Dodger Errata

Russell Martin's throwing error in the first inning Sunday has been rescinded in an official scoring change and a stolen base awarded to Marcus Giles in its stead, the Dodgers said today. No further explanation was provided, but presumably the scorer decided not to assume that Giles would be thrown out from the get-go, and since no other advancement took place, there was no error.

In other notes, Matt Kemp began a rehab assignment in AAA Las Vegas Wednesday, playing right field for five innings and going 0 for 3 but with no health repercussions.

* * *

A toast to the bride and groom at Bronx Banter:

More importantly, somewhere on a beach in Bermuda right around the time of the first pitch, our man Alex and his lovely bride Emily are going to become husband and wife. Please join me in wishing them a long, full lifetime of happiness, health, and prosperity together. Mazel tov!

* * *

Bob Welch at Cardboard Gods - I can't decide which part to excerpt, so go read the whole thing.

* * *

Remember, today's game is at 12:05 p.m.

CBSSportsline.com

Gameday

Retro Gameday

* * *

Want another great pregame read? It's not baseball, but check out this book excerpt at SI.com of Sally Jenkins' The Team That Invented Football.

The game, like the country in which it was created, was a rough, bastardized thing that jumped up out of the mud. What was football but barely legalized fighting? On the raw afternoon of Nov. 9, 1912, it was no small reflection of the American character.

The coach of the Carlisle Indian School, Glenn Scobey (Pop) Warner, strode up and down the visitors' locker room, a Turkish Trophy cigarette forked between his fingers. Warner, slab-faced and profane, wasn't one for speeches, unless cussing counted. But he was about to make an exception.

The 22 members of the Carlisle team sat, tensing, on rows of wooden benches. Some of them laced up ankle-high leather cleats, as thick-soled as jackboots. Others pulled up heavy football pants, which bagged around their thighs like quilts. They shrugged into bulky scarlet sweaters with flannel stuffed in the shoulders for padding. Flap-eared leather helmets sat on the benches next to them, as stiff as picnic baskets.

Often Warner was at a loss to inspire the Indians. He didn't always understand their motives, and he had put his boot in their backsides on more than one occasion. Jim Thorpe could be especially galling. The 25-year-old Oklahoman from the Sauk and Fox tribe had an introverted disposition and a carelessness that baffled Warner. But on this Saturday afternoon Warner knew just how to reach Thorpe -- and his teammates. Carlisle, the nation's flagship institution for Native Americans, was to meet the U.S. Military Academy in a showdown between two of the top football teams in the country.

It was an exquisitely apt piece of national theater: a contest between Indians and soldiers. The officers-in-training in the home locker room represented a military legacy that taunted the Indians. The frontier battles between Native Americans and the saber-waving U.S. Army "long knives" were fresh in the players' minds -- Warner had been reminding them of the subject all week. "I shouldn't have to prepare you for this game," the coach had told them. "Just go to your rooms and read your history books."

Only 22 years earlier, on Dec. 29, 1890, the U.S. Army had massacred Big Foot's band at Wounded Knee in the last major confrontation between the military and American Indians. Feelings between the Army and tribesmen still ran so high that this was just the second time they had been allowed to meet on a sports field. "When Indian outbreaks in the West were frequent the Government officials thought it unwise to have the aborigines and future officers combat in athletics," The New York Times reported. ...

Comments

[old dodger fan]

1.  I know it is early but Loney and LaRoche are not making much of a positive statement at Vegas.

[s choir]

2.  ITD has the lineup, it's back to normal.

Furcal, SS
Pierre, CF
Nomar, 1B
Kent, 2B
Gonzalez, LF
Martin, C
Ethier, RF
Betemit, 3B
Hendrickson, P

[bhsportsguy]

3.  1 LaRoche did not have a great April last year so perhaps he is a slow starter.

[Inside Baseball]

4.  I find that to be a very strange scoring decison. I'm happy for Martin, but why wouldn't a scorer assume that Giles would be thrown out? He came to a complete stop.

btw did anyone see the attempted steal of home last night by Albert Pujols in the top of the 12 inning? Had he not not stopped midway he would have been safe as Molina dropped the ball in his haste to tag the runner. Crazy play, and although rationally it was misguided, I really liked the attempt.

