marketing ploy (or whatever other reason), when he might be playing for a different team later this year.
vr, Xei

I know way too much about the players in major league baseball, and I think I can name at least 20 of the players on each team's opening day roster off the top of my head (maybe I'm only at 16 or 17 for Florida and Washington because of their pitching).

I have never heard of Brian Bocock. Ever. And the Giants announcers are acting like he's a future star because he was promoted so rapidly. Yikes.

Presently, there is no #25 on the Giants roster and I doubt they will give it to anybody.

DeWitt!

Congratulations, Blake DeWitt!

Congrats Blake!

Nice one, Blake.

Leading DeLeague in batting average!

atta boy DeWitt

Barefoot Contessa is a good show. So is the Gilmore Girls, I'm sad that they cancelled Gilmore Girls.

Dewitt with a clean base hit in his first MLB AB!

340
Brian Bocock took the Blake DeWitt path to the majors.

Thats great for Blake.

FanGraphs live scoreboard is updating faster than MLB, ESPN, and Yahoo's live play by play pages. But it's still not fast enough.
vr, Xei

The Solution™ with his first major league hit!

Way to go

Congrats DeWitt!

Welcome to the bigs kid

350 With a much less fortunate name.

340 From 7/2007 of Baseball America.

Brian Bocock
Born: March 9, 1985. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 5-11. Wt.: 185. Drafted: Stetson, 2006 (9th round). Signed by: Glenn Tufts.
In an organization stockpiled with middle-infield speedsters, Bocock has emerged as perhaps the best this season. A solid defender with above-average range and a strong arm, he earned a promotion to the California League after stealing 26 bases in 34 attempts for low Class A Augusta. He's remained solid in the field, going 23 games without an error between the two levels, while getting comfortable at the plate.

Brian Bocock aspires to eventually develop into Ryan Theriot.

Pasta ... diving Durham.

Congrats to DeWitt on his first ML hit.

... Four-zip. Well, alrighty then.

LG guys, life is good!

Barry Zito should start every opening game against the Dodgers, forever, always.

By the diving Durham! DeWitt scores!

If this is the Furcal we get all year, it will be a big, big help. Not that I expect him to bat 1.000.... you know what I mean.

Hopefully LaRoche can make it 6 opening day starters at 3B in 15 years.

356 - still not as good as Dick Pole or Rusty Kuntz.

The Giants lost 100 games in 1985 so this team can't be the first team to lose 100.

Joe Torre knows not the hitting prowess of Brad Penny! Penny might hit 7th in the Giants lineup.

Way to go Furcal! Put up some curvy numbers now!

Brian Bocock was not very good in A ball.

321 - Isn't that what you are displaying already?

356 - still not as good as Dick Pole or Rusty Kuntz.

Raffy is primed and ready for a big year!

Audio is up for me now...reminds me of last year's opening day issues.

Be nice to see Andre get a hold of one.

Zito's throwing a lot of strikes... of course, they all seem to be getting hit.

What was that joke earlier about Plaschke going after Ethier for not advancing the runner...? It's not as if Pierre was any good at advancing the runner either.

I digress... GREAT start so far today.

338 Thanks Duck. I'll probably need all the help I can get. Updating video programs is not working well. For today I am getting DTV so I'm going to watch and not waste time messing around. Also somehow got Gameday, but this fullscreen stuff sucks.

371

... Or Peter LaCock.

367 - who you kidding, Penny hits 5th in the Giants lineup

Yikes, just checked in and saw how busy the server was. Made some adjustments, hopefully, it will behave better.

369 check out 357 . I love how they praise his defense to the skies and add he was doing all that great glove work "... while getting comfortable at the plate."

Penny's pitching so far would concern me if he was facing a real lineup.

Generally speaking, how many pitches can we expect out of Penny/Zito today?

356 - still not as good as Dick Pole or Rusty Kuntz.

I'm not sure who starting the season w/o Pedro Feliz is a bad thing for the Giants.

Sorry about the multi-post. DT was slow.

380
Thankfully, the Yankees were rained out.

Pedro Feliz is 0 for 3 with 2 Ks so far for the Phils.

385- Or Pedro Feliz for that matter.

357 I looked up his stats and such as soon as they started talking about him, it was pretty fun to hear them go on. That BA capsule is laughable, IMO. If "getting comfortable at the plate" in the Sally league, meaning hitting about league average with a lot of nice bounces evidently, is enough to get him promoted, his defense must be Neifi good.

They were just talking about Pierre vs. Ethier (not insightfully), and said that Pierre got a bigger ovation than Ethier before the game. Is that true? Earlier in this thread someone had said the kids got better applause, but I don't know if that includes Ethier.

Even when Penny's pitching pretty well, he sure makes me nervous. Brad --put a few early piches over the plate, and they won't sit there taking off you all night.

384 How about now?

I can't believe Hendrickson is Florida's opening day starter, and it's the 4th inning and the Mets are scoreless.

329
It's better to enjoy rather than loathe who you're playing with.

Why can't fortune cookies say stuff like that. Instead of

"People close to you respect your hard work."

"This year holds many surprises. Be on the look-out."

When does the mercy rule take effect?

389 - lol. who/how - they should just be happy he's gone.

393 Maybe he's doing hypnotherapy this year.

390 They showed a few guys in Pierre jerseys in the stands, so he still appears to have his fans.

My favorite fortune cookie message is "Think Fast"

Jeff Francis has walked five Cardinals through 2 1/3 innings. They're in a rain delay in the Mound City.

The Twins continue to actively sabatoge themselves by starting Craig Monroe over Jason Kubel tonight.

191 from what I remember he did it last year also Jon, hey Jon check out the bullpens dont you think the evy's look like christmas trees...

398
If there is still a Darryl Strawberry fan out there, I'm sure there will be Juan Pierre fans out there.

Remember that Juan Pierre is just bad at baseball, but people may like him if they meet him personally.

Or the jerseys could have been sold at a deep discount.

400 Just 11 more for a share of the record!

397 - the real Lurch has appeared in the 4th - 2 runs and the Mets are threatening for more.

