A heads up to all that Rafael Furcal did not make the trip to Milwaukee and instead, saw spine specialist Dr. Robert Watkins. He had an MRI which showed no change from last September – in fact, it looked better. However, he will get a cortisone shot tomorrow and will start rehab here in Los Angeles on Wednesday with our physical therapist, Sue Falsone.

Assuming Raffy is put on the DL tomorrow, we’ll have a corresponding move at that time.

On a lighter note, check out these hilarious spots from Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier for Easton. I guess this might have made the rounds already, but I hadn’t seen it until today.

As the team heads to Milwaukee for three games, I’ll be staying in Los Angeles preparing for the upcoming homestand, as well as a number of other events on the calendar.

For those of you Hollywood fans, we had quite a few celebs show up this weekend, including Matthew McConaughey and Pamela Anderson and Kristi Yamaguchi, among others. If you’re into that sort of thing, be sure to mark your calendar for Hollywood Stars, which is June 21 this year, and will actually be after the day game instead of before a night game this year. It’s always a pretty cool event and we’re looking to add a few twists to it this year.

The day before that (June 20), we’ll be getting our Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the morning, which is open to the public and definitely worth seeing if you’ve never witnessed one of those ceremonies. Yeah, I know that if you live in LA, you usually only venture to the Walk of Fame when you’re with tourists, but having seen two of the ceremonies for Jim Hill and the late Stu Nahan, it’s a cool thing to check off on life’s “to do” list.

And finally, I know there was some chatter in yesterday’s comments about Joe Torre’s pregame statements on Andre Ethier. For what it’s worth, I actually think he was talking about Andruw Jones when he said what he said. I was there when the discussion took place and it was a little confusing at the time…I think the reporter said “Andre” but Joe heard “Andruw” and it resulted in the statement that Andre was searching for his swing. In any event, I don’t think it was malicious intent by the reporter(s) who wrote it…just something that happens over the course of a 162-game season, which includes 324 media sessions with Joe.

To all the moms out there, here’s to you. May you raise great Dodger fans and enjoy the day.

We’ve got a couple great moms being honored here at the stadium today – Nancy Colton, our longtime season ticket holder and Desiree Sanchez, who has worked in our ticket office for several years. Both are currently battling breast cancer and are an inspiration to us all. They’ll throw out the first pitch on behalf of all the women in the world who are fighting this heartbreaking disease and all the healthy women out there who can learn a lesson from their courageous stories.

Of course, there’s something all you Dodger fans can do to help and that’s assist in the search for a cure. Of course, there’s ThinkCure, among numerous fantastic charities, but in this case, you can help raise money AND see two legends in one night. Vin Scully and John Wooden will take part in an event at the Nokia theatre on June 13 and proceeds from the event go to ThinkCure and Mattel Children’s Hospital. You can purchase tickets at this link and get a once-in-a-lifetime experience while helping so many others along the way.

And if you’re looking for something to do for Mom, bring her down to the stadium, where she can get a rose handed to her by a Dodger player or coach and a free Smashbox lip gloss for the first 25,000 in the house. Even better, you can walk around the warning track on the field with your mom after the game, something neither of you will likely forget for a long time.

Most of our players will be swinging pink bats and helping raise awareness and money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which also helps in finding a cure for breast cancer.

Here’s the lineup for the day…

Pierre, LF

Ethier, RF

Kemp, CF

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

DeWitt, 3B

Young, 2B

Hu, SS

Kuroda, P

 

Another night off for Raffy, whose back is still bugging him when he runs. Saito also went home again, as he’s still pretty sick. That leaves the lineup at:

Pierre, LF

DeWitt, 3B

Kemp, RF

Kent, 2B

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

Jones, CF

Hu, SS

Billingsley, P

Joe would like to give Kent tomorrow off, if he can. Perhaps he can watch Jason Schmidt thrown an inning in Lancaster.

The Astros are in town and the stadium will be nearly filled with 50,000-plus beanie-wearing fans.

This morning, I had the opportunity to go to City Hall with Takashi Saito, who earned an award from Mayor Villaraigosa for his contributions to Los Angeles. It really does make you shake your head in disbelief at all that he’s accomplished over the past two seasons and it couldn’t happen to a nicer human being. Unfortunately the language barrier has hindered our ability to get to know Saito the way we might get to know other players, but he always seems to have a smile on his face.

