Tonight's game

first comment woohoo

Very Nice...Go Blue!

no way... martin shouldnt be in the lineup tonight. he needs a break and a good one.
as for betemit and kemp, glad to see them on the lineup.

Martin will get a break on Saturday or Sunday, along with Monday's offday, he'll get his rest.

yea alex... martin will get his 15 days of rest when he goes on the DL right? C'mon Grady.

(sighs) Always so overlydramatic...He's going to get 2 days off out of three. That's plenty for Martin, he's incredible.

i mean, he's been slumping, has looked pretty tired, and had to be pulled from the game last night... how many more signs does Grady need?

Padres have given up on Linebrink...

Brewers acquired righthanded pitcher Scott Linebrink from the San Diego Padres in exchange for minor league pitchers Joe Thatcher, Will Inman and Steve Garrison.

wow to Linebrink. That was there man last year. Good to see him go. Anyways on the Martin front I must be honest I would like to see him get a day off but hopefully that hard line drive for a double last night will help his confidence some. On the other hand im happy that he is in the lineup because that means the injury last night was nothing serious. Also, Im kind of suprised to see Nomar get the day off. He has been swinging the bat very nice as of late. So when he slumps Grady wont sit him but when he starts hitting lets rest that hot bat...hmmmmm

Will Inman is a good young pitcher. They got alot in return. Inman himself will be more valuabe to the Madres in a couple of years then Linebrick ever will be.

No way Russ should play tonight. It's clear he needs rest RIGHT NOW, not Sunday, Monday or whenever Alex divines he'll get rest.

Its simply not worth the risk.

yea i agree DD. Russ should be out tonight. Hopefully we get ahead of them early so he can get out by the 5th.

Grady is great at resting hot players and using cold pitchers (READ: Seanez).

Would it kill them to rest Pierre just once? Do they really think he's catching Cal Ripkin or something?

Martin is a stud. Let's hope he really doesn't need a day off this time.

Gotta give it up for Kent who most of us left for dead early on...

I can't even fathom why San Diego would ship off Linebrink for 3 minor leaguers. Do they even realize they're in a pennant race? Granted he's been touched up lately but c'mon 3 minor leaguers? If they're so good why didn't Milwakee use them themselves. I am so glad that Towers and Depo aren't running our team.

I agree Martin needs to be rested periodically. There are only so many games in those legs,and I think he should get more rest than he does. That is not a shot at Grady. He's there and I'm not. I'll be at the Saturday game, and I'd rather see Martin catch, but sit his butt down if he needs it. We're gonna need that Kid come Sept.

inman has a chance to be a good mlb pitcher, as for the rest i don't know. maybe the pods are planning on acquiring another reliever. and the brewers bullpen is fairly stacked, so this deal makes even less sense for them. linebrink...oh how the mighty have fallen.

I'm reading into this trade as well and the Padres got three good young pitchers from the Brewers. This may also mean the end of Turnbow in Milwaukee? DD17, I get your concern, it's well understood, we don't want Martin to get hurt. I almost freaked out when I read that false report he had a stress fracture. But, he's playing because he can, he's never going to be 100% he made that clear yesterday. He's going to have some rough tiimes, he's going to slump, he's going to have bad games, but the man is going to play almost everyday. If he were not in a slump, this wouldn't even be an issue. Even with his 'injury' last night. His butt cramp isn't even considered an injury. And he's got some days off coming, it's just not tonight. If it were a problem he wouldn't be in there.

its not about his slump it's about the wear and tear he takes everyday. He can't continue to play at a pace like this if he does he'll retire in 10-15 years. Look at what happened to Jason Kendell

A lineup of 4 consecutive batters with 10 or more home runs, will keep us full of hope all night. The expectation is unlimited. And this is followed by more power at the end of the batting order. If LOWE can have one of his better days, keeping it down and getting the ground balls, than I predict a victory. COM'ON DODGERS BRING US BACK TO 2 GAMES UP.

Ugh...you guys are beyond reproach

Baseball America ranks Inman the best prospect the Brewers have that is not on the MLB roster. Not bad for a middle reliver and two other prospects.

Here is our ranking. This is heading into the year. So far all you who think that Laroche isnt that great. Stop. He is going to join these other guys soon enough and win you guys over, just like Bills, Broxton, Martin, Kemp and Loney have.

