You did it again! (plus our lineup)

Wes Parker was a great 1st baseman. He deserves it. It brings back memories to when the Dodgers were a good team that was managed correctly and when mediocrity was not put up with.

This was rad. Thanks Wes!!

Pretty crazy that the greatest fielding 1st baseman of all-time isn't in the Hall of Fame. There is so much more to this game than HR's and SO's. Congratulations Wes, we are all proud of you, you deserve this honor!!!

I am very happy to hear Wes Parker won the Rawlings all time gold glove award for first basemen, and glad I had a chance to vote for him. By the way, I'm trying to vote for Russell Martin for the Hank Aaron award but I don't know my contact number. I'm going to find out about it, but I'd sure like some help.
It's the greatest feeling to see a Dodger accomplish an award. The Daily News (N.Y.) had a colorful listing of the consecutive scoreless innings listings with Orel Hershiser leading the pack and Don Drysdale following. Now that Brandon Webb is the chase, I wish him bad luck. The thing I'm most proud of is that the Dodgers still lead in National League in pennant victories, with the hated Giants & Cardinals following. I just read Ken Gurnick's latest report on TOMKO, all I can say is, even though Tomko pitched better at home, lately, how badly must he pitch to convince LITTLE that he doesn't have it as a starter anymore? I think they should take a chance and bring up one of the guys down on the farm.

I can hear Ned saying, gosh if Tomko was 6-6 as his career record suggests he would be instead of 2-11 we would be in the wild card drivers seat....

Brain Dead quote at the bottom:

Luis Gonzalez short-circuiting a two-run first inning when he was caught on a delayed steal with Martin at the plate;

Juan Pierre unable to stretch a double into a triple in the third inning, followed by a walk to Andre Ethier;

Martin making the final out of the fourth inning, trying to go first to third on Shea Hillenbrand's single and getting gunned down by right fielder Jayson Werth.

Said Little: "That's why they're kids. They play aggressively and every once in a while, they run into some outs. That happens when you lose. When you win, you play aggressively and you're safe."

when did gonzo and Pierre become kids?

So who should pitch Sunday night against the Mets? There are a few choices, McDonald, Houlton, even...grr...Tomko. Or maybe something out of the box...what do you all think?

Houlton should go on Sunday, or maybe they'll sign Wells by then.

Congrats to Wes. Defensively at first, he was the best.

http://www.fightingphils.mlblogs.com

If Tomko starts another game for us I will kill Grady! Diehard did you get my email I sent it from the address ryanwood@cox.net

How will you do it Ryan?

i thought u love grady?

van got your e-mail. thanks. I am glad you had a great time. If we make the playoffs this year, let's get out to the yard and see another game.

I don't care as long as it isn't Tomko or Hendy. **** if they start them Little might as well make everybody happy and let the young kids play the field and let the old guys (Gonzo and Tomato) pitch. If you pitch Tomko or Hendy you're going to lose so you might as well let the kids play and the washed up vets get their ab's.

According to the LA Times, the Dodgers are still interested in David Wells. I say, why not? What have they got to lose? Another game, Tomko will do that anyways.

In 30 starts Tomko and Hendu have won a total of 3 games.

jungar, thanks. If only the Dodgers had someone who knew that...

yeah...
im looking forward to that...

tnx jason...

Kiper...LOL!!

Wow! Kids play agressively and thats why we lose. But when Sweeney doesn't remember how many outs there are, or HillyBilly gets thrown out try to take second....then what?

Furcal
Pierre

Ethier

Kent

Loney

Martin

Kemp

Hillenbrand

Just a thought for tonite....

The whip for the arms that Ned signed or traded for

1.60

1.45

1.39

1.79

1.27

1.62

1.13 (1.51 with yankees)

1.33

0.76 (saito, not sure if he gets credit for trading jackson to get a closer only to have to dump that closer cause he wasn't any good and go with a 37 year old japanese guy who had never closed, didn't even make the roster out of spring training..but give him credit if you want)

But only 3 of those numbers are in the "acceptable" range. One being Proctor, who given some time will get his whip back to his Yankee 1.51 mark.

