Chad Billingsley (0-4) vs. Scott Olsen (3-0).
COMMENTS: Baseball players can be a superstitious lot. Bloggers, not so much—that is, until their team is on a four-game winning streak with a fifth win representing the difference between a losing April and a winning April. SoSG is doing its part to keep the streak alive, because who knows: Maybe, just maybe, the Dodgers' recent success has something to do with Game Threads being posted at four minutes after the hour. Or with me (Orel) writing them. Okay, we're not that deluded, but we're also not going to change our ways until the Dodgers lose.
Could it be today? Billingsley is still looking for his first win despite striking out 12 in his last start. But much more is right than wrong with the Dodgers, starting with the effectiveness of the bullpen, Jonathan Broxton's absence notwithstanding. Russell Martin has gone all EMT on his bat, resuscitating his production and resuming his team-leading ways. Even Andruw Jones has been playing a solid center field—and he's due to rise from the dead today. You heard it here first!
321 comments:
1 – 200 of 321 Newer› Newest»Keep the rally game threads going - we are on a hot streak! I thought you said that Jones would break out of his slump yesterday. AZ is losing 6-3 in the 3rd. Come on 'Stros!
Nope, Andruw's due today.
Astros 6, D'backs 5 in the sixth....
Furcal
Ethier
Kemp
Kent
Martin
Loney
Jones
DeWitt
Billingsley
Astros are losing! Damn Snakes!
1) Snakes won 8-7. Houston sucks after coughing up a 6-2 lead.
2) Giants beat the Rockies 3-2 after being down 2-1. Mixed feelings on this as it's fine to have them both beat each other up, form a standings perspective--but it's always tough seeing the Giants win.
Hopefully Andruw isn't the only one who'll show up today offense-wise.
We are never going to win the division if the Diamondbacks keep on playing like a well-assembled, well-managed team.
Dbacks magic number is 130
Helmet radio reception is terrible today. Gameday it is.
That was fast. One pitch, one single. Rafael Furcal does not mess around.
Let's go blue! Furcal with a leadoff single. Can he just hit for everyone?
Tomorrow's game is at 9 am west coast time. Will this be a scheduled off-day for Martin? I read somewhere today that Loney will have the day off (in favor of Sweeney), so that seems like it would be bad timing, I guess.
Er, make that the second pitch. Sneaky Gameday, collapsing each AB when the next batter comes up!
Thought that one was out of here by Kemp. So close.
Steve Lyons brings up something I've been wondering myself:
why isn't Furcal stealing more bases, considering how often he's on base?
Are you kidding, Erin? (checks) No you are not. That's super-duper early.
Rabbits only run in pairs?
The Florida Marlins are wearing black uniforms - I thought the home team always wore the lighter colors.
Does Hanley Ramirez have braces or a wear a mouthguard or something? Something seems strange about his mouth.
Bills with his 33rd K of the season.
Man, Martin hit that home run hard. That was a line drive if I've ever seen one.
Yeah, that was a laser shot. Nice. Dodgers up 1-0.
Okay, here's your chance to be right Orel.
I love Russell Martin!
Epale, everybody!
Epale, Karina!
Andruw's just biding his time....
Andruw should be biding his time on the bench (or Triple A).
Gonzo was out on that play. Bad call.
How the hell did Luis Gonzalez steal a base? Doesn't his walker slow him down?
I've always thought the Marlins' manager looks like a fat Mark Grace.
Some strange plays in this inning.
Fredi Gonzalez
Well, that picture doesn't show the similarity. I think it's the facial hair that does the trick.
Gameday is stuck.
Fredi Gonzalez, take two (bottom of page)
Chad is being a little...Chad. Two men on in the second, including a HBP, but he Ks the pitcher (Olsen) for the final out. 1-0 Dodgers after two.
Bills gets out of the inning with a K to the pitcher - there were about 3 strange plays in that inning. The gonzo steal was a hit a run, but the batter didn't hit.
Hey, Erin, how was Iron Man?
Ironman is awesome. See it immediately.
Well, as soon as it comes out.
Chadley works the walk!
Erin, what's your prediction for how well it does this weekend?
My guess is it opens well this weekend, but Speed Racer pummels it next weekend.
lucky Bills!
"Cancel all appointments Friday."
