Dodgers Fall Flat, Drop Another to Rockies 2-0
Not a great game to go watch if you are a Dodger fan, but not so bad if you like bobbleheads...and Sandy Koufax.
Full recap here
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Dodgers Fall Flat, Drop Another to Rockies 2-0
Not a great game to go watch if you are a Dodger fan, but not so bad if you like bobbleheads...and Sandy Koufax.
Full recap here
D-Backs Complete Sweep as Dodgers Seemingly Just Roll Over
There are tough losses, bad losses, and then there are losses like yesterday's. Tough losses are usually close games that can go either way; they hurt, but you hold your head up high because you played a good ball game. Bad losses are when a team gets killed; these are usually the easy ones to forget because once down 10-0 in the 5th inning, you've already forgotten about it. And then there are losses like yesterday's: completely flat, uneventful, and hard to hold your head up after it. Not one great play, not one good hit, nothing to really give the fans (nor themselves) anything to cheer about - yet they were within arms reach the entire game and couldn't figure it out.
The Dodgers were down 1-0 in the 2nd inning, then 2-0 in the 4th inning, and then 4-0 in the 8th. They gave up 2 homeruns (which seemingly was the story all series long - the D-Backs had 6 homeruns in the 3 game series) and could really never spark anything offensively themselves. They recorded just two hits, one of which was a bleeder up the middle by the pitcher, Fife.
Despite adding Ramirez and Shane Victorino, who made his Dodger debut on the final game of the D-Back series, the Dodgers looked lifeless. And that's somewhat surprising since they just came off of a 3 game sweep against the Giants to put them at first place again.
The upside is that this already happened and that they'll have today as a day off to reflect on it. Their team is without a doubt better than it was before the trade deadline and it's just a matter of being comfortable up there and executing - something that they've proven can be done time and again.
The Dodgers now host the Cubs for 3 games and seek to gain ground on the Giants, who are 1 game in front of them, and hope to add some separation between themselves and the D-Backs, who are within just 1.5 of the Dodgers.
Notables:
Shane Victorino's debut - the crowd was surprisingly welcoming. I didn't hear 1 boo. Also, Victorino went 0-4, but hit a line drive straight at the center fielder which could have scored a couple runs. He started at left (which is where he'll be for the rest of the season).
Bobby Abreu was designated for assignment (which is a sort of purgatory state while the Dodgers figure out what to do with him, while freeing up a space on the 40-man roster for a new arrival, in this case, Victorino).
Juan Uribe was actually put in to pinch hit (he's batting .193 and was at .198 when he came in to the ballgame). How they didn't designate him for assignment instead of Abreu, beats the hell out of me. Sure, left field is saturated with bench players, but Abreu can at least hit. Besides, you have 2 solid third basemen's with Hairston and Hernandez.
Dodgers Fall 7-2 to D-Backs as they Slither Within 3.5 Games of NL West
It was a little difficult to watch right from the beginning (the game, that is - because the sky was something else!) Paul Goldsmitt hit a 3 run shot in the top of the first inning off of Harang, and then Chris Johnson followed with a grand slam in the 5th inning. All D-back outs, too, were pretty hard hit shots that somehow found gloves. It could have been a whole lot worse.
And on the offensive end, the Dodger bats weren't as much non-existent as they were un-timely; their hits never seemed to fall in a favorable order despite getting 8 of them.
Thankfully, the Giants also lost to the Mets (in large part due to Jerry Hariston's younger brother, Scott's 2 homeruns in their 8-7 win in extras), so they're still tied for 1st. However, the D-backs are within 3 games of both the Dodgers and the Giants -- Should get interesting. (Especially with all the trade talks as of late!).
Lastly, I did manage to miss the most exciting play of the game when Rivera gunned down Parra at home in the 6th - but it wasn't for nothing. A little boy got hit by a foul ball that skipped off the Dodger dugout and into the stands. Magic Johnson, who was in attendance in his regular spot behind the Dodger on-deck circle, got up and walked over a few sections to see if the kid was ok. He was. And not only did he get a ball from Adam Kennedy (I'm almost positive it was him that threw it from the dugout), he got it signed by Magic and got a few pictures out of it too, not to mention a huge applause from the crowd...A very pleasant situation that could have easily been an ugly one.
(There's Magic up top checking to see if the young fan was ok and signing the ball that Kennedy tossed over - you can see Kennedy on the right corner looking over)
Notables:
Cruz ends 12 game hitting streak
Hanley Ramirez makes Dodger Stadium debut and goes 0 for 4, though he did steal a base.
Kempt goes 3 for 4
UPDATE: It ended up being Josh Lindblom's last appearance as a Dodger as he got traded in a deal with a Minor Leaguer for Shane Victorino, just hours before the trade deadline. (We'll miss you Josh, it a bummer to see you go!)
