Chad Billingsley (9-4, 3.12) vs. Josh Banks (1-0, 3.38).
COMMENTS: Joe Torre acknowledges Manny Ramirez may not be 100% (despite his home run yesterday), so will Torre still start Manny today? If so, the Dodgers will be looking for Manny to spark the offense (but hopefully won't be waiting around like a bunch of slack-jawed yokels).
This is the first time Banks has faced the Dodgers. With the Dodger bats already uncertain and facing an unfamiliar pitcher in a spacious park, and with the bullpen showing signs of fatigue, Billingsley will be expected to pitch deep into today's game.
Manny and Chad: I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you...to prevent a series loss to a team ten games under .500.
431 comments:
1 – 200 of 431 Newer› Newest»Hopefully men's tennis will finish up before the game starts. I mean Tuesday's game.
I don't know how to feel just now. Alfonso Soriano is not in the ASG, but Josh Hamilton is.
Totally agree Sports Fan. It's so glaringly stupid. You can have fair discussions about other positions (AL 1B, for example) but Hamilton? Cheapens legit nods.
I know this phenom isn't new, but continues to be a problem.
Bills and Brox are both in. Waiting on the reserves.
The O-Dog is in.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shaggy's brother isn't going. That's odd.
Matt Kemp is on the final vote ballot. VOTE FOR HIM, DAMN YOU!
No starting Yankees pitching. Hilarious.
(Not that there should be).
Taking day off tomorrow to pack ballot for Kemp.
Anyone see the LA Times article on Gagne today? Amazing. Really feel for the guy. Check it out...
Furcal, SS
Pierre, LF
Loney, 1B
Blake, 3B
Ethier, RF
Martin, C
Kemp, CF
Castro, 2B
Billingsley, P
Hey Joe! He rested for FIFTY GAMES!
I don't quite see why O-Dog has another day off, especially after Castro bobbled that DP ball.
Agree and agree. Let's put best team out and take this series. It's not like it is a day game after a night game, even. Give the fans (e.g., me) what we want.
And it's an off-day tomorrow. *sigh*
Back to the ASG, who starts for Ibanez and Beltran, assuming they're both still hurt?
Up to the manager I think.
15 votes for Bison and counting.
Castro literally cost us the game yesterday and he's rewarded with another start?
Really, his glove has saved the Dodgers' bacon a few times, so yesterday was bound to happen. Good to see Beast Mode back in the line-up. He must have been hurting the past couple of days. The guy who filled in for him wasn't bad and even caught a fly ball.
Up to 20 votes and still no block. Now I feel like a Chicago voter.
25 votes submitted. I'm also voting for Figgins in the AL because he's had a good run thus far, but Longoria makes more noise and Young hits the long ball.
Now we're no better than the drunken Milwaukee fans who made J.J. Hardy the leading shortstop candidate in the first week of voting.
Uncle Mitly was put on the DL. DeWitt was called up.
I've lost count, but I'm sure I've voted at least 40 times. I guess there's no limit on this one.
Dewitt must have huge amount of frequent flyer miles by now. Free trip to Fiji soon, for sure.
Voting repeatedly for Kemp. This feels like Florida in 2000. Hopefully Katherine Harris won't dictate who gets the final spot.
But Katherine Harris loves buffalo-ing people; she may support Bison.
On the final vote, there's no limit.
Mr. LASF, we're different from Milwaukee fans because no one who is baseball knowledgeable can argue Matt Kemp is a deserved All-Star.
I don't know how many times i've voted, but i voted non-stop for 20 minutes for the Bison and Adam Lind.
While voting for Matt, you could stop by and vote Ethier as the June Clutch performer.
Holy moly, the Padres certainly love to wear ugly uniforms.
Erin, are they wearing the camouflage uniforms?
Yep, Karina. And they're hideous as always
JP to Manny: This is how we do it.
Ewwwwwww. Camo uniforms+hideous red caps=fashion nightmare.
Is it too hard to hire a designer if they want to have different uniforms?
I'm stuck at work all day. We actually have a dish here, but it doesn't get KCAL, so no game for me :( . Guess I'll have to waste my time today by voting for Bison.
