Fact or Fiction

Tonight's Game

* * *

So I had this idea for the off day next week - June 30. We would gather at 9 p.m. (after my kids are in bed) for a Dodger game chat, for a game entirely of my fictional creation. I would post the play-by-play in this space, and you would just keep hitting refresh to see what happened. Kind of like an all-text Gameday.

The game would start later than a real game but have few commericial interruptions, to say the least, allowing it to end approximately at the normal time.

Anyone interested in going along for this ride, or do you only want the real magilla? (Fair warning: Sadly, Bob Timmermann will be out of the country!)

* * *

Here, the Score Bard smilefully addresses the managerial tumult in Zinzinnati.

* * *

Update: On KFWB this hour, Jim Tracy said something extraordinary in explaining his decision to bench Hee Seop Choi against San Diego righthander Woody Williams.

"The history is not 0 for 3," Tracy said. "It's 0 for 11. That's a fairly significant number."

I find this explanation absolutely appalling.

You are going to bench the player who hits home runs more frequently than anyone else in your offense-deprived lineup, because he had the equivalent of three bad games against a pitcher over the life of his entire career, so that you can play Jason Repko? (In case you were wondering, Antonio Perez could play the outfield about as well as he can play third base.)

There isn't a rationalization Tracy won't plunder to keep Choi on the bench. Absolutely appalling.

* * *

The sad Eric Gagne news, we'll address later in a separate post.

Comments

[scareduck]

1.  Does the game have to be baseball? Yahtzee, for instance, or Jeopardy, or maybe twenty questions? How about Scrabble?

[Jon Weisman]

2.  First roll: three threes, a five and a one

Second roll: keep the threes and the five, roll a four

Third roll: keep the threes and the five, roll a two.

Comment away!

2. scareduck

You don't keep the five in that situation. You have to roll two dice when you have three of a kind.

3. Bob Timmermann

"Three of a Kind" was an old British series that had David Copperfield and Tracy Ullmann.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081946/

3. Steve

Fire Tracy Ullmann!

[scareduck]

3.  Nomo has 4-hit the Yanks through four. The Devil Rays have chased Randy Johnson after three.

[Bob Timmermann]

4.  I apologize for the length. This was a long, weird game. And if Dodger Thoughts had been around 19 years ago, I would shudder to think what a game chat would have been like for this one.

Random Dodger game callback

June 21, 1986

Coming off a traumatic end to the 1985 season in the NLCS, the Dodgers 1986 season was not one for the history books. With Pedro Guerrero missing most of the season after injuring his knee in spring training, the Dodgers played a game on a Saturday night in June at Dodger Stadium that mirrored their season. The Dodgers built up a 5-0 lead against San Diego, but committed six errors and eventually lost in 14 innings, 8-7. The loss dropped the Dodgers to 33-35, four games out of first and in fifth place in the NL West.

The Dodgers started Jerry Ruess, who by this time was the Dodgers #5 starter, and spotted him a quick 1-0 lead in the first. Second baseman Steve Sax had a one-out double and would score on a double by third baseman Bill Madlock.

Los Angeles increased its lead in the sixth. Sax reached on an error by San Diego shortstop Garry Templeton. With one out, Sax stole second and then went to third on a wild pitch by Padres starter Andy Hawkins. Madlock hit his second double to plate Sax. After Mike Marshall struck out, Padres manager Steve Boros ordered Hawkins to intentionally walk first baseman Len Matuszek to face backup catcher Alex Trevino. But Trevino foiled the strategy with a double to center to score Madlock and drive Hawkins from the mound.

Tim Stoddard relieved and gave up a single to center fielder Reggie Williams to score two more runs. The Dodgers were up 5-0 and the crowd of over 46,000 was ecstatic.

