I've got the sound effect ready

The Good

• Matt Kemp: The kid's red hot August didn't get the fridge treatment this evening.  He led off the inning with a double, then scored when Kent hit a ground rule shot to center.  Another double came in the fourth, this time bringing Casey Blake across the dish.  The speedster also covered a lot of ground to eventually run down a third inning fly from Willy Tavarez. 
  
• Jeff Kent:  Aside from the previously cited ground ruler, he knocked an old fashioned double (the kind that remain on the grass) in the fourth.  Kent also kept the seventh inning alive with a two-out single, which allowed Manny to move him to second, James Loney to walk him to third, before Russell Martin ultimately flew out to kill a mini-rally.  The 3-5 dish outing helped bump his average to .283, nearly 20 points above where it sat on August 7th when Joe Torre moved him into the three hole ahead of Manny Ramirez.  Kent can claim the dreadlocked one's presence hasn't made a difference, but I think we can all agree he's hardly floundered with this new batting spot of astonishingly coincidental good fortune.
  
• Nomar Garciaparra: Two singles, plus a slick, low-handed grab of a Willy Tavarez grounder along the baseline that allowed Nancy Bea to fire up the seventh inning stretch organ. 
• Casey Blake: The Journey enthusiast (who was actually wearing a T-shirt for the band after the game) was all about doubling his pleasure.  A double in the fourth eventually converted into a score.  The sixth saw another two-bagger. 
  
• Hiroki Kuroda at the plate: Whatever struggles he experienced at times while tossing towards the plate (more on that later), good things happened when he stood beside it.  In the second inning, he moved a singled-to-left Nomar over to second by slicing a two-out knock to right.  The inning came up dry after Kemp grounded to short, but at least Ubaldo Jimenez wasted eight pitches (counting the ones to Kemp) over what should have been a theoretically easy inning-ender.  In the fourth, another two out at bat not only saw Yorvit Torrealba guilty of a passed ball (which allowed Nomar to score), but Kuroda draw a walk and keep the inning alive for an eventual Kemp ribbie.  Dude with has only four big league hits and a success rate of 10%, but Kuroda sure brought out the worst in Jimenez.
  
• The bats: You can't knock eleven hits.

The Bad

• The bats when truly needed: You can, however, knock a 2-9 clip with RISP and nine dudes left on base.
• Andre Ethier: 0-5 in all, spotlighted by three K's, the opening pair featuring some glares and words directed at James Hoye over the ump's definition of "outside corner."  I'm wondering if this created some frustration lasting throughout the contest.  At least Ethier's scuffling included a highlight reel slide catch to open the fifth and rob Matt Holliday of a single.
• Mark Sweeney: His sixth inning pinch hit stint for Kuroda consisted of just one pitch, a weakly hit ball to short, and the Dodger defense taking the field for the seventh.  I'm not saying Sweeney's gotta go long every time, but that's pretty anti-climactic.
• Russell Martin: With the bags loaded in the seventh, he sailed the first pitch he saw into shallow right, killing a potential rally in the works.  Loney had just been walked, leading some to wonder whether Martin may have been too aggressive during the at bat.  From Torre's perspective, not the case.  "He looked like he had a plan.  He looked like he was looking to drive the part to the big part of the field.  I don't want him going up there taking the first pitch just because (Taylor Bucholz) walked the guy ahead of him.  If anything, he had to think this guy is gonna try to get ahead." 
  
  Makes sense, and there's obviously even a smaller margin for error with two outs, but still, that sequence really hurt.  Throw in the pair of strikeouts and it wasn't the most enjoyable of nights for #55.
• Hong-Chih Kuo: Upon taking over for Jason Johnson after the righty got taken yard by Matt Holliday, Kuo proceeded to walk Brad Hawpe and Garrett Atkins, then watch Stewart crush a change up that featured too little changing.  For that kind of result, Torre could have just left Johnson out there. 

The Mixed Bag

• Hiroki Kuroda on the mound, a third of the time: The opening frame surrendered a pair of runs while requiring a honkin' 32 pitches to wrap up.  The third inning took about half the tosses, but also featured a two-run dinger from Brad Hawpe, along with Ian Stewart getting drilled by the first offering he saw.  Take away the offending pair of frames, however, and Kuroda only dealt with a fourth batter once during six innings.  If the batting order hadn't reached his spot in the sixth while down by just a score, Torre would have let him pitch the seventh.  "Early on, he looked tentative and once he got on a roll a little bit, he looked like he threw with a lot more conviction."
  
• Jason Johnson: His seventh inning was a three up/three down affair.  The eighth saw him serve up a homer without recording an out.  That's pretty much the definition of "all or nothing."

The Funny


Kuroda running the bags: Kemp's fourth inning double had already sent Casey Blake home, but as Kuroda began rounding third, he was quickly held up by Larry Bowa.  Apparently, all the running Kuroda's been doing of late hasn't included practice stopping on a dime.  I'm shocked the guy didn't break his own ankles.  A second act as an NFL halfback likely isn't in the cards. 


The "As If You Needed Another Reason NEVER To Propose At A Sporting Event"


 Tonight's fiasco: Even if the bride-to-be's looked in any way pleased by the venue picked for this question popping- and she didn't- the ring couldn't even get all the way down her finger, an embarrassment shared by 46,687 people already laughing at them.  I've said it 1000 times.  I'll make it 1001.  I don't care how big a sports fan your lady is.  An arena or stadium will NEVER strike her as a "romantic"  setting.  Just don't do it, man.


 

AUDIO


Joe Torre, Part I: Download joe_torre_part_i.mp3


Joe Torre, Part II: Download joe_torre_part_ii.mp3


Matt Kemp: Download matt_kemp.mp3


Casey Blake: Download casey_blake.mp3


Hiroki Kuroda: Download hiroki_kuroda.mp3



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