Friday, April 06, 2007

Game 4 Thread: April 6 @ Giants, 7.15p

Dodgers start Brad Penny (0-0) vs. Noah Lowry (0-0).

Dodgers: 1-2 (T-last place NL West, 1.0 GB)
Giants: 1-2 (T-last place NL West, 1.0 GB)

From dodgers.com, the scouting report on the starters:

Dodgers: The staff enigma. Sixteen wins can't be ignored, but his bumpy second half last year and a stiff shoulder this spring are red flags. He's most effective when he doesn't try to overthrow, but sometimes it's hard for hard throwers not to try hard to throw hard. Perfecting any offspeed pitch would be huge.

Giants: Lowry strained his right oblique in the Giants' home opener last season and never fully recovered. He now admits that he might have overcompensated for the injury by falling into some bad habits with his pitching delivery. That's trouble for Lowry, who must be mechanically sound to reach full effectiveness with his finesse-based array of deliveries. When Lowry's "on," his changeup is one of the best in the National League. And he throws hard enough to keep hitters off-balance.

COMMENTS

  • Coming off of our big first win of the year, we will see if the Dodgers carried any momentum to Pac Bell / SBC / AT&T Park tonight. Brad Penny has a chance to start 2007 like his all-star form of the first half of 2006, or the AA-ball form of the second half of 2007. Let's see which Penny shows up tonight (in either case, it is apparently a lighter Penny).
  • Meanwhile, the Giants eked out a win late last night that was almost blown by the headcase that is their closer, Armando Benitez. Inheriting two men on in the ninth with two outs and a 5-1 lead, Benitez proceeded to walk a batter on four pitches, give up a two-run-scoring hit, and then finally get Mike Cameron to pop up to Ray Durham for the third out. That's exactly the kind of stuff we want to see from the combustible Benitez.

UPDATE

Tonight's lineup, via Inside the Dodgers:

Pierre, CF
Martin, C
Garciaparra, 1B
Kent, 2B
Gonzalez, LF
Kemp, RF
Betemit, 3B
Martinez, SS
Penny, P

35 comments:

Steve Sax said...

Who's watching tonight?

Steve Sax said...

Pierre hits into an inning-ending DP in the third. Wonderful.

Steve Sax said...

Penny and Lowry have identical pitch counts through three full.

Lasorda said...

Thank you,Pedro Feliz!

Steve Sax said...

Nice to see you on, Tommy.

Gonzalez was pathetic in the fourth after they walked Kent to get to him and his inning-ending double play.

Kemp almost got caught off third for the second straight game...he sure plays aggressively on that base.

Or maybe Rich Donnelly is back to his old tricks of sleeping at the wheel?

Lasorda said...

Hmmm. Vin just said there's a chance of showers tonight. With the cold fog tonight and tomorrow's weather, we're a groin pull away rom a James Loney sighting. Mark my words.

Delino DeShields, Sr said...

All my Friday night plans turned to crap once I got the sniffles. No Free concert at Getty (with two of the members of Luna) and no 3 hours of Grindhouse. I'm watching 30 Rock off Faux TIVO w/ the (lovely) wife and have Gameday on. Go Tron Pierre!

Lasorda said...

Kick save, and a beauty!

Steve Sax said...

Nice to see you too Delino.

Speaking of Tron, Juan Pierre does hit about as well as Bruce Boxleitner. My low expectations are being met. He is an out machine.

Steve Sax said...

Through five, Penny 66 pitches, Lowry 72.

Penny worked out of a nice jam in the bottom of the fifth.

Orel said...

Anyone think the final score will be 1-0?

Steve Sax said...

And hello to Orel.

Same f'n situation for Gonzo...

Orel said...

Or 2-0?

Orel said...

Hey, it's Michael Madsen!

Steve Sax said...

Whoops, my fault. They actually give Kent one to hit and he makes them pay. Then Gonzo follows that w/a single??? Wow--

Steve Sax said...

Delino, shouldn't you call it Tiv-Faux?

Orel said...

Kemp is still tagging the ball. Just gotta hit them where they ain't.

Steve Sax said...

So I guess we're going w/Penny in the bottom of the seventh? He does have a low pitch count, but this seems risky...

Orel said...

Penny going at least 7...good news.

Orel said...

Betemit with the sweet glove!

Orel said...

I bet James Loney could have made that play too.

Steve Sax said...

The Dodgers have a starting pitcher scoreless through seven? No way.

Orel said...

Looks like the Keystone Kops are in town.

Orel said...

Penny's not sulking! Good for him!

Orel said...

Pretty soon we won't be making fun of Beimel anymore.

Orel said...

P.S.: Russell Martin has been absolutely studly this season. And we're only four games in.

Orel said...

Who's a better candidate to replace Gonzalez, Kemp or Ethier?

Steve Sax said...

Apparently tonight, it's Clark...

Steve Sax said...

Balls out call to send Kemp and Clark while Betemit is at the plate. With Ramon up though, it's likely all for naught anyway.

Lasorda said...

Whither Ethier? Is there any reason why Gonzo is playing ahead of him? After watching that error by Gonzo. Shudder.

Lasorda said...

Top of 9th, 2 outs. Luckily, Bochy didn't sub for Bonds in the OF.

Steve Sax said...

Shocking nine-pitch AB from Martinez, yielding a wwalk.

Too much to ask killer tomato for heroics yet again...

Steve Sax said...

Second straight game where I am dying here.

Steve Sax said...

Wow. Saito again has just enough.

Delino DeShields, Sr said...

30 Rock was quite good. And the Dodgers win! Now, on to more Cold-Eez!