The following is presented merely as an FYI. I'm looking at the outs chart from Eric Stults' last start, which was noteworthy because he was charged with 17 outs via the air. Here's what I see:

Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise passed along the update.

Without a no-hitter since Hideo Nomo's at Colorado on September 17, 1996 - 11 years and 9 1/2 months ago - the Dodgers are in their longest no-hit drought since they went 11 years and 11 1/2 months between no-hitters by Dazzy Vance (September 13, 1925) and Fred Frankhouse (August 27, 1937).

Vance's no-hitter came 17 years and eight days after Nap Rucker's on September 5, 1908.

Today is the 18th anniversary of Fernando Valenzuela's sombrero-tosser ...

* * *

Season stats:

Chin-Lung Hu: .224 on-base percentage, .206 slugging percentage, 14 OPS+
Angel Berroa: .242 on-base percentage, .211 slugging percentage, 20 OPS+

Today's game could be the tipping point of a very shallow cup.

Hu, by the way, has only 12 plate appearances in Las Vegas since his demotion and hasn't played since June 13.

* * *

Angels at Dodgers, 1:10 p.m.

Since Wednesday:

Opponents ... 000 000 000 011 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 - 2
Dodgers ..... 200 300 00x 000 000 000 100 020 30x 000 010 00x - 12

Look out below, though. Today's opposing starter, John Lackey, has allowed 13 runs in eight starts this year (1.65 ERA).

* * *

Chad Billingsley, age 23, has these career numbers as a starter: 292 innings, 7.98 strikeouts per nine innings, 3.36 ERA.

* * *

"I never make excuses, but the situations I have been in haven't been ideal for pinch-hitting ..."
- Mark Sweeney, as told to Tony Jackson of the Daily News

Struggling hitters say the dardnest things.

Sweeney should not be at the top of any list of reasons the Dodgers have struggled, and you can argue that he's hit in tough luck. In 60 at-bats, he has put the ball in play 41 times, yet gotten only six hits. But yeah, the time has come - whether or not other Dodgers are ready to come off the disabled list. It doesn't matter whether or not you feel that Sweeney has deservedly been a .100 hitter. The question is what you think he will provide going forward, relative to other players. It's time for someone else to have a chance at that roster spot, even if it doesn't make or break the season.

* * *

Best wishes to Dodger pitching coach Ken Howell, who has been hospitalized with a foot infection.

It is rare, my friends, rare that I have plans that prevent me from catching even a single pitch of a Dodger game in person, on radio or on television.

Almost as rare as a Matt Kemp cue shot that spins just inside the baseline and then makes a left turn under Jered Weaver's glove for an error.

Almost as rare as the Dodgers winning a game without a hit.

I'm catching up on the highlights now, but man. I am deflated and elated. What a game. What a memory I won't quite have.

I've seen unofficial and official no-hitters by Fernando Valenzuela, Mark Gardner, a perfect Dennis Martinez and Kent Mercker. But this would have been a nice one for the thumb.

But of course, I'm thrilled the Dodgers were on the right side of this one. They were on the right side, right? Right.

* * *

Update: I wrote this in the comments below, but I'm moving it up here. This stuff about Major League Baseball not calling the game an official no-hitter is just stupid. I understand not giving someone a no-hitter when they allow a hit in extra innings. But if a team allows no hits over a complete game, it's a no-hitter. I don't even understand why that would be in question.

An excerpt from Simon Rich's "Animal Tales," in The New Yorker:

DALMATIANS

"What the hell is wrong with these people?"

It's not intended this way, but I think it's a metaphor for me taking my kids to a Dodger game.

* * *

Angels at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

From Dugout Central:

(Art) Pennington, an 85-year-old former Negro League All-Star, lost his home in Cedar Rapids to the swell of flooding that has swept that part of the country. The home that Pennington had lived in since 1985 was, in all actuality, a small museum devoted to the great men who played black baseball in the 1940's and 1950's. Pennington said he used to have people just stop by out of the blue and ask to look at all of the memorabilia; asking to look at the history.

But most importantly, drop by and click on the Pay Pal button and donate a little something to help this man out. ...

* * *

Outgoing Deadspin editor Will Leitch has a long conversation with Buzz Bissinger about the aftermath of their blogging bogdown on Costas Now. I don't agree with everything either party offers, but you can probably guess those spots by now without me writing further about them. It's still worth a read if you have the time.

Every year it seems, I'm dead wrong about someone. Rudy Seanez, Takashi Saito ... the list goes back as far as Dodger Thoughts. This year, it's Chan Ho Park. Don't know what will happen from here on out, but you've got to hand it to him - he's been simply superb so far (2.52 ERA). And he's starting to do it with authority. In two starts, June 21 and tonight, Park has gone 11 innings and allowed one run on seven hits and two walks while striking out 16.

Dodger pitchers struck out 14 tonight, including the final six (by Jonathan Broxton and Takashi Saito).

The thaw is complete. Free shuttle service from Union Station to Dodger Stadium will start after the All-Star Break and continue through the end of the season, now that the Los Angeles City Council has approved the $70,000 expense, reports Bill Shaikin of the Times.

Buses will begin rolling 90 minutes before game time. I asked Shaikin how often they would come by – here's his reply: "They're planning to use five buses in rotation, for what they believe will be an 18-minute ride. So, in theory, you shouldn't have to wait more than a few minutes for the next bus. In reality, I imagine it will depend on how many people show up and how quickly they can be loaded and unloaded, and no one will know that until the service starts."

Whether the shuttle will continue in coming seasons depends on whether (in the eyes of the powers that be) usage justifies the funding.

If I were guessing, I'd say the biggest problem would come at the end of the game, when everyone wants to use the shuttle at once, as opposed to the beginning, when people arrive in staggered fashion. I suppose some will leave the game early to get in line for the shuttle, but as we saw at the Coliseum game in March, that doesn't guarantee you a timely ride.

* * *

Angels at Dodgers, 7:40 p.m.

The Dodgers are far from blind to Clayton Kershaw's command issues, but remain confident he can solve them at the big-league level, writes Dylan Hernandez of the Times:

Whatever trouble Kershaw has had in the majors isn't enough to convince Manager Joe Torre that he would be better served refining his craft in the minors.

Honeycutt calls himself a witness to that progress, saying he has seen Kershaw sharpen his breaking ball and stay tall on his back leg to keep his fastball low. ...

From Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

After Eric Stults' complete-game shutout Wednesday night, the Dodgers manager said he would go to a six-man rotation until the All-Star break just to keep Stults in it. ...

Torre said the rotation would be re-evaluated for the resumption of play after the break, depending in part on the uncertain return of Brad Penny from the disabled list.

It's an interesting notion. I have no idea whether the extra rest will help or hurt in the short run, though I expect it could help in the long run. I wonder if any starting pitchers would thrown an inning of relief here or there.

Update: The return of Kuroda would give the Dodgers six starters with Park in the rotation. The return of Penny, whenever that comes, would then push Park to the bullpen.

Winless Dodger lefty? I'll show you a winless Dodger lefty. From June 1988 to June 1989, Fernando Valenzuela went 19 starts between victories.

His last loss in the streak came the night before the Dodgers' 22-inning game in Houston. Mike Scott beat Valenzuela and the Dodgers, 1-0. From Jerry Crowe's game story in the Times:

In the left-hander's last 10 starts, the Dodgers have scored 20 runs, only 15 of them while Valenzuela was still in the game.

Said Hooton, unsmilingly: "And cuss your hitters." …

Mike Scioscia commented on the adjustments Valenzuela, who had an ERA of 4.75 during the streak, was making.

"He's a different pitcher than he was. I think he's learning what he's going to have to do, but he's been just a pleasure to catch and watch improve over the last couple of months.

"And he's going to be able to change speeds better than he did before, which is phenomenal because he was tremendous at changing speeds.

For the remainder of his Dodger career, Valenzuela went 23-21 with a 3.99 ERA, including of course a no-hitter.

* * *

Commenter StolenMonkey86 noted Wednesday that the Fangraphs website offers a statistic on "out-of-zone swing percentage," which he comments might better measure a player's plate discipline and patience than pitches per plate appearance.

Through Monday:
20.26% Russell Martin
23.78% Rafael Furcal
25.87% James Loney
26.28% Andre Ethier
27.74% Jeff Kent
27.87% Blake DeWitt
29.19% Juan Pierre
33.65% Matt Kemp

* * *

At Bronx Banter, Alex Belth links to a 1989 clip of George Carlin talking baseball on Kiner's Korner.

Meanwhile, at Cardboard Gods, Josh Wilker finds Tommy John a bit dismissive of Pedro Martinez.

* * *

Your infield today: James Loney, Andy LaRoche, Angel Berroa, Russell Martin.

Today's lineup:
Pierre, LF
Kemp, CF
Martin, 3B
Loney, 1B
LaRoche, 2B
Young, RF
Berroa, SS
Ardoin, C
Kershaw, LHP

White Sox at Dodgers, 12:10 p.m.

He's earned it. He earned this shutout, and he's earned the right to stick around.

Good job, man!

* * *

This isn't a Blake DeWitt scenario, where the kid made such a leap that you immediately start thinking fluke. This is a 28-year-old who has labored in the minors for seven seasons, and this season put it all together. He won't throw shutouts every game, but this is when you want to make use of all he's worked for.

