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Y E S T E R D A Y…

Cardinals 6, Dodgers 4: After Chris Carpenter and two rain delays kept the Dodgers’ offense silent for eight innings, the boys in Blue were finally able to make some noise in an eventful ninth inning. Andruw Jones started the inning off with a pinch-hit home run (no, that wasn’t a typo), followed by back to back singles that would eventually load the bases and lead to three more runs for the Blue, which sent the game into extra innings. Unfortunately for LA, that was the only inning they could plate any runs. Ryan Ludwick continued to defy logic and drove a Jason Johnson pitch into center field for the win. The Cards’ mastery of the Dodgers continues…

Orioles 3, Angels 0: 3-6, 5.70 ERA. Those were the numbers of Orioles starter Chris Waters in the minors. Yet the rookie made his major league debut last night and had no trouble shutting down the best team in baseball. The rook pitched eight strong innings and gave up just one run for his first major league victory. Jon Garland came away with the hard luck loss, dropping his record to 10-7 on the season. The Halos seem to have a way of welcoming in new pitchers to the MLB. It was the fourth time a pitcher had made his debut against the Halos, and the third time that the pitcher came away with a victory. Hey, at least no pitchers will be making their debuts in the playoffs. Right?              

T O D A Y…

Angels vs. Orioles (12:35 p.m., FSW): Get ready for some afternoon baseball in the O.C. today. Maybe the early start will help the offense get going after last night’s no-show. Ervin Santana, in search of his 13th victory, takes the mound against the O’s Garrett Olson (8-5, 5.67 ERA). Maybe the Halos can show some of that patience at the plate that has dramatically improved their offense.

Dodgers at Cardinals (5:15 p.m., KCAL): Can LA finally get a victory against the Cards? The Blue try to pick up their first victory against the Red Birds tonight when Derek Lowe goes up against Joel Pineiro. LA sits only two games back of the D-backs in the loss column. Lets hope they start that long winning streak we all have been waiting for, instead of hovering around .500 for most of the year.

N E W S W O R T H Y…

• USC football starts practicing today.
• The freshmen class at UCLA are impressing the coach.
• Mike Scioscia doesn’t like the talk about him helping K-Rod “pad” his saves total.

C O L U M N S…

• Randy Youngman of the OC Register explains that history doesn’t bode well for closers who top 50 saves in a season. So maybe it isn’t such a good thing if K-Rod shatters the all-time saves record.
• SportsHubLA.com Column of the Day: With Manny Ramirez now in LA, Kevin Modesti asks who is the biggest star in LA? Kobe or Manny? With the newfound love that Angelinos have for ManRam, Modesti thinks it’s a fair question to ask. Manny may lead the Dodgers to a division title and into the playoffs. He may even help them win a playoff series for the first time since 1988. Heck, he may even lead them to a World Series title. OK, I’m getting ahead of myself here. But make no mistake about it, no matter how much Manny does for the Dodgers, this is still a Lakers town.

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