Jhonny Nunez, We Hardly Knew Ya

One more versatile infielder who can play a little outfield (or if you prefer, outfielder who plays some infield), and Ned Colletti gets a free latte. The Dodgers picked up lefty hitting infielder-outfielder Marlon Anderson from the Nationals in exchange for 20-year-old righty Jhonny Nunez.

Anderson has a solid record as a pinch-hitter over the course of his career- though not so much this year — and will add a lefty bat to the bench, something the Dodgers were hoping to do. How good a lefty bat? Eh. But he won't hurt anything, and it's not like superstars often switch ZIP codes at this time of year. Very much no harm, no foul...though honestly I'd just as soon see some of those ABs go to James Loney once he's back. We'll see how Little 'n' Co. use Anderson.

—BK

A Smattering of Ned

Dodgers GM Ned Colletti spoke on a variety of subjects before Tuesday's game, from September call ups to tonight's "playoff eligible" trade deadline to the changing state of free agency to why AK should stop wearing those insanely tight cycling shorts to the park every night.* Here's a sample.

*One of these topics may not have come up. Because we're not bossy at Blue Notes, I'll let you decide which.

—BK

On what's caused the parity throughout the league (if you haven't noticed, everyone short of the 51's are still in contention for the NL Wild Card):

"It could be a lot of different things. It could be the effects of revenue sharing. Some of the teams that in the past may have struggled to keep their own players when they got to be arbitration eligible or free agents and had to trade them off (no longer necessarily have to). I think that's probably some of it, that teams have an opportunity to keep their better young players for a longer period of time. Other than that, I don't know. I know that every team in this division's capable of running off a winning streak and capable of getting beat a bunch. I think we all have. In this division, I think it's so close that teams beat up on each other all the time, so you end up with the kind of balance you're talking about, with a bunch of teams around .500"

Carts and Horses

In another sign that things are going well in Dodgerland, I was just sent my application for postseason credentials. Yeah, nothing has been buttoned up yet (including whether or not A.K. and I will actually get approved. These things are a media madhouse and the press box at Dodger Stadium is baseball's equivalent of a studio apartment.). But it beats the alternative, which is having absolutely no reason to send out the application out.

They're not doing this in Kansas City, I can assure you.

—BK

Extra! Extra! (8.31)

At this point most fans are aiming higher, but it's still good to know that under no circumstances will the Blue lose more games this season than last. We'll start there, but the numbers get even more fun. Wednesday's 7-3 win over the Reds (Why do they have to leave town?), equaled their victory total from last year, gave the Dodgers a series and season sweep over the Cincinnati, plus ran their record in August to 21-7. That's more wins than they've had on one page of the calendar since the moving trucks left Brooklyn. The Blue maintained their three game lead over San Diego (magic number, 27!), and have everyone feeling so good, managers are giving gifts to T.J. Simers (dogs and cats living together!), who can't find anything to complain about. Can peace in the Middle East be far behind?

330

That would the win total for this evening. Not the Dodgers' running '06 tally, of course. Tonight's 7-2 series sweeping victory over the Reds, fine a triumph as it was, only takes them to 71 (and 21 for August, tying the best monthly close out since waving goodbye to Brooklyn). 330 does, however, represent the wins racked during the Hall of Fame career of one Greg Maddux, now 10th on the all-time "W" list. And while a 7 IP/2 ER outing is nothing out of the ordinary for the man with more control than a world class puppeteer, upon factoring in everything else Maddux brought to the table, his performance was fitting of a milestone event. Two RBIs (one off a perfectly executed squeeze bunt to score Wilson Betemit). Sparkling defense, including a sprinting cover of first base after Nomar made a heck of a run-saving play himself. To say the least, Maddux provided the kitchen sink while taking his place in history. As Russell Martin put it, "He's got the whole package."

The Cookie Monster And Derek Lowe: Separated At Birth?

If at some point you lost track of time during last night's 16 inning game, don't feel too bad. So did Grady Little. Talking before today's contest, Little chuckled that he actually thought Ramon Martinez hit the walk off heard 'round Elysian in the 15th inning. Only this morning after surfing the net did he realize that the homer was a sweet 16 gift. "When they get to that point, you're not really looking at a clock," shrugged Little. Clocks, however, did get punched, and by just about every player on the roster last night. In particular, the yeoman efforts of Derek Lowe were quickly discussed, along with the irony of him drawing a walk when his injured hand prevented him from being able to take a swing. The biggest gift since little Miguel (front row, far right) scrunched his way to a free ride in "The Bad News Bears." "It worked," laughed Little. As it turns out, Lowe may not have had the energy to take cuts with the bat in the first place. You can blame the junk food industry for that. "He was actually pretty funny," smiled Little. "After his three innings, I looked at him on the bench, he looked kind of like he looks in a game he starts and he's got about 110 pitches. He explained to me that he had been eating cookies before early in the game." Damn the evils of sugar! All's well that ends well, but who knows if such dangers can be flirted with again. Thus, I asked Little if he would implement a cookie ban in an effort to be better prepared for unexpected circumstances. The good folks at Keebler need not lose any sleep. "After the way he pitched last night, we might bring some more cookies in," said Little.

