Meet the Dodgers!

The Los Angeles Dodgers, otherwise known as the Los Angeles Braves, come to town this weekend for a three-game set between division leaders. Unfortunately, or fortunately, one of the Braves in Exile (hat-tip to Mac) will miss the series. Jason Schmidt still thinks he is a Braves pitcher after all these years and inflamed his right bursa sac. I don't know where that is, but anytime "sac" is mentioned, I usually channel Monty Python. "Say no more!"

I feel for the Dodgers playing in Ebbets Field or whatever pitcher's park they call home, but a .259/.332/.365 line as a team is pretty shitty even for the Nationals. Jeff Kent suddenly can't hit homeruns (hmmm) and Rafael Furcal is mustering all of his incompetence so far this year (.210/.289/.259). Should I even bother to mention that Wilson Betemit has been losing playing time due to a .132/.310/.170 line? He is walking, which makes him a bit more productive than my boy Ryan Langerhans this year. Russell Martin is turning into an All-Star catcher with his .312 AVG, solid IsoOBP of .084, and 5 for 5 in stolen bases. Instead, you cannot take it for granted that any Dodger will simply rest when he is on base. I guess you have to find a way to score about 4.5 runs a game when you can't jack any homers.

On the mound, the Dodgers are especially dangerous, especially since Schmidt is having sac problems. We will see their weakest starters beyond the former Brave this series, but none of them are easy chumps to beat up on. Randy Wolf is a strikeout machine this year, but is also giving up homeruns in bunches in hopes of reaching 40 before the end of the year. Derek Lowe is as average as he has ever been and makes for a great duo of medicority with Brett Tomko.

The pen has done a big part of keeping their ERA at 3.26. Chin-hui Tsao has loved the change-over from Coors to LA and has allowed just a hit in 10.2 scoreless innings. Jonathan Broxton is as nasty as any reliever in the game and Takashi Saito is pretty much a guarentee in the ninth, though he has served up a pair of homers. Joe Beimel will likely get to know Kelly Johnson, Brian McCann (if he plays), and the sheer asinine numbers of lefthanded hitters the Braves employ this weekend. Rudy Seanez has been a weaklink of the pen along with long reliever Chad Billingsley so far.

The pitching matchups benefit the Braves:
Friday: Tomko vs. Smoltz
Saturday: Lowe vs. Huddy
Sunday: Wolf vs. Davies

Gotta like the first two games, at least. Davies will likely get destroyed by this team unless we can get him to believe they are New York Mets in disguise. If the Braves can take the first two games, which we should, we will be in first at the end of the week when San Diego comes to town.

Series Tid-Bits
- The only regular in the Dodgers lineup that Hudson has handled of those who have faced him more than five times is Juan Pierre. The rest are hitting .300 or better. Meanwhile, Smoltz has owned these guys over their career.
- Rafael Furcal is one of the nine former All-Stars to go to the Midsummer Classic as a Brave, but to be on a different team in 2007. The others are Johnny Estrada, Marcus Giles, Tom Glavine, Kenny Lofton, Greg Maddux, Kevin Millwood, Russ Ortiz, and Gary Sheffield.