Chad Billingsley (0-3) vs. Edgar Gonzalez (0-1).
COMMENTS: A win tonight would give the Dodgers their first series sweep of the season. What? It's only a two-game series? And winless Billingsley is on the mound, meaning that somewhere in his first five innings, he's bound to lose control (Bills was coasting during his last start in Atlanta until a rough 35-pitch fifth inning)? Well, now that we're the second-place Dodgers (and only four games out of the wild card with a mere 140 to play), let's see if our luck will turn against Gonzalez and his 4.50 ERA (in line with his stats from 2006 and 2007).
183 comments:
Kent is supposed to return to the lineup tonight, but no word on where just yet.
Ill be home for the start of this one!
Furcal, SS
Jones, CF
Nomar, 3B
Kent, 2B
Loney, 1B
Martin, C
Ethier, LF
Kemp, RF
Billingsley, P
DeWitt sent down to Vegas, per T-Jax.
DeWitt to Vegas makes no sense with Nomar batting as poorly as he is. What the heck?
I get it, it allows them to bring up Cory Wade from double-A ball to have another pitcher on the roster.
Josh Suchon is serving up softballs for Cory Wade on the pre-game interview, but Wade sounds like a genuine, nice guy. Welcome to the bigs, Cory! Congratulations!
Sit and Sleep is coming soon to Redlands!
You're killing me, Larry!
Alas, I will not be joining you boys (and Karina), as I have dinner plans. I had tickets for the game, but an $11 pavilion seat is easy to give up when you only have one chance to say goodbye to a good friend.
I'll be at tomorrow night's game, so you'll miss me around here again. I don't know how you'll survive.
Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports says he doesn't see a race in the NL West, but thinks that AZ's bullpen is vulnerable.
We may miss you, Erin, but you'll miss our updates on Larry and Irwin of Sit and Sleep.
Before I leave (I'm such a tease), did you guys see that Blake DeWitt was sent back down?
Oops, I should really read all the myriad comments before I post. Silly me.
Rick Monday thinks a key to the game for the Dodgers is getting runners on base.
Ah, what about scoring said runners, Rick? We've got plenty of LOBs.
He's also defending Andruw Jones by saying his swing is improving. Oooo-kay.
Bills being Bills
Hello, everybody!
Erin, have a great time with your friend today and please enjoy the game tomorrow night!
karina how do you watch the games?
I see Erin is busy having a life. Epale, everybody else!
"Bills being Bills" is right. He won't make it past the 4th at this rate.
Ok im going to go make dinner bills is pissing me off
Bills suffers from Kuo-itis. Or is it the other way around?
I just came back home from a conference titled: "5.000 years of baseball" and the journalist who gave it asked:
If you were the manager of a team playing the 7th game of the World Series and your starting rotation were:
Sandy Koufax (it was the first name he gave and suddenly i felt this warm feeling)
Juan Marichal
Nolan Ryan
Cy Young
Johan Santana
Everyone of them at the peak of their careers, who would you choose to start said game?
Bills: 24 pitches in the 1st inning, if my calcs are correct. Got out of it cheaply enough.
Karina, I narrowed it down to Koufax and Santana because they're lefties. That makes the decision pretty easy: Koufax.
Was the conference really called five thousand years of baseball?
Gameday. Directv Extra Innings is very different in South America. I get a couple (sometimes three) games a day and the Strike Zone Channel, so i kinda get the updates there (and this is the most expensive package).
Last year, i had MLB.tv but since i live in a country with foreign currency control exchange and the limit of dollars that i could spend online was dramatically lowered (it went from a maximum of 3000 to a maximum of 400), i couldn't buy this year's package, since those dollars would be used (hopefully) this year to pay some stuff for spring training next year.
Yep. That's the name and he wrote a book of the same name. His name is Juan Vene and he's a legend of baseball journalism. I took notes, do you want me to share?
Wow! Nomar singles, Kent doubles him in (close play at the plate) and Kent takes third! Let's hear it for the old fogeys!
and of course, you guys help me a lot with my dodger "game watching"
Of course, Karina! It wouldn't be a Game Thread if I didn't learn anything from you.
