Dodgers community caravan scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday

Andre Ethier, James Loney and Dee Gordon will be among the players participating in the Dodgers’ annual community caravan Tuesday and Wednesday.

Newcomers Adam Kennedy and Jerry Hairston Jr. will be part of the community outreach effort, as will former players such as Fernando Valenzuela and Tommy Davis.

One stop on the two-day tour will be open to the public: lunch on Tuesday at a South Los Angeles location that will be revealed at the Dodgers’ Twitter account (@Dodgers) at 12:30 p.m. that day. The lunch will from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

On the caravan that day will be current players Gordon, Kennedy, Tony Gwynn Jr., Kenley Jansen, Josh Lindblom and Ramon Troncoso; former players Davis, Shawn Green, Al Ferrara and Dennis Powell; and broadcaster Eric Collins.

ALSO:

Dodgers reach agreement with reliever Todd Coffey

The Dodger who can have the greatest effect on the 2012 season

Dodgers Web musings: 2012 team is not wowing followers

-- Dylan Hernandez

Really, it's OK: Dodgers re-sign reliever Mike MacDougal

The Dodgers have re-signed reliever Mike MacDougal to a one-year deal for $650,000 with an option for 2013, and don’t go and get your I-just-sucked-a-lemon face on.

MacDougal proved a very useful, mostly reliable setup man in 2011. And that rare Dodgers veteran who remained healthy all season.

The popular refrain about MacDougal from last season is how horribly deceptive his 2.04 ERA was because he was truly so abysmal in preventing inherited runners from scoring. Which isn’t completely true, at least in terms of inherited runners.

Which is not to say it was sterling, but neither was it as horrific as memory tries to serve. MacDougal allowed 33.3% of his inherited runners to score, slightly above the 30.0% league average.

Few relievers, however, inherited more runners – 51, sixth highest in the National League – so when 17 came home, it still seemed like a lot. On the season with runners in scoring position, batters hit just .157 against MacDougal.

And since the Dodgers’ bullpen is loaded with youth – Kenley Jansen, Javy Guerra, Scott Elbert, Josh Lindblom – they could use another veteran along with Matt Guerrier and Blake Hawksworth.

MacDougal was a non-roster invitee last season, so anything positive the team received from him was something of a bonus. He came relatively cheaply at $500,000.

Having somewhat rebuilt his career, he no doubt was looking for a bump. The club opiton for next season is $2.35 million with a $350,000 buyout, meaning his one-year deal will really earn him $1 million next season, which sadly seems the norm these days. It at least beats the two-year deals being thrown around this winter. And right now it's hard to believe the Dodgers would pick up the option at that price.

MacDougal is mostly a middle-innings eater, who despite that glossy ERA still had a fairly fat 1.46 WHIP. He’ll turn 35 in two months and his best days clearly are behind him, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a role for him in 2012. Sure beats Ramon Troncosco.

RELATED:

Joe Torre adds to the best show the Dodgers have going

Time Warner Cable 'interested' in Dodgers bid

Joe Torre joining Rick Caruso in bid to buy Dodgers

-- Steve Dilbeck

Photo: Dodgers reliever Mike MacDougal is congratulated by catcher Dioner Navarro after a victory over the White Sox in an interleague game last season. Credit: Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press

That's a wrap: Dodgers complete longest season with 7-5 win

And that is your Dodgers’ 2011 season.

All the ownership ugliness, all the wondrous individual play of Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp, the lousy team start, the surprising team finish. All now done with.

The Dodgers wrapped it up Wednesday with a 7-5 victory over the Diamondbacks, completing their longest season at 82-79 -– only the second time all year they were three games above .500.

All the baseball craziness on Wednesday was left to those chasing wild-card berths. This one on a warm desert night had no significance, the Brewers winning earlier Wednesday to assure they would have homefield advantage over Arizona.

There was no stunning, final two-homer game by Kemp that enabled him to join the 40 home run, 40 stolen base club. He just settled for a final two-run homer.

Alas, Kemp ended up hitting .324 with 39 homers, 126 RBI, 114 runs and 40 stolen bases on the season. Otherwise, he just never could seem to get it going.

