Hiroki Kuroda (4-5, 4.44) vs. Jonathan Sanchez (5-9, 4.49).
COMMENTS: Dodger fans and Giants fans are more frustrated than a eunuch in a whorehouse, the Dodgers having lost three of four to the Braves and the Giants having dropped two of three to the Reds. So something's got to give, be it Kuroda's late-season attempt to find his mid-season form or Sanchez trying to prove he's more Mr. No-Hitter than Mr. 5-9 Record.
This series won't reorder the standings, but it should have a psychological effect on both teams, setting the table for their final six regular-season meetings in September. And it'll certainly have an effect on the fans, some of whom are already in nail-biting mode (see our sidebar poll).
Incidentally, tonight marks the on-field reunion of the Beard and the Mullethawk. But what seemed like a cause célèbre in May seems like small potatoes in August. Both teams have too much at stake to start a Milagro Beanball War, so don't expect any retaliatory theatrics.
Manny photo by Jill Weisleder/Dodgers
400 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 400 of 400They've got the hook for Sanchez
Almost a DP
Okay now double play time
NOW they get the DP. Though Bochy is gonna argue.
muhahahahah!!
Yes my double play mojo is working again
I love that 1st base ump.
The Dodgers should put him on retainer. Plus, he might work the plate one of these games.
Beimal closed it out for the Rockies an hour later
Bochy's gone.
Giants NBC now ripping the Bill Hahn call on Loretta's foot coming off the bag last inning. Miller thinks it's a pattern.
The first base umps mustache looks fake. Maybe it is a dodger undercover
O-Dog!
Wow, offense!
We can forgive the Kemp K here.
The Dodgers are reverting to form. Hudson's gonna get an LOB.
Looks like we may have to hold them under 4 runs to win
a quick 123 would be nice.
I believe!
It's starts.
One base-hit and it's "Beat LA", "Beat LA".
DP, suck it up Jints.
Haha!
Another DP!
We've turned two DPs today!
Sandoval's brother threw molecules to him.
Panda doesn't let food go by either
Nice. Kuroda at 86 pitches.
Rest makes pitchers pitch better. Who knew?!
I still can't believe he gave up a homer to Ishikawa.
Squinting. That looked outside
I don't think Ishikawa can believe it either.
Vinny hasn't hung out in the dodger stadium parking lot
If Justin Miller thinks he can scare us with his tatoos, he has another thing coming. We went six games with the Nuggets for crying out loud.
Men on the corners!
Come Casey let's take it home.
Come on let's get a two out RBI
I think casey has started every at bat 0-2
And yet he's got a .290 average. He's doing something right.
Crap in a bucket.
Casey is killing us tonight.
Two more LOB. Hopefully we've got what we need.
I did not know there was a Justin Miller rule. http://homerderby.com/archives/1484
Beard still getting it done with the glove.
Double play hat trick?
Thought I'd see Honeycutt. Torre.
Winn gets his obligatory hit against the Dodgers.
Is this Hong Chi's 1st game back?
pretty good Hiroki
Let's hope kuo has had proper time to warm up.
Kuo? Hmmm
Kuroda out after 93 pitches. Kuo in.
no mark it's not.
i think he's been in 5 or 6
No, Kuo's had a few appearances since coming off the DL.
Kuroda has been nursing a bit of a sore shoulder.
Wow, this is Kuo's eighth appearance since coming off the DL.
As long as he gets his time in the pen Kuo'll be fine.
Nope. 7 games he's pitched already.
Kuo's getting squeezed.
Dont walk him
Gas!
Nice comeback kuo
Let Kuo pitch!
This is positively LaRussaian.
Ishikawa out? I guess that's good we haven't got him out yet.
"Kuo's getting squeezed."
Yep.
Nice stab, O-Dog!
Nice pick by O-Dog.
Nice work o-dog! Nearly got decapitated for the cause.
At least the situational thing worked this time.
Someone get kuo a subway sandwich. Don't let doughval take it from him either.
I agree, MLASF. Kuo, I recall, is pretty hard on righties.
Torre meddling.
The 'gulls are on the field.
