Zito, the reveals Billy Currington Oakland ace billycurrington states and pending free agent, also is represented by Boras. The Dodgers are interested in Matsuzaka, a club official said Saturday, but are not likely to wage a bidding war for him. “I’m just a player, but I would recommend the Dodgers take him,” said Dodgers closer Takashi Saito, in his first season in the U. S after 14 seasons in Japan. “He’s a great, great player. “*Rookie Chad Billingsley, whose high pitch counts have taxed the Dodgers’ bullpen and patience, met behind closed doors with Manager Grady Little and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. Billingsley is not in danger of getting sent back to the minor leagues, Little said, but his spot in the rotation is in jeopardy. “He’s going to pitch Tuesday,” Little said. “What happens after that, we’re not sure yet. “Said Honeycutt: “The responsibility of a starting pitcher is to get as deep into the game as you can It’s not just pitching five innings. It’s being able to make those adjustments. “Billingsley has averaged 5 2/3 innings and 100 pitches per start. He said he has been “wasting pitches” by getting ahead in the count, then throwing pitches that would not tempt even the most aggressive hitters and ending up with a full count. “You’ve got to know when to pitch to contact and when to pitch away from contact,” Honeycutt said. “You can’t pitch away from contact all the time. “*The Dodgers purchased the contract of veteran catcher Einar Diaz from triple-A Buffalo and sent him to triple-A Las Vegas.

Diaz, 33, offers the Dodgers an experienced backup in case of injury to Russell Martin or Toby Hall and a third catcher when rosters expand in September . . billy currington single . Outfielder Kenny Lofton made $50,000 on Thursday, with his 350th plate appearance billy curington . Lofton’s one-year contract includes a base salary of $3. 5 million, a signing bonus of $350,000 and incentive bonuses of $50,000 at 350, 400 and 450 plate appearances. currington people are crazy . Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday unveiled a wide-ranging strategy to curb the spread of gang violence in some of Los Angeles’ most violent neighborhoods, saying he would steer young people away from gang life by combining police suppression with stepped-up prevention and intervention programs. Outlining the new approach during his second State of the City address, Villaraigosa said he would appoint a gang czar in his office and target eight “gang reduction zones” in South Los Angeles, the Eastside, the northeast Valley and other areas that have experienced major increases in gang violence. In his speech at a San Fernando Valley high school, the mayor promised to devote $168 million, including $15 million in new funds, in the coming year to anti-gang enforcement and to counseling, job placement programs, parenting classes and even tattoo-removal services must doing something right . The funding requires City Council approval. Calling gang violence “the most important challenge we face,” Villaraigosa pledged to expand the anti-gang efforts to 10 additional zones, assuming he can secure an additional $30 million from the state. “Our strategy is tough on crime and tough on the root causes of crime,” Villaraigosa told the audience of 600 in the auditorium of East Valley High School. On hand were members of the City Council, the Los Angeles Police Department’s command staff and the Los Angeles School Board. “Take it from a former high school dropout: Fighting gangs is fundamentally a question of putting people on a path to a productive life,” he added. Villaraigosa also devoted some of his remarks to other pressing issues. He spoke about the city’s growing economic disparities, saying Los Angeles is “becoming a city of marble and cardboard, a city of prodigious wealth and withering poverty. “He also talked about his ongoing campaign to rein in city expenses and his more recent effort to forge a new partnership with the school board — a frequent adversary in the mayor’s attempts to help run the school system. Casting himself once again as a fiscal conservative, Villaraigosa said the budget he will release today calls for reducing the city’s $231-million structural deficit by $138 million. He also pledged to expand gridlock reduction teams on Wilshire Boulevard to the San Fernando Valley and South Los Angeles, and he said he soon would announce a comprehensive plan for the city’s role in battling global climate change. But gang violence dominated Villaraigosa’s remarks, reflecting his priorities to date this year.

