The good news is four Los Angeles Dodgers were named to the 2017 All-Star squad. The bad news is none of them will be starters. The worse news is Kenley Jansen decided Dodger fans were to blame for that.
Jansen, Clayton Kershaw, Cody Bellinger, and Corey Seager were named all-stars, but Bellinger and Seager didn’t receive enough fan votes to be starters. L.A.’s favorite redhead, Justin Turner, didn’t even make the team, and Jansen let his frustrations with the fans be known.
“I’ll say it loud and clear again. It’s the Dodger fans’ fault.” – Kenley Jansen
The debate immediately began about how accurate and deserved Kenley Jansen’s criticism was. One side says Jansen’s anger at the fans is misplaced. They say blame rests with the $8.35 billion TV fiasco that has left 60% of the Dodgers’ fan base blacked out for the past four years. If a larger audience could watch on TV, the argument goes, more people would feel connected to the team, and fans would be reminded on the broadcast to vote for their favorite players.
The other side thinks Jansen is right because the Dodgers are a big market team with a huge fan base. They say the fans are just lazy and the TV argument is bogus, because people who really want to watch the Dodgers have plenty of options. Fans can simply switch cable providers, go to sports bars, or pirate the games using internet streams and VPNs. They can listen to games on the radio. They can listen to sports talk shows or follow on their phones for Dodgers and all-star news.
That’s correct up to a point. Do you know who does all that? Diehards. These diehard fans reside within a Dodgers media/social media/diehard bubble. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m a happy resident of the Big Blue Bubble myself. But many of us are under the illusion that every Dodger fan thinks, cares and bleeds blue the same as we do. Sorry, sports fans, that number is finite. It’s smaller than we think it is, and it’s shrinking.
You’ve got to put in work to get around the blackout, and therein lies the blue rub. After four years of the Dodgers being absent from television, lots of people just don’t care that much any more. They’ve moved on, and a generation is growing up without the Dodgers in their homes, so they care even less.
What good is a sports market of 20 million if 13 million don’t have an option to watch on television? Out of sight, out of mind. Casual fans are being lost, rather than becoming passionate life-long followers, and I’m not sure that deserves a Kenley Jansen fastball to the haunches.
In reality, the Dodgers didn’t run the table on all-star voting before this TV blackout. There were plenty of theories back then for why not: voter apathy, there’s more to do in LA than watch the Dodgers, smaller markets with more fervent fans stuffed the ballot boxes, and so on. All of these still ring true today, but the Dodgers’ lack of visibility is starting to take a toll, and this all-star vote is a symptom of a larger problem.
Dodger games broadcast on SportsNetLA average an audience of 79,000 households. That number jumped to 378,000 for the games that KTLA broadcast back in April. I don’t need a graduate degree in marketing to make the connection that if you lose almost 300,000 viewers nightly over a four-year period, your brand is going to take a serious hit.
What about those legendary three million annual attendance numbers and the famous waiting list of thousands for season seats? Those are monster numbers, but they’re also phantom numbers. For the past three years the Dodgers capped season seats at 35,000. On game day they count seats sold, not warm bodies actually in them. There could be 3,000 fans in the stadium, but the team will still report attendance at 35,000, because that’s how many tickets were sold.
That waiting list for season seats? This April the Dodgers announced the list has dried up. If you only attend a few games a year, and you have no access to the team on TV, how would you know when to vote for all-stars, and why would you care?
Which brings me back to the point – the fan base is finite and shrinking. Like it or not, the Dodgers maxed out the number of all-star votes they were going to get.
People with disposable income are regularly attending games. When diehards aren’t at the stadium, they’re following some type of broadcast by hook or by crook. Social media-savvy fans are following reporters, writers and each other on a variety of platforms during the games as well. Twitter abounds with people bragging about how many times they’ve voted – some in the hundreds. The true blue fans have spoken, Kenley.
There just aren’t as many of us as you (and many of my fellow diehards) think. Don’t blame us for the dwindling numbers.
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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I agree with your argument but i agree more with kenley.
The die hards are the ones that vote , over and over. The regular fan who isn’t a die hard like us but is still a big Dodger fan most likely wouldn’t be voting for all star voters anyway.
