Player Profiles: Starting Pitchers - Eric Stults

Player: Eric Stults

2008 Stats: 2-3, 3.49 ERA, 30 Ks, 1 CG shutout (7 starts)

2008 Analysis: Stults came up mid-season to make a handful of starts for the injured Dodger pitching staff and he wasn't too bad.

He had three quality starts (including the complete game shutout of the Chicago White Sox on June 25th) and four shorter outings (though none he never gave up more than four runs in an outing).

The interesting thing is that Stults made as many starts for the Dodgers as Greg Maddux, and for the most part, out-dueled him. He had the same amount of wins, fewer losses, a lower ERA, more strikeouts, and more complete game shutouts.

That's not bad for a kid who's really, sadly becoming a AAAA player.

2009 Outlook: It is a bit hard to pencil in Stults name in the 2009 starting rotation, even as a 5th starter. It's really a kinda tough predicament.

He's not been bad. In fact, he's shown signs of quality and he's left handed, which is a plus for any rotation. Still, there's a certain untangable about him that makes me feel uneasy about giving him 30 or so starts at the major league level.

Then again, the way this offseason is heading, who's to say who the Dodgers will have lined up for the 2009 season. Stults might very well find himself in the position by default ...which I guess I wouldn't have too much of a problem with...

Player Profiles: Starting Pitchers - Greg Maddux

Player: Greg Maddux

2008 Stats: 2-4, 5.09 ERA (7 starts) (Full Season: 8-13, 4.22 ERA)

2008 Analysis: Greg Maddux was acquired by the Dodgers on August 19th from the San Diego Padres and made seven starts from then until the end of the year. And frankly, he wasn't too impressive.

He did have three fairly good starts (September 1st, September 14th, and September 27th), and four pretty bad ones (August 22nd, August 27th, September 8th, and September 19th).

He did spend some quality time with our younger pitchers, though, and that almost makes his sub-par performance worth it.

2009 Outlook: Well, seeing as Maddux retired earlier in the offseason, I'm guessing his 2009 season will be spent with his family. I do hope though, that if he ever decides on becoming a coach, he does it with us. He's one of the better baseball minds in the game, and having him around our team can only bring good results.

Phillies 5, Dodgers 1

The Phillies capitalize on Dodger errors to win Game 5 and the series.

Cole Hamels got the win, he goes 2-0 in the NLCS. Chad Billingsley took the loss, he goes 0-2 in the NLCS.

Chad Billingsley got into trouble early and was pulled quickly. He gave up three runs in 2.2 innings. Greg Maddux gave up two unearned runs in the 5th, due in part to three Rafael Furcal errors in the inning. James McDonald pitched two scoreless innings in relief. Joe Beimel and Cory Wade combined to pitch a perfect 8th, and Hong-Chih Kuo pitched a scoreless 9th to hold the Phillies to five runs.

The Dodgers failed to mount much offense against the Phillies pitching staff. Manny Ramírez went 2-3 with a walk and a solo homerun, accounting for the Dodgers' only run. James Loney went 2-4 and Matt Kemp went 2-3 with a walk. Other than that, there was not much to speak of.

With the win, the Phillies win the series 4-1 and move on to the World Series.

Opinion: It's hard to be upset. Don't get me wrong, I am. But I kinda figured coming in that we didn't have much chance to come back. Chad Billingsley, who hasn't really been lights out since September, obviously was tired. His fastballs didn't have the same umph they had earlier in the season. His breaking balls didn't have as much break. This is only his third season in the majors, and coming into the playoffs, he'd already pitched 50 more innings than in any previous season. He was just not ready yet. The offense meanwhile, didn't offer much in support. The Phillies for the most part, pitched around Manny, and the Dodgers couldn't make them pay for it. The players sandwiched around Manny went 0-12. The two in front of Manny couldn't get on for him, the one behind him couldn't bring him in. It does tell me one thing, and with Manny, we need another bat. That's all stuff to be decided in the offseason... which I guess is now? So with that, I say adieu to the Dodgers' 2008 Season. 2nd Place in the National League, 1st Place in the NL West, 1st Place in our Hearts... Seriously, thank you Dodgers. It was a fun ride. We'll see you in Spring.

