The latest…

beimel.jpgProps go to Joe Beimel, whose fivesome took home first place at yesterday’s Dodgers Dream Foundation Charity Golf Invitational with a score of -17 under. As for the media groups, we did okay but were hardly contenders. A fivesome of myself and Mark Rogoff from our office was joined by Yahoo’s Tim Brown, KABC’s Josh Suchon and LA Times.com blogger Brian Kamenetzky and finished 10 under par. Joe Jareck from our office led a group with FSN’s Michael Eaves and Lya Vallat, KFWB’s Bill Seward and our TV stage director (Vin’s right-hand mand) Boyd Robertson and they were five under par.

But more importantly, we raised six figures again for the foundation, which is what really matters.

Some good chatter yesterday regarding Blake DeWitt’s year-end projections and not surprisingly, there were three “off-day” stories on him, as his hometown Cardinals are here for three games. Tony Jackson’s Daily News piece, Diamond Leung’s article in the Press Enterprise, and Dylan Hernandez’s feature in the L.A. Times. They’re all good reading about a very humble and talented third baseman.

As for today, Raffy is not yet ready to come off the DL, so no moves will be made today. And nothing new yet on the Kershaw front, though speculation is certainly running rampant.

Here’s the lineup:

Pierre, LF

Ethier, RF

Martin, C

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B

Kemp, CF

DeWitt, 3B

Hu, SS

Lowe, P

Sweeping feeling

Now that was a pretty solid series all around…I’m sure there are naysayers who will point out that the Reds’ record is four games under .500, but it’s important to remember that they were the hottest team in baseball when they arrived, winners of six in a row.

In any event, I also wanted to make sure that all of you knew about this weekend’s luncheon where you can meet and get autographs from the Dodgers’ stars of the 1960s. You can purchase online, if you’re interested, but for more information, visit this page.

And finally, as we head out tomorrow for the Dodgers Dream Foundation Golf tournament, I’ll leave you all to ponder this thought, which I’ve been wondering the last 24 hours or so.

Given how well Blake DeWitt is playing (.325, 4 HR, 23 RBI), he’s on pace for 14 homers and 81 RBI, not to mention the fact that he’s yet to make an out with the bases loaded (6-for-6). The question is, what is your reasonable expectation of him for the season, given all that you know. Is it fair to think he’s going to hit .325 all year? If not, what is fair for a guy who has never played over Double-A and wasn’t even on the 40-man entering Spring Training. And do you think he’s going to hit more than 14 homers and drive in more than 80 runs, or is it more likely in your mind that he’ll experience some growing pains this season?

Just some food for thought on an off day…no right answers and I certainly hope he can keep up the incredible offense and defensive contributions. Curious to see what you all think.

Team Travel

As many of you have been reading, one of the regular contributors to this blog is Scott Akasaki, our manager of team travel. Some of you know about him, but now the whole world does, as he was featured in recent article of Forbes magazine.

His latest post is below…

For a couple of years, our team would not stay at The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee because of rumored ghost visitations to our players’ rooms.  I recall hearing a story about a former third baseman on our team who left the hotel in the middle of the night because he woke up after all the lights in his room were turned on.  Problem was he distinctly remembers turning all the lights off before falling asleep.

On our most recent trip to Milwaukee, we checked in to The Pfister Hotel once again simply because hotel is probably the best hotel in Milwaukee.  At the end of our brief stay there, I did not hear of any visitations from the supernatural but there might have been a few player pranks in the works.  One player who did not make the trip told me yesterday that if we stayed there again next year, he already wants a room in a different hotel.

There are actually enough ghost stories in baseball that there is a book titled “Haunted Baseball” and a website that shares the same name.  Some of our players have stories themselves from their minor league days to urban legends that they have heard over the years.

UPDATE

Today’s lineup is the same as yesterday’s, but since I never got around to posting that one, here it is…

Pierre, LF

Ethier, RF

Martin, C

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B

Kemp, CF

DeWitt, 3B

Hu, SS

Kuroda, P

Catchers…coming and going

As you might have heard by now, Mike Piazza officially announced his retirement today and all of us at the Dodgers wish him the best of luck. There’s never been a better offensive catcher in the history of the game – you can make an argument that a few might have been as good, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one better. The fact that he was a 62nd-rounder for the Dodgers tells you a lot about the player development system and his desire to reach the Major Leagues. He clearly became one of the fan favorites during his time in Los Angeles, which came to an end 10 years ago last Friday. His rightful place in Cooperstown awaits him in 2013 and we all wish nothing but the best for him and his family.

