Shameless plug I know, but Angels writer Matt Hurst and yours truly have combined thus far for the best preseason baseball standings predictions in the nation according to this Web site that tracks such things.

To be fair, the success is mainly due to Hurst's mastery of all things American League. After all, here's the effort I put in:

West - 1. Dodgers 2. Diamondbacks 3. Padres 4. Giants 5. Rockies
Central - 1. Cardinals 2. Cubs 3. Brewers 4. Astros 5. Pirates 6. Reds
East - 1. Phillies 2. Mets 3. Braves 4. Marlins 5. Nationals
Wild card - Cubs
LCS teams - Phillies, Dodgers
WS teams - Phillies
MVP - Ryan Howard, Phillies
Cy Young - Carlos Zambrano, Cubs
ROY - Tim Lincecum, Giants
MGR - Charlie Manuel, Phillies

Joe Beimel came up big for the Dodgers Sunday.
The Dodgers bullpen had been worked hard Saturday, seeing as how Dodgers manager Grady Little had to use six relievers in the loss.
But Beimel stepped up Sunday and pitched two scoreless innings. He struck out two and didn't allow any hits or runs.
It was his team-leading 63rd appearance, which tied Beimel for fifth in the major leagues.

Chad Billingsley was pulled from tonight's start after only five innings and 84 pitches because of the high pitch counts in previous starts. He threw 116 pitches in five innings Monday.

... but for the Dodgers, there wasn't much funny about it, after Colorado scored three runs off Roberto Hernandez in the 14th for a 7-4 victory.

They could have done this a lot quicker, but Shea Hillenbrand's RBI single in the eighth (his second RBI of the game) set up the marathon.

It was the Dodgers' longest game, at 5 hours, 6 minutes, since a 16-inning victory over the Mets on Sept. 6, 1987. That one lasted 5 hours, 16 minutes. Then again, it was a Sunday afternoon game.

But the Dodgers are still 2 1/2 behind in the wild card race, since the Padres and Phillies both lost Saturday. However, they're 7 1/2 behind Arizona in the NL West -- and slipped back into fourth, a half-game behind Colorado.

Brad Penny will start tomorrow on short rest in the series finale against the Rockies, pushing Brett Tomko back to start Tuesday in Philadelphia.

"We're running out of time," Penny said.

The Dodgers will give Eric Stults a long look in the rotation.

"Previously when he was up here, we were shuffling him back and forth, and he wasn't getting regular work. I think think time around we'll get a little bit better look on what he can do as a starter."

Matt Kemp underwent an MRI on the right knee he slammed into the wall trying to make a catch on Wednesday after it became swollen yesterday. Kemp is out of the lineup, but available today.

When Juan Pierre stole a base in the fifth inning, it was his 49th steal of the season. Pierre now is second in the major league in steals, trailing only Jose Reyes, who has 60 for the New York Mets.

Reliever Jonathan Broxton pitched a scoreless eighth inning and now has not allowed a home run in 91 appearances in a row over 92 2/3 innings pitched. Broxton tied Paul Quantrill (2002-03) for the Los Angeles Dodgers record.
Also, Broxton's streak now is the fifth longest in baseball since 1957.

When Dodgers closer Takashi Saito earned his 30th save of the season, he joined Eric Gagne (3 times), Todd Worrell (3 times) and Jeff Shaw (2 times) as the only Dodger pitchers to record 30 saves in one season.
Saito has 30 saves in 33 chances.
He also lowered his earned run average to 1.54 on the season.

The Dodgers have broken off negotiations with Kyle Blair for good, and the right-hander will go to the University of San Diego because they couldn't settle on a seven-figure signing bonus.

""We wish him the best," scouting director Tim Hallgren said. "Hopefully he develops like we think he will, and he's there in three years. We'll make him a Dodger then."

