Dodgers Notes From Wednesday's Game 6/30/2010

Dodgers 8, San Francisco 2.........SWEEP!

Box Score.

• Vicente Padilla, coming off of an excellent performance against the Yankees, went another 7 excellent innings (1 ER, 3 Hits, 5 K, 1 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 98 pitches - 66 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 WP.
• Matt Kemp hit his 13th HR, and Rafael Furcal hit his 3rd HR.
• Kemp (HR, 2 Singles, BB), Furcal (HR, 3 Singles), and Jamey Carroll (2 Doubles, 2 BB) each reached base 4 times. Russell Martin (Single, BB) and Ronnie Belliard (2 BB) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 10 times, drew 6 walks, and had 4 extra-base hits.
• Manny is day-to-day with his strained right hamstring suffered Tuesday. An MRI has been scheduled.

"It's hard to tell right now," trainer Stan Conte said. "He was walking normally when he left here. We'll take a look at him before the day game tomorrow and see how he recovers. With pulls, it's kind of hard to tell until the next day. We'll know a lot more tomorrow. I'm not thinking DL right now."

"He didn't feel it pop, so hopefully he's OK," said manager Joe Torre.

[Photos via Getty Images]

Dodgers Notes From Thursday's Game 6/24/2010

Dodgers 10, Anaheim 6

Box Score.

• Charlie Haeger went 4.2 innings in his return from the DL (4 ER, 5 Hits, 4 K, 4 BB, 1 WP, 1 HR Allowed, 102 pitches - 56 for strikes). Two of the runs charged to Charlie were inherited runs allowed by the pen.
• Bullpen: 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 6 K, 2 BB. 6 Relievers.
  
• Manny Ramirez (2 Singles, BB), Casey Blake (Double, 2 Singles), James Loney (Single, IBB, HBP), and Jamey Carroll (3 Singles) each reached base 3 times, while Matt Kemp (2 Singles), Rafael Furcal (Double, Single), and Russell Martin (2 BB) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 7 times, drew 4 walks, and had 3 extra-base hits.
• Chad Billingsley may be near a return, this Monday barring a setback. Let's hope he's back then.
• The Dodgers signed Jesus Colome, 32 and a reliever, and he's in AAA.
• A second lighting delay this season. Joy.

I've said this in a few places, but I do not hold Matt Kemp responsible at all for his "part" in last night's 9th inning. Brian Fuentes balked, plain and simple. Kemp should be taking a secondary lead when the pitcher begins to motion towards home plate, which is what Fuentes did. The fact that it wasn't called a balk, as it clearly should have been, isn't Kemp's fault.


[AP Photo]

Dodgers Notes From Tuesday's Game 6/22/2010

Anaheim 6, Dodgers 3

Box Score.

• Clayton Kershaw went 6.2 innings (5 ER, 6 Hits, 6 K, 3 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 1 Balk, 102 pitches - 62 for strikes). The 4th and 5th runs were inherited runs surrendered by the pen after Kershaw had been removed from the game.
• Bullpen: 1.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 3 K, 0 BB.
• Matt Kemp hit his 12th HR of the season, a beautiful shot to right-center.
• Jamey Carroll stole his 5th base of the season.
• Andre Ethier (Double, Single), James Loney (Single, BB), Russell Martin (Single, BB), and Carroll (2 Singles) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 6 times, drew 2 walks, and had 3 extra-base hits.
• Charlie Haeger starts Thursday. I can already see it now: Ramon Troncoso to the DL.
• Dee Gordon and Pedro Baez will represent the Dodgers in the Futures Game on July 11 in Anaheim.

[Image via The Left Field Pavilion]

Dodgers Notes From Saturday's Game 6/19/2010

Boston 5, Dodgers 4

Missed the game, as I was in San Diego attending the Padres game against the Orioles. I picked up a spiffy Kyle Blanks Bobblehead, I'll include pictures of it in my recap of the game, hopefully coming soon to a computer screen near you by the end of the weekend of early next week at the latest.

Box Score.

