Good Start for a Hard Trip
The Dodgers had a pretty much perfect day yesterday. No, Jeff Weaver did not hold the woeful Cincinnati Reds hitless, or even scoreless. He didn’t go nine innings, and he wasn’t ever dominating. At times, you felt like the whole game could implode on him the way it did to Derek Lowe on Saturday.
But the Dodgers did what they had to do. Weaver allowed home runs with the bases empty, and bore down when runners were on. Luckily, he was facing a team that leads the major leagues in strikeouts. And he contributed to his own cause, driving in the first run with a gap double.
Jason Phillips, who scored that run, provided all the necessary offense with a grand slam that turned the game (and the series) around. Take away Phillips’ hit and the Dodgers maybe go on to lose two out of three after bashing the brains out of the Reds on Friday night. Then we’re talking about how the team has lost its focus, going 6-10 since opening 12-2.
But all is right in Dodgerland because they beat a team they were supposed to beat, opening their most difficult road trip of the year by taking two out of three. Weaver pitched into the seventh, and the bullpen did its job. Even Sunday Night Baseball announcers Joe Morgan and Jon Miller, who usually find some inanity to beat to death, did little to upset an extremely pleasant evening.
Now if they can just get rid of that annoying 7th-inning stretch “Sound Check.” I assume it’s intended to win a crossover audience of music fans, but honestly I can’t fathom why somebody who likes music would sit around for six and a half innings of baseball waiting to see an interview with a musician. I certainly wouldn’t watch two and a half hours of MTV to see a two-minute feature on Cesar Izturis.
Notes
Hee Seop Choi’s failure to field a hot grounder to first on Saturday opened the floodgates of Cincinnati’s six-run sixth inning. The official scorer called it a hit, but a good first baseman has to come up with that play. Choi is finally hitting, but he’s a liability in the field. Compare that with Olmedo Saenz’s performance at first last night, stabbing a line drive and turning a nifty 3-6-3 double play in the third.
But the Dodgers did what they had to do. Weaver allowed home runs with the bases empty, and bore down when runners were on. Luckily, he was facing a team that leads the major leagues in strikeouts. And he contributed to his own cause, driving in the first run with a gap double.
Jason Phillips, who scored that run, provided all the necessary offense with a grand slam that turned the game (and the series) around. Take away Phillips’ hit and the Dodgers maybe go on to lose two out of three after bashing the brains out of the Reds on Friday night. Then we’re talking about how the team has lost its focus, going 6-10 since opening 12-2.
But all is right in Dodgerland because they beat a team they were supposed to beat, opening their most difficult road trip of the year by taking two out of three. Weaver pitched into the seventh, and the bullpen did its job. Even Sunday Night Baseball announcers Joe Morgan and Jon Miller, who usually find some inanity to beat to death, did little to upset an extremely pleasant evening.
Now if they can just get rid of that annoying 7th-inning stretch “Sound Check.” I assume it’s intended to win a crossover audience of music fans, but honestly I can’t fathom why somebody who likes music would sit around for six and a half innings of baseball waiting to see an interview with a musician. I certainly wouldn’t watch two and a half hours of MTV to see a two-minute feature on Cesar Izturis.
Notes
Hee Seop Choi’s failure to field a hot grounder to first on Saturday opened the floodgates of Cincinnati’s six-run sixth inning. The official scorer called it a hit, but a good first baseman has to come up with that play. Choi is finally hitting, but he’s a liability in the field. Compare that with Olmedo Saenz’s performance at first last night, stabbing a line drive and turning a nifty 3-6-3 double play in the third.
posted by John Rosenthal @ 9:02 AM
1 Comments:
At 9:37 PM,
Anonymous said…
Man, I stumbled across your blog and you sure are smokin' some good sheeeeet. Saenz and Choi are killin' da ball, Holmes. If it weren't for Choi's 3-run smack, we're lookin' at another loss to the Cards. As they say in the hoods here in East L.A., "You one dum sun-ub-a-biooootch!!"
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