Jerry Sands

What a mess. What a complete mess. It's orchestrated by Frank McCourt, so the shock factor is nil, but still. You wonder how any human being can be so completely clueless, but then we've been watching this sorry excuse for an owner for way too long now. His latest fantasy has him selling the team but keeping the parking lots completely surrounding Dodger Stadium. Hey, now there's a sweet deal. Thursday marked the first day the siege of the Alamo began in 1836. Getting surrounded by the enemy is never a very good idea.

There now, didn't that feel familiar? One victory hardly erases five consecutive losses, but the Dodgers had to greet Saturday's 6-2 win over the Rockies in Denver with a mixture of joy and pure relief. The Dodgers had not walked off with a victory since Sunday, losing 3½ games of their lead in the National League West. And they were coming off a dreadful four-error loss the night before. But Saturday life returned to normal, or at least the normal they've come to know in building the major's best record (33-20)

PHOENIX — The hitting wasn't there. You could see that coming. The Dodgers had not thrown out a lineup without Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp all season. The pitching, well, that was a little off. The Arizona Diamondbacks scored early and often Wednesday, pounding Ted Lilly and Jamey Wright for 11 runs in the first five innings of an 11-4 victory over the Dodgers. The Dodgers' six-game winning streak came to an abrupt end. Nonetheless, the Dodgers (30-14) flew home with the best record in the major leagues, and a seven-game lead in the National League West.

It's a news and notes kinda Tuesday … -- Jerry Sands was the one to go with Matt Kemp being activated. He was optioned back to triple-A Albuquerque. Sands was the system's minor league player of the year in 2010, but has struggled to take the next step. He went four for 20 during this call-up, with a pair of doubles. The Dodgers kept Scott Van Slyke, the minor league player of the year in 2011, who was called up before Sands. Van Slyke had a memorable game-winning homer, but is hitting just .136 (three for 22)

Kenley Jansen knows how quickly fans can turn on a closer. He saw it happen to Jonathan Broxton. Broxton, now a setup man for the Cincinnati Reds, made two All-Star teams with the Dodgers. But Broxton never lived down his failures in the 2008 and 2009 playoffs and spent his final seasons in Los Angeles as a divisive figure among fans. As the closer on a contending team, Jansen now carries the burden that once belonged to Broxton. Jansen, in his first season as closer, views this as an opportunity.

First, there was Jerry Sands. Then came Rubby De La Rosa and Dee Gordon. On Saturday, the cash- and talent-deprived Dodgers will be forced to prematurely promote another of their top prospects to the major leagues. As a result of De La Rosa's upcoming elbow operation, Manager Don Mattingly's baby-faced club will become even younger when 21-year-old Nate Eovaldi is sent the mound at Chase Field to face the Arizona Diamondbacks. Eovaldi will be the fourth pitcher called up this season directly from double-A Chattanooga, following De La Rosa, closer Javy Guerra and reliever Josh Lindblom.

He was talking about James Loney, and how much the Dodgers need for him to be the hitter he was in the second half. You know, the usual. But then Don Mattingly strayed ever so slightly, broadening his expectations, and that's when his comment to Orange County columnist Mark Whicker got interesting. "The guy we had at the end is the guy we are going to need,” Mattingly said. "But then we needAndre [Ethier] to be healthy, we need Juan to be a run producer, more of a 80-90 RBI guy. We're going to need all that for us to be in it.” At first I thought: "He's actually expecting Juan Uribe to hit up to 90 runs batted in?"

The list of injured Dodgers keeps growing, with Matt Kemp and Juan Uribe going on the disabled list Monday to join Jerry Hairston Jr. and Juan Rivera, among others. But the Dodgers' pitching staff, including Clayton Kershaw, their ace left-hander, largely has steered clear of injury, a key reason why the Dodgers have kept playing well early this season. Kershaw was stellar again Monday night in a duel with Arizona's Ian Kennedy, holding the Diamondbacks scoreless in seven innings of work as the Dodgers won, 3-1, at Dodger Stadium.

Reporting from Washington -- Well, that was fun while it lasted. The Dodgers are back to losing and back to not scoring, as they dropped their second consecutive game Monday, falling to the Washington Nationals, 7-2, at Nationals Park. The consecutive losses followed a 12-game stretch during which the Dodgers won 11 games. "It's hard to say," Manager Don Mattingly said when asked whether the Dodgers reverted to their season-long form. "Is it that? Is it baseball?" Hiroki Kuroda didn't help matters.

Chad Billingsley can be everything. Good and bad, exciting and deflating, an All-Star one year and post a career-high earned-run average the next. And sometimes, he can even be all those things in one game. It was only spring - - sorry, the mantra is required - - but Monday afternoon at Camelback Ranch, Billingsley showed all his sides in a 4-3 victory for the Dodgers against the White Sox. For the first three innings, Billingsley looked a lot like the guy his detractors are absolutely certain will never reach his potential.