Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Dodgers escape their Waterloo, 5-2

‘Twas a defeated night indeed for questionable starter Adam Kennedy, who made an error that allowed an unearned run to score for the Angels in the third inning and a decision that contributed to a second unearned run in the sixth.  Add in a 0-for-3 night that included hitting into an inning-ending double play with runners at the corners in the fourth inning, and you have what will probably be the lasting memory of Kennedy as a Dodger.

Not that Andre Ethier didn’t do his darndest to make everyone forget. Hours after his contract-extension press conference, Ethier helped the Dodgers get over the Kennedy hump and come away with a 5-2 victory.

Ethier had the middle single in the Dodgers’ three-hit fourth inning, sent Mike Trout to the center-field wall in the sixth inning to haul in a deep fly, and made a diving catch to end the seventh inning with two runners on and the Dodgers trailing, 2-1. Most importantly, with Dee Gordon and A.J. Ellis on first base and two out in the eighth inning, Ethier lined a single to right field to drive in the tying run.

Juan Rivera, coming to the plate with a .589 OPS, then blasted a no-doubt three-run homer to left for the go-ahead blow, victimizing Jerome Williams, who had allowed one run on five baserunners in the first seven innings, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who left Williams in past the point of no return. A crestfallen Williams sat in the dugout with his head in his hands after finally coming out of the game.

Aaron Harang allowed six hits and four walks in seven innings, striking out five and lowering his ERA to 3.59. But Harang was all but destined to take a loss when, with the bases loaded and two out in the sixth, Kennedy surprised Gordon by throwing to second base instead of going for an easier out at first base on a grounder hit by Williams. The throw, however ill-chosen, went right to Gordon’s glove as he put his foot on the base, but it clanked off for an error that put the Angels ahead.

But the Dodgers rallied in the eighth, and Kenley Jansen bounced back from his own loss Monday to save the game.

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55 Comments

  1. KT

    Of course the Angels announcers say Dee was out at 2nd to end the inning

  2. Anonymous

    Wow. From what could have been an ugly loss, the late-inning heroics of Ethier and Rivera deliver an inspiring victory. That swing from Rivera showed he still has some great bat speed – he tomahawked that ball. I love and appreciate Loney’s defense but that’s what Juan can give you starting in place of Loney at 1st.

    • Anonymous

       It was a no doubter – reminded me of one I saw Karros hit on a ball that was up in his eyes.

  3. Anonymous

    All six of our hits came from the 1-4 hitters

  4. Anonymous

    They say RBI’s don’t matter, but Juan got four of them tonight.  Good job!  :)

    • I know what you mean, but I’m pretty sure baseball historians and smart allecks like myself, would point out you’re gonna need some RBIs to win the game.

      • Anonymous

        As I’m sure nsx knows, no one says RBI’s don’t matter; they say RBI’s are not a good measure of a batter’s worth unless compared with the batter’s chances to pick up an RBI.

    • Does anyone else have heartburn with “RBI’s” versus “RBI”? RBI is it’s own plural!

      • Anonymous

        RsBI? RBIS?  RBIs? RBI’S?  

        I think you have to say RBIs (plural) because RBI could also stand for a single run batted in.  

        If we’re being niggling, you mean to use “its” where you used “it’s.”  But I try not to get heartburn about these kinds of things.  There are plenty of more important reasons to get heartburn, Adam Kennedy being the least of them. 

        • Oh, gee, I did use “it’s” the second time.  That’s the last time I comment using an i-phone!

          • Anonymous

            I punctuate poorly on the iphone, too, but usually the opposite way–omitting apostrophes because it’s too much of a pain in the neck to flip to the numeric screen from the keyboard. 

        • KT

          Rule 8, Rule 8
           
           ^_^

  5. KT

    Watching the Angels post game and noticed our Fox Sports Girls are also the Angels Fox Sports Girls…I feel cheated now

  6. Anonymous

    The box score says only one Dodger batter left runners in scoring position with two outs.  Who?  Juan Rivera.  :)

    • Anonymous

      He did it twice, both times with Gordon on second, after 2 of the 3 times Gordon stole second in an inning. 

  7. Do steals of home result in scoring without RBIs?

    • Anonymous

       Yes.

    • Anonymous

      Yes.  And besides steals, there are other ways runs can score without an RBI, including passed balls, wild pitches, balks, errors, and outs made at other bases (including fielder’s choices, force plays, and double plays).  (Any that I missed?)

