Eleven innings of serious Blue hurling ... then the fans hurl
On one hand, it's hard to complain when a series of Dodger pitchers join forces to allow one run over 11 innings. Unfortunately, the Dodgers weren't able to push ahead of the Padres during the "regulation plus two" portion of frames, which rendered the 12th inning a requirement as dictated by Major League Baseball's rules. And that's when Brett Tomko, who's attracting his share of boos this season, entered and the game turned into a 3-1 loss. Tomko immediately surrendered a lead-off single to Khalil Greene in omen-setting fashion, then watched Andre Ethier make a sliding trap of Jose Cruz Jr.'s bloop to left. Greene made it home, and the hit was compounded by Tony Abreu's spacing out on Ethier's throw to nab Cruz at second. That mental mistake was further compounded by a Geoff Blum double, scoring Cruz.
Throw it all together with a fruitless bottom of the 12th and you've got a result that wasted some otherwise terrific pitching on both sides. The "Brad Penny/Jake Peavy are going head to head" hoopla lived up to the hype, their seven innings apiece combined for 13 strikeouts and just two earned runs. I believe that would qualify as "good pitching," as traditionally defined. The Blue follow-up efforts by Joe Beimel, Jonathon Broxton, Takashi Saito and Chin-Hui Tsao all produced a string of goose eggs. Plus, Saito managed to dodge back-to-back broken bats like he was starring in an action flick. "Bruce Willis-esque" prowess is an intangible that doesn't show up in the box score, but we at Blue Notes believe they deserve their rightful props.
More to come later.
-AK
After the game, Grady Little was told by a reporter that most people think when Tomko takes the mound that he's "going to get himself in some kind of trouble." He then wondered about any concerns that something could be wrong with the starter-turned-reliever-turned-emergency-use-only pitcher. Little seemed more offended by the question's phrasing than the assessment contained within. "Well, in the first place, I don't read people's minds. We played 12 innings of baseball out there. It was his turn to come out there and get some people out. He didn't get the job done tonight. Maybe we will next time."
Tomko wasn't the only Dodger guilty of a breakdown. Russell Martin's always been mature beyond his years, but an 11th-inning decision to steal third as Jeff Kent drew a walk proved costly. For what it's worth, the replay showed that Martin made it to the bag safely, but Michael Barrett's throw beat him to the spot, which provided the ump enough ammo to call the youngster out. But either way, it was a poor decision at best, which Little made no bones about. "He was a little bit over-aggressive right there. It was a mistake. He learned from it, but it was too late. But it was a bad mistake at that time."
No argument from Martin, who was kicking himself in the clubhouse. Asked about his near-guaranteed announcement of an All-Star bid coming tomorrow, Martin said he wasn't "thinking about it much. I'm still kind of dwelling about the mistake I made." Martin's always struck me as someone with the ability to let stuff roll off his back, so I was curious if this mistake stayed with him more because of the costliness, its nature or simply because he was still at the Ravine and it was fresh in his head. "I get more angry when I make a mental mistake or something like that." Even though he saw the replay and recognized that a correct call would have resulted in his reckless abandon putting him in scoring position, the failure to recognize the unnecessary timing is what bummed Martin out. "It's not worth the risk, especially when you've got Jeff Kent at the plate. And other reason why, Nomar told me and made a great point, when you have two strikes, it's always harder to hit when you've got a guy running from second base, so that's just another reason why, with two strikes, just hang out there and hope the guy gets a hit."
Live and learn.
-AK
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what is it about their fellow SoCal freeway mates that keeps getting the better of the dodgers? first, they can't beat the halos, and over the past two years have been owned by the friars. tomko's pretty much a stiff at this point but you can't blame him, it was the twelfth inning and who did the dodgers really have left? you can't blame russell martin for trying to swipe third either in the bottom of the eleventh. he had just stolen second and if he makes it the winning run is at third with less than two outs. a sac fly by kent or a wild pitch or a passed ball at that point wins the game and if so, russell is again the hero and one of the few dodgers worth watching. no, the game never should have gone extra innings if grady little had pinch hit wilson betemit in the bottom of the seventh instead of the "round" tomato. i know olmeado saenz is affectionately referred to as the "killer" tomato but seriously, if your best hitter off the bench is an overweight slug who strikes out as often as kobe bryant says he wants to be traded, what use is he? maybe the dodgers should have designated him for assignment instead of marlon anderson and sent up a left-handed bat agains the right handed peavy in that situation. maybe betemit, who has 3 pinch hit hrs this year would have come through and set up broxton and saito to close the game out and even the series at 1-1. maybe the dodgers would then still be tied with the padres for first instead of two out in danger of falling further. san diego improved their lethargic offense by adding troubled but capable milton bradley and i have a hunch are not done. what are the dodgers going to do?
Posted by: socalcmh | July 01, 2007 at 01:48 AM
Jeff Kent said earlier this year that he couldn't wait to retire. I for one, would ask that he please make it official and that he take Bomko with him.
Posted by: seenematthecoliseum | July 01, 2007 at 03:21 AM
AK
Too late!! The Pads are already in the Dodgers heads. Only 1 hit after the Padres relievers took over. Tomato and Betemit strike out in crucial situations. What a shame! The Padres are not that good!! I don't think that the 1, 2 of Raffy and Pierre is working. What's up???
Posted by: Package | July 01, 2007 at 09:08 AM
Did anybody ask Little about the decision to have Pierre sacrifice Furcal to second with no outs in the 8th?
That was a bigger mistake than Martin's ill-advised steal attempt in the 11th because there were no outs and we still had Saito ready to come into the game.
Why wasn't Furcal stealing there? Assuming he steals and is safe (fairly good assumption), Pierre's bunt gets him to third and Martin's grounder to first scores him. Saito comes in for the 9th and Dodgers win 2-1.
Little managed in the AL -- he of all people should realize that sacrifices are rally killers.
Posted by: RC | July 01, 2007 at 11:57 AM
Why is KEMP not starting consistently?
Why is Eithier not startng consistently?
If the answer to these two questions is because of Pierre....then...
Why is Pierre being chosen over Kemp/Eithier?
Why is Tomko still on this team?
Why is Kent still batting 4th?
And why are the seats yellow at Dodger stadium?
Posted by: Aryan | July 01, 2007 at 12:27 PM
Pierre has fewer than 20 RBIs and the season is half over.
Isn't there some way the Dodgers can take back $53,999,999.99 of his incredibly bloated salary?
Posted by: quirky | July 01, 2007 at 12:48 PM
Andrew,
I have posted the last two paragraphs of your addendum to this post for educational purposes, on the Dodgers fan message board (official Dodgers site). I hope this is cool, please accept my apoligies for not asking first. Of course, I will make it clear, where the information is coming from.
Posted by: Under 13 | July 02, 2007 at 11:57 PM