Game 52: Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves 8:3

Maybe Aaron Sele should have played in the National League his whole career. He continues to defy the skeptics (myself included) by pitching remarkably well. Having been fortunate to get the call up from Las Vegas instead of Chad Billingsby or Greg Miller, Sele had seemed to be at the end of his career. Coming off a four year span where he was lucky to compile a mediocre 30-36 record, Sele has proven he still has major league caliber stuff. Although he didn't get the win, we was impressive nonetheless.

Andre Ethier continues to make GM Ned Colletti look like a genius in what appears to be the first trade in which Billy Beane got fleeced. Ethier hit his fourth home run of the season since being called up on May 2. Grady Little showed his confidence in rookie Ethier by allowing the left handed hitter against veteran left-handed reliever Mike Remlinger. The vote of confidence payed off when he singled home the go-ahead run. He is now batting .313 with 12 RBIs.

"He showed us a lot in spring training, but what he's been able
to show us when he's been with the club has been amazing,"

Dodgers manager Grady Little said.

Sele, having spent the beginning of the season at Triple-A Las Vegas had been privy to getting a first hand experience of the young guys that are making a large contribution at Chavez Ravine this year.

"They have the right attitude," said Sele. "They show up

and they're ready to work. They absorb what's going on.

That's why they've had such great success."

The Dodgers have won 10 of last 12 games and are 18-9 in May. The last time they won 18 games in May was in 1993, when they were 18-8.

"They've got one of the best hitting teams we've face,"
Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "They're good."

Here is some food for thought:

1) What should Grady Little and Ned Colletti do when Jason Repko and Ricky Ledee return from the disabled list? Do one of them go down to Las Vegas, or do we send down veteran Jose Cruz, Jr.?

2) Danys Baez, who earned the win by pitching two innings in relief, seems to have gotten his confidence back in the set-up role and with Eric Gagne's imminent return scheduled for Thursday, the question seems to be what do we do with Joe Beimel who has been impressive thus far?

3) With Jeff Kent missing another day, is it time to put him on a short DL stint to let him heal thouroughly?

In the good hands of Blue Man Matt

Guys, I'm about to set off for my own pursuit of happiness at Chavez Ravine ;) (including some more business-oriented tasks ahead of me for the next eight days). But this place will not skip a beat, believe me, as I'm leaving you in good hands of the Blue Man Matt. He's taking over the blog until June 9.

We agreed that if he likes it, and you like him, he's going to stick around sharing the blogging duties with me. In the meantime I hope to bring quite a lot of pictures from my good vibes at Chavez Ravine.

Will you miss me in the meantime? (this is the part when we all start weeping... ;)).

Take care and see you soon. Right after another eight-game winning streak? Why not!

The arm, the outburst and the poor water cooler

There's more or less full story about why Grady Little pulled Brad Penny two outs away from a decision in yesterday's game. It sheds new light on what Blue Man saw as an error on the part of Little to pull his starter reasonably early when he ran into his first jam of the season.

It seems like the coaching staff had known earlier that there was something wrong with Penny's arm:

"My shoulder was hurting," said Penny. "It's killing me last game,
they know it's killing me this game, I'm out there pitching hurt,
and the first jam I get into all year and I don't get a chance
to get out of it. We still had a three-run lead."

Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt claims it's part of the starter's feedback to let his manager know whether an injury or discomfort would prevent the pitcher from doing his job effectively:

"He told me his arm didn't feel 100 percent, but part of the
responsibility of a pitcher is, he's got to be honest with us --
can you go or not go?" said Honeycutt.
"I don't know of an outing where we put him in danger.
We've left it to his discretion. His stuff was not up to normal
from the very start today. He didn't have his normal fastball,
but there've been other outings where it would come
or he would add to it."

I missed Penny's outburst where he took a swing at the water cooler, but at this stage I'm far more concerned with Penny's arm than his (or water cooler's) psyche. As tough a guy and competitor as Brad is, he'll replace the broken fuse and keep rolling. If only the arm kept him there...

Game 51: Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves 12-5

Today's game started out appropriately with Nomar Garciaparra, on his way to raising his batting average to .362, hitting the first Dodger in. Nomar is just about two weeks away from being eligible for the batting title and is currently in line to become the league leader.

The kids continue to show they're worthy of playing in the big leagues. Matt Kemp is batting .429 in his short stint thus far after going two-for-three with a walk and a stolen base.

Kenny Lofton continues to defy many skeptics with the level of his play.

This is my first attempt at a game update, so hope I live up to the high bar Marcin has established.

Just some observations of mine:

1) This game was closer than one would think after seeing the final score. Had Joe Beimel not gotten a very key double play, the outcome could have been different.

2) It's nice to see that we can win without much support from JD Drew (1-4) and Jeff Kent (DNP- wrist). Lofton definitely stepped it up when it was needed most.

3) Willy Aybar continues to look a bit tired. Should he get a days rest?

4) About the only negative thing that came out of the game, in my opinion, was the pulling of Brad Penny so immaturely. It was pretty much the first jam he had been in all year. Although I have been really supportive of Grady Little, this does give some credibilty to the claims that he micro manages and doesn't manage pitchers properly. Its one thing to pull the guy, but he deserved the win. To compact the problem, Rick Honeycutt goes to the media, calling Penny's reaction "unprofessional". Any thoughts?

5) In a related topic, but more pleasant, Joe Beimel, once again looked impressive in notching his second win of the season with one and two-thirds perfect innings.

6) Just a quick question: Anybody know the story behind the Braves' use of the red jerseys?

7) Unbeaten Aaron Sele (3-0, 1.69 ERA) opposes Jorge Sosa (1-6, 4.93 ERA) Tuesday night in Game 2 of the series in Hotlanta.

Gagne records save

It took just 17 pitches, 65% of which he threw for strikes. It was a good day for Dodgers fans. Not only did the Dodgers defeat the defending National League East Champs, but Eric Gagne looked sharp against Salt Lake in his final rehab, getting credited with the save in an 8-6 victory. Gagne is scheduled to return to the Dodgers bullpen on Thursday when the Dodgers return to Chavez Ravine.

After a perfect ninth inning in his last rehab start, the only question that remains is: "Is the Gagne of 2002 finally back?"

After a couple of surgeries, that remains to be determined, but let's keep our fingers crossed!

Sarah says naaah...

Too early for the very first private All-Star ballot? Sarah says naaah. Reading analyses like hers on days gone bad like yesterday makes me think how grateful I am for this years' Dodgers.

Believe in the Poncho!

Game 50: Dodgers @ Washington Nationals 4:10

Yes, I've seen the game, but it's Game 50 (and a pretty bad one for the Dodgers), so I thought I change something for just one game report.

Let's come up with three things that were positive in the series finale in WSH:

1.
2.
3.

Please go ahead and add your thoughts. If you're good enough, I might have a surprise party for you for another ten or so days. There's a pinch blogger in the on-deck circle, swinging away as I pack my bags to cross the Pond on Wednesday morning... :)

Games 48-49: Dodgers @ Washington Nationals 4:10, 3:1

Well, first I thought Grady Little did it on purpose to get the guys' minds of the seven games winning streak. Remember how they said that they were taking one game at a time, win or lose? Little kept Martin and Ethier out of the starting lineup, then let Tomko, Carter and Hamulack take (game) one for the team. Seemingly to get over the winning streak and not rely too much on it psychologically when they took off for the road against the NL East foes.

