9.27.2007

this is funny from fire joe morgan:

Paddy (St. Louis, MO): Hi Joe, I've heard 2008 will be Vin Scully's last season in the booth. Do you have any Scully stories, and will you have him as a guest next year?

Joe Morgan: I have stories, but I can't tell them!

KT: One hundred dollars to anyone with an awesome story involving Joe and Vin Scully. Two hundred if it involves cocaine.

and boo dodger management. boo ned.

if you like the dodgers, read this good post from dodgerthoughts.

Today, I read yet another column scapegoating one of the team's most valuable position players, Matt Kemp, for the Dodgers' fall into fourth place - and going on to suggest that he could be traded, maybe should be traded.
The player is being criticized for a bad attitude, even though he is surrounded by veterans with bad attitudes. Different kinds of bad attitudes, perhaps, but bad attitudes nevertheless.
The player is being critcized for speaking out in the press, even though he did so in response to veterans speaking out in the press.
The player is being criticized for on-field mistakes, even though veterans have repeatedly made the same on-field mistakes.
The player is being criticized for perhaps not being willing to learn, even though the veteran that started this whole thing has been one of the most irascible, stubborn people in baseball, whose baserunning in the past two seasons indicates that he hasn't learned nearly as much as he wants us to think.
Headline from inside today's Daily Irony: Sweeney hopes to stay on as a voice of experience
Yes, Mark Sweeney. The veteran who made the single dumbest baserunning mistake of the year.
I have had it with the utter stupidity that has come out of the Dodger clubhouse and local papers this past week.
Bill Plaschke writes that Kemp's "power and speed have been negated by silly at-bats and baserunning mistakes."
Negated?? Are you serious??
The silly at-bats have already been factored into his on-base percentage and slugging percentage, which currently stand at .364 and .509. Yes, those are the numbers of the irresponsible Kemp.
The baserunning mistakes? What have there been, five? Ten? Let's say the latter. Instead of 198 outs in 294 plate appearances, give Kemp 208 outs in 294 plate appearances. Wow, what a change.
Negated???
Is third-base coach Rich Donnelly going to be traded in response to the baserunning mistakes on his watch?
Mustering the resilience to read to the end of Plaschke's column, I found that the nuance of the suggestion is that Kemp be traded for a veteran in his prime that won't be worried about losing his playing time to Kemp and therefore won't be resistant to mentoring him. Brilliant idea - except the guy you're worried about mentoring won't be around anymore.
Here's an idea that apparently isn't good enough for the papers: Why not have the manager and coaches do the damn mentoring? Seriously, what else are they there for? If Grady Little and the coaching staff are too weak to do it, then bring in a drill seargent. Hell, bring in Lou Gossett, Jr. and have him go all Sgt. Foley on Kemp.
Apparently not. Apparently, I'm left to understand that the young brats in the Dodger clubhouse won't heed anyone currently in the Dodger organization, but will pay attention to some 28-year-old, $14 million-earning All-Star to be named later? Apparently, this isn't Plaschke's idea, it's the Dodgers' (though none of Plaschke's sources for it are named).
This is our plan for the future?
Look, I get that every player has his price. There are people out there better than Kemp, and if you can get one of them and keep him, that's great. But that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about a fundamental misunderstanding of what has happened to the Dodgers this year.
Throw the babies out with the bathwater. That's the operating strategy that has been suggested over the past week. Amazing.

9.26.2007

wow. i know i need to not get so worked up about these things. baseball is just not that important... but i like the team. i like the dodgers and their cool young players. creepy old men were yelling on the radio about young players getting things together and other creepier old men were saying that some of these same young players were going to be traded in the offseason. the news made my heart pound and my palms sweat. frustrated for no real reason, i switched the dial to the adam carolla show. i like adam carolla, but is there really a need for me to listen to him talk about things he likes? i don't really care what he likes and he usually likes things that are kind of stupid, he just expresses his likes in a funny way, which is why guess i should like him. and i do, kind of. but he was stressing me out. i needed soothing, so i plugged in my newly updated bookworm podcast featuring miranda july. her apathetically smooth voice was a nice change of pace, but after a few minutes of self-absorbed meandering of a different kind, i found myself once again standing on the precipice of frustration and whatnot. she was called the voice of her generation by the bookworm guy. the. voice. of. her. generation! miranda july. she. her. boo.

it made me glad to realize that as a card carrying member of generation ex, i can choose whoever i please as my voice. because, like, who cares (shrug)... which is why my voice, for my generation in my mind, is mike love.