[Jon Weisman]

5.  4 - I think enough players get out of rundowns to make the case that you shouldn't assume the out. Executing a good rundown play is fundamental but not automatic. I see the argument, anyway.

[ToyCannon]

6.  Jim Thorpe, nice Jon. Those old Hollywood bio's were awful but sometimes they were my 1st memories of heroes long gone.

[Linkmeister]

7.  Regarding Alex and Emily, I enjoyed this comment by Cliff Corcoran:

"They're actually getting hitched there, on the beach, just the twos of them. They're basically eloping except they told everyone about it."

Got it.

[Eric Enders]

8.  4 I see the argument too, but I don't buy it for a second. The original call was the correct one. Not that I'm complaining, since I'm sure at the end of the year Gold Glove voters will be looking at that error column.

Speaking of which, Dodgers.com is already promoting Martin for the All-Star Game. Any chance he actually gets elected?

Rich Donnelly fans, did you see how the Seattle-Minnesota game ended last night, with Beltre getting thrown out at the plate by a mile? Here's what the M's skipper had to say about it:

"A good third base coach is not doing his job unless he is getting guys thrown out at home plate," Hargrove said.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=270418112&prov=ap

I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one.

[Xeifrank]

9.  If it were a criminal trial, Martin wouldn't be charged with an error, but if it were a civil trial he would be. I'd say the proponderence of the evidence is heavily weighted on giving him a throwing error. I guess the official scorer is one of those [edited for rule 5]. :) vr, Xei

[Jon Weisman]

10.  A good manager is not doing his job unless he is losing games.

A good waiter is not doing his job unless he is dropping plates of food.

I like it.

Seriously, I get what he's trying to say, but it's a pretty poor way of saying it. There's a difference between having a guy thrown out on a close play and having him thrown out by 30 feet.

[KBL]

11.  10) Amen to that Jon. If Nomar can be thrown out by a throw that was off the plate and still be 1/3 of the way away from home, he should not be sent.

[jasonungar05]

12.  Can U blame Donnelly and Grady about sending Nomar? They have been watching our OF defense for 15 games and figured, aww what the heck.

[FirstMohican]

13.  Are there numbers on plays at the plate that might indicate how good a 3rd base coach is?

I did a quick google search but only found an article on how to apply sabrmetric principles to dating.

[MMSMikey]

14.  did that at bat by furcal frusterate anyone?
the pitcher starts him off with 2 balls, then he swings at the 2-0 pitch that is a foot inside and misses, then procedes to hit a weak dribbler to the right side, and not run it out to 1st base.

[D4P]

15.  What do the following have in common:

1. Death
2. Taxes
3. Juan Pierre grounding out to second

[still bevens]

16.  13 Baseball analysts did an analysis on the effectiveness of coaches about 2-3 weeks ago. It was a bit over my head. The site is linked on the right under non-partisan sites.

[D4P]

17.  Are there numbers on plays at the plate that might indicate how good a 3rd base coach is?

I remember suggesting here last year that someone should keep track of such things. Why not have stats for coaches, if we can?

[ToyCannon]

18.  I fear for my health if I'm going to be watching Pierre play CF for 5 years. I've started to develop a twitch not unlike Chief Insp. Charles Dreyfus whenever a ball is hit to CF. When Helton took 3rd on him yesterday my wife looked at me and said "he throws like a girl". I hope I'm not breaking any rules but watching baseball shouldn't be this painfull. As pennance I won't mention him for a week.

[Mark T.R. Donohue]

19.  Ah, what a beautiful day to open up the screen door, make some fresh iced tea, and watch the local nine play baseball the way it was meant to be played, in the sunshine....

WHAT? THE GAME'S NOT ON LOCAL TV?

AND it's blacked out on Extra Innings?

I swear, being a Rockies fan is about as rewarding as being a member of the Libertarian Party sometimes.

