Stults on the Move?

It's possible. According to Dylan Hernandez of the Times, Ned Colletti was quoted just moments ago that the Dodgers "have something going with [Eric Stults]." Colletti declined to elaborate on the details, but we do know that Stults has been scratched from his scheduled start today.

Stults is out of options but there has been some interest in him from teams in Japan.

This might also mean the Dodgers have probably already decided on Ramon Ortiz as their fifth starter to start the season.

Stay tuned.

Dodgers Magic Number: 50

The Blue are certainly ready for Manny's return. Despite an offensive struggle in recent days, the Dodgers continue to find ways to win games, and yesterday, it took a pinch-hit single from Raffy Furcal in the 8th inning to give the Dodgers a 1-0 win over the Rockies, their 50th of the season in just 79 games. Coupled with a Giants loss in St. Louis, the Dodgers increased their lead in the NL West back up to seven games, and continue to boast the leagues best record at 50-29. The win gave the Dodgers the series against the Rockies, and they now have a 7-2 record this season against Colorado

Back when Manny was suspended, the Dodgers had a 21-8 record and led their division by 6½ games. In the 50 games without Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers went 29-21 and maintained their lead, as well as the league's best record. But most importantly, the team proved they were not a team that consisted of Manny and 24 other players; they showed the baseball world they are indeed, a very good team, with the emphasis on the word team. In Manny's absence, the Dodgers had six walk-off wins, led by Andre Ethier, who has four this season, and Matt Kemp, who picked up his first of his career recently.

And so, Manny's 50 games are up, and he will return to the lineup starting tomorrow night in San Diego. And with his return looming, the Dodgers made several roster moves yesterday.

Eric Stults was activated from the DL, and sent down to Albuquerque. Third-string catcher A.J. Ellis was option back to Albuquerque, as well. And Mitch Jones was designated for assignment, meaning the Dodgers have 10 days to trade him or release him. The Dodgers still have some additional roster moves to iron out, such as clearing a spot on the 40-man roster for Manny, as well as Claudio Vargas, who's expected to be activated and join the Dodgers as early as tomorrow. One such roster move could be moving Hong-Chih Kuo from the 15-day DL to the 60-day to remove him from the 40-man roster.

And lastly, as many expect with Manny's return, Juan Pierre is headed back to the bench as a reserve.

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.

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!

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.

O-Dog's Cycle and other Early Season Thoughts

If you've been living under a rock for the past week or so, you missed some fun baseball courtesy of the Blue. We fast forward to Opening Day at the Ravine this past Monday, leaving behind the 4-3 opening road trip.

Home openers are always a lot of fun. Spring is usually in the air, and the atmosphere at the Stadium has a playoff vibe and feeling to it. So it came as no surprise that we saw two dominating performances by the Dodgers against the Hated Ones to the North that afternoon.

So where do we start? Chad Billingsley thoroughly dominated the Giants, pitching seven strong innings while striking out 11 hitters. Andre Ethier slugged two home runs and drove in four runs. And then there was the O-Dog. All Orlando Hudson did was do something no other Dodger had ever done at Dodger Stadium, and he did what no L.A. Dodger had done in 39 years. The O-Dog hit for the cycle. And it couldn't have been done by a more likeable guy.

Only one other L.A. Dodger had ever accomplished that feat. Wes Parker did it way back in 1970. But he did it on the road. Only one other player had ever done it Dodger Stadium, and that was Jim Fregosi for the Angels in 1964 when they shared the Stadium with the Dodgers while waiting for Anaheim Stadium to be built. And then the bew Dodger, Orlando Hudson, does it in his very first game as a Dodger at Dodger Stadium.

Oh, and the Dodgers won the game 11-1.

Two nights later, another Dodger pitcher pitched a masterpiece, again, against the Hated Ones to the North. Clayton Kershaw dominated the Giants for seven innings on Wednesday, giving up just one earned run on one hit while striking out 13 hitters. The bullpen would blow the 2-1 lead, and ultimtely cost Kershaw a win, but the offense rallied against the Giants pen and won on a basesloaded walk in the ninth inning.

When all was said an done after last night, the Dodgers had swept the Giants, and are now on a nice five game winning streak going back to two solid wins in Arizona over the weekend.

The offense has really done what was expected so far. Even with Manny slow to get out of the gate, primarily because he's been walked so often (Dodgers lead the league in walks so far), the offense is finding ways to score runs. They've only hit nine home runs as a team through the first 10 games, but they enter play today as third highest scoring team in the National League. And O-Dog, Matt Kemp and James Loney are tearing the cover off the ball.

