It's been like this during the entire second half of the season: one good win, followed by a loss. They can thank their inconsistent offense for that.
The Dodgers were flat out atrocious against Wade LeBlanc and the Padres, as they took a loss, 2-0. The Rockies and Giants both got close wins, so the lead is 4 and 1/2 over the Rockies and 5 and 1/2 over the Giants.
There's not much to recap, as the Padres got both of their runs in the first couple of innings thanks to hitting with runners in scoring position and some horrible defense on the same play.
With Clayton Kershaw on the mound, Everth Cabrera lead the game off by walking. David Eckstein singled to put two on. But, Adrian Gonzalez struck out as Cabrera was caught trying to steal third. Kevin Kouzmanoff still managed to hit an RBI single to make it 1-0.
The next inning is when the Dodgers played Little League defense. After some guy named Oscar Salazar singled to lead off, he went to second on a groundout. Nick Hundley hit an infield single that Rafael Furcal tried to make a great play on, but threw it away. James Loney picked it up, fired it home to get Salazar, only to see the ball bounce off the plate and into the stands, making it 2-0.
Even with the bad defense and tough start to the game, you would think the Dodgers would still make up two mere runs against a guy with an ERA over nine.
You would be wrong.
Oh, they got some hits. Not many, but enough to put some threats together. In fact, they had at least a runner on in every inning except the fifth and sixth. But, they went a whopping 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10. Needless to say, you're not going to win by doing that.
Kershaw pitched well, but last I checked, when your team scores zero runs for you, you probably won't win. He finished with six innings, four hits, two runs (one earned), three walks, and three strikeouts. He hasn't won since July 18 against Houston, spanning nine starts.
About the only highlight of the game was Jim Thome getting his first at-bat with the Dodgers. He delivered with a pinch-hit single to center in the eighth, putting runners on the corners with one out. The Dodgers were so pumped that they then popped up and flied out to end the inning.
Look, the Dodgers deserve a ton of credit for all the wins they've had this season, especially late in games. But, they equally deserve to be criticized for bad losses, and Friday night was the definition of a bad loss. They simply cannot lose games like that and look so pathetic in the process. They've got to play with more energy than that.
Everyone in the lineup needs to pull their weight, especially the bottom. Maybe Joe Torre can convince Thome to play some first base, as Loney pulled another 0-for-4 night and looks totally lost. A threat like Thome can add some much-needed punch to a weak lineup.
I know people will say Manny Ramirez is to blame, but I get the feeling he's trying to do too much since everyone else can't hit either. He just needs to relax.
Hopefully the Dodgers can get two wins this weekend and make Friday's game a distant memory. Randy Wolf will look for his 100th career win by taking the mound tonight.
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