Sunday, June 22, 2014

Post-Game 77 Thread: Winning (Not Tying) The Close Ones

The end of this play was not so good.

The end of this play was also not so good.

DODGERS 2, PADRES 1

Like another one of today's games, this one went to 2-1. However, unlike other games, this one didn't end in a tie.

After losing the opener by watching the bullpen crumble, the Dodgers settled down and secured wins late in both Saturday's "beat LA" game as well as today's matchup. With Hyun-Jin Ryu dealing six innings of four-hit, 1 ER ball (1 BB, 2Ks), the Dodgers notched a run in the first off of Adrian Gonzalez' fielders choice, and then got another in the second off of Dee Gordon's RBI single to right, which scored Scott Van Slyke from home but was nowhere close enough to score A.J. Ellis from second (Ellis, described as "lumbering" by Vin Scully on the call, was easily tagged out at home to end the inning). The two Dodgers runs held up, though, and the Dodgers took the game (and the series) and remain four back of the Giants.

Meanwhile, in Manaus, the USMNT edged back from a 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 lead over Portugal. But Michael Bradley got his pocket picked in the fifth minute of stoppage time, and Portugal scored the equalizer to end the game 2-2. A difficult result for the US team, which now looks to its final Group match against Germany to determine whether we advance to the knockout round.

2-1 is better than 2-2. I'm glad the Dodgers game didn't end up in a tie.

Ellis photo: AP / Don Boomer

UPDATE: From the comments, here's how Tim Howard's pose appeared to SoSG Nomo:

1 comments:

Hideo Nomo said...

Tim's doing an awesome C3PO impression there.