Jon and I are the only ones who are awake? Wild. Not much to say. Just wanted to be the first poster.

Enjoyed the Dewitt articles.

As exciting as this all is, it seems unnecessary right now (unless Penny is more hurt than has been let on). The "Chan Ho Kuo Duo" can get it done if this is temporary. Penny and Lowe have been ineffective recently, but unless you're ready to take action on one of them, the rotation seems full.

Yeah, I don't understand the rush to bring Kershaw up. If he wasn't ready to join the rotation after Spring Training, why is it that he needs to be part of the rotation after not even two months of pitching at AA?

I drove with a buddy of mine and his wife about an hour to watch Kershaw last night in the greater Zebulon/Lizard Lick MSA. There were literally dozens of people in attendance, so we were able to sit wherever we wanted, so we settled with our drinks right above the Suns dugout. Man, most of those guys are young! You forget sometimes...
Anyway, Kershaw was a little jittery and threw a couple of balls (clocked around 95-97) but then blew away 3 batters, maybe threw 15 pitches total. There was contact on only a couple, the best was a weak dribbler to first.
Then he was pinch hit for in the 2nd..what the heck? Then, he walked out of the dugout with another player with a bat in his hand, down the first base line, over the bullpen mound, and out of the stadium entirely, kind of shrugging his shoulders in surprise. For the life of me, it looked like he was going to get in a car to RDU and fly to LAX.

We watched most of the rest of the game, a 6-0 win for the Suns. Keep your eye on Lucas May, this guy seems like a player. And De Jesus is going to make somebody a nice SS one day.

Commissioner Bud should announce Wednesday that the 2010 All-Star Game will be held in Anaheim.

5 - And the Dodgers are aiming for 2013.

At least tomorrow's game is an evening start, meaning it should be available on the package.

Is tomorrow's game on KCAL or something? Looks like only the Cards feed is available on DTV.

Holy cow! Only 2 1/2 games out. Are the D-backs in the doldrums yet?

Jon mentioned the sweeps...that was on my mind alot last night. What a wild, weird and somewhat perplexing game is this that I love so much.

Fox Prime Ticket Friday and Sunday and KCAL on Saturday.

Dodger Stadium to host 2009 World Baseball Classic:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3409221

11
The triumphant return of Hee Seop Choi to Dodger Stadium!

What I want to know from Molly is how big the ESPN The Magazine baseball crew is.

The last four Dodgers to make their MLB debut as a starting pitcher, and six of the last eight (dating back to Hideo Nomo in 1995) have made their debuts on the road:

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

With Doug Davis returning to the D-Back starting rotation, Max "2 Days Older Than Billingsley" Scherzer will be moved to the bullpen (something Keith Law suggested even right after his perfect MLB debut).

15 - Yeah, that's a shame. I (like multitudes of others) used my waiver priority to grab Scherzer in a fantasy league. He's still got value as a middle reliever, but I've used up the waiver claim that could've gone to Kershaw.

15 Good thing I used my #1 Waiver priority on Scherzer. I think Randy Johnson will get hurt or Doug Davis will be ineffective sooner than later and Scherzer will be starting again. Hopefully the D-backs only win the games he starts the rest of the year.

Debuting Kerhaw against the Cubs in Wrigley would be about the toughest offense he could go up against.

They pound left handed pitching.

18
Wow, you're right, the Cubs have pounded LHP to the tune of .295/.387/.461, a 130 OPS+, best in the league. The Cubs are 10-5 in games started by LHP.

The Dodgers offense has also been great against LHP (.300/.378/.462, 127 OPS+). The Dodgers are 10-4 in games started by LHP.

Maybe Kershaw could face Ted Lilly. :)

Speaking of the Cubs, Carlos Marmol is on pace to pitch 100 innings this season, yet he's only 5th in MLB in relief innings.

Old friend Franquelis Osoria is on pace to hurl 111 frames.

1 I was lurking earlier in the last post but after returning from an appointment it dawned on me ther must be a "NPUT".

From Derrick Goold in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

>>With three hits in his past four games, second baseman Jeff Kent is slowly emerging from an offensive plummet. He has five hits in his past 48 at-bats (.104) and is hitting .145 this month<<

Really, 3 hits in 4 games means he's slowly emerging from a slump? 3 hits every 4 games means about 122 over a full season. Not good.

And over these past four "emerging" games for Kent, he is 3 for 16, hitting .214/.313/.214.

Interesting bit of kooky wishful thinking in the comments of the Viva El Birdos Cardinals' blog:
>>We need to really sweep the Dodgers and hope every day they get closer to falling out of contention. Furcal is still the one player that can solve all our problems. The Dodgers are trying to sign him but he already said if is not re-signed by mid season than he is just going to wait till the off season. If there is anyone we should overpay for in a trade and resign it is Furcal. He could easily bat lead off to bat clean up.

The problem is we don't match up well with what we have and what the Dodger need. What is half a season of Furcal worth?<<

To their credit, other commenters pointed out that there's no chance of him being traded, especially given the draft pick reward awaiting them if they don't resign Raffy.

Btw, I am being totally selfish when I say I hope there's no Minotaur debut this weekend, if only because Sat-Mon I will be somewhere without a TV or internet connection, a cabin on the water (okay, I might sneak a look at the scores and DT via my cell phone) so I'd miss the live excitement. I guess there's always the MLBTV archives at least. My gut still tells me we're not gonna see him this week, but we'll see.

