Game 7 Recap From the Ravine

Apr 152013
 

My father has always called the San Diego Padres the “Pesky Padres” and for years I have shrugged it off and denied it. But, after tonight’s loss at Petco Park, I am second-guessing myself. In a year where the Dodgers are far better then that pesky team from down south, the Dodgers failed to do much.

The first game of the three game set started with so much promise when Carl Crawford walked to start the game. Mark Ellis followed that up by singling to left field to advance Crawford to second. With two runners aboard, Matt Kemp stepped up to the plate. In past seasons, the Dodgers would have scored at least a run, but this year hasn’t been the same for Kemp, who has been mired in a season long slump to open the year. Like so many other times in this young season, Kemp failed to capitalize and struck out looking. Padres starter Clayton Kershaw walked Adrian Gonzalez to load the bases for Juan Uribe who proceeded to end the early rally by grounding into a double play.

Josh Beckett started the game off by striking out Padres lead off hitter Everth Cabrera but wasn’t nearly as fortunate with Will Venable who hit a solo home run to deep right field, staking the Padres to an early 1-0 lead. Carlos Quentin  popped up to shallow lift for the second out of the inning before Yonder Alonso doubled to center field. Jed Gyorko followed that up with a single to left field, plating Alonso for a 2-0 lead. Alexi Amarista hit another single to left field, giving the Padres two on with two outs for Cameron Maybin. Beckett regained some composure and struck Maybin out to end the inning.

The Dodgers seemed to have some fight in them at the start of the second inning. Andre Ethier led the inning off with an infield single to short and advanced when Mark Ellis hit a ball to second baseman Amarista’s that he couldn’t handle and reached first on the fielding error. But, as has been a common theme for most of the season, the mounting threat was quickly put down. grounded into a double play to shortstop and Josh Beckett struck out swinging to end the inning.

Beckett came out strong in his half of the second by getting Hundley to hit a come-backer to him and flipped it to Gonzalez for a quick out. Richard and Cabrera both flied out to left field for a 1-2-3 inning.

Crawford continued to prove that he is back in peak form with another single to center field, but he was caught leaning and picked off, negating that single and giving the Dodgers their first out of the third. Mark Ellis lined out to right field before Matt Kemp grounded out to third base to end the inning in a lackluster inning.

The Padres’ bats remained silent in the bottom of the third when Beckett retired the side, in order, for his second 1-2-3 inning in a row. He struck Venable out swinging and Quentin fouled out to catcher. The inning came to an end when Alonso hit an easy come-backer to Beckett for the soft toss to first to record the third out.

The top of the fourth started off with another Dodger reaching base to lead off an inning on a Gonzalez single to left field to bring up Juan Uribe. A usual disappointment, Uribe shocked Dodger fans when he hit a game-typing home run to right field for his second round tripper of the season. However, his home run shouldn’t be much reason for celebration. After spending a few million dollars to bring in the fences at Petco, Uribe’s homer landed on top of the fence and would have been nothing more than a warning track fly out as the Padres moved that fence in 11 feet closer from last season. Ethier followed that up with a single to shallow right before A.J. Ellis flied out to center field for the first out of the inning. Sellers hit a single of his own to right field and Beckett moved both Sellers and Ethier 90 feet closer on a sacrifice back to the pitcher. Unfortunately, Crawford grounded out to second base, stranding two runners in scoring position.

Beckett showed more flashes of his former self by tossing another perfect inning in the bottom of the fourth after getting Gyorko to fly out to right field and Amarista to fly out to shallow left field. Cameron Maybin flied out to shallow right to end the inning.

Mark Ellis led off the Dodgers’ half of the fifth by striking out looking. Matt Kemp came up next and double to left field before advancing to third on a sacrifice fly by Adrian Gonzalez for the second out of the inning. Juan Uribe surprised the Dodger faithful once again by reaching first base on a walk. Ethier came up to bat but grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.