The strategy seemed to work when the Dodgers bounced back nicely in Game 2, regardless of the injury bug hitting again. Here's what crosses my mind as Jae Seo takes some ugly beating in Game 3:

(1) I was cautious not to get too excited before the current NL East foursome (@WSH, @ATL, vs PHI, vs NYM) and it seems for a good reason. Only the Nationals have a losing record and it seems like they might take two out of three from us this afternoon. Given that Kent now needs 2-3 games off, Drew has a sore shoulder and the first guy to come off the DL for us is Eric Gagne (mid next week in LA?), I'd say it would be huge if we went .500 against the NL East. Really.

(2) Lance Carter and Tim Hamulack basically sealed their fate with G1 outing. The first was already sent down when Kemp was called up, the other is here only until Gagne comes back. The other six relievers: Perez, Beimel, Broxton, Baez, Saito and Gagne might finally come together and become a very very dependable bullpen. About time :)

(3) I feel we really need to take the current road trip with a big grain of salt. Even if we finish at 2-4, should it come to it, we can still regroup and have a good couple of series at home once Kent, Drew and Gagne come back full spead ahead. What is more, it seems like we're facing the bottom of the Braves rotation starting Monday (only Hudson there), so we might be in with an outside shot.

A big brother story

No, not the annoying TV show, relax. I'm talking about Russell Martin again and the impact he has on the life of a certain 7-year old in the White House (pun intended, read the story).

At 23 you just got to admire Russell's (don't you ever call him Russ when I'm around!) on and off the field impact and presence. Fun to watch and (I guess) great to be around. When I'm in Phoenix one day, I'm going to go see a little league game with the hope of seeing many more Logan White jrs hit their way to the majors, following the example of a Big Brother of their own.

Way to go, Russell and Logan!

Huge news: Matt Kemp makes the jump

This is really a huge news coming out of DC this morning: the Dodgers have called up another youngster, Matt Kemp, to play CF today. Kemp has been tearing it up at Double-A Jacksonville to date and I'm very excited to see him being given, though brief, chance to impress at the big league level.

The 21-year old was called up due to JD Drew experiencing some soreness in his shoulder. At the same time the Dodgers were short on OFs anyway, and with some time off every four days to Kenny Lofton, Kemp gets the chance to strike it rich.

The Dodgers, quite understandably, sent down inconsistent Lance Carter to Triple-A Vegas. Next roster move, probably right after the weekend: sending Tim Hamulack down to make room on the roster for whatshisname... yeah right, Eric Gagne ;).

And another good news regarding Jeff Kent, taken out yesterday due to uneasiness in his wrist that prohibited him from swinging the bat without pain. He's officially day to day - based on the information available right now he will not go to the DL. Kent will miss some (2-3?) games, though. Willy Aybar moves over to second, while, at least for the rubber game in Washington, Olmedo Saenz will man third.

Ramon spelled backwards

Nomar Garciaparra is one of my favourite baseball players since the first time he came up with the Red Sox. The Wild Pitches section of the official Dodgers site features a very informative interview with Nomar. I don't know how I managed to be kept in the dark for such a long time, but apparently:

My first name is actually Anthony ...
But I have always been called by my middle name, Nomar.
It's a good ice-breaker and easy to remember.
It's my father's name spelled backwards (Ramon).

Well, you learn every day :).

The right orti-tude

I'm running a bit late on the game reports in the series against the Washington Nationals, but should take back some land later today during the series finale. It should be all the way easier as the Dodgers face the Nats equivalent of Odalis Perez - a very inconsistent pitcher Ramon Ortiz, who seems to have totally lost it this year.

Check Ortiz's recent stats at ESPN: there's a good chance we're flying out to Atlanta later today taken two out of three from the Nats. One step in the right direction would be Jae Seo cruising at the altitude of three-runs-or-lesss and six-innings-or-more ;).

We can make it!

Daily trivia

What does it stand for:

28FD, r X, s 1-4

Looking forward to your answers in the comments section :)

Blue's Anatomy

I found the most conclusive all-in-one information about the current health status of our DLed Dodgers. There's so many of them they could actually start shooting the Blue's Anatomy - the sequel to the overly popular (also over here) Grey's Anatomy (George O'Malley for president? ;)).

Here's what to expect and when:

Pitcher Brad Penny on Wednesday saw back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins, who noticed "normal abnormalities from wear and tear," according to Johnston, but nothing that exercises shouldn't address. Penny said his back bothered him less Tuesday night than in his previous two starts.

Catcher Dioner Navarro, out with a severe bone bruise caused by a foul tip in almost the same spot on the right wrist as Werth's on the left wrist, still is unable to swing a bat. An MRI was taken Wednesday and no tears were noticed. He is scheduled to receive an injection Thursday.

Outfielder Ricky Ledee, who reports to the Kerlan-Jobe Medical Center for daily rehab on his torn groin muscle, reports slow progress, but he still is unable to swing a bat.

Outfielder Jason Repko, two weeks after suffering a severe ankle sprain when his spikes caught in the outfield wall padding as he chased a home run, will have the cast removed Thursday, but he is at least a month away from returning.

According to Johnston, reliever Yhency Brazoban is on a complete conditioning program while recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction. The club is using the injury as an opportunity to get Brazoban to lose some weight.

Third baseman Bill Mueller, still about a month away from returning, is rehabilitating in Phoenix after knee surgery.

Meanwhile, Eric Gagne leaves for a two-game rehab assignment beginning Friday night at Las Vegas and Cesar Izturis reports to extended Spring Training in Florida to begin his rehab assignment. Both are returning from elbow operations.

Moreover, there's really no progress update for OF Jayson Werth, who's entire career might be at stake since the broken bones in the hand apparently do not heal well and he was supposed to get yet another cortisone shot soon.

And to think we're doing so well without all of these guys... Amazing :)

Games 33-47 Dodgers stud and dud roundup (3rd edition)

Well (…drums…) it’s time for the third Dodger studs and duds round-up. Scores are based on my subjective, non-stat-only judgment (open for questioning), resulting from whatever I have seen (most of the games), read and thought about. The report covers the period of 9-24 May, 2006. Let's see if we agree – if not, shoot away J.

Just a quick note: I must say that due to our winning ways, it was much more difficult for me to pick the “duds” than previously. Which is good news by my standards.

Starting pitcher stud:
Aaron Sele takes the honors as he proves me wrong about the decision to move him to the staff and Odalis Perez to the bullpen. 2 Ws, going deep into the ballgames, allowing only 1 HR during on the season makes Sele a leader of a very good overall starting five in this period.

Starting pitcher dud:
None – no, really when you go on a roll, outscoring the opposition by such a large margin as the Dodgers have, with seven games with three or fewer runs allowed, no SP deserves to be punished.

Relief pitcher stud:
Jonathan Broxton – allowed three hits and one run only in seven outings since May 9^th. Unhittable is the right word. To add insult to injury, he’s sorted out a new pitch – a nasty slider…

Relief pitcher dud:
Dannys Baez – just to commemorate (;)) the series of poor outings that spans over from the Great Carter Implosion era. Apart from that, no Dodger reliever was consistently inadequate throughout the period in question (though a scary movie by Carter in one of the blowout games came close).

Hitter stud:
Nomar Garciaparra – Player of the month for May, surely. If not for the overall NL, then Dodger PoM hands down. Outstanding clutch hitting, extra base hits (SLG hovering in mid 650s), RBIs in key moments of the game. Can’t ask any more from this guy, really.

Photo, right: Nomah from his Red SuperSox days [http://charlieontheradio.net]

Hitter dud:
Nobody Really ;) – check the stats if you are a camper at Mt. Whitney and somehow missed the offensive firestorm for the last two weeks.

