Extra! Extra! (9.29)

Woohooo!! The Nats held on to beat the Phillies. Magic number is two, but here’s hoping that we wrap this thing up by Saturday and don’t have to pitch Lowe or Maddux this weekend.

I don’t think we’re catching the Padres since the Snakes don’t seem too inclined to play spoilers. But I like sitting in the wild card spot right now. The Mets seem ripe for the picking, and I would rather play them than the streaking Astros, who will eventually overtake the Cards this weekend (sorry, AK/BK). Facing Houston’s big 3 in a 5-game series is bad joo-joo.

Paul LoDuca was on a NYC radio show the other day and said that the only team that worries him are the Dodgers. He stated that we were well put together, solid, and that our pitching staff was strong. Sounds like we got their attention when we played them earlier this month.

Stargazin,

To answer your Tomko question, are you sure you meant him, and not Hendrickson? I wouldn’t start Tomko. I think we’re pressing our luck right now as is. Tomko gave us some solid starts, then some solid relief work. He came here pegged as the No.5 starter, and although I think he has underachieved a bit, he did provide us some patch-work when we needed it. I honestly think we have squeezed all the juice out of that lemon, so under no circumstance would I start Tomko.

Now, if you meant Hendrickson, that is a very interesting suggestion. Left-handers eat the Mets alive, so he might be a good option should Penny not be able to start. You can even attempt to throw a Timberrr/Stults combination at the Mets. Kuo is a given, and Mad Dog and Lowe are set. But if Penny is healthy enough to pitch you have to go with your money pitcher. Even though he has been struggling you have to pitch him (albeit on a short leash). The postseason is the “new season”, so the slate is wiped clean. Should Penny not be able to pitch though, throwing another lefty into the rotation might not be a bad idea against the Mets.

All,

So what’s wrong with Penny? We’ve been criticizing him, but it would be nice to know why the sudden collapse. We NEED Penny if we’re going to win this thing. Kuo has been a pleasant surprise, but we need our core of Maddux, Lowe, and Penny to pitch us to victory. For the better part of the year a lot of us had been saying that we needed a 3rd starter to compliment Lowe and Penny, two proven pitchers with awesome postseason credentials. Well, we certainly got that 3rd arm in Maddux, but now Penny is struggling Odalis Perez style. So what’s wrong with him?

Is it injury? Has his back been hurting him since the All-Star game? I don’t think that’s the case. If he’s hurting then he certainly wouldn’t be throwing as hard as he is. One thing I have noticed is that his velocity is up in the second-half. He was throwing 91-93 earlier in the season. Since the break he is throwing 95-97. I’ve been watching the speed gun very closely, and in my opinion he is over-throwing and messing up his mechanics, and is too hard-headed to go back to pitching 91-93. Honeycutt mentioned that instead of making his pitch he is trying to blow past hitters in tough situations. If you notice, when Penny tries to overpower the hitter he loses movement on his fast ball. Without the movement it’s only a matter time before hitters get his timing down, which is why things blow up on him all-of-a-sudden.

Whatever the case, I’m hoping that 1) his injury is not serious, and 2) he figures it out come the playoffs and starts pitching like the Penny of old. We NEED him to step up. If he doesn’t then it really puts the last nail in the coffin as far as the LoDuca/Mota trade is concerned.

I hate the "we should thank the Rockies" stuff. That is absurd. You win the games you're supposed to win. Other teams played the Rockies more than a dozen times too. Why didn't THEY have lopsised records against them? You start picking at individual records against teams and you open up a can of worms.

You know, if San Diego didn't have to play us we would be 8 games up on them. San Diego should send us a thank you note. (See how stupid that sounds?)

And Gagne can kiss my a** if he wants a big contract. First he talks about feeling bad about getting $20 million for sitting on his a**, then he finds Thomas' contract beneath him. Whatever, guy.

there was an article a few days back saying honeycutt thought that penny was just trying to pitch too hard. he said all his mechanics are fine but when he tries to pitch too hard sometimes it doesn't have the same movement/accuracy.

Then again, it was Simers who brought up the Colorado "thank you" note thing. What do you expect from the Village Idiot?

AK/BK and the rest,

if we stay even with the phillies the next two days, and have the wild card clinched before sunday, i think that we should save lowe to pitch two games in the nlds. what do you guys think?

i'm hoping the cards make the playoffs, they look a hell of a lot more beatable than the stros right now

Lolo, bmurph:

Yesh. I've been saying that to my Dodger buddies for a while too. Penny is throwing too hard and missing his spots. It's been just so frustrating to watch. Ease up, buddy! You would think the mofo would learn something from Maddog. He could save the extra fast stuff to surprise a batter, but instead, he uses it as his out pitch on every at bat. I think he caught the bad habit when the announcers were raving about never seeing Penny throw so hard at the AS Game.

Just went over to the Giants' message board for a "fly on the wall" view. Good Lord I LOVE seeing the GNats in misery!! HAHA!