390 It is not true that Pierre got a bigger ovation than Ethier. I don't know how they could say that.

I was cringing just before Pierre's name was announced because I thought was going to get booed. I'm glad he wasn't.

405 Someone must have made a loud noise to wake him from his trance.

403 There's no Irony in wearing a Pierre jersey.

"He'd play forever if he just had to play Barry Zito"

Everybody would.

... I think the Giants need to come get their pitcher.

Poor Barry.

Wow they have Vince on the DTV mix channel. Of course with only a sixXsix picture. I can actually get 3 points of view right now!

Okay, I ran a projection for Bocock and also looked up his Chone, which agrees with me. He needs to be +24 (Adam Everett level or better) with the glove to be replacement level. Of course, maybe he's just the next Pujols.

Sorry "Vin"

You gotta be awake if you're sitting in those first base seats.

Can anyone remember a better start to a recent home opener... or any opener for that matter?

416

... I wasn't alive for it, but didn't the Dodgers beat San Diego 14-0 in their home opener in 1969?

White Sox 7, Indians 7 in the 7th
Nationals 6, Phillies 6 in the 8th
Brewers 0, Cubs 0 in the 7th

417
Yes, that was the Padres first game in L.A. The Padres had opened the week before at home and swept the Astros and then got swept by the Giants.

Johnny Podres started for San Diego.

I should note that the Giants have a relative paucity of true replacement level players in their system, so Bocock isn't necessarily a bad choice. I fall asleep whenever I try to research Giants minor league hitters ("prospects" if you are charitable), so I don't know that anyone would be better.

Apparently for HD they have to use Vin, so now I have him full screen.

Now that's the kind of pitching I'd like to see.

413 I wonder if Brian has any idea of the attention he's getting here? We've done an internet search, a projection... at some point, we should probably use the Favorite Toy, right?

Favorite Toy... Bocock... this is a family site so I'm going to shut up now.

401 They should get together with the Reds and compare notes.

The Dodgers beat the Padres 14-0 and 19-0 in 1969, but in late September, the Padres swept a four-game series from the Dodgers in San Diego to essentially knock the Dodgers out of the NL West race. 5 of the 6 teams in the division had a chance to win that year.

The Astros finished 5th and were 81-81 and 12 games out and were just two games out on September 10, 1969 (although still in 5th!)

Today is a good day. It's very very satisfying to see the lineup you want perform like they have so far. Only way this gets better is if Ethier can be part of the fun.

Does 425 qualify as the first boring historical anecdote of the regular season?

I Charlie Steiner'd out on that fly ball by The Solution.

The Solution is a great nickname, by the way.

427 Nah, it had an exclamation mark.

Thanks to Jon's title, I can't get that damn song out of my head. Too high to over, yeah, yeah. Too low to get under...

Penny's neck is wider than his head in his Gameday picture.

428 Even Steiner restrained himself on that one. You could hear in his voice how much he wanted to get excited about it, but he knew it would be caught.

433 lol.

The Mets just got a quick 6 in the fourth against Hendrickson.

Ball four -- first and second for Ethier! Let's go, Andre!! We're in your corner.

... Here's the 1969 home opener. The Dodgers and Padres had a scoreless tie for 4 and a half, until the Dodgers scored 6 in the 5th. Andy Kosco, who was with the Yankees the year before, hit a grand slam off of Johnny Podres in that 5th inning to start the blowout. Kosco drove in 6 runs for the game, Tom Haller hit a three-run homer in the 7th to make the score 12-0. Claude Osteen threw a three-hit shutout; his game score was 83. Rookie Bill Russell, batting second in the order, went 2 for 3 with 2 walks, and scored 3 runs.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B04150LAN1969.htm

Zito in the 70's pitch count already in the 4th. We need to keep him in the game as long as possible!

432 Don't worry, in profile they are about equal!

Ah, Tom Haller. One of the few ex-Giants (hey, Kent!) to turn up and perform successfully for the Dodgers.

Dodger Thoughts T-shirt wearer Big Grabowski caught a foul ball 10 rows in front of me :)

The Fighting Shimmins have taken over the lead in the NL West.

The D'backs prevailed. Baker's 'batting Patterson leadoff' gambit did not pay off.

433

It must be said though that when it IS time to flip out, Steiner does it better than anyone.

437 It says that Willie Crawford, one of my childhood favorites, led off for the Dodgers in centerfield that game. It also says that he passed away in 2004 at only 57 years old. Anyone know what happened to him?

If anyone is interested in getting my take on the Dodgers AAA team, I'll be joining the blog universe at http://51sarea.wordpress.com/ . Come by and visit!

444 Who was it that described Steiner's call of the 4+1 game as "giving birth to a litter of kittens?"

Break up the Nats!

It's 10-6 Washington in the 9th in Philly.

443 It's gonna be painful watching all the young talent get so horribly mis-used by the Wristbands.

... Great play by Furcal!!

445
Willie Crawford died of kidney disease.

WOW!

Steiner flipping out over that play. I guess it was something.

Man, what a play--Furcal.

445

... It was likely kidney disease that took Willie Crawford's life.

I should go eat my late lunch now... but I want to keep staring at the baseball game gamecast.

While we wait for the bottom of the inning...

Two bad calls for the Sox in the CWS/CLE game. The last one a home run non-tag of Crede called for an out.

Karma is still fighting back at them in a big way for winning the 2005 World Series.

The most important news of the day: my laundry is done.

Ex-Dodger Franklin Gutierrez is 3 for 3 with a 3-run HR today. Who did we ever get for him?

Odd, sickly humorous contrast in 451 and 452 .

443 The local Reds fans are just loving Dusty so far. Patterson and Hatteberg over Bruce and Votto should help him stay in their favor. We could have done much worse at manager.

457
I don't think I'll ever feel sorry for the White Sox as long as they have Guillen managing the time and Pierzynski catching.

I wish nothing on the White Sox now but pain, misery, heartache, degradation, and nothing but canned peaches at the concession stands at US Cellular.

