The song remains the same
Another game against the Angels, another loss for the Dodgers, this time a 4-2 clunker Friday night at the Big A. For those of you keeping score at home, that's nine losses in their last 10 tries against the Angels. No doubt, Halos starter Joe Saunders pitched well, as he's done all season, but once again that thing that seems to mess with the Dodgers every time they travel down the five reared it's ugly head again tonight. Two errors, other defensive miscues, flares that fall in for the bad guys, balls in the dirt, Andruw Jones called out at first for making a move towards second after Angels shortstop Erick Aybar airmailed Casey Kotchman at first.
That sort of thing.
Against a team that requires a crisp, heavy starch comportment, the Dodgers were a pile of rumpled linen. Click below for the breakdown.
The Good:
- Andre Ethier: His two run shot to right in the seventh inning off Saunders provided all the runs the Dodgers were able to muster on the evening. That's got to count for something. As we've said before, good things tend to happen when he's in the lineup.
- James Loney: The reason it was a two run homer? Loney was on base. With two singles, he was the only guy in the lineup with multiple knocks. Loney has hit safely in his last nine games (11-34, .364), and 11 of 12. Still, it doesn't seem like he's ripping the ball all over the park. That's the sort of hitter he is. In the way that funeral homes are recession proof (in good times and bad, folks are gonna die), Loney is about as slump proof as baseball players get.
- Hiroki Kuroda: The line didn't look great, and it took him 100 pitches to finish 6.1 innings, but once again Kuroda gave the Dodgers a good enough game, and they didn't come through for him. Overall, it was a seven hit, three earned run night, with two walks. The Angels didn't hit him very hard, and the Dodgers made two errors behind him, and missed a potential opportunity to prevent a run at home when off a Vlad Guerrero chopper Russell Martin bounced his throw to Gary Bennett at home. A clean play still might not have generated an out... but we'll never know. Tough play for sure, but indicative of the sort the Dodgers didn't make throughout the evening.
The Bad:
- Dodgers Who Batted Not Mentioned Earlier: Take away Loney and Ethier, and the rest of the lineup was 2-24. That will not produce a lot of action. The top four hitters in the Dodger lineup (Pierre, Jones, Kemp, Kent) were a combined 0-15 with a walk (drawn by Kemp in the first). For Jones, it was a return to normalcy after a glimmer of hope in Milwaukee, going 0-4 with a strikeout. But he's not the only anchor currently weighing down the lineup. Kent is now hitting .236, including .135 in May. In his last 10 games he has two RBIs. Granted, the guys in front of him aren't giving him a smörgåsbord of opportunities, but still, that won't do from the cleanup hitter.
- Attention to Detail: The Angels don't beat themselves, and are more than content to let the other guys do it to themselves. The Dodgers certainly obliged tonight. It was a disjointed game, in part because they're scrambling to cover injury induced holes (no Furcal, no DeWitt). But however you slice it, Friday night was one of those games where they didn't do anything to put pressure on LAAoA to perform, and cracked when faced with similar situations. The little things were the margin.
Notes:
- Andruw Jones was supposed to start in center, but felt a tweak in his back (seriously, it's contagious) that bugged him when he moved laterally. He was moved to the DH spot, and Joe Torre shifted the outfield around. On the one hand, an opportunity to point out the irony of "Andruw Jones, Designated Hitter" was welcome, but at the same time, I loved the idea of having Juan Pierre DH. I don't think that's what Charlie Finley had in mind.
- DeWitt should be good to go tomorrow, by all accounts.
BK
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That was really nice of bennett to spot the Angels a run in the 4th. Was he know as a defensive catcher because every time I see him he doesn’t impress me and I was wondering if it’s because he doesn’t have skill or he is rusty.
Ethier hit’s a bomb to right you could tell as soon as it left the bat 3-2 top of 7th. I'm glad he's finally in the lineup
Bottom of the 7th Bennett lets 2 balls that martin would have stopped go to the backstop, man on 3rd no outs. Not a good throw to the plate on a chopper to martin and bennett drops the ball 4-2 Angels.
Top of the 9th kent goes down looking , Martin hits 1 to deep dead center 2 feet before the wall. Looney goes down looking.
What a let down…time to watch the Laker game on Tivo…I’m hoping they pull game 6 out
Posted by: K T USN (feeling retired) | May 17, 2008 at 01:08 AM
Mark Gubicza is hardly a great analyst, but my opinion of him went up when he was the 1st to point out Bennett and his inability to throw back to the pitcher.
Who knew it would transfer into throwing a pop fly to Loney after the strikeout of Aybar?
Posted by: Chunkdog | May 17, 2008 at 07:47 AM
Kuroda pitched well again. Teammates need to man up and give him some runs.
Posted by: benzo jones | May 17, 2008 at 09:41 AM
Don't be too hard on Andruw Jones for being called out on first after turning the wrong way......after all, he has not been on first enough to know what to do. As for looking toward 2nd base, he was only trying to remember where it was.
Posted by: bob | May 17, 2008 at 10:01 AM
Maybe for 18 million Andruw could afford a rule book?
Well, the big question is will the dodgers lay another egg on national TV again? I can't remember if they have won one yet...
Bennett was lucky. The Angels would have won anyway dispite his spastic throw. Is he an ex-Jerry's Kid?
Nice to see Kuroda have a strong outing. I hope he has a few more in him.
Posted by: Andy B | May 17, 2008 at 11:04 AM
Hey if AJ is on the DL anybody know who they are calling up to replace him?
Posted by: poppinfresh | May 17, 2008 at 11:07 AM