Live in the present

The Good:

• Chan Ho Park: He didn't pick up the win, but deserved the chance, throwing a very solid four innings of three hit ball.  He allowed only one earned run to score (two overall), and if not for some slack defense by James Loney in the fourth, probably would have been spotless.  Loney blew a chance to start an inning ending double play, but threw the ball to Juan Pierre in left instead of Chin-lung Hu at second.   That let Vlad Guerrero score to put the Angels on the board.  On the next play, Maicer Izturis hit a chopper to Loney, who again threw wide of Hu, who (ha!) managed to snag it for the force, but there was no chance to make a relay back to first.  The speedy Izturis might have beaten the throw anyway, but we'll never know.  Rob Quinlan followed with a perfectly placed hit-and-run single, and Park then walked Jeff Mathis before getting out of the inning.  Two runs in, and the extra pitches meant the end of his day, so Park wasn't able to stick around long enough to get a well deserved win.  Still, he provided a huge boost to the Blue in a game they really needed.  "He had control of all his pitches.  He was locating his offspeed early in the count, getting ahead of hitters, and then he was just painting his fastballs on both sides of the plate," Russell Martin said. 
  
• Hong-Chi Kuo: Good as Park was, Kuo might have been better. Any chance the Angels had of mounting a rally was snuffed out by an increasingly automatic Kuo.  His stuff, when he locates, is brutal on hitters from both sides.  Four innings, three hits, four Ks. "He comes out of the bullpen throwing 95 and just blowing it by people.  And when he's throwing his offspeed pitches for strikes, (hitters) can't hit everything at the same time,"  Martin said of Kuo.  "When he's throwing strikes, he's a hard guy to hit against. Sometimes I have trouble catching it, and if I have trouble catching it you know it's going to be tough to hit." 
  
• Blake DeWitt: Once again, he was in the middle of everything good that happened to the Dodgers Saturday afternoon.  His second inning blast over the wall in right gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead, a boost they sorely needed after last night's affair.  In the eighth, his double into the gap set up the Dodgers to get a crucial insurance run.  He's reached base in 16 of his last 17 games, and is 7-15 over his last five games.  Told you he belongs in AAA.
  
• Luis Maza: Two hits, including the eighth inning knock that plated DeWitt to log the aforementioned insurance run.  He also played a good game defensively at second.  Torre said before Friday night's game that if Maza shows he's "comfortable" at the Major League level, once everyone is healthy Maza could stick around while Hu would go down and play every day.  It's an arrangement that makes a lot of sense.  Maza has already shown some versatility, and fits the profile of a utility guy much more than Hu, still a prospect, does.  "He hasn't done a whole lot wrong, has he?" Torre said of Maza after the game.  "Here's a kid who's been in the minor leagues banging around a little bit.  You get a chance to see the extra deck on the ballpark, and he seems to be trying to seize the opportunity here.  Again, when we have to make the decision, we'll see where we are, but right now, he's pretty impressive." 
  
• Russell Martin:  3-4 with an RBI, and a heads up play to plate LA's fifth run.  With Juan Pierre on third, Martin was issued an intentional walk.  He took off to steal second on Darren Oliver, but aborted the attempt about a third of the way up the line.  When Jeff Mathis made the throw to short, Martin was able to stay in the rundown long enough for Pierre to score.  "I was taught that if you're going to get thrown out, don't run into the tag.  Get into a rundown, and hopefully the guy can score," he said. 

The Bad:

• Loney:  Normally rock solid at first, Loney threw wide to short on consecutive plays in the fourth.  He doesn't have a lot of weaknesses around the bag, but his throws might be one.  They're not always consistent, something Torre attributed to footwork and experience- rushing the throw to try to get back to the bag for the relay. 
• Andruw Jones: Lather, rinse, repeat. 

The Unusual:

• Juan Pierre: 0-4, but a very productive 0-4.  Pierre certainly made an impact. After being hit on the elbow by a Santana fastball in the third, he'd eventually come around to score on a Martin single.  He reached on an error in the seventh, and would eventually steal home (see above).  He was inches away from making a spectacular diving play in the gap on Juan Rivera's drive in the ninth.  Dude plays hard and does what he can.  Right now, he's playing well enough to be an everyday player... on another team, or this one if Jones wasn't in the mix.  He was asked after the game about the situation, and as he's been all year, was honest, but diplomatic.  "The situation is what it was.  None of us asked for it.  It is what it is.  We just have to stay ready to play," he said.  "I've got nothing against (the other OFs) because I think we all deserve to be playing.  There aren't enough positions out there."  I asked Pierre if Torre had made a point of making sure that they directed all frustrations at management instead of each other, and Pierre said that wasn't the case.  Nor have the really spoken about it with each other.  "It's understood," he said. 

Notes:

• Brad Penny was scratched from his scheduled start Sunday afternoon, but there's no reason to be alarmed.  After he finished his last bullpen session, Penny complained of a little arm tightness, was checked out, and given a clean bill of health.  Torre said after the game that Penny actually lobbied to pitch as slotted, but they'll bump him back to Monday as a precaution.  Derek Lowe will go instead.
• I'm not going back to look this up, but today's game could have very well marked the first time a team used three Asian pitchers to complete a game.  Park followed by Kuo followed by Saito.  Like I said, I can't say for sure that it's truly a first, but the Asian media that trails the team was certainly excited by the box score, so that means something, I'm sure. 

Audio:

• Joe Torre:  Download joe_torre_5.17.mp3

BK