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.