re: Little Bighorn attendance U.S. 7th Cavalry: 385 (Gen. Custer 210) (Gen. Reno 175) Great Plains Injuns: 6,000 (approx) re: Declaration of Independence attendance 56 http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/index.htm The Dodgers lost one today thanks to the Jones Boys who finally got untracked: Braves 5 Dodgers 2 Once again, the Dodgers had plenty of opportunities, including loading the bases, but that old bug-a-boo, no power, led to zero production. The loss was only one game, but more serious problems are looming for a pitching staff that seems to be unraveling... Randy Wolf has been put on the DL. Left-hander Joe Beimel has been hospitalized with heart palpitations at age 30. (See what happens when you stop drinking?) Hong Chih-Kuo never made it to Las Vegas. He has also been put on the 15-day DL, because of elbow problems, which is very bad news for a 25-year-old who's already had TWO Tommy John surgeries... I think the whole Las Vegas 51s pitching staff has been put on alert and some have been recalled to LA... Brad Penny tomorrow. Hopefully there's nothing wrong with him...
Geeez, another lousy loss: Braves 8 Dodgers 6 This was just a bad game, with lots of errors and poor pitching on both sides. All of these teams need to take a break. How bad was it? How about errors by Russell Martin for the Dodgers and Andruw Jones for Atlanta? Jones has won 9 Gold Gloves and was catching flies the night before with HIS EYES CLOSED! How about Brad Penney lasting only four innings and Tim Hudson lasting only three innings for the Braves. Yes, it was awful... The difference in the game was once again, an opponent had power and we had none. Chipper Jones hit two HRs, one lefthanded and one righthanded, to provide the margin of victory, while we're just shorthanded... Oh well, the Marlins are in town tonight.We'll see if Chad Billingsley's last performance was the real deal or a fluke. The staff is getting worn out, so that should really tell you something. If the pitching rich Dodgers are running low on pitchers, what happens to the teams that never had enough pitching to begin with?
Unlike yesterday, this was a great game tonight, but the Marlins came back and won it in the 10th inning: Marlins 6 Dodgers 5 The Dodgers scored all 5 in the 5th, thanks to a HR by Russell Martin, who just keeps coming up big in the clutch. The Marlins had some heroics of their own as they tied it up with two out in the 9th against Takashi, then won it in the 10th when Brett Tomko came in to pitch for the locals. He was booed before he ever threw a pitch (very rare here) then proceded to walk the first batter, which brought out all of the wolves who're now booing everything he does. He ended up taking yet another loss and his record stands at 1-7. Tomko is at that point where a trade may save his career. He's still throwing in the low 90's, but he's running out of welcome here... The player of the Game was Hanley Ramirez, who is by far the best shortstop in the National League. I know the folks in New York think Reyes is better, but Hanley Ramirez is special. All he did tonight was blast two HRs and then, in the 10th inning with runners at the corners, he dumped a perfect bunt for a basehit on the first pitch that drove in the winning run. He's 23 years-old... re: Hanley Ramirez I need the Red Sox fans to explain something to me. The Sox had David Eckstein of the Cards and let him go, then they had Orlando Cabrera of the Angels, who may be the real best SS in the Amercian League with a BA of .333 and they let him go too, AND they had Hanley Ramirez, who may be nothing less than the new Derek Jeter... The Sox let them ALL go and their shortstop is now who? His batting average is what? The Red Sox certainly are a great organization, of that there is no doubt, but they don't know doodley-squat about shortstops...
We just got our butts kicked tonight: Florida 7 Dodgers 2 It wasn't that close. So how good is Hanley Ramirez? All he did tonight was two singles, two doubles and two steals. Vin Scully summed it up best with this amazing statistic: last year, Hanley Ramirez became only the fifth player in baseball history to have 50+ doubles and 50+ steals in the same season. Who were the others? Ty Cobb Tris Speaker Lou Brock Craig Biggio Hanley Ramirez was also the only one of this group to do it as a rookie! re: out of pitchers You knew the Dodgers were out of pitching when they still hadn't named their starting pitcher for tomorrow by the end of tonight's game... James Loney had 4 more hits tonight... Same old problems. The Dodgers have zero power and they're one pitcher short. They won't win a title until they fill in those missing pieces of the puzzle...
Dog.... <t>So happy for Loney as I watched him play several times when he was in HS at Elkins high here in Houston and met his Dad at a US Junior National team game played at the U 0f Houston a few summers ago. Very nice guy that is real proud of his son to say the least. Very good article in the local rag on Loney this morning. Looks like the Dodgers have a keeper there at 23 years old.</t>
Today it was our turn to slaughter them: Dodgers 9 Marlins 3 The game was over in the 2nd inning as the Dodgers took an 8-0 lead and cruised in from there. Russell Martin hit another HR. At the All-Star break he's batting over .300 and leading National League catchers in almost every category. At his current pace, he should finish the season with 20-25 HRs and 115-125 RBIs... Martin has now replaced Nomar as the Dodgers #3 hitter... James Loney has replaced Nomar as the everyday 1st baseman. He is indeed a very special player... The deal for Mark Buerhle of the White Sox is dead. The WSox wanted Kemp, Billingsley, or Broxton, plus our young Chinese shortstop down in the minors and the Dodgers said, "No dice." All four of those kids are untouchable... Colletti came from the Giants, who traded away their future pitchers to the Twins (Nathan, Liriano etc.) for players who aren't even there anymore. This won't happen here. The Dodgers have enough money to buy what they want, so they don't have to mortgage the future to get it... Krebs was right about the salary tax. The Florida Marlins are the most profitable team in baseball, according to Forbes. They have one of the lowest salary structures and use the payroll tax to pocket $41 million per year. The Pirates are the 2nd most profitable...
I see the Dodgers Chin-Lung Hu was the MVP of the Futures game yesterday. Is he one of those little leaguers from Taiwan who played like 16 when they said they were 12?
I believe that Chin came along after Taiwan had been kicked out of the Little League WS for cheating, so he really is what he is. What he is to the Dodgers is Rafael Furcal's projected replacement. Furcal is in the 2nd year of a 4 year contract and Chin is at least a year away, so the projected timing has him arriving in the Big Show just as Furcal is going... Chin is a defensive whiz-kid who's putting on a little muscle in the minors. Right now, he's hitting well, but the Dodgers want a little more pop in his bat. In the minor all-star game he did very well, driving in a run against the Yankee's American-Indian phenom Joba "The Hut" Chamberlain... BTW- it was Chin Lung-Hu that the White Sox demanded, along with Matt Kemp, in exchange for Mark Buerhle...
He's learning...you don't drop the soap in that town... BTW- did I ever tell you guys how much I hate Home Run Derby? Its like sport fishing in an aquarium. ESPN reduces baseball down to a trash sport...
Hey Home Run DERBY was an old TV show in black in white that gave us a little taste of baseball during the winter. What could be better than the Mick taking on Killer? Now the All Star Home Run contest......that does suck.
I remember the old HR Derby show but I refuse to watch this crap. Any way, wrestling was on last night :wink:
One of my all-time favorite shows as a kid. How exciting it was each week to see two of the game's greatest players at the time square off against each other. Thanks for jogging my memory, Rick. Amen, JO'Co.
I used to watch the original Home Run Derby when I was nine years-old and it was great. That kind of stuff was made for hero-worshipping kids, back in the day when there were real heroes. None of this Chris Berman crap. I haven't seen that show since it aired, although I've heard that it's making the rounds on cable. Wasn't it filmed in Cuba?