Didn't show up for the game. Brad Penny looked pretty powerfull striking out the side, but it's early.
re: Brad Penny Penny is a good ole boy from Oklahoma, who owns a 10,000 acre ranch there, along with his house here in Los Angeles. He normally throws 94/95 and only occasionally hits the upper 90's as he paces himself. With only two innings to throw, he aired it out at 98/99 on every pitch. I only counted one curve. The pitch that Vladimir Guerrero hit for a HR was amazing. The radar gun clocked it at 99 and it was over Vladdy's letters and outside of the strike zone. Theoretically that pitch is impossible to hit, because you can't get the bat around fast enough, but he hit it in the RF seats anyway. How fast is that guy's bat? re: Manny Ramirez He isn't hurt. He just doesn't give a damn. No pride. re: The Game It was not a bad game for a change. The interesting thing to me was the obvious difference in the ages of the players on the two teams. The American League had mostly veterans with a few young supers. The NL was mostly new young kids, with only a few vets that we've seen before... re: NL loss Everyone here was shocked at Garner not putting Nomar up to pinch hit in the 9th with the tying run in scoring position. Beside being the leading hitter in the league and riding a current 21 game hitting streak, he was also one of the few vets with big game experience on the NL roster. He also just happens to be the best clutch hitter in baseball, with an average of over .800 with runners on base in the final three innings! ............DD
HOW... <t>Does Phil not pull Hoffman after the Glaus rope? He was throwing 85 MPH fasballs with NO movement? Then start the ninth with a no range kid at 3B and let one of the best fielding third basemen of all time Scott Rolen sit?<br/> I was so disgusted after the hit by Young I went to bed. Just amazing.</t>
re: Nomar the best clutch hitter in baseball God love Nomar, but interestingly, the feature article in today's L.A. Times Sports section is about clutch hitters, and he wasn't their choice. Clutch Treat Some players just have a knack for late-inning heroics, and no one does it better than Boston's 'Big Papi'
whoa there JOCO HALT! STOP!! PAPI is THEEE greatest clutch hitter baseball has ever seen. Story ovah!!! :lol: :lol: jif
8) re: Nomar I wasn't there for Brooklyn, but Nomar Garciaparra is the best player to wear the uniform of the Los Angeles Dodgers and I've seen them all since 1958. Snider, who was from SoCal by the way, was at the end of his great career when the Dodgers came out here. So was Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, Don Zimmer, Carl Erskine, Eddie Roebuck and Johnny Klipstein. They were all replaced in the first few years. I think we dumped most of them on the expansion Mets... The greatest "Boys of Summer" Brooklyn Dodgers never made it here. Roy Campanella was paralyzed in an auto accident before the first game and Jackie Robinson was traded to the hated Giants. Rather than report to those bums, he retired... re: LA Times Nice try BDR, but I know more about baseball than anybody at the LA Times and I have more credibility. In fact, there are women running the snack bar at the Montclair Little League who know more about baseball than those boobs downtown... ............DD
JO'Co, I don't think there's a person on this board that would dare challenge your knowledge and credibility, particularly when it comes to baseball. I would also not be surprised to learn that, indeed, the Montclair LL Snack Bar is collectively more knowledgeable than the L.A. Times Sports Desk about the game. But in the article I linked, two current MLB players of note, A.J. Pierzynski and Vernon Wells, stated that in their opinion Papi is the best clutch hitter today. Yeah, they're both AL players, but certainly their opinion carries some weight, even among those mixing suicides at the soda fountain or dispensing David's sunflower seeds and Big League Chew at the counter. Nomar is a great talent. I love him, and I'm happy to see that after two injury-plagued seasons he's back home and playing like the old Nomah. Still, the L.A. Times listed MLB's stats for the leading hitters during the season's first half in close and late games (seventh inning or later, with the team batting leading by no more than a run, the score tied, or the potential tying run at least on deck), ranked by RBIs, and Nomar ranked only 7th in the National League, though to be fair he would have been third in the American League. I realize that's just one stat, and as Homer* once postulated, "Statistics can be used to prove anything. 14% of people know that". Garciaparra may well be the greatest player ever to wear the Dodger uniform, and he could win this year's NL MVP (currently the MLB equivalent of being the NIT MVP in college basketball), but I'm reluctant to include him with other Dodgers who have become MLB's all-time greats at their positions, such as Adrian Beltre and Eric Gagne. Rick *Simpson
