Jason Who???

This is kinda weird. Supposedly, according to Dodgers.com, the scheduled starting pitcher for Monday's Spring Training game is some guy named... Jason Schmidt (sp?).

Who is this guy? He's not a Dodger minor leaguer. He didn't come up through our system.

Ok, I checked his stats. It says he pitched six games for us in 2007... what???

Does anyone remember that?

Seriously: Andruw Jones, Esteban Loaiza, Mark Sweeney, Shea Hillenbrand (amongst others). These are all guys who started their Dodger careers after Jason Schmidt's last start with us and finished them before his next one. Randy Wolf has had two go-arounds with the Dodgers in between Schmidt's starts. Hell, Andy LaRoche (*tear* still miss you, buddy.) had his first major league at-bat, was sent down, called up, hit his first major league homerun, then was horribly injured, called up and sent down several times more, hit some more homeruns, and was shipped off to Pittsburgh in between Schmidt's starts.

Really, is anyone in waiting on pins and needles to see Jason Schmidt return? Is anyone expecting a major league, regular season start for the Dodgers from Jason Schmidt?

That's not to say I wouldn't gladly welcome a healthy Jason Schmidt as our 5th starter.

I'm just not holding my breath.

Player Profiles: 1st Base - Mark Sweeney

Mark Sweeney played two games at 1st base this year, and an inning in left field once. I think that makes him a 1st baseman...

Player: Mark Sweeney

2008 Stats: .130, 12-92, 5 RBIs

2008 Analysis: Mark Sweeney had 12 hits this year. That's it. For comparison, in the seven games from August 6th to August 12th, Matt Kemp had 13 hits. Matt Kemp matched Mark Sweeney's entire 2008 offensive output in one week, and he did it in 60 less at-bats. Better yet, Manny Ramírez collected 14 hits in five games from August 26th to August 30th. He did that in 70 less at-bats than Sweeney.

How bad was Mark Sweeney? Had not one, not two, but three instances during the season when he went over 20 days without a base hit (and I'm not counting his time on the DL). And all these people who said he supposed improved by the end of the season? From August 26th till the end of the season, he collected one base hit. Just one.

2009 Outlook: Mark Sweeney filed for free agency at the beginning of the offseason. I can't imagine he'll find a manager on any other team that would treat him as well as Joe Torre did. Mark Sweeney should have been cut before June started, and Torre kept him around for the entire season, even sacrificing better, younger players to keep a spot on the bench for good old Sweeney.

My hopes for 2009? I hope I don't see Mark Sweeney anywhere near a Dodger uniform unless it's as Coach Sweeney. Ok, let me rephrase. I don't ever want to see Mark Sweeney reaching for a bat in the Dodger dugout again. Ever.

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.

Rockies 4, Dodgers 3

The Dodgers fall again to the Rockies to guarantee a series loss.

Taylor Buchholz got the win, he's 6-3. Jonathan Broxton took the loss, he's 3-5. Brian Fuentes picked up his 24th save.

Chad Billingsley made a good start, but threw far too many pitches. He went six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks, while striking out six. He did this, however, on 114 pitches, only 68 of which were strikes. The bullpen did not fare much better. Chan Ho Park went two innings and gave up an unearned run, and Jonathan Broxton gave up the go-ahead run in the 9th.

The Dodger offense collected a handful of hits but failed, again, to collect enough runs from those hits. Jeff Kent went 2-4. Russell Martin went 2-4, as well, collecting a double and a run. Matt Kemp went 1-4 with the only Dodger RBI on the day.

The Diamondbacks beat the Padres again, and so the Dodgers will fall to two games back in the NL West. They'll try to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Rockies tomorrow at 12:10 L.A. time.

Also: Danny Ardoin, starting at catcher today, stole a base. It was only his second career stolen base. His last stolen base was over three years ago (June 7th, 2005)... Every position player in the starting lineup except Casey Blake collected a hit today... The Dodgers were not able to draw a walk in the game... The Dodgers had four errors in the game (from Martin playing at 3rd base, one from Blake playing at 1st, and one from Ardoin).

Opinion: Well, these have been two ugly losses against a team we need to, and should be beating. Again, like last night, we collected a bunch of hits, and hardly any runs. Two runs today came on an error. So, we really only had one run today on nine hits. If you don't count the three "gimme" runs the last two games, the Dodgers have collected only three real runs from 20 hits (six doubles) and two walks. And that's not good... Also, the bullpen again today looked a little shaky. Jonathan Broxton has given up a run in three of his last five outings. You start to question if Broxton should be our solution at closer, and then you realize we don't have any other real options. And that's also not good... I'm not so sure if this whole "Give Russell Martin the day off, play him at 3rd" thing is working out. Martin plays in a spot where he doesn't get to play often and looks uncomfortable, Blake is moved around, and the only person who really gets the day off is James Loney, who probably needs it least of all. How about, if we want to give Martin the day off, give him the day off... So, we find ourselves back at two games behind Arizona. We really need to stop doing this. If we want to get to the playoffs, we can't keep playing this cat and mouse game. It's like riding a roller coaster that never really goes over the peak. We get near the peak, or even settle on the peak, then we roll back down. Then we start climbing again, we get to the peak, sit there for a few games, and start rolling back again. Except, there's one problem. Other than being increasingly frustrating, the ride is going to be over in 36 games, and if we haven't gotten over that peak by then, well... Oh, and finally, good ole' Mark Sweeney was at it again. He came in to pinch hit in the 6th inning and grounded out. I gave him an ultimatum: get a 10th hit by your 75th at-bat. He couldn't do it. He's 9-75 (.120), and as such, will suffer the consequence of continuous mocking from a random no-name blogger. I have something more about Sweeney, but I'll save it for the next post, along with some other assorted thoughts about the recent trade. See you then...

