The event, benefiting the Dodgers Dream Foundation, will allow fans to take on an honorary role for the game – be an honorary photographer, an honorary coach, or an official Hollywood Stars batkid. Additional auction winners can read the celebrity team lineups or take the field with a celebrity at the start of the game and receive their autograph. Every package winner also gets four baseline box or field level tickets to the Dodgers-Indians game. For those of you with families. many of the experiences are open to adults and children regardless of age. Bidding is now underway online and will continue until 2 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, June 17. Go to http://www.dodgers.com/ticketauction for full details or to place your bid.

Celebrities scheduled to be in attendance include Christian Slater, David Arquette, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Van Der Beek, Sean Astin, Tom Arnold, Garry Marshall, Cristian de la Fuente, George Thorogood, and many more. Over 30 sports, music, and acting stars will be involved in this event – all for a great cause. In addition, the game will be hosted by popular E! personalities from E! News and The Daily 10 and will feature special performances by the Blue Man Group.

The event actually dates back 50 years when the Dodgers were making the move from Brooklyn. Legendary singer Nat King Cole and some of his Hollywood pals thought it would be fun to have a celebrity baseball game before the new team in town, the Dodgers, played a game that actually counted in the standings. They set up the event (then at the Los Angeles Coliseum) and the event became a regularly scheduled promotional event for the team. While the game used to be played with a baseball (but is now a softball event), there is still a lot of competition amongst the stars for bragging rights.

From the Dodgers organization:

Founded in 1998, the Dodgers Dream Foundation (DDF) was created to provide educational, athletic and recreational opportunities for the youth of the Greater Los Angeles community. In 2007, the Dodgers and the Dodgers Dream Foundation assisted more than 5,000 local youth organizations by renovating baseball fields in the community, through player appearances, and by donating more than 100,000 tickets, autographed memorabilia, donation of used equipment and much more. Last season, the Dodgers Dream Foundation affected an estimated 250,000 local youth through its various programs.

During a conference call Monday to promote the PGA Championship near Detroit, Tiger Woods was asked whether he was picking the Red Wings or Penguins in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals that night.

After joking he’d rather talk about the Dodgers, Woods said, “I don’t think anybody really watches hockey anymore.”

Attaboy, Tiger! Now if anyone was actually watching the Dodgers last Sunday night instead of the Lakers, we’d really have something to talk about

UPDATE (6/11):
Tiger opted to “clarify” his statement about hockey while taking part in a news conference via satellite at Oakland Hills on June 2 after internet sites exploded with negative comment from hockey fans over the comment.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve gotten a lot of grief over that,” Woods said Tuesday. “I love the sport. I love watching it, but I don’t like watching it on TV. In person it’s absolutely incredible, what they’re able to do and what they can do. TV doesn’t do justice to that. But then neither does — a lot of sports are the same way.

“It is what it is. I said what I said, and I was trying to be funny about it, but people didn’t perceive it that way.”

Well, if I told you that the Dodgers lost again you probably wouldn’t be surprised. If I also told you that there weren’t a lot of runs scored by the Dodgers you also wouldn’t likely be shocked. If I told you the starting pitcher threw a solid game and lost thanks to his relief, that probably wouldn’t surprise you either. Unfortunately, the remarkable comeback of Chad Billingsley has been spoiled by another collapse thanks to his teammates.

You all remember ol’ Chad, don’t you? He was the one that started 0-3 with a 6.53 ERA through his first six outings this season. He managed to turn things around and over his last seven starts (going back to April 30) he’s managed to deliver a 4-2 record with a 1.80 ERA (9 ER/45.0 IP). This means his earned run average has dropped to 3.29 – quite an improvement for the team.

Unfortunately, this good work has not gone unpunished. Today, Johnathan Broxton was the culprit, giving up a lead-off double to Wright and then sacrificing a home run to Carlos Beltran, eliminating the tidy 2-0 lead that the Dodgers had amassed over the first seven innings. The Mets scored the winning run thanks to a single by Fernando Tatis that drove in pinch-runner Nick Evans.