[D4P]

20.  16
Donnelly rates third to last in

Equivalent Ground Advancement Runs (EqGAR). Measures the contribution of baserunners above and beyond what would be expected in opportunities they have for advancing on outs made on the ground. For example, advancing from second to third on a ground out to shortstop or getting gunned down at home on a grounder to second.

[old dodger fan]

21.  He is rephrasing the old lawyers mantra, "If my clients aren't complaining about my bills I'm not charging enough".

Obviously no manager wants to see runners getting cut down at home very often but if it happens now and then and (this is important) the outs are close plays then the manger knows his coach is encouraging aggressive baserunning. If the play is not close then the coach misjudged it. He should have his judgement skills honed in other places than the major leagues.

I did not see the play but if it wasn't close and the runner didn't hesitate then the coach made an error. (E-10?)

[Mark T.R. Donohue]

22.  21 Isn't the DH 10?

[jasonungar05]

23.  Yeah ToyCannon I feel the same way. I was unhappy etc with the signing from an offensive perspective and didn't realize his OF defense was THAT bad. (Gonzo too) I am a much bigger fan of "defense to win" vs offense in all sports. Giving outs away, giving bases away drives me nuts, more so than weak grounders to 2b.

[El Lay Dave]

24.  Looking on the bright side: Hendrickson gets three ground outs in the first on eleven pitches.

[D4P]

25.  LuGo is hitting much better than I expected him to

[D4P]

26.  That's weird: being a young player, I would have expected Martin to do something selfish and flashy, like get a hit. Instead, he went all Veteran on me and chose to hit a sac fly instead.

[bhsportsguy]

27.  Ethier is beginning to hit, looks like he will be the man, Kemp may have to look for a place in Vegas for a while.

[GoBears]

28.  The Error is probably the worst stat in baseball. Even worse than the Save (which is at least fairly objective).

Last night, Vinnie was appalled that Nomar might get an error for a ball that bounced off his glove, and then that Furcal might get one for a ball that went under his glove. Sure, both were tough hops, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't have been handled by guys who get paid millions to be better than the average fan.

I see at least 5 problems with the Error.

First, too many announcers and fans see it as some sort of moral judgment.

Second, (and I realize I'm repeating myself) too many people fail to hold major leaguers to major-league standards. The standard seems to be "Would I have had trouble making that play? If so, he's absolved!"

Third, there's the obvious disincentive for an official scorer either to take a hit away from a home batter, or to assign an error to a home defender. In some way, the assignment of an error hurts a home team guy's stats, and so the benefit of the doubt always goes to the fielder.

Fourth, since extra bases always have to be accounted for, errors are a function not just of the execution of the play, but of its results. That seems wrong. A screw-up is a screw-up, even if you're lucky enough that it didn't matter.

Fifth, errors of omission are ignored. Among other things, there are no baserunning "errors." Mental "errors" (e.g., throwing to the wrong base) are waved off.

Players make mistakes, even when they try hard. Either count them consistently or don't. Perhaps the problem is with the term "error," which has a much more general meaning in common parlance than it has in baseball.

I guess a 6th problem (again, obvious) is how that stat is used. Some stats are merely for accounting purposes. Others measure performance. The Error is kinda both, and kinda not both.

[MMSMikey]

29.  gonzo cant score on a weak ground ball that finds a hole?

[El Lay Dave]

30.  Is Andrew Shimmin going to do unspeakable things to Hendrickson's bobblehead doll if he even offers at a pitch here?

[D4P]

31.  28
I generally agree, though I feel I should point out that not assigning an error to a home fielder is simultaneously assigning a hit allowed to the home pitcher, and thus possibly subsequent "earned" runs instead of "unearned". So, there's a tradeoff.

I would also add that errors don't do a good job of accounting for variation in range, etc. Players with good range who get to more balls probably make more errors than players with bad range. Also, like you said, if you bobble a grounder with a slow runner, you might still be able to throw him out (and thus not get an error). But with the exact same bobble and throw versus a fast runner, all of a sudden you get an error.

[Greg Brock]

32.  If we could do away with any stat, I'll take (or leave, as it were) RBI. A stat completely predicated on how the other guys on your team performed ahead of you. RBI are a measure of nothing.

