I’ve never heard of anything like this, but Charley Steiner, who used to broadcast for the Yankees, says he remembers Torre doing it a couple of times in New York. There IS rain in the forecast, and it IS beginning to cloud up. For now, Kuo will start, and if it doesn’t rain, Billingsley COULD follow him later in the game. If it DOES rain and the makeup game is tomorrow — which is hardly a given, considering these two teams play a bunch of times this year — Billingsley would then pitch that game, I guess. Not sure what it means for the rotation beyond that. Kuroda is scheduled to pitch Friday night in San Diego, followed by Penny on Saturday.

Anyway, here’s the update on Bowa, which will run in tomorrow’s paper also:

By Tony Jackson
Staff Writer
Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa accused Bob Watson, Major League Baseball’s vice president for on-field operations, of harboring a personal grudge against him after Watson suspended Bowa for three games on Wednesday and fined him an undisclosed amount.
“It’s ludicrous is what it is,” Bowa said. “There is no due process. I called (Watson), and there was no return call. They don’t want to hear the coach’s side of anything. It’s a joke. You have (players) who tested positive for steroids and even admitted taking them, and they’re not even suspended. Bob Watson is very prejudiced against me, and I have no idea why.”
Bowa was suspended after an on-field blowup during Tuesday night’s game in which Bowa was ejected by third-base umpire Ed Montague. Montague had ordered Bowa to remain within the confines of the coach’s box, in observance of an edict issued before this season by baseball’s playing rules committee, and Bowa had reacted angrily to Montague’s request.
The official statement released by Watson’s office cited Bowa for “inappropriate and aggressive conduct” and accused Bowa of making physical contact with Montague “on multiple occasions” during the argument that followed Bowa’s ejection.
“(Watson) has been after me since I have been out of baseball as a player,” Bowa said. “He has done it since I started coaching and managing. That’s his gig. … If Bob Watson was a man about things, he would be calling me back.”
A spokesman for the commissioner’s office said this wasn’t the first time Bowa has accused Watson of having a personal vendetta against him. The spokesman said Watson hasn’t responded to the accusation in the past and wouldn’t be responding to it this time, either.
Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti, who received the call from Watson earlier in the day, is the only member of the organization who spoke directly with Watson.
“He informed me of the suspension,” Colletti said. “We support Larry. I have known Larry my whole baseball career. I know his passion, and I know he can get emotional in the course of a game. At the same time, we respect Major League Baseball and the rules they set forth.”
Bowa said he didn’t know the amount of the fine, but he also said he fully expected a fine, a standard punishment following any ejection. But Bowa was taken aback by the suspension, especially given that he says Montague was the first umpire he has encountered since the start of spring training who has actually enforced the new edict.
“The only thing I said to Ed was, `You were behind the plate opening day (Monday), when we had seven or eight runners on second base, and I was all up and down the line for every single hitter, and nobody said anything,”’ Bowa said. “I also did it all the way through spring training, and that was (31) games, and nobody said anything.”
Bowa also took exception to the fact Montague walked to where Bowa was standing, an act that might have inflamed the situation, and the fact Watson didn’t seem to care about that.
“Put it this way, if somebody had left me a voice mail like that, I would have been on the phone in two minutes,” Bowa said. “But obviously, he doesn’t want to talk about it.”
Suspensions for coaches have no appeals process, so Bowa began serving his immediately. First-base coach Mariano Duncan will move to third base for the three games, with hitting coach Mike Easler filling in at first base.