Yesterday's gone

The Good:

• Matt Kemp: Two assists in the outfield, four hits, a walk, and an RBI the plate.  Even better was how he got the hits.  In his first AB, with two strikes, Bronson Arroyo fooled him with an offspeed pitch, but Kemp kept his hands back and was able to put the ball into centerfield for a hit.  Next trip, Arroyo again comes back with the offspeed stuff, and Kemp again stays quiet with his hands, and rips a line drive to left.  On his third go round, Arroyo came low and in with a fastball, and Kemp went at it Derek Jeter style, lining a single the other way to drive in LA's fourth run of the game.  Next, he bounced a ball to Ryan Freel at third and legged it out (at least in the eyes of the first base ump...). 
• The Bats In General:  Tonight the Dodgers did something they have rarely managed to pull off, namely overcome an early deficit.  Down 4-0, they came back with two runs in the third, then after Penny gave up another run in the fifth, the Blue came back in the bottom half and tied it up. They had contributions up and down the lineup.  Two hits for Juan Pierre.  Two for Andre Either (including a pair of runs scored) and James Loney.  Four from Kemp, two from DeWitt.  Kent only had one, but his AB in the ninth was massive (see below).  Chin-lung Hu was the only position player without a knock.    
• Defense: Where the Blue were sloppy with the leather in Anaheim, they were crisp Monday night. There were the two outfield assists from Kemp, a nice play by Loney in the sixth, fielding a bad Arroyo bunt and forcing Paul Bako at second.   Then the Dodgers ended the inning with a DP, DeWitt to Kent to Loney.  This team looked nothing like the bunch that lost Sunday afternoon in Anaheim.  MLB: Where Jekyll and Hyde Performances From Local Squads Happens.
• Fundamentals: Ninth inning, Russell Martin ends up on second after Jerry Hairston Jr. airmails his grounder to short into the Cincinnati dugout.  Jeff Kent is the next batter, and takes an offspeed pitch from Reds reliever David Weathers and knocks it to second.  Martin advances to third, Dusty Baker has to walk the bases loaded, and Blake DeWitt knocks in the winning run with a single to left on a 2-2 fastball... the second time he'd gone the other way for a hit on the night.
• DeWitt: You just got the big highlight, but it's worth mentioning that the kid seems totally incapable of playing an entire game without doing something really useful.  "As a player you have to have that mentality, because a lot of nights you're not going to have the bat, some nights you're not going to have the glove.  You'd prefer to have both, but that's not going to happen every night.   So anything you can do, whether it's bunt a guy over, move a guy over with less than two outs, you have to do something."  In a season of very impressive accomplishments, DeWitt said this was his favorite moment thus far.  Looks like he'll have plenty more chances to build on it (you know, for a guy who belongs in AAA). 
• The Bullpen: Beimel, Broxton, Saito- three innings, one hit, one walk, five strikeouts.  That's getting it done. 
   

The Bad:

• Brad Penny: To his credit, Penny managed to scrape his way through six innings on a night when it looked like he'd be gone after two.  Unfortunately, that also lets you know about the quality of his work.  In six innings, Penny allowed nine hits and five runs, and had the Blue not played the aforementioned solid D behind him, it could have been worse.  Early on, it seemed he was fighting some discomfort, failing to get any real extension in his follow through.  "He's done that in the first inning, and seems to all of a sudden gain the extension.  You're right, he'll throw 88, 89, then all of a sudden 95.  But he went out and got his pitch count close to 100, went out there in the sixth and that was one of his better innings."  Torre doesn't believe there's anything wrong with Penny from a physical standpoint.  The doctors have given him the go-ahead, and Penny didn't complain.  "I only know physically what the doctors tell me," Torre said.  "Brad, after the doctor turned him loose the other day, he seemed very comfortable with that.  I'm certainly not saying you can't throw the ball hard if your arm hurts, but he's been pretty honest with us up to now, and I don't think he would keep that a secret."

Notes:

• News on the Knee of Andruw Jones: This is a biggie.  He woke up with swelling in his right knee today, and an MRI revealed swelling and a slight tear in his cartilage.  "He'll be treated with some medication over the next few days, and then re-evaluated at the end of the week, and we'll see where we go from there.  But he's not available for the next few days," Torre said.  Probably until Friday at the earliest.  No word yet on whether the knee will require a trip to the DL.  "I think by Friday we'll know that, but right now we'll see if he'll respond to what the treatment's going to be."
• MORE Via Dylan Hernandez: Jones says he has a golf ball sized mass on the back of his knee in which there is fluid buildup and it can't be drained, but instead would have to be removed surgically.  His hope is that the swelling will go down, and he can postpone any procedure until the offseason.  But if it doesn't clear up by Friday, he'll likely have surgery that would cause him to miss 4-5 weeks.  The problem, Jones says, is the cartilage and the swelling on both sides of the knee, something that's been bothering him over the last two games.  After having trouble sleeping on Sunday night, he called Dodger trainer Stan Conte Monday morning, and was sent to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache for the aforementioned MRI.   
• Still More from D.H.: Penny said that his arm has been bugging him- soreness, he called it- but that today it wasn't an issue.  Make sure to check out his notebook tomorrow and going forward for more information.

BK