The Dodgers' offense came into last night's game against the New York Mets looking pretty much lifeless and pathetic the last few games. They needed their so called #1 pitcher Brad Penny to get deep into the game and keep it close.
What exactly happened, you ask? 4 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K. And once again, the Dodgers fell short, 8-4.
I will say this, despite the fact that Penny sucked... again... he didn't get any help from a freak play in the 4th inning. He should have gotten out of it when Claudio Vargas grounded for what looked like the 3rd out. But, Russell Martin, one of the top offensive and defensive catchers in the league, committed a CATCHER'S INTERFERENCE to keep the inning alive. Like all the other runs the Mets scored, 4 more runs came in, and the game was blown wide open.
An argument can be made that without that play, this game would have at least gone into extra innings. Who knows what would have happened, but homers by Jeff Kent and Blake DeWitt, as well as an RBI-single by James Loney gave the Dodgers 4 runs of their own. Leave it to them to find a new, creative way to lose.
Juan Pierre is now 1 for his last 12 with 1 walk in 3 games hitting leadoff. He certainly isn't the only one struggling, but his numbers are magnified even more with Rafael Furcal not in there. Announcers love to talk about Pierre's incredible work ethic, which is true. But, I highly doubt that's going to change people not wanting him in there. He's simply not a leadoff hitter, no matter how times he gets thrown in there.
As pathetic as the Dodgers have been to watch lately (thank God the Lakers were on and I could just push the Dodgers game aside), there's a good reason to watch tonight, and it's Clayton Kershaw. He was fantastic in his debut last Sunday, so it will be fun to watch him pitch in the Big Apple. Maybe a miracle will happen and guys like Andre Ethier, James Loney, or Matt Kemp will actually hit a home run. Probably not.
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