Aaron Harang fans nine straight

Aaron Harang fans nine straight

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Aaron Harang set a franchise record Friday night by striking out nine consecutive batters against the San Diego Padres. Los Angeles went on to win 9-8.

Harang fell one strikeout short of the all-time major league record of 10 by Hall of Fame right-hander Tom Seaver of the New York Mets on April 22, 1970, also against the Padres.

Harang broke the 50-year-old Dodgers mark of eight consecutive strikeouts set by Johnny Podres against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 2, 1962.

The string of strikeouts began immediately after Harang gave up a lead-off single to Padres center fielder Cameron Maybin. It ended when Will Venable led off the top of the fourth with a home run.

Harang finished with 13 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings and received a no-decision.

Harang, an 11-year veteran, was making just his second start for the Dodgers after they signed him last winter to a two-year, $12 million free-agent contract with an $8 million club option for 2014.

He struggled in his first start for the Dodgers against the Padres on Sunday at Petco Park, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits with five walks and lasting just 4 1/3 innings.

Harang spent last season with the Padres, going 14-7 with a 3.64 ERA.

Dodgers' planned sale approved

WILMINGTON, Del. -- A bankruptcy court judge in Delaware gave his approval Friday to the Los Angeles Dodgers' plan to sell the team for $2 billion.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross' approval of the Dodgers' reorganization plan came at the conclusion of a two-part morning and evening hearing he called a "doubleheader." The decision allows the team to exit bankruptcy.

The reorganization plan is based on Dodgers owner Frank McCourt's agreement to sell the team for $2 billion to Guggenheim Baseball Management, a group that includes former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson. Mark Walter, chief executive officer of the financial services firm Guggenheim Partners, will become the controlling owner, and the team will be run by former Atlanta Braves president Stan Kasten.

Both Kasten and McCourt were in court on Friday. The sale is set to close by April 30, the day McCourt is to make a $131 million payment to former wife Jamie as part of their divorce.

"All the organization's goals in the reorganization cases have been achieved. We look forward to returning all of our attention to Dodger baseball," the team said in a statement after the hearing.

The Dodgers entered bankruptcy in June 2011 during a bitter dispute with Major League Baseball. At the time, baseball commissioner Bud Selig refused to approve a new TV deal with Fox Sports that the team was counting on in order to make payroll and keep the franchise solvent.

Friday's hearing helped resolve a number of lingering issues ahead of the team's sale. Fox, the team's current broadcaster, had wanted written assurance that competitor Time Warner Cable was not contributing funds being used for the purchase. Lawyers for the Dodgers agreed to do that.

Friday's hearing dragged into the evening, however, as lawyers for the Dodgers and Major League Baseball sparred over the information being given to the league about the plan. A lawyer for Major League Baseball said the league had issues with the plan and was owed more information. A Dodgers lawyer said the team had met all the criteria to have the plan confirmed, and the judge agreed.

Of Jansen, Coffey, and Howell

LOS ANGELES -- Before the Los Angeles Dodgers pulled out a 9-8 victory over the San Diego Padres on Saturday night, they watched an 8-6, ninth-inning lead turn into an 8-8 tie. This was the result of Kenley Jansen, usually the team's eighth-inning setup man who was pressed into closing duty because Javy Guerra had pitched three days in a row, coming in and issuing a leadoff walk and then a two-out, two-run, game-tying homer to Chase Headley.

That result itself was somewhat less notable than the fact the fireballing Jansen's velocity was noticeably down, even as he was striking out three batters that inning to raise his average for the season to 16.5 strikeouts per nine innings -- slightly better than the all-time, major league record of 16.2 he set last year.

Jansen has been battling a mild case of flu in recent days, which could have accounted for the velocity drop.

Both manager Don Mattingly and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt noticed the slight dropoff, but neither seemed alarmed by it. Honeycutt said it might have been due to the cold weather or illness. Mattingly said it might have been the difference in the eighth inning and the ninth, which almost anyone in baseball agrees is fairly huge except for the pitchers who actually pitch in those innings.

"It doesn't feel any different," Jansen said. "You have to treat the eighth inning just like it's the ninth inning, just come in and get the job done."

But catcher A.J. Ellis said Jansen did seem a bit out of sorts at the beginning of the inning, when he walked the first batter, Chris Denorfia.

"He was a little more tentative than I have seen him," Ellis said. "But after that first batter, he was definitely locked back in. He came right back to strike out the next two batters on six straight pitches. Chase Headley is a good hitter, a three-hole hitter in the National League, and that pitch ended up over the middle of the plate.''

Jansen was trying to throw it in on Headley, but said it ran back over the middle. At any rate, the hope is that the velocity drop was a one-time thing -- although he gave up a double to Yonder Alonso after Headley's home run, Jansen still looked pretty unhittable in striking out the three batters he did. If it continues, though, it could become a source of alarm.

With veteran left-hander Ted Lilly scheduled to come off the 15-day disabled list and make his first start of the season on Saturday night against the Padres, the most likely move appears to be reliever Todd Coffey going onto the 15-day DL.

Mattingly revealed after the game that Coffey has been receiving some type of treatment on his right knee for a condition the specifics of which aren't known -- Coffey declined to comment after the game -- and given the fact Coffey failed to retire any of the three batters he faced and now has been charged with four earned runs in a total of one inning in his three appearances this season, all of that adds up to a very convenient roster move if the Dodgers decide to go that way.

If not, the most likely move would be to option reliever Josh Lindblom, if only because he is the only guy in the bullpen who has options. But that would be a tough move to make -- and possibly a harsh message to send -- given that Lindblom has made four appearances this season and allowed no runs on one hit over six innings, including pitching out of an eighth-inning spot he inherited with a runner on second and nobody out. Lindblom retired the next three batters with relative ease, stranding Jeremy Hermida on second.

Dodgers bullpen coach Ken Howell, who suffers from diabetes that has caused him to have to have toes amputated in the past, walked out of the clubhouse after the game wearing two different types of shoes. It was announced shortly thereafter that he would be leaving the team until the next homestand, which begins on April 23, to receive medical treatment.

Howell was replaced in the bullpen on Friday night by catching instructor Steve Yeager. Jim Slaton, the pitching coordinator at the Dodgers' spring-training complex in Glendale, Ariz., arrived during the game and will be taking over bullpen-coaching duties for the duration of Howell's absense beginning on Saturday night.

3 up, 3 down: Dodgers 9, Padres 8

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their best start in more than three decades Friday, beating the San Diego Padres 9-8 before 31,601 at Dodger Stadium to improve their record to 7-1. The game ended on a bases-loaded walk by Andre Ethier to force in the winning run with two outs in the ninth, his 12th career walkoff RBI.

It is the Dodgers' hottest beginning to a season since 1981, when they started 9-1 and went on to win the World Series. Dodgers pitchers combined to strike out 18 batters, tying a franchise record they now have reached six times, most recently on June 4, 1990.

The Dodgers got a stellar performance from veteran right-hander Aaron Harang, who tied his career high with 13 strikeouts, and a two-run homer from center fielder Matt Kemp. Ethier and Mark Ellis also drove in two runs each.