Just when the Dodgers show a lot of fight in coming back from a late, 4-run deficit, they remind you why they are not one of the top teams in the league.
Despite being dominated by Cliff Lee for most of the game, the Dodgers tied the game in the 9th and had a chance to win with the bases loaded and 2 outs. Unfortunately, Andy LaRoche flied out to deep center, and the Indians added 2 in the 10th off of Takashi Saito to take the win, 6-4. For both teams, it was a frustrating last couple of innings.
Lee came into the game one of the top pitchers in all of baseball, and he sure showed why. With the exception of a leadoff single by Juan Pierre, the Dodgers never threatened against him. Get this - out of his 104 pitches, 76 were for strikes. That's remarkable accuracy. I know the Dodgers can't hit, but Lee really is that good. I'll give credit where credit is due.
Things got tight in the 8th inning, however, as Lee was wearing down. Here's the key to beating the Indians: get to their bullpen. Man, they are really bad. Some of their ERA's are simply atrocious. Anyway, down 4-0, Matt Kemp singled with 1 down, and came around to score on Jeff Kent's RBI double off of Rafael Betancourt. Rafael Perez then came in, but James Loney greeted him with an RBI single, and it was 4-2 heading into the last inning.
Cory Wade pitched his 2nd straight scoreless inning (and he's been fantastic, by the way), and the Dodgers were set to face Indians' "closer" Joe Borowski. I say "closer" because he is absolutely deplorable. He might be the worst one in the league. His fastball tops at 88, and none of his pitches have that much bite. I can't believe the Indians still let this guy finish off games. No wonder my Indians friend I was watching the game with looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole when the bullpen came in.
Angel Berroa singled (for once) and Russell Martin doubled him to 3rd. Pierre then unloaded on a single... to the pitcher to go down 4-3. After a Pierre steal and intentional walk to Kemp, Kent grounded out, but scored the run to tie the game at 4. Loney was given a free pass, but with the bases loaded, LaRoche could not come through. In other words, he fits in quite nicely with the rest of the team of failing to drive in runs.
Saito was called upon to hold the score at 4 to start the 10th, and failed miserably. His pitches were all over the place, and he looked like crap. He still could have gotten out of it after a home-to-third double play ball got them to 2 outs, but Jhonny Peralta doubled to right to score 2. Andre Ethier almost got to it, but couldn't. It was one of those plays where I couldn't help but get the feeling that if the Dodgers were playing well, that ball would have been caught. But they're not, so it wasn't.
Like I said before, both teams have plenty of reasons to feel frustrated about how the game closed, but at least the Indians can say they won. The Dodgers just cannot come up with that big hit they so desperately need. Same old story all year long.
Chan Ho Park fills in for the DL'd Hiroki Kuroda today against C.C. Sabathia. It's another Fox game, but of course the Red Sox are also on, so they get the TV coverage in New York. Enjoy it for those of you out West.
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