LA Dodgers (67-62) vs. Arizona (63-66) 1:40pm
Lineups:
LA DodgersRafael Furcal SS .282/.354/.393
Kenny Lofton CF .314/.373/.413
Julio Lugo 2B .254/.329/.317
J.D. Drew RF .277/.372/.461
Jeff Kent 1B .267/.357/.460
Andre Ethier LF .332/.374/.532
Wilson Betemit 3B .239/.292/.455
Russell Martin C .284/.354/.438
Chad Billingsley P .050/.174/.050
Arizona
Eric Byrnes CF .271/.326/.489Orlando Hudson 2B .287/.348/.460
Luis Gonz?lez LF .281/.366/.466
Conor Jackson 1B .284/.370/.427
Chad Tracy 3B .276/.338/.433
Stephen Drew SS .321/.356/.521
Carlos Quentin RF .234/.326/.494
Chris Snyder C .292/.373/.438
Liv?n Hern?ndez P .000/.000/.000
Pitching Matchup:
| Chad Billingsley | vs | Liv?n Hern?ndez |
| 4 | W | 1 |
| 3 | L | 2 |
| 3.07 | ERA | 4.15 |
| 73.1 | IP | 21.2 |
| 6.4 | K/9 | 5.09 |
| 6.03 | BB/9 | 2.12 |
| 0.86 | HR/9 | 0.42 |
For a while, I've wondered about how Lugo has felt about getting turned into a reserve during his contract year, apparently, he's not happy. At least for one day, the squeaky wheel is getting the grease, since he's starting for Nomar. I'm assuming that his request for a trade is going to fall on deaf ears, since he'd be snatched off waviers by at least four contending teams.
Odalis Perez got knocked around today in Toronto, surrendering six runs in four innings and raising his ERA in Kansas City over a run to 5.73.
Topic for discussion: if you were put in charge of some middling team, let's say the Pirates, what's the first thing that you would do?
Personally, I'd go purchase Jack Cust and tell him that he's got 500 at bats in the big leagues. The man has walked 121 times this year, and in his career, he's walked about once every 4.5 plate appearances for a .439 on base in the minors. Despite this, he's only been given 120 at bats in the bigs, and they weren't that bad. He's only got a .221 average but it's attached to a .720 OPS. The guy deserves a chance.
Oh, and I had to disable anonymous comments. Was I asking too much when I asked people not to bring their Internet drama over here? Apparently.