June 2007 Archives

This makes five in a row against the Pods and 20 of 29 since the start of last year. Dodgers might have taken this one in 11 if not for a baserunning gaffe by Russell Martin, who inexplicably tried to steal third on a 3-1 pitch to Jeff Kent with one out. Kent walked, but Martin was thrown out easily. Took them right out of the inning. And then, Brett Tomko took them right out of the game. Raise your hand if you saw that coming. Hits to three of the first four batters he faced (the guy he retired was bunting). Gives new meaning to the phrase GAME OVER. Dodgers fall to 45-36 and two games behind the Pods (and still a half-game behind the D-backs). ... Oh, by the way, Houlton isn't going to start. He'll work out of the pen. Hendrickson is going to take Kuo's spot, but it only comes up one more time between now and the All-Star break. After that, it could be Mark Buehrle or some other person currently wearing the uniform of another club.

Hong-Chih Kuo was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas a few minutes ago, and D.J. Houlton was recalled from Vegas. That clearly means Houlton will start on Wednesday night against the Braves. It will be his first major-league appearance since 2005 and his first major-league appearance since Paul DePodesta, the former Dodgers GM who selected Houlton in the 2004 Rule 5 draft from Houston. D.J. apparently, judging by his minor-league numbers, is a much better pitcher now than he was then. We'll find out soon enough. He has been on the 40-man roster since the day the Dodgers picked him up, essentially gathering dust, but that also made him the easy guy to call up when the club had exhaused all other options for the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation.

According to Ken Rosenthal, reporting on the Fox national pregame show today, Mark Buehrle's contract extension with the White Sox has fallen through because the club wouldn't give him a no-trade clause. Kenny seemed to indicate that the Dodgers are the team hot on the trail to acquire left-hander. Not sure where this is going, but I'll update when there is something to report. ... Light blogging today, by the way. Jill Painter is covering the game, and I'm working on a fairly big project that I'm hoping to complete in one day, so if I don't post the lineup or in-game updates, that's the reason. I promise I'll get back to all that stuff tomorrow.

Dodgers made a furious attempt at a comeback, scoring three in the eighth and one in the ninth. Trailing by one with two outs and the bases empty, Jeff Kent then doubled off Trevor Hoffman. But Gonzo then fouled out to the catcher, capping a night when he went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts and zero balls hit out of the infield, and with that, the Dodgers had dropped six of 10 to the Pods this year. The Dodgers banged out 14 hits, the eighth time in their past 11 games that they have had at least 10. But they again stranded too many baserunners, eight of them in all, seven in scoring position and four at third base. The good news is that the Dodgers didn't go in the tank after the Pods hung seven on Hong-Chih Kuo. The bad news is, they ran out of outs. Clash of the titans tomorrow, Penny vs. Peavy. Until then, the Dodgers are 45-35 and back to third place, a game behind the Pods and a half-game behind the D-backs.

In all the excitement today, I forgot to post this earlier. The Dodgers announced before the game that Marlon Anderson had been designated for assignment to make room for Chin-hui Tsao, giving the Dodgers a 12-man pitching staff. Probably the right move, but too bad about Marlon. This is one of the classiest guys in the game, and I can't imagine he'll stay in the organization and go play in Las Vegas. Wherever he goes, here's hoping he does well. ... Nothing has changed since we last spoke ... and it doens't look like anything is going to. Padres 7, Dodgers 2, bottom 5

The Dodgers might have to turn their attention at the trading deadline to acquiring a pitcher, especially now that they are no longer so desperate for another bat. Kuo clearly isn't going to last in the rotation, but the club is running out of alternatives, unless Ned and Grady want to give D.J. Houlton a shot. Kuo gave up seven runs (six earned) in 3 1/3 tonight, in a critical game for the Dodgers. Dodgers might get back into this one -- they have runners on the corners after Nomar finally got a hit and Loney get yet another one -- but they can't keep letting Kuo put them in five-run holes like this. Padres 7, Dodgers 2, bottom 4

Ethier/Kemp isn't going to be a straight platoon because Kemp, as a right-handed hitter, wouldn't get nearly enough at-bats that way. Nomar is hitting sixth for the second time after one day in the seven hole. The Dodgers' seventh (.476) and eighth (.421) hitters tonight are both hitting well above .400

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
C Martin
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
3B Nomar
1B Loney
RF Kemp
LH Kuo

Watch out for flying beer bottles. And bags of baseballs. And airborne bats. Yes, it's true, Milton Bradley is back. Or at least he will be on Sunday. The volatile one has been traded to San Diego from Oakland, giving him a second go-round with former Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta (because it was sooooo successful the first time), who now is a special assistant in the Pods' front office. I'm told he won't arrive until Sunday's series finale, but that will at least give Dodgers fans one game to, ummmmmmm, welcome him back with open arms (that is, when they aren't ducking beer bottles). Funny how that oblique injury he used to avoid being traded to Kansas City has healed so miraculously. The shame of it is, the Padres have had such a good thing going for the past couple of years, winning division titles with a closeknit clubhouse with very few major distractions. Well, that much is about to change, as Milton embarks on his 2,332nd fresh start (actually, it's his third fresh start -- in the past four seasons). But hey, maybe this time, it'll really work. And maybe by next week, I'll be dating Jessica Biel. What a world.

Brett Tomko almost got one of those three-inning saves because there was nobody out when he came in in the seventh inning and he would have finished the game -- except that he didn't finish the game. He gave up three consecutive one-out hits in the ninth and then walked Stephen Drew, all in an inning that began with the Dodgers leading by six runs. The walk to Drew brought the potential tying run to the on-deck circle, which created a save situation for Saito on a day when the Dodgers had led 9-1 at one point. ... In a statistical oddity, the Dodgers left at least one runner on base in all nine innings, a total of 13 for the second game in a row, but this time, obviously, it wasn't nearly as costly. That goes a long way toward explaining why this game took 3 1/2 hours to complete. ... Dodgers go to 45-34 and pull even with the Pods for first place, a half-game ahead of the Snakes. Dodgers have now won seven of nine from the Snakes this season, including five of six in PHX.

Well, as big a win as you can have in Game No. 79, anyway. This gives them a winning road trip and a touch of momentum -- especially offensively -- heading into the big series with the Pods. This lineup has really come alive since the change of hitting coaches. On this 10-game trip, the Dodgers have reached double figures in hits seven times. Assuming they don't tack on a few more in the ninth, they will average 5.5 runs a game on this trip. The guess here is that Bill Mueller will be the hitting coach as long as he wants to be ... but nobody, including Bill Mueller, knows how long he wants to be. ... Dodgers 9, D-backs 3, bottom 8

it's 107 degrees outside, but Chase Field, with the roof closed for the first time in the series, is a comfortably airconditioned 79 degrees. Meanwhile, the Dodgers bats are hot -- especially Russell Martin's. He has a two-run homer off Randy Johnson and a double that set up Jeff Kent's two-run single. The Unit was done after three, having thrown 70 pitches. Amazing how much more the Dodgers are working counts now that Eddie Murray is gone. It LOOKS like the Dodgers are going to go 6-4 on the trip and come home tied for first with the Pods, making this weekend's showdown with them at Chavez Ravine that much bigger. But then, the Dodgers have blown a six-run lead in this park before. I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it was April 2006. Odalis Perez gave up a solo homer to Shawn Green, whom he absolutely hates, to make it 6-1. I turned to the guy next to me and said, ``He's going to blow the rest of this lead now.'' By the end of the inning, he had. It was 6-6, and the Snakes went on to win. I'm guessing the same fate won't befall Randy Wolf this afternoon. ... Did anybody catch that Paris Hilton interview on Larry King? I saw about 10 minutes this morning, and that was about all I could stand. Talk about somebody who has NO clue how the rest of us live. But then, I have no clue what it's like in jail, either. ... Dodgers 6, D-backs 0, middle 4

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
C Martin
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
RF Kemp
1B Loney
3B Abreu
LH Wolf

Picked up Frank DeFord's new novel, The Entitled, at Barnes and Noble today. Read the first chapter in about 10 minutes. I'll give a full report on this blog when I finish it, but so far, it's a page-turner. The main character (so far, anyway) is a manager of the Cleveland Indians who was a bad minor-league player, worked his way up gradually and finally got a shot to manage in the bigs (sound familiar?) who now senses he is about to be fired. That's just the lead-in. I won't spoil anything after that, but suffice to say, that ISN'T the primary storyline.

Nomar is going to sit tomorrow. Grady told us after the game, right after he told Nomar. This guy is really struggling. Those last two at-bats, he struck out on a total of six pitches. This was a game that could loom large later in the season, especially if these two teams end up battling it out to the end, probably along with the Pods. The Dodgers went 0 for 12 w/RISP, left 13 men on base and lost by two runs. If you were ever going to beat Brandon Webb, this was the night. He gave up seven hits and walked five batters in seven innings, and the Dodgers couldn't score off him. And don't forget, they also stranded 15 runners on Saturday night at the Trop and lost by one run to the D-Rays. Wow. Two losses that could have been reversed with a well-timed hit here or there. ... Dodgers fall to 44-34 and back into third place, a half-game behind the Pods and D-backs.

That quick game we anticipated with these two sinkerballers going simply hasn't materialized. They already have five walks (one intentional) between them. Derek Lowe threw a staggering number of pitches in the first inning, when he walked two of the first three batters and should have gotten out of the inning, but a throwing error by James Loney negated a sure out and allowed the Snakes to score an unearned run. Since then, though, D-Lowe has settled in and become more efficient. Brandon Webb doesn't look the part of a Cy Young winner, either, but the Dodgers stranded five runners, three of them in scoring position, in the first three innings. Nomar just hit into a fielder's choice -- on the first pitch, of course -- to run his hitless streak to 13 ABs. ... Snakes 1, Dodgers 0, top 4

Mr. Weisman asked on another thread whether it was true that the Dodgers had signed James Adkins, a lefty out of the University of Tennessee who was their second-round pick. It is true, indeed. Inked him for $787k. Club has now signed all but one of its first 17 picks, the exception being fifth-rounder Kyle Blair, who probably isn't going to sign anyway because he has a scholarship to the University of San Diego and wants more than fifth-round money

Actually, it rebounded slightly today after about a week of falling like a lead parachute. Nomar, however, did not rebound. After going 0 for 5 in the six hole, let's see if he does any better hitting seventh. More importantly, let's see if anybody hits a ball his way tonight in his second attempt at playing 3B. Everything else is pretty much the same.

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
C Martin
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
1B Loney
3B Nomar
RF Ethier
RH Lowe

Last year, the Dodgers lost 13 of 18 to the Pods and thus had to settle for the wild card when they finished tied with them atop the division. This is not to suggest the Dodgers and D-backs are going to finish tied this year, but if they do, the Dodgers have a good head start to getting the division crown. They have won six of seven from the Snakes, including all four in PHX. The two clubs have 11 games left wth each other, so the Dodgers haven't clinched the season series yet at all, but it's definitely a good start. ... Dodgers go to 44-33 and move a half-game ahead of the D-backs and Pods. Now back to the Westin, which ISN'T hosting a sorority convention tonight.

Just got word that the Glendale City Council unanimously passed the resolution authorizing the PHX suburb's share of the funding for the new spring training complex. The PHX city council is expected to pass it on July 2 and the state of Arizona will meet later in July, when it is expected to pass it also. Frank McCourt and Howard Sunkin are on their way over here from the meeting now, apparently, to tell us all about it. ... Both starting pitchers were done after four innings. Staked to a two-run lead, Bills got two quick outs in the bottom of the fourth, walked a batter and gave up a towering home run to Mark Reynolds. He threw 78 pitches, only 44 of them strikes. Dodgers 5, D-backs 5, bottom 5

He just keeps on hitting. He just bounced a ball over the head of 1B Conor Jackson and up the RF line for a game-tying, RBI double. After an intentional pass to Ethier, Billingsley -- yes, Billingsley -- followed with a drive just beyond the reach of a diving Chris Young, scoring Loney and Ethier. It was Bills' first career extra-base hit. Loney is now 15 for 31, giving him a .484 average since he was called up 16 days ago. And the scary thing is, he is going to be playing every day now, it appears. ... Dodgers 5, D-backs 3, top 4

For the first two innings, he was remarkably similar to the Billingsley of last year: too many pitches, too many deep counts and too many balls absolutely smoked by D-backs hitters because the worked the count to the point that they had an advantage. In the third, though, he settled in and retired the side in order on very few pitches. Honeycutt or Russ Martin or somebody must have said something to him in the dugout. Loney already has a two-run homer. Nomar hasn't had a ball hit to him at 3B yet, but he did scoop a one-hop throw from Martin on a force play ... By the way, just to clarify something. Despite what you might have read on a competing blog, all of the beat writers who travel with the club on a regular basis learned of Nomar's move to 3B at the same time, that being when Grady announced it to us in the dugout yesterday during his pregame media session. Until that point, none of us knew about it. So if one of us chooses to claim on his blog that the story ``was first reported by'' his blog, that simply isn't true -- except in the most technical sense. He got to his computer before I got to mine and clicked on ``post'' a minute or two before I did. Making a claim like that makes it look like the rest of us weren't doing our jobs, and that isn't the case. This is a tough beat, and we all work HARD every single day.