After being told he was going to be optioned, Dodgers reliever Scott Proctor revealed his elbow had been bothering him for "close to a month," according to Manager Joe Torre.

- Diamond Leung

I thought the point was to help the team. How does hiding information that would help a manager make an informed decision about what's best help the team? How does preventing yourself from being at your best help the team?

I understand the instinct. I understand the mentality. Doesn't make it right. And it is so, so tiresome.

* * *

White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

Jackie Robinson's new plaque at the Hall of Fame was unveiled today. (Click to enlarge the image on the right.) Jack O'Connell of MLB.com has a report.

"We have adjusted plaques over the years that were found to have factual errors, but very rarely do we change the plaque for subjective reasons," Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark said. "We feel very strongly that rewriting Jackie Robinson's plaque is extremely important."

"He wanted to be judged by the same standards that all the other Hall of Famers had been," Rachel Robinson said. "He would understand now that we need to go beyond that toward social change, and he would want to be a part of that and be recognized. I don't think he would object to that. He would understand this is an evolution."

* * *

Eric Enders had a healthy critique of Ned Colletti in comment 144 of the last thread.

* * *

White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

From Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise ...

Howdy campers! Today, I'm interested in looking at whether the Dodgers' 2008 misfortune relates more to planning or misfortune.

Catcher
The plan: Rely on All-Star catcher Russell Martin for brilliant offense and defense. Replace the retiring Mike Lieberthal with Gary Bennett as a backup. Position Danny Ardoin as the third catcher in Las Vegas. Hope Martin can play the whole year.
Good plan? Good to have Martin, but the signing of offensively and defensively challenged Bennett was nonsensical.
The midseason reality: Little of significance has gone wrong with the Dodgers' easiest challenge. Martin has been strong offensively. His defense seems a bit off his 2007 standards, but overall there was certainly no need to fear a junior-year slump. He has caught 86 percent of the team's defensive innings this season, which hasn't been a problem thanks to numerous scheduled off days for the team and some improvised dalliances for Martin at third base, but the Dodgers will suffer if they can't replace his offense as it tapers. Bennett managed to undercut the lowest of expectations, but he played too little for it to matter. Just as it was wrong to expect much from Bennett, it would be wrong to overly fret over how bad he was. Ardoin, though a March villain for the fluke injury his throw brought to Andy LaRoche, at least appears capable defensively. It's early, but in 38 innings, he hasn't allowed a stolen base on his watch. So at least there's that.

Infield
The plan: Head into the season with James Loney, Jeff Kent, Rafael Furcal as starters at three positions. Stage a competition between LaRoche and Nomar Garciaparra for third base, with the loser either going to the bench or Las Vegas. Use Tony Abreu or Chin-Lung Hu as another backup infielder. Mark Sweeney would be a pinch-hitter. Face the inevitability that a Ramon Martinez-type might also factor in.
Good plan? Yes, if (as it appeared) the Dodgers were to give LaRoche a fair shot at winning. In theory, this should have been above average offense at at least three positions, with Kent as the weak link.
The midseason reality: Cynics might have expected LaRoche, Garciaparra and Abreu to be hurt, but certainly it was bad luck that it happened at the same time. Blake DeWitt's unexpectedly well-played first two months muted the damage, and now as he slumps, LaRoche is being given a chance. Furcal was sensational until his back went out, and the Dodgers got blindsided by the disappearance of Hu's bat. Everything that was expected to happen at third base in April happened at shortstop in May. At second base, Kent got off to a terrible start, which became more problematic when Furcal got DLed and Loney slumped, and even more so when Luis Maza replaced him in the lineup instead of forcing in Young, DeWitt or LaRoche - even if it meant sacrificing defense. But in June, Kent has rallied a bit, and Loney a lot. All in all, the infield has performed below all but the most cynical expectations for long stretches, but there can be hope for the second half of the season.

Outfield
The plan: Sign Andruw Jones for a power boost. Have Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Juan Pierre compete for the corner outfield spots. Use Delwyn Young as fifth outfielder/pinch-hitter.
Good plan? Yes, if you believed that Jones could improve on his 2007 performance, and if the Dodgers were willing to honestly look at Pierre's value. About the latter, they gave mixed signals.
The midseason reality: Fair to poor. Putting aside the debate over whether Colletti should have seen it coming, Jones has been a bust to date. His importance was such that giving him a lot of rope to work his way into form was the right idea if he were healthy, but failing to realize sooner that his knee was balky exacerbated the damage he was causing. If Jones musters a comeback on a rehabilitated knee this summer, it'll be a case of "Why didn't that happen sooner?" The Dodgers also used the Furcal injury as a perverse excuse to stop evaluating Pierre's performance relative to his fellow outfielders, on the theory that the Dodgers needed him to replace Furcal as leadoff hitter, even though he shares almost none of Furcal's skill set. Young, though no one would expect him to be the hitter he was in his 2007 debut, has been underused relative to Pierre and Sweeney until very recently. (That being said, playing Young over Pierre probably wouldn't make that much of a difference.) Kemp has disappointed from a power standpoint, but until a recent slump was one of the Dodgers' top hitters while holding down the fort in center field. Ethier has been about what you'd expect. The collective outfield performance should improve in the second half, but there still may be some rough patches ahead.

Starting pitching
The plan: Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Hiroki Kuroda and Chad Billingsley in the first four spots, with Esteban Loaiza holding down No. 5 while Jason Schmidt rehabilitated and minor leaguers Clayton Kershaw and James McDonald matured.
Good plan? I don't see why not. Getting a higher quality pitcher like Johan Santana would have been too costly.
The midseason reality: Starting pitching as a whole hasn't been a problem - not that there haven't been issues. An April rain delay caused Joe Torre to mess with Billingsley's schedule, but it also helped unveil the new, improved Hong-Chih Kuo. And Billingsley continues to mature. A mediocre Loaiza was cut with almost surprising eagerness. Lowe had his usual recovery from a bad month. Kuroda has had mostly good moments, but is going through some arm issues. Penny has had mostly bad moments, and is going through some arm issues. This group hasn't been able to throw the kind of eight-inning, one-run games the depleted offense needs them to - they suffer, for example, in comparison to the Angel starting pitching this season - but they're solid. Even the young Kershaw.

Bullpen
The plan: Bring back Takashi Saito, Jonathan Broxton, Joe Beimel, Scott Proctor. Mix in two or three other low-cost guys to fill the back end.
Good plan? Pretty much. Perhaps it relied too much on faith in Saito, Beimel and Proctor to maintain good form, but it's as good a plan as any. Very little wasted energy in putting together this group.
The midseason reality: Better than expected. Saito and Broxton have had some costly moments, but together, they have combined for 81 strikeouts against 82 baserunners in 63 1/3 innings. In case it's not clear, that's good. Beimel and Kuo are having their best years yet (though Kuo went through a period of severe underuse), and Chan Ho Park and Cory Wade have been hugely pleasant surprises that mostly compensate for the ineffectiveness of Proctor and Yhency Brazoban. But how long can it last?

Manager, coaches, training staff
The plan: Bring in Joe Torre to help reunite the clubhouse and provide the experience of a World Series champ. Try to get the rest not to screw things up.
Good plan? Other than the money spent, it was a much less significant plan than most people would think. Because it's been proven time and again that winning is the most important contributor to chemistry, Torre's mixology skills weren't going to matter if the team didn't perform on the field. And that's mostly the players' responsibility, except to the extent that Torre's lineups influence things. As for that, based on his track record, it wasn't clear that Torre would really know what to do with the roster he was given. It was especially disconcerting that he was as casual - as procrastinatory, if you will - about getting to know his team this winter as Jones was about his offsason workouts. It wasn't likely that Torre was going to cause any more harm than the average manager, but it was dubious from the start whether he'd do any more good than a fresher and less expensive leader. Now, to the extent that his famed presence might take pressure off the players, he could have value. But was that really going to happen in this climate, or was it inevitable that the media would let him skate for any failings the players showed? The "try to get the rest not to screw things up" was a great plan, though.
The midseason reality: Unless you believe this Dodger team is playing above its head at 35-41, it's hard to find much to celebrate in Torre's work. Some welcome outside-the-box moments, like the sparing use of Martin at third base, have been countered by other more conventional and sometimes inane choices. He's had the right philosophy of trying to get his hitters to force a lot of pitches - yet continues to blame the kids publicly for not implementing the approach, even though the Dodgers' top four players in pitches per late appearance are all more than a decade younger than Jeff Kent, who is last among the regulars.

Pitches per plate appearance, 2008
4.13 Ethier
4.06 Martin
3.90 Loney
3.86 DeWitt
3.79 Pierre
3.68 Kemp
3.37 Kent

The training staff actually has shown some improvement in aggressive treatment of injuries, but given that it's their job to monitor players, it still seems too many health problems go unaddressed for too long. They cannot expect players to come to them every time they are hurt. They have to play Sherlock Holmes.

