There was no "D" in Diamondbacks tonight.
The Iamondbacks committed six (yes, SIX) errors in completely handing the Dodgers a victory, 14-1. Tony Abreu had three of those errors, Rusty Ryal two, and Mark Reynolds the other.
I would say that the Iamondbacks played defense like little leaguers, but that would be an insult to little leaguers. They were that bad.
After a scoreless (and errorless) first, the Dodgers opened up a can in the second, with plenty of help. James Loney singled leading off, and Casey Blake reached on error #1. Xavier Paul walked to load the bases. Russell Martin struck out, but Blake DeWitt hit an RBI single for the 1-0 lead.
Abreu committed error #2 off of Clayton Kershaw's bat, allowing Blake to score. Rafael Furcal hit a two-run single for the 3-0 lead, then was gunned trying to stretch it to second. A two-run homer by Matt Kemp closed the scoring at 6-0.
You want more errors? Well, the Iamondbacks obliged in the third. With one down, Blake reached on Reynolds's error (aka error #3). Ryal then took care of error #4 off of Paul's bat, scoring Blake. For good measure, Abreu had error #5 on a grounder from Martin, though no runs scored.
In the fourth, Raffy and Andre Ethier hit solo home runs for the 9-0 lead. It was Raffy's fourth and Ethier's 13th.
One inning later, two more runs were scored. Paul and Martin both singled leading off. DeWitt scored one on a single for the 10-0 lead. Kershaw grounded into a double play for two down. Raffy then reached on, you guessed it, error #6 from Abreu, scoring Martin.
Just for fun, the Dodgers stretched the lead to a couple touchdowns in the sixth. Ethier and Loney singled, and Blake was beaned to load the bases with nobody down. A two-run single by Paul made it 13-0, and Martin's sac-fly RBI finished it at 14-0.
The lone run scored by the Iamondbacks in the ninth off of Jonathan Broxton. Appearing in his first game since bumbling away the lead against the Yankees last Sunday, Reynolds launched his 19th of the season. Broxton settled down to retire the next three.
Somewhat lost in all of this was Kershaw's good start. He lasted 5 2/3 innings for four hits, no runs, two walks, and eight strikeouts. He's now 8-4 with a 3.02 ERA. He's made a pretty strong case for the All-Star team, but we shall see if that will happen.
Travis Schlichting was recalled today and pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless ball. In fact, he hasn't given up a run in 10 innings. Who knows how long he'll be up, but those are numbers that can't be denied.
The offense featured six players with multiple hits, led by Loney with three. Paul went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Have I mentioned before how much more he gives to the team than Garret Anderson? Well, he proved it again.
The funniest stat of the night? Blake went 0-for-3... with three runs scored! I'm guessing you won't see a line like that again anytime soon.
Needless to say, it was an absolutely pathetic effort from Kirk Gibson's boys. The Iamondbacks made themselves look as incompetent as they can possibly be. There's just no excuse for a major league team to perform this poorly. One night after doing everything right, I can only imagine how PO'd Gibson has to be about this one.
Each team has exchanged blowout wins, so maybe Sunday's game will be close. It'll be Chad Billingsley battling Dan Haren. This was once a good matchup, but both pitchers aren't the same this year. But, they're still both capable of putting up blanks.
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