The Return of Hiroki Kuroda! (5-5, 4.08) vs. Tim Stauffer (3-6, 3.76).
COMMENTS: There is facing your fears. And then there is facing your fears when you fear is a 100-mph ball coming back at your head in the blink of an eye, and you're on national television (ESPN) in the game of the week (and the last game of the day) over a Labor Day weekend when everyone will be at home watching since the NFL season hasn't started. The second Kuroda steps on that mound, the Dodgers win. And if he throws a pitch, it's a blowout victory. Everything else is just gravy.
The Dodgers played around with the lineup yesterday, following a Joe Torre team meeting, and responded well with only their second 7-run game in their last 15 outings (an 11-5 win over the Reds on August 29 was the only big-output win since a 7-4 victory over the Cubs on August 20). The Dodgers lost the first game of their last three series, but in none of those cases did they lose the series (going 2-0-1). Let's hope that we can take today's rubber match against the Friars and hold pattern to form.
217 comments:
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Crap in a bucket. Kendall had the bases loaded and a 3-0 count and lined out to KFP
I hope we get some Stauffer's meatballs.
True Blue LA:
Furcal SS
Pierre CF
Ethier RF
Manny LF
Loney 1B
Belliard 3B
Martin C
Hudson 2B
Kuroda P
Prince with the walk off hr to beat the giants!
The Rockies are gonna swept the D-backs. They are fairing way better against the D-backs than the Dodgers did.
Brewers win! In their honor, I will have a beer.
Giants indeed lost to the Brewers in 12. Rox are romping, though, so that will narrow the NL West lead to 4.0 pending our first pitch.
yay Giants lose!
Triple play for the Brew Crew. Wow.
Philly lost AGAIN
Cards actually coughed up a game for once.
we need this tonight
Nice to see that kemp is getting the day off. Kinda seems like he has been forcing it the past few days.
Ye, NicJ. As well,it's great that we really seem to have some good moving parts so we can afford to give fellas a day off, routine or otherwise, and still keep chugging away. Belliard definitely helps make this possible.
Let's get this shit ON!
Addendum to my previous post:
Let's get this shit ON so I don't have to keep watching Project Runway as Mrs. Dusty is in control of the remote.
[That's Mrs. Dusty with a "." not the decoy "Mrs Dusty".]
were getting ESPN2 tonight? We never get any respect.
What is on ESPN1 anyway? NASCAR? Football? Skiing sqirrels? Dodgeball tourneys?
@Mr LASF: The U.S Open
Damn hippies
I just had to watch a few minutes of drag racing before Baseball Tonight began. Mrs. Dusty asked what the strategy was for such a thing, and I replied "Driver faster and don't crash." So much easier to explain than the infield fly rule.
Chris Young heats up, nice it happens right before we go into AZ.
check out the celebration after the fielder walk off.
I'm off for dinner.
Nice, fun celebration after Princess' walkoff. Good on them. Keeps Fielder from going after the opposing team's clubhouse. Wait, Gnats were opposing team - he should go after them.
At the game. Feels like I'm here way early, even though first pitch is in about 40 minutes. Kuroda is warming up, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed while simultaneously looking up to say "good luck" in Japanese. It's apparently "gambatte kudasai," which Christine is going to yell at him when he gets a little closer. We'll see how that goes.
ESPN just showed an awesome shot of Dodgers BP and Manny and Thome talking. Good shot of the field and stadium. Chavez Ravine representin' in front of a national audience!
*throws a west coast*
Erin- Good to hear...I'm hoping the crowd supports Hiro tonight during what must be a mentally challenging game for him.
John Miller already getting in a dig at Dodger fans for arriving late. How a man wearing a tie like he's wearing just cannot make and judgments on anything.
manny and Hiroki have a secret handshake?
We need a catch word bino card for tonights game.
Jon Miller OPENLY CHUCKLING at the Dodgers recent performance.
That's some real professionalism there.
Nice clown hair, btw.
How many cuts will Joe Morgan take at Manny tonight for steroid use?
Miller looks like Scrooge without the money.
i really hope we beat the tar out of the pads tonight.
Beautiful shots of LA and the Ravine; good camera work. Now I wish I were out there.
Stauffer: How long am I supposed to microwave my french bread pizza?
I'm really grateful one of the ESPN Deportes broadcasters is a Dodgers fan. I could switch languages and hear whatever trash they are talking but i won't :)
Lets beat the Stuffing out of Stauffer.
@Josh "I hope we get some Stauffer's meatballs."
@DB "Miller looks like a giant inflatable penis."
You guys are in fine form tonight!