Beckett’s luck came to an end in the bottom of the fifth when he gave a lead off homerun to Hundley to give the Padres a 3-2 lead. In an odd move, Padres manager Bud Black called on relief pitcher Eric Stults to pinch hit for Clayton Richard. Stults popped out to center field before Beckett gave up a single to Cabrera. A.J. Ellis caught Cabrera trying to steal second for the second out of the inning. Venable reached on a walk and proceeded to steal second before Quentin struck out swinging to end the inning, but the damage was done and the Padres took a 3-2 lead.

In an even more surprising move, the pitcher that came out to start the top of the sixth wasn’t even the one Black used as a pinch hitter. Instead, Andrew Cashner got the call and struck A.J. Ellis out before issuing a walk to Sellers. Nick Schumacher pinch hit for Beckett but proceeded to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Chris Capuano relieved Beckett and pitched a perfect 1-2-3 inning by getting Alonso to fly out to shallow left-center, striking out Gyorko and getting Amarista to ground out to second base to end the sixth.

Crawford led off the seventh with a single to center field and advanced to second base on Mark Ellis’ ground out to to shortstop. Kemp grounded out to second base for the second out of the inning, but the speedy Crawford advanced to third on the play to get the potential tying run 90 feet away. Joe Thatcher relieved Cashner and gave up an RBI single to Gonzalez, tying the game at 3-all. Black immediately pulled Thatcher and brought in Luke Gregerson to face Uribe. He got him to hit a ground ball that forced Gonzalez out at second to end the inning.

Ronald Belisario took over for Capuano in the seventh and gave up a lead off single to Maybin. Hundley moved him over on a sacrifice to third baseman Nick Punto. Veteran Mark Kotsay was called on to pinch hit for Gregerson and he hit a double to right-center field, plating Maybin for a 4-3 lead. Belisario got Cabrera to ground out to shortstop, but advanced Kotsay to third. Belisario intentionally walked Venable and hit Quentin with a pitch. That was enough for Dodgers’ skipper Don Mattingly who called on Paco Rodriguez to relieve Belisario. Rodriguez got Alonso to fly out to right field to end the inning.

Dale Thayer came on to start the eighth inning for the Padres and he pitched a perfect frame, striking out Ethier and getting Ellis to fly out to right field. Jerry Hairston, Jr. came on as a pinch hitter for Justin Sellers and struck out looking to end the inning.

Rodriguez walked Gyorko to start off the bottom of the eighth inning. He advanced to second base on a passed ball before Amarista was walked to give the Padres runners on first and second with nobody out. Mattingly called on Matt Guerrier to relieve Rodriguez. Maybin sacrificed Gyorko and Amarista over for the first out of the inning. Hundley grounded into a fielder’s choice, with Gyorko being thrown out at home and Amarista advancing to second. Chris Denofria singled to shallow right field, plating Amarista. Guerrier then walked Cabrera to load the bases with two outs. J.P. Howell came in to replace the struggling Guerrier and proceeded to give up a bases-clearing triple to Venable. Jesus Guzman then came up, pinch hitting for Thayer, and reached first on a walk by Howell. Alonso hit an infield single to shortstop,  allowing Venable to score for the fifth run on the inning and a late 9-3 lead. Howell finally struck out Amarista for the third out of the inning.

Brad Brach came in for the ninth inning and gave up a lead off walk to Nick Punto before striking out Crawford and Ellis. In what seems like a fitting end to the game, Matt Kemp popped out to shallow right field and give the Padres a win for their home opener of the season.

”We were all excited to be home and looking forward to playing a good game,” Venable said after tying his career-high for RBIs. ”We wanted to be aggressive and we made all the plays we were supposed to today and it worked out for us.”

All around, this was a pathetic display by the Dodgers who should have beat the Padres handily, who in their past six games had gone just 1-5 and were outscored 40-14 during that span while only hitting one home run.

The Dodgers’ biggest issue was with execution, allowing six of the nine Padres’ runs to score with two outs.

