Sunday, May 8, 2011

Ethier's streak ends at 30 as Dodgers lose

Andre Ethier got five at-bats to try and extend his hitting streak to 31 games. One walk, two flyouts, a groundout, and a strikeout later, Willie Davis still holds the team record.

Ethier ended his amazing hitting streak at 30 games, and the Mets were the clutch team once again by scoring two late runs to take the win, 4-2. The Dodgers are on a streak of their own now - four straight loses.

The first inning was a sign of things to come, as time and time again, the Dodgers came up empty with runners on base. The bases became loaded with out on a single by James Loney, a walk to Ethier, and Kemp being hit by a pitch. Jay Gibbons then popped up and Juan Uribe flied out.

Jon Garland ran into some trouble in the second. After the Dodgers flushed away runners on second and third with nobody out, Ike Davis took a walk leading off. Jason Pridie, whom the Dodgers made look like an MVP, hit a double for two on. A sac-fly RBI by Jason Thole made it 1-0. Jose Reyes added an RBI single for the 2-0 advantage.

Dioner Navarro was finally able to get a big hit for the Dodgers with a home run in the fourth. Unfortunately, it came leading off and not with runners on base. You get the feeling after watching this one that if runners were on base, Navarro wouldn't have gotten that hit.

In the sixth, the Dodgers were mercifully able to drive in a runner on base. Jamey Carroll was 3-for-3 with a walk hitting out of the #8 hole, and he singled leading off. Garland laid down a great sacrifice to get him over to second. Aaron Miles grounded one through the middle for an RBI single, knotting the game at 2-2.

The Dodgers certainly had their chances to get more runs, and one of those came in the seventh. Kemp reached on an error at second by Daniel Murphy, then easily stole second off of Ryota Igarashi. Gibbons and Uribe couldn't get on (big shock), but consecutive walks to Navarro and Carroll loaded the bases. Jerry Sands pinch-hit in the big spot, then stood there frozen as he took a called strike three.

It was still anybody's ballgame in the eighth when the Mets seized control. Jason Bay led off with a walk against Mike MacDougal.< span=""> Hong<>-Chih Kuo came in and got Davis popping up. Then Pridie dribble a slow one that < span="">Kuo<> launched over Loney's head at first for the error. Thankfully Miles backed up the throw to prevent further damage.

Matt Guerrier was then given the ball to keep the game tied. It didn't work. Ronny Paulino of all people walked to load the bases. Justin Turner's two-run single broke the tie and gave the Mets a 4-2 lead. Reyes lined into a double play to at least keep the Dodgers within striking distance.

Then again, the Dodgers had to now face Francisco Rodriguez, and coupled with the fact that they couldn't get a clutch hit, the game may as well have been over. K-Rod pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his ninth save.

It was pretty much depressing watching the Dodgers look totally helpless with runners on. They left an incredible 14 men on base. 14! With runners in scoring position and two outs, Ethier, Uribe, and Sands left two men each and Loney and Navarro one each. You would think that maybe they would've accidentally gotten a hit in those spots, but I guess not. It was pretty pathetic.

Garland hung in there to end up pitching a pretty good game. He went six innings for seven hits, two runs, three walks, and three strikeouts. That's a lot of baserunners, but he really only had one bad inning in the second. His ERA stands at 3.66, which is great for a fifth starter.

Every time you either read about this series or see highlights on TV, the common theme is that this is a battle between two floundering franchises in financial trouble. Plus, both teams are just so average. So if the Dodgers get swept by an average team by losing on Sunday, that would be just pitiful. The offense has got to find a way to get runners in. It's that simple.

This was overall just a pretty boring game to watch. Ethier ended his streak, and the team just looked like it was in slow motion. There's just no excitement watching the Dodgers right now. I know every team goes through these rough patches, but with the Dodgers, they practically put people to sleep in the process. I guess that's what happens when they don't have any power hitters to get excited about.

The Dodgers really need a win on Mother's Day, as they are looking to break their four game funk. Clayton Kershaw will get the call against knuckleball specialist R.A. Dickey.

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