Further proof that SoSG is pulling a Kanye on the world wide web!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
SoSG Leaves Its Mark!
Google "Delino DeShields" (actually, don't bother, cause I've done it for you). And these are the first images that come up!
Game 151 Thread: Sept 22 @ Natty Dreads, 4p
Hiroki Kuroda (7-6, 3.86) vs. Livan Hernandez (8-11, 5.22).
DODGERS' MAGIC NUMBERS: 4 (playoffs), 7 (division)
COMMENTS: Irie! Lively up yourself as the Dodgers get ready to roll the Nattys like a big fattie. Kuroda continues to shake off the effects of that nasty knock to the noggin and whip himself into playoff shape while Hernandez, released by the Mets last month, is finding a home with the bottom-feedingest group of rude boys in the majors. As for the Rockies? The harder they come, the harder they fall. What I say now!
At-Game Recap (Sept 18, 2009): Sure, We'll Spot You Guys One Just For The Hell Of It
Not that this is all about me, but I have to confess that I don't think it was coincidence that the Dodgers' only loss in this past weekend's series with the Giants came at the game which I attended rather cavalierly. Instead of keeping to my normal consumption tradition, I went with the Camacho's Fish Tacos rather than the staple Dodger Dog, even going so far as to eat the tacos first. The tacos were good. I love fish tacos, especially Rubio's, and revelled when Rubio's began to expand beyond the San Diego area. But I digress.
As we fell behind early, I freaked out and quickly wolfed down the Dodger Dog--but it was too late. Though the Dodgers came back to tie the score, off a two-run jack by Manny Ramirez (who once again validated my reasoning to never miss watching a Ramirez at bat) and a solo shot from Rafael Furcal, they were eventually felled by a trio of Giant doubles in the sixth inning, and the Giants went on to win 8-4. Billingsley's inning of relief yielded a Aaron Rowand solo HR, so that wasn't too good, either.
But there were some cool highlights on the field. I can't find a video of either highlight on the mlb site, but Orlando Hudson turned two nifty double plays on Bengie Molina in the first and fifth innings. And what made each of them hilarious was that Hudson would take the feed, step on second, and then scamper backwards from second two or three short steps before firing to first base. And each time, Molina was still so far out at first, it was ridiculous. It was like Hudson could have run to the dugout, gotten a cup of coffee and some sunflower seeds, and then thrown to first, and Molina still wouldn't have made it to the bag in time. I know the Giants' offense is pathetic, but part of the reason has to be the lack of conditioning of Molina and Pablo Sandoval. Those guys are slow on the basepaths, allowing opponents to turn double plays in slow motion.
Off the field, there were a couple of curious highlights too. First I have to point out the go2taiwan.net ribbon ad, appropriately themed to coincide with My Town Irish Heritage Night. I don't know why they didn't have go2ireland.com advertise on this evening, but who knows, maybe the Irish are big Taiwan supporters. Neither Hong-Chih Kuo nor Chin-Lung Hu played on Friday night, either, which is too bad for the former as Vicente Padilla could have used the help (earning his first loss as a Dodger).
My seats were great as always on a summer night in Los Angeles, and Mrs. Sax and I were lucky enough that Erin of Robots Took My Medicine stopped by (along with Christine) from the press box to say hello. Erin's a kick, which I've already memorialized, but this time she also helped educate me on two things I didn't know about Dodger Stadium: 1) that Vin Scully stands up to sing along for the second stanza of Take Me Out To The Ballgame (which we watched in awe and admiration); and 2) the Don't Stop Believing lunatic who lip syncs and hams it up for the camera appears to compensate for the one-second tape delay by the end of admittedly comical routine (which is quite a skill, I might add, if he is able to lip sync a second ahead of the music in order to make it coalesce on screen). Maybe we should get the DSBl to work on the television screens over the concession stands, which remain in a vicious tape delay of at least five seconds (meaning that if you're in the queue, you hear the crowd reaction, and then have a couple of beats before you can see what happened on the monitors; if it's Bengie Molina running to first base, you actually have more than a couple of beats).
