What a tangled Webb Brandon weaves
And when it comes to his pitches, Brandon Webb not only first practices to deceive, but he's a master at fooling folks, evidenced during tonight's 2-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Typical of what happens when the 2006 Cy Young winner (and now the NL's first 15 game winner) tosses against the Blue (now sporting a 1.13 ERA in two starts this season), Webb kept Dodger batters on their collective heels. His eight innings included six hits and strikeouts, complimented by just one walk and one earned run. Not that Dodger starter Derek Lowe performed like a shlub out there. After all, 6.1 frames translating into seven strikeouts and a pair of snakey scores doesn't exactly spark furious criticism. Unfortunately, as Lowe pointed out after the game, the margin for error against Webb falls somewhere between "slim" and "that REALLY thin Olsen sister." Shrugged Sir Sinker Ball, "You almost feel like you have to pitch a perfect game, in the sense of making no mistakes."
Lowe put the loss on his shoulders, cursing in particular a bad seventh inning pitch to Conor Jackson, which resulted in a leadoff double and laid the foundation for Arizona's runs. Noble of Lowe, for sure, but he didn't get much help creating the ideal box score. Then again, as Joe Torre pointed out, sometimes it's more about what the other guy did to you than anything done to yourself. "Webb is tough. There's a reason he's been good year in and year out. You just have to tip your hat to this kid. When things get going, he doesn't lose his cool." Sometimes, this kind of talk feels cliched. Considering tonight's competition, I'll buy it. Yes, a few opportunities went uncashed. But at the same time, this pitcher is awfully good when it comes to blocking a hitter from the metaphorical ATM machine, no matter how close it remains.
The breakdown is below.
The Good
- Pitching: With Derek Lowe's first six innings, the Dodgers expanded their streak of scoreless innings to a season-high 29. Aside from the sharp tosses described earlier, Lowe recorded a huge strikeout against Young with one out and Stephen Drew on second. From there, he gloved an Orlando Hudson come backer to end the inning. Upon exiting, Lowe's efforts were well preserved. Hong-Chih Kuo entered the game with a man on first, then quickly gave up another hit to Alex Romero. No sweat. Just strike out Webb, get Drew to follow suit, then kick back as your next inning is a three up/three down affair. And don't get mad when Cory Wade copycats it for the ninth inning. After all, he's a rook, and they often like to imitate more experienced players.
- The eighth inning pinch hit display: Back to back "replacement dude" singles from Andre Ethier and Mark Sweeney, sparking hopes of a tie game in the works before the inning eventually ended on a double play at the plate (more on that later). For Sweeney, it was his second straight pinch hit, perhaps a flicker of light for a turnaround on a dismal 2008. Hopefully so, as this season has been incredibly frustrating for one of the game's all-time greats at this particular skill set. For Sweeney's part, he's determined not to let it get the best of him.
"This job, you can't really think negatively. Even though, after the game and answering these questions, you start thinking about it. But my mentality is show up to the field and do what I have to do that day. I've done it for more than a few years. To know that you've got to show up, day in and day out. No matter, good, bad or indifferent. You've got to have a short term memory, for sure." - Juan Pierre: The only Dodger to score two hits against Webb, JP singled himself on base in the fourth and sixth innings, the latter eventually leading to the Dodgers' only score off a Russell Martin infield chopper. He also laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt in the eighth, notable not just for moving Ethier and Sweeney to third and second respectively, but a great job pulling back on Webb's opening pair of bad pitches.
- Casey Blake's glove: He fielded a hot shot liner from Chris Young, then converted it back to second for a third inning. As a few other people have also noticed, Blake's been a much better fielder than the word on the street would have you believe.
- Pablo Ozuna's at bat music: Given that this is Ozuna's first start and he's only had six at bats (a third of which came tonight), I'd never heard the utility man's theme tune for approaching the plate. And I dig it. Kind of a samba/tango number, catchy and funky. I wish the guy was a better hitter, because I wouldn't mind hearing that a few times each game.
The Bad
- Sending Ethier on a shallow fly: As alluded to earlier, the eighth inning ended on a double play after Matt Kemp's sac fly attempt didn't go that deep into left, but Larry Bowa sent Ethier home, anyway. Joe Torre defended the decision after the game. Respectfully, I'll disagree. Ethier is hardly a turtle, but he also doesn't have blinding speed and had wrestled with a stomach bug all day. I had a hunch the green light was on when the ball took flight, but I was really hoping he'd be held. Take your chances on the next at bat with Martin, who's been good with the clutch hits on his career, as opposed to sending a guy home on what felt like an iffy chance for success.
