Couple of notes before the Dodger game today.
Congratulations to Blake DeWitt for winning the National League Rookie of the Month Award for May. He hit .322 with five homeruns and 18 RBIs in May. Congratulations Blake, keep making Sikeston proud.
Andy LaRoche didn't play yesterday after getting his call-up but he will be in the line-up tonight in place of James Loney against lefty Randy Wolf.
Finally, lucky us, the Padres will activate Jake Peavy off the DL just in time for tomorrow's game against us. Peavy is 11-1 in his career against us with a 2.31 ERA and 127 Strikeouts over 132.1 innings in 20 starts. This bodes well for us tomorrow. We'd probably better cash in with a win tonight against Wolf.
This is something I like to do, it's meaningless, but I check the transactions daily to see who's been released or designated for assignment to see if there's anyone worth picking up for the Dodgers.
Let's take a look.
I missed this yesterday but the Yankees released Morgan Ensberg. He was hitting .203 with one homer and four rbis this year in 74 at-bats. He's the guy, if you don't remember, who used to be on the Astros and hit homeruns, but forgot how to hit somewhere between 2005 and 2007. He'll find a job, but it shouldn't be with us, we've got enough 3rd basemen.
As for today:
The Padres designated Wilfredo Ledezma for assignment. He's had an ERA under four once in his career, in 2006. I'll pass, especially cause our pitching is not the problem right now.
The Mets designated Raul Casanova for assignment. He's a 35 year old back-up catcher who's played in the majors in just three of the last six seasons. We have enough of those *cough* Gary Bennett *cough*.
Finally, the Orioles designated Steve Trachsel for assignment. The 37 year old has an 8.39 ERA this season in ten games. Ummm... did anyone else not know he was still playing?
Slim pickins today. I'd pass on all of the above.
Couple of other notes:
The Rockies activated Matt Holliday from the DL, which is bad news for us cause he kills us (.327, 14 HRS, 50 RBIs in his career against us). At least they don't play us until July 21st.
The Tigers sent Dontrelle Willis down to Single A... glad we didn't trade the farm to get him...
And the Cincinnati Reds purchase the contract of Jolbert Cabrera from AAA, that's a blast from the past (the past being a few years ago). I always said he was the best baseball player who ever had a name that looked like it should rhyme with Soul-Shirt.
The Dodgers take on the Padres in a few hours. Let's see if 20 year old Clayton Kershaw can get a win versus 22-year veteran Greg Maddux.