But the game turned sour in the seventh. Templeton led off with an infield single to third that Madlock compounded with a throwing error. Then Padres catcher Bruce Bochy reached on an error by Matuszek. Second baseman Bip Roberts then singled to load the bases and send Ruess to the showers and bring on Ed Vande Berg. The lefty specialist came in to pitch to Tony Gwynn, but Gwynn singled to score a run. Out came Vande Berg and in came Tom Niedenfuer, the goat of 1985. The crowd was now angry, as Niedenfuer's presence on the team was a constant reminder of Jack Clark. Niedenfuer got Kevin McReynolds to pop up for the second out, but then gave up a 2-run single to Steve Garvey to make the score 5-3.

In the 8th, the Padres tied it up. With one out, Templeton singled and pinch hitter Terry Kennedy homered off of Niedenfuer to make it 5-5. But the Dodgers went back ahead 6-5 in the bottom of the 8th when Trevino homered off of reliever Gene Walter.

Manager Tommy Lasorda brought in Ken Howell to try to close out the game in the 9th. But Gwynn singled to lead off. Gwynn then stole second and went to third on an errant throw from Trevino. McReynolds hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 6-6.

The game continued into the 11th and Carlos Diaz took over on the mound for the Dodgers. Diaz gave up a leadoff single to Gwynn. And again Gwynn stole second and went to third on a bad throw from Trevino. McReynolds doubled home Gwynn to give San Diego its first lead of the game, 7-6. Diaz threw a wild pitch to move McReynolds to third, but the Padres stranded him.

But the Dodgers weren't done in the bottom of the 11th. Facing Goose Gossage, Trevino singled to lead off the inning. Williams singled to move Trevino to second. Enos Cabell sacrificed the runners over. Bill Russell then hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 6-6.

So they kept playing. And in the top of the 14th, Tim Flannery singled to lead off against Alejandro Pena. Gwynn then got an infield hit. McReynolds struck out as did Padres pitcher Lance McCullers, who had to bat as the Padres were out of bench players. But with two outs, rookie John Kruk (who was the goat on Opening Day for the Padres in L.A. when he was caught stealing as a pinch runner in the 9th inning) singled to left to score Flannery to put San Diego ahead 7-6. McCullers set the Dodgers down in order in the 14th to give San Diego the win.

The 1986 Dodgers finished the year 73-89, 23 games behind Houston and in fifth place. Injuries to numerous position players gave the Dodgers a patchwork appearance. Only Sax was healthy all year and he had a fine season, batting .332 with 40 steals and much better defense. Sax finished just .002 behind Montreal's Tim Raines in the batting race.

Franklin Stubbs led the team in home runs with 23, but struck out 107 times and walked just 37 times. Shortstop Mariano Duncan could not repeat the performance of his rookie season and batted .229 and played in only 109 games. Madlock batted just .280 and led NL third baseman in errors with 24 despite playing just 101 games at the position.

The Dodgers used a lot of bit players that contributed mostly bits such as the aforementioned Matuszek and Trevino. Cesar Cedeno, Terry Whitfield, Ralph Bryant, Larry See and Craig Shipley all had brief appearances. Russell played his last season for the Dodgers as a utility man.

The top four starters all had good years. Fernando Valenzuela led the league with 21 wins and had a 3.14 ERA. Bob Welch was 7-12, but had a 3.28 ERA and won a 1-0 game against Cincinnati ace Mario Soto on June 10 when he homered for the only run of the game.. Orel Hershiser went 14-14 with a 3.85 ERA. Rick Honeycutt was 11-9 and 3.32.

The bullpen was shaky. Niedenfuer managed to pick up 11 saves before losing the closer job to Howell, who saved 12. Left-handed specialists Vande Berg and Diaz were both disappointments.

The Dodgers needed a healthy Guerrero and a lot of help in the outfield to get better,

Thanks to the Los Angeles Times, BaseballReference.com and Retrosheet

[Jon Weisman]

5.  Carlos Diaz? Wow - you finally got me. I have no memory of someone who threw 125 innings in a Dodger uniform right before my eyes. I can't believe it. Instantly the most forgettable Dodger of my lifetime.

