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

I thought I would take this time to review our moves at the trade deadline and give you a little insight as to how trades actually evolve. The two trades that the club made last Monday offered a contrast — one was made after much discussion over a number of weeks and one was made in the matter of an hour.

The Greg Maddux trade came together after many weeks of discussion between Ned and Jim Hendry, the Cub GM. Earlier in the year, Ned told Hendry that we would be interested if the Cubs decided to trade Maddux. In the ensuing weeks, the talks became more serious with actual proposals being exchanged. However, it wasn’t until about 40 minutes before the deadline that we offered Cesar Izturis. Hendry accepted our offer and after hashing out some money issues, the deal was made.

In the case of Julio Lugo, this trade was literally made in the last hour. Knowing that Andrew Friedman was having discussions about Lugo with other clubs and also that Izturis would possibly be involved in the Maddux trade, Ned called Tampa Bay and said that the Dodgers were interested and asked what the Devil Rays’ price was. The Rays asked for Joel Guzman, which was not an easy player for us to part with, especially for a player who was two months away from possible free agency like Lugo. However, after considering the depth of our system and questions as to where Guzman’s position would ultimately be, we decided go make the deal after including Sergio Pedroza.

The way these deals went down is two perfect examples of how trades get done. I would say that the Maddux trade is the most common scenario. Often a trade will start out as a general conversation months in advance of when the deal is actually consummated. The conversation may start with Ned or it may start with Kim or I making an inquiry with our counterparts on another club which gets the flow of ideas going. Many times the trade will have taken on many permutations before the actual deal gets made. The reason why there is a flurry of activity at the deadline is usually because the clubs want to exhaust all possibilities before making the final call, hoping that someone blinks and gives up what was previously unattainable.         

Want to find out more from Roy? Be sure to take part in the live web chat tomorrow (Tuesday) at 2 p.m. at dodgers.com

First off, here’s today’s lineup:

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Drew, RF

Kent, 1B

Ethier, LF

Betemit, 3B

Lugo, 2B

Martin, C

Penny, P

And, with a weekend to think about it, I’m starting to wonder why the NL West continues to take such a bad rapp. Sure, there isn’t a dominant team like there is in the NL East or Central, but to me, there just seems to be a ton of parity in the National League outside of the Mets.

Maybe it’s the East Coast bias that’s so evident in media coverage outside of California, but so many people like to rip on this division and say that it’s filled with a bunch of mediocre teams. Why is it, then, that the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Rockies are second, third and fourth, respectively in the Wild Card race? As it stands right now, it would be hard to argue with anyone that the American League has been superior to the National League, but within the NL, there doesn’t seem to be much difference to me.

Take, for instance, this nugget from STATS Inc.

Best Run Differential – 2006 National League

             Run Diff    Record
Mets       +94          66-44
Dodgers  +45          56-55
Rockies   +19          54-56

Entering play today, the NL East had just 270 total wins, compared to 277 for the West and 311 for the Central. Sure, the East teams have to play the Mets more regularly than the other divisions, but we’re not yet in the final six weeks when there’s so much intradivisional play.

At the end of the day, I guess this doesn’t really mean much, but I’m curious to see if everyone else thinks the NL West is as bad as others think it is or if there’s just a lot of evenly matched teams.

Going for an even 10 in a row…

I didn’t have much to add this weekend, being here in L.A. while Joe Jareck was on the road with the team. Of course, while waiting for the plane to take off, Jaime Jarrin called to lobby for Joe to do the traveling on the next trip, too. It seems they’ve taken this superstition to the utmost levels, which is not surprising.

Sorry I didn’t post any lineups, but it seems the chatter was still pretty strong among you all. The weekends seem quieter anyway on Inside the Dodgers. I’m guessing most of you like to check in on this while you’re at work. Just don’t tell your bosses I condone that sort of behavior.

To answer one of the questions about Ryan Ketchner and Derek Thompson, both are recovering from left-elbow surgeries, but Ryan’s is doing much better. He’s back and pitching again with Vero Beach and earned a win the other day, I believe. Derek has not been throwing yet, though, and is still quite a ways away from what I understand. Hopefully there will be more to update down the road and I promise to post more regularly now that the team is back in town.

Let’s just hope that I don’t jinx the winning streak by doing something differently.

By the way, I wonder if Wilson Betemit thought it would be this easy in the NL West. Since he showed up, we’re 9-0.

Here’s today’s lineup:

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Lugo, 2B

Drew, RF (.383 lifetime at Dolphin Stadium, fifth-highest among active players)

Ethier, LF (time for people in Florida to see the guy that will beat their guys out for Rookie of the Year)

Betemit, 3B

Martin, C (hitting .364 in close & late situations)

Loney, 1B

Lowe, P (August is his month – 19-8, 3.25 career marks)

For those who don’t know Dave Smith, he started Retrosheet and found these interesting nuggets:

Last night was the team’s 84th different lineup and the most frequent one has only been used four times. We’ve only had the same one on back-to-back nights five times. Amazing.

Also, from SABR’s Rod Nelson and Ted Turocy, last night’s Saenz to Betemit to Maddux 3-5-1 double play is only the sixth since 1957, according to Retrosheet, to include the third baseman as the pivot man. So just think, if you were bummed that you didn’t get to see a no-hitter last night, you actually got to see something a lot more rare!

So Greg Maddux leaves a rain-delayed game with a no-hitter after six innings and relief pitcher Joe Beimel allows a leadoff single to right field by Scott Hatteberg.

