FallingLEAVes of Sunshine

National League East W L Pct GB Philadelphia Phillies 44 39 .530 -- Florida Marlins 42 39 .519 1.0 New York Mets 40 41 .494 3.0 Atlanta Braves 40 43 .482 4.0 Washington Nationals 33 50 .398 11.0 Central W L Pct GB Chicago Cubs 49 33 .598 -- St. Louis Cardinals 47 36 .566 2.5 Milwaukee Brewers 44 37 .543 4.5 Houston Astros 39 43 .476 10.0 Pittsburgh Pirates 38 43 .469 10.5 Cincinnati Reds 38 45 .458 11.5 ...

Today was a fairly decent day at work. After work, I went out with Sarah and Rachel for dinner. We went to Mimi's Cafe, hadn't gone there in awhile. Then I went to Nina's to feed the dog. I get home, and my mom tells me to call Tina (in case you're wondering ... she's a relative who I share the same parents with, but I will not call her the title for someone who is related to you and you have the same parents). I call her. She tells me that she's moving back in on Tuesday and needs either my room or the room my brother is in. What the heck? How does she expect us to empty out one of our rooms for her in less than two days? In fact, I only have ONE day to do all this. And why? Because I have no backbone. Neither do my parents. Because they are letting her move back in. And letting her take over. Because that's what she does. She takes over. She steamrolls anyone who gets in her way. Not only does she expect me to give up my room ... but she also expects me to...

Geoff Blum talks on the Scott and BR show about what went down between Astros' pitcher Shawn Chacon and general manager Ed Wade. Also appearing on the Scott and BR show earlier this week was umpire Jim Wolf , the older brother of Padres (former Phillies' and Dodgers') pitcher Randy Wolf. Believe it or not ... someone picked up pitcher Brett Tomko (aka Bombko). Who would be fool enough to pick him up? The same team who picked him up towards the end of last year. The Padres. Guess third time's the charm. Different situation coming in this time. Last time, when they signed him, they were in a tight race for the pennant. I think he was a big part of the reason why the Padres didn't make it to the play-offs. This time, he comes in ... and the Padres are already in the basement. Guess they figured it couldn't get any worse, right? Hmmm maybe they'll pick up Loaiza next. Isn't there a saying that goes... "fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame...

LA Angels 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 LA Dodgers 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 X 1 0 2 WP: C. Billingsley (7-7) S: T. Saito (12) LP: J. Weaver (7-8) Ok, so I can't get the Box Sc...

That's right. Shut out. As in ZEROs all across the board. The Dodgers BEAT the White Sox today, FIVE to ZERO, with ERIC STULTS pitching NINE shut out innings. When the top of the ninth came, I was very EXCITED to see Eric Stults come out and finish the game. I'm going to make this real quick. This time, I went to the game with Nina, Kevin, Sherisse, Roxie, Jon, and their girls Julia and Natalie. Man, you thought the White Sox were going to get ahead in the very first inning when they had Pierzynski on third base, Dye on first ... but thankfully Swisher flew out to end the inning. Then the Dodgers struck in their half of the first inning. Pierre singled, stole second, and advanced to third on the error by Pierzynski. Then Ethier singled him in. Ethier himself got to third when Kent reached safely on the error by Dye. Martin brought home Ethier and advanced Kent to third. Unfortunately, Kent would be thrown out at home in the following play. Kevin noticed an interesting thing. Wh...

2008 National League - Standings Philadelphia 42 35 .545 - Florida 40 35 .533 1 NY Mets 37 37 .500 3.5 Atlanta 38 39 .494 4 Washington 30 47 .390 12 CENTRAL W L PCT GB Chicago Cubs 48 28 .632 - St. Louis 44 33 .571 4.5 Milwaukee 41 34 .547 6.5 Pittsburgh 36 40 .474 12 Houston 35 41 .461 13 Cincinnati 35 42 .455 13.5 WEST W L PCT GB Arizona 39 37 .513 - LA Dodgers 35 40 .467 3.5 San Francisco 32 44 .421 7 Colorado 32 44 .421 7 San Diego 32 45 .416 7.5 Yay! I finally figured out how to get rid of all that extra stuff. Onto the standings. As you can see, the only change in the east is the Mets moving up and the Braves moving down. As for the Central, no change. The Cubs are still on top of the Central and the National League. As for the West ... Looks like the Padres are back in the NL West cellar. They went from third to last in ONE week. Guess that can happen when you lose to the Yankees and the Tigers. Guess that's what happens when you only win one game out of your last six....

