Clayton Kershaw (8-7, 2.96) vs. Jason Hammel (8-7, 4.54).
COMMENTS: 48 hours of hemming and hawing about this game comes to a merciful end today with our Minotaur on the mound. Despite the Dodgers' 10-2 record against the Rockies this year, including a sweep at Coors Field in May, everyone is forecasting the imminent downfall of the Dodgers. Accuscore gives the Rockies a 54% chance of winning (58% as of WSJ's press run last night, so at least our trajectory is improving), the LATimes' Helene Elliott takes a break from following the Kings and Galaxy to slash the tires of the Dodgers' bandwagon, and the only guy we seem to have on our side is Steve Phillips, an omen which portends doom like a circling vulture.
Tonight, we put this yippin' and yappin' to rest. Kershaw hasn't had a win since July 18 but is 1-1 with 1 ND against Colorado this year. Hammel is 0-1 against the Dodgers with 1 ND, and has gotten three wins in his last four starts (reflecting the Rockies' recent streak). Assuming Clayton can come out strong and our rested bullpen can hold up, what I'm really hoping to see tonight is a breakout performance by James Loney (he is 2-for-5 lifetime against Hammel with a 1.600 OPS, and his OPS+ of 143 against the Rockies is the highest among all NL West opponents), assuming Loney has recovered from the flu. It would also be nice to see Manny Ramirez get his OPS back up over 1.000 (Ramirez is 0-for-5 lifetime against Hammel). Heck, Coors Field is the place for all of the Dodgers to get out of their offensive funk.
And we need to play a full nine, or even 14, innings here guys. It is Coors Field, after all. Let's not pull a Merkin. {In the meantime, we're going back to two GT superstitions, rather than the overloaded three that didn't seem to work out so well on Sunday.)
461 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 400 of 461 Newer› Newest»wow, that was quick.
Sax, he's at 98 pitches now. i bet we get him next inning
nice inning CK
Okay, a 1-2-3 inning by Minotaur explains why Torre left him in to bat. Let's make sure we give the kid some runs, starting with you, Raffy.
if hamel goes a full 7 im going to flip over my coffee table.
raffy has been a waste of a lineup spot tonight.
ya that is pretty frustrating
its amazing we are doing this well considering we only have 5 guys in the lineup tonight.
Kemp has a 3-2 count
i cant believe this guy is going 7 innings tonight.
ethier is essentially playing this game by himself, can we ask him to hit a homerun too
alright manny, make your money.
uhoh there it is....
ugh all i can think about is loney on deck
Let's worry about Manny, then we think on King James.
you gotta hit a HR manny, loney is up next.
hitting em right at people all night long
hmmm looked like he hit that harder than he did. was that off the handle?
*about.
Whatever moment he is now, he's still a Dodger, can you show some hope and support?
kershaw again?
Never mind...would someone say if that was a good pitch to hit? because he was 3-1.
interesting to leave kershaw in for hawpe
@karina
looked like he hit an inside fastball and barely missed it
how the hell did hamel go longer than kershaw?
i take that back, it was a hanging slider
great job, Clayton! way to bounce back after a rough month
clayton really only gave up two hard hit balls tonight
that in no way was a shot at Kersh, but one at the batters.
If he barely missed an inside fastball, that's kinda good news, right?
8 hits, and 8 hard hit balls right at people tonight for the dodgers and only 2 runs so far
@karina,
i looked at it again, it was no inside FB was a slider
well, there you go.
crud
Oh great.
It's hindsight and all, I guess, but I really didn't think Kershaw needed to come out of the game.
hopefully we can make that up, i really dont want to lose this first game.
Belly shuts it down nicely.
these Nurples sure seem to be good in the clutch these days. I hope we still have some in us
yeah Erin, i kinda feel that way too. With that being said you cant fault them for keeping him on a pretty strict pitch count. Wearing out a developing arm as special as claytons would not be good.
That doesn't read right without the proper tone of ironic disgust that was in my head.