9.24.2007

i know i give people a hard time about posting youtube clips, but ive actually been watching them lately. here's an awesome version of cotton fields by the beach boys. the song is good, but mike love is AWEEEESOMMEEEE!

AWESOME UPDATE:

matt kemp, james loney, and adam laroche's myspace pages.

9.23.2007

im watching a dancing show with robyn. the judges are very nice.

yesterday i went fishing with mike s. on the ventura pier. we did not catch any fish.

jack is moving a lot inside of robyn. we watched a movie thing on discovery about babies being born. it looked not fun. um... im tired.

9.18.2007

the top ten most racist commercials here. according to some blog.

9.14.2007

i had a good week. on tuesday i hung out with vern and went for a jog at the beach where bums hang out and lift weights. on wednesday i watched a bunch of the office and did nothing. on thursday i had an LA sandwhich day- eating pastrami at farmer's market and a french dip at philleppeees. then i went to union station to see poppo off to missouri. then i went to cha cha with andy. and tonight i went to a dodger game. tomorrow i'm going to ventura for a fun wedding. sunday i'm eating barbecued foods. and monday im working.

work doesn't stress me out much this year. the amount they pay me does, though. i want more bread man.

9.12.2007

100 days until we have a baby. cool dude. i've the day off tomorrow. i'm watching the office season 2 right now. it's funny, but i still hold to the old one. the jokes seem delivered a little too obvious on this one. the writing's good, but the delivery really is a little forced. it still makes me laugh hard though. real hard.

9.10.2007

i was tired at school today. i got a lot of sleep, so i'm not really sure why. work does it to you, i guess. i just worked out on our machine that helps you work out. i also did some push-ups and have been eating really healthy the last week or so. we have to make all of our meals and not eat out because we are trying to live on one salary until baby time. that includes cocktails and whatnots. oh well.

in other news. brad wants me to do the master plan with him. i might, though robyn thinks it's weird and unhealthy. tell that to beyonce. and billy- you sound like a grumpy old man... .

9.9.2007

robyn's not feeling so hot, so we're going to stay home from church. we got a new couch from my parents yesterday. it's cool.

today is the first day of football fun. i'm actually pretty excited about the season, i guess.

my plan for the day: lesson plan some. write a little. watch football. workout.

9.7.2007

today is my third day of work. funny thing... it's going very well. the kids are well behaved, i'm more organized- more structured, and nobody is shouting and cussing at me. i was even able to play both dark side of the moon and solo monk for them while they were working on group projects. it was weird and it ruled.

the dodgers are winning with the young steeds taking charge.

time to do work.

9.4.2007

tomorrow school will begin. i think my room looks very nice- compared to last year at least. i'm having a couple beers and a steak and fried potatoes and some corn to usher in my belly (which will most likely be turning come tomorrow) for the coming year. all bitching aside, i'm a little excited and looking forward to what's in store.

rumor has it stevie wonder is in town manana. who wants to go? me. okay. sweet.

and people should go see ratatouille. is was super real fun.

9.3.2007

i am watching duce bigalow part one. his girlfriend is missing a leg. HA. = funny. not. syke. i've watched tv for like three hours. it has been fun and enjoyable. i should start doing it more. i guess it's hot outside, but i wouldn't know because i'm sitting inside with air conditioning.

last day of prep tomorrow.

9.2.2007

we're off to cha-cha for some good time fun. tomorrow we're going to see a movie and hang out. maybe we'll bbq, maybe we'll sit inside and chill, maybe we'll workout and eat candy.

today we watched edward scissor hands and a dodger game. i'm very happy andy laroche is back with the team. i like the team we put on the field today. it was almost the team of the future.

9.1.2007

this chad billingsley blog is cool. look at it and be happy. i will start school soon. teaching children does not make me happy. i look forward to when i am not doing it.

8.30.2007

hi internet friends. i start school soon. boo boo hoo hoo.

