Tag: Los Angeles Dodgers

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MLB General

The Full Count: It’s all about the pitching


1. 10 wins for Lackey: John Lackey became the majors’ first 10-game winner after another solid start on Wednesday. As the Angels beat the Reds 6-3, Lackey went six innings and allowed just one earned run. He improved to 10-4 on the season with a 2.53 ERA, making him one of the leading candidates to start for the AL in the All Star game. The Angels won their 41st game of the year, tied with the Red Sox for most wins in the majors. Vlad Guerrero broke out of a mini-slump with a 3-5, 4-RBI performance. The Angels will play at Dodger Stadium this weekend in what will be an intriguing showdown between division leaders.

2. West Coast Aces: The Dodgers and Padres are tied for the NL West division lead, and both are helped tremendously by their aces. The Dodgers’ Brad Penny and the Padres’ Jake Peavy have turned into two of the most dominant pitchers in baseball. Both are 8-1 after winning again on Wednesday. Penny allowed one run in seven innings as the Dodgers completed a sweep of the Mets with a 9-1 victory. His 2.18 ERA ranks second in the NL only to Peavy, who has a 1.82 mark. Peavy pitched seven scoreless innings against the Devil Rays and struck out 8. He is now one strikeout behind Cole Hamels for the major league lead. The Padres crushed the D-Rays 9-0, as Tampa starter Edwin Jackson fell to 0-8 with an 8.20 ERA. Jackson is now on pace for an 0-20 record this season.

3. Aces for the Day: Some pitchers that usually aren’t that good pitched very well on Wednesday. Carlos Silva entered a game against the Braves 3-7 with a 4.40 ERA, but he pitched a complete-game shutout. Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals one-hit the Royals in eight innings, lowering his ERA by 0.52. Ian Snell of the Pirates pitched a complete game against the Rangers, allowing just one unearned run. Snell is having a breakout season with a 2.63 ERA and 1.14 WHIP.

Player of the Day: Carlos Silva, Twins: CG, no walks, no runs in a 6-0 win over the Bra

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Toronto Blue Jays

War with Canada narrowly avoided


We almost had a political disaster on our hands Saturday night when the Toronto Blue Jays played the LA Dodgers. A Canadian fan was harassed by a Dodger Stadium security guard for waving a Canadian flag. The offending fan was Lee Fraser who is the president of Canadians Abroad, a bunch of expats who attend games together when teams from Canada visit.

The Dodgers have a policy prohibiting signs and banners and that includes any flags, even the U.S. flag. Security officials warned Fraser that he could hold it up during the Canadian national anthem but not to wave it during the game. When he did start waving it during the sixth inning, a security guard tried to confiscate it and that lead to a 100-person brawl heated discussion between security, LAPD, and 100 or so Canadians. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and nobody was seriously injured, although there was a report of an “inadvertent shove.”

Even though Fraser had the last word (“The whole crew went crazy. They sent down three or four security guards, the LAPD. Because, you know, Canadians are such a big threat.”), we have to side with the security guards in this case. They were just following rules. If the Canadians can wave a flag, next thing you know, those crazy rabid fans from SF will be waving a Giants flag and then we’ll end up with 51 states.

Links:
[The Star]: Canadian fan hassled for doing wave with flag

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MLB General

The Full Count: Pitching rules the day


1. Duel for the Division: The NL West division lead was at stake when the Dodgers and Padres faced off on Tuesday. The game turned into a pitcher’s duel as Chris Young and Jason Schmidt combined for 13 scoreless innings and four hits allowed. Young has now allowed just five earned runs in his last 47 innings. The first and only run of this contest came in the eighth, when pinch-hitter Russell Branyan of the Padres was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on a Marcus Giles single. San Diego’s win sent them a half-game above the Dodgers, though Arizona is still tied with them atop the division. Schmidt’s start for Los Angeles was his first in almost two months, and he came back better than ever.

