Another Oppurtunity Wasted
Clayton Kershaw was brilliant…again.
The Los Angeles Dodgers offense was pathetic…again.
So what else is new?
The San Diego Padres came into this series having lost 10 straight, they were the modern “Can’t Get Right” team and looked to be falling straight out of 1st place. But lo and behold, the LA Dodgers come into town and they seem to be the cure to what ailed them.
So after looking like they Dodgers were in it after winning 4 straight, have now gone 2-6 since then, and haven’t won a game since getting rid of Manny, great job Neddie.
I can’t think of anything else to say, I’m hugely disappointed in this team, I thought they could really go far and so far every time I get my hopes up, I’m let down. So maybe I should be pessimistic and go into every game thinking they’ll lose, at least I won’t be disappointed when they do.
Lindsey Gets His Shot!
Look at that smile 
. That’s the smile of a man finally realizing his dream After 16 minor league seasons John Lindsey gets his shot at the majors. Although I will say, this has been a long time coming, he’s 33 and ever since joining Albuquerque, he’s been knocking the cover off the ball and with Loney not hitting well against left handers this year, a guy like Lindsey should’ve been called up but hey, I’m glad he’s made it.
The other call ups include slugging 1B/3B Russ Mitchell, another debutee, slick fielding infielder Chin Lung Hu, Jon Link, John Ely and A.J. Ellis who we’ve already seen this year.
Notably missing from the September call ups are.
Infielder Ivan DeJesus- A possible candidate for the 2B job next year.
Short-Stop Dee Gordon – Who although is in AA, would’ve attracted a lot of fan and media attention as one of the top prospects in the Dodgers system and one of the few on Colletti’s “do not trade” list.
Outfielder Trayvon Robinson – A speedy outfielder with a good bat, a lot of strikeouts but has a .404 OBP this season.
Billingsley Puts the Game on His Shoulders
Chad Billingsley is used to the Los Angeles Dodgers offense not providing enough run support for him to win, as evidenced by 4 straight games where he gave up only 6 runs but only received 4 from his offense.
So, in the bottom of the 4th, when the San Francisco Giants walked Rod Barjas to load the bases for him, he came up big with a 2 run single to right field that barely missed the glove of right fielder Jose Guillen giving the Dodgers a 4-2 lead. After that, Billingsley shut down the Giants until the 8th inning, and didn’t allow a single base runner striking out 4.
Then Billingsly turned it over to Hung-Chih Kuo who has gotten used to his new closer role and has only given up a single run in the last 7 games after he blew the game open against the Braves, giving up 3 runs, shut down the Giants in the 9th preserving the lead.
Rod Barjas also hit his 4th home-run in his 8th game since joining the Dodgers, providing the other 2 runs with a blast in bottom of the 2nd that traveled an estimated 407 feet to left field.
The win brings the Dodges 8 behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the Wild Card and amazingly, they’re also 8 games behind the San Diego Padres, whom they meet next week for the National League West crown.
The Padres have lost 8 straight while their offense slumps and their young pitchers start to succumb to the long season.
Every win also brings them closer to the Giants who are 5 games ahead of the Dodgers, if they can win the next 2, they will be in prime position to challenge for the NL West lead.
1 Run Not Enough For Kershaw
Once again Clayton Kershaw pitched well enough to win, surrendering two runs in six innings of work, striking out 11.
Once again the Los Angeles Dodgers failed to give him any run support scoring only a single run, that run coming after Kershaw was out of the game and the game was well out of hand.
Once again the Dodgers failed to gain any ground against a a team ahead of them in the Wild Card race whom they needed to beat in order to keep their season alive.
And once again, Matt Kemp is in the news again for something rather innocuous and something that I’ve seen even 15 year vets do and that is miss a bag rounding the bases. Matt Kemp’s Base Running Needs Work.
So this game bring us 7 and a half back in the Wild Card race. All the Dodgers had to do was win 4 of the 6 versus the Rockies and Phillies and instead of 7.5 back, they are 3.5 back and right behind the San Francisco Giants who are 1.5 behind the Phillies, but would be a half game behind if the Dodgers took 2 of 3.
So, where do we go from here? 28 games to go, 7.5 back, and the team showing no sign of any type of hot streak or well, anything really.
Next up for the Dodgers are the Giants at Dodger Stadium, I’d say that we can be optimistic but, nah, the last time they were here, we got swept and they’re playing pretty good ball
After that we have a 3 game series against the San Diego Padres at their home park , another critical series…matter of fact, ever series from now until it’s over is critical. The Dodgers would have to go 20-8 from here on out to make the playoffs unless the 5 teams ahead of them go into an implosion of epic proportions and never have that many teams gone on a bad streak this late in the year so I’m not crossing my fingers.
Dodgers Gain Some Momentum, Sherill Takes it Away.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, coming into the game 5.5 games behind the Phillies, need every win they can get if they hope to catch up to anybody in the Wild Card race or maybe even the NL West now that the San Diego Padres have lost 6 in a row.
But, no need to worry Padres, Giants, Rockies and Cardinals George Sherill put flames on any attempt at a come back Tuesday by coming in, walking Ryan Howard, walking Jason Werth, getting Ibanez to ground out to second, but the Dodgers couldn’t turn a double play, or get the lead runner. That left Howard and Werth on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, Broxton comes in to relieve and well u know what happens next, Carlos Ruiz pinch hitting for Brian Schneider rakes a hit, 2 runs score and all the momentum that the Dodgers gained from James Loney’s two run home-run (James freakin’ Loney people…he finally did something right) and Podseknik’s diving catch in left field.
After those two, all the Dodgers and Philies had to do was mope it out for 2 more innings and just get it over with, they went fairly quickly and the Dodgers are now 6.5 back
Apparently the Dodgers still think they’ve got a chance, Ted Lilly was claimed on waivers by the Yankees but the Dodgers didn’t work out a deal, so with 29 games left and 6.5 back, the Dodgers feel like they can make some ground. To not be so pessimistic, they can, there’s chance with most of the teams ahead of the Dodgers playing bad but unfortunately, the Dodgers aren’t really playing their best ball and losing 2 of 3 to the Rockies really hurt their chances and they must win today if they hope to have any chance, or they’ll end up falling 7.5 behind.
Today’s game at 12:10 will be a great one, day game, two great pitchers, Roy Oswalt and Clayton Kershaw, so I’ll definitely be watching or listening to this one every one of the final 29 games is important but this one, this is a definite must win.
