Angels Sent From Heaven

The Dodgers hung three on Bartolo Colon in the third, good enough for a 4-0 lead. Given their offensive struggles this year, it could be Sunday before the Angels make up that deficit. The way Brad Penny was dealing, it sure wasn't happening tonight. The big righty shut down the Halos, allowing seven hits and one run while striking out six, keeping a lid on his pitch count, and generally pitching like he's itching for a July trip to Pittsburgh. His stats (9-2, 2.94) say he's an All-Star, and if he needs a letter of recommendation from Little, that shouldn't be a problem. "To me, it's a no-brainer," the Dodgers manager said of a potential Penny All Star nod. "From what we've seen in the first part of the season, I don't see how there could be any question."

Cesar Izturis may have worn a donut in the box score, but Little was quick to praise his defense. At this point, he has no trouble visualizing Izzy picking it at the hot corner for the rest of the year. "He's quite a glove man. On nights like tonight where he got no hits, it's like he's driving in runs with his glove for us. He's getting RBIs with that glove," Little said. "He has no tough hops. He does the job with that glove that somehow it works out that there's never a bad hop out there. He just makes the play, and makes a good throw."

Not to be outdone by the "old" guys, the kids kicked in as well. Andre Ethier had three hits, including a double to right and a two-run eighth inning bomb to dead center that ended Bartolo Colon's night and iced the game for the Dodgers. Matt Kemp broke out of a mini-slump with two hits and a run scored. It helps not to be facing Francisco Liriano and Johan Santana. "We faced some good pitchers (in Minnesota)," he said. "But we all swung the bat well. I was patient today. I got some good pitches to hit. I wasn't chasing any bad pitches." Colon, he said, was coming at them early in the count with fastballs, and "we jumped on them. They were hittable pitches so we just jumped on them, and we got good results."

He also was nice enough not to mock me for not knowing E-40, the rapper out of Oakland Kemp was playing for Russell Martin before the game. All this blogging has left me out of touch, I guess.

More on the game tomorrow.

—BK