Dodgers Rebound Nicely

And they have yet to lose more than two games in a row all season. Quite an accomplishment after 52 games, roughly 32% into the new season. They improve to 35-17 after roughing up the Cubs for a five-run first inning en route to a 8-2 win. I missed the first three innings of the game, but saw later that the Dodgers led off the game with five straight hits, and never really looked back. Matt Kemp hit his fifth home run of the season, and Eric Milton stymied the Cubs for nearly six solid innings of work. Jamie Hoffmann, starting in right field tonight, made a spectacular catch in the second inning and turned it into a double play with a solid throw to home plate to nail the runner trying to tag up from third.

The Blue return to Chavez Ravine for a three-game series with Arizona starting tomorrow. As expected, Hiroki Kiroda will in fact be activated from the DL tomorrow and get the start.

Longest Game in NCAA History Ends in 25

No, that isn't a typo. And yes, that is innings, as in 25 innings. I didn't see the game, only heard about it later. Texas defeated Boston College 3-2 yesterday in a College World Series Regionals game. Here's the box score from the game, but here are a couple of the highlights:

Texas scored their three runs on 20 hits. They also used just three pitchers in the 25 inning marathon. Austin Wood, a reliever for the Longhorns, threw 120 of his 169 pitches for strikes. And, Texas actually led in this game 2-0 back in the second inning, before BC scored single runs in the fourth and sixth innings. The game remained tied at two for the next 18 innings before an RBI single in the top of the 25th inning gave Texas the lead.

BC was right back at it today. They had to win an early game against Army in order to advance and play Texas again later in the day. Unfortunately, the Eagles lost to Army, 4-3, and were eliminated as their season came to an end. Had BC won their game against Army, and defeated Texas in an afternoon contest, they would have played again Monday, against... yep, you guessed it... Texas.

Sunday Tidbits

The Blue have dropped the last two at Wrigley, and the offense has sputtered since leaving Coors Field Wednesday. Yesterday, they lost 7-0 and were never really heard from all afternoon.

Meanwhile, because of the sore thumb on his pitching hand, Eric Stults, who was yesterday's losing pitcher, has been placed on the DL. Travis Schlicting has been promoted and will likely pitch out of the pen as Hiroki Kiroda is expected to be activated in time to start Monday's game at the Ravine against Arizona.

Today's game is the ESPN Sunday Night Game of the Week. Eric Milton gets the nod against Sean Marshall.

Dodgers Lose at Wrigley

The Cubs got a little help from the umpires today in the eighth inning, and their bullpen got out of a couple of messes to beat the Dodgers 2-1. They got the tie-breaking run on a bases-loaded sac fly off Billingsley in the seventh inning. In the eighth, after pinch-hitter Rafael Furcal walked, Juan Pierre squared around to bunt on a pitch as Furcal broke for second base. However, the pitch broke towards Pierre's back foot, and hit him as he pulled the bat back. Pierre should have been awarded first base. Instead, the umpires convened to discuss it and ruled that Pierre swung at the pitch for a strike, thus nullifying Pierre being hit, and sending Furcal back to first. A couple of pitches later, Pierre hit into a double-play, even though replays showed Pierre had beaten the throw to first.

The loss snaps the Blue's four-game winning streak, who are now 34-16 overall. Tomorrow's game is a FOX game starting at 3:10 Chicago time. Eric Stults opposes Ryan Dempster.

An Old Friend In New Places

Just in: Clint Hurdle has been dismissed by the Rockies as manager and he's been replaced by former Dodger manager Jim Tracy. Tracy was the Rockies bench coach this season under Hurdle.

Also, Hiroki Kuroda is expected to return to the Dodger rotation on Monday to face the D-backs. More on this later.

As we speak, the Dodgers are now locked in a 1-1 tie in Chicago with the Cubs. Matt Kemp hit a two-out solo home run in the top of the 7th inning, but the Cubs came right back in the bottom half as former Dodger backup catcher Koyie Hill took Chad Billingsley's first pitch of the inning deep for the equalizer. The Cubs now have the bases loaded with one out...

Two Close Calls

Yesterday, the Blue completed a sweep of last place Colorado to improve to 33-15, but the Dodger pen made it very interesting in the ninth inning, so much so that Jonathan Broxton had to make 40+ pitches just to get the last two outs after the Rockies cut the lead from 8-3 to 8-6. Eventually, Broxton would get those last two outs without any further damage, and the Rockies would leave the bases loaded in the process.

Almost the very same scenario played out tonight in Chicago at Wrigley Field. The Dodgers got two quick runs early in the game, and Randy Wolf made it stand up for seven innings, until he gave up a lead-off solo home run in the eighth inning to cut the lead to 2-1. Wolf was then yanked for Ramon Troncoso who made it interesting in both the eighth and ninth innings. The Cubs loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but failed to score, as Troncoso got two big strikeouts to the end the game as the Cubs, too, left the bases loaded.

Final score: 2-1, Dodgers. Dodgers improve to 34-15, by far the best record in the league.

