Home run

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So, a couple times this week, Youngest Master Weisman, age 4, has asked me to play baseball in the backyard with him after dinner. Nearly 10 years of parenting, and it’s finally happening. 

Aside from the pleasure you can imagine I take from this, I realized just how much I still like to go play ball in the yard. Four decades has made no appreciable difference.

  • Anonymous

    Congratulations, and best of luck with your budding baseballer. Great things could happen in the near future, as witness this LAT’d link: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/move-over-mlb-6-old-little-leaguer-turns-144924879.html

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/IO5EW7SE7W6TOOSMK5PHVIJJX4 John

       It figures it was the Dodgers who were the ones batting :)

  • Anonymous

    Did that when I was ten in a schoolyard game.  Must have misplaced the video.

  • Anonymous

    What are great feeling, Jon!

  • Anonymous
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=713935344 Jason Ungar

    Did you guys see this? This really annoyed me. Maybe it shouldn’t but it does.

     http://dodgers.ocregister.com/2012/05/10/billingsley-needs-to-get-a-clue/

    • Anonymous

       What annoyed you? The pitcher’s temper tantrum or the writer’s reporting of it?

      • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

        I commented negatively on Howard’s piece. 

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry-Pruett/1707390003 Terry Pruett

          As did I. He’s a mediocre blogger at a failing newspaper, wallowing in obscurity. That just about sums Howard up.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=713935344 Jason Ungar

        Benjamin do you think that Billz was upset he was pulled out or upset with himself that he had to be pulled out based on how he pitched? Jon, I am sorry to bring it up again after you commented. For some reason I missed your comment.

        • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

          I meant I commented at his comments section. 

    • Anonymous

      Garbage  And, nice shot at Kemp.

      • Anonymous

        How is Kemp treated differently? I’m a die hard Dodger fan and read just about everything I can and never have I heard that accusation. The only thing I see different about the way he is treated is he doesn’t get days off like the others. With his stats would you give him a day off? 

        • Anonymous

          Have you read this fellow?  He is probably referring back to some hatchet job he already did on Matty?

      • Anonymous

        Yeah Bob, I agree.  That one sentence bugged me more than the whole take on Billingsley.  I wonder if Cole would be paying this much attention to the Dodgers if Pujols had a few more home runs?

    • Anonymous

      It annoys me when journalists make assumptions. I did over 20 years in that business and I was trained early on to ask myself this question after typing a statement of fact: Can that be verified? And, I know this is kind of old school, but I tended to try to get a couple of different points of verification, one of which was often a direct quote. 

      Now, it’s one thing if the writer had typed something like, “Billz expressed frustration by slamming his bat against the bench directly behind Mattingly.” Quite another to make a massive assumption about the pitcher’s self-centered nature and then throw Kemp and Mattingly under the bus at the same time. 

      Shabby.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=713935344 Jason Ungar

        How I felt exactly.

    • Anonymous

      Would he rather Billz just sit there and smile?  Athletes play with high emotions and sometimes they need an outlet.  Truth or not, Chad said the right things after the game.  After that, it’s a team issue, not a public one.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=713935344 Jason Ungar

        Yah they can’t win. If Chad sat there on the bench emotionless then he’d have no heart. Hey I am all for sportsmanship in terms of not breaking bats etc.., but to accuse Chad of putting himself above the team and then to accuse Mattingly of putting Kemp above the team is just wrong.

  • Anonymous

    Congratulations, Jon! Must be wonderful.

  • Anonymous

    Is it safe to assume that you actually go out and play? Congrats

  • KT

    Great for you Jon
     
    In my house if there is a ball around my son is throwing it at me with whichever hand it’s in….There’s been times when I’m reading and a ball goes between my head and the book…got to keep and eye on him…lucky for us we only keep the foam balls in the house

  • Anonymous

    Cool.
     

  • Anonymous

    Savor every one of those moments. Those hours in the yard turn out to be fleeting.