I’m sure not everybody in KC votes. I’m sure it’s the die hards (of which there are wayyyyy less than die hard dodger fans) vote 500 times each.
We won’t do that here. It is what it is
Did Oscar look at history? At how many Dodgers made the team when the games were widely available?
I’m betting he hasn’t and didn’t. Because he’s trying to stir up controversy.
I’m not sure what history points you’re referencing.
The Dodgers haven’t had a starter in three years (Puig 2017), they haven’t had an infielder start in over a decade (Kent, 2005), and they haven’t elected more than one starter in 27 years (1980).
If one follows my writing and pays attention, really pays attention, one would see I take a stand and write about opinions I truly hold. Agree with me or not, it cheapens my writing and the blog to be accused of just “trying to stir up controversy”. We’re not click-bait artists here at LADR.
Oscar,
The Dodgers lead the league in attendance. Lead the league.
You can surmise that the actual gate traffic is lower than the paid traffic, but more people paid for Dodger tickets than any other team. That’s a lot of people, no matter how you try to dismiss it.
They’ve led MLB for a long time. For just as long a time, those same fans didn’t vote for the Dodger players as all-stars. Contort yourself and the facts all you want. The fans don’t care to vote, and the Dodger players suffer.
Kansas City is in flyover country. I hear those people vote illegally to the tune of over 3,000,000 votes. It’s the only way they can compete with California.
Passan makes a similar point as Oscar.
https://sports.yahoo.com/hey-kenley-jansen-dodgers-blame-dodgers-star-snubs-145248706.html
Oscar
I enjoy reading LADR because of writers such as yourself. Even if I don’t agree sometimes with your or others opinions, it is always thought provoking and not mean spirited. Thanks.
Thanks. I appreciate the compliments. We writers often get more tomatoes 🙂
FanGraphs weighs in on Verdugo:
Alex Verdugo, OF, Dodgers: While almost every hitter in affiliated baseball is enjoying the juiced ball with increased home run rates, Verdugo is moving down the spectrum. But that doesn’t mean he’s not having a great season. Just 21 and in triple-A, the young outfielder is hitting .347 through his first 73 games of the year and has struck out just 9.3% of the time. His walk rate of 10.6% ensures that he’s not solely reliant on his batting average to have value; his on-base percentage is a healthy .417. As long as Verdugo continues to have value in the field as a centerfielder, this profile will work. If he eventually slows down a step or two, though, and moves to right field, his value will diminish given the desire for pop on the corners. Or he could simply make some adjustments and tap into the average to above-average raw pop that he possesses – and sacrifice some of the contact. It will be interesting to watch how Verdugo continues to develop and he could be trade bait this summer as the Dodgers look to get deeper and better for a run to the World Series.
The fact that his bat profiles differently than the other recent call-ups (Joc, Seager, Bellinger) makes me intrigued by keeping him, but there’s just very little opportunity.
Toles’ value is depressed, right? Thompson’s needs rehabbing. Calhoun could be moved. Maybe Maeda because of his favorable contact, ditto Ryu….
Verdigo can hit, we’ve known that for a while. But his lack of home run power does not float up the FAZ chimney. I don’t see either he nor Calhoun in our future. Verdugo is a top prospect (50) and Calhoun obviously can hack. If he’s to be a DH, start looking at AL teams that match up. Maybe by 7/31 Tampa will be out of it. Maybe the White Sox would listen. The A’s always answer our phone. But when the phone rings, don’t put Bluto or patch on the line. They’ll talk them out of trading for Calhoun.
Bluto
Toles has hit the best of the outfielders on the major league team, when he has been given the chance to do that, in the last two years, when he has played.
Puig also did hit well in his first year, and in the first half, of his second year.
And Puig has kept his average around 250 this year, and he has played almost everyday.
The fact that Puig has hit with power too, and plays great defense in right, also makes him valuable to this team too.
And Toles has both speed and power in his game, and he has more power then I originally thought, as well as everyone else, but Roberts.
Because Toles hit as many HRs that Puig did in the first month of the season, and Toles was not starting and getting four at bats, almost everyday, like Puig was.
And Toles hit one more HR then Joc did, in his first year, he was on the team, from the start of the season.
Take a look at Tole’s isolated power, right before he got hurt.
