Dodger Thoughts

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

Inches from victory

Well, I called it, didn’t I? Joy and sadness, though admittedly, there was more joy from the starting-pitching matchup than you might have expected, when Ted Lilly was pitching one-run ball in his first start in nearly a year and Matt Kemp was hitting his first homer of the season against Mets phenom Matt Harvey.

A foreboding moment began when J.P. Howell walked his first two batters after Kemp had given the Dodgers a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning, but the real crisis came when Carl Crawford couldn’t prevent a leadoff double by Mike Baxter in the bottom of the ninth against Brandon League – the ball went off the heel of Crawford’s glove as he was sliding. Los Angeles got a measure of yang to this yin with Jerry Hairston’s great catch of a foul pop-up by Daniel Murphy with one out and a runner on third, but it all went south from there, capped by Jordany Valdespin’s grand slam in the 10th for a 7-3 Mets victory.

More bad tidings came overnight with the news that Shawn Tolleson will have back surgery later today to repair a herniated disc in his low back, putting him out of action for three to five months.

Dodgers at Mets, 10:10 a.m.

Carl Crawford, LF
Nick Punto, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
Juan Uribe, 3B
Ramon Hernandez, C
Justin Sellers, SS
Hyun-Jin Ryu, P

 

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42 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    I know you’re never supposed to put the winning run on base, but I can’t fathom why the Dodgers would let David Wright beat them in that situation. He’s head and shoulders above any other hitter in that terrible lineup. I know John Buck is having a great year, but I’m still going to chose my spots based on a guy’s baseball card, not his average in April. Make the journeyman catcher beat you, not the All-Start third baseman.

    More concerning for the long term is that Brandon League scares the bejesus out of me. He simply doesn’t seem to have the kind of put-away stuff that a closer needs. It’s only his first blown save of the season, so I’m willing to take a longer view. But I’m very annoyed that the Dodgers are on the hook for him for three years. he has Matt Guerrier written all over him.

    I don’t fret about the loss, however. It’s April, and two very good things happened–Ted Lilly showed he’s ready to be a pillar of the rotation, and Matt Kemp got his first homer out of the way–while only one bad thing happened (the Loss). Go get em again tomorrow, or in five minutes.

    • Anonymous

      Totally agree about League. He doesn’t miss bats. Just three K’s in nine innings. A small sample to be sure, but I’m afraid his contract will mean he has to be really bad before he moves out of the closer role.

  2. Anonymous

    As the injuries mount for the Dodgers and the Lakers, I can take some small solace in the fact that the Rams, for whom I still root for, don’t play any more in Los Angeles so they haven’t caught the local plague.

    • KT

      I also still root for the Rams

      • Anonymous

        It remains hard for me to believe that the NFL has not had a franchise in Southern California since 1994. My late father took me to my first Rams game in 1958. The Rams routed the 49ers. I think it was 56-7. The crowd must have been in the 90,000-plus range.

        • Anonymous

          Its just as hard for me to believe that some here still follow the Rams. I guess I did for a few years myself, but…

          • KT

            my sister lives in St. Louis and I came back to school in Biloxi Ms. in 99-00 with Directv and got to see them play in both N.O. and StL.. Was telling all my friends at school during pre-season that I had never seen such a great offense…Of course they all laughed at me

  3. KT

    Well just caught up…What a day to sleep in late…Good 1st inning by both the offense and defense
    Good eye Juan way to get on

  4. KT

    Good quick inning
    Charlie thinks we are playing at DS because he said there are a lot of Korean supports of Ryu there

  5. Anonymous

    Including his RBI single in the first inning, Kemp is now 10 for his last 22, raising his average to .260.

  6. KT

    My soon to be 3 year old son usually doesn’t stop everything for commercials but he just did for the Carl’s Jr. Bourbon burger…wonder if it’s for the food or not

  7. KT

    Nice Juan

  8. Anonymous

    Even when Hanley Ramirez returns, we are still one person short on the left side of the infield. And we need a backup catcher who can hit more than the two we have now. With all the money that the Dodgers seem willing to spend, I am surprised that the ownership hasn’t looked to address those issues. The season is now one-eighth over.

    • KT

      Rumors I heard was that Hanley will be back on his bobblehead night so that is soon
      I think the whole at SS/3rd wherever Hanley decides not to play won’t be as pronounced with Hanley offensive production…though I would rather see him play 3rd
      With the activation of Lilly off the DL we had to send Fed back to Albque…so only 1 bad backup catcher

    • The market for 3B/SS is small, so hard to address no matter how much cash you have.

      If the Dodgers have a top 7 of Crawford, Ellis, Gonzalez, Kemp, Ethier, Ramirez, Ellis, I can live with piecing together the eighth spot for now.

  9. KT

    Nice hit Carl

  10. KT

    Come on DP

  11. KT

    That was a fair ball

  12. KT

    Good Hustle Matty!!

  13. Anonymous

    Deja vu? Hope not.

  14. KT

    Way to get out of it Kenley

  15. KT

    YES…Shredder!!

  16. KT

    Dre coming through!!

  17. KT

    Come on Juan

  18. KT

    Ok we got two to work with…Come on Brandon

  19. KT

    2 more outs…no more runs brandon

  20. Good thing we got that insurance! It almost got to the point where Jon could just copy and paste the title of this story for today’s game. Glad they pulled it off.

  21. KT

    Ball Game!!

  22. Anonymous

    Just woke up to good news I see :)

  23. DMarie

    Yesterday was a rough one. Almost had it, and then we lost it. Happy that
    Kemp finally homered, but IMO that was overshadowed by the relief
    pitching failing to stick with the lead and get the win. Wish they had
    let Kershaw swing away instead of sac bunt…

  24. Anonymous

    To say I’m unimpressed with our back-up catcher is an understatement. He looks bad at the plate AND behind it. His body language says he’s terminally tired. I can’t believe Fedex wouldn’t be showing a little more life. Another welfare project of Ned’s. The worst GM in baseball and I’m afraid our manager is looking equally bad.

    • Anonymous

      Aaron Harang would have come in handy right now. Ramond Hernandez excels at GIDP, but not much else. Is he at least a good catch and throw guy?

  25. Anonymous

    AJ Ellis has thrown out 6 of the 13 runners trying to steal on him. I’d say you’re losing both his bat and his glove when he sits.

    • KT

      I have not been impressed with his defense behind the plate especially his blocking balls…too lacksidaisical

      • Anonymous

        A.J. is not perfect, but Hernández is truly awful.

  26. Anonymous

    Heard the news coming home and rejoiced.

    The joy was tempered when I learned League almost gave it up again.

    But that also meant the offense score twice in the 9th from two different batters — so maybe that’s the silver lining PLUS the fact League battled back to close it out.

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