As for the blog. I'm going to take a break now and prepare for the offseason. I plan to do player profiles, free agent and trade analysis, and other such things. I'll see you all after the World Series...

Phillies 3, Dodgers 2

The Phillies come back to beat the Dodgers in the first game of this seven-game series.

Cole Hamels got the win, he's 1-0 in the NLCS. Derek Lowe took the loss, he's 0-1 in the NLCS. Brad Lidge picked up his 1st save in the NLCS.

Derek Lowe made two mistakes in the game. Two bad pitches that equaled three runs. He went 5.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk. Chan Ho Park got the final two outs in the inning. Greg Maddux and Hong-Chih Kuo each added a scoreless inning in relief.

The Dodgers weren't able to mount much offense against Phillies pitching. They scratched across two runs in the first four innings, but were shut down the rest of the way. Andre Ethier went 2-4 with a double and a run scored. Manny Ramírez went 2-4 with a double and an RBI. Other than that, there were a few other assorted hits and walks, but not much to speak of.

With the loss, the Dodgers fall to 0-1 in the series. They'll play game two tomorrow starting at 1:35 L.A. time.

Opinion: This was a tough loss, but foreseeable. Giving up the lead was tough, but if you had to look at the schedule for this series and pick a game that we would probably lose, this would be it. We've seen Cole Hamels three times (twice during the season, and now once in the playoffs). All three times, he's gone seven innings and given up just two runs. We definitely are going to need more than that to be the Phillies. Luckily, Hamels is easily the best starter for the Phillies. We should do better. Hopefully... One thing I did like though, is that in the 9th inning, against Brad Lidge, even though he retired the side, the Dodgers did hit the ball pretty hard. Even though Lidge was perfect in save opportunites during the season, that doesn't mean he can't be beat. We have to remember that, in case we end up in a situation like tonight again.

Dodgers 7, Cubs 2

The Dodgers use the long-ball to beat the Cubs and go up 1-0 in the series.

Derek Lowe got the win, he's 1-0 in the NLDS. Ryan Dempster took the loss, he's 0-1 in the NLDS.

Derek Lowe went six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out six. He had an uncharacteristically high pitch count, but still got a quality start out of his outing. Cory Wade, Jonathan Broxton, and Greg Maddux each pitched a scoreless inning in relief to keep the Cubs to two runs.

The Dodger offense started slow, but heated up. After not scoring in the first four innings, including leaving the bases loaded at the end of the 3rd inning. A similar situation seemed to be rearing it's head in the 5th. The bases were loaded with two outs when James Loney stepped to the plate. He quickly fell in the hole with two strikes on him, before drawing a few more pitches, then stroking a grand slam homerun into the left-center bleachers to put the Dodgers up 4-2. They wouldn't look back from there. Manny Ramírez hit a solo homerun in the 7th (Manny went 2-4 with a walk, a homerun, an RBI, and two runs scored), Casey Blake singled in Blake DeWitt in the 8th (DeWitt went 2-4 with a double and a run scored), and Russell Martin added a solo homerun in the 9th. Every player in the starting lineup reached base at least once.

The Dodgers get the all important win in the first game of the series. Game 2 in the series starts tomorrow at 6:37 (?) L.A. time.

Opinion: Wow, seriously good win for the Dodgers. They really sent a message that they are a serious contender. They came into an opponent's stadium, filled with loud hungry fans, facing a pitcher who's been excellent at home all season, and they pulled out a strong victory. Also, most importantly, this was the win they needed. To win the series, they needed at least one win on the road, and now they've got it. Not that they should leave it all to winning the home games, but they got the road win. Now, just to be safe, let's get another one tomorrow...

Dodgers 2, Giants 1

The Dodgers, behind the bat of Blake DeWitt and the pitching of Greg Maddux, take the second game in the three game weekend series.

Greg Maddux got the win, he's 8-13. Matt Cain took the loss, he's 8-14. Takashi Saito picked up his 18th save.

Greg Maddux pitched like the Greg Maddux of old. He needed only 47 pitches (38 of which were strikes) to go six innings. He gave up only one run on two hits over those six innings, while striking out two. Chad Billingsley came in to get a little work before the playoffs. He went two scoreless innings in relief. Takashi Saito pitched a perfect 9th, striking out one to get the save and close out the game.

