Javy Guerra News

The highly skilled role of closer on a Major League Baseball team has certainly evolved over the years.

Talk about taking the bad with the good. The Dodgers completed a sweep of a three-game series against the World Champion Cardinals Sunday night only to get more bad news along two fronts.

James Loney and Matt Treanor each smacked two- run home runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-1, in the opener of a three-game set at Chase Field.

Louis Cardinals on Sunday night. Kyle Lohse allowed three runs and 11 hits over 5 2-3 innings with four strikeouts and left with a 5-3 lead.

When Los Angeles Dodgers superstar center fielder Matt Kemp went on the DL last week, he was on track for another MVP-like season and the Dodgers were leading their division.

San Francisco 's Brian Wilson sputtered before succumbing to season-ending Tommy John surgery in April and Javy Guerra of the Dodgers was removed from the closer's role after blowing consecutive games to go along with a 1-3, 5.84 ERA record.

As the Dodgers finish their two-game series with the San Diego Padres on Thursday, I'm sure manager Don Mattingly would like to have a chance to use his closer to try and end the club's two-game losing streak.

Baseball is said to have become a pitcher's game in the past couple of years. It seems like a no-hitter is being thrown every month or so, and while still one of the most impressive feats in baseball, they are no longer as rare or exciting.

Jamey Carroll hit a two-run double in the sixth inning to give Minnesota the lead, and the Twins outlasted the sloppy Detroit Tigers 11-7 on Wednesday night.

They were there in spirit and in person, all $24.5 million and 55 RBIs occupying the stalls belonging to Matt Kemp, Juan Rivera, Juan Uribe and Jerry Hairston Jr., in the visitors' clubhouse at Petco Park.

San Diego Padres' Chase Headley high-fives teammates after hitting a solo home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, May 16, 2012, in San Diego.

The Dodgers begin what should be a very difficult weak, without Matt Kemp , by dropping a forfeit induced crapfest to the Dbacks 5-1. This game was eerily similar to the 12-0 crapfest loss in Houston.

By JIM LITKE AP Sports Columnist It came down to a last shot and who was going to take it, an all-too-familiar dilemma for the Miami Heat.

Miguel Montero and Jason Kubel each had two hits, an RBI and a run scored as the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-1, in the finale of a quick two-game series.

Big names like Heath Bell and Francisco Cordero recently lost their ninth-inning jobs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers , once the home of Cy Young Award-winning reliever Eric Gagne and imposing flamethrowers like Jonathan Broxton, may now fall victim to a wayward corps of unproven relievers.

When the Dodgers signed Chris Capuano over the winter, their expectations for him were modest.

There never seems to be a road trip where the Rockies fail to hit that doesn't have Dodger Stadium right in the middle of it.

Every year we expect a turnover rate in the closer pool of roughly one-third, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.

Ryan Fowler has spent the past eight years covering and talking sports on TV and radio, in newspapers and on the Web.