If that's what you're into.

Ned Colletti's rope seems to be getting shorter

This story was sent to you by: tforkush@juno.com

Here's the upshot:
McCourt is a cheapskate who is unwilling to send cash to other teams forcing his GM to give them prospects instead. Such is the case with Casey Blake.
Essentially, Blake is this years Shea Hillenbrand with better publicity. The Indians are paying all his salary, but, not unlike

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Ned Colletti's rope seems to be getting shorter
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General manager's job is in jeopardy and Dodgers owner may have cut off his allowance.

Bill Shaikin

July 27 2008

This could be Ned Colletti's last trade as the Dodgers' general manager.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-shaikin27-2008jul27,0,5495712.story

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

Turmoil rocks jobless benefits agency

This story was sent to you by: tforkush@juno.com

Power plays at the expense of those in need.

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Turmoil rocks jobless benefits agency
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As state unemployment claims rise, troubles at the board that oversees appeals trigger a huge backlog.

By Patrick McGreevy
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 27 2008

SACRAMENTO — As rising unemployment floods the state with benefit claims, the agency that workers often appeal to for help is in turmoil, with accusations of rampant nepotism, alleged meddling by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political appointees, the ouster of a top official and a huge backlog of cases.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-unemployment27-2008jul27,0,7141289.story

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com


First of all people, this is simply more of the same fucking bullshit that has affected employees in all segments of society. In my particular case, if it wasn't enough to be fucked up the ass by LAUSD for over a full year in terms of not getting paid properly due to the BTS payroll fuck up, NOW as many hundred, if not thousands, of employees who work for the district, among others, are told to basically fuck off by the Employment Development Department because of neopotistic greed and satanic evil being perpetrated by the Governor's office to attempt to hijack the appeals board of the EDD, we have the answer to our questions as to what in God's name is going on.

Just to give an overview:

I work for LAUSD and our school, Hollywood High, has gone from year round to traditional which means that our job status changes just this particular summer from twelve months to ten. This means we are entitled to unemployment benefits for July and August of this year only. I filed a claim in late June, along with many of my co-workers, and submitted my claim forms. Over four weeks elapsed with absolutely no response from anyone. I began to get calls from friends and co-workers who know that I have experience with the EDD, having gone through three appeals due to administrative incompetence at the site level where I work. Numerous calls told me they either heard nothing, received incomprehensible mish moshes of notes that made no sense from the EDD, or were rejected outright, even though they have this special circumstances qualification.

I advised all of them to call EDD, which I needed to do myself as a month had passed without any response whatsoever, no idea if I qualified or was declined.

What a joke that turned out to be.

The Employment Development Department, for those of you who remember, used to have offices that we could go to and stand in line embarrased by shame at others seeing us, but getting our claims processed by real people. About five to seven years ago, this entire system was changed, replaced by a single 800 number call center to handle ALL the claims. This number began to become clogged, but you could still get ahold of someone. NOT ANYMORE BABY!!!!! Good fucking luck if you can ever get through to anyone on this line. The only thing you can do is listen to recorded information and check to see if you got paid or fucked up the ass.

After one thousand attempts at calling this number, I finally said eat my shit you motherfuckers, and started looking for alternatives. I opened my phonebook and rifled through it to see if there was a shred of any other number other than the fake crap they told us to call. I managed to call a number of the job development offices around the area. These apparently are set up to look for work, but also are connected to the EDD main system. I would get ahold of humans and tell them my problem. Most just hung up on me, or transferred me to the recorded number which ALWAYS says the same thing: a nice woman's recorded voice telling you that the system is overloaded and go fuck yourself.

Finally, I managed to reach a nice African-American woman in Inglewood at the State EDD job center who listened to my sad ass story and said she would help me. But not before another wonderful young African-American woman at LAUSD reached through a pile of forms backlogged on her desk and said "hey, here's your claim", and processed it with the help of three other people.

Unfortunately, my dire financial state required me to go down to the County of Los Angeles' Department of Public Social Services where for two full days I had to endure the indignity and ignominy of applying for food stamps with the deranged, homeless and meek of the earth...in other words the GOOD people of this world.

After going through the most rigorous screening this side of Communist China, I was told I didn't qualify for ONE SINGLE PENNY of food stamp help. I fell apart completely in front of the supervisor and demanded to speak to his supervisor, through the veil of my tears.

Then, I prayed. I prayed and prayed as hard as I have in years. I told God that no matter what happened we would be okay...NOT. I PLEADED with him to spare me in a terrified and wimpy ass lack of faith way. But I did turn it over..yes I did. Moments later the supervisor came back and said they had fixed the problem and I would be getting a full months supply of Food Stamps, no longer coupons but in the form of an EBT card that looks like an AMEX Gold Card, saving me the indiginity of being laughed at in the lines at Gelsons.