Camouflage unis with red hats. It looks like they got dressed in the dark.
Pods uniforms making me hate America.
I wonder who had the idea to (mis)match the camo uniforms and the red hats.
They're wearing the camo for every Sunday game this season. It just happens to coincide with the weekend where MLB requires them to also wear the red hats.
Another man left in scoring position.
Even worse idea: hideous green batting helmets. Didn't I wear that same one in little league in 1975?
Paul Lukas at ESPN wrote a good column about the camo uniforms.
Scully just called Loney "Jones." I think it was sort of a combo of his first and last names.
Just tuned in and no Manny. I guess you need to rest after resting 50 games. [Insert sarcastic look.]
And the Astros have taken an early 1-0 lead on the Giants.
Ha! Just turned to the Giants game in time to see the commercial advertising the Brian Wilson bobblehead game.
Guess how the Wilson bobblehead is posed?
Did Jack just totally ditch Mini Sirloin Burger campaign in favor of this new (lame) buffalo ranch chicken sandwich thing? Why did they stop a good thing?
Chadster is efficient thru one. We shoulda scored in the top of the first, but it's scoreless through one frame.
ANDRE!
E!!!!!!!!
Does anyone else hear something weird on the KCAL broadcast? Like if you listen really carefully, you can maybe hear the Spanish broadcasters?
Andre just hit that home run and the guys got louder, so now I'm convinced that KCAL has both button pressed or something.
Boom!
You can hear the Spanish-language broadcasters underneath Vin.
Thank you, Orel.
"Guess how the Wilson bobblehead is posed?"
Blowing a save?
Mini Sirloin Burgers have got to be still viable; the Dodgers are giving 'em out all yr long
"Andre just hit that home run and the guys got louder, so now I'm convinced that KCAL has both button pressed or something."
I was thinking small broadcasting booth.
KCAL are you reading this thread? Tired of telling my sis-n-law to ignore the other voices. I tell her they are just in her head.
With Kemp up I am reminded to go vote for him another 427,000 times.
It seems so low behind Vin that I don't think a small broadcasting booth is the culprit. It just seems like both feeds are going at the same time.
And now I don't hear it anymore anyway.
What was Kemp thinking?
He tripped.
So Manny just needs to be in the dugout to help Ethier?
Brian Wilson bobblehead
This is the best commercial
wow what a terrbile bobblehead. Why is he doing that on the rubber?
Vin name-drops Icarus!
MLB.com article:
"Sore legs force Manny to rest for Dodgers"
Vinny just said that the sun beat Loney just like it beat Icarus.
Scully referencing some Greek mythology after Loney loses a ball in the sun.
"As for Ramirez, Torre said: "It's his legs. He can pinch-hit today and we can leave him in the game. He has to get his legs under him. Running back and forth to the outfield, it takes some time. By the time the second half starts, he should be all the way back." "
Andre "Carl Lewis" Ethier
Tomorrow is an off day. Ramirez can't "get his legs under him" on an off day? That's stupid.
Makes it sound like Manny's using a walker.
I think I'm over 60 now on the Kemp votes...
Whoa! Billingsley with a double down the line!
Chad with a basehit double!
Good thing we put Castro in the Pods lineup today!
Furcal with a Slappy-like bunt, reaches on an error
Was it an error? Scully said single.
Soriano is moving to the sixth spot in the Cubs' order.
I should point out that when I was in the clubhouse last month, Pierre was talking to Hudson about how Soriano shouldn't be a lead-off hitter, and that he'd be better in the middle of the order.
Pierre is a genius.
If JP hits a HR here, will this vindicate Torre's choice today?
Bills looking like Ray Lewis
Steroids helped Alfonzo make that out.
BLAKE!!!
The Beard coming through
That made up for the goof.
Nice hit at home by bills! J d drew, eat your heart out
beard mode 3-run homer'!
His royal beardness!
Pfff why didn't they just do that early. That was waaaaay easier.
Knocked my Blake bobblehead too hard on that HR that the little bat fell out. Cannot get the bat to screw into the hand correctly for the life of me.
I thought PETCO was supposed to be a pitchers' park.
"Guess how the Wilson bobblehead is posed?"
