August 2007 Archives

The Dodgers are expected to call up infielder Chin-lung Hu and relief pitcher Jonathan Meloan tomorrow from Class AAA Las Vegas for their major league debuts when the roster expands to 40. Catcher Chad Moeller will have his contract purchased, and pitcher D.J. Houlton will be recalled.

The rookie pitcher came up with a defensive play that would make Greg Maddux proud. Cassel came off the mound to field a slow grounder by Rafael Furcal, scooping it up and tossing it to first baseman Adrian Gonzalez for the out in the fifth inning.

As always, Angel Stadium is awash in fans tonight, another sellout on this Friday.

But, there seem to be about 90,000 fans and not just the regular 45,000.

Huh?

Because of the sweltering heat (yes, it's sweltering - it was 104 on my drive to the park at 3 p.m. today!) most every fan in here is holding a fan.

Just looking out over the crowd, it's a mass of movement, not just of human activity as every person I can see if fluttering a paper fan attached to a wooden stick trying to beat the heat.

The fans must have been given away by some company, or even by the Angels, which is phenomenal advertising. Either way, I don't have one, and am surviving on water. Lots of water.

Randy Wolf will undergo diagnostic arthroscopic surgery on Wednesday after experiencing more discomfort in his shoulder. It's a tough blow for Wolf, who turned down multi-year deals this offseason to pitch for his hometown team. Now he's looking at going into next season without a guaranteed contract. "I took a gamble, and I lost," Wolf said.

Chin-hui Tsao has been shut down indefinitely, and will miss the remainder of the season. He is resting and rehabbing his shoulder, but could be facing another major surgery.

Also, Nomar Garciaparra could be activated from the disabled list as soon as today to serve as a pinch hitter. His attempts have jogging have been met by sharp pain, but he can swing a bat. Kirk Gibson, anyone?

Esteban Loaiza will have his Dodgers debut moved up a day to Monday in Chicago. He will wear Brett Tomko's old No. 35. No corresponding roster move has been made official. Could an 11th-hour trade be in the works?

UPDATE: It's official, Eric Stults has been optioned to Class AAA Las Vegas, though he might not report. Stults can return to the Dodgers on Sept. 4 after Las Vegas' season ends.

Chris Young said he was rusty in Thursday's loss to Arizona, but the good news was that his back and side felt fine.

Young tied his career high with six walks and struggled with his control. After the game he said his back was a little tight, but that he felt physically better than he had before going on the DL earlier in the month with a strained oblique.

He just wasn't quite in synch,

Six walks is uncharacteristic when he's right.

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to the latest blogger, and his name is Chad Billingsley. You can find his blog here.

Billingsley joins Takashi Saito as the other member of the Dodgers' pitching staff with a blog. Saito's blog can be found here.

Billingsley likely takes after his agent, former Dodger Dave Stewart, who blogs here.

The winner of tonight's game between the Padres and Diamondbacks will have an 8-7 advantage in the head-to-head series.

That could prove crucial as a possible tie-breaker if needed for the postseason. Last year the Padres and Dodgers tied for the NL West title, but San Diego won the season series and was awarded the division's top spot for the playoffs.

The Padres and Diamondbacks play three more games beginning Monday.

Chris Young just gave up his first home run at Petco this season. Mark Reynolds hit a shot 451 feet into the second deck in left to put Arizona up 2-0.

The last homer Young surrendered at home was last Sept. 22 when Joe Randa broke up a no-hitter in the ninth with a drive over the center-field wall.

Those people who used their tickets to tonight's Chargers-49ers game? They won't see Philip Rivers or Antonio Gates, either. Norv Turner opted to hold out his starting quarterback and tight end, as well as LaDainian Tomlinson.

In an e-mail sent to selected media this afternoon (although, for some reason, it never made it into This Space's in-box), Charger public relations director Bill Johnston said Turner decided to shelve his biggest offensive weapons because he wanted to look at some other people.