Karina, thanks - I forgot that it was also on ESPN Deportes. I'm switching from ESPN Gringo so I don't have to put up with these chuckleheads.
these shadows are terrible.
I'm just getting warmed up, Orel. It's all been pent up inside me all day!
For the record: I'm rockin' some Peruvian cerveza today - Cusquena
Sun and shadows may be messing with O Dawg.
i forgot we suck on national games.
are you kidding me?
I don't think Hiro is fooling anyone with his pitches right now. His pitches are just sort of hanging there for all to see (and hit).
He just needs to acclimate.
@Nic j: exactly my thoughts
Salio barato!
From my seat at the game, there is NO WAY that Martin should have missed that tag. What the hell happened?
I really don't like hating one of my own players, but every night Martin does something to make it my only logical reaction.
Remember, we let them get a run in the first inning last night, too. It'll be okay.
Good on you, Furcal. I hate when teams easily concede a run in that situation. A perfect throw would have gotten him, but it was worth the try.
Erin- Furcal's throw was slightly to the 3rd base side, so Martin had to come back across a bit to make the tag, and missed it. From my position (eg wearing an ass groove in the sofa), I still thought Martin should have done better with it and gotten the tag down.
But it's only one run, as you said.
great inning.
Furcal leading off is becoming as bad as hitting Kemp 8th.
JP almost got all of that one. He needs to equal his Dodger single season HR mark of...one.
Hi folks. We didn't get any runs, but we did make Stauffer throw like 7 or 8 pitches.
11-pitch inning for Kuroda.
Epale, Eric!
Remember 2009 is the season where the Dodgers make opposing mediocre pitchers look like Cy Young worthy material.
He only threw 7 pitches.
Picture from the ballpark:
www.twitpic.com/gsc2c
JLo still getting warmed up!
I decided he was going to be "King James" again.
Eeps Karina (short for Epale)
Beautiful pic, Erin.
EK-
Can I use that in a sentence like "What's tha eeps?"
"Eeeps to my peeps!"
This would be a good point to try to convince me to move your bobblehead to a more respectable place, JMart.
And to try to use fewer prepositions in a sentence.
Manny and Thome: get a room!
"They got Jim Thome for his bat." Brilliant point!
Candy Maldonado: "Rafael Furcal is not on a very good offensive moment right now"
Me:if you hadn't mentioned it, i wouldn't have noticed, not even a little bit.
Candy Maldonado:"The Dodgers will perform the the same as Rafael Furcal's performance"
Me: are you jinxing them?
that was BS.
0-1 with RISP
So Candy's take is that Furcal is our offensive fulcrum? Uhhhh....
Karina- ESPN Gringo broadcast is taken up with 93% talk of Manny's slump, so you're not missing anything.
Wait, they switched talk of his slump for a second to talk about his suspension.
what is the origin of the phrase "happy go lucky"? The words seem relevant but when you break it down it doesn't really make sense.
DB, according to the # of comments tracker in the sidebar, you are close to lapping the field
our offense is choking more than tila tequila
Miller, you unbiased bastard.
Did he just say Eckstein being Eckstein?
Nic J - perhaps, but it's still not quite as ugly
Hayooooo
EK-
Clearly I have way too much time on my hands.
Does that mean I shouldn't pursue the "happy go lucky" origin and report back?
Karina, are you watching the game with Candy Maldonado?
DB, that means I expect nothing less
this is getting ugly, comparing eckstein to manny.
"The dictionary cites a first use in 1856. I don't have an origin. The meaning is blithely unconcerned, blissfully without care.
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY - "Carefree, unconcerned. This is the only meaning of the phrase today, and it dates from the 19th century. Herman Melville has it in 'Moby Dick' (1851): 'A happy-go-lucky; neither craven nor valiant.' An earlier meaning was haphazard, as luck would have it. It is seen in Edward Arber's 'An English Garner' (1699): 'The Redcoats cried, 'Shall we fall in order, or go happy-go-lucky?'" From "The Dictionary of Cliches" by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985)."
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/1156.html
i waited all day for this?
Someone pick up Pierre in a golf cart so he can drive the ball into the cutoff man.
Thanks DB. I am a bit smarter now.
Game getting uglier.
@Eric Karros: he works at ESPN Latino but i'm used to have dialogues with my computer, printer, scanner and baseball broadcasters.
I'm going to go back to looking at that picture of the gals doing the splits.
Juan Pierre on his best Gold Glove impersonation.
Beast unleashed!
JP made the catch. Should have been easier but he got a bad start on it. Nonetheless, that was HUGE, JP. Now let's get some runs, lads!