• Vicente Padilla, making his first start after a lengthy stay on the DL, went 5.1 innings (4 ER, 5 Hits, 4 K, 1 BB, 2 HR Allowed, 89 pitches - 56 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 3.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 6 K, 1 BB.
• Manny Ramirez hit his 8th HR of the season.
• Russell Martin and Jamey Carroll each stole their 4th base of the season, while Manny somehow swiped his first. I need to see a replay of that rare occurrence.
• Garret Anderson (?) (Double, 2 Singles) reached base 3 times, while Manny Being Manny (HR, Single) reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 7 times, drew 3 walks, and had 3 extra-base hits.

[Reuters Photo]

Dodgers Notes From Thursday's Game 6/17/2010

Cincinnati 7, Dodgers 1

Box Score.

• John Ely went 4.2 innings (7 ER, 8 Hits, 3 K, 3 BB, 3 HR Allowed [one to the opposing pitcher, ugh], 78 pitches - 47 for strikes). Well, he DID get back one of those runs with an RBI single. That's.....something.
  
• Bullpen: 3.1 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Hits, 4 K, 0 BB.
• Casey Blake (3 Singles) Jamey Carroll (3 BB) each reached base 3 times, while Blake DeWitt (2 Singles), James Loney (Single, BB), and A.J. Ellis (2 BB) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out just twice, drew 7 walks, but had 0 extra-base hits.
• Rafael Furcal hit the bereavement list to tend to an ill member of his family in the Dominican. Chin-lung Hu was called up to ride the pine. Jamey Carroll replaced Furcal in the lineup.
• Manny Ramirez again got a day game off after a night game, but I assume it's just to rest up for the weekend series in Fenway. He needs time to re-acclimate himself to the interior of the Green Monster. I imagine he spent the game watching video of him and the wall from his past glory days.

[AP Photo, via True Blue LA]

Dodgers Notes From Saturday's Game 6/12/2010

Anaheim 4, Dodgers 2

Box Score.

• John Ely went 5 innings (4 ER, 6 Hits, 2 K, 3 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 85 pitches - 50 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 4 IP, 0 Runs, 3 Hits, 3 K, 1 IBB.
• Russell Martin (Double, Single, BB) and Jamey Carroll (Double, 2 BB) each reached base 3 times, while Rafael Furcal (Double, BB) reached base twice.
  
• The offense struck out 9 times, walked 6 times, and had 2 extra-base hits.
• I think a day off would really benefit Matt Kemp. I've thought that for a while. Last Wednesday would have been great, combining it with last Thursday's off-day.

Dodgers Notes From Friday's Game 6/4/2010

Dodgers 5, Atlanta 4

Box Score.

• Clayton Kershaw went 6.2 innings (4 Runs [3 ER], 5 Hits, 8 K, 5 BB, 110 pitches - 67 for strikes). On a bit of a tangent, every time I see Kershaw bat, I can't stop feeling that he'll one day hit a HR. And his walk-up music of Snow ((Hey Oh)) by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is awesome.
• Bullpen: 2.1 IP, 0 Runs, 1 Hit, 3 K, 0 BB.
• Jonathan Broxton has 37 K on the season. He's walked 3 batters. 25.1 IP. Sick.
  
• Matt Kemp stole his 8th base.
• Manny Ramirez (Single, IBB), Rafael Furcal (Triple, BB), James Loney (Single, IBB), and Jamey Carroll (Double, Single) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 4 times, drew 3 walks, and had 5 extra-base hits.
• Vicente Padilla is scheduled to return on June 18th.

"Everything is good," Padilla said. "No pain. I just want to feel secure when I get back to the big leagues."

Dodgers Notes From Wednesday's Game 6/2/2010

Dodgers 1, Arizona 0

Box Score.