The only game I can recall having similar circumstances was at Dodger Stadium on May 1, 1988. Cardinals’ left-hander John Tudor, coming off the disabled list, left the game after six hitless innings. Reliever Scott Terry allowed a leadoff single to right field by Kirk Gibson in the seventh inning. It was the only hit of the game as Terry pitched the final three innings of a 9-0 victory.

After the game, Tudor was asked about leaving the game in the middle of a no-hitter. The veteran said he was on a strict pitch count and trying to stick around for a no-hitter never entered his mind. Tudor was later traded to the Dodgers that summer in exchange for outfielder Pedro Guerrero.

With Greg Maddux trapped in "no-hit limbo" thanks to the rain in Cincinnati, here are a few notes to ponder while wondering whether the veteran right-hander will get a chance to make history in his Dodger debut:

50 YEARS AGO: The only pitcher to throw a no-hitter in his first season with the Dodgers was right-hander Sal Maglie at age 39 on Sept. 25, 1956 against the St. Louis Cardinals at Ebbets Field. Maglie began that season with the Cleveland Indians and he was acquired via waivers on May 15. Maglie went 13-5 with Brooklyn as the Dodgers won the National League pennant by one game over the Milwaukee Braves. It was the only no-hitter of Maglie’s career.

WITNESS TO HISTORY: When Jerry Reuss pitched his no-hitter on June 27, 1980 at San Francisco, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax was in a Dodger uniform that night. Koufax was a minor league instructor at the time and he joined the players and coaches at the pitcher’s mound when Reuss recorded the final out of the 8-0 victory at Candlestick Park. It was the only no-hitter of Reuss’ career, which spanned from 1969-90. Watching Maddux’s Dodger debut tonight is Reuss, a member of the Dodgers’ radio broadcasting team. Other witnesses with no-hitters to their credit include Dodger right-hander Derek Lowe (with Boston vs.Tampa Bay, 4-27-02) and Reds’ starting pitcher Eric Milton (with Minnesota vs. Anaheim, 9-11-99).

First off, here’s today’s lineup.

Furcal, SS

Lugo, 2B

Drew, RF

Saenz, 1B

Ethier, LF

Betemit, 3B (good to see Dodger Thoughts taking the Pearl Jam reference a step further)

Martin, C

Repko, CF

Maddux, P

I, for one, can’t wait to watch Maddux in a Dodger uniform tonight. It’ll be even more exciting when he throws at Dodger Stadium, which we expect will be on Tuesday, but TV will have to cut it for tonight.

To answer some of the questions out there: Yes, Nomar is with the team in Cincinnati, as is Bill Mueller. Nothing is really new on Mueller’s knee, Gagne’s back or Brazoban’s elbow. We’re hopeful that all three will be ready to go by Spring Training or shortly thereafter, but there’s just no telling. Brazoban’s Tommy John usually takes a year to come back from, so he’s more likely to be ready after the start of the season. Bill Mueller is still trying to find a surgical procedure that will allow him to play on his knee, which still flares up everytime he does anything overly strenuous to it.

Finally, I know there’s been a lot of talk about Repko and what his role will be and while I can’t speak for Grady, I can say that when Jason came back, Grady said he’d use him similar to how he used him at the beginning of the year which was primarily against left-handers. Hence why he’s in the lineup tonight (the fact that Kenny is 1-for-19 against Eric Milton certainly helped, too).

But, given that Kenny is batting .294 overall and has been very steady offensively all year, despite his occasional defensive issues, it would be hard to justify pulling him from the lineup altogether. He’s one of only four guys in baseball with a stolen base percentage at 89 percent or better (joining Ichiro, Jeter and the Reds’ Brandon Philliops) and he’s a veteran leader for a group of young players. I’m one of Jason Repko’s biggest supporters, but I also think that part of why he hit so well before getting hurt was that Grady was putting him out there primarily against lefties (.346 average vs. LHP, .278 vs. righties). Kenny, on the other hand, has been much better against righties with a .308 mark, compared to .224 against southpaws.

Finally, a happy 60th birthday goes out to Dodger third base coach Rich Donnelly. Let’s hope his present is a chance to wave his arm a lot tonight.

The same lineup two days in a row!

Furcal, SS (batting .305 since May first and up to .281 on the year)

Lofton, CF (two steals shy of Maury Wills for 17th place all-time)

Lugo, 2B

Drew, RF

Ethier, LF

Betemit, 3B (can’t find a Betemit…sorry, bad one)

Martin, C

Loney, 1B (first career three-hit game yesterday)

Penny, P

Prior to today’s game, we designated Jose Cruz Jr. for assignment to make room on the roster for Maddux and Lugo. In regards to all the questions about whether or not Kent or Nomar are hurt more seriously than previously thought, the answer is no. While we can’t predict when they will come back, it’s certainly our hope that Nomar will be activated when he’s eligible on 8/9 while Jeff has started swinging a bat lightly and probably isn’t that far off, either. But, as I think most people would agree, during this time of year we can’t afford to wait a week or 10 days or we might fall farther behind the pack. And as Ned said yesterday, there’s no guarantees that someone else won’t get hurt while these guys are getting healthy. We’ve certainly had that kind of bad luck to date.

Anyway, here’s today’s lineup with trade analysis in the post below it:

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Lugo, 2B

Drew, RF

Ethier, LF

Betemit, 3B

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

Sele, P