Another Walk-off and a Change of Plans

Andre Ethier sure loves being in the spotlight late in games. Last night, he slugged a walk-off two-run homerun in the 13th inning to defeat the Rockies, 4-2, and avoid the Dodgers first three-game losing streak of the season. For 'Dre, it was his 15th homerun of the year, and his fourth walk-off hit this season. The win also marked the 2,200th career win for Joe Torre as a manager in the Major Leagues.

The Blue keep their NL West lead at seven games coupled with the Giants' 10-0 win in St. Louis. They continue to boast the best record in the Majors with a 49-28 clip. Nine-game winners Chad Billingsley and Jason Marquis square off tonight at Dodgertown, USA.

Also, in a slight change of plans, Manny has officially completed his Minor League "rehab" assignment, and will not play again until he rejoins the Dodger lineup on Friday in San Diego. Torre announced this before last night's game.

The Manny countdown is at two.

Interleague Play Ceases

For a team that usually struggles in interleague, the Dodgers came out of it this season in pretty good shape. They concluded their 18-game swing against the AL this weekend, losing two of three to Seattle, finishing with a 9-9 interleague record. Having lost the last two against the Seattle, the Blue entered tonight's game attempting to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season, again.

As we speak, the Blue are locked in a 2-2 ball game in the middle of the seventh inning with the Colorado Rockies, who have won 20 of 23 since Jim Tracy took over for Clint Hurdle earlier in the month. After Ryan Spilborghs hit a two-run homerun, the Dodgers came right back and tied the game on a two-run-scoring single by starting pitcher Randy Wolf. Two pitches earlier, with runners at first and second, Wolf attempted to call time out at the plate, but Ubaldo Jimenez started his delivery and the timeout was not granted. Jimenez then stopped in the middle of his delivery, balking the runners over, enabling Wolf to drive in both runners with his single.

Meanwhile, the Manny countdown is now down to two games after tonight. He will conclude his Minor League tour tomorrow night, and then rejoin the Big Club on Friday in San Diego.

Cards Pick Up DeRosa From Tribe

The Cardinals have just acquired Mark DeRosa from the Indians for reliever Chris Perez and the infamous player-to-be-named-later. St. Louis just hosed Cleveland for DeRosa.

My guess is Skip Schumaker, who had been playing second base for the Cards, will go back to the outfield and DeRosa will take over there, and perhaps play some third base, too.

A Hat Trick For 'Dre

After a heart-breaking loss in Chicago on Thursday afternoon to the White Sox in 13 innings, the Blue got back in the win column last night at the Ravine with an impressive 8-2 win over Seattle, behind a three-homerun effort from Dodger right-fielder Andre Ethier. The loss in Chicago gave the White Sox the series win, just the second interleague series the Dodgers have lost this season, and gave the Dodgers a two-game losing streak.

With last night's win, the Blue avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season. The Dodgers are the only team in the league to have not lost three in a row all season. The win also put the Dodgers eight games up on the Giants again, who lost in Milwaukee, and the Dodgers continue to roll with the league's best record, 22 games over .500 at 48-26.

But the story of the night, the man of the hour last night, was Ethier, who slugged three homeruns and drove in six runs, both career highs. And it all came after a fitting beginning to the homestand. Lakers forward, Pau Gasol, was honored and threw out the first pitch before the game while donning a Dodger jersey with his name and familiar Laker jersey number 16 on the back, the same number Ethier wears. Coincidence? I think so.

Coincidence or not, Ethier has been red-hot in Dodgertown USA. Last night's performance was his fifth multi-homer game of the season, just two shy of the franchise record seven, held by Seattle's Adrian Beltre, who belted 48 homeruns for the Dodgers during his amazing 2004 season in which he finished second in the league MVP-voting. Beltre, who has just five homeruns this season, and hasn't come close to the 48 he hit in 2004, went 0 for 4 last night. Ethier has hit 13 of his 14 homeruns this season at Dodger Stadium.

Clayton Kershaw was superb for the Dodgers, pitching six strong innings, giving up two runs on five hits, striking out eight and walking just one while making 96 pitches. Kershaw, who struck out Ichiro to lead off the game, improved his record to 5-5 and now dons a 3.70 ERA.