Later, I also was told by Paula...the good lady from Inglewood...that they had finally approved my Unemployment case and I would be getting a check sometime later this week. Only one week though, not two, because the first week is a waiting period.

A waiting period?

What the fuck am I waiting for? Who am I waiting for? What the fuck does that mean?

None of it makes any sense. Read this article though, people. You need to know. And if you don't, you better AKS somebody!

Dodger Tony has sent you a video - Joe Torre on trade deadline

Joe Torre on trade deadline Joe Torre discusses the importance of not mortgaging the teams future for a "win-now" philosophy. Spoken like a front office man, which is where I predict he will be in the years to come.

Dodgers acquire Cleveland Indians third baseman Casey Blake in trade

This story was sent to you by: tforkush@juno.com

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Dodgers acquire Cleveland Indians third baseman Casey Blake in trade
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It's hoped the weak-hitting Dodgers can get a boost from the 34-year-old, .289 hitter acquired in exchange for minor leaguers Jon Meloan and Carlos Santana. He'll be at Dodger Stadium tonight.

By Dylan Hernandez
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 26 2008, 11:10 AM PDT

Five days away from the non-waiver trade deadline, the Dodgers acquired third baseman Casey Blake from the Cleveland Indians for a pair of minor leaguers.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-trade27-2008jul27,0,4413705.story

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

Casey Blake traded to the Dodgers

I turned on the radio this morning and was very pleased, and surprised, that Ned Colletti pulled this off. I thought for certain that we would have to lose one of our "prized" youngsters. I like it when that player named "Cash" is thrown into the deal as well, something the Dodgers have done little of over the years when making trades, it seems.

Blake adds a veteran clutch presence to this team that is in dire need of that presence. You now have a plus 34 year old infield, with the exception of James Loney at first. While defensive range may be a concern, the Dodgers now have a solid infield with significant veteran bat presence and clubhouse leadership. It is a Mike Lowell type of signing that will unquestionably help the team in more ways than Blake's numbers alone.

I'm not exactly sure where he will hit in the lineup (is anybody sure where anyone will hit with Andruw Jones clogging the arteries?). My suspicion is that he will probably hit six after Garciaparra, with Loney hitting seventh and Jones the most expensive number 8 hitter in history.

Eventually they will be forced to sit Jones and he will be the $16 million dollar Olmedo "Tomato" Saenz.

Truths from on high.

Gabcast! Stop this noise in my head #18 - Stop being mean to yourself

Very wise words from Melody Beattie's book of the same name. I can't help but think how the world is totally backward. Those we look up to have status, and those we look down on do not. Clearly, in the realm of the spiritual struggle, it is the other way around.
The Meek SHALL inherit the earth.

I missed what?

Sunday afternoon, top of the eighth inning in Arizona's perspicacious dome. Jeff Kent is up at the plate and the Dodgers are down 4 to 1 to the snakes. Brandon Webb is pussifying the blue, making them suck maple on every at bat, but he seems to be tiring somewhat. Two men on. If Kent can somehow find a hole then we gotta chance.

Kent swings and hits a rocket at third baseman Mark Reynolds and there is the 5-4-3 around the horn double jackpot to effectively end the game. I turn the TV off and pick up the phone to call Dodger Talk and vent my very hot boiling jewish angst at another series loss within the division. The Dodgers are now two games back of the Diamondbacks and all that Mattingly savior crap is down the toydee.

As I wait for the show to start, on hold, I start listening to the very low radio broadcast in my receiver. I can barely make it out, but it sounds vaguely like something strange happened. Something that makes no sense. I ignore it and wait for Ken Levine and Josh Suchon to come on the line.

They pick up the phone and I start talking about this pathetic loss. The way the team rolled over once again and how Mattingly's presence may have inspired them to beat a cancer depleted Doug Davis on Friday, but that when they face real pitching, ie. Dan Haren on Saturday and Brandon Webb today, they lose all composure and choke like dogs. Believe you me, I let our boys have it.

There is a profound silence on the other end of the phone line and Ken Levine very calmly says "uh, Tony...The Dodgers scored FIVE TIMES in the top of the ninth inning and Jonathan Broxton closed them out in the bottom of the ninth to win 6 to 5". I continued my diabtribe until what he said registered in my cerebellum. I stopped dead in my tracks, realizing I had been the victim of some kind of practical joke and then looked at my MLB gameday on my computer to show the reality of what they were saying.