Three hits in four games, no wonder Kent continues to hit cleanup.

Competition for hitting 8th in the lineup continues to heat up with Jones, Kent, Hu, and Pierre all (should be) contestants.

24
For selfish reasons, I don't want Kershaw up yet because in the March predictions thread I predicted he would make his debut June 11 in San Diego.

I don't want Kershaw up tomorrow because I have tickets tonight and if I try to go tomorrow night, my wife will divorce me. Twice. Of course, tonight is game night for my son's kindergarten class, so it doesn't really count as attending.

Nice that we're in the playoff mix. That's a tough group of teams. I would be happy going 3-3 in the next six.

Though I'd like to see Kershaw in person, there's an argument that there might be no better way to enjoy him than listening to Vin broadcast his debut.

Once you knock the bad teams like St. Louis, Florida, and Houston off the list, we're looking pretty darn good.

Jon's premise is entirely correct: The only thing unusual about his 1 inning stint was not being told. Otherwise, it fits perfectly with the 25 IP per month mandate.

I bet he stays with Jacksonville through the end of June.

29
You've just given the Cardinals bulletin board material!

23--If Furcal signs with the Cardinals, that would mark the 2nd time he's replaced Cesar Izturis.

30 Hah!
I said that right after he was taken out yet no one in the media took my reasoning to heart and instead called up exhausted Dodger PR personnel in the middle of the night to locate the Minotaur.

Uh, no discussion of Logan White calling up Single A prospects and giving them pep talks?

And how do know that Colleti's blackberry is not responsible for our cleanup hitter's three hits in four games? Actually, who I am kidding, Kent wouldn't get the email anyways. Kemp and Loney got the clubhouse computer on lockdown making MySpace friends.

29 How can you say the Marlins are bad? Lurch is their ace!

29

Unless you were being sarcastic, Florida and Houston are not bad teams. Florida in particular is really looking good... and I believe the Dodgers beat them in South Fla, yes?

At what point in the season do you call a team that was suppose to be a bad team a good team. 50, 75, 100 games?? And more importantly, can Tampa Bay hold on to the wild-card spot and make the playoffs?
vr, Xei

29- I think Houston is for real. They can create runs and they've gotten nothing good out of Roy Oswalt yet.

The Cards I'm not sure. But remember the Giants teams that had Bonds and little else, yet still managed to score runs and win lots of games. Cards have an average pitching staff, and Pujols can create runs by himself. It helps that Ludwick/Schumacher/Ankiel are doing well too.

Cards could stick around if Ludwick is for real and they get anything good from Mulder.

Isn't the fact that Kershaw wasn't told of his shortened performance enough of a reason to speculate? It seems every other time he has pitched a short start he was told ahead of time.

34
I am not ashamed to admit I am friends on MySpace with both Loney & Kemp.

I updated my "in-season" Dodger WAR calculations (upon request) and it has the Dodgers with 87.11 wins. My pre-season WAR calculations based on ZIPS had the Dodgers with 87.50 wins. The Dodgers are currently 25-21 and if they keep up their current winning percentage through 162 games, they will win 88.04 games. All of this is posted over at DodgerSims. Billingsley's WAR broke the 4 win barrier and Loney's WAR is creeping up. DeWitt still has the 3rd best offensive WAR on the team. The Dodgers really need Furcal back as his WAR is astronaumical and Hu's is at the far other end of the spectrum al momento.
vr, Xei

16 . In a odd situation I have a claim to kershaw even after I used my priority on scherzer. I wonder if other leagues handle this the same way. We were originally using espn for our league and I drafted kershaw as one of my last picks. Because of issues we were having with espn we switched to yahoo but kershaw was not listed as a player yet on yahoo. So, I argued that I should get to keep a right to kershaw as long as I kept a bench spot open, which I have. As far as I know I will get to pick up kershaw after he goes through waivers.

Off topic question: does anyone know how the pairings are made for college golf tournaments.

It's the final round of the NCAA Women's Golf Championships today and USC leads UCLA by three strokes.

How do they pair off the players? Does one school make up one foursome or do they mix up the schools?

39 I am "friends" with them too!

Dodgers are have played 5 teams with records over .500 currently:

Angels, Astros, Braves, Marlins, D-bax.

They are 5-12 vs those teams.
20-9 vs under .500 teams.

I've been sitting on my #2 waiver priority waiting for Kershaw. The problem is, the guy at #1 is also a huge Dodger fan, so I doubt I'm gonna get him.

Oh well. Is David Price gonna make the majors this year?

36 How on Earth are they good teams? The Marlins can't play defense, they have no pitching staff and only have an above average hitter at three positions.

The Astros have eight players in their organization that I would mind if I lost them forever. They don't have a single pitcher besides Oswalt. If it weren't for Berkman, they wouldn't be scoring either, Tejada is the only other guy giving them above average performance right now.

The Astros and Marlins are also your current leaders in over performing their third order wins, both should have four less wins or so than they have right now.

44 That seems like it's been the story of the decade so far for the Dodgers.

28 - why not do both? I always bring a little necklace-style portable radio to the games so I can hear the game called from the booth. I usually keep score, so that helps me to figure things out when I miss something.