What's even more impressive is even with Hiroki Kuroda on the DL, and James McDonald having been hammered in his first major league start last week in Arizona, and the pen having a couple of bad games, sans Jonathan Broxton, who's been perfect so far, the team is surprisingly leading the league in ERA. And a lot of that can be attributed to Billingsley and Kershaw's two starts, and getting two solid starts from Eric Stults, as well. Randy Wolf had a good start in Arizona last weekend, as well, after looking dreadful in San Diego last week.

Obviously, it's still too early to tell if the rotation is good enough to keep this up, and if the pen can get a little more consistency, but it's always a good sign when you get off to a good start like this. We know the offense will continue to put runs on the board, especially once Manny gets going, and he will, but the key to this team's success will be the pitching, and so far it hasn't disappointed.

And one last thing... What a great effort last night by Doug Meintkiewicz. With the game still close, and two runners on, Dougie M laced a double into the right field corner for two runs. At the end of the play at second base, Meintky slid head first into second base awkwardly, and appeared to hurt his left shoulder in the process. He rolled over and writhed in pain, but wound up staying in the game for one more hitter. He was then pulled for a pinch runner.

Today we learned he will be out three months as he will require surgery to repair what we learned was a dislocated shoulder.

All I can say is it's guys like him that help you win championships, and he will be a very important part of this team when he gets back in about three months. Get well soon, Dougie!

Dodgers Get No-Hit... And Win

No, that's not a typo. It really did happen! The Dodgers were no-hit through eight innings by two Angels pitchers, but came away with a 1-0 win thanks to an unearned run in the fifth inning. Unfortunately, by Major League Baseball rules, because the Dodgers were the home team and didn't bat in the ninth inning, the game does not count as an official no-hitter. Regardless, the Dodgers pulled off a rare feat.

Matt Kemp led off the fifth inning reaching base on a little roller down the first base line that was misplayed by Angels starting pitcher Jered Weaver. The play was originally ruled a hit, and then changed to an error. Kemp then stole second base and took third base when Jeff Mathis' throw sailed over second base into center field. Blake DeWitt then hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Kemp, and the Dodgers made it hold up.

And we'll all take it. A win is a win, right? And it was a big win because Arizona won earlier tonight. So with the wins, Arizona (41-40) maintains a 2.5 game lead in the standings over the Dodgers, who improve to 38-42 with their second straight win. And, more importantly, the Dodgers trail by only two games in the loss column.

I dunno about anyone else, but this division, for the moment, reminds me of the division in 2006, when the Padres won the division with 82 wins. But with half a season still left to play, I think the Dodgers are in pretty good shape to start doing some good things here.

They are expected to get Rafael Furcal and Nomar Garciaparra back sometime next weekend, and Andruw Jones is about two weeks away from returning from the disabled list, as well. Hiroki Kuroda and Brad Penny threw in the pen today to test their shoulders, and felt no discomfort. The telling tale will be how they feel in the morning. And Jason Schmidt will be resuming his rehab this week, and he, too, could make his first appearance in over a year after the All-Star Break. So all-in-all, lots of good news for the Dodgers (although personally, I'd prefer if Schmidt never steps foot on a mound again as a Dodger).

In the meantime, they're getting some much needed help from the guys stepping up and filling in for Kuroda and Penny, as Chan Ho Park and Eric Stults have been solid in their absences. The same can't be said for Furcal's replacements. His replacements are hitting below .200 combined, and that's basically Chin-Ling Hu (.159), back in AAA Las Vegas, and Angel Berroa (.185 before tonight's game). Luis Maza (.236) has seen some play at short, but he's hitting a tad better than Hu and Berroa.

So, back to tonight's game. When was the last time a team lost a game after not allowing a hit? How about 1992. Long time ago. That was also the last unofficial no-hitter in Major League Baseball history.

Anyway, Dodgers take the series against the Angels, with one more tomorrow, and can sweep the series, and win the season series with the Angels with a win. John Lackey opposes Derek Lowe at the Ravine.

Back In It...

Been a couple of weeks since I've had a chance to post anything. Sorry for the long layoff.

Been a good couple of weeks for the Blue. They officially signed David Wells (and dumped Brett Tomko - since picked up by the Padres) who's had two effective starts so far (he is now serving his suspension he received while he was with San Diego and Eric Stults took his spot in the rotation last night). The team also picked up Esteban Loaiza off waivers from Oakland, and he had a very good start on Monday against the Cubs in his first start . Loaiza is signed through next season so this could be a bargain pick-up and he should ultimately help them next year, as well, provided he's healthy.

Minus two rough weekends (one in New York, and one in San Diego) where they lost two out of three, the Dodgers have been rolling and have picked up as much as 4.5 games in the standings in both the division and Wild Card races. They are currently three games back in the Wild Card, tied with Philly (great finish yesterday against Atlanta if you didn't see or hear about it), and four games back of Arizona in the division, three back of San Diego.

