Fairly or not, Dodger fan have the reputation of not being on-hand to watch the entire game at Dodger Stadium. The nightmare that is Los Angeles traffic causes people to arrive in the third inning or later, and also prompts some fans to leave in the seventh inning or earlier to beat the rush home. The fans in attendance yesterday, myself included, spent less time than usual at the ballpark as a result of Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox being on the mound.
Buehrle, who has a reputation as a fast worker, took less time than usual in throwing eight masterful innings to defeat the Dodgers by a score of 6-1 in the opener of the three-game set. Chicago made quick work of the Dodgers in a game that went only 2 hours 5 minutes and could have been less if not for the visitors’ four-run outburst in the eighth inning. Buehrle threw 96 pitches, allowing no walks and six hits, one of which was Delwyn Young’s solo shot in the fifth inning. He was also the beneficiary of some excellent defense, including three double plays off the bats of Andy LaRoche, James Loney and Jeff Kent.
The White Sox gave Buehrle all the support he would need with single runs in the first and second innings. I don’t know how they scored those, as I was en route to the Stadium, but seeing the early score as I made it to my seat should have been a clue; the Dodgers seem to play better when they can jump out to an early lead, but implode when they have an early deficit of even a run or two. I did see Chicago’s last four runs, including the two-run blast by Jermaine Dye to chase Derek Lowe.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers returned to the offensive funk that has plagued them all season long. The Dodgers had five hits other than Young’s homer, all of them singles, and managed to erase most of them on double plays or force plays.
The game served as a match of contrasting managerial styles, with laid-back Joe Torre of the Dodgers going up against the controversial and mercurial Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox. Both managers have won World Series, but on this night it seemed that Torre could do no right. His lineup against the left-handed Buehrle included the right-handed Young and LaRoche instead of Andre Ethier and Blake DeWitt, and while Young did hit the homer, it seemed that the lineup made little difference. Torre also left Lowe out on the mound an inning too long; right after the jumbotron flashed “Lowe has retired 12 of the last 13 batters” the wheels came off. And bringing in Cory Wade, who allowed an RBI hits to DeWayne Wise and Alexei Ramirez, certainly didn’t help Torre any.
About the only good news for the Dodgers was that they rid themselves of Scott the Proctologist. In their haste to get Proctor off their hands, the Dodgers sent him to Triple-A Las Vegas and the disabled list at the same time, barely missing the trifecta of trading him to the Yankees for $100,000 to finance a Broadway play. Proctor has been pitching poorly recently, albeit through injuries, and his 6.45 ERA and unreliability out of the bullpen will not be missed. Get well soon, Scott. Actually, take your time.
About the only bad news for the Dodgers resulting from this was that they had to call up a reliever named Brian Falkenborg to take Proctor’s spot. Knew there had to be a catch.
Keywords: Alexei Ramirez, Brian Falkenborg, Chicago White Sox, Cory Wade, Delwyn Young, Derek Lowe, DeWayne Wise, Jermaine Dye, Joe Torre, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mark Buehrle, Ozzie Guillen, Scott Proctor
