Brad Penny (4-2) vs. Jeff Francis (0-2).
COMMENTS: Will the weather affect this game? Click here for the latest Denver forecast.
If you recall the last time Penny pitched, the Dodgers scored 10 runs in the first inning en route to a 11-3 drubbing of Colorado. Meanwhile, Rockies ace Francis is still searching for his first win, even after holding the Dodgers to two runs over seven innings last Sunday. Penny is 13-2 lifetime against the Rockies. Francis has a career 2.64 ERA against the Dodgers. Magic 8-Ball says: Expect a pitching duel.
Hurting the Rockies is an injury to Troy Tulowitzki, which will sideline him for weeks, if not months. On the other hand, the Dodger offense is humming along. As a team, the Dodgers are batting .279/.360/.404, 2nd/3rd/9th-best in the NL. If Andruw Jones can rebound from his craptacular April—"I'm trying everything," he says—the Dodgers will enjoy the type of offensive production they haven't seen in years. Here's to seven in a row!
193 comments:
Epale, Dodger fans! Tonight's lineup:
Furcal, SS
Pierre, LF
Kemp, RF
Kent, 2B
Martin, 3B
Loney, 1B
Jones, CF
Bennett, C
Penny, P
Martin starting at third! In the outfield, it's Ethier's turn in the barrel.
Kent leads off the second with a freakin' triple, and neither Martin nor Loney can bring him in.
And now it's up to Jones. Great.
And Jones, predictably, strikes out on a ball out of the zone. Awesome. Not a good omen.
Penny isn't exactly holding up his end of the pitcher's duel, what with the three walks before getting out of the second inning.
2-0, Rockies.
Martin makes a sweet play to save Penny's bacon.
Time to hit, boys. The air's thinner here, remember?
Vin says leadoff triples score 85% of the time. Welcome to the Dodger 15%.
Who will be the first to start a new blog entitled "Dodger 15%"?
What did I miss? Hey Fur CAL got on with 2 outs. Come on Pierre.
I was starting to write a post about how it makes no sense to have Pierre bat after Furcal, since it's always an automatic out right after the guy who gets on base constantly.
And then Pierre went and hit a single.
Here we go Kemp - 2 men on!
Dodgers fail to convert Kent's triple. Penny not so sharp.
27 degrees in Denver.
Pierre cares not for conventional wisdom.
Damn, Kemp.
Damn.
Murphy's law, Erin?
Epale everyone!
Penny is really screwing us here.
Home run, Helton. 3-0, Rockies.
Epale, Big K!
Murphy's Law indeed. I was getting ready to type 1-2-3 inning for Penny...boom, Helton HR.
As part of the Dodgers' attempt to make Dodger Stadium more environmentally friendly, they should consider a change to the way guys drink water in the dugout.
Every time a guy gets a drink, he uses a disposable cup one time, then throws it on the ground. That's not exactly "green", and it's always bothered me. I don't know the solution, but someone should look into it.
Hmmm, that's a good idea. But players do that in every dugout, maybe they could have a rule to stop that.
Longoria was blocked at the plate!
Francis has his best outing of the season so far against the Dodgers, bad timing, i guess...
Yeah Karina, it was an awesome throw from Brandon Moss to nail Longoria.
We're talking about the Sox/Rays game, in case you guys are confused.
And yeah, they do it in every dugout. MLB should look into this. I'm going to write a post on my site about it, I think.
Individually labeled water bottles? It's more about changing the culture than the method.
I think it's disgusting every time you see a dugout after the game and see piles of wasted cups.
Is it too difficult to put those on a bin?
Absolutely. People have to care that they're wasting so damn much just for an ounce of water.
I think Juan Pierre should have to use the cups off the dugout ground. And Andruw Jones, too.
3-0. Ugh.
As far as I know, Dodger Stadium still has no way to recycle the plastic water bottles, plastic water cups and aluminum beer bottles. So I guess we need to change the culture of the whole stadium.