Summary
Most of the planning for 2008 was solid. Well, let me qualify that. The front office made some bad bets in previous years that added dead weight to the roster. However, thanks to good drafting and the occasional useful pickup, the Dodgers were still well-positioned to take a step forward this season. The three most damaging events this year were Furcal's injury (accompanied by Hu's lack of readiness), Jones' injury/ineffectiveness, and the lack of power from the younger players. Except perhaps in the case of Jones, those are just unfortunate events, things that could have gone right but that the fates chose not to.

And here's some news: As bad as he was, Jones couldn't bring this team down while he was playing. The Dodgers lost only 14 the 35 games he started in center field this season, including only three of the final 15. That's right: The Dodgers are 21-14 with Jones starting in center, 14-27 without him. Sure, it's largely coincidental, but unless Jones' presence prevented the team from acquiring someone better, he hasn't caused much damage to the Dodgers' record to date.

As the pressure mounts on this team, the challenge for the collective front office is to grasp where the true strengths and weaknesses are. Dodger management must continue to show the patience that it preaches. And looking further ahead, the Dodgers have to minimize their poor acquisitions. Not every bad move is a product of hindsight. Some were bad gambles from the start.

Making young players the core of the team and filling the gaps with veterans was the right idea. But the execution of that idea has had some hits, some misses and some misfortune. For the long-term health of the franchise, it's critical for the Dodgers to recognize what goes in each of those three categories.

White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

On Friday, I highlighted the Variety package on the Dodgers' 50th anniversary. Eric Enders contributed a feature on Hall of Fame-honored Dodger broadcaster Jaime Jarrin. Space considerations forced Eric to throw out about 90 percent of his interview when crafting his wonderful story, but no such constrictions apply here. Enjoy, at length, Enders' interview with Jarrin, on the occasion of Jarrin being honored at Dodger Stadium (and in doing so, you'll see why June 24 is such a special day).

* * *

Tell me a little bit about your background and how you got involved in baseball.

It has been a great experience to be with the Dodgers for 50 years. Everybody's surprised to see that Vin Scully has been with the Dodgers for 59 years and I've been with them for 50. It's really amazing to see that our two announcers have more seniority than everybody else. That's very unique. The recognition that I've received really humbles me, and I'm very thankful to this country. This June 24th will be my 53rd year in this country, and I never thought I would be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, the first Hispanic to win the Ford Frick Award while living. And then to have a star in Hollywood—I'm the only Ecuadorian with a star in Hollywood. So it's been great.

The Dodgers will honor Jaime Jarrin for his 50th anniversary as Dodger broadcaster in a pregame ceremony Tuesday.

I posted a remembrance of George Carlin at Season Pass on Variety. It's not all-encompassing; it's just a moment that has stuck with me for the past 30 years or so. Alex Belth and Scott Long are also coming to terms with his passing.

From the Dodger press notes:

Los Angeles is 9-19 beginning May 23, and only the Houston Astros (7-19) and Seattle Mariners (8-18) have a worse record in that time. Despite winning just nine of their last 28 games beginning May 23, the Dodgers have lost only 2.0 games in the standings to first-place Arizona, which has an 11-17 record in the same span. Los Angeles enters today 4.5 games back of the D-Backs. In fact, the Dodgers have gained 1.0 game since the start of play on June 14.

The Dodger pitching staff has posted a 3.73 ERA (102 ER/246.1 IP) during that 9-19 stretch, which ranks fourth in the NL and ninth in the Majors in that span. The offense, however, has scored only 89 runs beginning May 23, which is the lowest run total in the Majors during that time.

Also noted: Dodger pitchers have 108 strikeouts in their past 106 innings, with team leader Chad Billingsley poised to build upon that today.

Indians at Dodgers, 1:10 p.m.

Dodger owner Frank McCourt has given general manager Ned Colletti a vote of confidence, in a manner of speaking, writes Bill Shaikin in his well-written Sunday baseball column for the Times.

"I have the utmost confidence in Ned and his group," McCourt said. "We've come light-years in terms of having more of a team in the front office."

That leaves Colletti with no assurances, and with no idea what kind of team the Dodgers might be fielding by the trading deadline.

To that point, Shakin adds that "Colletti insists he won't go for broke to try to keep his job, to showcase himself for the owners."

Update: Seattle will be granted permission to interview Kim Ng and/or Logan White for its general manager vacancy should the Mariners desire to request it, Shakin writes. Apparently, it's Colletti's decision. Read into that what you will.

Update 2: And one more from a busy Shaikin: The Union Station-Dodger Stadium shuttle bus is coming back next month, pending Los Angeles City Council approval.

Under the plan, the city will cover the estimated $70,000 cost of the program through surplus funds in the transportation department, with the Dodgers responsible for marketing. City Council President Eric Garcetti said he expected fans would pay a nominal fee to ride the shuttle.

The shuttles would run from Union Station, with two stops along Sunset Boulevard, enabling fans to connect from Amtrak, Metrolink, the downtown DASH shuttle and several city bus lines. The estimated ride time from Union Station would be 16 to 19 minutes, according to city documents.

The Times, which has some pretty thoughtful blogs in its stable, offers in Sunday's editions a lengthy piece by David Wharton that strongly suggests sports blogs have finally started cleaning up their act - once again operating under the assumption that every blog was gossipy trash in need of janitorial. Lip service is barely paid to the idea that most sports blogs have had integrity long before a site like Deadspin even came into existence, or that there are newspapers out there that can outshame almost any blog.

If I were the Kamenetzky brothers, who bust their humps on at least three local websites - two under the Times umbrella - I'd be seriously offended.

Guess what: If you want to write about blogs like Deadspin - that is, blogs that offer a spicier brand of quality but quality nonetheless - feel free. But the ongoing preoccupation with those blogs just reminds us that given the opportunity, newspapers are at least as eager to focus on the sensational as anyone else. If that's the case, so be it - but don't act as if you're above it all. At the risk of being self-serving, it speaks volumes that a site like mine - though it hardly has to be mine, because there are plenty of others to choose from in Los Angeles - can operate right in the Times' hometown and not earn a mention in an article about sports blogging. Mainstream newspapers and writers claim to want integrity in sports blogging, but when it's right in front of their face, they don't find it particularly worthwhile to talk about, do they?

The latest on Hiroki Kuroda, from the Press-Enterprise and the Times.

Go Stanford!

* * *

Indians at Dodgers, 12:55 p.m.

Matt Kemp, June 7
Gary Bennett, May 15
James Loney, May 3
Rafael Furcal, May 2
Jeff Kent, April 15

Kemp hit a grand slam April 26. The Dodgers have 12 two-run homers this year and 30 solo shots.

Trivia: Clayton Kershaw has pitched in 15 games this season without earning a win as a pitcher. Why?

Jacksonville (0-3, 2.28 ERA)

It has been a personal and professional treat to shepherd a special section in Variety saluting the Dodgers in their 50th anniversary year in Los Angeles. I really encourage you to check out the issue at newsstands Friday, because it looks pretty great. But you can get a sneak peek at the stories online.

Because Variety is an entertainment trade paper, our content necessarily had to make a connection between the Dodgers and Hollywood — but this was far from a limiting concern. We found all kinds of angles to cover.

Stuff I wrote or put together:

With Hiroki Kuroda potentially headed for the disabled list with an impingement and tendinitis, here's a rotation estimate for the coming days:

Today: Eric Stults
Friday: Clayton Kershaw
Saturday: Chan Ho Park
Sunday: Chad Billingsley
Monday: off
Tuesday: Derek Lowe
Wednesday: Eric Stults
June 26: Clayton Kershaw
June 27: Chad Billingsley
June 28: Hiroki Kuroda would be eligible to return.

* * *

Stults brings his career .412 batting average and .529 slugging percentage to the lineup today. He is 7 for 13 when he doesn't strike out.

* * *

Rich Lederer pays tribute to his father, former Dodger beat writer George Lederer, at Baseball Analysts. George would have been 80 today. It's a must-read. I wish the Lederer family all the best.

* * *

Dodgers at Reds, 9:35 a.m.

From the Dodgers and Josh Rawitch:

Beginning today, DirecTV is changing the FSN Prime Ticket and FSN West channel numbers. FSN Prime ticket will move from 653 to 694 and FSN West will be switched from 652 to 692. The change is only applicable to DirecTV customers and does not affect any other satellite or cable operators.

* * *

In case you didn't know: Even if you can't make it to Dodger Stadium, you can subscribe to the very Dodgers Magazine that is sold at the ballpark. Click the link for details.

