Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Drew, RF

Saenz, 1B

Ethier, LF

Martin, C

Aybar, 2B

Izzy, 3B

Penny, P

As I was driving to the stadium this morning, having read everyone’s thoughts on the trade, here’s how I look at yesterday’s deal. At the end of the day, we got Elmer Dessens for Odalis Perez and we got three million dollars for Blake Johnson and Julio Pimentel. How that $3 million gets spent remains to be seen, but if the options were to release Odalis and eat the contract with nothing in return or do what we did, in my opinion, we made a pretty good trade.

And finally, after debating his "white flag theory" with Plaschke’s last night before reading this morning’s column, here’s what I don’t understand. He readily admits that he’s "not talking about trading the Russell-Martin-Andre-Ethier-Jonathan-Broxton-Matt-Kemp kind of kids." The problem is, those are the names that people are asking for when it comes to getting an impact player. If Ned, Kim, Roy and the group could get Carlos Lee or Alfonso Soriano or Dontrelle Willis or Barry Zito or pick-your-impact-player in exchange for lower-level prospects or Triple-A guys that aren’t valued as highly as these guys, something tells me we’d see those big names in Dodger blue tomorrow morning.

The key quote from Ned yesterday that most every story had with the exception of this article which suggests that we’re giving up is this one: "It really is a matter of who is available, and the difference-making players available are very, very few. Because of that, the requests coming back are for multiple (major-league) players. I’m not yet to the point of sacrificing two or three really good players for what probably would be a two-month rental."

Maybe I’m crazy, but I think most Dodger fans agree with that belief. None of us want to wait until next year. No one wants to see this team lose the way it has. We are well aware that in Los Angeles, you don’t get rebuilding years and we truly value the fact that you all spend your hard-earned money and time on tickets to come see this team play.

But it seems to me in this instance that Bill had the premise for his article and heard what he wanted to hear on Ned’s conference call. Please don’t get me wrong — I’m not looking to bash Plaschke. I actually respect him immensely, his years of covering the game and his right to voice his opinion. He’s truly one of the best writers in the country. But to leave out one of the main things Ned said because it contradicted his opinion doesn’t make sense to me. If we can get a quality starting pitcher for a bag of balls, trust me, Ned will pull the trigger.

More than anything this morning, I agree with Grady’s postgame comments from last night.

"It’s a real easy time and situation for guys to start pointing fingers. But it’s also a great time for each and every one of them to take a look in the mirror and ask if they’re doing everything they can."

That goes for all of us…

Incidentally, be sure to tune in tonight to KFWB News 980 at 7:00 p.m. to listen to the roundtable discussion that will include Frank McCourt, Ned and Grady.

A little lineup shakeup following the morning trade:

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Ethier, LF

Saenz, 1B (I’ll know more about Nomar’s knee when I get downstairs)

Ledee, RF

Hall, C

Izzy, 3B

Martinez, 2B

Hendrickson, P

We’ll see if this one helps get us back on track…

There will be more on this to come, but I wanted to break the news here that we’ve re-acquired Elmer Dessens in exchange for Odalis Perez, Single-A right-handers Blake Johnson and Julio Pimentel and cash considerations.

Given that I read all your comments each day, I’m assuming most of you will like this deal, but until I get the chance to write again, feel free to debate the pros and cons here. After all, that’s what this blog is all about anyway, right?

Furcal, SS

Drew, RF (Back in the 2 hole)

Nomar, 1B

Ethier, LF

Martin, C

Aybar, 2B

Repko, CF (Welcome back!)

Izzy, 3B

Lowe, P

My apologies for not getting to this until this morning, but when trades happen, our department gets a little crazed, as you can imagine. There are all sorts of things that take place to make sure the announcement goes smoothly.

Before I give a brief description of those events, I want to say that Sandy’s professional attitude will certainly be missed around here, as will the fact that he was very clutch with the bat this year and was a great mentor to Dioner, Russell and the rest of the team. However, everyone knows the kind of spark a player like Jason Repko can provide and right now, it’s pretty clear that this team could use that. Fortunately for Sandy, he gets to go to his hometown and another team in contention, and he took this all in stride.

In terms of our department’s role when a trade happens, it’s multi-faceted. When I learned of the trade being completed in the middle of yesterday’s game, our first job was to do a little research on B.J. LaMura so that we could put together a press release. However, I had to do this in the press box without letting anyone around me know what was happening, as the most important thing is that Sandy hears about the trade directly from Ned and Grady and not through the media.

Whenever a trade is made, we also coordinate our efforts with the other team, so I spoke with the White Sox to make sure that we both made the announcement at the same time.  We would hate for media in another city to find out about our trade before we tell our own local media, so we agreed that we’d make the announcement at 4:15.