Fielder stud:
Russell Martin – what are the Dodgers with this guy behind the plate: 15-3? Martin has redefined great lateral movement after we had seen more stationary version from Dioner Navarro. Here’s more detailed defensive stat comparison for Russell and Dioner.

Picture, left: Russell Martin [www.minorleaguebaseball.com]

Honorable mention: Nomar Garciaparra, with his first error at his new (and very difficult) position coming after 29 games.

Fielder dud:
This is really a minor dud award, but young Willy Aybar looked quite shaky at times with the glove at 3^rd. I know he’s a greenhorn, and spent most of his time playing 2^nd but still his team-lowest fielding PCT sticks out against pretty steady defense (can you hear me, Raffy?) we’ve been getting lately.

Managerial staff wow:
Regardless of the above fielder dud, giving pretty consistent shot at 3^rd to Aybar, even though we’ve had at least three other (two vet) players that could have subbed for the injured Bill Mueller (Saenz, Martinez, Robles). Another plus for not hitting the panic button when both Repko and Ledee went out with injuries and not rushing Joel Guzman to the majors (we’ve alternated four Ofs instead).

Series won: vs HOU, @SF, @COL, vs ANA (sweep), vs COL (sweep)
Series lost: none (yuppi!!)
Series tied: none
Overall record after 47 games: 27-20 (2nd in NL West, 0.5 GB to Arizona)

A tidbit on locker room lockdowns

Credit Dodger PR guy, Josh Rawitch for pointing me to this story. Great read!

Game 47: Dodgers vs Colorado Rockies 7:1

If everything goes right with the Dodgers (as it does right now), my game notes will get even shorter. What can be said about this amazing two-series sweep seven-W run? Let me give you a preview of what's coming up in the third installment of "Dodger studs and duds" that I should publish later today: the duds are few and far between at the moment ;).

All right, let's see how this game played out:

(1) It was closer througout most of the game than the final score would indicate(3-0 before the bottom of the seventh). I'm amazed about how Aaron Sele manages to keep his pitch count down to help the team relievers get some time off. 90 pitches through seven innings was another example of going deep into a ballgame while giving the team a chance to win.

(2) It's about time Rafael Furcal and Jeff Kent started to get hotter. The duo combined for 6-for-8 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, a walk and a DP defensively last night.

(3) Is Willy Aybar getting tired? I noticed that during the last two games he started swinging at bad pitches, making easy grounball outs right at infielders and not really hustling to 1st base. He's still hitting out of his mind (.343 BA), but has slowed down a tad on pitch selection, I guess. As young as he is, patience is the name of the game.

(4) What's the new fad with the fancy helmets? I noticed them a couple of days ago but forgot to bring it up here. Vin mentioned that Kent is the only Dodger that decided to stay with the previous MLB model once he got hit in the head in the SF series. Are the new ones better ventilated (not sure about the right word) but somehow less solid than the previous ones? Would someone knowledgeable please explain?

(5) After a day off, the Dodgers get on the road to visit the Nation's Capital and Hotlanta for three each. Brett Tomko will start G1 in Washington against bruised and battered Livan Hernandez.

Regarding Brad Penny's back

There's some good news coming out after the second game vs the Rockies tonight:

Says Penny:

"Actually, [the back] felt pretty
good tonight. The pitch count
was just too high. I kept throwing
strikes; they kept fouling
them off. But I'm not going
to throw it over the middle
of the plate or they'll crush it."

and the pitching coach, Rick Honeycutt:

"It's not really affecting his delivery. Our biggest concern was,
'Would he change his mechanics or arm angle?' And he hasn't
done that. It seems to be worse early on in the game,
but once he moves around and loosens up, he's okay.
Between innings, they keep the heat pack on him
so it doesn't spasm, like it did in San Francisco
[two starts back]."

Seems like Penny's back issue has straightened out. Good :).

Game 46: Dodgers vs Colorado Rockies 8:1

Great speed on the basepaths, very opportunistic plays by the Dodger baserunners (except probably for a misplayed hit and run with Aybar at the plate and Drew caught "stealing").

(1) Brad Penny seemed to struggle with making outs, didn't he? Over 100 pitches in just five innings of play. Coming out of the game with the prospect of Tim Hamulack and/or Lance Carter is probably NOT what you want to see as a starting pitcher with a lead.

(2) Hamulack promptly gave up a HR to the very first batter he faced, but then settled down helped in huge part by a marvellous play in the hole by Raffy Furcal (spin and throw-out at first).

(3) As soon as he came out to pitch since the start of the seventh, I liked the place Little put Danys Baez in. With Baez's confidence rising lately (and fresh Saito to be used later on if needed) and a close (4-1 at the time) game it was a move that paid off in terms of outs (3, no hits) as well as confidence (did not have any of these "I'm falling apart" shrugs and facial expressions :). In the eight Danny got a double play ball and was quickly out of trouble. Good outing altogether.

(4) Almost everything goes smoothly hitting-wise, so just a minor issue: Nomar Garciaparra starts swinging at first pitches he sees again. As long as he's as hot as now, he'd slap good portion of them for hits, but in the past, AFAIR almost every time he went to free-swinging at first pitches, it meant free-falling to his .BA.

(5) I remember grumbling about having only two or three regulars batting close to or over .300. What a change! Now it's only Furcal and Kent who aren't anywhere close the 300 sign.

(6) I'm so glad Vin mentioned that Cesar Izturis was starting to make throws from the infield to first base in a simulated excercise earlier today. He "fired the ball and seemed like everything was in order". Magic words - looking forward to seeing him go quickly through 2V (Vero and Vegas) and arrive in LA in the first part of June!

(7) Janitor Aaron Sele is going for a sweep against another Aaron - Cooke tomorrow night. Sele will bring a broom with him and so should we :).

Hochevar as good as gone

Since this looks more and more like a poker game between Ned Colletti and Scott Boras, I'm officially saying "fold". At this stage there's too little time and way to much tension and ambition not to budge on both sides for the deal to be swung. Too little too late...

My most avid reader...

...is apparently from Irvine, California. Or so says the sitemeter. Thank you for checking back in on regular basis - I hope you enjoy it :).

Would you care to let me know more about yourself, perhaps in the comments section? Looking forward to hearing from you all, guys and gals. I appreciate your feedback :)

Game 45: Dodgers vs Colorado Rockies 6:1

I've only just managed to watch the condensed game and the first thing that jumps out at me is how lucky Jae Seo was. He seemed to be in trouble in the first couple of innings, looked pretty hittable (mind you, given the format of condensed games) and got a break with two (was the other one also with Seo on the mound?) outfield assists.

Well, good teams get lucky - the thing is, it was probably the first game this season that the Dodgers got a lucky break. I'll take it:

(1) Let me pose this question once again: why do you think Odalis Perez is stuck at the far end of the bullpen? As far as I remember he appeared in only one game since his comeback from the Dominican Republic? Why? (not that I advocate overusing Perez, no ;)). Game 45 would have been great to give him a shot in the late innings...

(2) Jeff Kent was hitting the ball very hard last night even when he made outs (1-for-3 with 2 BB). Is this a sign of him coming round to decent .BA at long last? (.247 at the moment)

(3) Since Franquelis Osoria is down in Vegas, ladies and gentlemen please welcome the first edition of the Joe Beimel Watch: 1.0 IP, 2 hits plus a crucial DP groundball, and a SO to go with it. Current ERA: 2.51. Cruise control if you asked me...

(4) Tonight's game vs Rockies could feature a pitcher's duel: we send the bad-backed Brad Penny against the would-be COL ace Jason Jennings. If we snatched this one from the visitors, we might be in for another sweep. I truly hope the Dodgers keep their winning ways up until I'm in town very soon :).

