Today's lineup
Furcal, SS
Lofton, CF
Lugo, 3B
Nomar, 1B
Kent, 2B
Ethier, LF
Martin, C
Repko, CF
Penny, P
As promised, here are the game notes with the Beatles’ theme.
DRIVE MY CAR – Dodger second baseman Jeff Kent drove in his 1,371st career RBI yesterday to tie him for 70th place on the all-time list with Lave Cross, who played from 1887-1907. Chili Davis is next with 1,372, followed by Johnny Bench (1,376). Kent ranks 76th on the all-time homer list with 343 and he currently has a season-high six-game hitting streak.
TICKET TO RIDE – The Dodgers will pass the three-million mark in paid attendance tonight, the 21st time in club history they have reached that milestone and the 11th consecutive season they have hit that plateau. The club is on pace to set a single-season attendance record, topping the 3,608,881 fans that attended games at Dodger Stadium in 1982.
THREE COOL CATS – Rafael Furcal’s triple yesterday was the Dodgers’ Major League-leading 45th, more than doubling their 2005 total (21). The club is paced by Kenny Lofton (9), Andre Ethier (7) and Furcal (7) who are all vying to become the first Dodger since Brett Butler in 1993 to hit 10 triples in a season. The Dodger franchise record for triples in a season is held by George Treadway, who hit 22 in 1894. Willie Davis holds the Los Angeles record after legging-out 16 triples in 1970. That 1970 club hit an LA Dodger record 67 triples.
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD – Following their win yesterday, the Dodgers are 18-7 in the month of August on the heels of a 9-17 July mark. The club record for wins in the month of August is 20, set by the 1983 Dodgers. Los Angeles is two shy of that mark with three games to play.
EIGHT DAYS A WEEK – The Dodgers finished the month of August undefeated on Saturdays and Sundays (8-0).
WE CAN WORK IT OUT – Since July 28, the Dodger pitching staff has a 21-7 record, tied for the best mark in the Majors. Their 3.22 ERA is the best in baseball and they’ve allowed just 21 home runs, the least in the Majors (STATS, LLC).
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE – Rafael Furcal ranks ninth in the NL with 90 runs and is vying to become the first Dodger leadoff batter to score more than 100 runs since 1991, when Brett Butler had 112. At Dodger Stadium, Furcal is batting .301 (129-for-428) and since May 1, he is hitting .303 (131-for-433) with 72 runs scored.
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS – Dodger starter Brad Penny is seeking his career-high tying 14th victory tonight. Penny has received 5.63 runs of support per game, the 10th-highest mark in the National League, according to STATS, LLC. He has a 15-8 career record in 32 games at Dodger Stadium with a 3.25 ERA (70 ER/193.2 IP).
HEY JUDE – Dodger closer Takashi Saito picked up his 16th save in 18 chances yesterday, pitching for the third consecutive day. Saito is five saves shy of Yhency Brazoban’s Dodger rookie record of 21, set last season. Steve Howe ranks second on that list with 17 saves in 1980.
COME TOGETHER – Since July 27, the Dodger bullpen has gone 6-2 with 11 saves in 14 chances, 81 strikeouts and a 3.34 ERA (33 ER/89.0 IP). During that stretch, Brett Tomko, Takashi Saito and Jonathan Broxton have combined to go 6-0 with 11 saves and a 1.81 ERA (9 ER/44.2 IP). Dodger relievers have struck out 370 batters on the season, which is third-best in the National League and have held batters to a .252 average, yielding just 399 hits in 418.1 innings pitched.
I’LL BE BACK – N.L. Comeback Player of the Year candidate Nomar Garciaparra ranks sixth in the National League with a .321 average this year and second with a .433 average against left-handers. He is seventh with a .363 average with runners in scoring position and has 24 RBI that have put the Dodgers ahead in a game, tying him for the seventh-most in the NL. Aramis Ramirez leads the NL with 28 go-ahead RBI. Nomar is also the toughest player in the Majors to strike out.
HOLD ME TIGHT – The Dodgers have won four of their last five one-run games and are 14-16 in such contests. They’ve won 12 of their last 19 one-run games after starting out 2-9.
TILL THERE WAS YOU – Before Greg Maddux joined the Dodgers, the team’s ERA was 4.45 (465 ER/941.0 IP). Since then, it is 3.46 (83 ER/215.2 IP), lowering the club’s overall mark to 4.22, fourth-best in the NL behind San Diego (4.08), New York (4.09) and Colorado (4.17).
I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND – Tomorrow at White Memorial Medical Center, Nomar Garciaparra and J.D. Drew will spend time visiting with youngsters in the pediatric unit from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.. The hospital is located at 1720 Cesar E. Chavez Ave.