Offensively, the story today was all Blake DeWitt. He went 3-4 with a walk, a homerun, two RBIs, and a run scored. There were a few other players to note: Rafael Furcal went 2-4, Andre Ethier went 1-2 with a walk, and Casey Blake went 1-3 with a walk and a run scored.

The Dodgers will try to win the rubber match of the series, and the last game of the regular season tomorrow. The game starts at 1:05 L.A. time.

Also: With the win, the Dodgers move back up to seven games over .500 (84-77)... Greg Maddux's win was the 355th in his career, putting him at 8th on the All-Time Wins list.

Opinion: While this game was meaningless, there were a few good things that came from it. Blake DeWitt showed he can contribute, Greg Maddux showed he might still be able to pitch, and Rafael Furcal showed he still remembers how to hit the ball. DeWitt hasn't been nearly as impressive since his hot month of May, but he's been hitting the ball better lately (hitting .297 in the month of September). Greg Maddux is either completely on his game, or totally off. He's had two excellent starts for us and four not-so-good starts. How he'll do in the playoff remains to be seen, though. Finally, Furcal collected his major league basehit since May 5th and had his first multi-hit game since May 3rd. A healthy Furcal will be a big plus in the playoffs... Ok, one more game to go, let's try and win tomorrow. 85 wins would be a nice way to end the season on a high note.

Dodgers Clinch NL West

The Arizona Diamondbacks lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 12-3 earlier today to fall behind 4.5 games with only three games to go. This allows the Dodgers to clinch the National League West.

As such, Eric Stults will replace Greg Maddux today. The lineup is also being juggled around so Joe Torre can see who he'll want to put on the playoff roster. Rafael Furcal and Jeff Kent are batting 1st and 2nd respectively.

In any case, congratulations to the Dodgers on their first division win since 2004 and first playoff appearance since 2006.

Giants 7, Dodgers 1

The Dodgers beat up on Greg Maddux and hand the Dodgers a loss in the first game of this three game weekend series.

Barry Zito got the win, he's 10-16. Greg Maddux took the loss, he's 7-13.

Greg Maddux was pretty hittable in his five innings of work. He gave up seven runs on nine hits over that span. James McDonald made his second career appearance and pitched two scoreless innings, though he did give up two hits and a walk over that span. Ramon Troncoso and Jason Johnson added a scoreless inning each.

The Dodger offense couldn't manage much during the game. They collected only six hits and two walks, the only run coming off a Pablo Ozuna homerun in the 8th. Other than that, the only other offensive output came from the top three in the lineup. Matt Kemp went 2-4, Andre Ethier went 1-3 with a walk, and Manny Ramírez went 2-4 with a double. And that was pretty much it for the day.

The Arizona Diamondbacks also lost today, so even with the loss the Dodgers remain 3.5 games up on the Diamondbacks in the NL West. The Dodgers will try to even up the series against the Giants tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: With the loss, the Dodgers record falls back to six games over .500 (80-74)... Arizona's loss brings the Dodger Magic Number to 6... Pablo Ozuna's homerun was hit first in over two years (his last one was August 17th, 2006). This comes just four days after Juan Pierre hit his first homerun in about two years as well (his prior homerun came on September 18th, 2006).

Opinion: I get the feeling the Giants would like us to not get to the postseason. It doesn't help that we spotted them seven runs. I'm starting to wonder whether or not Greg Maddux is a solid option for the fifth starter down this final stretch. Maddux now has a 1-4 record with the Dodgers in six starts. Knowing Joe Torre, I wouldn't expect to see a change, but I am a bit uncomfortable with Maddux on the mound... Also, what's up with our offense? We could only manage four runs against the Pirates in 12 innings yesterday, and now we can only scratch across one run against Barry Zito (who had a 5.48 ERA coming into today)? I said it yesterday, but that excitement that seemed to be in the dugout seems to be absent. It's feeling a little lifeless these last few days. We gotta get that loving feeling back, if you know what I mean... First things first, can we get a little production out of our 4-9 hitters? A combination of nine different players in those spots went a combined 1-21, with a walk. The one hit was Pablo Ozuna's homerun. Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Manny can't be the only ones who are hitting on the team, otherwise... well... otherwise this happens. We play the Giants five more times this season, no more losses please...