Prince Fielder hits an "inside-the-park" home run ... because Alex Rios didn't know that the ball being stuck under the padding didn't mean it was a ground-rule double. The Mets' Ryan Church had something similar happen on June 3rd, when Giants' Fred Lewis hit a ball that got stuck above the fence. I happen to see this video when I was looking for bloopers. Ryan Freel lost control of his bat, which went flying into the stands. Anyone who was at the Diamondbacks-Dodgers game in April where a woman was struck by the broken-end of a bat imagine something similar happening with a whole bat? Well... it didn't hit anyone ... though it almost hit the beer vendo r! Okay, at the end of the video ... it looks like the small end of the bat might've hit the vendor ... like in the hip... Don't look now ... but the Dodgers might be taking some cues from the Padres. They placed TWO of their starting pitchers on the DL this week ... albeit, only one of them was an...

Randy Wolf on the Scott and BR show ! In other news ... Willie Randolph was fired this morning. He's no longer the manager of the New York Mets. I was surprised to hear this, considering the Mets beat the Angels yesterday. Tough luck for Jerry Manuel, the interim manager, since the Mets LOST to the Angels today. The Dodgers put Brad Penny on the 15-day DL, a move which Dodger fans probably feel probably should've happened about a MONTH ago. They also sent Kuroda back to L.A. to get his shoulder examined too. Come on guys, let's not turn into the San Diego Padres now. And as of this post ... I need 3 more visitors to get to 1800!

2008 National League - Standings EAST W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA STRK L10 Philadelphia 41 30 .577 - 21-13 20-17 381 291 Lost 2 6-4 Florida 37 32 .536 3 22-15 15-17 337 339 Won 1 5-5 Atlanta 34 36 .486 6.5 25-11 9-25 321 282 Lost 1 3-7 NY Mets 33 35 .485 6.5 20-14 13-21 322 316 Won 1 3-7 Washington 29 42 .408 12 14-21 15-21 266 343 Won 3 4-6 CENTRAL W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA STRK L10 Chicago Cubs 45 25 .643 - 29-8 16-17 387 279 Won 2 7-3 St. Louis 42 29 .592 3.5 23-14 19-15 334 310 Won 2 6-4 Milwaukee 36 33 .522 8.5 20-12 16-21 308 321 Won 1 5-5 Pittsburgh 34 36 .486 11 21-15 13-21 343 366 Won 1 5-5 Houston 33 37 .471 12 17-16 16-21 311 345 Lost 5 2-8 Cincinnati 33 38 .465 12.5 21-14 12-24 314 352 Lost 2 4-6 WEST W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA STRK L10 Arizona 37 33 .529 - 22-14 15-19 330 304 Lost 2 5-5 LA Dodgers 31 38 .449 5.5 18-15 13-23 292 297 Lost 5 3-7 San Diego 31 40 .437 6.5 20-18 11-22 269 324 Lost 1 7-3 San Francisco 30 40 .429 7 13-22 17-18 281 322 Lost 3 5...

Please, remember Alexander Montoyo in your prayers. I came across this article, "A Father's Gift, A Father's Hope" while looking at the ESPN MLB webpage. This little picture of two little boys, a little five-year-old holding his baby brother who has a little helmet on with the name "Alex" on it, and something told me to read this article. Baby Alex was born with Ebstein's anomaly, which is a congenital heart defect where only one chamber of the heart is functioning, so blood isn't pumped in the proper quantity or direction. Baby Alex hasn't reached his first birthday yet, and when it does, it will mean so much to his family and his survival. He has already had two open-heart surgeries among many many other procedures. His father, Charlie Montoyo, is the manager of the Triple-A Durham Bulls. If you can, please check out the article. There is also a webpage for you to make a donation to help this family who needs not only our prayers, but our hel...

Remember earlier this year, with the autograph debacle? How only the people who could "afford" autographs could get them? I got this e-mail about "bid on unique Hollywood Stars game experience." I knew about the "bids" when I looked at them for the coliseum game. Did you know those little kids who take the field with the players before the game .... did you know that the minimum bid starts at $120 (for four tickets). Is this for every game? Do you have to be able to "bid" at least $120 for your kid to take the field with the Dodgers and get their autographs? They also have bids for official bat kid (400), honorary photographer (400), honorary coach (400) and to announce the celebrity line-up (also 400). See what I'm getting at? I don't know if this is JUST for the Hollywood Stars game ... but geez ... $400 bucks is a LOT to shell out. Personally, I'd love to bid for the honorary photographer ... but I don't have $400 to make the m...