The homers, runs and RBI all led the league, and the 126 RBI are also the second highest total ever for a Los Angeles Dodger (Tommy Davis, 153, 1962).

Dodgers offense suddenly listless in 7-2 loss to Nationals

Meanwhile, back to your regular Dodgers season …

That offensive machine that had suddenly –- and quite unexpectedly -– become the Dodgers, has reverted back to more familiar form.

With Hiroki Kuroda giving up a career-high four home runs and a series of Washington pitchers handcuffing the Dodgers, the Nationals easily downed the Dodgers, 7-2, on Monday afternoon.

The Dodgers had won 11 of their last 12 games and six in a row before losing to Atlanta on Sunday. During that 12-game stretch, they had averaged 6.25 runs a game.

But after consecutive doubles by Jamey Carroll and Matt Kemp against John Lannan produced a run in the first inning, the Dodgers' offense pretty much closed shop.

And with Kuroda giving up three home runs in the first inning alone -– he had never previously given up three homers in an entire game –- it was a bad time for their offense to wither.

The Dodgers had struggled to score for Kuroda (11-15) most of the season, but in his last four starts during their offensive surge had produced 32 runs. Maybe he got used to it, but that offense wasn’t going to make an appearance on a gray day in the nation's capital.

Ian Desmond led off the bottom of the first innings with a home run. Michael Morse followed a Ryan Zimmerman single with a two-run homer. Former Dodger Jayson Werth followed with another homer.

It was 4-1, and with the Dodgers unable to generate any real scoring threats until the ninth inning, the game was essentially over.

Kuroda then settled down until Morse, who has one of the ugliest batting stances in baseball, led off the bottom of the sixth another home run. He has 26 on the season.

Kuroda went six innings on the day, giving up five runs on eight hits. Conversely, he did not walk a batter and struck out a season-high nine.

Rookie Josh Lindblom gave up one run in the seventh inning on a Desmond single and Rick Ankiel double. Betrayed by some sloppy fielding, Ramon Troncoso surrendered one unearned run in the eighth. Aaron Miles let a ball through his legs for an error and Dee Gordon simply dropped a soft liner for what would have been a double play, before Wilson Ramos knocked in a run with a single.

The Dodgers ended the game they way they started it, adding a final run in the ninth inning on back-to-back doubles by A.J. Ellis and Justin Sellers.

RELATED:

Dodgers farms system producing talent and titles

Reliever Hong-Chih Kuo says he's having fun again

Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly wants more offense for 2012

-- Steve Dilbeck

Photo: Dodgers starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda reacts after giving up one of three home runs to the Washington Nationals in the first inning Sunday at Nationals Park.Credit: Evan Habeeb / US Presswire

Dodgers' injury carousel continues: Rod Barajas to DL, Hong-Chih Kuo activated, A.J. Ellis up and Ramon Troncoso down

One’s up, one’s down.

Is it progress when you’re no longer going backward?

The Dodgers placed catcher Rod Barajas on the 15-day disabled list prior to Sunday’s game and called up A.J. Ellis from triple-A Albuquerque.

They also activated reliever Hong-Chih Kuo from the DL and optioned Ramon Troncoso back to Albuquerque.

The Dodgers have now placed 14 different players on the disabled list this season, a total of 19 different times. Entering Sunday, they had missed a total of 449 games. And it’s only June 19.

Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said Barajas’ ankle injury did not appear to be as serious as originally feared, and it was hoped he could be activated at the end of his 15-day period on the DL.

Dodgers find their Colorado power stroke, then hang on for 10-8 victory over Rockies

Power is not the Dodgers' friend. Sometimes, seems barely a fleeting acquaintance.

The Dodgers began Sunday's game ranked 20th in the majors with 49 home runs -- and 19 had come from one player, Matt Kemp.

So imagine their delight when they fairly exploded for three home runs against the Rockies, powering their way to a 10-7 victory -- which, with the game being played in Colorado, naturally required them to hang on.

Kemp got his seemingly daily home run, a solo shot in the fifth that pushed his National League-leading total to 20. And catcher Rod Barajas followed two outs later with another solo shot, his first home run since May 13.