I really didn't think Pierre had a shot at that ball. Nicely done.
Interestingly that's exactly what happened to me last time I got pulled over by a cop.
is it good when your pitcher gets the 2nd hit of the game?
WOW! An informative "sideline" in-game interview. I'm impressed (not being sarcastic). Kemp and Ethier had some really keen insight.
@ Erin
I heard they did a jumbotron montage of Jaime Jarrin that was really cool. Did you catch it?
Yeah, I saw it DB. It was nice. He acknowledged the crowd afterward, sort of like Valenzuela does when they show his video. I don't know if they normally show a Jarrin one, or if this was the first time. Pretty sure I've never seen it before.
Mom, referencing Ethier and Kemp:those Dodgers players are really good looking.
Me:looking at her, *silence*
Mom: aren't they?
Me:looking at her, *silence*
Mom: what's wrong with admitting it?
Me:i don't care if they're good looking, as long as they win games.
Mom: why can't you be normal?
Karina, I would high five you if you were not halfway around the world. Well said!
Masterful, timely insight from Paul! Well said.
Kuroda with his own 7-pitch inning
@ Erin-
Yeah I haven't seen it before, either. Hopefully I'll catch it before the end of the season. Jarrin is such a great guy.
F U Jeff Kent.
espn stirring the dodger pot.
They just showed the Brewers' celebration on DodgerVision. It was funny.
But during the video they played that song that samples "You Spin Me" by Dead or Alive. The redone version says, "you spin me right round...when you go down." I'm sure that means exactly what I think it means, which makes it an odd choice to play at a stadium.
good at bat by the dreadlocked one.
Karina, based on your answer to my Maldonado question, now I'm not sure if your last comment means your Mom works for ESPN Latino.
that rally was killed rather quickly.
Can we do a quick round of the Assassin' Circle? I'm feeling like I want to kill.
[Kidding, Josh S]
finally!!
EK-
That JMart RBI was happy go lucky. Or rather, just lucky. I'll take it.
That was an excellent at bat by Martin. Go son!
no, please not Elbert.
On the replay, he looked like he knew what he was doing (in my humble opinion)
Thome and Eyechart both getting or staying warm. Are we going to just start hitting them with the big bats and running through a lot of pitchers?
Hope so.
@Eric Karros: no, she doesn't work for ESPN, she just got into the room to make sure i took my medicine and stayed to watch a little bit of the game.
We had a similar conversation on the day of the Miss Universe Pageant, when i refused to watch it with her because i was watching baseball (i wouldn't anyways).
Her response: it's not even a Dodgers game, why can't you be normal?
@Dusty Baker: i told my mom. Her response: it was a man who said that, right?
My mom is never boring :)
Hiro give the run right back.
@ Karina
You told your mom I said "FU Jeff Kent"? Good.
;-)
@ Karina-
Hilarious about your mom and the Miss Universe pageant. Keep being you and get well soon.
Which commentator will be the next to mention yet again that Venables' dad was Max Venables? Come on, guys, prove me right!
@DB, when conceptualizing Assassins' Circle I briefly considered allowing kills on all posts (not just Kill Threads).
The Hottie and the Nottie is on right now. Picture in Picture was made for times like this.
@ EK
Funny re all threads. I actually liked that it was isolated so that it didn't get in the way of our usual snark/masterful insight/vitriol in GTs the way that the 100s does.
please dont bring back the 100's game.
this sucks.
Right on, Nic J!
@Eric Karros is that movie as bad as they say?
@Dusty Baker thanks :), i think i'll be right tomorrow, the antibiotic is working.
@ NicJ-
I meant about the 100s, not about this sucking. Although it does.
I liked the hundreds game.
I hate watching this team lose, but I really hate losing to a team as bad as the Padres. It's pathetic. And on national television at that.
DB, yeah that's the main reason why I didn't do it on all threads (plus it'd be an administrative nightmare).
Karina, I think it's totally underrated. imdb.com voters gave it a 1.7 out of 10, I say it's at least a 2.
I wonder if Chase Headley gets paid slightly above market because his name sounds like Chase Utley.
the padres have actually been one of the better teams lately.
Once again, moronic fans choose to start the wave while the other team is batting (it's ridiculous anytime, but especially in the top of the inning). Thanks for making Dodger fans look like idiots to a national audience, guys
maybe they are trying to distract the batters eye, erin.
Wave starters should be taken behind CF and shot point blank. The first one that the camera caught during play actually hit right behind home as DreamWeaver was making a pitch. Is had to mess with his concentration, if not his line of vision.
that was sarcasm by the way.
Hot streak or not, they're still the Padres.
