On one hand, it's hard to complain when a series of Dodger pitchers join forces to allow one run over 11 innings.  Unfortunately, the Dodgers weren't able to push ahead of the Padres during the "regulation plus two" portion of frames, which rendered the 12th inning a requirement as dictated by Major League Baseball's rules.  And that's when Brett Tomko, who's attracting his share of boos this season, entered and the game turned into a 3-1 loss.  Tomko immediately surrendered a lead-off single to Khalil Greene in omen-setting fashion, then watched Andre Ethier make a sliding trap of Jose Cruz Jr.'s bloop to left.  Greene made it home, and the hit was compounded by Tony Abreu's spacing out on Ethier's throw to nab Cruz at second.   That mental mistake was further compounded by a Geoff Blum double, scoring Cruz.   

Throw it all together with a fruitless bottom of the 12th and you've got a result that wasted some otherwise terrific pitching on both sides.  The "Brad Penny/Jake Peavy are going head to head" hoopla lived up to the hype, their seven innings apiece combined for 13 strikeouts and just two earned runs.  I believe that would qualify as "good pitching," as traditionally defined.  The Blue follow-up efforts by Joe Beimel, Jonathon Broxton, Takashi Saito and Chin-Hui Tsao all produced a string of goose eggs.  Plus, Saito managed to dodge back-to-back broken bats like he was starring in an action flick.  "Bruce Willis-esque" prowess is an intangible that doesn't show up in the box score, but we at Blue Notes believe they deserve their rightful props.

More to come later.

-AK

Or more accurately, dudes who get along, but go way, way, WAY back.  The pair who made MLB history yesterday as the first Taiwanese pitchers to throw in the same game have actually been playing together since their little league games in their homeland (where, incidentally, two Taiwanese pitchers in the same game isn't close to as big a deal).  Their travel teams often squared off and Tsao remembers Kuo as a (then) outfielder with a pretty mean stick and some good speed.  He also recalls Kuo's teams winning at every level, especially high school.  "His team was always the champion," shrugged Tsao. 

And he would know, since Kuo's squad beat his to snag a title.  Kuo was a pitcher by then and Tsao's final season saw the two pitted in a mound battle.  Guess who won that skirmish.  "He tried to hit a home run, too," laughed Tsao.  "He swung at every pitch."  And, according to Tsao, jumps at the opportunity to remind him who walked away with high school bling.  Hey, it's all good fun, right?  Kuo owned up to the ribbing and vividly remembers the childhood and teenage years spent battling Tsao, with only one discrepency in their stories.  He actually recalls Tsao as the better hitter.  But he did confirm Tsao's tale of him swinging at everything without me even bringing it up.

It's not a question of whether or not Hong-Chi Kuo has the proverbial "stuff."  He does.  But whether or not he can put all that stuff together in a complete and effective game remains a mystery, especially after yesterday's 7-6 loss to San Diego.  For three innings, the lefty kept the Pads at bay, striking out a trio of Papa batters and surrendering just a run.  Unfortunately, the 2-1 lead staked for Kuo turned into a fourth inning blood bath, highlighted by a three-run jack by Kevin Kouzmanoff.  By the time Kuo handed the ball to Grady Little, he put a few more on base, all of which eventually crossed home.  Damage done and really quite tough to repair.   Not that the Blue didn't give it their best.  An eighth run rally cut the Padres lead to a pair of runs and the Dodgers racked another in the final frame.  Unfortunately, Major League Baseball doesn't award bonus runs for hard work, so the box score remained a loser.

In the home half of the first Friday night, the Dodgers stole three bases, took a 1-0 lead and generally looked deeper into Padres starter Chris Young's head than John Cusack in John Malkovich's.  Had you turned off the game at that point, likely you'd have felt pretty confident about the final outcome.  After all, the numbers said the Blue would win 8-0 while stealing 24 bases.  I'm not looking it up, but will guess that would have set some sort of record.  But, alas, you'd have been wrong (... and frankly kind of dumb for making such wild assumptions after one inning).  That stuff all happened before Hong-Chih Kuo resumed his campaign to make all my early '07 hosannas look completely and totally misplaced.  Kuo showed cracks in the second (one hit, one walk, one run) and crumbled in the fourth (five hits, one walk, six more runs), giving San Diego just enough cushion to escape the Ravine with a 7-6 win over the Blue.   

Okay, maybe that's a little much, but without a doubt the trio of games the Blue will kick off tonight against San Diego constitute the most important set of the year.  Two teams in a virtual tie for first in a division where one loss can actually send a squad down to third.  The Dodgers are looking for a little payback after the Friars swept them early this month down in Gas Lamp Country.  Toss in a couple compelling pitching matchups (featuring Saturday's marquee quality Brad Penny vs. Jake Peavy tussle) and it's fair to say this is the sort of thing Abner Doubleday had in mind when he woke up one morning, poured himself some coffee and declared, "Screw this cricket B.S!  To hell with rounders!  We can do better!" 