Five hours ... that's what I'm guessing about how long I spent driving to and from San Diego for the game against the Padres. And what do I get? A shutout. My very first Dodger shutout by another team. Oh yeah ... and a little sunburn. Let me start at the beginning. I got up, showered, and headed to my car. Only problem was ... my dad was blocking the driveway. I got his spare key out of his hiding spot, but it wouldn't start the car. So I had to go back inside the house and get the other spare key to start the car and move it. Then I picked up Maria and we were on our way. The 5 south was pretty busy ... so we hopped on the 10. I had intended to take the 605 back to the 5, but that was even worse. We got on the 57 instead, which took us back to the 5 right by Angel Stadium. So .... four freeways ... 5 to 10 to 57 to the 5 again. We had to stop at a rest stop somewhere around San Clemente ... there were these cute little squirrels EVERYWHERE. And the ocean was gorgeous. Whe...

I saw rumors that Jake Peavy might be coming back, and that he might start on Thursday. I just checked, and he's scheduled at the probably pitcher for Thursday. BOOOO!!!! I'm not booing because he's a GREAT pitcher and probably will get the winning decision. I'm not booing because I don't like Jake Peavy, because I do. I'm booing because I was really looking forward to seeing Randy Wolf pitch. I even found a wolf mask at a party store to wear for the game. I got a green t-shirt for my friend to decorate for me. I may still wear the t-shirt, but not the mask. Booo!!! These were my reasons to even going to the Dodgers-Padres game on Thursday. 1. It's the DODGERS and the PADRES 2. Randy WOLF was supposed to be pitching. 3. It was an afternoon game, which meant I could leave early in the morning and still get back at a decent time. 4. I wanted to go to a Dodger game at a different park. San Diego is the closest to L.A.

National League East W L Pct GB Home Road East Cent West Streak L10 Philadelphia Phillies 39 26 .600 -- 21-13 18-13 12-9 14-9 12-6 Won 4 8-2 Florida Marlins 34 28 .548 3.5 20-13 14-15 15-12 11-9 7-5 Won 2 4-6 Atlanta Braves 32 32 .500 6.5 25-11 7-21 16-16 6-10 8-5 Lost 3 3-7 New York Mets 30 32 .484 7.5 17-11 13-21 15-15 4-6 9-11 Lost 4 4-6 Washington Nationals 25 39 .391 13.5 14-20 11-19 13-19 9-11 2-7 Lost 3 2-8 Central W L Pct GB Home Road East Cent West Streak L10 Chicago Cubs 40 24 .625 -- 26-8 14-16 4-4 18-15 18-5 Won 1 7-3 St. Louis Cardinals 38 27 .585 2.5 21-13 17-14 5-1 20-16 ...

Russell's new look He said so himself that he doesn't like the way it looks on him. Since the Dodgers lost on Sunday, does that mean come Tuesday it'll be gone?? Remember the umpire Brad Penny knocked out with a 96 mph fastball on April 26? Kerwin Danley started his rehab assignment in the minors ... and wouldn't you know it? He was umpiring a game between the Las Vegas 51s and the Tuscon Sidewinders when he got hit in the chin with a warm-up pitch. It must've felt like deja vu not only for Danley, but back-up catcher Gary Bennett was there as well as Bennett started his rehab stint with the 51s on Friday. Speaking of injured umpires ... Umpire Jerry Layne took a foul bunt off his mask on Saturday during a Royals-Yankees game. He got a mild concussion and went back to work the next day. He didn't work the game, as another umpire was called up to take Layne's place. Want to guess who took Layne's place behind home plate on Saturday? The one and only, Ji...

When I bought my tickets, I asked my friend Nina if she knew for SURE if our friend Alan was going to go to the game with us. I asked her repeatedly before I bought our tickets if he was definitely going. Why? Because after I bought the tickets, Alan changed his mind about going. And Harold said he didn't want to go. Why? If you haven't been paying any attention ... the Lakers played the Celtics in Game One of the NBA finals. And guess what? They had the same outcome as the Dodgers did. They LOST. The Dodgers lost, 5 - 4. It's the curse of the Bobblehead! Anyone know what our record is when they give away bobbleheads? I just looked it up, and they did win on the night they gave away the Joe Torre bobblehead. But last year, I know they lost when they gave away the Nomar, Russell, and Furcal bobbleheads. Not sure about the Tommy one. Come to think of it ... I think they lose on fireworks night too. So, after much scrambling and asking anyone I could think of... Nina's dad...