The Dodgers have placed righty reliever Cory Wade on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder bursitis. Wade has pitched in 4 games (0 starts) for the Dodgers this season and he is 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. Wade will be replaced in the bullpen by 23-year old lefty Scott Elbert. Elbert has pitched in 1 game this season for the Dodgers and he is 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. The Dodgers will miss Wade big time as he is a pitcher they were depending on late in games.

The Los Angeles Dodgers will be without reserve infielder Doug Mietkiewicz for at least the next three months due to shoulder surgery needed to repair a dislocation. He played in 7 games this season for the Dodgers and he was 2 for 5 (.400 avg, 1.000 OPS) with 2 RBIs. Mientkiewicz will be replaced on the roster by Blake DeWitt. DeWitt has played in 6 games for the Dodgers this season and he is 2 for 11 (.182 avg, .432 OPS) with 1 run scored. DeWitt was demoted earlier this season due to a lack of playing time so the Dodgers will try to get him more action this time around.

The Dodgers have traded 26-year old switch hitting outfielder Delwyn Young to the Pirates to two minor leaguers to be named later. Young played in 83 games for the Dodgers last season and he was 31 for 126 (.246 avg, .662 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 1 homer and 7 RBIs. He played in 110 games in his three years with the Dodgers and he was 44 for 165 (.267 avg, .725 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 3 homers and 10 RBIs. The Dodgers were just happy to get something for Young as he wasn’t good enough to come off the bench for them this season.

The Dodgers have placed righty starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda on the 15-day disabled list with a mild oblique strain. Kuroda won his season debut working 5.2 innings and allowing only 1 earned run (1.59 ERA, 0.88 WHIP). The Dodgers have recalled 29-year old lefty Eric Stults to replace Kuroda in the starting rotation. Stults pitched in 7 games (all starts) last season for the Dodgers and he was 2-3 with a 3.49 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. He has now pitched in parts of three seasons for the Dodgers appearing in 25 games (14 starts) in which he is 4-7 with a 4.83 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. The Dodgers are just hoping that Stults can give them some solid starts until Kuroda is ready to return to action.

The Dodgers won 84 games only having Manny Ramirez for two months last season so you would think they would win more than that in 2009. But, the Dodgers also lost Derek Lowe who was a very important piece of the playoff puzzle for the team in 2008. Joe Torre has not been near as good of a manager in his career in the N.L. and he’s without the All-Star team he had in New York. With all of these factors in mind I would make a small play on the under if I had to make a bet.