Unfortunately, Marlon Anderson won't be around to soak it in.  The Dodgers, hurting for arms in the bullpen, activated Chin-Hui Tsao and designated the classy left-handed pinch hitting specialist for assignment.  "We've got a real need for another pitcher on the staff right now, and at this point in our season we were finding it a tough time to get Marlon enough at bats," Grady Little said.  "We needed to go to twelve pitchers, and to do it we had to take away a hitter.  It was a tough decision for us, because what Marlon Anderson did for us last fall during the month of September, you can't say enough about the job he did." 

The Dodgers just announced that Marlon Anderson has been designated for assignment, which coincides with the activation of Chin-Hui Tsao.  The latter is available for relief arm duty this evening (and not a minute too soon).

BK's at the park and he'll have more specific details, but we wanted to give y'all the heads up ASAP.  We both figure some team will pick up the Uber-Late '06 Season Addition, so this is hopefully an "all's well that ends well" thing.  Anderson is a seriously nice dude and BK and I have both enjoyed talking with him during his brief Dodger tenure.  Best of luck in the future.

-AK   

On paper, this weekend's series against the San Diego Padres has all the makings of blockbuster Friday-Sunday.  The two teams tied for the top spot in the National League's hottest and most competitive division.   A So Cal rivalry between two cities separated by miles of 405 traffic.  And if the hype over Jose Cruz Jr's chance to get some payback against the team that cut him last season wasn't enough, you've got Andre Ethier squaring off against the franchise now employing the dude L.A. swapped for him.

The final game of the pivotal Dodgers-Diamondback series could also have been presented in gimmicky fashion as "Randy Fest 2007!!!"  Oh, to lament a marketing opportunity missed!  Although it may have been for the best, because this 9-5 Dodger win didn't feature anything remotely resembling what one would label "Classic Big Unit."  The HOF Lefty got rocked early by some kidlings who aren't scurred, even if they grew up watching him hurl in his prime.  In particular Russell Martin- now praying for no hanging chads- was in the thick of it, getting things to a roaring start with a two-run homer in the opening frame.  If he hadn't been such a slacker with his blatant disinterest in getting a triple, he would have added "the cycle" to his resume.  James Loney was another youngster helping sit RJ via RBI production.  The box score reflects a winning result, but also a roll in general that helped  the Blue regain "top of the heap" status.   

The title sounds like a bad spy novel parody, but it nonetheless sums up the issue.  Derek Lowe took the personal "L" in the 2-0 loss to the D-Backs, but it's hard to ride the sinkerball specialist's performance too heavily.  His 6.2 innings yielded just two runs, one of which came when James Loney's throwing error allowed runners to advance for an eventual sacrifice.  The problem wasn't at the plate but Brandon Webb's effect on the Dodger dish (where Loney and Gonzo's mutual three hit nights led to a dry run reservoir) and the base paths (where a baker's dozen were left stranded).  You can break down and analyze the box until your mind and eyes bleed, but at the end of the day, that's still the score (literally and figuratively).

If Tony Abreu (among others) has a problem with losing his semi-starting gig to Nomar Garciaparra, he chose the proper method of protesting his worth.  No blasting Grady little through the media.  No trade demands.  No sit-ins with songs by Joan Baez playing in the background.  Instead, he shut his yap and hit a game-winner 10th inning homer to secure a 6-5 win over the D-Backs.  Subbing for Big Jon Broxton with two Blue batters already downed, Abreu found the perfect time to hit his first big league long ball.  Pretty clutch move for a youngster (although Abreu's preservation of the milestone required the help of a savvy veteran).  The second string hot corner man's heroics not only vaulted his squad to the top of their division, but helped cover for another fella wet behind the ears.  Chad Billingsley's second start quickly littered the box score with a decent chunk of runs and two Snake homers in as many innings.   

The Dodgers have played 76 games.  After Monday night's win in Arizona, they sit a scant half game behind the Diamondbacks for the lead in the NL West.  They're ten games over .500, and that improves to fifteen if you toss out the Interleague games (should the Dodgers find their way to the World Series, we can all revisit their 5-10 record against the AL).  At 15-11, they've had better success inside what has become a very tough division than any of their rivals.  More good news?  Despite the loss of Jason Schmidt for the year and a couple dings here and there, the Dodgers haven't been forced to repeat last year's semi-grotesque, injury induced player shuffle that saw, if memory serves, 4,891 different guys don an L.A. uni.  I think the old dude from Major League started three games in July.  At the beginning of the season I picked the Dodgers to win the division, and wrote they had as good a chance as any team to represent the NL in the World Series.  I still think that's true.  Yet there are few fans/writers/baseball gurus out there who consider the Blue a stone cold lock to be playing deep into October.  Given the strength and balance of the West, it's possible they could miss the playoffs entirely. 

