I'm glad at least one athlete from the city of Los Angeles showed up to play hard and win last night.
That's exactly what Chad Billingsley did, as he was dominant in a 3-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds. His final line was 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K. He carried a shutout into the 7th before running into some trouble. Fortunately for him, Joe Beimel came in with the bases loaded and only surrendered 1 run to preserve the lead.
It's obvious how poorly the offense has been performing lately, or all year for that matter, and last night was really no different. They did score single runs in the 3rd and 4th on RBI doubles by Juan Pierre and Russell Martin. Later in the game, Jeff Kent hit a double of his own to push the lead to 3-1.
The pitching is what deserves most of the credit for this one. It seems like it's been forever since the Jonathan Broxton-Takashi Saito combination shut down the opposition in the 8th and 9th. Broxton did walk 2, which is never a good sign, but got out of trouble. Saito was great, K'ing 2, including Ken Griffey Jr. pinch-hitting.
To be perfectly honest with all of you, this win was only a small consolation for last night's debacle, a.k.a. the Lakers-Celtics game. I simply cannot believe how big of pansies the Lakers looked like. It's one thing to lose, and another thing altogether to just get blown out of the water while feebly trying all game. Inexcusable. And it just plain pisses me off.
Maybe I'm just more upset that now my sole attention will have to be paid to the Dodgers, who haven't exactly been lighting the world on fire this season. With the way the Diamondbacks have been tanking, the NL West is still a toss-up. I'll keep hope alive.
With the injuries to Brad Penny and Hiroki Kuroda, the rotation is a mess. Derek Lowe will be moved up a day and make the start tonight. Just like Bill's last night, they really need Lowe to be at the top of his game.
No comments:
Post a Comment