As soon as I knew that Sandy had gone into Grady’s office to speak with him and Ned, I let our broadcasters know what was going on so that they could get it out to you guys if they were still on the air. KFWB was, and I think they got it out there at the start of DodgerTalk. One thing we always keep in mind is that the family and friends of our players are always watching or listening to our broadcast, so we have to make sure that nothing is said over the air before the player knows about the trade, otherwise his cell phone will start going off before he hears about it from his manager.

Once Sandy left Grady’s office and began saying goodbye to his teammates and those of us staff members who were in the clubhouse, I announced the trade to the media, let them in the clubhouse to talk to Grady and Ned about it, and then coordinated with Sandy so that he could get a chance to talk to the media, too. As expected, he was extremely gracious.

As soon as I left the clubhouse, we sent the press release out widespread so that all national and local media outlets that were not on site were aware of the move. We also tried our best to help the media learn as much as it could about B.J. LaMura while also making sure they all realized that the main goal in trading Sandy was to open up a spot for Jason Repko. With about 75-100 media members on site, it’s important to make sure everyone understands the rationale behind any move, especially a trade such as this one.

I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting that our department does during events like this, but hopefully it gives a little glimpse into what goes on in a PR Department when a trade is made.

Now let’s hope that Jason can provide that spark we’re looking for and help us get back on track, as this has certainly been a tough week for everyone that cares about the Dodgers like we do.

Furcal, SS

Izzy, 3B

Nomar, 1B

Drew, RF

Martin, C

Ethier, LF

Cruz, CF

Martinez, 2B

Billingsley, P

Here’s the slump-busting lineup for today. Trying a little something new again.

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Nomar, 1B

Ethier, LF

Martin, C (first time above the eighth spot)

Aybar, 2B

Izzy, 3B

Cruz, RF

Sele, P

Hopefully Sele will help get us out of this funk. He seems to have found a home at Dodger Stadium, as his 2.30 career ERA here (16 ER/62.2 IP) is the sixth-lowest in the Majors since he broke into the bigs in 1993 behind Adam Eaton (1.43), Scott Radinsky (1.79), Paul Quantrill (1.92), Curt Schilling (1.94) and Randy Johnson (2.21) among pitchers with at least 60 innings.

His success at home should not come as a surprise, as his lifetime home record is 82-51 with a 4.20 ERA compared to 61-56 with a 4.98 ERA on the road.

For those who mistake staying positive to having our collective heads in the sand or Ned not trying to improve the team or Frank McCourt being "non-chalant about the team’s performance," please know this: Everyone here realizes that losing seven of eight games won’t get it done.

But when you’re playing a 162-game schedule, getting down on yourself whenever you go through a slump doesn’t really accomplish much…at least in my opinion and just about everyone I know who works in baseball. The key is to stay even-keeled, even when you are winning or when you know that you have to improve. The silver-lining is simply that we haven’t lost a ton of ground, which keeps us in the hunt for the division title. That doesn’t mean it’s not a missed opportunity, which it most certainly is.

That said, here’s today’s lineup:

Furcal, SS

Lofton, CF

Drew, RF (back to the No. 3 spot today)

Nomar, 1B

Ethier, LF

Aybar, 2B

Izzy, 3B (Welcome back and congrats on the new daughter)

Martin, C

Penny, P

Yeah, I know. It’s not easy during times like this. Losing seven out of eight is never easy, but it’s going to happen to almost every team at some point during the year. That’s not to say people around here aren’t bummed right now and searching for solutions, but at least they’re trying to keep it humorous.

Take for instance, my return to the office this morning. Taped to my office door was a sign that said, "We come back, Josh."  I was told I already had all the Ls, so there were none left for the sign.

Not to be outdone, I also received a letter from "Paul Tagliabue" that read:

Dear Josh,

Have you ever considered the National Football League? One win per week and you’ll have a Super Bowl ring!!

OK, so these made me chuckle and the culprit, Mark Langill, certainly knows how to keep things light. At the end of the day, our office is just like any of yours. What makes it special are the people we work with, both upstairs and downstairs.

So keep your heads up. I refuse to say "it’s early" but it’s definitely not too late for a turnaround. There’s still two months left and as bad as the trip went, if you go 1-7 and only lose one game in the standings, there’s reason to remain positive.

Let’s see if we can put a positive end on this tough road trip.

To spark things a little, Grady has moved J.D. Drew to the No. 2 hole. Ethier is cleanup and Russell Martin is back in the lineup. He’s also on the cover of the new Baseball America. Here’s the lineup.

Furcal, SS

Drew, RF

Nomar, 1B

Ethier, LF

Aybar, 3B

Cruz, CF

Martinez, 2B

Martin, C

Hendrickson, P