Third post of the day…maybe some kind of record.

Furcal, SS

Lugo, LF

Garciaparra, 1B

Kent, 2B

Drew, RF

Betemit, 3B

Martin, C

Repko, CF

Lowe, P

After last night’s game against the Giants, I have to make a few comments about Greg Maddux and about what a masterfully pitched game it was on both sides.  Jason Schmidt and Greg Maddux are completely different pitchers, one a classic power pitcher, the other the epitome of finesse. However, both pitchers’ base philosophy is the same — work quick, throw strikes, change speeds. The philosophy is age old and was never more evident than last night.

Jim Kaat once said to me that pitching is an art, not a science.  I believe that and Greg Maddux was Picasso last night. What Jim was saying is that pitching is as much feel as it is game planning. What Greg does better than anyone possibly in history is control the speed of the bat. In order to do that he attacks with his good sinking fastball, establishing his optimum speed in the hitters’ mind, then reacts from there. If he gets a groundball out early in the count, great. If the pitch is taken or fouled off, he decides his next pitch by the reaction of the hitter. He also takes into account his history with that hitter and the count, the score and what he has working that particular day. In other words, he is always the one dictating and it is almost impossible for the hitter to guess what’s coming because he can get all of his pitches over for strikes on any count. I read an article written before Hank Aaron faced Al Downing the night Aaron hit his 715th home run. Downing was asked what he was going to throw Hammerin’ Hank. Al said “You’ll have to tell me what the previous pitch was.” That is Maddux.

Whitey Ford once said that he felt like he held an invisible string attached to the hitters stride foot with which he either pulled it or left it taut whenever he wanted. That is also Maddux.

No, it’s not another 80s tune from my XM Radio. Just a feeling I’m getting that today is going to be quite crazy around here. It’s going to be hard to top yesterday’s excitement, as that was truly one of the greatest games I’ve ever witnessed. A 1-0 battle between a Hall of Famer and one of the top pitchers in the game and to think Greg needed just 68 pitches in eight inning – utterly amazing.

The first matchup ever between a 300-game winner and 700-homer guy didn’t disappoint, with Maddux leaping to spear a line drive back at the mound and retiring Barry Bonds, the first of 22 consecutive batters he set down.

More than 55,000 people in the house and the place was rocking like it was the 2004 playoffs and Lima was on the mound. It’s not surprising that Dodger fans are on the way to setting a record for attendance here at Dodger Stadium.

Of course, all of these wins mean that the media requests continue to pour in from all around the country, as the Dodgers are the talk of the baseball world. As it should be. Needless to say, our department will be busy today.

On a totally unrelated note, I went to MLBlogs.com today and noticed that my old colleague from MLB.com, Mark Feinsand, is blogging about the Yankees. He’s a great guy and a very good writer and it appears he’s got some sort of following on his blog. He had something like 1,000 comments, which is pretty impressive. I’m not sure what that says about this one and I hate to point out a Yankee anything on this site, but I have to say, as someone who didn’t really understand the blogging world until about a year ago, you are all quite a dedicated group of fans.

Or at least that’s what U2 was singing about on my way to the ballpark. Which made me think of the old Dodger radio classic "It’s a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame."

As most Angelenos can relate, there are some days when the commute to work can be a pain, but driving in this morning, I couldn’t help but think what a great game this should be. On a picturesque late afternoon at the greatest ballpark setting in the country, a worldwide audience on ESPN will be tuning in to watch Greg Maddux vs. Jason Schmidt and the Dodgers vs. the Giants. We haven’t swept the Giants at home since June 22-25, 1995 or about a month after I started working here and we have a chance to put our rivals in a position of being 7.5 games out of first place with six weeks left.

Add to that the intrigue of Maddux looking to tie Steve Carlton for 10th place and you don’t have to go back to Tuesday’s post to see how rare a feat like that really is. If you haven’t bought tickets yet, there’s still a chance to get down here in the next five hours (it’s only noon right now). Plus, it’s autograph day, so bring the kids down to the parking lot early and see which Dodger player they might get to meet.

The other thing I heard on my XM Radio as I drove to the stadium just now was Katrina and the Waves’ "Walking on Sunshine," which hearkens back memories of the early 90s pennant races with the Braves. Don’t ask me why…it must have been a video montage that the team put together back then, but every time I hear that song, I think of a weekend series in 1991 at Dodger Stadium. Does anyone else associate that song with that season or am I nuts?

Anyway, here’s the lineup:

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Nomar, 1B

Kent, 2B

Ethier, LF

Betemit, 3B

Lugo, RF

Martin, C

Maddux, P

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Lugo, 2B

Drew, RF

Ethier, LF

Betemit, 3B

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

Penny, P

On July 26, the Dodgers were in last place, a season-high 7.5 games out of first. In the past 15 days, they have gained 8.0 games in the NL West standings, having won 12 of their last 13 games. Several comments on this blog were among the most positive of the thinkers and it’s paying off for you guys now. Remember, it’s a long season and much like we try not to get too down when we’re losing, we’re trying not to get overly excited about a half-a-game lead on Aug. 11. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played, but it’s nice to be atop the standings again.

And for those who continue to think Kenny Lofton isn’t pulling his weight, consider the following: With his third hit last night, Kenny raised his average to .309 this season and .323 since the start of 2005. That ranks fifth in all of baseball since the beginning of last year behind Miguel Cabrera (.328), Albert Pujols (.327), Joe Mauer (.325) and Derek Jeter (.323) among players with 600 or more plate appearances during that span. Since the All-Star Break, Lofton is hitting .351 (27-for-77), raising his career average to .300. And in the month of August, his .469 average (15-for-32) is third in the Majors behind Omar Vizquel (.531) and Brian McCann (.500) (minimum 30 PA). Suffice to say, it’s tough to take him out of the lineup right now and Grady has him in there today against a lefty.