The beautiful evening:
And then, of course, there was the between-inning Kiss Cam that inevitably morphs into the Bud Light Real Men of Genius Mr. Stadium Marriage Proposal Guy event. I usually laugh at these, but given the person was in the section right next to us, I took some shots. First of all, Maria Becerra, your name is in ten-foot tall letters, so you'd better say yes:
And, lucky for her attention-seeking beau, she did (the Dodgers attendant in the back is holding up a big "She Said Yes!" sign; the attendant with the "She Said No, And The Baby Isn't Yours Anyway" sign had already retreated up the aisle).
In all seriousness, congratulations Maria and Mr. Stadium Marriage Proposal Guy. Not the way I would have done it; in fact, I looked over at Mrs. Sax and asked her if she had wanted her proposal done in front of 56,000 of our closest friends at a game that we'd end up losing to our arch-rival foes, and she took about a millisecond to say, unequivocally, "no." I'm glad I didn't choose this option, as I like being married to Mrs. Sax.
The outcome of the game wasn't ideal, but it was a fun night at the Stadium as always. This was most likely my last regular-season game of the 2009 season, which gives me a record of 7-2 (seven straight wins to start the season, then two losses; I kinda feel like Chad Billlingsley). This marks the fewest Dodger games I've been to in any season since I moved back to LA. But I'm confident I'll be back for another game at the Stadium soon either way.
Off-Day Puzzle #18: Solution
Name the Dodger from some bling and seven numbers? What? Well, the first clue is the WORLD CHAMPION DODGERS 1988 ring. Second clue is the numbers on the fortune. Are those uniform numbers? The first result of a Google search under "1988 Dodgers uniform numbers" is this page at Baseball Almanac, which reveals:
- 48 Ramon Martinez
47 Jesse Orosco
3 Steve Sax
30 John Tudor
55 Orel Hershiser
49 Tim Belcher
26 Alejandro Pena
What now? The first letters of the first names spell out RJSJOTA...nonsense...but the first letters of the last names spell out MOSTHBP. Most HBP? Most hit-by-pitches? On what team?
"The answer to this puzzle is a current position player for the Dodgers," reads the puzzle's text, so a quick trip to Baseball-Reference.com tells us Andre Ethier is the team leader in HBP and the answer to this puzzle.
Congratulations to solvers extraordinaire drewdez, LLCoolL, Ubragg, Mr. Customer, Keven C, Golem, QuadSevens, rbnlaw, Andrew, DunkHawk, Matt, fanerman, StolenMonkey86, and Dusty Baker. (Participation points go to Neeebs, MLASF, Josh S., Javier, Jesus (no screen name) and Karina).
Updated puzzle rankings to be posted soon. Up next: The season-ending grand-slam puzzle! More brain cells, more points! Be here 7 a.m. on Thursday, October 1!
"We Know All Your Secrets"
I'm not sure how I found this. But I did. And now, I'm just kinda freaked out.
Currently on EBAY, a Los Angeles DODGERS Baby/Ultrasound Photo Picture GIFT
The Original Ultrasound/Photo Display Print™ Just add your photo for a truly memorable gift!Given, I kept my son's ultrasound in my wallet until he arrived, but I keep lots of random stuff in there... including an Elvis ID, a guitar pick from Buffalo Tom, and part of a bag of popcorn I shared with Dustin Hoffman (not weird). This ultrasound frame though... yeah, it's a bit much.Be the "Hit" of the baby shower. FREE personalization. Great for the new Daddy (or mommy, grandpa, etc.)
Even though I've only been a Dad for 14 months, I want to keep all athletic pressure off my little man. Hence he only has ten percent of his wardrobe adorned with the Dodgers, Mets, Trojans, Anonymous Ivy League Institution and NY Giants. I freely expect little DeShields to follow in his old man's footsteps: a lifetime Mendoza-level hitter in Little League who made a massive comeback in college by pitching a two-run gem against NAVY ROTC in slow-pitch softball.
Monday, September 21, 2009
When ESPN.com Comments Rock
I had to chuckle when I saw this one, one of three comments on the Rob Neyer "podcast":
I have an outgoing message on my reel-to-reel tape answering machine. Maybe I can call that a podcast, too.
Scoreboard Watching (9/21): Giants @ D'backs, 6.30p
What, no Dodger game? No Rockies game at which we can channel our jeers? Alas, all we are left to watch is a Giants game in Arizona, featuring Barry Zito (10-12, 3.94) vs. Doug Davis (7-13, 4.01).