Game 44: Dodgers vs Anaheim Angels 7:0

Let's start with a disclaimer: yes, I'm very happy that our youthful bottom of the border produced quite nicely thank you very much during the Freeway Series sweep. Even though I'm not as patient as Andrew(?), I would highly advocate it to myself to calm somewhat down regarding the "definitive arrival" of Andre Ethier, Willy Aybar and Russell Martin. Yes, they are overachieving so far, hitting for average and power, getting most (if not all - Martin) defensive plays according to the book.

But, on the other hand, while I would like them to continue playing at this level, I bear in mind that even after 40-odd games the sample is still insufficient to pass judgment of their future at the big club. Therefore, I would not go as far as, for instance, releasing/trading Jose Cruz jr for instance just yet (as Zvika proposed). True - Ethier has had a marvellous spell, but will it continue to resemble the numbers anywhere close to ones he already posted? I doubt it. I'm saying this mostly to enjoy the moment and give Ethier and other young guns a break. Let's not place too much a burden of expectations on too inexperienced shoulders.

Ok, now I vented. Onto the game at hand:

(1) I was so relieved (sic!) when Derek Lowe actually got the win yesterday. His current record does not reflect the fact he has been keeping us in all but two games he started this year.

(2) Great scouting report on the Angel pitcher Ervin Santana! Practically the only time you do not want to face that guy is the night game in Anaheim. Anywhere else any time of day/night he's Double-A pitcher.

(3) Nomar has practically guaranteed he'd get the Player of the Month award even though it's only 22 May. I can't see anybody at distant second, given what this guy is doing on (and off) the field. Yesterday: 2-for-4 (two doubles), one run scored and 3 RBI. Wow again.

(4) Aren't you surprised how scarcely Odalis Perez is being used out of the bullpen? If I'm not mistaken he pitched only once after his demotion. Any news why? If there are mechanical problems what better way to solve them than invoking the Carter clause and using him in blow-outs? Is it his psyche? Don't know - I'm lost.

(5) Tonight, the Dodgers start the three-game series against the Colorado Rockies with a matchup of two former highschool pals: Jae Seo vs Byung-Hyun Kim. I'm pleading the Dodgers to refuse to make outs with bases loaded in the first three innings against Kim. The rest should be easy enough :). The NL West lead is at stake (at least for a couple of days, that is).

Game 43: Dodgers vs Anaheim Angels 8:4

Seems like Willy Aybar is taking golfing lessons in his spare time, isn't he? ;). I could not believe when I woke up from slumber just in time for his game-tying HR, that he was able to virtually golf the baseball from two inches off the ground and into the right field seats! Did it almost one-handed with this awkward stance of his, but oh, so efficiently.

Says Kevin Gregg:

"It was a good pitch. He went down and happened to put
some good wood on it. I'm not complaining about the pitch at all.
I don't think he can hit it again. I like that pitch,
and I'll throw it again if I get in that situation."

I was tuning in and out of the game due to back problems after two friends and myself had moved 14 tons of soil from our church's parking lot into the backyard playpen and garden area currently being the refurbished. First time in my life that I learned I was blue-blooded after I saw the veins on my hands physically sticking out in DEEP BLUE. Well - then again, I'm a Dodgers fan, so I should be bleeding blue, right? ;)

Anyway, back to the game:

(1) We could not get to Gregg early which I advocated, but better late then never. Especially, that Willy was on (pardon the pun), which gives more flesh to my theory that one of the things to look forward to in the Freeway Series would be development of youngsters into Angels Boo-ers (is this a proper word? ;)). First Ethier, now Aybar, to get a trifecta I need Russell Martin to have the best game of his career this afternoon :).

(2) I would not draw too many conclusions on the way Brett Tomko was rocked early in the ballgame. Let's wait for more conclusive evidence. He's been more than good so far which calls for some benefit of the doubt to be given to him.

(3) According to Grady Little, we might see "Aybar to LF" experiment quite soon before Ricky Ledee goes through a series of minor league tests in Triple-A Vegas to see whether he's recovering ok.

(4) I love how Joe Beimel answered the recent criticism of him being the "weak and lucky" link in the bullpen. He struck out the side in the seventh under pretty stressful game conditions.

(5) Derek Lowe and the rest of the Dodgers are looking for a broom this afternoon. Standing between them and a closet below the stairs is RHP Ervin Santana - very hittable during the day games. Draw your own conclusions :).

Repko out longer than expected

Well, among some pretty good news regarding good progress of some of our injured players (Gagne, Ledee, Navarro - all of whom will require some time in the minors quite soon), there's also some bad news on the ankle of Jason Repko:

[He] could be out for another month, according to Grady,
as his ankle sprain has not healed as well as we had hoped.

My favourite young Dodger out for a longer period of time - yuck. Plus with Jayson Werth out indefinitely, Ricky Ledee better be progressing along pretty fast, otherwise we're left with only four relatively healthy outfielders...

On mutual hope

After last night's pounding of the apparently featherless Angels, both teams have hopes.

The home team, Dodgers, hope that the hot hitting spans over at least the next two games to sweep the series. The visitors, Angels, hope that the Dodgers have hit themselves out, so to speak, and their bats will be much quieter till the end of the three-game set. Whose hopes will prevail?

I don't know, but I'm hopeful for two exciting games at Chavez Ravine!

Game 42: Dodgers vs Anaheim Angels 16:3

Where do I start: 25 hits to set the LA Dodger record for most hits in a game? How about a 9-run sixth inning?! And steady timely hitting all over the place throughout the game?! At first I thought they were working on a big enough cushion for the recently called-up Lance Carter... ;). Ok, not today.

I was grinning when the soft version of "Walking like an angel" was being played over PA when Jeff Weaver was walking off the field with bases loaded in the fifth :). What a nice choice of music for the occasion. Add to this a number of snatch - stretch - catch - tag plays by Nomar Garciaparra (especially two in a row in the sixth), and it was a positively regular night for the Dodgers. Especially when it turned out that Aaron Sele continued to defy the odds and settled back after the homer to Vlad and the second inning scare:

My front burner looks like this tonight:

(1) Jeff Weaver never had any stuff tonight and I'm glad we took advantage of it early and (quite) often. Even his fastball topped out only at 88-89 mph. Perhaps it's more than psychological and he lost it altogether?

(2) I am glad I saw this coming - all three kids at the bottom of the lineup having a breakthrough game (perhaps even series?)! The trio of Andre Ethier, Willie Aybar and Russell Martin went 10-for-17 (Ethier 5-for-5), 6 runs scored (Ethier 4), 9 RBIs (three per each). Huge huge game and a sign of things to come!

(3) Vin Scully mentioned tonight that blowout losses were much easier to take mentally than close games. That you just filed them away as "nothing going" kinda thing and played the following day without the broken heart. That would indicate we have not broken the Angels back in this series yet. What do you think?

(4) I was expecting the Franquelis Osoria demotion with the next callup (Carter), hence the FO watch is currently moved to the back burner (but hopefully will come back one day this season). I sincerely hope that with little used Odalis Perez and very steady Jonathan Broxton (2 Ks tonight), Carter will not be used in situations where the game is on the line... At least not before Joe Beimel ;).

(5) Carter line tonight - 3 hits, 1 run. Silencio for now ;)

(5) There are two weekend day games in front of us, which means my family will see very little of me in the late evenings. Tomorrow sees the unlikely ace Brett Tomko (5-1, 2.88 ERA) vs Kevin Gregg RHP (2-2, 3.86 ERA). Gregg does have his limits and our hitting should take care of him.