TOP TEN

PROSPECTS

1. Andy LaRoche, 3b

2. Clayton Kershaw, lhp

3. Scott Elbert, lhp

4. James Loney, 1b/of

5. Etanislao Abreu, 2b

6. Ivan DeJesus Jr., ss

7. Jonathan Meloan, rhp

8. Blake DeWitt, 2b/3b

9. Josh Bell, 3b

10. Preston Mattingly, ss

BEST TOOLS

Best Hitter for Average James Loney

Best Power Hitter Andy LaRoche

Best Strike-Zone Discipline Cory Dunlap

Fastest Baserunner Trayvon Robinson

Best Athlete Preston Mattingly

Best Fastball Clayton Kershaw

Best Curveball Scott Elbert

Best Slider Jonathan Meloan

Best Changeup Carlos Alvarez

Best Control Clayton Kershaw

Best Defensive Catcher Gabriel Gutierrez

Best Defensive Infielder Ivan DeJesus Jr.

Best Infield Arm Andy LaRoche

Best Defensive Outfielder Jamie Hoffman

Best Outfield Arm Xavier Paul

Anybody seen Meloan's slider?

Russell should be getting a day off at least every 8-10 games. If he does that he'd still catch more games then anyone else.

Ok Alex you're right!

Happy now?

I'll be happy when we walk out of Houston with a series victory and a two game lead tonight! Lets get it done!

Those guys in san diego that you bash Charris have put together a team that has won the west the last two years over us. They are doing it with a payroll that is 40 million less than ours and doing it with a farm system that is ranked one of the lowest in the sport. In the last 10 years they have us 8-1 on playoff wins. They have kicked our ***** every year And at least they have made the WS since the 1980's unlike us. Many of you who post here might not even have been born when the dodgers were truly good.

So......

in his report about the Futures Game Keith Law said that Clayton Kershaw is probably the best left handed pitcher in the minors and he beleives that in 2 or 3 years Kershaw will be on his way to establishing himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball.

He's only 19 btw.

Hey! I was THREE when the Dodgers won in 88 lol...actually I'm a little interested to know why they traded Pedro Guerrero in August of 1988 for John Tudor. Anybody have an idea?

i was 11 months old when Gibson hit his home run. I think i've told this story before...

My Mom was holding me because i was crying and has he hit the home run she jumped and starting screaming FORGETTING that she was holding me. I feel, hit the ground and busted my head open. I still have the scare and I think thats the reason why i blink way more then a normal human. Thanks Kirk.

as* scar*

and it must be the reason why i can't type either.

I was eight and I still get chills everything time I see that play.
Time for Lowe to step up. I would rest Martin but that's another Little decision, at least Betemit is plaing.

I've seen Meloan's curve. It is a devastating 12-6 hammer.

I was in ninth grade. I'll never, ever forget that momment. When I watched Gibby hit that homerun me and 3 of my friends were jumping up and down on my moms bed. It was crazy! I thought every year would be like that.

Tudor had the best era in the NL when he was traded to the dodgers and Pedro (one of the best hitters I have ever seen, 81/83/85...If I recall he was hurt alot that year. But then went off in 1989.

jungar, I was definitely alive and celebrating the last time the Dodgers took home the WS. OK San Diego has us in playoff wins over the past 10 years...and exactly how many World Series have they won? Playoff wins mean nothing without going all the way. You can't honestly look at the Padres track record with trades (other than the Eaton for Young/Gonzalez) and think that it is favorable. Ollie Perez and Jason Bay for Brian Giles ring a bell? Derek Lee for a year of Kevin Brown? All those moves were made while Towers was making decisions. They have won the West because of phenomenal pitching but they always refuse to go spend $ on a stud hitter or 2, the Padres will never win it all with their front office's mentality, they'll be stuck in mediocrity.

mediocrity has beat us the last couple of years. They know what they are doing down there, trust me.

If the Madres are medicore then what does that make us?

The Dodgers, Max, the Dodgers, we're our own definition

"In the year of the improbable, the impossible has happened."

I get chills just writing it.

And what was even as crazy that year was Scioscia facing Doc Gooden in the NLCS. Gooden then was pretty much what Johan Santana is now but right handed.

And Scioscia hit 3 bombs all year!

Gooden walked John Shelby to lead off the 9th, after having a 2-strike count. Scioscia then drilled a shocking 2-run home run into the Mets bullpen in right field to tie the game.

And then of course we have Orel who won game 7 and saved game 4 of that NLCS and won 2 games out of 5 playes in the WS. Magic.

And the lakers had magic and the kings had gretzky. awww, the good old days

Nice to see Kemp and Betemit in the lineup. The games are much more interesting with those two bats in the lineup.

And some comments on the Linebrink trade....

FINALLY! This guy has probably been in more trade rumors than any middle reliever in history, and he's now finally traded after at least four years of rumors. One of the guys the Pads picked up, Joe Thatcher, is reporting right to the big league club. He's a lefthander who had a 1.42 era this year in 38 games combined between AA and AAA.

haha derek lee for a year of Kevin Brown looks good compared to 105 mil for 7 years. Brown was without a doubt a roider.

