When do those old-school Maddux socks go on sale?

PROGRAMMING NOTE:  Join us for Purple, Gold, and Blue at 11 am, where our guests will be Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports... and whomever else we can wrangle up.  Click the show widget on the side of the page, or go straight to the show window.  See you then.

One encouraging sign for the Dodgers over the last 10 games is that even those they lost were close and should have been won.  They haven't been blown out... a point driven home by Tuesday night's 8-3 loss to Colorado, in which the Rockies blew open a 4-3 game with a four-run eighth to take a commanding lead, victimizing an ineffective Dodger pen, and a particularly ineffective Hong-Chih Kuo, who faced only three batters, walking two and allowing a homer to Ian Stewart.  On the other hand, it's not like the Dodgers were without chances.  They had 11 hits, including five doubles, but left nine on base including seven in scoring position.  The last threat came in their half of the seventh, when with the bases loaded and two out, Russell Martin flew out to right on the first pitch he saw from Colorado reliever Manny Corpas.  It wasn't a great night either for Hiroki Kuroda, who struggled early and left the game having surrendered four runs over six innings. 

In summary: Tough night for the pen, tough night for the sticks, tough night for the starter, tough night in the standings.  Can Greg Maddux fix all that?  We joke, of course, but the hope is that the 42 year old future HOFer can stabilize the end of the rotation as he begins his second stint in Dodger Blue Friday in Philly.   The Padres will receive two prospects (or cash, but they'll take the players, Pads GM Kevin Towers said) from a list of five, none of whom appear on the current 40 man roster.