Kuiper and Krukow were raving about Furcal's play, and they even replayed it several times - on the Giants broadcast no less.

458 That was the highlight of my Saturday. Sadly.

458 Put your underwear on!

Right after I wrote 457 , Orlando Cabrera was called out for interference and as the bases were loaded, the Sox were ruled out on a "double play". This whole game is crazy.

The reaction from Sox announcers is priceless.

--let's get back to this one.

464
Where does everyone stand on the subject of me taking a shower?

... That pitch was low, blue.

466 As far away as possible.

459 Bradley, and by extension Ethier. It worked out for us.

Why do umpires hate Kemp? no way that was a strike.

just to clarify 457, It wasn't a "non home run tag." I meant to say a "missed tag at home plate that was called out."

I'm with Bob on this one.

459 I think Monopoly man MB.

Bocock!

hitters mailed that half-inning in.

I guess we are going to have to get used to Jones trying to pull everything.

461

... I'm in the 0.00001% of baseball fans who actually likes Dusty Baker as a manager. He's received a terrible rap over the years.

Nice play by Bocock, too.

466 If you shower now, you could jinx this amazing start. Take one for the team Bob.

466 Not now, you may jinx us. I say you don't take one throughout this winning streak.

476 Come to Cincinnati, they save lots of seats for you every game.

according to gameday, Kemp walked.

481

Then they changed it to a strikeout.

so, do we let Penny go the distance on opening day? For the shut out?

478 ,479

Can we get a third?

481

The ball was about a foot off of the ground and outside. I think the umpire just wanted to ring someone up. Just the continuation of last year when Kemp could not get a call on a 3-2 pitch.

This game reminds me of Penny's first start for us after The Trade. He came in, faced a soft Pirates lineup, threw a bunch of fastballs, and went 8 shut-out innings IIRC. Darn arm injury afterwards.

The Hebrew Hammer just clutched up on the Cubs...

Fortunately the Giants' hitters mailed in their half-inning, too. Penny's looked better every inning.

Gagne up in the bullpen of the Cubs-Brewers game.

Bob, you have inspired/guilt-tripped me into doing my laundry. I blame the lack of globalization for this.

476 Baker is a first class person. Anyone who has met him will tell you that. I think he has a pretty impressive track record as a manager. If it wasn't for Steve Bartman, he would have put the Cubs in the World Series. And we all remember how close the Giants came to winning it all for him in that Game #6 in Anaheim a few years ago.

Its very comforting to have Jones in CF. There are no adventures out there. He's actually waiting on the ball when it gets there, having judged it correctly.

Kerry Wood gave up a run in the 9th on a broken bat single. Brewers still batting in the 9th. In the bottom of the 9th, closer Eric Gagne will try to shut the door for the Brewers.

Figure I would do this what with Bob showering and all.

Penny's at 79 pitches. I think he goes one more inning, then Broxton, and finally we let Saito get some more fine-tuning. Or it's Toronsco time if we can score one more.

Zito's out. But this performance is covered by a Merkin.

Merkin Valdez, that is.

Or, you know, I can just let 489 take charge. :)

493 - I'm a bit old fashioned in this way, but I say if a guy is throwing a shut out, he should get to stay in until he wants to come out. I suspect with Penny that would be somewhere around the 15th inning.

490 Like JP, there is but no question that Dusty Baker is a helluva guy.

If it wasn't for rule one there would be so many Bocock/Merkin jokes right now.

Not such a good day with the stick for the Golden God.

Vinny getting a little sabermetric here, no?

I hope Ethier get a hit soon. I can't imagine he's on a long leash.

488 You got that right, Dog. For years, I've been puzzled by how quickly any offense seems to give up when the game seems even half-way decided.

*gets

459 The great Milton Bradley.

Re: 501

Didn't he line-out in the last AB? That's what sportsline's game tracker said. I'm sure Torre noticed that.

WWSH

I'd be surprised if Penny's thrown more than 70 pitches in a game this spring. No reason to stretch him out here.

This Valdez guy really in the 94/95 mph range? Might have to keep an eye on him 'til July 31st.

Nice, patient eye by DeWitt, working the count full.

Gagne sighting in Chicago...

506 Valdez is at 94-95. Tomko was looking pretty good today with the Royals... until he gave up a long ball. Story of Tomko's life...

DeWitt looking good up there.

Woo!

infield fly?

Dear Joe,

Please let Penny swing here.

Thanks,

KG

Looks like the Cubs will not win the World Series like ESPN's John Kruk predicted last night.

Why wasn't that infield fly rule ?
I guess were better off this way.

Gagne so far has given up a Derrek Lee single and an Aramis Ramirez walk. First and second, nobody out.

Valdez seems like the type of player you can trade Pierre for - a wild project with upside.

Penny has more RBI than any Giant.

There were runners on 1st and 3rd so it couldn't be an infield fly.

Gagne is imploding at Wrigley

"... and Gagne can't find the strike zone."

Gagne in big trouble.

Gagne about to load 'em up...

Gagne has thrown seven straight balls, FWIW.

497

... See? Nothing but thinly-veiled cheap shots on Baker. I guess leading two teams as far as they've ever reached in over 40 years doesn't count for all that much.

Furcal looks like a new man.

Fukodome - new Cubs hero

Fukudome!

Yahoo's Steve Henson predicts James Loney as the dark horse to win the NL batting title. Does anyone agree?

The Milwaukee Gagne looks a lot like the Boston Gagne.

Seven straight balls by Gagne before a strike looking to Fukudome.

Then Fukudome hits a three-run homer, and it's tied in Chicago.

Wow - Gagne looks simply terrible. Single, Walk, Game Tying HR.

Fukudome ties it up with a three run home run. Can we feel bad for Gagne, or does he make too much money?

Fukudome is Japanese for... WOWW!!

Poor Gagne....

Completely Non-SABR Things I Love About Loney and Ethier: they look like they're on every pitch.

