Steve Lyons, on The End

Eric Collins and Steve Lyons on last night's telecast, after detailing Travis Schlichting's long road to the majors:

Collins: When your career came to an end, did you know it was over or did you try to bang around for a little bit and play independent baseball and do anything you could to try and get back up?

Lyons: I didn't play independent baseball but I certainly continued to try to play. I was kind of begging for anyone just to give me a Triple-A contract and an invite to spring training, and everybody said no.

It's not a fun day in your career, when it's all over. It's a tough thing to give up. It's kind of fun playing this game.

Collins: David Murphy swings and misses that pitch. One and one.

Lyons: After you play for a while — I played thirteen years of pro ball and nine years in the big leagues and certainly you love to play, but the even bigger emotion is the fear of "What do I do now?" when you're done. Kids, house payments, 34 years old, no education. Now what?

Collins: Did you know when you were done, or did you have to be told that you didn't have the skills you used to have?

Lyons: I had to be told. I knew the day that my skills started to erode.

I think I've told this story a few times: I was playing in Triple-A. I was 33 years old and we were in batting practice and there was a ball hit, and I was standing out in the outfield and I ran to catch it and I knew I was going to catch it, and when I got there I was a step short.

And that was the day that I knew my skills were starting to fade. Because in my mind I still knew I was going to catch the ball, but my body didn't get me there anymore.

I figured I could fool them for a few more, and I was out of the game by the next year.

And you stop and think and you're like, "Man I was supposed to catch that ball. I always catch that ball." Didn't get there.

And that was just in batting practice!

Collins: Two balls and two strikes. Cruz on at first.

Lyons: You're trying to make me cry, aren't you?

And Steve Lyons, on the beginning: Remembering the draft of 1981... (Psychollingy)

Collins & Lyons Like Oscar & Felix

Eric Collins and Steve Lyons, from last night's telecast:

Collins: I was talking last inning about Gordon Beckham and his OPS. OPS, some people just kind of gloss over that. But it is fairly indicative of a quality player. You look in the history of baseball, you look at the on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, and without fail, the top ten players are all the elite of the elite in the history of major league baseball.

And I know it's college baseball, but Gordon Beckham last year as a college player, middle infield, shortstop, an OPS of 1.323. He had an on-base percentage of over five hundred percent. Five hundred! Slugging percentage over eight hundred.

To put that in perspective, Albert Pujols is off to a great start this year. Just a great start with St. Louis. His OPS right now is 1.159. Two hundred percentage points lower than what Gordon Beckham did last year as a collegian.

Lyons: See, that's why I gloss over it, because I don't know what 1.300 means. It's a number.

Collins: Anything over a thousand is, you're an elite player. Currently in Major League Baseball, Albert Pujols leads the way. He's at 1.159.

Ben Zobrist, I don't know if people have even thought about this. The guy in Tampa Bay, he's playing second base right now — as James Loney gets himself a knock — Ben Zobrist is second, a little over a thousand. Kevin Youkilis, up there. Another over a thousand would be Raul Ibanez.

Collins: "You can't fudge slugging percentage and you can't fudge on-base percentage."

Lyons: There's a player. But without going through the gyrations of OPS and the 1.300s, can't you just look at Raul Ibanez, your boy Zobrist, and just say, "Those guys are pretty good players."

Collins: Yeah, but there's some holes in some numbers. You look at batting average, guy's hitting .315, but it's a hollow .315. This tells you if a guy's hitting something, it's legit. You can't fudge slugging percentage and you can't fudge on-base percentage.

Lyons: Do you follow some of the other whacked-out statistical categories that are nouveau to the game of baseball?

Collins: I do. It's —

Lyons: What are they?

Collins: Well, you got defensive — for the first time ever you have —

Lyons: The WHIP —

Collins: For the first time ever you have categories that measure defense. The UZR: Ultimate Zone Rating. It makes a difference. Everyone talked about it last year. Tampa Bay making it to the post-season because of pitching and defense. Defense matters nowadays.

Lyons: It's fictional.

Lyons: "Is he a gamer? Does he get dirty? Does he go out there and play hard? Is he a good teammate? None of that stuff tells me any of that."

Collins: I'm telling you, we're going to be head-to-head on this all season long. There is a place —

Lyons: There is a place, a very small place, for the computer geeks that are now taking over the game of baseball. There is a place, but it's a small place. We're seeing way too much of it.