I believe they had a article in Fangraphs, about Toles isolated power, around that time.
And Toles didn’t have any other damage in his knee, so the surgeon said that Toles should have no problem, still competing at this level, next year.
MJ,
That’s great!
Either as a LF or as a trade piece.
Bluto
You better check Joc’s defensive metrics this year.
I have. Don’t know what to make of them.
I heard a Friedman interview last week where he raved about Joc’s positioning and defensive play.
Metrics don’t back that up.
He’s really playing well though.
Hope it continues. A good CF is very valuable.
“After four years of the Dodgers being absent from television, lots of people just don’t care that much any more. They’ve moved on, and a generation is growing up without the Dodgers in their homes, so they care even less.”
Yup. My 17 year old will ask me about the Dodgers, but for him it’s soccer, soccer, soccer. There seems to be a convergence of actual games, video games, you-tubers, and youthful commentators which bring the whole soccer entertainment package together; something which, IMHO, doesn’t appear to exist in baseball.
So he blames dodger fans, who cares. I don’t. How many Dodgers did I vote for: 0!
Bluto
Non of the Dodgers people will say anything bad about any of the players.
They would be stupid not to promote their own players.
And Joc only has hit well in 59 at bats, and that is because he only played in half of the games in June.
The first game Joc played in in June, was June 13.
I expect a player to hit well for more then 59 at bats, in a first half of the season, especially this being Joc’s third year!
Like I said about last year, when it seemed Joc hit well in the second half of the season, he only did that for one month in the second half last year.
He only played in five games in July last year, and he didn’t hit well in August!
His best stats were in September and October combined, but the amount of at bats he had in those months combined, were less at bats, then he had in August, so his stats in those months, were only about one month of at bats.
I too, was surprised about Joc’s defensive metrics, because I thought he had played defense prettty well.
But I knew he wasn’t an elite defensive center fielder, like some people want to think.
I just thought Joc had slowed down a step this year, so I checked his defensive metrics.
And you know I was standing up for his defense before.
But he doesn’t seem to have that first step he used to have, but it would probably be better to see what his defensive metrics is in the second half, if he doesn’t go out again.
Joc stole bases in the minors. He’s 1 out of 4 this year. Calhoun is 3 out of 4. He has more triples too so clearly Calhoun is faster than Pederson. Maybe they should move Willie to center field. He’s got the name for it.
Badger
I just wish Calhoun was a little better defensively, but we don’t know what the Dodgers are thinking about Calhoun!
Personally I think he is going to be a really good hitter!
And I think Friedman likes Calhoun a lot too!
I forget. How was he physically described again? …Something about having a body like a tree trunk?
I sometimes don’t know what point you are trying to make MJ.
Pederson was arguably the teams third best hitter last year. And he is hitting well again. Keep interpreting the 2nd half as you want, but his stats are just fine for me.
I’d love to see him hit more consistently and for his defensive stats to reflect what I think I see.
Look the Dodgers if Puig and him continue to play well have 2/3 of a solid young Of. Maybe Toles and Thompson platoon to round it out. Maybe Verdugo. Maybe Thompson takes it over. Maybe Toles. Maybe An OF from the Marlins.
All this said I have no clue what you continue to drive at with Pederson and Puig, but if it makes you happy keep doing it.
Bluto
My point is Joc has only hit well, for half of June!
And that is a very small sample size!
What did he do in the rest of the games, in this first half?
Sorry Joc really wasn’t the Dodgers third best hitter, last year!
First he can’t hit lefties, secondly, I am not impressed with a player, that has to depend on walks, to have a good OPS.
And thirdly, obviously the Dodgers don’t believe that, because Joc would not be mostly platooned, against lefties.
And they sure wouldn’t be hitting him in the back of the order, most of the time.
And if you want to be consistent, Joc’s OPS was second on the team, after Corey!
And any Dodger fan, knows that Joc is not close to the hitter, Turner is.
That just shows you part of the problems with OPS with certain players.
Grandal’ s OPS was fourth on the team last year.
And both Joc and Grandal were not close to the second and fourth best hitter on this team last year, like their OPS ranks them.
Both Grandal and Joc depend on walks way to much, because they can’t hit for a decent average!
And walks don’t always get the same results, that hits get!