Rockies 1, Dodgers 0

The Dodgers failed to complete the sweep of the Rockies and see their winning streak snapped at four.

Manny Corpas got the win, he's 3-3. Hong-Chih Kuo took the loss, he's 5-3.

Greg Maddux had his best start as a Dodger this season. He went seven innings and surrendered no runs on only two hits while striking out three. And he did this all on 68 pitches. Cory Wade pitched two perfect, scoreless innings in relief. Hong-Chih Kuo came in and gave up the winning run. He got only one out while giving up a run on four hits.

The Dodger offense, meanwhile, struggled to score any runs against Rockies' pitching. They collected eight hits and a walk, but grounded into two double plays and had a run get caught stealing. The best offensive player for the second day in a row was Ángel Berroa, who went 2-4. Six other Dodgers collected one hit each, and Nomar Garciaparra collected the only walk. The Dodgers also failed to collect any extra-base hits or advance a runner past 2nd base.

As of this writing, the Arizona Diamondbacks are trailing 1-0 to the Cincinnati Reds after four innings. With the loss, the Dodgers' lead in the NL West is reduced to four games. The Dodgers will now travel to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates for a four game series starting Monday at 4:05 L.A. time.

Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall back to five games over .500 (76-71).

Opinion: A pretty ugly offensive game for the Dodgers. I think it really shows how important a hot Andre Ethier is to our lineup. The offense looked like they were fighting an uphill battle all day. Stranded runners, rally-killing double plays. We were falling right into Aaron Cook's (starting pitcher for the Rockies) trap. He's a sinkerball pitcher, and go the Dodgers to roll-over into 17 groundball outs through eight innings. In any case, we still won the series, and as long as we keep doing that, we'll glide right into the playoffs.

EDIT: The Cincinnati Reds beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in extra innings for the second day in a row. Arizona remains 4.5 games back of the Dodgers in the NL West race, but the Dodger Magic Number is now 10.

Padres 4, Dodgers 0

The Padres shut down the Dodgers to win the first game in this three game series and snap the Dodgers winning streak at eight.

Cha Seung Baek picked up the win, he's 5-9. Greg Maddux took the loss, he's 7-12.

Greg Maddux's start was a bit sub-par. He went six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks. He struck out four, but struggled all night getting called strikes on the corners and down low around the plate where he normally lives. The Dodger bullpen pitched two scoreless innings in relief to keep the Padres to four runs.

The Dodger offense, meanwhile, presented more problems today than the pitching. The Dodgers managed to get only seven runners on base today. Andre Ethier managed about half of that amount. He went 3-4, with two doubles. Matt Kemp and Casey Blake drew a walk each, and Blake DeWitt had a 5th inning single. DeWitt also reached on an error in the 3rd. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, two of those runners were eliminated by double plays, and the other five were left stranded. And that was the offensive output for the Dodgers.

The Arizona Diamondbacks lost as well tonight (they now fall to one game under .500 on the season: 70-71) so the Dodgers will retain their 1.5 game lead in the NL West. The Dodgers will to start up a new winning streak tomorrow at 7:05 L.A. time.

Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall back to two games over .500 (73-71)... Coming into today, the Dodgers' magic number (ie. the combination of the number of Dodger win and/or Diamondback losses that will clinch us the NL West division) was 19. Though the Dodgers lost today, the Diamondback loss lowers that magic number to 18.

