ESPN

While I was parked at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, many of my online colleagues were out at Dodger Stadium for media day at the Dodgers' Winter Development Camp. Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles was one. Some excerpts:

... Instead of making a splash now, the Dodgers will likely do what they have done the last few seasons. Try to stay competitive in the first few months of the season in order to convince ownership to expand the payroll at the trading deadline.

"I think we're in a decent spot right now to be competitive and to make more decisions in July," (Ned) Colletti said. "There's rarely a postseason team that doesn't change along the road." ...

... Elsewhere, (Don) Mattingly said that RHP Rubby De La Rosa has looked good in limited action after undergoing Tommy John surgery this summer. The Dodgers hope he can return to throwing bullpen sessions sometime in March and pitching in games by the end of July.

"I feel good. It feels strong," De La Rosa said. "It feels like six months have passed since the operation and it's only been three."

But wait, there's more ...

• Roberto Baly of Vin Scully Is My Homeboy has video of Tommy Lasorda during batting practice telling prospect Matt Wallach to "pull the goddamned ball."
• Baly adds a bunch of photos in this post.
• Brandon Lennox of True Blue L.A. has a long list of notes from the camp.
• Dylan Hernandez of the Times leads his notebook with a Dee Gordon update, while also noting that if and when De La Rosa pitches for the Dodgers this season, it will probably be in relief, before he returns to starting in 2013.
• Ken Gurnick of MLB.com has a full recap. Here's a portion:
  

  ... Also rehabbing is infielder Justin Sellers, who suffered a serious groin pull while playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic. Sellers said he's still not 100 percent, but he was turning double plays with expected starting shortstop Dee Gordon on Monday.
  
  Working in the infield was Alex Castellanos, a natural power-hitting outfielder acquired from the Cardinals in the Rafael Furcal trade. Castellanos is still primarily an outfielder, but the Dodgers are trying him at second base, which they had to fill with the signing of free agent Mark Ellis because they weren't willing to turn the position over to Sellers or Ivan DeJesus Jr.
  
  Also at the camp is catcher Tim Federowicz, who was a September callup, but Colletti said he's likely to open the season in the Minor Leagues as the Dodgers plan to start the season with A.J. Ellis starting and Matt Treanor backing up. Federowicz was the key player acquired in the Trayvon Robinson trade.
  
  Colletti said he met in the Dominican with third baseman Juan Uribe. Colletti said Uribe knows he underperformed last year and understands the expectations for this year. Utilityman Jerry Hairston might share time at the position. Hairston also could see time in the outfield, especially when the Dodgers face left-handed pitching. When that happens, James Loney might be replaced at first base by left fielder Juan Rivera and Andre Ethier might give way to Jerry Sands. Mattingly said he wouldn't call it a platoon, but one of the winter priorities was to add right-handed bats to give him more options against left-handed pitching. ...

Former Dodgers Hideo Nomo, Bill Bergen and Lefty O'Doul are among the 10 first-time nominees for the Shrine of the Eternals, brought to you by the Baseball Reliquary.

Any member of the Reliquary can vote on the Shrine of the Eternals. An active membership costs $25 annually. Honorees will be announced in May, with Induction Day on July 15 in Pasadena.

Here are the 50 names on this year's ballot (with years on ballot in parentheses) – really a wonderful list – followed by the Reilquary's biographies of the 10 new nominees:

1. Eliot Asinof (9)
2. Gary Bell (new)
3. Bill Bergen (new)
4. Steve Bilko (new)
5. Steve Blass (3)
6. Chet Brewer (13)
7. Charlie Brown (5)
8. Jefferson Burdick (3)
9. Glenn Burke (5)
10. Bert Campaneris (new)
11. Jose Canseco (new)
12. Charles M. Conlon (11)
13. Dizzy Dean (12)
14. Bucky Dent (4)
15. Hector Espino (3)
16. Charles Faust (new)
17. Donald Fehr (2)
18. Eddie Feigner (12)
19. Lisa Fernandez (12)
20. Charlie Finley (2)
21. Rube Foster (14)
22. Jim “Mudcat” Grant (8)
23. Ernie Harwell (9)
24. Dr. Frank Jobe (10)
25. Annabelle Lee (new)
26. Effa Manley (14)
27. Conrado Marrero (3)
28. Dr. Mike Marshall (7)
29. Tug McGraw (9)
30. Fred Merkle (6)
31. Manny Mota (5)
32. Hideo Nomo (new)
33. Lefty O’Doul (new)
34. Joe Pepitone (2)
35. Phil Pote (10)
36. Vic Power (4)
37. Curtis Pride (2)
38. Dan Quisenberry (6)
39. J.R. Richard (13)
40. Annie Savoy (2)
41. Rusty Staub (7)
42. Chuck Stevens (4)
43. Toni Stone (new)
44. Luis Tiant (10)
45. Fay Vincent (11)
46. Rube Waddell (14)
47. John Montgomery Ward (6)
48. David Wells (2)
49. Wilbur Wood (2)
50. Don Zimmer (8)

