Dodgers Bag a Bluejay

A trio of three-run explosions in the first four innings nailed down the Dodgers' second interleague victory in 22 road games Tuesday night, giving Brad Penny his ninth win against a single loss. Juan Pierre did what Juan Pierre is supposed to do -- steal three bases and score three times and old man Luis Gonzalez hit like a young man, driving in three as L.A. romped 10-1.

The patient Dodgers forced starter Dustin McGowan out of the game before the third inning, forcing him to throw 63 pitches before he left with six runs in and two out in the third as the Dodgers won their second interleague road game in 22 attempts.

Pierre went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs. He had a walk (his 13th of the season), a single and a double in is first three times at bat, scored all three times and stole three bases to run his total to 23 on the year.

In the Pierre looped a double to left, moved to third on Nomar Garciaparra's single and scored on Jeff Kent's singled up the middle and the game was afoot. He singled in the second, stole second and third and scored on Garciaparra's second single of the game and suddenly the dodgers led 4-0.

When he led off the fourth with a single, stole second and scored on Gonzalez's two-run double things were pretty much in the bag.

Penny (9-1) allowed just one run on six hits over seven innings, the 11th time this season in 15 starts he has not allowed more than one run.

Native-born Russell Martin, with a busload of friends and relatives in the stands, smacked his eighth home run and Luis Gonzalez singled twice, doubled and knocked in four runs.

San Diego, Arizona and Colorado also won, holding the Dodgers in secnd place a game behind the Padres. Hong-Chih Kuo (1-1, 3.60 ERA) opposes Roy Halladay (7-2, 4.37 ERA) tonight In Toronto.

 Score by innings
Los Angeles	330 301 000-10
Toronto	        010 000 000- 1

 Los Angeles	ab r h  bi  ave
Furcal ss	5  0  0  0  .279
Pierre cf	4  3  2  0  .281
Garciaparra 1b	5  2  2  1  .282
Kent 2b	        3  3  2  1  .260
 Betemit 3b	0  0  0  0  .204
Gonzalez lf	4  1  3  4  .293
 Kemp rf	1  0  0  0  .417
Martin c	4  1  2  2  .292
Anderson dh	4  0  2  2  .273
 Lieberthal dh	1  0  0  0  .212
Abreu 3b-2b	5  0  1  0  .266
Ethier rf-lf	4  0  0  0  .261
  Totals	40 10 14 10
  Toronto	32  1  6  1

 2B- Pierre (9), Gonzalez (16). HR- Martin (8).
RBI- Kent (34), Gonzalez 4 (34), Anderson 2 (2),
Garciaparra (38), Martin 2 (43). SB- Pierre 3
(23). LOB- Los Angeles 8, Toronto 6. DP- Penny,
Furcal and Garciaparra.

 Los Angeles	in  h  r-er b  so  era
Penny (8-1)	7.0  6  1-1  1  5  2.12
Seanez	        1.0  0  0-0  0  2  3.55
Henderson	1.0  0  0-0  0  1  4.53
 T- 2:41. Att-22,763.

Two for One Special- Jason Schmidt and Yhency Brazoban will have shoulder operations at the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic this week. Schmidt will undergo exploratory arthrosopic surgery Wednesday and since they do not know what they will find, there is no timetable for his return. Brazoban will have a cartilage tear in his shoulder repaired arthroscopically on Friday. If it's a minor tear, he could be back in a few months. If it's major, he's out for the year. In any event, Schmidt will be replaced in the starting rotation by Chad Billingsley. Billingsley (4-0, 3.09 ERA) was tabbed over veterans Brett Tomko and Mark Hendrickson. Little said he hopes to get 55-60 pitches out of Billingsley on Thursday night against the Blue Jays.

*M*A*S*H* 4077-- In other injury news, James Loney, who bruised his knee slamming into the right-field fence Sunday, did not start Tuesday night. Loney's knee is still swollen and was hopeful he would be available tonight.
Reliever Chin-hui Tsao threw breaking balls on flat ground and was expected to throw off a mound Wednesday.
Ramon Martinez saw a back specialist, but reported improvement from a muscle strain and is expected to meet the club next week in Arizona.

Dodger Blue Notes-- Only three Dodgers have ever homered as a designated hitter – Olmedo Saenz, Mike Kinkade and Chad Kreuter. On June 8, 2007, Saenz became the 23rd player in Major League history to hit 11 pinch-hit home runs in his career, less than a month after Toronto’s Matt Stairs became the 22nd player to accomplish that feat on May 18. ... The Dodgers announced that they have agreed to terms with all but four of their first 17 draft choices from earlier this month. Among the newest Dodger farm hands are right-handers Justin Miller (6th round), Danny Danielson (7th), catcher Alex Garabedian (8th), infielder Jamie Pedroza (9th) and Devin Fuller (14th).

Quote-- Matthew Carruth, in Hardball Times, "The Dodgers have fired hitting coach Eddie Murray and named Bill Mueller as his interim replacement. Despite their lack of power, the Dodgers are actually tied for seventh in the NL in runs scored, and we're not sure how it's Murray's fault that James Loney and Matt Kemp weren't up earlier. If the Dodgers simply played their best players and stopped batting Juan Pierre at the top of the order, they might be ranked third or fourth."