If the Dodgers wanted to find another way to lose ugly after Saturday night, they did so on Sunday.
The defense committed five, count 'em FIVE, errors as the Padres scored six unearned runs to beat the Dodgers, 7-2. The Padres took two of three in the series as the Dodgers fell to 1 1/2 games behind the Giants in the NL West.
The Dodgers actually had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 at different points, but that was before the defense went to hell. They got a run in the first off of Jason Marquis. Tony Gwynn hit leadoff and did the unthinkable - he actually got a hit. Hooray! He soon stole second with nobody out. Mark Ellis drew a walk, and Andre Ethier collected his 60th RBI on a single to make it 1-0.
Just so you know, James Loney grounded into a double play to end the inning. In similar news, the sky is blue and grass is green.
Anyway, the Padres tied it in the fourth. Logan Forsythe and Chase Headley each singled to start. Carlos Quentin grounded into a fielder's choice to force Headley at second, but Forsythe scored on an error by Ellis, and it was 1-1.
In the sixth, the Dodgers regained the lead for the final time. Loney doubled with one out. Did I just type that? Wait, I did, and it really happened! Holy crap! Jerry Hairston, Jr.'s RBI single made it 2-1.
Just so you know again, Juan Uribe grounded out and finished 0-for-4. That lowered his batting average to .193. That's better than I thought!
The seventh is when the defense just fell apart. Three runs were scored, and all with two outs. Cameron "Tiki" Maybin reached on an error by Hairston. A single and a walk later, the bases were loaded. Yasmani Grandal pinch-hit and grounded a hard one to third, which was gloved on a beautiful diving stop by Hairston. Unfortunately, he turned a positive into a negative by sailing the ball into the stands, scoring two runs, and the Padres were up 3-2. An RBI single by Alexi Amarista made it 4-2.
The Padres just poured it on from there. A solo homer by Headley started the eighth. Two more runs were plated in the ninth with aid from Jamey Wright's fielding error. Quentin hit an sac-fly and Yonder Alonso a single for the RBIs.
The day started off on a bad note, as Chad Billingsley said he had a sore elbow, so he was scratched. It's not like the Dodgers were worse off without him bumbling away on the mound, but you never want to see a pitcher claim his elbow hurts. We'll see where that goes.
So, Chris Capuano stepped up and started, as he already was on six-day's rest because of the All-Star break. He battled but got no support from the gloves, as he lasted 6 2/3 innings for five hits, four runs (all unearned), one walk, and three strikeouts. He took the loss to drop to 9-5, though no fault of his own.
I'd like to think the Dodgers play good defense, especially considering they have two Gold Glove winners in the outfield (Matt Kemp and Ethier), have two good corner infielders who can't hit even Little League pitching (Uribe and Loney), and good hands at second (Ellis). The numbers, however, tell a different story. They have the 5th most errors at 65, and are 26th in fielding % at .981.
Granted, Dee Gordon is leading all of the majors with 17 errors, so that obviously makes the team numbers look worse. If he alone cut those errors in half to about 8, then the Dodgers would be about middle of the pack in errors. It still could be a whole lot better, and in a pitching-rich league like the NL, definitely needs to get better.
After dropping this series to the lowly Padres, the Dodgers open a three-game set against the Phillies. The Dodgers pulled off a four-game sweep in Philly in the beginning of May, so hopefully they have similar luck this time around. Nathan Eovaldi has been bumped up a day to pitch the opener on Monday.
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