If anyone still wants to hang out and chat in the comments, feel free …
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Anonymous
How painful was the bottom of the 8th last night? How great was Matty’s home run? I barely survived the game without Dodger Thoughts.
Anonymous
Totally agree with everything, especially not surviving without DT . . . misery DOES love company . . . as does joy!
Anyone know of another site which provides open, in-game comments like DT? I was going down the list Jon provided and nothing seemed to do it.
Guess this is another case of ‘You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.’ :(
Anonymous
Been to a handfull of the other sites listed, have not seen anything close yet. Anybody else???
Anonymous
I agree Bruce. I’ve glanced at others every so often over the past few years and have no desire to read or participate at any. If we get a new thread every so often here, I’ll stay around.
Anonymous
Me too :)
Anonymous
I’ll hang around here too
Max Dibble
True Blue LA is amazing blog that offers in game chat threads with a community of commenters around 50, maybe more. I also thoroughly enjoy Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness. Both blogs also offer professional level of analysis. I strongly suggest you give those to blogs a shot.
Anonymous
Thanks, Max — I’ll give them a try, tho I hope DT continues, in some incarnation!
DXMachina
Thanks for all the hard work, Jon. It’s been a pleasure, and I will miss D.T. a lot.
Anonymous
Last night was incredible! We all hope Matt gets on track, however, we have also seen too many games recently with moments like this that were supposed to get the Ds on a roll – only to stumble!
Let’s hope the power from the middle of the lineup is back and the runs start piling up!
Jon – really grateful for all the time and talent you put into Dodger Thoughts. It was been part of my morning routine for quite some time now! I just can’t believe you are pulling the plug with 15 games to go! Yikes. I am sure it wasn’t an easy call – but c’mom man!
Felton Suthon
Jon – being a Dodger fan in New Orleans has evolved a great deal over the years. When I was a boy, I would get partial line scores in the morning paper and would eagerly await my father’s return from work so I could get the score and the standings. Box scores? that was a luxury for when I could get the Sporting News and review the entire week of box scores. My father usually brought home the Form over the weekend instead of the Sporting News, and I loved the Form every bit as much as the Sporting News and the box scores. Today, I can get scores and box scores almost as they happen, there is no more evening paper and the morning paper will soon only print three times per week. DT filled s crucial gap in providing Dodger information EVERY day. I cannot thank you enough for all the work you’ve done. I have to admit that it was obvious upon your return from Toronto that your heart was elsewhere and I mostly want you and your family to be happy. I write a weekly email about the Saints here that I share with freinds and others who enjoy reading it and it’s a lot of work even if it’s an enjoyable burden
All this said, I think it’s a nice group of Dodger fans we have here and I enjoy the community. I don’t want to go to mlb.com or espn for Dodger information, I want to visit here with people who are as passionate about the Dodgers as I am – people who pour their hearts into their comments and discuss the state of Dodger affairs as if the world hung in the balance. It’s a lovely distraction from the real world. I’d like to propose that DT use this platform and perhaps rotate people like Bob etc who might keep this going.
Anyway, Jon, thanks for a terrific ride and best to you in the future- you sure added a lot to my life.
Anonymous
i sure hope Bob or etc. takes on the commitment, the essence of Dodger Thoughts in my humble opinion is needed…
Anonymous
very nice post, esp. the second paragraph which, truly, made me happy to read although I do hope some get the reference.
Anonymous
MSTI is a mix of informed commentary and juvenilia that would benefit from some of Jon’s discipline.
Anonymous
I find this on a lot of them.
Anonymous
Sadly true.
Anonymous
Ken Arneson at it again – i have to add that the video for “How will You Measure Your Life” was posted a few months back on his links blog but i’m so very glad he has a formal post for it now. It’s one of those you’ll take with you every where you go, and one you just wont ever forget.
Adam Luther
Jon, I savored every last word of your book. I actually read it over the course of the last three years or so, just completing it last week, all the while wondering if there would be a an update – so great news there!
Anonymous
I took a look at TBLA yesterday once I read Jon’s “Waivers” posting.
Eric Stephen posted a very nice and candid tribute to Jon Weisman. Worth the read for sure.
…..
I did, however, run across something which I found ‘unfortunate’ …. so to speak.
…..