I apologized profusely and meekly told them that I was the cautionary tale of the year. A Dodger fan who turned the game off because the statistics were slightly in favor of the Dodger's not coming back. It may just be me, but when a team is 1 and 45 when trailing after 8 innings, it just kinda seemed like a reasonable deduction that they weren't gonna do diddly squat.

Boy, was I wrong.

I am an idiot of the first order. The fact that I actually got on the air and pontificated my disgust, makes me, perhaps, the biggest idiot of the year on the airwaves.

Tommy's Big Blue Dodger in the sky gave me a piece of humble Tommy pie today. Not to mention, I didn't get to participate in the jubilation of the series win.

Oy yoy yoy.

Forgive me Adonai.

A waste of my motherfucking life!

TWELVE ALL STAR GAMES IN A ROW FOR THE AL!

DID YOU HEAR ME ASSHOLES? DID YOU GET THAT?

TWELVE!!!!!!!!

What in God's fucking name will it take for those pussys from the NL to finally show some God Damned fucking heart and win one of these fucking pieces of shit? The NL has become the biggest bunch of losers I have ever fucking seen. Fuck them and fuck the players who represent them.

Are you fucking kidding me? Russell Fucking Martin showed what a man he was behind the plate and that hick red neck Benedict Arnold from Georgia, J.D. Christ, GETS THE MV...FUCKING...P? WHAT KIND OF KISS MY FUCKING ASS BULLSHIT IS THAT?

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST MAN. I WAS FUCKING THIRTY FIVE FUCKING YEARS OLD THE LAST TIME THESE AVERAGE BUNCH OF SHITHEADS WON THIS FUCKING THING. KISS MY FUCKING ASS. WHAT A GODDAMNED FUCKING DISGRACE FOR THE NL TO LOSE LIKE THIS.

I'M FUCKING DONE WITH THE ALL STAR GAME. THAT'S IT, CUNTHEADS!!!FUCK OFF! DON'T EVEN TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS SHIT. I'VE WATCHED MY LAST FUCKING GAME, DUDE. NO FUCKING HORSE RACING...NO FUCKING ALL STAR GAMES. KISS MY FUCKING YID ASS AND LICK MY BALLS YOU WORTHLESS, NO TALENT PIECE OF SHIT CLINT FUCKING HURDLE. ASSHOLE HAS NO CHANCE OF GOING ANYWHERE AND HE COULD GIVE A SHIT, JUST LIKE LAST YEAR WHEN FUCKING LARUSSA WOULDN'T PUT IN PUJOLS BECAUSE HE WASN'T A HUNDRED PERCENT. HOW MANY FUCKING ONE RUN LOSSES DOES THIS MAKE NOW? LIKE FUCKING TEN, OR SOME SORRY SHIT LIKE THAT?



EAT SHIT!!!! FUCK OFF!!!!DON'T EVEN FUCKING TALK TO ME ABOUT HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE. THE NATIONAL LEAGUE DESERVES EVERY SINGLE LAST WORTHLESS FUCKED UP SHIT THAT HAPPENS TO THEM.

WASTE MY FUCKING TIME. KISS MY FUCKING KIKE ASS!!!! WITH FUCKING WILLY MAYS IN THE HOUSE. ARE YOU KIDDING MY FUCKING JEW ASS? FUCK YOU!!!

TOMMY LASORDA HAS MORE PRIDE IN HIS COLON THAN YOU WORHTLESS DICKHEADS!!!

I'M DONE WITH THIS FUCKED UP LEAGUE!!!!! THE NATIONAL LEAGUE IS DEAD TO ME!!!!!

Jon Weisman's take on Dodger mess.

Things That Went Wrong for the Dodgers That Have Nothing To Do with Listening Skills

by Jon Weisman

In no particular order:

1) Rafael Furcal was injured.
2) Andruw Jones was out of shape, incompetent and injured.
3) Brad Penny lost effectiveness and was injured.
4) Tony Abreu was injured.
5) Chin-Lung Hu had vision problems.
6) Takashi Saito and Jonathan Broxton blew a few saves in otherwise effective seasons.
7) Chad Billingsley's first start of the season was derailed by a Los Angeles rainstorm.
8) Hong-Chih Kuo was underused in critical situations.
9) Hiroki Kuroda was injured.
10) Gary Bennett was signed.
11) Nomar Garciaparra was injured while Furcal was injured.
12) Jeff Kent is 40.
13) Andy LaRoche can't get more than two starts in a row to prove himself, which would be okay if Blake DeWitt had a batting average of more than .217, an on-base percentage of more than .277 and a slugging percentage of more than .263 over his past 46 games.
14) Juan Pierre was overused at the expense of Andre Ethier.
15) Mark Sweeney could not buy a hit even on layaway.
16) Brian Falkenborg gave Hanley Ramirez an easy pitch to hit.
17) The Dodger front office made some sloppy decisions.