GARY BELL (b. 1936)—Immortalized in the pages of Jim Bouton’s Ball Four as a charter member of the beer-pounding, beaver-shooting Seattle Pilots, the good-natured, wise-cracking Bell (inevitably nicknamed “Ding Dong”) came up with Cleveland in 1958 as a “can’t-miss” pitching prospect, part of a strong staff that eventually included Mudcat Grant, Sam McDowell, and Luis Tiant. Bell posted solid if unspectacular numbers with the Indians for a decade until a trade to the Red Sox in 1967 placed him in the midst of their “Impossible Dream” pennant-winning season. The cheerful Texan is the answer to the perennially-asked trivia question: “Who was the winning pitcher in the Pilots’ first home game?”

BILL BERGEN (1878-1943)—Whoever first offered the canard, “I don’t care what my catcher hits; he’s in there for defense,” must have been thinking of Bill Bergen, a defensively superb dead-ball era catcher who would have been forgotten entirely if not for the fact that he holds the most dubious record in baseball history: lowest batting average ever—.170—for a player with 2500 or more at-bats; a record that makes latter-day lightweights like Ray Oyler and Mario Mendoza look like Ty Cobb.

STEVE BILKO (1928-1978)—Moon-faced first baseman who wrapped a so-so major league career around a legendary stint in the Pacific Coast League, where he paced the circuit in home runs for three consecutive seasons (1955 to 1957), and won the PCL’s Triple Crown in 1956 with a phenomenal display of slugging for the Los Angeles Angels. Astutely drafted by the expansion Angels of the American League in 1961, the extraordinarily popular Bilko made further inroads into pop culture immortality as the source for the name of the Phil Silvers’ character, Sgt. Bilko, on the actor’s television program.

BERT CAMPANERIS (b. 1942)—Speedy, durable shortstop for the Kansas City-Oakland franchise of the 1960s and '70s whose flash and flair embodied the spirit of the Swingin’ A’s. A six-time All Star who once played all nine positions in a single game, “Campy” in his prime was arguably the best shortstop between the Luis Aparicio and Dave Concepcion eras.

JOSE CANSECO (b. 1964)—Wayward Cuban-born slugger of prodigious gifts and blasé demeanor who, with fellow “Bash Brother” Mark McGwire, led the Oakland A’s back to respectability in the late 1980s. His open admission of steroid use throughout his career, documented in several tell-all books, made him a pariah in MLB circles after his retirement.

CHARLES “VICTORY” FAUST (1880-1915)—Few baseball tales are as odd—or ultimately, sad—as the story of Charlie “Victory” Faust, a gawky stringbean of a man who in 1911 managed to convince New York Giants manager John McGraw that he, Faust, was destined to pitch the team to a World Series championship, and furthermore had the talent to jinx opposing teams (“put the whommy on ‘em,” as Casey Stengel might have said). With Faust adopted by McGraw as team mascot/good luck charm, the Giants did indeed win the 1911 series, and Faust did indeed pitch in two meaningless games. Faust faded into oblivion after the 1912 season, dying in a Washington sanitarium in 1915, until his story was resurrected a half-century later by historian Larry Ritter. (More on Faust here.)

