Thursday, August 21, 2008

Terrible defense hands game to Rockies

4 errors in 1 game. Wow.

The Dodgers did everything they could to give the Rockies a win, and that's exactly what happened. With a lineup so jumbled that my head started spinning just trying to remember who's playing where. It didn't work, as all 4 errors were from people either playing out of position (Russell Martin and Casey Blake) or who rarely play at all (Danny Ardoin).

Needless to say, it was an ugly loss. Couple that with another Diamondbacks win, and the lead for them is now 2 games in the NL West.

The game started off promising enough, as the Dodgers scored their 3 runs in the first 2 innings, and with Chad Billingsley on the mound, looked to be in cruise control. Juan Pierre led off the game with a single and stole 2nd. That was about it as far as the good part of his evening, but I'll get to that later. A single by Matt Kemp in the #2 hole made it 1-0.

The Rockies made their own defensive blunders in the 2nd to hand over 2 runs. With Martin and Nomar Garciaparra on, Ardoin's grounder to short went right under Troy Tulowitzki's glove. That scored 2, and it was 3-0.

Then the game went downhill. Billingsley finished with a line of 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K. 2 runs in 6 innings is good, but he was living dangerously throughout. He hasn't walked 4 since taking a loss against Atlanta on July 8. The strikeout turned out to be his best friend, helping him get out of some messes.

Tulowitzki's homer with 2 down in the 4th was the Rockies first run. From there, it was the bumbling defense that took over. The bases were loaded with none out in the 5th. After a forceout at home to get 1 down, Blake's error let the game get to within 1 run. Bills came through by forcing a double play to end the inning.

Still, the momentum from that big double play was short-lived. Martin's throwing error in the 7th led to Brad Hawpe's game-tying single. Jonathan Broxton came on in the 9th to keep the score tied... and proceeded to bean Matt Holliday. Holliday then stole 2nd, and Hawpe again burned them with a single to win the game.

As I said before, the defensive alignment was all over the place: Ardoin at catcher, Martin at 3rd, Blake at 1st, Pierre in center, and Kemp in right. Kemp did nail Ian Stewart at home in the 1st, and Martin started the inning-ending double play in the 5th. Those were the only bright spots, as 4 errors speaks for itself.

Man, I've got to feel for Andre Ethier. He's a hero with 2 walk-offs last week in beating the Phillies and Brewers, and once again he finds himself on the bench for the inferior Pierre. Pierre hasn't even had a 2 hit game this month! I know Ethier was 0-5 with 3 K's on Tuesday, but he's been great lately. Just leave him in the damn lineup!

And for those of you saying that Pierre had a good night because of his single in the 1st, check out the rest of his night: K swinging in 2nd, K swinging in 4th, groundout in 7th. Ya, nice job, Juan. Way to come through in a close game.

Let's all hope the lineup is back to normal this afternoon, as the Dodgers can ill-afford to get swept before hitting the road. Derek Lowe is the starter today, and he pitched 7 strong innings last start against the Brewers. They need another one of those today.

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