But by all means, let's blame those insufferable kids who can't listen for everything – the kids who represent a great deal of everything that's good about the 2008 Dodgers. Players are getting hurt left and right, players are old, players are ill-chosen – but who cares? The kids aren't perfect, so they must be the problem.

You know, in my own life, I'm not accomplishing everything I wanted to. I think I'll blame my kids. Because I've seen other 3- and 5-year-olds who are perfect. So it must be my kids' fault.

Look, you can trade Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw and Carney's for all I care if you can get a proper return. But good luck trying. In the meantime, if you're going to scapegoat, get a clue. This isn't my approach, but if you want to advocate a culture that espouses professionalism, responsibility and effectiveness, then demand the release of Andruw Jones. If it's those values that matter, if you want that kind of shape-up-or-ship-out integrity, blame Jones for reporting to the team without any of them.

Otherwise, just shut up.

Instability and failure

Reading between the lines of Dodgers' demise

Al Campanis' 'The Dodger Way to Play Baseball' was a template for decades of success, but they stopped playing by the book after the O'Malleys sold the team 10 years ago.

Ross Newhan, Major League Baseball
July 12, 2008

Branch Rickey disciple Al Campanis wrote "The Dodger Way to Play Baseball" in 1954.

Campanis was scouting director on his way to becoming general manager, and his book, both symbolically and in practicality, became the organization's bible, preaching pride in coaching and fundamentals with an emphasis on pitching, speed and defense.

The "Dodger Way" formed a significant part of the club's aura and attraction for decades, tutored to rookies in night classes at Dodgertown, envied and emulated by other organizations.

But was the book eventually misplaced? Has it now been permanently lost?

The answers may depend on who is doing the analysis and what the yardstick is. Two conclusions are hard to dispute:

* If the ultimate yardstick is wins, losses and postseason appearances, there was consistent success on the field and remarkable continuity to the staff in virtually every department from the time Walter O'Malley brought the Dodgers to L.A. in 1958 until Peter O'Malley sold them in 1998.

* Since that sale, the on-field success has virtually disappeared and the continuity has disintegrated.

"The contrast is startling," former general manager Fred Claire said, referring to the eras before and after the 1998 sale.

Said O'Malley: "Al's book was a cornerstone of our success, as fundamentals always are, and that continuity was also a cornerstone. I can't think of any organization in baseball which had that continuity for as long as we did. There was stability throughout."

As for the last 10 years, a convulsive period of high-priced change in the executive and player rosters?

"I haven't been part of it so I can't really address it," O'Malley said.

The figures don't lie:

Whereas there was a single-family ownership for the first 40 years in Los Angeles, there have been two owners in the last 10 years alone -- uninterested Rupert Murdoch and transplanted neophyte Frank McCourt.

Whereas there were four general managers (one of them, Fresco Thompson, died a few months after taking the job) and three field managers in the first 40 years, there has since been a revolving door on those offices.

Keeping the movers busy in that 10-year period, there have been six general managers (counting Tom Lasorda and Dave Wallace on an interim basis) and six field managers (counting Glenn Hoffman on an interim basis).

It has been a chaotic era of change and turnover, with little to show for it except a high payroll and frustration on the field: the Dodgers have been to the playoffs twice in the 10 years since O'Malley sold, going as division champion in 2004 and the wild card in 2006.

While disappointed fans may point to what seemed like similar periods of drought under the O'Malley ownership, the facts say differently.

* After winning a World Series title in 1959, their second year in Los Angeles, the Dodgers would win two more World Series and play in a third during the 1960s.

* They would win three National League pennants in the 1970s while in fierce division competition with Cincinnati's Big Red Machine.

* They would win two World Series titles and two other division titles in the 1980s.

* And, amid the escalating economics that influenced O'Malley to sell in '98, they would win two division titles in the first eight years of that decade, lose the possibility of a third on the last day of the 1997 season and lose the possibility of another when the 1994 strike wiped out the remainder of that season while they were leading the division.

"I don't want to say I'm proud of that record or happy with it," O'Malley said. "I don't want to characterize it. I just think it speaks for itself."

And as a cornerstone of it, O'Malley said, he pointed to Campanis' book.

"I don't think it was ever pushed aside or put on a shelf," he said. "Everybody in our organization always had great respect for what he wrote. He knew the game from all aspects and loved to teach it, as Rickey once did. He deserves a lot of credit for that book."