UPDATE: Forgot to mention that Hallgren was happy with the signing of 25th-round pitcher Tim Sexton, who he said was a projected third-to-fifth-rounder that makes up in a way for losing out on Blair. Sexton received a $123,000 bonus and has debuted at Class A Great Lakes.

Southwest Airlines might have itself a new spokesman in Mark Sweeney. Vent blog is officially open.

The Dodgers have activated Tony Abreu from the temporary inactive list, and he will return to the lineup tonight for Class AAA Las Vegas.

"There's been some confusion," said Las Vegas manager Lorenzo Bundy , who recently sat down to talk with Abreu. "I know he's missed the game."

The Dodgers placed infielder Tony Abreu on the temporary inactive list because apparently of question about the extent of his abdomen injury. Abreu suffered a strain on July 6, knocking him out of action for about a week. But he played in four more games before being optioned to Class AAA Las Vegas. Abreu didn't play a single game in Las Vegas, complaining of the abdomen issue again and recently underwent an MRI.

"It's slightly strained," General Manager Ned Colletti said. "Last time I saw, he was running from first to third in the big leagues."

Colletti declined further comment. Abreu, who is being paid a minor league salary while on the inactive list, is represented by Scott Boras, who at this time is unavailable for comment.

The Dodgers remain in negotiations with pitcher Kyle Blair, the team's fifth-round draft pick who could sign by 9 p.m. Wednesday for a signing bonus worth about $1 million.

"Supposedly, there's still interest on the kid's side," Dodgers scouting director Tim Hallgren said.

The Dodgers recently signed 25th-round pick Timothy Sexton, but are unlikely to sign 14th-round pick Devin Fuller.

Andy LaRoche has been placed on the seven-day disabled list retroactive to Aug. 9 with a back injury. With he and Tony Abreu injured, it's no wonder the Dodgers are giving Shea Hillenbrand a look.

The Dodgers have acquired catcher Chad Moeller from the Cincinnati Reds for cash and assigned him to Class AAA Las Vegas.

Catcher Russell Martin will likely get the day off tomorrow.

Shea Hillenbrand will "most likely" be called up in September, according to General Manager Ned Colletti.

Also from Colletti for anyone who cares, Sweeney cleared waivers rather than the Dodgers claiming him off waivers.

The Dodgers have signed Shea Hillenbrand to a minor league contract and have assigned him to Class AAA Las Vegas. Hillenbrand was released on Tuesday by the Padres organization after being designated for assignment by the Angels.

James Loney is hitting third and can be expected to do so for the remainder of the series.

"He has a chance to be a run producer," Manager Grady Little said. "One day you'll see him in the middle of the lineups regularly, and that day might be now."

"We'll give him a shot up there. If that doesn't look like a comfortable spot for him, we'll change it."

Furcal, ss
Martin, c
Loney, 1b
Kent, 2b
Gonzalez, lf
Garciaparra, 3b
Pierre, cf
Ethier, rf
Penny, p

D.J. Houlton was optioned to Class AAA Las Vegas to make room for newly acquired Mark Sweeney. The move is really no surprise because the Dodgers had 12 pitchers on their roster and options with Houlton.

The Dodgers have made their first trade with the Giants in 22 years, acquiring pinch-hitting specialist Mark Sweeney for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

"Mark provides us with another experienced bat off the bench and from time to time he may be called on in a starting role," General Manager Ned Colletti said in a statementi. "He has tremendous makeup and will bring a lot to this club."

Sweeney, 37, will become a free agent at season's end.

Juan Pierre, who met with Grady Little after the previous night’s game, worried that hitting lower in the order would prevent him from bunting and stealing bases as often as he might like.

"It's frustrating," Pierre said. "I was brought here to get on base and score runs. I was not doing that, I guess. He’s the manager. What can I do?

"I just have to roll with the punches. I still believe, but patience is wearing thin. If I was doing my job, I'd be up there."

