While their bullpen was in the throes of throwing away another great performance by Randy Wolf, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced the acquisitions of slugging first baseman Jim Thome and right-handed pitcher Jon Garland.

While Thome (who was in Minnesota with the Chicago White Sox at the time the trade was announced) won’t make it to Los Angeles until tomorrow, Garland was informed of the trade in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ dugout.

Garland laughed a bit, looked around at his now former mates and made his way out of the dugout and across the hall to the Dodgers clubhouse.

Earlier in the evening, second baseman Ronnie Belliard made his debut with the Dodgers, hitting a home run in his first at-bat.

With Thome on board, the Dodgers can count on one of the most prolific sluggers of his era. On August 15, Thome passed Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson and moved up to 11th on the all time home run list with 564 home runs.

However, what does this mean for current first baseman James Loney? Will he go the way of Juan Pierre and join the Bench Mode Crew?

Meanwhile, as I’m writing this, Garland is getting his new uniform and meeting his new teammates. It will surely be really weird to face the D-Backs later in the series.

While at 39 Thome is nearing the end of his great career, he surely adds punch to a Dodgers lineup that looks great on paper but sputters all too often.

At 29, Garland is no slouch and could become a very important member of the patchwork Dodgers starting rotation for years to come.

That bullpen, however…is just terrible.

The Dodgers won’t get far in the playoffs with a bullpen that will let them down.

How the Dodgers have managed to hold on to first place is a wonder. Making it to the playoffs will be an accomplishment, on its own.

Nevertheless, keep the faith.

Go Blue.