A Little Something to Keep Things In Perspective
Yes it's frustrating to lose in 15 innings to a division rival. Of course it sucks to squander a four RBI, two homer day from J.D. Drew (such offensive outbursts being a relatively rare occurrence these days). Obviously it hurts for L.A. to have missed an opportunity to extend their lead over San Diego to two games. All of those things basically blow.
But hey, at least you're not dealing with a band of thug raccoons.
BK
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BK,
For a moment there I thought I was reading The Onion. HAHA!!
Posted by: LoLo | August 26, 2006 at 06:01 AM
Noticed Tim "Cy Young" Stauffer of the Padres was sent to the minors after throttling the Dodgers. He gave up 4 runs in the first inning against the 51s in his start last night.
Last night's loss was frustrating in so many ways.
Dodger wasted an actual cleanup hitter performance by JD Drew (gets his name back for playing so well)and 2 excellent defensive plays by Drew and Furcal.
But Betemit's extremely shaky defense really hurt, costing as many as three runs. But, for me, the most frustrating was Nomar. I've not criticized his play, but couldn't take it last night.
After the AZ pitcher had walked the bases loaded and started Nomar with 2 balls, instead of making the guy throw a strike, Nomar swung at a pitch that, to me, appeared to be ball 3. What happened to zoning in on a pitch exactly where you want it when the pitcher is struggling? I can't believe that was the "one" #5 wanted. For the millionth time, who is in trouble with the bases loaded?
I know all about the pitcher just trying to get one over and that is your chance to smack it, but that was no cookie. Patience at the plate has never been Nomar's strength and I recognize his success hitting. But, didn't that situation call for more discipline?
We're bombarded when a Yankee game is on TV with stories of how many pitches they see, how they tire out the opposing pitcher. That's not the whole story, but you can't argue with their success this year.
And like a fool, I stayed with the entire game last night, to the bitter end. Had he not been used earlier, Craig Counsell probably would have delivered the winning hit with a bloop to left-center.
Posted by: Dodgerdog | August 26, 2006 at 07:46 AM
As long as I'm letting off steam....I know the rest of the world is not blessed to have Vin Scully, but can we ever rid ourselves of other "analysts" who proclaim, "He had to throw a strike there"? These guys, who offer no insight, are useless.
Had to throw a strike? So, then how would you account for Aaron Sele walking fearsome Brandon Lyon last night, which caused the lineup to be turned over and gave Orlando Hudson his chance? Sele didn't have to throw a strike to Lyon? He vowed that, like Barroid or David Ortiz or Albert Pujols, Sele wasn't going to let Brandon Lyon beat him?
Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Irks me that these guys have jobs that so many would love to have, yet actually have nothing truly to say.
Posted by: Dodgerdog | August 26, 2006 at 08:22 AM
No, Lolo. Those raccoons are real, and they're apparently pissed. I certainly don't mean to make light of dead housepets, but that story was just too damned wierd to ignore.
BK
Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | August 26, 2006 at 08:24 AM
Except for May, Nomar has been a very average player. Drew has actually been more consistant. The bullpen was a huge disappointment last night but if we just play good defense, we had a win. Giving away games is probably the most frustrating way to lose. The NL is up for grabs to the team that shows some fire and executes in the clutch and this teams inconsistency is wasting a hell of an opportunity. Let's see if Lowe steps up and takes the ace role. We really need it right now to right the ship.
Posted by: jim | August 26, 2006 at 09:03 AM
Unbelievable - so many missed opportunities. It was like everything was topsy turvy - Drew was hot, Nomar was not (not to mention Kent and Ethier) and we could have definitely used one of Betta mitt's homers last night to make up for his bad D. And Maddux, Maddux was painful to watch last night. Sele practically pitched a whole game! In the end, I had a gut feeling we'd lose from the 10th on - just because our bullpen had already failed so miserably and we have such a bad extra inning record. And I was actually happy it was a HR that did us in, and not a bases loaded walk ala Seo. I'm just praying tonight we find our game again - we can't afford a slide right now!
Posted by: Jen | August 26, 2006 at 09:31 AM
The problem lies with Little. He fails to recognize who can do what in certain situations.
Carrara can and only can be used when we have a 5+ run lead or deficit. He isn't the type to handle pressure. That cost us one run last night.
Tomko use to be a starter Little, he can be used at least 2 innings. For example, the 6th and 7th last night.
Broxton had his first bad outing in quite a while and Saito blew the save because of an error from Nomar, so they are not at fault.
Dodger fans should expect a lower batting avergae from Martin than a .300+ clip. He bats in the 8th hole ahead of the pitcher.
Posted by: Tom | August 26, 2006 at 10:09 AM
Horrible horrible game from every perspective (ex Drew, oddly). Bad defense, bad pitching- inexcusably bad plate discipline (1-2-3, 8 pitch innings VS AZs LAST relief pitcher????!!!), and I suspect the way Grady guides the team we have several more losses on the way as a result of that disgusting let down. After the 4th, bats GONE. Snake bull pen was like a room full of Pedro Martinez/Roger Clemens... The way we play in SD and AZ- I suspect this division lead will be gone by Monday. That was not Dodger baseball.
Posted by: john | August 26, 2006 at 10:32 AM
Looks like the Dodgers need the 4-life-saving steps of CPR performed on them:
1-Start the breathing
2-Stop the bleeding
3-Treat the wound
4-Treat for shock
Posted by: LoLo | August 26, 2006 at 10:35 AM
BK,
And damn funny too. HAHA!!
Posted by: LoLo | August 26, 2006 at 10:36 AM
I won’t go into what went wrong last night since AK/BK might get pissed about me exceeding a 10,000 word limit, but this is certainly starting to feel like our 1-13 tailspin. Another one of those and we might as well kiss the season goodbye.
Everyone, do me this favor; if I ever say something along the lines of “these are the real Dodgers playing up to their capabilities” just slap me right across my face. Pour me some “ackright”. Because I don’t know what the heck I’m talking about. The only thing these guys are capable of is riding a rollercoaster. For our sake we can only hope that they are peaking come the last part of the season.
Posted by: LoLo | August 26, 2006 at 10:44 AM
"That was a great game out there tonight," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "We made a couple of mistakes defensively, but we came out of the gates swinging. It was just one of those nights where we needed to score a few more than we did."
I'm..... speachless. WOW.
Posted by: john | August 26, 2006 at 11:34 AM
Sometimes you have to wonder what Little is watching. Six or seven runs should win any game. Pitching and defense, defense, defense. Championship teams don't give games away with shoddy defense. I believe when we won the west in 2004 we had the best defense in the NL and probably the majors. Other than that, there was nothing great about that team.
Posted by: jim | August 26, 2006 at 12:24 PM