Sons of Steve Garvey

• 7:2
• Turns out that Beli was on those nose candy - at least once - and was caught, which kept him from entering the US last season. Thank god for small miracles. Here's hoping he gets back on the snow and stays far away from our bullpen. Although we could perhaps use him on the SoSG softball team, where drug testing and moral determinations of recreational substance use are not in place.
• Mike MacDougal had a bullpen session pushed back on Thursday after feeling stiffness in his back. That's meh.
• Clayton Kershaw had a bullpen session pushed back on Wednesday after feeling stiffness in his back. That's HOLY SHIT THAT BETTER NOT BE THE START OF SOMETHING.
• Jerry Sands went from substitute 1B/outfielder last season to substitute teacher this offseason, teaching English and math to middle and high schoolers. Thanks for contributing to the enlightenment of our youth, Jerry.
• Dodger coaching is putting out the word that they expect more from Billingsley this season. Don't we all. Not that we can complain that much. It was a little surprising to note that "He's...one (and the youngest) of only three pitchers in the league to notch double-digit wins in each of the last five seasons." But clearly we're all yearning for a little more from him. Apparently there have been some mechanics issues identified that he will be addressing as we round into training camp.
• Interesting piece on how Stan Conte assesses the potential health and success of prospective signees. I found this part humorous:

Since he knows it's coming, he brings up Jason Schmidt before he's asked about him. It's a wound Conte wears on his home screen. Every time he fires up the Internet on his laptop, it loads the career statistics of Schmidt, the $47 million pitcher he signed off on five years ago whose previously injured right shoulder lasted a total of 43 innings for Los Angeles.

• What is wrong with this sentence?:  "Hawksworth was a mostly effective middle reliever for the Dodgers last season, going 2-5 with a 4.15 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in a career-high 49 games."
• Oh, and a very happy birthday to Dodgers organist Nancy Bea Hefley today!

DIAMONDBACKS 7, DODGERS 6 (10)

It was tied 1-1 going into extra innings when the Dodgers blew it wide open: an A.J. Ellis triple capped a five-run inning and the Dodgers were cruising 6-1 heading into the bottom of the tenth. Then something terrible — dare I say Broxtonesque? — happened:

It wouldn't be a Dodger season without a meltdown, no?

Dana Eveland's Dodger (and 2011) debut was solid enough to earn a well-deserved win, thanks in large part to a three-run first inning before he even took the mound. Eveland went 8.0 IP with 1 ER and 6 H against 3 Ks and no walks, for a 1.13 ERA. Outstanding spot start!

Dee Gordon added a two-run double in the eighth and the Dodgers bullpen ended up needing it, since Blake Hawksworth gave up two runs without recording an out, and then Kenley Jansen gave up another run before getting his third save. Dodgers move on to Atlanta for the weekend.

PHILLIES 9, DODGERS 8

Was there ever any doubt about the outcome? Stoked to a five-run first inning (batting around, thanks in large part to a three-run Juan Rivera HR), and then elevated further to a 6-0 lead, the Dodgers coughed it up and allowed Philadelphia the sweep. Nine runs, spanning the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, did the trick. Another ninth-inning rally made the score close, but again, it's no cigar. The Dodgers can't play in the Phillies' league. Heck, they may not even be able to play in the Rockies' league.

The funny thing is, unlike yesterday in which I felt like my emotions were being toyed with, this time, I felt a certain degree of inevitability about the outcome. The six-run lead didn't give me enough confidence to think we would sustain it throughout the game, and when the first cracks in Chad Billingsley started to appear in the fourth inning, I knew it was over.

Replace Bills with Hong-Chih Kuo? Count on another couple of runs. Replace Kuo with Blake Hawksworth? Count on giving up the lead. Put in Matt Guerrier, Mike MacDougal and Javy Guerra? Sure, they'll do fine, but of course at that point we were losing, so it didn't matter, as we weren't going to stage a come back. Matt Kemp's 4-for-5 day is wasted, as is Rivera's 3-for-4, 4 RBI day. James Loney had 4 LOB in a 1-for-3 day, topped (bottomed?) by Andre Ethier's 0-for-4, 2 K day.

It was like getting in the ring with a heavyweight prizefighter. You may get in a couple of jabs and pokes for a round or two, but at some point, the big blows are going to take you down and knock you out. It's just a matter of time. At least there was half price food and non-alcoholic drink.

DODGERS 9, DIAMONDBACKS 5

The Diamondbacks had been hanging tight with the Dodgers for most of this game, even after Matt Kemp hit his third-inning, three-run HR to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead. The Snakes scored one in the top of the fourth, so we scored two in the bottom to make it 5-2. They worked it back to 5-4 by the top of the sixth off of a shaky Blake Hawksworth (Lilly lasted only five innings but got the win), and the Dodgers brought it back to 6-4 by the end of the sixth. (Kemp had the Dodgers' first five RBI. His HR tonight gives him 25 HR and 27 SB on the year, making him the fifth fastest in the National League ever to go 25-25.)

And then Arizona RF Justin Upton came to the plate in the seventh, with Vin Scully remarking at how much difficulty he has had at Dodger Stadium. BOOM! Upton hits a solo HR, narrowing the lead to 6-5, and Scully has to eat some crow, right?