Rockies 8, Dodgers 3

The Dodgers struggle with both offense and pitching and fall to the Rockies in the first game of this three game series.

Ubaldo Jiménez got the win, he's 9-11. Hiroki Kuroda took the loss, he's 7-9.

Hiroki Kuroda gave up four runs in the first three inning, before settling down and not allowing another run through the next three. His final line was six innings, four runs on six hits and a walk, and three strikeouts. The bullpen, however, was not as good. Jason Johnson came in and pitched a scoreless 7th, but gave Matt Holliday a hanging breaking ball to start the 8th which Holliday hit out. Hong-Chih Kuo came in, gave up two walks, and then a three-run homerun that, for all intents and purposes, ended the game.

The Dodger offense, despite collecting 11 hits and two walks over the game, were only able to cash in three runs. They even had five doubles on the day. Jeff Kent went 3-5 with one of those doubles and a RBI. Matt Kemp went 2-5, both of which were doubles, and added a RBI and a run. Casey Blake went 2-4, and both of his hits were doubles. He also scored a run.

The Diamondbacks won today, so with the loss, the Dodgers find themselves a game back in the NL West... again... Tomorrow's game starts at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: Tanyon Sturtze came in to relieve Kuo in the 8th, making his Dodger debut. Despite giving up a double, he managed to settled down the Rockies and get out of the inning unscathed.

Opinion: I'm a little bit stunned as to how a team can collected eleven hits (five of which were extra base hits) and not be able to score more than three runs. And one of those runs was scored on a passed ball. So really, it took eleven hits to score two runs. I'm going to go ahead and say that today (hopefully) was an anomaly. We'll see... Speaking of issues though, our bullpen struggled again. Jason Johnson is someone I have trouble trusting on the mound in an important situation, so I'm not shocked to see him give up a homerun. Worse though was Hong-Chih Kuo's performance. He has looked pretty good most of the year but recently has started to show some of his mortality. Kuo's ERA has been pretty much below 2.00 since the beginning of June, hovering around 1.75-1.80. After today, his ERA has been raised to 2.26. This could be an issue of overuse, or just an unlucky streak, we'll find out soon enough... Finally, Mark Sweeney came in in the 6th inning with the tying run on 2nd base and a chance to be a hero. He grounded out to the second baseman on the first pitch he saw. That's what I call a "professional at-bat." He's now 9-74... but at least he got to meet Chazz Palminteri.

Dodgers 7, Brewers 5

The Dodgers win in walk-off fashion to take the series from the Brewers and move back into a first place tie.

Joe Beimel got the win, he's 4-0. Carlos Villanueva took the loss, he's 4-6.

Clayton Kershaw made a good start for the Dodgers. He went six innings, giving up just one run on eight hits and a walk. Actually, he gave up the one run on just one hit, a solo homerun to Mike Cameron. He also struck out six batters. He issue, however, was pitch count. By the time he came out of the game after the 6th inning, he had made 96 pitches. Jason Johnson relieved Kershaw, and pitched a scoreless two innings. He got an out in the 9th before allowing a runner on base. Chan Ho Park came in, then gave up four unearned runs on a series of errors, singles, and a two-run homerun. Joe Beimel came in, threw one pitch, and got a groundout. He was the pitcher of record when the Dodgers won the game in the 9th.

A pretty good day for the Dodgers offensively. They collected 14 hits in the game. Matt Kemp went 2-5, with a homerun, a RBI, and two runs scored. Manny Ramírez went 2-4, with a homerun, three RBIs, and a run scored. The best offensive performance of the game went to Andre Ethier though. Ethier went 3-5, with a double, two homeruns (including a walk-off two run shot), three RBIs, and three runs scored.

The Diamondbacks lost, so with the win, the Dodgers moved back into a tie for first place in the NL West. They also moved back to four games over .500 at 64-60. Tomorrow is an off-day for the Dodgers. They'll start a three game series with the Rockies at home on Tuesday, starting at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: Matt Kemp's homerun was a leadoff homerun, coming on the first pitch he saw... Matt Kemp's homerun was his 15th, which would be good for sole possession of first place on the team, if not for Andre Ethier's two homeruns. That brings Ethier's total to 15 as well and so they will share the title... Ethier's walk-off hit was his second walk-off hit this week (it was also the Dodgers' second walk-off homerun this week)... All three Dodger outfielders hit a homerun in the game.