Walks don’t get a runner home from second, or third, if the bases are not loaded.
And that is why walks should not be valued the same as hits!
And that is only one example of the difference of a walks and a hits!
But at least Grandal has kept his average decent this year.
MJ,
One more time.
If your only point is that Joc has only recently begun to hit well this year, can we please agree on that and be done with it?
If your point is you don’t believe the stats that said that Pederson was arguably the 3rd best hitter on the team last year, can we please agree to disagree and be done with it?
If your point is that you don’t like OPS as much as batting average, I honestly don’t care. But don’t try to convince me to believe the same.
I really don’t know why you keep thinking i’m the Joan of Arc of defending Joc Pederson. I don’t care for Joc anymore than any other player on the team. From Toles to Barnes.
I’m just an old fuddy-duddy and not much of a Dodger fan at all, compared to some of you. But when they made it possible to vote hundreds of times, in my book it became a farce, one honest vote means nothing. Get the A-hole cheating fans out of it, let players, coaches and managers only vote. Grow up.
Jonah
They say you can only vote 35 times but I think that is each day.
They should subtract any persons votes that go over there amount of 35 votes.
I think Morrow and Yaisel Sierra will surprise in September and October, and I like groundballer Oaks as our second long reliever. I could see myself dangling Stripling and Calhoun but not for a reliever. I’d rather cut Romo and Gutierrez and give our youth a chance before a trade this year.
Look at it this way, if Trayce was 100% we wouldn’t have signed Gutierrez. As a late inning RH PH and defensive replacement who’d you rather have?
YF
I think he was signed because of Scotty not doing the job.
Get this, Angel Hernandez is suing baseball and the commissioner for discrimination, about not being able to umpire in the post season.
And he umpired in one of our post season games last year, and blew the call at home on Agone.
Well, heck, if nobody wants to talk baseball, let’s have a political discussion on guns, or abortion, or the wonderful job the schools are doing with our kids…. Or perhaps what a rotten thing it was that Trump won instead of that nice old lady, Hillary the Criminal…. Those of you who think we shouldn’t talk about anything but baseball here, start talking, or admit that Timmons does this better than you do.
Conservative George Will said it best:
“This seems not to be a mere disinclination but a disability. It is not merely the result of intellectual sloth but an untrained mind bereft of information and not capable of sequential thought. His pronouns float around in search of antecedents”.
Floating pronouns in search of antecedents? In the Oval Office?
Education? We gave up on education years ago. Obviously Trump is proof it isn’t needed.
Timmons is what he is. I bought one of his US Water systems and it had “Made in Taiwan” stamped all over it. Apparently his followers don’t mind what he was convicted of, which surprises me because most who follow him are conservative. Oh well. To each his own.
I still say a package of Verdugo, a Top 50 prospect, and Calhoun, #69 in the Top 100, would land us a quality arm. Don’t listen to the negative feedback from the Willie haters, he’s a legit prospect. And since FAZ loves to stack up utility second baseman we really don’t need him. Doesn’t matter he may be the best hitting second baseman in our system, apparently he can’t run and can’t field and the stats that say otherwise are wrong. I know Law has Estavez and Lux rated ahead of him. Must be because they are tearing up A ball. Wait, what? .233 and .209? MLB Pipeline has Calhoun the fourth best second base prospect in all of baseball. But what do they know? They ain’t the Law.
Free Willie!
“His followers?”
He’s just a guy who writes a blog. I don’t know him. I don’t know his past. I don’t really care where his water filters are built. He’s a guy who writes a blog that I find entertaining and sometimes informative, and I read it because I’m a Dodger fan and a baseball fan and I enjoy the discussion.
All of that is really important to you because it’s personal, and it has nothing really to do with him, or what he’s done or where he manufactures stupid water filters, but it’s you. I doesn’t really effect me one way or the other, but I just amazed that you lack the self reflection to see that the problem is yours.
George Will is one of the reasons I chose the major in college that I did. I’ve always admired his prose. He’s maybe my favorite. ….I’ll have to read Men at Work again.
FAZophobes talk baseball? About what? How FAZtastic of a job management has done? Haven’t checked in for awhile, but it looks like all the phobes capable of thinking, found it easier to disappear than admit their mistakes!