Interesting that they waited to make that call until people had already decided whether to use their tickets or not.

* * *

Incidentally, the mention of StubHub in this morning's game advance brought a response from a publicist for the ticket firm, Joellen Ferrer, expressing her appreciation for the plug and also pointing out that one ticket-buyer purchased two upper view level seats for tonight's game for a penny each.

(With shipping and handling charges, the total bill comes to $16.98 for the two tickets. We'll let you provide the punch line, since this one should be pretty easy.)

According to Ferrer, "a sizable percentage of tickets sold for under $10. On the average, people have paid $29 for tickets to tonight's game."

Twenty-nine dollars for the chance to see Andrew Pinnock as the No. 1 running back. Again, you supply the punch line.

* * *

Oh, and by the way: This is Salute to the Military night at Qualcomm. But when it came time for the flyover? Two helicopters.

It is an exhibition game, after all.

Delwyn Young has been named MVP of the Las Vegas 51s as chosen by the coaching staff.

Greg Maddux ran his walk-less streak to 42 innings on Wednesday. His 1.1 walks per nine innings lead the NL.

Afterward he said the situation would dictate how much longer the streak continues, noting he may have to pitch around a hitter or possibly put a guy on intentionally if needed.

"Sooner or later ..." he said.

Travis Denker hit a grand slam and had six RBI in his debut for Class A San Jose.

During the playoffs, pitching rotations can be as secretive as who's starting at QB for Notre Dame.

Who's hot? How many days rest? How do they match up with the opponent? If a manager didn't have gray hair during the season, playoff pitching decisions will add a few.

That said, Bud Black is already in prime playoff mode, deflecting questions about this week's rotation like a veteran skipper. The team finally confirmed Chris Young would start Thursday's series finale against the Diamondbacks. Young missed his last start due to back pain and has been nursing an oblique injury.

With Young penciled in for Thursday, that leaves Friday's game with the Dodgers open. Apparently some guy named TBA is still scheduled to start.

Black wouldn't budge before Wednesday's game, noting that Friday's decision could hinge on how much the bullpen is used the next two days. Clay Hensley is starting for Class AAA Portland on Friday so that takes him out of the equation. Lefty Wil Ledezma could get the start if he's not needed out of the bullpen.

Stay tuned.

Some Dodger reactions after claiming veteran pitcher Esteban Loaiza from Oakland on waivers Wednesday:

General Manager Ned Colletti, on acquiring a pitcher who has had just two major league starts this season, after spending most of the year on the disabled list with neck and knee injuries: "We watched him in one of his (four) rehab starts. We also watched him in his last two starts (for Oakland). He threw over 100 pitches both times, and got into the seventh inning both times against Toronto. At this point of the season you look for any opportunity you can ... "

Colletti on what Loaiza can bring to the club: "He's pitched a while in the big leagues. He knows how to pitch. He's not a power guy. ... We're obviously thin right now, and he gives us some depth. He's pitched in some big games, and he's pitched a long time in the big leagues with a winning record. "

Catcher Russell Martin on what he knows about Loaiza: "All I know is that he has a nasty cutter, and that's about it. He's a great pitcher and he's had a good career. Hopefully, he comes here healthy and ready to go, ready to get us to the playoffs."

Colletti, again, on whether he had access to the A's medical information before making the waiver claim: "We did. We'd talked for the last day or so (with A's general manager Billy Beane) about potential trades, and the guys they wanted back we weren't going to move in a situation like this. We thought we could get him on a claim if we really wanted him. But our doctors and their doctors have all spoken, so it's not a blind thing. There's information there."

As of Wednesday afternoon, Grady Little wasn't certain when Loaiza would make his first Dodgers start, but he hinted it might be Tuesday in Chicago. He last pitched Monday night for the A's against Toronto.

Some of you may have seen it. Some of you will read about it. Everyone should know about it.

Due to limited space, I wasn't able to get too deep into everything that happened in Tuesday night's game, a 10-6 victory by the Angels that moved their division lead to four games over Seattle.