Extra! Extra! (8.30)

Hold on. Quick check to see if last night's game is actually over.... OK, here we go!

Ramon Martinez just can't catch a break these days. The guy barely ever gets to play, doesn't get much attention from the media (despite bearing a resemblance to legendary skateboarder Bob Burnquist and having affinity for playing Sudoku puzzles before games), and when he gets his shining moment, a 16th inning walk off bomb — the first game-ending homer of his career — that gave the Dodgers a huge 6-5 win over Cincinnati, it comes four hours and 54 minutes after the game had started, long after most people had left the Ravine and viewers at home had fallen asleep. You can make a case for this dinger being more dramatic than Russell Martin's blast to end "Maddux vs. Schmidt" back on the 13th (16 innings trumps 10, right?), but that game took about an hour and was on national TV. To end with a moment of glory for a rookie! Just another case of a vet not getting his due.

Well, That Wasn't Such a Chore Now, Was It?

I was going to write a vivid, flowery, exquisitely detailed recreation of tonight's epic, 16 inning, four hour, 54 minute, 6-5 win against the Reds. But I just don't have the strength. None. Nada. Zip. Seriously, this baby was long enough to sap the energy out of Jack Black after a meth binge with a Pixie Stix chaser. How the hell Ramon Martinez even mustered up the hoo-ha to jack that walk off a homer is beyond me. Although I don't blame the guy for going first pitch on Ryan Franklin. I imagine he'd entirely lost the patience necessary to work a count by then. Kudos to my new hero Ramon for following his instincts.

I'll say this much. Mark Hendricksen, who got the hook after a mere four innings, owes Martinez a steak dinner. Actually, Hendricksen also owes the six subsequent pitchers who kept the Blue in this affair a steak dinner. And screw it, Mark Hendricksen owes me a steak dinner! Why? Because it's freakin' 12:20 and I'm typing at my PC while staring at a (presumably bitter) grounds crew cleaning up the field. I got nothing against the lanky lefty, mind you. He's been perfectly nice whenever I've talked with him. Seems like nothing short of a decent human being. I'll go out on a limb and declare him a stand-up guy. But I'm sorry. Dude simply owes me. I'll be awaiting my invite to Morton's, Mark. And I'm bringing a date. And we're ordering appetizers and cocktails. And a to-go meal.

The jumbotron just showed that end credits bit from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" where he looks at the audience and says, "You're still here? It's over. Go home." I think I'll take my cue from Matthew Broderick. Night, y'all.

More to come later this morning...

—AK

I'm Not Saying You Shouldn't Tune in Tonight

But if you chose instead to get your financial house in order and make a run at this lil' beauty, I can't say I'd blame you. Moving along...

I know the cliché is you take every game one at a time, avoiding the temptation to get ahead of things. In this case, however, I think it's OK to tell you that as of right now, Grady Little expects Derek Lowe's injured hand to heal sufficiently for him to pitch on Friday. "I think he's gonna give it a shot," Little said.

Aaron Sele would take the ball if Lowe can't, but Little doesn't feel he needs to baby the guy between now and Friday night. "We'll do our best, but Sele hasn't worked a lot of innings lately, and he should be able to work a few innings for us today or tomorrow and still be able to do that on short notice Friday if we need him," Little said.

Baseball Prospectus Checks in on the Draft

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus checks in on the lot of high school pitchers taken in the '06 draft. Right now, Clayton Kershaw looks like the cream of the crop (five walks against 54 strikeouts is a tidy little number), and while Bryan Morris isn't exactly setting the world on fire, he's not getting totally shelled, either. Get those hit numbers down, kid.

—BK

High School Pitchers

Pick, Player, Team            LVL   ERA   IP    H   BB   SO   EXP
-----------------------------------------------------------------
7. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers    R   1.95  37.0  28    5   54    +
12. Kasey Kiker, Rangers      SS   4.15  43.1  35   32   41
16. Jeremy Jeffress, Brewers   R   5.68  31.2  28   24   33    -
18. Kyle Drabek, Phillies      R   7.71  23.1  33   11   14    -
22. Colton Willems, Nationals  R   3.38  16    23    3    8    -
26. Bryan Morris, Dodgers      R   4.76  56.2  61   34   74

This group is the only disappointment so far, but there are two mitigating factors. First off, Clayton Kershaw, according to those who have seen him, has enough potential to makes up for any failures otherwise. Secondly, the rest of these guys are power arms (finesse high school pitchers don't go in the first round) with the ability to turn things around.

As you can see by the numbers, Kershaw has been outstanding by any measurement, and the stuff matches the performance. Kiker gets the same mulligan Sapp gets for pitching in the Northwest League — other than the walks, he's held his own against players mostly two to three years older than he is. If you remove Kershaw from the equation, the one thing the group has in common is control problems, except for Willems who has also given up many hits with few strikeouts in a small sample.

Few walks and few strikeouts are a much less attractive indicator than a high total of both, although it is a small sample and he was shut down with shoulder fatigue. I include Morris here because while he was drafted out of a junior college, he's just 19, so he's closer to a high school pick than a college one. His statistical profile is more unique and more difficult to assess as he's allowed a high number of baserunners while striking out nearly 12 per nine innings.