Take a look at Billingsley’s last four starts and you’ll see why I am so frustrated at the losses that come on his watch – 27 IP, 15 Hits, and 3 Earned Runs. This is SOLID performance but the middle and late relief just can’t deliver the way Chad can. Combine this with the lack of offense that L.A. is putting up and you have a recipe for the type of give-back we saw today in New York.

On a side note, Dodgers manager Joe Torre seems to be warming up to the idea of switching up the lineup further to try to increase run production. Said Torre, “I think with the personnel we have, we could interchange pieces…I had the situation in New York. The experience is different, but we had a number of different guys who could hit 3, 4, 5, 6 — those are the power spots and those are the production spots.” Let’s hope some change will result in more offense from the team.

1. The lineup hasn’t adapted to address the team injuries – with Kent and Jones sidelined and/or unproductive, the Dodgers have had to rely on Maza, Hu, Pierre, and whatever pitcher we have up that day. If those guys are anywhere near one another in the lineup it’s going to be really hard to string two hits together and get a run across home plate. Not much you can do about the $50 mil that’s off your roster at the moment, but what about changing the order of things?

If Nomar, Tony Abreu, Furcal, Ramon Martinez and Andy LaRoche hadn’t gotten hurt, there’s no way we’d be carrying Maza and Terry Tiffee on the bench while starting Chin-Lung Hu. – TrueBlueLA

True enough.

Andre Ethier has been the silent giant as of late, getting on base more consistently than the rest of the lineup but with no one to help him, the Dodgers are struggling. Besides a change in the lineup, could a more aggressive pinch hitting strategy change things up? Tiffee was brought up to lend a hand in just these instances and, while still green, should be more of a go-to person on the team.

Got to run to the airport but will finish my thoughts on this tomorrow – or maybe Chris will jump in and continue the thought…

Perhaps the most telling statistic was one that Chris Berman mentioned on the ESPN feed tonight. For the series, the Dodgers were only 3-27 with runners in scoring position and were 0-5 on the night after leaving the bases loaded in the top of the 9th.

To be sure, injuries have decimated the hitting squad for the Dodgers, with Nomar on the DL and Jeff Kent suffering from back spasms – not to mention Rafael Furcal’s back problems. Garciaparra will undergo additional tests on Friday to assess his nagging calf strain, but there’s been no indication from the Dodger camp that anyone is optimistic about his return anytime soon.

So what are the Dodgers to do in the meantime (other than pray that the D-Backs continue their slide and keep the 3.5 game spread between them and the Dogers in place)? Torre has certainly been willing to take chances with the lineup as of late (remember when Loney ended up being the key pinch hitter in Game 1 of this series and struck out?) but nothing could muster more than one run in each game against the Cubbies.

Thoughts welcome…

Likewise, the Dodgers coughed one up to the Mets at the end of this last series thanks in part to some mediocre pitching from our old friend Brad Penney. Tonight, it’s Derek Lowe’s turn on the mount. Lowe, who is 2-2 with a 3.66 ERA, was credited with the loss on Sunday in Colorado, as he allowed five runs and six hits in five innings. Here’s hoping he can manage a bit better against the Astros.

Houston is starting a fresh face for this season as a starter- right-hander Brian Moehler. This is the first start for Moehler since September of 2006 when he was with Florida. In place of the injured Wandy Rodriguez, Moehler may have his work cut out for him as he has struggled out of the pen this season for the Astros, pitching to a 7.04 ERA without recording a decision.

The Dodgers definitely need to bring their bats tonight – particularly because the Astros have Lance Berkman in their stable and he is on fire as of late. Berkman, who had two hits and an RBI in Thursday’s 8-3 loss to Washington, has reached base 17 times in his last 20 plate appearances. The 10-year veteran is hitting .813 (13-for-16) with two home runs and seven RBI in the last four games.

