pure science with a splash of black cat

Early-morning sanity for ya.

What it really comes down to is, you’ve got nine innings to get through. Do you want five great innings from Billingsley, or seven mediocre ones from Jon Garland? I know which way I’m leaning.

Seven mediocre, slow innings…

No, seriously, I agree with this wholeheartedly and with the Dodger Thoughts post MSTI refers to. Our ‘pen is stacked. Put them to good use.

So, here’s what we’ve got. The younger player who can hit lefties and had some upside sits while two older players who can’t hit anyone - and let’s face it, their careers are over - play. Makes total sense!

Olivia and I have been bitching about this for the last two days (or, you know, longer, because we like Blake better than Castro or MWSNBN). I lovelovelove these kinds of things where everyone sees a problem except the people who need to see it.

This is not a suggestion that the team will stop playing like ass simply because Torre stops starting shitty players. But that might be a nice way to start getting them to stop playing like ass, n’est-ce pas?

oliviaaarrgh:

Thank you. I hate the complete misconception that Juan Pierre was our savior when Manny was out. He wasn’t. He was great for two weeks (and I will admit that because, well, it was true) and then sucked for the rest. In that period of time, it wasn’t just Pierre who lifted us. We had other people who stepped up. As much as Manny is struggling, I rather have Manny up there in a clutch situation over Pierre, every single time. No questions.

Also read: Eric Karros Brings the Crazy - a continuation of this entry.

Please read so you feel a little more educated than the fine folks at ESPN who are still convinced that Juan Pierre himself kept the Dodgers on a roll when Manny got suspended.

Things like this are why I almost completely avoid mainstream media in favor of blogs. Blogs have their crackpots, to be sure, but most of them actually follow the team(s) they’re discussing, and if they’re modern enough to appreciate blogging as a journalistic medium, they also tend to appreciate sabermetrics and more advanced thinking in baseball than the batting-average-and-wins-are-awesome attitude that still, for some completely inexplicable reason, pollutes mainstream media. I swear I will destroy the next jackhole who writes a column that amounts to “I won’t use VORP because it has a stupid name.”

Nice tangent there.

Also, even though this still has nothing to do with MSTI’s post (which I agree was brilliant and sadly necessary), I’m fucking sick of people referring to this team as “Manny and the Dodgers.” It’s not Manny’s team. It’s not. It’s not. It’s not. It’s our team and Manny plays on it and that’s that. I hate how the media does that with every team, really, considering none of them are comprised of one dude and scattered extras, but, of course, this one is particularly grating. And it manifests itself in other ways, like people who can’t understand how the Dodgers can win when Manny’s struggling.

And fucking funny enough, they were without Manny for 50 games and the media gets that Pierre stepped up (they have that general idea correct with all of the details wrong) in his place, but they don’t get that with anyone else on this team. AT ALL. It’s enough to make one’s brain explode.

Standard Plaschke fare with an introduction and analysis worthy of…well, you know.

Folks, meet William Plaschke Shakespeare. William Plaschke Shakespeare, the younger, less talented and evil twin brother of the great William Shakespeare, has struck the world with more blithering non-sense and even worse hypocrisy in his latest column.

Being prepared for this moment, I must first provide you with some background…

Growing up together, William Plaschke Shakespeare was always envious of his older brother’s work. After the elder William’s triumphant successes with “Romeo & Juliet,” “Hamlet,” “Lady MacBeth,” and more, William-Plaschke killed his older brother and immediately ran away to California, thus he was his only mother’s son, and a desperate one.

After awaiting the next 425 years to find work, he was hired by the L.A. Times in 1987. Since then, he has been extracting revenge on the audience that supported his brother through his miserable columns.