Leave Beimel alone ;)

Over at Dodger Math, the guys feel Joe Beimel should not be exposed to late-game situations:

Grady’s philosphy of going with
the guy who hasn’t burned him yet
is going to drive me insane
eventually. If Joe Beimel comes
into the game in a late innings
situation, somebody, somewhere
has made a terrible mistake.

I do not agree, though. While Beimel might not be your star reliever (provided a phonomenon like this actually exists), he's been quite dependable when called up this season. Out of the nine games he appeared in to date (according to ESPN stat sheet), he allowed single runs in four of them. All four were wins by the Dodgers, three out of four by a sizeable margin of runs. He did give up 2 HR in 12.1 IP, albeit both of them were solo shots, to let him keep the damage to minimum.

Therefore my perspective of Joe Beimel is different. At the moment he might be the most positively consistent left-handed Dodger reliever we've seen this season. Not only because his potential competitors are weak (Hamulack), unproven as relievers (Perez) or in Vegas (Kuo). Joe Beimel has done his job more often than not (WHIP at .097), preserving leads better than most Dodgers coming out of the bullpen.

Photo: [www.durhambulls.com]

Things to keep in mind during the freeway series

What difference does an off-day make! With the recent 7-3 record in the last ten Dodger games (with the opposite of 3-7 for the Angels), call me the bad guy, but I don't think the upcoming freeway series will be an sweep for the Dodgers. Here's my five reasons against an easy set and five for (what the heck!):

(1) Jeff Weaver was recently informed that he's number 1 candidate to get demoted to the bullpen if he does not succeed in his very next start. Yes, his next scheduled start is the series opener later tonight... Talk about some short-term adrenaline shot for Jeff.

(2) Jeff Weaver has some serious issues (in his mind, at least) with the way his demand of a three-year contract was handled last off-season by the Dodgers. Time for sportsman's revenge? Well, even if he does any damage - it's one game only.

(3) Game 1 starters and over- (Aaron Sele) and underachieving (Weaver). While it might not necessarily change tonight, I would not be surprised if Sele does not suddenly become more hittable, while Weaver keeps his game ERA well under 4.00.

(4) The Dodgers lifetime record against the Angels is 22-28. While I sure like to get it up to only three Ws of difference, historical data shows it does not have to be so obvious that we'll get there.

(5) Vladimir Guerrero, Tim Salmon, Orlando Cabrera own Sele (just check their OBP). Edgardo Alfonzo is the only historical threat to Brett Tomko (game 2 starter), while Derek Lowe (game 3) has trouble containing Salmon, Adam Kennedy and Chone Figgins. Again, I do not think Angels will crush every starter we throw at them. There's just enough data to surmise that, perhaps apart from Tomko, our series starters have had only reasonable success against some of the Angel hitters. Then again, the history does not need to repeat itself :)

Now onto more promising signs of things to come:

(6) Jeff Kent and Kenny Lofton are game-time decisions, but no serious damage is reported. If Lofton is kept out tonight, we lose a very competent batter against Weaver (.350 BA lifetime). To offset these potential question marks, Nomah is hitting Jeff all over the place (11-for-28, with 6HR and 12 RBI). And in the midst of a hot hot streak... :)

(7) Kevin Gregg and Ervin Santana have little history against our batting. I get the feeling that Andre Ethier / Willy Aybar are going to hit the rubber off baseballs of these guys. Did not include Russell Martin not too sound pretentious, but our young guns have a great chance to make a name for themselves locally. Russell did not know what the rivalry was all about -
great time to get acquianted with the *proper* way of handling the Angels series at Chavez Ravine.

(8) Former Angel reliever Kevin Gregg is not exactly the most durable arm around the West Coast. Hit him early and hit him plenty, be patient, take walks, foul pitches off and you just may see him off very soon. Last time out as a starter (9 May) Gregg was pounded by the White Sox (2.2 IP, 7 ER including 2 HR) and then promptly relegated to bullpen for two games. Time to send him there back again? ;)

(9) 6.35 that's the ERA on the road by Earvin Santana (G3 starter). It's still better than his current day game ERA, which is 6.43. Let me break the news for you- he's slated to start at 1:10 p.m. PT on Sunday :)

(10) All irrational "Go, Dodgers!" / "Believe in the Poncho!" arguments. Yes, they are not quantifiable, but sooo sexy nonetheless. My take: two out of three Dodgers.

Light at the end of a ... funnel

The most thoroughly covered in media Dodgers reliever, Danys Baez, apparently sees the light at the end of the tunnel (though "funnel" might be a more proper word here). He sorted out his pitch selection during the one and two third innings outing yesterday afternoon at Coors Field. Says Baez:

"But that kind of game makes you know you're making
the right adjustments. ... I've been trying to work on my
off-speed pitches. Hitters were starting to sit on my fastball.
I just have to believe in my pitches. I was a starter before.
I have a good curveball, a good splitter, a good changeup.
Now they can't sit on one pitch".

That's true, they can't- that's the good news. The bad news? Most of us still keep sitting... at the end of our seats when Baez enters the game. I wish the narrow end of the funnel was wider for me to see a glimpse of Danny's seeing.

Game 41: Dodgers @ Colorado Rockies 3:2

Wow, what a cracker! And one with a happy ending :) And with help of a circumstantial save I was raving about a couple of days ago (or was it yesterday?). Danys Baez got 1 2/3 innings pitched and while he certainly made it interesting in the ninth (2 on 2 out with Tod Helton at the plate and one run lead), he came out unscathed. In a large part to due Helton wanting to become a hero and popping out to right on one of the upper cut swing he took.

While the Baez "best before" date as closer is certainly still under inspection, the Dodgers are coming back to Chavez Ravine having taken two out of three from the former NL West leaders:

(1) Now quickly - do you know a Dodger fan NOT in love with Russell Martin's game? Me neither :). On top of the stellar defense, he slid head first to beat the throw to first in the seventh as soon as he saw that the 2nd baseman was in the hole trying to get to the grounder. Risky? Yeah, but quite rewarding, given that Martin came around to score on Nomah's single.

(2) Anything I write about Nomar Garciaparra's clutch clutch hit in the seventh will be an understatement. Just a huge addition - my sincere prayer is for him to remain healthy for the whole season. While there's almost no way he'd continue his torrid hitting until September, nobody in their right mind would question his acquisition if he's an everyday player.

(3) Was Brad Penny deliberately taking out the key Rockie (hit) batsmen to get to easier outs even with men on base? I'm not sure... Might have been due to the stiff back he was fighting throughout the game

(4) With a day off before the So-Cal series against the Angels, Grady Little shuffled the rotation moving Jae Seo to pitch against Colorado at home. Aaron Sele, Brett Tomko and Derek Lowe are scheduled to pitch in the interleague series vs the Anaheim (not so mighty) Angels :)

Raffy not unwilling

Speaking on the upcoming (still ways to go, but still) comeback of shortstop Cesar Izturis, the issue of where he's going to play comes to surface once again. One option - with Bill Mueller out for another month of so, try Rafael Furcal at third for a couple of weeks.

While Furcal, shortstop for his major league career, does not jump at the thought of moving to the left of the infield, he's not totally unwilling either:

"I don't have any control over that," Furcal said.
"It's not my decision. If that's what's best
for the team, I won't cause any trouble."

Just some food for thought. Unless you want to tell me what you think about it :)

The dilemma of three catchers

According to today's LA Times, Russell Martin is a sure bet to start at C, even if/when Dioner Navarro comes back off the DL quite soon. Since the Dodgers are not willing to carry three catchers, the most viable option seems to use some of Sandy Alomar's chronic pains as an excuse to place him on DL. That will allow having both youngsters on the active roster, splitting time 2/3 to 1/3 in favor of Martin.