The biggest blow, however, came from an unlikely source: James Loney.

Dodgers to sign autographs before Sunday's game to raise funds for Missouri tornado relief

Manager Don Mattingly and eight Dodgers are scheduled to sign autographs before Sunday’s game to raise funds for Missouri tornado victims.

Mattingly and pitchers Scott Elbert, Ted Lilly, Chad Billingsley, Matt Guerrier, Kenley Jansen, Javy Guerra, Mike MacDougal and Ramon Troncoso are scheduled to sign from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

The manager and players will sign as part of the team’s Viva Los Dodgers celebration in parking lot six.

A $5 donation is encouraged by the club. Cash and checks will be accepted. All funds are scheduled to be given to the Salvation Army.

The Dodgers said Elbert, who is originally from Joplin, Mo., is spearheading Sunday’s effort.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Dodgers place Padilla on DL; is there a closer in the house?

And for the Dodgers’ next closer …

Quick, somebody put a hand up.

That forearm soreness of Vicente Padilla’s became serious enough Thursday that the Dodgers put him on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to May 14 with radial nerve irritation.

To replace him, they called up Ramon Troncoso, again, from triple-A Albuquerque.

This is the same forearm Padilla had surgery on during spring training and forced him to miss the first three weeks of the season.

Shortly after he returned, however, closer Jonathan Broxton and Hong-Chih Kuo, the closer late last season, quickly went to the disabled list.

Padilla was elevated to closer, but threw 32 pitches Friday in his ninth appearance and his forearm became sore.

"It’s the same area, so it kind of relates to the same stuff,’’ Manager Don Mattingly said. ``He’s feeling a little better today, which is encouraging. But we’re on day six, and realistically we probably wouldn’t be able to use him again until day nine or 10, and then we’d have to give him a day off and we’re at day 12.

"It just makes sense for us to give him a chance to get healthy and try to deal with the long term."

Could Matt Guerrier actually prove a bargain?

At the time, it was a mild head-scratcher.

Three years and $12 million for a 32-year-old middle reliever?

Matt Guerrier had been a very nice reliever the previous six years for the Minnesota Twins. For his career, he had a 3.37 earned-run average, a 1.23 WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched) and had appeared in more than 70 games in each of the previous four seasons.

With multiyear deals for middle relievers almost in vogue during the off-season, the Dodgers signed Guerrier.

So far, he has been a serious bargain.

In nine appearances this season, Guerrier has yet to give up a run and has fashioned a remarkable 0.69 WHIP.

Thursday, he pitched two scoreless innings for the Dodgers, picking up his first victory. He has yet to give up a run in 10 2/3 innings as a Dodger.

With Kenley Jansen and Lance Cormier struggling, Ronald Belisario still doing his Venezuelan visa dance, Hong-Chih Kuo on the disabled list, Ramon Troncoso still unrecognizable and Vicente Padilla just about to make his season debut, the Dodgers have badly needed Guerrier to come through.

Just like a reliever worthy of a three-year deal. And so far, he has been better than even expected.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Photo: Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Matt Guerrier (55) pitches in the eighth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium Monday. Credit: Kirby Lee / US Presswire

Dodgers still waiting for Kenley Jansen's 2011 command performance

Was it only a dream?

The kid who had been a career catcher is suddenly turned into a reliever and starts throwing lightning? In less than a year, he not only makes it to the majors, he dominates.

Really, it happened. Kenley Jansen came on last July and posted an 0.67 ERA in 25 games. He struck out 50 in 27 innings.

It just seems like some fuzzy dream at the moment, because Jansen is suddenly enormously hittable. He barely resembles the hard-throwing right-hander from last season.

In eight appearances this year, Jansen has an 11.57 ERA. He's given up 13 hits (three homers), walked six and struck out 13 in 8 2/3 innings. Manager Don Mattingly admits to some concern.

"A little, obviously he hasn't been like last year," Mattingly said. "He hasn’t been overpowering.

"His command has not been great, but he really hasn't had that little extra gear yet this year. There's been times he's had it, but I don't think consistently."