2. Defense beats Offense: A good pitching staff usually gets the better of a good lineup, as the A’s-Red Sox series has proved once again. For the two nights in a row, Oakland won thanks to fantastic starts by Dan Haren and Lenny DiNardo. DiNardo, who was cut by the Red Sox last year and recently moved from the bullpen, shut out the Red Sox through six innings on Tuesday. He walked six batters, but only gave up two hits in Oakland’s 2-0 win. The A’s now have a capable array of barely-known starters in Haren, DiNardo, Chad Gaudin, Joe Kennedy, and Joe Blanton. Their 3.28 staff ERA is second in the majors only to San Diego’s ridiculous 2.89 mark. For the Red Sox, Dice-K lost despite allowing two runs on seven innings and 129 pitches.

3. Home Field Advantage: Two of the majors’ best teams are fueled by absolute dominance at home. The Indians and Angels have by far the two best home records in the majors, at 20-6 and 24-8 respectively. Both won on Tuesday at home behind complete game performances from their aces. The Indians couldn’t get much offense against the Royals, but they won 1-0 thanks to CC Sabathia‘s shutout. Sabathia improved to 9-1, joining John Lackey as the only pitchers with nine wins this year. The Angels beat the Twins again, this time 5-1, after Kelvim Escobar’s second complete game this year. Escobar has been a breakout star for the Angels, with a 7-3 record and 2.76 ERA. Both of these teams lead their divisions, the Indians by 3.5 games over Detroit and the Angels by 5.5 over Seattle.

Player of the Day: Chase Utley, Phillies: 3-4, HR (11), 3 RBIs in a 4-2 win over the Mets. Utley hit a go-ahead homerun in the 11th as the Phils improved to .500.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Yankees get a baby step


1. Boo Me Now: Alex Rodriguez was ridiculed by the Red Sox fans every at-bat over the weekend. On Sunday, he made them shut up by hitting what proved to be a game-winning homer in a 6-5 victory for the Yankees. A-Rod hit a solo shot off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth, his league-leading 20th big fly of the year. The win gave the Yankees a series victory over Boston, but they are still 12.5 games back and just one game out of last place. The projected pitcher’s duel between Andy Pettitte and Josh Beckett did not occur, as both aces did not pitch their best. Both teams have one more series before starting Interleague play later this week.

2. West Coast Showdown: The weekend did nothing to separate the top teams in the NL West. The Diamondbacks, Padres, and Dodgers remain tied in the league’s most heated divisional battle. The streaky D-backs have won 9 of their last 10 games, including two of three from the Mets over the weekend. Doug Davis pitched 7 2/3 excellent innings in a 4-1 win on Sunday. The Padres won as well, with David Wells picking up the win and Josh Bard driving in four runs. The Dodgers rallied in the seventh and eighth innings to beat the Pirates 5-4. According to ESPN.com, the Dodgers are 27-0 when leading after eight innings. This is a testament to the outstanding play of closer Takashi Saito, who is 16-16 on save chances and has a 1.50 ERA. All three of these teams have an overachieving offense, solid bullpen, and a capable array of starters. Though the NL West race usually doesn’t get much attention, it should this year.

3. MVP Resurgence: The last two National League MVPs, Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols, were very disappointing early on this year. However, both have picked it up in the last week or so, and they will likely return to superstardom as the year goes on. On Sunday, Howard hit his fourth homer in nine games since returning from the DL. He was one of four Phillies to go deep in a crazy 9-8 win over the Giants. Though he is still hitting just .224, Howard is still on pace for 38 homers and 133 RBIs on the year. Pujols, meanwhile, hit two homers to help the Cardinals win 8-6. He had his fifth multi-hit game in his last ten games. Neither Pujols nor Howard are atop the leaderboards like they were last year, but expect that to change very soon.

Player of the Day: Gary Sheffield, Tigers: 2-4, HR (13), 3 runs. Sheffield’s April struggles are now a distant memory thanks to 11 homers and 24 RBIs since May 2.

Stat of the Day: Giants phenom Tim Lincecum has a 9.00 ERA in two starts against the Phillies this year. In his other four starts he is 2-0 with a 2.17 ERA.

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Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers have a unique way of building a large fan base


Hey, fat boy! Yeah, you; the one stuffing your face with pork rinds, sitting on your couch in a pair of stained tighty whities with America’s pastime playing out on the tube. We think we might have found a way to coax you out of your mamma’s basement.

