Hard to believe, but this team hasn’t lost three in a row all year, a modern day Dodger record for the latest that has happened. With the way Kershaw has pitched lately, I like our chances to pull this one out, but you never know with this game. I can’t say I would have predicted that Chad wouldn’t have gotten out of the second inning last night, either.

On his 69th birthday, Joe Torre is mixing it up with the lineup, as Andre gets the night off.

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Manny, LF

Blake, 3B

Kemp, RF

Loretta, 1B

Martin, C

Kershaw, P

Pierre, CF

That seems to be the name that Orlando has been calling Juan Pierre and sometimes it just gets dropped to Pizzle. Well, Pizzle got an incredible ovation in last night’s game and the Dodger fans showed their true appreciation for him stepping up when he was needed.

He gets another shot to step up tonight…here’s the lineup

Furcal, SS

Pierre, LF

Manny, LF

Blake, 3B

Ethier, RF

Loney, 1B

Hudson, 2B

Martin, C

Billingsley, P (By the way, in case you’ve missed it, you can chat with Chad on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the latest Dodger web chat)

UPDATE – Torre pregame

On using Broxton tonight:

Very confident. This is something he’s had before. And he responded to the shot. He threw yesterday and felt nothing at all.

On Belisario throwing today:

Belisario did already. We’ll have a schedule arranged for him.

On Kuo:

Kuo will pitch tomorrow in San Bernardino.

On the fifth starter for Monday:

We’re still going through it. As soon as we know something for sure we’ll let you know.

On Cory Wade:

Cory wasn’t available to us that last day in Milwaukee and that raised a red flag to us. We didn’t know exactly what it was. It came down to throwing yesterday to determine the DL time. I’ll let you know what the plan is. It’s in an area they believe it can be treated.

On Pierre:

He’ll get a game or two a week. It’ll be a conbination of other guys struggling or him having good numbers (against the opposing starter).

Been running around today with Manny media at a pretty high level because it’s his first home game. He had some really nice things to say about his teammates and about Juan Pierre in general, which was cool. And hopefully things will be back to normal now that we’ve gotten this behind us.

The big thing is to keep on winning at the rate we’ve been doing so. It’s bound to be a good summer at the stadium and here’s hoping you guys will all be out here plenty to support the team.

My apologies for disappearing for a couple days…just playing catch up over the break and getting ready for what promises to be a very excited three months of baseball or so coming up.

Hopefully you’ll all tune in tonight to watch Bills and Hudson play. Big Brox won’t pitch tonight, but he’ll be there to take it all in and make sure his toe is ready to go for the second half.

 

The timing of the Jonathan Sanchez no-hitter in San Francisco on Friday brings to mind two memorable events invloving the Dodgers and Giants during a 10-day span in 1980. On June 27, Jerry Reuss pitched the only no-hitter of his career against the Giants during an 8-0 victory at Candlestick Park. Like Sanchez, Reuss retired 27 of 28 batters and the only runner to reach safely was because of an infielder’s error. Reuss became the first Dodger left-hander since Sandy Koufax to pitch a no-hitter, and ironically Koufax was in uniform for the game as a visiting minor league instructor and he joined the Dodger team around the pitcher’s mound in the postgame celebration.

The other memory occurred at Dodger Stadium on July 6, the final game in 1980 before the All-Star break. Future Hall of Famer Willie McCovey earlier had announced he was going to retire at midseason, so the Dodgers staged a special pregame ceremony in his honor. It was not unusual for the rival teams to participate in such ceremonies. When Don Drysdale retired in 1969, a day was planned for the Giants’ next visit to Los Angeles. Willie Mays offered a large box and everyone laughed inside when Drysdale pulled out a small bottle of Vaseline. For McCovey’s day, Dodger pitcher Don Sutton spoke on behalf of his teammates and McCovey received gifts from other community organizations. In his final at-bat as a pinch-hitter, McCovey received a standing ovation after he delivered a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to give the Giants a 5-4 lead. 

— Mark Langill

I’m glad someone asked about the celebrities on our billboards. Rest assured, they haven’t replaced the players as our primary “faces.” Not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, we probably have a wider array of players on our billboards this year than in any year that I can remember. There’s a mix of players, celebrities, other athletes, etc. that is intended to show how wide our fan base is…hopefully you guys will see them as you drive around LA (those of you who live there).

Here’s tonight’s lineup:

Furcal, SS

Ethier, RF

Manny, LF

Blake, 3B

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

Hudson, 2B

Kemp, CF

Wolf, P

Had a really cool morning this morning at “the other” new stadium here in New York. Of course, that’s all depending on who we’re playing at the time, but we’re here at Citi Field, so the other one is New Yankee Stadium.

Jaime Jarrin had asked if we could take a tour of the new stadium in the Bronx, so a former Dodger employee took us around and showed us the new place and it’s pretty darn impressive. Very classy with lots of great attention paid to the team’s history – incredible photos everywhere…Monument Park is equally as impressive as at the old park and their Hall of Legends is imposing. At $1.5 billion, you can imagine that no expense was spared in making the place look good.

Meanwhile, back here at Citi Field, Cory Wade is here to take the spot of Ronald Belisario, who is getting checked out in Los Angeles. Here’s hoping they don’t find anything too bad with his elbow.

A nice victory last night and coincidentally, it was a flip flop of our first-ever game at Shea. We lost that one 8-0 and won this won by the same score.

Will try to post the lineup whenever it gets put up and will try to go say hi to Joe Pierre at tomorrow’s game.

LINEUP UPDATE:

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Manny, LF

Blake, 3B

Loretta, 1B

Martin, C

Ethier, RF

Kemp, CF

Kuroda, P

If you’re watching the selection show on TBS, you know now that Orlando Hudson, Jonathan Broxton and Chad Billingsley all were voted onto the NL All-Star team by their peers around the league. Congrats to all three, who were genuinely excited when Joe Torre let them know this morning.

Now, it’s up to you guys to get the fourth Dodger to the game, as Matt Kemp is part of the Final Vote. We’re counting on you guys to push this over the top and spread the word to all your friends, family, and anyone else you know. It’s time to show the rest of the world what Dodger fans can do when they get behind their guy!

Meanwhile, here in San Diego, we recalled Blake DeWitt and put Eric Milton on the DL.

Here’s the lineup for the series finale:

Furcal, SS

Pierre, LF

Loney, 1B

Blake, 3B

Ethier, RF

Martin, C

Kemp, CF

Castro, 2B

Billingsley, P