You gotta admit Charris you can't win the WS unless you get there. All I am saying is they have gotten there 1 more time than we have in the last 20 years..Yes some of their trades look bad bus so do ours. How many hall of famers have they traded away in those 20 years? I count at least two for us: Pedro and Piazza.

DD, max, They beat us in 05 because we absolutely stunk and they were what 2 games over .500, last year they had 2 of the best pitchers in the NL and it was just enough to tie us. I think that most of us would agree that we're better this year than the past few years, and in the past we have been just that mediocre. This year is different though and in NO WAY do I think that SD's management is good. Trust me I lived in San Diego County from 1989 to 2006 and all the die hard Padre fans hate Towers, almost as much as the Dodgers.

If you have MLB.TV you can watch Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS right here, there's good stuff all around Baseball's Best on MLB.com:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/baseballs_best/mlb_bb_gamepage.jsp?story_page=bb_88nlcs_gm4_lanym

jungar, I see your point but those moves were made under different management, while all those SD moves were made with Towers calling the shots, you wanna talk all time bad? How bout Ozzie Smith, Dave Winfield, John Kruk, Fred McGriff, Sandy and Roberto Alomar, Gary Sheffield and the list goes on and on. Sorry I just really hate the Pads.

Russell should rest. He's tired, and even though it's just a tight buttocks, it just makes sense to be more cautious. Of course, he probably talked his way back into the lineup, and you can't stop the Cap'n.

As to the prospects--one note, Kemp had something like 152 ABs, just over the limit for being considered a rookie, which meant he was not on Baseball America's list of top prospects. In a chat, they said he would have rated best in the organization.

As for Pedro for Tudor--Guerrerro tore up the league in 1985, and then got hurt in the last exhibition game of 1986, and was hurt a lot after that. Gibby was in left, and Guerrerro was supposed to paly thrid, but he was never good at 3B, and he had become a "problem" in the locker room, with Gibson as the new big man. And we needed a pitcher.

I think we have much more talent than the Pods. For whatever reason it doesn't show up in the standings. But, we SHOULD have more talent because we're playing with a heck of alot more money.

With the trade deadline a few days away, this is the first year when i think that the Dodgers are just fine as they are. Everyone on ESPN keeps saying that the weakness for the Dodgers is their offense. Little do they know that they have the number 1 offense in the national league. If there is one acquisition that i would like, that would be Octavio Dotel. Right now our middle relievers are Beimel and Saenez and we are already seeing signs of fatigue out of them. Dotel would be really good for this bullpen.

we should be able to beat the daylights out of this guy tonight. he has pitched only 45 innings both starting and releiving and given up 9 homeruns and has an aweful era. 2 games up with the win!!!

so...um... i keep hearing (well according to rotoworld) that were *still* looking into the Tex deal. Can someone please explain why we would do this?!? I mean I know its been discussed countless times already, but seriously?

Yeah I hate the padres too. So were on the same page...And you offer some pretty good players there that have gotten away from them as well as the fact they never made the splash to get anyone that was that great. I guess thats why it pains me thet we aren't beating them more often.

Here is tonight's lineup, with each player's stats since the AS break (thanks to dodgerthoughts):

SS Furcal - 339/356/482

CF Pierre - 306/358/347

C Martin - 261/346/326

2B Kent - 395/478/816

LF Gonzo - 282/300/385

3B Betemit - 474/545/737

1B Loney - 327/370/469

RF Kemp - 406/441/813

Tonight's eight starters have combined for a robust .335/.387/.512 in the 12 games since the AS break.

nice hustle Kent!

JK must of thought he hit an HR.

KENT husled after the ball hit the wall.

I like to see BETEMIT hit but he may be trade bait.

those **** 20 foor high walls.... too bad Kents hit only about 8 feet up, dont think that would have been out at Chavez.... Bad move by Kent. Oh well, thats the breaks that Lowe gets.

Pretty swing James! nice hustle! Hit that about 430!

someone needs to show kent how loney hustles!!

HUFFIN AND PUFFIN LONEY TRIPLES!

My Loney has a first name,
It's J-A-M-E-S

My Loney has a second name,

It's L-O-N-E-Y

I love to watch him every day

And if you ask me why I'll say

'Cause James Loney has a way

With H-I-T-T-I-N-G!

Now that's HUSTLE LONEY ran all the way from the swing.

for crying out loud Kemp

if we dont score with a man on 3rd and 0 outs im gonna go insane!

