A 25-year-old pitcher named Charlie Haeger made his Dodgers debut tonight — only his second major league start — and against the odds he done good. Not good enough, since the Cardinals won, but better than anybody could have expected. Haeger's stuff isn't special, he has bounced around without sticking, and he only got the ball tonight because the Dodgers were out of candidates. His best pitch, out of desperation, is a knuckleball — the only one in the league. The Cardinals had their ace on the mound, but the Dodgers and Haeger led most of the game. He baffled the Cardinals into the seventh, walking nobody and giving up just three hits, one of those a solo home run to the great Albert Pujols (who had pummeled the left field seats with line drives in batting practice.) In the seventh, Haeger hit a batter and gave up another home run that gave the Cardinals the lead and the game, but it was a nice performance.

Noted: Hiroki Kuroda has a mild concussion from that liner that conked his head over the weekend. He may miss a start.

Photo: Reuters / Danny Moloshok via Yahoo