”We have to do a better job, myself included, when we get two outs,” Beckett said. ”The Venable home run, you’d like to have that pitch back, but really the two-out groundball, those are tough to swallow.”
The final line for Beckett was three runs in five innings while allowing  six hits and walking one. He struck out four.

”He’s going to be around the plate and give up his share of hits,” manager Don Mattingly said. ”But he keeps himself in the game.”

Padres starter Clayton Richard also pitched five innings and allowed just two runs on eight hits and issued three walks while striking out three.

 

 04/15/2013  Posted by at 1:46 am Dodgers Rumors No Responses »

Greinke Breaks Collar Bone In Win Over Padres

Apr 112013
 

That is no typo. Greinke out with no timetable.

Pitching in just his second game as a Dodger, Co-Ace Zach Greinke suffered a collar bone fracture during a scuffle with Hit By Pitch King, Carlos Quentin. Quentin, who has lead the majors for two seasons was plunked during a 3-2 count in the 5th and charged the mound. In a surprise to catcher A.J. Ellis, who was steps behind Quentin, did his best to scramble and eventually tackle Quentin.

The replay shows Greinke turn his left side towards the charge, not to take damage to his pitching arm. As benches cleared, the jawing and scuffle continued, eventually leading to the tossing of both Matt Kemp and Jerry Hairston Jr.. The blow comes off the heals of an injury free pitching staff, where Chad Billingsley returned to earn his first win of the season.gqdodgers

After the game, Don Mattingly was furious to put it nicely. “He [Quentin] shouldn’t be allowed to play another game until Greinke can… If he does.. well then that is just stupid.” The normally calm and precise skipper lashed out at all questions regarding the “why” this all happened. A brave reporter asked him “you seem upset by all this, how upset are you?”

“I’m happy.”

Yikes.

Obviously there will be some suspensions here, but a fair point for Don to make. In a 2-1 game, full count, why would Greinke throw at Quentin? Why would Quentin think it was intentional? Has he considered backing up from the plate a little bit?

Quentin who has 30 pounds on Greinke, attacks, gets suspended maybe for 2-3 games and is back in commission. Greinke gets the brunt of it and could potentially out 4-6 weeks. Doesn’t seem fair. Don isn’t pleased. Management can’t be thrilled with their pricey investment getting injured. Chris Capuano’s stock is rising.

 04/11/2013  Posted by at 11:34 pm Dodgers Injury Reports, Dodgers News 1 Response »

Game Six Recap: Dodgers 6 – Pirates 2

Apr 072013
 

The Pittsburgh Pirates jumped out to an early lead against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday afternoon.

Starling Marte, who was the only Pirate to get a base hit off of Clayton Kershaw in Saturday nights game , led off the game with a single to left field off of MLB rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu. Ryu got Neil Walker to pop out to shortstop before Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run home run to deep left field. The next batter, Gaby Sanchez, was walked, giving the Pirates a shot at more runs. Michael McHenry grounded into a fielder’s choice but was able to advance to second soon afterwards on a wild pitch in the dirt. Ryu got out of the early jam by getting Pedro Alvarez to hit a come backer to him.

Carl Crawford grounded out to start the Dodgers’ half of the first, but that was followed up with Nick Punto singling to right-center field. He advanced to third on Matt Kemp’s double to deep right field. Adrian Gonzalez came up next with two runners in scoring position and knocked them both in with a single to center field, typing the game up at two apiece. Pirates pitcher Jeff Locke was able to get out of the jam by getting Jerry Hairston, Jr. and Juan Uribe to pop out to center field and right field, respectively.

Locke matched Ryu in the second inning with both pitchers have 1-2-3 innings and headed into the third inning stuck at a 2-2 tie.

Starling Marte led off the third with a bunt single but Ryu stranded him there after getting Walker to pop out to shortstop, McCutchen to fly out to shallow right field and Sanchez to fly out to left field.

