Lowe-rider
As a wise (fictional) man once said, "Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Well, Friday night, the Dodgers could have used some of the wet stuff, since it was pretty clear early on they weren't going to get the W. Not much to analyze in this one. Derek Lowe again wasn't sharp, and the Dodger bats were oddly silent against Houston starter Brian Moehler, who made his first start of the '08 season and entered the contest with a 7.04 ERA in 7.2 innings of work. The result was a 7-1 loss to the Astros. I'm not trying to get lazy here, but this was a game without much nuance.
If it's any consolation, the fearsome threesome that did much of the damage against Lowe- Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, and Miguel Tejada- have been killing opposing pitchers of late. Especially Berkman, who tonight was 3-4 with a homer, two runs scored and a pair of RBIs, giving him a robust 15 hits in his last 30 at bats. Da-yum.
The Good:
- Blake DeWitt: You'd have to be some sort of moron at this point to think he shouldn't be declared the third baseman. Okay, I poke fun (at me, mostly), but the kid had another solid night at the plate. Yes, with two on in the sixth- one of LA's few rallies in the game- DeWitt bounced weakly to first, but given the number of times he's come through in those situations, I'm willing to forgive. Two sharp singles to center provided 28.6% of the Dodgers offense on the night. He showed patience at the plate, worked counts, and doing all the things I think should eventually land him back at AAA (haha).
- James Loney: The last 15 games or so haven't been fruitful for Loney (or, by extension, my fantasy team) but he's showing signs of working his way back. Two hits, including a single to center and a sharply hit double into the corner in right, plus two near hits that were stolen away by good defensive plays from Houston. Loney was outstanding with the leather, too. In the seventh, he almost singlehandedly snuffed out the Astros. After Kaz Matsui singled, Loney snagged a rocket off Miguel Tejada's bat, and on one knee started the 3-6-3 DP. Berkman followed with a tricky, hard hit grounder to his left, which Loney gloved for the out.
- Yhency Brazoban: Okay, he did load the bases on two walks and a flare to right off the bat of Brad Ausmus (who likely used some fancy Ivy League triangulation to calibrate where that ball needed to land), but he got out of it by coaxing a 1-2-3 DP off the bat of noted slugger Geoff Geary. No harm, no foul. Seriously, though, it's a very good thing for the Blue to have him back in the pen, as it gives them a second true righthanded reliever to put in front of Broxton and help keep Proctor's arm from falling off.
- The Lemon Cake in the Press Dining Area: Moist, light, and not too sweet. Big ups to the baker.
The Bad: At the risk of ducking into the nearest phone booth and emerging as Captain Obvious!, it's not hard to figure out what went wrong.
- Derek Lowe: To his credit, he managed to squeak out 5.1 innings (right on the average for a Dodger starter) on a night where I thought he'd be done by the third or fourth. That gives you an idea of how well he threw. Six earned runs, eight hits, two walks, one big fly surrendered. It was his third straight shaky start, but more worrisome is that Lowe, who by the relative standards of this staff is supposed to be an innings eater, has now failed to finish the sixth in five straight outings. That won't work.
- Blue Wood: Take away Loney and DeWitt, and the Dodgers were a combined 3-25. That's not very good. 0-9 with runners in scoring position, eight left on base. At least one of the three belonged to Andruw Jones, who laced a fat ninth-inning fastball from Houston reliever Dave Borkowski into the left field corner for a double. Silver lining, right?
The Interesting:
- In the ninth, Chin-lung Hu came to the plate to his traditional "Who are You." He was followed by Mark Sweeney, who sauntered to the dish accompanied by "Eminence Front." I'm not sure if the folks at Elias can look this up, but I wonder if consecutive batters have ever been introduced with post-'78 tunes by The Who.
Notes and Quotes:
- No question the Dodger lineup is totally different without Rafael Furcal in it. He hopes to be back tomorrow, but there's no guarantee. "It's tough for me. I want to play," he said. "There's nothing you can do when you're hurt. It's better to miss two or three games than to miss a month. We'll see tomorrow what happens."
