Wednesday, June 29, 2011

De La Rosa sharp, but that bats aren't

If you wanted to know anything about the 2011 season for the Dodgers, just take a look at these last three games in Minnesota: 15 runs one night, 4 the next, and 0 in the last.

The end result is simple - two losses in three games, despite winning one by 15.

Rubby De La Rosa did all he could, but the offense must have still been in bed, as Scott Baker completely shut the Dodgers down for the win, 1-0. The Dodgers are back to 10 games under .500 at 36-46.

The scoring happened quick, and ended just as quickly. Baker struck out the side to open the game, which was the ultimate symbolism for the rest of the way. Ben Revere led off for the Twins and cranked a triple over Andre Ethier's head in right. Tsuyoshi Nishioka hit a little dribbler that got the speedy Revere home for the 1-0 lead.

That, my friends, was all she wrote for scoring on this day. The Dodgers had no answers for Baker, who's a decent pitcher, but certainly not like a Cliff Lee or C.C. Sabathia. Although, the Dodgers have a tendency to make the most mediocre of pitchers look like gold... just like today.

There weren't a whole lot of threats to score considering the Dodgers only had seven hits and one walk. In the second, James Loney singled with one down, and Marcus Thames did the same an out later. Dioner Navarro flew out to center to end it.

In the third, Dee Gordon singled and took second on a sacrifice bunt by Tony Gwynn. I say "sacrifice," but it looked like Baker missed the tag of a diving Gwynn at first. Gordon then stole third and had a great chance to score with one down. Sure enough, Casey Blake popped up, and Ethier struck out for the final out.

Matt Kemp doubled to deep center off the glove of Revere with two outs in the sixth. He then stole third, and again the Dodgers had a chance with a runner on third. And once again they failed, as Loney grounded out.

Matt Capps came on and earned his 13th save, allowing only a single to the pinch-hitting Trent Oeltjen.

It's a shame De La Rosa got no support, because he bounced back nicely after a rough couple of innings to start the game. He ended up lasting seven innings for six hits, one run, two walks, and four strikeouts. It was easily his best game as a big leaguer, and his previous high was six innings. The Twins don't exactly have a powerful lineup, but De La Rosa still showed something here.

The offensive numbers are ugly, not that I really needed to tell you that after looking at the box score. The top three in the order of Gwynn, Blake, and Ethier combined to go 0-for-10 with a walk and sacrifice. Yuck. Nobody had a multi-hit game, and they struck out 11 times. Eight men reached base, and eight men were stranded. I'm pretty sure that means they scored no runs.

With the way this season has gone, I don't think anybody should be too surprised that the same team that put up a 15-spot one night ended up losing the next two games. The only thing consistent about the Dodgers is that they're inconsistent, if that makes any sense. They just aren't good enough to go on a stretch of wins. They haven't shown that ability yet.

Thursday will be an off day for the Dodgers before traveling to Anaheim for the second part of the Freeway Series with the Angels. The Dodgers dropped two of three against them last week. Hiroki Kuroda, winless since May 17, will go in the first game on Friday.

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