IN MY LIFE – Former Dodger farmhand Chris Michalak makes his Dodger Stadium debut tonight, six years after posting a career-high 11 victories for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque. In 2000, Michalak went 11-3 for the Dukes, ranking third in the Pacific Coast League in wins.
Inside the Dodgers 
Lets hope the Streak is ON !!!
Go Dodgers !!
Should be an interesting game. Players the dodgers have traded or released usually come back to haunt them. Pitchers more so than others, and this one is a rookie. Look what happened in San Diego.
Josh you made a little typo on having 2 CF’ers, maybe Repko is in LF?
Ought to be very interesting with two Center Fielders and no one in Right Field ! Must have a great game plan and advance scouting that says Cincy only hits to the left side.
Go Dodgers !
Everybody relax. Lofton isn’t going to lose out on his CF spot to Repko. Lets slow the big red machines roll! Go Blue!
http://mlblogs.mlblogs.com/mlblogscom/2006/08/mlblogs_comment.html
The comment spam blocker has been turned off, and that link above is your explanation. Hopefully it will stay off, will depend on whether a hacker disrupts other people’s livelihood again here.
Thanks for your patience, wanted to get this resolved before your big game tonight against the Reds. You should be able to comment at length now (but make sure you sign up for your own MLBlogs anyway!) 🙂
Mark/MLB.com
Lets hope the Dodgers Helter Skelter play dosen’t return and they GET Back on the winning track. ( I couldn’t resist)
Joey are you there? Did you mess up this blog? My third point regarding JD started on yesterday’s posting is that everyone does not play with the enthusiasm of Mickey Hatcher, unfortunately. Hard to tell what is going on inside. Speaking of enthusiasm, how about the managers that stand or sit motionless and emotionlessfor the whole game. They most they do to move is argue a call. -Torre, Cox, LaRussa, Leyland, etc. I miss Tommy, Bobby Valentine, Earl Weaver and yes Billy Martin. They made the game and the team more interesting.
YEA to MLB !!
Go Dodgers !!!
Big series with Cinnci!!! Does anyone know more on Lowe??
euhlman, billy martin was even more animated when he played, and who can forget jimmy pearsol.
Wow, you guys are OLD !!! Jimmy Pearsol ??? Lasorda has to be the all time animator !! Those were the days of good old baseball !!! Not this money ball they play today.
Go Dodgers !!!
kday01@charter.net
if i remember correctly Tommy & Billy almost went at it once, ah the good old days.
In the good old days after the dodgers came to L.A. {58} I probably attended 20 to 30 games a year. I remember the tribute to CAMPY in the coloseum, when all the lights were turned out and 90,000 people all lighted a match. what a site. Ah the golden years af baseball. Not moneyball. Before {58} I listened to the re-created games on radio.
[when I could get them}
Tommy was with Kansas City when he and Billy almost tangled, I think. Billy Martin told Tommy he would never get anywhere unless he stopped fighting. That’s pretty funny. I remember Jimmy Piersall with the Red Sox. They made a Piersall movie, “Fear Strikes Out.”
i like the fact that the dodges are considering starting kuo, in my opinion he might be better than hendrickson.. and josh, ilove the beatle’s theme.. hey euahlman, i saw that piersall movie when i was 9, and i thought it was fictional, piersall was crazy!.. and i would have paid to see billy martin, and tommy go at it in there hey-day..
BELIEVE IN BLUE!
euhlman@bwr.eastlink.ca
considering Billy Martin also had a triger happy temper i agree.
Ray, Piersall did suffer from mental illness but was a good player. I note that Blake Dewitt will play in the Hawaii Winter League. Kuo only went 3 innings on Sunday but was good.
Hollandsworth and David Ross in Reds lineup. Gotta keep Freel off base. Too late. Soon bed time for boys here. Check in again in the morning. Go Dodgers.
I certainly hope somebody gets in right field with Junior & Dunn!
Penny get’s out of that jam, good job Penny!
5 innings? Penny needs to start going deeper CONSISTANTLY.
Josh, nice post
Tomko oh no 😦
Yeah Josh… you must’ve had a Hard Day’s Night thinking that stuff up. : )
Great win team!! Now if we can only find a way to let Brad Penny know that he doesn’t have walk the bases loaded in order to have solid defensive support. His pitch counts of late are killing him, and more importantly, giving me more gray hairs than I care for my 43 year old head. Somebody please tell him he has great defensive players behind him and to stop trying to miss his opponents bats. Trust in your team Brad! You don’t have to blow it past every hitter on every pitch.