And the pitcher swung there. That was strike three. Turned out not to matter, but still.
Is another cy scrub having another career or season best night at our expense?
Say it ain't so!
Did the camera just catch Casey putting in a set of dentures?
looked like a pop tart.
another career outing for a no name pitcher.
JMart, I'm sorry, I really am...I have your t-shirt even, but man, YOU SUUUUUCK. A slump can't last all friggin' season. There is something fundamentally wrong.
dusty, that BS has been going on since the allstar break last year. I think this is just what russ really is.
You are right, but there's hope: the RBI single was clearly a ball that he pulled to the opposite side, saw his wrist and how he pulled the bat?
@ Karina
He also appeared to have his eyes closed during that swing, which sort of precludes him from doing it on purpose.
@ NicJ
You are absolutely right. I guess I've just been to close to it to stand back and realize how bad it had gotten.
I don't know enough about the fundamentals of hitting to know what (if anythIng) this means, but I've noticed something about Martin's swing lately. Often, he will swing at a pitch and drive it straight into the ground so that it bounces up twenty feet in the air. Most of the time this is a foul, but every now and then it ends up as a groundout. Does this mean anything to anyone, other than that he's just sucking?
Another pitcher having his best game against us.
I am so frusterated. Can we do anything? Do we need to have a candlelight Vigil. Take a shot simultaneously. Find ourselves on a weekend retreat. Burn a Jeff Kent jersey. Anything???
i burn a jeff kent jersey every sunday anyways.
with loretta on 2nd we are gonna need a double to get him in.
@ Erin-
He's sucking.
why do people like pierre?
@ Paul
Would we be going on the retreat, or the team?
out comes the lefty, so i guess that the end of that rally.
JP is just smacking the ball. I mean, for his size and power he is. I never thought I'd say this, but he needs to hit with LESS power so it falls into the fielding gap between infield and outfield. As it stands, he's now hitting it right to the outfielders.
Erin.
Way back when I use to drive balls in the dirt my coach said I was pulling my body out too quicly and need to keep the front shoulder in. I now have the problem drinking beer which causes some spills. Practice makes perfect.
The duo Kuroda-Weaver is been better than Stauffer, the problem is the lack of clutch.
christ, what luck.
FAIR BALL!!!!!!
come on manny keep it going.
Back in the game! ladies and gents
Paul, have you been in a beer slump since last All Star Break?
@Nic j "with loretta on 2nd we are gonna need a double to get him in."
you called it, congrats!
Torre going to the bench.
alright come on loney, you have been doing well lately.
or kemp?
Bison Mode, engage. Mission: at least tie the game.
Oh boy...i'm nervous
kemps been struggling a bit lately, lets hope he can come through.
Yo quiero mas Cusquena.
Ernesto Jerez talking about Ethier and Kemp: "the future of this organization. And Loney, of course"
How about Martin?
@Nic j can you make a positive prediction?
that was a positive prediction.
well that sucked.
Mission fail! Mission fail! Abort!
hahahahahahahahahaha, i was talking about Kemp's at bat.
why did kemp start chasing sliders off the plate all of a sudden?
Belly #1 is in. Keep em in check.
Dusty
I have been. I am not picking up on the pilsner quick enough and totally looking tequila when I should be preparing for a whiskey shot.
Torre over-managing?
Paul, you're not seeing the cheap PBR cleanly out of the pitcher, eh? I think you're just pressing.
Remember, a nice gin and tonic is as helpful to the team; you don't have to have a zombie maker every time out.
Careful with the Tequila Paul, It can get you in trouble. Just ask Shawne Merriman
torre is an fn retard!
seems like the tide is turning.
SING IT ERIN!!!!
Nic
are you saying I shouldn't choke on the tequila?
haha, bingo.
Dusty
you are right a couple of PBRs can make a difference in a close game.
martin looked like a fool right there.
Kim Ng has been on her BBerry the whole night. Hopefully she can program it to go back in time and trade for VMart.
You know what's sad? when Henry Blanco gets a long at bat and he even manages to get a single (as much i admire the guy)
Christ, will Thome just get his ass in the batter's box so that ESPN can stop showing him before every pitch?
looks like that tide already turned back.
lets hope bell is gassed, he has been warming since the last inning.
is thome gonna do this!?!?!
look at manny laughing, haha.
Well it looks like Furcal is the only one who can take pitches, the rest of the team looks like they're late for the plane to Arizona.
praying for a miracle
damn
still lots of power
hope is with dre
does andre have one more walk off in him?
Come on, Andre!
The trainer's there. Maybe Thome's ego hurts.
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