I can't imagine what goes through Joe Torre's mind when he sees the bullpen cut these games so close, but it sure is nerve-racking for me, and I'm not on the team. Either way, it's nice to see them continue to prove to the baseball world that this team is, in fact, a team, and not Manny plus 24 other guys. Every day or night, someone else is coming up big for the Blue, whether it be someone getting a big hit, or a pitcher getting a big out somewhere. Yesterday it was James Loney coming up with a huge bases-clearing double that broke a close game open, and tonight, it was all pitching from Wolf and Troncoso. And tomorrow, it will probably be someone else.

Wild Night & Day

Carlos Zambrano. What a nutcase this guy is.

Yesterday in his start against the Pirates, he threw a wild pitch in the 7th inning with a runner on third. The runner, Nyjer Morgan, broke for home as Cubs catcher Geovany Soto went to retrieve the ball. Soto threw the ball to Zambrano covering home plate. Both Zambrano and Morgan reached home at the same time, and Zambrano applied the tag for what appeared to be an out. But the home plate umpire, Mark Carlson called Morgan safe, and Zambrano went nuts!

Zambrano began to plead his case with Carlson. They got in each other's faces before they bumped each other during the arguing. Zambrano was subsequently thrown out of the game. Zambrano then "threw" Carlson out of the game, and after Cubs manager Lou Piniella came out to argue, as well, Zambrano slowly started walking away from the scene. When he crossed the foul line near the front end of the Cubs dugout with the ball still in his hand, he turned and launched the ball into the left field bleachers. He then hurled his glove in the direction of the dugout, and when he got into the dugout, he continued his heated tirade, finishing it off by taking a bat to the side of a soda machine near the entrance to the clubhouse form the dugout.

Replays showed the umpire had made the right call. Morgan just got his left hand under the tag before Zambrano applied the tag. That run tied the game at two, but the Cubs would eventually regain the lead and hold on for a 5-2 win. However, after reviewing the play today, MLB got the last laugh, suspending Zambrano for six games (one start). An appeal is likely on behalf of the union, and Zambrano might be able to get the suspension reduced by a game.

But I suppose he will never learn. Piniella couldn't keep from laughing afterwards during the post-game news conference when asked about it, but clearly indicated that Zambrano needs to "tone it down." Coming from Piniella, that's pretty funny itself. But in reality, he's right. It's one thing to argue or dispute a close call like that, and then just walk away when it's obvious you aren't going to winthe argument. But Zambrano always chooses to take it one step further, like he did yesterday, then later claim, he's "just a competitor." C'mon, Carlos. Competitors don't lose their cool like that over one questionable call. Be a man and accept responsibility for your actions.

Later in the evening, in another wild game, there was a disputed home run in the Nationals/Mets game. With a runner on first, Daniel Murphy hit what appeared to be a home run in the sixth inning, but was ruled a double on the field. The runner, Gary Sheffield, pulled up and slowed down as he apporached home plate thinking it was a home run, but was tagged out before he could cross home plate. But the Mets disputed that the ball was in fact a home run.

The Mets argued that Murphy's liner hit a yellow and white Subway ad on the facade of the second deck in right field, which hangs about eight feet over the field. The ball landed back in the field of play and was ruled in play. However, replays were inconclusive and couldn't clearly confirm the Mets' claim of a home run. But when the umpires re-emerged from underneath the stands on the third base side after reviewing the play, they overturned the call and field and ruled it a home run.

I watched numerous video replays on mlb.com, espn.com, ESPNEWS, SportsCenter, MLB Network, SNY, who carried the game for the Mets, and MASN, who had the game for Washington. It wasn't until MLB Network froze the frame and enlarged it that you could really see anything. I was able to barely see the ball graze the sign, but it still wasn't conclusive enough, in my opinion, for the umpires to overturn it. That said, the Mets caught a break, and the Nationals got robbed.

And what made the game even weirder on top of all that, if it's even possible, was Mets starter Johan Santana wasn't his usual dominant self. He struck out 11 in six innings, but was visibly off tonight as he threw 120 pitches while walking six, very uncharacteristic of Santana. And he gave up a mammoth of a home run to Adam Dunn, who launched a 465-blast into the right field seats.

But what was characteristic of the Mets in this game, was another player, this time rookie outfielder Fernando Martinez, playing in just his second career major league game, failing to run out an infield pop-up that was dropped. He was thrown out at first, and was booed mercilessly his next time up. In the end, though, the Mets pulled out a 7-4 win.

This afternoon, in another weird game in Minnesota, both starting catchers and both managers were ejected from the game. In the seventh inning of the Red Sox/Twins game, after Jason Varitek his his second home run of the game to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead, Dustin Pedroia hit a sacrifice fly to right field. The runner at third tagged up and hustled home to try and score, but Jason Kubel made a perfect throw to Mike Redmond at home plate, and applied the tag. However, home plate umpire, Todd Tichenor called the runner safe, and the run was applied making it 3-1 Red Sox.

Redmond began to plead his case and was tossed almost immediately, prompting Twins manager Ron Gardenhire to come out and argue, who was then ejected by Tichenor, as well. Replays showed that the runner was out.

Joe Mauer, usually the everyday catcher for the Twins, was acting as the DH today, so when Redmond was ejected, Mauer had to take over behind the plate, and the Twins were forced to give up their DH for the last three innings.