Men on first and second with none out
Orel, you should move your Gameday to "pitch by pitch"
Wow, that was a sweet attempt by Ameziga - lucky for us he missed it.
I cannot express how much I don't care about Speed Racer. Earlier this week I was trying to decide if there had ever been a big movie I was less interested in, and I couldn't think of one.
Ironman will win this weekend, if only because I don't think that Patrick Dempsey movie is going to win. Word of mouth should be good for Ironman, though, so if it doesn't win in week two, it'll make a decent showing.
All right Kempy, up to you with two RISP.
1st ever sac bunt by Ethier.
Kemperiffic! 3-0 Dodgers!
Hey just got back from dinner...Dodgers up by one, woo-hoo!
Erin, no love for the Wachowski brothers? Did you take the blue pill?
KEMP with two RBI! 3-0
I wonder how the new Indiana Jones movie will be...
It would be an upset for the ages if Iron Man week #2 beats Speed Racer week #1.
Sssswwwweeeetttt stoke by Kemp On an 0-2 pitch no less.
Hey Karina, are you there?
gotta love that bunt! nice old school
Hope they bring back that little Asian kid for the Indy movie.
I'm still trying to accept Shia LaBeouf in an Indiana Jones movie.
I really don't like the brothers (or brother and sister, considering one of them is a full-on transsexual who prefers to be called by a female name--Lana). Sorry, but I wasn't a Matrix fan. I liked Bound, and I loved V for Vendetta, but they didn't direct that, only produced it.
Plus, I hate the star of Speed Racer. I know people who worked on the movie, and there are enough stories to make that kid seem like the biggest prima donna on the planet.
Bison steals second.
AC, ha!
Shia LaBeouf is what makes me not as excited about Indiana Jones as I would have been without him.
Also, Harrison Ford is 95 years old.
Yes, i am.
I just can't wait for Indiana Jones, just a few days away...
Error for the pitcher - Kemp at third - he threw it into centerfield.
Karina, the chocolate was Savoy after all
He could be old, but he's still hot and no one can play Indiana.
Short Cut was the best!
Yes, but he looks 5 years younger (re: Harrison Ford)
That's the biggest candy/chocolate factory.
Short Round?
Harrison Ford was possibly once attractive. Now he's just...saggy. And trying to reclaim his youth with a younger girlfriend and an earring. Sometimes it's hard to watch.
If actors were penalized for bad behavior, there would be no movies.
I'm waiting in line for the Batman movie. Lots o' buzz with that one. Loved the first one.
The earring thing isn't working for Michael Jordan either.
Harrison Ford does not rock the earring. Bad choice there.
Batman is going to be awesome. Christian Bale is great. My girlfriend is working with him right now, and he's also a good guy.
They should have cast Short Round instead of LaBouf.
Come to think of it, earrings just don't work for men.
I actually got news about Wilson Alvarez and Dodgers.
He was working with the Pirates organization but he resigned due to differences with the minor league pitching coach, so it seems the Dodgers are very interested in having him as a coach.
I wonder why the Dodgers like him so much.
Yeah, and Bale is easier on the eyes than Ford.
So Christian Bale is no Emile Hirsch?
i meant Short Round *unconscious slip, i guess*
Definitely no Emile Hirsch.
And infinitely more attractive.
Hey, I'm a Wilson Alvarez fan too! "Hold On" was a great song.
Karina, do you mean minor league coach?
EK, I wish I didn't get that joke. But I do.
As the minor league weight coach.
Did you see "Into the Wild"? I thought Hirsch's character was kind of annoying in that.
...and you think it's funny
I think the only movie I saw with Emile Hirsh was "The Girl Next Door". And it wasn't Emile I was looking at...
I didn't see "Into the Wild" because I read the book and the trailer made it seem like Sean Penn got kind of a different idea from the book than I did. And I didn't want to be annoyed with that fact.
Also, my hatred of Emile Hirsch had already begun when that movie came out.
Dodgers up 3-0! Don't know how it happened, but woo-hoo!
Yep.
He was the pitching coach for Aguilas on the winter of 2006. He made a great job with a couple of very young and unexperienced pitchers. Winter baseball is merciless with unexperienced pitching.
Last year, another guy made the job and he was hated for the entire pitching staff and they publicly asked Alvarez to come back. He is :)!
Bills is dealing. 5 K's so far.