So as the header of this post asks, just how good are these guys?

We could examine the whole "nobody's ever seen the Dodger Skip and the psychic madam in the same place at the same time" theory, but for the sake of time, let's simplify matters by just giving Grady Little's foresight a little credit.  It necessarily doesn't take a genius to figure out that an 8-1 win over divisional rival Arizona would come in handy, but Little recognized the importance and monkeyed with the rotation to get his ace into the mix.  The result was Brad Penny keeping a slew of D-Back hitters up against it, reducing them to eight inning's worth of one run/four hit marshmallow.  Penny's 10th win of the season also featured the Big Okie coming through with the stick.  Penny's double to kick off the sixth inning- courtesy of some serious huff puffing 'round the bags- sparked a four run rally, the beginning of the end for Snake hurler Micah Owings' otherwise strong performance.  Penny's swing was purty enough to bring out Gonzo's green side, but it's easier being green than blue, the shade of Jeff Kent's left toe after coming in contact with a fouled pitch.  In any event, the Dodgers are seeing red (jerseys) and rather up close, courtesy of a winning box score that put them within half a game of the Snakes in the NL West race.

But in games where he takes warmups in preparation to eventually play third, the Dodgers are undefeated in a staggering way.  I mean, they're crushing clubs at an average ratio of 8 runs to 1,  precisely the numbers in tonight's win against the D-Backs.  Keeping with the theme of "Nomar's first time as a blue hot corner man in any fashion," there were other firsts on display this evening.  Wilson Betemit went long as a righty for the first time this season.  And Brad Penny managed to look fast for the first time this season, transforming into a virtual house of fire while chugging along the base paths for double off Micah Owings.  Penny's display of swiftness marked the start of a four-run rally that put Owings on the bench and busted the game wide open.  In the meantime, Penny went eight innings to pick up his 10th win, entering just one Arizona run and four hits into the box score.

Only one bummer.  Jeff Kent fouled a ball off his toe in the fourth, then eventually took himself out of the game in the sixth for some ice and X-rays.  The film came back negative, so hopefully, it ain't no thang but a chicken wang.

More to come later.

-AK

Having officially reached their breaking point with the lack of production at third, the Dodgers are moving Nomar across the diamond to patrol the hot corner.  He could start there as early as Friday against the Padres.  Beyond shoring up the production at third, the move gets James Loney in the lineup every day.  The big catch, of course, is the risk to Nomar's health, and I've written more than once that it makes me squeamish.  I've seen this tactic as last resort type deal.  The break glass in case of emergency position change. 

In Part I of our interview with Dodger left fielder Luis Gonzalez, we talked about how he sees his role on the team, what it's like to go from being "the man" to another cog in the machine, and how the Dodgers integrate the veterans and younger players in an effort to field a championship team.  In the second installment, we talk about how the game has changed, the unavoidable steroids controversy, and living out a moment every glove-and-bat-toting kid in the country has played out in the backyard. 

Brian Kamenetzky: You talked about being an old school player.  What has changed about the game?

Luis Gonzalez:  What hasn't?

Blue loyalists remember well the name "Edwin Jackson," a young, hot prospect the Dodgers decreed untouchable for what felt like 15 years.  After passing on roughly a zillion deals, the pitcher was finally dealt to Tampa, where he hasn't looked nearly as talented as predicted.  But during yesterday's 9-4 loss to the Rays, the kid finally showed some stuff.  Snagging his first win in two years, Jackson gave up a two-run bomb to Luis Gonzalez during the first frame, a shot big enough to create Tampa baseball history.  From there, he put the clamps on L.A., holding them to goose eggs for another five innings.

The other side of the coin was Hong-Chih Kuo's performance, which was equal parts good and "eh."  On one hand, Kuo managed to fan 8 batters in just 5.1 innings of work.  That's a lot of Tampa batters retired in a short amount of time.  His appearance, however, wasn't brief enough to prevent three Rays from crossing home plate.  Change that "three" to "five" and you've just described the tally surrendered up by Joe Beimel without even recording an out.  Not a box score "enhancer" in a traditional sense.