The Dodgers played some good old-fashioned small ball in the bottom half of the third inning. After Crawford doubled to lead off the inning, he reached third on a Nick Punto sacrifice. Kemp flew out to right field, but the ball was deep enough to score Crawford and take a 3-2 lead. Gonzalez flied out to left field to end the inning.

Ryu had another inning where three Pirates stepped up to the plate and all three sat down after McHenry lined out to left, Alvarez struck out looking and Jose Tabata grounded out to shortstop.

The bottom of the fourth inning started off with an infield single by Hairston, but he was thrown at at second on a  fielder’s choice on the next batter. Tim Federowicz. Justin Sellers popped out to left-center and Ryu, who isn’t used to batting because pitchers don’t bat in the Korean Baseball Organization, struck out looking.

McDonald led off the top of the fifth by drawing a walk, but Ryu was able to retire the next three batters in order. He got Locke to strike out looking, then he got Marte to fly out to left center and Walker to right field.

The bottom of the fifth started off with Carl Crawford hitting a bloop single to shallow right field . Nick Punto followed that up with a single of his own to right field, advancing Crawford to second. Matt Kemp, in what is becoming an early theme for him, grounded into a double play. The silver lining to the play was Crawford was able to advance to third base on the play. Gonzalez singled in the next at-bat, plating Crawford for a 4-2 lead but was thrown out at second trying to stretch his single into a double.

Ryu retired the Pirates order in a row once again in the top of the sixth inning by getting McCutchen to fly out to left field and then striking Sanchez and McHenry out to end the inning.

Locke matched Ryu for the bottom of the sixth by having his own 1-2-3 inning in which he got Hairston and Uribe to fly out to left before Federowicz grounding out to shortstop.

Ryu struck Alvarez out to start the seventh inning before being relieved by Ronald Belisario as the pitcher of record. Tabata singled off Belisario and Garrett Jones came in as a pinch hitter but flied out to left field. Travis Snider pinch hit for Pirates pitcher Locke but grounded out to second base to end the inning.

The Pirates called on Chris Leroux to relieve Locke in the bottom of the seventh and he immediately gave up a lead off home run to Justin Sellers, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2. He was able to get Mark Ellis to fly out to center field then got Crawford to ground out to second base. Nick Punto drew a two out walk then stole second base. Kemp drew a walk to extend the inning for Adrian Gonzalez who hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Punto for a 6-2 lead. Leroux got Hairston to hit a ground ball to second baseman Neil Walker, who flipped the ball to McDonald covering second base for the force out.

Ronald Belisario continued to show that he can be an effective middle reliever by retiring the side, in order, in the top of the eighth. Marte hit a come-backer to Belisario who flipped the ball to first for the first out. Walker grounded out to first base and McCutchen grounded out to second base to end the inning.

Without a save situation, closer Brandon League got the night off and Matt Guerrier came on in the top of the ninth. He got Sanchez to ground out to shortstop for the first out of the ninth. The next batter up was McKenry who drew a walk. Skipper Don Mattingly then pulled Guerrier in favor of J.P. Howell to face the final two outs of the game. He struck out both Alvarez and Barmes to preserve the win for Hyun-Jin Ryu and the Dodgers.

This was the first major league victory for the Korean, since signing with the Dodgers this past off-season and the Dodgers’ first sweep in this young season.

Adrian Gonzalez had his best game of the year so far with three hits and four runs batted in and Carl Crawford had a double and a single.  While both of them are on the right track Matt Kemp continues to have a slow start, batting just .100 through the first eight games.

But, even while he is struggling he is being supportive of his teammates.

”Ryu did a good job today,” Matt Kemp said. ”The first inning was rough, but after that he shut them down. I told him that was all they were going to get today from him, and he did what we asked him to do. We scored some runs for him and got him the W. We know what our offense is capable of doing. And if we stay within ourselves, we’ll be a very successful team.”

Ryu improves to 1-1 on the season after allowing just those two first inning runs and three hits over the span of six-and-one-third. He struck out six and walked two.

After his major league debut last week, Ryu admitted to being somewhat nervous about getting his first victory in America.