44 And let's look at Arizona.

Against the Dodgers, Astros, Mets, Phillies, Cubs and Marlins - 9-12

Against the rest of the NL West. Reds and Tigers - 19-7.

49 - Good point, though Vin's done on radio after three.

This speaks for itself. SFW:

http://franklinavenue.blogspot.com/2008/05/retro-friday-stephanie-edwards-and.html

46--They have 4 guys that can SLG the ball:

Berkman--.770
Tejada--.510
Lee--.505
Pence--.451 (and he got off to a bad start, he's hit much better in May).

Matsui's OBP is .380

I'm not arguing whether those are sustainable, but I wouldnt say they are a bad team. Even if your pitching sucks, if you bash the ball it doesnt matter.

How many teams have 4 guys that can expect to SLG over .500 in the lineup? Not many.

50--The Mets are below .500.

The Dbax are: 8-10 vs above .500 teams.
They are 20-9 vs below .500 teams.

53 Even with that their third order record is just 23-26. Those four guys are surrounded by below replacement level players, so the offense still isn't that great. Carlos Lee is doing about as well as expected but is producing at a lesser rate than Ethier because he's bad at getting on base.

Once Berkman's OPS drops back to the high .900s, the team won't be able to do much.

44 Yeah, and if the Dodgers had been swept by the Pirates, Pittsburgh would be over .500 and you could say the Dodgers were 5-15! Same with the Brewers and Mets. So the Dodgers are 6-3 against teams that would be over .500 if they did well against the Dodgers but are not. And the Dodgers have a bad record against teams that have a good record because they beat the Dodgers! What a concept!

A team's record against the teams with good records in the season does not tell you anything. The teams with good records are almost certainly going to have been lucky (and the opposite for teams with bad records).

The Dodgers are 14-15 against teams with winning records in 2007. That doesn't mean anything to me, but if forced to choose I would take that figure over "5-12 against teams with winning records in the under 50 games so far this year."

56 - A team's record against the teams with good records in the season does not tell you anything. The teams with good records are almost certainly going to have been lucky (and the opposite for teams with bad records).

This early, Tom, this early (and I think you meant "in 2008" in the last graf). But certainly by the end of the season it should mean something.

57 - By the end of the season, I think you can go with "records against MLB opponents." :)

RE: Kershaw coming up. Is there any chance Penny is headed for the DL?

59 There's a chance, although I doubt it.

If Kershaw is somehow brought up, they need to do some roster tinkering.

*Furcal activated; Hu optioned

This is the only move I expect tonight. In order to get Kershaw on the 40-man, somebody MUST be DFA'd in addition to someone else getting sent down or DL'd.

Tony Jackson oddly claims that it will be a pitcher who's sent down when Furcal is activated, which seems unlikely. (And by "a pitcher" he presumably means Brazoban, since he'd be the only candidate.)

Man, could an early Kershaw callup be prelude to more stupidity down the road a la Edwin Jackson? Jackson was brilliant in the early going, stumbled, and appears now to have regained his footing with Tampa Bay. Say Kershaw finds an extended bout of control problems after his excellent spring training. Does Ned decide to trade him for a bucket of balls and a couple never-was relievers, just because of the early start on his service clock?

57 , 58 - s/at/near/

62 Ned really never saw Jackson pitch. He relied on scouting in that trade.

I'm pretty sure Kershaw and Jackson are seen in different lights.

62 Aside from Kim Ng, there is no one else around in the front office that was here during the Edwin Jackson fiasco. Logan White was the scouting director during that period but I doubt he had any input in that matter.

Actually, it was really Jim Tracy, Jim Colburn, Terry Collins, Dan Evans, and Paul DePodesta who controlled Jackson's fate. I am not absolving Ned who eventually dealt him but those other guys were the ones who decided where and when he pitched once he was added to the 40 man roster.

But the Dodgers have certainly been patient (some say too patient with Billingsley) and aside from Broxton, they have resisted the urge to agressively bring their pitchers up to big leagues.

36 - getting back on the subject of good vs. bad teams in the NL, the Astros have an overperforming Lance Berkman (45 VORP already in a season that's barely a quarter over -- there's just no way he's hitting 54 home runs over the rest of the season, what his prorated 16 to date would amount to if he finished that hot), declining Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee, Kaz Matsui, Hunter Pence as second-tier performers, and a bunch of nothing back of them. Geoff Geary leads the team in pitching VORP, and he's a reliever f'r cryin' out loud! Roy Oswalt actually has negative value so far this year!

Houston is not a good team. By the All-Star break they'll be in fourth or fifth place in the NL Central.

On Tuesday, the game against the Cubs is on both FSN Prime and on ESPN (Wednesday both KCAL and ESPN2). I can't be home (actually I'll be in hospital) on Tuesday and have to record it.

In Santa Barbara, Tuesday's FSN game is not going to be on HD on cable (They're doing the Angels game instead in HD). ESPN will be in HD. I can only record one version, since I also record another program during the game on a different channel, and there's a limit of 2 at a time.

So should I go with ESPN HD, or Steiner and Lyons on FSNPT SD? It's not Vin, so there's a choice, but I must decide in advance.

(On Wednesday, I should be home and can switch between them or settle down with the one I prefer at the time. We don't get KCAL in HD up here.)