If we can score only 2 runs tonight we so deserve to lose. Where is our big hitter Wolf?
start this off james
not a good matchup for James here
Six outs, Dodgers. Let's see what you've got.
awful night for james
yeesh
Just sad
Franklin Morales is a pitcher they can take advantage of (i'm puzzled he actually has a 2.49 while pitching on a MLB team)
5 outs.
We should have come in here and pushed the Rockies around, showing them the superior team. We have not done that. It's just one game, but it could mean a whole lot come Friday.
Can't believe this. I should go to bed and dream about tomorrow.
4 outs.
Four outs.
Just think about who we'll have up in the ninth if no one gets on base here.
gotta show some kind of spark here. the first game of a big series is not the time to start feeling bad about your hitting
i take it Russ wasnt running very hard on that one
ive seen a few strikes in my day, that did not remind me of one
when did we turn into the giants offensively?
ok keep it a one-run game
we dont draw many walks anymore. we havent since the first couple of months
gotta hold em
no blowups, HCK
the Rox dont really give up that many walks. if that makes you feel any better.
this ump's zone is expanding
that was crap
throw strikes, stupid!
that was crapper
game over
cant play like that if u want to win baseball games
Yep, that ought to do it.
you've got to be kidding me - fucking two-out bullshit. we've got to be better than that if we expect to win anything
holding a team to four runs should be a winnable game. Should be.
im filing this one under "gave the game away"
Riders on the storm with no life jackets.
this was a great time for our bullpen to break that scoreless innings streak.
4-2going to the ninth? Would be a nice time for all those ridiculously quiet bats to string something together, lest the Rockies think they're still playing the Giants.
if i was the rockies third base coach why would i send helton?? they could still be out there
Can JP play shortstop?
Well At least this makes tomorrows game more compelling
Where is the Felix Felicis when you need it?
hopefully pierre can steal so furcal doesnt hit into a DP
Is that it?
i feel like if ethier gets up maybe good things will happen
Paul i was suggesting that. Im not sure if he could make the throw to first though.
Raffy, you gonna swing at any of these?
thank you raffy!
There we go Raffy!
a base hit, gimme a base hit
He lives!!!!
come on bison a single.
Come on Kemp.
Mojo risin
ok...i got my wish
one run. nice baserunning by furcal.
Nice job getting there, Furcal. Thank you, Kemp.
Now imagine if we hadn't given up that extra run.
you know what to do, Andre.
now do it
oh shit its beimel time!
Is Beimel going to be the one to lose it for the Rockies?
Christine just put our Beimel bobblehead on the floor, and turned his head away from the TV.
Joe B time?
we all know beimel is hittable.
Pennsyltucky's finest!
Erin, flick his arm!!
Beeemer is in? The universe will implode.
wasnt beimel better against righties last year, come on dre dog
Nic J, I read Christine your comment, and she laughed. Then she paused, said, "Maybe I should," and got up and did it.
if balls were strikes, that was a strike
torre stopped using him because he couldnt get lefties out towards the end of the year.
he looks a little better though.
A sac fly will work for now.
she gets the game ball if andre gets a hit.
or if beimel throws it to the backstop
andre is chancing it with these pop ups.
god damn andre.
Damn it. Now do they walk Manny?
cmon James....
i have a hard time blaming andre for this game, however
Hard to blame Andre, but a ball in the air to the outfield sure would have been nice there.
Maybe Pierre should just steal home.
really, Jim? pitch to Manny with a righty rather than let Joe B go after James?
yeah i know, i just hate this make a run at the game in the 9th and come up short crap that we have been doing lately.
K manny just missed one. Loney has just missed. Let's hope they pitch to manny.
frustration level is pretty high at this point
just need a single here
ill take a wild pitch or bloop right now.
this guy has completely lost the zone
0-2
Man the strike zone is effed.
manny or the ump?
halleluya
fuck yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wasn't looking, and Scully did not have the appropriate level of excitement for me to know what happened.