”The feeling came to me when we were up 4-2. That’s when I actually thought, ‘it could be today,’ Ryu said through a translator. ”It absolutely felt great to get the first win at Dodger Stadium in front of the home crowd, but most importantly it felt good to help my team get the win today.”

This was Jeff Locke’s season debut, and he falls to 0-1 on the season after giving up four runs and eight hits over six innings. The southpaw was Pittsburgh minor league pitcher of the year last season and is hoping this will be his first full season in the majors. He has a career record of just 1-7 with a 6.32 earned run average in the big leagues. He has given up nine home runs in just eleven big league starts over the past three seasons..

”I feel like I threw the ball really well in the spring, so when you break with this team up here, you’ve got to feel confident,” Locke said. ”I felt very confident coming in today, and the results of the game doesn’t change the kind of confidence I have in myself.”

While Ethier traditionally struggles against left-handed pitching and took the day off because a southpaw was on the mound, the opposite is true about left-handed first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Last season, Gonzalez led the majors with a batting average of .322 against left-handed pitchers.

”Lefties allow me to simplify things,” Gonzalez said. ”I tend to get greedy against righties, and I try to drive the ball and I end up pulling off it. But with lefties, I usually just try to take what they give me. I’m not trying to drive the ball, just take a single. And if the ball’s away then I try to go the other way and not get too quick. There’s a perfect swing, and then there’s a swing that gets results. Right now, I have a swing that gets results.”

Maybe he can teach Ethier a thing or two.

The Pirates have gone 4-19 at Blue Heaven on Earth since 2006 when they last won a series in Los Angeles.

This game concludes the Dodgers’ first home stand of the season as they head to San Diego for a three game set against the Padres.
They are currently in third place, one game behind the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks.
 04/07/2013  Posted by at 11:01 pm Dodgers News, Recaps From The Ravine No Responses »

Game Five Summary: Dodgers 1 – Pirates 0

Apr 072013
 

When Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers, one can almost pencil in a win for them – even if their offense is struggling like has been the case of late.

In his second start of the season, Kershaw is off to a sensational start. After pitching a two-hit, complete game shutout in his season debut against the defending world champion San Francisco Giants, Kershaw followed that gem up with another stellar showing at Blue Heaven on Earth on Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He tossed seven innings of scoreless ball with nine strikeouts while giving up just two hits in another classic pitchers duel with Pirates’ A.J. Burnett.

Dating back to his final start of the 2012 season, Kershaw has not given up a run, earned or otherwise, in 20 consecutive innings.

”For me it just starts with throwing strikes,” Kershaw said. ”Just keep pumping the strike zone and letting the defense work. That’s kind of my mindset.”
After giving up a leadoff single to left fielder Starling Marte to begin the game, Kershaw responded by retiring the next seventeen batters in a row. Starling Marte singled again in the sixth for the Pirates’ second hit of the game.
On the offensive side of the game, the Dodgers’ offense continues to be anemic at best. While he didn’t have to go out and hit a home run to ensure the victory this time, Matt Kemp continues to struggle to start the season with just one hit in 18 at-bats. He grounded into an inning-ending double play in the seventh.
”Right now the offense isn’t scoring a ton of runs, so the pitchers have got to pick up the hitters – just like we expect them to pick us up when we’re struggling,” Kershaw said.

It isn’t for a lack of opportunities for the Dodgers. After Crawford led off the bottom of the first with a walk and stealing second base, Burnett struck out Mark Ellis, Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez, all looking.

Burnett followed that up with a perfect second inning in which he got Andre Ethier to ground out to first, A.J. Ellis to ground out to third and Luis Cruz to fly out to center field.

The Dodgers, led by Carl Crawford, finally broke through in the bottom half of the third inning. After retiring Justin Sellers and Kershaw to open up the inning, Carl Crawford reached on an infield single to short stop. He then advanced to scoring position by stealing his second bag of the day. Mark Ellis then knocked him in with an RBI single to left field. In hopes of extending the two-out rally, Ellis stole second off former Dodgers catcher Russell Martin only to get stranded their by Kemp’s second strikeout in as many at-bats.