Except Upton couldn't escape the end of the seventh inning without two huge defensive gaffes: an error off a totally catchable Tony Gwynn fly ball that became a ground-rule double when Upton approached the catch cavalierly, with only one hand up; and then a Jamey Carroll fly ball to mid-right-field with the not-so-fleet-of-foot Dioner Navarro on third. Upton caught the Carroll sac fly flat-footed, then sailed a throw halfway between third and home (Navarro scored easily). One more run from a Rafael Furcal RBI double, and it was 9-5 and this game was over.

Scully took note to politely criticize Upton on both defensive plays, at one point qualifying one criticism with "You know, I've never played baseball, BUT...". And Vin was (of course), right; Upton deserved the heat. (Upton popped out to James Loney to end the game, as well.) Upton, grilled. You know, I'm in love with an Upton, grilled.

Alas, the days where Christie Brinkley was hot and Billy Joel was married to her.

11 more strikeouts for the Tigers tonight, except this time, instead of one Dodgers gun mowing down Detroiters, strikeouts came at the hands of many Dodgers: starter Chad Billingsley (6 Ks over 5.1 IP), Matt Guerrier (1 K), Hong-Chih Kuo (1 K), and Blake Hawksworth (3 Ks to strike out the side in the ninth). The Tigers were 1-for-8 with RISP and left seven on base.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers were just cagey enough to eke out runs in four of their right frames, two coming off the bat of slumping Andre Ethier (fifth inning HR with one on and one out). Dee Gordon, A.J. Ellis, Tony Gwynn Jr., and even PH Trent Oeltjen notched RBI, with Oeltjen's coming off a double that could have been a three-bagger had he not slipped while rounding second base.

Morning baseball tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen, so get a good night's sleep!

photo swiped from dodgers.com

Dodgers roster moves as of this afternoon:

In:

• Marcus Thames
• Blake Hawksworth
• Juan Uribe
• Dee Gordon

Out:

• Jay Gibbons (DFA)
• Juan Castro (DFA)
• Ivan De Jesus (optioned to triple-A)
• John Ely (optioned to triple-A)

All moves are effective today and are ready for today's game.

Pitcher Blake Hawksworth suffered a strained right groin, depleting an already thin bullpen as he gets the groin "checked out" today:

PITTSBURGH -- Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Blake Hawksworth will undergo an MRI exam on his right groin on Wednesday morning after straining it while throwing a pitch in the eighth inning of Tuesday night's 10-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hawksworth said he is hopeful of avoiding a trip to the 15-day disabled list.

"That would be nice," he said. "I am a quick healer, so we'll see. It's one of those things where once it settles down, I will know, after I wake up in the morning and move around on it. It's too early to tell right now."

You know who's a quick healer? Wolverine. And you're no Wolverine.

Hawksworth said he suffered the same injury last spring while with the St. Louis Cardinals and was out for only about 10 days, adding that the discomfort was more severe then after he tried to pitch through the injury.

However, even if Hawksworth's injury isn't deemed to be a two-week thing, the Dodgers still might decide to put him on the DL if they deem themselves to be short on pitching, because Hawksworth probably will be unavailable for at least a few days anyway. In that case, Hawksworth would need to go on the shelf to clear room for another reliever to be called up from the minors.

Speaking of thin relief staffs, however: did any of you watching or listening to yesterday's game gain any insight why Matt Guerrier was removed from the game after batting in the top of the eighth (and reaching on a walk), while the Dodgers extended a 5-2 lead to 10-2?

Because the subsequent decision to replace Guerrier with Lance Cormier for the last two innings (Cormier gave up one run, a HR to Andrew McCutchen), is totally bizarre to me, after Guerrier only pitched to one batter in the seventh (striking out Xavier Paul). Why run through the bullpen with an eight-run lead? (Not the first time that Donnie's moves have confounded me, but this one seemed exceptionally odd.)

DODGERS 4, GIANTS 3

The Dodgers scored four runs? They came from behind? Don Mattingly is 2-0 as a manager? Matt Kemp is OPSing 1.550?

Chad Billingsley made one big mistake, giving up a three-run homer to Brandon Belt in the fourth, but he ended up with the win in a magical sixth inning keyed by Matt Kemp.

Kemp, who had a ground-rule double RBI in the third, singled in the sixth, then went from first to third on a Marcus Thames grounder to third. "It's a joy" to watch Kemp run, said Vin Scully, and the Twittersphere blew up with hallelujahs for both Kemp and Davey Lopes.

Dependable James Loney knocked Kemp in, and an error by Jonathan Sanchez (the Giants have made five errors in two games) extended the inning, allowing Rafael Furcal (2-for-4) to drive in the game-winning RBI.

We also got a look at some of our new middle relievers. Blake "Hot Sister" Hawksworth walked the bases loaded in the seventh. @jonmorosi takes it from here:

Posey strikes out. Bat flies into stands, hits fan in the head. Just as God Bless America ends, fan, w/ icepack, is handed bat. Crowd roars.

Matt Guerrier (rhymes with "career") pitched an uneventful eighth, aided by — who else? — Kemp getting a great jump on a hard-hit sinking fly ball by Belt. And Jonathan Broxton finally got a 1-2-3 inning, for his second save.

The Dodgers are assured of at least a split with the Giants, and cynical Dodger fans are going their best not to get too excited. Baseball's back!

photos by Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images