Then in the bottom of the inning, Varitek tried to frame a pitch for a called third strike on Brendan Harris. But when he didn't get that call, Varitek turned around and started arguing with Tichenor, who then tossed him. Then Terry Francona came out to defend Varitek, and he was then tossed. Replays on the disputed pitch showed the ball was a few inches outside the strike zone.

Despite all the ejections and arguing, the Red Sox prevailed, 3-1, and regained a half game lead in first place in the AL East over the Yankees.

I've seen a lot of weird things over the years, but it's been a long time since I've seen so many in such a short period of time.

Dodgers Roll Again

The Blue cruised to yet another win, beating the Rockies 7-1 at Coors Field tonight. Eric Milton got his first win as a Dodger, his first overall in nearly three years, and Casey Blake continued his red-hot hitting with a bases-clearing double in the 5th inning that gave the Dodgers a 4-0 lead they would never relinquish. Juan Pierre added three more hits with a couple of RBI, and the O-dog chipped in with two hits, extending his hitting streak to 16 games. Dodgers improve to 32-15, and coupled with San Diego's loss in Arizona tonight, snapping a 10-game win streak, the Dodger lead in the NL West is now 8½ games.

Clayton Kershaw takes the bump tomorrow, opposing Ubaldo Jimenez in a 12:10 PT matinee.

Meanwhile, the early All-Star Game voting leaders were released today, and O-dog is third among NL second basemen, and amazingly, but not surprisingly, Manny is fourth overall among NL outfielders. Speaking of Manny, he is back in L.A. working out at Chavez Ravine while the team is on their current road trip through Denver and Chicago.

Seeing Red and Stars & Stripes

In a nice tribute to honor the memory of all the brave men and women who have lost their lives fighting for our freedom in the armed forces, all MLB players, coaches and umpires wore red caps today on Memorial Day, with stars & stripes inside the logo on the cap.

Above, is a sample featuring the Dodgers Stars & Stripes cap worn this afternoon, although it would have been nice if teams were given the option of wearing blue caps instead of red.

All of the caps are available for purchase on MLB.com and the manufacturer's site, neweracap.com.

Dodgers Rout Rockies

Nice start to the road trip. After a 90-minute rain delay, the Blue got off to a great start, pushing across seven runs in the 4th inning for a 7-0 lead. The Rockies slowly began to chip away at the lead in the middle innings, getting as close as 7-6 before a season-high eight-run 7th by the Dodgers blew the game wide open. They added one more in the 9th to win 16-6.

Both Andre Ethier and Rafael Furcal sat out today's game. Ethier's big toe on his right foot is still sore after he foulded a pitch off it on Saturday night. Furcal was a late scratch from the lineup with tightness in his rear-end area. (Go ahead, insert your jokes here.) He's expected to be back in the lineup Tuesday.

The Dodgers are now a league-best 31-15 and continue to lead the NL in most offensive and pitching categories, and are near the top in the majors in some of those categories, as well.

Hopefully their rout will rub off on the Lakers, who are also in Denver tonight for their playoff game with the Nuggets. Oddly enough, the two L.A. teams are staying at the same hotel in downtown Denver, although the Lakers will be checking-out after tonight's game to head back to L.A. for a Game 5 on Wednesday.

Dodgers Wrap Up Homestand

The Dodgers tried valiantly to keep the game close today, but the Angel bats were just too much for the bullpen today. In the end, the Dodgers lost 10-7, and they continue to struggle against the American League, particularly the Angels. For whatever reason, Mike Scioscia has Joe Torre's number, no matter what team Torre is managing, just like Torre's teams always seem to have their way with the Mets, as they did earlier in the week. The L.A. teams had split the past 18 at Dodger Stadium before today's game, but the Red now have a 39-31 advantage overall since the inception of interleague, and are 35-22 against the Blue since 2000.

Still, despite losing the series to the Angels, the Dodgers maintain the league's best record at 30-15, and are still a league-best 18-5 at home with a 7½ game lead over second place San Diego, who won their 9th straight game today, all at home. They wrapped up the short homestand 4-2, sweeping the Mets three straight before losing two of three to the Angels.

Next up for the Dodgers, they hit the road for three in Denver starting tomorrow, where they'll join the Lakers, who will be playing Game 4 of their Western Conference Playoff series against the Nuggets at Pepsi Center, before heading off to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field in Chicago for four this weekend.

Walk-Off Walk and Rookie Heroics

Winning on walk-off walks seems to be becoming more and more common for the Blue this year. Last night they eeked one out in 10 innings, beating the Halos 5-4 on a bases-loaded walk by Juan Pierre. The Dodgers finally got some timely hitting with runners in scoring position last night in the late innings. The Dodgers strated their rally after trailing 4-1 on a solo homerun from Juan Rivera, and a three-run job by Torii Hunter. Torii also made two great catches in the game, one while crashing into the wall and taking at least a double awayfrom Casey Blake, and maybe saving a run.

Meanwhile, in today's game, Dodger rookie outfielder Jamie Hoffmann, making his first start of his career in place of an injured Andre Ethier, who injured his big toe last night when he fouled a pitch off of it, came up with two on and no outs in the second inning and a run already in and smacked a three-run home run into the left field pavilion for his first home run of his career, giving the Dodgers a 4-0 lead early off Angel starter Matt Palmer. Hoffmann was called up two days ago when Xavier Paul was put on the DL with a staph infection on his knee. For Hoffmann, it was just his third at bat of his career.