Yeah, it is probably better to discuss something other than baseball here. If not, it could get worse, over at “Dodger Therapy” the couple “drooling” posters Fraudy has left, are conversing with themselves under different handles. A bunch of real sickos!
OK, political talk, how about this Breitbart article about how libtards discriminate in Hollywierd? Proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, the tards are on the wrong side of history! Myself, I will join Breitbart and fight to expose this kind of discrimination until the end of my days!
http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/07/04/actress-emily-ratajkowski-blasts-i-cant-find-work-because-my-boobs-are-too-big/
Boxout
Are you falling for all it those fake stories by the Russian bots, that the Russians used, to get this guy elected, because he is so weak.
Talk about one big con!
Your guy was made from a reality show!
And reality is not the same as actuality, so you have been conned!
HA HA, Still watching CNN/MSNBC and trying to connect the dots MJ? I think it’s only you and Aunt Esther, I mean Maxine Waters, left!
I thought by now you would have figured out the dots all lead to Rice, Comey, Lynch, Holder, Blabber Mouth Schultz, Bernie Rip-off Sanders, Crooked Hillary and Obozo. Yes, I and everybody else was conned by Obozo and his minions. Looking forward to “President Trump” getting us some justice! I sincerely hope you enjoy the ride as much as I am!!!!
Boxout
It is pretty bad when news stations, have much higher standards then our president, but they do!
And why our we kidding ourselves, there is not one true word, that comes out of that con, even when he doesn’t have to lie.
Breitbart is for idiots.
Between Breitbart and Russian bots getting Trump elected…..Sometimes I just want to scream out that line that Chuck Heston used in Planet of the Apes….”It’s a mad house!! I mad house!!”
I’m pretty sure that neither me nor anyone I know was influenced by a Russian bot. LOL
These are crazy times.
Breitbart??!!??!
What was there nothing good on infowars or Gateway Pundit?
Let’s aspire to decent news referencing Boxout.
Bluto
That was very good advice!
Well actually there was something good at Gateway Pundit and it was a Washington Post quote! Read it and enjoy some REAL NEWS!
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/07/wapo-reporter-syrians-cheer-mention-president-donald-trump-video/
That’s good news?
Wouldn’t we rather have the majority of US citizens cheering for the President, than a rabble of ISIS supporting anti-semites?
Bluto you surprise me. I thought ALL Dimocrats wanted Bashar gone. A WA Post reporter says the following on MSNBC and you wonder if “That’s good news”?
DAVID IGNATIUS: I’m going to say something that in some ways is sympathetic to Trump. As I traveled across Syria, meeting with Syrian fighters who were trying to take down the regime of Bashar al Assad, every time the name “President Trump” was mentioned, there were cheers from the audience. One Syrian Kurdish commander used a vulgar term, in Spanish it would be cojones, to describe what President Trump has got and why they like him.
You said, ” Let’s aspire to decent news”. Aren’t WA Post and MSNBC the gold standard? But no worries, a majority of US Citizens are also cheering for the President. You guys ought to know after last November you can’t trust the polls.
Eight more years! Eight more years! Eight more years!
How are we defining dimwits?
Are you aware of who those opposing Assad are?
But seriously, I’ve yet to meet anyone, who is looking forward to eight years of this incompetence. I’d venture that you really aren’t either Boxout.
You’re just trying to get a reaction.
Also, see this:
Wow. Today in NEWSWEEK (h/t @StevePasquale): “Far more people support impeaching Trump than support the job he’s doing in the Oval Office.”
Don’t worry about me though. I’m Canadian, we have a competent well-liked leader.
Not all of the rebel opposition to Assad is ISIS..probably not even most. It’s the instability due to the civil war that allowed the instability vacuum for ISIS is take hold. Assad himself is a minority Alawite who is getting backing from Shiite Iran. I would venture that the vast majority of Syrians in opposition to Assad are moderate Shia or Sunni who reject the Saddam like oppression Assad and his father have used to maintain power.
Bluto, your Canadian Aye? Explains why you don’t know much about what is going on here in the U.S. We love our new President and huge majorities support him in draining the swamp in D.C. Unfortunately, the swamp doesn’t want to be drained. Our crooked politicians/Bureaucrats are doing EVERYTHING they can to discredit the President, but Trump is a fighter and is kicking their asses. It has been great fun to watch.