Hey Stevie B and Lisa Lisa are going to be performing at the Marlins stadium on May 24th. Get your tickets now! Hard to believe that no one is going to their games with those awesome attractions.
Nothing better than people reveling in their gluttony in those am/pm All-You-Can-Eat Pavilion commercials.
Hey, i adore him! so what?
So Alvarez is going back to Aguilas?
Hey Karina, did the blackout affect you?
Andruw Jones, in his "breakout" night, his 0-2 so far.
who's in for the Andruw Jones pop-up?
Is the Cult Jam gonna be there too?
If we could get footage of Emile Hirsch eating in the AYCE Pavilion, Erin might have to kill someone.
Don't worry Erin, Andruw will come up big at the end. He likes to make things exciting...
Yes, he is and i'm in love with the idea. They have a kid, who throws 100 mph heat and i guess he could be a great influence. His name is Henry Rodriguez and he's on the Oakland roster of 40 (Thanks Lord) .
Erin, why do you hate Emile so much? He says only nice things about you.
Blackout was awful. I got stuck at college for 4 hours.
"Hate" is a strong word. I shouldn't use it so loosely. I strongly dislike him, both as an actor and as a person.
Sorry to hear that Karina.
At least you didn't get stuck at college as long as this guy
Hey who here is up for a game?
I didn't realize Bills was 0-4 on the season
Bills has retired 7 straight. He really could use this win.
Thanks, that's very sweet. Though the city was in chaos, at least no one was injured.
I couldn't get out because a) i wasn't driving yesterday, b)if i had, i could spend fours hours in traffic (as my brother did), c) no cabs, no buses around.
The game is: whoever posts comment #200 wins
53 pitches for Bills.
Thanks, Orel. I was too lazy to look it up. 53 through four. Not bad.
What's the prize?
Karina, glad you're safe.
Sounds horrible. Do you go to Universidad Central de Venezuela?
Andre sends it to the warning track! Damn!
Steiner: "Ethier gave it a good poke and had nothing to show for it."
Um, that's what she said.
I feel sorry for Halladay too. He's lost four games while pitching all the way in 3 of those games.
How about Greg Maddux? if he had Dodgers offense in the early season, he'd won the 351th. That's depressing.
why Colletti didn't sign him? he's pricey but he doesn't go on the DL.
Hmmm, good question Orel
If we had Greg Maddux, he could probably bat clean-up
Two feet in either direction and that ball from Kemp is out of the park.
Hey Orel I can't get the online Guitar Hero game to work
Kent is money lately
I go to Universidad del Zulia but i was with my classmates and even one of my teachers, she was afraid of driving back home.
I was stuck in an elevator once, but only for about an hour.
I think Orel went to try and beat my score at typeracer
Loney needs to free some baseruners. 0-for-3 with 4 LOB.
My best wpm on Type Racer is 107. I have no screen shot proof of that, though.
Anyways I'm glad you are ok
Someone please remind me how to do a screen shot, I forget?
Also, Erin, I agree with you that V for Vendetta was awesome, just like the comic. I loved the Matrix but the other two sequels were less good. I'm psyched for Speed Racer, and for Iron Man.
Erin: hit ctrl-Print Screen.
If you do it again send us a screen-shot and we'll post it. That is, unless one of us beats it first. My high is actually 100 but I didn't think to print it.
5th inning and only 61 pitches? 5 K's?AWESOME!
Leadoff single after a 3-2 count...let's see if Chad can keep his poise this time.
I know how to create a screen shot, but it's different on Macs. If you have a Mac Steve, hit Apple-Shift-3. You'll hear a little shutter noise and the thing will show up as "picture 1" on your desktop.
The next time I play, I'll take one for proof.
Billingsley really needs to rid himself of this fifth inning curse he's got going.
Sorry, I got pulled away. Gonna hit the highway now. See you on the....
EK, I have Firefox and it works. Maybe use the link to Kotaku and try it there? There are no adjustments I can make.
for fun:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/The-many-Wow-I-just-got-rocked-faces-of-Barr?urn=mlb,79461
OK see you later Orel
Bills walks the pitcher. Here it comes.