[Jon Weisman]

6.  And, of course, no one nominated him last year in the most obscure but memorable Dodger contest, further sealing the deal.

[Bob Timmermann]

7.  The Dodgers traded Sid Fernandez to get Carlos Diaz.

[Dodger Blue Notes]

8.  I apologize if this is old news but I just heard Gagne is having surgery on Friday and will be out for a entire year, not ready to return until this time next year.

Ouch!

[Bob Timmermann]

9.  On June 30 (which will be July 1) for me, I will be bopping around Sendai, Japan hoping that it isn't raining so I can see the Rakuten Golden Eagles play the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

Plenty of good seats available I hear at Miyagi Fullcast Stadium.

[Jim Hitchcock]

10.  Miyagi Fullcast Stadium. I envision three DiamondVisions showing the Karate Kids.

[Bob Timmermann]

11.  Dodgers
Izturis
Repko
Drew
Kent
Saenz 1B
Werth
Perez
Phillips
Lowe

Padres
Roberts
Fick
Klesko
Giles
Nevin
Burroughs
Greene
Jackson
Williams

[Fearing Blue]

12.  #11: I'm consistently frustrated by Scrapko or whatever other free out Jim Tracy puts in our #2 slot. Why not have Perez bat 2nd and Scrapko 7th? They're both young players, but one doesn't make an out 70% of the time.

[Tommy Naccarato]

13.  Jon,
With all hope, I'll be a Californian again by the June 30th. Don't start without me!

I feel bad for Dodger fan from NY. It is very clear to me hear that the two of us are the only two Dodger fans in this section of the country.

[Bob Timmermann]

14.  #8,
I think most of us here were already at the acceptance stage of our five stages of Gagne-elbow death. But thanks for the confirmation. Now we can plan for the future.

Nomo didn't make it to 5 innings, so win for him. The D-Rays still lead 10-6.

[Fearing Blue]

15.  #12: Baseball quiz for everyone. Two players have the following statistics:

Player A - .210/.308/.390 (.698)
Player B - .340/.421/.430 (.851)

Additionally, both have about the same speed and strike out 22% of the time. One of these two players must bat 2nd and the other 7th. Which would you choose for each slot?

[brendan glynn]

16.  #15 Repko and Perez?

does it take 18 months to get"back to normal" after TommyJohn Surgery? is that expectation. Wow this is bad.

[Fearing Blue]

17.  #16: Indeed, thus the source of my frustration.

[brendan glynn]

18.  when does Broxton get called up and erickson sent out?

[Steve]

19.  When did Woody Williams switch hands? Why is our Poster Boy for Regression to the Mean playing first base tonight?

Repko bats second because he's a better bunter. That's the reason. Whenever Tracy starts yammering about "situational hitting," that's what he's talking about.

[Jon Weisman]

20.  Please note the Tracy quote in the update above.

[Fearing Blue]

21.  #19: For some reason, I always equated "situational hitting" to "hit-and-run", but referring to bunting makes sense since it's impossible to evaluate.

[Christina]

22.  Right now, I find the Tracy quote more upsetting than the Gagne news.

Did Choi eat Tracy's pet eel or something?

[Steve]

23.  I like how this lineup is so embarrassingly bad, no one has even brought up that Izturis is still leading off, despite being 3 for his last 300.

[Nick Iyengar]

24.  18: not soon enough! i'm itching to see this guy broxton. not to raise a touchy issue, but can he really be worse than erickson? i assume that he cannot. even if he can't put up gagne's numbers, we might as well bring him up if he's better than someone we have.

[Steve]

25.  21 -- I thought that was it as well, but why would you think that Jason Repko would be a good hitter to hit and run with? But Repko squares three times a game.

[Fearing Blue]

26.  "It's 0 for 11. That's a fairly significant number."

