Not buying it.

The Mets's lineup is surprisingly weak. Outside of Church and Wright, there's nothing to fear, not even fear itself.

Reyes and Beltran are pretty good.

1 Is it really that hard to believe that there are good, bad and indifferent blogs.

To group anything as broad-based as blogs was just ill informed and pretty lazy.

You heard of this guy named Beltran?
His line drive rate is very high for such a low average.

3
They haven't been so far this year.

I found it interesting that D4P was more worried about Church then Reyes, Beltran, or Delgado.

6
Does that matter?

A 108 OPS+ from a shortstop doesn't count?

hopefully Billingsley puts it all together tonight.

Beltran's putting up his 2005 numbers, and Delgado is a mere shadow of his (roided-up?) self.

I'm sure the regulars know this but I thought I'd post this for the lurkers:

IP 27.7
Strikeouts 40 (pretty cool)

5 12 line drives in his 54 balls in play as a left hand batter.

If you can get Carlos to hit a ground ball, you have a really good chance to get him out since he has only 1 hit in 27 ground balls as a left handed hitter.

I always thought "Chad" was short for something else but apparently not, I find that strange for some reason.

11
Actually Beltran is knocking the snot out of the ball. He has a 30% line drive rate and should be hitting 324 based on his peripherals.

15 It should have been; something aristrocratic sounding like Chadwick Billingsley.

Greetings from beautiful Baltimore. I'm here in the land of crab cakes until Friday. I doubt I'll be seeing any Dodger games, or any games for that matter.

Per Baseball HQ on Beltran:
"Latest Player Analysis :
4/28/2008 - Tough luck early for Beltran...The hits haven't been falling nearly enough for Carlos Beltran (OF, NYM) so far. Despite showing greater plate patience and ripping the cover off the ball, he has a paltry .224 BA and .412 SLG to show for it. As the following statistics show, things should correct themselves fairly soon:

AB BA xBA h% bb% ct% Eye G/ L/ F PX
=== ==== ==== === === === ==== ======== ===
2006 510 .275 .318 33% 9% 88% 0.81 37/17/47 186
2007 554 .276 .296 29% 8% 91% 0.98 38/19/43 150
2008 85 .224 .311 27% 17% 76% 0.90 40/30/30 140
When nearly of a third of your batted balls are line drives and you still have a BA in the low-.200's, that's just not fair. His strikeouts are a bit high to start the season, but there's no reason to think he won't rebound and finish up with a season much like last year's. "

woah, Oliver Perez #'s the last 2 starts are horrid:

0-2
IP only 7.1
era 8.59

0 Unedited Bissinger from the interview linked:

I got carried away as I often do because of who I am, not because of some clandestine plan to "get" Will Leitch. I am genuinely embarrassed by what I did and I need to reiterate that. It is not representative at all of who I am.

Well, wait. It happened because of who you are, but it's not representative of who you are?

What is an "information-based sports blog"?

(And is everyone comfortable with the ? outside the quotes there?)

Not clear to me if that means "a blog that is reported and that generates its own information" or "a blog that presents information for its readers" and if it is somehow distinguished from a "blog that presents opinions for its readers."

Not that I personally think these distinctions are especially important, at least in the way that Mr. Bissinger seems to be holding up a category of worthy sports blogs, which are the "information based" ones.

I know the guy is good, but I've had a hard time being "sold" on Beltran after he put up such terrible numbers the first year of his huge contract.

That kinda thing always bugs me.

Marty -- if you've any interest in wandering down to DC and having dinner or something with me and a 3 yr old kid (and who wouldn't!!!!) thursday night -- would be fun. Certainly realize you may be well too busy.

Sam DOT brodsok AT comcast DOT net.

21
I'm comfortable with the ? outside the quotes, because the thing you're asking about is an "information-based sports blog", not an "information-based sports blog?".

16 Chadwick is a good name.

15 I have a friend named Winnie and Winnie isn't short for anything (like Gwendolyn)

Sam, you forgot the hook for Californians: "It's only forty miles away! You probably drive that far to lunch!"

18 My stats was through yesterday, those stats do not include the last 5 games where he went 2 for 11 (both singles) in balls in play.

His overall line drive pct. is .250 right now (19/76) and certainly there can be a dispute between fly balls and line drives that would possibly push that number higher.

Tony Jackson blogs about Torre's direction on steals:

Matt [Kemp] told me in the clubhouse that he has the green light to steal unless a no-steal sign is on, which intrigued me to the point that I asked Torre in his pregame session who else had the green light. Turns out Kemp, Furcal, Martin, Pierre and Andruw Jones all have the green light, and the rest of the team [has] at least some degree of freedom, as well.

The Dodgers are on-pace to 167 SB vs. 47 CS this year, a 78.05% success rate thus far. Andruw Jones has zero attempts despite the green light.

17 - You could go to a Bowie Baysox game and eat your crabcakes too. And check out Michael Garciaparra. Oh, wait, he is on the DL.

Miley's splits are ridiculous:

Bases empty: .231/.344/.404/.748
Runners on: .087/.192/.087/.279

Unfortunately, I'm working each night. Newspaper deadlines and all..

If you don't go to dinner with Sam, he'll just subpoena you to do it anyway, so I'd just go along and do it.

30 - "Miley's splits are ridiculous"

Don't tell me that Hannah Montana girl is in trouble again ...

30 Are they better or worse than her photo layouts?

Brett Tomko has a game score of 74 right now through 6 innings of a scoreless game against the Angels. If he can pitch one more inning without giving up anything and striking out one more batter, he will move into the top 10 high scores for the AL this season.

33 Any reaction from your talkshow hosting gig?

Old friend Tomko holding the Halos scoreless through 6.

The current Mets roster has 25 total career PAs against Billingsly with the most being 6 for Ryan Church. Not much history there, but not much success for the batters either, 3 singles, 1 BB, 4 K.

Tonight's Mets order:
J. Reyes ss
R. Church rf
D. Wright 3b
C. Beltran cf
M. Alou lf
C. Delgado 1b
B. Schneider c
L. Castillo 2b
O. Perez p

37
That was pretty egregious.

Don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but Kemp is NL Player of the Week.