First and foremost, however, Ervin Santana did nothing to keep his spot in the rotation. Manager Mike Scioscia said "We'll evaluate some things," regarding keeping the youngster in the rotation, which, as I've come to learn in Scioscia-speak, means "There is little chance we are not going to make some sort of change."

On the other hand there is Dustin Moseley, who does not have overpowering stuff, but unlike Santana, knows how to pitch. He stepped in against an offense that was obviously on fire, a good lineup from top to bottom, and made them look like a Little League team.

He got through 5 1/3 innings on 54 pitches. Think about that for a second. Sixteen outs in 54 pitches. Just over three pitches per out. That is extremely good. And he only gave up two meaningless singles. If that doesn't swing Scioscia's confidence to put Moseley into the rotation to keep it warm for Bartolo Colon (two or so starts), then I will be flabbergasted.

And though everyone was calling Moseley's outing "the story of the night," I felt that the offense suddenly coming alive was more of the story. (Though, it could be a 1A and 1B sort of thing).

I know they were facing Jeff Weaver, but before Tuesday he was 6-4 with a 3.38 ERA since June 9 and had thrown three complete games. Obviously that was the Jeff Weaver from the postseason last year and not the one everyone has come to expect.

And, like Monday, the Angels - younger, but with more stretch run experience than the Mariners, playing their first meaningful August games in years - pressured the M's into mistakes and proved to be the better team.

Jose Guillen made a foolish throw to try and get Howie Kendrick going to third in the third inning and the ball skipped away allowing Kendrick to score.

Then, Gary Matthews Jr. and Kendry Morales hit back-to-back homers and the Angels tacked on two more to tie it at 5-5.

In the seventh, Seattle elected to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero with a runner on second and first base open. Even Guerrero said after the game he was "surprised" by the move and he lined a base hit to score a run.

What that tells me is that the Angels' offense is finally - as Scioscia likes to always say - showing some continuity. Garret Anderson has been on fire the past week and the M's had a righty on the mound. So they took their chances with Vlad. Behind Anderson is little Maicer Izturis, who is only hitting around .400 with runners in scoring position. Then Matthews, Morales and Kendrick.

I was shocked they pitched to Guerrero myself, but apparently the M's thought they had better try and get an out than put another man on base.

In the eighth, after Justin Speier allowed a run to tie the game at 6-6, the Angels scored four runs against Brandon Morrow, Seattle's hard-throwing setup man who had gone 17 consecutive innings without allowing a run.

Ballgame.

Matthews said at the end of the night that the team showed some "resiliency." No kidding. That's like saying Frank Sinatra could kind of hold a tune.

That victory, more than any this season, will probably propel the Angels into the playoffs and put doubt in Seattle's minds, a kind of "What does it take to beat these guys?" mentality.

Despite hitting just .214 over 42 at-bats in Class AAA, Juan Rivera will re-join the team this weekend after rosters will be expanded from 25 to 40 players.

Rivera broke his leg in a horrific winter ball collision at first base when he collided with a pitcher covering the bag and should have about 50 at-bats under his belt when he is recalled.

Many other Class AAA players won't be brought up, however, until after Salt Lake's playoff run ends. Others who figure to get brought up during the September stretch include, but are not limited to, Brandon Wood, Matt Brown, Terry Evans, Nick Gorneault and Greg Jones.

I want to know how Ervin Santana is going to twist Tuesday's start into the media's fault.

He lasted 23 pitches in the game, threw 10 for strikes, and got blasted.

He allowed five runs on four hits - two of them triples - in 1/3 of an inning, and left trailing 5-0.

So, you're telling me that after one terrific start in Fenway Park that Santana is back? Uh-uh. No way.

There were several Angels followers (I will save names to protect the ignorant) with blogs and filling up message boards that they believed in Santana and the guy everyone saw in Boston two starts ago was the real deal.

Sorry, folks. What happened Tuesday is what this kid is all about.