It's not like the Blue didn't have chances to turn Saturday's 4-3 loss to Tampa into a win (the baseball equivalent of turning that frown upside down).  The Dodgers repeatedly refused the charity of the Devil Rays, leaving nine guys in scoring position, fifteen on overall, and squandering three opportunities with the bases loaded.  They were granted nine walks, but only pushed one of those across the plate.  They let a guy who was hitting about .  Then to top the whole thing off, Randy Wolf allowed a game-deciding homer to former Dodger Dioner Navarro, who has been slumping like a dead guy in a chair over his last 100 ABs. All that makes you wonder if the Blue were even able to enjoy the postgame Sha Na Na concert even a little.  At least the unis looked good.  And there was nothing "throwback" about the Dodger lineup.  The box shows James Loney, Andre Ethier, and Matt Kemp shared five hits and five walks between them. 

Okay, not quite.  But all of a sudden, there seems to be life in the Dodger bats.  Granted, there's something about playing Tampa Bay that can make your average little league team look solid, but 16 hits is 16 hits, and that's what the Dodgers had in their 6-3 win Friday night.  And fans of the youth of L.A. will enjoy last night's box score.  Three hits from James Loney, two from Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier.  Toss in another solid game for Luis Gonzalez and a couple knocks from Jeff Kent, and run-starved righty Derek Lowe (8-6), who has had to ration out runs allowed all season, must have felt he'd landed a free trip through the all-you-can-eat buffet line at Sizzler.  Not a bad way to celebrate 10 years.  Really, other than more sluggish play at the top of the order, everybody in a visiting uniform got to have some fun.   Just ask Andy Sonnanstine. 

Guys don't often leapfrog from Double-A to the bigs (much less a 21-year old), but Matt Kemp managed to get a 2006 flight booked from Jacksonville to Los Angeles without the typical layover in Vegas.  Between the 7 homers in his first 18 games (only the fifth Major Leaguer in history to pull that off) and ridiculous athletic ability, it was easy to see why the powers that be were high on the kid.  But as time passed, opposing pitchers realized that he was the Dodger version of Pedro Cerrano.  Throw him a curve and he'll miss.  The need for extra seasoning prompted a trip to Sin City, although he was back in time for the Wild Card series against the Mets.

Yep, it's true.  The Dodgers won their first Interleague road series since 2004, knocking off the Blue Jays in Toronto 8-4 Thursday night.  Air traffic control report no flying swine, there have been no reports of humanity's early demise.  Just L.A. winning a couple baseball games against that unholy, DH having alliance of teams.  Sweet.  And with a couple comebacks, no less.  After tying the game at two in the top of the sixth, the Blue lost the lead in the bottom half.  No worries, because the Dodgers worked the Jays in the eighth like Apollo Creed on a fight bag.  Eight straight runners reached base delivering six runs, two coming on a big double from Russell Martin, who continued his triumphant return to Maple Leaf Country.  Perhaps opposing managers will stop walking people to get to him.  On the mound, the box score shows Chad Billingsley wasn't razor sharp, but Grady Little saw plenty of reason to be optimistic. 

When Ned Colletti signed Luis Gonzalez this summer, I doubt many people thought they'd be getting the version that hit 57 homers and notched 142 RBIs in 2001.  The one that hit 52 doubles last season (good for second in the NL) would do.  Yes, more doubles meant fewer homers, but L.A. wasn't expecting an MVP, just a productive cog.  On May 20th, when his slugging percentage slipped below .400 and Gonzalez was neither driving the ball nor driving runs home, there were good reasons to believe the Blue wouldn't get even that.  Now things have perked up.  21 of his 34 RBIs have come since May 21st, as have 11 of his 16 doubles.  In a lineup that's struggled to score, Gonzo has provided a lift he'll need to sustain through the second half of the year.  I had a chance to sit down with him during the last homestand, and discuss his early season slump, the role of a veteran on a team with title aspirations, his evolution as a player, and more.  Click below for the first part of the conversation.

BK

   With Chad Billingsley virtually guaranteed to last only a few innings today, it would have been enough for the Dodgers to suffer through a 1 2/3 inning, eight earned run performance from Hong-Chih Kuo- that'll muck up the back of a bubble gum card- in L.A.'s 12-1 pasting at the hands of the Blue Jays in Toronto Wednesday night.  Things started off well enough. Kuo needed only 13 pitches to escape the first frame before things got ugly (very, very ugly) in the second.  Fortunately for the Dodgers, Brett Tomko was able to hold down the fort for 3 1/3, helping preserve the roster for tonight.  Yeah, he allowed four runs, but facing an 8-0 deficit against Toronto ace Roy Halladay, the outs he provided were bigger than the runs he surrendered.  Call 'em a drop in the bucket, since the box score shows a plenty of (Big) Hurt. 