Last Dodger to do it was Ethier in July 2006.

http://tinyurl.com/5fyv3p

40

egregious - 1. extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant: an egregious mistake

courtesy of Dictionary Dot Com.

41

I read about that as well but figured somebody else had posted the story & there thoughts about it already.

you guys here that?!? Torre was thinking of starting Russell at 3rd tonight. Another thing is that Torre is really considering using him regularly at the hot corner.

It's weird: I guess I understand why Ethier isn't starting today, and I'm not necessarily mad... perplexed? Exasperated? I'm not coming up with the right word.

44 Torre probably saw Bennett's career 4 for 9 against Perez and got a little excited.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/YyKf

45
I prefer flummoxed.

45 They are riding JP's hot hand while he has one. JP over his last 17 games:
.396 / .475 / .472 / .947
believe it or not. Note that with only 4 extra-base hits for the season, he is hitting them at about the same rate - 1 every 17 AB - as Andruw Jones, 1 every 16.33.

Still, I would like to see Delwyn Young get one of these starts when Ethier sits against a lefty.

Excellent, thank you. I'm flummoxed.

Would you rather have Matt Kemp or Ryan Braun on your real life baseball team?

41 Yeah, usually Dodgers49 is our man for making everyone aware of stories and press releases.

I think Pierre will hit the wall tonight... looking for Furcal, Kemp, Martin & Kent with good days at the office.

To: Dodger Fans
Re: Pierre in LF

You've been hoodwinked. You've been had. You've been took. You've been led astray, run amok. You've been bamboozled.

Nice start from our boy from Defiance, Ohio.

Of course if Ethier played every day, he could easily grab a player of the week. How that must hack him off.

Now David Wright is only hitting .456 lifetime against the Dodgers.

Excellent 1st inning for Chad.

Ian Ziering is sitting behind the plate I think. (90210 actor)

Now that's the way to start a game Chad.

Holy snikes his fastball his tailing so much tonight!

man, I love how Chad's fastball moves back in, it's just a thing of beauty.

I'm on the East Coast. Does anybody know if you can listen to the game via the KABC website (or somewhere else)? I tried looking around but right now Larry Elder's show is on.

12 pitches, 11 strikes.

ok Chad, 8 more innings just like that one, please

61
You can only listen to baseball games through MLB.com for a fee.

Bills!

Seasoning, seasoning, ladies and gentlemen.

Gotta stick with your young talent and let them grow up on the big stage...

Really nice first inning.

12 pitches from Chad, 11 strikes. And he seemed to be throwing harder than he was in Florida. He reached 94 a few times, and I think he only did that twice in seven innings last game.

That's going to make Billy Wagner very angry.

That's how we do it NY Mets, woo!

To paraphrase Maury Wills, "Well Chad, there's your run."

57 I always wondered happened to that guy. Not that he was a good actor or anything. Well, now we know!

That was a darned good first inning from CBills, and gosh, a pretty good first at bat from Raffy!

Those of you that have seen both Billingsley and Kershaw pitch, does Kershaw's stuff look that much better to you? In my amateur opinion, I think they offer very similar pitches just from different hands. It seems that Kershaw is brought up all the time by the experts, but Chad isn't always talked about as having the ability to become a great pitcher.

Looks like DeFault is sporting .338 BABIP, off of a 9.2% line drive rate.

66

Canuck, those 94 mphs fastball had pretty extreme tailing action to them too.

I think even Druw would've hit that one.

to expand on 73 , he kinda looked like Peavy out there.

71

Kershaws curve ball (watching it live) is just scary, that's all I have to say...

71

Kershaw has a better fastball (if you can believe that) and I think both of their curveballs are comparable. Billingsley sports a slider though.

mlb.tv is coming in and out here (must be the DF's thick air). Go Rafi!

71 Really? I feel like I hear Chad talked about as soon being an ace by a lot of people, not just DodgerThoughts-ers. But I will say from what I've seen of Kershaw they both have a lot of movement in their repertoire. As we know, Kershaw's curveball can be sick, and Billingsley has some great movement when he's on, too. His change still needs some work but he has quite a few weapons in his arsenal.

Jeff Kent just tried to a hit a ball through Oliver Perez.

I just hope Perez was wearing a cup, is all I can say.

Pretty sure Delgado Karrosed that ball (removed his foot from the bag before catching it).

Darn, we don't want Perez out now!

Golden God is clean n' shaven today.

Does Billingsley throw low strikes more often than other pitchers? It seems like he does to me.

The funny thing about that play is that Delgado was basically a full step off of the bag when he caught the ball. Too bad the dude who called Jeff off of the base at 2nd isnt umping at 1st tonight.

83 I just had to google that expression to be sure I hadn't been hearing it wrong my whole life. Nope, it's you.

79 There was also that article recently that compared him to Dan Meyer.

Comparing Kershaw to Dan Meyer?

87
I don't see it:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/meyerda01.shtml

83 He's a good man. And thorough.

Darn! There goes the no-no. :-/

82 Pretty sure Delgado Karrosed that ball (removed his foot from the bag before catching it).

When I was about 12 I was wandering around by the local Little League field when a game was on featuring about 2nd - 4th graders. The home plate umpire called over to me and asked me if I could first base ump for him. I was quite happy to say yes. On the first play at the base, the 1B pulled his foot to catch the ball, though the throw was plenty in time. I called safe. Even after I explained my ruling, the home plate umpire overturned it and summarily dismissed me. :(

71

what helps Kershaw also is that he IS LEFTY & A POWER PITCHER, I've heard that EVEN IF HE WAS RIGHTY it wouldn't change anything HE IS JUST A SPECIAL PITCHER.

77 79
So you guys would agree that they are very similar in ability and ceiling?

88 Bills. Something like for every Dan Haren there's a Dan Meyer and for every Cole Hamels there's a Chad Billingsley.

86 - Did it sound accidentally pornographic? Sorry! Maybe I was thinking of clean, shaven. No wait, that's the name of a cool indie film. Never mind.

