It's a biggie
Joe Torre did his best to downplay the significance of Wednesday night's series opener against the Diamondbacks at the Ravine... but if the closed-door, no-disclosure pregame meeting indicates anything, the Blue knew the game hit a high mark on the importance meter. Well, whatever was said in the clubhouse before the first pitch worked pretty well, as LA came out and hassled previously unbeaten (not to give away the ending before finishing this sentence) Arizona righty Dan Haren on their way to an 8-3 win. It wasn't necessarily a run-of-the-mill win. Derek Lowe had to leave the game in the fifth with elbow tightness- word right now is that he'll be fine to make his next start- and Takashi Saito had a rare two-inning save and even more dodo-esque at bat (he struck out, under orders not to swing).
But perhaps the strangest thing was the abundance of production with men in scoring position, and big two out hits. James Loney, Matt Kemp, and Chin-lung Hu all knocked in runners with a pair of outs on the board, something the Dodgers have done with precious little frequency this year. Most of the damage came against an uncharacteristically erratic Haren, who had trouble locating his pitches and suffered against patient Dodgers hitters.
Juan Castro wouldn't mind returning to the team for which he made his Major League debut, and his versatile glove might give the Dodgers a little more flexibility in the roster. The pitching staff could use a little of that, given the presence of three-headed starter monster Hong-Chi Kuo, Chan Ho Park, and Esteban Loaiza, two of which are currently consigned to pen duties. Which one makes the starts, though, could be changing. Park or Loaiza might start this weekend against the Rockies, in part because Kuo is more suited to pen work than the other two.
Rafael Furcal credits a winter spent in the Dominican league for his hot start.
Juan Pierre isn't starting anymore, but he's still doing good work for the community.
The Dodgers will announce plans today (in about a half hour, actually) for a $500 million renovation and expansion of Dodger Stadium that will include new entry plazas, shops, restaurants, and parking garages. The goal is to make the stadium viable for another fifty years of use.
TODAY'S GAME: Chad Billingsley (0-3, 6.14) hopes to bounce back from a string of bad outings. He'll face Edgar Gonzalez (0-1, 4.50).
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Good game last night for the Blue, especially with the timely hitting--all the RBI's came with two outs. Furcal continues to set the table, and Lowe did a great, if too short, a job shutting down the reptilians.
The bull pen wasn't perfect or sharp, but they did clamp down the rally after allowing the snakes to threaten a couple of times.
It's getting really hard to believe Torre when he says Andruw cares and has been working on correcting things, when he continues to swing with an uppercut and lunge after bad pitches. A good manager needs to support his players, but wasn't Bowa supposed to be his bad cop? Talk of "cutting" Jones on this blog is plain ridiculous, but is management taking the right approach with him? Would more criticism be effective? So far patience hasn't made a dent.
Posted by: Retrograde | April 24, 2008 at 10:35 AM
How do you know that Saito was under orders not to swing? Was it just from seeing the little chat Torre had with him just before he went up, or did someone confirm it. Sure was a funny looking at bat, anyway.
Posted by: Steve | April 24, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Bills has an ERA of 6.14... damn, I bet Schmdt could do that!
Posted by: benzo jones | April 24, 2008 at 11:47 AM
BD:
I think the biggest problem for Broxton and Saito has been lack of regular work. It's hard to bring your 8th and 9th inning guys into games when you're down 8-1 (or for that matter, ahead 8-1). IF there's a bright side, their lack of innings in April might keep them fresher in September. Recall that's when brox went to hell--his first full season of work took a toll by the end.
As for Lard Lad, could he just once cut down his swing and go the other way? All he does is try to kill the ball to left every single time. That's a recipe for a popup, especially when you're in a slump. Dude, drop one down, hit a duck fart the other way, go back up the middle. Your prodigious belly is already frightening other pitchers way more than your bat. But if you could get your 285 pounds behind a ball back to the box, you might actually get some good pitches to see.
I agree with Jones that the reasonhe sat out Tuesday was allergies. He's allergic to getting hits.
Posted by: SaMo | April 24, 2008 at 11:56 AM
It's a big win. They all are right now. Forget the division, just get back to .500.
The thing I don't understand about Jones is if the D'backs announcers (I have to view the AZ feed) can see all the obvious fundamental problems Andruw is having with his swing, why is he not addressing them himself? He must know, so doesn't he want to change? Is he doing it one way in batting practice and different during the game? Torre mentioned Jones was okay at PB if I recall.
So what's the deal?
As some others have mentioned, it looks like Broxton and Saito are going to be hittable this year.
Add that to the list...
Posted by: Andy B | April 24, 2008 at 11:58 AM
2 things I'm hoping for tonight......
The team hits again--I won't call it "continues", because we've witnessed them score a lot in one game, then do nothing in the next;
Billingsley pitches well, and throws strikes. Stop nibbling, or whatever it is and keep the pitch count to a reasonable number.
I agree with SaMo. Broxton and Saito have not had regular work. What did I read, nine days since Takashi pitched?
Posted by: Chunkdog | April 24, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Only a matter of time before the clutch hits started to drop. I also like that Saito and Broxton actually got to see some action.
This game gainst Gonzales might be their best chance to put a 2 game win streak together. Let's face it they have faced some average pitchers who have made solid quality starts.
Can't wait for Schmidt to come back, he will be the shot in the arm the team needs...!!!
Posted by: Jesse in SC | April 24, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Kambros... is the title of the post supposed to be an AJ reference?
Posted by: benzo jones | April 24, 2008 at 02:16 PM