Fantasy baseball anyone?

Los Angeles, CA

Chavez Ravine has seen its share of special moments. Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game, Fernandomania had a no-hitter of his own, and nobody will forget Kirk Gibsons Home-Run with no legs to steady himself, or the back-to-back-to-back-to-back homer game against San Diego, stay classy. Now on this 22nd day of July 2009 Manny Ramirez left his mark on the Ravine. After getting hit by a pitch in yesterday's blowout over the Reds, Ramirez was not expected to play. The gamer that he is, Man-Ram approached Dodger manager Joe Torre and told him he'd be available to bat if need be. It turns out in the bottom of the sixth inning against relief pitcher Nick Masset, Torre made the call. The crowd was already in a frenzy, as loud as any playoff game, in anticipation of seeing their hero step into the box with bases loaded on Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Night. Masset delivered a hard 96 MPH fastball over the plate, and Manny mailed it return to sender, well over the left field wall into the Mannywood section of all places. The ballpark erupted once more and the fans gave Ramirez a long ovation until he came up the steps for a curtain call. "It was great", said Ramirez."One of the best moments of my career. I'm just happy it happened here. It was kind of crazy, but I loved it." A top moment in his career is pretty accurate. Manny (21) moved within two Grand-Slams of Lou Gherig (23) for the most all time. He has the most of all active players. This was his first career pinch-hit grand slam. In the duggout afterwards, Manny playfully shook himself like a bobblehead with teammates. 

For his first victory since June 14th, All-Star pitcher Chad Billingsley allowed just two runs in six innings of work. His 10-4 record has helped the Dodgers, winners of five straight, reach a plateau they haven't seen since the days of Kirk Gibson. Los Angeles is now 27 games over .500. Andre Ethier hit his team high 20th HR on the season, becoming the first Dodger outfielder to do it in back to back seasons since Shawn Green in 2001-02. James Loney also had an RBI triple for LA. Next up is Clayton Kershaw (8-5, .295 ERA) vs. Josh Johnson (8-2, .272) as the Dodgers play host to The Fish starting Friday night. In his last seven starts, all Dodgers wins, Kershaw is 5-0 with a mightily impressive .063 ERA. 

How about Schmidt...

Los Angeles, CA

Chavez Ravine last night saw something it hadn't seen in over two years. Jason Schmidt graced us with his presence on the mound, 60 feet 6 inches from home plate. Schmidt, although shaky in the first inning allowing three runs, and hitting the first batter he faced in the top of the second, (Hanigan) he eventually settled in and pitched a nice game. In five innings the former 3x All-Star gave up only five hits on 91 pitches. With help from the Dodger offense, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the first, he was able to walk off the mound with the win. By the way, Schmidt is superstitious like many ballplayers are and never touches the foul line when going to or from the mound. Hopefully, for the sake of the Dodgers, Schmidt can keep his cleats chalk free and eat some innings in a bullpen that lacks serious depth. 

After the game the right-hander sounded upbeat when talking with reporters. "I had hoped to just go out there and make it respectable but I'm happy with the result," he said. It was the second win he's pitched for the Blue Crew. For those pessimists out there, that's $23,500,000 per win he's just earned. Not a bad salary. Makes a lot of arm-chair quarterbacks out there sound like geniuses when they say, 'hey, even i can pitch better than that guy!'. One person that was happy for him was the Reds skipper, Dusty Baker, who managed him while he played for San Francisco. "He was a nasty man," said Baker. "When Jason Schmidt was in his hey day, it was win day when he was out there. He had an upper 90's fastball, a good slider, an excellent changeup, and he hid the ball well. I'm pulling for him, just not against us." Lucky for Baker, the Reds Homer Bailey (1-1, .643) will face off against the Dodgers no-decision king in Randy Wolf (4-4, .351) tonight at Dodger Stadium. Maybe not so lucky for his team however, Wolf is an impressive 8-2 with a career .315 ERA when facing Cincinnati. Bailey has never pitched against the Dodgers.

Oh yeah, in other news, that Manny fella was at it again. In the second inning he blasted a two-run affair that put the Dodgers up 6-3 and moved the slugger into sole possession of 15th place all time. He'd previously been tied with a man you may have heard of. Mickey Mantle the Yankee great now sits alone in 16th on the HR list, I'm sure he's doing alright though, enjoying his company in Cooperstown. Manny now only trails 3 active players; Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., and Jim Thome. Ramirez did have a 'Manny being Manny' moment when he didn't slide to catch a foul ball by Cincinnati's Joey Votto. 