Finally, everyone is speculating whether Manny Ramirez will be told to get a haircut while playing for Joe Torre. After all, the request was made to Joe Beimel during spring training, and the lefty had a crew cut compared to Manny's dreds. I forgot to ask Torre, but Beimel said he didn't really care if the rules weren't applied equally. "It's just hair," as he put it. Thus, he nixed my suggestion that the team buy him extensions.
AUDIO
- Joe Torre: Download joe_torre_az1.mp3
- Derek Lowe: Download derek_lowe_az1.mp3
- Andre Ethier: Download andre_ethier_az1.mp3
- Mark Sweeney: Download mark_sweeney_az1.mp3
AK
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Hey guys. Thanks for this.
Next game's line up should be interesting. I hate to even think it but I'm pretty sure Jones is going to be in there, although I hope I'm wrong.
AK
Do you know if Jeff Kent is going to play next game?
I hope so.
Posted by: Chairs5 | August 01, 2008 at 12:59 AM
Is the shine off the Manny rose yet?
Is the reality setting in yet?
I hate to be the fat guy in the Speedo in the crowded room, but I'm not convinced Manny is the solution.
Yes he will be entertaining. Yes he will hit the Bob Marley out of the ball. But is he a long term solution.... no. AND, it appears as though his last month in Boston was framed by erratic Pac Man Jones type behavior. Don't we already have one clubhouse cancer in Kent?
I lived in Boston. The Red Sox are my AL team, and Manny coming to the Blue is a dream come true... I just don't think he's the bomb-diggity to our slump-slumpitty.
It's nice to be rid of the ALR distraction though. Now we can focus on the magic that is TIFFEE!!!
Posted by: Benzo Jones | August 01, 2008 at 07:06 AM
At what point will our fawning sportswriters (and blog-masters, for that matter) take off the gloves and start placing the blame where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of The Late Joe Torre. Simply put, he has been pathetic the entire year. Last night may have been the low point, as he had Andruw Jones in the lineup against one of the best righthanders in the game. Andre Ethier was nailed to the pine, even though he has hit Webb well in the past. This was managerial malpractice of the highest order and it DOES NOT bode well for the lineup tonight, Dodger fans. Get ready for Juan Pierre in CF and a right field platoon of Kemp/Ethier. It's time to take the elderly Mr. Torre and put him where he belongs: in the broadcast booth or on the golf course...ANYWHERE but snoozing through another Dodger loss.
Posted by: twerp1 | August 01, 2008 at 09:06 AM
Nomar said on ESPN before last night's game that the it would be unfair for the Dodgers to put all of the offense's responsibilties on Manny...and then L.A. went out and proved why they WILL put all of the offense's responsibilities on Manny...ManRam can't drive in any runs if there are no runners on base in front of him. Obviously, The Blue want a pennant in '08 in the worst way and certainly the trades made in the last seven days show that, yes, they're doing it in the worst way. True, what they gave up to get Casey and Manny don't seem like much right now and I realize that this is one of the reasons why there is a feeder system called the minors but know that whether or not the Dodgers take the N.L. title, it will be a very different team in 2009...No Manny, no Nomar, no Kent, probably no Lowe or Penny. So the next ten weeks should be as Confucius said "interesting times."
Posted by: B.Z. | August 01, 2008 at 09:22 AM
Have any of u heard me on Dodger talk?
Posted by: Aryan | August 01, 2008 at 09:38 AM
I had no problem with Ethier attempting to score. It took a good throw to get him, and if the odds of him scoring were only 50-50, that's better than the odds of Martin getting a hit. It was a gamble I felt was worth taking, and as with all gambles, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. If Ethier hadn't tried to score, and Martin failed to get him home, there would have been complaints that Bowa should have been more aggressive.
What I did take issue with (and it's what I felt during the game) was having Pierre sacrifice. He already had two hits vs. Webb, and the infield was playing in. What better time would there have been for Slappy (a contact hitter) to live up to his name and slap one through the drawn in infield. If they were trying to stay out of the double play, well, that's negative thinking. Pierre is not an easy guy to double. To do so usually requires him to hit the ball hard right at someone. With the infield in, if he hit it hard it was probably going to go through for a hit. Sure, he could have hit a weak fly ball or popped up, but I would have taken my chances and not given up the out.
