He’s back in Los Angeles…well, Denver, I guess. Eric Stults will return to Vegas and Joe Torre said that we’ll need a fifth starter for Tuesday. Jason Johnson is an option but Penny won’t be ready yet. He threw a ‘pen today and assuming all is well, is on target for rehab this weekend.

Pierre could be back to play by this weekend after a short rehab stint this week. That will certainly make some decisions tougher for Joe Torre, but he seems like that’s a good thing. He told the media pregame that Andre and Matt have made great strides since Juan went down and he’s still not sure how he’s going to juggle the lineup but that it will be day to day based on what team gives us the best chance to win.

In positive news, Scott Proctor threw off the mound today for the first time and Ken Howell was cleared by the docs to resume coaching this weekend.

Here’s tonight’s lineup…let’s see if we can one-up last night’s first-inning performance:

Kemp, RF

Ethier, LF

Martin, C

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B

Nomar, SS

Jones, CF

LaRoche, 3B

Kershaw, P

No, that’s not the flavor of ice cream in the offices for first place, though I wish I had thought of it earlier and recommended it.

Lots of upcoming autograph appearances for our players in the community, so check back soon for a list of those.

Also, great stuff coming up in this homestand, too, so for those of you locals, be on the lookout for all of that information (i.e. Brad Penny’s bobblehead night this Friday, Autograph Day for Kids on Sunday, etc.).

Here’s tonight’s lineup at Denver…

Kemp, RF

Ethier, LF

Martin, C

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B

Jones, CF

LaRoche, 3B

Berroa, SS

Stults, P

UPDATE: Ice cream flavors were Gold Medal Ribbon and Cookie Dough.

UPDATE 2: LaRoche will play the entire series…Nomar just a little achy, which is why he’s out…Kershaw could be up again soon according to Joe Torre and when he comes up, he’s likely up for the rest of the year…Jason Johnson will be the long man out of the bullpen going forward…Sweeney’s activation is on hold and we’ll have a plan for him by the time the road trip is over…we’re looking at a weekend rehab outing for Penny and an early August return to the bigs.

How about that finish?

Safe to say that if the end of September comes around and the Dodgers reach the postseason, this will be the game that everyone points to as the turning of the tide.

Of course, there’s still plenty of baseball to be played and a dramatic comeback of this nature doesn’t change the fact that we’re still two games under .500, which is going to have to change if we have any thoughts of reaching the playoffs, let alone advancing in them. But, this is a game where the team showed character and grit…

It’s just the sort of momentum we need going into Coors Field, where we have struggled of late, before heading home for a long homestand.

As for the question about first place ice cream – YES! – there will be some in the offices tomorrow and hopefully the next day, which would mean we picked up a game on the D-backs and moved into sole possesion of the top spot for the first time since April. Every little step is important and today’s game was as big as they get.

 

Shooting for sole possession of first place…

Kemp, CF

Ethier, RF

Martin, C

Kent, 2B

Nomar, SS

Loney, 1B

Young, LF

DeWitt, 3B

Bills, P

I think it’s safe to say that very few people who took part in last night’s game, attended it, or even watched it on TV, will forget it anytime soon. For a year, there’s been hype surrounding the All-Star Game and the farewell to Yankee Stadium that it would afford. I’ve tried not to believe the hype but I actually think in this instance, it lived up to it, and then some.

Who knew Russell would come in during the fourth inning and play for 10 more? Or that the AL would threaten to score repeatedly during extra innings, only to get turned away time and again? Brandon Webb had completely ruled himself out for the game unless in an absolutely emergency and sure enough, there he was setting down the AL late in the game.

And how about J.D. Drew? The man so many Dodger fans grew to dislike because he didn’t show his emotions was clearly the runaway MVP, hitting the game’s only homer among three hits. A Red Sox player, in Yankee Stadium, helping the AL get home field advantage and still getting booed mercilessly.