Well, I was kinda right. Lefties hit .202 against Juo and righties hit .205. But he gave up only 2 walks to Lefties, 19 to righties, making for a 0.30 difference in WHIP.
Do I think Joe had all that in mind when he trotted out to the mound? No. I think he said 'Rightie hitter. Get Belisario.'
Bring in Brian Wilson I want some
more runs.
The brim reaper is ready to take a few giant souls
Torre is at it again with the bullpen. There was no reason Kuo couldn't pitch to Garko and there is no reason to bring in Flat Breezy for Belly.
Vin is in love with Sandoval.
Let's go, BR!
Crap in a bucket.
Renteria doubles off Sherrill. This does not bode well.
Giants Bay Area profiling Joe Martinez, tomorrow nights starter. They seem like they're giving up on this one tonight.
Rowand grounds to short. Nice way to hold the runner.
Martinez is 2-0 but has been shelled. Hopefully the Dodgers just rip him to shreds and keep the Giant bats from doing anything.
Nice shot of Furcal bird dogging Renteria. Perhaps he should just start yelling Orlando Cabrera at him.
Furcal could have nailed Renteria there.
Frenny Chanchez!!
Well done, Flat Breezy!
Three straight groundouts to short. Sherrill gets out of the jam pretty well.
I heard that too, Nic.
Nice bit of worm killing by Flat Breezy. Too bad the Dodgers are going to end up going through 5 pitchers once again. Sparky Anderson would blush at Torre's hook job.
Gotta give Vin some leeway with those tricky names. Like "Sanchez."
That's what i'm calling him from now on. Thanks Vin
Freddy Sanchez = Orlando Hudson without the switch hitting, with more contact and fewer walks.
300
Beast Mode inside-the-parker here. Book it.
JP gets a hit.
Nice Juan.
Reminiscing, Ali?
Haha jp pounding his chest
Beast Mode put every ounce of strength he had into that.
How so Orel? It isn't like doing the 100s didn't exist before the 100SS game.
Raffy single.
Wow. Almost the same exact swing and result.
True, Ali. We seem to have made it less popular by making a game of it, though.
The BIRDS!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah: MERKIN!
Any predictions on what Russ does right here?
I wonder what Marikym thinks about Russ spitting on his hands and blowing his nose with his shirt?
Russ will walk here.
I wonder what Mitch Poole thinks.
Oh damn you Joe Torre. It would be one thing if he bunted all the time. Just let him swing the fucking bat.
Just let him swing, ya knuckleheads.
Speaking of birds, looks like one took a dump on Valdez's hat.
Mitch Poole?
Russ is not a bunter.
Wow ugly bunt attempt
Clubhouse manager.
Wonderful. Now he is in a 2 strike hole. I really don't mind the bunt, but only the guy executing it is a pitcher or actually good at it.
The Bison is ruminating.
Nice tag by Sanchez!
Wait, what the hell just happened?
At least Martin can't hit into the dp
MLSF - They did a double steal on a high pitch. Bengie let off a strong throw that Sanchez short hopped beautifully on the 2B side and tagged Furcal.
Russ should punch Joe Torre right now.
Wow that was two bad at bats for the price of one
Someone get the tape of that at bat and send it to cooperstown.
learn how to bunt martin
That was craptastic.
Ethier has a beautiful swing even when he makes an out.
The dodgers have to be one of the worst teams at getting in sacrifice runs.
that was... unimpressive.
I asked the wife,' you know what Sandoval's nickname is?' She says, 'Fattie?'
cmmt #335!!!
..merkin?
as in ... ?
http://dealbreaker.com/merkin.jpg
..
PS. mullethawk sucks
Yeah, that was really a dumb inning. Why is Furcal not stealing bags this year?
Broxton has the groundskeepers worst enemy lately.
Interesting how Ox got pretty hard core about the mound.
Semi-nervous time.
Brox noticed the mound was 1/16th of an inch too low. He's like the Ted Williams of mounds.
MSL - My theory is that he is getting shitty jumps because he is tentative about his back. He seems to have gotten out of it on defense, but he isn't exploding out of the box on steals.
If I were Broxton, that Rocky music would get me all fired up too.
I feel confident about this.