I didn't know you were stuck with Gameday, Karina. We'll try to be more descriptive.
Kent was on third but Loney bounces to the pitcher for the third out.
Oh shit, Matt Kemp just misplayed Miguel Montero's line drive. He came in and it went over his head.
Of course, Chad promptly gives up a home run. 3-1 Snakes.
Hard to believe they didn't give Kemp an error.
Chad then strikes out the next two.
because i'm such a geek:
There are some Egyptian hieroglyphs that show pharaohs hitting, running and fielding to pay homage to Osiris (side note: egyptian deity of fertility), so Osiris gave them lots of fertile fields and women.
that's why it's called 5000 years of baseball, more?
(i took 5 college courses about art and design history and i had to memorize lots of information, why didn't my teachers say info like this?)
Jeff Kent makes a pretty slick play to his right for out #3.
baby blue at bat, let's see...
More please!
Russell gave it a ride but Upton caught it before the warning track.
1-2-3 inning. Still 3-1 Snakes.
6 K's for Bills!
7 K's!
I forgot to mention this hitting, running and fielding religious rites ("i believe in the church of baseball", it's actually accurate) was done in spring.
These activities were lost, since the barbaric tribes that formed most of European countries today after the fall of Roman Empire didn't have notions of organized sports that didn't include violence (gladiators, anyone?).
Greece, though they conceived sports pretty much as we conceived them today, they were more into naked young muscled men running and jumping.
So, cricket appeared in England, being the grandfather of baseball.
Some cricket player whose name i couldn't hear, invented a safer form of cricket, so children didn't hurt so bad. It was called "Rounders", actual father of baseball.
It consisted of a bat,several bases (cricket only has home and first base), and a softer ball made out of rags and cloth (cricket's ball is very hard)
Juan Vene said Tom Sawyer played Rounders and it's explained in the book, you tell me since i only have read The Prince and the Beggar.
Oh boy, Frank's in the booth with Vinny again.
Dodgers are gonna kill me...139 games to go...
if you are getting bored, you tell me...
I was just going to ask about rounders!
When Mark Twain published his next novel in 1889, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, he included in Chapter 40 a segment on the game of baseball which once again addressed the dangers inherent in the position of umpire:
Karina, the Dodger organization announced big plans for Dodger Stadium today, so that is in the headlines.
Not bored, Karina. It's much more interesting than the game, in fact.
Chad's 9 K's ties a career high.
Nomar leads off the inning with a single to left....
Aflac trivia question:
The Cubs earned their 10,000th win last night.
Can you name the only other franchise with more wins?
Nomar stole second!?!?!
Wild pitch ball 4 to Kent! Men on 1st & 3rd, no out.
The very first thing pilgrims did when emigrating to the United States, was choosing certain lifestyle and government, which included sports (this part is better known for you than me).
Many of them choose several forms of Rounders, up to thirty-four kinds.
It seems Abner Doubleday never saw a ball in his entire life. It was a marketing strategy.
Loney RBI single! 3-2 Snakes, men on 1st & 3rd w/no out for the Dodgers.
There is some question as to whether Doubleday really invented baseball.
Karina, have you seen Ken Burns' "Baseball" documentary?
They didn't talk about the pilgrims' sports choices in history class.
D'backs trying the old fake-to-third-fake-to-first play several times, much to the ire of the Dodger Stadium crowd.
YAY! i have always been afraid not to be at Dodger Stadium so i guess i'll be there sometime. I thought about switching Arizona for LA and being there for the World Baseball Classic, but if Venezuela doesn't make to the semifinals, i'm gonna be pretty heart-broken.
I guess it's better watching batting practice and practice games, dreaming about a new season full of hope.
King James RBI!
Weak popup by Russell. One out.
Trivia answer: Giants (!), 10,193 wins.
no, i haven't.
Ethier sac fly scores Kent, Loney barely makes it to second! 3-3 tie!
Vin said Loney kind of cheated by leaving the bag early.
Upton still not catching the ball correctly
But Juan Vene said no one invented baseball. Alexander Cartwright was the one to come up with the very first set of rules, only 14!