The M's and Dodgers are at it again tonight at the Ravine, with Eric Milton, just activated from the DL today, to take the hill for the Dodgers. To make room for Milton, Cory Wade has been sent back down to Albuquerque.

And one last note... Manny will continue his Minor League "rehab" assignment tonight for the Inland Empire 66ers, the Dodgers Single-A affiliate. He's expected to play in four or five games with the 66ers before rejoining the big club next Friday in San Diego.

The Great Manny Debate

So Manny will begin the Minor League assignment portion of his 50-gamer tonight with Triple-A Albuquerque, but at least one guy in the national media, Tracy Ringolsby of FoxSports.com, formerly with the now defunct Rocky Mountain News, doesn't think Manny should be allowed any special treatment. Ringolsby argues that Manny shouldn't be allowed to play in any Minor League games because, as he suggests, when a Minor League player gets suspended for the same 50-game infraction, they don't have the same priviledge of getting to play in any games prior to the end of their suspension to get himself ready for his return and back into game shape.

Well, Tracy, I hate to break it to you, but who cares? First of all, the Minor Leagues are governed by a completely separate entity from MLB, with its own set of rules and guidelines. So one thing has nothing to do with the other. Secondly, and this is the kicker, Manny isn't getting any special treatment from the the league, or anyone else, for that matter. It's clearly stated in the Joint Drug Agreement (JDA) posted on the MLB Players Association official website, in Section 8.H.2 on page 20:

"During the term of his suspension, a Player may consent to an assignment to a Minor League affiliate of his Club under the terms of Article XIX(C)(1) and (3), except as modified above with respect to salary and except that such assignment shall not exceed five (5) days (eight (8) days for pitchers) for a Player suspended for a period of 25 games or less, and shall not exceed ten (10) days (16 days for pitchers) for a Player suspended for a period of between 26 and 50 games."

So then why is this even a friggin' debate? J.C. Romero pitched in five Minor League "rehab" games before he returned from his 50-gamer earlier in the season, and there was not one debate, discussion, argument anywhere, or even a blurb on the Big Four-Letter Network about whether or not he should have been allowed to play in those five games. Give me a break! This is not special treatment.

Ringolsby also notes that Manny shouldn't be allowed to workout on his own at Dodger Stadium even though he has to be off the premises when the media arrives prior to a game on game days. You're kidding me, Tracy, right? You seriously added that to your already ridiculous argument? Nowhere in the JDA does it say a player can not workout in a Major League ballpark prior to his return from a suspension. Manny, and every other Major Leaguer, are entitled to workout wherever they chose, and if they so desire to workout in a Major League park, then they may do so under the rules and guidelines set forth and provided by the Commissioner's Office that the player must be off the premises by the time the media arrives on game day roughly three hours prior to the start of the game. This is not special treatment.

So the question I ask is, why is everyone making such a big deal over this "rehab" thing? This was all agreed upon by both the players and the league, which is why it's in the JDA. What makes this whole debacle even more comical is that fact that because the length and terms of the suspension are completely arbitrary, the entire "rehab" argument and debate is a completely moot point. The main gist of the suspension is not that Manny, or any other player, can't play in any Minor League "rehab" games during the suspension, but that they can't play in any Major League games, and they aren't getting paid. As another Dodger blogger so delicately put it, if it makes people feel any better about this, look at it as a 40-game suspension from Major League games with the option of a 10-game Minor League "rehab" assignment, because one way or the other, the player isn't getting his paycheck, and he isn't in a Major League game.

What's Manny, or any other suspended player supposed to do, play in those "rehab" games after the 50-games are up? Well, then it might as well be 60-games. Might as well rewrite the entire JDA just because a few knuckleheads and meatballs who get paid to debate on network television or radio decide to turn it into a useless and stupid argument. Quit trying to change the punishment after the fact. Manny isn't, so neither should you. This is not special treatment.

All that said, I guarantee you, if, for example, this were a Colorado Rockies player, such as, say, Todd Helton, Ringolsby would have absolutely no problem with this. And I promise you all, this is only making big headlines and has become a big media debate because it's Manny. But this isn't Manny being Manny. And this is not special treatment.

Get over it people!