I know Fenway has enacted recycling at the park, so it's not unheard of in MLB.
Orel, i got another gem about the Dodgers, this time from the Strike Zone Channel:
speaking about Jones' struggles at the plate, the announcer says:
Jones can't hit righties this season...or lefties for that matter
Vin Scully is telling a story about a one-thumbed umpire.
The man should never retire.
Bennett actually works a walk, and Penny sacrifices him over for the second out. Enter Raffy...
Erin, just tell Frank McCourt that Fenway recycles. You'll see recycling bins in Dodger Stadium faster than you can say costusVladimirGuerrero!
That Martin-Loney DP. I think i love Martin like i'd love my son.
Karina, that would be funny if it weren't so, so true.
haven't you heard something like "i laugh so i don't have to cry"
Martin has made two amazing plays at third tonight.
Ugh, can't make it - have to goto sleep, hope I wake up to a comeback win! Go dodgers!
Erin, remember how proud Frankie McCourt was of the flush-free urinals' water-saving capacity?
One would think he wouldn't piss on another recycling opportunity...
I think you're right, Sax. Don't worry. I'll be all over this first thing tomorrow, once I catch up on all the other posts I've avoided in the last few days.
Padres already lost, Mets are beating the Diamondbacks 4-2 in the third. Dodgers might have an opportunity to cut Arizona's lead, but only if they start to score some runs.
Pierre leads off with a single and Kemp doubles him home, all while I was away checking on the Sox. Kent can do some damage here.
"I laugh so I don't have to cry." Did a lot of that last season.
Russell beats out the wide grounder! You think Kemp would have been able to advance on that play though.
Atkins saves a run with a nice play at third, but Martin gets to first anyway.
Now Loney needs to come through with RISP.
C'mon, FJL!
Scully points out that Andruw Jones said something to Loney before the latter went to the plate.
I can only pray that Jones said, "Do exactly the opposite of what I do."
that's my theory, sometimes it's painful to give your heart to something you can't control like sports fandom, so let's try to be cheerful.
Kemp and Martin execute the double steal, while Loney gets to a full count.
nice...double steal!
And he walks! Bases loaded!
Oh. For Andruw Jones. Looks like Francis is done for the night. Is this a good thing?
Double steal! Torre really seems to favor the double steal, and he seems to know when to call them.
Loney works the walk! Bases loaded, 1 out with...uh oh...Andruw Jones coming up.
Francis getting yanked.
Loney draws a walk, Jones coming up...would he at least hit a sac fly?
Karina, that's a beautiful thing. Let's try to remember it because Andruw is up with the bases juiced.
Erin, the Red Sox are playing outstanding defense tonight.
Indeed they are, Karina. And Moss, the guy who made the great throw to nail Longoria at the plate, just hit a solo shot to make it 2-0, Sox.
Hawks 102, Celtics 98 w/10.6 seconds left!
Oh for the love of god. Third strikeout for Jones, once again on a pitch practically in the dirt.
Jones did get a bad call for the strike two pitch, but still.
And Mark Sweeney is batting for Bennett? Is this supposed to be an advantage for us?
Andruw can't even make contact. But, in keeping with my newfound attitude, I have a smile on my face!
Andruw Jones career with bases loaded:
AVG 272, 4 grand slams. Tonight: 2 K's.
listening to Carlos Hernandez describing his bad balance and his stubborness looking for inside pitches, depresses me.
Sweeney in for Bennett? Looks like Martin is moving back behind the plate.
Torre should send Kemp.
Sweeney showing discipline. Full count.
Yes! Way to work the walk, Sweeney! 3-2 Rockies.
Sweeney walks in a run. That was the best possible outcome, as far as I'm concerned.
Bennett drew a walk, is Penny batting up next or Torre will send Ethier?
Game 7 in Boston, Sunday Sunday Sunday!
DeWitt is DeMan. He can do this. Positive attitude, right?
DeWitt's in because he'll take over at third.
