7/17 Pre-Game Notes

Yesterday, I made the prediction that Matt Kemp would be batting eighth after his 0-fer last night. I was wrong- he's not even in the lineup! Also, slightly off topic, but Matt Kemp stated that the drunken ESPY story circulating around is completely fabricated. Interesting.

Without further ado, the lineup...

Furcal, SS
Pierre, CF
Ramirez, LF
Blake, 3B
Ethier, RF
Loney, 1B
Hudson, 2B
Martin, C
Bills, P

Joe Torre arrived in the dugout, assumed his usual spot on the bench, and dispensed the following pearls of wisdom:

Torre is "very confident" in going to Jonathan Broxton tonight. "This is something he's had before, and he's responded well to the [cortisone] shot. He threw yesterday and had no issues as all." Torre did mention however that Broxton previously tried to conceal his injury. "He's tried to pitch through it. He did it in San Diego (his line: 1.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB) without telling us, and we sort of pried it out of him in Milwaukee."

Hong-Chih Kuo will continue his rehab by pitching tomorrow in San Bernadino.

As of right now there is no decision on the upcoming need for a fifth starter. "We're still going through it," notes Torre. "We'll have to have one by Monday, and as soon as we make up our mind we'll let you know."

The uncertainty surrounding Cory Wade continues. "Cory wasn't available to us in Milwaukee that last [before the All-Star break] which kind of raised red flags because he had only thrown 15 pitches the day before. During the break, they didn't know exactly what it was. They'll flip flop him back and forth between 'should be alright' and 'you may want to disable him'. It's the shoulder he had some tightness in. It's frustrating for him. He threw about 4 or 5 throws yesterday and couldn't do it."

For those not in attendance last night, believe me when I say that Juan Pierre got a bigger ovation that Manny Ramirez. Joe Torre noticed too. "It was great. To me I pretty much thought it was a tip of the hat to someone who really was a major part of our success while Manny was gone. I wish we could have had cheers after [his at-bat] too."

As stated above, Juan Pierre is getting the start tonight over Matt Kemp. Why you ask? "It's going to be a number of things," states Torre. "Whether someone is struggling, or he has numbers that stand out. Today I came to the ballpark and happened to look at those number [against Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt] and it sort of jumped out at me. You really have to pay attention to have anybody that's had any kind of numbers against Oswalt." Pierre's career slash against Oswalt in 35 career plate appearances is .353/ .371/ .412.

Torre continues to be impressed with the recent performance of Clayton Kershaw. "He's using all his pitches. I think that's the big thing. His change-up has been a better pitch for him. He's been working slider to give him another break ball that isn't one of those 12-6 jobs where he has a little more chance of getting it through the strike zone. I think the change-up has been a big pitch that he is getting swings off of, and that's the important thing. He can pitch to contact a little more."

A little more than an hour 'til game time...