67 Yeah, the original statement was pretty much correct. Houston and Florida are bad teams.

I hate the idea of rushing a player. The Dodgers did it with Beltre and then with Jackson. Both showed that they could have used a bit more seasoning in the minors. They could use an arm like Clayton's but I'd rather he was up for good rather than going the Edwin route and yo-yoing him if he stumbles.

Bob - re NCAA Women's Golf Championship, my understanding is that they play in threesomes, one player from each school (UCLA, USC and ASU). They are probably matched up No. 1 plays with other No. 1 golfers.

But it is stroke play. And golfers carry their own bags.

70 - The interesting thing about your comment is how differently Beltre and Jackson were handled. Beltre wasn't yo-yoed at all.

Anyway, some players are ready at a young age and some are not. I can think of a couple of Seattle Mariners that were Kershaw's age or younger when they came up, and they did just fine.

Beltre wasn't rushed, he just could've used a better appendix. He had an OPS+ above 100 in his first two full seasons.

The point being, it's going to be different for every player.

70-I agree, I hate the idea of "rushing" Kershaw, but I don't really think that's an exponent of his age anymore. There's a colossal tide of hype, which is going to be there no matter how long we wait to bring him up. The question is, once we do bring him up and he struggles--if he does, a little or a lot--how patient is the team, the media and the fan-base going to be? My suspicion for the latter two is: not much, not so long as Bill Plaschke has a bullhorn. But hopefully the team will do better. I can't help but think even Colletti has absorbed the lesson of trading Jackson, or at least the Scott Kazmir fiasco and such like.

Also, Beltre was called up after hitting .321/.414/.581 in AA.

And, for that matter, also color me unimpressed by the argument that Edwin Jackson was rushed. Nobody has even a smidgen of evidence that his later struggles were caused by pitching four games in the major leagues at age 20. Blaming it on the call-up is nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction. He may very well have collapsed even without the major league callup. And his struggles were physical, not necessarily mental, as his fastball velocity dropped 6-7 mph and he became unable to throw the ball over the plate.

76 - I agree. He got the same September cup of coffee that is common to many players, only in his case, fate conspired to given him a high profile matchup with Randy Johnson in which he excelled. The most unusual thing that happened with Jackson was a memorable debut.

If Jackson wasn't called up, he probably wouldn't have burned an option the next year, so we would have had control of him for one more year.

Diamond Leung on Kershaw:

http://www.beloblog.com/Pe_Blogs/prosports/2008/05/dodgers-to-call-up-kershaw.html

78 True enough. But in that one extra year, he posted a 5.55 ERA in AAA, so the end result of his Dodger career likely would have been the same.

57 No, I meant 2007. They're 14-15 against the winning teams from last season. Given the choice between that and their record against a group of 5 teams that, had the Dodgers swept them, would only have 2 teams over .500, I'm going with the former. (I see why you jumped to this conclusion since the 15 losses match up if you include MIL/PIT/NYM, but the record would be 11-15.)

What would the info even tell us at the end of the season? If the Dodgers go 18-42 against the best teams in the league and 70-32 against the rest, what exactly would that tell us? Let's say that the top group has a .560 win%, which makes the bottom group .410. (Assuming the Dodgers' schedule averages .500). So we would think the Dodgers are a .360 team (opponent neutral) against good teams and a .596 (opp-neutral) team against bad teams? Clearly, the number of games is not enough to draw such a conclusion, and even over a sample of ten seasons, on what basis could a conclusion be drawn?

There are all sorts of factors that go into each individual win or loss. Who was starting on the mound? How close was the game? Who was injured? Why would we think that a team's record against an ill-defined competition (the top by 30-40% of teams by record) tells us more than their record against the other group? The answer must be that these are the teams in the playoffs. But that doesn't mean that the playoffs will have the same matchups as the regular season had, and even if it did, we're talking about a pretty tiny sample that is being selectively taken.

How any team did, win/loss-wise, against the best teams by w-l is a junk stat. You would rather have how their hitters did against top SP and how their defense did against top lineups. But the size of those samples would be such that you probably would have no reason to care.

79 Mystery solved. If they burn Park & Kuo this weekend, it's CK time. If not, they'll wait.

What if they just burn one or the other?

73 Beltre did not need a better appendix. He needed a better doctor in the Dominican. The "surgeon" who performed his emergency appendectomy made a mess, resulting in complications and later an infection. I saw his scar in the clubhouse several months later and it was the size of a cigar.

Thanks to Diamond for providing the best info yet on the Minotaur situation. Basically makes sense, though it would also seem like they might need Park and/or Kuo available for when the rook comes up, just in case he falters or assuming he won't pitch more than 5 anyway. Basically, the best thing for the team is for Penny and Lowe to pitch well, separate even from the Minotaur Conundrum™.

I'd love to see him debut at Dodger Stadium, whenever it is, especially if the other options are debuting at Wrigley and Shea. (I think he'd fare better vs. the Mets than the Cubs.) Either way, I'm excited that we'll see him soon enough.

84 - I think you took 73 too literally.

And that reminds me of a favorite Futurama exchange (from the Slurm factory episode), which sort of sums up how many of us feel re: Kershaw:

Fry: When will that be?
Glermo: Soon enough.
Fry: That's not soon enough!

