Thank You for showing up

Eric Stephen, Eric Enders, Molly Knight, Underdog, Bob Timmermann, myself and then other site runners, Kensai and Mike from MSTI, were all big contributors to that book. It will be only publication I will ever contribute to where I knew the majority of the people who wrote for it.

via Jon Heyman

 SI_JonHeyman
  
hank blalock agrees to minor-league deal with #rays for $925,000 plus $400,000 in extras.

Told him to join over at mlbtr.com

I never knew the toaster or dodger thoughts prior to July 2009, and even then I was always narrow minded when it came to reading material about the Dodgers. It was you that captured my eye to joining TBLA. Always thought that you were on top of Dodger blogging mortality, and still do. To read that you’re kind of discrediting yourself of TBLA’s success is blasphemy.

keep your sense of humor here and everything follows

great article.

game was the epitome of DT. We got a huge write up in the Sports Illustrated end of the year magazine when they compared our comments on DT to the comments on the Padres blog – with each comment time stamped.
vr, Xei

and just left a note on DT

Kudos
You are all doing a great job.
Great job.

THANK YOU

epic. Having been a long time DT’er (and a scout.com guy before that) I’m happy to have found a home here. I do miss the toaster. And my fists do too.

I am new to both sites, but when I first started viewing the sites I was so relieved to know there was a better place for dodger fans than espn.com. I started with DT and from there was introduced to TBLA. For months I have read every post and viewed nearly every comment until I finally joined recently. I look forward to being apart of this community and really appreciate all the efforts of the writers at both sites.

From someone who an outside perspective who a) discovered both blogs post-Baseball Toaster and b) only occasionally comments, I feel like some of the competition is overblown, as the blogs seem so closely affiliated. Sort of like if Bill Bill Belichick and Erik Mangini were best friends.

Great post Phil. I am on the road and when I got to Atlanta, after cleaning up a littany of emails, I checked into TBLA to see what was going on. I’m getting pumped for the season, and there’s nowhere I look before TBLA for Dodger info these days. I will admit that I was blown away at seeing over 500 comments. Holy crap! This is preseason! You guys have obviously built a great site and a great community where Dodger fans like myself can commune with each other. My hats off to all of you, especially my little bro. I’m very proud of his, and all of your, accomplishments.

That being said, >500 posts for a preseason game? My God…what is the real season going to bring us? I won’t be able to keep up! But try I will!

My mom called me this afternoon and told me she bought this maple street dodger magazine at vons today for me. I told her I wanted it and did not know where to buy it, so I am excited to see her tomorrow for her Tuesday babysitting day of the boy.
The comments were great today, and it was fun to hang out with everyone. This site surely has surpassed DT, and I enjoy it much more. There was an attitude in the toaster days that I did not really like, and I never felt that here. It helps that I keep running into the editors at Clipper games too.

Interesting this topic comes out into the open when it’s been lurking in the shadows recently. Obviously, from a mere reader’s/commenter’s perspective, combining DT & TBLA would be ideal.

Ken Levine and Steve Lyons will be calling Wednesday’s Dodgers/D-Backs game on Prime Ticket.

This is for silverwidow

Withrow

I definitely like hitting 2nd more than I like hitting 8th and 9th. But wherever I’m at, I’m going to try my best to get hits. I know Torre has faith in me. It really doesn’t matter where he puts me. As long as he puts me in the lineup, it’s all good. I just want to play every day, every single day, 162.

I just wanted to make sure I got all my pitches in the first two innings, so I didn’t have to go down to the bullpen and throw extra.

Then he laughed after he said it. Chad Billingsley, jester. :)

Don’t post too much here, but read everything. Now, all that’s missing is getting Timmermann back doing his baseball stuff on the internets.

{sniff} {wipes tear from eye}

Only thing is, who’s this underdog jerk you kept referring to above?

(But seriously, keep up the great work. I’m excited to have both DodgerThoughts and TBLA to look forward to reading every day and keeping me sane during the season. Or semi sane. We’re really lucky as D fans to have both to enjoy.)

Roll Call: silverwidow, meercatjohn, Eric Stephen, BFDC, bhsportsguy, delias man, Michael White, robotmadeofnails, S Jay Bruin, prosellis, Ivdown, Xeifrank, OB12, kinbote, David Young, underdog, kngoworld, sarcastro9, oshea2002, LA Taco, CanuckDodger, SeanMillerSavior
Total Users: 22
Total Posts: 506
Total Threads: 1

Name # of Posts
Eric Stephen 117
meercatjohn 107
Ivdown 34
bhsportsguy 32
BFDC 30
David Young 30
silverwidow 27
delias man 27
prosellis 24
underdog 22
Michael White 21
kinbote 15
SeanMillerSavior 4
OB12 4
Xeifrank 4
LA Taco 2
robotmadeofnails 1
CanuckDodger 1
sarcastro9 1
S Jay Bruin 1
kngoworld 1
oshea2002 1

So Eric and I dominated the conversation. My teachers said I never could keep my mouth shut.