On the right: Dioner Navarro has plenty of work in front of him (pun intended) to get back to starting [photo: www.ladodgers.com]

Alomar is not only older, but also less capable with the pitchers (highest ERA on the days he plays) and equally to Navarro incapable of holding opposing runners on. While a 15-day DL stint for Sandy is definitely not a final solution to the dilemma of three catchers, it sure buys some time needed to see which young catcher is hotter when the opposing pitchers adjust to both.

I agree with LA Times that trading one of them (Navarro?) should not be an option at the moment. It's a nice problem to have - similar to whichever we should play Cesar Izturis when he's back.

Game 40: Dodgers @ Colorado Rockies 1:5

Not much to write home about, I guess. And I considered this matchup between groundball pitcher Derek Lowe and former closer-turned starter Byun Yung Kim (spelling?) to give us most chance to win. Not yesterday though.

A quick round-up of questions (and hopefully your answers):

(1) Since Jeff Kent and Kenny Lofton do not seem to be back for the series finale, what is going to be our infield? (outfield has three healthy guys, so it's predictable). Aybar-Furcal-Robles-Garciaparra from left to right? By the way - any news on how Jason Repko's ankle is doing?

(2) I like the way double digits look on the number of stolen bases for the two guys at the top of our lineup :).

(3) Bases loaded and nobody out in the first against a very wild Kim. Why only one run on the board? (not asking for summary of plays, rather posing a philosophical question here). Grady Little is right:

"When a pitcher is on the mound trying to self-destruct
and you let him get away with just one run,
that's the difference in the game".

(4) Do you think Willy Aybar's bat in the lineup (2-for-2 lat night, .455 BA) justify his glove?

(5) Tonight we throw Brad Penny against struggling Jason Jennings. Will rubber game be ours?

Game 39: Dodgers @ Colorado Rockies 5:4

I remember I managed to see the Rockies baseball stadium (Coors Field, is it?) from the plane taking off from the Denver Airport (strange type of architecture, is it not?). From up there nothing seems to be very spacious, to be honest but judging from some condensed game highlights, the outfield in Coors (frog point of view) is huge. And they (Hawpe) still hit it out from time to time.

Just a couple of minor notes:

(1) Nomah on a ten-game hitting tear? Not that I'm surprised but he's put together not only safe hitting, but also timely hitting, some pop, clutch slaps and excellent defense in the other half of the innings. Impressive. Clearly the best all-around player lately.

(2) Yeah, I agree that Tomko gave up a lot of fly balls (13), some of them *long* fly balls out, but still managed to keep the ball in the park, save for a solo shot by Hawpe. At 5-1 and 2.88 ERA for your fourth starter I don't think he's anything but spectacular.

(3) Are you surprised that out of COL Game1 starters, only Garciaparra is hitting over .300?

(4) What do you think about the idea of circumstantial save, somehow advocated by Grady Little lately?

Circumstantial saves

I like the way Grady Little is playing with the idea of a circumstantial save being given out to whoever can do the job in the inning(s) prior to the ninth (with the lead). In the last two games with the lead (@ Giants and @Colorado) he inserted Joe Beimel and Takeshi Saito (said to be the temp closer) with very good results. The Dodgers registered two Ws quite easily.

Maybe that's the right way to go? Don't annoint one reliever as THE closer in between now and as soon as Baez regains consciousness and/or Eric Gagne comes back from elbow injury and just go cirmcustantial? Sure it would dispatch SV numbers among several relievers, but at the same time should give better results than imploding by THE closer...

Just my two cents :)

Game 38: Dodgers @ San Francisco Giants 6:3

Strange game, very slow at times and suddenly one-two-three-ish at other moments. One thing that really bothered me for a second day in a row was how biased the FSN Bay Area commentators are. I don't know the name of the play-by-play guy, but even Steve Lyons as the color analyst was so "couldn't care less about the Dodgers". I do not expect same treatment, but some more objectivity would not kill anybody...

Now onto my game observations:

(1) Yeah, just keep putting Odalis Perez in close game situations and see what happens :( (talking about the lost lead). I was almost sorry for Jae Seo as soon as I realized that Grady had been serious about finding a suitable playing time for Perez during this game, regardless of the score. Especially, that Seo pitched a heckuva game, settled down nicely and gave us the chance to win. Perez as reliever should only be used in more than five run leads and blowout losses ;).

(2) I was positively surprised how skillful a fielder Andre Ethier is. He had a lot of balls hit into his direction and handled them well. Notwithstanding the wind which might have been helping the outfielders with fly balls all afternoon.

(3) Kenny Lofton's speed just keeps putting opposing fielders at disadvantage. His bunt in the eight which led to two runs on a misplayed catch at 3rd by Vizquel? Just fantastic! We really got a break that we needed. Great!

(4) Even though he had an o-fer (with 1 RBI), Olmedo Saenz hit the ball hard all day. Just right at people.

(5) Tomorrow the Dodgers move to the mountains to face the NL West leading (or were they taken over by the Padres) - Colorado Rockies. Brett Tomko will be trying to deny the "gravity and thin air" theory against Josh Fogg.

Un-Baez-lievable

This was brought to my attention earlier today in one of the usenet groups. It's a quote from USA Today's baseball site (pardon my lack of direct link):

Danys Baez won't be pulled from the closer's role after
blowing his fourth straight save chance on Saturday.
"Danny will keep getting the ball in that situation," manager
Grady Little said. "Hopefully the results will start getting
better for him. We still have a lot of confidence in him."

While I must say I still do have confidence in most of the managerial decisions of Grady Little, this is one which I'm not sure I understand. Especially in the light of some brilliant outings by Jonathan Broxton who does have some, albeit minor league, closer experience. I understand the difference of quality between the majors and the minors, but a young player with right psychological make-up, which Broxton seems to be, should at least be given a shot.

It seems less and less likely that Danny Baez is a long-term closing solution for the Dodgers, anyway. As soon as Eric Gagne is anywhere close to coming back, he'd be eased in the job that'll be his to lose again. Baez will then be moved to an eight (perhaps seventh?) inning reliever. Why not check out how ready for this Broxton might be in the meantime? Given Baez's closing funk, we can't be much worse in the ninth with Broxton, can we?

Photo: [www.mlb.com]

Odalis Perez closing?

A couple of words regarding a project advocated by some in various message boards and disussions forums regarding helping Odalis Perez regain his focus by inserting him into a closer's role:

Run for cover, 'cause Armageddon is coming!

In my opinion, though I'm happy to be proven wrong, Perez has *the opposite* of the mental make-up of a good closer. This is why I do not believe he'd make a good middle (long perhaps?) reliever, let alone closer.

My order of closing games right now is: Beimel-Saito for seventh-eight innings (who does which frame depends on the matchups) plus Broxton as closer to spell Baez from back luck. Once Gagne is back, ease him in in the eight innings first with either Broxton or Baez closing.

Never ever consider Perez as a viable option for saving games started by other people. On every other night, he cannot save even his own ones (I know I'm being cruel). Plus as far as I know, he's NOT a "take-it-for-the-team" teammate...

So - no.

Eight not nine

Ok, we still got eight people (grrr!), not nine (hurray!) on the DL after we learned that Brad Penny's back MRI came out clean. He's scheduled to pitch next week in Colorado.

Game 37: Dodgers @ San Francisco Giants 5:6

Aaron Sele ran his record to 2-0 against his critics (me included, partially). I am giving him every credit for seven very effective innings, staying low on a pitch count (86 pitches altogether) and general composure in difficult game situations. Very very good outing from Aaron. Too bad Danny Baez could not hold the lead again. At this point (and I'm boiling), I'd give the closer job to Jonathan Broxton. Really - I've had enough...

