Furcal trade made official during final game of homestand

Dodgers Lineup
Gwynn7
Blake5
Ethier9
kemp8
Rivera3
Miles4
Barajas2
Gordon6
De La Rosa1


Joe Saunders-7-8 vs. Rubby De La Rosa-4-4


as the Dodgers enter today on the last game of the homsetsand, and rubber game against the Dbacks, they do it without former allstar shortstop rafeal (hit Machine) Furcal.  today the Dodgers finalized the Furcal trade. they will send Furcal to the Cardinals for a minor league outfielder and some cash.

the Dodgers will pay the majority of the rest of Furcal's salary owed to him, but not all. the Dodgers will pay 2.5 million of his 4 million. Furcal in the last year of his contract has had an injuriy plagued season. spending a month on the DL from a broken thumb, and another month from a torn oblique.

Furcal was hitting only .197, but was beginning to hit better on this homestand. the Cardinals who had been playinng former Dodger Ryan "TOOTBLAN" theriot at shortstop, finally realizing his total uselessness, as they will move him to second base to clear way for furcal. we feel your pain St. Louis.

in return the Dodgers will recieve AA minor league outfield prospect Alex Castellanos. most of the information on Castellanos has been positive. hes a 24 year old outfielder with decent power and speed, or so I read. I did read though that he has bad strikeout to walk ratios. but thats common of a young power hitter to strike out alot. he is 5"11 180 from Miami. in AA this year he was an allstar batting .319 with 19 homers and a .941 OPS in 93 games. he also has experience playng the infield, he has seen time at first, second and third base. the Dodgers have assigned him to AA chatanooga. not a top prospect but decent so there is potential here.

shortstop Dee Gordon was called up last night, and will be at the park with the team today.

while we also learned Kuroda would be staying, today the Dbacks traded first baseman/outfielder Brandon Allen, along with reliever Norberto to Oakland for reliever Brad Ziegler. so we wont be seeing Allen anymore.

lefty Joe Saunders will take the mound for Arizona. he has pitched much better of late, and threw a complete game last outing against San Diego. Saunders is well traveled, and weve seen him alot. he is 7-3 over his last 13 starts, but has been very effective on the road posting a 5-1 record, and a 2.39 ERA. Saunders is 1-4 against the Dodgers.
the Dodgers will counter with rookie Rubby De La Rosa. Rubby has been pitching very well, only allowing 7 runs over his last five starts. he has never faced the Dbacks.

its sad going on without Hit Machine. we will miss him, and everything he has done for the Dodgers. hes been one of my favortie dodgers over the last few years, but its time for him to move on. thanks Hit Machine, good luck in St. Louis.
the Dodgers look to win their third series in a row, theyll be facing the Dbacks again next week but in Arizona. after todays game the Dodgers will go down to San Diego for a three game set.
well see you after the game for our postgame recap. go blue!