Opinion: Another good win for the Dodgers, good to see them win two series against some of the better non-NL West teams... It's amazing to me that Andre Ethier can be leading, or at least in second place on the team for homeruns and still find himself in a platoon with Juan Pierre. Hopefully, this will end that platoon. Matt Kemp has more than enough speed at the top of the lineup that we don't need Juan Pierre solely for speed purposes... Is it just me, or is our bullpen taking weekends off? They blew two games last Saturday and Sunday, and did it again this week. Today, it wasn't nearly as bad. They allowed the Brewers to tie the game, but we luckily came out on top. This could end up an issue... Mark Sweeney came in to pinch hit in the 6th inning and struck out. He's now 9-73 (.123 batting average). To be fair, I will lay off him if he can get a tenth hit by his 75th at-bat. That seems like a nice round number. It is by no means a quality number, but it would be nice to at least seem him get double digit hits this year. To compare, Matt Kemp has 12 hits in the last week. Though, again, in fairness, Kemp's at-bats aren't as "professional" as Sweeney's...

Dodgers 3, Phillies 1

The Dodgers continue their hot play, and get some excellent pitching to complete the four game sweep.

Hiroki Kuroda got the win, he's 7-8. Brett Myers took the loss, he's 5-10. Hong-Chih Kuo picked up his 1st save.

Hiroki Kuroda made an excellent start. He went seven innings, giving up just one run on two hits and no walks, while striking out seven. And he did all that on just 79 pitches, 50 of which were strikes. Hong-Chih Kuo pitches two innings in relief, walking one batter, but allowing no hits while striking out two batters to close out the game and pick up the save.

No one Dodger had an incredibly impressive game. Matt Kemp went 1-4 with a solo homerun. James Loney went 1-3 with a triple, a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored. Russell Martin went 1-4, stole a base, and scored a run. Casey Blake went 1-3 with a RBI.

The Arizona Diamondbacks also won today, so the Dodgers will remain in a first place tie in the NL West. With the win, the Dodgers move to three games over .500 at 62-59. They will begin a three game weekend series with the Milwaukee Brewers tomorrow at 7:40 L.A. time.

Also: Matt Kemp's homerun was his team leading 14th... Hong-Chih Kuo's save was the first of his career... Nomar Garciaparra had an impressive inning defensively in the 3rd when he fielded all three well hit groundballs in the inning (one up the middle, one right at him, and one in the hole). He also had an RBI groundout in the bottom of 2nd prior to that inning... Both hits given up in the game to the Phillies were doubles... This series was the Dodgers' first four game sweep of the Phillies since 1962.

Opinion: Kind of sad that we could be in the midst of an eight game winning streak right now had the bullpen not blown those two games in San Francisco, but I can't be mad at them, as they've more than redeemed themselves in this series. In this series, they've given up only three runs (all in the first game of the series) over 15 and 2/3 innings collecting two wins and two saves over that span while striking out 17 batters... This series was a good statement on the Dodgers ability to play with the big boys. It will be interesting now to see if the Dodgers can carry some momentum over into the next series against the Brewers. Despite being second in their division, they have a better record than the Phillies and are arguably a stronger team... Mark Sweeney came in to pinch hit in the 7th and drew a walk. That's something...

Dodgers 7, Phillies 6

The Dodgers completed their second comeback in as many games and take the third game in the series to assure a series win.

Jonathan Broxton got the win, he's 3-3. Clay Condrey took the loss, he's 3-3.

Brad Penny had a bad start for the Dodgers. He went just three innings, giving up six hits on six hits and two walks. All six runs came on two-run, two-out homeruns (two in the 1st, and one in the 2nd). The bullpen took over in the 4th and did much better. They allowed no runs on only one hit over the next six innings (though they did walk four guys and hit a batter). Jonathan Broxton pitched a perfect 9th, striking out two, and was the pitcher of record when the Dodgers won in the bottom of the 9th.

The Dodgers had a solid day offensively, collecting 12 hits and five walks. Jeff Kent went 4-5, scored a run, and had a big two-RBI double with two outs in the 8th inning. Andre Ethier went 2-5, with a RBI and two runs scored, hitting his 12th homerun on the year. Manny Ramírez also hit a homerun. It was a two run shot, his 5th as a Dodger (for the day, he went 1-3, with two walks, two RBIs, and a run). Russell Martin bounced back from his recent struggles, going 3-3, with a double, a walk, and a run scored. Nomar Garciaparra went 1-5, but the one hit was a big one. He hit a walk-off line drive homerun into the Dodger bullpen in left field to win the game for the Dodgers.

With the win, the Dodgers move to 61-59, two games over .500. The Arizona Diamondbacks lost today, so the Dodgers move into a first place tie in the NL West. They'll try to go for the four-game sweep of the Phillies tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: James Loney also collected a RBI today, moving his total up to a team-leading 68 on the year... Mark Sweeney came in to pinch hit in the 3rd inning and grounded out to 1st, lowering his average to .125.

