Is it too early to say the Dodgers have a closer problem?
That's the question they're left to ponder after Guerra gave up a run in the ninth for his third blown save. A walk-off walk by David DeJesus off of Jamey Wright gave the Cubbies a win in the 11th, 4-3. The Dodgers dropped two of three in this series to finish their road trip at 2-4.
The news for the Dodgers was practically all negative before the game even started. The game was delayed by nearly three hours because of rain. Not a big deal, but considering they play the Giants at home on Monday, it's not ideal. Then they had to scratch Matt Kemp because of a tight hamstring.
When the game actually started, it was more bad news as Jerry Hairston, Jr. had to leave the game with a bad hamstring beating out a single in the second. The news finally got a little better that inning, as the bases became loaded on walks to A.J. Ellis and Tony Gwynn. Aaron Harang then bounced a grounder for a sure-fire double play, but Starlin Castro's throw to first was off, allowing pinch-runner Adam Kennedy to score and make it 1-0.
Mark Ellis started another rally the next inning, singling and stealing second leading off. Juan Rivera has been battling a sore hamstring himself (it's time to hire a new hamstring stretcher guy), but he started in left and blasted a two-run shot, his second of the season, making it 3-0.
The Cubs responded in the bottom of the third off of Harang. Starting pitcher Travis Wood doubled with an out, and DeJesus walked. After a groundout advanced them to scoring position, Castro's two-run double made it 3-2. Castro was thrown out trying to stretch it to second on the same play.
That score held up all the way through eight innings, even though the Cubs had at least one baserunner in each inning of this one. It's a wonder how the Dodgers even had the lead as long as they did, but with 12 runners left on base, the Cubs were their own worst enemy.
Harang made it through six innings by only giving up a pair of runs, so it was time to test the trio of Josh Lindblom, Kenley Jansen, and Guerra. Lindblom walked Reed Johnson to start the seventh, but got the next three in order. Jansen gave up a single to Bryan LaHair leading off, but blew away the rest in order for a pair of K's.
So now it came down to Guerra, who had four saves and an ERA of 2.16 as recently as April 20. Well, it started off just fine, as Welington Castillo struck out for one down. Then the downfall started, as Ian Stewart singled and DeJesus drew another damn walk. The speedy Travis Campana then lined a run-scoring single into right, but Andre Ethier made a good cutoff throw to Mark Ellis, who then fired home to the other Ellis to nail DeJesus at home and keep the score at 3-3. Castro struck out to send it into extras.
The Dodgers could only muster a single by Rivera in the 11th, as it looked like the life had been sucked out of them. Jamey Wright got through the 10th, but with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th, DeJesus ended it with his third walk of the day.
I hate to admit it, but I had a bad feeling about the ninth inning the second I saw Guerra coming in. Maybe it was the fact that the Dodgers were just barely wiggling out of trouble left and right the whole game, and the Cubs were due to finally get a big hit. But maybe it was also the fact that he had struggled so much lately, and just didn't look like a shutdown closer as he entered the game.
I'm not going to go crazy yet, but I do have to say that his latest outing had some eerily similar qualities to when Jonathan Broxton started to go into meltdown mode a couple years back. No, I'm not saying Guerra has reached that point yet, as Broxton was legendary for not being able to step up in big situations. What I am saying is that Guerra needs to get that swagger back that gave him five straight saves to start this season, and 21 total last year.
The Dodgers will look to get back on track with a three-game set against the Giants starting Monday. Hopefully Kemp will be good to go, as he did extend his MLB-best consecutive game streak to 393 by pinch-hitting in the seventh. Matt Cain won't go in this series, but the Giants still have a good staff even without him. Veteran lefties Ted Lilly and Barry Zito will go in the first one.
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