This is the Santana everyone knows. This is the Santana nobody loves. This is the real Ervin Santana. Whose fault is this? Not mine, nor my fellow beat writers.

The Padres have already scored two runs off of Dbacks ace Brandon Webb through two innings. Two runs might not seem like an offensive outburst, but Webb had only given up two runs total over his previous six starts.

Pitcher Chris Young, who missed his last start due to a back strain, could return to the mound Thursday.

Manager Bud Black said Young, 'in all probability' will start the series finale against the Diamondbacks. Young's 2.12 ERA leads the Majors.

Seriously, that's what Chargers coach Norv Turner said Tuesday about the fourth and last exhibition game. The Chargers play it Thursday night against San Francisco, and Turner has indicated that his starters will play no more than 10 or 12 plays, with guys competing for jobs getting the rest of the work.

The full quote:

"People minimize the fourth preseason game, but I think it's one of the most exciting games of the preseason. It truly is some guys out there who (are) fighting to win a job, trying to find a way to stay on the football team."

The deadline for trimming rosters to the regular season limit of 53 is 1 p.m. (PST) Saturday. After that's done, teams bring back eight players for their practice squads.

"There's a lot of guys we're going to make decisions on -- a defensive lineman for the practice squad, a receiver for the practice squad," Turner said. "In week 12, sometimes you're activating a guy off your practice squad.

"So you have your group of guys, 15, 16, 17, 18 guys on each side of the ball, that are going to play the bulk of your offense and defense (during the season). After that, there are a lot of guys that are competing for spots and for playing time."

And those are the guys you'll see the most of Thursday night against the 49ers. Who, by the way, are keeping their own marquee running back out of uniform for the entire exhibition season, which is why both LaDainian Tomlinson and Frank Gore will be prowling the sidelines Thursday night.

Now, that's excitement.

* * *

The Chargers, who cut 10 players Monday and put running back Tyronne Gross on injured reserve after a season-ending knee injury, made one more roster move Tuesday, putting rookie guard Erik Robertson on injured reserve with a foot injury. Robertson, who played at Cal, is from Apple Valley.

Prior to tonight's game, the PA system blasted with that awful techno song "Blue" (you know the words ... da ba dee, da ba dah).

Other than searching for songs that make humans wish they were deaf, I figured someone from the M's song management department thought it was 2000 and cool to play that awful song again.

Nope.

Turns out Seattle mayor Nickels Declares declares-ed (get it?) Monday as "Lolla-Blue-za" in Seattle.

I wish I were making this up.

The Mariners even put out a press release about the worst idea since the Jump to Conclusions game featured in the movie "Office Space."

Supposedly the Mariners are hoping to fill SafeCo Field with a "sea of navy blue for the crucial upcoming series against ... the Angels." The release goes on to say "Fans are also being urged to show their support throughout the three-game series by wearing ... caps, T-shirts, jerseys or other Mariners Blue items to work and school."

First, how many people can wear jerseys to work? Second, how stupid is this idea?

At least the Angels kept ThunderStix contained to the ballpark.

(And, just so you know, I walked to lunch downtown this afternoon, nobody was wearing anything extra blue out of the ordinary.)

Yeah, great job Mayor Declares. Why don't you go declares a state of emergency on your horrible idea?

So this very big three-game series between the M's and Angels got off to a rousing start.

In the bottom of the first inning, Ichiro Suzuki (I refuse to acknowledge single names on athletes who actually have last names. For instance, I do not know Pele's last name, so he will always be Pele, but Ichiro's last name will be attached to him on first reference.) struck out swinging on a pitch that he foul tipped.

However, replays showed the ball hit the dirt before Jeff Mathis caught it, giving Suzuki and manager John McLaren plenty of reason to argue.

And did they. Suzuki returned to the bench, but McLaren was tossed by third base umpire Jerry Meals. Upon finding this out, once he had retired to the dugout, McLaren burst out of the dugout and then started jawing with Meals very vehemently.