I guess Grady decided for whatever reason to move Nomar to 3B tonight instead of waiting until he has four days to work out there. We'll have our pregame with Grady in about 45 minutes, hopefully, so I'll ask him why then. Also, Nomar has been dropped to sixth in the order, with Martin third, Probably has something to do with the fact that after missing three games with an illness, Nomar came back last night and went 0 for 5 and is not 2 for his past 16. Also, he still has just one home run this year, that coming way back on April 16 at Arizona. Hardly the power production you want from a No. 3 hitter.

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
C Martin
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
3B Nomar
1B Loney
RF Ethier
RH Billingsley

Also, there has been a change to the D-backs rotation. Randy Johnson will pitch on Thursday against Randy Wolf, Livan Hernandez is out. The Unit threw a simulated game yesterday and was deemed ready to go. Too bad for the Dodgers -- unless, of course, they beat him. Let's face it, he ain't what he used to be. ... The Pi Beta Phi convention is over at the Westin and has been replaced by something called Expo '07. I'm not sure what kind of Expo it is, but I can tell you that so far, none of the attendees looks anything like a Pi Phi, past or present. And, this group has taken up almost every parking space at the hotel. Had to park at least 200 yards from the front door, and it's 117 degrees here today.

Actress Eliza Dushku greeted the National League's first 10-game winner, who also happens to be her boyfriend, with a huge smile in a service tunnel outside the Dodgers clubhouse. Some guys have all the luck. Brad Penny went eight innings for the first time this season, allowing only a run on four hits. This after manager Grady Little pushed him back a day so he could pitch in this game, which had much more significance in the NL West than Sunday's game at Tampa Bay, when Hong-Chih Kuo pitched in Penny's stead and the Dodgers got pounded 9-4. ``I wasn't feeling too good about (the decision) yesterday,'' Little said, ``but it turned out pretty good tonight.'' It always seems to when the Dodgers play the Snakes. They have beaten Arizona five of six now, including all three at Chase Field. And offensively, the Dodgers now have 99 hits in 10 games since Eddie Murray was ousted. I asked Bill Mueller before the game if he was enjoying the role, and he said he definitely was. I then asked if he is warming up to the possibility of doing it long-term, and while he didn't answer directly, he clearly backed off on his enthusiasm. So this is a long way from being resolved. But the improvement is already undeniable. Oh, and Manny Mota has been helping Mueller get acclimated, too, as well as helping him communicate with the Spanish-speaking players and even helping him find ways to get his points across to the English-speaking players. Even though the Dodgers are 5-5 since the change, the offense clealry is on a roll. ... Russ Martin's lead over Paul Lo Duca in All-Star voting is down to 110,000, but there are only three days left before the polls close. That makes Martin close to a lock, and Penny will undoubtedly be there with him. The Dodgers should be well-represented this year, which will make all those San Franciscans in attendance boo even louder. ... Dodgers go to 43-33 and pull within a half-game of the Snakes. Pods and Giants are still playing, 3-3 bottom 11. Pods will pull even with Arizona if they win and stay a game back if they lose. ... Speaking of some guys having all the luck, I'm heading back to the Westin now. The Pi-Phis are waiting. Not waiting for ME, necessarily, but they're still waiting.

Matt White, who came to be known in spring training as the Billionaire for the nationwide fame he received when news outlets everywhere began to pick up the story of the billion dollars' worth of rock that was sitting underneath the piece of real estate he bought from a relative in Massachusetts, has been granted his release. White is expected to sign with a Japanese club, although we aren't quite sure which one, in the coming days. Nice guy, and I hope he does well over there. ... Brad Penny dodged a couple of bullets early, but he just gave up two two-out hits, including a double by Chris Young, to put the Snakes on top. The Dodgers haven't done much against Micah Owings. They had runners on first and second with none out in the third after Owings hit Penny, who was trying to sacrifice, but the slumping (and not entirely healthy) Rafael Furcal GIDP's, and Juan Pierre grounded out. D-backs 1, Dodgers 0, bottom 4

Nomar Garciaparra is moving from first to third base to make room for James Loney. The move is in response not only to the fact Loney is hitting well enough to play every day, but also to the fact neither Wilson Betemit nor Tony Abreu has hit well enough to nail down the everyday third base job. Grady approached Nomar about the switch yesterday, and, according to both Grady and Nomar, Nomar immediately agreed. Grady said Nomar might still occasionally see some action at 1B, but he was VERY committed to Nomar becoming the primary 3B. Nomar will take grounders at third before all four games of the Arizona series, then probably start there for the first time on Friday night against San Diego. He last played 3B during his season and a half with the Chicago Cubs (2004-05). This time, he has five days to make the transition. That time, he had one day -- the day he was traded to the Cubs by Boston, with whom he had always played shortstop.

He said he felt well enough to play yesterday after a two-day battle with the flu, but Grady didn't use him. He and his one home run are back in there tonight, batting third as usual

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
RF Ethier
3B Abreu
RH Penny

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

One last note about Turn Back the Clock Night at the Trop, where they turned it back to 1955 in every way imaginable, including a postgame concert by the visibly aging Sha-Na-Na. As we were waiting to enter the clubhouse after the game, A Martinez, the Dodgers' postgame host for KFWB, voiced his disappointment to me at the fact that the beat writers hadn't chosen to join in. He pointed out that we all should have been using manual typewriters, chomping on cigars and wearing houndstooth fedoras with our press passes stuffed into the bands. Sometimes, I wish I had been around in that era, when covering baseball was the plum beat of every sports department of every newspaper in the country and the job was FUN all the time. Mostly, though, I'm glad to be covering it now, when all the ballparks (at least in the National League), the press boxes are more comfortable, and the travel is (mostly) easier. Plus, I never could have worked in the days when the writers wore suits to the ballpark. Of course, THEY didn't have to go to PHX, where the forecast highs for this week's four-gamer are 109, 110, 111 and 110.

Fifteen runners left on base, eight of them in scoring position, plus two more who got erased in double plays. All leading to a one-run loss on a home run by former Dodgers catcher Dioner Navarro. It came off Randy Wolf, who probably would have been long gone at that point if not for the fact that Grady had to be careful with the bullpen because Saito wasn't available -- he had pitched three days in a row, including a 25-pitch outing last night. Too bad the Dodgers couldn't turn back the clock to Friday night. Dodgers fall to 42-32. Pods and D-backs play later.

First, because I have been so diligent these past few weeks in chronicling the control problems of Dodgers minor-league lefty Greg Miller, I must tell you that he seems to have corrected them. In his past two outings for Double-A Jacksonville, he has walked just a run on two hits over three innings. More importantly, he has walked just two batters during that span. Even if he hasn't completely turned the corner, he appears to be in the process of turning it. Good for him. He's a good guy, and I hope we see him in the bigs come September. ... Secondly, the the Dodgers have come out of their slumber, and they have done so in a way that perfectly illustrates the value of working counts early in games, which they sort of did and sort of didn't do against Kazmir (see my earlier post). That they continued to do it into the middle innings is why they managed to erase a three-run deficit in a single inning, scoring three in the sixth after a leadoff triple by James Loney followed by a walk to Matt Kemp. Kazmir either walked or hit a batter in each of his six innings, and by the time Joe Maddon finally felt compelled to go to his very shaky bullpen, Kazmir already had thrown 112 pitches. How shaky is that pen? Jay Witasick started the seventh with the sixth walk to a Dodgers batter (Jeff Kent). Olmedo Saenz followed with a double, and after an intentional pass to Loney, the Dodgers have the bases jammed for the third time in the game with one out. Dodgers 3, D-Rays 3, top 7

They have taken this Turn Back the Clock Thing a little too far, even though the pregame ceremony honoring Don Zimmer was outstanding and included appearances by Duke Snider, Carl Erskine and Johnny Podres, as well as some old photos shown on the big board of Zim at Dodgertown (now home of the Single-A Vero Beach Devil Rays) during his playing days. But do we really need all this 50s music? Do we really need all these poodle skirts and black leather jackets worn over white T-shirts? Do we really need the scoreboard to read BKL and SPT (the old St. Petersburg Saints of the Florida State League)? ... Something else the Dodgers don't need: a lot of early-count outs agianst Scott Kazmir, a guy who has consistently fallen behind any hitter who will take enough pitches to let him. His first trip through the lineup, he walked two and hit a batter. Not one of them advanced. Kazmir hit Tony Abreu on the back of the left buttocks to begin the third, and Rafael Furcal, who was 1 for 19 at that point, made it 1 for 20 on Kazmir's very next pitch, flying weakly to right field. Kazmir didn't give up a hit until James Loney followed a one-out walk to Saenz (Saenz's second of the game) in the fourth with a line single over the 2B's head. Randy Wolf got roughed up in the first inning, as he often does, and would have gotten roughed up again in the second and third (he walked the leadoff man both times) if he hadn't made some big pitches to get avoid it. D-Rays 2, Dodgers 0, but the Dodgers have the bases loaded and one out for Ethier, top 4

Nomar came to the park with the flu and was sent back to the hotel so he wouldn't spread it to anyone. So James Loney is in the lineup against Kazmir. Here's the new order

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
C Martin
2B Kent
DH Saenz
1B Loney
RF Kemp
LF Ethier
3B Abreu

Before any of you get on your daily James Loney soapbox, consider this: The Dodgers are facing a lefty tonight, one of the toughest lefties in the league and a guy who is going to be a star pitcher for years to come. After a game in which Loney went 3 for 5 with a double, this one could have been a real buzzkill if he had gone 0 for 4 with two or three Ks against Scott Kazmir. If he isn't in there tomorrow against Edwin Jackson, then maybe you have a case for moral outrage. And besides, if Nomar is going to double his HR total to two, who better to do it against than the D-Rays? He has 15 career HRs against them, more than any other opponent except Baltimore (19). ... Oh, and you can at least take solace in the fact that Kemp is playing while Gonzo sits, another obvious nod to Kazmir.

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
1B Nomar
2B Kent
DH Saenz
C Martin
RF Kemp
LF Ethier
3B Abreu

LH Wolf

As Devil Rays executive VP (a fancy term they use for GM) Andrew Friedman held court before the game yesterday to discuss his decision to put troubled OF Elijah Dukes on the restricted list, it sounded so eerily familiar to those of us who were around for the final days -- couldn't the whole two years be classified as the ``final days''? -- of Milton Bradley is a Dodgers uniform. There came a point where anyone who observed the team could tell this was never going to work, and that time seemed to come well before any one inside the organization saw it, or wanted to see it. When Ned Colletti replaced Paul DePodesta as GM, he had the advantage of not being personally invested in Bradley the player (DePo had traded for him), so it was easy for Ned to do what everyone knew had to be done, and it has turned out to be arguably the best trade of his tenure with the Dodgers. A year and a half later, Oakland GM Billy Beane looks like he finally is realizing the same things that Colletti did and that DePo eventually would have if he had stuck around long enough, specifically that Bradley is more trouble than he is worth. And although the D-Rays haven't come to that conclusion about Dukes just yet, it is evident they are getting there. The A's designated Bradley for assignment two days ago, one day before the D-Rays put Dukes on their restricted list. The difference in the Dodgers' dealings with Bradley and the D-Rays' dealings with Duke? Colletti was fortunate enough to find another team willing to take Bradley, as well as fellow malcontent Antonio Perez, and actually give the Dodgers a valuable player (Andre Ethier) in return. Friedman reportedly tried for weeks to deal Dukes. But with Beane's Bradley experience possibly on their minds, every GM Friedman talked to passed.

Saito needed 25 pitches, 10 of them to ninth-inning leadoff man Ty Wigginton alone, to nail down the win, and he did it by striking out Jonny Gomes with two men on. It was Saito's third game in a row, so he probably won't be available tomorrow. But Loney and Kemp, starting in the same game for the first time this year, went a combined 5 for 9, and the Dodgers improved to 42-31. D-backs are losing big, Padres have jumped in front of Boston while wearing their old taco uniforms on turn back the clock night at Petco.

