Wilson Betemit, now 1 for 24 for the season, is out of the lineup again, replaced this time by Wilson Valdez at 3B and in the eight hole. Betemit continues to play solid defense — he made another nice play at 3B last night on a tough one-hopper by Marcus Giles — but hasn’t hit all year and is in danger of earning a regular spot on the bench if Valdez (.368) continues to hit the way he did all spring and through his first eight games of the season. The rest of the lineup is normal, with Pierre back in CF and batting second. … With this being the last game before the road trip, my teammates Jill Painter and Ramona Shelburne are taking over the coverage tonight for tomorrow’s paper, with Jill covering the game and Ramona doing the Jackie Robinson stuff. This will allow me to relax and catch up on some freelance work. More importantly, it will allow me to leave soon after the game ends so I can go home and pack for my crack-of-dawn flight to PHX tomorrow. But I’ll still post blog entries during the game, so stay tuned.