ANNABELLE LEE (1922-2008)—The poetically named southpaw pitched with four different teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) from 1944 through 1950 and is credited with hurling the first perfect game in league history in 1944, adding a no-hitter to her credentials the following season. A Los Angeles native whose father played in the Pacific Coast League and whose nephew Bill Lee was a Red Sox legend, Annabelle Lee is part of the AAGPBL permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

HIDEO NOMO (b. 1968)—Credited with opening the door to Major League Baseball for native Japanese players, right-handed pitcher Hideo Nomo established himself as a star early in his career with the Kinetsu Buffaloes (1990-1994) before taking advantage of a contractual loophole to sign with the L.A. Dodgers. Using an exaggerated, jerky windmill motion (the genesis of his nickname “The Tornado”), Nomo became an overnight sensation in the U.S., ushering in the era of “Nomomania” while winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1995. He became an itinerant pitcher after a few seasons with the Dodgers, and never really captured the nation’s enthusiasm again after his rookie campaign, but by then U.S. fans had other Japanese stars to cheer for—Ichiro, Matsui, Hasegawa, Matsuzaka, and many others.

LEFTY O’DOUL (1897-1969)—A man of many hats—most of them green, to match his favorite color of suit—the legacy of Francis “Lefty” O’Doul is so varied and accomplished as to defy neat description: a San Francisco native, still revered as a favorite son of the city (his sports bar is still a civic landmark), O’Doul began his big-league career as a relief pitcher, but re-emerged as a slugger after a reclamation stint in the Pacific Coast League. He terrorized NL pitchers during the late 1920s and early 1930s, won two batting titles, nearly hit .400 in 1929, and retired with the fourth-best career average of .349 in 1934. Returning to the PCL, he managed the San Francisco Seals through one of their most productive periods, mentored the young Joe DiMaggio, and established a reputation as one of the greatest hitting coaches in history. He also found time to work as a baseball ambassador to Japan, giving the professional game a leg up in that country. He is in everyone’s Hall of Fame except for the one that counts: Cooperstown.

TONI STONE (1931-1996)—Born Marcenia Lyle Alberga, Toni Stone played baseball from the moment she could walk, a standout player among local boy’s teams, American Legion squads, and black semi-pro outfits through the WWII era. Barred from play in the segregated AAGPBL, she was signed in 1953 by the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League to play second base, a position recently vacated by Henry Aaron. She had her greatest thrill in baseball with the Clowns: a chance to bat against Satchel Paige. A victim of the sexism prevalent among all races during the era, her skills as an athlete were overshadowed by her value as a publicity tool, and after a stint with the fabled Kansas City Monarchs in 1954, she retired. She was inducted into the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, and is memorialized in two separate permanent displays at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The thirty-nine individuals previously elected to the Shrine of the Eternals are, in alphabetical order: Jim Abbott, Dick Allen, Roger Angell, Emmett Ashford, Moe Berg, Yogi Berra, Ila Borders, Jim Bouton, Jim Brosnan, Bill Buckner, Roberto Clemente, Steve Dalkowski, Rod Dedeaux, Jim Eisenreich, Dock Ellis, Mark Fidrych, Curt Flood, Ted Giannoulas, Josh Gibson, Pete Gray, William “Dummy” Hoy, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Bill James, Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Roger Maris, Marvin Miller, Minnie Minoso, Buck O’Neil, Satchel Paige, Jimmy Piersall, Pam Postema, Jackie Robinson, Lester Rodney, Pete Rose, Casey Stengel, Fernando Valenzuela, Bill Veeck, Jr., Maury Wills, and Kenichi Zenimura.

From the Dodgers:

The Dodgers’ fifth annual Winter Development Program, which helps prepare minor league players for the Major Leagues both on and off the field, kicks off this weekend and will include workouts, community visits, informational seminars and visits to different areas of Los Angeles. Fifteen of the Dodgers’ top minor league prospects will be in town for the week-long event and workouts will focus on fundamentals, strength training and conditioning.

Dodger Manager Don Mattingly will be on hand to work with the prospects along with Third Base Coach Tim Wallach, Hitting Coach Dave Hansen, minor league roving instructors and Specials Assistants, Baseball Operations & Player Development.

Prospects attending include the Dodgers’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year Shawn Tolleson and Minor League Player of the Year Scott Van Slyke. Other position players include Alex Castellanos, Griff Erickson, Tim Federowicz, Tyler Henson, Alfredo Silverio and Matt Wallach. Pitchers Steven Ames, Michael Antonini, Stephen Fife, Josh Wall, Allen Webster and Chris Withrow will be in attendance along with the Dodgers’ 2010 Minor League Pitcher of the Year Rubby De La Rosa.

