Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The new kid leaves his mark

The debut for young Jerry Sands could not have gone any better. Two straight productive at-bats to start his major league career combined with a great effort from Ted Lilly gave the Dodgers a win over the Braves, 4-2.

After receiving the callup earlier in the day and promptly being placed in the starting lineup, the Dodgers' offense looked like it had a hop to its step to start the game. Leadoff hitter Aaron Miles singled followed by a walk to Casey Blake. An out later, Matt Kemp continued to ride his scorching start with an RBI single for the 1-0 lead.

Juan Uribe's groundout advanced both runners to scoring position to give an RBI chance to the ice cold James Loney. For a change, Loney actually delivered, as his sharp single up the middle scored two for the 3-0 advantage. Sands then stepped in and hit a double to right for big league hit #1. Lilly struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

In the third, two straight singled by Uribe and Loney came with one out. Yes, I really did just say that. Sands hit a long sac-fly RBI to right to score Uribe, putting the Dodgers up 4-0.

That's all Lilly would need on this night, as he put together his first great effort in four starts. He did face some trouble here and there, but made all of the big pitches. Overall, he finished at seven innings pitched for four hits, no runs, two walks, and six strikeouts. He lowered his ERA from 6.00 to 4.09.

Once Lilly exited after seven, Matt Guerrier was given the ball to get through the eighth. He did just that, getting all three men in order, including K'ing Chipper Jones to end the inning.

Then came the ninth inning, where Don Mattingly went with good old Jonathan Broxton, despite it not being a save situation. Brian McCann singled to start, Dan Uggla doubled, and Freddy Freeman scored one on a groundout. Alex Gonzalez struck out, but Nate McClouth's RBI double made it 4-2. Thankfully Eric Hinske struck out to end the game.

I can already hear the Broxton supporters making every excuse in the world why it wasn't hit fault. "It wasn't a save situation." "He still held the lead." "Nobody else can close, so he has to." It's all a bunch of garbage. He has five saves, but with a 6.14 ERA and 1.77 WHIP. There's just no way Mattingly should keep him as the sole closer. Guys like Guerrier, Kenley Jansen, and Hong-Chih Kuo (when he comes back) need to get their chances as well.

Back to the positives, and Sands was definitely one. His presence seemed to be a breath of fresh air, as it sent a message to the other guys that they need to step it up. And what do you know, Uribe and Loney each had two hits. Coincidence? Quite possibly, but I'm sure they couldn't help but feel some pressure to perform.

Only time will tell how good Sands will be, but for now, he obviously deserves more starts. Anyone who even shows the threat of being a power hitter should get their chance. If that means sitting guys like Uribe and Loney, then so be it.

The Dodgers and Braves have three more games to go, and Tuesday it will be Hiroki Kuroda taking the mound. He won his first two starts, then got rocked against the Cardinals last start. He'll look to improve to 3-1.

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