Dodgers Beat Phillies on Kemp's 12th Inning Walk-Off Jack
Full recap here:
Noteworthy:
The Dodgers rallied in the 10th to tie it 3-3
Longest game of season for Dodgers, both time-wise and number of innings
It was Matt Kemp's first HR since his DL stints
All Dodger bench players played
Kershaw and Lee both gave up just 1 earned run, and neither of them got the win
Dodgers snap their 4-game losing streak
Dodgers Trade First Place For Yet Another Injury
...this time it was Dee Gordon, who is out for at least 6 weeks with a broken thumb after stealing his 30th base in the 4-1 Arizona defeat.
The Dodgers are now 1.5 games ahead of the Giants with 2 more games to go with the D-Backs.
The good news is that Kemp and Ethier are due back after the All-star break and Mark Ellis and Javy Guerra are back.
This by the way, now means that the heart of the Dodger lineup, batters 1-4, which include Dee Gordon, Mark Ellis, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier, have all sustained serious injuries this season...And it's not even the All-Star break yet.
Though if you would have told anyone that the Dodgers would lose over half of their starting lineup to injuries, including Matt Kemp for over one quarter of the season, and they would still be in first place with 47 wins, no one in their right mind would believe you.
All in all, the Dodgers have had a pretty damn good first half, especially under their injury-filled circumstances.
Dodgers are Shutout by Mets 9-0, Reach New Season Low
The Dodgers lost their season-high, 6th straight game, and were shutout for the fourth time in five days when they faced R.A. Dickey and the Mets on Friday night. They have been scoreless in 47 out of their last 48 innings.
Dickey is the first pitcher to get to 12 wins this season. The guy is damn good. He had a 1-hitter going into the 7th and gave up 3 hits total before coming out after the 8th. On the flip side, Harang went 5.2 innings and gave up 4 runs.
The Dodgers have lost 9 out of their last 10 games and are still 1 game out of first place behind the Giants (as they lost as well).
It's a slump alright. Let's see how they respond. And remember, true character and resiliance is tested when you're down, not when you're at the top.
Go blue!
When It Rains...
Andre Ethier, on the same day the Dodgers got swept for the 3rd straight game in San Francisco and were caught by the Giants in the NL West, injured his oblique on a slide to second.
He is now listed as day-to-day.
(Pic Source)
Did Someone Say Regression?
So the Dodgers are slumping. Big time!
In the month of June, the Dodger's have not only lost the 'best record in the Majors' title, but have also managed to come in dead last in batting average in the NL at .222 and homeruns, at just 6. The Dodgers are also 13th out of 16 in OBP at .299, and second to last in runs scored at a measly 3.4 runs per game (just ahead of the Marlins).
To put it into perspective the Dodgers haven't scored a run in their last 21 innings, and are just 1 game in front of the Giants (who could tie it up today if the Dodgers can't avoid the sweep against the struggling Lincecum, who has a 2-8 record with a 6.07 ERA.
Kemp is still nowhere to be found with his strained ham-string, their Cy Young winner, Clayton Kershaw is nearing a .500 record at 5-4, and Ethier has cooled off considerably, batting just .218 in the month of June; not to mention their Tiple A bench hasn't been producing nor coming in clutch like they had been.
Ok, now that we got that out of the way, here's the good news: this will pass.
Baseball is a game of numbers and it has tendancy to even out. The Dodgers are better than this (much better than this!) and it's just a matter of time before they turn it around.
That being said, now would be a great time to bounce back.
In a Forgettable Night for Harang, The Dodgers Get Shutout by A's 3-0
There are games that require a little more analysis of why the Dodgers lost. In last night's case however, it was pretty simple:
Aaron Harang pitched 3.2 innings and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and 6 K's - Not bad right? Well, he also had a carrier high, 8 walks.
By the end of the top of the first inning, the damage was done, the Athletics scored 3 and the Dodgers ended up posting just 2 hits the entire game.
We'll chalk that off as an off-day; hopefully Nate Eovaldi can put the Dodgers in a better position tonight.
Dodger Hero of The Game: Dee Gordon
NOTE: Because the Dodgers have had so many different players step up and be the hero on any given night, I found it fitting to have a spinning wheel representing the hero of the game. Whether it be their stars like Kershaw, Kemp, Ethier, and AJ (yeah, he's a star now, too), their role players like Juan Rivera, Tony Gwynn Jr, and Jerry Hairston Jr, and their Triple A guys like Elian Herrera, Jerry Sands, and Scott Van Slyke - there seems to be a random new hero every game. And that must be celebrated.
(Special thanks to Ed for designing the wheel to perfection!).
So here's the first (of hopefully many) "Dodger Hero of the Game" posts:
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Dee Gordon hits the game-winning run in the 10th inning to take the series against the Chicago White Sox on Father's day. Check out the video of his hit here and the recap of the game here.
...and a special honorable mention to Andre Ethier, who kept the Dodgers in the game with his 3 incredible catches. Honestly, without one of those 3 catches, the game would have had a very different ending.