My mistake. I guess it's Dewitt, God bless him.
I don't think the Celtics are losing the series, but whoever is waiting for them (the Wizards?) must be happy to see it go to seven.
DeWitt!!!!!
You're right, Erin! DeWitt is DeMan! 4-3 Dodgers!
let's show some love to Dewitt. I'm sorry i thought about Ethier first. Nomar and LaRoche might think at this point to be the backup 3B.
That would be incredible if the Hawks won Sunday. You never know!
D-Backs are now down 5-2 to the Mets.
You're right, Karina. Great AB for DeWitt that the Dodgers should consider before rushing LaRoche back.
I'm no Mets fan but...go Mets!
We can be Mets' fans until Monday.
C'mon Raffy, let's bust this one open! Or as open as a game can get in Colorado!
That'll do.
After scoring a total of five runs in the 50 innings coming into tonight, the Sox have now scored six through 3.2 innings in this game. That's nice to see.
Furcal!!! Sh*t! I missed it watching Ortiz hit an RBI single. Ugh!
Who is this comeback team? I hardly recognize them.
Is Torre wearing a hearing aid?
Well, Orel is working, you can't stop making game threads.
I put the gnome pic on my MSN and hid on my facebook account. I think i'll make it my profile photo.
Erin, Cleveland plays the winner of the Celtics/Hawks series.
They are even showing consistency
Erin, dual tuner TiVo!
Karina, that's sweet. Looking forward to your gnomey profile photo.
I have the Extra Innings package, which means I technically could watch the channel that shows eight games at once. But, the Dodgers' games are blacked out, so when they play at the same time, I am forced to flip.
Right, I knew it was Cleveland or Washington. I even knew Cleveland won tonight. I'm just a moron.
I wsa going to bag on Sweeney for the graphic they put up during his at bat, that listed his career PH at .272 or something like that. Of course, that was because his current batting average is .100.
But then he coaxes the walk, and then the house of cards falls down for the Rockies. Seven runs, on an inning that ended only when Juan Pierre came to the plate (thankfully with none on). Wow.
Dudes dudes dudes
MLB.com tv - mosaic. Multiple games streaming at once.
MLB TV doesn't black out Dodger games?
I'll be in Chicago for two months without my Extra Innings package, which shall be painful, so I need to figure out the best method to watch as many games as I can.
Erin: good point, I suppose it depends where you are located.
I've noticed, this year, that mlb.com has targeted banner ads based on where they think you're located (my connection at work goes through servers in Arizona, so I keep getting Snakes tickets ads; when I was in the bay area, I got alternating Giants and A's ads).
I guess when I'm in Chicago, I won't be getting blacked out on Dodgers or Red Sox games, so that's good.
I'm working on my profile photo with the gnome, i'm putting it on my shoulder.
I do love Russell Martin like a son. Let's go King James!
Loney, that was a pretty weak GIDP.
I certainly love Russell Martin more than I ever thought I could love a Canadian.
Erin, when you're in Chi-town, remember that you can buy mlb.com tv by the month and save some dough.
Hey, what months will you be there, anyway? I may visit in June.
Martin, or his agent, had better call up the Dodgers and make a frickin' deal.
I am leaving on May 15 or thereabouts, and I will likely be there until mid-July or later.
Mets up 5-2 in the sixth; Giants and Padres have both already lost.
Wow. Great play from Martin at third tonight, and then DeWitt comes in and gets an error.
Erin, are you changing the name of your blog to Beantown Midwest?
DeWitt: Russell wouldn't have made that error at third (just kidding).
Karina, you're feeling very maternal tonight!
Ooh, E-DeWitt. That's okay, you've earned it.
Home run from David Wright makes it 7-2, Mets, and really helps my fantasy team, too.
Micah Owings should stick to hitting, I guess.
7-2 Mets in the sixth (they just added two more).
Holy smokes that was almost a run-scoring blooper. Come on, Dodgers.