Los Angeles is still the best team in the major leagues with a 59-34 record, holding an 8 game lead over Colorado in the West. San Francisco is 8 1/2 games back. The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, both of the East division, share the best American League record with 55 wins vs. 37 losses.  

What a game, what a finish in SD.

San Diego, CA

Petco Park, famously known as an "extreme pitcher's park" saw some post Independence Day fireworks today. 6 HR's were hit beginning with Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley's (1) first such hit of his career, and ending with James Loney's (6) HR in the top of the 13th inning to put the Dodgers ahead (7-6) for good. The game started with a strong advantage for Los Angeles, pushing to an early 6-0 lead by the end of five. The offense came easy early as Manny ramirez enojoed a day off to rest his legs after coming back from a 50 game suspension July 3rd. In the second inning it was an Andre Ethier solo-shot (16), then a Casey Blake three-run bomb to center scoring Furcal and Loney, finally in the top of the fifth, after 154 career at-bats, starter Chad Billingsley cranked his first career HR over the left field wall. Juan Pierre singled deep to center scoring Furcal to cap-off the rally. Just hours after being told he was selected to this years All-Star Game in St. Louis the right hander apparently wanted to show the world he really believed he was an All-Star. 

Billingsley is respected as the Dodgers Ace in the absence of Opening Day starter Huroki Kuroda who has been sidelined the first two months of the season on the disabled list. Chad has posted a .314 ERA, good for 10th in the National League and is fifth in both innings pitched (121.0) and strikeouts (115). Billingsley is also 8th in MLB in the wins category with 9. remember, he won 16 games last year and has only gotten better each season in the bigs.

Big Jonathon Broxton had another way of celebrating his first All-Star Bid. He was nervous, clumsy, and just plain crashed for manager Joe Torree. Broxton allowed a five-run bottom of the fifth to let San Diego get back in it and give the fans four innings of free baseball. He looked tight from the start getting behind 3-0 in the count to three straight batters, and just throwing the ball wildly. i wouldn't put too much stock in Broxton's latest outing however, he is a 6 game winner with a 90% save rate (20-22). He boast a 2.72 ERA and is practically lights out at Dodger Stadium, a perfect 9 for 9 save opportunities, and a mighty .042 ERA at the confines of Chavez Ravine. You just can't ask for much more. And to ice his own cake, he was clocked on the radar at 103 MPH on his fastball over the weekend. This kid throws gas.

Artest ousts Ariza

Los Angeles, CA

On the same day that Shaquille O'neal declared "Win a ring for the King", as his new motto, the Lakers made a big free agent splash of their own. Today the Houston Rockets forward, Ron Artest, according to NBA.com, agreed in principal to a 5 year deal worth an estimated $32 million with the World Champion Lakers. The deal which would pay Artest the mid-level exception of about $5.6 million per year could be shortened to a 3 year $18 deal if he so chooses between now and  July 8th, the first day players can officially sign contracts for the 2009-10 campaign. For the Rockets, Artest averaged 17.9 points last season and is a career 16 PPG player. He was selected to the 2004 NBA All-Star team and was named the NBA Defensive Player of The Year the same season.

Much was made about the on-court shouting match and trash talking between Finals MVP Kobe Bryant and Artest during the Lakers second round series against Houston in last seasons playoffs. Don't think there will be any problems between the two come training camp and beyond. First of all, when Phil Jackson returns (assuming, I mean really, is he going to leave?) he will be just the guy to deal with a character like Artest. Remember it was PJ who handled the ever fragile, super eccentric Dennis Rodman in Chicago. Secondly, Kobe likes Ron, a lot. They are friends off the court and have a ton of mutual respect for each other. Bryant had this to say when asked about Artest in March by Lakers broadcaster John Ireland,

"We're friends, I like him a lot--like his game--always have." Then he added, "He competes...every night, every play. I've known him since high school and he's always been like that. He wants to win as much as I do...and I respect him--a lot."

If you don't think that's true, look at the numbers. The dollar amount that is. Artest is set to make just under $6 million per year in LA, in his one season with the Rockets he pocketed $7.4 mil. and put up career numbers. He could have cashed in elsewhere but decided his desire to win was greater. From his lips, "I've made money over my time in the NBA, I lost money [too] when David Stern suspended me," Artest said. "I'm not playing for the money anymore."