Some more encouraging news from the bay:

(1) I could not have been more wrong advocating a day-off for J.D. Drew as he did not need any. 2-for-4 including a triple, a walk and 2 RBI.

(2) The Giants bullpen is struggling way more than ours! Eight walks issued on the day (with some pitches way off and close to wild), falling behind pitchers on every possible occasion... Too bad we did not proper guys on base in straight steal and/or hit and run situations, 'cause we would have feasted on their wildness.

(3) Judging by a couple of dugout shots, Brad Penny's back does not bother him enough not to smile and lean over the dugout fence. Hope the MRI, which Josh Rawitch said was needed, comes out negative.

(4) Jae Seo opposes Jason Schmidt on Sunday's series finale. Anything can happen, folks. I'm going to turn in mumbling: "Tomorrow is another day" as my prayer...

I hope we don't need an answer to this any time soon...

This is taken straight from Blue Notes:

With all that's happening on the Perez front, it'll actually be
more interesting to see what happens if Sele pitches poorly.
Then what do you do? How many bad starts will they give Sele,
or Jae Seo for that matter, before feeling the need to put Odalis
back in the rotation? Just some fun stuff to think about.
The first order of business, assuming he can't be traded,
would be actually getting Perez into a game,
just to see where he is.

As you might remember, I was not entirely sure whether demoting Perez to bullpen was a good idea in the first place. Hope all three guys (Sele, Perez, Little) prove me wrong :).

Bill Mueller's knee to be operated on

Unfortunately, the worst came true. Which means Bill Mueller is going to miss up to six weeks, and that's provided everything goes as planned. Thank God and the Dodgers minor league system for WilllyAybar - now he really gets the chance to show how ready he is.

League getting younger and younger

Just look at another phenom the Phillies are bringing up. Cole Hamels went five innings of one-hit game against the Reds tonight. He struck out seven while walking five. How exciting to see these young guns as they start to develop and stretch at the major league level.

Game 36: Dodgers @ San Francisco Giants 6:1

Well, some regular late inning scare, this time provided by our infielders and 1st base ump not calling Sweeney out on a tag from Nomar (high throw from Furcal notwithstanding) in the eight. Then Kent botches the towering infield fly ball which hits the heel of his glove and pops out and suddenly things start to look "interesting" (though at least we got one out on this play). Luckily, the Giants' ninth was quiet.

Anyway, nice start of the series despite some on and off the field scares:

(1) Brad Penny was huge - hitting 94-95 mph on his fastball regularly. What worried me was when his back started to make him feel uncomfortable. That's why he went only 5.0 IP, even though 2-hitting SF. I was not paying attention - what is Brad's "bad back" history? Hope it's none too serious...

(2) Another soldier down (Bill Mueller might need arthroscopic surgery on his knee), another cavalier up and playing. If Willy Aybar plays like the rest of 'em (Martin, Ethier, Beimel, Broxton) or better, we're already having a good look at part of the heart and sould of this team in years to come. Aybar was a very tough out tonight, as was Andre Ethier (the two combined for 3-for-7 with 2 runs scored and a walk).

(3) J.D. Drew is 0-for-9 in the last two games. Does he get a day off tomorrow with LHP Lowry on the mound, do you think?

(4) How bothersome to you are the frequent high/off-target throws to first by Rafael Furcal? What are they a sign of: difficulty in grabbing the ball properly, pain while throwing the ball, perhaps a combination of both. His jammed finger is definitely not healed yet.

(5) Tomorrow afternoon we have the first part of the "bench Odalis" saga, as Aaron Sele hopes to keep his spirits up and his ERA down against LHP Nick Lowry.

Tossing and turning over Hochevar's status

While I'm not going to go into details at the moment, the current status of Dodger's unsigned prospect Luke Hochevar is the major sleep deprivation factor in my life lately (save the chronic back pain at 35...).

Read the linked article please, and let me know what the Dodgers should do about him. Time is running short...

Photo: signed Hochevar art portrait by Jonathan D. Gordon [www.aojlithocards.com]

"Don't pay the rent too far in advance", relievers...

Apparently, Grady Little has seen enough of his struggling bullpen:

"Right now we are doing whatever we can to make it interesting,
and that's not a comfortable feeling," Little said of his relief pitchers.
"We feel like these guys can get the job done. ... If they're able to,
it will be a big benefit to this ballclub. And if they're not able to,
I strongly suggest they don't pay the rent too far in advance."

Now this is funny - wanna bet who draws the shortest straw tonight? My bet is on Tim Hamulack (rested and ready for tonight, "some" LH Giants power bats in the lineup, while we have Beimel and Perez as LH relievers to spare).

Just one question: what happens if Danny Baez blows another lead? Should he get Nevada plates as well? ;)

Penny's philosophy of pitching to Barry Bonds

Well, at least this part of his philosophy which is responsible for the numbers game. According to our starting pitcher tonight:

"It's not the guy who throws the pitch that ties Bonds with Ruth,"
Penny said. "It's the guy who throws the pitch which Bonds
hits to pass Ruth. That's the one they will show over and over."

Well, if Brad Penny has his way with Bonds and kepts him in the yard, this puts extra pressure on Aaron Sele, scheduled to pitch tomorrow. Unless he's of another school of thought :).

My advice: stay away from low and inside, guys.

Games 33-35: Dodgers vs Houston Astros (12:7; 9:6, 2:4)

Ok, I'm back from my business trip during which I was mostly offline. I know I missed a good (and winning) series against the 'Stros at home, and I realize much has been written about it since. Therefore, my aim is to provide a summary of questions and dilemmas resulting from the series, rather than focus on specific games or plays:

(1) I'm sad Jason Repko twisted his ankle on the very day his parents flew into town to see him play. No, I'm not going to raise another Cody Ross question ;). However - with Repko out at the DL for the next two weeks, what happens to our outfield? With Werth and Ledee out for a prolonged period of time, we're stuck with Ethier, Lofton, Drew and Cruz. This puts some pressure on us, since Drew needs to sit out every fourth-five game and so should Lofton to preserve his health. On such days (two out of five, if we alternate off-days for JD and Kenny) we're short of an extra OF. Would you call up another OF (Guzman?) or wait for the events to unfold? To me, Grady will wait.

(2) Somebody please tell Jeff Kent not to stop short of extending his power stroke over the weekend games in Frisco. Tuesday: 2-for-5 3-run HR (4 RBI). Wednesday: another 3-run HR, Thurdsay: a solo shot - to raise his season total to respectable 22 RBI. BA is still down at .222, but given Kent's lower start-of-season numbers history, he's bound to pick it up to at least .280-.290 very soon. All of that the heels of my putting him as the runner-up for the hitting dud award covering the period of the last 15 games ;).

(3) I'm glad Willy Aybar has been called up and if I were calling the shots, I'd spell Bill Mueller with him for a couple of games just to see how Willy can handle the pressure early this year. He did come through nicely with his first pinch-hit on Thursday, which drove the run in for his first RBI. With Mueller slumping a bit recently, there's no point sitting Aybar.

Photo: [www.reviewjournal.com]

(4) Is Brett Tomko's luck/skill due to run out very soon? So far he's been much more than your typical innings-eater only :).

(5) I do not like moving Odalis Perez to the bullpen to the benefit of Aaron Sele. Not yet. Not before the weekend series in PacBell, where Odalis could have been very strong again (great history there). I'm one of these guys who stick with their starters a little bit longer than what we witnesssed here this season. I hope I'm wrong being cautious about Sele's post-game ERA. We'll see.