In April 1987, however, Campanis made insensitive remarks regarding African Americans while appearing on "Nightline" and O'Malley bowed to pressure from outside the organization by firing Campanis and elevating Claire to the general manager's position.

No one was closer to Campanis than Lasorda. It was Campanis who brought the former left-handed pitcher back as a scout and then made him a minor league manager on a fast track to replace Walter Alston as the varsity manager.

Lasorda said he is saddened to think Campanis died with people believing his "Nightline" remarks represented his true thinking ("No one did more for black and Latin players," Lasorda said) and he believes that it was when Campanis left the organization that the "Dodger Way" began to slip away.

"He let it get away," Lasorda said in a pointed reference to Claire, citing as examples the changes that were made in the club's farm and scouting directors, among other staff moves, and that young pitchers were allowed to throw sliders, a pitch Campanis had banned because of the strain it put on young arms.

Claire, always dignified and composed, bit his tongue in a telephone interview and suggested that Lasorda is applying revisionist history. He said that Ben Wade and Bill Schweppe, the longtime scouting and farm directors who had accompanied the team from Brooklyn 30 years earlier, had simply opted to retire and were replaced by two longtime Dodgers employees with respected resumes -- Terry Reynolds and Charley Blaney.

As for young pitchers throwing sliders, Claire said: "I never influenced or insisted on a pitching philosophy. I relied on the recommendations of Tommy, as a former pitcher, and the organization's pitching coaches. I never made a trade or signed a player without taking into consideration the opinion of Tommy, the scouts and other members of the staff."

The Dodgers won a World Series in Claire's second year as GM, produced five straight winners of the rookie-of-the-year award during his tenure, returned to the playoffs in 1995 and '96 and, Claire said, never played a game during his last four years that didn't bear on the club's playoff possibilities.

Claire and manager Bill Russell were fired in 1998 shortly after a Murdoch lieutenant went behind Claire's back to trade Mike Piazza. Kevin Malone and Davey Johnson, who replaced Claire and Russell in full-time roles, were the first people to fill those jobs in the club's 40 years in L.A. who didn't have any Dodgers background.

"That was just the start of the changes," Claire said.

Indeed, it was as if Murdoch, the new owner, couldn't wait to get out, virtually underwriting McCourt's eventual purchase. And while McCourt has spent far more than anticipated on players and stadium improvements, insisting in the process that the emphasis is on young players and building from within, he is already on his third general manager (Dan Evans, Paul DePodesta and possibly jeopardized Ned Colletti) and third field manager (Jim Tracy, Grady Little and Joe Torre). He will soon employ the Dodgers' eighth batting coach in the last 10 years, and all of those front office and field people will have given lip service to the fundamentals of pitching, speed and defense with no evidence of having thrown the book at their players, now in the midst of another struggling season.

In fact, when considering the breakdown in Dodgers continuity and stability over the last 10 years, you may have to conclude that Mike Scioscia, a former Dodgers catcher and once heir to Lasorda before Malone and staff chased him out of the organization (one of the more costly victims of the merry-go-round), took the book with him when he left to become manager of the Angels.

After all, the "Angel Way" bears a striking familiarity to the "Dodger Way," for those who can remember back that far.

Dodgers will change hitting coach again

This story was sent to you by: tforkush@juno.com

This just in: Donny Baseball is back and will be in the dugout for the second half.
Thank you Jesus! This brings all of Torre's men together.
I am so excited I can't stand it.

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Dodgers will change hitting coach again
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Mike Easler will be replaced by Don Mattingly after the All-Star break.

By Dylan Hernandez
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 8 2008, 10:54 PM PDT

With the Dodgers' offense ranking among the worst in the league, the club is expected to change hitting coaches at the All-Star break by replacing Mike Easler with Don Mattingly, according to sources close to the situation who requested anonymity because the move hasn't been finalized. Mattingly is due to take over when the Dodgers start the second half of the season in Arizona on July 18.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodfyi9-2008jul09,0,1830258.story

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

Banzai!

Gabcast! Stop this noise in my head #17 - Kuroda-san throws a one hit, almost perfecto at Atlanta

The 33 year old rookie right hander was one pitch shy of history at the ravine tonight in totally dominating the Braves. Dodger pitching is astounding.

I travel through darkness as you call.

Gabcast! Stop this noise in my head #16 - Vashkan Bubel

The ancient Hebrew mystic takes us on a journey through the dark to the heart of the matter.

Fantastic photos of Strunz and Farah

These are from yesterday's show at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

My other hero, Woody Allen, was playing at the same exact time in a different theater in Montreal with his Preservation Jazz Band. Wow!