Randy Wolf has been all the Dodgers could have asked for, and much, much more.

In fact, when the free agent signing period began, there were a lot of people (myself included) asking why the Dodgers didn't go after C.C. Sabathia, or bring back Derek Lowe, or sign Ben Sheets, etc...

Well, Randy Wolf has been better than them all.

If you look at the respective earned run averages of the five guys used primarily as starters, you won't see one of them with a number above four. Throw Hiroki Kuroda in there, and you have six with sub-4 ERAs.

Then, you look at the bullpen and you throw up in your mouth.

So the site is re-designed, and looking good. We have some new features such as the organizational depth chart, a poll, a blog roll and so forth.

We were having some problems allowing comments, but we're back just like the Dodgers are back in the win column after a night on the bad side of the ledger.

Anyone wonder how the Dodgers have the top pitching staff in Major League Baseball? In terms of earned run average, that is.

Somebody needs to give Andre Ethier a hug and let him know that Manny Ramirez will be back on July 3.

Because without him, Ethier seems like a mess.

He was batting .317 on the night of May 6, the day before Manny was suspended, and he was among the league leaders in RBI with 27. He also had hit six homers, which at that point would have put him on pace to hit 30 or 35.

Ethier has just six hits in his last 52 at-bats, hitting just .115 over the last two weeks, he has no homers and just two runs driven in. He has one hit in his last 12 at-bats (.083) and he just had a day off on May 17.

Of course, Ethier won't admit that Manny's absence is effecting him, probably telling you that he's just working some things out with his swing, that he's being pitched to like the big bat in the lineup instead, etc...

I'm not sure if the effect is purely mental, or if Ethier isn't qualified to be the big bat in a lineup, but personally I feel like it's a mental block for him.

I believe Ethier is a good hitter with a great swing and a very good work ethic. He's advanced to the point where he can handle being one of the run producers, but maybe not THE run producer.

So there was a little confusion about the interview time, but I got the call from Ethan Martin today.

Those of you who don't know, Martin was the Dodgers first-round draft pick in last year's draft. He was the 15th overall pick out of Stephens County High School in Georgia. He's currently pitching for the Great Lakes Loons in Single-A, and he is currently 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA with 45 K's in 35 IP.

Every outings been either very good or pretty solid. Yesterday he got touched up a little bit against Western Michigan, giving up four runs in five innings.

Here is what he had to say.

It might sound funny, considering he finally hit his first home run of the season and drove in four runs, but I think it could be time to consider trading James Loney.

The home run on Wednesday came in Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park (a notorious bandbox), and it barely cleared the short porch in right field.

It didn't even look like Loney thought he hit it out and Jayson Werth seemed surprised in the outfield. So it's not like he suddenly started raking the ball over the field.

After going 3-for-5 with four runs driven in, he's still batting just .277. The RBI total of 25 is good, putting him on pace to drive in over a hundred. He plays stellar defense, so it's not like I am suggesting trading him without thinking of how good he actually is or can be.

Where is the Dodgers $48 million dollar lemon? Has anyone seen him around? Where is he?

Once upon a time, prior to the 2007 season, Dodger fans were not only excited that Schmidt was leaving the Giants, but were even more excited because the power pitcher, one of the best in the National League, was coming to the Giants.

After one win in two years, his third and final season had a little bit of promise with the hopes that he might crack the rotation and actually contribute.

Wrong.

Well, Jason Schmidt pitched on Tuesday, for the Inland Empire 66ers, the Dodgers Single-A Advanced team.

The Dodger bullpen is still the biggest concern among Dodger fans, and for good reason. The starting rotation is still a small concern, but not nearly as much as the bullpen.

The offense, with Juan Pierre filling in for Manny Ramirez, has been good, but it won't last forever. Now is the time to get the pitching situation figured out before the offense slows down; which it will.

It will be a tale of two different pitchers in Sunday's series finale.

I'm just going to keep this post open and add to it.

9:05: Just got off work and I am listening to Charlie Steiner on my way home. I am glad to see the Dodgers respond with six first-inning runs and kind of exorcise a demon or two. Here comes a longer post on Manny.

For 68 starts in 2004 and 2005, I sat through the Jeff Weaver years with the Dodgers.

And for those two seasons, I watched him win 27 games, strike out 310 batters and have an ERA in low four's.

I also watched endless starts where he would be terrific for five or six innings, only to give it up in the later innings. I also watched him get staked to huge leads, only to melt down and give them away. With a boatload of talent, he was always frustrating to watch because of these reasons.

This statement might come off sounding ridiculous, considering the big named players that signed in 2009, but I am going to argue that, for at least the time being, the signing of Orlando Hudson is, so far, the best free agent signing of the season.

When you consider the dollar amount, the impact that he's had and the way he has fit in with his teammates, it's hard for me not to think that the Hudson signing was the most shrewd.

There are a lot of huge names that signed, so let's take a look.

I stated a couple of weeks ago that when the Dodgers are at home, I get the feeling they are going to win every time.

I have always had that feeling, since I was a kid, but I became more and more confident when Manny Ramirez showed up.

After a 7-3 win over San Diego on Sunday, the Dodgers have now set a club record with a 10-0 home start.

I've been thinking of Dodger players that I either get mad at or don't get mad at when they disappoint me.

I have broken them up into three categories: The free pass list, the temporary free pass list and the sh#t list.