Two of three? and a Question of the Day

The Dodgers, beneficiaries of great performances at the plate from Russell Martin and Blake DeWitt and Chan Ho Park and Hong-Chi Kuo on the mound on their way to a 6-3 win Saturday afternoon in Anaheim against the Angels, will look to make it two of three this afternoon in, oh, a couple hours.  Brad Penny's scheduled start will be delayed by a day as a result of arm stiffness after a between-starts bullpen session, and Derek Lowe, working on short rest, will swap spots with him.  Jered Weaver pitches for LAAoA. 

Jason Schmidt had a successful rehab outing for the Class A Inland Empire 66ers. Not quite as good a day as John Lindsey had for the 51's in Vegas, but still pretty good.  Nine batters, 34 pitches, three Ks, one walk. 

Very interesting column today from Bill Shaikin of the LAT, discussing the trend for smaller market teams to lock up their best young players early, assuming the risk of diminished performance for salary certainty through the years of arbitration and early free agency.  With the likes of Russell Martin, James Loney, Chad Billingsley, Andre Ethier, and Matt Kemp, certainly the Blue will be in a position to follow suit.  Shakin argues, though, that teams like the Dodgers, who can pay the prevailing market rate for good players, don't have to dive in with early money.  Shaikin reports that the Blue have twice tried to open the early-contract door with Russell Martin, and were twice turned down.  It's an interesting debate, and the risks are substantial (ask the Indians if they'd like that Travis Hafner money back...).  Which leads to today's QOTD:

Should the Dodgers do what they can to lock up their best young players sooner rather than later?  If so which ones do you want to see signed first?

BK

Live in the present

Assuming that's your approach, it's fair to say that the Dodgers totally own the Angels.  After all, on Saturday afternoon, with their fifth starter on the hill and coming off a tough loss the night before, the Blue came out and beat the Angels in Anaheim, 6-3, only their fourth win in the last 19 tries at the Big A.  Whatever.  In this "what have you done for me lately" world, all that matters is the here and now, right?  After all, they can't go back and win the games they've already lost to them.  Might as well start a new streak, and after dropping five in a row, the Blue seem to have turned the ship around.  They've now won three of four, buoyed today by a homer from Blake DeWitt, three hits from Russell Martin, and an extremely strong performance from the tandem of Chan Ho Park and Hong-Chih Kuo. 

Click below for the breakdown. 

Live from Anaheim- Dodgers vs. Angels

Second verse, and the Blue hope it's not the same as the first.  Chan Ho Park vs. Ervin Santana on a bright, sunny day.  Can't beat that. 

LIVE BLOG TODAY

Hi folks.  I'm on my way down to Anaheim now, but we'll have a Live Blog for you this afternoon from the Big A.  Dodgers vs. Angels, Game 2 of this year's Freeway Series.  Hope you can join in.  The window should be live around 12:45, in time for the 12:55 start. 

Thanks.

BK

The song remains the same

Another game against the Angels, another loss for the Dodgers, this time a 4-2 clunker Friday night at the Big A.  For those of you keeping score at home, that's nine losses in their last 10 tries against the Angels.  No doubt, Halos starter Joe Saunders pitched well, as he's done all season, but once again that thing that seems to mess with the Dodgers every time they travel down the five reared it's ugly head again tonight.  Two errors, other defensive miscues, flares that fall in for the bad guys, balls in the dirt, Andruw Jones called out at first for making a move towards second after Angels shortstop Erick Aybar airmailed Casey Kotchman at first. 

That sort of thing.   

Against a team that requires a crisp, heavy starch comportment, the Dodgers were a pile of rumpled linen.  Click below for the breakdown.

This back thing must be catching

PROGRAMMING NOTE:  I was thinking about launching a live blog for tomorrow afternoon's game.  Anyone plan on being in front of their computer?  Well, you should. Remember, it's an early game, so make sure to stop by...

Blake DeWitt's back, which kept him out of yesterday's win in Milwaukee, will again put him on the bench.  There has been improvement, he told me, but there's still a little twinge.   "I told (Joe Torre) I felt good," DeWitt said.  "It's nothing serious, just some tightness."  Rafael Furcal, Torre certainly isn't going to take any chances.  DeWitt thought he'd be able to play Saturday afternoon, and Torre seemed to agree.  So that's good news.

Regarding Furcal, the news is also positive.  "We're thinking in the next couple days he'll start playing catch, and then we'll see how quickly he can progress,"  Torre said.  "The pain is gone and he's progressing well, but the original plan was to shut him down completely for about five or six days."  Should he be able to come off the DL when he's eligible (next Wednesday, I believe), Torre didn't think Furcal would need any rehab ABs.  Good to hear. 

Looking for a good Angels vs. Dodgers primer?

It's always interesting to put the Dodgers and Angels side by side, to see how each stacks up against the other.  Not necessarily because there's some bitter rivalry between fans of the respective teams, but rather due to the increasingly competitive race to be considered "The Best Baseball Team in Los Angeles," on and off the field and in the front office.  Currently, if you held a finger to the wind, I'd say it'd be blowing south towards Anaheim. (They certainly come out ahead here.) 

Rob over at 6-4-2 doesn't isn't focused on that large a picture, but does have a great position by position breakdown of each team looking forward to this weekend's series.  Definitely worth the read. 

BK

Blue bleeders dig the long ball

Really, so do all baseball fans, but Dodger fans haven't exactly been saturated with homer highlights throughout this young season.  During yesterday's 7-2 win over the Brewers, however, they were not only treated with more than their share (3), but saw them crammed into one inning (the 7th) for some extra oomph.  To boot, those jacks were supplied by three dudes either nursing slumps or don't even enter the action often enough to fall into a slump.  The much maligned Andruw Jones went long off Ben Sheets to kick things off, allowing the hopeful to believe that perhaps he's working his way out of a funk so deep James Brown would be jealous. One Andre Ethier ground out later, Jeff Kent, who ain't exactly setting the world on fire of late, took the plate and sent one into the stands.  Then came the... wait for it... "blue" de grace.  With two men on and another RBI already banked courtesy of Russell Martin, rare visitor to a lineup card Gary Bennett seized his even rarer two man on at bat, belting a serious blast into the left field seats.  That would be enough to prompt an exit stage left for Sheets, who'd otherwise been en route towards a positive box score contribution. 

Six and the City (Milwaukee, in this case)

This afternoon in Milwaukee, the Dodgers had a huge sixth inning fueled by a very unexpected six run seventh inning: Homers from the slumping Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent, plus one from Gary Bennett (who doesn't get enough PT to slump).  Chad Billingsley was rock solid, going seven innings and allowing only one run and three hits.  The result?  A 7-2 series capping win.  LA comes home-ish to face the Angels this weekend.

BK

Andruw does indeed "care," but needs to care more

In terms of being "embarrassed" by his sub-Mendoza performance as a Dodger, Jones does care about his lackluster start.  How much of that embarrassment, however, is rooted in Jones caring about fan reaction (or not, as he often seems dead set on maintaining) has been the source of discussion on the blog since the loss on Sunday.  The Dodgers' current roadie couldn't come sooner for Jones, now hearing the boo birds in full chirp upon picking up the stick, a serenade that typically only louder as the game continues.  This development is the root of of my biggest gripe over Jones and his poor start.  The guy has absolutely ruined Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" for me.  From now until the day I die, I'll hear boos in my head whenever Andruw Jones' at bat theme is playing.  I'm a huge fan of both Marley and that particular song, so this ain't sitting well with me by any stretch.

The gripe running a close second, however, would Jones' apparent take on the fans.