Bulletin Board Material

August 31 , 2006

Buoyed by their perceived chances in the National League West, the San Diego Padres have been busy little bees.

First, and no doubt in need of funding to secure Russell Branyon, the Padres sent postseason ticket invoices to their season seat holders - the second week of August.

Within minutes of getting David Wells from Boston, San Diego brought back a second ex-Red Sox, ex-Padre, in Rudy Seanez. Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated deal, Larry Lucchino snatched up Kevin Jarvis before protégée Kevin Towers could act, leaving Towers to choose between Sterling Hitchcock and Andy Ashby.

But considering the various cooks in the Petco Park kitchen, Paul DePodesta included, and the “small market” limitations he works under, and with the exception of third base, Towers has done a nice job in 2006. Josh Bard, Adrian Gonzalez, Chris Young, and of course, Mike Piazza, are pretty good pickens for one year.

But whatever. The Pads can have their David Wells if that’s who they want. They’ve laid down the gauntlet and the race is on. Los Angeles is ready, and by “Los Angeles,” I mean both the city and the ball club. We’re ready for San Diego. Print your little playoff tickets at the All-Star break if you’re so inclined. See if we care. It’s just bulletin board material here. Ned Colletti is a god. The Dodgers are ready…

Answer Me This: How in the world could Paul DePodesta have scouted Russell Martin for any ten minutes of 2004 without recognizing the catching talent he had in the organization at the time? What could DePodesta possibly have seen in Dioner Navarro that would inspire him to trade Shawn Green and all that money within the division?

I still don’t get the Dodgers letting a savvy, October-experienced, fifth outfielder like Ricky Ledee go, but Marlon Anderson will be fine as the left-handed pinch hitter…

Looks like the multitude of Devil Rays-turned-Dodgers have gotten the play-me-or-trade-me gripes out of their systems and joined the coalition of the willing. So it turns out that playing for something other than a fifth place American League East finish matters, after all. Clearly, the “Get out of Tampa Bay Free Card” wasn’t enough…

Talkback: Your comments are always encouraged…

Quote-book: Brad Penny: “Some umps are great people.” Not exactly, “some of my best friends are umps,” but just-off-the-corner close…

Leave it to Vin Scully to find something nice to say about every ex-Dodger who passes through town. The Cincinnati Reds posed a challenge, but there was Vinny, ready with a complement for Juan Castro’s glove, and David Ross’ in-general becoming a good player. Less convincing but nonetheless commendable was Vin’s nod to Todd Hollandsworth, who “has had a good career.”

“If you’re old to enough to remember,” as baseball’s greatest broadcaster would say, you might recall Vinny finding the silver-lining in even the cloudiest of clouds. For example, the consecutive 20-loss seasons logged by old friend Roger Craig.

A Brooklyn and L.A. Dodger from 1955 to 1961, Craig rose to prominence his first two seasons with the expansion New York Mets, going 10-24 in 1962 and 5-22 in 1963. I’m paraphrasing, but for years I can remember Vinny saying something like “you have to be quite a pitcher to lose 20 games twice,” the implication if not the exact verbiage being that a pitcher has to be qualified to stay in a rotation long enough to lose 46 games in two seasons.

KFI’s signal carried a thousand miles, easy, back when Barry Bonds and Greg Anderson were childhood pals, so perhaps it’s no surprise that steroid salesman Anderson has retained Mark Geragos for a second go round with the grand juries and jails of Northern California. To be fair, Geragos hasn’t lost 46 cases in two years. It only seems that way…

Who Goofed: A call to the Dodgers season ticket office, at any time from October, 2005 to the present day, reveals that “the Dodgers are taking deposits for the 2006 season.” Charlie Steiner follows with a message that while you’re on hold, “every now and then I’ll come back and fill you with what’s going on during the off-season, with special offers we’ll be offering during the off-season. We have some memorable moments of the past season and other great moments in Dodger history for your listening pleasure.” Great writing, huh? Then listen to Vinny call a single bases-clearing, game-winning play from 2005, and the entire recording replay over and over again…

Award Time: Actually, no, it’s not. Not yet. I’m a big believer in the occurrences of September determining the season award winners as much as anything, and five months does not a Most Valuable Player make. But Ryan Howard is just so impressive; we really need to address his MVP-worthiness now.

The idea that in five months of just his second year of play, Howard has eclipsed Mike Schmidt and 123 years of Philadelphia baseball history with 49 homers, is simply mind boggling. The RBI total of 157 he’s on pace for would put Howard third in club history, behind only Chuck Klein’s 1930 total of 170 and Sam Thompson’s 1895 mark of 165, surpassing Schmidt’s best by a whopping 36. And maybe, just maybe folks, we’re witnessing the first legitimate 60 home run season since Roger Maris…

Jackass of the Week: Jeffrey Loria gets an automatic ballot renewal pretty much every week of the year just for being Barry Bonds’ friend, and actually bragging about it publicly. It’s Loria’s antics as owner of the Florida Marlins in any given seven-day period, however, that really gets him the trophy. The Joe Girardi feud qualifies him this time.

Runner-up goes to Mike Brown. The ex-FEMA chief deflects responsibility with such verve, I coulda sworn I heard him say, “it’s not my bleeping fault; Campanis is the bleeping guy!!” Unfortunately, Brown could hit water if he fell out of boat, if he actually bothered to got in the boat…

Look-Alikes: Jason Repko and Groucho Marx…

Statue for Sandy: The Koufax in bronze campaign continues. Please Vote “Yes on 32.” And tell a friend. More about statue...

Remember, glove conquers all….

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