Below Eric’s posting, I found a comment by Hollywood Joe which read;
“Without DT, I would have never come to TBLAwithout the people from DT, I would have never stayed at TBLA – the
first 30 seconds of a game thread would have run me off forever.”…..I’ve blogged with H-Joe, and I know he’s a huge Dodger fan with some great things to say. We haven’t always seen ‘eye-to-eye’…but, such is life. Frankly, any blog/discussion would be boring if everybody agreed on everything. IMHO. …..To me, it just reminds me that, no matter how old we get, ‘the schoolyard’ never leaves us.There will always be those who think they’re ‘too cool for school’ …. then, there’s everybody else.Not only did I find his statement insulting to those who have been loyal to Jon and DT, but I also found it unnecessarily snarky. Hey, we’re all big enough Dodger fans that we find ourselves on the blog.There’s something to be said for being candid and honest, and H-Joe is certainly entitled to his opinion, however…..It left me wondering if I even would want to hop over to TBLA (or any other blog) and participate, despite how much I enjoy Eric’s insight and postings. Honestly, who needs that type of criticism from other bloggers?
Anonymous
I agree with most of the comments about the other blog sites. I like Eric Stephen’s writing but the comments there are certainly not up to comments here. May I suggest Eric Stephen go out on his own, create a blog much like Dodger Thoughts and tone it to appeal to commenters here?
Anonymous
I think you might be overreacting, or misinterpreting what HJ meant. From the comments over the last couple days, it’s clear that for some people, the game threads were the best part of DT, and are the best part of TBLA. For me, those were the only threads that I avoided. I’m the kind of fan who watches baseball with the sound off, unless Vinnie is calling the game. So watching the game along with several hundred others just wasn’t fun for me – I don’t really need 40 people repeating “NICE HIT,” or “BISON!!!!” let alone going apoplectic over every perceived mistake, missed call, whatever. In those sorts of threads, the absence of Jon’s rules really makes the TBLA comments harder to enjoy. That’s my personal opinion. I certainly don’t begrudge others that pleasure, if pleasure it be, but for me, that was not interesting. Moreover, while I read every post at DT and TBLA, and I read through every (non-game thread) comment section at DT, I can rarely keep up in real time. I check in the morning and evening, and so conversations that span a couple days, with a few dozen comments are great, but when the numbers get into the hundreds, there’s no way to participate in a chaotic game thread that happened hours before.
I certainly appreciate Eric’s insider access to news stories about the team, and his game recaps. And Phil and David and the others at TBLA are fun to read too. Jon’s niche has been to take a slightly broader, more philosophical perspective on the meaning of it all – more an analyst than a reporter. He is also a highly skilled writer. Those are the things I’ll miss most.
I don’t think HJ meant to insult anyone, or to act superior. He was expressing his own taste, and it’s one I happen to share. Maybe it’s just that we old guys can’t really get as much pleasure out of the “schoolyard” as we used to. Totally fine for the schoolyard to persist – just not everyone’s cup of tea.
Anonymous
Reply fail – my comment was intended as a response to JonnyTAFKAJ.
Anonymous
Well said, my man.
Anonymous
Wonderful post. Sans Vinny I too find myself watching a game without the sound to avoid the senseless chatter that seems to exist in the booth and I can’t stomach the school yard mentality which can permeate not only the blog but also the pressbox.
Anonymous
I actually liked the NICE HIT – BISON sort of comments , because way over here I would get an idea if we are doing well before gameday or gamecast. It added to the excitement for me.
i appreciate you point of view on that however
Anonymous
Oh, I never minded such comments. It was just that with lots of people watching the game “together” everyone would type the same thing. So there’d be 30 “BISON!!!” comments in a row. Nothing wrong with that at all. Just not the most interesting threads for me.
Anonymous
There’s an elder in a place i frequent that reminds us every now & again, “Don’t plant the seed of negativity”. By no means am i an intellectual, but i enjoy intellectual disagreements because you can always learn something from them…
Anonymous
“perhaps rotate people like Bob etc who might keep this going.”
Any reason we can’t keep the dialog going here, even if Jon doesn’t open things up with a post? It would only require somebody to update the site each day with an open thread.
Anonymous
Maybe Jon will give somebody the keys…..
So, they can open up the place in the morning. :-)
Anonymous
Interesting idea. Jon could then stop in when he wants to and join the conversation, but not feel obligated to do so.