79 Diamond's rationale for the Kershaw situation seems to be the best explanation for what is going on.

Since the Mets can not hit Kuo, a Kershaw/Kuo tandem would sound great.

The Dodgers are 14-15 against teams with winning records in 2007. That doesn't mean anything to me, but if forced to choose I would take that figure over "5-12 against teams with winning records in the under 50 games so far this year."

The problem with that is the make up of teams have changed from 2007 to 2008.

I only point the 5-12 out because both the Cards/Cubs will have winning records when the Dodgers play them this week...and that'll be 23 games against teams with winning records.

23 > .500, and 29 <.500.

90 et al. Like Tom said, it's a junk stat.
vr, Xei

Kuo's record against the Mets really is a thing of beauty. Remarkably, he's pitched more innings against them than any other team. (And that's not even counting the playoff appearance.)

Against the Mets, he's 3-0 with a 0.46 ERA, 24 strikeouts, 5 walks, and 9 hits in 19.7 innings. Plus a long home run as a batter.

Against the 28 other teams collectively, he's 2-11 with a 5.37 ERA, 110 hits, 56 walks, and 122 K's in 105.7 innings.

Given the choice between that and their record against a group of 5 teams that, had the Dodgers swept them, would only have 2 teams over .500,

See thats the problem. They didnt. We're not talking about "ifs".

I think records vs teams above or below .500 is particularly important this year since in the NL West--there are 3 really bad teams that AZ/LA are going to get a chance to beat up on---> Advantages that teams in other divisions do not have because they are not home to the 3 worst teams in the NL.

If I know that the Dodgers do really well against bad teams, but not so well against good teams---> then I can look forward in the schedule and see if the Dodgers have a favorable schedule.

Sure, you are correct that individual matchups change. But over the course of the season, it'd going to be alot easier to project the Dodgers winning a certain percentage games against bad teams, and a certain percentage against the better teams.

It's never too early to spot trends.

It's not really any different than comparing W/L record at home vs W/L record on the road.

W/L is a results oriented stat. It doesnt state the "why" that things happened, but it can be used to spot trends IMO.

93. Yeah, but using .500 as a marker seems flawed. One team that the Dodgers played could be one game over .500 and another one game below .500 and they'd be treated as a "good" team and a "bad" team. Also as others have pointed out the Astros and Marlins are most likely playing way over their heads and yet would be treated as "good" teams. Also you could be facing a team like the Giants and your win expectancy would be much different when you faced a Lincecum or Cain than it would be if you faced a Misch or Zito. This approach seems way too simplified. Their are much better metrics to look at.
vr, Xei

I'm really looking forward to Raffy getting back, though I'm a little anxious about feeling the cold chill of rampaging nanotubes up my spine every time I see him make that deep-in-the-hole, leaping-twisting throw to first base.

(Sorry, just listened to Ira Flato on Science Friday)

Do people even check the record on Edwin Jackson? He really was not that impressive prior to his call-up. Or rather, his performance was impressive because his age meant he had a lot of room to improve. Pitching in the Southern League, his ERA was about average, and while he had nice K/BB numbers, they were not special (until you account for his age) and his 2002 performance wasn't amazing either. Because he had four good starts in September, it is easy to interpret what followed as some sort of collapse. Really, he just struggled to get better, IMO. The difference between Jacksonville and Vegas is pretty vast. I think, as is the case with many more young pitchers than most people seem to realize, Jackson just has had a very gradual improvement over the past few years.

So, if Kershaw really is good enough to be a good starter on his own merits now (rather than that he could be an effective starter because opponents haven't seen him, which is a different issue), then I don't really see how the comparison to Jackson is germane. That said, I think Kershaw probably is not quite that good yet.

Here's my question. Why don't they send the pitcher who is dominating AA ... to AAA? I think it is nonsense that the Dodgers shouldn't test their arms in Vegas just because of the run environment. The whole point of establishing that you are a good pitcher should be to show you can beat good competition in unfavorable circumstances. If Kershaw would be ruined by pitching 100 innings in Vegas, then he is clearly not a top prospect in my opinion. Kershaw actually seems like a really excellent choice for the PCL, because he is blisteringly aggressive. If you have good coaching, and you explain your expectations ("We don't think you're going to put up a 3.00 ERA here. If you get hit hard, it's going to be okay. Just go out and get the outs you can.") then I don't see why anyone should fear harming the pitcher. If he starts screwing with what he's doing, then use coaching to correct it.

It's horse manure to try to ready a pitcher for the big leagues and not let him face anything better than Southern League batters.

Via L.A. Observed, this is worth a read:

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9353498

It could be due to altitude of the parks in the PCL, that keep the Dodgers from pitching their top prospects in that league.

Dylan Hernandez and Diamond Leung wrote some nice pieces on DeWitt.

Why isn't James McDonald being considered as a potential 5th starter?