But I always read, both at DT and TBLA. And I have to say, one of the best things about both sites are its readers. I feel that I learn as much from comments on a posting than the posting itself (of course the writing at both sites are excellent). After a long day, making it through the posts and comments, I feel thoroughly informed, and I find there is nothing left to say. I do sometimes make an appearance in game threads, and I feel TBLA just works wondefully for this purpose. Sometimes its nice to share in the frustration and joy of a game with other die-hards :)

1. I couldn’t say it better than Phil did. TBLA is what is today because of DT.

2. Jon Weisman is THE MAN, both at writing and at community building. Stumbling onto DT is what showed me there was something out there beyond what was being fed to us by the mainstream sports media.

3. I found TBLA through DT because Andrew commented at DT. I read TBLA, but commented only occasionally. (Through an unfortunate accident, all my TBLA comments prior to May 2009 have ceased to exist – and I didn’t get spider-powers in return – but I did get in my shots at Andrew, mostly about hair colors and girlie drinks.) I really enjoyed reading Phil’s columns (Phil, we need the return of Ned fan fiction!), and the topper was the addition of the sheer force that is Eric Stephen. These guys in combination really made me take more notice. I was pretty surprised when they asked me to join as an “editor”, and it still surprises me to see my name on the “masthead”, but I am honored to be in such company. Any time you get an opportunity to join a winner, you don’t turn it down.

4. I still read every post and comment at DT; it is still that important to me. I may comment less there than before, but I am still there.

5. There are several fine Dodger blogs out there that I read frequently, even if I comment on them seldomly. This is a great time to be a Dodger fan.

but this is the first site I look at when I get home from work to check for Dodgers news. I wanted to let you guys know what a great job you do with this site and I’ve really enjoyed the past year.

Think we could trade Sherrill to Minnesota for something great?

Joe Nathan TJ surgery – Everyone who was in the trade of AJ that was so lauded at the time has now undergone surgery, Liriano, Nathan, and Boozer. Still an incredible trade, just pointing out how quickly what seemed like a bountiful harvest can turn sour when young arms are the commodity.

Elbert does not look like he’s going to be the fifth starter so he could fill the brim reapers shoes.

to see what is going on. It’s become such a big part of my day that my wife tells me “ask your blogging friends” whenever I have a Dodgers question. I love it here, thank you everyone.

The first article I ever read on here was the Verducci Effect one about Billingsley. I really liked the article, but never read anything else on here. One day last summer I decided to find the article and then see what was on here. I was a frequent poster on Dodgers.com, and this place is 100 times better if not 1000. I love the writers and the posters on here.

You know though, the thing that really hooked me in was the daily minor league stat posts. I loved reading those almost more than anything else on here, minus the aftergame posts. I hope those continue because I’m definitely looking forward to those in 2010.

Top notch job, guys!

I started reading DT during the passionate Hee-Seop Choi debates. The comments were so comprehensive I just lurked and absorbed as much knowledge as possible. I remember TBLA in its nascent days and wondered why it wasn’t as big as the other SB sites like MCC and BleedCubbieBlue, but you guys have worked hard to make it the force it is today.

I used to liken my following of TBLA and DT to 24-hour cable news and 60 Minutes, respectively. I came here for up-to-the-minute stories and statistical analysis, while DT provided Jon’s unique perspective and incredible writing. I think the comments here are on par with DT in terms of intelligence, which is no small task. A lot of credit goes to the TBLA authors who have fostered a culture of intelligent Dodger discussion.

I never saw a competition between DT and TBLA because TBLA is pretty much a DT-commenter All-Star team. EricStephen, BHSportsguy, Phil Gurnee, El Lay Dave… you guys (along with Kensai and CanuckDodger) were the people I stopped and read word for word as I scrolled down the 300+ daily comments on the old DT Toaster site. Dodger fans are lucky that TBLA provides a forum for all of you to spark your own conversations about everything Dodgers.

I remember DT was the first blog I read, and I used to comment as Lonestar7 during Toaster days. Now I’ve tried to universalize my name as Ollie/Oliver on most of the blogs that I read because they really do seem to become a community and a family, and I feel a bit of personal attachment to each one.

I know I’ve been primarily a lurker for a long while since the divorce debate cooled down, but I assure you I’ll be back when school ends and baseball rolls around because I’ll almost certainly be in sort of miserable internship or summer school class with nothing to else to do but track baseball : )

You guys rock. Writing a baseball blog has to be incredibly demanding considering the long season. I mean how much can one really put into a Wednesday afternoon game agains the Marlins? But I’m glad you do it. Keep it up.