First, I am new to the site.  Thanks for having me and I look forward to joining the discussions.

Second is a question directed to the board:  Would Arsenal be better off moving Cesc to Barca?  My thought is not that Cesc is easily replaceable -- he certainly isn't -- but is the distraction of all the transfer talk going to take its toll on him?  Would we be better off getting money that can be used for other purchased, and possibly a player in trade from Barca, than "forcing" him to stay in London?

Interested in everyone's thoughts.

I am smart enough to realize that I don't know squat about baseball compared to the professionals who play or coach the game at the highest level every day.  And by highest level, I do include the Dodger roster and coaches, despite their play in 2010.  So when I observe a trend that I don't understand, I usually chalk it up to the brilliance of someone with infinite more experience and smarts than me.

This year, though, I noticed (unsurprisingly -- I am sure most people on TBLA noticed this) that Clayton has thrown significantly fewer curveballs than in the past, and specifically in good pitchers counts.  After yesterdays debacle, I decided to confirm this impression.  According to Fangraphs, CK's curveball rate has dropped 7% from last year.  Almost exclusively, this pitch has been replaced with the slider, which has increased nearly the same amount. 

Now, to me, the curve is CK's best pitch.  I know he has an electric fastball, but it is relatively straight and does not reach the 97 - 100 mph that starts to make a straight fastball really unhittable.  No, what made CK so successful last year was that hitters couldn't look fastball exclusively because the wicked hook, if it was anywhere close to the zone, would make them look silly.  If hitting is about rhythm and timing, the curveball was the ultimate broken record -- even if it wasn't always a strike.

The new slider is, IMO, decidedly a work in progress.  So my question to the board is this:  is CK making the mistake of forgoing his best pitch too much?  I have seen comments that the slider was introduced to increase his control, but I have not seen much evidence that he throws it for a strike with any regularity.

Just wanted to get some other thoughts, since it is obvious that the Dodgers will only go as far as CK, Bills and Kuroda carry them.