I was convinced that this latest outing against the Mets would help show what Kuroda could really provide as the Dodgers challenge Arizona for first place in the NL West. My convictions, as it turns out, was misguided as Kuroda’s control was lacking. It’s not an issue of capability, but of consistency. He really impressed me early on and I had chalked most of his peformance up to issues with the rest of the team. Defense lacking late in games, hitting almost nonexistent…you get the idea. This time, however, Kuroda couldn’t get it together from the start and dug as big a hole as I’ve seen from him all season.

In 3.1 innings, Kuroda threw 80 pitches. 8 hits, four runs (two earned), three walks, and only one strikeout. Even Torre commented on the consistency issue in a post-game comment to the L.A. Times: “His stuff is quality. When you look up there, his velocity is good, it’s just that he hasn’t had the command that we saw in the first game he pitched, and that we certainly know he’s capable of.”

In fairness to Hiroki, he didn’t get lots of defensive help in this outing and the bats weren’t delivering early on as they have in some other series (such as Florida), but this performance feels like a pitching issue more than anything else. Before getting yanked, he dug a 4-1 hole for the Dodgers and was lucky that things weren’t worse given that the Mets left 8 players on base during this time.

The big question is – how do the Dodgers get Kuroda’s pitching woes under control and is he a liability down the stretch if the Dodgers are still competing for first in the NL west? Comments welcome…

Kemp beat out San Francisco’s Aaron Rowand, who hit .478 with two home runs; San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez, who batted .385 with 4 HRs; and Pittsburgh’s Xavier Nady, who hit .450 with 7 RBIs. While Matt may not have led the NL with the best batting average, his all-around performance was really remarkable.

Kemp’s average over the past week was a respectable .407 and delivered four doubles during that time. Hed led the National League with 11 RBIs and also stole a league-best six bases and tied an NL-week best with 11 hits. Did I mention that he hit safely in all six games, and recorded four multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games last week?

Glad to see Kemp is getting his due and staying in the Dodgers starting rotation consistently now! Keep it up Matty!

This makes five wins in a row for the boys in blue, and takes them to 14-13 overall. They’ve got a long way to go to challenge the D-backs for first in the NL West, but they are making good strides.

Matt Kemp continues to show why he should be in the starting lineup EVERY NIGHT by getting 3 RBIs and going 3 for 5 on the night.
Top dog for the Dodgers WAS Rafael Furcal who finished 5-of-6 with three runs scored. Kemp and Furcal also combined for three stolen bases.

My boy Kuroda shows up on Thursday night to attempt the sweep – can hardly wait!

GO BLUE

1. The Home Plate Umpire loses consciousness after being hit by a pitch.
Dodger pitcher Brad Penny inadvertantly hit home plate umpire Kerwin Danley in the jaw with an errant pitch and Danley slumped down on the ground, losing consciousness for a time. The game was stopped for 18 minutes while Danley was driven off the field in an ambulance to a local hospital. Upon arrival, he was said to be conscious and coherent. The entire staff of Dodgerfan.net hopes the 10-year umpire is OK.

2. Mark Redman gives up 10 runs in the first inning!
Redman earned the honor of being only the 6th pitcher since 1969 to give up 10 runs in an inning. Here’s the breakdown:

Batters: 13
Runs: 10
Hits: 6
Pitches: 45
Runs with 2 outs: 9

Even more surprising,

Redman stayed in the game at the conclusion of the inning

(apparently the Rockies figured they had nothing to lose) and the guy throws 5 more complete innings without giving up another run! He also only faced another 17 batters after facing 13 in the first inning.

3. Matt Kemp hit a Grand Slam Home Run on his way to delivering 5 (yes FIVE) RBIs for the Blue in the first inning alone!

Nice work Dodgers – not sure if Redman is our good luck charm or not but it seems my 18-month old could have lit him up tonight if he’d been put in the batters box.