      • Anonymous

        Catcher’s interference would be Number 9 I thinks.

        • Anonymous

          A bases loaded catcher interference gives the batter an RBI.

          • Anonymous

            Remember the fourth out play, when Ethier scored from third on a line drive out before Pierre got doubled up off second base?
            http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ARI/ARI200904120.shtml
            In the box score, the batter, Randy Wolf is credited with an RBI, but also an at-bat.  To my mind, if the run scores, he should get a sac fly, since the play is no different than two runners tagging up and the one going to third being out.  But he also hit into a double play, which should negate the RBI.  Ahh, inside baseball!

  8. reply fail! I meant to reply to David Farinella.

  9. KT

    So the so called Bobblehead jinx worked against Scioscia….
     
    The reason they didn’t bring in a lefty against Dre was because Downs was unavailable

    • Why was he unavailable? He threw 18 pitches on Sunday and didn’t pitch yesterday…

      • KT

        Something about his left side being either tight or feeling strained I don’t remember

  10. KT

    now 6-3 SF in the bottom of the 9th

    • Anonymous

       With a breakout game tonight, Brandon Belt is on a pace to hit 2.6 home runs.

      • Anonymous

        Loney’s on a pace to hit 5.1 HR; Loney makes $6.375 million, Belt makes $481 thousand.

  11. Anonymous

    Aaron Harang has now allowed 1 ER or less in five of his last seven starts!  And three of the four starts right before that string were quality starts.

    • Anonymous

       Give him credit, he’s been good if not exactly dominant.

      • Anonymous

        Williams had 8 quality starts in his last 9 before tonight. The non-quality one was against Texas but you gave him no credit.

        • Anonymous

          But nobody on this board has been mercilessly criticizing Jerome Williams.  And after last night, ain’t gonna happen.

  12. First to 40 wins… That’s gotta count for something, right?

  13. Jonathan Alcaraz

    kennedy should be released. he’s not contributing in any way shape or form. all he does is uppercut the ball which we all know wont get far because of the size of dodger stadium.

    • Anonymous

      Jon says Rule 8 now covers he who shall not be mentioned.

  14. Jonathan Alcaraz

    and that error by kennedy was just asinine 

    • Anonymous

      AK is going nowhere until Ellis comes back or they make a trade for an IF.

      • Why can’t Hererra play there now that Uribe is back?

        • Anonymous

          He and Hairston will get most of the starts there, but until a roster decision has to be made we are stuck with AK.

    • Anonymous

      How about the three way convergence on the swinging bunt right before it?  I know Juan got us three late, but that was one James would have saved.

  15. Anonymous

    Just caught up with the game , KT I told you there would be a 3 run homer, I was just a little early ;)

  16. I have no interest in hearing Angel fans complain about one baserunner. This is baseball, it happens to everyone and you have to keep playing. No red hankys to through here… not yet anyways.

    • I have no interest in hearing Angel fans complain about anything, or say anything about this series, or about baseball in general. But I’m really hard-core that way.

    • KT

      I feel all the different replay angles were inconclusive.
       
      The shot that they Angel announcers were harping on was the shot from the 3rd base line where you could see the hand not touching the bag but you could actually see the tag applied..
       
      .No angle actually showed both tag and hand at the same time because of  obstructive view points….
       
      So there was really no way to infere when the tag, hand and base actually happened.
       
      The only person with the best view was Joe West and he stood by his call after viewing all replays

  17. 5 Worst Umpiring Calls in History?
    http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/25570/five-worst-umpiring-calls-in-history

    Debatable perhaps but they did pick the ones that were bad on the biggest (post-season) stage.Two of them involve the Dodgers.

  18. Nice story by Tim Brown on how “baseball is relevant again in LA” even if, you know, for some of us, it’s pretty much stayed relevant consistently. 

    http://sports.yahoo.com/news/baseball-is-becoming-relevant-again-in-los-angeles.html;_ylt=Akx0budsHRgz0DWbs7AsGvQRvLYF

    • Also, isn’t he a little bit off when he says “In nearly a quarter-century, one championship” – if he’s talking about both Angels and Dodgers as LA teams? Dodgers in ’88, Angels in ’02, that’s less than 25 years.  Anyhoo, nitpicky I guess.  

      • Anonymous

        I assumed they meant one championship in the past 23 years (1989-2011).  23 years is “nearly a quarter-century”.

  19. Anonymous

    ABBA were bad copycats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKfjmrURxoU

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