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Torre chooses Belliard at second

GameSetMatch — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:27:11 +0000

Orlando Hudson feels grateful merely to be on anybody’s roster this season, much less getting ready for the first postseason series of his career.

Actually playing would be even better.

It’ll happen, but not at the start of tonight’s Dodgers-Cardinals Game 1 at Dodger Stadium. Dodgers manager Joe Torre said Tuesday he’ll go with Ronnie Belliard at second base for the opener against Cardinals right-hander Chris Carpenter.

Belliard “doesn’t have as wide a range (defensively) as Hudson does, but I think offensively he’s maybe a little fresher right now,” Torre said Tuesday.

“We asked O-Dog to do a lot of stuff early in the year. And he played his tail off and continues to do that. But it was just a decision I decided to make, and we’ll go day-to-day right now. We’ll go with Belliard and see what we have.”

Click here to read the full article – By Jim Alexander of The Press-Enterprise

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Classy Kemp closing in on history

GameSetMatch — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:35:47 +0000

Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp celebrated a quarter century of life on Wednesday while Dodgers fans are celebrating a rising star who has a good shot of reaching a statistical plateau that has never been reached in the more than 100-year history of the franchise.

Kemp is aiming to become the first Dodgers player to hit .300 with 25 homers, 100 RBIs and 30 steals in one season. Through Wednesday, his 25th birthday, Kemp was hitting .304 with 25 homers, 97 RBIs and 34 steals in 149 games.

Already, he is only the sixth player in Dodgers history to have 20 homers and 30 steals in one season, and the first since Raul Mondesi in 1999.

There will be those who tell you that they knew this is what they’d eventually see from the gifted but raw young athlete drafted in the sixth round of the 2003 First-Year Player Draft out of high school in Oklahoma, where he turned down an offer from the Sooners to play shooting guard and instead opted to focus on baseball.

Click here to read the full article – By Lisa Winston of MLB.com

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Ethier's walk-off magic rescues Dodgers

GameSetMatch — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:34:42 +0000

The Atlanta Braves kept giving them opportunities, but it didn’t seem that the Dodgers had what it took to rally for a win Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.

His team trailing by two runs in the seventh inning, Manny Ramirez walked to the batter’s box with two on and two out while a heavy-metal riff fit for a closer played over the P.A. system. Surely, he’d come through in that situation. But Ramirez struck out on a 2-2 slider to end the inning.

The Dodgers couldn’t come through again with runners in scoring position in the eighth when Matt Kemp struck out to end that particular threat.

Click here to read the full article – By David Ely of MLB.com

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