Unfortunately, the 4-0 second inning lead has all but evaporated for the Dodgers in the top of the sixth inning today. The Angels have battled all the way back off Chad Billinsgley, and now have a 5-4 lead. Torii Hunter made another spectacular catch in the fifth inning when he crashed into the wall again and took an extra base hit away from Matt Kemp. Torii appeared to be hurt at first, and stayed down for a few minutes before getting back up and remaining in the game. Hunter just scored the go-ahead run for the Angels on a Kendry Morales sac fly.

A Sweep and Interleague

Well, that was a nice ending to the Mets series. Dodgers complete a three-game sweep and improved their record to 29-13 (17-3 at home). But then last night happened.

During the Mets series, the Dodger offense started showing signs of living dangerously, and last night it caught up with them. It seems the Dodgers are starting to find it a wee-bit difficult to hit with runners in scoring position, and last night it proved to be costly as the Angels won the first game of their interleague matchup this weekendm handing the Dodgers a rare loss at home.

Clayton Kershaw didn't pitch very well either, but got lucky because the Angel bats had just as much trouble with runners in scoring position as the Dodgers did. The difference? While the Dodgers couldn't do anything against Angels starter Jered Weaver or the Angels pen, the Angels got that big hit when they needed it, and it turned out to be the game winner when Chone Figgins singled in two runs with the bases loaded in the 8th inning off losing pitcher Cory Wade.

The defense was pretty good in this game, as well. Most notably, Angel centerfielder Torii Hunter made two spectacular catches in the game, one of which probably saved an extra base hit off the bat of Casey Blake, and perhaps a run.

And, by the way, what has happened to Andre Ethier? His bat has gone comletely cold, and quiet, since Manny's suspension. I know the kid is a very good hitter, and a solid player, but it's become quite apparent that his offense has suffered immensely without Manny hitting in front of him. It is nice to see, however, Juan Pierre still tearing the cover off the ball in Manny's absence. Obviously Pierre doesn't possess the same power as Manny, but he's certainly proving his worth to this team by getting on base and being the table-setter for the offense. The Dodgers lead the Majors with 44 first inning runs.

Here is tonight's lineup, as the Dodgers send Randy Wolf to face off against Angels ace John Lackey, making just his third start of the season.

Holiday Weekend Musings

Memorial Day is a time where we remember. We remember those brave men and women who have lost their lives fighting for our freedom. Memorial Day weekend is generally referred to as the unofficial start of summer, as well. And when one thinks of the summer here in America, one might think baseball, our national pasttime. That said, let's take a look back at the past week around the league.

Padres ace Jake Peavy was traded to the Chicago White Sox, but was never traded. Peavy, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, exercised that right and vetoed a deal to South Siders after the Padres and White Sox agreed in principle to a deal. Apparently, he saw the White Sox losing 20-1 earlier in the day to the Twins, and said, "No thanks!"

Speaking of the Twinkies, Michael Cuddyer became the second Twins player this year to hit for the cycle when he did it in four at-bats last night. Jason Kubel hit for the cycle back in April, as well.

A trade that did happen had the Brewers sending Tony Gwynn, Jr. to the Padres for Jody Gerut. The Padres are hoping Gwynn can bring back memories of when they were actually good.

David Ortiz finally smacked his first homerun of the season this week. Afterwards, he thanked Jobu for helping him take the fear off his bat. With the season now around the quarter mark, that puts Big Papi on pace for a whopping four homeruns!

Meanwhile, I had Florida's Ricky Nolasco as a runner-up, or at least a candidate, for NL Cy Young this year. All he's done in nine games and starts is go 2-5 with a 9.07 ERA. On Friday, the Marlins sent him down to AAA. I guess he won't be winning the Cy Young award this year.

Last night, Mets pitcher Johan Santana hit Boston's Kevin Youkilis on the elbow in a close game. As Youkilis walked towards first base, he turned and smiled at Santana, who took exception to the look and started jawing with Youkilis. Tempers flared but order was restored. The last time I gave that same look to someone, I didn't get sex for a month.

Interleague got underway for a quick teaser this weekend with some interesting matchups. The National League teams are hoping to get a head start in the head-to-head competition with the American League by pitting one NL team against another in at least one matchup throughout interleague. The hope is those wins will count as interleague wins and help the NL narrow the gap with AL, who have dominated interleague since its inception in the mid-1990s.

And finally, Tampa Bay scratched its plans for a new retractable-roof, waterfront park in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. The team instead will attempt to find a location a bit further to the north where the population doubles, and hopes that might attract new businesses and a larger fan base. Somehow, McGriff Cove doesn't have the same ring to it as McCovey Cove does in San Francisco.

Scott Schoeneweis' Wife Found Dead

This just came across the wire. Diamondbacks relief pitcher Scott Schoeneweis' 39-year old wife, Gabrielle, was found unconscious and unresponsive earlier today by their 14-year old daughter on the master bedroom floor of their Arizona home. No other information was made available other than authorities saying they are not treating this as a homicide, however, they haven't ruled anything out. Schoeneweis left the team in Florida where the D-backs were playing the Marlins to fly back to Arizona to be with his family.

Our condolences go out to the Schoeneweis family.