With yesterday's Timmah-tutoring, Lincecum-losing setback, the Giants are now 4.5 games behind the Rockies with 13 games to play, and the Marlins only a half-game behind the Giants (and the Braves, who play the Mets at 4p PT, only one game behind the Giants). As such, San Francisco should be hearing a lot of footsteps as they suit up for tonight's game. And Brad Penny, Pablo Sandoval, and Bengie Molina are all hoping it's the team caterer.
The only other NL-relevant game worth tracking this afternoon is the Cardinals @ Astros (Kyle Lohse vs. Wandy Rodriguez), at 5p, but I'm not going to start weighing in on the other divisional leaders' races until we get deeper in the season. Over in the AL, the only pennant-race-relevant game is the Twins @ White Sox (Nick Blackburn vs. newbie Daniel Hudson), at 5.11p; the Twins have almost been eliminated from wild card contention but are only three games back from the Tigers in the AL Central.
Snark away, SoSGers!
San Francisco Giants, Team of Character
The San Francisco Giants' roster of prospects may have had a setback this weekend, as Giants single-A player Angel Villalona, Baseball America's #33 prospect of 2008, allegedly shot and killed a man in a bar over the weekend.
Angel Villalona turned himself in 12 hours after the man was shot at a bar in the southern coastal city of La Romana, Col. Adrian Urbaez told The Associated Press.
“The Giants were disappointed to learn that there was an incident in the Dominican Republic last night in which an individual was killed and one of our minor league prospects, Angel Villalona, may have been involved. We will monitor the situation closely and trust that the judicial process in the Dominican Republic will resolve the matter promptly and fairly,” the team said in a statement released Sunday.
Villalona was signed by the San Francisco Giants in 2006 and received a club-record $2.1 million signing bonus. He played in 74 games with a Giants minor-league team this season, batting .267 with nine home runs and 42 RBIs.SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic(AP)—A baseball prospect for the San Francisco Giants is the main suspect in the killing of a 25-year-old man in the Dominican Republic, police said Sunday.
According to ESPN, it was a neck bullet wound that felled the victim. If convicted, Villalona faces 20 years in prison. To be fair, Villalona is not being questioned for attacking someone with a machete and then pouring gasoline on the victim, unlike other MLB athletes (sorry, Karina). (Urbina only got 14 years for that, by the way, I suppose because he didn't actually kill anyone.)
So what does this leave for the Giants' farm system? No pressure, Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey (I swear, I can't even type those names without laughing. I mean, I'm sure they're great people and decent prospects and all, but come on, now).
Beautiful People at Dodger Stadium Just Reinforcing Beautiful-People-in-L.A. Stereotype
Were you at Saturday's Dodger game? If so, you were only the second-most beautiful person there. Who came ahead of you? You decide:
photo: Buckstop Media
Belisario, Broxton Boast Best Baseball Fastballs
Chris Moore over at Baseball Analysts did some crazy statistical and graphical analyses to determine that the Dodgers have two pitchers in the top five of players with the best fastballs, according to their weighted x-scores:
If you don't know who Ronald Belisario is, you're not alone. His fastball averages 95 mph, and crosses the plate in the zone 56% of the time. He has a 1.92 ERA in 65 innings, though with a somewhat low BABIP. We only have 319 pitches to analyze, so he's likely getting somewhat lucky,
#5 Jonathan Broxton, 4-Seam Fastball
Broxton has a crazy good, totally boring fastball. Its all about velocity. He averages nearly 97 mph, and you can see from the value by velocity graph that he can touch 100, where his value spikes. His vertical movement is good, averaging 10 inches. He also has good command, hitting the strike zone 57% of the time. No bells or whistles here, just heat.#3 Ronald Belisario 4-Seam Fastball
Make sure you click through to check out the links, which includes some scatterplot graphs on Broxton that look like a massacred paintball victim. The first graph, horizontal movement vs. velocity (by type of pitch), is pretty neat to see how Broxton's three different pitches achieve variant results.
Oh yeah, and Chris Carpenter is at #19.
Poll: Hot Hand or Hot Stuff?
During Saturday's Fox telecast, Ken Rosenthal surmised the Dodgers' playoff starters could consist of:
- Randy Wolf
- Clayton Kershaw
- Hiroki Kuroda
- Jon Garland or Vicente Padilla
Conspicuously absent from this list was Chad Billingsley. This spirited exchange ensued in our comments section, and it boiled down to this: Does Joe Torre go with the pitcher with the better recent performance (e.g., Garland) or the pitcher with better stuff (Billingsley)?