The event today also got me thinking how strange it must be to come from another country and yet, find yourself standing in front of the Mayor and City Council, receiving an award. Most of what was being said, Saito didn’t understand, but his interpreter, Kenji, was trying to fill in the blanks for him.

In any event, it was a classy morning for a classy person and we’re all proud that he’s a Dodger.

As for tonight’s game, Furcal needs another day, according to Joe Torre. Brazoban was recalled and is available for the game. It seems he’s lost about seven to 10 pounds in the minors.

The team is leaning toward having Jason Schmidt throw an inning on Sunday in Lancaster for the Inland Empire 66ers.

Here’s the team going out for tonight’s game:

Pierre, LF

Martin, C

Kemp, RF

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B

Jones, CF

DeWitt, 3B

Hu, SS

Lowe, P

As bad as yesterday was for Brad Penny on the mound, it didn’t stop him from spending quality time in the community today, as promised, during his second annual fishing trip.

We left from Long Beach at noon with about 40 kids, many of whom have never had the chance to go fishing before, let alone meet a big leaguer. This was an idea Brad came up with last year and he’s teamed with Dan Hernandez Youth Foundation and the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation to make it happen.

The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves and there should be a recap and photos on the front of the site shortly.

Of course, we all would have loved for him to throw a no-hitter before heading out on the boat, but such is life. Even a two-time All-Star has a bad day from time to time, but in this case, he followed it up with an even better one.

We’ll know our transaction tomorrow to correspond with Loaiza going on the DL. Until then…

 

Hope you snuck out of the office for today’s game…Furcal still out with a stiff back, but hopefully tomorrow’s off day will do some good. The same goes for Andruw, who will hopefully get to clear his head and start from scratch on Friday.

Pierre, LF

Ethier, RF

Kemp, CF

Kent, 2B

Loney, 1B (happy 24th birthday)

Martin, C

DeWitt, 3B

Hu, SS

Penny, P

Furcal was a late scratch from the lineup with a stiff back, so here’s the group going out tonight against the Mets:

Pierre, LF

Jones, CF

Kemp, RF

Kent, 2B

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

DeWitt, 3B

Hu, SS

Kuroda, P

And for those of you thinking about it, go ahead and take tomorrow off from work or school. You have my permission. There’s a 12:10 game at Dodger Stadium, so if your boss thinks you need to be in the office, just let him or her know that you have a blackberry (you do, don’t you?) and that you’ll be “working from home” tomorrow.

Another busy day getting back into the swing of things here. There will be a nice tribute to Buzzie Bavasi at tonight’s game and here’s the lineup against the Mets:

Furcal, SS

Pierre, LF

Kemp, RF

Kent, 2B

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

Jones, CF

DeWitt, 3B

Billingsley, P

 

 

 

Just getting around to starting to answer some of the comments from the past 10 days or so…I noticed one about the new X-mo camera that FSN has installed at the stadium, so here’s what our partners over there had to say:

X-MO CAMERA:

The X-mo camera slows game action down to 2,000 frames per second (at 1080i/p and 720p formats) and is considered a “high-speed” HD camera. Producers can utilize this technology to enhance a great catch, decipher a close call at the plate, detect the impact of the ball on the bat, etc.  The X-mo may be used for replay and/or live game camera purposes.
The camera is located field level behind home plate.

HD DIAMOND CAMS:
 
Located only at Dodger Stadium, three separate “diamond cameras” are installed at home plate, first base and in front of the pitchers mound. These miniature cameras provide viewers at home with a never-before seen angles to the action (ie. making a slide at home plate, deciphering a close call at on the bag or detecting pitcher’s release). Housed inside a protective box – for weather related purposes – the camera itself emerges 3/8″ above the infield dirt and comes with a modified wide-angle lens. The camera itself uses Dodger Stadium’s existing fiber infrastructure and is controlled remotely from inside the production truck. The HD diamond cam versions were implemented in 2008.

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Here’s today’s lineup in Colorado as the team looks for a full road-trip sweep…

Furcal, SS

Pierre, LF

Kemp, CF

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

Ethier, RF

DeWitt, 3B

Hu, 2B

Lowe, P