The Cardinals had better hitting, pitching, fielding, and baserunning than the Dodgers on Friday night.
Other than that, I really like the way the Dodgers looked. Very inspiring!
The game was over early as the Cardinals did everything humanly possible better than the home team, as they won a blowout, 7-0. The Dodgers are starting a stretch of 20 games in 20 days, and boy do they look like they are ready to go on a big losing streak.
Chris Capuano was terrible, but at least got the Cardinals in order to start the game. Carl Crawford led off with a single against Lance Lynn, so things were looking pretty good. Then Crawford thought he was five years younger and tried to steal on the great Yadier Molina. Uh, advantage, Molina. Adrian Gonzalez popped up to end the inning.
The Cardinals scored in the second, and everyone in Dodger Stadium may as well have gone home at that point. It could have been another easy inning, but Gonzalez had a bad toss to Capuano covering first, and John Jay reached. Then David Freese gapped one, and Jay scored on a throwing error by Punto in which A.J. Ellis got plowed at the plate and nearly was knocked out. Thankfully he wasn't, but two errors gave the Cardinals a lead they would not relinquish.
Allen Craig kept pouring on the Dodgers in his next couple of at-bats. His two-run double made it 3-0 in the third, and a solo shot put his team up 4-0 in the fifth.
The final runs were scored on a two-run bomb by Freese and a sac-fly by Molina.
The whole time, the Dodgers had absolutely no clue whatsoever against Lynn. Look, Lynn has turned himself into a great starting pitcher pretty much out of nowhere. That's the Cardinals for ya. They make the most of their talent, which landed them on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated.
The Dodgers may make the cover soon as well, but for very different reasons. They had all the swagger in the world before the season talking about World Series or bust. You can guess which one of those choices has won out. Just like the Lakers, throwing money around and talking a big game means nothing once the games actually start. It's been a disaster.
The offense had three hits the whole night: Crawford's single in the first (then got caught stealing), Juan Uribe's double in the third (next two hitters K'd), and Skip Schumaker's infield single in the eighth (Uribe then erased him on a double play). Nobody even reached third base. Only Uribe reached second. What a joke!
The guys who are supposed to carry the offense in Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Gonzalez were all terrible. Gonzalez gets a bit of a pass because his numbers are still good, though he's down to .254 in May, and a pitiful .091 over the last seven days. He's been banged up with a sore neck, and it's obvious he's not moving as well. At least he's trying to play through it.
Kemp and Ethier, on the other hand, get no pass. They continue to make no impact at all. Kemp has 11 extra-base hits in 177 AB's. Ethier has 12 in 155. So much for those guys providing the power. They are singles hitters, and nothing more. It's painful watching how bad they are now, which makes the whole offense dull, lifeless, and boring. Insert more synonyms if you want, you get the point.
Capuano didn't get any help from his defense, but still wasn't any good himself. He lasted five innings for six hits, six runs (five earned), three walks, and four strikeouts. He was robbed of a win in his last start because of the crappy bullpen, but he was every bit as bad in this one. He's now 1-3 with a 5.60 ERA.
Ted Lilly will make his first start in just under a month on Saturday. He looks old, washed up, and can't stay healthy. I'm feeling really good about this one. He'll go up against young John Gast, who's made only two career starts, resulting in two wins. What are the odds he makes it a perfect 3-for-3? Take a wild guess.
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