Chad Billingsley (2-4, 4.54) vs. Chris Sampson (1-3, 7.96).
COMMENTS: Question: What do Speed Racer and the Dodgers have in common? Answer: They both bombed last night! Speed Racer (estimated budget: $100 million) made a measly $5,850,000 Friday, coming in third place behind Iron Man and What Happens in Vegas (Cameron Diaz says: In your face!). The Dodgers (estimated budget: $119 million) lost 7-1 to the Astros Friday, missing an opportunity to gain a game on the Diamondbacks, who lost to the Cubs. There's been talk of Dodgers starters being unable to go the distance this season; today Billingsley tries to give the bullpen a rest after throwing 96 pitches in six innings his last outing, finally overcoming his quinquatemporphobia (fear of the fifth inning). Sampson has been wild recently, putting the expectation on the Dodgers offense to, once again, score early and score often.
Rafael Furcal is due back today, and not a moment too soon as the Dodgers went 7-for-33 at the plate yesterday. Joe Torre continues to insist on starting Andruw Jones (who did hit a double) at the expense of Andre Ethier (.291/.376/.447 in 29 games). Speaking of of deadweight, the Padres recently cut Jim Edmonds, essentially paying $6 million for one home run and six RBIs. It's too early for the Dodgers to junk their 1977 Ford Mustang, but it isn't too early to start their best outfield of Pierre, Kemp and Ethier. (By the way, Jones can't be sent to the minors without his permission.) The Dodgers tend to score runs in batches, something that needs to happen today in order to prevent a series loss.
15 comments:
In some comments section here a while back, I think I recall saying that I thought Speed Racer wouldn't do well in its opening weekend. I may have even suggested that Iron Man in its second week could beat Speed Racer's opening weekend tally.
I will refrain from saying, "I told you so." Well, at least until the final weekend totals are in.
Go ahead, Erin. Iron Man made $15.3 on Friday alone.
From Diamond:
"Rafael Furcal will miss a fourth consecutive game due to a stiff back, but Joe Torre figured he'll play tomorrow as Chin-lung Hu is scheduled to slide over to play second base in place of Jeff Kent. Then again, we'll see.
Takashi Saito will be unavailable for a second straight after being sent home again with flulike symptoms."
Great. Just great.
Cubs beat the D'backs 7-2.
Diamondbacks have certainly become more human of late. It would be nice if the Dodgers could take advantage. They couldn't last night, but a win tonight would sure make me feel better.
Anyone else ever think that athletes get "flu-like symptoms" at an alarming rate? I don't even know if I've ever had the flu, but these guys drop like flies in every month of the season.
I often this must just be code for "I ate too many burritos last night, and I'm afraid to be too far from a toilet."
But there are toilets right off the dugout! Or at least there should be.
The lineup:
Pierre, LF
DeWitt, 3B
Kemp, RF
Kent, 2B
Martin, C
Loney, 1B
Jones, CF
Hu, SS
Billingsley, P
WHERE IS ETHIER? And DeWitt batting second? Looks like Torre is still playing with his chemistry set.
"You want to watch a movie?" For those of you not fluent in wife-speak, that means "We're going to watch a movie." So I am going to be spending the first half of the game with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts in China. Check in with you later.
When Darin Erstad hits a ball like that, you know Chad Billingsley doesn't have the good stuff in this inning.
How many times this season have the Dodgers left the top of the first inning already behind in the game? It feels like every time.
Speed Racer's miss this weekend isn't entirely unexpected (I was still rooting for it, though I was rooting for Iron Man too), but I am still surprised that Iron Man, with its staid icon-driven marketing plan, did so well.
Matsui is having one of those eternal at bats in the fourth.
Quinquatemporphobia? (Nice job.). Can't you take valium for that?
We need someone named Delilah in our lineup.
Kemp flies out weakly for the first out in the fourth.
Why is it feast or famine with this Dodgers offense? We look awful tonight.
Kent is now 0-for-16 with that last inning-ending GIDP. Wonderful.
We look like we're back to our one-run days. Without the one run.
5-0 Astros??? I guess we are in the "famine" portion of our program.
We are getting three-hit?
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