Free Manny!!
nic
the ump, to a lesser extent manny tho, nice one
Come on Loney. Knock it out.
Mannnnnnnnny!
lets hope for extras now.
YESSIR!
cmon James, keep it going
0-2 single by Manny! Wow.
Well at least Loney can't GIDP here
manny almost got tagged out on the overrun.
Maybe that was our lucky break right there. Let's get Manny across that damn plate.
FJL, you lucky basterd!
mojo risin!!!!
Ok, I did not see that coming...
i give stewart an error there he has to come down with that, james loney will take it, as will i
this ump is expanding the zone as the game has gone on. not cool, dude
take'em where you can get'em James! let this be the beginning of a hot streak
remember what happened last time they pitched around a hitter to get to martin.
Our hope rests in one Mr. Russell Martin.
Forgive me for not having a lot of faith in taking the lead here.
putting on my martin jersey right now
Good point, Nic. And the bases are loaded here, too.
Come on Dodgers, bases juiced let's blow this game open.
Let's go, Martin!
I'd like a walk here
draw a walk.
Come on Russ.
The last time this happened, I was pleased with the results
swing for a single martin!
Yes. Walk, please.
Vin is second-guessing the crap out of Jim Tracy
2-1 count to Martin. The tension is killing me.
where did that ball go?
hope we didnt waste all our luck right there
Martin has hit two foul balls that are baaaaaarely out of play.
Let's connect, Coltrane!
hit the guide wire for the fence
great, a chance for a rockies walk off.
Damn. It's Broxton, right? Please, JB, don't blow this one.
thank you guys
at least we are fighting back this time.
Martin, that sucked.
At least it's tied, I suppose. Now the Rockies can have another dramatic walk-off victory for the Sportscenter folks to replay endlessly
My god, nicJ, we are mindmelded tonight.
How's the fire, btw? You safe?
dont want to lose this on a walk off, would rather have lost it regulation
Oh, Troncoso. Okay, now I'm worried.
yeah its no biggie. Not all that close to my house but my allergies will probably be hell tomorrow.
of course this jerk is up.
no walks or walkoffs tron
Loney and Martin combined stats: 1 for 10, 9 LOB.
@cool james
martin looked way better than loney however
Let's go Troncoso. Do not give up a walk here. Just get this guy.
I don't think this game is going to extras.
crap
Basehit with one out for Seth Smith. Here comes Barmes for the dramatics.
tron is the right guy for a dp ball though right?
@koufax, not to quibble but this could indeed end in regulation with a walkoff
people cant seem to get Seth Smith out these days
everyone remember how tron had that breakthrough appearance in relief in colorado early in the season.
@NicJ, James Loney is the right guy for a DP ball, especially lately
strike zone has gotten smaller interestingly
Meanwhile, the Giants are losing 2-1 to the Diamondbacks.
@sax
ah, but you quibble indeed ye of little faith
Seth Smith has too many similarly-placed letters. I hope his middle name is Sloth or Sixth or South.
Barmes cedes the drama spot to Chris Ianetta. Two outs, here comes Ianetta.
lets not lose it to a .221 hitter.
Tronny's got quite the beard kickin these days
NICE.
So much for regulation. 4-4 tie after 9 frames.
alright we have to have the advantage in an extra innings game right? RIGHT?!?
maybe it was our strategy all along to tax their bullpen a little more, lets win this
although we are going to have to score like 6 runs just to make sure.
I hate extra innings games on the road. So tense.
I haven't seen a crowd with less rhythm since I watched the lakers play the jazz.
Free baseball, ladies and gents.
@NicJ, regarding your comment at 7:00pm (sorry I'm late): JP at shortstop may not be such a bad idea. Even if he can't throw to first, he could probably run every fielded ball over to the bag in time.
Atta boy, Tron Tron. We should be getting into the soft, squishy part of the Colorado bullpen now.
Post a Comment