Congratulations, Matt Kemp

From Kevin Pearson:

Dodgers' Kemp Suspension Reduced

Dodgers OF Matt Kemp had his suspension reduced from four games to two games and will begin serving it today against the Padres and on Friday in Detroit.

Kemp was suspended for his part in a June 3 fight with Colorado's Yorvit Torrealba that resulted in both benches emptying and the two players being ejected.

The Dodgers will move Juan Pierre back to CF and start Andre Etheir and Delwyn Young the corner OF spots in Kemp's absence.

From Tony Jackson:

Kemp's suspension reduced, he'll start serving today

It's two games. How it works, from what I'm told, is that simply by appealing, the situation is reviewed by an independent party (NOT Bob Watson). That person then can arbitrarily reduce the suspension. Had that person NOT reduced the suspension from its original four games, Matt Kemp THEN could have requested an appeal hearing and gotten one. He chose to simply get it out of the way now, which is probably wise on his part -- especially since he is 1 for 13 with six Ks, so a couple of days away from it can't hurt him.

photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images