From the Kamenetzky brothers' chat, regarding the possibility of LaRoche/DeWitt at 2B:

>>I actually asked Ned Colletti about that the other day, and while (no surprise) he didn't give a definitive answer, the notion of moving either LaRoche or DeWitt to second- both have minor league experience there- is certainly an option. One looking better all the time. He seemed to indicate that DeWitt would be more likely to move because he's not as far removed from his time there. But again, I'm speculating to some extent. I can say the idea is on the radar.<<

Independent team deals pitcher for 10 maple bats

http://tinyurl.com/6xkudj

103
Maple bats? You'll put your eye out kid!

102 Let's hope for a quick progression from "On the Radar" to "On the Table" to "On the lineup card"

97. I completely agree. And it's not as if Vegas destroys every pitcher. Billingsley had a very nice little run down there before he came up. To me, Kershaw isn't being rushed because of any past examples, he's being rushed because he still needs to refine his control, just a little bit, and that is easier to do in the minors.
I think that it would be great to give him a couple of months in Vegas, or call him up to start on Tuesday just for me. Either one works.

90 I'm not clear on your point. The Dodgers, a team over .500, would have faced 23 out of 52 teams over .500 (44%)? We would expect 7 out of 15 opponents (46%) to be over .500, right - since the Dodgers are over it?

93 You should at least take out the games they've played against the Dodgers when you are defining the populations. But in any event, you can spot all the trends you want, but none that you are spotting are predictive. That's my point. Teams don't happen to fall into two buckets, and the wins against one bucket would not be irrelevant to our expectations against the other bucket. I think it's absurd to argue that games against SD and COL should be given little weight and games against HOU and FLA should be given a lot of weight.

94 W-L at home vs. W-L on the road is only such a small part of the data available that it seems useless. Wouldn't you also look at RS and RA? Wouldn't you look at the offense and defense by components? I don't even know why to look at it in the first-place. We are talking about baseball; the home-field advantage is not very unique and specific. We expect a .500 team to be .540 at home. Finding out that they were .600 at home and .400 on the road doesn't mean that for one year they were really good at playing at home and really bad on the road, and if they were .500 home and away it wouldn't mean they didn't have the HFA.

If you take 162 marbles and two large, adjacent square buckets and aim to throw 4% from the border between the two with each marble, alternating between aiming for the bucket on the left and the bucket on the right, you will get some marbles in the bucket you didn't aim for even if you use the same approach for each bucket. But which bucket they fell in won't tell you very much about how you throw. Sure, if you end up with 120 marbles in one bucket, you clearly have some issues with that throwing arm, but 90 in one and 72 in the other? Doesn't mean anything (at least with the visual of the experiment that I have in my head).

98 We need to read things like this once in a while to put everything else in perspective.

99 They can't keep their pitchers from pitching in Colorado or Arizona, so why worry about Vegas and Salt Lake?

I haven't bought Sports Illustrated in years, but I have to say the cover of this week's issue is amazing:
http://tinyurl.com/5kz9zz

98 Really good read

Anybody on DT's own a scooter? I'm thinking about buying one, wanted some opinions.

110 yeah, Dan Patrick was talking about it the other day

111. What kind of scooter? My three year old has a little princess one with pretty pink and purple tassels.
vr, Xei

93 - It's never too early to spot trends.

On April 24, the Dodgers were 9-13. Clearly they were destined to be a losing team.

101 I think McDonald needs a full year at Double A/Triple A with maybe a September call up. He will certainly be in the running for a starting role next year but for now, let him continue to pitch every 5 days in the minors.

98 - The hospital attendant could not get a blood sugar reading. His was simply too high for the meter to measure. In the ER, they took blood and his glucose level came back at 780. We were told it should be between 80 and 150.

780! That's flirting with a diabetic coma! Fortunately, we have capsaicin and diabetic mice and our Canadian friends working on human trials soon, so this kind of a thing will hopefully be a mild annoyance in the future rather than a painful daily chore.

http://www.naturalnews.com/021345.html

110 - did you read the story behind that?

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16497

115 - Amen.

113. Do my three year old, and he doesn't care that his older brother makes fun of him for using his sister's old scooter.

101 Why isn't James McDonald being considered as a potential 5th starter?

I had been wondering about that too. Also, he had been starting the game before Kershaw in the rotation so I wondered if something had happened to him but I see he is starting today.

SUNS REPORT

>> Next game: Suns RH James McDonald (2-1, 4.26) faces Mudcats RH Daniel Barone (0-0, 0.00) today at 7:15 p.m. in Game 3 of the series at Five County Stadium. <<

http://tinyurl.com/6xdarx

119. Should start, "So does . . ."

Perhaps someone here can recommend a book. I'm looking for a history of the Dodgers, specifically the 1970s Dodgers, post free agency. Or, perhaps a book about major league baseball during that time. Thanks.

115 120 Also, McDonald is already on the 40 man roster which makes it a bit easier than calling up Kershaw so soon.

122 - it's hard to go wrong with Glenn Stout's The Dodgers.

Rats. No Raffy in the line-up again tonight, as per Diamond Leung:

Pierre, LF
Ethier, RF
Martin, C
Kent, 2B
Loney, 1B
Kemp, CF
DeWitt, 3B
Hu, SS
Lowe, P

Oh well. Consistent line-up otherwise. Hope he's back soon. C'mon Lowe!

122 - Can you wait 10 months?

126 Hah.

Have you sold movie rights yet? ;-)

126- I am one of the many people looking forward to your book. And the 1970s are a very interesting period for the Dodgers, obviously. I just watched part of the 1974 World Series and it really picqued my interest in that period.