What do you think, SoSG readers? Should Chad Billingsley start for the Dodgers in the playoffs? Answer in the poll in our sidebar!
Enough With The Doomsayers Citing Others' 1-2 Punches
Yes, this weekend's series was only against the Giants. And we only took two of three from a weak offensive team struggling to keep its head above water in the Wild Card race, a team now 9.5 games behind our league-leading record (9.5 GB is almost halfway to Padre-ville).
But Sunday's win, which pinched vaunted Giants starter and last year's Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum early on in the contest, should start to quiet the common media refrain which cites the daunting powers of the top two starters of the Phillies, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee, as well as the Cardinals, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.
As of now, it's hard to tell which of those two teams we'll be playing first; Philly has surged to a 87-61 record thanks to an 8-2 count over the last twn games, while St. Louis has gone 4-6 to run its totals to 87-63. The Dodgers, at 90-60, will likely play the third-best record of the three teams, and right now, I'm split at which would be the better first-round opponent for us, in a five-game series where things can turn on a dime (see: James Loney's series-turning grand slam in Game 1 of last year's NLDS, crushing the Cubs with one mighty blow).
But taking Lincecum out in the fifth inning, leaving Timmah with a line that reads 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 3 Ks but 4 BBs, should give us confidence that we can roll with the best of them, and beat them. Yes, Lincecum is overcoming back problems and fatigue (which many SoSG readers have mentioned could exemplify the Giants' penchant for overusing young arms). But he had just gone out and pitched seven innings of one-run ball against Colorado the outing before; and, Lincecum does lead the league in strikeouts.
We've shown, all season long, that we can beat the Giants' #2 starter Matt Cain (who has never won against the Dodgers in his career), and yesterday we've shown we can finish off Lincecum (who had one win against the Dodgers in his three other starts this year). The Giants have two starters in the top four of league ERA leaders; and so do the Cardinals. And even though Lee's ERA would put him just outside the top 10 in the NL, Hamels' ERA is 30th in the league (behind Clayton Kershaw, Randy Wolf, Jon Garland, and even Chad Billingsley).
We can beat Timmah and Matty. Why couldn't we be just as successful against the top two arms from the Phils or Cards? Especially with Rafael Furcal finally heating up, and Ronnie Belliard on a mission--why not?
Off-Day Puzzle #18: Lunch with Tommy
The answer to this puzzle is a current position player for the Dodgers.
Puzzle Rules: Comment freely in the thread, but if you have the solution, please don't give it away to everyone in the comments section. Instead, do the following:
- Email us with your answer along with your reasoning. Submitted answers without the reasoning, or those submitted with the incorrect reasoning, will count for participation only, even if the answer itself is correct. And please include your screen name somewhere in the email; and
- Post a comment simply saying you have emailed your solution attempt. We may not be able to reply to your original email promptly, so please be patient and check back on the comment thread for the latest news; we may confirm correct answers there.
You have until midnight PT tonight to submit your answer. Answer will be posted tomorrow morning. Good luck!
Not familiar with SoSG's off-day puzzle competition? Read up here. And join the fun!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Milton Behaving Badly
From "Cubs suspend Bradley for rest of 2009" at ESPN.com:
The Chicago Cubs have suspended outfielder Milton Bradley for the remainder of the season, following comments he made to the Arlington Heights Daily Herald about there being too much negativity playing for the Cubs."Recently it's become intolerable to hear Milton talk about our great fans the way he has," general manger Jim Hendry told ESPNChicago.com's Bruce Levine. "We pride ourselves on having the greatest fans in baseball, so at this time we felt it was best for him to go home for the rest of the season." [...]
In the interview with the Herald on Saturday, Bradley said: "You understand why they haven't won in 100 years here."
With Andre Ethier's surge into MVP contention reminding us of the famous Billy Beane-baiting trade of Bradley for Ethier, it's sadly appropriate that Bradley's suspension occurred on the same day Ethier hit his 31st home run.
And it gets worse for the Cubs: Bradley has two years left on his three-year, $30 million contract. I'm glad Bradley finally got paid, but at some point he'll hopefully realize it's more important to get peace.