Collins: Now I'm going to fight that battle.

Lyons: None of those numbers — that UZR-mum thing that rates defense —

Collins: UZR. Ultimate Zone Rating.

Lyons: UZR. And your WHIPs and your OPSes. They don't show me what kind of heart the guy has. BABIP?

Collins: Batting Average on Balls in Play?

Lyons: Stupid. Doesn't tell me if the guy is a player. Doesn't tell me if the guy can play. Is he a gamer? Does he get dirty? Does he go out there and play hard? Is he a good teammate? None of that stuff tells me any of that. That's the guy I want.

Collins: That would be your Derek Jeter, we were talking about an inning ago.

Lyons: I'll take your computer and I'll toss it right off this balcony here.

Collins: "If you put yourself in the best possible situation through percentages, theoretically you have a better chance of winning games."

Collins: Every computer ever designed would have told you that Alex Rodriguez was a better defender than Derek Jeter when he first came to the Yankees, yet Derek Jeter continued to play shortstop. And that didn't help the Yankees at all defensively.

Three-one pitch.

But Derek Jeter is a gamer and he's —

Lyons: I'll let you take that up with Joe Torre.

Collins: I bet he'd have an interesting thought on that. Maybe that'll be my task for tomorrow.

Lyons: I hope you still have a job after that conversation.

Collins: I'll ask nicely.

Three balls and two strikes to Russell Martin. There are Dodgers on in front of him. This ball is hit fairly well to center field, but they've got a man there. Brian Anderson makes the play. Two outs here in the eighth.

Lyons: Now I will give you that in the game of baseball, down through time and part of the great history in the game of baseball, is based on its numbers. No question about that, there's no getting around it, there's no getting away from it. I'm kind of the traditional number guy.

Lyons: "The problem with computer rankings is they're trying to put a logical spin on a game of baseball that just isn't all that logical."

Collins: But batting average means nothing.

Lyons: Show me an average. Show me — it means something —

Collins: Runs batted in means nothing. You could be leading your team in runs batted in, but if you're hitting, whatever, .195 when you're doing it, you're just getting more opportunities than other people.

Lyons: Yes, but that's a different way of thinking about the game. You're hopefully getting more opportunities because you're put in the spot in the lineup where those opportunities will fall in your lap. And that's why your manager is hitting you there.

The problem with computer rankings and all this stuff is they're trying to put a logical spin on a game of baseball that just isn't all that logical. You're saying the guy's getting more opportunities to drive in runs. Well, is that his fault? It's just the way the game gets played.

Collins: Baseball, you mentioned it before, it's a numbers game. It's a game of percentages. And if you put yourself in the best possible situation through percentages, theoretically you have a better chance of winning games.

Ozzie Guillen is with you. You guys are teammates to the core. He is a feel-guy, a gut-guy, and I don't think he looks at too many of the things that the seamheads toss his way.

Lyons: What?

Collins: We call ourselves "seamheads."

Lyons: "Seamheads"?

Collins: Yeah.

Lyons: I thought you said "sea-meds."

Collins: This ball, crunched to left field! Podsednik looking up, it's gone! Dodgers are right back in it, a three-run shot from Matt Kemp! There's life in the boys from Los Angeles yet. Oh-two pitch hammered deep into the night, home run number nine.

Lyons: We're going to take a good look at Matt Kemp's swing from the side. There's just not a whole lot of effort there. He just drops the head on there, as soon as he's coming out of the batter's box. I almost think that maybe he thought he didn't get enough of it to get it out of here, but he sure did. Now there's a classic example of, he's a big strong guy, no question. But he just put a nice easy swing on a ball that was up in the zone and that thing jumped.

Why don't you recalculate his OPS now?

Getting to Know Eric Collins

This exchange between Eric Collins and Steve Lyons occurred during the third inning of today's game. Guess which one is the former player:

Lyons: Just like [Shane] Victorino, [Chase] Utley was a former Dodger draft. Back in 1997, he was drafted by the Dodgers. He elected not to sign. Said, "I'm going to go to UCLA."

