Dodgers Enduring Long and Winding Road
[picappgallerysingle id="6859900"]
Unlike something out of a Willy Nelson song, the Los Angeles Dodgers (7-9) have found no comfort on the road; in fact it’s more like the Highway to Hell.
Adam Dunn homered twice and opposing pitcher Luis Atilano won in his major league debut as the Dodgers dropped another road game tonight to the lowly Washington Nationals (9-8), 1-5, making it the seventh time in ten games the Blue have lost an away game this season. (more…)
Dodger Bullpen ‘Seeing Red Again’
Chad Billingsley struggled in his third outing of the season giving up seven runs in just three innings, and the Dodgers (6-7) failed to capitalize on a late rally dropping the first of the series to the Cincinnati Reds (6-8), 9-11.
[picappgallerysingle id="5437291"]
How does a baseball team still manage to stay below .500 despite having one of the most explosive offenses in the league? Pitching, or a lack thereof.
This time the Dodgers tried but couldn’t quite rebound from Billingsley’s latest meltdown. After giving up seven hits and four earned, most of which came in a six-run second inning, Los Angeles erased a six-run Reds’ lead late in the ballgame, but the struggling Dodger bullpen couldn’t come through in the clutch…again. (more…)
Belliard leads L.A. over Pirates, avoid sweep
[picappgallerysingle id="6739434"]
The Pittsburgh Pirates are the toughest team to beat the first week of the season. They certainly gave the Dodgers fits.
It’s not until about, oh, the third or fourth game, when the Pirates come back down to reality and lose the rest of their games–as has been the tradition for the last 17 years (1992 was the last year Pittsburgh had a record above .500).
But with the heart of the Dodgers line-up taking the day off and Chad Billingsley on the hill, Joe Torre’s crew managed to hold off the invincible Garrett Jones and Ronnie Belliard led the Dodgers with three extra base hits (a single shy of the cycle) as L.A. avoided an embarrassing opening-series sweep from the Bucs, 10-2.
Today the Dodgers sat out five regular starters including Andre Ethier (sore ankle), Manny Ramirez, and Casey Blake, but the Blue Crew still managed to rack up 16 hits and sent four different Pirate pitchers to the showers. The Dodgers strung together base hits like they did most of last season when they actually led the NL in hits (fourth in the NL in runs scored).
Phew….nostalgia.
Speaking of nostalgia, Ronnie “Big Belly” Belliard, after having lost his second base job to Blake DeWitt, moved into third base to replace the usual starter Blake and made an impressive argument for a starting spot going 3-for-5 with two runs, four RBI, and a two-run shot in the fifth to help the Dodgers pull away 4-0.
Much has been said about Belliard’s weight in the off-season (hence the move to DeWitt), but love handles or no love handles, the guy hits the ball with the same kind of zeal as a chubby fourth-grader in the cafeteria line. He really gave us a boost in the latter part of last season when Blake’s bat went into an August-September slumber. Over a span of 24 games, Belliard hit a belly-busting .351 with five homers and 17 RBI. Give the man some credit and a Little Debbie snack or two. I believe he’s earned it.
Aside from Ronnie, the middle part of the order hit the face off the ball. Batters 1-4 (1. Raffie, 2. Reed Johnson, 3. Matty K., and 4. Loney) batted an unconscionable 10-for-18! with three extra-base hits and four runs batted in. I’m not sure what kind of slugging percentage that is, but I do know this: it’s going to win you ball games.
My personal favorite, Matt Kemp, is always Mr. Consistent at the plate proving that he can hit from anywhere in the line-up. I really like Kemp at the three-spot, though, because he hits well with runners in scoring position (.280 in 2009). In fact, last season Matty hit from every position possible hitting the best in the seven-hole (.328 with eight home-runs and 30 RBI). He is prone to the strikeout (had two today), but I’ll take 2-for-4 to the bank any day of the week.
However, one of the best stories of today probably goes to Reed Johnson who went 3-for-4 in his Dodgers debut. Might I be the first to say: welcome to L.A., Mr. Johnson.
The Dodgers signed the outfielder in the off-season after he spent two years as utility-man for the Chicago Cubs. With the absence of Mark Derosa (who’s now with the Giants–ugh), Johnson was one of the scrappiest players for the Cubs and could always find ways to manufacture runs. Today he scored a couple of runs including the first of the ball game on Loney’s single to center.
The other best-story nominee definitely goes to Chad Billingsley who got his first win today–hopefully there’s more where that came from. Today he threw a solid five and a third innings and served up 7 sweet-baby-K’s. I know as well as you know he struggled late last season. He knows struggled late season. And I know that you know that the Philadelphia Phillies know he struggled late last season.
But the 25-year-old hurler IS our ace, and it was Chad who should have started Opening Day (I’m not sayin’….I’m just sayin’). I think after having some time to adjust to the role, Bills will be more comfortable as our go-to-guy. And I’m more than willing to give him another chance. The only negative is that he did have four walks, but when you can keep serving up wiffle balls, all is forgiven.
And man it feels good to get the first win off our backs. I thought the world was coming to an end after we dropped two in a row to open the season to the Pirates. Kind of like last year when they dropped three-of-four to the Buccos in the last week of the season. Is it just me, or do we have a really difficult time beating teams from Pennsylvania?
The Dodgers hadn’t been swept in a three-game series by Pittsburgh since Sept. 4-6, 2000, in Los Angeles. The last time it happened in Pittsburgh was May 31-June 2, 1999, when the Pirates still played in Three Rivers Stadium.