Opinion: A good win for the Dodgers, who are starting to act like a team that wants to be in the postseason... Brad Penny worries me though. He was throwing some very hittable pitches to the Phillies. I do wonder if we'll be able to rely on him down the stretch. Though I'm not sure it really matters, because even if there are some better options, Joe Torre's reluctance to make a change won't allow it... Mark Sweeney made another out today, but thankfully it was in the 3rd inning, so there was no chance he could come up in an important situation later in the game. I really feel like I'm beating a pointless dead horse. Sweeney only needs to survive until September 1st when the rosters expand, and then he can make it the rest of the year easy. Torre knows that when the rosters expand they'll be less pressure on the bench and Sweeney himself. I'll be shocked if Sweeney isn't with us the rest of the year, and deep into the playoffs... The Dodgers have really made a strong statement this series against a top team in the NL East. It will be even stronger if they complete the sweep tomorrow, not that winning the series itself won't be a good statement. It's just that, I'm going to the game tomorrow, and I really want to see a win.

Cardinals 6, Dodgers 4 (11 innings)

The Dodgers rallied late to tie the game in the 9th, but lost it in extras, and fall back to .500.

Jaime García got the win, he's 1-1. Jason Johnson took the loss, he's 1-1.

Chad Billingsley started the game, but with two rain delays, he was taken out after the 5th inning. He gave up just one run on six hits, while striking out six. The Dodger bullpen, however, struggled. They gave up a run in the 6th inning, and two in the 7th. After that, Ramon Troncoso and Cory Wade provided a combined three scoreless innings, before Jason Johnson surrendered a two-run walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 11th.

The Dodgers failed to mount any offense through the first eight innings. They collected only four hits scattered over those eight innings, three of which were erased on double plays by the very next batter up following the hit. The Dodgers then proceeded to get a lead-off homerun in the 9th inning from Andruw Jones. They followed with another four hits, a walk, and a sac-fly in the inning to tie the game 4-4. Manny Ramírez went 2-3 with two walks and a run scored, Andre Ethier went 2-5 with a run scored, and Jeff Kent went 2-5 with an RBI in what were probably the Dodgers top three individual hitting performances of the game.

With the loss today, the Dodgers move back to .500, now at 56-56. The Arizona Diamondbacks won yesterday to move 1.5 games up on the Dodgers. They won again today, and with the Dodger loss, they'll push their lead to 2.5 games in the NL West. The Dodgers will take another shot at cutting into the lead tomorrow at 5:15 L.A. time.

Also: James Loney grounded into two of the three Dodger double plays today. That puts him at 20 this year, third place in the Major Leagues (the league leaders are tied at 22)... Mark Sweeney lined out to end the 9th, his average is now down to .114.

Opinion: The Dodgers showed almost no signs of life until the Andruw Jones homerun in the 9th. By the way, I hope this doesn't mean he's going to get a lot more starts. The pitch he hit (and not to take anything away from Jones) was an 89 MPH fastball, with pretty much no movement, belt high, and almost exactly over the center of the plate. So... make your own deductions... Here's mine: I'm pretty sure any one on the Dodgers could have put it in the bleachers. Well... let me reword that... any self respecting major leaguer could have put it in the bleachers... Mark Sweeney would have grounded out. Speaking of my favorite punching bag, for real, how many more at-bats does he get? Today was his 70th. I saw another thing today that I was worried about after the Manny trade. What incentive to teams have to pitch to him. He walked in his last two at-bats in the game, when it was on the line. Teams are not going to pitch to him. The issue is not if Manny will help us, but more, can we help ourselves? If James Loney and/or Jeff Kent don't start putting a little more fear into pitchers with some consistent hitting, then Manny isn't going to see a whole lot of pitches to hit the rest of the year.

Dodgers 9, Diamondbacks 3

The Dodgers outslugged the Diamondbacks to win the 4th game and split the series.

Cory Wade got the win, he's 2-1. Doug Davis took the loss, he's 4-6.

Jason Johnson struggled in his second start for the Dodgers. He couldn't make it through the 5th inning, going only 4 and 1/3 innings giving up three runs on five hits and two walks. The bullpen relieved him, going a combined 4 and 2/3 innings, giving up no runs over that span. Cory Wade pitched 1 and 2/3 innings in that span, giving up just two hits, while striking out one to get the win.

The Dodgers offense, meanwhile, collected 16 hits on the day, including five extra base hits. Manny Ramírez had another good day for the Dodgers, going 4-5 including a homerun and a double. He had three RBIs and two runs scored on the day. Matt Kemp also had a good day, going 3-5 with a homerun, two RBIs, and three runs scored. James Loney and Casey Blake collected two hits and a RBI each.

So the Dodgers split the series and get back within one game of the Diamondbacks in the NL West. They also moved back up to a game over .500 with the win. Tomorrow is a day off. The next Dodger game will be in St. Louis, starting at 5:15 L.A. time on Tuesday.