Do you think DePodesta gets at least a little chuckle when he reads this?

[Fearing Blue]

27.  #22: Choi is associated with the ouster of Tracy's favorite baseball player, Paul LoDuca. That's the only thing I can come up with.

[Bob Timmermann]

28.  Hee-Seop Choi is 0 for 11 in his career against Woody Williams with 5 Ks.

Olmedo Saenz has never faced Williams.

The only Dodgers with any sort of luck against Woody Williams are Kent who is 14 for 40 with 3 HRs and Jason Phillips who is 3 for 6.

Williams has a career .216 batting average against when facing the Dodgers, which I don't understand all that well since he faced so many different Dodgers in his career.

[Vishal]

29.  this is less than 24 hours after brian giles, who was 2 for 11 (.182) vs. brad penny beforehand, went 3 for 3 with 2 doubles against him., on a night that penny was having an otherwise dominating game. so what does that all mean? it means nothing, other than that jim tracy is a moron and steve has been right all along.

[Steve]

30.  Should we all reset to last year, when Jim Tracy let Alex Cora, who was 1 for 30 lifetime against Woody Williams, hit against him with the bases loaded?

And this is why we should Fire Jim Tracy.

[Nick Iyengar]

31.  26: You bring up a point that I've been thinking about lately...

Given Tracy's apparent style (partial to bunting, sending Izturis and Robles, etc.), is there any friction between DePodesta and Tracy in terms of how the game should be managed? If I were DePodesta, I would have to be irritated with a number of Tracy's tendencies. What would the significance of any friction be, with regard to the duration of Tracy's tenure as the skipper?

[Nick Iyengar]

32.  30: is that really true? mercy.

[Sam DC]

33.  John Kruk. Pinch Runner? Stealing?

Bob -- have you arranged for a second to dribble out your RDGCs, or are we expected to go cold turkey?

While I do find myself stuck here at 9 pm your time and later all too frequently, Thrs. may be tough. Will try though . . .

[GoBears]

34.  31: We've discussed this about 100 times, tho maybe before you joined the group. DePo will not fire Tracy during this season (who would replace him?). I'm just hoping JT asks to be released from his contract in October to take the Reds job.

[Steve]

35.  Alex Cora v. Woody Williams

1 for 26, 5 K

This is what I have been saying all along. If this is why you don't play Choi, then this is why you bat for Alex Cora. But Tracy is a dishonest hack.

I don't even understand why Tracy hates Choi so much. He's bunted twice!

[Nick Iyengar]

36.  This is off-topic, but I can scarcely believe that with a $200 million+ budget, the Yankees have trotted out the likes of

-Scott Proctor
-Buddy Groom
-Tanyon Sturtze
-Mike Stanton

in a single game. Granted, The Big Unit got chased early, but can't Steinbrenner do any better than those guys? I wouldn't take any of them over Duaner.

[Vishal]

37.  hey steve... this is unrelated, but have you ever seen "the tao of steve"?

[Fearing Blue]

38.  #35: That's right! Choi is the only guy on our team who can consistently get a bunt down. What's not to love?

[Dodgerkid]

39.  Wait how do we correlate this with the fact that taken altogether statistically Tracy is the best manager in the game? Remember that Kansas newspaper article that analyzed all the managers? Tracy had the best numbers. I believe it was linked on this blog. I mean this quote shows that Tracy clearly has no understanding of statistics, but it might also mean that all managers have no understanding of statistics.

[GoBears]

40.  35: I don't think Tracy is a dishonest hack (tho he might be). I just think he is a man without a theory. He manages with his gut, so inconsistency like this is not at all unlikely.

[Steve]

41.  39 -- that was a nonsense study, based on one-run games and double plays turned.

[Dodgerkid]

42.  Anyone have a link to that study?

[Bob Timmermann]

43.  RDGC will be on hiatus from June 27 through July 4.

Also from July 31 through August 7.

Mainly because it helps them last longer closer to the end of the year.