Tony Abreu killed a potential sixth-inning rally with a GIDP. Carl Crawford hit a two-out triple in the bottom half to drive in Brendan Harris, cutting the Dodgers' once-comfortable, four-run lead to two. Dodgers just went down in order on what couldn't have been more than a half-dozen pitches in the seventh. Lowe back to the hill, but Seanez and Beimel appear to be warmed up and ready to go in the pen. Carlos Pena, Greg Norton and Delmon Young due up. Dodgers 4, Devil Rays 2, middle 7

That much was just proven yet again, when Aquafina beat Sierra Mist and Pepsi in the bottled beverage races that they have here every night, the Tampa Bay answer to Milwaukee's Sausage Races. Derek Lowe must have been drinking his milk today. He has retired 10 of 11 batters through three innings, giving up a harmless, one-out double to Jonny Gomes in the third that spoiled his no-hit bid. The Dodgers got two in the second, one on a solo homer by Luis Gonzalez and the other when shortstop Brendan Harris threw the ball into the stands on a relay trying to nail James Loney taking third on a fly ball by Andre Ethier. Also, Russell Martin stole his 12th base of the seson, tying him with John Roseboro for the all-time record by a catcher in Los Angeles Dodgers history. Dodgers 2, D-Rays 0, bottom 4

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
C Martin
2B Kent -- 5-11 on trip
DH Gonzo
1B Loney -- first appearance since bruising right knee crashing into the wall on Sunday
RF Kemp
LF Ethier
3B Abreu

23 Lowe

Forget about Turn Back the Clock Night tomorrow night, when the Dodgers will wear their 1955 World Series uniforms from Brooklyn and the D-Rays will wear the 1950s-era unis of the St. Petersburg Saints of the Florida State League -- and also the dual Don Zimmer bobblehead to the first 15,000 fans, one being Zim in his old Brooklyn Dodgers uniform and the other a contemporary Zim in his Devil Rays uniform. BUT THE REAL ENTERTAINMENT OF THE EVENING WILL BE ... (drumroll please) ... A POSTGAME CONCERT BY SHA-NA-NA. Yes, the famed '70s doo-wop group is, apparently, alive and well and still playing the lounge circuit ... or at least Devil Rays games, which are the baseball equivalent of the lounge circuit.

The Dodgers hung a six-spot in the eighth inning when Jays skipper John Gibbons removed Scott Downs with one out and nobody on and brought in Casey Janssen, who faced six batters and didn't record an out. Russell Martin had the big blow, a bases-loaded double to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead, and the Dodgers just poured it on from there. They take two of three in the series, their first interleague road series victory since Fourth of July weekend in 2004, when they also won two of three at Angel Stadium. Next up, Tampa Bay for three. Dodgers go to 41-31 and move within a half-game of San Diego and Arizona, who are virtually tied for first.

In the six games between the Dodgers and Blue Jays, 39-year-old Matt Stairs is, as of right now, 8 for 19 with three homers and three doubles. The third double came leading off the sixth inning, and Stairs eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Gregg Zaun that had existed since Jeff Kent's two-run homer off Marcum in the top of the inning. Blue Jays 3, Dodgers 2, middle 7

He is back to start the bottom of the fourth. Just went one over his pitch limit. Hendrickson is throwing in the pen.

Billingsley had thrown 48 pitches by the end of the second innings -- including 10 to Gregg Zaun, who came back from 0-2 to eventually work a walk, and five to Aaron Hill, who followed Zaun's walk with a two-run homer. Billingsley settled down in a 10-pitch third, but since his pitch limit was 60, I'm going to guess he is done for the night, although I can't see anyone warming up in the Dodgers pen. Those two runs might be more than the Dodgers can score against Shaun Marcum, who still hasn't allowed a run in 10 2/3 innings against them this season. He did walk three in the third, when the Dodgers made his work, but Marlon Anderson sucked the life out of that rally by getting picked off second base with two on and none out. Marcum has a no-hitter through four innings. What, you didn't think the Dodgers were actually going to win an interleague series on the road did you? That hasn't happened since July 2004, when the did it against the Angels. Blue Jays 2, Dodgers 0, bottom 4

SS Furcal -- 1-12 since leadoff homer against Angels on Sunday
CF Pierre
1B Nomar -- .248 on road, .322 at home
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
DH Anderson
RF Ethier -- .342 (26-76) in 25 career interleague games
3B Abreu

I don't remember being this impressed with Toronto the last time I was here in 2004, which was my maiden visit. But this might be the best city in either league. It's like a cleaner, safer, friendlier version of New York. Beautiful skyline, beautiful architecture. fantastic weather, and I even like the ballpark, even though most people don't. With the roof closed, which it has been every day when we have arrived, it's plastic, gloomy and depressing. With the roof open, which it has been each night at game time, you can see the CN tower looming over first base and three gorgeous high-rise apartment buildings beyond left field. And, it has a nice, comfortable press box that works. I must say I'm going to be sorry to leave this place in the morning, even though it'll be nice to get back to the States. ... James Loney did a lot of running in right field a few minutes ago, with assistant trainer Todd Tomczyk watching. He did a lot of light sprinting, cutting and side-to-side running. Looks ready to go to me.

Jason Schmidt had a torn labrum, scarring of the bursa and a frayed biceps tendon. He won't throw for three or four months, but they're hopeful he'll be ready by the start of spring training. At first glance, this would appear to be devastating news. But as GM Ned Colletti correctly pointed out in the most relevant quote of the day, "With all due respect, he wasn't throwing well. It's not as if he were on the way to a Cy Young season and suddenly you lose him.'' ... By the way, I was wrong in my assumption that a pitcher will be called up today. Grady might have managed his best game of the season tonight, given the quandary he was put in when Kuo didn't get through the second inning with Billingsley not expected to go more than four (or, best case, five) tomorrow night. Grady squeezed 3 1/3 out of Tomko, despite the fact two of the first three batters he faced went yard off him,, then used Beimel, Broxton and Saito -- all of whom were fresh and remain so heading into tomorrow -- for an inning each. Hendrickson will follow Billingsley, and the two of them together should at least get the game to those three guys.

Not much you can say about this one. Besides Kuo's implosion, Dodgers revert to form offensively, but a lot of that was due to Roy Halladay, who was vintage. Andre Ethier homered to lead off the eighth inning, but the Dodgers did get another runner past first base. Of course, once the Blue Jays hung that snowman in the second inning, which was about six runs more than they would need to win, the Dodgers didn't seem all that interested in being here. They drop to 40-31 and back into third place in the NL West.

Hong-Chih Kuo didn't make it out of the second inning -- something the Dodgers could ill afford one night before Chad Billingsley is to take the mound with a pitch limit of 55-60. Tomko, the guy who probably would have been standing by to come in behind Bills, has already gone three innings, so he'll be down for tomorrow. Mark Hendrickson probably will have to pick up some innings tonight. What all of this means is that the Dodgers will have to go back to 12 pitchers, which probably means Tony Abreu is going back to Vegas sometime between tonight and tomorrow. D.J. Houlton, Eric Hull and Eric Stults (Las Vegas) and Zach Hammes and Mike Megrew (Jacksonville) all are on the 40-man roster and could easily be called up. Hull would make the most sense because, although he isn't a starter, he has gone three innings as recently as June 9 and thus would be as stretched out as the Dodgers need him to be. But they also might just get one of the kids from Jacksonville for geographic reasons, because it's a lot easier to get to Toronto from there than it is from Vegas. The Suns have been rained out the past couple of days, so either Hammes (last pitched on Saturday) or Megrew (Sunday) would be lined up perfectly to give the Dodgers innings if Billingsley can't get past the fourth. ... Dodgers will go to 2-21 in interleague road games the past three seasons. Blue Jays 12, Dodgers 0, bottom 6

He is 5 for 12 with a homer and three RBI against Roy Halladay.

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
DH Saenz
3B Betemit
RF Ethier

LH Kuo

Pods and D-backs play later out West, so it isn't clear yet what this means for the standings. But the Dodgers really needed to win this one, if for no other reason than to prove they can beat an A.L. team on the road -- especially one that took two of three at Dodger Stadium just two weekends ago. Dodgers go to 40-30 for the season. Game ended, appropriately enough, with Jason Phillips striking out.

They still sing that song during the seventh-inning stretch here. The home team doesn't seem to be responding to it tonight, though. Russell Martin, a native Canadian who has about 40 people here who bussed over from Montreal, homered off Lee Gronkiewicz in the sixth inning. He actually had his own press conference before the game just because there was so much media here wanting to talk to him. With the Expos no longer around, this is the first time Russ has played a game in his native land. Penny is still looking for his first one-two-three inning, but overall, he has pitched very well. He is at 90 pitches right now, so he probably isn't going to finish. But with Billingsley limited to about 60 pitches on Thursday night, which Grady says will be four innings and maybe five if Bills can be really, really efficient, the Dodgers need as many innings out of their starters tonight and tomorrow as they can get, and Penny is going to give them a good seven and probably eight. Wait, scratch what I said a minute ago, he just got his first one-two-three innings. Dodgers 10, Blue Jays 1, end 7

A lot of it, in my humble opinion, is because the Dodgers are working counts better than I have seen them do so all season. They made Dustin McGowan throw 65 pitches before they chased him with two outs in the top of the second inning. I know he was getting knocked around and facing a lot of batters (15), but that's still a lot of pitches in that short of a span. Juan Pierre is having the kind of game Grady and Ned have been waiting all season for him to have. He has been to the plate three times. He has singled, walked and doubled. And he has scored three runs. Gonzo also is having a great game, he is 3 for 3 with two singles, a double and four RBI already. And although Brad Penny has been far from dominating, it appears the Dodgers are finally going to win their second interleague road game since the start of the 2005 season. They already have scored more runs than they did the whole Angels series over the weekend. Dodgers 9, Blue Jays 1, middle 4

Jason Schmidt will undergo exploratory arthroscopic surgery today, and there isn't any definitive prognosis until doctors figure out what's going on in his shoulder. Meanwhile, Yhency Brazoban appears done for the year. He'll have surgery to repair what is believed to be a torn labrum, although it isn't clear how bad the tear is, and he could return sometime this year if the ligament isn't torn free of the bone. Sorry I never posted the lineup tonight. It has been a crazy day and still is. ... Oh, Billingsley will start on Thursday in place of Schmidt. He is officially in the rotation now.

They speak perfect English up here, but they sure do spell funny. ... The SkyDome/Rogers Centre has changed in only one way since we were last here in 2004. The traditional Astroturf has been replaced by the softer Field Turf, which is supposed to be much more forgiving to the players' bodies. It's softer, spongier and a tad thicker, and it has strands that simulate real grass where Astroturf is just a flat surface that mimics the carpet -- maybe not so much the carpet in your living room as the carpet in, say, a corporate office. But this stuff sure isn't much to look at. It is laid down in hundreds of rectangles, which appear to be about 3 feet across and 8 feet wide, and the seems are plainly visible. Also, the strands, as they get trampled, end up pointing in all different directions, so when viewed from the stands or the press box, the color of the field is horribly uneven, with about a hundred different shades of green (most of them closer to the shade of pea soup than the perfectly hued bermuda grass at Dodger Stadium). Right now, the roof is closed, and that's a good thing because we just heard a loud clap of thunder a few minutes ago. ... Russell Martin is expected to have about 30 friends and family members here from Montreal, which I'm told is about a six-hour drive away. Russ actually was born in East York, Ontario. Oh, and he now has a lead of about 120,000 votes over Paul Lo Duca in All-Star balloting. ... The Dodgers have signed sixth-rounder Justin Miller, seventh-rounder Danny Danielson and 14th-rounder Devin Fuller, all pitchers, as well as eighth-rounder Alex Garabedian, a catcher, and ninth-rounder Jamie Pedroza, an infielder.

I knew something wasn't right. He was to meet with a doctor either today or tomorrow. Marlon Anderson is coming off the DL to take that roster spot. There has to be something wrong with Schmidt that goes way beyond that bursitis thing that shelved him for seven weeks. Still trying to nail down more details on this.

... but that was before the X-rays were taken. He apparently blacked out when he hit the wall, which is what made the whole thing seem a lot worse than it was. But Loney told reporters after the game that he thinks he'll be ready to go on Tuesday night. Apparently (I wasn't there), he also said something about the wall needing more padding -- and in fairness, I'm told that comment came in response to a leading question of whether the wall needed more padding. He makes a good point, Unfortunately, I don't think any more padding is coming out there anytime soon. Tough to pad a scoreboard, after all.

James Loney's violent collision with the Scoreboard that Ate Matt Kemp was initially diagnosed as a bruised right knee. He is being taken for precautionary X-rays. ... Meanwhlie, the Dodgers fall to 39-30. Off to Toronto.

I forgot to post this earlier. Grady was non-committal on whether Jason Schmidt will start as scheduled on Thursday night at Toronto, saying club officials will continue to evaluate him. My guess is he'll eventually end up going back onto the DL, because he clearly isn't right. ... The Dodgers, as they always do when they play American League teams, have become the '62 Mets. Mike Lieberthal just threw a ball into center field. Dodgers are 1 for 5 w/RISP and 3 for 16 for the series. If the Angels and Dodgers played 100 times, the Angels would win at least 93 of them. Angels 5, Dodgers 2, top 7 ... and Kelvim Escobar just singled to load the bases with one out.

