Game 112: Dodgers vs. Colorado Rockies 7:2

Welcome back Jeff Kent! Upon returning from the disabled list, Jeff Kent returned with two big hits. He also had a new feature to him -- a first baseman's mitt.

Kent homered, doubled and drove in three runs Monday night, as the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to ten games with a 7-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies. The four-time All-Star second baseman also made ten putouts in his first start at first base since last September.

"I was hoping he'd be rusty. He's not," Rockies manager
Clint Hurdle said. "He was going to come off the DL
sooner or later, and he's got some good history
against us. There's a handful of guys like that.
It's like a rock in your shoe or a burr in your saddle.
We can't seem to shake him."

Brad Penny improved to 12-5 on the year, after pitching eight strong innings for the Dodgers and allowed five hits. The only downside to his performance was the fact that he gave up to solo shots. The All-Star right-hander struck out four, walked none and helped himself with an RBI double.

"I was throwing a lot of changeups and breaking balls
early in the count," Penny said. "They were hitting the ball decent,
but right at people. And that's always huge for me. Fortunately,
I got a lot of early outs tonight and a lot of great defense behind me."

Penny continued his dominance over Colorado. He is 4-0 with a 0.99 ERA in four starts against the Rockies this season, and 9-2 in 14 career starts with a 2.16 ERA. That is the lowest by any pitcher against Colorado.

"Obviously, Penny has more than had his way with us.
He's dominated us," Hurdle said. "The problem tonight was
his first-pitch strikes. He was shaving corners away. Late
in the count, he was shaving corners in with his breaking ball.
He was just on top of his game."

Penny retired his first 11 batters and held a 4-0 lead before giving up a homerun. Another homer in the eighth cut the Dodgers' lead to 5-2, but J.D. Drew responded with a two-run double in the bottom half.

"We're doing everything good right now," manager
Grady Little said. "The pitchers have been consistent,
both the starters and relievers, and we've been getting some
good, timely hitting. We've got a different team right now
than we had a month ago. There's some different faces
out there and they've made a big difference in this ballclub."

The Dodgers' winning streak, which is five games shy of the franchise record set in 1924, began one game after Penny initiated a heated confrontation with center fielder Kenny Lofton.

Not to restart the debate, but maybe Penny's outburst resonated with the team.

"I think all of us had doubts at that time, but we went through it
and we learned from it," Little said. "They learned it's not the end
of the world. You're going to go through a lot of good times
and a lot of bad ones. It was just a matter of everyone doing
their job the best they could and seeing what they could do
to make a difference, and it's paying off.
Now we'll just continue to go forward."

Rockies pitcher, Josh Fogg allowed five runs, eight hits and four walks in four in a third innings. The right-hander was removed by Hurdle after giving up a bases-loaded RBI single by Julio Lugo that made the score 5-1. After crossing the foul line, Fogg crossed the line with plate umpire Sam Holbrook and was ejected after complaining too strongly about his call on a previous pitch.

Lofton, who was 3-for-5 with two stolen bases, tripled in the first inning and scored on Kent's two-out double. The Dodgers made it 2-0 in the second when Russell Martin singled and came home on Penny's double into the left-field corner.

Kent, who missed 18 games because of a strained muscle on his left side, drove in two more in the third with his 10th homer.

"He's not the most vocal guy, but he leads by the way he plays,"
Martin said. "He's a tough player and a tough competitor,
and you just kind of feed off that. And with him back in the lineup,
he's going to help us out a whole lot with his bat.
You could just see that he's locked in. Every swing he took
tonight was perfectly balanced and he was taking good hacks."

Three of the first seven Colorado batters were robbed of hits on diving plays by three different infielders. Kent smothered Brett Hawpe's smash up the line in the third and ran to the bag for the out.

"His defense was great," Jason Repko said. "I just think it's great
that he could come out here and just right away be willing to go
there and help the team wherever it's needed."