Press Release:

HANKOOK TIRES MOBILE TRUCK TO PARK AT DODGER STADIUM AUGUST 13-14

Former Dodger Great Ron Cey to Sign Autographs

NEW YORK, August 9, 2007 – Hankook Tires, one of the largest tire manufactures in the world and Van Wagner Sports Group, a leading sports marketing and media company are teaming up this summer to bring the Hankook Tire Mobile Truck to Major League Baseball stadiums across the country.

The 18-wheeler, which made its first stop at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (Rangers) and its second stop at Comerica Park (Tigers), will park in the lots of four more Major League Baseball stadiums - Dodger Stadium, U.S. Cellular Field (White Sox), Shea Stadium (Mets) and Dolphin Stadium (Marlins) – and will open up into a 350 square foot interactive display.

On Monday, August 13, former Dodger great Ron Cey will be on hand at the Hankook display to meet and greet fans and sign autographs.

"As we continue to grow our brand here in North America, Hankook tires has benefited greatly by our signage at MLB ballparks,” said Bill Bainbridge, Director of Brand Communication for Hankook Tire America. “Now as a way of building on this established brand awareness we can build brand equity. Bringing our mobile marketing display unit to the ball parks is a great way for us to meet and interact with potential consumers and in many cases we can then connect them directly with our local market tire dealers."

"Hankook's interest in connecting their mobile truck tour to their MLB teams is a great sponsorship extension and a further way to develop their association with America's Pastime,” said Bill Barbera, Vice President of Sales for Van Wagner Sports Group. “Hankook has been a long time supporter and strategic buyer of our Homeplate TV signage throughout Major League Baseball. This is a brand that for many years was after gross impressions and now are going a step further with their sponsorship and making invaluable connections with consumers."

Van Wagner Sports Group and Hankook have enjoyed a seven-year relationship. In that time Hankook has developed into a significant buyer of VWSG’s Dorna USA home plate signage. Hankook is currently has signage in eight Major League ballparks.

The Dodgers and Rockies will play a doubleheader on Sept. 18 to make up for a July rainout even though both teams had an off day on Sept. 17. The original 5:35 p.m. PST game time will remain as the nightcap, and the two teams will square off earlier in the day at 12:05 p.m. PST.

Delwyn Young left the game in the eighth inning with cramps in both his calves.

Oh, and the Rangers are talking about Clayton Kershaw like they want him, according to this.

From e-mail: What would it have taken to get Clayton Kershaw from the Dodgers? Phillip in Sandpoint, Idaho

Jon Daniels: I don't know, but if you find out please give us a heads up.

Some very interesting news coming out of today's lineup. Juan Pierre has been dropped to seventh in the lineup, and while hitting him lower in the order has happened before during his struggles, he will be hitting toward the bottom of the lineup "for a while," according to Grady Little. Rafael Furcal will hit leadoff, and Russell Martin will hit second. Among the Little quotes...

"Early in the season, there was some struggling there. Now we're at 400-500 at-bats. We need more on-base percentage. That's the bottom line. That's pure numbers.

"To get runs, we have to get more runners on. We need more of an on-base percentage from this man.

"It's not really something he's probably looking forward to or has done much in his life. I'm not doing this. I'm writing it down. The numbers dictate.

"What I buy is the bottom line. There's a lot of numbers to judge by.

Furcal, ss
Martin, c
Saenz, 1b
Kent, 2b
Kemp, rf
Young, lf
Pierre, cf
Martinez, 3b
Tomko, p

Grady Little on his preference for Matt Kemp hitting eighth in the lineup:

"He's still trying to get his feet on the ground in the major leagues. The lower in the order, the better as far as not taking on a whole lot of responsibility."

Little added that the same would go for Andre Ethier.

And it's being thrown after three innings by Aaron Harang coming off a back injury. The Dodgers haven't scored in 22 innings and counting...