LOLO-JUST ANOTHER BOMKO JOKE.
PENNYS BACK IS JUST A COVER STORY FOR HIM TO SAVE FACE.
HE COMPLAINED ABOUT HIS BACK IN THE FIRST HALF ALSO.
NOT SAYING HE DOESNT HAVE SOME LOWER BACK PROBLEMS.
( WHO DOESN'T).
JUST SAYING ITS NOT THE ROOT OF HIS PROBLEMS.
DEFINITELY APPEARS TO BE OVER THROWING.

I'M SURE THEY MENTION IT TO HIM AND HE TELLS THEM TO GO TAKE A FLYING LEAP.
HE'S HIS OWN WORST ENEMY.
RIGHT NOW HE'S ARE OWN WORST ENEMY TOO.

HE COULD BLOW THE WHOLE DEAL FOR US IF WE GIVE HIM THE CHANCE.
KINDA TOUGH RIGHT NOW- TWO VET STARTERS AND ONE ROOKIE STATER.
BEYOND THAT ITS A HARD DECISION.

Anyone else notice that ever since Brad Penny refused to give his number 31 to Greg Maddux he's been shelled. I know he eventually succumbed to pressure and approached Maddux but way too late. Bad karma Brad and you're feeling the effects!

GOTTA GIVE THE NATS CREDIT. FIGHTING FOR NOTHIN BUT SELF RESPECT. THEY REALLY CAME THRU FOR US.

ITS BEEN A SEASON OF TRENDS AND STREAKS.
CAN'T BEAT THE PADRES AND CARDS.
BEAT UP ON THE ROCKIES.
JUST THE WAY THIS SEASON WAS, THATS ALL.

The difference between Thomas and Gange is that Thomas is close to the end of his career and Gange is not. The 2 injury filled years for Thomas were compounded by his age and the amount of years he's played. Sure Oakland took a chance with him at 500 thousand and look what they got. Nobody expected that. But still, Thomas is closer to the end of his career than to the middle of his career. What, 2 maybe 3 more years because of the DH in the American league? If it wasn't for the DH he would be gone by now.

Gange on the other hand, if healthy, has plenty of gas in the tank. He is dominate when healthy. The guy is a 10 million dollar a year pitcher. No way does he go to 500 thousand a year plus incentives. Gange if healthy is a 5 million dollar investment plus incentives coming off an injury plauged 2 seasons. Didn't Nomar get 6 million plus incentives for this year? Wasn't he injured for the past 2 years before this year? Gange has be to dealt with in the same light as Nomar.

My suggestion is that Gange get a 5 million dollar contract in base salary and the incentives go like this:

If he gets 20 saves there's a kick in of 1.5 million bringing the contracts worth to 6.5 million.

If he gets 30 saves there's a kick in of 3 million bringing the contracts worth to 8 million.

If he gets 40 saves or more then there's a kick in of 5 million brining the contracts worth to 10 million dollars.

It's reasonable to me because the Dodgers, if Gange was healthy, were going to pay him 12 million dollars, anyway. Now if Gange gets 40 saves next year, then you know he's healthy. If by chance he stays healthy and doesn't get to 40 saves, then he makes 8 million dollars on the contract. Assuming he gets between 30-39 saves. That is a fair trade off for getting 20 million for the last 2 years, basically, for being injured.

mike

GAGNE GOTTA BE SWIMMING IN MONEY BY NOW.
YOU'D THINK THAT WOULD BE HIS LAST CONCERN BUT

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

AND TALK ABOUT PEOPLE WATCHING OUR BACKS-
SUPERBOY DEFEATED ZOD AGAIN LAST NIGHT TO SAVE THE WORLD AGAIN. TALK ABOUT GUYS WE TAKE FOR GRANTED.

HOT DOGS, APPLE PIE AND SUPERBOY

this may put AK/BK into post traumatic shock, but its a funny column and worth a read.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=neel/060929

LOLO- DID YOU SEE GRUMPY TRADING KEMP, LONEY AND THE THREE BEES??? HE JUST HASN'T BEEN THE SAME SINCE THE SQUIRREL AND STAPLER THING? LOL??

LOLO- WHAT I SAYING WAS I WOULD START BOMKO
BEFORE I WOULD START BBEER BBELLY BBRAD.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

LOLO- PAULY STILL A DODGER AT HEART. ANOTHER TRADE THAT NEVER SHOULDA HAPPENED.

LET ME SEE, THE DODGERS PAID ME 20 MIL TO SIT ON MY DUFF FOR 2 YEARS. DO I OWE THEM ANYTHING.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I FELL DOWN AND I CAN'T GET UP GAGNE

AT THE START OF THE YEAR WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED WE'D BE DOWN TO A THREE MAN ROTATION OF MADDUX, LOWE AND KUO.

I DO BELIEVE BILLZ WILL COME BACK NEXT YEAR TO BECOME A TOP PITCHER. THE INJURY JUST HAPPENED AT A BAD TIME. IF HE HAS AN INJURY LIKE THAT IN MID YEAR AND THEY SEND HIM DOWN TO REHAB AT VEGAS AND HE COMES BACK READY TO GO.REHABIN AT MAJOR LEAGUE
LEVEL DOESN'T WORK.