• Carlos Monasterios went 5 innings (0 Runs, 2 Hits, 3 K, 0 BB, 81 pitches - 52 for strikes). He appeared to have an injured finger after coming out of the game, holding a bandage on his right (?) hand. Blister perhaps? Maybe a cut? He looked to be in some discomfort.
• Bullpen: 9 IP, 0 Runs, 6 Hits, 3 K, 1 BB, 2 Hit Batters. 5 Relievers.
• Jamey Carroll stole his 3rd base of the season.
• Carroll (3 Singles, BB) reached base 4 times, while Matt Kemp (Single, BB) and Ronnie Belliard (2 BB) each reached base twice.
• Travis Schlichting made his season debut, hurling 4 scoreless innings of relief (O runs, 3 Hits, 1 K, 1 BB).
  
• The offense struck out 11 times, drew 5 walks, and had 1 extra-base hits.

Dodgers Notes From Tuesday's Game 6/1/2010

Dodgers 1, Arizona 0

Box Score.

• John Ely went 7 innings (0 Runs, 2 Hits, 5 K, 2 BB, 1 WP, 92 pitches - 59 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 3 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Hits, 3 K, 0 BB.
• Matt Kemp hit his 11th HR of the season, this one a walk-off blast to left. And his celebration after, including his oh so gentle touching of home plate, was indeed priceless.
• James Loney stole his 7th base of the season.
  
• Jamey Carroll (3 Singles) and Russell Martin (2 Singles) were the only Dodgers to reach base more than once.
  
• The offense struck out 8 times, drew 0 walks, and had 1 extra-base hit.

[AP Photo]

Dodgers Notes From Sunday's Game 5/23/2010

R.I.P. Jose Lima, who died at 37 earlier today. #LimaTime

Detroit 6, Dodgers 2

Box Score.

• Hiroki Kuroda went 6 innings (3 ER, 6 Hits, 5 K, 1 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 88 pitches - 60 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 3 IP, 3 ER, 3 Hits, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 HR Allowed.
• Russell Martin (Single, BB), Blake DeWitt (2 Singles), Xavier Paul (2 Singles), Jamey Carroll (2 Singles), Garret Anderson (2 Singles) each reached base twice.
  
• The offense struck out 4 times, walked 3 times, and had 0 extra-base hits.
• Garrett Anderson started in left and batted sixth. Neither of those things should happen. Ever.
  

Dodgers Notes From Thursday's Game 5/20/2010

Dodgers 4, San Diego 1

Box Score.

• Clayton Kershaw was once again stellar, going 7.1 innings (1 ER, 7 Hits, 7 K, 2 BB, 106 pitches - 70 for strikes). Most of those 7 hits were bloopers and bleeders, including a ground ball single through the middle with the infield in.
• Bullpen: 1.2 IP, 0 Runs, 1 Hit, 3 K, 0 BB.
• Russell Martin (Double, BB), Blake DeWitt (Double, IBB), and Jamey Carroll (2 Singles) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 7 times, walked twice, and had two extra-base hits.
• Manny Ramirez again sat out after injuring his toe stretching before Wednesday's game.

Dodgers Notes From Wednesday's Game 5/19/2010

San Diego 10, Dodgers 5

Box Score.

• Ramon Ortiz was atrocious again, getting pulled after 3.1 innings (5 ER, 6 Hits, 1 K, 3 BB [1 IBB], 1 Balk, 76 pitches - 45 for strikes). He's still on the team. Why, exactly? #ReleaseOrtiz
• Bullpen: 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 4 K, 5 BB [1 IBB], 2 HR Allowed, 1 WP, 1 Hit Batter. 4 Relievers.
• Casey Blake hit his 5th HR.
• Another Dodger goes down pregame: Manny Ramirez injured his left foot and was scratched, striking out in a pinch-hitting capacity. He's day-to-day.
• Russell Martin (Double, BB, HBP) and Blake (HR, 2 Singles) reached base 3 times, while Xavier Paul (Double, Single), Jamey Carroll (Single, BB), and Reed Johnson (2 Singles) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 5 times, drew 2 walks, and had 4 extra-base hits.
• The Padres stole 4 bases off of Martin and the pitching staff. Somehow Matt Stairs had a stolen base. I'm sad I missed what must have been awkward, clumsy, painful-looking glory.