Throughout the week, these Dodger prospects will familiarize themselves with the greater Los Angeles area through community service with a visit to A Place Called Home, a youth center in South Los Angeles, and social events, including attending an L.A. Clippers game. They will also meet with Dodger legends including Tommy Lasorda and Don Newcombe and learn from Dodger staffers about topics including media relations, diet and Major League travel. Prominent Los Angeles sports figures who have spoken to the program in the past include John Wooden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Phil Jackson.

Since the Winter Development Program’s inception in 2008, 30 participating players have reached the Major Leagues, including 2011 participants Rubby De La Rosa, Jerry Sands, Dee Gordon, Nathan Eovaldi and Javy Guerra. Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Ramon Troncoso, A.J. Ellis, and Scott Elbert are among other past participants.

Quickly on a Saturday morning ...

• Maligned for his 1992 All-Star Game selection but nevertheless a most likable player, Mike Sharperson is remembered at Lasorda's Lair by Scott Andes, who passes along this quote: “I first walked in (to the N.L. clubhouse) and saw all the superstars, and I’m not even close to being considered a superstar. But here I am, and I’m going to play with them. I definitely feel like a kid in a candy store. I can’t wait to take my bats around to be autographed. For me to do what I’ve done, to be selected, is going to stop a lot of critics from doubting me.”
• Former Dodger Alex Cora is drawing offseason interest both as a player and as a coach, says Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via MLB Trade Rumors).
• Colorado has acquired 26-year-old Chad Tracy, son of manager Jim Tracy, from Texas in exchange for Greg Reynolds, whom the Rockies took with the second overall pick in the 2006 draft ahead of Evan Longoria, Clayton Kershaw and Tim Lincecum, among others. The first baseman had an .814 OPS for Triple-A Round Rock last season.

Without Tom Lehrer to poke holes in the New Math, I'll take a stab at it.

Lately online, I've seen a rash of speculation that Time Warner Cable will buy the Dodgers, based on the following algebra: Why would Time Warner Cable pay up to $4 billion for 20 years of Dodger cable television rights when it only needs to spend an estimated $1 billion or so to buy the team (and in turn control of the TV rights) and be home free?

Well, I'm here to tell you why.

The main thing is that the math above doesn't compute. Sure, TWC would be committing less money initially if it bought the team, but it still has to operate the team. You can't simply ignore the cost of that, and it's going to be considerable.

So while TWC wouldn't pay the TWC-owned Dodgers $4 billion for broadcast rights, it would have to pay them a big dollar amount nonetheless. How much will Dodger player payroll alone be over 20 years? I'd say $3 billion (not adjusting for inflation) is hardly outlandish. Then there's stadium improvements to be made, etc., etc. And TWC would be paying out all that whether the Dodgers made money or lost money.

That leads into a second but not insignificant point. Operating a sports franchise is a big headache, and the Dodgers, with all their on-field and off-field needs, are no different. It takes a lot of manpower, and if you're not doing it right -- if it's not your top priority -- it can be a public relations disaster. And the odds are that lots of fans will find decide TWC doesn't know how to run a baseball team.

Fox essentially has every reason to try to buy the Dodgers that TWC has -- as we've discussed here repeatedly, the fate of Fox-owned Prime Ticket probably depends on keeping the Dodger' TV rights -- yet with the benefit of previous ownership experience, Fox is not going to bid on the franchise. Despite the New Math, Fox doesn't want the hassle, even if it means risking astronomical sums in the event of a Prime Ticket collapse.

Then, finally, there is Frank McCourt himself. He will decide which of the MLB-approved ownership groups will get the team. No doubt, he will go for the richest bid, and secondarily, an owner he isn't personally affronted by. But if the competition is close, he's likely going to feel more comfortable, in terms of doing what little he can to salvage his legacy, selling to a group that has a friendly face, be it Magic Johnson or Joe Torre, than a group that has no face at all.

I'm not saying TWC won't bid on the Dodgers -- I mostly expect it to. Owning the Dodgers eliminates the risk of Fox retaining the TV rights, and heck, maybe TWC can learn from Fox's mistakes (not to mention the very different mistakes of the McCourts) and make the Dodgers' day-to-day operations themselves purely lucrative.

