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.