Either the Toronto Blue Jays were seriously motivated by the ten runs L.A. took off them Monday night or today's spinach at the Rogers Centre was potent enough to overcome any indifference felt by the players.  At any rate, the result was a 12-1 bashing and Dodger pitchers getting bashed from the jump.  Hong-Chih Kuo isn't known as an innings eater by any stretch of the imagination, but even he's expected to last a full pair of innings.  Not tonight.  Of course, Grady Little's hand was pretty much forced once Kuo gave up a granny to Frank Thomas, which swelled Kuo's run total to eight in 1.2 innings.  Brett Tomko got the Dodgers out of the second inning, but the back-to-back jacks in the third pushed a winning box score even further out of reach than it already was.

But at least there's something of a bright side.  Had all the Dodger batsmen put up similar numbers to Andre Ethier's 3-3 night, the preferred trio of Joe Beimel, Jonathon Broxton and Takashi Saito would have likely come through to preserve the victory.  If hypothetical "holds" and "saves" are considered legit stats, add a couple notches to the good guys' belts.

More to come later.

-AK 

The Dodgers hit the road a weak offensive club unable to get an Interleague win in the other team's park.  For one night, at least, they took care of both problems, pasting the Blue Jays 10-1 Tuesday in Toronto.  While Brad Penny has received better run support than most Dodger hurlers, he's still had to pitch in plenty of tight spots.  Not so last night.  From moment one, the Blue were on Toronto starter Dustin McGowan like the proverbial white on rice, piling up six runs in the first two innings (enough to chase McGowan), and nine over the first four.  Makes you wonder if Derek Lowe teared up a little.  Anyway, the outburst had to look good to new hitting coach Bill Mueller, who watched his guys drive balls the other way and up the middle after working counts.   It definitely looked good to Ned Colletti, who has been waiting for offense all season.  The box shows big nights for Luis Gonzalez (four RBI) and Juan Pierre (three runs, three stolen bases, and most impressively, a walk!), and also native son Russell Martin, who in his first game up north blasted a homer in the sixth to put the cherry on top of the win.  It was Penny's ninth win, but if you ask him, he got lucky.  Four leaf clovers aside, the righty has been among the NL's most dominant starters all year.   

But I'm definitely an armchair hack version of a shrink, which is why I've decided that the Dodger batters are beyond enraged at the news of Jason Schmidt's impending surgery.  And in an effort to channel that rage, they beat up every baseball within swinging distance during tonight's 10-1 win over the Blue Jays.   Russell Martin hit his first career homer in his native Canada and Luis Gonzalez graced the box score with a quartet of ribbies.  Of course, the lineup didn't really need to go all out to such a concerted, collective degree, since Brad Penny stifled Toronto like Archie Bunker with Edith during a typical Tuesday night dinner.  Seven innings.  Five K's.  One earned run.  Even the die hard locals conceded that performance as "pretty good, eh?"

Yes, a lame joke.  But BK and I obviously can't go the entire series without one "eh" reference.  Might as well get it out the way ASAP so everyone can go on with their lives.

AK 

Jason Schmidt will have shoulder surgery on Wednesday, and could miss the rest of the season.  The length of Schmidt's recovery is very much dependent on what doctors find when they open him up, since tests on the shoulder haven't pinpointed the problem yet.  Perhaps because there's a discount for buying in bulk, Yhency Brazoban will have a tear in his labrum repaired as well. He'll be out indefinitely as well. 

Chad Billingsley will take his spot in the rotation.  Plenty more on this to come, I'm sure.

BK

The Kamenetzky Brothers are recycling a cheap play on words again.  But worse (though far less lazy), the Blue have once again been forced to put Jason Schmidt on the DL.  His injured right shoulder- that's the one attached to the arm with which Schmidt throws- clearly isn't right.  The Blue are yet to announce who will take his spot in the rotation, though the good money is on Chad Billingsley.  While management sorts that out, Schmidt will see some fancy doctors to determine if he'll need surgery to solve the problem.  Silver lining?  Schmidt won't be on the bench this week, which could save his eyesight if recent Interleague road trends hold true for the Blue.  They've lost 20 of their last 21.  (Or should you be more an optimist, won 1 of 21.)  However, the injury will bring more attention to an offseason of big acquisitions by Ned Colletti that have thus far paid out more than paid off.    

Grady Little said Sunday that the Dodgers were "evaluating" the status of Jason Schmidt.  It was a major theme of the pregame banter.  He didn't say, though, that they'd be evaluating for very long.  The Blue put Schmidt back on the DL today, and activated Marlon Anderson.  The drop in Schmidt's velocity has been noted, and he's struggled with location and release points as well.  He's clearly not right.  The question now becomes who replaces him in the rotation.  I think it's fair to say that the Dodger Nation would vote for Chad Billingsley rather overwhelmingly (as opposed to Brett Tomko or Mark Hendrickson).  This is one of those times where management should accept the wisdom of the crowd.  It is wise, it is strong. 