Newsweek? Didn’t know they were still in business. In any event, FAKE NEWS! About as much credibility as BAAAAAAger the Old or MJ. We Americans have little faith in the “Mainstream Media” and love how Trump handles them!
Trudeau, competent and popular? Not from what I hear from the Canadians I know. But they are all from Western Canada.
Boxout,
The friends in Western Canada has a “girlfriend in Niagara Falls” ring to it. The PM is quite liked in BC, not sure what you are referencing then.
I’d love your thoughts on this:
By 2040 70% of US pop will live in 15 largest states w/30 Senators. Last 30% of pop will have 70 Sens
My “girlfriends in Niagara Falls” actually live in Alberta. They are mostly involved in oil and gas development. They describe Trudeau as an unqualified entitled spoiled rich kid.
Bluto: “I’d love your thoughts on this:
By 2040 70% of US pop will live in 15 largest states w/30 Senators. Last 30% of pop will have 70 Sens”.
My thoughts on this are, we in U.S. live in a “constitutional republic”. This form of government gives each state two senators. That was a requirement to get some of the original thirteen states to join the union. Using your example, this set-up keeps the 70% population in 30% of the land mass from dictating how the 30% must live. In any event, really wouldn’t be a big deal if the Federal Government stuck to the enumerated powers of the federal government outlined in our constitution.
A lot of unexpected things are going to happen between today and 2040 to get worked up by your prediction. I will be too old to worry about it, but would recommend to my children that they live in the states with the 30% of population.
Your turn, love your thoughts on the following:
Section 1 of the Constitution Act 1982 gives Canadians the right to free speech, but with “reasonable limits.” This ensures that almost anything one says can be considered unconstitutional and subject to legal prosecution. You have a right to speak your mind, but be careful of what you say.
Then there’s section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. This prohibits the “communication of hate messages.” Though a bill to repeal section 13 is currently passing through the Senate, Human Rights courts all over the country are littered with cases that are best characterized by an insane hypersensitivity to what other people have to say. Section 319.2 of the Criminal Code outlaws the willful promotion of hatred “against an identifiable group,” and section 319.1 bans any incitements that “lead to a breach of peace.”
Seems like in Canada, lunatics like BAAAAAAger and jonah could be locked up simply for stating their foolish thoughts!!
https://www.therebel.media/canada_s_top_5_political_prisoners
My “girlfriends in Niagara Falls” actually live in Alberta. They are mostly involved in oil and gas development. They describe Trudeau as an unqualified entitled spoiled rich kid.
Bluto: “I’d love your thoughts on this:
By 2040 70% of US pop will live in 15 largest states w/30 Senators. Last 30% of pop will have 70 Sens”.
My thoughts on this are, we in U.S. live in a “constitutional republic”. This form of government gives each state two senators. That was a requirement to get some of the original thirteen states to join the union. Using your example, this set-up keeps the 70% population in 30% of the land mass from dictating how the 30% in 70% of the land mass must live. In any event, really wouldn’t be a big deal if the Federal Government stuck to the enumerated powers of the federal government outlined in our constitution.
A lot of unexpected things are going to happen between today and 2040 to get worked up by your prediction. I will be too old to worry about it, but would recommend to my kids that they live in the states with the 30% of population.
Your turn, love your thoughts on the following:
Section 1 of the Constitution Act 1982 gives Canadians the right to free speech, but with “reasonable limits.” This ensures that almost anything one says can be considered unconstitutional and subject to legal prosecution. You have a right to speak your mind, but be careful of what you say.
Then there’s section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. This prohibits the “communication of hate messages.” Though a bill to repeal section 13 is currently passing through the Senate, Human Rights courts all over the country are littered with cases that are best characterized by an insane hypersensitivity to what other people have to say. Section 319.2 of the Criminal Code outlaws the willful promotion of hatred “against an identifiable group,” and section 319.1 bans any incitements that “lead to a breach of peace.”
Seems like in Canada, lunatics like BAAAAAAger and jonah could be locked up simply for stating their foolish thoughts!!
https://www.therebel.media/canada_s_top_5_political_prisoners
Bluto, I responded to you, but my response is in moderation. Check back.