Angels batted around in the third and scored four off Wolf, who was behind almost every hitter. The more I watch these two teams play each other, the more the point is driven home that the Dodgers simply aren't on the same level as the Angels. The Angels are one of the two or three best teams in a loaded American League, the Dodgers might be the third-best team in their DIVISION in a National League that just seems to get worse and worse every year. How did the Dodgers respond to that four-run outburst by the Halos? By going down in order, of course, on 10 pitches from Kelvim Escobar. This one's over. Dodgers will fall back into third place, 1 1/2 behind the Padres and a half-game behind the Snakes. And while it looks like the Rockies are going to lose for just the third time in 11 games, don't ignore them. Assuming both scores hold up, they'll end the day just four games behind the Dodgers. And the Dodgers play their next six games in A.L. parks, where, for the umpteenth time, they are a collective 1-20 since the start of '05. By the time the Dodgers get to Phoenix (next Monday), the Rockies could be rising, right past them. ... Angels 4, Dodgers 1, bottom 4

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
1B Nomar -- 10-29, 2 HR vs. Escobar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
3B Betemit
RF Kemp
C Lieberthal
LH Wolf

The Dodgers will play one last game with the Halos this afternoon, then make like Bob and Doug Mackenzie tomorrow (if anyone out there actually gets that reference, be sure to post it on here). Six interleague road games in six days beginning Tuesday. For those who haven't heard me say it enough, the Dodgers are 1-20 in interleague road games since the start of 2005. The last time they went to Toronto was in 2004, when they took two of three from the Jays at what was then known as SkyDome (it's now Rogers Centre ... not Center, but Centre). The last time they went to Tampa Bay was before I was on the beat, therefore it's like it never happened, but I know they lost at least one game there because Joe Kennedy stuffed them. I remember that because I referenced that game in another game story from Colorado the following year, when Joe Kennedy, by then with the Rockies, stuffed them again. Wonder if the Dodgers will see Edwin Jackson in this series. They can only hope. ... Happy Father's Day to everyone to whom it applies.

Filed this as tomorrow's notebook topper.

After watching veteran right-hander Jason Schmidt struggle with his mechanics, struggle with his command and, ultimately, struggle with himself for the second time in three starts since he returned from a seven-week stay on the disabled list, Dodgers manager Grady Little was asked how certain he was that Schmidt's right shoulder is healthy.
``I'm not sure,'' Little said.
A few minutes later, Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt was asked the same question.
``I can't answer that,'' Honeycutt said.
Both Little and Honeycutt said it was up to Schmidt to tell them if anything is wrong. Both Little and Honeycutt said Schmidt can be trusted to do just that. And both Little and Honeycutt said Schmidt hasn't complained about any discomfort since he was activated on June 5 following that extended absence with bursitis in his pitching shoulder.
Schmidt himself told a gathering of reporters at his locker after Saturday's 3-0 loss to the Angels that he is feeling no shoulder pain. He then was asked if that absence of discomfort translates to being absolutely certain that his shoulder is sound.
``It's not for me to decide,'' Schmidt said. ``I don't know.''
If you think his answer was confusing, try figuring out the way he has pitched his past two times out. Although Schmidt did shut out the Angels on three hits over the first four innings -- all while his fastball velocity never got much higher than 90 mph -- he tired noticeably in the fifth, when the Angels scored all their runs.
Little lifted Schmidt after 78 pitches. Most pitchers run out of gas at around 100.
``We have concern, but we have to try to get him through this,'' Little said. ``I feel like we will continue to run him out there and see if he can't get it going and keep building up his stuff and his stamina.''
Schmidt's dwindling velocity, and the accompanying health concerns, were the reason he was sent for an MRI exam on April 16. When that test showed the bursitis, Schmidt was shelved. But trainer Stan Conte said at the time there was no guarantee the drop in velocity was related to the bursitis or that the velocity would return to normal when Schmidt became healthy.
I'm not going to open a can of worms on this thing,'' Schmidt said. ``This is what it has been since the beginning of the year, and you just keep dealing with it.''
Honeycutt said the issue has impacted the approach Schmidt takes against hitters.
``Without a doubt,'' he said. ``It takes certain arm strength to throw all your pitches. Basically, his slider and his curveball, he isn't using as much as he probably would in normal circumstances, and he doesn't have his normal fastball. He isn't Jason Schmidt right now.''
For now, Schmidt is still slated to make his next start on Thursday at Toronto. Pushing him back would mean starting Derek Lowe in that game, something that could easily be done because Lowe already has been pushed back a day to give him an extended break. But Lowe's career 5.31 ERA against the Blue Jays means Little would prefer not to do it.

Maybe it wasn't Eddie Murray's fault, after all. In two game since he was fired, the Dodgers have scored two runs -- both of them on a single swing of the bat by Luis Gonzalez -- on 11 hits, and they have gone 2 for 11 w/RISP. Every time they play an American League team, they get exposed. Scary thing is, their next seven games are against A.L. clubs, six of them on the road, where they are 1-20 against A.L. clubs since the start of 2005. Dodgers fall to 39-29 and a half-game behind the Pods in the NL West.

Jason Schmidt gave the Dodgers the best he had, which was four solid innings. But whether it was the number of stressful pitches that he threw (the Angels stranded six runners in those first four innings) or more issues with his shoulder and/or his velocity, he hit the wall at around 65-70 pitches. As a result, the Angels got to him for three runs in the fifth inning, the last of which was an inherited runner that scored with Rudy Seanez on the mound. Grady tried to get through the fifth at a point when Schmidt obviously was gassed, but he waited one batter too long, and Reggie Willits yanked a two-out, two-run single to right. At that point, Grady came to get Schmidt, who clearly ws done after 78 pitches. Dodgers appear to be done, as well. They are 1 for 7 w/RISP, and the Angels bullpen is in the game now. Padres won, too, so the Dodgers will fall back to second place, a half-game back.

Dodgers got runners on the corners with none out in the second and failed to score. Wilson Betemit grounded into a force at second on a ball Gonzo couldn't score on. Abreu struck out on a pitch from Weaver that sailed up to around eye level. And after Ethier walked to load the bases, Jason Schmidt grounded out. Then, in the top of the third, the Angels returned the favor. They had runners on first and second with two outs and Vlad at the plate, but the runners advanced on a wild pitch, which might have played in the Dodgers' favor. With first base empty, the Dodgers intentionally walked Vlad, who already was ahead in the count 2-0, to load the bases. Gary Matthews then took the worst at-bat of this series so far, popping up on the first pitch to end the inning. Schmidt's velocity isn't any better, but other than that one hairy inning, he has pitched pretty well. Weaver has had it pretty easy, too. Meanwhile, Garret Anderson left after the bottom of the first after aggravating his right hip injury. He is day to day. Angels 0, Dodgers 0, top 4

Not one player on the Dodgers' current roster has more than one career hit or more than three career ABs against Jered Weaver. This is the sixth game in a row that Furcal has led off, regardless of whether it was vs. an LHP or an RHP, so Grady appears to have abandoned his platooning leadoff plan in favor of the same Furcal-Pierre alignment that he put in place during spring training. Also, Nomar and Kent are out because it's a day game after a night game.

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
1B Loney
LF Gonzo
C Martin
3B Betemit
2B Abreu
RF Ethier
RH Schmidt

Martin needs one SB to tie John Roseboro's L.A. Dodger record of 12 set in 1962. Lew Ritter stole 17 for the Brooklyn Dodges in 1904, and Con Daily stole 18 in 1892. ... The Dodgers are now 4-0 since Saito bought the Samurai gear, which he has donned in the clubhouse before and after each of those games. ... Someone was showing some photos in the dining room this morning of the ongoing construction of Citi Field (or is it Citi Park?) in Queens, which will replace Shea Stadium in 2009. It dawned on me as I looked at those photos that in four years (the Marlins' new park is expected to be ready by 2011), Coors Field in Denver will be third-oldest park in the National League behind Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium. Coors Field opened in 2005. Doesn't seem possible, does it? But it drives home the point that we are living in the golden age of ballpark building. It also drives home the point that as sad sack as the National League has become (check the interleague play records), as a beat writer, I'll take the N.L. over the A.L. any day, simply for the better ballparks and better creature comforts. The only bad venues left in this league are RFK (which, thankfully, I am done with) and Shea (two more trips, plus possible postseason). In that league, you have Oakland, Tampa Bay and Minnesota, and even some of the newer parks -- Chicago, Texas, Detroit -- are major disappointments. But feel free to disagree. And if you do, feel free to post.

Halos made it exciting at the end, beating out a couple of well-placed bouncers with two outs in the ninth to get Gary Matthews into scoring position as the potential tying run. But Saito got Garret Anderson to ground out to second to end it and give the Dodgers the best record in the National League (39-28) and a half-game lead over the Pods in the NL West. Lowe pitched better than I have ever seen him pitch, striking out a career-high 11 in seven innings. He gave up a run on four hits. The difference in the game proved to be the pitch Jeff Kent took off his left side in the sixth inning. That forced Juan Pierre into scoring position, and he subsequently followed Rafael Furcal home on Gonzo's two-run single that would have been a one-run single if Pierre had been on first base. This was one of the two or three best games of the year, especially considering the sellout crowd (56,000) and the atmosphere. Broxton was outstanding in the eighth inning, too, retiring the Angels in order with two strikeouts. Also good to see Arkansas' own Dustin Moseley pitch a nice eighth inning for the Halos. I was covering the Reds when they drafted him with a first-round sandwich pick in 2000. He was headed to my old school on a baseball scholarship until that happened. Nice kid, as I recall.

D-Lowe is pitching the game of his life, with already eight Ks and eight groundballs outs. Problem is, so is Ervin Santana. At the rate they're going, these teams could go all night without scoring -- and it's going so quickly that the people who got caught in traffic coming into the parking lot already missed a big chunk of the game. Make it nine Ks, Jose Molina just fanned to end the sixth. That's a season high for Lowe Santana was no-hitting the Dodgers through four, but Kemp lined a single to left-center with two outs in the fifth. What an irony it would have been if the Dodgers had been no-hit on their first day with Bill Mueller as hitting coach. Great game so far, and a great, enthusiastic crowd, with just enough Angels fans thrown in to add intensity. ... Chris Withrow, the Dodgers' first-round pick, was just in the press box meeting with reporters for the first time. He is on his way to Vero Beach for the Gulf Coast League season in a few days. ... Angels 0, Dodgers 0, bottom 6

Betemit is hitting .400 (6 for 15) for June, with two homers, four RBI, six walks, a .571 OBP and an .800 slugging percentage. Abreu is 6 for 35. Meanwhile, Kemp is 7 for 10 for the homestand, with a home run and seven RBI, while Ethier is 1 for 12.

SS Furcal -- hitting .395 w/RISP and two outs
CF Pierre -- 8-20 on homestand
1B Nomar -- 3-16 on homestand
2B Kent
LF Gonzo -- striking out every 13.6 PAs
C Martin -- 3-22 on homestand
3B Betemit
RF Kemp
RH Lowe

Also, this hitting coach thing isn't going to be resolved anytime soon, and there is a remote possibility that Bill Mueller could remain in the job on an interim basis the rest of the year. I'm told there is absolutely no sense of urgency to it. The most interesting thing we learned today is that Manny Mota is suddenly travling again. The reason we were told just before opening day that he wouldn't be traveling this year is that MLB was cracking down on clubs violating the limit of uniformed coaches in the dugout or the bullpen. Well, Manny still isn't going to be in the dugout during games. But suddenly, now that Eddie is gone, he is traveling again? Hmmmmmmm.

Bill Mueller wasted little time getting to work. When I walked into the park today, he was already leaning against the back of the batting cage, wearing uni No. 3, taking in a session of early batting practice. I'm guessing he won't be the hitting coach for long, though. I would be surprised if they don't have a permanent one in place by the time the Dodgers get back from this next road trip. Billy is walking to the cage again right now to hang the hitting schedule on the cage, and there is a large media contingent waiting to talk to him near the dugout after he does that. Should be an interesting few days for him, if nothing else.

Another possible candidate I forgot to mention earlier. He is the Dodgers' minor-league outfield/baserunning coordinator, and he was the Giants' hitting coach for six years when Colletti was the assistant GM there. He also was Dusty Baker's hitting coach with the Cubs the past two years. My best guess is it's going to be either Robinson, Easler or Clines. I'm done for the day. Hasta manana

Colletti says the hiring of a permanent hitting coach could take ``a day, a week or a month." Translation: It ain't gonna take the rest of the year. Reading between the lines of what was said, my best GUESS is that they're eyeing either Robinson or Easler, even though no one mentioned either of those names. ``Before we upset the minor league system and start having people moving around into different positions because we removed somebody from that area, we want to be sure that is the direction we want to pursue,'' Colletti said. I'm interpreting that to mean that it IS the area they want to pursue RIGHT NOW, but they're going to wait and make sure there some compelling reason doesn't pop up to NOT go that route. It just makes too much sense. Those two guys are both VERY familiar with the kids, aka Kemp, Loney, Abreu, etc. And don't forget, Robinson was the hitting coach for the Marlins when the won the World Series in 2003, a team that had Juan Pierre as its leadoff man. And, believe it or not, he was a very productive leadoff man for that club, and the case could be made that it was Pierre's best season. But more importantly, hiring one of those guys would resolve this matter quickly, something that is very important at a time when this club finally seems to be hitting its stride.