Well the #7 guy hits a triple, if your #8 fails to plate him, the pitcher will strike out and it leaves it up to Furcal with 2 out...this is actually common in the National League

DONT TRADE HIM. ok rant over. lousy job by kemp to not even hit a sac fly.

thats why Loney needs to be further up in the lineup... he produces, but no support behind him to get him in.

A wild pitch could help here. Or a pass ball. On FURCAL

f u dodger offense. that was a joke.

cy albers out there

Almost....

It's a Derek Lowe game, what can I say? Hitting out of sync is a pain in the...

that was just plain sad nice ab for raffy but no cha-ching....

youre all forgetting that with the bottom of the lineup in the NL this happens quite often. You have Kemp up there and the league knows that to get him out with two strikes you throw him a breaking ball. Then the pitcher, and well.... Lowe aint Penny. so thats and almost guarantee second out.

game over jk lol

I usually hate to fail to score when the bases are loaded with none out. Oh well we should be use to these things by now. And to dig it into us a HR to open up the next inning.

that's no excuse fezz.

well, being out of the lineup for so long will make anyone lose their rhythm... talking about kemp.

MARTIN is hitting ok, I was getting worried. I only wish he could do better against the Mets.

i hear the dodgers are offering Loney, Ethier, and a pitcher (not Kershaw) for Tex... I would actually like that. Frees up and OF spot for Kemp to play everyday and we get Tex... still don't think it will happen though.

I'd rather have 5 years of Ethier and Loney over 1 1/3 of Texiera...that trade 'rumor' is disgusting

The Dodgers must think that's Oswalt out there

betemit looked really good there

The only good thing:

Albers has 76 pitches through 4 innings

You're right Alex, it's a typical LOWE game. Whenever he pitches the opposing pitcher becomes Cy Young.

The Dallas Morning News says the Rangers and Braves are "heavily involved" in talks that could result in a Mark Teixeira deal.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia looks like a lock to go in a Teixeira deal. The Braves might also willing to part with shortstop prospect Elvis Andrus and a pitcher -- probably either Kyle Davies or Matt Harrison -- if it gets them Teixeira and some relief help. Jo-Jo Reyes reportedly isn't on the table. The Dodgers are also very much in the mix, and the Angels are reportedly offering Casey Kotchman and either Terry Evans or Nathan Haynes for Teixeira. The Rangers would almost certainly want a better second player from the Angels. They're dreaming about getting local product Clayton Kershaw from the Dodgers, but that's a long shot. James Loney likely would go the other way in any deal with the Dodgers.

god if Ned did that I think he'd have to be fired on spot.

Josh please tell Ned not to trade Loney. ha

I think Tex is going to be a brave. Seems as though they are agreed to Salty now its just the last prospect or two to be agreed on.

And what's crazy, the one time we give him runs, he gives up nine to the Mets.

yeah lets trade loney he totally ***** guys! better to keep people who cant even make contact with the ball.

Carlos lee stole a base?

LOL at them wanting Kershaw too.

When Biggio hit a 390 foot out in the third, you knew Lowe was having issues...

But...he got out of the jam

I didn't think we'd get out of that inning. Some hitters look very positive in those situations. They look superior to the pitcher. I thought they found something on LOWE.

I'd like to point out to everybody that since Saenz's walk-off HR on June 8th in 17 PH at bats, Saenz has two hits...singles

hit the gd ball 440 feet and its an out

we are going to get shutout

good night

KEMP put up a good fight in that at bat.

and marlon anderson had more hits than that in just the series against us playing for the mets...smart smart move that was.

Yeah, it's that kind of night...it's a 9-3 ground out

who was that in RF? Mondesi?

LOWE brougt back memories on that play. Put out 9-3. But at least he hit it where they ain't.

kent thinks lowe hustled there

I've said it once and I'll say it again, none of the guys we are all worried about are getting traded.

You know, the jokers at the Dallas Morning News have been hawking this trade Tex for Loney (plus others) for weeks. It's ridiculous. Frankly, it makes very little sense to trade for Tex at all, given his high contract, good (but not great) production, and jerk of an agent.

Even trading Loney for Tex straight up makes little sense. You have two first basemen who are producing about equally and both have good gloves. I'll give Tex the edge over Loney for now because he has the experience, but I really think that Loney will be the better player long-term (plus, most players stats go down when they come to the Dodgers--hitting NL pitching and playing in Dodger Stadium has that affect). But even giving the edge, you trade a $385K salary for a $9 Million salary. In other words, the Dodgers get the privilege of paying an extra $8 Million a year for a very slight uptick in production this year. Throwing in Ethier and Kershaw is pathological.