I stand by the comments that I made here about all three of those players: Beltre, Gagne and Garciaparra. re: Beltre What I said in 2004, was that he was having the greatest season of any 3rd baseman in the history of the game. This was true. Not that I would lower meself to post his statistics, but they were... 2004 G156 AB 598 R104 H200 (2B)32 (3B)0 HR48 RBI121 BA.334 OBP.388 SA.629 FP.978 It was the greatest season of all time for a 3rd baseman and I said that because it was also the final year of his contract before he became a free agent, that he had either become the greatest of all-time, or he was juicing himself with steroids to get the big contract. Unfortunately, the latter turned out to be true. The 2004 season was a one-time only deal by a pumped up phony who cheated to make more money. He should have signed with the Giants, he's their kinda guy... re: Gagne Eric Gagne is the greatest relief pitcher I've ever seen in any uniform and nobody else is close. I stand by that statement. He may have blown out his arm, but that doesn't diminish in any way what he has accomplished. Happy Jack Chesbro once won 41 games for the NY Highlanders (Yankees). The only 40-game winner in big-league history was never the same after that, his arm was gone too, but his amazing achievements stand, and so do Gagne's... re: Garciaparra I'm not sure what you're objecting to here. Was it my statement that he's the best player of the Los Angeles (not Brooklyn) Dodgers? Or my statement that he's the best clutch hitter in baseball? While both statements are simply my opinion, they are sincerely held opinions and I stand by them, based on my observations. On the first count, I've seen all the others. I saw Tommy Davis win his back-to-back batting titles before he got hurt. I saw Steve Garvey make 8 or 9 all-star teams, I saw Maury Wills and Shawn Green and all the others and I do believe that Nomar has the most overall talent and baseball sense. My statement was meant not to include pitchers or great players who finished their careers with the Dodgers, like Frank Robinson. I was speaking of everyday position players in their prime. I think Nomar's the best I've seen. On the second count; time will tell. I didn't look up the current stats to see if Nomar was currently 1st, 7th or 77th. I stand by my statement that Nomar is the best clutch hitter in baseball and a current BA of over .800 with men on after the 6th supports that. Over time, he should consistently out-perform any of the others based on what I've seen. He's not just a hot hitter who's good under pressure, I can see him doing this year after year and I don't even know if he'll still be with the Dodgers next year. All I know is: I hope he's the cornerstone of their plans, because he's a very special player and he's the guy that I want up there late in the game... ..............JO'Co
On Nomar...before this year I don't remember anybody saying that Nomar was one of the great clutch hitters in baseball. Sure he had a very good career in Boston and was an All-Star and all that, but greatest is something else and transcends 1 season for sure. Same thing for Big Pappi, he's been on a great run for the last few years, but I want to see how he does with a 15 to 20 year career.
I watched Nomar for 7-8 years in Boston. Every play of every game. I have seen none of him the past 2 years . I can tell you this and you can take it to the bank. NOMAR WAS NOT CLUTCH. Has all that changed in 80 games this year..I have no idea. jif ( will watch Garciapopup a bit more closely rest of season)
8) I don't follow the Red Sox, nor do I follow the entire American League. I was just giving you my observations of what I've seen with this year's Dodgers, and Nomar looks like a big fish in a small pond here. The Dodgers tradition is about pitching and defense, so a hitter of Nomar's calibre is a rare thing in LA. The current team, despite having the best overall offense in 40 years, is still dead last in the NL in HRs. This too makes him stand out by way of comparison...
JO'Co - I don't object to anything you're saying; just voicing a different opinion. Nomar was a lot of things in Boston, but clutch wasn't one of them. That may be completely different with the Dodgers, but I don't follow them enough to know. Joel alluded to Nomar's nickname, which came from his penchant of swinging at the first pitch in most every at-bat, regardless of the situation. The announcers used to point out that he had a higher batting average on the first pitch, but I mostly recall him popping up at critical junctures. Terry - I rate Papi as being the best clutch hitter currently, not the best of all time. This is admittedly very subjective, but what he's done in big games, including the '04 ALCS, has been phenomenal. If George or Jack were here I'm sure they'd bring up Yogi. I've read that Berra was a clutch hitter throughout his career. Yesterday I called the expert on the Yankees of that era, AJ's dad Mert, and he confirmed it. Turns out AJ and the boys were also in Columbus, eating all the food in Mert and Fern's fridge, while AJ drained the tanks at the local brewpub, Dusters. Sid - I couldn't resist the chance to toss the bomb on that one, knowing all of the NL fans on the board. :twisted:
I'm back. While I sympathize with you over Gagne's injuries and acknowledge his great season two years ago., to call him the greatest reliever you've ever seen in any uniform is a stretch of unbelievable magnitude. I don't think he ever had a playoff save, did he? This is Rivera's jock and Gagne couldn't carry it. Papi is the best clutch hitter I've seen since Tony Perez.
Ah I've been wondering where the UberHusker has been these days. On Vacation! A.J.'s dad is a Yankee fan? Surprising. Terry