As for catchers coming and going, Gary Bennett is headed to the disabled list today and Danny Ardoin’s contract has been purchased from Las Vegas, sending Jason Schmidt to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Ardoin on the 40-man roster.

No medical update that I’m aware of on Andruw Jones’ right knee as of right now, but you can tune in after tonight’s game to see FSN’s Before the Bigs on him, as they traveled to Curacao during the winter and spoke to everyone who knew him before he became a teenage World Series hero. The series they’ve done includes Russell Martin, Bill Mueller, Brad Penny, Randy Wolf and several others, and it shows the “other” side of these guys that we see in uniform night after night.

Lineup to be posted as an update later this afternoon…

Dusty, Sutton, Lefebvre…it's like a reunion at the yard

All sorts of former Dodgers here, between the Reds’ manager Dusty Baker, Nationals broadcaster Don Sutton (who is here promoting awareness for his cancer foundation), Jim Lefebvre (who is here with the Chinese National Baseball Team)…throw in Ron Cey, who walked by my office a few minutes ago and it’s quite an impressive lot. I think it’s something we take for granted, sometimes, just how many former players are involved in the organization in one way or another, so it’s cool to see so many here at one time.

In fact, there will be a lot more this weekend as we celebrate the 60s, with a luncheon at the stadium that fans can purchase tickets to (email fanfeeback@ladodgers.com for info), the photo day on Sunday which will inclue 60s guys and even a 60s themed fireworks show on Friday…break out the tie-dye shirts and come on down to the yard.

Meanwhile, Andruw Jones is out of the lineup with a “crank right knee” as Joe Torre put it, though he said he could play if he had to. Furcal is eligible to come off on Wednesday but Joe thinks it’s more likely to be on Friday.  Here’s the group taking the field tonight against the Reds…

Pierre, LF

Ethier, RF

Martin, C

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B

Kemp, CF

DeWitt, 3B

Hu, SS

Penny, P

Rubber game

I figured after posting back-to-back lineups that got changed minutes after I put them up, there was no point in posting yesterdays. It seems to have worked, as the lineup stayed the same and the team came through with a nice win.

It’s pretty amazing that there are nine different nationalities on the team and yesterday was the first time in baseball history that a Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese pitcher appeared in the same game. The globalization of baseball is really something that’s hard to fathom.

No lineup to post yet, but in case I don’t get to it later, don’t forget to tune into the Sunday night show on KABC 790 from 7-10 p.m. tonight. Wes Parker is the 60s guest of the week, as we gear up for next weekend’s 60s celebration at Dodger Stadium. I wasn’t around then, but for those of you who were fans in the 60s, what’s your favorite memory of that decade?

Tonight's lineup

Down in Anaheim, here’s what’s doing…DeWitt with another day off so Russ returns to the hot corner again.

Pierre, DH

Jones, CF

Kemp, RF

Kent, 2B

Martin, 3B

Loney, 1B

Ethier, LF

Maza, SS

Bennett, C

Kuroda, P

Day game…brat, anyone?

The worst part about missing the Milwaukee trip (other than not seeing last night’s come-from-behind clutch victory), is that they have some of the best press box food in the game, including bratwurst that can only be enjoyed in Wisconsin.  So in honor of it, last night I watched the game on TV while BBQing burgers and dogs. Not quite the same.

Luis Maza gets his first big league start today. Kemp gets the day off…should be back in there tomorrow, as Torre said he thinks Pierre or Sweeney will DH in Anaheim. Here’s the lineup against Ben Sheets:

Pierre, LF

Jones, CF

Ethier, RF

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

DeWitt, 3B

Maza, SS

Billingsley, P

Blue Crew vs. Brew Crew

Read a very interesting article today on Andruw Jones, lest anyone believe that his horrible start to the season isn’t bothering him. I know that a lot of people would like for him to snap and run renegade on a Powerade container a la Carlos Perez, but I think we all know that it probably won’t help him raise his batting average.

I’m as bummed about it as any fan out there and I’m guessing the only person who feels worse is Andruw himself.

In any event, he’s out of the lineup for tonight and here’s who is in it…

Pierre, LF

Ethier, RF

Kemp, CF

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

DeWitt, 3B

Hu, SS

Penny, P