The OPS of guys Ned brought in or traded for...

.825

.705

.688

.784

.645

.520

.669

.766

Not sure if any of this is in the acceptable range aside from Ethier up top. A case can be made for Pierre because power is not his game, but not in my opinion.

kiper
i think u should put kemp higher than that...

he deserve to be in the 3,4,5 spot...

Kiper I like the line up but Kemp is hitting to low. Here's mine

Pierre

Furcal

Ethier

Martin

Loney

Kemp

Kent

anyone

how do you guys like that?

swood as you can tell I'm at work.sshh I can't check my e-mail until I get home about 330PST

I guess I have Kemp hitting low too.

Pierre
Furcal

Kemp

Martin

Ethier

Kent

Loney

Hillenbrat

I'd go with

Furcal

Martin

Loney

Kemp

Either

Kent

Pierre

Hillenbrand

How about this one...

Lopes

Russell

Smith

Garvey

Cey

Baker

Monday

Yeager

How about our 1988 opening day line up:
Sax

Griffin

Gibson

Guerrero

Marshall

Shelby

Davis

Scioscia

Valenzuela

How did we win a world series?

Robinson
Reese

Snider

Campy

Hodges

Furillo

Cox

Amoros

congrualtions to wes parker, he would have playes for free because he loved the game, and his folks owned parker pens.
if we want our hitters to break out of slumps,we should make tomko throw batting pratice, that should be a cure all.

as everyone says we can not win anything if we keep giving him the ball ever again,

Today's Oldtimer: Wes Parker

See Josh's article with an extensive quote from Parker.

I'll just add that Parker was a team player. In his first full year, Parker batted a lowly .238, but contributed to the Dodgers World Championship team -- and powerless offense -- with 19 Sacrifice Bunts, 75 walks, a .334 OBP, and 80 runs.

Congratulations Mr. Parker! I too am glad I had a chance to vote for you.

It was awesome having you at the WIN Women's Baseball clinic teaching us how to pick up groundballs. Thank you for your patience. -Emma

nice lineup...

check this one out:

Furcal

Ethier

Kemp

Kent

Martin

Loney

Hillenbrand

Pierre

Lowe

I'm telling you, Ethier is the epitomy of a number 2 hitter. With solid protection, he'd be unstoppable. Aggressive baserunner, patient hitter, doesn't GIDP often, and a fair amount of power.

They've updated and have the lineup posted now...That is a great lineup for tonight's game and hopefully the one we use the majority of the time.

That looks pretty good but I still like Martin hitting 2nd because he hits behind the runners so well. I like Loney 3rd because he hits the gaps with authority. Kepm 4th because he has all the power. I like Either 5th and Kent 6th because Kent can protect Either.

Kent *should* be hitting sixth at this stage in his career...

Good lineup. That's about perfect with what we have to work with until Laroche is around.

I hope Grady gets well soon.

#3-#7 is really strong.

#8 is terrible, but we have limited options.

This should be the near perfect lineup for the rest of the year given the personnel we have on hand. Wish we had Betemit to try and fill in on third, but that's just spilled milk at this point. LaRoche has not played enough lately to bring up before September, but I would bring up Abreu when the Dodgers return home and let him play third in place of Hillenbrand. There are a number of people that could be DFA'd in order to make room for him - take your pick: Saenz, Hernandez, Tomko.

messagebear

I wish we could be joint GM's of the Dodgers..I agree with all of you DFA's...but good luck with that happening..

We definitely could do a better job...It's interesting to me if we know this, why don't the people in charge have a clue..It's just ridiculous to me.

Abreu is actually not playing very much right now. Could be "punishment" for him sitting out a month when he may or may not have been injured.

DY was drafted as a 2nd baseman and then converted into an outfielder last year. That kid can really hit if he can learn to keep the strike outs to a minimum. I think they should put him back on the dirt and prepare to get rid of Kent. I've like Kent for a long time but his time has passed as an everyday player.

