WeekEnd HaloLinks: Dodgers have Met their end

Dodgertown Meltdown: Howie "Playoff" Kendrick opened the game last night with lining out to the first baseman, and Howie "Playoff" Kendrick closed the game last night striking out. He finishes the playoffs with a .273 OBP. That actually is a huge improvement for him, since Howie has a career playoff OBP of only .197 out of Anaheim. Anyway, now Howie "Playoff" Kendrick needs a team to play for...........Battling for any run possible against Jacob deGrom, Andre Ethier apparently went afoul of Don Mattingly (Failed to advance a runner on 2nd with nobody out? Ignored a bunt sing? Mattingly not having his back with the plate umpire's shitty zone? What?). A serious public shout match ensued. I dunno, but since Mattingly is a career 42.2 bWar player across 14 seasons, and Ethier is only at 22 bWAR after 10, I side with Mattingly on whatever it was. Anyway, the Dodgers didn't score that leadoff double, and the Dodgers lost by a single run..........With each run important, the Dodgers showed some serious mental stupidity with their shift, gifting David Murphy a free base and an eventual tying run when they slept through their infield duties after a base on balls. Listen close as the analyst takes free dig at smarter baseball: "Well, to all you analytics guys with the shift, everything went tilt."............Dodger hero Mike Piazza is coming out with a new book, and he's all New York. He calls out Vin Scully for turning LA fans against him. For asking a question that scully cannot recall even thinking about asking (but would have been a fair question, nonetheless). Oh, and Piazza would rather go into the Hall of Fame in an unmarked cap than be branded a Dodger...........By the way, if Rob Lowe says it, then it must be official. After all, nothing makes a person a master expert on running a baseball enterprise than spending your life uttering words coming out of the imaginations of somebody else............

Jays-Rangers: Vernon Wells, yeah, THAT Vernon Wells and now living in Texas, notices how pissed off Texans remain over Jose Bautista, and projects the notable Ranger fan hypocrisy. The replies are fun. And one of them is from Kevin Youklis, who points out how much fun next season's first Jays-Rangers matchup is gonna be...........Mark your calendars, because the first game will be Rangers @ Toronto on May 2nd, and the Jays then visit Arlington for a weekend stint opening May the 13th. Friday...........But, yeah, Jose Bautista is already being imitated by youngsters, just as Rangers players feared. Here is Anthony Rizzo............And now we can REALLY say that Bautista tattoed that ball!..........Holy shit! That Bautista mini-me, of whom I linked a photo yesterday, actually had more going on that I was led to understand. He was swinging for the fences right along with his hero in real time with the epic homer!..........

Growing Beanes: Billy Beane cares little for your water problems, fellow Californians. He consumes an average of 5,996 gallons every day. "Beane said he has tried to reduce his water use this year but added that he has a large landscaped yard. 'I certainly pay for it,' he said."..........

Rebuilding the MLB Playoff System: I once was given what appeared to be a simple puzzle. It was simple to explain, and fun to figure out. I spent hours at it before I was told that it was impossible. As a youngster, I simply took that as my opportunity to become world-famous by being the person who figured out how to solve this particular puzzle. (Remind me someday and I will draw it up and post it. You can use to punish your own kids.) Such is the issue with the MLB playoff system. Every "fix" merely creates a new set of serious problems to be overcome. It's a good problem to have, and an even more fun problem to try and solve, perhaps because it is impossible..............

Long Form Love Affair: Maybe it's too early for this, and better served up during the long, cold winter to be read in front of the fire. Or maybe, on the doorstep of the World Series, maybe it's a good time this very weekend. Either way, this long piece is simply beautiful, and just oozes baseball love.............

Found 'em!: Yesterday I linked to how Chicago fans were not watching their own Cubs defeat the Cards to reach the NLCS. We wondered where the Chicagoans all went. Now we know. They are all standing in line to buy tickets. The waitlist is up to 1,000,000. Hell, with those odds we ALL should jump into that line and set some sort of eternal World Record..........

Stretching the Thinking: Zack Greinke switched up his pitching motion in the middle of his fateful (losing) contest with David Murphy last night.  That's something for all of us to talk about, but that turns out to not mean as much as everybody thinks. Maybe not as much as Zack Greinke was thinking, either..........

The Missouri Thing: With the Cardinals gone and the Royals bouncing the New Kids on the Block, Kansas City becomes the New Bad Guys. In truth, we Halo old-timers have long known the Royals as a major rival. I hate their boringly simpleton blue on white presence...........

Update: The Nevada Gaming Commission has stepped into the FanDuel/DraftKings/FBI/New York Attorney General brouhaha. The State of official gambling has officially kicked unofficial gambling out of the State. In other words, the casinos see an opening, and they want to take the online DFS world back for themselves..........

It's Good To Be King: Larry King has sat with Presidents. Larry King has laid with movie stars. Larry King does not stand for losers............

OT: Definitely what America needs to take its mind off of the Kardashian Kraptastrophe..........