Coming off a 3-game sweep of the Washington Nationals, playing against a team that isn't close to playoff contention, and sending a guy to the mound that was clearly a better pitcher at home than on the road, things were definitely looking up for the Dodgers.
That was until they spotted the lowly San Francisco Giants a 7-0 lead.
Normal teams would easily win that game, but the Giants nearly handed the entire lead back as the Dodgers scored 5 in the 5th and another run in the 6th to come within 1. That would be it for the scoring as the Giants held on, 7-6.
It's a shame Hiroki Kuroda got bombed again, because I really thought this would be the game he would get back on track. Instead, he's been downright horrendous lately. I'm not sure how he went from nearly pitching a perfect game to getting rocked 3 straight starts, but something ain't right. Is he injured again? That was the problem last time he was being hit around and he went on the DL.
Each team put up blanks the first 2 innings, then the Giants struck for 2 in the 3rd. The 4th is when Kuroda lost all control of the game. The thing that really sucked was all 5 runs came with 2 outs. 4 straight singles did the damage, including a 2-run single by pitcher Kevin Correia. Kuroda was also his own worst enemy when he failed to get an out while trying to stare down a runner at 3rd then throwing to 2nd. Oh, what could have been if that one out was recorded.
To the Dodgers' credit (and they do deserve a big amount of credit for this), they stormed back in the 5th. Granted, it started when James Loney reached on an error, but that evened things up for Kuroda's mistake. Casey Blake then singled for 2 on. Andre Ethier and Angel Berroa each had RBI singles after that. Mark Sweeney pinch-hit for Kuroda and FINALLY got a big hit, a 2-run double that cut the lead to 7-4. Juan Pierre then laid down a bunt that was thrown away by Bengie Molina, and Sweeney scored to go down by 2.
So with Sweeney providing a shocking big hit, it was only natural that Andruw Jones would get one as well. He pinch-hit the next inning with 2 down and singled home Blake, and the score was 7-6. Unfortunately, that's as good as it would get.
I guess the Dodgers ran out of gas since they failed to put a runner on base the last 3 innings. It didn't help when the first base umpire called Blake out on a very questionable call. Ok, it wasn't even questionable - it was flat out wrong. There's no way on Earth that was a swing. I know I'm right because Joe Torre never argues, and he was ejected, along with Blake. Terrible call.
It's amazing how hot and cold the offense can be. There's really no way of predicting it. They just have to take the good with the bad and hope it still gets the job done. And it would also help that they don't give up 7 runs before they get one damn hit of their own!
They're now 3-1 on the homestand, which continues tonight when Jason Johnson makes his first start of the season. Matt Cain is the opposing pitcher, and he can be as tough as anybody when he's on. Let's hope that's not tonight.
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