I guess Young was striking out too much while he was going 7-14 when he got called up last? He just wasn't as "exciting" as JP...

It doesn't matter what lineup we have as long as we keep throwing Tomko out there every 5th day. And if we keep throwing out Hernanadez and Seanez out of the pen. If we had a DECENT fifth starter our pitching would be in the top 3 in the majors.

No Scott the reason is Ned didn't give him that 5 year contract to sit on the bench. Grady's hands are tied...hes being forced to play guys like Pierre and Gonzo.

No he just wasn't OLD enough. But yeah he tore the cover off the ball the last time he was up, I'm just refering to his numbers throughout his minor league career. But I've seen him play alot whe the Dodgers had teams on the east coast and man can he hit. He's hilarious too.

Diehard I was up all last night thinking about it and I finally figured out why Grady always plays Pierre and Gonzo. It's because management makes him... they signed these guys and they are telling Grady he HAS to give them a chance to produce or else they will find another manager... They probably tell him he has to hit them in the middle of the order to so they can see good pitches, hit for a higher average and make management look good. I might be wrong but its a decent theory.

Hey swood!

If I was Grady and was as confident in my 17 years minor league mangaing experience as you are, I would put the lineup that I want and Colletti could jsut fire me then. Surely some other team would give me another chance at managing, right?

swood...
u really love grady huh?

i can't believe u can't sleep thinking about him... LOL

please forgive my excessive type-o's!

I don't know scott I mean if think if it was you being told to play these guys or else be unemployed... what would you do? I think you would play them.

Van it is very hard to fall asleep knowing that Tomko just coughed up a three nuthin lead and we lost a game we should have definately won...

What do you guys think of my theory of why Grady always plays Gonzo and Pierre?

yeah...
but u are addicted to grady...

From the last thread. Vlady was signed by Evans to a 5 year deal. McCourt nixed it because he thought he wouldn't be approved by MLB to own the club if they thought he would drive up the price of players. Right or wrong this was ridiculous.

If Lowe can't beat Durbin, then we have no chance at the wild card!

You guys probably wouldn't be happy with this lineup...
CF Combs

SS Koenig

RF Ruth

1B Gherig

LF Meusel

2B Lazzeri

3B Dugan

C Grabowski

P Insert Dodger starter here

What do you mean I am addicted to Grady...? He is a tight manager, one of the best in the majors and I will always stand behind him... trust me van I am involved with baseball in some kind of way 24/7 I know a good skipper when I see one and Grady is a good skipper.

That has to be the reason. But like I said yesterday... the Dodgers better start playing the young guys every night so the stadium will fill up and they can afford to pay those overpaid, washed up players.

swood, Grady loves the vets and that's one of the things wrong with him. He and Ned consult about everything and they both think alike unfortunately.

ericlittle are you from north carolina? and are you grady's son? LOL

no but fliegel did you read my theory above...? You're not being very clear as to if you agree or disagree with it.

Swood-I come here every day for the last two year to read Josh's insight and get the lineups as well. It is fairly entertaining to get the opionions of some diehard Dodgers fans as well.

I have to disagree with swood, i don't think Grady is a good manager. I just don't think he does enough things to win games. I know that the games are won by the players, but a manager has to be worth at least 10 to 12 wins a season. I don't think Grady does that. He may not lead to many losses, but he just seems content with "being in the game" well, that's not good enough for me and it shouldn't be good enough for the Dodgers or their fans...

see... that's called addicted...
i didn't say that grady is an awful manager but you are right there defending him...

Thats great eric but you didn't answer either of my questions.

swood I think Ned and Grittle think alike unfortunately...

Ned: GRADY! Get Kemp out of there and get Gonzo in there or you're fired!

Grady: Ned, relax. Didn't you notice I already have Gonzo in for Ethier today?

Van I am not talking to only you when I am defending Grady I am talking to all the people who say he is a bad manager...

grittle does not have to play gonzo or bat him in the middle(he has a 1 year contract). If the GM is telling me how to make the line up for my team then he could go down a manage them himself. These are all grady's decision's you make a lot of excuses for him. Why was he stuck in the minors for 17+ years? when guys like Giradi, Gonzalez, Dbacks coach, and a bunch of other guys I can name make it to the big leagues in less than 5 years?