He shaved, okay?!

95

Thats absolutely retarded. Who wrote it?

wait, let me guess...Will Carroll.

"Sure, for every Felix Hernandez there's a Dan Meyer, for every Cole Hamels a Chad Billingsley and for every Tim Lincecum a Homer Bailey, but Scherzer's unflinching composure and otherworldly stuff will take fantasy owners 'Beyond Thunderdome' sometime this year."

http://tinyurl.com/3h8aqg

97 Someone on Yahoo named Brad Evans.

This inning's, ah, not going as well as the first did.

And now Bruce Campbell is up.

And now he's not.

99

Including Billingsley doesn't even make sense. Their career ERA+s are almost the same.

No offense to the fantasy baseball players among us, but I've learned not to take any of their analysis too seriously at all. It's all short attention span, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately stuff.

Nice recovery CBills!

95 That's a good example of what I mean. Around here, many of my baseball friends have barely even heard of the guy. They aren't the brightest guys in the world, but they are familiar with the likes of Lincecum, Chamberlain, Gallardo, Hamels and Cueto, yet they barely know Chad exists.

But his ERA is like six this year, he's obviously not mentally ready to be a starter.

Ah, Billz!

Just let him work through it and I think you're gonna have an ace before you know it, folks.

Nice second inning for Chad...

By "their" I, of course, mean fantasy baseball experts.

I think Nate will agree with thise, the bite of both Kershaw & Billingsley curve ball are equal or there abouts but the power of Kershaws curve ball is slightly better, & I trully stand by that statement.

103- Whenever people say things about baseball that don't make sense to me, I assume it's a fantasy baseball thing.

106 - Hah. Yeah, send him down! Just look at the Cubs and Sean Hill. I wish we'd be as forward thinking as they.

106

Good point, you (and Brad Evans) win, I lose.

gameday doesn't know what the last play was except that it ended in an out

110 Bills is a great fantasy pitcher, which is what makes it even more bizarre.

104 That's true, and the time horizon for prediction is only one season.

This is a good sign (and we're desperate for those with Jones) that he didn't swing at any of those first three low balls.

109

The difference in velocity between fb and cb is higher for Kershaw than Billingsley. But yeah, scouts are calling Kershaw's curve one of the best pitches in the minors so i guess its more devastating. If he can duplicate Chad's success, I will be extremely happy.

Chad is trying to enter rare company tonight. He comes into tonight with four straight starts with 8+ strikeouts. Only Koufax, Nomo, Hershiser, and Valenzuela have had longer streaks.

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/Wcxt

What's amazing is that the top two streaks cover 18 of 19 Koufax starts in the 2nd half of 1965. Koufax had 190 K in those 19 starts.

i dont know if anyone is watching on sny, as i, unfortunately am, but they just aired a recording of vin telling a story about the move from new york. so awesome

O.Perez is gonna have a bruise in his tummy.

99. That´s unbelievable. This guy must only have seen Chad´s ERA. And by the way, Bills and Scherzer have the same age.

Phils just put up a 4 psot agains D'backs highly touted Max Sherzer. 5-1 now!

Bills bad luck almost got to him again. For a guy who almost always dominates his batters, the poor guy doesn't get much success

Too bad, we let Perez off pretty easy that inning.

122 - Take that, Brad Evans! {in Edward G. Robinson by way of Billy Crystal voice} Who's your messiah now, hah?

121
Speaking of the 2-days-older Scherzer, he retired all 13 batters in his debut last week.

Tonight, not so much. 5-1 Phillies in the 3rd.

114- Oh yeah? Well, there you go. I guess it's possible the guy is a dummy.

A cheetah is loose at the base paths.

oh Russell, a better throw get's him I think.

Damn, if Russell had thrown accurately there he would've had Reyes.

Scherzer doesn't throw that hard, hes 88-93 this inning.

the undershirts NY uses kind of remind me of CalTrans worker shirts from downtown L.A.

Let's just go with the heat, babe.

130

He must have a) great great movement on his fastball or b) a great secondary pitch to compliment his fastball, if he is being called a great pitching prospect no?

man, Billz is making Wright look wrong tonight. :o)

Bills has owned Wright in the first two at bats. Which doesn't mean he will the next time around, but that sure was sweet to see.

Mr. Billingsley!

So happy to see a young and decidedly talented pitcher hitting the note.

Keep goin', boss...

Scherzer´s scouting report: http://tinyurl.com/44g7nq

Perez threw out Perez, according to Vinny, who didn't take his gingko today.

good call, he was out.

That was the only acceptable time to slide into first -- barely.

Great play by Delgado and Perez.

Let's go Matty, whistle one out...

Exhibit A why you're not supposed to slide at first base. Pierre lost just enough speed by dragging his body along the ground that Perez was able to beat him by half a step. If he runs that out, he probably beats it. (He would've bounced off of Perez, of course, but he would've been safe...)

According to Gameday, the second pitch was behind Kemp.

142
And the first pitch was a strike.

And the pitch he swung at was way inside, though not has inside as the second pitch.

The AFLAC question is like putting it on a tee!

141 He could have gotten tagged if he didn't.

High praise for Scully at MetsBlog.

145 I'm not sure about that. The toss was high, Perez's glove was not in a position to tag Pierre.

147 True, but that is why you slide on plays like that.

147 Eh, I'm wrong. Pierre would definitely have been tagged out.

One of the many uses of DVR, although it would've come in handier here for me if I remembered to check it before I posted.

144
Well, you could look it up.

It's amazing how quickly I got use to the 1st baseman & 3rd baseman wearing helmets, I didn't think it was gonna be that easy.

I am here at the game and they flashed something that said the dodgers are 297-241-1 against the mets (dont quote me on the exact numbers). any idea when the tie was?

come on Billz, don't get into those old habits.

yes, good job my man Billz!!

Once again, the young, talented Dodgers pitcher for your benefit, folks -- Chad Billingsley!

Stick with him, Ned...

146
There's praise and there's also people who say Scully is better than listening to Daron Sutton, which is akin to saying that women find Brad Pitt more attractive than me.