But it's worth remembering that there are no free rides. Buying the Dodgers has great reward potential but is also a bonafide risk, more so if the bidding becomes heated. The ultimate prize for TWC right now is the success of its upcoming new cable channels dedicated to the Lakers. Those are the real revenue generators, and if TWC is confident it can acquire the Dodgers' TV rights to support those channels (without the angst of running the Dodgers themselves), or even if it isn't confident, TWC might let Dodger ownership be someone else's problem.

Still I wonder ...

• Grant Brisbee of McCovey Chronicles passes along perhaps the greatest parable ever written: "It's about a fox who sees a pile of moldy grapes in a dumpster behind a Cheescake Factory."
• In a lengthy piece for True Blue L.A., Phil Gurnee looks ahead at the 2012 Dodgers with downcast eyes: "My spider senses are all tingling disaster disaster, and try as I might, I can't shake it."
• Imminent future Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin has been "working out" Dodger youngster Dee Gordon among others this winter, according to Joe Lemire of SI.com.
• Jay Jaffe, trustworthy as they come for Hall of Fame recommendations, offers his 2012 list to date at Baseball Prospectus: Larkin, Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez and Lee Smith.
• Former draft phenom Brien Taylor, whose career was thwarted by an off-field fight, turned 40 last week. Mike Azisa of Fangraphs looks back at the derailed success story. Sample quotes:
  

  “I’ve been through 28 drafts,” said Scott Boras back in 2006, “and Brien Taylor, still to this day, is the best high school pitcher I’ve seen in my life.”
  
  “If I’d been doing things that were stupid and didn’t make any sense, I would have felt a lot worse about it,” said Taylor in 1994, a year after the injury. “I feel that what happened with me is a family thing and I was there for my family. But I don’t feel bad about it for one day because the reason it happened is not because I was being stupid out there.”

• At Grantland, Jonah Keri looks at "The Myth of the Small-Market Window."
• Earl Pomerantz tells us what happens when someone speaking French asks Jim Appel his name.
• Finally, Alex Belth shares a story at Bronx Banter that was simply and wonderfully impressive.

Predictably, the Dodgers have re-signed reliever Mike MacDougal to a 2012 contract with a 2013 club option.

According to The Associated Press, MacDougal gets a slight raise from his 2011 salary this year, to $650,000. If the Dodgers pick up his option for 2013, he'll get another $2.35 million, which means the Dodgers will pick up his option over my suspendedly animated body. But if things go according to Hoyle, MacDougal will get a $350,000 buyout after the coming season.

MacDougal returns to a bullpen that figures to also include Kenley Jansen, Javy Guerra, Scott Elbert, Matt Guerrier, Josh Lindblom and one other.

Previously on Dodger Thoughts: Remembering 2011: Mike MacDougal.

... MacDougal not only ended up pitching more innings for the Dodgers than all but one of those names, he finished the year with the lowest ERA on the entire staff: 2.05. Now, if you were paying attention, you'll know that latter figure is tainted: He allowed 17 of 51 inherited runners to score. It was actually much worse before the All-Star break, when he allowed 13 of 33 inherited runners to come home – nearly 40 percent. His second-half numbers (4 of 18) were respectable. He struck out 6.5 batters per nine innings but allowed 13.1 baserunners. So, he was effective, but then again he wasn't, but considering his $500,000 salary, then again he was. ...

And on and on ...

• Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com and Bill Shaikin of the Times each have an update on the Dodger sale process.
• it would be a travesty if Jeff Bagwell doesn't make the Hall of Fame, writes David Schoenfield of ESPN.com.
• Alex Belth, who wrote that amazing story about sportswriter George Kimball late last year, today posted an entertaining interview he did with Kimball.
• Tyler Kepner of the New York Times writes that the Yankees are saving money this winter to make a run at Cole Hamels or Matt Cain a year from now (via Baseball Musings).

Once a Dodger (no matter how late), always a Dodger?

Joe Torre has resigned as MLB executive vice president of baseball operations to join a group pursuing ownership of the Dodgers. ESPNLosAngeles has more.

The group Torre is joining was not immediately named, though Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweeted that it was one led by real estate developer Rick Caruso. (Update: Torre and Caruso subsequently confirmed in a joint statement, and Bill Shaikin of the Times tweeted that the banker is Byron Trott of BDT Capital in Chicago, "called by Warren Buffett 'the only banker he trusts.'")