Opinion: I said about a week and a half ago that sometimes we have trouble winning games we should win. Now, that was before we swept the Padres last week. That said, the message still stands. We look at the schedule and say: "Wow, we play the awful Padres nine times in September." That doesn't mean: "Wow, we have nine extra wins to look forward to in September." We still have to come out and play. We still have to win these games. I'm not going to put too much into the loss. ...Though, honestly, Cha Seung Baek? Guy had a 5.36 ERA coming into today. We ripped him for seven runs in 3.2 innings last week in L.A. So how did he shut us down for seven innings today? Chalk it up to being tired? Physically tired from traveling? "Emotionally tired" (???) as Jim Watson of FSN Prime Ticket just asked Joe Torre (literally, that happened on the TV as I was writing this). Yep, that's it Watson. We're emotionally tired from having such a great weekend, in which we swept our division rivals and moved into 1st place for the first time in months. No, no, that's probably it. We blew all our excitement and energy in the weekend series and had none left to take down Cha Seung Baek. Sheesh... In any case, the Diamondbacks bailed us out by continuing their bad play and their crusade to hand us the division. So, Dodgers, how about this: let's come out the next two days and beat down the Padres and win this series? No more of these losses to guys like Cha Seung Baek. It's not good for the collective Dodger soul...

Dodgers 5, Padres 2

The Dodgers beat the Padres to take the first game of the three game series and extend their winning streak to three games.

Greg Maddux got the win, he's 7-11. Chris Young took the loss, he's 4-5. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 11th save.

Greg Maddux had a good start, though he didn't go too deep into the game. He went 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on six hits while striking out four. Hong-Chih Kuo pitched two scoreless innings in relief, striking out three. Jonathan Broxton gave up a hit in the 9th, but struck out two batters to close out the game.

The Dodgers didn't score too many runs, but they were able to plate five. Five different Dodgers had an RBI each (four different Dodgers scored a run). Andre Ethier went 1-2 with two walks, a stolen base, and a run scored. Manny Ramírez went 1-2 with a walk, a sac-fly, and an RBI. James Loney went 2-4 with an RBI. Casey Blake also went 2-4, with a homerun, a stolen base, an RBI, and two runs scored.

The Arizona Diamondbacks came back to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, so with the win, the Dodgers keep pace. They'll remain 2.5 games back in the NL West race. The Dodgers will try to carry on their winning streak tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: The win today brings the Dodgers back to two games under .500 (68-70)... Greg Maddux's win today gives him 354 wins for his career. That ties him with Roger Clemens for eighth place on the all-time wins list... James Loney's RBI today brings his team-leading total to 74 on the year... Loney's two hits today extended his hitting streak to 12 games.

Opinion: Good job today in keeping that momentum from the last two games of the Arizona series. So often do I feel like we have momentum going into a series only to have the series blow up in our face (see Colorado series two weeks ago). I don't want to put too much stock into the game. The Padres are an awful team. They don't have much hitting, and beyond Jake Peavy, they don't have much pitching. Still, a win is a win, and we face the Padres eight more times before the end of the year. Things will be a lot easier for us if we can handle them.

Nationals 5, Dodgers 4

The Dodgers go down in the second game of the series, and now find themselves in a six game losing streak.

Tim Redding got the win, he's 9-8. Greg Maddux took the loss, he's 6-11. Joel Hanrahan picked up his 6th save.

Greg Maddux went 5 and 1/3 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on eight hits and a walk. Defense was more Maddux's undoing. An error Maddux committed led to two runs, and an error from Jeff Kent led to another. Chan Ho Park gave up a homerun in his one inning of work. Jonathan Broxton struck out the side (all swinging) in the 8th inning.

Offensively, Andre Ethier had a good game. He went 3-5 with two doubles and a homerun, scoring one run and driving in one. James Loney went 3-5 as well. He also had a double and a homerun, and also had one run scored and one RBI. Casey Blake went 2-3, with a walk, two RBIs, and a run scored. One of those two RBIs and the run scored came on a homerun.

The San Diego Padres completed their sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, so the Dodgers will remain three games back in the NL West race. The Dodgers will try to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Nationals starting tomorrow at 4:10 L.A. time.

Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall to three games under .500 (65-68)... Andre Ethier's homerun was his 17th, good for first on the team... James Loney also drove in his team leading 72nd run.

