The Dodgers move back into first place

The Dodgers won 3 of 4 from the Diamondbacks to finish their roadtrip, moving them into a tie with San Diego for first in the NL West. The Dodgers outscored Arizona 23-13 in the serires. Here is a summary of the four games:

Game 1 - Dodgers win 8-1 on Brad Penny's stellar pitching. Penny improved to 10-1 and catcher Russell Martin led on offense going 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Wilson Betemit again showed his pinch hitting prowess getting his 4th pinch-hit HR of the year. In 24 pinch hit at bats this year, Betemit has 8 hits: 2 doubles and 4 HRs for a .333 avg.

Game 2 - Takashi Saito picked up his 21st save for the season giving the Dodgers a 6-5 win over the Diamondbacks. Saito pitched the bottom of the 10th inning after Tony Abreu hit a pinch hit tie breaking HR in the top of the inning. Abreu was given his first MLB HR ball by the generous Arizona fans who caught it. 1B James Loney rewarded manager Grady Little with 2 run HR in the 2nd inning. Little has begun the process of giving Loney the reigns at 1B full time by moving Nomar Garciaparra over to 3B. Nomar went 0 for 5 in his Dodger debut at 3B.

Game 3 - Arizona pitcher Brandon Webb outpitched Derek Lowe to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 victory. Dodger 1B Loney went 3 for 4 to raise his season's batting average to .500. Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre continued to struggle going a combined 0 for 8 at the top of the lineup.

Game 4 - The Dodgers greeted Randy Johnson's return from the DL by getting 6 hits and 4 runs off the former Cy Young winner who lasted just 3 inning. One of those hits was a HR by Martin in the 1st inning with Furcal on base. Both Furcal and Pierre added 2 hits each and scored 3 runs combined. Martin led the offense (as usual) with a 3-6, 3 runs, 3 hits, 2 RBI performance. Dodgers' starter Randy Wolf struggled a bit, giving up 6 walks, but managed to hold on to get the win to improve to 9-6 on the season. Saito picked up his 22nd save as the Dodgers won 9-5.


RUMORS: More rumors surround the Teixeira to Dodgers trade. No names have been mention from the Dodgers, but it will more than likely involve prospects as Texas is entering a rebuilding stage. Texas doesn't need another 1B, so Loney would likely not be traded. The top prospects in the Dodgers' fram system are pitchers; however, with big signee Jason Schmidt lost for the season and the instability of rookie Chad Billingsley - the Dodgers may not part with pitching talent. My take is this trade is the best availabel out there for the Dodgers, but it is one they should not be pressed to make and will likely let it fall through without making the deal.

One analyst writes: "Loney fails to provide the power the Dodgers are looking for over the next several weeks. He may eventually become Mark Grace, but could disappoint in the short term." So far, Loney has disproven this rumor going 7 for 13 with a double and HR with 3 RBIs in the short term. Mark Grace? Naaahhh.... I know its still early, but I see Steve Garvey like numbers in his future.

Next series starts at home tonight against San Diego.

Walker's view on recent Dodger games and rumors

In 23 games this June, the Dodgers have played borderline .500 baseball. Winning 12 and losing 11, the Dodgers have lost the early season surge that put them quickly in 1st place in the NL West. Luckily for the Dodgers the NL West is still looking for a dominate team as it has in past seasons, thus allowing a .500 team to still compete for division title. The Dodgers entered June tied for 1st place and currently stand a 1/2 game from the lead spot.

Amidst all the mediocre team performance some exciting glimpses into the Dodgers' future have been seen. If these brief sightings can foretell the future for the Dodgers, the NL West may finally see the return of a dominate team. Bright spots have been 1B James Loney, OF Matt Kemp and IF Tony Abreu. Loney and is hitting .448 for the season in 11 games and Kemp is
hitting .431. Abreu has shown decent offense while showing his versatility playing 2B, SS and 3B.

The Dodgers most recent win came last night (6/25) with an 8-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the start of a 4 game series to wrap up their current road trip. P Brad Penny keeps inching closer to the NL Cy Young award with an impressive 8 inning outing giving up just 4 hits and striking out 4 to bring is season W-L total to 10-1. OF Luis Gonzalez continues to
produce after his slow start to the season. Gonzalez raised his batting average from .267 to .291 during the month of May and is currently hitting .294. Gonzo added 4 HRs so far for the month of June. Meanwhile, both SS Rafael Furcal and OF Juan Pierre have seen their averages peak around .300 and slump during the month of June to the .270s.

DODGER RUMORS: Rumor has it that Dodger manager Grady Little will try 1B Nomar Garciaparra at third base, opening the door for Loney to play first base full-time. Look for Nomar to be playing 3B in upcoming games for the Dodgers, maybe as soon as their next home game.

Other rumors surrounding the Dodgers include the trade market. Possible names mentioned in trade rumors include Chicago White Sox OF Jermaine Dye. The positive? Dye's contract is affordable and short term. He can provide some power. The negative? Dye has not made much contact this year and he is on the tail end of his career talent wise. Also rumored headed to the Dodgers is Texas Ranger's 1B Mark Teixeira. The positive? Teixeira's bat would be a welcome
addition to the Dodgers' lineup. The negative? Adding Teixeira would create a log jam at 1B with Nomar and Loney already sitting on that position. If Loney would be traded, it would be a great loss for the Dodgers future.

In other Dodger rumors, the city of Glendale, AZ is finalizing an $80+M spring training facility to host two teams, the Dodgers and White Sox.

Got good news for you, Walker is on board!

Suddenly when the gates of this blog were about to close, a knight on a white horse carrying the badge of the Walker appeared on the dim-lit horizon.

Ok, it's the middle of the night in Poland and I don't exactly feel like writing a script for the opening scene of Shrek 3. In short then...

Walker, who is a Dodger fan, currently with MLB at the AAA White Sox affiliate in Charlotte, NC decided to give my a hand and help out with the Dodger series blogging. Isn't this great? His first entry is coming up, just on top of this post.

Wow, what a difference Walker makes :). Thanks, pal!

The Dodgers are doing good...

...while I'm signing off to another project.

One thing's for sure: when it comes to baseball the Dodgers remain my team all the way. When it comes to life, though - I'm getting more missional. The world is ready for God's love being shown to them in a practical way.

Best to you all,

Myself :)

I could tell you I have lost the password to this site...

... but it would not have been true... The fact is, there have been things happening in my life that effectively took my time away from following the Dodgers. Things big enough in their meaning and bearing upon lives of people around me that I don't even feel remorses for staying away from baseball for a while. I managed to see just one or two Dodger games and some extended highlights but have been reading up on the team on daily basis. Time to write has been short though.

My life is going to change very soon. Think missionary change, if you like. But that's a story for another post, if not another blog altogether.

Back to baseball however.

My feel is that the month of May have been full of frustration for the LA Dodgers. Just have a look at the series since I have last reported them:

Series 9: @ San Diego Padres 2-1

Tough-luck series for both teams as all three games have been decided by just one run each time.

Series 10: vs Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1

Two great performances from the pitchers (Penny and Hendrickson with 6.0 IP of no run ball each, followed by splendid bullpen work)

Series 11: @Atlanta Braves 1-2

First a Brett Tomko implosion in game 1 of the series, than the only time Tsao got shelled in the season so far end up with a series loss.

Series 12: @Florida Marlins 2-2

With a little bit more timely hitting, this series could be Dodgers' all the way. I'm sure there is a Marlins blog our there that claims the same could have happened for Florida 7-10 May.

More May series to come pretty soon.