The difference between attending the Dodgers game against the Cubs yesterday and against the Rockies on Wednesday was just about the difference of night and day. The difference was literal, as the finale against Colorado was a getaway game at noon, and the opener with Chicago started just after seven. But there were other differences, too. The Dodgers showed the resolve to recovering from an early deficit, and received solid relief pitching after a mediocre start by Chad Billingsley. They got run production from the bottom of the lineup, two meaningful homeruns from Jeff Kent, and a relatively raucous crowd urging them on after a slow start. Yet for all the differences there was one haunting constant, the agony of defeat the Dodgers have come to know in the past two weeks, this time a crushing 5-4 defeat.
The Dodgers’ recent inability to secure wins is not due to everything falling apart at once; rather, each loss is punctuated by one part of the team struggling while everything else is more or less in sync. Sometimes the offense shows up, only to be betrayed by a starter who surrenders six runs in three innings. Sometimes the starting pitcher has a strong game, only to have the offense forget how to hit. Last night it was the ace of the bullpen, closer Takashi Saito, who negated the good vibe the Dodgers had earned after erasing an early 4-0 deficit.
Saito is pitching infrequently these days because the Dodger offense hasn’t been handing him many leads, but in a tie game in the ninth inning with no chance for a save Joe Torre thought it wise to at least give Saito some work. Saito worked plenty, laboring through his one inning of work to throw 29 pitches. He opened the frame by surrendering a leadoff double to Ryan Theriot, and two batters later Kosuke Fukudome, who opened the scoring with a second-inning homer, ended the scoring with an RBI single to right field. Saito was tagged with his second loss on a night the Dodgers gave away bobbleheads in Saito's likeness.
The Dodgers had their chances in the later innings, especially in the ninth against Cubs closer Kerry Wood. James Loney stretched a single into a double to open the inning, and after two quick outs Terry Tiffee and Juan Pierre got on to load the bases. Matt Kemp, however, capped a 0-for-5 night with a strikeout to leave the tying and winning runs in scoring position.
It was refreshing to see some offense for a change, but the Dodgers still have their work cut out for them. Russell Martin seems to be the only one willing to work the count, drawing two of the Dodgers’ three walks, and hitters seem unable to hit the ball to the opposite field. With every passing game Kent seems to be the biggest offender of the latter; his attempts to go the other way resulted in two harmless fly balls, and the only chance he has for a hit is to pull a pitch into the left field seats, which he did twice last night. The only other Dodger with multiple hits was Blake DeWitt, who had a single and a double but struck looking out to open the ninth. I know Mike Easler has his hands full with the hitting projects that are Chin-Lung Hu, Luis Maza and just about everyone else, but DeWitt has looked very good for a rookie. It may even be time to consider moving him up in the lineup, perhaps switching him with Kemp to give the latter a better chance to drive in runners.
The Cubs, meanwhile, did just enough to pick up the win. They got 5⅓ solid innings from starter Ryan Dempster, and got contributions from just about everyone in the lineup. Every starter had a hit, a walk or an RBI, with multiple players contributing to the offense. The Cubs’ $115.9 million payroll is fifth-highest in baseball, but they’ve done more with that than the Dodgers have with their $125.6 million, which ranks third. The Cubs have bought the right free agents (Fukudome, Aramis Ramirez , Alfonso Soriano), made the right trades (Derrek Lee for Hee-Seop Choi), found the right bargain deals (Mark De Rosa, Jim Edmonds) and developed good young talent (Theriot, Geovany Soto, Mike Fontenot).
From that list of four, the Dodgers have maybe one going for them, which is their good farm system. As for the rest, it seems that everyone would agree that general manager Ned Colleti has made more than his share of mistakes and dumb signings. It feels that for every Rafael Furcal there is an Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre and Esteban Loiaza. It might be time to stop pointing fingers at the managers and start blaming the guy who gives them the pieces.
