Reed Johnson: Dodgers’ hottest hitter
Dodgers at Cubs, 5:05 p.m.

  • Rafael Furcal, SS
  • Russell Martin, C
  • Matt Kemp, CF
  • Manny Ramirez, LF
  • Casey Blake, 3B
  • James Loney, 1B
  • Reed Johnson, RF
  • Blake DeWitt, 2B
  • Chad Billingsley, P

Joe Torre confirmed to reporters today that the Dodgers will call up a pitcher from Albuquerque before Friday’s game. He also said that Ramon Ortiz would be backing up Carlos Monasterios that day.

Andre Ethier is likely to head out soon on a rehab assignment in Albuquerque, Torre and the Dodgers said.

Elsewhere …

  • John Lackey has an ERA is above 5.00. Alex Remington of Big League Stew says it’s Lackey’s command.  If Lackey were a Dodger, John Ely could turn him around.
  • Dodger photographer extraordinaire Jon SooHoo has created the Dodger Photog Blog.  (via TheLFP.com)
  • Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports interviews Toronto batting coach Dwayne Murphy about the Blue Jays’ record pace for home runs. “I think on-base percentage is an overrated stat,” Murphy said. “Those guys getting on base, most of them aren’t getting them in. Give me somebody who drives them in after that. I need guys who can drive the ball.”
  • Stephen Fry supports the Great Britain baseball team.  Awesome. (Thanks, Baseball Musings.)
  • Al Yellon of Bleed Cubbie Blue looks at the latest in policing drinking problems in the Wrigley Field bleachers.

    • If you came to last night’s game with a bleacher ticket, and wanted to drink alcohol, you needed to get a wristband from crowd control. This is an outstanding idea and props to the Cubs for being proactive after the problems a couple of weeks ago and coming up with a solution. There were crowd control people checking ID’s as people entered, and also several tables set up inside the bleachers issuing wristbands if you missed that coming in.

    While it’s not a perfect system, it should cut way down on the underage drinking. Incidentally, even though ID’s are checked as you get a wristband, they will be checked again by the alcohol servers. There were a few people ejected last night, but no fights and the crowd, though small — the bleachers were only about 2/3 full and the paid attendance of 34,749 was the smallest of the season — was peaceful.

  • Are the Padres going to turn into pumpkins? Longtime Ducksnorts blogger Geoff Young asks and answers at The Hardball Times.