A Near No-No and a Mets Mess

Let's start with last night's game since it was quite a spectacle. In all my years of watching baseball, I've seen some bizarre things, some ugly games, you name it. And last night's game against the Mets was certainly one of those games.

Fast forward to the top of the 11th inning of a 2-2 tie, the Mets had already committed three errors in this game, two by shortstop Ramon Martinez, just called up by the Mets to start at short with Jose Reyes still out for what is being described as an injury, and Alex Cora, Reyes's back-up, who just landed on the DL with a injured finger he wrecked the night before sliding into second base. With Ryan Church at first and Angel Pagan at the dish for the NYers, Pagan sent a ball into the right-center field gap for what appeared to be a run-scoring triple, and a 3-2 lead for the Mets. But as the ball was being relayed back into the infield, Dodger third baseman Mark Loretta was summoning for the ball to be thrown over to him. Once he had the ball, he jogged over to third base, stepped on the bag, and the third base umpire called someone out. Apparently, Ryan Church had missed third base when he was rounding the bag on Pagan's hit. On the television replays, you could see both Loretta and the umpire watching Church and/or the bag as he rounded it to score. The run was nullified, the inning was over, the Mets were stunned, and the Dodgers were still tied 2-2.

Then in the bottom half of the inning, the Mets made two more costly errors that resulted in the winning run for the Dodgers. After Loretta walked to lead off the inning, Xavier Paul hit a fly ball to left-center field. Both Pagan and centerfielder Carlos Beltran called for it. Then at the last second, the ball dropped between them, and the ball rolled to the wall. Beltran was credited with the error. Juan Pierre was then walked intentionally. One out later, with Beltran now acting as a fifth infielder right in front of second base with the infield playing in at the grass, Orlando Hudson sent a little grounder to first base. Jeremy Reed, usually an outfielder, fielded the ball and threw to home plate to get the force out there, but instead threw the ball wide of the catcher, allowing Loretta to score the winning run. Dodgers win 3-2.

This was about as wild a game as I can ever remember. The Mets essentially gave the Dodgers the game in the 11th. And what's got to be more humiliating than anything for the Mets, was the fact they played the game as if they weren't a first place team. Just about every error and mistake the Mets made last night proved to be costly. They deserved to lose. And to make matters worse, they have to face Chad Billingsley tonight, who is 5-1 with an ERA of about 2.20 on the season.

Mets fans can cry all they want about the umpires hosing their team, or cry all they want about the Church call at third base, but when you commit five errors in a game, you have no business winning the game. The Dodgers played a flawless game, made some great defensive plays, and got great pitching from starter Randy Wolf, who went 7 2/3 of an inning while making just 93 pitches, and the bullpen. Tim Redding wasn't so bad himself, but defensive miscues and base-running blunders clearly cost the Mets a game they could have won.

I purposely saved the Clayton Kershaw near no-hitter because I wanted people to realize and understand how good this kid really is. When you have people like Sandy Koufax raving about him, and people like Vin Scully making comparisons to Koufax, you almost know the kid is gonna be something special.

On Sunday afternoon, Kershaw was something special. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and was masterful doing so in a 12-5 win over the Marlins. And don't let the score deceive you. Four of the five runs came in the ninth inning off Guillermo Mota on a Cody Ross grand slam, long after Kershaw left the game. In fact, the score was 12-0 when Kershaw gave up the lone hit he allowed.

That win capped off a 4-2 road trip as the Blue won two series. As it stands now, after last nights "win" over the Mets, the Dodgers continue to carry the best record in baseball at 27-13. They have a 6½ game lead in the standings over the Hated Ones to the North, they have league best 15-3 home record, they've score the most runs in the NL, second most in baseball, given up the fewest, have the best run differential in baseball, have the best team batting average in the NL, third in the league overall, have the best on-base percentage in baseball, have the best team ERA in the NL, second best in baseball, and their starters have the best collective ERA in baseball.

If the teams outside of the NL West, sans the Dodgers, are considered to be the elite teams, then the Dodgers are doing just fine with them. And they're doing just fine, so far, without Manny Ramirez. It's good to be a Dodger fan these days!

Batting Third for the Rays, Pitcher, Andy Sonnanstine

Talk about more bizarreness this weekend. We've seen managers botch double-switches before. But never before since the DH was implemented in the AL in 1974 have I ever seen what I saw Sunday.

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon botched his lineup card and accidently had two third-baseman in his starting lineup. By handing the umpires his lineup card with the error, the Rays subsequently forfeited their DH, and Evan Longoria, who was the intended DH for the Rays. So with the mixup, Rays starting pitcher Andy Sonnanstine was officially penciled in as the third hitter in the lineup, and eventually came up with a key double in the Rays 7-5 win over Cleveland.

Sonnanstine became the first pitcher to start an AL-only game since 1976 to appear in a starting lineup as a hitter. He finished the game 1-for-3 at the plate with the aforementioned RBI double.

Mini Streak is Over

The Blue were on a little mini three-game streak that came to a crashing end tonight with a 6-3 loss in Miami. First time since 2007 the Marlins have beaten the Dodgers at home, which is now called Land Shark Stadium. The field was littered with reflective strands from give-away pom poms that were wind driven onto the field after some of the poms poms were thrown by kids in the general direction of the Dodger pen in the left field corner.