Dodger Stadium now has an all-you-can-eat section of seats out in right field where the Dodger Dogs, peanuts, popcorn, nachos and sodas flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. OK, so we made up that last part about the babes but you really can stuff your face for one low price and people have been taking advantage of the free dogs ($4.75 throughout the stadium) by downing `em in bulk. The only thing slowing down these ballpark Kobayashis is the limit of four items per trip to the vendor.

But don’t think you’re going be getting on your knees, fumbling through your keys drunk by paying $40 for you ticket o’ gluttony. No, you’re gonna have to get wasted like the rest of the stadium; by forking over either $8 or $10 a brew!

Of course, if you can afford those kinds of prices then you might want to consider upgrading your Dodger dining experience to the Dugout Club behind home plate. Not only do you get a better view of the game (that is what you’re paying for, right?) but you’ll get your food delivered to your seats by the section’s staff. And it’ll only cost you $400 a ticket.

Now, we don’t know if he sat in the Dugout Club or with the right field fatties, but we’re guessing that this sports anchor had one too many of those mystery meat Dodger Dogs before making it into the studio.

Links:

[International Business Times]: All You Can Eat at Dodger Stadium

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MLB General

The Full Count: Carlos Lee earns his keep


1. Lee’s the Man: Many thought Carlos Lee was one of this offseason’s most overpaid players. Right now the Astros are looking like geniuses for signing him to a $100 million contract. He single-handedly led Houston to victory on Tuesday, going 4-4 with 2 homers and 4 of the Astros’ 6 runs. His second homer was a solo walkoff shot in the 10th inning that gave Houston a 6-5 win. Lee’s fifth straight multi-hit game has raised his average from .287 to .336. He is tied for the National League lead in RBIs with 37. Lee’s teammate in the Astros outfield, super-prospect Hunter Pence, has been great since he was called up two weeks ago. Pence went 3-3 with a homer yesterday and is hitting .310 with 14 RBIs in 15 games. The Astros have been playing well lately and at 19-19, they’re second in the NL Central.

2. The Big Unit is Back: After his best start of the season, Randy Johnson proved he could still dominate on any given night. Johnson only pitched six innings against the Rockies, but he shut them out and allowed just one hit. Johnson got his first victory of the season as the D-Backs won 3-0 in Colorado. The 43-year old also struck out a season-high nine. Jose Valverde closed the game for his 13th save, which is second in the NL.

3. Under the radar dominance: Everyone knows the Red Sox, Braves, and Brewers are all having great seasons, but the Dodgers have been a slightly quieter team. At 24-16, they have one of the best records in the majors, and they have a significant three-game lead in the highly competitive NL West. On Tuesday they beat the Cardinals 9-7, as their hitting continued to stay hot. The Dodgers lack a power bat, but they have the speedy duo of Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre, Jeff Kent is back to his old self, and Russell Martin has been the best-hitting catcher this year. Furcal had three RBIs on Tuesday in his third consecutive four-hit game. His 12-14 streak has raised his average from .228 to .297. Martin had two RBIs and leads all catchers in steals, hits, and runs.

Player of the Day: Carlos Lee, Astros: 4-4, 2 HR (9), 4 runs, 2 RBIs in a win over the Giants.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Exceeding expectations


1. A Penny Earned: Brad Penny has exceeded everyone’s expectations this year in being one of the best pitchers in the majors. On Monday he had his most dominant start of the season against the Marlins. Penny had 14 strikeouts in 7 shutout innings. Amazingly, he only had 15 strikeouts the whole season up until this game. Now Penny is 4-0 with a 1.39 ERA, good for second in the majors behind John Maine. He has reeled off seven straight quality starts this season, and has yet to give up a homer. The Dodgers won 6-1, helped offensively by Jeff Kent and breakout catcher Russell
Martin. They have a one-game lead over San Diego in the NL West.

2. Best vs. Worst: The best team in the league played the worst one on Monday, and the result was basically what you would expect. The 22-10 Brewers shut down the 9-23 Nationals as Chris Capuano gave his best start this year. Capuano went 8 innings, had 9 strikeouts, and played a huge role in the 3-0 shutout of Washington. Capuano is now 5-0 and has a 16-inning scoreless streak. As the season goes on, Milwaukee is starting to look less and less like a fluke and more like this year’s Detroit Tigers.