Some thoughts:

1) Andre Ethier went one for two, raising his average to .350 on the year. Is it too early to seriously be considering a shot at Rookie of the Year of Ethier?

2) Ricky Ledee seems to have finished his time in Los Angeles. He took his last at bat on Monday, as the Dodgers have put him on waivers and the New York Mets have claimed him.

Fantasy Roster Rundown -- Alberta Mariners, June 30th

As promised earlier, here's the start of updated roster moves on the team. The Yahoo Public teams I leave fairly constant, so there won't be many ch-ch-ch-changes... those that are changes are highlighted in red.

Batters:Catcher:
Jason Varitek, Boston Red SoxFirst Base:
Derek Lee, Chicago Cubs
Justin Morneau, Minnesota TwinsSecond Base:
Richie Weeks, Milwaukee BrewersThird Base:
Rich Aurilia, Cincinatti Reds
Garret Atkins, Colorado RockiesShortshop:
Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles DodgersOutfield:
Willy Taveras, Houston Astros
Austin Kearns, Cincinatti Reds
Jeff Francoeur, Atlanta Braves
Jason Bay, Pittsburg Pirates
Dmitri Young, Detroit Tigers
Aaron Rowand, Philadelphia Phillies
Pitchers:Starters:
Brett Myers, Philadelphia Phillies†
Jason Marquis, St. Louis Cardinals
Felix Rodríguez, Seattle Mariners
Bronson Arroyo, Cincinatti Reds
Rich Harden, Oakland AthleticsRelievers:
Fransisco Rodríguez, Los Angeles Angels
Scot Sheilds, Los Angeles Angels
Oscar Villarreal, Atlanta Braves
Eric Gagne, Los Angeles Dodgers

† This position is obviously going to be filled with a new pitcher, in light of the fact that Myers has been removed from professional baseball as a result of a minor wife-assaulting incident. A waiver request for Jamie Moyer is pending until July 3rd(!!!)

A Little Fudging and Smudging

Foreward:
At the beginning of this fine baseball year, Schuyla' and I made a few predictions regarding the fate of the divisions and various trophies. As we all know, these predictions don't always go the way we plan, and the All-Star Break seems as good a time as any to rethink our theories. Now to be clear, for the most part we'll be sticking to our guns, but there are a few glaring errors (mostly on my part), that need to be addressed. --Dyslexia

NL East:
Dyslexia picked Atlanta Braves, now picks New York Mets
Schuyla picked New York Mets, will stay.

NL Central:
Both picked St. Louis Cardinals. Both will stay.

NL West:
Dyslexia picked San Francisco Giants, will stay.
Schuyla picked Los Angeles Dodgers, will stay.

NL Wild Card:
Dyslexia picked New York Mets, now picks Atlanta Braves.
Schuyla picked Milwaukee Brewers, now picks Cincinnati Reds.

AL East:
Dyslexia picked New York Yankees, will stay.
Schuyla picked New York Yankees, now picks Boston Red Sox.

AL Central:
Dyslexia picked Cleveland Indians, now picks Chicago White Sox.
Schuyla picked Chicago White Sox, will stay.

AL West:
Dyslexia picked Oakland Athletics, will stay.
Schuyla picked Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, will stay.

AL Wild Card:
Dyslexia picked Boston Red Sox, will stay.
Schuyla picked Toronto Blue Jays, now picks Detroit Tigers.

NL MVP:
Dyslexia picked Andruw Jones, will stay.
Schuyla picked Albert Pujols, will stay.

AL MVP:
Dyslexia picked David Ortiz, will stay.
Schuyla picked Vlad Guerrero, now picks David Ortiz.

NL Cy Young:
Both picked Pedro Martinez. Dyslexia picks Brandon Webb; Schuyla picks Tom Glavine.

AL Cy Young:
Dyslexia picked Johan Santana, will stay.
Schuyla picked Roy Halladay, will stay.

NL Rookie of the Year:
Dyslexia picked Prince Fielder, will stay.
Schuyla picked Ryan Zimmerman, will stay.