@dodgerpatch.
I stand corrected, and thank you for that.
The point I should have made is both sides of the Syrian Civil War are dreadful (except for a handful of secular anti-Assad insurgents.)
Thus, if you support Trump you should be more concerned with Americans rallying to his name, than anyone in Syria’s war.
Just checked the OKC box score. Verdugo with 3 more hits. Maybe we keep him.
Joe Broussard. 1.11 WHIP, 40 k’s in 34 IP, 1.57 ERA. Why not him in the bullpen rotation for a 6th or 7th inning?
Badger
The only issue with Verdugo is his lack of power, and he isn’t that fast.
He’s what, 20 years old? And his power appears to be increasing. If so, he’s still good for a corner. But right now, he probably serves us best as trade material. We have only 25 spots on the roster, remember.
Bluto
Boxout doesn’t know what a competent leader is.
That is so obvious he has been conned, by nothing but a con man.
The most incompetence Person to be a president ..
There’s a thought we can plug several times a day.
Or…
Jonah
Isn’t funny how we love Whales and don’t think they are the predators, that Sharks are?
Check out Killer Whales, aka Orcas. They routinely kill Great White Sharks but they are easily mistaken for a Dolphin. In the picture above, that shark would be swimming for all he’s worth in the other direction to get away from “Willy”. Remember the movie Orca? An angry Orca bit Bo Derrick’s leg off… They will actually come out the water after you if you’ve done something to them.
Everything that lives in the ocean is a predator. Hell, everything that lives on this planet is a predator. Even vegetarians are predators. I stalk celery. (come on, that’s funny)
Verdugo can hit. We have no room unless we trade somebody else. He’s bait. As is Calhoun.
When George Will says the guy his party selected is a bonafide idiot, even the most conservative have to listen. Hopefully it will be over soon. In the mean time, our national theater of the absurd continues.
Your idea about opening the door to politics let the cat in Jonah. The litter box is full again.
Show Mr. CatBox this:
http://video.dailymail.co.uk/video/bc/rtmp_uds/1418450360/2015/06/10/1418450360_4288104490001_4287766219001.mp4
Badger
I saw that on the Last Word last night too.
Will lost his job on Fox I assume, for being honest.
BAAAAAAAAAger: “Your idea about opening the door to politics let the cat in Jonah. The litter box is full again.”
Well add some to your cud and enjoy, you shit eating moron! I see you got yourself all dressed up hoping for a good time with Jonah. But you really should do something about your breath!
CatBox, your daddy’s calling…
Trump wasn’t exactly elected by conservatives. In fact, as much as I admire Will, the electorate rejected him and the smug, narcissistic virtue signalling liberals who have been running government and the mass media and Hollywood and the universities and live in these elite, segregated communities and drive $80,000 electric cars.
I used to be Democrats courted the votes of working class Americans. Now, if they happen to be white, they’re derided as deplorables, told to check their white privilege, and mocked for their lack of college degree and oxycodone addictions. Meanwhile, they’re just trying to get by and survive like everyone else and still have a love for this country, which is considered backward and gauche, if not racist, by smug liberals
Do you realize the mortality rate for white males is the only demographic that is rising? Do you know that the leading cause of death among middle aged white males is suicide? Meanwhile, you have college kids attending their $60,000 a year tuition schools calling for segregated housing and screaming people down with whom they disagree.
Into this insert The Disruptor. You know who Trump is? He’s Rodney Dangerfield invading the country club.
One hunting technique killer whales use is against other whale calves. They first try to separate the mother whale from the calf, they then hold the whale calf under water until it drowns. They then eat just the tongue of the calf and leave the rest of the body.
They can be bastards
Well patch, it would appear you believe you have everything figured out. You are even an expert on whales.
You admit you know nothing about the past, no history, no proclamations made over the last twenty years, no criminal records of your hero – yet you think you know me.
Well, you don’t know shit.
But here’s some news for you, every human being’s mortality rate is the same. Black, white, Christian, Muslim or Jew. No life is forever on this planet.
I wish you luck with yours. You should be fine as long as you keep your head under the blanket.
