53,126 very ornery fans
The Ravine was fairly well packed for Monday night's matchup against the D-Backs, and a feisty, excitable bunch they were. Unfortunately, the Blue didn't give them much to cheer about, and given little alternative, there was a whole lot of booing and hissing in L.A.'s 9-1 loss. Starter Randy Wolf, with Sunday's 17 inning, bullpen burning affair in the rear view mirror (objects are closer than they appear), flirted with trouble all night before finally taking her home for the evening in the fifth and sixth innings. The killer blows came from Arizona catcher Chris Snyder, who with pitcher Brandon Webb on deck singled home Eric Byrnes on a horrible two strike, two out offering from Wolf. Webb then followed with a flair to center that Juan Pierre misplayed then dropped when he dove after the ball in an attempt to recover. 4-0. The Diamondbacks added another pair in the sixth, again with two outs, both charged to Wolf, who didn't make it out of the inning. Thus, his fun little streak of five straight six inning efforts ended on a night where the Blue really needed him to go seven and beyond. Not that Grady didn't push him. 110 pitches worth of pushing, to be exact. And man alive, did the hometown hero hear it from the fans. They were not afraid to boo (or get oddly enthusiastic down 7-0 when the Dodgers staged a mini-rally accounting for their lone run). I imagine Little wanted to boo, too, since he was forced to use Rudy Seanez, Brett Tomko, and Joe Beimel just to get out of the game.
Of course, you can argue Wolf's performance really didn't matter much, since L.A. was unable to muster an attack on Cy Young winner Brandon Webb. A pair of hits through six, and four overall. The Dodgers weren't able to accomplish much all night. Unless, of course, you count enhancing the value of Webb or centerfielder Chris Young, who had a pair of homers, three hits, and three RBIs. Don't look now, but with the win the D-Backs are a half-game ahead of the Blue.
More on the game to come. Sorry. NOW ADDED AFTER THE JUMP.
BK
Appropriately enough, the showers were broken in the Dodgers clubhouse after the game, so nobody could wash the stank of the evening off, either metaphorically or literally. That means an extra hour or so for Wolf to carry around his less than stellar performance. The lefty said he'd have been disappointed in his performance even if the pen hadn't been pushed so badly on Sunday, but that they were made his night that much worse. One major problem was the curveball, which Wolf said he couldn't throw to save his life.
Download randy_wolf_4.30 post Arizona I.mp3
Download randy_wolf_4.30 post Arizona II.mp3
Once the D-Backs had the lead, coming back against Webb was a very tall order. Too tall. Dude's stuff is downright nasty. Ugly as tonight was, Luis Gonzalez is looking forward to seeing Livan Hernandez tomorrow night. Can't blame him. After tonight, Walter Johnson might look hittable.
Download juan_pierre_4.30 on Brandon Webb.mp3
Download luis_gonzalez_4.30 on Brandon Webb, Livan Hernandez.mp3
More on the game tomorrow.
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strangely, we may be starting to get thin on quality starters. i like lowe, penny, hendrickson longterm. but wolf is a shot in the dark and schmidt is having big issues. i think at some point, we need to bring bills back into the starting lineup and get kuo ready.
we need to get kemp and loney on the squad quick. this team is way too inconsistent and has to manufacture runs. we need to get to the point where we can blow teams out.
Posted by: luke | May 01, 2007 at 04:01 AM
luke-
I can understand the concern. Schmidt doesn't seem anywhere near pitching, and Wolf is slipping (though I'm less concerned about him, really- he's just made some horrible pitches at bad moments- two strike counts, etc.). I think Wolf will be fine, but fortunately, they do have options in Kuo and Billingsley. As for bringing guys up, Kemp I think will be back relatively soon if the offense doesn't improve, but it could be a while longer before we see Loney. Nobody wants to move Nomar to third base, and given the crowded outfield and his inexperience, you can't bring Loney up to play OF. He needs a spot.
BK
Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | May 01, 2007 at 08:03 AM
Are you kidding me? Betemit is STILL in the lineup?! C'mon Grady! Your smarter than that. This weekend, when your in Atlanta, do us a favor, leave him in Atlanta. This is ridiculous. How many AB's does it take to realize that the guy is not a major league hitter regardless of which side of the plate he bats from. At least, sit him down(if not give him away) and let him think about for awhile. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Blue Blood | May 04, 2007 at 05:34 PM