125 Rats. No Raffy in the line-up again tonight, as per Diamond Leung:

But, thankfully, no Andruw Jones either.

My hope for tonights line-up.

Furcal
Martin
Kemp
Loney
Ethier
Kent
DeWitt
Pierre
Lowe

The best I can realistically hope for.(and this is most optimistic.)

Furcal
Pierre
Kemp
Kent
Loney
Martin
Ethier
DeWitt
Lowe

The more likely reality

Furcal
Pierre
Loney
Kent
Martin
Kemp
Jones
DeWitt
Lowe

A recent nightmare....

Furcal
Jones
Kemp
Sweeney
Kent
Pierre
Martin
Dewitt
Lowe

Which will be the closest.

Assuming Colletti gets the axe following this season, who would be a likely candidate for GM? Would Logan White be a potentially good GM?

Obviously, Torre would have major input into who his replacement would be.

Darn, I guess I took too long to formulate that, and it's not that relevent because Furcal isn't playing. But I fully support making sure Furc. is healed.

130 Gen, would you like to try for none of the above? ;-) See 125 , alas.

Oops, then ignore me, too.

I have a feeling Furcal will be back tomorrow. But don't know for sure. If so, I think your second line-up, minus Jones, is most likely.

129 Exacly right.

Er, 3rd line-up. Er, ack, never mind.

Anyway...

I'd be tickled if the Dodgers took 2 out of 3 from the Birds, though of course, always hoping for a sweep. They have had rough times vs. St Louis past few years. But anything less than 2 wins at home is still pretty unacceptable to me. Especially if Furcal does make it back for the next two.

I have a feeling that Furcal will be out a while...and if not, this could be a recurring problem throughout the year

134 In a lot of ways it is the closest, so I guess I should be grateful.

131 White, Watson or Ng

My gut tells me:

1) that I should go to the bathroom

and

2) Furcal will not be activated on a night when the weather is unseasonable

and

3) Alan Foster was vastly overhyped

103 love the comment on the bat deal-

"The Giants probably wish they could get 10 bats for Barry Zito."

111 I've been researching and riding a lot of them recently. Getting ready to purchase one myself. What size are you looking for and what kind of information do you need?

101 He's not being considered because he's not near as good as Kershaw or Kuo, especially right now.

131 - There is a very good chance that Brian Cashman will be available. It doesn't take a very active imagination to see that McCourt's fascination with East Coast Baseball and the Proven Winner nonsense (forgetting entirely that the Yankees' checkbook diplomacy works better if you have the biggest checkbook in the universe) could easily lead to Cashman running the Dodgers after this season. I actually wouldn't intrinsically oppose it, because the vibe I'm getting from the Bronx is that the stupid moves being made over the course of the last 5-6 years or so are due to the Tampa mafia that had its fingers in the front office operations. Cashman got them ejected about 2-3 years back, got back to work refocusing on the draft, and while it hasn't been a raging success a la 1996, there is enough there to think the team is headed in the right direction, at least.

Is the reason Kershaw and others haven't been sent to Vegas all about the high scoring and the altitude? Sometimes I think it may be about it being Vegas too. A bad place for a 20 year old to hang out?

140 Thinking about it further, I believe my gut, too, is telling my I need to use the lavatory. I think it was deliberately misleading me about Furcal. It's also telling me I shouldn't have had that spicy Thai tofu for lunch.

145 - No, because he's not ready.

137 I have that same feeling. They gave him an extra day when he could have been activated for Wednesday's game. And yet he still apparently isn't going to make tonight's game. That just doesn't look all that good to me

140
My gut tells me I should do a Broadway show because, hey, I have a talking gut, and who wouldn't want to see that? But every time the curtain goes up my gut never says a word.

in recent years, when a Dodger goes down with some problem or malady, the recovery time seems to drag on...its probably that way with every team, but being closer here, it just seems our medical staff isn't cutting it, for whatever reason...

I think they're just being very precautious. When they haven't been overly cautious with their players, or when players haven't been all that forthcoming, the players are rushed back and get hurt worse. I'd rather the precaution.

149 - stupid gut.

If Andruw Jones needs to go on the DL, what is the holdup? Are they just trying to find an excuse to play him in his condition? If what they describe is true he really does need some medical attention. I don't buy Andruw's claim that the swelling subsided.

Doesn't affect tonight's lineup, at least.

150 - what is the antecedent to "it" in that sentence? Last time somebody was cutting anything, it was Beltre's appendix, and look where that got them...

153. Can they do surgery without the players approval? They probably want him to have the surgery but want to give it one last chance to get better. Perhaps just to appease AJones. vr, Xei

6pm Laker game. Hope they can make it 2-0.
vr, Xei

Furcal not being activated may have to do with Andruw and NedCo hoping they don't have to waste an option on YhB and instead have 'Druw swap with Furcal.

It's more likely we're facing yet another "He's Almost ready" moment that we've had so often the last two years, but hey, what are comments good for other than idle speculation.

154 Didn't Beltre have a botched appendicitis in the DR?

155
A team can't force a player to have any medical treatment if the player doesn't want too. They could then try to invalidate the contract on the basis of the player not keeping him in shape.

I would predict that such a tactic would be doomed to failure if it became a grievance.