533
You aren't allowed to boo him.

Seems Baker has a niche - you need to give him a veteran team, and let his talent (the psychology, team building, morale thing) keep them together. However, it doesn't seem he has the ability to manage a young team long-term due to his ineffective use of pitchers, and his lack of trust in young players.

He doesn't like slow guys clogging up the bases either.

Re: 529

That's actually plausible. Loney's profile is that of a high AVG/OBP player, as opposed to a traditional mashing 1B who hits lots of HRs. It would be better, though, if he had more speed, which would let him run out more IF hits.

WWSH

535
He needs to go back on the PEDs.

My fantasy team name is Beyond Fukudome. I prefer to pronounce his last name as a Rule 1 violation.

Wow, Fukudome with a 3 run bomb off Gagne to tie it up.

Gagne's steroid situation doesn't garner him much sympathy. Looks like this is simply who he really is.

525 Exactly! How can you criticize Baker's results when compared to other managers?

I don't boo Gagne, just like I don't boo my candle when it goes out after I've burned it at both ends.

Dodger win expectancy is now 97%. Wouldn't be surprised to see Juan Pierre come in for some garbage time and to keep his consecutive games played streak alive.
vr, Xei

Welcome to 2008, Hu.

537- Fascist.

Say this for Gagne, though. That's a hell of a beard. He's got nothing to be ashamed of, facial-hair-wise.

Is Rowand wearing spatz out there? Must be all that new money.

533 No feeling bad. But I'm not sure if its for making too much or having Boras, I guess the two go together-- How could someone give him 10 mil. Well, How could someone--never mind, we have to leave this behind.

I remember way back in 2001 while the M's 14 run collapse was happening at the same time, the Dodgers were playing the Cubs on Sunday evening and Musburger was covering the game for ESPN2.

Does Musburger just do random Cubs games? :-D

ok, since it appears this one is in the refrigerator, I am going to log off and try and get some work done on this writ that I've been semi-ignoring for the last two hours.

To any who live near / in SF...is there anything Giants' fans are genuinely excited about as far as their team?

Is Sabean feeling the heat yet?

"Easternmost in flavor, western most in quality."

Go, ESPN. Go!

545-

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light!

Gee, I wonder why the Giants have been trying so hard to trade Durham? And why they haven't had any luck.

551
Musburger is filling in because ESPN is doing a lot of games and someone is busy with NBA coverage I believe.

553
None that I know of. Though they had 4,000 people at their stadium cheering for the unveiling of a corporate logo over Bonds' HR counter.

558
Where his counter used to be.

553 No, most of the ones I know are realistic but also feel like the team is finally doing what they should've done awhile ago - rebuild. Some of them are cautiously optimistic, but the Giants fans I know seem excited about the young pitchers and little else.

Prince Fielder = not fast. Poor Brewers. Closer implosions are the kind of thing that can derail trendy small-market picks to win it all. The Dodgers are the kind of franchise that can eat a $9M salary for a 4th outfielder (hooray!), the Brewers, not so much.

cargil's prediction is looking pretty good right now. From post #11, he wrote.

no need to watch todays game

dodgers 8, giants 3
furcal 2-4, 2b, 2 runs, bb
ethier 0-5
kemp 2-5, 2 rbi
kent 1-3, bb, 2 runs
jones 1-5, hr, run, 3 rbi
martin 3-4, 2b, 2 runs, rbi
loney 3-5, 2 2b, rbi
dewitt 1-4, hr, bb, run, rbi

penny, 7 ip, 6 hits,3 er, 3 bb, 4 k's
proctor 1 ip, 1 hit, 0er, 0 bb, 0 k
kuo 1 ip, 0 hits, 2 k's, 2 bb
---
vr, Xei

558 Which was so exciting they showed us the replay of that unveiling twice.

why trainwreck? Just a laid-back attitude in SF? Do they just assume they'll be good soon?

560 By cautiously, I meant "naively."

Torre goes to Proctor. In other news, sun rises in east.

So Ethier made the last out, new pitcher coming in-so do we see JP now?

Cain and Lincecum would be fun to watch if I were a Giants fan. Or maybe it would be all the more embittering to see that young pitching go to waste.

WWSH

543 I loved Gagne in LA. But he played hardball with his contract negotiations despite all the money the Dodgers shelled out to him when he was hurt. Then he acts bothered by the fact that someone dared to ask him about all the PEDs he cleary took. I lost a little respect for the man. Without the PEDs, maybe this is the real Gagne, the same Gagne we saw in LA as a starting pitcher before the PEDs.

544 Because he hits Corey Patterson leadoff and thinks walks clog up the bases. I'm sure having the two most valuable players in the NL in 2002 and two of the five most valuable pitchers in 2003 had more to do with his teams success than he did.

553
Amongst co-workers, a 100 loss season is all the excitement they can muster.

I was hoping a few D's Starters would go seven this year. Well I guess this is pretty close.

Gagne guts it out, and finishes the inning. Free baseball in Chicago.

564 Honestly, the ones I've talked to sound prepared for a bad year or two. And like any fan, hope for/assume brighter things after that.

I was wrong thank god, but guess he could come up in the 7th or 8th if the Dodgers get that far.

Oh, I had a bad flashback. I saw a face go by the camera( probably Loiaza), and I though it was Lurch!

Looks like Penny has become efficient without the dominant strikeout totals.

My lord, Amy Gutierrez is awful as an "in-game reporter" on CSNBA. Ugh. As if the Giants fans didn't have enough reasons to suffer this season.

538

... As for Dusty Baker being this horrible shredder of pitchers' arms, this article on the Hardball Times seems to show otherwise:

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/dusty-baker-and-pitch-counts/

I think the problems with Prior and Wood were not so much a result of Baker's ineptitude and more a result of those pitchers simply not being durable.

I had no idea that Yabu signed with the Giants.