- Russell Martin said Lowe's sinker is the main culprit right now. "That's his main pitch, and he's got to have that going for him for him to feel better. It just doesn't have the same depth right now," he said. "Some days you have it, some days you don't, and today he just didn't have it. It's a feel." As for Berkman's homer, Martin said it wasn't that bad a pitch. Berkman is just that hot. On Brazoban, Martin thought he looked good, and that his pitches had a lot of pop, but that he was probably a little geeked returning to a Major League mound, hence he wildness. He's excited to have him back. "Another healthy arm that throws 95? It can't hurt, that's for sure," Martin said.
- Lowe, as he often does, said he'll likely have to go to the film to see exactly what went wrong. "It was a frustrating games because it felt like I had good enough stuff to not give up six runs, and then you turn around and there it is again. It's definitely disappointing. The last four or five games aren't the ones you'd hope to have. I've been here before, and you do realize there's a long way to go. But it's important to go out next time and get a good one." No health issues, he's just on a bad run.
More on the game tomorrow.
BK
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Derek Lowe kinda sucks right now, lol.
Is anybody really not worried about the Dodgers starting pitching? They are okay as long as the offense is scoring runs. And when they score early it keeps pressure on the opposing pitchers. When they don't, guys with 7+ ERAs get to cruise happily along.
Care for a Kershaw anyone? He may have to come up soon anyway with a bailing bucket. Cause this ship is taking water...
Posted by: Andy B | May 10, 2008 at 12:14 AM
stop telling me about the food! The options in my cheap top deck seats consist of airplane-quality dodger dogs, western bacon cheeseburgers, or yogurt. Anything else requires at least an inning's wait in line or a second mortgage (or both). Throw me a bone if you see some guy in the stairwell begging for crumbs of lemon cake. Maybe I'll just leave hide a paper bag on one of the landings, and you can slip a few treats in when you pass.
Posted by: Steve D | May 10, 2008 at 12:40 AM
wow!......what a wondrous rotation, now with top 2 starters sporting e.r.a.'s of nearly 5!.......Penny & Lowe, the P & L duo, also stands for Pretty Lousy........"grandpa" kent hitless once more, yet still mans the cleanup spot ("contributed" an error as well -- what a ballplayer!).......good thing "gramps" is such a positive influence in clubhouse, otherwise one might wonder why he's even still on the team?.......oh well, not everyone can be a major contributor say, like sweeney.......and good move by senile old coot (torre) by not playing his best player (furcal) even though furcal seems ready -- brilliant!
oh well, in a few mos. NFL's LA team will start practice/play (oops, forgot, LA doesn't have one of them!)
Posted by: bigunit | May 10, 2008 at 06:38 AM
Another day with Ethier rotting on the bench. Slappy McOutMaker is back to his usual form, and Jones does, as usual, nothing to help the team other than to hit an "after it's all over" (read meaningless) double to keep him in and Ethier's .300 avg rotting. We'll see whether this kind of management works in the long run. What we'll likely see is club house dissention again creeping in as Ethier gets sick of watching Jones flounder around but still smirking over all the millions he's getting for being a joke and Nomar and/or LaRoche coming in to bump a very deserving DeWitt out of position costing us another week or so of losses before he's brought back in the lineup. Add a sprinkle of Kent looking very tired now not even half way into the season, some more bad decisions about not bringing up our young "Ace" (funny how Sports Illustrated runs full page articles about other teams that are not afraid to bring up their hot young pithers) to help our very shaky starting rotation, and we'll be in for some good 'ol fashion griping in the dugout by season's end. Here's to hoping that's not the case.
Posted by: LossLeader | May 10, 2008 at 07:05 AM
There was just something about that game that didn't feel very... baseball-y. I can't put my finger on it.
Even Vin was off his game TWICE saying the dodgers were winning 6-0.
Was there a full moon last night?
How's this stat to make you sick to your stomach. Over the last 2 games the only 2 runs scored by the Dodgers were from Jones mercilously crunching his Cheetoes temple on the plate.
Home Plate needs a new agent.
Posted by: benzo jones | May 10, 2008 at 07:24 AM
I hear ya on the food, Steve. Seems like the best stuff is only reserved for those who can afford the pricey field level seats. At least Gordon Biersch has those garlic fries. But it ain't Canter's, or any of those other food choices you have to have big bucks to get.
(Me? Bitter? Nah.)
And what's the deal with Yhency's entrance music being "Paperback Writer"? I can't think of too many songs that would strike less fear into opponents' hearts, or get the crowd quieter, than that. Except for maybe something by the Carpenters.