So we will all have one to read in mid September when we start arguing about whether or not Ricky Ledee is getting enough at bats in our quest to stay ahead of the Giants for fourth place.

[brendan glynn]

44.  has anyone had TJ surgery twice? and come back from it?

[Marty]

45.  Jon, I heard that Tracy quote on the drive home; I nearly went off the freeway. 11 at bats is signifcant? I think he blames Choi for the loss the other night when the umpire blew the call on Kent.

[Linkmeister]

46.  I wonder how you say "Whadda I gotta do to get to play around here" in Korean?

[Nick Iyengar]

47.  44: I think Dreifort had it twice...not a real confidence booster. I have heard of some other guys, I think, but I can't recall any names.

[Steve]

48.  cough, cough, hack, hack

[Dodgerkid]

49.  Oh no Bako is gone! God help us! Now it truly is over.

[Marty]

50.  And it makes me wonder if Tracy would somehow screw up Adam Dunn if we got him. Same type hitter (although better). But if he strikes out a lot and god forbid hit into a double play once, Tracy might platoon him.

[Bob Timmermann]

51.  Paul Bako is likely better than Mike Rose. But Rose keeps up the recent trend to have catchers with short names:
Dave Ross
Paul Bako
Mike Rose

[Dodgerkid]

52.  I'm actually hoping Saenz has a season ending injury so that Choi becomes the primary player.

[Steve]

53.  Tracy doesn't deserve Adam Dunn. Make him play with Grabrepwards.

This and Dave Miley getting fired all on the same day. All...too...perfect.

Suddenly, it all seems...too perfect.

[Nick Iyengar]

54.  Solid hit for Izzy! Maybe he'll stir from his coma.

[brendan glynn]

55.  did Izzy really hit the ball sharply? Wow

[Bob Timmermann]

56.  Hey Mark Sweeney wasn't in the lineup at 6 pm!

[Fearing Blue]

57.  Nice situational popup from Repko.

[LAT]

58.  #45 "I think he blames Choi for the loss the other night when the umpire blew the call on Kent."

Then does he give Choi credit for the bottom of the 9th HR on 6/10 which won the game and the 3HRs on 6/12 which won that game? Otherwise our losing streak would be 10 games, not the 7 (and soon to be 8)that it is.

I am not a Tracy hater but even I have to admit that is lame.

[Jim Hitchcock]

59.  C'mon, Dodgers...win one for the gimpy!

[scareduck]

60.  Eric Enders: time to make up a second batch of those Ghame Over shirts.

[brendan glynn]

61.  #56

has he been traded?

[brendan glynn]

62.  #56

has he been traded?

[LAT]

63.  How can we have a lead off hit and not even advance the runner a single base!!! If it were not pathetic it would be funny.

[brendan glynn]

64.  sorry

[rory b bellows]

65.  Off the subject a little bit but in a chat on BP with Michael Lewis he talked about the Dodgers and the hatred for DePo and in particular the hatred two writers for the LA Times have for him.

As a San Diego fan I think it's funny the hate spewed by Simers and Plaschke against the Dodgers but also am a little confused. It's not like the Dodgers have been very successful for the past 10 years or so. Now granted, the LA Times is a horrible "newspaper" that no one reads anymore but still.....

[brendan glynn]

66.  #65

It's just an easy narrative. cheap owner from the east and a computer geek who never played the game angle. never ending stories. they don't even believe it themselves

[GoBears]

67.  63: Well, advancing the runner is irrelevant unless he advances all the way around. A runner stranded on 3rd is no better than a runner stranded on 1st. Hence the false value of sacrificing.

[Bob Timmermann]

68.  The Devil Rays lead is now just 11-10 in the 8th.

I wish the Dodgers could play the Devil Rays.