3. Other unbeatens: Penny and Capuano are among a multitude of pitchers who have not lost this season. Most notably is 6-0 Josh Beckett, who has won the most games in the majors this year. CC Sabathia and major league ERA leader John Maine are 5-0. At 3-0 there’s resurgent Bartolo Colon of the Angels, who’s pitching better than he did in his Cy Young season. Also, Mike Maroth is 2-0 despite a 5.35 ERA, Jeremy Bonderman is 1-0 with five no-decisions, James Shields of Tampa is 3-0, Baltimore’s Adam Loewen is 2-0, and Milwaukee’s Claudio Vargas is 3-0. All those undefeated pitchers combined with the 24 who have an ERA under 3.00, and it’s no surprise that pitching has been dominant this season.

Player of the Day: Bengie Molina, Giants: 2-3, 2 HR, 5 RBIs in a 9-4 win over the Mets. Both of Molina’s homeruns and all of the Giants’ runs came in a 9-run fifth inning.

Stat of the Day: Roy Oswalt is 19-1 in his career against the Reds. He beat them on Monday to improve to 5-2. Only four other pitchers in major league history took 19 of 20 from the same team, according to Elias Sports.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Yankees keep breaking their toys


1. Showing his potential: Yankees rookie Phillip Hughes was marvelous in his second start. Unfortunately, he’s now just another injured Yankees starter. Hughes had a no-hitter going through 6.1 innings before suffering a hamstring injury that will keep him out 4-6 weeks. He finally showed his great potential after a rocky first start, but now New York will have to find yet another body to put on the mound. The Yankees carried a team no-hitter through until the eighth inning, when the Rangers got their only two hits of the game. But by that point, the game was over, and the Yanks blew Texas away 10-1. Offensively, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, and Robinson Cano each had at least three hits to carry the team.

2. The Central Goes Through Cleveland: Some people didn’t expect anything out of the Indians in the preseason, others thought they would win the division title. So far, the latter group looks right. The Indians lead baseball’s toughest division by 1.5 games after a 12-4 rout of the Blue Jays. The offense took over in this one, as Travis Hafner and Jhonny Peralta homered, with Peralta driving in 5 runs. Trot Nixon had 3 runs and 3 RBIs, and Victor Martinez drove in two as well. AJ Burnett was the main victim on the Blue Jays’ pitching staff. He allowed 7 runs after a dominant previous start against the Yankees. For the Indians, CC Sabathia improved to 4-0 on the year. Cleveland is 6-0 in Sabathia’s six starts.

3. Back and Forth: Though the AL Central may have better teams, the NL West is just as competitive. Four of the division’s five teams are within two games of the lead, which is currently held by the Dodgers. LA beat the Diamondbacks 2-1 to snap their 6-game winning streak. Pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz hit a game-winning RBI single in that contest. The San Diego Padres have slumped a little lately, but they’re right in the thick of things after a 3-1 win over Washington. Starter Chris Young pitched 8 scoreless innings for the win in his best game of the year. In the division’s other game, the Rockies topped the Giants 9-7 thanks to a terrible start by Russ Ortiz.

Player of the Day: Matt Holiday, Rockies: 3-5, HR (4), 4 RBIs in 9-7 win over the Giants. Holliday is second in the league to Derrek Lee with a .395 batting average.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Fun with April Numbers


1. Random Projections: April is now over and some ridiculous stats are in the books. If everything went just like it did in April:

– Alex Rodriguez would hit 99 homers and 239 RBIs.
– Josh Beckett would go 31-0.
– Francisco Cordero and Jose Valverde would each have 65 saves.
– Matt Holliday would have 262 hits.
– Jose Reyes would steal 115 bases.
– Kelly Johnson would have more walks than Barry Bonds.
– Bonds would hit 58 homers in only 429 at-bats.
– Vicente Padilla would go 0-24.

2. Complete Dominance: Only three starts after a 10-inning complete game, Roy Halladay was back in domination mode against the Rangers. He threw a complete-game, allowed just one run, and struck out 8. The Blue Jays gave Halladay plenty of support for the win, and now he’s 4-0. If there’s anything this Cy Young candidate has to be concerned about, it’s lasting through the season: he’s thrown 100 or more pitches in five of his six starts. After the 6-1 win, the Jays are 13-12 and in second place in the AL East.