My only concern is that without a moderator, things might get out of hand. Even if he stops blogging, Jon owns the DodgerThoughts brand, and I’d hate for the place to turn into something that besmirches the fine reputation he’s cultivated for so long. If it’s just “us regulars” hanging out in a little secret corner of the internet, OK, but the absence of government in an anarchic world might soon return us to the Hobbesian state of nature (“where life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”).
Still, reinvention is not impossible. Here in Westwood, there used to be an excellent brewpub (Westwood Brewing). Then it became an awful brewpub, specializing in syrupy-sweet junk to attract young women (who would in turn track young men). That change failed, but then it changed again into merely a taproom, no longer brewing its own stuff, but merely serving an excellent selection from elsewhere (as well as a few taps of fizzy, watery macro-brew swill to pay the bills). Same name over the door, different product. Not quite as good as the original, but certainly not bad.
Anonymous
References to Hobbesian states of nature are why I hang out here.
Anonymous
What he said.
Jibin Park
There would probably be a lot of self-policing that would occur on this forum. By making a comment, we are implicitly entering into a Social Contract not unlike Rousseau’s…
Jon Weisman
Plato and the cave relevant to this chat at all?
Anonymous
I wont comment on this until I read The Prince.
Anonymous
But of course!
Jason Ungar
yes I think we already self police. Jon is usually the last person to remind someone of a rule violation. I am a stay at home dad as some of you know. I would have the time sometime each day and be able to make it a routine (or help out in a group effort) if that’s something Jon and others wanted. I would feel no obligation other than to reset things and maybe add a few bubble points. Another thought is that maybe Jon would be willing to review others more long term work and possibly post it. I am not talking about daily stuff but maybe someones favorite dodger was Steve Sax. Go to town and write a Steve Sax post. That would get people talking as well.
Anonymous
Especially those injured by Saxy’s errant throws.
foul tip
Sign in the stands behind 1B at a Dodgers-Braves game in Atlanta during his time with the team:
“Hit the ball to Sax. I want a souvenir.”
KT
I was thinking along those same lines
Anonymous
In response to Johnny and the keys, back in my truckin days I went to a REAL small town in southern Utah to pick up a load of spuds. Found the town cafe, place was packed on Sunday morning. When I took the last seat at the counter and asked for a menu, the gent behind the counter told me the place was really closed, the owner just left the keys where everybody knew where they were, so they’d have a place to meet for coffee. I christen thee, new post DT blog, Minersville, Utah.
Anonymous
That would be great, Jason and KT. May I suggest you make that a formal offer to Jon soon so what you suggest can happen.
KT
well until it’s official and i hope it happens because I like the community here…I’ll head over to MSTI for game chat
Anonymous
Self-policing is sufficient for business as usual. But ultimately, it relies on somebody holding “the big stick behind the door.” Even eBay wouldn’t work without the court system as the ultimate sanction.
Jason Ungar
I agree. It’s always nice to be able to say just wait till your father gets home!! But it may be worth a try..Maybe not..I don’t know!
Anonymous
Rousseau is precisely the problem. He relied on men behaving more and more like angels – an inveterate optimist. Hobbes (and Locke and Madison) were more realistic about human nature.
Anonymous
Dodger Blog – TBFKADT ….
….
“The Blog Formerly Known as Dodger Thoughts” …
:-)
Anonymous
Or maybe Minersville, UT…TBFKADT
Anonymous
Thank you, Jon, for a wonderful decade of Dodger information and insight. I hope the cycle, eventually, comes around again. I take a lot of comfort in knowing you’re still out there, and your voice has not been lost.
Anyone have the lineup for tonight’s game in Washington?
Anonymous
M. Ellis 2b
S. Victorino lf
M. Kemp cf
A. Gonzalez 1b
H. Ramirez ss
A. Ethier rf
L. Cruz 3b
A.J. Ellis c
C. Capuano p
Anonymous
More on Dodger ferm hands in the WBC qualifying round. This time from Chris Jackson:
http://www.examiner.com/article/dodgers-duo-struggles-israel-s-victory
foul tip
Wonder if there is a chance Dee Gordon goes somewhere for further development this offseason? Could be one of the Dodgers’ better moves in a long time if so.
Anonymous
To learn 2B
Anonymous
Wouldn’t Cruz make a better #2 hitter right now over Victorino?