* * *

The Dodgers released the collective roster for Saturday's Hollywood Stars game, which is now a softball contest that will take place after the Dodgers-Indians game that afternoon. There are some names there that appeal to me for idiosyncratic reasons:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (NBA Hall of Famer), Jon Lovitz ("Saturday Night Live"), James Denton ("Desperate Housewives"), David Arquette ("Scream" trilogy), Sean Astin ("Lord of the Rings," "Rudy"), James Van Der Beek ("Dawson's Creek," "Varsity Blues"), Adam Carolla ("The Adam Carolla Show"), Tom Arnold ("True Lies," "Roseanne"), Camryn Manheim ("The Practice," "Ghost Whisperer"), Cristian de la Fuente ("Dancing with the Stars," "In Plain Sight"), Garry Marshall ("Happy Days" creator, "Pretty Woman" director), George Thorogood (George Thorogood and the Destroyers), Carlos Mencia ("Mind of Mencia"), Kendra Wilkinson ("The Girls Next Door"), Zac Levi ("Chuck"), Neal McDonough ("Band of Brothers"), Yvonne Strahovski ("Chuck"), Tobin Bell ("Saw" movies), Wallace Langham ("CSI"), Kenny Johnson ("Saving Grace"), Bailey Chase ("Saving Grace"), Michael Rosenbaum ("Smallville"), Kevin Frazier ("Entertainment Tonight"), Chris Rose ("Best Damn Sports Show Period"), Mike Bunin ("My Boys"), D.B. Sweeney ("Eight Men Out," "The Cutting Edge"), Patricia Kara ("Deal or No Deal"), David Berman ("CSI"), Jon Wellner ("CSI"), Samm Levine ("Freaks and Geeks"), Josh Gomez ("Chuck"), Vida Guerra ("Livin' The Low Life"), Peter Ishkhans ("Peter Perfect"), Adam Sessler ("X-Play"), Morgan Webb ("X-Play), Tony Todd ("One Tree Hill"), Kristin Holt ("American Idol," "Cheat"), Layla Kayleigh ("America's Best Dance Crew," "Attack of the Show"), Osvaldo Rios (""El Juramento"), and Yasmin Deliz ("Vivo," "The Chicas Project").

Russell Martin and James Loney will be team captains.

* * *

Dodgers at Reds, 4:10 p.m.

Happy to invite readers of Dodger Thoughts to a picnic gathering at 11 a.m. August 16. Yes, this year's event will be away from Dodger Stadium; however, some of you might want to plan to go to that evening's game against Milwaukee at 7:10 p.m.

The gathering will be bring-your-own-food-and-drink fest. But if there's anyone out there who wants to show off their cooking or baking skills, be my guest.

We just need to pick a site that allows for some fine picnic dining (including grilling?), a little softball tossing or playing, and a playground for the kids. Please feel free to nominate locations below. And if there's anything else to suggest, let me know.

Hope you can make it ... wear sunscreen!

It's not that I can't be impressed when an athlete plays through major injuries in pursuit of a title. I'm still in awe of Jack Youngblood playing on a broken fibula in the 1980 Super Bowl for the Rams. And of course, Kirk Gibson speaks for himself.

And even though Tuesday's game was a debacle, Kobe Bryant certainly showed he could play through an injury for months at a time.

Now, we find that Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open with injuries much worse than we realized. He has a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a double stress fracture of the left tibia.

Woods will sit out the remainder of the 2008 season, without regret as far as I can tell. And I tip my cap to him - again.

Nevertheless, I remain convinced that you can perform under such duress for only so long — and in most cases, you need to be a superstar to make it worthwhile. We're not in the championship round. Injured Dodgers still need to get well.

Update: From 2004, here's SI.com's Top 10 Playing With Pain Moments.

Dodgers assistant general manager, scouting Logan White has some positive vibes about the Dodgers' 2008 draft that he expressed to Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise. And darned if there isn't some Moneyball residue therein.

A live chat with White, assistant GM, player development De Jon Watson and scouting director Tim Hallgren starts at 2 p.m. at Dodgers.com.

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Dodgers at Reds, 4:10 p.m.

Lakers-Celtics chat at The Griddle.

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Update: Hiroki Kuroda is getting an MRI, reports Leung.

"I would have liked to have been told sooner," Manager Joe Torre said of Kuroda, who the Dodgers signed this offseason out of Japan. I understand it's probably my fault the communication isn't as easy. I probably should have talked to him more, and maybe it would have been easier for him to tell me."

Just once
can't we figure out what we keep doing wrong
why we never last for very long
what are we doing wrong.
just once
can't we find a way to finally make it right
to make the magic last for more than just one night
if we could just get to it
I know we could break through it.
Ohh ohhh

Folks are calling the Mets the "laughing stock of baseball" for the way the front office handled the firing of manager Willie Randolph. Of course, the Dodgers have known that designation once or twice or thrice this decade.

In the end, the world at large tends to care only if the ends justify the means. The means - sometimes all too appropriate a word choice - tend to get lost in the shuffle of victory.

What examples can you think of in baseball where a laughing-stock move ended up being worthwhile.

(I should add that sometimes the shame only reflects the execution of the choice, not the choice itself.)

* * *

The Dodgers plan to call up Eric Stults to take Brad Penny's rotation turn Friday, reports Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise, although Penny's MRI revealed no structural damage to his shoulder. Good decision all around.

* * *

Another gem from Earl Pomerantz.

I had no idea, but of the two deaths at professional baseball games caused by foul balls in at least the past five decades, one came off the bat of the Dodgers' Manny Mota in 1970, writes Kevin Baxter of the Times:

It happened more than 38 years ago, yet Manny Mota still can't bring himself to talk about it.

"I felt guilty because I hit the foul ball," Mota said quietly in Spanish. "And a young boy lost his life." ...

May 21 editions of the Times that year reported the boy's passing. "After taking two aspirins at the stadium first aid station, (the boy), who 'ate, lived and breathed baseball,' went back to his seat and watched the rest of the game." But after his condition worsened at home, he was an admitted that night to a hospital, where he "lapsed into a coma and never regained consciousness."

The victim's name was given in the 1970 article, but since it was not cited in Baxter's piece, I'm assuming unless I hear otherwise that his family would rather it was not publicized. On the other hand, I am seeing it elsewhere online, so I may reconsider.

"I am very sad and very sorry and there is not much else I can say," Mota told Ross Newhan in a May 22, 1970 game story. "It is part of my life and I will try to live with it."

Through 69 games, the 31-38 Dodgers are two games ahead of the pace of the worst team in Los Angeles history. The 1992 Dodgers started the season 29-40.

In 50 years, only one Los Angeles Dodger team (1995) has made the postseason with a record below .500 at this stage.

Here are the best 93-game finishes in Los Angeles Dodger history. The 1963 Dodgers went 60-33.

I love you, and the Cubs have the best record in baseball. What more could you want? Happy Father's Day!

Dodgers at Tigers, 10:05 a.m.

Say what you will about how damaging Rafael Furcal's bulging disk has been, but at least he's been doing the right thing by sitting out the games. Tonight, you can read everywhere about how Brad Penny pitched today with shoulder problems, even though he said to Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise and others that he knew beforehand that he "probably" shouldn't have. But he pitched anyway, because he didn't want to put the team in a horrible spot.

Well.

Some of the best moves the Dodgers have made this year have been yanking injured players onto the disabled list, and some of the worst have been allowing them to be gamers, to no good end. I've been hoping that they'd start to gravitate further toward the former, but the Penny example shoots some holes in that theory. While I'm impressed that Penny has been able to throw as hard as he has all season considering his problems, I just wish, when the Dodgers' pitching depth has been one of their strengths, he hadn't taken so long to try to get better.

Apparently, there's a good chance they're about to repeat the process with Chan Ho Park, who has a pinch in the back of his shoulder but says he's able to pitch anyway. I'm no doctor, but isn't almost axiomatic that in this comeback season following years of struggle, Park's better served getting rest than pitching with an aching wing?

At least the Dodgers scored some runs today, reminding us of the possible.

Dodgers at Tigers, 12:55 p.m.

* * *

From Diamong (sic) Leung of the Press-Enterprise:

Shortstop Rafael Furcal has been diagnosed with a bulging disk and has been limited to conditioning exercises, leading Dodgers manager Joe Torre to realize he might not have his leadoff hitter back in three weeks, as he'd been told. ...

"I'm more apt to move LaRoche around," Torre said. ...

The night was billed as "Scully and Wooden ... For the Kids," and indeed proceeds for the evening will benefit those at Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA.

But the content of the 90-minute chat at the Nokia Theater, across Chick Hearn Court from Staples Center, was for the grownups, and generally speaking, the older you were, the more meaning it probably had. Not just because John Wooden and Vin Scully have been part of your lives longer, but because of how prominently reflections on career, life and death figured in the conversation.

To clarify, it was a joyous evening, through and through. (There are no plans to repeat the one-time telecast of the event, though we'll see what the bootleg market has to offer.) Times columnist T.J. Simers, who initiated the gathering, declared shortly before the event began that reverence would be off-limits, and while his banter and questioning style verged on the annoying at times (I know, shock), it did serve to free up sides of Scully and Wooden that the public doesn't get much exposure to. The 97-year-old Wooden in particular knocked off several one-liners at Simers' expense - I mean, real winners - much to the delight of the crowd. And Simers actually did ask the favorite curse question: "Goodness gracious sakes alive" for Wooden, "Darnit" for Scully.

Little of the conversation settled on UCLA basketball or Dodger baseball, however. There was the isolated wonderful story about Jackie Robinson challenging Scully to an ice-skating race even though Robinson had never put on skates in his life - "That's how I'm going to learn," Scully recalled Robinson pointedly saying - and an almost offensively odd line of questioning from Simers to Wooden about how angry a man Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was and is, even though the former center has been nothing less than a warm and open personality in this town in recent years. (Even if Abdul-Jabbar were still angry, why exactly would that be relevant?) But to his credit, Simers opened the door for Wooden and Scully to talk more openly about themselves and their personal histories and feelings.