My “hero?” *sighs and shakes head*
“But here’s some news for you, every human being’s mortality rate is the same. Black, white, Christian, Muslim or Jew. No life is forever on this planet”
All the more reason why it’s such a waste to harbor hatred for people, even those who might do you wrong. Somehow Victor Frankl figured that out, and he had a pretty legitimate reason to hate. You? Oh, some guy on a Dodger blog was too opinionated, ergo, you hate him to the depths of your soul. Meh…whatever floats your boat.
Interesting article from Boxout’s favorite, the New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/sports/baseball/a-dodgers-pitcher-goes-six-innings-great-job-next.html
It’s about the Dodgers not planning on having pitchers beyond Kershaw go deep in games:
“Alex Wood was pitching really good yesterday,” Colorado’s Nolan Arenado said recently at Dodger Stadium, a day after Wood fired six strong innings, allowing just one run and three hits. “If that was Kershaw, he’d be going seven or eight — but they stopped him at six. I would have thought he’d keep going, because he was dealing, and they just brought in different arms and kept going. That’s just the way it is.”
“The numbers don’t lie,” Wood said. “Regardless of whether you’re good or awful, things progressively get a little bit worse each time through , pretty much no matter what. The way that they look at it is, ‘Well, let’s not go four times through the order.’”
“As an organization, we feel 200 innings is not the norm anymore,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “As a potential World Series team, to expect guys to go pitch through October, 180 could be 200. The key is that our starting pitchers have understood that if we can cut an inning off here and there to kind of lighten their load and gain it back on the back end to keep them strong throughout the season, it’s a benefit for all of us.
“I’m not going into a game saying, ‘Hey, this guy is only gonna go five innings,’ because I would love them to go deep. But if the efficiency is not there, I’m not afraid to make the move.”
Roberts typically has seven relievers to deploy before getting to his closer, Kenley Jansen. That configuration, he said, lends itself to using relievers more often, however he chooses.
“I think the biggest piece is that our starters have bought into understanding that I don’t need to push them every time they get on the mound, and our bullpen guys understand they might pitch in the fourth or the seventh or the eighth,” Roberts said. “They don’t have a designated role.”
The Dodgers, like many teams, have also embraced the use of the new 10-day disabled list, which can keep starters fresh by giving them downtime to deal with minor injuries while missing only a start or two. Hill, McCarthy, Ryu and Wood have all been on the D.L., and McCarthy — who is there now with knee trouble — said the Dodgers’ less-is-more strategy was becoming widespread.
“That’s one of the shifts that’s coming,” McCarthy said. “We’ve seen a lot of teams this year that are too slow to adapt to it. You see their starting pitcher has this 110-pitch limit or something and he’s gonna throw through it, and you watch them lose a game right in the last two innings — with a starter who’s faded and a good offense who now knows what they’re looking for, and the surprise is gone.”
Bluto
I thought Arrenado’s comment said a lot.
And Kershaw probably needs just as much rest, or even more rest, as everyone else, with the miles he has put on his arm throughout his career, not to mention his back.
Wood has pitched more dominately then Kershaw has, this year.
Your point? The All star selections have been made, that ship has sailed. Don’t cry over spilled milk…
Turner is in the lead by 7.4 million votes!
Kenley did a smart thing, when he said that!
Bluto
Not every team have that many starters, on there major league roster, or a call away, in AAA, like the Dodgers do!
Aren’t you excited about the game tonight, and this series this week?
It all makes perfect sense to me. We have a large group of <6 inning pitchers and a stable of relief cannons for when they peter out. 200+ inning starters cost $30 million. 150- inning starters cost $16 million. It's a dollar thing. Who cares if they aren't stars, the Dodgers will lead the league in attendance even if Stinky McCatbox starts for them. It's good to be rich.
I think we’ve been saying that for weeks now.
I can’t wait until the game tonight!
It was hard for me to get up for that Padres series!
If you’re really bored, read this: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/parent-pursues-gender-unknown-birth-certificate-for-their-child Is it time to destroy all radios, television and other communication devices? I know more than I want to already…
I have to shut it off, but sometimes I can’t help it. This culture is committing slow suicide.
White Cisgender Male is the new N-word
I’m going to go out on a limb and say lifesitenews.com is not a news site I’m going to put any faith into.
LOL.
Agon speaks.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers-gonzalez-hernandez-20170703-story.html