Collins: That'd be a good question. Who's the best baseball player to ever come out of UCLA? I'd say Jackie Robinson, phenomenal Hall of Famer. But of recent vintage, you got Troy Glaus—

Lyons: And out of UCLA when Jackie Robinson came out, baseball probably wasn't even his best sport.

Collins: And the walk is issued. That's the second walk allowed by Wolf.

Shane Mack, pretty good player. Eric Karros. Todd Zeile, the all-time home run leader among guys whose last names begin with Z.

Lyons: How many others are there?

Collins: Gus Zernial? Richie Zisk? Dutch Zwilling? [laughs] He's actually the last person in the Major League Baseball Encyclopedia.

Lyons: I hope so.

Collins: There's a good breaking ball for a strike. Oh and one.

There was a minor league a number of years ago in the Texas Rangers chain named Mike Zwyica. Z-W-Y-I-C-A. And his claim to fame was, as he was a rising prospect, if he made it to the big leagues, he would have been dead last in the Baseball Encyclopedia. But alas, he didn't make it. So Dutch Zwilling is safe at the back of the book.

Lyons: And safe knowing that you would look it up, because I'm thinking, it would be hard to get all the way to the back of the Baseball Encyclopedia. Who gets that far?

Collins: You mean you haven't read the entire thing from cover to cover?

Lyons: No.

Collins: From Aardsma to Zwilling?

Throw over to first base, Utley back standing.

Lyons: Gotta figure I'm somewhere in the middle.

Collins: Bet you would be.

UPDATE:

More from Collins, later in the game:

Collins: Miguel Cairo one of the all-time greats among players whose last names are cities. Right up there with Orlando Merced. Daryl Boston. Going to take a while to think—Matt Lawton. Lawton, Oklahoma.

Steve Lyons, Future Red Sock?

From LA Observed:

Dodgers part-time color commentator Steve Lyons may have a way to fill in some of the free time and lost income he got after being dumped by Fox over a joke about Lou Piniella and wallets. Lyons is a candidate to join the Boston Red Sox broadcast booth, today's Boston Herald reports in a gossip item. If he gets an offer, Lyons said he would only do it if his Dodgers schedule allowed.

SoSG Road Trip: St. Louis (Part 3: Inside Busch Stadium, Before Everyone Else)

By this time, having hung out for about a half-hour on the field, we were advised by Jim Pool (our Cardinals staff friend) that the teams wouldn't start coming out for batting practice for another 30 minutes. So we decided to do a lap around Busch Stadium now, instead of just waiting there.

The aisle-seat detail was pretty cool.

Back into the tunnels we went, emerging behind third base in the field level concourse. The concourse was kind of dark, but that's probably because they hadn't turned on all the lights for the crowd just yet.

Build Your Own Fredbird workshop was closed.

I couldn't help myself; I had to go up to the fence and take pictures of the fans waiting to get into Busch Stadium.

This included taking a picture of a Dodgers fan that we met sitting on a park bench as we walked to Busch Stadium. He was cracking up to find us inside the Stadium already, and he waved to us.

The dark, abandoned concourse. Kind of eerie.

More Cardinals fans waiting on the outside. Wheee! We're in already!

Back on the concourse behind right-center field, the Cardinals' world championship titles are noted.

The view from center field.

Like the Royals, the Cardinals also have some fun areas for the kids in the back of the stadium. When we got back to this area, SoSG AC vaulted up a staircase to see what was on the next level, but I got stopped by a Cardinals employee asking if I needed help (really, she was asking what the heck I was doing back here). I showed her my media pass, and told her we were just taking a tour around the ballpark; she introduced herself as Rose and she said that this area was the part of the park that she managed, so she was happy to show us around. Sweet!

There's a lot of interactive activities back here, including a patio area for dining and a room with videogame consoles. She says it attracts a lot of families. Unfortunately, we wouldn't get much of a chance to walk around the stadium once the game began, so this was the only chance we had to see the area, unoccupied.

The kids' area pitching cage.

A little playground area for the little ones. Rose told me that there was a woman who comes here every game and brings her kids or grandkids, sits down in a corner and reads a book. "Why she has season tickets in the first place is a little bizarre," Rose said.

And here's Rose. Thanks for our mini-tour!

A golfcart even celebrates the 2006 title.

More locked out Cardinals fans. Okay, at this point I'm just being mean. Ha ha!