I had a sense this was coming. Explains why Ned went straight into Grady's office as soon as the media cleared out last night. I'm told it was done shortly thereafter. And before you ask, I have no idea what ``interim'' means in this case, but it's the first thing I will ask when we have our conference call at noon. I really thought when they decided to do this that they would replace him with either Bill Robinson or Mike Easler, so I'm not sure if Mueller will be the guy for the rest of the year or not. Interesting that they waited until after they scored 18 runs in a three-game series to do this. That could mean they made the decision a few days ago and waited until the ``right time'' to act on it. Anyway, here are the first two grafs of the release.

LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers announced today that they have dismissed Hitting Coach Eddie Murray and have named Bill Mueller as Interim Hitting Coach, according to Dodger Manager Grady Little.

“Change is never easy but sometimes it is necessary and we feel that this is the best thing right now to help the team win,” said Little. “Our offense hasn’t lived up to our expectations and no one person is responsible for the results we’ve had this season. I have the utmost respect for Eddie Murray as a person and as a professional and I wish him nothing but the best.”

This was one impressive three-game sweep of what might be the best team in the National League. Then again, maybe the Dodgers are the best team in the N.L. They just outscored the Mets 18-5 in the series. Penny was outstanding and improved to 8-1 while slicing his ERA to 2.18. Betemit went 2 for 4 with another homer, his seventh, and his average continued to climb, all the way to .223. You already know about Furcal's two triples. And James Loney homered to cap the scoring, a two-run blast in the eighth inning. How badly did the Dodgers dominate this series? Willie Randolph had to bring in Billy Wagner to pitch the eighth inning with the Mets trailing 7-1 because the legendary closer needed work. Mets have now lost a season-worst five in a row and 11 of 14. Dodgers (38-28) and Padres remain virtually tied atop the NL West, with the Snakes having dropped out of the three-way tie by losing to the Yankees. Padres are percentage points ahead. ... For those who missed it on this blog, Clayton Kershaw pitched seven shutout innings for the Loons tonight, allowing four hits while striking out eight. The break must have done him good. DeJon said there might be another break about two-thirds of the way through the season. ... The celebration of the 232nd birthday of the U.S. Army came to Dodger Stadium tonight, as about a thousand Army soldiers were on hand. Thanks to the Army for that incredible cake they had sent up to the press box. But mostly, thanks to them for what they do. They are among the true heroes of our society, and that became even more clear to me during my late-night visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Memorial Day that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago from DC. ... The incident between Penny and Shawn Green after Green struck out to end the top of the third inning had to do with the fact Penny thought Green was tipping locations to Carlos Beltran and David Wright from second base after he doubled in the first inning. ``He was giving location to the hitters from second base,'' Penny said. ``Some guys have a reputation for doing that.'' Green denied doing it, but didn't deny ever doing it. ``He said, `They saw you relaying locations of pitches,' which I wasn't,'' Green said. ``I guess I have the reputation, so people assume I do it every time. It's part of the game, but I have been wrongly accused more than I have been rightly accused.'' The key part of Green's comment: It's part of the game. Penny, who we are told is more composed this year, needs to remember that and get over it.

Whatever it is, he has broken out of his 0 for 9 in a big way, tripling off Jorge Sosa to drive in a run in the fifth before eventually scoring himself on Juan Pierre's hit, then tripling again to lead off the seventh against Pedro Feliciano. He just scored again on what should have been a GIDP by Gonzo to end the inning but turned into a GI-no play at all. Meanwhile, Penny appears to be tiring, but he has been rock solid all night, and any notion that he can't beat the Mets (he is 3-10 against them lifetime) is about to be obliterated. Dodgers will have the second-best record in the NL after this one, percentage points behind the Pods for no other reason than that the Pods have played two fewer games. Dodgers 7, Amazins 1, bottom 7

This has been a pitcher's duel of the highest order, and the Dodgers just got a dose of bad luck when Juan Pierre smoked a ball into the glove of Mets 3B David Wright to end the third with runners on first and second. Penny has allowed three hits, including a one-out double by Shawn Green that led to the game's only run in the first inning. Tony Abreu, who was 0 for 11 to that point, singled sharply up the middle with one out in the third, the Dodgers' only hit so far off Jorge Sosa. Sosa has seven groundball outs already. Pierre just made a nice, backtracking catch on a ball that Carlos Beltran absolutely smoked to begin the fourth. Wright followed with a bloop single into shallow center. Mets 1, Dodgers 0, top 4

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
1B Nomar
LF Gonzo
C Martin
3B Betemit
RF Kemp
2B Abreu
RH Penny

Not sure why it's Kemp instead of Ethier. Lefty hitters are batting .227 against Jorge Sosa, and while that doesn't sound good, it's sound a whole lot better than the .157 righties are batting off him. ... There should be a big crowd tonight. Not saying there will be, but there should be. On a day when every other game in the majors is an interleague affair (and let's face it, who isn't excited over that Rangers-Pirates matchup?), this is the game of the day, and certainly the pitching matchup of the day. If you go by winning percentage, Brad Penny and Sosa are the second and third best in the N.L. Sosa only has 44 1/3 innings, which I guess isn't enough to qualify for the ERA standings, but if he did he would be fifth, with Penny second. ... By the way, I know exactly how Katie Couric feels about Dan Rather's controversial comment about what he feels has happened to the CBS Evening News. "They wanted to dumb it down and tart it up," he said. Well, a lot of people accused the Daily News of tarting up their Dodgers coverage when I was hired. I hope I have since proven that I am much more than just a pretty face.

What a difference 48 hours makes -- if you'll pardon the cliche. The Mets are good, but the Dodgers clearly have caught them at the right time. The Amazin's have now lost 9 for 11, and although they remain tied with the Pods for the best record in the N.L., their lead over the Braves in the NL East is dwindling. Good pitching matchup tonight between two guys -- Jorge Sosa and Brad Penny -- who have dominated all year. Sosa stuffed the Tigers in his last outing, the Mets' only win in their past nine games. But if the Dodgers can somehow squeak this on out and complete a three-game sweep of the same club that swept THEM out of last year's playoffs, it would be a HUGE emotional lift for a team that as recently as Sunday afternoon was in the midst of a collective soul search. ... Guess who is suddenly on fire? Yes, Juan Pierre. OK, maybe a triple, two infield singles and two walks in eight PAs isn't exactly on fire. But all things are relative, right? At any rate, he is starting to have better at-bats and do a better impersonation of a leadoff man, even though he isn't hitting there at the moment. Betcha he hits there tomorrow against Sosa, especially since Furcal is 0 for 8 in the series. ... Happy 29th tomorrow to Colin Gunderson, one of the most loyal, dutiful and dedicated employees the Dodgers have or have ever had. I realize most of you don't know him, but he was Tommy Lasorda's assistant for the past several years and now is transitioning into the PR department. A truly good dude and a great representative of the organization. ... Dodgers improve to 37-28 and pull even with the Pods and D-backs atop the NL West.

When he became the third consecutive Dodgers hitter to homer off John Maine in the bottom of the second inning, Hong-Chih Kuo let go of his bat and raised his arms in triumph. It was his first major-league home run, and it was a no-doubter into the pavilion in right field, following a blast into the front row of the leftfield pavilion by Wilson Betemit and another no-doubter into the second deck in left field -- the first second-decker at the Stadium in two years -- by Matt Kemp. Juan Pierre also tripled later in the inning -- sliding headfirst into third even though Jose Valentin, the cutoff man, caught the ball on the outfield grass and never made a throw. But Pierre was stranded. Kuo, meanwhile, overcame a brief hiccup in the second when he gave up consecutive singles to David Wright and Carlos Delgado, sandwiched around a stolen base by Wright that allowed him to score on Delgado's hit. Other than that, Kuo has given up just a harmless, one-out infield single to Jose Reyes in the third. Dodgers 3, Mets 1, bottom 4

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
3B Betemit
RH Kemp
LH Kuo

A lot of you have been asking about Clayton Kershaw. Well, he's fine. Here's the story. A few years ago, after Greg Miller started experiencing arm problems (more on that later today), the Dodgers insituted a policy of giving their young, more highly regarded pitching prospects one or two starts off in the middle of the season just to save wear and tear on their arms. That is all that is going on with Kershaw. As it was put to me, if you stretch a rubber band far enough, eventually, it will break. Well, this is stretching the rubber band, then letting it go back to its original shape and starting over to prevent it from breaking. Make sense?

They needed this one -- badly. Now, the key is to make sure it means something by coming back and winning again tomorrow, something they have a good shot at doing if they can get the kind of performance they got from Hong-Chih Kuo his last time out -- six innings, one run, three hits, eight Ks on Thurs night at San Diego -- and virtually no shot at doing if they get the kind of performance he gave them in his first start -- 4 2/3, two runs on five hits on June 2 at Pittsburgh. John Maine is having the season of his life, or at least of his young career, for the Mets, and he'll be a handful for the Dodgers. ... Nice to see Juan Pierre not only get on base three times, but draw two walks, just his 10th and 11th in 282 PAs this season. Although he was batting second, one of those walks led off an inning and started a three-run rally. That's the kind of thing the Dodgers paid him all that money to do. He also stole a base and beat out an infield single on a fairly routine grounder to short. ... Tried to write a nice, featurized gamer on Gonzo tonight for the late edition. Had some great quotes from him, some great quotes about him from Grady, etc, and I was going to build it around the fact he is hitting .358 (19 for 53) with three homers and eight doubles since Grady sent Kent to pinch hit for him with the bases loaded in the eighth inning on May 26 against the Cubs, something that had to have wounded the pride of such a respected veteran. But the story fell apart in a couple of ways. One, I discovered after further research that Gonzo's resurgence actually began a few games BEFORE that pinch-hitting episode, so I kind of had to write around that. And then, by the time I got back up from the clubhouse, it was 10:49 p.m., giving me exactly 26 minutes to file. I made it on time (actually, it might have been 11:16). But after filing, I went back and read it, and some of the sentences were so long and rambling that they were almost incoherent. I hope the boys back in the office pick me up on that. These things happen sometimes when we're scrambling to write on deadline. The subject was great, but I ruined it by overreaching and overwriting. So to those of you who pony up your 50 cents tomorrow (at least those who get the late edition), my apologies. Sometimes, we swing and miss. ... Dodgers improve to 36-28 and move within a game of the Pods and D-backs.

El Du-kay has a no-no going through three, his only blip a leadoff walk to Jeff Kent in the second. Shockingly, Kent never advanced past first base. Randy Wolf's first-inning woes popped up again -- aided by a passed ball and a throwing error by the man who now leads all N.L. catchers in All-Star balloting thanks to the Dodgers' on-line campaign to drum up his votes -- and the Dodgers were lucky the Mets only scored twice. Shawn Green and David Wright, neither of whom are thought of as burners, stole second that inning, although it's fair to say Wright's was stolen off Martin. Mets 2, Dodgers 0, top 4

The Dodgers have signed three more draft picks: 10th-rounder Erik Kanaby, a left fielder from Lamar University, 13th-rounder Bobby Blevins, a right-handed pitchers out of Le Moyne College and 15th-rounder Cal Stanke, a right-handed pitcher out of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The club also has agreed to terms with 16th-rounder Andres Santiago, a right0hander out of Colegio Carmen Sol in Puerto Rico and 17th-rounder Franklin Jacobs, a first baseman out of Robert B. Glenn High School in North Carolina. The club now has signed a total of five picks, including 11th-rounder Paul Koss, a right-handed pitcher out of USC and 12th-rounder Jessie Mier, a catcher from Lewis and Clark State, both of whom signed over the weekend. Club officials hope to have first-rounder Chris Withrow, a right-handed pitcher from Midland (Texas) Christian High School, in for a physical on Friday, after which he would attend that night's game with the Angels. Withrow is expected to sign -- probably for a bonus in the $1.3 million to $1.4 million range -- within the next week.

Thanks to Jill for posting about Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice. Now, I'm going to post on the Dodgers. JP moves back to the two hole tonight, and Grady didn't really give a reason other than the fact that he was loading the lineup with lefties against El Duque, which I guess means he wanted the lefty-hitting JP higher in the order than the switch-hitting Tony Abreu, who is batting eighth despite the fact he is hitting .302 left-handed as opposed to .222 right-hander. Whatever. I get the impression there is a reason behind everything Grady does, but that no one in the media is ever going to know what it is. ... Nomar is out for the second day in a row, and Grady hinted he might be out tomorrow, too. He called it a mental and physical break.

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
C Martin
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
RF Ethier
1B Ethier
3B Abreu
LH Wolf

This is Daily News reporter Jill Painter with a quick post....
Victoria Beckham and her entourage were just on the field at Dodger Stadium. She's here to throw out the first pitch tonight and was taking lessons from Derek Lowe.

Not sure if it's voluntary or mandatory, but there appear to be an astonishing number of guys out there. Right now, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and Nomar are the only guys around the cage, but there are several guys shagging in the outfield. This team could definitely use the extra work. But their problems go far deeper than anything one session of early BP can fix. We'll see if it does any good against El Duque tonight

Second time today that has happened. Anyway, everything in my previous post still applies, except the score. Hasta manana

Dodgers were never going to beat a pitcher like Halladay with this offense. And it gets no easier. The next three days? El Duque, John Maine and Jorge Sosa. Those three have a combined record of 15-5, and not one of them has an ERA higher than 2.78. Oh, and the Mets have the best record in the N.L. ... Dodgers fall to 35-28, but they stay 1 1/2 back after Seattle completed its three-game sweep of the Pods. National League is a joke. That much becomes clear every time interleague play happens.

