HiroKING

Unfortunately, the night turned out grand, but not in the grandest fashion imaginable.  A slider left a little too high up for Mark Teixiera not to pounce upon led to Matt Kemp chasing down a double to right, history halted and Dodger fans on their feet to give Kuroda a well deserved standing ovation.  And well appreciated, even if the moment wasn't drunk in as hoped.  "I was really excited about that, but the excitement was short lived, because it was no outs with a runner on second, so I had to concentrate on the game," laughed Kuroda.  From there, Kuroda retired his next six, putting up a box score just shy of "record book," but still unforgettable.    Smiled Torre, "You can't get much closer to being perfect than that."

The breakdown is below.

The Good

• Hiroki Kuroda: Requiring just eight pitches to retire the first inning's side was indeed a sign of things to come.  By the end of four, he'd barely crossed the 40 pitch mark (41 to be exact).  91 pitches in all, with 61 hitting the strike zone.  But what really caught Russell Martin's attention was the way Kuroda made 0-3 mincemeat of Chipper Jones, he of the .384 batting average.  "The best hitter in the game.  He took some bad swings today.  You don't really see him do that too often.  That just proves the point that his stuff was excellent."       
  
• Blake DeWitt and James Loney's defense on a bunt by Blanco in the seventh:  Blanco led off  with a nubber that didn't exactly motor near the third base line.  Thus, DeWitt really had to hustle to make the grab in time, which led to a fast throw and a looooong stretch by Loney to snare the out.  The rookie 3B even earned props (albeit of the facetiously immodest variety) from Martin, his "backup" of sorts. "Tremendous play.  He looked like me out there." 
  
  Several Dodgers were asked if they had a problem with Blanco theoretically trying to break up a no-hitter with a bunt, which kind of goes against "the code."  Nobody in blue took issue.  DeWitt was expecting the attempt, so by definition it followed some degree of protocol.  As Torre noted, were this a 10-0 game, you might be looking at a bush move.  But with the game still well within reach (and Blanco not exactly a power guy), the move was a legit means of trying to spark a rally, as opposed to preventing a no-no. 
  
  Kuroda's succinct take may have put it best.  "They did their job.  We did ours."
  
• Nomar Garciaparra: His two run homer in the fifth would have busted the game open, had Kuroda's work allowed anything to bust. 
• Blake DeWitt: Not satisfied to simply end up on SportsCenter with his work in the field, DeWitt enjoyed a 3-3 outing with one run scored.
• Angel Berroa: Dude was barely in the game when he received a sharp grounder from Norton, which required a run down, a backhanded grab and a leaping toss from behind the infield dirt.  Money.  Berroa hasn't done a ton to end up in this district of the breakdown, so I wanted to make sure to give him due whenever appropriate.

The Bad

• The bats: Am I the only person who hoped a 5-2 roadie featuring a ten run game and an average of five runs per contest would carry forward at home into something other than five hits and three runs?  Didn't think so.  Granted, Jorge Campillo is sporting a solid 2.99 ERA and the important thing is the "W."  But still, it's not the stuff that confidence-over-offensive-rolls-continuing are made of.

• Andruw Jones' relationship with the fans: More "Three Little Birds" playing.  More boos.  A seamless homecoming from the DL, in its own right.

The "Almost Omen" From Christian Bale

• The Dark Knight ads: On any other night, they'd seem like run of the mill promos for the certain blockbuster.  But on this Monday, they got Joe Torre thinking.   "The interesting point is that they started advertising that movie and I looked up there and saw "July 18th."  And all of sudden, it rang a bell with me because that's when David Cone pitched his perfect game.  I said, "This may be a sign for me."  But it didn't turn out to be that way."
  
  I remain confident, however, of them being a sign that that "The Dark Knight" is coming out on July 18.

Audio

• Hiroki Kuroda: Download hiroki_kuroda_postgame_braves_1.mp3
• Joe Torre: Download joe_torre_postgame_braves_1.mp3
• Russell Martin: Download russell_martin_postgam_braves_1.mp3
• Nomar Garciaparra: Download nomar_garciaparra_postgame_braves_1.mp3
• Blake DeWitt:  Download blake_dewitt_postgame_braves_1.mp3

AK