Thursday, May 31, 2007

Game 53 Thread: May 31 @ Nationals, 4.05p

Dodgers start Mark Hendrickson, LHP (2-2, 3.62) vs. Micah Bowie, LHP (1-2, 3.91).

Dodgers: 31-21 (1st place NL West, 0.5 GA, W3)
Nationals: 21-32 (5th/last place NL East, 13.0 GB, L2)

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

Dodgers: Hendrickson dug himself a hole early against the Cubs on Saturday, allowing back-to-back homers to Aramis Ramirez and Mark DeRosain the second inning. His seven home runs allowed leads Dodgers pitchers. The Cubs scored two more in the fourth on four soft hits. Hendrickson is winless in his past four starts with a 6.86 ERA.

Nationals: Bowie will face the Dodgers for the third time in his career. On Friday, Bowie pitched five innings and gave up two runs on four hits against the Cardinals. Bowie was able to pick up his first win as a starter since Sept. 23, 1999, when he was with the Cubs. It was his first overall victory since 2002, when he was a member of the Athletics.

COMMENTS:

  • The Dodgers' streak of 21 straight scoreless innings will likely come to a "Screech"-ing halt tonight (get it? Shout out to the Nationals' mascot!) with Lurch on the hill for the Blue. As pitching will be under fire (Dmitri Young is 5-for-8 with a homer career vs. Hendrickson), we will likely need another five- or ten-run outburst to collect the sweep, before catching the late flight to Pittsburgh for the four-game series at PNC Park. A cursory review (and I may be wrong on this!) says we are 24-3 this year when the Dodgers score first.
  • 10 games over .500 is pretty darn impressive, as the Dodgers attained this milestone for the first time this season.
  • Update 12.51p: Dodgers.com is already hedging its bets against Lurch, with the headline for today's game preview: "Tough act to follow for Hendrickson in finale". Way to keep the expectations low...

UPDATE, 2.47p:

From T-Jax, the lineup:

SS Furcal
CF Pierre
1B Nomar
2B Kent
LF Gonzo
C Martin
3B LaRoche
RF Ethier
LH Hendrickson

21 comments:

tad swifty said...

Maybe Hendrickson will pull a rabbit out of his hat, but I think you got it pegged right. He turned back into a pumpkin a couple of starts ago. If a truly horrific outing by Lurch means they'll put Chad back in the rotation then so be it.

Hopefully the Dodgers win despite a horrific start by Hendy.

Steve Sax said...

FB, that's a mighty tall pumpkin. And skinny, too.

Let's play ball!!! A pleasant good afternoon to you wherever you may be...

Orel said...

So much for the shutout streak. 2-0 Nationals in the first.

Steve Sax said...

And JUST LIKE THAT, the scoreless streak is over. And we aren't even out of the first yet. Home run by Zimmerman and it's 2-0 Washington in bottom 1.

Washington is a triple away from the cycle in the first inning along. SOMEBODY YANK LURCH OFF THE MOUND.

Steve Sax said...

Men at the corners with two out in the first. STOP HENDRICKSON NOWWWWWW

Steve Sax said...

voix pour le russell. Now if Kent or Gonzo had gotten on, it would be tied...alas it is 2-1 going to bottom 2. And Lurch is back on the mound.

Orel said...

VOIX POUR LE RUSSELL!

Steve Sax said...

we have only two hits of Micah frickin Bowie. What is wrong here?!

Nats 3-1 into the bottom 5.

Anonymous said...

Pull Hendrickson fast. We need RELIEF!!

Anonymous said...

What kind of shitty play was that?

Orel said...

Down 6-1? Curses, Lurch!

Steve Sax said...

Somehow, I know there's logic that Tomko is worse than Hendrickson.

Tonight, however, it is hard to fathom that logic.

Dodgers down 6-1 through 5, to the worst team in baseball.

Steve Sax said...

6-4 thanks to an abreu sac fly--but with men and the corners and one out, you'd think we'd get more than one run...

on to bottom 7

Steve Sax said...

Beimel in for the seventh

Steve Sax said...

Brox sucks! 8-4 Nats.

Steve Sax said...

Broxton rocked, gives up three and gets only one out. 9-4 Nats.

Steve Sax said...

My bad, Brox got two outs. We're still down by five runs though.

Make that 7 runs. We suck, Seanez gives up a meatball to his first batter. 11-4. On to the 9th.

Orel said...

Another Broxton meltdown. Good night, everyone.

Orel said...

Here we go! 7+1!

Steve Sax said...

Clark leads off with a walk. Nine more walks and we tie...

Steve Sax said...

Raffy's 15-game hit streak on the line,,,