The Dodgers' season has hit (they hope) rock bottom. They are getting pounded by eight runs, they have the Mets and Angels coming to town this week ready to hand them a few more beatings, and then they hit the road. Meanwhile, forget that mini-rally in the first inning. Since then, the Dodgers' offense has been just like it was last night. Halladay has retired 16 of 18 since Pierre bounced out to end the first inning with the bases loaded. It's so bad that Grady is experimenting now. He has Wilson Betemit at SS. Furcal, Martin and Pierre are all out of the game. So is Schmidt, who gave up six runs on nine hits over four-plus innings and never got above the low 90s

Dodgers had a great rally going in the first inning, tying the game quickly after falling behind by two. But when Roy Halladay hit Andre Ethier to load the bases with two outs and the game already tied, that brought up ... Juan Pierre, who took exactly two pitches to do what Juan Pierre does. He bounced back to the mound, and the Dodgers haven't had a baserunner since. Meanwhile, Jason Schmidt is getting rocked. He has given up at least a run in each inning, and Roy Halladay -- AN AMERICAN LEAGUE PITCHER -- has two hits already. And, the boys look fairly ragged on defense, too. This one appears be over. Dodgers will fall to 1-5 in interleague play. Blue Jays 5, Dodgers 2, top 4

Loney is here, and he is starting. The DFA's Brady Clark to make room for him. Get used to the fact the Dodgers aren't going to have anything close to a set lineup for a while. It's going to be a day-to-day shuffle. It's a BIG shuffle today, with no Nomar and no Kent, and, finally, Martin in the three hole.

SS Furcal
2B Abreu
C Martin
LF Gonzo
3B Betemit
1B Loney
RF Ethier
CF Pierre
RH Schmidt

Josh Rawitch, the Dodgers' PR guy, WAS NOT lying to me. He honestly didn't know because someone had neglected to tell him. Nobody's fault, just one of those things. This is a GREAT move, by the way, and long overdue.

James Loney has NOT been recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas, he is NOT in today's lineup. After all, that would have made far too much sense. Apparently, this rumor began circulating on the internet after last night's game and just spread like wildfire. but for some reason, it's not true. Loney will continue to toil away at Vegas while Nomar and his one HR will continue to patrol the area around first base up here for the time being. It was a nice thought, but it isn't true

Worst effort of the season by the Dodgers offense. They went 2 for 12 w/RISP, wasting another stellar performance by D-Lowe, who has now pitched three complete games and lost all of them, by scores of 3-0, 4-1 and 1-0. Of those 10 hitless RISP ABs, three of them were infield popups. Grady has seemingly tried everything, including moving Pierre to the eight hole. Something has to change with this team offensively, and if juggling the lineup doesn't do it and changing the people IN the lineup doesn't do it, well, as so many of you have pointed out in your thoughts on this blog, maybe it's time to look at making a change on the coaching staff. Dodgers fall to 35-27 and stay 1 1/2 games behind the Pods and a half-game behind the Snakes.

The Dodgers have one hit off Shaun Marcum, and that might have come on a bad call by first-base umpire Larry Young. Juan Pierre, in what is believed to be his first plate appearance out of the eight hole in seven years, hit what should have been a clean single up the middle, but Jays 2B Aaron Hill made a diving stop to his right, scrambled to his feet and fired to first. The ball and Pierre got there at practically the same instant, and it was impossible to tell on televised replays whether Young's call was correct. At any rate, that broke up Marcum's perfect game, and Pierre remains the Dodgers' only baserunner. D-Lowe hasn't been nearly as dominant, but he has been just as effective. Blue Jays 0, Dodgers 0, middle 4

Grady says it's temporary until JP gets going, but it looks like it's going to be a while. Furcal is leading off, where he'll stay until Pierre moves back up there, and Tony Abreu is hitting second. Also, Kemp is starting in RF while Ethier sits, and this is against a right-handed starter. Looks like Grady is going to juggle four outfielders into three spots for a while. My prediction is this is eventually going to lead to Kemp and Ethier in the lineup almost every day, with Gonzo and Pierre the guys who take turns sitting, but that's probably weeks away.

SS Furcal
3B Abreu
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
RF Kemp
CF Pierre
RH Lowe

Grady's 8-year-old grandson, Braden, was sitting with his grandpa in the dugout before the game talking about stepping into the cage tomorrow morning to take batting practice. I asked him who was going to pitch to him, and Grady said, "I am." And the kid goes, "I want Derek Lowe to pitch to me." ... Grady's recently widowed father-in-law is also here, having flown all the way out from North Carolina with Braden. "I'm not sure who was leading who,'' Grady said. Grady's mother-in-law was ill for several years before she passed just before the start of spring training, and her husband stayed by her side the entire time. Grady said this is the first time he has been able to travel in years. As he stood with Grady's wife, Debi, watching the Hollywood Stars game and wearing a Dodgers cap, he appeared to be having the time of his life.

Not sure, but we'll find out this afternoon how many it takes to play a baseball game. Yes, it's that time again, the night when the stars come out and play a ballgame at Dodger Stadium, and personally, I couldn't be less interested. I haven't taken one look at the list of participants, and chances are I haven't heard of most of them anyway. The things major league clubs will do to get fannies in the seats. ... It's a perfect day out here, although I'm sure it will cool down considerably around game time because it has done that for EVERY HOME GAME THIS SEASON. One of the reasons I moved to SoCal was for the year-round warmth. Well, for the past month or so, this has been the coldest place in America, and I'm getting a little tired of lugging all my layers (a pullover, a leather jacket) to the park every night. I mean, it's only June 9. ... Some Blue Jays players are doing their running along the outfield wall -- the temporary outfield wall set up for the Hollywood Stars game. It's about halfway between the infield skin and the real outfield wall. Talk about your shortcuts.

The Killer Tomato comes through again. It was the 11th pinch-hit home run of his career and his first walk-off job since 2002, when he did it for Oakland off Minnesota's Eddie Guardado. If the Dodgers had lost this one after Saito blew the one-run lead in the ninth and Kent's dropped popup (ruled a hit) with two outs in the 10th opened the door for the Jays to take a 3-2 lead, and on the heels of last night's catastrophe, this team might not have recovered anytime soon. Instead, the boys not only improved to 35-26, but they also picked up a game in the standings because the Pods and D-backs both lost. Dodgers are now 1 1/2 back of the Pods and 1/2 back of the Snakes. ... Brad Penny went a season-high 7 2/3 tonight, allowing just a run on five hits, and Grady said it might have been his best effort since Grady has been the manager. ... Jason Frasor, the guy DePo traded to Toronto in the spring of 2004 for Jayson Werth and who since has become a mainstay in the Jays' pen, pitched two solid innings and stood to get the win if Jeremy Accardo hadn't blown it. But before Accardo gave up Saenz's homer, he made a HUGE mistake by walking Abreu, a guy who was 0 for 3 in the game to that point and who, despite the sizzling start he has gotten off to in the majors, had walked just once before. ... Matt Kemp got into the game as a pinch runner in the eighth, after Wilson Betemit walked, and he advanced to second on Pierre's groundout. He left the game after that inning, though. My guess is he'll start somewhere tomorrow. ... Grady on Broxton getting booed as he came in to record a single out, and a really big out at that, in the eighth inning: ``It didn't surprise me because that's the way life is. But I knew in my heart that kid could come in and get that out, and I knew he would get that out. That was huge for him. It's a long season, and this guy is going to be very valuable to us.''

By the end of the second inning, the Dodgers already were 0 for 6 w/RISP. Juan Pierre led off the first with a single, stole second and took third on Furcal's deep fly ball. But the Blue Jays, apparently figuring they wouldn't score many runs off Penny, moved in. That allowed 2B Aaron Hill to make a diving stop on a smash by Nomar, preventing Pierre from scoring, and Kent (aka Mr. Clutch) popped up. In the second, Gonzo led off with a double and took third on Martin's fly ball. Again, the Jays played in, and Ethier lined out to 1B Matt Stairs. Tony Abreu grounded out to end that inning. And with one out and nobody on in the third, Pierre tried to bunt his way on and popped it. There's something you don't see every day. Oh, wait, yes, you do. Penny sailed through three, but Alex Rios got him for a leadoff double in the fourth. Blue Jays 0, Dodgers 0, top 4

He arrived right at the start of batting practice. Grady says he'll get plenty of playing time, but in typical Grady fashion, he refused to get specific beyond that.

CF Pierre
SS Furcal
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
RF Ethier
3B Abreu
RH Penny

The draft is over. Dodgers went 39 or 40 deep before dropping off. They took several local products, including Cal State-Fullerton catcher Matt Wallach in the 22nd round. He is the son of former Dodgers 3B and hitting coach Tim Wallach, a guy who used to actually preach the virtues of working counts. Imagine that. ... For those of you who keep asking about Mitch Jones, the club has reached a preliminary agreement to sell him to the Nippon Ham Fighters for $375,000. He was removed from the Las Vegas roster today in anticipation of the finalization of that deal.

Matt Kemp essentially forced his way back to the majors by hitting .329, and he had a 14-game hitting streak until it was snapped last night. To make room, Ramon Martinez was placed on the 15-day disabled list a, ummmmmm, back injury, I believe they're calling it. Martinez hasn't played since Sunday, when he started in place of Jeff Kent, and he is hitting .153 for the season. Haven't seen the lineup, but I can't imagine that Kemp isn't in it. They didn't bring him up here to sit.

The Dodgers finally got their once-a-week-or-so game where they got clutch production, going 3 for 5 with RISP (including 2 for 3 by Furcal, who drove in three runs), they got an gutty performance by Kuo that reminded me of Fernando in Game 3 of the '81 World Series because Kuo didn't have much but managed to tough his way through it and pitch six solid innings, they had Jake Peavy, of all people, on the hook for the loss, and they were on the verge of salvaging the final game of the series and moving back to within a half-game of first place -- AND THEY BLEW THE WHOLE THING IN THE NINTH INNING. Games like this can't happen, and don't happen to truly good teams that are ready to contend and go deep into the postseason. The moment Nomar botched that play at first, when the ball flew out of his glove on the pivot as he reached for it with his bare hand to make the throw to second for the force, I knew this game was lost, even though the Dodgers still led 5-1 at that point. What we learned in this three-game massacre was that the Padres are the more resourceful team, the more opportunistic team, the more dangerous team, the more exciting team and, ultimately, the better team. I'm not saying that can't change between now and September, or even between now and next week. But it's not going to change by itself. Dodgers fall to 34-26 and now trail the Pods by 2 1/2 in the NL West, with second-place Arizona a game back after losing for the second time in its past 13 games tonight. And although the Dodgers are coming home for nine starting tonight, it's not an easy nine. Six of the games are against A.L. teams, and you know how the Dodgers generally fare against A.L. teams. The other three are against the Mets, owners of the best record in the N.L. Good luck, boys.

Hong-Chih Kuo has allowed no hits through three innings - along with four walks and an easy ground ball that he picked and threw up the first-base line, setting the Pods up with runners at second and third with one out in the first inning before Kuo wriggled out of it by striking out Josh Bard and Mike Cameron. Jake Peavy, who doesn't make many mistakes, made one in the third when he walked Andre Ethier to start the inning. That led to something called a clutch hit -- I guess other teams do it all the time, but I can't recall seeing the Dodgers do it much -- a two-out single by Rafael Furcal that brought Ethier home. Dodgers 1, Padres 0, middle 4

Juan Pierre was out of the lineup, but Grady says he'll be back in there tomorrow night against Toronto and Dustin McGowan, leading off. So much for any dramatic lineup shakeups. ``We're just going to give Juan a day off,'' Grady said. ``He is the type of player that he is. He just needs to stay focused on not trying to be someone he isn't. He'll get it going.'' Pierre is 2 for 18 lifetime against Jake Peavy, another reason he's out of the lineup.

SS Furcal
3B Abreu
1B Nomar
2B Kent -- 6-20 lifetime against Peavy
LF Gonzo -- hitting .381 (16-42) against Peavy with 4 HR
C Martin
RF Ethier
CF Clark
LH Kuo

Also, Saito was fine covering first base and will be back tomorrow night.

The Dodgers made Chris Withrow, a RHP out of Midland (Texas) Christian High School, their first pick in this year's draft, with the 20th selection overall. He was 9-1 with a 1.30 ERA as a senior, with 90 strikeouts in 50 innings. We're supposed to get him (and Logan White) on a conference call at 6.

