Extra! Extra! (8.28)
A half game. That's all the Dodgers lost off their divison lead over their nine-game NL West lovefest, despite a 4-5 record and dropping all three in San Diego. Put that up against the five games the Dodgers lost during the Great Skid of '06, and it pretty much proves one thing — you have to be a special kind of crappy to fall out of contention in this division, which should help keep things tight. L.A.'s 6-3 win in Arizona on Sunday bumped their lead over the second-place Friars to two games, held the Giants back at 3.5, and likely gave "stick a fork in 'em" status, at least concerning the division — to the now-five-out D-Backs.
The Dodgers put a lot on Chad Billingsley's shoulders yesterday. Crucial interdivision game. A bullpen taxed more than the Swedish citizenry. But the kid came through, not all that surprising since he's basically shut down the NL in nine starts since the break to the tune of a 1.88 ERA. The only problem? He usually requires a lot of bullpen help. Sunday, not so much. Bills finished the seventh and issued only one walk, pitching to contact with a cut fastball and not necessarily trying to strike out every batter. Arizona, or Orlando Hudson at least, was impressed.
Offensively, the Dodgers got all they needed from Rafael Furcal (who since July 1 has not only been earning his paycheck, but maybe a couple others), whose triple in the fourth plated two, and Wilson Betemit — batting left-handed, fortunately — who took Livan Hernandez deep for two more in the sixth. The box shows good game from J.D. Drew, to whom August has been relatively kind, and (shocker!) more solid play from Andre Ethier.
Derek Lowe should be OK for his next start, and will have a seriously overqualified caddy for his next bullpen session. So the rotation isn't likely to need a shuffle, though the lineup could see some in the Cincinnati series opening tonight at the Ravine.
It's a big set for both teams. The Reds, after briefly catching the Cardinals in the Central have fallen three back after dropping three straight. For the Dodgers, this is a chance to put some more distance in between them and the wild card. Thanks to ESPN.com for breaking down the matchups, so we don't really have to. Tonight, it's Mark Hendrickson (he's tall and coming off his best start as a Dodger) versus Chris Michalak, who quite frankly, most people have never heard of.
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I know this may sound crazy considering how volatile the Dodgers have been, but I think Saturday’s game saved our season. I don’t have any stats to back up my claim; just a gut feeling. The team looked like it was on the brink of falling into that 1-13 funk. At this time of the year something like that would have sunk us, no matter how good or how fast we could have turned things around. We had just gotten swept by the Pads, giving them momentum and the confidence that they are our daddy (no pun intended). The Giants were reeling, only to look up at the standing to find that they were 3.5 games out. The Snakes would have been right there had they won Saturday’s game.
And us?
Well, we would have been a runaway train of disaster. Had we lost on Saturday we would have most certainly found a way to lose on Sunday (as many have pointed out, our team does not handle adversity very well). We would have folded at the hands of the Snakes and would have gotten swept 2 consecutive series (sound familiar?). We would have gone 2-7 on the roadtrip and our lead would have been gone with no end to the skid in sight.
Instead Kent came through HUGE. He was all smiles in the clubhouse and the team, instead of being down about blowing another game, was ecstatic. They came out on Sunday and played inspired. My boy Billz continued to pitch well and gave us 7 solid innings of work. The news on Lowe doesn’t sound so bad, and even Hamulack pitched a solid effort. And for CHRIST’S SAKE, I swear on everything that is holy, I saw Princess Drew playing solid, inspired baseball.
So here we are, going home. One-and-a-half games back of the Cards. Up two games on the Pads. 18-7 for the month with a chance to break the franchise record of 20 wins. And as ugly as the road trip was we ended up winning 2 of the 3 series. As the story goes, we live to die another day.
One game…just saved our season thus far. Where will we go from here?
GO BLUE!!
Posted by: LoLo | August 28, 2006 at 09:30 AM
So, is it Penny or Hendrickson tonight? The Dodgers' page has Penny, but ESPN seems to think otherwise. There's no reason to plug Hendrickson back in the rotation, unless Lowe is still hurting on Wed.
Posted by: Makoto Ueno | August 28, 2006 at 09:37 AM
"Tonight, it's Mark Hendrickson (he's tall...)"
As I used to tell my recruits..."I didn't know they stacked s*** that high!" HAHA!!
Posted by: LoLo | August 28, 2006 at 09:46 AM
Never mind, in the interest of giving everyone a minimum of 4 days between starts, Hendrickson is going to have to start one of the games against Cincy. I'd rather not have him start the opening game, though.
Posted by: Makoto Ueno | August 28, 2006 at 10:05 AM
I'm not really confident in this team going up against a rookie pitcher...
Posted by: I dunno | August 28, 2006 at 10:22 AM
Billz was awesome on Sunday for sure...
Something about that high-end caddy that Lowe will have...it has been interesting to note that Lowe seems to be learning or at least focusing more since that "caddy" joined the team. On the other hand Penny seems to be out to prove something everytime he starts. As opposed to just staying within his strengths he is instead trying to show he is the "ace" of the staff. Maybe he needs to light something else up before he starts, you know just to expand his focus a tad and relax a bit?...it looks as if his temper is a result of being embarrased with himself and not being willing to admit he is stinking up the mound. I think he'll get there just fine once he trusts his talent instead of forcing it and stops caring about what people say about his ability or lack thereof...
Posted by: grumpy3b | August 28, 2006 at 10:56 AM
tonights game should be a good test for dodgers before they play the better teams during the playoffs. hope this is the right URL or whatever. I had to phone my grandson in Murrieta and he thinks this is what you want. I am new to computers.
Posted by: scooter | August 28, 2006 at 03:00 PM
I hope the previous comment I made was received. I will check later.
Posted by: scooter | August 28, 2006 at 03:05 PM
tommorrows headline: Dodgers blast rookie pitcher.
Posted by: iknow | August 28, 2006 at 04:02 PM
hopefully the expanded roster will come to save
our overworked bullpen. Plus will be good to have
kemp and loney back. why would we be on the market for a lefthanded ph when the expanded roster will
resolve the problem?
Posted by: iknow | August 28, 2006 at 04:09 PM
grumpy3b- maybe he's just grumpy.
Posted by: iknow | August 28, 2006 at 04:13 PM
billz is best. maddux is second best.lowe is third best.penny is fourth best. sele is fifth best.
bk is sixth best. ak is seventh best.
Posted by: iknow | August 28, 2006 at 04:16 PM
I know,
As long as I finish ahead of Lance Carter, I'm fine with wherever I'm ranked in the rotation.
AK
Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | August 28, 2006 at 04:23 PM
you way better than sirlancealot. hope he not on
expanded roster.remember the time baez give up 5
runs in 9 ing. we lose.
Posted by: iknow | August 28, 2006 at 04:33 PM
scooter- you got right place- ok. we recieving you.
Posted by: iknow | August 28, 2006 at 04:35 PM