Scully said that he had been raised not to show emotion, whether it be rubbing the hand that the nuns at his grammar school slapped with a ruler because he was using his left when they wanted to retrain him to use his right, or whether it was about emotional pain or fear. And Scully said he was less of a man because of it. Simers asked Scully how he has weathered the adversity in his life, and Scully responded that he depended on his faith, and that he had learned not to ask "Why?" when things went badly. After all, Scully pointed out, you don't ask "Why? when fortune smiles kindly upon you.

The story of Wooden's deep and abiding love for his late wife, Nell, is not new, but remains truly affecting, and details only enrich it. Wooden had been working in the fields one day when Nell came up to visit, but stayed away from her out of embarrassment at how dirty and sweaty he was. When Nell later asked him why he hadn't approached her, he said that she was afraid she would laugh at him. She replied, "I would never laugh at you," and Wooden never dated another girl. (When Simers noted that Wooden broke his coach's rule about dating during the basketball season religiously, Wooden cracked, "I wouldn't use the word 'religiously.' ")

And now, though he by no means tries to hasten it, Wooden does not fear death, because death will bring his reunion with Nell. Wooden recited from memory, without so much as a blip, a poem that former UCLA center Swen Nater wrote for him after hearing him speak about Nell:

Yonder

But those days are long behind me; Fear of leaving does not bind me,
And departure does not host a single care.
Peace does comfort as I ponder,
A reunion in the Yonder,
With my dearest who are waiting over there.

I fear death. I fear it greatly, and I fear the death of members of my family even more. I fear it achingly. My wife fears death even more than I do. (We joke, though it's entirely based in truth, that we're both most afraid of her dying.) My parents are now in their 70s, and I feel blessed that they are still alive, yet I'm not at all ready to let them go. And I live in utter fear for the safety and livelihood of my three children, and am not sure how something happening to one of them would not destroy my wife and me. I know death comes to families every day and the survivors survive. Except those that don't. Some don't.

I don't have faith. I can dream, but it's just a dream, not a belief. I do have beliefs, but they aren't comforting ones. I am living in this life, working to make it better yet reluctant to work so hard that I miss it along the way. I know - that's not an original conundrum, but it's ever-present.

And I know those unconfrontable days are coming. I can't dodge them forever.

It was fascinating for me to hear Wooden and Scully on these subjects, yet frustrating that I could not share in their apparent peace of mind. It's not enough to make me change my beliefs. At the same time, neither Scully nor Wooden, each of whom have suffered through the loss of a spouse (and in Scully's case, a child), not to mention their parents, achieved their peace of mind without the greatest of trials.

And so, as I head toward bed tonight and find myself looking for comfort after what frankly was an exhilarating evening, I have this to tell myself. If you can't believe in an afterlife, at least force yourself somehow to believe that there is life after death in this world, that it's possible to survive when the loss of a loved one tries to smother you.

I don't know if it will work, and I'm not eager to find out. But someone remember to remind me when the time comes. If it does work, that will be the greatest reward Vin Scully and John Wooden will have ever provided me. Which is saying something.

Maybe this one was for the kids after all. Because I feel as much like a child as I ever have.

We won't hear T.J. Simers ask John Wooden or Vin Scully what his favorite curse word is, but it should still be a great night. Fox Sports Prime Ticket, 8 p.m.

* * *

Dodgers at Tigers, 4:05 p.m.

Tom Meagher of The Fifth Outfielder is going 20,000 Leagues Under Brad Penny to figure out what's going on with him. After all his exhaustive research, he still considers his study a work in progress, but here's what he's concluded so far: "It seems that hitters have laid off of or have been deceived by the slower fastballs (again, hitters that can differentiate them seem to be laying off the splitter, bolstering its success) and batters are not having too much difficulty getting the bat on the higher velocity (fastballs). … It really does seem that hitters are waiting for a typical Penny fastball and slapping them for singles." Eric Enders gets praise along the way for an on-target hypothesis.

From the Times, August 30, 1977:

Dodgers Kiss Off Cubs and Morganna

The event was noteworthy in the light that the figures Cottrell brought into the game were not that much more impressive than some of those the Dodgers took out of the game. ...

Steve Rushin of SI.com wrote a Where Are They Now feature on Morganna in 2003.

* * *

Cubiclemate Michael Schneider of Variety has the first extended details about NBC's so-called spinoff of The Office.

Matt Kemp's suspension has been reduced to two games. (Kemp will sit out games today and Friday.)

Will Jake Peavy reduce the Dodgers to tears?

Dodgers at Padres, 12:35 p.m.

* * *

For fans of Battlestar Galactica and The Wire, Brian Lowry of Variety has a commentary linking the two series together in our Emmy Drama Preview.

In honor of Andy LaRoche's 2008 Dodger debut (at first base tonight), here are some words to contemplate from Francois de La Rochefoucauld:

To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.

We hardly find any persons of good sense save those who agree with us.

Not sure LaRochefoucauld's views on coquetry apply, but have at them …

* * *

Dodgers at Padres, 7:05 p.m.

Are the Dodgers Clutch?

From the Dodger press notes: Last night, all six of the Dodger RBI came with two out and runners in scoring position. ... Los Angeles is hitting .283 (77-for-272) in those situations, which is tied with Pittsburgh and trails only St. Louis (.288) in the NL this season.

To further explore the Dodgers' 2008 hitting with runners on base, click this Baseball-Reference.com link. Some of what you'll find is mixed; in any case, sample-size caveats apply throughout.

Joe Torre's strange reluctance to use Hong-Chih Kuo in important situations is explored by Andrew Grant at True Blue L.A.:

... Despite being better according to both simple and advanced stats, Joe Torre refuses to use Kuo at all. Since splitting a start with Chan Ho on May 17th, Kuo has made just three appearances, once when down 4-0 against the Cardinals, down 6-3 against the Mets, and down 6-1 against the Mets again. In that same timespan, Scott Proctor, by far the least effective Dodger reliever this year, has appeared nine times, three times in medium to high leverage situations. Chan Ho Park has appeared six times, four of them in high leverage situations.

What's even more bizarre is that Joe Torre's low opinion of Kuo seems based on one start, where he allowed five runs in 3.2 innings. After that start, Kuo was removed from the rotation, and has only pitched eight times since, twice in high leverage situations. This is completely insane behavior because outside of that outing, Kuo has pitched 33.2 innings, and allowed three runs. We have a lefty who can strikeout over a batter an inning, and he's been relegated to Scott Erickson status seemingly entirely because of one bad start. ...

The way Russell Martin dashed home from second base on an infield single by Matt Kemp in the seventh inning tonight, you might have thought it was 1988 all over again. It was enough to just about make you believe.

Dodgers at Padres, 7:05 p.m.

Tonight, 20-year-old Clayton Kershaw faces 42-year-old Greg Maddux.

On September 2, 1986, 20-year-old Greg Maddux faced 39-year-old Nolan Ryan.

On April 18, 1970, 23-year-old Nolan Ryan faced 38-year-old Jim Bunning.

That's all I've got for now. Clayton Kershaw, born in 1988, two games removed from a pitcher who was born in 1931.

* * *

I really want to make something clear about my earlier post today. It was not an analysis of Ned Colletti. It was a statement that Ned Colletti deserves more attention than he has been getting, relative to the attention the Dodgers' younger players have received. The outcome of that attention, at least as far as I was concerned, was a subject for another day.

Nor was it a statement that the Dodgers' season should be summed up in two words. It was a statement that, however, if you were going to try to sum up the season in two words, Ned Colletti is a better place to start than "the kids."

But you know me. I'll have plenty more to say about the Dodgers ...

Update: I haven't been speculating on when Rafael Furcal will return to the Dodger lineup, maybe because I was too resigned to news like this, from Tony Jackson of the Daily News.

... best-case scenario is he is activated the week before the All-Star break -- and so far, there is nothing about this whole matter that would suggest the best-case scenario is the most likely one ...

Jackson adds that Nomar Garciaparra will play shortstop when he starts a rehab assignment, "possibly by the end of this week."

Information Underload to Information Overload

I find the Dodgers endlessly fascinating, and if you're here reading this, you probably feel that way at least occasionally.

Dodger coverage was still barebones when I graduated from college, nearly 20 years ago. Your local paper would have a game story and some notes. Vin Scully, Ross Porter and Don Drysdale were your entire broadcasting team, each working individually to tell you what was going on in a game and occasionally commenting on what strengths or weaknesses the Dodgers might have.

National coverage before the explosion of the Internet consisted of hanging on for acknowledgement by ESPN (if you had cable) or USA Today, Sports Illustrated or The Sporting News. Accusations of East Coast bias always hung in the air, but the challenge to conventional wisdom about baseball, as represented by Bill James' Baseball Abstract, was a small fraction of what it is today.

Sportstalk radio perhaps offered a precursor to what the Internet age would ultimately offer, as this was the one forum where the common fan could find a voice. But the medium had already descended into the land of mindless, knee-jerk opinions, and was not to be taken seriously by anyone.