Posted by: Brooklyn Dodger | August 01, 2008 at 09:50 AM
Twerp1,
"At what point will our fawning sportswriters (and blog-masters, for that matter) take off the gloves and start placing the blame where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of The Late Joe Torre. Simply put, he has been pathetic the entire year. Last night may have been the low point, as he had Andruw Jones in the lineup against one of the best righthanders in the game. Andre Ethier was nailed to the pine, even though he has hit Webb well in the past. This was managerial malpractice of the highest order and it DOES NOT bode well for the lineup tonight, Dodger fans. Get ready for Juan Pierre in CF and a right field platoon of Kemp/Ethier. It's time to take the elderly Mr. Torre and put him where he belongs: in the broadcast booth or on the golf course...ANYWHERE but snoozing through another Dodger loss."
Perhaps you weren't paying attention when I explained that Ethier was sat because he had been battling a stomach bug and spent most of the day throwing up. They were okay with him pinch hitting, but didn't think he could get through the entire day. For that matter, Kent was sat for health reasons (knee), in case you were upset he didn't play, either.
AK
AK
Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | August 01, 2008 at 09:58 AM
Well said, B.Z.
Twerp: while I totally agree that Torre has been an awful lineup-writer and game-manager, last night the official word was that Ethier had some sort of stomach flu at game time. And that's why he was benched... last night at least. We shall see about official words this weekend...
Benzo: dude, I lived in Boston too, the Sox have been my AL team since I bought a Sox cap when I was in the 6th grade (1987) and my pop told me that they hated the Yankees just like I did, and all day yesterday I was wearing the Manny t-shirt (before the trade was announced!) my wife bought for me back in '02. I freaking love Manny Ramirez. But I totally agree that this trade isn't necessarily the World Series ticket it's being heralded as.
That being said, I discussed this with a lot of friends last night, and my brother--a professional gambler with a real head for numbers--pointed out that the 5 or 10 wins Manny will give us are what can be called "critical wins." As in, those are the wins that will push us into the playoffs. And once you're in the playoffs, well, look at St. Louis two years ago. 83 Wins in the regular season. Won the Serious. Anything can happen in the crazy tournament of modern baseball playoffs, and Manny does give us a significantly better shot of rolling our die in the tourney this year.
But, as readers of these comments know to a humorous degree, I believe in the mlb future of LaRoche. And I have been frustrated by the 22 stiffs cycled through the 3rd base spot since Beltre left. So LaRoche appeared to be a quality longterm solution, and I believe that's a cost worth considering.
Now I will also agree that if the Dodgers had just plain decided LaRoche was not in their future plans (as wrong as that may be), well, we certainly got something for him. A playoff berth is in fact a lot to receive.
But the media and most folks on here consider the cost of Manny to be "nothing." Which brings me to:
AK: I was glancing through the live blog convo just now and you said, "From where I sit, I can't see ANY downside." (your caps). Really? Just supposing, for the sake of argument, that we DON'T win the World Series this year, who do you see us starting at 3B next season?
Posted by: VA Blueblood | August 01, 2008 at 10:06 AM
Oh, 2 more things I forgot:
Brooklyn Dodger: you are right; I did not like that call either. I hate bunting any time that you're not bunting primarily to avoid a double play, but to voice the other side, well, Slappy being slappy leads to a lot of potential double play grounders...
But what about his bunt to try to get on in the 1st? This I simply do not understand. 3rd basemen already play Slappy close to prevent bunt hits, so the odds of him making those successfully are actually quite low. And Slappy's whole game is simply putting it in play and trying to beat it out, so... why give yourself the lowest odds of any hit you make?
I would also like to add that I HATE losing base runners to stealing, especially early in the game. We should not be playing for one run prior to the 7th inning. And certainly not in the first, which is often the only time to get to a 1st-rate pitcher like Webb. Kemp should not have been stealing in the 1st inning....
And... Aryan? Dude? Is that really you?
Posted by: VA Blueblood | August 01, 2008 at 10:16 AM
Anybody know when Manny shows up? is it tonight or later?
Posted by: gillbert | August 01, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Thanks for the clarification, guys. I'm out of town on business, and judging by Torre's performance this year, I assumed the worst regarding Ethier's abvsence form the lineup. My basic point stands, though. Torre has botched his job this year. I do apologize for the misinformation though.
Posted by: twerp1 | August 01, 2008 at 10:44 AM
VAB - I hope you are right, I really hope you are right.
Did you guys hear me on Dodger Talk last night?
Posted by: Benzo Jones | August 01, 2008 at 11:48 AM