Sorry for the late report, but as you might suspect, it's a freakin' zoo at the Ravine tonight.  I'm telling you, I'll know I've not led a clean life when after it's over, I'm reincarnated as an AP reporter assigned to a Groundhog Day-esque reenactment of the Barry Bonds home run chase.  It must be horrible.  It's like watching a flock of birds at the park.  Barry moves, everyone flutters to see what he's done.  Barry might talk, everyone circles around to see what he might say.  I'm not being critical.  If this were Black and Orange instead of Blue Notes, I'd be doing the same thing.  I'm just thankful it's not.

Oddly enough, on the way out here, I heard a report on the radio that Barry wasn't going to start.  Turned out not to be true.  Good thing, since that would have led to a lot of people standing around wondering what to do.   Between the Barry Parade and the trading deadline, it's been a busy day, one I'd love to tell you about...

Still no news other than Betemit for Proctor.  Deals will continue to filter in for a little while after the 1 p.m. deadline, so if you're hoping against hope that the blue and white Solomon Torres jersey you had stitched up will have some use going forward, don't give up yet. 

BK

Well, there will be at least one deal for the Blue today.  The rumored Wilson Betemit for Scott Proctor deal is a reality.  Fills a need for both teams.  While losing Betemit will thin out the bench and take away arguably the best source of left-handed power on the team (scarily enough), considering the state of the pitching staff something needed to be done.  With Andy LaRoche playing well again, the Dodgers have some insurance should Nomar go down.  In terms of priorities, shoring up the staff had to be at the top, and with question marks surrounding Derek Lowe and Randy Wolf, the pen is set to get a lot of work down the stretch. 

Proctor hasn't been as good in '07 as he was last season, having already walked nearly as many batters and surrendered 2/3 as many home runs in only 1/2 the innings, but he's an upgrade over what they have down there.  Also, I just read on ESPN.com that the Cards are still dangling Troy Percival around the league, and the Dodgers might be interested.  Not sure if this changes that or not, but it's an interesting name who could be had on the cheap. 

BK

Anyone looking to talk Dodgers today will have no shortage of material.   

Start with today's non-waiver trade deadline, at 1 pm today.   Mark Teixiera is reportedly headed to Atlanta with Octavio Dotel in tow, and it doesn't look like the Blue are in position to do anything big.  But then again, Dotel still hasn't actually gone anywhere, and even if some of the bigger names are gone, the Dodgers might still be able pick from guys like Washington's Jon Rauch or Chad Cordero (at 6'11", the former could pair up with Mark Hendrickson to give L.A. the NL's best frontcourt) at a potentially lower price.  Or maybe Wilson Betemit heads to New York for Scott Proctor?  High cost in prospects will likely be enough to keep Jon Garland in Chicago... or at least out of L.A.  Given the hit and miss track record of deadline deals for the Dodgers, the consequences of inactivity could cut either way.  In his ESPN.com blog, Buster Olney (not surprisingly) puts the bullpen at the top of L.A's needs list, saying Proctor is probably the most feasible solution. 

At least if the Dodgers are quiet, they'll have company. It doesn't look like the NL West will be heavily involved with any deal making.  Of course, no matter what happens this afternoon, there will be plenty of fireworks tonight.   

Not that the Dodgers were ever really players for Mark Teixiera, at least not down the stretch, but Octavio Dotel?  That seemed like a different story.  Either way, both look like they're headed to Atlanta.  For Teixiera, the Rangers will get a package of young talent headlined by catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  No surprise, really, since Salty (is that his nickname?) is blocked in Atlanta by Brian McCann.  For Dotel, they're reportedly set to send 23 year old righty Kyle Davies to Texas.   Davies is young with a live arm, but hasn't really made much progress in three seasons for the Braves.  No worries, though.  Starting pitchers always seem to find their groove in Arlington.

So if Dotel is gone, that leaves potentially slim pickins for Ned Colletti.  The rumored Wilson Betemit for Scott Proctor deal may be back on the table.  Then there's the Pirates bullpen, with guys like Damaso Marte, Shawn Chacon, and Solomon Torres.  But it doesn't look like anything big is brewing.  Not surprising, since there isn't much out there in the first place.    