Today, of course, there's round-the-clock chalk talk on the Dodgers. Newspapers, though suffering as an industry, offer more than ever before: blogs and online-only reports in addition to their regular coverage. So do various local and national broadcasters. The Dodgers offer news via their own website. Message boards are everywhere. And then there are your garden-variety independent contractors, like me. Somewhat to my amazement, as someone who has blogged for more than five years with a philosophy never to force myself to write if I had nothing to say, I never run out of topics. Not in the dog days of summer nor the cold days of winter. If I take a break for more than a day or two, it's usually because of what's going on in my non-Dodger life, not because of what isn't going on with the Dodgers.

But unless you are an ardent follower of the Dodgers – or anything, for that matter – all the different angles and nuances get sifted, molded, smothered, ignored, plundered, packaged and finally reduced into easily consumed morsels. Even in this information age, most learning takes place at the shallow end of the pool.

Simplicity at Its Not-So-Finest

So, at the risk of undermining my own purpose, you could sum up the 2008 Dodgers' season in two words.

Ned Colletti.

The Dodger general manager signed Jones specifically to solve a weakness in the Dodger outfield. Jones instead exacerbated it with a .191 EQA (.260 is the major-league average) and a -8.3 Value Over Replacement Player in 154 plate appearances. His inefficiency and subsequent injury led to increased playing time for a previous Colletti mistake, Juan Pierre. And though the myth of Pierre (.249, 3.5) as bonafide leadoff man is alive and well, he remains the team's worst-hitting active outfielder – even including his basestealing ability. Together, Jones and Pierre have:

373 plate appearances
.317 on-base percentage
.301 slugging percentage
.618 OPS with 23 steals in 29 attempts.

Now, there's no doubt that the Dodgers have suffered without Rafael Furcal. Dodger shortstops have 263 plate appearances this season, and Chin-Lung Hu, Luis Maza and Angel Berroa have 109 of them. Their on-base percentage is .152, and their slugging percentage is .168, for an OPS of .320. This is worse than the post-Paul LoDuca catching combo of Brent Mayne and Dave Ross in 2004. By comparison, Dodger pitchers this year have a .325 OPS. But Furcal was so extraordinary while he was active (.349 EQA, 26.8 VORP – by far the highest on the club despite the fact he will miss his 32nd of 64 team games tonight) that the Dodger shortstop position has been, on the whole, adequate.

And there's no doubt that Jeff Kent has struggled for most of the season. Until roughly 10 days ago, Kent (.242, 3.7) was abysmal at second base.

A Million Stories in the Dodger City

In fact, there are dozens of things going on with the Dodgers, if you want to look deep enough. They include:

Baseball Toaster hero and star-in-the-making Josh Wilker of Cardboard Gods is the subject of a nice interview by Brian Joura of The Fantasy Baseball Generals.

* * *

Nice feature today on Dodger rookie reliever Cory Wade from Tony Jackson of the Daily News.

Dodger Thoughts commenter CanuckDodger sends along this post-draft perspective on the Dodgers:

With the Dodgers' 2008 amateur draft, the seventh consecutive Dodger draft for which Logan White has been responsible, in the books, is it time to wonder if White's job has gotten harder, not easier? If the answer is yes, it seems counterintuitive. In most lines of work, the work gets easier, through either mastery or, at worst, sheer familiarity with a routine. But White appears to have had his job mastered from the word go, judging by the universal high esteem in which his 2002 and 2003 Dodger draft classes, his first two, are held, to say nothing of the warm bodies they have graduated to the majors. Job performance like that earns trust, and no small amount of it, surely. And yet, Dodger fans who have subjected White's latest draft effort to scrutiny are asking, in the fashion of Peggy Lee, "Is that all there is?" How do we explain Dodger fans being so underwhelmed? Maybe White is the victim of his own success, and has raised Dodger fans' expectations to unreasonable levels. Alternatively, White, like the protagonist of the second Austin Powers film, could simply have lost his mojo. Or, what I think is the most probable explanation, White's job has become more difficult than it used to be.

For all of the problems inherent in drafting to meet "needs," as frustrating as it is to watch unfold, Logan White may not have been at liberty to do anything different this year, so it is unfair to cast blame at his feet. Past White drafts emphasizing young players who require a fair bit of polishing, as well as recently increased recruiting of Latin American teenagers, is putting pressure on the rosters of our lowest level farm teams. Hypothetically, if White had used, say, his first eight picks in the 2008 draft on high school pitchers, because each time it was his turn to pick a high school pitcher was the best talent available, where would they all pitch? We have high school pitchers from last year's draft, top-round guys like Chris Withrow and Michael Watt, still not ready for low A ball and needing roster space and rotation slots on one of our rookie teams. A farm system is like a series of pipelines, and care has to be taken to prevent the formation of bottlenecks at any position that would threaten a deserving player's playing time and endanger his development. In addition to what is going on with our youngest pitchers, some of our position players - like Preston Mattingly, to name one -- need more time to develop in the low minors before they are promoted any further. Thus, it is understandable that the Dodgers, this year, decided that college players were needed more than high school players, with it being presumed that the college players could start a little higher in the system and move up a little more quickly. It is having to take something like that into consideration that is making White's job harder than it was when he started out with the Dodgers. The empty farm system of 2002 was no threat to bottleneck at any position, but it was also distinctly the kind of farm system that no Dodger fan wants to see attached to the Dodgers again, ever. Contemplating what a return to those days would be like, a Dodger fan may console himself with the thought that Logan White drafting for organization need because of a fairly full farm system is, by far, the lesser of two conceivable evils.

The Dodgers have optioned Chin-Lung Hu, according to Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise. His replacmement might not be named until Tuesday, but you can expect it's Andy LaRoche, write Dylan Hernandez of the Times and Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.

Update: Leung confirms it's LaRoche.

Multiple media sources (such as this) said during and after Sunday's Dodger game that Brad Penny has been battling shoulder stiffness. While people have speculated that Penny's poor performance in recent weeks might be due to injury, I hadn't actually seen this declared anywhere. Frankly, given how hard Penny had been throwing during his slump, I had sort of ruled it out.

Anyway, Penny once again had a performance that might be called ugly but effective. In 12 innings over his past two starts, he's allowed 19 baserunners but only five runs.

There's no doubt his fastball has heat on it, but smothering the opposition like he has in the past is still a work in progress. Still, you could wish other spots in the Dodger lineup would be as uglyily effective as Penny.

* * *

I've been meaning for a while to write about Dioner Navarro. The former Dodger catcher, who went with Jae Seo to Tampa Bay in the June 2006 Mark Hendrickson/Toby Hall trade, has suffered through some rough times - the least of which was the 70 OPS+ he posted for the then-Deviled Rays last season.

In September 2003, his wife suffered a brain aneurysm and nearly died. In July 2006, his SUV flipped with him, his wife and infant son inside. (Everyone, amazingly, was okay.)

On the field, in May 2006 he went on the disabled list and lost his starting Dodger catcher job to Russell Martin. And this past April, Navarro suffered lacerations on this throwing hand.

Now, Navarro and his family all seem healthy - and so is Navarro's bat. In 152 plate appearances this season, his OPS+ is 117 (.364 on-base percentage, .427 slugging percentage). He has thrown out 9 of 29 attempted basestealers.

"The people around me have helped me tremendously," he told Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. "They [coaches and teammates] always knew that I was capable of doing this, but having them [work with me] has helped my game so much."

Things are going so well, Navarro wasn't even suspended despite being involved in last week's Rays-Red Sox brawl.

Then there's Aybar, who was traded by the Dodgers to Atlanta for Wilson Betemit in 2006. A substance abuse problem was revealed in the spring of 2007, and then in February, Aybar was arrested in the Dominican Republic on domestic violence charges that were later dropped.

Of course, this is very often not the end of a domestic violence story, and I haven't found anything to indicate what kind of counseling or treatment Aybar is receiving. All I can report is that Aybar is now a Ray, and after recovering from a left hamstring injury that hastened his replacement at third base by Evan Longoria, Aybar is 12 for 41 with six doubles and a homer (132 OPS+) while playing some third, first and designated hitter.

* * *

Lakers-Celtics Game 2 chat is at The Griddle.

* * *

Cubs at Dodgers, 5:05 p.m.

The Dodgers seem poised to replace Chin-Lung Hu on the roster with Andy LaRoche, but that's no doubt predicated on LaRoche being 100 percent. The Dodger infielder, who has played first and second base in recent days along with third, was hit by a pitch in the hand Saturday night and left the game shortly thereafter. Today should bring more news. (The 51s play at 12:05 p.m.)

LaRoche has an .854 OPS for Las Vegas this season.

Hu, by the way, has played sparkling defense lately. There's little doubt he could benefit from more time in the minors to get his hitting back on track, but his imminent replacement, Angel Berroa, has one of the worst defensive reputations in the game for a shortstop.

* * *

Justin Inaz of On Baseball & the Reds corroborates Dan Fox's earlier Hardball Times study showing that OPS, while not perfect, is a simple yet effective means of measuring offensive performance. But if you want to see how it measures up against other measuring tools, check out their reports.

Gross Production Average (GPA), for example, aims for more accuracy and easier interpretation, but is still working on gaining widespread acceptance and accessibility. Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) is further along the accuracy/complexity scale.