Earlier at SoSG: Oh, Milton
Milton Bradley Takes the High Road
Post-Game 150 Thread: Thumping Timmy
Good night, sweet Giants. The Dodgers greeting a tired Tim Lincecum today almost as rudely as they did Brad Penny yesterday, combined with another Rockies win, has effectively killed San Francisco's playoff chances. Today's offensive heroes are all-of-a-sudden-but-not-really MVP candidate Andre Ethier (with a two-run homer, his 31st, in the third inning) and Marlon Anderson Ronnie Belliard (with a two-run single in the fourth).
Randy Wolf gets his 11th win with six innings of two-run ball, the Kevorkian committee (Hong-Chih Kuo in the seventh, George Sherrill in the eighth and Jonathan Broxton in the ninth) puts the Giants down and keeps them there. Dodgers get their 90th win and are a season-high 30 games over .500. Oh, and the Nationals and Pirates await during the week. Here's to the opposite of sucking!
AP photo
Game 150 Thread: Sept 20 vs. Frisco, 1p
Randy Wolf (10-6, 3.24) vs. Tim Lincecum (14-5, 2.30).
DODGERS' MAGIC NUMBERS: 9 (division), 6 (playoffs)
COMMENTS: The Dodgers could lose today and still claim a moral victory: pounding Brad Penny yesterday and taking the season series from San Francisco. However, that doesn't mean we want them to win any less. Lincecum is, after all, somewhat less effective on the road and the G-Men are facing the pressure of keeping up with the Rockies, victorious last night. For the Dodgers, Randy Wolf gets another chance to prove his elbow is in playoff shape. Wolf is probably also counting the days until Star Wars Night at Dodger Stadium. Don't be surprised to see him helping himself to a Cloneburger with Cheese or two.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Happy New Year My A--
5770 was off to such a lovely start. Then USC reminded us all why they don't have five national titles this decade WITH A PUTRID PERFORMANCE THAT TURNED ME INTO...
Hopefully tomorrow's Dodgers game will bring some much-needed Mazol and happiness to the Delino, who will be downing every last light beer in the Loge Level to forget the USC debacle.
And so it's not all bitterness, L'Shana Tovah to all you who may actually know what that term means.
Post-Game 149 Thread: Dear Brad Penny
Dear Brad Penny,
I understand why you would be salty at the Dodgers. After all, they paid you $2 million just to go away. (We all should be so unwanted.) Your Dodger-hating excitement upon joining the Giants was understandable, and you backed it up in your first game against them, in San Francisco. You and Larry Bowa even kissed and made up after your public feud, a nice touch of civility in an otherwise ugly war of words.
So when the Dodgers touched you up for a most uncivil five earned runs in the first inning today, it was a huge relief. Not only do the Dodgers clinch the season series against the Giants, but it gave the team a much-needed offensive workout as the post-season looms. You, Brad Penny, crashed back to earth. Congratulations, you're now officially a San Francisco Giant.
You also gave up back-to-back homers to Matt Kemp and James Loney en route to being knocked out in the third inning. Meanwhile, Jon Garland went eight strong innings, giving up seven hits and only one (unearned) run — making his case for starting in the playoffs. Which are becoming more of a reality with each passing day.
photo by Chris Carlson/AP
Game 149 Thread: Sept 19 vs. Frisco, 1p
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Jon Garland (10-11, 4.19) vs. Brad Penny (10-8, 5.04).
DODGERS' MAGIC NUMBER: 9 (I think)
COMMENTS: Apologies are in order. We inadvertently posted yesterday's Game Thread on the hour instead of at one minute after the hour, thereby breaking our Game Thread superstitions streak and almost certainly causing the Dodgers to lose. To add hurt to harm, we never got around to posting a Post-Game Thread. Our bad!
A Saturday afternoon game at Dodger Stadium means the game is being broadcast on Fox, which means no Vin. Boo. The Dodgers might want to find a way to avoid another loss to Penny, as Tim Lincecum goes tomorrow and let's just say it's unlikely he'll surrender the tying run in the ninth again.
Fortunately, the Rockies lost again yesterday (thanks, D'backs!), lowering the Dodgers' official magic number to 10. Their unofficial magic number (since they've already won the season series against the Rockies — assuming the Rockies stay in second place) is 9. Their magic number to make the playoffs (as division or wild card winner) is 8. Got it? Good.
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