(Not even taking into consideration the fact that I don't have hands.)

152

Just for fun I'm gonna respond to that quote & think the tie MUST HAVE BEEN in NY right?

I liked reading their comments on Scully over there. And besides obviously agreeing with the praise, I can also imagine how he sounds even better when compared to the homer-ish announcers of Arizona and some of the other teams they've played recently, as one of their commenters wrote.

---

Okay, Casey Stengel, I knew the Afflac answer, but I can't say I'd heard him called "The Lefthanded Dentist" before. I feel ashamed, but I'd certainly have remembered that.

Billz needs to work on getting his pitch count down. Start by going after .220 batters and not pitch around them, don't run the pitch count full on the 8th spot batter. This is where Maddux would have been a good prescence for Billz, Lowe, Penny..

I'd never heard Stengel referred to as "the left handed dentist" before. If only Loney could have a cool nickname like that!

dont know what anyone thinks about it, but i thought it was worth mentioning... when my buddy (knows nothing about baseball) and i were watching billingsley's debut and i told him how awesome he would be, my friend nicknamed him "killingspree." any good?

Although we are in pretty good shape, it is hard to watch Bills get through danger, while we are unable to do a thing against Perez inning after inning.

Things keep going like this, we'll be three back by the end of the night.

Russell Martin debuted on 5/5 and his number is 55. Cool.

160
http://tinyurl.com/47q2nz

144 Is the AFLAC question out in LA the same as the SNY version here in NYC?

"Who is the last LA Dodger to play at least 5 games at 3rd and catcher in one season?"

159
Maddux already was said good presence, in 2006. If Maddux wants to retire and coach, bring him on over. Otherwise, I'll take my eight figures and spend it on Kuroda rather than Maddux.

That said, I love Greg Maddux.

152 Media guide does not list a tie.

166
They were reading Dodger Thoughts last week! Jerry Grote!

166 check that - you can take the LA out that question

166 - No, because I'm pretty sure the answer to that one isn't Casey Stengel, or the Lefthanded Dentist.

166
Nope, who was the manager other than Joe Torre to manage the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers.

Torre, like Stengel, has only been successful with one of those teams.

161

I would have had a nice chuckle at that exchange, specially cause I would have known he knows nothing about baseball & he came up with something pretty funny of the bat...

165 That's really interesting. I wonder if my Dad knew that. I also wonder how he would've done with fillings from the right side?

167 - If you're Mike Maddux, do you get upset at the idea that Greg might be a better pitching coach than you too?

June 7, 1964
Dodgers and Mets tie 1-1 in the second game of a doubleheader.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196406072.shtml

Loney swung at ball 4.

yeah that was the beauty of it

Loney's been suprisingly productive (25RBIs) for only having a .735 OPS.

I'm pretty sure Ethier would have gotten a hit right there.

Man, Druw is still hearing it. That average must be creeping towards .150 right now. Andre really needs to play for him for the time being.

I predict Andruw Jones will get AT LEAST A HIT tonight, guaranteed (judging from how he looks tonight)

& no I'm not joking I really mean it.

In the Mets first three seasons, they played 54 games against the Dodgers (if you throw out the tie).

The Dodgers won 47 times.

Dang, Andruw.

179 - The Dodgers hitting in front of him have been surprisingly good at getting on base. Look at Pierre's line!

I have to mute it when Jones is batting now just because I hate hearing the boos that will surely reign down upon him when he's done. Still, I, like BB, am predicting a hit tonight. Er, not putting money on it or anything.

This guy has been getting booed at Shea (Reyes) so its all relative.

Annnnnd, we're in the fifth.

Annnnd, we're not out of the fifth.

188
Crap, I didn't even think about that! As soon as I read your comment, blam! Walk to Church.

God bless Rafael Furcal.

Furry is magic.

MVP! MVP!

This has been Chad's Inning of Doom in the past so it'd be nice if he could survive it.

the play speaks for it's self {mutes self}

M.

V.

P.

Not a big fan of the Furry nickname.

Raffy dazzles!

Another Web Gem.

Unreal play. Considering who was running, that might be Raffy's best of the year.

NBC is yanking repurposed episodes of USA Network skeins "Monk" and "Psych" off the air immediately.

For now, Peacock will replace the Sunday night two-hour block with four back-to-back repeats of "The Office."

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117985142.html

Furcal!

195
A Scullyesque comment.

He has been really fun to watch this season.

Guess that's why they call him...Da Billz.

Nice 5th Inning, Chad.

Thanks for the help, Mr. Furcal.

Good young pitchers should be cherished. And nurtured.

Mr. DeWitt!

186

I'm not a betting man either but he looks a little better tonight we'll see what happens.

DeWitt goes YARD!!

197- That was actually the point of it, when it started. It was a shot at a guy who's been gone longer than he was here. I should let it go, but it still makes me chuckle, sinisterly.

Attaboy Blake! Congrats!

Wow, there it is. Good for you, Blake.

Wow!

Somebody go get that ball!

YAY!!!!!!

The Solution (off a lefty no less).

That was not a cheap home run.

Nice going, Blake!

blake! what a shame for laroche

Chad still only at 75 pitches though 5. He can still go two more innings. Only 26 of his last 49 pitches for strikes though.

Wow, his teammates love him. I've never seen a reception quite like that before.

That ball went out purely on gumption!

Ron Darling: "I'm always amazed every time I come to Dodger stadium at how CLEAN it is!"

That's what working at Shea stadium will do to you.

Nice Blake

And there it goes!

The Solution Solves It!

Now he's going to hit 10 in the next month.

Awesome moment with the dugout reaction, and then the curtain call. Way to go, Blake!

I really like Blake DeWitt.

i dont think i have ever seen a dodger stadium curtain call

That was such a purty swing.

Wow. A curtain call off a solo home run in the fifth inning. LA flat out loves Blake DeWitt. Good for him.

Rick Honeycutt looked like he was about to crack up when everyone was purposely avoiding DeWitt at first.

Curtain call for The Solution!

I wish I had cable...

