I am having to retire after being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in my feet.

Oh, well I can still walk!

… and I was batting .840!

Damn the Luck!

Matt Kemp is a player.  Players need to play.  “There’s nothing to stop [Matt Kemp] from playing in the Major Leagues. It’s only a matter of experience, which he is not going to get here. It’s impossible to get Major League experience in the Minor Leagues. He can learn some things, but obviously he knows how to play, because he went up there and played very well over a long period of time. It’s just a matter of time.” — 51s manager Jerry Royster

Andre Ethier is fast becoming a Rookie of the Year Candidate:

Frank McCourt cannot be happy right about now!

Drew, Nomar and Izturis were 0 for 12 last night .  Ethier and Martin were leding the way.  So much for vetern leadership!

Russ Martin can throw and run…Something Mikey doesn’t know about!

What will the Dodgers do?

Scripts News Service

By JIM ALEXANDER
This is the time of year that a general manager truly earns his salary.

The trading deadline of July 31 is looming. The Los Angeles Dodgers are struggling. And GM Ned Colletti is working the phones, parrying offers for his very best prospects and gauging the risk-reward ratio of any number of potential deals.

Complicating matters, even beyond the 1-9 tailspin that dropped the Dodgers into fourth place in the National League West, is the constantly shifting landscape.

Who’s a buyer? Who’s a seller? Who thinks they might still have an outside shot at a wild card berth? Who has a potential free agent, or a current big contract, that they’d like to flip for a batch of prospects?

This Space, of course, always has believed in aggressiveness at midseason. In baseball, the only thing the meek tend to inherit is second place (with the Angels’ conservative Bill Stoneman the rare exception).

Given those standards, the Dodgers seem to be in good hands. Colletti came to L.A. after nine seasons as Brian Sabean’s assistant GM in San Francisco _ and Sabean has made a habit of pulling off critical midseason deals. (He may be at it again with the acquisition of Shea Hillenbrand from Toronto a couple of days ago.)

Colletti, for sure, understands the value of a midseason upgrade.

Off the top of his head Saturday, he said he could think of maybe 11 or 12 teams, tops, who are sellers at this point in the season.

“The vast majority,” he said, “are making the calls.”

Circumstances have changed Colletti’s approach in recent days.

“Before Jeff (Kent) went out and J. D. (Drew) went out, we were concentrating more on pitching,” he said. “I think (the injuries) have left us to be more open-minded. Whether it’s a hitter or a pitcher, we’ve got to take a shot.”

But this much should make Dodgers fans comfortable: If Colletti doesn’t make a deal, it won’t be for lack of effort. It likely will be because he feels the potential boost for this season won’t be worth the cost of a potential 10- or 12-year big leaguer. The wealth of prospects in the Dodgers’ system provides plenty of bargaining chips. But some guys are off limits. Others will require high value in return.

“To make a move just to make a move, to give up a prospect or two just to change faces, we’re not there right now,” he said. “If you’ve won eight of nine, chances are the price is a little less. But when you’ve lost eight of nine, maybe there’s a sense a team can get a better (deal) because we’re in a tougher spot than we were 10 days ago.”

This is the dilemma: Is there a player out there (Alfonso Soriano? Barry Zito? Bobby Abreu?) who could not only put the Dodgers over the top in the division but also position them for October? And is that player worth (a) a Joel Guzman or a James Loney or an Andy LaRoche, and (b) the big-ticket salary involved to keep him here beyond this year, in the case of prospective free agents Soriano and Zito?

“Our (future payroll) budget isn’t the issue,” Colletti said. “Common sense is the key.”

Those are the best words I’ve heard from a Dodgers general manager since Fred Claire ran the store.

(And since Colletti and Claire both started out as sportswriters, I guess that means there’s still hope for This Space.)

Well, you can always come here.  Does someone want to start a conversation?  Let’s get a win!

Can we get this guy going?