Anonymous
(If and only if) Cruz would make a better hitter than Victorino no matter which place in the batting order you’re talking about.
Anonymous
Nats getting all the hits so far…
Anonymous
Nothing new in that :)
Anonymous
Good by Jon. Maybe if I introduce my wife to THE VOTE she will enjoy you there as much as I enjoyed you here.
Fred
Anonymous
I still wear my GHAME OVER shirt. Thanx for everything
Anonymous
Ooph. Zimmerman.
Linkmeister
RE: moving to new game thread hangout:
I like the neighborhood I’m in and don’t want to go to a new one! Won’t won’t won’t!
(There. My inner two-year-old feels better.)
Bob Bartholomew
“As our boat sinks slowly in the west” – Spike Jones
Anonymous
So Jon or anyone if you could recommend a site that is the closest thing to dodgerthoughts what would it be?
Linkmeister
I’ve looked at TBLA’s game threads and at Howard Cole’s ColeonLA.com game threads; neither are anywhere near as polite as DT’s are. There’s nothing wrong with them, but they’re pretty rowdy. Jon’s rules really did do their job here.
Anonymous
The civility and politeness of DT have been two of its many plusses. I have no interest in reading posts or posting on a site that lacks those two elements.
Anonymous
This game is like the spoiled cherry on top of the spoiled sundae. I miss DT!!!! I hate this!!!! Okay. I’m done whinin’. Onward, friends. Hope we meet again someday.
Anonymous
It is amazing, isn’t it, how this team has fared so badly over the past few weeks. And been so relentlessly unable to take advantage of opportunities. But, then again, the Titanic cost a lot of money to construct also.
Anonymous
I agree, I feel a bit hollow inside
Linkmeister
I’ve already got a blog, a host, and space, so let me see what it would take to create a separate blog for Dodger Thoughts refugees.
Anonymous
I’d be happy to come over (especially if everyone came over)
Linkmeister
I’m researching. I’d want to talk to Jon about copying much of what he’s got here, from format to rules to the comment system. Once I find out what’s involved I’ll post here in this thread and also at my place in the thread here: http://linkmeister.com/wordpress/?p=8542
I have a note in to my host asking how to go about installing a new blog, but their operation is in Florida, so I can’t realistically expect to hear much back till tomorrow.
Linkmeister
It would be WordPress, just like this one is. Keeping the same commenting system is a snap, so nobody would have to change login data. I have the space. I’ll get in touch with Jon about formats and themes.
I think I’d have to name it something similar but not the same, because we’d want to keep DT’s archives intact here. Dodger Visions? Dodger Details? Dodger Disasters? ;)
peter drysdale
The way things have gone lately Dodger Disasters is probably most appropriate.Lol
Jason Ungar
me too…
Anonymous
Today, the day after Jon was put on waivers, feels so weird. It doesn’t feel right.
Anonymous
Great to see Jansen back on the mound (if only for 3 pitches)
Anonymous
RISP 0-1 – (only 1 !!! ).
I fear our season is coming rapidly to an end
Anonymous
A remarkably disappointing end, at that, to a season that offered so much promise for so long. From 7.5 games in front to 10 games behind.
Anonymous
Plus the blockbuster trades that got us excited. In saying that, I think we will be a strong contender next year. Crawford should be a considerable upgrade on Victorino.
It would also be handy if we had all of our pitchers stay healthy all or most of the year.
Anonymous
Ha. I forgot all about Crawford being part of that deal. In his prime, a terrific player. But that was a long time ago.
Anonymous
I am a Crawford skeptic but hope I will be proved wrong.
Anonymous
I will stick around anything that remains of Dodger Thoughts or related venues ala LinkMeister and others. It is too bad that the Dodgers are playing so terribly at a time like this, but DT was always about Dodger fans who would stick through thick and thin, stay for the good and the bad, root through rain and sun, etc,etc.
Linkmeister
It
would be WordPress, just like this one is. Keeping the same commenting
system is a snap, so nobody would have to change login data. I have the
space. I’ll get in touch with Jon about formats and themes.
I think I’d have to name it something similar but not the same,
because we’d want to keep DT’s archives intact here. Dodger Visions?
Dodger Details? Dodger Disasters? ;)
Anonymous
Good for you! Thank you. How about Dodger Journeys?
Anonymous
Dodger Tropes?