Dodgers Notes From Sunday's Game 5/16/2010

Dodgers 1, San Diego 0

Box Score.

• Chad Billingsley went 7.1 fantastic innings (0 Runs, 4 Hits, 6 K, 1 BB, 1 Hit Batter, 95 pitches - 62 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 1.2 IP, 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 K, 0 BB. It only took 15 pitches for the pen to get 5 outs.
• Jamey Carroll walked twice.
• Manny Ramirez, Blake DeWitt, and Casey Blake all had the day off.
• The offense struck 6 out times, drew 3 walks, and had 0 extra-base hits.

Dodgers Notes From Saturday's Game 5/15/2010

Dodgers 4, San Diego 1

Missed the game and another great outing from Kershaw, as poker went long and Millions Of Milkshakes was a required stop. If you find yourself in Hollywood, be sure to stop there. It's heavenly. I'll probably miss most of tomorrow's game as well. I'm around and able to watch all of Ramon Ortiz's start, but I'm going to miss Kershaw and Billingsley. Funny how things like that work out.

Box Score.

• Clayton Kershaw, coming off of his best start of the season, went 7 fantastic innings (1 ER, 3 Hits, 7 K, 2 BB, 110 pitches - 70 for strikes). He struck out the side in the 2nd inning.
• Bullpen: 2 IP, 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 2 K, 0 BB.
• James Loney hit his 4th HR of the season, and also stole his 5th base.
• Loney (HR, BB) and Jamey Carroll (2 Singles) each reached base twice.
• Manny Ramirez went 0-4 with 3 Ks.
• The offense struck out 9 times, drew 2 walks, and had 2 extra-base hits
• Andre Ethier fractured his right pinkie during batting practice. Big loss, even considering Dre will eventually cool down.

Dodgers Notes From Friday's Game 5/14/2010

Dodgers 4, San Diego 3

Box Score.

• Ramon Ortiz made his first (and hopefully last) start of the season, going 4 innings (3 ER, 6 Hits, 4 K, 3 BB [1 IBB], 1 HR Allowed, 86 pitches - 54 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 5 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Hits, 5 K, 0 BB. 5 Relievers.
• Matt Kemp crushed his 8th HR of the season, a 2-run bomb to dead center.
• Kemp stole his 6th base of the season.
• Andre Ethier (Double, Single, 2 BB [1 IBB]) reached base 4 times, Kemp (HR, Single, BB) reached base 3 times, and Manny Ramirez (Single, BB), Russell Martin (Double, Single), and Jamey Carroll (Single, IBB) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 6 times, walked 6 times, and had 4 extra-base hits.
• Rafael Furcal was expected to be activated from the DL for today's game, but his hamstring didn't feel right in his rehab appearances, and he will most likely miss the entire weekend series in San Diego.

"In my mind, I don't feel I can do it the way I want to do it," he said about playing through the injury. "It's 80, 85, 90 percent. I want to be aggressive. I don't want to play and they take me out after two innings and they lose me for 60 days."

Dodgers Notes From Wednesday's Game 5/12/2010

Dodgers 6, Diamondbacks 3

Box Score.

• Hiroki Kuroda went 7.1 innings (3 Runs [2 ER], 6 Hits, 9 K, 1 BB, 96 pitches - 65 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 1.2 IP, 0 Runs, 1Hit, 3 K, 3 BB.
• Andre Ethier hit his 11th HR of the season.
• Russell Martin and Jamey Carroll each stole their 2nd base.
• Jonathan Broxton struck out the side in a scoreless 9th inning.
• Carroll (Single, 2 BB) reached base 3 times, while Matt Kemp (2 Singles), Ethier (HR, IBB), and Manny Ramirez (Double, BB) each reached base twice. 
• Casey Blake was 0-4 with 4 Ks (Bearded Sombrero). Blake DeWitt struck out 3 times.
• The offense struck out 10 times, walked 4 times, and had 2 extra-base hits.
• The guy directly behind home plate had on a.....Yankees jersey. Gotta love Arizona.

