Friday, February 29, 2008

Kuroda impresses, the rest don't

So here's how my first view of the Dodgers went today. The game started at 1 (Eastern time, I'm a New Yorker remember). I was at school, but had an off period from 1:00-1:45. Perfect. I hooked up the TV, was lucky enough to have 1 of the 16 channels be ESPN, and I got in some quality Dodger-time.

Hiroki Kuroda started, and he looked great. The first hitter, Kelly Johnson, singled up the middle, but Yunel Escobar grounded into a DP. The next 4 hitters, including Mark Teixeira and Chipper Jones, could not reach base. The final line was 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H. Andy LaRoche laced a ground-rule double to center, and the Dodgers were up 1-0. Now keep in mind that I was off only until 1:45, then had to conduct the last class of the day until 2:30. I'm thinking... yes, the Dodgers are in change, they look great, they'll handle business. Surely this would be a good day...

... And then I picked up the action at 2:30. In a nutshell, they sucked. Hard. It was 6-2 Braves when I came back, and it quickly ballooned to 10-2. Esteban Loaiza, Greg Miller, and Matt Riley were all pathetic. I'm talking 10 runs in a 2.2 innings bad. I guess the time away from the TV turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Now, if I was asked which pitcher I'd rather see play well, Kuroda or Loaiza, I'd easily say Kuroda, and that was indeed the case. Everybody already knows Loaiza is no good, but Kuroda is still an unknown. So, that was satisfying. There's really nothing else good about this game, and is just Spring Training (and thank God not the regular season yet), so it's easy to wash your hands of this one and move on.

Next up will be a date with the Mets. Brad Penny makes his first start. Hopefully he took a nap after the 2nd inning and didn't have to witness the implosion.

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