Dodgers actually led in this game but with the score tied 2-2 in the 6th, Jeff Weaver relieved the newest AARP member to join the team in recent weeks, Eric Milton, and gave up a two-out, two-run homerun to Marlins catcher, Scott Baker. The Fish never looked back. Milton was called up from AAA Albuquerque yesterday to replace James McDonald, who was sent down. Weaver was then yanked from the rotation and thrown back out into a pen desperate for arms. The addition of Milton in the rotation gives the Blue four lefties in the rotation (Milton, Kershaw, Wolf and Stults).

The Dodgers impressively won the final two games of their three game series in Philly earlier in the week, then hung on as the Marlins nearly rallied against Jonathan Broxton in ninth inning last night. While Broxton was able to get the last out before the tying runs could score last night, he couldn't get that last out on Thursday, blowing a 3-1 lead with two outs, and costing Chad Billingsley another well deserved win. It was the second time Broxton had blown a possible win for Billingsley. But once again, the offense rallied, and Broxton was awarded the win. Broxton now has four wins and nine saves in 11 tries. Speaking of the offense, both Juan Pierre and Russell Martin have been red-hot of late, especially Pierre since replacing Manny in the lineup.

Kershaw takes the bump for the Blue tomorrow in the road trip finale. A series win would be nice heading back home with the Mets and Angels waiting in the wings on the next homestand. Speaking of the Angels, anyone see John Lackey get tossed today after throwing just two pitches? Pretty comical, if you ask me!

Did Anyone Else Just See That?

The Angels-Rangers game here in Arlington was scheduled for a 3:05 start local time. John Lackey, who just came off the DL today, was to make his first start of the season for the Angels. But rain delayed the start of the game about 80 minutes. The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first before Lackey took the mound. Then the strange happened. Two guys in the lineup have hit Lackey very well in the past, including leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler. (Rangers just tie it up on a sac fly, 1-1.) Lackey's first pitch of his season, to Kinsler, was behind him. No harm done. Maybe he's still a little rusty. Lackey's second pitch was no better. It hit Kinsler. Home plate umpire Bob Davidson quickly tosses Lackey from the game. After two pitches. No warnings were given. I swear, I have never seen anything like this before in my life! Mike Scioscia came out to argue, to no avail. And Lackey was stunned. And rightfully so. I'm not sure there was any intent there to hit him. But it is what it is. Shane Loux has now taken over for Lackey. Strange.

Lost in Transition?

Suddenly, the Dodgers can't buy a win. Sans Manny, the team dropped to 1-4, but still have a nice record of 22-12 overall. They no longer have the best record in the league, and they're playing like they're the worst team in the league. Case in point:

The Blue started a six-game trip yesterday in Philly, and jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. They led 2-1 when the wheels fell off and Philly took a 4-2 lead of a struggling Clayton Kershaw, who, once again, threw far too many pitches in the early innings. Then, the strange happened. In the seventh inning, with one out, former Dodger Jayson Werth singled and stole second. An out later, Jimmy Rollins was intentionally walked and the two pulled off a double-steal, with Werth taking third. After a quick pitching change, a rare feat occured when, after a Ronald Belisario pitch to Pedro Feliz, as Russell Martin was tossing the ball back to Belisario, Werth broke for home and stole home under the return throw from Belisario and tag by Martin.

The Dodgers would eventually make it interesting in the ninth off Philly closer Brad Lidge, getting three straight hits for a run, and then almost tying it when a Juan Pierre fly ball to deep center almost carried over Shane Victorino's head but was instead caught as Victorino made on acrobatic running catch. But its situations like the one in the seventh inning that are troubling. You just simply can not take a nap as a pitcher, or a catcher, when you have runners on base like that, especially in a close game with a runner as smart as Werth (who already had three stolen bases in the game, let alone the two in the inning) standing at third base.

Obviously, Manny can't help in those situations, and the offense, while its cooled off just a tad, could certainly use Manny's bat in the lineup again. Andre Ethier hasn't done a thing really, since the suspension. Fortuantely, Orlando Hudson has been red-hot, and Juan Pierre has been tearing the cover off the ball as if his job depended on it again, but then again, he's no Manny.

As for Manny, still no sign of him. He was apparently in L.A. last week, but according to a couple of the players who have spoken to him briefly by phone, he's been too distraught to talk right now. The Dodgers are in Florida this weekend, where Manny usually makes his off-season home. Manny is back in Miami now, and it's still very hopeful that Manny will will make an appearance and address his teammates in some way, shape or form.

But there's still two more games to be played in Philly. Randy Wolf goes for the Blue tonight against his former team, and will oppose the old man Jamie Moyer. The Thursday, in an afternoon matinee, the marquee match-up of the series, Chad Billingsley takes on Cole Hamels.

On a couple of other notes, Hiroki Kuroda and Jason Schmidt are both on their road back from injuries, Kuroda much sooner than Schmidt, obviously. But after some bullpen sessions, batting practices, simulated games and rehab starts, all is looking good and promising for both pitchers.