Scott I agree that some of that may go on although I don't think it goes on in that manner... I think Ned more implies that he wants the vets in the middle of the lineup or he will fire Grady.

Hey, Bob Melvin, DBacks manager, who has the personality of a sheet of paper is doing a better job than Grady Little. He plays all his young guys every day and when they slump, he goes to another young or younger guy and let's him play until he cools off. I am in AZ and when a DBack player has a 3 for 4 he's in the line up again the next night regardless.

Because diehard all those other guys you named (you can throw Torre in there as well) all played in the big leagues and had more recognition to their names starting out then Grady did because he never made it to the bigs as a player. Besides Grady did nothing but win in the minors.

Yea thats because arizona management lets Melvin do what he wants. There is no way our management would allow Grady to bench Gonzo or Pierre for more then 1 or 2 days in a row.

This lineup should be a glimps into '08. I think with the standings, both division and wild card, the way they are now, players that will not be here next year should get less playing time. Let those who will be here more playing time especially the younger ones. After Sept 1st, if we're worse off than we are now, set up like it's opening day. Regardless, THIS IS ANOTHER MUST WIN.

I'm not saying Grady is the worlds best manager but why do you think he and Ned talk numerous times a day? Because Ned is telling him that the money is spent on the old guys so they have to play. All you have to do is look at Little's face during a game and you can tell he isn't happy because he can't play his best players and he also knows that if he gets through this year then all his young guys will start because all the vets will be gone.

diehard-please keep in mind there are very few managers out there that never played in the big leagues. Thus Little had to pay his due in the minors. Don't forget he was under Bobby Cox his last 12 years in the Braves organization. Did a pretty good job with several ofthe guys that came through their farm system.

GRADY makes the LINE UP!!!! what about Jim Tracy why did he get two chances. You hear about a guy named Tommy LaSorda a carrer minor leaguer but got his shot quite early. Freddie Gonzalez big league experience? Did Bobby Cox play in the bigs?

Diehard there is nothing for you to say because you know I am right. LOL. Anyway I sent the e-mail last night at 11:00 Eastern Time. I hope it sent but I'm not sure did you check your e-mail last night diehard?

Well then, swood, just based off your answer there, aren't you saying that the Dodgers don't think enough of Grady to let him do what he thinks is right? Then that would mean he's not a good manager. Right?

I don't know what you are trying to say diehard? Maybe because he didn't have as strong a personality as Cox or Gonzalez thats why they didn't give him the job? Maybe he just didn't interview well, reguardless he is our manager now and it probably worked out for the better for us because he just got more experience.

B.Cox is why the braves are good it has nothing to do with their A-ball manager that coached in Durham. I would give grittle more love if he was B.Cox bench coach but he wasn't. A minor league manager has to play the high priced players I think that is Little's philosiphy a minor league coach. Let him manage in Vegas.

No Kiper Colletti doesn't want it to look like he's wasting McCourt's money so he's making Grady play these guys and making Grady put them in a spot in the order where they can produce.

J.Tracy strong personality! HAH!

I'll be home in about an hour I'll can check my e-mail then.

Ok but its unfair to speculate what Ned tells Grady behind closed doors because the only fact here is that we just don't know. Diehard who cares about Jim Tracy or Bob Melvin we are talking about the dodgers here. If you want to talk about them go to the pirates or dbacks blog.

Well I want a manager that makes his own decisions!!!!!!!!!!!
You think Bobby Cox let's the GM make his Line up?

If he had Ned as his GM he might not have a choice!!!!!

Oh, by the way , SWOOD, I'm, don't lol, I'm 69yrs old.

Ok, swood, so even if it's not all Grady's fault for the lineup (just for argument's sake) what about all of the bone-head moves during the game? Is Ned phoning down to the dugout and telling Grady to leave Tomko in for 1 more batter?

I'm not as old as messagebearer.

