BLUE THINK TANK

Today's broadcast mentioned that Choi likes to sing karaoke, especially songs by Jennifer Lopez. I'm trying to imagine a 6'5", 240lb Korean dude belching out fluff songs such as "Love Don't Cost A Thing". It's not a pretty image.

Speaking of Choi...

MLB has announced that 8 players from different countries will compete in the Home Run Derby "to celebrate the inaugural World Baseball Classic", which is scheduled for March, 2006. According to the article, 16 countries are expected to compete in those series. They are: Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Africa, United States, and Venezuela. Here are the the HR leaders for some of the countries, as of yesterday.

US - D. Lee (24), Texeira (22), Ensberg (21), etc.
Dominican Republic - Pujols (21), Soriano (20), Tejada (19), etc.
Venezuela - Abreu (17), Cabrera (16), Mora (14), etc.
Puerto Rico - Delgado (15), F. Lopez (13)
Canada - Bay (15)
Mexico - Cantu (12)
Japan - Matsui (11)

Those countries are probably shoo-ins for the Derby. That leaves 3 countries vying for 1 spot, in my opinion.

Netherlands, sort of - A. Jones (25)
Panama - C. Lee (22)
Korea - Choi (13)

It looks as if Choi will be squeezed out.
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Lowe did a fairly spot-on imitation of Erickson today, serving up 4 HRs in 3 innings. Those HRs don't worry me, as Lowe's track record strongly suggests that was an aberration. I'm more concerned about Lowe's tendency to often blow up after a fielding mistake. According to the Hardball Times as of 7/1/05, Lowe has a ERA/RA difference of 1.15, which is the fourth highest among 109 "qualified" MLB pitchers.

Last year, Lowe's ERA/RA difference was 1.38, which was the highest among 70 AL pitchers with at least 100 innings. The 04 BoSox had a bad defense most of the year, especially in the infield. Combine that with an extreme groundball pitcher and BOOM! Disaster. Hopefully it's nothing more than freak luck that Lowe is once again one of the worst; otherwise, this might imply the Dodgers' infield D has been nearly as shoddy.
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Edit Before Taking Off 'Til Tueday, Probably:

I can't knock Mike Edwards for a lack of hustle, but that diving attempt on a flare in the 4th inning... Mike, if you dive for the ball, you usually want to be in the same area code. And Duaner, remember the 3rd to 1st pickoff move last week when you caught the runner taking off, but you didn't throw to 1B? Add to that today's balk on the same move... STOP USING THAT PICKOFF MOVE.
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Edit 2: Hey, Edwards!

1) Once again, stop diving at balls when there is no chance of catching it.
2) Know the score. When down 5-0, don't turn a double into an out at third, no matter the out count.