Anonymous
Bums Thoughts?
Dodger Magic?
Chavez Clubhouse?
NPUT?
Linkmeister
NPUT seems a little too insider-y to me. Same goes for LAT’d. ;)
Anonymous
Dodger Dreams
Casey Barker
Is this heaven?
Tycho
It’s Iowa.
Casey Barker
Good one!
Tycho
Jon,
Have you seen the latest trailer for “42” with Harrison Ford? It looks good. You have to come back and post a few things on Dodger Thoughts about the movie. I believe this is due out in April, so that’s a good sign. Studios with no faith would have placed it in late winter right? They can’t screw this one up can they?
For those interested in the trailer – http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/42/
Edited to add trailer.
Champ Kind
Ha ha, Tycho I wanted to post the exact same message. I figured if anyone would have a perfect comment/review of both the trailer, and eventually, the film itself, it would be Jon. Would love to get his take.
Obviously I’m biased, but I think the film looks good. A few minor points, Jackie never would have flipped his bat and posed at the plate, as he does in the trailer. That’s some Barry Bonds ego flexing garbage. Also his voice, Jackie had more a mid-western nasally voice, like Eddie Murphy’s impression of white people.
But Harrison looks really strong, very surprising.
Tycho
Growing up in LA how did Jackie get that accent? Or, is that how he got his accent.
Anonymous
i don’t think there’s much i can add to what already has been said but i do recommend we take a vote as a group to see exactly what we want to do…
Anonymous
Sounds like some cat-herding.
Linkmeister
Let’s move the discussion of a new site over to my blog, okay? Go to this particular post and comment there: http://linkmeister.com/wordpress/?p=8542
Anonymous
Absurdity reaching a new level.
Tristian Espinoza
….
foul tip
Jon,
I’m late commenting on your self-imposed DFA. Hope it proves to be just a short visit to the DL. ;-])
Whatever happens, it had to be agonizing to step away from something you’ve poured so much of yourself into for so long with such dedication. In a fair world, someone emerges to pay you what you so richly deserve for DT…or for something very similar.
I really don’t have anything much to add to the thanks and tributes. I found DT in 2005, I think, and followed from afar through all along the way. While your commentary led the way, the community you fostered was another strong reason to keep coming back.
DT and its special breed of commenters brought many hours of enjoyment and insight. Not even sure how I stumbled onto it. Looking for more Dodger news on the web, probably….but, boy, was that a good day..
I thought–still do–that at its best, the Toaster incarnation in place when I found DT was about as good as the Internet gets, or even can. The off-topic trips that often took place there sometimes were as delightful as Dodger ones.
May something break your way so that you can do what you really want to.
Best in whatever happens.
Steve
Anonymous
3 games back with 12 to play :(
foul tip
And, my $.02 on an idea…
I once heard the sports editor of a metro daily say he was under contract to write 4 columns per week.
He said he’d learned that one would be pretty good, one pretty bad, and two somewhere in the middle.
I too once was a sports editor, for a mid-sized paper. There, fortunately, I had no such constraints and wrote when I felt I had something worthwhile to say, not when I had to–or felt I had to.
There was no question what I wrote when not forced to was better than it would have been otherwise. I know you want to keep your lofty standards but felt you couldn’t due to time and other constraints.
So…
Might I suggest you consider doing the same–write on the Dodgers when you need and want to? I’ve no doubt that after years of writing about and pretty much living the Dodgers, you still at least occasionally will have Dodger thoughts and insights worth sharing, either here or possibly on whatever new blog Link and others launch.
There will be no shortage of interest among your faithful to read them. And many of the faithful will check back from time to time, I’m sure, or want to keep up with you elsewhere.
All my very best.
Anonymous
I agree!
Jon Weisman
This is more or less my plan. When I have the time and the content, I will publish here again.
Anonymous
Without a doubt, the best news I’ve heard all day.
Anonymous
Well, that sounds hopeful at least. And here I was expecting you any moment to make an after-the-credits Ferris Buller appearance.
peter drysdale
Has anyone out there seen this crazy story? High school and college age pitchers wanting Tommy John surgery because they think it’ll help them throw faster.
http://health.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=31737&content=80364513&pageNum=-1
Anonymous
Absurdity reaches a new level.
