Aye-ya!

Oh great. Schmidt looks to be injury-prone again, Kuo is ailing, and Loaiza is a question mark. What happened to our rotation depth!

Couldn't agree more - big problems with the rotation "depth". I just read an article in the local paper with the headline "Dodgers counting on strong pitching" and it made my stomach turn. If that's all we can count on - whoops!

Neither Schmidt nor Kuo can probably be projected to be of much use this year. Way too injury prone.

In fact, I'll be amazed if Schmidt ever pitches for the Dodgers again - or if he does, if he'll be remotely effective. He's done.

Add to this Torre's happy "I heart Pierre" and "I heart Nomar" noises, and we're looking at another year of frustration, probably another fourth place finish too.

I think we're jumping the gun here, in terms of alarm. Fine, a little tightness--it may mean what we all presume it does; it may just be discomfort where he's had surgery--and likewise with Schmidt, who knows? Loiaza pitched adequately today, however, and there's McDonald and,uh, that young lefthander we try not to talk about too much waiting in the wings for a 5th starter position. Compare with last year's 4 and 5 spots, and we're in better shape.

As for the "I heart Pierre" and "I heart Nomar" noises, well, who knows what's behind those? It's possible he's working to instill confidence; possible they'll have to play their way out of jobs, but even if so, they likely will...unless they don't. I'm sure there will be games in which both of those players start. Yes, there will be...Juan Pierre, leftfielder. But we don't know yet, for how long or even how often. So why not wait and see?