UPDATE: Rafael Furcal broke it up with a one-out base hit, and he advanced to third on a Russell Martin base hit. But Jeff Kent struck out and Andre Ethier flew out to end the threat. Streak at 23 innings and counting...

Or a cynic would say they love New York. ESPN has picked up the Sunday telecast of the Dodgers-Mets game in New York on Aug. 26, and this is significant not because you'll likely get more Joe Morgan, but also the start of the game has been pushed back from 1:10 EST to 5:05 EST. That means the Dodgers won't get home until Monday morning when they host a three-game set against the Nationals.

Grady Little gave the team a talking-to after the game and had this to say to the media: "If they continue like this, we're going to have to ask for our pitchers to throw some shutouts and hope for a tie."

Clayton Kershaw will debut for Class AA Jacksonville tomorrow in a game Ned Colletti is scheduled to attend.

Tony Abreu has indeed been placed on the temporary inactive list. As of this moment, I don't know why.

- Hong-Chih Kuo is on the trip, and the team is holding out hope he can return from arthroscopic shoulder surgery in September. "I've been expecting him back the majority of these two years," Manager Grady Little said, smiling.

- Chin-hui Tsao did not make the trip and will have the start of his throwing program delayed after experiencing more pain in the back of his shoulder.

- Jeff Kent is back in the lineup, but he could receive another day off during the series and is still considered day-to-day. "It's a gamble," Little said of playing Kent.

- Tony Abreu will undergo an MRI on his abdomen today. He has already resumed baseball activities.

- Derek Lowe had his start pushed back to Saturday. The scheduled rotation is Chad Billingsley on Tuesday followed by Brett Tomko and Brad Penny.

- Dodger minor league players and coaches will wear patches bearing the letters "BR" in honor of late hitting coordinator Bill Robinson.

Jeff Kent is back in the lineup after taking the homestand off with a strained hamstring...Top pitching prospect Clayton Kershaw has been promoted two levels to Class AA Jacksonville.

Furcal, ss
Pierre, cf
Martin, c
Kent, 2b
Gonzo, lf
Garciaparra, 3b
Ethier, rf
Loney, 1b
Hendrickson, p

He'll see a specialist today.

Brad Penny's 0-2 fastball to Snakes pitcher Brandon Webb caused quite a storm just now.

Men were on first and third when Penny's pitch was called a ball by home plate Gary Cederstrom. Penny had wheeled off the mound on his follow-through and was facing the first-base dugout, but when the pitch was called a ball, Penny quickly turned his head toward home plate and said something emphatically.

Cederstom, having none of it, began walking purposefully toward the mound, speaking as he went. Second-base umpire Tim Welke got in between Cederstrom and Penny, as did Dodgers manager Grady Little, who had hustled onto the field as soon as the situation began to develop.

Penny did not appear physically confrontational during Cederstrom's approach and remained in the game. Webb struck out on the next pitch, ending the inning.

Brad Penny cost himself a baserunner in the second, as Mark Reynolds hit a grounder to first baseman James Loney. While Loney's throw reached Penny in time, Penny was slow tapping the bag with his foot and Reynolds was safe. Reynolds later scored with two outs, giving Arizona a 2-0 lead.

In the third, Andre Ethier led off with a double, but on the first pitch he saw, Brad Penny hit a broken-bat soft liner to first baseman Conor Jackson. Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre followed with groundouts.

It's definitely a push-the-envelope call to have a pitcher swing away with a man on second and no outs, regardless of who the next two batters in the order are. I imagine it could make for some decent discussion among fans who support, or disagree, with the idea.

UPDATE: In the fifth, after Ethier's one-out single, Penny bunted a ball off his pitching hand. But he checked out okay, stayed in the game, and subsequently reached out and pulled a low, outside pitch into left for a single.

As part of a promotion with a Los Angeles theme park, an individual portraying a character from a 1980s movie threw out the first pitch today -- in no timely manner, either.