* * *

A Baseball America on AAA park factors is excerpted by Rob McMillin at 6-4-2. Las Vegas boosts offense, but it's no Albuquerque.

Dodgers assistant GM De Jon Watson said that the organization does not alter plans or instruction for its young pitchers who must brave Las Vegas which the Dodgers have called home since 2001.

"We're trying to get all the kids to execute and swing the bat, regardless of the park," he said. "The key is to hit those mistakes when they get them. LaRoche, (Chin-Lung) Hu, (James) Loney . . . they all were there. We want them to be consistent with their work and preparation, and that will carry over when you play in the big leagues."

Update: LaRoche didn't start today but entered today's game at second base in the fourth inning and went 2 for 3 for the 51s.

The Dodgers designated Terry Tiffee for assignment to make room for Angel Berroa on the 40-man roster, though Berroa has not been activated for today's game.

* * *

Cubs at Dodgers, 12:55 p.m.

ABC sportscaster Jim McKay has passed away. He delivered so many memorable moments. I was too young to see him broadcasting from the tragedy of the 1972 Munich Olympics, but there's another Olympic moment of his I'll remember. After the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviets in 1980 - an event that was shown on tape delay in the West Coast - and Al Michaels asked us if we believed in miracles, McKay expressed his own sense of wonder, saying it was as if a team of Canadian college students had beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers in football. McKay always seemed to truly love sports and truly understand them.

Dwight White of those Steelers has also died, on Friday. He is the 17th former Steeler since 2000 to die before the age of 60, according to The Associated Press.

Kuroda Ks 11 in Shutout

Hiroki Kuroda pitched the Dodgers' first complete game of the season and first single-pitcher shutout since 2005, blanking the Cubs, 3-0, on four hits, no walks and 11 strikeouts. He threw 112 scintillating pitches.

Normally on the telecast we talk about "This Day in Baseball." I don't mean to sound grumpy or grouchy, but I can't believe what I didn't hear. I listened to the news on the radio for an hour and 15 minutes today. Did not hear one word about what this day really means. June the 6th, 1944. Do the names Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, Sword - do they mean anything? They're the beaches at Normandy. Sure, today was D-Day: the invasion of Europe, when thousands of soldiers gave their lives so that we could be free. I'll be darned if I saw any real publicity about it at all. Please don't let that happen again next year. Please? Yeah - this day.

- Vin Scully

The Dodgers today acquired 2003 American League Rookie of the Year Angel Berroa, who has since struggled to regain that level. The cost was 21-year-old Class A shortstop Juan Rivera.

* * *

Cubs at Dodgers, 7:40 p.m.

Update: From Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

Technically, Berroa was assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas, but that is procedural to avoid the club being shorthanded Friday night. He is expected to be promoted to the Dodgers as soon as Saturday, most likely with Chin-lung Hu being sent to play every day at Triple-A. ...

Also in Las Vegas, reliever Yhency Brazoban was placed on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation. He missed most of the last two seasons with shoulder and elbow operations and had a 12.38 ERA in eight appearances.

And from Tony Jackson of the Daily News: Berroa is making an astonishing $4.75 million this season, but Kansas City is picking up the balance.

* * *

Tom Meagher writes about Milton Bradley, Jayson Werth and Russell Branyan at The Fifth Outfielder.

What can you say? Even when Chin-Lung Hu triples and Jeff Kent homers twice, Takashi Saito can't hold on. Even after the team loads the bases so improbably in the bottom of the ninth and gets ahead in the count 2-0, Matt Kemp can't avoid the strikeout.

The past couple years, the Dodgers hit rock bottom in the second half of the season. This year, it's happening now.

Two homers tonight to tie the game. Way to go, Jeff.

Andre Ethier has started a food blog, Dining with 'Dre. "I can't really call myself an expert or a true food critic, but I love to try new restaurants," Ethier says, "and so we though it would be cool to show off some of my favorites ... or maybe some of those that I won't be going back to anytime soon."

Ethier will also help cook and serve 1,000 Farmer John-donated Dodger dogs at the Union Rescue Mission at lunchtime Friday, after taking part in the Food Network's The Chef Jeff Project filming at Dodger Stadium. From the press release:

"The Chef Jeff Project" offers at-risk teens a chance to turn their lives around through culinary art and is led by renowned executive chef of the famed Café Bellagio in Las Vegas Jeff Henderson. Chef Jeff's proteges will get a unique chance to spend time with Ethier and Dodger legends "Sweet" Lou Johnson and Tommy Davis as part of the episode.

Male bonding: Molly Knight of ESPN the Periodical coordinated this conversation between the Dodgers' Russell Martin and Los Angeles-raised NBAer Tyson Chandler.

RM: What position would you play if you played baseball?
TC: Shortstop.
RM: You'd be a shortstop? Do you have good hands?
TC: Yeah, and it's a dope position …

Blue Anniversary: We've reached the 40th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination. I wrote about my dad's experiences that night two years ago.

My dad's friend Ed Medvene got two seats behind home plate for the Dodger game against the Pirates on June 4, 1968. Don Drysdale took the mound that night, and nine innings later, he had broken the National League record for consecutive shutout innings held by Carl Hubbell and the major league record for consecutive shutouts held by Doc White.

Drysdale pitched a three-hitter, walking none, hitting one batter, of course (Manny Mota) and striking out eight. Maury Wills grounded out with a runner on third and two out in the sixth inning to end the biggest scoring threat. Dodger first baseman Wes Parker made 17 putouts, and only one out was recorded by a Dodger outfielder.

It was a Tuesday night, the night of the California presidential primary. The game ended in two hours and 20 minutes, and so my father and his friend made the short drive to the Ambassador Hotel, where Robert F. Kennedy was being crowned the winner of the Democratic primary, to take in the scene there. My dad recalls seeing Kennedy at the hotel, which was torn down this year, though he didn't stay long enough to hear him speak.

"Then we left, and between the time we left and the time we got home, (your mother) was just sitting in front of the TV set, just stunned," he said.

Also, NPR affiliate KPCC has begun a seven-part series on the Dodgers' move to Los Angeles. Here's part one.

Ahead of the game: A year ago, Rich Lederer of Baseball Analysts wrote a long piece about Dodger third-round draft pick Kyle Russell. And here's a feature from Rick Brown of the Lakeland (Fla.) Ledger on fourth-round pick Devaris-Strange Gordon, son of major-league reliever Tom Gordon. (Thanks to DT commenter Underdog for the link.)

Hoops! Lakers-Celtics chat is taking place at The Griddle. Magic, Coop, Big Game James - go Lakers!

* * *

Cubs at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

Kemp Suspended for Four

Matt Kemp was suspended for four games for his role in Tuesday's fight, pending appeal. Colorado's Yorvit Torrealba got three games. Kemp got the extra game for "inciting" the incident.  - via Ken Gurnick, MLB.com

Update: Kemp has appealed the length of the suspension and will play tonight, writes Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise.

Dodgers vs. the World, 11 a.m.

Here's some pregame reading, courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball America.

Update: With their first pick - 15th overall - the Dodgers selected Ethan Martin, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound pitcher/third baseman from Georgia. Martin turns 19 Friday.

Even though MLB.com profiles him as a pitcher, MLB announced him as a third baseman. From John Manuel at Baseball America:

Just four high school players were among the first 14 selections, and at the halfway point of the first round, the Dodgers added to that with Ethan Martin. However, commissioner Selig announced Martin as a third baseman, not a righthander. The Dodgers have had success with such athletes, such as James McDonald (from outfield to pitcher) and Edwin Jackson (who DH'd early in his career before going just to the mound).

Of course, this move really mirrors the drafting of James Loney, who was touted as a pitcher before the Dodgers ensconced him in the infield.

More from Keith Law at ESPN.com:

Martin is a two-way player. He came into the year as a potential first-rounder as a third baseman, but he didn't hit well at the beginning. He likes to pitch, and he shut down American Plantation H.S. (the team of prospects Eric Hosmer and Adrian Nieto) in February. He throws 91-95 mph. He has a chance to be an above-average bat at third base, and he obviously has a plus arm. I would be surprised if the Dodgers ... keep him as a pitcher because they tend to prefer guys with polish. He has arm strength, but not much polish as a pitcher.

Update 2: Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise indicates that the announcement was a mistake and that Martin was selected as a pitcher. Tony Jackson of the Daily News has more on Martin.

Update 3: Blue Heaven has Martin's baseball cards!

Update 4: From the Dodgers' press release:

"Ethan is a fantastic young athlete who excels on the mound with an exploding fastball and a sharp-biting curve," said Assistant General Manager, Scouting Logan White. "He is a terrific competitor with first-class makeup."

Although drafted by the Dodgers as a pitcher, Martin also played third base this season and hit .540 with 14 homers and 33 RBI in 31 games going into the Class AAA three-game final series last weekend.

Update 5: Ken Gurnick has more from White at MLB.com:

"He was a position player until two years ago, so he's got a fresh arm. He's already got a plus-curveball and he throws 90-95 mph every time out. He's still filling out, so he projects to get better. We did a lot of research on him and he's healthy." ...

Last year's No. 15 selection was Devin Mesoraco, a high school catcher signed by Cincinnati for $1.4 million. Signability of Martin is not expected to be an issue.