BK

Before the season started, at least one prominent national publication picked the Dodgers and Angels to meet in the World Series.  Nearly halfway into the season, that's still a realistic possibility.  LA-Anaheim is tied with Boston for the most wins in baseball, while LA-Actual has been near the top of the NL most of the year.  But if Sunday's 10-4 Angels romp, their fifth win in six tries this year against the Blue, means anything, the smart money in October will be on the O.C.'s finest.  How bad a day was it for the Dodgers?  The highlight wasn't the starting pitching or bullpen, both of which (as the box score notes) sucked, but that James Loney wasn't seriously injured after pancaking his body against the right field wall in the eighth.  It was, one could argue, the hardest thing the Dodgers hit all weekend.  All in all, after a little deconstruction it's clear the Freeway Series '07 was all Halos in ways that go beyond final scores (to paraphrase the manager in Bull Durham, "How'd we ever win one?")

A reversal of the popular catch phrase pretty much sums up a day not particularly good to Dodger fans (especially the fathers).  The insult with 10-4 loss to the Angels' came at the expense of the Dodgers' collective ERA.  Randy Wolf, Mark Hendrickson, Rudy Seanez and Brett Tomko took turns getting pasted by the Anaheim batsmen, soiling the box score with a not so sweet 16 hits.  The way the Halos were knocking the ball every which way but loose, you'da thunk they were getting pitched to by The SoCal Sharks, BK's men's league squad (who, incidentally, lost 12-7 today, for those who included it as part of  their Vegas betting slip).      

Over the course of a sportswriter's career, it's not unusual to gather a few momentos.  A bat.  A signed ball.  A prized photograph, or small piece of history from an important game, for example.  I don't have any of that stuff- the closest thing being a small  photo of me, gospel singer Kirk Franklin, and Kurt Warner from a piece I did for ESPN the Mag that never ran.  Or at least I didn't, until today.  Today, I have kicked off my collection of "insider" sports memorabilia in a big way. 

I am now the proud owner of Takashi Saito's socks. 

In the clubhouse before the game, I noticed Saito had those fun socks where the toes are individually sewn, like a pair of gloves.  With a little help from one of the Japanese reporters, I told Saito how that sort of sock has always freaked me out a little, because they make toes look an awful lot like fingers.   He laughed, either because he thought that was funny (unlikely) or because he's an extremely nice guy and thought I was an idiot (better odds).  Then, in a moment reminiscent of but perhaps more deeply moving than the Mean Joe Greene Coke commercial from back in the day, he handed me a pair.  There's a "44" sewn in and everything.  Awesome.  So from this point on, I don't want anyone on this site picking on Saito.  The man's a Hall of Famer.     

When the Dodgers announced the signing of Jason Schmidt, there was talk that the righty could usurp unquestioned "ace" status from both Derek Lowe and Brad Penny, or at the very least share the title.  But judging by yesterday's 3-0 loss to the Angels, it may be a little early to start engraving a new name on the crown.  During his short 4.2 inning in the box score, Schmidt never topped 88 mph and lacked sharpness and command from his opening pitch to his last, a changeup knocked into right field by super sub Reggie Willits for a two-RBI single.  No use denying it (especially since Schmidt will admit it), but the newest big splash arm just ain't himself these days.  Whether an issue of dwindled arm strength or health never fully recovered, the cause is leaving Schmidt unable to utilize his entire bag of tricks.

Considering Reggie Willits has already played in double the games this season as he did in all of 2006, I understand if his general presence, despite a very impressive 2007, is still sneaking up on some So Cal baseball fans.  And that's kinda fitting, considering how he slipped in through the back door to help provide the Angels a 3-0 win over the Dodgers.  Garrett Anderson, Anaheim All-Star staple with the big shot name everyone knows, began the day in his usual left field spot.  But he ended up aggravating a hammy, which led to Willits taking over the second inning.  Which led to Willits hitting a two out, two-RBI single in the top of the fifth inning.  Which led to Dodger starter Jason Schmidt getting the hook.  Rudy Seanez came in with runners on first and third, but couldn't prevent Howie Kendrick from knocking Casey Kotchman in with a single.  Those were all the Red runs in question, but when the Blue squad enters three fewer into the box score, that's usually more than enough.

The biggest and most memorable topic of conversation with Grady Little was actually Kobe Bryant.  As some of y'all may know, an overseas fence mending session between Kobe Bryant and Dr. Buss apparently yielded no picket enclosures of any discernibly increased sturdiness.  And since not much has really changed for the Dodgers between late Friday night and late Saturday morning, Little was pretty straight forward when asked if he "had anything" for us.

"Nothing.  You got anything for me?"

