Been A While...

Since I last had a chance to write in this space, a lot has happened in relation to the Blue. That said, here's a brief bullet-point rundown/recap of the key highlights of the last two and a half weeks that started on August 1st:

• The Dodgers took two of three in Atlanta, beating two promising young pitchers for the Braves, Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson. Matt Kemp had a five RBI game in an ESPN Sunday night win.
• Tempers flared in a home game against the Brewers. In a Dodger blowout game, Manny was unintentionally grazed by a pitch with a nine-run lead. With the game all but over with two out in the ninth inning, Guillermo Mota took matters into his own hands, plunked Prince Fielder in the upper quad area. Mota, knowing he did it on purpose, was ejected as he was already walking off the field. Fielder stood at home plate wondering why he was hit, and when the last out was made, he bolted into the Brewers clubhouse, through the tunnel that connects to the Dodger clubhouse, and went looking for Mota. He was restrained by several teammates and Dodger Stadium security just outside the Dodger clubhouse. The Dodgers would lose two of the three games.
• After another walk-off homerun by Andre Ethier, his fifth walk-off of the season, the third as a homerun, that gave the Dodgers a series-opener win against the Braves, the Dodgers wound up losing the next three games to Atlanta, one in the ninth inning, and the other two in extra innings. The Dodgers would lose five of seven on the homestand.
• The Blue hit the road to the Bay Area and took the first two of three against the Hated-Ones-to-the-North. Down by a run to Tim Lincecum in the ninth inning with two outs in the third game, Ethier did his magic again, and had an RBI-single to tie the game. Just when it looked like the Dodgers were gonna eek one out against one of the league's best pitchers, Juan Uribe hit a walk-off in the 10th inning for the Giants to avoid a Dodger three-game sweep.
• After losing the opener to the D-backs in Arizona this past weekend, a scary incident took place on Saturday night. Dodger hurler Hiroki Kuroda was hit in the head by a batted ball off the bat of D-Backs rookie Rusty Ryal. After Kuroda threw the pitch, Ryal swung and hit the ball back up the middle. The ball caromed off the right side of Kuroda's head and hit an empty seat behind the D-Backs on-deck circle before landing back on the field near the backstop. Kuroda was motionless on the front slope of the mound for several minutes before beeing carted off. He would spend the night in a Phoenix-area hospital before being released the next morning. Kuroda was placed on the DL today with a concussion and post-concussion symptoms. There's no telling how long he will be out of action. As for the game, Jonathan Broxton would give up back-to-back solo homeruns in the ninth inning to blow a 3-1 lead, and the Dodgers would eventually lose in 10 innings. They won in a rout the following day, 9-3, behind 7+ strong innings from Randy Wolf, who struck out 10, and went three for four with the bat, including a two-run homerun and an RBI double. They avoided what would have been an embarassing sweep.
• With Kuroda out indefinitely, and the team desperate for arms in the rotation, the Dodgers signed veteran pitcher Vicente Padilla to a minor league deal today. Padilla was designated for assignment last week by the Rangers. He was released Monday and cleared waivers today. Padilla will report to AAA-Albuquerque for one or two starts before being called back up to start next Thursday's game in Colorado.

As for tonight's game, the Dodgers and Cards are scoreless in the 4th inning. The Cards won the opener behind a stellar start by Chris Carpenter, but the Dodgers got even last night winning 7-3 behind six strong innings by Chad Billingsley, who returned to the mound after missing two starts with a sore hamstring.

That should get us back up-to-date...