All-Star Game Fun

Since 1969, all of the teams have had to be represented in the "Midsummer Classic" known as the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. This rule was implemented when, in 1957, it was discovered that Cincinnati fans had "stuffed" the ballot boxes and voted in seven of its own as starters even though many baseball people felt they didn't all deserve to be starters. In the years since, this rule has made it very difficult for the managers and coaches of the All-Star Game to select the reserves that would fill out the rosters. And in 2002, when the All-Star Game inadvertently and unexpectedly ended in a tie in Milwaukee, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig decided that the league who won the game would get home-field advantage in the World Series.

Now, I'm not one who believes that an exhibition game of such should have anything to do with playoff implications, but it is what it is. The fans still vote for the starters, and the players, managers and coaches vote in and select the reserves, still making sure each of the 30 teams (16 NL, 14 AL) are represented. I've always felt that you can't have it both ways. In other words, if the game is to decide who has home-field in the World Series, take the voting out of the fans hands on account that most people tend to vote for favorites, rather than deserving players. And the same should happen for the reserves. If the game is supposed to have this importance to it, select the 24 best players no matter which team they play for, because in all honesty, if players are playing the game for purpose, would you want players from the worst teams on the roster when those players won't even sniff the playoffs for their teams?

That said, based on the system as it is now, I think I've devised two almost perfect 32-man rosters for the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis in July. Obviously, because of the fan voting, and because some managers tend to pick more players they're familiar with to fill out their rosters, these rosters won't be the ones we see in St. Louis.

In the NL, I've got the eight position starters as follows:

C - Brian McCann, Atlanta
1B - Albert Pujols, St. Louis
2B - Chase Utley, Philadelphia
3B - David Wright, New York
SS - Hanley Ramirez, Florida
OF - Carlos Beltran, New York
OF - Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia
OF - Ryan Braun, Milwaukee

The NL pitchers:

Johan Santana, New York
Dan Haren, Arizona
Chad Billingsley, Los Angeles
Matt Cain, San Francisco
Tim Lincecum, San Francisco
Ted Lilly, Chicago
Zach Duke, Pittsburgh
Josh Johnson, Florida
Jonathan Broxton, Los Angeles
Heath Bell, San Diego
Francisco Rodriguez, New York
Ryan Franklin, St. Louis
Trevor Hoffman, Milwaukee

And finally, the NL reserves:

C - Yadier Molina, St. Louis
1B - Prince Fielder, Milwaukee
1B - Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego
2B - Orlando Hudson, Los Angeles
2B - Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati
3B - Ryan Zimmerman, Washington
3B - Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco
SS - Miguel Tejada, Houston
OF - Brad Hawpe, Colorado
OF - Matt Kemp, Los Angeles
OF - Justin Upton, Arizona

For the AL, the eight position starters:

C - Joe Mauer, Minnesota
1B - Mark Teixeira, New York
2B - Ian Kinsler, Texas
3B - Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay
SS - Derek Jeter, New York
OF - Ichiro, Seattle
OF - Torii Hunter, Los Angeles
OF - Jason Bay, Boston

The AL pitchers:

Roy Halladay, Toronto
Zack Greinke, Kansas City
Jered Weaver, Los Angeles
Mark Buehrle, Chicago
Edwin Jackson, Detroit
Justin Verlander, Detroit
Felix Hernandez, Seattle
Joe Nathan, Minnesota
Jonathan Papelbon, Boston
Mariano Rivera, New York
Bobby Jenks, Chicago
George Sherrill, Baltimore

And the AL reserves:

C - Victor Martinez, Cleveland
C - Mike Napoli, Los Angeles
1B - Kevin Youkilis, Boston
1B - Justin Morneau, Minnesota
2B - Robinson Cano, New York
2B - Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay
3B - Michael Young, Texas
3B - Mark DeRosa, Cleveland
SS - Jason Bartlett, Tampa Bay
OF - Adam Jones, Baltimore
OF - Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay
OF - Matt Holliday, Oakland

As it is for managers, coaches and the players who help vote and select the reserves, this wasn't very easy to do. What I tried to do was to balance out the rosters to make sure there were at least two reserves for each of the infield positions (catcher included) and three outfield reserves. But I also tried to stick with history, which showed that the NL usually goes for the extra pitcher. So in following with that trend, the NL only has one back-up catcher this year on my roster. Also, unfortunately, several deserving players get left off my roster, although those same guys could very well get in the actual game.