We kept walking, now turning to walk down the first base line, and guess what I saw:

Dammit! Fast beer, and I wasn't here to see it pour in person!

Luckily, there's a video of how the bottom-pouring, magnet-operated machine works:

Thank god for YouTube.

Onward we walked, until we found this scoreboard; it took a second before we realized that this was the old Busch Stadium scoreboard, which must have been frozen in time after the final game of the 2005 season. First is the American League:

Seven AL games, frozen in time.

Here's the NL scoreboard. For all eternity, we will be losing to the Padres in the fifth inning (in fact, we lost that game 3-1, and that year, the Padres went to the playoffs with an 82-80 record).

Our lap completed, we went back down to the field to see the players.

The red brick and inlaid detail from right behind home plate.

So the players hadn't really arrived yet, but first up was the Psycho himself, Steve Lyons. He stopped to wave hello:

Lyons, a brave man for wearing a tie in this heat.

The Cardinals employees congregated behind the plate, now numbering four people (including Jim Pool), asked me who that was. When I told him it was Lyons, one of the guys said, "Oh yeah, isn't that the guy who dropped his pants on the baseball field?" Years later, Lyons' legacy lives on.

Next to pass was Eric Collins, who was really, really fun with which to talk. We said hello to him and introduced him when he first passed by, but later on he came back to talk with us for around 10 minutes, and it was great.

He thought the name of our blog was hilarious. And then when I asked him about calling the games and what it was like this season (his third), the conversation went something like this:

Collins: Well you know, I only call ~40 games a year, but the Dodgers' record in those games isn't all that great.

Sax: Oh yeah, we know. In fact, in your first year, we called it "the Collins Curse."

Collins: Oh, I know.

Sax: (pause) Ah, you do?

Collins: (laughs) Yes.

Well, that was uncomfortable. But Collins laughed at it, and it was cool. I really appreciate the time he spent just to shoot the bull and make us feel at home (while on the road).

Behind home plate, pre-game.

And then, the players started coming out. First out was Josh Lindblom, who is a big guy.

Lindblom in the lead.

Lindblom started warming up with Clayton Kershaw (who also came over to talk with us and was totally polite and very welcoming, I might add. I didn't know if it was even possible to be even more of a Kershaw fan than I already was, but he made me even more fanatical and supportive).

Steve Lyons made a beeline over there too, as the players started to come out.

By this time, three kids had come down (they must have started letting fans in) and were asking the Dodgers for autographs. These kids were smart, armed with bats, balls, baseball cards, pictures, the whole nine.

Justin Sellers signs for some fans.

Javy Guerra re-emerges, while Jamey Carroll tries to describe how Busch Stadium can be a trap.

Dodgers start their throwing warmup drills.

Javy Guerra totally started playing to SoSG AC and me, which was funny.

"Check out all the ink on Justin!"

Dioner Navarro, right before the boom was lowered.

At this point, SoSG AC and I are giddy to be five feet from the Dodger players and on the field as they warmed up, joshed around, interacted with us a bit, and had fun. And then, suddenly, Jon Chapper of the Dodgers' PR department motioned us over toward him, waaaaay past where Jim Pool's sectioned off area was set.

We were going into the Busch Stadium dugout, to talk with Don Mattingly.

Stay tuned!

Earlier: Part 0, Quick Thoughts From The Cardinals Press Box; Part 1, Getting to St. Louis; Part 2, Press Pass Access Onto The Field

Game 125 Thread: August 20 @ Marlins, 4p

Chris Capuano (4-6, 4.66) vs. Jacob Turner (3-4, 2.89)

Chris Capuano, stopper? (Chris Stopuano?) How did we get HERE? Two days ago, we were flying high, riding a ten-game winning streak. Now, we've dropped two straight to pretty awful teams, looking lethargic in the process.

You have to give the Marlins a little credit. Their core group of young players, led by Jose Fernandez (who may have been helped out a touch by John Hirschbeck's erratic strike zone), played like they had nothing to lose. They went right after the Dodgers, treating them like the big dogs of MLB they've suddenly become.

So, what's the deal? Are the Dodgers tired? Burnt-out? Full of themselves? Do we really need to prove Steve Lyons right by losing a few to "stay hungry?" No, no one should prove Steve Lyons right...EVER.