[D4P]

33.  Have the Dodgers blown a lead yet this year? I can't recall them having done so. According to my memory, once they get the lead, they win.

[El Lay Dave]

34.  33 They led 1-0 yesterday. How quickly they forget.

[ssjames]

35.  33 Well, you know there was a game yesterday where we led 1-0 and then lost, right?

[D4P]

36.  I'd eliminate W, L, S, RBI, and SF. Plus probably others I'm not thinking of.

[GoBears]

37.  33. yesterday.

[D4P]

38.  34-5
I think my mind had implicitly rendered yesterday's game obsolete, if for no other reason than that Lieberthal was batting cleanup

[D4P]

39.  Hendrickson > Schmidt

Who knew.

[Curtis Lowe]

40.  32- If there were no RBIS how would either team win?

[Greg Brock]

41.  I don't really have a problem with Saves, except for the three-run cushion. Three run lead and you get a Save? Silly.

Make it two runs, and I like Saves a lot better.

[FirstMohican]

42.  Man I signed up for MLB.tv and have wanted to watch a total of 6 games so far this season, 5 of which were blacked out. I'm over it.

[twerp]

43.  I've seen Lurch described lately as having command of 4 pitches.

Questions:

1)What are his 4 pitches?

2)Where's his FB usually clocked? I know he's not considered a power pitcher but am curious. Guess he's a sinkerballer?

3) What have most of his strikeouts come on? He has about a K per inning so far and had a relief appearance late last year where he struck out 8 in 4 innings.

[D4P]

44.  I'd also eliminate GIDP, which is too dependent upon how many runners you have on in front of you and how fast they are. If you wanna keep track of groundball outs, that's fine.

[Greg Brock]

45.  40 Why, on hustle points, of course! Accumulated through shirt dirtification, extra-base taking, and facial stubble.

[D4P]

46.  Accumulated through shirt dirtification, extra-base taking, and facial stubble

Don't forget head-first slides, and the related head-first slides into 1B

[Greg Brock]

47.  Grass stains worth more than dirt stains, becuase that means you're driving in runs with your glove, ala Cesar Izturis.

[Curtis Lowe]

48.  46- would that be the equivelent of a grand-slam? Or does the slam still stand?

[Andrew Shimmin]

49.  30- Who's to say?

[Curtis Lowe]

50.  I thought we swung on 3-2 here?

[Greg Brock]

51.  Unclutch walk from 3.5 leads to three runs.

Unclutch!

[Sushirabbit]

52.  If the bases are loaded is a walk really as good as a hit? :-)

Boom Boom!

[D4P]

53.  Ethier took the walk to make sure he got at least one stat-padding RBI

[ROC]

54.  Betemit finally gets rewarded for hitting the ball hard...even if was directly at someone.

[El Lay Dave]

55.  54 Well, yes and no. It's a PA and AB, with no hit and no RBI. But good, hard contact is still showing Grady something.

Does anyone think they'll reverse that error tomorrow?

[tskent]

56.  Going inot today, the Dodger are..

0-3 when Marky Mark makes an appearance.

10-2 when Marky Mark DOESN'T make an appearance.

[D4P]

57.  Wow. Bunting. Again.

[El Lay Dave]

58.  You're down five runs, runner on first, one out, bottom of the third. Do you have the pitcher bunt to stay out of the double-play? I think you have to swing the bat and take your chances. Besides, it's not like Cook is facing, say, Santana out there today.

[ROC]

59.  Ahh... with my forced optimism I didn't realize they scored an error. I saw it eat him up, and day game+work conference call=muted TV.

As much as I want LaRoche or Nomar at 3rd, I'm really pulling for Wilson to do well cuz he's the guy there now.

[old dodger fan]

60.  Rockies down 5-0 with 1 out and 1 on and the next 2 batters bunt to the pitcher. I don't get it. They need a 3 run rally to get back in the game and they are in Denver after all.

[Jon Weisman]

61.  If he can manage two more shutout innings, Hendrickson will qualify to be No. 5 in the NL in ERA.

[El Lay Dave]

62.  60 The last weather report I saw was mid-50s at the stadium with a wind blowing in, not great hitting conditions, but still, I'm with you (obviously) on that.