Congrats to one of the game's true class acts. Trevor Hoffman posted his 500th career save tonight, the first man ever to do it, retiring Jeff Kent and Luis Gonzalez on ground balls and getting Russell Martin on a called third strike after Nomar led off the inning with a double. ... Meanwhile, the Dodgers appear to be fading fast. Their little two-game losing streak sure feels like something much worse, doesn't it? In this series, they are 0 for 10 w/RISP, and they have scored a total of three runs on 11 hits. It's notable that they didn't strike out once in 6 1/3 innings against Greg Maddux tonight. After all, you have to see at least three pitches to strike out. Think it's going to get any better tomorrow night against Jake Peavy? ... Grady hinted at changes in tomorrow's lineup. I wouldn't be surprised if Pierre goes to seventh or eighth for a while. I WOULD be surprised if Grady tries Russell Martin in the leadoff spot, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't make sense. He has everything you look for in a leadoff man -- a solid OBP (.382), a lot of walks (24, second on the team) and enough speed and savvy to steal the occasional base (he has swiped nine in 10 attempts). And if nothing else, batting him first means he might get one more plate appearance a game. Why wouldn't you want that from a guy who leads the team in average and RBI and is second on the team in home runs? ... Dodgers fall to 34-25, and 1 1/2 games behind the Pods and Snakes in the NL West -- their worse position in the standings since April 10, and it matches their biggest deficit of the season. No, really, I double checked it. I know it's hard to believe. The Dodgers have never been more than 1 1/2 games out of first with THIS offense?

Tony Abreu just singlehandedly cost the Dodgers a run -- and himself an RBI -- by foolishly trying to stretch an easy RBI double into a triple. He was thrown out at third, and in the judgement of plate umpire Jeff Kellogg, the tag came before Gonzo crossed home plate, thus negating the run because the out ended the inning. It's a lesson for Abreu. But frankly, it's a lesson he should have learned in the minors, years ago. Dodgers did get a run on Russell Martin's sac fly earlier in the inning. Padres 5, Dodgers 1, bottom 5

I turned to someone sitting next to me after Randy Wolf walked the first two batters in the bottom of the first inning, and I said, "This one is over." I was wrong -- Wolf got out of the jam with no runs scoring -- but only temporarily. The Pods exploded for two in the second and three in the third. Meanwhile, the Dodgers are proving yet again that they are the perfect foils for Greg Maddux, who LOVES to pitch against teams that swing early in counts. He has faced the minimum through four on a TOTAL OF 36 PITCHES. For the Dodgers to have any chance to win even one game in this series, Wolf HAD to be on his game tonight. Instead, he already has given up five runs on six hits. Hong-Chih Kuo faces Jake Peavy tomorrow night, so go ahead and get out the brooms ready. Padres 5, Dodgers 0, end 4

CF Pierre
SS Furcal
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
RF Ethier
3B Abreu
LH Wolf

Saito threw on the side, and it went well. The next test will be tomorrow, when he comes out early and practices cover first base. If that goes well, he should be ready to return on Friday night against Toronto. ... Grady met with Juan Pierre today to discuss Pierre's lack of production in the leadoff spot. Reading between the lines (which is what you often have to do with Grady), it sounds like Grady put more emphasis on bat angle, swing angle, which is causing Pierre to hit too many balls in the air, than on the fact Pierre is seeing far too pitches for a leadoff man (he saw a total of eight in four at-bats last night). ... As for Nomar's lack of power, Grady remains unconcerned, at least outwardly. He points to the fact Nomar is driving in runs, which is what a No. 3 hitter is supposed to do.

A lot of you have been emailing me and posting on this blog about the fact Nomar has only one home run this season, putting him well of last year's pace (20) and the pace of just about every year he has played in the majors. I'm not sure exactly what the reason is, but I do know it's a glaring deficiency considering he hits in the three hole. He has just 11 extra-base hits in 214 at-bats for the season. However, it is worth noting that despite the lack of power, he has been the best clutch hitter on the team -- despite what that national newspaper said about Juan Pierre. Nomar is hitting .456 w/RISP (second in majors), and 33 of his 34 RBI have come with RISP (which again hints at his lack of power). He also has more RBI than any other player who has three or fewer HR, just ahead of Julio Lugo (33 RBI, three HR). Nomar is batting .429 w/RISP and two outs and .344 in close and late situations. And for those who always complain (like me) about the fact he loves to swing at first pitches, he is hitting .429 when he puts the first pitch into play. Still, every one of those numbers (except the first-pitch) stat seems to suggest that runners have to be in scoring position for him to drive them in, which again points to a lack of power.

Dodgers went 0 for 6 w/RISP. Rudy Seanez gave up the only run in the eighth inning, his second inning of work, and Grady conceded after the game that Rudy wouldn't have been out there for a second inning if the bullpen had been at full strength. Funny how being without your closer, even if you have a capable setup man with closer stuff and a closer's constitution like Jonathan Broxton, can have such a negative, trickle-down effect on the rest of a bullpen. Forget about Russell Martin planting himself in the dirt trying to go first-to-third on Ethier's single in the seventh. To me, the defining moment of this game came at the end of that inning, when Juan Pierre followed a walk to Wilson Betemit by going after Chris Young's first pitch and grounding out. Hey, at least Pierre hit the ball on the ground. He popped up his three previous trips. Meanwhile, Jeff Kent went 0 for 3 and now is 2 for his past 35. ... Dodgers fall to 34-24 and INTO THIRD PLACE, the first time they have been that far down the standings since April 9. They trail the Pods and the Snakes by a half-game. ... Almost 24 hours after I rose and shone (well, I rose, anyway) in Room 1102 at the Westin Pittsburgh, I'm about to hit the sack at the Westin San Diego as soon as I can get myself back there. And the Dodgers think THEY had a rough travel day. ... Until tomorrow ...

A pitcher's duel between Schmidt, who looks better than he did at any point before going on the DL, and Chris Young. Rafael Furcal saved Schmidt two runs with a diving play on a smash up the middle by Young with the bases loaded and two outs in the second inning. Furcal scrambled to his feet and fired a strike to Nomar, ending the inning and keeping the game scoreless. Dodgers were hitless until Gonzo poked one past a diving shortstop Geoff Blum with two outs in the fourth, but Young has walked two, and the Dodgers stranded both of them in scoring position. Kent is 0 for 2 and is now 2 for his past 34. Dodgers 0, Padres 0, top 4

I left Pittsburgh at 6 a.m. Eastern time this morning (if you know the city at all, and the distance from downtown to the airport, that's a 3 a.m. wakeup call). Flew through Atlanta (I'm a slave to Delta, what with my Platinum status and the fact I'm batting roughly .900 for the year on upgrades), landed at LAX at 10 Pacific time, took the shuttle to the Parking Spot on Sepulveda, put my bags in the trunk, walked next door to the In-n-Out, ate, walked back to my car, drove directly to San Diego, checked into the Westin (the new one that used to be a Wyndham, not the one at Horton Plaza), took two Excedrin for Migraine caplets (it started during the second flight and gradually worsened), grabbed a half-hour nap to let them kick in, woke up feeling great and came to the park -- albeit a little late (4 p.m.), but it doesn't appear that I missed anything. But I do plan to sleep really, really well tonight. ... As expected, including by Eric Hull, Eric Hull was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room for Jason Schmidt. ... Here is tonight's lineup, nothing out of the ordinary:

CF Pierre
SS Furcal
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
RF Ethier
3B Abreu
RH Schmidt

By the way, I watched Wild Hogs on the ATL-LAX flight. If you have already seen it or have yet to see it, it isn't a great movie, but one of the highlights is the scene where the four main characters are skinny-dipping in a water hole and a family of four suddenly show up to swim in the same water hole. If the father in the family looks familiar, it's Patrick O'Neal, son of actor Ryan O'Neal and one of the Dodgers' pregame show hosts, and although his part lasts only about two minutes, he does a GREAT job with it. The look on his face when he pops back up from under water after realizing that Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, John Travolta and William H. Macy aren't wearing trunks is absolutely priceless. I see Patrick down on the field right now, so I'm going to make it a point to tell him.

Lowe wound up allowing four runs on three hits over 7 2/3. Jonathan Broxton worked the ninth for his first save of the season in his first night of filling in for the injured Saito, but not before giving up a leadoff single to Freddy Sanchez that brought the tying run to the plate and an RBI double to Andy LaRoche. Broxton couldn't throw strikes and clearly wasn't comfortable in his new role. But the game ended on a horrendous at-bat by Jack Wilson, who swung at the first pitch, grounded out and left the tying run on third. Dodgers go to 34-23, a season-high 11 games above .500, and they reclaim sole possession of first place -- but only because Arizona and San Diego both were off today. Dodgers lead the NL West by a half-game.

Two people, the one seated on my left and the one seated on my right, surmised separately and independently of each other during the top of the sixth that that long half-inning in which the Dodgers were sending seven men to the plate and scoring three runs would affect Lowe. Well, he started the bottom of the seventh by walking Chris Duffy, then gave up a single up the middle to Freddy Sanchez. Pirates have a rally of their own going now. Xavier Nady just homered over the centerfield wall, and the Dodgers' five-run lead has been whittled to two. This is a game again. Dodgers 5, Pirates 3, bottom 7

Derek Lowe is nine outs away from one of those things you're not supposed to talk about while it's in progress. He is as good as I have ever seen him. He lost the perfecto back in the fifth, when Tony Abreu made two errors in the same inning, but Abreu might have also saved Lowe a couple of hits in the fourth with two short-hop scoops at third. Rafael Furcal just made a spectacular play up the middle to rob Jose Bautista of what would have been the Pirates' first hit to end the sixth. Dodgers got an insurance run in the sixth when Adam LaRoche botched the throw from Paul Maholm on Juan Pierre's bunt, allowing Furcal to go from first to third and subsequently score on Nomar's fielder's choice grounder. Dodgers 2, Pirates 0, top 7 ... By the way, kudos to the boys in the PNC Park control room for their decision to play several cuts of The Nightfly, a 1982 album by former Steely Dan lead singer Donald Fagen, during batting practice today. That was some outstanding stuff. They simply don't make music like that anymore.

Derek Lowe is working on one of those things that you aren't supposed to talk about when they're in progress. All I will say is this: the Pirates have two zeroes on the scoreboard, the one in the run column and the one just to the right of the run column. The Pirates don't have a baserunner yet, either. Lowe has four strikeouts and three groundball outs. Meanwhile, the Dodgers got a quick run in the first on a bunt single by Pierre and an RBI double by Kent, but Paul Maholm has retired 10 in a row (that's one more than Lowe) since then. Dodgers 1, Pirates 0, middle 4

... and it's not hard to figure out why. Brady Clark, who is playing LF in Gonzo's place tonight, is 5 for 7 lifetime against Paul Maholm, plus three walks. Kind of makes you wonder why he is batting eighth.

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
1B Nomar
2B Kent -- 1 for his past 28
C Martin
RF Ethier -- 5gm hitting streak (6-20)
3B Abreu -- hitting .455 on trip (10-22)
LF Clark
RH Lowe -- second in majors with groundball pct. of 78.0

Saito is day to day, but no one has ruled out placing him on the DL. He can walk without pain, but he can't pitch without feeling something in his left hammy. Broxton will close until Saito gets back, but where Saito's absence really hurts is in the eighth inning, the spot Broxton is vacating. Little said he could use any of the other five relievers in that spot depending on matchups.

In the final 48 hours leading up to tomorrow night's opener of a key, three-game showdown between the Dodgers and the Pods at Petco, consider the difference between the two teams' schedules. The Padres played a regular Sunday getaway game at the Toilet Bowl yesterday, then jetted cross country from DC and, I'm guessing, got home around 9 p.m. because of the time change, slept in their own beds, had today off and will sleep in their own beds again tonight. The Dodgers? They played a Sunday game in Pittsburgh yesterday, but it wasn't a getaway game. They play the Pirates again tonight at 7:05 Eastern time, after which they probably will get airborne around midnight Eastern. Assuming it's a five-hour flight to San Diego, and factoring in the time change, the Dodgers should touch down around 2 a.m. and get to their hotel around 3 Pacific time. Then, tomorrow night, they will begin their biggest series of the season to date. Just a thought.

Takashi Saito does not have a tear in his left hamstring, which tightened up on him in the ninth inning and forced him out of the game. But he won't know anything more than that until today, so it isn't clear how much time he will miss. Grady hinted, in that typically Grady way, that Jonathan Broxton will close in Saito's absence if there is an absence. More on this issue tomorrow. That's it for today. I gotta get crankin' on my newspaper stuff, as there are big group dinner plans in about two hours.

On a gray day in Pittsburgh, it might have been even grayer for the Dodgers. Saito left with one out in the ninth, and it appears it was an issue with one of his legs. I'll found out when we get downstairs. This would be a HUGE loss for the Dodgers, a closer who has become almost as reliable as Gagne once was. Beimel came in to finish the game and thus got his first save of the year by recording the final two outs in what is essentially his hometown. ... That three-way tie just won't go away. The Snakes already beat the Mets, giving them nine wins in their past 10 games and two of three for the weekend against the National League's best team, and the Pods won at the Toilet Bowl. Dodgers go to 33-23.