Scott you can watch any team throughout the year and say their manager made boneheaded moves. Not just Grady. That stuff happens when you've played 130 games in a season.

wow pierreeast i'm 16 years old. I think I am the youngest one here.

Colletti is definitely telling Little to play the older guys more often than the kids, think about it, if Grady made up each line up(usually composed of the veterans) on his own with no input from Colletti and our results were the same as those of late, why wouldn't he get fired? Colletti has no basis to fire Grady if he tells him to play the veterans even if the team is not performing to its full potential.

I don't EVER see B.cox leave a pitcher in too long. He lives by " I rather take a pitcher out early than too late" Giving his team the best chance to win. Which is what grady doesn't do gives us our best chance to win.

OK we are in agreement BOTH Little and Colletti must go.
If our GM is telling our manager how to make a line up he needs to go. And if our manager is listening to him then by all means bring in guys that know what their doing.

Yea but then if his bullpen stinks(which it does) his teams blows big leads like they did yesterday in Cincy. The reason the braves have been good in recent memory isn't ONLY because of Bobby Cox. Remember for a couple of years he was the GM and someone else was the manager and they still won the division Diehard.

Diehard why do you ALWAYS talk about Bobby Cox. Go be a Braves fan if you love Cox so much. LOL

when was this? Bobby Cox has won 14 straight division titles(not always having the best team)as a manager. Who was the braves skipper when he was the GM?

Ok got to go dinner time on the east coast. Think about what I said about Colletti pressuring Grady. If anyone should go it should be Ned (although it won't happen).

14 straight division titles!! That's why I love Bobby Cox!

No Kiper Colletti doesn't want it to look like he's wasting McCourt's money so he's making Grady play these guys and making Grady put them in a spot in the order where they can produce.

---

Ryan Basically I agree in general with what you are saying, I put way more blame on Ned than Grady....but:

But your logic is off on this one, meaning...In showing McCourt that he didn't waste money he will prove it by wasting money?

In other words..not making the playoffs is really what would be wasting his money.

What do you think McCourt cares about today?

That the contracts of Schmidt, Tomko, Pierre, Gonzo, Nomar and Wolf aren't as bad as they seem because we almost made the playoffs and some of them wound up with some good stats?

Or

That our personell director realized the ship he built is sinking so he decided to take another course of action that showed he waysted all sorts of money, yet managed to get us to the post season?

Which really is what your trying to buy, a chance to win a ring.

Cox is a badass...
i don't like so much about him...

i want an average manager...

maybe a little of grady and a little of cox...

swood , what I'm saying is that they agree on everything so that means they both like the veteran players and that's why they get played. I Don't think Grady's under direct orders to play these guys. I just think it's his choice. After all the final decision on who plays is Grady's.

what do you not like about a guy that defends his players right or wrong. I love that and as player to know someone has your back like that. Your going to play your *** off for him.

LOVE THIS LINEUP!

We will win tonight 8-4

i don't care if it is grady's decision or not...

put alot of the blame on ned than grady...

ned is the one who signs FA not grady...

grady is only doing his job.. and that is to give playing time to the one ned sign...

Congratulations Wes Parker.

martinloneykemp--thanks for pointing out Wes's sacrifice bunts. My uncle is a long-time (LA) fan, and once mentioned that the classic formula was Maury Wills would walk, steal second, get sacrificed to third, score ona fly ball, and Sandy Koufax would pitch a shutout and the Dodgers would win 1-0. Parker must have been a big part of that formula.

Somone said the line-up does not matter, because we can't win if we keep throwing out Tomko. I disagree--we had chance, but not the right personnel. Tonight's line-up, however looks very good (except for Hillenbrand, but it can't be helped that Nomar and LaRoche are both injured).

Nevertheless, Tomko should not start again. Our dilemna is that we just won't DFA anyone 9 days before the rosters expand. So we either need a convenient "injury" or we need to option someone down to Las Vegas (to either make room for DJ Houlton [most likely], David Wells [if we sign him], or James McDonald [wildcard]).