Former Dodger executive Kim Ng will be part of a trio splitting Torre's MLB duties on an interim basis. If Torre's group prevails in acquiring the Dodgers, it's natural to wonder if Ng would be the team's next general manager.

Jordan Williamson's game-costing missed field goal for Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl is no doubt devastating for him, yet not unusual for his position, his sport or even sports in general.

Or even life. Subtract the national stage, and I have no trouble calling back my own Jordan Williamson moments in my life. I don't think about them every day, but they are profoundly powerful considering the decades that have passed for some of them. If quietly periodic haunting still counts as haunting, as opposed to crazy no-holds-barred "American Horror Story" haunting, then call me haunted.

Sometimes you get a chance for redemption, like the time I had the chance for my first real kiss when I was 11 and choked, and sometimes you don't, like ... well, let's just say there are a few kicks I'd like to have back.

Jordan, you've got it bad right now, as bad as that mangled kick with time expiring, but while most of us can't relate to the exact situation, we can feel it. I can, anyway. (And then there's a fellow named Jonathan Broxton I might introduce you to ...)

A devastating story comes from my long-ago Daily News colleague Tim Brown, one of the gems in this business, about the sudden, tragic death of his brother Andy. All my most sincere condolences ...

Here's the one-two on 1/2/12 ...

• Mike Petriello of Mike Scisocia's Tragic Illness connects the Dodgers' lack of international spending to the likelihood that 2012 will bring their first all-U.S. starting rotation in more than 30 years.
• No doubt the greatest Vicente Padilla story ever, from Nicaragua's El Nuevo Diario, is passed along by Craig Calcaterra at Hardball Talk.
• David Fung of Beyond the Boxscore looks at the tradeoffs the Dodgers made with their position players this offseason. Prepare to be whelmed.
• David Schoenfield of ESPN.com looks at Hall of Fame balloting in terms of how stingy voters have been over time.
• Farewell, Don Mueller.

What you will, my friends. A bonny 2012 to the lot of you ...

I’m as guilty as anyone as believing that the arrival of new ownership next year portends a rebirth for the Dodgers, but of course, a new foundation is still only a foundation. You can’t do without it, but so much depends on what you do with it.

The Dodgers should have a vast upgrade in resources in the coming years, from future owners and dramatically rising TV dollars. Will that lead to increased greatness or increased waste? It’s a real concern, and it all depends on the execution originating from the offices on the Club level down the left-field line.

One of my big frustrations in the technological age — and keep in mind, I’m as layman as they come with this stuff — is that on the few occasions over the past 25 years when I have gotten a new computer with increased capacity, I can’t fully enjoy it because so many new programs expand to eat up that capacity, sometimes with little purpose. Efficiency rarely seems to be a priority with home computers. The goal instead seems to be to devour the frontier as fast as it appears.

That kind of sloppy largesse is not in my vision of the Dodgers. I want them to spend, but to spend wisely. This franchise has so many needs, on and off the field, that new leadership can’t afford to be irresponsible.

I believe the next Dodger era can be a great one, but I don’t think greatness comes with a bulldozer. It should come, no matter how many tools are available, with surgical precision.

As this year nears a close, I want to offer a particular salute and thank you to one person.

This was no less a rewarding a year of parenting for my wife and I than any other, but it did happen to be our most intimidating. Everything's relative - we are thankful for the health and happiness in our home and only hope it continues. But you could say we dealt with some unexpected developments.

To those challenges, my wife responded like a field general. A field general who didn't hide her fears, but a field general nonetheless. Despite how overwhelmed she felt at times, she did not slink from what needed to be done, doing all the research, finding all the right people to help, making it all happen, and all the while juggling the mundane duties that in the grand scheme of things would have been easy to let slide. At times we felt we were going off a cliff, but she not only kept us from falling, you could now say as we reach year's end that we actually have seen signs of soaring.

My contribution on these matters was mainly to be the one who usually got up in the middle of the night whenever our 3-year-old needed a little love or lavatory. The real mountain-moving was left to my wife. When I think back on the year, I'm kind of amazed by what she accomplished.

So to whatever extent you have enjoyed Dodger Thoughts this year, join me in sending a bit o' thanks to my better half, who shouldered so much of our household burdens and made my work life that much easier. You don't see her influence, but she makes a huge difference.