Dodgers Notes From Tuesday's Game 5/11/2010

Dodgers 13, Arizona 3

Box Score.

• John Ely, in his first start since being recalled, went 6 innings (2 ER, 6 Hits, 6 K, 0 BB, 105 pitches - 65 for strikes). He has 13 K and 0 BB over his last 2 starts.
• Bullpen: 3 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 2 K, 0 BB.
• Russell Martin hit his 4th HR of the season.
• Matt Kemp stole his 5th base of the season, and hit two long fly balls that would have been HRs in just about any park other than Chase Field. When he came back to the dugout after stealing second and soon thereafter scoring, a teammate could be heard saying something along the lines of "good job staying on the base", a reference to when he slid past the second base bag in a recent game (though he made it back and was erroneously called out).
• Manny Ramirez (2 Singles, 2 BB) and James Loney (2 Doubles, 2 Singles) reached base 4 times, Martin (HR, Single, HBP) and Ronnie Belliard (Double, Single, BB) reached base 3 times, while Kemp (Single, BB), Andre Ethier (2 Doubles), Casey Blake (Double, BB), and Jamey Carroll (2 Singles) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 10 times, drew 5 walks, and belted 7 extra-base hits.
• My road trip top Arizona last summer taught me that there are a lot of Circle K's in the state (their answer to 7-11), and Dan Haren's first 3 innings were certainly emblematic of the love of K's in Arizona: 9 outs, 9 strikeouts.

Dodgers Notes From Friday's Game 5/7/2010

Dodgers 6, Rockies 5

Box Score.

• Hiroki Kuroda went 5.1 innings in his worst start of the season (5 Runs [4 ER], 9 Hits, 3 K, 5 BB [2 IBB], 1 Throwing Error, 96 pitches - 56 for strikes).
• Bullpen: 3.2 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Hits, 4 K, 2 BB.
• Matt Kemp stole his 4th base, while Xavier Paul swiped his 3rd.
• Jonathan Broxton pitched a scoreless 9th, whiffing 2, to nail down his second save. He has an otherworldly 18:1 K:BB ratio through 10.2 IP.
• Andre Ethier (Double, Single), Russell Martin (Single, BB), Casey Blake (Double, Single), Paul (Double, BB), and Jamey Carroll (Double, Single) all reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 7 times, walked 2 times, and had 5 extra-base hits.

Manny Ramirez, Rafael Furcal, and George Sherrill News

George Sherrill is hard at work to correct his troubles. Too bad being mediocre your entire career isn't correctable, especially at 33 years of age. Can we just send him away and take Josh Bell back? Pretty please? We'll even throw in Ramon Ortiz!

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Manny Ramirez will be activated for Saturday's game against the Colorado Rockies.

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The team hopes Rafael Furcal can return next week. Please, spare us anymore of Jamey Carroll and his horrid, awful, gargantuanly shitty range. And dear god, not Nick Green!

Carroll's range is so bad I had to make up the word gargantuanly. At least I think it's not a real word. Oh well, that's why English is not the field I chose to major in.

Dodgers Notes From Thursday's Game 5/6/2010

Dodgers 7, Milwaukee 3

Box Score.

• John Ely, making his second major league appearance and start, went 6.2 excellent innings (1 ER, 4 Hits, 7 K, 0 BB, 108 pitches - 72 for strikes). He should get another start.
• Bullpen: 2.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 5 K, 0 BB, 1 WP.
• Andre Ethier hit his 10th HR of the season, a walk-off grand slam. #GayForDre! #DreDoesItAgain!
• Xavier Paul stole his 2nd base of the season.
• Ethier (HR, Single, BB) and Paul (Double, Single, BB) reached base 3 times, while Matt Kemp (2 BB), Blake DeWitt (Single, BB), Casey Blake (2 BB), and Jamey Carroll (Double, Single) each reached base twice.
• The offense struck out 7 times but also coaxed 7 walks.
• HOFer Dave Winfield, as well as actor Dennis Haysbert, were in attendance. Major League and 24, two great works of art. Pedro Cerrano and President David Palmer FTW!