Got to love that homecooking...

Back to back walkoffs result in the Dodgers doing something they have done since 1946, going 9-0 at home to start the season.  Of course they lost the pennant in a 3 game playoff with the St. Louis Cardinals so lets not do that again.

Friday's game was a great pitchers duel with Turtle getting the job done anyway he could.  Then Saturday's game with the bases loaded again it looked like Dre was gonna do the same thing.  Two balls to start the at bat, takes a strike on the outside corner and then just crushes a pitch to right field.  A few more feet and he's got a walkoff slam.

The Dodgers are not without their problems this year.  The starting pitching has looked good most of the time, but the staff is still really young.  Bills is showing what an ace is supposed to look like.  The Kid is having his flashes of brilliance (hello, 13 Ks?) with control problems sometimes.  Of course Sandy had his control problems at first too, but when he figured it out did he ever.  The Billingsley/Kershaw 1-2 punch is going to be potent for years to come.  Randy Wolf has been pretty good for a middle of the rotation pitcher.  He's not guaranteeing a win, but you know you have a shot to win with him on the mound.

Right now I think the Dodgers biggest problem is middle relief/setup man.  With Cory Wade back from the DL I'm hoping those problems go away.  As long as we can get the ball to Broxton with the lead and, this is important, ONLY 3 OUTS TO GET we should be doing pretty well.  I'm just nervous Torre is going to latch on to a few pitchers and over use them ala Proctor.  Speaking of that, why do the Dodgers need 13 pitchers?  Torre is only going to use 4 releivers at max so why bother even having the rest there? Can we call up Xavier Paul yet please?

All in all I think this season is starting out great (obviously) but there are pitfalls that need to be shored up before they come back to bite us in the ass.

Goodbye DY, sad to see you go...

... because there's no way you're going to clear waivers.

I can't believe the Dodgers didn't trade you.  Maybe they're just praying you'll clear waivers and end up in ABQ, I know I do. 

Either way I wish you the best of luck where ever you may end up.  You've got a great career ahead of you, just wish the Dodgers could have hung on to you.

 

/wave

Apple announces new iPhone... SDK

With the iPhone 3.0 event today we got to hear about all the new features of this new SDK.  Some of the updates everyone has been asking, or questioning, since the first iPhone. 

(All information is from gizmodo and gdgt live)

Copy & Paste: Finally, I will be using it sparingly I'm sure but it's nice that it's finally an option.

MMS: Again finally, no more stupid codes in AT&Ts website.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard "That phone is really awesome. Wait, you can't get MMS?"

Turn-by-Turn Nav: Apple is going to be giving some core API support it seems.  This is good news IMO. 

Spotlight Search: Adding search to your home screen which lets you search all apps on your device at once.  Maybe I don't have as many apps installed as most but this doesn't seem all that amazing.

Some other notable features; Landscape keyboard in every app, Device to device file sharing, Push notification for apps, 3g tethering (well the apple end is done, nothing announced from the provider side), improved stocks app (oh how have we lived this far?), oh and Stereo Bluetooth. 

They also talked a lot about in app purchases.  This looks to be mostly used with games, but could be used in other apps as well.  I'm not a fan of this kind of stuff.  It seems to make developers handicap their games just so they can sell levels or whatever later on.  I'm fine with buying levels after a full game, we'll see how this goes.

On that same note they also discussed subscription apps.  The best example I saw was for a magazine for instance.

I think that was most of what was announced. What did you think?

-thanks to giz and gdgt for the coverage

testing

is this thing on?

Well Hallelujah

Dodgers, Manny agree to two-year deal

It's about time this deal got done.  I like how far the deal came in all these months... 2 years $45 million.  I could have sworn that was the deal like 9 months ago.  Oh well, it got done at least.  Wonder what next off-seasons going to be like.

I can't wait to see what Dre's OBP is gonna be, playing a whole year in front of ManRam.

Now lets get down to work and start this season right.

 

Genius agent or money-grubbing idiot?

From the Dodger Blog

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers today received a letter from Scott Boras, the agent for Manny Ramirez, rejecting the offer that the club made yesterday. This rejection is the fourth by the agent in the club's attempts to sign Manny.

"We love Manny Ramirez," said Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt, "And we want Manny back, but we feel we are negotiating against ourselves. When his agent finds those 'serious offers' from other clubs, we'll be happy to re-start the negotiations.

"Even with an economy that has substantially eroded since last November, out of respect for Manny and his talents, we actually improved our offer."

Who does Boras think he's fooling?  Does he really want Manny to start the season a free agent?

GAS IS DOWN AND SO ARE YOU!!!

Get over yourself and sign a contract you greedy bastard.  Sign with the fucking Giants for all I care at this point.  Just get it over with and stop messing around.  Manny is one of the best right-hand hitters in the history of baseball, but I don't think anyone is worth putting up with Boras for though.

Manny, you're not getting A-Rod money.  At this point you'll be lucky to get Jeter money.  Sign your one year deal and try again next year.  Then again you could just sit out the first half of the year.  Then when the Yankees take a slide they'll drop a 5 year $225 million deal on you.

Good day sir

get the deal done

So it looks like the Dodgers have offered Manny $45 million for two year, the last year being a player option.  $25 million for the first year and $20 million for the second if ManRam decides to stay or if he is injured the first year the second is guaranteed. 

This looks like an awesome deal, for both sides really.  If Manny comes in to 2009 looking at a contract year he could be absolutely destroying the ball.  Imagine last fall but all year long?  I'm really hoping this deal gets done.  Those 5 run blow ups by Kuroda can be saved by one decent inning with MannRam in the middle of the lineup.

Everything I've read came from Inside the Dodgers.  Tony Jackson does some good stuff over there.  That's one of my daily reads for sure.