I'm surprised they sent Olsen up to bat here in the fifth, down 4-0 with Bills heretofore dealing. Maybe they too know Chad could be on the verge of crumbling?
the end of that link got cut off Karina
Not to over-analyze this, but this is the Curse of Chad. Great stuff, and a lot of Ks, but seems to lose his head.
Now he is one DP away from keeping it together...come on, Chad!
What does 'heretofore' mean?
Jesus. Come on Chad. This seems totally psychological, like he knows he was doing too well for the first four innings.
EK, "until this point"
how do i post links here?
Man, watching on Gameday blows. I wish I could watch the game. Or $20 to buy mlb.tv.
He had Ramirez 2-2 and lost him. Would Chad fall apart with the bases loaded?
Then he gets Boot-Fad Man Dan Uggla to pop out to Loney. One more out to go, Chad!
Karina, it's kind of tricky. You have to surround the word that you want to link with some html code...or at least that's how I do it. Maybe Sax knows an easier way.
Gameday says that last pitch was 88.2 mph. It's clearly off by 0.2 mph at the very least.
That was almost an amazing play from Furcal. It's just one run, Chad. You can still get out of this.
DeWitt DeFlects? DeF*ck?
Sax, FYI since you weren't here earlier: whoever posts comment #200 wins
Great throw by Furcal but Loney couldn't catch it right! saw it on Strike Zone channel
Deuces wild here in the fifth.
53 pitches through four, but, what, 86 or something through five? That's crazy.
Did you see that K's slider? it's the most beautiful thing i've seen this week.
CAN'T-u! Chad escapes with only a run. Well done, Bills!
EK, what's the prize? A night out with marc?
Jorge's "Can-tu" attitude couldn't help him there.
Wait, NOW they replace Olsen, ater letting him bat during their rally in the fifth? What the hell is Fredi Gonzalez thinking?
EK, I'm just glad Jorge didn't open a cantu of whup-ass on Chad.
Prize is undecided. Pride, bragging rights, the satisfaction of knowing you're the best at timing comments
the html code to post a link is too difficult?
Andruw is now 0-for-3. Better get a new page-a-day calendar, EK.
Marc rocks. Hey, did you know he has a blog?
Well, it's not too complicated Karina, but the tricky thing is if I type the code you need to put, it will think I'm trying to create a link...
karina, the html tag is the "a" one (for "anchor"). Try this for an explanation...
Hell of a pitcher's duel going on in Boston, and Ortiz breaks the scoreless tie with a solo shot to right field, which gives Dice-K the chance to go 5-0 on the season. Loving it.
Jones will come through BIG when it counts.
either that or I'll go delete my page-a-day calendar post later, pretend it never happened
I mistakenly though Orel made that prediction about Jones. Sorry, EK. Now I'll give you sh*t for it.
Actually it was Orel, I lent him my screenname yesterday
So Erin, my scramble puzzle was too easy, huh...
It wasn't too easy. I'm just that good.
Bills is back on the rails with a 1-2-3 sixth inning. Eight Ks on the day, not too shabby Chad.
Now let's open up some runs in the 7th here and get Chad his first win!
95 pitches for Chad through six. No one was warming yet when they showed the pen, so is he coming back for the seventh?
Ah yes, of course.
After I made it I thought it looked kind of obvious, but wasn't sure if that was because I already knew what it was
Comment #200 approaching...
Hey guys I'm back - we are still winning! Furcal with a nice double.
hmm, it seems the original link is too long or something, anyway, it was a gallery of barry zito expressions getting rocked.
I am eagerly awaiting Karina's hyper-linked comment
oh, she beat me to it.
Clean 'em up, Kent!
Clean 'em up, Martin!
Old and Olderer: Kent flies out to Luis Gonzalez.
Even the Marlins realize Loney hasn't been hitting with RISP (excluding the game winner on Sunday, obviously).
Double Steal - Torre's gone to that a couple of times this year already.
double stealing!
Stupid Red Sox bullpen has been almost as bad lately as the Dodgers' bullpen has been good (if that sentence has any structure at all).
Wow, marlins had the ghostbusters song for the theme of the next pitcher "who you gonna call, MAROONNE!" Man, that is bad.
AC, that's actually a commercial for a car dealer or something in Florida.
Trivia question: before that game last week, when was the last time the Dodgers scored 10 runs in an inning?
Clean 'em up, Free James Loney!
Come on James - Free some people on base!
Post a Comment