In the NL, L.A.'s Casey Blake, Atlanta's Chipper Jones, and Arizona's Mark Reynolds at third base are deserving, but because of the depth at the position, all three players miss the cut. Also missing the cut is Philly first baseman Ryan Howard, for the same reason as third base, Houston outfielder Hunter Pence and Washington shortstop, Cristian Guzman. The only two NL pitchers I had a hard time leaving off were Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto and Atlanta's Jair Jurrgens.

In the AL, four position players who are deserving but didn't make the cut are Detroit first baseman Miguel Cabrera, simply because of the depth at the position, and it was virtually impossible to leave off Teixeira, Youkilis or Morneau, Toronto second baseman Aaron Hill, Boston third baseman Mike Lowell, and Texas' outfielder Nelson Cruz, who gets in if I could leave Oakland's only representative, Matt Holliday, at home. As for pitchers who get left off, Boston's Josh Beckett because of his high ERA, New York's C.C. Sabathia, Tampa Bay's James Shields, Detroit rookie Rick Porcello, and Cleveland's Cliff Lee.

So there you have it. As I mentioned before, I'm sure some of the players who missed my cut will get selected. And as fun as this was to do, this wasn't easy, but I think they're the best rosters for both leagues.

Interleague Success... Finally! And Manny...

The Blue are not known for having much success over the years since interleague began play in the mid 90s. So when I last blogged here in this space, the Dodgers were about to dive into the bulk of their interleague schedule with five straight series against AL opponents. Most seasons, that would be a cause for concern for Dodger fans. But so far, they've come out of the first three in pretty good shape, having won two of three in each of three series, at Texas, at home against Oakland, and at Anaheim (who took two of three from the Blue at the Ravine back in May).

Last weekend the Dodgers were here in town in Arlington, and I was thrilled to have finally gotten a chance to see them play, although I wished Manny had played. In any case, it was a good weekend for the Dodgers.

On Friday night, the Rangers beat up on the Dodgers, 6-0, with a furious lightning storm just out behind right field throughout much of the game, followed by a fireworks show after the game. There were no fireworks on the field from the Dodgers on that night. Then on Saturday night, a bank of lights never came on, and a one hour, 40 minute delay ensued waiting for the electric company to fix a breaker that malfunctioned, and halted a scoreless pitching duel through five innings. When play resumed, the fans were treated to free tickets for an upcoming July 5th game against Tampa for waiting out the delay, and the Dodgers would cash in on a 3-1 win, just their sixth road interleague win since 2005. The Rangers lone run came on a solo homerun from former Dodger Andruw Jones that tied the game 1-1 in the sixth inning. Matt Kemp untied with a two-run shot in the seventh inning. And on a blistering scorcher on Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers grabbed the series with a 6-3 win behind Chad Billingsley's ninth win of the season.

The Blue then headed back to LA for a three-gamer against Oakland in a rematch of the 1988 World Series. And just like 1988, the Dodgers would win Game One, 5-4, in walk-off fashion on a 10th inning RBI single from Kemp. The A's then had to hold of the Dodgers to win the second game by the same 5-4 score. But the Dodgers got the last laugh in the finale, holding off Oakland for a 3-2 win, marking the 2,195th career managing win for Joe Torre, putting him 5th on the all-time wins list for managers, passing Hall of Famer, Sparky Anderson.

The Dodgers then traveled south about 40 minutes down I-5 to Anaheim, and capped off the week with the Angels. On Friday night, the Blue held a 4-1 lead before the Angels would tie it with three runs in the sixth. Jose Guillen then untied it with a solo homerun in the eighth inning of Guillermo Mota, enough for a 5-4 win. But the Dodgers bounced right back, and Jeff Weaver outdueled his brother Jered for the Angels last night in the Dodgers 6-4 win. And then tonight, behind a stellar performance from Clayton Kershaw, the Blue took the series with an impressive 5-3 win to even up the season series with the Angels at three games apiece.

Several things of note to mention during this nine game stretch. First, the Dodgers have got to do something about Mota. Everytime this guy comes in to pitch, I cringe. And I'm probably exaggerating here when I say this, but everytime Mota pitches, it seems like he's either giving up a lead, or allowing the opponent to get back into the game. There's got to be someone else they can use instead of this guy.