Crying?
4-0 Houston
"Knocked my Blake bobblehead too hard on that HR that the little bat fell out. Cannot get the bat to screw into the hand correctly for the life of me."
Put it on the DL.
When I was there yesterday I noticed the balls were carrying like crazy in the afternoon game compared to the night game.
Dusty, the bat came out on mine too. There's a little nut glued into his hand (No jokes please.) that the bat screws into ( I said no jokes!) The glue comes apart really easily.
I hope Bills can keep his composure here with a 4 run lead
100
The bat came out of mine too.
6-3 DP
HAH! Bobble to the DL. Nice one. I might have to call up Beimel to take his spot on the roster.
The bat was out of my bobblehead when I first opened the box. But I did manage to screw it back in fairly easily.
Nice easy inning for Chad
Josh, that's too bad. Lucky for Giants fans the Brian Wilson bobblehead has no nuts.
I had the same problem with the bats on my Steve Garvey and Nomar Garciaparra bobbles. They're just cheaply made.
Billingsley only at 30 pitches through three innings. I'm just waiting to see what happens in the sixth inning.
The nut/bolt contraption seemed like a good idea on paper, but in practice, it's just too cheaply made. I might do surgery and just take the nut out and superglue the bat into Casey's hands. Won't be able to pack it back up again, but hey, why would I ever want to bury Casey in styrofoam anyway?
The time is now for Kemp to buff his All-Star resume.
D'OH
He dropped the ball.
Jesus, Vinny, thanks for the physics lesson today.
Watching the updates on CBS sports line
"Foul on 1st baseman Gonzalez´s dropped ball error, Foul on 1st baseman Gonzalez´s dropped ball error"
Did Gonzo drop it TWICE in a row, or is this just a glitch?
What kind of physics was talking Vinny about?
I'm watching Astros and Giants game. Astros 4-Bah team 0
They can't get the marines some better seats?
karina-
Physics of a dropped foul ball. Talked about wind velocity, spin, aerodynamics, etc. It was like a guest lecture at Cal Tech.
"Did Gonzo drop it TWICE in a row, or is this just a glitch?"
Just once.
That's where they always seat them. They're not Marines yet, anyway. They're in boot camp still. So maybe that's them getting hazed.
Getting them good seats every once in a while is a better homage than the camo uniforms and nobody gets retinas hurt.
By the way, Erin, it was a very good column to read (there were beautiful uniforms to see, too)
"They can't get the marines some better seats?"
LOL!! I'm not watching the game but every time I see a Padre game they're up in the 3rd deck, and always have to leave in like the 8th inning. Happy 4th of July, boys.
Bills at 37 pitches through four.
Bills is pulling a Marquis.
Frankly, they're lucky they get to go to a baseball game at all while in basic training.
Only a commercial like that could make putting pineapple on a burger seem like a good idea.
Burger?
For a few seconds there, KCAL was playing a lovely 1 kHz tone. And there it is again. Who is in the sound booth over there today?
HOLY FUCKING HELL
CHADLEY!
HOLY CRAP.
Pitcher's park, indeed!
Bills HR off of Banks--he OWNS Banks!!!
Silent treatment for Bills in the dugout...
I love the freeze-out!
Manny just gave Bills a high-five. Let's cut to the crowd for a reaction.
Triple! Let's hit for the cycle in this inning!
Bills is halfway to the cycle. Anyone see a triple in his future?
RAFFY TRIPLE! EVERYTHING'S COMING UP MILHOUSE!
I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!
Martin and bills are tied in HR's for the year.
Sax's Mom: "Is Petco Park a batter's park?"
Sax: "No, it's a pitcher's park."
Sax's Mom: "Well, Billingsley IS a pitcher!"
Nic - You just made me squirt Coke out of my nose.
Single! All we need is a double!
The Banks has forclosed.
Can't believe it, Bills proves he's serious money and then Furcal triples, two HRs sans Manny, unbelievable.
LOL at Vin's "Banks in trouble" joke.
Mrs. Sax's mom beat me to this.
Apparently my iPhone thinks I'm more likely to write the word "dingle" than the word "single," which makes my text about what Pierre just did a little more interesting.