Brox pitched a strong 2 innings, i’m predicting a blood bath of runs tomorrow.
p.s. His pitch count almost cost us the game in trying to stretch Dessens appearance to two innings. Penny really needed another inning or two tonight… and now we have four guys in the bullpen who didn’t all have to work tonight if their starter had been more careful with his location. Oh well… let’s hope that Hendrickson can pitch 7 innings tomorrow.
Yep… Johnny Brox Rocks again!! : ) Too bad he’ll need a couple of nights off now for his 1.2 innings and 28 pitches of work.
1) While he didn’t go deep, Penny still managed an average start for himself. His biggest problem was having an off night with regard to control. After 3 starts worse than the one before, Penny finally showed some improvement, which will likely carry into September.
2) Jeff Kent has been huge the last few days. The game winning homer the other night, and he went 2-3 with a walk, RBI and 2 runs scored. While getting picked off wasn’t as smooth, he’s picked things up as well.
3) Broxton threw 32 pitches in relief, then got the win on one pitch, then had the next day off. Today he threw 28 pitches, so he’ll get a day off and be ready again tomorrow. Saito has been rested now, too.
4) Brett Tomko revealed his mortality in relief today, and is probably better suited to situations where he begins an inning.
5) Hard to tell exactly what to expect with Hendrickson, but one knows exactly what to expect from Milton: lots of home runs. The guy has given up 24 in 136 innings, including one to Olmedo Saenz earlier this year. Hitting him consistently will help, but Milton is particularly prone to the long ball, and players like Drew and Kent might use this as an oppurtunity to catch up on their numbers.
well, the bull pen almost gave another one away. they do make the games interesting.
Also, in defense of Penny: Yea he walked some guys, and had some control problems…. both true. But the home plate ump was giving him a grapefruit sized strike zone. Not surprising after his antics lately, was a good game for him though to not loose cool. He needs to earn back a little respect from the umps/avoid getting a bad rap as a hot head.
I was at the game last night and it was sad that the eighth inning took so long, but we fortunately came out with the victory. I am not surprised that Kent got picked off…I think the move was a borderline balk. The angle of his foot was so different then what he had previously been using to go to first, that I think he was well on his way to home on that play.
Though Kent got picked off, he did give the fielders a run for their money, which is good to see, someone not just giving up and being picked off.
Kent really is picking it up a little now, and that is great to see. We need a few guys you can feel good about whenever they come to the plate.
Penny was saved in part by some brilliant defense. The whole team is playing focused right now and that is fantastic to see. Keep on bouncing back, Penny!
HEY HAS ANYONE NOTICED THE CHANGE THAT KFWB HAS PUT ON RE: THEIR “NEW” HD RADIO? MY BUDDY AND I ARE AT THE GAME LAST NIGHT, MIND YOU HE IS A BLIND MAN AND CAN ONLY LISTEN TO THE GAME ON THE RADIO, AND THERE IS A 10 SECOND DELAY ON VINNY CALLING THE GAME! I GUESS THERE IS NO MORE LISTENING TO THE GAME AT THE BALL PARK! BAD CALL!!
Thanks for this post. Must have taken you quite some time to do this.
If that’s the case, then it’s the end of one of the oldest Dodger Stadium traditions… bringing your radio and listening to Vinny AT the ballgame. If this is truly what is going on, then KFWB, you guys need to get your act together and fix it.
When I used to attend Dodger games, I’d always bring my big radio and folks around me would ask me to turn up the volume so they could listen in too. That’s a sad thing if it’s been changed.
If anybody has a problem with KFWB delaying Vin’s broadcasts 10 seconds, then there’s only one way to save the tradition of listing to Scully at the Stadium. WRITE KFWB. I’m serious, every single one of us that has a problem needs to write them. Flood their mailboxes blue, regular mail and e-mail. Let them know that we are not happy they’re killing the tradition.
I mean, yeah, progress is eventually going to take over in that respect, but the time we spend with Vin at the helm is precious, each game like Picasso at the canvas, Steinbeck at the typewriter, Beethoven at the piano. If we make a loud enough noise, they’ll have to accomadate their listeners somehow.
WHEN I’M 64: One more air out and Wilson Betemit will have 64 GO/64 AO.
Mark
http://mlblogs.mlblogs.com
Also, Yesterday and Penny Lane were played on the organ
Regarding KFWB’s 10 second delay with their HD Equipment, you may voice your opinions here:
KFWB Vice President and General Manager, Pat Duffy:
pat.duffy@kfwb.com
KFWB Vice President AM Programming, David G. Hall:
David.G.Hall@kfwb.com