By my reckoning, Clayton Kershaw threw 12 changeups in his first Dodger start - his most effective of his three appearances. Four changeups were taken for balls, five went for strikes and three were hit into outs.

Today, I was at work during his start, and Gameday was regrettably inconsistent in recording Kershaw's pitch types, but there were at least a couple of changeups in there. I don't think it's fair to say that the young lefty has only a fastball and curve. He has a change that can be effective, that should help prevent batters from sitting on his fastball, and it's a pitch that should only get better for him.

However, one of Kershaw's issues in the early going might just be the number of pitches that are getting fouled off. Here's the inning-by-inning foul ball count:

Inning 1: 6
Inning 2: 8
Inning 3: 3
Inning 4: 1
Inning 5: 5
Total: 23 (out of 104 pitches)

I've never tallied pitcher foul balls before, but that kind of seems like a high percentage to me - particularly in the first two innings. Jeff Baker fouled off four pitches before hitting his first homer of the season that would account for all of Colorado's scoring. So I'm just wondering whether peskiness - i.e., difficulty putting away certain hitters - is the biggest threat to Kershaw's game right now. I'm not drawing any conclusions, but it's just something I'm going to keep an eye on going forward.

* * *

The Dodgers have some of the best pitching in the National League, and arguably the very best relief pitching: second in relief ERA, first in relief strikeouts per inning.

But the offense is moribund. Since Rafael Furcal's injury, only Russell Martin has been anything special (and that's solely from an on-base percentage standpoint). Some players have been adequate, others profoundly the opposite. To get so little production from so many positions is simply too much for any team to overcome.

In 32 games since May 1, the Dodgers have drawn 89 walks (14 by Martin) and hit 22 home runs.

Things might look different soon, or maybe this will take a while. But there's no mystery right now. The Dodger offense rolls over too easily.

Not only has Dodger manager Joe Torre told Tony Jackson of the Daily News and others that they don't intend to use Clayton Kershaw after today's start until the next time they need a fifth starter - June 14 at Detroit - he's indicating that Kershaw will only be an option of last resort out of the bullpen during that time.

"I think you're probably better off saying he would be available out of the bullpen than saying you would use him out of the bullpen," Torre said. "We could use this situation to save innings with Kershaw."

Beginning June 24, the Dodgers will play on 21 consecutive days heading into the All-Star break, so Kershaw presumably will go back to starting every fifth day during that stretch.

It will be interesting to see how closely the Dodgers hold to this plan if Kershaw pitches well today. Meanwhile, some anecdotes from the past:

Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp and Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba face short suspensions after a skirmish in the eighth inning that was born more of frustration than animosity.

In the top of the eighth, Torrealba got a close fastball near the chin. In the bottom of the eighth, with two out, Kemp struck out on a pitch in the dirt. The ball bounced so that Kemp was in Torrealba's path to the ball. Torrealba pursued the ball with maybe a little extra force in trying to push through Kemp, while Kemp's back foot kicked up against Torrealba's helmet. Kemp turned and shoved Torrealba and then stood facing him, and then Torrealba shoved Kemp with two hands into the throat. And then a bench-clearing wrestling match of almost no moment started, though in the moment you're always scared something catastrophic might occur. I was with Vin Scully in feeling that you just hate to see that happen, even if there was never really much unadulterated venom.

In interviews after the game, members of both squads seemed to feel little if any latent hostility, and Kemp himself was pretty much contrite.

"He kind of shoved me, and I shoved him back," he said. "It was a lot of frustration ... and it was stupid. Not a good decision on my part.

"It was dumb on both of our parts. ... It was frustration, no excuse to act like that."

It's impossible for the players not to be punished, but I would imagine it would be on the lighter side of brawl banishments. What Kemp did was less hysterical than how Larry Bowa acted when challenged earlier this year about being outside the third-base coaching box, but of course Bowa is not a starting player and therefore more expendable.

In Kemp's absence, whenever that comes, Delwyn Young, who had two doubles tonight as the Dodgers were being shut out on six hits and two walks, should get more playing time.

Brad Penny had a somewhat deceptive quality start: six innings with two runs allowed, but he ran up his pitch count early and ended up throwing 116. He also balked (for the first time since 2003, according to The Associated Press). Colorado had six hits and four walks. However, it's hard to blame this one on anyone but the offense. Dodger shortstops haven't had a hit since the Coolidge administration.

* * *

Eric Stults, 28, is having a fine season in Las Vegas. After a slow start, the lefty has a 3.64 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings. Since May 1, he has allowed 13 earned runs in 44 2/3 innings (2.62 ERA) with 42 strikeouts.

Almost exactly two years ago, though it seems more like two eons, I was making the case that Odalis Perez wasn't done as a pitcher despite a horrific 2006 season.

Perez has alienated many of even his biggest supporters with his body language, his susceptibility to the big inning, his dismissive quotes and above all, his overall performance, and the last thing I came here with today is any kind of predetermined agenda to defend him. Perez is 28 years old, young but not so young that he couldn't be facing the end of his career.

Unlike Erickson and Nomo, however, there are signs that Perez is capable of a turnaround.

On balls hit in play off Perez this season - balls that in theory Perez has little control over - opponents are batting an astonishing .395. So, there is more than a little truth to his recent shrug to the media that he has been unlucky. In previous years, the BABIP against Perez has been .292 (2005), .272 (2004), .299 (2003) and .255 (2002).

The BABIP is more significant this year because Perez's strikeout rate is slowly declining, down to 5.74 per nine innings. Perez can't afford as much bad luck as he could before - and he certainly can't afford as much as he's having this year.

But the thing about luck is that it can change. I've even heard it does change from time to time. It would be extremely unlikely for Perez's BABIP to remain anywhere close to .395 - among pitchers who threw at least 100 innings last year, the highest BABIP was .358. Even Jose Lima was only at .320.

At the same time, there are other numbers already in Perez's favor. Perhaps most importantly, teams are giving Perez death by a thousand pinpricks rather than a sledgehammer. Perez has allowed five home runs in 42 1/3 innings as a starter, the equivalent of 19 over 162 innings. That's fairly acceptable - in fact, it's an improvement on his career numbers.

Even though opponents are batting .353 overall against Perez this year - 92 points over his career average allowed of .261 - the increase in slugging percentage allowed by Perez is only slightly higher. It's 109 points - .522 this year vs. .413 over his career. Opponents are not hitting Perez with much extra power compared to previous years.

Although he's keeping the ball in the park, Perez is walking 2.55 batters per nine innings, a better rate than Brad Penny or Derek Lowe. Perez is also striking out batters more often than Lowe, and Perez's groundout/flyout ratio is 1.46: slightly below his career average of 1.62, but an improvement over last year.

Batters are getting plenty of Perez pitches to swing at, and they're hitting them, but they're not hitting them very far.

Perez is not going to make any kind of late run at the Cy Young award this year or ever again. But the stubbornness in Perez that we find so annoying could work to his advantage, because given the opportunity, Perez can perform over the rest of the season at the level people expected of him: at a league-average ERA or better. Producing six innings of three-run ball would make a big difference in the Dodger season - as you can see by looking at the other back ends of the Dodger starting rotation. ...

I bring this up because tonight's scheduled Dodger starter, Penny, fits the scarily Odalisian profile of being a former ERA title contender falling on harder times. Penny's 2008 ERA is 5.66 (77 ERA+), and he's striking out barely one batter every two innings. In only two starts this season has he struck out more than four batters, and not once more than six.

Like Perez in 2006, Penny is getting hammered on balls in play. His BABIP for the season .332, and in May it was .358. In 2007 Penny's BABIP was never higher than .333 in a given month and was well below .300 for the first half of that season.

Of more interest might be the fact that Penny, who in recent seasons has been living off a stingy rate of allowing home runs while his strikeout rate has declined, surrendered five round-trippers in 32 2/3 innings last month – the most for him since August 2006. Not since 2002 has Penny for a season allowed more than a homer every nine innings. Inside and out, Penny has just been slapped all over the park. (Interestingly, however, his groundball rate has never been higher.)

During those times that I'm paying close attention, Penny still throws pretty hard – into the 90s. I don't really see him laboring out there. I just see him getting in ruts where hits against him come in bunches, no matter what he throws. Is it possible he's just getting frustrated out there during tough innings and leaving the ball for batters to batter? Don't hold me to that belief - it's just something that's crossed my mind.

You see, I'm not really working overtime to be optimistic about Penny – his falling strikeout rate has long had me worried he was a pitcher poised to implode. At the same time, he's been fairly effective for long stretches, as recently as April of this year, and so I'm not convinced we're witnessing the end right now.

My theory is that he is more a pitcher who is off his game than a pitcher who has lost his stuff. The specter of Odalis out there, and I can't be wholly sanguine. But like Lowe, who has oftened followed a bad month with a good one, I wouldn't bet against Penny turning things around on, if you'll forgive me, a dime.

Let's watch tonight and make note of how hard Penny gets hit, regardless of whether the batter reaches base or not. Let's see, just for tonight, if luck or stuff is the dominant factor.

* * *

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

Dodgers at Rockies, 7:10 p.m.

Good morning ...

Dodgers at Mets, 5:05 p.m.

Happy June ...