It's safe to say that Wednesday night, April 25, 2012 is not a night Javy Guerra would like to remember.
Guerra suffered a blown save... and a blow to the face on a line drive as the Braves used a three-run ninth to beat the Dodgers, 4-2. In an anticipated matchup for the Dodgers this early in the season, they dropped two of three to their old National League rival.
The pitching matchup was a good one, as wily veteran Ted Lilly took on young gun Brandon Beachy. Both did not disappoint, as blanks were thrown the first three innings.
In the fourth, the Braves scored first. After a fantastic diving grab at short by Dee Gordon, Freddy Freeman doubled to center. A groundout got him to third, and he came around to score on Dan Uggla's RBI single, making it 1-0.
The Dodgers weren't doing a lick through four, but Tony Gwynn finally got something going in the fifth. He singled leading off and stole second. A single by A.J. Ellis put runners on the corners, and Lilly's sacrifice put two in scoring position. Gordon grounded out, but it was good enough for the game-tying RBI at 1-1.
There had been a threat of rain all day, and in the sixth, it started to show itself. That didn't phase Mr. Matt Kemp, as he led off and blasted his ML-leading 10th jack of the season to make it 2-1. He's still easily ahead in average at .449, and is just edging teammate Andre Ethier in RBIs at 23 to 22. Add it all up, and there's another Triple Crown run in him. So far, so good.
What wasn't so good was Guerra. The formula was working for awhile, as Lilly was dominant through seven, and Kenley Jansen got it done in the eighth. For Guerra, however, he made it two straight nights of taking the L.
Martin Prado led off the ninth with a liner that was gloved by Either in right. Freeman is the reigning NL Player of the Week, finally unseating Kemp, and his single started it all. Then came Brian McCann, who ripped a fastball right off of Guerra's face for a hit. I'm not sure how, but he popped right back up and stayed in the game, to the amazement of us all.
Unfortunately, the results didn't get any better. Three straight RBI singles came next from Uggla, Chipper Jones, and Jason Heyward, and just like the that Braves were up 4-2. Josh Lindblom came in to put out the fire, but the Dodgers went down in order against Craig Kimbrel to end the game.
First things first, and that's the health of Guerra. For someone who was beaned in the face, he avoided a lot of potentially bad news by passing the post-game concussion test. I don't care how he pitched - his health is most important, and it appears he'll be fine.
On the pitching side of things, it's certainly not encouraging to watch your closer crumble two straight nights against a good team. There were whispers about Jansen taking over that role coming into this season, and that will only now get louder. Don Mattingly did say after the game that Guerra will still be the closer, which is expected considering he doesn't want any drama right now.
Lilly did all he could, as he went seven innings for three hits, one run, one walk, and two strikeouts. He's been outstanding in his three starts this season with a 0.90 ERA and 0.85 WHIP. Those numbers won't always stay that way, but I think he's proven that his strong end to last year has only carried over.
The Dodgers can somewhat be encouraged that they had a chance to win all three of these games. Their two losses have happened late, and their one win was a no-doubter. Because they pounded on lesser teams this year (Padres, Pirates, Astros), it's a little disappointing that they didn't win either series against the Brewers and Braves. But, it's still very early, so it's hard to make a big deal about it either way.
Thursday will be an off day, which is a good thing as guys like Guerra, Mike MacDougal, and Juan Rivera can all rest up after dealing with various ailments. Then the Nationals come to town for three, and they're playing very well this year at 14-4, tops in the NL East. Friday night's game won't disappoint, as Clayton Kershaw takes on Ross Detwiler.
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