AL Rookie of the Year:
Dyslexia picked Ian Kinsler, now picks Francisco Liriano.
Schuyla picked Joel Zumaya, now picks Francisco Liriano.

NL Manager of the Year:
Dyslexia picked Bobby Cox, now picks Willie Randolph.
Schuyla picked Ned Yost, now picks Willie Randolph.

AL Manager of the Year:
Dyslexia picked Eric Wedge, now picks Ozzie Guillen.
Schuyla picked John Gibbons, now picks Jim Leyland.

NLDS:
Dyslexia had Atlanta over New York in one series; St. Louis over San Fran in the other. He now has New York over Atlanta and St. Louis over San Fran.
Schuyla had St. Louis over Milwaukee and New York over the Dodgers. He now has New York over Cincinnati and Los Angeles over St. Louis.

NLCS:
Dyslexia had Atlanta over St. Louis. He now has the Mets over St. Louis.
Schuyla had New York over St. Louis; he now has the Mets over the Dodgers.

ALDS:
Dyslexia had Boston over Cleveland and New York over Oakland. He now has Boston over the White Sox and New York over Oakland.
Schuyla had Chicago over Toronto and New York over Anaheim. He now has Chicago over Anaheim and Detroit over Boston.

ALCS:
Dyslexia had New York over Boston and stays with that prediction.
Schuyla had Chicago over New York, he now has Chicago over Detroit.

WS:
Dyslexia had Atlanta over the Yankees. He now has a rematch of the 2000 Subway Series with the same result.
Schuyla had New York over Chicago. He stays.

Afterword:
In writing these rewrites, it seems like everyone has a tendency to stick to their guns unless they're obviously wrong. And my co-blogger, though I respect him somewhat, is an overzealous Yankees fan and Met hater. I applaud him for his candor above, though he has apparently not looked at the standings. The Tigers will need a collapse of epic proportions to miss the playoffs and the Yankees certainly have some catching up to do. And while I think he passed the latest round of Dick Pound-approved Crosstown Rivals drug testing, he picked the 40-49 Braves who are 13.5 games out to make the playoffs. For now, his predictions are far more ambitious than mine. And in this case, ambitious means "more likely to be wrong." Just kidding, Dyslexia. --Schuyla

Crosstown Rivals is sponsored by JustGreatTickets.com, your home for Chicago White Sox Tickets.

DIRECTV Now Offering Regional Baseball in HD

DIRECTV announced today that it will now be offering Major League Baseball games in HD courtesy of the regional sports networks that broadcast them. From the release:

"DIRECTV is now broadcasting all MLB games produced in HD from the following RSNs: FSN Prime Ticket (Los Angeles Dodgers), FSN West (Los Angeles Angels), FSN Bay Area (San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's), FSN South (Atlanta Braves), FSN Houston (Astros), FSN Detroit (Tigers), FSN Florida (Marlins, Devil Rays), SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland Indians), FSN North (Minnesota Twins), FSN Northwest (Seattle Mariners), FSN Arizona (Diamondbacks), FSN Rocky Mountain (Colorado Rockies) and Turner South (Atlanta Braves).

"On July 18, HD MLB games from YES Network (Yankees) and FSN Southwest (Rangers HD games will be seen only in the Dallas DMA) will be available, as well as a continuous 24/7 HD feed from NESN HD (Red Sox). In August DIRECTV will deliver HD MLB games from SportsNet New York (Mets), as well as continuous 24/7 HD feeds from Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic HD (Orioles) and Comcast SportsNet Chicago HDTV (Cubs, White Sox)."

Notably absent from this carriage deal are my San Diego Padres...

However, lest you get too excited, here's a caveat: "The RSNs' HD games will be broadcast by DIRECTV via a local market spot beam, and as a result, the RSN programming will be available only to those customers who live within the local DMA (designated market area) spot beam and the RSN team territory. The games will be available at no extra charge."