Tomorrow, the Dodgers Dream Foundation will host the “Jerseys Off Their Backs” Live & Silent Auctions. If you’re at the game, you can bid on all the autographed game-used jerseys worn by all the players and coaches. The silent auction is on the Club Level behind the Vin Scully Press Box and ends at 2:45 p.m. A post-game live auction will consist of jerseys from several of the team’s All-Stars.

Today’s lineup:

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Nomar, 1B (1,500th career hit last night in his 1,152nd career game)

Kent, 2B

Drew, RF (back in the lineup)

Ethier, LF (14-game hitting streak)

Lugo, 3B (his .347 career mark against the Giants is the 3rd among active players with 75 or more plate appearances)

Hall, C (a night off for Russell with tomorrow’s day game looming)

Hendrickson, P

Meanwhile, the Dodgers lead the NL with a .279 average, six points higher than second-place St. Louis (.273). The team also paces the Senior Circuit in hits (1,114), triples (39) and on-base percentage (.352). The Dodgers have never led the league in hitting since coming to Los Angeles, though they shared the league lead with Cincinnati (.270) in 1970 and were atop the NL in 1955 (.271). The last time their team average was higher was in 1953 (.285).

Busy day around here. It seems like when we’re winning, every media outlet under the sun wants to talk to one of our players, coaches, front office staff or even PR hacks like me.

Serious props go out to the Kamenetzky brothers for finding a way to work into their blog the Saved by the Bell episode when Jessie Spanow gets "so excited." I’m not really sure what that has to do with the Dodgers, but they get my nod of approval.

Some notes from today’s game notes:

A FIRST FOR EVERYTHING – Julio Lugo made his first appearance at third base in the Major Leagues last night, starting at the hot corner. His last game played there was in 1997, when he played for Houston’s Single-A Kissimmee. Lugo has now played second base, third base, shortstop and all three outfield positions in his big league career.

THE BULL HITS STAPLES TOMORROW – Dodger reliever Jonathan Broxton will be signing autographs at the Staples in Glendale tomorrow from 12-1.

PLAYING RIGHT FIELD – James Loney made his big league outfield debut last night. Loney made three starts in right field for Triple-A Las Vegas from May 13-15 and went 7-for-11 with a homer and seven RBI vs. Nashville. Today, the Dodger organization named him its Minor League Player of the Month for July, the second consecutive month he has been honored. He hit .371 with three homers and 18 RBI in July.

Today’s lineup:

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Nomar, 1B

Kent, 2B

Ethier, LF (somehow we just noticed his 13-game hitting streak is alive)

Betemit, 3B

Martin, C

Repko, RF

Billingsley, P

Continue reading →

Nomar has been activated and is starting at first base tonight. The lineup has four shortstops in it (including Repko, who started there in the minors), with two others, Betemit and Martinez, on the bench. Against the left-hander, we’ll send out:

Furcal, SS

Lugo, 3B

Nomar, 1B

Drew, RF

Kent, 2B

Ethier, LF

Martin, C

Repko, CF

Lowe, P

This is always one of the toughest days of our year. Yes, the team has an 11-game winning streak, something that hasn’t happened since I joined the club back in 1995 (the last one was in 1993). However, that pales in comparison to our trip to Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles. In about half an hour, I’ll head over there with Rafael Furcal, Russell Martin, Chad Billingsley and Frank McCourt, where they’ll spend some time with the kids who are dealing with more than I can possibly imagine.

I’ve been fortunate enough to accompany the team on several hospital visits each of the past few years and to say it’s a reality check is a serious understatement. No matter how good things are going on the field or even if we were in the midst of an 11-game losing streak, this always reminds me just how fortunate me and my family are to be healthy, let alone earning a living in the game of baseball.

You might recall T.J. Simers writing an incredible piece when Eric Gagne went to Mattel Children’s Hospital a couple years ago and I’m sure we’ll have some TV crews there today if you want to see some of the footage from the visit, but I can vouch for all of the players I’ve gone with to these hospitals – it’s a humbling, eye-opening experience for them, too.

There will be more on the game later today and of course, there’s plenty of great stories out there today about Greg Maddux’s impact on the team from Bill Plaschke (LA Times), Steve Bisheff (OC Register), Jim Alexander (Riverside PE) and Mike Waldner (Daily Breeze) as well as a well done, tongue-in-cheek column by Steve Dilbeck (Daily News), who wrote the team off two weeks ago and has watched them go 11-0 ever since.

I hope some of you got to chat with Roy Smith a little bit ago. We’re going for 11 in a row tonight, which hasn’t been done in 13 years. And even better, tickets are still available to see Greg Maddux in his home debut. We’ll see if he can throw a nine-inning no-no with three hitless innings to start the game. More importantly, it’s a chance to see him possibly tie Steve Carlton for 10th place on the all-time wins list. You can’t be a part of that kind of history every day. In fact, unless Tom Glavine or Randy Johnson somehow manage to pitch for several more years, it could be decades before someone cracks the Top 10 again.

Here’s the lineup that can help him do it:

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF (joins Steve Finley this year as the first 39-year-olds to log nine triples in a year since 1945)

Drew, RF

Kent, 2B (back to second for tonight)

Ethier, LF

Betemit, 3B

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

Maddux, P