Grady still insists, even this time of year when every game is bigger than the one before with less than a month left, on giving certain guys days off and playing certain guys who really shouldn't be playing at all. Still not sure how Gonzo still finds his way into the lineup every other day. And I'm beyond disgusted with Juan Pierre's play in centerfield, even moreso because he doesn't even come close to making it up with his offense. The guy still hits far too many balls in the air. And the bone-headed base-running plays have got to stop. This team runs out of so many innings it's almost laughable. I don't mind the aggressiveness on the bases but I hate guys who don't make fundamental judgments. And because he's only 22 and hitting around .345 over the last few weeks hitting in the three-slot in the lineup, Matt Kemp gets a slight reprieve from all of this even though he's the one making more mistakes on the base paths than anyone else.

Anyway, enough ranting. The team has won 13 of its last 20 and the offense has found its groove again. The pitching has been even better, on most nights. That said, getaway day at the Friendly Confines today as the Dodgers look to take three of four in the series and five of seven overall against the Cubbies. Lineup is posted already on Inside the Dodgers. No Kent (day off) but Gonzo is in there as the clean-up hitter (why?) and Martin's back after a day-off last night and a precautionary MRI on his knee. Enjoy the game Game time is in 90 minutes on FSN Prime Ticket with Vin!

It's Been Awhile...

I've been busy the last two weeks studying for my insurance license here in the state of Texas, so my apologies for not having posted anything in 12 days. I'm going to try to keep this as short as possible for the time being, as well, for that reason.

I have been keeping up with what has happened to the team and I must say it doesn't surprise me in the least bit. Some of the holes and flaws in the lineup were obvious to me in Spring Training, and they were able to play through them and get away with them for three or four months. But it was only a matter of time before it finally all caught up to them.

The team has plummeted from a first place tie to fourth place, 6.5 games out, in a matter of less than three weeks. The offense is in shambles. Andre Ethier is the only guy hitting when it matters most. Matt Kemp went on a little lull at the end of July and hasn't been in the lineup much, since Grady pulled him. I'm still baffled by Grady's use of Gonzo over him, especially hitting him in the clean-up spot when Kent gets a day off. Gonzo's had just three extra base hits in almost six weeks. The team is in a 3-for-72 slide (or something to that affect) with RISP. The lineup looks a lit better now than it did say, a month ago. Pierre has been dropped to seventh. Martin bumped up to second, Loney to third. But still, no one is hitting when it matters most.

Was listening to Kevin Kennedy and Rob Dibble on XM the past two days, and I've never heard Kevin as defiant and animated as he was in tearing the team to shreds for what has happened over the last few weeks. There were several points he made. First, he questioned some of Colletti's off-season moves as they have now come back to haunt the team. He also ripped Pierre to shreds for the kind of at-bats he's had all year: swinging at first pitches constantly, hitting the ball in the air too much, not hitting the ball on the ground enough, not bunting when he should, defensive lapses in the field. He criticized Grady for not playing Kemp enough, even after he had his little slump again. Instead of giving him a day off to clear his mind, Kemp's been sitting much of the three weeks. He chastised Grady for throwing Hendrickson back into the rotation, and continuing to use Tomko, when he should have gone to Colletti and suggested bringing up Hull, Stults or Houlton and giving them a shot. Today he made a point of saying they weren't out of it yet, but it's too late in the season to think about making up one game a week in the standings. They need to make up half the deficit NOW. They all need to stop trying to do it all themselves individually, and just PLAY!

They didn't get off to a great start on the home stand last night. They need these next three games against Houston before the Rockies come to town Friday night for the weekend.

I'm sure everyone is fully aware by now of the recent acquisitions since the non-waiver trade deadline passed. Since then, the Dodgers traded for pinch-hitting specialist Mark Sweeney from the rival Giants (first trade between the two teams since 1985, and it certainly helped that Colletti was the Giants' GM's right-hand man before coming to L.A., and the fact the Giants are buried in last place in the NL West), signed Shea Hillenbrand to a minor league deal and assigned him to Vegas, and acquired catcher Chad Moeller from Cincinnati and assigned him, too, to Vegas.

Couple of roster moves and notes... Nomar has been put on the 15-day DL with a strained left calf. Eric Hull has been recalled to take Nomar's spot on the roster. Hillendbrand, who was brought up yesterday when they sent Delwyn Young back down, will start in Nomar's place tonight. Schmidt was moved from the 15-day to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster for Hillendbrand. Speculation, as well, that LaRoche will be called back up on Friday, and rumors persist the Dodgers are showing interest in White Sox pitcher Jose Contreras. Contreras was told he was starting Friday, and then depending how he does, could end up in the pen thereafter. Contreras has told the Sox that he wants to be traded if he isn't going to be a starter there next season. Stay tuned. Contreras could be traded before the end of the month as he has cleared waivers.