And the Dodgers finish at 82-79. Ted Lilly pitches seven scoreless, apparently employing a grip adjustment to improve his command. Way to finish a meaningless year strong, Ted — hope it translates to next year. Oh, and Eugenio Velez? 0 for 37. Congrats, Eugenio!
UPDATE: From @Dodgers:
@TheRealMattKemp becomes the 1st Dodger in franchise history to lead the league in homers, RBI & runs scored #KEMvP
UPDATE: Eugenio Velez sets dubious mark (AP/ESPNLA.com)
photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
DIAMONDBACKS 7, DODGERS 6 (10)
It was tied 1-1 going into extra innings when the Dodgers blew it wide open: an A.J. Ellis triple capped a five-run inning and the Dodgers were cruising 6-1 heading into the bottom of the tenth. Then something terrible — dare I say Broxtonesque? — happened:
It wouldn't be a Dodger season without a meltdown, no?
Dana Eveland got his third win tonight, and Jerry Sands extended his hitting streak to 14 games. And you know what? The Dodgers, at 81-78, are guaranteed to finish above .500 this season. That in itself is a (tiny) victory.
And thanks to Josh S. for this nugget:
Nutty stat of the day: Javy is one save away from Broxton's 2010 total.
photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
All Clayton Kershaw did today was pitch 7 1/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and six strikeouts. He only finishes the regular season tied with Ian Kennedy in the National League for wins (21), first in ERA (2.28), and first in strikeouts (248). Congratulations, Clayton, on your first Cy Young Award.
Matt Kemp's bid for his own Triple Crown took a slight hit today — he went 1 for 5, lowering his average to .324 and putting him nine percentage points behind Ryan Braun. Three more games to make history, Matty!
photo by Kent C. Horner/Getty Images
Matt Kemp goes 1 for 4, singling in the first inning. He's currently third in BA at .325 (six points behind Ryan Braun), tied for first with Albert Pujols at 37, and first in RBI with 119. Dodgers' record falls to 79-78.
photo by Kent C. Horner/Getty Images
Yeah, I know that headline mixes metaphors. But I'm a little drunk after seeing the Dodgers, who took the Giants' tragic number down 50% since the series began, pass on the opportunity to deliver the fatal blow to the Giants in this three-game series. Is it because the Dodgers are merciful? Not so much, given Matt Kemp's fifth-inning HR, a three-run shot and his 35th on the season; or, James Loney's ninth-inning RBI single that brought the tying run to the plate.
But in losing tonight, the Dodgers let the Giants squirm with a minuscule Tragic Number of 2 (4 in the NL West), at least for another couple of heartbeats or so.
115 pitches, 7 1/3 innings, 6 strikeouts. It was another Kershaw vs. Lincecum matchup, and the result was typical: Kershaw wins (the fifth time he's beat the Giants this season) and Lincecum loses (the fourth time he's lost to Kershaw this season). James Loney had an RBI single in the first inning, and Jerry Sands opened the second with a solo home run. Cy Young voters, Mr. Kershaw rests his case.
photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
Eugenio Velez went 0-for-1 and is now 0-for-33 on the season. Meanwhile, James Loney went 5-for-6 with 3 RBI, and Dee Gordon went 3-for-4 with 3 runs scored. But Velez didn't get a hit. Oh, and Juan Rivera went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI, and Matt Kemp went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI. But Velez got nothing. And Jerry Sands went 4-for-6 with 4 RBI, including a HR (Kemp homered too). But no hit for Velez.
Did I mention the Pirates used eight pitchers? And still Velez couldn't get his first hit of the year? Pathetic.
1: AP photo; 2: Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Nursing a 4-2 lead and with two men on and two on, James Loney came in to pinch hit for Justin Sellers, while facing the newly-entered Chris Resop. "FJL PH? What are they thinking?" I wrote in the GT. BOOM!
Loney, 1-for-10 as a PH all year, jacks a three-run HR to right (it actually bounced off the top of the wall) for his 10th HR of the season, to put the game out of reach (Dodgers then led 7-2, the final score) and give Hiroki Kuroda (6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 Ks) a victory. Sax eats crow. Nice shot, Loney, I admit. And thanks for keeping the Dodgers from being mathematically eliminated from all postseason action for at least one more day.
Matt Kemp went 2-for-4 with a RBI. Eugenio Velez did not play...and the Dodgers won. Hmmm.
It was a matter of time before Dana Eveland's impressive late-season callup run was going to come to an end. But it was a bit of a starry-eyed surprise to have the end come at the hands of Pirates starting pitcher Paul Oakenfold Ross Ohlendorf, who had not had a HR in his five-year MLB career (3.5 years of which were in the NL). But Ohlendorf's three-run shot in the second inning capped a shaky nine-batter inning for Eveland, who ended up lasting only five innings and seeing his ERA balloon to (a still respectable) 2.25.
Russ Mitchell had a solo HR in the fifth. Matt Kemp went 0-for-3 but reached on a HBP (he was CS). Dee Gordon went 2-for-4 and scored a run off a Justin Sellers double in the first. But other than that, the bats were deathly quiet; Gordon was the only Dodger with multiple hits, and the 4-5-6 Minor Misdemeanor Offenders' Row of Juan Rivera, James Loney, and Jerry Sands went a combined 1-for-12 (a meaningless ninth-inning two-out single for Sands). (And no, I didn't fall for the whole tying-run-at-the-plate thing, when the hail mary needed was an Aaron Miles GS to tie.)
There was some cause for rubberneckin' in the bottom of the fifth inning, however, when the car wreck known as Eugenio Velez PH for Eveland...and struck out on four pitches, bringing his resume to 0-for-32 on the year (and according to Josh S., 0-for-41 going back to last year; Velez hasn't had a hit since May 18, 2010).