So you'll be able to watch your home team's games in HD but not any of the others around the country. For that, you'd have to subscribe to the MLB Extra Innings package, but it's unclear exactly how many baseball games in HD you would receive. Another caveat is that you'll need DIRECTV's new MPEG4 receiver with the five-line LNB dish to get these HD channels.

In addition to the MLB games, DIRECTV will also carry NHL and NBA games that are televised on the RSNs when their seasons start in the fall.

This announcement is a big deal because the cable companies often use the fact that they offer the regional sports networks in HD as justification for choosing cable over satellite. Many analysts, myself included, have confirmed that rationale. But as with local broadcast networks, which are becoming more and more available in high-def over satellite around the country every week after having been available only via cable or an antenna for a couple of years, the regional sports networks will no longer be the exclusive provence of the cable providers. For fans of baseball and competition in the marketplace, that can only be seen as a home run.

Out and about

(click on thumbnails for larger images)

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline with son Sean


Kirsten Dunst in Soho


Mandy Moore at a game at Dodgers Stadium


Gwyenth Paltrow in London


Lindsay and a friend in NYC


Jessica Biel at the What a Pair! concert in LA


Beyonce and Jay-Z leaving Cipriani


At the Disney Celebrity Carnival:
Thandie Newton, Zooey Deschanel, Kristin Cavalleri


