It was a bad ending to a bad weekend of baseball.
The Braves dominated from start to finish as Javier Vazquez was practically untouchable in a 8-2 rout of the Dodgers. The Braves took three of four in this series, and could have swept it had it not been for Andre Ethier's three-run walk-off to steal Thursday's game.
The Dodgers may not be setting the world on fire at the plate lately, but Vazquez was still awesome regardless of that. His stuff was just off the charts good. If he wasn't at 113 pitches, he would have easily thrown a complete game. Still, eight innings, one run, and seven strikeouts speaks for itself.
Eric Stults was given the tough job of being recalled yesterday and starting today. All things considered, he really wasn't too bad. He gave up three runs in five innings, striking out three.
A double play groundout by Adam LaRoche put the Braves up 3-0 in the fourth, but certainly not out of reach. In the bottom of the inning, Ethier started things with a single, and Manny Ramirez hit a check swing double for two on. Casey Blake lifted a sac-fly RBI to make it 3-1.
Neither team could get much going for most of the game until the last inning. Russell Martin singled with one out in the seventh, but Orlando Hudson grounded into a DP to end that.
At 3-1 in the ninth, Jeff Weaver was yanked for Ramon Troncoso. Weaver pitched three perfect innings, but Troncoso was called on anyway. Bad move.
Troncoso was just pounded on for four runs in only 1/3 of an inning. Guillermo Mota got the last two outs, but was still charged with a run himself. Overall, the close 3-1 game was blown open to 8-1. It could have been even worse had Matt Kemp not made a great catch crashing into the center field wall.
Manny and Blake singled to lead off the ninth... but Kemp grounded into a double play to score Manny. Martin was hit by a pitch and Hudson singled... but Mark Loretta lined out to right to end it. Two separate threats, and only one run.
Like the saying goes, when it rains, it pours.
About the only good news to this day is that the Giants grounded into three double plays (two by Pablo Sandoval), and lost to the Reds, 5-2. The Rockies clobbered the Cubs, 11-5, so both teams are now 5 and 1/2 games out.
Losing six of the last nine now means that the three-game set in San Francisco starting Monday is pretty big. It's more of a big deal for the Giants since they're the ones who need to slash the deficit. The Dodgers can get swept and still be up 2 and 1/2 games. That's obviously not the goal, but the reality.
The Dodgers will have Hiroki Kuroda take the mound on Monday against Jonathan Sanchez, the no-hit man. Sanchez wasn't that great in the three starts after the no-no, but did put up seven shutout innings in Houston last start.
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