Score: 0-0. Manager's tossed: 1

Class A Inland Empire second baseman Travis Denker has been sent to the Giants to complete the Mark Sweeney trade. No word on if he flew Southwest in joining his new affiliate.

Vernon Wells just singled leading off the fifth, becoming the Blue Jays' first baserunner of the day. He then stole second and earned third base through a different application of hsi speed.

Namely, he tagged up at second when Frank Thomas hit a routine fly to mid-center. Gar Matthews played back on the ball a little bit, preparing to make a throw to third to make sure Wells didn't advance.

But Matthews got slightly ahead of himself, and Thomas' ball glanced off the top of Matthews' glove. Wells reached third and Thomas first on the error, Matthews' xxx of the year.

Wells made a lot of things happen in the inning, but he has disappointed Toronto overall in his first season since signing a seven-year, $126 million deal. He's batting .259 with 15 homers and 74 RBI, but the production is largely a product of where he bats in the order; he entered the game with a .311 on-base percentage and a .434 slugging average.

The average of all American League batters this year is: .270 AVG, .337 OBP, .421 SLG. It is worth noting, though, that Wells plays a premium position and is a great defender.

Kelvim Escobar looks sharp once again today, setting the first nine Blue Jays down in order.

The final out came thanks to a sliding catch by Reggie Willits, who left a remarkably big divot in right-center. It looked like someone took a couple shovelfuls of topsoil and turned them over. They managed to pound pretty much all of it back into place, however.

Garret Anderson swung the barn door successful in the second, lifting a solo homer into the stands to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.

Send in your questions, and much like the Dodgers do all the time, I'll provide the answers.

The Angels collected 12 hits off Toronto ace Roy Halladay.
Vladimir Guerrero, who was 1-for-4, now has a nine-game hitting streak.
Orlando Cabrera was 2-for-4 and registered his 50th mult-hit game of the season.
Reggie Willits, Maicer Izturis, Kendry Morales and Howie Kendrick all were 2-for-4.

Kind of an odd scene seeing Brett Tomko being designated for assignment. He had heard about the David Wells signing beforehand, and lo and behold, Wells appeared in the clubhouse before the game and was assigned the locker next to Tomko's. Bench coach Dave Jauss eventually fetched Tomko to Manager Grady Little's office, and Tomko was given the news.

Tomko seemed relieved by the news and said he didn't want to blame anybody for his troubles before revealing that he suffered a stress reaction in his back this spring that affected his pitching.

"A couple days when it was really bad, I didn't think I was going to be able to pitch, but I got put out there," Tomko said.

Trainer Stan Conte confirmed the ailment, but he and Little agreed that it was nothing that should have kept Tomko from pitching.

"We never heard of anything that would be bad enough to keep him from pitching," Little said. "Everyone has ailments."

Tomko was gracious about his fate, telling reporters with Wells within earshot, "It's not like they're bringing in a chump." Then oddly enough, he went out and played catch with Wells during batting practice. As Wells spoke to reporters, Tomko called Wells a crass name, feigning anger yet while drawing laughs for a situation that Tomko only blamed on himself. Kinda.

The Dodgers added starting pitcher David Wells to their depleted pitching staff on Firday and immediately inserted him as the starter for Sunday's ESPN national game against the New York Mets.

The Dodgers made room on the roster for Wells by designating pitcher Brett Tomko for assignment.

Wells, 44, began the season with the San Diego Padres but struggled over the summer and was designated for assignment Aug. 6. He was 0-3 with a 14.33 ERA in his last four starts.

Overall, the left-hander made 22 starts for the Padres this season, going 5-8 with a 5.54 ERA.

The Dodgers will be Wells' ninth team in a 21-year career.

"David is an established veteran and has a long track record of success,'' Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said in a statement. "He's a true competitor who has pitched well down the stretch numerous times and we believe he can do so again this season.''

Tomko, a 34-year-old right-hander, was 2-11 with a 5.80 ERA.