578
They go to her way to often.

OT, any idea how they counted the attendance at the Coliseum game. I never went through any kind of turnstile when I entered the gate. They just took my ticket, ripped it in half and informed me that I couldn't go out and come back in (after I asked). I am only curious because they beat the attendance record by 300 people and for some reason I want to believe they just fudged the numbers to break the record. It was pretty full, but there were some scattered empty seats in some of the upper sections and there was no way there was 15,000 behind the right field fence. vr, Xei

Huuuuuu.

Andruw Jones does not run very hard.

546 It would do everyone a lot of good to see Pierre's streak end today. It would take the pressure off of trying to play him everyday just to prolong it. That is not smart game strategy.

how many pitches did Jones see this game? 8?

Brewers take a lead with Counsell scoring on an Olney.

525 - seriously? Dusty Baker's flaws as a manager -- not as a person -- are legion:

1) Abusing pitchers, along the lines of his mentor, Tommy Lasorda. Many people (Cubs fans in particular) blame him for the subsequent career meltdowns of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.
2) "Walks clog up the bases." Has no clue what OBP could be good for.
3) Is a terrible in-game manager. Just ask the 2002 Giants about their World Series Game 7 starting pitching choices, or the choice to install a clearly burned-out Robb Nen in Game 6.
4) Perhaps another way of stating (3), he gets the least out of the most of any manager in baseball. Jeff Kent, Barry Bonds, Livan Hernandez, Russ Ortiz, etc. all in their primes, and very limited postseason success.

Do you think we'll have a JP showing to keep the streak alive?

Actually, I forget, is it only an Olney if the runner advances but doesn't score?

Hu on the roster. I am dazed because way to many things make sense to me this year.

579 - and yet both Prior and Wood were on the BP Pitcher Abuse Points leaderboards while Baker was the Cubs' manager.

I'm not saying it's definitive, but you do wonder.

An Olney is record any time a runner moves up a base on an out that isn't a sacrifice, sac fly, or GIDP.

Bocock looks very alarmed in his Gameday photo.

I'm sorry, I haven't been paying enough attention. Is Abreu on the roster or the DA. And if DA, major league?

578 She either can't read or is stoned. It's a little embarrassing, either way.

553 My roommate claims to be a Giants fan but he can be a bit of a bandwagoner. If they're miserable, as he knows they are this year, he tends to be apathetic and hardly even pays attention to them. He's not excited about anything Giants related, as far as I can tell.

Thanks Dutch. That article actually reinforces my concerns with Dusty leading a young team. It states he has left pitchers out there past 122 pitches more often than any other manager this decade.

I wouldn't want that type of manager working with young pitchers.

Oh man, Gagne

Cleveland changed the name of its stadium and I somehow missed it.

I'm very embarrassed.

Beimel!

599 - yeah, no longer the Jake. Now Progressive Field.

Yuck.

587

1-Read 579 .
2-Never heard him make that statement. If he did, that's obviously a silly thing to say.
3-Disagree. Baker held off on Nen as long as possible in Game 6, two other pitchers reduced the 5-run lead in that game to 1. In Game 7, Baker started a postseason-tested pitcher while his opposing manager started a rookie. It just didn't work out for Baker.
4-By that rationale, Bobby Cox has to be the worst manager in baseball history.

So is one Giants Rook.

whoa quick hook! One batter in a 5 run game? Or did Proctor pull something?

Gagne does not return for the bottom of the 10th. But he is in line for the Win!

For those of your who went to the game today (obviously still at the game), how much were the Corned Beef sandwiches at the Canter's stand? I can't wait to go over there and have one for a game.

A lot of people can't stand Brent Musburger. I can't see why. He's pretty nondescript. What's there to dislike?

Why are the Giants stealing down 5-0 in the 8th inning? vr, Xei

Brent Musburger was much more annoying 20 years ago. But he's been surpassed in annoyingness by many other announcers now.

He does like to call people "partner" and is in love with the phrase "You are looking live ..."

Freaking Gagne. That is why Fantasy Baseball should give points for quality starts and not wins.

all I can think of xei, is that they're trying to avoid the shutout. ??

604

oh man, my sunday league teammates would be cracking up at that one...

Brewers 4
Cubs 3

Final.

like kicking that FG late in the 4th down 21-0?

Bocock wasn't trying to steal, he was picked off and just tried to go to second.

607
A lot of the Musberger ire is directed at his inability to convey what is happening in the game he's covering. He often missed plays, misidentifies players, etc. He used to be pretty good, but age has not been kind to him.

I do like his classic "You are looking live..." opening though.

The faith of Troy from West Virginia comes through.

611/614. haha, yeah maybe they are thinking about the tie-breaker which is runs scored. Oh, that was the WBC, and even they changed that for next year. :)
vr, Xei

So the fan who was looking at the building of Dodger Stadium in 1958 must have had an interesting view of what was going?

Ground wasn't broken until late 1959 and serious construction didn't start until 1960.

I like Musberger, except when he goes on random political rants. Nowhere cares about your political beliefs. Just call the game.

615. Ok, thanks. Hard to differentiate online. vr, Xei

620
*No one cares...

597

... About pitch counts, I remember hearing from Curt Schilling that it wasn't the sheer quantity of pitches he had to make in a game that wore him down, but it was the number of pitches he made in tough situations/jams. He said that he felt more tired after a 95-pitch game in which he had to constantly escape trouble than he did after a 125-pitch game where he was essentially coasting.

Take the source for what you will, but illustrating context with that type of explanation makes a lot more sense to me than simply tabulating raw pitch counts.

I got a fever and the only prescription is a Loney Bomb.

587 All managers have flaws. I still point to Baker's overall track record. And saying that he gets the least out of the most cannot be further from the truth. His ability to get the most out of bit players is one of his strengths. If the Giant and Cub players would have closed out those infamous games, Baker would be a hero in those cities.

Bedard having a shaky first inning for the Ms.

Who pitches the 9th for the Dodgers? Guo, Troncostco or Broxton????

vr, Xei

Watching Andruw Jones man the outfield as opposed to Juan Pierre - this is a total understatement - it's like night and day. Pierre used his speed to make up for some poor reads, while Jones is always quick to the right place so he can make easy catches. Really nice to see that after last year.

