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Dodgers Look To Overturn The King

Eric Milton returns from the disabled list tonight to start against the Mariners and "King Felix" Hernandez.  Milton has not given up more than two earned runs in any start yet this season, albeit while averaging only 4.67 innings per outing.  Milton will earn a $50,000 bonus for making his fifth start of the season.

Something tells me tonight's game fits nicely into Jon Weisman's "Underdog's Dividend" territory (or is it Dashiell's Dividend?).  Just sit back and enjoy.

The Dodgers, 9-7 in interleague play this season, are assured of not having a losing record against the AL for the first time since 2004, when the club was 10-8.

Andre Ethier, with his three home runs last night, is hitting a whopping .296/.374/.667 this month.  His eight homers in June makes this month the most homeriffic of Ethier's career, just beating his seven homers last August.  Perhaps Ethier can credit his first three-homer game to Mariners' manager Don Wakamatsu.  Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times noted:

Wakamatsu, by the way, remembers Ethier attending his hitting school in Phoenix when he was a pre-teen. When I told Ethier that, he smiled.

"I'm surprised he remembers me, because I was probably 11 or 12 years old at that time,'' he said. "Maybe I should give a little credit to him for the coaching he gave me at those camps. Maybe he had some flashbacks sitting in the dugout.''

Casey Blake, who also homered Friday night to go along with a double off the top of the right field wall, has a six-game hitting streak, hitting .320/.393/.480 over that span.  Since the Manny Ramirez suspension began on May 7, Blake has led the offense, hitting .347/.393/.580 with 33 RBI in 41 games (37 starts).

Felix Hernandez, the 23-year old ace of the Mariners, is enjoying a fine season so far (7-3, 3.17 FIP).  Over his last six starts, Hernandez has an ERA of 1.00 with 42 strikeouts in 45 innings.  Jim Caple of ESPN.com profiled "King Felix" yesterday:

"He's learned how to pitch more because there are days when he doesn't have his best fastball," teammate Miguel Batista says. "And that has been very good for him, because that's teaching him to throw something other than his fastball. And if you'll notice, he's not giving up that many long balls anymore (two in his past eight starts). That's something we've tried preaching to him a lot: Movement means more than speed. And he has both."

Manny Ramirez takes his traveling rehab road show to Lake Elsinore tonight at 7pm, in the first of what is expected to be four games with the Advanced Class A Inland Empire 66ers.  You can listen online here.

Get your guesses in for "She Is Gone" here.

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Hah

Nice. This schizophrenic poster approves of the shout-out.

by underdog on Jun 27, 2009 4:56 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

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2010 Dodger Payroll

Pos No Player 2010 Salary
C 55 Martin $5,050,000
1B 7 Loney $3,100,000
2B 33 DeWitt $410,000*
3B 23 Blake $6,000,000
SS 15 Furcal $8,500,000
LF 99 Manny $7,267,760
CF 27 Kemp $4,000,000
RF 16 Ethier $6,000,000

2B/3B 14 Carroll $1,350,000
2B/3B/1B 3 Belliard $825,000
C 12 Ausmus $850,000
OF 5 Johnson $800,000
SS 60 Hu $405,000*

SP 22 Kershaw $425,000*
SP 58 Billingsley $3,850,000
SP 18 Kuroda $14,100,000
SP 44 Padilla $4,025,000
SP 50 Stults $405,000*

CL 51 Broxton $4,000,000
LHP 52 Sherrill $4,500,000
LHP 56 Kuo $950,000
RHP 67 Troncoso $425,000*
RHP 54 Belisario $425,000*
RHP 31 McDonald $425,000*
RHP 68 Monasterios $460,000*

Pierre $4,000,000
Andruw $3,600,000
Schmidt $2,000,000
Wolf $2,000,000
Hudson $1,440,000
Nomar $1,250,000
Ohman $200,000
Zerpa $35,000
Hoffmann ($50,000)

Others on 40-man roster (total: 39)
RHP 37 Haeger  
RHP 47 Wade
C 9 Ellis  
OF 75 Paul
OF 17 Repko $500,000
SS 87 DeJesus**  
RHP 64 Guerra**  
RHP 74 Jansen**  
LHP 59 Leach**
RHP 73 Link**  
C 71 May**  
RHP 49 Schlichting**  
LHP 57 Elbert**  
OF 62 Robinson**  

Totals $93,522,760
 
Red = arbitration
Asterisk (*) = estimated
** = currently in minor league camp
For more detailed information, click here.

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