Now, if Andruw Jones were say, hit by a car, and unconscious and near death, you could probably give him an operation without his consent. But his knee would likely be the least of his concerns.

What you really have to worry about is if Andruw Jones ends up paralyzed, but conscious in a hospital and hooked up to a respirator. And then his older friend, who has issues with the Catholic Church, comes in to visit frequently and then ominously looks at the plugs to the life support system.

155 yes, anything we can do to make Jones comfortable, as if 18 mill a year for nothing doesn't do it already...

just had a thought...a contract is where each party performs as stipulated...we are paying him $111,111 per game and he hasn't shown up yet...is that a breach of contract?

157 - Options are annual. I suppose they could end up wasting a plane ticket.

158 - yes, I know.

160 - $18M/year will buy a lot of Barcaloungers.

161 Let's pretend I said "stick with the number of pitchers," or something more informed.

I blame the weather!

I don't see how anyone can say that Andruw Jones hasn't earned his salary. The Dodgers offered him a big contract. He has fulfilled what he needed to do.

He didn't sign any explicit statement that he would .300 or hit 25 or more home runs or even not strike out a lot.

Jones could have been hit by a bus. Or an asteroid. Or a toilet seat from the space station Mir. Or fallen down a well. Or come down with rickets. Or pellagra.

You pay your money, you take your chance.

Is Jones performing poorly out of any malfeasance?

Dictionary.com and Bob Timmermann, where I learn a new word every day.

158 see 84 .

149 A gut with stagefright? Didn't the Band do a song about that?

164 If Andruw fell down a well, would Dodger fans sing songs about sending their love down a well? Would Sting volunteer his time to get Andruw out?

Imagine if we had the Bison AND the Big Puma on the same team?

What a bummer. Do you guys think something is seriously wrong with Furcal? What if he's dealing with this the remainder of the season?! I'm going tomorrow night and was extremely excited by the Kershaw rumors only to be let down by Diamond. Penny has looked injured all season. I'm worried about these guys.

Folks here were talking about Cloverfield last month. Good/Bad/Indifferent?

171 Yes.

But seriously, personally I enjoyed it in the theater at least, gave me the requisite amount of thrills and chills. Just check your brain at the door a bit and go with the ride. It's worth seeing at any rate, if there are still flaws.

171 fun one time through, but nothing to write home about, imho.

i'll be seeing Indy tonight, which I hope is an enjoyable ride.

164 It doesn't seem like he came to camp ready to play. And it doesn't seem like he has kept to a standard of professionalism during the season (a professional, or for that matter any sane person, would try doing something different after a couple months with twice the swing & miss percentage of any other player in baseball (I made that stat up)).

170 - I notice no one's talking about resigning him at all costs anymore.

Tonight's lineup:
Pierre LF
Ethier RF
Martin C
Kent 2B
Loney 1B
Kemp CF
DeWitt 3B
Hu SS
Lowe P

per DN

174 I don't think being reluctant to tinker with an approach that has made him a Hall of Fame-caliber player for 10 years, just because it doesn't work for two months, is evidence of unprofessionalism.

It may be unfortunate. But unprofessional is a strong word which you're throwing around very loosely.

Look, people, the fact that a player's performance stinks does not automatically mean he's not trying. Save your moral judgments.

175

I fully admit my mistake there

177

Very good point. He may need a full season of this kind of performance to be convinced that he needs to change his approach, especially if he wants another good contract in the future.

170 "Penny has looked injured all season."

Except for his last start, actually, when he was hitting 96 with regularity, a 5-7 mph jump from where he'd been all year before that. This gives me hope that whatever Penny's problems are, injury is not one of them.

Thanks, it's worth a rental, then. My cousin and I usually drink Vino during a movie, anyway
(that's mandated by the state, to thicken the blood at the higher altitudes of Northern Nevada), so it doesn't have to be art ;).

Indy can't help but be fun.

111 i own 2 and have friends with them as well. what's your fancy?

181 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom begs to differ with you. The fun stops at the end of the "Anything Goes" opening sequence.

I wasn't around for the Office chat last week, but I gotta say, that episode was brilliant.

At Fangraphs.com, USS Mariner's Dave Cameron has a write-up on Kershaw. He takes it for granted that Kershaw will be starting against the Cubs on Tuesday. His verdict: Kershaw is ready for the majors, and this move gives the Dodgers another horse in the race to win the NL West.

183 completely admitting that childhood affiliation could be coming into play, the Temple of Doom is my favorite Indiana Jones to date.

I think the Diamond explanation is the one. The Dodgers are concerned about Lowe and Penny, and have Kuo and Park on call to back them up - and have Kershaw on call to back up Kuo and Park.

Temple of Doom is not only easily the worst of the three, it also has the least appealing heroine. (Though obviously the director would disagree with me.)

You snuck in this time, Eric.

NPUT

175 - I was one of those people. Well, I never posted anything about it but I certainly believed it. If he comes back and performs well, I'd still probably be game; at a lower price and for 2 years. If he's seriously injured I'm afraid of what Ned will do in the offseason to boost our 2009 infield. Chances of Ned sticking LaRoche at 3rd, DeWitt at 2nd and Hu at short=slim to none.

180 Yeah, I was encouraged by that. But his command wasn't very solid (particularly the first couple of innings) and he didn't help that ERA of his.