With all of the issues the Dodgers are facing off the field, it is hard to believe the Dodgers are playing .500 baseball. They are coming off a 3-3 road trip to Chicago and Florida, but they essentially gave two of those games away, one to Chicago when the relief pitching imploded and one to Florida when the defense booted the game. A 5-1 road trip really would have been sweet.
Jonathan Broxton has already lost his closers job twenty games into the season (which really came as no surprise) but a combination of Vicente Padilla and Hong-Chih Kuo as the closers? Padilla can't stay off the Disabled List, Kuo has about as brittle an arm as I have ever seen and I hope the Dodgers have a Plan C they can fall back on. Padilla did get his first save against the Marlins the other night and Kuo had a rocky rehab outing in Class A the other night that has most everyone questioning whether he is anywhere close to being ready to come back.
Casey Blake joined Rafael Furcal on the Disabled List (not really a surprise either) and it is believed that he will be out for probably about a month. The Dodgers called up Russ Mitchell to replace him on the roster with Aaron Miles probably getting the majority of the starts at Third Base.
My player Xavier Paul got claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates (I think they just wait around for the Dodgers to release players) and I hope he gets some playing time in the Pirates outfield. Paul's "replacement" Jerry Sands is off to a so-so start to his major league career but he has not provided the power so far that the Dodgers really need. I am hoping it will come later.
Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp are both rolling and it is good to see. Now if we can get a couple of more hitters to join them (James Loney please stand up- he has made it above the Mendoza line) maybe the Dodgers can have a kick-ass homestand.
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