Here's a question for those more learned in the nuances of the transaction system. Generally, if you option someone down, you can't call them back until 10 days have passed, unless there is an injury. But, does that rule apply when the rosters expand? Can you option a guy to AAA on August 31, and then put him on the active roster the next day?

(This still may not work, since we need Stults on both the 25th and the 31st, unless we sign Wells, in which case, he would probably go on the 31st, and Stults would not be needed again until September 4.)

I guess the other question is can we designate a guy for assignment on the 31st and assign him back to the major league roster when the rosters expand. Then we might actually DFA some people.

These question they're asking: Will the Dodgers win the NL West?, Will they win the wild card? or neither? If we new the answer to them it would proberbly take all the interest out of the whole thing and we'd already be down to the bookies office waiting for our payoff.

complete game by d. lowe

ugh, I hate Chicago, I need to move soon!

Oh...let's waste some more money and sign David Wells..He sure was good pitching against the Dodgers and all the other teams..He might be better than Tomko, but that's not saying much...Find a pitcher in house like Houlton or whoever else is down there that might be good...If he thinks about signing Wells for the playoffs..that's like putting a BIG cart before the Horse..

scurtis..

Why do you hate Chicago?

The summer is about over!

I do think he is under implied orders though. He isn't going to make a huge descsion that would make Ned look bad. Thats why it took months to get Nomar out of the middle of the order.

Grady has been in baseball his whole life there is no way that us fans can sit her disgusted with Tomko or with Nomar and Gonzo in the middle of the order or Pierre with his .315OBp at the top of the order but him not.

I wonder what he says to his wife behind closed doors.

Thing like **** man, I have to roll out a righty 3b guy with no power instead of a lefty 3b with power vs the righty tonight. And thats because we needed a guy in the pen who has done nothing but give up 7 runs in the 13 innings i let him pitch.

His wife says to him most likely, hey he hired you do what you are told, you are managing in the Majors for the Dodgers!!

So when your GM goes out and puts 28 million dollars down this year alone (nomar, Bonzo ,Pierre) to those three players and pronounces in the press that he got Pierre cause "he gets on base an awful lot and makes things happen" or that "because Drew opted out, we needed a guy in the middle of the order to replace those 90rbi" or that Gonzo "is doing as expected 10-15hr and 25 doubles and some veteran leadership and bat in the middle of the order"

What would you do?

Women starting to put more clothes on soon! hehe

I like this lineup tonight. I have a good feeling DLowe will hold a lead once we pound JD Durb!

Chris Young is seeing a back specialist tomorrow and will miss at least one start...Also, Victorino is back for the Phillies on the roster for Hamels who's now on the DL.

scurtis

try to visit L.A

girls don't even wear underwears coz it's freaking hot in here! LOL

i hated living in chicago b/c theres too many obnoxious cubs fans around!

swood, this is why Grady is a bad manager:

Scioscia declines to speculate on how many of the club's 74 wins have resulted directly from the Angels' high-octane game on the bases, but he does allow, "Without the baserunning, I know that we would not be at the level we need to be offensively. The bottom line is scoring runs. If you're not scoring them with slugging percentage, you'd better maximize every chance you have."

I encourage everybody to read this article, it will make you very upset that our homegrown former players are preaching "Dodger baseball" to others while we can't get a manager that has half of a clue.

Here's the link:

http://sportsline.com/mlb/story/10312195/1

wow so the phillies rotation for the next week or so is kendrick, durbin, moyer, and ? wow.

oh yeah, lohse too. ugh. and the phillies are still in it. man the NL is so freaking weak.

The NL is weak, and the Dodgers can't make up any ground!!! Wow.

look..jspelk...hate to say it ..but remember it doesn't matter who the other team throws out there to pitch..We can make anyone look like Cy Young..and not good news that Victorino is coming back..He makes things happen along with Rollins...still not easy for the Blue Crew.

kiper.

Maybe because the Dodger's have as many or more flaws than the other teams...I probably wouldn't say that as much if we still had Betemit, Anderson...and didn't have Saenz, Martinez, Tomko, and Hernandez...LOL