Although baseball has a long and cherished history, the thrill of going to a baseball game is the chance of seeing something unique and unexpected. Last night the sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium saw the Dodgers win despite recording no hits, and broadcaster Vin Scully claims that in his fifty-plus years calling baseball games he’s never seen such an occurrence (though with the way his memory is aging these days, he might’ve years and years ago). However, seeing such unusual history only takes on meaning when contrasted with the everyday normality that is the slog of a six-month baseball season. The extraordinary only becomes noticed when compared to the ordinary.
On Sunday the Dodgers reverted to what fans have grown to see as ordinary, once again turning in an impaired offensive performance in a 1-0 loss to the Angels. The Dodgers had infinitely times as many hits that Saturday night’s near no-no, but then infinity times zero is… well, never mind the math. They had three hits, and I can name the extent of Sunday’s offense without even glancing at a box score: a walk by Andre Ethier in the first (erased on a double play) and singles by Jeff Kent in the second, Juan Pierre in the sixth and Delwyn Young in the ninth. The Dodgers then mounted a mini-rally in the ninth, but James Loney hit a weak grounder with the bases loaded to give Frankie Rodriguez his 32nd save.
As is their custom, the Dodgers took the day off with Derek Lowe on the mound. The Dodgers had only three baserunners while Lowe was pitching, and they have scored a grand total of eight runs for him in his eight losses this season. Despite surrendering one run in seven solid innings, he was tagged with his eighth loss. I mentioned yesterday that Lowe has a tendency to lose 1-0 games, and today that prediction unfortunately came true.
Still, some credit is due to the Angels, who managed to avoid a sweep despite scoring one run the entire series. A two-out rally in the second inning was all the offense the Angels would need, with Juan Rivera scoring on Mike Napoli’s RBI single being more than enough. John Lackey threw 8 ⅔ great innings for the win, lowering his ERA to 1.44. This guy would be a leading Cy Young candidate had he not missed the first few weeks with an injury.
The Dodgers, though, should feel good about taking two of three in the series and splitting the six games of Freeway Series with the Angels, who are likely a playoff team in the AL West. They should also feel good about a homestand in which they went 4-5 and saw some of the best pitchers in baseball: Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia of the Indians, John Danks and Mark Buehrle of the White Sox and Joe Saunders and Lackey of the Angels. And they should also feel good about moving up in the NL West; despite the loss today, the Dodgers remained 2½ back of the Diamondbacks, who lost in Florida to conclude a disastrous 2-7 road swing.
The only one who should be feeling bad right now is Juan Pierre, who left the game with an injury after stealing second in the sixth inning. It would be fitting that the $8 million outfielder would join the other pricey veterans on the DL, but his loss could hurt the Dodgers more than the rest. Despite being a liability in left field and showing no power, Pierre is an everyday player and the Dodgers’ backup leadoff hitter with Rafael Furcal down. As much as I’d love to see Pierre riding the pine, who else is there, both to play left and to hit lead off? Let’s hope his injury isn’t that bad—or at least that it won’t get worse until Furcal returns.
Keywords: Andre Ethier, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Delwyn Young, Derek Lowe, Florida Marlins, Francisco Rodriguez, James Loney, Jeff Kent, John Lackey, Juan Pierre, Juan Rivera, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mike Napoli, Rafael Furcal, Vin Scully