I've also noticed Russell Martin's struggles offensively. Sure, he finally hit his first homerun of the year last night, but I really think there's something going on with him, and my guess is it's all mental. Earlier in the season, I had heard or read somewhere (I wish I could remember where so I could back this up with a source) that because he wasn't hitting for any power, Martin had it in his head that he couldn't hit for power anymore. Hitting coach Don Mattingly has been trying to remind him all season, or least since that point when Martin felt he couldn't hit for power anymore, that Martin still has the tools to be a solid power hitter in the middle of the Dodger lineup. Mattingly says Martin still has no idea how good he really is, and he's been trying to get Martin to realize that he's a far better hitter than what we've seen so far this season.

And as solid as Juan Pierre has been in Manny's absence, I can not wait until he is out of the lineup again. Pierre has been an unexpected, pleasant surprise, but his outs are still very predictable, and very annoying. The guy's outs are still the same: either pop-up or fly outs to left field, or grounders to the right side, usually second base. Fortunately, because of the balance in the lineup with Casey Blake and Orlando Hudson, and the maturity of guys like Kemp, James Loney, and Andre Ethier, Pierre's outs, when he makes them, don't always kill rallies, or put additional pressure on the rest of the lineup.

It's nice to see everyone picking up the slack when someone isn't doing so well at a given time, and it's even nicer to see someone different be the hero every night. This is a total team effort. And they've more than proven that in the 41 games since Manny's suspension began. So, having said all that, Manny is expected to begin a "rehab" assignment Tuesday with Albuquerque for three games, and then finish up with a few games next weekend with the Inland Empire 66ers, before rejoining the team on July 3rd in San Diego.

And while Manny is making his tour with the Dodgers West Coast affiliates for about a week, the Dodgers head off to the Windy City for an interleague series with the White Sox beginning Tuesday night before heading back home to wrap up their interleague schedule with a three-gamer agianst the Mariners. Then the red-hot Rockies arrive in L.A. for three games before the series in San Diego, marking Manny's return.

Manny, Another Win and the Draft

Let's get to the on-field stuff first. The Dodgers got back in the win column last night with a 6-4 win over the Padres. Apparently, Eric Karros lit a fire into the Dodgers because ever since he mentioned on Saturday's broadcast against the Phillies that the Dodgers had very little power in the middle of the lineup, it's all they've been doing lately. Last night, Andre Ethier, Mr. Streaky himself, cranked two more home runs bringing his monthly total to five. Matt Kemp and Orlando Hudson also added solo shots. With the win, the Blue move to 20 games over .500 for the second time this season with a Major League best 40-20 mark.

They have one more tonight with the Padres, before a day off tomorrow and then a three-game swing in Arlington against the Rangers this weekend (where I'll be in attendance on Friday and Saturday nights).

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Yesterday, Manny made a public appearance in the Dodger clubhouse before the game and spoke with the media for a few minutes before leaving the park. Only problem was, he wasn't supposed to be there. Better yet, he shouldn't have been there at all.

MLB rules require all suspended players to have exited the clubhouse and premises by the time the media arrives roughly 3½ hours before game time. But Manny was still there, and he left a few comments for the media. In a nutshell, he said what's done is done, that it's all "in the past," and he's focusing his efforts on getting ready for his return from his suspension on July 3rd, barring any setbacks or rain delays.

Said Manny: "I didn't kill nobody, I didn't rape nobody, so that's it, I'm just going to come and play the game."

In any case, MLB gave the Dodgers a friendly warning not to let it happen again.

**********
In between the Manny saga and the game, MLB's entry draft got under way at the MLB Network studios. As expected, Washington took San Diego St. pitching phenom, Stephen Strasburg with the first overall pick in the draft. The Dodgers didn't have a first round pick, but in the second round, they made their first overall pick with the 36th pick, selecting Baylor University two-way player Aaron Miller. The Dodgers drafted Miller as a pitcher, and Dodgers Assistant GM of Scouting, Logan White, made that very clear.

"He's definitely a prsopect as a position player, but we like him as a pitcher. We see a bright future for him as a left-handed pitcher in the Erik Bedard mold."

The Dodgers are expected to sign the 6 foot 3 inch, 205 pound Waco, TX native and close friend of Clayton Kershaw quickly.