They tried to break through again in the fourth after a lead off walk by Gonzalez and Ethier singling to right field, but A.J. Ellis grounded into a rally-killing double play. Luis Cruz, who has showed no signs of resuming his career-year from last season, then proceeded to strike out looking to officially end the inning.

Kershaw tried to help out his own cause again in the fifth by drawing a walk a one-out walk after Sellers struck out, but the rest of the lineup failed with Crawford and Mark Ellis both striking out.

The Dodgers had another great opportunity in their half of the sixth inning. Kemp struck out to begin the inning but the Dodgers then loaded the bases after Gonzalez singled to right, Ethier walked and A.J. Ellis singled to shallow left. However, Cruz popped out to shallow left and sellers hit a soft ground ball to second base to end the threat.

After failing to give Kershaw any insurance runs, Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly decided to pinch hit for him to lead off the bottom of the seventh. Skip Schumacher grounded out to third before Crawford and Mark Ellis both singled to shallow left field and right field, respectively. With two on and just one out, Matt Kemp stepped into the batters box with yet another chance to jumpstart his season. But, once again, he failed to do so and grounded into an inning-ending double play.

It was up to the Dodgers’ bullpen to hold the razor-thin lead.

Fortunately for the Dodgers, they were up to the task.

Paco Rodriguez relieved Kershaw to face Pedro Alvarez and struck him out before he was relieved by set-up man Kenley Jansen. Garrett Jones came in as a pinch hitter but popped out to third before Kenley Jansen fired a fastball pass Clint Barmes to end the inning and setting up Dodgers’ closer Brandon League.

League sailed through the ninth with relative ease, recording his second save of the season, in as many days.

When asked about leaving the game early with another shutout going, Kershaw said he didn’t have his normal repertoire.

”My fastball wasn’t great tonight,” Kershaw said. ”I was reaching back and didn’t have a whole lot in the tank, for whatever reason. But I was able to keep them a little bit off-balance and was able to get some big 3-2 strikeouts with the slider.”

Burnett, who pitched a second great game in a row himself, struck out nine Dodgers – including Matt Kemp three times. But, his lack of run support continued, having received less then three runs in eight of his last nine starts dating back to last season.
”I want to go up against every ace. That’s what I’m here for,” Burnett said. ”I’m not worried about run support. That’s not my thing. That’s beyond my control.”

The Dodgers have won 11 of their last 12 games against the Pirates and eight straight at Chavez Ravine. Their sole loss against Pittsburgh came in their final meeting of last season.

 04/07/2013  Posted by at 8:28 am Recaps From The Ravine No Responses »

Dodgers Trade Aaron Harang To Rockies

Apr 062013
 

With Chad Billingsley slated to come off the disabled list on Wednesday, the Dodgers traded veteran pitcher Aaron Harang to the Colorado Rockies for equally veteran but not as prosperous catcher Ramon Hernandez.

The move sends Harang, who has not pitched this year, to the Rockies with $7 million dollars, while no reports of gaining payroll from the $2.3 million owed to Hernandez. This move likely puts youngin’  Tim Federowicz out and back down to AAA. Ramon figures to be the backup to A.J. Ellis, hasn’t seen a productive year behind the plate since 2006 where he hit belted a career high 95 RBI’s and 23 home runs.

This is an interesting as the league is starved for pitching, I feel like they could have gotten a bit more for Harang. Hernandez was optioned by the Rockies, so if he can’t cut it as a 2nd string over there, how is that going to look here? All they can hope for is a veteran catcher helping A.J Ellis into another productive season. On the plus side, Chad Billingsley will made a bigger splash than Harang multiplied by Hernandez, so I guess it will work out. The next question is what to do with Chris Capuano?

 04/06/2013  Posted by at 1:28 pm Dodgers News, Transactions 2 Responses »
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