Opinion: The Dodgers left another 20 runners on base in today's game, though they did, amazingly, get a hit with runners in scoring position. The four runs they drove in today were the most amount of runs they've scored in a game in the last 10 days. Four runs are better than we've been playing, but still not enough. Then again, we only scored four runs today because we hit three solo homeruns, which we can't expect to do every night. I'm starting to wonder if at this point, it's gotten into the players' heads. They must know how bad they are hitting with runners in scoring position. I wouldn't be surprised if they go up to the plate with runners on, and with some added pressure to hit with runners on, they get pull-happy and end up hitting into some easy outs. I mean, really, a team can't be this bad at driving in runs. It has to be a mental thing right?... Again, the only silver lining I can find in all this is that Arizona is playing awful as well. They are now on three games over .500. The issue now, though, is that Colorado is approaching quickly. They are currently playing, but if they win today, they'll pull within two games of us for second, and within five games of first. This really shouldn't be a three team race (though it really shouldn't be a two team race)... In any case, playing this bad hurts. I'm starting to forget what winning feels like. We've only done it once in the past week and a half. If you really want a good example of how bad we are playing, here's tomorrow's preview again: "The Dodgers will try to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Nationals starting tomorrow at 4:10 L.A. time." This ain't good...

Phillies 5, Dodgers 0

The Dodgers fail to score any runs and are unable to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Phillies.

Brett Myers got the win, he's 7-10. Chad Billingsley took the loss, he's 12-10.

Chad Billingsley made a "quality start." He went six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and five walks, while striking out three. Chan Ho Park allowed two runs in the inning he worked. Tanyon Sturtze then pitched a scoreless 8th.

Offensively, the Dodgers had another difficult night at the plate. Not hit wise, though. Overall, they collected 13 hits and three walks. Matt Kemp went 3-4 with two doubles and a walk. Russell Martin went 3-4, Andre Ethier went 2-5, and Ángel Berroa went 2-5. The problem, though, was that not run was scored.

The Diamondbacks lost to the Padres, so the Dodgers are fortunate to remain only three games back in the NL West. They will start a three game series in Washington tomorrow at 4:10 L.A. time.

Also: With the loss today, the Dodgers fall under .500 (64-65).

Opinion: So... today was even worse than yesterday. Yesterday, they had 19 runners, but at least they managed to get two runs across the plate. 16 runners today, and not one run. Yesterday, they left 25 runners on base. Today: 27. I'm a little confused. Maybe it was acquiring Greg Maddux that brought on some bad voodoo or something, but apparently, somewhere between August 17th's 7-5 win over Milwaukee and August 19th's 3-8 loss to Colorado, we forgot how to drive in runs. We've played seven games since August 18th. Here are the run totals: 3,3,3,1,2,2,0. We are 1-6 over that span, and that is only because the Dodgers were able to hold the Rockies to one run on August 21st. We are going in the wrong direction at the wrong time of the season. I'm not ready to freak out and pull the plug on the season. We haven't been hitting this past week, but I'm pretty sure it's just a slump. The bats can come around. The pitching should stay solid. And I'm holding out hope, because we play only six games against a team over .500 the rest of the season, and that would be two series against Arizona. We can win in this last month and change. We can win the NL West, especially because as bad as we've been playing, Arizona isn't playing that much better (three losses in their last four games). We can get to the playoffs. We can do all that, we'd just better be playing stronger by the time we get there.

Phillies 8, Dodgers 1

The Dodgers get bested by the Phillies offense and pitching and lose the first game of this four game series.

Kyle Kendrick got the win, he's 11-7. Greg Maddux took the loss, he's 6-10.

Greg Maddux got through the first three innings unscathed and relatively effectively. He then proceeded to give up seven runs over the next 2 and 2/3 innings. His final line was 5 and 2/3 innings, seven runs on nine hits and a walk. Tanyon Sturtze came in and finished the inning. Ramon Troncoso pitched the final two innings, giving up just one run.

The Dodgers offense did not fare any better. Andre Ethier accounted for the Dodgers' only run. He went 1-4 with a solo homerun in the 1st inning. James Loney had three of the Dodgers' five hits. He went 3-4 on the day. Manny Ramírez collected two walks on the day, and Mark Sweeney had a pinch hit single in the 7th, and that was the entire Dodger offensive output for the day.

Fortunately for the Dodgers, the Florida Marlins came back from a run down to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks and keep the Dodgers within two games in the NL West. The Dodgers will try again tomorrow at 12:55 L.A. time.

Also: Andre Ethier's homerun was his 16th, which puts in him first place on the team.

