Let's Talk

Let's talk about a couple things.

First of all, in not very good news, Hong-Chih Kuo has arm issues. That's putting it lightly. That same arm that's had four, count 'em four, surgeries on it, is not feeling good. Kuo's on the DL now and they say he's just going to take a week off from throwing and then assess the situation. That's better news than hearing he's going to need his third Tommy John surgery, but it also doesn't necessarily mean he won't. I suppose we're in a wait and see period, but I'm just not holding a lot of high hopes that we are going to see something pretty.

Secondly, why the hell do we have an instant replay system if things like what went down in the bottom of the 7th inning of last night's game are allowed to happen.

If you missed it, Casey Blake laid down an excellent bunt down the third base line with the intent on legging it out for a single. Kevin Kouzmanoff charged, barehanded it, and made a nice throw to first to make it a close play, but it was fairly apparent Blake was safe. 1st base ump Jeff Kellogg disagreed though, and called him out.

Still, I guess we won the game, so maybe I shouldn't complain. All's well that ends well I suppose...


Wow. Ok, so that was a pretty bad call, but I guess in the scheme of things...


Oh Sweet Jesus! How do you botch a call that badly?!

Look, I understand baseball is a subjective sport when it comes to umpires. Balls, strikes, check swings (which by the way, I learned today there is no rule in the rule book on, it's entirely the umpire's choice as to whether or not it's a swing), these are all the umpire's calls. I don't want to take that away from them.

But a bang-bang play at first like last night is not subjective in the least. Either the throw beat him, or it didn't. In this case, it REALLY didn't.

So if we are going to have instant replay, we should at least give the managers a challenge flag or two like in football, or have someone in the booth watching the game who can make a call down to the field and tell somebody that the man was safe.

I mean, for God's sake, the man was safe! Dammit! Listen to me! He was safe! Soylent Green is people! You maniacs! You blew it up! The man was safe!

I wish Charlton Heston was still alive. The man knew how to yell a shocking truth like no other. But I digress...

And finally, in some almost sad news. Tanyon Sturtze was released. Look, I do feel bad for the guy. He's just chasing a dream, trying to make it as a pitcher in the big leagues again, working his way up from the minors. It's a nice thought, and I wish him well.



That said, I am soooo glad he's gone. I know he's not causing us too much trouble in AAA, but as long as he was there, and Joe Torre was here, managing, there was always a lingering possibility of hearing the news that Sturtze was called up to be in the pen.

But he's gone now. That threat is gone, too.

And the (Dodger) world is a safer place...