215 There's something funny about seeing that written by someone with your handle. ;-) Maybe not ironic, but funny.

I loved the fake out with the silent treatment in the dugout, too. Quite inspired.

226
It's his 1st MLB HR. An important moment for sure.

If Pierre gets on, Kemp makes it 5-0.

So, uh, are we sure LaRoche can't play 2nd? That'd be a nice, er, solution for next year.

DeWitt has done such a respectable job at 3rd base you just can't help & like him.

217-What happened? Did they ignore him and then jump all over him? (I'm watching the Mets feed).

DeWitt no doubt read Rob Neyer's poison pen remarks about him. Take that, Neyer!

217 I think the combination of the situation (AA kid replacing veteran and top prospect), his demeanor, and his work ethic make him pretty popular.

Step into that one! :)

235
That's exactly it.

235 Yep, that's exactly what happened. Completely ignored him for a few seconds, and then completely mobbed him.

237 - "Bring me the trash can. I want the trash can."

DeWitt!

I like that boy.

Anybody else distracted by Ian Ziering sitting behind home plate?

235 Yeah, the old silent treatment and then Martin and the rest of the team congratulated him with back slaps and hand shakes, the fans called him for a curtain call too.

The fans should give Pierre a standing ovation for every walk.

That dugout moment and curtain call will probably be a top moment of the year! Classic.

What did I say?

232
The man is a witch! Stone him!

What a freakin beautiful swing.

Eric Stephen wins the bonanza!

243
"Russell Martin graduates!!!"

NL Player of the Week

Year of the Bison™

246 well said

woohoo!

Player of the Week.

holy crap....ERIC!!!

hahaha... good call Eric

247
I can make hands magically reappear.

Re: 232

Holy cow!

You sure called that one.

Sweet, sweet Kemp.

man, look at were he hit it too...

Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers has been named Bank of America Presents the National League Player of the Eight Days for the period ending May 5th.

nice call, eric!

nice call, eric!

232 deserves the silent treatment followed by all of us mobbing Eric and then a curtain call.

232 You win 5 bonus points. KEMP!

The beauty of making hundreds of incorrect predictions and "guarantees" is that it's all worth it when you get one right!

Matt "Killer" Kemp!

243
Jon is taking note of Ian Ziering at the game and adding it to an article he's writing.

Bison, robot, nails, etc,

232 Can you tell me what lotto numbers to play?

so nice I had to say it twice...

The Bison!

Make that man a Dodgers commentator!

232. Curtain call for you, Eric!

In other news, the Hornets look like they will be taking a 2-0 lead in their series against America's Team.

Nike's new promotion. Just DeWitt!

Molly, see comments 57 and 70 re the talented Ian Ziering.

---

Man, now I'm really glad I flaked on going to a SF film fest screening tonight; this was totally worth it.

269 - Oh, you know, that hadn't even occurred to me, but there you are.

If Eric would've predicted the Pierre walk that would've been even more empressive.

Kent has hit into some hard outs tonight, he's 40 but he can still sting it.

277
That made me laugh out loud.

232 Do you got any stock tips?

Btw, Pierre's OBP is probably around .400 now. Say what you will, but Pierre and Furcal sure do a nice job of setting the table.

Correctly predicting a Pierre home run would be even more impressive, still, but who among us has the courage and prescience to call that one?

278 I can see why Molly might recognize him but Bluebleeder?

Wasn't he married to a playmate once?

Our current 3B is hitting .299/.386/.442.

283

There is nothing with Pierre if he can keep his OBP about .360

Re: 281

Kent is like your vaguely mean-spirited uncle who took left the family back in the 1990s but always liked you and took you under his wing and took you to your first R-rated movie.

You never forget it. You always appreciate him.

286 I think the Nomar situation will play out before the LaRoche situation comes up. Unless Andy goes on tear like he did last July.

That AB didnt go so well after getting ahead 0-2

Re: 288 "took left" = "left"

After all that talk about Beltran's line drive percentage, he gets two hits on ground balls.

I hope Russell Martin hits it out on his anniversary also... he's been hitting the ball right on the nose also in this game.

That was not Bison's most graceful fielding play ever, and he sorta banged himself up a little bit to boot, alas.

And there goes the shutout. Ah well. Just one more inning Chad!

I've been thinking that if Pierre was leading off and Furcal hitting 3rd or 4th, might the Dodgers offense be even more potent. Not saying always, but while Pierre has been hot.

Ian Ziering used to be married to Nikki Ziering, whom I had the pleasure of knowing when I worked at CBS. Very nice person, and yes, I've seen her naked (in Playboy).

Ian used to show up occasionally to watch tapings of The Price Is Right. (She was a Barker's Beauty.)

Nice, Blake ...

What about the nickname "Prize Winner" for Chad? It's sorta obscure, but there was a movie called The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio that came out a few years ago. Since Chad is from Defiance and "Prize Winner" is a favorable nickname, I think it works.

296 - Did you know Brandi Sherwood? She was a BB too (former Miss USA) - she was our upstairs neighbor at our old apartment.

285

mid-90's pop culture I'm aware off I guess :o)

296-I have not seen her naked, but according to wikipedia she went to my high school. She's probably the second most famous Sonora High grad after Ann Meyers Drysdale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonora_High_School

The Bison calls his mom "Mother." How sweet.

Justin Upton's 'unique' diving try at a line drive in right with the bases loaded and 2 out breaks the game wide open 8-1 Phillies Top 7.

Chad's been a groundball machine this game as well.

301
The only thing I remember about La Habra is that Paul, the King of Big Screens, is there. I had to do a report in 7th grade on medieval times, and my main character was "King Paul of La Habra."

Why is Nomar Garciaparra wishing "everybody" a Happy Mother's Day?

There's a significant percentage of the population that are not mothers. I mean I may have given birth once and not remembered it. 1988 has always been a bit fuzzy for me.

Matt Kemp is a lot like Vladimir Guerrero.

A 12-2 GO/FO ratio for Chad tonight. That's weird for Chad, who has usually been more of a flyball pitcher. I don't think it is an accident either. Chad seems to be making an effort to keep the ball low, which results in more -- but less dangerous -- contact and fewer K's.