This performance was preceded and succeeded by videos promoting the theme park.

It was certainly quite a far cry of the parade of D-listers, suburban civic leaders and anonymous corporate types that usually toss out the first pitch at Major League parks across the country.

Then again, much of the crowd cheered when the character waved his arms for applause, so perhaps we will witness more on-field promotions as time passes.

Do the Dodgers plan to promote (Clayton) Kershaw to Inland Empire this year at all?

It's my understanding that this is no guarantee despite Kershaw's eagerness.

Juan Pierre used his speed to upset Arizona left-handed pitcher Doug Davis.
Pierre looked to be picked off by Davis in the first inning, but Pierre beat the throw and was safe at second base. Davis threw the ball into centerfield for an error, allowing Pierre to reach third base.
It was Pierre's 44th stolen base of the season, the second most in the major leagues behind New York Mets' Jose Reyes (52).

Brett Tomko aggravated a rib cage injury in the fifth inning, but should be fine. Jeff Kent was on deck behind James Loney in the ninth, so he could be close to a return to the lineup.

Olmedo Saenz just struck out swinging -- and looked bad doing it.

He is now 5 for his past 40 (.125) since May 26, not the type of thing you want from your "key bat" off the bench. He is also 1 for 20 (.050) since June 26.

Russ Martin just collected his second hit tonight, becoming the third Dodger in franchise history to have two hits on his bobblehead night. Yes, they keep track of these things and include them in the media notes. And yes, the Giants PR people have been making fun of it all night. It's been a fun running joke.

Dodger players entered the game a combined 5-for-25 on thier bobblehead nights, but Rafael Furcal and Cesar Izturis each had two hits apiece on thier bobble-night. They just put the graphic of bobble-hits on DodgerVision.

Martin reached base four times on his bobble-tastic evening, with a pair of hits and a pair of walks There is no word if that is a Dodger record. I'm curious if Elias keeps that kind of stat, but it would be funny if he were to just stand there nodding his head for about 20 seconds while standing on first base.

Asked if the bobble looked like him, Martin did comment that they did get his bobble "scruff" right, refering to his penchant for not always being clean-shaven, and said he did like his bobbling likeness when he saw it on Wednesday.

Catcher Russell Martin underwent general anesthesia to have a wisdom tooth extracted earlier this week.

Would you rather root for Barry Bonds or this Giant here. Check out the story by the Press-Enterprise's own Jeff Eisenberg.

Perhaps one of the better timed comedic moments of the season and Barry Bonds' home run chase happened on Tuesday night.

With a massive pack of reporters waiting outside the Giants clubhouse post-game, Barry Bonds and his son walked out and looked startled to see the group -- nearly 100 deep -- standing there.

Wide-eyed, they turned around and walked back in with the door closing behind them, having made a 3-4 second appearance. Immediately, a promenent San Francisco writer who will remain nameless loudly called out "Six more weeks of winter"

Like all good comedy, it was perfectly timed and captured the moment.

"It was the most unbalanced market I've seen," Colletti said. "The asking prices far exceeded the player."

"If you play a whole year, that's an opportunity," Betemit said.

Outfielder Delwyn Young was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas to replace Wilson Betemit on the Dodgers roster.

Betemit was traded to the New York Yankees for reliever Scott Proctor earlier Tuesday.

Young, 25, a member of the 2001 Riverside Community College state championship team, is hitting .343 with 44 doubles, 16 home runs and 79 RBI in 101 games for the Stars.

Officially a done deal. Roster move to come.

Yes, the Dodgers talked to the A's regarding trading prospects for starting pitcher Joe Blanton. But the deal is very unlikely to happen, according to a baseball source. The youth movement lives!

"Our plan in the event of a home run is to acknowledge the home run's significance on DodgerVision and allow Barry to tip his cap and be acknowledged by the crowd." - Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch on the Dodgers' plans for if Bonds hits 755 and 756.