Rachel Bilson, Michelle Trachtenberg, Lacey Chabert

source 1, source 2, source 3, source 4

TALE of 2/2006:THE CITY WE KNEW AND THE CITY NOW

Monday, June 19th, 2006Performance and interactive forum about urban erasure and the meaning of community Fomenting ARTS' bicoastal series of "re-collection events," continues on July 9 at the Skirball Cultural Center with THE CITY WE KNEW AND THE CITY NOW, featuring a new selection of readings from playwright/performance artist Heather Woodbury's soon-to-premiere play TALE OF 2CITIES: AN AMERICAN JOYRIDE ON MULTIPLE TRACKS performed by Ann Magnuson, John Fleck, and others. The event also features presentations by West Side community groups and another open discussion about the absence and presence of neighborhood in our lives. West Side community contributions: a five minute documentary about Lincoln Place evictions by former resident Erin Grayson and a sampling of music related to the event's themes of American diaspora from music critic Josh Kun, author of AUDIOTOPIA: MUSIC, RACE, AND AMERICA.Sunday, July 9, 2pm, Skirball Cultural Center2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049 Advance tickets: Available via TicketWeb at (866) 468-3399 or www.ticketweb.com, or on site at the Skirball Admissions Desk during regular hours. Tickets also available at the door, subject to availability. General Information: (310) 440-4500 or www.skirball.org $8 general admission, $5 Skirball members, students and for those who bring an image that speaks to the project's central concern of urban erasure. THERE GOES THE BARRIO, the first in Fomenting ARTS' bicoastal series of "re-collection events," was held on May 31st at Los Angeles Central Library as part of the ALOUD lecture and performance series. The sneak preview reading of selections from Tale of 2Cities featured, among a stellar cast, beloved film actor John C. Reilly and sardonic Six Feet Under writer Jill Soloway. The actors also read poems by 7th grade students from Boyle Heights' Dolores Mission School, and films by the Echo Park Film Center's �Young Filmmakers� were screened. Spontaneous participants in the open forum included Dion Neutra, the architect who planned a public housing project where Dodgers Stadium now sits, partisans of the South Central Community Farm, and the visibly moved teacher of the �Boyle Heights Poets�. The event was called "visionary" by one audience member. Another said the evening "rejuvenated my hope for theater in LA." On July 9th, audience members are encouraged to bring photographs, accounts of neighborhoods past and present and other memorabilia that speak to the play's central concern of "urban erasure." These are duplicated and collected in NY/LA �community scrapbooks" and grow as the series continues. They will travel with the upcoming bicoastal production of the play, with some elements contributing to the projection-based set design.Following THE CITY NOW AND THE CITY WE KNEW, the "re-collection" series will move to New York with BROOKLYN BALL TEAMS AND WRECKING BALLS on August 6th at the Brooklyn Baseball Gallery in Coney Island and THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT NEW YORK NEIGHBORHOODS on August 22nd at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy's Tobacco Warehouse.Cultural Sponsors of the 2Cities �Re-collection� project: The Baseball Reliquary, Boyle Heights Poets/Dolores Mission School, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, Brooklyn Baseball Gallery, Casa 0101, Casa Del Pueblo, Councilman Eric Garcetti , The Eagle Rock Arts Center, Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles Central Library, Performance Space 122, Progressive Jewish Alliance, Semio(e)text, Skirball Cultural Center, UCLA LIVE.ABOUT TALE OF 2CITIES�Entrancing and exhilarating�molding gut-wrenching truths and hilarious caricatures into a portrait of the family of man�past and present.� --Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-TimesTale of 2Cities:An American Joyride on Multiple Tracks is a six-act, two-part play about contemporary urban displacement and the reverberations caused by the Dodgers� historic 1957 transplant to L.A. Tale won both an NEA Fellowship and a Kennedy Award while in development at the NY Public Theater. It premieres this October at UCLA Live in Los Angeles and Performance Space 122 in New York with a multi-racial ensemble cast. It will be published by semio(e)text/MIT press in September, 2006.Tale of 2Cities is a collision of life-stories from New York and Los Angeles spun into an epic mix by a young Echo Park DJ mourning his grandmother's death and traces the impact of displacement on three generations of characters on both coasts when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved across country. From the rise of Senator McCarthy to the fall of the twin towers, "Tale swoops through cities and drops into the minds of a mini-series worth of major and minor characters." (David Cote, Timeout NY) Heather Woodbury is the founder and artistic director of Fomenting ARTS Unlimited, Inc., which was founded upon the belief that sharing the "foment" of theatrical and literary work as it develops is a means of drawing together people of various ages, ethnicities, regions and economic status, as well as bridging the gap between artist and community. Her first living novel, What Ever (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2003) was a ten-hour solo theater piece, directed by Dudley Saunders, which toured the U.S and Europe, and was adapted as a radio play hosted by Ira Glass. Woodbury recently won the inaugural Spalding Gray Award, initiated by UCLA LIVE and PS 122 and Kathleen Russo, Gray's widow, for "writer/performers who fully realize both aspects of Gray�s legacy" and are "fearless innovators". Directed by Saunders and featuring a cast from both cities, 2Cities co-premieres in LA (at UCLA Live's Fifth Annual International Theatre Festival) and in NY in October 2006.  

Signings Galore

Jim Bowden has had his red contractin' pen out a lot lately, ensuring that the New Orleans Zephyrs will have the highest average age in the PCL.

In order of usefulness:

Felix Rodriguez officially signed. Frodo, a right-handed reliever, got a one-year $600K contract, which contains a wacky bonus structure which pays another $650K if he's still floating around the team at various points of the season.

Rodriguez appears to be this season's Hector Carrasco or Antonio Osuna (remember him?) veteran arm signing. Hopefully for the Nats, he'll be a lot closer to the former than to the latter.

Frodo had a bad year last year, but that's expected when you go to the Yankees. Between their all-world horrid defense, a manager who hates relievers not named Rivera or Stanton, and a pitching coach who's obsessed with pitching to contact, there's little margin for error. A few bad appearances early, and a wonky knee later, and he found himself as the 14th man on a 12-man pitching staff.

Instead, look to his previous seasons, where he was excellent. Dominant, at times. His strikeout rate was down last year (always a red flag), but the injury and pitching coach are strong possibilities for that. For his career, opposing hitters have batted .238/ .331/ .357 against him, the mark of an excellent reliever.