299 No, Nikki was the only BB I ever spoke to (or to be more precise: she was the only BB who ever spoke to me). I left CBS in 2000, was she working there then?

Let's go A. Jones me & Eric belive in you

So, if Chad's spot doesn't bat this inning, does he come back out? He's at 91 pitches through 6. I'd let him go another inning, or at least until trouble.

310 And me! Don't forget.

301
La Habra - Orange County
La Habra Heights - Los Angeles County

Few people who live in Los Angeles County have ever heard of or been to La Habra Heights.

I am one of those few.

306
Didn't Ralph Kiner once say during a Mothers' Day broadcast, "So to all you mothers out there, happy birthday."?

Sigh.

305-Yah! He sponsored my high school basketball team.

------------------

Um, failing to run out groundballs is not going to silence the booing, Andruw.

They're saying "'Druuuuuw" right? Or "Booo-urns"?

--

Boy, they sure turned on their own on the MetsBlog. I know it can get negative here sometimes when the Dodgers are struggling, but boy...

309 - No.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barker%27s_Beauties#List_of_Barker.27s_Beauties.2FPrice_Is_Right_Models

I remember when I was 13 years old going on a roller coaster ride with a girl that lived in La Habra but she never said if she was from La Habra heights or La Habra, OC it was fun & she was very sweet.

314 It would've been even better if he'd said it "muthas".

313 - Michael Robert Garciaparra lives in La Habra Heights, when he is not on the DL.

313- Exactly. My mom's house backs up to the Heights, basically. I grew up in Los Angeles county, but my assigned public high school was in Orange county. My childhood bedroom was about 10 feet from the border.

309

what does BB mean?

On top of all his hitting problems, it looks like Andruw isn't really giving a lot of effort.
It seems he could have easily legged that one out...ugh

Sad, Andruw. Sad. Not normal sad. The 16M kind.

319
There are only about 6000 people who live in La Habra Heights. And they are almost all white.

I almost would've let Chad go at least one more batter, but overall I like the hook here.

Barker's Beauty. The ladies on The Price Is Right who are incredibly skilled at price-reveals.

323 Barker's (as in Bob Barker) Beauties.

328 was for 323

Really nice outing from Billignsley man.

Good quick hook by Joe.

That was a really great catch by Matt. Really difficult.

326-Yes. My mother's house is in Whittier, but our back fence borders La Habra Heights.

Strangely, I think LHH has a high number of baseball players per capita. I know Nomar hangs around there, and Rick Burleson (former Red Sock) lives there, too. His son was one of my best pals in elementary school.

don't get hurt there Kemp, who ever invented the pitching bounds on the sides of the field wasn't very bright in my humble opinion!!

I know DS doesn't have pitching mounds on the side but it brought back flashbacks, sorry.

Dodger win expectancy sitting at 96%
vr, Xei

335

Pitching bounds?

Really could have used a guy like Biemel in that playoff series against the Mets a couple of years ago.

We may get a 1-2 MVP matchup in the Western Conference Finals.

Broxton looked like a cartoon character when he made that last warm up pitch did you guys see that (lightning quick) hahahaha looked kind of funny.

339 I like when you make predictions.

DeWitt seemed to be running down the line a tad faster and with more effort than Andruw.

whats dewitt's current line after that out?

C'mon Pee Wee!

...so is anyone else here (aka not named after Kopitar) addicted to hockey yet?

Just call him Pee Wee.

343
.295/.382/.436

With all due respect to Kobe, Chris Paul was robbed of the MVP.

He's so much more valuable to the Hornets, than Kobe is to the Lakers.

Dodgers--3 games back after tonight.

347

His BAIBP isn't bad, what's his LD rate?

If Furcal played where Jimmy Rollins played he'd hit 30 home runs too.

Like some of you have said earlier today, I'm kind of perplexed why Ethier, all of a sudden, seem to be the odd man out in the outfield. I know tonight's pitcher is a lefty, but he hasn't played a lot in the last few games.

348 I don't think that's a fair argument because if that was the case, certainly in 2006, the Lakers don't make the playoffs without Kobe Bryant but Steve Nash won the award.

Could Chris Paul be as successful without David West, Tyson Chandler or Peja.

You can't be an MVP without teammates.

349- It was 9.2%, coming into the game.

351 He has sat out against the last 3 left-handed starters.

351 At least Torre seems to have figured out that Kemp is a star.

I like it how the Phils are spanking the D-Backs.

[347}

his OPS+ has to be something like 108 now.

352

really, thats all? It seems he has hit more line drive than that.

So was Scherzer's hyped 2nd start a bust?

356 - Isn't that the way that the Snakes like it?

reading Broxton's Wikipage he seems to have a humble baseball career the only thing that sticks out at you is the 101.1mph fasball & Mark Grace calling him "the biggest man in the world"

357
If the league averages are the same as coming into today, his OPS+ is 112 right now.

354

BOBO!!!!!

358 Going into tonight's game he's hit 6 line drives (5 for hits).

352--I dont think just making the playoffs is that big of achievement in the NBA.

I also think PG is a much more demanding position to play than SG. Kobe's had the same type of season this year as he has in the past. The major difference in the Lakers being better than last year is Gasol, and Farmar/Sascha improving.

If this is a "lifetime achievement" award type of MVP for Kobe, fine. But Paul deserves it if its strictly "most valuable player".

If its just a "best player" award, then Kobe or Lebron would win it every year.

351 Either should be in. Jones, out. It's a crime Either sits on the bench with the way Jones is hitting. But the crime is justified by the huge contract.

363 I won't believe until they get a signed LOI.

Glad I already renewed my season tickets though.

19 Ks in 14 IP for Da Bull.

But I think that was about as hard and good as I've seen him throw all year.

362

Never would have believed Blake would have that type of OPS+ playing full time in May in the Majors in 2008.

359
Keith Law had an interesting article on ESPN.com right after Scherzer's debut saying he'd be better off in the bullpen, for two reasons:

1) better stuff in relief
2) a head jerk high effort delivery better suited for short stints.

