If it could go wrong, it did. That sums up Sunday afternoon in Dodger Stadium.
After winning the opening two games of the four-game set, the Dodgers dropped Saturday's game by a run, then proceeded to get absolutely squashed on Sunday. The offense was a joke, Matt Magill was embarrassing, Adrian Gonzalez is definitely not a Gold Glover anymore, and the Braves got the easy victory, 8-1.
Oh ya, and Hanley Ramirez might by placed on the DL (again), Ted Lilly already was (again), and Matt Kemp suffered a setback (AGAIN). What a glorious day indeed!
Magill walked a couple in the first, but somehow got out of it. The Dodgers then proceeded to do what they do best: get runners on and leave 'em right there. Yasiel Puig singled leading off, Nick Punto reached on a bunt single, and Gonzalez took a walk.
The downside to all of this is that Kemp and Ramirez are hurt, so rather than true RBI guys like them coming up, it was Scott Van Slyke, Luis Cruz, and Skip Schumaker instead. Van Slyke grounded into a forceout at home. Cruz, who unbelievably got the start in the #5 hole, struck out right on cue. At least Schumaker dribbled a little one along the third base line for the RBI infield single to make it 1-0. Tim Federowicz fouled out to first, and the offense yet again wasted a great opportunity.
The Braves took total control in the fourth. Jayson Heyward and his .200 average walked with one out. Gonzalez then was unable to cleanly glove an easy grounder to him, allowing Justin Upton to reach. A single by Freddy Freeman loaded the bases.
The mighty Evan Gattis hit a sac-fly RBI to make it 1-1. Magill needed to make a big pitch to keep it at that, but couldn't. A three-run homer by Dan Uggla out to left made it 4-1, and the game was pretty much over at that point.
But just for fun, the Braves kept piling on. A bases clearing double by Freeman in the fourth made it 7-1. Of course, that came after two more walks by Magill to run his total to six on the day. Uggla finished things off with a solo shot, his second tater of the day, the next inning.
Like the title up above says, between injuries off the field and ineffectiveness on it, it was no Sunday Funday in LA. More like Sunday Everything Can And Did Go Wrong Day. I discussed the other day about how great it would be if the Dodgers could take three of four at home from a really good team. Well, that all got flushed down the toilet by the fourth inning.
Magill didn't get helped by Gonzalez's error in the third, but even with that, he was flat out awful. He didn't even make it out of the fourth and had six walks. That runs his total to 28 in 27 2/3 innings. I know he's been yanked up and down like a yo-yo between the minors and majors, but there's still no excuse for giving away so many free passes. The Dodgers need to seriously look elsewhere for spot starts. He simply cannot get the job done.
The silver lining for the Dodgers was once again Puig, who went 3-for-5 with a double, raising his average to .464. And here's the funny (in a sad way) part: he didn't even score a run. The leadoff hitter reaches base three times, and not once does he score. That's pathetic. If I'm a hitter in that lineup, I'm completely embarrassed by that.
I guess we shouldn't expect much to change, because healthy bodies are at a premium. And GOOD healthy bodies... well, those are few and far between. So maybe seeing Cruz's name penciled in so high will be the norm. UGH.
It's a good thing that Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to take the mound on Monday, as the Dodgers need their ace to get back on the winning track. He'll go up against the Diamondbacks' Wade Miley.
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