Lets see Ox blow fatty away.
Msl, hahahaha
WTF? Are my eyes deceiving me or did Sandoval pretend he would bunt?
Nice saw off there Ox.
Sandoval showing bunt on the first pitch.
Sorry panda
Two pitches, one down.
Aw fuck.
That is gone.
Fuck
nooooooooooooooooooooooo
Why did Torre call a fastball there? To Bengie Molina? The only thing he can hit are fastballs.
He actually jammed Bengie, but Fatty Sr. was cheating on the pitch.
Thank goodness for three-run leads.
Take him out.
Oy gevalt.
Ali, Brox isn't gonna throw nothing but sliders. He's gonna have to throw a 4SFB in there.
Ok, who was it that was feeling confident?
who thinks that broxton shouldnt be the closer anymore?
How quickly people abandon the guy.
Ali, that was allllll Russ, torre doesn't call pitches.
I plead the fifth.
And put who in?
Gonnie Garko up.
MLSF - He hasn't thrown a single slider. All fastballs.
C'mon Broxton.
Two out. Here's where things get really interesting.
plleeeeeaaaasseeeeeeee end the suffering.......
I hate DI
Nic - Where do you get that idea?
how quickly?
i dont believe in closers, never did.
i think closing by committee is a better choice.
if someone isnt effective, why would u keep putting him out there. it is obvious his foot isnt 100 percent.
Loney.
I love Castro!
oh boy juan i love you~
Castro!!
FIDEL!
Nice work El Mariachi.
Woo Hoo Hot Damn!!!!!!!
O-DOG. Phenomenal tonight, both sides of the ball.
Hr and Russel have said repeated in interviews that the catcher calls the pitches.
Right in Castro's district!
Just Kidding. CASTRO!
Not scoring in the top of ninth was fateful. If we had scored, Sherill could have pitched the ninth...
Nice one Orel.
BTW - Congrats to Vlad for hitting 399 and 400 out of the park.
I love it when Kemp does his freezy-hand thing with Loretta.
who thinks that they should give sherill a shot at closing? maybe even belisario?
I think that taking a closing role away from the closer is a really bad idea.
Ken - You are kidding, right? Broxton has been the best closer in baseball. Bar none. Even Mariano Rivera has gone through slumps. You stick with the guys who get you there until they truly can't do it. Broxton has been getting beat by ducksnorts and seeing-eye grounders, and Torre's pitch selection has been awful.
if ur closer needs some time to heal, i think its a good idea.
u are gonna need brox for the stretch run
A little gem from Eric Stephen: Brox is tied for first with most relief appearances w/o allowing a runner with 23.
Torre doesn't call the pitches he isn't a micromanaging manager.
ali
i think russell calls the pitches. brox's last month have been really shaky because of his toe. why would u risk it, when 1) your team is slumping 2) risking broxton for further injury 3) when you are able to fill in for him because you have a deep pen?
in brox's defense, people struggle, especially when they have injuries
Ken - 1) Russ doesn't call the pitches. Take a look when they do shots of him before pitches looking into the dugout. Almost no catcher calls the pitches any more, especially when the manager is a micromanaging former catcher.
2) Broxton has been getting a lot of rest lately. If there is anyone who's health Torre pays attention to in that 'pen, it is Broxton.
3) As I said before, Broxton has been the victim of a lot of bad luck lately. The recent blown saves have been the result of terrible luck on balls in play. Only Molina's home tonight, which didn't change the outcome, was hit hard and Molina was clearly cheating on the pitch. That was the result of stupid pitch calling and Molina guessing right.
I guess Martin is a liar then.
Post-Game Thread is up!
Wow that was frickin' huge.
At the time, with George rolling, I didn't understand why Torre was going with Broxton, but in retrospect it makes a lot of sense; if you can't make a three-run cushion save in enemy territory, than that's a problem.
Hopefully this helps Brox get some mojo back.
That's a good way to put it sax.
We won. It was great.
Giants fans in our section were gracious in defeat. We actually shook hands with many of them.
Bought a great T-shirt that says:
"I (heart) LA" with "Haight" through the heart.
I'll have to send a pic.
Home tomorrow.
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