Interleague play has thrust some "rivalries" upon the sports world that may not have the panache of the actual, history driven variety.  For a long time, Dodgers vs. Angels qualified.  But Friday night at the Ravine, two very good teams playing in arguably the best of the mixed league series put on a show before a packed and rowdy house.  And with the pitching of Ervin Santana and especially Derek Lowe, those fans probably spent more time in traffic to and from the game than they did watching the Dodgers' 2-1 win.  That it went fast isn't such a big surprise- Lowe is the anti-Steve Trachsel.  That Lowe, who generally pitches to contact, struck out a career high 11 Angels is.  Chalk it up to some local knowledge.  Lowe had to be sharp, because Santana was dealing, and as the box score shows, all the Dodgers could muster was a two run single from Luis Gonzalez in the sixth.  In the end, though, Lowe finally came out on the right end of a pitcher's duel. 

I heard on the way into the stadium that traffic around the city was snarled somethin' fierce, even by L.A. standards.  Sure enough, come game time there were still a lot of empty seats in what would become a sardine packed house.  Maybe that's why the pretty blonde who sang the National Anthem never got it out of first gear.  She was either trying to give everyone a few more minutes to get to their seats or taking a run at Bleeding Gums Murphy.  Either way, the woman added an element of Alice's Restaurant that didn't need to be there.  Fortunately, Derek Lowe and Ervin Santana pitched like they were double parked.  But while Santana was good- seven frames, five hits, two runs, four Ks- Lowe was fantastic.  Seven innings of his own, one run, one hit, and one walk to go with a season high eleven strikeouts.  After a spotless eighth, Takashi Saito pitched around two infield singles in the ninth (tension!).  End result?  For one night, at least, the Interleague bugaboo has been slain.  2-1 Blue. 

Over the last few seasons, the Blue have flopped in Interleague Play worse than The Adventures of Pluto Nash at the box office.  Okay, that's a little bit of Friday night journalistic hyperbole- that film was a first ballot inductee into the Cutthroat Island Flop Hall of Fame- but since 2004, the Dodgers are 21-36.  Those are at best Waterworld numbers.  That would include a 1-5 mark this season, and a damn ugly 0-3 in the O.C. installment of the Freeway Series back in May.  If the league could have credited the Blue with extra losses based on performance, they'd likely have staggered from The A 0-10.  "The result we had down in Anaheim is clearly on our minds.  It was a time when we weren't playing good baseball.  We weren't playing the kind of baseball that you're supposed to play when you expect to win," Grady Little said.  The good news?  "Now we are."  But seriously, is there any explanation for results against the AL that only slightly outpace The Postman?  They're just American League teams.  It's not like they get spotted an extra four runs a night, or get to use Plastic Man in their lineups. (Once he's on first, how do you keep him from stealing home?  Think about it.)

"I don't have a good answer for that.  Maybe there is a reason, I don't know it.  If I did, then we'd try to do our best to correct it as soon as possible."  Fair enough.  Hopefully that starts tonight. 

From the outside looking in, it's kinda hard to evaluate in tangible terms if a hitting coach is doing a good or bad job.  But from the inside, it's quite possibly a little easier, which is why the Dodgers felt the need to move in direction that doesn't include Eddie Murray.  The Hall of Famer and former Dodger great came on board in 2006 and helped his old stomping ground become a house of high batting average (if not big time power).  2007, however, has been a perpetual struggle with the wood, one big enough to prompt a "desperate times call for desperate measures" response.  The front office hopes that interim replacement and 2003 AL batting champ Bill Mueller can provide a new perspective, and more importantly, communicate those ideas.  Murray's stick prowess can't ever be questioned.  The ability to share the secrets to said prowess?  Not so much.  And since Mike Scioscia is off the market, gotta do something, right?

Just wanted to give y'all a little sampling of what was said earlier today during a phone press conference with Ned Colletti, Grady Little and new hitting coach Bill Mueller.  Nothing too crazy or controversial, but we know how you like "the dirt," even when it's of a pretty clean variety.

Enjoy

-AK

A little ironic that this would come on the heels of a nine run win (and a reasonably Blue bat heavy series), but I can't say it's the most shocking of news.  Anyway, here's the official statement from the Dodgers.

-AK

Sometimes all it takes to pull out a win is just a little run support and a little good fortune.  Of course, as last night's 9-1 win over the Mets showed, a whole boatload of the stuff simplifies matters that much more.  Brad Penny's masterful efforts could have provided the Dodgers enough leverage to pull off the sweep on the heels of a squeaker.  An opening inning run aside, the biggest drama Penny dealt with on the mound was a confrontation with Shawn Green about his alleged spy work.  Pretty smooth- if offensively dry- sailing.  But once the fifth inning rolled around, it became pretty clear Penny's boys had his back in a big way.   Wilson Betemit opened the floodgates with a solo shot, with quickly snowballed into three run fifth and sixth innings.  Penny didn't even need the additional runs from the shuffled lineup to ensure box office gold, but we imagine the nonet struck Dodgers as more "sweet" than "wasteful."

