Looking to go 2 games over .500 for the first time this season, the Dodgers return home following a 4-2 road trip. Without the loss in San Francisco the trip would look a lot better, but it's hard to be unhappy with the way this team is playing. Jeff Kent is hitting, the role players are contributing, and the team is weathering the injury bug pretty well. While Baez struggles, Saito has been impressive. Tomko and Sele have been getting great results, and the team keeps scoring runs. I get no sense of frustration regarding their inability to get meaningfully above .500.
In the other dugout tonight, the Angels are hoping to get on track. Hopefully we don't do for them what we did for the Padres. Not that I have anything against the Angels, but I don't want them gaining anything at the expense of the Dodgers. Jeff Weaver takes the mound for the Halos (Haloes?) tonight and I can't help thinking that he probably should have negotiated a long-term deal with the Dodgers. GM's are going to punish him for his record and ERA if they don't get WAY better. He's 1-6 with an ERA of 7.40. If there was an anti-Cy Young award, he'd be getting a lot of early votes, considering the emphasis that guys like Joe Morgan put on the wins/losses. His WHIP of 1.51 isn't very good, but it's also not quite as appalling as his other stats. Sele has just as many wins and a WHIP of 0.95. Nice.
We'll se if Sele can keep it going for us tonight. He only gave up 5 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings last time out. I'm glad that management brought him up rather than Billingsly. No need to start service clocks too early.
Go Blue.
The Pitching Matchup:
Jeff Weaver (RHP, Angels) vs. Aaron Sele (RHP, Dodgers)
For the (17-24) Anaheim Angels:
Figgins, CF
Cabrera, SS
Guerrero, RF
Rivera, LF
Kennedy, 2B
Quinlan, 1B
McPherson, 3B
Napoli, M., C
Weaver, P
For your (21-20) Los Angeles Dodgers:
Furcal, SS
Cruz, CF
Garciaparra, 1B
Drew, RF
Kent, 2B
Aybar, 3B
Ethier, LF
Martin, C
Sele, P