Bullpen

I think it's safe to agree with Ned Colletti when he said he was still concerned about the pitching. The bullpen again coughed up a lead late in a game vacated by a starting pitcher who left with a lead. And one has to wonder, how much longer can this team rely on guys like Guillermo Mota, who was today's victim. Instead of leaving home with a 6.5 game lead on the Giants, their lead is now 4.5 games. And they head to Philly and Florida and face two very tought teams in their parks. Now, the real test comes. How does this team respond on the road, where they are a .500 team, after losing 3 of 4 at home in spite of Manny's suspension? Still have 46 games to show us what kind of team this really is.

Weekend Game Thoughts, and More on Manny

Jeff Weaver is following up yesterday's gem by Eric Stults with one of his today. Yesterday, the Blue earned their first win post-Manny's suspension with another scoring outburst, beating the Hated Ones To The North 8-0. Stults pitched a complete game, four-hit shutout, the second of his career, and improved his season record to 4-1 one, lowering his ERA a full run to below 4. Today, against Giants' ace Tim Lincecum, the Dodgers have tallied four runs so far through five innings, and have staked Weaver to a two-run lead. As we speak, Weaver is being pulled from the game with five solid innings after giving up a lead-off double to Randy Winn here in the sixth.

Really, though, the story of the game, and in the four games since Manny started serving his 50-gamer, has been Juan Pierre. Originally supposed to be a regular everyday player when he was signed three off-seasons ago, and now getting a chance again with Manny out, all Pierre has done is tear the cover off the ball, coming up with big hits, and scoring key runs. Pierre, with two more hits today, is hitting well over. 400 for the season, albeit, still in limited chances.

(Ramon Troncoso enters the game.)

So far, in the three plus games sans Manny, the Dodgers have scored 24 runs, an average of six runs a game (if the current score holds up) through four games, up from their season average per game. So far, the offense hasn't really lost a beat.

If you were watching the game on TV in the third inning, Vin Scully interviewed Frank McCourt after he and GM Ned spoke by phone yesterday with Manny. McCourt basically echoed his disappointment with Manny, and said he was pleased with the conversation he had with Manny. McCourt said Manny has taken full responsibility for his actions. The key component of the conversation,however, was to make sure Manny knew it was important for him to speak with his teammates, as well as the fans. McCourt expects this to happen soon, and he expects to see Manny back on the field for workouts (and to support his teammates during games from the clubhouse) in very near future, perhaps as early as next weekend when the team travels to Florida to play the Marlins.

Now, I'm not going to get into the logistics of L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke's thought process into the whole Manny debacle, other than to say I completely disagree with him, and I think he's completely lost his mind. The article he wrote showing his displeasure for Manny, and his tirade on ESPNEWS on Wednesday afternoon was pretty comical, and in a nutshell, moronic. To counter this, Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts pretty much echoed how I feel about the whole mess, Plaschke, Kurt Streeter, also from the Times, and many other media members, such as some of the goons at the Big Four-Letter Network, Dodger and baseball fans.

(And for another similar, and more comical take on Plaschke's superb professional journalism, check out this bit over at Fire Ned Colletti Now.

It took me some time to get my thoughts together and figure out exactly how I felt about it all, and Weisman pretty much hit the head on the nail with his comments today. And let's not forget, I still don't care that players have been juicing, because the game has never been on a level playing field anyway.

In any case, as a Dodger fan, I still support Manny, and will when he comes back. I too am a bit saddened that it came to this, but it is what it is, and there's nothing we can do about it.

Manny Busted for PEDs; The Streak

UPDATE (12:20 PM CT): Just read some interesting facts, or rumors, take your pick. Apparently, Manny is attributing the positive test result to a prescribed medication that he's been taking, or was. He's been told he can't speak publicly about any of this, so we'll never really know, and will people even believe him anyway? But it's gotten to a point where you almost have to think that the testing has become so rigorous that you can't even take aspirin or ibuprofen for a headache, or Robitussin or Claritin for head colds or allergy issues. There has to be a fine line on what you can and can not take. Does anyone really think after all the trouble people like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens and A-Rod got into, that a player of Manny's stature, with an agent as powerful and knowledgable as Scott Boras, would be dumb enough to take any PEDs to get a competitive edge? Still, as the old say goes, inquiring minds want to know.

**********
Well, so much for that. The streak is intact. Manny is not. Just heard, read, learned, whatever you wanna call it, that Manny will be suspended by MLB for Performance-enhancing drugs. Here's my next question: When was the test taken, and when did he take whatever it was he took? We'll never know. (But I only ask this because he hasn't been with the Dodgers very long, and I was curious as to whether the test took place before or after the trade, not that it even really matters.) But this puts a huge dent in the Dodger offense, and perhaps even in their clubhouse comaraderie. Manny is a well-liked player in the Dodger clubhouse and among the fans, and I'm sure this will ultimately change how the L.A. fans perceive him. Let's just hope this doesn't affect the rest of the team's play on the field for the next 50 games.

As for the streak, they are still 13-0 home, 21-8 overall, 20-6 against the division and have still won 7 straight. They have Washington in town for one more, with The Hated Ones To The North in town for the weekend. The streak and records and everything else still has some life to it, at least for four more games. Or does it?

Sure, taking Manny out of the equation will change things, but this is a still a very good hitting lineup even without him, and even in this division. Having said that, let's get one thing clear: Manny isn't the only one hitting on this team. If they can just stay consistent for 50 games until Manny returns, which would be July 3, the Dodgers should be fine. And by staying consistent I don't necessarily mean playing at a .700+ mark, but is .550 too much to ask for?