There is a statue of a deer in the Dodgers' bullpen.
He did talk about some study made in the US. It consisted to take some small boys to a sort of a closed court, with sand, some rocks and sticks. Most of them would throw the rocks and hitting them with sticks.
It might be in our collective conscious!
Karina, highly recommended. It's on DVD (but only as a box set).
I believe Juan Vene about Cartwright. That sounds right.
Damon: Vin's not letting us forget about it either.
what happened to gnomes?
You mean the boys didn't beat each other up with the rocks and sticks?
KKKKKKKKKK
Gnomes, deer—by season's end the dugout will be like a sculpture garden.
Chris Young broken bat dunker single to right.
he beat his own record! Congrats Bills! (he's pitching fantasy, too!)
that's what he said...
Shoot, Drew doubles. 2nd & 3rd w/1 out.
Let's hope Bills gets a W for your fantasy team too.
That's not going to help. Wild pitch lets a run in. 4-3 Snakes.
Bills: 86 pitches, 10 K's. No one in the bullpen.
Another piece of interesting trivia: there are some statues in the Arqueological Museum of Mexico, depicting a man holding a stick, standing at his right side, they call it "the hitter", there's other one of a man sitting at his knees, called "the catcher".
There are more statues like that at the mexican olympical committee.
However, no one can scientifically prove they played something like baseball or rounders.
but, how cool is that?
Bills was pitching better when I wasn't watching the game
Dodgers unable to turn the DP in time, 5-3 AZ.
I mean, he beat the throw by a hair.
Nomar takes forever to throw the ball to 2nd fucks up the DP
a very late coaching visit...
And the hammer for strike three! KKKKKKKKKKK
I don't know Damon, do you think DeWitt would have made a difference on that DP?
way to get out of a jam bills. Now we need to score some more runs
If Dewitt was playing 3rd I would be bitching at Kent
btw, Orel thanks for that awesome link about Mark Twain and baseball, it also led me to a beautiful link with vintage baseball illustrations, food for my soul!
Chad threw 25 pitches last inning for a total of 96. Don't think we'll be seeing him in the 6th.
Damon—ha!
a matar culebras!
I with Vin would quit calling Hudson O dawg
Oh man Karina if you dig the vintage romanticism of baseball then that "Baseball" documentary is totally up your alley.
Andruw with a 340-ft single. Salazar played the carom perfectly.
Did Vin just do a Yoda?
Jones got screwed on that hit
I was just about to say. I cringe every time Vin says "O-Dog."
And Drew turns the acrobatic 6-4-3 DP. Maybe we're not fated to win this game.
So...baseball was invented in Mexico?
love vintage! (i'm actually wearing a shirt with a rhett miller picture at "Gone with the wind"). I'll look for that documentary (baseball and films, i can't really ask for more!)
"Hit it to the O-Dog, he did."
nope, it can't be proven.
a matar culebras = to kill snakes. Nice one, Karina!
Karina, have you seen "Casablanca"?
And Bills is starting the 6th. Guess I was wrong.
Some aborigins who lived in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Dominican Republic called "Tainos", had a game called "batos", but they also can't prove it was an antecedent for baseball, but lots of awesome players have been born between those 3 islands.
KKKKKKKKKKKK
Is this Chads last inning?
Vin is telling a story about Montero trying a Venezuelan remedy called "Indian dust" for a fractured finger. Apparently it worked.
I've seen Casablanca as twice as Bills K's tonight. Always cry 'till my tears run out. Have you?
Karina: Something in the water, as we like to say.
Damon: I would be shocked if he started the 7th. Expect Loaiza or Proctor.
I don't know about "Indian Dust". There is a "Snake Rum" which seems to cure all kind of fractures. It's very popular in certain circles.
Casablanca is a perfect movie.
Kind of surprised Gonzalez is still out there for the snakes. They must not trust their bullpen either.
Loney gets on base on a squirter to short.
Dodgers could use some snake rum right about now.
Ok Russ time to deliver
Martin singles Loney to 3rd? Man, Loney is a slooooow runner.
There we go
It's a start, anyway.