[brendan glynn]

69.  47-46 San Antonio at halftime

[Bob Timmermann]

70.  The Yankees are ahead 13-11 after a bases loaded triple by Bernie Williams.

[Jim Hitchcock]

71.  Maybe I'm projecting, but Vinny sounds a bit down tonight.

[LAT]

72.  #67 Bears I was not advocating a sacrfice. I am simply lamenting this team's inablilty to get more than one base hit in the same inning.

[Vishal]

73.  well, if vinny's any kind of a dodger fan, i don't blame him.

[bokonon42]

74.  A link to the Michael Lewis BP chat:
http://tinyurl.com/drxdv

[brendan glynn]

75.  i confused mark with mike

[joekings]

76.  That hit would have been nice last night in the ninth.

[Nick Iyengar]

77.  Well at least Saenz produces while eating up HSC's PT.

[Steve]

78.  That's the guy Joe Morgan wanted to take home on that single on Sunday.

[Vishal]

79.  werth has been doing more dancing than hitting in the batter's box this year.

[Ben P]

80.  Was Saenz admiring that hit instead of running it out? As slow as he is, he still should have gotten a 2B.

[Nick Iyengar]

81.  When was the last time Werth and Izturis had a hit in the same game?

[LAT]

82.  Holly Crap. Werth not only gets a hit but does so with a runner on base.

[joekings]

83.  We can't catch a break.

[Steve]

84.  Paul LoDuca left tonight's game in the fourth inning with an injury completely foreseeable to any general manager who might have wanted to pay the least attention to detail. Or something like that.

[Bob Timmermann]

85.  Werth and Izturis both had hits against the Twins on June 10.

[Marty]

86.  84. hamstring?

[Steve]

87.  Yankees 19, Devil Rays 11

[Vishal]

88.  phillips is now sitting in the dugout thinking about sticky wickets and leg spin

[Bob Timmermann]

89.  The Yankees have scored 12 runs in the 8th and lead 19-11 over Tampa Bay.

I'm betting that's it not often that one team scores more runs in one inning than the other team scores in the whole game if the opponent has scored 11.

[Bob Timmermann]

90.  Whoops, that's 13 runs for the Yankees.

20-11.

[bigcpa]

91.  Back to back to back HR's for the Yankees... 13 in the inning to make it 20-11. Someone update the post-steroid era chart.

[Steve]

92.  Bruised right foot, but that's the sort of injury any careful GM is going to watch for.

[Steve]

93.  Is Travis Harper having a historically bad two-thirds of an inning? Four homeruns and a triple at least.

[Steve]

94.  By the way Aubrey Huff fans, your man went 0-4 in that 11 run rally, dropping his BA down to a cool .251. I would go into his OPS, but I don't think in this case that his .251 is a particularly heavy one.

[Bob Timmermann]

95.  Travis Harper is pitching like Paul Wilson!

Chan Ho Park has already given up 5 runs in the first to the Angels.

[bokonon42]

96.  From the Lewis chat, in response to a question about everybody's favorite Sportscaster: "In fairness to Joe Morgan--though why start now?-a lot of sports books are as-told-to affairs. He probably has never been fully exposed to the old fashioned idea of the author."

[Steve]

97.  96 -- That would explain why Morgan thought Billy Beane "wrote the book." When Morgan "wrote" his book, he really just yammered into a tape deck for awhile, then someone else wrote the book. He thought Lewis was Beane's ghostwriter.

[untitled instrumental demo]

98.  Will these guys ever learn not to slide? Or is it just so ingrained because of the other bases that they can't help it?

[molokai]

99.  Thank you Yankee's. Sorry boys but I had to bet big on Randy Johnson over Nomo and when I woke up from my nap and saw that the Unit had been worked over by the DevilRays my heart sank like a stone in the Hudson river. I have now been revitalized and will head for the TV to watch the Dodgers break this losing streak. How they can do it with such a pathetic lineup I have no idea but it will happen.

[bokonon42]

100.  Worse job: Morgan's ghostwriter or Jeff Weaver's shrink?