But with all due respect to his impressive finger snapping powers, even Arthur Fonzarelli paled in comparison to the Dodgers' ability to score during tonight's 9-1 win over the Mets.  Between Wilson Betemit and James Loney going yard and multi-hit games from Betemit, Rafael Furcal, Juan Pierre, Matt Kemp and Tony Abreu, the Dodgers were continually in position to put big numbers on the board.  "All our guys are capable of hitting home runs," noted Loney.  "We've got timely clutch hitters, too."  Betemit certainly fell into both categories, having sparked the offensive juggernaut with a fifth inning solo shot.  It's the second jack in as many nights for Betemit and for a lot of fans, a ribbie-fest feels like a long time coming.  But for Betemit's teammates, progress after a vicious April was merely a matter of time.  "We knew he would," assured Brad Penny, tonight's winning pitcher.  "He's probably got more power than anyone on the team other than Olmedo (Saenz)."         

For starters, the Dodgers have the day off tomorrow, plus another on Monday before heading across the border for a series against (where Russell Martin presumably can't walk through a mall without getting mobbed by screaming fans).  A pair of such days so close to each other are rarities on the Blue schedule, but if Grady Little had any pull with the calender honchos, you'd be seeing it a whole helluva lot more.  "We never have too much of a choice.  Whatever's on the schedule, we'll play it.  But do I like it, yes.  In a perfect world, they'd be evenly spaced all the time.  That's not the way the schedule works."  Except, like, now.  But even when the puppet masters do provide some extra down time, in Little's mind, it comes earned.  "We played a lot of games consecutively now leading up to this one tomorrow.  After that (day off) Monday, we'll play right on through the All-Star break."

Ever since Hong-Chih Kuo began tossing for the Dodgers, Blue Notes has embarked upon a quest to provide him a nickname.  "The Terror from Taiwan."  "The Taiwanese Tornado" (which AK is leaning towards).  But whatever nickname is more appropriate (and the polls are open, so vote early and vote often!), it was somewhat beside the point, since Kuo's 2007 appearances hadn't included a nickname worthy outing.  After last night's 4-1 win over the Mets, however, that's no longer the case.  Kuo's second win in as many regular season starts against the Mets featured seven innings of stymied New York batters- four of which went down swinging- and just one earned run.  But the real highlight for Kuo came, of all places, while standing at the dish.  Apparently inspired by watching Wilson Betemit and Matt Kemp paste back to back long balls, Kuo sent his first pitch from Josh Maine over the right-center wall.  And since that's the kind of thing Kuo does every day (back in high school, at least), dude flipped the bat over his shoulder before heading to first.   The lefty didn't mean it as a diss on the Mets, although it was a pretty effective "in your face" to their end of the box score.

It was fun when Wilson Betemit took John Maine opposite field for his sixth homer of the year to tie the game at one in the bottom of the second.  It was better when Matt Kemp launched Maine's next offering into the Loge seats in left to give the Blue a 2-1 lead.  We're talking 447 feet.  But nothing beat what happened on the next pitch.  Hong-Chih Kuo crushed the ball over the wall in center.  Crushed.  Absolutely pasted.  It wasn't just that the shot, the in Major League history first by a Taiwanese born player (file under "Trivia, useless"), gave the Blue a two-run lead and energized the crowd somethin' fierce, mojo the Dodgers used through the rest of L.A.'s 4-1 win.  No, it was that Kuo followed through like he was playing the title role in the Babe Ruth story, high over his head, flinging the bat at the apex towards the Mets dugout. Like he does this three or four times a week.  Awesome.

If you want any proof that it's not 1963 anymore, it's that Maine's next pitch didn't end up in Rafael Furcal's ear. 

In terms of substantive baseball information, the kind upon which you can grind your teeth, steep a strong pot of tea, and impress your co-workers at the water cooler, tonight's game provides very little.  I got crickets and tumbleweeds, people.  That'll often happen after a win.  There just seems to be less to complain about.  For the Blue, Nomar's Tour of Leisure is over.  Grady Little had left the door open yesterday to giving Garciaparra a third straight day off, but he's in the lineup tonight.  "It's time to put him back in there.  He should be ready to go today," Little said.  Nomar did look sharp during BP, launching line drive homers into the left field bleachers.  Of course, I stick seven iron after seven iron on the range, but spray Titleists around like I'm firing a paintball gun once I get to the first tee.  So take it with a grain of salt.   It doesn't mean too much to pound 65 mile an hour fastballs over the wall.  But hopefully the days of rest will restore some roar to Nomar's bat.