Yes, it is. If filmmaking had dissapeared as an art form after Casablanca, it wouldn't have really mattered (even Fellini, Wenders, French New Wave, et al).
Perfect script, cinematography, sound, editing, wardrobe, art direction, performances and direction, even with the technological advances of nowadays. It's like Koufax: classic and timeless!
Snake Rum is widely used in the santeria community. They could use a spell or two.
It goes to prove that all you need for a really good movie is (1) a good script and (2) good acting. Everything else is just gravy.
Cruz plunks Ethier on the knee! (Last night Andre got hit on the back.) Bases loaded!
Way to take one for the team Ethier
Scrappy
and a good pre-production, specially if the film's on a budget.
what would Andre's Madres do? (whatever they are)
a matar culebras!
You sound like you belong in Hollywood, Karina!
Matt Kemp is making me nervous.
Oh man Kemp went fishing on a big fat slider. 2 out. PH Sweeney up.
I just scared my dog.
In spite Hollywood is the Major Leagues, i'm not interested.
I'd rather be indie and be part of films that make people think and/or feel, even if they hate them.
How hard is it to be a pinch hitter? You stewing on the bench all game and all of a sudden the bases are loaded and you're up.
what breed is your dog?
The part where you have nerves of steel.
Karina, keeping it real.
Sweeney pops out. That was...disappointing.
I'm not sure. I got him from the pet shelter and they said part Shepherd, part pit. Maybe some Chow in there as well.
Micah "Silver Slugger" Owings grounds out.
Time to watch the office/Lost
awww, you got him from a shelter! you gotta have a big heart...
and yep, keeping it real. Bills are paid through other ways of visual communication :)
TiVo, Damon, TiVo!
Yeah, shelter's the only way to go. I would never go to a breeder.
Breeders are cruel, like those canine shows.
Spay and neuter, people! (Crucial comma there.)
The Angels beat the Red Sox again today. I wonder how Erin took it.
Furcal walks!
Andruw's been slumping lately but you don't see him taking desperate hacks. At least not this AB.
2 runs feels like an insurmountable lead here.
don't lose any hope, 2 runs down and we still have 7 outs left.
Okay, Gameday won't do this play justice:
Nomar grounds to the pitcher and they have Furcal hung up between 2nd & 3rd. But the throw BOUNCES OFF OF FURCAL'S HELMET and goes into the outfield. Men on 2nd & 3rd w/1 out for the Dodgers!
Kent golfs it to center; Young traps it and Furcal scores. Men on 1st & 3rd, still one out! You could be right, Karina!
Ohhhhh, Loney hits into the DP. 5-4 Snakes.
Damon, this is all your fault!
why is damon's fault?
Routine 5-4 play where the 2nd baseman gives a token leg sweep across the bag...except the ump rules Kent wasn't near enough. Torre's out and Kent is about to get ejected.
I was just testing to see if Damon's still around. Guess he's watching Lost.
is Kent out?
Kent held his tongue but now it's 1st & 2nd w/1 out.
The Office was good
Curveball swung on and missed but is also a wild pitch. Runners advance. Helllppppp us....
That's what she said!
double play, dpuble play...if we call it, will it come?
Sac fly. 6-4 Snakes. A matar culebras!
Didn't Beimel pitch yesterday?
Orel, do you want to hear the answer Juan Vene gave to his own question, regarding the 7th game World Series starting pitcher?
IBB to Snyder.
I'm sorry, yes I do! I assumed it was Koufax.
I hate IBB. Benito Santiago and Jim Tracy have the fault.
he said only the worst manager could reach the 7th game of any series with such starting rotation.
Got us?
Nice curve to K Salazar.
I think Beimel pitched a couple of thirds yesterday.
Did Kent get ejected?
The pitch squirted away from Martin and the runner tried to steal and Martin threw him out.
Okay, what if the opposing manager had this rotation:
Don Drysdale
Bob Gibson
Roger Clemens
Randy Johnson
Walter Johnson
Help us, Andruw Jones, you're our final hope.
Well that was disappointing. Dodgers split another series. Billingsley gets a career-high 12 K's but suffers another loss.
Thanks for dropping by, everyone! See you next time!
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