(Most of Oakenfold's videos are all non-embeddable, but if you wanted to look at a couple I would recommend "Faster Kill Pussycat" (starring Brittany Murphy), and then this guy's "hack job" Bourne Identity-spliced video to "Ready Steady Go", which is better than the original video.)
Gerardo Parra's prior immature histrionics notwithstanding, home plate umpire Bill Welke's tossing of Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, after nicking Parra on the elbow with an inside pitch (that was not up in the zone), was nothing but the weakest of sauce. Kershaw, furious, was tossed. Don Mattingly was also tossed. All 724 people in attendance were tossed. Heck, the post-game spread caesar salad was even tossed.
And how bad was this call? As of game's end, the video of the offensive play wasn't even available as a mlb.com highlight. That's because even MLB is fucking embarrassed, Welke. (UPDATE 12:06a: Here's the highlight of the incident itself.)
Kershaw was in line for his 19th win of the year having left the game with a 2-0 lead (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 Ks (which unlocked his mlb.com badge of 7 Ks, inexplicably))--but only if the Dodgers could maintain the lead. The Snakes got one in the eighth to make it 2-1, and then Aaron Miles got a one-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to put the lead back at two runs.
Kenley Jansen allowed a leadoff single to come around to score with two out, but got the victory by striking out the side, ending the game with a called strike three on Chris Young. Kershaw earns the win, and the Dodgers salvage the last game of the series.
Matt Kemp got his 39th SB and went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Eugenio Velez remains hitless on the season, but has not yet sucked enough to make the recently-published list of the worst full-time players of the last 50 years (in fact, no Dodger was on the top 20).
.500, we hardly knew ye. Two days after the good vibes of SoSG Fest 2011 helped get the Dodgers back to mediocre, the Dodgers have started another descent, dropping our second straight game with tonight's loss to Arizona. Oh sure, this helps the Snakes maintain their lead over the Giants (who also won tonight).
But Ted Lilly and Matt Guerrier's shellacking in the sixth inning (giving up five runs between them), plus two more runs scored off of Mike MacDougal in the eighth, doomed the Dodgers. Matt Kemp got his 33rd HR of the year in the first inning, and Jerry Sands added an RBI single in the seventh, but that was it for the Blue.
Oh, and Eugenio Velez is still 0-for-31.
With a horde of Dodgers fans watching, the Dodgers beat the Giants 3-0. Dana Eveland was awesome. Giants sucked. Moer More later.
Just like in their other two meetings this year, Clayton Kershaw outdueled Tim Lincecum by a run, as the Dodgers scored the tying run in the eighth (Juan Rivera singling in Matt Kemp) and the winning run in the ninth (Jamey Carroll with a FC infield hit to second, scoring PR Eugenio "The Black Hole" Velez from third).
Lincecum went eight innings, giving up an earned run and fanning nine. But let's face it, Kershaw is better, tonight going an equal eight innings, giving up no ER in fanning his nine. Oh, and Kershaw got the win, while Lincecum got nothing. Give the Dodgers the victory, but you gotta give Kershaw the Cy.
Oh, and how's this for awesomeness: SoSG had THREE regulars, Mr F/Fanerman, Orlando Zepeda, and Pistol Pete Reiser, in the house tonight. Awesome representation, boys. Would have paid to see that one live, and hear the crowd go hush like an old lady rabbit in a rocking chair. Goodnight, Giants.
Some guy started the game for the Nationals, and did pretty well all things considered (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 Ks, 0 BB), in his first game back in over a year. Meanwhile, Ted Lilly had stoked the Nats to a 3-0 lead in his 5.0 IP (4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 Ks), putting the Dodgers in a bit of a hole.
But Andre Ethier was armed with a shovel this time, ready to dig the Dodgers out. Ethier had 4 RBI, two of them in a three-run sixth inning, and then two more in a two-run ninth inning. Rod Barajas added two RBI on his own on a seventh-inning double, and the lone other run (back in the third) was from our MVP machine, Matt Kemp (1-for-4 with 2 runs scored).
Javy Guerra had a very shaky ninth inning, bringing the tying run to the plate with only one out, but the Dodgers clung to yet another come-from-behind victory, to even the series at one a piece.
UPDATE 11:34p: Oh, and about tonight's game: Eric Stephen of TBLA and Mike Petriello of MSTI are really, really hungry. Somebody send those guys some bacon, already (screenshot from TBLA).
One night after a high-scoring come-from-behind victory, the Dodgers also proved they could grind one out against the Braves, winning in extras. The Dodgers take today's game thanks to a leadoff double in the tenth by Spee-Dee Gordon, who then was sacrificed over by Free James Loney and home by Juan Rivera. Nathan Eovaldi has a nice quality start (6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 5 BBs and Ks each), but Mike MacDougal walks away with the win and Javy Guerra gets the save.
Plus, the Diamondbacks' 7-2 win over the Giants (Lincecum goes 5.0 IP with 9 H and 5 ER, taking the loss) puts the Dodgers only 4.5 games out of second place. The 11-out-of-12 run has the Dodgers only two games under .500. Meaningless goals, perhaps; but meaningful achievements against the context of this season, to be sure.
Dana Eveland's Dodger (and 2011) debut was solid enough to earn a well-deserved win, thanks in large part to a three-run first inning before he even took the mound. Eveland went 8.0 IP with 1 ER and 6 H against 3 Ks and no walks, for a 1.13 ERA. Outstanding spot start!
Dee Gordon added a two-run double in the eighth and the Dodgers bullpen ended up needing it, since Blake Hawksworth gave up two runs without recording an out, and then Kenley Jansen gave up another run before getting his third save. Dodgers move on to Atlanta for the weekend.