The Comeback Kids

The Blue pulled off three big comeback wins this week, but the offense continues to struggle after a 7-2 loss tonight at Dodgertown to finish the week 4-3.

The Dodgers looked like they were well on their way to losing a series at home to the lowly Arizona Diamondbacks early in the week, before they pulled off comeback number one.

After losing the opening game to Arizona, 3-2, they had to face Dan Haren in the second game. Haren was staked to a 5-0 lead when Justin Upton smacked a second inning grand slam off Randy Wolf. When Haren would leave the game later in the evening, his team led 5-1 after an Andre Ethier solo home run. Then the D-backs pen took over, and so did the Dodgers. They rallied in the eighth inning for five runs, capped by a bases-clearing double by James Loney, and held on to win 6-5. They won the series with a 1-0 win the following night.

On Thursday, the defending World Champion Phillies arrived, and took the first game of a four-game series, 3-0. Then came the second comeback win. On Friday night, trailing 3-2 in the ninth inning with two out against Philly closer Brad Lidge, the Dodgers put runners at first and second before Pedro Feliz booted a Russell Martin grounder to third to load the bases. Andre Ethier then smacked the first pitch he saw from Lidge for a two-run double into the right field corner to win the game.

Then yesterday, with a 2-1 lead, Brad Lidge was summoned yet again, and this time Rafael Furcal hit a pinch-hit, game-tying home run to right off Lidge, to send the game into extra frames. Andre Ethier then hit a walk-off solo home run in the 12th inning, his second of the game, and the Blue came out victorious again, 3-2, capping off the third comeback win of the week. The Phils would salvage a split with the win tonight.

Despite a pretty decent week that saw them maintain the league's best record at 39-20, and the best home record in the league at 22-8, the Dodger offense has been sputtering of late. With the exception of the 8-0 win last Sunday in Chicago, and the 6-5 win comeback win on Tuesday, the offense has not scored more than four runs in a game since the team left Denver on May 27th. This isn't too much of a concern, as Manny Ramirez is due back in about three weeks from his 50-game suspension, but it is hard to not notice when the team had been averaging roughly 5.5 runs per game up to that point. The pitching, for the most part, has still been fairly consistent.

Andre Ethier appears to ahve finally shaken off his May struggles since Manny's suspension, hitting three home runs this past week. For Ethier, by the way, his two walk-off hits this weekend marked his second and third of the season, and his sixth overall in the past two seasons combined, the most by any one hitter in baseball during that time. Matt Kemp continues to hit the ball well, but the rest of the lineup has struggled a bit the last 10 games, including Juan Pierre and Orlando Hudson at the top of the order.

Hopefully a day off tomorrow will help, as some guys could use the rest. The Dodgers haven't had very many off days in recent weeks, and with a few guys ailing a bit, the off day would be a great help. After the day off tomorrow, the Dodgers have two games at the Ravine against San Diego before another off day Thursday to travel to Texas, where they'll restart their interleague schedule with three games in Arlington against the Rangers, who currently have the best record in the AL.

Forgot to Mention This One

Yesterday, MLB suspended Yankee pitcher six games for throwing near Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz's head on Tuesday night in a 12-3 Yankee win after Cruz had homered off Burnett earlier in the game. The high-and-tight pitch was a retaliation of Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla plunking Yankee first baseman Mark Teixeira twice earlier in the game. Here's the AP story. Padilla was fined for his actions, but not suspended. Both of the pitches that hit Teixeira were at the middle part of his body. Burnett plans to appeal the suspension.

While I have no problem with a retaliation pitch to send a message, I do have a problem with pitches being throw near people's heads. There's no room in baseball for that kind of retaliation. If you want to send a message, throw at the body below the shoulders, not above it.

The Big Unit Nabs #300

Randy Johnson pitched six strong innings, matching Washington rookie Jordan Zimmermann pitch for pitch as the Giants beat the Nationals 5-1 in the first game of a double-header that was the result of a rain out last night. Johnson becomes just the 24th pitcher in Major League history to record 300 career wins. He's also second in career strikeouts with 4,845 after recording two more tonight. Johnson, a 22-year veteran who has won five Cy Young Awards in his career and finished second three other times, is a sure-bet first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.

Congratulations, Randy.