Sweep swooped
The St. Louis Cardinals entered this afternoon's game against the Dodgers with brooms in their eyes, but plans for a clean sweep of the Blue were thwarted with a 4-1 win over the Red Birds. Four early runs were taken off Kyle Loshe in the same amount of innings before the righty finally settled down. In what's become a happy habit since putting on a Dodger uni, Manny Ramirez went long (his fourth homer in six games) to send himself and Jeff Kent (he of the three hit game) across the plate. The other ribbies belonged to James Loney and Juan Pierre, who racked the always fun triple. Also fun was seeing Clayton Kershaw pick up professional win numero dos, his string of goose egg frames pushed to an impressive sixteen before surrendering his only run. Should the Braves do their part and take down the Diamondbacks in Arizona, today's fruitful box score will push the Dodgers back within 1.5 games of the Snakes.
A Bay Area weekend kicks off tomorrow.
AK
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"Also fun was seeing Clayton Kershaw pick up professional win numero dos, going seven frames and only allowing one run, his string of goose egg frames ending at an impressive sixteen."
Fixed.
Posted by: The Dude Abides | August 07, 2008 at 03:33 PM
The Dude,
Thanks. I spaced out while writing the post and thought Kuo gave up the run. Appreciate it.
AK
Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | August 07, 2008 at 03:39 PM
ManRam already has more homers for the Dodgers than Andruw Jones. Wow.
Someone asked in the last thread whether Manny will lead the Dodgers in HR by the end of the year. I think yes.
Obviously he can't keep this pace up, but he only has to hit probably 15 more the rest of the season to win that honor (giving him 19 w/ the Dodgers). He's got what, like, 48 more games to do it? That's about 180 more AB which would mean he'd have to hit one out every 12 AB. He's done better than that (1999, 2000) or close to that (2005) for entire seasons, so he could do it again. It won't be easy, but I think he's motivated enough and comfortable enough that it can happen.
Posted by: puddle | August 07, 2008 at 03:42 PM
Manny is a good and zany Godsend.
Posted by: Res Ipsa Loquitur | August 07, 2008 at 03:48 PM
What can I say.
Kershaw pitched an awesome game. Jeff Kent did great batting 3rd. I think they should keep him there for tomorrows game. If it doesn't work out, then move him back down. Man, I love it when Pierre gets on base. He's fun to watch. He does a good job of psyching out the pitchers when he's out there. Of course we didn't get to see that today since he only got a triple(RBI triple!)
One other thing, everybody was more patient at the plate today. That's what we needed the first two games.
Posted by: 6thchair | August 07, 2008 at 03:50 PM
I may be loosing it, but I actually think they should put A. Jones back in the starting lineup and leave him there for a week. I think TJ may be right for once, Manny is rubbing off on him: http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-simers7-2008aug07,0,4793518.column
Posted by: steve02001 | August 07, 2008 at 04:02 PM
Manny does seem to be having a positive effect on Andruw. I know everyone thinks the key for him is to just relax, but he could turn everything around if he just would lay off those out-of-the-zone sliders. Just be patient and wait for the pitcher to leave something up in the zone a bit more. I just don't get why he simply can't resist swinging at those pitches. It's obvious he's pressing, but how many times can you be fooled by the same exact pitch??
Posted by: puddle | August 07, 2008 at 04:32 PM
OK... in new yourk with the inlaws.... ugh.
This is how good a Dodger fan I am. I watched the game on my laptop via my gotomypc hook-up on my home computer.
That is hard core.
Posted by: benzojones | August 07, 2008 at 07:50 PM
I still think im still dreaming that we actually made such an impact trade
Posted by: Mike G | August 07, 2008 at 08:17 PM
I think having Jeff Kent bat 3rd was the best idea Joe Torre's had in a long time. His experience along with the nature of his quick bat make him great for the spot in front of Manny. Knowing that they will pitch to him, but not feeling like he has to put every fastball into the left field seats. Russ looked like he was trying way too hard the past few games. I think I strained an oblique just watching him swing. I know it's not going to happen this season, but what if Andruw Jones did get his swing back? What if 3, 4, and 5 were Kent, Manny, Andruw? Put Furcal (this is still an if statement) and Kemp in front of them, Martin, Blake, and Loney behind them (does it really matter what order those three are in behind that lineup?).
A man can dream, right?
Posted by: Nils | August 07, 2008 at 09:03 PM