Anonymous
“Melky Cabrera ruled ineligible to win batting crown”
http://www.csnbayarea.com/baseball-san-francisco-giants/giants-talk/EXCLUSIVE-Melky-Cabrera-ruled-ineligible?blockID=777029&feedID=2539
Anonymous
Now if only Barry Bonds can be ruled ineligible to retain his home run records, and Roger Clemens can be forced to return his Cy Young Awards.
Anonymous
I’m fine with their retaining the awards, as long as get to share a cell with Bud Selig for crimes against baseball.
Jason Ungar
Did you guys read that story about the pirates?
The Assistant GM has them running along the beach carrying telephone poles and
flipping truck tires in the outfield
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/pirates—hells-angels—–navy-seals–minor-league-training-methods-become-mlb-joke–.html
foul tip
Astoundingly asinine. What’s next, signing them up for MMA?
Anonymous
Cards just lost.
Any crumb…
Anonymous
A glimmer of hope!
Anonymous
Rivera starting in place of Victorino tonight….Can Blanton get through the first inning without allowing any runs?
Linkmeister
I don’t have the new space set up yet, but I put up a Game Thread at my regular site:
http://linkmeister.com/wordpress/?p=8547
Anonymous
Have any of you tried The Big Blue Wrecking Crew out? they’re refugees from the official chat board from about 11 years ago when some felt it got “overrun”. It’s a little clubby over there, maybe, but they’re tre Dodger knowledgeable and completely civil with eachother. I don’t know why they never get a mention. Maybe they don’t encourage new “members”, or something, for the chaos. I donno.
Anonymous
A show of greed. the Reds try to get more than they are allowed and give up bases. But next the dodgers get from Punto the expected amount. We are now back to a heads/tails situation where the Dodgers have a chance to get a run.
Bottom line-With all the sophisticated manuevering, sacrificing, and strategy, the Dodgers will most likely get nothing.See you later.
Linkmeister
Game thread over here: http://linkmeister.com/wordpress/?p=8555
I’m still designing the new blog. Consensus seems to be forming around “Elysian Fields” as a name. Weigh in over there.
Anonymous
2 games back with 11 to play :|
Anonymous
Barney, Blanton, and Beckett. Let’s do it, guys.
Anonymous
Let’s see if the Dodgers can pull off two in a row!
Anonymous
Beltran tied up the game for the Cardinals in the ninth.
Anonymous
What’s going on?? No John?
Anonymous
you better read the previous post. Some of us have gone over to Linkmeister (see 5 posts above)
Anonymous
Thanks to the great work of recently extended Ned Colletti the team has the following obligations among others:
Mark Ellis ! year 7.75 or 2 years for the bargain of 11
Juan Uribe 1 year 8
Tony Gwynn 1 year 1.15 (hard to believe)
Jerry Hairston 1 year 3.75
Nick Punto 1 year 1.5
Chris Capuano 1 year 7 or 2 years 12
Aaron Harang 1 year 9 or 2 years 14
Ted Lilly 1 year 12
Josh Beckett 2 years 31.5 (not Colletti’s fault imo)
Matt Guerrier 1 year 4 75
Also Rivera, Treanor, and Coffey have 2013 buy-outs or else they get 4, 0.95, and 2.5 respectively. Buyouts are 0.5, 0.15, 0.3, again, respectively.
all figures in millions of dollars.
Linkmeister
FYI, I’m tweaking its appearance, but I have a new game discussion site up and running. It can be found here: http://linkmeister.com/dodgers/
Anonymous
3 games back with 10 to play :(
Anonymous
Giants on their way to clinching. WBB, you can commence eating yur liver, Bro!
Anonymous
I will miss DodgerThoughts, and it comes at a truly sad time. As the fall begins, it seems the summer–which started so promising, with a should-be MVP hitting everything, a Cy Young starting off well (I did not really realize, but Kershaw has not really dropped off–he’s second in ERA and first in Ks–it’s just wins/luck that is different). And the new ownership lifted a cloud. And even with the injuries, the Dodgers were still leading at the All-Star Break. But even with moves that seem strong, they have lost the West (and by a lot), and seem dead in the Wild Card. And now, fall is upon us and Dodger Thoughts is going away. And while I have seen less of the Dodgers of late (due to a number of factors–a job that has taken me away from home and consumes more and more time through the end of the season, the Dodgers flaling, and trades that, although I agree wtih them, leave me somewhat disconnected from the team [Loney was one of my favorites, but I knew he was not long for the team, and understood that]), I still have faith that they are on the right track, and believe that if 2012 does not work out, renewed health, gelling of old and new players, and what seems to be finally a good ownership group, means that 2013 and beyond will be good.