Also: Manny, with two singles, a double, and a homerun today, fell a triple short of the cycle... Matt Kemp's homerun was his 13th on the season, that leads the team... James Loney collected his 61st RBI on the season, that also leads the team (though Matt Kemp's two RBIs brought him to 60). Mark Sweeney pinch hit today, and grounded out to the pitcher, his average is at .116.

Opinion: Manny is really feeling it. He's 8-13 since coming over to the Dodgers with two homeruns and five RBIs. His eight hits and five RBIs in the last three games match Mark Sweeney's total for the entire year. Wow. Imagine that. If Mark Sweeney is providing professional at-bats and getting that kind of production, Manny's at-bats must be uber-professional. Manny has also matched Andruw Jones's homerun total. He still needs eight RBIs to catch Andruw.

Diamondbacks 2, Dodgers 1

The Dodgers fall to the Diamondbacks for the second straight game in the four game series.

Randy Johnson got the win, he's 9-7. Chan Ho Park took the loss, he's 4-3. Brandon Lyon picked up his 24th save.

Clayton Kershaw made a good start opposite future Hall-of-Famer Johnson, matching him for six innings. Kershaw gave up only four hits and a walk over those six innings, allowing no runs, and striking out three. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, though, the bullpen allowed two runs. Chan Ho Park gave up a homerun to Tony Clark to lead off the 7th inning. He allowed a few more runners on before being pulled by Joe Torre. Joe Beimel came in and offered no help, giving up an RBI double to Stephen Drew, and a lead to the Diamondbacks that they would be able to hold until the end of the game.

The Dodgers only collected six hits on the day. Manny Ramírez went 2-4, though both hits came in odd circumstances. His first was a shot towards Stephen Drew that saw Drew lift his glove too quickly and the ball travel right under it. The second was a check swing grounder that pulled Tony Clark off the bag enough for a single. He also came up in the 9th inning as the winning run, but grounded into a double play. Matt Kemp had the only RBI on the game, a double in the 6th inning that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

With this second straight loss, the Dodgers fall to three games back of the Diamondbacks in the NL West, and fall to a game under .500. The Dodgers can only hope now to win the next two games in this series and cut the deficit in the playoff chase to one game by weekend's end.

Also: Matt Kemp, with his RBI double, went 1-4 today, extending his hitting streak to 19 games... Mark Sweeney's two hits in his last two at-bats streak came to an abrupt end when he struck out swinging pinch hitting in the 8th. His average went down to .118.

Opinion: Not too react too dramatically to just one game, but this is what I'm worried about: having Manny means nothing if the rest of the team still isn't hitting. One player alone cannot carry a team in baseball, that's why a guy like Alex Rodriguez doesn't have any rings. It takes a team, of which Manny should just be a part of. We need to start hitting because we can't keep asking our pitching to win when we only give them one run in support. And seriously, why is Sweeney still on the team?

Editorial: More On LaRoche

Because I can't really let anything go, I had a couple more notes about yesterday's trade.

I made the point in my last post about LaRoche's 152 major league at-bats with us and how that is hardly anything. Well, another thought came to me. 93 at-bats came last year when LaRoche played under Grady Little for the Dodgers. As far as the current manager, Joe Torre, he saw only 59 of Andy's at-bats. Well, here's my issue.

Apparently, those 59 at-bats were enough for Torre to determine that LaRoche wasn't worthy of playing 3rd for the Dodgers. However, Torre has given Mark Sweeney, (MARK SWEENEY!!!) 67 at-bats. And yet, Sweeney remains on the roster for the Dodgers.

So, therefore, 59 at-bats were enough to determine whether or not one player could be the 3rd baseman for the team, but not nearly enough to figure out that Mark Sweeney can't bat .200 to save his life.

I guess Mark Sweeney provides a veteran presence or something... or maybe he gives the team a lot of "professional at-bats." That's a phrase that I've gotten real tired of. Mark Sweeney might strike out 21 times in 67 at-bats, but he really looked professional wailing away at strike three.

I mean, is the only reason he's on the team because he's turning 39 in October?

One other note, Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise noted:

Logan White spoke with Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris, and he said LaRoche was excited to go to Pittsburgh. Asked if White was sad to see LaRoche go, he said, "Not at all."

I'm glad LaRoche is excited to go to Pittsburgh. I'd be, too. You want to go where you feel wanted...

Anyway, there's been some reaction to this. People are unsure of what White meant by it. Well, Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts went the extra step:

I asked Leung to give the context of White's response, and Leung replied that White meant in terms of "Look who we got back."

Interesting. I got a couple of other things from the quote as well. And while I might be reading too much into this, here's some other things he could have meant:

"I'm not going to say something to undermine my boss Colletti even though he ignored my advice about keeping LaRoche... 'Not at all'."

Or "It will be good to see LaRoche succeed in a starting role and prove me to be an excellent judge of talent... 'Not at all'."

Or even, "When this move backfires in Colletti's face and he's fired, I can give you a good candidate to replace him... 'Not at all'."