8.26.2007

im pretty tired after a long fun weekend in las vegas with good ventura friends. we stayed at the palms and splashed around mtv party pools. i started a mid afternoon dance party and almost lost my ipod when i slipped in the pool while dancing to saturday night's alright for fightin'. the move was par for the course.

8.23.2007

the dodgers have won and its not even 2:00.

today we're getting the poster we bought on our honeymoon framed. finally. our good pal aaron ballard is helping us out. he's a nice fellow and he plays music in a good band. check them out if you have the chance.

we went to disneyland yesterday. it was fun as usual.

i'll be going to las vegas tomorrow for jerimiah fuller's bachelor party. i think i may try and take in a 51s game or two.

that's all. work starts next week. boo.

8.22.2007

via fire joe morgan ... more great reasons to not like juan pierre.

You guys know how we feel about Juan Pierre. We like him as a dude. We like the way it looks like he's borrowing a giant man's helmet. We like calling him John Peter. And we think he stinks at baseball.

Just for giggles and shits, I plugged the phrase "Juan Pierre" into our Bill Simmons 1980's Movie Reference Software (available at BestBuy), and here's what I got:

"In the world of out machines, Juan Pierre is the WOPR." Not bad for $24.95!

And now, take it away, Jayson Addcox of mlb.com!

What is it about the on-base percentage that a player like Juan Pierre -- who leads the Dodgers in at-bats, runs scored, hits, stolen bases, triples and games played -- gets knocked for not having his higher than .350?

So much to digest, so quickly. Let's chuck the grammatical wonkiness out the window and just try to deal with the question at hand: Why does Juan Pierre get knocked for having an on-base percentage below .350? I made a list!

1) Because he's a lead-off hitter.
2) Because he has no power to make up for his lack of OBP.
3) Because he's being paid $45 million by the Dodgers.
4) Because his OBP isn't just a hair below .350 -- it's .324 this year.
5) Because .324 is good enough for 134th out of 171 eligible MLB batters.
6) Because there's a massive conspiracy against Juan Pierre.

By the way, why didn't he just say "gets knocked for not having his higher than .400"? It would have made Pierre look a lot better to anyone who was too lazy to look up his actual OBP.

Of course, Juan Pierre leads the Dodgers in triples, so I'm supposed to let it go, I guess. I'm supposed to forget that he's a lead-off hitter who doesn't walk for a second, and give him credit for leading the team in AB's? Wait -- hold on -- I'm supposed to be giving him credit at all for leading the team in AB's when in the same sentence you're admitting that he can't get on base? Ba-wuh?

He's batted in four different spots in the lineup this season. When he's hitting well, he's in the leadoff or No. 2 slot, but when he's slumping, manager Grady Little hasn't hesitated putting Pierre in the seventh or eighth slot.

I know I'm opening myself up to "you wouldn't know because you never played baseball" criticism here, but is it really so difficult to hit in different spots in the line-up? Does Juan Pierre's head explode when he sees that he's batting in the 7th spot? Is he suddenly going up to the plate and trying to catch the ball in his mouth because he has no idea how to hit 7th?

(Incidentally, I did play baseball, at least when I was young. Played 3rd base for my little league team. My coach encouraged me to play 3rd like a hockey goalie, and ended up earning the nickname "Reggie" that year thanks to late 80's Bruins goalie Rejean Lemelin. What were we talking about again?)

The issue with Pierre is that he doesn't walk. Plain and simple, his OBP suffers because he averages one walk every 21 at-bats. On the season, he has just 24 walks in 510 at-bats, which is the lowest in the Majors. On the flip side, Pierre doesn't strike out often, either. He has struck out just 32 times this season, which is once every 15.9 at-bats, making him the hardest batter to strike out in the Senior Circuit.

In the red corner: walking. Getting on base. Not getting out. Making the pitcher throw at least four pitches to you. Getting to first base so you can do the one thing you do well: steal bases.

In the blue corner: not striking out. In Pierre's case, finding other ways to get out. If you believe us, not really a good thing. Not a bad thing, just not a good thing.

Not striking out isn't "the flip side" of not walking. It's a different goddam coin. A coin that you keep in your pocket when talking about baseball because it's not really relevant, unless you want to talk about the virtues of the coin itself in a vacuum. You know what I mean. (Hopefully. Because I don't.)