But without DodgerThoughts staring into the off-season, the loss is even harder.
I do not comment that often, but always checked DodgerThoughts–it led the way, and Jon’s articles were always amongst the most insightful writing out there. It all reminds me of the Bart Giamatti quote:
“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in
the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer,
filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come,
it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to
buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive,
and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”
plaza23
Feels like Dodger Thoughts and the Dodgers died around the same time. Sad times indeed.
Anonymous
Testing.
Fredo's Dog
I’m still trying to figure out when the Dodgers are going to make their big move. Winning the division by five over Arizona, right? How are they going to swing that one?
Jeff Davis
Next year is our year…NOT this year. Too many changes with not enough time to gel together.
In the off season we will need to strengthen our starting pitching ( we need two good ones) and we also need another relief pitcher – possibly a veteran closer like a Rafael Soriano.
Beyond this we will be fine: Crawford, Kemp, Ethier, Castellanos, and either Van Slyke or Herrera in the outfield; Ramirez, Gordon, Cruz, M. Ellis, A. Gonzalez, Punto and Hairston in the infield; AJ Ellis and either Treanor or FedEx behind the plate. I see them dumping Uribe, Abreu, T Gwynn, and we all know that Jerry Sands and De La Rosa are going to Boston in the trade. Kershaw, Capuano, Lilly, Fife, Jansen, League, Belisario, Paco Rodriguez, Tolleson, Guerrier, Choate or Elbert, Wall. Not sure about Billingsley with his elbow issues and not sure if they’ll trade one of these guys. I don’t see Harang coming ack.We obviously need two front line starters…… guys like Greinke, Dempster, James Shields, Ricky Romero, Volquez, etc. Zach Lee, Chris Reed, Matt Magill and Ethan Martin are in the wings as starters, and Steven Ames is a good young reliever that is getting close.
foul tip
As well as Belli, Jansen, and League over his last several innings have done, why do you see a need for a veteran closer? League has a history as an All Star and seems to have regained that form.
As for starters, I don’t see Beckett mentioned. He has been considerably better with the Dodgers than with Boston, even showing signs he might have a good bit of gas in the tank. He has admitted he’s not what he was, but I see nothing that indicates he’s not a solid starter.
Harang is likely to be back. He’s under contract and has been solid most of the time, even if the Cy Young is just out of his reach, let alone his grasp. ;-])
Short of a Greinke caliber starter (hasn’t he been kinda dicey this year?) I’m thinking Kershaw, Beckett, Cap, Lilly, and Harangatan as it stands…probably reversing Lilly and Harang to split up the 3 lefties a bit. If Bills comes back, someone is traded or gets penned.
Anonymous
Ethan Martin has been traded to the Phillies.
foul tip
Jon, I have it all figured out. (!)
2012
Dodgers at home: 36-31 (.537)
When Jon attended: 8-4 (.667)
When Jon didn’t: 28-27 (.509)
The team obviously should give DT a large grant just to have you attend games, let alone get the bonus of having you write about it.
Anonymous
They should give me a grant to stay at home. When I’ve attended, they’re 1-6. With one game left to go, tonight.
Anonymous
Kershaw is starting tonight.
Linkmeister
Game thread here: http://linkmeister.com/dodgers/?p=29
KT
28 years ago Matt Kemp’s mom was celebrating his birth while I was celebrating my 1/4 century mark…Happy Birthday Matty
foul tip
If anyone who can research things quickly is around, what’s the last time a Dodger hit 2 HR in a game, as did AGon last night?
Obviously it needed to be better, but 3-3 on the road against maybe the two best teams in MLB isn’t too shabby.
Anonymous
3 games back with 9 to play :(
Anonymous
Improbable, but far from impossible.
Jon Weisman
NPUT
Anonymous
DODGERS FOR LIFE! the line up is too strong and they’ll get it together next year, we can’t expect them to just get thrown together and mesh. I’m tired of saying this but I wouldn’t be a true fan if i didn’t say it – NEXT YEAR IS OURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! think blue