I just read the story, and it says that "The Dodgers would likely have to part with first baseman James Loney, an outfielder such as Andre Ethier and a minor league pitcher to pull of such a deal."

If you look at the story, they tip off the source--Jon Daniels. They say that Daniles won't talk, but what they mean is on the record. They then talk about an unnamed source. It's clearly a Rangers source, because I doubt these clowns are calling up three or four different teams. I can only assume these guys are only talking to Jon Daniels, who is talking about the absurd deals that he wants, not anything that is realistic.

Anyway, worry about winning this game, because the Texiera deal is not being made.

These jokers also keep acting like Texiera is the key for any team to get into the World Series. That's certainly been the key for the Rangers lo these many years.

(BTW--I don't think that the deals those jokers mention make much sense for the Braves either. The Braves are desperate to get Saltalamacchia into the line-up, and why give up TWO pitches, the hottest commodity in baseball right now.

oh jesus... another SP down.

Hey, now we actually have something to talk about, we may have just lost Derek Lowe

wow... who needs peter gammons or ken rosenthal when we got leekfink reading between the lines for us.

Can't blame LOWE for being upset. Looks like we're having the same trouble the Yankees had at the start of the season. SAITO will not be ready tonight, I just heard. DJ is putting in a lot of work.

FIRE CONTE!!!

Stan Conte... another of Ned's buddies' from SF. What does this guy get paid for? He couldn't even keep a player he's worked with for the last few years(Schmidt) healthy. We were supposed to have a surplus of pitching this year... man oh man.

so how much longer before we resurrect lima's career?

wow DA17 if you believe even 10% of what is written just because someone with a job of reporting wrote it without questioning the feasibilty or source then you are truly running on blind faith.

Alright, nice job by Houlton, (comic relief moment) now we'll be able to score because Lowe is out of the game. So bad...I apologize, seriously he NEEDS to be ok.

They must remember(I'm sure they didn't forget) this is still a one run game. We are not out of it yet.

why do u call me DA17? ...anyway... i did say it was a rumor. Are you suggesting that a newspaper is a bad source for news?

uummm yeah.....

the terrible twosome atop the batting order are, may i say, terrible tonight.

haha... ok. where should i go for my baseball news then? you?

To alex re: Saenz- To be fair he has 2 sac fly RBIs and a BB as well

To jspelk: I highly praised one of your posts recently, but this one is unfair.Saenz is RH as you know, anderson is LH as you also know they don't compete for a roster spot. Did you know on June 29 that Saenz should be let go when Tsao was coming off the DL? I doubt it. He's having a bad year but with his track record June 29 was too early to DFA him. The Dodgers did not want to lose Anderson but someone had to come off the roster.

Try using your head for once and concider the source and that people don't get paid to say there is no news today...

Funny the score is 1-0, yet it feels like 10-0, Like somebody's grandmother could come in to pitch for the Astro's and still do a good job.

WE NEED A SPARK! Great play by Furcal!

Let just say we lost and the rest of the game is gravy. Anything will be a suprise. Things can ONLY get better.

I'll go out on the limb and suggest that we should bat Loney 3rd in the lineup. Whatever happened to the idea that Pierre would lead off against right-handers. It might be worth a try.

two excellent ideas message bear

mike- i realize it wasn't as simpley as seanz or marlon but seanz has cleary been in the decline for a while, and it of little value because he can't field well and only really hits LHP. Such is not the case with marlon, who can field adequately. i realize it wasn't that simply but its frustrating that we lost a valuable part and kept some deadweight.

Coming up::KENT,GONZ& BETEMIT have 35hrs among them.

Nice Job DJ!

I was very skeptical to say the least when he was called up but I must say he is definatly alot better then that 2005 year and might just be that #4-5 starter that we have been looking for.If wolf rebounds and lowe goes down maybe Meloan up to get Lowe back in time for the playoffs.

GONE! SPARK AND GRAVY TIME!!!!

KENT! WOW

K___E+++N###T ###15

NOW WE GOT THE KIDS.

Hits are tuff to come by. But it's a brand new game. Just hope LOWE is ok. KENT is still "ole reliable".

Try using your head for once and concider the source and that people don't get paid to say there is no news today...

Posted by: fisher928@yahoo.com | July 25, 2007 06:45 PM

Fisher... Are you suggesting that people just make up news? The rumor seemed logical, but unlikely. I said this on my first post. Tex is probably gonna be traded, LADs have interest, why does the possibility of a tex trade not make even a little sense to you? I'm not saying you should like or agree with it, but it's a logical non-made-up possibility.

jspelk- I agree with everything you said but you are too hard on Saenz it's just a long bad stretch.