Diamondbacks 2, Dodgers 1

The Dodgers were shut down for the most part by Brandon Webb and fall in the first game of this four game set.

Brandon Webb got the win, he's 15-4. Derek Lowe took the loss, he's 8-9. Brandon Lyon picked up his 23rd save.

Derek Lowe pitched a good enough game. He went 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up just two runs on seven hits while striking out seven. He also collected nine groundball outs. Hong-Chih Kuo struck out two over a scoreless inning and 2/3. Cory Wade struck out one in a perfect 9th.

The Dodgers managed to collect only seven hits on the day. Juan Pierre went 2-3 with a run scored. Russell Martin went 1-4 and had the only RBI on the day. The rest of the hits were scattered about between several other players.

The Dodgers fall back to .500 while the Diamondbacks are now four games over. They've taken a two game lead on the Dodgers now in the NL West. The Dodgers will try to take a game back tomorrow at 7:40 L.A. time.

Also: Matt Kemp went 1-4 to extend his hitting streak to 18 games... Perhaps I was wrong about this one: Mark Sweeney now has two hits in his last two at-bats, raising his average to .119

Opinion: Today was the last day of the old Dodgers, Manny Ramírez should be in L.A. tomorrow in time for the game to save us all! Seriously though, this isn't a litmus test for the season: the Dodgers have never hit well against Brandon Webb (9-3 career lifetime against us with a 2.65 ERA in 15 starts). Tomorrow will be an interesting game. Will Manny adjust to the National League right away? I guess we'll find out. Meanwhile, Tony Jackson of the L.A. Daily News speculates that Delwyn Young could be Designated For Assignment to open a roster spot for Manny. God, I hope not. He also said it's a possibility Sweeney could be DFA'd. I'd like to think that would be the logical move, but then again, there haven't been too many logical moves this year to set a precedent (ie. playing certain people in center field for so long holding on to hope they'll pull our of their season long slump, starting Juan Pierre in left field constantly [which coincidentally, I wouldn't be surprised to see continue], or creating a gaping hole in our infield for next season), so why start now?

Giants 7, Dodgers 6

The Dodgers fell behind quickly, and then rallied to get close, but ultimately didn't have enough to come back and they lose the first in the three game series.

Kevin Correia got the win, he's 2-5. Hiroki Kuroda took the loss, he's 5-8. Brian Wilson picked up his 28th save.

Kuroda had his third bad start in a row. He went only 3 and 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits, though he wasn't helped out by a few questionable calls from the umpires. Since the All-Star break, Kuroda has gone 11 and 2/3 innings giving up 18 runs (17 earned). The Dodgers bullpen did an excellent job, though. Combined, the bullpen today went 5 and 1/3 innings, striking out seven and only allowing a walk over that span.

The Dodgers had all their offense come in the middle of the game. The first 13 batters went 1-13. In the 5th and 6th innings, the Dodgers plated six runs. The Dodgers were retired in order of the next three innings going 0-9. A weird game overall, with the Dodgers getting 4 RBIs combined from the 8th and 9th hitters (Ángel Berroa, Andruw Jones, and MARK SWEENEY with a two RBI double raising his average to .106) Other than that, Casey Blake went 2-4 with two runs scored, and Andre Ethier went 1-3 with a walk, an RBI, and a run scored.

Arizona also lost today, so even though the Dodgers fall back to one game under .500, they remain one game back in the NL West race. The Dodgers will try to even up the series tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: Matt Kemp went 1-4, extending his hitting streak to 15 games.

Dodgers 2, Nationals 0

The Dodgers shut down the Nationals for the second straight game and complete the three game sweep, getting their record back to .500 for the first time since May 30th.

Clayton Kershaw got the win, he's 1-3. Jason Bergmann took the loss, he's 1-8. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 4th save.

Clayton Kershaw made the best start of his young career, going six innings, giving up no runs on just four hits and a walk while striking out five. More importantly, he kept his pitch count low, and pitched a lot of strikes. When he was taken out of the game, he'd made only 86 pitches, 57 of which were strikes. Chan Ho Park and Hong-Chih Kuo pitched a scoreless inning each, and Broxton pitched a perfect 9th, striking out one. He's been 4-4 in save opportunities.

The Dodger offense was not too potent, but got the job done. Russell Martin went 2-3 with a walk and an RBI. The other run came from James Loney on a solo homerun in the 2nd inning.

While the Dodgers were busy sweeping the Nationals, the Arizona Diamondbacks were up in San Francisco, sweeping the Giants. The Dodgers came out of this weekend at the .500 mark, but remain a game back of the streaking Diamondbacks. Speaking of the Giants, they'll come to Dodger Stadium for a three game series starting Monday at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: Matt Kemp had a walk, a stolen base, and two hits to extended his hitting streak to 14 games... Nomar Garciaparra left the game in the 6th inning with a knee issue (Here's to hoping he's ok, or at least there will be no knee-jerk trades for an average shortstop)... Mark Sweeney was activated from the 15-day DL in time for today's game. He came in to pinch hit in the 7th and struck out. He's now 6-65 this season (.092). Check #3 here.

