Today's lineup
We have activated Eric Gagne and optioned Oscar Robles to Las Vegas. Eric will sit out the next two games on suspension from last season (he was on the DL earlier this year, so he wasn’t able to serve the suspension previously).
For today, we’ve got:
Furcal, SS
Lofton, CF
Nomar, 1B
Drew, RF
Aybar, 3B
Ethier, LF
Martinez, 2B
Martin, C
Sele, P
Inside the Dodgers 
Any word on when we can expect to see Kent back?
I’m hoping in the near future to see an outfield of Ethier/Kemp/Drew… unless we’re going to trade for Crawford?
No Jeff Kent is making me very nervous. Isn’t that the same wrist he fractured previously in a motorcycle accident?? We as Dodger fans should be very concerned,we need him healthy to take the West.
I was in DC this weekend and saw Kent leaving the ballpark Saturday with a HUGE ice cast on the wrist. Although the ice cast was gone on Sunday, he did no on field activities. I agree with Pellan.1 an outfield with Drew Kemp and Ethier would look great. Although, Lofton is great in this mix.
I’ve been very anti-Lofton all season, but I’m starting to warm up to him. I’d still like to see him starting fewer games and used more situationally with occasional starts.
Wait, didn’t Gagne serve out his suspension just before going on the DL, or did that go back retroactively and thus nullify his sitting out?
And what’s going on with Bill Mueller?
Never mind, took me a second to get it.
This is great, though, because Gagne’s season debut will be back in LA. Welcome back to the Jungle.
By the way, who’s the next player that could potentially be activated from the DL for the Dodgers?
It is unfortunate that there are so many injuries to the vets. Although I love to see the younsters in the lineup I think four at a time is too many – Aybar, Martin, Ethier, Kemp. Major league pitchers catch up to the kids so too many might not work well for keeping the rookies confident. Think Grady is wise to mix and match the kids. The vets take the pressure off the kids so hope the DL list soon gets shorter.
Ethier hits his 4th of the month. My guess is Ledee or Repko are gone after the DL stint. Colletti will go with the younger guys.
Ok, why in the name of Jim Tracy did Nomar just bunt?
Was that the gameday scorer that messed up, or what? All of a sudden they go back from the bottom of the 8th to the top, and the Dodgers take a 5-3 lead.
Whatever. The important thing is LA is winning.
I just checked on the Padres website it’s still 0-0 in the 2nd. Please loose Padres
Yeah, I think the Dodgers should stop playing all these rookies. All this winning is making me uneasy. The whole thing would feel much more stable with Mueller, Cruz, and Ledee in and a .500 record.
Kids don’t just produce out of some instinctive spark. It takes veteran leadership to keep them going, to keep them focused, to teach them, to guide them, etc…
I guess I’m blown away by some of the “hey let’s get the kids out there” talk that really stinks of ignorance.
Who cares if we got a heavy influence of youth, if we r winning why does it matter. We didn’t get hot until some of these kids were infused into the lineup, or did we forget that already? I wanna see another too,Mr.Billingsley is his name. Also I’m very disappointed we couldn’t sign Hochevar, he’ll probably go 1st in the upcoming draft.
Another great game !! Go Dodgers. Hochevar needs to go to Tampa or Kansas City or Pitt and see what a $4.0 million bonus will get him, 18 years of losing !!! If the guy had any smarts he would of seen the true value of signing with the Dodgers. Instead he let the plague of baseball, BORAS, ruin his career !! You can bet that the day will come that he’ll wish he was a Dodger. I’m proud to see that management held their ground.
Leadership is catalytic if anything; do you think Andre Ethier hit that homer because he was led or because he’s a good ballplayer? It’s better for the young players’ development to gain confidence at the major league level anyway, and they are much more durable than the veterans anyway. Leadership is important for adding confidence and helping players remain consistent, and I think veteran presence has more of an impact than veteran leadership – look at how the bullpen does when Eric Gagne is up with the team, even when he’s not playing.
Yeah, those rookies should be down in AAA helping Vegas win all those games. Letting rookies play is ignorant. Oops, last year a NL team played at least 6 rookies and won their division. PLEASE let the Dodgers be that ignorant!!!
Yeah… all this winning is really getting tired. Confidence is everything and the kids haven’t backed down in the face of pressure, and it’s showing in the win column. And if you worry about veteran leadership, don’t forget about what Nomar brings to the table. His quiet confidence speaks volumes… even more so than the Dodger Stadium public address speakers in center field. (anyone else see the metaphor there? lol…) The Dodgers will be just fine… and I’m thinking the Cesar Izturis thing will work itself out for the betterment of all involved.
1. Who cares if we have heavy influence of youth? I have no clue, I didn’t think that was brought up. I guess you’re addressing that question to someone who suggested that. My comment was directed towards those that easily dismiss veteran players in order to let a kid playing (somehow they think that playing kids produces wins which by itself rarely works). As for Hovechar…I hope he enjoys playing in Kansas City or sitting out another year…way to go Boras!
2. I didn’t think I was questioning if Andre was a good player or not. I stated my point in 1.
3. To jglass: Winning the division with rookies is the exception not the rule. In other words, it is possible to win the division with rookies (many things are in fact possible), but there are many many more examples of teams that stink it up when they play too many rookies. (Even Beltre stunk it up for many years before his contract year…I mean his break out season came up).
My point merely is this: don’t dismiss the vetern presence…this is not direted to everyone obviously, but there are some fans that quickly forget what veterans bring to a team during a long 162 season, with new faces, experiences, etc.
I really believe these kids are performing because of guys like Nomar, Kent, Drew, Alomar, Mueller…these guys make it look easy and so the kids get into that same kind of mindset. I could be wrong, I’m not in the clubhouse. =)
Haven’t hese kids been playing good ball all the way up through the ladder, I mean they didn’t just start playing well as u imply. Our minor league system is one of the finest, it’s about time it got it’s due. And of course we need veterans as well, only a fool would state otherwise. I guess having alot of rooks gives folks a reason to whine.