Last night for instance, the Dodgers had a 4-1 lead without Manny's help before he hit a bases-loaded, two-run double as part of that seven-run inning that stretched the lead to 9-1. The key for this team to staying afloat and to keep their current pace, which no one would expect them to do anyway, is their pitching.

As for Manny, this is about as shocking as finding out Alex Rodriguez was, and might still be, using steroids or PEDs. The only difference is the 50-game suspension for Manny comes from current testing, and not from some secretive blanket test to determine if testing is needed. So, now that two of the biggest names in the game have been hit with this in some way, shape or form, who's to say there aren't others out there? Does this mean we can start suspecting a hitter like Albert Pujols, as well? Probably not, but you can bet some people will now.

And one last thing, I have always said I didn't care if players were taking steroids or PEDs, simply because there were, and maybe still are, plenty of players using whatever they can find to get a competitive advantage. The playing field will never be even, and probably never was before all this.

So, back to the game on the field. Randy Wolf takes the bump for the Blue tonight against rookie sensation (well, he's not a sensation yet, but he will be) Jordan Zimmermann (no relation to Ryan, who only has one 'n' at the end of his last name). There's still a winning streak to keep intact. And Xavier Paul will be recalled to take Manny's place on the roster, however, Juan Pierre will likely get the bulk of the playing time in the interim.

History-Making Weekend

Let's recap what the Blue accomplished this past weekend:

• First four-game sweep ever of the Padres at Dodger Stadium
• Improved to 10-0 at home, a new franchise record to start a season, tying the NL record
  
• Are three home wins away - without a loss - from setting the modern Major League record for home wins to start a season at 13
• Are a Major League-best 33-9 at home since the All-Star Break last season
• Chad Billingsley improved to 5-0 to start the season; his era is 2.21
• Improved to 18-8 overall this season, best record in the Majors, and best team start since 1984
• Have scored an NL-best 141 runs and have the best run differential in the Majors at +41
  

Lost in the mix of yesterday's win was the fact the Dodgers scored seven runs yesterday without Manny, Casey Blake, Russell Martin and Rafael Furcal, who were all given a day off.

Next up: Arizona for two starting tonight at the Ravine, then Washington for two. More history-in-the-making this week? Stay tuned...

Tony Jackson, New Zip Code and Other Blurbs

Well, it's certainly been a weird two weeks to say the least. And I guess the most important thing is the Blue continue to roll despite major issues in the rotation and bullpen. But we'll come back to this in a bit.

I first wanted to say I'm sad to see Tony Jackson let go by the Daily News. His up-to-the-minute blog was one of the first - and best - places I went to for any real-time Dodger information and in-game updates. Obviously, in this modern day and age where information is more readily available online in real-time, and with the blog boom that allows freelancers and regular people to get information out to the general public, it's made life a little more challenging for those hard-working paid beat writers who do that for a living. Still, getting information directly from the press box was always a bonus for us regular readers of blogs from beat writers such as Tony. I certainly hope Tony resurfaces in some way, shape or form. He's certainly one of the best, and one of my favorites, as well. Good luck, Tony.

Dodgertown, CA 90090. No, that's not a typo. That's a real zip code for Dodger Stadium and the surrounding property it sits on. The L.A. city council recently designated the stadium and property with its own city name, "Dodgertown," and submitted a request with the U.S. Postal Service for "Dodgertown" to be granted its very own zip code. Well, the USPS granted it the zip code 90090.

My guess on the reasoning behind it all is to pay tribute to the original "Dodgertown" in Vero Beach, which was such an intrigal part of the Dodgers for about 60 years. This all becomes official on June 6. Pretty cool.

As for on the field stuff, nice to see the Dodgers cake-walking through the division already, as they've already built a nice 3.5 game lead on the Giants. The team is perfect at home (8-0) but break even on the road (8-8). This could come back to haunt them later on, especially if the bullpen and rotation issues aren't resolved soon. Outside of Broxton, who has been lights out so far, the bullpen has been inconsistent, and outside of Billingsley in the rotation, the same can be said there, as well.

Jeff Weaver is back in Blue after starting the season at Albuquerque, and he could be thrown into the rotation any day now, to bump the struggling James McDonald. Hong-Chih Kuo looks like he's all but headed to the DL. He looked awful last night while warming up in the pen. One of his warm-up pitches sailed so far over the BP catcher the BP gate, that the ball wound up near home plate! Meanwhile, Cory Wade has been reactivated from the DL, much to the delight of Joe Torre, I hope. There's no telling how much longer Ronald Belisario will be relied upon in any close game. I think between the rotation and BP issues, Ned Colletti should be on the phone as we speak trying to find any reliable arm. I assume Eric Milton will get a chance at some point, as well.

Other than that, too early in the season to get too excited, but its nice to see much of the offense, sans Russell Martin, off to a good start. Four Dodger starters are off to such great starts that they should be mentioned in early All-Star vote conversation: the three outfielders and Orlando Hudson. This could obviously change between now and early July when the voting ends. Both Broxton and Billngsley will obviously get some consideration, as well, if they keep up their early performances, as well.

That should cover things for now. Happy Saturday.