Sure, the Dodgers scored exactly one run in a span of 19 innings. But they broke that skid with a three-run eighth in which they batted around, got Gorzelanny out of the game and got three consecutive two-out hits to pull within 4-3. Salomon Torres got out of that inning, but never really got started in the eighth before he gave up a single to Russell Martin and a two-run homer to Ethier, putting the Dodgers in front. Ethier is 2 for 4 with a double and home run. Kent is 0 for 2 since entering as a PH in the seventh and now is 1 for his past 28. Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier, Grady got tossed in the fourth inning arguing a play at the plate that gave the Buccos their third run. ... Dodgers are 26-0 when leading after eight, and Broxton just retired LaRoche on a lazy fly ball to start the bottom of the inning after starting him 3-0. Dodgers 5, Pirates 4, bottom 8

Dodgers just keep making outs, usually through the air. Tom Gorzelanny beat the Dodgers on April 22 with a lot of strikeouts and ground balls. This time, he is getting them to pop up. Something HAS to change with this offense. Maybe it's the hitting coach. Maybe it's the collective approach (which I have been saying all year). Maybe it's something else. Ethier just doubled with two outs in the fourth. Nobody on base when it happened, though. Abreu coming up. Pirates 2, Dodgers 0, top 4

... for me, not for the Dodgers. Didn't get to the park until about 10:45 and had to head straight to the clubhouse, so I'm just now getting around to posting for the first time today. Kent is out of the lineup, but Grady says it's because it's a day game after a night game, not because Kent is 1 for 26. Kent says he isn't worried about it. Here's the lineup:

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
1B Nomar
LF Gonzo
C Martin
RF Ethier
3B Abreu
2B Martinez
RH Penny

Andy LaRoche took Penny deep to start the second inning. Dodgers have now scored one run in their past 15 innings. Pirates 1, Dodgers 0, end 2

Says he has no lingering effects from tweaking his left ankle -- the one he so badly sprained trying to avoid a collision with Jason Repko back on March 22 in Vero Beach -- on a weird play in the sixth inning tonight. With runners on second and third and none out, Jack Wilson hit a grounder to a drawn-in Furcal near the 2B bag. Ronny Paulino broke off second on the play, and Furcal went to block the bag in the event of a rundown. But as he then turned to start said rundown, Furcal planted his left leg hard in the dirt. He didn't start limping immediately. From his vantage point in the rundown, Furcal could see Adam LaRoche, standing on third, directly in front of him, so he could keep an eye on LaRoche while still executing the rundown. When LaRoche finally did break, Furcal gave up on Paulino, ran toward LaRoche and eventually threw home to catcher Mike Lieberthal, who turned LaRoche around and threw to 3B Tony Abreu for the tag. By this time, Furcal was in foul territory behind the 3B line to back up THAT rundown, and he was now limping noticeably. When the play finally ended with LaRoche out, Wilson on second and Paulino on third, Stan Conte raced across the field to check Furcal. But Furcal stayed in the game, had no more balls hit to him on defense and drew a four-pitch walk from Ian Snell to lead off the eighth that led to nothing for the Dodgers. Both Grady and Furcal said after the game that Furcal was fine. Don't be surprised if he isn't in the lineup today, though, as the ankle thing plus the day game-after-night game plus the fact Furcal is now 1 for 14 since extending his hitting streak to 15 games on Wed. night at the Toilet Bowl plus the fact that it has been so miserably hot and humid since we got here (I keep thinking it's going to rain, but it never does), Grady might just decide to give him the day off. ... Nice deke by Andre Ethier on the play immediately prior to that rundown. With LaRoche on second, Paulino hit a ball that was clearly over Ethier's head. But before turning to chase it, he stood momentarily, facing the infield, and stuck his glove up. LaRoche bought it totally and tagged second. By the time he realized his mistake, he could get no farther than third on the play. That saved Brett Tomko from a complete meltdown, as did the rundown, as did a subsequent rundown when Snell failed to make contact on a curiously timed suicide squeeze play. Tomko got Snell looking to end the jam. ... Gonzo went 0 for 4, all off Snell, to snap his hitting streak at 10 games. But he made up for it with that catch in left-center that I wrote about on a previous entry. I forgot to mention that he actually banged into the side of the bullpen after hauling in the ball. This is a great ballpark, one of the most beautiful settings in all of baseball, especially at night when the Roberto Clemente Bridge and the Pittsburgh skyline are all lit up beyond the outfield and those lights are reflecting off the Allegheny. I was here with the Reds for the first regular season game ever played in 2001 (ironically, Willie Stargell had died either the night before or early that morning) and I instantly fell in love with the place. Just gorgeous. But I still don't get that weird corner they created where Gonzo made that catch tonight. Would have made so much more sense to make that wall flush with the bullpen, creating a continuous plane along the OF wall. And hey, then they could have squeezed a few more seats into that corner, which for the Pirates would have translated into a little more revenue, and isn't that what the game is all about these days anyway? ... Good night, everyone.

Too much Snell for eight innings, and Matt Capps records his first save since Trace named him the Pirates closer just yesterday, retiring the Dodgers in order in the ninth. Snell gave up a run on six hits and struck out six. On the bright side, Rudy Seanez struck out five of seven batters in two hitless innings. Dodgers fall to 32-23 and back into that annoying three-way tie for first.

Arizona lost to the Mets today, leaving the Dodgers a golden opportunity to reclaim sole possession of first place in the NL West. Doesn't look like it's going to happen now, though. The Pirates' pen isn't terribly deep, but their back end of Salomon Torres and newly crowned closer Matt Capps is solid. But the way this one is going, Snell may go the distance anyway. Dodgers can't do anything with him. Pods are winning big at the Toilet Bowl (RFK), so back to a three-way tie.

Dodgers are 1 for 6 w/RISP tonight and just blew a potential big inning in the seventh. After Andre Ethier singled with one out and Tony Abreu followed with a double (his third hit of the game and second double), Wilson Betemit (hitting for Brett Tomko) and Juan Pierre struck out. Ian Snell is sticking it to the Dodgers through seven. The last batter Kuo faced, Freddy Sanchez, launched a moon shot with one out and a man on in the fifth. But as you know, there is an ironclad law that any ballpark built within the past 15 years MUST have a lot of contrived quirks, nooks and crannies, and PNC is no exception. The bullpens here are in left-center. Instead of the leftfield wall meeting the front of the bullpens flush, it hits the side of the bullpen, about 10 feet back from the front of the bullpen, leaving the wall a daunting 410 feet away and creating a fairly unreachable corner. That allowed Gonzo to run for what seemed like a mile to haul in Sanchez's shot, saving a run that never did score. Tomko relieved Kuo at that point and got out of the inning, but in the seventh, Tomko did what Tomko does. He gave up a home run to Xavier Nady to double the deficit, then gave up back-to-back doubles that would have led to another run if Andre Ethier hadn't deked Adam LaRoche into tagging at second. But the defense got Tomko off the hook with a couple of rundown plays, one on a missed suicide squeeze bunt by Ian Snell (the only thing he has done wrong all night), and Tomko struck out Snell to end the inning. Tomko out now, Rudy Seanez in. Pirates 3, Dodgers 1, bottom 7

He certainly didn't fly at 7:05 (that's 4:05 to those of you back home). Hong-Chih Kuo gave up three consecutive singles and a run before he recorded an out, then hit a batter and walked in another run before recording the second one, which came on the same play as the third because Andre Ethier gunned down Freddy Sanchez trying to score on Ronny Paulino's medium-depth fly ball. This is the same Freddy Sanchez who tagged up at second when Jason Bay doubled over Juan Pierre's head last night, resulting in Sanchez only making it to third and getting stranded there at the end of the inning in what became a one-run Pirates loss. Bottom line is, Kuo was lucky to get out of the inning with only two runs scoring. Since that first inning, Kuo has settled in nicely, giving up only a harmless, two-out single by Jose Bautista in the second -- although he did walk Sanchez to start the third. Meanwhile, Tony Abreu already is 2 for 2, including a second-inning double with two outs that drove in the only Dodgers run. He is on third with two outs now after singling to start the fourth. Pirates 2, Dodgers 1, top 4

Jason Schmidt threw a 58-pitch bullpen session today with Grady, Honeycutt, Warthen and Stan Conte all watching. After that, the decision was immediately made to activate him time for Tuesday night's game in San Diego, which is the next time Hendrickson was scheduled to start. So Hendrickson goes to the pen, and the Dodgers, beginning tonight, will have EXACTLY the same starting rotation that I and a handful of others thought they would open the season with at the start of spring training. Not sure who will go down, but it'll have to be a pitcher because they are already carrying 12. My best guess is Eric Hull, who was only called up as an emergency anyway after Grady had to use to many relievers on Thursday night at Washington.

Here's tonight's lineup. Grady told us before yesterday's game that Lieberthal was going to play tonight. Day game tomorrow, and it has been really hot and sticky here, so Martin rests

CF Pierre
SS Furcal
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Lieberthal
3B Abreu
LH Kuo

On a night when there were many heroes for the Dodgers (Martin, Gonzo, Abreu, Saito), my money says Chad Billingsley was their MVP. He went 2 1/3 behind Wolf, saving the already-depleted bullpen, and retired seven of the eight batters he faced, striking out five of them. He isn't going into the rotation anytime soon (unless Schmidt isn't ready to take over for Hendrickson on Tuesday), but Billingsley appears to be ready to step into a starting role anytime the Dodgers are ready for him. This game and his similar three-inning stint against the Cubs last Friday night were major steps forward for one of the organization's most promising pitchers. Dodgers go to 32-22, but it doesn't look like they're going to reclaim sole possession of first place. D-backs are beating the Mets handily, and the Pods are tied with the Nats in the ninth.

Wolf finally settled in and retired the last four hitters he faced, getting the Dodgers through the fifth with their one-run lead intact. Billingsley got through the sixth with just a single by Jack Wilson and is coming back out for the seventh. Dodgers haven't had a hit since Martin's homer. Kent just flied out to end the top of the seventh and is now 1 for 22. Dodgers 5, Pirates 4, middle 7

Russell Martin led off the fifth with a home run. It marked his third consecutive game with a homer, all three of them to dead center field. If this guy isn't the N.L. starting catcher in the All-Star Game, something is very, very wrong. Kent followed Martin's homer with a weak grounder to short and now has one hit in his past 21 ABs. Dodgers 5, Pirates 4, top 5

Dodgers rallied for three runs in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Luis Gonzalez, who ran hit hitting streak to a season-best 10 games, and Tony Abreu, who continues to punch Andy LaRoche's ticket back to Las Vegas. Abreu is 2 for 2 tonight, and through those two at-bats is now hitting .333 (8 for 24) with three doubles since his May 22 callup from Vegas. But the Pirates came back to tie it on Chris Duffy's two-run triple in the bottom of the inning. Someone in the press box pointed out a few minutes ago that Randy Wolf looks a lot like Opie from the Andy Griffith Show, and thus his clubhouse nickname should be Opie. Devoted purveyor of negativity that I am, I quickly pointed out that right now, his nickname should be Otis, because he is getting hammered. Through four innings, Wolf has given up four runs on seven hits, and he is lucky the damage isn't worse. Pirates have stranded four RISP. Dodgers 4, Pirates 4, top 5

Saenz is playing because he is 8 for 10 lifetime against Zach Duke with two homers and five RBI and is hitting .552 (16-29) in 10 career games at PNC Park, with five homers and 18 RBI.

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
C Martin
2B Kent
1B Saenz
LF Gonzo
3B Abreu
RF Ethier
LH Wolf

It is suffocatingly humid here, but at least it's better than being at RFK Stadium. Of all the ballparks with three-letter acronyms that don't include an ampersand, this is by far the best one.

Saenz is playing because he is 8 for 10 lifetime against Zach Duke with two homers and five RBI and is hitting .552 (16-29) in 10 career games at PNC Park, with five homers and 18 RBI.

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
C Martin
2B Kent
1B Saenz
LF Gonzo
3B Abreu
RF Ethier
LH Wolf

It is suffocatingly humid here, but at least it's better than being at RFK Stadium. Of all the ballparks with three-letter acronyms that don't include an ampersand, this is by far the best one.

... but it's fairly obvious it's going to be Kuo. They're going to announce it after the game. My best guess about what is going to happen is this: Andy LaRoche will go back to Las Vegas to make room for Kuo, giving the Dodgers a 12-man pitching staff and giving the seven or so members of the LaRoche family who traveled to Pittsburgh from Kansas and Minnesota to watch LaRoche and his brother Adam square off in a regular season major-league game for the first time in their lives a serious case of buyer's remorse. Then, assuming Jason Schmidt's side session goes well tomorrow, Schmidt will be activated in time to take Hendrickson's rotation spot on Tuesday night at San Diego, at which time Hull will be sent back to the minors. That would give the Dodgers' the rotation they thought they were going to have when they went to spring training: Wolf, Kuo, Penny, Lowe and Schmidt. That would APPEAR to be Plan A, but it's flexible in the event something unforeseen (injury, etc.) happens.

The Dodgers have called up Eric Hull, a reliever, to take Brazoban's roster spot. Which still doesn't clear up the mystery of who is starting tomorrow night, and I'm told we won't know that until after the game. Hull is making his major-league debut. More details later.