My only question about the signing is wondering where he fits in. Obviously he should be one of the top relievers, but the pen now has Cordero, Ayala, Majewski, Frodo, Eischen and Stanton all with guaranteed contracts. There's no room for Bergmann, Hughes, Rasner, Bray, etc. And there's no room for the loser of the Rauch/Drese/Armas starter battle. It's been mentioned that Bowden could use some as trade bate, but how much is a bullpen arm not named Gagne/Wagner/Lidge really going to get you? Just like second base (and the entire infield) there are too many warm bodies making too much money for the slots on the team.

Royce Clayton signed a minor league contract, and apparently is content with being a backup. Clayton, in some circles, is being looked on as some kind of saviour. He's more of a false idol.

He turns 36 next year, and hasn't had a good offensive season (non-Coors-aided) since 2001. Worse, his OPS+ (which compares him to league average and adjusts for park) over the last four years has been 73, 64, 76, 73. Cristian Guzman's career OPS+? 73. So even if Clayton doesn't suffer any more age-related decline, the best we can hope for is a typical Cristian Guzman season. Still, a typicaly Cristian Guzman season is literally worth 2 or 3 more wins than last year's version.

Defensively, it'd probably be a stretch to say he's better than Guzman. Guzman's not especially good, but he's not horrible either. I just don't have much faith in a 36-year old being a good defensive shortstop, especially when he was never considered a gold-glover in his prime. For what it's worth he's ranked below Guzman in the Probablistic Model of Range (yeah, I think that's a clunky name, too). I'm not completely comfortable with his methodology, and I sure wouldn't rely on it as the sole tool of evaluation.

Having Clayton around isn't going to kill anyone, but if you're counting on him to be anything other than replacement level, you're asking too much. He's definitely not the saviour.

Daryle Ward was officially signed a minor-league deal (I don't think I mentioned it after becoming official). Ward's a decent left-handed bat off the bench, but he, too, doesn't seem to have a place on the roster. He'd be behind NJ, Fick, and Anderson on the first-base depth chart. I just can't see a way he'd be able to make the roster barring catastrophic injury. (and if there was a serious injury, maybe the team would want to give Larry Broadway a tryout?)

Ward's not much of a defensive player. He's played some corner outfield in the past, but was pretty horrible. (Did you know that Nick Johnson has played the outfield, too?)

Offensively, he's passable. He's strictly a platoon hitter, though. He's hit just .238/ .281/ .329 against lefties over the last three years. Against righties he's markedly better: .248/ .304/ .420. That's not really good for someone who doesn't play defense, but part of that also reflects the difficult home parks he's had over that period: PNC and Dodgers Stadium.

Valerio de los Santos also earned himself a minor-league deal. Were it not for the fact that he throws left-handed, he'd be looking for a real-world job now.

Unfortunately, he's not especially good against lefties. Over the last three years, they've knocked him around: .277/ .343/ .437. Against righties, he's even worse.

With Eischen and Stanton entrenched on the roster, he's going to have to hope that Joey Eischen does his Flipper impersonation again. If one of those two goes down, de los Santos will get his chance to do a Joe Horgan impersonation.

George Lombard earned himself a minor-league deal, where he'll be sure to entertain the Zephyrs fans with his all-or-nothing swing.

Lombard, who was once a hot prospect for the Braves, turns 31 next year. He's only seen extended playing time in one Major League season, despite having cracks at 5. In 2002, he hit .241/ .300/ .373 in over 200 ABs for the Tigers. He spent the last two seasons having moderate success smacking the ball around Rhode Island.

Purely a depth signing, Lombard bats lefty, so if something breaks with the Church/Watson/Byrd/Soriano/Sosa/Hondo logjam in the outfield, he could sneak a few ABs as a 6th outfielder.

I've lost track of all the 40-man roster comings and goings, but they outrighted Francis Beltran today, taking him off the roster. Beltran visited the good doctor Andrews in March, finding himself with a brand new elbow. It'll be a long season of rehab for him.

I'm sure glad I didn't have to type Sammy Sosa's name. (And I hope that that doesn't jinx it.) The Post says he's waiting for a guaranteed deal. Am I the only one who thinks he'd look great in a jersey for the Nippon Ham Fighters?