So, snap out of it, Blue. The media's ready to jump all over you the second you falter. Don't take the bait.

UPDATE:

Puig out of Dodgers lineup

— Anthony Jackson (@dodgerscribe) August 20, 2013

Swell...

Steve Lyons, on Ump Shows

Steve Lyons, from yesterday's telecast:

So in 1985, my rookie season, Jerry Neudecker's behind home plate with his pillow*.

And he called a pitch that was about chin high for a strike on me.

And I said, "Gee, Jerry, I can't swing at that pitch. There's no way I can even hit that pitch!"

And he looked at me and he said, "Son, you don't tell me that pitch was high. You ask me if that pitch was high." [...]

I said, "All right, Jerry, was the pitch high?"

He said, "Yep."

*According to Baseball Reference, "Neudecker is best remembered for being the last umpire to use a balloon (outside) chest protector."

Better Watch Your Wallet, Charley Steiner

The Dodgers recently announced Steve Lyons would be returning the Dodgers' announcing booth for a third season, who will be helping Charley Steiner announce all Dodgers road games against non-NL West opponents. Vin Scully, by the way, is back for a 58th season as the "Voice of the Dodgers."

Lyons was fired by Fox during the ALCS last season after making strange (even if not outright racially insensitive) comments from the booth. Paired with a separate instance mocking a nearly blind man in the crowd, Lyons' remarks became grounds for firing from Fox. However, his dismissal apparently does not extend to Fox Prime Sports Net Ticket West or whatever the heck they call this channel now.

But I really don't care, as the main news from the same Dodgers press release was that the Dodgers are going HD, at least for all 50 of the games that KCAL 9 plans to televise in 2007. FSN Prime Ticket has not yet announced its HD schedule for the 100 games it plans to televise, but let's hope that they get as close to 100 HD games as humanly possible. My Time Warner DVR needs a workout this summer!

Ted Lilly Cheats; Casey Blake Notices; Rob Neyer Investigates; John Hirschbeck Yawns

The Beard's eagle eyes caught the Cubs' Ted Lilly balking all over the place today, but nothing was done. And it was up to Rob "MacGyver" Neyer to piece this mystery together, using only tweets, the LA television broadcast, a rubber band, chewing gum, and a couple of highway emergency flares:

First, this from GreenLantern411: "pretty sure CJ is talking about lilly's left foot being nowhere near the rubber ... was pretty blatant"

And a few moments later, this from (Rangers fan) jcooksey04: "Lilly's foot was about 6 inches from the rubber in his last start vs the Rangers. Umps never saw it."

Thus armed, I went back and watched the bottom of the sixth inning again, but this time the Dodger broadcast with Steve Lyons and Eric Collins.

The fun begins with two outs and Blake on first base. Reed Johnson fouls off one pitch, then another. Blake, leading off, is one of the two people in Chicago with the best look at whatever Lilly's doing (first baseman Derrek Lee is the other). Before throwing his third pitch, Lilly steps off the mound. We don't know why. A moment later, he steps off again and finally we see Blake standing on first base, complaining to John Hirschbeck about something.

Lyons says, "I think Casey Blake maybe thought he saw a balk, and he's over there chipping at the first-base umpire about, why aren't we calling it?"

Nice sleuthing, Rob! And hat tip to Jon Weisman for the link.

Answers to 80s Puzzle

Answers to this puzzle below...plus this gratuitous mention of Bret Michaels to boost Googlesearch hits.

80's Song:	Corresponding Sports Moment:
Saved by Zero The Fixx	On March 18, 1987, Orlando Woolridge scores 33 points for the Nets, including the game-winner, to beat Detroit 113-112. The win ultimately rescues the Nets from the ignominy of ending that season in sole possession of last place. (Orlando Woolridge wore number zero)
Unskinny Bop Poison	On the last day of the 1990 season, 600-lb Cecil Fielder belts two of the fattest dingers of his career - numbers 50 and 51, making him the first player in 13 years to hit 50 home runs. (Cecil Fielder was not skinny)
9 to 5 Dolly Parton	On July 31, 1987, the Dodgers beat the Braves ____ thanks to a solid outing from Fernando Valenzuela and home runs from Franklin Stubbs and SoSG's own Pedro Guerrero.
We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off Jermaine Stewart	Until he got fired for making insensitive remarks while covering the 2006 post-season for Fox, Steve Lyons was perhaps best remembered for this 1990 on-field incident. (Lyons unthinkingly removed his pants during a televised game after sliding into first base)
I Want Candy Bow Wow Wow	On December 11, 1985, the Dodgers said to the Giants "Give us Alex Trevino," to which Giants GM Al Rosen may have replied "Ok, but ______" (The Dodgers traded Candy Maldonado to the Giants for Alex Trevino)