3. Another Webb Gem: Defending Cy Young winner Brandon Webb was shaky his first three starts, but now he’s settled down into his usual dominant self. His last three outings have all been quality starts, including a 7-inning, one-run effort on Monday. Webb, backed by the Diamondbacks’ offense, helped the team move into first place as they beat the Dodgers. The 9-1 rout featured hits from nine players and RBIs from seven. Chris Young hit two homers as Dodgers starter Randy Wolf had another tough outing.

4. Not slowing down: The Brewers haven’t showed any signs of decline after taking the NL Central division lead earlier this year. On Monday, they crushed the three-time defending division champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals were playing in their first game after pitcher Josh Hancock’s death. But usually tragic events like that make a team stronger, and that certainly wasn’t the case against the Brewers. Milwaukee won 7-1, thanks to a complete-game by Jeff Suppan, who has won four starts in a row. On offense Prince Fielder hit his 6th long ball of the year as they tagged Cards starter Kip Wells for seven runs. The 16-9 Brewers are now tied with the Braves for the best record in the National League.

Player of the Day: Roy Halladay, Blue Jays: 9 innings, one run, no walks, 8 strikeouts in a 6-1 win over Texas.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Extra Innings madness



Now we can go home!

1. 4 hours and 55 minutes: The 16-inning Astros-Padres game on April 26 didn’t take long to get passed as the longest game of the year. The Padres and Dodgers nearly played two games back-to-back in a 17-inning marathon. The game was tied 4-4 after the seventh inning and then went scoreless for a remarkable 10 consecutive innings. Finally, in the 17th, the Dodgers were able to score after an error by a Padres backup and subsequent double by Brady Clark. The story of this contest was the bullpen play of both teams. None of the 11 combined relievers for both teams gave up an earned run in 25 combined innings. San Diego came close to a comeback in the 17th with two men on and one out, but then back-to-back strikeouts gave the Dodgers a 5-4 win. They are a half-game above red-hot Arizona for the division lead.

2. A game of craziness: The game between the Braves and Rockies turned out to be quite a unique one. The most notable occurrence was a rare unassisted triple play by Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. As players on second and first for the Braves were running on a 3-2 pitch, Tulowitzki caught a line drive, tagged second base, then tagged the runner coming from first. This was only the 13th unassisted triple play in major league history, and the second by a Rockies player. Also in this game, the Braves walked an incredible 13 batters, including five free passes to Todd Helton alone. In the 9th inning with the Braves up 7-5, Bob Wickman walked the bases loaded and then gave up two runs to tie the game. Only a diving catch by Jeff Francoeur saved the Braves from defeat in that inning. But the Rockies won it anyway in the 11th, as Matt Holliday hit a two-run homer to end this wild game. The Braves still won the series, 2-1.

3. Bigger than baseball: Unfortunately, a tragic off-field event overshadowed a great day of baseball on Sunday. Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock, who had pitched on Saturday, died in a car accident coming home from the game. He slammed into the back of a tow truck, which was stopped to help another car that had crashed. The Cardinals-Cubs game, scheduled for Sunday Night Baseball, was postponed as a result of the tragedy. The Cardinals will wear #32 patches the rest of the season in honor of Hancock, a reliever who was with the team for their World Series run in 2006.

Player of the Day: John Maine, Mets: 7 innings, 3 hits, no runs, 8 strikeouts in a 1-0 win over the Nationals which improved his record to 4-0.

Walk Off: It was reported by two New York newspapers that Joe Torre’s job could be in jeopardy if the Yankees continue to struggle. This would be the stupidest move the Yankees could make right now. Torre has led the team to four World Series titles and ten division titles in a row. He is at absolutely no fault for the Yankees’ last place standing. The pitching has been simply awful, particularly the starters. There is a current trend in sports right now to fire the manager/coach if the team is underperforming, no matter what success this coach has had. Why not fire the people responsible for trading away all the Yankees’ prospects for over-the-hill veterans?