Kemp's has just crushed Left-Handers this year.

Coming into today:

Vs LHP (45abs) .400/.383/.689 (dont see very often the BA above the OBP!)

Vs RHP (60abs) .267/.323/.350

367

He's coming. Hopefully we can finally bring that Banner back for my senior year next year.

I've lost all hope of Pierre hitting a home run, specially at DS.

369 It's really a great story, and he keeps getting better!

365 I don't have that problem but they never really defined what MVP means.

I hope it's not a trend I want Kemp to be 50/50 against all comers.

Kemp really is a terrific hitter when he gets to play every day and get his timing down.

As a team, the Dodgers have not hit well against righties but they are doing better since the first couple of weeks.

As far as Torre is concerned, thus ends Pierre's hot streak?

366 Yeah, tell me about it. Even though Torre said he'll start the three outfielders that are the hottest.

Scherzer's box score doesn't look too bad. He had over 90 pitches in just 4 innings of work, and gave up 5 runs, only 2 of which were earned. Drew's error apparently cost them a little.

Pierre's had a terrific 5 game stretch to begin May:

Coming into the month he was at:
.250/.328/.288

In may he's gone, (10-19) with 2 bbs.
.320/.400/.385

I bet you ALL OF US would have misspelled Scherzer's last name if we didn't have net...

7 innings from Billingsley great hitting & fielding from our players you can't go wrong with that.

384 6 IP+ but otherwise correct.

Oh, Vin, I've never heard him do this. I hope it goes as he prophesizes.

I want Loney to get hot again.

3 games back...

A Sammy smile!

Good win tonight vs a good team.
Bills was pretty good and the game is so much easier when you hit homers.

9-1 in the last 10.

Hopefully the next 10 will be nearly as fruitful.

We win!

Huzzah!

I'm just tickled all around with that one. Which is a good thing because now I have to go do some work until I fall asleep.

Good win. Good win.

I thought Steve Lyons doesn't care about pitch counts...

BISON reference!!!

Lyons drops The Bison on the PostGame Show

386 What did Vin say?

Nice of Lyons to pass along the Bison nickname on the post game show.

And right after Lyons calls Matt Kemp "The Bison," he calls him "a tinkle guy," meaning he's a batter who you never go to the bathroom when he's coming up. Before that, he called him a "man-child."

395. yeah, that's great. I heard it too. Unfortunately, he made a bathroom joke in the same sentence. :)
vr, Xei

Pierre has stolen over 60 bases twice, he's never stolen 70 or more bases in his career.

The Dodgers are now tied for the Wild Card with the Cubs.

Far be it for me to judge someone else's team and with their record they have been beating somebody, but D4P was right, this is not a very strong line-up, even if they start falling for Beltran. It was said that we are seeing the backend to their rotation, but even the front seems thin, albeit with Johan there. Can't imagine why some of the Met bloggers were contemplating a sweep. Looks to me like another big disappointment is brewing again in the Big Apple.

Far be it for me to judge someone else's team and with their record they have been beating somebody, but D4P was right, this is not a very strong line-up, even if they start falling for Beltran. It was said that we are seeing the backend to their rotation, but even the front seems thin, albeit with Johan there. Can't imagine why some of the Met bloggers were contemplating a sweep. Looks to me like another big disappointment is brewing again in the Big Apple.

386

I also noticed that as well in all of the years I have listened to Vin on the radio and watched on TV, I don't remember anything like that....So with DeWitt's solid play when Nomar is healthy, it just becomes a platoon or does he become super utility player? If Abreu is healthy I think he will be the sub and Hu will go down. That still leaves the Dodgers with 26 players and something has to give. Wade and Kuo seem very valuable to me and Chan Ho has looked pretty good, who could we get for Loiaza?

51 41 Yeah, usually Dodgers49 is our man for making everyone aware of stories and press releases.

Right. We talked about Kemp being "Player of the Week" in the previous thread.

386 - Hu seems to be part of the rotation, as it were, and I don't think that the Dodgers have decided yet about him taking over at 2nd base. Barring a nosedive with his hitting, I just don't see him going down. On the other hand, Ned could send him down to showcase him at short, if and when he starts negotiating with Rafi.

404 What happened with Vin?

dang, just checked the box score to see that I missed the Solution's first home run.

All in all, looks like it was a good game, nice outing by Billingsly, homeruns from Furcal, Kemp, and DeWitt. Pierre continues to produce. Not to shabby, boys

What was the count when Matt Kemp hit his home run?

From Dodgers.com:

Garciaparra getting back to work

>> But Torre said that when Garciaparra is healthy, he would reclaim the starting third-base job from rookie Blake DeWitt. <<

Why?

Dodgers magic number drop to 134.
vr, Xei

408 - You also missed D4P asking for advice on whether or not to move to Irvine.

409 What was the count when Matt Kemp hit his home run?

With Pierre taking his lead off first Kemp was expecting a fastball on the first pitch. He got it. He didn't miss it.

412 - really, where is that in the discussion? as someone who lives in Orange County, I'd suggest a different city than Irvine, but that's just me.

414 - During the first 50, if I recall.

405 You seem to be interpreting my remark in a negative way. Let me say right now that I really do appreciate that you bring stories and links to our attention, and in so doing you make a genuinely positive contribution to this message board. I made that comment as an appreciation of your contributions, not as a disparagement.

Comment 77 in a previous thread - bhsportsguy - brought it to people's attention, as far as I know, a fact I only realized after having made the post. I was late to the party and didn't realize it. That's my usual contribution: to point out things that everybody else seems to know already...

407

In the 9th inning after the 1st out by the Mets, Vin said, the Mets would be 1.5 out of first in the East and the Dodgers would be 3 back of the D-Backs. He did use the qualifier if the Dodgers win or if they hold the lead.

414 - Actually, the question was popped in 281 of the previous thread.

ok, as an Orange County resident, I'll say this... Irvine isn't too bad, I'd prefer one of the Laguna hamlets myself, or Newport Beach. Really, you can't go wrong with south Orange County.

