Tim Lincecum must have breathed a huge sigh of relief when he saw Clayton Kersahw wasn't pitching against him on Wednesday night. After getting burned over and over last year by the Cy Young Award winner, he probably was ready for a change.
Too bad for him, it didn't matter.
Tony Gwynn's three-run triple in the fourth gave the Dodgers a lead they would not relinquish, as they defeated the Giants, 6-2. That gave them two of three against their hated rivals to open back up a five-game lead in the NL West.
The Giants took an early lead with single runs in the second and third. Chad Billingsley walked Joaquin Arias with two down, then gave up a single to Brandon Crawford. Lincecum was able to leg out an infield single to make it 1-0.
The next inning, Miguel Cabrera tripled with one out, and scored on Buster Posey's RBI single. The Giants really shot themselves in the foot, though. With two outs, Arias singled again, and as Belt was rounding third to score, Matt Kemp nailed Nate Schierholtz rounding second a little too far, just before the run scored.
An opportunity lost for the Giants led to an opportunity gained by the Dodgers. In the fourth, they put it all together. Andre Ethier led off with a double, and Bobby Abreu singled. Juan Uribe delivered an RBI single to make it 2-1. They both advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch, as Lincecum definitely had a fair share of balls in the dirt.
After James Loney struck out (shocking... or not), A.J. Ellis drew another walk to load the bases. That was it for Billingsley, who was yanked already for Gwynn. It was the perfect decision from Don Mattingly, as Gwynn's three-run triple pushed the Dodgers ahead at 4-2.
Jamey Wright was fantastic at going through the Giants in order the next two innings. In the sixth, Ellis tripled with one out, which came right after Loney had another big at-bat... by popping up. Youngster Scott Van Slyke was summoned, and he made his first ever plate appearance memorable with an RBI single, making it 5-2. Andy's kid looks like he has a bright future ahead of him.
Ronald Belisario survived a two-on, one-out dilemma in the seventh, as he got Posey swinging and Belt grounding out to end it. The Dodgers closed out the scoring in the eighth when Uribe doubled leading off and Loney collected an RBI single. Finally! I hate to pound on the guy, but geez... he wants more playing time and only has a .213 average. I mean seriously now!
Billingsley didn't go long enough to qualify for the win, but he didn't do himself any favors either. He made 85 pitches through four innings, giving up seven hits, two runs, four walks, and five strikeouts. After three straight great starts to begin the year, he's gone right back to the good one, bad one roller coaster. I wish he would just attack hitters rather than nitpicking so much, but he is what he is.
The bullpen deserves a ton of credit in this one. Wright, Belisario, Josh Lindblom, and Kenley Jansen teamed up to go five scoreless innings, giving up only two hits, two walks, and striking out eight. Does this mean they've settled into their roles? I sure hope so, and appearances like this might prove it.
As for Gwynn, I can imagine his go-ahead triple must have felt really good for a couple of reasons. The obvious one is that it gave the Dodgers a lead for good. The other is that he gets his name out there again, as he's been pushed to the backburner with Abreu's arrival, even with Juan Rivera hitting the DL. He'll always been great with the glove and on the bases, so maybe this will help give him more time to shine.
Thursday will be an off day before a three-game set at home against the Rockies. The perfect Chris Capuano will go for his fifth win on Friday. He'll go against old man Jamie Moyer. I think the Dodgers should quickly trade for Chipper Jones just to watch those two argue again! That's some great stuff!
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