Also, those of you who like not-striking-out-ability usually point to things like productive outs and "good things happening when you put the ball into play." Of course, Pierre's a lead-off hitter, so more than any other player in the line-up, he's going to have the lowest percentage of opportunities for "productive outs" anyway.

This season, Pierre leads the Dodgers with 147 hits. He is fifth in the NL with 45 multi-hit games, he leads the Majors with 14 sacrifice bunts and he's second in the Majors only to Jose Reyes with 50 stolen bases, and yet his OBP supposedly isn't cutting it.

"Jayson, it's Darryl. Just going over your copy for the latest mlb.com article...No, yeah, it's fine. One thing. Looks like the word 'supposedly' somehow got into the last sentence of paragraph eight...Right...No? You sure?"

"He's a disruptive force when's he's on base," Little said. "The other team has to be concerned with him regularly and it disrupts the pitcher. The whole key is for him to get on base and that's what we like."

Write it down, kids: When writing an article in support of Juan Pierre, it's okay to admit that he has a low OBP, as long as you quote the manager of his team saying that the whole key is for him to get on base. A thing, which, you've already pointed out, he does poorly.

Compared to some of the elite leadoff batters in the game, Pierre's .324 on-base percentage is considerably low. Reyes has an OBP of .375, Hanley Ramirez is at .392, Chone Figgins is at .392 and Ichiro is at .396, so the consensus is that a No. 1 or 2 hitter in the lineup needs to have a .350 or higher OBP.

But like Pierre said, "It is what it is."

Can't argue with that.




mona lisa of the 21st century.

8.22.2007

i've been good about posting, so i'll post.

i wish i was still traveling. i like it better than being at home. some people get to the end of a long trip or a weekend away and feel the pull for home. i think those people are nuts. crazy nuts. home is where stress and boring is. the road is where awesome is.

i'm going to see if robyn wants to hit the road for life. if she does, i'll be in rule zone max forever. peaches and sweet cream.

8.20.2007

UPDATE:

this article basically sums up why i hatge juan pierre as a member of the dodgers. i got it from the nice 6-4-2.blogspot.com site.

Fish, Barrel, And Gun, Part 3 In A Series: On Juan Pierre's OBP I don't generally take the MLB.com site reporting beyond their daily game recaps terribly seriously, and Jayson Addcox's latest is a decent enough example of why:

What is it about the on-base percentage that a player like Juan Pierre -- who leads the Dodgers in at-bats, runs scored, hits, stolen bases, triples and games played -- gets knocked for not having his higher than .350?

...

For Pierre, the criticism and constant reminders about his OBP is nothing new. In seven years in the Majors, he has put together a great resume including, a .350 OBP, but according to Pierre, it's brought up every year and it's always the same thing.

"When I'm hitting good, my on-base percentage is high and that's just the way it is," Pierre said. "The Dodgers knew that before I came here. It is what it is. I just go out there and play the game, and I don't get caught up in all of this."

The issue with Pierre is that he doesn't walk. Plain and simple, his OBP suffers because he averages one walk every 21 at-bats. On the season, he has just 24 walks in 510 at-bats, which is the lowest in the Majors. On the flip side, Pierre doesn't strike out often, either. He has struck out just 32 times this season, which is once every 15.9 at-bats, making him the hardest batter to strike out in the Senior Circuit.

The problem is really twofold:

1. His career OBP is hardly germaine. Pierre has had only three full years above .350 OBP, logging three straight seasons with .320-.330 figures.
2. Pierre's speed is a declining asset. This translates into fewer infield singles, thus depressing his batting average and therefore his OBP.

This represents the worst kind of disingenuousness. Even ignoring his noodle arm in center, his offensive faults might be tolerable in a young, cheap player, but are hardly acceptable in a player signed to be a leadoff man, the only real job he's suited for. The Pierre signing was a poor use of money at the time, one that looks only to get worse over time.

open question: what's the weirdest/ most interesting baseball stat, player, number, or thing you can think of? mine, as of today is dan quisenberry's career ERA + of 145. this would put him tied for third with walter johnson, joe wood, and hoyt wilhelm. it would also make him (though tied with wilhelm) the all time leader for a relief pitcher.

... back to writing...