White Sox 6, Dodgers 1

The Dodgers struggles against the American League continued as the Dodgers were not able to muster much offense against Mark Buehrle.

Mark Buehrle got the win, he's 5-6. Derek Lowe took the loss, he's 5-7.

Derek Lowe got in trouble quickly, giving up a run in each of the first two innings before settling down and shutting down the White Sox until the 8th inning. He then gave up a two-run homerun to Jermaine Dye, followed by a single to Nick Swisher before being pulled. Cory Wade was unable to offer much relief, however, and allowed another two more runs to score before ending the inning.

The Dodgers offense did not fair much better. Mark Buehrle effectively shut down the Dodgers throughout the game giving up just six hits and one earned run over eight innings. He struck out two while collecting 15 groundball outs. The one run came from Delwyn Young, who hit his first homerun of the season in the bottom of the 5th inning. The Dodgers five other hits were all singles. James Loney collected one of those singles and brought his hitting streak up to 11 games.

A few other notes. Russell Martin made a pretty good defensive play in the 4th innings. Derek Lowe got in trouble, and with runners on second and third, he induced a groundball to Andy LaRoche at third. LaRoche fired home to Martin who used his left leg to expertly block out Pablo Ozuna coming home and apply the tag for the out. It was a good defensive play on a bad offensive night. Mark Buehrle, by the way, collected the 1,000th strikeout of his career with his two strikeouts today. His 1,000th came against Mark Sweeney.

Tigers 12, Dodgers 7

Good news and bad news. Good news: The Dodgers finally break out of their offensive slump. Bad news: Their pitching falls apart. They've now lost four straight.

Brad Penny is handed the loss, he's 5-9. Eddie Bonine gets the win, he's 1-0.

On the day the Dodgers finally score some runs, Brad Penny is not able to keep them in the game. Penny was given a 1-0 lead before he gave up a run. He was then given a 4-1 lead before he gave up six more runs to let the Dodgers fall behind 7-4. Penny walked two, gave up seven hits (including two two-run homeruns) and struck out nobody before being pulled in the fourth inning. Scott Proctor followed it up by pitching a shaky two innings, in which he gave up four runs (albeit only one earned). Takashi Saito pitched the 8th inning giving up a run as well.

And all this on a day when the Dodgers pulled together seven runs on 13 hits. In fact, the only two Dodgers today to not get a hit: Juan Pierre and Mark Sweeney *cough* see previous post *cough* Ok, ok, Sweeney drew a walk... but still. James Loney continued his streak of getting an extra base hits. He went 3-5 today with two doubles. He's collected an extra base hit in his last three games. Andre Ethier flashed a little power: he went 2-4 with a homerun, ground-rule double, and four RBIs. The homerun was Ethier's sixth, putting him in second place on the team. Delwyn Young collected three hits, as well, and raised his average to a solid .300.

On an interesting side note, some of the younger Dodgers chose to wear their socks old-school style, up over the shins. James Loney, Russell Martin, Blake DeWitt, Delwyn Young, and Andre Ethier all joined in on the fashion statement. I don't know if it was a sign of solidarity or just a way to try and bust out of an offensive slump but if it'll help them score seven runs a game, I say keep it up. Whatever works... In any case, a showing of Dodger offense was squandered by poor pitching. What remains to be seen is if this offense can carry over into tomorrow. The Dodgers haven't been able to find that consistent hitting. Since the beginning of June, here's the amount of runs they've scored per game: 1, 8, 0, 1, 4, 3, 7, 1, 7, 1, 0, 0, 7. They move up and down like a roller coaster. We'll have to see how they come out tomorrow.

Clayton Kershaw will take on Nate Robertson at 10:05 L.A. time.

The Three Things Hurting Our Offense

I believe there are three things that are hurting out offense.

1. Obviously, number one would be the struggling bats of the kids. They are inconsistent. Matt Kemp heats up one day, cools down the next few. Loney goes on streaks where he's racking up hits left and right before he begins to fade. Blake DeWitt, since having an amazing May, has fallen back to Earth and is now batting .281. Andre Ethier, who has been hovering around or above .300 the whole year has fallen into a bad slump, seeing his average drop 20 points since the beginning of June. Andy LaRoche, having just come up, will need a little time to adjust to playing in the majors again before he can start hitting consistently. Russell Martin has probably be the only consistent young player since his slow start in April. Since Martin raised his average about .300 on May 13th, it has stayed above .300 and for the most part fluctuated between .314 and .326. If the Dodgers want to start winning (and this is really the most important of the three things hurting our offense) they are going to need to get that consistency out of their young players. (On a side note, our veterans aren't doing much better. Jeff Kent, after having a pretty good week recently, has gone back to struggling. However, I feel if our young guns turn it around, Kent will be an afterthought. Martin, Kemp, and Loney playing on all cylinders could probably carry the team.)

