Scratch, claw, win
First things first. The Dodgers put their scoreless streak to bed early, pushing a run across in the very first inning of Thursday's 5-4 win over the Reds. Then, just to blow everyone's mind, they scored another one in the second! Seriously! Two innings, two runs! But at the end of this explosion, L.A. still found themselves down a run, courtesy of a single Cincinnati tally in the first and a two run bomb from Alex Gonzalez in the second. Fortunately, Brett Tomko would settle down and keep a reshuffled Blue bunch in the game. Juan Pierre dropped down to seventh. Olmedo Saenz at first, Ramon Martinez at third, Delwyn Young in left. Everyone carrying four leaf clovers and rabbit's feet, wearing talismen around their necks. It would work in the end, but it wasn't easy. After a Joe Beimel balk- sounds about right, given how things are going- put the Reds up 4-3, Ramon Martinez had a huge hit in the eighth to score Andre Either, who had pinch-run for a cramp riddled Young after the rook's fourth hit of the day. Seriously, a hit with a man in scoring position. Like you, I had to pinch myself.
Rafael Furcal gave the Dodgers a 5-4 lead in the 11th, and Takashi Saito (remember that guy?) closed the door in the bottom half. Game over. Six run losing streak, over. 28 inning scoreless streak, over. Overwhelming feeling of hopelessness and dread, over. At least for one day. More on the game to come.
BK
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I saw Russell Martin looking baby-faced today, and heard Steiner mention he went from a full beard to a fu man chu yesterday, and then took that off today. Hey, if that's what it takes to get the hex off the team, I'll take the whole team bald and clean-shaven all the way to October!
Posted by: Jen | August 09, 2007 at 03:13 PM
Play Young ever day until the pitcher's catch up to him....Tell Gonzo to go back to Arizona, ..Send Saenz out for enchiladas but don't tell him where to come back to...Bat Pierre 9th, might as well....Has Grady fianlly seen the light or got the courage to confront Ned about the ridiculous signing of Miss Juanita? From Princess Drew to what is obviously a young woman masquerading as a man and a baseball player, Junata Pierre....4 More Years!!!! good God!!!!!
BTW Kemp is young and immature, or he is another Mondesi, a lazy jerk...I lean toward the later.
Posted by: DODGER 1955 | August 09, 2007 at 04:42 PM
Agreed, Kemp is young and immature. But so was I and everyone else at 22. But a "lazy jerk", I think not. Sure, he makes some bonehead plays, but so do some of the "experienced" veterans. "Lazy" could also refer to someone who doesn't proof read their posting for typos ("later" instead of "latter"), and the omission of a question mark.
Matt Kemp prior to 2006 had never played above A-ball. Last year should have been his AA year and this year should have been his AAA year. Whereas most players Kemp's age would be honing their skills in the relative obscurity of the minor leagues (and playing everyday instead of semi-regularly), Kemp is making his mistakes on the larger major league stage for everyone to see.
He also played a lot of basketball prior to being drafted, meaning prior to signing with the Dodgers he likely didn't focus exclusively on developing his baseball skills.
Matt Kemp is far from a finished product, but his athletic talent is undeniable. Mistakes aren't always the result of laziness. They can also be the product of over enthusiasm. When Kemp runs a bad route to a fly ball it's not laziness at work, it's inexperience. When he goes fishing for a breaking ball low and away, that's inexperience as well. In Kemp's case, PATIENCE is the watchword. I would rather see Matt Kemp in the lineup making mistakes and learning from them, than a flawless Gonzo and Pierre ("flawless"??????????????).
BTW, the Dodgers obtained Mark Sweeney from the Giants today, so maybe it will be sayonara to the Tomato. Hope it's not Young.
Posted by: Brooklyn Dodger | August 09, 2007 at 06:04 PM
I too am interested to see whose place Sweeny takes. All logic says it has to be Saenz but I'm not convinced the Tomato doesn't have naked pictures of Grady and/or Ned. Surely they wouldn't send down Young right after he had a 4-hit day. I just hope Grady doesn't attribute the win to his lineup changes. I wish people would stop picking on Pierre. His OBP is low but with all the stolen bases he in effect leads the league in doubles.
Posted by: uclart47 | August 09, 2007 at 09:37 PM
Brooklyn Dodger....either they have it or they don't....I'm not sure that Kemp 'has it'....whether now or later! (I lean towards 'later' not 'latter'...I know what I mean!!!!
Posted by: DODGER 1955 | August 09, 2007 at 10:08 PM
Stolen bases do not exactly equate to doubles. If that were the case, w/o looking at the current stats, I would guess that Jose Reyes leads the league in doubles (maybe Hanley Ramirez).
A double with runners on base moves moves them around, and gets runs home. If Pierre singles with a runner on first, and the runner only advances to second, Pierre can't steal, and the double play is still in order. Also, real doubles get you to second w/o any chance of being thrown out attempting to steal. Not to mention, an actual double opens the possibility of stealing 3B. That brings the runner 90 feet closer to home, with the chance of scoring on a sacrifice fly/wild pitch, etc.
My objection to Pierre is not only his OBA, but his defense as well. Compared to the elite centerfielders in the game, he gets poor jumps on balls, and we all know about his rag arm. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Pierre's prime objective should be to get on base. Given his lack of extra base power, Pierre's best bet is to get on first via any means possible. If the logic of stolen bases equating to doubles is applied, think how many "doubles" he would have if he walked more often. Ricky Henderson had more extra base power than Pierre (lots more), but still patterned his game around getting on base, and was among the league leaders in free passes year after year. Why, given all the years he's been around, can't Pierre figure that out?" That also tells me something.
Posted by: Brooklyn Dodger | August 10, 2007 at 07:52 AM