624. I could use a little more cow bell.
vr, Xei

626
Saito is warming up.

This is that AAA depth Depo didn't have around to help through that injury-marred season. Especially after AZ traded some of theirs for Blanton, I would think we're as well-equipped as any NL west team to handle a few injuries.

Its pleasant to see Sammy warming up for this, but I'd almost rather give him more rest and give Ox a shot.

629. Ok, I figured they'd rest him of all people in such a low leverage situation. I guess he needs the work. vr, Xei

James Loney, stolen base!

630
Joe Blanton is still on Oakland. I think you mean Dan Haren.

Speedy Eyes

DeWitt's had a great day.

DeWitt looks like he has better patience than I expected.

Loney with a stolen base? Was it on a pick off attempt Bob? vr, Xei

Dutch, I would say that Schilling felt more emotionally/mentally fatigued after the tough 95 pitch game, but as far as simply wearing down an arm to a less efficient next game - the 125 pitch game hurts more.

I just don't think Schilling can probably differentiate between the two as well as doctors or even statisticians looking at how pitchers pitch after 120 pitch games.

Checking the speed of Loney? Any other reason one might have him steal 2nd there?

All those Jeff Francis walks and the Albert Pujols homer?

Never happened.

Young is pinch hitting Pierre's streak is gone?

That Loney steal up 5-0 might get a few eyebrows raised in the Giants dugout. A Delwyn sighting! Favorite roster ever this year? Hoping Ethier gets another AB here.

Loney was stealing.

Loney stole second partially because Threets was so desperate to throw a strike he wasn't paying much attention to him at all. And then he airmailed the next pitch to DeWitt Nook LaLoosh style.

DeWitt is showing a very mature approach for a guy who should be very nervous. Maybe because he expected to be in AA this year he feels no pressure to perform.

It will be interesting if he plays really well and makes it a tough decision to send him down.

525 It was not a cheap shot. Dusty Baker is one of my all-time favorite players because he's one of my all-time favorite people. I loved cheering for him as a Dodger and was outraged something fierce when he was let go under, ah, less than attractive circumstances.

I wouldn't hire him as a manager. He has never, ever seen the value of OBP and seems to think that a young pitcher should be able to throw 120+ pitches because young pitchers are young and strong.

I like him. Not as a manger. I like JP. Not as my LF.

627 Hallelujah. Andruw is about the best there's ever been at getting a quick read on a fly ball. He's not going to get any worse at that, whatever else age does to him.

Any guesses to which game number the Giants will score their first run of the season? I would hate to be the pitcher that gave up their first run. :)
vr, Xei

Re: 641

I had Francis on my Fantasy Team. I have no idea if my league will still count those stats.

WWSH

Thanks Bob. knew I had about a 50-50 shot at it and went all Bob Laundry on the research opportunity.

Am I the only one who thinks it would be a good thing for Torre to deliberately end the Pierre streak right now?

I expect the Giants to score no later than tomorrow.

602 -

2) It only required a little effort to find the original quote using Google. From 2004:

http://tinyurl.com/29m24o

"'No. 1, I've let most guys hit 3-0 (in the count). That's one reason,' Baker said. 'I think walks are overrated unless you can run. If you get a walk and put the pitcher in a stretch, that helps, but the guy who walks and can't run, most of the time he's clogging up the bases for somebody who can run.'"

So, he'd rather have Juan Pierre than a slightly slower baserunner who actually gets on base. I can sympathize with that somewhat, having seen the A's do this with an offense that gets a lot of runners on base but can't pick up a clutch hit to save their lives. But it's basically garbage at its deepest levels, because Baker has preferred players like Cory Patterson and Neifi Perez, players with speed but little else to recommend them.

WRT (4), there are some interesting parallels there. Cox doesn't change his managerial style in the postseason. It costs him.

I remember Musburger when it was Musburger vs. Bryant Gumbel in the battle of the NFL pre-game shows. Back when the pre-game show sets were serious and quiet, compared to the laugh-fests they are now.

Byrant used to report on the NFL in a dark studio as if he were actually talking about something weighty and serious. Pretty silly.

I take it Juan Pierre's streak is coming to an end? I've missed a few innings here but I don't see his name on the Gameday boxscore.

Remember when Delwyn initially impressed the coaches? Well that is pretty much all gone.

Some great info thrown around by you all today. Thanks. See ya tomorrow.

602 , 647 - legitimate criticism is not a "cheap shot". Cheap shots include but are not limited to personal attacks.

627

You aren't kidding. It looks like Jones is coasting every time he gets to a ball where it always looks like Pierre was on a full sprint.

So if Pierre is not a defensive replacement in the 9th inning, who takes over the longest consecutive games streak in the MLB from him? I'm pretty sure one person here knows.
vr, Xei

... I'm loving the love for Huuuuuuuuuu.

Steve Phillips will not shut up about Juan Pierre.

Saito wears socks similar to this [http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/blog/images/five-finger.jpg] when pitching, I'm sure there not as flashy though...

Are there precedents for DeWitt's situation; i.e. a position player two levels below the majors who finds himself on the big league team as a starter through happenstance, and have any stuck?

Torre should not play Pierre. Send the message on day 1 that the team is about winning games, not individual streaks. Grady never had the balls to end the streak last year.

I wonder how many positions Hu will qualify for next season from a fantasy perspective.

So I guess Ethier won't get a last chance to improve on his 0 for 4 today. Shame it came today of all days (had to come sometime soon), just after winning the position.

Grady Sizemore is the new leader in consecutive games played with 359.

I hope that this is considered some extra work for Saito to round him into shape, as opposed to thinking we want our closer to finish off 5 run leads.

If nothing else, Hu is spectacular with the glove. Going to be a real treat watching him as a defensive replacement (at the very least).

663
I feel sorry for you.

No way Molina was gonna catch up to that high heat from Saito.

669. and worthy of continuing the streak. :)
Thanks.
vr, Xei

I have not seen the game. Did it look like the Dodgers were sound fundamentally?