Along with his speech, he released a 36-page plan for a “comprehensive, collaborative and communitywide approach” to overcoming gangs. Gang reduction zones would be in five areas already using police officers, prosecutors and probation officers to target violent gang members billy currington videos . They are in Boyle Heights, Watts, South Los Angeles, areas north of downtown and the northeast San Fernando Valley. Those areas, plus three others on the Eastside and South Los Angeles, would be flooded with a mix of economic development programs, social services, job placement counseling, gang intervention groups and other efforts aimed at helping paroled convicts reenter neighborhoods as productive citizens. The city would collaborate with the Los Angeles Unified School District to provide some of the services. Villaraigosa said he would appoint a director for gang reduction and youth development in his office to coordinate gang-reduction programs in 19 city departments. In addition to that, the new director will oversee an evaluation of the city’s existing 23 prevention and intervention programs, including the troubled L. A billy carrington . Bridges program, and decide which ones to continue after September. The mayor’s proposal won guarded praise from elected leaders, gang experts and academics who study the issue. “With the energy the mayor gives on a daily basis, we are poised to continue to move forward and grow the positive things we are doing and the positive changes we are making with our young people and the problems with gangs,” said City Councilman Tony Cardenas, who heads a council ad-hoc committee on gangs. Police Chief William J billy currington’s . Bratton applauded Villaraigosa’s strategy, which was developed in concert with police, gang experts and neighborhood leaders. “Mayor Villaraigosa’s $168 million for gang prevention and intervention is the vital component missing from the city’s gang plan,” Bratton said. Bo Taylor, president of the Unity One gang intervention program who was briefed by the mayor’s office Wednesday, called the overall concept promising. “It has an opportunity to do something good,” Taylor said billy currington hangin around . “We just need to shape it. “Although generally supportive, gang expert Alex Alonso said some aspects of the proposal are worrying. “How the money gets allocated would concern me,” Alonso said. “Usually most of the budget goes toward suppression, but decades of pouring more money into suppression has not yielded acceptable reductions in gang violence. Billy Currington tickets Intervention is where most of the money should be allocated. “Villaraigosa’s prevention and intervention plan comes three months after he announced a stepped-up police enforcement effort focusing on the 11 most dangerous gangs in Los Angeles. More than one-third of the money proposed for the gang effort — $68. 2 million — goes to the Police Department, including $53 million for enforcement teams and an additional $6. 2 million for police overtime on gang crackdown efforts. The mayor borrowed heavily from a recent report by the Advancement Project Los Angeles, a nonprofit public policy advocacy group that had recommended a more ambitious proposal than the one he outlined: The group called on the city to target 12 “hot spots” with a greater mix of services, including economic development.

It pegged the cost at $1 billion during the first 18 months. The mayor’s plan rejected the group’s call for a new city department with its own gang czar, deciding instead to coordinate programs from his office. Connie Rice, director of Advancement Project Los Angeles, applauded Villaraigosa for embracing one of Los Angeles’ most intractable problems but predicted that the success of his strategy will hinge on whether the new gang director has independent authority. “This is a start,” Rice said . “But it’s unclear whether this will take us down the right road. “duke. helfandpatrick. mcgreevyTimes staff writer Steve Hymon contributed to this report. billy currington’s people are crazy . Zach Johnson kept his head up and waited for things to get better, as he knew they would. Even though he missed four short birdie putts and bogeyed one of the five holes he had to play at dawn Saturday to complete his rain-delayed second round, Johnson had an inkling this was going to be his day at the International. Sure enough, he birdied five holes and eagled another for a 15-point third round and the 54-hole lead at Castle Rock, Colo. “I had a makable birdie putt on 5, 6, 7 and 8 and then I actually made a good bogey on 9,” Johnson said. And the optimistic 30-year-old player went to the clubhouse at Castle Pines feeling good about his game instead of lamenting his lost opportunities. That positive attitude paid off for Johnson, whose 27 points entering today are one more than Steve Flesch and two more than Stewart Cink and Ian Leggatt currington directions Billy Currington – wikipedia . Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman is three points behind in fifth place. But this isn’t like stroke play . Big changes are the norm at the International, the only stop on the PGA Tour that uses the special scoring system that awards five points for eagles, two for birdies, nothing for pars and deducts one for bogeys and three for double bogeys or worse. So, mathematically, just about all of the 33 remaining golfers have a shot at the $990,000 winner’s check. “The point system kind of keeps it real going into the last day,” Flesch said. Lehman, who is 29th in the Ryder Cup standings, would move to seventh with a victory . He shied away from questions about what he’d do if he played himself onto the Ryder Cup team. “If I were to win tomorrow and I’d make the team,” he said, pausing, “I don’t know what I’d do Billy Currington . “*Angela Stanford moved a step closer to a second LPGA Tour victory, shooting a three-under 69 to take a four-stroke lead after the third round of the Canadian Women’s Open. Stanford, the 28-year-old Texan whose only victory came in the 2003 Shoprite Classic, had a 13-under 203 total on the London Hunt and Country Club course. Defending champion Meena Lee was second after a 66, the best round of the day in warm, calm conditions on the tree-lined course. Jee Young Lee (71) was another stroke back at eight under, and Pat Hurst (67) followed at six under. *Katharina Schallenberg, a 26-year-old former bank clerk from Germany, will play 14-year-old Kimberly Kim of Hawaii for the U Billy Currington – billycurrington . S.