All of that doesn’t even take into account the pregame ceremonies, which were as memorable as any I’d seen before. I spent the first few minutes of it in the National League dugout but as things got a little crowded, I wandered through a service tunnel and eventually watched the remainder of it from the visitor’s bullpen in left field.

Once the game started, I actually watched the first couple of innings from a perch high atop the foul pole in right field with several people from our offices before heading down to a suite around 10 p.m. for a meeting with some MLB colleagues. Then, I was fortunate to be given a tenth-row ticket behind the NL dugout for what I figured would be the final two and a half innings. It was there we watched the rest of the drama unfold.

I’m not sure about you guys, but I found myself rooting strongly for the NL like never before. I know a lot of people were against the idea of the All-Star Game deciding home field advantage and I was one of them. It did seem like an overreaction to the 2002 tie game in Milwaukee. But it absolutely changed the tenor of the game last night and no one who saw the NL’s fist-pumping reaction after getting out of a bases loaded, no out jam could argue that.

Unfortunately, I spent the better part of the extra innings going back and forth on my blackberry between Ned Colletti, Stan Conte and Kenji Nimura, the interpreter for Saito. As you probably know by now, the news on Saito was not good – he’s got a sprained ligament in his elbow – and he’s going to need six weeks to rehab it before we reevaluate the situation. The news was complicated by the fact that Saito wanted to make sure his family heard from him, not the news media (and rightfully so), so we were in a holding pattern for about an hour as midnight closed in at Yankee Stadium.

By the time it was all over, seemingly everyone in the stadium was emotionally and physically drained, from the players to the fans and the media. It was 1:40 when the game ended and nearly 3 a.m. by the time we actually got back to the hotel. But throughout the extra innings, I just kept wondering what the teams would do had they run out of pitchers. Thankfully, it didn’t happen and unfortunately, the AL’s dominance continued.

One final thought that I’ll leave everyone with was something that popped into my head around the 13th inning. I’m wondering why we select All-Star based on what they do in the first half of the season, rather than the entire year that transpires from one All-Star break to the next. It would seem a lot more fair to do that and a lot more likely that the right people would be selected. In reality, if you have a hot couple of months to start the year, you’re suddenly an All-Star and that’s an honor that should not be taken lightly.

We just received word that one of our dear colleagues, Laurie Martinez, passed away today. Laurie has worked for many years at the Dodgers’ academy in the Dominican Republic, Campo Las Palmas and she was a wonderful woman.

She has always been so helpful for those of us in the States with whatever we needed in the DR and earlier this year, she continued to help in amazing ways when we visited the Dominican.

She will be missed by everyone who knew her and our thoughts and prayers are with her family.

Making Monday even sadder for the Dodger family was the loss of Matt McHale, the former Dodger beat writer for the Los Angeles Daily News. He was a regular at Dodger Stadium for many years and he was one of the nicest people you could ever ask to meet. Steve Dilbeck, one of his colleagues at the Daily News, weighed in with a touching piece and it goes without saying that Matt will be deeply missed.

I’m just logging in to post the lineup and saw all the comments that refer to one particular fan’s comments that were out of line. I can’t find them, so I’m assuming that MLB went through and pulled them out.

But, I have to say, I continue to be amazed at how much profanity some of you use on the boards and it’s actually a lot of you who are the regular posters. I just don’t think it’s that hard to get your point across without swearing. We all get upset at losses and it’s fair game to disagree with moves that are made in game, signings, trades, etc. But it’s easy to say in a manner that doesn’t ruin the site for others. And that goes for asterisks, too. We all know what you’re trying to say and it’s not any better when you do it that way, but I simply don’t have the time to police you all. There’s too much other work to be done during the day and the few who ruin it for many can hopefully learn to be a little more mature. I, for one, would greatly appreciate it.  

That’s about all I can say on that topic…

Here’s today’s lineup…

Kemp, RF

Ethier, LF

Martin, C

Nomar, SS

Jones, CF

Loney, 1B

LaRoche, 3B

Maza, 2B

Billingsley, P