(6) Speaking of the SF Giants series: we're starting off with a gem tonight. Brad Penny takes on battled Matt Morris. My first live mlb.tv game since Sunday. Yummie :). Penny says he's not afraid of Barry Bonds. Fingers crossed.

Everybody's raving about Russell Martin...

...and for a good reason, if you ask my opinion. This is what Orange County Register had to say about him a couple of days ago:

Grady Little sounded more like
a fan than the manager when
he described Martin.

"He was outstanding again,"
Little said after Sunday's game.
"He brings a lot to the table every
single day. He's a young
man that's excited about
being here, and he's done
a great job."

While we're at it Sara D. Morris has a very nice piece on Russell (and Navarro) and what's important while comparing the two.

At the same time (even before I indulge in Jeff Kent's recent power surge), J.D. Drew has been getting a round of media applause for his achievements this season:

"I have heard (someone) tell me he is the best baseball player
they ever put on the field," said Dodgers manager Grady Little,
referring to a member of the Braves' coaching staff
he declined to identify. "He's a complete player. He can do it all
on a baseball field. Our No.1 objective is just to keep him out there."

With Jason Repko and myself being temporarily away, Manny Aybar gets the call

I've been away on business and mostly offline since the beginning of the Astros series, so I will follow up on the three-game set with Houston on Friday afternoon. Just in time for the Giants series :).

However, with every bad news (Repko's sprained ankle), comes good - Manny Aybar, who's been tearin' it up in the majors, got the call up. And with Bill Mueller's recent struggles at the plate, he might see some playing time, too.

Unable to play a man down for even a week while carrying
12 pitchers, the Dodgers announced they have placed
Jason Repko on the disabled list and called up last year's
September Sunshine, Willy Aybar, who as most of you know
has been the organization's best hitter in AAA Las Vegas.

Games 17-32 studs and duds round-up

Time for the second Dodger studs and duds round-up. Again, scores are based on my subjective, non-stat-only judgment (open for questioning) resulting from whatever I have seen, read and pondered upon. Let's see if we all agree - if not, let's discuss what you'd do differently:

Starting pitcher stud:
Derek Lowe - no record to show for his efforts, but clearly the most dependable Dodger starter. Honorable mention: Brett Tomko.

Picture on the right: Derek Lowe thinking which pitch to use [www.tsn.ca]

Starting pitcher dud:
Odalis Perez - due to the unpredictable inconsistency, mostly. Having said that, I'm not prepared to give up on him as a starter just yet.

Relief pitcher stud:
Joe Beimel - when the ashes have come down, I'm willing to give it to the "call 911" reliever when everything was falling apart and tantalized the opposing batters with his sinker.

Relief pitcher dud:
Lance Carter - is DHL still tracking his re-routed VHS parcel? They must be, since Lance blew every lead every time out (hyperbole mine ;)).

Hitter stud:
J.D. Drew - carried the Dodger offense almost single-handedly during the period in question. RBIs, homers, dependable defense and ability to take a walk in crucial moments of the game. Dodger official Player of the Month for April.

Picture on the left: Drew watching his stock rising up ;) [www.ladodgers.mlb.com]

Hitter dud:
Raffy Furcal takes the oh-no-rs ;). When I close my eyes before dozing off, I have a picture of a weak grounder to second to start us off (almost) every night. Hope he's coming out of this very soon.

Fielder stud:
Nomar Garciaparra - and they say he's still learning the position... Saved a couple of runs by himself, handing throws potentially out of a first-baseman reach. Honorable mention - a three game "Berlin Wall" impersonated by Russell Martin.

Fielder dud:
No-one in particular stood out in a negative way.

Managerial staff wow:
Playing Andre Either and Russell Martin as well as Joe Beimel and Jonathan Broxton (though for different reasons) right off the bat when they were called up. Aggressive and successful base-running tactics.

Series won: vs ARZ, @SD, vs MIL
Series lost: @ HOU, @ARZ, vs SD
Series tied: none
Overall record after 32 games: 15-17 (4th in NL West, 4.0 GB to Colorado)

Game 32: Dodgers vs Milwaukee Brewers 10:2

How sweet is it to sweep :) a not-so-bad Brewer team (less injured Ben Sheets, that's true).

Just a couple of offline thoughts after the game my wife reported to me via text messaging :)

(1) Dodgers leading the MLB in stolen bases? How cool is that! (with yesterday's three, they have stolen 35 bases in 40 attempts so far). I'm with all of you that are keen on pitcher-disruptive steal attempts to get things going and put some pressure on the opposing battery.

(2) Congratulations to Russell Martin on his first major league HR and several key defensive stops, which might have turned wild pitches.

"He listens really well and he absorbs the game,"
Sele said of Martin, his (former) catcher at Las Vegas.
"I yanked a slider eight feet outside, and he slid over
to block it. He's pretty impressive.
He's what you want out of a catcher."

(3) How to proceed with the Aaron Sele/ Odalis Perez situation to get the win-win outcome? As I wrote somewhere else: leave Perez as the only LHP starter on the team, make Sele a long reliever and move Franquelis Osoria (hate myself for syaing that) to Vegas for some more fine-tunning (btw, surprising how much the stint on the 51's is helping both Carter and Kuo - check their recent stats for first-hand info). Perez has a good track record against the Giants (his next start) and should be put (on purpose) in a position where he has to fight to regain his starting role on regular basis. At this point a combination of SP Perez and RP Sele seems more efficient team-wise than any other involving the two plus Osoria.

(4) Nice scoring binge for a change: we did not score only in the fourth and fifth. How much was it due to Ben Sheets being replaced with Bush as Brewer starting pitcher?

(5) With Monday off, the Dodgers and Jae Seo will entertain the Houston Astros and Andy Pettite Tuesday night. Houston is coming off three loses in a row against the Rockies. Can we take advantage of their skid, please?

Game 31: Dodgers vs Milwaukee Brewers 5:4

Thanks to the torrid and timely hitting of Nomar Garciaparra, our record in one run games suddenly does not look as bad as it used to even a couple of days ago :). The sweetest thing was to see how Nomah deliberately squared his body a little bit to the right to go to the opposite field with Kenny Lofton at 2nd. I do agree though that Danny Baez owes Garciaparra a big steak tonight.

Let's see what's, ekhem, brewing:

(1) Now, Kenny Lofton might have started poorly, but boy, does he still have wheels. And a much more promising batting average to go along with it. I still can't understand not playing Repko more regularly, but at least Lofton is giving Grady a reason to get playing time.

(2) I was positively surprised by a very steady defensive play of Olmedo Saenz at 3b. While I might be inclined to look forward to seeing Manny Aybar at this corner next year, so far Olmedo is a very reasonable stopgap-"transition season" utility corner infielder.

(3) One instance of Grady Little's sense of humor:

"Instead of sending pitching coach Rick Honeycutt to the mound
to remove Penny, Little took the walk on his own. "Honey's tired
of going out there, and I'm tired of seeing what happens
when he goes out there.".

(4) Aaron Sele is excited about finally arriving in LA to pitch for the big club:

"This is what it's all about, playing at the big league
level, whether you've been here before or not.
This is where all the fun happens."

I just hope there's as much excitement about what he's achieved when he exits the game later today ;).

(5) Sele takes the ball against a somewhat struggling RHP Ben Sheets (1-3, 6.64 ERA). A sweep of the Brewers might be just what the doctor ordered for the Dodgers :).

It's Sele time, folks

According to Josh Rawitch, Aaron Sele will make a spot start on Sunday against the Brewers. Let's hope his uses this amazing breaking ball to keep the Milwaukee batters off base.