SoSG As Dodgers Media: The Experience, In Photos (Part 1)

Back on August 29, I was lucky enough to occupy the Blog Spot covering the Dodgers-Padres game as Dodgers media (the Dodgers won, 4-1). In the news of Josh Rawitch's departure to the Diamondbacks at season's end, the opportunity to cover a game from the Vin Scully Press box has become all that more cherished; I'm not sure if future PR administrations will continue to invest in blogger relations like Rawitch did.

But before I forget all the memories, here are some of the photos of the experience:

The media entrance, up on the top deck. They make the journalists park in the hinterlands, which is probably why so many journalists are in such great shape.

Batting practice, in the early afternoon stages.

Nancy Bea Hefley and her organ sit at the far end of the press box, up the first base line. Here's the legendary organist's spot before she arrived.

Dodgers doing calisthenics up the third base line.

The obligatory Sons of Steve Garvey from the "Vin Scully Press Box" shot. At this stage, someone else was occupying my blog spot, but I didn't have the heart to kick that guy out. Just yet, that is.

The next thing I did was get down into the dugout, as Mattingly had started his pre-game media session already. Amy Summers of the Dodgers' PR was kind enough to escort me down into the clubhouse through the tunnels.

Walking down into the dugout, the walls are adorned with inspiring shots of the Dodgers' heritage.

Here's Mattingly, with Josh Suchon on his left (looking a bit like a nightclub bodyguard, I might add), and that's Dylan Hernandez on his right.

Not that this is the Ken Levine Fan Club or anything, but that's Levine in front in the striped shirt. KEN LEVINE!

Levine turns away (cries).

There were a couple of groups and parties down on the field pre-game; sponsors, and people who had won contests, and stuff. Here's Justin Sellers, interfacing with a young kid.

All of these field-access VIPs were taking pictures from outside the dugout. But I was IN THE DUGOUT! Yeeeeeaaaaaaah!

This was ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne, chatting up Justin Sellers' father, Jeff (also a big-league player). I didn't want to interrupt Shelburne but I did get a wonderful conversation with Jeff Sellers later; he was really nice.

J.A. Adande was hosting a USC Journalism School group and he got Tony Gwynn Jr. to come over and shoot the bull.

More Gwynn and Adande.

The Owners' Box, empty. How fitting.

Steve Lyons brought his father along to the game. Here he is thanking Amy Summers for helping set him up with seats.

"Thanks, Amy!"

I saw Ken Gurnick (in red) walk over and talk to these sartorially excessive dudes. Turns out they were from CAA, and I think one of the guys might have been Andre Ethier's agent and/or James Loney's agent (plus some well-dressed CAA underlings), since both Ethier and Loney came over to talk with the Zegna-shirted crew. I didn't hear much of the conversation but I imagine they were discussing the merits of french cuffs and brass collar stays.

"I don't know, man," said Loney, "french-cuffed shirts are hard to pack in a Ghurka carryon."

0-for-30 smells something like this.

Loads of empty seats! Just kidding, this was before the game. Actually, I thought it was funny how all of the stadium staff was just hanging out pre-game in the shade.

Ethier comes over to debate two- or three-button suits.

"I think I need at least three opinions on my knee, don't you?"

The Padres' Glenn Hoffman, infamous holder-of-Dodgers-runners-at-third0base (while a Dodgers 3B coach, under Jim Tracy), talks with Jeff Sellers. SEND HIM, HOFFY!

Dave Roberts (standing with mlb.com's Ken Gurnick), always a great guy to see. I know his career highlights were with the Red Sox, but I always liked him and rooted for him while he was a Dodger. I got the chance to meet him for a second and he was very polite.

"Dave, let me show you my C-3PO impression."

I'm not going to clog up more of your RAM, so I'll publish Part 2 with more photos from the August 29, 2011 game later.