The Price You Pay for a Walk-Off Hit
In case you can't tell, that's Dee Gordon behind all that shaving cream that's being (oh so gently) smeared all over his face by Matt Kemp in today's dramatic Dodger walk-off win against the Chicago White Sox.
Dee-licious Comeback Dodger Win Over White Sox in 10
It was a happy fathers day for Dodger dads all around, but it was especially sweet for Tom Gordon, Dee's dad, who's son hit the walk-off hit in the 10th inning.
Chris Capuano had another phenomenal start. He went 8 innings and gave up just 1 earned run on 6 hits and 12 K's!
The Dodgers were down 1 run going into the 9th after being screwed on a bad call by umpire crew, which erased a Matt Treanor score and got Don Mattingley kicked out. They said he tagged up too soon on a sac fly to right, but the replay clearly showed otherwise.
Anyway, the Dodgers tied it in the 9th with an Abreu run on a Juan Rivera sac fly and got 2 dominant innings by Ronald Belisario.
In the 10th, the Dodgers caught a break on a line drive hit by Tony Gwynn Jr. which was misplayed by left-fielder Jordan Danks and allowed him to get to third base on what should have been a single. With 2 outs, Dee Gordon, who had a bad at-bat his previous time up with a chance to win it, ended up being the hero of the day by slapping a base hit to left field on an outside pitch.
And oh yeah, had Andre Ethier not made 3 top-10 plays in the game, it would have been a very different story.
This was the Dodger's 31st 1-run game of the season, putting them at 18-13 in games like these.
The Dodgers now go to to Oakland for 3.
I'm loving interleague!
(Photo source)
Dodgers Fall To Sox 5-4 Despite Comeback
The Dodgers, down 4-0 practically out of the gate, made quite the comeback by tying the game in the 3rd by scoring 4 runs of their own. But unfortunately for Billingsley, that wasn't enough to overshadow the 4th inning unearned run sparked by Jerry Hairston's error on a seemingly routine ground-ball to second.
Tough loss.
(see full recap here)
On last night’s come-from-behind win against the White Sox, I got the chance to see how AJ Ellis prepares for the game (at least when Kershaw pitches)
First he gears up in the bullpen. Then he takes some straight pitches along with some in the dirt for him to block. Next, he prays for a couple minutes with 2 of his teammates. And finally it’s long toss with Kershaw before warming up in the bull-pen.
And what’s so amazing about this last one, is not so much how far Kershaw gets while long-tossing (he ends up by the Bank of America sign in right-center), but how AJ doesn't have to move 1 step to catch any of his balls.
Pretty impressive.
If you are every an hour early to a game in which Kershaw pitches, go to the left field foul pole area, (preferably in the Lodge section) and check it out.
Dodgers Pull 5th-Inning Rabbit Out of the Hat, Beat White Sox 7-6
With the Dodgers down 5-1 in the 5th inning, it was looking as though Kershaw was in route to lose his 4th game of the season. But the Dodgers, as they've done all season long, somehow managed to claw their way back into a game that seemed beyond their reach.
They scored 5 runs in the 6th inning, which was lead off by a Hairston walk and then followed by an AJ Ellis base hit, a Juan Uribe RBI double, a De Jesus RBI single, a 2-out, game-tying, 2-RBI double by Elian Herrera, and finally an RBI single by Juan Rivera. All of a sudden the game was 6-5 in the Dodger's favor.
The White sox then tied it up 6-6 with another solo shot by Alex Rios (his second of the night) in the 8th, but not soon before the Dodgers got the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, scoring James Loney from 3rd.
It was certainly a shaky start for Clayton as he went 6 innings and gave up 4 earned runs on 8 hits (2 of which were homeruns). He was even in a position to win the game after he was pinch hit by De Jesus in that 6th inning, but Belisario gave up the tying run in the 8th. I think Kershaw would have felt a little dirty taking a win like that - but he would have taken it (wouldn't we all?)
The Dodgers have 2 games left agains the Sox before heading to Oakland for a 3-game series.
On last-night’s Dodger win, Andre Ethier tied the game in the 8th inning with 2 outs, cashing in his 500th RBI!
…not a bad day for the guy who just got an $8.5M, 5-year deal just a few hours before!
(Original image found here)
Newly Re-signed Ethier Ties Game, Ex-Angel Rivera Breaks it Wide Open With 3-run Bomb: Dodgers Topple Angels 5-2
Aaron Harang was on his a-game tonight against the Angels, going 7 innings and giving up 0 earned runs on 6 hits and 5 K's. The same couldn't be said about Adam Kennedy and Dee Gordon, who cost the Dodger's 2 unearned runs in the 3rd and the 6th.
But fortunately, with 2 outs in the 8th inning and down 2-1, Ethier hit a game-tying single to score Dee Gordon and Rivera then hit a 3-run, no-doubt-about'er; tying up the series 1-1 on Mike Scioscia's, sold-out, bobble head night.
They'll go for the series win with Eovaldi on the mound tomorrow night.
(Giants also won tonight, so Dodgers maintain 5-game lead)