I will vouch for Irvine. Sure if you are rolling in the dough, Laguna Beach or Newport Beach is better, but who among us can afford to slum with Kobe and Dennis Rodman? Irvine is a nice safe community, great for raising a family. You have great Chinese restaraunts (big plus in my books), very nice parks, wide streets, bike paths, a University, good schools and you aren't fogged in all the time. vr, Xei

by "Laguna hamlets" i was referring more to Laguna Hills or Laguna Woods, east side of the canyon. also a bit partial to mission viejo. but as i said, can't go wrong with any of south orange county

wow, just saw DeWitt's home run on Sportscenter, that got out in a hurry.

416 405 You seem to be interpreting my remark in a negative way.

No, it never entered my mind that you were being negative. I was just confirming that you were correct and that we had indeed talked about that in the previous thread. And thanks for remembering me. :-)

423 Cheers.

How did Lyons introduce the Bison reference?

Not quite two weeks ago, Jon posted this, *"Remain calm! All is well!!!

- Animal House"*

The Dodgers was closer to last place than first place at 8-12 while the D-Backs were 15-5.

Since then the D-Backs have slowed down from their .750 pace to play .500 baseball at 6-6, the Dodgers have shaved 4 games off the lead while going 10-2.

Again, things can change like in a second in baseball but its been a fun and thanks Jon for reminding us that its a long season.

425 They were talking about the home runs that were hit in the game and Lyons said Matt "The Bison" Kemp killed one to right. Both Lyons and Kennedy used the Bison reference on the show.

427
"Jose Canseco used to buy bison jerky in bulk back when I managed him in Texas."

Congrats to Blake DeWitt, and big props to the Dodgers dugout. That was awesome.

My roommate hates baseball. I mean, seriously loathes it. I constantly tell him about Kemp (because he's such a great athlete), though, and my roommate stopped to watch his at-bat where Kemp hit his home run. His words: "Wow, that guy is awesome."

I loved Kemp's post-game interview, by the way. I've never seemed a guy so simultaneously confident and nervous.

If you missed it the first time, its homer time again.

Bring on Arizona! (eventually)

A journalism ethics question (I feel like this is learn about the journalism industry week) - Is it cool to interview a player's agent and put his quotes in a game recap? I don't know why, but that didn't sit well with me.

Kemp's home run came on a first pitch fastball.

433
I don't see that as an ethical question. As long as the person is quoted accurately, I don't see what the issue is. If the player's agent had something relevant to say, then it should go in the story.

Just got back from the game. Billingsley got a lot closer to looking like what Jon has projected for him this season.
Furcal was great, lead off homer and he makes a great play going to his right into the hole and got Wright--big time help for Billingsley on that play. Kemp with oppo power. He had been trying to go oppo in his previous at bats. The Bison has really improved on his routes to the fly balls on defense--no more drifting. DeWitt made all of his chances on defense. Steve Lyons comes on the site today and DeWitt hits his first homer over the center field fence and the ball bounces on the set that they broadcast from, that was nice to see.
Russell Martin-Campanella had another all around great game. The Legend that is Joe Biemel did his job. Broxton was dominating the hitters. Saito arrived with much fanfare and got the final three outs. Juan Pierre had a good game, stealing second on the first pitch of Kent's at bat, when everyone knew that he would be running.

A well played game by the Dodgers and a nice win. Now only three games behind.

I felt I had to post a comment on the MetsBlog, even though the crowd over there is generally pretty respectable and I don't like lurking and certainly didn't want to trash talk... but I had to write what I hope is a polite response after someone there said the Mets should've done better because Billingsley is "such a middling pitcher." I just couldn't let that lie. I know I should have.

437
You visited a Mets-oriented blog? May God have mercy on your soul.

Bless me father, for I have sinned.

I also visited a... White Sox blog once, and a Padres blog a few times. {hangs head in shame}

{crosses self}

{realizes he's Jewish}

{does Star of David across chest instead}

Slinks off to bed, ashamed.

437 Dude, Mets fans mix a total sense of self importance with a complete lack of baseball knowledge outside Shea. And I say this as a close friend of a Mets fan who completely agrees.

Throw in the biggest inferiority complex in baseball, and there you go. Mets fans are a joke.

Great win tonight, Bills was so solid. Defense was great, and the home run parade gave us a comfortable lead throughout. Hopefully, Kuroda gives us some strong stuff tomorrow.

3 back? Things are looking up indeed. I'll hopefully be with you all for tomorrows match up in the thread. By the way I saw 8 Laker car flags on the way to work today, in all three (white, purple, yellow) variations. Can anyone beat that ha!

Just scanned the thread, loved all of the references to La Habra (lived there during grade school), La Habra Heights (lived there during high school--LHHS), Whittier (lived there as an adult). When I was a kid we got our first color tv from Paul, but that was a few years before he became "The King". My back yard in Brea is right on the LA County - Orange County line. Ha!

442 Go Poets!

Bills was on point tonight.

443 I used to really enjoy working out on the Whitier College track. The school has a nice library too.

So: is Juan Pierre's .400 OBP the result of a new and improved approach at the plate that can be expected to last, or is it just a SSS fluke...?

The sample size is small, but he does seem to be a little more patient at the plate.

He's definitely drawing more walks, and his P/PA is a career high 3.89.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-dodrep6-2008may06,0,1460371.story

Ethier and LaRoche have officially lost their jobs (for now) to Pierre and Nomar.

I don't have a huge problem with Pierre being in the lineup when he's actually Getting On Base An Awful Lot.

I do have a problem, though, with Jones playing over Ethier. Ethier is simply a better hitter at this stage in their careers, and (IMO) Jones isn't better enough on defense to make up for it.

450 I think Bowa spilled the beans the other night, as quoted here. They're giving Jones 200 ABs to get his swing back. If Jones is still hitting .150 with no power come June, he's going to meet the pine or the DL. The team can carry him right now, but not in a pennant race. In the meantime, Torre will tinker with the other three--I fully expect to see Ethier take a turn at first very soon.

The irony is that if Jones were putting up Ethier's numbers (.303/.388/.465/.853) his acquisition would be widely lauded as a success.

NPUT