I can't believe that was Chad's first. He looks like he's built to drive them out.
It's okay, Karina. Technically, I beat Sax's mom, what with my "pitcher's park, indeed!" comment. So I win.
It's the crush-his-head-then-tag-him-out caught stealing.
That was a multi-purpose pitch.
Vin just stole my joke!
banks and alfonzo, you cheap shot pieces of crap to flatten loney in order to "pitch out" to get pierre stealing.
Bills, if you weren't en route to a cycle, I'd definitely tell you to bean Alfonzo (since Banks is going to be gone...NOW, as Loney strokes a "f you, Banks" single to right).
I like your wrath, Sax. That was pretty lame.
Now we see if Bills learned anything from the playoffs.
Perdomo - uglier than his shirt.
[Sorry, still po'd about that knockdown pitch]
Does Perdomo facial hair look as offensive as it looks on Gameday? geez, this team needs a style intervention very bad.
Yep, Bills should bean Alfonzo.
A double here for Ethier could be very sweet.
Bills' BA is actually higher than Martin's
It's also higher than Ethier's.
O-Dog's not talking!
So, runner in scoring position for the hipeful All-Star Bison.
Come on, Kemp...can't leave men on like that with a wimpy popup. Now I will only vote for you 1,298,344 times.
O Dog was talking so fast that I couldn't even see his mouth move.
There goes the shutout.
Damn Kouzmanoff
"SAN FRANCISCO -- Randy Johnson walked off the mound in the fourth inning of the Giants' series finale with the Houston Astros on Sunday at AT&T Park, leaving the game with an apparent injury to his throwing shoulder."
6-1 on the solo shot, but Chad is still rolling
Dusty Baker: That sucks for Johnson. I never like to see guys get injured, even Giants.
Especially Matt Cain.
Or Tim Lincecum.
Guess the Giants won't be trading Jonathan Sanchez.
Five innings on only 52 pitches. Nice job so far, Chad.
Erin: Sorry this reply is so late--
You're not the first woman to appreciate my wrath. On the other hand, hell hath no fury...
Triple for me, Your Royal Thighness
Even Castro got a hit!
Good bunt, Chad!
No I agree re: not hating on anyone for an injury. But it is newsworthy for NL West, and for trade issues if it is serious/long term.
Here's to having the best players out there - and beating them!
That's right, Sax. Just don't scorn me.
Chad should have run over the pitcher covering on his bunt attempt
Cabrera smothers but doesn't have a play on Furcal, his third hit of the day
Erin, I am so not scorning you, that I should be seeing heaven's fury by now
This game could get out of hand soon. Time to bring in the bench players. Manny, O-Dog, get out there.
Bases loaded for Loney.
SEND HIM HOFFY!
Sorry, I suppose it's Bowa now. But we should have sent Fidel. Look at how poor that throw was up the line...
Too bad the Dodgers aren't playing at home for the next ten days. Christine is out of town, and I can't get a Dodger Dog, so I guess I'll just be living on cereal and sunflower seeds for a while.
C'mon Casey, serve' em salami.
Loney I've had quite enough of these fielder's choices. Quit being so democratic.
There's always Dodger Dogs at the Universal City Walk.
It's so easy for me to sit on the couch and say this, but...GUYS, lift the friggin ball out of the infield when you have a scoring opportunity!
Speaking of which, Erin (back to 2:21p), my mom is still sore that your comment beat hers.
Loney doesn't even have PITCHER'S MOUND POWER on that ball. Geez, Loney, stroke that sucker with the bases juiced and one out!
I hope we don't regret leaving the bases loaded twice.
Orel, do they grill the ones at City Walk? That's the only way to eat them, if I were so inclined to drive just over the hill.
Alright it's the 6th. Come on bills.
C'mon, Raffy.
And a Furcal error starts a potential sixth inning nightmare for Billingsley.
That's showing 'em, Bills.
Looks like Billingsley threw at Eckstein's head, but to be fair, that would just be a pitch at the belt for any normal-sized man.
Col lost.
Bills gets over the sixth-inning hump.
Six innings on 67 pitches. Chad is working it today.
199
200
5-0 Houston in the 8th now
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