Dodgers Web musings: Checking in on the team-record 31-game hitting streak of Willie Davis

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Willie Davis, something of a hitting chameleon, is the last man standing in the way of Andre Ethier as he closes in on the Dodgers’ all-time hitting streak.

The Times’ Ben Bolch takes a look at Davis’ 31-game hitting streak set in 1969, when he tried to emulate the hitting style of Matty Alou.

Ethier, who sat out Wednesday’s game with a sore elbow, will take a 29-game hitting streak -- which ties him with Zack Wheat (1919) for second in club history -- into his next at-bat.

The Dodgers open a three-game series Friday against the Mets in New York.

Also on the Web:

-- Manager Don Mattingly sounded a tad more irritated with Ethier’s elbow problem -- he hurt it on April 16 -- when he spoke to the Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth than he did earlier when he met with reporters after Wednesday’s 5-1 loss to the Cubs:

‘I’m not sure why two weeks later it’s now starting to bother him, or why he hasn’t been getting treatment and might allow this thing to mushroom into something bigger. I just don’t know, if it keeps on hurting.’

-- In a video blog (yep, they have such things), ESPN’s Buster Olney says other MLB owners are wondering how Frank McCourt, at a time when most teams are flush and with all his resources, can have a cash-flow problem.

-- Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown writes that the Dodgers are shells of their traditional selves, on the field and off.

-- Dodger Divorce’s Josh Fisher writes a to-do list for Dodgers trustee Tom Schieffer for ESPN/LA.

-- Former Commissioner Fay Vincent writes for Fox News that the turmoil facing the Dodgers is stunningly ugly.

-- The Times’ Steve Lopez writes a live blog on a Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, where plenty of good seats were available.

‘Come on out to the park and say goodbye to the McCourts,’ writes Lopez.

-- The traveling McCourt media tour rolls on. He tells MLB.com’s Bobbie Dittmeier: ‘I became a caricature of myself.’
-- For those who can’t get enough of the McCourt spiel, here he is in a 15-minute video telling KTLA Channel 5 anchors: ‘I was a good owner until last year.’

-- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Karen Price writes that it’s so far, so good for Xavier Paul after the Pirates picked him on waivers from the Dodgers last week.

-- Shanna McCord of the Santa Cruz Sentinel updates on the progress of Bryan Stow, the Giants fan brutally beaten on opening day in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. Still no arrest.

-- And just so you don’t think we’ve forgotten her, Jamie McCourt’s site remains up and running, and doing who knows what.

-- Steve Dilbeck