Lolo,

A friend of mine indicated to me that this will not be a good week because historically the Giants and our Blue have eliminated each other during penant races.....is this true? Regardless, I am so pumped up for this series and I hope we take care of business tonight and Philly loses so that we clinch a playoff berth.

Dude, you are right man!! Lets play those pedro-less Mets, it'll be good for baseball.

"...beaten them all season like Art Blakey on a snare drum."

AK/BK: nicely done, droppin' the jazz on Blue Note(s).

sublime.

-E Homp

based on the last few outings by Penny, you gotta leave him out of the playoff equation. The guy is hurt and there's no doubt about it. put whoever is hot on your starting 3 pitching rotation...you can't rely on "name recognition" or "previous track record".

Derek Lowe
Greg Maddux
Hong Chih Kuo

the rest of the pitchers stay in the pen as long relievers.... you can't risk Billingsly or Penny any more. This is not the time for it !!!

i guess we will see tomorrow but i know that maddux is not a three days of rest pitcher at this point in his career, plus billz has had good numbers (except for 2 bad outings, 1 in colorado and not starting, the other rusty after injury). i think his is less of a risk than pitching maddux on 3 days rest.

stargazin,

I'd trade Kemp in a package if it lands Andrew Jones.

JC Blue,

To say there is some history is an understatement. But don't worry. Relax, lay low, and let the good times roll. Time to trample on the GNats' grave. HAHAHA!!

Stargazin thanks for using all caps. Makes it easier to skip your posts.

lolo-dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

jc- its a very long and very mixed series to say the least. we our not captive to our history. we our
masters of our own destiny.

i think the emergence of marlon and kuo at the
most critical time shows we are a team of destiny.

sign Gagne & Saito then the Dodgers have a pen of Brazoban, Biemel, Broxton, Gagne & Saito....or the return of....don;t hate me for this but....the return of not the Killer Bee's but rather the return of the BG's...

ok...I go away and hide in shame now...

lolo- i would trade loney for pujols.

Im with LoLo, Andruw Jones would look good in blue.

Your Star-y-ness:

HEY...I am just FINE thank you very muchly!! :)

I was saying that one of more of them will be gone next year depending on Gagne & Saito signings and what SP's are avail...and I would definately think hard about LoLo's suggestion about Andrew Jones for a Kemp inclusive package as long as at least one minor league SP with potential was in there somewhere...but teams like atlanta would see more benefit from a developing player then what Jones is worth to them right now...but I still think long term Kemp has huge potential. It just a matter of how willing to roll the dice a team is and how ling they can wait for a player to develop or not...

It's gonna be a fun off season no matter what!

Mike T,

The difference between Gagne and Thomas, or Nomar, for that matter is the location and extent of Gagne's injury. For a power pitcher to have the type of injury he's had, it's much more serious than say a knee or a back to a first baseman or DH. I love Eric Gagne, but I'd offer him pennies as a base salary and load the thing with incentives. If someone else wants to pay $10 million a year for a guy to rehab all year, let them do it.

E Homp-

Thanks. When you make as many 90210/Gilligan's Island type refereces as we do, it's important to show some class now and again.

BK

Lolo & Andrew Z

I feel the same about Gagne. The Dodgers can't take a 20 million dollar chance. A contract can be structured so he could make what he deserves IF he can pitch so neither party can lose and all is fair.
He can retire for life on what he has now. If he wants to be a Dodger, prove it.

phillies are on espn right now.

If espn's televising the Phillies game, shouldnt they be showing the Dodger game also?
Thats a better option for me instead of watching the game online.

cody ross in living color.

mti- sorry. just check the espn listings on line.
they're not carrying the dodger game.

phillies 8 fish 1

espn announcers are giving kuo a lot of love, really.
they're also talking about the phillies wanting
to watch the dodger game but don't know where they
could catch the game.
phillies 10-1.

we gotta keep winning.

one of the annoucers on espn is rick sutcliffe
and was saying " the dodgers are another team
you don't want to play in post season because
they have maddux,lowe and ahh (dead air space for
a coupla seconds) and penny,if the right one shows
up.

fish swimming up stream.

phils 11-1.

The Dodger game wont be on ESPN.

rick sutcliffe 1976-1994. 18 yr. career. wow.

phils 13-1.

This is gonna be a great weekend. The Dodgers will clinch at least a wild card spot in San Francisco and the Astros might overtake the Cards in the central...I always hated LaRusssa....ehhee

i would trade loney & kemp for ryan howard

they keep flashing the pregame stats for the dodger game. lowry a 14.4 era in last 4 games. hope that holds up.

just in case everyone doesn't already know-
the dodger game is on BIG FOX tomorrow.

Look everyone, Lugo is in the lineup. There is an automatic out in our lineup!

hello?

Snakes up 2-0...