Jeff Gross/Getty ImagesAfter allowing eight earned runs in eight starts from June 25-August 4, Vicente Padilla allowed 12 in his past two outings.

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

  • Scott Podsednik, LF
  • Ryan Theriot, 2B
  • Matt Kemp, CF
  • James Loney, 1B
  • Casey Blake, 3B
  • Reed Johnson, RF
  • Jamey Carroll, SS
  • Brad Ausmus, C
  • Ted Lilly, P

Perhaps the next time Vicente Padilla slumps, we should just assume he’s hurt.

Padilla got off to a poor start this season, and it turned out he needed to go on the disabled list.

Then he came back, and got red-hot for a while.

Then he slumped, and it turns out he needed to go on the disabled list — with a bulging disc in his neck, as Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports …

Both (Joe) Torre and Dodgers director of medical services Stan Conte said the injury is nothing they didn’t know about, but that Padilla wanted to try to pitch through it. Torre admitted that the injury was a major factor in Padilla’s ineffectiveness in those two starts, when he gave up 12 runs on 14 hits over 9 1/3 innings.

Carlos Monasterios, who pitched 5 1/3 innings this month, most recently facing eight batters Sunday, is now a potential starter in Padilla’s place Friday, and Travis Schlichting is coming back from Albuquerque.

* * *

  • If the Dodgers had released this draft-day video two months ago showing how badly Logan White wanted Zach Lee, no one would have thought for a moment that they had punted the pick. (Link via Blue Heaven.)
  • Vin Scully learned (kinda) what a mullet is, and Wezen-ball has the amusing transcript.
  • Josh Fisher of Dodger Divorce looks at today’s McCourt news.
  • Pedro Feliz and his .555 OPS with Houston got traded to the St. Louis Cardinals today for Single-A pitcher David Carpenter, who has good stats but is already 25. In case you want to compare trade value, Casey Blake, who turns 37 on Monday,  has better numbers (.722 OPS) than the 35-year-old Feliz but is owed a bunch more money. Not that Blake appears to be going anywhere …
  • Lou Gehrig finished a triple short of the cycle 42 times, writes Aaron Gleeman of Hardball Talk.
  • Hey, Manny Mota’s under there! (Another one from Blue Heaven.)