Furcal apparently activated

Nothing has been announced yet, but his name appears as a reserve on the lineup card posted in the Dodgers’ clubhouse. He is coming off the 60-day disabled list, which means a corresponding 40-man roster move will have to be made. When he gets into a game, it will be the first time since May 5. He was scratched from the lineup just before game on May 6 with lower-back tightness that eventually required surgery. He was hitting .366 at the time. … By the way, James Loney has won this year’s Roy Campanella Award as the Dodgers’ “most inspirational” player.

Dodgers 10, Padres 1

Torre’s lineup switcheroo obviously worked. Matt Kemp, the new leadoff guy, drew a walk, had two hits and scored a run. Russell Martin, the new No. 2 guy, had two hits, one of them a double, drew two walks and scored a run. Manny Ramirez, who was supposed to benefit from having Andre Ethier hitting behind him, apparently did, doubling in two runs in the first. Nomar and Blake DeWitt each hit three-run HRs. Oh, and the Snakes lost. Let the handwringing come to crashing halt. The Dodgers are 82-75, their lead is a safe three games and their magic number is three, with five to go. Are you starting to smell it yet?

Frank McCourt appears … and then, he speaks

The owner showed up for batting practice today. Not sure why. Didn’t get a chance to ask him, because I knew he had to run for a conference call about two minutes after I got him, and there were more important questions I wanted to ask him. The big one, of course, was the one I knew he wouldn’t answer: Given the way the team has surged into first place, can you say definitively that you plan to bring back all of your key personnel next season? I didn’t specify anyone by name, but Frank knew I was talking about Ned Colletti. Anyway, here is his (non) answer
“It would be such a distraction to everybody and everything if I were to engage in any conversation about that right now. That totally misses the point. Right now, the focus is on playing baseball games and winning.”
Read into that whatever you will. And comment as you wish.

Oh, btw, the lineup switcheroo had more to do with protecting Manny because Loney has been struggling hitting behind him, so Joe wanted to put Ethier there. Joe gave us some convoluted answer as to why he dropped Martin to No. 2, saying he is a good leadoff hitter because he draws a lot of walks, which is true, and then saying that batting second won’t be that different. My guess is the REAL reason is by putting Kemp in the leadoff spot, with Martin, Manny and Ethier behind him, it might mean Kemp gets better pitches to hit and thus won’t strike out as much by chasing pitches out of the zone. Kemp is one strikeout shy of tying the club record, and that’s for Brooklyn AND Los Angeles.

Tonight’s lineup: Martin bumped out of the leadoff spot

Russ is 1 for 11, but with a bunch of walks mixed in there. Matt Kemp is 1 for 9 over his past two games, but the one hit was a home run. Not sure what Joe’s thinking is here, but I’m sure one of us will ask him. Loney is 0 for 3 against Wade LeBlanc, small sample size, so he’s probably just sitting because LeBlanc is a lefty. Ethier drops to cleanup, so we’ll see if Ramirez helps Martin as much as he helped Ethier.

Kemp. CF
Martin. C
Ramirez. LF
Ethier. RF
Garciaparra 1B
Blake. 3B
DeWitt. 2B
Berroa. SS
Billingsley. P