2. The second thing hurting our offense is Juan Pierre. Well, really, what it is is lack of a good leadoff hitter. There are two parts to this point. People will argue Juan Pierre is a good leadoff hitter because of his speed. Well, unfortunately, speed will only do so much for you. You still need to be a good hitter. You also need to be able to hit the ball or draw some walks as a leadoff hitter, and preferably, more than once a game. When Rafael Furcal went down with his injury, he had a .448 On-base percentage. Juan Pierre currently has a .343 OBP. When we were winning with Furcal, he was got on base in every game he played in except one, and got on base two or more times, through walk or base hit, in 21 of his 32 games, including getting on base three or more times in nine of those games (three games, he reached base five times). Juan Pierre has failed to get on base in 14 of the 59 games he's player. He's reached base two or more times in 22 of the 59 games he's played, just one more than Furcal. Juan Pierre has gotten on base three or more times in eight of those games. For the most part, Pierre is giving the Dodgers one shot per game to drive him in, and for an offense that is struggling as it is, that is not going to help anything. So, obviously, Juan Pierre doesn't get on base as often as Rafael Furcal, that's part one. Part two of this point, is that Pierre doesn't get nearly as many extra base hits as Furcal did. Sure, Pierre will get a base hit, he wait a few pitches, then steal second, wait a few more, maybe steal third, or possibly be pushed over by the batter. The problem with this is you are forcing the number two batter to take a lot of pitches and you are now impacting his ability to get a hit. They are supposed to sit there and take pitches while Pierre works on figuring out the pitcher's move to first, then picks his time to run. Meanwhile, Andre Ethier or whoever is in the 2nd spot is now down 0-2 in the count. Pierre has just eight extra base hits on the season, all of them doubles. Rafael Furcal had 19 extra base hits before he was hurt (12 doubles, two triples, and five home runs). The value of extra base hits is such because it allows the next batter to wait on a pitch they want to hit, not be forced to take pitches so the runner can get into scoring position. And while you don't expect a lead-off hitter to be a big time homerun hitter, sometimes, it's nice to just get an easy run. Juan Pierre hasn't hit a homerun since September 18th, 2006. Finally, Juan Pierre has been caught stealing (or picked off) six times in 32 stolen base attempts. For a guy who deals mainly in speed, getting caught that many times is pretty bad. Juan Pierre isn't nearly the leadoff hitter that Furcal is and until Furcal gets back, or Pierre plays to Furcal's level, we are going to have some issues.

3. The third thing hurting our offense is simple: Mark Sweeney. Yes, I know he's not really in the everyday line-up and has had only 51 at-bats all year, but he's only got six hits in those at-bats. He can't run, he can't really play defense, so why is he around? Some have said it's because he provides a veteran presence in the clubhouse. That's interesting, I've heard about older players who are veteran presences in the clubhouse... I believe their called "coaches." If I was in management, I would politely ask Mark Sweeney if he would like to retire and join the coaching staff, that way, he can still be a veteran presence. If he still wants to play, release him and let him try and find a job elsewhere, but just not here. He's taking up a roster spot from someone like Terry Tiffee or John Lindsey who deserve to be here by now. He's also taking at-bats. I would have taken almost anyone in the DH role yesterday but him.

The worst part about all this is that aside from the third point, the other two aren't fixable yet. Furcal looks like he might be out longer than originally thought (possibly to July now) and Pierre shows no signs of getting miraculously better. The kids will probably continue to remain inconsistent until they mature to be the hitters a lot of us feel they can be. Until then, we can just grin and bear it and keep the small hope that Arizona is only 5.5 games ahead and we've got about another 100 to go.

Tigers 5, Dodgers 0

The Dodger's offense was shut down again, this time by the Tigers, who before last night, had not had a shutout on the season.

Armando Galarraga got the win, he's 6-2. Derek Lowe gets the loss, he's 4-6. Freddy Dolsi went two innings to get his 2nd save on the season.

Derek Lowe's pitching performance was not bad. He went seven innnings, giving up three runs, only two of which were earned and struck out five. Unfortunately for Lowe though, Armando Galarraga pitched better. He also struck out five over seven innings, but he gave up no runs over those seven innings.

The big story in the game, however, would have to be the offense, or lack thereof. The Dodgers were shut out for the second straight game and have now not scored a run since Andy LaRoche's solo shot against Randy Wolf in the fourth inning of Wednesday's game. Of course, that was the only run scored in that game, so for the better part of the Dodger's last 27 innings, they've been outscored 18-1. Yesterday was very similar in that the Dodger's didn't just not get timely hitting, they hardly even threatened to score a run. There were only two scoring opportunities in yesterday's game, and both came with two outs. In the second inning, James Loney tripled and Andy LaRoche walked with two outs before Mark Sweeney, starting at DH, struck out swinging. Juan Pierre got to third base in the sixth inning with two outs before Jeff Kent grounded out to end the inning. There are three things that are hurting out offense right now. I'm make a post about them later. For now, the Dodger take another loss.

Brad Penny takes on Eddie Bonine tomorrow at 12:55 L.A. time.