  • Anonymous

    Underdog noted earlier today that Tolleson had been moved up to AAA. In fact, the Dodgers made 3 moves of successfully preforming relief pitchers: 24yo LH Eric Eadington in his 2nd pro year was moved from Great Lakes to Rancho Cucamonga; 23yo RH Logan Bawcom in his 3rd year moved from Rancho to Chattanooga, and 23yo RH Shawn Tolleson also in his 3rd season moved up from Chat. to Albuquerque. All three have WHIPs less than 1 this season. I’d say Bawcom has the best stats of the 3 for the last 2 months and Eadington is third. 
    local Michigan story on Eadington from April:
    http://www.mlive.com/loons/index.ssf/2012/04/los_angeles_dodgers_prospect_e.html
    story on Bawcom from January:
    http://mlbdirt.com/2012/01/06/logan-bawcom-los-angeles-dodgers-closer-of-the-future/

    • Anonymous

      I’m a bit disappointed, because in recent years, Albuquerque is a dead end for pitchers.  The ones who get brought up to the bigs, tend to do so from Chattanooga, not ABQ.

      • Anonymous

        Of course you are right, they normally take the Chattanooga Choo-Choo to LA and not the Albuquerque Flyer, but do you really think that Tolleson has been derailed?

        • Anonymous

          No, I don’t think he’s been derailed.  But I don’t think this increases his chances of getting to the Dodgers, either.

          • Anonymous

            My thought is that they are aligning for possible moves at the major league level.  Tolleson is already in his second year at AA and I am sure that the like what they see and is being stashed at AAA.  This allows the other fellow to move up and get some innings at Chattanooga, where they are already heavy on good relievers.  Coffey and Elbert should beware.  Belli has a good start so far.

      • Anonymous

        Wall, a RH, is 25, in his 8th season. He was a starter before his last year which was at AA. He has never had stats like he has this year. I’m not making a conclusion just stating a fact.

        • Anonymous

          Of course, I don’t know what the Dodgers’ plans are for Wall (or Tolleson or others).  But they DID add him to the 40-man, which presumably shows that they consider him of some value to the organization, and they did that before the start of this season.  I don’t think they would have done that if they thought he would never make the bigs.

          • Anonymous

            Their hand was forced by Rule 5, but, yeah, they wouldn’t have put him on the 40-man without some inkling that he had major league stuff.  Good that he seems to be working out so far.

          • Anonymous

            He seems very tradeable.  On the 40 man so that the Dodgers don’t lose him cheap.  I’d be surprised to see him still in the organizaition come August.

  • Anonymous

    Weird Kemp article.  If he feels so uncomfortable here in LA why sign up for 8 more years? 

    http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=courier-journal&sParam=54893296.story

    • Anonymous

      I think he likes parts of LA, just not the glitz and glamour. When he was not getting on with some on the coaching staff, those problems were magnified. I suspect he re-signed becaused he loved being around his team-mates (and the great fans of the Dodgers ;)  )

  • Anonymous

    Wonderful!  So happy for you, Jon!

  • Anonymous

    Jon-Enjoy the games with your son.  It seems like last week I was doing that with my 4 yo daughter and now she’s getting ready to graduate from HS next week.  I really loved that she batted right and threw left, just like me (and Koufax).

  • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

    “If it seems like A.J. Ellis hardly ever swings, your eyes are not deceiving you. Ellis has swung at just about 30 percent of all pitches he’s seen; if he carries his rate over a full season, he’ll be the first hitter that selective in the 11 years for which such data exist. He’s starting to take the bat off his shoulder slightly more frequently, as he’s swung at a minimum of 30 percent of pitches in each of the last nine games. ”
    http://es.pn/IO4dvH

    • Anonymous

      Laggard!

      • Anonymous

        Bum! :)

        • Anonymous

           Lazybones!

  • Anonymous

    Old friend Eveland has been called up to join the miracle that is the O’s and throw against the Rays today.

    • Anonymous

      I’m pulling for him.

  • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

    NPUT

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Welly-Lu/100000882332376 Welly Lu

    Ahh scenes from the natural are coming to mind. =D