Opinion: Just a bad game for the Dodgers. Let's chalk it up to no rest off the long flight. We struggled with hitting. We struggled with pitching. We just struggled. I have nothing more to say, I mean it. Seriously. Just forget about this game and move on... I don't mean to take anything away from Mark Sweeney (yes I do), but great job on getting a pinch hit single with two outs in the 7th inning and the Dodgers trailing 7-1. It is a hit though, so I will give him that.

Editorial: Sweeney and Maddux

Dodger game is going on right now, but I had a few assorted thoughts.

First, I said I had an interesting note about Mark Sweeney. Here's Torre's quote on Sweeney from a Dodgers.com article:

"Torre said he remains committed to left-handed pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney, despite his seasonlong slump. The popular Sweeney is batting .122 on the season and is 9-for-60 (.150) pinch-hitting with five RBIs.

Torre pointed out that Sweeney has improved since coming off the disabled list July 27 (3-for-10) after a hamstring injury that bothered him long before he was injured.

'You'd have to find somebody that's a better option and we don't have one,' Torre said. 'What he's done and his experience carries some weight. For a pinch-hitter, average isn't that important, although .120 is proof he hasn't gotten enough hits. Early on, he was terrible. But a lot of his average was when he was trying to play with the leg problem he had. He knows what to do up there. I still have faith in him to get big hits.'"

That's good that Torre still has faith in him to get big hits. I'm fairly sure he's the only one. I'm not even sure Mark Sweeney has faith he can collect some big hits anymore. This does confirm what I've said before: Sweeney is going to make it the whole year. He's with us until the end. If we make the playoffs, don't be surprised to see him there, too.

As for the Greg Maddux trade, I like it. We've already committed to winning this year, so we might as well go all out and get whoever we can for the stretch run. Still, the trade will be hard to analyze until we know who the Padres are getting back for Maddux. Hopefully, Ned Colletti had the sense to know the Padres were in a corner, and that they either had to keep Maddux, or send him to us. Supposedly, we are sending them two Players-To-Be-Named-Later, both of which are playing in the lower minor leagues, which seems ok to me, so long as those aren't the top two players in the lower minor leagues. We really shouldn't have to give that much for Maddux, but we'll find out soon enough. The Padres have to pick their two players by October.

Dodgers 7, Padres 2

So the Dodgers pull out a win in the first game of a three game series in San Diego.

Scott Proctor picked up the win, his record goes to 1-0. Justin Hampson takes the loss, he's now 0-1.

Clayton Kershaw had another good start but his first major league win continues to allude him. He went 5 and 1/3 innings and struck out five, but walked four batters. Kershaw seems to have the same issue that Chad Billingsley had when he first came up: getting his pitch counts too high and too quickly and sketchy control issues. Billingsley however, has worked on these issues. He's getting deeper into games and serving up less walks. If Kershaw can make similar adjustments, he and Billingsley will be a powerful 1-2 punch at the top of the pitching rotation for years to come.

The offense, meanwhile, struggled against Greg Maddux before busting out against the Padre bullpen. They were able to cash in on a few situations with runners on and in scoring position which is a positive sign considering their failure to do so in recent games over the last few weeks. This team is not going to be a home-run team, they will need to play small ball efficiently and cash in with a big inning to get the win (ie. the four run 7th inning that gave the Dodgers the lead).

In some bad news, Rafael Furcal's back doesn't look like it's going to heal as soon as originally thought.

From Dodgers.com:

A disappointed Rafael Furcal had his return date pushed back again by doctors and is expected to be out another three weeks with lingering lower back pain.

That's bad news for an offense that's been having its struggles. Meanwhile, Nomar Garciaparra's calf is healing, and it looks at though he's going to begin a minor league assignment soon playing at shortstop. Does he still have the range and speed to play at that position? I guess we'll find out soon enough. If he can though (and can stay healthy), he can be an excellent utility infielder.

Chad Billingsley takes on former Dodger Randy Wolf tomorrow at 7:05 L.A. time.

Oh, and the Lakers won tonight against the Boston Celtics making the series 2-1 in the Celtics favor. They gotta take the next to at home to any chance at the series.