Seo Out of Seo Puns
I went through the whole list- "Oh Seo Good" (too obvious), "Say It Is Seo" (semi-confusing Joe Jackson reference), "Say It Ain't Seo... Unless It's Jae Seo!" (less confusing but overly wordy Joe Jackson reference), "Seo, Did You Hear About the Dodgers Win?" (awful), "Seo-phisticated Pitching" (not the worst, but pretty bad), "He's Seo Fine" (vaguely homoerotic), and "Jae Says Seo" (doesn't really make sense). I think that whole angle may be played out.
The point is the guy pitched really well in the Dodgers 6-1 victory over Colorado Monday night. Seo (2-2) overcame a rocky start that saw his defense giveth (a Willy Aybar error led to Colorado's only run) and taketh away (two Rockies runners were thrown out at home). Rafael Furcal pitched in with the glove- a welcome sight given his defensive struggles- snagging a Brad Hawpe grounder up the middle to start a double play that helped Seo wriggle his way out of the 3rd. After that, the righty was dominant. Seo faced the minimum of twelve hitters (an infield single was erased by another DP) over his final four innings. Overall he gave up only six hits, one run (unearned), and a lonely free pass in his seven frames. It was good enough to take the Battle of Korea from Rockies starter Byung-Hyun Kim (2-2), and lower Seo's ERA from 5.31 to 4.50. Not bad for a night's work.
The Dodgers didn't exactly batter Kim around the Ravine, but got some timely hits and took advantage of an early Colorado gift. With two outs in their half of the 3rd, Rafael Furcal reached on a Todd Helton error. Jose Cruz Jr., who entered the game hitting an anemic .185 against right handed pitching, laced a double to deep right, moving Furcal to third before an Olmedo Saenz blooper to right brought them home. In the bottom of the 6th, J.D. Drew led off with a single that nearly took Kim's head off, then Jeff Kent followed with a blast off the wall in left that plated Drew for a 3-1 Dodger lead. All told, Kim surrendered only six hits and a single earned run, but it was enough to take the loss. And once Kim was gone, the Dodgers put the game out of reach.
Scott Dohmann started the 7th and, we can only assume, didn't follow Colorado manager Clint Hurdle's game plan. After all, "Scott, get out there, walk three guys, throw a wild pitch, give up a run, and make me burn another reliever to get out of the inning!" seems like an odd pep talk. 4-1 Blue. Pinch hitter Ramon Martinez delivered a key single in the 8th off David Cortes, helping the Dodgers tack on two insurance tallies resulting in the final 6-1 score. Throw in some solid relief work by Jonathan Broxton (dude is becoming a real workhorse out of the pen, no surprise since he's built like one...) and Joe Beimel, and the Dodgers were able to wrap up their fifth win in a row with relative ease.
Not a ton of fireworks, just an efficient win with everyone contributing. Sounds good to Dodger fans.
More on the game tomorrow.
BK
photo by FRANCIS SPECKER/AP
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Thanks guys for this Dodgers resourse which allows us fans to release our pride and observations upon.
Posted by: johnny | May 23, 2006 at 12:46 AM
Mornin' guys!!!
Ahhh it's been very nice these last few games to watch Dodger starting pitching do what they have to do to get the game to the relievers and the relievers not efen it all up. ::sigh::
The Angels sweep was sweeeeeeet! The Dodgers scored 31runs in 3 games!!!!!!!!!
Last night's game was a nice smooth game after the 1st. Seo looked really good, seems like he's settled in & that extra day off he got helped heal that torn fingernail you could tell it helped some.
**It's nice to see Kent smile after games
**Kent's & Lofton's comments on that guy that hit a lot of HRs in his juiced up career were absolutely perfect.
**Gagne might be pitching in LV on fri or sat...YAY!!!
Posted by: MrsThinkBlue | May 23, 2006 at 06:55 AM
If Seo can get anywhere close to pitching like he did at the end of last season with the Mets, the Dodgers rotation will be nasty. Penny-Lowe-Tomko-Seo, even Sele is pitching well. Gagne and Izzy doing the rehab thing, things are definitely looking up for the REAL LA team.
Posted by: Aaron | May 23, 2006 at 07:54 AM
I don't wanna be the "party pooper" but they gotta let OP pitch atleast 2-3 innings he hasn't pitched in about 7 days now.
Go Blue!
Posted by: Mini-Repko | May 23, 2006 at 08:15 AM
Best thing about this win was how ho-hum and methodical it was. Beyond wins and losses it is sometimes difficult to tell how well a baseball team is playing (versus basketball where you can see five guys working together). But last night the Dodgers played well as a team (especially in the field) and looked at ease in slowly taking the game away from the Rockies.
With each passing day this gets more fun!
Go Blue!!
Posted by: SantaMonica4Ever | May 23, 2006 at 08:24 AM
The Dodgers are definitely riding high. With the way that Broxton has been sucking-up innings, coupled with the imminent return of Gagne, the Dodgers' bullpen woes might be a thing of the past. Ethier has been a delightful surprise. The Dodgers eliminated a clubhouse cancer and received a good, young player in return. Jeff Kent has many reasons to smile these days, despite his temporary sub-par hitting avg.
My major concern now is Garciaparra's tenure with the Blue. I don't wanna get ahead of myself, but it would have been great if LA had given Nomar more than a one-year contract. If he keeps this up, he will command some nice $$$ in the open market. He is an L.A. (Whittier) native, so that might give the Blue an edge.
Well, let's hope this continues well into October.
GO DODGERS!!!
Posted by: Hugo P. | May 23, 2006 at 09:25 AM
Personally, I'm glad you got the whole Seo pun thing out of your system . . . I've never been a huge fan of sports writers trying to do that. Or like when they try to do it with the Phoenix Suns. It gets old and its just not cute anymore. I'd rather just see a normal article heading! Just my two cents . . .
Posted by: Dodger Fan | May 23, 2006 at 10:19 AM
Dodger Fan,
Point noted, but baseball is a LONG season. We're gonna have to dip into that pun well more than a few times to keep things going. We're just not clever enough to avoid it. Sorry. haha
AK
Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | May 23, 2006 at 10:47 AM
Lolo,
Wow. They don't call them "stupid stats" for nothing, huh? haha
AK
Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | May 23, 2006 at 11:29 AM
At the end of last nights game the Dodgers are N.L's highest scoring team. That's right you read it correctly the N.L's highest scoring team. Go Dodgers!!!!!!
Posted by: Gerardo | May 23, 2006 at 01:56 PM