BK

No, not these guys, but these guys.  It's officially a four horse race again in the NL West.  L.A., red hot Arizona, the Padres, and those pesky Colorado Rockies, who with their 9-6 win Sunday over the Blue put themselves right back in the mix.  The loss meant a trip sketchier than the Brady's to Hawaii would have ended poorly anyway.  Toss in a hammy strain for Jeff Kent and you get a nice dollop of curdled whipped cream with a sour cherry on top.  Despite a box score that shows seven hits between Kent and Russell Martin,once again the Blue were unable to keep runs off the board.  Chad Billingsley gave up four earned in 4.1 IP on his way to his first loss of the season (happy 23rd birthday, kid!), while Eric Hull was tagged for three runs in barely over an inning of relief.  Par for the course for a staff currently held together with gum and twistie ties.  Not that there's much relief available in the trade market.   The Dodgers needed a big ninth inning to make a game of it, but not everything plays out like a Disney film. Strike three, game over.   

If you're anything like me, you were not intimately familiar with the career of Rockies righty Ubaldo Jimenez.  In fairness, it had spanned a grand total of 13.2 innings entering Sunday's series finale in Colorado.  Jimenez added six more to that total today, enough to give him his first major league win as the Rockies knocked off the Blue 9-6.  It helped Jimenez to have Matt Holliday, who hit another homer and drove in three, around.  He headlined a 12 hit, two homer attack that victimized Chad Billingsley and Eric Hull early, and Joe Beimel late.  As for the Dodgers, Russell Martin and Jeff Kent combined for seven hits, three runs, and four RBIs, but they weren't able to keep up with the onslaught.  After the Blue pushed two across in the ninth to cut the lead to three, Andre Ethier had a chance to be a hero.  Key word?  Chance.  It didn't happen, as Manny Corpas struck him out to end the game. 

And since it wouldn't be a Dodger game these days without some bad news, Kent had to leave the game in the ninth after pulling a hammy.  The Dodgers are officially toting a M.A.S.H. unit into an ever-tightening four team race in the NL West.  More on the game tomorrow.

BK

The Rockies have some dudes who can rake.  Any fantasy owner could tell you that.  But just in case you didn't get the memo, Colorado spent the first two innings of their 6-2 win over the Dodgers Saturday driving home the point at the expense of Brett Tomko.  The righthander, pitching on seven days rest, said he had trouble finding a rhythm early.  That sounds about right. Five runs in the first two frames, including a pair of long balls (legit ones, too- no Rocky Mountain Specials) from Matt Holliday and Troy Tulowitzki.  This from a guy who had been very effective in his last two starts, but as his "box of chocolates" career demonstrates that for Tomko inconsistency has been the rule, not the exception.  As the box shows, the Dodgers had trouble mounting rallies against Rockies lefty Jeff Francis, scratching out a pair of runs but generally going down quietly (a fizzled seventh inning rally being the best example).

For innings three, four, five, and six, Brett Tomko was The Man.  No runs allowed, pitching his way out of trouble with timely tosses and even timelier strikeouts (take the fifth for example, when after a one out triple Tomko stranded Garrett Atkins at third with K's of Brad Hawpe and Yorvit Torrealba).  Call it a moral victory- and one for the bullpen- because in Tomko's first two friends and he was decidedly not The Man.  Two runs in the first on a Matt Holliday homer, three runs in the second on a Troy Tulowitzki bomb and a two run single from Ryan Spilborghs.  That set the Blue on the road to what would become a 6-2 loss to the Rockies Saturday night at Coors.  Offensively, the Dodgers lineup (sans the rest-needing Russell Martin and at-least-for-him-slightly-slumping James Loney) did little off of Rockies lefty Jeff Francis, dinking him for a couple runs over 7.2.  They had some chances to get back in it, but L.A. couldn't get it done.  As a result, they now are in a virtual tie for first in the NL West with the Diamondbacks, who having won eight straight are most decidedly getting it done these days.

BK

Not "bellyaching" in the sense of "bitching and moaning."  The 5-4 downing of the Rockies brought a smile to everyone's faces (well, except Colorado residents, but they don't get a vote).  We mean, a literal bellyache was endured while setting up victorious circumstances.   The unlucky stomach in question?  Brad Penny's.  Dude caught a case of The Midols while running out a seventh inning base hit.  Big man was more than willing to fight through the gut issues, but Stan Conte insisting on sitting him.   The scare will likely end up much ado about nothing, since the ace ain't expected to miss any starts.  It didn't even prevent Penny from entering his 13th win into a box score.  Perhaps the gut knots were a byproduct of queasy circumstances faced a mere inning earlier, when Penny saw his shutout turn into three Colorado runs and a serious pickle.  Or perhaps it was just a freak thing, another reminder of a season filled with trials and tribulations.  As Grady Little pointed out, the truly freaky thing is that after all the drama, the Dodgers are still in first.  Seriously, the man ain't lying.