670
It has to be getting work for Saito since he pitched so sparingly in the spring.

Same old Sammy...

... One and oh.

675
The Dodgers were sound fundamentally except for the inning when everyone batted standing on their head.

Nice game. Good luck to all the folks trying to get out of the stadium.

Pierre's wearing one of those Francona special slob shirts over his jersey.

Maybe I should watch the Giants Postgame Show. I am sure they will have plenty of things to talk about.

First Place!

Thanks Mr. Timmermann. I appreciate the humor.

Since Brock is not here...

We win!

One and Oh.

This is a better illustration [ http://www.toesox.com/jdt_cma/uploads/tennis.JPG ]

678 Great minds . . .

per WPA.
Players of the Game:
1. Penny
2. Kent
3. Furcal

Goats of the Game:
1. Zito
2. Castillo
3. Ethier

vr, Xei

665 Mark Reynolds last year is one. Broxton, although a different position, is another. There are many.

647 , 659

... So as to not belabor the point any more, I respectfully disagree with both of you.

Weird to see Weaver as Angels' opening day starter.

The Dodgers magic number is now 153, the same as the Diamondbacks. Gonna be an exciting finish. :)
vr, Xei

The only thing I'm comfortable predicting is that an NL West team will go all the way this year, I hope it's the Dodgers but it could very easily be some other NL West team.

Oh, Kevin Kennedy. I'm afraid I'm going to hurl.

688

... Yeah, so far so good.

695
What is he saying?

The Twins coaches are wearing different sytle helmets from the batters.

The streak is over. The invisible barrier has been torn down. That's great news.

699. Save your ticket stubs.
vr, Xei

I just switched to Anaheim-Minnesota. Literally the first sentence I heard from Joe Morgan was, "If there's one thing I regret, it's that I didn't bunt more often." I haven't looked at the Fourth Outfielder archives in three years, but after hearing that I had to find this piece:
http://tinyurl.com/ytdkfh

That's more condescending than I wish it was, but the analysis was pretty good for someone who didn't know how to conduct a proper baseball study.

Looking for it, I also found a piece where I 'predicted' that none of the eight teams in the 2004 postseason would reach the LCS that year. Rob McMillin (scareduck) was confused.
http://tinyurl.com/yqlthy

I just read that Schmidt got booed. I would not boo a guy that got injured.

The piece above was written before I realized I could copy and paste from retrosheet into excel. I remember individually counting all the SH from the Big Red Machine, and then double checking the next day.

Might be wet for wednesday nights game vs the Giants. Rain is likely on wednesday, hopefully it will have blown through by game time. Probably not enough to cancel the game, but depending on timing, enough to make sitting in the crowd uncomfortable.
vr, Xei

Peachtree TV?

703. It was on your blog that I first discovered Dodger Thoughts. I believe you had just written a blog entry on why the Derek Lowe signing was good for the Dodgers. It was based on his pitching style and the park effects of Dodger Stadium. It was one of your last posts and you mentioned something about this site. I was sad to see your site closed, but happy to have another door opened here at DT. Thanks!
vr, Xei

It's nice that the streak has ended right away. I really think this means Pierre is stuck on the bench and won't be coming off for some minor slump. When's the last time a guy had a 400+ game streak ended because of a flat out benching (no day to day injury thing)?

705- Wikipedia to the rescue. I didn't know Atlantans couldn't get TBS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPCH-TV

That was the most fun I've had watching a Dodger game in a long time. I didn't think about Pierre the whole game. Kent looked great, Furcal looked superhuman, Loney got a couple of hits, and DeWitt looked good in the first game of what I hope will be an excellent ML career.

The lineup was exactly what I would have hoped for with the exception of 3B, and it's as easy to root for DeWitt as it would have been for LaRoche.

It reminded me a lot of what it was like watching Dodger games in 94-98 when I always just assumed management knew what it was doing, so I could just sit back and root for the team.

I know we had this discussion last year, alas, but I sure would like to see some sort of "No Booing Night" at Dodger Stadium this year where everyone who doesn't boo someone at some point gets a special medallion in thanks.

Sigh, booing everything gets old.

---

Only tangentially related, but I like how the Giants' announcers think the Dodgers backup 2nd baseman today is Chin Lung Hugh (as in Beaumont, or hue.)

708
Since when didn't Atlantans get TBS. We did when I lived there 3 years ago.

702 - The booing of Schmidt was fairly tepid, but I agree with you.

The Twins lineup just gets horrid the farther you go down.

A couple of Juan Pierre/Dodgers-related nods on FJM, today (sorry if this was posted before).

I liked this from Ken T:
"does anyone else thin{k} the Dodgers hired Joe Torre because he's the only person who could bench Juan Pierre and not send the L.A. print media into complete hysterics?"

It sounded like Torii hunter got booed when he caught that first flyball. Then when he came up to bat he got an ovation?

A solid, anxiety-free win over a considerably inferior opponent. We'll see how they do against the D'Backs and Rockies, but I think you've got to consider the Dodgers a contender.

714 FJM seems to think that there might be a rift between NedCo and JoeTo about starting Ethier over Pierre. Somehow I don't think that's the case.

IMHO, there's nothing inherently wrong with booing at a ballgame. I think it's reasonable to voice my displeasure at what's happening on the field, the opposing team's star player, etc. But booing's become far less of the traditional way of expressing disappointment at poor play or good naturedly giving it to the opposing team and become part and parcel with the type of cynical, boorish public behavior that seems epidemic at most major sporting events these days, complete with tasteless profanity, bullying intimidation of other people in the park, and a general disinterest in watching the game but trying to become part of it by making sure attention is focused on the idiot making an obscene spectacle of himself, rather than the game.

553 here in SF, there is interest/hope for Lincecum and Cain, but there is nothing else to look forward to. (Don't know why either of those guys didn't start aas opposed to Zito, who has had a subpar spring.) I have heard sober and local analysis in the press say that the Giants could be heading for 100 losses. The only way it could be interesting for giants fans this year is if the rest of NL West has enough parity to beat one another up and keep the Giants within shouting distance till June. Make no mistake, these Giants simply suck. I love it.