Erin, you and I are on such a similar wavelength tonight, I feel like I want to ask you to pass me a beer from the fridge.
DaMmit, DeWitt! Make a frickin' play at third already!
DeWitt needs to DeFrost out there, as a mid-game replacement.
Plenty of beer in my fridge, available for the taking.
Maybe I'll buy you one at Wrigley if you're in Chicago in June.
I'll be there during the interleague series, 6/20-22 @ Wrigley.
If we end up with a Spurs/Lakers conference finals, I think things might get ugly in these game threads.
Holy crap. DeWitt cost us two runs, and the Rockies have a runner at third with no outs. Let's hold on here, Dodgers.
I guess, Orel. But i hadn't felt so much admiration for a Dodgers catcher since Mike Scioscia (yes, i know about Piazza and LoDuca, but they were never charismatic to me)
Russell Martin is one of the ballplayers who play like they were children, with all the passion and enthusiasm. I love that kind of ballplayer.
Hmmm, seems that Wade is dwowning out there....
Wade would have two easy ground ball outs if not for DeWitt.
Dammit, Wade plunks Taveras. You he's going to steal.
Methinks things are unraveling a bit here.
My mistake again. Dewitt hasn't been as sharp as usual with his glove :(
Here comes the gnome-meister himself, Joe Beimel!
DeWitt's errors have cost us two runs already...7-5 with the tying run at the plate and a man on third. NO OUTS.
If Beimel can get out of this with one more run, I'll be satisfied.
At least Tony Bennett isn't behind the plate any longer.
Just think how difficult it must be concentrating on the runner at first, only to shift your entire field of vision at the last minute and throw a perfect strike.
Good lord. Taveras steals, of course, and a full count to whoever the batter is. This is not looking good.
Are we still being positive?
Holliday, Helton and Atkins coming up, and Beimel stays in the game.
Oh man, I have a baaaaad feeling about this. Bases juiced, none out, Holliday up.
We are being positive through gritted teeth.
Those yellow dots are pulsing on the espn.com gamecast. 3-2 count, here we go.
Those yellow dots are pulsing on the espn.com gamecast. 3-2 count, here we go.
Am I crazy for thinking DeWitt should have gone home on that grounder from Holliday?
Why didn't DeWitt go home on that throw?
"I didn't think Blake DeWitt looked too mature on that ball," says Vinny.
Erin, would you at least pass me the chips and salsa? And stop hogging the remote!
Did you see Loney lay out for that catch? Pretty limber for a big guy.
"Come on, Beimel" mouths DeWitt.
"Let's not make a third error in the inning, DeWitt" mutters Beimel.
Orel, I think Scully said "sure" not "mature."
Sorry, Sax. Great minds think alike.
Okay, it may be the karma since i'm scoreboard watching the Mets-Snakes game. I just closed that window.
Holy moly. I can't believe we escaped that inning with the lead.
...and it works! Dodgers get the DP despite Holliday's upending of Furcal. 7-6, Blue.
Furcal is grace in motion in the 4-6-3 DP.
It was very close. Let's see if the baseball gods are with us tonight.
Erin: True story--
One time, back in high school, I was over at Pedro Guerrero's house (SoSG Pedro, that is), and we both replied to a question from Pedro's mom with the exact same words. "Great minds think alike," I remarked.
"Meager minds never differ," retorted Pedro's mom.
Okay, I'm not looking at other game's scores anymore. Dodgers-focused. Let's go, Blue.
Oh good, Manny Corpas is in!
Ha, that's a good comeback. I've never heard that before. Sounds like a story Scully would tell.
An extra-base hit for Jones! That has to be good for our karma.
Wow, even Andruw Frickin' JONES can get a double off of Corpas.
Congrats, Lakers' fans. ESPN says Kobe is the MVP this season.
Erin, I suddenly got the sinking feeling that you and I would not be good broadcasting booth partners.
But at least we'd agree with each other all the time.