[El Lay Dave]

63.  Jay Pee
Four - Three

[El Lay Dave]

64.  61 Shhhhh. Don't jinx it!

[Sushirabbit]

65.  Raise your hand if you ever thought Hendrickson and rule #9 would ever come together?

[tskent]

66.  He's given up a hit already silly willy.

[D4P]

67.  65
I've always considered Hendrickson and rule #1 to be a better match

[dzzrtRatt]

68.  Boy, Atkins didn't make it very hard for Kent to turn that DP. Did he stop for a snack along the way to first?

[old dodger fan]

69.  65 Can you jinx a 1-hitter?

[D4P]

70.  Did he stop for a snack along the way to first?

If so, it was undoubtedly of the low-carb variety

[Curtis Lowe]

71.  69- Probably just as well as you can jinx your heterosexuality.

[Sushirabbit]

72.  Well, I waited to post the question....

[El Lay Dave]

73.  64 The jinx comment was on looking ahead to Hendrickson pitching well. I'm happy that he's hung four goose eggs up there today.

[tskent]

74.  Russy's been a stinky poo today.

[DodgerBakers]

75.  74. No kidding, and he is on all of my fantasy teams

[El Lay Dave]

76.  Hendrickson has given up two hits and a walk the second time through the batting order, with the # 7 hitter coming up.

[D4P]

77.  It has been my observation that the Dodgers have induced a lot of doubleplays thus far.

[Connector]

78.  Whatever sports psychologist taught Mark Hendrickson sure is working. The difference between Henrickson of old and his performance so far today (3 singles, only one man to second base) is nothing short of miraculous.

[El Lay Dave]

79.  75 He does have one RBI on the SF.

[D4P]

80.  BTW: Why do we say "double play" instead of "double out"...?

[Connector]

81.  78
I meant to say "whatever sports psychologist Ken Ravizza taught Mark Henrickson..."

[ToyCannon]

82.  Big Bird earned his Dodger wings today no matter what else happens.

[Greg Brock]

83.  Credit to Betemit. He can't hit a lick right now, but that's his ninth walk of the season, I believe.

[El Lay Dave]

85.  77 Tied for fourth in the NL with 16, before today. Mets lead, by far, with 23.

[tskent]

84.  Johnny W needs to give a Marky Mark update in the ERA race if he throws a shutout.

[tskent]

86.  Raffy's a smellie shelley in April. I'd of advocated a prolonged 'rehab' assignment.

[Greg Brock]

87.  You go ahead and bunt, Rockies. Bunt like the wind down five runs.

[D4P]

88.  87
I hate bad managing, even by the opponent.

[Humma Kavula]

89.  there goes the shutout.

[Greg Brock]

90.  Good job, Lurch. I do believe he's earned another start.

{Polite applause}

[still bevens]

91.  Good work Mark. Probably his best outing in blue.

[D4P]

92.  No Quality Start...!

[trainwreck]

93.  Russell Martin is coming up on Rome Is Burning. He is the correspondent for a day and it was filmed during Jackie Robinson day.

[Connector]

94.  92
Clarify that please. 11 ground ball outs, 2 strike outs, only 5 hits and one run over 5 and a third innings is a quality outing in my book.

[imperabo]

95.  He didn't go six, therefore his start lacks quality.

[ToyCannon]

96.  ARod does it again. He is carrying that team on his back.

[jasonungar05]

97.  10 bombs 26rbi in 14 games. I hope he goes off this year and opts out. I am not an A-rod fan, but I dislike the Yankees even more.

[Greg Brock]

98.  94 Six innings or more, three runs or fewer. Those are the rules for a quality start.

Yes, it's a stupid, stupid stat.

[Jon Weisman]

99.  96 - Talk about your two-out rallies.

I always liked A-Rod, was always sad the Dodgers were forced to draft Dreifort instead of him. Hearing the Yankee fans complain about A-Rod did put me even more firmly in his corner.

[trainwreck]

100.  I was looking at my fantasy team. There was a 0 by A-rod for today's points, then suddenly it went to an 8 with one one swing.