Like most healthy American males, I have always wanted to spend the night in a sorority house. Or at least I did when I was younger. Well, tonight, I finally get to. OK, so it’s not an ACTUAL sorority house, but it might as well be. Anyway, here’s the story: I arrived in PHX around 11:30 this morning, picked up the rental car and drove directly to my usual hotel here, the Westin Kierland in north Scottsdale. As I was checking in at the front desk, I couldn’t help noticing that the lobby was filled with beautiful young women. So the desk clerk informed me that the hotel was hosting Pi Beta Phi’s national convention, which immediately made me feel as if I had died and gone to Heaven — or at least it would have made me feel that way a few years ago. The desk clerk then went into further detail. “They have been here for a week,” she said, trying not to sound disdainful. “They are leaving tomorrow,” she added, trying not to sound relieved. … It’s 110 degrees here today, which I would normally find bothersome, but considering the circumstances, it’s actually a good thing in this case. … One of you asked on a previous thread about why Andy LaRoche hadn’t played lately. In case you missed today’s paper, here is the note I had:

Minor matters: Third-base prospect Andy LaRoche is on the seven-day disabled list at Triple-A Las Vegas because of recurring soreness in his right shoulder, where he had a torn labrum surgically repaired last October. LaRoche recently hurt himself making a diving catch, the same way he suffered the initial injury last June, but he isn’t expected to miss much more than a week this time.

This might be the lowest point in the Dodgers’ season thus far. Blowing a three-run lead in the ninth at San Diego is one thing. Losing two of three to this outfit is quite another. Losing ONE to E-Jax? That’s about as bad as it gets, especially considering no other major-league has done it since 2005. James Loney homered in the ninth, putting him in the evergrowing legion of Dodgers players who have more home runs than Nomar this season. Matt Kemp followed with a single, but it didn’t really matter much because Wilson Betemit was on deck. Predictably, he struck out swinging and is now 0 for 18 with 7 Ks. Dodgers fall to 42-33 and limp (literally, in the case of Rafael Furcal) into the most important week of the season to date, a seven-game stretch against the D-Backs and Pods.

E-Jax is finally going to get his first win big-league win since the Dodgers traded him to the D-Rays a year and a half ago. He was, as usual, quite hittable. But the Dodgers were, as usual, not in much of a hitting mood. Or at least not in much of a scoring mood. They got that two-run HR from Gonzo in the first inning and haven’t come close to scoring since. They have GIDP’s three times, plus run themselves out of another inning with a strikeout-caught stealing DP. They haven’t gotten a runner past first base since Gonzo doubled with two outs in the third and, naturally, was stranded. And the Dodgers, who fancy themselves contenders in the NL West, are going to lose two out of three to THE TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS. Last night, they were beaten by a homer from former Dodgers catcher Dioner Navarro, although they really were beaten by themselves — they stranded 15 baserunners, nine of them in scoring position. Today, they’re going to be beaten by E-Jax, whose six previous big-league wins all came for the Dodgers from 2003-05. He entered this one with an 0-8 record and 7.85 ERA for 2007. Nice trip so far. D-Rays 4, Dodgers 2, bottom 7

Capping off a week in which San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsome banned bottled water from being purchased for city offices with city funds (something about global warming), Aquafina outpaced Pepsi and Sierra Mist yet again in the fourth-inning beverage race here today. Immediately thereafter, Hong-Chih Kuo went back to the business of making everyone forget his disastrous outing on Wed. night in Toronto. He has retired 10 of 11 thus far, the only exception being a solo homer by Ty Wigginton on Kuo’s first pitch of the second inning. Dodgers keep shooting themselves in the foot offensively against winless ex-mate E-Jax, but if Kuo keeps this up, it won’t matter. Dodgers 2, D-Rays 1, bottom 4

Luis Gonzalez went deep off Edwin Jackson in the first inning, with the ball coming down directly into the aquarium beyond the wall in right-center where the Devil Rays keep the actual devil rays. It’s the first ball ever hit into the fish tank. It came with Rafael Furcal on third, which was a good thing, because that allowed Furcal to jog home. That left ankle is really bothering him, and he practically limped from home to third on his own single, another single by Pierre and a GIDP by Russell Martin. Loney followed Gonzo’s homer with a double, then Matt Kemp struck out, so the Dodgers already have left a man in scoring position. Dodgers 2, Devil Rays 0, middle 1

By the way, here’s the lineup. Nomar is feeling much better, but Grady gave him another day

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
DH Martin
LF Gonzo
1B Loney
RF Kemp
3B Betemit
C Lieberthal
2B Abreu

LH Kuo