719 The only way it could be interesting for giants fans this year is if the rest of NL West has enough parity to beat one another up and keep the Giants within shouting distance till June.

I heard that idea suggested by the Chronicle, but, if the rest of the NL West is beating up on each other, oughtn't they be beating up on the Giants, too?

711- You dare question the factitude of wikipedia? Your funeral, bub.

Now that accounting software has taken over the Braves tv contract, I project they will win 160+ games, this year.

719 And along those lines, here's more from the Giants' peanut gallery, fresh on the heels of today's game (not a happy bunch, in all):

http://tinyurl.com/2dd9yp

Great username on Tony Jackson's blog on the Pierre benching entry: 'V-JP Day'

706 It never would have occurred to me to write about baseball or figure out how to research it seriously without Dodger Thoughts. It's almost disconcerting to find out someone learned about DT through me and not the other way around. Between Jon, Ken, Studes, MGL, Tango, Rob, Repoz, and Aaron (and dozens of others who should be coming to mind more quickly), I had a lot of amazing support that made my work possible, and I kind of doubt anyone else was (or ever will be) so lucky to have accrued so much support so quickly.

For the record, I found out about DT from Ben Jacobs' old blog.

I think the piece you're referring to was probably the first THT piece I wrote, (http://tinyurl.com/4qwv6) (my hasty column on Magglio Ordonez - which generated dozens of flames last summer - ran before it because I had to rerun the numbers on the Dodger Stadium piece) in which Lowe was a complete after-thought that I tossed in at the end; still, the Lowe bit got all the attention and people at BTF thought I wrote the article to justify the Lowe signing. The Dodgers 2005 defense was a little too injury-riddled for my UZR forecasts (which weren't regressed right) to work out.

This earlier post on Lowe: http://tinyurl.com/2ucjbl inspired Jon to call my site a must-read; I went on a road trip 20 minutes after I finished it and didn't write anything for the next week, so I probably didn't capitalize on the traffic bump I could have gotten. If the conversation had been exactly as I put it there (for fictional purposes), McCourt would have had a stronger case for firing DePo at the end of 2005.

I was overwhelmed with the traffic the next month when Repoz couldn't stop linking to me, and pretty much got sucked into a full-on baseball writing addiction. There was a Thursday night (generally the key laid-back party night in Berkeley, more important to me than most Friday and Saturday social scenes) where I blew off my friends until quite late just to keep up with a BTF thread on a THT article I'd written (might have been the Russ Branyon one, which I absolutely stand by). I wish I could have kept it going for my fans back then, but I couldn't realistically keep doing it without abandoning my academic plans. I didn't want to change my major to statistics, which at the time I saw as the only suitable bipartite solution.

That said, if someone offered me a living wage to be a baseball writer for this season and next right now, I would probably take it and pray I wouldn't lose sight of everything else.

Actually, if anyone would be interested in a 30-page study on Roger Clemens (or a shorter article that skipped the methodology), I would write it for some cash. I've done about 75% of the research I would need to consider it more or less authoritative.

720
In 1969, the NL West had a five-team race and the fifth place team finished at .500.

The sixth place team was San Diego. The Padres were 52-110.

724 In that Lowe piece, I doubt Frank McCourt would have known Ryan Ketchner by his first name.

I've been saying that the NL West might be decided this year by which team does the best job of beating of on the Giants. I could see the other 4 teams playing each other, and the rest of the league, to a virtual draw. If someone rings up SF to the tune of 17-2, the division should be theirs for the taking. Kind of like what the Dodgers did to Arizona in 2004. What I don't see is a scenario in which the dog-eat-dog nature of the division keeps the Giants in contention.

If Jacob wants validation, the 1969 Braves had the best record against the Padres of the top 5 teams in the division that year, although by just 1 game. The Braves were 13-5.

728 Of course I meant beating up on the Giants. That's a bad typo, one letter removed from being a horrific typo. Might drive up Jon's hit counts, if that matters.

728 "beating of on the Giants"

Hard to resist the sophomoric urges.

697 Sorry Train, I had to swoop and now all I can tell you it was some amazing smooth rap that was probably nonsense.

Brook and Robin Lopez to the NBA Draft.

An example of the grim outlook over at McCovey Chronicles:

And now I have my poor kid growing up a Giants fan. I have failed him.

Watched the game from Baghdad, hopefully the Dodgers play well this year so AFN will show many of their games. One of my favorite military memories was traveling from California to Turkey in 2006 when the Dodgers went on a tear in August. When I arrived in Turkey, I was waking up in the middle of the night and sure enough there would always be a Dodger game on for me to watch. Great stuff, watching the game tonight brought back good memories!

733 Wow.
735 Double wow. Be safe.

OK so on my way home from Glendale, I swear on the 134 I saw two guys in a blue camero I think and one looked like he was wearing a DT shirt. But it could have just been another Dodgers shirt. Either way.

Re: 735

Thanks for your service.

Out of curiosity, where exactly are you? Camp Victory? The IZ? A brigade FOB out in the city? Do you have enough bandwith for something like MLB.tv?

WWSH

I was impressed with Dewitt. Calm, composed, level headed in his play today. He also hit two homeruns to boot!

Where did this newfound plate discipline come from!?!?!

739....

almost

oops

740 I was wondering what game you were watching for a second...

NPUT

736
Thanks, much appreciated! I'm normally a lurker but I decided to register and post, as this is one of the few blog-type websites that allows me to post (damn you, government filter!).

738
Thanks, I am happy to be a part of everyone who represents the US over here. I am on Sather Air Base on the VBC. I'm sure we have enough bandwidth for it, but literally EVERY piece of streaming video on every website I've visited from a work computer will not play. Because of that I assume that mlb.tv would be no different, so I'll settle for the mlb.com Gameday on days when the Dodgers aren't on TV.

What happened to 1000 comments? I thought there'd be at least that many considering the commentary during the pre-game and first few innings...