Be frightened. Be very frightened.
A couple days ago, a few players were talking about paranormal things in baseball and then I noticed them reading this website. Apparently, the hotel we’re staying at in Tampa Bay – the Renaissance Vinoy – gives us good reason to be a little paranoid. I mean, I’ve heard all about the woman in a red dress who sometimes walks around at the Top of the Park at Dodger Stadium and I know all about Adrian Beltre’s encounters with ghosts at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, but have since learned that our trainer, Stan Johnston, was responsible for some of the noises.
Still, I think I’ll wait until after June 24 to read this book…
Inside the Dodgers 
Wow, spooky. I’ve heard that the site of old Seals Stadium in San Francisco is haunted as well, I think a strip mall is currently on the site. Stuff falling off the shelves overnight, cold spots, stuff like that.
here’s hoping for a good night’s sleep in Tampa
well, ghosts can be kinda fun sometimes…
Just another case of Grady not knowing when to pull a pitcher. on another topic, Nomar ,Pierre,Kent, and Gonzo look injured 🙂 Maybe they should be put on the DL and we should call up the younger guys.
Speaking of scary stuff, we have the Crypt Keeper and Beetlejuice in the outfield. 🙂
from the previous thread.> juan pierre=expensive willie harris number 8 type hitter. move him down before this season turns into 2005. thats really really funny fleigel, right on the money. our new outfield should be called the juan pierre louisiana logjam. we need kemp and we need him fast. i wanna start seeing some runners get thrown out. our outfield is conceding bases everytime we run Juan Out out there.
What is really scary is that Betemit now has as many home runs as either Kent or Nomar.
The bullpen blows its first “real” lead of the year and it’s all because of Grady Little… pathetic fliegel. Swing and miss for something else.
Bills has good #’s against Florida i’d give him the ball in the later innings if i were Grady.
i wouldn’t bring bills out of the pen anymore. Bring up Brazoban. Billingsley isn’t a reliever. He has Ace type stuff and he should be harnessing his stuff in Triple A or in the Rotation on the big team.
You know whats funny. Grady managed in the minors for 30 years and he looks lost when trying to handle the young guys up here. And whats even worse, Colletti signed him to an extension. 😦
“i wouldn’t bring bills out of the pen anymore. Bring up Brazoban. Billingsley isn’t a reliever. He has Ace type stuff and he should be harnessing his stuff in Triple A or in the Rotation on the big team.”
I was thinking that exact thing when things “unfolded” yesterday max. “. And whats even worse, Colletti signed him to an extension. :(”
that’s the only thing I don’t agree with you.
There’s another way to look at it. It may be that a younger Gung Ho manager with some fire in the belly can get more out of the younger players than the laid back style of Grady Little. It will have to be the younger guys who’re going to bring us to the World Series – not the current middle of our lineup that is declining in productivity, and not the addition of Pierre. We may still be in first place, but I am not pleased with the direction that we’re on with all of our veterans blocking the talent that should be up with the Dodgers and developing at the major league level.
If Tomko has another shaky outing, then perhaps it’s time to juggle the staff around to allow Billingsley a shot with Tomko’s spot in the rotation.
I’m not going to complain about Grady’s laid back style, because Colletti and McCourt are too prone to panic. I like having someone level-headed in such a position. Grady is actually generally reliable to make some good managerial decisions, so that’s why I get frustrated when he makes bad one.
One decision that would make me happy would be a red light on Juan Pierre bunting. Pierre makes enough outs already anyway.
A side of Russell Martin we haven’t gotten to see much yet. Seems like he has a great sense of humor! 2nd year player messing with the rookie… I love this stuff…
“LaRoche made his first rookie mistake before even arriving at the ballpark, having listened to second-year veteran Russell Martin’s advice to leave his equipment bag with the hotel bellman. The bag joined suitcases heading to the airport, while LaRoche had to scramble around the clubhouse borrowing bats, gloves and clothing from his new teammates.”
I don’t really think we can blame Little for Tsao’s breakdown. What should Little have done? Have someone warming up before Tsao’s first pitch?
Now that Betemit’s a utility guy, Valdez will be sent down soon. Who’ll be up first, Loney or Kemp? I say Loney.
I’d like to think that Martin was funny, but I think he’s just young and semi-messed up himself. That’s OK–he’s not the Captain, yet.
I don’t understand the Grady criticism. Other than play the guys he’s been given to play with, what has he done wrong? You may not like Pierre, Gonzo, Nomar, or Kent (I actually like them all, even though I share the desire to see the kids come up), but if you have them, you play them. The worst thing that Grady has done is leave in a pitcher too long, and since we’re 15-1 when leading after 6 innings, it’s not been much of a problem. He could barely have pulled Tsao more quickly.
it seems like its going to be valdez down for braz….is there any other way it could possibly go, given that it will probably be in the next few days? Grady said he wanted another pitcher. The problem with the bullpen is theres only one true long man(Bills).
In my comments I did not intend to pile onto Grady. Given the personnel he has, he’s playing it pretty much like anybody would. I probably wouldn’t have pulled Tsao yesterday any earlier myself – it seemed like he was throwing pretty well, but just getting hit. My point is that Grady would not have been my manager selection, but then Colletti would not have been my GM selection either. I think that he is greatly over-rated. Let’s remember that he has around $110 million at his command for player salaries. That’s second or third highest in the majors. He chose to spend it on a group of veterans that are past their peak, and, I think, unlikely to bring us to the World Series. Let’s face it, for those kind of dollars we don’t have Pujols, we have Nomar; we don’t have Beltran, we have Pierre; we extended the contract for Kent, who has lost his power and is barely adequate on defense. Our guys in the middle of the lineup have great character in the clubhouse and would make great role models for the younger players, but you can no longer ride their diminishing productivity to a championship level. I probably unrealistically look back to the days of Walter Alston and Tommy, who were grounded in the Dodger system and who lived pretty much with personnel developed on the Dodger farm. This idea of hiring some guns for a year or two doesn’t sit well with me. I root for them all I can when they’re in the Dodger uniform, but my heart is with our youngsters who are out to prove that their day has come.
i just thought fleigel’s crypt keeper/luis gonzalez comparison was funny, didnt really get the beetlejuice/juan pierre thing but i see where he was going with the thread. as far as complaining grady didnt make the right move, look no further than tsao’s leadoff walk for the start of that sickening disgusting inning. geez just throw strikes, if he hits it he hits it, just dont give away the dang base. especially when you have tossed 8 perfect innings prior to that with virtually no walks. right when espn ran that 8 perfect innings stat on the bottom line tsao got rocked.
esp-n ? get it esp. haha lol.
Just wanted to let Dodger fans know that “Haunted Baseball” is now available in stores. The book contains a whole chapter on the ghost stories of Dodger Stadium, including accounts from late night security on the woman who walks the top deck. Other ballparks focused on in the book include Yankee Stadium (where Derek Jeter, A-Rod and many visiting players speak glowingly of the ghosts), Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Petco Park, Rogers Centre. There are also Spring Training sites, visiting team hotels and players’ homes. (Johnny Damon shares a fun story about being pinned by a ghost.)We interviewed over 800 current and former major leaguers for the book, as well as a few hundred stadium workers. The stories from Chavez Ravine are from their perspective. Hope you enjoy the book…