Hey, without spoiling it, how was this week's Office episode? Going to watch it with Ms. Sax in ten minutes (she's pencilled me into her calendar).
I really thought the first Office back from the hiatus was just weird. And last week's (Michael and Dwight in NYC, the rest of the guys locked out) was not that funny, either. Is this week's better?
In that case, Sax, I suppose I'll have to ask McCourt to ignore the joint application I submitted for us.
Thanks, Erin. I was wondering if that was Vin's way of saying DeWitt should have started the DP at home.
Andre Ethier just got a walk, and he almost lapped Jones who was still completing his stand-up double.
I liked the dinner party episode, because I'm all for the craziness of Jan, but last week's was a little weak. I haven't watched the most recent one yet, and probably won't until tomorrow, unfortunately.
Erin, I'm sure he'll recycle that application, though.
Two errors in the game for DeWitt, and now he can't lay down his sac bunt. He should have been swinging away anyway, if you ask me, but still. He's gotta do what the team asks of him.
Hey, what's Jones doing on second? He must be wondering the same thing.
I take back my negative feelings about DeWitt. Down 0-2, he works a walk to load the bases. Nicely done, kid.
Well done, DeWitt, working a walk iut of an 0-2 count.
I actually feel a little bad for Corpas. He's awful.
I think the gnome on my shoulder is working!
Philly beat the Giants with a walkoff homer in the bottom of the tenth. Ha!
Okay, when a nubber results in a run and no outs, you know we're going to win this game.
If anything Pierre does results in runs scored and no outs, then I might agree with you, Orel.
Touché, Erin.
Time for Kemp's second career grand slam.
Nevermind. As I wrote that, he hit a double down the line to score three runs. That'll do.
Karina, is your gnome picture up?
Kemp clears the bases! Kemp for President!
Pierre grounds into a force out at home. What a surprise!!!
SoSG Pedro's mom rules (and the gnome). You'd better send me some pics of you with blue or yellow faces and i'll put the gnome on.
nope, but i will out it up, so you can see it.
Sorry my comment is late; Ms Sax commandeered the computer. So much for The Office.
Kemp's bases-clearing double was smooth.
pic is up! (though it's not a very good picture of myself)
Anyone surprised to see Chan Ho Park in trouble?
That's great, Karina! Hopefully it'll be as lucky as me doing Game Threads.
deal, Orel!
Seriously, putting Chan Ho Park out there in Coors Field seems pretty self-flagellating. However, he gets out of a two-on, none-out jam with DeWitt's smooth DP and a hard fly out. On to the ninth, 11-6.
karina, you're on the left, correct?
Let's put up ten more on Redman, okay?
Loney, not such a good night. 0-for-4 with a run and a walk.
Jones can't get his girth to first to beat out that throw. Two out.
AZ lost.
Should we really waste Saito with a five-run lead in cold weather like this?
LOL. Yes, it's me on the left...
Another Office question: there have only been three episodes aired since the hiatus, right? It seemed pretty quick that Michael was watching Jan flip out at the dinner party in week 1, and then she's out of the picture entirely in week 2. Who did she piss off?
Jones actually had moderate wheels on that fly out. One down.
I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of Jan. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking, since I think the actress is great.
I guess Saito was just warming for fun in the bullpen, since Park is still in for the ninth. Good thing.
Park trying to close it out.
Anyone notice...Dodgers hang another 11-spot on the board?
"And that will be that!" says Vinny. 11-6 Dodgers. Better start on tomorrow's Game Thread!
Good night, kiddos!
In case you didn't notice, the Dodgers scored eleven runs again tonight.
Oh Orel, you beat me to it.
Goodnight everyone.
Yep. It's definitely a trend. #11 is Manny Mota's number so i guess it's a good one.
Night, Erin and guys. See you on Sunday!
I can't understand a word Furcal is saying in the post-game interview.
I don't care what Furcal is saying as long as he keeps hitting like he has this year...
Just trying to get this up to 200. Flyers rule.
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