Posted by: Eric B. | May 10, 2008 at 09:33 AM
Either needs to play if Furcal can't go, hey did ya see where the padres cut Edwins
Posted by: pk-in-the-mesa | May 10, 2008 at 10:19 AM
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-
dodrep10-2008may10,0,1594847.story
It's nice to hear how hard Brazoban worked to get back. Did it ever occur to him, or any of the Dodgers trainers, to work on his overall conditioning? The man is FAT, and that will ultimately catch up with him. He has the stuff to be very effective out of the pen. Question is, is his head in the right place? Do the Dodgers understand the importance of conditioning?
Posted by: Brooklyn Dodger | May 10, 2008 at 10:19 AM
I always wondered why pitchers were allowed to be fat. Something to do with inertia, lol?
Padres cut Edmonds and lose 4+ million. Dodgers will NEVER cut Jones and eat 36 mil.
BorAss is a genius to get that much. And to think they thought they were settling for less than he deserved. Now it looks like a HUGE payday.
Posted by: Andy B | May 10, 2008 at 11:43 AM
Over the past week, I’ve been to Dodger Stadium twice and Chase Field once. The food options at Dodger Stadium are a joke by comparison, save for Canter’s. but unless you have a field level seat, you aren’t allowed to go down to the field level. Don’t want the hoi polloi mixing with Brangelina, you know.
So it’s crappy Dodger Dogs for the rest of us. I’d rather eat my program. I bring my own food, which is better, cheaper, and doesn’t require standing on line for two innings to get.
It’s really quite inexcusable to have such lame options and poor service. The Dodgers are losing a lot of money by not hiring enough people to take money from people trying to give it to them. This was a problem that started at least on opening day of 2007, and hasn’t gotten any better. Only the beer prices have gone up.
I look for the team to rebound with Furcal back in the lineup. But if the starters don’t give them better outings than this, even Honus Wagner won’t help them win enough games to make the playoffs.
As for Phoenix’s Chase Field, all I can say is information overload. Too many scoreboards, ads, and bells and whistles to enjoy the game. Dodger Stadium, with its pastoral views beyond center field, was a soothing contrast. However, the new scoreboards in left and right, as well as the strip advertising on the facade of the loge, is a step in the wrong direction. If you’re sitting in a seat where you can’t see the big scoreboard in center field, it’s hard to find a place to look where you can see the count.
Hey Frank, how about a scoreboard behind home plate for the people who can’t afford infield seats?
Posted by: SaMo | May 10, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Nothing but nattering nay-bobs of negativity here...
Posted by: VA Blueblood | May 10, 2008 at 02:01 PM
For those of you interested in the current climate of the 3B situation, be sure to check out yesterday's pregame audio- Torre lays it out pretty clearly (without saying the exact words) that DeWitt is very much keeping LaRoche in the minors. Or at least that's the impression I got.
As for the fat thing, it's just one of the things I've come to accept about baseball players. It's sad, but sometimes I look around pro clubhouses and realize I'm more fit than some of these guys. It would be interesting to see a study on what kind of effect extra weight has on pitchers and hitters. There have been plenty of fat guys who have succeeded in both, but I'm sure it affects different players in different ways.
BK
Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | May 10, 2008 at 02:12 PM
Andy,
I'm not so interested in cutting Andruw, but saying goodbye to Loaiza would be a step in the right direction. Actually, something tells me that's coming. Hopefully sooner than later.
Posted by: Brooklyn Dodger | May 10, 2008 at 04:50 PM
BK
What's funny is, if I was making the kind of money these guys are I could hire a private conditioning coach and a gourmet chef to cook healthy meals for me. And still have some money left over for everything a multi millionaire needs.
VA Blueblood
A nay-bob of negativity? I don't think I natter...
Posted by: Andy B | May 10, 2008 at 06:04 PM
who's bob and why are we naying him?
Posted by: benzojones | May 10, 2008 at 06:21 PM
Andy B-
It's one of the strangest and, frankly, ridiculous things about being around baseball players, especially. Logic would dictate that they'd stay in at least good shape... but then again, as John Kruk once said (more or less), "I'm a baseball player, not an athlete."
BK
Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | May 10, 2008 at 08:04 PM